Smoky Mountain News | March 9, 2022

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

March 9-15, 2022 Vol. 23 Iss. 41

Election season: who’s running where? Page 6 Cherokee casino housing plan draws dissent Page 12

CONTENTS On the Cover: Lake Logan has been a major draw in Haywood for decades as a retreat for employees of the county’s largest industry and now the Episcopal Diocese.

Take a deep look at the property’s fascinating history in this piece by local historian Carroll Jones. (Pages 8-10)

News: Off to the races: candidate filing period ends with some surprises ....................6 Lake Logan addresses challenges, looks toward future........................................11 WCU sets new legislative goals ..................................................................................12 Cherokee man receives 30 years for 2018 murder................................................15 DWAC will hold downtown Waynesville events – except for one......................16 Commissioners will expand EMS staffing in Haywood..........................................17 Temporary home for Central Haywood High School..............................................19

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New leadership a plus for downtown Waynesville..................................................20 Connecting the human ties that bind ..........................................................................21

WAYNESVILLE | 144 Montgomery, Waynesville, NC 28786 P: 828.452.4251 | F: 828.452.3585

A&E ‘Spring Literary Festival’ returns to WCU ..................................................................22 Wild and free: two books, two approaches ..............................................................29

Outdoors Project aims to shine light on dangers of single-use plastics ..............................30 Summer camp filling quickly in Highlands..................................................................32

SYLVA | 629 West Main Street, Sylva, NC 28779 P: 828.631.4829 | F: 828.631.0789 INFO & BILLING | P.O. Box 629, Waynesville, NC 28786 Copyright 2022 by The Smoky Mountain News.™ Advertising copyright 2022 by The Smoky Mountain News.™ All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. The Smoky Mountain News is available for free in Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain and parts of Buncombe counties. Limit one copy per person.

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SUBSCRIPTIONS

Smoky Mountain News

March 9-15, 2022

SUBSCRIPTION:

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Scott McLeod. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . info@smokymountainnews.com Greg Boothroyd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . greg@smokymountainnews.com Micah McClure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . micah@smokymountainnews.com Travis Bumgardner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . travis@smokymountainnews.com Jessica Murray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jessica.m@smokymountainnews.com Susanna Shetley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . susanna.b@smokymountainnews.com Amanda Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jc-ads@smokymountainnews.com Sophia Burleigh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sophia.b@smokymountainnews.com Scott Collier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . classads@smokymountainnews.com Kyle Perrotti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . kyle.p@smokymountainnews.com Holly Kays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . holly@smokymountainnews.com Hannah McLeod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . hannah@smokymountainnews.com Cory Vaillancourt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cory@smokymountainnews.com Garret K. Woodward. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . garret@smokymountainnews.com Amanda Singletary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . smnbooks@smokymountainnews.com Scott Collier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . classads@smokymountainnews.com Jeff Minick (writing), Chris Cox (writing), George Ellison (writing), Don Hendershot (writing), Susanna Shetley (writing)

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March 9-15, 2022

For many of us the idea of buying local foods to support our community makes sense in the summer months when fruits and vegetables are in season. But what about the rest of the year?

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Smoky Mountain News

• Beer and Wine: various craft beers and wines

Here are just a few of the local farmers and producers we offer: Sunny Creek Farm, Hickory Nut Gap Meats, Sunburst Farm Trout, Annie’s Breads, City Bakery, Sunshine Sammies, Unicoi Preserves, Roots Hummus, Dolci Di Maria, Pisgah Coffee Roasters, Biscuithead, Firewalker Hot Sauce.

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SMOKY MOUNTAIN NEWS SUMMER CAMP March 9-15, 2022 4

Asheville Music School Camps ummer music camps at Asheville Music School are a great way to begin your musical journey, enhance your skills, or even try a new instrument. There are summer camps for ages 4-18 with offerings such as Rock Camp, Ukulele Camp, Music Explorations, and even a Harry Potter themed strings camp. Students in the Asheville music camps will learn music in a fun, supportive, team-oriented environment in small or large groups. New this year: Song Circle Camp for beginning vocalists, and an Appalachian Music Camp for violin, guitar, banjo, mandolin, and more. www.ashevillemusicschool.org/summercamps

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• June 13 — Appalachian Music Camp, 9 a.m.12 p.m., led by Paul Stroebel, ages 7-13.

• June 13 —Teen Pop Rock Camp, 1 p.m.-4 p.m., led by Mar Perez-Albela, ages 12-18.

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• July 11 — Music Explorations, (two sessions) 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1 p.m.-4 p.m., led

by Kylie Irvin, ages 4-6 • July 18 — Harry Potter-themed Beginner Strings Camp, 9 a.m.-12 p.m., led by Holley Ross and Paul Stroebel, ages 4-8.

• July 18 — Song Circle Camp, 1 p.m.-4 p.m., new camp this year. Led by Rachel Hansbury, ages 8-12.

• July 25 — Harry Potter-themed Strings Camp, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., led by Holley Ross and Paul Stroebel, ages 5-12.

• Aug 1 — Uke Camp (two sessions), 9 a.m.12 p.m. and 1 p.m.-4 p.m. led by Andy John and Mar Perez-Albela, ages 7-10.

• Aug 8 — Open Jam Camp, 9 a.m.-12 p.m., led by various AMS teachers, ages 9-18.

news March 9-15, 2022

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Off to the races Candidate filing period ends with some surprises

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR hile much of the field has been set for weeks in many of the races that will appear on Western North Carolina Primary Election ballots this May, it wouldn’t be election season without a few unforeseen, last-minute election moves.

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FEDERAL & STATE

Smoky Mountain News

March 9-15, 2022

Candidate filing ended at noon on March 4, meaning anyone who isn’t on the list won’t be on the ballot.

Probably the most surprising omission is Henderson County Democrat Eric Gash, who earlier that morning announced that due to his mother’s failing health, he wouldn’t continue his congressional campaign after spending nearly a year campaigning for the Democratic nomination in North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District.

“Last week, my family experienced a life changing medical crisis,” Gash said in a press release. “If you’ve met me, you’ve likely heard me say that my mom is the strongest person I know. She’s always been there through my and Sam’s darkest days, and now it’s my chance to be strong for her.”

Gash, widely viewed as one of the more conservative Democrats in the race, had raised more than $320,000 as of the end of 2021. That total was far more than other candidates in the field, but far less than Buncombe County Commissioner Jasmine Beach-Ferrara’s $1.2 million.

“I got into this race because I saw an overwhelming absence of leadership,” Gash wrote. “I’m truly grateful for the wisdom, guidance, and encouragement I’ve received this past year from Democrats and Republicans alike eager for a return to accountable, responsive leadership in Western North Carolina.”

Although the release didn’t include any endorsements by Gash in the ongoing Democratic Primary campaign, he did say he would “look forward to supporting whichever well-qualified Democrat the voters nominate in the primary.”

In addition to Beach-Ferrara, fellow Democrats Jay Carey, Katie Dean and Bo Hess remain in the race.

Newcomers Marco Gutierrez and Bynum Lunsford also joined the race on the Democratic side, and David Coatney, a Libertarian from Fletcher, has also filed.

Incumbent Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s return to NC-11 makes him the “newest” candidate on the Republican side of the NC-11 race, after he rescinded his Nov. 11 announcement that he planned to run in another dis6

trict. Bruce O’Connell, Wendy Nevarez, Matthew Burril, Sen. Chuck Edwards, Rod Honeycutt, Michele Woodhouse and Kristie Sluder are all in, but Highlands developer Ken McKim has dropped out.

In the race for retiring Republican U.S. Senator Richard Burr’s seat, 11 Democrats have filed, including presumptive frontrunner Cheri Beasley. Libertarian Shannon W. Bray is in, as are 14 Republicans, led by former Gov. Pat McCrory, former congressman Mark Walker and Rep. Ted Budd.

Two state Supreme Court seats are up this year and could swing the balance of the 4-3 Dem court, if Republicans can pick up both.

Democrat Robin Hudson is retiring, leaving seat 3 open for one of two candidates, Democrat Lucy Inman or Republican Richard Dietz. Both are N.C. Court of Appeals judges.

Another Democrat, Sam Ervin, IV, is seeking reelection to seat 5, but first, three Republicans will compete in the primary for the right to face him – General Counsel for the NC Administrative Office of the Courts Trey Allen, Appeals Court Judge April Wood and Lexington family law attorney Victoria Prince.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY The second surprising omission from the congressional field is that of Haywood County Democrat and Army veteran Josh Remillard.

In a viral video he released last fall, Remillard explained the concept of a “ruck” as carrying one’s gear for miles on end. With his surprise announcement earlier today, Remillard made clear that he’s going to keep on ruckin’.

“While our campaign for Congress has ended, it is not the end of our movement to stand up to the Radical Right,” Remillard wrote in a March 4 press release.

Remillard, who lives in Haywood County, says in the video that he bounced around foster homes until the age of 4, and then bounced around jobs until serving in combat as a Humvee gunner.

Over the past year, Remillard has also bounced around Western North Carolina’s political landscape until setting his sights on the District 118 seat currently occupied by Haywood County Republican Rep. Mark Pless.

Almost exactly a year ago, Remillard announced that he’d become the second Democrat (Beach-Ferrara) to challenge Cawthorn for the 11th Congressional District seat.

Then came new maps and Cawthorn’s Nov. 11, 2021 decision to run in the newly drawn 13th Congressional District. Remillard said he’d follow Cawthorn to that district.

Those maps were then thrown out by one court and redrawn by another after the North Carolina General Assembly again failed to meet court approval. Cawthorn subsequently announced he’d return to the 11th District ballot, and Remillard refocused on the state House.

Josh Remillard, seen here at an event in Haywood County last fall, is now a candidate for state House. Cory Vaillancourt photo “I refuse to help Madison Cawthorn by engaging in a contentious primary and believe our best chance of defeating him is to support Jasmine Beach-Ferrara,” Remillard said.

Pless is a former Haywood County commissioner who was elected in 2020. At the time, the 118th District included Yancey, Madison and most of rural Haywood County.

Under the court-drawn maps, the district now contains all of Haywood and Madison counties, but no Yancey County. Pless won the 2020 General Election with 64% of the vote, including almost 65% in Haywood County and just over 60% in Madison County.

Stats on the new district say thenPresident Donald Trump earned 62% of the vote there in 2020.

Remillard’s popular video helped him raise more than $330,000 by the end of 2021, however his FEC filing from that period says he’s spent almost $300,000.

Pless’ filing for the 2020 election shows he raised almost $16,000 for that cycle, and his year-end report for 2021 shows he began 2022 with about $700 in cash on hand.

Pless and Remillard are the only candidates in the 118th District, so there won’t be a primary at all in that race.

District 120 Republican Rep. Karl Gillespie gets a free pass back to Raleigh in January – no one from any party filed to challenge Gillespie in his far western district of Cherokee, Clay, Graham and Macon counties.

Western North Carolina Sen. Kevin Corbin, representing District 50, drew a General Election opponent, Democrat Karen McCracken of Almond. No primary challengers emerged on either side, and the district remains a deep red – 63% of voters went for Trump there in 2020.

Part of Corbin’s senatorial district, in eastern Haywood County, was broken off and tacked onto the newly drawn 47th District, which runs from Canton up through Madison, Yancey, Mitchell, Avery, Caldwell, Watauga, Ashe and Alleghany counties.

Interestingly, two powerful Republican incumbent senators were double-bunked there, and both are running – Ralph Hise, of Spruce Pine, and Deanna Ballard, of Blowing Rock. The district is 63% Republican, based on 2020 Trump votes.

No Democrats filed in the 47th, which means for Hise and Ballard, the primary is the general, and one of them won’t be returning to Raleigh in January, so Haywood County’s going to have to get used to hearing one of those names for the foreseeable future.

Haywood County’s other state rep, Swain County Republican Mike Clampitt, does have a General Election opponent in Democrat Al Platt, of Brevard. Clampitt was drawn out of Haywood County during the redistricting process, and his new district now includes Swain, Jackson and Transylvania counties.

In 2020, 55% of voters in the new district voted for Trump. Clampitt earned a pass in the primary this year, despite rumors that a Republican challenger might emerge from Transylvania County.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT Two county-level races will draw lots of attention in Haywood.

Democratic Sheriff Greg Christopher retires this winter after a lifetime in law enforcement, and several candidates have stepped up in the race to succeed him – Democrats Larry Bryson and John Hemmingway, and Republicans Tony Cope, Jason Hughes and Bill Wilke.

The only elected tax collector in the state, Haywood Democrat Greg West, will face Canton Republican Sebastian Cothran, in the fall. Tax collectors in North Carolina’s other 99 counties are appointed, not elected.

Three seats are up on the Haywood County Board of Commissioners – two Republicans, and one Democrat. Currently, the board is held by a 4-1 Republican majority, so no matter

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Ballot challenge to Cawthorn candidacy fails

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR ith a troublesome lawsuit challenge to his candidacy finally out of the way, Rep. Madison Cawthorn (RHenderson) can now focus on what will doubtless be a contentious Primary Election contest.

“I feel really good about it,” Cawthorn said of the lawsuit that garnered national attention. “I think that this was going to set a legal precedent in America, which specifically in North Carolina, was going to be very dangerous. I mean, if they were able to be successful in using this against me, the tens of millions of Americans who iterated they had questions or concerns about the validity of the 2020 election would be barred from being able to run for office.”

No evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 General Election has yet been presented, but now Cawthorn finds himself thrust into a competitive Primary Election – much like the one he ultimately prevailed in that same year.

During the brief period in which Cawthorn flirted with candidacy in the now-defunct 13th Congressional District, two significant Republican challengers entered an existing primary field that up until then had included Wendy Nevarez, Bruce O’Connell and Rod Honeycutt.

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Cawthorn now has to face Haywood County native and three-term Henderson County Sen. Chuck Edwards, who joined on Nov. 30.

“We’re very confident we’ll win,” Cawthorn said, citing an internal poll conducted by Spry Strategies and released March 6.

The poll puts Cawthorn’s approval rating among 603 likely Republican voters at 80% and says that 61.7% would vote for him in the primary if it were held today. A full 10.6% of poll respondents were undecided, and 10.4% said they’d vote for Edwards.

The numbers are similar to another internal poll commissioned by Cawthorn in May, 2021.

Challengers O’Connell (5.8%), Matthew Burril (4.9%), Nevarez (3.3%) Honeycutt (2.1%) and Michele Woodhouse (1.3%) round out the field. Late entrant Kristie Sluder wasn’t included in the poll.

Woodhouse resigned her position as 11th District GOP chair late last year, saying Cawthorn recruited her to run in NC-11 – and donated cash to her campaign – when he was planning his NC-13 campaign. Now, Cawthorn’s return to the race has Woodhouse calling him “Washington’s Instagram broken promises politician.”

“I’m constantly asked if I feel betrayed or double-crossed by Congressman Cawthorn,” Woodhouse told The Smoky Mountain News on March 7. “Like the hard working, God-fearing people of Western North Carolina, I’m disappointed and I understand their feeling of abandonment.”

H ood Democrats Are Praying for Freedom to Prevail in Ukraine

Smoky Mountain News

"We' ve spent months building coalitions. Putin will never weaken the resolve of the free world.

FREEDOM WILL ALWAYS TRIUMPH OVER TYRANNY."

March 9-15, 2022

Macon County this year, as well. Incumbent Democrat Vic Perry didn’t file, but Democrat Dinah Mashburn did. Mashburn will see one of three Republicans on the ballot in November, either Justin Stamey, Shawna Lamb or Mike Trammel.

Three Macon County Board of Commissioners seats in two districts are up, including those of Democrat Ronnie Beale and Republican Gary Shields.

Both Beale and Shields represent District 2, and voters can select two candidates from their party in the Primary Election for advancement to the General Election.

Betty Cloer Wallace was the only other Democrat to enter the District 2 race, so she and Beale will advance to the General Election automatically.

Shields will face Richard Lightner, Danny Antoine, Danny Reitmeier and Gregg Jones.

The top two will then face Beale and Wallace in November, with voters again choosing two candidates of any party.

The other seat, for District 1, is currently occupied by Republican Jim Tate, who didn’t file for reelection. No Democrats are running, so the Primary Election will decide if Don Willis or John Shearl will take his place.

As with Macon County, Swain County voters will have to choose a chair for the Board of Commissioners, either incumbent Democrat Ben Bushyhead or Republican Kevin Seagle, who is currently a commissioner.

Two seats on the commission are up, and like Macon County, voters can choose two candidates from their party in the Primary Election, and then two candidates from either party in the General Election.

Deborah Smith was the only Democrat to run, so she’ll advance through the Primary Election.

Republicans Isaac Herrin, Donna Cole, David Loftis and Phillip Carson will compete for the top two slots, and then face Smith in the General Election.

Swain County Sheriff Curtis Cochran, a Republican, is seeking reelection and will face Doug “Tank” Anthony, a Democrat, in November.

Most counties in Western North Carolina will also feature races for school board.

The Primary Election takes place on Tuesday, May 17, but voting begins much sooner than that. For those who’ve requested them, absentee ballots will begin appearing in mailboxes shortly after Monday, March 28.

The deadline to register to vote in North Carolina or to change party registration is April 22.

In-person early voting begins on April 28 and ends on May 14. Hours and days may vary by county.

If no candidates garner more than 30% of the vote in any election, then the top two candidates will enter a runoff.

The runoff for state and local races will be held on Tuesday, July 5.

The runoff for federal races will be held on Tuesday, July 26.

For more information on voter registration, candidates, voting locations or anything else related to the 2022 elections, call or visit your county board of elections, or visit the North Carolina State Board of Elections website, ncsbe.gov.

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the result, Republicans will still hold a majority come December.

Longtime commissioner and lone incumbent Democrat Kirk Kirkpatrick filed, as did retiring Chief Deputy Sheriff Jeff Haynes.

Both will automatically advance to the General Election, as Democratic and unaffiliated voters can select their top three choices in the Primary Election.

The Republican field is a bit more crowded; five Republicans have filed, and the top three will advance to face Kirkpatrick and Haynes in the General Election, where voters will again select their top three choices.

