Smoky Mountain News | December 6, 2023

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

December 6-12, 2023 Vol. 25 Iss. 28

WCU men’s basketball picks up steam Page 7 Papertown gets its first fly fishing shop Page 30

CONTENTS On the Cover: As drones become more ubiquitous, first responders have begun using the technology to better handle emergency situations while also keeping firefighters and law enforcement safe. Check out how one Haywood County fire department has created an entire drone unit capable of deploying multiple drones at any scene. (Page 6) Julie Newland photo

News Fire activity resumes ............................................................................................................4 Candidates continue filing for 2024 election ..............................................................5 WCU men’s basketball picks up steam ........................................................................7 Fox named interim Jackson County Manager ..............................................................8 School board opposes partisan elections..................................................................10 Habitat for Humanity’s return on investment ............................................................12 Two grants help Haywood students ............................................................................15 WCU program helps disabled students achieve their dreams............................16

Opinion A lesson from First Lady Rosalyn Carter ....................................................................20 Important freedoms are under siege............................................................................20

A&E

Smoky Mountain News

December 6-12, 2023

A conversation with Joe Russo......................................................................................22 Visit HCAC’s ‘Small Works’ exhibit ..............................................................................26

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Scott McLeod. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . info@smokymountainnews.com Greg Boothroyd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . greg@smokymountainnews.com Micah McClure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . micah@smokymountainnews.com Jessica Murray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jessica.m@smokymountainnews.com Jack Snyder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jack.s@smokymountainnews.com Stefanee Sherman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . stefanee@mtnsouthmedia.com Susanna Shetley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . susanna.b@smokymountainnews.com Amanda Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . amanda.b@smokymountainnews.com Sophia Burleigh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sophia.b@smokymountainnews.com Scott Collier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . classads@smokymountainnews.com Kyle Perrotti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . kyle.p@smokymountainnews.com Holly Kays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . holly@smokymountainnews.com Hannah McLeod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . hannah@smokymountainnews.com Cory Vaillancourt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cory@smokymountainnews.com Garret K. Woodward. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . garret@smokymountainnews.com Jamie Cogdill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . smnbooks@smokymountainnews.com Scott Collier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . classads@smokymountainnews.com Jeff Minick (writing), Chris Cox (writing), Don Hendershot (writing), Thomas Crowe (writing)

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Papertown gets its first fly shop ....................................................................................30 Notes from a plant nerd: Like a podium......................................................................34

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news

Fire activity resumes

The Locust Cove #2 Fire is one of two currently burning in McDowell County. USFS photo

BY HOLLY KAYS OUTDOORS E DITOR espite an uptick in precipitation and humidity levels, the region is still facing the worst drought conditions since 2017, with renewed fire activity over the past week.

In McDowell County, the 180-acre Locust Cove #2 Fire started Nov. 29, while the 124-acre Clear Creek Fire ignited nearby Nov. 30. These fires are 50% and 70% contained,

Smoky Mountain News

December 6-12, 2023

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respectively, as of Dec. 5, with no injuries or structures lost.

Meanwhile, firefighters saw renewed activity on the Black Bear Fire in Haywood County Dec. 1. The fire, which is still 90% contained, grew by 200 acres to cover 2,008 acres as it crossed Snowbird Creek. According to an update issued Dec. 4, the 36 firefighters on scene had reinforced the handline between Snowbird Creek and the ridgeline to prevent the fire from spreading further.

The fire, which started Nov. 16 following a tractor-trail-

er accident on Interstate 40, quickly spread north of the highway. Significant rainfall in the days before Thanksgiving had allowed firefighters to make significant headway. The U.S. Forest Service issued on Nov. 24 what it said would be its last update on the fire “unless significant fire activity occurs,” with the fire 79% contained at 1,888 acres.

The newest drought map from the U.S. Drought Monitor of North Carolina, released Nov. 30 based on data through 8 a.m. Nov. 28, shows the number of counties in extreme drought down to eight compared to 13 the previous week. Similarly, severe drought now affects 34 counties compared to 40 in the Nov. 21 map, moderate drought affects 27 compared to 25 counties previously and 16 counties are abnormally dry compared to 18 previously.

Counties in extreme drought include Jackson, Macon, Swain, Cherokee, Clay and Graham counties. Haywood, Buncombe, Henderson and Transylvania counties are among those in severe drought.

The rain prior to Thanksgiving brought relief, but impacts were mainly surface-level, including increased topsoil moisture and streamflow levels. Deeper soils, groundwater storage and reservoir levels remain low, and Western North Carolina will finish the fall 5 to 10 inches below normal rainfall. Regular precipitation throughout the winter is needed to keep chipping away at the drought.

Additional rain came over the weekend Dec. 1-2, but little of it fell on the Black Bear Fire, with ridgetops remaining particularly dry. Periods of high winds and heavy fuels like downed trees and stumps in the fire’s interior are also contributing to fire activity. Relief may come midweek, with a cold front possibly bringing more rain.

Travelers should exercise caution when traveling the I40 corridor approaching the Tennessee line. The Appalachian Trail is closed between I-40 and Brown Gap Road, as is Brown Gap Road (Forest Service Road 148A).

news

Candidates continue filing for 2024 election

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available seats on the Haywood County Board of Commissioners are incumbent Republicans — Chair Kevin Ensley and Vice Chair Brandon Rogers. Both filed shortly after the filing period opened.

Another pair of Republicans, Jenny Lynn Hooper and Michael Jennings, have filed for the Jackson County Board of Commissioners.

Jennings is competing for the seat of Democrat Mark Jones, while Hooper will face Republican Tom Stribling in the Primary.

Clint Irons, a Republican, and Wes Jamison, an independent, have both filed for seats on the Jackson County Board of Education in District 3.

In Macon County, Republican Barry Breeden filed for the County Commission District 3 seat currently held by fellow Republican Paul Higdon.

Swain County Republican Eric Watson has filed for a seat on the Swain County Commission.

Candidate filing continues through noon on Dec. 15. The 2024 Primary Election will be held on Tuesday, March 5. The deadline to register to vote in the 2024 Primary Election is Friday, Feb. 9.

For more information, visit ncsbe.gov.

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December 6-12, 2023

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR orth Carolina’s candidate filing period for the 2024 General Election began on Monday, Dec. 4, with candidates slowly making their way to area boards of elections to secure ballot spots in federal, state and local contests.

As of noon on Dec. 5, first-term Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-Henderson) had filed for reelection. Edwards has had Primary opposition since April, in the form of Hayesville Republican Christian Reagan. A Buncombe County legislator, Democrat Caleb Rudow, announced his intent to run last week, but hasn’t yet filed.

Incumbent District 43 judges Justin Greene (D-Swain) and Kaleb Wingate (RHaywood) have filed to retain their seats.

Virginia Hornsby (R-Macon) has also filed.

Four bench seats are up for grabs.

Sen. Kevin Corbin (R-Macon) and Sen. Ralph Hise (R-Mitchell) both filed for their seats, as have Rep. Mark Pless (R-Haywood) and Rep. Mike Clampitt (R-Swain). Rep. Karl Gillespie (R-Macon) couldn’t be reached for comment.

The only candidates to file for the two

Johnson named Preceptor of the Year This award is voted on by medical students based on which preceptor they believe was the most impactful to their training.

“It’s an honor to be chosen by this group of students and know that I am making a difference for the future of the medical field,” said Johnson. “These experiences in clinical settings are vitally important to their growth and I’m so pleased to have the opportunity to share my knowledge.”

Chris Brown, CEO, shared that it can be very difficult to open your practice to medical students.

“Teaching is a huge commitment of time, and there’s also the added pressure of educating the future of medicine,” he said.

“However, it comes with a sense of duty and responsibility to give back to the profession that has been so good to us.”

Dr. Johnson is board certified by the American Board of Surgery and practices at Haywood Surgical Associates.

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Haywood Regional Medical Center announced that Dr. Allison Johnson was named Preceptor of the Year by the Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM).

Preceptors are practicing physicians who are integral to the clinical education and training of medical students. They provide the experiential portion of the curriculum by supervising stuDr. Allison Johnson. dent physicians as File photo they acquire clinical medical knowledge by helping to care for real patients — in both the inpatient and outpatient settings.

December 9, 2023 | 3 p.m.

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news

Up in the air

North Canton Fire Department puts eyes in the sky to save lives

BY KYLE PERROTTI N EWS E DITOR s technology evolves, every entity and industry finds new and innovative ways to use those advances to improve their operations. Likewise, first responders from police to firefighters to emergency services use the latest, greatest changes to improve the way they operate. Over the last decade, one of the most valuable new tools has been the drone, a typically small and shifty aircraft that can be used in even the most dangerous situations, sparing those first responders from some of the worst dangers.

Now the North Canton Fire Department in Haywood County has officially created its own drone unit.

The unit is made up of seven members, each of whom keeps a small drone with them in case they need it when responding to any call at any time. In addition, the department has two larger drones with greater capabilities. Heading up the drone unit is volunteer Allen Newland, an experienced operator who began flying remote controlled aircrafts with model planes back in 1974. Newland said it’s been fun to see RC aircraft technology develop into what it has.

“It’s mind blowing to see how well these things fly,” he said, adding that they’re highly maneuverable, but that maneuverability isn’t often necessary. “They can hover if anything goes wrong, and they have obstacle avoidance.”

Steve Kelley has been the fire chief at North Canton for 12 years. He said that when he explored the opportunity to get drones for his department in 2021, he reached out to agencies for which NCFD provides mutual aid, meaning they respond to 6 certain calls that may require more hands.

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December 6-12, 2023

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Pictured from left to right are members of North Canton Fire Department’s drone unit — Allen Newland, Tony Pope, Steve Kelley, Chance Best and Billy Hannah.

Not pictured are Levi Allen and Christian Wilkie. Julie Newland photo There was plenty of interest, and the program was born.

It took about a year and a half to get the drone unit off the ground. The department used funds available through a COVID assistance program to fund its beginning. Kelley said he’s been happy with how the program has been — and can be — used.

“It’s a resource that can be very valuable, whether it be for forest fires, whether it be for structure fires,” he said.

And there’s a whole other host of uses.

The larger drones not only have regular cameras like the smaller ones; they also have thermal-imaging ability, which can be used to find missing persons, including lost hikers, or possibly even fugitives.

In a recent Haywood County Commission meeting, Sheriff Bill Wilke talked about how his deputies have used drones, noting that two were deployed when aiding the Waynesville Police Department during a standoff earlier this year. During that standoff, a man had barricaded himself within his own residence on Prevost Street near the Waynesville Inn after firing shots at someone.

While the Waynesville Police Department has drones of its own, when it comes to a dangerous situation, it’s sometimes a matter of the more the marrier, considering they can be used to get a handle on what may be happening inside any location without putting an officer or deputy in harm’s way.

Waynesville Police Chief David Adams discussed his own department’s use of drones, which have been largely operated by Detective Tyler Howell. Adams said that in addition to the situation on Prevost Street, drones were also used recently when searching for a missing woman, whose body was ultimately discovered near a rock quarry off

Allens Creek.

Adams said his office has three devices, including one of the larger ones that utilizes thermal imaging. He said that the tool can be used in a manhunt but was more recently used to locate a missing juvenile. On busy days downtown, such as parades and street festivals, drones can be used to monitor for

try to identify those hot spots so they can be broken up. While his firefighters also have their own devices that can check for hot spots, having the eye in the sky has made a difference.

“It’s especially important for eaves and roofs since those can be dangerous,” Kelley said.

Drones have also been used in some of the recent forest fires across Western North Carolina in similar ways. But the small aircrafts’ usages in the woods isn’t limited to that. In addition to man hunts, they can be used in search and rescue efforts deep in the region’s forests where access is limited. Not only can the thermal camera be used to locate people in distress, the larger drone can bring along up to a 6-pound payload. In some situations, a hiker may need water, food, medicine or a fire starter. Newland pointed out that when a hiker is out of cell phone range, a drone can bring instructions the person can use to make their own rescue safer. Sometimes, they need to be told simply to stay put.

“It’s harder to reach a moving target,” he said. “We can say ‘we know where you are,’ so then we can come back and drop off a first aid kit if we need to. We can drop a radio since the county has some that are small enough.”

It’s impressive that North Canton has seven pilots, considering the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) licensing process — necessary for drone operation — is fairly rigorous, and constant practice is vital to effective operation during a casualty or investigation. And other nearby agencies have appreciated access to the technology.

Not only have the other fire departments in

Here’s a look at how a drone can use thermal imaging capabilities to spot a person on the ground. A Shot Above photo

suspicious activity.

Drones have investigative applications, as well, and can document a crime or crash scene from above. There’s even software that can create 3D models of scenes.

“We have used those drones quite a bit, and we’re looking at developing that program,” Adams said.

For NCFD, even after a structure fire appears to be out, there are often hot spots — smoldering material hidden from the naked eye — that can reignite. The department uses drones with thermal imaging to

Haywood County benefitted, but even those in western Buncombe County have benefitted since they have mutual aid agreements with NCFD. While there will no doubt be more developments and new ways drones are used by first responders, each of those interviewed by the Smoky Mountain News who have employed the devices said they’ve already proven invaluable.

“They’ve been great for us, and I’m glad we have them,” Kelley said. “If they save even one life, they’ll be worth every cent.”

Vonterius Woolbright brings the ball up the court. Donated photo to get,” he said.

All the same, Woolbright said he is far from satisfied with his impressive early-season run.

“I’m just gonna keep trying to get better each and every day,” he said. “It’s more about where I need to be than where I’m at.”

Beyond his size and athleticism, Woolbright has proven he can come through in the clutch for his team. Just a few weeks ago, he hit the game-winning free throws with three seconds left against Middle Tennessee. Woolbright said that

Coach Justin Gray guides his team from the bench. Donated photo

Smoky Mountain News

even in those tense moments, he doesn’t feel pressure; rather, he feels confident about the work he’s put in up to that point.

