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Bill could change alcohol permitting in Cherokee Page 5

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April 22-28, 2015 Vol. 16 Iss. 47

Haywood farmers want less regulation Page 4

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CONTENTS

STAFF

On the Cover: Former employees reflect on the impact Carolina Wood Turning Company, a furniture manufacturer in Bryson City, had on the community and how the economy of Swain County changed once the plant shut its doors in 1978. (Page 6) Donated photo

News Haywood farmers want less regulation..................................................................4 Legislation could change alcohol permitting in Cherokee ..............................5 Carolina Wood Turning through the years ..........................................................6 Jackson mulls future of vacant Whittier factory ..................................................9 Habitat for Humanity to build a village ..............................................................13 New apartment complex in the works for Sylva ..............................................14 Man killed during Bethel burglary ........................................................................15 Visiting students at Franklin High share cultures ............................................16 HCC enrollment takes a hit as economy improves ........................................18

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Porch-n-soul act enters next chapter ..................................................................26

Outdoors Successful athletic events bolster tourism ......................................................38

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Haywood farmers to lawmakers: enough with the regulations BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER aywood County farmers caught some face time with elected leaders this week over heaping plates of bacon, eggs, grits, biscuits and hash browns to talk candidly about the issues facing today’s farmers — and the unrelenting rain over the past week wasn’t one of them. Instead, ever-stricter environmental regulations, tougher labor standards, tighter immigration policies, loss of tax write-offs, pesky animal rights groups and arduous food safety rules are what’s putting the squeeze on WNC’s small farmers. “There’s enough restrictions out there to break you,” said Don Smart, president of the Haywood County Farm Bureau and a fulltime farmer. “It is getting a little scary.” Society should be supporting farmers, not making their profession more arduous — especially considering the average age of American farmers is 60. “Every day, three times a day, you need the American farmer,” said Wendy Carver, the manager of Haywood County Farm Bureau. “Who is going to feed you people as these farmers age out?” Farm Bureau hosted the breakfast to brief lawmakers on how the lofty policies trickling down from Raleigh and Washington are hurting farmers. Smart said some farmers have quit rather than deal with the regulations. “We did have nine dairies in this county and now we’re down to eight,” Smart said. “And we lost one of our best vegetable producers in the county.” Smart said Haywood County’s dairy industry appears to be under attack from outside groups, citing one dairy farm that went out last year following allegations of animal mistreatment and neglect. Amid public relations fallout from animal cruelty allegations by PETA — the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — the dairy sold off its cows and shut down. Smart also criticized federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules for migrant labor camps as over-reaching — like nitpicky requirements that silverware be returned to cabinet drawers when not in use or that trashcans must have their lids on at all times. Farmers are used to setbacks. Smart’s even had tomatoes picked from his fields by thieves in the dark of night, making off with his picking buckets to boot, although thankfully it was just a couple bushels’ worth.

ries. But some nuisances are far more serious. “When I am able to share real stories of The elk herd expanding out of the Great ‘Well, let me tell you what happened to Smoky Mountains National Park is ravaging Ralph,’ then they start to see the connection the nearby dairy farm of Ralph and Barbara Ross, threatening their livelihood and way of and impact it has for real people,” Meadows said. life. One of farmers’ top concerns is the pro“We had 20 elk on our farm at one time posed expansion of the Clean Water Act that last week,” Barbara said. would bring the tiniest of streams and ponds Luckily, farmers have inborn tenacity, — every ditch and mud hole, according to said Carver. “They just keep on keeping on,” Carver said. But without younger farmers coming along, the problems shouldered by farmers today could be everyone’s problem in the future. “In another 30 years, they’re going to be wondering how we are going to feed everybody,” said Tommy Cabe, a Haywood farmer. U.S. Congressman Mark Meadows, RCashiers, vowed to do his part to fight for interests of mountain farmers in D.C. But Meadows needs backing, all the way down the food chain to the local elected leaders to help make the case. “He’s got a difficult job trying to convince urban congressmen that farmers Congressman Mark Meadows told farmers at a breakfast at the Maggie Valley Inn Monday that he would stand up have problems,” for them in the nation’s capital. Becky Johnson photo Smart said. Smart called on tion status of workers. A proposal is on the Smart — under the jurisdiction of federal the county commissioners and town aldertable that would lower it to five but specifiwater quality rules. men to add their voices to the choir to Meadows called the rule “crazy” and said cally exempt farmers. ensure the message is heard. But other proposals championed by the he’s been lobbying against it. Meadows said he has pushed back state’s Republican lawmakers are backed by Farmers also decried proposed crop hanagainst regulations that are bad for farmers farmers, like a corporate espionage bill that — from lobbying federal agencies directly to dling rules aimed at decreasing the risk of would give employers the ability to sue contamination of fresh produce. It would speaking at rule making hearings to implorworkers for trespassing if they seek employsaddle small farmers with a debilitating ing other congressmen to join him in the ment under false pretenses. amount of red tape and documentation — cause. Meadows was lauded several times The bill would apply to anyone who prestoo much to justify given the small size of during Monday’s breakfast for not only ents themselves as a legitimate job candidate their operations, the farmers said. being accessible and receptive but actually when they actually have an ulterior motive “I don’t know of a person in this room going to bat in D.C. for issues important to who’s against clean water. All of us want safe of acting as a double-agent once landing the the region. job. It doesn’t apply to whistleblowers, but food,” Meadows said. But these rules would Meadows in turn thanked the Farm instead is aimed at intentional sabotage. go too far, he said. Bureau for arming him with data and sto“The bill hinges on what is the intent of Another issue at the federal level is the the employee when they come to work there. immigration crackdown, and farmers won“There’s enough restrictions out there to break you. If you engage in an act that goes beyond the der whether exemptions would be made for scope of permission granted to be on that the migrant farm labor pool. It is getting a little scary.” property, the owner can bring a trespass On the state level, a rundown of the bills charge,” Parker said. — Don Smart, president of the Haywood County Farm Bureau and farmer important to farmers was offered up by Jake

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April 22-28, 2015

Parker, the lobbyist for Farm Bureau in the state legislature. The Farm Bureau bobs and weaves between political parties when it comes to proposals it likes or dislikes. Some Republican-backed policies at the state level haven’t gone over so well with farmers, including: ■ The loss of tax write-offs on farm supplies, like feed and fertilizer, for small farmers making under $10,000. A bill this year would lower the threshold, reinstating the tax write-offs for farmers making over $5,000. ■ A proposal to lift the ban on Sunday hunting on private land with rifles and shotguns. ■ A requirement that employers with more than 25 employees verify the legal immigra-

Bill would give tribal ABC powers equal with state’s, allow some exemptions to alcohol ban

ly, just the casino. But there are some exceptions to that requirement. In 2011, the Cherokee Tribal Council voted to adopt as tribal law a piece of North Carolina legislation known as 18B603. That law, among other things, includes a list of alcohol permits that are not dependent on elections. In other words, the ABC Commission could grant these permits without requiring a referendum vote. That law has been on the books in Cherokee’s code of ordinances for the past four years, but due to the construction of the state law, Cherokee could not issue the types of permits listed.

QUESTION: Why is there sugar in my milk? ANSWER: When you see grams of sugar listed on the nutrition

The only place on the reservation where alcohol is available is Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort.

Some individuals have lactose intolerance caused by a deﬁciency in the small intestine of the enzyme known as lactase. Your doctor can prescribe a test for lactose intolerance. Lactose intolerance occurs more often in older adults, Native Americans and those of African and Asian descent. You need the enzyme lactase to help break down lactose. When you don't have enough lactase this creates digestive problems like gas, bloating and diarrhea when milk and some dairy products are consumed. If you have lactose intolerance: 1. Try a lactose free or lactose reduced milk (e.g. Fairlife or Lactaid). 2. Try tablets that contain the enzyme lactase which will help you digest the lactose. 3. Try eating dairy or drinking milk in smaller quantities with a meal instead of by itself. 4. Switch to non-dairy beverages and products. 5. Try dairy with live cultures like yogurt and keﬁr. 6. Use aged cheeses like chedder rather than soft unaged cheeses like mozzarella. Source: Mayo Clinic and WebMD

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The list of alcohol permits exempt from referendum include permits for special occasions such as festivals, brown bagging permits for clubs and veterans organizations and permits for tourism resorts and ABC establishments — as specified in the bill, this last one refers to restaurants and hotels on Cherokee land within 1.5 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway between mileposts 460 and 469. It also includes permits for breweries, wineries and distilleries, though such establishments would not be allowed to serve, on the reservation, any of the alcohol they produced without a permit granted through a referendum vote. “For example, if someone was having the Harley rally, then on the grounds where the Harley rally was, we would be able to issue them a one-time permit for that facility,” Coggins explained. “If somebody comes along and they want to build a brewery on the boundary, it gives them [the ABC board] the ability to issue a permit.” If passed, the bill would certainly alter the landscape of alcohol availability on the reservation. But according to Coggins, it’s mostly just a way to clarify whose job is whose and to ensure that the tribe is granted the rights due it as a sovereign nation. “We’re just asking to be able to be treated equal as the state is treated, because those items were left out of our original bill,” she said.

facts panel of plain (unsweetened/unﬂavored) cow’s milk it’s lactose or milk sugar. Dairy farmers and milk processors haven’t added any sugar to that milk, it's just the naturally occurring sugar in milk (lactose) that is considered a carbohydrate. April 22-28, 2015

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER reweries could be built and alcohol served at special events in Cherokee, if a House bill currently awaiting hearing in a Senate committee becomes state law. Tribal Alcohol Beverage Control, also known as House Bill 95, is “sort of a technical correction” to the bill he sponsored in 2011, said Sen. Jim Davis, R- Franklin. The newly introduced bill would clarify some points that the act creating the Tribal Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission four years ago left a bit uncertain. That law had created a tribal ABC board, but it hadn’t spelled out that Cherokee’s board would have the same permitting authority as the state’s, Davis said. “They’ll be granted the same authority that the state has because on the Qualla Boundary, that’s a sovereign nation,” Davis explained. Under H95, the Tribal ABC Commission would be allowed to issue all the same kinds of alcohol permits that the N.C. ABC Commission does, but the tribal commission would also have to adhere to state standards regarding alcohol and adopt any future changes to state ABC law. However, some aspects of the bill could come as a surprise to the 60 percent of tribal members who voted to strike down a referendum question asking whether to lift the historical ban on alcohol sales on the Qualla Boundary. The 2012 referendum vote failed decisively, with opponents citing alcohol’s link to issues such as violence and broken families, averring that it would cost far more to treat the problems resulting from increased alcohol abuse than the potential revenue could justify. Currently, the only place on the reservation where alcohol is available is Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort, which obtained an exemption after a referendum vote in 2009, when about 70 percent of voters expressed their support for allowing alcohol sales on the premises. Collette Coggins, chairman of the Tribal ABC Commission, said the new legislation is not at attempt to make an end-run around voters’ clear-cut wishes. “It’s not going to be a free-for-all, issuing licenses all over the reservation,” she said. “We still have to have a referendum.” In Cherokee, a referendum vote is required for any change to the list of places where alcohol sales are allowed — current-

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House bill could make Cherokee a little less dry

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Turning through the years

organized. Sewer lines have been laid in the principal streets of the town and a good band has been organized to give summer concerts. The Bryson City Pump Works, which manufactures columns and liquor logs, is now running day and night in order that it may keep up with its orders, the output being shipped to all portions of the United States.” Another article from 1921 pointed out that Pump Works was unique in the fact that it was the only manufacturer making columns from solid logs. The same article attributed much of the city’s progress to Shank’s company as the products were in high demand all the way to Massachusetts. The business became Carolina Wood Turning Company in 1925 and relocated from 100 yards northeast of the railroad depot to the north bank of the Tuckasegee River, about a mile below town. Shank retired in 1928. He had four daughters, and his grandson I.K. Stearns took over as president of the company. One of Shank’s daughters, Jessie, never married and worked for the company for a number of years.

SURVIVING THE WAR Carolina Wood Turning Company, a furniture manufacturer in Bryson City, operated from 1903 until 1978 under various owners. Donated photo

April 22-28, 2015

Community invited to Carolina Wood Turning Company reunion

Smoky Mountain News

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR he furniture manufacturer remembered as Carolina Wood Turning Company has been closed for more than 30 years, yet the smell of freshly cut wood and the sound of the steam whistle are still fresh in the minds of those who earned a living there. The Bryson City business had many names throughout the years and made a number of different products, but its lifeblood was making furniture from Western North Carolina lumber. The company made wood pump tubing, tanners’ liquor logs and miscellaneous wood trimmings and solid bored colonial porch columns that can still be seen on older homes in Swain County. “It was the mainstay employer for the area at the time, and not just for people working at the plant, but it provided jobs for loggers because a lot of the raw material came from Western North Carolina,” said Don Casada. “It provided indirect support for those families through all my growing up years. It put bread on the table for a lot of families and put their kids through school.” Casada has been researching the company and trying to locate former employees and their families in preparation for a reunion planned for May 9 at the Almond School in Swain County. The company averaged about 200 employees throughout its 6 history, but many of them from the early

During World War II, the company halted furniture production to be part of the war effort. Delia Woodard Watkins, 89, of Bryson City, remembers going to work at the plant in 1944 while her husband was away at war — as were most of the eligible men in Western North Carolina. She was only 19 years old and her firstborn was just a month old when her husband Raymond Watkins went off to war. Watkins would leave the baby with her sister and mother in the evenings while she walked to the plant to work the second shift. There were a handful of other women who

all over the valley,” Don said. years aren’t around anymore. “Even today if I’m working on wood or While Casada has an interest in historical people and places, he also has a personal carpentry, the smell of fresh-cut wood brings back those memories.” interest in the company’s history because his father, Commodore Casada, worked at the plant for about 50 years before retiring ETTING UP SHOP in 1975. “Dad always said he started out there Jeremiah Shank, an Ohio native, relocatwith the greenest hand that ever was,” Don ed to Bryson City and incorporated Bryson Casada said. City Pump Works in 1903. He also owned Just out of high school, Commodore Consolidated Pump Works out of landed his first job at Carolina Wood Turning not because of his working experience, but because of his skills as an athlete. “He got the job because they had a baseball team and they wanted him to play,” Don said. “But he managed to hang on after baseball season was over.” Commodore held a number of jobs during his time with the company, including foreman, plant superintendent, personnel manger and purchasing agent. Jessie Shank was the daughter of Jeremiah Shank, the man who started the company in 1903. She along Even Don spent a summer with other family members worked with the company throughout the years. I.K. Stearns (right), grandson working at the plant while he was of Jeremiah Shank, served as president of Carolina Wood Turning Company for many years. Donated photos in college. His job entailed smoothing the dimples out of the furniture with steel wool when pieces came Millington, Tennessee, and Toledo, Ohio. also went to work there during the war, but into the finishing area. Casada dug up an Asheville CitizenWatkins said there were more women at the “It was the worst job I ever had,” he said Times article from Jan. 27, 1913, that provid- plant years later when Magnavox bought the with a laugh. ed a little insight into the industrial progress business. A few weeks later he was moved to the being made in Bryson City, and Pump “We were making something they were shipping area to box up the furniture. The Works was a big part of that progress: using in the war — something you put gunphysical labor was a welcome change from “Bryson City now owns its electric light powder in,” she said. “It was a little round rubbing down furniture all day. and power plant and is making special thing and there was a big knife that cut them “One of the most memorable things was efforts to land manufacturing industries. — it was like a little round barrel.” the steam whistle. It blew at noon and peoThe water supply is one of the best in the She didn’t consider it hard work, but ple set their clocks by it — you could hear it state and a good fire department has been speed was important as the pieces came

Robert Hurley, 83, of Bryson City, worked at Carolina Wood Turning Company for 28 years. He will be attending the reunion on May 9. Jessi Stone photo

As told by Robert Hurley

Carolina Wood Turning Company experienced two union workers strikes in its history — one in 1947 and the other in 1957. Donated photo

Casada hired him at Carolina — the same place his father had worked. He made $1 an hour in the early years and brought home $38 a week, but somehow it was enough to buy a home and support his family. “There weren’t too many jobs at that time — the economy was pretty good and it didn’t seem that bad,” he said. Reflections like Hurley’s indicate a different time and a different mindset among people in the region. Casada said no one knew they weren’t well off in those days because everyone else was in the same boat. “My parents were far from wealthy, but we lived comfortably growing up in this area. There was very little in a sense of class and very few were well-to-do,” he said. “We got our first TV when I was 13 years old, but I wouldn’t trade growing up in that time period for anything in the world.” Hurley held a number of jobs at the plant and moved up within the company from a machinery operator to a mill room foreman — a position he held for 14 years. In 1966, Carolina Wood Turning merged with Magnovox and expanded their products to

S EE TURNING, PAGE 8

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• Logs brought into the sawmill on trucks. • Logs pulled through the pond to clean. • Logs hooked onto a mule or horse and pulled along to air dry. • Lumber brought into the mill room to be cut for specific furniture orders. • Cut pieces move through the trimming or molding process. • Pieces sanded down and moved into the assembly room. • Final spraying completed in the finishing room. • Furniture packaged and shipped all over the country.

down the line. She made $15 a week in addition to the $100 a month from the Army. It wasn’t a lot, but she said they got by just like everyone else did during that time. Watkins’ brother-in-law also worked at the plant while bringing up 10 children at home. “Back then $100 was worth more than $300 or $400 now, and during that time everything was rationed — shoes, sugar and shortening,” she said. Before and even after the war, Watkins said Carolina Wood Turning was an important industry in the county. Most people she

While the community considered Carolina Wood Turning Company a good place to work, Casada said the wages weren’t great by any means. In his research, he discovered the union workers (International Wood Workers) went on strike at least twice — once in 1947 and again in 1957 — most likely over pay and benefits. Casada’s father Commodore was superintendent during the 1957 strike. “It was a very stressful time for him,” he said. Robert Hurley, 83, of Bryson City, worked at the plant for 28 years. He was just out of the Army in 1958 when Commodore

• 1892 Bryson City Manufacturing Company • 1903 Bryson City Pump Works • 1925 Carolina Wood Turning • 1966 Merger with Magnavox • 1973 Sold by Magnavox to Singer • 1978 Plant closed

April 22-28, 2015

Furniture-making process at Carolina Wood Turning

A DIFFERENT TIME

Bryson City furniture business timeline

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recalls worked there at some point or took their wood there to be cut into lumber, including her father, who was a farmer. Her husband worked there before the war and her brother-in-law was a guard at the plant during the war. Besides a couple of other manufacturers that came and went through the first part of the century, Watkins said the only other jobs were at the grocery store, the dime store, the drug store or a sawmill. That’s why it was so important for families to live off the land. The Woodard family had a 300-acre farm in what is now part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. “We were self-sufficient — we had nine children in my family and we had horses and mules and milking cows and chickens and we had an orchard,” Watkins said. “We really only bought flour and sugar.” Her father died in 1936 when she was 10 years old, and her mother would later hand the 300 acres over to the national park for $6,000. “She fought it a little bit — at first they wanted to give her $4,000,” she said. Watkins said the national park changed the direction of Bryson City forever. “The best part of Swain County is in the park — all the farming land,” she said. “That was the change — hundreds of people lived in there and had to move out, and most moved to another county to work.”

