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Western North Carolina’s Source for Weekly News, Entertainment, Arts, and Outdoor Information
Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2021 Vol. 22 Iss. 35
COVID vaccine supply diverted to larger counties Page 5 Governor approves Catawba gaming compact Page 12
CONTENTS On the Cover: Reporting from Washington, D.C., during inauguration week, SMN reporter Cory Vaillancourt was able to get past some tight security measures to visit WNC’s new Congressman Madison Cawthorn. (Page 6) Jeffrey Delannoy photo
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News Vaccinations climb in WNC ............................................................................................4 COVID vaccine supply diverted to larger counties ..................................................5 Seasonal flu cases remain low ....................................................................................10 Swain tourism agency plans for new website ........................................................11 Governor approves Catawba gaming compact ......................................................12 No charges in Qualla Housing probe ........................................................................13 Architectural contract approved for Jackson pool ..................................................15 Commissioners change attendance rules ................................................................15
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It is a steep hill we climb ................................................................................................16 Lessons learned from Larry King ..................................................................................17
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A&E HART Theatre aims to reopen this summer ............................................................18 An earth-focused vision for the future..........................................................................21
Outdoors Shuping retires as Haywood’s emergency manager ............................................22
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Vaccinations climb in WNC Distribution to slow in the week ahead BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER taff at Jackson County Public Schools looking forward to COVID-19 vaccination got a welcome surprise last week when an impromptu clinic on Jan. 22 vaccinated 313 people who work for the school system. “This got put together on very short notice,” said JCPS Director of Human Resources Kevin Bailey, Ph.D. “On Wednesday (Jan. 20) the hospital reached out to us and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got 350 doses of the vaccine that have to be gone by Monday of next week, and can you guys take it?’ We said, ‘We’ll do whatever we’ve got to do to be able to take it.’” The push to clear the shelves by Monday came from a federal decision to scrutinize vaccine distribution in all states as of Monday, Jan. 25, and penalize those who aren’t using up their allotted doses, Jackson County Health Department Director Shelley Carraway told county commissioners during a Jan. 19 meeting. “That’s why there’s a real push for this week,” she said at the meeting. “It used to be we were allocated according to hospital size and population, but now they’re saying, ‘Some of you are doing better than others at actually getting vaccines out the door, so you’re going to be rewarded by getting more.” While teachers are considered essential workers, they are included in Group Three of Jackson County’s five-group vaccination plan, and the county is still working to vaccinate Group One and Group Two. Those groups include healthcare workers with in-person patient contact, staff and residents at longterm care facilities and people 65 and older. Lucretia Stargell, vice president of professional services for Harris Regional Hospital, said the decision to vaccinate JCPS staff out of turn was made in collaboration with the health department as the most efficient way to use up the vaccine doses by the deadline.
Smoky Mountain News
Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2021
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VACCINATIONS WILL SLOW THIS WEEK Mike Taylor receives a vaccination from EMS Supervisor Toby Moore. David Profitt/JCPS photo
Vaccination in WNC Jan. 18 Jan. 18 Jan. 25 Jan. 25 First doses given Percent population First doses given Percent population Haywood ............2302............................3.7............................5105............................8.2 Jackson ..............923.............................2.1............................2400............................5.5 Swain ................423 ..............................3 ..............................950.............................6.7 Macon.................722 ..............................2 .............................2245............................6.4 Statewide.........344456..........................3.3..........................630774 ...........................6
* Dose numbers from NCDHHS as of noon Jan. 26. Population figures based on 2019 U.S. Census Bureau estimates. The hospital had 350 doses to use, and that’s about how many of the school system’s 620 employees had indicated interest in receiving the vaccine during a signup JCPS had sent out a few weeks ago. The school system also had the ability to quickly set up a location and gather its people for a fast and efficient vaccination event. “As frontline essential workers, teachers and other school system staff are high risk for
exposure to COVID-19 in their work settings,” said Stargell. “Vaccinating these individuals also protects our students, their parents and families against COVID-19 and helps keep our schools open and operational.” Jackson County has, for the most part, kept its schools open since the fall, though there have been some temporary closures of individual schools in response to cases among staff and students. Most recently,
Mass vaccination events last week more than doubled Jackson County’s total shot count from the beginning of the vaccine rollout, with similar jumps in Haywood, Swain and Macon counties. However, things will be slower this week. Jackson County had been receiving an average of 200 doses per week since the vaccine rollout began, but this week it will receive only 100. Likewise, Harris — which has been receiving 300 to 500 vaccines each week between its Sylva and Bryson City hospitals – is not getting any doses this week. While Haywood County Health and Human Service’s shipment this week is on par with normal, it has been told to expect reduced allocations for the next three weeks. The cutback is due to mass vaccination events taking place in Mecklenburg County, county leaders say. However, in her comments to commissioners last week Carraway was hopeful that vaccination numbers will climb in the weeks ahead as more partners come on board. Blue Ridge Health is now receiving a vaccine allocation from the state in addition to those already extended to Harris and the health department, and it’s distributing those doses in Jackson, Haywood,
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Cullowhee Valley Elementary School suspended face-to-face instruction from Jan. 15 to Jan. 25 due to a spike in cases among staff members. Since Aug. 17, the school system has reported 51 cases among staff, two cases among non-staff and volunteers and 83 cases among students. The dashboard shows 10 active staff cases and 10 active student cases. In total, 8.2 percent of school system staff have tested positive since August but only 2.3 percent of students. Data indicate that attending in-person school did not increase students’ chances of getting the virus. Of the 83 student cases, 21 — or 25.3 percent — occurred in students who were attending school remotely. As of this month, 23 percent of JCPS’s 3,620 students were enrolled as remote learners. “They’re doing an excellent job,” Bailey said of his staff. “Our student cases have been really low. We’re really happy about that.”
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Henderson, Transylvania, Polk and Rutherford counties — between those six counties, Blue Ridge Health has distributed 1,900 doses so far. The Highlands-Cashiers Healthcare Foundation is also receiving vaccine doses — theirs are coming from Mission Hospital — and is hosting a clinic at the Highlands Recreation Center from 1 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 27. So far, all the entities distributing vaccine
doses in Jackson County are administering the Moderna shot, which does not require the extremely cold storage needed for the Pfizer vaccine. However, Western Carolina University has been chosen as one of three University of North Carolina Institutions — along with N.C. A&T State and UNC Pembroke — to offer a public COVID-19 clinic. WCU will be using the Pfizer vaccine, Carraway said.
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weight; there are also those who need to gain weight. This is often the case when people have health issues that affect appetite. We could certainly get lots of additional calories by eating fried foods or food or beverages high in added sugar; but choosing foods and beverages that are nutrient dense will help give us those additional calories along with important nutrients. • Whole milk dairy products (milk, yogurt, Greek yogurt, kefir, cottage cheese) • Nuts and seeds • Nut butters ( peanut, cashew, almond, etc) • Avocados • Add non-fat dry milk powder and peanut flour. CONSIDER ADDING SNACKS OF 200-300 CALORIES BETWEEN MEALS: a bowl of cereal with nuts and milk, peanut butter and
honey or jam on whole wheat bread or crackers, avocado added to salads or sandwiches, or a banana and yogurt smoothie made with milk.
Leah McGrath, RDN, LDN Ingles Market Corporate Dietitian
Smoky Mountain News
Swain County Health Department has also experienced frustrations over receiving a limited number of vaccines. Swain is currently vaccinating all health care workers and adults age 65 and older but does not have any more vaccine appointments available right now until more doses are received. Swain is telling people to wait until Jan. 27 when it expects to have more information regarding the vaccine supply. Haywood County seems to be receiving a larger supply than others in the region — as of Jan. 21, over 6,000 COVID vaccines had been administered, including 1,500 during a largescale drive-thru event. Haywood is currently vaccinating residents 75 and older as well as law enforcement and essential county workers and is registering residents 65 and older online at haywoodcountync.gov/vaccine. The health department is almost done with vaccinating long-term care facilities and staff, hospital and physician office staff and health department, emergency services and clinic staff. The county anticipates that at the current level of vaccine availability and support capacity for clinics that about 1,000 people per week can be vaccinated. This number is an estimate that may fluctuate based on the amount of vaccine that arrives and staffing capacity. “The mass vaccination clinics that have been held over the last few weeks enabled us to vaccinate thousands of Haywood seniors and dozens of law enforcement officers, critical county employees, and frontline health workers. The clinics are running very smoothly, and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, which is a credit to the teamwork and commitment of everyone involved in helping organize and operate the events. This is the model we plan to continue using in the future to vaccinate as many people as possible in a safe and timely way,” said Interim Health Director Garron Bradish. Haywood is also still dealing with the demand for testing following the holidays. As of Jan. 26, the health department received notice of 261 new cases in the last week. “The peak of cases post-holiday has passed, and we are seeing a slight decline in active case numbers, but the caseload throughout the county remains quite high,” Bradish said. “New variants of COVID-19 are beginning to be seen in North Carolina, raising concerns that it may become even more difficult to contain the spread.”
Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2021
BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR ust last week, Swain and Macon county health officials lamented over a limited supply of COVID-19 vaccines making it to them from Raleigh, and this week they have a better understanding of why. In an email to Macon County commissioners, County Manager Derek Roland said he was told by the state that Macon’s vaccine allotment would remain the same — 200 doses a week — even though the county requested more. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services sent out a Vaccine Allocation Survey to counties on Jan. 19 asking all counties to ramp up to their maximum capacities. The Macon County Health Director Kathy McGaha committed to vaccinating 2,250 individuals in Macon County during Jan. 20-26, but then was told Jan. 22 Macon’s allocation would remain at 200 a week. “The reason being, which we were informed of this afternoon, is that vaccinations promised to counties across the state had been reallocated to Mecklenburg County, where they would be administered as part of ‘large scale vaccination events at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Panther Stadium,’” Roland said. “Many counties across the state, like Macon, have now been forced to cancel previously scheduled vaccination appointments and forgo scheduling new vaccination appointments.” Roland went on to say that Macon County was partnering with Drake Enterprises, a local private company, to establish multiple COVID-related call centers to address the large number of calls for testing and vaccination questions, which have overwhelmed the entire county phone system. “The call volume was a result of multiple public information campaigns that encouraged our citizens to register and schedule appointments for vaccinations at the state’s direction. In order to staff these call centers, we have hired new employees and launched massive volunteer efforts,” Roland said. Macon has also pulled employees from its EMS, DSS, Building Inspections, Tax and Sheriff Departments to assist with vaccination, testing and call center efforts. He added that the state has provided Macon with 10 National Guard troops to assist with these efforts as well.
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Getting to
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through which soldiers can be seen loading out for home on this, the first full day of Joe Biden’s presidency. To Cawthorn’s right, a deep red wall. To his left, deep blue. High above his head, a white ceiling completes a motif evocative of North Carolina’s flag. On the floor, a pair of dumbbells. Propped up against a wall, a small mattress. When Cawthorn first entered the race in December 2019, he’d perhaps envisioned himself in this place, at this time. Then, it was highly likely he’d be serving under a Republican president and a Republican Senate. Now, after a historic election, an insurrection, two impeachments, a global pandemic and an inauguration, he’s a freshman member of a minority party in a government under unified Democratic control and constituents are already demanding his removal, as are other members of Congress.
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Mark Richards, co-owner of a military surplus store, says sales of protective gear to journalists has been up “hundreds of percent” in the two weeks leading up to the inauguration. Jeffrey Delannoy photo ly slated, lawfully slated. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. Today we will see whether Republicans stand strong for integrity of our elections, but whether or not they stand strong for our country.” Trump’s since been impeached for inciting the insurrection, but a day of reckoning may also come for Cawthorn and other elected officials who joined in the call to action that resulted in the massive inaugural security presence. Those security concerns were also felt by people on the other side of the fence — especially journalists. Later that day, we visited an Alexandria, Virginia, military surplus store that told our photographer Jeffrey Delannoy by phone that they specialized in selling personal protective equipment for media use. “It’s body armor — both soft handgun protective and the level three/four ballistic
Later that night, sitting down for the first time all day in a sports pub, I noticed a missed call and voicemail from a Virginia number. Reading through the iPhone’s lowquality voicemail transcription, a few words stuck out: “police … Arlington … talk … soon.” Stepping outside to return the call, I reached the Arlington County Police Department and the first words that came through the phone were just as unnerving as the worrisome prophecy from the surplus store owner earlier that day. “Housekeeping at the Ritz-Carlton found your body armor,” the detective said. “I’d just like to ask you a few questions about that.”
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etting to Madison Cawthorn in his Cannon office on Thursday, Jan. 21, would have been easier had it been during any of the previous 57 inaugurations that have taken place in Washington, D.C., but in response to the violence of Jan. 6, the town appeared as if under military occupation as early as Jan. 17. More than two-dozen thousand National Guardsmen had been summoned to staff the miles and miles of perimeter fencing that ringing a vast streetscape that included the Capitol, the National Mall, the Washington Monument, the White House and, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Streets were empty on the evening of the 18th. Garbage cans gone. Hotels at reduced capacity. Airbnb cancelled all reservations. Metro trains slipped through stations strategically closed. Capitol Police, mourning the loss of one of their own with black bands on their brass badges, lingered near the checkpoints. No one, they said, was to be allowed inside the perimeter except for members of Congress and credentialled staff, by order of the Sergeant-AtArms of the United States Senate.
Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2021
Cawthorn pushed the elevator button as he exchanged hellos with two maintenance men who’d called his name. Once inside, the doors closed and the floor lurched skyward and a gentle hum droned through the shaft. Nary a year ago the gregarious Cawthorn, like a magnet, first pulled all the attention and energy away from a half-dozen has-beens, wanna-bes and never-would-bes, all of whom had designs on then-Rep. Mark Meadows’ vacant seat at a Jackson County Republican Party event in Dillsboro. It was that aura that propelled Cawthorn, then an unknown 24 year old from Henderson County, through a field of a dozen Republican primary opponents and into a March runoff against a candidate endorsed by Meadows, President Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Jim Jordan. During the four-month stretch from runoff to General Election, Cawthorn didn’t so much campaign as he did shepherd a deep red movement that ultimately sent him to Washington by a decisive margin over an eminently qualified moderate Democrat who’d spent more time as an Air Force lawyer than Cawthorn had spent outside the womb. Jerking open, the elevator doors slowly revealed sunlight playing through paneled windowpanes against the soft mustard walls, down onto brass-capped iron railings in a corner stairwell on the ground floor of the Cannon Building, a five-story, 113-year-old Beau Arts gem that houses the offices of hundreds of members of Congress representing millions of Americans. The long, wide hallway to Cawthorn’s office was serene and deserted, like much of Washington was. Most federal employees were told to work from home during inaugural week due to lingering threats from insurrectionists, the sheer onerousness of the ominous concentric perimeter of fencing secured by scads of National Guardsmen and — oh yeah — COVID-19. Behind a handsome desk, jotting notes on a pad in his relatively unadorned office, Cawthorn sits with his back to a window
plates to protect against rifle fire — ballistic helmets, and the big item is gas masks,” said Mark Richards, co-owner of Full Metal Jacket since 1988. “We stock, actually a good mask. It’s perfect for journalists. It’s a full-face, easy to see, and it’s not terribly expensive and it’s real dummy-proof and they love them, and that’s why I stock them and we keep them, we keep them in stock year-round.” Richards’ establishment looks like almost any other Army-Navy store with the usual racks of jackets and packs and canteens and hats that can be found in such establishments across the country. On the day before the inauguration it was buzzing with activity. “I would say our media business is through the ceiling,” he said. “Normally it’s like selling umbrellas. If it ain’t raining, they ain’t buying umbrellas. So if there’s not a threat, they ain’t buying body armor. In the last, like say two weeks, it’s been up hundreds of percent in media sales.”
