Smoky Mountain News | November 8, 2023

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November 8-14, 2023 Vol. 25 Iss. 24

Haywood receiving new flood alert system Page 4 Canton mill hit with another violation Page 17

CONTENTS

STAFF

On the Cover: After Hamas launched a surprise terrorist attack in Israel, there were a lot of questions as people processed the horrific events. Among the biggest questions for the United States was how to get Americans who wanted to come home out of danger. While some are still stuck, many found a way home. The story of the Niskanens from Macon County is just one such saga. (Page 6)

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News New siren warning system will alert Haywood residents to flooding ..................4 Local expert weighs in on potential Hamas war crimes ..........................................8 WCU prof awarded prestigious Fullbright fellowship ............................................10 Jackson schools institutes salary decompression....................................................12 Tribal Council approves short-term funding for Qualla Enterprises....................14 SBI report on police shooting heads to special prosecutor ................................15 Sylva moves forward on public restrooms ................................................................16 Canton mill receives new water quality violation ......................................................17 WCU basketball facilities enjoy new improvements ..............................................19

Opinion Wildfires a reminder of nature’s power ......................................................................20 Finding ways to slow down time ..................................................................................21

A&E Ajeva to make Waynesville debut..................................................................................22 HART presents ‘Mean Girls Jr.’ ......................................................................................26

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Haywood County is adding to its early warning capabilities. news

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Siren warning system will alert Haywood residents to flooding

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR ore than two years after deadly flooding killed six people and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to public and private property from Bethel to Cruso to Canton to Clyde, Haywood County will purchase an early warning siren system to keep residents better informed for when — not if — it happens again.

“This has been a long time coming,” said Travis Donaldson, Haywood County’s emergency services director.

“A lot of time, thought, effort [and] research has been placed into putting a system in place to be able to warn the citizens in case of flash flood or a sudden need for them to seek safety and to protect themselves.”

Donaldson addressed commissioners on Nov. 6, explaining the particulars of the system manufactured by Baltimorebased Alertus Technologies. Alertus was founded in 2002, after a tornado killed two students at the University of Maryland.

According to the proposal submitted to Haywood County

by Alertus on Sept. 8, their emergency warning systems are used by several federal departments including Defense, Justice and Homeland Security, as well as by the U.S. House of Representatives, the Federal Reserve and the FBI. The total cost, $700,036, will be borne by the county upfront but will be fully reimbursed by the North Carolina Department of Public Safety through the Tropical Storm Fred Unmet Needs grant, ultimately resulting in no cost to Haywood taxpayers.

Unlike other systems, the speakers offer 360-degree broadcasting without having to rotate, which eliminates the possibility of sticking and improves battery life. It’s integrated with the National Weather Service and FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) and works with the county’s existing emergency notification system manufactured by Everbridge, called Haywood Alerts.

Integration with Haywood Alerts was a priority for Donaldson’s agency, according to documents presented in conjunction with the Nov. 6 meeting agenda.

“We had several great qualified vendors, but we wanted to make sure we had that seamless integration with Everbridge and that’s why Alertus stood out for us when we looked at the systems,” Zack Koonce, emergency management officer, told commissioners. “It will not only meet our needs now, but it will meet our needs in the future and that’s what the other systems didn’t provide for us.”

Other system requirements were based on Haywood County’s unique topography, especially in rural, rugged areas 4 that experienced flooding from the remnants of Tropical

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ed flash flood warning was broadcast through IPAWS at 3:12 p.m., and then again over Haywood Alerts at 3:13 p.m.

Over the next five hours, as a wall of water blasted through Cruso, flood waters began to crest, first at the East Fork gauge. Many residents in those areas have little to no internet service or cell phone coverage, even on a good day.

As heavy rain continued to fall, the Pigeon River crested in Canton around 8:15 p.m. By that time, some had already been killed or injured and many were cut off from help and from all forms of modern communication — destined to

Stay alert

November 8-14, 2023

M

Storm Fred on Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021.

Reporting from The Smoky Mountain News a month after the flood shows that although plenty of warnings were issued by various agencies days before the Pigeon River slipped its banks, not everyone was able to receive them.

The NWS first warned of an enhanced risk of flash flooding over the next week shortly after 11 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 14 — more than three days before it happened. The next day, Sunday, NWS advised of the potential for heavy rainfall. Around 3 a.m. on Monday, the day before the flood,

Several years ago — after 2016’s devastating wildfire season but before the deadly flooding in 2021 — Haywood County purchased a state-of-the-art emergency notification system created by Massachusetts-based Everbridge Inc. The emergency alert program, called Haywood Alerts, is a free opt-in service that allows users to receive automated notifications via phone, text or email about imminent threats to health and safety. The registration process is simple and quick, and contact information provided by users will not be shared with anyone else or used for any other purpose. When Haywood County commissioners approved the purchase of an early warning siren system on Nov. 6, they said its integration with Everbridge’s Haywood Alerts system was one of the reasons they selected Alertus Technologies as the vendor. Sign up for Haywood Alerts by visiting bit.ly/haywoodalerts.

A map provided by Alertus Technologies to Haywood County shows the future locations of 18 warning sirens. Haywood County photo a flash flood warning was issued. Later that morning, Haywood officials advised of potential flooding and beseeched residents who had not already done so to sign up for Haywood Alerts.

On the day of the flood, a message was sent by Haywood Alerts at 10:46 a.m. reminding people of dangerous weather conditions developing. Reports of flooding started to pour in that afternoon, as creeks rose and heavy rain fell. An upgrad-

spend a cold, dark, wet night waiting for emergency crews to reach them.

“That was one of the challenges with the warning message going out,” Koonce said. “We lost the Sugarbrush tower from that side and so many folks did not get the notification because of the loss of cell phone service.”

Even residents in downriver areas like Canton found that power outages and cell service disruptions made ordinary

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there would be a second signal when dangerous conditions subside. Koonce said there would be.

All that will be accomplished with 18 high-power speaker arrays operating at 300 watts each. By comparison, a good-quality guitar amplifier for large venues should pump out around 100 watts.

Once the specific planning phase of the project is complete, installation is projected to begin on Jan. 2, 2024, and should be completed by March 28, per Alertus’ project timeline provided to commissioners. During that time, relevant personnel will be trained on the system.

Locations for the sirens have already been selected. Beginning in the southern part of the county near Camp Daniel Boone, four sites will be located along Little East Fork Road heading northwest towards Lake Logan.

Proceeding north from Lake Logan, three more sites will be When floodwaters receded, scenes of incredible located along the river destruction were apparent. Scott McLeod photo as it proceeds nearly parallel with N.C. 215.

North of N.C. 276, three more sites cover several miles up along Pisgah Drive, approaching Canton.

Over in Cruso, along N.C. 276, three more sites will cover some of the areas hardest hit by the floods.

Five other sites will be located near populated areas, with two in Clyde, one northeast of Lake Junaluska and warranty is included. two in Waynesville.

In addition to a “wailing” tone, the Once the system is in place, the county sirens will also feature a voice message, so will undertake a public information camthose who may hear the siren will know paign to raise awareness of the sirens and let exactly what is happening. Voice messages can be live, or pre-recorded to provide warn- people know what they should do if they ing not only of floods but also of other natu- hear one.

Best said she hoped Koonce wouldn’t ral disasters like earthquakes, tornados and have to use the system, ever. wildfires.

“I hope not too,” Koonce said.

Commissioner Jennifer Best asked if communication next to impossible, not only in the aftermath of the flooding but also just as it was taking place.

The Alertus system fills in a dangerous gap in the county’s existing warning systems. Many residents, especially those who are elderly, don’t own cell phones.

The system, which can operate in temperatures as low as -40 degrees Fahrenheit and as high as 185 degrees Fahrenheit, offers multiple levels of redundancy to ensure that the failure of communications infrastructure won’t render the sirens useless. They can be activated automatically due to heavy rains or a rise in the river depth gauge system, manually from the 911 center or, if all else fails, on the sirens themselves.

The rechargeable batteries also utilize a solar backup. The system will be tested daily, and silently, to avoid undue concern.

Little training is required for its use, 24/7 technical support is available, and a one-year

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An unexpected adventure Macon County couple recalls their evacuation from Israel

November 8-14, 2023

Although the Niskanens found themselves in a precarious situation in Israel, they still marveled at its natural beauty, like here at the Sea of Galilee. Donated photo

BY KYLE PERROTTI NEWS EDITOR hen Hamas hit Israel with a massive terrorist attack on Oct. 7, there were an estimated 600,000 Americans in the country. While many were residents, there were also plenty who were tourists and had planned to head home within just a few days.

Such was the case for Paul and Valerie Niskanen, of Macon County. Like many others, including some who are still stranded there, they found themselves struggling to find a way out, until a U.S. Congressman offered a helping hand.

W

A DREAM VACATION

Smoky Mountain News

The Niskanens had originally booked a trip to Israel for May 2023 but had to reschedule to October. No big deal, they thought. All they had to do was simply move their deposit to a tour with a different date.

They left from Atlanta on Oct. 2, and after a series of layovers arrived on Oct. 3.

They were supposed to fly home on Oct. 13, but that didn’t come to pass.

They’d booked their trip through Shoresh Study Tours, a company that offers travelers the chance to “understand the Jewish roots of the Christian faith” while becoming a “better informed, more inspired and faith-filled disciple of Jesus.” The tour brought the Niskanens’ group of 27 total visitors to sites mentioned in the Bible, including some where Jesus himself had walked. They called it “the trip of a lifetime.”

Along with floating in the Dead Sea and taking a boat across the Sea of Galilee, the 6 group went to numerous archaeological sites.

Paul reveled in the fact that the tour guides and thousands of armed combatants were experts in history, particularly Biblical breached a border security fence and began history. They seemed to know every date and indiscriminately killing soldiers and civilians the background of every major event. alike. Israel quickly retaliated by launching “Some of our members were actually baptized or rebaptized in the Jordan River,” Valerie said. “It was just amazing.” The best memory for both of them seemed to come when they went to visit a historic church. As they were taking it in and learning about the building’s history, in walked a group of Korean travelers who immediately sat down and started singing.

“They sounded like heaven,” Valerie said. “They were singing in Korean, but I recThe Niskanens with Rep. Cory Mills [above] and visiting the ognized that the hymn was Jaffa Gate in Old Jerusalem [below].

‘It is Well with my Soul.’”

Donated photos “It brought tears to almost everyone’s eyes,” Paul added.

THE NEWS But the joyous travelers were abruptly thrust into uncertainty.

Hamas launched their surprise attack in Israel on Thursday, Oct. 7, a date that will no doubt live in infamy for the country. On that first day, Hamas lobbed thousands of rockets into Israel,

strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza. In a matter of days, thousands were left dead on both sides.

Although the Niskanens weren’t able to watch much in the way of news, they still had some indications of how bad the situation was.

“We were told by the people, like the guy that ran the guest house, that it was probably worse than what people were hearing in the news,” Paul said.

On the bus ride to their next destination, The Dead Sea, the group was supposed to make several stops at points of interest.

“Instead, we were just going flat out down the highway to get to inside the compound at the Dead Sea,” Valerie said.

The Niskanens were able to continue some parts of their tour at the Dead Sea, where they said they were closest to the fighting. There, they could hear far-off explosions and see contrails from Israeli fighter jets crisscrossing the sky.

According to Reuters, Israel called up 360,000 Israeli Defense Force reservists in the wake of the Hamas attacks. Among them was the Niskanens’ tour guide.

“He was fairly newly married,” Paul said.

“His wife was in Jerusalem, and we were at the Dead Sea then, and you could see the stress on his face.”

Eventually, the group got a new tour guide. After staying at the Red Sea an extra night, they passed through Masada en route to Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, in the United States, the conflict dominated the news cycle, and people began to worry. A friend back in Macon County put up a post on Facebook that said the Niskanens were in Israel and asked people to pray for them.

F

THE BOMB SHELTER

the meantime, we were trying to get a flight out,” Valerie said, adding that Paul skipped the chance to go to some of the sites in that city because he was diligently searching for a solution. “I said ‘you’re not going to get any flights.’ The writing was on the wall at that point.”

Other people took their own extreme measures to feel safe in the uncertain situation.

“There were a couple of retired law enforcement officers, a husband-and-wife team; they had contacted one of these private

— Paul Niskanen

ing from Israelis, not from the Red Cross, not from the government, but from Israelis,” Valerie said.

“We were kind of impressed that they have something in place to take care of people in a situation like this,” she added.

At the hotel, the Niskanens met Mills and a couple of his staffers. The next day, they joined their new host on a charter bus. Along with some people from their original group were other Americans who had been closer to

COMING HOME Eventually, the Niskanens got to Jordan’s capital and largest city, Amman. They were surprised with how big it was, how tall the buildings were.

“It was almost like being in Chicago on Michigan Avenue,” Valerie said.

They stayed at a nice hotel downtown for two nights. Valerie said the staff was on point, and although none appeared to be American, their English was impeccable. The contrast from their strange journey was uncanny.

“We all agreed it was the finest hotel we had ever been in,” Valerie said. “I mean, at that point, I would have been happy if they took us to a Motel Six.” The first night had already been paid for by Mills and everything was ready for them upon arrival. All the tired Americans had to do was go up to their rooms and try to process their experience as they came to understand the horrors that had occurred less than a hundred miles from where they had been.

They spent the next day there waiting for arrangements to be finalized, a time during which Valerie fondly recalled eating good food, drinking good wine and conversing with other Americans eager to get home.

By 6 p.m. that next night, the Niskanens were wheels-up on a flight to Dubai. From there, they went to Newark and finally Atlanta. That return journey totaled 25 hours.

“I don’t fly well,” Valerie said. “So I was glad when we got to Atlanta and got all those flights over with.”

During their interview with The Smoky Mountain News, Paul said that he still hadn’t processed all that’d happened, especially in light of the rapidly developing conflict in Israel, but that he knew for sure he didn’t regret going.

“I just learned so much history, so much Biblical history,” he said.

“I would love to back again,” Valerie added. “I probably won’t, but I would hope my children go someday.”

7

The Niskanens were able to go places where Jesus walked. Donated photo the combat, including some who had spent several days in a bomb shelter at their hotel.

They drove to Israel’s northern border, where they got on another bus and entered Jordan, a country the Niskanens figured they’d never see. Mills’ staffers went ahead of the bus with photos of everyone’s passports to make sure the crossing went smoothly.

“Every step of the way, everything was planned out,” Paul said.

In Jordan, the Niskanens boarded a smaller shuttle bus and others poured into minivans. The trip through that country wasn’t particularly eventful, but it was interesting, especially since they took some

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“I just learned so much history, so much Biblical history”

less-traveled roads.

“For a little while, we drove along the river, and then suddenly, they turned left and went up on this little tiny road, and you could look out the window and it was straight down,” Valerie said. “And it was just rubble in some places … there wasn’t rubble from bombs or something, it was just like there was something they’d built that had been there thousands of years.”

The Niskanens heaped praise on Mills for his professionalism and his calm demeanor during what was a stressful time for many evacuees.

“He gave everybody his cell phone number, and he said, ‘If you need anything, if there’s a problem, you call me,’” Paul said. “I texted him a couple times and was like, whoa, he texted me right back.”

November 8-14, 2023

The Niskanens and their tour group made it to Jerusalem, where they stayed in another walled-in compound with a church, support buildings and housing.

“It was kind of cool,” Valerie said. “It was like old-fashioned hotel rooms, and there was a dining hall. The man who ran it was originally from Indiana, but he’s been in Israel for many years and raised his children there. His son was in the Israeli reserves, and he was worried about him getting called up. The second day, he was called up.”

In Jerusalem, things seemed closer to what the Niskanens expected was the norm. There wasn’t any immediate cause for concern, with one key exception.

“One time I was scared,” Paul said.

When they’d arrived at the compound, the Niskanens were instructed where the bomb shelter was and that no matter what — even if the siren woke them up in the middle of the night — they were to drop whatever they were doing, bring nothing and get to the bomb shelter. They were told One of the most spectacular sights was Capernaum, they should try to make it within a ruinous ancient city in northern Israel. Donated photo 60 seconds.

Valerie said the first night everyone was vigilant and even a bit on-edge, security teams they found on the web or somebody connected them with,” Paul said. but after that, they relaxed. One day, they The Niskanens sought other help. First, were about a block away from the compound gate. The shops they were visiting were set up they reached out to Sen. Kevin Corbin (RMacon) who is also a good friend, and evenlike shotgun homes, long and narrow, and when the siren sounded, Valerie was near the tually they also reached out to Rep. Chuck Edwards’ office. They dealt primarily with back of one building. one of his staffers, Lisa Wiggins, who they She said the locals didn’t pay much mind said went above and beyond to work toward to the sirens since they’d heard them so getting them out of there. many times, but she and her husband quick“Every time I asked for something, she ly got to the bomb shelter inside the walls of was right on the spot,” Paul said. “I think she the compound. She said that although they was working around the clock.” never found out for sure what happened, But still, there was only so much those there were explosions. parties could do. Edwards’ office connected “It shook the ground, but it didn’t feel really close,” she said. “It was close enough to the Niskanens with another House Representative, Cory Mills, (R-Florida). Mills, say it felt real.” an Army veteran who’d deployed to Iraq, was Things were somewhat tense. While the uniquely equipped to take on the task of Niskanens said there hadn’t been a lot of evacuating Americans, considering he’d been emotion outward expressions of stress durin the region before, speaks Arabic and had ing everyone’s strange experience, in the even aided in the evacuation of Afghanistan bomb shelter, some people broke down. in August 2021.