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The furniture manufacturer employed about 200 people at a time while in operation. Inset: the custom wood columns produced by Carolina Wood Turning can still be seen on homes in Swain County. Donated photos

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THE FINAL YEARS Magnavox sold the company to Singer in 1973. Singer would be the final owner before the plant shut its doors in 1978. Hurley was there until the final days. “It was happening gradually,” Hurley said of the closure. “First they shut down the logging mill and the furniture was shipped

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include television and stereo cabinets. As the company grew, more women were hired at the plant for bookkeeping, accounting and production work. Hurley said there were just as many women as men working there in the 1970s. Hurley served as president of the local wood workers union during his time at the plant and said he was lucky not to go through any strikes. “Everyone knew what they wanted and wanted to avoid a strike,” he said. “At the time, unions were a good thing.”

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in to us. Then the molding was also coming in and just needed to be sanded.” With less work to be done, workers waned as needed. The gradual shift mirrored the greater shift in Bryson City. Hurley said the town was gradually moving to a tourism industry with the popularity of the national park. Cherokee was also picking up steam as a tourism destination, and the train began offering excursions in the late 80s. Hurley said it was a hard thing to see the company close. Many of the younger workers moved out of the county to find better

Remembering the world of Carolina Wood Turning • History presentation and potluck dinner open to the community • 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 9 • Almond School, 60 Almond School Road, Bryson City • Arranged by Dee Decker and the Swain County Extension Office • Bring stories, photos and mementoes to share • RSVP to 828.488.3848. jobs, while workers with families searched for other work in the area. Hurley found work at the Gichner plant, a prefabricated metals manufacturer located where ConMet is now. When that plant closed, he worked as a jailer for several years before retiring. Casada said ConMet, which produces components for commercial vehicles, was one of the few manufacturers holding on in Swain County. ConMet is No. 4 on the list of the largest employers in Swain County. Local government, Nantahala Outdoor Center, the National Park Service, Great Smoky Mountain Railroad and other tourism businesses make up a majority of the other jobs. “This area — throughout my life — has been heavily tourist-oriented and certainly more so now,” Casada said. “The biggest employer is the county, which is not a desirable thing in terms of economic conditions.” Overall, past employees say it was a good and steady place to work even through all the changes. The company owners were community-minded, and news archives show numerous donations to the schools and civic organizations. Employees made quality products that are still around today, including pieces of furniture and the iconic posts made from local wood.

Is that a knuckleboom outside my window? BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER A new addition will soon be added to the town of Waynesville’s street fleet. A knuckleboom truck with a giant claw will be replacing the team of men who once scooped up yard trimmings by hand, manually feeding big sticks into a chipper and using pitch forks to heave loose piles of clippings into the back of a dump truck. Waynesville residents can expect to see the big knuckleboom trucks cruising residential streets in coming weeks during the twice-monthly yard waste pick-up days. The knuckleboom trucks are a big expense, however. It cost the town $255,000 to buy two of them. But the town will make that money back within a year, and ultimately see a net savings over the long run, according to Public Services Director David Foster. It’s a two-prong plan. The first part calls for cutting the yard waste crew to save on labor costs. With the knuckleboom trucks doing the heavy lifting, the yard waste crew will be scaled back from seven men to two. Those five men taken off the yard waste crew will be put to work on a new street crew to do road repairs and sidewalk work that the town used to contract out. The town historically spent up to $450,000 a year contracting street repair work. Shifting that work in-house will substantially reduce what the town spends on contractors. Foster estimates the town will save $250,000 a year on contractors — enough to cover the cost of the knuckleboom

trucks in the first year’s worth of savings alone. “It only works in tandem,” Foster said of the twopronged plan. “If we fast forward to budget time next year, the operational cost of the street division will see savings for the same level of service.” There are other benefits as well. The town will have more flexibility with its in-house crews and have more oversight on the quality of street repair work, potentially avoiding future repairs or patching jobs from coming back around as soon.

The town historically spent up to $450,000 a year contracting street repair work. Shifting that work in-house will reduce what the town spends on contractors. And there’s another upside. Manually feeding limbs and brush into the chipper truck was dangerous work. “We can remove the injuries and claims we get from that,” Foster said. The seven town workers on the yard waste crew accounted for a majority of the town’s on-the-job injuries and workers comp claims. “It is a very dangerous job, feeding that stuff,” said Alderman Gary Caldwell. While the town has escaped any major injuries like lost hands or arms, more minor mishaps were common, like forearm gashes from sharp limbs. “You twist your back putting a load in the truck and that employee is out for six weeks healing up,” Foster said.

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Putting Waynesville’s streets back together following water and sewer line repairs like this one on Shelton Street will soon be performed by in-house crews, realizing savings that will be put toward claw trucks. Becky Johnson photo

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Nibbling at the elephant Plan to flip abandoned factory into community center inches forward BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER he old Drexel furniture factory in Whittier isn’t producing much these days, unless you count bird nests and ivy vines as products. Tall grasses wave across the 21-acre property, obscuring the wood pallets strewn across the yard and reaching into a crumbling woodshed offset from the main building. Vines spider across the building’s brick exterior, and swallows dart and dive in the grasses. “Vandals were taking the metal in here, stealing it and selling it for scrap,” said Gerald Green, Jackson County planner, as he stood at the entrance to the vast, dark expanse inside the factory. Sunlight from the big truck entrance behind him could reach only so far into the 82,000 square feet of steel and concrete ahead. A couple years ago, one of those vandals’ vehicles caught fire while on the site. That, Green said, was when the county ‘first started saying, ‘We have to do something about this.’” Originally built in 1964, the plant shut down in the 1990s and passed to county ownership in the early 2000s. Clearwood, LLC — another wood products company — leased the building for a few years after that, but that company soon closed down. For the past five years, the Drexel factory has sat vacant.

Smoky Mountain News

April 22-28, 2015

MOMENTUM FOR RENOVATION

Located just outside of Whittier and along the Tuckasegee River next to the Pepsi-Cola bottling plant, the hulking industrial building isn’t something that’s easy to overlook. For now, that visibility is a liability. The building is an eyesore, and the unoccupied grounds present security concerns. But momentum is growing behind an idea to transform the old building into a vibrant community center focused on agriculture and recreation. “We’re really excited, or we wouldn’t be this far,” said Lynn Sprague, executive direc10 tor of the Southwestern N.C. Resource

Conservation & Development Council and spearheader of the project. The idea’s been through three community meetings — the most recent was in March — and a commissioned master plan for the site, paid for by a combination of scrap metal sales from the factory and a grant from the Southwestern Commission, was released this spring. Potential uses for the site are many, ranging from concert venue to farmers market to roller derby rink, so one of the challenges going forward will be to figure out which uses are most compatible and how to make everything work together so that the building pays its own bills and fulfills the community’s needs. The overall focus of the development project, however, has always been agriculture. “The Smoky Mountain area, they’re growing in agriculture,” Sprague said. “With the Canton livestock facility,” he added, giving an example, “we are seeing an increase in livestock.” Agricultural production is strong and strengthening in the western part of the state, with much of the push behind that trend coming from small producers. One of Sprague’s other projects is a StrikeForce campaign — the federal program aims to alleviate rural poverty by assisting agricultural startups, among other initiatives — which has resulted in more than 100 individuals acquiring heated hoop greenhouses, called high tunnels, in the western counties. The goal is to help individuals supplement their diets and income with agricultural production. An extra $5,000 or $10,000 a year from agriculture can mean a lot to a family, Sprague said, but in order for new producers to see any profit, they need to find a market for their products. That can be an intimidating task. “To market that much agricultural stuff, we need to be reaching out for markets,” Sprague said. In his vision for the Drexel building, Whittier becomes a center for collaboration

Inside, the vacant Drexel factory building in Whittier is all empty space, (above) but outside it’s crowded by overgrown weeds and vines. Jackson County is feeling out a longrange plan to transform the old plant into a vibrant community center. Holly Kays photos

building’s edge — why not route the train that way and let riders off for a 15-minute bathroom and shopping break? They’ve floated the idea to the railroad, Green said, discovering that, while the unused spur line needs some cleanup, it’s in pretty good shape. Other ag-related events could be held there, too — what about a rodeo, or cattle shows? Currently, Sprague’s working on a grant application to fund a livestock yard after the county gave him the OK to do so — that shows things have forward momentum, he said, though County Commission Chairman Brian McMahan cautioned that there are still plenty of questions about the project’s feasibility. Joe Ward, a 68-year-old farmer who’s been working the same 200-acre property his whole life, is hoping to see the Drexel makeover pan out. He’s just a mile or two down the road from the old factory and has been on the steering committee behind its renovation since the idea took root. “My grandkids and my great-grandkids, I’d like to see them get involved in some agriculture, showing cattle, showing hogs, a lot of different things like that,” he said. “We need to get our young folks involved with agriculture, let them know what it is and how to do it, because food does not come from a grocery shelf.”

NOT A DONE DEAL

to find those markets, or even an incubator for a business to transform the products into something more sellable to local buyers. “This place may provide a business, for instance, that takes the produce from the farmers and puts it in bags and does the slicing and dicing for the school or hospital,” Sprague said. “That flows with their management style.” The building could also house equipment that might be too expensive for an individual to purchase on his or her own but could be shared between farmers. A commercial kitchen, for instance, to create value-added products like jams and jellies, or instruments to support another of the area’s burgeoning industries — beekeeping. Hand-extracting honey from a beehive is tedious, messy work that substantially limits the number of hives a person can feasibly keep. “To extract honey, you have it all over your kitchen, so to have a central location with an extractor in it, a person who had two hives can have 10,” Sprague said. Maybe the producers could even sell their wares right there. The old factory’s open floor plan provides ample space for virtually any use, and the Whittier area does not currently have a farmers market. A spur line of the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad runs feet from the

Of course, something has to pay for all of that. Right now, it’s county property. The county has invested some personnel time and taxpayer money into the planning process, but all told, the project could well end up totaling a few million dollars. Taxpayers can’t foot that bill. “The concept has merit and a lot of thought has been put into what can we do with that facility, and I hate to see it just sit there and do nothing but just rust away, so it would be nice to do something with it,” McMahan said. “But at what cost, and that’s where we really need to take a close look at what it is going to cost us to rehabilitate that building to the point where they could even use it.” Commissioners put $10,000 toward a building assessment to see what kind of work the building might require, but McMahan said he doesn’t see any substantial, county-funded renovations happening in the near future. “It’s not a priority right now among all the projects we have,” he said. “If we do anything right now,” he added, “it would be purely cleanup of the site and maybe look at is it feasible to even do some of the things outside that we need to do with the cattle loading area.” It’s no surprise to project proponents that county funds for the project will be limited. The plan is to pursue grants to pay for all sorts of project costs, everything from construction to equipment purchases to start-up operations costs. The project has already secured some such funding. The Cherokee Preservation Foundation awarded Jackson $9,000 to develop a walking trail and interpretive signs to walk users through the site’s pre-Drexel history. Before people had even invented such a thing as a furniture fac-

farmers market or even a basketball court. Concerts, fiddling contests, conventions — such a space could generate a lot of income to support the agriculture side of things. “Are you going to get a crowd for that?” said Sprague, bringing up the obvious question. “I think if it’s done right, it’s highly feasible.”

A LONG-RANGE PLAN But whatever the future holds for Drexel, it’s not going to happen overnight. “We can’t take taxpayer dollars and do a wholesale renovation,” Green said. “We have to get funds and do a section and get funds and do the next section.” And before that section-by-section work can begin, they’ll have to see what results the building assessment brings. Sprague and Green are hopeful that the assessment will reveal an old yet sturdy structure capable of housing all the uses they dream of. But McMahan is more cautious. “When we [the commissioners] saw [the building], it just magnified what we had been told about what would have to be accomplished to make the building usable,” McMahan said. Even if everything comes back great, it could take 10 years to complete the fullness of

Remembrance service to be held at Lake J A celebration and remembrance service will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 3, at the Chapel at Lake Junaluska. The interactive and participatory event will focus on the power felt when grief is shared through celebrating and remembering the lives of loved ones who have died. Through story, music, candle-lighting, and many other activities participants will join together to honor loved ones. Master Cherokee Storyteller Lloyd Arneach will be sharing stories. Participants are invited to bring photographs of their loved

18 Annual th

Denim Day to raise awareness Members of the Haywood County Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Task Force are urging all community members to “wear jeans with a purpose” on Wednesday, April 29, as a visible means to promote sexual violence prevention and education. Denim Day in the USA and Haywood County is an annual campaign to raise awareness of sexual violence issues and support survivors of sexual assault as part of recognizing April as being Sexual Assault Awareness Month. www.denimdayusa.org, 828.456.7898 or www.reachofhaywood.org.

History talk to cover Tennessee Greenway A talk on the history of the Little Tennessee Greenway in Franklin will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 23, at Big Bear Shelter by Friends of the Greenway. Kay Coriell, a charter member of Friends of the Greenway, will be reviewing the development of the Greenway idea, history of its implementation, and Greenway highlights available today. 828.369.9488.

Sat. April 25th, 2015 10am - 4pm

Holly Kays photo

the vision. Sprague said he hopes to start working on it by the end of the summer, but even if renovations began that soon, it would be a piecemeal process, focusing on one small piece of the project at a time. But that doesn’t mean the building would have to wait for a ribbon cutting to start giving back to the community, Sprague said. After all, it is 82,000 square feet. “We could bulldoze down part of this building — we’d still have a big building,” he said. The first order of business will be a renovation of the office, which is still strewn with the debris of bygone business operations. A floppy disc sits casually on the old desk, a half-empty bottle of Pine-Sol on the all-in-one kitchen installed in the wall. Cleaning that space up would offer a headquarters for renovation operations as well as a place to showcase plans for the future of the building. Public restrooms would likely also be part of the initial phase. From start to finish, it’s a long road. To get anywhere, steady progress is the name of the game. “We’re continuing to nibble on the elephant,” Green said.

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Smoky Mountain News

And what about operational expenses once the building is ready for use, if it ever comes to that? Well, the farmers who use it should bear a lot of the expense, Sprague said, but the cost structure would take some effort to work out. Should they pay an overall membership fee? What about a charge per head of cattle or per use of the honey extractor machine or per night of produce storage in the coolers? Who would keep track of these payments — would the revfenues have to support staff positions as well? It could prove difficult for such an agfocused operation to be self-sustaining, Sprague said. That’s just part of the reason why he says the Smoky Mountain Agriculture Development Station could well be just one component within a much more diverse list of users at the Drexel building. What if the building also served as an event venue? Though it’s possible the building assessment now being conducted could say otherwise, Sprague believes it would prove quite easy to tear out the walls from a portion of the building — the roof is supported by steel beams — and develop an open-air concert hall that could double as space for a

An Empty Bowl fundraiser will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, April 24, at The Community Table in Dillsboro, located on Central Street next to Sylva Pool and across from Poteet Park. Tickets cost $20 at the door for your choice of a hand-crafted ceramic bowl generously donated by local potters. Includes choice of soup, bread, and desserts. Enjoy live music by Karen “Sugar” Barnes and David Claxton. Plus, enter to win one of many raffle prizes. www.communitytable.org or 828.586.6782.

ones to place near the candles they will light. The event is free and open to the public.

April 22-28, 2015

County Planner Gerald Green (left) and Lynn Sprague, executive director of the Southwestern N.C. Resource Conservation and Development Council, talk outside of the building they’re hoping to resurrect.

Community Table to benefit from Empty Bowl fundraiser

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tory, the place was home to the Cherokee town of Stecoah, a settlement major enough that it even appeared on English maps in the 1700s. Later that century, Gen. Griffith Rutherford would destroy the town and its inhabitants — a place that, archeological finds show, had been settled since 6,000 B.C. Through the Preservation Foundation grant, the county will work with the Tribal Historic Preservation Office and Cultural —Resources Office to gather community input on the project and develop educational signage to educate visitors on the site’s significance. Sprague also hopes to eventually use some county recreation funds to aid the project. The county’s parks and recreation plan has already identified Whittier as an area that needs recreation facilities; currently, the community has none. The relatively flat riverside property would provide plenty of space for playing fields or possibly even a dog park. “It’s a natural fit, which brings you parks and recreation funding to this side [of the county],” Sprague said. Of course, that all depends. Though the property is flat, it’s also in the floodplain, and that could prove problematic. “There are some questions about whether we can even do anything outside of the shadow of the building,” McMahan said.

