Smoky Mountain News | December 16, 2020

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December 16-22, 2020 Vol. 22 Iss. 29

With sales tax strong, Jackson mulls budget increase Page 9 Nonprofit aims to bolster search and rescue ops Page 22

CONTENTS

STAFF

On the Cover: Food pantries and meal delivery programs have had to change how they operate during the pandemic while still trying to meet the growing need for fresh foods in rural Western North Carolina. Thanks to grant funding, farms and food sites have partnered to make sure people don’t go hungry. Salvador and Alyssa Moreno of SMM Farm deliver to Haywood Christian Ministries. ASAP photo

News Schools keep kids fed during pandemic ......................................................................6 Sylva endorses county namesake change ..................................................................8 With sales tax strong, Jackson considers budget increase ..................................9 WCU trustees approve fee increases ........................................................................10 Christian conservatives invited to GOP party ..........................................................11 Jennifer Best joins Haywood Commission ................................................................12 Waynesville passes State of Emergency ordinance ..............................................14

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Opinion You only get to do this once ..........................................................................................16 The human component makes the difference ..........................................................17

A&E

WAYNESVILLE | 144 Montgomery, Waynesville, NC 28786 P: 828.452.4251 | F: 828.452.3585 SYLVA | 629 West Main Street, Sylva, NC 28779 P: 828.631.4829 | F: 828.631.0789 INFO & BILLING | P.O. Box 629, Waynesville, NC 28786

Best albums of 2020 ......................................................................................................18 Folks and faith: two books about the South..............................................................21

Outdoors Nonprofit aims to bolster volunteer search and rescue ops ..............................22

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Connecting fresh food to community tables Food insecurity triples in WNC

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR ood insecurity in Western North Carolina has nearly tripled during the COVID-19 pandemic as people struggle to put food on the table.

“While we are deeply concerned that our partners are reporting the highest number of individuals coming to their pantries yet (as of October, over 103,000 people a month, a 77 percent increase over pre-pandemic averages), we also know that we have been able to be there with food for these families only through the support of our incredible, generous community,” MANNA Food Bank stated in a recent newsletter.

Indeed, the network of churches, community organizations and food pantries across the region have partnered, pivoted and come up with new programs to meet the growing need.

The Giving Spoon, a fairly new food nonprofit serving Swain County, has gone from serving one hot meal a week at Bryson City Presbyterian Church to providing two hot meals a week through a pick-up service plus expanding its delivery program.

“We’re seeing three times as many people as we saw before COVID-19,” said Kathleen Burns with The Giving Spoon. “We’ve gone from serving 100 meals one night a week to an average of 300 to 350 meals two nights a week. And the demographic is different, especially when (COVID) first started — we’re seeing families with children or families that … I don’t know how to say it, but these are not families that you’d think would be in our food line.”

It’s no longer those who are unsheltered or the elderly who need a meal once a week — it’s people who are now unemployed or underemployed due to the pandemic or people who’ve had to leave their job to stay at home with their children. It’s younger families who are having a hard time paying all their bills right now.

Pastor Rubi Pimentel of Hendersonville Spanish Church unloads produce from a local farm to feed community members in need. Photo by Colby Rabon “Initially, we saw a 30 percent uptick in demand and then over the summer things slowed down a little bit when some places were opening back up. But now we’ve seen the numbers climb again for the last two months so we’re back at a 30 percent increase and rising,” said Paige Christie, director of The Community Table in Sylva. “We’ve had several hundred families come to us that have never come to us before. The demographics have changed from just the elderly to young working families with children. Some folks need us once and some folks need us every couple of weeks.”

Before the pandemic, The Community Table served two sit-down meals a week and offered food boxes to send home with families from the food pantry. The organization hasn’t been able to hold a sit-down meal since March 24 and is now only doing to-go prepackaged meals on a drive-thru basis four days a week. Food boxes used to be distributed once every two weeks, but during the height of the pandemic, Community Table was distributing them once a week.

Christie said the nonprofit has managed to keep things going thanks to community

donations and a number of grants, specifically grants from the Highlands-Cashiers Health Foundation and ASAP (Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project). The health foundation grant provided funding for Community Table to purchase food packing equipment and the ASAP grant subsidized the cost of buying fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers needing somewhere to move their produce during the pandemic.

“We’re trying to spend our money on food in such a way, in strategic places to keep it in the community and keep our farmers and local grocers working,” she said. “The ASAP grant has worked out great and now we’ve established relationships with farmers markets and other farms so that we’re able to at least help get them through the winter and hopefully into the spring.”

Even before the pandemic, Burns said she knew there had to be more than 100 people a week needing a meal, which is what spurred the idea of expanding the delivery services.

Giving Spoon utilizes volunteers to deliver meals out into the community.

“A lot of people don’t have transportation or gas money to get to us at the church, so now

Smoky Mountain News

December 16-22, 2020

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we go as far as Alarka and as far as Highway 19 on the Jackson County line,” she said.

Giving Spoon has also benefited from the generosity of several grant giving programs during the pandemic, including ASAP. “We’ve loved the ASAP program that’s partnered us with Darnell Farms to get lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. I’m hoping that’s going to be available next year as well,” Burns said.

Even with the COVID-19 vaccine rolling out now to the most vulnerable populations in the U.S., Burns and Christie don’t see the food insecurity problems going away anytime soon.

“Unfortunately, it’s going to get worse.

We’re not going back to eating inside any time soon, so we’ll continue with our efforts for pick-up,” she said. “A lot of people will still be out of work and people will continue to have a number of health concerns. People are suffering more from depression, anxiety and stress, and people are fearful during this uncertain time.”

Christie said she’s thankful WNC communities had time to prepare for the pandemic since cases didn’t begin to show up here until late March. That time gave organizations across the region time to make changes and plans for the future. However, she sees the need for additional food resources continuing far into the next year.

“It definitely doesn’t feel like things are getting better here — several of our counties are now into the red with cases so this thing isn’t going away any time soon,” she said. “Even with the vaccine we’re not looking at everyday people having access to that until maybe the summer. I think we’re in this for the long.”

In the meantime, Christie said organizations like Community Table would continue to evaluate its systems and look for ways to better serve people in need. She said all the food pantries across the region are in constant communication with each other and MANNA to ensure food is going to where it’s needed.

In the last eight months, MANNA has provided food for an average of 103,000 people each month. This is an increase of over 77 percent compared to our pre-pandemic numbers. It has distributed 17.5 million pounds of

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Ingles Nutrition Notes written by Ingles Dietitian Leah McGrath Will drinking Apple Cider Vinegar help me lose weight or help control my diabetes?

QUESTION:

ANSWER: While there are a lot of claims about Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV), the research and studies (proof) to support it are often pretty limited or non-existent. Putting some ACV in water and drinking it may not hurt most people, but it should not be considered a replacement for taking medications prescribed by your your physician, getting regular exercise or activity or eating healthy and balanced meals. Enjoy apple cider vinegar (or other vinegars) as a dressing for your salads or use them when you pickle foods.

Cautions about ACV:

• If you are going to take ACV; put it in water or drink water after taking apple cider vinegar as it can harm the enamel on your teeth.

• If you have reflux, the acid in the apple cider vinegar may make this worse.

• If you have chronic kidney disease, taking apple cider vinegar may be harmful.

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Leah McGrath, RDN, LDN Ingles Market Corporate Dietitian

Smoky Mountain News

food since March, a 35 percent increase of the total pounds of food distributed over the same time period last year.

In the 2019-2020 fiscal year, MCMs distributed over 800,000 pounds of food across Western North Carolina. Since July of this year alone, they have distributed over 450,000 pounds into neighborhoods with a high need for food.

MANNA also launched MANNA Community Market (MCM) last year, which enables the nonprofit to host pop-up markets across WNC. Within the first few months, MCMs had become visible in every county, while solidly establishing itself as a regular routine destination in eight counties.

“One of the greatest successes of the MCM program has been that the distributions have filled the gap where there weren’t any partner agencies,” said Malarie McGalliard, MANNA’s mobile programs coordinator. “A

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• Farms Feeding Families Program (WNC) — www.asapconnections.org/ support-local-food-movement/donate/ • The Community Table (Sylva) — www.communitytable.org • The Giving Spoon (Bryson City) — Mail checks to P.O. Box 1783, Bryson City, NC 28713. www.givingspoon.org.

• Haywood Christian Ministries (Canton) — www.haywoodministry.org • The Community Kitchen (Canton) — http://thecommunitykitchen.strikingly.com

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Don Carringer with Carringer Farms in Franklin is just one farm that is supplying local food pantries with fresh fruits and vegetables thanks to funding from ASAP. Donated photo

lot of people who were not able to find food assistance, can now rely upon MCMs to be there for them and their families.”

One problem MANNA has had during the pandemic is distributing fresh food quickly enough, which is why the ASAP program has been so helpful in more rural communities.

Sara Hart, communications coordinator for ASAP, said the program’s mission is to help local farms thrive, link farmers to markets and supporters and build healthy communities through connections to local food.

That mission has been even more critical as farmers try to navigate the pandemic. March and April were a scary time for farmers — planting was already underway and the restaurants they rely on to buy their produce were having to shut down.

“Going into 2020, a lot of ASAP’s work was is in experiential education in the classrooms, and that wasn’t going to be happening so we’ve done a lot of pivoting with programs and getting grant money to help farmers start selling online and reaching customers in new ways,” she said. “We’re also trying to offer lots of support for farmers markets to operate as safely as possible.”

Keeping the farmers markets open and safe were important so that farmers would continue to have that outlet to move their harvest and stay operational, but still more needed to be done, Hart said. ASAP needed to find a way to rematch the supply and demand to keep farmers getting paid while also trying to keep communities fed. A $275,000 grant from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina helped ASAP start a new program.

“Our Appalachian Farms Feeding Families program came out of that. In working with MANNA, we realized they have a large distribution network in the region but food distribution in small communities wasn’t getting there quickly enough for them to get fresh foods,” Hart said. “We realized the need to do what MANNA does but on a micro level.”

ASAP stepped in to match local farms with local feeding sites like Haywood Christian Ministries, Community Kitchen, Community Table, The Giving Spoon and others so fresh foods could get into the hands of families sooner. ASAP funding helped subsidize the cost of the food so farmers could still get paid.

With the help of individual donations and hopefully future grants, ASAP hopes to keep the Farms Feeding Families program going into next spring. When asked in March how they feared the pandemic would impact their business, many farmers feared they’d go bankrupt or would lose their home and/or farm. However, thanks to huge shifts in distributing their food, Hart said they haven’t seen a large number of farm closures at the end of 2020, but the industry is not in the clear moving into 2021.

“We’re kind of still in a wait and see where the world goes scenario,” she said. “There hasn’t been a huge number of closures like we’ve seen with restaurants, but some might decide to get out of the business next year.”

Hart urges people to buy local, support local farms and donate to ASAP if you’re able. For more information, visit https://asapconnections.org/covid-19response/appalachian-farms-feeding-families.

@InglesDietitian Leah McGrath - Dietitian 800.334.4936 Ingles Markets… caring about your health

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Schools keep kids fed during pandemic

Smoky Mountain News

December 16-22, 2020

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER orth Carolina is regularly ranked as one of the 10 hungriest states in the nation.

According to Feeding America data from 2018, North Carolina had a child food insecurity rate of 19.3 percent, with Haywood County at a rate of 21 percent. During the pandemic, Feeding America found that a majority of food banks report seeing a record increase in the number of people needing help, with an average increase of 60 percent across the country.

Many children in the United States depend heavily on school meals for regular sustenance. The USDA and local school nutrition programs have been working to ensure that doesn’t change during the pandemic.

“I think that this will go to show how essential school nutrition employees are to our community and to feeding,” said Jennifer Brown, director of school nutrition for Swain County.

The United States Department of Agriculture is responsible for funding that provides free and reduced lunches in schools.

In normal years, they also fund the Summer Food Service Program that provides meals to children that need it while they are not in school. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, this service has been extended several times to allow for the continuation of free meals. On Oct. 9, flexibilities in the Summer Food Service Program and Seamless Summer Option were extended through June 30, 2021.

The Summer Food Service Program is a federally funded, state-administered program that reimburses those who serve free, healthy meals and snacks to children and 6 teens in low-income areas. The waivers and

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extensions for the SFSP and SSO mean that meals can be served in all areas at no cost to families, meals can be served outside of typically-required group settings and meal times, and parents and guardians can pick up meals for their children.

During normal years, school nutrition services give out applications for free and reduced lunch. Those who do not qualify have to pay for school meals. Because of the reimbursements given by the USDA, schools have been able to serve free meals to all students during the pandemic.

“USDA has allowed us to offer free meals to all children ages 1 to 18,” said Alison Francis, director of school nutrition for Haywood County. “Once the meals are served, we turn in a claim to USDA and they reimburse us for every meal served. The parents have not had to fill out a free and reduced application to receive these benefits.”

Even with the reimbursements from USDA, some school nutrition departments are still feeling the effects of not having students in school regularly.

“One thing I can say that’s been extremely hard for us is that extra revenue that we were able to have in the past from selling extra items, what we call a la carte items. That’s a huge revenue for us and we’re not meeting a quarter of that as that right now,” said Laura Cabe, director of school nutrition for Jackson County.