“I think the only time I saw really emoMills agreed to help. tion or fear from anyone was when we were It wasn’t long before the Niskanens got in the bomb shelter,” she said. “Some people moving. Valerie joked that it felt like being a in there were crying and they were scared.” child on vacation. They were told when to get their luggage and which bus to board. Valerie N HE OAD said that like children, she and Paul had “total trust” in the people handling their In Jerusalem, the Niskanens worked hard evacuation. They left the compound on Oct. to find a way home, but outbound flights 12, one day before they would have originally were being canceled one after another, in flown home had the conflict not broken out. some cases, right after the Niskanens had Their first night on the road was spent at a booked them.

“We still saw some amazing things, but in hotel in the western part of Jerusalem.

While they were at that hotel, Israeli refugees who’d fled Gaza poured into the lobby. Mostly women and children, many had just the clothes on their back, and the Niskanens recalled that some didn’t even have shoes on. However, other than that, Paul said they looked healthy.

The Niskanens were amazed by how well the refugees were cared for. So many donations poured in that the hotel lobby was full from wall to wall and officials eventually had to turn away further offerings.

“We were told those donations were com-

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However, the Niskanens had been instructed by a tour leader not to post on social media anything that’d let people know where they may be. Their friend took down the post.

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November 8-14, 2023

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Local expert weighs in on potential Hamas war crimes

BY KYLE PERROTTI feasible precautions to ensure the intended N EWS E DITOR target was a combatant and that all efforts to As the war between Israel and Hamas minimize civilian harm were taken. continues, folks around the world have “If by chance you are aiming at a military become more divided in their support for target and civilians are collaterally killed, that one side or the other as misinformation fuels is not a war crime,” Crane said. “The challenge the fires of confusion. with Israel, which tends to follow the laws of Many have decried perceived war crimes armed conflict, is that they are engaged with by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Hamas combat in the most densely populated part of or both, but what war crimes have actually the world; there are civilians everywhere. And been committed? The Smoky Mountain even though it appears they are targeting News spoke with David Crane, the man who Hamas, the issue is that Hamas is hiding successfully prosecuted former Liberian behind this densely packed group.” president and warlord Charles Taylor, who is In fact, Crane noted that Hamas hiding in now locked up in a North England Prison. In and underneath civilian targets like apartment addition, Crane, who now lives in Maggie buildings and hospitals is itself a war crime.

Valley, has led the effort in the United States Crane said he believed that by using civilians to charge Russian President Vladimir Putin as human shields, Hamas is victimizing the for war crimes his army has committed in very people they are swearing to defend.

Ukraine.

Crane said that while the situation in Israel and Gaza is in some senses politically linked to the situation in Ukraine, the discussions of war crimes are quite different as no two conflicts are the same. Crane began by noting what he considers the most obvious crimes committed.

“Hamas attacking the music festival and some of the torturing of the women and children are definitely war crimes,” he said.

While many are making “both sides” arguments and crying for prosecution of both the IDF and Hamas, Crane made it clear there was no equivocation Crane has over 40 years of experience in international and that Israel, at least in the first criminal law and prosecuted Liberian president and couple of weeks following the warlord Charles Taylor. File photo attack, had a right and an obligation to defend itself by launching attacks against Hamas targets in Gaza.

“Hamas knows they would lose [in tradi“I would really hesitate making the tional combat],” he said. “The bottom line is, extreme statements that Israel is just doing Hamas will have a missile battery in the basethe very same thing that Hamas is doing,” ment of a residential apartment building, roll he said. it out, fire, put it back in the basement and The problem with some of those attacks Israel has an invalid military target in the has been the growing collateral damage as basement. If they take out the missiles which more civilians die in those attacks. Crane said are killing Israelis indiscriminately, it may that collateral damage itself isn’t a war crime take out the building, and then Hamas takes as long as there’s evidence that the actual tar- pictures of the dead bodies, the screaming get was military in nature, that the loss of children.” civilians was proportionate to the expected Crane’s opinions are backed first by his military advantage and that the IDF took all own experience in combat as an Army junior

officer in Vietnam and then over 40 years in the legal field, including time as a Judge Advocate General (JAG) advising military officers on the laws of combat as they may apply to any particular mission.

Whenever such a mission is considered, a JAG is present to advise the brass on the its legality and potential pitfalls — even things that could, in the end, be war crimes. Crane said Israel has a similar practice for authoriz-

ing strikes against Hamas, but that doesn’t mean it may not be susceptible to making more mistakes as time goes on.

“Hamas is egging Israel on to force them into a situation where they can’t win, and they want to embarrass Israel,” he said.

Crane recalled one mission where the United States was going after a high-level target who was going to be at a wedding. The key when advising in those situations is to determine the value of the target and weigh that against the potential collateral damage.

If there are a lot civilians around and there might be another way to get that target, then a mission should be postponed or aborted.

An egregious failure to do so may constitute a war crime.

“We had him dead to rights,” Crane said of the target at the wedding. “We had him in our drone sights, and we called it off because he had 50 civilians around him. We had to weigh the risk. All combatants have an obligation to consider civilian casualties.”

“We still got him later,” Crane added.

Had the attack been given the green light, it could have played out similarly to a United States drone strike in December 2013 that hit a wedding procession in Yemen. According to a summary of the incident from Human Rights Watch, although the procession may have included members of Al Qaeda, there were numerous civilians killed or injured in the attack.

While in his initial interview, Crane said Israel hadn’t blatantly committed any war

crimes he knew of since he understood the IDF was targeting terrorists, in a follow-up interview on Nov. 2 he said the recent attacks on Gaza’s largest refugee camp would almost certainly meet that standard.

“I think they crossed that line with those two attacks,” he said. “If you know there are hundreds of people around who’d be killed, you have to weigh that.”

Crane’s main role was to advise leaders regarding the legality of a strike, but he pointed out that there must also be a political consideration, as well. He said that as Israel continues to aggressively attack areas with dense civilian populations and especially refugee camps, they’ll hurt their own cause at the international level.

“They’re slowly but surely turning the world against them,” he said.

And while Crane still thinks Israel has the right to defend itself and that Hamas was clearly the aggressor, he doesn’t want people to mistake that as a statement of support for the country’s current leadership, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was indicted on charges related to bribery and fraud in November 2019.

“I am not pro anything,” he said. “I am just calling it like it is. Israel under Netanyahu is basically a dictatorship. It is slowly but surely losing this strong democratic tradition because of him.”

“Politically, Israel has been the bad guy for over a decade,” Crane added. “And in some cases, longer than that. They have controlled Gaza. They’ve occupied it at times and they’ve literally put a fence around Gaza and control whatever goes in — food, water and whathave-you — for decades.”

Crane said that ultimately prosecuting war crimes against either side could be tricky and added that there must be some international political will to get to that point.

“If Israel by chance captured the leader of Hamas, that leader could be prosecuted under Israeli domestic law for various violations,” he said. “There’s no political will to go after Hamas from an international level, so even though they are committing international crimes, and the international criminal court has jurisdiction over it, I’m not sure where that’s gonna go.”

However, Crane said he still believes that if the will is there, Hamas could be prosecuted for war crimes in an international court.

Man convicted of brutal domestic abuse

handgun, including shoving it into her mouth. He slammed the victim’s head into the kitchen stove, hit her in the head and strangled her twice. Later, Tadlock raped her.

The victim was able to escape and seek medical attention after Tadlock fell asleep.

Jury members found Tadlock guilty of: • First-degree rape.

• First-degree kidnapping.

• Assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.

• Two counts of assault by strangulation.

Superior Court Judge Gary Gavenus

ordered Tadlock be entered for life in the N.C. Sex Offender Registry.

He also instituted permanent nocontact orders.

Waynesville Police Det. Paige Shell and Officer Cody Corn were lead officers on the case.

A Haywood County jury found a former jailer-turned-security guard guilty of strangling, raping and assaulting his then-wife.

Bryan Tadlock, 44, will serve a minimum active prison sentence of 29 years in prison up to a possible maximum active sentence of 43 years and eight months.

“This was a horrible and brutal case of 8 domestic violence, and the victim showed

true bravery in her willingness to pursue criminal charges and testify,” District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch said.

Welch and Assistant District Attorney Jeff Jones prosecuted the case.

When arrested on March 29, 2022, Tadlock was employed as a security guard at Haywood County Community College. He is a former Swain County detention officer.

At trial, Welch and Jones presented evidence showing Tadlock became enraged the night he assaulted his then wife.

Tadlock threatened the victim with a

“Hamas knows they would lose [in traditional combat].”

— David Crane

Bryan Tadlock. File photo

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WCU prof awarded prestigious Fullbright fellowship

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR Western Carolina University professor has been awarded one of the most respected fellowships in the world, which she hopes will not only shed some light on pertinent trends in media — both in the Balkans and in the United States — but also help to inspire her journalism students in the same ways she was, years ago.

“When I was an undergraduate student in a journalism program in Skopje [capital of the Republic of North Macedonia], there was a Fullbright scholar who came and taught reporting. She was a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, and she was just wonderful,” said Katerina Spasovska, associate professor of communications at WCU. “She kind of gave me a glimpse of what I could do.”

The Fullbright Program was established by a United States senator from Arkansas, J. William Fullbright, in 1946.

Fullbright, who would go on to chair the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations for 15 years during the early stages of the Cold War, wanted to promote a two-way cultural and intellectual exchange in hopes that it would also improve relations between the United States and countries throughout the world.

Administered by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural

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sector contributions from the U.S. added another $60 million, and the U. S. Department of Education chipped in $8 million.

The program acknowledges Sen. Fullbright’s complex legacy — at the same time he championed greater understanding among people of diverse nations across the globe, he promoted segregationist ideals at home, including opposition to racial integration in public places and in educational settings.

However, the program’s results over the past 77 years speak for themselves. The 400,000-plus recipients of Fullbright scholarships in 165 nations include 41 heads of state, 62 Nobel Prize winners and 89 Pulitzer Prize winners.

The application process is extremely competitive.

In February, Spasovska will travel to the tiny Balkan nation of Kosovo for five months.

Home to nearly 2 million people, Kosovo is a landlocked country about half the size of New Jersey and is bordered by Albania and former Yugoslav territories including Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro. The overwhelming majority of Kosovo’s population is ethnically Albanian, practices Islam and enjoys a relatively high quality of life similar to other countries in the region.

Kosovo was a nominally autonomous

“I think it’s important that we bring the world to WCU, but I think it’s just as important to showcase what we have to offer here in Western North Carolina to the world.”

— Ingrid Bego

Affairs, the Fullbright Program awards nearly 8,000 scholarships and grants each year to artists, students, professionals and teachers like Spasovska.

During fiscal year 2020, total program funding was set at $439.7 million, the majority of which, more than $270 million, originated with the State Department. Foreign partner nations contributed nearly $100 million in direct and in-kind support. Private

province of Yugoslavia from 1945 through the 1980s, but as Yugoslavia began to splinter following the fall of the Soviet Union, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia, a majority Christian nation, in 1990.

Soon after, Serbian forces began to engage in brutal repression of the Kosovar independence movement, committing mass murder, war crimes and ethnic cleansing.

Called the Kosovo War, the conflict pit-

Western Carolina University associate professor Katerina Spasovska will soon head to Kosovo to teach and conduct research. WCU photo ted Serbia and Montenegro — still calling themselves Yugoslavia — against the Kosovo Liberation Army. In 1999, NATO airstrikes brought an end to the fighting, but not before between 6,000 and 12,000 Kosovars ended up in more than 500 mass graves, according to a United Nations report from 1999.

Serbia still claims Kosovo as its own, however, 102 of 193 United Nations member states recognize Kosovo’s status as a sovereign nation. The U.S. formally recognized it in 2008.

Both Serbia and Kosovo now seek to join the European Union, however Serbia’s refusal to recognize Kosovo, along with Kosovo’s purported repression of ethnic Serbs in the northern part of the country nearest Serbia, has to end, according to EU President Ursula von der Leyen.

The U.S. helms a multinational military presence based in southeast Kosovo as tensions remain high between the two countries, although Spasovska says she feels

Kosovo is safe — at least, right now.

“In our region, ‘tense’ can happen in 15 minutes and be de-escalated the next day, so it’s kind of a fluid situation,” Spasovska said.

A native of Macedonia, Spasovska worked as a reporter there and across the Balkans, just as Yugoslavia was falling apart.

She started out with freelance work, including broadcast television and radio, and went on to earn her master’s degree in 2000 from one of the top journalism schools in the world, the University of Missouri.

After a stint with the U.S. Agency for International Development’s media development program, she worked as an editor of an Albanian language political magazine started by her husband, who is also a journalist.

In 2007, Spasovska began her doctoral studies at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

In Kosovo, Spasovska will serve as a member of a private university’s mass communications faculty, teaching two undergrad courses and one master’s-level course.

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two newspapers in the United States close their doors and are not replaced. Multiple studies have suggested that when a community becomes a news desert, government transparency goes down, and the cost of governance — borne by taxpayers — goes up.

“At least in Macedonia — I don’t know if it’s true in in Kosovo — what happens a lot of the time is the desk will cover the world with translated information picked up from other media, like the Associated Press or Reuters. But the local stories are missing,” said Spasovska. “They will cover politics in Skopje as the capital, but the rest of the country is ignored. Nobody covers that. I’m from eastern Macedonia. There is not a good TV station or radio that covers the eastern region of Macedonia. And we’re talking about a country that is nearly 2 million people.”

While Spasovska’s work may add a little more shine to WCU’s academic reputation, she’s far from the first Catamount to be honored with a Fullbright.

Ingrid Bego, an associate professor of political science at WCU and native of Albania, currently serves as the director of the office of national and international student awards and is the Fullbright campus representative for students. Along with Wes Milner, director of global engagement, Bego hopes to boost WCU’s future Fullbrighters by bolstering institutional support for applicants, who can be current students, instructors or even alumni.

Bego told The Smoky Mountain News that over the past few years, there have been about four student applicants each year, with some entering the semifinalist phase of the process.

Most recently, associate head of the department of physical therapy John Carzoli traveled to Bolivia to complete his Fullbright project. Turner Goins, a distinguished professor in the college of health and human services, embarked on a journey to New Zealand. Yanjun Yan, associate professor of engineering, traveled to Bulgaria.

“I think it’s important to devote more time and resources to strengthen WCU’s Fulbright footprint because of the mission of Fulbright to advance knowledge across communities and improve lives around the world,” Bego said. “I think it’s important that we bring the world to WCU, but I think it’s just as important to showcase what we have to offer here in Western North Carolina to the world. We have so much to give not only within the walls of the university but in our collaborations and work in the community. The Fulbright can make it all possible, building lasting connections between our people here in Western North Carolina and the people of other countries.”

Bego has plans to host a “Fullbright day” at WCU when applications open in April, to raise awareness of the program among students and faculty. For more information on the Fullbright program, visit us.fulbrightonline.org.

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Spasovska will also conduct research into media development in southeastern Europe, in conjunction with working journalists there; it’s not a new topic for her.

“My dissertation topic was how journalists in Macedonia define professional journalism, and what I learned from that dissertation was that the pressures on younger reporters, especially reporters in broadcast media, are much bigger and heavier than among the older ones, the more established names,” Spasovska said.

“But at the same time, the more established names were also connected with political elites. I want to see how Ingrid Bego in Macedonia it changed, has it changed in Albania, and let’s see what is happening over there in Kosovo.”

Another interesting facet of the media landscape in Kosovo is that since the Coronavirus Pandemic, print media has largely gone the way of the dinosaur in favor of digital outlets.

Kosovo also has a fairly young population, which may be a factor in digital news consumption. Per the CIA World Factbook, the median age there was 30.5 years in 2020, good for a rank of 120 out of 227 nations.

Monaco, the oldest country in the world, has a median age of 55.4 years, compared to the United States, ranked at 61 with a median age of 38.5.

“They have a lot of young people, so In terms of how young people are using and accessing information, that’s a probably a string that will come up as a development,” Spasovska said. “But what does that mean for reporters? Because it’s very different how you reach audiences in traditional media, and how you reach them online.”

And that’s not the only parallel between journalism in southeastern Europe and in the United States. Some of Spasovska’s research could reveal important portents here.

“American media also have a problem that the media there have, which is dropping trust and credibility,” she said. “What I could contribute is, hey, here’s the reasons why and how that affects the media there.”

Another significant parallel is the concept of the “news desert.” Often rural, news deserts are places where there are no legitimate news sources. A 2022 study by Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism says that one-fifth of Americans live in a news desert, or in a community at risk of becoming one.

