Smoky Mountain News | January 11, 2023

Wolfetown rep faces assault charges

On the Cover:

Melissa McDevitt hasn’t always felt at home in this world, but she found solace and belonging in the great outdoors. As her mother, Maggie, put it, “Nature loved her, and she loved nature.” However, after going missing during a hike last month in the rugged Canadian wilderness, her family is left clinging to a sliver of hope that she may be found. (Page 6) This photo, taken by Melissa, shows a small part of her enjoying the great outdoors. Donated photo

News

Dust complaints continue in Canton; Evergreen works to identify source ........4 The fearless life and tragic disappearance of Melissa McDevitt............................6 Jackson considers municipal grant applications......................................................10 Wolfetown rep faces assault charges

DWC looks forward to big year, bigger footprint....................................................12 County commission asks MCS to prioritize hefty capital outlay requests......14 Tribe to conduct census

Opinion

A&E

Graham Sharp of Steep Canyon Rangers................................................................22 A surfer’s quest to find Zen on the sea......................................................................29

Outdoors

Workshop helps woodland landowners better steward their forest..................30 Up Moses Creek: Buck Fever........................................................................................34

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Dust complaints continue in Canton

Evergreen works to identify source

BY HOLLY KAYS OUTDOORS E DITOR

For more than a year, Canton residents have complained about a gritty white dust from the Evergreen Packaging paper mill clinging to their cars and driveways — and they’re still complaining.

Despite receiving an $8,045 penalty and four dust-related notices of violation from the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality between October 2021 and October 2022, Evergreen has not yet managed to fix the problem. The DEQ continues to receive dust complaints from town residents, with the most recent report on these complaints filed Dec. 16. A Dec. 20 letter informed Evergreen that any new “fugitive dust” complaints in the next 12 months would trigger additional requirements from the state.

According to Beth Kelly, communications director for Pactiv Evergreen, the mill has fixed the issues at the root of earlier dusting incidents but has yet to identify the cause of more recent emissions.

“Unlike prior lime dust issues where the cause was obvious, recent events are more complex and the cause is less evident, requiring a more detailed investigation,” Kelly said.

ONGOING DUST COMPLAINTS

Investigations into prior dusting complaints indicated that the material was lime dust, or in one instance, limestone dust. Causes were determined for incidents occurring through September 2022, mostly related to issues with the mill’s lime dust collectors.

Communications between the mill and DEQ show that supply chain issues sometimes prevented the mill from receiving new filter cartridges as quickly as it was accustomed to or from its preferred vendor. In one instance, the mill replaced all the filter cartridges in the No. 5 lime dust collector with cartridges from a new vendor, which the mill had decided to try on a trial basis. Within days, the cartridges had degraded so badly that they had to be replaced — but not before causing another round of dusting complaints from Canton residents.

However, after the cartridges were replaced Sept. 18, complaints continued to pour in. DEQ records show 38 separate dust complaints since Oct. 7, the three most recent of which occurred on Dec. 1. One of the callers reported dust between 7 and 10:15 a.m., and all three said it fell again at 1 p.m. “Like snow,” one caller said. Another described the grit as “more charcoal looking” than previous deposits.

The reports followed a series of nine complaints submitted Nov. 23-30 from residences at various locations east of the mill. These reports were likely related to two separate dusting incidents, one Nov. 19-20 and another Nov. 22-23, concluded Brendan Davey,

regional supervisor at the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality office in Asheville. The mill was able to offer a theory for the cause of the Nov. 19-20 dusting — hot and cold lime placed on the ground during operational issues with the Nov. 4 lime kiln Nov. 19 — but did not have an explanation for the Nov. 23-30 incident.

“Given the various location of these complaints as well as our test results to date, we cannot confirm the probable cause of the complaints, however we continue to move forward with the plan outlined above with the aim of figuring out a probably (sic) cause,” mill representatives wrote in response to Davey’s questions.

The mill gave an identical answer when asked for the probable cause of the Dec. 1 complaints.

ON NOTICE

The DEQ is turning up the pressure for the mill to figure out what’s going on and fix the problem.

For starters, the DEQ is requiring Evergreen to investigate its No. 4 lime kiln scrubber as a potential source of emissions. In a Nov. 17 letter, the agency told Evergreen that because its No. 4 lime kiln scrubber could be at fault in the continued dusting incidents, it had 90 days to perform a compliance stack test to determine whether the scrubber is operating properly. In a Dec. 20 letter, Evergreen told DEQ it intends to perform the test the week of Jan. 16.

Meanwhile, in a separate Dec. 20 letter, Acting Regional Supervisor for the Division of Air Quality Lisa Whitaker told the mill’s general manager John McCarthy that the mill must get its “fugitive dust” issues under control or face additional state requirements.

“Fugitive dust emissions” are defined as particulate matter that doesn’t pass through a process stack or vent but is generated on the plant property from loading and unloading, stockpiles, parking lots and roads, among other sources — such as when lime was placed on the ground Nov. 19. The resulting dust found at a business on the Asheville Highway was found to qualify as fugitive dust “caused by the discharge and movement of hot lime from the Nov. 4 kiln for a significant period of time,” Whitaker wrote.

“BRPP is on notice that a second substantiated complaint in a 12-month period will trigger the Fugitive Dust Control Plan requirements of 15A NCAC 2D .0540.,” she wrote.

The state’s administrative code requires fugitive dust control plans to identify the sources of fugitive dust emissions, describe how the dust will be controlled from each identified source, include a schedule to implement the plan, describe how it will be implemented and propose methods to verify compliance.

In a Nov. 7 email, Evergreen’s environmental manager Cintya Bailey told Davey that the mill would employ two different methods of air sampling to capture particulate matter and determine the emission source. This includes deploying deposition plates around the site and two high-volume environmental air samplers in the community, which will collect dust samples for analysis.

“The mill is committed to implementing a full engineering solution and has invested significantly in technology to collect and analyze the dust, and by hiring an expert environmental consultant who is dedicated to identifying the source,” Kelly said.

Neither lime nor limestone dust is regulated as a state or federal air pollutant, but suspended particles of any kind are regulated as particulate matter. High levels of particulate

matter in the air can cause heart and lung conditions, especially in young children and older adults.

The mill’s air monitoring shows that the mill did not exceed the federal standard for ambient particulate matter between Oct. 21 and Nov. 14, a timeframe that included many dusting complaints. The limit is a daily average of 35 micrograms per cubic meter, and the highest recorded in that period was 14.5 micrograms per cubic meter. However, particulate matter testing that consultant TRC Environmental Corporation performed on the No. 4 boiler Oct. 19 delivered two out of three relative response audit runs outside the allowable range.

The mill disagrees with those results.

“After review of the testing results and report, the facility does not believe that TRC’s particulate matter results for the No. 4 Boiler are accurate … The facility had another environmental consultant review TRC’s data to determine any apparent discrepancies and they agreed with our assessment that TRC’s results were questionable,” reads a Dec. 16 letter from Environmental Engineer Matt Upton.

A different company performed a retest on Dec. 2, and those results will be delivered to DEQ within 60 days of the test date, Upton wrote.

The continued dusting issues have caught the attention of at least one law firm. In a community Facebook group, Canton residents discussed a letter many of them had received in the mail from Durham-based Johnson & Groninger PLCC, at the beginning of December. In the advertisement for legal services, the firm wrote it was investigating filing a class action lawsuit against Evergreen related to the dusting issues. Johnson & Groninger did not reply to a request for comment regarding the letter.

White dust clings to a windshield in Canton. NCDEQ photo

INVESTIGATION CONTINUES

Dust is not the only environmental woe facing Evergreen. In addition to the four NOVs it’s received for dust-related issues, it’s logged six more since May 2021 stemming from four additional incidents. These include the release of 20 gallons of wastewater containing turpentine, a tall oil soap leak that killed at least 25 fish, a black liquor seep into the Pigeon River and violating the daily maximum limit for fecal coliform discharge. The mill paid $30,548 in fines related to the fish kill.

Investigation into the black liquor seep, found Jan. 28 last year, is still ongoing — though Kelly said the seep is no longer visible in the Pigeon River. Black liquor is a byproduct of digesting wood fibers to produce pulp, with the reignited seep identified last January first detected in 1994, when Champion International Corporation owned the mill.

While in years past some black liquor was released during mill operations and made its way into the groundwater, today the material is captured, recycled and burned to generate energy for papermaking, Kelly said.

More than 200 acres of scattered tracts along the Pigeon River contain unlined landfills from mill operations in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. While the landfills have a clean environmental record, the record itself is limited. These sites aren’t actively monitored for leaching contaminants.

Division of Water Quality spokesperson Anna Gurney said that sampling will be conducted at the seep site this month, to include surface water, seep, sediment and groundwater from two monitoring wells. Toxicity testing will be performed on the surface water samples, and results are expected in early spring. Additional water sampling focusing on groundwater beneath the mill will occur later, conducted by environmental consultant Arcadis.

“Once all the lab results from both sampling events are complete, IP (International Paper), PactivEvergreen and Arcadis will use that data in their efforts address the groundwater contamination beneath the Canton Paper Mill,” Gurney said.

TOWN PRE-TREATMENT

AND FECAL COLIFORM

The mill’s most recent notice of violation, dated Dec. 1, stems from water monitoring conducted in the Pigeon River April 5 that showed levels of fecal coliform — a group of

bacteria that includes disease-causing species such as E. coli — 50% over the limit. The DEQ levied penalties totaling $637.32 as a result. In response to a question about the penalty, Kelly referred The Smoky Mountain News to the Town of Canton, which relies on the mill to treat its sewer waste.

The agreement by which the mill treats town sewer waste stems back to the 1960s, said Town Manager Nick Scheuer, with the town required to pre-treat municipal discharge before sending it over to the mill’s treatment facility. Before 2005, the town performed this pre-treatment with chlorine gas in a large contact chamber on mill property, but after the 2004 flood Evergreen asked that the chamber be removed so that it could install a flood wall. Afterward, the town increased the amount of chlorine gas used to treat its discharge and did so successfully “for many years,” Scheuer said.

However, around 2017 former mill manager Wally McDonald asked the town to tran-

Ingles Nutrition Notes

written by Ingles Dietitian Leah McGrath

How to reduce Sodium

QueStion: i’m 75 years old and don’t really cook much. my doctor has said i need to reduce sodium. what are my options?

In a photo taken Feb. 1, 2022, black liquor deposits sit in the Pigeon River. AECOM photo

sition to sodium hypochlorite due to the safety risks of storing and managing chlorine gas. As the town began using this new method and saw its flow volume increase, fecal coliform violations revealed a need for additional measures to adequately pre-treat the discharge. In a Dec. 16 letter, McCarthy and Tracy Willis, who is over the wastewater treatment plant, said that in August 2022, Canton discovered that a “large leg” of the sewer system was not being disinfected prior to entering the mill’s treatment system.

The town expects to start constructing needed infrastructure improvements this month.

“We believe that providing increased contact time and metered dosage for pre-treatment of discharge, coupled with major repairs to any sewer/stormwater intrusions, we can provide Evergreen with consistent flows that will allow them to avoid any future compliance issues,” Scheuer said. “The Town of Canton is appreciative of the working relationship we have with the mill and will do everything in our power to ensure that this continues.”

The mill, which has operated in Canton since 1908, currently employs 1,140 people at facilities in Canton and Waynesville.

AnSwer: The main source of added sodium in the diet of most of Americans is prepared food, i.e. eating fast foods and eating foods at restaurants. When we cook meals at home, we can do a better job monitoring the amount of sodium (salt) that is being added. If you have minimal cooking skills, you may want to think about foods that you can buy that require minimal preparation:

• Add canned/packaged meats (chicken) or seafood (tuna or salmon) that are lower sodium to salads from the Ingles salad bar ( top with a low sodium salad dressing) or to grains like rice, pasta, barley or farro.

• Check out frozen meal options that are lower in sodium. Look for meals that have 400-600mg/serving for the meal.

• Keep your freezer stocked with frozen vegetables (without added sodium or sauces), and use these as a side dish or add to grains or pasta.

• Look for pre-cut vegetables and fruits in your Ingles produce section or put together a salad from the Ingles salad bar.

• Check out pre-washed ready to microwave bags of vegetables in the Ingles produce section.

• Look for frozen fish fillets and chicken breasts that are individually wrapped and can be easily thawed and cooked.

• When you use canned vegetables look for lower sodium options or, if you can, rinse vegetables to remove much of the sodium.

For more information on lower sodium eating the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) is a good resource: www.nhlbi.nih.gov/education/dash-eating-plan

Leah McGrath, RDN, LDN Ingles Market Corporate Dietitian

Ingles Markets… caring about your health

Searching for a seeker

BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT P OLITICS E DITOR

The fearless life and tragic disappearance of Melissa McDevitt

Flitting about her apartment on Vancouver Island, Melissa McDevitt had already packed her bag in preparation for the long journey from Canada’s west coast back to Haywood County.

She was to spend a month over Christmas with her parents, Tom and Maggie, enjoying the traditions they all held so dear — basking in the seasonal bustle of Gatlinburg, driving spellbound through the holiday lights on James Island, admiring the fireworks in Charleston and visiting the family cemetery at the old home place in the Shenandoah Valley.

Melissa would have to wake up early the next day to take a taxi to a ferry to a bus to a train to the airport for her flight to Spartanburg, but as that December morning turned to afternoon there wasn’t much left for her to do.

With winter’s hasty dusk approaching she laid her passport down on the bed and headed out for one last Friday afternoon hike.

“Frozen trees, beautiful snow and glorious Rainier. I am always happy when I’m in the presence of this beautiful mountain. It wasn’t until the very end of the day that the mountain decided to present herself, though for a very short time.”

Melissa McDevitt photo

She had always been a seeker, a climber of mountains, a runner of marathons, a skier of double Black Diamonds, an insatiable hiker, a voracious reader. Melissa McDevitt felt most comfortable in that solitary sort of solace that only those who crave it can know.

“In that world, I’m just like everybody else,” she told her mother.

Born in West Palm Beach, Florida in 1983, Melissa was full-term, albeit at the dangerously low birthweight of 4 pounds. By her first birthday, she’d gained less than two more.

“She got off to a kind of a rough start in life by not thriving and that’s why we didn’t move here until she was one year old,” Tom said. “We didn’t want to move her away from her pediatrician.”

Melissa had a rare genetic disorder called trisomy X, affecting one out of every thousand females. While many are asymptomatic, others see the condition manifest itself in both physical and personality traits.

She had small hands and small feet. Even at the age of 38 her shoes were no bigger than a child’s. She had her own oblique way of doing things sometimes, and her mother thinks she may have had a mild form of Asperger’s Syndrome, making interpersonal relationships more difficult.

“She got bullied,” Maggie said. “She was called a ‘retard’ because she was different.”

Once, a jogger passing by Melissa went out of his way to stop, turn around, and shout to her that she was the ugliest thing he’d ever seen.

Melissa had a tough time in local schools. She spent part of her life in the developmental disability world and part of it in the socalled “normal” world but was a permanent resident of neither. Occasionally there was some compassionate student who’d join Melissa in the lunchroom, but other than that, she was largely alone.

“I always taught her, ‘You are yourself, be proud of who you are,’” Maggie remembers. “You are the most that you can be with what you have.”

Maggie said that academic advisors didn’t consider Melissa college material, but after graduating from Tuscola High School, Melissa left Haywood County to pursue studies in anthropology, ultimately earning her bachelor’s degree.

“All she wanted to do is to get away because of the bad vibrations,” Maggie said. “She went to university in Montreal, because she loved to travel.”

There, the professors adored her because she was studious and knowledgeable.

“She had a tremendous command of her diction,” Maggie said. “People were always shocked because of the stigma attached to Melissa that was given to them.”

After college, Melissa performed brilliantly during telephone job interviews, but had trouble in person. For years she bounced around to a series of jobs in the seasonal tourism industry, albeit always connected to the wild places she so fervently sought out.