The irregularities of this school year have presented incredible challenges for school nutrition departments, not only in the form of funding. The sheer technicalities of the transformations nutrition services have had to undergo has been daunting. From regular child nutrition services to full-time distribu-

tion of meals while kids were stuck at home, to some combination of the two.

“The hardest part of our work has been the unknown of what tomorrow’s going to bring. I mean we were not able to do a whole lot of planning, future planning, which is somewhat important for school nutrition to be able to do. Especially with your purchase of food or staffing,” said Brown.

School nutrition departments have also had to look out for their own. Not an easy task during a time of reduced income.

According to Cabe, participation in school lunches in Jackson County are down to almost half the number they would serve in normal times.

“Even though the reimbursement is a little bit higher, our participation is a lot lower because we only have half of the students there. And even though we’re sending home meals as much as we can and having pick-up lines, it’s still not near, maybe half, of the lunch participation we would do in a normal year,” she said.

Cabe said administration decided at the beginning of the pandemic they would not cut anyone or reduce any hours. However, JCPS has several open positions in the nutrition department that they can’t afford to fill at the moment.

“I think the biggest challenge for me has been that I just care very deeply about the staff as well as the community and feeling like it’s on my shoulders I think has been the hardest part. Just making sure everybody’s fed, everybody’s safe, everybody still has their job,” Cabe said.

In Haywood County Schools, though there is more breakfast being served than in normal years, lunch numbers are down by about 1,000 per day.

“We’re probably doing a hundred meals a

day at our curbside pickup location, but that doesn’t compare, come anywhere close to the number of kids that are either remote only, or on the virtual rotation. So there are a lot of those kids that aren’t taking advantage of it,” said Francis.

Whether those students don’t need the meal service or are unable to get to the pickup location is impossible to determine.

In Swain County, Brown says, they are feeding slightly more meals than in normal years. This is because under the extended Summer Food Service Program, they can feed kids that are not enrolled in Swain County Schools, for example students in charter schools, or homeschoolers.

Swain County Schools has also worked out a system to run school busses for food delivery on Wednesdays, when all students are remote. They run six different busses, covering the whole district, and give out five days-worth of meals. By doing this they ensure fully-remote learners get meals, as well as students on the AB rotation who may not be able to make it to a pick-up location during their remote days.

“The fact that during this time we’ve been able to feed all kids has been great and I wish that would continue after this is all done, you know, all kids in school could get a free meal and not have to apply for it,” said Brown.

These nutrition departments are already preparing for what might change next semester, or next school year. Preparing for the unknown.

“I’m wondering, what’s going to happen starting in January?” said Cabe. “That’s what we’re already discussing as what could be done. ‘This, this or this is what we’re gonna do in January.’ We already have that plan in line.

And luckily the good part is, we’ve been down this road before so many different ways.”

Robin Smith and Karen Jones load food for a family at Bethel Middle School. Donated photo

“Even though we’re sending home meals as much as we can and having pick-up lines, it’s still not near, maybe half, of the lunch participation we would do in a normal year.”

— Laura Cabe, director of school nutrition for Jackson County

Volunteers ‘fill in the gaps’ of the food security spectrum

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER assing modest, nondescript houses with swing sets and dog houses in their yards, the big red pickup truck lumbered up the winding mountain road, bed filled with bread, cereal boxes, canned goods and the like. Negotiating one final hairpin, it slowly creeps into the grassy driveway of Hannah Orlikowski.

“The outdoor pantry brings food for families in my neighborhood,” Orlikowski said. “I’m a drop-off site here, and I deliver it to the families that need it in my neighborhood.”

Behind the wheel of the big red truck sits Beverly Banks, a Haywood County native who’s been actively working to provide meals to Haywood’s hungry for nearly two decades — first in schools, then in outdoor pantries and now in drop-offs to neighborhoods like Orlikowski’s, where a dangerous confluence of poverty, food insecurity and lack of transportation means many, and many children, continue to struggle to get enough to eat each day.

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You can help Haywood’s Outdoor Pantries is looking for volunteer drivers to help stock the county’s food pantries and drop-off sites. They’re also looking for physical locations – especially in Canton and Clyde – where new pantries can be established to serve those populations more efficiently. If you’re able to help, call Beverly Banks at 828.550.6884 or visit www.bit.ly/HaywoodOP to fill out a volunteer form. For more information on Haywood’s Outdoor Pantries, check out www.facebook.com/MountainProjects HaywoodPantryProject.

security spectrum grow in Haywood County over the years, but another complicating factor as problematic as generational poverty and lack of transportation options also gets in the way sometimes.

“We have a lot of pride in this county,” she said. “When we think that there’s not a neighbor in need, then we really need to start looking at ourselves and start asking

“When you see a need, the best way to address that need is to step up and start doing something about it.”

— Beverly Banks

some questions. Just raising that awareness has changed the stigma that comes with it.

The way I look at food is, we have plenty of food. I don’t care where you work or what you do or what you don’t do. If I have food available, I want to offer it to you and want you to know that you can at least get your nutrition, and that is really hard for people in this area to understand.”

For Orlikowski, it’s also a way of bringing the community together, more than anything.

“It kind of reminds me of my past,” she said. “No one did without when we were little. Your neighbors kinda took care of you.

Anything that you needed, your neighbors would give it to you. Everybody kind of raised each other’s kids. It takes a community. It’s really important, I believe, just making sure that everybody has what they need to succeed.”

Smoky Mountain News

and Haywood County’s historic lack of widely available on-demand public transportation, another gap has appeared — some people just can’t get to any of the county’s food pickup sites or outdoor pantries.

“If you have a neighborhood that has a lot of children in it, the chances are that those neighborhoods need a little bit more assistance. So what we started doing is just talking to our neighbors and going, ‘Hey, do you know anybody in your neighborhood or a neighborhood who might need some assistance?’ And we found that there were large neighborhoods that we could do neighborhood drops that that would serve as anywhere from say six to 15 or 20 families with one drop,” she said.

A report from November 2019, showed that Western North Carolina’s children are increasingly poor and hungry, and that was well before the pandemic wrought economic devastation on the region and the world. At that time, 22.5 percent of Haywood’s children lived below the poverty line, and 23.1

percent were affected by food insecurity.

“We would like to increase our neighborhood drops,” Banks said. “Those children are children and families that are being quarantined in their neighborhoods. They’re doing their school work. They’re staying where they’re need to be. Their families are still having to work, but they’ve increased their food bill because their children are home all day long and not at school.”

Haywood School Board member Ronnie Clark recently said that 52 percent of Haywood’s students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, so when they’re not able to eat at school, many of these children — like the ones in Orlikowski’s neighborhood — have little to look forward to other than visits from Banks’ big red truck.

“Honestly, this is what tides them over on the weekends,” Orlikowski said. “They might get meals from school during the week so really what we do is to make sure that that they’re good throughout the weekend. It’s kind of like just making sure that they’re topped off.”

Orlikowski said that of the 10 or so families she serves in her neighborhood, most have three or more children and that the main problem is reliable transportation.

Often, there’s only one car, and if someone’s using it for work, others in the household can’t get to food banks until after they’re closed.

“I have a few families that come and tell me that they just can’t make ends meet,” she said. “In the United States, that’s just unacceptable. I can’t let families go without, and school aged children go without. I have four kids, and thinking about them going to school on an empty stomach, I just can’t handle it. I can’t. It’s unacceptable.”

Banks said she’s watched gaps in the food

December 16-22, 2020

anks, a graduate of Tuscola High School, has a background in mental health and ran a group home for 10 years. She first got involved with food insecurity 18 years ago as a result of having a child in Haywood County’s school system.

“When you see a need, the best way to address that need is to step up and start doing something about it,” she said.

Her first step was to begin stocking indoor pantries in schools.

“We started that way and realized that there were a lot of other gaps,” said Banks.

“Then we started putting outdoor units up about four years ago. This started because there was a need and a gap that wasn’t being filled by any of the other nonprofits or entities in the community.”

Currently, there are three outdoor pantries in Haywood County, one in Maggie Valley on Soco Road and two along Pigeon Street just outside of Waynesville’s bustling downtown commercial district.

The pantries are checked multiple times a day and a stocked as often as possible, usually daily. They’re filled with non-perishables donated by area grocery stores, food banks or nonprofits, except in summer, when fresh produce is also often available.

Now, due to the Coronavirus Pandemic

The back of Beverly Banks’ big red truck is full of groceries donated to the Open Door, in Frog Level. Cory Vaillancourt photo

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Sylva endorses county namesake change

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER he Town of Sylva joined the Village of Forest Hills last week in formerly supporting a request from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to substitute former Principal Chief Walter S. Jackson for former President Andrew Jackson as Jackson County’s namesake.

With a 4-1 vote, the body passed a resolution in favor of the change during its Dec. 10 meeting. Commissioner Mary Gelbaugh provided the sole opposing vote.

“On Oct. 29, unanimously the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians passed a resolution requesting that the namesake of Jackson County be changed from former President Andrew Jackson to Walter S. Jackson, who by my reading was quite a remarkable individual and someone very important to the tribe,” said Commissioner Ben Guiney, who introduced the resolution.

Born in 1923, Chief Jackson was a World War II veteran. Upon returning home he served as the tribe’s chief of police and then as a Tribal Council member for 12 years before completing a four-year term as vice chief and winning the 1967 election for principal chief. Jackson died in 1971 while still in office. He was only 47 years old, but according to the 2007 book A Cherokee Encyclopedia by Robert J. Conley, his accomplishments while in tribal government

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December 16-22, 2020

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included instrumental roles in developing the Cherokee Boys Club, improving reservation roads, reopening the tribal rolls, securing a new gym and elementary school and establishing a new hospital. Meanwhile, President Jackson never lived in Western North Carolina, and his main legacy in the region is the Indian Removal Act and the resulting Trail of Tears.

The tribe “really made a great case” for honoring Chief Jackson, said Guiney. Sylva is the county seat, and so the board’s support of the measure would “show a lot of unity” for the change. If enacted, the county’s actual name would stay the same. It would just honor a different person than it currently does.

“Walter Jackson was a very good friend of ours,” said Commissioner Barbara Hamilton. “We knew him as a Bull Jackson, and he did a lot for the Cherokee Indians. I think this is very well deserved.”

Commissioner Greg McPherson said the proposal was “extremely clever” and that he supports removing President Jackson as the county’s namesake.

“I’m glad to hear, Barbara, that you knew him and he was a good person personally, but just in terms of the removal and the genocide of the American Indian, I wholeheartedly support this,” McPherson said.

“It’s a real simple thing to do, but it’s very symbolic and very powerful. I think it

Walter Jackson. means a lot,” added Commissioner David Nestler. “Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, and this is a county that contains the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians reservation. Even though it’s a separate nation, we’re all one community. I think it’s a very good gesture.”

Gelbaugh did not weigh in during the meeting, but in response to backlash on Facebook she did release a statement, adding that she would have no further comment on the issue. In her statement, Gelbaugh said

that she did not take her vote lightly and has no doubt that Chief Jackson was a man worthy of an honor such as having a county named after him.

“What I voted no to is rewriting history, and that is what I have trouble backing,” she wrote. “History is stocked full of cruelty and

by God’s mercy my prayer is that cruelty is not part of our present should we be brave enough to fight against it. I voted no to the idea that we go back trying to change everything we do not like about our past and the precedence this would set. If this passes what is next? Cities or road names that are not agreeable to our present knowledge of the past? Our past is never dead. We must learn from our past, with the intention to do better, to strive harder and not repeat the mistakes of those that came before us. You have my word I meant no malice towards Principal Chief Jackson, the people of Cherokee or the people of Jackson County.”

While resolutions from the EBCI, Forest Hills and Sylva may carry persuasive weight, action from county commissioners is required to actually make the change.

Chairman Brian McMahan said that the body will discuss the issue, potentially at its next work session at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12.

Commissioners have not yet had that discussion due to the board’s turnover in membership resulting from the November elections.

New commissioners were sworn in on Dec. 7.

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“Even if we do not continue to trend 24.78 percent above budgeted amounts, it is reasonable to believe that a 7 to 9 percent increase is sustainable,” said Adams.

Commissioners also approved a one-time bonus to county employees that will come from the $1.8 million in CARES Act funding that the county received earlier this year. Of that, $454,000 was distributed to municipalities. The county spent $82,000 on plumbing for the detention center and $56,000 for flooring there, with an additional $92,000 to support video arraignment and video pleas.

However, the bulk of the money — $1.134 million — went to reimburse the county for money it had paid out in salaries to public safety and health workers.

Of the reimbursed monies, $909,000 remained in the county’s contingency fund.

Because the funds were already spent initially

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for an approved use — public safety salaries — there are no longer any restrictions on how they can be spent.

Commissioners approved using $413,000 of the $909,000 for a one-time bonus to county employees in the amount of $100 per month served since the county’s state of emergency was declared March 16.

Employees who had worked for the county that entire time would therefore receive a total of $1,000. The amount will be pro-rated for part-time employees. County employees will receive the bonuses Dec. 18.

“This is a bonus,” said Adams during the work session. “This is recognizing all of our employees, whether it be the health department employees who are working on the frontlines or our janitorial housekeeping staff, and then working hard to provide great service.”

The plan leaves $496,000 of CARES Act reimbursements in contingency to cover any future needs that should arise as the pandemic continues.