Around the same time as the Northwestern study, The Washington Post published a story claiming that each week,

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BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER n order to fairly compensate non-certified employees with several years of service to the school system, Jackson County Public Schools has instituted a new local salary decompression schedule.

Pay compression is an issue that can develop over time in which there is little difference in pay between employees regardless of varying experience or credentials. In North Carolina Public Schools, this issue has been exacerbated by the state-mandated pay increases, and hourly minimums, for employees outlined in the last few state budgets. “[This provides] the ability for us as an employer to honor our non-certified staff years of service,” said Superintendent Dana Ayers. “That’s the key for all of this because the state pay increases have done wonders for us and we greatly appreciate that, but it’s more of a level so that folks that have been here for 20 years are making the same as a person that was hired yesterday. So we’re trying to recognize that and honor that through various levels.”

In the 2022-2023 budget, the state mandated increases for hourly school employees by 4% or to $15 per hour, whichever was greater. Just the year before, pay increased to $13 per hour minimum. In this year’s budget, there is another mandated 4% increase.

The new pay schedule contains pay scales based upon required non-certified guidelines provided by the Department of Public

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Instruction. While not all non-certified staff are funded locally, there will be local funds used to pay for some of the compensation increases.

“We wanted a plan that we could actually make happen,” said Human Resources Director Teri Walawender. “We had to be able to do something that we could actually achieve. Something that would work long term.”

“We have come up with salary scales that will allow us flexibility when we hire to allow us to look at competency, experience and qualifications, something that we haven’t done in the past.”

— Teri Walawender, Jackson County Public Schools Human Resources Director

The goal of the new pay schedule is not only to decompress salaries and wages, but also to increase retention and recruitment, compensate employee dedication and commitment, provide hiring ranges for new hires in all positions and develop a tenable and sustainable plan for annual pay

increases for non-certified employees.

“We hope for both of those things following this, compensating employee dedication and commitment,” said Walawender. “We have employees who have been here a long time who have committed years of service and we want to be able to retain those people.”

“We also want to be able to recruit,” Walawender said. “We have come up with salary scales that will allow us flexibility when we hire to allow us to look at competency, experience and qualifications, something that we haven’t done in the past.”

Secondary jobs — like after school care, tutors and other jobs that don’t fit the normal raise scale — have flat rates and will not be subject to increases according to the new schedule, but those rates will be reviewed annually.

A local raise of 2% will be provided to non-certified hourly employees in future years when there are no increases in the state budget. In years when the state mandates a raise, that 2% raise will not be provided.

“We could not do both in the same year,” said Walawender. “We would love to, but we can’t, not yet.”

New non-exempt employee pay rates will be determined using the relevant salary scale and based on qualifications, experience and competencies. The interview team will provide an overall rating for competencies and sign a recommendation to submit to human

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A local raise of 2% will be provided to non-certified hourly employees in future years when there are no increases in the state budget. In years when the state mandates a raise, that 2% raise will not be provided.

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The immediate impact of the new pay schedule on the 2023-24 budget is $136,477 for state raises and an additional $70,968 for the new decompression costs.

“What’s important to remember is that a lot of these non-certified groups are paid from other budgets like federal budgets and state budgets,” Walawender said. “So we’re just catching the overflow in local.

It’s not every single non-certified person that’s paid on our budget. That’s why those numbers don’t feel exorbitant, which we are glad, we feel they’re manageable.”

Another reason for the manageable number has to do with staff shortages, which most public schools in the region have been dealing with in recent years.

“Some of those budgets are able to pick up more of this that we’re putting on them, more of these increases because we haven’t been at full capacity,” Walawender said. “But we have looked at what full capacity would look like.”

The total local allocation for the JCPS budget for the 2023-24 school year was $9,411,936, plus $428,201 that the school system allocated from its fund balance to balance the budget.

“More than anything I think that our staff are going to be so grateful and appreciative for this,” said Ayers. “It’s going to honor the work and the commitment that they’ve given to JCPS.”

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resources. Quartiles will be used to determine starting pay, the maximum of which will be the midpoint of the quartiles. The quartiles range from one, an individual that has no or minimal prior related education and experience above the minimum required for the job, to four, in which an individual is a proven expert in their position with in-depth knowledge and ability to fulfill all the duties and responsibilities of a position.

Credit for certifications will be given when determining quartiles, however, if a person gains additional credentials during their time with JCPS that increases the employee’s ability to serve in their role, the supervisor can request a salary review with human resources.

Sign-on bonuses will be determined by directors and district administrators and must have prior approval from human resources, finance and the department lead.

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Tribal Council approves short-term funding for Qualla Enterprises Long-term plan still in process

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ribal Council has again delayed approving long-term funding for its cannabis enterprise but voted overwhelmingly Thursday, Nov. 2, to loan the company up to $3 million to cover expenses over the next month.

“I’m just trying to figure out what a shorter-term plan is to a longer-term issue, and I think that’s kind of where we’re at right now,” Principal Chief Michell Hicks told Tribal Council.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has had a business interest in the cannabis market since March 2022, when it authorized Kituwah LLC to distribute $14 million to Cherokee Medical LLC, the predecessor to the tribe’s current cannabis company, Qualla Enterprises LLC. To date, the tribe has invested $31 million in the business, but Qualla Enterprises has repeatedly told Tribal Council it needs more funding to be successful.

Last year, Council approved an additional $64 million but later upheld a veto from then-Principal Chief Richard Sneed.

Sneed was concerned the appropriation could jeopardize the tribe’s casino business by running afoul of federal rules governing use of gambling proceeds. He called for a “full accounting” of the $31 million already provided before giving the enterprise more money.

One week into his new term as principal chief, Hicks introduced a resolution to fund the business, proposing $19 million that, unlike previous allocations, would be given as a loan to be repaid with interest. However, he immediately asked Tribal Council to table the measure so he could gather additional information to inform his approach.

Now, the LLC is running out of money to pay its employ-

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November 8-14, 2023

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ees and continues to lack a revenue stream. Though it’s stockpiled millions of dollars’ worth of cannabis at its farm on Coopers Creek, it has not yet worked out a plan to transport it for sale on the main Qualla Boundary without crossing state-controlled lands, where marijuana remains an illegal substance. Additionally, the company still needs to work out a plan for testing products before they are sold.

Qualla Enterprises headquarters.

Holly Kays photo

As of the Nov. 2 Tribal Council session, Hicks still had questions he wanted answers for before moving ahead with funding.

“We have several meetings this afternoon in regards to where are we around the transportation plan,” said Hicks.

“We need to get an update on the audit, in addition to I think there are some contract provisions that executive and the Council want to dive into.”

He asked Council to keep the funding resolution tabled but to consider passing a separate resolution providing Qualla LLC with money to cover operating expenses for the next month.

“We’re at a point now to where the cash has basically been exhausted,” he said.

Tribal Council voted unanimously to table the resolution

and approved the emergency resolution Hicks introduced later that day to provide the enterprise with stopgap funding.

That resolution approved up to $3 million in tribal levy from the general fund to be used for payroll, benefits, utilities and “payments to critical vendors for which Qualla LLC will lose services if those critical vendors are not paid.” The vendor payments would require approval from the Office of Budget and Finance.

The resolution also lists four requirements that Qualla Enterprises must meet by Tuesday, Dec. 5, by which time the stop-gap funding would have run out. Qualla Enterprises must provide the Office of the Attorney General with a final independent auditor’s report, a product transportation plan and a plan to perform product testing for retail sale.

Additionally, it must complete “good faith negotiations” on the management agreement with vendor Sovereign Solutions Carolina with the goal of saving money and providing Qualla Enterprises with a better financial return.

Yellowhill Rep. David Wolfe introduced an amendment giving Tribal Council final approval on the renegotiated management agreement. The tribal government has supplied all the funding Qualla Enterprises has at this point, he said, and so it should get the final say.

“I agree, David, but I think that we need to start doing that with all the LLCs, not just picking and choosing just one board,” said Wolfetown Rep. Bo Crowe, listing Kituwah LLC and EBCI Holdings.

“I agree with it,” Wolfe replied. “If we’re going to be the bank, we need to make sure.”

“If we would have done this beforehand, we wouldn’t be in the situation with some of the outside gaming there,” said Crowe. “So I agree with what we’re starting to do now, but I wish we would have started it sooner.”

Attorney General Mike McConnell offered a

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BY HOLLY KAYS prosecutor for the N.C. Conference of STAFF WRITER District Attorneys, was assigned to take it early 11 months after a Cherokee on. According to an N.C. State Bar listing, County man was shot by police offiSigmon lives in the 36th Judicial District of cers in the doorway of his own home, a Burke, Caldwell and Catawba counties and State Bureau of Investigation probe into the has been admitted to the state bar since shooting is complete.

1988.

The case is now in the hands of Special Kloepfer was seriously injured in the Prosecutor Lance Sigmon, who is reviewing Dec. 13, 2022, shooting that occurred after a the SBI report. SBI reports on law enforceneighbor called 911 claiming she was conment incidents never become public but are cerned that he had hurt his wife. Citing a used to determine whether criminal charges potential hostage situation, the Cherokee are warranted against the officers involved.

County Sheriff ’s Office requested assistance While the initial probe is complete, from the Cherokee Indian Police Sigmon could request additional informaDepartment’s SWAT team, which arrived in tion from the SBI to make his decision. the early morning hours. Home security “I cannot give you a timeline because we video shows Kloepfer coming to the door do not know how much additional informawith his hands up, in compliance with police tion there will be to review or if additional orders. However, as he stood there three information will need to be requested,” said Kimberly Spahos, executive director of the N.C. Conference of District Attorneys.

Typically, the district attorney in the region where the incident occurred would be responsible for receiving and evaluating the SBI Jason Harley Kloepfer stands at the door with his report. But District hands up one second before officers fired.

Attorney Ashley Photo from Kloepfer security video Welch sought to recuse herself from handling the case due to statements she said CIPD officers fired their weapons at him. members of the Cherokee County Sheriff ’s The video Kloepfer released in January Office made to her following the shooting. shows a sequence of events that contrasts In a March 27 letter to the N.C. Attorney sharply with the CCSO’s initial story that General’s Office, she said that as a result of Kloepfer had prompted the shooting by coninformation conveyed from the CCSO, she fronting officers as he emerged from his charged the shooting victim, Jason Harley camper trailer. A federal lawsuit filed in the Kloepfer, with a pair of misdemeanors. But a U.S. District Court of Western North few months later, she dismissed those Carolina seeks millions in damages and charges. claims that officers violated Kloepfer’s rights “I anticipate myself and others in my in a variety of ways. It has the potential to office will be interviewed by SBI as part of set precedent on the limits of legal protecthe ongoing investigation,” she wrote. tions for tribal officers.

In June, a representative from the N.C. The SBI investigation and special proseDepartment of Justice told The Smoky cutor process is separate from the lawsuit Mountain News the office was “unable to and will be used to determine whether crimtake the case because of capacity coninal charges are warranted against any of the straints.” However, Lance Sigmon, a special officers involved.

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SBI report on police shooting heads to special prosecutor

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Smoky Mountain News

board, is what it amounts to,” McConnell said.

Tribal Council disagreed, with all members except Painttown Rep. Dike Sneed and Birdtown Rep. Jim Owle voting in favor of Wolfe’s amendment. Sneed was the only representative to vote against the final resolution approving stop-gap funding.

Following the vote, Tribal Council held a closed-door work session to further discuss the cannabis enterprise.

@SMOKYMOUNTAINNEWS November 8-14, 2023

word of caution against such a provision, saying that the point of setting up an LLC is to offer heightened independence for the enterprise. The “proper avenue” for Tribal Council to ensure the management agreement meets its standards, he said, is through exercising its influence on the Qualla LLC board, whose members Tribal Council appoints.

“If the board is not responsive, then you have authority to take people off the

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news

Sylva moves forward on public restrooms

BY HANNAH MCLEOD the project, including almost $30,000 in conSTAFF WRITER tingency is $608,673. The project revenues o save money after bids for the downare split with a total of $350,000 coming town public restroom project came in from two State Capital and Infrastructure over budget, Sylva will move forward grant allocations, $40,000 from the without installing the intended solar panels.

Southwestern Commission Council of “Solar panels can be added at any time Government, $8,900 from interest accumuduring the lifespan of this structure, probalated on the SCIF grants, and $209,773 from bly cheaper than this contractor would do the Town of Sylva’s ARPA funds. Leaving the it,” said Public Works Director Jake Scott. solar panels out of the project at this stage “This is the most significant cost savings of saves the town almost $15,000. any of the other items.”

The lowest bid the “Just a reminder that this is a building Town of Sylva received for the public restrooms was we’re gonna have for 100 years and higher than what it had budgeted for the project. it’s at the center of town. It’s gonna This prompted a value be highly used by folks that live here, engineering discussion during the Oct. 26 Town but even more by folks that come and Council meeting to detervisit here; it’s gonna be a statement mine how the town could change the restroom plans about our town.” to save money.

“It’s very standard to — Commissioner Ben Guiney. negotiate with the low bidder before entering into a contract,” said Scott.

Scott presented the board with seven The bathrooms are set to be built beside cost-saving options for the bathroom projthe railroad on Mill Street in a style that is ect that all together would have saved a reminiscent of the old railroad depot. The total of around $35,000. town received four bids and selected one The first of the cost saving options came from Cinderella Partners. The total cost of in the choice of building material. The

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The project described was supported by Funding Opportunity number NAVCA210405-02-00 from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The contents provided are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of HHS or any of its agencies.

savings by the contractor is how little plans for the restrooms include walls made they’d save us,” said Mayor David Nestler. of insulating concrete forms (ICF) which “I think that’s largely a function of just are slightly more expensive than walls made of concrete masonry units (CMU) but how small this structure is,” Scott said.

“Some of these savings are pretty signifiare constructed faster and result in better cant but when you concentrate them to insulation. such a small square footage, you’re just not “Nothing wrong with concrete block, getting a lot cut off.” that’s a very traditional form of construction,” said Scott. “[Concrete block will] Both Scott and architect Odell increase the time to install, not a whole lot, Thompson offered recommendations to the but it will take a little bit more time to put board as to what cost-saving options they up.” thought would be prudent to adopt for the The original plans also included exterior project. Thompson recommended opting for brick siding to match the aesthetic of the sheetrock ceiling instead of tongue and railroad depot, which would have been groove ceiling, as well as reducing wall tile excluded if the town chose to use CMU to six feet, with drywall above that. He also walls instead of ICF. Instead, the CMU recommended omitting the solar panels and walls would have external paint to maintain putting them in later with a different conthe desired color scheme. tractor.

“You can’t have one without the other,” said Scott.

Downtown Sylva. Allen Newland photo Inside, the plans include tile on the walls and floors of the restroom. The board discussed reducing tile on the interior walls to six feet, after which there would be three feet of painted sheetrock between the tile and ceiling.

“Tile floor to ceiling is purely aesthetic there and reducing the amount of tile on interior walls will not decrease the functionality or the longevity of those interior walls,” said Scott.

Replacing interior wall tile completely Scott also recommended no tongue and with sheetrock and contrasting epoxy finish groove ceiling, reducing wall tile to six feet was estimated to save $6,000. and omitting solar panels. Additionally, he “That’s one of the more substantial savrecommended replacing floor tile with an ings we have that’s being presented,” said epoxy coating.

Scott. “So that eliminates all the tile to be However, the board made it clear that clear, it eliminates all of that from interior as a downtown structure intended to be walls and that’s that same durable nonreminiscent of the old railroad depot, aesporous finish on the drywall as you’d have thetics are important for the building. on the floor and that can be opposing color “These changes are going to defeat the schemes as well.” purpose of the throwback, small town, Other options for the floor tile included public, aesthetically pleasing structure that sealed concrete or an epoxy coat. Sealed I think that’s what we all wanted in this concrete floors are durable and easy to location in particular,” said Commissioner clean but still have a porous surface and the Greg McPherson. “I think we’re sort of lossealant has to be reapplied at regular intering sight of that with a lot of these vals. Epoxy floors are non-porous, durable changes.” and resistant to bacteria and odors. Both “Just a reminder that this is a building offer cheaper up-front costs than tile. we’re gonna have for 100 years and it’s at The ceiling in the bathroom is designed the center of town,” said Commissioner with tongue and groove boards. Replacing Ben Guiney. “It’s gonna be highly used by this design with sheetrock ceiling would folks that live here, but even more by folks reduce costs by $1,600. that come and visit here; it’s gonna be a The building was designed with solar statement about our town.” panels on the roof to offset costs of electricCommissioners also pointed out that ity and align with Sylva’s goal of sustainany of the town’s ARPA money that can be ability. Omitting the solar panel array from saved on the bathroom project can go the plans would reduce costs by $14,875. toward the Bridge Park project.

At that cost, estimates for when those While the board decided to forgo the panels would pay for themselves by offset solar panels at this phase of the project, electricity costs ranged from 16 years to several commissioners spoke to their desire more than 20. that the panels could be added in the Combined, all of these cost savings future. All other features of the public restmeasures would have reduced the cost of room plans will be included in the project. the total project — more than $600,000 — “I want to thank everybody for their by just over $35,000, or around 5.6%. hard work,” said McPherson. “It’s been a “My first impression from these cost long time coming.”

