Smoky Mountain News | October 20, 2021

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

October 20-26, 2021 Vol. 23 Iss. 21

Honeycutt makes immediate impact in NC-11 Primary Page 8 Complaint filed against Highlands over Airbnbs Page 14

CONTENTS On the Cover: After the pandemic forced her to take a two-year hiatus from the stage, actress Barbara Bates Smith returns to HART Theatre to bring the beloved character of Ivy Rowe back to life once again. (Page 6) Donated photo

News Pisgah football rolls to nine straight over Tuscola ....................................................4 Zoning issues divide Maggie Valley board ..................................................................5 Honeycutt makes quick impact in NC-11 Primary ....................................................8 Full Spectrum Farms a refuge for people with autism ..........................................10 Haywood schools outlines COVID retention bonus plan ....................................13 Complaint filed against Town of Highlands ..............................................................14 Homelessness task force presents final report ......................................................16 Health News ......................................................................................................................19

Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

October 20-26, 2021

When being a mom breaks your heart ......................................................................20 Does American history deserve a ‘content warning?’ ............................................21

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Smoky Mountain Bluegrass Festival returns ............................................................22 Forgotten history: ‘The War of Jenkins’ Ear’ ..............................................................29

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Pisgah rolls to nine straight over Mountaineers Bears victory sets up intriguing storylines for 2022

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER t was Friday night football on a perfect fall evening under the lights in front of a capacity crowd at C.E. Weatherby Stadium in Waynesville, and as per usual, the rivalry game between the Mountaineers of Tuscola and the Pisgah Black Bears — the county clash, the “Mill versus the Hill,” whatever you want to call it — lived up to the hype.

Underdog Tuscola jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead and headed into the locker room at halftime with a commanding 20-7 advan-

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tage, but Pisgah slowly clawed its way back through the second half with a third quarter touchdown and a bend-but-don’t-break defense.

Down by 7 early in the fourth quarter, the Bears drove into the red zone only to turn the ball over, but immediately forced the Mountaineers into a three and out.

Pisgah then hit pay dirt with a dazzling flea-flicker — junior quarterback Logan Free tossed a quick pass behind the line of scrimmage to sophomore Breydon Reynolds, and when the aggressive Tuscola defense bit, Reynolds shot a laser to a wide open Caden Robinson for a 55-yard touchdown strike that put Pisgah up 21-20 with just over 7 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Mountaineers weren’t done yet though. Driving into the red zone with less than a minute left, Tuscola found itself

After the Oct. 15 victory, Pisgah looks to extend its 9-game winning streak next year.

Smoky Mountain News

October 20-26, 2021

Cory Vaillancourt photo

FREE

pushed back by penalties — a sloppy game on both sides featured more flags than Folkmoot — and left the Mounties with no other option than to attempt a 49-yard field goal for the win.

That attempt, like one in the first quarter, ended up not sailing between the goalposts but instead bouncing around on the ground after being blocked by Pisgah senior Evan Easton.

“This is another chapter in the greatest high school football rivalry in North Carolina,” said Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers, a Pisgah alum who, like his father, played for the Bears. “Every year we look forward to this. We work together throughout the year, but on this night, we divide up — it’s Canton versus Waynesville. This is just part of our tradition and our heritage. It just means something special.”

“Many of these boys come from families that were affected, that lost someone. It’s very important to see smiles on people’s faces, because for a few hours, Haywood County has a distraction from the challenges that we have faced across the county.”

— Zeb Smathers

And it was especially so this year. Last fall’s game was cancelled due to COVID-19, but was played this past February, resulting in a 44-14 Bears victory. Then, in August, deadly flooding ravaged rural communities in the eastern part of Haywood County, including Canton.

“Many of these boys come from families that were affected, that lost someone,” Smathers said. “It’s very important to see smiles on people’s faces, because for a few hours, Haywood County has a distraction from the challenges that we have faced across the county.”

Next year, the game will take on added significance. Pisgah’s home field was significantly damaged in the flood and hasn’t yet been used this year.

If it reopens in time for next year’s game, that alone would be a triumph, however the Bears have a few more reasons to stay hungry over the winter; 2022 is thought to be the 100th anniversary of a Waynesville high school playing football against a Canton high school.

Additionally, the Bears win last week sets them up to go for 10 straight over the Mountaineers next year, which would equal the longest winning streak during that century of competition.

That 10-game winning streak is currently owned by Tuscola.

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Ghost Town. A Shot Above photo

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Smoky Mountain News

property, whatever uses might be allowed in that district are fair game for the property owner to use and apply later on whether it’s that property owner or someone they might sell it to. So that’s why you can’t get too hung up on what the property owner tells you he might use the property for.”

All three properties are within, or have portions in, the critical Jonathan Creek Watershed and will have to receive watershed approval by Haywood County. These properties also have portions in the 100year and 500-year flood plain.

The first property, the Ghost Town parking lot was annexed by the Town on July 13.

The zoning board proposed a C-1 zoning, to align with the rest of the Ghost Town Property. After hearing extensive comments about concerns for the watershed, ecological health and drinking water, the board voted to allow C-1 zoning for the Ghost Town parking lot. C-1 zoning is for general business.

The second property is 5.19 acres, currently owned by Jerry and Sandra Day, has one single family home and was annexed on Aug. 17. It has frontage of Campbell Creek and Rocky Top Road. The majority of the property is surrounded by R-1, some C-3 and a small pocket of C-2. However, three adjoining properties are legal nonconforming properties that are zoned R-1 but were grandfathered in and have uses aligning more with R-3 or C-1.

If this property were zoned R-1, 16 units would be allowed. If it were zoned R-3, C-2 or C-1, 73 units and 32 lots would be allowed.

“Myself and the developer, with the planning board’s recommendation actually, all agreed that the best course of action for the property would be to split zone the property,” said Town Planner Kaitland Finkle.

On Campbell Creek, a little less than one acre was recommended and requested to be

October 20-26, 2021

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER Maggie Valley Town Board meeting Tuesday, Oct. 12, reached capacity with nearly 100 attendants, several people listening from the hallway outside the boardroom as the board was scheduled to vote on three property zonings.

The board voted to zone two of the properties as Ghost Town in the Sky developer Frankie Wood had requested, C-1 for the Ghost Town parking lot and R-3 for the property located on Campbell Creek Road.

However, the board decided to zone the Lshaped property accessed by Rocky Top Road R-2, when Wood had requested R-3.

By zoning the property R-2, there will be lower residential density permitted on the property.

The Ghost Town parking lot decision was made by a 4-1 vote with Mayor Mike Eveland dissenting. The Campbell Creek Road property zoning was decided by a 3-2 vote with Eveland and Alderwoman Twinkle Patel dissenting. The property accessed by Rocky Top Road property was zoned by a 3-2 vote with Eveland and Patel dissenting.

Because two of the properties did not receive a two-thirds vote on first reading, there will be a second vote at the Town Board meeting in November where a simple majority vote will be enough to approve a zoning decision.

Before the hearings and voting on the properties, Town Attorney Craig Justus advised the board about the decisions they were going to make. He reiterated this reminder throughout the meeting.

“One thing that you should not give controlling weight, is whatever the developer or property owner’s plans are for the property.

These are general use district rezonings, meaning when you decide to change a piece of property or adopt a zoning for a piece of

it’s my wife, my land, my dog, I’m going to protect it and I understand that. According to our attorney, and we have a good one, we can’t speculate on what the property will be used for. But we have a responsibility to zone it sooner or later. Our town planner spent considerable time on this, our manager, and I have high respect for them.”

After discussion, in an effort at compromise, Alderman Phillip Wight made a motion to zone the property R-2, instead of the proposed R-3, C-2 split zoning. The motion passed 3-2 with Eveland and Patel dissenting.

The third property was under consideration for rezoning and had not been recently annexed like the other two. The property is 2.74 acres and is also owned by Jerry and Sandra Day. It is within town limits and is currently Pioneer Village with 12 cabins located on the property. It is currently zoned R-1, low density residential. The request was to rezone the property R-3, which would allow up to 17 lots.

“We have an employee here with a double masters, she has gone over this, studied this and I’m going to go with her recommendation,” said Alderwoman Tammy Wight.

Tammy Wight made the motion to approve the Pioneer Village property for R-3 zoning. The board voted 3-2 to approve the R-3 zoning. Because this is not a two thirds majority the issue will be taken up again at the November meeting where a simple majority will work to pass the zoning adjustment.

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Zoning issues divide board, community in Maggie Valley

zoned R-3, in order to keep commercial activity off of the Campbell Creek area. The rear portion of the property, a little over four acres, is requested to be C-2, neighborhood business district. This was the recommendation made by town staff and the planning board and requested by developer Frankie Wood.

Public comments regarding the zoning of this property centered on the condition of Rocky Top Road, a road in notoriously poor condition that is slated for improvement.

Tammy Hartzog, owner of Kamp and Kountry, spoke at the Oct. 12 meeting. She said 95% of the people at Kamp and Kountry don’t want a large development accessed by Rocky Top Road. The road provides access to at least 160 unique homes and properties, 110 of which are part of Kamp and Kountry. The road is approximately .65 miles long.

“The wear and tear on the road is going to be tremendous if they do what I think they’re going to do,” said Hartzog. “All the money we’re going to put into it is going to be worn down, and nobody wants to see that. All we want is some peace and quiet.

We want to enjoy the mountains.”

Several other residents spoke about how they didn’t want additional development on the property off of Rocky Top Road.

“This is probably the hardest decision that we’ve had since I’ve been on the board,” said outgoing Alderman Clayton Davis. “We realize that when we’re emotionally involved, it’s hard to be objective. If

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Barbara Bates Smith returns to HART Theatre

family moved to Lakeland, Florida, where he worked in medical clinics, and Barbara took on one major role per season while also raising her young children.

Barbara Bates Smith performs the Off-Broadway production of ‘Ivy Rowe’ all over the U.S. Donated photo

Smoky Mountain News

October 20-26, 2021

ADAPTING LEE SMITH

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‘Ivy Rowe’ still alive and well after 30 years

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR hen you portray strong and influential women onstage for more than 30 years, chances are some of that strength and influence will rub off on you.

There’s no doubt that longtime actress Barbara Bates Smith carries around with her pieces of all the characters she’s played — feisty Appalachian woman Ivy Rowe, political activist Doris “Granny D” Haddock and cancer patient Vivian Bearing. She’s even taken the stage to tell her own brave stories over the years.

Barbara herself is a strong character, so it makes sense that the women she portrays on stage are just as strong, courageous and charming.

She’s played the role of Ivy Rowe — a character created by author Lee Smith in her 1988 novel “Fair and Tender Ladies” — in front of audiences all over the world for 30 years. It’s a role that has become second nature to her and something she never gets tired of doing.

“I haven’t tried to do it in my sleep, but I probably could,” she said, during a recent interview from her home in Columbia, South Carolina. “It’s on a tape in my head — it always has been — I never have to go back and look at the script.”

After a two-year hiatus during the COVID-

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19 pandemic, the 90-year-old actress will return to the HART Theatre stage in Waynesville to revive the lively Appalachian woman once again. The one-woman show was also one of the first productions to hit the HART stage during the theater’s first season.

“Ivy Rowe is a mountain woman living on love. She would look things in the eye, look situations in the face. She makes mistakes just like anyone who’s lived a full life, but somehow pulled through it all,” she said. “It’s like I’ve told Lee Smith, playing Ivy lifts me up and grounds me at the same time. I’ve never gotten tired of doing it. I stopped counting at 700 performances, but it must be around a thousand by now. She lives life to the fullest and does the best she can. She’s just so true to herself and her nature — it’s inspiring.”

LATE TO THE STAGE Barbara hasn’t always enjoyed the bright spotlight of being centerstage, which may come as a surprise to those who’ve seen how comfortable she appears in front of an audience.

“I discovered acting later in life, but then I couldn’t get enough of it,” she said.

Barbara grew up in Jasper, Alabama, a small southern town that was also the hometown of Hollywood movie star Tallulah Bankhead.

“She came back to Jasper during my childhood, and my parents were invited to a party she would be attending. My parents took me

“Playing Ivy lifts me up and grounds me at the same time. I’ve never gotten tired of doing it.

She lives life to the fullest and does the best she can. She’s just so true to herself and her nature — it’s inspiring.”

—Barbara Bates Smith

to the party, and I got to meet her. She leaned over to me and said, ‘Darling, I had hair like you when I was young’ and spilled her drink on me and smelled like cigarettes so my first thoughts about actors were not so good,” she joked. “The little I’d seen of them, I thought they were phony.”

She never attended one theater performance during her time at the University of Alabama and thought it was a shame her smart roommate was in the drama program.

It wasn’t until she was in Rochester, New York, with her husband that she went with a group to see the musical “Guys and Dolls.”

“I reluctantly went to dinner and the show, and a light bulb went off in my head. I thought, ‘What am I doing here when I could be up there’ (onstage),” she said.

The first time she went to audition for a local production, she said she parked three blocks away so her car wouldn’t be seen by anyone she knew. Turns out they needed someone with a Southern accent — a rarity in Upstate New York — and she landed her first role in “Who Was the Lady I Saw You With?”

“I just kept going from there,” she said.

When her husband Russell finished his work at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, the

In a series of serendipitous events within one week, Barbara was introduced to the work of author Lee Smith, an introduction that would change the course of her life forever.

It was 1988 when a friend from North Carolina told Barbara about a new writer she thought she’d enjoy. Then a friend in Atlanta sent Barbara a newspaper clipping about Lee Smith’s new novel. The same week, Barbara saw Lee Smith’s book “Fair and Tender Ladies” mentioned in The New York Times book section.

“In one week, I had three signals that came so I picked up her book and read it. By the time I finished it, I knew I had to do something with it,” she said. “I don’t know why, but I related so much to it.”

At the time, Barbara was working with a professional theater company in Tampa, Florida, that was known for its “avant garde” productions. She knew adapting Lee Smith’s work into a production would be something completely different, but she wasn’t sure if it would be a welcomed change.

“This was about southern Appalachia while the theater had been doing cutting edge stuff. And it was a one woman show, but I told the director ‘This is something I want to do’ so he read it and fell in love with it too,” Barbara recalled.

Barbara finally met Lee Smith on a visit to Wilson, North Carolina, and got permission to adapt “Fair and Tender Ladies” into a play that focused on the main character Ivy Rowe. Barbara and her director Mark Hunter co-adapted the material into a one-woman script and the show opened in Tampa in late 1988.

“We ended up with about six hours of work and paired it down from there. It was good to have one person with the director’s view and one as the leading character,” she said. “We came up with a version that worked. I was 60 years old when I started playing Ivy Rowe and it has led to so many other wonderful things.”

Going from being on stage with other actors to performing solo in front of large audiences was something new and exciting.

“It was a little intimidating, but I couldn’t stop to think about that. I just felt such a strong pull toward it,” she said.

Through another actor connection in Florida, video of the production made its way to producers in New York City, which is how “Ivy Rowe” became an Off-Broadway sensation for the next two years.

“There were actors walking the sidewalks auditioning in New York City, and here I’m in Florida reading this book and putting together my own thing that propelled the show — it wasn’t a bad way to get there I guess,” she said.

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Want to go?

Barbara Bates Smith, portraying Doris ‘Granny D’ Haddock, is pictured with political commentator Bill Moyer. Donated photo

KEEP MOVING FORWARD

“I’m leading a story circle — something I did in Asheville for three years before I left, and it’s the most meaningful thing I’ve ever done. For me, storytelling is a higher charge than performing,” she said. “Everybody has stories to tell, and we don’t give them enough space and time to do it.”

After spending the last several decades getting to know the theater community, her opinion on actors has changed, she laughed.

“I think they’re really interesting and different. There’s nothing you can say about ‘theater people’ in general because every one of us are quite different,” she said.

She’s not done writing either. She’s currently working on something that she’s not quite sure what to call yet — not exactly a

Smoky Mountain News

In addition to adapting several other works of Lee Smith’s, Barbara has created several original monologues that she has performed, including “The C-Word: Her Own Cancer Story.” She was inspired to write her own cancer story after doing a production of “Wit” — a story about a 50-year-old professor who is dying of ovarian cancer.

“I’ve probably done four productions of ‘Wit’ — some were in Waynesville — and I think it was during the first one at HART when I got cancer while doing that show,” Barbara recalled. “I remember someone saying, ‘I know you like to get into a part, but I think this is going a little too far.’”

Inspired by her husband’s journey into the ministry, she wrote “Confessions of a Clergy Wife.” She said the monologue started as a long letter she was actually writing to Russell’s priest explaining the reasons as to why she wasn’t attending the Episcopal church on Sundays.

After the death of her husband in 2017, Barbara moved from her sanctuary on top of Crabtree Mountain to Washington, D.C., for a year before relocating to Columbia, South Carolina, to be close to her daughter and grandchildren. The move hasn’t slowed her down any — just as she found a storyteller community to join in Asheville when she lived in Clyde, she found a new storytelling family in Columbia.

“There’s a UU (Unitarian Universalism) church within walking distance of my house.

When I passed by it had a ‘Black Lives Matter’ sign out front,” she said, adding she knew she’d found a new and welcoming community.

Barbara Bates Smith performs in the Pulitzer Prize winning production of ‘Wit.’ Donated photo October 20-26, 2021

a “Ivy Rowe” starring Barbara Bates e Smith will return to Waynesville at 7:30 I p.m. Saturday, Nov. 6, and 2 p.m. Sunday, o Nov. 7, at HART Theatre. ” With a sensuous nature and a flair for storytelling, Ivy Rowe paints a vivid picture o of 20th Century revivals, mine disasters, n rural electrification, the Depression, and y three wars. y To purchase tickets, call 828.456.6322 r or visit www.harttheatre.org. n e She performed in “Hamlet,” “Doubt,” f “Three Tall Women” and “August: Osage s County” during her years with HART. s The next female heroine character she e would take on was Doris “Granny D” t Haddock. At 89 years old, Granny D blazed a d 3,200-mile trail across the U.S. to bring y attention to the importance of campaign finance reform prior to the passage of the r McCain-Feingold Act. Her cross-country trek e began in 1999 and included bipartisan efforts to register people to vote. She was 90 t when she made it to Washington, D.C. Here a was another amazing woman that caught Barbara’s attention. n “I had a stack of books piled up by my bed y I’d been meaning to read, and I pulled out w one about Granny D. Her motto was ‘You’re - never too old to raise a little hell’ and of course that was attractive,” she said. s “Campaign finance reform seemed boring, n but she was a great writer and I quickly start- ed seeing the meaning importance of it.” t She talked to her accompanist Sebens e about it, and they decided it was a project worth pursuing. Around the same time,

Barbara said the Haywood County Democrats were trying to plan a fundraiser in Waynesville and wanted the duo to present their “Go, Granny D!” show at the event.

