Smoky Mountain News | March 30, 2022 by Smoky Mountain News

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March 30-April 5, 2022 Vol. 23 Iss. 44

PBS war correspondent talks to SMN from Kyiv Page 9 Local Jan. 6 defendant pleads guilty Page 16

CONTENTS On the Cover: As the war in Ukraine rages on and more questions emerge every day, The Smoky Mountain News spoke with a few of the leading experts from Western Carolina University, some of whom have direct ties to the region, to get their perspectives. (Pages 6-8) Ukrainian soldiers have offered stiff resistance against advancing Russian forces. Jane Ferguson photo

News: Maggie Valley one step close to UDO ........................................................................ 4 Jackson County Snack Master Competition ................................................................5 Finding light in the darkness: A conversation with Jane Ferguson ......................9 Public restrooms likely coming to Spring Street ......................................................13 More than 1,000 acres burning in mountain region................................................15 Developers discuss potential Sossamon Airfield plans ........................................14 Sylva man pleads guilty in Jan. 6 riots ........................................................................16

Opinion Managing growth has never been easy ......................................................................20 Raise a glass to St. Peter’s ............................................................................................21

A&E Bestselling author of “Dear Martin” comes to Waynesville ..................................22 From Soviet Russia to the American rural South ....................................................29

Outdoors Objections level strong criticism against forest plan ............................................ 30

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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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Maggie Valley one step closer to UDO HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER aggie Valley is one step closer to completing its unified development ordinance after Town Planner Kaitland Finkle presented a draft proposal to the town board during a workshop last week. The draft UDO contains 14 zoning districts, up from the five zoning districts the town currently operates with. “It’s more of a targeted fit instead of a one size fits all, which is kind of the current ordinance,” said Town Manager Nathan Clark. Currently, residential properties in the town of Maggie Valley can be zoned low density residential (R1), medium density residential (R2), or high density residential (R3). Commercial properties in town limits can either be zoned for general business (C1) or neighborhood business (C2). The draft UDO proposes five distinct residential zones, four commercial zones, three mixed use zones and one town center zone. In the draft UDO, residential properties would be zoned R0 through R4. Rural residential (R0) is a brand-new zoning district intended for the extraterritorial-jurisdiction where people don’t have access to the town sewer and water system. This zoning requires one-half acre lot sizes. Permissible units per acre will increase

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March 30-April 5, 2022

come in and say, ‘board, this is the property that I have, this is what I’d like to do on this property.’” “By increasing the districts and then modifying the uses, you take a lot of the ambiguity away of the worst case scenario,” said Clark. “Here you’re going see a reduction in uses per zone, but you’re going have much more targeted zones to really fit what the actual requests are.” “By increasing the districts and then Mixed use zones are also modifying the uses, you take a lot of the new for Maggie Valley in the ambiguity away of the worst case scenario.” draft UDO. — Nathan Clark These three districts allow a mix of high density residential and commerrenting out units to others. This zone is cial uses. Each mixed-use district is intended intended for vacation communities, cotfor a certain geographical portion of Maggie tages, cabins and other short-term rental — MU1 is the Soco Road mixed use district, housing. Campgrounds and RV parks will MU2 is the Moody Farm Road mixed use only be permitted by special exception in district and MU3 is called Mixed Attractions this short-term residential zone. and is intended for the Ghost Town properMaggie Valley has experienced conty. tention from residents and board members Each of these districts allows for the same over several high density residential properminimum lot size of 7,260 square feet. ties in recent months. By creating more specific zones with more narrow permitted uses, Setbacks and height allowances are also the same for the three mixed use districts, but the town staff hope to mitigate this problem. minimum lot width in the Soco Road mixed “These districts are a lot more narrow,” use district is 40 feet, while the minimum said Finkle. “It gives people the option to by one in each of the residential districts with two lots permitted per acre in the R0 zone, three lots per acre in R1, four lots per acre in R2 and five lots per acre in R3. The fourth residential district is reserved for short term residential (R4) properties and allows 14 units per acre. However, in order to comply with R4, the entire property must be owned by one entity who is then

width in the other two districts is 75 feet. The four commercial districts in the draft UDO are community attractions (C1), neighborhood business (C2), gateways (C3) and community services (C4). Residential properties are permitted by right in the neighborhood business zone and by special exception in the three other commercial zones. “[Commercial districts] do still allow for residential uses because that’s something we’ve historically seen here in Maggie valley, some residential uses in our commercial district,” said Finkle. “So while they’re labeled commercial, they still do allow both.” According to Finkle, the planning board is required to make a recommendation regarding the draft UDO to the town board. The planning board was supposed to have this done by the end of March, but Finkle says the board is hesitant and wants to review several parts of the draft. Finkle recommended the board of aldermen direct the planning board to give it a recommendation concerning the UDO, which requires the planning board to do so within 30 days. “If you direct them to give you a recommendation, it starts their clock of 30 days,” said Finkle. “And I think we are at the point where we cannot go beyond 30 days.” The board of aldermen is planning to issue this directive to the planning board at its agenda setting meeting March 30 at 10 a.m.

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HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER ast week, Jackson County Schools held its 10th annual Snack Master Competition, after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Students created original recipes for healthy snacks and put their snack-making chops to the

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Ingles Nutrition Notes written by Ingles Dietitian Leah McGrath

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test in a competition with their peers. “We do this to get kids together and get them focused on healthy snacks and healthy snacking and what that means,” said Laura Cabe, school nutrition director. The event is put on annually, a collaboration between the School Health Advisory Council and the Safe and Healthy Schools Team. The groups created an application that students must fill out with their original recipe. There is a list of suggested ingredients to choose from, and students in grades K-7 are challenged to come up with

their own clever names. On the night of the event, students bring all their own ingredients and supplies, make the snack on site and present it to the five judges. This year, judges included Jackson County School Superintendent Dr. Dana Ayers, Deputy Superintendent Jake Buchanan, School Board Chair Allie LairdLarge, school board member Elizabeth Cooper and Melissa Milsaps, cafeteria manager at Smoky Mountain Elementary, where the event took place. “It’s just a fun way to see what they come up with and it’s a great opportunity for them to present themselves,” said Cabe. “They talk to each judge, we had five judges Thursday night, and it gives them an opportunity to just communicate with them as far as how they came up with a snack.” Participants are scored on a scale from 1-10 with individual and group winners determined, as well as runners up for both divisions. Superlatives are also awarded for categories like “best bite,” “most refreshing bite,” and “most courteous chef.” Students faced stiff competition from a large pool of snack master chefs, but several were awarded top places. The top place for individual competitors went to Paisley Nations for her “Paisley’s Power Bites.” Group winners were Carson Miller and Eli Gribble for their “Peach Mango Smoothie,” and the group runners up were Brayden and Izaiah Cope for “Cope Brothers’ Awesome Pizza.” Superlative for best bite went to sixth grader Neveah Tollie for “Buff Ham Sammich”; most refreshing bite to Thomas Walawender (6th grade) for “Super Fruity Berry Blast Smoothie” and Clayton Douglas (kindergarten) for “Hummus Taco”; best name for group snack went to Jessa and Eva Efrid, Shriya Gupta, Alaya Cruz and Isabela Chapa (5th grade) for “Osta li he liqa,” meaning “we are grateful” in Cherokee; best name for individual snack went to Imogene Black (kindergarten) for “Oatmeal Penguins”; and the people’s choice awards went to Branson Green (1st grade) for “Make You Go Ba Nay Nay’s” and Zoey Hensley (4th grade) for “Peanut Butter Balls.”

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Jackson County Snack Master Competition

Leah McGrath, RDN, LDN Ingles Market Corporate Dietitian

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

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THE MESSIEST STORY YOU CAN HAVE A Western perspective on the war in Ukraine

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR he war in Ukraine may seem a million miles away, but one doesn’t have to travel halfway across the world to find the Western perspective on it. A small group of scholars from Western Carolina University in Cullowhee — some with roots in the war-torn region — are using their experience and academic skillsets to help educate the public about a complicated, confusing conflict that is already beginning to have global implications. “The heart of the conflict is that at the end of the day, it’s an ethnic war no different than when Serbia was making claims to territory like Kosovo, going all the way back to the ninth century,” said Dr. Ingrid Bego, associate professor of political science at WCU. Today, Ukraine is the second-most populous and powerful former Soviet Republic, behind Russia. Home to more than 40 million people — before refugees began fleeing in late February — it’s slightly smaller than Texas and would be the America’s thirdlargest state. But, more than a thousand years ago, it was a loose federation of broadly Slavic peoples who formed a proto-state known as the Kievan Rus, centered around modern-day Kyiv. For a number of reasons, the Kievan Rus declined in power through the 13th century and was eventually conquered by Mongols, beginning a long history of occupation by regional powers. Both Russia and Belarus acknowledge the Kievan Rus as the cradle of their own modern civilizations, and Russia has long claimed that Ukraine, which wasn’t officially a state of its own until 1918, is rightful Russian territory due to a shared culture and ethnicity. “In 1922, a treaty between Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other republics that are now Georgia, Armenia, et cetera, formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,” said Bego, who was born in communist Albania in the 1980s. “Ukraine played a really big role in the Soviet economy and the world economy. We’ve always heard a lot about it being ‘the bread basket of the world.’” It was, which makes the Holodomor (terror-famine) even more tragic; in the early 1930s, Ukraine’s Soviet rulers including Joseph Stalin forced the collectivization of farms and the eradication of kulaks, a class of peasant landowners. Predictably, grain harvests suffered, along with ethnic Ukrainians. Between 3 and 10 million Ukrainians were executed or starved to death, according to most estimates. A decade later during World War II, German Nazis occupied Ukraine and killed more than a million Jewish Ukrainians, along with 4 million non-Jewish Ukrainians. “Liberation” from Nazi Germany came at the hands of Stalin and the Soviets, as did another four decades of repression under Soviet rule. 6

A bombed out apartment building in Ukraine. Jane Ferguson photo

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March 30-April 5, 2022

With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1992, Ukraine regained true independence for the first time in 70 years. “In 1991, a referendum was held in the former Soviet republics, and 92% of Ukrainians voted to leave the Soviet Union,” Bego said. “There was absolutely no doubt that Ukraine wanted to be its own country and not a satellite republic.” Alleged Russian interference in Ukraine’s 2004 presidential election prompted both a revolution and a revote, resulting in the ascendancy of an independence-minded president who was later mysteriously poisoned. In 2014, another Ukrainian president, the one who stood to benefit from the rigged election in 2004, was overthrown after a series of moves inched Ukraine away from the European Union and closer to Russia. “One thing that is really important I think for most people to know is that Ukraine very different than many post-communist countries in the region in that it has always had a very strong pro- democracy movement,” said Bego. “I think the other post-communist countries in the region have always sort of been jealous that any time they saw something opposing the popular will, Ukrainians have always protested.”

‘WELL THEN, WHAT IS NATO GOOD FOR?’ Amid the chaos of 2014, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin capitalized on the opportunity to seize Ukrainian territory in Crimea, a strategic heart-shaped peninsula jutting out into the Black Sea. The Western world did nothing to stop him. “Putin knew that [then-President Barack] Obama came in as an anti-war president, and he took advantage of that,” Bego said. “That’s when the world could have called him out and said that this is unacceptable.” Russia was removed from the G-8, a group of the world’s largest economies, and Obama presented sanctions that were later expanded by President Donald Trump in 2019 — right around the time Trump threatened to withhold military aid from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy unless he volunteered to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. The lack of action on the part of the free nations of the world is reminiscent of the 1938 Munich Agreement, when Great Britain, France and Italy agreed to let Adolph Hitler’s Germany annex part of Czechoslovakia. British Prime Minister

Neville Chamberlain said that the move would bring “peace for our time” but less than a year later, Hitler invaded Poland. Now, eight years after Crimea, Putin has invaded Ukraine. “That’s the weakness of the west,” said Bego. “I think that we tend to think that we can control dictators or authoritarian leaders, and then they surprise us when they act like this.” Ukraine is not part of the 27-member European Union, which is mostly an economic and political partnership. Nor is Ukraine part of the 30-member North Atlantic Treaty Dr. Ingrid Bego Organization (NATO), which is a collective security arrangement formed in 1949 to counter Soviet expansion. But, that’s not because Ukraine doesn’t want to be. “I think the EU will need to be a lot more aggressive than it has been in the past. It has to be more aggressive with enlargement,” Bego said. “With this focus on political gains and benefits, it forgot that Europe still has

United States, Canada, and by the German people themselves to keep Nord Stream 2 from going into operation,” said Dorondo. Although German Chancellor Olaf Schultz was blunt in condemning the invasion, Germany has thus far refused to shut down Nord Stream 1 — according to Bloomberg News and Dorondo, between 40% and 60% of Germany’s natural gas comes from Russia. A recent speech by Schultz suggests that nothing is off the table, but in the meantime, Germany is scrambling to shore up its energy infrastructure so it can seek fuel from other sources in Qatar and North Africa while the conflict continues. Americans, on the other hand, are struggling to pay for fuel amid the twin tides of inflation and global energy supply disruption. On March 8, President Joe Biden announced an end to American imports of Russian oil and gas. Only about 8% of American oil imports come from Russia, according to a March 14 story in the Wall Street Journal, so Russia isn’t fully to blame for American gas pains at the pump. “I can tell you with absolute certainty that Germans and Austrians and Europeans generally from Britain and Ireland to Poland and from Scandinavia to Sicily are paying enormously higher prices for the natural gas to heat their homes, the gasoline to put in their vehicles, diesel fuel for commercial drivers,” Dorondo said. “All of those prices are consistently higher than they are here in the United States largely because Europe is so much more heavily dependent on Russian oil and natural gas than is the United States.” Dorondo recently told his students that he knew they were upset about gas prices, as is he; however, Dorondo attempted to take some of the sting out of the situation by putting it all into context.

“Remember, you’ll still get your gas,” he told them. “You’ll still go home where you can watch television and have electricity, and you’ll still be alive in the morning. Ukrainians by the millions are being made refugees. Thousands of them have been bombed out of their homes or have fled, but we don’t have to go to bed worrying about whether or not a cruise missile is going to land on our house.”

‘WE GOT THROUGH OTHER CRISES WITHOUT ANYBODY USING NUCLEAR WEAPONS’ Depending on where you live, a cruise missile strike probably isn’t feasible, but no matter where you live, a nuclear missile strike probably is. Not since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 has there been such tension among the world’s military powers over nuclear missiles — the long, phallic shadow of which hang high over the entire Ukrainian conflict. “Russians, as a legacy of the Cold War, have tremendous capacity,” said Dr. Niall Michelsen, professor of political science and public affairs at Western Carolina University since 2001. “They are deterring the United States and NATO from going in to help Ukraine. Without a doubt, if this were just a conventional invasion with no nuclear weapons anywhere in the picture, then I think by now the United States or some combination of American allies would be on the ground fighting in Ukraine.” As with other nuclear-capable nations, Russia has put a lot of thought into when, why and how it might use its estimated 4,500 available warheads (the U.S. has 3,700) or its stockpile of smaller, short-range tactical nuclear weapons suitable for battlefield deployment. “These weapons are not even as big as the

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Waging war is one thing, but paying for it is quite another. As the largest country on the planet by area, Russia has abundant natural resources. But those resources don’t quite give Russia all the money it needs to continue to pay for the ammunition, equipment, fuel, soldiers and vehicles that make the ongoing conflict in Ukraine possible because the scale of Russia’s economy isn’t nearly as large as its geographic footprint. Russia’s estimated annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $1.4 trillion lags far behind world leaders, including the United States’ $20.5 trillion GDP and China’s $13.4 trillion. The yearly economic output of Russia even places it behind the U.S. states of California, Texas and New York, respectively, and is only about double North Carolina’s $660 billion. Russia is, however, the world’s largest exporter of natural gas at almost 200 trillion cubic meters per year, according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s World

Citizens of Ukraine fleeing the conflict zones amid the current Russian invasion. Jane Ferguson photo

March 30-April 5, 2022

‘YOU’LL STILL BE ALIVE IN THE MORNING’

Factbook. Russia is also the third-largest exporter of petroleum — the largest not located in the Middle East. While Russia certainly has several advantages on the supply side, it doesn’t really matter how much energy a country produces if other countries on the demand side can’t or won’t buy it. Since the onset of the conflict, energy companies, including those based in the United States like ExxonMobil, have rushed to exit the Russian energy market by divesting from existing partnerships, cancelling future investments and halting purchases of Russian oil and gas. That’s not only disrupting the flow of energy from Russia, it’s also disrupting the flow of billions of dollars a day into Russia, says Dr. David Dorondo, an associate professor of history at Western Carolina University for the past 35 years. Informally since 2019 and formally since August of 2020, Dorondo’s been contributing to a research task group authorized by NATO’s science and technology office and working under the heading of energy security. The group is a broad, international consortium of analysts and scholars. “My particular remit in this project is to provide historical and political context for the attitudes and actions of the German government as regards energy security Dr. David Dorondo issues in Europe,” he said. European countries, Germany in particular, have been importing relatively large amounts of oil and natural gas from Russia since the Reagan era. Around that time, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl initiated the construction of the first pipeline project with Russia, which raised alarm across Europe and in the United States over Germany’s increasing dependency on Russian energy exports. Germany has committed itself to clean and sustainable energy practices, closing coal-fired power plants and decommissioning nuclear power plants in anticipation of 100% renewable energy by 2035. “In order to keep the lights on, to keep homes warm and factories running and so on, the German government has felt compelled to continue to import large amounts of petroleum products, hydrocarbon products, specifically — and importantly — natural gas,” Dorondo said. Nord Stream 1 is a pipeline running beneath the North Sea from Russia to Germany. Completed in 2010, it’s been vital to delivering the 55 billion cubic meters of Russian gas Western Europe relies on each year. Nord Stream 2, a parallel pipeline that would double delivery capacity, is now complete but Germany halted the certification process on Feb. 22 after Russia annexed separatist-held Ukrainian territories in advance of the invasion. “Enormous pressure was brought to bear on the German government by other European countries, by Ukraine, by the

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deep security concerns and ethnic divisions. The populist politics in Europe have put a stop to the enlargement procedure and policies that would have made Europe more secure.” Bego wrote a piece for the Washington Post in 2017, arguing that Russia was a acting against the balance of power in Europe. “I think Europe has been passive. It has been unable to see beyond elections and populism rising in their far-right,” she said. “Europe was not ready for this. Germany is so tied to Russia economically. France and the Netherlands, they have really sort of put a stop to the enlargement policy.” And NATO hasn’t really played much of a role in preventing the bloodshed in Ukraine that’s now entered its second month. “I remember 10 years ago teaching global issues classes and talking about whether NATO was still relevant. I think it was still an exam question five years ago. We were wondering whether NATO was actually even good for anything,” said Bego. “The only time really that we have used NATO effectively was when the United States was attacked on Sept. 11 and then sparingly here and there in the Middle East.” When it was founded, NATO was viewed as a unified front against the very type of aggression currently taking place. At the very least, Bego said, NATO could have instituted a no-fly zone over some or all of Ukraine, but Russia’s status as the world’s largest nuclear power left Western leaders reluctant. “Well then, what is NATO good for? You know, the United Nations mediates disputes. It has peacekeeping troops,” she said. “NATO is then a reactive force. The protection it offers is needed now more than ever. What role will it play in the 21st century? We don’t know. It is clear Putin is attempting to put it to a test. The blatant re-emergence of the Russian threat in the region is certainly making NATO’s mission clear and relevant again.”