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adison Cawthorn, rolling himself around the Longworth House Office Building, draws attention from around every corner and down every straightaway of the labyrinthine tunnels that underlie Washington D.C.’s Capitol Complex, greeting passersby with their first name. Hey, Tony, he said to a janitor. Hi Robin, hope you’re having a good morning, to some congressional staffer with a laminated ID swinging from a lanyard. It had only taken Cawthorn a few weeks in Washington to become a widely-recognized figure, what with the cutting profile and ever-present wheelchair and the events of Jan. 6 still echoing off the tan glazed bricks lining the corridors.
The next morning, Capitol Police reiterated that policy when they rebuffed our insistence that we’d been invited to Cawthorn’s office. Even Cawthorn’s scheduler came out and couldn’t talk us in; he said they’d been given conflicting messages about who was permitted, and who was prohibited. We agreed to try to meet off-site later, or tomorrow, frustrated but grateful for the abundance of security. Of course, that security might not have been a thing but for the Jan. 6 rally at the Ellipse, where Trump, Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks, Cawthorn and others spoke, encouraging the crowd to “fight” and as Trump said, “ … walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators, and congressmen and women. We’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawful-
rior to the insurrection of Jan. 6, federal law enforcement agencies had received tips that some of the people Trump had invited to Washington for his Ellipse rally might not have the most peaceable of inten- 7
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In office for less than a month, Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s already been besieged with distractions. Jeffrey Delannoy photo
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tions. Those federal tips filtered down to county and local governments in the two states that surround D.C. Local law enforcement had reasoned that if thousands of people were coming they’d all need a place to lay their heads, so they reached out to hotels, warning them to be on the lookout for people bringing weapons, weapon cases or militarystyle gear. That’s right, the first line of defense against domestic terrorism was a bunch of minimum-wage hotel housekeepers. After Jan. 6, their vigilance continued. In true detective fashion, the officer who called already knew the answers to the questions he’d been asking. Yes, we’re journalists. No, we didn’t bring weapons. Yes, we’d only hoped to return safely to our homes and families after the inauguration, just like you. As Inauguration Day then dawned, it was quickly apparent that “The Storm” and “The Kraken” — Qanon parlance for some supposed uprising by right-wing domestic terrorists — was not coming. Apparently those “patriots” felt far more comfortable scrapping with a bunch of overmatched Capitol Police on Jan. 6 than facing off against an armed military force larger than America currently had in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria combined on Jan. 20. Streets remained empty and there was no noticeable uptick in passengers on the Metro
A counterdemonstrator (right) engages with a small group of religious protestors. Jeffrey Delannoy photo
trains slinking through shuttered stations bound for downtown during what would usually be morning rush. We’d talked about getting to Madison Cawthorn in his office on Wednesday morning, or evening, but both were fantasy on such a busy day so we spent
the morning combing the perimeter, looking for signs of trouble. Thankfully, there were none. Right about the time National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman was challenging Americans to see and to be the light that would soon banish the shade, a small throng of peaceful demonstrators gathered just north of the perimeter, holding signs and shouting support for the new administration. Radical Christian extremists who’d set up with banners and a bullhorn told the crowd that homos go to hell, masturbation makes you gay and today’s liberated women need to embrace a more biblical role of silence and service, back in the kitchen where they belong. They were trolled mercilessly by the crowd, members of whom posed for selfies in front of them, middle fingers extended. A man waved a Biden/Harris flag in their faces. Two women engaged in a deep, sloppy kiss. The next morning, Jan. 21, we made our way back down to Capitol Hill to find a somewhat different air about the place. The sun was shining, skies were blue, winds had diminished and workers busied themselves removing sections of the outer perimeter fencing. Others rolled up the U.S. flags used in the festivities on the Mall the previous night. The internal perimeter around the Capitol and office buildings remained intact, as did the checkpoints, but after a short wait
Cawthorn himself rolled out to the street with — a staffer and greeted us warmly. “These gentlemen with you?” a cop asked him. l aking our way up South Capitol Street v with Cawthorn, Capitol dome loom- l ing dead ahead, we were soon through the metal detectors and into the Longworth t House Office Building. Down the tan glazed brick tunnels and through the rotunda — Hey Dennis, good to see you, how’s your mom? — and up the elevator and into the Cannon w building, sunshine now streaming through hushed mustard hallways with soft reverence, b it was an idyllic moment that belied the tur- y moil taking place everywhere else, including Cawthorn’s nascent political career. w “I always did imagine that Democrats b would not like me,” he said. “I think there’s a t lot of what I would typically call ‘blue dog’ Democrats in my district, some of the old school Democrats who I think right now are t probably rushing to register as independents.” n Democrats certainly don’t like him. In the aftermath of his rally speech on Jan. 6, the chair of the Democratic Party in his North t Carolina district sent a letter to Speaker r Nancy Pelosi asking for an investigation into T what they called sedition. Missouri Democratic Rep. Cori Bush is calling for his t expulsion. A petition for removal on p
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the country — bankers and bakers, veterans and veterinarians, mommies and daddies — to rustle up their gear and report for a week’s worth of Guard duty in Washington. How do they explain all this to their children? A lesson on what happens when pathos and passion triumph over logos and law? “The number one thing that I believe everyone should care about is personal responsibility and that boils down to selfcontrol,” he said. “Whether you’re frustrated about an election, whatever the reason is, you can never let rage or anger take over and decide your decisions. Making decisions based on emotion is a terrible way to move forward. I’ve described these people [the insurrectionist mob] as weak-minded, pathetic people because their minds and their ability to control themselves was so limited that they got enraged and now five people are dead. It’s disgusting and sad.” One of the biggest issues that came out of the insurrection for Cawthorn was when he told The Smoky Mountain News on Jan. 7 that he was armed during the insurrection. News outlets immediately seized on his assertion, questioning the legality. Laws regarding
“Any infighting that is going on inside of our party right now is misguided. I think that we all need to support each other. We all need to back each other up.”
See more Be sure to visit The Smoky Mountain News online for more inaugural coverage, including photographer Jeffrey Delannoy’s photo essay. Find it at www.smokymountainnews.com/ news/item/30680. Cawthorn had the support of Erwin, a Republican, until Erwin made an alarming social media post about Cawthorn less than a week after the insurrection. “I apologize to all of my law-enforcement friends, other politicians, family and friends — I was wrong, I misled you,” Erwin wrote, before going on to call Cawthorn a “show horse” who was mismanaging his office budget and spending exorbitantly on inexperienced staffers who’d worked on his campaign. Erwin later told Blue Ridge Public Radio’s Lilly Knoepp that one of the biggest reasons he’d had the change of heart was because of Cawthorn’s remarks at the Ellipse. “You can’t talk about you support blue lives matter and support the blue when you are firing up people who are harming law enforcement officers,” Erwin said. Cawthorn said he wasn’t certain what was behind Erwin’s newfound opposition.
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possession by Members of Congress can be murky at times, but Cawthorn finally told SMN on Jan. 21 that he wasn’t armed on the House floor (where it’s prohibited), however he was able to retrieve a firearm from his office (where it’s permissible). In short order, metal detectors suddenly appeared in the House. Some Republicans objected to the measure, including Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, who was shot by a leftwing domestic terrorist while practicing for a charity baseball game in 2017. Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert has made a show of ignoring the metal detectors and has thus been slapped with fines. Cawthorn doesn’t seem to be taking the same path. “I think it’s not super-necessary, but obviously Nancy Pelosi is the Speaker of the House. It was the will of the people to elect Democrats to be in the majority and that’s what she wants to do. That’s her House over there,” he said. “Obviously I do think that we should be able to carry on the House floor. I think that people are safer when people carry, but you know what, that’s the way our laws are, and I respect our laws.” Indeed, Cawthorn has called for accountability for those who stormed the Capitol, but he seems less eager to call for accountability from those within government alleged to have incited the insurrection, including himself. He’s also called for unity, and not what he says is the majority party’s “bend the knee” kind of unity. “When it comes to the impeachment trial for former President Trump, that is dangerous, and that is something that cannot happen. If we’re saying that the Senate can now start going after citizens, that is an awful
“I still definitely have the support from all my law enforcement friends in Western North Carolina. I believe that he might just lean a little bit more moderate. There were talks about him becoming my district director. We decided to go with [former Dan Forest aide] Hal Weatherman and so whether he’s upset about that, I’m not sure,” Cawthorn said. “I think he’s a great guy. He did a great job for Western North Carolina as sheriff of Henderson County. I always respect his opinion and I have a lot of respect for law enforcement, so why he wanted to attack me publicly again, I’m not really sure.” Whether or not Cawthorn will retain the support of the law enforcement community is an important question, because Cawthorn’s strongest challenge in the next election cycle may not even come from his district’s Democrats. Hendersonville businessman Chuck Edwards is a popular three-term Republican state senator who raised a substantial sum of money during his successful reelection campaign last year. Because this is a redistricting year, Edwards will have a hand in drawing the state’s new legislative and congressional maps for the 2022 elections, and he’s already called out Cawthorn not once but twice since the events of Jan. 6. “There’s a right way and wrong way to conduct yourself as a legislator, and I’m incredibly concerned about Congressman Cawthorn’s conduct,” Edwards said in a statement released Jan. 13. “Like many people, I share serious concerns about Americans’ confidence in our election system’s integrity. I intend to work with my colleagues in Raleigh this year to pass legislation to address the concerns I hear from North Carolinians. Congressman Cawthorn’s inflammatory approach of encouraging people to ‘lightly threaten’ legislators not only fails to solve the core problem of a lack of confidence in the integrity of our elections system. It exacerbates the divisions in our country and has the potential to needlessly place well-meaning citizens, law enforcement officers, and elected officials in harm’s way. As a legislator, I don’t need to be threatened to do the job the voters hired me to do.” Members of Congress want him gone. Democrats want him gone. Constituents want him gone. Former backers want him gone. Some Republicans even want him gone from that red, white and blue office in the Cannon building ringed with fencing and barbed wire and checkpoints and soldiers and empty streets. As the youngest elected member of Congress, ever, sits behind that handsome desk working on rural broadband appropriations it wouldn’t be unusual to wonder if any of this is actually getting to Madison Cawthorn. “I look forward to the challenge. I think that people of Western North Carolina will make the right decision. I respect Chuck Edwards. Why he’s deciding to attack me in the press, attack a fellow Republican, I think it’s kind of asinine, looking at what we’re up against with Roy Cooper, Joe Biden, a Democrat-held Congress. I think it doesn’t make much sense. I mean, he’s my state senator in Henderson County,” Cawthorn said. “If you want to fight me in my hometown — come on, any time.”
Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2021
before in a different context, the words of a President matter no matter how good or bad that president is. At their best, the words of a president can inspire. At their worst, they can incite.” Back in 2011, when Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot along with 18 others — six of whom died, including a federal judge and a nine-year-old — serious discussion ensued regarding the removal of the language of combat from political campaigns. Terms like “targeted” districts. Battles. Fights. That vocabulary seems to have crept back into the lexicon. “Just as the rudder steers the ship, so too the tongue directs what happens in life,” Cawthorn said, paraphrasing a Bible verse. “We do need to have a consideration of what our verbiage is leading to. I think that the word ‘fight’ can be defined in many ways. It can mean fisticuffs, a physical confrontation, but it can also mean you’re having a fight with your wife and you’re going back and forth and yelling about who put the spatula in which drawer. Obviously you’ve got to fight back against the onslaught that comes from the other side and if they’re gonna be using aggressive language and aggressive rhetoric, obviously I believe we might have to match that. But I think that there is a discussion that needs to be had on the verbiage and the lexicon that we do use in political speak.” Americans tend to take their daily security for granted, much like Giffords may have right up until that man walked into that Tuscon parking lot and put a round from a Glock 19 into her skull. The Jan. 6 insurrectionists killed a cop and unwittingly compelled thousands of Americans from across
— Madison Cawthorn
precedent to set that will become politically weaponized right away. It’s something that we cannot allow to happen,” he said. “And then people calling for myself, [Florida Rep.] Matt Gaetz or Mo Brooks or many other Republicans to be kicked out of Congress now, that is exactly what I just said about the way [Democrats] want to have unity is by silencing all voices of dissent and by removing the representation of the 730-odd thousand people in Western North Carolina that I represent.” Cawthorn’s up for reelection in November 2022, which means that his campaign will likely start up again about a year from now. Judging by Trump’s approval rating upon leaving office, some Republicans have since turned away from him. Cawthorn has been an ardent supporter of Trump’s and benefitted from various local Trump/Trump surrogate appearances during the campaign. For now, Trump appears to be biding his time in Mar-a-Lago, but rumors of a 2024 run, a media network and a third-party leave Republicans with a choice: continue to defend the Trump presidency, or try to move on from the imagery of Jan. 6 that will forever be associated with it. “Any infighting that is going on inside of our party right now is misguided. I think that we all need to support each other. We all need to back each other up,” Cawthorn said. “A lot of people are calling for the removal of Liz Cheney just because she voted to impeach Donald Trump. I think that that is ill-advised. I voted for Liz Cheney to be, I believe, secretary of our conference. And I am someone who does not, when the going gets tough, when the wind starts blowing, I don’t say, ‘You know what? We need a new captain of this ship. Let’s put somebody else into it.’ You don’t do that.” But that’s exactly what retired Henderson County Sheriff George Erwin is now doing.