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Smoky Mountain News

April 22-28, 2015

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Habitat for Humanity to build new community in Waynesville

LAND LEADS THE WAY

NOW WHAT? It will also take a village to turn this development into a reality. Cooper said Habitat would need a lot more volunteers and a lot more money to complete the $850,000 project. Seed money will hopefully be coming soon. Cooper said Habitat was gifted a 2,500-square foot home in Maggie Valley

Habitat for Humanity of Haywood County recently unveiled a new housing development project, to be built on Davis Cove Road in Waynesville. Pictured from left are Sarah Jane League, Gary Smith, Habitat founder Walton Garrett, Habitat executive director Jamye Cooper and Jane and Bill Cole. Jessi Stone photo A drawing by Andy Bailey shows what the housing development Walton Woods could look like. Andy Bailey Designs

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

Cooper said any individual or group can volunteer to help build regardless of their experience. For those who don’t want to help with construction, donations can be given to Habitat through its website, by mail or by phone. Businesses, churches and civic groups are also welcome to sponsor a home, which means volunteer hours for construction and securing funding for one particular home or a $55,000 donation. There are also other sponsorship levels available for things like roofs and driveways. If anyone would like more information about Habitat and its mission, Cooper said she is available to come give a presentation to anyone interested. “We want people to know exactly what we’re doing and where their money is going,” she said “There are so many ways to get involved, but I can tell you from experience that helping build the houses is so much fun. It’s definitely a learning experience.” For more information about Habitat or how to qualify for a Habitat home, visit www.haywoodhabitat.org. 13

Smoky Mountain News

The whole idea to build Walton Woods started with a land donation — 1.5 acres at the intersection of Country Club Road and Davis Cove Road — from Sarah Jane League and her husband Gary Smith. The flat pasture property has been in League’s family for 57, years and she wanted to see it go to good use. When she moved back to Waynesville in 2008 and saw how much the area had developed on Davis Cove, she thought “why not?” “We weren’t using it, and Habitat is a great cause,” she said. “We wanted to give back to the community and give people the opportunity to have a home. The village concept has exceeded my expectations.” Bill Cole, former Habitat board president and longtime volunteer, said once the land was donated, a plan needed to be put together on how to best utilize the property. Habitat typically purchases small lots — one-eighth to one-fourth acres — to build a

home on, but he knew this donation could open the door to something bigger. “We knew this was a special piece of property, and we didn’t want to mess it up,” he said. A community volunteer committee was formed and led by Cole to think outside the box, which is how the village concept came to be. Habitat typically constructs homes for families with young children, but Cole said the committee recognized that there were others in need in Haywood County. “A new teacher in Haywood County could qualify for a Habitat home,” he said.

April 22-28, 2015

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR As the old saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child. Walton Garrett, the founder of Habitat for Humanity of Haywood County, hopes the newest Habitat project will help raise a whole bunch of them. With a generous land donation, the organization will begin work on Walton Woods — a Waynesville development that will include eight homes, a playground and a growing a sense of community. Jamye Cooper, Habitat for Humanity’s executive director, said the project was named after Garrett because it was his deep belief in the need for safe and affordable housing that inspired him to start a Habitat chapter in Haywood County 25 years ago. Garrett was celebrating his 88th birthday at a Habitat house groundbreaking last August when Cooper said he explained to her the importance of Habitat’s mission. “He sat me down and said ‘I want to tell you the transformation in the life of the child that happens when we put them in one of these houses,’” she recalled. “It changes everything — it’s a game changer for the whole family but really for the children — this is about the children.” Garrett has worked on all 52 homes built by Haywood Habitat, and he was there last week when Cooper and volunteers unveiled the Walton Woods project to the community. The announcement of the project name was a surprise for him during the presentation. “For once in my life, I’m speechless,” he said.

several years ago. Though it didn’t meet the requirements for a Habitat home, the organization has put some improvements into the house and it will be listed on the open market within the next week. “When it sells, we can start building Walton Woods — that’s our seed money,” Cooper said. Habitat homes are tailor-built for the selected family but are usually around 1,100square feet and cost between $85,000$90,000 with a land purchase included. The land donation for Walton Woods helped lower the cost of such a project, but Cooper said there are new costs associated with developing a village — water and sewer infrastructure, streets and sidewalks. “The village concept is a great model but the only way to make it work is you really need to get the land donated or purchase it at a really low cost,” she said. In-kind work will bring the $850,000 price tag down a bit, but the rest will require a lot of people and fundraising. Habitat builds one or two homes a year, so this will involve ramping up efforts substantially. “We’ve got to recruit a lot of volunteers and raise a lot of money,” Cooper said. “We have a good amount of volunteers in place, but because we’re going to be doing more than we’ve ever done before, we need new volunteers.” Habitat will subcontract the work to build the foundations for the first two houses, and Cooper expects to have volunteers on site to work on construction by August. The goal is to complete three homes within a year and up to four homes the second year if the needed volunteers and money are in place. Habitat accepts applications in January and July each year. In January, six families applied for a home and three families will be selected in the next couple of weeks. Based on the families selected, Habitat will begin developing the specific house plans to fit their needs.

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It takes a village

“And we’ve never done anything for the elderly either. This can be a cohesive neighborhood where everyone can help each other.” Others have also donated their skills and money to make this project possible. Committee member Brian Artle, with Grass Roots Gardens, is donating his landscaping skills for the development while Andy Bailey with A. Bailey Design Associates, is doing the design work for the homes. Habitat volunteer Jane Cole is funding the playground construction in memory of her parents, Sylvester and Allene Smith Vavruska, who were also community volunteers with a love of children.

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New apartment complex in the works for Sylva Denied by town in 2012, developer returns with plans to build on county land

Smoky Mountain News

April 22-28, 2015

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER Plans are under way to build a new apartment complex near — but not in — the town of Sylva, an idea that seemed to meet favor from the planning board when it was presented earlier this month. “We certainly have a need for housing in Sylva and we’re glad to see it filled,” said Sarah Thompson, board chair and former alderman on the Sylva town board. “I just wish it was in town limits, but that’s out of our control.” Nearly four years ago, Tom Honeycutt, owner of the Troy-based developer Southern Properties & Development, had tried to build a 44-unit apartment complex for people over 55 on a tract inside Sylva’s town limits. In May 2012, the town board wound up preventing the development by refusing to relax the town’s housing density standards to accommodate Honeycutt’s plans. Now, he’s back with a different piece of property that’s along the same road but located just outside town limits, in the county’s jurisdiction. The development, to be called High Ridge

there’s no need for stormwater detention. Currently, water drains to the southwest corner of the property, where a pair of pipes carries it to an undeveloped area above WalMart for discharge. “In our professional opinion, we don’t feel stormwater detention is needed to protect the outlet of those pipes downstream,” Thomas said. Board member Tom Rodgers wasn’t so sure. “I understand that what’s there is completely capable of handling the water, but the water’s going to go somewhere it didn’t go before,” he said, adding that, philosophically, adjacent landowners shouldn’t see any difference in stormwater flows before and after a “We certainly have a need for housing development goes in — in Sylva and we’re glad to see it filled.” regardless of whether their property is devel— Sarah Thompson oped or not. Board members also questioned what the traffic impact might be to ished as soon as November, Honeycutt said. But while board members seemed overall the little road where the housing would go in and to that already-busy stretch of N.C. 107. At willing to allow new housing in that location full capacity, the development would house 82 — a recently passed subdivision ordinance people with two cars each — a total of 164 cars requires planning board approval of projects adding 60 bedrooms or more — they weren’t making multiple trips in and out per day. The more likely scenario, Honeycutt said, ready to rubber-stamp the plan. For one thing, they weren’t too sure about would be more mild, with the average number of cars per household sitting closer to 1.5 the assertion of Honeycutt’s contracted engineer, Benjy Thomas of West Consultants, that and some number of apartments sitting Apartments, would be located off Connor Road and accessed from N.C. 107 at a turnoff just north of Wal-Mart. The complex, which will not be limited to elderly residents, would include two buildings containing a total 42 units with 82 bedrooms, with rent likely ranging from about $750 for a one-bedroom unit to $1,140 for a three-bedroom. The site would also include a fitness room, playground, gazebo and office building. “We’re ready to start as soon as we can get some approvals going,” Honeycutt told the board. “We submitted to everyone so far and we’re just working through that.” If approvals come through in the next couple of months, the development could be fin-

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empty at any one time. However, the board directed Honeycutt to talk with the N.C. Department of Transportation to work out access issues. They also pointed out the wild card of upcoming changes to 107, a project DOT has scheduled to begin in 2019. “It’s in the early stages of planning and development, like this, and the added traffic would certainly inform that planning process, but we don’t know how,” Thompson said. Aside from a stipulation to include more landscaping, the planning board didn’t give J Honeycutt any specific changes to make to his proposal. Rather, they directed him to come back after he’d talked out access issues with the DOT and to address erosion control issues in a plan that would ultimately require county approval. “The need for water retention will be addressed in that process,” Green said. “I don’t see a place to put a retention pond here,” said board member Clark Lipkin. “We shall see. But if the erosion control plan says we don’t need one, I don’t want you to be shocked.” “Staff know more than I do about that, but retention could be part of the implementation,” Rodgers said. Board members unanimously approved the direction for further study on water retention and road access, as well as the requirement that Honeycutt include native — plant landscaping in his plans.

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Haywood man fatally shot trying to rob marijuana growers

— Michael Hurst, 58, and Lorie Hurst — claim two men broke into their house while they were home Friday night and tried to rob them. Lori managed to call 911 in the midst of the robbery. Deputies raced to the home, only to find one of the alleged robbers, Bill Worley, 49, of Canton, had been shot. Worley was still alive when cops got there but died from the gunshot within minutes, despite emergency medical personnel rushing in and trying to save him. The other alleged robber, Charles Henson, 47, of Canton, had fled the house, but cops searched about and found him, and arrested him for felony burglary. Meanwhile, detectives also discovered the marijuana plants growing on the Hurst’s property, along with evidence of drug sales being conducted. The Hursts have been charged with felony marijuana growing and misdemeanor possession. — By Staff Writer Becky Johnson, based on Haywood County Sherriff’s Office reports

A man attempting to rob alleged pot growers and dealers in the Bethel community of Haywood County was shot and killed Friday night. At least that’s the story the alleged pot dealers have given cops to explain why a man was shot and killed in their trailer. So far, no one has been charged in the fatal shooting, but detectives with the Haywood County Sheriff ’s Office continue to work through the investigation, most likely trying to sort out who fired the fatal shot and whether claims of self-defense are legitimate or if charges are warranted. Meanwhile, a bevvy of drug and burglary charges have been made in connection to the events. The alleged husband-and-wife pot dealers

“We are an integral part of the economic development of Haywood County.” — Jack Ewing, executive director of Lake Junaluska

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While the lobby, reception areas and rooms got a top-to-bottom makeover — they were stripped and gutted — the panoramic views were good to go as is. Ultimately, the Terrace renovations dovetail with Lake Junaluska’s mission of Christian hospitality, transformation and renewal.

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April 22-28, 2015

BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER bout 200 people gathered for the ribbon cutting of a $3.2-million renovation of the Terrace Hotel at Lake Junaluska, the anchor lodging facility of the conference and retreat center. It’s rare that a hotel renovation would attract such pomp and circumstance, but Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center is more than a hotel: it’s an economic engine for Haywood County. “There are probably millions of people who have come to Haywood County over the past 100 years who would not have come if it weren’t for Lake Junaluska,” said Jack Ewing, executive director of Lake Junaluska. “We are an integral part of the economic development of Haywood County.” Lake Junaluska has evolved from its humble beginnings of little more than a revival tent in a farm field 100 years ago to a full-service retreat campus. A long-range master plan aims to modernize and improve the buildings and grounds over the next decade — an overdue initiative to reverse the dated feel of some of the facilities. The Terrace is no longer a cog in the conference center operations of Lake Junaluska, but is now billed as a hotel in a resort setting catering to the general public year-round. “It is open for business for people who simply want to come stay in a beautiful place overlooking this marvelous lake and mountain scenery,” Ewing said.

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Terrace Hotel renovation reaches finish line in time for spring conference season

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Exchanging students, exchanging cultures

Pavickova laughed. Olbrich agreed that it seems like everything is a little bit sweeter in America, even bread. She misses the bread back home in Germany — dark and hearty compared to the “white and fluffy” bread in America. Jol said she had pumpkin pie and turkey for the first time during the holidays and loved it. She has also enjoyed the many variations of potatoes she’s tried here, including French fries. Her classmates have taught her to dunk them in mayonnaise. “But I’ve had too much mashed potatoes here,” she joked. “That’s very common here.” Jol said clothing choices in the U.S. were also much different than in Europe. It was hard for her not to laugh when she saw people wearing overalls and cowboy boots. Olbrich was surprised at the amount of school spirit and how sports team members wear their jerseys to school on a game day. Germany and other European countries have community sports instead of school sports. “So many people wear sweatpants — in my school we don’t wear sports clothes,” she said. “People ask me why I dress up but I don’t feel like I’m dressed up.”

EDUCATION TRANSITION Exchange students Toni Olbrich, Kristina Pavickova and Paloma Jol, pictured left to right, help out at the Ayusa information booth to encourage other people to become host families for the program. Donated photo

Smoky Mountain News

April 22-28, 2015

Students build lasting relationships in Franklin BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR hen Donna Bell invited the first exchange student into her home seven years ago, she had no idea the lasting impact it would have on her family as well as the lives of the students. “I just thought it would be cool to learn about other cultures,” Bell said, but it turned out to be so much more than that. Not only did her experience lead her to work with Ayusa — an exchange student program that matches students with host families — but also it led her to a newfound passion for actively participating in the program. She has hosted five exchange students since that initial experience, and she wouldn’t trade those relationships for anything in the world. Several of the students she hosted are even returning to Franklin this year to attend her daughter’s wedding. “Our organization is about building relationships,” Bell said. Three Ayusa students, representing Germany, Czech Republic and Netherlands, are currently attending Franklin High School during their year abroad, two of whom are staying with Bell. All three young women have been staying in Franklin since last August and have made themselves at home in the mountains.

CULTURE SHOCK While they have been enjoying American traditions like attending their first prom, eating 16 southern foods and absorbing Appalachian

dialects, there are several differences in the United States that have taken some getting used to for the exchange students. Paloma Jol, 16, is from Netherlands. This is her fourth trip to the U.S., but it’s her first time experiencing life in the mountains. She is a fan of country music and being outdoors, making the Great Smoky Mountains a perfect fit for her. “I like it here — you have mountains,” she said. “Netherlands is flatter than a pancake — we have one hill and we’re very proud of it.” What’s one of the most unusual things she’s seen since she’s been here? A school bus. All three of the students found the modes of transportation here quite bizarre. There are no school buses in Europe. For the most part, students are either close enough to their school to walk or ride a bike or they take public transportation to school. “You have no idea how funny it was to see a school bus,” Jol said. “I use my bike everywhere at home.” Antonia “Toni” Olbrich, 17, is from Berlin, Germany. Being from a large city, the lack of public transportation and the distance between places was surprising to her as well. “Everyone told me there was no public transportation, but it was still surprising,” she said. “We have it everywhere — we walk or ride a bike a lot.” Kristina Pavickova, 18, of Czech Republic, lives in a small town but rides the train an hour to school each day. “I live in a small town, so it didn’t shock me, but each town is five minutes from each other and we walk everywhere,” she said. Of course the foods are a bit different here than they are back home — some differences welcomed and others not so much. “The best ice cream is a Blizzard,”

Even though the exchange students are taking regular classes at Franklin High, most of the credits they obtain here won’t transfer

Paloma Jol, an exchange student from Netherlands, enjoys the great outdoors in Western North Carolina. Donated photo

“Netherlands is flatter than a pancake — we have one hill and we’re very proud of it.” — Paloma Jol

Become a host family • Visit www.ayusa.org • Click “Apply to Host” • Ayusa will do a background check and an in-home visit and interview • Once approved, a host family can go online and select the exchange student they think will best fit with their family based on their profile. • Students can stay for a semester or an academic year • Students and their families pay for the students’ expenses while they are here.

back to their schools in Europe. They will basically have to make up for the year they lost in the states, but they don’t seem to mind. The experience they’ll take home is worth it. Part of the reason Jol signed up for the program was because she wasn’t doing too well in English back home. “I’m more of a math person than languages so my dad said I should go to another country for several months,” she said. While there are still many words she doesn’t understand, her English has become proficient during her time in Franklin. English is introduced to most European students in fifth grade, but there’s no better way to become fluent than to immerse yourself in it.

“Teachers here are really nice. I never had a personal relationship with a teacher before.” — Antonia “Toni” Olbrich

The English skills of Pavickova and Olbrich have also improved during their time here. “In Europe everyone has to learn English to get a better job,” Pavickova said. The students also are adjusting to different class schedules and having the ability to choose certain classes like chorus, art, theater and physical education. Jol has enjoyed taking chorus, theater and a strenuous P.E. class called “Bigger, Faster, Stronger.” “You get way more fun classes here,” Jol said. “I really liked theater and I starred in a play.” Olbrich said she also appreciated the ability to be able to take a number of creative classes that aren’t offered at her school in Berlin, including yearbook class or photography. Even though she attends a creative arts high school, it offers only art and music. She said the relationships between students and teachers in Berlin are much different than in the U.S. Because schools and classes are so large, Olbrich said it is rare to get one-on-one time with a teacher. “Teachers here are really nice. I never had a personal relationship with a teacher before,” she said. “(In Berlin), it takes teachers a long time to learn your name because there are too many students. They teach you and you listen — you don’t know their first name and they know nothing about you.”

SHARING THEIR TRADITIONS

The exchange students in Franklin have become accustomed to answering strange questions from their American classmates. “They meet you and they are really curious and want to be your friend,” Pavickova said. “But then after few months they start to treat you like a regular student.” When giving a presentation about Czech Republic at the library, she was asked if people in her country have cell phones. The answer is yes — they have cell phones, computers, TVs and most other technology available in the states. One thing you might not know about her country — it is the largest consumer of beer per person and it has more than 200 castles. Czech Republic also has a couple of traditions that

BENEFITS OF THE PROGRAM Each of the exchange students will return home in June with an experience of a lifetime. They all say their English has greatly improved and they have a better idea of what America is like. Some may want to return for good someday, and others may come back to travel to different areas of the country. “My English is way better, but I’m getting a Southern accent,” Jol joked. “I think the trip has matured me — you’re on your own more and you see a whole new perspective of things.” Olbrich said she has learned a lot about the culture here as far as the importance of family and friendships.