She sold lift tickets, waited tables, made beds and took full advantage of exotic backdrops like Put-In-Bay, Carlsbad Caverns, Vail and Glacier National Park. At almost every

one of them, Tom said, Melissa ended up doing something entirely different than the job for which she’d been hired.

“The supervisors would get frustrated with her and then the superintendent of the park would basically come down and say, ‘Look, we hired this lady. She’s not working out here. We need to find another place for her to work because we’re not we’re not going to fire her and send her all the way home,’” said Tom. “Not one ever offered her the opportunity to come back, because they couldn’t relate to her and her challenges. They only tolerated her because they offered her a position and she moved across the country for it. They honored their commitment.”

Melissa always checked in back home in Haywood County and had, over time, amassed a substantial collection of mementoes from her travels. Beach glass. Sand dollars. Various moths. Cool rocks. Shells.

She covered nearly every shelf and wall in her bedroom with them.

“It’s filled with things that she’d rescued. Butterflies that would have died alone,” Maggie said.

“She brought them home.”

They were more than just mementoes to

Melissa. They were an enduring connection to the places she’d escaped to, the places no one else had ever been, the places where she could feel just like everybody else.

“She spent all of her adult life searching for friendship. She wanted to have friends like everybody did but she had extreme difficulty in making friends, and even greater difficulty maintaining them. She was quite lonely,” said Tom. “Other than her mother and I, she lived a very isolated life. She was searching for something that was just very elusive to her, and that was somebody just to accept her for who she was. That is what I feel drove her more to nature.”

Around 11:30 that Friday night, Tom called Melissa for their regular update. It would be 8:30 p.m. for Melissa, and she was probably taking it easy in her condo, getting ready for a cross-continental journey early the next morning, starting with a taxi. She didn’t answer. He called back three more times over the next three hours, and finally went to bed feeling uneasy. When he called her that morning, Saturday, it went straight to voicemail. Eventually Tom reached an

emergency contact at Melissa’s condo complex who confirmed that Melissa’s car wasn’t in its assigned parking place.

Tom then got ahold of a neighbor, who went over and knocked on Melissa’s door. Finding it unlocked, the neighbor let himself in. Melissa’s passport was still sitting there on her bed. The ferry service confirmed that Melissa never showed. The airline said the same thing. Tom called the police, convinced that something wasn’t right.

“I know where she is,” he told them. “She’s going to be in Sooke.”

Sooke is a town of about 15,000 located on the southeastern tip of Vancouver Island 25 miles from Victoria, the capital of British Columbia. Much like Haywood County, Sooke is known for being a scenic gateway to imposing wilderness trails.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police located Melissa’s car in a parking area near the Sooke Potholes, a popular destination riddled with stony swimming holes. The operator of a fish hatchery captured Melissa with his security camera, walking onto a trail at 1:55 p.m. the previous day under overcast skies, with the temperature hovering in the mid-40s.

“It gets very dark out there by 4:15,” Tom said. “She didn’t have on a hat, she didn’t have on gloves. She did not have a heavy coat on, she just had a little fleece jacket. She had her leggings on and she had hiking sneakers, not hiking boots, so she wasn’t dressed in a manner in which she was going for some kind of extended hike.”

Later that day, the temperature dropped into the 20s as winds picked up and heavy rain came down. The RCMP, he said, went into full-scale emergency mode, searching for the seeker. A command center had been set up over that weekend, and volunteers came from across Vancouver Island and the Pacific Northwest.

“I told Maggie, I can’t stay here, I have to go out there and do whatever I can do,” Tom said. “I can’t have my daughter missing and not be out there trying to find her, not that I was much help. Those people are skilled, trained, physically fit, all the things that I’m not.”

Tom arrived in Victoria on Monday and had to break into Melissa’s car.

“She had all of her heavy winter gear, her other pants, her vest with the water bottle, her snack bars, that little silver blanket for if you get caught in the cold, she had everything. I mean, she had everything,” Tom said.

“But it was in her car.”

The Juan de Fuca Search and Rescue team soon became involved. Similar to the Haywood County Search and Rescue, they’re all highly experienced and work as volunteers under demanding conditions, looking for hikers who become lost or injured. Together, they came up with a logical methodology, noting natural obstacles and trouble spots. First, it was a mile radius. Then, it was two. Then, it was five.

“They feared that she got disoriented, potentially hypothermic, and was not rational in what direction she was walking and could have been walking absolutely the wrong way to try to get out,” Tom said.

“She spent all of her adult life searching for friendship. She wanted to have friends like everybody did but she had extreme difficulty in making friends, and even greater difficulty maintaining them. She was quite lonely.”

— Tom McDevitt

Melissa McDevitt smiles in a rare selfie, taken at Mt. LeConte in August, 2022. Melissa McDevitt photo

Complicating the search was the dense undergrowth. Tom recalls one of the searchers tripping off into the brush just a few feet from the trail and disappearing until he popped up, somewhat embarrassed, amid the chest-high ferns. Melissa, Maggie said, stood only 5 feet tall.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, a helicopter utilizing heat sensors was deployed, but failed to locate anything promising. On Thursday and Friday, the park was closed so canines could do their work without distraction. They met with similar results.

“The worst goes through your mind and about being injured and lying there for hours and days until the elements, you just succumb to them,” Tom said. “Did she get someplace and fall off a cliff and just break her leg or something and couldn’t walk? It was just such an unforgiving environment, and then not being dressed to be doing that.”

Melissa’s disappearance made little sense — an experienced backcountry hiker on a trail she’d hiked before, racing against the setting winter sun in the brutal Canadian wilderness, with potentially lifesaving equipment sitting in the back seat of her car in the parking lot.

Tom remains open to the possibility that something more sinister occurred.

“I told my wife, it’s not that I’m just hoping that there’s some kind of miracle ending, but maybe some nutcase abducted her and she escapes, or he gets remorseful,” he said, citing Salt Lake City teen Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped in June 2002 but located in relatively fair condition nine months later.

On Monday, Dec. 19, nine days after Melissa was to begin her Christmas journey home to Haywood County, the search ended. Volunteers from as far as 400 miles away had amassed more than 7,000 hours looking for Melissa in what’s being called the largest search and rescue operation in the history of Vancouver Island.

“These people were treating Melissa like she was their family,” Tom said.

The only things they ever found were a chewed-up, sun-faded water bottle that looked as though it had been in the woods for quite some time and a single glove, far too large for Melissa’s tiny hands.

It must’ve been a cruel Christmas for Tom and Maggie in their handsome mountaintop home, hoping for a visitor who would never come.

They’re still waiting for some of Melissa’s presents to be delivered, and still surrounded by all the things she loved about the holidays. In the living room, an understated Christmas tree poses in a corner, its frosted tips shining

in the bright orange sunlight streaming in from across the cove. On the mantle above the fireplace, nutcracker figurines interlaced with strands of lights proudly guard a carpet of fluffy fake white snow.

Down in Melissa’s bedroom, two small trees guarding the foot of her bed like loyal companions await the day they will again shine their sparkly lights upon her.

Maggie and Tom still turn them on each night, just to feel Melissa’s presence; they listlessly twinkle on her beach glass and sand dollars and moths and rocks and shells.

There would be no trip to Gatlinburg, no lights on James Island, no fireworks, no visit to the old Shenandoah home place or the family cemetery where Melissa’s grandmother once played.

“I told her on one of those trips,” Tom said, “we need to go by the monument company, I need to pick me out a monument and go ahead and prepay it and have it organized so you and your mother don’t have to deal with this stuff. Melissa looked at me and she said, ‘Well, if you and Mommy are going into

the family cemetery, how do I get in there? You’re going to be gone. I’m going to be here by myself.’”

Tom told her he’d handle that. Feeling connected to her family was always important for Melissa.

Soon, Tom and Maggie will offer a reward for information about Melissa in case she’s been abducted, but they also hope that one day, it might lead to her eventual recovery one way or another, so they can bring her home like the wounded butterflies that she wouldn’t let die alone.

“Within a year we’ll put a headstone up. Most likely it will be for the three of us. Of course, right now, there’s nothing but the monument to be a remembrance of her unless we happen to have somebody find her,” Tom said. “That would be extremely meaningful if that happened.”

They’ll return to Victoria in May. If there’s any comfort to be found in the next few months, it may be that Melissa McDevitt’s fearless spirit still lingers in the only place she ever really wanted it to be.

“Nature loved her, and she loved nature. She saw beautiful things and took beautiful photographs. She was surrounded by it, and it never let her down. It never judged her,” Maggie said. “She spent her whole life searching — everybody searches for some happiness — and it just wasn’t meant to be.”

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Melissa McDevitt is encouraged to contact Victoria Police at 250.995.7654.

S EEKER, CONTINUED FROM 7

“First

light warming

the earth.” Melissa McDevitt

photo

“Nature loved her, and she loved nature. She saw beautiful things and took beautiful photographs. She was surrounded by it, and it never let her down.”

— Maggie McDevitt

Jackson considers municipal grant applications

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF W RITER

Jackson County is considering the latest round of municipal grant applications that arrived on commissioners desks this week. Among applications from Sylva, Webster, Dillsboro and Village of Forest Hills, municipalities are looking to improve residents’ experience through art, aesthetics and greater accessibility.

The municipal grant program is intended to assist Jackson municipalities with the implementation of projects that will benefit all citizens of the county. This year, there is $20,000 earmarked for the program with individual applicants receiving up to $5,000.

The town of Sylva has applied for a $5,000 grant to start a Sylva Art Walk that includes murals, marketing rack cards for the walk and kiosks to hold brochures and other promotional materials.

The Murals on Mill project will bring new murals to Mill Street giving several local and regional artists the chance to showcase their work. This portion of the project will entail three rotating murals on Mill Street over the course of the year. Art walk rack cards will include a map and QR code to the Sylva Art Walk web page. This site will include photos of all public art, galleries in downtown Sylva and maps and addresses for each. This approach allows for the flexibility to incorporate new projects as they come up.

“Downtown Sylva is becoming quite the art-centered hub of Jackson County,” the application reads. “Many of the public art murals, miniature art, private galleries and collaborative centers have popped up over the past few years, while some have been intentional. Our goal is to tie them all together to one unified economic driver for downtown.”

The project has a total estimated cost of $5,824.59, with the Town of Sylva funding the additional portion.

The town of Dillsboro has applied for

grant funding to refurbish the public restroom facility in the downtown area. The scope of the project involves repairing and resurfacing of ceilings and sheetrock; repairing and painting stall doors, dividers and install grab bars; replacing sinks, lighting, hand dryers and toilet seats; installing baby changing station; painting interior and exterior of buildings and handrails; and acid washing and pressure washing floors and drains. The building is open year-round and is the only public restroom facility in Dillsboro.

“Many county residents utilize Dillsboro

as a recreational area for walking and outdoor exercising, as well as regional visitors and tourists,” the Dillsboro grant application reads. “Providing a clean, sanitary restroom building will enhance the visitor experience to the town.”

The Town of Webster has applied for a grant to purchase park equipment to be placed on property leased by the Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department located behind the ballfield on Webster Road. The plan is to purchase four garbage receptacles, one recycling receptacle, installation hardware and a bench. The bench is intended for public use outside Town Hall.

The Village of Forest Hills has applied for a grant for the enhancement of the village entrance. Because the entrance to the village is directly across the highway from the WCU Ramsey Center, administration sees its enhancement as a benefit to all of Jackson County.

“This is an area that brings thousands of visitors every year for WCU cultural and athletic functions; it is currently a big woody weed patch,” the application reads.

The project would involve replacing the brushy weed patch with grass turf. Then, the village plans to add shrubbery and contract for continuous care.

Commissioners will vote on approval of these grants at the Jan. 17 regular board meeting.

The Town of Sylva aims to enhance public art through the Municipal Grant Program. Hannah McLeod photo

Wolfetown rep faces assault charges

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF W RITER

Wolfetown Rep. Bo Crowe spent the weekend in jail following his arrest Saturday, Jan. 7, for an alleged assault that left the victim unconscious — but he will not be resigning his position on Tribal Council.

In court documents, Crowe is accused of striking the victim — Knoxville resident Jason Matthew Burleson — placing his arm around Burleson’s neck and squeezing, rendering him unconscious. In a statement Tuesday, Jan. 10, Crowe admitted that he was “involved in an incident” that occurred the evening of Jan. 6 in the parking area at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino.

Crowe now faces three charges in tribal court, two of which are felonies that carry the possibility of temporary banishment from tribal lands. The first felony charge is assault inflicting serious bodily injury, which carries a punishment of $500 to $15,000 in fines, a prison term of 45 days to three years, exclusion from tribal lands for one to 15 years or any combination of the three. The second felony charge is assault by strangulation, which carries a punishment of up to $5,000 in fines, one to three years in prison and exclusion from tribal lands for one to 10 years. Crowe is also charged with aggravated reckless endangerment, which is punishable by up to $5,000 in fines, up to one year in prison, or both.

Crowe is the second of Tribal Council’s two Wolfetown/Big Y representatives to face criminal charges in a three-month span. In October, former Rep. Dennis Edward “Bill” Taylor was arrested following a domestic dispute with his wife. That case was resolved mere minutes prior to Crowe’s arraignment Jan. 9. Taylor pleaded guilty to reckless driving and reckless endangerment, while charges of assault with a deadly weapon and assault on a female domestic violence were dismissed. Look for more information on Taylor’s case in an upcoming issue of The Smoky Mountain News.

Unlike Taylor, who resigned shortly after charges were filed, Crowe has made it clear that he intends to keep his seat. Just 24 hours after his initial court appearance Jan. 9, Crowe occupied his usual chair for the tribe’s monthly Budget Council meeting, smiling and appearing relaxed on camera before asking Chairman Richard French for the opportunity to make a statement from the podium. There, he acknowledged that he was facing charges following an incident Jan. 6 but said he will not be resigning his position and reminded listeners that he is innocent until proven guilty. Crowe said he has hired an attorney and notified the tribe’s Ethics Committee of the incident.

“As an elected official and a servant of the Wolfetown and Big Y community, I must place my faith in our tribal process,” he said. “This includes having faith as a sovereign nation in the wisdom and mercy of the Cherokee Tribal Court. I stand account-

able for my actions, and I do so without regret.”

Despite the allegations against Crowe, many in the Cherokee community have voiced support for him on social media, believing that he acted to protect other enrolled members, including his daughter. In a Facebook post, Crowe’s adult daughter, Dre Crowe, applauded her father for choosing to “defend his teenage daughter against a grown man,” encouraging readers to share the post and writing that she’s “glad to know I have a dad that will run to mine and my sisters side for any threatening situation and defends us to no end.”

Tribal Council’s representative to the Cherokee School Board, “began addressing (then-Superintendent) Dr. (Mike) Murray in what was described as a hostile manner, including a raised voice and cursing.”

“Mr. Crowe also admitted to another incident that had occurred at a ballgame in which he told Dr. Murray he had some-

admitted to smashing Dr. Murray’s sandwich (with the wrapper on it). Witnesses confirmed Mr. Crowe had stuck his finger in Dr. Murray’s food a couple of times.”

Rep. Bo Crowe addresses Tribal Council Jan. 10 following his arraignment on three charges the previous day.

Following his statement Jan. 10, Crowe invited his niece to the podium. French ordered the meeting to go off air before allowing the teenage girl to speak. Tribal Council resumed regular business 44 minutes later.

Crowe wore gray and white stripes to his court appearance Jan. 9 after spending the weekend in jail on what Tribal Prosecutor Cody White told Judge Barbara “Sunshine” Parker was presumptive detention due to the seriousness of the alleged crime. Crowe told Parker that he will hire his own lawyer rather than accepting a public defender, and Parker said she would enter a not guilty plea on his behalf to give him time to confer with his attorney.