“Not knowing what’s coming down the corner, it’s better to hold off,” said Commissioner Mark Jones on Dec. 10. “If things continue as they are and the vaccine gets to us in a timely manner and things calm down, we can discuss and revisit some of these funds.”

December 16-22, 2020

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER he 2020-2021 budget Jackson County passed in June was a slimmed-down plan adopted in reaction to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis — but commissioners approved it with the understanding that some dollars could be added back in later depending on how finances looked come January.

Now, January is right around the corner, and during a Dec. 15 meeting commissioners unanimously approved a proposal to add $624,000 to the $66.5 million budget.

The county’s finances are looking much brighter than they were in June, especially as it relates to sales tax revenue. Back in the spring, the county had assumed a 2 percent reduction in sales tax revenues from the amount budgeted for 2019-2020, representing an 8 percent drop from actual collections that year. However, sales tax receipts for the first quarter of the new fiscal year — July through September — came in nearly 17 percent higher than the $10.48 million received in the same period last year, and nearly 25 percent above the amount originally budgeted for the first quarter of this fiscal year.

Anticipating a drop in sales tax proceeds, the adopted 2020-2021 budget left out the annual cost-of-living increase for county employees and held funding level for Jackson County Public Schools, Southwestern Community College and Jackson County Libraries.

The budget adjustment grants SCC and the library the 2 percent increase they’d originally requested, as well as the 2 percent costof-living increase for county employees. In lieu of a 2 percent general increase for the public schools, the change provides a $500 one-time bonus to all school system employees. The school board is also encouraged to develop a new teacher pay supplement program to present as part of the 2021-2022 budget process.

“This is a really good opportunity to look at teacher supplements and look at that whole program,” said County Manager Don Adams during a work session discussion Dec. 10.

The plan provides an additional $23,000 for the library, $41,000 for SCC and $202,000 for county employees’ cost-of-living increases. The public schools will receive $359,000.

The total six-month estimated cost will be covered by a 7 percent increase in budgeted sales tax revenues, and the total recurring annual expense of $825,000 can be covered with a 9 percent increase in sales tax over that budgeted this fiscal year.

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With sales tax strong, Jackson considers budget increase

71 North Main Street Waynesville 9

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Greening Up the Mountains moved to summer

Smoky Mountain News

December 16-22, 2020

Sylva’s beloved Greening Up The Mountains Festival will once again be absent from its traditional date of the last Saturday in April — but the Sylva Board of Commissioners has pledged that the event will take place in 2021.

“It is called Greening Up The Mountains, but I do feel like April is too soon,” said Commissioner David Nestler. “Moving it back to later in the year when we’re confident that a vaccine will be more widespread seems like a safe bet to me.”

The event has taken place for 22 continuous years, and 2020 was slated to be the 23rd year before COVID-19 forced the town to cancel it.

The rest of the board agreed with Nestler’s sentiment, but the body could not come to a firm agreement on what the new date should be. Police Chief Chris Hatton said that anytime after September would strain his department’s resources too much considering the other festivals and events that currently occur in that timeframe. There was some discussion about scheduling the festival in conjunction with the Fourth of July weekend, but that also raised staffing concerns.

Ultimately, the board voted to postpone the festival from April to a yet-to-be-determined date in late July or early August.

— Holly Kays, staff writer

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WCU trustees approve fee increases

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER he cost of attendance at Western Carolina University will increase by $152 in the 2021-2022 school year for on-campus, in-state undergraduates, if a proposed schedule of fees and rates adopted by the WCU Board of Trustees this month meets approval from the University of North Carolina Board of Governors.

The additional cost represents a 1.12 percent increase over the current academic year’s total annual cost of $13,541 for an instate undergraduate who lives on campus and uses the least expensive meal and housing options.

The largest component of that increase is the proposed 2.5 percent hike in on-campus housing rates, which for the cheapest option — a standard double room — amounts to a $116 increase, or a total price tag of $5,256 for the upcoming academic year. The toptier on-campus housing choice, a private room in Balsam Hall or Blue Ridge Hall, would increase $178 to a total of $8,074 for the 2021-2022 school year. The increase is meant to defray rising utility and opera-

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of students to intensify because of the stress that comes with trying to keep up with classes and other responsibilities while dealing with the disruption of a global pandemic.”

The health services fee is a mandatory fee for all students. The $36 increase is the only proposed increase to the current slate of mandatory fees, which currently total $2,836 per year. However, trustees did also approve a 5.2 percent increase to the university’s book rental surcharge, which would increase that fee from $306 to $322 per year.

Tuition itself is a small component of the total cost of attendance due to North Carolina’s N.C. Promise Tuition Plan, which caps the cost of tuition at three UNC schools — The Lavern Hamlin Allen Residence Hall is home to 600 students. including WCU — at WCU photo $500 per semester for in-state undergradu“Over the last couple of years, we have ates and $2,500 for out-of-state undergrads.

The action by the trustees comes after a seen an increase in student utilization of health and counseling services, and we con- series of meetings held by a campus tuition tinue to address the level of severity and and fee committee, including two liveongoing treatment needs in mental health streamed open campus discussions with on our campus,” said Kellie Angelo more than 2,600 views of the forums, a virMonteith, associate vice chancellor for stu- tual meeting of the Student Government dent affairs-health and wellness. “We expect Association Senate and an online survey the need for mental health services on behalf that prompted 766 responses. tional costs while also building reserves to renovate and replace older residence halls, including Scott and Walker Halls.

Students will also be required to pay an additional $36 for the health service fee, a total of $350. The 11.5 percent increase will be used to expand capacity for mental health and counseling services and to add an additional clinical health care professional.

he media received a press release from GOP leaders in Western North Carolina inviting all Christian conservatives to a “Can’t ‘Coop’-Up Christmas” Celebration from 4:30 to 7 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 17, at the Smoky Mountain Event Center (the former Haywood County Fairgrounds).

“The people of Western North Carolina have had enough of Cooper’s mandatory lockdowns,” Kay Miller, chairwoman of the Haywood Republican Party, stated in the press release. “There is a line between protecting public health and tyranny, and that line has been crossed. People are being scared to death; they’re depressed and suicidal, and abuse numbers have really spiked. Jobs, businesses and livelihoods have been lost. We should have the freedom to celebrate Christmas as we choose, with whomever we choose. We can celebrate safely.”

Special guest speakers include local pastors, as well as elected representatives, including outgoing Sen. Jim Davis, incoming Rep. Mike Clampitt, Sen. Kevin Corbin and others. Also invited are Republican elected representatives at all levels of government, as well as judges and justices of the N.C. courts.

Since the event center is owned by the county and operated by a county-appointed board, there have been questions whether such an event would be in violation of the governor’s order. County Attorney Frank Queen said since the event center is run by an independent board, the county doesn’t have a supervisory role at the county-owned venue, and merely serves as a landlord to the board with little oversight as to the types of events that take place there.

Further, per Gov. Cooper’s Executive Order 181, the event is clearly exempt from the provisions of the order.

The exemptions to Cooper’s order listed in section 1.2 are “Worship, religious, and spiritual gatherings, funeral ceremonies, wedding ceremonies, and other activities constituting the exercise of First Amendment rights.”

Although not specifically mentioned therein, political expression also presumably falls under the exemption because the First Amendment specifically mentions the rights of free speech and peaceable assembly.

Haywood County Medical Director Dr. Mark Jaben said it was clear that gathering together, especially in large groups and especially indoors, is a high-risk event for getting the virus.

“We know that in Haywood County, as of Dec 15, there is a 91 percent chance that someone in a crowd of more than 100 people is, in fact, infected. You can pretty well guarantee that everyone at this event is in a position to get exposed because, short of having symptoms, there is no way to know who in the crowd is infected, as an infected person can be presymptomatic — contagious but without symptoms.

With the level of infection in the community right now, that can be any one of us. It’s not political, religious, or philosophical — it’s the virus,” he said.

The event is co-sponsored by the Haywood County Republican Party and Smoky Mountain Republican Women. For more information, contact Charlene Hogue at 828.371.8247 or Kay Miller at 828.246.9696.

— Staff reports

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Christian conservatives invited to GOP party

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December 16-22, 2020 Smoky Mountain News 11

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Haywood Republicans fill commission vacancy

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR fter several public meetings where intensive questions were posed by the Haywood County Republican Party to seven candidates, the party has chosen its nominee to fill an impending vacancy on the Haywood County Board of Commissioners.

“It’s humbling,” said Clyde resident Jennifer Best. “The party worked very hard to vet all the candidates. I think they did a good job and I’m very humbled that I’m the one that got the opportunity. I’m excited, looking forward to working with everybody.”

Best, 52, is an insurance agent and recently ran her first political campaign earlier this year, as a candidate in the Republican Primary Election. A four-candidate field sought two commission seats, which were eventually won by Republican incumbents Kevin Ensley and Brandon Rogers. Best finished a close third, nearly knocking off Ensley.

The vacancy comes as a result of firstterm Republican Commissioner Mark Pless’ victory in the 118th House District race.

Before Pless is sworn in on Jan. 13, he’ll leave a half-served term on commission.

Per statute, Pless’ seat must be filled by a person of the same party. Haywood is one of just 42 counties where the local county

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December 16-22, 2020

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party’s recommendation to commissioners is binding.

Rather than simply submit a nominee, the HCGOP and new chair Kay Miller conducted a very deliberate, very public process to select a candidate from a field that initially stood at eight.

After the withdrawal of Haywood Health and Human Services Board member Paul Turner, remaining candidates included Best, Maggie Valley Alderman Twinkle Patel, Haywood School Board member Ronnie Clark, Jennifer Best Hylah Birenbaum, Todd Bradley, Terry Ramey and Jeff Sellers.

Candidates answered questions from Miller and other party members at public meetings held on Nov. 21 and Nov. 30, as well as several previous HCGOP events.

“I was very impressed with the competition,” said Best. “They were all very qualified, very intelligent, they had fresh ideas.

That’s part of the reason I feel so honored to have been given the opportunity. All I could do would be encourage those people to continue to be involved in our community and local government and to stay engaged in the process, because if they’re

interested in running again, they’re going to file for the primary in about a year.”

Best was selected on Dec. 10 by a vote from duly qualified members of the HCGOP, a number Miller pegged at 24.

On the first ballot, victory could only be declared by a candidate with more than 50 percent of the votes. In the event no candidate was able to garner that much initial support, the second ballot would consist of the top three candidates. If that ballot didn’t result in a winner, the third ballot would consist of the top two candidates.

Best won on the first ballot.

Best will serve on a commission that had been and will remain a 4-to-1 Republican majority. She joins fellow Republicans, Rogers, Chairman Kevin Ensley and Tommy Long as well as the commission’s lone Democrat, Kirk Kirkpatrick.

Best said she’d bring a special focus to one issue – jobs.

“I believe that jobs would solve a lot of issues. if I had a pet project, I would imagine that it will be related to economic development,” she said. “I’d love to see new companies and industries come into Haywood County and by doing so build stable careers for those people that live here and the children of the next generation.”

Another big project Best will have to dive into pretty quickly is the construction

of Haywood County’s second consecutive COVID-influenced budget, a process that kicks into high gear in February.

“I do know that there were concerns [in last year’s budget] about how they would collect taxes and how would that impact sales tax and other things like that, but everything seems to be tracking accordingly,” she said. “We’re in such a special time in our world that there’s just no real way to predict what’s next or how things are actually going to pan out. It’s a matter of adjusting as best you can, as quickly as you can. It’s good timing in some ways that I’m coming into the position now, so I am ahead of that.”

The HCGOP’s nomination of Best means that for the first time since 2008, a woman will serve on the Haywood commission. However, since she didn’t secure the seat in an election, the streak of no woman being elected to the commission by voters of Haywood County – dating back to 2004 – will remain intact.

Voters will, however, have a chance to end that streak in 2022, when the Pless/Best seat comes back up for election, along with those of commissioners Long and Kirkpatrick.

“I would assume that I am [running again],” said Best. “I can’t imagine that I would not, because I had planned to run for the seat again anyway.”

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Waynesville passes State of Emergency ordinance

A substantial crowd waits for a Waynesville Board of Aldermen meeting to begin.

Cory Vaillancourt photo

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR routine update to the Town of Waynesville’s State of Emergency ordinance finally passed on Dec. 8 after being tabled for weeks due to an uproar among anti-mask citizens who embarked on a marathon series of public comment sessions in fear that the town was also planning to enact a mandatory mask-wearing edict.

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uch ordinances typically outline which municipal officials can declare a State of Emergency, and for what reasons.

When that does happen, local governments can exercise emergency powers in an effort to let first responders address the situation.

Waynesville’s previous ordinance, passed in 1987, was recently found to be based on a General Statute that had subsequently been repealed. Town Attorney Bill Cannon drafted a replacement that took the relatively broad 1987 ordinance and narrowed its focus in several important ways.

Previously, the ordinance said that a State of Emergency would be deemed to exist if “… for any reason, municipal public safety authorities are unable to maintain public order or afford adequate protection for lives, safety or property.”

The new ordinance does away with the

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December 16-22, 2020

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“for any reason” clause and delineates the very limited, specific reasons for which a State of Emergency might be declared.