— Kristina Pavickova

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NCDOT TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETING APRIL 30 FOR BRIDGE REPLACEMENT PROJECT ON U.S. 23 BUSINESS OVERSCOTT CREEK & GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAIN RAILROAD TIP Project B-5905 The N.C. Department of Transportation will hold a public meeting April 30 to update citizens of a proposed project to replace Bridge #27 along U.S. 23 Business. Bridge #27 is located just east of downtown and crosses Scott Creek and the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad in Dillsboro. The purpose of this project is to replace a structurally deficient and functionally obsolete bridge. The public meeting will take place on Thursday, April 30, 2015, from 4 P.M. to 7 P.M. at the Jarrett Memorial Baptist Church located at 18 Church Street in Dillsboro. Interested citizens may attend at any time and NCDOT representatives will be available to answer questions and receive comments regarding the proposed project. No formal presentation will be made. Attendees will also have the opportunity to submit written comments and questions, which will be taken into consideration as the project is planned. The public can view maps displaying the location and design concept for the project, online at http://www.ncdot.gov/projects/publicmeetings. For additional information, contact Marshall Edwards, NCDOT- Project Development and Environmental Analysis Section at 1548 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1548, by phone at (919) 707-6019, or by email at medwards@ncdot.gov. All comments must be received no later than Thursday, May 14, 2015. NCDOT will provide auxiliary aids and services under the Americans with Disabilities Act for disabled persons who wish to participate in this hearing. Anyone requiring special services should contact Ms. Diane Wilson by phone at (919) 707-6073 or by email at pdwilson1@ncdot.gov as early as possible so that arrangements can be made.

Smoky Mountain News

“Everyone already knows each other and everyone is nice to us,” she said. “At home I have a bunch of friends, but here people have best friends and hang out with them all the time.” Despite all the mutual benefits of hosting an exchange student, Bell said the Ayusa program continually struggles to find enough host families to match with the number of students who want to come here. As a representative, it’s her job to recruit new families to participate. “I feel that it is very important for people in North Carolina and the United States to realize that people in all other parts of the world are just people too,” she said. “We can all get along and care about each other no matter where we live — family goes beyond borders.” Bell understands that a family may be hesitant to open up their home to a stranger, but she assures them that they won’t be strangers for long and they won’t regret it. She encourages people to fill out an online application to become a host family. “Be open-minded about hosting. It’s worth taking a chance and bringing someone brand new into your family,” she said. “They will make a difference in your life and you’ll never be the same.”

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April 22-28, 2015

“I live in a small town ... but each town is five minutes from each other and we walk everywhere.”

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may seem odd to others, including the annual Burning of the Witches in the spring and a Christmas dinner that is kept in the bathtub. The Czechs used to believe that a witch kept the winter weather around for so long and if they made something that looked like a witch and burned it, it would weaken the cold weather to make way for spring. Christmas is celebrated in Czech Republic with a carp dinner, and before the dinner is cooked, it is kept alive in the tub. During her Dutch night presentation, Jol said she had to explain the Christmas tradition of Sinterklaas — Netherlands’ version of Santa Claus. “Ours comes on a steamboat and he doesn’t go in the chimney — his helpers do,” Jol explained. “Instead of reindeer he has a white horse.” On the night of Dec. 5, Sinterklaas places sweet gifts in the shoes left out by children.

Aquellas personas que hablan español y no hablan inglés, o tienen limitaciones para leer, hablar o entender inglés, podrían recibir servicios de interpretación si los solicitan ntes de la reunión llamando al 1-800-481-6494. 17

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HCC enrollment dips as economy improves BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER arlowe Mager isn’t an economist by trade, but a little-known data set at his fingertips puts him on par with the nation’s best forecasters. The window of his office at Haywood Community College gives him a bird’s-eye view of the economy, simply judging by the number and age of the students walking around on campus. Enrollment at HCC has dropped steadily and substantially over the past four years — there were 1,000 fewer students in 2014 than in 2011. That’s a decline of nearly 20 percent. “It reflects that people are returning to work,” said Mager, executive director of research and institutional support at HCC. The converse of that is also true. “When the economy is going down community college enrollment goes up, and that’s universal,” Mager said. The number of students at HCC grew year over year during the recession. Enrollment began to rise in 2007 and peaked in 2010 before trending back down. The median age of HCC students has also come down over the past four years. The recession brought an influx of middle-aged students seeking new career fields, pushing the average age upward. As they returned to work with new degrees and certificates in hand, the average age fell.

April 22-28, 2015

The median age of HCC students is now around 32 years old, compared to 37 years old in 2010. As a whole, HCC students are older than your typical college student. About twothirds are part-time. Most work. Half have kids. They are considered “non-traditional” students by definition. But for HCC, these “non-traditional” students are the norm. “It has always been about two-thirds of our students are part-time,” Mager said. That’s not surprising, considering half of HCC students are not only holding down jobs but also raising kids — and, according to a student survey, a quarter of students are single parents. “You can see why so many of them are only taking one or two courses at a time,” Mager said. Mager shared the latest report on student demographics at HCC’s Board of Trustees meeting last week. “We wanted to share with you a portrait of the student body at Haywood. This reflects who our students are,” Mager told trustees. The challenge for HCC is to tailor its course offerings accordingly. “We are getting a better handle on who we have and how we need to serve them — how we need to support them, how we need to schedule courses and that sort of thing,” said HCC President Barbara Sue Parker.

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By the numbers • 3,870: students taking classes at HCC in 2014 • 65: percent of students considered parttime • 1,000: enrollment decline over past four years, coming off enrollment highs during the height of the recession • 32: median age of all HCC students in 2014 • 41: median age of workforce training and continuing education students • 23: median age of HCC students in curriculum fields pursuing associate’s degrees • 68: percent of students who live in Haywood County • 60: percent of curriculum students who are female • 40: percent of workforce and continuing education students who are female *Compiled from a demographic report on Haywood Community College students.

Enrollment then declined starting in 2003, as the county entered the boom years of the real estate and construction heyday. It continued dropping through 2006, but reversed course and began climbing again when the recession hit in 2007. The yo-yo effect on enrollment — predicated on the economic and jobs climate — poses funding challenges for HCC. State funding is tied to enrollment. When enrollment drops, so does funding. Unfortunately, since enrollment upticks often coincide with economic downturns, state budget cuts come into play even though the student body is increasing. “Our funding also goes down when the economy goes down, so we get more students and less money — and then we get less money again when the students go back to work,” Mager said. HCC would like to increase enrollment. But with the job market improving, there are fewer unemployed people heading back to school for a new career track. So HCC hopes to lure more so-called traditional students — the young, fresh-out-of-highschool variety. It has rolled out a novel incentive to that end. In honor of its 50th anniversary this year, HCC is giving out $500 scholarships to any graduating senior in Haywood County who comes to HCC in the fall.

While the total number of HCC students has declined, the number pursuing two-year associate’s degrees — as opposed to workforce training and job skills certifications — has gone up over the past four years. Still, less than half of all HCC students are pursuing a two-year associate’s degree. Instead, many are after job-related certificates or trainings to improve their career station — gaining new skills or know-how to advance in their field, land a promotion, earn more “We are getting a better handle money or switch jobs. HCC students also on who we have and how we include those taking a need to serve them — how we need Spanish class in advance of a trip to South America, or a to support them, how we need to jewelry-making class just for fun. schedule courses and that sort “They are trying to learn of thing.” a particular skill, or it is just something they are interest— HCC President Barbara Sue Parker ed in,” Mager said. HCC’s students over the past five years have ranged from a 14-year-old The scholarship isn’t necessarily aimed at in the early college program to students in wooing seniors to come to HCC in lieu of their mid-90s taking hobby classes. another college or university. Rather, it’s The constant ebb and flow of students aimed at the students who otherwise based on economic conditions isn’t new. wouldn’t be going to college at all. HCC enrollment has gone up and back down “Those are the ones we want to reach with twice over the past 15 years, mirroring the that,” Mager said. county’s economy. There’s about 300 seniors a year who HCC enrollment grew during the early graduate from high school in Haywood 2000s in the wake of a steady series of plant County but don’t go on to college. closures. The spat of closures put a few thou“Trying to capture those students is a big sand people out of work in Haywood County opportunity for us,” said Laura during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Leatherwood, vice president of student servThey’d spent their careers in a factory ices at HCC. “We think the scholarship is one and, suddenly jobless, many turned to HCC more carrot that might at least get those stuto get degrees in a new field. dents in our door.”

on the political will du jour, Swanger recalled. A truce was called in 2004. Commissioners at the time agreed to provide consistent, predictable school funding year after year with a built-in increase to cover inflation — predicated on a per student formula. Commissioner Bill Upton said he knows what it is like to be at the mercy of the funding whims of commissioners. He was both a principal and superintendent in the old days before the funding formula. Simply not knowing from year to year

and compiled by Assistant Superintendent Bill Nolte.

A GAMBLE The funding formula comes with a few critical caveats. Chiefly, the schools’ overall budget could actually go down, even though the per student funding will go up. That’s because the formula is based on the student head count each year — $1,940 per student, times the total number of students in the school system.

CATCH-UP TIME

Haywood’s schools depend on county budget supplements to help pay for everything from teacher salaries to textbooks. SMN photo what the budget would be was nearly as bad as being underfunded, Upton said. The funding formula removes the guesswork. School leaders have a reasonable idea of how much money they’ll have to work with in coming years — rather than on the eve of each new school year. “You will see a very consistent pattern emerge of being able to plan,” Swanger said.

UPWARD MOMENTUM

COMING TO CONSENSUS The renewed funding formula passed by the county commissioners and school board this week had been hammered out in private negotiations ahead of time by delegates from each board. The rest of their elected boards merely rubber-stamped the agreement that had been brokered. On the county’s end, Commissioner Kirk Kirkpatrick and Swanger — who were on the county board when the funding formula was first created and are still on the board today — acted as liaisons. And in the school’s end, it was school board members Chuck Francis, Jim Francis and Walt Leatherwood. After meeting privately to draw up a funding formula, the team of liaisons floated what they’d come up with to their respective boards. The various members of both boards signaled their agreement in private communications with one another, so by the time the county commissioners and school board

Smoky Mountain News

Haywood County is one of the more wellheeled school districts around the state. It currently ranks 20th out of 100 county-run school districts statewide in the per student funding it gets from local coffers. Likewise, Haywood County is among the top-performing school districts in the state based on test scores. Haywood’s public schools had the 15th highest test scores in the state. It ranked in the top 13 percent of all 115 city and county school districts. While performance isn’t always tied to funding, Haywood’s rise in academic performance rankings has paralleled the steady increase in per student funding from the county. Ten years ago, Haywood County Schools were ranked 40th statewide compared to 15th today, according to state statistics kept

If student count goes down by much, then the overall funding for the school system will drop — a possible scenario in light of a charter school proposed to come online next year that could siphon students away from the public school system.

Commissioners included an escape clause in the funding formula should the recession flare back up. Commissioners had caught flack for not following the funding formula during the recession from their chief anti-government critic, Monroe Miller. Miller’s beef, which he has expounded on in voluminous emails and web posts over the past year, appeared to be less about actual school funding and more about whether commissioners were candid when they backed off the funding formula. During the recession, commissioners did make note publicly — it was reported in newspaper articles, in fact — that they weren’t keeping pace with incremental yearover-year per student funding increases called for under the formula. But Miller complained that commissioners continued to pat themselves on the back for the funding formula all the while, despite suspending it, and questioned what the point of a formula is if you don’t adhere to it. However, school board officials realized that desperate times derailed the formula and were appreciative the county maintained schools funding to the extent it did. “It wasn’t until the great recession that we deviated from it,” Swanger said. Regardless, the funding formula is back on track now. And an effort has been made in the new formula to make up for some lost time. The old formula averaged a smaller built-in increase than the 2 percent built-in increase for the next three years. “We’ve had a reset year, is the way I look at it,” said School Board Chairman Chuck Francis. When passing a new version this week, commissioners were careful to include a caveat this time: they would stick to the built-in 2 percent increase in per student funding “unless unusual economic conditions dictate otherwise.” Hopefully that will cut both ways. “I feel confident if things turn up, they will turn it up,” Francis said. 19

April 22-28, 2015

BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER aywood County Schools will get a modest 2 percent increase each year for the next three years in its student per capita funding from the county. That was the pledge Haywood County commissioners made to the school board this week. Both the commissioners and school board approved the funding plan at their respective meetings Monday evening. The gentlemen’s agreement between the school board and commissioners renews the long-standing, so-called “school funding formula” for another three years. Under the funding formula, county commissioners have consistently and incrementally increased per student funding over the past dozen years. In 2003, the county funded schools to the tune of $1,420 per student. Today, it’s up to $1,940 per student, according to county finance data. Before parents get too excited that the schools will be flush with text books and field trip budgets, consider this: the increase in local funding won’t be enough to offset losses from state budget cuts over recent years. And it will quickly be eaten up by higher costs faced by the schools each year, from picking up the local share of the tab for state-mandated teacher salary increases to mounting, obligatory pension payments. “The cost of everything is going up,” said School Board Member Jim Francis. “We’re trying to keep up with the cost of fuel, the cost of insurance, the cost of retirement contributions we have to make, the maintenance of our buildings, the raises the state gave teachers.” If the county’s nominal per student increase isn’t enough? “Hopefully it will be enough,” Superintendent Anne Garrett replied. “If not, we will have to dig deeper.” Still, school board members and school officials lauded the funding formula. It’s a novel approach to school funding. Most counties merely give lump sums year after year, often ignorant of inflation forces or student capita fluctuations. Haywood has been heaped with accolades at the state level and held up as a model in school and local government circles for its methodology, according to Commissioner Mark Swanger. But it wasn’t always that way. Budget time was historically marked by school funding wars, pitting education supporters against county commissioners over how much funding the schools got from the county each year. “It seemed to be a number was picked out of thin air,” said Swanger, who was on the school board in those days. The schools budget was subject to “wild swings” based

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Haywood Schools performance climbs high in tandem with county funding support

meetings rolled around Monday night, the vote was essentially a done deal. Swanger said he saw no problem with hashing out a funding formula privately between select members of each board. “There was nothing untoward about it,” Swanger said. Nonetheless, the public was not privy to whatever give and take took place, or the real-time thought-process the elected leaders of both the school board or county board used to arrive at the decision. After the fact, elected leaders on both boards spoke openly about how they arrived at the formula and their thoughts on it, however. Somewhat ironically, the commissioners and school officials have a school budgeting workshop scheduled for Thursday (April 23). But with the funding formula sewed up, the only thing left to talk about is the building and grounds maintenance budget, which can be a beast of its own.

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WCU staff member wins CASE award for web writing

Alexander Macaulay. Ashley T. Evans photo

WCU’s Alexander Macaulay named among top teachers Alexander Macaulay, associate professor of history at Western Carolina University, has been named one of the best teachers in the University of North Carolina system in recognition of his ability to convince students that history is more than just the memorization of dates and the study of accomplishments of “dead white men.” Macaulay, a member of the WCU faculty since 2004, is among 17 recipients of the 2015 UNC Board of Governors Awards for Excellence in Teaching. The 2011 recipient of WCU’s Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award, he received his bachelor’s degree from the Citadel, master’s degree from the University of Tennessee and doctorate from the University of Georgia.

Western Carolina University received a grand award in the category of “writing for the web” in an annual competition sponsored by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education District III. The award was given for the online article “Test of Endurance,” which appeared in the fall 2013 edition of Western Carolina Magazine. The article describes the journey of a married couple, both WCU graduates, to establish a training school for outdoor guides called Landmark Learning in Cullowhee. Teresa Killian Tate, former communication specialist/writer in WCU’s Office of Communications and Public Relations, wrote it.

Students earn top 10 ranking for research conference Western Carolina University students have earned another top 10 ranking for their participation in the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. WCU students had a total of 47 project abstracts accepted for presentation at the 2015 conference held at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington. WCU is ninth in the number of projects approved by the NCUR abstract review committee. WCU students have placed in the top 10 in projects accepted for NCUR since 2006 — 10 consecutive years. 828.227.7383.

• Haywood Christian Academy earned accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement. To earn accreditation, schools must meet SACS CASI’s high standards, be evaluated by a team of professionals from outside the school and implement a continuous process of school improvement. www.haywoodchristianacademy.org or www.advanc-ed.org. • Registration is now open for Haywood Community College summer and fall 2015 semesters. This registration period is by appointment only with advisor and continues through April 24. Summer semester begins on May 18. www.haywood.edu or 828.627.4500. • Western Carolina University recently joined 19 North Carolina universities, colleges, organizations and health agencies in the creation of a new alliance. The North Carolina Alliance for Health Professions Diversity will work to reduce disparities in health status by increasing racial and ethnic diversity in the state’s health care workforce. www.nursinged.wcu.edu or 828.227.7397.

ALSO:

• Karena Mason of Franklin won the grand prize of a full-year scholarship at Southwestern Community College’s 50th anniversary open house celebration and scholarship scavenger hunt Friday, April 10, at SCC’s Jackson Campus. Other winners received $1,000, $500 and $250 scholarships. All prizes were provided through the donations of SCC faculty and staff with support from the SCC Foundation. • Female students in Haywood Community College’s College and Career Readiness Department can receive scholarships through Womansong’s New Start Program to assist with the cost of the High School Equivalency Diploma testing fee. 828.565.4182.