They moved quickly to pull together highlights of the crusader’s journey and story.

Barbara put on a straw hat and an orange safety vest to become Granny D. “We put that thing together in a hurry,” she said. “It was something not to be missed.”

With the support of an organization that formed to keep Haddock’s legacy alive, Barbara and Sebens took the show on the road, performing “Go, Granny D!” all over the U.S. Barbara raised a little hell of her own some years later when she got involved in some political theater in North Carolina. In July 2013, she was arrested for civil disobedience while attending a Moral Monday protest in Raleigh. When contacted for an interview, she could only be described as giddy and proud that she’d been arrested for the first time in her life while fighting for something she believed in — voting rights, women’s rights, education, health care and unemployment. She was one of more than 700 protesters that were arrested during the weekly rallies at the General Assembly.

“It’s making a dent — that’s all we can do,” she said at the time. “As Granny D would say, ‘all we can do is stand up and be a witness to the problem,’ and that’s what I felt I was doing.”

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Then Barbara met someone who would add a whole new element of live music to the show instead of using recorded tracks of mountain music. Jeff Sebens has been performing alongside Barbara in “Ivy Rowe” and e all her other one-woman shows. k “We came to the mountains and did the - show in Virginia one summer and there was a hammer dulcimer player that filled in there that day and he became my musician,” she said. “Today, he is the reason I can still do things. He’s like my tour manager.” n k t OMING TO THE MOUNTAINS When Barbara’s husband Russell decided h to change careers — from medicine to the e ministry — the family began to look for a a church and a new place to live. The couple e decided to find some solitude in the mouna tains, settling on top of Crabtree Mountain in r Haywood County. It wasn’t long before she s met Suzanne Tinsley, who directed shows at HART, and then Steve Lloyd, who ended up t being the executive director of HART. y “Steve and I met and found out we had - played in Edinburgh that past summer and didn’t know it at the time,” Barbara said. “I remember Libba Feichter giving me a tour of a the theater. It was just a wonderful place to do shows so I was running up and down that ” mountain a lot.” s g t

memoir, but something based on the stories she’s pulled from the journals she’s being keeping since her time in New York City.

“I wrote 16 pages for those journals and saved them. During COVID, I picked out a journal and decided to pick up where I left off and keep writing. They tell seniors it’s a good idea to do a life review,” she joked.

When asked how she viewed her life looking back at it now, she said much of it was being in the right place at the right time, but also her life has been about following her bliss, something she learned from Joseph Campbell.

“I think I came close to doing that and it paid off,” she said. “I feel like I sure have made mistakes in life, just like Ivy Rowe, but I don’t know what to think yet.”

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Rod Honeycutt makes immediate impact in NC-11 Republican Primary

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR aised in humble circumstances in Woodfin, Rod Honeycutt could have ended up on a very different path were it not for the United States Army.

While in high school, Honeycutt worked as a grocery bagger, resulting in academic achievement he called lackluster. But four years of JROTC left him positioned for a lifechanging opportunity.

“I worked graveyards at night so I wasn’t an academic genius, but five years of enlisted service got me on a path that settled me down,” he said. “I’ve got to thank some ladies at the Fort Jackson education center that really taught me to read and write at the next level, because I was weak in it.”

After enlisting in 1984, Honeycutt earned an associate’s degree while serving, and went on to qualify for an academic scholarship to the University of South Carolina (earning a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice) and later the Virginia Military Institute. Deployed to Europe during the Cold War and specializing in logistics, Honeycutt saw firsthand the effects of American foreign policy — the good, the bad, and the ugly.

He then helped coordinate American draw-downs in Germany and South Korea and soon found himself helping to establish and maintain the two-decade American presence in Afghanistan.

On July 1, 2021, Honeycutt retired back home to Western North Carolina as a colonel.

He subsequently registered to vote for the very first time, and then came out of nowhere to join the Republican Primary Election field for 2022, seeking the seat of fellow Republican, Rep. Madison Cawthorn.

Honeycutt wasn’t the first Republican to do so — Wendy Nevarez, Bruce O’Connell and Eric Batchelor were already in — but Honeycutt has perhaps made the biggest impact in the race to date by earning the endorsement of outspoken Cawthorn critic George Erwin, a retired sheriff from Henderson County who once counted himself as one of Cawthorn’s biggest backers.

Batchelor subsequently dropped out of the race. Whether that’s related to the Erwin endorsement is anyone’s guess, but now Honeycutt has to make the most of it while simultaneously reckoning with the possibility that other candidates will drop out or jump in when the filing period begins Dec. 6.

Smoky Mountain News

October 20-26, 2021

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Smoky Mountain News: In this district for at least 10 if not 20 years there have been three or four issues that simply will not go away. One of the most important is reform in regards to firearms. There’s a phrase that’s thrown around, “common sense gun control.” What does that phrase mean to you?

Rod Honeycutt: I think it’s more than reform. I think it’s going back to the laws that 8 are on the books and enforcing those laws.

Retired U.S. Army Col. Rod Honeycutt is one of three challenging Rep. Madison Cawthorn in the 2022 Republican Primary Election.

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We’ve had failures, young men able to acquire weapons that were able to get through a loophole in these current situations. I don’t see additional red flag laws as necessary. I see it as enforcement and putting teeth to it and holding people accountable at every level of that process from getting a background check done to enforcing that background check. I’m not going to go with you on the reform business part of it. My dad had given me in 1974 semi-automatic .22 when I was 13 from Western Auto. I knew how to use it. I respected it. I respected people. That’s the same weapon we’re talking about now, as we talk about assault weapons. So to me it’s more about education and enforcement of the laws.

SMN: Another problem, especially as we went through the Coronavirus Pandemic, is rural broadband. It’s still very difficult to get in many places, even a low-speed connection for kids to do schoolwork. And then on the business side of things, companies that use large files like video production, or animation, they can’t locate here because we don’t have that capacity. What’s the real answer to getting all of Western North Carolina connected?

RH: I cannot think of the name of the piece of equipment I need to tell you right now, but in the military, we went out and set up camps that were distributed and we had to rely on broadband to pass information back and forth. So we had to hard wire to a point, and then we had, I’m going to call it a repeater for lack of a better term. If we could get one pole up in a neighborhood and in get those

repeaters on the houses, they could feed it to get a temporary solution and then go more into the fixed structure. Let’s get a temporary fix and then let’s get a long-term fix and a brick-and-mortar type of solution to this. If we don’t, we’re going to end up having two sets of people, haves and have-nots, and children are left behind and businesses are left behind.

SMN: The final one of these long-term issues is health care. Obamacare didn’t deliver, Medicaid expansion has been proposed but our state has refused, instead sending our tax dollars to Washington, and they never come back. Is Medicaid expansion the solution for North Carolina, or is it something else?

RH: That’s a broad topic. You’ve got Obamacare on one guardrail, and then you’ve got Medicare for all on the other. Somewhere in the middle is the right place. I think COVID has taught us a lot about telemedicine and I think we can take telemedicine and if there is blood pressure or other stuff that we can do visually by looking at you, we can do with electronics and technology that’s standardized, with a standardized pricing. I don’t want to get government involved in it to the point where it’s a 100% government, but let’s do put some guard rails in place.

To me it’s personal. I lost my dad about 10 weeks ago. For 64 years, he paid into our health care system and the last week of his life, we were told his insurance was no longer valid — take him out of the facilities, take him home. That hit hard. We had to fight Medicare, Medicaid, Humana. We had to

fight lawyer-to-lawyer to keep him there, to care for him. Families shouldn’t be put through that.

SMN: Moving on to the campaign side of things, retired Henderson County Sheriff George Erwin, a Republican, went from being one of Madison Cawthorn’s biggest supporters to being one of his biggest detractors.

Recently, Erwin gave you his endorsement.

How did that come about? What were your conversations like?

RH: I didn’t know George Erwin. I had no idea who George Erwin was. He actually grew up beside my parents, and I had never met George Erwin in my life. George Erwin’s name came up, I sent him a text with a link to my campaign site with a video on it and said, “I’d like to talk to you.”

And then I get a phone call, and from there we met. I told him what I was running on — maturity, education, leadership and knowledge. I think that’s what’s missing in Western North Carolina. Everybody will talk honor, integrity, service. If you don’t have that, you don’t have the baseline to begin with, you shouldn’t even be in the race. I told him my oldest son will take the oath of office [in the Army] in May, and as I go to each of the counties like your courthouse up here, there’s 57 names on those monuments up there. Go there and touch each one of those names and ask, “What kind of man do you want make a decision about your daughter or your son?” And George called me back in about 48 hours and said, “I’m all in.”

SMN: What about fundraising? I know you haven’t been in the race long, but …

RH: We raised almost $5,000. We spent $400 and some change, right? We’re buying cards and we’re buying social media commercials and then putting them together, and you’re going to ask me here in a few minutes about how I can get after Madison Cawthorn.

— Rod Honeycutt

Money can’t buy leadership, maturity, experience and knowledge, so I’m willing to attack that every time I can. And you got on tennis shoes today — the sneaker-net, the boot-net, the fire department-net and the church-net has more precision than the internet. So these spheres of influence have given me 400 to 500 names. I’m going to see each one of them, and I’m having honest conversations.

SMN: When you first entered the race, it didn’t take long for most of us to find out that you’d never registered to vote before, in your entire life. Why? RH: You asked me in our first conversation. George C. Marshall, a great statesman, never voted because he wanted to stay apolitical and give people honest answers. Could you imagine our Joint Chiefs of Staff right now if he was tied to a party? “Oh, you’re just backing him because he’s in your party.” You have to stay apolitical. And as I’ve got to talk to the House Armed Services Committee and different delegations, I want to look in their eyes and have integrity and not have to waffle, thinking they were worried about me being in a political position. I retired on 1 July, and that same week I registered.

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SMN: Last one for you here, on the 2020 election. Do you think Joe Biden was legitimately elected?

RH: Absolutely.

SMN: Do you think we need to re-examine voter security or election security to make sure that Americans trust this system more?

RH: If we don’t get an energized electorate involved in our politics, we’re going to lose our Republic. I don’t care what side you’re on, but if we don’t get transparency and voter integrity back, and — I’ll take it to a whole new level for you, I’m coming off the top rope here on you — when you sign up for selective service, why not sign up for voting and let’s do it with biometrics, your fingerprint, your retinas. We’re getting ready to bring women into the draft, so let’s start now and develop a system of grandfathering over time that is foolproof, that is ironclad. If we go into this 2022 election with lack of participation, it’s a sign that we’re losing our democracy. We’ve got to get people to vote.

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SMN: You’re the only candidate I’ve talked to who has significant experience in foreign policy. Did you agree with President Trump’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan?

RH: My answer is no, but I’ve got to expand on it, I can’t just stop there. Bagram Air Force Base, I was there in 2009 and 2010.

I helped do the expansion. That was a strategic capability that we need, and we’ve now lost. I would have never left Bagram Air Force Base. We were not in the longest war — that’s a term that we’ve blown out of proportion and it’s wrong, 18 months, no casualties as we were negotiating with the Taliban. I would have been okay with a residual force and you can you call it 2,500 or 3,500, whatever the number is to stay there.

And it’s more than just about leaving Afghanistan. Afghanistan is surrounded by six countries. Three of them are nuclear. We

SMN: With your specific skill set, you seem to have the credentials to evaluate President Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal. What happened?

RH: It’s not one single thing you can point to. That equipment that was there, that was not Army equipment. That was sold through the Department of State to Afghanistan using your taxpayer dollars. I could not go in and blow it up. I couldn’t touch it. I could train them on it, but it would have taken Congress to declare that equipment to be blown up. So there were leadership failures at every level over this equipment over there.

For 10 years, we’ve been building this place up. What we watched was the Department of State and the Department of Defense get desynchronized based off of a date of September 11th, and it was wrong. President Biden has put us in a weak spot that we would have trouble building a coalition if we had another 9-11. I’m not sure that we have the trust around the world.

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“I think we’ve got to have a gut check here about the first or second week of December and that one or more should step out.”

have now left operational space for Al Qaeda, ISIS, the Taliban, any nefarious terrorist plots, so when we talk about our southern border, that’s very important, but our east and west coast borders right now are just as important because we have nefarious actors that could try to come in those borders.

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SMN: Shortly after that, we saw another Republican candidate, Haywood County Sheriff’s Deputy Eric Batchelor, very graciously step out of the race, saying he wasn’t as far along in his campaign as others, but he still wanted to support the goal of removing Cawthorn from office.

I thought he was well-qualified and serviceminded. Do you expect any of the other candidates to perhaps drop out?

RH: Eric is a gracious man. He’s genuine and I’ve got a lot of respect for him — law enforcement, EMT, prior service as a soldier.

But I’ve told him, on the strategic level, “I think I can outperform you.” And I’ve told each one of them as we’ve run into each other throughout the district, I do think that we will split the ticket if we all stay in. And I think we’ve got to have a gut check here about the first or second week of December and that one or more should step out. But as I’ve told them, I have made a commitment to leaders all around the 17 counties.

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Farms.

“We got to be very close. There were four moms, and then the woman that worked with Nash at the time, and we decided that we wanted to do something,” said Pfeifer.

The vision was to create a place where people on the autism spectrum could live and work. The idea of a farm made the most sense to Pfeifer and the other moms, primarily because they lived in Western North Carolina, a beautiful rural area.

Through hard fundraising work and generous donations, the group was eventually able to purchase the 34-acre farm where Full Spectrum now operates.

Full Spectrum Farms. news

Hannah McLeod photos

FULL SPECTRUM FARMS

Smoky Mountain News

October 20-26, 2021

Freedom on the farm Full Spectrum Farms a refuge for people with autism

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER n an unusually warm fall afternoon in the mountains, art class is taking place in the outdoor pavilion at Full Spectrum Farms in Cullowhee. Participants are using recycled magazines and newspapers, paint and markers to create mixedmedia collages.

There are two students participating, one is new to Full Spectrum, something that is more and more common these days, and one has been coming to the farm forever.

You hear about Nash, the third participant, before he arrives. People speak of him like they would the anticipated arrival of the life of the party.

“He’s like a giant teddy bear,” said Norman West, president of the Full Spectrum Board and general caretaker of the

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grounds. “A gentle giant.”

When Nash arrives, this description doesn’t disappoint. Standing well over six and a half feet tall, he arrives with gifts for everyone in attendance. He offers big hugs freely, unperturbed by his celebrity status at the farm. After he hands out the fire starters, which he made himself and his mother says he has obtained a patent for, he knows exactly where he wants to sit and gets straight to work on a collage.

When Nash was in elementary school, his mother and six other mothers of boys with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) were able to obtain a closed classroom in Franklin, only for ASD students. They designed a classroom and school experience specifically for ASD children. This is where Nash’s mother, Jerry Pfeifer, met the women with whom she would start Full Spectrum

Full Spectrum Farms is an organization in Cullowhee serving people impacted by ASD. Through its farm community, Full Spectrum provides independence through meaningful work, recreation and community involvement.

The organization was officially founded in 2002 by parents of children with ASD, Nash’s mother among them. But, those parents were already working to put Full Spectrum together years before and by 2001 had already established the basis for the organization — community. That is why this year, Full Spectrum is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

The farm has grown and evolved over its 20-year history, but the now-34-acre campus has always been a place where individuals with ASD can live, work and explore in a safe environment. The focus on organic farming and natural crafts allows for freedom of creativity, connection to the natural world and development of lifelong living and working skills such as woodworking, pottery, weaving, growing and selling organic produce and flowers.

Surrounding the property there are walking trails anyone can come and enjoy.

Clients and staff walk the farm dog, Crackers, along these trails as well. There are several projects envisioned for the property, including a new building and a more permanent pottery studio.

Erin McManus has been with Full Spectrum Farms for almost seven years now as farm director. She coordinates weekly programs, plans special events, manages donations, cultivates relationships in the

Trunk or Treat Fundraiser Due to the pandemic, Full Spectrum Farms, which is always free for clients and relies completely on fundraising and grants, has missed 15 of its usual fundraisers. More than half of the annual budget is raised at an annual event called Star Light Night, a community cookout with food, drinks and live music. That event was last held in 2019.

This year Full Spectrum Farms will have a face-to-face fundraising event. The Trunk or Treat, Yard Sale and Lasagna Dinner fundraiser will be held at 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, at the farm. There will be a sensory sensitive time period from 5 to 5:30 p.m. and the event will be open to the public from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Tickets are $10 per person and includes trick or treating and lasagna dinner to go.

Volunteers and donations are always needed at Full Spectrum. Volunteers can help in the garden, tend to the chickens, assist with mechanics, mow and help with general property upkeep. For more information visit www.fullspectrumfarms.org.

community and connects families who use the farm to other helpful resources.

Before Full Spectrum, McManus worked in the school system, most recently at Jackson County Early College. She had one student, she says, who changed her career.

This student was on the autism spectrum and when McManus had him, she was searching for resources for him over the summer and post-graduation.

“That’s really when we see folks fall off because their support system is through the school in our community and then there’s not a whole lot,” said McManus. “I found the farm through that and had contacted them because I wanted to further my work in autism services.”

At the farm, most man-made stimuli are removed from the environment. But, there is enough natural stimuli, bugs, heat, dirt, animals, McManus says, to continue to push clients. Even though nature can be unpredictable, farms must run on a pretty regular routine — something people on the autism spectrum need in order to thrive.

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benefit. I always say there’s no right or wrong way to make art,” said Davis. “Just the classes alone can create a sense of calm and connection.”

Davis enjoys watching how different people come up with different creations in the same class with the same materials. She sees people in her art classes gain confidence through the process of creation.

“The sense of mastery is a benefit too,” said Davis.

Before the pandemic, Full Spectrum would sell clients’ artwork at the farmers market.

“For them to be able to sell their art and make money off their own creations was something that really benefited our population,” said McManus.

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day, eggs have to be collected, the garden has to be weeded, ripe produce has to be picked on particular days of the week.

“All of those pieces are part of a dependable routine for folks that are able to work with us,” said McManus.

Carol West is the farm manager at Full Spectrum. She is in charge of the garden where some of the Full Spectrum clients spend their time working. The farm also has a greenhouse for starting seeds and a chicken coop where eggs are collected each day. There are a few restaurants in Jackson County that purchase produce and flowers from the farm regularly, Guadalupe Cafe, Pie Times Pizza Company and The Community Table among them.

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“This is my sanctuary also,” said West, gesturing to the sweeping views of the valley that surrounds us.

Carol and Norman West have been with Full Spectrum Farms since the beginning.

The back of Norman’s old real estate office was home to the pottery studio before Full Spectrum found its permanent home.

“The cosmic universe just put it in our life,” said Carol. “Really, it was given to us.”