Republican incumbents Jennifer Best and Tommy Long are both in the race; Best was appointed upon the resignation of former Commissioner Mark Pless, who won his 2020 race for House District 118. Long is seeking a second term after his 2018 victory.

James Nash and Erich Overhultz, both of Waynesville, also filed, as did frequent candidate Terry Ramey.

Register of Deeds Shari Rogers and Clerk of Superior Court Hunter Plemmons, both Democrats, drew no opponents. Neither did Republican District Attorney Ashley Welch, who oversees most of Western North Carolina.

Republican District Court Judges Donna Forga and Kristina Earwood are completely unopposed, as is Democratic District Court Judge Roy Wijewickrama.

In Jackson County, Board of Commissioners Chairman Brian McMahan, a Democrat, seeks to defend his seat from two Republican challengers, Rick Wood and Mark Letson.

Incumbent commissioners Gayle Woody, (District 1) and Boyce Dietz (District 2) also hope to retain their seats.

Neither Woody nor Deitz have opponents in the Primary Election, but in the General Election Dietz will face either Edward Thurston or John Smith, and Woody will face Todd Bryson, David Brooks, Jarrett Crowe or Rainy Summer Brake. Republicans would have to turn two of the three Democrat-held seats on the ballot to win a majority on the Commission.

Jackson County’s Sheriff, Democrat Chip Hall, isn’t running for reelection, but five candidates from two parties are eager to replace him. Former Sheriff Jimmy Ashe, Rick Buchanan and Robin Gunnels have all lined up on the Democratic side, with Doug Farmer and Andy Anderson on the Republican side.

With longtime Jackson County Clerk of Court Ann Melton stepping down this year, Democrats Albert Reagan and Kim Coggins Poteet will face off in a primary race that will determine the next person to hold that seat.

Shandra Sims will run unopposed for the Register of Deeds seat. She has held that position in November, when she was appointed following the retirement of longtime incumbent Joe Hamilton.

Like Hall, Macon County Republican Sheriff Robbie Holland won’t seek another term, and five Republicans – Bob Cook, Dereck Jones, Chris Browning, Brent Holbrooks and Clay Bryson – have lined up in hopes of securing the nomination. Since no Democrats have filed for the seat, whoever emerges from the Primary Election will succeed Holland.

There’s a Clerk of Superior Court race in

President Joe Biden, SOTU address - March 1, 2022 Paid for by Haywood County DEC

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news March 9-15, 2022

Remembering Lake Logan

Between 1913 and 1925, the logging village named Sunburst thrived on the site where Lake Logan was later impounded. This photo offers a view of the village looking north (downstream), with the sawmill and stacks of lumber in the distance and the log pond and residences in the foreground. Courtesy of Canton Area Historical Museum

BY CARROLL C. JONES S PECIAL TO SMN ne of the most beautiful settings in Western North Carolina is Lake Logan, a sizable body of water captured between steep-forested mountainsides in southern Haywood County. Champion Fibre Company constructed this reservoir in 1932 on the West Fork of the Pigeon River — a tributary of the Pigeon River. Their primary purpose for doing this was to supplement the flow of water to the pulp and paper mill in Canton, especially during dry periods of low rainfall.

After Champion founder Peter G. Thomson’s original pulp mill began operation in 1908, the manufacturing demands for water steadily increased. Additional pulp and paper processing equipment was installed, which not only ramped up production but consumed more water as well. By the late 1920’s, the situation had progressed to a point whereby whims of nature reducing the amount of water flowing in the Pigeon River threatened the mill’s production — and even its survival.

Champion Fibre Company President 8 Reuben B. Robertson — Peter Thomson’s

Smoky Mountain News

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son-in-law — was keenly aware of the difficulties posed by this capricious situation.

Accordingly, between 1928 and 1932, he took the necessary steps to develop the water reserve known today as Lake Logan.

The lake property is currently owned by the Episcopal Diocese of WNC and is home to the Lake Logan Conference Center and Camp Henry. Although the paper mill enterprise at Canton no longer owns the Lake Logan property, it still holds the rights to draw water from the lake to support its manufacturing needs, just as Reuben B. Robertson had intended.

THE RISE AND FALL OF SUNBURST VILLAGE Peter G. Thomson’s Champion Fibre Company began manufacturing pulp at the Canton mill in early 1908. By June of that year, the mill was shipping eight to ten rail car loads of pulp daily to Thomson’s coated paper mill in Hamilton, Ohio. Reuben B. Robertson later remembered that the supplies of pulpwood purchased from independent timber operators and those obtained

from scattered company-owned tracts barely sufficed to keep Champion Fibre “ahead of the sheriff ” during those early days.

Consequently, Thomson and Robertson availed themselves of a business opportunity that would include contracting for a 20-year supply of pulpwood for the Canton mill. In early 1911, they allied Champion Fibre Company with the interests of William Whitmer & Sons. This northern investment concern controlled the new Champion Lumber Company that owned several vast boundaries of virgin timber in western North Carolina.

On the site where Lake Logan would eventually be impounded, Champion Lumber Company and later the Suncrest Lumber Company operated a large band-saw mill from 1913 until 1925. The village that quickly arose and surrounded the sawmill was named Sunburst, taking the name of Champion Fibre’s original smaller sawmill village located a few miles upstream.

Hundreds of workers called Sunburst home, living in small residences and boarding houses. The village had a hotel, commissary (or company store), barbershop, jailhouse, church, school and other such infra-

structure that afforded a measure of comfort and civilization for the hardworking men and their families living in the mountain wilderness. And, in a matter of just a few years, electrical and telephone services were enjoyed by the citizens of Sunburst.

Railroad tracks linked Sunburst with the many logging camps spread throughout the headwaters of the Pigeon River. Once the timber was processed into pulpwood and lumber at Sunburst, it was hauled a short twelve miles to Canton over the Tennessee & North Carolina Railroad (T&NCRR).

Of course, the pulpwood — spruce, hemlock, chestnut, and other hardwoods — was delivered to Champion Fibre for conversion into pulp and paper. The sawn lumber product was loaded onto the Southern Railroad’s cars and shipped to customers across the east coast of the United States.

Unfortunately, a fire ravaged the Sunburst sawmill in 1920, essentially destroying everything above the mill’s concrete foundations.

Equipment from Suncrest Lumber’s abandoned Crestmont sawmill in northern Haywood County was used to rebuild Sunburst, and it was not long before the band saws were humming again.

In 1931, after years of bitter feuding and legal proceedings, the U.S. government finally took this land, which would eventually become the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As compensation for its precious timberlands, Champion was awarded $3 million.

That same year, the Champion Fibre Company initiated a huge development project at the Canton mill to increase its paper production. The project entailed extensions and new equipment being added to the

The Sunburst property had lain idle after the sawmill equipment was removed and relocated to Waynesville in 1926. After purchasing the site in 1928, Champion occasionally sent crews there to work on cleaning up the littered property, including the remaining heaps of concrete from the building and machinery foundations.

In 1931, with the imminent start-up of the new 242-inch-wide book mill machine — the largest in the world — and using funds from the $3 million settlement, Rueben B.

Above: This photo of the Lake Logan dam construction is looking upstream. It was published in a May 1932 edition of Champion’s “The Log” magazine and reveals how the construction had advanced significantly in just a few months. Below: The July 1933 edition of Champion’s publication “The Log” presented this photo of the new Lake Logan dam and water reserve.

Photos courtesy of Canton Area Historical Museum

IMPOUNDING THE WEST FORK P R

THE “SIT ‘N WHITTLE” HERITAGE

Beater and Finishing rooms, as well as construction of a completely new machine room for installation of the world’s largest “book” paper machine.

The capital required for such a mill expansion was huge, and funding would certainly have been drawn from the $3 million settlement with the U.S. government. Importantly, such a large addition to the mill’s manufacturing facilities would require additional water for the new processes. The water reservoir that Reuben B. Robertson had envisioned at the site of the abandoned Sunburst sawmill village suddenly became crucial in keeping the mill running at full capacity during the extended dry spells.

Robertson set things in motion to construct the new water reservoir. According to company engineer B.S. Colburn Jr., preliminary work was initiated by engineers Charles E. Waddell & Co. out of Asheville in August and September 1931.

Colburn reported in Champion’s monthly news publication, “The Log,” that in August and September Waddell Engineers made surveys of five possible locations for a water impoundment and several others were inspected. “The location at Sunburst was found to be the best, and work was started immediately on the final survey of the dam site and reservoir basin.”

A design was chosen for a single arch, con-

An old Champion publication of “The Log” offers a tantalizing snippet about the naming of the newly impounded lake. Before construction of the dam was completed, it is revealed the new lake was christened “Smith Lake.” This was in accordance with an ancient custom in western North Carolina — since time immemorial, “The Log” states — in giving Indian names to artificial lakes.

The inspiration for the name was the great Cherokee Indian Chief Charlie Smith, “whose spirit still roams through the wilds of North Carolina.” Apparently, the inspiration was short-lived because in less than a year everyone was calling the new impoundment “Lake Logan,” in honor of Logan Thomson who was Champion founder Thomson’s son.

That name has obviously stuck and is the one still associated with the pristine lake puddled on the headwaters of the Pigeon River.

Shortly after Lake Logan was impounded, Robertson began assembling a little village of

Smoky Mountain News

t d - OF THE IGEON IVER - The quest for more water and additional y timber mounted as Champion Fibre added new machinery and increased production at e the Canton mill. Spruce, especially, was a e desired species of wood, and Champion grad- ually assembled a spectacular boundary of r timberlands straddling the North Carolina e and Tennessee border to ensure a supply of h spruce as well as several other varieties of pulpwood.

- By 1927, the paper company had built an s extensive infrastructure in these same timn berlands to harvest the wood. This included a - large sawmill operation at Smokemont, locats ed in Swain County, and many miles of railt road tracks snaking through the forests. But Champion was not the only party holding a t keen interest in those wild lands.

- Large groups of enthusiastic nature lovers in Asheville and Knoxville thought these - same timberlands were better suited for park n land. Spurred on by the activists, legislators d in both North Carolina and Tennessee enactd ed condemnation proceedings to acquire Champion’s 110,000-acres of timberlands.

March 9-15, 2022

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crete dam rising approximately fifty-six feet in height and extending across the lower end of the Sunburst valley, through which the West Fork of the Pigeon River flowed. Almost immediately, Champion Fibre Company’s employees began excavating on each end of the dam where the massive structure would anchor against the mountainsides.

Interestingly, a hydraulic pump was used to remove the soil from the underlying rock by blasting it away with water under high pressure. Once the bare rock was exposed and cleaned, the rock face was drilled in six separate locations with a diamond-core drill to determine the soundness of the rock abutments.

In late 1931, Champion contracted with Smith, Leach and Co., a branch of the W.W. Boxley and Co. of Roanoke, Virginia, to construct the dam. The contractor quickly mobilized and took over the excavation work from Champion Fibre Company’s crews. By the first week in February 1932, approximately 2,000 yards of earth and stone had been removed.

One might expect that the concrete pours would begin as fast as the foundation rock was exposed and cleaned. However, there was another step taken before that happened. The contractor was required to seal all the cracks and openings in the rock below the foundations.

To accomplish this feat, holes were drilled into the rock 15 feet deep. Then, cement was pumped into these holes under a pressure twice that of the water after the lake was filled. Only then, when the cracks and other openings in the rock were tightly sealed, could the concrete foundation pours begin.

Erection of forms and pouring concrete for the new dam began in early February 1932, and the work was completed in the summer of that same year. Soon after that, approximately 600 million gallons of water were impounded behind the new concrete dam, creating an 87-acre water reservoir for Champion Fibre Company.

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However, just five years later, a vast forest fire swept through the high country of the Pigeon headwaters and burned for three weeks. More than 25,000 acres of precious timber, as well as the rail lines accessing it, were destroyed — effectively ending Suncrest Lumber Company’s operations at Sunburst.

During the winter of 1925-1926, the heavily used sawmill equipment at Sunburst was dismantled and hauled to Waynesville, where it was again reassembled and placed into operation at the “sawmill bottom” (near today’s Waynesville Plaza).

Over the next couple of years, the once active Sunburst village became deserted. Yet, the T&NCRR remained in service, supporting a daily bus service for those people living between Canton and Sunburst.

The Sunburst timberlands owned by Suncrest Lumber — approximately 36,000 acres — were sold to Sherwood Forest Inc. in 1926. However, the sale did not include the property on which the abandoned Sunburst sawmill and village sat.

By then, Champion Fibre Company’s Reuben B. Robertson was already concerned about his pulp and paper mill’s water supply problem. Undoubtedly, he had been studying and trying to decide where to build a water reservoir and had his eye on that remaining Suncrest Lumber tract.

The property not only included 125-acres of land surrounding the West Fork of the Pigeon River, but it was also still connected to Canton by a railroad. Robertson surely realized the railroad would be invaluable for a major dam project, offering a means to haul workmen, equipment and materials to the construction site. It could also be useful in hauling away the excavated soil and rock.

In 1928, three years after the logging and sawmill operation at Sunburst shut down, Reuben B. Robertson purchased the 125-acre Sunburst tract from Suncrest Lumber , Company.

S EE LOGAN, PAGE 10 9

LOGAN, CONTINUED FROM 9

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March 9-15, 2022

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log structures on the lake’s shoreline, reforesting the surrounding mountainsides, and stocking the lake and streams with bounties of trout. Several old log cabins were relocated from surrounding counties and the newly established Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Robertson’s own private cabin became known as Sit ‘N Whittle, and it along with the entire compound of lodges and lake properties soon became a place of unparalleled beauty and the nucleus for Champion’s company retreat.

Employee gatherings of all sorts were held at Lake Logan, including management and foremen’s meetings, graduation ceremonies for vocational trainees and apprentices, assemblies to honor Champion employees, gatherings of old-timers, and on and on. In the early years, these groups typically rallied in the parking area behind the Champion YMCA in Canton and were transported to and from Lake Logan in company buses.

Local civic clubs, women’s associations, hunting and fishing clubs, and various other organizations were also able to enjoy the Lake Logan facilities, where nature’s beauty and comfort were always on display. In 1933, for example, the lake property was leased for a five-year period to the Lake Logan Hunting and Fishing Club, a new organization of Haywood County sportsmen which included Reuben B. Robertson’s son, Reuben B. Robertson, Jr. Club members gained fishing and boating rights at Lake Logan where fish were reported to be “unusually abundant.”

Over the years, Lake Logan became one of the premier destination resorts in Western North Carolina. To accommodate the growing number of guests, Champion built many additional facilities around the lake. A paved airstrip added in the mid-1950’s made it possible for guests, company officials, and customers to fly into Lake Logan on Champion’s private airplanes. There were many notable public figures entertained at Lake Logan over the years, including the Rev. Billy Graham, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon, George Bush, and Carl Schenck to name just a few.

In the 1960s, however, significant changes within Champion Paper and Fibre Company’s organizational structure began to take place. It has been suggested that these changes actually initiated a movement away from the paternalistic management environment which had existed at the Canton paper mill since its early origins.

Reuben B. Robertson, Jr., President of Champion Paper and Fibre Company, was killed in an automobile accident in 1960.

Soon after that tragic event, his father Reuben Sr., asked to be relieved of the company chairmanship responsibility. Then, in 1966, the local Champion workers voted to unionize for the first time in the company’s history.

Each of these events — and others — not only impacted the company’s management structure and the employee relations at the Canton industrial facility but the climate at nearby Lake Logan also began to transform, or chill. Upon Reuben B. Robertson Sr’s. passing in 1972, his beloved retreat gradually lost its appeal as a place of relaxation and comfort.

10 The notion of sitting in a rocking chair and

whittling away with members of the Robertson family was gone. Instead, for the next two decades, Lake Logan simply continued to be a handy venue for Champion to host employee meetings and entertain customers.

A NEW HERITAGE BEGINS Drastic ownership transfers impacted Lake Logan beginning in the late 1990s. It was then that Champion International sold its Canton and Waynesville paper-making facilities along with the Lake Logan property to the mill employees. In the year 2000, Lake Logan was divested to the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina for its present use as a conference center, while the surrounding timberland was acquired by the North Carolina Land Conservancy and transferred to State and Federal ownership.

Beginning in 2001, the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina began developing the Lake Logan property into a camp and conference center designed to accommodate a wide variety of groups. At that time, construction of the Bishop Robert Johnson Dining Hall began, as well as the refurbishment of the Lodge and several historic cabins.

Lake Logan Episcopal Center opened the doors in the summer of 2002, welcoming Camp Henry to its new home. Since then, Camp Henry has taken place at Lake Logan annually and has carried on the legacy of faith, friendship, community, and environmental stewardship.

Grandparents and parents who attended Camp Henry are now seeing the same joy, transformation, and growth that they experienced in their youth on the faces of today’s campers. In 2016, the name was changed to Lake Logan Conference Center and Camp Henry Inc. Today, the property hosts thousands of people each year for retreats, recreation, reunions, outdoor education, artist gatherings, sporting and music events, and — of course — summer camp.

A PERSONAL CONNECTION WITH THE LAKE LOGAN STORY In the mid-1970s and fresh out of college, I started my own professional career with Champion at the Canton mill. One of the first engineering assignments that came my way was to survey the depths of the water at Lake Logan. More water storage was apparently required and it had been determined the lake was practically filled up with sediment.

A co-worker and I measured the depth of the lake at many points and plotted the data on a map. Using this information, the amount of sediment that could be removed from the lake bottom was determined and a project developed to dredge the lake. Upon approval of project funding, Lake Logan was drained and a local contractor hired to excavate and haul the material away.

Surprisingly, and intriguingly for this history enthusiast, several old concrete foundations were uncovered at the upper end of the lake. It turned out these were the remains of the original sawmill that had been located there. The Champion crews tasked with cleaning-up and removing what was left of the old

Above: Reuben B. Robertson assembled several old log structures on the Lake Logan property after the lake was impounded in 1932. He was especially proud of the one shown here, which became his and wife Hope’s own quarters. They named the lodge Sit ‘N Whittle. Below: When Lake Logan was drained for sediment removal in 1955, many remaining foundations from the old Sunburst sawmill were exposed, seen in this photo. Photos courtesy of Canton Area Historical Museum

Sunburst village and sawmill in the late 1920s had left these huge concrete artifacts in place.