“Coach trusts me in those situations, so it made me have a high level of confidence in myself,” he said. “I know I’m in the gym every day working on all those shots and moves.”

Woolbright said taking on a leadership role, and accepting the challenge and occasional discomfort that comes with growth, is something that his coach has pushed him to do.

Woolbright noted he respects Gray, a man who has become somewhat of a mentor and has guided his growth on and off the court.

“It’s all different roles he’s got in my life; he’s somebody

December 6-12, 2023

BY KYLE PERROTTI N EWS E DITOR It’s a great time to be a Catamount basketball fan, certainly the best in a while.

After winning its first six games, Western Carolina University’s men’s basketball team finally dropped its first contest last Saturday against Gardner-Webb. But even with that loss, things are looking up, as the team has also scored some impressive victories against the likes of Notre Dame and McNeese State and currently sits among the upper echelon of the Southern Conference.

The Catamounts feature a host of talented players, but it’s senior guard Vonterius Woolbright who’s really stolen the show. After a somewhat shaky start to his WCU career during which he was suspended for five games, Woolbright has grown into a versatile threat and leads the team in points (21.7 per game), rebounds (11.9 per game) and assists (4.7 per game). In the loss against Gardner-Webb, Woolbright put up a career-high 35 points to go along with 14 boards.

Most importantly, he’s become a leader on and off the court.

At 6-foot-7 with a lot of length, it may seem odd that Woolbright is the floor general on a team that starts four guards and one forward and plays quintessential “small ball.” But Head Coach Justin Gray, who himself played on a guard-heavy Wake Forest team alongside future hall-of-famer Chris Paul, is happy to have that kind of versatility in a guard that can get physical and draw fouls. And considering teams that play small ball tend to sacrifice rebounding ability for speed, Woolbright’s tenacity on the boards is certainly welcome.

Woolbright’s playing style is different than what a lot of modern guards gravitate toward. In a world where kids coming up want to be able to pull up from 30 feet out like Steph Curry and Damian Lillard, Woolbright hardly ever shoots from behind the arc. In fact, he practically lives in the lane.

“I never really tried model my game after anybody,” he said. “I’ve always been a big player, so I like to play off that advantage.”

Woolbright came to WCU after playing his freshman and sophomore years at Lawson State Community College in Alabama. He’s been happy to have the opportunity to play against higher-level competition throughout his three seasons in Culowhee.

“It feels like I’m just another step closer to where I want

news

WCU men’s basketball picks up steam

that I respect highly and somebody that I can talk to about anything,” Woolbright said.

But as proud as Gray is of Woolbrigh’s growth and achievements, Gray said the rest of his players have also shown a tremendous work ethic. On the afternoon The Smoky Mountain News went to Cullowhee to interview Woolbright and Gray, senior forward Charles Lampten was in the gym well before the normal practice time working on post moves with an assistant coach.

“We got a lot of those guys like that here,” Gray said. “I can go in the gym when we’re not gonna practice for another 30 minutes, and dude’s got a lather already.”

Gray said that while he has specifically tried to develop Woolbright into a leader, one of his goals has been to form a relationship with each of his players and have a positive influence on their lives, something that he has the unique ability to do since just a couple of decades ago he was in their shoes as a college basketball player trying to win games and grow along the way.

“I try to have some kind of impact on their lives … everyone receives our message differently, and it’s our job as coaches to figure out what that is,” Gray said, adding that once that happens, coaches can set the standard and hold players to it.

While the team has been playing well and proving it’s among the best mid-major conference teams around, Gray wasn’t bashful in discussing the ultimate goal — a Southern Conference Championship, something that comes with an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Big Dance, something the program hasn’t seen in almost three decades.

“Every single game is an opportunity for us to be our absolute best,” Gray said. “Then, by the time we get to February and March, if we can be healthy and we’re playing our best basketball, when it comes tournament time, if you win three games in a row, you get a chance to dance.”

But for Gray, while anything seems possible this year, it’s also about continuing to build a program that can grow and reach new milestones for years to come.

“It’s about being disciplined and sticking to our daily regimen,” Gray said. “The thing about championship programs is they do things with consistency. Day in, day out. Game in, game out.”

Part of building that kind of infectious winning culture requires generating a buzz around the team, getting the fans involved. After all, it’s hard to think of a program like Duke without thinking of the Cameron Crazies. Gray encouraged students and folks in the community to come out to some games and see what this team is all about.

“With all the work these guys put in at practice, think about what it’d be like to have a great homecourt advantage,” Gray said. “We want it to be tough to come in here and get a win, and we want to represent our community.”

“When people come in and have a good time and support these student athletes, it makes the result that much better,” he added.

But either way, no matter how this season pans out, no matter what the team’s reputation is come March, what Woolbright wants to do is become the best player he possibly can and enjoy the rest of his senior season.

“I’m just trying to have fun with this last year and with my teammates,” he said. “I’m not really too focused on the long-term goal at this point, because, you know, you don’t get this time back. I’m just trying to take it one day a time and keep grinding, and then when that time comes, I can be happy.”

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news

Fox named interim county manager

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER ess than a month after Jackson County Manager Don Adams announced his resignation, commissioners have appointed an interim to fill the post.

“We’re going to be having Darlene Fox, our finance director, serve as interim position for county manager starting on Jam. 1,” said Chairman Mark Letson.

ernment, responsible to the board of commissioners for administration of all departments of county government under the board’s control. They appoint, with the approval of the board of commissioners, and suspend or remove all county officers, employees and agents. Managers are also responsible for preparing and submitting the annual budget, which, as finance director, Fox has ample experience in.

Fox will now also be Darlene Fox responsible for making any Donated photo reports that the board of commissioners require concerning county operations and executing any orders, ordinances, resolutions or regulations the board deems necessary. She will be compensated 10% more than her current salary for carrying out the duties of county manager.

After more than seven years as county manager, Don Adams announced in October that he would end his employment with Jackson County by the end of the year. In a press release the county said that the Jackson County Board of Commissioners and County Manager Don Adams amicably came to an agreement to end Adams’ employment effective Dec. 31. Adams had begun serving as manager in August 2016.

“It has been my honor to serve the citizens of Jackson County,” said Adams. “It has been my privilege to work with excellent employees and Fox currently serves as director of elected leadership within the county.” finance for the county and will continue Adams cited personal reasons as the that role while acting as county manager basis for his departure, including his during this interim. Fox has worked for health. the county for over 40 years but says she does not have plans to apply for the per“I feel that my knowledge manent manager position.

“I feel that my knowledge and experiand experience in the ence in the financial operations of the county will help with a smooth transition financial operations of the to the new management,” Fox told the county will help with a Smoky Mountain News. “My goals are to maintain normal operations and to move smooth transition to the forward with the budget process for fiscal year 2024-2025.” new management.”

Fox began her work for the county as — Darlene Fox an accounting clerk before serving as the assistant finance director for two years, after which she was appointed to finance director in 1980. Fox has also served as “Due to personal reasons, including the finance director for the Jackson health and other personal issues, I believe County Airport Authority and the Jackson it is in the best interest of the county and County Tourism Development Authority. for me to step away and retire,” said In North Carolina the county manager Adams. “This will allow for other leaderis the chief administrator of county govship to take my place.”

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Macon school board opposes partisan elections

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER fter county commissioners considered signing a resolution in support of transitioning the Macon County Board of Education to a partisan-elected body, the school board has made clear their vehement opposition to the change.

“The system we have now is not broken, it’s worked extremely well, and I just don’t understand this sudden need, for various reasons, to change something that has worked so beautifully,” said Chairman Jim Breedlove. “I’ll say this for the record, this board works together, we’re here for one common interest.”

At its Nov. 27 meeting, the Board of Education considered the proposal from the county commission for a partisan-elected school board and, with all five members opposed to the idea, directed Board Attorney John Henning to draft a resolution in support of maintaining a non-partisan board.

“I would like you all to consider us putting together a resolution showing our support for the retention of our current method, in terms of our selection of our board of education,” said Breedlove. “We would then send that into the commissioners so they understand where we’re at and how we feel.”

According to Henning, there has been a push in the last several years to have more school boards elected on a partisan basis.

December 6-12, 2023

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“In the past, there was a kind of a community discussion, ‘let’s ask our school board what they think about it, let’s ask the community, have some public hearings on it,’ not so much during this calendar year, during this General Assembly,” said Henning.

“Several of our clients suddenly found themselves the subject of a local act being pushed through the General Assembly without their knowledge. This has happened.”

Macon County alone does not have the power to change the format of the election for school board. The change would have to be made through the General Assembly. The resolution county commissioners are considering requests the legislature establish that “henceforth the party affiliation of candidates for the Macon County Board of Education be identified on any/all primary and general election ballots.”

Rep. Mark Pless (R-Haywood) recently succeeded in passing a bill to make municipal elections partisan in Madison County.

Pless had tried to incorporate Haywood County in that bill, including its school board, but ultimately Haywood was removed from the bill.

The school board is currently elected as non-partisan, meaning candidates do not run for office on any party affiliation but simply as a candidate for school board and resident of Macon County.

The resolution commissioners are look-

ing at cites three reasons for supporting the switch to a partisan-elected board. First, that “the Macon County Board of Commissioners believes that identification of candidates’ party and/or ideological affiliation will provide voters with more information on the policies and positions such candidates sup-

Last, that “election clarity and transparency are of utmost importance to insure [sic] voters a basis for their decisions.”

Henning pointed out that in 2015, out of 115 school districts, 17 of them had boards elected on a partisan basis. Now, that number has grown to more than 50.

Macon County’s school board has made it clear that it opposes the push from some county commissioners to make its elections partisan. File photo port.”

Second, that “approximately one half of the other school districts in North Carolina currently identify their Board of Education candidates by party affiliation.”

“There’s been a dramatic increase in just this past year,” said Henning.

The Macon County School Board has been elected on a non-partisan basis since at least 1968.

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We’re just a part of Macon County Schools, we’re all contributing to it, and I just hope that this resolution puts forward that that is what our focus needs to be.”

All other board members made clear they agreed that bringing political parties into school board elections would detract from the board’s goals. Vice Chair Melissa Evans said she was concerned that if the race for school board were partisan, people would vote for a political party rather than the candidate’s moral values.

“I think that is detrimental in any election, especially when you’re dealing with your children. You need to know what kind of character and the values that individual believes in,” said Evans. “It’s public knowledge, what affiliation we have. If anybody’s concerned about that, it’s not an issue to look that up.”

During the commissioner’s discussion on the issue, Shearl claimed that the proposal was the result of an election issue in which people were confused about how to vote because of the lack of party delineation on the ballot. Chairman Higdon said that he had a problem with school board candidates running for political office and expecting people to vote for them, while being “ashamed” of putting their political affiliation on the ballot.

“I’m not ashamed of my affiliation; I don’t care. Whoever wants to know, they can look. But I totally think our children deserve better than that, I really do,” said Evans.

“Nobody here ran as a Democrat or a Republican or an independent. They ran because they love the kids, they had an interest in the schools, and I think you are stripping us of that when you start bringing politics into it and affiliation into it.’”

Board member Hillary Wilkes said she had sent a letter to commissioners opposing the change, which she requested to have read aloud either during public comment, or during the discussion on the resolution. Her letter was never read during the meeting and Wilkes decried the lack of opportunity for input from the board of education prior to commissioners considering a resolution that directly affects the board of education.

“Personally, I was very offended by the way it played out, without being consulted or included in a conversation that directly affects what we’re trying to do for our school children,” said Wilkes. “I did not see how it served our community of schools and faculty and parents; I was pretty angry about being excluded from a conversation that is so important.”

December 6-12, 2023

“One thing that boards often say in response to [the push toward partisan elections] is that our primary responsibilities are setting school policy, hiring teachers and administrators, and neither one of these should be influenced by party affiliation,” said Henning. “Our primary allegiance is to students and parents, not to leaders or platforms of specific political parties.”

“Injecting party politics into local school board elections shifts the focus away from candidates who are committed to school issues, education in Macon County, and detracts from the civil discourse and cooperative spirit the board has,” Henning said.

Henning recommended the board take up a resolution in opposition to any attempts by the General Assembly to make the Board of Education partisan. He will draft the resolution for the board to consider at its Dec. 11 meeting. This will allow the resolution to be signed by the board prior to the Dec. 12 meeting of the Macon County Commission.

At its November meeting, the Macon County commissioners considered the resolution in support of making the school board partisan, but ultimately decided to table the document for a future meeting.

Commissioner Gary Shields, former Macon County Schools administrator and member of the Board of Education, voiced his opposition to the change. Commissioner Josh Young called for input from both the public and the board.

Commissioners John Shearl, Danny Antoine and Paul Higdon all voiced their support for the resolution and the change to a partisan-elected board, but Antoine sided with the opportunity for public input, thus giving a majority to the commissioners in favor of larger public discussion prior to approval.

School board member Diedre Breeden was at that November commission meeting when the resolution was considered. She noted that tensions were high during the discussion about whether or not to support a resolution to make the school board partisan, but that the atmosphere in the room was completely different when MCS administrator Colleen Strickland spoke about the Career and Technical Education program in the school system.

“That is the heart of what Macon County Schools is,” said Breeden. “Those kids are doing awesome things; those teachers are doing awesome things. Everyone in the community of Macon County is a part of Macon County Schools and that’s how it should be.

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On Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, Haywood County Sheriff’s deputies from the Criminal Suppression Unit located and arrested Tyler James Ponder, 35, of Canton, North Carolina on four counts each of statutory sex offense with a child by an adult and four counts of taking indecent liberties with a child.

This multi-agency investigation included detectives from the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office, Haywood County Health and Human Services Agency, Kids Advocacy Resource Effort (K.A.R.E.), North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and United States Homeland Security Investigations.