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www.change.org now has more than 82,000 signatories. A group called the Sunrise Movement picketed his Hendersonville office and another group called Women Invest Now NC (WIN) is sending him snarky postcards and has plans to raise money, form a PAC and rent billboards. Cawthorn did say in retrospect that if he had a crystal ball he may have added a few lines to his Ellipse rally speech, but he wouldn’t have removed any. He felt he’d been straightforward when he said he was going down to the Capitol to speak on behalf of a people who’d lost their collective voice, and that the battle lie in the halls of Congress and not in the streets. “This is exactly what happened in the Revolutionary War,” he said. “We just felt like we didn’t have any representation so people wanted to go and fight because of that. But I believe I made it very clear. I’m going down to the Capitol to be your representative. Your voice is being heard. This debate will be had, and I, I will partake in this debate on your behalf.” The debate is focusing more and more on words — the semantics of insurrection. As Biden remarked on Jan. 6, “You heard me say
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Seasonal flu cases remain low in 2020-21 BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR t’s always hard to predict what kind of flu season the U.S. should expect and how severe cases could be. Add in the fact the U.S. is still experiencing record numbers of new COVID-19 cases on a daily basis and it makes predicting the future more difficult. So far, flu cases have been down significantly compared to the 2019-20 season, but health officials also typically expect the peak in early February. According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, there have been three flu-related deaths since Sept. 27, 2020. As of the week that ended Dec. 19, only 1 out of about 5,000 specimens submitted to the state lab tested positive for flu. And for the week ending Jan. 2, there were 3 positive out of about 3,000 specimens submitted. “There was an expectation that this flu season would be milder than others, based on the experience in the southern hemisphere last year, where there was a very mild flu season,” said Haywood County Medical Director Mark Jaben. “Why? Who knows. Could be this year’s flu strain is less virulent, more people got vaccinated early, we’ve been lucky, people are following protective measures, Sars CoV2 is so widespread the flu virus has not been able to find people to infect, all of the above, or something totally different.” Flu season can last anywhere from November to March/April. Jaben says there are years where it gets off to a roaring start in November, and there have been years when it never really got going until the spring. The average peak is late January and early February. Amber Frost with the Swain County Health Department said the steps people are taking to prevent the transmission of COVID19 also helps protect people from transmitting the flu. While the health department has seen flu cases this year, the typical peak usually hits in February. “Individuals who are practicing the 3 W’s are less likely to transmit and contract COVID-19, influenza, and other flu-like illnesses,” she said. “Flu vaccinations for this season are still available. Just remember that for those who are getting COVID vaccinations, there needs to be two weeks between
Smoky Mountain News
Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2021
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PERCENT OF ED VISITS THIS SEASON FOR INFLUENZA-LIKE ILLNESS COMPARED TO PREVIOUS SEASONS
By the numbers U.S. FLU CASES 2017-18 • 45 million illnesses • 810,000 hospitalizations • 61,000 deaths U.S. FLU CASES 2018-19 • 35.5 million illnesses • 490,600 hospitalizations • 34,200 deaths U.S. FLU CASES 2019-2020 • 39 million illnesses • 410,000 hospitalizations • 24,000 deaths U.S FLU CASES 2020-21 As of Jan. 16, the CDC reported that seasonal influenza activity in the U.S. remains lower than usual for this time of year.
*Because influenza surveillance does not capture all cases of flu that occur in the U.S., CDC provides these estimated ranges to better reflect the larger burden of influenza. These estimates are calculated based on CDC’s weekly influenza surveillance data and are preliminary.
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the COVID vaccine and any other immunizations (before and after).” Influenza and COVID-19 exhibit some of the same symptoms — fever, aches, fatigue, cough — which can make it difficult for people to know which virus they may have. A physician can test patients for both viruses and quickly know which one a patient has contracted. Many providers, including Haywood Regional Medical Center, have testing capabilities that check for COVID and the flu at the same time. It’s also possible to have the flu and COVID at the same time, though it’s been uncommon here in Western North Carolina. “Absolutely. It is possible to have the flu and other respiratory illnesses at the same time,” said HRMC spokesperson Lindsey Solomon, which is why it’s still important to be vaccinated for both viruses. “While the flu vaccine won’t protect you from COVID-19, flu vaccination is the single-best way to protect yourself from the virus. It is still possible to contract the flu after getting vaccinated, but it is much less likely; and should you get sick, studies show that flu vaccinations can make your illness less severe,” Solomon said. “People can certainly have both, at the same time or one after the other. We have had a case in Haywood County of someone testing positive for flu, Covid and strep throat at the same time. Having said that, this has not been
common this year because there has not been much flu around so far,” Jaben added. Jaben said the best time to get the flu shot is in the fall before flu season really kicks off because immunity is present about two weeks after the vaccination and will last through April. However, if someone hasn’t yet gotten the flu vaccine, he said it’s still not too late to have an impact. “It is essential that people get the flu vaccine, which not only decreases a person’s risk of getting the flu, but if a person gets the flu, the illness will likely be much less severe,” Jaben said. “Widespread flu vaccination also protects those most vulnerable by limiting spread within the community. Right now when our hospitals are stretched very thin, widespread vaccination will decrease the number of people who get ill enough to be in the hospital, a benefit whether you have flu, COVID, or something totally unrelated.” Solomon said a good rule of thumb is to get vaccinated no later than the end of October, but agreed it’s not too late to get it now. HRMC flu clinics are only open to staff. Flu vaccines are offered to all new employees and patients once and are available from initial availability of vaccines in the fall through March. The health departments are usually very active in promoting flu vaccinations and many usually offer some sort of free vaccination clinic through the fall and early winter, but this year has been different as health departments have limited staff and are dealing with COVID19 testing and vaccination demands. “Right now efforts are being put towards Covid vaccinations. Actually, there has been little request at the Health Department for flu vaccinations,” Jaben said. Frost said people can still get the flu vaccine at the Swain Health Department for free now through June while supplies last.
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designers to avoid any potential conflict of interest since Deep Creek would continue to maintain the chamber site. Lackey mentioned how amazing Gatlinburg’s website is and suggested getting a proposal from the same designer, Simple View. The board ultimately approved putting out a request for qualifications instead of a request for proposals. This will allow the board to choose the company with the best qualifications instead of choosing a specific proposal with a set price tag. The TDA also discussed the possibility of funding a contract with Granicus (formerly named Host Compliance) to help the county identify short-term rentals that aren’t paying the waste management fee for trash collections. There are an estimated 800-plus rentals in the county but the TDA only has a record of 300 paying the fee. TDA member Ed Ciociola said the cost of the service would probably be worth recouping the additional fee and perhaps they’d find rentals not currently paying occupancy tax either. “I think we’re in a position where the TDA can fund that through some additional occupancy tax,” said Ciociola. Baker said she would get a quote from Granicus.
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BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR wain County Tourism Development Authority plans to take another step toward separating itself from the Chamber of Commerce after the board of directors decided to invest money into a new website. TDA and Chamber operations and finances have been intertwined for years as the two organizations shared an executive director and other staff. However, as the two entities have grown over the years, board members have decided it makes sense for them to operate separately. After all, the TDA is a quasi-governmental agency that is tasked with spending room tax revenue to promote tourism while the chamber is a private nonprofit that supports its paying business members. Last May, the TDA board approved hiring Mary Anne Baker as its executive office, leaving former director Karen Proctor Wilmot to stay on as the chamber director. There are still a few things left to be worked out though, including the future of GreatSmokies.com — the website that promotes Swain County’s tourism industry. During a Jan. 13 TDA Zoom meeting, the board discussed whether the website would be operated by the chamber or the TDA moving forward. TDA board member Erin Smith made the recommendation to let the chamber continue to take care of the GreatSmokies.com site while the TDA embarks on creating a new tourism website. Even though greatsmokies.com is designed as a tourism destination website and was paid for with TDA revenue, it is technically owned by the chamber of commerce. “The chamber is not willing to give up the website domain,” Smith said. “It’s really a shame. The chamber honestly should, logically, create a new website for chamber members. (GreatSmokies.com) looks like a tourism website, not a chamber website,” said TDA member Carolyn Cornblum. “I’m not trying to cause division, but we’re having to start over again.” TDA member Eugene Shuler agreed, saying that he felt pretty certain the TDA could lay claim to the domain since TDA revenue funded it. He added that he would support hiring a lawyer if needed to do the research into it. “I’d like to challenge the legality of that so we have definite proof of who owns it currently — not 10 or 20 years ago,” he said. “We’ve been billed for it for years, so that’s my position.”
Baker agreed that the existing website was a tourism website, but that the only listed businesses on the website were chamber members, which excludes other tourismrelated businesses and accommodations. In discussing possible domain names to go with, she recommended purchasing explorebrysoncity.com. TDA board member Shannon Lackey said it would probably be a waste of TDA money to fight for the website and suggested investing money into a new website that would be more advanced than the Greatsmokies.com site. While Deep Creek Arts designed GreatSmokies.com, the TDA board discussed asking for proposals from different
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Swain tourism agency plans for new website
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Governor approves Catawba gaming compact EBCI hopes upcoming court hearing will negate agreement BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER he Catawba Nation of South Carolina cleared an important hurdle in its quest to open a casino in Kings Mountain when Gov. Roy Cooper signed off Jan. 22 on a gaming compact that will allow the tribe to offer live table gaming and sports betting on the 16.57-acre property just outside Charlotte. “On behalf of the Catawba Nation, I sincerely thank Governor Roy Cooper and his team for their thoughtful collaboration in creating this compact, which is the key step in bringing economic benefits and thousands of jobs from our casino project to the citizens of North Carolina,” Catawba Chief Bill Harris said in a press release. The Catawba have been striving for years to see a casino built on the site, with economic impact plans released in 2013 estimating that the planned 220,000square-foot facility would employ 3,000 people and wield an annual economic impact of $349 million to the Cleveland County area. The casino would also provide an influx of cash to the Catawba, whose
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Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2021
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people suffer from high unemployment and low household income compared to North and South Carolina overall. However, a Catawba casino in Kings Mountain would have serious financial implications for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and by extension the overall economy of Western North Carolina, of which Harrah’s Cherokee Casinos is a major driver. Principal Chief Richard Sneed has said repeatedly that the Kings Mountain casino could siphon away $100 million in annual business from the tribe’s casinos in Cherokee and Murphy by capturing customers who live closer to the Charlotte area than to Cherokee lands. The Cherokee also oppose the casino project on legal grounds, alleging in a lawsuit now before the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., that the U.S. Department of Interior’s March 12, 2020, decision to take the Kings Mountain property into trust for the Catawba was “rushed,” “flawed” and “violates the plain language of federal law.” The EBCI argues that the DOI ignored and violated numerous laws and rules that explicitly prohibit such action when issuing its decision. Taking land into trust that is across state lines and not connected to existing reservation land is an action that is without precedent and contrary to law, the tribe has said, among other legal argu-
While vertical construction has not yet started, the Catawba broke ground on the project in July. Brittany Randolph/The Shelby Star photo is, the EBCI. The compact, good for 30 years, outlines various terms related to revenue-sharing and governance for the operation of the planned casino. Without such a compact, the tribe would have been relegated to offering Class I and Class II gaming options such as bingo and lotto, as was the case for the EBCI during its first 15 years as a casino operator. The compact grants the Catawba exclusive gaming rights within the boundaries of Ashe, Avery, Burke, Catawba, Cleveland, McDowell, Mitchell, Rutherford, Watauga and Yancey counties, stating that, should anyone other than the Catawba be permitted to offer live table gaming in this geographic area, the state would forfeit its right “But this compact changes nothing. We to a portion of the continue to believe the courts will affirm gaming revenue. The compact states that the the illegality of this casino and when Catawba may operate up to three Class III that happens, the Catawba agreement gaming facilities on its will be nothing more than a worthless tribal lands. The Catawba will piece of paper.” have to give the state 5 percent of its gross rev— Richard Sneed enue from live table gaming through Aug. 12, 2022, with the share increasing increnews of the gaming compact’s approval. “It’s mentally up to a maximum of 8 percent on disappointing to hear that the Governor felt Aug. 12, 2032. It’s a similar plan to that outcompelled to sign an agreement that furlined in the Eastern Band of Cherokee thers this scheme and threatens the integrity Indians’ 2012 agreement with the state, of Tribal gaming everywhere. But this comwhich began with a 4 percent share and pact changes nothing. We continue to increased 1 percent every five years until believe the courts will affirm the illegality of reaching 8 percent in 2032 and remaining this casino and when that happens, the there until the agreement’s expiration in Catawba agreement will be nothing more 2042. than a worthless piece of paper.” The compact also requires the Catawba The compact still requires approval to pay $191,000 per year to defray the from the DOI to become effective, but a state’s cost associated with sports betting — press release from the Catawba states that the same amount the state is charging the “it is not anticipated that this compact will EBCI — and to transfer money into a founpose any special difficulties, as it is closely dation each year that will benefit modeled after a compact that Interior has Native Americans and the local approved for another tribal nation” — that ments. The EBCI alleges that casino developer Wallace Cheves, who the lawsuit refers to as “a casino operative with a history of criminal and civil enforcement actions against him and his companies for illegal gambling,” influenced the DOI to reverse a long-held position against approving landinto-trust applications like the Catawba’s. In December 2020, Judge James Boasberg granted a request from the EBCI to expedite oral arguments in the matter, and that hearing is expected to take place in February. “The proposed Kings Mountain casino was born of an illegal act and has continued to swirl in controversy and unethical behavior,” Sneed said in a statement reacting to
community, beginning at $1 million annually and eventually increasing to $7.5 million. Additionally, the property is expected to generate millions in state tax revenues, and the Catawba have agreed to make payments in lieu of taxes to Cleveland County despite the fact that the casino would be built on tribal trust land and therefore exempt from local property taxes, the tribe’s press release said. Despite ongoing litigation, the Catawba intend to move forward with construction and aim to open an “introductory casino
gaming facility” this fall. The tribe held an official groundbreaking in July, but thus far the work has been limited to site preparation. In August, the Catawba announced that the casino would be named Catawba Two Kings Casino Resort, a name intended to honor 18th-century Catawba Chief King Hagler and the City of Kings Mountain. At the same private event where the name was revealed, the tribe also presented the logo, which depicts a silhouette of King Hagler set against a representation of Kings Mountain.
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Smoky Mountain News
trucks with filing cabinets, papers and hard drives from the QHA building. Lambert said that the raid came about due to reports that staff at QHA had been destroying documents in defiance of the directives contained in the October 2016 letter. The same day that the raid took place, Lambert submitted an emergency resolution seeking to dissolve Qualla Housing. While Lambert was not able to achieve that goal prior to his removal by impeachment in May 2017, Tribal Council did pass legislation in 2018 and 2020 that dissolved QHA, merged it with the tribe’s Housing and Community Development Division and updated tribal ordinances outlining the QHA’s role. The merger of QHA and the Housing and Community Development Division created the Cherokee Indians Division of Housing, which now administers tribal housing programs and funds. This includes federal grant funds obtained through the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act. While discussion about merging the two programs had existed as far back as 2007, the legislation that ultimately achieved that goal was introduced in 2017. In 2017, Principal Chief Richard Sneed — who was sworn into the office after Lambert’s removal — told Tribal Council that growing per capita payments had made many tribal members ineligible for federal housing assistance, and that as a result Qualla Housing had been building very few homes, instead spending its money mostly to rehab and rent out houses that would be better off replaced than repaired. Additionally, Sneed said, Qualla Housing had been using incoming mortgage payments to operate the program instead of putting them into a revolving loan fund for future mortgages, like it was supposed to. While the DOJ has determined there is no evidence of federal laws being broken, the tribe will have the option to review the evidence on its own to determine if any tribal laws were violated. Sneed’s office declined to comment as to whether such a review will take place but said that the tribe has not yet received the files from the DOJ.
Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2021
BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ore than three years after the cold February day when 26 FBI agents descended on the Qualla Housing Authority building in Cherokee, the U.S. Department of Justice informed the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians that its investigation yielded “no prosecutable cases,” and that the tribe can have the seized files back. The announcement came in a Nov. 17, 2020, letter from U.S. Attorney R. Andrew Murray to EBCI Tribal Prosecutor Cody White. To complete the investigation, the FBI obtained a search warrant and seized “a large quantity of loan files” in late October 2016, Murray wrote. Since then, the FBI as well as the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development have “extensively” reviewed the files and also investigated the procedures and funding for the loan programs in question. “We have now completed the investigation, and we have concluded that there are no prosecutable cases regarding any violations of federal law,” Murray wrote. News of the investigation came out in October 2016, when the DOJ sent Charlene Owle, then the director of Qualla Housing, a letter informing her that the FBI was investigating the organization for “possible criminal conduct related to certain loans and loan applications, among other matters.” The letter went on to say that any attempt to destroy, hide or falsify documents that might be requested over the course of the investigation could result in further charges. According to the November 2020 letter from Murray, the initial investigation came about “as a result of a request from (Patrick Lambert) the then-principal chief of the EBCI, who informed us of allegations that the Qualla Housing Authority had made loans contrary to regulations and requirements for such loans imposed by the federal government.” Tribal officials, members of the press and tribal citizens watched from the other side of Acquoni Road on Feb. 2, 2017, while an FBI team spent hours filling two U-Haul
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No charges in Qualla Housing probe
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DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY (DEQ) INTENT TO ISSUE NPDES WASTEWATER DISCHARGE PERMIT #NC0000272 WITH PROPOSED REMOVAL OF COLOR VARIANCE
PERMIT APPLICATION Notice is hereby given in accordance with NC General Statutes (G.S.) 150B-21.2 and G.S. 150B-21.3A, G.S. 143-214.1 and federal regulations at 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 131.20 (b), 40 CFR 131.14 and 40 CFR 25.5 that the DEQ, Division of Water Resources (DWR) intends to amend effluent permit requirements applicable to Blue Ridge Paper Products, LLC. Public comment or objection to the draft permit modification is invited. All comments received by April 30, 2021 will be considered in the final determination regarding permit issuance and permit provisions. Blue Ridge Paper Products LLC, (d/b/a Evergreen Packaging), Permit Number NC0000272. Blue Ridge Paper Products, LLC is authorized to discharge wastewater from a facility located at the Blue Ridge Paper Products Wastewater Treatment Plant, off Highway 215 (175 Main Street), Canton, Haywood County, NC to receiving waters designated as the Pigeon River, French Broad River Basin, in accordance with effluent limitations. Some of the parameters are water quality limited. This discharge may affect future allocations in this portion of the French Broad River Basin. The location of the Outfall is: Latitude: 35032’08”; Longitude: 82050’42”. The thermal component of the discharge is subject to effluent limitations under Title 15A North Carolina Administrative Code (NCAC) Subchapter 02B .0211 (18), which proposes thermal effluent limitations disallowing an exceedance of 2.8 degrees C (5.04 degrees F) above the natural water temperature, and in no case to exceed 29 degrees C (84.2 degrees F). The permit holder has requested a continuance of a Clean Water Act Section 316(a) variance. On the basis of 15A NCAC 02B .0208 (b),and other lawful standards and regulations, DWR proposes to continue the 316(a) variance in conjunction with the renewal of the permit. The draft wastewater permit and all related documents are available online at: https://deq.nc.gov/news/events/public-notices-hearings. Printed copies of the draft permit and related documents may be reviewed at the department’s Asheville Regional Office. To make an appointment to review the documents, please call 828-296-4500. Public comment on the draft permit and on the proposed removal of the existing color variance should be mailed to: Wastewater Permitting, Attn: Blue Ridge Paper Products Permit, 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C., 27699-1617. Public comments may also be submitted by email to: publiccomments@ncdenr.gov. Please be sure to include “Blue Ridge Paper Products” in the email’s subject line.
COLOR VARIANCE INFORMATION Notice is also hereby given in accordance with NC G.S. 150B-21.2 and G.S. 150B-21.3A, G.S. 143-214.1 and federal regulations at 40 CFR 131.20 (b), 40 CFR 131.14 and 40 CFR 25.5 that the NC Environmental Management Commission (EMC) is requesting comment on removing the color variance from the effluent permit requirements applicable to Blue Ridge Paper Products, LLC. All comments received by April 30, 2021 will be considered. Comments should be mailed to: Wastewater Permitting, Attn: Blue Ridge Paper Products Permit, 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C., 27699-1617. Public comments may also be submitted by email to: publiccomments@ncdenr.gov. Please be sure to include “Blue Ridge Paper Products” in the email’s subject line. Public records related to the EMC consideration of the variance are located at: https://deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/water-resources/water-resources-commissions/environmentalmanagement-commission-71
Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2021
BACKGROUND The effluent permit limit requirements applicable to Blue Ridge Paper Products, LLC established in compliance with NC G.S. 143-215.1, other lawful standards and regulations promulgated and adopted by the EMC, and the Clean Water Act (Act), as amended, previously contained a variance provision to the state’s narrative, aesthetic, water quality standard for color. The variance was granted July 13, 1988, by the EMC, under provisions in G.S. 143-215.3(e). Further, the variance has been continued under regulations contained in 15A NCAC 02B .0226, Exemptions From Surface Water Quality Standards: “Variances from applicable standards, revisions to water quality standards or site-specific water quality standards may be granted by the Commission on a case-by-case basis pursuant to G.S. 143-215.3(e), 143-214.3 or 143-214.1. A listing of existing variances shall be maintained and made available to the public by the Division. Exemptions established pursuant to this Rule shall be reviewed as part of the Triennial Review of Water Quality Standards conducted pursuant to 40 CFR 131.10(g).” NC DEQ DWR has concluded that a variance from the narrative provision at 15A NCAC 02B .0211(12), historically interpreted as an instream true color value of 50 platinum cobalt units (PCU), is no longer necessary. As outlined in the accompanying supporting materials, significant improvements to the instream concentrations of color in the Pigeon River, combined with specific limits on color and an updated reevaluation regarding the narrative provision and protection of the designated uses, support removal of the variance. While 40 CFR Part 131 requires that “a State may not adopt Water Quality Standard (WQS) variances if the designated use and criterion addressed by the WQS variance can be achieved..." by implementing certain effluent measures, the permit contains technology-based effluent limits (see page 4 of the draft permit) that result in achieving the same goal and are in accordance with the most recent US EPA Technology Review Workgroup recommendations. In addition to the removal of the variance, the 2020 draft permit includes monitoring requirements that the facility meet a monthly average delta ( ) Color of 50 PCU at the Fiberville Bridge, when the Pigeon River flow at Canton is equal or above the Monthly 30Q2 flow of 129 cubic feet per second. Previously, a Settlement Agreement between NC, Tennessee (TN), and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) required that the facility meet an instream color of 50 PCU at the TN/NC state line, located approximately 40 river miles below the discharge. A summary of the history of the variance, review of applicable regulations, and a reevaluation of the stream conditions is located at: https://deq.nc.gov/news/events/public-notices-hearings
RECOMMENDATION In accordance with state and federal regulations, the proposed variance modification to the permit is effectively a change to water quality standards and subject to public hearing. Under 40 CFR Part 131.14 (b)(1)(v) the state has reevaluated the Color Variance, examined the highest attainable condition using all existing and readily available information and, now, provides notification to obtain public input on this reevaluation, to confirm the finding that the present condition for color corresponds to meeting the applicable criterion at 15A NCAC 02B .0211(12) and that a variance is no longer required for this facility per the intent of 40 CFR Part 131. Upon completion of the review process, and certification under 40 CFR Part 132.5(b)(2) from the State’s Attorney General’s office that proper notification has been given, the results of the EMC decisions will be submitted to the EPA for action.
Smoky Mountain News
ONLINE PUBLIC HEARING
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In the abundance of caution, and to address protective measures to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, the hearing will be held online. Date: April 14, 2021 Time: 6 pm WebEx link: https://ncdenrits.webex.com/ncdenrits/onstage/g.php?MTID=e6dd914ab0c9b2593dbb23321a36af245 WebEx password: Nk2BCEzm7P2 WebEx phone number: 1-415-655-0003 WebEx access code: 171 787 6586 (Please see information below regarding registering for, joining, and commenting at the public hearing.)
REGISTRATION To register for the hearing and provide your preference regarding speaking at the hearing, please visit: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=3IF2etC5mkSFwzCbNftGRcM2xmuszROiks3JDQp2_RURjJSWUpMRThRSURXVzA5WFU5MkdNUzk1UC4u Registration must be completed by 12:00 pm on April 14, 2021. If you have any problems registering online, please call 919-707-9011 or email peter.johnston@ncdenr.gov by the registration deadline of 12:00 pm on April 30, 2021. The Division of Water Resources highly recommends testing your computer's WebEx capabilities prior to the hearing at https://www.webex.com/test-meeting.html. For instructions about digital ways to join the public hearing, please refer to the WebEx Help Center online at https://help.webex.com/en-us/ . To comment during the hearing after your name is called as a registered speaker and/or after the hearing officer asks if any people wish to comment following the registered speakers: - If you join the hearing by phone, press *3 to “raise your hand,” speak, and press *3 to “lower your hand.” - If you join the hearing online, press the “raise your hand” icon, speak, and press the “lower your hand” icon. - The Hearing Officer may limit the length of time that you may speak, so that all those who wish to speak may do so.
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The aquatic center would include a competition pool (pictured) as well as a leisure pool complete with splash pad, therapy pool and nets for both basketball and volleyball. ClarkNexsen rendering Commissioners passed a resolution verifying that the referendum question asking voters to approve a general obligation bond of $20 million plus interest for the indoor pool project passed with 51.4 percent of the vote, or 10,550 out of 20,520 votes. • Budget ordinance amendment. The ordinance amendment moves $1,487,488 from fund balance to the general fund for use in the indoor pool project. • Capital project ordinance. The project ordinance authorizes spending $1,487,488 on planning for the pool project. That total includes $1.46 million for architectural and civil engineering fees, $22,488 for surveying and geotechnical services and $5,000 in contingency funding. County Manager Don Adams will be able to sign off on the surveying and geotechnical costs later as they are needed. • Authorization for the county to reimburse itself with loan proceeds. The resolution allows the county to fund early project costs using its general fund or any other specified enterprise fund and then reimburse itself using proceeds from the general obligation bond voters authorized in November. The measure will help expedite the project timeline. Costs included in the total price tag
to be covered by the loan include planning, design, acquisition and construction of the indoor pool. All five measures passed by a unanimous vote Jan. 19. If all goes as planned, the indoor pool will be open for use in late 2023, more than 10 years after a survey included with the 2013 recreation master plan update showed that 86.4 percent of respondents believed a centrally located swimming pool was “important” or “very important.” Before placing the referendum question on the 2020 ballot, the county conducted a follow-up survey, and 68 percent of respondents said they’d support construction of an indoor pool even if it meant raising taxes. Based on 2020 tax values, an additional 2.26 cents per $100 on the county’s existing property tax rate of $38 cents per $100 would be required to foot the bill. Of that amount, 2.22 cents per $100 would go toward the debt payment, so that portion of the tax would disappear once the 15-year loan term was complete. Jackson County just completed a property revaluation, and appraised values are expected to rise significantly this tax year, which could decrease the rate increase
required to pay for the pool. Bringing the question to the ballot cost the county $55,500, including $37,900 for ClarkNexsen to develop schematic design plans and cost estimates; $2,600 for geotechnical work from Wood Engineering; $7,500 for the bond attorney fee and $7,500 for education marketing materials. The facility will include a leisure pool featuring a splash pad, adjustable basketball hoops, a vortex therapy pool and a volleyball net as well as a six-lane, 25-yard competition pool with a foldable one-meter diving board, climbing wall and spectator seating. The addition will also include locker rooms, a party room and renovated classroom areas at the union with the existing building. The referendum vote ultimately passed with a slim majority that was heavily influenced by geography. Voters living closer to the proposed location at the Cullowhee Recreation Center were much more likely to vote yes, with the measure gaining 62.4 percent approval in the Webster precinct, 59.6 percent in Cullowhee, 55.3 percent in Sylva/Dillsboro and 56.6 percent in Caney Fork. However, a majority of voters in the county’s remaining nine precincts said no to the measure.
Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2021
BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ackson County commissioners approved five pieces of legislation during their regular meeting Jan. 19 that will allow work to begin on the indoor pool project voters approved in a Nov. 4 referendum vote. Included among them is a $1.46 million architecture and engineering contract with the Asheville-based firm ClarkNexsen. Now, the firm will get to work creating construction and bid documents, with bid opening currently expected to occur in April 2022. “These are complex buildings with a number of systems, and the aquatic components that are in there, so it takes quite a bit of time for us to put together the design documents,” ClarkNexsen principal Chad Roberson told commissioners during a Jan. 12 work session. Once bids are received, the county will proceed with issuing the bonds authorized by November’s referendum. Once the bonds are issued, the project ordinance — of which an initial version was passed Tuesday — will be updated to include bond revenues and the entire project cost. After the updated project ordinance is passed, the board will be legally able to approve a construction contract. Construction is expected to start in spring 2022, wrapping up in December 2023 or January 2024. In addition to the contract, commissioners approved the following pool-related documents Jan. 19: • Certification of election results.
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Architectural contract approved for Jackson pool
Commissioners should attend meetings, Jackson board says
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proved of Luker’s habitual absence. Luker did not run for re-election, but commissioners were quick to address the attendance issue when the new board met for the first time Dec. 7. “When is it appropriate for us to discuss members who miss our meetings in person?” Commissioner Boyce Deitz asked 15 minutes into the session. “That’s a good question,” said Chairman Brian McMahan. “There are no guidelines to my knowledge in the state that require attendance. It’s recommended, obviously — highly recMickey Luker ommended — that members attend,” he said. “It’s your duty to vote, but really your duty to attend.” However, said County Attorney Heather Baker, there is no rule requiring attendance, and in her opinion there can’t really be one. Commissioners are hired by the voters. The option to fire comes up once every four years, on Election Day.
“Really censure is the only enforcement available to us, which could lead to public censure if that’s not complied with,” Baker said. The result of that conversation was a draft amendment to the existing rules of procedure for board meetings that commissioners discussed during their Jan. 12 work session and passed during their Jan. 19 meeting. “Commissioners are encouraged to attend meetings in person to the fullest extent practicable and should give as much notice as possible when not able to attend a meeting in person,” the amendment reads. “When not able to attend a meeting in person, a Commissioner should make every effort to attend the meeting remotely by video or phone.” While commissioners acknowledged that there are sometimes legitimate reasons for board members to miss meetings, they all agreed it was important to have a policy in place stating that nobody should make absence a habit. “It doesn’t back you into a corner since there’s not much you can do, but it does express your intent,” Baker said when she presented the proposed change Jan. 12.