And that is exactly what I instructed our modern-day excavation contractor to do — leave the old concrete foundations alone! We left them for the next generation of young engineers or archaeologists to discover.

Another project awarded to me in those early days when my engineering experience was extremely raw was to install flashboards along the top of Lake Logan’s dam. It was yet another measure to increase the volume of water impounded behind the dam by increasing its height.

We simply installed short pipe columns along the concrete dam’s crest and attached sturdy wooden boards — called flashboards — to them. The dam height was raised a couple of feet or so with the flashboards, thus increasing the volume of water impounded behind it by many millions of gallons.

A decade or so after these early Champion ventures of mine at Lake Logan, another project at the Canton mill came along that was indirectly related to the Lake Logan water reservoir. This one was a little larger in scope and held a much higher level of importance.

Previous assignments in Brazil and Pensacola, Florida, building new paper mill facilities had seasoned me for this much larg-

er challenge. I was asked to lead the Canton Modernization Project, a $300 million engineering and construction endeavor having the manifest goal of bringing the Canton paper mill into compliance with the latest air and water discharge permit requirements.

One of the most challenging requirements was to reduce the daily amount of water usage from more than 50 million gallons per day to approximately 30 million gallons per day. Engineers analyzed every use of water in the mill, and many modifications were made to the pulping and paper-making processes to achieve the required reductions.

The fact that the mill succeeded in achieving this water reduction goal, along with meeting the other water and air permit requirements, is something this local Canton boy will never forget.

Local author Carroll C. Jones was born and raised in the papermill town of Canton, located in the heart of western North Carolina’s mountains. He is descended from the Hargrove, Cathey, Shook, Moore, and Crymes families who pioneered Haywood County. His latest book is titled Thomson’s Pulp Mill: Building the Champion Fibre Company at Canton, N.C.— 1905 to 1908. Find out more about Carroll’s books at carrolljones.weebly.com.

One of the most beautiful places in western North Carolina is Lake Logan, located approximately twelve miles from Canton on Hwy. 215. Lauri SoJourner photo

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“We were poised to have a banner year … and then those few weeks were like punch after punch.

And this was before we knew what kind of government support or donors we might have, so it was devastating.”

— Lake Logan Executive Director Lauri SoJourner on the pandemic shutdown

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“Being able to live in such a beautiful place outweighs any inconveniences,” she said.

The retreat center has three major focuses from year to year: the retreat center, Camp Henry and most recently, the outdoor school.

SoJourner said one of the challenges with the camp is the public highway that runs right through the middle of the property.

“Safety is our main concern, and we also want to keep the feel of a retreat center even though there are multiple access points and a road running through,” she said.

Another hurdle has been balancing public access with preservation of the land,

Just two years ago, Camp Henry shifted from only having a director during the summer to hiring a full-time employee. This has enabled the growth of the outdoor school, which offers an alternative education for middle and high school students while still meeting curriculum standards put forward by the state. Kids learn about astronomy by standing out under the stars, ecology by venturing out into the woods and history from local Cherokee storytellers.

Like just about everyone else in that part of Haywood County, Lake Logan suffered damage during the catastrophic flooding wrought by the remnants of Tropical Storm Fred last August. While SoJourner said the lake didn’t suffer nearly as bad as folks on the East Fork of the Pigeon River in the Cruso area, several staff dealt with damage to their property, the boat house flooded and the dock washed away.

Replacing the dock will be more expensive than originally thought.

“At first I was thinking, oh, it’ll be maybe $25,000, but it is $64,000,” SoJourner said.

“We have raised all but $18,000 of that.”

The dock will be delivered in about a week, meaning there’s a time crunch to raise the rest of that money.

SoJourner said that in the future, she hopes to continue to become even more outreach-focused and develop an environment that is welcoming to all people of all faiths.

This includes building more facilities for lodging and dining, and perhaps maybe even a welcome center right off the main road.

March 9-15, 2022

BY KYLE PERROTTI N EWS E DITOR ake Logan has come a long way since the Episcopal Church purchased the property in 2000.

Back then, the diocese took on a tremendous amount of debt to secure the retreat center and upgrade its infrastructure to accommodate more visitors — debt that has only been paid off in the last couple of years.

While Executive Director Lauri SoJourner was thrilled to be debt-free, she lamented that the occasion was marred by pandemic shutdowns.

“It was sad because we started our last big campaign to retire the debt before COVID, and we were intending to have a big celebration, but we were never able to,” SoJourner said.

Paying down large amounts of debt and enduring pandemics have been among several challenges the retreat center has met since SoJourner came on the job in June of 2017 after leaving a position she’d held for a decade as the Executive Director of Gravatt Camp and Conference Center near Aiken, South Carolina.

SoJourner said the change from the swampy South Carolina lowlands to the mountains of Western North Carolina was a welcome relief, at least when it came to the climate although there was a bit of an adjustment for her four kids when it came to the lack of cell phone service at the lake.

However, she said her family has since grown to love the place they now call home.

along with its accommodations and amenities. SoJourner said she wants local people to feel welcome and enjoy the property, but that it should be in the right way. The solution has been to provide day passes and season memberships.

The obvious challenge that’s plagued everyone for two years now has been the pandemic. SoJourner admitted she initially thought people who were canceling reservations as the virus became more prevalent in the United States were overreacting. As the government shutdowns began, the reality hit home.

“I had to lay off all the staff,” SoJourner said. “That was the worst day of my career.”

“We were poised to have a banner year … and then those few weeks were like punch after punch,” she added. “And this was before we knew what kind of government support or donors we might have, so it was devastating.”

While many summer camps shut down entirely, Camp Henry was still operational, although drastically scaled down, offering smaller sessions featuring only about a dozen campers. In addition, everything that could be done outside was. Camp Henry had no known spread of the virus during that time.

“It was amazing because the kids needed it and we needed it,” she said. “It was so good for the soul of the staff just to have people here.”

Last year, the camp operated at 75% capacity, and SoJourner hopes it’ll be fully operational this summer.

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Lake Logan addresses challenges, looks toward future

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WCU sets new legislative goals

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ollowing November’s passage of the “best budget in a decade” for the University of North Carolina System, Western Carolina University has a clean slate for a new wish list. Chancellor Kelli R. Brown presented trustees with the highlights March 4 — an expanded engineering program, salary increases for employees and merit scholarships for in-state students.

“WCU’s next legislative agenda reflects the priorities that we must address in the months and years to come,” Brown said. “It is imperative that we position WCU to meet the educational needs of our region and state.”

For years, WCU’s conversations with legislators were a continuing refrain of requests for money to replace its aging steam plant and build a new natural sciences building to succeed the decrepit monstrosity whose many faults included an air system that caused the structure to vibrate so significantly that sensitive scientific instruments were rendered useless. Eventually, those efforts yielded fruit. Now the new Tom Apodaca Natural Sciences Building is open for classes and the steam plant replacement scheduled for completion in October.

Smoky Mountain News

March 9-15, 2022

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ENGINEERING, THE NEW ‘STEAM PLANT’ In a July tour of campus with UNC System President Peter Hans, university administrators joked that the Moore Building would be the “new steam plant” as they announced their intention to seek funds to renovate the nearly 100-year-old structure, the oldest on campus. But in November, Gov. Roy Cooper signed a budget that included $35.5 million for those renovations, as well as funding for all the other items on WCU’s legislative agenda at the time.

“We must now shift our attention to one of the region’s greatest educational needs — engineering,” Brown said. “WCU is home to the only public college of engineering in North Carolina west of I-77.”

That’s an area that includes nearly a third of North Carolina’s 100 counties, Brown pointed out.

A document trustees received outlining the university’s new legislative priorities pointed to aircraft engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney’s 2020 announcement that it intends to open a manufacturing facility in Buncombe County. Initial estimates point to a payroll of

Built in 1968, the Belk Building, where the College of Engineering and Technology is currently housed, is no longer adequate for a 21st-century engineering program, Western Carolina University administrators say. Holly Kays photo more than $55 million and the need to hire 800 employees with an engineering background, according to the WCU document.

“Business and industry in Western North Carolina are crying out for more engineers, and WCU is well positioned to deliver,” Brown said.

However, WCU’s existing College of Engineering and Technology is housed in the 1968 Belk Building, whose age and deferred maintenance issues render it “obsolete” for a 21st-century engineering program, the document says.

As a result, WCU is requesting $80 million — along with $2 million more for planning — to either conduct a large-scale renovation of the existing building or build a completely new structure. It also wants to

expand its existing engineering programs, including adding robotics and automation concentrations. WCU is asking for $3.5 million to renovate and expand its labs and purchase new equipment, plus another $3.5 million in recurring funding for instructional and professional support staff.

“You will likely hear engineering become the new ‘steam plant,’ so get used to it,” said Brown. “Engineering, engineering, engineering.”

HIGHER SALARIES, MORE SCHOLARSHIPS

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WCU will also continue to seek higher salaries for its faculty and staff.

Cherokee exploring dorm housing for casino workers

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER s the labor shortage at Harrah’s Cherokee Casinos continues to worsen, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is considering dormitory-style employee housing that would allow it to bring in foreign workers on temporary H2B visas to support its cash cow.

“We have to do what’s necessary to support the one enterprise that’s paying all the bills for everything,” Principal Chief Richard Sneed told Tribal Council March 3, asking for approval to purchase the property proposed as the project site.

The 9.5-acre property, currently owned by enrolled member Morgan Owle Crisp, is a “relatively level grassy field” bordered by Don Lambert Road to the east and Casino Trail to the south, with forested property to the north and west, according to a geotechnical report Sneed presented Council last week. In July 2021, the parcel appraised for $2.6 million, according to the proposed resolution, but Crisp was willing to sell for $2.5 million.

However, after an at-times contentious exchange it became clear that, given the results of the geotechnical report, Tribal Council was not going to approve the purchase at the price proposed. Sneed withdrew the legislation to renegotiate with the proper-

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ty owner. However, he told Council, it’s imperative that they do something to address the casino’s labor shortage — and soon.

“Competition is now here. It’s in Charlotte,” he said, referencing the July 2021 opening of the Catawba Two Kings Casino owned by the Catawba Indian Nation. “We can either invest in the enterprise that’s paying all the bills to give it the support it needs, or don’t. But know that there will be consequences for not doing so.”

‘A LOT OF OPEN POSITIONS’ During the summer of 2019 — before the pandemic and before completion of the Cherokee casino’s fourth hotel tower and new convention center — the Cherokee location carried about 200 open positions and Valley River had 60-70. By July 2021, those numbers had doubled for existing operations, with an additional 200 positions related to the upcoming expansion bringing the total number of openings in Cherokee to 600.

Now, Valley River has 90 open positions and Cherokee 789. On top of that, the tribe is carrying 135 open positions with an additional 35 positions frozen. The Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority is currently advertising 75 jobs.

“That’s a lot of open positions,” said Sneed.

There’s not much local workforce left to pull from, and an intractable housing market means that it’s more difficult than ever for people to relocate to Western North Carolina for a job in Cherokee.

Workforce issues are the reason the tribe never built the much-discussed water park complex, said Sneed. Such a facility would have required an additional 250 full-time positions, and tribal leaders knew it would be near impossible to fill them given all the other casino expansion plans in the works.

The undeveloped property Sneed — on behalf of the Lands Acquisition Committee, which he chairs — asked Council to purchase is located close to the casino and would be an ideal place to house workers, multiple members of Council agreed.

SOIL STABILITY CONCERNS However, further site analysis revealed issues with soil stability and land usability that concerned members of Council.

The site is home to a significant amount of construction fill soil. The geotechnical analysis, which Sneed presented, stated that the soils were tested at two-foot increments 10 feet deep, and that fill soils were well compacted with the trace amounts of construction debris present falling within tolerable

limits. The report made various recommendations for construction, testing and observation to safely build on the area — but noted that without completely removing and replacing the existing fill soil, it would be impossible to eliminate the risk of soil settlement, which could cause safety issues for any structures built there.

“Even with the recommended observation taken into construction it is possible that unsuitable bearing existing fill may go undetected,” said an additional section of the report that Yellowhill Rep. T.W. Saunooke read. “The acceptance of the risk lies solely with the owner.”

Saunooke, who has 25 years of experience in the construction industry, recalled a specific project he was part of in which a contractor was paid to haul trash dirt from the site and dump it on the property in question.

“There’s no way that we should be putting a multi-story facility on top of that without excavating it out and taking out the trash dirt,” he said.

That would cost something like $750,000, Saunooke estimated, and the purchase price should account for that cost.

Additionally, he said, the price tag should account for the fact that about 3 of the 9.5 acres are not usable for construction.

About 1.07 of the 9.5 acres is actual-

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ing out of the room moments afterward.

Later in the meeting, Sneed addressed McCoy’s assertion that the tribe should lay off housing projects for non-enrolled people until it finishes helping its own members.

The tribe must champion both kinds of projects, he said, and it has been doing so. Sneed told Council that the Department of Housing made 70 families homeowners last fiscal year, the highest single-year number in more than three decades. The tribe currently has 149 low-income rental units and 160 market-rate units, with ongoing projects bringing 64 additional units to the finish line. Other projects in the pipeline will bring roughly 1,000 additional units online over the next five years or so.

“This is not an either-or proposition,” said Sneed. “We must do both. If we choose not to, there will be consequences for choosing not to — that’s all I’m saying. So it’s a business decision.”

Most Council members seemed to agree that expanded workforce housing is a must if the tribe’s casino enterprise is to thrive. But they also balked at the proposed price given the issues with soil stability and floodplain lines. The body voted unanimously to withdraw the resolution, giving Sneed and the Lands Acquisition Committee a chance to renegotiate the price and bring a new version forward at a future Council meeting.

“It just needs to be renegotiated down,” said Saunooke. “$2.5 (million) is just, it’s unacceptable.”

BALANCING HOUSING EFFORTS Big Cove Rep. Teresa McCoy followed Saunooke’s comments with a fiery exchange with Sneed that at times turned personal, berating him for supporting a workforce housing project like the one proposed while tribal members still wait for housing opportunities.

“I will not sit here as a Council member of this tribe and raise my hand to support housing for anybody but our people and our tribal members,” said McCoy, accusing Sneed of championing the project to benefit himself and his friends. Sneed replied that he was presenting the resolution as chair of the Lands Acquisition Committee, which had voted unanimously to pursue the project.

“The idea that somehow this is my project, it’s not true,” he said. “So I take offense to that.”

“I take offense to you,” said McCoy, walk-

Empty Bowls Thursday, March 24

at Long’s Chapel UMC, Clyde

General Admission 5:30-8:00PM VIP Admission optional 5:00PM Join Us for a Meal to Help Fight Hunger & Homelessness in Our Community!

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ttendees select a bowl handcrafted by local artists and enjoy a meal of various soups, bread and dessert provided by local restaurants. VOTE for your favorite soup! This year, Fuego will be defending their title! The bowl guests take home serves as a reminder of all of the empty bowls in our community as well as the warm hearts that work to fill them.

TICKETS

All are Advance Purchase Only VIP Supporter (Exclusive Choice of Bowls): $40 General Supporter: $30 • VIP Reserve Table (for 6): $500

TO PURCHASE TICKETS Visit haywoodpathwayscenter.org Come by 179 Hemlock Street in Waynesville. 828-246-0332 or david@haywoodpathways.org

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ly a state road, not buildable land. Another two acres are in the floodway, Saunooke said.

“The price has got to come way down to make it economical for us to even be able to move forward with it,” he said.

Vice Chairman Albert Rose, who also sits on the Lands Acquisition Committee, said that despite initially voting to move forward with the purchase, he can’t support it at the proposed price given what he knows now.

“You don’t want to buy it and put $750,00 into it,” he said. “You want to buy it and be able to be pad ready.”

Haywood Pathways Center’s 4th Annual

March 9-15, 2022

means to provide students with a high-caliber academic profile that it’s an attractive option to study here in Western North Carolina.”

Other schools are luring away WNC’s best and brightest with prestigious scholarships, out-of-state waivers and other significant award packages. University leadership has heard from prospective students who say they would have gone to WCU if they hadn’t received such an attractive award package elsewhere.

For example, Eastern Tennessee State University offers in-state tuition to students in certain counties bordering Tennessee and even allows them to be considered for instate scholarships.

To combat such challenges, WCU wants to create 25 annual scholarships for highperforming students that would cover tuition, fees, room, board, books, supplies, travel, summer opportunities, internships, study abroad opportunities and a university laptop. Candidates would need to have a weighted high school GPA of 4.0 or higher, as well as demonstrated leadership and service. While at WCU, they would be required to maintain a 3.5 GPA and participate in leadership and service opportunities.

“The more students in this tier of academic success who choose to study in Cullowhee, the more likely they will be able to remain in the area after graduation, offsetting the brain drain that has plagued the region and the environments in which the business and industry have been forced to recruit employees from other locales,” said Brown.

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The 2021 state budget made progress on what has been a perennially challenging issue for WCU, providing a 2.5% raise for 2021-2022 along with bonuses of up to $1,500 and another 2.5% in 2022-23. The consensus on campus is that it’s a step in the right direction, but far from enough.

“University employees are thrilled that the state is giving us a raise,” Faculty Senate Chair Laura Wright told trustees during their Dec. 4, 2021, meeting. “But — you knew I was going to do this — this is a great start and only a start. As my economist colleagues let me know, over the next two years, this 5% increase will be lower than inflation.”

In addition to the state-funded salary increases, said Brown, WCU allocated $1.7 million of its own money to address pay issues. But it needs more help from the legislature. According to the legislative priority document, the school continues to feel external pressure from other universities and private sector businesses who seek to hire away qualified faculty and staff. In some areas — including health programs, campus police, information technology and housekeeping — turnover is compromising essential campus services.

Therefore, WCU is requesting salary increases for its employees “at a rate that is equitable with other state employees.”

The school also wants help for its students — $3 million in recurring funding to fuel 25 scholarships for first-time, full-time, in-state students.