Ponder is currently being held in the Haywood County Detention Center under a $2 million secured bond.

“Our office will continue to suppress crime and bring perpetrators before a court of law affording all due process,” said Haywood County Sheriff Bill Wilke. “We will be vigilant to protect our county and its citizens, especially our children.”

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Habitat’s ‘return on investment’ Building strong communities, strong futures

Volunteers break ground on the Walton Woods neighborhood after the land donation in 2009.

Donated photo

BY J IM B UCHANAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER t’s tough out there for anyone hoping to gain entry into the housing market.

The North Carolina Housing Coalition 2023 report on housing need in Haywood shows the Fair Market Rent average in Haywood is $1,009 a month, requiring an average wage of $19.40 an hour. The gap between those averages means 53% of renters have difficulty affording their homes, along with 20% of homeowners.

Haywood Habitat Director Ryan Newell, a Haywood native, points out that 27% of Haywood residents are living what’s defined as “housing cost burdened,’’ meaning more than a third of household income is going to the bare bones of keeping a roof over one’s head — rent, basic utilities and insurance.

Taking a theme from “It’s a Wonderful Life,’’ it’s a very safe bet those numbers would be more dire if Habitat weren’t on the scene. With a dedicated staff and engaged volunteers, it’s been able to find solutions that put roofs over the heads of more than 80 families here.

December 6-12, 2023

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Haywood Habitat for Humanity is an old hand at rehabbing homes and acquiring and developing land for new homes in Haywood County, having been in the game here for 33 years. It has completed 56 homes, and 57, 58 and 59 are in the works.

Haywood Habitat can crack the equations needed for the challenges of a difficult market, but there’s one thing it can’t make: land. That’s why it’s seeking out folks in the

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community who want to be part of the housing solution who have available, buildable land at fair or less than market rates, in addition to monetary contributions and volunteers for job sites or Habitat’s ReStore.

When asked about the common “NIMBY’’ (Not In My Back Yard) reaction to the siting of a Habitat home in a neighborhood, Newell points out the facts on the ground. “Look at what we’ve done,” says

Newell. “We completed one neighborhood about three years ago, and it’s actually increased values for the rest of the neighborhood. We’re building attractive homes that are extremely energy-efficient.”

A 2009 land donation from Sarah Jane League and her late husband, Gary Smith, led to Walton Woods, a neighborhood of eight homes. “My family had a little over six acres,” League said, “and when I retired back here my husband and I thought about what we should do with it. I didn’t see a need to keep all of the land.

“We came up with the idea that we would donate the land off our property to Habitat and they came up with the idea of having a community, which became Walton Woods,” League said. “This is the first time they had enough land to come up with a community. As you know, affordable housing in this part of the country is difficult at best, so we wanted to be able to give back to the community in that sense and offer a way for the community to have housing and give them an opportunity to own a home.

Habitat has such a wonderful mission in doing that.

“It’s a wonderful little community… it fulfilled all the promise that I hoped it would.”

Habitat client Elan Richards moved into her home 10 months ago and says the experience has been life changing. She says her mortgage payment is $300 a month less than what she’d been paying for an aged single-wide trailer. She earned too much for other assistance programs. She says she now has breathing

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Sarah Jane League and her late husband, Gary Smith, donated land in 2009 that eventually became Walton Woods, a neighborhood of eight homes. Donated photo

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“Several homes on our stretch are Habitat. We helped build each other’s homes. We know each other and look out for each other. I’ve never had that before, it’s really amazing.”

— Elan Richards, Habitat client

Haywood Habitat for Humanity is seeking landowners to support affordable housing initiatives in Haywood County. To learn more about Haywood Habitat, its programs, land donation criteria and more, call Ryan Newell at 828.558.2146 or go to haywoodhabitat.org.

Jim Buchanan is a longtime mountain journalist. This article was written in support of Haywood Habitat for Humanity’s Every Holiday Begins with Home campaign.

December 6-12, 2023

room in her budget and “it’s hard to measure what my stress level is but I’d say it’s 100 times less now.

“Just the feeling of being able to have a safe, clean, happy place to come home to is wonderful – my daughter mentions it all the time. We love our house and know our neighbors. Several homes on our stretch are Habitat. We helped build each other’s homes. We know each other and look out for each other. I’ve never had that before, it’s really amazing.”

That echoes Newell’s comments regarding Haywood Habitat for Humanity: “We’re not just building homes; we’re building hope and transforming lives. By providing safe, affordable houses, we empower families to break the cycle of poverty and build a brighter future for themselves and generations to come.”

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Two grants help Haywood students

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BY HANNAH MCLEOD were very concerned about students and the STAFF WRITER lack of mental health support at that time,” aywood County Schools recently said Assistant Superintendent Jill Barker. received two grants from Dogwood “One thing they wanted was a counseling Health Trust. One will benefit students assistant.” at the Haywood Community Learning Elementary principals in the district Center, and another will help fund mental asked for mental health support at their health support services in elementary and schools, and HCS was able to pay for counmiddle grades. seling assistants through ESSR funds — “I know this will be an area that is much COVID relief money. needed and much appreciated,” said “That has proved to be a position that Chairman Chuck Francis of the grant opporthey want to hold on to for dear life,” said tunities.

Barker.

Last year the Haywood Community With COVID relief funds ending over the Learning Center graduated its largest class course of the coming year, the school system ever, with 65 students receiving a high applied for the Dogwood Health Trust grant school diploma. to help cover the cost of those positions for “We’re proud to report that over half of an 18-month period, and hopefully expand those have stable and secure jobs,” said D.J. them into the middle schools.

Kerby, director of HCLC. The counseling assistants meet with stuOf those graduates, 16% are employed in dents on an individual basis prior to or durthe trades industry and 16% are currently ing the school day. attending community college or have already “They check in with them, they eat breakcompleted certifications for CNA or mechan- fast with them, ‘how was your evening? Did ics.

HCLC recently “Our elementary principals have loved it received $175,000 from Dogwood Health so far and they beg, ‘please don’t get rid Trust to support its of this.’ We were lucky to get that grant.” work serving students who weren’t successful — Casey Kruk in a traditional school environment and are in drop-out status. you get your homework done? Why don’t “This grant will help us to provide a safe you sit with me for a little while before you and supportive environment for students, go into school,’” said Barker. “If they’re havhelp to individualize student plans and help ing a rough day or just need someone to talk to provide wraparound and transitional to, they can go pull them out of class.” services for post-secondary success,” said In addition to one-on-one meetings, the Kerby. counselors teach classes to groups of stuKerby plans to use the grant money to dents. Administration compared the posiincorporate professional development for tion to the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. staff in social emotional learning and work“The schools have loved it, just ask your ing with children of trauma. It will also go elementary principals,” Barker said. toward incorporating social emotional learnAdministration is hopeful that the proing and soft skills building for students, gram will benefit middle schools in the same updating technology for academic programs, manner. increasing student transportation opportu“[The counselors] can meet with kids nities, enrichment opportunities and stuthat maybe are just having a hard time that dent physical and mental health services. morning, maybe having a hard time repeatAdditionally, the grant will be able to cover edly, they can touch base with them when some costs for workforce certifications from they get to school, they can have a regular Haywood Community College such as CNA, meeting with them,” said Canton Middle forestry, mechanics and other construction School Principal Casey Kruk. “It may be just certifications. something academically, socially and emo“We are excited for this new endeavor tionally, could be anything going on in their and the possibilities that it can bring, but I life where they just need an extra point of want to express my sincere appreciation to contact, and this is something that can be a the board,” Kerby said during the Nov. 20 regular person in their lives and support meeting. “Our efforts to broaden these those students. So, we think this will be an opportunities for these students would not amazing thing to have in our schools.” be possible without your support and the The school system is still waiting on belief you have in the power of our program, guidance for exactly how the money can be so thank you.” used to build out the program.

The second grant from Dogwood Health “This will be a wonderful addition to our Trust is in the amount of $375,000 and will schools,” said Kruk. “Our elementary princigo toward funding counseling student pals have loved it so far and they beg, ‘please liaisons in middle and elementary grades. don’t get rid of this.’ We were lucky to get “After COVID, our elementary schools that grant.”

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WCU program helps intellectually disabled students achieve their dreams

Program Director Kelly Kelley (left) celebrates with a University Participant Program student following the spring 2016 commencement. WCU photo

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER s he entered his sophomore year at Andrews High School in Cherokee County, David Maennle started to notice his classmates talking about college. He was intrigued. One day, he came home with a sheaf of papers explaining various higher education opportunities, gathered from a college fair held at the school.

“I’m going to college, too,” he told his mom, Becky Garland.

Garland didn’t know what to say. Maennle, who was born with Down Syndrome, didn’t fit the normative definition of “college material.” Every year, Garland said, she’d fought to keep her son in the classroom with other students, but it was a constant struggle. By 2010, when he graduated with his occupational course of study certificate, Garland was “pretty wore out.”

“We had all pushed the envelope through school, but I didn’t really know how [college] was going to work,” Garland said. “I just thought, ‘Well, he’ll think about it and the next bright shiny object will come along, and I won’t have to worry about it.’”

But even after he graduated, Maennle kept talking about college.

Eventually, Garland started researching and found that her alma mater, Western Carolina University, now had a program specifically for people with intellectual disabilities. In May, the University Participant Program became the first of its kind in the nation to receive national accreditation. Maennle took a gap year, and then he enrolled.

“He did fabulous,” Garland said.

ties nationwide. But that was soon to change with the federal Higher Education Opportunities Act of 2008, which created grants to fund such programs and allows students to access federal financial aid. Now there are 328 postsecondary education programs in the U.S. for students with intellectual disability, including 13 in North Carolina.

But not all programs are created equal. Together with Appalachian State University and University of North Carolina Greensboro, WCU is one of only three programs in the state that includes residential living.

The UP Program prioritizes inclusion — it’s set up so that participants can audit classes, go to campus events and otherwise partake in any parts of university life they may wish too, just like their nondisabled peers.

“The first thing I say is, ‘What are we doing for all students on the college campus?’ Then that’s what we do for these students as much as we can,” said Kelley. “We provide a service — we’re not a place, really.”

That said, UP students need different accommodations and work toward different goals than students in the general population. The application includes a video submission as well as copies of an individualized education plan and most recent psychological examination. The university doesn’t consider test scores or academic level when sifting through applications but focuses instead on social communication skills.

“When they’re really motivated, reading is not the issue,” Kelley said.

“I have very successful students who have limited reading skills, but they have been employed in their jobs for 10 years since they’ve left us.”

Maennle was certainly motivated, Garland said. As they worked on the application together, he articulated a clear vision of what he wanted his future to look like.

“He said, ‘I want a log cabin, I want a job with an ambulance, and he said I want a red pickup truck and a hound dog,’” Garland said. They placed corresponding images on a vision board for him to take to college.

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December 6-12, 2023

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BIRTH OF THE PROGRAM The University Participant Program was born in 2007 during a master’s-level class at WCU when Kelly Kelley, professor and UP program director, was still a student.

“We were all talking about there were no services for people after high school really, and all of their friends were going off to college, and they were just kind of sitting there … I raised my hand and I said, ‘Well, why are we not doing anything at Western about this?’” Kelley recalled.

Shortly thereafter, Kelley and her professor, David Westling, cofounded the UP Program.

At the time, it was an unusual endeavor, with WCU’s program one of only a handful of college programs for people with intellectual disabili-

A LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCE Once enrolled, UP students spend the next two years working toward their goals. To graduate, they must complete 1,800 hours of learning activities and meet 80% of the goals in their individual plan. These goals span five areas: vocational preparation, accomplished through 10 hours per week of off-campus work experience; community participation, which includes skills like using public transporta-

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The two-year UP Program at Western Carolina University is open to adults who are 18-25 years old at the time of admission and have a documented intellectual disability with an IQ of about 70 or lower.

The application deadline for fall 2024 is Dec. 15, and program representatives will be at Open House events on Feb. 24 and March 23, 2024. Federal financial aid is available. The total cost of attendance for the 2024-2025 school year is $12,282 per semester for in-state students.

Learn more at bit.ly/universityparticipant.

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only 18% of people with intellectual disabilities tion and leaving tips; social participation through attending campus events; and personal are employed in a competitive work environment, according to a 2013 study. A 2014 study development, which includes student-led goals that may range from eating healthier to reading published in the journal Behavior Analysis in Practice found that only 24% of subjects with better. These goals come from monthly studisabilities lived in a home or apartment withdent-led meetings with UP staff. out a family member.

Spring 2017 graduate Cody Thompson, 27, But of the 46 students who have graduated said that, like any college student, he was nervous about being on his own and sad about leav- from the UP program since its inception, 90% are employed, and 55% have their own place. ing his family in Rutherfordton when he came “He’s being quite independent — way more to live in Cullowhee — but excited to start tryindependent than what any doctor told us he’d ing new things and working toward his goals. ever be,” Garland said of Maennle. “So, you There were challenges. Thompson found it know, I call it a win.” difficult to make a schedule and manage his time well, and some classes were especially hard. He had to figure out the right time to ask his teachers questions and learn how to use technology to help him take notes.

But overall, Thompson was enthusiastic about his college experience, especially the social aspects.

“I enjoyed going to sporting events and campus activities,” he said. “I looked forward to weekend events with the UP students and supports. It helped me learn about my community.”

Students have limited engagement with UP staff — they prefer to be with their peers, Kelley said.

The program relies on a force of 200 volunteers and student supports to help UP participants navigate the details of their day. That relationship is transformative for both parties, Kelley said. She’s Since graduating in 2017, Cody Thompson has seen people change their attitudes maintained a job and his own apartment in Cullowhee. and even their majors as a result.