Britt Davis is the art instructor at the farm. She is a licensed therapist, art counselor and artist.

“The process of making art is the biggest

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Chickens in the Full Spectrum chicken coop.

The pandemic has been especially distressing for people on the autism spectrum. Many people with ASD often prefer highly predictable environments and routines and may experience distress or difficulties with changes to familiar structures and preferences.

Difficulty with huge changes to lifestyle and routine mean that while adjusting to the isolated pandemic lifestyle was challenging, emerging from that lifestyle and returning to pre-pandemic daily patterns is also hard.

Many people on the autism spectrum and many of the people Full Spectrum serves, have underlying health conditions that make contracting the coronavirus all the more dangerous.

Caregivers were another factor for families with an autistic member during the pandemic. Most families at Full Spectrum have caregivers from outside the family in order to allow parents to continue working. During the pandemic that dynamic changed. As services shut down, caregivers were more difficult to come by. Many of them had to remain at home or take care of their own families, leaving clients on the autism spectrum to be cared for by family members, oftentimes elderly and at higher risk for contracting the coronavirus.

“We had real trouble getting folks to come back after the pandemic and shutdown. For instance, we have two clients who have always come to crafts. I’ve worked here almost seven years and they have come their whole lives to crafts, but they’re not comfortable being in a group setting again,” said McManus.

Another member of Full Spectrum still

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won’t leave his house. McManus brings this client art supplies and he shares his artwork with her on his porch.

“It was probably one of the biggest upsets I’ve seen in my career. I keep saying, everyone was impacted by the pandemic and the autism community has been significantly impacted,” said McManus. “We heard from families that the other components, depression, anxiety, all of those came in because there were no services, when everything really shut down, there were no services, which means in a lot of cases, there were no caregivers. Daily routines were gone and that has been the hardest thing to come back from. I would say that across the board, that’s the biggest issue that I’m seeing is that routines were upset, and when they were removed, it’s harder to establish. So, it’s taking longer for this community to bounce back, I would say than the rest of us.”

Full Spectrum serves all ages. Before the pandemic the organization had summer camps and after school programs for children. School transport has not been restarted due to safety reasons.

In Western North Carolina, the pandemic instigated an influx of people from around the country. Tourism Development Authority reports show increased visitation from states which the area previously had very few visitors. Additionally, people from cities around the United States relocated to rural areas at high rates during pandemic

induced shutdowns.

McManus has had a lot of new people reach out to her about Full Spectrum’s Service during the pandemic. Most of these people are new to the area.

Getting people back out and onto the farm will look different for everyone.

McManus has adopted Temple Grandin’s idea of “A Loving Push,” as the cornerstone philosophy in her work with clients at the farm and pushes her clients accordingly.

“My goal is to provide them a little step further, and then when they’re ready, a little step further,” said McManus.

HELPING OUT The presence of volunteers has also slowed down during the pandemic. The farm relies heavily on volunteers from Southwestern Community College and WCU. Students in the psychology department and occupational therapy studies have ample opportunity to work and volunteer on the farm. In order to keep things safe, the farm stopped having open days for volunteers when anyone could come to the farm and help out. Now, volunteers are required to be vaccinated to reduce risk of infection.

Greg Dozier is a WCU student volunteering at Full Spectrum Farms. On that sunny, fall afternoon he lingers on the front porch of the main house with staff and two long-time clients, Emily and Beth, chatting before it’s time to transition to art class.

Dozier first volunteered at the farm as a

Britt Davis explains art class activities to students. requirement for a service-learning class.

That class is long over but Dozier hasn’t stopped coming to the farm. He enjoys work at the farm, being a part of the Full Spectrum team.

“It’s become more than something I have to fulfill for a class. I like working with Emily and Beth, you can just see the differ-

ence that it makes in their lives. It just really opened my eyes to that and made me want to come back more,” said Dozier. “It’s not just helpful for them, it’s helpful for me too, to understand differences in people and how we all live and how we’re all different, but at the same time, we’re all the same.”

Smoky Mountain News

October 20-26, 2021

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• Haywood County Senior Resource Center, 81 Elmwood Way. Open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 30. To request an absentee ballot, call the Haywood County Board of Elections at 828.452.6633.

• Jackson County Board of Elections, 876 Skyland Dr. Open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 30. To request an absentee ballot, call the Jackson County Board of Elections at 828.586.7538.

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BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR unicipal elections in Western North Carolina will be held in some jurisdictions on Tuesday, Nov. 2, but in-person early voting is now available.

Through Saturday, Oct. 30, sites across Western North Carolina will be open to those who want to cast their ballots in advance of Election Day. No reason is needed for those who wish to use what is called “In-Person Absentee Voting” or “One-Stop Absentee Voting,” and voters can alternatively make their selections by mail as well.

To vote early, voters must appear at the designated early voting site in their home county between those dates. Most voters don’t need to show identification, but those who are voting for the first time or the first time in a new residence might, so it’s probably best just to bring it along just in case.

Vote-by-mail ballots are currently available. Request yours by calling your county board of elections office, or by visiting ncsbe.gov/voting/vote-mail.

EARLY VOTING LOCATIONS

october Special Expires Oct. 31, 2021.

• Macon County Community Building, 1288 Georgia Road. Open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 30. To request an absentee ballot, call the Macon County Board of Elections at 828.349.2034.

• Swain County Board of Elections, 1422 Hwy. 19 South. Open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 30. To request an absentee ballot, call the Swain County Board of Elections at 828.488.6463.

October 20-26, 2021

STAFF R EPORTS uring COVID-19, Haywood County Schools’ employees have gone above and beyond to support the community and encourage learning during the Coronavirus Pandemic. This began with meal deliveries to students and the community.

When the state allowed students to return to in-person schooling, Haywood County Schools opened its doors five days a week for rotational or daily attendance. Haywood County Schools have been very safe with limited clusters, strong academic and extra-curricular performance.

Haywood County Schools is instituting a Retention Bonus Plan, approved by the school board Oct. 11.

COVID-19 Retention Bonuses are only eligible for current employees who commit to continue working through the end of the 2021-22 school year. A signed commitment to continue working through the end of the 2021-22 school year is required prior to payment of any COVID- 19 Retention Bonuses.

The Retention Bonus Plan time period is March 2020 through June 2022.

Retention bonuses will be paid in several employee categories. Full-time employees currently employed by the school system will receive a retention bonus based upon their 10-month or 12-month contract work from March 2020 to present and their commitment to continue working until the end of their 10-month or 12-month contract period in June of 2022. Full-time current employees will receive the same monthly bonus rate regardless of job description.

Full-time employees are eligible to receive

$126 per month during the period based on their 10-month or 12-month contract.

Part-time employees currently employed by the school system will receive a retention bonus based upon their 10-month or 12month contract work from March 2020 to present and their commitment to continue in employment until the end of their 10month or 12-month contract period in June of 2022.

Part-time employees are eligible to receive $63 per month during the period based on their 10-month or 12-month contract.

Substitutes will be paid a bonus rate for each day served as a substitute during the 2020-21 school year. They will be paid a bonus rate for each day served as a substitute during the 2021-22 school year.

Substitutes are eligible to receive $5 per day for days worked during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years.

For the time period of March 2020 through November 2021, full-time and parttime employees may choose to receive their retention bonus with the November 2021 pay period or February 2022 pay period.

For the time period of December 2021 through June 2022, full-time and part-time employees will be paid near the conclusion of the 2021-22 school year.

Substitute pay for the 2020-21 school year will occur with the November 2021 pay period. Substitute pay for the 2021-22 school year will occur near the conclusion of the 2021-22 school year.

Retention bonuses for 10-month employees will not be paid for summer work.

Employees are not eligible for multiple bonus categories. Employees who qualify for multiple categories will be paid the rate for the highest category. Retention bonus pay is contingent on the approval of the Haywood County Board of Education and Federal ESSER regulations for retention bonus pay.

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Complaint filed against Town of Highlands

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR group of homeowners calling themselves the “Save Highlands Committee” has filed a legal complaint against the Town of Highlands for its decision to enforce a ban of short-term rentals within the R-1 residential area.

The group sent out a press release on Oct. 13 announcing they had hired Asheville law firm Allen Stahl + Kilbourne and filed the complaint to “protect the people whose livelihoods depend on travel and tourism, the personal rights already vested in individual property owners, and inclusivity in the Town of Highlands have taken legal steps to protect their neighbors and their rights.”

During an Aug. 24 meeting, Highlands Board of Commissioners voted to direct staff to enforce all of the town’s residential ordinances as written. While a broader discussion about the Unified Development Ordinance is being had, the big takeaway from that meeting is that the town will start enforcing the part of the ordinance that bans short-term rentals from the R-1 residential district beginning Jan. 3, 2022.

The UDO states that “any use not specifically set forth in the use category is expressly prohibited.” Since short-term rentals aren’t specified, they are not allowed under the current UDO. The town’s R-2 Districts, however, do specifically allow for “tourist homes” with

October 20-26, 2021

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a special-use permit. A tourist home includes bed and breakfasts and inns “Where sleeping accommodations of not more than four rooms are provided for occasional transient paying guests.”

According to the Save Highlands Committee, the Town of Highlands has allowed vacation rentals for decades and has permitted many property owners to make

Be heard • The next Town of Highlands Commissioner meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, via Zoom. The STR topic is listed on the agenda.

• For more information about the Save Highlands Committee, visit www.savehighlands.net.

• For more information on the Highlands Neighborhood Coalition, visit www.highlandsneighborhoodcoalition.com. substantial investments based on that policy.

The committee is seeking declaratory relief from the court to prevent the town from discriminating against property owners’ ability to use their property as they see fit, while providing favorable treatment to other property owners. They are not seeking monetary damages from the Town of Highlands.

The committee started a Go Fund Me page to raise money for legal fees and so far they’ve raised over $117,000 toward their $200,000 goal.

The committee has also enlisted the support of Old Edwards Inn, one of the largest service employers and one of the largest accommodations in Highlands.

“Old Edwards Hospitality Group is totally supportive of vacation rentals in Highlands and we always have been. There are simply not enough hotel rooms in town for the volume of visitors that have discovered Highlands and love visiting Highlands with their families. Banning vacation rentals in Highlands would have an immediate and drastic negative impact on us and all business-

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es in town that have come to rely on that additional room inventory over the last 20+ years.

In my estimates you could be talking about well over $10-$15 million spent in Highlands’ businesses annually by vacation rental guests.

How will all of us that have businesses in town replace that revenue?” wrote Old Edwards Inn President Richard M. Delany.

But the issue of short-term rentals in Highlands is not one sided. The Highlands Neighborhood Coalition was formed by residents who’ve experienced the downside to AirBnbs and VRBO rentals and want the town to enforce its ordinance.

Cathy Henson, president of the Highlands Neighborhood Coalition, recently sent out a letter to residents ask-

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ing for their support. She said she and her husband bought their home on Satulah Mountain in 2004 because Highlands provided the small-town experience they were looking for on holidays and weekends after working all week in Atlanta.

“Over the past few years, we have become concerned about the proliferation of short term rentals (STRs) in our residential neighborhood.

We bought our home relying on the Town of Highlands zoning designation of our neighborhood as R-1, which prohibits all commercial activities,” she wrote. “It specifically categorizes ‘Overnight Accommodations’ as a Commercial Use, and as such, under the Town’s Code, we have always believed this includes the short term rental of private residences.”

While no one really knows how many STRs are operating in the R-1 district right now, Henson said estimates range from 400 to 1,000. She believes that a majority of Highlands’ 25,000 second homeowners have also experienced the “alarming rate” of STR growth recently and the “outright fear that our beloved little town is being destroyed.”

Instead of seeing the same neighbors returning to their homes on the weekends, Henson said they have new neighbors every weekend who make a lot of noise playing music, letting their dogs bark, parties, fireworks and vehicles speeding up and down the narrow mountain roads putting others in danger.

“The infrastructure of Highlands is being overrun — traffic, trash, Covid exposure, and no affordable housing for local workers, to name only a few issues,” Henson said. “All mainly to serve the commercial purposes of an ever-expanding wedding event enterprise and related services. These events now far exceed the capacity of our town and thus are negatively impacting the long-standing and historic neighborhoods that, ironically, first attracted these events.”

The Coalition is preparing for a prolonged legal battle with the Save Highlands Committee but also the North Carolina General Assembly as legislators explore proposed legislation that would prohibit local governments from passing any restrictions on STRs in residential neighborhoods.

“As you might imagine, the proponents of STRs in R-1 neighborhoods are powerful — think wedding vendors, Airbnb, VRBO, and real estate rental companies,” Henson said.

The Saving Highlands Committee claims Mayor Pat Taylor nor any of the commissioners have come to the table to negotiate or find common ground.

“In effect, all remaining options for cordially protecting the rights of property owners and saving Highlands have been exhausted. We firmly believe the law is on our side regarding this issue,” the committee wrote in a letter to residents.

However, Taylor told The Smoky Mountain News last month that the discussion is far from over. Following a Sept. 16 closed meeting of the town board, Taylor signed a fee agreement with Craig Justus with Van Winkle Law Firm in Asheville. Justus will be reviewing and advising the town board on the current residential ordinances related to STRs, lodging and will provide legal advice as the review of STRs in residential areas moves forward.

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Drama continues to unfold around homelessness task force

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR he Town of Waynesville’s years-long attempt to address homelessness within its borders has been filled with raw emotion, whimsical theatrics and at times even elements of pure fiction, but the story’s far from over.

In presenting its final recommendations for consideration by the Waynesville Board of Aldermen on Oct. 12, the town’s Task Force on Homelessness now exits the stage.

Aldermen are set to ponder those recommendations and will soon write the next act in what’s become a long-form drama, but no one — aldermen and audience included — seems to know just yet how the story will end.

T

omelessness became a major political issue during the 2019 municipal election, during which all five members of Waynesville’s board were up for election.

Aldermen Jon Feichter and Julia Boyd Freeman were returned to the board, Alderman Gary Caldwell was elevated to mayor, and Chuck Dickson, along with Anthony Sutton, were elected as aldermen.

All of them knew the importance of the issue to voters.

Not long after the election, Caldwell called for the formation of a task force to study the problem and issue non-binding recommendations, but the emergence of COVID-19 took a toll on the process throughout most of 2020 and even into 2021.

More than a year after first meeting and upon completion of a 375-person community survey involving business owners, faith leaders, law enforcement officers, behavioral health and housing providers as well as people actually experiencing homelessness, the task force issued a set of draft recommendations this past July.

Those recommendations prompted “resounding opposition” from the public and much of the task force, and prompted several resignations from the task force as members struggled to arrive at consensus over final recommendations in September.

One thing the task force could agree on was to remove a recommendation in favor of establishing a low barrier shelter, in direct contradiction to the results of the survey, which showed that only 12.5% of survey respondents favored limiting or ending services to the unsheltered.

Indeed, the final recommendations presented by the task force held no mention of a low barrier shelter, but that hasn’t stopped a vocal minority from continuing to show up to town meetings demanding that a low barrier shelter not be opened in Waynesville.

Despite the shelter issue’s death back in September, 14 more people — plus one by proxy — spoke at the Oct. 12 meeting, all

H

report and take the information that that was put forward last Tuesday by Amy and apply that as I continue to go through the report,” Feichter said.

One thing he was certain of was that the low barrier shelter was, as Caldwell said, off the table.

“I have been very confused by the ongoing, comments about the issue. Somebody made a comment that the issue had been revived and that was news to me,” he said.

“I don’t understand where they’re getting their information, but to me, Task Force on Homelessness was very clear on that particular issue.”

Dickson likewise said he was still trying to make sense of all the information, but several things struck him, like the fact that most people experiencing homelessness in Haywood County are from Haywood “As I said before, there’s no low barrier County, and that most of them were shelters on the radar for this board.” unsheltered because they were — Gary Caldwell fleeing domestic violence.

Also like Feichter, Dickson said he’s trywon’t be pretty.” ing to decide if the hiring of a CARES coorStephanie Bell seemed to confuse the dinator is warranted.

CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Serving as the board’s representative on Economic Security) Act — a piece of the task force, Sutton followed the task Trump-era federal legislation meant to force’s progress from the start but refrained address the Coronavirus Pandemic — with from voting during task force meetings so the task force’s proposal to hire a CARES as not to influence what would ultimately (Coordination, All neighbors known by come before the board. name, Residence, Education, Supports) Sutton said that the low-barrier shelter coordinator. “was never really on the table,” for alderDuring Task Force Chair Dr. Amy men, and that the CARES coordinator Murphy-Nugen’s presentation to the board, could possibly be melded into existing posimembers of the crowd snickered and jeered tions, perhaps in partnership with the to the point that Sutton had to ask them to county. be quiet.

Feichter, Dickson and Sutton all Murphy-Nugen, who’d been the subject expressed a desire for some sort of formal of personal attacks throughout her tenure, meeting on the subject — maybe a town continued on with her presentation by hall, or a workshop, where the entire board emphasizing that 80 percent of survey could discuss the recommendations and respondents wanted to expand services to move forward. All three aldermen also said people experiencing homelessness, 64 perthey wanted to talk to task force members cent wanted government to address homeand other people tin the community as lessness using taxpayer dollars and 98 perwell. cent of people experiencing homelessness Caldwell said he also had a desire for would move into housing if they could some sort of gathering where the board afford it, with 75 percent of them saying could try to get on the same page. they could afford no more than $500 a “There they were some folks not happy month. and some folks happy [with the recommenNo low barrier shelter was mentioned dations],” he said. “As you know, you can’t

by Murphy-Nugen during her presentation, satisfy everybody but I think Amy’s done a leaving the hiring of the CARES coordinator good job with the report. We haven’t had a as the only real actionable item recomchance, you know, to talk about anything mended by the task force. But that, too, is a from it yet.” greatly diminished proposal from the task The Waynesville Board of Aldermen force’s original recommendation to hire one could decide to discuss the issue at any coordinator and several other assistants. time, or not. Stay tuned for further developUnderstandably, aldermen are still ments by visiting the town’s website, wayworking to absorb all aspects of Murphynesvillenc.gov.

Nugen’s voluminous final report.

Alderman Julia Boyd Freeman did not respond “From my perspective, I feel strongly to multiple requests for comment on this story. that I need some time to really dig into that against the low barrier shelter.

At one point, Caldwell stopped the public comment session to tell the crowd, “As I said before, there’s no low barrier shelters on the radar for this board.”

Whether through misinformation or deliberate ignorance, members of the crowd continued to rail against enemies both real and imagined.

Haywood County Republican Chair Kay Miller said the town should “cut our losses” and decline to act on any recommendations from the task force, in essence, leaving the issue at status quo.

Eric Oberhultz said the answer is to expand the jail.