“WCU has been at the forefront of college affordability and access,” said Brown. “To maintain that position, we must have the

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The Team

Basil Green Pea Hummus

March 9-15, 2022

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Graphic Designer Jessica Murray (from left), SMN News Editor Jessi Stone, Staff Writer Hannah McLeod, Digital Media Specialist Susanna Shetley and Amanda Singletary (not pictured)

·HANNAH MCLEOD·

asil Green Pea Hummus is a light and refreshing take on typical hummus. It is made in the same style as traditional hummus using garlic, tahini, lemon juice and chickpeas, but the addition of basil and green peas make this version a bit lighter in texture and brighter in flavor. Next time you go to make hummus for sandwiches, veggie snacks or even a charcuterie board, give this one a try. Enjoy!

Hummus is an Arabic word meaning chickpea. Recipes for Hummus bi Tahini (chickpeas with tahini) began appearing in Arabic cookbooks around the 13th Century, but the dish likely dates back much further. Cultures in Israel, the Arabian Peninsula, Lebanon and even Greece all claim Hummus as an invention of their own. No one can be sure where the dish originated, but there is no debate about the culinary and cultural importance of Hummus in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Ingredients

Directions

• 1 can chickpeas (plus 2 tbsp liquid in can)

1. In a food processor or blender,

• 1 can green peas

combine garlic, basil and olive oil until basil and garlic are finely crushed.

Rumble is a weekly e-newsletter created by women, for women and about women. It is published by The Smoky Mountain News and delivered to your inbox each Thursday. The goal is to offer readers a beautifully curated email that will inspire and motivate women to live their best lives. By hearing the challenges and successes of other women, we hope you will find an opportunity to live, love, learn and grow in your own unique way.

• ⅓ cup lemon juice Smoky Mountain News

• ⅓ cup olive oil

2. Add chickpeas, plus reserved liquid,

• 1 tbsp tahini

peas, lemon juice, tahini and pinch of

• 3 garlic cloves

salt. Blend until smooth. Taste and

• 1 bunch basil leaves

season with more salt if needed.

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tagious smile, big heart and never die attitude, never met a stranger character,” the obituary reads. “He told amazing stories and always had a laugh to share. Fly High Our Little Ol’ Limpet Denadagohvyo.”

Sneed faces three charges: seconddegree homicide, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and inflicting serious injury, and aggravated reckless endangerment. A hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m.

Tuesday, March 29, at the Cherokee Rider Lucas Sneed. Courthouse.

Because the tribal court can imprison offenders for a maximum of only three years per offense, with a maximum of nine years for three offenses, the case may be referred to the U.S. District Court in Asheville for prosecution. Tribal law outlines a maximum sentence of three years apiece for both second-degree homicide and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and inflicting serious injury, and a maximum of one year for aggravated reckless endangerment, with associated maximum fines also outlined for each crime.

Prosecutors in the relevant jurisdictions will consider the facts of the case and determine the best venue for prosecution.

Swimmer sentenced for 2018 murder taining massive brain injuries. His official cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.

“Swimmer’s unprovoked and brutal attack caused the victim’s violent and untimely death,” said U.S. Attorney Dena J. King. “I commend the FBI and the Cherokee Indian Police Department for their investigative efforts in this case, which led to today’s lengthy sentence.”

An obituary published in The Cherokee One Feather describes West, 39, as a master carpenter and roofer who was “one of the most genuine, kind, absolutely hilarious and coolest people to be around.” West left behind a wife and two children.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Pritchard and Alexis Solheim of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville prosecuted the case.

Swimmer remains in federal custody. He will be transferred to the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

— Holly Kays, Staff writer

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A Cherokee man was sentenced to more than 30 years in prison after being found guilty of second-degree murder by a federal jury. Shane McKinley Swimmer, 22, will also have to serve eight years of supervised probation following his release from 365 months in prison.

Swimmer, an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, committed the murder on Nov. 10, 2018, when he was at the home of his uncle Charles Ray “Chino” West on Rocky Knob Trail in Swain County. Trial evidence established that shortly before 7 p.m., Swimmer attacked his uncle with a baseball bat, striking him in the head multiple times.

Afterward, Swimmer went to a nearby family member’s home and announced that West was dead before calling 911. Officers with the Cherokee Indian Police Department arrested Swimmer shortly thereafter.

According to witness testimony, West was struck between eight and 30 times, sus-

• • • • •

March 9-15, 2022

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER Cherokee man is being held without bond after allegedly shooting two people outside McDonald’s in Cherokee on Friday, Feb. 25.

According to a complaint filed in tribal court Saturday, Feb. 26, the alleged incident occurred at about 11:22 p.m. Feb. 25 in the McDonald’s parking lot at 748 Casino Trail.

Rider Lucas Sneed, 20, of Cherokee, is accused of firing a semi-automatic handgun, resulting in the death of 43-year-old Chase Crowe and serious injury to John Wayne Malpass, Jr., both of Cherokee.

“On the date and time of the offense, the defendant did cause the death of the victim, Chase Crowe, by firing a semi-auto handgun and striking the victim about the body, causing serious bodily injuries, which resulted in the victims’ death,” according to the criminal complaint filed in tribal court.

Further, court documents allege, “the defendant did discharge a semi-auto handgun in a public vehicle area of business (McDonald’s), which a fired projectile did strike the victim (Malpass) in the neck causing serious bodily injury.”

A Feb. 26 press release from the Cherokee Indian Police Department states that Malpass was airlifted to Mission Hospital in Asheville for treatment.

According to his obituary, Crowe left behind eight children, three grandchildren, eight nieces and nephews and one greatnephew. He enjoyed fixing mopeds and automobiles, was an avid guitar player who composed his own songs, founded the Moped Meanies and ran a mechanic shop out of his home.

“Chase will be remembered for his con-

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Cherokee man faces homicide charge

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Smoky Mountain News

March 9-15, 2022

news

DWAC will hold downtown Waynesville events – except for one

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A subcommittee of the new Downtown Waynesville Advisory Committee (DWAC) met last week to kick-start a full slate of summer, fall and winter events for the rest of 2022. However the vaunted Church Street Art & Craft show isn’t one of them.

“We’ll leave that one to them, for now,” DWAC Executive Director Beth Gilmore said of the old Downtown Waynesville Association’s plan to run the event.

Alex McKay, chair of the DWAC events committee, led members through a March 3 meeting during which the traditional downtown events hosted by the old DWA were discussed.

The DWA’s contract to manage the town’s municipal service district wasn’t renewed last fall after mismanagement finally caught up with the 35-year-old institution, so if the events are to continue, the DWAC will have to execute them.

Waynesville’s popular downtown block parties, usually held before Memorial Day and in early September, will continue.

So will the street dances, which haven’t taken place since the Coronavirus Pandemic put an end to large gatherings throughout 2020 and 2021. Tentative dates for these dances, called by Appalachian legend Joe Sam Queen, are June 24, July 8, July 22 and Aug. 7.

“Everyone loves the street dances,” Gilmore said, adding that she took a num-

ber of phone calls last year asking about the event.

The July 4 festivities will also return, including a kids parade during the day, and a concert during the afternoon.

Treats on the Street will take place on Halloween, which is on a Monday this year.

The Christmas parade is scheduled for Dec. 5. Members of the events committee indicated a desire to hold a tree lighting ceremony, but were struggling with a location.

The committee was also considering taking on the Art After Dark series, because Gilmore said the Haywood County Arts Council, traditional organizers of the event, couldn’t pull it off this year.

Despite a late start in planning and a change in management, the events scheduled for 2022 could serve as a springboard for expanded programming in 2023; Gilmore expressed concern that there may not be enough time to execute new events, but that doesn’t mean they’re not thinking ahead.

Mentioned were a monthly live music series or summer concert series, a St. Patrick’s Day event and a previously considered Black Bear festival. At least some of the new events would benefit greatly from the “social district” concept currently being explored by the Waynesville Board of Aldermen. If enacted, the district would allow on-street alcohol consumption under

tightly controlled parameters.

The DWAC events committee also established a permanent meeting schedule,

in town hall on the first Thursday of each month, beginning at 8:30 a.m.

— Cory Vaillancourt, Politics Editor

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Smoky Mountain News

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR month ago, Haywood Emergency Medical Services Director Travis Donaldson pleaded with Haywood County commissioners to adjust schedules and raise staffing levels. Last Monday, commissioners gave Donaldson what he’d been asking for, in a unanimous vote.

On Feb. 7, Donaldson told commissioners that aggressive 24-hours on, 48-hours off shift schedules put EMS personnel at greater risk of a litany of life-threatening conditions like sleep disorders, PTSD, anxiety, depression, substance abuse and suicide.

Working through the Coronavirus Pandemic and last year’s devastating flooding, amid an ever-increasing call volume driven by population growth, had only exacerbated the issue.

Donaldson asked commissioners to facilitate a move to 24-hours on, 72-hours off scheduling in order to give EMS personnel more time to rest and decompress from what’s already a stressful job. Giving existing personnel more time off would necessitate hiring seven additional full-time employees to ensure adequate coverage.

After Monday’s decision by commissioners, all remaining 24/48 shifts will be converted to 24/72. The change will take time to implement, according to Donaldson, who said the transition should be complete by June.

The change would also cut down on the amount of mandatory overtime issued by Haywood EMS; if the changes were implemented today, there would only be around 500 hours in the month of March as opposed to 900.

Commissioner Jennifer Best initially asked to table the issue, and said that while she was in support of Donaldson’s request, she was concerned about those who rely on overtime to fatten their paychecks.

“What makes me nervous about it is that we have a handful, it’s not very many, but we have a handful of tenured EMS department employees that would see a pay decrease,” said Best. “I’m 100% on board that the new shift would be a better shift for their wellbeing, but I don’t want to negatively impact someone’s income based on timing.”

Donaldson said that there was still plenty of overtime to be had for those who wanted it. He was also confident that Haywood EMS, which typically hires full-time employees from its pool of part-timers, would be able to fill the seven positions.

“There’s a lot of work to be done within EMS,” Donaldson said. “I’m going to be talking to you [commissioners] a lot in the next few years, trying to keep us caught up and moving forward … to keep our employees happy and safe and still being able to serve the public as efficiently and safely as possible is going to be a big drive going forward.”

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Smoky Mountain News March 9-15, 2022

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Temporary home for Central Haywood High School permanent location to establish the school.

“A relocation to central elementary would allow them to have full classroom space, it would allow them to have a cafeteria, it would allow them to have a gym and

structure.

During the special-called meeting, school board member Jim Francis brought up the issue of transportation, asking Putnam whether additional transportation would be

ample outside area to spread out and enjoy the school experience,” said Putnam.

Finding a new, permanent home for Central Haywood High School could take several years. The school system is currently in an exploration phase to determine a relocation site. According to Putnam, FEMA may possibly pay for the structure but will not pay for the purchase of property for a

needed from the Canton side of the county to get Central Haywood students to the Central Elementary building.

“We certainly will, and those adjustments will just have to be made,” said Putnam. “I’m sure that routes will have mileage added to them, I’m sure there will be longer travel times. But in the end, I feel like it is worthwhile for those kids.”

Needs-based capital fund grants expanded for schools HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER

“Spend $2 million to get $40 million, I believe that’s a good buy,” said Haywood County Schools Board of Education Chairman Chuck Francis.

Buchanan is writing grants for three projects that are most needed in Jackson County Schools — cafeteria and classroom space at Fairview Elementary; ADA upgrades to Smoky Mountain High School Stadium; and gym, performance and classroom space at Blue Ridge School.

The total estimated cost for the Fairview cafeteria and classroom project is over $8 million. The matching amount required from the county would be just over $400,000. The estimated cost for the ADA upgrades to Smoky Mountain High School Stadium is more than $7 million and would require $350,000 from the county commission. Estimated cost for the Blue Ridge School gym, performance space and classrooms is over $14 million and would require a match of over $700,000 from the county.

Project costs were estimated according to the structure recommended by the Department of Public Instruction; $309 per square foot for classroom space, $500 per square foot for larger area spaces, and 5% inflation per year for project timeline.

The total matching request for Jackson County on these three capital projects is $1,494,121 and could result in almost $30 million of grant funding for Jackson County Schools. Jackson County Commissioners approved the match request at their March 1 meeting.

Smoky Mountain News

The Needs-Based Public Schools Capital Fund Grant Program was established as part of the education lottery in the 2017-18 state budget to provide more money in lottery funds for school construction in high-need counties. This year, the criteria to be eligible for these grants has expanded widely to include almost all counties in the state due to a surplus of funds.

Previously, NBPSCF grants were only available to tier 1 counties. The North Carolina Department of Commerce ranks counties each year based on economic well-being and assigns them a Tier designation. The Tier system is incorporated into various state programs dealing with economic activity. The 40 most distressed counties are designated as Tier 1, the next 40 as Tier 2 and the 20 least distressed as Tier 3. Haywood, Macon and Jackson Counties are all Tier 2 this year, while Swain is Tier 1.

“We have not traditionally been eligible for these because they were needs-based, and they tended to only be eligible for districts that were far poorer than Jackson County,” said Associate Superintendent of Jackson County Schools, Jake Buchanan during a Feb. 22 budget work session. “They opened it up for eligibility to be much wider and it is a matching grant. So, we’re able to apply for these funds as long as county commissioners pledge a 5% match if we’re awarded these grants.”

Though the NBPSCF grants have been restricted to Tier 1

counties in the past, this year all counties in the state, save Buncombe, Guilford, Mecklenburg and Wake, are able to apply for the needs-based grants.

Grant funding can only be used for construction of new school buildings, additions, repairs and renovations; they may not be used for property acquisition or capital improvements to administration buildings.

During a special-called meeting last week, Haywood County Schools Associate Superintendent Trevor Putnam informed his county’s school board that administration had designated Canton Middle School as the focus of this grant opportunity.

“The main building was built in the 1930s,” said Putnam.

“The real problem at Canton Middle is it cannot be renovated in the interior. Many of the walls are load-bearing, and renovating just doesn’t gain you more suitable classroom space. So, it just makes sense that Canton Middle is the one designated.”

The maximum grant request for a new middle school is $40 million. As part of the approval process, Haywood County Commissioners would have to agree to a 5% match of $2 million for the project.

According to Putnam, lots of scenarios are being considered for a new Canton Middle School. Some of those scenarios include a demolition and rebuilding on a similar site to where the school sits now, others include land exploration and complete relocation of the school.

March 9-15, 2022

tions to the new Central Office Administration building are almost finished and administration plans to begin moving into the new building within the next month.

The IT department will remain at Central Elementary, occupying the right wing of the building if one is looking at the entrance to the school from Joy Lane; Central Haywood will occupy the left wing. Once Central Office has relocated to its new building, administrators plan to move preschool and EC support staff into what was previously the kindergarten building at Central Elementary.

Since the floods occurred during the first week of school this year, Central Haywood students and staff have been out of a building for almost the entire year. At this time, students are attending school remotely and inperson on a rotating basis. In-person classes take place on the second floor of the old academy building on the campus of Waynesville Middle School.

The decision to move Central Haywood operations to the Central Elementary building was made to give students and staff a home base in the interim while looking for a

news

HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER Due to the flooding that ravaged the Canton, Cruso and Clyde areas in the wake of Tropical Storm Fred last summer, Central Haywood High School was badly damaged.

Months later, students and staff have been unable to return to their school building, working on an alternating schedule of remote and in-person instruction at Waynesville Middle School. However, beginning next school year, Central Haywood students and staff will have a temporary home where students can receive regular in-person instruction, while the school system hunts for a permanent location.

After state and federal agents conducted a walkthrough of the flood-damaged Central Haywood High School building in Clyde, they advised HCS administration to seek relocation for the school instead of trying to repair and re-inhabit the old building.

“They said because of the proximity to the river and because of the number of times that it has flooded and because of the damage that is always associated with those flooding events, they recommended we seek relocation,” said Associate Superintendent Dr. Trevor Putnam.

At a special called board meeting last week, the administration asked the board for approval to temporarily move Central Haywood staff and students into the old Central Elementary building beginning next school year. The board approved the decision unanimously.

Currently, Haywood County Schools Central Office inhabits the old Central Elementary building, along with the school system’s IT department. However, renova-

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Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

Connecting the human ties that bind t is mind-boggling that in the year 2022 a barbaric, nonsensical war rages in Ukraine. It’s an example that no matter how evolved we are or how technologically advanced we become, the wickedness of one human can impact the world and destroy precious lives.

My heart is aching for Ukrainian citizens, the unnecessary loss of life and the destruction of their beautiful country. My heart also aches for Russians who do not agree with this war but are having to fight anyway. Like many others, I’m watching and reading news reports in horror and wanting so badly to help.

Last week I had this desire to somehow connect with Ukrainian mothers and children but was unsure Columnist how to make this happen. I wanted there to be a way for an American woman to connect with a Ukrainian woman in an attempt to build her up emotionally and send resources or money if possible. But, I also understood that Ukrainians are simply trying to survive and have zero bandwidth or energy to harbor a pen pal or new friend in the U.S. I decided to put the idea aside and revisit it later when Ukrainians are hopefully on the other side of this. I’m more than willing to donate to a nonprofit or other organization that is managing the disbursement of funds and assistance, but part of me just so badly wanted to reach out to an actual person and make sure she was OK. But then something unique happened, as if the universe answered my call.

According to a recent Washington Post article, Airbnb announced that it would suspend all of its operations in Russia and Belarus, and that many people are booking Airbnbs in Ukraine with no intention of staying but as a way to assist hosts. After reading this piece and several others about Americans and Europeans renting vacation homes as a means to send money directly to individual people and families Ukraine, I decided maybe this would be a way I could connect with someone on a more personal level.