Photo courtesy Cody Thompson “In their reflections that they talk about this experience, [the student supports] are getting more out of it sometimes I think then they feel ATION S FIRST ACCREDITED like the student’s getting from them,” Kelley The program has had a profound impact said. “So it’s a very mutual learning experion the students it’s served, but that’s a relaence.” tively small number. The UP Program serves For UP students, it’s a life-changing one.

Thompson credits his time at WCU with allow- only 12 students at a time — a number ing him to build the life he has now — a studio designed to ensure it can provide a quality experience to each student, and to keep the apartment in Cullowhee, a car and a landscaprate of intellectual disability within WCU’s ing job with B.H. Graning, where he’s worked student body consistent with the 0.1% rate for more than six years. in the general population.

“I think the UP program helped make this “Our goal is to not inundate and flood possible to live on my own and finding my our campus here with a bunch of people career path,” he said. “I have learned how to be with intellectual disabilities,” Kelley said. independent and how to budget my money to “It’s to create and provide opportunities at save for bigger things. I think I have learned various colleges so that they can have more better communication and working with peochoice in where they want to go.” ple around me better. I enjoy being a role To that end, Kelley has helped other unimodel to others showing if they set their mind versities shape their own version of the UP to achieving their goals, they can make it happrogram — and agreed to let WCU be the pen with hard work, saving money and staying pilot for national accreditation from the focused.”

These aren’t typical outcomes. Nationwide, S EE FUTURE, PAGE 19

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Inclusive Higher Education Accreditation The University Participant Program relies Council. IHEAC set the standards for accredon a hodge-podge of funding sources to itation in 2021 after about a decade of develserve its students, including charitable opment, a process in which Kelley and her donations. To make a tax-deductible donateam were actively involved. Standards focus tion, visit wcu.edu/engage/give-toon things like inclusion, student services, wcu/about-us/index.aspx. Learn more about support to help students file a complaint or David’s Vision at facebook.com/davidsvinavigate a complaint filed against them and sionproverbs29.18. program sustainability.

Once the standards were complete, help him stay on task at work and home, IHEAC had to choose a program to test out and Garland is always on call should he need the process. her. But from an economic perspective, the “Part of it was selecting a program. And taxpayer cost is far less than would be then the other part was recruiting it,” said required for any kind of group home situaMartha Mock, executive director of IHEAC. tion, and he’s living a far better life than the “It’s a lot of work for them, but they wanted one the doctors predicted when first deliverto do it.” ing the diagnosis.

The process involved significant paperMost importantly, Garland said, “He’s work, interviews with 140 stakeholders, happy. He’s content. He’s in his own place. including faculty, staff, students and former students, and a site visit from In 2020, class of 2013 graduate David Maennle realized his the IHEAC board. But there dream of owning his own log cabin. Becky Garland photo was a “clear commitment” from all levels of university leadership to see it through, Mock said. The site visit took place in March, and WCU offered valuable feedback on the process, which IHEAC will incorporate for subsequent accreditations.

Accreditation is important for prospective students and their families, Mock said, confirming that, “both before, during and after, the students get what they expect to get from being enrolled in a college program and that parents and family members have the assurance that a program has been through a really thorough review, and it is going to provide their family member with what’s necessary to be successful.”

December 6-12, 2023

HOME SWEET HOME He’s living the life he envisioned for himself.”

She credits the UP program with making that possible. Maennle’s time at WCU saw his confidence and social skills shoot “through the roof.” He made friends with nondisabled peers and learned life skills like navigating public transportation, cooking meals and caring for a home. Garland learned new skills, too — how to set expectations, and how to transition from mothering an intellectually disabled child to supporting an intellectually disabled adult.

“In short, he learned how to be a responsible adult, and that’s the goal that I had all along,” she said. “Every year when I’d have to fight my way for him to have an opportunity to be in his inclusive classrooms, I always had to lay that out with the teachers, that I want a happy, healthy and well-adjusted person when he becomes 21. And now I have a happy healthy, well-adjusted person that’s 34.”

To Request Hospice Care, Call 866.466.9734 or Request Online at FourSeasonsCare.org

Smoky Mountain News

After graduating in May 2013, Maennle got to work making his vision board a reality. He soon landed a job as an EMS bay custodian with Graham County, a job he still holds 10 years later, achieving his dream of working with an ambulance. Several times a year, he gets to go on ridealongs. And after five years of exploring independent living in an apartment — first near his mom in Andrews, and then near his job in Robbinsville — in 2020 Maennle moved into his log cabin, built new on family land with money he’d made on his own.

“I don’t think that he or I either one can quite believe that what has been his dream for over a decade has finally come to pass,” Garland wrote in an April 2021 post to the Facebook page for David’s Vision, the nonprofit they started to raise money for the log cabin and help other intellectually disabled people access safe, debt-free housing.

Maennle still needs help. Six days a week paid supports, covered through Medicaid,

• PALLIATIVE CARE • HOSPICE CARE • GRIEF SERVICES 19

20

Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

A lesson from First Lady Rosalyn Carter was hurtling down Interstate 75 between Macon and Valdosta, Georgia, last week in the early morning, cotton fields tabling out on both sides of the road and the horizon a creamsicle orange with cloudy swirls so beautiful it kept pulling my eyes from the road. I was headed to Tampa for an extended weekend visit with close family, excited to spend a few days with my in-laws, nieces, nephews and their significant others and celebrate the coming arrival of a new member to the family.

Taking a break from listening to music, I do what I often do when driving solo on road trips — spin slowly through the radio dial, listening for a few minutes when something comes in to get a taste of the local FM and AM stations and what they are offering.

I found a heavy dose of Christian programing in this rural part of south Georgia, as one might expect, along with several stations airing John Boy and Billy, the southern-fried radio personalities who have been a staple in this part of the world for a few decades now. Some of their stuff is laugh-out-loud funny, other parts just too crude and too right-wing for my liking.

And then I came across two local radio DJs interviewing a

I

Important freedoms are under siege To the Editor: We now live in a free country. We cherished the freedom to worship as we choose; the freedom to pick our leaders, and the right to a free press; the freedom to teach our children as we choose; and the freedom to make choices about our bodies and who we love. But today not everyone believes in these basic freedoms.

The right to vote is under attack especially in North Carolina. By gerrymandering our district lines and passing laws to limit voting, politicians in Raleigh are now able to choose their voters, all in the name of preventing voter fraud. A problem that statically does not exist. Your right to have your vote count now depends on what party you belong to and where you live. This attack on our right to vote is an attack to all our freedoms and the Constitution itself.

The founding fathers regarded a free press essential to the democratic republic they created. Today some candidates promise if elected to use the power of the government to silence any media that dares to criticize

close friend of Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter. At some point on this drive I’d be less than 50 miles from Plains, Georgia, and Rosalyn’s death and funeral just a couple days earlier was big news around the world but was, I’m sure, particularly poignant for those in this area. The Carters took their love for Georgia everywhere they went, always returning home to their little postage stamp of earth no matter where their community service work took them.

The message that came through about Rosalyn and Jimmy was loud and clear in story after story — dedication to family, the importance of hard work, community service, and doing what one can to make the world Editor a better place for those less fortunate.

And doing it without calling attention to oneself — it’s about the work, not the people doing the work.

Carter’s presidency was from 1976-80, my last two years of high school and first two years of college. The press persecuted him for his inexperience and lack of savvy, but he and Rosalyn remained steadfast to their values and never sold out for political expediency. History will judge his presidency, but the Carters’ ethics and character have always been above reproach. Hard to say that about most politicians these days.

Scott McLeod

“Climb the mountain so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.”

— David McCullough Jr.

There’s no mysterious lesson to be learned from what the Carters symbolize. They were part of that generation we are losing, people who could never wash the bitter taste of the Depression from their mouths, those for whom putting their head down and working their tails off was simply what one did. Successive generations have known how to work, but we have also become a culture that’s much more comfortable in celebrating “me.”

Author and journalist Tom Wolfe described this transformation in his famous 1976 article in New York magazine, “The ‘Me’ Decade and the Third Great Awakening.” Basically, Wolfe argued that the post-World War II generation became more narcissistic and worried about their own self-actualization. There’s no doubt his conjecture in 1976 proved prescient, and I would argue that this infatuation with trying to “find oneself ” has only gotten more prevalent as we move toward the middle of the 21st century. I’m not sure what that means for the future, but, as they say, it is what it is.

The quote I used at the beginning of this column came from my wife when I was telling her and her sister, Betsy, about the radio interview I had heard and we were discussing the Carters. Do a bit of research on McCullough and yes, it is indeed relevant to the ideals the Carters embodied: love your family, do good work, do it for the right reasons, and that’s a good life. Godspeed Mrs. Carter, and thanks for the reminder.

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

LETTERS their rule. These are the same candidates who call the press “The enemy of the people.” The silencing of critical journalism is a fundamental element of every totalitarian state.

As parents we believe that we should have the right to have a say in what our children learn. But now some parents believe they have the right to determine what is best for all children. As a result public libraries and public school systems are under attack if they don’t adhere to their religious or political views.

The rise of these thought police should scare us all, not just parents.

In the recent U.S. Supreme Court case that eliminated a woman’s right to make a personal decision about her body, one majority justice also questioned the right to use contraceptives and the right of citizens to marry who they choose. It now seems that our freedom to make very personal decisions in our doctor’s office and our bedrooms may be at risk. This kind of thinking is fundamental to certain religious beliefs. It now appears that if you don’t hold those beliefs the state may come after you. So do we truly have the freedom to worship as we choose, or as in ancient

Roman, times must we pay homage to the gods chosen by the state?

Louis Vitale Franklin

Air the laundry. The Smoky Mountain News encourages readers to express their opinions through letters to the editor or guest columns. All viewpoints are welcome.

Send to Scott McLeod at info@smokymountainnews.com or mail to PO Box 629, Waynesville, NC, 28786

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A&E

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Joe Russo is an iconic drummer, most notably with the Benevento/Russo Duo, Furthur, American Babies and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead. Michael DiDonna photo

What does it mean to be A conversation with Joe Russo

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD ARTS & E NTERTAINMENT E DITOR hen drummer Joe Russo takes a moment to reflect on his decades-long friendship and collaboration with guitarist Tom Hamilton, he can’t help but be in awe of their cosmic connection.

“It’s like we’re brothers, you know?” Russo said. “We’ve had a bond, ever since we met, on some kind of cellular level. There’s a deep thread of friendship and love there — he’s a phenomenal musician [who’s] constantly trying to reinvent himself.”

For Russo, his continued musical journey has become one of legend. What started over 20 years ago alongside keyboard wizard Marco Benevento in the indie-jazz project Benevento/Russo Duo, soon parlayed itself into creative endeavors with American Babies, an Americana/rock act fronted by Hamilton. “[Where] Marco and I share a telepathy, Tommy and I also have a different version of that,” Russo said. “There’s so much information that can be shared by a simple look or [speeding up tempo] — it’s all just so unspoken.”

Since 2013, Russo, Benevento and Hamilton have come together as Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (JRAD). Whereas the core of the group is the unknown depths of the Grateful Dead’s song catalog, the orbiting principals remain sonic exploration and improvisation.

W

“[We’re all] running to same punchline when somebody says something [musically],” Russo said. “JRAD is built on this — this [ongoing] silent conversation and trust [playing together].”

To note, American Babies will be returning to the stage for a special performance during the Warren Haynes’ “Christmas Jam,” which will be taking place Saturday, Dec. 9, at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville.

Although Russo hails from the more avant-garde jazz and indie realms, the last 15 years or so have found him wandering down the rabbit hole of the Grateful Dead — something as unexpected as it is creatively bountiful and ever-evolving.

Initially, Russo was tapped by the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir and Phil Lesh to anchor a new Dead offshoot, Furthur, in 2009.

That incarnation lasted until 2014. So, with a deep knowledge of Dead material in his back pocket, Russo, by happenstance, needed to fill a last-minute Brooklyn gig and formed JRAD in 2013.

“The five of us [in JRAD] in this position are literally that last guys that should be, on paper, [doing this],” Russo chuckled. “But, I think that’s why it works, because we’re not trying to replicate anything and we’re not trying to do the thing the way [the Grateful Dead] did it — we come from such wildly different musical places, which allows [us] to have a slightly different version of a song.”

Amid the continued success of JRAD, it also provides Russo and his bandmates with artistic freedom to duck down other

Jam by Day Before the doors open for “Christmas Jam” on Saturday, Dec. 9, pre-show festivities will be held throughout the “Jam by Day” at venues around downtown Asheville.

Kicking off at noon, there will be a wide-array of live music from local, regional and national acts at the Asheville Music Hall, One Stop and Jack of the Wood.

Artists at the AMH and OS will include Sneezy, Red Clay Revival, Andrew Scotchie, Paper Crowns, Mike Barnes & Friends, The Snozberries, Empire Strikes Brass and more.

At JOTW, the “Songwriters in the Round” will feature Ashley Heath, Leigh Glass, Kevin Fuller, Christina Chandler, Ray Sisk, Morgan Greer, Aaron “Woody” Wood, Kevin Smith and more.

For more information and a full schedule, go to facebook.com/xmasjam. musical avenues. Russo juggles a handful of projects throughout the year, with Benevento and Hamilton following suit.

Same goes for JRAD guitarist Scott Metzger and bassist Dave Dreiwitz.

“We have a hard line of 40 shows a year with [JRAD], so that keeps it reasonable for us, keeps it fresh and fun every time we get onstage,” Russo said. “And then, it leaves us so much time in our calendars to work on other projects and spent time with our families — it’s a great cross-section that we found ourselves in.”

And, what was supposed to be a one-off show has now, a decade later, evolved into one of the most sought-after and cherished touring acts on the festival circuit today — a joyous, melodic space inhabited by die-hard Dead Heads and the curious alike.

