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Jan. 29-Feb. 4 , 2014 Vol. 15 Iss. 35

SBI probes Macon County election board Page 8

Logging the right way in Waynesville watershed Page 28

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CONTENTS

STAFF

On the Cover: As North Carolina follows through with a new initiative to provide vouchers to low-income children who want to attend private schools, the debate over the merits of the legislation is picking up steam. Some WNC public school districts have joined a lawsuit opposing the measure, a move that pits them against the measure’s supporters. (Page 6)

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News Investigators probe irregularities at Macon Board of Elections . . . . . . . . . . 8 WCU encourages entrepreneurism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Waynesville adds Hazelwood parcel to existing greenway . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Another attorney eyes soon-vacant District Court judgeship . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Waynesville goes the way of the cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 County offers to give away old DSS building. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Maggie Valley wants festival grounds to stand on its own . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Food stamp recipients suffer as glitches in system persist . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Haywood leaders to push for room tax hike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

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BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER t’s been six months since the N.C. General Assembly passed a budget earmarking $10 million for school vouchers to lowincome students, but the issue is just heating up in Western North Carolina. On Jan. 9, Macon County became the first school district in the four-county region to add its name to a lawsuit decrying the program as unconstitutional, but they’re not the only ones talking about it.

In a unanimous vote at the Jan. 28 school board meeting, Jackson County also added its name to the litigation, and Haywood County discussed the issue at its Jan. 13 meeting when chairman Chuck Francis made an impassioned request that the board vote to join the lawsuit. However, the vote died on the floor without a motion to carry it forward. Swain County’s school board has not discussed the issue, and its next meeting is not until Feb. 10.

Chris Baldwin, superintendent of Macon County Schools, believes that North Carolina’s school boards are doing the right thing.

“If it’s about school choice, I can understand that, but let’s fund public schools before we’re providing public dollars to pri-

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to hundreds of thousands of children across the state, but the $10 million allocated for the coming year will cover only about 2,500 children. So, though Jackson County Schools alone have more than 2,000 children who qualify for free and reduced lunch, the voucher law would not result in a “mass exodus,” said Darrell Allison, president of Raleighbased Parents for Educational Freedom.

“The vast majority of them decide to remain in a traditional public school system, and that’s a good thing,” Allison said.

“It’s more of a program to help families that have children who are going to a school that is not a good fit for them but they can’t afford to go anywhere else,” Stanberry added.

vate schools,” he said, “and if we’re going to do that, let’s hold them to the same accountability.”

Baldwin and other area superintendents say it’s irresponsible to implement the program against its backdrop of declining school funding and increasing requirements.

Others, though, maintain that vouchers are just a mechanism to give families the power to make the choices they’re entitled to.

“Parents know their children, and we should all realize that the school in our district may be exactly what our child needs, or it may not be,” said Blake Stanberry, headmaster of Haywood Christian Academy.

THE LAW The voucher law, which began life as the Opportunity Scholarship Act under House Bill 944, was passed under the state’s general statutes as Article 39 115C Part2A and is included in the state’s two-year budget plan.

On Feb. 1, applications will open to provide vouchers for about 2,500 low-income children in North Carolina to attend a private school of their choice. The two-year budget allocates $10 million for 2013-14 and $40 million for the following year, with all funds coming from the general education fund.

To qualify, students must come from a family that makes no more than 133 percent of the amount required to qualify for free or reduced lunch. That’s a criterion that applies

Options for a better fit are needed, and quickly, Allison believes. When he looks at the results of 2012-13 testing, which show that only 29.5 percent of test scores posted by low-income North Carolina students qualify as “proficient,” compared to 44.7 percent amongst the general population, Allison sees a necessity for immediate action. He believes that school vouchers are a viable solution.

“If you’re going to dismiss Opportunity Scholarships as being an option for lowincome students, what is your alternative?” he said.

Opponents of the program, however, say that it would further discriminate between low-income and affluent students, because the vouchers would deliver significantly less money than necessary to fully cover the cost of tuition at a quality private school and compensate for the other benefits — such as meals, transportation and afterschool care — that public schools provide for free or at reduced cost.

“It’s kind of a ruse in a way, because the voucher is not nearly enough to go to a private school,” said Rep. Joe Sam Queen, DWaynesville, who voted against the bill.

It is true $4,200 does not cover tuition and fees for all private schools. Haywood Christian Academy, for example, charges tuition of $5,190 to $6,425 per year, depending on grade level. However, other schools in the area charge tuition in the $2,000-$3,000 range, so using a private school would not necessarily require parents to supplement the vouchers with their own money. But the vouchers would also make upper-tier private schools more accessible, if that was a choice parents decided to make, Stanberry pointed out.

“That $4,200 goes a long way toward a private school tuition,” he said.

EFFECTS TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

But while public school proponents agree that private school is the best choice for some children, they’re upset about how the Opportunity Scholarship program will affect public school budgets. When students transfer out of the public school system, they take with them the per-student allotment that the district would otherwise have received to educate them.

What’s in the lawsuit?

other reductions.

“They’re saying, ‘We’re not funding you to the levels you need to serve 4,400 kids,’ and at the same time they were able to find $10 million for private schools,” Baldwin said.

Allison, however, contends that $10 million is not a cost — it’s an allotment. Voucher students are awarded scholarships for no more than $4,200, while Chris Baldwin state per student allotments in this region are about half again as much as that. But there’s nothing in the law that says the savings will go back into the public schools, and opponents of the voucher program say that it won’t really save anything, anyway, because skimming 2,500 students from a statewide population of 1.5 million won’t decrease teaching and administration costs.

According to Queen, that’s the wrong way to look at it, anyway. “[Voucher supporters] have the mistaken notion that if you take people out of school, that saves us money,” he said. “What saves the state money is investing in their students.”

Chuck Francis, chairman of the Haywood County Schools Board of Education, agrees.

But legislators such as Rep. Roger West, RMarble, who voted for the voucher program, sees the program as merely allowing families to use their own tax dollars to make the best choice for their children.

“I think anybody that wants to make a decision to go to a private school, they ought to be able to do it, and they ought to be able to recoup what the state allocates for each student,” said Marble, whose district includes Macon County.

Yevonne Brennan, chair of the board of directors for Public Schools First NC, says that’s a shortsighted view.

“That’s not looking at the overall benefit for the common good,” she said. “Should I say, ‘Let’s give everybody money to buy a snow shovel,’ or should we combine our dollars to buy a plow?”

Beyond the obvious fact that a plow can move more snow faster than a shovel, she said, in that scenario there’s no guarantee that everybody will buy a quality snow shovel. The legislation places few requirements on private schools that participate in the program, a reality that worries even Stanberry.

“You do not have to be accredited to participate in the program, and that’s part of the concern,” he said. “I tend to be concerned myself.”

Participating private schools must either be registered with the State Board of Education, accredited by a national or regional accrediting agency, be an active member of the North Carolina Association of Independent Schools or receive no public funds.

Stanberry’s school went through a yearslong process to become accredited by ACSI, the AdvancED-recognized Association of Christian Schools International, but private schools registered with the North Carolina Division of Non-Public Education don’t have to meet curriculum-related requirements aside from giving a nationally-normed test to their third-, sixth- and ninth-grade students each year. The requirements mostly focus on criteria such as verifying immunization records, performing monthly fire drills and verifying that the school is continuously open for nine months of the year.

But, some say, that’s no reason to say that private schools, as a rule, offer a poor education, or that parents who care about their child’s education enough to use the voucher system would opt to send them to an inadequate school.

“I don’t know of a parent that would take their child to a school with an inferior education,” Evans said. “I just don’t think that happens.”

And often, supporters say, private schools offer benefits that public ones just can’t.

“Parents know their children, and we should all realize that the school in our district may be exactly what our child needs, or it may not be.”

— Blake Stanberry, headmaster of Haywood Christian Academy

“Our students take a myriad of assessments, but by attending a private school, there’s no accountability,” he said.

As with any issue involving millions of both dollars and children’s futures, the waters of argument can cloud quickly. But in the end, both sides agree, there’s really only one question to answer: what is the best way to guarantee a quality education for every child?

Opponents of the voucher program decry it as an intentional handicap to the public schools and their students, but supporters welcome it as a much-needed tool for giving families the chance to choose educational options outside what they see as a one-sizefits-all public school system.

“I just feel that we’re compelled to find some pathway for low-income students to make it,” Allison said.

The Macon and Haywood county school board meetings were reported using videos from Macon Media and HCSNC Media, respectively. 7

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“Anytime we lose money, no matter what the reason, it’s difficult for public schools to offer what they can offer,” said Mike Murray, superintendent of Jackson County Schools.

To superintendents like Murray and Baldwin, it’s particularly upsetting that the voucher program is coming on board at a time when schools are already strapped for cash. Since 2008, Jackson County’s per student allotment from the state has fallen from $6,145 to $5,833. In Macon County, the number has fluctuated from $6,093 in 2008-09 to $5,597 in 2010-11, and back up to $6,029 in 2012-13.

“If 10 students, spread across grade levels, leave the district to attend a private school on a voucher, they take with them more than $60,000 in state funding that helps to pay teacher and school administrator salaries,” Baldwin said. “However, the district will still have to employ the same number of teachers and administrators, at the same salaries, as before those students left.”

Recently, local schools have been making do with increasingly smaller budgets for staff and materials. This year, Macon County is operating at a $1.6 million budget shortfall, which forced it to cut 14 teaching positions, drop 10 teaching assistant positions and slash its textbook purchases by 75 percent and instructional materials by 50 percent, among

INDIVIDUAL CHOICE VERSUS THE COMMON GOOD?

“For one thing, you have a low studentteacher ratio,” said Al Alemany, principal of Grace Christian Academy in Bryson City, whose student-teacher ratio hovers around 7 or 8 to 1. “Depending on what [school] it is, most Christian schools have a traditional approach to education. It’s a spiritual ministry.”

Alemany added that of the school’s five teachers, all have college degrees and four of them have master’s degrees. The school uses A Beka, “a proven curriculum” that is widely used in private Christian schools, and that the school is committed to giving its students a quality education.

And while the state’s rules for private school accreditation may be lax, Alemany and Stanberry said, the voucher legislation puts enough safeguards in place to ensure that schools accepting scholarship students are delivering a quality education. Among other requirements, schools accepting voucher students must report scores yearly to the State Education Assistance Authority from a nationally normed test given to students in third grade and up, provide the SEAA with scholarship student graduation rates and provide the SEAA with documentation of the tuition and fees charged to scholarship students which may not differ from those charged to other students.

“Any private school that fails to comply with these requirements could lose eligibility to receive future scholarship grants,” Stanberry said.

But Baldwin says those stipulations aren’t enough.

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

So far, 51 of North Carolina’s 115 school districts — including Jackson County and Macon County — have joined the North Carolina School Boards Association in a lawsuit against the State of North Carolina, the North Carolina Board of Education and the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority, claiming that the Opportunity Scholarship Program violates the North Carolina Constitution.

According to the lawsuit, the legislation illegally allows public funds to be used for a non-public purpose, interferes with citizens’ right to “the privilege of education” due to what it deems are “Even if only five students inadequate educational standards for participating private currently attending Macon schools and that it does not County Schools attended prevent participating private schools from discriminating private schools on vouchers this among applicants based on factors such as race or religion. fall, the district would lose the “We’ll just have to wait and equivalent of a new teacher.” see what the courts do, but we think the way we crafted that — Chris Baldwin, superintendent bill passes court muster,” said of Macon County Schools Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin.

The law’s supporters point education of those who stay. out that the state already allocates public “Even if only five students currently money to private institutions in the form of attending Macon County Schools attended college scholarships awarded to students, private schools on vouchers this fall,” said who can then decide to use them at a priChris Baldwin, superintendent of Macon vate school if they wish. Likewise, the County Schools, “the district would lose the voucher money goes to the parents, not to equivalent of a new teacher.” the schools directly, so this is not a “nonDistricts can still choose to jump in on public” use of public funds. And if parents the lawsuit, and no court date has yet been choose to take their children to a school scheduled. that restricts its admissions to a certain

“I took an oath of office to support public education, and therefore in my mind anything that is going to take away from the opportunities our students have in Haywood County, I’m going to be against it,” said Francis.

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demographic, they say, that is the parents’ choice.

“The program’s not giving money to the private schools,” said Darrell Allison, president of Raleigh-based Parents for Educational Freedom. “The program is giving money to the parent, who chooses the private school.”

Pro-voucher advocates point out that schools only lose dollars if they lose students, so the program does not necessarily harm the education of public school students. But public school advocates say that school budgets are already tight and still shrinking, so any loss in funds will translate to a decline in the

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SBI probes embezzlement allegations at Macon County Board of Elections Office locked and searched, Election Director placed on leave

BY HOLLY KAYS & B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITERS n embezzlement investigation at the Macon County Board of Elections locked down the office for nearly a week between Jan. 17 and Jan. 23, but business is far from returning to usual.

The State Bureau of Investigation is continuing to follow a paper trail of fraudulent invoices and forged checks, according to court documents. Board of Elections Director Kimberley Bishop has been placed on paid investigative leave — at least for now. However, the election board has called an emergency meeting Thursday (Jan. 30) to discuss personnel issues.

Court documents indicate that Bishop is the subject of an investigation for possibly forging signatures on invoices, forging check endorsements, fraudulently billing the county and paying for contracted work that was not done or was not necessary.

Over a seven-month period, Bishop billed the county for about $50,000 of work supposedly performed by outside contractors. The

HOW IT STARTED It’s an uproar that began quietly when County Manager Derek Roland received a tip about questionable business practices and records irregularities at the Board of Election’s office.

That revelation prompted an after-hours rendezvous of key county staff at the election

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money was spread out over 28 checks the county cut to a handful of these people, based on invoices Bishop had submitted to the county.

However, court records and interviews indicated that the work Bishop was billing the county for was, in fact, fabricated. Further, she was endorsing and depositing the checks made out to the contractors herself, according to a search warrant.

In many cases, the invoices Bishop submitted to the county and the checks to contractors that she deposited had a second signature alongside her own. But the people whose signature supposedly appeared on the invoices and checks said the signatures weren’t theirs, according to interviews and court documents.

Furthermore, checks to one of the outside contractors were signed using the wrong spelling of that individual’s name in eight of the nine checks made out to her.

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office on Thursday night, Jan. 16, where they sized up the severity of the situation and hashed out what to do next.

Joining Roland at the night-time meeting were Luke Bateman, chairman of the Board of Elections, and Robert Holland, county sheriff.

County Attorney Chester Jones was also notified. Based on what he found there, Holland decided to put new locks on the doors “until further notice,” locking employees out of the building.

The next day, Holland and District Attorney Mike Bonfoey requested an investigation by the SBI.

Web extra To read the Macon County Board of Elections search warrant, view this story at www.smokymountainnews.com.

SBI investigators arrived Jan. 21 and met with Lori Hall, the county’s finance director.

According to the search warrant issued the next day, “a trustworthy source” told Roland and Mike Decker, the human resources director, that “money was being paid out to individual people not doing work.”

Hall began to look through the records and found 28 “suspicious” checks and check requests from the Board of Elections, the search warrant said.

The checks, the first of which was written in June 2013, totaled more than $50,000, according to the search warrant. A check request, similar to an invoice, is submitted to the county finance office, which then cuts the actual check.

Bishop’s check requests were to be made out to various people who were supposedly doing contracted work for the election office, including: Sonya Stevens, Misty Henry or Misty Bryson, Kathy Holland and Cassady Ledford.

Technically, Bishop could not submit such invoices to the county on her own. She was supposed to get a second signature from the Election Board Chairman, Luke Bateman.

While Bateman’s name appeared as the signature on 10 of the check requests, Bateman said he never saw the forms before the investigation began.

“I did not,” he said when asked if he signed the forms. “They were never approved by me or authorized by me.”

The signature of another Election Board member, Sara Waldroop, supposedly appears on five more the check requests. But she told investigators that she had never seen any of the check requests before and did not know any of the people to whom the checks had been written, according to the search warrant.

Investigators compared Bateman’s and Waldroop’s actual signatures with the ones on the check requests and noted “variations,” according to the search warrant.

The remaining 14 check requests were not signed by any board members.

ABNORMAL BUSINESS PRACTICES

Bateman said the number and amounts of the payments aren’t consistent with how the Board of Elections typically does business. The Board of Elections simply doesn’t make widespread use of outside contractors, Bateman said, especially during a quiet election year.

The 2013-14 budget does contain a line item for contracted services, but it only allots $8,000. So far this year, the Board of Elections had spent $8,934 in that category.

The check requests Bishop submitted to the county apparently did not include a proper explanation of the work to be done, and they cumulatively totaled about one-fifth of the board’s total 2013-14 budget of $256,000.

Examples of typical contract work, Bateman said, include hiring someone to pick up, deliver and return ballot boxes or paying a technician to test the voting machines before election day.

“Those are specific tasks pertaining to a specific event,” he said.

Typically, the election board would have to authorize the use of outside contractors. But in these instances, that never happened.

Bateman said the board never voted to contract with Stevens, Henry/Bryson, Holland or Ledford.

According to the search warrant, Ledford told investigators that she did do some work for the Board of Elections — about 30 or 40 hours on weekends and after hours since July 2013 — but Bateman said the board never authorized her employment.

In fact, according to the search warrant, Bateman has not signed any check requests since his appointment as chairman in July 2013.

And while Ledford said she did receive payment for her work, the $2,000 cash she told investigators Bishop gave her does not approach the $14,296 value of the checks written to her, and Bateman said the board never authorized her to do the work.

“I’ve seen that statement, but our board has not authorized [Ledford] as a vendor,” he said of Ledford’s interview with investigators.

A signature bearing Ledford’s name appeared on all nine of the checks written in her name, but on eight of them, her first name was spelled “Cassidy,” rather than its correct spelling of “Cassady.”

GOING FORWARD

The Board of Elections reopened on Jan. 23, but while two of its three paid employees returned to work, Bishop was placed on paid investigatory leave at her full salary of $42,000.

She has served as director since Feb. 2002, about one year after being hired as an administrative staff assistant in February 2001. Messages requesting comment were left at Bishop’s home.

At its upcoming meeting, the Board of Elections will discuss its financial needs for the rest of the year and the hiring of temporary employees until the new fiscal year begins. As of press time, the Board of Elections has not determined the outcome of Bishop’s employment situation, but regardless of what happens, the office will become a busier place when election filing begins Feb. 10. The investigation is ongoing and no charges have been filed.

“If you get a lot of people together from different majors, you’re going to hear things from a lot of different perspectives.”

— Brian Railsback, dean of WCU Honors College

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

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WCU students Nicholas Heim (top) and Austin Brown (above) will be representing their school at an upcoming state entrepreneurship forum at North Carolina A&T University. Ashley T. Evans photo similar to a program run by N.C. State University’s Institute for Emerging Issues, a research group aiming to encourage creativity among young people as a way to turn communities big and small into incubators for innovation.

The WCU forum, which is scheduled for next year and open to the public, is meant to spur ideas that would have a local impact.

Within five-minute window, students are expected to pitch their ideas to a panel of university faculty members in what probably feels like a “shark-tank kind of experience,” said Brian Railsback, the dean of Western Carolina’s Honors College.

But for Nick Heim, the other Western Carolina student whose idea also landed him a scheduled appearance at the state forum, it was just another glimpse into the kinds of scenarios in which he might find himself after graduation.

“I plan to end up in the business world either way,” said Heim, a junior who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship.

His idea involved developing a mobile app that would track the stops of the university shuttle bus with a GPS device. He calls it Cat Catch.

It is meant to address what he said is an issue many students there face: timing, or

from a lot of different perspectives,” he said, adding that the group already has led to what he described as “raging discussions” among members.

That is particularly true about the botanical drink idea floated by Brown, the sophomore. He attributed discussions with members to the evolution of his idea over the past year, from an aspiration to open a Jackson County distillery whose recipes would involve native plants to concocting a drink made with only invasive ones whose culinary and medicinal uses are less recognized. (The name of the idea has changed, too, now dubbed “The Kudzu Cocktail,” after an invasive vine from Japan that has spread across the Southeast).

“Plants are a gold mine,” he said, noting that he also has had discussions with a friend who is studying flavor chemistry at another university. “Some of them are just forgotten.”

His ambition to create what he called a “drink of conservation” stems from his tasting of liquor in the French Alps this past year.

The potent herb-flavored drink, he noted, was distinctly European.

Asked whether he believes there is a market here for such a concoction, he acknowledged the vibrant craft beer scene in Western North Carolina.

“This is one of the most biodiverse places in the world,” said Brown, who plans to spend next semester studying at a French winery as part of an internship, “Why can’t I do what they’re doing, here?”

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Smoky Mountain News

JAKE FLANNICK SMN CORRESPONDENT or as long as he can remember, Austin Brown’s fascination with plants has remained rooted in their relationship with people.

The deep appreciation and knowledge farmers have for their crops, the use of different kinds of plants around the world that were cited in the memoirs and novels he remembers reading as a youngster — all of them helped form his wellspring of curiosity that has grown over the years.

“It was always just kind of a really mystical understanding to me,” said Brown, a sophomore at Western Carolina University, where he is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in biology.

It is an intrigue that has led him to spend the past year or so envisioning a plan to capture part of the botanical essence of this region. It would come in the form of an alcoholic concoction, one consisting of herbs and other plants whose taste “would pull you back to a sensory experience,” he said.

“It would definitely be the Smokies,” Brown said of the taste of such a drink.

And it is why he is one of two students at Western who was selected by faculty there to bring their ideas to a state entrepreneurship forum at North Carolina A&T University, in Greensboro in February. That is where droves of undergraduate students from schools across the UNC system are expected to outline their visionary business plans, with the hope of attracting funding to help start a venture.

His idea was among a handful floated at a forum organized by the university last November, the first of its kind. The forum is

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The Kudzu Cocktail, Cat Catch and other bright ideas from WCU students

missing, its stops. Of the some 700 students he surveyed last semester, more than 90 percent of respondents said they would use the shuttle more often if they had a way to better determine whether it was running on time.

“Transportation is a real issue at Western,” Brown said. “We need a way to make it better.”

Such ideas have emerged against the backdrop of a fledgling undergraduate research movement at Western, where about a dozen students who are part of the Honors College have gathered over the past year to exchange ideas in an effort to strengthen undergraduate research.

The group, called WheeSearch, emphasizes interdisciplinary thought. It could emerge as the first of its kind in the country, Railsback said. He acknowledged that while such groups are common, their focus rarely strays from a specific discipline.