Peggy Hannah threatened the board, saying “the ones that brought this here today, you are going to pay a price and it

Six more COVID-19 deaths in Haywood

Meet the candidates The Swain County Chamber of Commerce will host a new networking event — Caffeine & Conversation — at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, at Unplugged Pub, 25 Everett Street, Bryson City.

Speakers will be Bryson City Town Board candidates Steven Augustine, Ben King and John-Marc Gallagher who will each speak for about 10 minutes and then be available for private conversations.

For more information, call Karen at 828.488.3681 or 828.508.2795.

Town of Canton to honor veterans An annual Veterans Day ceremony sponsored by the town of Canton will take place at 11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 11 in the Pisgah High School auditorium, 1 Black Bear Dr., Canton.

Guest speakers will be U.S. Marine Corps veteran Darrell Honeycutt and Sgt. Maj. Matthew Brookshire, with a special musical performance by country music artist Matt Stillwell, emceed by Kiss-FM’s Eddie Fox. Later that day, Stillwell will give a free concert in Sorrells Street Park from 6 to 8 p.m. Bring chairs or blankets. Documented service ani-

BPR Radio expands to Cullowhee Jackson County residents can now hear Blue Ridge Public Radio’s all news and information channel, BPR News, on 90.5 FM. The signal expansion reflects BPR’s commitment to provide access to its two channels of service — BPR News and BPR Classic — throughout the Western North Carolina Region. BPR Classic can still be heard at 89.7 in the Jackson County area.

“This has been a long time in the making and we are grateful to Western Carolina University for making this new frequency possible. When we launched BPR News five years ago, we were not able to fully replicate the coverage area of our flagship station, BPR Classic,” said Blue Ridge Public Radio General Manager and CEO David Feingold.

“It’s a long and ongoing process, but through our strong relationships with WNC communities and a bit of ingenuity, we are making great progress. We are thrilled to be able to offer Jackson County listeners the choice of two great public radio channels — BPR News and BPR Classic.”

Listeners can find program schedules for BPR News and BPR Classic on its website at www.bpr.org.

Cope to serve life in prison It’s been almost 40 years, but this week in Macon County Superior Court, James Randal “Randy” Cope, 74, was convicted of molesting a child.

District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch reinstated two charges of sex offense first degree of child against Cope. Both cases date to 1982. He molested a child for about a decade, starting when she was about 3 years old.

On March 31 of this year, a Macon County Grand Jury indicted the Topton man. Cope was arrested at a residence in Whittier.

Welch said she decided to pursue the charges following Cope’s release from federal prison.

“Through his actions, he inflicted a life sentence on the victim,” Welch said. “This is not a man we wanted back on the streets.”

Cope served 15 years in federal prison. In 2006, he was charged, then convicted, of soliciting sex from a minor over the internet. This unrelated case originated in Cherokee County.

At that time, the family member reported Cope’s sexual abuse to authorities. Cope admitted he had abused her. The case against him, however, could not be pursued in state courts while he remained in federal custody.

Tuesday, Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Bill Coward consolidated the two sexoffense charges into one judgment. He sentenced Cope to life in prison.

Assistant District Attorney Jim Moore prosecuted the case. The State Bureau of Investigation handled the investigation.

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In the last three weeks, Haywood County has mourned the loss of six more people to COVID-19.

As of the date of this release, Haywood County has now lost 139 people to COVID-19.

Of those reported in this release, the youngest two were between the ages of 55-60.

One was between the ages of 65-70, one between the ages of 70-75, one between the ages of 75-80, and the oldest was between the ages of 90-95.

All of the deaths listed COVID-19 as the immediate or underlying cause of death on the death certificate. All died at either Haywood Regional Medical Center or Mission Hospital.

To protect the families’ privacy, no further information about the patients will be released.

“We at Haywood County Health and Human Services extend our deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones during this time of loss,” said Health Director Sarah Henderson.

“COVID-19 is a serious and sometimes deadly illness. We ask everyone to consider the pain and loss this virus can bring with it and do everything you can to help prevent its spread. We urge everyone to continue to be vigilant about masking and social distancing any time you’re going to be around people who are unvaccinated or in large group settings. Get vaccinated, wash your hands regularly, and stay home if you’re not feeling well.”

To stay up to date on COVID-19 in Haywood County visit www.haywoodcountync.gov/684/ coronavirus-covid-19-information.

DowntownWaynesville.com

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Smoky Mountain News October 20-26, 2021

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Health

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HRMC offering robotic-assisted surgery Orthopedic surgeons at Haywood Regional Medical Center now have a helping hand for knee replacement surgery. Specially trained orthopedic physicians are now performing robotic-assisted surgery for total knee replacements.

“Robotic-assisted knee replacement provides superior precision in alignment and ligament balancing. I am very excited to be part of the next evolution of knee replacement for improved patient outcomes and satisfaction,” said Dr. Arnold Silverberg, orthopedic surgeon, who performed the first robotic-assisted case this month.

Robotic surgery, or roboticassisted surgery, allows surgeons the ability to perform complex procedures with added precision, flexibility, and control than with many conventional techniques. Patients may benefit from less pain, faster recovery times, fewer complications, shorter hospital stays, smaller incisions, and less noticeable scars.

“Joint-replacement surgery is not always an easy decision,” said Greg Caples, CEO of HRMC. “We are pleased to have this new technology at the fingertips of our orthopedic surgeons, to help our patients feel at ease when making that decision. This is just another way we are advancing our mission of Making Communities Healthier.“ To take a joint pain assessment, visit www.myhaywoodregional.com/joint. To find an orthopedic surgeon, call 800.424.DOCS (3627).

HRMC scholarships Haywood Regional Medical Center presented four scholarships to students at the County Clash football game Friday, Oct. 15.

The scholarships of $1,000 each are presented to students with the top GPAs in band and football at Pisgah and Tuscola High Schools.

John-Paul Pless, Pisgah High School, received a Band Scholarship. Pless plays the trumpet in the marching band and enjoys many additional extracurriculars, including working on his Eagle Scout rank in the Boy Scouts and serving as a volunteer firefighter. After graduating, he plans to attend Western Carolina University or Fayetteville State University with a concentration in emergency services curriculum.

Jonah Ottie, Tuscola High School, received a Band Scholarship. In addition to seven years playing baritone, Ottie also participates in swimming and tennis. He is hoping to go to NC State for Mechanical Engineering.

Gabe Nussman, Pisgah High School, received a Football Scholarship. Nussman has been a starter linebacker on varsity football for two years. Gabe plans to attend Western Carolina University or Carson Newman University.

Truongan “Ham” Nguyen, Tuscola High School, received a Football Scholarship. In addition to playing football as wide receiver, Nguyen also participates in wrestling. He’s still deciding his college choice but would like to major in biology.

HRMC cardiopulmonary rehab program certified Haywood Regional Medical Center recently announced the certification of its cardiopulmonary rehabilitation program by the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR).

This certification is recognition of HRMC’s commitment to improving the quality of life of patients by enhancing standards of care. Cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation programs are designed to help people with cardiovascular problems (heart attacks, coronary artery bypass graft surgery) and pulmonary problems (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD], respiratory symptoms) recover faster and live healthier. Both programs include exercise, education, counseling and support for patients and their families.

To earn accreditation, HRMC’s cardiopulmonary

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rehabilitation program participated in an application process that required extensive documentation of the program’s practices. AACVPR Program Certification is the only peer-review accreditation process designed to review individual programs for adherence to standards and guidelines developed and published by AACVPR and other related professional societies.

Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Chrissy Crump, RN, Infusion Therapy.

The award is part of the DAISY Foundation’s mission to recognize the extraordinary, compassionate nursing care they provide patients and families every day.

Harris Regional Hospital and Swain Community Hospital have announced that the ‘Smoky Streak to Health’ free fun walk, 5K/10K event is open to the community. The Smoky Streak to Health will no longer be held in person due to COVID-19. Instead, the race will be held virtually between Friday, Oct. 22 until and Sunday Oct. 24.

Registration closes Wednesday Oct. 20. Race participants can sign up to race a 5K, 10K, or Fun Walk. After racing, participants are encouraged to post their completed time on the event page and will be mailed a free Smoky Streak T-shirt.

Register for the race at, www. runsignup.com/race/nc/sylva/smokystreaktohealth.

Hospital last month and will begin seeing patients in Macon County on Oct. 20 at Harris Women’s Care – Franklin.

Blattner specializes in prenatal care, family planning, and low-risk and high-risk care.

“By welcoming Dr. Blattner to Harris Women’s Care – Franklin, in addition to her practice in Sylva, we are expanding access to the highest quality women’s care in western North Carolina,” said LaCrystal Gordon, Chief Nursing Officer and Interim CEO for Harris Regional Hospital and Swain Community Hospital. “We are excited for the women and families of Macon County and North Georgia to have access to compassionate, convenient care in Franklin.”

Blattner obtained her medical degree from Emory University and completed her internship and residency at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, then practiced as an OB/GYN in the Navy.

After her commitment with the Navy was completed, she was in private practice in Hendersonville before practicing in Colorado for the past nine years.

For more information, visit the Find a Provider page on www.myharrisregional.com/schedule or call 844.414.DOCS.

New OB/GYN at Harris Smoky Streak Fun Walk, Women’s Care Dr. Jennifer Blatter, a board-certified OB/GYN, 5K/10K returns joined Harris Women’s Care at Harris Regional

Mission offers locations for opioid take back day Mission Health is partnering with local law enforcement agencies on Oct. 23 to host Crush the Crisis opioid take back event at five of its hospital locations.

Opioid misuse is a public health crisis in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of drug overdose deaths increased by nearly 5% from 2018 to 2019 and has quadrupled since 1999.

More than 70% of the 70,630 deaths in 2019 involved an opioid.

HCA Healthcare’s Crush the Crisis events will align with National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, sponsored by The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

The community can safely and anonymously drop off unused and expired medication for proper disposal on Saturday, Oct. 23: 10 a.m to 2 p.m. at Mission Hospital, 1 Hospital Drive. Asheville; 9 a.m. to noon at Angel Medical Center, 120 Riverview Street, Franklin; 10 a.m. to noon at Blue Ridge Regional Hospital. 125 Hospital Drive, Spruce Pine; 9 a.m. to noon at Highland-Cashiers Hospital, 190 Hospital Drive, Highlands and from 10 a.m. to noon at Mission Hospital McDowell, 430 Rankin Drive, Marion.

Needles, syringes, lancets, inhalers and liquids will not be accepted. For more information, call 833.582.1970.

Recipients of The DAISY Award Haywood Regional Medical Center recently presented The DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses for this quarter’s winners Tara Carter, RN, of the

Harris, Swain partner with WCU athletics Harris Regional Hospital and Swain Community Hospital recently announced a threeyear partnership extension with Western Carolina University to remain the exclusive healthcare provider for Catamount Athletics through The Ascent Partnership.

For decades, the hospitals’ support for Catamount Athletics has included physician-led game and injury coverage for WCU student-athletes, physical therapy and sports medicine services on the sidelines and on the court, and clinical rotations for students training in musculoskeletal disciplines. The Ascent Partnership formalized the relationship in 2015 featuring an exclusive corporate sponsorship for all WCU sports.

“We are thrilled to continue our extensive partnership with Harris Regional Hospital and Swain Community Hospital,” said Alex Gary, WCU Director of Athletics. “This relationship positively impacts Catamount Athletics in so many ways and is a vital component to our student-athlete experience.”

The Harris and Swain medical team will evaluate and treat injuries in a new Harris/Swain triage tent at all home and away football games.

20

Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

When being a mom breaks your heart B

Why ask Cawthorn to speak to police?

To the Editor: The Macon County Chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police had Rep. Madison Cawthorn as the guest speaker Friday for the Law Enforcement Memorial Service on Franklin’s Town Square. It was a bit ironic.

With all the remarkable officers — active and retired in and around Macon County — why Madison?

Madison was introduced Friday by Sheriff Robbie Holland, word for word from the CPAC website. (CPAC is the Republican-led Political Action Conference) The strangeness of Madison speaking at a law enforcement memorial was that he praised officers who would refuse to enforce laws he does not agree with. He alleged that in Washington he works with federal agencies such as the CIA, ATF, FBI. He derided them saying they enforce unconstitutional laws. He said he believes local law enforcement officers would refuse any law that would shut down a church, infringe on freedom of speech or confiscate a firearm. All of which he said were unconstitutional. He called officers who would not enforce such laws “great Americans.”

got his AirPods in and is playing Cities:Skylines or FIFA. Over the past five years, I have become skilled at traveling through the stages of grief. I’ve had to grieve the death of my mother, the loss of my marriage, the dismantling of my family unit and the selling of the family home. Grief is truly one of life’s hardest emotions, mostly because we only grieve what we have once loved.

The way I’m feeling lately about watching my little boy grow up feels a lot like grief. I transition from denial and sadness to anger and bargaining and back again. I am grieving the loss of my child’s boyhood. He’s not a little Columnist boy anymore, but a young man. There have been many tears with this transition, just like the other episodes of grief in my life.

Yet, I’ve also learned there is a light at the end of the tunnel, which is called acceptance. After a while, one comes to accept the new normal and can even embrace it for the goodness, change and opportunity it offers. And the difference between grief over the loss of a loved one and the grief I’m feeling now is that watching a child get older also offers joy.

I’m already noticing how very cool it is to have this adolescent in my life. He’s brilliant, witty and discerning. While we no longer talk about which LEGO set he wants for Christmas or his favorite engine from Thomas the Train, we talk about politics, climate change, football scores and finances. It’s inspiring and incredible to watch him grow up and become this new version of himself, this young person that will one day turn into a man who will be one of my dearest friends.

Most importantly, I can’t make this about me. Yes, I’m struggling to watch my child grow up, but he seems to be

Susanna Shetley

eing a mom is always hard, but there is something uniquely challenging about parenting an adolescent. For me, it felt like my 12-year-old morphed into a young man overnight. Within one calendar year, he grew six inches and three shoes sizes. I watched his pants grow shorter each day like he was a superhero molting into a larger, more powerful form. Suddenly his voice was deeper, and I found myself grasping for his little boy octave, the one without the baritone sound and crackly inflection.

Meanwhile, he became more agile, stronger and faster. His skills on the soccer field, swimming pool and track improved.

He’d always been a good athlete, but his longer limbs and height gave him an advantage over players who’d yet reached their growth spurt. His features sharpened and he lost the baby fat that gives kids the appearance of innocence and vulnerability.

Despite his athleticism improving, the growth spurt also made his bones temporarily fragile. Within the last 15 months, he’s broken three different bones in his right arm from skateboarding, snowboarding and playing ultimate Frisbee, respectively. The first one required surgery, all three required casts, and each incident put him out of sports and induced stress on everyone involved.

The little boy who once loved to hold my hand while walking around downtown Asheville to look around the rock and mineral store or play with the toys at Mast General now prefers to stay home and play baseball or kick footballs with his brother and friends.

My kid who was a little scared to watch “Ghostbusters” and Harry Potter is now asking if he can watch Outer Banks and Squid Game. He’s curious about documentaries, books, shows and movies that feel too mature for him, but are they?

Instead of asking to play Scrabble or Monopoly with me, he’s

enjoying it, this new freedom and independence that come along with adolescence. Instead of wearing him down with my sadness and clinginess, I need to build him up and support his endeavors and interests.

We had a long conversation recently that no matter how big or old he gets, it’s important that we stay close, that he talks to me about the hard things and the easy things. He can get older, but I can’t let him slip away.

For moms and dads of young ones, I know the days seem long and hard. There is a lot of mental stress and physical work when kids are little, but take the time to soak it all in. Stop and play a six-hour game of Monopoly. Relish the fact you can still help pick out their clothes or that they sit on your lap.

I look at my younger son who is nine and know that in a blink of an eye, he too will be an adolescent. I’m trying to hang on to every moment of his childhood. I don’t want more babie,s but sometimes I wish I could go back in time and experience young motherhood for a fleeting moment, to remember what it’s like to hear their little chattering voices and pitter-pattering feet.

With all of these hard emotions, there is also gratitude.

Gratitude that my son is evolving into a wonderful, respectful young man. Gratitude that he is healthy and kind and works hard in school and athletics. Gratitude for the village of men in his life who are serving as incredible role models and mentors.

In the early days of being a mom, I thought that each phase would get easier, but it really never gets easy when you’re a parent, does it? No matter how old our children are, there is worry, but there is also the fiercest love a person can ever know.

(Susanna Barbee is a writer, editor and digital media specialist for The Smoky Mountain News, Smoky Mountain Living and Mountain South Media. susanna.b@smokymountainnews.com)

LETTERS Let’s not forget Madison joined the insurrectionists at the Jan. 6 assault on our Democracy in the same manner as did former President Trump. Hundreds of law enforcement officers were wounded and assaulted.

Cawthorne told N.C. Republicans on Sept. 1 “bloodshed” would follow Jan 6 (that was in Macon County at the Republican headquarters located in a flea market).

Madison admires militias. He flouts the law while calling himself a believer of “constitutional” democracy, all the while trying to circumvent the Constitution.

He has boasted publicly about busting out the “political prisoners” arrested for the “stop the steal” fiasco. He has backed Trump’s lie that the election was stolen.

Cawthorn has been called out for carrying a knife at school board meetings, sometimes at boards not in his district. He has been at these meetings ranting against masking and promoting home schooling. He has railed against public education. He was home schooled.

Cawthorn was caught with a gun in a carry-on bag at the Asheville Airport. He claimed he was armed inside the Capitol building during the Trump-blessed rampage at the capitol where dozens of police officers were injured, some very seriously.

Cawthorn appears to believe his political office allows him to flout the law.

He dropped out of James Madison University after one semester of “Ds.” Many of his fellow students there accused him of sexual predatory behavior.

Cawthorn tried to convince the public that he was headed for a career in the military

before his accident. He was never accepted at the United States Naval Academy as he wanted the public to believe. Being nominated and being accepted are not the same. Politicians hand out nominations like candy on Halloween. Getting in and graduating are another matter. I also question the “full-ride ROTC scholarship” to N.C.

Does American history deserve a ‘content warning?’

State the CPAC claims.

Cawthorn had never held a public office until he was elected a member of Congress on a fluke, riddled with controversy.

Although he was not accepted to a military academy, nor did he join the military, I would suggest to him to abide by the honor code many military academies employ. “A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal or tolerate those who do.” This is honor and integrity.

This code would be applicable to anyone in public office. Including Congress.

Bob Scott Franklin

ting better. I for one support the millions of employees who are standing up for better wages, a living wage. I appreciate the courage they are demonstrating to ask for a better quality of life for their families.

In this great country how is it possible that there are no affordable homes for the average workers who have to hold down three jobs to make ends barely meet.