After 115 years in operation, the paper mill in Canton shut down this year.

Jeffrey Delannoy photo

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Canton mill receives new water quality violation

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vergreen Packaging is no longer making paper in Canton, but it’s still receiving environmental violations. A new notice issued Thursday, Oct. 26, brings the mill to 17 since May 2021.

The new violation, issued by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources, is based on a report monitoring the mill’s wastewater discharge during the month of August.

The report showed that on Aug. 30, fecal coliform concentrations in the mill’s effluent were 50% higher than state standards.

The findings echo those found in a notice of violation issued Dec. 1, 2022, which cited high fecal coliform levels on April 5 of that year — also 50% over the limit. The DEQ levied penalties totaling $637.32 as a result of that violation.

The 2022 violation was related to issues with the process the Town of Canton uses to pretreat its waste before sending it on to the mill’s wastewater treatment plant. The violation prompted

the town to start constructing infrastructure improvements to address the problem. An update on that project was not available as of press time.

Fecal coliform is a group of bacteria that includes disease-causing species such as E.coli. While most coliform bacteria do not cause disease, some strains of E.coli cause serious illness. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, swimming, diving or wading in water contaminated with fecal bacteria can result in diarrhea, vomiting, respiratory illness and other health problems. Skin, ear, eye, sinus and wound infections can also be caused by contact with contaminated water.

Pactiv Evergreen quit making paper in May, but it continues to treat the Town of Canton’s wastewater on site, in compliance with a 1960s-era agreement that requires the mill to provide wastewater treatment for at least two years after closure.

Pactiv Evergreen did not return a request for comment.

Bartender charged after underage driver crashes Smoky Mountain News

A bartender has been criminally charged following a single-vehicle collision in Macon County.

On Oct. 20, Highlands Police Department notified ALE of a single-vehicle collision involving an underage driver and three other passengers. Three individuals were taken to area hospitals, while one passenger was airlifted for medical treatment due to their injuries.

Through the course of the ALE investigation, special agents verified the driver purchased numerous mixed beverages from 4118 Kitchen and Bar, located at 64 Highlands Plaza in Highlands, prior to the crash.

The following subjects have been charged by ALE in relation to the 4118 Kitchen and Bar case: • The bartender, Ryan Patrick Henry, 41, of Cashiers failed to verify the age of the underage individual. ALE cited Henry for selling alcohol to someone under the age of 21 and one count of allowing violations to occur at an ABC-licensed business.

• The driver, Steijn Pieter Drijver, 19, of Highlands with purchase alcohol underage and consume alcohol underage by ALE. Additionally, Highlands Police Department also charged Drijver with driving while impaired, two counts of felony serious injury by vehicle and reckless driving.

• Rasheem Tyshane McKenzie, 20, of Highlands with purchase alcohol underage and consume alcohol underage.

ALE will submit violation reports to the ABC Commission documenting the investigative findings.

The ABC Commission may choose to sanction 4118 Kitchen and Bar through a fine, suspension or revocation of the business’ ABC permits.

This is an ongoing investigation.

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Smoky Mountain News November 8-14, 2023

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WCU basketball facilities enjoy new improvements

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Marsha Sullivan Film Room. Mike Sullivan is CEO and president of Gargiulo Farms and spouse Marsha is a retired customer service manager for Lee County Tax Collection Office.

They are residents of Florida with a home in Cashiers, and daughter Marissa Sullivan is a 2022 alumna and current WCU graduate student. * In recognition of gifts and pledges from James Causby and spouse June Causby, the women’s lounge has been named the Jim and June Causby Women’s Basketball Lounge.

Both are retired educators, and James Causby is a former executive director of the N.C. Association of School Administrators and the N.C. School Superintendent Association who recently served as interim superintendent of Asheville City Schools. He graduated in 1967 from WCU where he earned his master’s degree in 1969, and she graduated from WCU in 1969.

“Investments like this one help change the storyline away from the past to the future and provide a visually telling reminder that a cultural shift is upon us.”

— Kiley Hill, WCU women’s basketball head coach

In addition, two former men’s basketball standouts were recognized for making significant contributions to the project. They are Board of Trustees member Jake Robinson, a 2010 graduate of WCU and president of Champion Credit Union in Canton, and wife Olivia Robinson, also a 2010 WCU graduate; and retired NBA player Kevin Martin, who attended WCU in the early 2000s before becoming the first Catamount to be selected in the first round of the NBA draft.

Donors to the basketball program renovations said they decided to support the facilities

Western Carolina University women’s basketball player Audrey Meyers (center) presents a ceremonial game ball to donors Jake Robinson and Olivia Robinson. Donated photo improvements out of a desire to help the Catamount athletics program be more successful.

“I know athletics has been through some lean years, but our people are not the problem.

We have great people,” said Couch, who also has created the Carlton O. and Margaret W. Couch Scholarship Fund in honor of his parents. “Chancellor Kelli Brown has done a fantastic job focusing on athletics and has brought in top-notch talent to lead our program. It’s all in place at the perfect time — vision, personnel, strategy and giving. Every WCU team, no matter the sport, benefits when alumni, friends and community commit to support this important endeavor.”

Susie Ray’s gifts to the renovations project, which are in addition to a previously established scholarship fund in recognition of her husband’s contributions to WCU, originated with an inquiry from a member of the Catamount Club staff.

“When I considered how much that would

Smoky Mountain News

Donor Susie Ray (center) and daughter Kelly Schwenk and granddaughter Olivia Reed visit the newly named Robert G. and Susie R. Ray Men’s Basketball Players Lounge. Donated photo

please Bob, I made the commitment,” she said.

“He would be so happy to know that the dedication of the lounge area in the new dressing rooms would be in his memory.”

Catamount basketball coaches agree that the changes will not only improve the practice and game-day experiences for current players but also will help recruit and retain new student athletes.

“A winning culture is not an accident, and it shares a story. It is words used, what is accepted, actions performed and lessons learned. Over the past two years, we have seen numerous esthetic changes that provide a new ‘feel’ inside and out of the Ramsey Center that are helping tell our story. Investments like this one help change the storyline away from the past to the future and provide a visually telling reminder that a cultural shift is upon us,” said Kiley Hill, women’s basketball head coach.

“We are blessed to have the support of the alumni, donors and administration for the men’s and women’s basketball locker room project,” said Justin Gray, men’s basketball head coach. “The upgrades we have made to these spaces show a commitment to winning by providing our student-athletes with a stateof-the-art space with advanced technology that will give us a real competitive advantage within our league.”

Student-athletes are already making use of the renovated basketball facilities. “As players for Western Carolina, we are extremely grateful for the generosity of the Western Carolina community and family,” said Russell Jones Jr., a guard on the men’s team. “Having a brand new, state-of-the-art locker room will pay huge dividends for the program now and for years to come.”

For more information or to make a donation to the men’s and women’s basketball locker rooms and film room renovation project, contact Julie Miller, associate athletics director for development, at jamiller@wcu.edu or 828.227.3084.

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November 8-14, 2023

BY B ILL STUDENC AND DANIEL HOOKER CONTRIBUTING WRITERS long-range list of upgrades to Western Carolina University athletics facilities tipped off this fall with a project in support of the Catamount men’s and women’s basketball programs featuring renovated locker rooms, polished and refined players’ lounges with nutrition areas and an updated film room.

“Improving the locker rooms and video room used by our men’s and women’s basketball programs is the first of many projects we will address that will enhance the student-athlete experience and reflect the Division 1 program we aspire to be,” said WCU Director of Athletics Alex Gary.

The newly renovated spaces were unveiled Sept. 29, as donors and fans got their first look at the modernized locker rooms, players’ lounges and film room during tours guided by members of the men’s and women’s basketball teams.

Nearly 3,000 square-feet of space on the main level of the Ramsey Regional Activity Center has been transformed by the project.

Both men’s and women’s locker room renovations feature new lockers complete with charging stations and LED lighting, floor-to-ceiling esthetic finishes including custom flooring, and expanded player’s lounge areas complete with new systems and monitors. The film room includes new stadium-style seating along with audio-visual equipment to support film breakdown and instruction.

The WCU Board of Trustees has approved the naming of five spaces in the Ramsey Center in honor of five major gifts that have helped make the project possible: * In recognition of gifts and pledges from Waxhaw resident Gaither Keener and spouse Beverly, the men’s basketball suite is now known as the Gaither and Bev Keener Family Men’s Basketball Suite, which includes the men’s basketball locker room and player’s lounge. A political science major at WCU who graduated in 1972, Gaither Keener went on to earn his law degree from Wake Forest University. He retired from Lowe’s home improvement corporation in 2015 after 30 years of service in its legal department. * In recognition of gifts and pledges from Stephen Couch, the men’s basketball locker room has been named the Stephen Carlton Couch Men’s Basketball Locker Room. Couch, who earned his degree from WCU in industrial technology in 1985, is president of Couch Oil Co. in Durham. * In recognition of gifts and pledges from Susie Ray, the men’s basketball lounge is now the Robert G. and Susie R. Ray Men’s Basketball Players Lounge. A resident of Cullowhee, Susie Ray retired as director of WCU’s career services in 1996. Her late husband, 1957 WCU graduate Bob Ray, was a former WCU basketball coach and a faculty member in the Department of Health and Physical Education. * In recognition of gifts and pledges from Mike and Marsha Sullivan, the athletics program’s film room is christened the Mike and

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Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

Wildfires a reminder of Nature’s power A

n’t help but thinking how easily and quickly my parched yard could go up in flames.

Most of us who follow the news in this region remember the tragic Gatlinburg wildfire of 2016 that ended up taking 14 souls. That fire was determined to be intentionally ignited by teens. It’s not just out West that wildfires can do some horrific damage. When conditions are like they are right now, things get dicey.

All of this is to say that the smoke we are breathing and the hazy conditions we are witnessing around us are no joke. Wildfires are a real danger and with conditions like we have at this moment, it only takes an ember or a spark to start one.

Scott McLeod

severe drought. A moderate but steady wind that’s coming from the north and very dry. Parched leaves swirling everywhere.

Welcome to fire season in Western North Carolina, and unless Mother Nature cooperates with some rain in the near future it appears firefighters, mountain residents and some homeowners could be in for some troubling fire and smoke over the next few weeks.

Buncombe County has declared a state of emergency and banned all fires (except for grilling food). The North Carolina Forest Service on Sunday issued a ban and canceled all burning permits for 14 western counties, fearing more fires and potential damage to structures.

A look at the U.S. Forest Service wildfire website shows where all the fires are located, and as of Tuesday morning two of the uncontained fires are in Jackson County, one in Cherokee County (almost 2,200 acres, 0% contained), one in Transylvania and one in Henderson.

I started the annual gargantuan task of leaf clearing yesterday at my home, and I was surprised at how crisp and dry the leaf litter was. I thought of how we often tout the great variety of hardwoods in the Smokies region, how we take pride in our forests. And I live in a house surrounded by this kind of beauty. But as I removed the leaves from around my deck, I could-

••• I believe that at some point in the future, childcare for children from birth through age 5 will be like public schools, available at no cost for all.

Unfortunately, that’s just not the case right now. The closure a few weeks ago of seven childcare centers in Western North Carolina left about 300 children in need of a place to be Editor

watched while their parents earn a living at work each day.

Two of those centers were in Haywood and Jackson counties.

“As a non-profit agency, we have asked for additional funding from our government funders, and this has not been granted to us at this time,” Sheila Hoyle, executive director of Southwestern Child Development Commission, told The Smoky Mountain News. “At this time, we have no choice but to close our childcare programs.”

We have a society — blame whomever you want for the situation — in which it is nearly impossible for one parent to earn enough money to raise a family. As things are now, even two high-earning couples have a difficult time paying for and finding childcare. This means that low-income families — specifically the kind that the Southwestern Child Development Commission were helping — have an even more difficult time finding places for their children.

State governments make specific choices about funding these centers or not. Many states are making huge strides in helping families with this cost, but not North Carolina. No, our legislative leaders heard the plea from childcare providers while the legislature was in session, and they chose to turn a deaf ear.

Such is the world we live in right now.

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

America’s founding deserves our gratitude

I

world.

November isn’t just home to the Thanksgiving holiday. It contains the anniversaries of many events Americans ought to study and commemorate. On Nov. 15, 1777, the Continental Congress finalized the Articles of Confederation, what might be called the initial “operating system” of the national government.

A little over five years later, on Nov. 30, 1782, representatives of Great Britain and the new United States signed a provisional Guest Columnist peace treaty that brought hostilities to a close, though the Revolutionary War wasn’t formally ended until the signing of the Treaty of Paris a few months later.

As it happens, some of the greatest musical celebrations of America are also associated with this month. On Nov. 11, 1938, Kay Smith debuted the Irving Berlin-penned “God Bless America” to her nationwide radio audience.

John Phillips Sousa, whose many compositions include “The Stars and Stripes Forever” and the Marine Corps march “Semper Fidelis,” was born in November, as was Aaron Copland, who wrote such now-familiar Americana as “Appalachian Spring” and “Rodeo.”

My historical-fantasy series, the Folklore Cycle, is itself meant partly as an expression of gratitude for our great country. The first

John Hood

n her classic novel “Little Women,” Louisa May Alcott has her character Margaret gaze bitterly at the family’s frostbitten garden and proclaim that “November is the most disagreeable month in the whole year.”

The protagonist, her sister Jo, offers a pensive reply: “That’s the reason I was born in it.”

I don’t see November that way. I’m far from alone. According to a recent survey, it’s January that better deserves Margaret’s disdain. Nearly a third of Americans say it’s their least favorite month. Only 4% picked November.

The latter’s selling points include the lingering beauty of autumn leaves, the poignant solemnity of Veteran’s Day, and, especially, the holiday of Thanksgiving. Its indispensable premise is that, even after a year of mishaps or tragedies, there will always much to be grateful for — and that the best way to demonstrate that gratitude is to share your time and table with family and friends.

One of the blessings for which we should regularly give thanks is that we live in the United States of America. For all its past sins and present shortcomings, our country remains a marvel, a model and a miracle.

Our founding principles — freedom, selfgovernment and equality before the law — set America apart from other nations, even though they were not consistently respected or applied at the time. As Martin Luther King famously put it, the Founders were “signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.” It was that promise made America exceptional, not the failings its people shared with most other people around the

novel, Mountain Folk, is set primarily during the 1760s and 1770s. I use a combination of real-life and imaginary characters to depict the American Revolution in all its scope and complexity.

For example, in my fictional world the British have magical allies in their war against the American colonists.

One of them, a winged ranger named Goran, refuses an order to help put down the rebellion and is subsequently put on trial.

Much of the dialogue in the scene is actually adapted from two historical documents: Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and Plain Truth, written by loyalist James Chalmers as a rebuttal to Paine’s pamphlet.

“Britain’s wise, lenient and magnanimous government has bestowed a great gift,” the prosecutor insists. “Now the rebels spurn that gift.”

“The best of what they inherited from

Britain, they intend to keep,” Goran replies.

“But they refuse to surrender their rights to overlords across the sea. The cause of America is in great measure the cause of all mankind.”

And so it continues to be. In my novels and short stories, I don’t sugarcoat history.

My characters include religious dissenters,

Cherokee leaders and abolitionists such as Sojourner Truth. They are among the American heroes I celebrate, and for whom we should all be grateful this month and every month.

John Hood is a John Locke Foundation board member. His latest books, “Mountain Folk and Forest Folk,” combine epic fantasy with early American history (folklorecycle.com.)

Finding ways to slow down time

Susanna Shetley

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@SmokyMtnNews

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ing hall, all of it felt fresh in my memory. As we walked along the many brick sidewalks, it was truly hard to believe it had been two decades since I was a student.

With all of this on my mind lately, I started wondering if there was a way to slow down time or at the least, make it feel like it’s moving more slowly, and in fact, there has been quite a bit of research conducted on this.

Mindfulness is a main way to slow down time. Simply put, being mindful is being in the moment and not ruminating on the past or worrying about the future. It’s easier said than done but as with any skill, we get better with practice. Novelty is another way to slow down time. When our brain receives new information, it creates new neural pathways which makes an experience seem like it lasted longer than it did. This is also why a fiveday vacation to a new place can hold many more memories and seem like a longer time span than years of monotony. When you do the same thing day in and day out, the time passes quickly because it’s all one big blob of memory. Even if you can’t change up the big things like your job, you can switch up your route to work or try different coffee shops and lunch spots so at least there’s a little variety each day.

Multitasking creates chaos in our brain which makes us feel like we’re running out of time, so stop multitasking and work to focus on one thing at a time. Similarly, anything that creates a flow state, such as writing, drawing, reading, doing a puzzle, or playing an instrument, can make moments feel deeper and more intentional, so try and learn what flow state activities work for you.

Protecting the time that we already have is another way to slow down our days. Say “no” to events or obligations that don’t fuel you. Use your time intentionally and be present with the people around you instead of staring at the TV or scrolling on your phone.