White did not object to Parker’s setting a $5,000 unsecured bond for Crowe’s release, because he had no prior criminal history outside of a few traffic violations. Parker also entered a no contact order forbidding Crowe from direct or indirect contact with Burleson. Crowe’s next hearing will be 9 a.m. Wednesday, April 5.

Crowe’s clean criminal history comes despite a May report on allegations against Crowe from the Office of Internal Audit and Ethics — obtained by The Cherokee One Feather — which concludes that tribal leadership should review the report “for the purposes of imposing the appropriate penalty as provided in Cherokee Code Chapter 117.” That section states that any tribal official who violates codified standards of ethical conduct “shall” be guilty of a misdemeanor, with associated fines and prison time possible.

The report investigated a Feb. 7 incident in which complainants said Crowe, who is

thing on his shirt, put his finger on Dr. Murray’s chest and then when he looked down, Mr. Crowe popped Dr. Murray’s mask,” the report says. “Mr. Crowe also

Crowe, 43, is currently serving his fifth Tribal Council term representing Wolfetown and in October announced his intention to challenge incumbent Principal Chief Richard Sneed in this year’s election. Crowe has proven consistently popular at the ballot box, in 2021 pulling nearly twice as many votes as Taylor, who finished second. However, the outcome of this case could jeopardize Crowe’s political aspirations.

Tribal law states that upon conviction of any felony offense, the defendant’s right to hold office, serve on a jury or own or possess any firearm “shall” be revoked. After completing the sentence, the defendant can petition the court to have those rights restored.

Crowe’s next court date falls after the March 31 deadline for the Board of Elections to certify candidates, and nothing in tribal law prevents a person who is merely facing felony charges from running for office. Conviction is required for disqualification. However, should Crowe decide to follow through on his stated intention to run for chief — and should he win — conviction of either of the felonies with which he is charged would disqualify him from holding the office.

Monday & Saturday Dinner Service

Monday 4 p.m.-8 p.m.

Friday 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Saturday 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

Sunday 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

EBCI photo

Moody takes plea deal in phony writs case

BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT P OLITICS E DITOR

It took more than four months, 62 federal counts and a lengthy period of pretrial detention in Buncombe County, but Darris Moody has finally acknowledged the legitimacy of the United States justice system — by signing a plea agreement related to the threats she sent to elected officials last summer.

In August 2022 local elected officials began receiving threatening “writs” from a nonexistent court that purported to charge them with treason and environmental crimes. The writs offered bounties for those who refused to surrender themselves to a tribunal.

A Smoky Mountain News investigation found the writs, emanating from a group called “The People’s Bureau of Investigation,” were sent to thousands of public officials, from both parties, all across the country.

During a telephone interview with SMN prior to her Sept. 7 arrest by the FBI on 58 counts of interstate threats and one count of conspiracy to kidnap, Moody espoused “sovereign citizen” ideology and floated all manner of debunked conspiracy theories.

After Moody was released on bond, she failed to appear at a subsequent hearing and was taken back into custody on Oct. 14. Since then, she’s made multiple pro se filings reiterating her claims that the United States government and its legal system have no jurisdiction over her.

On Dec. 14, 2022, a superseding indictment was filed, adding four more counts of interstate threats and two new defendants, Tim Deaver and Dee Thomas Murphy.

Deaver, of Downer’s Grove, Illinois, appears to run the People’s Bureau of Investigation website, and told The Smoky Mountain News back in September that the threatening writs were legitimate. In December he was taken into custody.

Murphy was taken into custody in Texas in December.

Moody, of Haywood County, signed the agreement on Jan. 6, offering to waive her right to trial and plead guilty to interstate threats and/or conspiracy to kidnap. Details of the agreement remain sealed.

A presentencing report will consider various factors and make a recommendation for sentencing. The maximum penalty for conspiracy to kidnap is life imprisonment. The maximum penalty for interstate threats is five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine, plus three years supervised release.

According to the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, Moody remains in custody.

Downtown Waynesville Commission looks forward to big year, bigger footprint

BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT P OLITICS E DITOR

After the implosion of the 36-yearold Downtown Waynesville Association back in 2021, much of the progress made by its successor organization has been organizational in nature and has taken place behind closed doors. Now, as the Downtown Waynesville Commission looks forward to 2023 with more structure and substance in place, they’re setting their sights on some concrete results and an increasing footprint.

“This was our foundational year,” said Beth Gilmore, executive director of the DWC. “We really had to put our foundation back together. Now we have to put some meat on the bones.”

Gilmore and members of the DWC met for nearly six hours on Jan. 5 to look back at where they’ve been and plan for where they’re headed. Many of the group’s achievements weren’t of the bricks-and-mortar variety, but given the state of affairs at the old DWA, the DWC has come a long way in a short time.

Those accomplishments include gathering more extensive input from the community; diversifying the board to include merchants, property owners and industry partners; setting up working subcommittees; and continuing to plan the well-known events that take place in Waynesville’s busy downtown district throughout the year.

Speaking to the foundational nature of the challenges the DWC inherited from the old DWA, probably the most major accomplishment was the unveiling of a new brand book, logo and style guide by John Hornsby, of Hornsby Creative. Hornsby, a Haywood County resident, has done plenty of local work, including for the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority.

“It’s been less than a year since you all took your oath, and already I think our list of accomplishments and progress far surpasses the list of things we need to focus on,” Gilmore told board members.

Another substantial improvement meant to address a critical weakness of the old DWA — poor communication — is a forthcoming website redesign, which was previewed in a presentation by Darrell Kanipe of Kanipe Creative.

The new site presents a more streamlined look and will provide useful information for visitors as well as a robust business directory for shoppers. Event pages on the new site will be linked to the TDA’s website, so when an event is created on one site, it will automatically appear on the other.

An important addition to the site

requested by DWC members was a section listing properties in the district available for sale or rent. The site, which resembles that of the eastern North Carolina town of Kinston, isn’t yet live but is expected to be by Feb. 1.

During the meeting, the board did acknowledge that there were many areas in which there remain room to grow.

Ramping up social media and communicating the DWC’s story through various earned media opportunities was top on the list, as landscape architect and committee member Thomas Woltz

ly might fit the downtown business district,” said Jay Spiro, chair of the DWC board. “That would include the area between Frog Level and Main Street, and potentially Frog Level itself at some point in time as that area grows.”

Getting there, however, would be a significant challenge.

acknowledged that the lingering memory of the old DWA’s disfunction persists.

Gilmore said that the DWC’s story, however, is still being written.

Perhaps the biggest chapter of that story will be the DWC’s efforts to increase revenue, possibly through the expansion of the municipal service district (MSD) that it administers.

The municipal service district, which covers all of Main Street, levies an extra tax on property owners there — 19 cents per $100 in assessed value. The DWC is the contracted entity responsible for utilizing that money for beautification and other programs designed to boost visitation and downtown businesses.

In the end, that tax levy only ends up raising about $107,000 a year. Aside from some small appropriations made by town government and some modest income earned by DWC-run events, that doesn’t leave much money for actual improvements.

“We’ve got to beef that up,” Gilmore said. “Our budget goes quick. It’s not a big pot of money here.”

Raising the levy by a cent or two would generate such a meager increase in revenue that the political fight probably isn’t worth it, but expanding the district to include the urban core of Waynesville’s Frog Level district appears to have some backing on the DWC.

“We’re going to look at any areas adjacent to the current MSD that logical-

The enabling legislation for municipal service districts says that in order to expand an existing MSD, new parcels must be contiguous to the existing district. That means satellite expansion is out of the question, so the DWC would have to find a way to include parcels bridging the gap between Main Street and Commerce Street. Then, there’s the property owners themselves, who would very reasonably want to know what benefit they’d receive in exchange for agreeing to an extra property tax above and beyond the 43.92 cents per $100 they already pay.

It was for this perceived “lack of benefit” that Waynesville’s Board of Aldermen allowed the Legion Drive property now home to Mad Anthony’s Taproom to leave the MSD in 2021. Downtown events and festivals, the owners claimed, didn’t benefit them at all because of the property’s unique location.

“My initial thought it would be really nice to be part of a larger organization,” said Julia Bonomo, who with her husband Frank owns or co-owns several buildings in Frog Level. The Bonomos are also partners in the Frog Level brewery.

Bonomo is the new chair of the historic Frog Level Merchants Association, a very small group working largely in parallel to the DWC, but with far less resources.

She told The Smoky Mountain News on Jan. 6 that it would ultimately come down to the bottom line of what Frog Level might get in exchange for joining the municipal service district, and that she looked forward to the discussion.

Spiro said that the discussion would be a largely educational one, attempting to demonstrate the value of inclusion in the district. Spiro also stressed that the DWC wasn’t looking to force any properties into the district.

Darris Moody. Buncombe Co. Sheriff’s Office photo

Macon commission asks MCS to prioritize hefty capital outlay requests

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF W RITER

Following direction from the Macon County Board of Commissioners, the Macon County Board of Education met last week to prioritize its numerous capital outlay requests.

Commissioners asked the school board to undertake this process to get a clearer picture of what projects need the most immediate attention. However, the school board had a difficult time ranking needs, several of which are vital for basic school function, and all of which warrant improvement.

“My understanding was that [the commission] would like us to look at these projects and prioritize those for them. This is the first time we’ve ever been asked to do it this way,” said Macon County Schools Chairman Jim Breedlove. “Obviously we could do this, but I will throw back out that it comes down to the commissioners themselves and their determination of what should be number one, number two, whatever, in terms of their funding. Hopefully this will be of some assistance to them.”

The call for prioritization came during a joint meeting between the school board and board of commissioners in which newly elected commissioners expressed some hesitancy about the Franklin High School project as planned, in addition to the slew of capital outlay requests from the school system.

After discussing each of the capital improvement projects needed in the school system, School Board members were extremely hesitant to prioritize them because they felt that almost all the projects were vitally important to school function. Board members worried that prioritizing the projects would give commissioners an out to only fund one or two of those needs.

The school board looked at six projects: Nantahala School sewer treatment plant; Franklin High School; Macon Middle School sewer vent pipes; Cartoogechaye six-classroom addition; Macon Middle School track; and the Highlands School project.

The Nantahala School sewer treatment plant has been on the capital outlay list for almost 15 years. The school’s maintenance department has had to conduct regular and intensive repairs to keep the plant from leaking, but because it is not yet leaking, the county has not yet funded a repair project. Current cost estimates for the project are over $300,000.

“That system is nearing failure, and the longer we wait, the more expensive it becomes,” said Superintendent Dr. Chris Baldwin.

The school system has had shovel-ready plans in years past, but because so many

years have passed, codes have changed and the statute of limitations on that set of plans ran out.

There is the possibility of funding this project with the Repair and Renovation Fund available through the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The criteria for the grant does involve plumbing.

“If [the sewer plant] fails, we have to shut the school down, so I think we need to put a priority on that,” said Breedlove.

The sewer vent pipe issue at Macon Middle School is equally important for school function. Due to problems with the sewer pipes in the walls of the buildings when the school was constructed, sewer gas, carrying an atrocious odor, leaks into the gymnasium and cafeteria. The pipes were not included in the scope of work for the Macon Middle School renovation.

Cartoogechaye Elementary is in need of a six-classroom addition. In 2017 the General Assembly passed legislation that reduced class size in grades K-3. In order to accommodate, most school systems had to hire more classroom teachers and expand the number of classrooms needed to teach the same number of students.

Since that time, Cartoogechaye Elementary has incrementally lost its ability to have classrooms for a computer lab and music class, as well as several office spaces. Next year, the school will lose its art classroom and that teacher will begin rotating between classrooms and delivering a mobile art class.

Having rotating special classes eliminates a teacher’s ability for a normal planning period because during that planning time, their room is filled with young students taking music, art or computer classes.

Itinerant teachers no longer have classrooms but have to use converted closets and other nooks and crannies in the school building as instruction space — a practice that is not unique to Macon County Schools. The school has no conference room, computer lab and has had to convert much of its media center space for instruction space.

Both South Macon and East Franklin Elementary schools have also had to undergo expansion for the same issue. Ideally construction would begin this summer; it would not interrupt operation of the school and could continue throughout the school year.

The Macon Middle School track needs new infrastructure and a new surface. The track will have to be demolished and reconstructed. The school system has known about this issue for a couple of years but has not been pursuing it vigorously because of work on the high school track and overall high school project.

“We’re at the point now where we don’t

have a usable track in Macon County for track events,” said Baldwin. “If phase one moves forward, the high school won’t have anywhere to practice, let alone participate in high school track meets in Macon County. We’ve known about the middle school track issue for some time, we haven’t been pursuing it as a capital outlay request because we’ve been focusing on the high school track, but at this point we’ll be without a track in Macon County if we don’t do something with the middle school track.”

The school system has $109,000 that it received from DPI and the General Assembly that can only be used for athletic facilities. Baldwin and County Manager Derek Roland have discussed using this money, combined

with the contingency leftover from the middle school renovation for the track project.

The new Franklin High School project was a hot topic last year. The county has spent over $1 million on plans for the school, the total cost of which is estimated at over $100 million. While school security and ADA compliance are among the most pressing issues, the old school buildings also require extensive maintenance to keep them dry and safe for students. According to Principal Mickey Noe, “the roof leaks like a sieve.”

The Highlands project involves renovating high school classrooms to function as preK classrooms, renovating and expanding the media center and building additional high school classrooms to make up for those renovated into pre-K rooms. The project is estimated at around $4.8 million.

Highlands school is facing some of the same space issues as Cartoogechaye and East Franklin. Additionally, it currently has no preschool classrooms. The county serves about 90 preschool students annually, though it has 300 students in kindergarten each year. According to school board member Hillary Wilkes, private early childhood care and education centers in Highlands have years-long waiting lists.

A separate project, though also at Highlands School, is the Highlands School soccer field. The field was installed about 14 years ago and faces major drainage issues that inhibit students’ ability to use the field for the majority of months in the school year. Because of excess water, the field is often frozen during the winter and early spring months and can be too muddy to play on

“A sewer system breaking and kids not being able to go to school for four months, to me that’s got to be first on the list. You got to take care of the factors that are going to shut down school first, and then the rest just kind of goes along the way.”

—

Franklin

High School Principal Mickey Noe

A smoke test revealed where sewer gas is leaking through pipe gaps at Macon Middle School. MCS photo

safely during spring and fall.

In her conversations with administration, Wilkes feels that the best option is to turf the field because it would solve most of the issues.

Commissioner Josh Young, one of the county’s representatives for the liaison board with the school system, was present at the school board’s Jan. 6 meeting.

“I have anxiety about pledging tax dollars to items that I feel like are aesthetics or wants, only because I see the desperate needs we have up there,” said Young. “I do have anxiety because I do want to send you everything you asked, I feel like it’s my obligation to work with you. But when you see the first four or five items on that list, it’s hard for me to put turf on any field when I understand what kind of situation the high school is in, or the vent pipes at Macon Middle School. To me that’s a safety issue. Turf and grass, that’s a want. Vent gas at MMS, that’s a must.”

Franklin High School Principal Mickey Noe was also at the meeting and gave his input on project prioritization.

“A sewer system breaking and kids not being able to go to school for four months, to me that’s got to be first on the list. Shutting down a cafeteria during a lunch shift so kids can’t eat in there because of sewer smell and everything, that’s got to be a tie for number one in my opinion. You got to take care of the factors that are going to shut down school first, and then the rest just kind of goes along the way,” said Noe.

Still, board members worried that by ranking these projects, commissioners would fund only the top priorities and let the rest sit on the back burners.

“There has to be a commitment to pay for these things, not just one thing, not just the low-hanging fruit,” said Wilkes. “The problem I have with the ranking is because of the sheer dollars involved with the Franklin High School, it is extremely important, it has to keep going, it cannot stop, the phases have to continue but we cannot wait on, [for example] the highlands project, until the Franklin

High School project is done. Because then we’re several years down the road.”