“One of the greatest joys from getting the Furthur gig back is now being able to look at this thing that I get to share with my friends,” Russo noted about the growth of JRAD. “[Back then], Tommy was living on my couch, where it was [putting money together] to decide if we wanted food or cigarettes that day, to being able to now share this thing together — it always comes back to gratitude.”

That camaraderie between the members of JRAD is something not lost on Russo or the rest of the quintet. If anything, the sacred, ancient act of live performance only hones in on the eternal bonds between those five members onstage and inthe-moment.

“All five of us go back so long, to the infantile stages of our careers and us as essentially kids in New York City being 20 years old, where Marco and I go back to middle school,” Russo said. “And that’s the thing that makes this so special and different. It’s truly a bunch of friends who just found themselves in this very strange, fortunate and awesome place together — it’s an absolute gift.”

Want to go?

A beloved holiday tradition, the annual “Christmas Jam” presented by Warren Haynes will be held on Saturday, Dec. 9, at the ExploreAsheville.com Arena in the Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville.

Featured artists will be Gov’t Mule, Slash & Myles Kennedy, Billy F. Gibbons, Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening, Clutch, American Babies and Karina Rykman, with special guests George Porter Jr., John Medeski, Bill Evans and more.

For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to xmasjam.com.

HOT PICKS

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

‘Walkin’ in the starlight place in my mind, walkin’ on moonlight in the day’

H

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The 40th annual “Lights & Luminaries” will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. Dec. 8-9 in the streets of downtown Dillsboro.

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A special holiday production of “My Favorite Christmas” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8-9, 14-16 and 2 p.m. Dec. 10 and 17 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

Offers Slow, Gentle Interpretive Wildflower Walks for Groups & Individuals, Ecological and Horticultural Consultations, Plant Surveys, Invasive Plant Removal, and a Variety of Lectures & Workshops!

Dailey & Vincent will hit the stage with a special Christmas performance at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 9, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

4 5

Lake Wales in located in Polk County, Florida.

Garret K. Woodward photo

Run against the U.S. 27 traffic as six lanes of vehicular chaos rockets by your slowlymoving position, the hot air swirling around you from countless tractor-trailers. The shoulder of the highway covered in tiny broken pieces of other cars, tire shreds and roadkill.

You find yourself wondering where everyone is going and why in such a hurry?

Friday and Saturday afternoons are spent cruising over to the festival grounds on Lake Shore Boulevard. Under centuries-old mossy oak trees, thousands of music freaks congregate to immerse themselves in the sounds of The Wood Brothers, JJ Grey & Mofro, Brent Cobb, Kaitlin Butts, Mike & The Moonpies and more.

By Sunday, it’s packing up the travel luggage and start mapping out the route back to Haywood County and greater Western North Carolina. It’s 12:39 p.m. and 82 degrees currently in Lake Wales. Waynesville states it’s 59 degrees, with snow showers on Wednesday (high of 39, low of 26).

Might as well delay the inevitability of an impending winter by finding an inexpensive hotel in Tybee Island this evening — one more day of warm sun for the road, eh?

Crosshairs on St. Augustine for another late lunch, maybe hit the beach. Throw the truck in four-wheel-drive and coast along the sands.

Dip your toes in the cool waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

Until next time, Lake Wales. Another year in the books. See you down the road Rabbit and those kind faces behind the counter at Chili’s. For now, it’s the windows rolled down and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers greatest hits on the stereo. Soak it in. Onward.

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

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Smoky Mountain News

even remembers you and is pleased to meet your girlfriend. Small talk ensues, but it’s sincere and genuine. You overhear conversations down the line of the counter about the local basketball team, this year’s citrus crops and what Florida State University’s prospects are for the upcoming College Football Playoff.

During the mornings here in Lake Wales, it’s trying to get down to Holiday Inn Express dining room in time for breakfast. It ends at 10 a.m. on weekends. Rush to the elevator and squeeze in line at 9:51 a.m. to get the biscuits and gravy, oatmeal, apple juice and coffee before the locks are put on the kitchen area. Don’t forget the banana.

It’s late morning. Try and find a place to go for a run, more so a jog in the hot late fall sunshine of this region of the country. There’s not much to trot along within a short drive.

Most of the time, it’s some unkempt trail off some sketchy backroad or a greenway that’s seen better days in a town that seen better years. Other times, I’ll just default to jogging along the bustling U.S. 27 highway corridor.

Meadowlark Motel (Maggie Valley) will host Heidi Holton (blues/folk) 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8.

December 6-12, 2023

ello from Room 202 at the Holiday Inn Express on the outskirts of the small town of Lake Wales, Florida. It’s late Sunday morning. Sarah and I will have to check out soon and steadily make our way back to Haywood County in the coming hours.

This past weekend was the annual Orange Blossom Revue music festival. And this was my third year being the stage emcee. Jump onstage, grab the microphone and rile up the anxious audience in anticipation for one of their favorite bands to appear, this music soon to be played that resides at the core of their absolute being, Heading down to Polk County, Florida, it was the usual trek of Interstate 40 East to I-26 East to I-95 South to I-4 West. A whirlwind journey of about 10 or 11 hours, give or take the incessant traffic of Orlando and nearby Disney World. But, not before a late lunch in St. Augustine, a city long-held in my heart for its architectural charm and vibrant nature.

Leaving the humble abode in downtown Waynesville, the temperature was in the high 20s, with rumblings in town about snowflakes witnessed first-hand on the mountain ridges surrounding Maggie Valley. A few hours into the drive south, the air reached the high 50s, the truck windows slightly cracked, where 50s seems balmy and dearly missed already in our autumn hearts.

Rolling into Lake Wales on Thursday evening, the evening temperature was still around 70 when we checked into the hotel and then immediately swung over to the GSpot, a beloved dive bar where bikers and Dead Heads comingle. Ceilings covered in crumbled dollar bills and dusty brassieres.

Cold suds and hearty laughter. Newcomers always welcomed, so long as you play nice and tip your bartender. My kind of place, truth-be-told.

It’s funny how this random community smack dab in the middle of rural farm and swamp country in Central Florida can become a place familiar and cherished.

Situated between Orlando and Tampa, there isn’t much ‘round here, save for citrus fields and long stretches of hot pavement in any direction heading elsewhere.

But, in the last three years, Lake Wales has grown on me. Of course, there’s Rabbit,

the owner/bartender at the G-Spot. A little gruff on the edges. But, don’t let that fool you. Kindness breeds kindness, a smile quickly emerging on his face when you waltz in and say you “heard the coldest beer in town was here.”

Then, there’s the kind staff at the neighborhood Chili’s. It’s seemingly the only actual restaurant within vicinity of the Holiday Inn Expres. In all actuality, I only go to Chili’s three times a year, all of which when I’m in Lake Wales for the first weekend in December pilgrimage.

Wander in and grab a seat at the counter.

It’s the same bartender from last year. She

A stage version of “The Nutcracker” featuring professional classical dances and the Ballet Conservatory of Asheville's celebrated pre-professional company will be held at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8 and 3 p.m. Dec. 9 at the Bardo Arts Center on the campus of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.

arts & entertainment

This must be the place

Adam Bigelow

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December 6-12, 2023

arts & entertainment

On the beat

Appalachian Smoke rolls into Stecoah Americana/bluegrass act Appalachian Smoke will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, at the Stecoah Valley Center in Robbinsville.

Appalachian Smoke is a contemporary bluegrass band grounded in the corners of North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. Its independent release, “Colder Side of Love,” received three reviews in Bluegrass Today, acknowledging their talented songwriting, melodic arrangements and smooth vocal harmonies.

According to Bluegrass Today, Appalachian Smoke brings an “edgy, modern sound” to bluegrass music and “if they stick to this formula, we will be hearing

• 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.

• Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host music bingo 7 p.m. Mondays, karaoke at 8:30 p.m. Wednesdays, trivia at 7 p.m. and semiregular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.246.0350 or boojumbrewing.com.

Smoky Mountain News

• Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host “Music Bingo” 7 p.m. Thursdays and Scott Clark (singer-songwriter) Dec. 9. All shows begin at 7 p.m. Free and open to the public.

828.634.0078 or curraheebrew.com.

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

• First United Methodist Church (Franklin) will host Mountain Voices Community Chorus 7 p.m. Dec. 8. For details about upcoming handbell workshops or concerts, contact director Linda Sterrett at lkmsterrett@gmail.com.

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host its weekly “Tuesday Jazz Series” at 5:30 p.m. and semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public.

828.454.5664 or froglevelbrewing.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 24

Appalachian Smoke will play Stecoah Dec. 16.

File photo

about Appalachian Smoke for a long time.”

Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students/children. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, call 828.479.3364 or go to stecoahvalleycenter.com.

Street. littletennessee.org or 828.369.8488.

• Happ’s Place (Glenville) will host Rock Holler Dec. 8 and Blue Jazz Band Dec. 15. 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 Lindsey Stirling 8 p.m. Dec. 9 and Cirque Musica Holiday Wonderland 9:30 p.m.

Dec. 15. For a full schedule of events and/or to buy tickets, caesars.com/harrahs-cherokee.

ALSO:

• Highlander Mountain House (Highlands) will host a Sunday Bluegrass Residency noon to 2:30 p.m. and Futurebirds (rock/indie) 8:30 p.m. Dec. 16 (admission $50). For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to highlandermountainhouse.com.

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host “Trivia Night w/Kirk” from 7-9 p.m. every Monday and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows 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

Bluegrass legends return to Franklin An award-winning bluegrass band with gospel, folk and country music influences, Dailey & Vincent will hit the stage with a special Christmas performance at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

Grand Ole Opry Members, five-time Grammy Award winners (individually), three-time Grammy Award nominees (collectively,) four-time Dove Award winners and winners of 35 IBMA Awards altogether (including three-time “Entertainer of the Year” and three-time “Vocal Group of the Year”), Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent are “the best of country, bluegrass and gospel this side of heaven” as stated by USA Today.

Tickets start at $20 per person with priority seating available.

For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to smokymountainarts.com or Dailey & Vincent will play Franklin Dec. 9. call 866.273.4615.

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.

• Meadowlark Motel (Maggie Valley) will host Trivia Thursdays 6:30 p.m., Heidi Holton (blues/folk) Dec. 8, Len Graham (singersongwriter) Dec. 9, A. Lee Edwards (indie/folk) Dec. 15 and Martin Vee (singersongwriter) Dec. 16. 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.

• 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.

• 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 Ethan Johnson (singer-songwriter) Dec. 10 and “What The Cat Dragged In” (drag show) Dec. 17. All shows begin at 3 p.m. Free and open to the public. 828.631.3075 or facebook.com/thewinebarandcellar.

• The Scotsman (Waynesville) will host a “Celtic Jam” 2-5 p.m., Funk Apocalypse Dec. 8, Bobby G Dec. 14 and Smashing Mouths (rock/alternative) Dec. 15. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.246.6292 or scotsmanpublic.com.

• Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts (Franklin) will host The Collingsworth Family Christmas 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7 and Dailey & Vincent (Americana/bluegrass) Dec. 9. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to smokymountainarts.com or 866.273.4615.

• Stecoah Valley Center (Robbinsville) will host Appalachian Smoke (Americana/bluegrass) Dec. 16. 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 (Highlands) will host “Bluegrass Wednesday” at 6:30 p.m. each week. 828.526.8364 or theuglydogpub.com.

• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Biscuits & Gravy Dec. 7, Zak Saltz Band Dec. 8, Tricia Ann Band (country/rock) Dec 9, Karaoke w/Lori Dec. 14, Mile High Band (classic rock) Dec. 15 and Blackwater Station Dec. 16. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.538.2488.

• 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.

On the wall

‘Autumn Path’ is a painting by Linda Gilchrist. File photo

The Haywood County Arts Council’s (HCAC) “Small Works” exhibit will run through Dec. 31 at the HCAC Gallery & Gifts showroom in downtown Waynesville.

The annual exhibit that expands the types of work for sale in the downtown Waynesville gallery, as well as who can display their work. Other than specially curated exhibits, which occur a couple times annually, this exhibit is the only one that allows any artist within the western mountain region to participate for a small fee.

With dozens of artists participating, the exhibit promises to be eclectic.

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

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

‘Spark of the Eagle Dancer’ extended

• A holiday open studio will be held on Saturday, Dec. 16, at Hazelwood Pottery in Waynesville. Joe Frank Mckee will be demonstrating horsehair and alcohol raku firing with his portable kiln. Neal Howard will bring her hand dyed and woven silks. There will also be a wheelthrowing demonstration. The afternoon will end with a “Community Christmas Carol” sing-along. Free and open to the public.

ALSO:

• 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 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 way-

• Haywood County Arts Council (Waynesville) will offer a widerange 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.

• 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/scc-locations/swain-center.

Smoky Mountain News

• 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.

nesvillephotoclub@charter.net or follow them on Facebook: Waynesville Photography Club.

December 6-12, 2023

Band of Cherokee Indians, Cherokee Nation and Western Carolina University is delighted to sovereign nations of the Southwest. announce its recent exhibition “Spark of the Eagle This exhibition brings together a selection of Dancer: The Collecting Legacy of Lambert Wilson” baskets, pottery, carving, painting, photography, will now be extended through June 28 in the Fine and more that tell the story of the relationships Art Museum at WCU in Cullowhee.

It is the museum’s hope that with the exhibition Wilson built and the impact that he made by dedicating himself to this remarkable collection. remaining open, it will give people in and around “Spark of the Eagle Dancer” gives visitors a Western North Carolina and beyond the opportunity to experience one of the Fine Art Museum’s most glimpse into this vast collection built over 47 years and features work by 83 artists of various tribal visited exhibitions and allow people to be inspired affiliations.

by Wilson’s collection.