Finally, stop chasing idols. Instead of worrying about money, fame, power or pleasure, slow down, let your mind wander, take in your surroundings and just be. If we’re always in a reactive state of chasing something, time seems like it’s flying. When we’re in a proactive state where we are intentional with our lives, time seems to slow down a little.

As I watch my boys grow and change right before my eyes, I realize how special every moment truly is. I’m not an expert on time, but I’m willing to grow wiser and do what it takes to slow it down a bit.

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

November 8-14, 2023

’ve been wondering lately how to slow down time. If you’re a parent, I’m sure you would agree there’s a positive correlation between children getting older and days moving faster. Maybe it’s because older kids are more self-sufficient and need less of our time and energy or maybe it’s because they have their own lives with jobs and friends and busy schedules so they’re literally just not around as much. Whatever the reason, this is happening to me right now and it’s very disorienting, so I’m trying my best to be mindful of every moment spent with my boys.

My older son is finishing up driver’s Columnist education while my younger son grew an inch in one month’s time. Sometimes I find myself just staring at them wondering how in the world the years went by so quickly.

Elementary school seems like it takes forever because the kids are there for six years and they are very dependent upon us but once they hit middle school, it all flies by in a blur.

This past weekend was the NCHSAA State Championship for cross country. My older son and my boyfriend’s oldest daughter both qualified as freshmen. This was a big accomplishment and we were very proud of them. They both ran extremely well on Saturday, and once we left the meet we traveled to Raleigh to attend the N.C. State vs.

Miami football game. I’m an N.C. State alum so I was very happy about the win over Miami which apparently was the first in many years.

Sunday we toured the campus of N.C. State because three of the four kids are interested in attending. I had not been on campus in over a decade except when picking up my older son from soccer camp a couple summers ago, but that was a very short visit and we didn’t have the opportunity to stop by some of my old haunts. When the boys were really little, we would stop by on our way to the Outer Banks each summer to get a yearly photo in front of the Bell Tower, but once my mom passed away, we stopped our annual beach trip and therefore didn’t have a reason to pass through Raleigh.

This past Sunday, however, we took the time to walk around and truly take in the campus. The nostalgia was intense, and everything came back to me as soon as I was there. I remembered exactly how to get to dorms, certain academic buildings, Reynolds Coliseum, the Brickyard, the library, the din-

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We welcome you Ajeva to make Waynesville debut

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD ARTS & E NTERTAINMENT E DITOR n this current, uncertain era of the music industry, bands and artists alike are forging into uncharted waters, ready to face whatever challenges may lie ahead — this juncture of persistence, passion and purpose, culminating in dreams realized in real time.

“The landscape of the music industry has changed so much in the 10 years we’ve been playing. On the flip side though, it’s also an inspiring time to be creating music,” said Taylor Gilchrist. “There are so many amazing artists out there doing what they love. In a lot of ways, the internet gives you the freedom to make it happen on your own without relying on a big record label.”

Gilchrist is the bassist of rising funk/rock quartet Ajeva. Formed in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 2013, the group is celebrating a

I

A&E

Smoky Mountain News

Ajeva will play Waynesville Nov. 10. File photo decade together — this melodic bond that keeps the fire within blazing bright. The outfit also includes Reed Skahill (vocals), Mike Nivens (guitar) and Lyndon Thacker (drums).

“For [us], it’s that feeling of adventure.

There’s something about loading up and riding in the van to go to this new place,” Gilchrist said. “We work so hard and put all this love into this music. So, to be able to take it to new places and play it for people is really a blessing for us.”

On Ajeva’s latest album, “You Can Too,” the group hones in on its signature blend of rock, funk and soul. The record is also a launching pad for the band’s continued improvisational explorations and exploits amid a rollicking live setting.

“Lately we’ve been really embracing the [improvisation] part of the live performance — it’s been super inspiring to us to take these

songs in a new direction every night,” Gilchrist said. “Making a point to go in with an open mind and listening to what your band mates are saying with their instruments in that moment [is what matters most].”

For Gilchrist, the idea of being a musician and part of an ensemble is something the bassist has dreamt of since he was a young kid in band class — an influence that stills resides heavily at his core. At first, Gilchrist was pursing guitar. But, when the school jazz band was in need of a bass player, Gilchrist was tapped to fill the role.

“Band class was like this extended family. I thought that was a cool thing to be a part of, [which] drove me to pursue it full-time,” Gilchrist said. “[And] I sort of fell into the position of being a bass player. The essence of [the bass] is so powerful and pure. If you do it right, you’re the glue binding everything

Want to go?

Presented by Adamas Entertainment, Florida-based funk/rock act Ajeva will hit the stage on Friday, Nov. 10, at The Lineside, the new indoor music venue at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Asheville-based indie-rock outfit Buddhagraph Spaceship will kick things off at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door (cash/card accepted). For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to froglevelbrewing.com, go to the “Events” tab and scroll down to the show date.

together — you’re this compass leading the way for the band.”

Initially, Gilchrist and Skahill were part of another band. But, when the project came to an end, the duo knew they wanted to keep collaborating, with the formation of Ajeva soon bubbling up to the surface. From there, it’s been an ongoing, unrelenting quest to connect with an audience — somewhere, anywhere.

“You have your songs that you hope will get people hyped and engaged, but you never really know — that’s part of the fun of it,” Gilchrist said. “Nowadays, the world is such a crazy, overwhelming place. So, if we can provide a place where, for a few hours, someone can go out and get away from that, get off their phone, stand in a room with friends and strangers alike to be a part of one of humanity’s oldest traditions — live music — that’s what it’s all about.”

And as Ajeva continues to expand its reach outside of St. Petersburg and greater Florida, the group is putting in the work needed, onstage and on the road, to bring its musical mission to the masses — it’s truly one show and one fan at a time.

“It doesn’t matter how many people are there or what happened that day. When you get on the stage it’s a sacred space,” Gilchrist said. “The goal is to do the music justice and to have an experience with the audience. You put out all this emotion and energy for people listening and hopefully they return it to you.”

With a decade under its belt and now in the rearview mirror, Ajeva is gearing up for whatever may reside just outside the windshield — it’s an undeniable feeling of artistic devotion and creative intent that fuels the band in pushing forward.

“If you’re willing to put in the work and go that extra mile, you have the ability to really dictate the direction you want your creative vision to go,” Gilchrist said. “Writing and recording music with your friends is so rewarding. It’s growing this thing from a little seed into this big beautiful tree. There’s always going to be struggles and hurdles. But, if you can pull it off, it’s a really special thing to put out into the world.”

HOT PICKS

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

‘Remember when we got drunk that time in Ontario, listening to Warren Zevon on the stereo’

H

once again.

A weekend assignment covering the gathering for Rolling Stone. Interviews with artists backstage. Notes scribbled down in haste amid live performances in real time. Shake hands with new fast friends. Happenstance encounters with incredible musicians that were unknown to me until that very moment in passing.

All of those people, places and things mentioned above isn’t lost on me, especially when I find myself reflecting often this weekend about the last time I found myself in the Phoenix-Scottsdale city limits. It was 2009 and I was 24 years old.

Back then, I was two years out of college with a degree in journalism and a degree in history. Writing small articles for my hometown newspaper in the North Country for peanuts ($45 per piece). To supplement my bills and needs, I was a regular substitute teacher at my old high school — a scene that was as surreal as it was troubling for what I ultimately wanted to do in the realm of the written word.

1

Lineside at Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host Ajeva (rock/jam) & Buddhagraph Spaceship (rock/jam) at 6:30 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 10.

2

The “What’s New?” showcase will display new works by members of the Haywood County Arts Council through Monday, Nov. 13, at the HCAC in Waynesville.

3 4 5

Santé Wine Bar (Sylva) will host Taylor Knighton (singer-songwriter) at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 12.

The iconic Plastics are reclaiming the spotlight in an all-new production of “Mean Girls Jr.” at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10-11, 17-18 and 2 p.m.

Nov. 11-12, 18-19 at Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

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TRIVIA TUESDA AY YS Every Tuesday 7:30pm-9:30ppm

FREE TO PLAY Gift Certificate prizes for 1st & 2nd place teams

Thursday Novembe er 9th Water & Bones Acoustic Folk • Country • Classic Rock 8pm - 10pm

Friday id November b 110th Very Jerry Band Dead Night: A Grateful Dead Tribbute 8pm - 11pm

Saturday No ov vember r 11th Celtic Road Jam 4pm - 6pm

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Smoky Mountain News

know if he’d ever see her again and I’d never been to Arizona, it was decided to take a side trip south before heading east by northeast.

While Andrew and his femme fatale were getting to know each other, I found myself wandering around Phoenix is the fifth largest city Phoenix, in the United States. Scottsdale and Garret K. Woodward photo Tempe. The high desert aesthetic and slick cosmopolitan nature of the city was a far cry from the deciduous forest and rural farm towns of my native Adirondack Mountains.

A week later, Andrew and I hopped into his Jeep Cherokee and reeved the September 2009. At that time, I was also engine for New York. He said goodbye to his documenting music festivals for an array of lady friend. And I said goodbye to Arizona. I small online media outlets. My travel comwondered when the next time would be panion was Andrew, a 41-year-old former where I found myself back here — a landSouthern Baptist preacher turned festival scape of sunshine and warmth that calms photographer once he discovered psychedelic one’s restless soul of cold North Country winmushrooms and the music of the Grateful ters and a lonely heart.

Dead. We were a dynamic duo, traversing the And I wondered if I’d find love by that country in search of good tunes, good people. next rendezvous with the Southwest. I wonWe still keep in touch, too. dered who she was and how much further Following the culmination of the Burning along my journey it’d be until we crossed Man gathering in the Black Rock Desert of paths. I wondered what would lay ahead once Nevada, Andrew wanted to go hangout with a we hit Interstate 40 — the nose of the Jeep lady friend he’d met at the Burn. She lived in aimed for destinations unknown, literally and Phoenix. We were on our way back crossfiguratively. country to Upstate New York. Since he didn’t Life is beautiful, grasp for it, y’all.

EVENTS

November 8-14, 2023

ello from Room 6102 at the Sonder motel on the edge of Old Town Scottsdale, Arizona. It’s 80 degrees outside in the late morning, with the dry heat of the Southwest steadily rising like the hot sun above the high desert prairie surrounding this vast, metropolitan area.

An hour ago, I found myself sitting solo at bar counter of the JoJo Coffeehouse on Scottsdale Road. Packed out with weekend brunch fiends and hipsters alike. But, one seat remained at the counter when I sauntered in, only to immediately be helped with my order of a breakfast burrito and cappuccino (with vanilla flavoring).

When I received the bill, it was $24 (before tip). One farm-to-table burrito and one tasty coffee. Sheesh. But, no matter. It is what it is. The food and beverage were superb, as was the ambiance of the open-air establishment with passerby traffic. It was a nice feeling to be at a place in life where you can afford a $24 burrito and coffee.

Even though we journalists aren’t known for affluence (or anywhere even close to it), gratitude is always felt when sitting down at a restaurant and being able to order whatever you heart desires off the menu due to gainful, full-time employment after years of scraping by — article to article, paycheck to paycheck.

Leaving JoJo and heading onto the sidewalk of Scottsdale Road, I was greeted by the bright sunshine and soothing heat of November in Arizona. It was a welcomed feeling compared to the weather experienced when I left Western North Carolina a couple days prior — temperatures in the 20s with snowflakes rumored to have fallen overnight in the mountainous ridges of Maggie Valley.

Making my way back to the motel, I noticed a farmer’s market across the street.

Dozens and dozens of vendors selling everything from homemade hot sauce to fresh produce and beyond. There was even a guy offering recently caught Alaskan seafood at market price. Popping out from under the canopy of vendor tents, I spotted a Mexican import shop just down the block.

The store was filled with everything you might expect from such a place. Inexpensive blankets, hats, toys and knickknacks. By the time I left the business, I had purchased a few small wooden animal carvings, a handful of arrowheads and a worry stone. Trinkets for not only my girlfriend holding the fort down back in Waynesville, but also my mother way up on the Canadian Border in Upstate New York.

Ducking down First Avenue towards the motel, I could hear the sounds of a rock band echoing throughout the parking lot and nearby concert field. It was a sound check for one of the first acts of the day at the Dreamy Draw music festival. For myself, it’s on the road

Acclaimed Americana/folk duo Shannon Whitworth & Woody Platt will perform at 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 11, at the Highlander Mountain House in Highlands.

arts & entertainment

This must be the place

DOWNTOWN WAYNE Y SVILLE 23

On the beat arts & entertainment

Grammy winner comes to Highlands Acclaimed Americana/folk duo Shannon Whitworth & Woody Platt will perform at 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 11, at the Highlander Mountain House in Highlands.

A native of Western North Carolina, Platt formed the Grammy-winning Steep Canyon Rangers in 2000 while he was a student at UNC-Chapel Hill. What started initially as a traditional bluegrass entity morphed itself into one of the finest, most sought-after string bands in all of American music — something championed by legendary entertainers Steven Martin and Martin Short, whom the Rangers have backed as the duo’s musical group for many years now.

However, in the aftermath of the pandemic and complete shutdown of the live music industry in 2020, Platt took the rare downtime from touring to reflect on the last two decades with the Rangers, all of the physical and emotional miles traveled with his musical brothers.

What resulted was his recent decision to step aside from the Rangers, to give a tip of his hat to his former bandmates on their hard-earned, shared success, and to turn his attention to what he feels is the next, meaningful step for him — a solo career alongside his wife and musical collaborator, Shannon Whitworth.

Tickets are $35 per person. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to highlandermountainhouse.com.

November 8-14, 2023

Shannon Whitworth & Woody Platt will play Highlands Nov. 11. File photo

• Altered Frequencies (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends.

828.342.8014 or alteredfrequencies.net.

on the weekends. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to coweeschool.org/music.

• Angry Elk Brewing (Whittier) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. All shows are free and open to the public. 828.497.1015 or facebook.com/angryelkbrewingco.

• Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host “Music Bingo” 7 p.m. Thursdays and Dirty Dave (singer-songwriter) Nov. 11. All shows begin at 7 p.m. Free and open to the public.

828.634.0078 or curraheebrew.com.

Smoky Mountain News

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

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

24

• Blue Ridge Beer Hub (Waynesville) will host a semi-regular acoustic jam with the Main Street NoTones from 7-9 p.m. every first and third Thursday of the month. Free and open to the public. For more information, go to blueridgebeerhub.com.

• Blue Stage (Andrews) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.361.2534 or gm@thebluestage.com.

• Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host music bingo 7 p.m. Mondays, karaoke at 8:30 p.m. Wednesdays, trivia at 7 p.m. and Nick Mac & The Noise (rock) Nov. 11. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.246.0350 or boojumbrewing.com.

• Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music

• Farm At Old Edwards (Highlands) will host the “Fireside at the Farm” sessions on select weekends. For more information, go to oldedwardshospitality.com.

• Folkmoot Friendship Center (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. For a full schedule of events and/or to purchase tickets, go to folkmoot.org.

• Fontana Village Resort Wildwood Grill will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public.

800.849.2258 or fontanavillage.com.

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host its weekly “Tuesday Jazz Series” at 5:30 p.m., David Potter (singer-songwriter) 6 p.m. Nov. 10, Ajeva (rock/jam) w/Buddhagraph Spaceship (rock/jam) at The Lineside ($10 advance/$12 at the door) 6:30 p.m. Nov. 10, Natti Love Joys (reggae/soul) 6 p.m. Nov. 11, Tricia Ann Band (country/rock) 5:30 p.m. Nov. 15, Zen Cowboys 6 p.m. Nov. 17 and Watkins

6 p.m. Nov. 18. Free and open to the public.

828.454.5664 or froglevelbrewing.com.

semi-regular live music on the weekends. For tickets, go to highlandsperformingarts.com.

• Frog Quarters (Franklin) will host live music from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. Free and open to the public. Located at 573 East Main St. littletennessee.org or 828.369.8488.

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host “Trivia Night w/Kirk” from 7-9 p.m. every Monday, Open Mic Night every Wednesday, Nate Coffey (singer-songwriter) Nov. 11 and Rossdafareye (rock/folk) Nov. 18. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.

• Happ’s Place (Glenville) will host Joe Owens (singer-songwriter) Nov. 10, Macon County Line Nov. 11 and Blue Jazz Band Nov. 18. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. happsplace.com or 828.742.5700.

• Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort (Cherokee) will host Babyface (R&B/soul) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17 and Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening 7:30 p.m. Nov. 18. For a full schedule of events and/or to buy tickets, caesars.com/harrahs-cherokee.

• High Dive (Highlands) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. highlandsdive.com or 828.526.2200.

• Highlander Mountain House (Highlands) will host a Sunday Bluegrass Residency noon to 2:30 p.m., T. Hardy Morris (indie/folk) Nov. 10 and Shannon Whitworth & Woody Platt (Americana/folk) Nov. 11. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to highlandermountainhouse.com.

• Highlands Performing Arts Center will host

• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host “Music Bingo” on Wednesdays and semiregular live music on the weekends. All events begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host “Music Bingo” 6 p.m. Tuesdays, trivia 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Open Mic 6:30 p.m.

Thursdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host trivia 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays, an Old Time Jam 6:30 p.m. Thursdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

On the beat

• Meadowlark Motel (Maggie Valley) will host Trivia Thursdays 6:30 p.m., The Holland Brothers (Americana) Nov. 10, Simple Folk Trio (Americana/folk) Nov. 11 and Susie Copeland (singer-songwriter) Nov. 17 and .

All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to meadowlarkmotel.com or 828.926.1717.

• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host an “Open Mic w/Frank Lee” Wednesdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.538.0115 or mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

• Nantahala Brewing Outpost (Sylva) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.641.9797 or nantahalabrewing.com.

• Orchard Coffee (Waynesville) will host semiregular live music on the weekends.

828.246.9264 or orchardcoffeeroasters.com.

• Quirky Birds Treehouse & Bistro (Dillsboro) will host Open Mic Night at 7 p.m. Tuesdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends.

Free and open to the public. 828.586.1717 or facebook.com/quirkybirdstreehouse.

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

• Salty Dog’s Seafood & Grill (Maggie Valley) will host “Karaoke w/Russell” every Monday and semi-regular live music on the weekends.

Free and open to the public. 828.926.9105.

• Santé Wine Bar (Sylva) will host Taylor Knighton (singer-songwriter) Nov. 12 and Syrrup (Americana) Nov. 19. All shows begin at 3 p.m. Free and open to the public.

828.631.3075 or facebook.com/thewinebarandcellar.

• Satulah Mountain Brewing (Highlands) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.482.9794 or satulahmountainbrewing.com.

• Sauced (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.246.9585 or saucedwnc.com.

• The Scotsman (Waynesville) will host a “Celtic Jam” 2-5 p.m. Sundays, Very Jerry

Band (Grateful Dead Tribute) Nov. 10, Celtic Road Jam 4 p.m. Nov. 11 and Ben & The Borrowed Band (rock/country) Nov. 17. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.246.6292 or scotsmanpublic.com.

• SlopeSide Tavern (Sapphire) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.743.8655 or slopesidetavern.com.

• Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to smokymountainarts.com or 828.524.1598.

• Stecoah Valley Center (Robbinsville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, call 828.479.3364 or go to stecoahvalleycenter.com.

• The Ugly Dog Pub (Cashiers) will host semiregular live music on the weekends.

828.743.3000 or theuglydogpub.com.

• The Ugly Dog Pub (Highlands) will host “Bluegrass Wednesday” at 6:30 p.m. each week. 828.526.8364 or theuglydogpub.com.

• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Rock Holler Nov. 10, Mile High Band (rock) Nov. 11, Tricia Ann Band (country/rock) Nov. 16, Nick Mac & The Noise Nov. 17 and Outlaw Whiskey (rock/country) Nov. 18. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.538.2488.

• Valley Cigar & Wine Co. (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public.

828.944.0686 or valleycigarandwineco.com.

arts & entertainment

• Lineside at Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host Ajeva (rock/jam) & Buddhagraph Spaceship (rock/jam) at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 10.

Admission is $10 in advance, $12 at the door. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to froglevelbrewing.com.

• Valley Tavern (Maggie Valley) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.926.7440 or valley-tavern.com.

• Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends.

All shows begin at 9:30 p.m. 828.456.4750 or facebook.com/waternhole.bar.

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

All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.743.6000 or whitesidebrewing.com.

• Yonder Community Market (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to eatrealfoodinc.com.

Smoky Mountain News

The Natti Love Joys will hit the stage at 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville.

A roots-rock-reggae band that has been playing live since 2003, the group consists of husband and wife duo Anthony “Jatti” Allen and Sonia “Marla” Allen (formerly Sonia Abel).

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).

Free and open to the public. froglevelbrewing.com/events.

November 8-14, 2023

Reggae, soul at Frog Level

Natti Love Joys will play Waynesville Nov. 11.

File photo

25

HART presents ‘Mean Girls Jr.’

original movie.

The cast of “Mean Girls Jr.” comprises a group of talented young actors who have “Mean Girls Jr.” is a high-energy, fami- devoted themselves to capturing the essence The iconic Plastics are reclaiming the ly-friendly musical that reimagines the spotlight in an all-new production of of the beloved characters, while adding their drama, humor and teenage struggles of “Mean Girls Jr.” at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10-11, own unique charm to the roles.

North Shore High School in a fresh and 17-18 and 2 p.m. Nov. 11-12, 18-19 at Audiences can look forward to witexciting way while still including all your Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in nessing the Plastics, the infamous Burn favorite characters and moments from the Book, the cafeteria shenanigans and, of Waynesville. course, the iconic “On Wednesdays, we wear pink” rule.

‘Mean Girls Jr.’ will be at HART on select dates this month. Donated photo With tunes as infectious as the comedy is uproarious, “Mean Girls Jr.” will have the audience tapping their feet and singing in unison.

“Mean Girls Jr.” is the ideal outing for families with teenagers and fans of the original film and musical. It’s an opportunity to relive the high school drama and humor that we all cherish, while sharing the experience with a new generation.

Tickets are $21.50 for adults, $11.50 for students. To make ticket reservations, call the HART Box Office at 828.456.6322 or go to harttheatre.org to make reservations online. HART Box Office hours are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.

ALSO: • “The Wizard of Oz” will hit the stage at 7 p.m. Nov. 10-11 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

Follow the yellow brick road in this delightful stage adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s beloved tale, featuring the iconic musical score and characters from the classic MGM film. The show is a full two-act production presented by the Overlook Theatre Company. Tickets are $18 for adults, $13 for students. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to smokymountainarts.com or 828.524.1598.

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Have a cold beer or wine and walk down memory lane

Smoky Mountain News

November 8-14, 2023

arts & entertainment

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‘The Polar Express’ returns to Bryson City this month. File photo • “Polar Express” train ride will resume rides on select dates from the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad depot in downtown Bryson City. For a complete listing of departure dates and times, call 800.872.4681 or go to gsmr.com.

• The Veterans Day Parade & Ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, on Main Street in Franklin. The parade will leave from the Franklin Town Hall. The Veterans Ceremony will follow in the Gazebo on the Town Square. Lineup begins at 10 a.m. For more information, call the Franklin Town Hall at 828.524.2516 or email events@franklinnc.com.

ALSO:

On the table November 8-14, 2023

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

ALSO:

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

Educational classes and other events are also available. For more information, call 828.538.0420.

• “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on select dates at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City. Full service all-adult first class car. Wine pairings with a meal, and more. There will also be a special “Beer Train” on select dates. For more information and/or to register, call 800.872.4681 or go to gsmr.com.

Smoky Mountain News

Bosu’s wine shop is a Waynesville staple. File photo

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arts & entertainment

On the wall

Exhibit spotlights local art, new techniques The “What’s New?” showcase will display new works by members of the Haywood County Arts Council through Monday, Nov. 13, at the HCAC in Waynesville.

The presentation will focus on new techniques, materials and themes from local and regional artisans who specialize in an array of artisan mediums — painting to jewelry, glass to fiber.

Free and open to the public. For more information, go to haywoodarts.org.

Tina Honerkamp is an acclaimed WNC painter.

• Gallery Zella (Bryson City) will be hosting an array of artist receptions, exhibits and showcases. The gallery is open from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

For more information, go to galleryzella.com or call 517.881.0959.

• Waynesville Photography Club meets at 7 p.m. every third Monday each month on the second floor of the Haywood Regional Health & Fitness Center in Clyde. The File photo club is a nonprofit organization that exists for the enjoyment of photography and the improvement of one’s skills. They welcome photographers of all skill levels to share ideas and images at the monthly meetings. For more information, email waynesvillephotoclub@charter.net or follow them on Facebook: Waynesville Photography Club.

• Haywood County Arts Council (Waynesville) will offer a wide range of classes, events and activities for artisans, locals and visitors. The HCAC gallery is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sundays. For more information and a full schedule, go to haywoodarts.org.

ALSO:

• Jackson County Green Energy Park (Dillsboro) will be offering a slew of classes, events and activities for artisans, locals and visitors. For more information and a full schedule, go to jcgep.org.

• Southwestern Community College Swain Arts Center (Bryson City) will host an array of workshops for adults and kids. For more information on the upcoming classes and/or to sign-up, go to southwesterncc.edu/scclocations/swain-center.

• Dogwood Crafters in Dillsboro will offer a selection of upcoming art classes and workshops. For more information and a full schedule of activities, go to dogwoodcrafters.com/classes. or call 828.586.2248.

File photo

Smoky Mountain News

November 8-14, 2023

‘Beetle’ is a wood carving by John Julius Wilnoty. File photo

‘Spark of the Eagle Dancer’

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The exhibition “Spark of the Eagle Dancer: The Collecting Legacy of Lambert Wilson” will be showcased through Dec. 8 in the Fine Art Museum at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.

The exhibit features over 140 works of contemporary Native American art from the collection of one of Western North Carolina’s most notable art enthusiasts, the late Lambert Wilson.

He devoted his life to supporting and encouraging Native artists, amassed an extensive collection of over 6,000 objects during his lifetime, focusing primarily on artists of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Cherokee Nation and sovereign

nations of the Southwest.

This exhibition brings together a selection of baskets, pottery, carving, painting, photography and more that tell the story of the relationships Wilson built and the impact that he made by dedicating himself to this remarkable collection.

“Spark of the Eagle Dancer” gives visitors a glimpse into this vast collection built over 47 years and features work by 83 artists of various tribal affiliations.

To learn more about the exhibition and reception, visit arts.wcu.edu/spark. The Fine Art Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday.

On the shelf

Ann Bevilacqua

P

The rural Irish location is one of the big appeals in “The Searcher,” and I was reminded often of Appalachia. “The mountainside is colder than the grassland below. The cold has a different quality from what Cal gets down at his place, too, finer and more challenging, coming straight for him on a honed wind.”

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Once, after an injury lays him up: “The enforced idleness and the misty rain give that week a dreamy, suspended feel … He gets accustomed to seeing the mountains soft and blurry with rain, like he could keep walking towards them forever and they would just keep shifting farther away.”

And when he tires of the mystery and the complications and the increasing danger: “For the first time since he arrived, Ireland feels tiny and cramped to him. What he needs is thousands of miles of open highway where he can floor it all day and all night long, watching the sun and the moon pass over nothing but ochre desert and tangled brush.”

It’s hard to imagine a reader disliking Cal. He tries so hard. Tries to be friendly, but

is not naïve. Tries to help, but knows he must maintain his sanity. The dialogue feels authentic and is often funny, especially the banter with his old bachelor farmer neighbor Mart. Author French is Irish, and yet she also pegs just how an outsider would feel, often unsure of how to act or how to read the locals’ actions.

I didn’t think of “The Searcher” as a page-turner, which I rate a positive.

Sometimes I put it down to think about or fully appreciate what I’d just read. One of the best features of the book are the two haltingly delivered, sincere attempts by Cal to speak to his young neighbor about the critical importance to any life of manners and morals. Cal knows enough not to lay it on thick, but the reader can sense the need he feels to deliver his thoughts. No lecture here.

In the acknowledgments section, French thanks a whole team, including two “amazing” editors, who gave their “time, focus, and patience to make this book so much better.” This helped me answer a question I had while reading. How could an author be so good at layering? We have Cal’s current life, his former life as a detective, his failed marriage, his daughter in the States, and a generous look at the Irish people who are a part of his new life, and yet nothing feels forced or stuffed.

French is a master at pacing. I conclude that she is not only a talented writer, but also works hard and has a good team to help and prod her.

In the hugely satisfying ending, there are answers where there need to be answers, but there are a lot of life threads that can be no more tied up than the major threads in anyone’s life. What lingers for me after the end of the book is not the crime, but the humanity. Hope abounds for Cal, though in realistic and satisfying ways, and the book earns its title.

(Anne Bevilacqua is a retired veterinarian who lives in Haywood County.)

November 8-14, 2023

eople who don’t like crime fiction should try Tana French. That’s what I’d heard, so when a copy of “The Searcher” (Viking, 2020, 464 pages) came my way, and a free weekend came as well, the two were a natural fit.

It’s not that I dislike crime fiction. It’s just rarely a choice for me, and, other than Sherlock Holmes, I’ve never been enticed to read more than one book in a detective series. But I was excited to try out what one reviewer called “The literary world’s favorite mystery writer.” Don’t be Writer put off or overly enthused by that label. I didn’t find her writing dense or difficult, just extremely well-crafted. Compelling, with a wonderful level of complexity.

In “The Searcher,” French takes her time introducing the mystery. We meet main character Cal right off. He is a retired Chicago detective, early retirement, and has moved to rural West Ireland where he is fixing up an old farmhouse. We experience with Cal a perfect combination of roughing it, solitude, house repair, gorgeous setting and getting to know the colorful locals. I’d be happy with a whole book like this, which makes the mystery tense when it comes by way of strange sounds and a previously unknown neighbor, very effective. This young neighbor is hiding something, yet also wants to be friends with Cal. It’s slow going.

Cal wants to be friendly as well. Then there is a disagreement, and the kid shoves over a desk and runs off.

Cal puzzles over his own reaction to the outburst. “What he is, he realizes, more than mad, is unsettled. He doesn’t like the feeling or the fact that he recognizes it and understands it perfectly; it’s as familiar to him as hunger or thirst.”

Cal is being reminded, against his will, of detective work, of problems begging for a solution. He doesn’t want this kind of problem.

He has to do something different and alone, so he tries for a day of fishing the river, a two-mile walk away. “Cal feels like, if just one damn fish would give him a good fight and then a good dinner, all the things rattling around loose inside his head would shake themselves back into place. The fish, uninterested in his emotional requirements, keep right on playing tag around his hook.”

arts & entertainment

Crime fiction with a satisfying depth

‘Weaving at Black Mountain College’ Naturalist and scholar Julie Thomson will present her latest work “Weaving at Black Mountain College: Anni Albers, Trude Guermonprez and Their Students” at 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.

In the mid-20th century, Black Mountain College attracted a remarkable roster of artists, architects and musicians. Yet the weaving classes taught by Anni Albers, Trude Guermonprez and six other faculty members are rarely mentioned or are often treated as mere craft lessons.

Thomson is an educator, independent scholar and curator based in Black Mountain. To reserve copies of “Weaving at Black Mountain College,” please call City Lights Bookstore at 828.586.9499.

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Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

End of the race

its first 10 years.

But as the years wore on, participation began to drop. In 2019, only 731 people registered, and when the festival returned from its pandemic pause in 2021, it attracted only 662 people. The last Lake Logan Multisport Festival, held in August 2023, registered only 505 participants.

That’s not a trend unique to Glory Hound Events or the Southern Appalachians, Duff said.

“Unfortunately, the sport of triathlon is not what it used to be,” he wrote. “Races around the country and world are going away. Even the vaunted Ironman brand is contracting with fewer events on its 2024 calendar than it used to host. The decrease in triathletes has been especially evident in Western North Carolina.

I stopped at 50 when I counted the people who I knew who raced regularly at Logan and don’t race at all anymore. The club I helped start in Asheville is nothing more than a Facebook page now.”

Falling participation was not the only reason Duff decided to sunset the event. Declining participation coincided with skyrocketing costs and increasingly scarce resources, he said.

“It is an annual struggle for our friends in public safety in Haywood County to find enough people to support the event, and it was particularly challenging this year,” he wrote.

UNDER THE WATERLINE

Competitors in the 2022 Lake Logan Half Ironman wait for the race to start. Glory Hound Events photo

Lake Logan triathlons say goodbye

BY HOLLY KAYS OUTDOORS E DITOR fter 17 years, one of the most beloved triathlons in the southeast has crossed the finish line. The Lake Logan Multisport Festival, which consistently drew hundreds of athletes from across the country to compete on an idyllic course in Haywood County, has been discontinued.

“Events are a lot like children,” Greg Duff, who created and organized the race through his company Glory Hound Events, wrote on a blog post explaining the decision. “You conceive them; you nurture and develop them; you see them through good times and bad; and, you eventually let them go. Such is the case with the triathlons at Lake Logan.”

A

FALLING NUMBERS Duff planned the first-ever Lake Logan race in 2006 after visiting Lake Logan on business, at a time when he was an active triathlete participating in a full schedule of events. Enamored with the tranquil lake and forested byways leading to it, he asked Johnny Keesee, then executive director of the Lake Logan Conference Center, whether he’d ever thought about hosting a triathlon.

“It just kind of went from there,” Duff said.

The property proved a centerpiece for a “perfect” international distance race, he said, anchored by the lake and scenic N.C. 215 for gorgeously quiet and shaded running and biking legs. That first year, 162 people participated in the international distance race at Lake Logan. As word spread and new events were added,

The final nail in the coffin was the condition of the lake itself.

“The community thinks a lot about the flood [from Tropical Storm Fred in 2021] in terms of the health and business impacts that it had, but I think one of the lasting impressions of the flood is what it has done to the lake,” said Eden Lewis, interim executive director at the Lake Logan Conference Center.