“Several points have been made about the dangers of prioritizing this list,” said Baldwin. “We identified Nantahala Sewer treatment plant as number one, Macon middle sewer pipes as number two, and I certainly agree with that. But let’s say there’s an ADA lawsuit with Franklin High School tomorrow, and we’ve prioritized that as third. Or, even worse, a catastrophic breach of security at Franklin High School. So there are dangers in us prioritizing the list.”

In the end, school board members decided to extract the two sewer projects from its list of capital outlay requests, placing them in an “emergency” category. Next on the list, Franklin High School is the top priority. The school board lumped the Macon Middle School Track project in with FHS, seeing as how the county would be without a working track while the high school athletics complex is under construction if the middle school track isn’t fixed. The second priority on the list is the Highlands project and third is Cartoogechaye. While the board did not feel that one was less important than the other, the Highlands project is further along in the planning process and could therefore benefit from funding the quickest.

Commissioner Young assured the school board of his commitment to continuing the high school project, though he is only one vote among a board of five commissioners that seem to be approaching the project with more reservations than the last county commission.

“Do I think we can do phase one [of the high school] and Highlands project right now with fund balance? No, I don’t think so,” said Young. “That’s where I struggle, because I think there has to be a funding mechanism for all of these items.”

The County Commission was set to meet after press time Tuesday, Jan. 10; the board was scheduled to consider a contract for Highlands Middle School renovations.

WCU celebrations honor Martin Luther King Jr.

Western Carolina University’s Martin Luther King Jr. weeklong celebration will feature a keynote address from Lisa Blackmon to highlight this year’s theme — “Building a Legacy of Leadership.”

Blackmon is the founder of Lifechangers International Inc., a leadership training organization, and the managing attorney for more than 25 years at Blackmon & Blackmon, LLC. Her address will be Wednesday, Jan. 18, at 5:30 p.m. in the Hinds University Center  Grandroom.

Other MLK events include:

• Monday, Jan. 16 – The annual MLK Jr. Unity March will begin with poster making at 10 a.m. in the UC Cardinal Room, followed by the annual march beginning at 11 a.m. at the Catamount.

The first of two service-learning opportunities will take place, hosted by the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning and the NAACP. Various times and locations TBD.

• Tuesday, Jan. 17 – The Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Programs is hosting “Civil Rights: The Latinx Story” from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in the UC Multipurpose Room. This talk will explore the Hispanic/ Latino/a/Latinx/Latine civil rights timeline beginning in the early 20th century.

The Center for Career and Professional Development is hosting an Employer DEI Panel “Speed Informational” from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the UC Multipurpose Room. In this “speed dating” style panel, employers will discuss their efforts in DEI initiatives.

The Student Government Association is hosting a Black History Celebration Brainstorm Townhall from 6 to 8 p.m. in the UC Multipurpose Room. Students are invited to a brainstorming session to discuss plans and ideas for a Black History Celebration week taking place in February.

• Wednesday, Jan. 18 – Intercultural Affairs will host a keynote workshop titled

“Who do men say I am?” from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in the UC Multipurpose Room.

Blackmon will give the keynote address at 5:30 p.m. in the UC Grandroom.

• Thursday, Jan. 19 – The Global Black Studies program and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. will host a luncheon and presentation from David Walton, director of the Global Black Studies program, on “Youth, Trauma, Gaslighting & PTSD: A Legacy of the 1960s and 1970s.” This event will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Intercultural Affairs lounge, UC 227. Lunch will be provided but space is limited. RSVP for the event on WCU ENGAGE.

Mentoring and Persistence to Success will host a First-Generation Leaders Workshop from 5 to 6 p.m. in the Intercultural Affairs lounge, UC 227.

The second of two service-learning opportunities will take place, hosted by the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning and the NAACP. Various times and locations TBD.

• Friday, Jan. 20 – Hunter Library will host a presentation on “The Civil Rights Movement and Counternarratives” from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Library Classroom 186. This presentation will discuss counternarratives as an important methodology tool used during the Civil Rights Movement and other social movements.

The Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and SGA will host “Thrive: Student Leadership Workshop” from 6 to 8 p.m. in the UC Multipurpose Room. In this workshop, student leaders will engage in a panel and conduct leadership activities.

Last Minute Productions will host one of two screenings of the film “Till,” which tells the harrowing true story of Emmett Till, in the UC Theater.

• Saturday, Jan. 21 – Last Minute Productions will host the second screening of “Till” in the UC Theater.

Tribe to conduct census

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF W RITER

For the first time in 22 years, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians will conduct a census of its tribal members.

On Dec. 8, the EBCI Tribal Council unanimously passed a resolution submitted by the office of Principal Chief Richard Sneed authorizing an electronic tribal census as well as an incentive of $100 per participating person. According to Anita Lossiah, policy analyst for the EBCI, the census will be carried out this year.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is important for your tribe,” said Big Cove Rep. Teresa McCoy. “It’s important to your children and your grandchildren and their children. And the reason I say that is because this is 2022 and it’s time for us to know exactly how many members of this tribe are alive and well.”

The tribe’s Charter and Governing Document, the EBCI’s supreme legal document analogous to a constitution, mandates that a tribal census be carried out once every 10 years, with the results used to calibrate the weighted voting system used in Tribal Council. The body has 12 members, but each member’s vote has a different value according to the population of his or her township. Votes from Birdtown and Wolfetown representatives, for example, are worth 12 votes, while Snowbird/Cherokee County and Painttown are weighted at six. Representatives from Yellowhill and Big Cove control seven votes apiece.

However, no tribal census has been conducted since 2001. Though the topic has periodically come up in Tribal Council, no census has occurred — not even after a unanimous vote in 2017 to approve $273,000 for the project. The amount was intended to cover a contract with the U.S. Census Bureau to manage the census and pay for the local workers who would carry it out.

In a work session held Dec. 6, Lossiah said the census did not take place in 2017

because the tribe missed the deadline for completing requirements to start the process. At that point, the Census Bureau had to commit its resources toward the 2020 federal census and could not assist the tribe. Then the COVID-19 pandemic exploded, further delaying the process.

“Now (we’re) basically getting on track to the list of things to do and identifying

believed that more tribal members live off the Qualla Boundary than on it. OffBoundary members can still vote in elections — the law allows them to register in the township where they last resided, or if they never lived on tribal land, in a township based on their parents’ or ancestors’ residence — but they can’t run for office.

Sneed and McCoy, who are often at loggerheads in Council chambers, found themselves in agreement over McCoy’s assertion that Tribal Council should one day add atlarge seats for members who don’t live on tribal land.

“At some point a citizen who lives offBoundary is going to say, ‘Hey, wait a second. I’m being disenfranchised here,’”

that it didn’t anticipate a time when so many members would live away from tribal lands.

The census results will be used for more than adjusting the voting weights on Tribal Council. Specific demographic information is important for many purposes, including pursuit of federal grant dollars and administration of tribal services.

some of the work that needs to be done,” Lossiah said. “Going through the pandemic, electronic processes for things were really ramped up.”

The tribe expects that conducting the census electronically will be less expensive and yield more information than traditional means. The census will include all tribal members, not just those who live on the Qualla Boundary. The process is expected to take five months, with one month for education and promotion followed by a three-month period during which the questionnaire will be live online. In the fifth month, the team will finalize the data for viewing.

During the Dec. 6 work session, Sneed and Tribal Council had a robust discussion about the implications census results could have for the weighted voting system. While the tribe currently lacks hard data on the number and distribution of its citizens, it’s

Appointments available for ACA health insurance

Enrollment for 2023 health insurance through the ACA Marketplace ends Jan. 15. Folks who sign up now can have quality, affordable health insurance starting Feb. 1.

Depending on household size and projected household income for 2023, individuals may qualify for premium tax credits that lower the out-of-pocket premium costs.  Many people can find plans with outof-pocket premiums that range from $50 to

as low as $0 per month.

Need help sorting through all the options?  Local, free, unbiased in-person assistance is available to explain options and help with applying. Appointments are available in person or over the phone by calling Mountain Projects at 828.452.1447 or Pisgah Legal Services at 828.210.3404.

This project is supported by the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust and the Dogwood Health Foundation.

Sneed said.

— Teresa McCoy

Such a solution would require a change to the Charter — or approval of a constitution — and won’t be brought about by the census itself. However, the census results could inform the discussion around what changes, if any, should be made to Cherokee’s legislative systems to better address the tribe’s current reality.

The tribal Charter, last amended in 1986, “absolutely did not take into consideration the economic powerhouse that the Eastern Band is today,” Sneed said, adding

While Lossiah declined to provide a final version of the questionnaire that will accompany the census, an earlier version attached to the census resolution that Tribal Council tabled in November had 26 questions. These included everything from typical demographic questions about the ages, incomes, education levels and professions of people in the household to questions specific to the Cherokee people, such as whether anyone in the household speaks the Cherokee language, whether the respondent knows their clan and the enrollment status of household members. The survey also includes questions targeted at understanding social dynamics in the community, such as whether the respondent is caring for children other than their biological children and whether the household has access to a vehicle, housing, health insurance, broadband and fresh food.

“I just want y’uns to quickly come in here with any amendment that you need for any type of financial anything that’s going to help get this project done,” McCoy said prior to the vote Dec. 8. “I think it’s long overdue.”

“I think it’s long overdue.”

Community Almanac

Health Foundation awards grant to Boys and Girls Club of the Plateau

Highlands Cashiers Health Foundation (HCHF) has awarded a grant to Boys and Girls Club of the Plateau to fund a recreational therapist position at their Cashiers facility. The recreational therapist will serve to improve the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of youngsters from Cashiers, Highlands and the surrounding plateau communities through mentorship and activities

healthy habits; reduce depression, stress, anxiety; and build confidence and socialization skills.

The club will be conducting bi-yearly assessments on club members to establish baselines and to help monitor progress. Many children are not comfortable sharing, and it becomes more difficult to recognize where there is a need. By conducting the assessments, it helps with identifying children that need additional support. One of the primary goals of the club is prevention, and this allows the staff to follow their evolution and give them the support that they need before an issue can escalate.

“Behind every behavior action is a need,” says Brandon Norwood, Director of Health and Wellness with Boys and Girls Club of the Plateau. “Finding that need is incredibly important. Too often kids are just written off for too many ‘thumbs down’ as just a bad kid. Maybe that kid is just going through some stuff, so let’s try to figure out what we can do to help.”

In addition to working directly with members of the club, the recreational therapist will be developing a range of new programs. An educational program for parents is currently being developed. The program would focus on supporting parents and encouraging whole family health and wellness. Additionally, a new internship program for recreational therapy students at Western Carolina University is being developed. This new program will allow the club to support more youth while providing one of the few local internships available on the plateau.

Sarge’s honors community with new calendar

Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation has a new way to help furry friends in its care with the first annual “2023 Furrst Responder Hero Calendar.”

The wall calendar showcases 13 of Haywood County’s first responders posing with their favorite adoptable Sarge’s cat or dog.

“We looked for new ideas for fundraising to support Sarge’s work saving homeless dogs and cats but wanted to go beyond photos of our animals,” said Pamela Wilcox Smith, Sarge’s interim executive director. “We wanted to feature something that makes us proud of our community, and decided to honor Haywood County’s first responders, Haywood businesses and Sarge’s adoptable dogs and cats.”

Smith pointed out that Haywood County heroes put their lives on the line for the community every day. Couple that with local businesses that continuously support Sarge’s Animal Rescue and the awesome Sarge’s animals needing a forever home, and the result, she said, is a “win-win for everyone.”

First responders received a spot on the calendar through nomination by the community, then Facebook voting.

The Sarge’s 2023 Furrst Responder Hero Calendar features Waynesville Police Department Sgt. Dee Parton and Sarge’s dog, Kaiser, on the cover.

Calendars are $20 and are available at Sarge’s Adoption Center in Waynesville, and at donor businesses featured in the calendar. Visit these participating Haywood County businesses: Cornerstone Mercantile, Coffee Cup Café, Bogart’s, Smoky Mountain Dog Bakery, Vale 243, Behavior Tales, Sweet Onion, Mast General Store, Print Haus, Affairs of the Heart, Station on Main and Beverly Hanks Realtors-McElroy & Ellege.

The 2023 Furrst Responder Hero Calendars may also be ordered online and mailed anywhere; order at sarges.org.

Program on Cherokee language to be held

On Monday, January 16, the series Where We Live: History, Nature, and Culture, will present a program on Revitalization of the Cherokee Language by Dr. Hartwell Francis at Cowee School

Arts and Heritage Center.

Dr. Francis is the founding director of the Cherokee Language Program at Western Carolina University. He moved from WCU to become the Education Curriculum Developer at the New Kituwah Cherokee Language Immersion Academy of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI). He works with speakers to document Cherokee language and with teachers and community member to develop lessons for Cherokee language instruction at all levels.

Dr. Francis will briefly outline the state of the art in current Cherokee language instruction, including online work. He will explain the work that he and his colleagues are engaged in to preserve and expand knowledge of the Cherokee language. They focus on the EBCI community, developing language instruction materials and lessons for all levels of students, including pre-school instructors, K-12 students, and adult community students. He will present some of the Cherokee language instruction trends that are developing.

The Cherokee language is considered endangered and the EBCI is engaged in several activities to preserve and advance the language as well as other valuable cultural aspects.

The program will take place at the Cowee School Arts and Heritage Center at 51 Cowee School

Drive, off NC 28 N, in Franklin at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 16.

The lecture series is designed to give people an opportunity to learn more about our local area, from many different angles, and to enjoy a pleasant, informative evening together.

Find your purrfect mate at FUR’s adoption day

Feline Urgent Rescue of Western North Carolina (FUR) invites members of the community to “find your purrfect mate” during its first adoption day of 2023.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the public can stop by the cage-free, no-kill sanctuary without an appointment to meet and play with available kittens, adult cats and senior cats from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 12. The sanctuary is located at 38 Safe Haven Drive in Waynesville.

“Adopting a cat from a sanctuary like ours is usually safer and less expensive for families in the long-run,” said Lisa Sanborn, FUR Board president. “All FUR cats have been vaccinated, spayed or neutered and microchipped for no extra cost, so families don’t have to worry about those initial expenses.”

For this special event, FUR will even be reducing their standard adoption fees to encourage adoptions.

“We’re eager to place our available kitties in loving homes,” said Syd Klocke, co-coordinator for the event. “The more cats we can adopt out, the more cats we can rescue. The need is so great in our area, but we can only help the cat population when we have the space and funds to do so.”

At any given time, FUR cares for up to 100 cats, including those living at the sanctuary, cats placed in foster homes and community colonies around the area, and there is often a wait list of cats who are needing help. In addition, FUR is almost exclusively volunteer and donation based.

For more information about FUR’s February adoption day or for directions, visit furofwnc.org or call 844.888.CATS (2287).

Book Discussion Group at Library

The Jackson County Public Library is hosting the monthly Book Discussion Group on Tuesday, Jan. 17, and Tuesday, Feb. 21, both at 6 p.m. in the conference room.

The book to be discussed the next two months is “Black Leopard, Red Wolf” by Marlon James. In this novel, myth, fantasy, and history come together to explore what happens when a mercenary is hired to find a missing child. Drawing from African history, mythology, and his own rich imagination, Marlon James has written an adventure that’s an ambitious, involving read. Jan. 17: Chapters 1 and 2. Feb. 21: Chapters 3 through 6.

“Black Leopard, Red Wolf” is available through the NC Cardinal System in standard print, large print and audiobook formats. This novel is also available through OverDrive as an ebook and an audiobook. Registration is required. Email jcpladults@fontanalib.org or call 828.586.2016 to register.

that encourage

Robin Tindall, CEO of HCHF, Brandon Norwood, Director of Health and Wellness for Boys and Girls Club of the Plateau, and Carmen Waite, CEO of Boys and Girls Club of the Plateau.

When success is about making communities better

Sometimes an idea hatches first as a kind of mental knot that doesn’t reveal itself but causes me a bit of anxiety as I try to unravel what’s eating me. When that happens I try to slow things down, open my mind, and almost always the thought will reveal itself.