Those specific reasons are “ … an occurrence or imminent threat of widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of life or property resulting from any natural or man-made accidental, military, paramilitary, terrorism, weather-related, public health, explosionrelated, riot-related cause, or technological failure or accident, including, but not limited to, a cyber incident, an explosion, a transportation accident, a radiological accident, or a chemical or other hazardous material incident.”

Another important way in which the new ordinance tightens the scope of emergency powers is in establishing a hierarchy of who may declare an emergency.

The 1987 ordinance vests sole power in the mayor, whereas the new ordinance provides the mayor pro tem the ability to declare such a state in the mayor’s absence or incapacitation, and the board of aldermen’s ability to do so if both the mayor and mayor pro temp are absent or incapacitated.

Despite the more limited purview of the new ordinance, opponents called it “tyranny” when they disrupted an Oct. 27 Waynesville Board of Aldermen meeting, some claiming the new ordinance was meant

n the interim, many citizens continued to push objectively false information about both the practical and philosophical reasons for updating the ordinance.

Nikki White, publisher of the nowdefunct Moxxie Magazine, posted two videos on Facebook declaring the citizenry “under attack” by a “tyrannical mayor” seeking “limitless power,” despite the proposed new ordinance limiting both the power of and the valid reasons for Waynesville Mayor Gary Caldwell and all future Waynesville mayors to declare emergencies.

White was among the nearly 100 people who showed up to the Dec. 8 Board of Aldermen meeting unmasked and packed in pews on one side of the Historic Haywood Courthouse, where the meeting had been moved in anticipation of a large crowd.

Alderman Anthony Sutton immediately made a motion to un-table the proposed new ordinance and present it for consideration at the meeting. Alderman Chuck

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to pave the way towards a mask mandate, forced vaccinations and involuntary microchip implantation.

As that meeting evolved into disarray, Alderman Jon Feichter tabled the proposed new ordinance, where it remained until Dec. 8.

Dickson seconded Sutton’s motion, which was supported unanimously by the board.

Caldwell then doubled the board’s customary 30-minute public comment session, and ended up adding another 30 minutes to the end of it so that all those who wished to speak at the meeting were able to do so.

Not all of the 26 speakers were there to talk about the proposed emergency ordinance, but the overwhelming majority were, and the overwhelming majority of them were vehemently opposed to it.

Stephanie Parsons told alderman that in addition to covering “our image of God,” masks put the body in an acidic state, a claim refuted by Politifact, The Irish Times and Agence France-Presse as early as this past May. She also said without context that current PCR tests were indicating false positives — revealed by Dr. Andrew Cohen of www.icd10monitor.com to be between 0.2 and 0.9 percent. Parsons’ claim that “hospitalizations are down” was also false according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard.

Parsons went on to call the Coronavirus Pandemic “a fraud” and North Carolina’s Gov. Roy Cooper “tyrannical.” Hours earlier, Cooper issued a modified stay-at-home order after expressing shock at daily positive case numbers that had recently doubled from a month ago to more than 6,000 cases a day.

Three days after Parsons’ comment, that number had climbed to 7,540.

Another speaker, Janet Presson, said she didn’t live in Waynesville but since she owns property in the town, she thought she deserved the opportunity to oppose the ordinance and giving “more power” to elected officials.

It wasn’t the first time in the spotlight for Presson, whose Facebook page is filled with memes and posts calling masks “child abuse” and urging others to discard their masks.

In July, 2019, Presson spoke at an antivaccination event where she and Melanie Williams attempted to prevent members of local media from recording or photographing the presentation, held at the Haywood County Public Library in Waynesville.

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Finally, it was Nikki White’s turn.

White, ignorant of local government procedure, demanded during public comment that aldermen vote on the ordinance, and then stood for a moment in silence waiting for a reaction.

Aldermen aren’t supposed to interact with the public during public comment — only listen. Aldermen also don’t vote on matters during public comment sessions.

When White failed to get a reaction, she cajoled and insulted the board for the remainder of her allotted time, calling aldermen confused and ignorant, telling them they should be ashamed of themselves and that they were the “weakest legislative body in the state of North Carolina.”

White would get her vote in due course — after the public comment session — but it wasn’t the vote she and others wanted.

Dickson moved to adopt the new State of Emergency ordinance, and Sutton seconded the motion.

Little discussion ensued until Alderman Jon Feichter spoke, asking the board to consider some changes.

“We need to do it, but we don’t have to do it tonight,” Feichter said.

Feichter was outvoted 4-to-1. After the meeting, he stressed that while he was in favor of updating the ordinance, he thought it should require consultation with public safety personnel like police, fire and health officials, and that it would also be reasonable to include the Board of Aldermen in those consultations.

He also took exception to the tenor of the public discourse surrounding the State of Emergency ordinance update.

“Much of the rhetoric was unhelpful and untrue. We were called ‘deceitful’ and ‘weaponized’ against the very people we represent. We were told that we’re destroying lives of our kids. None of that is true,” said Feichter. “All we’ve done and all we continue to do is protect the health and welfare of the citizens of Waynesville. We don’t always get it right out of the gate, but to say that we’re deceiving people and weaponizing ourselves simply isn’t true.”

December 16-22, 2020

During the presentation, an anti-vax documentary rife with debunked claims based on discredited studies was screened.

Still, Presson serves on the board of the Haywood Healthcare Foundation, which oversees around $13 million in taxpayer money that’s supposed to be used “to improve the health status of Haywood County, it’s [sic] individuals and families through educational programs, grants, scholarships, and leadership opportunities,” according to its website.

Williams was also present at the Waynesville town board meeting, during which she told alderman that there were 50 states in the U.S. immediately after the Civil War — Hawaii didn’t become the 50th state until 1959 — and that an 1866 U.S. Supreme Court ruling prohibits states from enforcing a number of pandemic-related restrictions, like social distancing.

Called ex Parte Milligan, the ruling has been cited frequently by conspiracy theorists as justification for defiance, but in reality it has nothing to do with the power of federal, state or local governments to enact such restrictions, according to Snopes, USA Today and others. It deals with military tribunals.

Several youths spoke at the board meeting, including 16-year-old Jordan White.

“I’m 16 and I should be able to do what I want to do,” said White, who called mask usage “stupid.”

White was one of five children that spoke; Evelyn McDonald, 10, read from an essay that lamented the loss of freedom.

Jake Durbin, also 10, called the ordinance “barbaric and stupid,” and then cried.

Savannah Williams, 16, said she was sad that she had to quit her volleyball team because she refused to wear a mask. Katie Durbin, 14, said it’s “not my responsibility to take care of your health.”

One woman, however, did express support for masking up; Diana Gordon said she didn’t like wearing masks either, but that doing so is a “righteous act of kindness.”

The crowd jeered and ridiculed Gordon.

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Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

You only get to do this once ow do we get from here to there, from youthful idealism, optimism and boundless energy where the whole world is your oyster to a rewarding life? Some people know right from the start where they want to go and what they want to be, but for lot of others, me included, it was a process, a step forward and one backward, but always moving. Do you adventure or buckle down, go back to school or learn life lessons? Stay in a relationship or move on?

I was very good at math as a kid, scoring much better on that section of the SAT than I did on the verbal. My ninthgrade algebra teacher, Mr. Fulton, told me in private that I was a natural at solving equations and to be prepared to be called out in class. I felt empowered. In college at Appalachian State, I started off taking physics for my science and planned to plow through all three levels of calculus while in Boone before transferring to N.C. State to become an engineer.

But it wasn’t to be. During my sophomore year, an English teacher pulled me aside. I had written a paper on Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, and she was profuse in her praise. She bragged about the English Department and primed my ego by talking to me as if I, a 20-year-old, under-

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Taking the side of WNC’s citizens To the Editor: Please allow me a moment to respond to last week’s op-ed by Patrick Gleason “Local government-run broadband a bad idea” in The Smoky Mountain News where he ridiculed my efforts at seeking to allow local governments to be involved in providing internet access. Keeping local governments out of the internet business has come home to roost as many children must go to school virtually — in households which do not have internet service.

Plus the lack of high speed broadband is hurting the economy of Western North Carolina. This lack of service has come about in North Carolina by Republicans in the NC General Assembly. The Republicans have taken the side of the corporate/for profit telecoms who believe local government will be competitors. They believe local government is incompetent to provide such service.

I did a bit of research on Gleason. He is a lobbyist/cheerleader and senior fellow for a Tennessee free market think tank, The Beacon Center. He is highly connected to Americans for Tax Reform, a Grover Norquist group, which has reportedly received $150,000 in Covid relief money while our residents struggle to stay afloat with no Covid relief in sight.

This ATR outfit receives undisclosed amounts of money from corporate interests including the telecoms. ATR is deeply involved in the Georgia senate race on the

stood Hemingway. She arranged a meeting with the department chair, and within a few days I was sold: after two difficult years of calculus and physics, I switched to English. Never really thought again about being an engineer.

I was thinking back on all this after talking to my son, Liam, last night. He’s excited, on cloud nine, because he’s graduating from UNC Charlotte. And he took a college path somewhat similar to mine. He originally went into economics and it didn’t click. After taking a general education class in philosophy, he chose that major. I’ve watched as his writing skills have sharpened and improved as he dove deep into the esoteric, complicated treatises of some of the world’s great thinkers.

So where to now for a young man Editor in these strange and interesting times?

And not just Liam, but all three of our children are young adults, all in their 20s, all carving out their place in this world. One truth is that it all can turn 180 degrees in one unsuspecting moment. Trust me, I know.

After earning that English degree, I traveled and worked for a year. After saving some money I decided to go back to ASU for, yes, a math degree. It was the early 1980s, a recession, and there were few jobs. My not-so-well-thought-out

Scott McLeod

“… one of the most significant facts about us may finally be that we all begin with the natural equipment to live a thousand kinds of life but end in the end having lived only one.”

— The Interpretation of Cultures, by Clifford Geertz

LETTERS side of the two Republican candidates.

Mr. Gleason has every right to slam my stance. However, I believe the WNC public deserves to know who he really represents. It is not us, the WNC public.

Mayor Bob Scott Franklin

I am afraid history is repeating itself To the Editor: I have always been a history buff. It was my major in college. I studied WWII in great detail. It was really just a continuation of “The Great War,” WWI. The Germans lost WWI. It is an undisputed fact of history. The loss of the war came as a great shock to the German people. Government propaganda of the time had convinced them of the invincibility of the German soldier, and the rightness of their cause.

Most Germans believed that they had been “stabbed in the back” by a combination of “Socialists and Jews” who had conspired with their own government and their enemies to defeat Germany. This totally false conspiracy theory played a major role in the rise of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, which later gained power and then overthrew the existing democratic government. This led directly to WWII. I have always been amazed that the German people — as educated, and sophisticated as they were — could be convinced to

plan was to add a second degree to the English and perhaps go into some corporate training program, become an executive.

Then I was wandering through the student union and spotted a beauty from a Spanish class I took a couple years earlier, a girl I had become infatuated with whenever I saw her around campus and when she showed up at the pub where I once worked. I mustered up the nerve to talk to her, ask her where she’d been — Spain for a semester abroad — which led to a conversation, which led to … a wonderful life together. If Lori or I had taken a different route that day or been delayed 60 seconds, who knows? After that semester, I dropped the idea of a second degree and followed Lori after she graduated instead of taking a chance on a long-distance romance.

So the best laid plans can change quickly, and for reasons you may not have considered. I ’ve always liked the metaphor of a table set for a feast with every food and dessert and drink one might imagine to symbolize the endless possibilities available to the young and the young at heart. It’s all there and you can try to have it all, but it’s not likely to work out. How do you choose?

I certainly won’t pretend to know, but as a father I’m confident Liam will find his path, and as parents we look forward to sharing his adventures. Congrats to you, son, and all the 2020 graduates.

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

believe such an obvious lie. But this is what they wanted to believe. The defeat on the battlefield must be fake news. There must be someone else to blame.

By the time you read this the Electoral College will have certified that Joe Biden was elected the future President of the United States. He received at least seven million more votes than the President. Over 60 court cases have been filed by the Republicans to contest the election. Not a single one has proven, in any court of law, any fraud, that could have changed the result. The Supreme Court has, on at least two occasions, dismissed their suits. No proof of any conspiracy has been produced.

Yet, over 70 percent of Republicans truly believe that Joe lost, that there was widespread fraud, and that there were grand conspiracies, including Republican officials, to throw the election to the Democrats. I fear history is repeating itself.

Louis Vitale Franklin

Please give and help fight cancer To the Editor: This is in response to your article: “DA undergoes breast cancer treatment,” concerning our elected/head District Attorney, Ashley Hornsby Welch.

Ms. Welch and I have been fierce adversaries in court, but have never been enemies.

That experience alone proves that she is a fighter and will not back down from cancer.

She is thoroughly and completely entitled to

our support. One option to consider is a donation to the American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org. Using the Give in Honor or Memorial link in the upper right corner of the website will result in a card or ecard being sent to her recognizing your donation. A mailing address that will work is C/O Office of the District Attorney, 5 West Main Street, Franklin, North Carolina 28734.

John T. Barrett Sylva

Capitalism married socialism long ago!