Smoky Mountain News
BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ackson County Commissioners unanimously passed a policy change last week that makes it clear that sitting commissioners are expected to show up at board meetings. While that might seem an obvious point, it was an issue for former Commissioner Mickey Luker. When Luker’s term ended in December, it had been more than 15 months since the last time he’d occupied his seat in the boardroom. His attendance became sporadic in spring 2019 and dropped off dramatically over the summer, with his last in-person appearance occurring on Aug. 20, 2019. While Luker often attended meetings via speakerphone, or, after the pandemic hit, via Zoom — his fellow commissioners continued to gather in person — he frequently skipped them altogether. His continued absence became such an issue that in fall 2019 his own party lobbied commissioners to remove Luker from his post by a seldom-used process called amotion. While commissioners declined to do so, saying that there was no hard evidence that Luker had violated a specific law, multiple members of the board said they disap-
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Opinion
Smoky Mountain News
It is a steep hill we climb L
Spend county money compassionately To the Editor: Our Haywood county government is planning to build a new jail at a cost of over $14 million. Important questions have been raised about this project. One of the most important is “What can we do to prevent another new jail being needed in ten years?” Given the increasing cost of land and construction, this will probably cost the taxpayers of Haywood county more than the current price of $14 million. And further, is putting more folks in jail, especially non violent offenders, the best way to spend our tax money. Sheriff Greg Christopher and Judge Brad Letts, among others, have done great work in dealing with the ever-increasing jail population. Programs like Pathways and the pre-trial release program have both helped people who have stepped outside the law to get their lives back to together and some to even avoid future misdeeds. But nevertheless, criminal behaviors continue to multiply, and expanding the prison facility may be unavoidable. But perhaps as we look at that $14 million price tag we should think about other uses for at least a fraction of that money. I speak of programs that might keep people — young and not so young — from turning to criminal behavior in the first place. First among these needs might be additional school counselors and therapist. Can sixth- and seventh-graders, many from abusive and neglectful homes be identified and helped as they exhibit problematic behaviors? Can early drug use be discouraged by timely intervention? I think so. Further, have we really dealt with recidi-
The value, the meaning of this cannot be understated, and in some ways it dwarfs the rest of the horrors ravaging our nation. Today will not be remembered for the previous president’s childish and petulant actions, it will not be remembered for another old white man who promises to unite our nation. It will not be remembered for resilience in the face of violent insurrection. It may not even be remembered for the pandemic plaguing our world. Today will be remembered for the rise of women to this office. Today I think of the First Nations, immigrants and slaves that forged this nation with nothing to see for their toil for generations. Today it was the Black Guest Columnist daughter of immigrants who joined the club of men who have ruled our nation. The first woman to walk into a room of almost 100 men. Today I think of my grandmothers that worked their entire lives in a world where a woman never reached this
Hannah McLeod
ast Wednesday was a day women have been waiting for, working for, speaking out of turn for, making trouble for — for hundreds of years now. On Jan. 20, 2021, Kamala Harris was sworn in as Vice President of the United States of America. She was given the oath of office by Justice Sonya Sotomayor, the first Hispanic, Latinx member of the Supreme Court. Later in the ceremony Jennifer Lopez performed “America the Beautiful” and the youngest ever inaugural poet, Amanda Gorman, recited her inaugural poem. This election cycle there are more women than ever in Congress. Between the House and Senate, women hold 144 of 539 seats, 27 percent. That is a 50 percent increase from 96 seats just a decade ago. Today I think of all the women alive and well that will get to live the rest of their lives with the assurance that a woman has held this office. I think of all the young girls, born and unborn, that will grow up not knowing the world before this moment, a world where a woman hadn’t been where Harris went today.
LETTERS vism — the return to crime after a prison term has been served? What are the programs that have been successful in other communities and what would be the cost? Let’s find out! Drug abuse, mental health problems and homelessness — these are concerns in folks relapsing into criminality that can often be helped with proper resources. So I ask our commissioners to spend our money thoughtfully and compassionately. Stephen Wall, MD Waynesville
Trump was 1000 percent correct To the Editor: Checking a track record, a review of past performance, is a good way to determine a decision or opinion. There is an accusation that it was Trump supporters who committed violence at the U.S Capitol. But the track record of Trump rallies and supporter atten-
office. In the world they inhabited, a woman never served the highest post in our nation, and yet they had more rights, more voice and more power than generations of women before them. Hundreds of millions of women, long since passed, lived in a world where they rarely even had a say. It is a steep hill we climb. I think of all the casual sexist jokes and sayings, the women jokes, the #metoo jokes that we have all let alternatively roll off our shoulders or snap back at and get called a bitch — get told it was just a joke. I think of how women and men are fundamentally different and for so long that difference was interpreted as less than and more than. I am not fool enough to think that this is much more than symbolism, that things will be different tomorrow. That women will be more accepted in positions of power, that their voices will be heard with the same gusto and attention as a man’s. I know that is not how time moves, how change and history work. Change is a wheel that moves slowly and is powered only by those moments outside the bounds of normalcy, moments like this one. I am proud and gracious to live in the moment when Kamala Harris became Vice President of the United States. We are capable, we are worthy. (Hannah McLeod is a staff writer for The Smoky Mountain News. hannah@smokymountainnews.com)
dees tells us differently. Donald Trump held hundreds of rallies all over the country. There was no violence before or after his rallies. No Trump supporters left a rally to loot, destroy property, burn down businesses or public buildings and attack police …. that behavior is not in their collective make up. That is the track record. There is however a well-documented track record of inciting violence. Media personalities, leftists, never-Trumpers and Trump-hating politicians continued violent rhetoric against Donald Trump for five years and it continues today. We heard “punch him the face, beat him up behind the gym, harass trump supporters wherever you see them, blow up the White House.” Recently I heard “hope he is raped in prison.” I would put the courts in this category as well. No court, state, federal or even the Supreme Court, would hear any case from Trump lawyers with election fraud evidence. Media and politicians repeated that accusations of election fraud were baseless. How do you determine something is baseless if no court chose to hear the well-founded evidence? There is a wellknown track record of the Trump Presidency. He was right about the coup, Russia hoax, Israel, China, North Korea, Iran, NATO, bringing troops home from endless wars, needs to rebuild the military, renegotiating trade agreements to favor the U.S, returning manufacturing to the U.S from abroad, strengthening border
security, deporting criminal illegal immigrants, expanding the economy through lower taxes and restored or created jobs. There would be no Covid vaccine without President Trump who pushed its development with pharmaceutical companies in less than a year. We are receiving vaccines because of Donald Trump, not Congress, the Cabinet and certainly not Joe Biden. President Trump is 1000 percent correct about 2020 election fraud but that investigation as well as the Durham Report and the Biden family/Hunter Biden financial corruption will be buried somewhere in the Deep State for at least the next two years. Carol Adams Glenville
Thankful for dad’s vaccination process To the Editor: My 89-year-old dad got his first COVID vaccine this afternoon. He was extremely impressed with how well he was cared for by the EMS and other staffers. The whole process held at the Haywood County Fairgrounds was so very organized and smooth. Thanks for everything that went into organizing and running the truly amazing event! Jody Cypher Waynesville
Vaccination process was smooth, uplifting To the Editor: Today, January 21, I received my first Covid-19 vaccine shot administered by the Haywood County Health Department at the Smoky Mountain Event
Lessons learned from Larry King
al months, my experience was positive, uplifting, and encouraging. My hat is off to the Health Department and, especially, to the men and women staffing the vaccination center. Despite a cold and rainy day, they were cheerful, efficient, and helpful. I offer my sincere appreciation and thanks. I encourage everyone to be vaccinated so we can return to a normal life as soon as safely possible. Bruce Carruthers Waynesville
Susanna Shetley
Haywood Democrats extend our heartfelt congratulations to
President Biden & Vice President Harris
As we celebrate the new administration we are filled with hope for:
EQUITY
PEACE
UNDERSTANDING RECONCILIATION We know some in our community mourn while we rejoice, so we pray for healing for all of us. We hope to work with all of our neighbors to “Build Back Better” in ways that will benefit all of us.
“ And so we lift our gaze, not to what stands
between us, but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our future
Smoky Mountain News
Center. Things couldn’t haven’t gone more smoothly. I arrived at noon — my assigned time — and the process was completed by 12:30 p.m. This included registration, receiving the vaccine, and a 15-minute waiting time. Processing was quick, thorough, and efficient. All personnel were courteous, wellinformed, and helpful. The Health Department and the people working at this site are to be congratulated. After the difficult time we have borne over the past sever-
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A Time for Celebration & Reconciliation
Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2021
rowing up I wasn’t a fan of Larry King. As a little girl in the 1980s, I was more concerned with my Cabbage Patch Dolls and Whitney Houston cassette tapes, so when my parents turned on “Larry King Live” at night to catch his latest interview, I zoned out. I lumped his show in the same category as “MASH” and “Hill Street Blues,” all Columnist three of which my parents loved and I eventually came to enjoy. Larry King passed away this week at the age of 87. Like a lot of folks right now, my TV is perpetually tuned to CNN. On Saturday, after his death was announced, I ended up watching a lengthy remembrance piece with Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer and other famed names. I learned a lot about Larry King. I also learned a few lessons from him. Here goes. Immigration matters: Many outstanding Americans are immigrants or children of immigrants. King was born in Brooklyn in 1933 with the birth name Lawrence Harvey Zeiger. Both of his parents were Orthodox Jews who immigrated to the United States from Belarus in the 1930s. Immigrants make this country the glorious melting pot that it is. It’s an important fact to remember and honor. You’re never too old to achieve your dreams: Despite being a fan of broadcasting and radio since childhood, King did not get his own radio show until he was 45 years old and was 52 years old when “Larry King Live” aired. Big dreams shouldn’t diminish or disappear simply because we age. The bulk and highlights of King’s career happened in the second part of his life. Remind yourself of this when you’re feeling defeated about your own dreams and goals. Be a straight talker: I’ve never been one for small talk or long convoluted stories, so I appreciate Larry King’s style. He was focused on getting to the point. He asked incisive, intentional, though-provoking
questions. If more people did this in everyday conversations, we could save a lot of time squandered by irrelevant chatting. King said, “You gotta ask ‘why’ questions. ‘Why did you do this?’ A ‘why’ question you can’t answer with one word.” Men can make fashion statements too: Suspenders are synonymous with Larry King. When asked in an interview, King surmised he owned at least 150 pairs of suspenders. He had suspender buttons sewn into every pair of pants he owned. After losing weight from a heart surgery, King’s exwife suggested he wear suspenders. He took her up on the idea. He liked the feel of them and his fans liked the look of them. King never went back to a suit and tie. Hard work breeds luck: King didn’t invent this adage but he embodied it. His story is a testament that working hard opens doors and offers big breaks and introductions needed to achieve goals. A small radio station in Miami told King he had some talent and said he could be a disc jockey as soon as someone quit or was fired. Until then, King hung around the station, swept floors and learned some tools of the trade. He eventually got his turn at the table. He started small but after significant work and perseverance, he landed his own radio show and, ultimately, his live TV show. Love is grand: King was married eight times to seven different women over the course of his life. He married one of the ladies twice. Reflecting on his tumultuous love life during an interview with Anderson Cooper in 2009, Larry declared: “I don’t really regret it. I love being in love.” He was married to his final wife, Shawn Southwick, the longest. Listening is more important than talking: Larry King famously said, “I never learned anything by talking.” He asked short, straightforward questions then spent most of his interviews listening. While this is a great journalistic strategy, it’s also a wonderful life lesson. I think we could all benefit from talking less and listening more. The world of broadcasting has lost an icon. There will only be one Larry King, with his easy breezy conversational style, leaning stance and baritone voice, all while donning colorful suspenders and that sly smile. He once said, “I’ve had a great ride. I’ve got no complaints.” Rest in peace, Larry King. Thank you for what you offered to humanity and to journalism. (Susanna Shetley is an editor, writer and digital media specialist for The Smoky Mountain News, Smoky Mountain Living, and Mountain South Media. susanna.b@smokymountainnews.com)
first, we must first put our differences aside. - Amanda Gorman, Inaugural Poet
Paid For By The Haywood County Democratic Party
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A&E
Smoky Mountain News
BEHIND THE CURTAIN
The Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.
Shuttered for almost a year, HART Theatre aims to reopen BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER n his over 30 years of being part of the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville, longtime Executive Director Steven Lloyd has held pretty much every job title within the organization, from stage actor to set designer. But, there was one duty he’d yet to partake in, that is until recently: volunteer. “We had our annual [HART] meeting via Zoom last week. Under normal circumstances, we would have met in person, had wine, snacks and celebrate the end of another great year,” Lloyd said. “Normally, I’d put together a video retrospective of the year and all of the performances — this year it would just be a blank screen.” Closed since last spring due to the Covid-19 pandemic and shutdown, HART, which celebrated 35 years in operation in 2019, is a pillar of the Haywood County and greater Western North Carolina artistic community. What started as a grassroots organization those many years ago has now become a nationallyacclaimed stage, one where a sold-out performance to rave applause is the norm. Aside from Lloyd’s current volunteer role, he had to let go of his entire staff last year for the foreseeable future, some of which had been with HART for decades. The immensely popular Kids at HART youth program was suspended until further notice, and the Harmons’ Den Bistro has been closed for good. In a usual year, the overhead costs of HART hover around $35,000 per month. With the shutdown and darkened stages,
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“Everybody — the audience, the cast, the staff — is going to be so excited just to be together. Watching a performance with your friends, having a beer — we all miss that.” — Steven Lloyd
HART has managed to narrow those costs down to $2,000 a month. That said, it still has to pay those bills, and with no money coming in from ticket sales. “Between the virtual programming fundraisers, private donations from several generous patrons and a [federal] CARES Act
grant, we’ve been able to put together enough of a war chest to make sure we can pay the mortgage and the rest of our bills right now,” Lloyd said. When turning the spotlight to Lloyd himself, the question remains as to his future with HART. At 67, he had already been in the process of transitioning his role to the new generation that will run the organization. Although he has no plans to fully step aside and will remain executive director moving forward, Lloyd will be the first to say that the shutdown did shift his mindset toward “the next chapter” of his own life. “[The shutdown] did accelerate my exit strategy. I wasn’t planning on going on Social Security until I turned 70. But, I got laid off on April 1. I went on Social Security and I’ve got savings, so I’m financially secure,” Lloyd said. “So, I don’t have to ‘do this,’ but [HART] is what gives me purpose. I don’t want to come back in here and be the person who signs checks and deals with all this stuff. I want to be able to hand that off, then direct a couple shows a year, pick the seasons, attend the board meetings.” With a tentative opening date of June 11, HART is aiming to hold live performances with an audience. Whether it be on the large grass knoll and patio between the stage buildings outside or simply opening up the large wraparound doors of the Fangmeyer Theatre with limited capacity shows, the show must go on, according to Lloyd. “Anybody who bought a season ticket for last year, it’s good for this year. And we’re not going to be selling season tickets in advance of shows until we know we can open this year, because we don’t know when that will be,” Lloyd said. “[Otherwise], we’re basically ready to pounce. And even if we are able to open, we’re not going to be the ones who decide if ‘we’re open’ — the public will. Once the public
Want to help? If you would like to donate to the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre, you can go to www.harttheatre.org, click on the “Get Involved” tab and scroll down to the “Donate” section. As well, to watch the “Virtual Stage” performances by the HART Theatre, you can stream the productions by going to www.harttheatre.org, clicking on the “Current Season” tab and scrolling down to the “Virtual Stage” section. Currently, you can stream the production of “Together: Love Songs and Scenes from the Stage to You” for a suggested ticket price of $10. Other virtual productions will also be offered in the coming months. For more information, call 828.456.6322 or email info@harttheatre.org.