Affordable childcare does not exist and medical care is challenging. During this unique time that we’re in that will eventually pass the little people have to take a stand against the corporate billionaires who have been getting away for decades now with wage suppression. It is past time for average, hard-working Americans to make a good salary that will ensure there is no need for food assistance, welfare or other charity handouts.

Here in Haywood County, with the enormous influx of new residents who have purchased homes for three times what they are actually worth, is just one example of how they affected the market for the regular folk that live here. Now I notice many more BMWs, Mercedes, Range Rovers, etc., on Russ Avenue and cannot help but wonder how much our little town is changing. And the same thing is happening in all the other counties around here. Will the low-paying jobs here combined with no affordable homes drive the workforce away?

Mylan Sessions Balsam

This place is changing To the Editor: This past year plus has been challenging for us all due to a nasty global virus. It has caused multiple catastrophic problems affecting our personal life along with the global economy. While we are far from a full recovery yet, many of our businesses have successfully reinvented themselves and others sadly have not. Hundreds of new businesses are thriving the old-fashioned way due to innovation and new ideas.

The bad news is as very spoiled Americans we are not accustomed to the recent shortages of goods and products in the stores or parts needed for production.

Then to see in the news now that many workers are going on strike and may worsen the current situation it seems nothing is get-

Smoky Mountain News

of less enlightened eras, in their work of cataloging and describing the Archive’s holdings. (To me, this represents a refreshing effort at self-policing and addressing past wrongs). Finally, there is no language in the NARA statement about “physiological and psychological symptoms’ — that was someone’s fanciful elaboration as, again, the story got twisted via the internet.

In any event, you can read the NARA statement for yourself here: https://www.archives.gov/research/reparative-description/harmful-content.

We can debate whether the raw materials of American history held in the National Archives deserve a content warning. In my view, some of them surely do. (Pardon me if I wince when I hear our founders, in the Declaration, describe America’s Indigenous Peoples as “merciless Indian Savages.”) Still, some among us will only be comfortable embracing a cherry-picked, romanticized and sanitized version of our national experience. Please acknowledge, though, that the folks at NARA, given their mandate, simply don’t have that luxury.

Oh, yes: the quote the writer attributes to Thomas Jefferson about “a government big enough to give you everything ....” is totally bogus. No such thing is found among Jefferson’s writings or quoted words.

It actually first appeared in print in 1952 and, not surprisingly, became popular in conservative Republican circles.

Tom Powers Haywood County

October 20-26, 2021

To the Editor: My first impression was that the letter writer’s claim (SMN, Oct. 6) was just the latest bit of alarmist fake news spinning off the internet: that the National Archives was now attaching a “warning” to our treasured foundational documents that are entrusted to their care. As it turns out, even though the letter writer got almost nothing right, my favorite go-to debunking source snopes.com, labels the basic story as “Mostly true.” The problem is (as usual) that this item bounced around as a meme on social media, in the process getting twisted, almost beyond recognition, into some nefarious attack on our basic freedoms.

So, let’s be perfectly clear what we’re talking about. Yes, since early September, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has added a “Potentially Harmful Content Alert” as a banner appearing on their online catalog pages and some of their online digital content, which of course encompasses a dizzying array of documents and media reflecting the entire gamut of the American experience, warts and all.

But, Archive employees have not, as the writer claimed, erected a physical sign over our founding documents on display in the nation’s capital! Nor have they called the U.S. Constitution “outdated, offensive and insensitive.” That exact phrase, in fact, is part of a disclaimer referring to NARA’s own activities, specifically some of the terminology used by their archivists

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A&E

Smoky Mountain News

In the shadow of the pines Unspoken Tradition.

Ty Gilpin of Unspoken Tradition

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD ARTS & E NTERTAINMENT E DITOR ith a slew of chart-topping bluegrass hits, including the No. 1 “Dark Side of the Mountain,” Cherryville-based string quintet Unspoken Tradition represents the latest chapter of the “high, lonesome sound” in Western North Carolina and greater Southern Appalachia.

Like many bluegrass acts, the ensemble came to fruition as a group of longtime friends, sitting and picking together in their free time.

W

Each bandmate has a day job in a variety of different industries and occupations, each encompassing a deep, vibrant appreciation for the sacred ways and means of traditional music and artistic collaboration.

And yet, even with its core of traditional traits and techniques, Unspoken Tradition remains a sponge for its surroundings — this ever-evolving musical flow meandering across the sonic landscape in whatever direction the sound may take.

Smoky Mountain News: With the idea of an “unspoken tradition,” regarding bluegrass, no matter what decade or place you were raised, the musical traditions are the bridge.

Ty Gilpin (mandolin): Unspoken tradition is

Smoky Mountain Bluegrass Festival Featuring Balsam Range, Unspoken Tradition and The Kruger Brothers, the Smoky Mountain Bluegrass Festival will take place Saturday, Oct. 23, at the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds.

A fundraiser for the Haywood County Arts Council, the all-day event is rooted in Appalachian craft traditions.

Alongside live music, there will also be a variety of activities, including adult lawn games and a children’s area for the young ones with music-themed art projects, puppet playing, and more.

Local food trucks, craft beer and a specialty cocktail will also be onsite. Gates open at 11:30 a.m.

traditional music. It’s unspoken in the sense that you don’t have to sit there and explain it to everybody. And even within bluegrass, there are various nuances, right?

So, if someone plays a song by a particular group — a Blue Highway song or a Stanley Brothers song — we’re going to say, “Let’s put it in the ditch.” That’s sort of a pocket groove.

Keep the tempo. Not fast. Not sped up. Not hyper-speed. More of a smooth, laidback style.

Pocket style.

You use terms like that within this canon of music that you’re playing. It’s a cultural thing.

It’s an unspoken tradition. If it’s a Ralph Stanley groove or Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs groove, people know what that means — it’s a common ground.

General admission tickets are $45 and will be lawn seats, which means you bring your own blanket or chair and find a spot to spend the day on. VIP tickets are $95 per person, which includes two free drinks, snacks, a custom designed American made T-shirt and a guaranteed seat under the tent.

Youth ages 12-20 are $35 each, with children under age 12 admitted free.

HCAC is also looking for volunteers to help on the day of the event. Volunteers get a free T-shirt and of course free entry.

The festival would not be possible without strong partnerships and generous sponsors. The Haywood County Tourism Development Authority and WNC Social Media Buzz are title sponsors.

For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on www.haywoodarts.org or call 828.452.0593.

SMN: Your band rides the line between the neo-traditional and progressive camps of bluegrass. What do you think about rapidly rising progressive acts like Billy Strings, who just won the IBMA for “Entertainer of the Year”?

TG: First of all, I think Billy is worth that recognition, especially in the last year where he continued to play and put on performances.

Although some of those shows were virtual throughout 2020, those appearances have given even more people access to see what he could do.

And there was no question that what he can do is steadfast in the tradition of [bluegrass] music and the Doc Watson tradition, even in the Tony Rice tradition — he’s playing genuine, great bluegrass.

SMN: But, it’s on his terms. It’s uniquely his.

At the core he’s bluegrass, but he was also raised with rock-n-roll and metal music, too.

TG: Well, hopefully everybody that’s playing bluegrass has their unique [approach]. I think when you look at a lot of the modern bluegrass artists, even those that are labeled as more traditional, you’re going to see those same influences.

Bluegrass has evolved. I mean, if you look at groups like Sideline, Balsam Range, Lonesome River Band, all those groups that are probably more firmly attributed to a different camp than Billy’s are still drawn to the same things.

And I don’t see a whole lot of difference stylistically, musically with what they’re doing. I think the difference is Billy, attributing to his aesthetic, has been able to be more accessible to a younger audience.

And what I think what he’s doing — more than anything — is paving the way for people to discover bluegrass much in the same way that Jerry Garcia and Old & In The Way did.

There are so many more [bluegrass] festivals and so many more quality bands [nowadays]. It’s like everything else. Every generation sets a new standard, a new bar. It’s true in sports, academia, and science.

Everybody is building on top of the prior and it’s progressing towards a higher and higher standard — there’s just no way that a music [like bluegrass], with that kind of higher standard progression, is not going to be carried on.

The Kruger Brothers.

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

Helen, Georgia.

Drifting back down to earth at the peak of beauty

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Country megastar Clint Black will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

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The 25th annual PumpkinFest will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, in downtown Franklin.

2 3 4 5

Valley Tavern (Maggie Valley) will host the Drag Night Halloween Showcase at 9 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 22.

The annual Plow Day & Harvest Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, at Darnell Farms in Bryson City.

Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host The Jeb Rogers Band at 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23.

Outdoor Stage & Dining Live Music | Amazing Eats Smoky Mountain News

tion from green to yellow to departure to the ground.

Soon, the city limit sign for Helen appeared along G.A. 75. (aka: Unicoi Turnpike). Immediately, the scene went from desolate North Georgia forests and babbling creeks outside the car windows to sidewalks jam-packed with tourists — a feeding frenzy for prime real estate in the parking lots, the smell of fresh pretzels, grilled brauts and spilled beer wafting through the air.

Emerging from the vehicle, it was a sensory-overload akin to that of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, or Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

But, in the form of a small town, you dig?

Shop after shop filled with souvenirs.

Restaurant after restaurant offering its own

WEST ASHVILLE’S LARGEST OPEN AIR MUSIC & FOOD VENUE

October 20-26, 2021

t was 8:17 a.m. Sunday. With only a handful of hours of sleep behind me, I got up and threw on warmer clothes before venturing into the chilly mountain morning in downtown Waynesville. I was told to be ready to leave town by 9:45 a.m.

Less than an hour and half to wander up to my boss’ house to feed his dog and check on his property while he was out of town, to go for a quick run to sweat out the shenanigans of the Saturday night, to shower and head across town to Hazelwood to meet up with friends to motor down to Helen, Georgia, for a “Sunday Funday” of Oktoberfest proportions — German ales, brauts and the usual tomfoolery.

I didn’t make 9:45 a.m. More so, it was 10:30 a.m. when the large SUV exited the driveway and merged onto the Great Smoky Mountains Expressway. Past Sylva, Franklin, onward over the state line into Hiawassee, Georgia.

Now, normally, I’d steer far away from any kind of tourist town in the mountains during the peak of the foliage season. But, I was easily swayed by beer and brauts. That, and the other three members of our crew were freewheelin’ folks who could enjoy a carefree drink and meal amid the chaos of people and things in a heavily-trafficked environment of knickknacks, overpriced food and endless pours of lagers and hefeweizens.

Throughout the two-hour or so cruise, it seemed the foliage was still a little bit away from peak. The sun was warm. Cool in the shade. But, many of the trees have yet to give into Mother Nature, the ancient transi-

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arts & entertainment

This must be the place

take on German cuisine. Lines of impatient faces outside the hostess station. Crowds of inebriated rosy cheeks inside the biergartens.

It’s surreal to take a moment to step outside of the rollicking scene unfolding before your eyes, to take a bird’s-eye view of the who, what and why of Helen, the “Smallest German town in America.”

With a year-round population hovering around 500 residents, the community was formerly a logging town that had seen better days, only to be transformed into a Bavarian alpine town to attract tourists and their wallets.

Strolling the packed sidewalks and businesses, I kept thinking about how the entire town just seemingly decided one day to change the entire physical and emotional aesthetic of itself in hopes of brighter days ahead, economically speaking. This nothing left to lose attitude, with a wild-n-out idea that has stuck to the wall of dreams in such financially-successful ways its founders couldn’t even have fathomed back then.

At one point, I noticed that many of the downtown alpine-style buildings were of mixed-use, meaning the second floors are apartments and residences. How crazy it must be for locals, who live and work in Helen, to simply walk down the stairs and enter the day by stepping directly into a biergarten and, well, do the whirlwind all over again — especially during the massive Oktoberfest celebration that continues on and on for weeks each fall.

Somewhere between my fourth stein of lager and fifth braut, it was decided by the group to head back to our nearby cabin for the night. Unlock the front door of the humble A-frame abode with three bedrooms, back deck, fire pit and hot tub. Crack a nightcap and throw on the grill for some evening snacks. Put on your swim trunks and hop into the sizzling waters of chlorine and power jets.

Another adventure of irresponsible enlightenment in the books. Memories made in haste and in the hazy nature of biergartens, the only physical reminder being the large 32ounce glass drinking boot that was impulsively bought when it was found out you could keep the object once you finished your beer.

Tourist for a day. Memories for a lifetime, eh? Ah, the beauty of nothing and everything. Beer and brauts. The inundation of societal noise at peak foliage season in a mountain town. The silence now discovered in a hot tub under a canopy of old trees, with one leaf at a time tumbling down upon those in search of simple pleasures.

Always seek the chance to poke the universal unknowns of time and place. Pack up the car and hit the road. Be a tourist. Do it up. It ain’t so bad, even for a purist, minimalist like myself. Besides, there’s always a German lager and braut within reach, especially within the town limits of Helen, Georgia. Provoke the chaos, I say.

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

(Garret K. Woodward is the arts and entertainment editor for The Smoky Mountain News.

He’s also the music editor for Smoky Mountain Living magazine and a contributing writer for Rolling Stone. You can reach him at garret@smokymountainnews.com.)

743 HAYWOOD RD. WEST ASHEVILLE ISISASHEVILLE.COM 828.575.2737

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arts & entertainment

On the beat Natti Love Joys.

Clint Black.

Reggae, soul at Lazy Hiker The Natti Love Joys will perform at 8 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 29, at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Sylva, and at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Franklin.

A roots-rock-reggae band that has been playing live since 2003, the group consists of

Smoky Mountain News

October 20-26, 2021

Bryson City community jam

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Franklin welcomes Clint Black

A community jam will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.

Anyone with a guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dulcimer, anything unplugged, are invited to join. Singers are also welcomed to

husband and wife duo Anthony “Jatti” Allen and Sonia “Marla” Allen.

Jatti was previously the bassist for the reggae group The Congos, while Marla originates from the cult all female reggae group Love Joys, where she recorded two albums under the legendary Wackies label run by Lloyd Barnes (Bullwackie).

Both shows are free and open to the public. www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

join in or just stop by and listen. The jam is facilitated by Larry Barnett of the Sawmill Creek Porch Band. The music jams are offered to the public each first and third Thursday of the month — year-round.

This program received support from the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment of the Arts.

828.488.3030.

Learn the dulcimer The Pic’ & Play Mountain Dulcimer Players will be resuming in-person jam sessions at the St. John’s Episcopal Church basement fellowship hall in Sylva.

The group welcomes all beginners and experienced dulcimer players, including mountain (lap) dulcimer and hammered dulcimer players. Songs played include traditional mountain tunes, hymns, and more modern music. The group meets at 1:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Saturday of every month in the basement of St. John’s.

Pic’ & Play has been playing together since 1995. The more experienced members welcome new players, help them navigate their instruments, and guide them through some of the basics of tuning, strumming, and playing.

The mountain dulcimer, also known as a fretted dulcimer or a lap dulcimer, is a uniquely American instrument. It evolved from the German scheitholz sometime in the early 1800s in Appalachia and was largely known only in this region until popularized more broadly in the 1950s.

For more information, call Kathy Jaqua at 828.349.3930 or Don Selzer at 828.293.0074.

Country megastar Clint Black will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

Black surged to superstardom as part of the fabled “Class of ’89,” reaching No. 1 with five consecutive singles from his triple-platinum debut, “Killin’ Time.” He followed that with the triple-platinum “Put Yourself in My Shoes,” and then a string of platinum and gold albums throughout the 1990s.

Perhaps most impressively, Black wrote or co-wrote every one of his more than three-dozen chart hits, including “A Better Man,” “Where Are You Now,” “When My Ship Comes In,” “A Good Run of Bad

Luck,” “Summer’s Comin’,” “Like the Rain” and “Nothin’ But the Taillights,” part of a catalog that produced 22 No. 1 singles and made him one of the most successful singer/songwriters of the modern era.

Along the way, he’s earned more than a dozen gold and platinum awards in the U.S. and Canada, landed nearly two dozen major awards and nominations, won a Grammy Award, countless Country Music Association, American Music Awards and Academy of Country Music Awards, as well as a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Tickets start at $40 per person with priority seating available. For more information and to purchase tickets, click on www.smokymountainarts.com.

USAF jazz band showcase

with audiences of all ages.

The high-level of talent by each member enables “Rhythm in Blue” to perform an extensive repertoire highlighting instrumental and vocal soloists, delivering exciting and uplifting music to please every palate, inspire patriotism and tell the Air Force story.

At every performance, the band honors American military veterans for their selfless sacrifice and shares the message of excellence, courage and commitment displayed every day by the brave men and women of the U.S. Air Force serving throughout the world.

The performance is free and open to the public. For more information, click on www.smokymountainarts.com, call 828.524.ARTS or email arts4all@dnet.net.

The Arts Council of Macon County will present the United States Air Force “Heritage of America Band’s” dynamic “Rhythm in Blue” concert at 3 p.m. Sunday Oct. 24, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

The program features classic and contemporary jazz and patriotic music performed by a 13-member ensemble of outstanding enlisted professional musicians.

“Rhythm in Blue” takes pride in preserving America’s uniquely original art form and is in constant demand, playing for diverse audiences from Maine to South Carolina and making lasting connections

On the beat

• Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host karaoke at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, trivia at 7 p.m. on Thursdays, The Jeb Rogers Band Oct. 23 and the Halloween Bash Oct. 29. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.246.0350 or www.boojumbrewing.com.

• The Classic Wineseller (Waynesville) will host Kevin Williams (piano/vocals) Oct. 23 ($10 cover) and The Russ Wilson Duo (guitar/vocals) Oct. 30 ($10 cover). All shows begin at 7 p.m. Limited seating.

Reservations required. 828.452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com.

• Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.369.4080 or www.coweeschool.org.

• Elevated Mountain Distilling Company will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public.

828.734.1084 or www.elevatedmountain.com.

• Friday Night Live (Highlands) will be held at the Town Square from 6 to 8:30 p.m. with

Byrds & Crow Oct. 22 and live music Oct. 29.

Free and open to the public. www.highlandschamber.org.

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host J.C. Tokes & The Empty Pockets Oct. 22, Mike Oregano Oct. 23, Life Like Water 2 p.m. Oct. 24, Space Granny Oct. 29 and Bonafide Oct. 30. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.454.5664 or www.froglevelbrewing.com.

ALSO:

and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host Scoundrel’s Lounge Oct. 22 and a Halloween Bash w/Natti Love Joys Oct. 29. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Holly Springs Community Center (Franklin) will host its fall festival with Steff Mahan (singer-songwriter) from noon to 3 p.m. Oct. 30. Free and open to the public.

• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host Scott James Stambaugh Oct. 22, Somebody’s Child Oct. 23, Wyatt Espalin Oct. 29, Twelfth Fret Oct. 30 and Alma Russ 5 p.m. Oct. 31. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.538.0115 or www.mtnlayersbeer.com.

• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host Nick Colavito (singer-songwriter) 2 p.m. Oct. 24.

All events are free and begin at 2 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.innovation-brewing.com.

• Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host Jenu Six & The Old Souls Oct. 22 and Shane Meade & The Sound (rock/soul) Nov. 5. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. 828.641.9797 or www.nantahalabrewing.com.

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. www.innovation-brewing.com.

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

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host Scoundrel’s Lounge Oct. 23 and a Halloween Bash w/Natti Love Joys Oct. 30. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free

• Saturdays On Pine (Highlands) will be held at Kelsey-Hutchinson Park from 6 to 8:30 p.m. with Eli Mosley Oct. 23. Free and open

to the public. www.highlandschamber.org.

• Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts (Franklin) will host the United States Air Force Heritage of America Band Rhythm in Blue Jazz Ensemble at 3 p.m. Oct. 24. The performance is free and open to the public.

Presented in conjunction with the Arts Council of Macon County. For more information and to purchase tickets, click on www.smokymountainarts.com.

arts & entertainment

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

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

• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Blackjack County Oct. 21, Outlaw Whiskey Oct. 23, Scary-oke w/Joel Oct. 28, Brian Ashley Jones Oct. 29 and Trisha Ann Band Oct. 30. All shows begin at 8 p.m. Free and open to the public. 828.538.2488.

• Valley Tavern (Maggie Valley) will host semiregular live music on the weekends and the Drag Night Halloween Showcase 9 p.m. Oct. 22. 828.926.7440 or www.valley-tavern.com.

• Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host karaoke on Thursday nights and Humps & The Blackouts “Halloween Extravaganza” 9 p.m. Oct. 30. 828.456.4750 or www.facebook.com/waternhole.bar.

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

828.743.6000 or www.whitesidebrewing.com.

October 20-26, 2021

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25

arts & entertainment

On the street • “Halloween in the Park” will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28, at the Parker Meadows Complex in Franklin. Free and open to the public. www.franklin-chamber.com.

• “Monster Mash on Main” will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, in downtown Franklin. A family-friendly event. Trick-ortreat. Candy. Scary-fun music. Wear your Halloween costume. www.franklin-chamber.com.

• “Bat Street” will take place from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, in downtown Sylva. Start at the Visitor Center to pick up your Bat Street Sheet. With each one you find, the merchant will give you a treat. Follow the clues in the Bat Trivia.

Take a selfie and enter the virtual Costume Contest at the selfie station. At the end, you can turn in your Bat Street Sheet at the Visitor's Center for a chance to win a prize.

828.586.2719.

ALSO:

Smoky Mountain News

October 20-26, 2021

• The “Barn of Terror: Hayride & Haunted Barn” will be from 7 to 11:45 p.m. Oct. 2123 and 28-31 at Darnell Farms in Bryson City. Admission is $15 per person. Waivers must be signed before entering. For more information, click on www.facebook.com/darnellfarmsnc.

26

• The “Haunted School” will be held from 7 p.m. to midnight Oct. 22-23 and 29-31 at the Fines Creek Community Center.

Admission is $10 per person. Must be age 13 and up to enter without an adult. The Haywood County government has issued a required mask mandate while inside all county buildings as of Aug. 2, so all visitors must wear a mask. If you don’t have one, one will be provided for you. There will also be temperature checks on both you and our monsters to ensure your safety.

Social distancing may add time to your wait, so please be prepared and patient.

All proceeds support local scholarship funding and community needs. www.facebook.com/nchauntedschool.

Darnell Farms.

Plow Day & Harvest Festival

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

The annual Plow Day & Harvest Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, at Darnell Farms in Bryson City.

This old-fashioned event features live music, food, craft vendors, pumpkin patch, hayrides, pumpkin pie eating contest, fall photo displays, canning competition, corn maze, old-time farming demonstrations and much more.

There will be fresh made mountain barbecue, as well as pumpkin pies and apple pies for sale. Stock up on all our homegrown fall decorations, and choose from several different varieties of pumpkins, gourds and decorative squash. www.facebook.com/darnellfarmsnc.

• Farmer’s Market (with artisans) will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays through October at 117 Island Street in Bryson City. Food truck, picnic tables and a strolling musician. Leashed pets are welcome. Outdoor event. Current Covid-19 safety protocols will be followed and enforced. 828.488.7857.

PumpkinFest rolls into Franklin

ities, visit www.townoffranklinnc.com, or call Franklin Town Hall at 828.524.2516.

The 25th annual PumpkinFest will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, in downtown Franklin.

The centerpiece event of PumpkinFest is the “World Famous PumpkinRoll.” Who can roll a pumpkin the greatest distance down Phillips Street and vying for bragging rights and winning the $100 grand prize? One past winner rolled 1,021 feet.

Sign up for the Pumpkin Roll is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. with the actual “roll” from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Pumpkins will be available for purchase at the event or bring your own.

Other highlights of the day include a costume parade and contest, pumpkin pie eating contest, along with dozens of vendors featuring arts and crafts, festival food, and more.

PumpkinFest is sponsored by the Town of Franklin. For more information on the festiv-

Leaf Lookers Gemboree The annual Leaf Lookers Gemboree will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 22-24 at the Macon County Community Building just south of Franklin along U.S. 441.

Gem and mineral dealers from across the country will be on hand displaying and selling their products against the backdrop of spectacular fall color.

The Gemboree will feature a wide variety of items including fine finished jewelry, rough and cut gems, lapidary equipment, minerals, fossils and collectibles. Dealers will also be available to custom make that special piece of jewelry you’ve always dreamed of.

Admission is $2 and those under 12 will be admitted free.

For more information, call 828.524.3161 or visit www.franklin-chamber.com.

On the table • The “BBQ & Brews Dinner Train” will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on select dates at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City.

Full service all-adult first class car. Craft beer pairings with a meal, and more. For more information and/or to register, call 800.872.4681 or click on www.gsmr.com.

ALSO:

• “Dillsboro After Five” will take place from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Wednesdays in downtown Dillsboro. Start with a visit to the Jackson County Farmers Market located in the Innovation Station parking lot. Stay for

dinner and take advantage of late-hour shopping. www.mountainlovers.com.

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

828.631.3075.

• The “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on select dates at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City. Full service all-adult first class car. Wine pairings with a meal, and more. For more information, call 800.872.4681 or click on www.gsmr.com.

On the wall

Bardo Arts Center exhibit

Presented by the Haywood County Arts Council (HCAC), the exhibit “Bear, Elk, Trout — Oh My!” will run through Oct. 30 at the HCAC in downtown Waynesville.

HCAC artist members were tasked with exploring the diversity and abundance of Western North Carolina’s unique ecosystem through the wildlife that calls it home.

The variability in elevation, climate, soils and geology in the Southern Appalachian region accounts for at least 80 species of amphibians and reptiles, 175 species of terrestrial birds, 65 species of mammals and at least 25,000 species of invertebrates.

The exhibit will include local animals of all kinds, in a variety of mediums from photography to sculpture. Each piece will include a brief paragraph which discusses the animal’s special habitat, elevation where it can be found, food sources, or why it is unique to the WNC area.

“This exhibit really meets all three prongs of HCAC’s mission, which is to promote

A work by Sunkoo Yuh.

The “WNC Paint Night” will return to local breweries in Haywood, Jackson and Swain counties.

With step-by-step instructions, you will paint yourself a one-of-a-kind masterpiece.

Events will be held at the following locations: Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 11 and Dec. 9; and Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) from 6 to 8 p.m.

Oct. 27, Nov. 17 and Dec. 22; BearWaters Brewing (Canton) from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 12 and Dec. 23.

Space is limited. Reserve your seat by texting Robin Arramae at 828.400.9560. To learn more, visit the Facebook page @paintwnc or Instagram @wnc_paint_events.

• Artist Kelly Lay is currently displaying her “Macro Photography Message in Prisms” pieces at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. The library is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Free and open to the public.

• To elevate the Dillsboro experience for the month of October, local businesses will be celebrating with “Dillsboro’s Downhome Harvest.” The community is inviting artisans to set up a booth in front of businesses from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Great Smoky Railroad will be arriving daily at 1:15 p.m. There will be “walking scarecrows,” face painting, trick-or-treating, and more. If interested, contact Connie Hogan at chogan4196@gmail.com.

The Haywood County Arts Council (HCAC) has announced an open call for work for the upcoming Small Works Exhibit, which will kick off with an opening reception on Friday, Nov. 12, at the HCAC Gallery & Gifts showroom in downtown Waynesville.

“This exhibit is our longest and last exhibit of the year, stretching through the new year, and encourages buying art for holiday gifts,” said HCAC Executive Director Morgan Beryl.

Most of HCAC’s exhibitions require that you are a member of the organization to participate, but not this one. For a small fee, any Western North Carolina

• The “Jefferson Pinder: Selections from the Inertia Cycle” exhibit is currently on display at the Bardo Arts Center at Western Carolina University. Pinder focuses on themes of labor and endurance in his video art practice with metaphoric references to African American identity, history, and experience. Regular museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Tuesday through Friday and until 7 p.m.

Thursday. For information, call 828.227.ARTS or visit arts.wcu.edu/jeffersonpinder.

ALSO:

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

artists, art education, and innovation in art,” said Morgan Beryl, HCAC’s executive director.

Appropriately, the exhibit is sponsored by Appalachian Wildlife Refuge, a local nonprofit saving orphaned and injured wildlife.

For more information, visit www.haywoodarts.org.

Mountain Region artist can participate.

Although the only other requirement is that the pieces be 12 inches in any dimension or smaller, HCAC challenges participants who are making holiday themed works to consider artistic expressions that are multicultural in nature and celebrate the many different holidays, ways of celebrating, and ways of experiencing holidays in the November and December season.

HCAC also encourages participants to create works that celebrate Appalachian heritage and craft.

To enter, it’s $30 for non-members, $15 for members, and $10 for emerging artists.

The deadline to enter is Oct. 22. The prospectus and contract can be found at www.haywoodarts.org/call-for-work.

information, call The Uptown Gallery at 828.349.4607 or contact Pat Mennenger at pm14034@yahoo.com. See more about Macon County Art Association at www.franklinuptowngallery.com and on Facebook.

Smoky Mountain News

Want to paint, sip craft beer?

Los Angeles-based curator, writer, and arts administrator of contemporary art and craft, focusing on ceramics.

Her current research investigates the “aesthetic of optimism” and the subversive power of humor, cuteness, and leisure as tools of protest. Amplifying the voices of BIPOC artists is central to her practice. She serves as Assistant Curator at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), New York.

The exhibition and series of special events are free and open to the public.

Regular museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and until 7 p.m. Thursday. For information, call 828.227.ARTS. Masks are required inside all WCU buildings, including Bardo Arts Center.

Open call for ‘Small Works’

A work by Wendy Cordwell.

October 20-26, 2021

The Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum in Cullowhee is currently presenting the “Contemporary Clay 2021” exhibit, which will be on view through Dec. 10.

Back for its next iteration, “Contemporary Clay 2021” gathers artists from a variety of backgrounds who push boundaries on topics including race, culture, sexuality, gender and class.

Guest-curated by Heather Mae Erickson, associate professor of ceramics at WCU, “Contemporary Clay 2021” surveys the ever-expanding field of American-made ceramics. The exhibition encourages viewers to consider the concepts, processes, and context of clay in contemporary art.

Vizcarrondo-Laboy is a New York and

HCAC wildlife art showcase

• The Haywood County Arts Council’s “Art Works @ The Library,” a collaborative program between the Haywood County Public Library system and the HCAC, is currently showcasing works by artist Cayce Moyer at the Canton Library. Working in traditional and mixed media, Moyer blends the worlds of high-brow and low-brow work. Classically trained at Savannah College of Art and Design, her portfolio includes drawing, painting, sculpture, illustration, graphic design, murals, and set prop painting for theatre and TV. 27

arts & entertainment

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Smoky Mountain News

October 20-26, 2021

MAGNESIUM... WHY YOU NEED IT AND WHERE TO FIND IT What is it and why do you need it?

Magnesium is a mineral (micronutrient) that's important in many processes in the body, from muscle and nerve function to regulating blood sugar levels.

How much do you need?

Adult males-420mg/day; Adult females: 320mg/day What foods are a good source of magnesium?

Legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, green leafy vegetables, beans, milk and dairy products, fortified cereals, fortified soy milk, brown rice.

Example: 1oz roasted pumpkin seeds=156mg magnesium; 1 oz almonds=80mg magnesium; 1/2c cooked spinach-78mg magnesium; 1/2c cooked black beans=60mg magnesium; 1 c milk=24-27mg magnesium.

Should you take a magnesium supplement?

Your kidneys help retain magnesium so it's unusual for people to become deficient or need to take a supplement, especially if you eat a variety of foods.

Certain diseases and factors may make it more likely to have a deficiency of magnesium. If you're an older adult or have Crohn's disease, celiac disease, other GI diseases, alcoholism, or Type 2 diabetes you can more easily become deficient in magnesium. If your diet excludes sources of magnesium or if you are an older adult or have any of those diseases or illnesses speak to your doctor about whether you might need a supplement or whether it will interact with any medications you're currently taking. (Note: if you are taking a supplement with magnesium it should not have more than 350mg of magnesium) Source: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Magnesium-HealthProfessional/ https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Magnesium-Consumer/

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Ingles Markets… caring about your health

HART play, painter combine forces When the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville needed a custompainted portrait of an actor with his six-foot invisible rabbit friend, local painter Barbara Brook hopped to the task.

Working on a five-foot canvas, Barbara created the hero Elwood P. Dowd and pal Harvey on a scale to complement the family library stage set. Brook bookends her rabbit piece with her solo painting show at HART, on display in the mainstage lobby during the run of the play.

The production of “Harvey” will hit HART’s mainstage at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21-23 and at 2 p.m. Oct. 24.

Brook says she started the oil painting with a traditional "family portrait” arrangement, using a photo of the lead Jack Heinen and the imaginary Harvey. "He’s a real rabbit, just a giant one," said Brook. “The portrait looks like the actor, and I chose a dark background to give it a classical feel."

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1944 for playwright Mary Chase, the play “Harvey” has a reputation as a comedy, and offers a view on the impact of mental illness before medications were prevalent.

It was made into a 1950s movie starring Jimmy Stewart and Josephine Hull. Hull originated the role on Broadway and won an Oscar for her film performance as Elwood’s sister Veta, who grows increasingly disturbed by her brother’s behavior.

Originally an oil painter, Brook took up watercolors 30 years ago, when her interest was sparked by her grandmother’s self-portrait. Utilizing a glazing technique that brings

Dracula hits the big stage The Mountainside Theatre in Cherokee will host the world premiere of “Dracula: The Failings of Men,” written by debut playwright Benedetto Robinson.

The production is an original work by Havoc Movement Company, which will be joining the Cherokee Historical Association for the fall season.

The show features a cast packed with live-stunt powerhouses as well as aerial effects that have been designed to bring the vampires to (supernatural) life.

The story begins as a ghost ship washes ashore near London in 1897 and an ancient evil goes searching for blood. “Dracula” is an action-horror reimagining of the classic Bram Stoker novel as an immersive show.

The audience will literally walk alongside Ada Van Helsing as she battles against the darkness in this high-action adaptation.

Masks will be required for all attendees.

Jack Heinen. luminosity to the work, Brook's paintings have earned recognition and numerous awards.

Brook teaches classes locally in watercolor and in Batik painting, which involves “resist painting” with wax and watercolors on textured rice paper. She is a member of the Southern Watercolor Society, the Watercolor Society of NC, the Transparent Watercolor Society of America, and serves on the Board of the Haywood County Arts Council.

For more information and/or to purchase tickets, visit www.harttheatre.org.

Performances will run through Oct. 31.

Tickets are $30 or $20 for enrolled members. VIP Experiences are available for an extra $20.

For more information, visit www.cherokeehistorical.org/dracula.

Interested in theater?

This fall, there will be a slew of theater classes offered by the HART Arts Academy through Nov. 3 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

Adult classes include directing, beginner tap, and musical theater vocals. Kids classes include a wide-range of dancing, acting, singing, directing and improvisational courses.

Learn more about these opportunities and sign up for classes by visiting www.harttheatre.org, clicking on the “Kids at Hart” tab and scrolling to “Classes & Camps” page. Masks and social distancing will be required for all courses.

On the shelf mercial interests are complicated, Gaudi gives a good deal of helpful background information so that readers know the where, what, and why of events.

But what attracted me most to this account were his skills as a biographer. We meet people ranging from the brilliant and irascible British admiral Edward Vernon to the castrato Farinelli, an Italian operatic “rock star” in his day who was wooed to Spain to sing for that country’s mad King Felipe in an early attempt at music therapy.

The character most interesting to me as an American, however, was James Oglethorpe (1696-1785). I knew him as the man who founded Georgia as a colony for debtors, but had no idea of the adventurous life he led nor of his opposition to slavery, which became an institution in Georgia only after he’d left his post. Most of all, his turning back the attempted Spanish invasion of Georgia by dint of his daring, his deceptions on the battlefield, and his sheer determination mark him as an American who deserves broader recognition and honor.

Also commendable in The War of Jenkins Ear are Gaudi’s humor and his ability to draw lessons from history. His account of Felipe several times had me laughing out loud. Dressed in one of his wife’s filthy night gowns, for example, “more than once he flung himself from his bloody, neon bedding, seized a sword and ran around the palace screaming “Murder, murder!” at the top of his lungs — until subdued by specially appointed guards.”

Here Gaudi says of Admiral Vernon: “An unforeseen danger comes with possessing a top-notch intelligence honed by an excellent education: the world is full of too many glib idiots who will resent the hell out of you.”

And of the inept, overly-cautious British general Thomas Wentworth, who did everything by the book, mostly because the book was all the inexperienced commander knew: “Sensibility in warfare is often exactly the wrong quality, as warfare is not an inherently sensible undertaking.”

Excellent storytelling, good writing, insight into human nature, and wit and a sense of the absurd: Gaudi’s The War of Jenkins’ Ear is history at its finest.

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

Open call for ‘Milestone’ submissions

is representative of the abundance of talent in the region and seeks to foster creative potential by providing artists an opportunity to gain public awareness.

All residents of Jackson, Macon and Swain counties and the Qualla Boundary, as well as SCC students and alumni, are eligible. Only unpublished work may be submitted. Prose should not exceed 2,000 words, and should be limited to two pages in length.

Literary submissions must be postmarked by Dec. 3, and sent to SCC Milestone, Attn. Hannah Sykes; 447 College Drive; Sylva, NC 28779 or via email to milestone@southwesterncc.edu.