To the Editor: IF socialism is: “any of various theories or systems of the ownership and operation of the means of production and distribution by society or the community rather than by private individuals, with all members of society or the community sharing in the work and the products” And capitalism is: “the economic system in which all or most of the means of production and distribution, as land, factories, railroads, etc., are privately owned and operated for profit, originally under fully competitive conditions:” Then what do you call a major pharmaceutical corporation that has been granted billions of Americans’ taxpayer dollars to speed up the development of a vaccine to prevent Covid-19? Is that corporation still a capitalistic entity? Has the United States government carried out a socialistic transaction?

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The human component makes the difference

For those who despise/fear “socialism” do you object to spending taxpayer money to develop a vaccine? Will you refuse to take the vaccine? Do you object to using the United States military (actually a longestablished form of socialism) to deliver the vaccine?

Has Covid-19 not proven that all

Americans need some form of affordable health care? Has this pandemic not revealed the truth about the symbiotic relationship of socialism and capitalism in America?

That truth is: They have been married since 1776. May it continue!

Dave Waldrop Webster

Susanna Shetley

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28 Walnut St. Waynesville

828.456.3021

HaywoodChamber.com

Business of The Month: Ron Robinson, Author and Business Consultant 828-508-0951

Smoky Mountain News

Roseann are at the store every day with smiles on their faces. On their occasional day off, previous Firefly owner Julie Katt runs the store. As a former small business owner herself, she makes a great member of the team.

I watched Affairs of the Heart rise to the occasion when the shutdown happened and the future of the business became precarious. They followed safety guidelines and got creative so they could stay open. They sold items via Facebook, through text messages and over the phone. They offered curbside pick-up and became one of the first places to sell cloth masks. As their customers adjusted to the new normal, Patricia and Roseann adjusted alongside them. If you talk to them today, they’ll tell you it’s been an interesting but good year for their business and they owe all of it to their customers’ support.

Patricia’s not the only small business owner who has inspired me lately. While Christmas shopping, I stopped in Smoky Mountain Dog Bakery. All three clerks welcomed me and asked if I needed anything.

When I walked by the counter, I saw a beautiful blue merle Australian Shepherd relaxing beside the girl decorating dog treats. I commented on him and before I knew it, we’re looking at puppy pictures on her phone. That’s not an encounter that would happen at a big box store or when buying something on Amazon.

Down the street at Mast General, I perused a piece of camping equipment I was considering for a preteen’s Christmas gift.

Before I could turn around, a sales associate was beside me. He was full of knowledge and experience and guided me in the opposite direction I was considering, which turned out to be the much better choice.

As I walked to my car after visiting these three small businesses, I had a pep in my step. It’s the human component that makes local establishments so vital and wonderful.

There is no way to create that with an online transaction. This weekend is the last shopping weekend before Christmas.

Consider going small for those last few gifts, stocking stuffers and surprises. When you shop small, not only does it put a smile on the merchant’s face, it will put one on your face as well. I guarantee it.

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

December 16-22, 2020

pple was once a small business that was started in a garage by two college dropouts. It was the pipe dream of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak to make computers small enough to fit in people’s homes or offices. We all know how the story ended, but it’s important to remember how it began.

Small businesses in America are driven by pure grit. As Jobs said, “You need a lot of passion for Columnist what you’re doing because it’s so hard.

Without passion, any rational person would give up.”

The Smoky Mountain News works with numerous small businesses in editorial and advertising capacities. We observe their ebbs and flows and watch their determination to adjust and adapt. Our hearts ache when dreams don’t manifest and they must shut their doors. Small businesses in our coverage area are near and dear to us. The owners are our good friends and business partners. Our newspaper, in fact, is considered a small business and could not survive without the support of local businesses.

As I’ve walked along Main Street in Waynesville during the pandemic, I’ve been awed at the grace and resiliency of the merchants. Every one of them feared for their livelihoods during 2020. The many unknowns kept them up at night.

Patricia Miller, owner of Affairs of the Heart at 120 Norh Main Street in Waynesville, has become a close friend of mine over the past two years. She’s been a long time supporter and print advertiser of our newspaper. Starting in early 2019, we began working with her on digital advertising, including her Facebook page and website. As her project manager on these fronts, I’m in her store multiple times a week photographing new inventory, creating content calendars for Facebook and strategizing what customers want more of.

In the midst of conversations about photo selection and analytics, we talk about our personal lives, our stressors and joys.

After owning the store for almost 25 years and being a veteran Main Street merchant, Patricia remains full of zest and continues searching for new and innovative ways to please her customers. She and her sister

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Smoky Mountain News

KEEP LOVE IN YOUR HEART, KEEP THOSE EYES AHEAD

THE TOP ALBUMS OF 2020

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER

MARGO PRICE: THAT’S HOW RUMORS GET STARTED The modern-day “Queen of Nashville,” Margo Price is a sheer force of nature, onstage and in the studio. Taking a page from her buddy, fellow country-rocker Sturgill Simpson (who also produced the album), Price takes her country/folk roots and turns the amps all the way up, literally and figuratively. It’s a rollercoaster of sound and intent, with Price once again at the center of lyrical subjects many in Music City still ignore. For every “bless your heart” aimed at her from the industry elite, she reciprocates the sentiment with middle fingers held high, guns blazin’.

(Key Tracks: “Twinkle, Twinkle,” “Letting Me Down,” “That’s How Rumors Get Started”)

FUTUREBIRDS: TEAMWORK Bringing forth its signature formula of rollicking psychedelic rock, sorrowful alt-country and shoegaze folk, the ‘Birds came into the year swinging for the fences. A nonstop touring act for over a decade, the Athens, Georgia, quintet finely tunes new material on the road, in front of roaring crowds in dive bars and backyard stages from California to Carolina. Ultimately,

“Teamwork” is a musical celebration of the solidified bond between the bandmates and its unabashedly loyal listeners — some 10 years in the making as one of the finest rock bands in recent memory.

(Key Tracks: “Picking Up Strangers,” “Waiting On A Call,” “My Broken Arm”)

STURGILL SIMPSON: CUTTIN’ GRASS VOL. 1 & 2 What started out as a challenge to his fan base earlier this year to raise funds for a handful of nonprofits has become a pickin’-n-grinnin’ odyssey of sorts for Simpson. Known for his hardscrabble country albums (and a recent deep dive into hard rock/electronic music), Simpson corralled some of the finest bluegrass musicians and singers in Nashville (Sierra Hull, Tim O’Brien, Scott Vestal, etc.) and reworked numerous tunes from his back catalog. The result is two bluegrass records (released in less than two months) that will no doubt became a touchstone for current and future generations who will seek out Simpson and follow him down the rabbit hole that is the “high, lonesome sound.”

(Key Tracks: “I Don’t Mind,” “All The Pretty Colors,” “Turtles All The Way Down”)

PHISH: SIGMA OASIS For a longtime prog-rock act whose legend and lore resides in staggering, innovative live performances, Phish found itself off the road

and stuck at home like the rest of us. But, for a band that’s always taken lemons and made lemonade, the Vermont quartet offered up a whimsical album filled with optimism, compassion and, most importantly, human connection. If anything, Phish sent out its rock-nroll signal into the cosmos (amid chaotic and confusing times) to let us know we’re all in this together, and we’ll be back together soon enough — something they’ve done time and again for almost 40 years.

(Key Tracks: “Everything’s Right,” “Mercury,” “Sigma Oasis”)

JOHN ANDERSON: YEARS

In a move seemingly out of left field, classic country crooner John Anderson reappeared on the radar of Nashville after several years of avoiding the spotlight due to health issues. It all started with a phone call from rock star musician/producer Dan Auerbach (who was curious what Anderson was up to these days). That initial conversation turned into casual songwriting sessions, which led to tracking the numbers in the studio. Filled with tear-in-your-beer ballads and honkytonk gems reflecting on a long and productive career, the record showcases one of the great country voices — this victory lap of sorts in a time when the music industry is rallying around and holding up its living legends for all to see and embrace, Anderson included.

(Key Tracks: “I’m Still Hangin’ On,” “Tuesday I’ll Be Gone,” “Chasing Down A Dream”)

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

looked at my smart phone. Monday evening. It nearing 9 o’clock and it was high time I made it back home. Finishing my drink, I paid my bar tab at the neighborhood watering hole in downtown Waynesville and went home — just around the corner, a hop, skip and jump from there to here.

This time of year, the late fall/early winter darkness at 5 p.m. feels like 10 p.m., with

I

the ensuing darkness at 9 p.m. reminiscent of a few minutes past midnight. You don’t really want to go home, but you can’t stay here, you know?

Walk up onto my porch, turn the key in the door and enter the humble abode.

Grab a cold domestic beer from the fridge and take a seat in the trusty recliner. For someone that has a hard time falling asleep before 2 a.m., I now have to figure out how to keep myself occupied for the next five hours.

Grab my acoustic guitar from the love seat and strum a few chords. Pull a wellworn Kerouac book from the nearby shelf and read a chapter or two. Forty-five minutes have passed and still more time to try and waste.

December 16-22, 2020

No regrets, coyote, we just come from such different sets of circumstance

sister is doing, some six months pregnant with my second niece and hoping for the best, her new husband by her side, trying to make things make sense for her and my sixyear-old niece, Lucy. Let them sleep peacefully. Let them try and live some semblance of a normal life amid wild and uncertain times.

Joni echoes from the speakers. It’s “Blue Motel Room.” She speaks of a space that I know all too well being an old road dog.

Unnamed cities and anonymous hotel digs.

Trying to get comfortable in a foreign place.

Trying to make something from nothing in your personal and professional aspirations.

Thoughts of girls you should have told you really loved then and there, regrets of pursuing faces and places that you knew well ahead of time weren’t worth your time.

Onward, eh?

I wonder what the New Year will hold.

Listening to radio and TV broadcasts, reading article after article as to what others suggest or think may be our landscape coming into January and the rest of the new calendar year.

It’s anyone’s guess, but I remain optimistic. I do. I will always. Sip the lukewarm domestic beer and look out the window for the 581st time of the evening. Four hours to go and maybe my eyelids will finally become heavy enough to pull the comforter back on the bed and I slide in for a hopeful night of slumber.

There are people I miss, so many damn people. I see them on Facebook and Instagram. But, it is, sadly, not the same. I can’t remember the last time we went for coffee or a beer, just talking, reminiscing and pondering (the past, present and future) as the whole world simply walks by without a care. I, and they, remain.

Not much traffic this time of night, at least these days. The sporadic cat, dog and wild animal passes by the window. Fingers typing wildly on the laptop keyboard, trying, ever so delicately and patiently. The lukewarm beer is almost gone.

Thankfully, there are, at least, a few cold ones left in the fridge within reach. Sip and think of the “before times.” Sip and remember the good times spent with incredible people, wild souls that lit the fire within (and still do). I remember them and I salute them from my humble abode. Until we meet again, my dear friends and loved ones.

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

arts & entertainment

This must be the place

For someone who never wants to have a minute pass without a worthy cause, being told to sit still and, well, wait until the sun rises tomorrow is a tough gig. I’ve never been able to sit still. The nuns hated that about myself and my character when I went to a Catholic elementary school way up on the Canadian Border in the 1990s.

And yet, here I am, some 1,100 miles south as the crow flies. Told to sit still. And wait.

Nowhere to go.

Nobody to see. Onward to 2021 with hopeful thoughts and sentiments to what the New Year will bring.

Throw on the stereo. The melodies shift wildly from Curtis Mayfield to Kayne West, George Harrison to Joni Mitchell.

Sidenote: “Hejira” is a masterpiece. Did you know that the late bass icon Jaco Pastorius is featured front and center on the album? Also, track down the YouTube clip of Joni rocking “Coyote” alongside Bob Dylan and Roger McGuinn, with Gordon Lightfoot sitting restlessly in the background, cigarette in hand and in awe of Joni and her mesmerizing presence.

The cold domestic beer now becomes lukewarm, eyes gazing out the front window onto Russ Avenue. Not much traffic this time of night, at least these days. The sporadic cat, dog and wild animal passes by the window at this hour.

Fingers typing wildly on the laptop keyboard, trying, ever so delicately and patiently, to meet deadlines so my publisher has something to edit, to proof and send along to our graphic designer and kick out the door as part of the newspaper delivered to you and yours by Wednesday morning.

I wonder what the New Year will hold. I wonder how my parents are holding up back in Upstate New York. I wonder how my little

Smoky Mountain News

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arts & entertainment

On the street Sylva celebrates holiday season The Main Street Sylva Association (MSSA) is working hard to provide a Covid-safe holiday experience for visitors and locals alike in 2020.

The MSSA has already started its annual “Shop Small, Shop Local” campaign by distributing flyers and making social media posts about effort. This is in conjunction with the annual American Express campaign, which assists small towns all across the country with marketing materials.

By being Covid safe, the public is encouraged to social distance, wear a mask and frequently sanitize hands.

The MSSA has announced that holiday music will be provided throughout the “Home for the Holidays” season.

Downtown shoppers and diners can expect

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

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

Smoky Mountain News

December 16-22, 2020

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

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends.

Free and open to the public. www.froglevelbrewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host an Open Mic Night Dec. 17, Good Bonez Dec. 18, Gary Carter 3 p.m. Dec. 20 and Trailer Hippies Dec. 26. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. For more information and a complete schedule of events, click on www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

ALSO:

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host BMLB Dec. 19 and We Three Swing 1 p.m. Dec. 20.