is comfortable again to sit with 200 people in a theater, then we will [officially] be back open.” When asked what will be going through his mind when the curtains do finally get pulled back and shows once again grace the stage of HART Theatre — in front of a real audience in real time — Lloyd can’t help but smile and chuckle happily at that image rolling through his mind. “Everybody — the audience, the cast, the staff — is going to be so excited just to be together. Watching a performance with your friends, having a beer — we all miss that,” Lloyd said. “When we return, our house is going to be so packed because people are going to be so hungry for real entertainment, and they’re not sitting and watching on a screen. I think people are going to be in tears — they’re going to be so thrilled to be able to do this again.”
arts & entertainment
This must be the place BY GARRET K. WOODWARD
Oh California I’m coming home, oh make me feel good rock-n-roll band
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Cataloochee Divide Trail. two human beings over coffee and eggs, sharing a corner booth with nothing but time on their hands — no place to be except for right here, right now, and with you. Being there, I realized how long it had been since I sat down with a kindred spirit at a diner amid rollicking banter and laughter over the absurdity that is life, for good or ill (but mostly good). I’ve been pretty much by myself during this ongoing pandemic (and so has she), and that meal together meant more to my heart and soul than I may ever realize — maybe someday in hindsight, eh? By the time you read this column, she’ll already have left Western North Carolina, most likely on another cross-country flight somewhere halfway between here and California. Tens of thousands of feet high above in the air, her thoughts swirling around what the next move will be, what
words and sentiments will fill these blank pages seemingly just around the corner. I don’t know the next time when we’ll cross paths. And I don’t know what each of us will say or do when that subsequent rendezvous reveals itself in due time. However, what I do know is, that the next chance encounter between these two souls on different coasts can’t come soon enough. But, alas, patience is a virtue. That, and you must let the cards fall where they may, come hell or high water. Chase the horizon, all while leaving yourself completely and utterly vulnerable to the possibility of today, tomorrow, and every day thereafter. For, what’s the fun in not poking the chaos? You just never know where time and place will take you next. And, for that, I continue onward, always upward. Life is beautiful, grasp for it, y’all.
Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2021
t was just about a month ago when I received a text from a dear friend, a truly cosmic and beautiful soul. She was heading back to her native home of Western North Carolina to visit family for the first time since November 2019, first time since “all of this” became our new normal. “Will you be around?” she messaged me. “For you? Of course,” I replied. Leaving her apartment, roommates and life back in California, she jumped on a cross-country flight and landed at the Asheville airport on Dec. 30. I arrived at the terminal in my old truck. She waved me down, tossed her luggage into the back of the pickup and hopped in. Immediately, I noticed how tan she was, all those lazy days walking the beaches of Santa Monica or meandering the boardwalks on her beach cruiser. Her radiant smile was just as I remembered, as was her charming laugh and engaging presence. It had been over a year since I’d laid eyes on her, but within our ever-flowing conversation, it felt like I’d seen her only yesterday — she’s just that kind of person who bestows that type of comfortability with such ease. Not ready to simply head back to her parents’ house in Waynesville, it was decided to grab a drink in West Asheville. Bellying up to the bar counter, we grabbed a seat and relaxed into the evening. She couldn’t get over the fact of merely being in a bar, seeing as California remains under strict rules and regulations due to the pandemic. For me, I couldn’t get over the fact of her being right next to me, this voice I’d only heard in endless phone calls over the last year during the shutdown. Phone calls in the midnight hour. Two
lonely, curious souls on different coasts that couldn’t sleep, only to call the other to check in, perhaps catch up on the matters of the day. Or maybe dive a little deeper into the complex mysteries of time and place in the unknown universe. Her initial 18-day trip return home soon morphed into a 10-day extension. Just as I figured I’d have to eventually say goodbye (at least for now), she called me up from her parents — once again in the midnight hour — to say she was delaying her flight to California and if I “would be around this week?” Yep. Sold. As with all things fun and worthwhile, time flew by too quickly, so why not just throw caution to the wind and stay a little while longer? After all, there never seems to be enough time to be with loved ones when you circle back to the familiarity and warm embrace of your hometown after a period of exploration and personal growth, whether geographically or emotionally. While she makes her way back to the West Coast this week, our time together over the last month has felt like this whirlwind of adventures, conversations and interactions. Although I’d initially thought we’d see each other sporadically, we’ve ended up spending most of January wandering and pondering together, this serene ripple of cause and effect, and how everything is everything, even if it may seem all for nothing at the time. From a snowy, sunset hike along the Cataloochee Divide Trail to an early birthday dinner for two at Curate in downtown Asheville (hers being Feb. 13, mine Feb. 5), sharing new music on the stereo over a beverage on my couch or showing each other what we’ve picked up along the way in our respective paths of learning the acoustic guitar, there have been a bevy of moments now forever chiseled on the walls of my memory. But, the one moment that sticks out is getting breakfast a few days ago at the Haywood 209 Café just off Interstate 40 (north of Lake Junaluska). I’ve always been a big champion of the quality time between
Smoky Mountain News 19
arts & entertainment
On the street • Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) will host an open mic from 8 to 10 p.m. every Thursday. Free and open to the public. www.balsamfallsbrewing.com. • Elevated Mountain Distilling Company will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. www.elevatedmountain.com. • Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. www.froglevelbrewing.com. • Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host Mt. Gypsy Music Jan. 30 and Natti Love Joys (roots/soul) Feb. 6. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. For more information and a complete schedule of events, click on www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.
ALSO:
• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host Mt. Gypsy Music Jan. 29 and Natti Love Joys (roots/soul) Feb. 5. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. For more information and a complete schedule of events, click on www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.
Smoky Mountain News
Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2021
• Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host
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semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. www.nantahalabrewing.com. • The Haywood County Arts Council’s “Winter Member’s Show” will be held Feb. 5-27 in the Gallery & Gifts showroom at the HCAC in downtown Waynesville. Original work for 24 local artisans. Free and open to the public. www.haywoodarts.org. • The “New Year’s Market” will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 30 at the Canton Armory at 71 Penland Street. Over 30 vendors and food available onsite. Handmade crafts, wall art, native crafts, home decor, woodworking items, chakra healing, and much more. • The Bethel Christian Academy will be hosting the “Papertown Spring Market” fundraiser on March 13. There will be booths for local vendors to set up and sell their products: boutique clothing, home decor, handmade items, jewelry, and more. If you have any questions or would like to set up a booth, call 828.734.9733.
Canton location
The nonprofit Oscar Hammerstein Museum and Theatre Education Center (OHMTEC) recently announced the semifinalists in our international solo contest. Of those semifinalists, Madison Garris of Waynesville was named. Performing in the “College” category, Garris sang “Honey Bun” from the musical “South Pacific.” OHMTEC, which is in the midst of a nationwide fundraising campaign, offers this opportunity for singers of all ages to display their talents and celebrate the works of the “Father of Broadway,” who contributed lyrics to over 800 songs that continue to reverberate around the world. OHMTEC is dedicated to providing education and performance opportunities to theatre students and performers around the globe and will continue to support the efforts of those who are studying and emulating Oscar Hammerstein II’s work and legacy. www.hammersteinmuseum.org.
Madison Garris.
• There will be a free wine tasting from 6 to 8 p.m. every Thursday and 2 to 5 p.m every Saturday at The Wine Bar & Cellar in Sylva. 828.631.3075.
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‘Long Live The Tree’ by Jude Lobe.
Haywood art studio tour The Haywood County Arts Council invites all Haywood County studio artists to participate in the annual Haywood County Studio Tour scheduled for June 26-27, 2021. The Haywood County Studio Tour is a two-day, self-guided, free event in which Haywood County artists open their studios to the public. To participate, the studio must be in Haywood County. Artists may choose to open their Haywood County studio or to join with another studio host. The HCAC will act as a liaison between artists needing a host site and studios that have space for additional artists.
The artist/studio application and policies for participation may be found on the Haywood County Arts Council website or picked up from HCAC Gallery & Gifts at 86 North Main Street in Waynesville. Email completed forms to artist@haywoodarts.org or mail to P.O. Box 306, Waynesville, NC 28786. The deadline for the completed studio tour application is Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. The Haywood County Studio Tour Exhibit Opening Reception is on Friday, June 4, 2021, if feasible. The HCAC will follow the NC Governor’s mandates regarding COVID. For more information about HCAC programs and events, visit the Haywood County Arts Council website at www.haywoodarts.org.
On the shelf
In his section on “Finding a New Path,” Suzuki emphasizes how economics has become an over-riding priority over that of environmental balance and sustainability, with the stock market, the GDP and individual wealth being more important to us than the health of our ecosystems. He quotes Rachel Carson and her classic book Silent Spring and many other established and wellknown authors and scientists throughout the book to support his thesis that it is necessary for all of us to follow the lead of our ancient ancestors in re-establishing a knowledge and reverence for the natural world if we as a species are going to survive. The rest of the book, then, is Suzuki’s vision of what we can do to achieve this positive end. He uses words like “interconnectedness” and “interdependence” often and at will to drive home his point — that it is within our power and doable to create a sustainable world and future. “What is needed now is to confront our enormous ecological challenges — a joining together in a common goal and a commitment to meet that goal. And if we
do those things, we can be assured that there will be huge unexpected benefits,” he writes. He again cites the indigenous Haida peoples in the northwest as an example. “The trees, birds, fish, air, water and rocks are all part of who the Haida are. The land and everything on it embody their history, their culture, the very reasons why Haida are on this earth.” He then goes on to state: “In fact there is no environment ‘out there,’ separate from us. I came to realize that we are the environment.” In the end Suzuki punctuates his sermon on and in The Legacy by focusing on the subject of love. Again, reverence appears in his “Vision for the Future” as he addresses love ironically at times. “Our great boast is the possession of intelligence, but what intelligent creature, knowing the critical role of air for all life on Earth, would then proceed to deliberately pour toxic materials into it? We are air, so whatever we do to air, we do to ourselves. And this is true of the other sacred elements,” he preaches as an elder from his scientific pulpit. “We are all social animals, and our most fundamental social need is love. We must have love to be fully human and to realize our full potential. Finally, Suzuki concludes his sermon, as I will conclude this review, with these words: “We should know that there are forces impinging on us that we will never understand or control. We need sacred places where we go with veneration rather than to seek resources or opportunity. These, then, are our most fundamental biological, social and spiritual needs. Once we understand that those basic needs must be the very foundation of our values and the way we live, that they must be protected for our health and well-being, we can begin to imagine a new way of living in harmony and balance with them. By creating a vision of what must be, we then determine the way we act. Imagine a society ... to which the mere fact that a person exists is cause for celebration and a deep sense of responsibility to maintain and share that experience.” And to this I will simply add “Amen.” (Thomas Crowe is a regular contributor to The Smoky Mountain News and author of the multiaward-winning non-fiction nature memoir Zoro’s Field: My Life in the Appalachian Woods.)
Should we lower the voting age?
election cycle and political upheaval, with unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud and vote tampering. Political institutions are under intense criticism. Many changes to voter requirements have occurred since George Washington won the presidential office in 1789. In 1971, the age requirement was dropped from 21 to 18 years of age with the 26th Amendment. It may be time to lower it once again, Michelsen said. Michelsen analyzed the nature of voting habits and concluded that too many citizens
start their adult lives as non-voters and become habitual non-voters as a result. Using voter turnout data and demographics, he writes that lowering the voting age to 16 would help both college-attending and non-college-attending young adults develop voting habits and raise voter turnout. The book can be purchased directly from Lexington Books at www.rowman.com/isbn/9781793611420/votesat-16-youth-enfranchisement-and-the-renewalof-american-democracy.
Thomas Crowe
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Could voter engagement and democracy be better served with a younger voting age? That question is explored in a new book, Votes at 16: Youth Enfranchisement and the Renewal of American Democracy, by Niall Michelsen, associate professor of political science and public affairs at Western Carolina University. The book comes in wake of a contentious
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as an essential ingredient in the ongoing sustainable future for all life on the planet. He then goes on to say that “our great crisis of climate change demands a radically new approach.”
Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2021
avid Suzuki is an internationally renowned geneticist and environmentalist and is the author of more than 40 books and recipient of many national and international awards for his writing and his scientific work. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. His book The Legacy: An Elder’s Vision For Our Sustainable Future (Greystone Books, 113 pages) is part autobiography, Writer part history and part basic science, but above all, it is a plea for the planet. In a Forward by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, she says, “The legacy in this lecture is one of truthful words about the hard place we’re in, but it’s also one of hopeful words: our chance — if we will take it — for opportunity, beauty, wonder, and companionship with the rest of creation. My hope is that we ourselves will emulate David Suzuki and leave legacies in our turn.” While this statement by Ms. Atwood could serve as a condensed review itself, I’m going to indulge myself by introducing you to what lies within the pages of this compelling book. Suzuki divides his small book into three sections which are, themselves, descriptive of the content and detail one finds in the book’s pages: “Evolution of a Superspecies,” “Finding a New Path,” and “A Vision For the Future.” The first 36 pages are devoted to both his own early life’s history and the evolution of the human species in general. He talks about the earlier values of indigenous peoples the world over and their relationship with the natural world in terms of sustainability and balance. He then goes on to talk about population growth and how that changed and continues to change mankind’s view of and relationship with the land. He then breaks this section of the book into the elements of earth, air, fire and water — showing how in each case our relationship with these elements has changed and how these changes have created what we are experiencing now as climate change. “We are tearing at this web of life, which is the source of our most fundamental needs,” Suzuki says, as he writes about biodiversity
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to help them when they have a search.” Not only does the county have a rock star roster of SAR team members, it has a full-on incident management team akin to the multiagency response teams that manage major incidents like large western wildfires. Shuping said developing that team is his proudest accomplishment of the past 20 years. “I’ve got a team that can come up there and manage that and support the sheriff to take care of the searchers, and I’m very proud of that,” he said. “We’re known across the state, and we’re known across the Southeastern region for having this team that does that.”
STRONGER TOGETHER
Greg Shuping (center) briefs media outlets during the July 2019 search for Kevin Lynch in National Park lands near The Swag. Lynch was ultimately found safe after a five-day search. Donated photo
Expecting the unexpected Shuping retires after 20 years as Haywood’s emergency manager BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER reg Shuping was 19 years old when he launched his emergency services career in his native Burke County. The son of a volunteer firefighter, Shuping had spent most of his life hanging around the firehouse, at least when he wasn’t busy exploring nearby Linville Gorge. As a teenager, Shuping struggled to settle on a clear direction for his post-high school life, but his dad, a state employee, handed him a simple piece of advice. “He said, ‘Son, if you’re not going to be a rocket scientist, you probably ought to work for the government, because they have really good retirement,’” said Shuping, now 49 and days away from retirement as Haywood County Emergency Services Coordinator. Back in Burke County, he started working as a firefighter and paramedic with a fascination for search and rescue operations. As a special ops medic, Shuping often helped with dramatic rescues in the gorge. “I would do helicopter rescues and pretty extreme rescues there in the Linville Gorge
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Wilderness,” said Shuping. “I got my taste doing it there.” Shuping maintained his appetite for wilderness rescue when he and his wife, a Haywood County native, moved to Waynesville in 1997. Shuping began working as a paramedic and was then promoted to shift supervisor. When the Twin Towers fell in 2001, blowing everyone’s sense of security to smithereens, Haywood County hired its firstever emergency services coordinator — Shuping.