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Affairs of the Heart

————————————————————————————— 120 N. MAIN ST. • WAYNESVILLE, NC • 828.452.0526

Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

Foy ranks among Waynesville’s most respected leaders he passing of former Waynesville Mayor Henry Foy on April 15 brought back a flood of memories for me. Foy’s tenure as mayor of Waynesville (he was elected in 1991) was closely aligned with my move to Haywood County (1992) and my introduction to mountain politicians and their motivations. And that is what was remarkably refreshing about Foy. His motivation was simple and straightforward: to make his hometown a better place to live, and whether he was acting the gracious ambassador or engaged in a bare-knuckled political dogfight, he did so with that singular purpose as his guiding force. I remember when the Old Asheville Highway was being designed and widened by the state Department of Transportation. Foy, an architect by training, wanted sidewalks, raised medians with trees and grass dividing the lanes, and the roundabout that is now at the intersection of Raccoon Road and Old Asheville Highway. After years of back and forth with the DOT and emotional public hearings that pitted the

More rhetoric from the liberal press To the Editor: It appears the long arm of the liberal press has made it to your publication. Scott McLeod’s anti-gun rhetoric (The Smoky Mountain News, April 15, www.smokymountainnews.com/opinion/item/15568) concerning “super permits” (your words) is laughable at best. You failed to mention that these so called super permits would only be issued to highly qualified personnel such as retired police officers and retired military personal, with extensive training backgrounds. These people would only play a first responder role and in no manner would they have the authority of police officers. All too often, innocent people die at the hands of crazed shooters, simply because no one is present with a firearm to prevent the carnage. This compounds the tragedy. You can never protect the first person of these mass shootings as they fall victim to the element of surprise. Sadly, because of draconian gun laws that forbid carrying weapons on campus or in hospitals and many other places, other people present have no recourse but to cower and wait for their bullet to arrive. By your own admission, you state you have never spoken with Sen. Tarte, sponsor of Senate Bill 708, which would allow the advanced concealed carry permit (nothing super here). I simply looked the bill up and got the same information you did online. So it doesn’t matter that other reporters have spoken with the senator, which you used as a source.

town against county commissioners, Foy and the town — see the quote at the beginning of this story — got most of what they wanted. He also was a long-time supporter of the Waynesville Recreation Center when many thought the town should not build a second complex to compete with one recently opened at the hospital. I was editor of The Mountaineer at the time and wrote many editorials supporting the construction of the recreation center, Editor arguing that both could thrive. When the center was finally approved by the town board, Foy came by my office with one of his trademark hats in hand to personally thank the newspaper for its support. He had an old-school graciousness that is lost on many of today’s politicians. He also helped lead the movement to protect Waynesville’s watershed, a resource of which few towns its size can boast. He fought for large issues like Waynesville’s progressive land-use plan, its merger with Hazelwood, and its successful Main Street. But he argued just as passionately for more parking lot trees at the west Waynesville Wal-Mart when the town was voting on its design. He knew that seemingly small yet significant

Scott McLeod

“You bet I’m happy. I feel this was only right. My goal is to improve Waynesville and set it apart as a first-class mountain community.” — Former Waynesville Mayor Henry Foy in May 2003, upon receiving notification from DOT about the roundabout and other modifications to the Old Asheville Highway plan.

To use the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, (formerly known as National Council to Control Handguns, then became known as Handgun Control Inc.), is not a great way to make your case, sir. The stats you published provided by that organization do not hold water, as no source is mentioned where these stats came from. Typical liberal speak! Just throw a bunch of numbers out there and if half the people reading the article believe it, mission accomplished! The Brady Bunch makes no reference as to where they acquired this information you printed. Why? They made it up! You were quick to throw in bad police shootings, rare as they are, but like the national media, make no mention of the good shootings by police every day. Your biggest piece of misinformation was most police agencies support stricter gun laws. Fact is, most police agencies condone concealed carry laws. That’s why 48 states have concealed carry laws on the books; a huge majority. Last but not least, it seems to me you see our most sacred document, The Constitution, as standing in the way of your agenda, which is gun control, under the guise of rational and reasoned debate. It is that very document that allows you to print your opinion and allows you to live in a democracy we all enjoy. Also, you stated the Second Amendment complicates issues concerning guns. Nothing can be further from the truth. It’s not complicated at all. It’s quite clear: “a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Obviously law, and the interpretation there of, is not your strong suit. In closing, please understand we are at

measures contributed mightily to the larger, long-term picture. Foy and then-Town Manager Lee Galloway led an engaged and progressive town board during the 1990s and 2000s that helped get Waynesville to where it is today. That vision and work are still bearing fruit. That sidewalk along Old Asheville Highway is about to become part of a several-mile loop from the rec center once the construction is finished on Howell Mill Road, something joggers and walkers will enjoy for years to come. For all his tireless work for Waynesville, there were sides to Foy that those of us who knew him only from his civic life did not see. He was perhaps the town’s most astute historian, and he’ll take to his grave knowledge that will never see the light of day. He was also totally committed to his beloved wife Mary Lu. His death came nine days after she passed, completing what must have been a remarkable love story. Waynesville is a great place to live and work, and Foy ranks somewhere near the top on the list of those who can take significant credit for making that happen. But the work came naturally because he simply loved his hometown. Or, as he said in 2003, he just wanted to “set (Waynesville) apart as a first-class mountain community.” Job well done, Henry. (Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com.)

war (remember the War on Terror)? Terrorists’ main targets are civilians, and in countries where guns have been taken away from its citizens, the people become easy prey for these cowards. Why anyone would want to relieve us of our guns at a time in history when we need them most is ludicrous. A. J. (Duke) De Luca Otto

Criminals fear those who carry guns To the Editor: As a long-time N.R.A. member, I wish to respond to Publisher Scott McLeod about his recent gun control column. I haven’t read Senate Bill 708 so will not comment on it. However, his “by the numbers” source — The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence — has very inflated numbers about guns, as most anti-gun groups do. They simply are not true. If true gun facts are sought, please go to the FBI website or go to www.nraila.org. Most anti-gun groups grossly alter the facts. Also, most law enforcement agencies support concealed carry by responsible citizens. A bad guy with a gun can only be stopped by a good guy with a gun. Our fine cops can never be everywhere all the time. Seconds count. How can anyone believe criminals will obey gun control laws? They don’t obey any laws. Criminals are afraid of people with guns and respect them. It’s as simple as that. Cliff Williams Swain County

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BLUE ROOSTER SOUTHERN GRILL 207 Paragon Parkway, Clyde, Lakeside Plaza at the old Wal-Mart. 828.456.1997. Open Monday through Friday. Friendly and fun family atmosphere. Local, handmade Southern cuisine. Fresh-cut salads; slow-simmered soups; flame grilled burgers and steaks, and homemade signature desserts. Blue-plates and local fresh vegetables daily. Brown bagging is permitted. Private parties, catering, and take-out available. Call-ahead seating available.

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BREAKING BREAD CAFÉ 6147 Hwy 276 S. Bethel (at the Mobil Gas Station) 828.648.3838 Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Chef owned and operated. Our salads are made in house using local seasonal vegetables. Fresh roasted ham, turkey and roast beef used in our hoagies. We hand make our own eggplant and chicken parmesan, pork meatballs and hamburgers. We use 1st quality fresh not preprepared products to make sure you get the best food for a reasonable price. We make vegetarian, gluten free and sugar free items. Call or go to Facebook (Breaking Bread Café NC) to find out what our specials are. BRYSON CITY CORK & BEAN A MOUNTAIN SOCIAL HOUSE 16 Everett St.,Bryson City. 828.488.1934. Open Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday brunch 9 a.m. to 3p.m., Full Menu 3 to 9 p.m. Serving fresh

Monday - Friday 8-3 Sunday 9-3

6147 Highway 276 S. Bethel (at the Mobil Gas Station) breakingbreadcafenc.com • 828.648.3838

CATALOOCHEE RANCH 119 Ranch Dr., Maggie Valley. 828.926.1401. Mile-high mountaintop dining with a spectacular view. Beginning April 24, join us for cookouts on the terrace on weekends and Wednesdays (weather permitting) and family-style dinners on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Social hour starts at 6 p.m., with dinner at 7 p.m. Our bountiful family-style meals include prime rib, baked ham, and herb-baked chicken; cookouts feature steaks, ribs, chicken and pork chops, to name a few. Every dinner is complemented with an assortment of seasonal vegetables, homemade breads, jellies and desserts, and we offer a fine selection of wine and beer. Breakfast is also served daily from 8 to 9:30 a.m., and lunch from 12 to 2 p.m. Please call for reservations. CHEF’S TABLE 30 Church St., Waynesville. 828.452.6210. From 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday dinner starting at 5 p.m. “Best of” Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator

Magazine. Set in a distinguished atmosphere with an exceptional menu. Extensive selection of wine and beer. Reservations honored. CITY BAKERY 18 N. Main St. Waynesville 828.452.3881. Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Join us in our historic location for scratch made soups and daily specials. Breakfast is made to order daily: Gourmet cheddar & scallion biscuits served with bacon, sausage and eggs; smoked trout bagel plate; quiche and fresh fruit parfait. We bake a wide variety of breads daily, specializing in traditional french breads. All of our breads are hand shaped. Lunch: Fresh salads, panini sandwiches. Enjoy outdoor dinning on the deck. Private room available for meetings. CITY LIGHTS CAFE Spring Street in downtown Sylva. 828.587.2233. Open Monday-Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tasty, healthy and quick. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, espresso, beer and wine. Come taste the savory and sweet crepes, grilled paninis, fresh, organic salads, soups and more. Outside patio seating. Free Wi-Fi, pet-friendly. Live music and lots of events. Check the web calendar at citylightscafe.com. THE CLASSIC WINESELLER 20 Church Street, Waynesville. 828.452.6000. Underground retail wine and craft beer shop, restaurant, and intimate live music venue. Kitchen opens at 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday serving freshly prepared small plate and

REEKSIDE COYSTER HOUSE & GRILL

289-52

Full Bar • Creekside Dining Specialty Sandwiches Crafted Beer & Moonshine

Sunday Brunch

Every Sunday 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

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

April 22-28, 2015

285-42

BOGART’S 303 S. Main St., Waynesville. 828.452.1313. Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Carry out available. Located in downtown Waynesville, Bogart’s has been long-time noted for great steaks, soups, and salads. Casual family atmosphere in a rustic old-time setting with a menu noted for its practical value. Live Bluegrass/String Band music every Thursday. Walking distance of Waynesville’s unique shops and seasonal festival activities and within one mile of Waynesville Country Club.

BOURBON BARREL BEEF & ALE 454 Hazelwood Ave., Waynesville, 828.452.9191. Lunch served 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Dinner nightly from 4 p.m. Closed on Sunday. We specialize in hand-cut, all natural steaks, fresh fish, and other classic American comfort foods that are made using only the finest local and sustainable ingredients available. We also feature a great selection of craft beers from local artisan brewers, and of course an extensive selection of small batch bourbons and whiskey. The Barrel is a friendly and casual neighborhood dining experience where our guests enjoy a great meal without breaking the bank.

opinion

Taste the Mountains is an ever-evolving paid section of places to dine in Western North Carolina. If you would like to be included in the listing please contact our advertising department at 828.452.4251

TUESDAY: 75¢ Oysters after 4pm WEDNESDAY: AYCE Fish & Shrimp THURSDAY: AYCE Crab Leg FRIDAY: Surf-N-Turf Special SATURDAY: Seafood Trio Special SUNDAY: Low Country Boil

828.586.1985 • CLOSED MONDAYS

438 Skyland Drive • Sylva

Exit 85 to Skyland Dr., two blocks from McDonalds

289-24

APPÉTIT Y’AL N L BO

WE ARE NOW

Open for Breakfast MON.-SAT. 8 A.M.

3 E JACKSON ST. • SYLVA, NC

www.CityLightsCafe.com

FRIDAY, APR. 24

Karaoke w/Chris Monteith

Smoky Mountain News

UPCOMING EVENTS

289-49

SATURDAY, APR. 25

The French Broads SUNDAY, APR. 26

Rye Baby 83 Asheville Hwy. Sylva Music Starts @ 9 • 631.0554

828-456-1997 blueroostersoutherngrill.com

— Real Local People, Real Local Food — 207 Paragon Parkway, Clyde, North Carolina Monday-Friday Open at 11am

tasteTHEmountains

Papertown Grill Country Cookin' at its Best Breakfast served all day Daily Specials & Sunday Buffet 153 Main St. Canton

Monday - Saturday 7am - 8pm Sunday 7am - 3 pm

289-48

MEDITERRANEAN

ITALIAN CUISINE

Enjoy Spring in the Smokies on Our Patio LUNCH & DINNER 7 DAYS A WEEK

April 22-28, 2015

Retail Retail

Restaurant Restaurant

tions of hand-cut fries to the specialty frozen sandwiches and homemade Southern desserts, you will not leave this top-rated deli hungry.

CORK & CLEAVER 176 Country Club Drive, Waynesville. 828.456.7179. Reservations recommended. 4:30-9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Tucked away inside Waynesville Inn, Cork & Cleaver has an approachable menu designed around locally sourced, sustainable, farm-to-table ingredients. Executive Chef Corey Green prepares innovative and unique Southern fare from local, organic vegetables grown in Western North Carolina. Full bar and wine cellar. www.waynesvilleinn.com.

FRANKIE’S ITALIAN TRATTORIA 1037 Soco Rd. Maggie Valley. 828.926.6216 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Father and son team Frank and Louis Perrone cook up dinners steeped in Italian tradition. With recipies passed down from generations gone by, the Perrones have brought a bit of Italy to Maggie Valley. frankiestrattoria.com

COUNTRY VITTLES: FAMILY STYLE RESTAURANT 3589 Soco Rd, Maggie Valley. 828.926.1820 Open Daily 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., closed Tuesday. Family Style at Country Vittles is not a buffet. Instead our waitresses will bring your food piping hot from the kitchen right to your table and as many refills as you want. So if you have a big appetite, but sure to ask your waitress about our family style service. FILLING STATION DELI 145 Everett St., Bryson City, 828.488.1919. Open Monday through Wednesday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sundays (in October) 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Locals always know best, and this is one place they know well. From the high-quality hot pressed sandwiches and the huge por-

1863 S. Main Street • Waynesville 828.454.5002 Hwy. 19/23 Exit 98

289-21

tapas-style fare. Enjoy local, regional, or national talent live each Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m. www.classicwineseller.com. Also on facebook and twitter.

FROGS LEAP PUBLIC HOUSE 44 Church St. Downtown Waynesville 828.456.1930 Serving lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; Dinner 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. 5 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday. Frogs Leap is a farm to table restaurant focused on local, sustainable, natural and organic products prepared in modern regional dishes. Seasonal menu focuses on Southern comfort foods with upscale flavors. www.frogsleappublichouse.com. J. ARTHUR’S RESTAURANT AT MAGGIE VALLEY U.S. 19 in Maggie Valley. 828.926.1817. Lunch Sunday noon to 2:30 p.m., dinner Thursday - Sunday starting at 4:30 p.m. World-famous prime rib, steaks, fresh seafood, gorgonzola cheese and salads. All ABC permits and open year-round. Children always welcome. Take-out menu. Excellent service and hospitality. Reservations appreciated.

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This This W Weekend’s eekend’s M Music usic Friday, Friday, Ap Apr. r. 2 24 4@7p pm m Dan Dan Shearin Shearin - g guitar, uitar, vo vocals cals

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6306 Pigeon Road Canton, NC

-Local beers now on draft-

Mother’s Day Brunch

Join us Sunday May 10 for our

Mother’s Day Brunch from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

Live Music

(828) 648-4546

Hours:

MON-SAT: 7 A.M.-9 P.M. SUN: 8:30 A.M.-3 P.M.

jukeboxjunctioneat.com 24

Burgers to Salads Southern Favorites & Classics

289-10

Smoky Mountain News

828-452-6000 828-452-6000 classicwineseller.com classicwineseller.com 20 20 Church Church Street, Street, Waynesville, Waynesville, NC NC

SID’S ——————————————————

ON MAIN

Reservations are required — 828-926-4848 1819 Country Club Drive, Maggie Valley, NC

117 Main Street, Canton NC

W W W . M A G G I E VA L L E Y C L U B . C O M

828.492.0618 • SidsOnMain.com Serving Lunch & Dinner

289-72 236-50

tasteTHEmountains JUKEBOX JUNCTION U.S. 276 and N.C. 110 intersection, Bethel. 828.648.4193. 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday; Sunday 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Serving breakfast, lunch, nd dinner. The restaurant has a 1950s & 60s theme decorated with memorabilia from that era.

NEWFOUND LODGE RESTAURANT 1303 Tsali Blvd, Cherokee (Located on 441 North at entrance to GSMNP). 828.497.4590. Open 7 a.m. daily. Established in 1946 and serving breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. Family style dining for adults and children.

MAD BATTER FOOD & FILM 617 W. Main Street Downtown Sylva. 828.586.3555. Open Tuesday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Wednesday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Hand-tossed pizza, steak sandwiches, wraps, salads and desserts. All made from scratch. Beer and wine. Free movies with showtimes at 6:30 and 9 p.m. with a Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. Visit madbatterfoodandfilm.com for this week’s shows.

ORGANIC BEANS COFFEE COMPANY 1110 Soco Road, Maggie Valley. 828.668.2326. Open 7 days a week 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Happily committed to brewing and serving innovative, uniquely delicious coffees — and making the world a better place. 100% of our coffee is Fair Trade, Shade Grown, and Organic, all slow-roasted to bring out every note of indigenous flavor. Bakery offerings include cakes, muffins, cookies and more. Each one is made from scratch in Asheville using only the freshest, all natural ingredients available. We are proud to offer gluten-free and vegan options.

MAGGIE VALLEY CLUB 1819 Country Club Dr., Maggie Valley. 828.926.1616. maggievalleyclub.com/dine. Open seasonally for lunch and dinner. Fine and casual fireside dining in welcoming atmosphere. Full bar. Reservations accepted. MOUNTAIN PERKS ESPRESSO BAR & CAFÉ 9 Depot St., Bryson City. 828.488.9561. Open Monday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. With music at the Depot. Sunday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Life is too short for bad coffee. We feature wonderful breakfast and lunch selections. Bagels, wraps, soups, sandwiches, salads and quiche with a variety of specialty coffees, teas and smoothies. Various desserts.