It is expected to take shape by the fall of 2016 as it seeks funding and a formal involvement from faculty members.

“If you get a lot of people together from different majors, you’re going to hear things

news

Waynesville lands free property for new in-town greenway section

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER aynesville will soon have a new section of walking path along Richland Creek and, if all goes as planned, public access to a 15-acre wooded area adjoining the trail.

The path will add to the town’s greenway system and is tied to an expansion of the Dutch Fisher neighborhood park in the Hazelwood area.

The new 500-foot greenway section is not enough for a long walk, maybe, but sufficient to meander after a picnic lunch, let the kids splash in the water or go angling for trout, who are well-suited to the habitat this particular section provides.

“It’s real pretty,” said Town Planner Paul Benson said. “It’s right along the creek and fairly flat.”

A master greenway plan envisions a walking path that will one day follow Richland Creek all the way through town. But that’s a lofty dream. The creek is lined with homes and businesses as it meanders through the heart of town, so a greenway would have to cut through people’s yards.

The town has adopted a piecemeal approach, keeping an eye out for chances to add short sections to the greenway here and there. This will be the first time the town has

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

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Outdoor recreation in the center Waynesville is getting a boost, with the addition of a short greenway section in Hazelwood and public access to a 15-acre natural area with an informal trail network. Holly Kays photo

actually managed to add a segment of greenway in the main part of town.

The greenway path will run from Dutch Fisher Park, a neighborhood park with a ball field, to a terminus on Killian Street near Waynesville Middle School.

The town had to undergo a tricky series of negotiations to acquire the 1-acre tract.

It all started when the N.C. Department of Transportation decided to widen a section of Howell Mill Road and would encroach onto the property of the Waynesville Recreation Center. The federal dollars the town used to purchase the rec property stipulated it must always remain in recreational use. The DOT couldn’t simply purchase the property. They had to swap it for something else.

“That was a difficult exchange to work out,” said Fred Baker, the town’s public works director. “It wasn’t a lot of property, so there wasn’t a lot of value. We had to find something [to exchange it for] that could be associated with some use for parks and recreation.”

Eventually, the town honed in a one-acre parcel in the floodplain of Richland Creek abuts Dutch Fisher Par. The property owners were willing to sell, so the DOT bought it and gave it to Waynesville in exchange for the land it consumed by the road widening

project.

The sliver of property along the creek was actually part of a much larger undeveloped tract, about 15 acres.

The town approached the property owners, two women in Atlanta, about allowing public use of the vacant, wooded tract. Town Manager Marcy Onieal expects the lease to be finalized over the next couple of months.

“There’s not many undeveloped parcels within town limits,” she said. “This is a great opportunity for residents to get out and enjoy nature.”

The lease would likely provide that the town maintain an informal trail network that’s already there, allowing public access until the owners decided to put the land to some other use. The basic path for the greenway will be cleared by the town in coming months.

“I think it will be quick to get the bare bones in there,” Baker said. However, he would like to see the greenway improved, including some landscaping, in the future.

Haywood Waterways Association sees the new greenway as a chance to connect the public, and particularly youth, to the natural resources. The group has applied for a grant to create an environmental learning station along the creek.

“This is an exciting opportunity,” Onieal said.

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BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER aynesville residents will soon be reaping the benefits of an information technology makeover at town hall. While town employees will be happy to see the last of the decades-old computers some of them have been using, residents will notice an increase in the forms, calendars and updates posted on the town’s website.

“We have grown with our use of technology faster than we internally could keep up with it,” said Marcy Onieal, town manager.

“A lot of what the hardware work will be is making our systems more robust, ensuring redundancy and security.”

Currently, the town places all the responsibility for updating and maintaining the website with one person, meaning that there’s a limit to how current and interactive the content will be. The overhaul will spread that responsibility out, so the town will have a greater capacity to use tools such as an online calendar for inspections or to post news releases.

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BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER A fifth attorney has added his name to the list of possible nominees for an open District Court judge position in the seven western counties.

District Court Judge Richie Holt is retiring from the bench this spring. A successor will be named by Gov. Pat McCrory to serve out the remaining two years of Holt’s term.

Waynesville Attorney Jeff Norris, who is known for trying complicated, high-stakes civil cases, announced last week that he is seeking the judge appointment — making him the fifth to do so publicly.

“I have wanted to serve as a judge for a long time. A lot of the things I have done I’ve done in preparation for the time I might get an opportunity,” said Norris, who’s 50. “I think I could make a significant contribution to that bench and continue my public service.”

Norris interned with judges during the summers while in law school in Pennsylvania, and after graduating he spent two years in a clerkship for a traveling federal judge. He worked for a large firm in Philadelphia doing civil litigation on a national and international scale before returning home to Haywood County in 2000.

Norris handled the full gamut of crimi-

nal and family District Court cases for a while, but soon found himself back in the world of big, extensive civil lawsuits.

Norris hopes to continue the strides made in recent years to make District Court function more efficiently. Norris has been an active member of the Republican Party in the past, including two terms as chair of the Haywood County Republican Party.

Attorneys in the seven western counties will vote on the judge candidates, a process conducted through the N.C. Bar Association. The local bar’s top five picks, along with the number of votes that each got, will then be sent to Gov. Pat McCrory, who makes the final selection. McCrory, a Republican, has the option under a recently changed state law to go out on his own in naming the appointment rather than taking the bar’s recommendations. It is expected that he will name a Republican to the seat.

The seat will then be on the ballot in 2016. Whoever gets the appointment now would presumably have an advantage come election time.

The other four candidates in the running were featured in an article in last week’s edition. They are: • Kristy Parton, 37, solo family law attorney in Sylva.

• Tessa Sellers, 36, all-around solo practice in Murphy.

• Hunter Murphy, 33, all-around solo practice in Waynesville.

• Sean Johnson.

To read last week’s story on these candidates, visit www.smokymountainnews.com/news/item/12346.

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Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

Attorney with strong GOP ties to seek judge’s seat

A GIFT

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Waynesville contracting for tech overhaul

contracting company, Columbia, S.C.-based VC3, to plan the transition from its previous contract with New Meridian Technologies.

The contract, which will cost $18,000 per month, was completed Jan. 23. For the same price that the town might have hired a couple IT professionals and bought its own equipment, Onieal said, it’s getting an array of specialists and foregoing the worry of owning its own workstation equipment.

“This is like having an IT department of 80 or 90 people,” she said.

The overhaul will also include a transition to a cloud system, in which VC3-owned desktops consist of a monitor and a keyboard, with no CPU. Instead, VC3 will store the town’s information in an off-site server.

The town will also upgrade its network capacity and internet speed, and town employees’ email addresses will eventually change from @townofwaynesville.org to @waynesvillenc.gov. The cost for the network hardware to make these changes was $70,000.

In addition, employees will eventually be able to access forms, policies and other information through an employee portal.

“Down the road, I think we will gain the benefits of the fact that VC3 does specialize in municipal support,” Onieal said. “We don’t have to reinvent the wheel with VC3 because they already have experience doing this.”

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County mulls best way to dispose of old DSS building

BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER aywood County leaders have substantially lowered the asking price for the empty, run-down, old hospital — it’s now free.

After trying to unload the abandon 1950sera hospital for two years with no takers, county leaders have signaled they would be willing to give it away to the school system.

“We have put it out there as an offer for them to explore,” Interim County Manager Ira Dove said. But, “It is very early in the game.”

The five-story brick building most recently served as offices for the Haywood County Department of Social Services. But DSS moved out two years ago.

School leaders aren’t exactly jumping at the idea of taking the hulking building off the county’s hands.

“There’s a lot of questions to be answered,” said Tracey Hargrove, the Haywood Schools maintenance director. “We are trying to evaluate whether or not we can use the building and what shape it’s in. I have done a quick walk-through, but I haven’t dug down into the guts of the building to examine the plumbing and electrical.”

The looming question for school leaders is whether they would be saddled with maintenance costs for a building they only sort of have a use for. If the school accepts the free building, it also accepts the maintenance, overhead, liability and general headache that goes along with a building that big and that old.

And whatever the school system spends taking care of the pseudo-useful old hospital would come out of its maintenance budget for schools.

“We only have ‘X’ number of dollars to go around. Facilities for our students are definitely top priority. All the admin offices play second fiddle to our schools,” Hargrove said.

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

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Smoky Mountain News

The central office of Haywood County Schools already occupies a portion of the old hospital — namely the original, historic wing that dates to the 1920s. It’s really all the space that central office needs, Hargrove said.

Whether the school system has a practical use for rest of the building — a hulking, fivestory addition built in the 1950s — still has to be determined. If nothing else, it offers virtually unlimited storage. The school system could also consolidate a handful of satellite functions currently scattered around the county, like its IT department or cafeteria food services.

From the county’s perspective, what to do with the old hospital is a piece of a much bigger puzzle.

The county actually has three empty office buildings on its hands that it no longer needs: the main part of the old hospital recently vacated by DSS, the old health department and a building that formerly housed the planning department and board of elections. All have moved into new digs elsewhere, rendering their old quarters useless to the county.

“We have three large buildings to market,” County Commissioner Mark Swanger said.

“We have to sell at least two of these three. You can’t leave them there to deteriorate.”

Whichever one doesn’t sell would presumably house the school’s central offices.

Since the old hospital is the least likely to sell, why not just keep the school system there and deed them the whole building, lock stock and barrel, Swanger rationalized.

“It is a domino effect,” Swanger said. “We have to house the school system somewhere.

Couldn’t we just gift it to them?”

Swanger brought up the idea at a county meeting earlier this month.

“So you are saying it is better for us to give it away to them and let them maintain it than for us to maintain it?” Commissioner Kirk Kirkpatrick replied.

ON WHOSE DIME? Technically, the county wouldn’t be absolved from the maintenance burden simply by giving it to the school system. The maintenance budget for the school system comes from the state and county. And both sources have been cut substantially in recent years.

“We’ve been cut roughly in half,” Hargrove said, comparing his maintenance budget from 2007 to 2013.

The DSS building in Waynesville has had its asking price reduced to “free.” File photo

Out with the old Nothing in life is free, except, perhaps, old government buildings in Haywood County The old hospital isn’t the only abandoned building Haywood County leaders have talked about giving away this month.

The old Hazelwood Elementary School was officially gifted to Folkmoot USA international dance festival last week. It has been Folkmoot’s headquarters for the past decade, but the title was officially transferred after the school system and county concluded they had no other foreseeable use for it.

Meanwhile, the county is considering a proposal to convert a decommissioned state prison into a homeless shelter, halfway house and soup kitchen run by faith-based nonprofits.

If the school system took the building, it would ultimately rely on the county to help with maintenance.

“Anyway you look at it, all the money we get for a building like that would have to come through the county, so it would still be taxpayers’ expense,” Hargrove said. “We are at the mercy of the commissioners. Our funding comes through them.”

Every passing month the county doesn’t find a taker, the more money the county is wasting on maintenance and electricity. The mechanical systems have been kept on low to keep the building in working order.

But now, the county is looking at a bigger cost: a leaky roof that must be replaced.

“We knew it was a matter of time before we had to get to this one, but we were hoping it wasn’t going to be our problem,” said Dale

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The county has courted buyers down many avenues for the old hospital: affordable senior housing, trendy lofts for young people, state government offices or offices for nonprofit agencies. The county even engaged consultants to do a market analysis of possible uses for the building in hopes of sparking interest. But the cost of renovating the building has been a turnoff to potential buyers.

So, with the county still the owner, taxpayers will have to foot the looming repair bill for the roof.

“You can’t sell it with a leaky roof,” Swanger said.

Once it has a new roof, the building could simply be mothballed as a last resort.

“As long as the building is dry it is not going to deteriorate,” Swanger said.

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Maggie Valley aldermen (from left) Saralyn Price, Janet Banks, Phillip Wight and Mike Eveland discussing plans for the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds. Becky Johnson photo This year, all but three weekends from April through October have been booked by festivals.

“Now that the calendar is full, we can go back and take a look at it,” DeSimone said.

The town now has the luxury of making a “correction” in the more generous policies and support services it has provided to festival organizers in the past.

For example, the town doesn’t charge for use of the festival grounds. In addition, town staff have assisted festival organizers with everything from advertising and promoting their events to hauling ice for them.

“I don’t think the town should have to do the work for vendors,” Alderwoman Saralyn Price said.

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community?

“We need to say ‘OK, this is the economic impact of the festivals’ to determine what, if any, are a legitimate level of expenditures by the town,” said Banks.

DeSimone said business owners are going to be asked to provide substantiated feedback on how they do during festival weekends compared to non-festival weekends. From shops and restaurants to motels and cabin rentals, town leaders want to know whether there is a clear uptick in business due to festival-goers in town.

“If the business community can’t give us hard numbers on ‘we sold more meals’ or ‘we booked more rooms,’ then we don’t know whether we are getting the best bang for our buck,” DeSimone said.

The town also wants to know “As a town, we should make sure which festivals benefit the busiwe give people the best possible ness community the most. Now there is a high demand for facility when they inherit the keys, that the festival grounds, the town can and it is up to them to make their start to be choosy about which festivals it books. festival what it needs to be.”

Clark said the town may want to identify signature events and — Nathan Clark, town manager bill those heavily, rather than simply aiming to book every weekend The town has already let returning festival during the spring, summer and fall. organizers know that the assistance they have “There is one mindset that is sell, sell, sell,” gotten from town staff in the past as a sup- Clark said. “But you may be selling it to a ‘D’ port crew during events won’t be happening event that does more damage to an ‘A’ event the this year. following weekend than it is worth.”

“We sent out a letter saying the services you Having a few down weekends isn’t a bad have become accustomed to you will not be get- idea to allow the grass a chance to rejuvenate, ting this season,” Town Manager Nathan Clark he said. said. “As a town, we should make sure we give For example, the town has had to replace people the best possible facility when they portions of the field over the course of the festiinherit the keys, and it is up to them to make val season due to grease being dumped out by their festival what it needs to be.” food vendors, which creates a dead patch.

Town leaders say they lack a critical piece of “We have to repair those places and have a the equation when weighing how much they hard time getting out money back for it,” said are willing to plow into the festival grounds Maggie Public Works Director Mike each year: what is the return for the business Mchaffey.

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER aggie Valley town leaders are questioning the amount of money the town plows into its festival grounds each year and how much of a support role the town should play for outside events staged at the venue.

The town board held an all-day workshop Monday to discuss the future of the festival grounds.

“The first thing we have to establish is a goal and vision for the festival grounds looking toward the future,” said Alderwoman Janet Banks.

“That becomes a backdrop for all the other decisions,” added Maggie Valley Mayor Ron DeSimone.

The town has spent more than $1 million on the festival grounds since 2002 in hard costs: buying the land, putting in lights, building a stage, restrooms and other amenities to turn the barren field into an event venue. It was arguably a good economic investment, given the struggling tourism industry in Maggie. Many of the town’s keystone attractions, from Soco Zoo to Ghost Town to Carolina Nights to Eagle’s Nest Entertainment, had folded during that time.

But it’s the annual operational subsidies that are now the source of consternation for town leaders. Residents have complained about their property taxes going to subsidize and underwrite festivals that don’t particularly benefit them — an age-old debate in Maggie between the tourism-oriented businesses and the average residents.

The town’s festival-related costs in recent years have climbed to $160,000 annually. It amounts to 4 cents on the town’s property tax rate.

When the festival grounds were first created a decade ago, the town struggled to attract events. But now, festival organizers from across the Southeast have lined up to host events there, from motorcycle rallies to band concerts to food festivals to car and trucks shows.

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Sales of Smokies plates increased in fourth quarter

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Sales of the Friends of the Smokies specialty license plate in North Carolina increased in the fourth quarter, benefiting priority projects in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) including science education programs.

The North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles has released fourth quarter figures with $93,520 going to Friends of the Smokies from specialty plate sales, an increase from the same period last year. Total contributions from the Smokies plate now top $3.5 million since the program launched in 1999.

These contributions help fund projects on the North Carolina side of GSMNP including supporting the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center at Purchase Knob and the Parks as Classrooms program. Through Parks as Classrooms, students participate in hands-on, curriculum-based environmental education lessons that highlight the natural biodiversity found in GSMNP. Funding support from Friends of the Smokies allows the program to be offered for free, giving thousands of elementary, middle, and high school students from Western North Carolina the opportunity to discover new experiences in the park each year.

To help support Great Smoky Mountains National Park and programs like Parks as Classrooms, North Carolina residents can purchase a Friends of the Smokies specialty license plate now, regardless of plate expiration date. Go to any North Carolina license plate office or www.ncdot.gov/dmv/vehicle/plates.

For more information and to download a specialty plate application, visit www.friendsofthesmokies.org or contact Brent McDaniel at Friends of the Smokies, 828.452.0720.

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The Haywood County Tourism Development Authority is hosting a series of workshops to provide tourism industry partners more information on the Homegrown in Haywood initiative.

Workshops on the Homegrown initiative will be held at 11:30 a.m. Feb. 4 and at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 6, both in the Bethea Welcome Center at Lake Junaluska.

The workshops are designed to provide a better understanding of the Homegrown in Haywood branding and the five initiatives that make up the brand: food, music, art, heritage, and the outdoors.

Speakers will break down each initiative as it specifically relates to Haywood County and explain how it can directly relate to their business.

A separate Group Travel Workshop will be held at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 12 at the Maggie Valley Inn and Conference Center.

Although a large majority of Haywood County’s tourism industry falls under leisure travel, group travel is also a popular and ever-growing market. The purpose of this workshop is to bring together industry partners who are interested in either breaking into the group market or growing the group business they already have. Group business consists of a wide variety of markets, like family reunions, weddings, corporate, military, tour groups, and more.

828.452.0152.

N.C. food stamp delays ‘alarm’ feds

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Chocolate Cook-Off to raise funds for Jackson libraries The Friends of the Jackson County Library will hold its third annual Chocolate Cook-Off from 2 to 4 p.m. on Feb. 8 in the meeting room of the AlbertCarlton Cashiers Community Library.

A three-judge panel will award $50 gift certificates and ribbons to the winning entries based on taste, texture, creativity and eye appeal. Along with chocolate entries, gift certificates and ribbons will be awarded for best table displays.

Those in attendance will also have their say by casting ballots to select the People’s Choice Awards for both best chocolate and best table displays.

Admission is $6 and children under 5 are free. The deadline for submitting entries is Feb. 4. For information on submitting a late entry, contact Kathie Blozan at 828.743.1765.

Smoky Mountain News

Class A Office/Professional space, 1850 sq. ft./ 2 floor plans Building was a complete renovation and space was first built out for a CPA’s office and an Edward Jones office in 2005. Spaces were occupied by Lifespan & Haywood Co. Insurance Health Clinic and both outgrew their space. Units includes 2 restrooms, kitchenette and mechanical room. There is direct access to an outdoor covered patio area on the creek. The building has excellent onsite parking and is located in Waynesville only 3/10 mile North of the courthouse. Lease includes exterior maintenance, taxes, water and lighted sign. Can combine both units for 3700 s/f.

MedWest Haywood is inviting community members to appear in a special “Go Red for Women” video it will produce at noon on Friday, Feb. 7, in the Health and Fitness Center gym.

The video is part of an all-day lineup designed to celebrate National Wear Red Day, which aims to raise awareness of heart disease in women. The only requirement for appearing in the video is that at least one article of clothing must be red.

No prior preparation is required and the activity is appropriate for all ages and all levels of mobility..

Other events planned for that day include advice on cooking healthy as well as education on risk factors for heart disease and the warning signs of a heart attack.

A schedule of events is available at www.medwesthealth.org/heart.

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER ime has nearly run out for the beleaguered N.C. Department of Health and Human Services to fix the systemic problems plaguing its food stamp program.

After months of admonishments, the federal government has given the state until Feb. 10 to fix a massive backlog of food assistance applications or risk losing millions in federal administrative support funds.

A letter from the federal Food and Nutrition Service last Friday conveyed “alarm at the persistent problems” and questioned whether the state recognized the “severity of the situation.”

“Continued delays create undue hardship for the most vulnerable citizens of North Carolina,” the letter states.

As of last week, the backlog statewide included more than 23,000 households with 8,300 waiting more than three months to receive benefits. Federal law requires food assistance applications to be processed within 30 days.

The federal Food and Nutrition Service under the USDA issued two benchmarks for the state to come into compliance: by Feb. 1 the backlog for the most critical and timely applications must be fixed; and by March 31 the entire backlog must be cleared out.

Further, the state cannot fall behind on new applications that come in during that time.

The crisis with the food stamp program at the state level has now landed in the laps of county Departments of Social Services.

The state sent a letter to all 100 county DSS directors Friday urging them to step up their efforts at the local level to help fix the backlog.

“We now find ourselves in a very serious situation. It is imperative that we all implement ‘all hands on deck’ as we would do in an emergency, including working overtime,

assigning staff from other areas to assist with this very important work,” the letter states.

But county social service agencies have already been doing that. Haywood County has had staff working overtime and even hired temporary workers to help tackle the backlog. Haywood has coughed up $35,000 from its own coffers on the extra labor over the past six months, an expense that will continue to accrue indefinitely.

While county social service workers are the go-to point of contact for needy people applying for food assistance, the backlog is tied to a new state system rolled out last summer that changed the way applications are submitted and processed.

But county workers have been hamstrung by the new system that was prematurely rolled out by the state before being operational.

The problem was two-fold.

One is simply manpower. It is far more time consuming to prepare and submit applications under the new system. The more lengthy process has meant county social workers simply can’t handle the same volume of applications as they could before.

“It takes longer when someone comes in to capture all the information. They have stretched the resources of the local workforces,” said Ira Dove, Haywood County DSS director and interim county manager.

But aside from the sheer workload the new system created, there were also extensive technological glitches. The new computer program designed to process applications under the new system didn’t work properly.

“Any technology overhaul, you’re going to have lots of challenges,” said Jane Kimsey, Macon County DSS director.

Applications would fail to process, would be sent to a special “help desk,” and languish there unresolved. At one point last September, there were 4,300 “help desk” tickets for applications that had been keyed by counties in but failed to process by the state. Counties also had trouble connecting to the state computer system, resulting in

MedWest Haywood plans ‘Go Red’ events

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Neediest waiting more than three months for benefits

dark periods.

“It is not easy to track down an error in why it won’t process a case,” Dove said.

The state initially planned to roll out a comprehensive new system for a broad spectrum of social service benefits in 2017. But the state sharply accelerated its own timeline to try to get parts of the system in place before federal health care reform went into effect.

To help overwhelmed county social workers, the state hired a “SWAT” team of 160 emergency staff to chip away at the data entry backlog.