All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. For more information and a complete schedule of events, click on www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. www.nantahalabrewing.com.

• “Paint & Pour” will be held from 7 to 9 p.m.

Dec. 16 at Balsam Falls Brewing in Sylva.

Cost is $20 per person, with all materials provided. RSVP at the Balsam Falls Brewing Facebook page.

• The annual “Handmade Holiday Sale,” which is normally held at Western Carolina University, will have its event go virtual this 20 year. Those interested can view and pur-

to hear holiday music from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18.

For the first time, the Bridge Park Pavilion will be lit up throughout the holiday season. Shops have also been encouraged by the MSSA to stay open late on Fridays and Saturdays throughout the holiday season.

The Jackson County Ale Trail will be extra spirited this season with “Holiday Cheer Beer” styles ready to pour at taprooms in Innovation, Balsam Falls, Nantahala and Lazy Hiker breweries.

Earlier this year, the Town of Sylva Board of Commissioners decided to cancel the annual Sylva Christmas Parade due to the pandemic. The Jackson County Farmers Market will be open on all Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Bridge Park parking lot during the holidays as usual.

For more information, contact the Main Street Sylva Team at 828.586.2155 or email mainstreetsylvateam@gmail.com.

chase the handmade items by clicking on arts.wcu.edu/handmade.

• The “Mini Holiday Photo Shoot” will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Dec. 21 at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. Area families are invited to schedule a shoot. The library has set up a festive backdrop, complete with a Christmas tree and stockings hanging above a fireplace.

Appointments can be made the day of the shoot. No walk-ins. Three prints of your choice will be provided and photos will also be emailed upon request.

828.488.3030.

• The “Community Christmas Eve Service of Candlelight and Worship” will be presented

by Cowee Baptist Church at 6 p.m. Dec. 24 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

Masks will be required and space is limited. Doors will open 30 minutes prior to the service. This event is free and no tickets are necessary. www.greatmountainmusic.com.

• “Winter Wonderland Nights” will continue through the holiday season in Franklin.

Downtown will feature living window displays of the holidays, live sounds of the season outdoors at the gazebo and inside stores, free holiday attractions (weather permitting), refreshments, hot cider, great sales from local merchants, and much more. www.franklin-chamber.com.

• The annual “Polar Express” train ride is now departing 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 click on www.gsmr.com.

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

Isaacs return to Franklin

The Isaacs.

Renowned act The Isaacs will perform a special Christmas show at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 20, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

The Isaacs are a Nashville based, multi-award winning family group, consisting of siblings Ben Isaacs, Sonya Isaacs Yeary and Rebecca Isaacs Bowman, and their mother, Lily Isaacs, who is the daughter of Polish, Jewish Holocaust survivors.

The band’s unique style showcases tight family harmony and blends their multi-genre musical influences of bluegrass, rhythm and blues, folk, country, and Southern Gospel.

And now, The Isaacs invite you to celebrate the traditional and sacred sounds of the Christmas Season, from their family to yours.

Tickets start at $20 per person. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on www.greatmountainmusic.com or call 828.524.1598.

Cowee School awards art grants The Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center recently announced the 2020-21 NC Arts Council Artist Support Grant Recipients for Region 18.

Eleven artists from Region 18 (Clay, Cherokee, Graham, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties) received a total of $10,071 in funding from the NC Arts Council.

The grants were administered through the Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center in Franklin. The Artist Support Grants were created to provide direct support to individual artists during and following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The initiative will fund professional and artistic development for emerging and established artists to enhance their skills and abilities to create work or to improve their business operations and capacity to bring their work to new audiences.

In addition to the funding provided by the NC Arts Council, several matching grants were given by local arts councils and organizations. Jackson County Arts Council granted an additional $1,000, Clay County Arts Council granted $600, and the Cowee School Arts and Heritage Center granted $600.

Leaders of local arts organizations served on an advisory committee as well, overseeing the process in their own counties and working with Cowee School. Lena Woods (Jackson County), David Vowell (Cherokee County), Reba Beck (Clay County), Beth Fields (Graham County) and

Rachel Lackey (Swain County) served on the advisory committee.

In order to apply for this grant, artists eligible represented either visual, craft, performing, traditional or interdisciplinary art forms. Each of the 11 recipients received full project funding, in amounts ranging from $571 to $1,000 per artist.

Here are the 2020-21 grant recipients, along with their artistic discipline and county of residence: • Allyson Gernandt, Jewelry, Swain County • Ann Woodford, Painting, Cherokee County • Annette Clapsaddle, Writing, Jackson County • Betty Maney, Basket Weaving, Jackson County • Deborah Bryant, Textiles, Jackson County • Eric Reagan, Sculpture, Swain County • Kathleen Marshall, Textiles, Macon County • Lindsey Liden, Woodworking, Cherokee County • Mary Thompson, Basket Weaving, Jackson County • Tom McMillan, Woodworking, Jackson County • Zan Barnes, Pottery, Jackson County For additional information, contact Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center at 828.369.4080 or maconheritagecenter@gmail.com.

On the shelf

If you’re looking for a wise, humorous, and lovely book about the American South and about the human spirit in general, you’ll

Jeff Minick

I

I asked her, in good faith, if she was eating well.

“Yes,” she lied.

“What are you eating?” I asked.

“A pineapple sandwich on white bread with mayonnaise,” she replied.

“You’ve got to eat better,” I said.

“Do you want one?” she asked.

“Sure,” I answered.

find all those things and more in Where I Come From.

Still have a few more to check off your list?

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Smoky Mountain News

••• Reading fiction can introduce us to people and beliefs we might otherwise never know. We step into a world very different from our own and meet men and women as alien to us as Martians.

About two months ago, I was sitting in a church-sponsored coffee shop on Main Street in Front Royal, Virginia. On the walls are pictures of Biblical scenes, Christian music plays on the sound system, and the café closes down on Sundays. Though it’s not my favorite coffee shop in town, I like the quiet atmosphere for my work, and the chef puts together a delicious chicken salad croissant.

At a near-by table a woman was doing a

book signing. She had few takers — the coronavirus has put a dent in business here — so I wandered over to her table, introduced myself, and ask if I might review her book. She readily agreed, and so here goes.

Set in the Shenandoah Valley, Come To The River by April Stinson Stubbs tells many stories, but focuses primarily on 29year-old Abby, a home-health nurse, and on her twin sister, Andi, a promiscuous woman who drinks too much and has a habit of finding trouble before it finds her.

Enter Dr. Isaac Graham, a widower and parent of a little girl. He settles in the town to work in a community clinic and soon finds himself attracted to Abby.

Come To The River is centered around that courtship and on Andi’s journey back from the depths of addiction and depression.

So far, this plot sounds like many others, yes? So what makes Come To The River different from the novels so many of us read?

Faith.

In addition to Graham and Abby, we meet other members of the Living Waters Church. We encounter a woman who rises many times in the middle of the night to pray for troubled souls. We get to know people who daily walk by faith, who trust in a higher power, and who bring that faith alive in the concern and help they offer others.

The novel has some problems, particularly in its overabundance of characters. Some might say — I am not one of them — the story relies too heavily on coincidence, and on pages 42 and 77, when Abby and Isaac are visiting, the line “They shared their salvation stories and tidbits about their lives” is repeated.

These things aside, Come To The River introduces readers to true believers, Christians who, like others fervent in their faith, are often mocked in our contemporary culture. Having personally known some folks like these in Asheville and Waynesville, I can vouch for the authenticity of how Stubbs portrays them in her novel.

If you want to understand some of your neighbors better, you might read Come To The River.

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

December 16-22, 2020

n his short essay, “Dear Santa (Again),” Rick Bragg writes, “For my big brother Sam, I would like you to send a cinder block. He can place it atop his foot, when he drives. I once wrote that all he needed to pass for an old woman behind the wheel was a pillbox hat and pearls, but have since decided that is insulting … to old women.

Old women blow right past him.”

That is just one small example of the wit and humor found in Bragg’s Where I Come From: Stories from the Deep South (Alfred A. Knopf, 2020, 237 pages). In this collection are more than 70 short essays, nearly all of which first appeared in “Southern Living” and “Garden and Gun,” reflections on the writer’s relatives, Writer his travels — “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” about a “trip” to Hawaii made me burst out laughing — fishing, other writers, and of course, the South.

In his “Prologue,” Bragg dedicates his book to his deceased but always-beloved Aunt Jo and tells us, “The stories in this collection are of the South’s gentler, easier nature. It is a litany of great talkers, bluegreen waters, deep casseroles, kitchen-sink permanents, lying fishermen, haunted mansions, and dogs that never die, things that make this place more than a dotted line on a map or a long-ago failed rebellion, even if only in some cold-weather dream.”

During this tour of Southern folks and manners, Bragg pays homage to Pat Conroy, author of such books as The Water Is Wide, The Great Santini, and The Prince of Tides, and to Harper Lee of To Kill A Mockingbird fame. Bragg was friends with Conroy, and highly admired the reclusive Harper Lee, whom he once met. For those of us who love these writers, Bragg’s accounts of them are wonderful gifts, making us appreciate them all the more. It is ironic that the week before I began reading this book, the school system in Burbank, California, banned the teaching of To Kill A Mockingbird.

Where I Come From is filled with so many amusements and riches that I scarcely know where to being in sharing them. In “Better Watch Out,” for example, Santa Claus writes to Bragg, “This year alone, you said 87,853 bad words, and that was just driving through Atlanta. And don’t think I have not been keeping up with your career, if you can call it that. All you’ve done for about twenty-five years is write a few books, and when you sign them your penmanship looks like that of a drunken monkey. Tighten up.”

Some of these sketches focus on Bragg’s mother, featured in Bragg’s memoir All Over But The Shoutin’. Written for Mother’s Day, the piece “Who’s in Charge Here?” includes this exchange:

This Holiday Season SHOP LOCAL

arts & entertainment

Folks and faith: two books about the South

21

22

Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

Extensive training is required to safely rig rope for rescues like this one at, Whitewater Falls in Jackson County.

Kyle James, field team lead for Haywood Search and Rescue, carefully crosses a tributary of the West Fork Pigeon River.

Nancy East photo

Haywood SAR photo

Safety net Nonprofit aims to bolster search and rescue ops

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER t was the fall of 2019, and Bill Zimmerman had just hopped in a truck with other members of the Haywood County Wilderness Search and Rescue Team in response to one of the 21 deployments the crew handled that year.

I

“Somebody goes, ‘We don’t even have a gas card. We don’t even have money to put into the truck to get up to the mountain,’” Zimmerman recalled.

It was a crystallizing moment for Zimmerman, who had for some time been toying with the idea of starting up an organization dedicated to funding the SAR team.

That day served as the catalyst that spurred him to action, and now Zimmerman is president of the newly formed nonprofit WNC Wilderness Safety Fund.

“More money is more training. More money is being able to replace equipment that we might have to go without because we weren’t able to afford it,” said SAR Captain

Do your part Haywood County has one of the most organized and highly trained volunteer search and rescue teams around. Here’s how you can help this crew continue to fulfill its lifesaving mission. n Donate to the WNC Wilderness Safety Fund at www.wncwildernesssafety.org. n Join the team. Find out how at www.haywoodrescue.org/specialty-teams/sar. n Don’t become a rescue call. For tips on planning and packing appropriately, visit www.americanhiking.org/resources/planning-your-hike.

Mike Street. “That’s the goal, is just being more efficient in our job.”

In 2019, the crew responded to 21 calls for help, with an average of 67 volunteer hours per call. Demand surged in 2020, with 31 deployments so far this year. Prior to 2019, annual rescues had generally sat closer to 35 — Street said improved signage at the Shining Rock Wilderness Area likely helped bring that figure down in 2019, with pandemic-related cabin fever boosting trail use, and therefore rescue calls, in 2020.

“The biggest thing is how awesome these guys are,” said Haywood County Emergency Services Director Greg Shuping. “I can attest to their training and professionalism and the fact that this county absolutely just could not do without them. They have become even more so almost a regional resource.”

STARTING IN THE DARK The all-volunteer SAR team is an indispensable resource to a region whose bread and butter is the millions of people who arrive each year to explore the seemingly limitless trails and views of Western North Carolina.

While most of those adventures conclude without incident, every year there’s a subset that result in a call to 911. Crew members know the woods incredibly well, and sometimes they’re able to talk the caller back to familiar territory. Other times, the crew deploys to the backcountry.

“Generally, when we get calls, they come in at 9, 10 o’clock at night,” said Zimmerman.

“When it gets dark, people start getting worried.”

Crew members come prepared to spend the night in the backcountry if necessary, and many times those nights are anything but restful.

That was certainly the case on Oct. 27, when the crew responded to one of its most

complex calls this calendar year. Around 5 p.m. that evening, a local bear hunter radioed out a message that he had been injured in a fall above Sunburst Campground off of Lake Logan Road. Luckily, he was able to transmit his exact location.

“We have a dot on a map that says he’s on the side of a hill way out in the wilderness,” said Zimmerman, who was one of the first to respond to the call. “Once we got out there it was obvious he had to be hauled out.”

Hauling him out would require rigging a series of four rope systems, calling for a helicopter evacuation, setting up a landing zone and, finally, watching the patient disappear into the blindingly bright, noisy wind of the Black Hawk helicopter.