BenefitingWomen of Waynesville

PASQUALE’S 1863 South Main Street, Waynesville. Off exit 98, 828.454.5002. Open for lunch and dinner, 7 days a week. Classic Italian dishes, exceptional steaks and seafood (available in full and lighter sizes), thin crust pizza, home-

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PATIO BISTRO 30 Church Street, Waynesville. 828.454.0070. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Breakfast bagels and sandwiches, gourmet coffee, deli sandwiches for lunch with homemade soups, quiches, and desserts. Wide selection of wine and beer. Outdoor and indoor dining. RENDEZVOUS RESTAURANT AND BAR Maggie Valley Inn and Conference Center 828.926.0201 Open Monday-Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m and Sunday 7:30 a.m to 9 p.m. Full service restaurant serving steaks, prime rib, seafood and dinner specials. SMOKY MOUNTAIN SUB SHOP 29 Miller Street Waynesville 828.456.3400. Open from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. A Waynesville tradition, the Smoky Mountain Sub Shop has been serving great food for over 20 years. Come in and enjoy the relaxed, casual atmosphere. Sub breads are baked fresh every morning in Waynesville. Using only the freshest ingredients in home-made soups, salads and sandwiches. Come in and see for yourself why Smoky Mountain Sub Shop was voted # 1 in Haywood County. Locally owned and operated.

SOUL INFUSION TEA HOUSE & BISTRO 628 E. Main St. (between Sylva Tire & UPS). 828.586.1717. Tuesday-Friday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday noon -until. Scrumptious, natural, fresh soups, salads, sandwiches, wraps and desserts. 60+ teas served hot or cold, black, chai, herbal. Seasonal and rotating draft beers, good selection of wine. HomeGrown Music Network Venue with live music most weekends. Pet friendly and kid ready. SPEEDY’S PIZZA 285 Main Street, Sylva. 828.586.3800. Open seven days a week. Monday-Friday 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Saturday 3 p.m.-11 p.m., Sunday 4 p.m.-10 p.m. Family-owned for 30 years. Serving hand-tossed pizza made to order, pasta, subs, gourmet salads, calzones and seafood. Also serving excellent prime rib on Thursdays. Dine in or take out available. Located across from the Fire Station. TAP ROOM SPORTS BAR & GRILL 176 Country Club Dr. Waynesville 828.456.5988. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. Enjoy soups, sandwiches, salads and hearty appetizers along with a full bar menu in our casual, smoke-free neighborhood grill. VITO’S PIZZA 607 Highlands Rd., Franklin. 828.369.9890. Established here in in 1998. Come to Franklin and enjoy our laid back place, a place you can sit back, relax and enjoy our 62” HDTV. Our Pizza dough, sauce, meatballs, and sausage are all made from scratch by Vito.

AMUSE Introducing

PRESENTED BY

April 22-28, 2015

SundayBrunch

PAPERTOWN GRILL 153 Main St., Canton. 828.648.1455 Open 7 days a week 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Serving the local community with great, scratch-made country cooking. Breakfast is served all day. Daily specials including Monday meatloaf, chicken and dumplings on Thursdays and Friday fish.

made soups, salads hand tossed at your table. Fine wine and beer selection. Casual atmosphere, dine indoors, outside on the patio or at the bar. Reservations appreciated.

AMUSE & ESSENCE 2015: An amalgamation of the exciting Mixology Competition and Chef's Challenge.

63 North Hill Street 828.452.7837

Now Open for Lunch Same great taste with a few new additions including burgers and fries!

Try our variety of homemade soups and desserts.

May 1, 2015 6:00 - 8:00 PM

Smoky Mountain News

-RLQ XV IRU WKH ƓUVW RI WZR delectable evenings leading XS WR WKH UHVSHFWLYH ƓQDOHV at this year's ELIXIR and Grand Tasting events.

MHCC Event Center Historic Montford • Asheville, NC

32 FELMET STREET off N. Main St. in Waynesville MONDAY-FRIDAY 10:30 A.M.-3 P.M.

828-456-9888

$49 • Tickets Available at 289-83

AshevilleWineandFood.com

A&E

Smoky Mountain News

SOLDIERING ON

Porch-n-soul act enters next chapter

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER Caleb Burress sees a rebirth — in himself and his music. “2014 was an education for us on many levels — we had a lot going on,” he said. “I think the changes we’ve experienced couldn’t have come at a better time. We didn’t die, we merely took the opportunity we had been presented with to really do some soul searching as a group, and figure out what we really wanted.” Lead singer for Soldier’s Heart, a Haywood County “honest porch-n-soul” band, Burress is gearing up to reintroduce the popular Southern Appalachian group as they prepare to enter the next phase of their melodic existence. Together for the better part of the last two years, it has already been a long road for the ensemble, who are eager, now more than ever, to claim their place on the stage, in the studio and out of the stereo. “The fact we didn’t panic and ‘buy the first car we saw on the lot’ has proven that we’ve made the right decisions,” he said. “In other words, it only appears that we’ve been asleep to people on the outside, but we’ve been very busy all along — people just couldn’t see it.”

The sword Burress spoke of refers to the idea that though they got the regional attention and social platform immediately, the band itself was still a moving target, in tone and intent. While they soon found themselves completely booked every weekend, the group was still figuring out its identity, which became a tug-of-war struggle between string and electric instruments. At its core, Soldier’s Heart is part backwoods tradition, part southern swagger. It’s a crossroads, where banjo and fiddle meet kick drums and a Fender Stratocaster, where three part harmony ballads follow suit to straight up 70s AM radio rock — a blurred line of melodies that proved a mesmerizing cocktail for listeners. “The word I use to describe it is ‘frenzied,’” Burress said. “We had to play so many shows, so fast, and with such frequency, that in hindsight most of our songs hadn’t been properly arranged, and there was this fly-by-the-seat-ofyour-pants attitude. But, it was just what we had to do at the time.”

PUTTING IT DOWN ON TAPE

And as the performances got bigger and bigger, the show dates further and farther away from Haywood County, Soldier’s Heart knew it was time to hit the studio, to make an album that best represented the ideas and sounds they were trying to put across to their devoted audiences. In the spring of 2014, they entered Solomon Mines Studio in Fletcher. What resulted was their debut “Almanac.” ORCH TO PUBLIC record, “Even if you’re not sitting down with your guitar and a pencil, you’re constantly writing It was May 18, 2013. Soldier’s Heart made — it has to be that way,” Burress said of the its public debut at Frog Level Brewing Company in Waynesville. Initially formed as a songwriting process. “And you have to be honest enough to tell yourway for friends to play self the truth. Your audimusic and pass the “Looking back on it ence knows when you’re time, the sextet quickly lying. You can’t tell anysnowballed into a fullnow, we realize that in one the truth if you’re fledged band. They had some ways being as lying to yourself, and I enough originals and think that’s where you iconic covers to fill a busy as we were right find your songs.” performance, so why With album innot? And though they out of the gates was a hand, Soldier’s Heart still had a lot of kinks double-edged sword.” headed into the sumto iron out within the mer of 2014 ready to sound, they were antsy — Caleb Burress seize any opportunity to take their behindpresented. They opened closed-doors project to for Shonna Tucker & Eye Candy (formerly of the people. So, they did, and over 300 people the Drive-By Truckers) at The Grey Eagle, showed up that spring night, an attendance played in front of packed houses at Highland number that would normally take groups Brewing, Jack of the Wood and Nantahala years to achieve. Brewing, took the stage at Oskar Blues “You know, from day one, the amount of Brewing and Mantrabash, as well as an array support we’ve been shown has been humof other venues around Western North bling,” Burress said. “Looking back on it Carolina and beyond. Things were holding now, we realize that in some ways being as steady, but that came to a halt with the birth busy as we were right out of the gates was a of Burress’ daughter that fall. double-edged sword.”

Soldier’s Heart, from left: Rick Shore (drums), Zack Edwards (bass), Caleb Burress (vocals/guitar), Billy McCracken (guitar) and Danielle Bishop (fiddle). The band will debut their new lineup April 25 in Franklin and Waynesville. Taylor Boyd Photography

Want to go? Soldier’s Heart will present its new lineup with two performances on Saturday, April 25. • At noon, they will play the “Music. Gear. Beer.” Celebration at Outdoor 76 in downtown Franklin. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. the gear swap event will feature live music, craft beer and an array of vendors. Free. 828.349.7676 or www.outdoor76.com. • At 7:45 p.m. they will play at The Strand at 38 Main in downtown Waynesville. Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 day-of-show. 828.283.0079 or www.38main.com. www.soldiersheart.com.

“Being a dad has changed everything — and for the better,” Burress said. “I think about everything differently now, including music. I think now I’m more conscious of what I’ll be leaving her from a musical or lyrical standpoint. Now I view my work as another way for my daughter to one day understand things that I knew or experienced or thought about.” Though the arrival of his daughter was planned, the time away from the band did put Burress’ project on a somewhat hiatus, or hibernation, depending on which way you look at it. Being apart from each other exposed many layers and differences within Soldier’s Heart. While some of the band wanted a more traditional, structured sound, others saw the writing on the wall, in terms of the listener, with a faster paced, more electric and free-flowing live set. Thus, three members of the sextet exited coming into 2015. Going back to drawing board allowed Burress to see the big picture

again. Just what is Soldier’s Heart? And what form could it take with this clean slate? Cue Danielle Bishop and Billy McCracken. A rapidly rising and renowned fiddler around Southern Appalachia, Bishop has spent most of her life performing in various bluegrass and Americana acts, most notably with the Darren Nicholson Band and Whitewater Bluegrass Company. While Bishop brings forth the chops of a seasoned pro, McCracken, a well-known area troubadour, adds in backup vocals and meticulous guitar pickin’ that ideally compliments the sonic purpose of Soldier’s Heart. “Dani and Billy are fantastic players, easy to work with and as professional as they come — I’m learning so much for them,” Burress said. “They’ve added their own unique texture to the fabric of what we are as a band, and it’s completely different from anything we’ve experienced in the past. In rehearsals, we’re all paying acute attention to the space in each song and not allowing the space to become cluttered with unnecessary playing — what you don’t play can be just as important.” With its two-year anniversary less than a month away, it seems Soldier’s Heart has once again found its footing. A follow-up record is in the works and soon the band will be taking the new lineup out for a spin. They’ve experienced a rollercoaster of triumph and change in such a short time, and yet, now, the wheels are in motion for a band whose potential can only be limited by their own vision and scope. “As a band, neither the outlook nor the intent has changed, the difference is that now our goals are more attainable,” Burress said. “We’ve matured into a more cohesive, thoughtful group. There’s a confidence and a peace that comes with this kinds of understanding between people working together to achieve a common goal — it feels really good.”

SATURDAY, APRIL 25 DOWNTOWN SYLVA

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Greening Up festival welcomes spring T he 18th annual Greening Up the Mountains spring kickoff street festival will be held Saturday, April 25, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in downtown Sylva. The third annual Beer Garden will return to McGuire Gardens with craft beer offerings from Heinzelmannchen and Innovation breweries. The two businesses will also release a Heinz-Syl-Vation Collaboration Ale (blackber-

ry spring wheat ale). Live music at the garden will include Alma Russ, Ian Moore and Dr. Pockets. Entry to the garden is $5, with craft beer and prepackaged treats from the Evolution Wine Kitchen sold separately. Alongside over 160 food/craft/business vendors, artisan demonstrations, street performers and children’s activities, there will also be an array of events.

Greening Up the Mountains 2015 • DOWNTOWN SYLVA, NC

Rye Baby. Donated photo

Rye Baby 1:05 P.M. • SIGNATURE BREW STAGE

• 11 a.m. — Jackson County Junior Appalachian Musicians • 11:30 a.m. — Triple Threat Dance Troupe • Noon — Ian Moore & the Jackson County Roots Brigade • 1 p.m. — Lions Gate Kung Fu Academy • 1:05 p.m. — Rye Baby (Americana/bluegrass) • 2 p.m. — Three Creeks Over (Americana/bluegrass) • 3 p.m. — Through the Hills (Americana/bluegrass)

Schedule • 9 a.m. — 5K run/walk. Mark Watson Park. $15 preregistration before April 21, $20 thereafter. Register at www.imathlete.com or at the Jackson County Recreation Center in Cullowhee. • 9 a.m. — Cub-mobile Downhill Race. Schulman Street. Open to all registered Cub Scouts. Sign up at 8 a.m. Races from 9 to 11 a.m. SIGNATURE BREW STAGE, MAIN STREET • 9:30 a.m. — Mountain Youth Talent Show

BRIDGE PARK STAGE, RAILROAD AVENUE • 10 a.m. — Betty Collins Brown & Company • 10:20 a.m. — Lions Gate Kung Fu Academy • 10:30 a.m. — Encore Dance Troupe • 11 a.m. — Subluminous • Noon — Lions Gate Kung Fu Academy • 12:05 p.m. — French Broads • 1 p.m. — Positive Mental Attitude (jam/rock) • 2 p.m. — Porch 40 (funk/rock) • 3 p.m. — Darren & The Buttered Toast (funk/soul)

Hailing from Chattanooga, Rye Baby is a fiery duo, one that encompasses the honky-tonk blues and Americana-roots sounds that runs deeply through Southern Appalachia. With a yodeling akin to Hank Williams, mandolinist Jennifer Brumlow howls to the heavens with a voice as haunting as it is poignant. Alongside her is guitarist Callie Harmon, who provides wave after wave of acoustic finger pickin’. Smoky Mountain News: What do you like most about playing the Americana-roots genre? Jennifer Brumlow: The truth in the music, honesty in the writing, and the less is more approach in performing. SMN: What’s the key to creating a great song? JB: Honestly, there’s no real rhyme or reason to writing a song. It hits at random moments and you have to sit down and grab it. A song is never completely done. We’ve had songs that have already gone through three lives in only two years. We just share what we have and if it evolves into something else we share that version as well. SMN: How does the vast and ancient landscape of Southern Appalachia affect the sound? JB: It’s hard to not be influence by old country, bluegrass and folk music growing up in Tennessee and North Georgia. It’s bound to rub off on you at some point. www.facebook.com/ryebabymusic. — Garret K. Woodward, staff writer

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Through the Hills

3 P.M. • SIGNATURE BREW STAGE The newest musical entity in Western North Carolina, the Haywood County quartet brings together singer-songwriter Kevin Fuller with banjoist Joey Fortner (formerly of Soldier’s Heart). Add in teenage fiddle prodigy Alma Russ, and you have yourself a solid foundation of mountain melodies and indie-folk grit to build upon. Founded by Fuller, the Upstate New Yorker has traveled the highways and biways of America, from Maine to California, putting his transformative experiences to paper and chords. Smoky Mountain News: How did Through the Hills come about? Kevin Fuller: When I moved to Western North Carolina, I played a gig at Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) and met our bassist Raymond Mathews. We started sitting around the brewery, playing songs, and that’s when we met Joey and Alma. We just started these impromptu jams at the brewery and decided it sounded quite all right.

SMN: How does this region affect your sound and what you’re ultimately trying to get across to an audience? KF: I’ve always been influenced by bluegrass and Appalachian music. I’d always heard the twang in my songs. I heard banjo, fiddle and upright bass. I had absolutely no intention of ever moving to Western North Carolina. So, when I ended up here, and met the greatest musicians in the world, who played those instruments and asked to play music with me, I was kind of blown away. I feel like there’s a reason why I am here, and I feel like this is it. — By Garret K. Woodward, staff writer

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Through The Hills.

Greening Up the Mountains 2015 • DOWNTOWN SYLVA, NC

SMN: What’s the intent of the group? KF: I think for me, personally, I’m trying to tell a story. I’m humbled that three other people want to stand up there and tell my story with me. I’ve used this music as a healing tool. I do think our overall philosophy is just to share the music and these stories with people. One person, five people, 500 people, we don’t care.

Craig Burgwardt photo

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Greening Up the Mountains 2015 • DOWNTOWN SYLVA, NC

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orities, like it does for so many of us. It has remained, even throughout all of those times I dreaded the weather outside or was nursing a hangover and had to convince myself to go run, that after a mile or so, you’d find that ideal rhythm. Today (April 20) was Patriots’ Day, with the 119th running of the Boston Marathon this morning. Though in recent years this immortal race conjures tragic memories, it will always be the most important day in the running world, and also one of the days that perfectly showcases the beauty of what humanity is capable of, as a species and as a vital piece in the puzzle of the universe. In celebration of the Boston Marathon, I went for a long sunset run around downtown Waynesville this evening. I had planned on doing four miles, but was so lost in my thoughts and pure enjoyment that, before I knew it, I had run almost seven. My body moved like clockwork, where your physical and emotional intent becomes one in the same, with each mile ticking away, leaving you wanting another. Life is beautiful, grasp for it, y’all. Editor’s Note: The inaugural Gateway To The Smokies Half Marathon will be start at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, May 2, in downtown Waynesville and end in Frog Level. For more information or to register for the race, click on www.smokieshalfmarathon.com.