TWO DECADES OF CHANGE At the time, few counties Haywood’s size had a position dedicated to emergency preparedness. Haywood didn’t have any emergency operations plans to speak of when Shuping took the job. “Since then, of course, we have a comprehensive Emergency Operations Plan, and it’s been tested many times through the years,” said Shuping. “In 2004, we had the back-toback hurricanes that really kicked us in gear there with emergency planning. And I remember those days where we were kind of flying by the seat of our pants. Nobody really knew what their job was when a major disaster happened. It was kind of a trial by fire. We learned what our jobs were very quickly.” When Shuping came to Haywood County
in 1997, there were two 24-hour ambulance crews and a third active only Monday through Friday during daytime hours. Backcountry searches were performed by fire department volunteers, with paramedics dispatched in case of a medical emergency, but none of the first responders had any specific wilderness rescue training to rely on. There was no management structure or logistical coordination to speak of. “We were just walking through the wilderness ourselves and hoping we would run into someone who was lost,” said Shuping. In 24 years, a lot has changed. Now the county has six 24-hour ambulances on its roster as well as two peak time units and a supervisor on staff around the clock. There are 61 paramedics on the county payroll compared to 20 or so in the late ‘90s. Then, there’s the Search and Rescue Team. Today, this specialty team housed under the Haywood County Search and Rescue Squad includes about 30 highly trained outdoorsmen and women who volunteer their time to respond to complex and hazardous backcountry emergencies. There’s even a new special ops paramedic team to address the medical side of these emergencies. “Now we have an organized Search and Rescue Team that is second to none,” said Shuping. “They’re so good that counties from all across the state and other states call them
Shuping’s years in emergency management have led him to a straightforward philosophy about his profession. Emergency management is about preparedness, and preparedness is about relationships. “Folks in my position, you can sit back and really do nothing sometimes because the call volume’s not there,” he said. “You can just kind of hang out. Or you can think about these hypothetical scenarios and you can figure out, who do I need to bring to the table?” While Shuping has worked hard to build up Haywood’s emergency response infrastructure, he said that in reality his scope of authority is “pretty small.” His program’s success depends on the cooperation of other agencies. From that standpoint, Sheriff Greg Christopher’s swearing-in in 2013 a “pivotal point” for search and rescue. “I met with him on day one, and I said, ‘Sheriff, law enforcement really needs to be involved in these search and rescues,’ and he agreed,” said Shuping. “He said, ‘What do we need to do?’” From there, both departments started putting more money and resources into training and cross-training their people to better prepare for the types of emergencies that are inevitable in the mountains. “That’s when we started to see less of these three- and four- and five-day searches,” said Shuping. “They turned into half-day searches because we were putting the right people up there with the right training and the right equipment.” When someone gets lost in the backcountry, they call 911, and it’s then the sheriff ’s department’s responsibility to conduct a preliminary investigation into the circumstances of situation and activate resources — such as a the Search and Rescue Team — to bring the person out safely. Sometimes, a few minutes on the phone with a Search and Rescue Team member is enough to avert disaster — crew members have an intimate knowledge of the terrain and trails that often cause people trouble. Other times, it’s a boots-on-the-ground kind of mission, and while multi-day searches are less common than they used to be, they still happen. One of the most difficult mis-
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e are grateful for our longtime partnership with the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce. Their year-round networking and learning opportunities have helped us build and strengthen relationships throughout the community. The Leadership Haywood program has been instrumental in helping us connect with our neighbors as we all work together to make Haywood County a wonderful place to live, work and play!”
Lake Junaluska Executive Team Pictured left to right: Mike Huber, general manager; Sendi Crenshaw, director of finance and administration; Dave Nicholson, director of public works; Rebecca Mathis, director of advancement; Ken Howle, executive director
828.456.3021 HaywoodChamber.com
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thought he may have seen the exception to that rule. He’d prepared to respond to a public health emergency, but he’d never expected to face something of this scale. “The stress level when this thing first began was pretty overbearing, but once we got our feet under us, we realized it was just like a search,” he said. “It’s just going to last a while.” There are more parallels than you might think between managing a backcountry rescue command post — handling an influx of incoming communications and information, adapting to shifting conditions, disseminating food and supplies to responders — and responding to a pandemic. “Look at how quickly and how well and how organized our vaccination program is here in Haywood County, and then look at other counties, and I think you’ll see a marked difference between the two,” said Shuping. “And that is because of our level of preparedness here and our level of organization.” State data show that as of Jan. 20 Haywood County had provided first shots to 3,726 people, or 6 percent of its population, compared to 4 percent of entire state population. A Jan. 22 press release said the county’s number had since jumped above 6,000 — about 10 percent. While Shuping is stepping down as Emergency Services Director — he’s officially done as of Feb. 1 — he said he’s “not ready for the rocking chair yet.” “Retirement’s a bad word for me, because I’m just transitioning to a different time in my life,” he said. “And I feel like I’ve got good experiences and Greg Shuping (left) and Sheriff Greg Christopher (center) assist good capabilities to still on the October 2020 search for Chad Segar in the Shining Rock help this community, and I Wilderness Area, which ended tragically when Segar was found want to.” Shuping plans to trandead on day six of the search. Donated photo sition to a part-time county position working with the incident management team he helped exhausted, and leaned against a tree. The create. But he’s confident about the future tree turned out to be dead. It gave way, and of emergency response in Haywood County, she tumbled down the mountain — injured saying that he wouldn’t have chosen this and unable to escape on her own, but alive. moment for retirement if he believed that If Shuping hadn’t spent the months and doing so would leave his people hanging. years before Hays took her hike cultivating Travis Donaldson, who is currently the relationships like that fortuitous one with deputy director of administration for the the Fish and Wildlife officers, that story Emergency Services Department, will take would likely have had a tragic ending rather over Shuping’s job on an interim basis. than a happy one. “I am so tickled to death that we have great paramedics and emergency manageREPARATION IS KEY ment folks here that do a fantastic job,” said Shuping. “I want folks in the county to Shuping believes that every emergency know that they have something very special can be prepared for, and that preparation here. I had something to do with it, but prevents panic. If you’re prepared, the incireally just bringing the right folks into this dent is an emergency only for the victim — thing so that it doesn’t matter whether I’m for responders, it’s a “step-by-step, methodhere running this thing or not — it’s going ical process.” to be great for the people.” When the pandemic hit, Shuping sions that comes to Shuping’s mind is the 2015 search for Julie Hays, a 49-year-old assistant district attorney from Tennessee who disappeared on a solo hike to Cold Mountain. She reached the summit on a Saturday afternoon in September but failed to return home, prompting a search that for more than 24 hours turned up exactly nothing. “We called Fish and Wildlife officers up there, because we’re just trying to figure this out,” said Shuping. “And the Fish and Wildlife officer says, ‘Hey, have you tried the Lenoir Creek drainage?’ which is a drainage off the north face of Cold Mountain. And sure enough we put a team in there and we find her and we save her life.” It turned out that Hays had reached the top of the mountain, understandably
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Spend summer on the Bartram Trail The Blue Ridge Bartram Trail Conservancy is looking for youth ages 16 to 18 to fill six paid trail crew positions this summer, with a few upcoming events planned to give teens a taste of what their summer could look like.
Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2021
• An online information session will be held at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9. • A volunteer workday open to teens ages 15 to 18 will be held 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13. Crew members will be employed through the Southeast Conservation Corps and will work on the Bartram Trail in various locations
in Western North Carolina and Rabun County, Georgia. They will work July 5-30, camping in front-country and backcountry settings. Crew members will earn $300 per week and receive job training, uniform shirts and protective equipment. Local applicants will receive preference. “Long-term, we’d like to think we’ll have a youth program every summer to think about building the next generation of leadership in the trail, but also to think about building a long-term recreation employment program here, keeping young people in the landscape and helping young people think about how they might stay in the landscape here and have recreation careers,” said Conservancy Executive Director Brent Martin. The Blue Ridge Bartram Trail Conservancy was formed last year by the merger of the former North Carolina Bartram Trail Society and the Georgia Bartram Trail Society, with Martin recently hired as director of the new organization. Martin previously worked as regional director for The Wilderness Society and operates the guide service Alarka Expeditions with his wife Angela. He has also been working with the N.C. Bartram Trail Society on a contract basis for the past three years. The youth crew program is funded through a $20,000 U.S. Forest Service Grant and a $10,000 private donation. For more information about the trail crew or to register for one of the events, contact Jennifer Love at jennifer.love@macon.k12.nc.us. Job postings are available at www.southeastconservationcorps.org/openpositions.
Stayat
Maggie Valley Club & Resort thisWinter!
The top of the Rough Creek hike offers some spectacular views. Donated photo
Hike Rough Creek Explore the Rough Creek Watershed with a guided hike Saturday, Feb. 6, and learn about the watershed ecology that drives the place. Eric Romaniszyn, executive director of the Haywood Waterways Association, will lead the hike. The Rough Creek Watershed is located just north of Canton, an 870-acre area first settled by pioneers in the 1800s. By the early 1900s most settlers had left and Canton designated it a protected area. The watershed contains a diverse plant and animal community similar to what is found in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
The hike is part of Haywood Waterways’ “Get to Know Your Watershed” series of outdoor recreation events. The group will meet at the Lower Trail Junction parking lot at 9 a.m. with the moderate-to-strenuous 5.5-mile hike concluding by 1:30 p.m. Space is limited, with no pets allowed. Pack lunch, water, warm clothing and rain gear. Free for HWA members with a $5 donation requested from nonmembers. Limited to 10 hikers. RSVP to Christine O’Brien at christine.haywoodwaterways@gmail.com or 828.476.4667, ext. 11.
Adventure with REI REI in Asheville is offering a full schedule of outdoor classes and activities for the adventurous this winter. Offerings include bike tours, star walks, a backcountry navigation class, an overnight backpacking class and more. Prices range from free to $250, depending on the activity. For more a full schedule, visit www.rei.com/events/p/us-nc-asheville.
Smoky Mountain News
Closure planned for Alum Cave Trail
1819 Country Club Drive, Maggie Valley, NC
M AG G I E VA LLEY C LU B . CO M
24
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
The Alum Cave Trail and its associated parking lots in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be closed during much of February so that crews can replace two foot log bridges near the Arch Rock area. The area will be closed weekly Monday through Thursday from Feb. 8 to Feb. 25. It will be fully open Friday through Sunday, and on President’s Day Monday, Feb. 15. Alum Cave Trail is one of the park’s most popular trails, and these foot log bridges provide safe crossings over the boulder-strewn river. The bridges have suffered significant decay due to use and weather since the last trail rehabilitation effort in 2016. A full closure is necessary during the replacement to ensure safety for the crew and visitors. Hikers can still reach Mt. LeConte and the LeConte Shelter by using one of the other trails to the summit.
The foot logs have suffered significant decay since the trail rehabilitation in 2016. NPS photo
Rivercane to help preserve Cherokee culture
Volunteers are needed to help plant rivercane at Rivers Edge Park in Clyde at 2 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29. The planting effort stems from a $3,600
grant that the Cherokee Preservation Foundation gave to Haywood Waterways Association. Rivercane is a native bamboo that does not grow to the same height as
Banish invasives from Island Park Help combat invasive species at Island Park in Bryson City during a pair of workdays scheduled for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, and Wednesday, Feb. 10. Hosted by MountainTrue and the Tuckasegee River Alliance, the workdays will include using hand tools to cut down larger invasive shrubs and trees and then treating the stumps with small amounts of concentrated herbicide. Volunteers will also pull up smaller plants by the roots. Register at www.mountaintrue.org/event.
Can They Find Your Site? Ask How MSM Can Help!
The annual Haywood County Extension Master Gardener plant sale is underway, with edibles like berries and asparagus and hardto-find native plants, including pollinatorattracting perennials available at exceptional prices. Orders must be placed and pre-paid by March 1. Edibles will be available for pickup on Saturday, April 10, and native plants will come in Saturday, June 5. Plant pickup will be drive-thru and contactless. Proceeds fund education-related horticulture projects in Haywood County. Order forms are available online at www.haywood.ces.ncsu.edu or by email to mgarticles@charter.net. They’re also in physical form at the Haywood County Cooperative Extension Office on Raccoon Road in Waynesville. 828.456.3575.
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outdoors
The rivercane will help stabilize the soil at Rivers Edge Park, where flooding is frequent. Donated photo
nonnative bamboo seen elsewhere. It serves an important ecological role, helping to stabilize the soil and prevent runoff, but it’s also an essential part of many traditional Cherokee crafts, including furniture, walls for houses, fishing traps, spears and basket weaving. Rivercane has greatly decreased over the years, and the loss not only affects local rivers but also Cherokee cultural preservation. “When the plants establish themselves, this project may reduce erosion and allow harvesting by EBCI artisans in the future, but most importantly, it brings rivercane back to an area where it historically thrived.” said Adam Griffith, Revitalization of Traditional Cherokee Artisan Resources Director for EBCI Cooperative Extension Services. To RSVP for the workday, contact Christine O’Brien at christine.haywoodwaterways@gmail.com or 828.476.4667, ext. 11. Some supplies will be available, but volunteers should bring their own shovels, gloves and augers if available.
828.452.4251 susanna@mtnsouthmedia.com
25
outdoors
Five-year bird survey seeks volunteers
Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2021
Thousands of volunteer birdwatchers will mobilize this March for the first-ever N.C. Bird Atlas survey, a statewide community science survey that aims to map the distribution and abundance of birds from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Outer Banks. Observations will give researchers a comprehensive picture of bird populations across North Carolina and help wildlife officials, land managers and conservation organizations make important conservation decisions about the state’s avian population. The effort comes at an important time for bird conservation — a recent study published in the journal “Science” showed that North American bird populations have declined by nearly 3 billion since 1970, primarily due to human activities. Bird atlases are large-scale, standardized surveys that have taken place in states across the country since the 1970s. This atlas, led by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and various partner groups, will collect five years of survey data by dividing the state into 937 blocks that are each about 10 square miles. Volunteer observers will work with regional coordinators to fan out across
NATIONAL A SS
Cataloochee Ski Area in Maggie Valley will say thank you to fire, rescue and law enforcement workers over the next couple weeks. Fire and Rescue Appreciation Days are Thursday, Jan. 28, and Friday, Jan. 29. Law Enforcement Appreciation Days are Thursday, Feb. 4, and Friday, Feb. 5. During this time, personnel with a valid ID and their families will be eligible to receive reduced rates. www.cataloochee.com.