“All of a sudden it’s complete silence.

There’s your team — at this point there’s 25 or 30 people out there — standing there in the dark, like ‘OK, we’re done. We’re going to be walking out,’” said Zimmerman. “It’s a weird feeling.”

By the time the crew was out of the woods with equipment checked back in, it was 7 in the morning.

Nobody on the SAR Team gets paid for their services, and in fact even joining the crew requires an impressive outlay of time and money. The basic training required of all team members totals 72 hours, with extra time required for more advanced and specialized skills. Members must also furnish their own gear.

“I thought, ‘Hey, I like to hike. I wouldn’t mind helping out if somebody needed help,’ and joined the team,” said Zimmerman of his own decision to join about five years ago. “So, once I got it, I was like, ‘Whoa this is a lot more involved than I thought it was going to be,’ because it’s a heck of a lot of training.”

While most people interested in joining the team already have a good portion of the items required, buying

Noland certified in playground inspection

USDA launches contact center A new contact center is available for people with questions for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The AskUSDA Contact Center opened Nov. 23 to serve as “one front door” for phone, chat and web inquiries.

Prior to AskUSDA, people had to navigate dozens of phone numbers and had no option for selfservice online, creating frustration. AskUSDA can connect people to USDA representatives via phone, facilitate chatting with a live agent on the website or allow email communication.

Representatives are available by phone from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays at 833.ONE.USDA and online at ask.usda.gov, with live chat agents from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays. Send email inquiries to askusda@usda.gov.

everything on the list of required gear would likely end up costing around $1,000, said Zimmerman. In the case of the bear hunter rescue, some of that expensive personal gear wound up sacrificed to the cause.

“They dropped down to pick up the patient, and so everything we’ve packaged the patient with is gone with the helicopter,” said Zimmerman.

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December 16-22, 2020

The Wilderness Safety Fund is still in its infancy, but Zimmerman hopes to see it mature into a stable organization with sufficient funding to provide gear, equipment and training not only to Haywood County Wilderness Search and Rescue but also for search and rescue teams regionwide.

“We’re all in the same boat,” said Street.

“It’s all volunteer. There’s not a paid search and rescue team in Western North Carolina.”

The goal for 2020 was to get the fund organized, set up and functioning. The organization marked that milestone back in September, when a man from Virginia who had been fishing Yellowstone Prong with his girlfriend got turned around and realized he wouldn’t be able to make it out on his own that night. The SAR team responded, saving him from spending an uncomfortable night outside in 30-degree weather.

“I ended up giving him a card from our fund. I think it’s the first time we’ve done that,” said Zimmerman. “And he actually made a nice donation after he got back.”

Usually, the people that the SAR team ends up rescuing aren’t locals. They’re usually visitors, and 90 percent of the time they’re people who end up in over their heads in the Shining Rock Wilderness.

There’s no charge for rescue services, but the fund provides an easy way for people who benefit from the team’s expertise to show their appreciation. Previously, there was no direct way to do that. People could donate to the Haywood County Rescue Squad, but because the SAR team is only a

small subset of that organization, it wasn’t a very targeted way to direct the money.

“Now we have this mechanism that we can say, this is who we are. Your money will go directly to help with these kind of services,” said Zimmerman.

Eventually, Zimmerman hopes to see the fund grow enough to expand that roster of services by developing specialized squads within the SAR Team — swiftwater, drone and dive teams, for instance.

“That gets more expensive, honestly,” he said. “Now I’m not talking about personal gear. I’m talking about rafts and dive tanks and drones.”

Not to mention the training.

In addition to potential future training with boats and drones, Zimmerman also hopes to see the fund support larger training events with the teams from other jurisdictions with whom Haywood often finds itself cooperating in the field. The bear hunter rescue, for example, involved about 60 rescuers and responders representing 16 different agencies. The operation also involved a paramedic from Haywood EMS’s newly formed Special Ops Medics, a team that aims to provide professional paramedics who are trained for wilderness settings.

“To see people for the first time in the field in an active rescue is not the best time,” said Zimmerman. “It’s better to have trained with them.”

Of course, he said, “the best rescue is the rescue you don’t have to do,” so another goal is to boost preventative search and rescue efforts. That could mean more signage and informational displays coaching people on how to be safe in the woods, as well as seminars and workshops teaching people key wilderness preparation and navigation skills.

There are a lot of possibilities, and they all focus around one goal — helping people make good choices in the backcountry and boosting the odds that when something does go wrong, there will be a network of trained and equipped volunteers ready to save the day.

DAVIS

outdoors

A Waynesville Parks and Recreation employee was recently certified as a playground safety inspector.

Michael Noland, outdoor maintenance supervisor for the department, earned the certification from the National Recreation

Park Association. The program provides comprehensive and up-to-date training on playground safety issues including hazard identification, equipment specifications, surfacing requirements and risk management methods. Noland can bring his skills to bear on Waynesville’s six playgrounds.

Noland, a lifetime Waynesville resident, has been employed by the Town of Waynesville for six years.

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December 16-22, 2020

outdoors

Wildlife Commission proposes rule changes The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is proposing a slate of rule changes related to wildlife management, inland fisheries and game lands, with public comment open through Monday, Feb. 1.

The proposals include: • Prohibit horseback riding at William H. Silver Game Land. The proposal is in response to vegetation damage that horseback riders have created on linear wildlife openings on the game land. The damage harms the property’s suitability for elk and creates the threat of erosion problems.

• Add the definition of “Seven Days per Week Game Land” for lands where hunting is allowed seven days per week during hunting seasons and “Four Days per Week Game Land” for lands where hunting is allowed Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

Previously, game lands had been classified as allowing hunting for either six or four days per week. The proposed changes are in response to legislation allowing Sunday hunting on public lands. The rule would indicate that on Sundays hunting is prohibited between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., as is the use of a firearm to take deer that are chased by dogs and hunting within 500 yards of a place of religious worship. The areas to allow hunting seven days per week would include Cold Mountain, Nantahala, Needmore, Pisgah, Toxaway and William H. Silver.

• Remove 3.7 miles of Hemphill Creek

in Haywood County from the list of Wild Trout Natural Bait Waters. The stream is located on private property and public access is limited. Hemphill Creek will default as undesignated.

• Remove Buff Creek in Jackson County from Wild Trout Natural Bait Waters.

Much of the stream, 2.8 miles, is located on private property and public access is limited. The remaining mile is on game land.

The portion of Buff Creek on private property will default as undesignated.

• Remove Franks Creek in Graham County from Wild Trout Natural Bait Waters. Much of the stream, 4.1 miles, is located on private property and public access is limited. An additional 0.4 miles is

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on game lands. The portion of Franks Creek on private property will default as undesignated.

• Add the African Longfin Eel, Creole Painted Crayfish, Bigclaw Crayfish, Marbled Crayfish or Marmorkrebs, Applesnail, Olive Mysterysnail, European Eel, Oriental Weatherfish, Brown Hoplo, Yellow Bass, Shortfin Eel, Crucian Carp, Prussian Carp, European Perch, European Minnow and Amur Sleeper to the list of species for which it is unlawful to transport, purchase, possess, sell or stock in the public or private waters of North Carolina. These nonnative species can become invasive and nuisance species in North Carolina.

• Modify the definition of muzzle-loading firearm to allow the use of pre-loaded powder capsules in muzzleloaders during blackpowder season. This proposed amendment will allow for the use of new technology that is less intimidating to hunters and may increase opportunities for hunters to use muzzleloaders in a safe way.

• Modify the permitted archery equipment to allow use of sling bows in taking white-tailed deer. Sling bows continue to increase in popularity and were made legal

in North Carolina for wild turkey, small game animals, nongame animals, and nongame fish in 2019.

• Create a NCWRC private land program called “Quail Management Area” that would allow dedicated property managers enrolled in the program to implement specific additional management actions, including trapping programs to reduce the abundance of the most important quail nest predators and providing supplemental feed without impacting the ability to hunt quail on the property.

• Allow use of remote trap checking systems instead of a physical trap check under specified conditions. Representatives of the wildlife damage control industry feel the devices would improve their ability to more quickly respond to an activated trap, which will not only improve animal welfare, but improve their efficiency, reduce costs and make them look more professional.

A public hearing will be held online at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21. Comments can be submitted online through Monday, Feb. 1, or sent through the mail to Rule-Making Coordinator, N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, 1701 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1700.

For more information, including a full list of proposed rules, a comment submission portal and a link to register for the online hearing, visit www.ncwildlife.org/proposed-regulations.

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OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

outdoors

Rebecca Ayres photo

Hours shortened for Arboretum’s Winter Lights will enjoy several nature-themed displays, including winter wildlife, butterflies, a special insect lantern exhibit and a giant daisy “garden.” Upon arrival, guests will select a special radio station that features the sounds of their favorite holiday tunes to accompany the show from inside their vehicle.

When purchased in advance, tickets are $25 per vehicle and $30 at the gate. Rates are higher for commercial vans and coaches. Arboretum Society members receive a $3 discount, and discounted pricing is available on Tuesdays. Buy online at ncwinterlights.com. Proceeds directly support the Arboretum’s mission-driven programming.

Shop with Haywood Waterways

Bring knowledge to your home garden A series of horticulture classes aimed at home gardeners will be offered in the New Year through Haywood County Cooperative Extension.

Planned sessions are: n Jan. 19, Vegetable Gardening n Feb. 17, Lawn & Weeds n March 2, Introduction to Home Food Preservation n March 18, Landscaping with Native

Plants n April 13, Pruning Trees & Shrubs Classes, taught by extension agents and experienced Master Gardener volunteers, will last for approximately two hours and be held via Zoom until face-to-face training is possible.

Sign up by emailing mgarticles@charter.net. Cost is $10 per class.

Smoky Mountain News

An online auction benefiting Haywood Waterways Association is open through 10 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18.

The selection includes adventures, art, entertainment, experiences, food, health, wellness and more. Items will be added throughout the week.

Purchases are available for pickup beginning Saturday, Dec. 19. Delivery may be arranged within a reasonable distance, but some items may not be available for shipping.

Check out the auction at hwai.betterworld.org/auctions/holiday-auction. info@haywoodwaterways.org or 828.476.4667.

December 16-22, 2020

The operating hours for Winter Lights at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville have been shortened slightly in response to Gov. Roy Cooper’s modified “Stay at Home” order announced last week.

The show will be open nightly through Jan. 10 from 5:30 to 10 p.m., with gates closing at 9:30 p.m. It has previously remained open through 10:30 p.m.

The event has been reimagined as a drive-thru experience this year due to COVID-19, with guests navigating a 1-mile stretch of the Arboretum’s campus to see unique exhibits covered in thousands of lights. As part of the show’s redesign, visitors

25

outdoors

After school sessions offered at Cataloochee Cataloochee Ski Area will continue to offer its Afterschool Ski & Ride Program in 2021, using a seven-week format that will

Apply in person or e-mail your resume to Chris@ThePrintHaus.com

begin the week of Jan. 5.

Students will choose which day of the week to attend and whether to join the ski,

Run into the New Year

December 16-22, 2020 Smoky Mountain News 26

snowboard, social hour or terrain park group. Each program includes seven sessions with one makeup day should the ski area be closed on any of the scheduled days.

Once a day and discipline are chosen, students will not be allowed to switch groups.

There will be six spots offered per instructor, allowing the group to space out better when working through progressions and riding the lift.

Lessons last 90 minutes, and face coverings must be worn indoors, and during the lesson when social distancing is not possible.

Cost is $110 for lesson only, $130 for a lift ticket and $50 for equipment rental. Space is limited, and sign-ups end Jan. 2. Learn more or sign up at cataloochee.com/programs/afterschool-programs.

Jackson County’s annual Run in 2021 5K will be held in a virtual format this year.

The virtual race begins at 6 a.m. Friday, Jan. 1. Participants can run or walk 5 kilometers anywhere they please, submitting results by noon Jan. 3. T-shirts can be picked up between Dec. 30 and Jan. 9, with mailing available as well.

Cost is $20. Register at www.runsignup.com.

‘100 Favorite Trails’ map gets update

Puzzles can be found on page 30 These are only the answers.

More than 35 Carolina Mountain Club members banded together to create an updated version of the widely popular “100 Favorite Trails of the Smokies and the Carolina Blue Ridge” map, the first such update in more than 25 years.

Published by the Great Smoky Mountains Association, the full-color map is printed on waterproof paper and contains numbered trail locations, trail lengths and elevation gains, as well as detailed hike directions.

Bernard Elias created the first edition of the map in 1966, and it was an immediate hit with hikers, featuring the very best hikes of the Blue Ridge and the Great Smokies in a single portable package. Upon his death in 2010, Elias, a charter member of the Sierra Club and Appalachian Trail Conservancy, proclaimed the map to be the greatest accomplishment of his life.

Elias updated the map 13 times before its last printing in 1993, when his age prevented him from completing many of the map’s trails. After that, the map went out of

print and remained largely forgotten until Steve Kemp, former interpretive products and services director for GSMA, stumbled upon a copy in a Little Switzerland bookstore. Kemp found that copies of the map were selling for up to $300 online, and in 2014 he contacted CMC about printing a long-overdue update.