Kimsey tapped the state’s offer of help to keep the backlog down in Macon County.

“If anyone runs over the 30 days we’ve been able to run it up to the state,” said Kimsey. “I can tell you locally we don’t have a problem but we are one county of 100.”

The state’s new system for handling assistance applications was arguably good intentioned. The long-term goal was to streamline a whole suite of social aid benefits — from food assistance to emergency heating funds to child care subsidies to Medicaid benefits.

Instead of people applying for each assistance program individually, a single application would determine eligibility for any and all benefits.

“The theoretical or hoped for advantage is that one day somebody could walk into the agency and tell their story once and be able to get benefits quicker,” Dove said.

The food assistance program was the first piece to be moved under the new system.

But the implementation has been lacking.

Since September, the state has been under two corrective action plans to fix the problems. But the state has not complied with the terms of the plan, including failing to provide weekly status reports and in other instances providing inaccurate and unsubstantiated data, according to the USDA. The backlog in processing food assistance claims not only persisted, but even continued to grow.

“These delays are completely unacceptable and a serious failure by the state of North Carolina,” the USDA Food and Nutrition program wrote in a letter to the state in December. “We have grave concern for the low-income people of North Carolina who are waiting for assistance.”

Reporter Holly Kays contributed to this story.

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Elected leaders to push again for room tax hike in Haywood aywood’s elected leaders plan to invite their three General Assembly representatives to a March meeting in hopes of reviving a bill that would raise the tax on overnight lodging stays and using the additional money for capital projects to boost tourism.

“Each local government could pass a resolution in support of the tax. Then we could bring the resolution to the Council of Governments, invite all our representatives, and show them the unified support the bill has,” Maggie Valley Mayor Ron DeSimone proposed at a meeting of the Haywood County COG. The idea for raising the tax was proposed in February 2013 by the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority. The board said raising the tax from 4 cents to 6 cents for every dollar spent on overnight lodging could raise up to $425,000 annually. Mostly tourists and part-time residents who rent hotels, cabins, condos and other accommodations for less than six months would pay the tax.

Every elected board in Haywood County supported the proposal except Maggie Valley, which had lost one alderman to a resignation and therefore had no way to break a 2 to 2 deadlock on the proposal.

However, the November 2013 election changed the makeup of the Maggie board, which now supports the proposal. Just one alderman on that board — Phillip Wight — still opposes it.

“It’s not just the elected boards who support this,” said Haywood County Commissioner Kevin Ensley. “The EDC, the Recreation Advisory Committee and the TDA are all for it. Democrats and

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Republicans support it.”

With the Maggie Valley deadlock and some businesspeople in that town also opposing the hike, Sen. Jim Davis, RFranklin, chose not to support the bill even though he had introduced it into the Senate.

Joe Sam Queen, D-Waynesville, had introduced the bill into the state House.

However, Haywood’s leaders said at the Jan. 27 COG meeting that Sen. Davis now supports the proposal and is willing to shepherd it through the Senate. The new roadblock, said the elected officials, is Rep. Michele Presnell, R-Burnsville.

While Rep. Presnell opposes the legislation, Canton Mayor Mike Ray said she and others might have some misconceptions about the bill.

“People have misconceptions. Rep. Presnell had some, and I spoke with her to clarify some of those,” said Ray. Much of the controversy about the proposed tax hike revolved around how it would be administered. Some of those who oppose it are more upset about the makeup of the committee and where the members of that committee are from. Specifically, some in Maggie Valley think that town should have more influence on how the money would be spent since a majority of the room tax receipts are still raised from businesses in that town.

However, Ray cautioned that those who want the bill to pass should refrain from trying to get too specific about how the money should be spent.

“Let’s not name specific projects until it passes,” Ray told the COG leaders during the meeting at the Clyde municipal building.

— By Scott McLeod, Editor

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What to do when winning means closing

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER wain County students may have been cheering when the high school football team’s trip to the state semifinals meant everyone got out early that day, but not all parents felt the same way. Elizabeth Wilmot, a Bryson City resident with two children who attend elementary school, was angry when she received an automated call from the school system on Tuesday, Dec. 3, informing her that school would be dismissed at 12:30 p.m. that Friday, Dec. 6.

“It definitely sends a message that sports are king and that’s what we’re going to put first,” she said.

Wilmot felt passionately enough about the decision that she wrote a letter to the editor for the Smoky Mountain Times. After it was published, she found that she was not alone.

“I’ve had a lot of positive feedback coming from this letter,” she said.

But Steve Claxton, a spokesman for Swain County Schools, said the decision was not simply a thoughtless bow to the reign of football, but rather a thoughtful choice. Of the roughly 600 students who attend Swain County High School, 129 are on the football team or involved in band or cheerleading, which also participate at the game. Factor in the parents and coaches who double as school staff, he said, and you wind up with a pretty empty school.

“In a small community, everything that happens in the school affects pretty much everybody,” said Gerald McKinney, Swain County School board member and former teacher and principal in the district.

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Parent wants discussion about football-related school closure in Swain

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“I know that numerous teams have to travel great distances for playoff games, and I don’t ever recall ever seeing a game without students there, do you?”

— Steve Claxton, Swain County Schools

on time if they had to wait until 3 p.m. to leave, and the school would have had to cope with the exodus of staff members who also wanted to use their time off to attend.

And the desire of the team’s fans to attend the game also factored into the decision.

“I know that numerous teams have to travel great distances for playoff games, and I don’t ever recall ever seeing a game without students there, do you?” Claxton said in an email.

While Wilmot understands the rationale for canceling afternoon classes at the high school, she takes issue with the decision to also cancel them for the other 1,400 students who attend Swain County Schools.

“I want my children to be in school, and all these half days are really taking away from that,” she said.

McKinney, who worked five years as the

ter grades.

“I have no issue with a parent that wants the best for their kids,” McKinney said. “But I’m also a believer in after-school events. I’m a firm believer in athletics and band and drama.”

His years in the school confirmed that.

“I observed while I was there that if the football season went well, it seemed like the whole school year went well,” he continued.

McKinney said that he doesn’t recall the school schedule ever being altered for a sport besides football, but he said that’s because it hasn’t been necessary. None of the other athletic teams have taken nearly as many trips to final and semi-final games as the football team, he said, and no other sport involves the number of students that football does.

For instance, he said, basketball involves 14 players, two coaches and the cheerleading team, but no band. By contrast, the football team alone includes 56 students.

“If basketball were to get that far, it’s doubtful we would [have an early release,” he said. “You don’t have the numbers.”

Wilmot, however, believes that the community should at least start discussing the best way for athletics and academics to coexist.

“We want to see everybody succeed,” she said. “I love that Swain County’s awesome at football, but I wish we would try other solutions. I just wish we would start a conversa17 tion about what’s needed.”

Smoky Mountain News

“I think the administration and the superintendent made the right call,” said Chuck McMahon, board chairman.

While the announcement may have seemed like short notice to parents, whether the team was going to make state semi-finals hinged on the outcome of the previous weekend’s playoff game.

When they got back to school on Monday, Superintendent Sam Pattillo called school board members and advised them of the decision to close.

While McKinney said he understands Wilmot’s viewpoint, he maintained that the school rarely has athletics-related schedule changes and that support of extra-curricular activities is vital to the school system’s health.

“It’s rare,” he said. “It’s extremely rare.

Maybe one time every five or eight years.”

district’s transportation director, said that busing was the main driver behind the county-wide cancellation. Swain County doesn’t have separate bus systems for its elementary, middle and high schools, so giving high schoolers an early release while keeping elementary and middle school students until 3 p.m. would have created transportation difficulties.

“You got one bus system,” he said. “You have to run the whole bus system when you do that.”

But, Wilmot pointed out, early releases still count as whole days for the school calendar, meaning that such decisions reduce the time students spend in class. That means it’s something that should be talked about, but, she said, “Nobody’s talking about it.”

Jim Casada, local columnist and Swain County native who has earned his place in the Swain County High School Athletic Hall of Fame, contacted Wilmot to express his support of her position, also questioning the district’s priorities.

“Frankly, I’m deeply troubled by priorities in my highland homeland,” he said, “and this comes from someone who has been actively involved in sports over much of his lifetime.”

McKinney, however, holds a different view. As a former educator, he believes in education, but he also believes in the power of extracurriculars to support it. Students who are involved in school activities, he said, consistently have better attendance and bet-

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

Donated photo

The schedule had to be altered in this particular instance, he said, because the game against West Montgomery High School, which kicked off at 7 p.m., was four hours away. The 129 students who were participating directly would not have made it

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Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

Low-wage workers deserve a better deal

BY DOUG WINGEIER COLUMNIST ebate is picking up these days on help for the unemployed and low-wage workers. Congress is balking on extending unemployment compensation. The media and public are going back and forth on raising the minimum wage.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Florida are demanding (and often getting) a penny more per pound for the tomatoes they pick. And fast food and big box employees are taking matters into their own hands by going out on strike to demand better wages and working conditions.

The emergency unemployment insurance program for the long-term unemployed expired on Dec. 28, leaving 1.5 million unfortunate folk in the lurch. Since it was implemented in 2008, more than 24 million Americans have received these benefits, which have helped them to pay rent, feed their children, and keep the lights on. In addition to the 1.3 million who stopped receiving benefits last month, if the program isn’t extended, an additional 3.6 million will lose access to this vital lifeline by the end of 2014. This program doesn’t just help the long-term unemployed. Failing to extend it would also be a huge drain on the economy, eliminating an estimated additional 240,000 jobs.

Democrats are proposing an 11-month extension, retroactive to Dec. 15, to be paid for with future spending cuts, mostly from Medicare providers. But who knows whether Republicans in either Senate or House will go along? Such an extension of benefits would help the economy now, and the cuts down the line would not undermine our still shaky economic recovery.

The need is urgent, but will Congress once again put politics before people?

The minimum wage is currently a measly $7.25 per hour — only $2.13 for tipped workers. When I talk with workers in stores and restaurants about their pay and working conditions, they pretty consistently say they can’t live on what they’re getting. The last figures I’ve seen list the average yearly income for restaurant workers at $15,000, while the average for all private sector workers is three times that amount. Add to this the alltoo-common illegal practice of “wage theft” —paying below the minimum, keeping back tips, not paying overtime, forcing work off the clock, withholding final paychecks, etc. Workers, particularly if they’re undocumented, fear losing their jobs if

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Wildlife officers did a good job for us

To the Editor: Thanks to the wildlife officers for catching the poacher who shot the mother bear on our private property. Well done!

Jerry Bevino Bryson Cit y

Support Sen. Hagan, not Koch brothers

To the Editor: The billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch don’t live in North Carolina. One resides in New York City, the other in Kansas. So they can’t vote here.

But what they’re doing to North Carolina

they speak up. We must take care that such things are not happening locally.

I recently heard on You Tube an actual phone conversation between a 10-year McDonald’s employee and the “McHelp” line, during which she was advised to seek help from food pantries, soup kitchens, Medicaid and food stamps if she couldn’t make ends meet on her $8.25 per hour wage. In other words, the fast food industry deliberately deprives employees of what they need and deserve, expecting taxpayers and charities to make up the difference.

The minimum wage hasn’t been raised since 2009 and hasn’t kept pace with the cost of living. The wage for tipped workers hasn’t been raised for 22 years. Eighty percent get no paid sick leave, forcing them to go to work sick, creating a major public health menace. How would you like to be served by a waitperson suffering from the flu?

A bipartisan bill was introduced in Congress last year to raise the minimum to $10.10 per hour in stages to 2015, and the tipped wage to 70 percent of that. It got nowhere, so must be introduced again. Already 21 states require a minimum wage higher than the federal — but not North Carolina. This time let’s get it done. In fact, what we really need is a “living wage” enough pay to live respectably ($15 per hour plus benefits?). And since, on average, women receive only 70 percent of what men are paid, an equal-pay-for-equal-work provision is also imperative. “Laborers are worthy of their hire.”

Our economy cannot grow when people lack the money to buy the consumer goods we produce. Instead, it spirals down in a vicious cycle of low wages, outsourced jobs, foreclosed mortgages, loss of homes, declining purchasing power, shrinking of the middle class, fewer goods sold — and the cycle goes on. At the same time, tax cuts for the rich as supposed “job creators” is a myth. They can only spend so much, and just salt away the rest — much of it in offshore bank accounts that pay no U.S. taxes.

The Florida Immokalee Workers have come up with a partial solution. For the past decade they have been pressuring the tomato growers — and the fast food and grocery chains behind them — to pay them a penny more per pound picked.

My wife and I visited their office and toured their worksites several years ago, were much impressed with their organization and commitment and have supported them ever

has vastly more impact than any two votes.

They’re taking our forthcoming election into their deep pockets, already having spent as much as $5 million through their front organization, Americans for Prosperity, to weaken and defeat our U.S. senator Kay Hagan.

In a sane world, there would be no difference between an illegal vote and outside campaign money. One would be as criminal as the other.

But this is the asylum to which the Supreme Court has condemned us.

The only election abuse that the Republicans in Raleigh care about is the voter fraud that doesn’t exist. They’re simply delighted with the Kochs’ big bucks.

For misplaced priorities, that recalls the Washington policeman who should have been guarding President Lincoln the night he was shot. To show he had been on duty after all,

since. Together with a coalition of churches, students, probono attorneys and community groups, they have staged marches, pickets, ad campaigns and nationwide boycotts.

The results have been remarkable. Six cases of worker slavery (workers locked in shipping containers, papers confiscated, wages withheld, let out in the daytime only to work) have so far been successfully prosecuted, with the offending growers now in jail. Taco Bell (and parent company Yum Brands), McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s have so far signed on. Over $10 million has thus far been paid into the fund for distribution to the workers. But Krogers, Publix, and Wendy’s are still holding out, and pressure continues to get them to do the right thing. If you are a fast food fan and want to help, patronize the “good guys” and boycott the holdouts.

Finally, during the recent holiday season, underpaid workers in places in the McDonald’s and WalMart chains, at considerable personal risk, have staged a minor rebellion through wildcat strikes and walkouts to protest low wages, no health insurance, gender discrimination, shifting schedules, reduced hours, intimidation and pink slips. The median hourly wage for fastfood workers is $8.94, mostly with no benefits. They average only 24 hours a week, adding up to $11,000 a year in gross pay. Nationwide, the average Walmart associate makes just $8.81/hour. Hundreds of thousands live below the poverty line, while together, the Walmart heirs have greater net worth than the bottom 100 million Americans combined. (That’s us!)

To address this situation, advocates for worker justice invite us consumers to join in what they call the “Lilliput strategy” — taking a cue from the little folk in Jonathan Swift’s old novel, Gulliver’s Travels, who together immobilized the big giant by tying him down with hundreds of tiny knots. Joining with students, community agencies, faith-based organizations and the workers themselves, we can protest inequities, boycott the exploiters, patronize fair merchants, pay generous tips, promote local legislation requiring governments and their suppliers to pay a living wage and urge Congress to raise the federal minimum wage. Lilliputians unite! It’s time to start closing the appalling rich-poor gap before our democracy disappears before our eyes.

(Doug Wingeier is a retired seminary professor and minister who lives at Lake Junaluska. He can be reached at dcwing@main.nc.us.)

he turned up at headquarters the next morning with a streetwalker he had arrested.

Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., has been hurt in the polls by an assault that is massive and murderous. By some reckoning, she is the number one target nationwide of these ruthless right-wingers, who have spent an estimated $20 million with the election still nearly a year away.

How much of it comes from the Koch bullies themselves and how much from others can’t be discerned. The details are concealed in an ingenious web of money laundering.

The pretense is that their money barrage is about issues, not candidates. It is a distinction without a difference. The ads belabor Obamacare and Democrats like Hagan who have supported it.

Why would these petrochemical billionaires care so much about Obamacare?

For one thing, they’re afraid that the kinks

will be worked out and the American people will eventually see Obamacare as the most decent thing since Social Security and Medicare — and would credit the Democrats for it. The Kochs don’t like Democrats.

For another, the Kochs are just plain mean.

They hate government. Their father was a founder of the John Birch Society, and the fruit didn’t fall far from the tree.

Lastly, it serves the purposes of the plutocracy that the Kochs epitomize to keep the American people in thrall to their employers for health care. Obamacare gives Americans the option to change jobs or strike out for themselves without putting their family’s health in peril. It sets them free from the plantation and the company store.

If the Kochs win, we will have replaced government of, by and for the people with government of, by and for billionaires.

The subversive Citizens United of four

Climate change still an important issue

To the Editor: James Womack, Chairman of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources Mining and Energy Commission, would ask us to suspend disbelief when he states on a recent visit to the fracking fields of Bradford County, Penn., “… [that] I had to almost get on top of the wells before I could see them.”

In his zeal for a “win-win for everybody,” Mr. Womack has chosen not to see other aspects of a landscape under dispersed industrialization: a network of interconnected well pads, pipelines, freshwater impoundments, compressor stations, and access roads, along with artificial lighting and helicopter noise, and the millions of gallons of water needed per drill site, that accompany fracking. The oil and gas industry may be able to screen some of this “sprawl” from the roadside view, but seen from the air it’s a different story: a soul-less, ransacked nowhere.

My introduction to the fracking landscape occurred in the San Juan Basin in northern New Mexico and included the schizophrenic world of the “split estate,” whereby the landowner owns everything above the surface, and the industry owns the minerals below the surface.

This world is well documented in Josh Fox’s 2010 documentary, Gasland, a personal journey from Pennsylvania to the oil and gas boom states out West in order to understand the impacts of fracking. Gasland has become a cautionary tale for citizens in central Pennsylvania, the hub of the Marcellus fracking boom.

Fossil fuel extraction on public lands in North Carolina is not new. In 1982 citizens in Macon County formed a coalition to oppose exploratory drilling for oil in the Nantahala National Forest, and one of the critical allies in opposing drilling were hunters, especially bear hunters, who rightly feared the loss of bear habitat. This unusual alliance of hunters, conservationists, and locals eventually led to the formation of a regional environmental organization, the WNC Alliance; and to the eventual revision of USFS Management Policy for the Nantahala Forest by not permitting such exploration.

As in the struggle for voting rights, the struggle for the preservation of our public lands from industrial development never ends.

We should all understand the impacts of fracking and the ultimate loss of wildlife habitat go far beyond the current controver-

To the Editor: A critical skill for magicians is to be able to misdirect your attention while executing the deception. “Look at this hand while I fool you with the other one.”

Such is the current attack on climate change by those who try to convince us that it’s not an important issue. The new strategy is not so much to deny that climate change isn’t happening, but rather to state that it has happened before and is a natural process. So why should we worry?

This change from “it isn’t happening” to “it’s happened before” would be irrelevant and silly if it weren’t so dangerous. The basic fact is true. The earth has been both significantly warmer and colder than now.

Likewise, ocean levels have been both higher and lower than they are now. So what’s the big deal?

The crucial fact that isn’t mentioned is that these events occurred thousands and millions of years ago and that the changes occurred over centuries and millennia rather than over decades. The “Big Deal” is that thousands of years ago we did not have most of the population living near seacoasts, we did not have New York, Charleston, Miami and hundreds of other coastal communities. We did not have major military installations like Norfolk and San Diego with all of the buildings, roads, bridges, pipelines, etc., associated with those cities and bases.

The cost of replacing, relocating or protecting all of this is astronomical. Consider the cost and disruption caused by Superstorm Sandy ($65 billion, 650,000 homes damaged or destroyed) and imagine how much worse it would have been if sea level was a foot higher. We could build dikes like the Netherlands or storm gates like London, but at what cost?

The danger in the new rhetoric from the climate change deniers is this: climate change is happening and sea level is rising.

There is also a strong suggestion that extreme climate events are becoming more frequent and severe, as predicted by the climate scientists. It’s going to cost a lot to deal with, both in dollars and lives. The longer we delay, the more it will cost.

The insurance industry and U.S. Department of Defense are taking this issue seriously. Maybe it’s time that the public and Congress take a fact-based approach to the problem rather than following the misdirection to irrelevant issues.

John Gladden Franklin

tasteTHEmountains Taste the Mountains is an ever-evolving paid section of places to dine in Western North Carolina. If you would like to be included in the listing please contact our advertising department at 828.452.4251 AMMONS DRIVE-IN RESTAURANT & DAIRY BAR 1451 Dellwwod Rd., Waynesville.

828.926.0734. Open 7 days a week 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Celebrating over 25 years.

Enjoy world famous hot dogs as well as burgers, seafood, hushpuppies, hot wings and chicken. Be sure to save room for dessert. The cobbler, pie and cake selections are sure to satisfy any sweet tooth.

ANTHONY WAYNE’S 37 Church St, Waynesville. 828.456.6789.

Open for lunch Monday-Friday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; open for dinner Thursday-Saturday 5 to 9 p.m.; and Sunday brunch 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Exceptional, new-American cuisine, offering several gluten free items.

BLUE ROOSTER SOUTHERN GRILL 207 Paragon Parkway, Clyde, Lakeside Plaza at the old Wal-Mart. 828.456.1997.

Open Monday through Friday. Friendly and fun family atmosphere. Local, handmade Southern cuisine. Fresh-cut salads; slowsimmered soups; flame grilled burgers and

steaks, and homemade signature desserts.

Blue-plates and local fresh vegetables daily.

Brown bagging is permitted. Private parties, catering, and take-out available. Call-ahead seating available.

BOGART’S 35 East Main St., Sylva. 828.586.6532.

Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Serving classic American food and drink in a casual environment. Daily lunch and dinner specials. Children’s menu available. Call for catering quotes. Private room available for large parties. Accepts MC/Visa, Discover and American Express.

BOURBON BARREL BEEF & ALE 454 Hazelwood Ave., Waynesville, 828.452.9191. Dinner nightly from 4 p.m.

Closed on Sunday. We specialize in hand-cut, all natural steaks, fresh fish, and other classic American comfort foods that are made using only the finest local and sustainable ingredients available. We also feature a great selection of craft beers from local artisan brewers, and of course an extensive selection of small batch bourbons and whiskey. The Barrel is a friendly and casual neighborhood dining experience where our guests enjoy a great meal without breaking the bank.

BREAKING BREAD CAFÉ 6147 Hwy 276 S. Bethel (at the Mobil Gas Station) 828.648.3838 Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (takeout to 6 p.m.)

Saturday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Serving Mediterranean style foods; join us for week-

SUPER BOWL XLVIII

SUNDAY, FEB. 2 JOIN US IN THE TAP ROOM FROM 5:30PM TO 10:30PM FOR THE BEST WINGS AND PIZZA IN TOWN

Smoky Mountain News

We need to oppose fracking in WNC

LETTERS

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

sy of government over-reach in its undercover operation against hunters in WNC. I hope hunters will show the same passion in defending public lands from development as they did in 1982.