Susanna Shetley

I

Trump enabled Putin, and this is the result To the Editor: Vladimir Putin has been conducting a hacking and disinformation war against the U.S. for years (China, Iran, and North Korea have, too, but less effectively). In Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018, then-President Donald Trump stood beside Putin at a live press conference. A reporter asked Trump about our intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election. Trump first trashed our intel agencies, then answered, “… he (Putin) says it’s not Russia. I will say I don’t see any reason why it would be.” Here is the short answer: Putin/Russian cyber-hacks into U.S. government agencies began in 2015 as revenge for the Obama Administration and European allies’ successful sanctions against Russia for invading and occupying Crimea. (Crimea is part of sovereign Ukraine.) Sanctions were

I got onto the Airbnb app and searched apartments in Kyiv. I made sure to find one owned by a person or family as opposed to a conglomerate. I found one owned by Maryia (I have changed her name to keep her identity private). Below is the initial conversation that ensued once I booked her place.

As you can see, much of this is in broken English, but the sentiment is clear.

Susanna 10:21 PM Hi Maryia! I am renting your place to give you some cash flow.

I’m not planning to travel there. I hope you are okay.

Maryia 2:00 AM Thank you a lot Susanna, Thank you for your support. I and my family still in Ukraine, and we really hope to go home soon to our native Kyiv.

God bless you Susanna 8:56 AM Praying for you, your family and everyone involved in this conflict. What other ways can Americans help Ukrainian citizens?

Maryia 9:35 AM SUSANNA, we do our best to help now to people and families who stayed in Kyiv, but sometimes nothing can help and this is the worst. My parents are in Bucha, small city close to Kyiv. They are 8th day without hitting, water and electricity. Russian soldiers are there now, do terrible things, the take off people from there apartments, shooting them... they broke antennas for no internet connection for cities end, so they can’t take pictures of all of this stuff.

People are hungry there, they just taking food drop shops which were left after Russian soldiers ... it’s unbelievable for nowadays, but it’s happening and we can’t help them. Our government trying to talk for evacuation of those people, but nothing works. Yesterday people from Irpen, another small city which is near tried evacuating to Kyiv and they were shot.

LETTERS cutting into Putin and his fellow oligarchs’ wealth. In response, Russian disinformation warfare on social media escalated. It has created or amplified every major political issue to divide Americans.

Throughout his campaign and presidency, Trump acted to benefit Putin and Russia while harming the U.S. He continues to this day.

Ukraine’s previous president, installed by Putin, had two American campaign managers. They are Paul Manafort and Rick Gates.

Manafort and Gates went from Ukraine to become Trump’s campaign managers. In 2018 Manafort was found guilty of eight counts of bank and tax fraud involving millions in Russian payments. He went to prison, but Trump pardoned him.

Except for Trump, no U.S. president has ever held conversations alone with another leader, let alone a deadly enemy. Trump banned the White House top security stenographer from his infamous Helsinki meeting.

I am with children are in safe place for now, in Ukraine and just try to do something, to help Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv, whom I know to have some close and etc. What they need. That’s all.

And people from airbnb so helps. Thank you.

Our family hope to come back home soon, as it’s our home and our life’s there. we don’t want to go abroad :( because it scared us..

Oh, sorry.. I am telling al these stuff, but it’s the only I can do for now. Helpless :( Susanna 9:50 AM I am so sorry this is happening. I will try and lift you up with love and strength from afar. If there is anything I can do, let me know. I have two boys, ages 10 and 13. I can’t imagine how scared everyone must be in Ukraine, especially children. We Americans think this is so awful and unfair. Sending love to you.

Maryia 10:13 AM Thank you I am a mother too of 3 sons :) years 9, 6 and 5 month ... we are strong for now.

Susanna 10:35 AM I wish I could do more. Let’s keep in touch.

I plan to stay in touch with Maryia and if there is anything I can say or do to make her feel even the slightest bit more hopeful or optimistic, I will do it. Maybe in the future I can meet her in person and my boys can meet her boys and we can all embrace and thank God the war is over.

All of this makes me think of a quote by Amit Ray. He says, “We all are so deeply interconnected; we have no option but to love all. Be kind and do good for anyone and that will be reflected. The ripples of a kind heart are the highest blessings of the Universe.”

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

He also held many private cell phone talks with Putin.

Trump was impeached in part for trying to coerce Ukraine’s new President Zelensky into helping Trump win re-election. President Zelensky refused to lie even though Trump threatened to withhold military aid approved

by Congress. Soon after, Trump had the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch fired for exposing his/Putin’s illegal plan.

Early in his term Trump did away with the White House office that coordinated cybersecurity operations. He fired the State Department cybersecurity policy head. In November 2020 he fired his own appointee Chris Krebs, Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security. Trump fired or forced to resign other experienced military and intelligence experts from his cabinet, including Derek Harvey, senior director, National Security Council (NSC); and K.T. McFarland, deputy national security adviser. A U.S. cyberdefense commissioner told AP news service in

2020, “It’s been a frustrating time, the last four years. I mean, nothing has happened seriously at all in cybersecurity.”

Trump gave Putin other assurances of his loyalty. After the shocking news broke of Putin’s bounties on American soldiers killed

by Afghans, Trump said and did nothing. In mid-August 2020, Russian warships rammed an American fishing fleet off Alaska. Response from Trump? Silence. The next month in Syria, Russian helicopters and tanks attacked and injured four American soldiers in U.S. tanks, the official Army Times reported.

Response from Trump? Silence.

Trump has done exactly what Putin wanted. Like Putin, he values only money and power. Like Putin, his only loyalty is to himself.

Putin’s success cultivating Trump and his followers made him think he could conquer all of Ukraine without an effective U.S. and European response. What he thought would be a walkover is instead a globally-united punishment with devastating consequences for him and fellow oli-

New leadership a plus for downtown Waynesville

russia/2020/12/17/bba43fd8-408c-11eb-a402fba110db3b42_story.html • www.alaskapublic.org/2020/08/28/u-s-investigatesreports-of-unprofessional-behavior-after-russian-militaryordered-bering-sea-fishermen-to-move/ • www.armytimes.com/news/yourarmy/2020/09/18/us-sends-mechanized-troops-backinto-syria/ • www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagoncongress/2020/06/29/white-house-aware-in-2019-ofrussian-bounties-on-american-troops-in-afghanistan-officials-say/ • https://jsis.washington.edu/news/cyberattack-criticalinfrastructure-russia-ukrainian-power-grid-attacks/ • www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/29/oleg-deripaska-paul-manafort-trump-russia-investigation • www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/here-are-18-reasons-why-trump-could-be-a-russianasset/2019/01/13/45b1b250-174f-11e9-88fef9f77a3bcb6c_story.html

Scott McLeod

garchs. In Russia, massive resistance by hundreds of thousands of people and denunciations by prominent officials and celebrities show how delusional he is. This mass murderer is the man Trump has called “savvy” and “smart.”

The attempt to conquer Ukraine is a step toward Putin’s stated goal to recreate the old USSR. His bigger goal is to weaken democracies, especially the U.S. Let us pray that Putin and Trump fail.

Mary Curry Waynesville Sources: • www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/dec/18/orionhack-solarwinds-explainer-us-government • www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/government-warns-new-hacking-tactics-

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Dr. William Banks

Dr. Robert Przynosch

Dr. Robert DelBene

Dr. Dennis Dawson

Smoky Mountain News

ical perspectives, one celebrating the DWA’s 25th year and then its 30th anniversary, noting all the accomplishments of the DWA and its members to transform Waynesville’s Main Street from a place with half its buildings boarded up or empty into the thriving business district it is today.

It is a fascinating and important story. If anyone searches online and comes across those accounts of the DWA’s history, what you’ll discover is that it was a core group of dedicated individuals who made all the difference. Those early proponents of downtown Waynesville banded together for the greater good even though many of them were business competitors. They said “yes” to higher taxes on their own properties, they made monetary donations and sought support from others when it was time to install decorative streetlamps or to put up benches or planters.

They were also organizing at a serendipitous time. In the 1980s, forward-looking town planners and local governments across the country had begun to realize what the country was losing in its flight to the suburbs and shopping malls. The sense of place that a bustling downtown symbolizes is intrinsically valuable to all communities, especially small towns. And so programs like the N.C. Main Street Center were established through the state Department of Commerce, and these provided grants and education to help downtown proponents succeed. Waynesville was one of the early members of the Main Street program.

I see a real parallel right now to what happened back in the 1980s. There is a relatively new and younger group of business owners in the downtown area willing to give their time and smarts to see Waynesville succeed and thrive. They are the nucleus who will lead downtown Waynesville into whatever future it will have. And that’s why I’m excited for what I see happening.

Optimism, energy and smarts. I look forward to seeing where this new group will take the town I call home.

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

Maggie. Between the Blue Ridge

March 9-15, 2022

I have not attended any of the meetings of the new Downtown Waynesville Advisory Committee, but I sense an energy, a commitment, and optimism from those I’ve discussed it with and from the stories we’ve reported. That’s quite the turnaround from the final years of the Downtown Waynesville Association.

The Waynesville Board of Aldermen decided last year to take the money generated by the Main Street taxing district Editor — formally known as the Municipal Service District (MSD) — and use it to fund what is essentially a committee under the umbrella of the town. In doing so, it essentially left the almost 40-year-old DWA for dead, a nonprofit without its primary funding source and its mission now transferred to a new entity.

A quick study of the members of the new DWAC reveals that a lot of very talented people were interested in helping Waynesville’s downtown. The group that has been assembled includes everything from international businessmen to downtown shop owners, locals and newcomers.

It’s a diverse mix of downtown proponents with a variety of occupations, skills and backgrounds. This is exactly what downtown Waynesville needed.

Part of my hope for DWAC comes from my own personal and professional connections with the old DWA. I was an executive board member for many years. At the end, there were several board members and downtown business owners who worked tirelessly to get the DWA to grapple with its deficiencies and shortcomings, but most of the board was blind to the fact that the group had strayed from its mission.

Thankfully, the Waynesville town board recognized what was happening and stepped in to make a change.

Our newspaper produced several histor-

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Aimee Nezhukumatathil.

‘Spring Literary Festival’ returns to WCU W ,M 16 A fter two years being held as an online celebration, Western Carolina University’s “Spring Literary Festival” returns to the Cullowhee campus March 14-17 for a series of live events.

The 20th annual gathering of poets and authors is free and open to the public, with all events taking place in the Hinds University Center theater.

Directed by Jeremy Jones, an associate professor of English, the festival has a long tradition of bringing established and emerging literary talent to the community.

“Lit Fest brings the literary world — in all of its diversity — to the region of Western North Carolina and we’re thrilled to do this in person again this year,” Jones said. “So much of the magic happens in the informal conversations around the readings and in line for book signings, so we’re looking forward to having readers and writers in the same space in March to create this magic. To keep everyone as safe as possible, WCU will continue to follow campus pandemic protocols, with face coverings optional outside but required in public spaces indoors.”

MONDAY, MARCH 14 • Noon — Gilbert-Chappell Poets.

• 4 p.m. — Karen Salyer McElmurray, author of “Surrendered Child: A Birth Mother’s Journey” and the novels “Strange Birds in the Tree of Heaven,” “The Motel of the Stars” and “Wanting Radiance,” and Meagan Lucas, author of the award-winning novel “Songbirds and Stray Dogs.”

• 7 p.m. — Ashley M. Jones, poet laureate of Alabama and the author of “Magic City Gospel” and “REPARATIONS NOW!”

TUESDAY, MARCH 15 • Noon — Brian Brodeur, author of “Every Hour Is Late” and Steve Scafidi, author of “Sparks from a Nine-Pound Hammer,” “For Love of Common Words,” “The Cabinetmaker’s Window” and “To the Bramble and the Briar.”

• 4 p.m. — James Tate Hill, author of the memoir “Blind Man’s Bluff,” a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and Ed Southern, author of “Fight Songs: A Story of Love & Sports in a Complicated South.”

• 7 p.m. — Deesha Philyaw, whose short story collection, “The Secret Lives of Church Ladies,” won the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

EDNESDAY

ARCH

• Noon — Winners of the undergrad and graduate student creative writing competitions.

• 4 p.m. — Rachel Yoder, author of “Nightbitch” and a founding editor of draft: the journal of process, and Kerry Howley, author of “Thrown,” a New York Times Notable Book.

• 7 p.m. — Wiley Cash, author of “When Ghosts Come Home” and the New York Times bestseller “A Land More Kind Than Home,” and University of North Carolina Asheville alumni author-in-residence.

“So much of the magic happens in the informal conversations around the readings and in line for book signings, so we’re looking forward to having readers and writers in the same space in March to create this magic.”

— Jeremy Jones, associate professor of English, Western Carolina University

“I always encourage students to create interesting characters who have to be specific people in order for something interesting to happen to them, where the arc of the story is going to be more in line with the arc of these people’s lives,” Cash told The Smoky Mountain News in a 2015 interview. “As far as teaching goes, you can teach someone how to be a carpenter, a potter, to practice these different types of crafts, but I think the hardest thing is to teach that original spark of creativity. It’s something you can’t necessarily teach, but you can show models of creativity, you can teach the craft, teach story structure, scene structure and how things unfold.”

THURSDAY, MARCH 17 • Noon — Jayne Zanglein, WCU professor emeritus and author of “The Girl Explorers: The Untold Story of the Globetrotting Women Who Trekked, Flew and Fought Their Way

Around the World.”

• 4 p.m. — Eduardo Corral, author of “Guillotine” and “Slow Lightning,” and Torrey Peters, author of the bestselling novel “Detransition, Baby” and the novellas “Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones” and “The Masker.”

• 7 p.m. — Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of “World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks & Other Astonishments,” which was named Barnes and Nobles’ Book of the Year 2020, and four awardwinning poetry collections.

“So many organizations and people have a hand in making this big festival in little Cullowhee robust and exciting each year,” Jones said. “This year we received support from South Arts, the North Carolina and Jackson County Arts Councils, the North Carolina Humanities Council, WCU’s campus theme committee, the Office of the Provost, and the College of Arts and Sciences. We feel the love from the university and the region.”

For more information, visit litfestival.org or contact WCU’s English department at 828.227.7264.

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

Old City, Knoxville. (photo: Garret K. Woodward)

Can’t you feel the whole world’s a-turnin’?

We are real and we are a-burnin’

I

1 2 3 4

Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort (Cherokee) will host The Marshall Tucker Band (southern rock) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 12.

Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host Arnold Hill (rock/jam) at 8 p.m. Friday, March 11.

Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host Marshall Ballew & Johnny Favorite at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 12.

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A stage production of “The New Classics Cabaret” will be held at 7:30 p.m. March 11-12 and at 2 p.m. March 13 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theater in Waynesville.

5

Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Carolina Freightshakers (rock/country) at 8 p.m Saturday, March 12.

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Smoky Mountain News

Though I’ve heard and read about that name/person before, curiosity gets the best of me. A Union general during The Civil War (1861-1865), he was victorious in campaigns led through North Carolina and East Tennessee.

Following the war, he was governor of Rhode Island (1866-1869), a U.S. Senator (1875-1881, his death) and was the first president of the National Rifle Association (1871). That, and his signature style of facial hair was named after him, “sideburns” as we know it today.

I sip my coffee while crossing the street and wonder what Burnside would think of downtown Knoxville today. What would he make of Starbucks and large TVs behind a bar counter speaking of global conflict with Russia? What about just automobiles drifting by and all the new fashions/attitudes

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March 9-15, 2022

t was the sound of a fire truck roaring through downtown Knoxville Monday morning that woke me up. The window curtains were somewhat open. It was cloudy outside, signaling that the sunshine enjoyed yesterday had now moved on.

The Shamrock Suite above Clancy’s Tavern, next door to the Tennessee Theater.

Monday morning with a slew of memories flooding forth from the past weekend. It had been just about one full year since I last stayed at this AirBNB. So much has changed in that time, and yet so much has remained the same.

Put on some shoes and head out the back stairwell of the suite. Pop out on Clinch Avenue. Walking by the large windows of the bar in the Hyatt Place hotel across the street.

The large TV behind the bar has the news on, media commentators talking back and forth about Russia, of what may or may not happen.

A year ago, I walked by the same large windows. At the time, the large TV behind the bar was blaring news about the pandemic and the promising vaccines that were currently being rolled out. Though I don’t see much about COVID in the news broadcasts nowadays, I’m reminded of it when I see the masks on the workers at Starbucks in the lobby of the Hyatt.

Order a large iced coffee and a breakfast sandwich. Oh, and add in a large cup of water, for hydration is needed after last night’s dehydration shenanigans. With items in hand, back around the corner to Clinch Avenue and the suite stairwell, but not before noticing a historical marker on the side of the Hyatt building: “Headquarters of Major General Ambrose Burnside, U.S.A.”

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al flags across the way flapping wildly in the wind. Soon, I’ll be lacing up my running shoes and throw on an extra layer to keep warm on the usual jogging route through downtown. Head down to the Gay Street Bridge and over the Tennessee River, return via the Henley Street Bridge and across Summit Hill Drive back to the suite.

It had been just about one full year since I last stayed at this AirBNB. So much has changed in that time, and yet so much has remained the same.

A year ago, I remember feeling a little sad and bummed out about this girl I really liked, something that didn’t come across as reciprocated, at least not at that particular juncture of our lives — two ships simply passing in the night. And, right now, I can’t even really remember what she looks like anymore. But, here I am today, still shaking off the last of the bummer feelings from another girl I liked, where we made it to Thanksgiving, but had fallen apart by Christmas.

Another year has come and gone in a blink of the eye, as it always seems to do the older you get. The elusive idea of a lifelong companion still lingers just outside of my reach, but I’m always game to keep trying, for what else is there in the grand scheme of things, eh?

Same goes for long-held dreams and unknown tomorrows I’ll continue to chase after with a reckless abandon, these vast horizons I run towards for all of eternity — happily, and out of pure curiosity for the sake of cosmic discovery.

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

arts & entertainment

This must be the place

meandering along the sidewalks?

Sitting at the large dining room table in the suite, I gaze down onto the city. It’s late Monday morning and most of the metropolis is either at work or still slowly emerging into the day that already moving in real time, and has been do so for several hours already.

Check my emails and assignment schedule. Recheck places to be and things to do for the next 24 to 48 hours. Interviews.

Writing. Wandering. Pondering. Send in this column to my publisher. Keep tabs on the email inbox every couple of hours to ensure everything is running smoothly for getting this week’s newspaper to the printer by Tuesday afternoon.