I was driving home Monday night from the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce’s Elected Officials Reception, and I knew something from the night’s event was running around my brain that I couldn’t put a finger on.

Every year the chamber hosts this get together — save for the Covid era — that brings together elected leaders at the local, state and federal level that represent Haywood County. It provides the chamber the opportunity to thank those leaders for their service, a chance for members to meet and talk with those leaders, and an opportunity to very briefly go over the legislative agenda that the chamber thinks will help its members.

As a young man, I shunned tradition and had no thoughts of ever becoming an entrepreneur. In those years, I had no idea the outsized role that business organizations like chambers of commerce play in communities large and small. As a history buff, I certainly knew that craftsmen had formed guilds and trade associations since medieval times to bolster their profits and license practitioners of particular skills, so I knew pro-business organizations had a long history in capitalist economies.

But it took getting involved locally to see how that really

Keeping Trump from Trump

To the Editor:

“Nothing can work damage to me except myself; the harm that I sustain I carry about with me and never am a real sufferer except by my own fault.” Those are words from Ralph Waldo Emerson that are in my book of meditations called “One Day at a Time” in AlAnon.

When I hear former President Donald Trump I think of those words. He rants often about being “victimized”. Yet, he apparently doesn’t believe he was victimized by being elected in 2016. He chose that path — to run for President. Then he lost his bid to be reelected in 2020. Now he is playing the role of a “victim”.

The reality is this:

“Victim” Trump will go down in history as the only President ever to be impeached twice.

“Victim” Trump has been under investigation for over a year and a half for his role in the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

The January 6 bipartisan committee has referred Trump to the Department of Justice

works. I’ve been involved in the Haywood Chamber at various levels for more than 20 years — since we started The Smoky Mountain News — and over that time I know for a fact that the contacts and friends I’ve made and many of the professional relationships that have grown directly because of the chamber have helped my own business succeed. I can also attest to the fact that many others have shared similar stories. If you’re a local business depending on local sales and employ local workers, it just makes sense. Chambers are all about local, local, local.

One of those I spoke with at the chamber reception was a man who has a made a name for himself as a local government watchdog. He is known to poke and prod and piss a lot of people off, including me, at times. We disagree about a lot, but we chatted amicably Monday night, perhaps learning a bit about each other.

But the fact is he was there, the first time I’ve seen him at a chamber event. As I thought of all those gathered, the knot unraveled as I pulled my truck into my neighborhood. It’s so rare these days that we get so many people who disagree politically in the same room, be it Democrats or Republicans, progressives or conservatives, activists or quiet movers and shakers, those who like what the school board is doing or those

LETTERS

for three possible crimes: obstruction of an official proceeding; conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to make a false statement.

“Victim” Trump took numerous classified documents from their rightful secure location when he vacated the White House in 2021The Justice Department is now saddled with the massive task of determining whether to indict and prosecute “victim” Trump for the above findings and allegationsIt is worth remembering that “victim” Trump seldom pays taxes that are needed to pay for investigations. He doesn’t pay taxes that are used to hire Secret Service to protect him as an ex-President.

Donald Trump has not been “victimized” at all. He has actually victimized the American people. His followers have been victimized by his lies. The rest of us have been forced to work to ensure that he was not re-elected. Now we are all paying for these much-needed investigations. Perhaps it is time that Donald Trump asked himself the question that the rock group Counting Crows asked in the song “Perfect Blue Buildings”: ”How am I gonna keep myself away from me?” And , as January

who don’t, business owners who want Medicaid expansion or those who don’t, and on and on.

I hate labels. When I hear people say Democrats want a socialist/Marxist country, I wonder what the hell that even means. It’s just wrong. When someone says Republicans hate all government spending, I wonder what the hell that even means (like if you have an “R” you don’t want roads, schools, the military?).

My point is that a lot, if not most, of the negative stereotypes people attached to party labels don’t hold up when you get a bunch of businesspeople, political leaders and workers in a room where they can talk face to face. Sure, you can still disagree, but all of a sudden it’s a human, a person, you’re talking to and not just some idea of a person who you try to stereotype.

Organizations like chambers of commerce help bridge these differences. As mentioned by all the speakers last night, the Haywood Chamber is a non-partisan organization. Its mission is to promote the businesses in Haywood County and help them succeed, not to pander to political activists. That mission — like that of many of the chambers of commerce in Western North Carolina — allows it to bring together people of different stripes who all want Haywood County to be the best community it can be. In a time when many civic organizations are struggling, I’m glad that this chamber of commerce continues to thrive and succeed in its mission.

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

while at the same victimizing the American

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

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

6 Committee Co-Chair Liz Cheney insists, “how do we keep Trump from us?”

“Nothing can work damage to me ….” Trump has worked great damage on himself

people. No more!

Dave Waldrop Webster

Editor Scott McLeod

I’ll go for tornados over plane crashes

I’m trying to get a little work done early one morning, sipping on my first cup of coffee, still in bed, laptop open but nudged up on one side by a persistent miniature dachshund burrowing ever deeper under the blankets. It’s a cold, rainy day, a good one for working from home if you ask me.  ESPN is on — one of the early morning talk shows — but I have the sound turned down so I can concentrate on my work. Then I realize that I am hearing voices from another room digging out of the silence. I can’t quite make out the conversation and figure I must be imagining it, but the conversation, faint as it is, has turned urgent. There’s definitely conflict in the house, even if I don’t know what it’s about.

Reluctant as I am to do it, I crawl out of bed, my dog muttering disagreeably and shifting into a new position even deeper under the covers. If someone has broken into our home to have an argument, I guess I’d better investigate.

Then I see that the laundry chute is open, acting effectively as a loudspeaker for the conversation, which is taking place inexplicably in our laundry room one floor down. Two women and one man are bickering over who will pick up the children after school. There are complications. Everybody has other responsibilities. People are making their cases with increasing frustration and decreasing patience.

“We talked about this on Wednesday!”

I am not any less confused now that I can hear clearly.

“Tammy?” I say, hopefully. “Is that you down there, or have strangers broken into the laundry room to argue over childcare arrangements?”

“I’m watching ‘Sister Wives,’” she says, as if that explains everything.

If you don’t already know, “Sister Wives” is a reality show based on a polygamist family. HBO had a popular show called “Big Love” based on the same concept, but that was a fictional series starring Bill Paxton, Chloe Sevigny, and the miraculous Harry Dean Stanton (an aside: I would watch a show about Harry Dean Stanton making toast).

“Sister Wives” stars a man named Kody Brown, who is not miraculous. Kody Brown is the man at the dealership trying to sell you a car you can’t afford. He’s the coach of your son’s youth baseball team, a man who thinks his son is going to be the shortstop for the New York Yankees one day, but he can’t remember your son’s name halfway through the season. He’s the guy who ate all the shrimp at the wedding reception.

If you’ve watched much reality television,

then you know there is a certain type who is a cinch to be central to the cast, and that is the “insufferable narcissist.”

We must face the fact that there is a sizeable audience for this personality type. After all, we elected the prototype as president of the United States just six years ago, another fellow who’s had a lot of problems with a number of wives.

Tammy doesn’t like Kody any better than she liked the former president, but she explained her attraction to the show this way: “It’s like watching a plane crash or a huge train-wreck in very slow motion. It’s awful, but you can’t take your eyes off it.”

This is a simple truth we would just as soon not spend too much time thinking about our fascination with disaster. The Romans may have admired the poet Virgil, but when it came right down to it, do you think they spent most of their free time reading the “Aenid” or going to the Colosseum to watch the gladiators?

I admit that I sometimes have to focus on reading some of the classic works of literature, but I can watch footage of tornadoes and tsunamis all day long, the more catastrophic the better.

What is WRONG with us? I’ll leave that question for the philosophers and theologians to ponder, but I will tell you this much on my own behalf. I would rather be a gladiator myself than watch 17 seasons of “Sister Wives.” But my spouse consumes episodes

like Tic Tacs.

For several weeks now, she might as well have become a sister wife herself. Far too often, writers employ the tedious cliché “every waking hour,” but in this case, what else is there? She watches it in the morning on her laptop while having her breakfast. She watches it on her iPhone while she goes about her day, completing a stunning variety of tasks while one of the wives is pulling one of the children’s teeth or Kody is whining (again) about being misunderstood or how he’s not being allowed to be the head of the family, as is his role and apparent birthright.

Tammy and I have been married a long time and we are perfectly cool with having separate interests, as well as things we enjoy together. We are always up for trying out new things. She gave free jazz a try for about five minutes before fleeing the room in horror.

In that same spirit, I watched the pilot episode of “Sister Wives.” I did not flee the room in horror, but I did entertain myself by thinking of different ways I might escape Kody if we ever turned up at the same party, which is about as likely as me ever watching another episode of “Sister Wives.”

Tammy tells me that the family eventually moved to Las Vegas — a place that is famous for being “family friendly” — and then later to Flagstaff, Arizona. Now Kody’s wives seem to be fleeing him at an alarming pace. Apparently, he’s down from four to just one, a development that thrills her.

It’s a giant plane crash, she says. No doubt, but I guess I’m just more of a tornado guy.

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

Columnist

Chris Cox

BETWEEN THE HEAVY AND THE LIGHT

Graham Sharp of Steep Canyon Rangers

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD ARTS & E NTERTAINMENT E DITOR

With the recent departure of founding member Woody Platt, the Steep Canyon Rangers found themselves at a crossroads — now what?

Instead of trying to replicate the sound, structure and dynamic of the Grammy-winning Americana/bluegrass act, the Ashevillebased group took the opportunity of a new musical chapter to take inventory of what was, what is, and what could be moving forward.

And with that, the group tapped longtime Western North Carolina singer-songwriter Aaron Burdett. Where Platt was the physical and musical anchor of the Rangers onstage, Burdett seamlessly find himself in the fold as part of a renewed team effort to reshape and reenergize one of the most popular acts in the scene today.

Taking in the size and scope of where the Rangers currently stand, singer/banjoist Graham Sharp is not only reflecting with pride on the ensemble’s journey from its humble roots as students at UNC-Chapel Hill over two decades ago, he’s also keenly focused on the vast unknowns that lie ahead — sonically, but more so spiritually.

Smoky Mountain News: What’s the landscape of the Rangers right now?

Graham Sharp: After the upheaval with Woody leaving in the middle of the year, we

brought Aaron in. The first thing officially was July 4, when we were out with Steve [Martin] at the Hollywood Bowl with the LA Philharmonic. Things [have] started settling in a little bit, and we just started sort of getting a good feel of what we are doing. There’s lots of different things we’re discovering that work with this new outfit.

The next step from here is — where do we take it? It’s interesting because there’s just no way to duplicate what that was with Woody because we learned the whole cannon of music together. We knew all the same songs and where every little piece of it went, exactly how everything fit together. That was really wonderful and impossible to duplicate. But, with Aaron, it’s more of, “Well, this is how I thought this was going to work. But, actually, you’re doing something altogether different, which I wasn’t expecting.” And it’s really cool.

SMN: There’s this fear of the unknown, and also there’s intrinsic beauty in that.

GS: Totally. We’re going into the studio to record an album right after we get done with Winter Camp [next week]. We’ve been putting together songs for the album. I’ll have a song written and play it, and have it in my head kind of what it’s going to be. And it turns out to be something that’s just has a little different twist on it. I’ve been so wonderfully surprised with how things are sounding. It’s not the same. And, I think that’s how it has to be — I wouldn’t want it to be the same.

Want to go?

The annual “Winter Camp” musical celebration presented by the Steep Canyon Rangers will take place Jan. 17-20 at the Oskar Blues Brewery in Brevard. Featuring an array of special guest opening acts, the four-day event will begin each night at 5:30 p.m. There will also be craft beer, onsite food trucks, bonfires, and more. steepcanyon.com.

SMN: How has your role within the band changed or shifted with this new lineup?

GS: It’s always been a very democratic thing. The typical sort of creative workflow [before] would be, I’d write a song, kind of work it up to a point, then get together with Woody and show it to him. Then we’d work on it and bring the band in.

And now, the workflow is very different. I bring a song, or even just a part of a song, to anybody [in the band] depending on who I want to bounce something off of.

Woody was a big, gravitational center onstage. And people have commented [that] it just feels different onstage. There’s less of a center and more of a synergy between [the band]. Things are just changing a little bit more, where the center is [one person], then it moves to “this” person, then it moves to “that” person. We’re not going to bring in somebody to

be “the guy,” you’re going bring in somebody who’s going to be one of the guys.

SMN: When you talk about the songwriting and the sonic possibilities of what may be around the corner, it harkens back to one of the things I’ve always appreciated about the Rangers — you’ve always been a fearless band, where you’ve always focused on simply serving the song.

GS: And I really don’t know what the [new] record is going to be. We’ve got 25 to 30 songs that we’re just sort of throwing a bunch of stuff against the wall and seeing where it lands. It’s a good chance to just trade around some instruments, get some different people kind of taking on different roles and whatnot. Learning how different voices fit together — there’s just so much right now,

I mean, how often, after doing something for [over] 20 years, do you really get a chance to refresh it with something that you’re genuinely reenergized by, you know? It’s a powerful feeling, and I think it’s going through the group. When this transition came around, [everybody knew] we needed to step up.

And it’s cool to have somebody new. I think when [standup bassist] Barrett [Smith] came [into the band], and now Aaron, just having seen the band from the outside for so long, where it’s, “Okay, this is how you see yourselves, but this is kind of how people on the outside see you.” It’s neat. I feel that’s kind of pulled us back into sort of the core of who we’ve always been — everything is surprising right now.

Steep Canyon Rangers.

Sandlin Gaither photo

This must be the place

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

Sitting in The Scotsman in downtown Waynesville on Sunday evening, I found myself sporadically watching the last NFL game of the season as the Detroit Lions eventually overtook the Green Bay Packers.

And though I was flying solo, cold suds in-hand, soon a group of familiar faces rolled in through the front door. One of them was celebrating a birthday, while the rest of his cronies were tagging along all in an effort to spur on any sort of irresponsible enlightenment at the mercy of libations.

One of the familiar faces is someone I’ve pretty much known since I first stepped foot in Haywood County and accepted the position of arts editor here at The Smoky Mountain News in July 2012. He’s the younger brother of another dear friend in these mountains, and part of an extended family whose lineage in Western North Carolina goes back countless generations.

After the usual chitchat about what’s new and “How’s the wife and kids?” there came a point where we started to reminisce about good times shared many moons ago, and how special those moments were back then, each held very closely to my heart all these years later, especially as this region goes through immense growing pains.

You see, the exact first night I spent in Waynesville, I was told by a coworker that “if you want to meet some locals and have some fun, go to the Tipping Point around the corner.” Now a long gone but never forgotten brewery/restaurant in town (where Sauced currently resides), I wandered in not knowing a single soul. There I was, a “Damn Yankee” hailing from the Canadian Border of Upstate New York.

My friend I mentioned above? Well, his older sister was the bartender there. She was, and remains, a local legend. A true salt of the earth mountain woman. Takes no shit from anyone, and yet always projecting compassion and empathy to others. My kind of people. Anyhow, when I bellied up to the bar, she knew I wasn’t a local and asked where I was from.

“Well, Garret from New York, welcome to Haywood County,” she smiled, sliding a beer in my direction. “Oh, and if you take the newspaper job, I’ll tell you all kinds of real deal local folks you need to interview and write about.”

And I did take her up on that offer, which has led to many unforgettable interactions and feature stories over the years for this publication. But, the bigger point I’m trying to make is about the salt of the earth folks that have lived and resided in these mountains for centuries. And how a lot of it is rapidly disappearing, whether by time and age or sheer economic and cultural factors.

Now, even with 11 years under my belt, I’m no local by any means. If anything, I’ve been regarded as an “honorary local,” a titled bestowed on me by fiery locals at The Water’n Hole Bar & Grill, and also at the

HOT PICKS

now-defunct Brar Patch, a dearly beloved hole-in-the-wall, which used to be the thirdshift bar for the long gone Dayco rubber plant where Walmart now sits in West Waynesville.