To learn more about the exhibition and recepIn conjunction with the exhibition extension, the tion, please go to arts.wcu.edu/spark. The Fine Art museum will also host a new program series titled Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday Spark Talks that invites the WNC community to through Friday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday. learn from exhibiting artists about their artwork, process, and the relationships they formed with Lambert Wilson. Dates will be announced shortly regarding this programming.

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 ‘Beetle’ is a wood carving by John Julius Wilnoty. File photo on artists of the Eastern

A reception for the exhibit will be held from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1, at Gallery & Gifts.

• Friday, Dec. 8: A creation class called “Cardinal in the Snow.” Joan Doyle will be leading a two-hour watercolor painting class from 5-7 p.m. at the HCAC gallery.

Doyle, known for her vibrant and expressive watercolor paintings, will guide students through the process of creating their own masterpiece. All materials will be provided.

This class is open to all skill levels, from beginners to experienced painters.

Registration for the class is now open and can be done through HCAC’s website.

• Saturday, Dec. 9: “Smoky Mountain Christmas Evening” from 5-8 p.m. The HCAC gallery will have a kids Creation Station and puppet demonstration by Richard Tichich. Enjoy live music and refreshments. Spend $25 or more at Haywood Handmade and get a free gift.

For more information, go to haywoodarts.org.

arts & entertainment

HCAC ‘Small Works’ exhibit

• 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.

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arts & entertainment

On the street ‘Lights & Luminaries’ returns to Dillsboro Dec. 8-9., JCTDA photo

ALSO:

The 40th annual “Lights & Luminaries” will be held from 5-9 p.m. Dec. 8-9 in the streets of downtown Dillsboro.

Experience the magic as the entire town is transformed into a winter wonderland of lights, candles, laughter, and song. Over 2,500 luminaries light your way to shops and studios.

Each night, shops will stay open way into the night providing free refreshments, musicians and singers performing in individual shops.

The sound of hooves will echo through the night with old-fashioned horse and buggy rides.

With retail shops offering a variety of quality arts and crafts, unique gifts, clothing, gourmet foods and wine, and specialty Christmas items,

the festival also provides a unique holiday shopping experience.

Shopkeepers and restaurants are open late. See Santa and Mrs. Claus as they ride through town in their pickup truck. Write a letter to Santa and drop it off at his special mailbox. Live music will also be held on Front Street.

In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the festival is excited to introduce live musical performances to enhance the festive atmosphere. Grammy-nominated and bluegrass legend Darren Nicholson is set to perform Dec. 9, while the White Triplets will serenade festivalgoers on all four nights.

For more information, call 828.586.1439 or go to dillsboronc.info.

Smoky Mountain News

December 6-12, 2023

Dillsboro’s ‘Lights & Luminaries’

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• “Jingle Bell Jam” will be held at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15, at the Waynesville Recreation Center. They’ll be taking polaroid family photos that you can then use to decorate a Christmas family ornament with.

There will also be a cookie decorating station, grinch punch and a station for the kids to write a letter to Santa and put it in the mailbox to the North Pole. Registration ends at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 13, at the Waynesville Recreation Center. Cost is $15 per family, $7 per individual. For more information, call 828.456.2030 or email hjones@waynesvillenc.gov.

452.5534 • 2566 Asheville Rd • Waynesville

• “Holiday Market” will be held from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, at the Macon County Community Building in Franklin.

For more information, call 828.634.1163.

• “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.

On the stage

Custom Christmas Card & Calendar Special

WCU presents ‘The Nutcracker’

(Bring in 1 or 2 of your favoritee photos or artwork)

5 0 c a r d s $ 7 9. 9 5 100 cards $99.95 Calendar Special $14.95 5 - $14 95 ea

arts & entertainment

5 1/2“ x 4 1/4” folded • Color C both sides Comes with blank enveloopes

(12 or 13 of your favorite photos)

SSiince 1982

641 North Main St. • Waynesville, NC

509 Asheville Hwy., Suite B • Sylva, NC

828.456.HAUS (4287)

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(3/10 Mile North of the CCoourthouse)

(Loccaatteed iin the NAPA PA Auto to PPaarts Cent Ce teer)

‘The Nutcracker’ will be at WCU Dec. 8-9. Donated photo

• “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.

• “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

ALSO:

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

On the table

December 6-12, 2023

A magically festive, full-length stage version of “The Nutcracker” featuring professional classical dances and the Ballet Conservatory of Asheville’s celebrated pre-professional company will be held at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8 and 3 p.m. Dec. 9 at the Bardo Arts Center on the campus of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.

Ballet Conservatory of Asheville (BCA) trains dancers to achieve their full potential by combining weekly technique classes, frequent master classes, and multiple performance opportunities.

Having crept downstairs at midnight on Christmas Eve to play with her new Nutcracker doll, a young girl is swept up in fantasies of toy soldiers, giant rats, snow fairies, magic, and mystery. After saving her beloved Nutcracker from the King of Rats, she is whisked away to an enchanted land and dances the night away, meeting a host of enchanting and exotic characters.

The BAC Box Office is open Tuesday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and one-hour before performances.

Visit arts.wcu.edu/tickets to learn more about the event and purchase tickets. Tickets are $5 for WCU Students, $20 for WCU Faculty/Staff, $25 for adults, $15 for Students/Children (Non-WCU) and $20 for Senior Citizens.

To see BAC’s full calendar of events, please visit arts.wcu.edu/explore or call 828.227.ARTS.

27

HART presents ‘My Favorite Christmas’ A special holiday production of “My Favorite Christmas” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8-9, 14-16 and 2 p.m. Dec. 10 and 17 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

This holiday season, HART invites you to unwrap the magic of “My Favorite Christmas,” an exquisite production featuring some of the region’s most exceptional talent.

Artistic Director Candice Dickinson has curated a spellbinding evening of stories, beloved holiday tunes and enchanting dance to captivate audiences of all ages.

“It’s been such a pleasure to collaborate with this cast,” Dickinson said. “I think when you get a cast full of people who love Christmas and encourage them to recreate their favorite past memories, you are bound to get a magical experience.”

The magic extends beyond the stage with HART’s annual “Holiday Market” in the lobby providing you with deals on vintage clothing, costumes, accessories, and so much more. As you step into the theatre, you’ll be transported to a world of enchantment with a magical miniature Christmas village, creating a festive atmosphere that will linger in your memories.

At intermission, you’re invited to an up-close look as you step right onto the stage to purchase a photo with Santa, Mrs Claus and the Elves, along with hot chocolate and other holiday treats.

Tickets start at $17.50 per person with different options available. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, call the box office at 828.456.6322 or go to harttheatre.org.

‘My Favorite Christmas’ will be at HART on select dates. Donated photo

Smoky Mountain News

December 6-12, 2023

arts & entertainment

On the stage

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• “Christmas On Ice” will be performed at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14, Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

Tickets start at $20 per person with priority seating available. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to smokymountainarts.com or 866.273.4615.

ALSO:

On the shelf

Thomas Crowe

T

natural world.”

Her relationship with a female deer is something of a through-line throughout the book, and that relationship becomes a spiritual conversation and teaching for Loorz going forward and her understanding of the inter-relationship of all living things in the natural world. Or, as she writes about halfway through the book regarding her friend the female deer: “We love all by authentically loving the one or the few who are near us; those who give themselves to us to whom we open our hearts and love back. To regard a wild one as a sacred other, one who has her own wisdom and relationship and concerns beyond our encounters with her — this entering into conversation as a practice of love, which is participation in the presence of the sacred, of Christ.”

In this engaging book, Loorz also talks specifically about cultural and political events such as the Standing Rock Sioux Occupation in 2016 and the effects of Rome and it’s patriarchal politics on the modern Christian Church, and the science of Global Warming. There is so much in this book to savor and reflect upon that there is no way I can do it justice in the brief space I have at my disposal, here. In the Resources section that are the last 30 pages of the book, Loorz shares with us the essentials of her Church of the Wild — the history of; the practice of; the religious service of — which includes the aspects of gathering, land acknowledgment, sacred readings, sermons, communion, benediction (blessing and prayer). An actual firstperson guide to sharing an eco-spiritual worship experience in the woods, in the wild.

So. In the end, what should I say and what should we take from “Church of the Wild?” I think, which is often the case, that this is best left to the author to answer and, so, we’ll leave my “benediction” to this review with Victoria Loorz and these closing words: “The whole creation is waiting for the awakening of wild human souls to restore the broken relationship, in all the magnificently diverse ways. We are all in this together. What is your role in this love story of reconnection, restoration, and compassion with the Earth? What part of the sacred wild is calling you to be ordained into service on her behalf?”

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

Looking for the perfect children’s book?

Teachers, parents, grandparents and all those interested in picture books for children can join Lester Laminack’s presentation on some recent titles he recommends at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.

Laminack is Professor Emeritus from the Department of Birth-Kindergarten, Elementary, and Middle Grades Education at Western Carolina University.

He is now a full-time writer and consultant working with schools throughout the United States.

City Lights will have the suggestions plus copies of his work available for purchase. For more information, call 828.586.9499.

We are now offerinng more availabilityy.

C ll or bbookk online Call l blueridgemassage-wnc.com

Smoky Mountain News

Wild and now calls Bellingham, Washington, her home; along the Salish Sea on territory tended and loved for generations by the Coast Salish peoples, in particular the Nooksack and Lummi nations.

In “Church of the Wild,” Loorz draws on her own experiences in nature and from the writings of other celebrated eco-authors such as Thomas Berry, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Richard Rohr, Bill Plotkin, John O’Donohue, Hildegard of Bingen, Brother David Steindl-Rast, Meister Eckhart, Wendell Berry, Martin Luther King, and others to create a graph of consciousness that maps our past and our way into a healthy and sustainable future on planet Earth. In a book written with clarity and frankness, which is a blending of research, church, and nature, she cites the fact of there being 300 references to the word “wilderness” in the Bible and even mentions, early on, some of the mis-translations of words and metaphors from the various versions of the Bible since the time of the Romans. These include “Word,” (as in “In the beginning was the Word”) which she states should be read as “Conversation.”

What she experiences in her forays into the wild is much the same as my own experience of living off-the-grid in Polk County along the Green River during the 1980s and which I wrote about in my book “Zoro’s Field: My Life in the Appalachian Woods.”

Referencing Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness, Loorz writes: “The wilderness is the place to go when you are standing at the threshold, like Jesus was, of a calling that asks you to risk everything and embody all you are created to be. A calling of humans that calls them to remember that they belong to a greater story. We are expanding our experience of prayer, and we are learning how and why Jesus went into the mountains to do it. There is an unmediated presence of God that can only be experienced outside the human constructs of civilization when we enter into reverent relationship with the

December 6-12, 2023

he Covid pandemic has produced many new books with many of them addressing the current situation in which we humans find ourselves and the pressing issues that we need to address. The latest in this series of pandemic-inspired books I’ve been lead to and read is “Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred” by Victoria Loorz (Broadleaf Books, 2021, 228 pages).

I had been looking forward to reading this book, and once I started reading it I couldn’t put it down.

In much the same way as other books I’ve reviewed in these pages such as “Spiritual Ecology” and “Sacred Instructions,” Writer “Church of the Wild” is, also, “holy writ.”

A book that begins as something of a memoir of Victoria Loorz’s early life and her various transitions and emergence as a seminary student and eventual pastor of indoor Christian churches and programs for 20 years primarily in the western half of the U.S., she eventually was “called” to nature and the realization that her faith was teaching a message of solitary confinement and exclusionism with the rest of the natural world.

At this point, she launched the first Church of the Wild, in Ojai, California, and began to meet others with the same sense of a call to leave buildings and expand the Beloved Community beyond our own species. She then co-founded the ecumenical Wild Church Network.

She is also an eco-spiritual director and cofounder of several transformation-focused organizations focusing on the integration of nature and spirituality to create opportunities for people to re-member themselves back into intimate, sacred relationship with the rest of the living world. She is also cofounder and director of Seminary of the

arts & entertainment

A church in communion with all creatures

828.246.9155 977 N Main St Waynesville NC 28786

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Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

Casting for Canton

Chums and Astral, to name a few, and they’re available for purchase online as well as in person at the store.

With “probably 1,000 miles of wadable trout water within 30 minutes of here,” Mcelvy sees Canton as a perfect place to set up shop.

That said, as he started out in life Mcelvy never envisioned himself making a living from fly fishing. He knew he loved it, but he also loved music. A guitarist, vocalist and songwriter with the Asheville-based band Red Clay Revival, Mcelvy spent years on the road traveling with his band. The experience gave him a chance to fish the country’s most spectacular trout waters — whenever he could get away, he’d take the opportunity to cast his line.

Mcelvy stocks his store with his favorite brands to use on the water. Holly Kays photo

Doug Mcelvy owns Mountain Fly Outfitters, which first opened Nov. 18 in Canton.

Holly Kays photo

Papertown gets its first fly shop

BY HOLLY KAYS OUTDOORS E DITOR oug Mcelvy was only 3 or 4 the first time he picked up a fishing rod, but it sparked a love for the water that’s stayed with him throughout his life — at 36, that passion inspired him to open Canton’s only fly fishing shop, Mountain Fly Outfitters.

The store held its soft opening Nov. 18 after Mcelvy and his girlfriend, Ally Sundal, worked since May to get the space, formerly a bakery, renovated for its new life as a fly shop. Mcelvy envisions Mountain Fly Outfitters as more than just a store, however. He wants it to also serve as a hub for the local fly fishing community, offering a welcoming and laid-back envi-

D

Check out the grand opening Mountain Fly Outfitters will celebrate its grand opening 2-6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 7, with food and music just ahead of the Canton Smoky Mountain Christmas Parade, which starts at 6 p.m.

The afternoon will include free hot chocolate and hot barbeque

ronment for anglers of all backgrounds to connect, learn and share their passion for the sport.

“One of my most favorite things about fishing is teaching other people how to do it and watching them be successful at it,” he said.