And make sure to set a reminder about the Zoom meeting on Wednesday with the students from a nearby community college, where I’ll be talking at-length about being a journalist, whatever that means or could mean to someone. Heck, I’m just a dude with a mind that never stops thinking and putting those thoughts down on paper through the written word.

Put in the earbuds and click on the Spotify shuffle for Goose, the band I’ll be seeing later today at The Mill & Mine. A sold-out gig. One of the hottest rock acts on the scene today. A group somewhat unknown before the shutdown of the music industry in 2020, only to emerge from the return of concerts last year as one of the biggest things rolling through your town or “Anytown America.”

Looking again out the window at Knoxville, there’s a slight drizzle overtaking the city at the moment, the state and nation-

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On the beat arts & entertainment

Marshall Tucker at Harrah’s

Arnold Hill.

The Marshall Tucker Band.

Arnold Hill returns to Lazy Hiker

Smoky Mountain News

March 9-15, 2022

Americana/rock act Arnold Hill will be hitting the stage at 8 p.m. Friday, March 11, at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Sylva.

With its recent debut album, “Back to Life,” Arnold Hill sets to change the tone and tempo of what folks might expect on a given night onstage at their nearby bars and breweries in our mountain communities.

Formed in 2011, the Jackson County band is named after a road in Sylva where the musicians lived and practiced. In method, Arnold Hill adheres to the playful nature and creative possibilities that reside in a trio.

The unique formation can be a tricky line to balance, where you have enough space to explore musically, but also the same amount of space to expose vulnerabilities.

The show is free and open to the public. For more information on the group, click on arnoldhillband.com. You can purchase/stream “Back to Life” on all online streaming services.

Interested in learning the dulcimer?

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

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

month in the basement of St. John’s.

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

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

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

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Classic rock icons The Marshall Tucker Band will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 12, at Harrah’s Cherokee Resort Event Center.

The group’s mighty music catalog, consisting of more than 20 studio albums and a score of live releases, has racked up multi-platinum album sales many times over. In essence, it’s this inimitable down-home sonic style that helped make the ensemble the first truly progressive Southern rock band.

Tickets start at $47.50 per person. For tickets, go to caesars.com/harrahs-cherokee and click on the “Events” tab.

Cold Mountain Music Festival After two quiet years due to Covid-19, the Cold Mountain Music Festival will resume on Saturday, June 4, at Lake Logan in Canton.

Headlining the Saturday event will be North Carolina-based 2021 Grammy-nominated alt-country/indie folk band Hiss Golden Messenger.

The lineup will also feature performances from Athens, Georgia-based indie-rockers Futurebirds, 30-year veterans of the California bay area music scene The Mother Hips, North Carolina-based husband and wife fronted Chatham Rabbits, and the female fronted Celtic/bluegrass sensations from Dublin, Ireland, I Draw Slow.

Festival passes are on sale now. General

admission is $60 for adults, $40 for youth, and free for children under 11.

Campsites and catered breakfast can be reserved when you purHiss Golden chase your tickMessenger. ets. Those who choose to camp or lodge onsite for the weekend will enjoy more live music on Friday night.

Cold Mountain Music Festival is presented by the Diocese of Western North Carolina, with partners iHeartMedia and Haywood County Tourism Development Authority. Sponsorship, vendor, and volunteer opportunities are available. Learn more at coldmountainmusic.org.

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On the beat

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

• Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host karaoke at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, trivia at 7 p.m. on Thursdays and a special “St. Patrick’s Day Party” March 17. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.246.0350 or boojumbrewing.com.

• The Classic Wineseller (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 7 p.m. Limited seating. Reservations are highly recommended. 828.452.6000 or classicwineseller.com.

• Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.369.4080 or coweeschool.org.

• Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host Nick Prestia (singer-songwriter) March 12. All events begin at 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. 828.634.0078 or curraheebrew.com.

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.454.5664 or froglevelbrewing.com.

• Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort (Cherokee) will host The Marshall Tucker Band (southern rock) 7:30 p.m. March 12.

For tickets, caesars.com/harrahs-cherokee.

• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host Paul Edelman 7 p.m. March 11. All events are free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host Tanner Burch March 11, Marshall Ballew & Johnny Favorite March 12, Sanctum Sully March 18 (rock/jam), Scott Low (Americana/indie) March 19, Shane Meade & The Sound (rock/soul) March 25 and PMA (rock/reggae) March 26.

All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.641.9797 or nantahalabrewing.com.

ALSO:

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

• Satulah Mountain Brewing (Highlands) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.482.9794 or satulahmountainbrewing.com.

• Southern Porch (Canton) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends.

828.492.8009 or southern-porch.com.

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

828.743.3000 or theuglydogpub.com.

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

828.526.8364 or theuglydogpub.com.

• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Blackjack Country March 10, Rock Holler Band March 11 and Carolina Freightshakers (rock/country) March 12. All shows begin at 8 p.m. Free and open to the public.

828.538.2488.

• Valley Tavern (Maggie Valley) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. Both events begin at 6 p.m. 828.926.7440 or valley-tavern.com.

• Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.456.4750 or facebook.com/waternhole.bar.

Smoky Mountain News

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host a special “St. Patrick’s Day Celebration” w/Acoustic Pizza March 17. All events begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.

• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host Twelfth Fret (Americana) March 11, Somebody’s Child (Americana) March 12, Woolybooger (folk/blues) March 18 and Kate Thomas (singer-songwriter) March 19. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.

828.538.0115 or mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

March 9-15, 2022

• Elevated Mountain Distilling Company (Maggie Valley) will host an Open Mic Night 7 to 9 p.m. on Wednesdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.734.1084 or elevatedmountain.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host Arnold Hill (rock/jam) March 11 and Natti Love Joys (roots/reggae) March 18. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

arts & entertainment

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

Free and open to the public. 828.631.1987 or balsamfallsbrewing.com.

• Whiteside Brewing (Cashiers) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends.

828.743.6000 or whitesidebrewing.com.

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arts & entertainment

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Smoky Mountain News

March 9-15, 2022

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On the stage arts & entertainment

‘The New Classics Cabaret’

Ready to try theater?

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

Learn more about acting with Acting Classes available for K-2, Grades 3-5, middle/high School, adults, and seniors.

Musical Theater Dance and Advanced Beginner Tap are available for teens and adults so you can learn about the exciting world of Musical Theater Dance.

And classes are rounded off with

Improvisation classes and Musical Theater Group Voice for teens and adults. Spring courses have already begun, with 12 weeks of courses through May 13, with a week off March 28-April 1 and spring break April 1115. HART also offers pay-per-class with just a $15 drop-in fee.

HART is also offering free workshops in Stage Management April 2, 9 and 16.

You can learn more about these opportunities and sign up for classes and workshops by visiting harttheatre.org and viewing the Kids at HART classes and camps page. Masks will be required for all courses.

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

The cast of ‘The New Classics Cabaret.’

Music direction from Yvette Keele and sound mixing by Nichole Sumpter.

Proof of vaccination is required for these performances and masks are optional.

Limited table seating is available. You can get your tickets now by visiting harttheatre.org or calling and leaving a message at the HART Box Office at 828.456.6322.

This show is rated PG-13 for strong language.

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• A live onstage production of Disney’s “Descendants: The Musical” will be performed at 7 p.m. March 17-19 and 2 p.m. March 19 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Tickets are $12 for students, $15 for adults. For more information, click on smokymountainarts.com or call 866.273.4615.

ALSO:

Smoky Mountain News

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

• A free wine tasting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. every Thursday and 2 to 5 p.m. every

March 9-15, 2022

With a collection of new musicals all written after 2000, a stage production of “The New Classics Cabaret” will be held at 7:30 p.m. March 11-12 and at 2 p.m. March 13 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theater in Waynesville.

Featuring an incredible group of singers, and live piano, guitar, mandolin, and drums, this is a night that guarantees musical inspiration.

Musical theater has always been influenced by the popular music of its day and reflected the new ideas that were pushing their way to the surface of society. Now is your chance to see what 21st century musical theater is all about.

HART’s Artistic Director Candice Dickinson directs and stars alongside the intricate musical stylings of Morgan Miller, Clara Ray Burrus, Heather Bronson, Ben Mackle, Adam Kampouris, Dillon Giles, Mark Jones, Alex Baker and David Bruce.

Saturday at The Wine Bar & Cellar in Sylva.

828.631.3075.

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

Affairs of the Heart

————————————————————————————— 120 N. Main St. • Waynesville 828.452.0526 • affairsoftheheartnc.com

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arts & entertainment March 9-15, 2022 Smoky Mountain News 28

On the street

On the wall

Open call for vendors

HCAC ‘Artist of the Month’

• The “Lois Petrovich-Mwaniki: Shadowed Reality” showcase will be held through March in the Rotunda Gallery at Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. The exhibit consists of oil portraits. Hosted by the Jackson County Arts Council (JCAC). The library requires masks to be worn indoors. Cookie grab bags will be available in lieu of refreshments. Showcase is free and open to the public.

The Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville has announced that painter Laura Parker is the “Artist of the Month” for March.

“As a lifelong artist I’ve worked in a variety of media, but, for several years, have focused on painting in oil, for its softness and malleability, and gouache, for its opacity and portability,” Parker said. “I’m A work by especially drawn to capturing a Laura Parker. moment, feeling or the likenesses of places and individuals I’ve encountered in my travels. I see a painting wherever I look and have begun to stretch my boundaries with the new experience of painting en plein air.” haywoodarts.org.

• Haywood County Arts Council (Waynesville) is currently seeking one or more gallery interns with a passion for the arts and interest in learning about the administration of a small nonprofit. Send cover letters and resumes to HCAC Executive Director Morgan Beryl at director@haywoodarts.org.

Artisans, crafters and food vendors are invited to submit their application for the Greening Up the Mountains Festival, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 23, in Sylva.

Greening Up The Mountains Festival is the premiere spring festival for Western North Carolina, attracting thousands of visitors and locals alike.

Sponsored by the Town of Sylva, the festivities will once again take place in historical downtown Sylva.

This year’s festival seeks artisans and crafters selling their own handmade products. Arts, crafts and food vendors from the expanded Southern Appalachian area are encouraged to apply.

Please visit greeningupthemountains.com to review the 2022 Vendor Policies and download your application.

Applications will be accepted through March 15.

For more information, please email the event coordinator at greeningupthemountains@gmail.com.

• “St. Patty’s Spring Kick-Off” will be held from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, March 19, at Darnell Farms in Bryson City. Live Irish music by The Crossjacks, and also The Ghost Peppers. Cloggers, food, fresh produce, dream whips, axe throwing and other fun activities throughout the day. Don’t forget to wear green. darnellfarms.com.

ALSO:

• Mountain Makers Craft Market will be held from noon to 4 p.m. the first Sunday of each month at 308 North Haywood Street in downtown Waynesville. Over two dozen artisans selling handmade and vintage goods.

Special events will be held when scheduled. mountainmakersmarket.com.

Want to paint, sip craft beer?

Robin Arramae of WNC Paint Events will be continuing her fun paint nights to bring

FREE

ESTIMATES

HaywoodBuilders.com 100 Charles St. WAYNESVILLE

you not only a “night out” but an experience that lifts your spirits.

Join others as Arramae shows you step-bystep how to paint a beginner level painting of the evening as you sip on your favorite local craft beer. This two-hour event should have you feeling better than you felt before you came. And you leave with a painting you created.

Events will be held at the following locations: 828 Market on Main (Waynesville), Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva), BearWaters Brewing (Canton) and Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City).

Please visit WNC Paint Events (@paintwnc) Facebook page, under “Events” for date and time of upcoming events. For pictures of previous events visit Arramae’s Instagram: @wnc_paint_events.

For pricing and to sign up, go to wncpaint.events. Space is limited. Drinks sold separately.

ALSO:

• “Thursday Painters” group will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursdays at The Uptown Gallery in Franklin. Free and open to the public. All skill levels and mediums are welcome. Participants are responsible for their own project and a bag lunch. For more information, call The Uptown Gallery at 828.349.4607 or contact Pat Mennenger at pm14034@yahoo.com. See more about Macon County Art Association at franklinuptowngallery.com and like, follow and share the Uptown Gallery on Facebook.

• A “Foreign Film Series” will be held at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. Each month, on the second and fourth Friday, two movies from around the globe will be shown. This program is in the Community Room and is free of charge. Masks are required in all Jackson County buildings. To find out what movie will be shown and/or for more information, please call the library at 828.586.2016. This event is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. The Jackson County Public Library is a member of Fontana Regional Library. To learn more, click on fontanalib.org.

On the shelf

Jeff Minick

A

Stepped forward. And punched him. An uppercut. It lifted the guy right off his feet. His remaining crutch clattered to the ground. His body followed, completely inert. He landed on his back, neatly between the rails. I flipped him over. Secured his wrists with a zip tie. Took his pistol from his waistband. A 1911. It was old but well maintained. I bent his good leg at the knee. Used another zip to fasten it to the belt loop at the back of his pants. Picked him up.

Another humorous aspect to the Reacher tales is how many guys try to physically attack him. Jack Reacher is 6’5” tall, weighs around 220 pounds, and is all muscle and bone. Crutches or no crutches, I’d be running away from him as fast as my legs could carry me.

At any rate, this latest novel beats “The Sentinel” hands down. Reacher is back, taking down the bad guys, punching out their lights in scene after scene. What would Reacher do? Well, for one thing, he uses his height, weight, and experience to beat his opponents into unconsciousness, and he does that often in this latest saga.

At the end of “Better Off Dead,” Reacher leaves Michaela Fenton and heads once

••• In “Call of the Wild + Free: Reclaiming Wonder in Your Child’s Education” (HarperOne, 2019, 328 pages), Ainsley Arment writes about homeschooling her five children, various educators whose methods she’s studied, and the meaning of her Wild + Free approach to her schooling. She emphasizes connecting our kids with the outdoors, the importance of stories, the pedagogy of play, and creating in them a sense of wonder and curiosity about the world.

Most importantly, perhaps, she reminds us that children aren’t miniature adults and that childhood itself is a special time in a person’s life, a time for exploration, imagination, and the freedom to discover and play. But as Arment writes, our culture has placed limits on these aspects of what it means to be a kid: “Childhood has been lost. To video games, to sports leagues, to afterschool programs, to day care, to mobile devices, to peer pressure, to Netflix, to ‘gifted classes,’ to extracurricular activities, to homework, to being carted between split homes every other weekend, and to busy schedules, just like their parents.”

In “Wild + Free,” Arment’s many suggestions offer a way to recreate the former joys of childhood. And though aimed mostly at homeschoolers, her book would be a valuable tool for all parents, reminding them that “Childhood is not meant to be merely preparation for adulthood. It’s a time to be cherished, protected, and preserved. Our kids will have many opportunities for careers, discipline, and hard work. But they only get one childhood. Let’s make it magical.”

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

• “Book Night Extravaganza” will celebrate the 25th anniversary of “Harry Potter” at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 15, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. Come in costume or dress in your Harry Potter finest. There will be activities, challenges and prizes all in the spirit of Hogwarts. All ages welcome, but prizes are for children Potter fans. Marianna Black Library, a member of the Fontana Regional Library, is located in Downtown Bryson City at the corner of Academy and Rector. For information, call 828.488.3030.

ALSO:

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RUN, ROSE, RUN. a novel by

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Available Now! Smoky Mountain News

He was trying to spear me in the gut. I moved six inches to the side. Grabbed hold midway between the rubber tip and the handle.

Tossed him in the rail truck. And threw his crutches in after him.

again down the highway, meaning we can expect another Jack Reacher adventure, with this next book apparently being written by Andrew alone. If it’s as good as this one, Reacher fans will be happy.

March 9-15, 2022

friend who was a fan of the Lee Child’s novels used to wear a T-shirt reading, “What would Jack Reacher do?”

Jack Reacher — now the hero of an Amazon smash hit TV series — is the hero in more than 30 novels and short stories by Lee Child. A West Point graduate and a former member of the Military Police, Reacher roams about America, walking, traveling by bus, or hitchhiking, and running into trouble everywhere he goes. He travels light — he carries no extra clothing, for example, buying shirts, pants, and so on a new one when he needs a change — beds down in motel rooms, doesn’t have Writer a driver’s license, and is a coffee addict. He’s also a modern knight errant, delivering punishment to the wicked, rescuing females in distress, and standing up for honor and justice.

Recently, Lee Child made his brother, Andrew, co-author of this series. Their first collaboration, “The Sentinel,” received less than rave reviews.

Now the brothers have given us “Better Off Dead” (Random House, 2021, 327 pages).

As is customary in these stories, Reacher is walking along a highway when he runs into trouble. He comes across a crashed Jeep with a woman seemingly knocked out over the steering wheel. She is, however, very much alert, on the lookout for the possible murderer of her brother. She ends up killing the men who came to murder her, and is then saved by Reacher from taking her own life. We soon learn that this woman, Michaela Fenton, is an Army veteran and FBI agent trying to find her twin brother, who has possibly fallen in with a gang headed by a man named Dendoncker, a criminal involved in terrorism and other illegal activities.

The rest of the story involves Reacher and Michaela fighting the thugs employed

by Dendoncker and hunting him down as well.

Lee and Andrew Child — those are both pseudonyms — have written another page turner, though occasionally I found myself either annoyed or amused at the use of so many short, staccato sentences and phrases.

In this scene, Reacher is fighting a man carrying a crutch:

arts & entertainment

Wild and free: two books, two approaches

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Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

Lori Stephens works on a bag during a Feb. 11 sew-a-thon at the Haywood County Public Library in Waynesville.

Holly Kays photo

Bring your own bag, Haywood Reusable bag project aims to shine light on dangers of single-use plastics

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER n mid-November 2021, a group of friends was passing the evening gathered around a campfire at Lake Keowee, South Carolina, when the conversation turned to plastic, its tragic overabundance in the world, and how a small group of people might address the issue at home in Western North Carolina.

“We wanted to do something hands-on, not just spend years waiting for legislation to happen,” explained Kathy Odvody, president of Outdoor Mission Community’s board of directors and one of the people huddled around that campfire in November.