As the water hurtled down the West Fork of the Pigeon River, it cut deep swathes of dirt out of the lakeshore, washing it into the water. Now, entire sections of the lake are so shallow they’re barely even swimmable.

numbers swelled. Eventually, the Lake Logan Multisport Festival grew to include a sprint triathlon, aquathon and half Ironman.

“Lake Logan is just a magical place,” Duff said. “It’s so beautiful. It’s different than any triathlon venue I’ve ever seen. Just everything about it, the whole thing is pretty. The run is pretty.

You’re following the river the whole way. Most of the time, it’s in sight. It’s shaded. Trees are canopied. And the fact it’s so isolated, maybe it’s an attraction. You don’t have cell signal, you don’t connect. There’s no distractions at all.”

“It is an annual struggle for our friends in public safety in Haywood County to find enough people to support the event, and it was particularly challenging this year.”

— Greg Duff

The highwater mark came in 2015, when 1,180 people signed up to race. Typically, about 90% of participants came from outside the mountain region. For many, Lake Logan earned an annual place on their race calendar, perhaps enticed by the event’s distinction as the Southeast’s only wetsuit-legal summertime race. In addition to insulating against the chill of the mountain water, wetsuits provide an extra bit of buoyancy, boosting performance.

All those out-of-town athletes created a significant economic impact, injecting an estimated $950,000 to the local economy in

A Half Ironman competitor walks his bike during the 2022 event.

Glory Hound Events photo

“That directly affects the triathlon,” Lewis said. “It changed the location of where their input was, and that was something that concerned Greg [Duff ].”

In addition to filling the lake with sediment, the floodwaters destabilized nearby trees, most of which ended up in the lake. For swimmers racing through the dark water with little visibility, that’s a safety hazard.

Regardless, the decision to cancel the race “came as a little bit of a shock,” Lewis said.

“Greg and I have had multiple conversations about that, and I understand where he’s coming from in terms of that and recognize that unfortunately, Lake Logan has limited options on how to solve that,” Lewis

F

events.

Earlier in its history, Glory Hound Events offered a more diverse set of races, including a duathlon at Lake Junaluska, triathlons at Haywood Regional Health and Fitness Center and Biltmore Lake and the Tour de Tuck cycling race.

“For various reasons those have all gone away,” he said. “So multi-sport is really not what we’re doing.”

Flagging interest and increasing liability issues for cycling races that share roads with ever-growing numbers of motor vehicles

outdoors

said.

Surprisingly, Lake Logan Conference Center has no jurisdiction over the body of water from which it gets its name. The lake, and the dam below it, are both owned by Pactiv Evergreen, erstwhile operator of the shuttered paper plant in Canton. Like the lake, the dam also needs maintenance. An inspection report issued in March “strongly recommended” an analysis of the dam’s structural integrity after finding cracks, spalling and seepage on the concrete downstream dam face.

Oconee bells are shown in both color and black and white. April McNiff photos

Photo exhibit celebrates native wildflowers Runners enjoy a downhill stretch during a previous Lake Logan Multisport Festival event. Paul King photo

The inspection report ... “strongly recommended” an analysis of the dam’s structural integrity after finding cracks, spalling and seepage on the concrete downstream dam face.

have both contributed to the shift.

Meanwhile, running remains popular.

“Obviously the pandemic didn’t do anybody any favors, but I feel like at least from our standpoint, and I think other races will agree, that we’ve kind of recovered from that now,” Duff said. “The last half of the year has gotten back to normal. We’re seeing growth in pretty much everything.”

The decision to discontinue the Lake Logan Multisport Festival was a difficult one, but Duff is convinced it was the right call. He’s looking forward to continuing to offer opportunities for both veteran and beginning runners throughout the region.

“People who have never really got involved in sport, or any physical activity before, will do a race of ours, and we get to see them, and that’s what makes us special,” he said. “It’s always been part of the mission, is to get people active, and we’ll continue to do that.”

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“It doesn’t appear the company has any interest making the large expenditures necessary to fix these issues,” he wrote.

Pactiv Evergreen did not respond to a request for comment from The Smoky Mountain News.

While Duff may not have plans for the first weekend of August this year, he has plenty else to keep him busy. Glory Hound Events’ website currently lists 17 races, ranging from 5Ks to a grueling relay race that runs from East Asheville to Lake James.

Unlike when he started the company in 2006, nearly all the listed events are running races. The only exception is the Fire Mountain Inferno Weekend in Cherokee, which offers a variety of mountain bike

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

November 8-14, 2023

Lewis said she has been in communication with Pactiv Evergreen regarding the lake’s maintenance needs.

“They have been receptive to getting the trees removed,” she said. “However, it has not been something that has come to fruition yet.”

Duff was more pointed in his written comments.

A photography exhibit showcasing the floral diversity of Western North Carolina will hold a reception 5-6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin.

The exhibit, titled “Capturing Nature’s Essence: A Tribute to Native Flora in Western NC” is a yearlong exploration documenting the beauty of native wildflowers and showcasing the region’s unique biodiversity. A solo exhibition showcasing the work of photographer April McNiff, the exhibit celebrates the mesmerizing charm of these delicate species and sheds light on the fragile ecosystems they inhabit.

The exhibition is made possible through an N.C. Arts Council Artist Support Grant. It will remain on display at the library through Nov. 30.

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outdoors

Wildfires burn across region The Collett Ridge Fire south of Andrews swelled over the weekend, growing from 110 acres Nov. 3 to 2,919 acres Nov. 7 — and still 0% contained.

Meanwhile, the 431-acre East Poplar Fire in Henderson County was only 5% contained as of Nov. 6. In Jackson County, a 310-acre fire west of the Village of Forest Hills was 50% contained as of Nov. 7. In Transylvania County, a 36.5acre fire in Dupont State Recreational Forest was 75% contained as of Nov. 7.

While no structures have been threatened or damaged in the larger Collett Ridge Fire, as of Nov. 5 the East Poplar fire had damaged two homes, one outbuilding and one uninhabited cabin, also damaging one additional home. The cause of the fire is unknown and under investigation. There are no injuries. Evacuations have been implemented with at least 34 structures currently threatened.

Cherokee, Jackson, Henderson and Transylvania counties are all in severe drought and under a newly enacted open burn ban from the N.C. Forest Service, which prohibits open burning more than 100 feet from a dwelling. All three counties, along with Macon County, have enacted a local ban outlawing fires within 100 feet as well.

On the Collett Ridge Fire, some of the growth is due to burning operations from the firefighters on scene. On Nov. 4, firefighters completed firing operations along Collett Creek and Bolden Creek, reducing the amount of unburned vegetation between the fire and communities to the north. The next day, they burned to the north of the fire along Rattlesnake Ridge to Rattlesnake Knob. However, ongoing drought conditions also contributed to the growth. On Nov. 5, fire activity increased throughout the fire area, resulting in additional growth on all sides. As of Nov. 6, there were 110 people on scene, with resources including two 20-person hand crews, nine engines, two helicopters, one air attack platform and overhead personnel.

November 8-14, 2023

Gorges campground closed after bear encounter The campground at Gorges State Park in Transylvania County is closed through Nov. 16 after a bear attacked an RV last week.

A photo that N.C. State Parks and Recreation posted to its Facebook page Nov. 2, the morning after the encounter, shows the siding ripped off of the bottom half of the trailer. Park staff are working to implement bear aversion tactics, Campers woke up Nov. 12 to find their RV and the plan includes a severely damaged by a bear. N.C. State Parks photo two-week closure for the campground. Reservations will be canceled and refunded.

While the campground is closed, the park remains open. Visitors should follow safety measures such as not hiking alone, keeping pets leashed, and packing out or disposing of all trash and food. For more information about staying safe in bear country, visit bearwise.org.

Smoke fills the valleys surrounding the Collett Ridge Fire. USFS photo With drought conditions ongoing, fire activity is expected to keep increasing. As of Nov. 6, smoky conditions had air quality in the Andrews area rated hazardous, with residents recommended to avoid all outdoor activity. No evacua-

Sharpen your shot Kids 10-14 can get started in archery with a course offered 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 18, at the Cashiers/Glenville Recreation Center.

Participants will learn how to use com-

tions or road closures have been announced, but the Rim Trail is temporarily closed for 7 miles, from Big Stump to Shinbone. People should avoid the area so crews can work safely.

— Holly Kays, Outdoors Editor

pound and recurve bows, with the course set up on the large softball field. Archers will work on the 10 steps of shooting, with only two archers firing at a time.

Cost is $10, with all equipment provided. Bring water. Sign up at rec.jacksonnc.org.

Join a basketball team It’s time to sign up for basketball in Haywood County.

A league for players ages 5-14 as of Jan. 1, 2024, is open for registration through Nov. 13, with practice and play starting in January. Cost is $40 per player. Sign up at haywoodcountync.gov/recreation.

Smoky Mountain News

Bike Chestnut Mountain

32

Ride the trails with an experienced mountain bike instructor at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, at Chestnut Mountain Nature Park in Canton.

The group will meet in the parking lot, where the instructor will offer basic information and safety reminders before hitting the trails. The ride will be on more technical trails, so previous mountain biking experience is recommended.

Loaner bikes and helmets are available. Cost is $10, with online registration open through Nov. 9. Register at bit.ly/haywoodrec.

Get schooled in septic Learn about how septic systems work and what to do when they don’t during a workshop 5:30-7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14, at the Haywood County Agricultural Service Center on Raccoon Road in Waynesville.

When septic systems aren’t maintained properly, they can fail, creating an opportunity for untreated wastewater to flow into nearby waterways, causing risks for human and environmental health. During the work-

shop, hosted by Haywood Waterways Association and the Haywood County Environmental Health Department, attendees will learn about how septic systems work, common problems and their solutions, and financial resources for homeowners. The host organizations are partners on a grant program that will pay 75%-100% of repair costs for eligible homeowners.

Light refreshments provided. Free with RSVP to Christine O’Brien at 828.476.4667, ext. 1, or christine@haywoodwaterways.org.

Staff conduct a prescribed burn in the Cades Cove area. NPS photo

Burns planned in Cades Cove Prescribed burns on about 1,200 acres of fields in Cades Cove are taking place this fall.

Over the last 20 years, managers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park have conducted these burns in the spring and fall to reduce fuels, restore meadow habitats and maintain Cades Cove’s historic landscape. Staff closely monitor fire weather conditions to conduct burns when it will be safe and effective to do so. Burns boost native plant species that provide high-quality cover and foraging opportunities for a diversity of wildlife, including deer, turkeys and groundnesting birds.

Visitors should expect to see firefighters and equipment along Cades Cove Loop Road and Sparks Lane. The area will remain open, but brief delays and temporary closures may occur. Hyatt Lane and the road to the Primitive Baptist Church will close during prescribed burn operations.

Motorists should reduce speed in work zones and refrain from stopping in roadways.

Take in Courthouse Falls

New drought maps are released every Thursday at ncdrought.org. N.C. Drought Management Advisory Council map

Burn ban issued amid ongoing drought

Celebrate National Take a Hike Day by walking among the hemlocks with an entomologist, 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17, in Panthertown Valley near Cashiers.

Schoolhouse Falls.

File photo

Charles Dial, who works for the Plant Industry Division of the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumers researching biological controls for the invasive hemlock wooly adelgid, will lead this educational “hike ‘n talk.”

The group will cover 4 miles of trail, starting and finishing at the Salt Rock Gap trailhead and taking in two outstanding views of Panthertown Valley.

The hike is 4 miles with two outstanding views of Panthertown Valley, starting and finishing at the Salt Rock Gap trailhead. Along the way, participants will knock bugs off of hemlock branches into a handheld beating sheet, which resembles a white kite without strings, and observe them up close with a magnifying glass.

In many Appalachian forests, the eastern hemlock was the dominant conifer in older stands, but it is suffering a terrible decline due to the ravages of the hemlock wooly adelgid, an invasive species that sucks the sap out of the trees. Dial will discuss efforts to manage this pest in order to save the hemlocks and restore it as a foundation species throughout their historic range, as well as the ecological importance of doing so.

Hikers should bring lunch, snacks, water and any necessary sunscreen, bug spray or medications. Free, with RSVP required at panthertown.org/events.

November 8-14, 2023

A burn ban has been issued for 14 Western North Carolina counties in the face of expanding drought following the state’s 10th-driest October since records began in 1895.

According to the most recent drought map from the N.C. Drought Management Advisory Council, based on data collected as of Oct. 31, 14 counties are in severe drought, 47 are in moderate drought and 33 are abnormally dry. The driest conditions occur in the far western region.

The burn ban, which the N.C. Forest Service issued Sunday, Nov. 5, includes all 14 counties under the severe drought designation: Jackson, Macon, Swain, Clay, Graham, Cherokee, Transylvania, Henderson, Burke, Cleveland, Gaston, McDowell, Polk and Rutherford.

The ban prohibits all open burning in these counties more than 100 feet from a residence, regardless of whether a permit was previously issued. Violations will result in a $100 fine plus $183 in court fees.

Some counties, including Jackson, Macon, Cherokee and Henderson, have instituted local burn bans applying to fires close than 100 feet. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park accounced a ban on backcountry campfires.

Any person who sets an illegal fire may be liable for expenses related to extinguishing it.

In counties not covered by the burn ban, people should still exercise “extreme caution”

when burning, said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. Much of the state remains dry, and the Forest Service will assess the need to expand the burn ban over the coming weeks.

“Because dry conditions are expected to continue this burn ban is necessary to reduce the risk of fires starting and spreading quickly,” Troxler said. “Our top priority is always to protect lives, property and forestland across the state.”

Many sites in the state received less than an inch of rain throughout October – Asheville, for instance, measured only 0.7 inches, about one-fifth its normal 3.37 inches.

Cullowhee’s 1.03 inches was about one-third its normal 3.22 inches, and on the plateau Highlands was even drier, its 1.15 inches just a fraction of its normal 6.47 inches. Dry conditions have continued into November, with multiple wildfires now burning.

“This is one of the top five driest September and October periods on record for much of Western North Carolina,” said Corey Davis, assistant state climatologist with the N.C. State Climate Office.

However, because the region is entering in an El Niño weather pattern this winter, sustained wetter weather is likely in the future.

Temperature-wise, October was a largely seasonal month, with the statewide average temperature of 60.4 degrees equaling the recent 30-year average and making this the 54th-warmest October out of the past 129 years, according to the N.C. State Climate Office.

— Holly Kays, Outdoors Editor

Explore Panthertown hemlocks with an entomologist

outdoors

Hike to Courthouse Falls in the Pisgah National Forest Wednesday, Nov. 9, leaving from Cullowhee.

It takes more than an hour to reach the trailhead from the Cullowhee Recreation Center, where the group will meet at 9 a.m., and the out-and-back hike covers 4-5 miles. It’s a beginner hike, with the highest elevation change right at the beginning of the trail. An impressive waterfall waits at the end.

Cost is $7. Children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Sign up at rec.jacksonnc.org.

Talk trout in Sylva

Navigate like a pro Learn how to stay found with a land navigation course offered 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16, at Allens Creek Park in Waynesville.

Course instructor Steve Kuni, who is a trainer for the Haywood County Search and Rescue Volunteers and a former U.S. Army Officer, will cover the fundamentals of traditional map and compass land navigation, and apply those fundamentals to navigation with modern cell phones.

Cost is $10. Sign up at secure.rec1.com/catalog. For more information, contact recreationandparks@haywoodcountync.gov or 828.452.6789.

Smoky Mountain News

Join Trout Unlimited Sylva for its monthly “meet and eat” 6:30-8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14, at the Sylva United Methodist Church.

The evening will feature fishing reports, as well as updates on the Tuckaseigee draft recreation flow calendar and Trout in the Classroom, which had an Oct. 17 outing with Summit Charter School. Raffles will be held for gear. Visitors encouraged to attend.

For more information, contact tu.sylva.373@gmail.com.

33

outdoors

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November 8-14, 2023

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Smoky Mountain News

f happiness can be found in simple things, then Moses Creek is the place to look. And often those things are seasonal, which adds the element of pleasurable anticipation to their arrival.

Every fall, for instance, Becky and I look forward to seeing stinkbugs again. I don’t mean our retiring native stinkbugs, but the big, in-your-face “brown marmorated” stinkbugs (Halyomorpha halys), an East Asian invasive.

Until about 10 years ago we’d never encountered these insects, although I’d heard they had become a serious pest to fruit and vegetable farmers. And when they first arrived on Moses Creek, we thought they were a plague. We were on the deck enjoying autumn breezes, blue skies and trees showing the first blush of fall when suddenly the air was rived by the buzzes of brown, roach-sized creatures that landed on everything, releasing their trademark smell.

Our cat, asleep in a sunny spot, jumped up hissing when one flew into his fur.

I’ve read that in their native land these stinkbugs fly to cliffs and work their way into crevices to overwinter. But up Moses Creek it was the sun-warmed side of our house that drew them, where they found ways to squeeze inside. We and the cat were no longer the only ones looking forward to another seasonal first, the woodstove’s heat.