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bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” Michelsen said. “These are not the ‘destroy a major city’ types of weapons, but they are nuclear weapons.” Tactical nukes — as opposed to intercontinental ballistic missiles that fly into space — have drawn increasing concern from foreign observers now that Russia appears bogged down short of key goals. “The Russians have in their military doctrine, as we understand it, a philosophy that if they’re losing on the battlefield, the terminology they have used is they would ‘escalate to deescalate,’” said Michelsen. “If they’re losing the conventional battle, they might launch a nuclear weapon to sort of say, ‘Okay, this is where we are, are you sure you want to go here?’ and force the other side to say, ‘Okay, let’s stop the war, let’s not escalate anymore.’” Once nuclear weapons are used, there remains the possibility that the other side will, if it can, escalate as well. That could include nuclear annihilation and global warfare scenarios ripped straight out of popular movies from the 1950s through the 1980s. “There are war games that the Pentagon does to try to see what would happen under these circumstances,” Michelsen said. “Obviously, the government has tried to keep that secret. I’ve read about a study, Princeton University brought together some nuclear experts and military experts, and once one nuclear weapon got used in this type of conflict it ended up with like 90 million dead.” But that’s assuming they even work. Following the economic and social chaos that came after the dissolution of the Soviet Dr. Niall Union in 1992, the miliMichelsen tary capacity of Russia languished for more than a decade. The effects of this neglect may be visible today in widespread reports of Russian equipment breakdowns impeding resupply efforts. In the late 1990s, Russia’s navy and air force were in the same condition, but the true efficacy of Russia’s nuclear arsenal remains unknown. “Thankfully, we have not had to find that out, but the power of nuclear weapons as a deterrent means that even if you suspect that your adversary’s weapons may not work as they intend, that’s a high gamble,” said Michelsen. “To get that wrong and then they perform perfectly would be a disaster beyond anybody’s imagination, almost.” There is no such deterrent for Ukraine. When the Soviet Union collapsed, four successor states inherited its nukes — Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. The international community, led by the United States and Russia, pushed for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine to give them all to Russia in exchange for modest assurances of security. “Some of us, including myself, at the time were suggesting that maybe Ukraine was making a risky gamble, because Russian claims on 8 Ukraine are pretty extensive and longstand-

Thousands of Ukrainians have either been injured or killed during the ongoing Russian invasion. Jane Ferguson photo ing,” Michelsen said. “If Ukraine had nuclear weapons, I would argue that the chances of Russia invading — this would not have happened. They would’ve been deterred.” The gamble didn’t pay off, beginning with the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. “We got through other crises without anybody using nuclear weapons, so we’ve done it in the past and hopefully will again,” Michelsen said. “But some of this hope or faith is that Vladimir Putin, who has sort of gotten everything wrong so far — he’s created a stronger more united NATO, he’s brought NATO troops closer to his border, he’s got Finland and Sweden thinking about giving up neutrality and joining NATO — we’re resting some of our faith that he will think properly about this matter and that he won’t escalate to the nuclear level.”

‘WAR IS THE MESSIEST STORY YOU CAN HAVE’ Observers across the globe have long relied on the media to bring details about escalation from far-flung battlefields into their living rooms, especially since the advent of electronic communications. During the American Civil War, it was by telegraph. During World War I, it was by radio. During War II, it was by newspaper. During the Vietnam conflict, it was network television. During the more recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, it was by cable television and mainstream media on the internet. Now, it’s by social media platforms like Tik Tok, Twitter and YouTube. Increasingly, the journalists doing the newsgathering face challenges above and beyond everyday news reporting — injury, death, imprisonment or torture (see Ferguson, p.9). The Committee to Protect Journalists says that five reporters, including one from Time and two from Fox News, have been killed in

the Ukrainian conflict so far, with many more injured and separate accounts of family members being kidnapped in retaliation for their reporting. But that doesn’t absolve reporters of their charge to get the story right and to ensure some semblance of balance. “It’s not the sexy job of journalism,” said Dr. Katerina Spasovska, associate professor of Dr. Katerina communications at Spasovska Western Carolina University. “Everybody thinks that, ‘Oh, I’m gonna go and cover the war.’ Yes, it’s a noble thing but it’s not the time to just go drop in there and say, ‘I’m gonna figure it out.’ It’s pretty dangerous to do it right now.” Spasovska, who’s been training aspiring journalists at WCU for 11 years, has more than a little experience living in and practicing journalism in conflict zones. A native of what was then Yugoslavia, Spasovska was a first-year journalism student in Belgrade in 1990 when the republic began to splinter and disintegrate, prompting a nasty war with several belligerent parties from various competing religious and ethnic groups in the region. She fled Belgrade for what’s now called the Republic of North Macedonia, completed her studies and worked as a reporter and editor there for more than a decade. “Macedonia had a small conflict in 2001,” she said. “I did do a few stories on identifying victims with DNA. I talked with families who lost members who were giving DNA samples so the graves that were discovered, they would be able to identify some of the victims.” Her husband, Iso Rusi, also spent time reporting from a besieged Sarajevo.

“He was able to go in and see how it was, at least for a couple of days, thanks to NATO forces,” she said. “But even with NATO and UN peacekeeping forces, the place was far from safe. The siege was very long, and very hard.” As the war progressed, journalists and state media began to uncover substantial evidence of ethnic cleansing being carried out by all sides. “If you see who was tried in the Hague, you’ll see that people convicted for genocide or crimes against humanity were Serbs, Croats, Bosnians and Albanians,” she said. The same thing is almost certainly happening in Ukraine right now, even though most of the West remains enamored with romantic stereotypes of crafty Ukrainian farmers stealing Russian tanks and brave Ukrainian civilians turning back Russian armored columns with only their bodies as barriers. “I mean, the reporters that are in Ukraine right now that are foreigners, what they’re reporting on is what they’re seeing and what they’re seeing is bombs or rockets coming from Russia,” said Spasovska. That creates a problem for reporters who are looking to avoid rampant clickbait propaganda from both sides and instead provide balanced coverage of the situation. “Right now, we can just assume that the Ukrainian side is [also] committing war crimes. We don’t know. There is really not a way to track it,” she said. “There isn’t a really a front line. There isn’t a concentrated place where you have fighting going on. We are not really hearing the other side of the story, of the Russian-identifying population in Ukraine being murdered by the Ukrainian side.” At least part of that is due to the danger journalists face in gathering and verifying facts on the Russian side. “Covering this war from Russia and making sure that they hold their politicians accountable is hard, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not doing it. And I think that for people who are doing it, we should be glad that they’re doing it and that they are still conforming to the professional standards,” she said. Russia is a notoriously unfriendly place for the media. According to the CPJ, since 1992, 38 journalists in Russia have been murdered, most for presenting materials not aligned with the viewpoints of the Russian government. “We still have reporters in Russia that are all not brainwashed,” Spasovska said. “You had a fairly good amount of independent media in Russia, but you have to also keep in mind that after 22 years of Putin, you take it with a grain of salt how independent they are.” And with no resolution to the conflict in sight, it will likely take journalists, maybe historians, years to find balance. “After the fact, when people start investigating and digging and finding mass graves, you will see that both sides will have done atrocities,” said Spasovska. “In my opinion, war is the messiest story that you can have because there is no way that you can have a balanced story.”

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Finding light in the darkness

IOM (International Organization for Migration), who help people who are displaced sort of figure out logistics. There were little stalls where people were handing out warm coats and different types of shoes for children. And so, there seemed to be a lot of support. Also, there were huge coach [buses] there helping take people to various cities in Poland. It was all women and children or the elderly, because men aren’t allowed to leave [Ukraine]. They’re bringing them whatever luggage they can carry, walking down a small narrow tarmac pathway from Ukraine to Poland. And I’m walking in the opposite direction down the exact same pathway. SMN: What were you seeing in the faces of those people that you’re making eye contact with as you’re walking by? JF: You see a lot of exhaustion. By the time they’ve made it to the border, they’ve already been through hell. They’ve been through weeks of uncertainty. The stress of

“By the time they’ve made it to the border, they’ve already been through hell.” — Jane Ferguson

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD ARTS & E NTERTAINMENT E DITOR n the realm of foreign journalism, few correspondents are as fearless and compassionate as Jane Ferguson. An acclaimed award-winning journalist — best known for her nightly international reports on the PBS NewsHour — Ferguson has, for many years now, found herself on the ground and on the front lines of numerous wars, conflicts and upheavals the world over. And as the war in Ukraine now enters its second month, Ferguson has been in the

Eastern European country since Russian forces began to invade several weeks ago. She’s surrounded by death and destruction, but also the awe-inspiring illumination of mankind in the face of darkness. Speaking over the phone last week to The Smoky Mountain News from her hotel room in the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv, Ferguson talked at-length about her experiences and emotions as a reporter, and also as a human being — standing at the heart of an ongoing, brutal battle for political peace and societal preservation, which remains in limbo. Smoky Mountain News: What was it like when you first entered Ukraine? Jane Ferguson: It’s funny, you know? I’m used to covering the Middle East, Southeast

Asia and Africa. And so, it’s incredibly weird for me — I’m actually European, I’m an Irish and British citizen — flying into Europe, it feels so strange. You fly to Krakow, [Poland], and you take a car down just an incredibly developed and very pristine highway to the [Polish/Ukrainian] border. It’s about a threehour drive to the border from Krakow. The border is the most innocuous, little tiny over foot. There’s two border posts, but they’re both very small. It’s essentially fencing and a few small buildings in a field. But, at this time, it’s filled with small marquees, tents and traffic, and a lot of aid agencies were there. And that was quite heartwarming to see. Food trucks handing out [meals]. I could see Israeli charities, the Red Cross, and the

Smoky Mountain News

A conversation with Jane Ferguson

March 30-April 5, 2022

A renowned foreign correspondent, Jane Ferguson has been on the ground reporting nightly on the war in Ukraine for the PBS NewsHour. Pictured here with Ukrainian soldiers, Ferguson (second from the left, top row) has been in the country on assignment since the beginning of the conflict several weeks ago. Jane Ferguson photo

trying to make the decision of, “Do we flee? Do we not?” Some of them have come from places where they haven’t had too much choice, where it’s been violent. A mother alone with her kids, we see a lot of that in the train stations because the fathers had to stay. You’ll see mothers carrying the luggage, trying to carry their belongings, trying to carry a toddler or a baby, or trying to not lose sight of a small child running around — a lot of exhaustion and stress. I think also in those faces, it’s very likely a lot of heartache. We’ve all seen the images from the train stations of couples, of married people saying goodbye to husbands and fathers, saying goodbye to their families. That’s really adds a whole other emotional toll to this that’s quite different from many of the conflicts I’ve covered. I’ve covered a lot of conflicts where men stay and fight, but not so universally as this. I’ve been to refugee camps the world over, and there are men there, as well. But, to see just women alone with their kids was incredibly sad. It’s also fascinating to me, as an animal lover, to see how much [the Ukrainians] adore animals. I’ve never been to a country with as many pet dogs as this country. And the Ukrainians have brought their pets with them. So, when you see those Ukrainians, you see dogs and cats in little boxes, cats wrapped in a kid’s sack. People brought their pets because they had heard along the Polish border that they had waived some of the strict import regulations for bringing your pet with you. And, to me, that made it all the more

S EE DARKNESS, PAGE 10 9

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A bombed out neighborhood is a common sight in Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian invasion of the country. Jane Ferguson photos

Smoky Mountain News

Reporting for the PBS NewsHour, journalist Jane Ferguson has been covering the war in Ukraine since its inception. DARKNESS, CONTINUED FROM 9 stark, because what makes it a “family” is when I see these women and children, and then with a pet.

SMN: And then where do you go from there? JF: Once you get [into Ukraine], effectively the first point of contact for journalists is we get to [the city of] Lviv. It’s about a two-hour drive from the border. That’s the main hub. It’s sort of the center for journalists and the displaced fleeing from the Eastern part of the country, which is most heavily under attack. And Lviv is very beautiful. It’s quite strange to be there. Cobbled streets. It’s all 10 churches. Little Eastern European tea rooms,

which are spectacularly beautiful. But, now it has air-raid sirens going off. And there’s not so much violence there, although there have been some deadly airstrikes outside the city. My team and I spent a couple days in Lviv regrouping. And then we took the train to Kyiv. Ukraine has this phenomenal train system, which the government has managed to keep running throughout the war. It’s actually been vastly important for transporting people. Many of the millions who have fled this country managed to make it to the border on the train. This country is enormous geographically. If you just bring it up on a map and look at it, it’s huge. It would be several days to drive across the country to get to the border. The trains have been a remarkable

resource for civilians, but also for us journalists. We hop on sleeper trains and we to go from Lviv to the capital, Kyiv. When I’m reporting from the south of the country, on the coast, it’s very much so a battleground right now, as the Russians try to cut off Ukraine’s access to its Black Sea ports. The train has been a logistical gift for journalists so far in the country. It hasn’t been attacked. And I find it’s safer [to take the train] than going through so many checkpoints on [the roads and highways]. SMN: Are you in Kyiv right now? JF: I am, yes. I’m in a hotel in Kyiv. SMN: Tell me what you see when you look out your window right now.

JF: I see a classic sort of hodgepodge collage of rooftops that you would see if you looked out any window, whether you were in Vienna, Prague or Warsaw. Beautiful old houses and old apartment buildings with the usual odd modern one. In the distance very often, usually in the evening, you start to see the outskirts of the city, and you’ll see the glow and cracks sometimes of the explosion of artillery fire and rocket fire out in the very distance. Quite often you hear air-raid sirens, which are eerie and strange, being in Eastern Europe and hearing them, where it makes me think of being a kid in high school or in primary school and learning about the Second World War. But, we see dotted across these cities like Kyiv, these beautiful Orthodox churches and cathedrals. They have these sort of rounded dome rooftops that are golden. And those are very beautiful. Generally, the city looks perfectly normal until it doesn’t, until you’re driving past something that’s been bombed and the destruction is so total, so complete, because the weapons used in this war are so advanced and ferocious. SMN: And I’ve been watching your reports nightly. The images of destruction look like something out of the Middle East or Dresden during World War II. JF: Absolutely. With Mariupol, the images of that city have reminded a lot of us reporters of Raqqa and many Syrian cities. When I walked through Raqqa, I couldn’t believe [the destruction]. But now, when I see the images of Mariupol, I can’t [believe this] could have happened in three and a half weeks.

Foreign correspondent Jane Ferguson (second from right) with her camera/production crew. Jane Ferguson photo

“We witness a lot of pain, but we’re also witnessing and filming courage.”

SMN: I don’t know if it’s getting on too much of a metaphysical level. But, it’s just an odd thing to talk to you about where you’re at right now. Like, when I’m done this conversation, I’m going to go around the corner and get lunch, and not be in fear for my life of getting lunch. You get in such a rhythm being in the Western world, especially one of safety, where you might almost take it for granted. JF: Sure. And that’s your right. That’s the luxury of peace. And that’s something everybody should enjoy, and not ever feel guilty

about. I don’t want people to watch images and hear stories from war and feel bad. I want people to watch and feel empathy, so that when they do hear about displaced people and refugees or they hear about war crimes, to care about other human beings, not to feel bad about their own peaceful lives — to be able to relate and empathize with other humans.

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on a deeply personal level for individuals, and how war is experienced personally by everybody. And so, for Ukraine, what I suppose I would most like people to take away is that war is something that completely upends millions of lives. I mean, that has been the most stark thing for me here — these communities that have not known war for [many years]. To be displaced from your kids on a train, traveling away from you. You don’t know where they’re going. You don’t know if you have a country anymore. I think the most important thing for everybody else in the world to understand is that the devastating cost of war to civilians is quite hard to quantify. It’s not just the number of people who have fled the country or the number of deaths or the number of injuries — it’s a deeply personal individual catastrophe for each and every family.

SMN: And that’s the essence of your reporting, to show the beauty of what peace is and how we all deserve it. Thankfully, we don’t see war on the soil here in the United States. But, to see your reporting also makes people feel empowered as a human being, and to want to be a better person every day. JF: It certainly does. People ask me, “How can you not be so pessimistic and bitter given your experiences on the road?” But, for me, it’s the opposite. I mean, I would do an unbelievable disservice to all the people I’ve met — in refugee camps, in field hospitals, in bomb shelters — throughout my career if I didn’t walk around with an astonishing amount of gratitude, thankfulness and grace. Whenever I look at my own life, I couldn’t possibly feel anything other than an incredible sense of honor that I get to live my life. And I’m perched at the very, very top by living in peace, living with all my needs met, the freedom to move around the world, knowing that my family and my loved ones are healthy and safe — these are things I just don’t take anything for granted after seeing the things that I’ve seen.

— Jane Ferguson

SMN: We’re all watching your reporting every day. But, in terms of you being physically on the ground, what is the message that you want to relay to the world about Ukraine, about what they’re currently going through, and what that says about everybody else on this planet? JF: In my reporting, wherever I am, I try to convey first and foremost what the impact of war is like on human beings. What it’s really like on people and the impact of war

Smoky Mountain News

SMN: When you’re out there reporting, obviously you’re coming across total destruction in some areas, and you’re seeing dead bodies on the side of the road. Not only as a journalist, but also as a human being, when you walk around an environment like that — especially in real time when things are still going on — how do you still have faith in humanity? JF: Well, a lot of people think that what we are witnessing as reporters — in war and in humanitarian crises — is just pain. We witness a lot of pain, but we’re also witnessing and filming courage. Ukraine has basically displayed to the world unbelievable amounts of courage and collective initiative, and kindness. When I talked [in my reporting] about seeing the [deceased] body of [award-winning filmmaker] Brent Renaud by the side of the road, it was the exact same place when they were bringing civilians out of Irpin. I was standing there interviewing [civilians] and these women — who have just come from the apartment block next door — [offered us] a

tray of sandwiches, asking if we wanted something to eat. I can’t ignore the horror and the pain that the war is causing. Dead bodies make you feel this incredible, physical sense of dread inside of yourself. You can’t pretend to not feel that. But, it’s true what they say about war — that every single emotion is so incredibly heightened. There this sense of kindness, courage and community here. And I think that the Ukrainians are behaving in a way we would behave if we were invaded by an incredibly hostile armed force. There’s a tendency for us to think that in times of war our darkest nature comes out. But, what’s happening here — and what I witness every day — is some of the best of human nature is coming out, too. So, the darkness, the intensity and the pain of watching death, and the sort of totality of it all, is very much matched by every other emotion.

March 30-April 5, 2022

You know, the destruction on Syria took years of airstrike after airstrike after airstrike. Here, it’s astonishing in its scale and just absolutely shocking, the pace at which things have been destroyed — a whole city in a couple of weeks is something that is very difficult to conceptualize. When you think of the infrastructure lost, it’s just so overwhelming.