Roger Turner Sylva

opinion

years ago can’t be undone soon enough. For now, we can only hope that the good people of North Carolina — and elsewhere — will see through the Koch propaganda campaign to the reasons behind it.

Kay Hagan deserves our votes. The Kochs don’t.

Martin A. Dyckman Waynesville

176 Country Club Dr. 828.456.3551 225-44

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tasteTHEmountains ly specials. We roast our own ham, turkey and roast beef just like you get on Thanksgiving to use in our sandwiches. Try our chicken, tuna, egg and pasta salads made with gluten free mayo. Enjoy our variety of baked goods made daily: muffins, donuts, cinnamon buns and desserts.

served with bacon, sausage and eggs; smoked trout bagel plate; quiche and fresh fruit parfait.

We bake a wide variety of breads daily, specializing in traditional french breads. All of our breads are hand shaped. Lunch: Fresh salads, panini sandwiches. Enjoy outdoor dinning on the deck. Private room available for meetings.

CATALOOCHEE RANCH 119 Ranch Dr., Maggie Valley.

828.926.1401. Mile-high mountaintop dining with a spectacular view. Join us for plentiful buffet-style dinners on Fridays and Saturdays, and long winter holiday weekends.

Dinner is served from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. in winter and includes pot roast, Virginia ham or herb-baked chicken, complemented with an assortment of seasonal vegetables, homemade breads, jellies and desserts. We also offer a fine selection of wine and beer. Lunch is served on the same days from 12 to 2 p.m.

CITY LIGHTS CAFE Spring Street in downtown Sylva.

828.587.2233. Open Monday-Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Tasty, healthy and quick. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, espresso, beer and wine. Come taste the savory and sweet crepes, grilled paninis, fresh, organic salads, soups and more.

Outside patio seating. Free Wi-Fi, pet-friendly.

Live music and lots of events. Check the web calendar at citylightscafe.com.

CHEF’S TABLE 30 Church St., Waynesville. 828.452.6210.

From 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday dinner starting at 5 p.m. “Best of” Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator Magazine. Set in a distinguished atmosphere with an exceptional menu. Extensive selection of wine and beer. Reservations honored.

CITY BAKERY 18 N. Main St. Waynesville 828.452.3881.

Winter hours: Sunday-Thursday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Friday & Saturday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Join us in our historic location for scratch made soups and daily specials. Breakfast is made to order daily: Gourmet cheddar & scallion biscuits

BRYSON CITY CORK & BEAN A MOUNTAIN SOCIAL HOUSE 16 Everett St.,Bryson City. 828.488.1934.

Open Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday brunch 9 a.m. to 3p.m., Full Menu 3 to 9 p.m. Serving fresh and delicious weekday morning lite fare, lunch, dinner, and brunch. Freshly prepared menu offerings range from house-made soups & salads, lite fare & tapas, crepes, specialty sandwiches and burgers. Be sure not to miss the bold flavors and creative combinations that make up the daily Chef Supper Specials starting at 5pm every day. Followed by a tempting selection of desserts prepared daily by our chefs and other local bakers. Enjoy craft beers on tap, as well as our full bar and eclectic wine list.

CORK & CLEAVER 176 Country Club Drive, Waynesville.

828.456.7179. Reservations recommended.

4:30-9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Tucked away inside Waynesville Inn, Cork & Cleaver has an approachable menu designed around locally sourced, sustainable, farm-to-table ingredients. Executive Chef Corey Green prepares innovative and unique Southern fare from local, organic vegetables grown in Western North Carolina. Full bar and wine cellar. www.waynesvilleinn.com.

7 days a week. Fryday’s is known for its Traditional English Beer Battered Fish & Chips, but also has burgers, deep fried dogs, gyro, shrimp, bangers, Chip Butty, chicken, sandwiches & a great kids menu. Price friendly, $3-$10, Everything available to go or call ahead takeout. Sundaes has 24 rotating flavors of Hershey's Ice Cream making them into floats, splits, sundaes, shakes. Private seating inside & out for both locations right across from the train station & pet friendly.

COUNTRY VITTLES: FAMILY STYLE RESTAURANT 3589 Soco Rd, Maggie Valley.

828.926.1820 Open Daily 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., closed Tuesday. Family Style at Country Vittles is not a buffet. Instead our waitresses will bring your food piping hot from the kitchen right to your table and as many refills as you want. So if you have a big appetite, but sure to ask your waitress about our family style service.

FROGS LEAP PUBLIC HOUSE 44 Church St. Downtown Waynesville 828.456.1930 Serving lunch and dinner from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, Sunday lunch and dinner from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., closed Mondays. Frogs Leap is a farm to table restaurant focused on local, sustainable, natural and organic products prepared in modern regional dishes. Seasonal menu focuses on Southern comfort foods with upscale flavors. Come for the restaurant’s 4 @ 4 when you can choose a center and three sides at special prices. Offered Wed- Fri. from 4 to 6. frogsleappublichouse.org.

FRANKIE’S ITALIAN TRATTORIA 1037 Soco Rd. Maggie Valley.

828.926.6216 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Tuesday-Saturday. Father and son team Frank and Louis Perrone cook up dinners steeped in Italian tradition. With recipies passed down from generations gone by, the Perrones have brought a bit of Italy to Maggie Valley. frankiestrattoria.com FRYDAY’S & SUNDAES 24 & 26 Fry St., Bryson City (Next To The Train Depot). 828.488.5379. Frydays is open; but closed on Wednesdays. Sundaes is open

GUADALUPE CAFÉ 606 W. Main Street, Sylva. 828.586.9877.

Open 7 days a week at 5 p.m. Located in the historic Hooper’s Drugstore, Guadalupe Café is a chef-owned and operated restaurant serving Caribbean inspired fare complimented by a quirky selection of wines and microbrews.

Supporting local farmers of organic produce, livestock, hand-crafted cheese, and using sustainably harvested seafood.

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MOVIE NIGHT!

JAN 30, 6:30 P.M.: MORGAN SPURLOCK’S “MINIMUM WAGE” JANUARY 31: MUSIC 7PM WYATT ESPALIN

Burgers to Salads Southern Favorites & Classics

ARTISAN BREADS & PASTRIES

OUR NEW LUNCH MENU STARTS FRIDAY!

-Local beers now on draft-

Live Music on the Patio Tues.-Fri.

S PRING S TREET, D OWNTOWN S YLVA CREPES, PANINIS, SOUPS, SALADS, GOURMET PASTAS WINE & BEER

CityLightsCafe.com

Smoky Mountain News

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Honey Mustard Tempeh Cranberry-Almond Chicken Salad Sandwich Sundried Tomato Turkey Panini 225-16

Fair Trade Coffee & Espresso

18 North Main Street Waynesville • 452.3881 SUN-THR: 8 a.m.-3 p.m.

FRIDAY & SATURDAY: 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

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ASHEVILLE: 60 Biltmore Ave. 252.4426 & 88 Charlotte St. 254.4289

Call to see who’s playing.

117 Main Street, Canton NC

Join us for a

Sweetheart Dinner Friday, Feb. 14

Complementary glasses of Champagne Call for reservations

828.492.0618 • SidsOnMain.com Serving Lunch & Dinner

MON.-THURS. 11 A.M.-9 P.M. • FRI. & SAT. 11 A.M.-10 P.M. SUNDAY BRUNCH 11 A.M. TO 2:30 P.M. 225-42

94 East St. • Waynesville

828-452-7837 www.herrenhouse.com Lunch: Wed.-Fri. 11:30-2 • Open for Sunday Brunch 11-2

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We’ll feed your spirit, too.

ITALIAN

MEDITERRANEAN

STEAKS • PIZZA CHICKEN • SEAFOOD SANDWICHES OPEN FOR LUNCH & DINNER 7 DAYS A WEEK 1863 S. MAIN ST. WAYNESVILLE 828.454.5002 HWY. 19/23 EXIT 98

Cataloochee Ranch 119 Ranch Drive, Maggie Valley, NC 28751 | CataloocheeRanch.com | (828)926-1401

68585

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

THURSDAYS: SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS

tasteTHEmountains HERREN HOUSE 94 East St., Waynesville 828.452.7837.

Lunch: Wednesday - Saturday 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday Brunch 11 a. m. to 2 p.m.

Enjoy fresh local products, created daily.

Join us in our beautiful patio garden. We are your local neighborhood host for special events: business party’s, luncheons, weddings, showers and more. Private parties & catering are available 7 days a week by reservation only.

J. ARTHUR’S RESTAURANT AT MAGGIE VALLEY U.S. 19 in Maggie Valley. 828.926.1817.

Lunch Sunday noon to 2:30 p.m., dinner nightly starting at 4:30 p.m. World-famous prime rib, steaks, fresh seafood, gorgonzola cheese and salads. All ABC permits and open year-round. Children always welcome.

Take-out menu. Excellent service and hospitality. Reservations appreciated.

JUKEBOX JUNCTION U.S. 276 and N.C. 110 intersection, Bethel. 828.648.4193. 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Monday through Saturday. Serving breakfast, lunch, nd dinner. The restaurant has a 1950s & 60s theme decorated with memorabilia from that era.

LOS AMIGOS 366 Russ Ave. in the Bi-Lo Plaza.

828.456.7870. Open from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for lunch and 5 to 10 p.m. for dinner Monday through Friday and 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Enjoy the lunch prices Monday through Sunday, also enjoy our outdoor patio.

MAGGIE VALLEY CLUB 1819 Country Club Dr., Maggie Valley.

828.926.1616. maggievalleyclub.com/dine.

Open daily for lunch and dinner. Fine and casual fireside dining in welcoming atmosphere. Full bar. Reservations accepted.

MOONSHINE GRILL 2550 Soco Road, Maggie Valley loacted in the Smoky Falls Lodge. 828.926.7440. Open Thursday through Saturday, 4:30 to 9 p.m.

Cooking up mouth-watering, wood-fired Angus

NEWFOUND LODGE RESTAURANT 1303 Tsali Blvd, Cherokee (Located on 441 North at entrance to GSMNP).

828.497.4590. Open 7 a.m. daily.

Established in 1946 and serving breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. Family style dining for adults and children.

PASQUALE’S 1863 South Main Street, Waynesville. Off exit 98, 828.454.5002. Open for lunch and dinner seven days a week. Classic Italian dishes, exceptional steaks and seafood (available in full and lighter sizes), thin crust pizza, homemade soups, salads hand tossed at your table. Fine wine and beer selection. Casual atmosphere, dine indoor, outside on the patio or at the bar.

PATIO BISTRO 30 Church Street, Waynesville.

828.454.0070. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Breakfast bagels and sandwiches, gourmet coffee, deli sandwiches for lunch with homemade soups, quiches, and desserts. Wide selection of wine and beer. Outdoor and indoor dining.

RENDEZVOUS RESTAURANT AND BAR Maggie Valley Inn and Conference Center 828.926.0201 Bar open Monday thru Saturday; dining room open Tuesday thru Saturday at 5 p.m. Full service restaurant serving steaks, prime rib, seafood and dinner specials.

SPEEDY’S PIZZA 285 Main Street, Sylva. 828.586.3800.

Open seven days a week. Monday-Friday 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Saturday 3 p.m.-11 p.m., Sunday 4 p.m.-10 p.m. Family-owned for 30 years. Serving hand-tossed pizza made to order, pasta, subs, gourmet salads, calzones and seafood. Also serving excellent prime rib on Thursdays. Dine in or take out available.

Located across from the Fire Station.

TAP ROOM SPORTS BAR & GRILL 176 Country Club Dr. Waynesville 828.456.5988. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. Enjoy soups, sandwiches, salads and hearty appetizers along with a full bar menu in our casual, smoke-free neighborhood grill.

THE WINE BAR 20 Church Street, downtown Waynesville.

828.452.6000. Underground cellar for wine and beer, served by the glass all day.

Cheese and tapas served Wednesday through Saturday 4 p.m.-9 p.m. or later. info@classicwineseller.com. Also on facebook and twitter.

Deli & So Much More 6147 Hwy 276 S. • Bethel (at the Mobil Gas Station)

bbcafenc.com • 828.648.3838 Mon.-Fri. 8-5 • Closed: Sat. & Sun.

UPCOMING EVENTS

FRIDAY JANUARY 31ST

Marc Keller

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 2ND

Super Bowl Specials

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83 Asheville Hwy. Sylva Music Starts @ 9 • 631.0554

Valentines’ Dinner Treat your sweetheart to a romantic dinner at the Pin High Bar & Grille February 14 & 15 • 5-9 p.m.

We will be offering a special a la carte menu featuring classic southern appetizers, chef-selected entrees and decadent desserts.

Smoky Mountain News

MAD BATTER BAKERY & CAFÉ Located on the WCU Campus in Cullowhee.

828.293.3096. Open Monday-Thursday 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Earth-friendly foods at people-friendly prices.

Daily specials, wraps, salads, pastries, breads, soups and more. Unique fare, friendly service, casual atmosphere and wireless Internet. Organic ingredients, local produce, gourmet fair trade and organic coffees.

MOUNTAIN PERKS ESPRESSO BAR & CAFÉ 9 Depot St., Bryson City. 828.488.9561.

Open Monday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. With music at the Depot. Sunday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Life is too short for bad coffee. We feature wonderful breakfast and lunch selections.

Bagels, wraps, soups, sandwiches, salads and quiche with a variety of specialty coffees, teas and smoothies. Various desserts.

Café

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

LUCIO'S RESTAURANT 313 Highlands Road, Franklin.

828.369.6670. Serving Macon County since 1984. Closed Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Lunch Wednesday-Friday 11:30 a.m. until.Dinner Wednesday-Saturday 5 p.m. until. Owned and operated by Tanya and Dorothy Gamboni. Serving authentic Italian and continental cuisine including appetizers, pastas, poultry, veal, seafood, steaks and homemade deserts. Selection of wine and beer. Lunch and Dinner menus.

Wednesday and Thursday nights only. 1 appetizer and 2 selected entrées with unlimited salad and Lucio’s famous garlic rolls for $24.95. Winter Special: half-off house wines, Friday and Saturday only. luciosnc.com

steaks, prime rib and scrumptious fresh seafood dishes. The wood-fired grill gives amazing flavor to every meal that comes off of it. Enjoy creative dishes made using moonshine. Stop by and simmer for a while and soak up the atmosphere. The best kept secret in Maggie Valley. themoonshinegrill.com

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Reservations required.

828.926.4848 www.MaggieValleyClub.com 225-50

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A&E Arts council opens arms to the creative and curious Smoky Mountain News

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER There’s a buzz going on at the Mahogany House in Waynesville.

Normally, one could attribute that to a woodturning tool, handheld blowtorch or whatever else an artist might need to turn one’s vision into a physical reality. But today, that buzz is hearty conversation about the upcoming exhibit at the Haywood County Arts Council up the road on Main Street.

“This is all about showcasing local artists, new artists, and even some older artists getting out there with new pieces,” said artisan Teri Siewert, owner of the Mahogany House.

“We’re focusing on local flavors, where each artist contributes a unique vision to the exhibit.”

A collaboration between the Mahogany House and the Arts Council, “Something New and Exciting,” is an exhibit opening at the council’s Gallery 86, which will run from Feb. 4 through March 29. An opening reception will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. on Feb. 9

From left: Teri Siewert, owner of the Mahogany House gallery in Waynesville; painter Melissa Enloe Walter; and mixed medium artist Betina Morgan. All three women will be part of a large group of local artisans that will be displayed at the “Something New and Exciting” showcase at Gallery 86. Garret K Woodward photo first display of her paintings in Gallery 86.

Her work will be one of three featured artist demonstrations throughout the showcase.

Morgan will do a live acrylic painting from 1 to 5 p.m. Feb. 8. Painter Sylvia Hirschegger will also demonstrate her oil palette knife techniques on Feb. 15, with collage artist Wendy Cordwell Feb. 22, acrylic on metal leaf painter Melissa Enloe Walter March 1, quilter Joyce Brunsvold March 8 and encaustic artisan Siewert March 15.

“Artists in this area are doing pieces from the heart, all of what they’ve collected throughout their lives,” Morgan said.

“What you find here is that people are caring, genuine and real, with a true support for the community arts.”

Having her work in Gallery 86 has been Betina Morgan a longtime goal for Enloe Walter.

“I’m so proud to be part of this,” she said. “This showcase “Artists in this area are doing will be a great cross-section and pieces from the heart, all of what sampling of artists in this area — it’s really impressive.” they’ve collected throughout their Alongside the demonstrations, there will also be photography, lives. What you find here is that cold wax, woodwork, glass, art people are caring, genuine and books, metal work, jewelry and ceramic mediums presented. All real, with a true support for the of this is in an effort to not only community arts.” keep the lines of communication open between the arts council and — Betina Morgan local artists, but also to inspire and ignite the creative passions of featuring artist/harpist Betina Morgan. any and all who inhabit and wander the “My hopes are that folks from this area exhibit. will be drawn together to see beautiful “We are advocates of the imagination, pieces created by artists from right here in and without that you get a life uninspired,” our community, our county, and our Siewert said. “They took away our crayons region,” she said. “People will be enriched after grade school, and we’re trying to give by what they see in this exhibit.” people their crayons back. We want them to Though she has performed many times get that box of crayons back out and get before at the council, this will be Morgan’s that creativity back.”

Melissa Enloe Walter

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Want to go?

The new exhibit “Someone New and Exciting” will run from Feb. 4 through March 29 at Gallery 86 in the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville.

Besides weekly demonstrations, the following artists will also have works on display: Terry Thompson (jewelry), Melissa Enloe Walter (acrylic painting on gold and silver leaf), Mark Schieferstein (metal work), Joyce Brunsvold (quilt art), Ron Brunsvold (photography), Cory Plott (ceramics), Craig Burgwardt (oil), Vicki Pinney (cold wax), Wendy Cordwell (collage), Becki Kollat (art books), Barbara Sammons (photography), Tadashi Torii (glass), T.E. Siewert (encaustic), Betina Morgan (acrylic), Jere Smith (woodwork), Sylvia Hirschegger (oil), Crystal Allen Coates (ceramics), Steven Lange (mixed media), Carol Blackwell (3-D assemblage), Waylon Christner (mixed media), Corina Pia Torii (visual artist), and Constance Williams (encaustic). www.haywoodarts.org or www.themahoganyhouse.com.

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014 Smoky Mountain News

The end is near. those damn summer birthdays never had to On Feb. 5, I’ll turn 29 years old — the receive that phone call. last official birthday of my young adulthood.

But, a handful of beloved folks were I’ve always subscribed to the adage “you’re around to go out. We decided to head for a only as old as you feel,” and though I’ve bar that was notorious for being hard-asses never been one to really care about age, this about underage drinkers, so I was excited to damn number seems to stick out to me like finally be able to get in, legally. I sat down at some neon sign on the horizon. the counter and ordered a beer, ready to When I was kid, I never really paid atten- whip out my license. The bartender popped tion to birthdays. I mean, yes, I remember the top off the bottle, placed it in front of the Sesame Street cakes, kid parties at me, grabbed my cash and walked away, McDonald’s (those were the days, eh?) and never once ID’ing me. Dammit. cards from relatives (that I would squeeze I hate receiving gifts, always have, and before opening in case there was a $10 dollar always will (even on Christmas). A conversabill or check enclosed). But, for the most tion with an old friend or dinner with a loved part, I was more interested in having “my one means more to me than a new phone or day” as an excuse to see my elementary pair of jeans ever will. And throughout the school chums and, perhaps, be able to make rest of my 20s there were plenty of memoa request to my mother for some French rable birthdays, many of which either spent toast (with real maple syrup) for breakfast.

Truth be told, I kind of dreaded my birthday.

Where I grew up (Canadian border), early February was pretty much a crapshoot for weather. Subzero temperatures with howling winds, blizzards and the occasional freezing rainstorm. It was the worst, to say the least.

And those atmospheric conditions tended to hinder on “my day.” Feb. 5 would coincidentally fall on a day Garret K. Woodward at Burning Man in Nevada. Andrew Wyatt photo of a huge snowstorm and, one-by-one, the house phone would ring with voices saying, “The with family or a femme fatale that had reeled roads are so horrible, we won’t be able to the me in that particular year. make the party. Sorry.”

With the good ole “29” only a week or so And with that, I kind of envied those kids away, I find myself in more of a reflective with summer birthdays, those buddies of state than in previous celebrations. Is where mine who always seemed to get a bluebird I am today, physically and emotionally, day to celebrate, one filled with sunshine, where I wanted to be by this juncture in my shady trees to sit under and a refreshing life? When I was 19, I figured by the time I backyard pool to do cannonballs into. Ok, it was 29, I’d perhaps be married, maybe with was awesome to be invited to these shindigs, kids, or at the very least with a significant but it felt, at least to me, like “always a other I could see myself pursuing life with bridesmaid, never a bride.” together. I had this whole John Mellencamp It wasn’t until I was 16 that I got excited image in my head, where “her” and I were for my birthday. Finally, I could get my drisitting on a tailgate at the Tasty Freeze like in ver’s license. Ah, what a day that was. I shot the melody “Jack and Diane.” right out of bed and demanded my father Yet, here I am, on the verge of 29. No take me down to the Department of Motor wife, no kids, no significant other I could see Vehicles to take my written and driver’s test. myself pursing life with together, no tailgate, For my 18th year on the planet, I was now and no Tasty Freeze. And you know what, I legal to drink in Canada (a mile from my don’t care. I’m happy, with my career as a house). My cronies and I packed into our writer, living in beautiful Southern rusty Chevy Lumina and crossed into the Appalachia, surrounded by friendly faces great beyond that is Quebec — a land of ice, and good intentions.

Montreal and cold Labatt Blue lager — for a Life has a funny way of panning out. It truly night of debauchery. isn’t what you had planned, for good or ill (but My 21st birthday fell on Super Bowl mostly good). As they say, “life is what happens Sunday 2006. So, granted, many of my when you’re busy making other plans.” We all friends already had plans or didn’t want to have our own victories in our own time, and to go out because, “It’s Sunday and I have an 8 that, I wish all of you the happiest of birthdays a.m. class bright and early tomorrow.” I bet this year. To 2014 — cheers, y’all.

arts & entertainment

This must be the place

23

On the wall arts & entertainment

tion, he was the founding editor of White Walls, a magazine of writings by artists in Chicago. Spector’s studio work investigates connections between art, language and the book and has included artists’ books, conceptual book works and sculptural installations made from books.