By the time I arrived at the Brar Patch, it was mostly filled with old-timers and farmers that’d I’d talk to and connect with manya-time. Sadly, it closed in November 2016, but not before I was able to interview some folks over drinks on its last day, last call.

“My grandpa used to bring me in here when I was a little girl. He’d get his beer and burger and I’d get my hot dog and soda,” a local friend told me that day. “He’d hang out with all his friends, hell they all grew up together. This is where the salt of the earth folks come and gather — this is the heart of Haywood County.”

They say the only constant in life is change, and, well, Haywood County is changing very rapidly, even for an outsider life myself that came here for gainful employment over a decade ago. Progress is inevitable, and usually welcomed in any

1

Country megastar Jamey Johnson will hit the stage for a three-night stand Jan. 13-15 at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort.

2Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host Alma Russ (Americana/folk) at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13.

3Appalachian/indie act Jackson Grimm & The Bull Moose Party will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13, at The Scotsman in Waynesville.

4Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host Rossdafareye (rock/country) 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13.

Thursday, January

12th

Live Music with Rene Russel 8pm - 10pm Americana/Rock/World Music

Friday, January 13th

Live Music w/ Jackson Grimm & The Bull Moose Party 8pm-11pm - New Folk/Pop/Traditional

Wednesday, January 25th

5

Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Mountain Gypsy (Americana) at 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12.

small town. But, at what cost? That’s always the million dollar question, literally and figuratively.

And I think of all of those places and people who are no longer here. Biscuits and gravy at Duvall’s. Mountain music with banjo legend Raymond Fairchild at the Maggie Valley Opry House. Sipping a homemade ale at the Tipping Point. That big, picturesque meadow I’d often jog by on a backroad that’ll soon be ripped up to make way for dozens of new homes.

Talking to my friend at The Scotsman, we rehashed old tales of moonshine and bonfires on a mountaintop in Jonathan Creek. I remember how grateful I was to be invited by his older sister. She trusted me and knew I could hold my own. I’ll never forget pulling up to the bonfire, a huge crew of rugged, badass locals.

Stepping up to the massive inferno, I was immediately handed a jar of moonshine. They could hear my northern accent and inquired as to where I was from. My “Damn Yankee” status was revealed. And yet, there was no judgment or ill will. All that was asked of me, whether consciously or subconsciously, was something I still ask of others new to the area, each of us in search of our respective destiny, “Are you a good person or a bad person?”

That questions lies deep within me as the winds of change swirl over Waynesville, Haywood County, and greater Western North Carolina. Things change. People leave us. Folks drop in. Old houses fall apart. New homes are constructed. But, never forget the history and heritage of these ancient mountains, of the incredible faces and places that reside here.

Aim to complement (with an “e”) this wondrous corner of the world. Add to the already rich tapestry of culture and vibrant social fabric that’s constantly having new patches and patterns sewn onto it. Dig below the surfaces of your comfort zone and get to know the real Southern Appalachia — for that is where the true beauty lies in these hills.

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

BURNS NIGHT SUPPER

This dinner is a private prefix Scottish four course meal alongside Scotch, Ale/Wine, Pipe Tunes and Poetry recital celebrating the immortal Scottish Poet/Lyricist Robert Burns. Pipe Music. Poetry Recital. Tickets $ 59

Southern Appalachia.

(Garret K. Woodward photo)

On the beat

Harrah’s Cherokee welcomes Jamey Johnson

Country megastar Jamey Johnson will hit the stage for a three-night stand Jan. 13-15 at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort.

Born in Alabama, Johnson set his sights on music after seeing his idol Alan Jackson perform live in concert. After eight years of service in the U.S. Marine Corps, he moved to Nashville and began writing songs and performing in small clubs.

As a songwriter, Johnson has penned No. 1 hits for artists like Trace Adkins and George Strait, but it’s his award-winning solo material that has earned him his latest batch of honors. His fourth studio album, 2012’s “Living For A Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran,” peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, garnering praise from critics and a Grammy nomination for “Best Country Album.”

For more information and/or to buy tickets, click on caesars.com/harrahs-cherokee.

party-grass song à la Old Crow Medicine Show in “Last Train Home.”

The performance is free and open to the public. For more information, click on scotsmanpublic.com.

Americana, folk in Waynesville

Appalachian/indie act Jackson Grimm & The Bull Moose Party will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13, at The Scotsman in Waynesville.

Grimm marries folk/pop melodies with the lonesome sound of traditional Appalachian music. In a region with a strong music culture, it is no surprise that Grimm’s songwriting is representative of his musical birthplace: Asheville.

His songs run the gambit from an homage to a traditional country waltz in “If Not For You,” an unrequited love song driven by a Beatles-esque melody in “I’d Hold You (But I Don’t Wanna Hold You),” to a drunken

Interested in learning the dulcimer?

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

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

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

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

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

Russ returns to Mountain Layers

Beloved singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Alma Russ will hit the stage at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13, at Mountain Layers Brewing Company in Bryson City.

Based out of Western North Carolina and with her unique brand of “patchwork music” (country, folk and Appalachian styles pieced together), Russ enjoys playing guitar, banjo and fiddle.

Russ was also a contestant on “American Idol” Season 16. Her most recent album, “Fool’s Gold,” was recorded in an abandoned church in the West Texas desert while Russ was on a national tour.

Free and open to the public. 828.538.0115 or mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com. For more information on Russ, click on almarussofficial.com.

Alma Russ. (File photo)

Jackson Grimm. (File photo)

Jamey Johnson. (File photo)

On the beat

• Altered Frequencies (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.342.8014 or alteredfrequencies.net.

• Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) will host an open mic from 8 to 10 p.m. every Thursday. Free and open to the public. 828.631.1987 or balsamfallsbrewing.com.

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

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

• Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.634.0078 or curraheebrew.com.

• Farm At Old Edwards (Highlands) will host the “Orchard Sessions” on select dates. Tickets start at $25 per person. For tickets, click on oldedwardshospitality.com/orchardsessions.

• Folkmoot Friendship Center (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. For tickets, click on folkmoot.org.

• Fontana Village Resort Wildwood Grill will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 800.849.2258 or fontanavillage.com.

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host Kid Billy (singer-songwriter) Jan. 13, Seth & Sara (Americana) Jan. 14, We Three Swing (jazz) 5:30 p.m. Jan. 17 and Kevin Dolan & Paul Koptak (Americana) Jan. 21. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public unless otherwise noted. 828.454.5664 or froglevelbrewing.com.

• Frog Quarters (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. Located at 573 East Main St. littletennessee.org or 828.369.8488.

• Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort (Cherokee) will host Jamey Johnson (country/rock) Jan. 13-15. caesars.com/harrahs-cherokee.

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host “Trivia Night with Kirk” from 7 to 9 p.m. every Tuesday, Open Mic Night every Wednesday, Rossdafareye (rock/country) Jan. 13, Andy Ferrell (singer-songwriter) Jan. 21 and Adi The Monk (Americana) Jan. 27. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.

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

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

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

• Moss Valley (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. Food trucks and beverages available onsite. Bring a lawn chair. Presented by Drake Software.

• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host Alma Russ (Americana/folk) Jan. 13, Scott Jams Stambaugh (singer-songwriter) Jan. 14, Bird In Hand (Americana/indie) Jan. 20 and Twelfth Fret (Americana) Jan. 21. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.538.0115 or mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

• Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.641.9797 or nantahalabrewing.com.

• Nantahala Outdoor Center (Nantahala Gorge) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows behind at 5 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. noc.com.

• Orchard Coffee (Waynesville) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. Tickets available at the shop. 828.246.9264 or orchardcoffeeroasters.com.

• Quirky Birds Treehouse & Bistro (Dillsboro) will host Open Mic Night at 7 p.m. every Tuesday and semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.586.1717 or facebook.com/quirkybirdstreehouse.

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

• Salty Dog’s Seafood & Grill (Maggie Valley) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.926.9105.

• Satulah Mountain Brewing (Highlands) will host semi-regular live music on the week-

ends. 828.482.9794 or satulahmountainbrewing.com.

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

• The Scotsman (Waynesville) will host Rene Russell (Americana/rock) Jan. 12, Jackson Grimm & The Bull Moose Party (Americana/indie) Jan. 13, Bonafide (Celtic/jam) 4 p.m. Jan. 14, Ashley Heath (singer-songwriter) Jan. 19 and Lucy’s Remains (rock/oldies) Jan. 21. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.246.6292 or scotsmanpublic.com.

• SlopeSide Tavern (Sapphire) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.743.8655 or slopesidetavern.com.

• Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on smokymountainarts.com or 828.524.1598.

• Southern Porch (Canton) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.492.8009 or southern-porch.com.

• The Ugly Dog Pub (Cashiers) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. 828.743.3000 or theuglydogpub.com.

• The Ugly Dog Pub (Highlands) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.526.8364 or theuglydogpub.com.

• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Mountain Gypsy (Americana) Jan. 12, Nick Mac & The Noise Jan. 13, Keil Nathan Smith (singer-songwriter) Jan. 14, JC “The Parrothead” Jan. 18, Steve Weams & The Caribbean Cowboys (oldies/hits) Jan. 19, Outlaw Whiskey Jan. 20 and Dottie The Band Jan. 21. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.538.2488.

• Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 9:30 p.m. 828.456.4750 or facebook.com/waternhole.bar.

• Wine Bar & Cellar (Sylva) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. 828.631.3075 or facebook.com/thewinebarandcellar.

• Yonder Community Market (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. Donations encouraged. 828.200.2169 or eatrealfoodinc.com.

Celebrate the ‘Lunar New Year’

The American Chinese Friendship Society of Western North Carolina and Folkmoot USA will present the “Lunar New Year Celebration,” which will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, at the Folkmoot Friendship Center in Waynesville.

Come usher in the Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year, at this inaugural celebration. This beautiful holiday is recognized around the world and begins with the new moon that occurs sometime between Jan. 21 and Feb. 20.

Festivities generally last until the following full moon. The holiday is sometimes called the Lunar New Year because the dates of celebration follow the phases of the moon. The event will have an array of traditional demonstrations and hands-on activities, including a lion dance, calligraphy, tea ceremony, and more.

Tickets are $20. Proceeds will benefit the American Chinese Friendship Society of Western North Carolina and Folkmoot USA.

Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. Sticky 8’s Food Truck will also be onsite, who will bring their unique southern-Asian fusion cuisine to help create the ultimate experience for this event. You will also be able to make additional purchases at our Folkmoot LIVE! Bar, which will be serving beer, wine, cider, etc.

For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on folkmoot.org.

Reading Season has

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

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

• “Take A Flight” with four new wines every Friday and Saturdays at the Bryson City Wine Market. Select from a gourmet selection of charcuterie to enjoy with your wines. Educational classes and other events are also available. For more information, call 828.538.0420.

• “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on select dates at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City. Full service all-adult first class car. Wine pairings with a meal, and more. For more information and/or to register, call 800.872.4681 or click on gsmr.com.

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

• Dogwood Crafters in Dillsboro will host an array of upcoming art classes and workshops. For more information and a full schedule of activities, click on dogwoodcrafters.com/classes.html or call 828.586.2248.

On the stage

Ready to try theater?

A

The Haywood Arts Regional Theater in Waynesville is currently offering a wide variety of classes in the theater arts for all ages, young and old. Whether you are just starting out or want to hone your skills, HART has opportunities for you.

Sign up your youngest one or grandkid who has a ton of creative energy but doesn’t know how to focus it yet. Or sign up that young theatre enthusiast who is looking to learn more and find a group of like-minded friends that will last a lifetime. Or maybe this is the sign you have been waiting for to finally

Open call for HCAC volunteers

The Haywood County Arts Council’s (HCAC) mission is to promote art, art education, and innovation in art. Located on Main Street in Waynesville, the HCAC Haywood Handmade Gallery is currently seeking volunteers to help keep the gallery open this winter.

The gallery is open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays.

“If you’ve ever been in our gallery, you’ve met one of our volunteers, as the gallery is 100 percent volunteer run” said HCAC Executive Director Morgan Beryl.

“The gallery features the artwork of our membership in themed exhibitions, the Haywood Handmade line which is a line of HCAC-inspired, handmade items and a selection of member made jewelry, pottery, cards, scarves, and more,” added HCAC Board Member and Gallery Committee Chair Emily Reason.

stage production at HART. (File photo)

gain the courage to step on stage. Whatever the desire, HART has a class that is waiting for you.

Classes run through March 2. HART prides itself on offering reasonably priced classes so that they can keep the arts alive in Haywood County. Browse the selection of spring classes at harttheatre.org and sign up today for a chance to change your life and discover your hidden talents and passions.

For more information, contact Artistic Director Candice Dickinson at 646.647.4546 or email candice@harttheatre.org.

HCAC artists who display their products in the gallery volunteer at least one day a month, but many volunteers are community members who are looking for a way to give to the arts.

Volunteer shifts are split between morning and afternoon, and come with a variety of responsibilities including learning about HCAC artist members and their work and sharing this unique information with visitors to the gallery.

“It's both fun and important to educate gallery visitors. People are often much more engaged when they learn that everything we show is locally made. Not only does the gallery provide a well-trafficked venue for showing art, it enables us to spread the word about other programs HCAC has to offer” Reason said.

Other volunteer tasks include basic opening and closing activities like turning on the lights or turning down the heat, helping keep the gallery clean by sweeping and dusting, and processing sales.

For more information and/or to sign up to volunteer, click on haywoodarts.org/volunteer.

A surfer’s quest to find Zen on the sea

— Loren Eiseley

It’s not often that one finds a book that is both sensibly spiritual and a very fun read. But such was the case on my reading of Jaimal Yogis’ coming-of-age, non-fiction memoir “Saltwater Buddha” (Wisdom Publications, 2009, 238 pages).

Yogis’ clear, yet engaging, writing style is like having a casual conversation with a longtime friend.

Beginning with childhood, Yogis takes us to his home in the San Francisco Bay Area and his initially discovered love for the ocean and his early trials and errors at learning to surf. Not at all a passionate student, he goes back and forth, in and out of schools during his high school years, ending up eventually in Hawaii. Here, he joins the surfing community whole hog and lives frugally, if not impoverished, to spend time at this new sport.

Early on, when Yogis is not in the water and fighting the elements, he is reading books on Zen Buddhism that he’d been introduced to from his parents, alongside books like “Dharma Bums” by Jack Kerouac and others of the Beat generation. Zen, then, replaces academia for him, and gives him a meditative mindset with which to apply to his efforts at surfing. Or, as he writes in the book’s Introduction: “I have an ongoing love affair with the ocean, which, through years of meditation, I have come to view through what might be called Zen-colored glasses.”

This early epiphany and this relationship between Zen practice and the world of nature pervades throughout the book as he struggles to master both the Zen art of meditation and the art of riding the waves. “In my limited experience, Zen practice has been something like returning to the waterfront, or like paddling out into the surf after days without waves,” he goes on to say.

A true individual, Yogis’ life path is that of the solitary seeker, searching for truth wherever he goes and on his own. And so, from a young age and into adulthood, Yogis lives his life “flailing around on the sea, gliding on the fringes of our blue world.” What I, personally, loved most about this book was Yogi’s willingness to be vulnerable and to share with us his failures as well as his

successes in his “ride” through life. In a compelling and conversational voice, he draws us in to his personal narrative and takes us with him on his many journeys, both out in the world and inside his probing mind.

After spending some early years in Hawaii in his youth, Yogis ends up on the Swiss-French border in France, visiting Plum Village and the Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, where his formal study and training in Zen Buddhism truly begins and from

he discovers the island of Kalani Honua — a kind of jungle commune as he refers to it — and the teachings of the Zen master Lao Tzu (“The supreme good is like water, which nourishes all things without trying to.”) Here he is privy to one of the premiere surfing spots in the Hawaiian chain called Pohoiki.