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Public restrooms likely coming to Spring Street

Street in a way that is accessible and visually obvious, both from Main Street and Mill Street?” asked Thompson. “Because that street is sloped, the concept is to stairstep and to have two addressing Main Street and two addressing Mill Street.” The total cost estimate for the project, including sidewalks, steps and ramps around the building is around $400,000. Commissioner Ben Guiney asked Thompson whether it was reasonable to believe that the price would go up. “It may,” said Thompson. “I think an important thing to think about is, where do you start and where do you stop? Because, let’s say we do this for $375,000, and we’ve got the building and the ramps and stuff. And then people say ‘well aren’t you going to fix the sidewalks so everything looks finished?” Thompson said that if the town decides to close off Spring Street in order to build the bathrooms, it should think about how to reconfigure the sidewalks where the street is now, so the whole area is consistent. He imagines connecting the two pod areas on either side of Spring Street where it meets Main Street but said that is likely beyond the scope of this bathroom project. He suggested keeping the architecture as consistent with the character of downtown as possible throughout the design process. Other priorities are making the bathroom safe and accessible. “My biggest concern with that location is

from Thompson shows bathrooms that are ADA accessible. Commissioner Greg McPherson brought up the railroad depot location discussed during the Jan. 27 meeting, asking Thompson if the town could get more value out of the project if it was constructed in that location. “As far as this project, where can we get the most bang for the buck? I think Spring Street is the place,” said “How can we put bathrooms on Spring Street Thompson. “Part of the reain a way that is accessible and visually obvison is because ous, both from Main Street and Mill Street?” the depot location is on rail— Mahaley Odell Thompson road property and dealing with the railroad is going to raise hurdles, I believe, in terms of the project to include both sidewalk repair the process, in terms of construction.” and consistency into the plan. Public Works Director Jake Scott agreed “I would love to do that, because I don’t with Thompson, noting that the railroad like anything that, after it’s finished, people tracks would make it very difficult to create come up to me and say ‘Why didn’t you do ADA accessible bathrooms. this? Why didn’t you do that?’ I would love it “For the feasibility and looking at the to be comprehensive, everything from curb to scope of getting people a public restroom, I’ve curb,” said Thompson. made my case for Spring Street and I will Nestler said this would give the town an continue to make it,” said Scott. idea of a final vision, even if the town The board unanimously approved a couldn’t afford the whole project at one time. motion to authorize Town Manager Paige One important point for town board members, discussed when the board was nar- Dowling to sign a contract with Thompson for design services for public restrooms in rowing down locations in January, is that the downtown Sylva. bathrooms are ADA accessible. The proposal that it does not look like we took a street and stuck a bathroom right in the middle of it,” said Commissioner David Nestler. “But to sort of redo that whole area, not to where we still had the old sidewalks on the side and the bathroom in the middle but continue the curve all the way across so it doesn’t look like there used to be a way to turn there.” Nestler suggested expanding the scope of

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HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER here is $250,000 available for public restrooms in downtown Sylva. At the March 24 town board meeting, commissioners discussed detailed plans and cost estimates for the future project. The money for public restrooms was allocated through State Capital Infrastructure Funds, direct appropriations in the state budget. According to Town Manager Paige Dowling, Mayor Linda Sossamon worked closely with state representatives to secure this money. At a Jan. 27 budget workshop, commissioners debated the best placement for the bathrooms. Dowling told the board that to secure the funding, they needed to decide on a location quickly. Commissioners debated the merits of building the bathroom on Spring Street between Mill and Main streets, and at the old railroad depot. By the end of the discussion, most commissioners were in favor of a Spring Street location, as it would be more easily accessible to people on Main Street. At the March 24 town board meeting, Mahaley Odell Thompson, a Sylva architect, presented a proposal for engineering and architectural services necessary to get the drawings for proposed Spring Street bathrooms to the point that it can go out to bid, and eventually work through the construction process. “How can we put bathrooms on Spring

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Developers discuss potential Bryson City airfield plans BY KYLE PERROTTI N EWS E DITOR top a hill on the western edge of Bryson City, Sossamon Airfield has sat mostly unused for quite some time, but that may change over the next few years. The property and an adjacent tract that total 104 acres were purchased by Great Smokies Sky Camp, LLC, for $2 million last summer with the initial aim of building a fly-in community. While the focus still isn’t quite clear and the fly-in community remains an uncertain reality, residents can be confident that something will be in the works within a few years. Brian Keefer and Colin O’Berry are both members of the Western North Carolina group that make up Great Smokies Sky Camp. Keefer said that while they are still in the planning process and nothing is close to final, they are going to keep the 2,265-foot airstrip for now. “Once you remove FAA numbers, you can’t reestablish it,” he said. Keefer said that in early conversations, the members of the LLC initially thought they’d build a “flyaway community” with some glamping and camping options on other parts of the property, but that could always change based on the circumstances. “While the fly-in community is a great idea, it’s not like we’re actively pursuing it and trying to put money into planning,”

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O’Berry said. “We’re really not married to an idea yet,” Keefer said. “We have a lot of cool ideas all the time, daily. As a partner group, we don’t really like to stick to the norm. We like to build cool things for the communities to enjoy and to draw some tourism to certain towns.” Along with members having residential projects over the years — including Pilot Cove in Brevard — the group’s most recent project, USA Raft in Erwin, Tennessee, is an example of how they aim to be creative while giving folks an opportunity to enjoy the abundant outdoor recreation the region can offer. “It’s a rafting outpost on the Nolichucky River. We’re really ramping up outdoor rec opportunities with rafting trips, caving trips, climbing, tubing, trying to pull a lot of folks,” O’Berry said. About a third of the property — the airstrip and the late Leroy Sossamon’s old Mountain Ford Dealership — is in Bryson City limits, and the rest is in Swain County. O’Berry noted that the only house on the property is a 5,000-square-foot home currently rented on a long-term basis to a family. The group has considered two separate projects, one in city limits and one outside. Part of the reasoning is that Bryson City is currently under a highly restrictive moratorium that limits development due to ongo-

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address, and we’ll listen to what they have to ing sewer system capacity issues. say,” O’Berry said, adding that he has spo“We purchased this as a really cool longken with some neighbors who are interested term hold, and we’ll eventually get a project in what’s happening with the property. “We on it, but the idea is to hold it and wait for have no plans honestly, and we have to wait the infrastructure to go through whatever improvement process needed,” O’Berry said. for sewer to be upgraded before we can do anything with the property.” “Then at that time, we’ll figure out what the In the meantime, while hopes remain property needs to be and what the needs of high, O’Berry reiterated that it’ll likely be at the community are.” “We’ve had many different conversations least a couple of years before folks see improvements beginning at the property. brainstorming but nothing really solid “The property has a cool history,” he enough … a lot of our conversations lean said. “Mr. Sossamon had his Ford dealership toward some type of brewery, distillery or some kind of anchor like Sossamon Airfield sits atop a small that, and then hill on the western edge of Bryson surround it City, but has remained largely with the food unused in recent years. Google image side,” Keefer said. “But it’s so much on the back burner it’s hard for us to even reach far enough to say anything is solid.” The group has already created a Gmail account, greatsmokiesskycamp@gmail.com, up there, and it was a personal playground kind of thing. We’d love to continue the where anyone can voice any opinion they stewardship of it, but reposition it in a way have regarding the property, whether that’s that as Bryson City grows, we’re there to “ideas, stories or complaints.” compliment that growth.” “The community can go to that email

Two boys die following ‘shooting incident’ Two boys, ages 15 and 10, are dead following a shooting in Sylva Sunday, March 27. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office responded to a 911 call reporting a shooting incident involving two young males who were residents of the home at 110 Ferguson Road. When they arrived, deputies found that both boys had sustained gunshot wounds. Harris EMS transported them both to Harris Hospital, where they received emergency care prior to being airlifted to Mission Hospital in Asheville. Noah Joseph Ensley, 15, succumbed to his injuries later that day and died at Mission Hospital. Bridger Owen Ensley, 10, later passed away as well. “The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office staff extends our deepest sympathy to the Ensley Family. Please continue to pray for this family, their friends and our community,” said Sheriff Chip Hall. Hall’s office is conducting a joint investigation with the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation. Hall has confirmed that the shooting was an isolated incident, and all involved parties have been identified.

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Creek Horse Bypass, Juney Whank Falls, Deeplow, Fork Ridge, Sunkota Ridge, Martins Gap, Indian Creek Motor Nature, Mingus Creek, Newton Bald, Kanati Fork, and Loop trails. Toms Branch Road near Deep Creek is also closed. The Deep Creek Campground and Picnic Area are not scheduled to open for the season until April 15. Meanwhile, a separate fire in the Cherokee National Forest about 5 miles northwest of Hot Springs covered 180 acres and was 50% contained as of March 28. The Chimney Rock Fire is burning along the French Broad River near Weavers Bend within U.S. Forest Service boundaries. It is not currently a threat to private lands or structures. About 58 people, including the Asheville Interagency Hotshot Crew, are assisting in fire suppression, and the cause of ignition remains under investigation. The public is asked not to fly drones in the fire area, as doing so endangers the lives of pilots and firefighters. Due to the fire, Cummins Branch, Paint Mountain and Weavers Bend roads are closed, as are Chimney Rock, Paint Rock and Paint Mountain trails. The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous weather outlook for Western North Carolina — particularly Haywood, Jackson, Swain, Graham and Madison counties — due to strong southerly winds developing Wednesday and Wednesday night ahead of an approaching cold front. “The winds may be strong enough to cause minor tree damage and sporadic power outages,” the warning reads. “With the winds arriving before the onset of rain, fire suppression may become more difficult.” Burning is not recommended, and anyone planning to do so should contact local authorities to determine whether burning is allowed. In the current environment, fires can quickly get out of hand.

March 30-April 5, 2022

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER igh winds over the weekend felled trees and downed power lines, sparking a wildfire that covers 950 acres straddling the jurisdictional line between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Swain County. Meanwhile, a fire in the Cherokee National Forest near the state line is burning 180 acres. At about 1 p.m. Saturday, March 26, the National Park Service learned that a fire south of the park near Cooper Creek was approaching the park boundary. While responding, rangers found another fire near Stone Pile Gap in the Thomas Divide area. That afternoon, the park closed a slew of trails and backcountry campsites between Deep Creek and Newfound Gap Road. As of the evening of March 28, the Thomas Divide Complex Fire — comprised of the Stone Pile Fire and Cooper Creek Fire — covered 950 acres and was only 40% contained, with about 39% of the acreage inside park boundaries and the remaining 61% on private property in Swain County. A Unified Command Center has been established to coordinate firefighting efforts, with about 70 people now on site from the National Park Service, North Carolina Forest Service, Bryson City Fire Department, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Swain County Fire Department and Jackson County Emergency Management. In the coming days, oversight will be transferred to the Southern Area Type II Incident Management Team. High wind speeds shut down air support efforts Sunday, but they slackened enough Monday for those efforts to resume. Thus far, no permanent structures have been lost. In the park, the following areas remain closed: backcountry campsites 46, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, and 60; Deep Creek and Thomas Divide trails from Deep Creek to Newfound Gap Road; Pole Road Creek, Indian Creek, Stone Pile Gap, Deep

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Application window extended for $350m grant to expand internet in rural N.C. The N.C. Department of Information Technology today announced that qualified internet service providers and electric membership cooperatives providing internet service now have through May 4 to apply for up to $350 million in grants to expand broadband infrastructure in North Carolina. This round of the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology grant program uses American Rescue Plan Act funds to provide matching grants to broadband providers that compete for funding to expand access to highspeed internet service to unserved households, businesses and farms. Organizations and counties across the state have expressed interest in participating in the GREAT Grant program, and several have requested additional time to meet the conditions required by the program’s authorizing legislation and federal rules. “The grant program encourages partnerships between local governments and broadband providers to best leverage available federal funding. We are extending the application window to allow more time for county governments and internet service providers to create these partnerships and maximize the benefit to North Carolina residents,” said NCDIT Secretary and State Chief Information Officer James Weaver. “We want to fund as many eligible projects as possible so more North Carolinians can connect, learn and work online. This extra time will allow applicants to work through the grant conditions with their partners.” Interested applicants should continue to review the GREAT Grant Guidance document and FAQs at www.ncbroadband.gov/grants/gre at-grant-federal/great-grant-20212022 and the NC OneMap GREAT Grant Mapping Tool and Online Mapping Tool Help Document at www.nconemap.gov/pages/broadb and for any updates. Once all eligible GREAT Grant applications have been reviewed and scored, NCDIT will begin awarding grants on a rolling basis to expedite critical broadband infrastructure projects across the state. Additional details on the GREAT Grant are at ncbroadband.gov/grants/greatgrant-federal.

Sylva man pleads guilty in Jan. 6 riots BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER Sylva man arrested for his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty last week to a felony charge. Lewis Easton Cantwell, 36, entered the plea during a March 24 Zoom hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. While the crime, Civil Disorder and Aiding and Abetting, carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, $250,000 in fines and one year of supervised release, sentencing guidelines based on the nature of the offense and Cantwell’s lack of criminal history recommend zero to six months of prison time. The plea agreement states Cantwell will Lewis Easton Cantwell pay a special assessment of $100 to the Clerk of Court as well as $2,000 in restitution for the $1.5 million in damage the riots caused the U.S. Capitol Building. It also commits him to cooperate with law enforcement investigations into the events of Jan. 6 — specifically, completing an interview prior to sentencing and allowing review of any social media postings on and around Jan. 6. According to the plea agreement, neither the defense nor the prosecution will seek a penalty outside the guideline range. However, Sullivan will have the final say on sentencing, and he made it clear to Cantwell that he can’t guarantee what that sentence might be until he completes his own research. Sullivan will hand down the sentence in a hearing scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22. Cantwell initially faced six charges at his arrest in February 2021, the most serious of which — obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting — carried a maximum sentence of 20 years. Had he been convicted on all six counts, Cantwell would have faced a maximum sentence of 28 years. During the March 24 hearing, Sullivan repeatedly asked Cantwell to confirm his guilt, his wish to enter a guilty plea, and his desire to give up his right to a trial by jury. “What’s your decision? Do you wish to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty?” Sullivan asked Cantwell at the end of a hearing in which he had repeatedly stated his intention to enter a guilty plea. “I’ve chosen to enter a plea of guilty,” Cantwell said. “Because you are guilty?” asked Sullivan. “Because I am in fact guilty,” said Cantwell. This was a departure from Cantwell’s initial

near the entrance, Cantwell yelled for the rioters to ‘get the door open.’ At another point, Cantwell yelled that they needed ‘fresh patriots to the front,’” reads the court document whose contents Schesnol was relating. When he did that, Schesnol said, Cantwell knew that the officers were engaged in their official duties — thus the basis for the criminal charge. “Did it happen that way, Mr. Cantwell?” Sullivan asked. “Not exactly,” Cantwell replied, upending what would have otherwise been a routine plea agreement hearing. “What she said was correct, but it’s taken out of context in the shortness of the videos.” He then told Sullivan that he wasn’t advised on how to answer the question and wasn’t aware if he’d have a chance to speak at the hearing or not. Cantwell’s attorney Nic Cocis then advised him that he’d have a chance to make a statement at sentencing, but right now Sullivan just wanted to know if he agreed to the basic elements of the crime. Sullivan asked Cantwell if he needed to take another look at the plea agreement. Cantwell then said he was trying to get medical aid to injured people, not perpetrate violence. While he did say the words Schesnol quoted, he was not trying to push people to go inside the building, he told Sullivan. “There was people stuck behind the doors that I was trying to help,” Cantwell said. “There were multiple opportunities I was trying to help people.” “Well, that’s contrary to what you just signed,” said Sullivan. “If you’re not guilty, I’m not going to take your plea.” Jeffery Delannoy photo After further discussion with Cantwell, Cocis and Schesnol, Sullivan decided 24 was expected to occur. “Why do you wish to plead guilty?” Sullivan to adjourn the hearing and set a new date, March 24. He had initially wanted a longer, 30asked during the March 15 hearing. day gap, but Schesnol said the plea process had “Just because I was there, and what they said is appropriate as far as I can tell,” Cantwell already dragged on for months — it was delayed in December 2021 when Cantwell replied. changed attorneys and twice more this year “Are you pleading guilty because you are due to technical difficulties on the part of the guilty of a criminal offense?” court — and that the government did not wish “Yes sir,” said Cantwell. to keep the offer open for another month. However, later in the hearing, when “Nobody’s trying to force him to do anySullivan asked Cantwell to confirm the governthing. It’s a very serious matter,” Sullivan said. ment’s summary of events, he balked. “If he changes his mind and wants to go to U.S. Prosecutor Jaqueline Schesnol told the trial, fine. We’ll pick a trial date.” court that, while hundreds of thousands of When Cantwell reappeared March 24, he people were rioting at the Capitol, Cantwell repeatedly and unequivocally acknowledged made his way to the front of the Lower West his guilt. Terrace tunnel entrance, where dozens of peo“By pleading guilty, Easton accepted ple were “battling and fighting and assaulting members of law enforcement.” There, she said, responsibility for his actions on January 6th,” Cocis said in an email. “However, at this time, he used his cell phone to video the events. “During one of the recordings, when watch- any other comment will be made at Easton’s sentencing in September.” ing rioters battle with law enforcement officers story and even from sworn statements he made during a March 15 court hearing. In a phone interview with The Smoky Mountain News Feb. 22, 2021, shortly after his initial arrest, he insisted on his innocence. “I didn’t go there with any intention to hurt anyone or storm the Capitol,” he told SMN. “I didn’t go inside the Capitol Building. I never attacked anyone. I was there filming. And I helped a bunch of people who were injured come out of the front lines.” He maintained this narrative as recently as March 15 of this year, during a hearing when the plea agreement ultimately approved March

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Triple-Win Climate Solutions Nature never did betray the heart that loved her. —William Wordsworth, 1798

History Is Not Destiny “So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains/ And we never even know we have the key.” The Eagles. We of the United States have been seen by historians as unique because of our “can-do spirit,” our optimism, our imagination. Those traits manifest themselves in our cures and treatments for diseases, our plentiful food, our arts, our architecture. Our institutions of learning still turn out scientists, business innovators, educators, artists, doctors and nurses. Yet we also have not one, but two Achilles heels. First, some of us are as fatalistic and hide-bound as the most cynical people of the

most under-developed societies. We think that “whatever happens, happens” and we are individually powerless to stop it. Second, because our ancestors fled countries ruled by elites, Americans tend to be anti-intellectual: many distrust authorities, especially when their research gives us inconvenient truths. Both of these flaws, if not conquered by our positive traits, will be our undoing, individually and nationally. Now we face two catastrophes that threaten not only the U.S., but all life. First, climate scientists are screaming this truth. “Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a livable future,” warned the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last month. Second, Russia’s attempted destruction of Ukraine is accelerating climate warming as well as murdering thousands of innocent babies and adults. Wars do that. Why should all this matter to us in WNC? Remember those August 2021 flash floods that washed away hundreds of homes and other structures, killing sev-

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eral people? Those formerly “hundred-year ﬂoods” are now every seventeen years; soon they will drown us in misery and debt every few. The 2016 wildﬁres we saw burning people to death around Gatlinburg will come for us again.

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

“So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains/ And we never even know we have the key.” The Eagles’ songwriter gives us a universal truth. We do hold the key to our destiny. Today’s descent into catastrophe doesn’t have to happen. Our blood-drenched history of raping and maiming Mother Nature, of wars and genocide do not have to keep happening.