Free.

828.227.3594.

HCC to offer new creative arts classes Sarge’s pet photo contest begins

Smoky Mountain News

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation is now accepting photographs for its 8th annual “Pet Photography Contest.”

Entry forms are available on Sarge’s website, www.sargeandfriends.org and at the following locations: The Dog House, Smoky Mountain Dog Bakery, Sarge’s Adoption Center in Waynesville and Mountain Dreams Reality in Maggie Valley. They can also be found at Country Lane Animal Hospital, Canton Animal Hospital, Balsam Animal Hospital, Maple Tree Animal Hospital, Junaluska Animal Hospital and The Animal Hospital of Waynesville.

Deadline for all entries is Friday, Feb. 28.

For a list of categories and entry requirements, visit www.sargeandfriends.org or call 828.246.9050.

Artist, critic to give lecture at WCU Acclaimed artist Buzz Spector will deliver a public lecture titled “Buzz Spector: Material Reading” at 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, at the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center at Western Carolina University.

Spector is also a critic and writer. His work has been published in journals including Artforum and New Art Examiner. In addi-

Haywood Community College’s Continuing Education Department will offer a number of classes in the Creative Arts Building in the coming weeks. From learning several programs on a Mac computer to stained glass, there’s something for everyone.

The classes are as follows: Hand Building with Clay from 2 to 5 p.m. beginning Jan. 29, Photoshop for the Mac from 2 to 5 p.m. beginning Feb. 4, Illustrator for the Mac from 6 to 9 p.m. beginning Feb. 4, Rustic & Reclaimed Woodworking Basics from 6 to 9 p.m. beginning Feb. 6, Metal Beads Workshop from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. beginning Feb. 8, Beginning Fiber Spinning Workshop from 9 a.m. to 4

Mimes, glassblowing and more The film “Cirque du Soleil Journey of Man” will be shown at 3 p.m.

Saturday, Feb 8, at the Swain County Center for the Arts in Bryson City.

“Cirque du Soleil: Journey of Man” is a unique and beautiful film that was produced with the famed Cirque du Soleil, a non-traditional performance theater that creatively combines circus arts, dance, music and s p e c t a c u l a r imagery. Unlike other circuses, Cirque du Soleil relies solely on the energy and skills of human beings, demonstrating man’s capabilities throughout life as shown through the graceful and athletic prowess of the A film about Cirque de Soleil, mimes, a glassblower and a performers. The film tells face painter will be shown in Bryson City on Feb. 8. Donated photo a story of wonder and excitement as it depicts six stages of life: birth, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and mature adulthood. • An anthology film featuring John Steinbeck introducing five of O. Henry’s most celeMimes and a face painter will also be presbrated stories will be screened at 2 p.m. ent for the event. A short video on the process Friday, Jan. 31, at the Macon County Public of glass blowing featuring Tadashi Torii and a Library in Franklin. As compilation of digital art by Corina Pia Torii well, a film about the will also be shown. Immediately following the Long Ranger featuring 39-minute Cirque de Soleil film, face painter Johnny Depp will be Mary DeHart Bennett will create her magical shown at 4 and 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5. art in the lobby where light circus-type Both films are free. www.fontanalib.org. refreshments will be available.

Attendees have the opportunity to meet abstract painter Corina Pia Torii and glass • A call for artists is currently underway at The Strand at 38 Main in Waynesville. blower Tadashi Torii. They will be available Artists of any medium are being sought to to discuss their artwork which will be on display in the theater’s lounge and concesexhibit and for sale through March. sion area. www.facebook.com/38main.

Free.

828-488-7843 or swain.k12.nc.us/cfta.

ALSO:

p.m. beginning Feb. 8, Bold & Twisted — Using Color & Texture in Knitting from 2 to 5 p.m. beginning Feb. 17, Spinning Art Yarn from 6 to 9 p.m. beginning Feb. 17, Computer Design Intro for Mac Workshop beginning Feb. 21, Batik Dying on Cloth Workshop beginning Feb. 22 and Tulip Stained Glass Window Workshop beginning Feb. 22. www.haywood.edu or 828.565.4240.

Sylva Photo Club meeting, presentation

Sylva Photo Club, formerly the Jackson Photo Club, will meet from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, at 318 Skyland Drive, Suite 1-A in Coggins Office Park in Sylva.

The purpose of the club is to enjoy a lively exchange of give and take involving photography experiences, tips and questions about camera gear. This will be an open session with no moderator. Photo enthusiasts of all degrees are invited, from the beginner to the professional. Please bring your camera gear and related manuals, as it will be a handson experience.

The official two-part program will begin promptly at 2 p.m. with the “Post Production work flow with Lightroom” presented by noted photographer Tim Lewis from Gallery 1. The second part of the program is to view and discuss club members’ photo entries on the subject “COLD,” 24 February’s theme.

There are also currently photo displays at both ends of the Jackson County Public Library’s second floor. The showcase includes the recent WNC Pottery Festival photo contest winners with selected entries and club members’ personal favorites. sylvaphotoclub@gmail.com or 828.226.3840.

Catch the Spirit of Appalachia scholarship opportunities The deadline for Catch the Spirit of Appalachia scholarship applications is March 10.

The nonprofit organization aims to support and encourage youth in honoring and preserving local Appalachian heritage. The group provides four opportunities for a scholarship in the amount of $500 each for “Appalachian Studies,” to be presented to four deserving seniors in the Western North Carolina counties.

The Annie Lee Bryson Memorial Scholarship is for a student from these counties who has declared a major or minor in Appalachian Studies or related studies with an interest in “traditional crafts.”

The Mary Jane Queen Memorial Scholarship is for select students who have declared a major or minor in music, with an interest in the traditional music of the Appalachian Mountains.

The Elmer & Irene Hooper Memorial Scholarship is for high school seniors who have demonstrated excellence in volunteerism and leadership and who are committed to making a difference in the community.

The Founders Scholarship is awarded on the basis of merit or potential within the visual arts, writing or history, with consideration of financial need.

Applicants must submit a completed application and all supporting documents to their guidance counselor by March 10. Home-schooled applicants should complete the application and send it to CSA, 29 Regal Avenue, Sylva, N.C. 28779. www.spiritofappalachia.org or 828.631.4587.

On the beat

Recreating the music of the Beatles, “1964: The Tribute,” will perform at 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9, in the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center at Western Carolina University.

The performance at WCU will take place on the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ first appearance in the United States. Nearly 74 million people tuned in to watch “The Ed Sullivan Show” on CBSTV on Sunday night, Feb. 9, 1964, to see the mop-haired Brits, all in their early 20s, play and sing five songs. It was the largest television audience in history at the time.

The band’s concert focuses on the Beatles’ early touring years, a period of time well documented in photos, films and by eyewitness accounts. Rolling Stone magazine has described the show as the “best Beatles tribute on earth.” The group’s performance is based on research of the Beatles’ singing voices, instruments, clothing, haircuts and conversations on stage.

“1964: The Tribute” is part of the annual Galaxy of Stars Series.

The show is sponsored by Sylva dentists Patrick McGuire and David McGuire and the Smoky Mountain News. The concert is also connected to WCU’s campuswide interdisciplinary learning theme for the 2013-14 academic year, “1960s: Take It All In.” Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for WCU faculty and staff and $5 for students and children.

828.227.2479 or www.bardoartscenter.wcu.edu.

Balsam Range

Featuring the early music of the Beatles, “1964: The Tribute” plays WCU Feb. 9. Donated photo

The Asheville Symphony Orchestra will play with WCU students on Feb. 4 in Cullowhee.

WCU students join Asheville Symphony for one night

The Balsam Range 4th annual “Winter Concert Series” will continue with The Sweet Lowdown at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 1, at the historic Colonial Theatre in Canton. The guest group is a Vancouver Island Music Award winner.

Also, premier studio musicians Jeff Collins, David Johnson and Tony Creasman will perform March 1; and country and bluegrass masters Larry Cordle, Carl Jackson and Jerry Salley, April 5. Balsam Range, winner of the 2013 IBMA Album of the Year for PAPERTOWN, will perform at each show.

Patrons can enjoy the added benefit of dinner with the members of Balsam Range before the concerts. Tickets for each concert are $20 at The Colonial Theatre box office or available by calling 828.235.2760. www.balsamrange.com.

Donated photo

Presented by the School of Music, the concert is part of the Artist-in-Residence Program, which provides an opportunity for professional musicians to come to the WCU

Shake a leg in Sylva

• Wyatt Espalin will play at 7 p.m. Jan. 31 at City Lights Café in Sylva.

Free. 828.587.2233 or www.citylightscafe.com.

• The High Mountain Squares will host their Glitter Dance from 6:30 to

9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31, at the Macon County Community Building in Franklin. Ace McGee will be the caller. Mike McDonald and Debbie McClain will cue rounds and lines. Dancing includes Western style square dancing, mainstream and plus levels. 828.371.4946 or 828.342.1560 or 828.332.0001 or www.highmountainsquare.org.

• “Winter Pickin’ in the Armory” will be at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7 at the Canton Armory. The event includes mountain music, vintage country, clogging and dancing.

Featured performers will be the J. Creek and Stoney Creek cloggers, with live music from Bobby & Blue Ridge Traditions. The “pickin’” is every first and third Friday of the month. www.cantonnc.com.

ALSO:

• Dylan Riddle, PMA, Darren & The Buttered Toast, Rolling Nowhere and Strung Like a Horse will perform at No Name Sports Pub in Sylva. Riddle plays Jan. 30, with PMA and Darren & The Buttered Toast, Jan. 31, Rolling Nowhere, Feb. 1 and Strung Like a Horse, Feb. 6. All shows are free and begin at 9 p.m. 828.586.2750 or www.nonamesportspub.com.

Franklin welcomes The Martins

The Martins Multi-Dove Award winning and Grammy nominated Christian music vocal trio The Martins will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

This talented musical family has showcased its distinctive harmonies before a vast array of audiences. Some of their hits include, “The Promise,” “Count Your Blessings” and “Only God Knows.” Their current tour launched the release of their newest album, “New Day.” With a desire to share the message of the Gospel, The Martins’ musical chemistry is ignited by their overwhelming love of Jesus.

Tickets start at $14 per person. www.greatmountainmusic.com or 866.273.4615.

25

Smoky Mountain News

The next community dance will be at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9, in the Jackson County Library Complex in Sylva. Dancing will include circle and square dances as well as contra dances. All dances will be taught and walked through before dancing. No previous experience is necessary and no partner is required. Charlotte Crittendon will call the dance to the live music of Out of the Woodwork, a band made up of local musicians who invite anyone who plays an instrument to sit in and learn how to play music for dancing. There will also be a potluck dinner following the dance at 5 p.m. Bring a covered dish, plate, cup, cutlery and a water bottle. Suggested donation of $5. ronandcathy71@frontier.com or www.dancewnc.com.

campus to join WCU students and faculty members in concert. The series is now in its second year. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and children. Proceeds will support the Artist-inResidence Program.

828.227.7242.

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

Western Carolina University music students and Asheville Symphony Orchestra string musicians will perform together at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, in the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center in Cullowhee. On the program are Suite from Lieutenant Kije, Op. 60, by Sergei Prokofiev; Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47, by Dmitri Shostakovich and Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, K. 365. The performance also will feature WCU faculty members Andrew Adams and Bradley Martin playing a composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for two pianos.

Balsam Range concert series presents The Sweet Lowdown

arts & entertainment

Beatles tribute band comes to WCU

arts & entertainment

JOIN US FOR ARTS EVENTS AT WCU

On the street

TUESDAY, FEB. 4 | 7:30PM | BARDO ARTS CENTER | $10

Music: Artist in Residence Orchestral Concert TUESDAY, FEB. 4 | 7:30PM | UC THEATRE

Film: Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers SUNDAY, FEB. 9 | 5PM | BARDO ARTS CENTER | $20

Music: “1964” The Tribute to the Beatles

OPEN THROUGH MAR. 31 | WCU FINE ART MUSEUM

Exhibit: Edward J Bisese’s Good Thoughts Better

WCU kicks off celebration of 125 years

SAVE THE DATE: FEB. 12-16 | WED. – SAT. 7:30PM, SUN. 3PM | HOEY THEATRE | $15

“A Doll’s House”

VISIT THE FINE ART MUSEUM FOR ONGOING EXHIBITS | FINEARTMUSEUM.WCU.EDU EVENTS ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE COLLEGE OF FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS AT WCU. JOIN FRIENDS OF THE ARTS TODAY!

FOR MORE INFO – 828.227.7028 | ARTS.WCU.EDU

Smoky Mountain News

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

225-27

We are excited to have Bill Morris, pharmacist and nutritionist here on Friday’s from 9-4.

Bill focuses on a holistic approach and specializes in:

Call today and schedule your consultation with Bill.

• • • • • • • • • • •

• The Highlands annual Chili Cook-off is currently having an open call for contestants.

The event takes place March 15. If you would like to be a competitor, or know someone who would like to be, fill out an application. There will be a salsa and cornbread competition as well. 828.526.2112 or visitor@highlandschamber.org.

Fibromyalgia Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Adrenal Fatigue Sub-Clinical Hypothyroidism Osteo & Rheumatoid Arthritis Gout ADDHD Poor Immune System/Shingles Ulcerative Colitis Acne Pain Relief

366 RUSS AVE | WAYNESVILLE | 828.452.2313 BiLo Shopping Center 26

A yearlong celebration of Western Carolina University’s 125th anniversary kicked off Thursday, Jan. 23, in Cullowhee.

The campus and surrounding community paused to reflect on the institution’s growth from a one-room schoolhouse with 18 students to a comprehensive regional university with an enrollment of more than 10,100.

Find us on facebook: www.facebook.com/kimscompounds

• Mountain Merry Makers clown troop will present an “Introduction to Clowning,” from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, at the First

WCU Chancellor David O. Belcher began the celebration with a touch of formality, reminding the crowd of the many changes that have occurred at the institution over the years – including names ranging from the Cullowhee Academy through Western Carolina Teachers College to its current moniker as part of the University of North Carolina system.

“The year 2014 will be a year of events, exhibits, reflections and anticipation of the next 125 years of educating eager minds in the heart of a mountain paradise – a region rich in culture, art, music and innovation,” Belcher said. “It’s going to be a great year. It will be a year for the history books, and certainly one in which you will want to be involved.”

For a complete list of events, click on www.celebrate125.wcu.edu.

Presbyterian Church in Sylva. Participants will learn the history of clowning and character development, clown attitude and ethics.

There will be discussion on the four different clown types, followed by makeup demonstration.

Participants will have the opportunity to find their character and apply makeup. Cost is $30 per person, which includes lunch, makeup and supplies. Registration deadline is Jan. 26. 828.684.1743.

ALSO:

On the stage Award winning drama at HART The Tony Award winning drama “Other Desert Cities” will stage at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, and at 3 p.m. Feb. 2 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

Holdover/snow dates are Feb. 7-9.

The show premiered at Lincoln Center in January 2011 staring Stockard Channing, Linda Lavin and Stacey Keach. It then moved to Broadway for an extended run.

HART is one of the first theaters in North

Carolina to produce the play, which was also a finalist in 2012 for the Pulitzer Prize.

The title is taken from a road sign that appears on Interstate 10 as you leave Palm Springs, Calif., identifying other metropolitan areas heading east. The play is set in Palm Springs and concerns the Lyman family gathering at Christmas time. It seems there are old secrets and wounds about to be revealed in a new book written by the daughter, who is home for the first time in six years. Seating in the Feichter Studio is limited and reservations are recommended.

828.456.6322 or www.harttheatre.com.

Books

Smoky Mountain News

27

Raising youth in the digital age our years ago in November, a schoolteacher in Knoxville asked her English class to write a composition on family dinner together. With two exceptions, the class — a racially mixed, lower income group of students — hooted at her in derision. “We don’t eat no meals together,” several students yelled. “All right,” the teacher said. “Write about Thanksgiving dinner at your house.” Again came a chorus of hoots and laughter. A student explained: “My mom just throws the food on a table, and we grab what we want when we want and take it to our rooms and watch television.”

Today young people of every race and social class are wired to one another and the world beyond via computers and phones in ways their parents and grandparents could scarcely Writer imagine. Like Frodo’s ring, this technology — the games, the laptops, the phones, all of it — offers its users enormous power and many gifts. Used irresponsibility, however, these same wonderful tools can transform users into Gollum, twisted by the power of their gadgets as he was by the power of the ring, alienated from real human contact, addicted in some cases to pornography, gambling, and games, yes, but much more commonly becoming junkies needing a constant fix from their machines.

In Talking Back To Facebook: The Common Sense Guide to Raising Kids in the Digital Age (ISBN 978-1-4516-5734-0, $15), James P. Steyer, attorney, Stanford professor, and CEO of Common Sense Media, discusses the impact of technology on young people and the ramifications of literally becoming addicted to our machines. He devotes the first half of the book to such various electronic issues as the effect of computers on the brain, the loss of privacy in social media, the innocence lost when exposed too early to such media and the positive effects of computers and mobile

Jeff Minick

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phones. In the pages remaining, he examines the effects of such media on children and teenagers by specific age groups and makes recommendations on using computers and phones wisely.

One interesting feature of this well-written book is its introduction by Chelsea Clinton.

points out, the last 25 years have brought incredible changes to our world, changes which are having a dramatic impact, positive and negative, on the young in particular.

Steyer is not an opponent of this new technology. Like most of us, he applauds the advances of the last three decades and is appreciative of the many benefits these advances have wrought.

Talking Back To Facebook is instead a call to parents to monitor the role played by this technology in the lives of their children. In the chapter titled “Ages Nine to Ten,” for example, his advice about getting “your kid a cell phone” seems right on target; he advocates putting off cell phones until high school, but adds that if a mobile phone is necessary, then parents should purchase a basic cell phone so that “you can have the security of voice communication without adding to your child’s digital distractions.” In other words, a phone, not a toy.

Written clearly, filled with practical tips, and from a writer who himself is both an expert in the field of communications and the father of four, Talking Back To Facebook is an excellent resource for parents.

••• In the misnamed Why Teach? In Defense Of A Real Education (978-162040-107-1, $24), University of Virginia English professor and author Mark Edmundson calls for a Talking Back To Facebook: The Common Sense Guide reevaluation of our educational valto Raising Kids in the Digital Age by James P. Steyer. ues, particularly at the college level.

Scribner, 2012. 224 pages.

Edmundson is the author of Why Read?, an excellent book on literaHer comments about her parents and their ture and its value for us in our daily lives, and watchful control of her media habits as a child I suppose this accounts for the title of Why are instructive, but even more importantly, Teach? But this is a misnomer; though part of her remarks will make readers remember how the book is about teaching and teachers, new most of this technology is. Clinton, who Edmundson aims a good number of pages at worked as a research assistant for Steyer when students, explaining to them the pitfalls they at Stanford, is still a young woman, yet as she will encounter in higher education, calling on

A history of the Chattooga River

Kids bookmaking workshop

Laura Ann Garren will discuss the natural and cultural history of the Chattooga River at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.

Her book, The Chattooga River, looks at the incredible biodiversity and cultural significance of one of the last free-flowing rivers in the Southeast. A writer and dog trainer, Garren makes her home in Pendleton, S.C. 828.586.9499.

A workshop on making books and journals from recycled materials, designed for elementary school-age children, will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 1, in the Children’s Area of the Macon County Public Library.

Under the instruction of writer Karen Martin, participants will create a take-home book from readily available materials such as magazines, calendars and old greeting cards; increase their environmental awareness; and be encouraged to make writing and

them to put aside their electronic lives to engage literature, their professors, and their fellow students, and exhorting them to find themselves an education in a system that is all too often antipathetic to real education.

For a long time, I have followed Edmundson through his books and his online articles, and though he and I would disagree on a good number of issues, particularly those of a political or religious nature, he nonetheless remains for me that ideal of a liberal arts professor. He loves his subject — English literature; he understands its value for his students; he is willing to listen to opinions diverging from his own beliefs; he offers sound advice with wit and flair.

Edmundson also understands what makes for a real education. He disparages the current trend seeking to turn colleges into degree factories preparing students for the job market.

Instead, Edmundson — and your reviewer — see college as a place where a young person should be exposed to new ideas and ways to critique those ideas. Here, for example, from the chapter title “Dwelling In Possibilities,” we can see what Edmundson is after in his call for real education: “For a student to be educated, she has to face brilliant antagonists. She has to encounter thinkers who see the world in different terms than she does. Does she come to college as a fundamentalist guardian of crude faith? Then two necessary books for her are Freud’s Future of Illusion or Nietzsche’s The Anti-Christ. Once she’s weathered the surface insults, she may find herself in an intellectual version of paradise, where she can defend her beliefs or change them, and where what’s on hand is not a chance conversation, as Socrates liked to say, but a dialogue about how to live.”

In the next paragraph Edmundson makes similar comments regarding a liberal, agnostic student who comes to the university and what books that student should engage on religious faith. In both cases, Edmundson’s point is clear. A university isn’t just about partying with friends, getting a degree, and finding a job.

It should be a dialogue about how to live.

drawing part of their daily lives. Martin has conducted similar workshops at Asheville’s Belle Chere and other area festivals.

All materials and tools will be furnished by the Macon County Arts Council. Children must be accompanied by an adult. A special work station will be provided where adults can work with their younger children. This event is sponsored by the Arts Council of Macon County, and is supported by the Grassroots Arts Program of the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.

Free. No pre-registration required.

828.524.7683 or www.artscouncilofmacon.org.

28

Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

Logging treads lightly in Waynesville’s watershed Third-generation logger Cecil Brooks took a gamble when he offered to pay $7,000 for a stand of bedraggled white pines in the Waynesville watershed sanctuary last fall.

The town of Waynesville had been trying to unload the unwanted white pines for a year. The monotonous fields of pine saplings planted three decades ago — some 50 acres worth — were in a state of decline, not exactly the epitome of an ecological preserve. So the town’s watershed advisors recommended thinning out the white pines to make way for a real forest.

Usually, loggers bid on stands of timber, paying the owner of the trees a cut of the profits.

But the job in the watershed wasn’t getting any takers.

Various loggers sized up the white pine stand but concluded the timber wouldn’t sell for enough to make the job worthwhile. It seemed the town would have to pay a logger to cut and haul off the white pine to get it gone.

For starters, white pine isn’t a very valuable wood. But the bigger hang up was the nature of the job. Cutting timber in the sensitive watershed would require “light touch” logging methods.

The sustainable practices the town was insisting on are far more labor intensive, and thus not as lucrative for a logger to take on.