The result was Bring Your Own Bag Haywood, an initiative led by OMC and area churches to transform scrap fabric into 1,000 cloth bags by Earth Day, April 22. The group hopes to distribute these bags to shoppers at local retailers and on campus at Haywood Community College.

So far, the group has held two sew-a-thons at the Haywood County Public Library in Waynesville — with a third planned — and keeps bag-making supplies stocked at the Sunset Inn at Lake Junaluska for those who would like to help from home. They’ve also been working with HCC’s environmental science class taught by Susan Roberts, holding two in-class sewing dates with another two on the schedule.

A dozen people filled the basement com-

I

Completed bags display a variety of colors and patterns. Donated photo

Get involved Help raise awareness of the issues that single-use plastics cause while taking action to reduce consumption during a community sew-a-thon planned for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Friday, March 18, at the Haywood County Public Library in Waynesville.

No sewing skills are necessary to help measure, cut and sew scraps of repurposed fabric into washable, reusable bags that the group hopes to distribute across Haywood County on Earth Day, April 22. Those who would like to help from home are welcome to do so, with bag-making kits available at the Sunset Inn at Lake Junaluska.

For more information or to RSVP, contact Kathy Odvody at outdoormissioncommunity@gmail.com, or join the Facebook page titled “Bring Your Own Bag Haywood.”

munity room at the library during the most recent community sewing date Friday, Feb. 11, engaged with measuring, cutting and sewing pieces of fabric into completed bags. So far, BYOB Haywood has produced 250 bags, with more to come as people keep sewing.

Unlike the laminated tote bags often enlisted as reusable options for grocery runs, the bags BYOB Haywood is creating are plastic free and nearly waste-free, as almost all of them are crafted from scraps that might otherwise be thrown away. Odvody estimates that about 95% of the materials are repurposed fabric.

“I hope that it will raise people’s awareness of the problem of single-use plastics,” said Lori Stephens, a Bethel resident who was one of those gathered around the campfire in November, while working a sewing machine in the library Feb. 11.

Plastic is now a ubiquitous substance on planet Earth, found everywhere from the largest cities to the most remote oceans.

Fragments called microplastics have been found on Mount Everest, in deep ocean trenches and everywhere in between.

However, plastic is a relatively recent creation, with the first entirely synthetic plastic created in 1907 by Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland.

The material’s popularity skyrocketed from the mid-1900s on, with manufacturers using this lighter, less expensive material to replace items traditionally made of glass or paper.

A July 2017 research paper published in “Science Advances,” estimated that about 7.8 billion metric tons of plastics in the form of polymer resins and synthetic fibers were created between 1950 and 2015, with about half of those produced between 2000 and 2015. Of the total metric, about 6.3 billion metric tons resurfaced as plastic waste —79% of which accumulated in landfills or in the natural environment, the study found.

According to an ourworldindata.org visualization of data from a research paper published Feb. 13, 2015, in

outdoors

Blackrock Hikers set up tents along the trailside. Donated photo

New long-distance hiking challenge issued Thru-hiking season for the ever-famous Appalachian Trail is now kicking off, but the Benton MacKaye Trail Association, Alabama Pinhoti Association and Georgia Pinhoti Trail Association are joining forces to offer a new long-distance hike — the 1,000 Mile Challenge.

Created to showcase the beauty of the Southern Appalachians and bring recognition to the Pinhoti and Benton MacKaye trails, the route explores secluded forests, panoramic vistas and cascading waterfalls.

It forms a lollipop, allowing hikers to begin or end at any point along the route.

The Challenge route includes the Pinhoti National Recreation Trail from Flagg Mountain to the Benton MacKaye Trail near Dyer Gap, the BMT from Springer Mountain to Big Creek, and the A.T. from Davenport Gap to Springer Mountain.

See the route at bmtamail.org/docs/thousandmilechallenge.pdf.

march 19, 2022 sylva, nc

Logo courtesy of SCC Graphic Design Students.

All proceeds benefit Jackson County Rescue Squad.

Visit Ultrasignup.com or email barwatt@hotmail.com

FOLLOW US AT

@SMOKYMOUNTAINNEWS March 9-15, 2022 Smoky Mountain News

whales to seabirds.

Unlike organic materials such as paper, plastic never truly breaks down — instead, it breaks up, fragmenting into smaller and smaller pieces. These pieces, called microplastics, end up in snow, air, soil, water and even in the human gut. Jason Love, associate director of the Highlands Biological Station, recently studied the issue locally in the Little Tennessee River watershed, to his surprise finding concentrations of microplastics that dwarfed levels reported from a similar study of the Yangtze River in China — which a 2017 paper published in Nature Communications “We wanted to do something hands-on, ranked as the world not just spend years waiting for river responsible for the largest overall legislation to happen.” input of plastic to oceans.

— Kathy Odvody, Outdoor Mission Community Microplastics are an emerging issue in science, with the term first coined in 2004. annually.

Little is known about their impact on peoThe United States’ large share of global ple, animals and ecosystems. plastic consumption doesn’t necessary cor“We’re inhaling it, we’re ingesting it — relate to an equal share of the plastic polluit’s hard to know the effects if you have tion problem, because waste management something that’s everywhere,” Love told is more important than total waste output The Smoky Mountains News in 2020. in determining that impact. But anyone “People shouldn’t be panicking, but people who has looked to the shoulder when cruisshould be concerned, and we as scientists ing an otherwise scenic country byway can need to start really looking at what those attest that there’s plenty of plastic litter impacts could be.” marring WNC’s otherwise world-class The group behind BYOB Haywood scenery and making its way into streams, hopes its efforts will make more people rivers and eventually oceans. There, plastic aware of the problems plastic pose, and the bags and other flexible packaging products role they can play in addressing them each become deadly, with strangulation and time they go shopping. ingestion killing wildlife ranging from the journal Science, the U.S. is much better at managing its waste than many other countries — particularly less prosperous nations in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa — but on a per capita basis it produces much more plastic than most other nations. As of 2010, the United States was producing 0.75 pounds of plastic waste per person per day, one of the world’s highest rates. The country’s total is estimated at 41.7 million tons annually. Though China had the lower per-capita rate of 0.26 pounds per day, its large population gave it the highest total output, with 65.1 tons

run. walk. crawl.

31

outdoors

Summer camp filling quickly in Highlands

Hemlock initiative planning events

Due to overwhelming interest during the priority sign-up period for Highlands Biological Foundation members, only one session of the nonprofit’s extensive summer camp schedule still has space available.

Eco Trekkers: Water Follies, is open to rising fifth through seventh graders and will be held 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 2-5, traveling to local waterfalls, rivers, creeks and streams to explore the waters of the Southern Appalachians. Cost is $280 per child.

Signup is now available to the general public, and members of the public can also sign up for the waitlist for other camp sessions that are currently filled up. See the full schedule at highlandsbiological.org/2022camps.

With spring just around the corner, the Hemlock Restoration Initiative is planning a slate of events for the month of March to bring awareness to the Hemlock’s plight and the Initiative’s efforts to address it.

Events include: ■ Hemlock treatment demonstration 1-4

Smoky Mountain News

March 9-15, 2022

p.m. Sunday, March 20, at Bent Creek Experimental Forest Headquarters in Asheville.

■ Volunteer workday with the Forest Restoration Alliance 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Friday, March 25, in Waynesville.

■ Hemlock treatment demonstration 1-4 p.m. Tuesday, March 29, in Robbinsville.

The hemlock wooly adelgid is a tiny sapsucking insect that has decimated hemlock trees across the eastern United States, a huge loss for forests that depend on hemlocks for wildlife habitat, food, water storage and stream shading. The Hemlock Restoration Initiative supports existing efforts to combat the adelgid, hoping to enable hemlocks to recover and survive to maturity.

To see the complete list of events or to sign up, visit savehemlocksnc.org/events.

Most events require registration one week in advance.

32

Spend spring break at the arboretum

Campers climb to a view during a Highlands Biological Foundation program. HBF photo

Kids in kindergarten through fifth grade are eligible for Spring Break Camp April 11-15 at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville.

The week will be full of romps through the woods, strolls through the gardens and splashing in the creeks. Sessions include Arboretum Adventures for kindergarten and first grade, Advanced Nature Rangers for grades two and three, and Spring Seekers for grades four and five.

Cost is $350. Arboretum members receive 10% off registration. Learn more at ncarboretum.org/education-programs/discovery-camp.

Ozone season underway The 2022 ozone season began March 1, meaning that through Oct. 31 daily air quality forecasts will be available from the N.C. Division of Air Quality.

Ozone forms in the air when nitrogen oxides react with hydrocarbons on warm, sunny days with little wind. While it was once North Carolina’s most widespread air quality concern and contributed to breathing problems, ozone continues to decline due to steady reductions in emissions from its primary air pollution sources: power plants, industry and motor vehicles. In 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designated North Carolina as attaining the 2015 ozone standard statewide. Since then, North Carolina has maintained compliance with the standard.

The DAQ air quality forecast, available at airquality.climate.ncsu.edu/air, gives users up-to-date localized forecasting for 91 North Carolina counties and two Ridge Top zones, including the next day’s forecast.

GET BACK TO A BETTER B PLACE

Run through spring

Holly Kays photo

Trek to Pinnacle Hike Pinnacle Park with the Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department starting at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 22.

This 7-mile round-trip excursion goes to a sharp-topped ridge at just over 5,000 feet, offering an incredible 360-degree view of the surrounding mountains and the valley that holds Sylva.

The group will meet at the Waynesville Recreation Center and return by 4:30 p.m. Cost is $8 per person. Bring water, snacks and lunch for the top. 828.456.2030 or mgaddis@waynesvillenc.gov.

From intense races to casual jogs, several events are coming up for runners of all skill levels.

■ Get acquainted with trail running 9:3011:30 a.m. Saturday, March 19, on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail in Haywood County.

The Waynesville Recreation Center will host this community trail run/walk, open to all ages and levels from beginner to expert. For more information contact MaShon Gaddis at 828.456.2030 or mgaddis@waynesvillenc.gov.

■ There is still time to register for the Asheville Shamrock 5K/10K/Fun Run starting at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, March 12. The Asheville Catholic Schools Hispanic Parents will serve tamales, tostadas, empanadas, pupusas and churros to all finishers — and there will also be post-race beer and costume contests. Learn more or sign up at gloryhoundevents.com/event/shamrock-5k10k.

■ The Gateway to the Smokies Half Marathon and Mighty Four Miler will return to Waynesville this year, stepping off Saturday, April 2. Both distances offer a beautiful run route through and around downtown Waynesville. Honoring local hero Riley Howell, who gave his own life to save classmates from an active shooter at UNC Charlotte, the Mighty Four Miler is a fundraiser for the Riley Howell Foundation Fund, which supports organizations that benefit victims of gun violence. Both races are organized by Glory

Hound Events. Register at gloryhoundevents.com. The four miler is $35, and the $80 early bird price for the half marathon is available through March 14.

■ After a two-year hiatus, the Valley of the Lilies race will return to Cullowhee, renamed as the Catamount Climb Half Marathon and 5K, at 8 a.m. Saturday, April 9. Offering pic-

Runners jog the WCU campus.

WCU photo

turesque routes through Western Carolina University and the surrounding Cullowhee community, the two races will have staggered start times to reduce crowding. The event is hosted by the College of Health and Human Sciences and Campus Recreation and Wellness, and it will raise money for student development and scholarships. Registration is $60 for the half marathon or $30 for the 5K, with day-of registration available for an additional cost. Runners under 18 will get a $5 discount on 5K pricing. Register or learn more at halfmarathon.wcu.edu.

March 9-15, 2022

Stay safe while enjoying the winter backcountry Jonathan Byrd, manager at Outdoor 76 in Franklin, will discuss safe enjoyment of cold-weather outdoor activities during a Nantahala Hiking Club meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 10, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin.

Byrd grew up in the Adirondack Mountains of New York and spent his winters there hiking, snowshoeing, skiing and ice climbing. He has more than 40 years of skiing experience and 20 of ice climbing in the eastern United States. Now a Franklin resident, he still pursues those same activities — just with less snow on the ground and thinner ice to climb.

All are welcome, and NHC membership is not necessary to attend club hikes or meetings.

Sign up for spring sports

Great Smokies

STORAGE LLC Call 828.506.4112 greatsmokiesstorage.com 434 Champion Drive, Canton, NC 28716 21 Hollon Cove Rd, Waynesville, NC 28786

Smoky Mountain News

Several opportunities are now available for league and intermural sports this spring.

■ A kickball league in Jackson County is open for registration through Wednesday, March 16. All games will be played Thursday nights at the Cullowhee Recreation Complex, and participants must be 13 or older. Team fee is $100. For more information, contact Joe Lyon at 828.293.3053, ext. 4 or joelyon@jacksonnc.org.

■ Youth in grades three through eight have until March 31 to sign up for spring volleyball. Practices start the week of April 18 and games will begin Saturday, May 7, with all games and practices held at the Cullowhee Recreation Center. Volunteers and coaches are needed, as well. The fee is $50, and registration is online at rec.jacksonnc.org.

■ A physical education program for homeschool students will be held 1-2:30 p.m. Fridays, March 18, through April 22, at the Waynesville Recreation Center. Class activities will include gym and pool games, running, biking, nature hikes, paddle trips and more. Cost is $60 per family. Register at the rec center front desk. For more information contact MaShon Gaddis at 828.456.2030 or mgaddis@waynesvillenc.gov.

■ An organizational meeting for the Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department Spring Adult Softball League is planned for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 15, at the Vance Street Park softball field in Waynesville. All adult softball players interested in playing for a team should attend — the entry fee will be based on the number of teams at the meeting. Games will be played on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings. For more information contact Donald Hummel at 828.456.2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov.

outdoors

Sylva and surrounding valleys spread out beneath the view from Pinnacle.

33

outdoors

Creeping phlox. Dan Pittillo photo

Spring blooms showing at Nodding Trillium It’s barely March, but an abnormally warm winter means several spring flowers are already blooming.

At the Nodding Trillium Garden in Cullowhee, botanist Dan Pittillo reports that skunk cabbage bloomed in early January, and in February seersucker sedge, liverwort, variable-leaf heartleaf, Walter’s violet, creeping phlox, wild geranium and hairy buttercup followed suit. As of March 1, Oconee

bells are blooming too among others.

The Nodding Trillium Garden is a 20acre property at 601 Cane Creek in Cullowhee featuring about a mile of trail through a rich alkaline cove with 34 rare plant species in addition to a tremendous diversity of more common plants. The property is open to the public sunrise to sunset year-round, with off-trail walking and picking flowers prohibited.

March 9-15, 2022

The plant doctor is in The Haywood County Master Gardener Plant Clinic is now open again with an in-person format, 9 a.m. to noon every Tuesday and 1-4 p.m. Thursdays through September, excepting holidays.

Drop into the Cooperative Extension Office on Raccoon Road in Waynesville or call 828.456.3575 with a description of any homeowner gardening issue, including lawns, vegetables, flowers, trees and ornamental plants; disease, insect, weed or wildlife problems; soils (including soil test results) and fertilizers; freeze and frost damage; and cultural and chemical solutions to plant problems.

Smoky Mountain News

Cradle of Forestry looks for help

34

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

With the 2022 season around the corner, the Cradle of Forestry in America is looking for help to make it all happen.

FIND Outdoors, a partner of the Pisgah National Forest, needs seasonal educators and volunteers for the months ahead: ■ Discovery site hosts are wanted to be on duty three days per week, greeting visitors with rotating assignments at various areas of the site. Hosts help with daily operations, coordinate programming and special events, and contribute to the safe and attractive operation of the Cradle, focusing on sustainability and green practices where appropriate.

■ Seasonal educators work to support the educational mission at FIND Outdoors, focusing on delivering informal education and interpretation to schools, groups and families throughout the year. The successful candidate will be held to a high standard for education, customer service and

employee relations as an ambassador to FIND. The Cradle of Forestry is the birthplace of science-based forest management and a living legacy made possible by George and Edith Vanderbilt of the nearby Biltmore Estate. The 6,500-acre historic site was created by Congress in 1968 to “preserve, develop, and make available to this and future generations the birthplace of forestry and forestry education in America.” The Cradle is open to visitors from mid-April to early November each year.

WNC Calendar COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • The Jackson County Farmers Market meets every Saturday November through March, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and April through October 9 a.m.-noon at Bridge Park in Sylva, 110 Railroad St. Fresh, locally grown seasonal vegetables, locally produced meat, eggs, fresh bread and pastries, coffee, foraged mushrooms, flowers, starter plants for the garden, honey, jams and jellies, local artisans and more. Special events listed on Facebook and Instagram.

• The Jackson Arts Market takes place from 1-5 p.m. every Saturday at 533 West Main St. in Sylva with live music and an array of local artists. Tanner Burch will play at the market March 12, Wooly Booger will play at the market March 19 and Benjamin Jacobs will play at the market March 26.

• The Jackson County Chamber of Commerce will hold its STIR (socialize, talk, interact, remember) event from 5-6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 24, at Sylva Thrift Shop.

This is a networking event; RSVP by Monday, March 21 by calling the chamber at 828.586.2155.

BUSINESS & EDUCATION • Western Carolina University’s Educational Leadership Programs will be hosting Equity in Education Summit from 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. on Friday, March 25, at the Crest Center in Asheville. The registration fee for the summit is $100 and includes a light breakfast and lunch. For more information about the conference, contact Jess Weiler at jrweiler@email.wcu.edu. For more information about registration, visit learn.wcu.edu/equity-summit or call 828.227.7397.

• Haywood Community College will host “Business Planning Power Hour: Market Plan” from noon to 1 p.m.

Thursday, March 10. For more information visit tinyurl.com/39k3wu3b.

• Haywood Community College will host “Spring EMFS Agribusiness Series: Making Value Added Food Products at Home,” from 6-7 p.m. Thursday, March 10. For more information visit tinyurl.com/39k3wu3b.

• The N.C. Cooperative Extension Service will hold a free seminar on how to create and care for your Caneberry patch. This event will be held from 6-7 p.m.

Monday, March 14, via Zoom. For more information, contact the Macon County Extension Center at 828.349.2049 or e-mail Christy Bredenkamp at clbreden@ncsu.edu.