Choose your better angels. Choose optimism and determination to save the future. Call your Senators to insist on a stronger Build Back Better Act now. Next week is too late. Find them at https://www.senate.gov/states/NC/intro.htm

IPCC issues ‘bleakest warning yet’ on impacts of climate breakdown,” https://www.theguardian.c om/environment/2022/feb/28/ipcc-issues-bleakest-warning-yet-impacts-climate-breakdown “Ukraine war threatens global heating,” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/202 2/mar/21/ukraine-war-threatens-global-heating-goals-warns-un-chief

The young adults giving their lives to keep Ukraine free remind us that war is passé, a relic of greed, lust for power, and arrogance. Ukrainians had a life of prosperity thanks to the freedom to get along with one another and with their peers in other free nations. The young people leading climate mitigation movements are giving their best years to demanding that hide-bound, fossil fuel-funded “leaders” accelerate the transition to sustainable energy. They want leaders to lead, not cave in to cynicism.

The WNC Climate Action Coalition is an all-volunteer group working to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis in our region. By WNC CAC volunteer, co-founder and Triple-win Editor Mary Jane Curry MJCinWNC@gmail.com https://WNCClimateAction.com Twitter: @WncAction

Community Almanac

Smoky Mountain News

Lake Junaluska to host Easter sunrise service and brunch buffet Lake Junaluska will celebrate Easter with an uplifting outdoor sunrise service at the Lake Junaluska Cross and a sumptuous brunch buffet at historic Lambuth Inn. The sunrise service on Sunday, April 17, will begin at 7 a.m. at the outdoor amphitheater that overlooks the lake from beneath the Lake Junaluska Cross and is open to the public for in-person worship. The service also will be streamed live on Lake Junaluska’s Facebook page at facebook.com/lakejunaluska. “This Easter we gather again at Lake Junaluska to share in the hope and the love of Christ,” said Ken Howle, executive director of Lake Junaluska. “We invite you to join us in person or online as we come together.” A brass quintet will provide music, and the speaker will be the Rev. Dr. Hyung Jae Lee. The sermon title is “While It Is Still Dark,” and the selected Scripture is John 20:1-3. “Darkness … we are at the end of the dark tunnel of COVID-19. We are exhausted, confused and even fearful in darkness,” said Lee. “‘While it was still dark,’ Apostle John shares the story of Mary Magdalene and her fellow disciples. Darkness pushes us into frustration and fear and leads us to courage and

Haywood County to celebrate National Library week National Library Week is an annual celebration of libraries across the nation, to recognize library workers’ contributions, and to promote library use and support. This year’s theme is, “Connect with Your Library.” From April 4-9, join the Haywood County Public Library in the festivities. Throughout the week there will be a variety of fun ways to connect with your library. Haywood County Public Library will be offering pop-up story walks in downtown Waynesville and Canton, in partnership with the Friends of the Library and a variety of local businesses. For the month of April, businesses will host a panel in their window that features a two-page spread of the book Dear Librarian by Lydia M. Sigwarth. As families walk downtown, they’ll be able to read together about a young girl, Lydia, and the letters she writes to her favorite librarian about her adventures. After completing a story walk tracker, available in physical format or online, families will be entered to win a prize basket that includes a copy of the book, other fun gifts and library swag. Throughout the week, the library will also be hosting a coloring contest for children and teens under 18. A special coloring page will be available for the occasion, and each entry will

hope. Only those in darkness can see bright stars, and we are invited to see the hope of Jesus’ resurrection on a dark morning of Easter Sunday. So let us come and confront our darkness in faith!” Lee serves as the Smoky Mountain District Superintendent of the Western North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church. Most recently, he has served as pastor of Calvary UMC in Charlotte since 2013. Previously, he was pastor of Wesley UMC and Thrift UMC, both in Charlotte, and associate pastor at First UMC in Brevard. Born and raised in South Korea, Lee completed his undergraduate and master’s degrees at Hanyang University in Seoul. Coming to the United States in 1997, he earned a Master of Divinity and a Master of Theology from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University and a Doctor of Ministry at Duke Divinity School. Sunrise service attendees are encouraged to dress warmly for cool mountain morning temperatures. In the event of rain, the service will be held at Memorial Chapel. Check lakejunaluska.com/easter for possible schedule changes. Following the service, Lake Junaluska also will host a sumptuous Easter Brunch Buffet be displayed at the Waynesville and Canton branches. At the end of National Library Week, two entries will be selected to receive a coloring prize. Finally, stop in to the Waynesville or Canton branches and check out an item on Friday, April 8, to receive some library swag to take home.

Mountain Projects receives investment from Nantahala Health Foundation Mountain Projects Community Action Agency has received a $30,000 investment grant from Nantahala Health Foundation to increase home safety for underserved populations in Jackson County. Grant investment funds from the Foundation will be used for housing rehabilitation projects in Jackson County. “We have a long waiting list for these services, and it will feel good to give these people some relief,” says Mountain Projects Rehabilitation and Weatherization Program Manager, Vivian Bumgarner. The Weatherization and Rehabilitation Program manages urgent repairs for lowincome homeowners. Oftentimes, clients need accessibility modifications to their homes and

at the historic Lambuth Inn from 7:30-10 a.m. The menu features crustless quiche, Southern chicken and Belgian waffles, sliced honey glazed ham, Applewood smoked bacon, sausage, Southern biscuits and gravy, homestyle grits and more. The buffet costs $32 per adult, $16 per child age 4-12, and free for children age 3 and younger, plus tax and 18 percent gratuity. To request reservaother urgent repairs to prevent imminent displacement. Accessibility projects include ramp building and making bathrooms safe and usable, while other projects might include replacement of doors and windows or other weatherization measures that keep the household warm and reduce costly heating bills. “These funds are essential in our effort to support the wellbeing of underserved households in Jackson County and will assist with the independence and self-sufficiency of local seniors,” says Mountain Projects Executive Director Patsy Davis. “This project would not have been possible without this support from Nantahala Health Foundation.”

Learn about Swain County History Join the Swain County Genealogical and Historical Society for its first meeting of 2022. On April 7, Frank March will present “Schools and Churches in the Swain County Section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.” Prior to the coming of the park, there were numerous flourishing communities, with a total of more than 50 schools and churches. Some of these were small lumber company schools, but they also included the only high school in the park, the large Calhoun-Coburn School at Proctor. Churches ranged from simple log buildings in the early days to sizeable white frame struc-

tions, visit lakejunaluska.com/easterbuffet or call 800-222-4930. Also Easter weekend, the Lake Junaluska Friends of the Lake 5K Road Race and Walk will take place on Saturday, April 16. The course takes participants along a scenic lakeside route. All profits from the 5K go toward improvements and annual maintenance of the lakeside walking trail and other recreation areas around the lake, which cost over $250,000 annually. For more information, visit lakejunaluska.com/run. Following the 5K, Long’s Chapel will host Easter egg hunts for children ages 1-12 plus face painting, balloon animals and pictures with the Easter bunny at Lake Junaluska outside Stuart Auditorium. Long’s Chapel also will partner with Camp Ability to host an egg hunt for children ages 4-12 with special needs inside the Harrell Center. Check-in and activities begin at 11:15 a.m. with the first egg hunt at 11:30 a.m. A food truck will be at the event. For guests who wish to spend the holiday weekend at Lake Junaluska, a 30% off Easter weekend lodging special at The Terrace Hotel and Lambuth Inn is available by calling 800.222.4930. lakejunaluska.com/easter.

tures in later years. Before the era of the County Board of Education, school may have been held in a building during the week and church services held in the same building on Sunday. For this reason, both schools and churches are approached together in this study. Frank has researched schools and churches throughout the park, but this presentation will be focused on the Swain County portion, which includes the Twentymile, Hazel Creek, Forney Creek, Deep Creek, Smokemont and Straight Fork sections of the park. Frank was raised in Blount County, Tennessee and now resides in Wears Valley (Sevier County). He is a member of the SCGHS, has been a part of the Northshore Cemetery Association for the past few years and has been a long-term volunteer with the park. Over the last few years, he has hiked all the trails in the park at least six times and has done considerable research on park cemeteries, schools and churches. He is now focusing his research on identifying home sites that were in the area before the formation of the park. Please join the Swain County Genealogical and Historical Society for this presentation on at 6:30 on April 7. Monthly meetings are held at the Swain County Regional Business Education and Training Center, 45 East Ridge Drive, Bryson City. For COVID cautionary purposes, please bring finger foods that are individually wrapped or select prepackaged snacks. This is open to the public and there is no admission charge.

Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

Managing growth has never been easy Z

Meadow ‘fraud’ is propaganda To the Editor: It looks like the leftist propaganda media has teamed up to smear former Rep. Mark Meadows with exaggerated claims of voter fraud, comparing his case to two other cases in which the voter fraud committed was of a totally different nature. The Charlotte Observer is even insinuating that Meadows is a felon because some Hoke County resident voted illegally being a felon himself, having no voter rights. The Smoky Mountain News also claims there’s no proof that Meadows ever lived at the Macon County address. Can you show us your proof that your accusation is indeed true? Can you prove he never, ever, spent the night there? Because that seems to be missing from the article. You also smear deontologically correct recusal of District Attorney Ashley Welch as a kind of proof of Meadows’ guilt. In the entire article you fail to mention even once why Meadows’ actions are a felony. Also, when you accuse someone publicly, like you do, you should have the common decency to, at the very least, hear out the accused. Or is the right of an accused person to confront his accusers not applicable to newspaper articles? Personally, I’m not a supporter of Meadows. But you are an opposer of him

family for generations. I kid you not, it came close to blows at some of those meetings that were held in the different communities in Haywood. More than one anti-zoning advocate marched into my office bowed up and ready to take on the new editor who was advocating for controls on the rampant development that was happening at that time. Needless to say, Haywood County backed off the idea. That was almost 30 years ago. When a question about zoning came up at a recent forum for the Republican candidates for county commission, it was interesting to read the responses. No one expects Haywood to Editor enact county-wide zoning, but that doesn’t mean it can’t take steps to stop or control some kinds of development. There are, in fact, some measures already on the books to do just that. Commissioner Tommy Long said he favored “natural growth” and that “anything that isn’t natural growth is a freak.” Not sure exactly what that means, but I wonder if the rampant development now occurring in Waynesville started happening in the county if Long would consider that “natural growth?” I suspect a lot of rural residents of the county might not. Commissioner Jennifer Best also addressed the zoning issue, saying: “I believe zoning is very clear — it removes the rights of the people. It tells you what you can and can’t do with your property.” Best is right. In its strictest sense, zoning does tell owners

Scott McLeod

oning. It’s one of those words— and concepts — that’s been cussed, spat upon and kicked unkindly to the curb for decades in the mountains. “Don’t anyone tell me what I can do with my own land, by God.” Well, there’s your own land, but then … the asphalt plant wants to expand on a site right by the pristine creek where you like to fish and families like to play along the shore … the auto parts plant that would have a hundred trucks coming and going each day wants to open just down the road … an out-of-state developer wants to build a huge apartment complex near my neighborhood … and the county wants to put a new landfill cell right next to grandma’s house. “Why can’t the county or the town stop this?” Because it doesn’t have zoning ordinances. Or, because it’s all perfectly legal under the zoning ordinances on the books. Who’s better off, the concerned citizen who lives in a no-zoning county or the concerned citizens who lives in a town whose zoning ordinances aren’t designed to stop developers? Choose your poison, right? In two separate articles in last week’s edition of The Smoky Mountain News, questions arose about zoning in Haywood County and Waynesville. Touchy subject, for sure, but one I suspect we’ll be hearing a lot about over the next few years as explosive growth and development have become the norm rather than the exception. Can it — development and growth — be stopped, encouraged, or controlled? How? I remember attending meetings in the 1990s when Haywood County held public hearings on a potential countywide zoning ordinance. It was a hurly-burly affair that gave a newly transplanted newspaper editor a quick study on how people feel about their land, particularly land that’s been in a

LETTERS because he’s a Trump ally. Gino De Neef, Franklin Editor’s note: Claims of voter fraud on the part of Mark Meadows and his wife were referred by District Attorney Ashley Welch to the North Carolina Attorney General’s office for investigation by the SBI. According to the story, there is no proof Meadows ever visited the Macon County residence, which does not have a mailbox. No contact information is available for Meadows, who has not returned calls by The Smoky Mountain News for more than three years. Publicly released texts from the investigation into Meadows released by the Jan. 6 committee do not list a number.

The facts about modern families To the Editor: This is in response to David L. Snell’s letter published in the March 16 edition. What I find “almost humorous” is your ability, like the many who think like you, to truly believe what you say and not hear the completely contradictory statements that roll off your tongue. On one hand you say “We’ve been doing it this way for 60 years, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but you immediately turn

what they can and can’t do with their property. But land-use ordinances can also be written broadly to protect the rights of property owners by not allowing certain entities to build next door, above them or along the waterway that fills the aquifer their well water comes from. There is nuanced land planning and then there’s heavy handed ordinances from which there is no deviation. Waynesville has a comprehensive, very progressive set of zoning ordinances that were hailed as very modern and accommodating when enacted some 20 years ago. Of course, their ordinances have been updated over the years, but now many residents who want to at least control growth are saying Waynesville’s standards are too lax. Waynesville’s zoning plan embraces mixed uses in almost all areas. By doing that, it does not strip people’s property rights. But it also encourages retail, multi-family housing and even light manufacturing in almost all areas if it was in keeping with the character of the neighborhood. As long a big apartment complexes meet all the standards, they can’t be stopped. Right now is reminding me of the early 2000s all over again. Before the 2008 recession, residents were clashing over how to control the explosive growth happening all over the mountains. Now, as an onslaught of multi-family apartment complexes and housing developments descends on Waynesville, we are once again fighting about how to preserve the character of this place we call home. Zoning, for all its negative baggage, is one of the only tools county and town leaders have. Waynesville would have to do some re-writes while the county would have to initiate its own standards. Or perhaps we’ll just stand pat and let the chips fall. (Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com

to other hand and say “Well clearly this isn’t working, we need to be doing something else.” Pick a lane and stay in it. If you are not educated and professionally qualified to evaluate, diagnose, or even advocate for learning practices that are studied and developed by said professionals, then stay out of it. If there are experts in the areas of early childhood development with peerreviewed studies and extensive knowledge weighing in about the subject matter in question, I would go with answer. Just saying. You also fail to discuss the underlying factors of poverty ridden communities and families that do not have the social or financial support to “rear” their children at home, so they rely on welfare, government, and school programs (which I’m sure you also oppose) simply to have childcare long enough to go to work. And that’s even if those programs will approve them. Education is the gateway out of poverty, and poverty is generational. Drive down the road and tell me how many Airbnb’s and second or third homes owned by people out of state you see? Now turn back down that same road and tell me how many RV parks you see where there are out-of-compliance “permanent residences” for families with two, three, even four children in two-bedroom RVs with no electricity or running water. Parents/guardians may be home “rearing” their children/grandchildren/nieces

/nephews/cousins ... but that may not be best situation to be putting those children into. If those old enough to learn in a public education setting that is safe, stable, and affordable are able to, then they should. Otherwise, their children and their children after them will more than likely end up in the same situation. Additionally, the argument that “people used to get married, have babies, and just raise them” complete devalues and invalidates the situations of families of single parents, divorcees, widows/ers, those escaping households of abuse, same sex couples, etc. Your thoughts on the argument of how children need to be raised is also contradictory in that you say parents should be spending this time with their children “rearing” them but also “don’t give them too much attention.” Overall, it appears to me that your argument comes from a place of privilege and bigotry, and possibly miseducation. I would suggest the following readings: • “Ask the Expert: Why is a Preschool Education Important?” by N.C. State University ced.ncsu.edu/news • “The Facts on Pre-K,” www.publicschoolsfirstnc.org • “When Do Kids Start Preschool? A Comprehensive Guide,” kidcityusa.com • “Is Your Child Ready to Start Preschool?” www.verywellfamily.com S. Terry Bryson City

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at the Oak Hill players, who were casually dunking with either hand or swishing 25foot jump shots left and right. If they were aware we were on the other side of the court, you couldn’t tell it. Our coach warned us not to ask for autographs. Oak Hill beat us as mercifully as they could, given the laughable mismatch. I think after the first quarter the score was 32-6 or something like that. We were first awestruck, and then dazzled, and finally rattled as they put us away as easily and naturally as a fish swims in a stream. Last weekend’s Elite Eight NCAA Tournament game between Saint Peter’s and the UNC-Chapel Hill Tarheels reminded me of that experience. Saint Peter’s, a tiny college in New Jersey with an enrollment of about 3,000 students, is not a school most people have even heard of. When they beat Kentucky in the first round, it was an utterly shocking upset, one in a million. But then they won the next round. And the next. Purely magical and unprecedented. No 15th seed had ever been that far in the history of the NCAA Tournament. Their loss to the Tar Heels on Sunday is a reminder of why Cinderella stories on this level are so rare. You just cannot fathom the level of athleticism of the players on the level of Carolina, Duke, and Kentucky until you experience it in person. It’s as if these players have been imported from another planet. The Saint Peter’s players just are not on that level or remotely close to it. Compared to the Tar Heels, the Saint Peter’s players looked like the cast of “Welcome Back, Kotter.” The discrepancy in size and athleticism reminded me of that old game so long ago against Oak Hill. Never mind that. Their achievement to get to the Elite Eight will always stand as inspiration for all the little guys, the shirts and skins scrappers all across this great land of ours who managed to maintain the dignity not to ask for autographs from a bunch of extraterrestrials who were about to embarrass them in front of our friends, parents, and prom dates. I am happy for the Tar Heels, who are peaking at the right time and just might win the whole shebang if they can beat Duke a second time after beating them in Cameron in Coach K’s last game there. I look forward to another epic battle between two teams with an impeccable pedigree and long track record of excellence. But first, will you join me in raising a glass to Saint Peter’s? Thanks for the magic, boys. We get little enough of that these days. No matter who wins it all, the Saint Peter’s Peacocks are what I will always remember about this year’s tournament. Brothers and sisters, they elevated their game. (Chris Cox is a writer and teacher who lives in Haywood County. jchriscox@live.com)

March 30-April 5, 2022

hen I was in high school, I was on the basketball team. We weren’t very good, but we loved the game and even during the offseason you would find us on any given Saturday afternoon playing pick-up basketball just for the fun of it for hours and hours until our moms started showing up to take us home for dinner. While we waited on the last of the mothers to arrive, we’d play “horse” or have freethrow shooting contests. In the summer, several of us went to Wake Forest University basketball camp, which costs our parents a car payment or probably two, where we met Columnist famous college and professional players who were going to teach us how to “elevate our games” and “take it to the next level.” There, I played against a fellow named Buzz Peterson, a curly-headed kid who elevated his game enough to play a few years later at UNC-Chapel Hill with a fellow named Michael Jordan. Buzz was the star of the camp. We were … fellow campers. For several years, we were immersed in all things basketball, but we never really elevated our game much. It seemed we were pretty good playing against each other on those sweaty summer afternoons, but during the season when we played against other teams in our conference in front of an actual crowd, we were pretty ordinary, winning a few and losing a few more. Then, one year, the school’s athletic director or coach — I am not exactly sure who to blame — managed to get us a game with Oak Hill Academy, a nearby private boarding school in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia. Oak Hill just happens to be a perennial basketball powerhouse —always at or near the top of the national rankings for high schools — with some of the very best players in the nation, players who come from all over the country to play there. In Mouth of Wilson, there are not the same distractions that teenage players from Los Angeles or Brooklyn may contend with, unless you think a post office is a distraction. We knew that Oak Hill’s starting five players were going on to play for major universities to compete for national championships and very likely the NBA beyond that. Our starting five was comprised of a bunch of guys finishing out the last competitive basketball we would ever know, unless you count those shirts and skins pick-up basketball games we loved so much, where we were stars in a very remote and lonely sky and mostly in our own imagination. Even during pregame warm-ups, we were mesmerized. As we went through our usual lay-up drills, we were stealing glances