But last fall, as Brooks looked ahead to the slow winter months in the logging industry, he took the gamble and offered the town a measly $7,000 for the privilege of taking out the white pine.

“White pine was beginning to move a little bit,” Brooks said. “I figure if I can break even or make a little something, it’s better than sitting at home.”

Brooks, 66, whose grandfathers on Cecil Brooks both sides had “fooled with timber,” would rather be out in the woods breaking even doing what he loves than be cooped up indoors.

This winter, Brooks has been hacking away at the white pine in the watershed. The philosophy behind light-touch logging is to leave as little footprint as possible.

Instead of wholesale logging, only certain trees are marked for cutting, leaving parts of the forest in tact around the trees being removed.

“When you are falling one, you try to protect the others,” Brooks said.

He also has to keep the ground from being torn up except for very narrow haul paths to drag the trees out.

“I’m not using a big truck boom, or rubber tired skidder,” Brooks said.

When trees are felled, instead of hauling the whole tree, crown and all, to a landing area with giant trimming equipment, the branches are stripped from the tree where it falls by hand with a chainsaw. Then, just the marketable trunk is dragged out on a narrow haul path, limiting disturbance of the forest floor to the width of a dozer instead of a wide swath.

Most importantly, the logging can’t mar or muddy the creeks flowing through the watershed — which feeds the all-important drinking water reservoir for the greater Waynesville area. So Brooks must work within restrictive buffer guidelines.

Upping the ante even more, water quality is being monitored alongside the logging by a professor with Western Carolina University’s Natural Resources Department.

The forestry plan that lays out where, what and how Brooks is logging was designed by Forest Stewards, a nonprofit dedicated to sustainable forestry that’s affiliated with Western Carolina University, led by Director Rob Lamb and Dr. Peter Bates, a professor in WCU’s natural resources program.

— By Becky Johnson

Forest fixer-upper Logging clears the way for a more ecologically robust watershed

BY BECKY JOHNSON “We want to do restoration, forest health, ecology. And STAFF WRITER ultimately, a healthy forest being a means to high water he silence seeped from the mountain ridges and quality.” hung heavily over the forest, silence like a deep Lamb is a fix-it man when it comes to forests. While well, so deep that a pebble tossed in just might go on forever, swallowed up for what seems like an eternity until at last, a dim, muffled plunk echoes up from in the darkness far below.

It was the kind of quiet so steadfast, so impenetrable, little stood a chance against it.

Rob Lamb paused and peered out from the brim of his hard hat, lifted a hand and pointed downslope to a trail of ripples unfolding across the otherwise glassy top of a small lake, hardly a puddle really when compared to the towering Balsam massif that circles it. Two ducks slid by, like sentinels for this secret forested dominion that lies just beyond Waynesville’s back door.

But Lamb wasn’t there to bird watch, and so he pressed on, skirting the lake and heading up the rugged face of the 6,000-foot-peaks that cocoon the lake.

The steep slopes that ring the lake make it supremely well-suited to the job it was picked for. Fed by the clear, mountain streams of an 8,000-acre preserve, this lake is the lifeblood for thousands of people in the Waynesville area — delivering the most immaculate water found anywhere in the state every time they turn on their faucet.

Rob Lamb (left) Lamb is here to make sure it stays that and Peter Bates. way. The director of the nonprofit Forest Stewards, Lamb and his team of forest ecologists advise the town on the health of the forest that encompasses the watershed. the Waynesville watershed may seem like an untouched The stillness of the forest was suddenly broken by pocket of wilderness, that’s far from the case. It’s been the low putting of a motor. It revved, growing louder logged over in the past, and in not-so-sensitive ways. and faster, and then a sharp buzz cut through the air — the unmistakable sound of a chainsaw grinding into a HE NEED FOR tree.

INTERVENTION The saw quit just as a loud splintering crack, almost like a lightening bolt, ricocheted up the mountain Logging is nothing new to the 8,000-acre watershed. slopes. Silence returned, hanging over the forest for an It was logged heavily, clear-cut almost, in the early instant, before it was shattered once more by a power1900s. That was par for the course during the great timful whoosh through the tree tops and a deafening crash ber boom. Few forests in the mountains escaped the to the ground. logging heyday unscathed.

Lamb headed in its direction, and after five minutes “There’s really not any old-growth in here,” Lamb of hard hiking, a bulldozer hauling a freshly, fallen tree said. trunk came into view through.

The logging practices of the day were reckless.

At first blush, cutting down trees in a forest surCutting the trees was only half the damage. The havoc rounding the headwaters of a pristine drinking water wreaked on creeks, which were used like flumes to push reservoir seems incongruous. the giant trees down the mountains, left ecological scars But, in this case, logging is actually a means to a still seen more than a century later. higher end.

“This forest has been highly manipulat“We call it positive impact forestry,” Lamb said. ed,” Lamb said.

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A logging operation got underway in the Waynesville watershed this winter — the first since town leaders put the 8,000-acre preserve in a conservation trust nine years ago.

The binding pact safeguards the watershed for future generations, ensuring it will remain protected forever, rather than hinge on the whims of town leaders at any particular juncture. Before, there was nothing to prevent the town from tapping the watershed as a cash cow — be it commercial logging or even selling it off.

The conservation plan sparked fierce debate. Not over whether to permanently and irrevocably protect the watershed, but

Now, for the first time in 30 years, trees are being cut in the watershed again, but for far different reasons than the profit-driven logging of the past.

“The motivation is not to make money. It is for the health of the forest,” said Waynesville Town Manager Marcy Onieal.

The current logging is targeting a 50-acre

Beekeeping workshops available at Haywood County The Haywood County Beekeepers Club will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, at the Haywood County Extension Center on Raccoon Road in Waynesville.

Kathy Taylor will explain the use of the club’s fractometer, an instrument for measuring the moisture content of honey. Webmaster Carolyn Plott will also help club members explore the club’s website, www.hcbees.org.

Anyone interested in bees or beekeeping is welcome to attend.

Also, the club will host a one-day beginners beekeeping class from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, at the County Extension office. An intermediate beekeeping school will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on four successive Thursdays, March 13, 20, 27 and April 3, at the County Extension office.

828.421.1000 or 828.456.3575. www.hcbees.org.

Plots up for grabs in community garden The Sylva Community Garden is looking for new gardeners for the 2014 season.

In exchange for free garden space and materials, gardeners are asked to donate half of their crops to those in need. The garden is located in downtown Sylva, and is made up of 20 individual plots. Gardeners choose what they grow and are expected to keep their plots maintained from February through December. sylvacommunitygarden@gmail.com or at 828.227.2595. Applications may also be picked up at the Community Table. Deadline to apply is Feb. 7.

Smoky Mountain News

THE NASTY SIDE-EFFECTS OF A WHITE PINE STAND

stand of white pine that is so dense and crowded the trees are in a state of decline.

The only way to fix it is to cut a lot of them down.

“There is no light that gets through that white pine. We have to thin them to allow sunlight to get in there and regenerate the understory,” Bates said.

The white pines were planted intentionally 30 years ago, just 10 feet apart in some places. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and arguably was. During construction of the water reservoir, dirt was dug out of the mountainside to build the giant earthen dam.

But when the work was finished, something had to be done to shore up the denuded area.

“They were planted really close together for soil stabilization,” Lamb said of the white pines, which are quick-growing and don’t mind poor soil.

But as mature trees, especially packed in that tight, they began to falter.

“At a certain point, they stop growing.

They run out of growing space because they are competing for light and soil resources,” Lamb said.

Lamb knelt by a fallen white pine in the logging area and examined the cross-section of the trunk. The tree rings told the tale: the more recent rings were stacked so close together, the tree clearly hadn’t been growing much year over year.

There were other signs of the trees’ demise as well. Lamb pointed skyward, toward the crown of the pines. Tufts of green branches were perched atop the tall trunks like a mushroom cap. The rest of the trunk was spiked with dead, broken-off limbs, like

A program called “Bees and Our Environment” will be held at 10 a.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 4, by the Sylva Garden Club.

Speaker Arnold Burnette will discuss the impact that bees have on the environment and what citizens can do to help them. The Sylva Garden Club meets the first Tuesday of each month and is open to the public.

Held in the Fellowship Hall of the First Presbyterian Church in Sylva. Refreshments will be shared starting at 9:30 a.m.

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

The town bought a huge tract of this logged-over land at the head of Allens Creek in the 1920s, a bold step to lay claim to the slopes upstream of its water supply. It was a visionary move in hindsight, but every town leader in office at the time was promptly voted out in the next election.

The town periodically logged the watershed as a moneymaker — with large-scale timbering in the 1950s and again in the 1980s.

Back then, the lake that serves as today’s water reservoir hadn’t been created yet.

Water was drawn out of different creeks at different times.

“As they logged one area, they would mess up that part,” said Dr. Peter Bates, a natural resources professor at Western Carolina University who collaborates with Forest Stewards.

So the piping for the town water system would be rerouted and tied into a new creek, kind of like tapping a grove of sugar maples.

Eventually, a bona fide water reservoir was built, a 52-acre lake held back by a towering earthen dam.

whether to make an allowance for forest management.

Advocates of a “Forever Wild” trust wanted a hands-off approach, fearing that forest management was just a ruse for logging that could harm the water quality of the drinking water reservoir fed by creeks flowing through the watershed.

But the proponents of a “Working Forest” trust won out, making the case that logging is not mutually exclusive to preserving water quality — and in some cases is even needed to improve a forest’s ecology.

Given the controversy a decade ago, The Smoky Mountain News ventured in to the Waynesville watershed to see what the socalled light touch logging looks like now that it is happening on the ground.

Sylva Garden Club to discuss the role of bees

outdoors

Not so clear-cut

rungs of a ladder. It’s common for the lower branches of evergreens to die off as the tree grows — but not to this extent.

The rule of thumb: if the top third of the trunk has green branches, the tree is healthy.

It’s called the “live crown to height ratio” in forestry speak.

There was only one fate for these white pines: they would eventually die, and likely sooner than later.

“In 10 years, this white pine stand might fall apart,” Lamb said. “So it was an immediate forest health issue.”

When they died, the skeletons of the white pines would topple, heaving up mounds of loose soil as their root mass ripped from the ground.

The fallen stand of dead white pines would then leave a denuded swath of earth once more, just upslope from the precious water reservoir, setting the stage for sediment and dirt to wash down into the lake with every rain.

“All of a sudden you have bare ground and there would then be a period of erosion,” Lamb said.

That is exactly what Lamb and Bates hope to head off. Their plan is two fold. By thinning some of the trees, the remaining ones will stand a better chance. Meanwhile, with the dense canopy opened up to sunlight, the forest floor can begin to regenerate.

Picking which white pines to cut down and which to leave behind is critical. Lamb sizes up all the trees in a stand before marking the ones to be cut by the loggers.

There’s several variables in play. The ones that survive the axe will ultimately be the most healthy, with the best chance of growing into a robust tree once their competition is eliminated.

“When we marked them, we wanted our eye on what is a healthy tree,” Lamb said.

The ones left standing must also be spaced far enough apart that new forest can grow up around them.

“We are trying to get back to a native hardwood forest,” Lamb said.

Therein lies the other problem with white pines — they don’t pack a lot of ecological punch.

“It’s not a keystone tree like an oak, which produces acorns for so many wildlife species,” Lamb said.

White pines aren’t necessarily bad, but they aren’t a tree you want acres and acres of all on their own.

Homogenous forests — no matter the species — give foresters cause for alarm.

“Forests are dynamic and prone to disturbance,” Lamb said.

Disease, invasive insects, blights, funguses and even global warming can weaken and even wipe out a species.

“Forest diversity is the best way to guard against future threats and subsequently water quality problems,” Lamb said.

While forestry is a science, there’s also an art to it. The forest is a canvas, and designing a regeneration plan is like painting a landscape portrait — which makes Lamb and Bates the Thomas Moran’s of the Waynesville watershed.

“We go with what the forest tells us,” Lamb said.

29

outdoors

“Armored” mammal spotted in Pisgah National Forest Roger Skillman had just finished a hike and was driving home through the Pisgah National Forest in Transylvania County when something caught his eye.

A former employee at the nearby Cradle of Forestry, Skillman was comfortably familiar with the outdoor environs of his former stomping grounds. But what he saw on the side of the road that late Sunday morning on Jan. 19 made this high school science teacher hit the brakes.

“I passed him, then stopped and backed up to get a closer look. I’ve seen them before in the coastal plains, but I had never seen one here before,” Skillman said of the armadillo scavenging on the side of the road, about two miles past the Forest Service fish hatchery in Transylvania County.

Skillman got out of his car, camera in hand, and walked to about two feet away from the animal, which seemed uncon-

cerned it had become a roadside attraction.

“It wasn’t startled at all by my presence. It was searching through the leaf litter for food. It looked like the size of an overgrown football with a head and tail. I was very surprised to see it in our mountains,” he said.

And for good reason. Armadillos are not common in North Carolina, but a spike in the number of armadillo sightings indicates they are migrating into the region.

Native to Central and South America, armadillos have been working their way north for centuries. They were first recorded in Texas in 1849.

They had made it across the Mississippi River by sometime in the early 1940s. And they showed up in western Tennessee in 1980. The first confirmed armadillo sighting in North Carolina occurred in 2008. Armadillo sightings may be reported to Extension Wildlife Biologist Ann May at 919.707.0068 or ann.may@ncwildlife.org.

— By Melanie McConnell

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

Going the distance in an indoor triathlon An indoor triathlon series will be held on Feb. 15 and March 15 at the Haywood Health & Fitness Center.

The race is a timed event, with participants seeing how many laps and how much distance they can cover in an allotted time.

Each race will consist of a 10-minute swim in the indoor pool, followed by a 30-minute bike on the spin bicycles, and finish with a 20-minute run on the indoor track. Racers will be given a score based on the distance covered in each segment.

Awards will be given after the March 15 heat based on cumulative points from both races, but participants may enter one or both races.

Pre-registration is $15 per person, per race for fitness center members and $20 for non-members. 452.8080. MedWestHealth.org.

Polar Plunge makes final fundraising case before this weekend’s chilly jump More than 60 brave souls are taking the Polar Plunge challenge by jumping into Lake Junaluska this Saturday, Feb. 1.

Their motivation: to raise money for kids’ educational programs put on by Haywood Waterways Association.

The Polar Plungers will be donning costumes to make the mad dash into the frigid waters, a sight that will be good fodder for spectators. The most daring, dubbed the “Deep Water Plungers,” will jump off the dock into the frigid water, while the more sensible plungers will run screaming from the shore into the water, going as deep as they can muster before turning back.

The event starts at 11:30 a.m. The plunging will take place at the sandy beach by the Lake Junaluska boat rental area and dock beside the swimming pool.

FYI….clothing or bathing suits are mandatory for plunge participants, accord-

ing to the event rules in the registration packet.

Those taking the Polar Plunge are raising money for Kids in the Creek, a hands-on program for school children and one of Haywood Waterways Association signature outreach events. Every student in Haywood County participates in the annual field trip through the schools.

Polar Plungers are raising donations online. Contributions of any level are sought, and you can donate under any plunger’s name.

To make a contribution, go to www.crowdrise.com/2NDPOLARPLUNGE. Click on “The Team” and scroll through the photos to pick the plunger you want to support. Click on “show more” or “show all” to see a full list.

828.476.4667 or info@haywoodwaterways.org.

Smoky Mountain News

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Learn about the best rods for fly-fishing mountain streams and about the art of fly-rod making at the next meeting of the Tuckaseigee River Chapter of Trout Unlimited held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, in Sylva.

Jim Mills, a fly-fisherman who has been building and restoring fly rods for more than 40 years, will share his insight on rods and also discuss how to make a rod.

Those who attend have a chance to win a 4-piece, 7.5 foot, IM-12, 3-4 weight rod, made by Mills.

Held at United Community Bank in Sylva. Dinner is $5. www.orgsites.com/nc/tctu.

Agritourism contributors needed Buy Haywood is collecting listings for an agri-tourism guide to feature produce stands, farmers markets, value-added products with local ingredients and even restau-

Benefit-t-t-ting Kids in the Creek Saturday, February 1, 11:30 am Lake Junaluska Assembly Beach (next to swimming pool)

100% of proceeds benefit Kids in the Creek and Youth Education programs.

PRIZES AWARDED TO TOP FUNDRAISERS AND BEST COSTUMES! FREE T-SHIRT FOR ALL PLUNGERS. HOT CHILI LUNCH & BONFIRE AVAILABLE FOR ALL.

$25 to be a Plunger, or raise your own sponsorships.

Visit www.crowdrise.com/2NDPOLARPLUNGE for more information and to register. Registration packets can

Smoky Mountain News

The Western Regional Science and Engineering Fair will bring students from across the region to Western Carolina University on Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 5-6.

The theme for this year fair is “Climate Change: What it Means to You.” Science projects created by students will be available for viewing by the public from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. each day.

Students in the elementary division will showcase their projects on Feb. 5. Students in the middle and high school division will display their projects Feb. 6.

Both days will include a 9:15 a.m. presentation titled “From the Mountains to the Sea: What Does Climate Change Mean for Me?” delivered by Karsten Shein, a physical scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville.

Held at the Ramsey Center. Free. sciencefair.wcu.edu or 828.227.7397.

rants that feature locally-grown or raised foods on their menus.

“Find Your Adventure! 2014 Haywood County Agritourism Guide” highlights the rich farming and agricultural heritage of the county. Submit your entry by 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, including: ■ Farms that accept visitors.

■ Plant nurseries and landscaping businesses with stock propagated in Haywood County.

■ Value-added and specialty retail stores featuring products with Haywood County grown ingredients.

■ “Farm to Table” restaurants and “local flavor” entertainment spots supporting local products consistently throughout the growing season by featuring Haywood County ingredients in their menu items—including products grown or raised by chefs/restaurants as well as products purchased from local farms/growers and farmer markets.

■ Local breweries featuring Haywood County hops or local food items.

■ Sites and organizations dedicated to preservation of Haywood County’s rich agriculture heritage ■ Farmers markets, roadside stands, tailgates and on-farm markets that sell Haywood County grown/produced products.

■ Other farming/agriculture related or educational opportunities ■ Local festivals/events with a farming or agriculture related theme.

Contact Tina Masciarelli, Buy Haywood Project Coordinator, at 828.734.9574 or ttmascia@alumni.unca.edu.

The Lens Luggers photography group has begun holding monthly sharing sessions in Waynesville for photographers to talk shop and critique each other’s photos.

The sessions will be held from 6 and 8 p.m. the first Thursday of each month at First United Methodist Church in Waynesville. The first meeting is February 6 and all are invited.

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

Students to participate in regional science fair

Lens Luggers to host photo sharing sessions

“It’s a great opportunity to pick up some photo tips, take away feedback from fellow photographers and find out which kind of camera and lenses produce the kind of images you want,” said Bob Grytten, the club leader and photography outing leader.

During the informal forum, members will show their images using a digital projector. There will be a Q&A session as well as open discussion. www.lensluggerworld.com, 828.627.0245 or bobgry@aol.com.

There are three other photography clubs in the area: Carolina Nature Photography Association centered in Asheville, Cold Mountain Photographic Society in Haywood County and the Sylva Photo Club.

225-14

Learn the art of making fly rods

A weekend photography workshop called “The Appalachian Barn Workshop: The Barns of Haywood and Madison Counties” will be held March 28-30 through EarthSong Photography.

Photographer Don McGowan will offer a full day of field work in Madison and Haywood counties, a creative program and a full critique session. Cost is $275, part of which will be a donation to the Appalachian Barn Alliance to help preserve the historic buildings. don@EarthSongPhotography.com or call Don McGowan at 828.788.0687.

outdoors

A program about birds of prey called “Heads Up for Hunters of the Sky” will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6, at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park outside Cherokee.

It will showcase live birds of prey in captivity that aren’t able to survive in the wild. The presenter is Michael Skinner, executive director of the Balsam Mountain Trust in Jackson County. Before he joined Michael Skinner, executive director of the Balsam Balsam Mountain Preserve, he Mountain Trust near Sylva, along with Freedom the bald was the Emmy-nominated host eagle, will present a program on birds-of-prey for Great of “Georgia Outdoors” on Smoky Mountains Association. Donated photo Georgia Public Television.

The program is being put on by the Great Smoky Mountains Association. Limited to the first 50 participants to register

by Feb. 5. Cost is $10 for GSMA members and $35 for non-members, which includes a membership. SmokiesInformation.org or 888.898.9102, ext. 325, 222 or 254.

Photography workshop to focus on Appalachian barns

Bob Grytten photo

Birds of prey program to be held in national park

also be requested at info@haywoodwaterways.org or 828-476-4667.

Hosted by: 31

32

WNC Calendar

Smoky Mountain News

COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • Haywood TDA board meeting, 2 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, Bethea Welcome Center, Lake Junaluska.

• Drugs in Our Midst, 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 2, Crestview Baptist Church, 3258 Pisgah Drive, Canton.

Update from local law enforcement and drug counselors, including Haywood County Sheriff Greg Christopher and Waynesville Police Chief Bill Hollingsed. Open to the community.

• MedWest Haywood invites the community to appear in a special ‘Go Red for Women’ video at noon Friday, Feb. 7, Fitness Center gym in Clyde. The video is part of an all-day lineup designed to celebrate National Wear Red Day, which aims to raise awareness of heart disease in women. The only requirement for appearing in the video is that at least one article of clothing must be red.

MedWestHealth.org • Adult children of alcoholic and dysfunctional families 12-step program, 3 to 4:30 p.m. Sundays, Clyde Town Hall, 8437 Carolina Boulevard, Clyde. Side entrance near picnic table. Ruse’ (rue-say) Bryson, 627.6977.

• Smoky Mountain Model Railroaders work session, 7 to 9 p.m. every Tuesday and public viewing session from 2 to 4 p.m. the second Sunday of the month, 130 Frazier St., in the Industrial Park near Bearwaters Brewery, Waynesville.

The group runs Lionel-type 3rail O gauge trains. http://smokymountainmodelrailroaders.wordpress.com.

All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.

FUNDRAISERS AND BENEFITS • 2nd annual Polar Plunge, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 1, Lake Junaluska beach. Benefitting Kids in the Creek and Youth Education. Hosted by Haywood Waterways Association and Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center. $25 or free by raising sponsorships. 476.4667 or info@haywoodwaterways.org, www.crowdrise.com/2NDPOLARPLUNGE. • The Waldroop Family Benefit, 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15, South Macon Elementary School. Hamburger and hot dog dinner with fixings, silent auction, raffle items, kids games, cake auctions and a live DJ.