Submissions in visual art must be postmarked by the same date and sent to the same address, Attn. Hannah Sykes or via email to milestone@southwesterncc.edu.

For more information, contact Hannah Sykes at 828.339.4463 or h_sykes@southwesterncc.edu.

Jeff Minick

R

Submissions are now being taken for the 2021 edition of the Milestone, the biennial art and literary review published by Southwestern Community College.

Milestone showcases the creative expressions of local writers and visual artists. The periodical

Bookstore

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tant place of this war in American history.

In 1731, Robert Jenkins was a Welsh captain of a trading ship whose vessel was boarded near Havana, Cuba by the Spanish guarda costa. Under the auspices of local Spanish governments and as a part of a treaty that had given the slave trade for this region to Britain, these outfits had the right to stop and search British ships for contraband, goods smuggled into the Caribbean and South America. The guarda costa used this law to ransack British ships, pilfering their wares and often torturing or even murdering their officers and crews.

On this occasion the Spaniards tortured Jenkins, cut off his left ear, stripped his crew of their clothing, stole whatever they could lay their hands on from the ship, including navigational equipment, and forced Jenkins and his men to steer by the stars to return to England.

Though Jenkins sought redress from British officials, the incident was nearly forgotten until for a variety of reasons, largely economic, the tensions between Spain and England escalated into war. At that time, Jenkins — along with the ear which he had preserved — appeared in Parliament and eventually the conflict became associated with that missing member of his anatomy.

Despite its silly name, this conflict might have changed the history of the Western hemisphere. The British, who did most of the losing in the war, made attempts to take Spanish possessions that might have opened South America to conquest. Near the end of the fighting, the Spanish in Florida made a failed run at Georgia, intending to bring that colony back into the Hispanic fold and perhaps the Carolinas with it.

Because most of us are unfamiliar with this event and because the treaties and com-

October 20-26, 2021

ecently I posted another first to my list of lifetime accomplishments: I managed to hit myself in the head with a lawn mower.

When I pulled the self-propelled mower from the garage, the back wheels weren’t turning. After discovering a bit of twine had become entangled around one of the wheels, I got my pocket knife from the house, braced the front wheels of the mower against a concrete slab, raised the mower from the rear, and hacked away at the cord with the knife while holding Writer the back of the mower aloft with my left hand.

My hand slipped, and down came the mower, with the handle hitting my right temple and my ear.

No bloodshed ensued, but the burst of expletives I unleashed undoubtedly moved me a few steps farther away from the Pearly Gates.

By now, readers are probably scratching their heads and wondering, What the heck does getting whacked on the ear with a mower have to do with a book review?

Well, that same day I slammed that mower against my ear I was reading for review Robert Gaudi’s The War of Jenkins’ Ear: The Forgotten Struggle for North and South America 1739-1742 (Pegasus Books, 2021, 364 pages). It struck me as ironic and humorous that I had just fought and survived the War on Jeffrey’s Ear. Though I recollected bits and pieces of The War of Jenkins’ Ear from my university days as a history major and graduate student, I realized how little I knew after finishing Gaudi’s superb history and the impor-

arts & entertainment

Forgotten history: ‘The War of Jenkins’ Ear’

your friendly, local blue box — smoky mountain news 29

30

Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

Dylan Brooks, 2011 Haywood Community College Fish and Wildlife graduate, co-owns Biotope Forestry & Environmental. His work covers the forests of the eastern United States. Donated photo

Hands-on approach key to HCC program hen Dylan Brooks first started his college education, he began in a business program. It didn’t take long to figure out that sitting in a classroom or eventually in an office was not what he wanted to do.

So, Brooks enrolled in Haywood Community College’s Fish and Wildlife Management Technology program. Now as a 2011 graduate and co-owner of Biotope Forestry & Environmental, he spends the days without walls throughout the forests of the eastern United States.

As a student, Brooks found the hands-on approach to learning at HCC a perfect fit.

“The hands-on and practical style of teaching at HCC allows students to learn how to be a forester or wildlife biologist by taking students in the field and actually simulating day to day operations of foresters and wildlife biologists in the public and private industries,” Brooks said. “The teaching methodologies and contagious enthusiasm exuded by the instructors shaped my knowledge base and passion for the field in such a way that I have felt equipped for every obstacle presented to me in my educational and professional

W

career.”

Brooks believes the secret ingredient to the success of HCC’s program is the experience students receive in labs. “The labs at HCC were priceless in terms of gaining hands-on experience and rubbing elbows with professionals in the industry. There was absolutely no shortage of opportunity as long as students were willing to travel and be opportunistic. Almost every forestry or wildlife crew I have worked with since graduating has contained HCC graduates and they have consistently been more prepared for technician positions than their peers.”

After graduating from HCC, Brooks continued his education at Western Carolina University where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Natural Resource Conservation and Management.

Originally from Sylva, Brooks has lived in Canada for the last five years. Beginning in October, he will take his career on the road as he lives out of a camper with a mobile office to visit Biotope’s different project areas across the country. The company is based out of Texas with projects throughout eastern United States. It offers a wide array of services such as forest inventory and assessment, threatened and endangered species surveys, GIS mapping, and forest management and habitat conservation plans.

As Brooks explains, a typical day is really dependent on the season. “Throughout the fall and winter a typical day likely consists of conducting timber appraisals for forest management plans anywhere from Texas to Virginia,” he says. “A typical day in the summer can consist of mist net surveys for threat-

“The hands-on and practical style of teaching at HCC allows students to learn how to be a forester or wildlife biologist by taking students in the field.”

— Dylan Brooks

ened or endangered bat species anywhere from North Carolina to Minnesota. When not mist netting in the summer, we fill gaps by conducting forest inventory.”

One of the best parts of his job, Brooks says is the camaraderie shared with the crews in different regions. This camaraderie is something he experienced as a student at HCC. “I have always preferred a team environment and the structure of the program made it feel as though our group was going through everything as a team. This provided us with a support group to make sure we made it to graduation, helping each other through some very challenging classes. To this day, most of my best friends and coworkers are fellow HCC alumni.”

HCC’s Fish and Wildlife Management Technology program prepares graduates for careers in the planning, production, processing, management, and conservation of wildlife, timber, and agriculture. It is a good fit for individuals who want to work to conserve natural resources or protect the environment. For more information, visit www.haywood.edu or call 828.627.2821.

Larry E. Bryson, former Chief Deputy Haywood County Sheriff's Office, announces that outdoors

I INTEND TO BE A DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR THE OFFICE OF SHERIFF IN HAYWOOD COUNTY IN THE UPCOMING 2022 ELECTION. My career began in 1976 and I have worked for Sheriffs Jack Arrington, Tom Alexander and Bob Suttles.

During my 35 years of law enforcement experience in Haywood County, I have held the following positions: Panthertown Valley. File photo

Panthertown Valley survey This fall, the Friends of Panthertown is creating a strategic plan to guide decision making over the next five years.

The group is seeking stakeholder input on programs, plans and strategies to help guide the creation of this plan. All responses are confidential and no identifying infor-

mation will be shared with anyone else.

However, a summary of replies will be shared with the Board of Directors of Friends of Panthertown. In total, the survey should take no more than 10 minutes. Visit www.panthertown.org/survey by Oct. 31 to take the survey.

• Detention Officer • Deputy Sheriff • Detective • Drug Agent • Chief of Detectives • Chief Deputy • Acting Sheriff I look forward to serving the people of Haywood County again.

Larry E. Bryson Paid for by Committee to Elect Bryson Sheriff 2022

Subscribe at smliv.com and use promo code 2021WOW for

Public input sought on future of Noquisiyi Help determine the future of a unique and precious cultural resource in downtown Franklin by taking an online survey hosted by the Nikwasi Initiative. Noquisiyi — later interpreted as “Nikwasi” means “star place” in the Cherokee language, and denotes a settlement of which only the Noquisiyi mound remains. The Noquisiyi Cultural District is a proposed corridor that will serve as a gateway and cultural center for far western North Carolina and the 60-mile Cherokee Cultural Corridor, which cele-

brates and interprets the understanding of the Cherokee culture through landmarks in historic sites. Feedback gathered by the survey will inform the next stage of planning of the cultural district. To take the survey, visit https://tinyurl.com/noquisiyi. Paper copies of the surveys are also available at the Qualla Boundary Public Library, 810 Acquoni Road in Cherokee, the Snowbird and Cherokee Community Center near Ingles in Robbinsville and the in Macon County Library in Franklin. To request an email copy of the survey, ask questions or gather more information, contact Elaine Eisenbraun at 828.226.7523 or email elaine@nikwasi-initiative.org.

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MAGAZINE 31

outdoors October 20-26, 2021

OCA LO AL, LIK KE YO YOU And like you, we remain on the front lines.

Your newspaperr is reporting the local stories of COVID-19 Yo and providiing vital information to our co ommunity.

o the long term.

Despite the many disruptions, we’re in this for We invite you to partne er with us so trusted local journalism can prosper.

In return, eturn you won on’tt find a anyone who cares more abou ut your success than us us.

Let’s work together on solutions. s We’ve got the enga aged audience to share nd ready to help. your advertising messages. Our ad staff stan Give us a chance. We will impress.

Smoky Mountain News

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NEW WSPAPER POWER R. P i t Digital Print, Di it l & Social S i l Solutions S l ti f our ad for d dvertisers. ti 32

Join the Highlands Biological Foundation for its Enchanted Forest from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26.

A scavenger hunt through the Highlands Botanical Garden will lead you trick-or-treating along the forest trails. A bonfire, hot drinks and candy will be waiting at the end — and a very special salamander friend may even make an appearance. Costumes encouraged. Those wishing to participate in this free event should meet in the amphitheater behind the Highlands Nature Center (930 Horse Cove Road). This event is weatherdependent, and no reservations are required. For more information, call 828.526.2623. The Highlands Nature Center and Highlands Botanical Garden are a part of the Highlands Biological Station, a multi-campus center of Western Carolina University.

Carolina Mountain Club to hold annual meeting The CMC’s Annual Meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29, via Zoom. The event is free. The meeting will begin with a social hour from 6 to 6:30 p.m., and the business program will begin at 6:30 p.m. Following the conclusion of CMC business, guest speaker Kate Dixon will reflect on the changes she has seen over her 15 years as executive director of Friends of the Mountain-to-Sea Trail and opportunities for the future.

RSVP by sending an email to carolinamountainclub2015@gmail.com. A link and directions for the meeting will be sent the week of the event to those who have registered. During the meeting, the proposed CMC budget for 2022 will be presented for approval as well as the slate of CMC Council nominations for 2022 and minutes from the 2020 Annual Meeting. Challenge Awards for the past year will also be presented.

Highlands Biological Foundation honors former director

outdoors

‘Enchanted Forest’ returns to Highlands

The Highlands Biological Foundation’s brand new signature event is just around the corner — the first ever Carpenter Lecture.

This lecture series honors HBF’s former director, Sonya Carpenter. Sonya led HBF for nearly 10 years and grew the organization and its accomplishments immensely. As Highlands residents know, Sonya is a passionate advocate for the natural world with a focus on educating the community about the world around us. The Carpenter Lecture will feature Dr. Katharine Wilkinson, a leader at the forefront of the climate movement. Dr. Wilkinson co-founded The All We Can Save Project and co-hosts the podcast “A Matter of Degrees.” Her books on climate include “All We Can Save,” “The Drawdown Review,” the New York Times bestseller “Drawdown,” and “Between God & Green.” Time magazine named her one of 15 “women who will save the world.” Join HBF for this free community event in Sonya’s honor at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 22, at the First Presbyterian Church of Highlands. A reception will follow. Register at www.highlandsbiological.org.

find us at facebook.com/smnews October 20-26, 2021

STORAGE LLC Call 828.506.4112 greatsmokiesstorage.com 434 Champion Drive, Canton, NC 28716 21 Hollon Cove Rd, Waynesville, NC 28786

Smoky Mountain News

Great Smokies

33

outdoors

Shay Parton (left) and Olivia Hedden compete in the Jill and Jill Cross Cut event. Dr. Shelley White photo

Haywood lumberjack team takes first place

Smoky Mountain News

October 20-26, 2021

Haywood Community College recently hosted the 30th John G. Palmer Woodsmen’s Meet, usually held at the Cradle of Forestry, In addition to HCC’s Lumberjack Team, North Carolina State University, Western Carolina University, Montgomery Community College, and West Virginia University also competed.

The HCC lumberjacks were the reigning champions entering the event, having won

34

the overall points competition in 2019, which was the last time it was held. HCC Lumberjacks secured the team victory with a total score of 118 points, over the secondplace NC State, who compiled 109 points throughout the competition. West Virginia University rounded out the top three with a total of 52 team points. Every HCC team member placed first in at least one event and had multiple second and third finishes.

Public hearing on groundwater rules The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Division of Water Resources (DWR) will hold a public hearing on proposed amendments to the state’s Groundwater Classifications and Standards, known as rule 15A NCAC 02L .0100 – General Considerations.

The hearing will be held via Webex from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 3. The purpose of this public hearing is to allow interested persons to submit oral comments regarding the DWR’s proposed amendments to Permanent Rules 15A NCAC 02L .0100, which govern the protection of North Carolina’s groundwater resources. The last significant changes to these rules occurred in 1993 and 1998. Based on the Regulatory Impact Analysis, the current proposed changes will not have any significant fiscal impacts on the state or regulated community. Anyone wishing speak at the hearing should register before 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 3, by visiting https://forms.office.com/g/favjce1wyv.

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

Learn hunter safety at HCC Haywood Community College’s Department of Arts, Sciences and Natural Resources and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission will offer a hunter safety course from 6 to 9 p.m. Nov. 3-4 on the HCC campus in building 3300, room 3322.

Participants must attend two consecutive evenings to receive their certification.

Face coverings are required. More than a firearm safety course, instruction includes ethics and responsibility, conservation and

wildlife management, wildlife identification, survival and first aid, specialty hunting and tree stand safety. These courses are offered as a community service and are free of charge. There are no minimum age requirements; however, written exam must be completed without assistance. Courses are taught by wildlife officers, hunter education specialists, and certified volunteer instructors. Certification is accepted in every state and province in North America.

Pre-registration is required.

Register online in order to attend any session. Course registration may be completed at www.ncwildlife.org.

WNC Calendar COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • The Waynesville branch of the Haywood County Public Library is selling books for $5 per bag. The sale will be held for three weeks, 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. Sale dates are Oct. 20, 22, 23. The bag sale is being held in the lower level of the library, located at 678 S. Haywood St. Waynesville. folhaywoodcounty@gmail.com • Indivisible Swain County NC will meet at 7 p.m.

Monday, Oct. 25 via Zoom. Agenda items include setting priorities for 2022 and letters to editors. All are welcome to join and share concerns and ideas. If interested in attending, email maryherr2017@gmail.com for a link or call 828.497.9498.

BUSINESS & EDUCATION • Two forums will be held to share WCU’S need for an update to its campus master plan and allow for public feedback. The forums will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 26 at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87084192045 (Meeting ID: 870 8419 2045 ), and 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Oct. 27, at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82762416951 (Meeting ID: 827 6241 6951). The lattes campus master plan can be seen by visiting info.wcu.edu/masterplan.

Those who attend the forum will be able to access and provide feedback after the event via a link that will be provided.

• Speed connecting for women entrepreneurs will take place at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28 at Focal Point Cowork in Asheville. Cost is $10. Get your tickets at https://www.plrconnectevents.com/tickets. For more information, email Val@plrconnectevents.com.

FUNDRAISERS AND BENEFITS • REACH of Haywood is urging everyone in the county to wear purple on Thursday, Oct. 21, to show support for healthy relationships and to stand against intimate partner violence in our county and around the world, as part of a nationally recognized awareness initiative.

Purple ribbons to wear are also available for free from the Within Reach Resale Store. For more information, contact REACH of Haywood, 828.456.7898, or reachofhaywood@att.net or go to their Facebook page.

• Pisgah Legal Services, in partnership with iconic ceramic studio East Fork, is offering a raffle to support the nonprofit’s free legal aid for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Starting Oct.14 through Oct. 31, folks can buy an unlimited number of $5 tickets to enter a drawing to win one of three vases. Winners will be announced Nov. 1. Find out more at www.pisgahlegal.org.

POLITICAL CORNER • Haywood Democrats will hold its 2021 Fall Rally from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, at the Nanci Weldon Gym at Lake Junaluska. For additional information, call 828.507.5331 or email haywooddemocrats@gmail.com.

SUPPORT GROUPS • Al-Anon, for families and friends of alcoholics, meets every Monday night from 7-8 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 77 Jackson St., Sylva. Enter at front of church through the door to the left of the sanctuary; meeting is first door on the right. The Church requests that you wear a mask if you are not vaccinated.

• Narcotics Anonymous meetings are back "live" in-person after a year of being on Zoom only. Local meetings are 12 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays at Sylva First United Methodist Church in downtown Sylva. Entrance

Smoky Mountain News

n All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted. n To have your item listed email to calendar@smokymountainnews.com at back of building.

Also Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. at Cullowhee Methodist Church and Saturdays 6 p.m. at Cullowhee Methodist Church. Meetings in Haywood County, Macon County and Swain County have re-opened as well. For more details visit ncmountainna.org.

HEALTH AND WELLNESS • Franny’s Farm will host Goat Yoga from 10:30 a.m. to noon Oct. 24, at Franny’s Farm, 22 Franny’s Farm Road, Leicester. It is a beginner level class with breathing, stretching, petting goats and being present to receive the present of goats nibbling your clothes, jumping on your back or maybe even napping on your mat.

• Beyond Bending Yoga will offer free, outdoor yoga at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 27 at the Macon County Library. Register with Beyond Bending Yoga, https://beyondbendingyoga.com/schedule/ to ensure safe numbers.

A&E

• Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host The Jeb Rogers Band Oct. 23 and the Halloween Bash Oct. 29.

All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.246.0350 or www.boojumbrewing.com.

• The Classic Wineseller (Waynesville) will host Kevin Williams (piano/vocals) Oct. 23 ($10 cover) and The Russ Wilson Duo (guitar/vocals) Oct. 30 ($10 cover). All shows begin at 7 p.m. Limited seating. Reservations required. 828.452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com.

• Friday Night Live (Highlands) will be held at the Town Square from 6 to 8:30 p.m. with Byrds & Crow Oct. 22 and live music Oct. 29. Free and open to the public. www.highlandschamber.org.

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host J.C. Tokes & The Empty Pockets Oct. 22, Mike Oregano Oct. 23, Life Like Water 2 p.m. Oct. 24, Space Granny Oct. 29 and Bonafide Oct. 30. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.454.5664 or www.froglevelbrewing.com.