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hen the community caught wind of the planned event with Stone, pieces started to fall into place. An outpouring of interest resulted in a venue change to accommodate a larger-than-expected audience. According to Lee, the crowd at Thursday’s event was at least four times the size that of any other event put on by Blue Ridge Books and News. “It has made us aware as a bookstore that we do have an audience and a concern in our community for challenging literature,” said Lee. “Oftentimes, people assume that the books that really make people think are current event, or nonfiction books. But I think oftentimes, for both students and adults, it’s the novels that move us beyond where we are and make us see someone else’s point of view.” The First United Methodist Church in Waynesville planned a welcome reception for the author. In doing so, the church created a space where community members could meet with the author in a more intimate setting than that of the program planned for that evening. “Offering radical hospitality to all, especially when dealing with difficult topics, is part of our mission,” said Seymour. “‘Dear Martin’ deals with issues that we are committed to discussing, such as systematic racism. When those conversations are happening in our community, we want to be present.” According to Katie Seymour, director of children’s ministries at FUMC, there was a steady line of 10-15 people waiting to meet Stone throughout the entire two-hour welcome reception. “We always want to have an open table at which hard conversations can take place,” said Seymour. “Race relations at a national and community level is one of those hard conversations. We believe that keeping this conversation going and making sure everyone is welcome to be part of it honors the progress we’ve made as a nation and community and pushes us forward.” Stone relished the warm welcome, saying in an Instagram story, “I have to say, the amount of support that I am seeing from the people here has been astonishing. And honestly it has restored my faith in people with all the [book] banning. Sometimes it can be more than a little disheartening, but being here is reminding me that despite the fact that there are people who want to stop certain stories from being told, there are also people who are really pissed off about that and who are truly fighting for the stories that other people wanna silence. There are people fighting to make sure those stories are heard. So shout out to Waynesville, shout out to Blue Ridge Bookstore and y’all are just amazing.” When Lee took to the stage Thursday evening to start the program, a quick hush fell over the crowd that seconds before had been abuzz with excited chatter. Seats were filled with guests of all ages. Dozens of current and past educators were in the audience. Everyone, even the elementary aged students in atten-

Bestselling author of ‘Dear Martin’ W comes to Waynesville

Nic Stone, author of 'Dear Martin' with Carol Eggleston, Vice President of the Haywood County NAACP (left), and laTice Eggleston (right) at the First United Methodist Church welcome event in Waynesville last Thursday. Hannah McLeod photo

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER lmost everyone wants the best for themselves, the people they love, the acquaintances they encounter and even the billions of people on this earth they will never meet. However, there are stark differences between people who want the best for others and those who are making change to create a better world for others; between the people who want the best for others, and those who are willing to challenge their own thoughts and beliefs, examine their own biases to ensure they are doing what they can to make the world better for others. One vital difference is the willingness to sit with the discomfort of injustice long enough to demand the change needed to rid the world of that injustice. Last Thursday night, over 300 people gathered in the Hemlock Auditorium at Haywood Community College in Clyde to engage in an open, honest and at times uncomfortable conversation about race in today’s world with New York Times bestselling author Nic Stone. Moderator Chris Cox didn’t shy away from asking the hard questions.

“A lot of us don’t like questioning the status quo because that makes us uncomfortable,” said Stone during the event. “And who likes being uncomfortable? I don’t even like being uncomfortable. I’ve lived a life of discomfort — I’m a black woman. However, I don’t like it. So, when people are able to choose their comfort over being uncomfortable, [they will]. But sometimes you can’t avoid being uncomfortable and it’s important to be OK with being uncomfortable.” n January, the young adult novel “Dear Martin” was pulled from a 10th grade English class at Tuscola High School after one parent complained about excessive profanity and innuendo in the book. This teacher had used the book in her curriculum in previous semesters; however, after the parent complained to administration and the Haywood County School Board, Superintendent Dr. Bill Nolte decided to pull the book from the class. In describing his reasoning for pulling the book, Nolte cited the use of profanity and innuendo, as well as the fact that the book had not been listed on the syllabus. “The intended educational message or pur-

pose of the book was being diminished by the way it was written, by the amount of profanity and innuendo,” Nolte told The Smoky Mountain News at the time. In a follow-up interview, Stone took issue with this assessment of her novel but not with the parent who lodged the complaint. She said the language she used throughout the novel is authentic to high-schoolers in today’s society. “I spend a lot of time in both middle and high schools, and I think if parents were to spend some time in a high school, they would either be appalled, or they would be reminded of their own youth. The innuendo piece is interesting to me because there’s actually not a single mention of sex in the book at all.” “I don’t fault the parents at all,” said Stone. “We’re all just trying to do our best when it comes to raising our kids.” In the aftermath of the book getting pulled, Allison Lee of Blue Ridge Books and News reached out to Stone in hopes that she would come participate in a talk about her novel and the incident at Tuscola High School. Stone jumped at the opportunity and the conversation that precipitated proved to be complex and fruitful.

S EE STONE, PAGE 24

HOT PICKS BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

Goin’ places that I’ve never been, seein’ things that I may never see again

Like clockwork, Frank and my mother, Kathy, were in Waynesville en route to their annual spring trip to Florida from Upstate New York. Leave the frigid temperatures and deep snow of the North Country in the rearview mirror and look out the windshield at sunshine, white sand beaches and endless margaritas. And I look forward to those visits. I only really get to see my folks a handful of times each year, something I don’t take for granted. They roll through for quick rendezvous

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Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host the “Jam at the Gem” featuring regional/national bluegrass stars at 9 p.m Saturday, April 2. The Scotsman (Waynesville) will host The Razbillys (Americana/indie) at 9 p.m. Friday, April 1.

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Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host Alma Russ (Americana/folk) at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 7. Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host The Waymores (Americana/folk) at 8 p.m. Friday, April 1.

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He remains an inspiration to me, and to any and all he crosses paths with. Though his once Zeus-like stride is more of a shuffle now, and though his jog is much slower than his 02:48 PR (personal record) marathon time, he still manages to get up each morning, lace up his running shoes and head out the door for quick trot around the block or at a nearby park. And yet, Frank has always been about tough love, and being tough to read. He’s a kind and generous soul, but also old-school in many ways, something that’s part of his upbringing as a child of the 1940s growing up in a tiny mining town in the Adirondack Mountains (my grandfather was an iron ore miner). But, even with this stern outside demeanor, and his lifelong hatred of surprise parties, events in his honor or any kind of public attention, Frank can sure hold court in a room full of people, spinning endless tales of his wanderings and interactions. There’s his time in the U.S. Army in the early 1960s. A stint as a New York State prison guard in the 1970s. His decades-long career as a U.S. Immigration officer on the Canadian Border. His extensive running endeavors. The travels across America. And now his latest role — grandfather to my two nieces, Lucy and Rory. Thus, when the last of the wine was poured Saturday evening, and the last of the charcuterie board devoured, after the “Happy Birthday” was sung by a room full of familiar and beloved faces, and the massive bill paid, and the last of the goodbyes and handshakes given, it was time to walk my dad back to his ride (my mom) to the motel down the road. As I helped him into the car, and before I shut the door, he looked up at me and said, “You know, this has been the best birthday I’ve ever had. Thank you.” No, thank you, Frank, for always being a voice of reason and a person of stoic nature. I, for one, am grateful to call you “dad.” Life is beautiful, grasp for it, y’all.

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March 30-April 5, 2022

t was a matter of $50 when my father finally relented to his birthday celebration. In the depths of The Classic Wineseller in downtown Waynesville on Saturday evening, several friends and family came together to celeFrank and his beloved brate the old man — aka: “the dog, Madison. curly wolf,” better known as (photo: Garret K. Woodward) Frank. Knowing damn well that his favorite wine is the Silver Oak cabernet sauvignon, I waved him over to one of the vast shelves of bottles. There were a few rows of f Silver Oak, ranging from 2014 to 2019. “Which one do you want?” I inquired. “Well, that 2014 Napa Valley is one of my favorites,” he replied. “OK, so we’re getting that,” I said, reaching for the botf tle to bring to the server to pop open. “Nah, you don’t have to do that. That bottle is $157. The other one is $107,” my father said, knowing that I was going to buy the bottle for him on his special day. “So? It’s a difference of $50. And this is the year and make you wanted. It’s been decided. Besides, you only turn 80 once,” I shrugged with a sly grin, handing the bottle to the server. Yes, it’s true. My dad recently turned 80 years old. It’s a wild thing to behold, somewhat crazy to comprehend, actually. It’s one in the spring and fall, while I wander home of those weird things about growing up that in the summer for my niece’s birthday in nobody really prepares you for, which is seeJune and again for Christmas (can’t miss ing your parents get older. These bastions of mom’s homecooking). physical and emotional strength slowly With Frank hitting the 80-year milebeing overtaken by the sands of times, the winds of change as each season rolls into the stone, I’ve been reflecting on our time together, and what our relationship means next, each generation leapfrogged by those above all else. First off, I’m 37 years old. who eventually succeed them. And I’m the oldest child (with a little sister). And that’s a beautiful thing in a way, for nothing is permanent in this universe, which Frank was almost 43 years old when I came into this world. So, he’s still some six years is all the more reason to cherish the time older than I am now when I arrived. and place you reside in, the people you have I was seven when he turned 50, 17 when surrounded yourself with. That, and it’s a he turned 60, and 30 when he turned 73. So, privilege to get older. At least, I think so. Shit, it’s beats the alternative, am I right? he’s always been “older” than my peers’ parents throughout my life and experiences. So long as you try and take care of yourself But, he’s also always taken care of him— with regular exercise, good food and bevself. A lifelong athlete and die-hard runner, erage, spontaneous adventures, hearty conhe’s completed over 80 marathons and thouversation, unrelenting curiosity and self-dissands (and thousands) of road races over the covery, and meaningful thought — there’s no reason you can’t live a happy and healthy years (most notably the Boston Marathon a whopping 12 times). 4 existence until all is said and done.

Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort (Cherokee) will host Grand Funk Railroad (classic rock) at 9 p.m. Friday, April 1.

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STONE, CONTINUED FROM 22 dance, listened attentively to the conversation that unfurled, captured both by Stone’s magnetic, brilliant nature and the depth of the subject matter. Chris Cox, author and professor of English and Humanities at Southwestern Community College moderated the event, asking Stone insightful questions about “Dear Martin,” book banning and race relations in today’s world before opening the floor for questions from the audience. Throughout the conversation, Stone and Cox explored the symbolism and representation behind several characters central to “Dear Martin” — Justyce, his mother, SJ, Quan, Jared, and more. When the floor was opened for questions, one member of the crowd asked whether Stone had a special teacher in mind when writing the character of Doc, a teacher in the novel. The book is in fact dedicated to that special teacher. “To Mr. Casey Weeks,” the dedication reads. “Consider this my quietus.” “Casey wigs was my 10th and 11th grade English teacher, and this book is dedicated to him,” said Stone. “I was the only black kid in his class, and I also have never felt so welcomed and validated in a space. He’s one of the reasons I write. He was the first teacher to ever tell me that I was good at writing. And his mode of teaching was very Doc-like. He respected us as thinking beings. That changed so much of our lives.” Stone shared that for her, the progression of the novel hinged on one quote from Doc which, after she wrote it, helped her to understand Justyce’s story. In the book, Doc says, “you can’t change how other people think and act, but you’re in full control of you. When it comes down to it, the only thing that matters is this: If nothing in the world ever changes, what type of person are you going to be?” “If you remember nothing else that this silly woman is saying to you, remember you get to decide what you believe about yourself,” said Stone. Stone also answered questions from Cox about her style of writing. She described how she is deliberate in mixing up styles throughout the book, from classic prose to pure dialogue to hand-written letters and more, all to hold the attention of young adults and anyone else who may pick up her book. In the days of social media, attention spans for many people are noticeably shortened, especially young people, she said. She uses the different writing style to hold readers’ attention. Stone and Cox explored difficult topics like why books that deal with race and the queer community are banned at higher rates than any other books; why, in the book, Justyce’s mother would not want him to date white girls; how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words have been appropriated and maligned to fit people’s agenda today; why some white people will tend towards shame in conversations about slavery; how anyone can be a better ally in the fight for liberation; and central to the night, why hearing stories about experiences other than one’s own hold such value.

Near the end of the program, two questions from the audience dealt with the intersection of the work for rights within the queer and trans communities as well as that of the impoverished Appalachian community. “There’s equality, there’s equity and there’s liberation,” said Stone. “And I see these as levels. So, if you think about equality, that’s everybody getting the same thing, the exact same thing, but not everybody needs the exact same thing. So, in order to give everybody exactly what they need, we have to move into the space of equity. However, there is another space where everybody has what they need. So, you don’t have to give anybody anything. Right? That’s what the idea of liberation looks like to me.” Stone went on to say that there is a need to break down the idea that “me gaining means you losing.” “There’s a Dr. King quote, ‘none of us is free until all of us are free.’ That’s so true. I think it can be really hard for people to grapple with the idea that your freedom is tied to mine. If I’m not free, you not free. Cox asked Stone about the ending of “Dear Martin,” which, without spoiling anything, involves some deep reconciliation. “I thought maybe you were addressing the issue of reconciliation as a kind of final prayer,” said Cox. “Yeah, I couldn’t write a book that is constantly referencing Dr. King and end it in with a person holding a grudge,” said Stone. “The forgiveness piece was really big there. It’s important that we give people the space to mess up because in doing that, we’re also giving ourselves the space to mess up.” ollowing the event, Waynesville attorney Mark Melrose gave out free copies of “Dear Martin” to any students in attendance who wanted the book. “The conversation can’t stop here. This has been a really great night and it’s been a great day and I’m so thankful, but we want this to continue,” said Lee. During her short time in Waynesville, Stone met several community stakeholders. Among them was Pigeon Community Multicultural Development Center Program Director Tausha Forney. Stone plans to collaborate with Forney and the Pigeon Center in the future. “We are looking so forward to working with Nic Stone; she is another voice we want to make certain our students are exposed to through her work and her presence,” said Forney. “Her willingness to share her time with us speaks volumes about her commitment to educating, as well as making sure people of color are able to see themselves in her work. Through our collaboration I’m sure we will continue to empower students and families in our community.” The overall tone of the conversation Thursday evening, the community engagement to make the event happen and the reception from guests in attendance was described by one attendee as “uplifting.” “At the end of the day, compassion, it just feels good,” said Stone. “So, care about each other. Even, especially when it’s people that are different from you. People you don’t understand. They’re still people.”

On the beat arts & entertainment

Grand Funk Railroad to play Harrah’s

The Waymores.

Americana, folk at Lazy Hiker Grand Funk Railroad. Classic rock megagroup Grand Funk Railroad will hit the stage at 9 p.m. Friday, April 1, at Harrah’s Cherokee Resort Event Center. Originating from Flint, Michigan, in 1969, this top-selling American rock group of the 1970s is “comin’ to your town to help you party it down,” with hits like “We’re an American Band,” “I’m Your Captain/Closer to Home,” “Locomotion” and “Some Kind of Wonderful.” After playing to millions of fans on the band’s tours from 1996-2020, Grand Funk continues to reach both new and long-time fans. Tickets start at $27.50 per person. For tickets, click on caesars.com/harrahs-cherokee.

The Razbillys. (photo: Wayne Ebinger.)

As part of its “First Friday” live music series, Asheville-based indie/folk acoustic duo The Razbillys will perform from 9 p.m.-midnight Friday, April 1, at The Scotsman in Waynesville. Free and open to the public. 828.246.6292 or scotsmanpublic.com.

Bryson City community jam A community jam will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 7, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. Anyone with a guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dulcimer, anything unplugged, are invited to join. Singers are also welcomed to join in, or you can just stop by and listen. The jam is facilitated by Larry Barnett of the Sawmill Creek Porch Band. The music jams are offered to the public each first and third Thursday of the month — spring, summer, fall. This program received support from the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment of the Arts. 828.488.3030.

‘An Evening of Bluegrass’ Featuring a handful of regional and national bluegrass stars, “An Evening of Bluegrass” will perform at 9 p.m. Saturday, April 2, at The Gem downstairs taproom at Boojum Brewing in Waynesville. Featuring mandolinist Darren Nicholson and banjoist Marc Pruett of juggernaut bluegrass act Balsam Range, the group will also

Darren Nicholson.

include guitarist Audie Blaylock and bassist Reed Jones. darrennicholson.net.

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March 30-April 5, 2022

Scotsman welcomes Razbillys

Atlanta-based Americana/folk duo The Waymores will hit the stage at 8 p.m. Friday, April 1, at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Sylva. Kira Annalise and Willie Heath Neal are The Waymores and they’re the epitome of acoustic country music. He was born in a cop

car, lived in and out of foster care and served in the Navy. She used to get stage fright until she was swept up by his charm and grit, started writing country songs and never looked back. Now, they travel the world together, writing songs from the road and bringing their intimate and fun stage presence to audiences around Southern Appalachia and beyond. Free and open to the public. For more information, click on thewaymores.com.

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• Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) will host an open mic from 8-10 p.m. every Thursday. Free and open to the public. 828.631.1987 or balsamfallsbrewing.com. • Blue Ridge Beer Hub (Waynesville) will host a semi-regular acoustic jam with the Main Street NoTones from 7-9 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 the “Jam at the Gem” featuring regional/national bluegrass stars April 2. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 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.

• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) 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. 828.538.0115 or mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

ALSO:

• Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.641.9797 or nantahalabrewing.com.

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

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• Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host Scott Stambaugh (singer-songwriter) April 2. All events begin at 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. 828.634.0078 or curraheebrew.com.

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

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

• The Scotsman (Waynesville) will host The Razbillys (Americana/indie) at 9 p.m. April 1. Free and open to the public. 828.246.6292 or scotsmanpublic.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 Grand Funk Railroad (classic rock) 9 p.m. April 1. For tickets, caesars.com/harrahs-cherokee.

Smoky Mountain News

• Macon County Public Library (Franklin) will host The Vagabonds (Americana/old-time) 2 p.m. April 4. Free and open to the public. fontanalib.org.

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begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• 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.

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On the beat

• 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.

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host Alma Russ (Americana/folk) April 7. All events begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.

• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Larry Joe Lampert (singer-songwriter) March 31, Jon Cox Band (Americana) April 1 and Mountain Gypsy (Americana) April 2. All shows begin at 8 p.m. Free and open to the public. 828.538.2488.

• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. All events are free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.

• 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.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host Dustin Martin (singer-songwriter) 7 p.m. April 16. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host Desert Honey (Americana/roots) 9 p.m. April 9. 828.456.4750 or facebook.com/waternhole.bar.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host The Waymores (Americana/folk) April 1. All shows

• Whiteside Brewing (Cashiers) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.743.6000 or whitesidebrewing.com.