ION OF STA IAT TE OC
TERS RES FO
Smoky Mountain News
watching a Carolina wren might note whether the bird is singing or gathering twigs and leaves in its beak to build a nest. Sign up at www.ncbirdatlas.org.
Reduced ski rates for first responders
FO
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each block over the course of the project and record the birds they see, submitting data through the online, user-friendly database eBird. Rather than trying to observe as many bird species as possible, the breeding portion of the atlas requires observers to watch individual birds closely and make note of their behaviors. For example, an observer
U N D E D 192
0
Puzzles can be found on page 30 These are only the answers.
Revisions proposed for state groundwater standards An online public hearing at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, will take comment on proposed revisions to the N.C. Groundwater Quality Standards. Written comments will be accepted through March 16. Proposed changes include: n Adoption of a groundwater quality standard for 44 substances with established interim maximum allowable concentrations, some with revised values. n Addition of a groundwater quality standard for three substances (2,6-dinitrotoluene, strontium and total PFOA and PFOS) without established interim maximum allowable concentrations. n Organization of the groundwater standards into a table. n Addition of Chemical Abstracts Service
Registry Numbers for the groundwater standards. n The removal of synonyms. n A change in some units of measure to parts per billion (μg/L), when appropriate. n Addition of rule text to add a notification process for the establishment of an interim maximum allowable concentration. n Addition of rule text to clarify the triennial review process. n Groundwater Quality standards outline maximum allowable concentrations of various substances resulting from any discharge of contaminants to North Carolina’s land and water. The levels established are values that do not pose a threat to human health, or that would otherwise render the groundwater unsuitable for its intended best usage as an existing or potential source of drinking water supply for humans. For more information, including meeting log-on info and a link to the proposed revisions, visit bit.ly/2Yirk1f.
WNC Calendar COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • There will be a New Year’s Market from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 30 at the Canton Armory, 71 Penland St. There will be more than 30 local Community Events & Announcements • There will be a New Year’s Market from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 30 at the Canton Armory, 71 Penland St. There will be more than 30 local vendors, as well as food on site. • Papertown Spring Market will take place 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 13, at Bethel Christian Academy, 100 Park St. There will be local vendors and food. Admission is free. For vendor information, contact Jessica Jones 828.734.9733. • Smoky Mountain Competition Cheer will be hosting a Drive-Thru Chili Dinner from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 30, at the Jackson County Rescue Squad Building, 327 County Services Park, Sylva. Each meal is $8 and includes chili (with toppings), cornbread, drink and dessert. Proceeds will go toward the competition fees for youth cheerleaders that represent the Jackson, Macon, Swain and Haywood counties. For more information or to pre-order, contact 828.506.1419. • Macon County nonprofit organizations have until Feb. 26, to apply for county funds through the Macon County Community Funding Pool (CFP). Application forms and instructions are available at www.maconnc.org. Hard copies are available at Macon County Public Library on Siler Farm Road in Franklin, the Hudson Library on Main Street in Highlands, and the Nantahala Public Library on Nantahala School Road.
BUSINESS & EDUCATION • The Small Business Center at Haywood Community College will offer a free "Empowering Mountain Food Systems - Agribusiness" webinar series. The series will begin with Farm Funding with NRCS, FSA and NC Ag Options, 9 to 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 21; Liability for On-Farm Visits will be held 9-10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10; Farmland Transition will be held 9-10 a.m. Friday, Mar. 19 and Agritourism will be held 9-10 a.m. Wednesday, April 28. Visit SBC.Haywood.edu or call 828.627.4512 for additional information or to register today. • The Small Business Center at Haywood Community College will offer a Free virtual "WordPress 101 Summit" 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 11. The goal of this two-part workshop is to assist small business owners in getting comfortable setting up and building a basic WordPress website or Blog. Visit SBC.Haywood.edu or call 828.627.4512 for additional information or to register today. • Southwestern Community College is offering “Digital Literacy” classes this spring through the College & Career Readiness Department. New classes are forming at the Jackson and Macon County Libraries as well as the SCC Jackson and Macon Campuses and Swain Center. Cost for the class is $125, but there is no fee for those who meet waiver requirements (contact Southwestern for more details on these), and SCC will help those without computer or Internet service to find a location for completing their studies. Preregistration is required. For more information or to sign up, call 828.339.4272.
HEALTH AND WELLNESS • Swain County Caring Corner (SCCC) is still open and accepting patients. It is located at Restoration House (Bryson City United Methodist Church) 81 Academy Street, Bryson City NC 28713. Clinic Hours are Thursdays 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. with Office Hours Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9 a.m. to noon. Call 828.341.1998 to see if you qualify to receive medical care from volunteer providers.
A&E
• The Haywood County Arts Council’s “Winter Member’s Show” will be held Feb. 5-27 in the Gallery & Gifts showroom at the HCAC in downtown Waynesville. Original work for 24 local artisans. Free and open to the public. www.haywoodarts.org. • Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host Mt. Gypsy Music Jan. 30 and Natti Love Joys (roots/soul) Feb. 6. All shows begin at 7 p.m. For more
Smoky Mountain News
27
Michelle McElroy BROKER ASSOCIATE
n All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted. n To have your item listed email to calendar@smokymountainnews.com
(828) 400-9463 michelle@beverly-hanks.com Haywood County Real Estate Expert & Top Producing REALTOR®
information and a complete schedule of events, click on www.lazyhikerbrewing.com. • Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host Mt. Gypsy Music Jan. 29 and Natti Love Joys (roots/soul) Feb. 5. All shows begin at 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. For more information and a complete schedule of events, click on www.lazyhikerbrewing.com. • Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) will host an open mic from 8 to 10 p.m. every Thursday. Free and open to the public. www.balsamfallsbrewing.com. • Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host live music semi-regularly on the weekends. Free and open to the public. www.nantahalabrewing.com.
FOOD AND DRINK • There will be a free wine tasting from 6 to 8 p.m. every Thursday and 2 to 5 p.m. every Saturday at The Wine Bar & Cellar in Sylva. 828.631.3075.
Ellen Sither esither@beverly-hanks.com (828) 734-8305
Outdoors Catherine Proben
• Fire and Rescue Appreciation Days at Cataloochee Ski Area, with personnel and their families receiving a reduced rate, will take place Thursday, Jan. 28, and Friday, Jan. 29. Fire and rescue workers and volunteers must present a valid ID to receive the reduced rate. www.cataloochee.com. • Help clean up the Tuckasegee River with Trout Unlimited at 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 30. The group will meet at the church parking lot near the Webster Access and target the area from South Shore Road to N.C. 107. Participants must follow social distancing rules. Trash bags will be provided. www.tuckaseigee.tu.org • A four-part series of in-depth, hands-on agribusiness work sessions will begin at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20, and repeat weekly through Wednesday, Feb. 10, at Southwestern Community College. These in-person classes will be held at SCC’s Burrell Conference Center. Free. Registration is required at bit.ly/3oMz1Io. Contact Tiffany Henry at 828.339.4426 or t_henry@southwesterncc.edu • Eric Romaniszyn, executive director of the Haywood Waterways Association, will lead a guided hike through the Rough Creek Watershed Saturday, Feb. 6. The group will meet at the Lower Trail Junction parking lot at 9 a.m. The hike is free for HWA members with a $5 donation requested from nonmembers. Space limited to 10 hikers. RSVP to Christine O’Brien at christine.haywoodwaterways@gmail.com or 828.476.4667, ext. 11.
Cell: 828-734-9157 Office: 828-452-5809
cproben@beverly-hanks.com
74 N. Main St., Waynesville, NC
828.452.5809
Brian Noland RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL PROFESSIONAL
bknoland@beverly-hanks.com
828.734.5201
• The Blue Ridge Bartram Trail Conservancy is looking for youth ages 16 to 18 to fill six paid trail crew positions this summer, with a few upcoming events planned to give teens a taste of what their summer could look like. An online information session will be held at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9. A volunteer workday open to teens ages 15 to 18 will be held 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 13. For more information, contact Jennifer Love at jennifer.love@macon.k12.nc.us. Job postings are available at southeastconservationcorps.org/open-positions.
74 North Main Street Waynesville, NC 28786
• A new photography exhibit will open at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville Jan. 16. On display at the Baker Exhibit Center through May 2, “The Enveloping Landscape” shows Patrice’s photographs alongside those of 25 workshop participants. Free with regular Arboretum admission.
Jerry Powell
• Registration is now open for the 18th annual Business of Farming Conference, which will be held Feb. 25 to 27 using a virtual format. Register at www.asapconnections.org. Cost is $95 per person before Feb. 1 and $115 thereafter. Farm partners registering together will receive a discount, and Appalachian Grown certified farmers will receive a 30 percent discount. • An online public hearing at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, will take comment on proposed revisions to the N.C. Groundwater Quality Standards. Written comments will be accepted through March 16. For more information, including meeting log-on info and a link to the proposed revisions, visit bit.ly/2Yirk1f.
828.452.5809
Cell: 828.508.2002 jpowell@beverly-hanks.com
74 N. Main St., Waynesville
828.452.5809
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CASH FOR CARS! We buy all cars! Junk, highend, totaled – it doesn’t matter! Get free towing and same day cash! Call 1-866-508-8362.
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Employment Auction ONLINE ONLY AUCTION, Bankruptcy Real Estate in Yadkin County, NC, Manufactured Home on .47+/-AC in East Bend, NC, Begins Closing 2/11 at 2pm, See Website for Inspections, ironhorseauction.com, 800.997.2248, NCAL 3936 ONLINE ONLY AUCTION, Metal Working Equipment, Tools, Trucks
FTCC - Fayetteville Technical Community College is now accepting applications for the following positions: Department Chair Business Administration/ Operations Management. Department Chair Medical Sonography. Please visit our employment portal at: https://faytechcc. SHRSOHDGPÛLQ FRP +XPDQ 5HVRXUFHV 2I¿FH Phone: (910) 678-7342 Internet: http://www.fay-
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Would you like to teach the world about local culture while learning new skills and contributing to D JURZLQJ QRQSUR¿W" 1LNwasi Initiative preserves, protects, and promotes culture & heritage on traditional lands of the Cherokee. We are a \RXQJ FUHDWLYH QRQSUR¿W that works with diverse people. New projects offer ample variety to the daily work schedule. We seek an associate who has a relationship with and working understandLQJ RI (%&, ZKR LV ÀXHQW in online platforms, well organized, and a strong communicator to assist our Executive Director with special projects. The associate will work 20 hours per week,
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remotely. Candidates must have: A valid driver’s license and reliable vehicle, Strong internet connection, Ability to stay organized and on time with multiple projects, Excellent communicaWLRQ VNLOOV ,QWHUHVWHG" Please contact:elaine@ nikwasi-initiative.org All applicants must submit: resume’, cover letter, and three references elaine@ nikwasi-initiative.org THE JACKSON COUNTY DEPARTMENT Of Social Services is recruiting for a Community Social Services Assistant. Duties primarily involve transporting foster children for a variety of purposes such as visits with parents, medical appointments, counseling, education, or training. Candidates for this position should be highly dependable, adaptable, have the ability to lift children and car seats, interact well with children, have completed high school, and have a valid NC driver’s license with a good driving record. The starting salary is $24,168.16. Applicants should complete an application for Jackson County which is located at: www.jcdss.org and submit it to the Jackson
County Department of 6RFLDO 6HUYLFHV *ULIÂżQ Street, Sylva, NC 28779 or the Sylva branch of the NCWorks Career Center. Applications will be taken until February 5, 2021.
Climate Control
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HEAD STAR/EARLY HEAD START DIRECTOR: Open Date: 1/14/21 Close Date: 2/15/21- Position Summary: Operate and manage the Head Start/Early Head Start Program in Haywood and Jackson Counties for eligible children and their families as authorized by the Administration for Children and Families and the Department of Health and Human Services. Seek funding for other projects that will enhance services to children and families and manage those programs as required by the funding source. Minimum 4XDOL¿FDWLRQV %DFKHORUœV degree in Early Childhood Education or related ¿HOG +DYH WKUHH \HDUVœ experience in supervision RI VWDII ¿VFDO EXVLQHVV management, and administration. Have ability to travel and experience working with diverse populations. Preferred Quali¿FDWLRQV 0DVWHUœV GHJUHH LQ UHODWHG ¿HOG +DYH ¿YH years’ Early Childhood Administrative experience
64 SECURITY CAMERAS AND MANAGEMENT ON SITE
1106 Soco Road (Hwy 19), Maggie Valley, NC 28751
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EXECUTIVE
Ron Breese Broker/Owner 71 North Main Street Waynesville, NC 28786 Cell: 828.400.9029 ron@ronbreese.com
www.ronbreese.com Each office independently owned & operated.
• Carolyn Lauter - carolyn@bhgheritage.com
Beverly Hanks & Associates- beverly-hanks.com • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Billie Green - bgreen@beverly-hanks.com Michelle McElroy- michellemcelroy@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 - ellensither@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
• Rob Roland - robroland@beverly-hanks.com • Amy Spivey - amyspivey.com • Rick Border - sunburstrealty.com • Steve Mauldin - smauldin@sunburstrealty.com
Amy Boyd Sugg
Jerry Lee Mountain Realty • Jerry Lee Hatley- jerryhatley@bellsouth.net • Pam James - pam@pamjames.com
Broker/ REALTOR
828.558.1690
Keller Williams Realty - kellerwilliamswaynesville.com
amyboydsugg@gmail.com HaywoodHomesForSale.com
Hansen & Hansen Mary Roger (828)
400-1346
(828)
400-1345
• The Morris Team - www.themorristeamnc.com • Julie Lapkoff - julielapkoff@kw.com • Darrin Graves - dgraves@kw.com
Lakeshore Realty • Phyllis Robinson - lakeshore@lakejunaluska.com
Log & Frame Homes - 828-734-9323
Mountain Dreams Realty- maggievalleyhomesales.com Mountain Creek Real Estate • Ron Rosendahl - 828-593-8700
McGovern Real Estate & Property Management
The Strength of Teamwork The Reputation for Results
• Bruce McGovern - shamrock13.com
RE/MAX Executive - remax-waynesvillenc.com 71 N. Main St., Waynesville (828) 564-9393
Phyllis Robinson OWNER/BROKER
(828) 712-5578
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The Only Name in Junaluska Real Estate 91 N. Lakeshore Dr. Lake Junaluska 828.456.4070
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ERA Sunburst Realty - sunburstrealty.com
71 N. MAIN ST. | WAYNESVILLE, NC | 828.564.9393
RE/MAX
Haywood Co. Real Estate Agents
• • • • • • • •
remax-maggievalleync.com The Real Team - TheRealTeamNC.com Ron Breese - ronbreese.com Landen Stevenson- landen@landenkstevenson.com Dan Womack - womackdan@aol.com Mary & Roger Hansen - mwhansen@charter.net Juli Rogers - julimeaserogers@gmail.com Amy Boyd Sugg - amyboydsugg@gmail.com David Willet - davidwillet1@live.com
WNC Real Estate Store • Melanie Hoffman - mhoffmanrealestate@gmail.com • Thomas Hoffman - thoffman1@me.com
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SUPER
CROSSWORD
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ANSWERS ON PAGE 26
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