• Haywood Community College will host “Business Planning Power Hour” Financials” from noon-1 p.m.

Thursday, March 17. For more information visit tinyurl.com/39k3wu3b.

• Haywood Community College will host “Basics of Bookkeeping” from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesday, March 16. For more information visit tinyurl.com/39k3wu3b.

• Haywood Community College will host “Spring EMFS Agribusiness Series: Food Safety” from 6-7 p.m.

Thursday, March 17. For more information visit tinyurl.com/39k3wu3b.

• The N.C. Cooperative Extension Service will hold a free seminar on how to start and grow your own grape vines from 6-7 p.m. Thursday, March 17, via Zoom. For more information, contact the Macon County Extension Center at 828.349.2049 or e-mail Christy Bredenkamp at clbreden@ncsu.edu

FUNDRAISERS AND BENEFITS • Registration is open for the Catamount Climb Half Marathon and 5K at Western Carolina University. The races will take place Saturday, April 9. Hosted by the

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

Smoky Mountain News

at Tuscola High School with author Nic Stone at 6 p.m.

Thursday, March 24, at the Fangmeyer Theater at HART in Waynesville. For more information about the program, drop by or call Blue Ridge Books at 828.456.6000.

College of Health and Human Sciences and Campus Recreation and Wellness, the Catamount Climb raises money for student development and scholarships.

Register or learn more at halfmarathon.wcu.edu/.

VOLUNTEERS & VENDORS • REACH of Haywood County is seeking new volunteers and will hold a Volunteer Training Day from 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, March 12, at First United Methodist Church in Waynesville. For further information and to register, contact Buffy Queen, REACH Community Educator, 828.456.7898, or BQreach@aol.com by March 9, as notebooks and certificates will be prepared for all participants.

• Artisans, Crafters, and Food Vendors are invited to submit their application for the Greening Up the Mountains Festival to be held from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, April 23. Visit the festival’s website, www.greeningupthemountains.com to review the 2022 Vendor Policies and download an application.

Applications will be accepted through March 15. For more information, please email the event coordinator at greeningupthemountains@gmail.com.

HEALTH AND WELLNESS • Swain County Caring Corner Free Clinic is open Thursday’s 4-9 p.m. at Restoration House (Bryson City United Methodist Church). Office hours are Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 9 a.m.-noon. Call 828.341.1998 to see if you qualify to receive free medical care from volunteer providers.

• Tai Chi for Veterans (and everyone else) will take place at 11 a.m. Thursday, March 17, in the Macon County Public Library Meeting Room. Tai Chi for Veterans is a newer program in Macon County, and the library is hosting a sample class. Amelia Capaforte Jones with the John & Dorothy Crawford Senior Center will lead a demonstration class, a talk and a Q&A. The class is geared to veterans but open to all. Comfortable clothing and masks are suggested.

POLITICAL CORNER • Democratic Women of Macon County will hold their March monthly meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 15 at Noah’s Train and Play.

• Jackson County Republican Party Convention will take place at 5 p.m. Friday, March 18, at the Comfort Inn in Sylva. Keith Blaine 828.331.7625.

• The Swain County Republican Party will hold its annual precinct meetings and county convention at 6 p.m. Monday, March 21, at the Swain County Training Center in Bryson City. All county Republicans are encouraged to attend.

AUTHORS AND BOOKS • “Book Night Extravaganza” will celebrate the 25th anniversary of “Harry Potter” at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 15, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.

Marianna Black Library, a member of the Fontana Regional Library, is located in Downtown Bryson City at the corner of Academy and Rector. For more information, call 828.488.3030.

• Blue Ridge Books and News will Host a discussion about the book “Dear Martin,” and its recent challenge

A&E

• Mountain Makers Craft Market will be held from noon to 4 p.m. the first Sunday of each month at 308 North Haywood St. in Waynesville. Over two dozen artisans selling handmade and vintage goods. Special events will be held when scheduled. mountainmakersmarket.com • “St. Patty’s Spring Kick-Off” will be held from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, March 19, at Darnell Farms in Bryson City. Live Irish music by The Crossjacks and The Ghost Peppers. Cloggers, food, fresh produce, dream whips, axe throwing and other fun activities throughout the day. Don’t forget to wear green. darnellfarms.com.

• Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host a special “St. Patrick’s Day Party” March 17. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.246.0350 or boojumbrewing.com.

• Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host Nick Prestia (singer-songwriter) March 12. All events begin at 7 p.m.

Free and open to the public. 828.634.0078 or curraheebrew.com.

• Elevated Mountain Distilling Company (Maggie Valley) will host an Open Mic Night 7-9 p.m. on Wednesdays.

Free and open to the public. 828.734.1084 or elevatedmountain.com.

35

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

Complete listings of local music scene Regional festivals Art gallery events and openings Complete listings of recreational offerings at health and fitness centers n Civic and social club gatherings • “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12 (and other select dates), at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City. Full service all-adult first-class car. Wine pairings with a meal, and more. For more information and/or to register, call 800.872.4681 or click on gsmr.com.

ON STAGE & IN CONCERT • The Asheville Chamber Music Series (ACMS) will present the Calefax Reed Quintet in concert at 8 p.m. Friday, March 11, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville at 1 Edwin Place in Asheville. Tickets are $40 general admission. Youth are free. To purchase tickets or for more information visit www.AshevilleChamberMusic.org, call 828.575.7427 or email support@AshevilleChamberMusic.org.

• A live onstage production of Disney’s “Descendants: The Musical” will be performed at 7 p.m. March 17-19 and 2 p.m. March 19 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Tickets are $12 for students, $15 for adults. For more information, click on smokymountainarts.com or call 866.273.4615.

• Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort (Cherokee) will host The Marshall Tucker Band (southern rock) 7:30 p.m.

March 12. For tickets, caesars.com/harrahs-cherokee.

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host a special “St. Patrick’s Day Celebration” with Acoustic Pizza March 17. All events begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.

• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host Paul Edelman 7 p.m. March 11. All events are free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.

• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host Twelfth Fret (Americana) March 11, Somebody’s Child (Americana) March 12, Woolybooger (folk/blues) March 18 and Kate Thomas (singer-songwriter) March 19. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.538.0115 or mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Blackjack Country March 10, Rock Holler Band March 11 and Carolina Freightshakers (rock/country) March 12. All shows begin at 8 p.m. Free and open to the public.

828.538.2488.

FOOD AND DRINK • Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture will host Community Supported Agriculture Fairs from 4-7 p.m. on March 11 at the YWCA of Asheville. Full Share, a free guide listing 60 CSA farms in the Appalachian Grown region, is available digitally at asapconnections.org/find-local-food/csa.

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

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

Outdoors

• The Haywood County Master Gardener Plant Clinic is now open again with an in-person format, 9 a.m.-noon every Tuesday and 1-4 p.m. Thursdays through September, excepting holidays. Drop into the Cooperative Extension Office on Raccoon Road in Waynesville or call 828.456.3575.

• Jonathan Byrd, manager at Outdoor 76 in Franklin, will discuss safe enjoyment of cold-weather outdoor activities during a Nantahala Hiking Club meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 10, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. All are welcome, and NHC membership is not necessary to attend club hikes or meetings.

• The Asheville Shamrock 5K/10K/Fun Run begins at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, March 12. Learn more or sign up at gloryhoundevents.com/event/shamrock-5k10k.

• The Assault on BlackRock trail race is set for 9 a.m.

Saturday, March 19, with proceeds benefiting the Jackson County Rescue Squad. Registration is $25 in advance or $30 on race day. Sign up at www.ultrasignup.com.

• Get acquainted with trail running 9:30-11:30 a.m.

Saturday, March 19, on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail in Haywood County. The Waynesville Recreation Center will host this community trail run/walk, open to all ages and levels. For more information contact MaShon Gaddis at 828.456.2030 or mgaddis@waynesvillenc.gov.

• The Hemlock Restoration Initiative will hold a treatment demonstration from 1-4 p.m. Sunday, March 20, at Bent Creek Experimental Forest Headquarters in Asheville. To see the complete list of events or to sign up, visit savehemlocksnc.org/events. Most events require registration one week in advance.

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Employment IN-HOME AIDE – FT Haywood County. A full time position is available assisting elderly clients in their homes w/ light housekeeping, shopping and errands. Paid holidays, earned annual and VLFN OHDYH RWKHU EHQH¿WV

will apply. Candidates must have a high school diploma/GED, valid NC driver’s license, available transportation, effective oral communication & listening skills, and have legible handwriting skills.

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THE JACKSON COUNTY DEPARTMENT Of Social Services is recruiting for a Foster Care Social Worker in Child Welfare. This position will work with foster children and provide services to families where needs have been LGHQWL¿HG 5HTXLUHV OLPLWed availability after hours as needed. The starting salary is $42,102.07, if IXOO\ TXDOL¿HG 0LQLPXP TXDOL¿FDWLRQV LQFOXGH D four year degree in a HuPDQ 6HUYLFH ¿HOG 3UHI-

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March 9-15, 2022

Folkmoot USA, a registered 501c3 and North Carolina’s official International Folk Festival, (www.folkmoot.org) is seeking an experienced and multi-talented individual as its Operations Manager.

Working with the Board of Directors, the Executive Director, a small staff and many volunteers, the Operations Manager organizes and implements all operating procedures, record-keeping, and financial management associated with Folkmoot’s year round cultural events, performances, and planning for the annual Folkmoot Festival held every July. The Operations Manager also manages the day-to-day needs of the Folkmoot Friendship Center, once the historic Hazelwood Elementary school and which is now re-purposed as a multi-purpose cultural and educational center. Along with the Executive Director, this position manages rental contracts, tenant communication, and usage of the Queen Auditorium performance space and classrooms, along with maintenance requests and scheduling. Qualified candidates will have significant experience in the use of Quickbooks and various online portals associated with budgeting, bookkeeping, cash flow and grant writing necessary to properly maintain accurate and robust financial reports as required by the Board of Directors and all legal entities. This is an immediate full-time position based in Waynesville, North Carolina with annual compensation beginning at $50,000 per year commensurate with experience. For more information about the position or to submit a cover letter and resume, email mike@folkmoot.org

WNC MarketPlace

erence will be given to applicants with a Master’s or Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and/or experience providing Social Work services. Applicants should complete an application which is located at www.jcdss.org and submit it to the Jackson County Department of 6RFLDO 6HUYLFHV *ULI¿Q Street, Sylva, NC 28779 or the Sylva branch of the NC Works Career Center.

Applications will be taken until March 14, 2022.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING MANAGER FTHaywood Co. - Smoky Mountain Housing Partnership (SMHP) is the affordable housing division of Mountain Projects, Inc. SMHP is seeking a dynamic leader to serve as the Affordable Housing Manager and lead SMHP into the future under the guidance of Mountain Project’s Executive Director and the SMHP Advisory Board.

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37

SUPER

CROSSWORD

R YOU AT THE W? ACROSS 1 Make sarcastic remarks 8 It was stormed in the French Revolution 16 Petri dish gel 20 Never-dying 21 Volcanic glass 22 Move, in real estate 23 Something the "Eat It" singer's parents did?

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48 French for "enough" 49 Corpulent 50 -- culpa 51 10th mo.

54 Work for Consumer Reports for many years?

63 Attending college, e.g.

68 "Today -- man" 69 Short preview 70 "-- life!"

71 Train passengers' noisy crying?

75 1990s attorney general 76 San Luis -78 Disposition 79 They have crisp, edible

pods 81 Instruction sheets on how to lull babies to sleep?

85 Corrida cry 86 Needle-nosed fish 87 Old nuclear regulatory agcy.

89 Some Apples 94 Scoundrel below a spanning structure?

103 Divided Asian land 104 1980s attorney general 105 Like some fans and eels 106 Group of commandos from which to choose?

109 Reached by car 110 Year, to Rosa 111 E-chuckle 112 Borscht, e.g.

113 Little devil 116 Lawn vermin 118 "This road furrow was not fully repaired"?

126 Scrapes (out) 127 1990s GM car model 128 Soccer star Cristiano -129 Siesta, e.g.

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77 Laura Ingalls' hair feature 80 "Boys Don't Cry" director Kimberly 82 Dog's threat 83 Not common 84 Tennis unit 88 Angelic being 90 Pol Romney 91 With skill 92 Some film FX 93 Min. fraction 94 Virginia city 95 Baltimore baseballers 96 "The Ref" director Demme 97 "Stee-rike!" caller 98 Lead-in to colonial 99 "-- volente" ("God willing") 100 Subj. for U.S. citizens-tobe 101 Pair fleeing to wed 102 Grandma on "Roseanne" 103 Cosmo on "Seinfeld" 107 Oslo's nation, to its natives 108 Pasted 109 Extinct birds 112 Some 35mm cameras 114 Early Persian 115 Old hands 117 N.Y. hours 119 Dress fancily, with "out" 120 901, in old Rome 121 Prefix for a vintner 122 Sporty truck, in brief 123 -- constrictor 124 Call a halt to 125 Lead-in to "kwon do" or "Bo"

ANSWERS ON PAGE 34

perience in NC Day Care regulations, 1-2 years supervisory experience and good judgment skills. )XOO WLPH ZLWK EHQH¿WV Applications will be taken at www.mountainprojects.org EOE/AA. THE JACKSON COUNTY DEPARTMENT Of Social Services is recruiting for a Processing Assistant III. Duties will include reception, copying, ¿OLQJ VFDQQLQJ UHFHLYLQJ and providing information to the public, data entry, and other related clerical tasks. Applicants should have excellent customer service skills, good computer skills, the ability to communicate effectively in person and by telephone, a generDO NQRZOHGJH RI RI¿FH procedures, and the ability to learn and apply a variety of guidelines.

The starting salary is $25,847.02. Applicants must have completed high school and have at least one year of clerical experience or an HTXLYDOHQW FRPELQDWLRQ of training and experience. The application for employment is available online at www.jcdss.org

or may be obtained at the Jackson County Human 5HVRXUFHV 2I¿FH RU WKH Sylva branch of the NC Works Career Center.

Applications will be taken until March 11, 2022.

LANDSCAPE CONSTRUCTION FOREMAN B. H. Graning Landscapes is hiring a Landscape Construction Foreman. This position is full time employment with group EHQH¿WV RIIHUHG DIWHU 90 days. $15-$25/hour.

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PREVENTION SPECIALIST MANGER- FT Haywood County- Mountain Projects Inc. is currently seeking a Prevention Specialist Manager. You will provide oversight for the Prevention Services department. Provide supervision regarding program development, oversight of budgetary issues, evaluation process and

sustainability planning. &HUWL¿FDWLRQ DV D 1RUWK Carolina Prevention Consultant with at least 5 years’ experience in the ¿HOG RI 6XEVWDQFH 0LVXVH 3UHYHQWLRQ UHTXLUHG A Master’s Degree is preferred. Must have knowledge of budgets DQG ¿QDQFLDO PDQDJHment. To be considered please apply by visiting www.mountainprojects. org. AOE/EE THE JACKSON COUNTY DEPARTMENT Of Social Services is recruiting for an Income Maintenance Supervisor II for Adult Medicaid Services. This position supervises staff who pro-

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38

www.smokymountainnews.com

March 9-15, 2022

WNC MarketPlace

vide Medicaid services to adults. This position UHTXLUHV FRQVLGHUDEOH knowledge of all income maintenance programs, forms, and documents used in determining eligibility. Applicants must be knowledgeable of the use of the income maintenance manuals and knowledgeable of needs, problems, and attitudes of disadvantaged persons, have general knowledge of all agency programs and services.

This person must have the ability to learn basic supervisory/management skills, have the ability to communicate effectively with workers, supervisors, applicants, and community agencies to obtain pertinent data and to interpret rules and regulations. Minimum UHTXLUHPHQWV DUH WKUHH years of experience as a caseworker or investigator in an income maintenance program, preferably with one year of supervisory experiHQFH RU DQ HTXLYDOHQW combination of training and experience. Starting salary is $38,187.82, depending on experience. The application for employment is available online at www.jcdss. org. Applications may be dropped off or mailed to the Jackson County Department of Social 6HUYLFHV DW *ULI¿Q Street, Sylva or the NC Works Career Center.

Applications will be taken until March 14, 2022.

LANDSCAPING CREW B. H. Graning Landscapes is looking to hire Landscape Crew in both Maintenance and Construction in Canton, NC and Sylva, NC. $12-$22/hour. Part time and/or full-time availability. Flexible late start schedules are available. Pay is negotiable based on knowledge and experience. For more information, please call 828.586.8303. Apply online or in person. www.bhglandscapes. com/employment-application.

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Real Estate Announcements WHITE-GLOVE SERVICE From America’s Top Movers. Fully insured and bonded. Let us take the stress out of your out of state move. FREE QUOTES! Call: 855-8212782 PUBLISHER’S NOTICE All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Fair Housing Act which makes it illegal to advertise ‘any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination’. Familial status includes children under 18 living with parents or legal guardians and pregnant women.

This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate in violation of this law. All dwellings advertised on HTXDO RSSRUWXQLW\ EDVLV

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March 9-15, 2022

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WNC MarketPlace

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WAYNESVILLE OFFICE 74 North Main Street | (828) 634 -7333 Junaluska Highlands | 4BR, 5BA | $1,100,000 | #3660973

2BR, 1BA $100,000 | #3811678

2BR, 1BA $125,000 | #3834320

2BR, 1BA $159,000 | #3833283

2BR, 2BA, 1HB $242,000 | #3833049

3BR, 2BA $249,000 | #3834438

1BR, 1BA $290,000 | #3817899

3BR, 2BA $344,900 | #3790583

3BR, 2BA, 1HB $367,000 | #3834883

Highland Meadows | 1BA $370,000 | #3791175

$389,000 | #3778948

Brook Hollow Estates | 4BR, 3BA $675,000 | #3831641

Fontana Lake Estates | 4BR, 4BA, 1HB $1,590,000 | #3798629

Smoky Mountain News

March 9-15, 2022

Get details on any property in the MLS. Go to beverly-hanks.com and enter the MLS# into the quick search.

CALL TODAY (828) 634-7333 40