VOLUNTEERING • Meals on Wheels in Haywood County needs volunteers to deliver meals to the following routes: Tuesdays, Route #18, Pigeon Valley; Wednesdays, Route #12, Lakeview; Wednesdays, Route #13, Maggie Valley; and Fridays, Route #21, Saunook. Call Jeanne Naber, 356.2442.

BLOOD DRIVES Jackson

BUSINESS & EDUCATION • “How to Be More Successful in Life and Business - an Introduction to the Law of Attraction,” 3 p.m. Feb. 1, Haywood County Library, Waynesville, 678 S. Haywood St., Waynesville. Presented by Mandy Wildman and Wayne Porter. Free. 367.0488 • Homegrown in Haywood Workshop, 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4 and 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 6, at Lake Junaluska Bethea Welcome Center Gaines Auditorium.

Designed to give industry partners a better understanding of the Homegrown in Haywood branding and the five initiatives that make up the brand: Food, Music, Art, Heritage, and the Outdoors.

• Issues & Eggs, 8 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5, Laurel Ridge Country Club. Guest speaker is David Jones, Ph. D. of Lenoir-Rhyne University.

• Group Travel Workshop, 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12, The Maggie Valley Inn and Conference Center.

• “Business Networking in Waynesville,” 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19, The Gateway Club, 37 Church St., Waynesville. 367.0488.

• Free tax preparation assistance available from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Friday and Monday, at the Jackson County Senior Center in Sylva and from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. by appointment every Tuesday at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. Call the library at 586.2016 or Donald Selzer, 293.0074, at the Senior Center.

• Ribbon cutting, 11 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18, Maggie’s Galley, new location, 1374 Sulfur Springs Road, Waynesville.

• Business plan competition through spring 2014, offered by Macon County Certified Entrepreneurial Community (CEC) Leadership Team. Grand prize is $5,000. www.maconedc.com, SCC’s Small Business Center, 339.4211 or t_henry@southwesterncc.edu.

• Business plan competition for entrepreneurs in Dillsboro, through spring 2014. Winner will receive a $5,000 grand prize. Finalists will be announced during the week of March 31, winners the week of April 7.

Tiffany Henry, 339.4211 or t_henry@southwesterncc.edu or Tommy Dennison, 227.3459.

• Sylva Community Blood Drive, 1:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 7, Jackson County Department on Aging, 100 County Services Park Road, Jackson. 800.733.2767 or log onto www.redcrossblood.org, keyword: Sylva.

Haywood • Tye Blanton Foundation Blood Drive , noon to 5 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 9, Central United Methodist Church, 34 Church Street, Canton. 800.733.2767.

HEALTH MATTERS • Lunch and Learn on osteoporosis care and treatment with orthopaedic surgeon Douglas Gates, MD, noon to 1 p.m., Friday, Feb. 7, Harris Regional Hospital board room, Sylva. 586.5531 or visit www.sylvaortho.com.

100 County Services Park, Sylva. Presented by Katie Wilson of Wilson Family Chiropractic Center. Free.

586.4944 or stop by the Senior Center to RSVP.

KIDS & FAMILIES • Free book making workshop for kids, using recycled materials, 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 1, Children’s Area of the Macon County Public Library, Franklin. Led by writer Karen Martin. 524.7683 or www.artscouncilofmacon.org.

• Breastfeeding Mothers’ Support Group, 10:30 a.m.

Saturday, Feb. 1, MedWest Harris Hospital annex building. Meetings will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon, the first Saturday of each month. The annex building is just across the parking lot from the Emergency Room entrance. Brandi Nations, 770.519.2903, Teresa Bryant, 587.8214, or Jennifer Luker, 587.8242.

• Western Regional Science and Engineer Fair, Feb. 5-6, featuring students from elementary, junior high and high schools throughout Western North Carolina, at Western Carolina University Ramsey Regional Activity Center. Science projects will be available for viewing by the public from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. each day.

Admission is free. Students in grades three through five will showcase their projects on Feb. 5. Students in grades six through 12 will display their projects Feb. 6.

For more information, visit sciencefair.wcu.edu.

Literary (children) • Teen Advisory Group meeting, 3:30 to 5 p.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 29, Macon County Public Library, Franklin. eagee@fontanalib.org.

• Homework Help, 3 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, JCPL, Sylva. 586.2016.

• Teen movie screening, 4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30.

Haywood County Library, Canton. Katy Punch at kpunch@haywoodnc.net or 648.2924.

• Teen Advisory Group, 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6, Haywood County Library, Canton. Katy Punch at kpunch@haywoodnc.net or 648.2924.

• Valentine’s Workshop for Teens, 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12, Haywood County Library, Canton. Katy Punch at kpunch@haywoodnc.net or 648.2924.

• New Tween Club, 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, Haywood County Library, Canton. For children in grades 4-7. Katy Punch at kpunch@haywoodnc.net or 648.2924.

RECREATION & FITNESS • Women’s Volleyball League registration through Feb. 14. $175 per team. League play will be held Tuesday nights beginning March 4, at Jackson County Center in Cullowhee. 293.3053, rec.jacksonnc.org.

• Spring soccer registration, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Feb. 1728 and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, Jackson County Recreation Department. Must be at least 5 years old by Aug. 1 to participate. $40 for new participants, $35 for returning 2013 Fall soccer participants. Membership and sibling discounts available.

Jonathan Parsons, Recreation Department in Cullowhee, 293.3053 or jonathanparsons@jacksonnc.org.

• Adult Coed Indoor Soccer pickup games, 6 to 8 p.m.

Wednesdays, through March 26, Old Hazelwood Gym, 112 Virginia Ave., Waynesville. Players must be 18 years old & up. $3 per session or $20 for a season pass punch card and available for purchase at the door.

Daniel Taylor, 452.6789 or email drtaylor@haywoodnc.net.

SENIOR ACTIVITIES • Jackson County Senior Center’s monthly wellness seminar, “The Benefits of Chiropractic Health” 1 p.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 29, Department of Aging/Senior Center,

A&E • CWCU Magical Mystery Tour, walkthrough, interactive retrospective of the 1960s, 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, concourse of Ramsey Regional Activity Center. qep.wcu.edu.

• Acclaimed artist Buzz Spector public lecture, “Buzz Spector: Material Reading,” 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, Room 130. John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center, Western Carolina University. 227.3594.

• “Cirque du Soleil Journey of Man” 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, Swain County Center for the Arts in Bryson City.

Also featuring mimes, face painter and glass blower Tadashi Torii and digital artist Corina Pia Torii. www.corinapia.com or call 331.8994, www.tadashitorii.com, www.facebook.com/toriistudios, or call 545.3041.

• Introduction to Basic Clowning, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 8, First Presbyterian Church, Sylva. $30, includes lunch, makeup and supplies. 684-1743.

Visit www.smokymountainnews.com and click on Calendar for: ■ Complete listings of local music scene ■ Regional festivals ■ Art gallery events and openings ■ Complete listings of recreational offerings at regional health and fitness centers ■ Civic and social club gatherings • “Understanding our Past, Shaping our Future,” exhibit on Cherokee language and culture, through Feb. 9, Jackson County Public Library, Sylva. Exhibit uses sound recordings as the basis for presenting a coherent story in words and text. www.fontanalib.org.

• Western Carolina University will host events including panel discussions this spring on social and cultural issues of the 1960s and is searching for community members to take part by sharing their experiences during that time on topics such as voting rights, abortion and the environment and energy. Contact Amy Cherry, assistant professor of music and chair of the 1960s theme steering committee, at 227.3725 or acherry@wcu.edu.

• Haywood County Tourism Development Authority Big John promotional videos can be found at www.visitncsmokies.com/galleries/.

• Game Day, 2 p.m. third Saturday of the month, Papou’s Wine Shop, Sylva. Bring cards, board games, etc. 586.6300.

FOOD & DRINK • Competitors are wanted for the Highlands Annual Chili Cook-off, still six weeks away, plus a salsa and cornbread competition. Lots of prizes. For more information, contact Jennifer Cunningham, 526.2112 or visitor@highlandschamber.org.

• Cellar Club, 7 to 9 p.m. first Tuesday of the month, Papou’s Wine Shop, Sylva. Membership prices, $50 per person, $75 per couple. Wine tastings, food pairings.

586.6300, papouswineshop@frontier.com.

• “Little Black Dress Night,” every first Friday of the month at Papou’s Wine Shop in Sylva. Wine glass specials and socializing. 586.6300 or papouswineshop@frontier.com.

• Gathering Table, 5 to 7 p.m. Thursdays, at The Community Center, Route 64, Cashiers. Provides fresh, nutritious dinners to all members of the community regardless of ability to pay. Volunteers always needed and donations gratefully accepted. 743.9880.

ART/GALLERY EVENTS & OPENINGS • Sylva Photo Club, formerly Jackson Photo Club, photo displays at both ends of the Jackson County Library’s second floor. Monthly meeting, 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, 318 Skyland Drive, Suite 1-A, Coggins Office Park, Sylva. sylvaphotoclub@gmail.com or call 226.3840. http://sylvaphotoclub.wordpress.com.

CLASSES, PROGRAMS & DEMONSTRATIONS • Haywood Community College’s Continuing Education Department will offer a number of classes in the Creative Arts Building starting Jan. 29. Classes include clay, Photoshop, woodworking, fiber, beads and more. www.haywood.edu or 565.4240.

• DIY Tote Bag Making Workshop, 1 to 4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31, Jackson County Cooperative Extension Office, Sylva. 586.4009 to register and get the supply list, $5.

FILM & SCREEN • New movie, 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, meeting room, Macon County Public Library, Franklin. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sherida and Reese Witherspoon. Two young boys encounter a fugitive and form a pact to help him evade the bounty hunters on his trail and to reunite him with his true love. Rated PG-13 for some violence, sexual references, language, thematic elements and smoking.

• O. Henry anthology, 2 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31, Meeting Room, Macon County Public Library, Franklin. Film features John Steinbeck introducing five of O. Henry’s most celebrated stories from 1902-1910: “The Cop and the Anthem,” “The Clarion Call,” “The Last Leaf,” “The Ransom of Red Chief,” and The Gift of the Magi.” www.fontanalib.org.

• New movie, starring Johnny Depp as an Indian, 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5, Meeting Room, Macon County Library, Franklin. Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence, and some suggestive material; 2 hrs. 29 mins. www.fontanalib.org.

LITERARY (ADULTS) • Author Luncheon with Wiley Cash, noon Friday, Jan. 31, Blue Ridge Books, 152 S. Main St., Waynesville.

Tickets, $35, must be purchased in advance at Blue Ridge Books. Includes a signed copy of Cash’s new hardback novel, This Dark Road to Mercy and a Kanini’s-catered lunch. www.blueridgebooksnc.com, 456.6000.

• Laura Ann Garren will present her book, A History of the Chattooga River, at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, City Lights Bookstore, Sylva. 586.9499.

• Memoir Writing Class, 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, Haywood County Library, Canton. Taught by writer and former English professor Polly Davis. Free, introductory class. Space limited. 648.2924.

• Tony Award winning drama “Other Desert Cities” will stage at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, and at 3 p.m. Feb. 2 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville. Holdover/snow dates are Feb. 7-9.

Seating in the Feichter Studio is limited and reservations are recommended. Tickets at 456.6322 or www.harttheatre.com.

• Red June, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, Highlands Performing Arts Center, 507 Chestnut St., Highlands.

Tickets $20, available online at www.highlandspac.org or at 526.9047.

• Auditions for Haywood Arts Regional Theatre production of To Kill a Mockingbird, 6 p.m. professional actors, 7 p.m. community theater actors, Sunday and Monday, Feb. 2-3, 250 Pigeon St., Waynesville. Show opens April 25. 456.6322 or hartthea@bellsouth.net.

• REO Speedwagon, 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, Harrah’s Cherokee Event Center, 777 Casino Drive, Cherokee.

Must be 21 years old or older. Tickets start at $75. www.Ticketmaster.com.

• Robin Thicke with special guest Jessie J, 8 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 25, Harrah’s Cherokee Event Center, 777 Casino Drive, Cherokee. Tickets start at $58. www.Ticketmaster.com.

• Auditions for the 2014 season of Unto These Hills, the long-running, outdoor drama in Cherokee, 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday, March 22, 564 Tsali Blvd, Cherokee, across from the museum. Come prepared with a monologue, a headshot and a song (if you sing).

Marina Hunley-Graham, 497.3652 or Linda Squirrel, 497.1125.

NIGHT LIFE • Strung Like A Horse, Thursday, Feb. 6, No Name Sports Pub, 1070 Skyland Drive, Sylva. 586.2750.

• Husband-wife duo, Dana and Susan Robinson, 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, The Classic Wineseller, Church Street, Waynesville. Guitar, banjo, fiddle and harmony. $10 per person minimum on live music nights which includes food, drink, and retail purchases.

Reservations accepted between 6 and 7 p.m. by calling 452.6000.

MUSIC JAMS • Music Jam every Thursday night from 6 to 8 p.m. at Frog Level Brewery on Commerce St.in Waynesville.

First and third Thursday are mostly Celtic; second and fourth are mostly Old Time; fifth Thursday anything goes. All acoustic instruments are welcome.

Newcomers welcome. Contact besscrider@gmail.com or aviancm@gmail.com.

• Woody Pines, 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6, Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Center. Jam session will follow at 8 p.m. Free. The Mountain Heritage Center is located on the ground floor of WCU’s H.F. Robinson Administration Building. For more information, call the museum at 828-227-7129.

DANCE • The High Mountain Squares Dancers will host their Glitter Dance from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31, at the Macon County Community Building, Franklin. Ace McGee from Anderson, S.C. will be the caller. Mike McDonald and Debbie McClain will cue rounds and lines. Dancing will be Western Style Square dancing, main/stream and plus levels. Everyone is welcome.

371.4946, 342.1560, 332.0001 or www.highmountainsquare.org .

OUTINGS, HIKES & FIELDTRIPS • Jackson County Democratic Men’s Club Turkey Shoot, 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, 44 Oak Hill Road, off Mineral Springs Road. Bring your own 12 gauge shotgun unloaded. Shells $5. Prizes, turkeys, hams, other meats available for pickup at Harold’s in Sylva.

• Franklin Bird Club walk Friday, Feb. 1, at Lake Chatuge, led by John Tiernan. Meet at 8:30 a.m. at Westgate Plaza Kmart parking lot in Franklin or at 9 a.m. at Ingles in Hayesville to carpool. Expect to see loons, buffleheads, ring-billed and herring gulls, piedbilled grebes and other interesting birds. 524.5234 • Carolina Mountain Club Wilderness Hike, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 2, High Top Tower starting at Camp Daniel Boone. Strenuous, 10 mile hike, with a car shuttle back. 1,900 feet ascent. Brent Martin, hike leader, 587.9453, 524.7400, brent_martin@tws.org.

Limited to 10 hikers. Call leader for reservation.

• Tuckaseigee River Chapter #373 of Trout Unlimited to meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday Feb. 4, at United Community Bank, 1640 E. Main St., Sylva. Dinner $5.

Hand-crafted fly rod by Jim Mills will be given away. www.orgsites.com/nc/tctu.

• Swannanoa Rim Explorer Hiking Series Presentation, 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6, Asheville REI. Free.

Registration required at www.rei.com/event/55570/session/85769.

• “Heads Up for Hunters of the Sky” 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6, Oconaluftee Multipurpose Room near Cherokee. Program presented by Michael Skinner, executive director of the Balsam Mountain Trust near Sylva. Hosted by Great Smoky Mountains Association.

Register by Feb. 5. $10 for GSMA members and $35 for non-members, which includes a complimentary personal or gift membership opportunity.

SmokiesInformation.org or call 888.898.9102, ext.

325, 222 or 254.

• “Jewels From the Sky,” 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, Sugarlands Visitor Center Training Room near Gatlinburg. Program on snow crystals presented by Kris Light. Register by Feb. 20. $10 for GSMA members and $35 for non-members, which includes a complimentary personal or gift membership opportunity. SmokiesInformation.org or call 888.898.9102, ext. 325, 222 or 254.

• Great Smoky Mountains National Park is operating on its winter schedule. For details, go to www.npswww.nps.gov/grsm, call 865.436.1200 and follow the prompts, or Twitter at SmokiesRoadsNPS. • Sons of the American Legion turkey shoot, 9 a.m.

Saturdays through April, 171 Legion Drive, Waynesville. Cost is $2. Refreshments provided. Bring your own gun; a few house guns are available.

• Local Audubon Society weekly Saturday birding field trips. 7:30 a.m. Highlands Town Hall parking lot near the public restrooms or at 8 a.m. behind Wendy’s if the walk is in Cashiers. www.highlandsaudubonsociety.org or 743.9670.

• Haywood County Waterways is looking for volunteers for its Volunteer Water Information Network (VWIN) program. Volunteers are needed to take water quality

• The Gorges State Park is looking for volunteers to assist in maintaining existing trails and campgrounds in the park on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., weather permitting. Bring gloves, water and tools supplied.

Participants need to be at least 16 years old and in good health. Registration not required. Meet at 17762 Rosman Highway (US-64) in Sapphire. 966.9099.

PROGRAMS & WORKSHOPS • Hands-On Bike Maintenance: Drive Train, 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, REI, 31 Schenck Parkway, Asheville. 687.0918, www.rei.com/asheville. $20 REI members/$40 non-members.

• Hunter Safety Course, 6 to 9:30 p.m. Feb. 3-5, Haywood Community College Building 3300, Room 3322. Must attend three consecutive evenings to receive certification. Free and open to all ages. Must register at www.ncwildlife.org.

• Wild South invites nominations for its Sixth Annual Roosevelt-Ashe Conservation Awards in the following categories: Outstanding Journalist, Outstanding Youth, Outstanding Educator, Outstanding Small Business and Out Standing Conservationist. Deadline for nominations is midnight Feb. 14. For more information, visit www.wildsouth.org.

COMPETITIVE EDGE • MedWest Haywood Health & Fitness Center indoor triathlon, 8 a.m. Feb. 15 and March 15. Enter one or both races. Times will be totaled. MedWest Haywood Health & Fitness Center, 452.8080. MedWestHealth.org.

• 4th annual Assault on Black Rock (ABR), 9 a.m.

Saturday, March 22, Jackson County. A 7-mile trail race from the parking lot of Sylva’s Pinnacle Park to the 5,810-foot Black Rock summit on the spine of the Plott Balsam Mountains. Proceeds to benefit the Community Table. Register at www.CommunityTable.org, “event calendar.” Online registration at Active.com, but an extra $3.25 fee is included. Brian Barwatt, 506.2802 or barwatt@hotmail.com.

• Online registration is open through Tuesday, April 1, for Western Carolina University’s 4th annual Valley of the Lilies Half Marathon and 5K, which will be held Saturday, April 5, on the campus in Cullowhee. Race day registration will be available at $80 for the half marathon and $30 for the 5K. www.halfmarathon.wcu.edu or contact race directors Shauna Sage or James Scifers at ValleyoftheLilies@wcu.edu.

FARM & GARDEN • Sylva Garden Club meeting, 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, Fellowship Hall of the First Presbyterian Church in Sylva. Program is Bees and Our Environment, with speaker Arnold Burnette.

• Macon County 4-H Spring Plant Sale orders taken through Thursday, Feb. 20. All proceeds go to Macon County 4-H. Plants sold are apple trees, cherry trees, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry and strawberry plants, grapes, peach trees, pear trees and plum trees.

349.2046.

Smoky Mountain News

ON STAGE & IN CONCERT

• “1964: The Tribute,” a Beatles tribute band, will perform at 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9, in the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center at Western Carolina University. The band’s concert focuses on the Beatles’ early touring years. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for WCU faculty and staff, and $5 for students and children. Bardo Arts Center box office, 227.2479 or visit bardoartscenter.wcu.edu.

Outdoors

samples from creeks and streams in Crabtree and Jonathan Creek and send the samples to a water quality lab. haywoodwaterways.org/monitoring or contact Dave Dudek, DDudek@haywoodnc.net or phone (late afternoon), 926.1308.

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

• Classic crime drama, starring Sterling Hayden, 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, Macon County Library, Franklin.

‘Doc’ Riedenschneider, legendary crime ‘brain’ just out of prison, has a brilliant plan for a million-dollar burglary. 1 hr, 52 mins. www.fontanalib.org.

• The Martins, a multi-Dove Award winning and Grammy nominated Christian music vocal trio, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, Franklin. Tickets start at $14. GreatMountainMusic.com or call 866.273.4615.

• Second Sunday Community Dance, 2:30 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 9, Community Room, second floor, Jackson County Library Complex, Sylva. Charlotte Crittendon will call the dance to the live music of Out of the Woodwork. Potluck dinner will follow at 5 p.m.

Bring a covered dish, plate, cup and cutlery and a water bottle. Ron Arps, ronandcathy71@frontier.com.

wnc calendar

• Lens Luggers is conducting half day trip to capture the magic of winter, 6:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, Wednesday, Feb. 5 and Saturday, Feb. 8. Meet at the Waynesville Armory, 55 Boundary St., Waynesville. Led by award-winning photographer Bob Grytten, whose work has been published in International Wildlife Magazine, Sailing Magazine and others. Cost is $55.

Lens Lugger 30 percent discount applies. Program includes special Tuesday Evening program on Post Production of images (date to be determined). Available on a first come basis. Bob Grytten at bobgry@aol.com.

• Western Carolina University music students and Asheville Symphony Orchestra string musicians will perform together at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, in the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center on campus. WCU faculty members Andrew Adams and Bradley Martin will also perform, playing a composition by Mozart for two pianos. Tickets $10 for adults and $5 for students and children. Proceeds will support the Artist-in-Residence Program. School of Music, 227.7242.

• Sylva Community Garden is looking for new gardeners for the 2014 season. In exchange for free garden space and materials, gardeners are asked to donate half of their crops to those in need. The garden is located in downtown Sylva, and is made up of 20 individual plots. Gardeners choose what they grow and are expected to keep their plots maintained from February through December. Apply for a plot by Feb. 7, at sylvacommunitygarden@gmail.com or call Jennifer, 227.2595. Applications available at the Community 33 Table in Sylva.

PRIME REAL ESTATE

INSIDE

Advertise in The Smoky Mountain News

ANNOUNCEMENTS

MarketPlace information:

2 NEW LIVING ESTATES Fri. & Sat. from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Lots of Good Furniture, Home Decor, Art, Tons of Great Antiques, Everything Under the Sun! We are Frog Pond Downsizing Located at 255 Depot St., Waynesville. Look for the Frog on the Brick Building and You’ve Found Treasures & Bargains from the Origianl Estate Sale Company!