• Holly Springs Community Center (Franklin) will host its fall festival with Steff Mahan (singer-songwriter) from noon to 3 p.m. Oct. 30. Free and open to the public.

• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host Nick Colavito (singer-songwriter) 2 p.m. Oct. 24. All events are free and begin at 2 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.innovation-brewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host Scoundrel’s Lounge Oct. 23 and a Halloween Bash w/Natti Love Joys Oct. 30. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host Scoundrel’s Lounge Oct. 22 and a Halloween Bash w/Natti Love Joys Oct. 29. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host Scott

James Stambaugh Oct. 22, Somebody’s Child Oct. 23, Wyatt Espalin Oct. 29, Twelfth Fret Oct. 30 and Alma Russ 5 p.m. Oct. 31. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.538.0115 or www.mtnlayersbeer.com.

• Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host Jenu Six & The Old Souls Oct. 22 and Shane Meade & The Sound (rock/soul) Nov. 5. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. 828.641.9797 or www.nantahalabrewing.com.

• Saturdays On Pine (Highlands) will be held at KelseyHutchinson Park from 6 to 8:30 p.m. with Eli Mosley Oct. 23. Free and open to the public. www.highlandschamber.org.

• Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts (Franklin) will host the United States Air Force Heritage of America Band Rhythm in Blue Jazz Ensemble at 3 p.m. Oct. 24. The performance is free and open to the public. Presented in conjunction with the Arts Council of Macon County. To purchase tickets, click on www.smokymountainarts.com.

• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Blackjack County Oct. 21, Outlaw Whiskey Oct. 23, Scary-oke w/Joel Oct. 28, Brian Ashley Jones Oct. 29 and Trisha Ann Band Oct. 30. All shows begin at 8 p.m. Free and open to the public. 828.538.2488.

• Valley Tavern (Maggie Valley) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends and the Drag Night Halloween Showcase 9 p.m. Oct. 22. 828.926.7440 or www.valley-tavern.com.

• Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host karaoke on Thursday nights and Humps & The Blackouts “Halloween Extravaganza” 9 p.m. Oct. 30.

828.456.4750 or www.facebook.com/waternhole.bar.

FOOD AND DRINK • The “BBQ & Brews Dinner Train'' will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on select dates at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City. Full service all-adult first class car. Craft beer pairings with a meal, and more. For more information and/or to register, call 800.872.4681 or click on www.gsmr.com.

• “Dillsboro After Five” will take place from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Wednesdays in downtown Dillsboro. Start with a visit to the Jackson County Farmers Market located in the Innovation Station parking lot. Stay for dinner and take advantage of late-hour shopping. www.mountainlovers.com.

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

• The “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on select dates at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City. Full service all-adult first class car. Wine pairings with a meal, and more. For more information and/or to register, call 800.872.4681 or click on www.gsmr.com.

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS • Waynesville Art School offers “Make Art & Play” for 45 year olds from 3:45 to 4:45 on Tuesdays. To learn more and register call 828.246.9869 or visit www.waynesvilleartschool.com/register-for-classes • Waynesville Art School offers “Kinder Artists” for 6-7 year olds from 3:45 to 4:45 on Mondays.

• Waynesville Art School offers “Shining Minds” for 1012 year olds from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays.

• Waynesville Art School offers “Art Sparklers” for 8-9 year olds from 3:34 to 5 p.m. on Thursdays.

• Waynesville Art School offers “Art Shuffle” for children 12 and older from 5 to 6:30 p.m. on Mondays.

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

Complete listings of local music scene Regional festivals Art gallery events and openings Complete listings of recreational offerings at health and fitness centers n Civic and social club gatherings • Waynesville Art School offers “The Hatter’s Tea Party” for 8-`16 year olds from 5 to 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays.

• Waynesville Art School offers “Puppet Theater” for 816 year olds from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on Fridays.

• Waynesville Art School offers drawing for adults class from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Mondays, and 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Thursdays. Painting class for adults from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Outdoors

• Join the second season of the Highlands Biological Foundation’s virtual book club delving into All We Can Save, edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katherine K.Wilkinson, with meetings 4-5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30, through Nov. 18. Sign up by contacting paige@highlandsbiological.org or 828.526.2623. www.highlandsbiological.org.

• Haunted School will be open from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m.

Oct. 22-23, and Oct. 29-31, at the Fines Creek Community Center. Admission is $10 per person. Must be 13 and up to enter without an adult. All visitors must wear a mask. If you don’t have one, one will be provided for you.

• Learn to fly fish — or sharpen your skills — with Haywood County Parks and Recreation this month.

Dates are Oct. 22. Beginner classes will be held from 10 a.m. to noon each day below the Lake Junaluska dam, and intermediate classes will be 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Cost for each series is $10. Register with Ian Smith, ian.smith@haywoodnc.gov.

• Get a peek into current research efforts regarding African American history in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park during an upcoming virtual event Friday, Oct. 22. Times for the sessions are yet to be determined.

For additional details and registration, visit www.nps.gov/grsm/learn/historyculture/town-hallevents.htm. The research is supported by Friends of the Smokies and the Great Smoky Mountains Association.

• Haywood County Parks and Recreation will offer a guided hike Wednesday, Oct. 27, on the Mountains to Sea Trail to Skinny Dip Falls, led by Phyllis Woollen and Vickey Watson. The group will hike only as far as it’s safe to navigate given recent impacts to the area from Tropical Storm Fred. Hikes cost $10 to join, paid at registration. Sign up by calling 828.452.6789.

• Haywood County Parks and Recreation will offer a guided hike Saturday, Oct. 30, to Black Rock and Yellow Face Mountain led by Lisa Cook and Phyllis Woolen.

Hikes cost $10 to join, paid at registration. Sign up by calling 828.452.6789.

Market WNC PLACE

MarketPlace information:

The Smoky Mountain News Marketplace has a distribution of 16,000 copies across 500 locations in Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties, including the Qualla Boundary and west Buncombe County.

Visit www.wncmarketplace.com to place your ad!

Rates: • • • •

• •

• • • • • •

$15 — Classified ads that are 25 words, 25¢ per word after.

Free — Lost or found pet ads. $6 — Residential yard sale ads.* $1 — Yard Sale Rain Insurance Yard sale rained out? Call us by 10a.m.

Monday for your ad to run again FREE Legal Notices — 25¢ per word $375 — Statewide classifieds run in 170 participating newspapers with 1.1+ million circulation. (Limit 25 words or less) Boost Online — Have your ad featured at top of category online $4 Boost in Print Add Photo $6 Bold ad $2 Yellow, Green, Pink or Blue Highlight $4 Border $4

Note: Highlighted ads automatically generate a border so if you’re placing an ad online and select a highlight color, the “add border” feature will not be available on the screen.

Note: Yard sale ads require an address. This location will be displayed on a map on www.wncmarketplace.com

p: 828.452.4251 · f:828.452.3585 classads@smokymountainnews.com www.wncmarketplace.com 36

www.smokymountainnews.com

Building Materials

FREE 50 ft of 4 inch tube steel. Must pick up.

Bring equipment to cut.

Near Hazelwood School.

828.246.5095

Cemetery Plot TO SETTLE ESTATE Two prime plots at Garrett Hillcrest Cemetery.

Value $3,100. Sale $1500 OBO. Call 828.456.8656, ask for Mary Marcus.

If interested call Gayle Jones 734.282.9329.

Employment HIRING IN HAYWOOD COUNTY! B. H. Graning Landscapes, Inc. is looking to hire Landscape Construction Crew and Crew Leaders to install landscape designs in Western North Carolina. We also have openings in Landscape Maintenance.

Pay is negotiable and based on knowledge and experience. ($12 to $18/hour) Apply online or in person at 18 North Main Street, Canton. Our hiring manager is available in the Canton of¿FH HYHU\ 7KXUVGD\ afternoon. www. bhglandscapes.com/ employment-application (828) 492.0837 FTCC - Fayetteville Technical Community College is now accepting applications for the following positions: Carpentry Instructor (10 month).

Part-time Respiratory Therapy Clinical Instructor. Department Chair Funeral Services Education. Department Chair Mathematics Quantitative Literacy Pathways.

Department Chair Business Administration/Operations Management & Leadership Studies.

Associate Degree Nursing Instructor (10 month).

Associate Degree Nursing Instructor (12 month).

For detailed information and to apply, please visit our employment portal at: https://faytechcc.peop l e a d m i n.c o m / H u m a n 5HVRXUFHV 2I¿FH 3KRQH (910) 678-7342 Internet: http://www.faytechcc.edu An Equal Opportunity Employer THE JACKSON COUNTY DEPARTMENT Of Social Services is recruiting for a full-time Community Social Services Assistant. Duties primarily involve transporting foster children for a variety of purposes such as visits with parents, medical appointments, counseling, education, or training. Candidates for this position should be highly dependable, adaptable, have the ability to lift children and car seats, have completed high school, interact well with children, and have a valid NC driver’s license with a good driving record. The starting salary is $24,168.16. The application for employment is available online at: www. jcdss.org and should be submitted to the Jackson County Department of 6RFLDO 6HUYLFHV *ULI¿Q Street, Sylva, NC 28779

October 20-26, 2021

or the Sylva branch of the NC Works Career Center.

Applications will be taken until October 29, 2021.

NUTRITION SITE MANAGER- HAYWOOD COUNTY Part-time.

Summary of job duties include the daily management of nutrition site, accurate record keeping, planning and outreach to the community, providing information and referral.

Prefer candidates have high school diploma/ GED, effective oral and written communication and listening skills, computer skills/ computer literate. Applicants must have organizational skills, and the ability to work effectively with seniors and diverse populations.

Knowledge of community resources, experience in management, activity planning. This position requires the ability to lift up to 35 lbs. Job consists RI D FRPELQDWLRQ RI RI¿FH and meal service environment. The position is part-time for 20 hours a week from morning through lunch service.

Applications will be taken at Mountain Projects, Inc. 2177 Asheville Road, Waynesville or www.mountainprojects. org. Pre-employment and random drug testing required. EOE/AA IN-HOME AIDE – HAYWOOD COUNTY (Temporary) Part-time temporary position assisting elderly in their home w/

Old Edwards Hospitality Group Highlands NC NOW RECRUITING FOR: Housing Manager, Farm Worker, Catering & Conference Services Mgr, Sales Mgr, Asst F&B Mgr, Banquet Server, Host, Server, Busser, Bartender, Sous Chef, Cook, Asst Pastry Chef, Dishwasher, Reservations, Front Desk Supervisor, Front Desk, Bellman, Night Audit, Housekeeping, Laundry, Cosmetologist, Spa Attendant, Massage Therapist, Spin Instructor, Graphic Designer, Banquet Supervisor, Estate Concierge.

Apply online at oldedwardsinn.com/careers

WNC MarketPlace

light housekeeping and errands. Some bene¿WV DSSO\ &DQGLGDWHV must have a high school diploma/GED, valid NC driver’s license, available transportation, effective oral communication & listening skills, and have legible handwriting skills.

Flexible, part-time hours M-F. You may submit an online application on the Mountain Projects website www.mountainprojects.org Applications will also be taken at Mountain Projects, Inc. 2177 Asheville Road, Waynesville NC 28779 EOE/AA FULL-TIME CHILDCARE DIRECTOR BA or BS in Child Development or E.C. Education or C.D. w/ 3 yrs. exp. in licensed child care. Salary '2( EHQH¿WV &RYHU letter & resume to Lynn.Carpenter@ LongsChapel.com Lynn.Carpenter@ LongsChapel.com WORK FROM ANYWHERE You have an internet connection? 13 positions available. Start as soon as today. As simple as checking your email.

Complete online training provided. Visit for details: https://bit.ly/2yewvor

MEDICAL BILLING & CODING TRAINING. New Students Only. Call & Press 1. 100% online courses. Financial Aid Available for those who qualify.

Call 833-9900354 ATTENTION ACTIVE DUTY/MILITARY Veterans Begin a new career and earn your degree at CTI. Online computer & medical training available for veterans & families! To learn more call 833-9703466

The Original Home Town Real Estate Agency Since 1970

Haywood Co. Real Estate Agents 147 Walnut St. • Waynesville 828-456-7376 • 1-800-627-1210

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RESERVE YOUR SPOT FOR EXPUNGEMENT Clinic. Looking for work with a criminal record can be challenging. If this is you, join us for job searching and record expunction. Presented by 6PRN\ 0RXQWDLQ 2I¿FHV of Legal Aid of North Carolina, Inc. Tuesday, October 26, 2021 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM at the NC :RUNV RI¿FH LQ :D\QHVville. Space is limited.

Call 828.456.6061 to register.

CWS- OWNER OPERATORS/SMALL FLEETS CDL-A, 1yr. Driving Experience. Dedicated round trips paid per mile, regular home time. 800-832-7036 ext.1626

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• Rob Roland - robroland@beverly-hanks.com

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• Jeanne Forrest - ashevillerealeat8@gmail.com

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Amy Spivey - amyspivey.com Rick Border - sunburstrealty.com Steve Mauldin - smauldin@sunburstrealty.com Randy Flanigan - 706-207-9436

EXP Realty Keller Williams Realty - kellerwilliamswaynesville.com • The Morris Team - www.themorristeamnc.com • Julie Lapkoff - julielapkoff@kw.com • Darrin Graves - dgraves@kw.com Lakeshore Realty • Phyllis Robinson - lakeshore@lakejunaluska.com

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October 20-26, 2021

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remax-maggievalleync.com The Real Team - TheRealTeamNC.com Ron Breese - ronbreese.com Landen Stevenson- landen@landenkstevenson.com Dan Womack - womackdan@aol.com Mary & Roger Hansen - mwhansen@charter.net David Willet - davidwillet1@live.com Sara Sherman - sarashermanncrealtor@gmail.com David Rogers- davidr@remax-waynesville.com Judy Meyers - jameyers@charter.net

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

TO ADVERTISE IN THE NEXT ISSUE

828.452.4251 ads@smokymountainnews.com WNC MarketPlace

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SUPER

CROSSWORD

PITIFUL PANTRY PROBLEM ACROSS 1 Spot's threat 4 Bacteria-growing gel 8 Crevices 13 Having the most wisdom 19 Glasgow refusal 20 "Space Ghost" cartoonist Alex 21 Actress Kemper of "The Office" 22 Swollen and distended 23 Central North Carolina city 25 747, say 26 Often-used expressions 27 Start of a riddle 30 "Three Times --" (1978 hit song) 31 Hay unit 32 Be in great anguish 36 Trainee, e.g.

37 Riddle, part 2 42 Diplomat's skill 44 Former NBAer Ming 45 Gets wrinkles out of 46 See 71-Down 49 1930s-'40s prez 50 Church vestibule 53 Classical intro?

54 Riddle, part 3 59 It may take the cake 61 "-- Sexy" (1992 #1 hit song) 62 Clapton of rock 63 Bernstein's "Candide," for one 67 Early Oscar winner Jannings 68 Riddle, part 4 72 Fought (for)

73 Look for a therapist, say 75 Poi base 76 River mouth deposit 77 Go via boat 78 Riddle, part 5 82 "-- culpa!"

85 How a winding path proceeds 87 Part of RBI or ERA 88 Dir. from Ariz. to Ky. 89 Dazzling success 91 Despot Amin 92 Gives a hand 96 End of the riddle 100 "Woe is me!"

104 "The Mummers' Dance" singer McKennitt 105 No longer relevant 106 Classic arcade name 107 Riddle's answer 113 All-terrain military vehicle 116 Clipped, as a sheep 117 Many a magic trick 118 Give support 119 Sizable 120 Sulky state 121 Malt product 122 Some online greetings 123 Possessed 124 GI's "lullaby" 125 Longest river of Scotland DOWN 1 Chew on persistently 2 In an overly hasty way 3 Hold a new trial for 4 Up a tree 5 Silly mistake 6 Razor option 7 Certain parallelogram

8 Drive back 9 "Maybe" 10 Shortcoming 11 Ex-Yankee Martinez 12 Appear 13 Miserly 14 Sound engineer's console 15 Smiling one 16 Swelled head 17 Resident of a gaming "City" 18 NFL scores 24 "It's the -- an era" 28 Rowboat pair 29 Satisfied sigh 33 Victor's gloat 34 "Titanic" actor Billy 35 Petro-Canada rival 37 Time -- half 38 Square type 39 Meg of "I.Q." 40 Three feet 41 "Poppycock!"

43 "Should that be true ..."

46 Brown, Penn and Harvard 47 "The Silence of the Lambs" director Jonathan 48 Shaw of swing 50 "Valiant attempt!"

51 Aspiration 52 Just-prior periods 55 Egg middles 56 Work fill-in 57 Goya's gold 58 Cedar cousin 60 "Fat chance!"

63 -- about (close to) 64 Mark in "pinata" 65 "Grand" Rockies peak 66 Wise saying

68 Herr's "no" 69 Pot for arroz con pollo 70 "Poppycock!"

71 With 46-Across, brand of frozen fries 74 Is in first place 76 "-- be shy" 78 Bona -- (real) 79 Lena of "Havana" 80 Grand -- (auto race) 81 Drive out 82 Whine like a baby 83 Yodeling comeback 84 Banned orchard spray 86 Currency of Laos 90 Dined at someone else's place 92 Embellished 93 Haughty sort 94 Band's lineup of gig songs 95 Fills up 97 "Gas Food Lodging" director Allison 98 Tennis player Shriver 99 Appear 101 Lasso 102 Colorful ring of anatomy 103 Writer Sheldon 106 Lies against 108 Port of Norway 109 Turn to liquid 110 Trumpet, e.g.

111 Forearm part 112 Radar image 113 Color tone 114 Scanned market ID 115 Deg. for many an exec

ANSWERS ON PAGE 34

THE JACKSON COUNTY DEPARTMENT Of Social Services is recruiting for a Foster Care Social Worker in Child Welfare. This position will work with foster children and provide services to families where needs KDYH EHHQ LGHQWL¿HG Requires limited availability after hours as needed.

The starting salary is $42,102.07, if fully qualL¿HG 0LQLPXP TXDOL¿cations include a four year degree in a Human 6HUYLFH ¿HOG 3UHIHUHQFH will be given to applicants with a Master’s or Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and/or experience providing Social Work

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SUDOKU Here’s How It Works: Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine 3x3 boxes. To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The more numbers you name, Answers on 34 the easier it gets to solve the puzzle!

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October 20-26, 2021

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PUBLISHER’S NOTICE All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act which makes it illegal to advertise ‘any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination’. Familial status includes children under 18 living with parents or legal guardians and pregnant women.

This newspaper will not

knowingly accept any advertising for real estate in violation of this law. All dwellings advertised on equal opportunity basis.

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Smoky Mountain News October 20-26, 2021