On the wall

‘Sylva Brew Hop’

‘Creating Community Workshop’

The Main Street Sylva Association will host its annual “Sylva Brew Hop” from April 8-10 in downtown. Enjoy the Jackson County Ale Trail. In honor of NC Beer, join City Lights Café, Balsam Falls Brewing, Innovation Brewing, Nantahala Brewing Sylva Outpost, Lazy Hiker Sylva Taproom, and The Cut Cocktail Lounge for this event. Ticket holders can taste local and regional beers. Tickets include a souvenir glass and several tastings. Attendees are encouraged to take advantage of the restaurants and culinary destinations in downtown Sylva during and after the Brew Hop. Tickets are $25. Participants are encouraged to enjoy cuisine made to pair with beer at our local restaurants. Registration will be at the Paper Mill Lounge in downtown.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host a “Thru-Hiker Chow Down” from noon-3 p.m. Saturday, April 2. The Nantahala Hiking Club and Lazy Hiker welcome all thru-hikers for free food, games and craft beer. Come mingle with your fellow hikers and enjoy “Trail Days.” 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

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

• A “Wine Tasting” will take place on Friday and Saturdays at the Bryson City Wine Market. Enjoy new wines, meats, cheeses and yummy snacks, all while making new friends or hanging out with old ones. For more information, call 828.538.0420.

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

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• 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. 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. fontanalib.org.

March 30-April 5, 2022

• “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.

Saturday at The Wine Bar & Cellar in Sylva. 828.631.3075.

The monthly “Creating Community Workshop” will continue at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 2, in the Atrium of the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. Participants will learn the basics of felting by creating shapes out of a narrow bundle of wool called “roving.” A special barbed or notched needle is used to interlock the individual fibers together to form objects and shapes. Instructor Pauletta Clark wears many hats. For the last 20 years, she has been an elementary school teacher, most currently at Iotla Valley Elementary School, where she teaches third grade. Several years back she created her own successful “Murder Mystery Dinner” business. Two years ago, she and her friend, Tracy Griffith, spearheaded Bloom, an event and party planning business. A completely self-taught felter, Clark is excited about passing on what she’s learned, as teaching is what she loves most. The class is limited to 10 participants. To register, 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 (fontanalib.org).

• The photography of Wendy Kates will be on display through the month of April in the Meeting Room at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. An artist reception will be held from 1-3 p.m. Saturday, April 9. Free and open to the public. wendykatesphotography.zenfolio.com.

• “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held from 10:30 a.m.-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.

On the street ‘Ancient Philosophies of Life’ lecture

• 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 downtown Waynesville. Over two dozen artisans selling handmade and vintage goods. Special events will be held when scheduled. mountainmakersmarket.com.

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The Jackson County Public Library will be presenting a three-part series of lectures/discussions on “Ancient Philosophies of Life,” which will be led by Clemson professor Todd May, from 6-7 p.m. on the first three Tuesdays in April in the Community Room at the library in Sylva. May is the Class of 1941 Memorial Professor of the Humanities at Clemson University. He is the author of 16 books of philosophy and was an advisor to the philosophical sitcom “The Good Place.” He is a collaborator with “The Good Place” showrunner Mike Schur on a book of ethics, “How To Be Perfect.” “For ancient Greek and Roman thinkers, the central philosophical question is: What is the best life for a human being? How should one live? Of course they gave very different answers,” May said. “For Aristotle, the best life is a life of virtue; for the Stoics, it is a life

of rational self-control; and for Epicureans, a life of simple pleasure. Over the three weeks of this program, we will discuss each of these answers, seeking to understand and engage with them together.” The series is free and open to the public. For more information, please call the library at 828.586.2016. This seminar is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. The Jackson County Public Library is a member of Fontana Regional Library (fontanalib.org).

arts & entertainment

On the table

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On the stage

HART to present ‘Newsies’

Smoky Mountain News

March 30-April 5, 2022

A special stage production of “Newsies” will be held at 7:30 p.m. April 1-2, 8-9 and at 2 p.m. April 3 and 10 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theater in Waynesville. “Newsies” was a monstrous hit on Broadway and is based on the classic Disney film of the same name. It won two Tony awards, including “Best Choreography” by Christopher Gattelli, who is a former Western North Carolina resident, and used to work with HART Educational Director Shelia Sumpter. The story was inspired by the real-life “Newsboy Strike of 1899,” a two-week-long action against powerful publishers including Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph

Hearst. Set in New York City, “Newsies” is a rousing tale of a charismatic newsboy named Jack Kelly, played by Drake Frost, who leads a band of young teenagers to strike against the titans of publishing who raise distribution prices at the newsboys’ expense in order to increase their own profits. The brave and impassioned young children take on the industry and even the city and its treatment of the poor. You will fall in love with these young kids who dream of a better world as they fight for what’s right. Journey with these inspirational teens through their doubts and triumphs against an adult world. Twists and turns abound in the plot as Jack and the gang bravely risk the odds stacked against them. Under the direction of Shelia Sumpter, the show features inspirational characters like Crutchie, Jack’s best friend, played by Savanna Shaw, and the many homeless boys who find as much joy as they can in life despite their poverty. Many of HART’s “Kids At HART” talent are featured, including over 30 local kids and even HART’s Executive Director Steve Lloyd as the villainous Pulitzer. Tickets range from $7 to $36 per person, depending on seating options. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, call the box office at 828.456.6322 or click on harttheatre.org.

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‘Alice in Wonderland’

A stage production of the beloved tale “Alice in Wonderland” will be held on select dates throughout this spring at the Mountainside Theatre in Cherokee. The beloved venue will host the world premiere of “Alice in Wonderland” stage show, written by The Guinn Twins, Darby and Jake Guinn. The production is an original work by Havoc Movement Company that will be joining the Cherokee Historical Association for the spring season. Directed by Jason Paul Tate, a long-time veteran of outdoor drama, the show features the spectacle driven, heartfelt storytelling audiences expect from Havoc Movement.

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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

Alice’s days on the mountain in Cherokee have lacked adventure lately. Bored with her book, she runs away from her sister to chase a strange white rabbit, who leads her to a world somewhat familiar and yet peculiarly askew. As she travels further down the rabbit hole, she encounters the customary characters (with an Appalachian twist) and finds herself at odds with the rules of Wonderland. She makes both friends and enemies while her problems grow and shrink within this epic journey to the heart of her imagination. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on cherokeehistorical.org/alicein-wonderland.

Group Voice for teens and adults. Spring courses have already begun, with 12 weeks of courses through May 13, with a spring break April 11-15. 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. • “Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka” will hit the stage at 7 p.m. April 1-2 and 2:30 p.m. April 3 at the Swain Arts Center in Bryson City. The production will feature the Swain County High School Vocal Ensemble, SMS 8th Grade Performing Arts Class and several elementary students. Tickets are $10 adult, $5 students. The box office opens one hour before showtime. For more information, go to swainartscenter.com and click on the “Upcoming” tab.

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On the shelf

Jeff Minick

and suggests the wearing of a medal or two. On having served him at a formal dinner, it wonders aloud if a taller chair might not be more fitting for a man with such responsibilities. The soldiers of the common man may toss the banners of the old regime on the victory pyre, but soon enough trumpets will blare and pomp will take its place at the side of the throne, having once again secured its dominion over history and kings.”

“Our churches, known the world over for their idiosyncratic beauty, for their brightly colored spires and improbable cupolas, we raze one by one. We topple the statutes of old heroes and

Towles’ story reminds us that the wrecking balls of revolution are aimed at wiping out the past, at erasing our memories of culture and history. Near the end of the story, the Count is visited by a woman, Katerina, who also loved Mishka, now dead. As she departs, Rostov asks if he can help her in any way. “Katerina looked surprised at first by the Count’s offer, then ready to dismiss it. But after a moment, she said: “Remember him.” Remember the man who stood athwart of history is the lesson here. “A Gentleman in Moscow” provides a timely reminder of this resilience of the human spirit when faced with oppression and injustice. Count Rostov and his friends offer us a way to keep our human dignity and honor in hard times, when a powerful government may enforce its whims on a subject people. Something to bear in mind. ••• On a completely different note, a full review of Rick Bragg’s “The Speckled Beauty: A Dog and His People” (Alfred A. Knopf, 2021, 244 pages) will soon appear in the next issue of Smoky Mountain Living magazine, but I wanted to point readers of The Smoky Mountain News to this wonderful story of a stray dog adopted by Bragg and his family. Speck, as they call the stray, is not a good dog. In fact, “he is often a terrible boy, a defiant, self-destructive, often malodorous boy, a grave robber and screen-door moocher who spends his days playing chicken with the Fed Ex man, picking fights with the livestock, and rolling in donkey manure, and his nights howling at the moon.” If you’re a dog lover, whatever that pet’s personality, here is a story that should delight you. Bragg’s humor and observations both about his family and about Speck should bring readers some chuckles and some insights into family bonds and screwy canine behavior. Two thumbs up on both books. (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)

• The “Fire Towers & Beer” book event will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Sylva. Author Peter Barr recently released a guidebook, “Exploring North Carolina’s Lookout Towers,” and will be giving a book presentation in the taproom. The book is a hiking and historical guide to the fire lookout towers of Western North Carolina, with the highest concentration of them surrounding Franklin and Sylva in the Nantahala National Forest and Great Smoky Mountains. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

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Smoky Mountain News

“For pomp is a tenacious force. And a wily one too. “How humbly it bows its head as the emperor is dragged down the steps and tossed in the streets. But then, having quietly bided its time, while helping the newly appointed leader on with his jacket, it compliments his appearance

That same description applies to every tinpot tyrant, mass-murdering dictator, and ambitious politician since the early 20th century. They denounce pomp and circumstance in their predecessors, and then indulge themselves in rank and privilege. Here in this paragraph Mishka again remarks on the ugliness and destruction brought by the Bolsheviks:

strip their names from the streets, as if they had been figments of our imagination. Our poets we either silence, or wait patiently for them to silence themselves.”

March 30-April 5, 2022

Time for the book review machine to travel back a few years. Two friends recommended I read Mark Towles’ novel “A Gentleman in Moscow” (Viking Press, 2016, 462 pages). After I waited several weeks at my public library for the novel to become available, I snatched up a copy from the “New Book” section and trotted home to see what the fuss was all about. What I discovered was a wonderful story about Russia, the Soviet Union, human greatness, and the age in which we now live. In 1922, precisely a century ago, a Bolshevik court sentences Count Alexander Rostov to Writer lifelong imprisonment in a luxury hotel, the Metropol. The Bolsheviks place Rostov in a cramped room on the upper floor of the hotel, where he lives for decades. During this time, while Russia undergoes political and cultural upheavals, Rostov deepens his friendship with the hotel’s staff, becomes the lover of a Russian actress, takes a young girl, a musical prodigy, into his custody, and works in the hotel as a head waiter. He wins many friends, defends his adopted daughter from the state, and even gains the respect and approval of a man associated with the Kremlin. To say more of the plot of “A Gentleman in Moscow” would spoil the story for readers. Suffice it to say that this is one of the finest novels I’ve read in years. What sets this book apart from so many others are the wise insights of the author, their pertinence to our own age, and his superb writing. In this passage, for example, Mishka, the count’s friend and a revolutionary who falls out of favor with the authorities, asks “How can we understand this, Sasha? What is it about a nation that would foster a willingness in its people to destroy their own artworks, ravage their own cities, and kill their own progeny without compunction?” In another chapter, Towels sums up the ugly lust for prestige of every revolutionary of the last century:

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Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

‘A lot of mistakes’ Objections level strong criticism against forest plan BY HOLLY KAYS OUTDOORS EDITOR The 60-day objection period for the Pisgah-Nantahala Forest Management Plan is now over, and while there’s not yet an official tally of how many people are contesting the final plan, it’s safe to say it’s a high number. I Heart Pisgah, a coalition of more than 150 organizations supporting increased protections for the forest, has record of more than 14,000 objections filed against the plan. That figure reflects only the objections that I Heart Pisgah and coordinating organizations helped submit, so the true total is even higher. The U.S. Forest Service has until April 1 to post the objections to its website — until then, the total number is not available. This extraordinary number of objections comes toward the end of an extraordinarily long process to plan the future of the 1.04 million acres contained in the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forest. The Forest Service first started reaching out to stakeholders in 2012, and after a decade of public meetings, arguments, negotiations and exhaustive rounds of public comment, the final plan was released in January. While the draft released in February 2020 earned praise from a wide range of interest groups, many of which sparred vigorously throughout the planning process, the final plan met a chilly reception from many of those same groups — particularly from those focused on preserving wilderness and old growth. The objections reflect that. While a complete record of objections was not available as of press time, The Smoky Mountain News reached out to a diverse set of companies, nonprofits and coalitions that have participated in the planning process for years. Overwhelmingly, the longest, most strongly worded objections came from the pro-preser-

vation side of the aisle — in fact, 100 organizations and businesses endorsed a report card from the Center for Biological Diversity that gives the plan an F. “The plan is, in a word, a disappointment,” reads a 179-page objection from the Southern Environmental Law Center, submitted on behalf of The Wilderness Society, MountainTrue, Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club. “At this stage of the process, we never imagined there would be so much left to do. It takes a lot of mistakes to get something so wrong. The lengthy objection below is a function of the plan’s failure to take its legal obligations seriously, along with its lack of credible analysis.” However, core to the SELC’s criticism — and to that of various other objections SMN obtained — is the ways in which the Forest Service declined to incorporate solutions from the Nantahala Pisgah Forest Partnership, a group of more than 20 organizations spanning interests ranging from logging to wilderness that spent years hammering out a proposal that the diverse interests represented within the partnership could get behind. “The Partnership has collaborated with the Forest Service for nearly a decade on this management plan,” said a statement from Ashleigh Sherman of Darby Communications on behalf of the Partnership. “However, the Partnership was disappointed to see a number of their proposals excluded from the latest draft.”

A stunning view stretches out in the Craggy Forest Scenic Area. Steven McBride photo approach might require the forest to meet certain requirements for controlling invasive species or protecting water quality before moving from base-level Tier 1 logging objectives up to higher-order Tier 2 harvest goals. The final plan keeps the tiers but doesn’t link them between interests. That is, under the proposed plan the Forest Service can move to Tier 2 logging goals, for example, without worrying about whether Tier 1 objectives have been met for water quality or invasive species control. “The agency’s approach fails to meet the purpose and need of the plan, as well as stated desired conditions and objectives … Our Partnership members and affiliates stretched well beyond their comfort zone, and farther than they may have otherwise been able to in

MISSING TRIGGERS One such proposal relates to the Tier 1 and Tier 2 objectives contained in the final plan. The tiered approach was the Partnership’s attempt to broker consensus between groups with opposing priorities for forest management. For example, the

A biker pedals the Staire Creek Trail. Steven McBride photo

order to balance all stakeholder needs to the fullest extent possible,” reads the Partnerships objection. By failing to tie the tiers, it says, the Forest Service destroyed that balance. In a February interview, Lead Planner Michelle Aldridge said that the Forest Service defines Tier 1 goals as what the Forest Service can do with its current staff and resources, while Tier 2 goals will require outside resources such as grants to accomplish. “Think about it,” she said. “If road maintenance money arrived tomorrow, but we hadn’t yet completed all of our plan activities for non-native invasives, we’re not going to pause on our road maintenance until we get our non-native invasive work done. If we have the opportunity to do more, we’re going to do those things, whether that’s more fish passages or sustainable trails or whatever the case may be.” The SELC included this quote in its objection, along with a sharp reply. “This response misses the point entirely,” the SELC objection said. “Road maintenance needs are not exacerbated by treating nonnative invasive species, improving fish passage, or building sustainable trails. But some plan objectives are in direct tension with other resource protection obligations … Triggers are an adaptive management strategy to show that the forests are capable of mitigating harm before moving to ‘stretch goals.’” Roadbuilding and timber harvest are very much connected. According to SELC’s objection, the plan puts 610,434 acres of the forest in management areas considered suitable for timber harvest. Half of these are currently inaccessible, meaning that extracting timber would require building new roads.

OLD GROWTH PROTECTIONS The Forest Service’s solution for old growth forest was also a target of criticism for many objectors. The plan establishes a 265,000-acre old growth network, but many of those acres do not contain old growth trees, and some acreage known to contain such trees is not included in the network. In its objection, the Partnership also pointed out that the plan did not incorporate its suggestion of a cap-and-trade approach to the network, which would have allowed the Forest Service to trade lower-quality patches for higher-quality ones as they were spotted during projects. “The plan authorizes cutting over 44,000 acres of existing designated old-growth,” I Heart Pisgah claims in its objection. “Over a quarter-million acres of old growth is placed in logging-priority designations. Twenty percent of the highest-priority logging lands contain known, inventoried old-growth forests.” The objection claims these shortcomings are due to inaccurate models for old growth and natural disturbances that are built on “misleading assumptions” and “fundamentally flawed.” “The Forest Service has tweaked model inputs so that the models

Learn more The latest updates, including filed objections, will be posted on the forest plan website at bit.ly/22forestplan.

SHORTCOMINGS FOR RECREATION

Part-time Sylva resident Richie Kahn is running the Catamount Climb at Western Carolina University April 9 to raise money for One Rare, a nonprofit that works to improve the lives of young adults living with rare conditions. Kahn, who is embedded to the local running scene in Durham, suffers from a rare disease called Wolfram-like syndrome and is rapidly losing his vision. “Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that running is a big part of my life,” Kahn wrote on his GoFundMe page. “Since 2009, running has been how I decompress, stay active and make friends. From co-organizing Bull City Beer Runners to logging neighborhood miles, running is sort of my thing. And, despite all of the vision I’ve lost

over the last few years due to a rare and progressive form of optic atrophy called Wolframlike syndrome, I’m not going to let it stop me.” Since he first ran it in 2012, the Catamount Climb Half Marathon has been his favorite race, and this year he’ll run it with his wife Nina serving as his running guide. One Rare was founded in 2019 by a mother and her adult son, living with Duchene muscular dystrophy, to provide resources and opportunities to improve the lives and futures of young adults, aged 18-35 living with rare disease, through education, mentoring, recreation and peer support. While there are many supportive programs for families and children, teens and young adults, who are now living longer lives through innovations in therapeutics and healthcare, often age out of programs when they need them the most. One Rare aims to fill that gap. Learn more about Kahn’s run or contribute to the GoFundMe at gofundme.com/f/gz8ruprunning-blind.

Winter Lights sets visitation record Winter Lights 2021 was the biggest year yet for the N.C. Arboretum Society’s largest annual fundraiser, with more than 28,000 tickets sold and an estimated 107,000 guests experiencing the extravagant light show. The 2021 event marked a return to the traditional walk-through format following a pandemicinduced drive-through structure last year, and a new ticketing system that featured a per-car model and tiered fee structure brought in more guests than any previous year. Funds raised go toward keeping the arboretum beautiful all year long and hiring staff to make that happen.