“What I liked most about learning the science of surfing was that even the pure facts were poetic. I began to see why the Hawaiians believed the gods were surfers,” Yogis writes. And it is here that Yogis becomes a true intern to the art of surfing. “I still botched plenty of good waves. But it felt like a new type of surfing was starting to be accessible,” he says, as he strives to combine the art of surfing and the lessons of Zen Buddhism. And with this strategy, Yogis forges ahead, with long days on the water perfecting his skills there on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Sylva monthly book club

where he writes to his parents back in California: “I’ve decided I don’t think I need to finish high school. I’m going to be a monk.”

Eventually, he does return to California and spends time in a Chinese Buddhist monastery in Berkeley while finishing high school and being what he terms “a pretend monk” for a year. But Yogis wasn’t destined to be a monk, and so he returns to the everyday world where he “tried to be normal.” But he found that “normal was difficult. I got a girlfriend (she broke my heart). I went to parties (they made me tired). I tried to do volunteer work (I got sick).”

And so ... back to Hawaii he goes. There,

He eventually leaves Hawaii and ends up back on the U.S. mainland in Santa Cruz, California. Here, he discovers what is termed “Surf Nazis” with an overpopulation of surfers from all over the world congregating along the Santa Cruz shoreline surfing some of America’s premiere waves amongst a heirarchy of amateur and professional surfers. Here, in this section of “Saltwater Buddha,” we get wave-by-wave, thought-by-thought experiences of Yogi’s trials and travails of the in-water life of a surfer. “I was a Zen surfer,” he declares. Later, he has a near-death experience in the surf of Montauk, just outside of New York City. “Lesson learned,” he writes.

By the end of the book, Yogis has gotten a journalism degree and is writing for San Francisco Magazine and still surfing every chance he gets. “I’ve learned that I’m not the things I do or don’t do; I’m not surfing or Buddhism or writing. And yet, all those things are. And I am,” he finishes with a Zen flair as his final words.

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

A monthly book club is being currently offered at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. Each month, a library staff member will be discussing some of the new book titles that the library has received. Particular attention will be paid to “under the radar” titles and authors, new releases, and other books that the staff is excited about. All are welcome and no registration is required. For more information on when the club will meet, please call the library at 828.586.2016. This club is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. The JCPL is a member of Fontana Regional Library (fontanalib.org).

“If there is magic on the planet, it is contained in water.”

Writer

Thomas Crowe

Private land, public impact

Workshop series helps

woodland landowners better steward their forest

BY HOLLY KAYS OUTDOORS E DITOR

Usually, talk around conservation and forest management focuses on big chunks of public land like the Pisgah-Nantahala National Forest and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, not smaller parcels of private acreage. According to Lang Hornthal, co-executive director of the nonprofit EcoForesters, that needs to change — added together, those smaller parcels cover enormous swaths of land.

“In Western North Carolina almost 70% of forests are privately owned, so if we expect to have an impact on a landscape scale, we really need to engage this landowner base,” Hornthal said.

That’s just what Hornthal and his organization will attempt to do in a series of landowner workshops planned to impact 16 WNC counties over the next three to four years. The next one, targeted to landowners in Jackson and Swain counties, will take place 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at Southwestern Community College in Sylva.

Offered in partnership with Jackson County Cooperative Extension, the N.C. Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the program will start with a brief overview of the history and current state of WNC forests and the threats they face. Then the discussion will turn toward what healthy forests look like and how landowners can benefit from forest manage-

ment planning. Speakers from Extension and the NCFS will present, and the agenda will include opportunities for landowners to speak one-on-one with forestry professionals, asking questions specific to their land and situation.

Nearly all public lands are required to undergo some form of land management planning, and while land trusts do not have any such requirement, the conservation easements that constitute their main conservation

tool also act as a plan. Private landowners don’t have to create a management plan, and many of them don’t.

“Most don’t have a forest stewardship budget at all, and those that do, it’s never adequate,” Hornthal said. “That’s no fault of the landowner. That’s just how it has always been.”

But planning and active management are vital to maintaining forest health and protect-

By the numbers

• 83% of forested land in North Carolina is privately owned

• 69% of forestland in the western 23 counties is privately owned

• 55% of all land in the western 23 counties is privately owned forest

• 25% of all land in the western 23 counties is publicly owned forest

• 20% of all land in the western 23 counties is not forested

• 39% of all forest in the U.S. is owned by families, the largest of any ownership group

• 29% of all forest in the U.S. is owned by the federal government

Source: U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis National Program and EcoForesters analysis of public data

ing woodlands from the increasing threats they face. Development, climate change and the ongoing march of invasive species and diseases have already taken a heavy toll on North American forests, and these challenges aren’t going away anytime soon.

“I think there’s a predominant view that nature will always take care of itself,” Hornthal said. “And while I think that natural systems are very resilient and capable of doing so, humans have really kind of put some mud in the gears of their ability to do so. Given the pace of development and climate change and invasive species, nature is not able to recover like it normally would.”

Hornthal said EcoForesters’ goal is to help landowners take the next step in better managing their land, meeting them where they are in their land

A trailbuilding crew pulls back a mat of leaves and roots. Pat Barcas photo

management journey. For some people, that first step might be simply learning about why forest planning is important. For others who are further down the path, it might be getting help writing a plan or learning where to find funding to help them implement an existing plan.

Because most forest landowners fall into older age groups, Hornthal said, there’s likely to be considerable turnover of forest ownership in the coming years — making planning efforts on private land even more important.

“If a landowner has a plan, and they either die or decide to hand down or sell their property, if they are able hand that new owner a plan the odds are that they are going to keep it like it is and make better decisions,” he said.

Good forest management is important not only for the specific piece of land in question, but also for the landscape as a whole. Quality habitat on private land can complement other types of habitat on nearby public land, and help provide corridors for wildlife species to move between conserved areas. Invasive species can also move between tracts, so preventing infestation on private land protects nearby public land, and vice versa.

This type of landscape-scale restoration will be EcoForesters’ focus over the next three years as it seeks to implement a $500,000 grant it received last year from the U.S. Forest Service’s State and Private Forestry Landscape Scale Restoration grant program. Through the grant, EcoForesters will work to implement goals in the N.C. Forest Action Plan, which identifies several rural areas in Western North Carolina as forest stewardship priorities. The project will fund planning and restoration for private landowners, help them gain access to cost-share funds and offer technical assistance.

The effort includes three separate project areas: the Sandy Mush project area in Buncombe, Madison and Haywood counties; the Cherokee project area on the Qualla Boundary and surrounding private lands in Jackson, Swain and Macon counties; and the Foothills project in McDowell, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba and Rutherford counties.

EcoForesters offered forest landowners workshops like the one coming up on Jan. 28 prior to receiving the grant, offering two

Calling all forest landowners

A forest landowner workshop coming 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at Southwestern Community College in Sylva will give landowners a chance to learn principles and resources for stewarding their forest.

The nonprofit EcoForesters is offering the workshop in partnership with Jackson County Extension, the N.C. Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, with sessions to cover how forests have become degraded over time and what can be done to restore them. Landowners will receive access to professionals, maps of their forest and information on cost share funding in a casual setting. Subjects will include information about forest management resources, tax incentives for forest management, cultivating non-timber forest products and how to enroll forests in carbon markets.

Free, with lunch provided, thanks to funding from the U.S. Forest Service Landscape Scale Restoration Grant. Snow date is Feb. 4. Register at ecoforesters.org/outreach-events.

such workshops each year before the Coronavirus Pandemic. However, the goal of the workshops fits cleanly with the goal of the grant, and EcoForesters expects to increase both total participation and the total number of events compared to the status quo prior to 2020. Hornthal said there will be “at least three” offered in 2023, with the next one likely to take place somewhere in the Foothills project area.

By the end of the three-year grant period ending June 30, 2025, EcoForesters aims to reach 20,000 landowners, with 5,000 of those “significantly engaged” in the forest planning process. It’s targeting 5,000 acres under new or revised forest management plans and 2,000 acres of forest stand improvement restoration. In addition, the nonprofit aims to achieve 1,000 acres of non-native invasive species control

“It’s exciting,” Hornthal said. “This is going to allow us to do a lot of the things we were already doing and have already proven to be important, just a little larger landscape and hopefully get more accomplished.”

289 Access Road, Waynesville 452 4343

Eastgate Drive, Sylva 586 8950

Georgia Road, Franklin 349 4534

McDowell Street, Asheville 254 7716

NC Hwy 141, Murphy 835 8389

Pat Barcas photo

Tennessee native lead Smokies Lands Office

Joshua Johnson has been hired as the new lands specialist for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The Lands Office administers the park’s land protection program, which includes assessing land acquisition and protection matters; issuing rights-of-way and lands special use permits; maintaining park boundary markers; and working with park neighbors to address possible boundary encroachment concerns. The park shares 443 miles of boundary with more than 2,000 neighbors in Tennessee and North Carolina.

“Ensuring the protection of lands set aside for the public is a huge responsibility and I’m pleased to welcome Josh to oversee the program,” said Smokies Superintendent Cassius Cash. “The Lands Office is one of the most important and complex operations here at the park and Josh is uniquely qualified to lead it.”

A native Tennessean, Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree from Tusculum College in Greenville, Tennessee and has previously worked as a licensed real estate agent and GIS specialist.

Register for the Business of Farming Conference

The 20th annual Business of Farming Conference is coming up Saturday, Feb. 11, at the A-B Tech Conference Center in Buncombe County.

The conference focuses on the business side of farming, offering beginning and established farmers financial, legal, operational and marketing tools to improve farm businesses and make professional connections. Farmers and specialists will lead more than a dozen workshops, including seven new ones. These include “Intro to Land Access,” guidance for new or expanding farm businesses on buying or leasing land; “Planning for Long-term Farm Success,” strategies for improving quality of life as a farmer and plan for retirement; and “Farm Resiliency,” drawing from peer farmer experiences to prepare for and recover from adverse weather events.

The popular Grower-Buyer Meeting, in which farmers meet with chefs, grocers, wholesalers and other buyers to discuss their products and potential business relationships, will be held at lunchtime. Other networking opportunities include one-on-one sessions and an exhibitor hall. Embedded within the conference is the Farmers Market Summit, a chance for farmers market managers from across the region to come together for peersharing, technical assistance support and annual planning.

Organized by the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project. Register at asapconnections.org. Cost is $75 by Jan. 15 before rising to $95, with a discount for farm partners registering together and scholarships for limitedresource and BIPOC farmers. Cost includes locally sourced breakfast and lunch.

Meet the birds and trails of winter

Come out of hibernation to go hiking and birding this January with Haywood County Recreation.

■ A birding trip at 10 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 15, at Lake Junaluska will explore Western North Carolina’s premier birdwatching location; led by Kevin Burke.

■ Hike the Pink Beds loop on Sunday, Jan. 22. Located in the Transylvania County portion of the Pisgah National Forest; the hike is about 5 miles.

■ Explore Big East Fork and Shining Creek Saturday, Jan. 28, with a 4-5-mile hike in the Pisgah National Forest in Haywood County. Sign up for any activity at haywoodcountync.gov/recreation.

Tie your own flies

Learn the art of Southern Appalachian fly tying with an eight-week course taught by local expert Ray Sugg. Class will be held 6-8 p.m. Mondays Jan. 23 to March 13 at the Folkmoot Center in Waynesville. Offered through Haywood County Recreation, the course costs $30 for instruction, supplies and equipment. Sign up at haywoodcountync.gov/recreation.

Name the plants of winter

Learn about winter trees and mosses with a pair of upcoming full-day programs at Alarka Institute in Cowee.

■ On Saturday, Sept. 28, Alarka owners Brent and Angela Martin will lead a hike sharing techniques for identifying trees in wintertime. After spending the morning learning how to key twigs, the group will

lead lunch and then take a walk in the woods to learn other tricks and techniques. The day will end with a cozy fire, beverages and toasted vegan marshmallows.

■ On Saturday, Feb. 4, botanist Ed Schwartzman will lead a winter workshop on mosses, which provide homes for countless invertebrate species and are the best erosion mitigators around.

Email blueyodel32@gmail.com to ask about discounts on the $65 price for each session. Sign up at alarkaexpeditions.com.

Smokies road closed for boulder installation

Cherokee Orchard Road and associated trailheads in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are closed through Friday, Jan. 13, while crews install boulders along the road shoulders and remove hazard trees.

During this time, Twin Creeks Trail will be closed and there will be no access to Rainbow Falls and Trillium Gap trailheads from either Cherokee Orchard Road or Twin Creeks Trail.

The boulder placement is part of a larger project prevent roadside parking at popular trailheads. Vehicle parking on shoulders obstructs traffic flow and creates blind spots, causing safety hazards for visitors walking to or from their vehicles. It also impacts adjacent habitats, damages road edges, causes erosion and delays emergency response.

Brent Martin. File photo

Family Days start at Cataloochee

Families can visit Cataloochee Ski Area in Maggie Valley for a reduced cost on non-holiday Wednesdays starting Jan. 11.

On Family Days, a child 17 or under can receive a free lift ticket when accompanied by a parent who buys a full-price adult day lift ticket. This offer is not valid with any other program or discount, and regular rental and lesson rates apply.

For more information visit cataloochee.com.

Adventure safely

Be prepared in case something goes awry on your next outdoor excursion with a class offered 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at REI in Asheville.

Wilderness Survival: Ten Essentials will cover the 10 essentials for outdoor adventure and their practical applications. Participants will also learn about emergency priorities, how to make an emergency shelter, how to locate and access drinking water, and how to start a fire. This class is designed for anyone who spends time outside and wants to build their confidence with outdoor skills.

Cost is $79. The course will repeat Saturday, Feb. 25, and Sunday, March 26. Sign up at rei.com/events.

Set your racing goal for 2023

It’s not too early to start training for a big race in 2023, with race organizer Glory Hound Events already announcing several dates on its calendar this year.

■ The inaugural Land and Lake Relay will be held Saturday, March 4. This 63-mile race is set up for four-person and six-person teams, starting at Warren Wilson College in east Asheville and finishing at Fonta Flora Brewing at Lake James. Registration is limited to 60 teams.

■ The 16th annual Asheville Catholic School Shamrock 5K/10K will return Saturday, March 11, benefiting the O’Brien and William Edward Gibbs Memorial Scholarship Fund. Both races sold out last year, so early registration is encouraged.

■ The Gateway to the Smokies Half Marathon will return to its scenic course and festive start and finish in downtown Waynesville Saturday, April 1. The race will run alongside the Mighty 4-Miler to benefit the Riley Howell Foundation Fund.

The Fire Mountain Inferno will take place Saturday and Sunday, April 22-23, at the Fire Mountain Trails in Cherokee. The event will feature two days of enduro downhill racing.

■ The Strawberry Jam Half Marathon and 5K will return for its second year Saturday, May 20, at Darnell Farm in Bryson City.

■ The Lake Logan Multisport Festival is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 56, in Haywood County. This triathlon event will offer a choice of three races, a wetsuitlegal swim and the chance to see a bald eagle fly overhead.

For more information or to register, visit gloryhoundevents.com.

The Gateway to the Smokies Half Marathon. File photo

Up Moses Creek

BY B URT KORNEGAY

Buck Fever

I had read in natural history books about white-tailed deer that during the fall rut, deer hunters have sometimes been seriously injured when their prey — bucks hyped up to mate, and brooking no rivals — turned the tables on them and attacked. “A buck in the rut is always spoiling for a fight,” is the way one naturalist puts it. I’d also seen a video of a man who, quite sensibly I thought, perfumed himself with the scent of a doe in heat to see what would happen. What happened is that he got a severe pounding when a randy buck discovered the fragrant love of his life was a fake.

Bucks in the rut come armed to fight. Their heads are topped with antlers drawn to sharp points — nature’s pikes — powered by a body that bulks up in the fall. When reared up on his hind legs, a buck can also flail away with his front hooves as if they were nunchucks.