The stinkbugs did pique my interest. In them nature had created what technology is striving to perfect: little robotic drones programmed with a mission. If I flipped one on its back, it’d spin like a winged machine gone wacky with an electrical short. Then, presto, it would right itself ready to go, a gyroscope inside.

At first we fought back with fly swatters, but the bugs never died without living up to their names. Worse than the stink was the disgusting innards that popped out when I swatted one with too much fervor — to dry like glue on the siding, windows and screens. But most disgusting was when the guts squirted back on me. After wiping off facial splatters a few times, I learned to finesse my swats to kill but not to mash.

Swatting was also inefficient. Six bugs might be clinging to a window screen, but with the first swat, five would scatter.

We abandoned fly swatters when Becky discovered that with a postcard she could flick the stinkbugs into a small container then dump them into a waiting bucket of water laced with Dawn. The bugs would kick a few times with their long back legs, then sink. Flick’n Dump was more effective than swatting, and there was no mess. They might be stinkbugs, but Becky killed them clean.

A couple of years later I noticed that when stinkbugs sensed danger approaching,

I

Authorized Motor Fleet Management Maintenance

34

Up Moses Creek

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

they would drop straight down from the wall or window and scoot into the nearest crack.

Wondering if this drop-and-hide tactic might also be the stinkbug’s Achilles heel, I held a clear plastic cup below one on a window screen, then moved it close. The bug dropped into the cup with a satisfying plunk.

It’s important that it be a clear cup, because stinkbugs can see down through it and think the escape route is open. And even though stinkbugs can easily fly back out, once inside they tend to walk around on the bottom, perplexed.

With the plastic cup discovery, stink-bugging became a sport. We learned how to place the cup just right then slide it up expeditiously to the target bug. It was like making a hole in one, except that in golf the goal is to putt the ball to the hole, while with stinkbugs you put the hole to the ball.

A brown marmorated stinkbug clings to a screen door beside another invasive insect, the Asian lady beetle. Fred Coyle photo.

Now, come September, our plastic cups are at the ready. Autumn would be less pleasing if it didn’t come with falling bugs, along with falling leaves. I admit it’s an acquired taste.

To up the challenge, I wait until several stinkbugs are on a screen, then, starting low, I slide the cup up, feeling plunk after plunk.

My best score to date is 6 bugs in 17 seconds. Then into the bucket of Dawn they go.

With apologies to Robert Frost: I’m going out to clean the window screen; I’ll only stop to cup-and-dump away (And wait to watch the water clear, I may); I won’t be gone long. You come too.

(Burt and Becky Kornegay live in Jackson County.)

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

• The Jackson Arts Market takes place from 1-5 p.m. every Saturday at 533 West Main St. in Sylva with live music and an array of local artists.

• Cowee School Farmer's Market is held Wednesdays from 3-6 p.m., at 51 Cowee School Drive in Franklin.

The market has produce, plant starts, eggs, baked goods, flowers, food trucks and music. For more information or for an application, visit www.coweeschool.org or call 828.369.4080.

HEALTH AND WELLNESS • The series ‘Awareness Through Movement” will begin at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15, at the Folkmoot Friendship Center. The series of Feldenkrais classes focuses on movement through the spine, neck and shoulders. Cost is $60 for four sessions, $20 per session for walk-ins. To register or for more information email Annallys at eetm2023@proton.me or call 505.438.9109.

• The Pollinators Foundation offers weekly Mindful Movement Qigong classes for all ages to reduce stress and improve health and well-being. Classes take place 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on Wednesdays at the Folkmoot Center in Waynesville. For more information visit thepollinatorsfoundation.org or contact Marga Fripp at margacfripp@gmail.com 828.4224.1398.

• The Pollinators Foundation and The Share Project host weekly Happy Hour Walks 5-6:15 p.m. on Tuesdays at Lake Junaluska. The group meets at the Labyrinth. For more information visit thepollinatorsfoundation.org or contact Marga Fripp at margacfripp@gmail.com 828.4224.1398.

• Mountain Area pregnancy Services and the WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counselor work together to provide a casual support group for prenatal and breastfeeding individuals from 1-2 p.m. on Tuesdays at Mountain Area Pregnancy Services, 177 N Main St. Waynesville, NC. All are welcome, registration is recommended. For more information, please call 828.558.4550.

CLUBS AND MEETINGS • The Western Carolina Cribbage Club meets every Monday at 6 p.m. An eclectic group of young and old, male and female. The group supplies boards, cards, pegs and are always willing to help those still learning the finer points of the game. Contact kei3ph@bellsouth.net for more information.

• Chess 101 takes place 3:30-4:30 p.m. every Friday at the Canton Branch of the Haywood County Library. For more information, email Ashlyn Godleski at ashlyn.godleski@haywoodcountync.gov or call 828.356.2567.

• Knit Night takes place at 5:30-7:30 p.m. every second Tuesday of the month at The Stecoah Valley Center. The event is free and open to the public. RSVP is recommended: 828.479.3364 or amber@stecoahvalleycenter.com.

• A Novel Escape Book Club takes place at 6:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month at the Novel Escape Bookstore (60 E Main St, Franklin). Every other month one book is selected for discussion. On alternate months the meeting is round-table discussion in which participants share what they’ve read lately. For more information call the bookstore at 828.369.9059 or visit

Smoky Mountain News

n All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted. n To have your item listed email to calendar@smokymountainnews.com anovelescapefranklin.wordpress.com.

KIDS AND FAMILIES • The Arts Council of Macon County and the Macon County Library are partnering to offer Cherokee Dance with Bill Dyar at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, at the Macon County Library. For more information call 828.524.3600 or visit fontanalib.org.

• The Jackson County Public Library in Sylva will host a kids’ program about moon exploration on Wednesdays at 3 p.m. Randi Neff will lead these activities focused on NASA’s Artemis program, with aims to one day establish a base on the Moon. Co-sponsored by Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. For more information call 828.586.2016.

• Creative Writing Club will take place at 3:30 p.m. on the fourth Wednesday of every month at the Macon County Public Library. The writing club is intended for ages 8-12. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.

• Move and Groove Storytime takes place 10:30-11 a.m. every Thursday, at the Canton branch of the Haywood County Public Library. Exciting, interactive music and movement story time ideal for children 2-6 years old.

For more information contact Ashlyn at ashlyn.godleski@haywoodcountync.gov or at 828.356.2567.

• Mother Goose Storytime takes place 10:30-11 a.m. every Wednesday, at the Waynesville branch of the Haywood County Public Library. Ideal for children from birth to 2 years old. For more information, contact Lisa at lisa.hartzell@haywoodcountync.gov or call 828.356.2511.

• Wiggle Worms Storytime takes place 10:30-11 a.m. every Tuesday, at the Waynesville branch of the Haywood County Public Library. Ideal for children 2-6 years old. For more information contact Lisa at lisa.hartzell@haywoodcountync.gov or call 828.356.2511.

• Culture Talk takes place at 2 p.m. on the first Wednesday of every month at the Macon County Public Library. Travel the world from inside your library. This event features guest speakers and food sampling from the location being discussed. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.

• Art afternoon takes place at 3:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month at the Macon County Public Library. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.

A&E

• Foxfire Museum will host a presentation on Lucy Morgan, one of the few Craft Revival leaders born and raised in Western North Carolina, from 6-8 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 9. Free and offered by the Nantahala Hiking Club.

• The Pollinators Foundations will host an expressive arts playshop, “Tree of Gratitude” 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15, at the Folkmoot Friendship Center. For more information visit thepollinatorsfoundation.org or contact Marga Fripp at margacfripp@gmail.com 828.424.1398.

• A Holiday Bazar will take place 3-9 p.m. Friday, Nov.

17, on the outside field at the Folkmoot Center in Waynesville. For more information visit folkmoot.org or 828.452.2997.

• The Pollinators Foundations will host an expressive arts playshop, “Prayer Flags for the Soul” 5-7 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 29, at the Folkmoot Friendship Center.

For more information visit thepollinatorsfoundation.org or contact Marga Fripp at margacfripp@gmail.com 828.424.1398.

• Trivia Night is hosted 6:30-8:30 p.m. every Thursday evening at the Meadowlark Motel in Maggie Valley. For more information visit meadowlarkmotel.com.

• Paint and Sip at Waynesville Art School will be held every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 7-9:30 p.m.

To learn more and register call 828.246.9869 or visit PaintAndSipWaynesville.com/upcoming-events.

Registration is required, $45.

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

• Smoky Mountain Event Center presents Bingo Night with doors opening at 4:30 p.m. and games starting at 6 p.m. on the second Tuesday and fourth Monday of the month. For more information visit smokymountaineventcenter.com.

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

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

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

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS • Chess 101 takes place from 3:30-4:30 p.m. every Friday in the Canton Branch of the Haywood County Public Library. No registration required, for more information call 828.648.2924.

• Wired Wednesday, one-on-one technology help is available at 3-5 p.m. every Wednesday at the Canton Branch of the Haywood County Library. For more information or to register, call 828.648.2924.

• Uptown Gallery, 30 East Main St. Franklin, will be offering Children’s Art Classes Wednesdays afternoons.

Adult workshops in watercolor, acrylic paint pouring, encaustic and glass fusing are also offered. Free painting is available 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Monday in the classroom. A membership meeting takes place on the second Sunday of the month at 3 p.m. All are welcome.

Call 828.349.4607 for more information.

ART SHOWINGS AND GALLERIES • “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

35

Visit www.smokymountainnews.com and click on Calendar for: n Complete listings of local music scene n Regional festivals n Art gallery events and openings n Complete listings of recreational offerings at health and fitness centers n Civic and social club gatherings their own project and a bag lunch. 828.349.4607 or pm14034@yahoo.com.

Outdoors

• Join an expert birder at 8 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, at Lake Junaluska to see many migrating birds that make their winter home in Haywood County. Loaner binoculars available for use. For more information contact Betty Green at betty.green@haywoodcountync.gov or visit haywoodcountync.gov/recreation or call 828.452.6789.

• Hike to Courthouse Falls in the Pisgah National Forest Wednesday, Nov. 9, leaving from Cullowhee. Cost is $7.

Children under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

Sign up at rec.jacksonnc.org.

• The first installment of the Sylva Naturalist Club will be hosted 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 9, in the conference room of the Jackson County Public Library. Free of charge, registration required, available to people 16 years and older. To register or find out more about the naturalist club, call the library at 828.586.2016 or email JCPL-Adults@fontanalib.org.

• Ride the trails with an experienced mountain bike instructor at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, at Chestnut Mountain Nature Park in Canton. Loaner bikes and helmets are available. Cost is $10, with online registration open through Nov. 9. Register at bit.ly/haywoodrec.

• There will be a workshop about how septic systems work and what they don’t do from 5:30-7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14, at the Haywood County Agricultural Services Center on Racoon Road in Waynesville Free with RSVP to Christine O’Brien at 828.476.4667, ext. 1, or christine@haywoodwaterways.org.

• Trout Unlimited Sylva will hold its monthly “meet and eat” 6:30-8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14, at the Sylva United Methodist Church. For more information, contact tu.sylva.373@gmail.com.

• Hike to the summit of Green Knob Nov. 15 with Haywood County Parks and Recreation. The group will meet at Jukebox Junction at 9 a.m. For more information contact Betty Green at betty.green@haywoodcountync.gov or visit haywoodcountync.gov/recreation or call 828.452.6789.

• There will be a land navigation course offered 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16, at Allens Creek Park in Waynesville. Cost is $10. Sign up at secure.rec1.com/catalog. For information, contact recreationandparks@haywoodcountync.gov or 828.452.6789.

• There will be a reception for a photography exhibit showcasing the floral diversity of Western North Carolina 5-6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin.

• Celebrate National Take a Hike Day by walking among the hemlocks with an entomologist, 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17, in Panthertown Valley near Cashiers. Hikers should bring lunch, snacks, water and any necessary sunscreen, bug spray or medications.

Free, with RSVP required at panthertown.org/events.

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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.

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NOTICE OF ADMINISTRATION Case No.2023 E 000679 Robert Reed Moody, KDYLQJ TXDOL¿HG DV WKH ([HFXWRU RI WKH (VWDWH RI James Carroll Moody of Haywood County, 1RUWK &DUROLQD WKLV LV WR QRWLI\ DOO SHUVRQV KDYLQJ FODLPV DJDLQVW WKH (VWDWH WR SUHVHQW WKHP WR WKH XQGHUVLJQHG RQ RU EHIRUH Feb 08 2024 RU WKLV notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. $OO SHUVRQV LQGHEWHG WR VDLG (VWDWH SOHDVH PDNH immediate payment.

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828.506.7137 Amy@IJBproperties.com 18 S Pack Square, Asheville, NC 28801

BROOKE

PARROTT

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Randall Rogers %52.(5Ƀ$662&,$7( —————————————

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37

"MM, GOOD!" ACROSS 1 Kiddie-lit elephant 6 Seder bread 11 Warren in the Pro Football Hall of Fame 15 Numbered work of a composer 19 "I'd love to help" 20 Fictional town in an Edgar Lee Masters title 22 Intensify, with "up" 23 Aged female horse that has won lots of singing awards?

25 Dog food brand 26 Flimsy 27 Hive swarm 28 "Lie Down With Lions" novelist Ken 30 Romanov royal 31 -- -fi film 33 Michael of "Superbad" 34 Stephen of the screen 35 Time when everybody turned down their radios all at once?

41 -- v. Wade 42 Aussie critter 43 Soporific drug 44 Electrolysis particles 45 Reading quickly in the Scandinavian manner?

50 Novelist Stout 52 Hammer or Spade 53 History topic 54 Hot tub sigh 56 Tranquility 60 Brainchild 62 Big meeting to discuss protective metal gear?

66 Foot the bill 69 A-bomb, e.g.

71 "-- dare?"

72 -- Lilly

73 "Tamerlane" poet 74 Cold, damp park birds?

79 Declare 82 Apia locale 83 Elton John's '70s label 84 Figure skater Midori -86 Bet to win and place 90 Cloning stuff 92 Was an overly aggressive barber?

96 Cato's "to be" 99 -- alla Scala 101 Intensify, with "up" 102 Antique auto 103 Trouncing in a numberadding contest?

109 Bullring call 110 Balcony box 111 "Send help!"

112 Netflix rival 113 Medium for burning data 115 Pork serving 118 Of sentence units 121 Cork's land 122 Decreed to be the most prudish?

126 Observes 127 Computer programming output 128 More skillful 129 Chances 130 Covered with bathroom rolls, slangily 131 Outback food 132 Fliers' homes DOWN 1 Strike with the horns 2 Court champ Arthur 3 Lead-in to "done that" 4 "Eek!" 5 Add ammo to 6 Emails or texts: Abbr.

7 Wet mo.

8 Come -- halt 9 Body not staying at rest?

10 "My treat!"

11 Family in computer games 12 DuVernay of "Queen Sugar" 13 Flawless 14 Request in advance, in a way 15 Spoken exam 16 Sicily's capital 17 A gazillion 18 Brief plugs for political candidates 21 Bread variety 24 -- Lube (STP alternative) 29 Chou En- -31 Add fuel to 32 Groups on church risers 33 The Plame affair, informally 35 Hammer or spade 36 52-wk. units 37 Dad's partner 38 Longtime wire svc.

39 Moses' peak 40 Seltzer, e.g.

41 ICU VIPs 46 Imbiber's hwy. offense 47 "-- be nice if ..."

48 Like taffy 49 Bea Arthur sitcom 51 Air-testing gp.

55 Hispanic "hello" 57 Intensify, with "up" 58 Loving sound 59 Previous to, poetically 61 12-hour clock toggle 63 Lowing sound 64 Fluid dram fraction 65 "Hawaii --" (Jack Lord series)

66 Acer offerings 67 Styled after 68 Orange tuber 70 Say aloud for transcription 75 Net access provider 76 Groom, e.g.

77 "The Dance" singer Brooks 78 Canned heat 80 Good Grips brand 81 Nursery cry 85 Dramatist Clifford 87 Merry-go-rounds 88 Not kosher 89 Hurry-scurry 91 For free 93 Furious state 94 Spill cleaner 95 Sony products 96 1962 Paul Anka hit 97 Tarnished 98 Tarnished 100 Chinese soup 104 Sort 105 Facet 106 "Surprised to run into you!"

107 University in Greenville, South Carolina 108 In a blazing brandy sauce 114 Fed Eliot 115 Ace or queen 116 Fruit drink brand 117 Tip jar bills 118 Nursery school, briefly 119 Play -- (perform some songs) 120 Env. items 123 Receivable 124 John in court cases 125 High-tech organizer

ANSWERS ON PAGE 34

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38

www.smokymountainnews.com

November 8-14, 2023

WNC MarketPlace

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November 8-14, 2023

WNC MarketPlace

39

2nd Annual

presented by Adamas Entertainment

November 8-14, 2023

a benefit for REACH

Main Stage 12 p.m. to 12 a.m.

Tickets

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56 Commerce Street · Waynesville 40

J. Rex & High Mountain Pals 8-9:30 Raspbillys 6:15-7:45 Christina Chandler 4:30-6 Shane Meade & The Sound Trio 2:45-4:15 Will Elliot 1-2:30

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