COMPLICATIONS FOR YOUNG FOREST Since the beginning of the planning process, it’s been apparent that the main tension lies between groups that want to see more protection for wilderness and old growth and those who prioritize active management — especially timber harvest and prescribed fire — to open up more young forest habitat on the aging landscape. That said, it comes as no surprise that the joint objection submitted by supporters of the latter cause focused on different issues than those written by groups like the SELC and I Heart Pisgah. The objection, written by the Ruffed Grouse Society and American Woodcock Society, was also signed by Luke Weingarten and Tyler Ross of the N.C. Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, David Whitmire of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Council, Orrin Goure of Columbia Forest Products, Rob Elliott of Evergreen Packaging and John Hatcher of the N.C. Forestry Association. “Urgent

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The Partnership also took issue with provisions of the plan that it said would be bad news for various recreation interests. First, the Partnership said the plan doesn’t incorporate recommendations that aimed to head off existing or impending conflicts between user groups and sustainability goals. In rejecting these ideas, the Partnership wrote, “the Forest Service has chosen a future with more conflicts and less collaboration, and with less satisfied visitors, and is failing to adequately provide for sustainable recreation as is required by the 2012 Forest Planning Rule.” The plan also includes regulations that will negatively impact specific recreation groups, the Partnership said. In its objection, partnership member Access Fund-Carolina Climbers said that the plan constrains new and existing climbing routes in ways not supported by appropriate analysis, monitoring or evaluation, and

Runner aims to raise money to help people with rare disease

March 30-April 5, 2022

“These highest-priority logging areas in Craggy/Big Ivy include 1,500 acres of oldgrowth forest, the headwaters of the Ivy River (the drinking water source for the town of Weaverville), and the Snowball Trail, one of the most popular trails along the Blue Ridge Parkway,” the objection reads. “The Craggy National Scenic Area designation was also dismissed and never studied by the Forest Service without any explanation. The best and highest use of Craggy/Big Ivy is as a Forest Scenic Area/National Scenic Area that protects this world-class viewshed, ancient forest, rare species refuge, recreational hub and critical drinking water supply for Buncombe County.” I Heart Pisgah was far from being the only organization to object to the 4,000 acres excluded from protection at Craggy/Big Ivy. The Partnership, SELC, Save the Ivy River, and even Buncombe County — among others — echoed those concerns.

that some objectives constitute a cartbefore-the-horse situation — the Forest Service should first create a climbing management plan to determine if the constraints are necessary. The Access Fund also claims that the plan unfairly penalizes climbers when, in its quest to protect peregrine falcons, it focuses management on four specific recreation uses while leaving out other activities known to disturb the falcons. The paddling community also raised serious concerns with what’s in the plan — and with what’s not in it. The Forest Service excluded paddling management on the Chattooga River from the plan’s scope, “the result being the continuation of outdated limits on paddling in the Final Plan despite a decade of data showing low use and no issues stemming from paddling,” Partnership member American Whitewater wrote in its objection. The organization claimed that the plan did not meet the legal standard to remove paddling management from consideration and is violating the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedures Act by keeping the limits in place despite “countervailing data.” American Whitewater — among other objectors — also took issue with the Forest Service’s finding that the Tuckasegee River, Panthertown Creek, Greenland Creek and the North Fork of the French Broad River are not eligible for Wild and Scenic River designation. The decision was the result of “misapplied agency policy” and “inaccurate, irrelevant or inferior information.” For example, American Whitewater’s objection says, the Forest Service deemed the Upper Tuckasegee ineligible because a dam controls the flow below it. However, American Whitewater argues, “agency policy is clear” that Wild and Scenic Rivers can have dams and diversions immediately upstream and downstream of the protected reach.

outdoors

intentionally underestimate the amount of natural disturbance historically and overestimate natural disturbance in the future,” says the objection. “The Forest Service is attempting to create artificial need for timber harvests and inflate numbers for its own benefit rather than aiming for accurate NRV (natural range of variation) conditions.” In particular, I Heart Pisgah objects to the fact that the plan excludes 4,000 acres of the 16,000-acre Craggy/Big Ivy Section from protection as a Forest Scenic Area — though the coalition had hoped to see it granted recommendation for the more protective National Scenic Area designation — placing them instead in a logging-eligible management area.

outdoors

Trout waters to reopen Hatchery Supported Trout Waters open at 7 a.m. Saturday, April 2, and remain available through Feb. 28, 2023. These waters are marked by green-andwhite signs. Through July, N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission staff will stock them with nearly 964,000 trout, 96% of which will average 10 inches in length while the other 4% exceed 14 inches. While the waters are open to public fishing, many miles run through privately owned land. Anglers should respect the property they fish on and remember that landowners can take access away if they feel their property is being misused. A full stocking schedule is posted at bit.ly/3JFbpA2. For a list of all Hatchery

Supported Trout Waters, as well as maps, the complete stocking schedule and daily stocking updates, visit bit.ly/3DanfPW.

Sylva’s TU chapter plans gatherings Hang out with the Tuckaseigee Chapter of Trout Unlimited next week as the group holds a meeting Tuesday, April 5, and a trash pickup Thursday, April 7. ■ The meeting, held 6:30-8 p.m., April 5, at the United Methodist Church in Sylva, will feature noted writer and fisherman Sam Johnson, who has written several books including “Fly Fishing the Blue Ridge Parkway, NC Section.” The meeting is open to everyone interested in fishing and conservation. A pulled pork dinner will kick things off, sides welcome. ■ The trash pickup will commence 3-5 p.m. Thursday, April 7, on South River Road and Old Settlement Road in Webster. The group will gather at the Webster Baptist Church parking lot, with bags and gloves provided. For more information, visit the group’s Facebook page at facebook.com/tuckaseigeechapter373 or contact Tom Lenehan at tu.lenehan@gmail.com.

Meet OMC

Smoky Mountain News

March 30-April 5, 2022

Learn how to get involved with Outdoor Mission Community during a gathering at 5 p.m. Friday, April 1, at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. This “Eat and Meet” event offers a chance to learn more about OMC and its partners, and to find out where you fit in to volunteer.

Small fire burns near Smokies headquarters

Fire crews respond on Park Headquarters Road. NPS photo

A downed powerline along Park Headquarters Road in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park ignited a 1.5acre wildfire last week. The fire burned near park headquarters, between the ranger station and park maintenance yard, starting at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 24. Pigeon Forge Fire Department and Gatlinburg Fire Department responded initially, transitioning oversight to park fire crews.

Oak Island man aims for MST speed record and adventures are the foundation of my life. Hiking for Habitat will be a culmination of all my outdoor experiences and serve as a tribute to our state,” Bennett said. “After taking a deep dive into the diversity of habitats and wildlife throughout the state, it’s time for me to give back, and I’m thrilled to partner with NCWF.” Bennett lives in Oak Island but grew up in Durham, where he developed a sense of wonder and appreciation for the outdoors during a childhood spent fishing, swimming and exploring the Eno River. He began running cross-country in seventh grade to get in shape for his middle school’s basketball season and developed a passion for running. Since then, he estimates, he’s traversed more than 20,000 miles. Bennett begins his cross-state trek in the Last May, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree Outer Banks. NCWF photo in biology from Appalachian State University and shortly thereafter thru-hiked and hike the trail over 27-28 days with a the Appalachian Trail. small support crew of friends and family, “I want to raise awareness about the arriving at the trail’s terminus at Clingmans diversity of habitats and wildlife and push Dome in late April. His journey coincides myself on their behalf,” he said. “Hiking the with the 45th anniversary of the MST, first entire MST will reinforce my connection proposed in 1977 at Lake Junaluska. with North Carolina, so I never forget Dubbed “Hiking for Habitat,” the jourwhere I came from no matter where I’m ney will raise money for the N.C. Wildlife heading.” Federation, which will track his efforts Follow Bennett’s journey or find out through an ongoing blog and social media how to donate at ncwf.org/blog/hiking-forposts. habitat. “North Carolina’s wildlife, outdoors Oak Island resident Luke Bennett recently set off on a 1,175-mile journey across North Carolina to raise money and awareness for issues threatening wildlife and their habitats — and have a go at the Mountains-to-Sea Trail speed record. Bennett, 22, started the MST in the Outer Banks March 23 and plans to run

Clean up Courthouse Falls

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

Help clean up Courthouse Falls Saturday, April 2, starting at 9 a.m. from the Cullowhee Recreation Center. The waterfall sits on the 2.17-mile Summey Cove Trail, which features an 827-foot elevation gain, and volunteers will spend an estimated five to six hours walking the trail while picking up any unsightly litter. Free, with gloves and trash bags provided. Participants ages 12-17 should come with a parent. For more information, contact trevorbrown@jacksonnc.org or 828.293.3053, ext. 9.

Hike through wildflower season A spring wildflower hike Saturday, April 9, will explore the Big Creek Watershed of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park while teaching participants to identify blooming plants. Scott Dean, an instructor for the Blue Ridge Naturalist program at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville, will lead this hike hosted by Haywood Waterways Association. The group will meet at 9:30 a.m. and start the day with a one-hour

introduction to wildflowers and a short walk up Baxter Falls Trail. Those who want to extend the outing may embark on a moderate 3-mile hike to Midnight Hole Falls, with hikes concluding by 3 p.m. The event is free for HWA members with a $5 donation requested from nonmembers. It’s part of the nonprofit’s “Get to Know Your Watershed” series of outdoor recreation activities showcasing Haywood County’s beauty. No pets, and space is limited, with carpooling encouraged. RSVP to Christine O’Brien at christine.haywoodwaterways@gmail.com or 828.476.4667, ext. 11.

HaywoodBuilders.com 100 Charles St. WAYNESVILLE

outdoors

FREE

ESTIMATES

A pinkshell blooms in the Highlands Botanical Garden. Dylan Lytle photo

Experience spring in Highlands It’s spring at Highlands Biological Station, with spring hours and weekly wildflower walks starting in April. Join the station’s horticulturist noon-1 p.m. each Thursday for a tour of the spring beauty and biological diversity that the Highlands Plateau has to offer. The 11-acre Highlands Botanical Garden features more than 450 native plant species. Tours are weather-dependent and space is limited, so

registration is required at highlandsbiological.org. Starting April 1, the Highlands Nature Center will be open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, offering a chance to meet live animals, explore natural history exhibits and peruse the nature-themed gift shop. Highlands Biological Station is a multicampus center of Western Carolina University. highlandsbiological.org.

Learn to grow woody ornamentals with a two-hour online seminar at 1 p.m. Thursday, April 7. Taught by Haywood Extension Horticulture Agent Sam Marshall, the class will cover plant selection, buying, planting, mulching, fertilizing and watering, as well as a sampling of trees for Western North Carolina. Sign up by April 2 at bit.ly/3qxeXfU. Cost is $10.

Endangered status proposed for northern long-eared bat

Smoky Mountain News

A virtual public meeting and hearing 68:30 p.m. Thursday, April 7, will take input on a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal r to move the northern long-eared bat from threatened to endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The bat is now facing extinction due to white-nose syndrome, a deadly disease affecting bat-dwelling caves across the continent. The disease has spread to nearly 80% of the species’ range and nearly all of its U.S. range since it was listed as threatened in 2015 and is expected to spread to the entire range by 2025. White-nose syndrome has caused estimated declines of 97-100% among affected northern long-eared bat populations. The reclassification proposal comes following an in-depth review of the species found that the bat continues to decline and now meets the definition of endangered

under the ESA. Bats are critical to healthy, functioning ecosystems and contribute at least $3 billion annually to the U.S. agriculture economy through pest control and pollination. “White-nose syndrome is devastating northern long-eared bats at unprecedented rates, as indicated by this science-based finding,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Director Charlie Wooley. “The Service is deeply committed to continuing our vital research with partners on reducing the impacts of white-nose syndrome, while working with diverse stakeholders to conserve the northern long-eared bat and reduce impacts to landowners.” Comments on the proposal will be accepted through May 23 via regulations.gov or by mail to Public Comments Processing, Attn: FWS–R3–ES– 2021–0140, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB/3W, 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041–3803. The April 7 meeting will include an information session 6-7:30 p.m. and a public hearing 7:30-8:30 p.m. Register at bit.ly/3jkwgdm.

March 30-April 5, 2022

Grow ornamental trees at home

outdoors

PLAN, CONTINUED FROM 30 action is needed at the landscape scale, above and beyond localized habitat improvement efforts, to halt the decline in ruffed grouse and other forest wildlife in Western North Carolina before it is too late,” the document reads. “The best available science suggests that maintaining 814% early successional habitat across the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests would optimize for bird diversity.”

The sky explodes with color from a viewpoint on the Pisgah Ranger District. USFS photo

Smoky Mountain News

March 30-April 5, 2022

Both the RGS&AWS and N.C. Backcountry Hunters and Anglers are Partnership members, but because they joined after the group sent in its comments on the draft plan last summer, they abstained from signing the Partnership objection to avoid jeopardizing the Partnership’s standing. However, the groups’ objections are not at odds with each other — Evergreen Packaging, a Partnership member, signed on to both. The RGS&AWS’ 12-page objection focuses on issues that the groups believe could jeopardize goals for young forest creation. The Partnership objection also voices concern that the plan will not provide enough open forest habitat. First on the list is the Forest Service’s definition of a young forest patch as anything half an acre or larger in size. However, RGS&AWS writes, the Forest Service’s Resources Planning Act Assessment puts the minimum size at 1 acre, creating an inconsistency that will lead to overpredicting the amount of functional young forest any given action will create. That could have disastrous consequences for game species. “The plan will likely perpetuate current declines with given assumptions,” the objection reads. The group also takes issue with how the Forest Service factored historic human-caused disturbance into its assumptions. The model used to determine the natural range of variation of the forest — and, by extension, the condition that the Forest Service aims its management to return it to — does not consider Native American land management 34 impacts, such as burning and agriculture,

RGS&AWS writes. “Also, the NRV model did not consider non-human natural disturbances caused by keystone wildlife species that are now extinct or extirpated, including eastern bison, elk and passenger pigeons,” the objection reads. “Therefore, the NRV model likely underestimates the amount of historic young and open forest and inflates the role of current natural disturbances in providing desired conditions. It discounts the role of people in maintaining desired forest structural conditions.” While the model fails to consider human impacts in that context, it includes humancaused wildfire as a contributing factor in new young forest creation. As the RGS&AWS sees it, it is “inappropriate” to include human-caused disturbance in one model but not in another. “Also, assuming that recent humaninduced wildfire will continue into the future is not accurate because it assumes a continuity of social behavior without considering other social variables,” the objection reads.

FINAL STEPS The Forest Service has a deadline of April 1 to determine which objectors have standing to file. Those granted standing will be invited to participate in talks this spring and summer to iron out the issues raised and guide the Forest Service to the final version of its final plan. To have standing, an objector must have submitted comments during an earlier comment period concerning the same issue as the current objection. However, anybody objecting to information in the final plan that was not included in draft versions is exempt from that requirement. Anyone who submitted formal comments but doesn’t qualify for standing as an objector can file a request for recognition as an “interested person,” a designation that allows for participation in the objection resolution meetings. While the meetings will be open to the public, only objectors and interested persons will be allowed to participate in the dialogue. The objection resolution process will take at least 90 days, though there’s opportunity to extend it if more time is needed. The Forest Service expects to be operating under the new plan by the middle of the year — and to keep it in place for the next 15-20 years.

Disc golf course open in Cherokee

The 18-hole golf course winds along Raven Fork in Cherokee. EBCI photo

The Fire Mountain Disc Golf Sanctuary in Cherokee is now open for play. Built by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the 18-hole championshipcaliber course winds through a 20-acre parcel that abuts the Great Smoky Mountains National Park just past Cherokee Central Schools on Big Cove Road. A small parking lot sits just across from the entrance, with additional capacity being added soon. In the meantime, disc golfers are asked to refrain from parking across the bridge in the stickball area should the existing parking lot fill up An official grand opening celebration is planned for later this spring. Disc Golf Design Group designed and built the course.

Staffing shortage forces water park closure Lifeguard shortages are once more plaguing the Waynesville Recreation Center, forcing it to close the water park as of April 8 due to lack of staffing. The lap pool will remain open 7 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday. However, many school groups use the lap pool between 11 a.m.-3 p.m. this time of year, so swimmers should call ahead to check availability. Lifeguards must be at least 16 years old and certified able to become lifeguard-certified. The American Red Cross lifeguard tests requires 300 yards of continuous swimming, treading water for two minutes using legs only, and a timed deep brick dive in one minute and four seconds. For more information, contact Luke Kinsland at lkinsland@waynesvillenc.gov or call the rec center at 828.456.2030.

Prepare for backcountry emergencies Landmark Learning is now enrolling for a variety of wilderness medicine certification courses planned for the spring months. ■ The Wilderness First Responder certification is designed to provide the tools to make critical medical and evacuation decisions in remote location. The course will be held in Cullowhee April 9-17, May 7-15, May 21-29 and June 2-12. ■ The Wilderness First Responder recertification course is a review and practice of evacuation and decision-making guidelines. It will be held in Cullowhee June 1-3. ■ The Wilderness First Aid course is a fastpaced, hands-on training designed to meet the needs of people working in remote locations. It will be held in Cullowhee April 2324, May 7-8 and June 16-17, in Arden May 17-18 and in Asheville May 28-29. ■ The Wilderness Lifeguard course is geared toward wilderness trip leaders with a focus on prevention in backcountry swimming environments. It will be held in Cullowhee May 26-27.

■ The Level 4 Swiftwater Rescue course teaches recreational paddlers and whitewater trip leaders the skills they need to prevent and respond to river injuries and accidents. It will be held in Cullowhee May 2122. ■ The Leave No Trace Master Educator course combines classroom, field and community outreach to prepare students to deliver two-day Leave No Trace Trainer courses. It will be held in Cullowhee June 20-24. ■ The Wilderness Upgrade for Medical Professionals course uses case studies and practical scenarios to teach medical professionals how to improvise equipment, deal with challenging environments and confidently make difficult medical decisions in remote environments. It will be held in Cullowhee June 27-July 1. Costs vary. Scholarships are available through The Landmark Foundation. Learn more or sign up at landmarklearning.org.

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. Alma Russ will play music at the market April 2, Balsam Hot Club will play music at the market April 9, David Cheatham will play music at the market April 16.

n All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted. n To have your item listed email to calendar@smokymountainnews.com Thursday of each month during spring, summer and fall. For more information or driving directions call the library at 828.488.3030. • Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host “Jam at the Gem” featuring regional/national bluegrass stars April 2. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.246.0350 or boojumbrewing.com. • Elevated Mountain Distilling Company (Maggie Valley) will host an Open Mic Night 7-9 p.m. on Wednesdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.734.1084 or elevatedmountain.com.

• The Jackson Arts Market, in partnership with Western Carolina University, will host ‘Science at the Jackson Arts Market’ on April 3 and 10. This free, family-friendly event will teach about the science of local crafts people including glassblowing, gemstones, pottery making, blacksmithing, herb foraging and more. The events are free and open to all.

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host Alma Russ (Americana/folk) April 7. All events begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.

FUNDRAISERS AND BENEFITS

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host The Waymores (Americana/folk) April 1. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Wheels Through Time Museum will be holding a tribute event from noon-4 p.m. April 2, at the Wheels Through Time Museum, celebrating the life of museum founder Dale Walksler. Pastor and museum staff member Kris Estep will speak at 2 p.m., followed by comments and stories from some of Dale’s closest family and friends. For more information, visit www.wheelsthroughtime.com/dales-celebration-of-life/

VOLUNTEERS & VENDORS • Volunteers are wanted for Kids in the Creek, an annual environmental education program that’s been teaching eighth-grade students in Haywood County about watershed ecology since 1999. Kids in the Creek will take place 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. April 19-21 and 8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. April 22, rain or shine, at the Canton Recreation Park. RSVP to Christine O’Brien by April 15 at 828.475.4667, ext. 11, or Christine.haywoodwaterways@gmail.com.