But none of this was on my mind on Dec. 14 when, taking my morning trail hike on the ridge behind our house, I heard a loud, emphatic snort, and, looking up, saw the hindquarters of a deer disappear into a laurel thicket not 20 feet away. I’d been seeing does most mornings, usually with their yearlings and other females. But this deer seemed to be solitary, and it looked big, so I thought it might be a buck — maybe the very buck that had rubbed small trees raw along the trail with his antlers and torn up a bush in a mock fight, the same buck that had been making scrapes and drag marks in the dirt with his hooves while strutting his stuff.

Assuming the deer was gone, I turned to hike back along the trail when several rapidfire snorts come out of the laurel. Deer snort by forcefully exhaling air out of their nostrils, a sound they make when startled or alarmed. The snorts also alert other deer to the presence of danger. But these exhalations didn’t sound startled or alarmed. Instead, they seemed to be directed at me, and they came with a challenge.

The repertoire of animal sounds I’m able to imitate is small, but I can do a pretty good deer snort. So, on a lark, I snorted back. And before I knew it the deer and I were engaged in a snorting match, the deer hurling snorts at me from the thicket, and me sending them back snort for snort.

Then I noticed the snorts were on the move — and not away from me. Instead, the deer was circling, as if trying to get behind me to catch my scent.

I was retracing my route along the ridge, giving a sportive snort from time to time,

when I spotted the challenger through some branches. He was now standing on a trail directly below — a trail that, if he kept on it, was going to junction with mine. Several times the buck looked at me then looked back toward the laurel thicket. When a doe suddenly walked out of the laurel and joined him, I knew why. I’d disturbed a mating pair.

I started toward the trail junction again, and so did the buck. If this kept on, we

were going to meet. When the trail led the deer into an opening, I got a clear view. Male deer mature through various antlered stages in life, from button buck to spike buck to “Y” or “fork horn” buck. This one had grown through all those to become a full-grown “rack buck” of at least 8 points. He’d probably never seen his own handsome antlers, but by the way he carried himself, it was clear he knew he was crowned.

The buck eyed me back. That’s when the warnings I’d read about what can happen to people during the rut came to mind, and I started eyeing nearby trees to climb. I’d reached the end of my snorts.

Suddenly the doe, still following the buck, and nudging him from time to time, turned and ran out of sight down the slope. She must have scented me. The buck watched her go and then followed — but not before giving me a last long look.

I noticed there was no hint of fear in the buck as he left. His every movement was deliberate, proud. The doe was a lot more important to him than I was, and his departure was as simple as that.

If I read his body language right, it was telling me, “Later.”

(Burt Kornegay ran Slickrock Expeditions in Cullowhee for 30 years, and he is the author or “A Guide’s Guide to Panthertown Valley.” He lives with his wife Becky up Moses Creek in Jackson County.)

A fork-horn buck in rut peers through a thicket. Fred Coyle photo

COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

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

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

• Cowee School Farmer’s Market is held Wednesdays from 3-6 p.m., at 51 Cowee School Drive in Franklin. The market has produce, plant starts, eggs, baked goods, flowers, food trucks and music. For more information or for an application, visit www.coweeschool.org or call 828.369.4080.

• Jackson County Green Energy Park is once again welcoming visitors. It is open to the public each week 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. Public classes will resume this spring. JCGEP will also host live glassblowing demonstrations at Innovation Station during the Lights and Luminaries festival in Dillsboro. For more information email info@jacksonnc.org or 828.631.0271.

FUNDRAISERS AND B ENEFITS

• Haywood Waterways Association and The Town of Canton are hosting the 11th annual Plunge and Plunge Challenge will take place at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, at the Champion Credit Union Aquatic Center (Canton Pool). The event raises funds for Kids in the Creek and other Haywood Waterways’ other community education activities. For more information contact 828.476.4667 or info@haywoodwaterways.org.

H EALTH AND WELLNESS

• Jackson County Public Library will host a Vaya Seminar: Communication 101 at 1 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12, in the conference room of the library. The seminar is free of charge, but registration is required. For more information or to register call the library at 828.586.2016 or email JCPL-Adults@fontanalib.org.

CLUBS AND M EETINGS

• The Canton Branch Creative Writing Group meets 10:30 a.m.-noon on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month. For more information, email Jennifer at jennifer.stuart@haywoodcountync.gov or call 828.356.2561.

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

• Sylva Writers Group meets at 10:30 a.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month, starting Jan. 11, at City Lights Bookstore. For more information contact sylvawriters@gmail.com.

K IDS & FAMILIES

• The EcoExplore Program about owls with Patrick Brannon will take place at 3:30 Wednesday, Jan. 18, at the Macon County Public Library. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.

• Yoga for kids of all ages will be offered at 4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12 and Jan. 26, at the Macon County Public Library. Yoga mats not provided. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.

• Creative Writing Club will take place at 3:30 p.m. on the fourth Wednesday of every month at the Macon

n All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.

n To have your item listed email to calendar@smokymountainnews.com

County Public Library. The first class will take place at Wednesday, Jan. 25. The writing club is intended for ages 8-12. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.

• Move and Groove Storytime takes place 10:30-11 a.m. every Thursday, at the Canton branch of the Haywood County Public Library. Exciting, interactive music and movement story time ideal for children 2-6 years old. For more information contact Ashlyn at ashlyn.godleski@haywoodcountync.gov or at 828.356.2567.

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

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

• Next Chapter Book Club Haywood is a fun, energetic and highly interactive book club, ideal for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The group meets every second and fourth Monday of the month. For more information, email Jennifer at jennifer.stuart@haywoodcountync.gov or call 828.356.2561.

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

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

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

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

F OOD AND D RINK

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

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

• Take a trip around the world with four different wines every Friday 11 a.m.-8 p.m. and Saturday 11 a.m.-6 p.m. at the Bryson City Wine Market. Pick from artisan Charcuterie Foods to enjoy with wines. 828.538.0420.

• Cooking classes take place at the McKinley Edwards Inn from 6-8:30 p.m. on Thursday nights. To reserve your spot call 828.488.9626.

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS

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

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

• Uptown Gallery, 30 East Main St. Franklin, will be offering Children’s Art Classes Wednesdays afternoons. Adult workshops in watercolor, acrylic paint pouring, encaustic and glass fusing are also offered. Free painting is available 10 a.m.-3 p.m. every Monday in the classroom. A membership meeting takes place on the second Sunday of the month at 3 p.m. All are welcome. Call 828.349.4607 for more information.

ART SHOWINGS AND GALLERIES

• “Thursday Painters” group will be held from 10 a.m.3 p.m. on Thursdays at The Uptown Gallery in Franklin. Free and open to the public. All skill levels and mediums are welcome. Participants are responsible for their own project and a bag lunch. 828.349.4607 or pm14034@yahoo.com.

Outdoors

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

n Complete listings of local music scene

n Regional festivals

n Art gallery events and openings

n Complete listings of recreational offerings at health and fitness centers

n Civic and social club gatherings

Forest in Haywood County. Sign up for the activity at haywoodcountync.gov/recreation.

• A wilderness survival class will take place 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at REI in Asheville. Cost is $79. The course will repeat Saturday, Feb. 25, and Sunday, March 26. Sign up at rei.com/events.

• Learn the art of Southern Appalachian fly tying with an eight-week course taught by local expert Ray Sugg. Class will be held 6-8 p.m. Mondays Jan. 23 to March 13 at the Folkmoot Center in Waynesville. Offered through Haywood County Recreation, the course costs $30 for instruction, supplies and equipment. Sign up at haywoodcountync.gov/recreation.

• The 20th annual Business of Farming Conference is coming up Saturday, Feb. 11, at the A-B Tech Conference Center in Buncombe County. Organized by the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project. Register at asapconnections.org.

• The inaugural Land and Lake Relay will be held Saturday, March 4. This 63-mile race is set up for fourperson and six-person teams, starting at Warren Wilson College in east Asheville and finishing at Fonta Flora Brewing at Lake James. Registration is limited to 60 teams. To register, visit gloryhoundevents.com.

• The 16th annual Asheville Catholic School Shamrock 5K/10K will return Saturday, March 11, benefiting the O’Brien and William Edward Gibbs Memorial Scholarship Fund. Both races sold out last year, so early registration is encouraged. For more information or to register, visit gloryhoundevents.com.

• The Gateway to the Smokies Half Marathon will return to its scenic course and festive start and finish in downtown Waynesville Saturday, April 1. The race will run alongside the Mighty 4-Miler to benefit the Riley Howell Foundation Fund. For more information or to register, visit gloryhoundevents.com.

• The Fire Mountain Inferno will take place Saturday and Sunday, April 22-23, at the Fire Mountain Trails in Cherokee. The event will feature two days of enduro downhill racing. To register, visit gloryhoundevents.com.

A&E

• Maggie Valley Ice Festival will take place 3-8 p.m. Jan. 28, at the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds.

• Paint and Sip at Waynesville Art School will be held every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 7-9:30 p.m. To learn more and register call 828.246.9869 or visit PaintAndSipWaynesville.com/upcoming-events. Registration is required, $45.

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

• Women on Wednesdays is a six-week ski instruction program held from 10 a.m.-noon every Wednesday beginning Jan. 11, and running through Feb. 15, at Cataloochee Ski Area in Maggie Valley. Sign up at www.cataloochee.com or contact 828.926.0285 or infor@cataloochee.com with questions.

• Families can visit Cataloochee Ski Area for a reduced cost on non-holiday Wednesdays starting Jan. 11. For more information visit cataloochee.com.

• A birding trip will take place at 10 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 15, at Lake Junaluska will explore Western North Carolina’s premier birdwatching location, led by Kevin Burke. Sign up for the activity at haywoodcountync.gov/recreation.

• Hike the Pink Beds loop on Sunday, Jan. 22. Located in the Transylvania County portion of the Pisgah National Forest, the hike is about 5 miles. Sign up for the activity at haywoodcountync.gov/recreation.

• Explore Big East Fork and Shining Creek Saturday, Jan. 28, with a 4-5-mile hike in the Pisgah National

• The Strawberry Jam Half Marathon and 5K will return for its second year Saturday, May 20, at Darnell Farm in Bryson City. For more information or to register, visit gloryhoundevents.com.

• The Lake Logan Multisport Festival is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 5-6, in Haywood County. This triathlon event will offer a choice of three races, a wetsuit-legal swim and the chance to see a bald eagle fly overhead. For more information or to register, visit gloryhoundevents.com.

• Haywood County Master Gardener volunteers offer a virtual plant clinic to answer any questions. Leave a message at the Cooperative Extension Office at 828.456.3575 or email haywoodemgv@gmail.com with a description of any homeowner gardening issue, including lawns, vegetables, flowers, trees and ornamental plants; disease, insect, weed or wildlife problems; soils (including soil test results) and fertilizers; freeze and frost damage; and cultural and chemical solutions to plant problems. Within a few days, a Haywood County Master Gardener Volunteer will get back to you with research-based information.

us by 10a.m. Monday for your ad to run again FREE

• $375 — Statewide classifieds run in 170 participating newspapers with 1.1+ million circulation. (Limit 25 words or less)

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

Legals

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY OF HAYWOOD IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE DISTRICT COURT DIVISION FILE NO. 22 JT 65

In Re: MCCALL a female minor child

NOTICE OF SERVICE OF PROCESS BY PUBLICATION

TO: WHITNEY NOVA PARR

Last Known Address: 252 Francis Asbury Road Waynesville, NC 28785

Take notice that a pleading seeking relief above-entitled action. The nature of the relief being sought is as follows:

The Petitioner, Larry E. McCall, II is seeking to terminate the parental rights of Respondent Mother, Whitney Nova Parr concerning the above named female child that was born on the 25 th day of July, 2019 in Haywood County, North Carolina to Petitioner, Larry E. McCall, II and Respondent, Whitney Nova Parr.

You are required to make defense to such pleading not later than FEBRUARY 6, 2023 being forty (40) days after the date of thetice, and upon your failure to do so the party seeking

service against you will apply to the court for the relief sought.

This 20TH day of DECEMBER, 2022.

DONALD N. PATTEN, PLLC

Attorney for Petitioner 46 South Main Street Waynesville , NC 28786 828-452-1454

By:_____ Donald N. Patten

DONALD N. PATTEN

apply to the court for the relief sought.

This 20 day of December, 2022

NIELSEN LAW, PLLC

Joshua D. Nielsen 413 Walnut St Waynesville, NC 28786 (828) 246-9360

Publication Dates: December 28, January 4, January 11, 2023

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE COUNTY OF HAYWOOD

DISTRICT COURT DIVISION FILE NO. 22-CVD-1024

AMBER DUNCAN, Plaintiff,

v. NOTICE OF SERVICE OF PROCESS BY PUBLICATION

JOHN THADUES HUNTER CHAFIN, Defendant, Take notice that a pleading seeking relief against above entitled action. The nature of the relief being sought is as follows:

Complaint for Permanent Custody

You are required to make defense to such pleading no later than January 27, 2023 upon your failure to do so the party seeking service against you will

NOTICE OF INTENT TO FILE

An application for 2023-2024 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 2023-2024.

Mountain Projects will be requesting $214,681 for Central intake.

that will they participate in the challenge process for grant funding levels for broadband. The project will contract with GIS professionals to assist local governments by helping them download county-relevant data, assess that data against their own data, and prepare and submit the protest documentation for local governments. The full RFP can be found at: www.regiona.org/ rfp-broadband-mappingfabric/ Proposals must be received by 5:00 PM ET February 1st, 2023. Proposals should be emailed (russ@ regiona.org) or delivered to: Southwestern Commission ATTN: Russ Harris, 125 Bonnie Lane Sylva, NC 28779

Auction

Announcements

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Real Estate Announcements

PUBLISHER’S NOTICE

All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act which makes it illegal to advertise ‘any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination’. Familial status includes children under 18 living with parents or legal guardians and pregnant women. This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate in violation of this law. All dwellings advertised on equal opportunity basis.

Rentals

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Haywood Co. Real Estate Agents

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate- Heritage

• Carolyn Lauter - carolyn@bhgheritage.com

Beverly Hanks & Associates- beverly-hanks.com

• Billie Green - bgreen@beverly-hanks.com

• Brian K. Noland - brianknoland.com

• Anne Page - apage@beverly-hanks.com

• Jerry Powell - jpowell@beverly-hanks.com

• Catherine Proben - cproben@beverly-hanks.com

• Ellen Sither - esither@beverly-hanks.com

• Mike Stamey - mikestamey@beverly-hanks.com

• Karen Hollingsed- khollingsed@beverly-hanks.com

• Billy Case- billycase@beverly-hanks.com

• Laura Thomas - lthomas@beverly-hanks.com

• John Keith - jkeith@beverly-hanks.com

• Randall Rogers - rrogers@beverly-hanks.com

• Susan Hooper - shooper@beverly-hanks.com

• Hunter Wyman - hwyman@beverly-hanks.com

• Julie Lapkoff - julielapkoff@beverly-hanks.com

• Darrin Graves - dgraves@beverly-hanks.com

Emerson Group - emersongroupus.com

• George Escaravage - george@emersongroupus.com

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• Amy Spivey - amyspivey.com

• Rick Border - sunburstrealty.com

• Randy Flanigan - 706-207-9436

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Keller Williams Realty - kellerwilliamswaynesville.com

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Lakeshore

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• Phyllis Robinson - lakeshore@lakejunaluska.com

Mountain Dreams Realty- maggievalleyhomesales.com

• Lyndia Massey- buyfromlyndia@yahoo.com

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Premier Sotheby's International Realty

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RE/MAX Executive - remax-waynesvillenc.com remax-maggievalleync.com

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• Sara Sherman - sarashermanncrealtor@gmail.com

• David Rogers- davidr@remax-waynesville.com

• Judy Meyers - jameyers@charter.net

Rob Roland Realty

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