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Bookstore

William Everett will introduce his new book Sawdust and Soul: A Conversation on Woodworking and Spirituality on Saturday, April 25 at 3 p.m. 3 EAST JACKSON STREET • SYLVA

828/586-9499 • citylightsnc.com

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April 22-28, 2015

It is the single most essential thing in my life. Running. The action of putting on jogging shorts, a comfortable t-shirt, lacing up your shoes and heading out the front door for the open road. It is oxygen for my soul, lighting in a bottle for my heart, and sanity for my brain. At age 30, I’ve been a runner now for 18 years. It is the one thing that I cannot live without in my existence. And to think, when I was 12 years old, it was the last thing I ever wanted to do. When I entered middle school, I wanted to play soccer. But my father, a Red Formanesque (That ‘70s Show) character, and a lifelong runner, had other plans. “You’re going to run crosscountry,” he stated. From a man Garret K. who had run over 80 marathons Woodward. (with 14 finishes at Boston) and thousands of road races, he was a physically intimidating force back in the day. Thus, I didn’t question his decision. And that … was that. I became a runner. At first, I really The Strand at 38 Main (Waynesville) will have didn’t know what the hell I was Soldier’s Heart (Americana/soul) April 25 and doing. All I knew was I wanted Mangas Colorado (Americana/bluegrass) April to hang towards the front of the 30. Both shows are at 7:45 p.m. pack in practice and in races. I also wanted to win. I really Neil Simon’s “Brighton Beach Memoirs” will be didn’t care about metals or accoheld at 7:30 p.m. April 24-25 and May 1-2, 8lades. I just didn’t want someone 9, and at 3 p.m. May 3 and 10 at the Haywood to beat me. I wanted to be the Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville. fastest one on the course. That No Name Sports Pub (Sylva) will have attitude won me many meets in The Dirty Soul Revival (blues/hard rock) at 9 middle school, and also prop.m. April 24. pelled me to be on varsity track that spring as a seventh-grader. The Western North Carolina AIDS Project’s All that success at such a 13th annual Dining Out for Life benefit will take young age really took a toll as place on April 30 in surrounding communities. the years went along. Middle Western Carolina University (Cullowhee) will school became high school. have the Gamelan Ensemble at 7:30 p.m. April Regular season meets became 22 in the Coulter Building. state championship meets. Winning became the priority for my teammates and I. Although I prove our athletic worth, to win. truly loved being a runner and playing But, as I was headlong into my collegiate sports, the pressure and anxiety started to running endeavors, it finally struck me — build. Granted, I would always run to my running was becoming a chore. Something I best ability, no matter what, but what deeply loved was now becoming more of an remained was utter psychological hell leadobligation than a release with two-a-day pracing up to stepping on the starting line. tices amid the haphazard schedule of a douEven to this day, and I think most comble major. So, towards the end of my junior petitive runners can agree, when I attend a year at Quinnipiac University, I walked away track meet or cross-country race, there’s this from the team. It was the first time in almost queasy feeling in my gut that immediately a decade I wasn’t running competitively. transports me back to my old race days. And, with that, my love affair with runWith that said, all of us runners thrived on that feeling, on those days when we knew we ning was rekindled. I was running for me now, and only me. I was running to escape had what it took break a school record, to

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the trials and tribulations of daily life. I was running to make peace with heartbreak, disappointment or career frustration. I was running to soak in a majestic prairie sunset, smell the salty sea breeze or tackle a joyously muddy mountain trail after a baptismal rainstorm. As I’ve pushed further into this crazy profession called journalism, running has always been my one anchor, providing me with stability and a sense of reality when everything else seems to be going off the rails. It is the one part of my day where I’m nowhere near my smart phone or laptop, where I listen acutely to everything around me, all the while pondering the mysteries of the world with a grin from ear-to-ear that only comes from someone who is in tune to the cosmos with each passing stride. It’s only been recently that I’ve started to run races again. Obviously, I’m not “in it to win it” anymore. But then again, I’ve already won, in essence, because running will always be a part of my life. It didn’t disappear after college or once your day-to-day reality becomes consumed with work and other pri-

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arts & entertainment

On the beat Haywood chorus to present bluegrass program The Haywood Community Chorus will be joined with local bluegrass musicians to offer a program of old and new American music at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 3, at the First United Methodist Church in Waynesville. The first part of the program will consist of the High Lonesome Mass, composed and arranged by Tim Sharp and Wes Ramsay in 2011. Following the structure of a traditional mass, the work incorporates old hymn tunes, such as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Come Away to the Skies,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Brethren, We Have Met to Worshipâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;What Wondrous Love Is This.â&#x20AC;? The chorus will be accompanied by string bass, banjo, guitar, and fiddle. The second half of the program will be comprised of mountain folk tunes, some lively and others more ballad-like, most of them arranged by Mack Wilberg in the 1990s. Two of Western North Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most talented musicians, director David Traynham and accompanist Kathy McNeil, have been preparing the chorus since February. The Junior Appalachian Musicians will also offer a special presentation. The chorus is a nonprofit organization,

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;AMERICAN IDOLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; WINNER TO PERFORM IN CHEROKEE American Idol Season 13 winner and Asheville native Caleb Johnson will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 2, at Harrahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cherokee. Johnson has electrified audiences of millions with his commanding vocals and a fiery energy. The show is all ages. Tickets start at $16.25. www.harrahscherokee.com. www.facebook.com/idolcalebjohnson

April 22-28, 2015

and contributions will be gratefully accepted. Admission is free. 828.456.2558.

Jazz Festival to feature Margitza

Saxophone master Rick Margitza will be the special guest performing and instructing at the 2015 Jazz Festival at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 25, in the Coulter Building at Western Carolina University. Margitza will instruct a jazz improvisation master class for WCU students at 12:30 p.m., followed by rehearsals at 2:30 p.m. with the WCU Jazz Ensemble and at 4 p.m. with the Pavel Wlosok Trio. Performances scheduled for the evening include Margitza with the jazz ensemble at 7:30 p.m. and with the trio at 8:30 p.m. After living in New Orleans, Margitza moved to the Big Apple in 1989 and performed in New York and elsewhere with McCoy Tyner, Bobby Hutcherson, Tony Williams, Chick Corea and Miles Davis. He has led his own band, recorded 10 albums and composed two symphonies and a saxophone concerto, among other works. All classes, rehearsals and performances will be open to the public free of charge and held in the Coulter Building recital hall. 828.227.3261 or pwlosok@wcu.edu.

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DESIGN SEMINARS

On the beat

• Balsam Mountain Inn will have Annie Sellick & The Hot Club of Nashville (gypsy jazz) at 6 p.m. April 26. Tickets are $49 per person, and include a buffet dinner. www.balsammountaininn.net. • BearWaters Brewing (Waynesville) will have Tonology (metal/hard rock) at 8 p.m. April 24. www.bwbrewing.com or 828.246.0602. • City Lights Café (Sylva) will have a Sunday Jazz Brunch with Chad Hallyburton (Americana/folk) April 26. www.citylightscafe.com. • Classic Wineseller (Waynesville) will have Dan Shearin (folk/Americana) April 24 and Joe Cruz (pop/piano) April 25. All shows begin at 7 p.m. 828.452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com.

ALSO:

• Derailed Bar & Lounge (Bryson City) will have Frank Lee (bluegrass/Americana) April 25 and Heidi Holton (singer-songwriter) May 2. All shows begin at 7 p.m. 828.488.8898.

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will have an Open Mic night April 22 and 29, and a jazz night with the Kittle/Collings Duo April 23 and 30. All events begin at 8 p.m. www.innovation-brewing.com.

• No Name Sports Pub (Sylva) will have The Dirty Soul Revival (blues/hard rock) April 24, Skunk Ruckus (hillbilly rock) April 25 and Chris Williams (singer-songwriter) April 27. All shows are free and begin at 9 p.m. 828.586.2750 or www.nonamesportspub.com. • Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub (Franklin) will have Bigger Than Squirrels April 24, Jazz Mountain April 25, Gary Carter May 1 and Tom Johnson May 2. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. www.rathskellerfranklin.com. • The Strand at 38 Main (Waynesville) will have Soldier’s Heart (Americana/soul) April 25 and Mangas Colorado (Americana/bluegrass) April 30. Both shows are at 7:45 p.m., with tickets $8 in advance, $10 at the door. www.38main.com or 828.283.0079. • Tipping Point Brewing (Waynesville) will have ‘Round the Fire (Grateful Dead tribute) 8:30 p.m. April 24 and James Stinnett (singer-songwriter) 9 p.m. May 1. Both shows are free. • Tuck’s Tap & Grille (Cullowhee) will have DJ Complete April 23, Lefty Williams Band (roots/rock) April 24 and DJ A-Minor April 30. Bands go on at 9 p.m., DJs at 10 p.m. • Western Carolina University (Cullowhee) will have the Gamelan Ensemble April 22, Flute Studio Recital April 23, Pavol Wlosok (jazz) April 25, Michael Abernathy Senior Recital 3 p.m. April 26, Brass Ensemble April 29 and Choral Ensembles April 30 in the Coulter Building. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. There will be an Honors College Concert from 6 to 9 p.m. April 26 at the University Center Plaza. A Wind Ensemble Concert will be April 27 and Symphony Band Concert April 28 at the Bardo Arts Center, with both shows at 7:30 p.m. www.wcu.edu.

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Smoky Mountain News

• Long’s Chapel United Methodist Church (Waynesville) will have the Voices in the Laurel Children’s Choirs during their 18th annual Spring Concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 26. Musical selections feature beloved folks song, spirituals and festival music. Sponsored by the Grassroots Grant from the

• Nantahala Brewing (Bryson City) will have Ravenhill (indie/rock) 8 p.m. April 24 and Ben Sutton & The Ends (rock) May 1. All shows are free and begin at 8:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.nantahalabrewing.com.

April 22-28, 2015

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will have Chris Minick (singer-songwriter/folk) April 23, Kabin Fever Party April 24 and Pismo Spanky (singer-songwriter) 7 p.m. May 1. All shows are free and begin at 6 p.m., unless otherwise noted. 828.454.5664 or www.froglevelbrewing.com.

North Carolina Arts Council. Tickets are $10 for adults, $7 for children. 828.734.9163 or www.voicesinthelaurel.org.

arts & entertainment

• Andrews Brewing Company will have Rob Tiger (singer-songwriter) 6 p.m. April 24, Porch 40 (funk/rock, $5) 7 p.m. April 25, CaroMia (Americana/folk) May 1 and Goldie & The Screamers (soul/R&B, $5) May 2. All shows are free, unless otherwise noted. www.andrewsbrewing.com.

arts & entertainment

On the street

Folkmoot ‘May Day’ features antiques, music, craft beer Folkmoot USA invites area collectors to its spring-cleaning fundraiser from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 2, at the old Hazelwood Elementary School in Waynesville. After 32 years of collecting trinkets, old desks, unique chairs, foam mattresses, folding and non-folding bed frames and used kitchen equipment, Folkmoot is ready to unload its wares. Parallel to the house-cleaning sale at 11 a.m., Folkmoot will open the halls, cafeteria and multipurpose room of the Friendship Center to celebrate spring renewal with a May Day Celebration. Activities will feature music by Blackberry Jam, the Haywood Community Band; dance lessons and performances by J. Creek Cloggers and youth dance performances by Angie’s Dance Company; delicious Mexican cuisine by Maria Pressley, special craft beers by Boojum and Frog Level breweries, and coffee blends roasted by Smoky Mountain Roasters and Panacea Coffee. Folkmoot will also offer a

The Folkmoot ‘May Day’ celebration will be May 2 at the Folkmoot Friendship Center in Waynesville. silent auction, a May Pole and spring craft projects for kids with a spring plant sale by Southeastern Native Plant Nursery. The Folkmoot ticket office will also be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the Folkmoot USA Festival 2015, set for July 16-26. Tickets are currently available at www.folkmootusa.org.

Smoky Mountain News

April 22-28, 2015

Frances Mayes dinner at Classic Wineseller Under the Tuscan Sun bestselling author Frances Mayes will be part of a special wine dinner at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 28, at The Classic Wineseller in Waynesville. Four Tuscan Sun wines will be paired with recipes from The Tuscan Sun Cookbook: Recipes from My Italian Kitchen, a collection of Mayes’ favorite Tuscan recipes. A widely published poet and essayist, Mayes has written numerous books of poetry, including Sunday in Another Country, After Such Pleasures, The Arts of Fire, Hours, The Book of Summer, and Ex Voto. Formerly a professor of creative writing at San Francisco State University, Mayes now devotes herself full time to writing. She and her husband divide their time between North Carolina and Tuscany. The cost of the dinner is $49.99 per person. Blue Ridge Books in Frances Mayes Waynesville will also have Mayes' cookbook available for purchase in the store and at the wine dinner. www.classicwineseller.com or 828.452.6000.

• A benefit for the Kids Advocacy Resource Effort (KARE) will be held from 6 to 11 p.m. April 24 at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door, which includes a beer and bratwurst plate. www.froglevelbrewing.com. • An Empty Bowl fundraiser will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, April 24, at The Community Table in Sylva. Choose a handmade ceramic bowl, then fill it with a complementary bowl of soup, bread and dessert. $20. www.communitytable.org.

• An eight-week mountain dance classes will be offered from 6 to 7:30 p.m. starting May 14 at Haywood Community College in Clyde. The class, titled Clogging 101, will teach traditional buck dance, flat-foot, clogging and 34

square dance routines with various speakers throughout the semester, who will talk about the history of the styles and music. Cost is $80. Register by May 7. www.haywood.edu. • A sample yoga class will be held at 6 p.m. April 23 at the Macon County Library in Sylva. Instructor will be Jennifer McIntee of Beyond Bending Yoga. • The second annual Star Ranch Horse Parade will be held at from 1 to 4 p.m. April 26 on Main Street in downtown Waynesville. The event, put on by the Star Ranch Animal Rescue, celebrates ASPCA’s “Help A Horse Day.” Open to the public. • A “Make Your Own Veggie Burger” workshop will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, April

9-ball shootout comes to Haywood The ARC of Haywood County’s Smoky Mountain 9-Ball Tournament will be held April 24-27 at the Old Armory in Waynesville. The tournament features hundreds of participants, from all skill levels, from all around the country. Food and drinks will be available throughout the event. Cash prizes are awarded to the winners. Players will pay a fee for participating. The nonprofit Arc of Haywood County, Inc. was incorporated to provide residential services to individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. Through training and support from Arc staff, many people learn the skills necessary to become more independent. The event is free for spectators and open to the public. www.arcofhaywood.org or sbrown@arcofhaywood.org.

‘Dining Out’ for a good cause The Western North Carolina AIDS Project’s (WNCAP) 13th annual Dining Out for Life® benefit will take place on April 30 in surrounding communities. The acclaimed national fundraiser has raised over $30 million for AIDS service organizations across the country and in Canada since it began. Locally, over 100 restaurants will generously donate 20 percent of their gross sales that day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In return, there will be an intense marketing campaign to increase diner traffic in each restaurant though social media, numerous print ads, as well as WLOS-TV, iHeartMedia, the Asheville Radio Group, and Public Radio. The Asheville fundraiser ranks fifth in the nation in actual dollars raised out of 55 cities producing the event. Participating restaurants in this coverage area include Chef ’s Table, City Bakery,

25, at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Franklin. Trish Piper will be demonstrating and discussing how to do this. Samples will be available. If you already make veggie burgers and would like to share your experiences (and possibly a sample), we would welcome your participation in this free program. All are welcome. 828.524.3691.

ALSO:

• The Thunder In The Smokies Spring Rally will be held May 1-3 at the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds. Gates open at 11 a.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday/Sunday. Live music, bike games, tour rides, bike show, food and bike vendors, and more. Three-day passes are $17 for ages 13 and over, and

Frog’s Leap Public House, Guadalupe Café, J. Arthur’s, Joey’s Pancake House, Lulu’s On Main, Mad Batter Food & Film, Panacea Coffeehouse & Roastery, Pasquale’s, Soul Infusion Tea House & Bistro, Tipping Point Brewing and Ugly Dog Pub. www.wncap.org/dofl.

Sylva Open Door Meal & Sing

An Open Door Meal & Sing will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 29, at the First United Methodist Church in Sylva. The community is invited to enjoy a delicious meal and contemporary religious music performed by the church Praise Band. Church member Daniel Corsair will provide a brief devotional prior to the meal. The Open Door and Sing event is held on the fifth Wednesday in those months that have one. Church members provide the food and beverages. All are welcome and invited to attend. 828.586.2358.

Kick your cooking skills up a notch

The Taste of Home Cooking School will be held at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, May 2, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. The Taste of Home Cooking School is America's leading cooking school program and inspires more than 300,000 passionate consumers each year at 300 events across the country. During the show, experience a twohour demonstration of exciting recipes, cooking tips and innovative products. The Culinary Specialists will show step-by-step instructions on how to create satisfying and flavorful dishes to enjoy at home or while entertaining. Everyone will receive a gift bag full of recipes, coupons and sample products. Tickets are $15. www.greatmountainmusic.com or 828.524.1598.

$8 for ages 5-12. www.thunderinthesmokies.com. • There will be a LEGO Club meeting at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 23, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. The library will provide Legos and Duplos for ages 3 and up, the only thing area children need to bring is their imagination. All area children are invited join in and let your creativity shine. 828.488.3030. • The Ramp Festival will be held at noon to 6 p.m. May 2-3 at the American Legion in Waynesville. Live music, arts/crafts booths, food vendors and adult beverages will be onsite, all in celebration of the naturally mountain grown wild onion. There will also be a ramp-eating contest. www.visitncsmokies.com.

On the wall

On the stage

Films created by Western Carolina University students will be screened at the sixth annual Controlled Chaos Film Festival at 7 p.m. Friday, May 1, at the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center in Cullowhee. “It’s our premiere,” said Kasey N. Summers, event organizer and senior from Phillipsburg, New Jersey. “We all dream of having polished work on the big screen, and this is the opportunity to celebrate the hours of hard work put in by each student. From horror movies to silent films, our top-notch programs encourage film-lovers to come experience the talent, art and entertainment they’ve come to expect from Western Carolina University’s School of Stage and Screen.” The senior thesis short films “Lost Soles” and “Cold Coffee” will be featured at the event. For the festival, students raised between $4,000 and $6,000 to create each senior project, filmed and shot with a state-of-the-art

The Controlled Chaos Film Festival will be May 1 at WCU. WCU photo F65 CineAlta camera that was donated to WCU by Sony. Advance tickets to the Controlled Chaos Film Festival can be purchased for $10 each in the School of Stage and Screen office located on the second floor of the Stillwell Building. Tickets are $10 cash at the door. Proceeds and donations benefit the Motion Picture Student Project Fund, which helps students with the cost of creating their senior project films. 828.227.2324 or jsholder@wcu.edu.

Simon comedy to hit HART stage

‘West Side Story’ comes to Franklin

The Neil Simon masterpiece production “Brighton Beach Memoirs” will be held at 7:30 p.m. April 24-25 and May 1-2, 8-9, and at 3 p.m. May 3 and 10 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville. The autobiographical play is set in the 1930s and the action is seen through the eyes of young Eugene Morris Jerome. The play is one of the funniest and most touching of all of the Simon works. Simon is the most successful playwright in theater history. At one point he had three hit plays running on Broadway simultaneously and throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s one hit followed another. He was a part of a legendary group of writers who worked for Sid Caesar on “Your Show of Shows” in the 1950s that included Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner and Selma Diamond. In 1991 Simon wrote what would become his most celebrated play, “Lost in Yonkers.” The play has the same spirit and feel as the “Brighton Beach” trilogy, and it finally won him the Pulitzer Prize. Tickets are $24 for adults, $20 for seniors and $11 for students. There will also be a $7 matinee. www.harttheatre.org or 828.456.6322.