He hopes the shop will help him introduce the sport to even more people than he’s been able to since he started running a guide service out of his home in 2016. In addition to providing a central spot for guides and clients to meet up, the shop on the east end of downtown sells all manner of gear — everything from hand-tied flies, rods and reels to waders, nets and hats.

“I’m carrying mostly brands that I use when I’m fishing and the outdoor gear that I think is good gear,” he said.

Brands include Free Fly, Howler Brothers, Kuhl, Suncloud, plates, a bouncy house, live music from members of Empire Strikes Brass and Red Clay Revival and an opportunity to donate to Canton’s All Abilities Playground project — plus a chance to check out the shop.

Find Mountain Fly Outfitters at 18 Church Street in Canton or online at mountainflyoutfitters.com.

“We would go all over the country, and my intention was to play music and fish as much as I could,” he said.

That’s a mission he accomplished, but now he’s setting down roots in Western North Carolina. Originally from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Mcelvy moved to Sylva in 2008 and began working as a fly fishing guide for Hunter Banks, opening his own guide service in 2016. Now he resides in Leicester and continues to play with Red Clay Revival.

He’s fished all over, but Mcelvy said he’s found the best of all worlds in Western North Carolina.

“We have everything that all the rivers out west offer,” he said.

From big water like the Tuckasegee and the tailwaters of the Pigeon River to the pristine headwater streams up in the mountains, it’s all there — and, unlike in the western United States, characterized by grand scale and vast distances, Southern Appalachian trout waters tend to be much more accessible.

“You can get out in the outdoors and still be home for dinner the same night,” Mcelvy said.

Increasingly, communities in WNC are cashing in on that reality. Ten years ago, there was only one fly shop in all of Haywood County. Now, there are three. Tuckasegee Fly Shop opened in Waynesville in 2021, Maggie Valley Fly Shop in Maggie Valley earlier this year and now Mountain Fly Outfitters in Canton.

According to newly released data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2022 the value-added impact of the outdoor recreation economy was responsible for 2% of North Carolina’s gross domestic product and 2.9% of its employment, representing more than 146,000 jobs. WNC is a critical piece of that puzzle. The Made X Mtns Partnership, which launched in 2021, aims to make the region into the outdoor industry hub for the entire eastern U.S. and hosts the annual Outdoor Economy Conference, the nation’s leading outdoor recreation-focused economic development confer-

F

outdoors

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As a real estate professional with an unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction, I am the right choice for you when it comes to buying, selling, or investing in property in Western North Carolina.

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Marty Williams and his son Benny show off their catch during a fishing trip on the Tuckasegee River. Mountain Fly Outfitters photo

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Holly Kays photo

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Smoky Mountain News

ence. Even before Canton’s paper mill shut down earlier this year, town leaders had been making moves to get in on the action. With the mill gone, success in that sector will be even more important.

“Canton is kind of making a turn toward outdoor recreation,” Mcelvy said, referencing the new Chestnut Mountain Nature Park just outside of town.

The 450-acre park, which opened in 2022, now boasts more than 17 miles of hiking and biking trails. That success, combined with the March 2023 announcement that Canton’s 115-year-old paper mill would close for good, has left many hopeful that the town could reinvent itself as an outdoor destination. Mcelvy said those developments aren’t the reason why he decided to open in Canton — he’d already been in the process of launching his fly shop as they transpired — but that it’s proven an exciting time to be part of Canton’s outdoor recreation community.

“I really love this area, I love Canton, and there’s not a fly shop here,” he said. “I just saw where I could fit in.”

In particular, he’s excited about the positive prognosis for the Pigeon River since the mill’s closure. When the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission sampled fish populations downstream from the mill in July, they found double the diversity and 15 times the number of fish compared to a previous sampling in May, while the mill was still making paper.

“I hope that water can be really used,” he said. “That’s a big stretch of water down through there.”

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Crown & Bridges • Invisalign® Or thodon ntics • TMJ Doug Mcelvy (left) and Mountain Fly guide Ryan Burns hold up a fresh-caught trout on the Pigeon River. Mountain Fly Outfitters photo

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outdoors

Drought disaster funding available for farmers Family farms across the region are eligible for emergency loan assistance from the Farm Service Agency due to damage or losses from drought occurring this fall.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack declared a natural disaster in the state of Tennessee on Nov. 6 and in North Carolina on Nov. 20.

Swain, Cherokee and Graham counties are eligible for assistance as contiguous counties to the Tennessee drought for losses occurring Oct. 31. Meanwhile, 17 N.C. counties are eligible for drought losses occurring Nov. 14. Primary disaster counties are Jackson, Macon, Swain, Transylvania, Henderson, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Cleveland, Gaston, Polk and Rutherford counties.

Contiguous counties that are also eligible for assistance are Haywood, Buncombe, Burke, McDowell, Mecklenburg and Lincoln counties.

The deadline to apply for assistance related to the Tennessee drought is July 8, 2024, and the deadline to apply under the N.C. drought is July 22, 2024. For more information, contact the local FSA office.

Endangered snail reintroduced to the wild After 20 years of living only in captivity, the federally endangered magnificent ramshorn has been returned to the wild.

On Nov. 18, the N.C. Wildlife Resources

Magnificent ramshorn. NCWRC photo

Smoky Mountain News

December 6-12, 2023

Christmas bird count

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File photo

Smokies burn ban lifted The Great Smoky Mountains National Park has lifted a burn ban that’s been in effect for weeks amid drought conditions and an active wildfire season.

The ban was lifted Nov. 29. The park had previously banned backcountry campfires Nov. 6 and frontcountry campfires Nov. 16. Although precipitation, cooler temperatures and shorter days allow for campfires to resume, fire danger is still

high across the park and the area is experiencing drought.

Campfires are allowed only in designated areas. Visitors should keep campfires small, attend them while burning and fully extinguish so the embers are cool to the touch before leaving.

Burn bans have also been lifted in 30 western counties and the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests, but a backcountry campfire ban remains in effect for the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Arboretum leader to lead landscape architecture association Drake Fowler, deputy executive director at The North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville, has been named president of the N.C. Chapter of the American Association of Landscape Architect. He will serve a one-year term leading the organization.

Fowler joined the Arboretum during 2015 as chief operations officer and chief financial officer and assumed his current post in 2019. He has been instrumental in the recent $2 million renovation and expansion of parking; overseeing the design and implementation of the $1.2 Willow Pond project that is a stormwater management, education and conservation initiative that protects the rare mole salamander; and programming of future improvements at the Arboretum’s Parkway entrance.

Drake Fowler. N.C. Arboretum photo

Birders across the globe are gearing up to celebrate the season with the 124th annual Christmas Bird Count, and the Smokies region is no exception.

Each Christmas Bird Count circle is 15 miles in diameter, and participants are tasked with finding as many bird species in that area as possible during the single-day count. All counts are held between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5. Data gleaned from the yearly count goes into what is now a massive citizen science database.

Counts in Western North Carolina and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are: • Friday, Dec. 15, in Highlands. Led by the Highlands Plateau Audubon Society, this count will convene at 7:30 a.m. at Kelly Hutchinson Park. Groups will disburse and search for birds until about 1 p.m. RSVP to Brock Hutchins at 404.295.0663.

Outdoor businesses selected for mentorship program Mountain BizWorks has named eight outdoor businesses that have been selected for the fifth cohort of its annual Waypoint Accelerator Program, which offers targeted support and resources for promising earlystage outdoor businesses.

Selected participants include whitewater kayaking paddle maker ARCA Works LLC; Blue Ridge Elder Adventures, which provides nature-based adventures for older people; Boone-area fly fishing guide service High Country Guide Service and Chosen River Outfitters LLC; Marion-based headwear company Lucky Crow Hat Company; mountain bike instructor MTB Skills Factory; public speaker, author and extreme athlete Peter Ripmaster; whitewater stand up paddling board company Riverskate; and Boonebased backpacking guide service Silva & Soma.

Commission reintroduced 2,000 of these aquatic snails into a pond on NCWRC Game Lands in Brunswick County. This large freshwater snail is endemic to the lower Cape Fear River Basin.

The reintroduction was part of the Programmatic Safe Harbor Agreement and a Candidate Conservation Agreement the NCWRC and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service signed in November 2022, 50-year agreements that allow NCWRC to reintroduce species listed or proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act into targeted historical locations.

The agreement applied to 21 aquatic species, including several native to the mountain region. The magnificent ramshorn snail was the first to be released under this agreement, followed by the Roanoke logperch in the upper Mayo River.

For more information, including a full list of species, visit ncwildlife.org/conserving/species/restoringaquatic-species-to-north-carolina.

• Tuesday, Dec. 19, in Hot Springs. To participate, contact Mark Hopey at markhopey@gmail.com.

• Sunday, Dec. 31, in Balsam. The count generally runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. To participate, contact Howard Browers at hbrowers1@gmail.com or 828.283.3442.

• Friday, Jan. 5, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Gatlinburg. Count hours are open all day long, though most people just come out for daylight hours. RSVP to Keith Watson at piedbird@comcast.net.

Most routes contain a mix of driving and walking. No expertise in bird identification is needed, as counts are conducted in groups led by experienced birders.

More information, including an interactive map showing circles in locations ranging from Argentina to Alaska, is available at audubon.org/conservation/join-christmas-birdcount.

Since 2019, the Waypoint Accelerator Program has helped nearly 40 participating companies grow and diversify their revenues, expand their teams, accomplish game-changing projects and realize big dreams. The companies that comprise Waypoint’s 5th Cohort were selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants.

“The quality and momentum of this 5th cohort of early-stage outdoor companies indicates that WNC remains the Outdoor Industry Capital of the East, and a prime place to start and grow an outdoor business,” says Outdoor Business Alliance of WNC Executive Director and Waypoint Accelerator Facilitator Matt Godfrey. “A strong culture of collaboration, mentorship and partnership will help these entrepreneurs thrive and forge their best path to healthy growth.”

The Waypoint Accelerator program is powered by a collaboration that includes the MADE X MTNS Partnership, NC SBTDC and Outdoor Business Alliance of WNC. Learn more at waypointaccelerator.com.

Western North Carolina is well represented in the more than $15 million recently awarded to protect working farms and forests, support county farmland preservation efforts and promote agricultural enterprises.

More than $12.8 million of the grants from the N.C. Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund went toward securing 46 agricultural easements on 5,000 acres of land across the state, permanently protecting these family farms from development as North Carolina Forever Farms. Of this amount, $4.2 million went toward conservation easements in Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Cherokee, Henderson and Buncombe counties.

Conservation easement awards in Western North Carolina include: • Haywood Soil and Water Conservation District received four grants

Farmland preservation grants available

lands used for agricultural production; to support public-private enterprise programs that promote profitable and sustainable agricultural, horticultural and forestland activities; and to develop agricultural plans.

Landowners interested in preserving their farms through conservation easements must work with county governments or land trusts to apply for grant funds. If awarded a grant in which the application requests funds for the conservation easement purchase value, landowners will be compensated for the purchase of the development rights.

Grant applications, rules and information packets are available online at ncadfp.org/cycle17.htm. Call 919.707.3074.

The Great Smoky Mountains region is home to more than 2,000 species of fungi.

Mainspring Conservation Trust photo

Explore with Mainspring Mainspring Conservation Trust is offering a full calendar of outdoor and educational opportunities this month.

• A casual one-mile stroll 4-5:30 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 7, will explore the trails behind the Macon County Library in Franklin. Part of the Sense of Place walk series, this event focuses on exploring one aspect of nature and includes a moment to learn about the evening’s theme.

• Walk the accessible trail at Queen Branch Preserve in Franklin 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Dec. 9, with the Out in WNC LGBTQIA+ Outing Club, which meets the second Saturday of every other month.

• Help control invasive plants 1-4 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 9, during a workday on the Jackson County Greenway in Cullowhee,

held in partnership with MountainTrue.

• Get your questions about fungi answered during a talk offered 6-7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 12, at the Macon County Public Library. The talk will cover how mushrooms grow so quickly, why food gets moldy, what fungi eat and why some mushrooms grow only on certain trees.

• A volunteer workday will be held 9 a.m. to noon Thursday, Dec. 14, with the location and duties yet to be determined.

• Enjoy a casual evening connecting with other environmentally minded people 5:30-7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 19, at Innovation Station in Dillsboro. This Green Drinks in Sylva event is held every other month, a relaxed mixer with no formal schedule.

Learn more or sign up for any of the above events at mainspringconserves.org/events.

December 6-12, 2023

County governments and conservation nonprofits have until Dec. 18 to apply for farmland preservation grants from the N.C. Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund.

This grant funding includes a new funding opportunity called Local Agricultural Growth Zones, which aim to enhance local investments in agricultural conservation easements by applying for matching funds from the state.

Qualifying entities may request up to $2 million per Local AGZs application.

Grants are also available for agricultural conservation easements on working

totaling $748,197.54 to protect 196 acres of working land on four farms.

• Macon Soil and Water Conservation District received $236,970.97 to preserve 17 acres of farmland.

• Mainspring Conservation Trust received four grants totaling $835,362.50 to protect 196 acres of working land on four farms in Cherokee and Jackson counties.

• Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy received $492,050.50 to protect 489 acres of farmland in Haywood County.

• Southwestern N.C. Resource Conservation and Development Council received $120,812 to preserve 16 acres of working land in Haywood County.

• Buncombe Soil and Water Conservation District received three grants totaling $984,766.90 to preserve 246 acres of working land on three farms.

• Conserving Carolina received two grants totaling $759,245.00 to preserve 232 acres of working land on two farms in Henderson County.

outdoors

Grants awarded to protect N.C. farmland

Witness Christmas, mountain style

An old-time jam session will be held at Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee.

NPS photo

Service rangers and volunteers. The event will include Appalachian music by Wild Blue Yonder, a display of Christmas trees through the decades, caroling and hands-on kids’ crafts.