CMC council member Steven Pierce got involved, coordinating with hike leaders and members to review selected hikes, hike the trails, use the CMC database to verify driving directions and write and review the trail descriptions, also updating all the GPS tracks for the map.

Previous versions of the map included trails more geared toward backpackers, but the updated edition focuses on day hikes of varying lengths in the Smokies and the Blue Ridge Mountains. The “100 Favorite Trails” map is best suited for selecting and keeping track of trails hiked in the area, and its creators recommend that, when setting out on a trail, people carry a more detailed map focused on that particular area.

The map and guide are available for $12.95 in the park’s visitor center bookstores and at www.smokiesinformation.org.

WNC Calendar COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • A warm clothing give away will take place at 9 a.m.

Thursday, Dec. 17, in the lower parking lot of Canton First Baptist Church. Ten adults will be allowed at one time, masks are mandatory and children not allowed.

Food Box Distribution will begin at 11 a.m. in the CFBC upper parking lot. Coats of all sizes, blankets, gloves and warm socks are all needed. Volunteers will be greatly appreciated. Items can be left at CFBC Monday thru Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., or anytime if in plastic bags or dropped into clothes boxes.

• The Jackson County Branch of the NC NAACP meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. Dec.19, will NOT be meeting face to face, but online. The program topic is "The State of the Movement for Equity." President Enrique Gomez will deliver his last report to the Branch. Members will also be electing officers to the National NAACP. Email jcnnaacp54@gmail.com to receive instructions to join online. The public is welcome to join this meeting.

• The Jackson County Public Library, The Department on Aging, and The Department of Social Services are collecting new blankets for people in need. New hats, scarves, and gloves can also be donated. Items can be dropped off at Jackson County Public Library's Atrium, the Jackson County Department of Aging's front desk and the front desk of The Department of Social Services. Items should be new and in their packaging.

Blankets and other items will be available for those in need through Jan. 15 at the three locations listed above. For more information, call 828.586.2016.

A&E

• The Isaacs will perform a special Christmas show at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 20, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Tickets start at $20 per person. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to www.greatmountainmusic.com or call 828.524.1598.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host an Open Mic Night Dec. 17, Good Bonez Dec. 18, Gary Carter 3 p.m.

Dec. 20 and Trailer Hippies Dec. 26. All shows begin at 7 p.m. For more information and a complete schedule of events, click on www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

n All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted. n To have your item listed email to calendar@smokymountainnews.com Waynesville. There is no charge to attend. For additional questions, contact the church office at 828.456.3993 ext. 101 or Communications@LongsChapel.com • The “Community Christmas Eve Service of Candlelight and Worship” will be presented by Cowee Baptist Church at 6 p.m. Dec. 24 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

Masks will be required, and space is limited. Doors will open 30 minutes prior to the service. This event is free. www.greatmountainmusic.com.

• The annual “Handmade Holiday Sale,” which is normally held at Western Carolina University, will have its event go virtual this year. Those interested can view and purchase the handmade items by clicking on arts.wcu.edu/handmade.

• “Winter Wonderland Nights” will continue through the holiday season in Franklin. Downtown will feature living window displays of the holidays, live sounds of the season outdoors at the gazebo and inside stores, free holiday attractions (weather permitting), refreshments, hot cider, great sales from local merchants, and much more. www.franklin-chamber.com.

• First United Methodist Church in Sylva will be holding online Christmas worship services. "Lessons and Carols,” the Christmas story told through song and scripture will begin Monday, Dec. 21. Christmas Eve Candlelight service will be broadcast live at 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 24. Broadcasts can be found at www.youtube.com/sylvafirstunitedmethodistchurch or www.sylvafumc.org. For more information contact the church office at 828.586.2358.

• The “Mini Holiday Photo Shoot” will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Dec. 21 at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. Area families are invited to schedule a shoot. The library has set up a festive backdrop, complete with a Christmas tree and stockings hanging above a fireplace. Appointments can be made the day of the shoot. No walk-ins. Three prints of your choice will be provided and photos will also be emailed upon request. 828.488.3030.

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host BMLB Dec. 19 and We Three Swing 1 p.m. Dec. 20. All shows begin at 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. For more information and a complete schedule of events, click on www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Waynesville Art School will host “Let's Paint! A Fairy Tale in Blue” from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 16. The class is available to children eight years and older.

Registration is required, cost is $25.

• “Paint & Pour” will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Dec. 16 at Balsam Falls Brewing in Sylva. Cost is $20 per person, with all materials provided. Please RSVP at the Balsam Falls Brewing Facebook page.

• Waynesville Art School will host “Christmas Village” from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 16. The class is available to children eight years and older. Registration is required, cost is $25.

• Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) will host an open mic from 8 to 10 p.m. every Thursday. Free and open to the public. www.balsamfallsbrewing.com.

• Waynesville Art School will host “Paper Luminaries” from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 17. The class is available to children eight years and older. Registration is required, cost is $25.

HOLIDAY EVENTS • The annual “Polar Express” train ride is now departing 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 click on www.gsmr.com.

• Long’s Chapel presents a Drive-Thru Christmas Story from 5-8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 19 and Sunday, Dec. 20. The drive-thru Christmas story will take place on the church grounds located at 133 Old Clyde Road,

• Waynesville Art School will host “Flying Dragons: Cardboard Mobiles” from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 17.

The class is available to children six years and older.

Registration is required, cost is $25.

Smoky Mountain News

Outdoors

• Friends of Panthertown is hosting a series of trail work days this fall, and all are invited to come pitch in.

Upcoming work days are Saturday, Dec. 19. To sign up, visit www.panthertown.org/volunteer.

• Jackson County’s annual Run in 2021 5K will be held in a virtual format this year. The virtual race begins at 6 a.m. Friday, Jan. 1. Participants can run or walk 5 kilometers anywhere they please, submitting results by noon Jan. 3. T-shirts can be picked up between Dec. 30 and Jan. 9, with mailing available as well. Cost is $20.

Register at www.runsignup.com.

• The Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference, typically held each year in Savannah, Georgia, will be offered virtually this year Jan. 5-7. For more information, visit www.seregionalconference.org, or call 877.994.3842.

• Cataloochee Ski Area will continue to offer its Afterschool Ski & Ride Program in 2021, using a sevenweek format that will begin the week of Jan. 5. Cost is $110 for lesson only, $130 for a lift ticket and $50 for equipment rental. Space is limited, and sign-ups end Jan. 2. Learn more or sign up at cataloochee.com/programs/afterschool-programs.

• A series of horticulture classes aimed at home gardeners will be offered in the New Year through Haywood County Cooperative Extension. Planned sessions are: Jan. 19, Vegetable Gardening; Feb. 17, Lawn & Weeds;

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

Complete listings of local music scene Regional festivals Art gallery events and openings Complete listings of recreational offerings at health and fitness centers n Civic and social club gatherings March 2, Introduction to Home Food Preservation; March 18, Landscaping with Native Plants; April 13, Pruning Trees & Shrubs. Classes, taught by extension agents and experienced Master Gardener volunteers, will last for approximately two hours and be held via Zoom until face-to-face training is possible. Sign up by emailing mgarticles@charter.net. Cost is $10 per class.

HIKING CLUBS • The Nantahala Hiking Club will take a moderate 5mile hike, elevation change 700 ft., from Harrison Gap to Locust Tree Gap on Saturday, Dec. 19. The club will meet at 9: 30 a.m. at Westgate Plaza. Call leader Gail Lehman, 524.5298, for reservations.

• The Nantahala Hiking Club will take a moderate 3mile hike, elevation change 300 ft., on Larry's Road (Forest Service Rd.7281) off the old Murphy Road on Sunday, Dec. 20. The club will meet at 2 p.m. at Westgate Plaza in Franklin. Call leader Kathy Ratcliff, 526.6480, for reservations.

SNOW REPORT 10 Trails Open 3 Aerial Lifts 1 Surface Lift 20 - 34 Inch Base 9am - 10pm FACE COVERINGS REQUIRED

ART SHOWINGS AND GALLERIES • The Haywood County Arts Council annual show, “It’s a Small, Small Work,” will be showcased through Jan. 9 at the HCAC Gallery & Gifts in Waynesville.

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Snow conditions can change quickly visit: cataloochee.com for the most up to date conditions

Market WNC PLACE

MarketPlace information:

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facebook.com/smnews December 16-22, 2020

US CELLULAR CORP. PROPOSES The construction of a 125-ft AGL (129-ft with appurtenances) monopole communications tower to be located at 43 Osborne Road, south-southeast

of the Town of Clyde, in Haywood County, North Carolina (Haywood County PID #8636-738831). Interested persons are invited to identify historic sites already listed in, or that may be eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in the vicinity of the proposed facility and to identify potential effects the facility may cause to these sites.

Questions or comments may be submitted by January 14, 2020 to: Tower Engineering Professionals, Inc. (Attn: George Swearingen) 326 Tryon Road, Raleigh, NC 27603 Telephone: (919) 661-6351 Fax: (919) 661-6350. This notice is provided in accordance with the regulations of the Federal Communications Commission, 47 C.F.R. Part 1, Appendices B and C. NOTICE OF INTENT TO FILE An Application for 2021-2022 Community Services Block Grant Funding. Mountain Projects Inc. Community Action Agency is completing an application for the Community Services Block Grant Program for funding in 2021-2022. Mountain Projects will be requesting $214,681 for the Central Intake and Referral Programs in Haywood and Jackson Counties. A small amount of funding will be used to support the GED Program in Jackson County. The review and approval of this application is scheduled for January 12, 2021.

WNC MarketPlace

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December 16-22, 2020

Log & Frame Homes - 828-734-9323 Mountain Dreams Realty- maggievalleyhomesales.com Mountain Creek Real Estate • Ron Rosendahl - 828-593-8700

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TO ADVERTISE IN THE NEXT ISSUE 828.452.4251 | ads@smokymountainnews.com WNC MarketPlace

29

SUPER

CROSSWORD

FILM CLASSES ACROSS 1 Store away 6 "Out of Africa" author Dinesen 10 TV "angel" player Cheryl 14 Bus costs 19 Equestrian arena 21 Puccini song 22 Trump's first wife 23 Case yet to be cracked 25 Rocker Bonnie 26 Honked 27 Major port of Japan 28 Ocean's main body 30 -- Jose 33 Quality Inn alternative 35 April 1 gag 40 Supple 43 Tons 44 Flinch from fear 48 Roving sorts 53 Danish port city 54 Hockey's Bobby 55 Internet automaton 56 Freshen 57 Central California city 59 What may develop between eHarmony members 63 Ballet attire 64 Minuscule 65 In the dumps 66 Reebok rival 67 Gift label 70 Carry out 75 Psychic gift 76 Other, to Gabriela 78 Flimflam

79 80 82 86 90 91 92 94 95 97 100 102 103 104 110 112 113 116 122 123 127 128 129 130 131 132 133

Top-secret govt. group Not colorful 1980 Lennon-Ono album Second half of an LP "It's the end of --" Vetoes, e.g.

Defunct U.K. record label Boxed stringed instrument Part of FDR Six Flags amusement park in New Jersey Capped body part "Morning Joe" airer Lessens Specialty of Sophocles Flub It's south of Rwanda Issues a ticket to, e.g.

Minuscule Stan's old film partner Its first part is "Inferno" Has to have Wiggly fishes Lists one by one Slalom curves "Nuts!"

Fish snarers Tasty tidbit

DOWN 1 Closed 2 Ballplayer Martinez 3 Lhasa -4 Glimpse 5 Putting target 6 State of rage 7 Lawn base 8 BBs, bullets, etc.

9 Florida islets

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 20 24 29 31 32 34 35 36 37 38 39 41 42 45 46 47 49 50 51 52 58 60 61 62 67 68 69 71

Hanukkah menu item Geometry calculations "Cut!" caller: Abbr.

Diurnal hooting bird Raging blaze -- -garde Give a boost Be admitted "The father of lies" Potential binge-watching buys Heavy sword Lowly laborer Ring legend Muhammad El -- (Pacific current) Most sour Grad's gala Start all over on Got 100 on Three trios Toady (to) Like tossed dice Kind of wasp Part of BLT MLB stat Ending for bass or ball Unkind "Dumb Dog" musical 52-card sets Win every game of Not just short on Helmsley of hotels Invasions Add scent to Salutation on a June greeting card Do penance Liquid oatmeal food While furious

72 73 74 77 81 83 84 85 87 88 89 93 96 98 99 101 104 105 106 107 108 109 111 114 115 117 118 119 120 121 124 125 126

Valuable qualities Caribbean's -- Islands Chuck Berry title girl "-- -Ca-Dabra" (1974 hit) Popular fishbowl fish Gaunt quality Neither fish -- fowl Chinese thinker Lao- -As a result Had life Tram's load "-- delighted!"

How much 1990s music was released Fine, rare violin TiVo predecessor Got ready for print Hearty steak Governs City on the Rhone Tour leader High-speed Amtrak train In the -- of (amongst) Derby, e.g.

Not odd Trig ratio Legal wrong Sharif of "Lawrence of Arabia" Allot Conception Certain sac That vessel Cashew, e.g.

Ambulance gp.

ANSWERS ON PAGE 26

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30

www.smokymountainnews.com

December 16-22, 2020

WNC MarketPlace

December 16-22, 2020

Smoky Mountain News

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Smoky Mountain News December 16-22, 2020