The Smoky Mountain News Marketplace has a distribution of 16,000 every week to over 500 locations across in Haywood, Jackson, Macon, and Swain counties along with the Qualla Boundary and west Buncombe County. For a link to our MarketPlace Web site, which also contains a link to all of our MarketPlace display advertisers’ Web sites, visit www.smokymountainnews.com.

Rates: ■ Free — Residential yard sale ads, lost or found pet ads.

■ Free — Non-business items that sell for less than $150.

■ $12 — Classified ads that are 50 words or less; each additional line is $2.

■ $12 — If your ad is 10 words or less, it will be displayed with a larger type.

■ $3 — Border around ad and $5 — Picture with ad.

■ $35 — Non-business items, 25 words or less. 3 month or till sold.

■ $300 — Statewide classifieds run in 117 participating newspapers with 1.6 million circulation. Up to 25 words.

■ All classified ads must be pre-paid.

REACH READERS ACROSS North Carolina for only $330. Run your 25-word classified line ad in 99 newspapers with one call to this newspaper or call NCPS 919.789.2083.

ARTS & CRAFTS ALLISON CREEK Iron Works & Woodworking. Crafting custom metal & woodwork in rustic, country & lodge designs with reclaimed woods! Design & consultation, Barry Downs 828.524.5763, Franklin NC

Classified Advertising: Scott Collier, phone 828.452.4251; fax 828.452.3585 | classads@smokymountainnews.com

AUCTION DECOY-HUNTING MEMORABILIA Auction - NC & other antique & vintage decoys, hunting memorabilia, WorldWar II & shooting memorabilia, OnLine Only Auction, Bid NOW @ www.HouseAuctionCompany.com, Bidding Ends FEB 13th.

252.729.1162. NCAL#7889

WAYNESVILLE TIRE, COO

Serving Haywood, Jackson & Surrounding Counties

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Offering:

MAJOR-BRAND TIRES FOR CARS, LIGHT & MEDIUM-DUTY TRUCKS, AND FARM TIRES.

Service truck available for on-site repairs LEE & PATTY ENSLEY, OWNERS

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HARPER’S AUCTION COMPANY Antiques • Households • Collectibles • We Are Always Accepting Quality Consignments. Let Us Help You With Your Auction Needs.

We Even Come to You, Just Call for an Appointment.

47 Macon Center Dr. Franklin, NC 828.369.6999, Debra Harper NCAL# 9659 NCFL# 9671 TAX SEIZURE AUCTION Saturday, February 8 @ 10am. 50 Commerce St. Brevard, NC. Selling Assets from Granite Countertop Company for NC Department of Revenue for Unpaid Taxes. 2006 Dodge Sprinter Van, Ingersoll Rand 40hp Rotary Air Compressor, Granite, Saws, CAT Forklift, Related Tooling. 704.791.8825 ncaf5479. www.ClassicAuctions.com

BUILDING MATERIALS HAYWOOD BUILDERS Garage Doors, New Installations Service & Repairs, 828.456.6051 100 Charles St. Waynesville Employee Owned.

CONSTRUCTION/ REMODELING ALL THINGS BASEMENTY! Basement Systems Inc. Call us for all of your basement needs! Waterproofing, Finishing, Structural Repairs, Humidity and Mold Control.

FREE ESTIMATES! Call 1.800.698.9217 DAVE’S CUSTOM HOMES OF WNC, INC Free Estimates & Competitive rates. References avail. upon request. Specializing in: Log Homes, remodeling, decks, new construction, repairs & additions.

Owner/Builder: Dave Donaldson.

Licensed/Insured. 828.631.0747 or 828.508.0316 SULLIVAN HARDWOOD FLOORS Installation- Finish - Refinish 828.399.1847.

AUTO PARTS DDI BUMPERS ETC. Quality on the Spot Repair & Painting. Don Hendershot 858.646.0871 cell 828.452.4569 office.

CARS - DOMESTIC DONATE YOUR CAR Fast Free Towing 24 hr. Response Tax Deduction UNITED BREAST CANCER FOUNDATION Providing Free Mammograms & Breast Cancer Info888.759.9782. SAPA DONATE YOUR CAR Fast Free Towing. 24 hr. Response.

Tax Deduction. United Breast Cancer Foundation, Providing Free Mammograms & Breast Cancer Info 855.733.5472 TOP CASH FOR CARS, Call Now For An Instant Offer. Top Dollar Paid, Any Car/Truck, Any Condition. Running or Not. Free Pick-up/Tow. 1.800.761.9396 SAPA

CARS - DOMESTIC DONATE YOUR CAR, Truck or Boat to Heritage for the Blind. Free 3 Day Vacation, Tax Deductible, Free Towing, All Paperwork Taken Care Of. 800.337.9038.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES EXCITING NEW, LOW COST, Home Based Service Franchise. Be your own boss & “WOW” your customers with our easy to learn Tile & Grout rejuvenation services. Call: 1.800.401.9597 Visit: TheGroutGeeks.com SAPA NEED EXTRA MONEY? Want to Lose Weight and Improve Your Health? Now You Can! Checks Are Cut Weekly! Call For Samples While Supplies Last: 1.205.538.3803 SAPA PROFITABLE NORTH CAROLINA Businesses For sale by owners.

Many types, sizes, locations, terms. $25k to $15M. Other states available. www.BizSale.com Call 1.800.617.4204

EMPLOYMENT $$$ GET LOADED $$$ Exp Pays - up to 50 cpm. New CSA Friendly Equip (KWs). CDL-A Req. 877.258.8782. Or go to: www.ad-drivers.com 1500+ RGN LOADS From Clayton, NC to multiple destinations. Accepting Contractors with their own RGN's or pull Company trailers AT NO COST. 1.800.669.6414 or go to: www.dailyrecruiting.com ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE SPECIALIST Part-time, 20-25 hours/week.

Sought for Environmental Nonprofit (Balsam Mountain Trust).

Email: mskinner@bmtrust.org for a complete job description.

AIRLINE CAREERS BEGIN HERE Get FAA Approved Maintenance Training Financial Aid For Qualified Students - Housing Available Job Placement Assistance. Call Aviation Institute Of Maintenance 1.866.724.5403 WWW.FIXJETS.COM. SAPA

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HEAVY EQUIPMENT OPERATOR Training! Bulldozers, Backhoes, Excavators. 3 Week Hands On Program. Local Job Placement Assistance. National Certifications. GI Benefits Eligible. 1.866.362.6497 HIGHLANDS-CASHIERS HOSPITAL Positions now available: ER and Med/Surg Registered Nurses, Medical Records Manager, Inpatient Coder, Activities Assistant and Receptionist.

Benefits available the first of the month following 60 days of full-time employment. PreEmployment screening required.

Call Human Resources.

828.526.1376, or apply online at: www.highlandscashiershospital. org

REACH READERS ACROSS North Carolina for only $330. Run your 25-word classified line ad in 99 newspapers with one call to this newspaper or call NCPS 919.789.2083.

THE DIVISION OF WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS IN WAYNESVILLE (Formally known as Employment Security Commission) is taking applications for an Accounts Receivable Specialist. Must have a High School Diploma/GED and a 2 year technical degree is preferred but appropriate experience may be substituted for a degree.

Must have 2-3yrs exp. in public cashiering and/or working with the public in providing other services. Must be able to perform cashiering duties and detail work with high level of accuracy.

Word processing ability is req. and general knowledge of personal computers running Windows 7 is also req. Immediate Opening. Salary DOE and starts from $12.59-$15.74. Deadline to apply is February 3, 2014. Please submit cover letter, resume and employment application to the Waynesville DWS.

TANKER & FLATBED COMPANY. Drivers/Independent Contractors!

Immediate Placement Available.

Best Opportunities in the Trucking Business. Call Today 800.277.0212 or www.driveforprime.com

225-03

An EcoWater Water System can remove

LAWN AND GARDEN HEMLOCK HEALERS, INC. Dedicated to Saving Our Hemlocks. Owner/Operator Frank Varvoutis, NC Pesticide Applicator’s License #22864. 48 Spruce St. Maggie Valley, NC 828.734.7819 828.926.7883, Email: hemlockhealers@yahoo.com

Lease to Own

Bad Taste & Odors Iron/Rust Sediment/ Silt Bacterias Harmful Chlorine Balance pH

828.452.3995 | www.americanwatercareinc.com

Jerry Smith 828-734-8765

BOBBI GOT HER NAME BECAUSE OF HER CUTE LITTLE BOBBED TAIL! SHE'S A VERY PRETTY GIRL WITH HUGE EYES AND A BEAUTIFUL COAT WHO WOULD BE BEST AS AN ONLY CAT. ANNA LYNN SUCH A UNIQUE LOOKING MIX. MEDIUM SIZED WITH A SOFT, PLUSH, DEEP BRINDLE COAT SHE IS ALWAYS HAPPY TO SEE YOU, AND IS ATTENTIVE, SMART, PLAYFUL AND VERY AFFECTIONATE.

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Ann knows real estate!

Ann Eavenson

smokymountainnews.com

NIGHT SUPPORT POSITION The Clean Slate Coalition seeks mature female to live-in (transitional) housing facility for women in Sylva, NC. Staff member will live in her own suite and maintain a daily presence in the house from approximately 9:00 p.m. - 8 a.m. to assist and support resident women. In addition to free housing, the position offers a $200 stipend per month.

Must have reliable transportation, 3 references, excellent communication skills and few night time responsibilities. Prefer applicant with similar experience for a long term commitment.

Call 828.506.4221 for more info.

REGIONAL CDL-A DRIVERS Averitt offers fantastic benefits & weekly hometime. 888.362.8608.

Paid training for recent grads w/a CDL-A & drivers with limited experience. Apply online at: AverittCareers.com.

Equal Opportunity Employer.

TOP 1% PAY & CSA Friendly Equip Full Benefits + Quality Home Time. No slip seating - Take Truck Home. CDL-A Required. 1.888.592.4752. www.ad-drivers.com SAPA TRUCK DRIVERS WANTED Up to $7,500.00 Sign-On Bonus!

Top 100 Companies! Great Pay, Home Time and Benefits! Choose the Best Job! Apply at: www.TruckDriverJobOffers.com SAPA DRIVERS: DEDICATED. Regional & OTR. Start up to $.44/mi. + Excellent Benefits.

401K + Bonuses. Excellent Hometime! CDL-A 6mos. exp.

877.704.3773.

Cleaner, Clearer and Healthier water at every tap in your home

EMPLOYMENT

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

HOME WEEKENDS. $1,000 sign on bonus. Regional flatbed. No tarp freight. Excellent pay and benefits. Owner/Ops welcome. Call 800.554.5661, ext. 331. www.tlxtransport.jobs NEED MEDICAL OFFICE TRAINEES! Train to become a Medical Office Assistant at CTI! No Experienced Needed! Online Training gets you job ready! HS Diploma/GED & Computer needed.

Careertechnical.edu/nc.

1.888.512.7122 NEW PAY-FOR-EXPERIENCE Program pays up to $0.41/mile.

Class-A Professional Drivers Call 866.291.2631 for more details or visit SuperServiceLLC.com

UNIVERSITY LIBRARY TECHNICIAN, (Position #2964) Salary: $24,605-$25,500, Hunter Library at Western Carolina University seeks an energetic, collegial and service-oriented Library Technician for its busy Circulation Department. Primary responsibilities of this position include public contact and customer service at the Circulation Desk, including use of library software to circulate materials and manage patron records; building duties, including opening and closing as needed; supervision of student workers; shelving of materials and other stacks maintenance duties; maintaining and troubleshooting library equipment as needed, and assisting patrons in its use; supporting the Interlibrary Loan Department and the Curriculum Materials Center; serving as back-up for faculty print reserves; and working on special projects as assigned. Hours for this position are 9am-6pm Tuesday through Friday, 11am7:30pm on Saturdays, with some variable hours as needed during the end of semesters, summers, and inter-sessions.

For more information or to apply, please visit: https://jobs.wcu.edu/applicants/ Central?quickFind=53320.

Closing Date: February 3, 2014.

AA/EOE.

EMPLOYMENT

WNC MarketPlace

FAST PACED LAW FIRM Is seeking a Paralegal/Legal Assistant/Receptionist. Part Time and Full Time Positions. Pay Depending on Experience. Experience or Paralegal Degree a Plus. Multi-Tasking and Attention to Detail a Must.

Computer Skills Required. Please Fax Resume to 828.586.8320, Attn: Cindy Bryson, or Email to: bryson@mountainverdict.com

EMPLOYMENT

CRS, GRI, E-PRO

ann@mainstreetrealty.net

506-0542 CELL 225-28

101 South Main St. Waynesville

MainStreet Realty

(828) 452-2227 mainstreetrealty.net

find us at: facebook.com/smnews 35

WNC MarketPlace

FINANCIAL

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Injury Lawsuit Dragging? Need fast $500-$500,000? Rates as low as 1/2% month. Call Now! 1.800.568.8321. Not valid in NC BEWARE OF LOAN FRAUD. Please check with the Better Business Bureau or Consumer Protection Agency before sending any money to any loan company.

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REAL ESTATE ANNOUNCEMENT

COMPARE QUALITY & PRICE Shop Tupelo’s, 828.926.8778.

HAYWOOD BEDDING, INC. The best bedding at the best price!

533 Hazelwood Ave. Waynesville 828.456.4240

PETS HAYWOOD SPAY/NEUTER 828.452.1329

NICOL ARMS APARTMENTS NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS Offering 1 & 2 Bedroom Apartments, Starting at $400 Section 8 Accepted - Handicapped Accessible Units When Available

OFFICE HOURS: Tues. & Wed. 10:00am - 5:00pm & Thurs. 10:00am- 12:00pm 168 E. Nicol Arms Road Sylva, NC 28779

Phone# 1.828.586.3346 TDD# 1.800.725.2962 Equal Housing Opportunity

Prevent Unwanted Litters!

The Heat Is On! Spay/Neuter For Haywood Pets As Low As $10.

Operation Pit is in Effect!

Free Spay/Neuter, Microchip & Vaccines For Haywood Pitbull Types & Mixes!

Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 12 Noon - 6 pm 182 Richland Street, Waynesville

PUBLISHER’S NOTICE All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act which makes it illegal to advertise “any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or an intention, to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination” Familial status includes children under the age of 18 living with parents or legal custodians, pregnant women and people securing custody of children under 18.

This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. Our readers are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised in this newspaper are available on an equal opportunity basis.

REAL ESTATE ANNOUNCEMENT AUCTION - Vilas, NC Sat. Feb. 22nd. 3-Level Home on 20+/-Acres. Adjoining 30+/-acre tract. Main level 1620+/- sq ft.; granite; cherry cabinets; Jacuzzi. www.RogersAuctionGroup.com 800.442.7906 NCAL#685

HOMES FOR SALE BRUCE MCGOVERN A Full Service Realtor shamrock13@charter.net McGovern Property Management 828.283.2112.

HOMES FOR RENT UNFURNISHED CLEAN & BRIGHT 3/BR 1/BA In Waynesville. All Appliances, Wood Floors, Car-port with Storage Room, Extra Large Deck with Beautiful Views, Located on Dead End Street. $750/mo. + Deposit & Lease. No pets/Smoking. For more information call 828.734.9419 or 828.734.9409

LOTS FOR SALE 2.819 ACRE TRACT Building Lot in great location.

Build your 2nd home log cabin here. Large 2-story building near HCC, was a Work Shop.

Price Reduced $65,000.

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www.smokymountainnews.com

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

Great Smokies Storage

36

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225-09

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828.452.4251 | ads@smokymountainnews.com 37

Smoky Mountain News

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

Super

38

CROSSWORD

OOH, BABY! ACROSS 1 Singer Bette 7 Old name for the Congo 12 Miles - gallon 15 Spill the secret 19 Room recess 20 Dressed for Halloween 22 “The - of the Ancient Mariner” 23 Acquired a forbidden thing?

25 French clergyman 26 S&L part 27 Peddle 28 Waterways 30 Send in, as a check 34 Bolt out of a seating tier?

36 City in SW California 41 Gillette razor brand 43 Joel or Ethan of film 44 Silly - goose 45 Knockoff merchandise items?

49 Three-screen cinema 51 Hypnotized states 52 “ER” actor La Salle 53 Russia’s Alexis I, e.g.

54 Body of a cell 55 Actor Hunter 58 Chopin challenge 60 Port in Norway 64 Stopper 67 Refrigerated nut that can chip a tooth?

71 Rightful 73 “Tutti -” 75 The “E” of S.E. Hinton 76 Wedded 77 Smash hit that’s not performed outside?

80 Grammy winner India.-

82 Ukraine’s capital 83 Remove a curse from 84 Streets: Abbr.

86 Trim down 89 Gorbachev’s empire 92 American mail org.

94 Secretary of State Clinton 97 Start spasming, as a muscle 100 Say “It’s so foolish to play cards”?

103 Trouble 104 Lincoln and Beame 106 Fly like a vulture 107 Like a firstborn child 108 Wading bird barbecued on a rotating rod?

112 Last Greek vowel 114 Audible breather 115 Start of a magician’s cry 117 Sign of the future 123 - time flat 124 “Vacation on this marshy inlet on credit”?

129 Former Navajo foes 130 Italian range 131 Propelling a boat manually 132 Blister, e.g.

133 “Weekend Edition” airer 134 Rub it in 135 Fuses DOWN 1 Charts (out) 2 Skater Kulik 3 Ovid’s 705 4 Norse trickster god 5 Parallel (with) 6 Merlot, say 7 Nada

8 Pantry crawler 9 Freud’s “I” 10 Richard and Jane in court 11 Actor Will 12 Part of PBS 13 Subgenre of punk rock 14 Arranges differently 15 “Great job!”

16 Progressive 17 “The Devil’s Dictionary” author Bierce 18 “None of your -!”

21 Verbalize 24 Put to work 29 Ancient Aegean land 31 - Zedong 32 “- be nice if ...”

33 Loyal 35 Certain finished lowercase letter 36 CPR givers, sometimes 37 Prefix with 90-Down 38 Cattle rush 39 Like most music 40 Site: Abbr.

42 Having lots of land 46 U leaders?

47 10% giver 48 Filth and misery 50 Big-leaguers 56 Follow, as an impulse 57 Bungle 59 “The Mystery of Edwin -” 61 Sneaker securer 62 Deighton of fiction writing 63 Pile up debt 65 Sci-fi saucer 66 Cur’s noise 68 “This way”

69 Stars and Bars org.

70 - Lingus 71 Browne who created Hägar 72 Quadri- minus three 74 One taking something forcibly 78 Egg, to Ovid 79 Old Montreal ball club 81 Stranded on land in the sea 85 “- ‘nuff!”

87 Riles 88 Hit PC game 90 “The final frontier” 91 Like outlying districts 93 “Scram!”

95 “Amen, bro!”

96 “Bad” cholesterol, briefly 97 - Clay (Muhammad Ali, once) 98 Lambaste 99 One who straightens 101 Grier of film 102 Refined find 105 Assassin 109 Just one of - things 110 Black, to Poe 111 Twisted forcibly 113 A student’s pride: Abbr.

116 Blue dye 118 Ardor 119 Hindu dress 120 On the job 121 Actor Wilder 122 Physicists’ work units 125 Smartphone extra 126 “Bed-in” stager Yoko 127 “Aren’t - pair?”

128 Seattle hrs.

answers on page 36

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WEEKLY SUDOKU Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each small 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine.

Answers on Page 36

The naturalist’s corner

BY DON H ENDERSHOT

You yellow-bellied sapsucker In my youth, never did a B-western movie make it to the end without the bad guy being cornered and denounced for the “yellow-bellied sapsucker” he was. Yellowbelly and/or yellow-bellied has, for various etymological reasons, been associated with cowardice. Sapsucker, I don’t know, maybe it just sounds kinda lowlife.

But in the avian world there is nothing cowardly or lowlife about the yellow-bellied sapsucker, Sphyrapicus varius. This medium-sized (nine inches) woodpecker clearly isn’t (wasn’t) afraid to chart new territories.

It can be found throughout all of North America plus many areas of Central America and the Caribbean. Colonies are also known from the United Kingdom and Greenland.

This colorful woodpecker has a mottled black and white back, white rump, yellowish breast and belly and a black-and-white face.

The male has a red throat and crown plus a large white stripe on the folded wing, which quickly differentiates it from our common downy and hairy woodpeckers. All sapsuckers were once considered to be forms or

races of the yellow-bellied sapsucker. In 1983, however, sapsuckers were split into three distinct species — yellow-bellied, rednaped, Sphyrapicus nuchalis, and redbreasted, Sphyrapicus ruber.

The normal nesting range for the yellowbellied sapsucker is from Canada (east of the Rockies) to Labrador and Newfoundland; from South Dakota across Pennsylvania to New England and down the Appalachians to north Georgia. Most nesting birds in the Southern Appalachians are found from around 4,000 feet up, but here in the area I found several pairs on the Thomas tract (a privately owned tract of forest in Jackson County adjacent to Balsam Mountain Preserve) between 3,000 and 3,500 feet in elevation.

At the time I was searching for sapsuckers for John Gerwin of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Gerwin had been studying breeding sapsuckers in the Southern Appalachians to determine if they were perhaps a distinct species. DNA research, however, proved that the Appalachian birds were the same as the birds that nested in Canada and/or elsewhere.

My home is at about 3,500 feet in eleva-

tion in the Plott Balsams, and while I have never had a sapsucker in breeding season, I almost always have one or more during the winter months. The faint drumming of sapsuckers as they excavate shallow wells to induce a welling of sap is distinctive. These busy drummers will literally ring trees with horizontal, evenly spaced shallow holes. The sapsuckers return to the wells and to lick up the sap plus whatever insects might have been attracted to the gooey goodness. The sapsucker’s drilling is, for the most part, not injurious to the tree but there can be exceptions.

Sapsuckers are considered a keystone

species with many other species taking advantage of the wells they drill. The three species of sapsuckers may hybridize in areas where their range overlaps.

Should you find yourself in the woods in the winter, be sure to set aside some quiet time to listen for the soft pecking of the yellow-bellied sapsucker. It can greatly increase your chances of seeing this somewhat secretive forest dweller.

What might a group of sapsuckers be called? OK — say it with me now — a “slurp.”

(Don Hendershot is a writer and naturalist. He can be reached a ddihen1@bellsouth.net.)

Yellow-bellied sapsucker in my yard.

Don Hendershot photo

Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2014

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