Rangers will lead a “Memories Walk” at 2 p.m. on Fighting Creek Nature Trail, featuring volunteers sharing Christmas stories.

The events are free to attend thanks to support from Friends of the Smokies and the Great Smoky Mountains Association.

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Smoky Mountain News

Experience the spirit of the season with “Christmas Across the Mountains,” a pair of events 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. During this time, Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee will host its annual Holiday Homecoming while the Sugarlands Visitor Center near Gatlinburg will host the Festival of Christmas Past, Present and Future.

Holiday Homecoming will offer a celebration of winter holiday traditions from many people who call Southern Appalachia home. Rangers and volunteers will display Appalachian Christmas traditions and winter preparation at the Mountain Farm Museum, including hearth cooking, blacksmithing and broom making.

Visitors are invited to join an old-time jam session with dulcimers, fiddles and banjos 1-3 p.m.

The festival at Sugarlands will showcase the history of arts and crafts in the mountains, with participation from Gatlinburg’s Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts as well as National Park

71 North Main St. Waynesville 33

outdoors

Notes from a Plant Nerd

BY ADAM B IGELOW

Like a podium reeping along the forest floor is a group of native plants that look like mosses, but aren’t mosses. They reproduce using spores just like mosses and ferns do, but they aren’t ferns either. What are they? They are plants in the lycopodium family (Lycopodiaceae) and the clubmoss family (Huperziaceae). They’re their own thing, and they have a direct connection to nightclubs, concerts and discos.

Known by a wonderful variety of common names like running ground-cedar, turkey foot, clubmoss, fan clubmoss, firmoss, ground-pine, princess-pine and many others, plants in these two families share many characteristics, including looking like

C

SPRIN NG INTO N O SUCCES

names. I still like to refer to them as lycopodiums though, as it has an easy builtin mnemonic, which is a type of memory device I use to trick my mind into remembering things. These plants stand up, like a podium.

Lycopodiums and clubmosses do not produce flowers or seeds. Rather, they reproduce by spores, which are tiny, dustmite-like particles containing a single cell that can grow into a fully mature plant. The spores are born on a structure called a strobilus (plural form is strobili) that sticks up from the top of the plant, allowing for wider dispersion of spores. When they are producing spores, known as sporulating, disturbing the strobili releases a yellow cloud of dust that drifts into the air.

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

Running ground-cedar (Diphasiastrum digitatum) and ground-pine (Dendrolycopodium sp.) cover the forest floor. Adam Bigelow photo both moss and saplings of baby pine, fir or cedar trees, which lends them their common names. Surprisingly, I’ve never seen them called “wolf ’s foot,” though that is what lycopodium means when you consider the root words. “Lyco-“ means “wolf ” and “podium” means “foot.”

When I first noticed shining clubmoss (Huperzia lucidula) I thought it was a clump of baby pine trees, so I took some home to transplant and pot up. Needless to say, they all died. It turns out that they don’t transplant well. You either have them growing in your landscape, or you don’t. And that is unfortunate, because if we could get them to grow well in a nursery setting, they would make a great groundcover.

All of these low-growing plants used to be in the same genus and family, Lycopodium and Lycopodiaceae respectively, but recently scientists learned new information about them and split them out into two families and more than three genus

But what does all this have to do with discos, you ask? Well, long ago people discovered that the spores from lycopodiums are flammable. Were you to hold up a lit match and pluck the spore-laden strobilus, any spores that went through the flame would flicker and spark. Magicians quickly adopted these spores as flash powder for their prestidigitation. And in the early days of photography, large amounts of lycopodium spores were piled on top of a metal plate, held up and lit to produce a flash of light. Because the spores are produced on strobili, that flash of light became known as a strobe light.

And to this day, we still refer to those flashing lights in nightclubs and discos as strobe lights. My question is, are the clubs still called discos?

(Adam Bigelow lives in Cullowhee. He leads weekly wildflower walks most Fridays and offers consultations and private group tours through Bigelow’s Botanical Excursions. bigelownc@gmail.com.)

WNC Calendar COMMUNITY EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS • The 3rd annual Mountain Community Career and Resource Expo will take place 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec. 6, at the Harrah’s Cherokee Resort and Event Center. The event is open to the public for residents of Haywood, Jackson, Swain, Macon, Graham, Cherokee, Clay and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. There will be career fair resources, education, live demonstrations and door prizes. For more information contact Gerard Ball at 828.558.6175.

• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will have a live nativity event 6-8 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17, in Weaverville, at 91 Monticello Rd. The event is free. For more information contact Dee Bolin at 828.206.0421.

• Waynesville Parks and Recreation will host “Jingle Bell Jam” Friday, Dec. 15, at the Waynesville Rec Center. Attendees can take polaroid family photos to decorate a Christmas family ornament, there will also be cookie decorating, grinch punch, and a station for kids to write letters to Santa. For more information call 828.456.2030 or email hjones@waynesvillenc.gov.

• Santa’s Mailbox will be stationed at Cherokee Indian Hospital 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday, Dec. 1-18.

Drop a letter to Santa in his special mailbox and receive a personalized response back.

HEALTH AND WELLNESS • An Awareness Through Movement class is offered at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 13, at the Folkmoot Friendship Center, 112 Virginia Ave, in Waynesville. This class focuses on movement through the arms, hands, legs and feet. Bring a mat and wear comfortable layered clothing. Walk-ins welcome. 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Sylva Writers Group meets Wednesday mornings at City Lights Books. If interested contact sylvawriters@gmail.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

Smoky Mountain News

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

KIDS AND FAMILIES • 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.

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

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

• 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

• 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.

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 • The first annual holiday open studio will take place Saturday, Dec. 16, at Hazelwood Pottery in Waynesville.

Joe Frank Mckee will be demonstrating horsehair and alcohol raku firing with his portable kiln, Neal Howard will bring her hand dyed and woven silks and Laure Faye Dean will be demoing wheel throwing. The afternoon will end with a Community Christmas Carol sing along. For more information contact Dean at 828.226.4170.

Outdoors

• 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.

• A turkey shoot will be held 9 a.m. Saturdays at the American Legion in Waynesville, continuing weekly through mid-April 2024. Breakfast food will be available for sale, with cash prizes offered. The event is weather-dependent. The American Legion is located on 171 Legion Drive in Waynesville.

• Mountain Makers Craft Market will be held from noon to 4 p.m. the first Sunday of each month at 308 North

• Celebrate the Pigeon River Watershed during Haywood Waterways Association’s annual membership meeting

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Visit www.smokymountainnews.com and click on Calendar for: n Complete listings of local music scene n Regional festivals n Art gallery events and openings n Complete listings of recreational offerings at health and fitness centers n Civic and social club gatherings and holiday dinner 6-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 6, at the Lambuth Inn at Lake Junaluska. Dinner is $30 per person, with payment accepted at the door or online at haywoodwaterways.org. RSVPs required by Tuesday, Nov. 28, to 828.476.4667, ext. 1, or christine@haywoodwaterways.org. To donate an auction item, contact mackenzie@haywoodwaterways.org.

• Hike from the Nantahala Outdoors Center in Swain County to Lover’s Leap Wednesday, Dec. 6, with the Haywood County Recreation and Parks. The group will meet at 9 a.m. for the 4.9-mile hike. Registration is $10, sign up at haywoodcountync.gov/recreation.

• Mainspring Conservation Trust will host a one-mile stroll 4-5:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 7, to explore the trails behind Macon County Library in Franklin. Learn more or sign up at mainspring conserves.org/events.

• Old Saint Nick will visit Chimney Rock State Park in Rutherford County Saturday, Dec. 9, for the 26th year running to practice his chimney-climbing game on the iconic rock as Christmas festivities abound. The event is free with park admission.

• Walk the accessible trail at Queen Branch Preserve in Franklin 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Dec. 9, with the Out in WNC LGBTQIA+ Outing Club, which meets the second Saturday of every other month. Learn more or sign up at mainspring conserves.org/events.

• Mainspring Conservation Trust will host an invasive plant workday 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9, on the Jackson County Greenway in Cullowhee. Learn more or sign up at mainspringconserves.org/events.

• Mainspring Conservation Trust will host a talk of fungi 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12, at the Macon County Public Library. The talk will cover how mushrooms grow so quickly, why food gets moldy, what fungi eat and why some mushrooms grow only on certain trees. Learn more or sign up at mainspringconserves.org/events.

• Mainspring Conservation Trust will hold a volunteer workday 9 a.m. to noon Thursday, Dec. 14. Learn more or sign up at mainspringconserves.org/events.

• The Merry Market with Santa will take place 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays, Dec. 9 and 16, giving guests a chance to shop for treasures made by local artisans.

Santa will make an appearance at both events. Learn more or register for breakfast at noc.com/events.

• Hike Daniel Ridge Loop at 9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 9, with the Haywood County Recreation and Parks. The group will meet at Jukebox Junction in Bethel for the 4.5-mile trail. Hike registration is $10, sign up at haywoodcountync.gov/recreation.

• Help remove invasive plants on the Jackson County Greenway 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9. Volunteers will pull up roots and use hand tools to remove invasive shrubs like Chinese privet and treat stumps to restore native habitat. For more information, or to register, visit mountaintrue.org/event.

• Hike the Deep Creek Loop at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 13, with the Haywood County Recreation and Parks. The group will meet at Best Buy in Waynesville for the 4.9mile trail. Hike registration is $10, sign up at haywoodcountync.gov/recreation.

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Visit www.wncmarketplace.com to place your ad!

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

NOTICE OF ADMINISTRATION Case No.2023E 000631 Joey Robison, having TXDOL¿HG DV WKH $GPLQLVWUD WRU RI WKH (VWDWH RI William Roy Robison RI +D\ZRRG &RXQW\ 1RUWK &DUROLQD WKLV LV WR QRWLI\ DOO SHUVRQV KDYLQJ FODLPV DJDLQVW WKH (VWDWH WR SUHVHQW WKHP WR WKH XQGHUVLJQHG RQ RU EHIRUH Mar 06 2024 RU WKLV QRWLFH ZLOO EH SOHDGHG LQ EDU RI WKHLU UHFRYHU\ $OO SHUVRQV LQGHEWHG WR VDLG (VWDWH SOHDVH PDNH LPPHGLDWH SD\PHQW Administrator 95 Nevada Avenue Asheville, NC 28806 NOTICE OF ADMINISTRATION Case No.23-E-731 &OD\WRQ $DURQ 6FUXJJV KDYLQJ TXDOL¿HG DV WKH $GPLQLVWUD WRU RI WKH (VWDWH RI Jill Suzanne Scruggs RI +D\ZRRG &RXQW\ 1RUWK &DUROLQD

WKLV LV WR QRWLI\ DOO SHUVRQV KDYLQJ FODLPV DJDLQVW WKH (VWDWH WR SUHVHQW WKHP WR WKH XQGHUVLJQHG RQ RU EHIRUH Feb 29 2024 RU WKLV QRWLFH ZLOO EH SOHDGHG LQ EDU RI WKHLU UHFRYHU\ $OO SHUVRQV LQGHEWHG WR VDLG (VWDWH SOHDVH PDNH LPPHGLDWH SD\PHQW Administrator 918 Willis Cove Road Canton, NC 28716 NOTICE OF ADMINISTRATION Case No.2023 E 000724 Kaleb Rice, having TXDOL¿HG DV WKH ([HFXWRU RI WKH (VWDWH RI Donald Zade Rice RI +D\ZRRG &RXQW\ 1RUWK &DUROLQD WKLV LV WR QRWLI\ DOO SHUVRQV KDYLQJ FODLPV DJDLQVW WKH (VWDWH WR SUHVHQW WKHP WR WKH XQGHUVLJQHG RQ RU EHIRUH Feb 29 2024 RU WKLV QRWLFH ZLOO EH SOHDGHG LQ EDU RI WKHLU UHFRYHU\ $OO SHUVRQV LQGHEWHG WR VDLG (VWDWH SOHDVH PDNH LPPHGLDWH SD\PHQW Executor 115 Spotted Horse Trail Canton, NC 28716

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See Virtual Tours of listed homes at

MaggieValleyHomeSales.com Market Square, 3457 Soco Rd. • Maggie Valley, NC • 828-926-0400

Land For Sale

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ads@smokyymounttainneew ws.com December 6-12, 2023

WNC MarketPlace

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A TO Z REPEATEDLY ACROSS 1 Dubya or JFK 5 Horse riders 12 Bandleader Lawrence 16 NBA's Erving, familiarly 19 Totally alter 20 Visibly sulky 21 Pack of yaks 22 Coastal inlet 23 Monumental 24 Of very hilly regions 25 Liveliness 27 Betray by snitching 29 Possible answer to "Who is?"

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68 Atty.'s title 69 18-wheeler 71 Div. of a hoops game 73 See 33-Across 80 Mine, in Italy 81 ROY G. -82 Albuquerque-to-Denver dir.

83 Chef's hat 85 Travel by foot 89 Cable inits. for old films 91 Reverend Jackson 93 Tweak 94 Ending for buck 95 "El --" (nickname of a drug lord) 97 Drink heartily 99 Acorn trees 100 "Incredible!"

102 D-Max pickup maker 104 Tips, as a hat 106 Wd. often ending in "ly" 107 Rho-tau link 109 Western treaty inits.

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59 Arouse 62 Linguist Chomsky 64 Mark over a short vowel 68 Pliocene, e.g.

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118 Lauder of cosmetics 119 Cereal utensil 120 Basra citizen 121 Mexico's -- California 122 Huge-screen film format 124 In-favor votes 128 "Stupid me!"

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December 6-12, 2023

WNC MarketPlace

December 6-12, 2023

Smoky Mountain News

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Smoky Mountain News December 6-12, 2023