• Macon County Public Library (Franklin) will host The Vagabonds (Americana/old-time) 2 p.m. April 4. Free and open to the public. fontanalib.org. • The Scotsman (Waynesville) will host The Razbillys (Americana/indie) at 9 p.m. April 1. Free and open to the public. 828.246.6292 or scotsmanpublic.com. • Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Larry Joe Lampert (singer-songwriter) March 31, Jon Cox Band (Americana) April 1 and Mountain Gypsy (Americana) April 2. All shows begin at 8 p.m. Free and open to the public. 828.538.2488. • Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host Desert Honey (Americana/roots) 9 p.m. April 9. 828.456.4750 or facebook.com/waternhole.bar.

FOOD AND DRINK 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.

A&E

• Mountain Makers Craft Market will be held from noon-4 p.m. the first Sunday of each month at 308 North Haywood St. in downtown Waynesville. Over two dozen artisans selling handmade and vintage goods. Special events will be held when scheduled. mountainmakersmarket.com. • Community Music Jams will return at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 7, on the library front patio, weather permitting, or in the library auditorium. Community Music Jams are offered to the public the first and third

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host a “Thru-Hiker Chow Down” from noon-3 p.m. Saturday, April 2. The Nantahala Hiking Club and Lazy Hiker welcome all thruhikers for free food, games and craft beer. Come mingle with your fellow hikers and enjoy “Trail Days.” 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com. • “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. • Bryson City Wine Market offers trips around the world with four different wines from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. every Friday, and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. every Saturday. New wines arrive weekly. • “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held from 10:30 a.m.-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.

Smoky Mountain News

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

ON STAGE & IN CONCERT • The Broadway musical favorite Newsies is coming to the HART Main Stage April 1. Newsies has performances at 7:30 p.m. April 1, 2, 8 and 9, 2 p.m. and April 3 and 10. Tickets are available now by visiting harttheatre.org or by calling HART’s Box Office at (828) 456-6322. • “Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka” will hit the stage at 7 p.m April 1-2 and 2:30 p.m. April 3 at the Swain Arts Center in Bryson City. The production will feature the Swain County High School Vocal Ensemble, SMS 8th Grade Performing Arts Class and several elementary students. Tickets are $10 adult, $5 students. The box office opens one hour before showtime. For more information, go to swainartscenter.com and click on the “Upcoming” tab.

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS • The monthly Creating Community Workshop is at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 2, in the Atrium of the Jackson County Public Library. Participants will learn the basics of felting by creating shapes out of a narrow bundle of wool called “roving”. The class is limited to 10 participants. To register call the library at 828.586.2016. • Dogwood Crafters will host a workshop on nontraditional approach to quilting called the “Stack ‘n Whack” method will be taught in two sessions from 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Thursdays, April 7 and April 14. Joyce Lantz will lead participants in stacking and cutting their fabric at the first meeting and putting it all together at the second. The cost is $20. To attend, call Dogwood Crafters at 828.586.2248. • The Marianna Black Library in Bryson City will begin hosting a free six-week workshop on American Sign Language. This workshop will begin at 3 p.m. Thursday, April 7 through Thursday, May 12, in the library’s auditorium. All classes are free and open to all ages.

ART SHOWINGS AND GALLERIES • “Thursday Painters” group will be held from 10 a.m.3 p.m. on Thursdays at The Uptown Gallery in Franklin. Free and open to the public. All skill levels and mediums are welcome. Participants are responsible for their own project and a bag lunch. 828.349.4607 or pm14034@yahoo.com. • Photography by Wendy Kates “From Rural to Urban: A Photographic Exploration,” will be on display in the Macon County Public Library Meeting room April 2-30. A reception will be held from 1-3 p.m. Saturday, April 9.

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

• Learn how to get involved with Outdoor Mission Community during a gathering at 5 p.m. Friday, April 1, at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. This “Eat and Meet” event offers a chance to learn more about OMC and its partners, and to find out where you fit in to volunteer.

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 • The Gateway to the Smokies Half Marathon and Mighty Four Miler will return to Waynesville this year, stepping off Saturday, April 2. Register at gloryhoundevents.com. • Three Eagles Outfitters will host the 28th anniversary Hiker Fest Friday and Saturday, April 1-2. • The Highlands Nature Center will open for spring hours beginning Friday, April 1. The station is open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Admission is free thanks to the Highlands Biological Foundation, Western Carolina University, and the state of North Carolina. Visit highlandsbiological.org to plan a visit and to see the Nature Center’s upcoming programs and events. • Gateway to the Smokies Half Marathon and Mighty Four Miler to benefit the Riley Howell Foundation Fund will take place at 8 a.m. Saturday, April 2. • Nantahala Hiking Club will hold its annual Thru Hiker Chow Down noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 2, at Lazy Hiker Brewing Company. NHC volunteers will serve hikers a chili dog lunch, with the public welcome to come and hang out with the hikers. • Get trained to monitor water quality in your local stream during a workshop offered 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, April 2, along the Buncombe-Madison county line. RSVP at bit.ly/SMIEWorkshop. Contact Kaila with questions at eqilabstaff@gmail.com. • Help clean up Courthouse Falls Saturday, April 2, starting at 9 a.m. from the Cullowhee Recreation Center. Free, with gloves and trash bags provided. Participants ages 12-17 should come with a parent. For more information, contact trevorbrown@jacksonnc.org or 828.293.3053, ext. 9. • An organizational meeting for a senior softball league forming in Waynesville will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, April 4, at Vance Street Park softball field. The league is open to men 60 and older and to women 50 and older. Practices will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at Vance Street Park. For more information, contact Donald Hummel at 828.456.2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov. • The fourth annual Outdoor Economy Conference will be held April 4-7 at Harrah’s Cherokee Conference Center in Cherokee, four days packed full of panels, keynote addresses, excursions and networking opportunities spanning the gamut of interests related to the outdoors. Tickets are limited but still available. Register at outdooreconomy.org. • The Tuckasegee Chapter of Trout Unlimited will host a roadside trash pick-up from 3-5 p.m. Thursday, April 7, on South River Road and Old Settlement Roads in Webster. The group will meet at the Webster Baptist Church lot. Bags and gloves will be provided. Find the event at www.facebook.com/tuckaseigeechapter373 • Learn to grow woody ornamentals with a two-hour online seminar at 1 p.m. Thursday, April 7. Taught by Haywood Extension Horticulture Agent Sam Marshall, the class will cover plant selection, buying, planting, mulching, fertilizing and watering, as well as a sampling of trees for Western North Carolina. Sign up by April 2 at bit.ly/3qxeXfU. Cost is $10.

Market WNC PLACE

MarketPlace information:

The Smoky Mountain News Marketplace has a distribution of 16,000 copies across 500 locations in Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties, including the Qualla Boundary and west Buncombe County. Visit www.wncmarketplace.com to place your ad!

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Auction

AUCTION Large Cons t r u c t i o n -Tr u c k- Fa r m Tractors Auction Thursday, March 31st 8AM Lumberton, NC see. Meekinsauction.com

Business Opportunities BECOME A PUBLISHED AUTHOR! Publications sold at all major secular & specialty Christian bookstores. CALL Christian Faith Publishing for your FREE author submission kit. 1-855-658-2057

Employment THE JONATHAN CREEK INN is hiring for seasonal and year round positions. Grounds/light maintenance, full or part time, able to do basic handyman and landscaping work. Must take pride in your work. Housekeepers also. 25-30 hrs per week. Weekends required. Apply in person at Jonathan Creek Inn at 4324 Soco Road, Maggie Valley NC 28751.

www.smokymountainnews.com

POOL & SPA TECHNICIAN TRAINEE Mountain Spring Spas & Pools in Franklin, NC is looking for pool and spa maintenance technicians. Experience is a plus, but

Servers · Bussers · Cooks · Dishwashers

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

BOOTS STEAKHOUSE IN DILLSBORO Boots Steakhouse in Dillsboro is now hiring Servers, Bussers, Cooks and Dishwashers. Our employees earn top wages and we are ranked the #1 Steakhouse by Trip Advisor in the Carolina Mountains. Please apply to: bootssteakhouse@gmail.com to schedule an in person interview. You can also call 828-631-9713 and view our website: www. bootssteakhouse.com

DILLSBORO, NC

Our employees earn top wages and we are ranked the #1 Steakhouse by Trip Advisor in the Carolina Mountains.

Apply at bootssteakhouse@gmail.com to schedule an in person interview or call 828-631-9713 www.bootssteakhouse.com March 30-April 5, 2022

not required; we offer hands-on training in the ¿HOG &DOO XV DW 2871, send your resume via email to mtnspringspas@yahoo.com, or stop by our retail store located at 611 Highlands Road, Franklin, NC 28734 next to Vito’s Pizza. We look forward to meeting you! H[W mtnspringspas@yahoo. com IN HOME AIDE We can work around your schedule starting at $12.00 per hour to provide in home aide services based on the consumer needs through the Home and Community Block Grant. You can make a difference in someone’s life age 60 and older in Jack-

VRQ &RXQW\ %HQH¿WV for full time PTO, dental, life and health insurance. Part time positions available. Please apply at 525 Mineral Springs Drive, Sylva NC or call Home Care Partners at 828-586-1570 for more information.

POSITION AVAILABLE Are you someone with a disability who has overcome obstacles relating to a personal disability and will use that strength to help others with disabilities set and reach goals to live more independently. If so, DisAbility Partners has a full-time position available for you. Work experience and education will EH FRQVLGHUHG %HQH¿WV

Nantahala Outdoor Center is seeking a Housekeeping Manager that will effectively and efﬁciently manage a small team to ensure the cleanliness of the cabins, rooms, and bathrooms while upholding the departments policies and procedures and deliver exceptional customer service. This is a Full-Time position reporting to the Lodging Manager. NOC is looking for candidates that can work a ﬂexible schedule including mornings, weekends, and holidays. Applicants can expect to work between 3545 hours per week.

Please go to noccareers.com to apply

WNC MarketPlace

vacation, sick, holidays and dental, life and health insurance. Mon-Fri 40 hours per week. You can make a difference. Applications available at DisAbility Partners, 525 Mineral Springs Drive, Sylva or on our website; disabilitypartners.org. Call Barbara Davis for more information 828226-8263. REGISTERED NURSE If you are a Registered Nurse licensed in the State of North Carolina and want less stress than the typical medical, hospital structure requires we need your nursing skills to supervise the daily operations of home care services provided through Home Care Partners. This position supervises the aides, scheduling, training and day to day activities to assure our clients can remain independent in their home environment. No medical services administered. Mon-Fri 40 KRXUV SHU ZHHN %HQH¿WV include vacation, sick, holidays and dental, life, health insurance. Please call Julie Van Hook at 828-507-6065 for more information. You can apply at Disability Partners, 525 Mineral Springs Drive, Sylva, NC 28779. WANTED CARPENTRY HELP PART TIME Needed: Carpenter with experience in helping with building house in the Bethel area. Must have your own insurance. Text Roland @828-5056879. (828) 505-6879 tgauts56@gmail.com HOUSEKEEPING DEPARTMENT MANAGER #003661 The Department of Residential Living at Western Carolina University is accepting applications for the position of Housekeeping Dept. Manager on the Cullowhee campus. This position involves the planning, scheduling and management of the residential housekeeping program at WCU. This position requires excellent decision-making skills, the ability to manage staff, and a knowledge of what it

takes to maintain a high standard of cleanliness. This position will plan work assignments, establish rules and guidelines, and will resolve disciplinary concerns. The ideal candidate will be very organized, will have excellent communication skills, and will excel at team building and staff administration. Join our team! Apply online at https://jobs.wcu.edu/ postings/18830 Western Carolina University is an Equal Opportunity/AcFHVV $I¿UPDWLYH $FWLRQ Pro Disabled & Veteran Employer. PATHWAYS FOR THE FUTURE, INC. dba Disability Partners is seeking a dynamic, forward thinking person for the position of Executive Director. Disability Partners is a local Center for Independent Living serving 14 Counties in Western North Carolina, ZLWK RI¿FHV LQ 6\OYD DQG Asheville, North Carolina. People with disabilities are served through the Center for Independent Living, Homecare Partners and Person First Services, a provider of the Innovations Waiver through Vaya. The Executive Director Job Description and application can be found at https:// www.disabilitypartners. org/employment-opportunities. All applicants must submit by email: Cover Letter, current Resume and a complete application to: ssacco@disabilitypartners.org. The deadline to apply for the position is April 29, 2022 at 5:00pm. Documents submitted after the deadline will not be accepted. Persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply for the position. CONSTRUCTION ASSISTANT PT – Haywood and Jackson Co. - Smoky Mountain Housing 3DUWQHUVKLS 60+3 LV the affordable housing division of Mountain Projects, Inc. SMHP is seeking a Part-Time Construction Assistant to work in the SelfHelp Housing Program. This position will work under the direction

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Billie Green - bgreen@beverly-hanks.com Brian K. Noland - brianknoland.com Anne Page - apage@beverly-hanks.com Jerry Powell - jpowell@beverly-hanks.com Catherine Proben - cproben@beverly-hanks.com Ellen Sither - esither@beverly-hanks.com Mike Stamey - mikestamey@beverly-hanks.com Karen Hollingsed- khollingsed@beverly-hanks.com Billy Case- billycase@beverly-hanks.com Laura Thomas - lthomas@beverly-hanks.com John Keith - jkeith@beverly-hanks.com Randall Rogers - rrogers@beverly-hanks.com Susan Hooper - shooper@beverly-hanks.com Hunter Wyman - hwyman@beverly-hanks.com

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ERA Sunburst Realty - sunburstrealty.com

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Amy Spivey - amyspivey.com Rick Border - sunburstrealty.com Steve Mauldin - smauldin@sunburstrealty.com Randy Flanigan - 706-207-9436

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ANSWERS ON PAGE 32

of the Construction Supervisor to assist in overseeing families in the construction of their own homes. Previous experience or knowledge of construction, weatherization, carpentry, or building codes is a plus. This position will work on construction sites in both Haywood and Jackson Counties. Some nontraditional hours will be necessary. If you’re interested in this position, please visit www. mountainprojects.org to apply now. This position offers competitive pay, JHQHURXV EHQH¿WV DQG D great work environment. Mountain Projects is an Equal Opportunity Employer. EOE/AA SELF HELP GROUP COORDINATOR/ RECRUITER – Haywood and Jackson Co. - Smoky Mountain Housing 3DUWQHUVKLS 60+3 LV the affordable housing division of Mountain Projects, Inc. SMHP is seeking a full-time Self Help Group Coordinator/ Recruiter to work in the Self Help Housing Program. This position

will work under the direction of the Affordable Housing Manager to recruit income eligible families who are interested in the self help method of constructing each other’s homes and assisting them in obtaining housing loans from Rural Development. The ideal candidate will be organized, energetic, engaged, and motivated to work with families from diverse backgrounds as they secure the American Dream of homeownership. Some nontraditional hours will be necessary. If you’re interested in this position, please visit www. mountainprojects.org to apply now. This position offers competitive pay, JHQHURXV EHQH¿WV DQG D great work environment. Mountain Projects is an Equal Opportunity Employer. EOE/AA GROUP HOME STAFF NEEDED: Full time BenH¿WHG SRVLWLRQ DYDLODEOH in Waynesville. Paraprofessional will participate in the care of residents by providing guidance, supervision, medication and prompting as

needed. High School diploma, driver’s license, documentation required. Interested person my contact 828-778-0260 for more information. WCU NOW HIRING HOUSEKEEPERS $15.00/Hour plus EHQH¿WV )XOO 7LPH 3HUmanent. Also, Part time and Temp Available. Please visit https:// jobs.wcu.edu or Call 828-227-7218 An Equal Opportunity/Access/ $I¿UPDWLYH $FWLRQ 3UR Disabled & Veteran Employer.

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March 30-April 5, 2022

WNC MarketPlace

Mission, Program Information and Tuition is located at CareerTechnical.edu/ consumer-information. LICENSED P&C INSURANCE AGENT Local insurance agency is looking for an individual who is motivated, energetic, and has a bright personality. Must be goal oriented with a knack for customer service, as well as a team player! Complete training in insurance will be provided. CompetLWLYH SD\ DQG EHQH¿WV offered. Full or part time. License preferred. 2OJDGeorgi2@allstate.com

Legal Notices NOTICE TO CREDITORS The undersigned having TXDOL¿HG DV ([HFXWRU of the Estate of GEORGE ROBERT ORR, deceased, late of Haywood County, North Carolina, this is to notify DOO SHUVRQV ¿UPV DQG corporations having claims against the estate to present such claims to the undersigned at 247 Charlotte Street, Suite 205, Asheville, North Carolina on or before the 16th day of June, 2022, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of their recovery. All persons indebted to the estate will please make immediate payment. This the 16th day of March, 2022 ROBIN MADELLE OWENS fka ROBIN ORR

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Pets LOGAN FROM SARGE’S ANIMAL RESCUE Logan is around 9 months old & just over 30 lbs and looks to be a Belgian Malinois mix. Even with 3 legs, he’s D ¿UHFUDFNHU ORDGHG with smarts and energy. Logan wants a home with a fenced yard where he can play fetch with his person. He still has some of the naughty puppy traits such as being generous with his mouth.

Logan does well with other dogs, but would be best suited for a home without cats or small kiddos. Logan’s adoption fee is $125. If you’d like to be considered, please submit a dog adoption application at www.sargHV RUJ info@sarges.org MILLIE FROM SARGE’S ANIMAL RESCUE Millie is a sweet and curious little black kitten who is about 4 months old. You can meet Millie at Petsmart in Waynesville. Her adoption fee is $50. Please complete the cat adoption application found at www.sarges.org LQIR# sarges.org APOLLO FROM SARGE’S ANIMAL RESCUE Apollo is a handsome and friendly Australian Shepherd mix who weighs 37 pounds and is just under 2 years old. Apollo has by all accounts appeared to be an incredibly smart, attentive, and well rounded boy. He’s excellent on leash walks, doesn’t make a whole lot of noise in his kennel, and loves to be with people. Apollo has a good amount of energy and would be a wonderful hiking and adventure companion for an active family/individual. He has lived with other dogs, cats, and young children with no reported FRQÀLFW $SROOR¶V DGRStion fee is $125. Please complete a dog adoption application at www.sarges.org to be considered. LQIR# sarges.org

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Smoky Mountain News March 30-April 5, 2022

Smoky Mountain News | March 30, 2022

Articles inside

Objections level strong criticism against forest plan

From Soviet Russia to the American rural South

Sylva man pleads guilty in Jan. 6 riots

Raise a glass to St. Peter’s

Finding light in the darkness: A conversation with Jane Ferguson

Jackson County Snack Master Competition

More than 1,000 acres burning in mountain region

Public restrooms likely coming to Spring Street

Maggie Valley one step close to UDO

Developers discuss potential Sossamon Airfield plans