The acclaimed production “West Side Story” will hit the stage at 7 p.m. Friday, May 1, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Leonard Bernstein’s legendary story is of hidden romance and tragedy, as tensions rise in this classic American musical. This most loved show is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” set in 1950s Manhattan. We join rival gangs — the American “Jets” and the Puerto Rican “Sharks” — who are battling for control of the historic New York City community (Upper West Side). In the midst of the gang tensions and neighborhood prejudices blooms the romance of Tony, former Jets member and Maria, the younger sister of Bernardo, founder of the Sharks. The production tells a relevant story of the consequences of ethnic violence and romance on the streets of our greatest city. The Franklin show will be presented by the Asheville Lyric Opera. Tickets start at $20. www.greatmountainmusic.com or 828.524.1598.

arts & entertainment

Controlled Chaos Film Festival at WCU

Art After Dark returns to Waynesville

• The “Come Paint with Charles Kidz Program” will be at 4 p.m. April 23 and 30 at the Charles Heath Gallery in Bryson City. $20 per child. Materials and snacks included. 828.538.2054.

• The native film “Legends From The Sky” is currently screening at 4 p.m., 7:05 p.m. and 9:10 p.m. at Cherokee Phoenix Theatre. • The Franklin Kid’s Creation Station will be from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 25, at the Uptown Gallery. There will also be a station from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 11 at The Bascom in Highlands. www.thebascom.org or 828.349.4607 (Franklin) or 828.526.4949 (Highlands). • “Riverwebs” (April 22), “Take 3” (April 23), “Goonies” (April 24), “Wall-E” (April 25) and

• “Wild” (April 24-May 1) will be screened at The Strand at 38 Main in Waynesville. Every Friday and Saturday in April, “The Big Lebowski” will be shown for free at 9:30 p.m., with “Tinkerbell: The Legend of the Neverbeast” also for free every Saturday in April at noon and 2 p.m. For screening times, click on www.38main.com or call 828.283.0079.

ALSO:

• “Life Changes Everything” will also be screened at 7 p.m. Friday, April 24, at the Smoky Mountain Center of the Performing Arts in Franklin. Free. Presented by the Christian Training Center International. www.greatmountainmusic.com.

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Smoky Mountain News

• There will be a BFA portfolio reception from 5 to 7 p.m. April 30 at the Fine Art Museum at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. www.wcu.edu.

“Inherent Vice” (April 30) will be screened at the Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. Screenings are free and begin at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. There is also a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturdays. www.madbatterfoodandfilm.com.

A GUAR AN T EED GR E AT NIGH T OU T

April 22-28, 2015

Art After Dark continues from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, May 1, in downtown Waynesville. Enjoy a stroll through working studios and galleries on Main Street and Depot Street. Festive Art After Dark flags denote participating galleries. There will also be live music by singer-songwriter Matt Welborn from 6 to 9 p.m. at The Mahogany House, which will also have works from featured artists Dawn Behling (screenprint) and Myriah Strivelli (woodblock/linoleum prints). Twigs and Leaves Gallery will feature metalsmith Becky Burnette, clay artist Crystal Allen and pianist Diane Wolfe, with FourElements BeadWorks creator Suzy Johnson at Earthworks Gallery, and potter Cory Houston Plott with jazz guitarist James Hammel at the Village Framer. www.downtownwaynesville.com.

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Books

Smoky Mountain News

Dam politics and freedom of religion he growing threat of drought in the Southeast and the problems of “water politics” has prodded the memory of many legislators and ecologists to anxiously recall the snail darter controversy. Over 30 years ago, a paper clip-sized fish in the Little Tennessee River halted construction of a $100 million project, the Tellico Dam. Before this battle was over, the people who challenged the TVA were left with a brutal lesson in pork barrel politics. Essentially, this arrogant, federally funded agency, which had already constructWriter ed more than 60 dams in Tennessee, proceeded to build one more. The snail darter was relocated and forgotten; the rights of a dozen entities who opposed the project (including the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the Sierra Club, the Tennessee Conservation, the Tennessee Historical Association and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Trout Unlimited) all were ignored. However, the Eastern Band of Cherokees decided to make yet another appeal based on their contention that the flooding of Tellico Plains would violate their religious freedom. Common Ground reveals the details of this final, audacious battle. Since the author served for 22 years as the tribal attorney for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (1970-92), he is admirably qualified to address the Tellico Plains controversy. However, Common Ground is a novel, but it is a unique one. Instead of utilizing the conventional format of a novel with descriptive details, Bridgers presents his characters in accordance to their role in this story. Personal names are rarely used. For example, the tribal attorney is identified by the heading, “THE ATTORNEY,”

Gary Carden

Cherokee people make traditional trips to Chota, the sacred town, and that they claim to draw spiritual strength from being there. Medicine men find herbs that they use in rituals and they do not grow elsewhere. As a consequence, THE ATTORNEY takes an honored shaman with him to Chota. When THE SHAMAN travels across the Smokies on the way to Knoxville and Chota, he discovers that the trees are dying in the high elevations. THE ATTORNEY and THE PRINCIPAL CHIEF tell THE SHAMAN that this is due to acid rain and the poisonous smog emitted by the TVA plants in Tennessee. THE SHAMAN (speaking in Cherokee) tells his companions that “the world is dying” due to “the unig’s (white man) ignorance” of the natural world and how it works. The details of the Shaman’s visit to both Chota and the federal court are provocative. When THE SHAMAN speaks or when he reveals his thoughts, it becomes obvious that he perceives this final fight as futile. He quickly appraises the federal judge’s remarks and knows from the judge’s prior decisions that he always supports the TVA. For him, the trial is a charade since the dam is complete and nothing remains but to release the water.[ Still, he wants to Common Ground by Ben Oshel Bridgers. “bear witness” to the fact that the CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2014. 340 pages. Cherokees have opposed this evil, destructive act. Much of Common Ground resembles a REPORTER, etc. As a consequence, there is an chess game in which THE TVA ATTORNEY absence of descriptive detail, yet we know a makes a strategic move that is countered by character’s physical characteristics when he is THE TRIBAL ATTORNEY. The outcome is described by another. For example, the reader knows that THE ATTORNEY is red-headed and inevitable. In time, the truth will become evident: The Tellico Dam served no significant has a large nose when he is described by other purpose since the electrical energy produced by characters, among them, THE GIRLFRIEND. the dam is negligible. The true purpose for Much of the action revolves around a journey from Cherokee to Knoxville to present legal building the dam is “recreational” and is actually a part of a land development scheme to documents to the federal court. When THE develop some expensive real estate. However, ATTORNEY decides to develop a case based on within a decade, the TVA’s hidden agenda freedom of religion, he discovers that many which is followed by a kind of monologue. So, the novel introduces a diversity of characters, THE SHAMAN, THE SECRETARY, THE

NY Times bestseller to discuss new work An evening with Appalachian writer Wiley Cash will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 7, at the First United Methodist Church in Waynesville. Cash is known for his first novel, New York Times Bestseller A Land More Kind than Home. His book received positive comments in such publications as The New York Times Sunday Book Review, Entertainment Weekly, The Washington Post, The Atlanta JournalConstitution and Vanity Fair. A Land More Kind than Home won the Southern Independent Bookseller Ailliances’ Book Award for Fiction of the Year and the John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award from the UK’s Crime Writers’ Association. The gathering will feature a Q&A session with Cash, a reading from the book he’s currently writing, and a catered dessert buffet catered by Kanini’s. Tickets are $10, which are available at any Haywood County

becomes obvious. As THE ATTORNEY gathers evidence that readily demonstrates that the ancient grave sites in Tellico Plains and the Cherokee traditions associated with Chota are compelling evidence of the religious ties, he finds himself developing a growing awareness of “a spirit” that is alien to him. By degrees, he develops a vague awareness of a powerful presence that is waning. The trees are dying and a culture is on the brink of extinction. Shortly before his death, THE SHAMAN has a prophetic dream in which the same forces that brought the end of his world will offer the Cherokees a kind of solace in the form of what THE SHAMAN CALLS “the Big money.” The implication is that this final “gift” will prove to be the ruin of his people. As Bridgers unwinds this dark tale of how a complex culture was undermined and destroyed by greed and political chicanery, he does an admirable job of sketching a series of Cherokee legends as well as some poignant history. Especially noteworthy is a tale about the final days of the Sandhill Cherokees in Macon County. In addition, there is a tale of a lost medicine belt and the significance of the swastika (the symbol that we associate with Nazi Germany) in Cherokee culture. Finally, let me comment on the subtle depiction of romantic love. Common Ground contains four characters who do manage to find love and affection in the midst of all of this political intrigue. Both THE ATTORNEY and the handsome young TRANSLATOR manage a bit of intimacy and affection, but there are no passages of smoldering passion. The details are left to the reader’s imagination. Both THE SECRETARY and THE GIRLFRIEND have dual roles since they provide transportation and transcribe legal briefs as well as being intimate companions. This reader was pleased to find a bit of spice and seasoning in this tale that might have otherwise been a bland concoction. (Gary Carden is a writer and storyteller who lives in Sylva. He can be reached at gcarden498@aol.com.)

library branch and Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville. 828.456.6000 or www.blueridgebooksnc.com.

about what they are doing and why they are doing it. 828.456.6000 or www.blueridgebooksnc.com.

Memoir brings together woodworking, spirituality

Teen Poetry Fest in Franklin

Author William Everett will present his new book Sawdust and Soul: A Conversation about Woodworking and Spirituality at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 25, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. The book was co-authored by John W. de Gruchy, who is one of South Africa’s most celebrated theologians. Everett has joined with a fellow woodworker in South Africa to put together a book of conversations about woodworking and spirituality. Now retired theologians, for the past 15 years, he and de Gruchy have carried on a constant conversation about the impact their shared love of woodworking has had on their lives. On visits to each other’s shops over the years they have built wood pieces together as well as talked

To celebrate National Poetry Month, there will be an open-mic Teen Poetry Fest at 7 p.m. Monday, April 27, at the Rathskeller Coffee Haus in Franklin. All high school-age poets and lovers of poetry are invited to read or recite their original works, as well as share their favorite works by other poets. All participants will receive RAT Bucks, to be spent at the event on the Rathskeller’s menu items. No pre-registration is needed; participants are given stage time on a first-come basis. Family members and friends are invited to come and cheer their teens on. This event is sponsored by the Arts Council of Macon County, supported in part by the Grassroots Arts Program of the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources. www.artscouncilofmacon.org or 828.524.ARTS.

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Smoky Mountain News

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Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

A competitor in the 2014 Lake Logan Multisport Festival jogs toward his bicycle after finishing the swimming leg of the race. Holly Kays photo

Racing ahead Successful athletic events bolster tourism Haywood half marathon coming up

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER rom paved 5K routes to epic trail runs and triathlons, Western North Carolina is rife with outdoor races of all types. But a peek at the history shows that the bulk of these events are new arrivals on the landscape, most founded in the past decade or so with new ones popping up each year. “Sporting events seem to be growing across the nation, and people are interested in taking their families on these trips,” said CeCe Hipps, executive director of the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce. “What better place to be in the great outdoors than Haywood County?” It’s a realization that spurred the chamber to launch the Blue Ridge Breakaway — a bicycle ride with routes topping 100 miles and taking in views from the Blue Ridge Parkway — in 2009. Since then, the ride has attracted hundreds of bikers each year, generating an estimated $150,000 to $170,000 annually in visitor spending, according to a report on bicycle tourism commissioned by a coalition of area organizations. This year, the chamber is adding a running race to its arsenal — the Gateway To The Smokies Half Marathon, scheduled for May 2. For the inaugural year, the Chamber hopes to bring in 200 racers from a four-hour driving radius, all of whom will start and end their 13.1-mile trek in the heart of Waynesville. As of last week, 113 had signed up. “Typically in the past we’ve focused a lot

on festivals, arts-and-crafts-type festivals which are very successful as well, but we have a whole different target now,” Hipps said of the chamber’s emphasis on races. Racers and riders are active types, fit people poised to appreciate the multitude of outdoors activities in the Smokies region. They run the gamut of age and gender, Hipps said, but probably the largest segment of the group is people in their 40s and 50s, working professionals with families who are looking for an adventurous and active way to spend the weekend. It’s a demographic that’s been good to Deb and Shell Isenberg, owners of Oak Hill on Love Lane Bed and Breakfast. “We love the fact that our situation, our geographic location is perfect for people that like to do outdoor things,” Deb said. “There’s so much for them to do.” If not for the races, though, they might not be pursuing those outdoor adventures in Haywood County at that particular time of year. The chamber schedules events like the Breakaway and Gateway To The Smokies to take over “shoulder season” weekends, times of year when tourism typically lags in Western North Carolina. “That’s not a typical time of year for us to be completely booked, so we can definitely directly relate our occupancy over that time frame to the Blue Ridge Breakaway,” Isenberg said. The Breakaway, held each year in midAugust, has “dramatically impact[ed]” her

The inaugural Gateway To The Smokies Half Marathon is a 13.1-mile race that starts on Waynesville’s Main Street, ends in Frog Level and winds through country roads around town. Runners can sign up until race day on May 2, and volunteers are also needed the day of the event. ■ Runners can register at www.active.com for $60 or pay the $70 day-of fee, with a portion of the proceeds going toward the Haywood Greenway Initiative, a long-range plan to extend a greenway through Haywood County. The website, www.smokieshalfmarathon.com, shows the complete turn-by-turn route. ■ Volunteers are needed to man the registration and information desks, distribute packets, and to act as course marshals and finish line monitors. Shifts range from two to four hours. RSVP to Melissa Tinsley, 828.456.3021 or mtinsley@haywoodchamber.com, by April 24.

business, Isenberg said, with the bed and breakfast getting fully booked that weekend every year the event has been held, thanks to a group of out Knoxville that pays for next year’s reservations each year when checking out from that year’s visit. “They say they will put it in their will that no one else can take their rooms,” Isenberg said. The bed and breakfast also sees the effect from other races in the area, even those taking place as far away as Asheville and Nantahala Outdoor Center — though those impacts are much smaller than from races in Haywood County. The Lake Logan Multisport Festival, an event that features — among other race options — a half Ironman, always causes

increased visitation at Oak Hill. According to the same report that estimated the Breakaway’s impact, the Lake Logan festival could have an economic impact of more than $500,000 to the area. “We have been sold out for that event, and we’re fairly full for it this year,” Isenberg said of the race. Races help out the bed and breakfast more than a typical arts and crafts show or some such festival in town, Isenberg said, and they attract a demographic that she’s eager to serve. “It brings in the younger generation, the people who are more active, and it’s definitely a benefit,” she said. Races are a fast-growing segment of outdoor recreation, according to a 2014 report from the Outdoor Industry Association. Between 2011 and 2013, adventure racing saw a 28 percent uptick in participation, and running, jogging and trail running comprise the most popular category of outdoor activity for youth and adults, the report said. Since 2003, the half marathon has been the fastest-growing race distance in the United States, especially among women, according to a 2014 report from Running USA. In 2013, nearly two million people finished a half marathon in the U.S. Those numbers translate into more than just extra registration fee collections. The real benefit of the races, Hipps said, comes from the ripple effects to the community when racers stay at

Cyclists to converge on Cashiers outdoors

The annual Tour de Cashiers Mountain Cycling Experience, a challenging mountain ride exploring the byways of Western North Carolina, will push off from Cashiers on Saturday, May 2, sending hundreds of cyclists along mountainous routes in Jackson, Macon and Transylvania counties. The rides range from 25 to 100 miles, packed with climbs and fast descents. The toughest route has a combined 10,500 feet of climbs, all wrapped up in views of granite-faced mountains, flowering valleys and running rivers. Registration is open through race day. www.tourdecashiers.com.

Keep Smokies’ trails going Trail-loving volunteers are wanted to join the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s Adopt-a-Trail and Trails Forever programs. Adopt-a-Trail volunteers help maintain the park’s 800 miles of trail and are expected to patrol their section at least four times per season. Duties include removing litter, cleaning out drainage systems, removing brush, maintaining trail tread and removing illegal fire rings. Trails Forever volunteers — both skilled an non-skilled — work alongside National Park Service crews on a wide range of projects, with the park providing all necessary tools and gear. Work days are held 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays through October, starting May 20. Alan Chapman, 828.497.1949 or alan_chapman@nps.gov.

April 22-28, 2015 Smoky Mountain News

to be fundraisers for the chamber,” she said. hotels and bed and breakfasts like “The main intent of these events are to Isenberg’s, eat out at restaurants, shop bring people into our community and to downtown — or even, unfortunately, wind promote tourism.” up paying bills to the local emergency room By that measure, Hipps said, the when an injury occurs on the race route. Jennifer Jacobson, a runner who’s also on the planning committee for the Gateway To The Smokies Half Marathon, knows from firsthand experience that those impacts aren’t made up. She regularly travels for out-oftown races, booking a hotel, eating several meals out — sometimes splurging for an expensive one to commemorate an accomplishment — and purchasing a souvenir or two. Often, she sticks around after the race to explore the area a bit. “We usually have time to go to some attractions, whether that be shopping in the Blue Ridge Breakaway riders line local downtowns or up to start pedaling. SMN photo malls or visiting museums, sight-seeing,” she said. Breakaway has been a success thus far. The An event like the Breakaway or Gateway hope is that Gateway To The Smokies will To The Smokies might be a fundraiser for do the same. the chamber in the sense that a healthier “That’s why people come here, is to get economy means more membership and outdoors,” Isenberg said. “They have cabin capacity for fundraising, but after accountfever from the winter and they want to get ing for expenses and staff time, the races outside and take advantage of what mother don’t really wind up as moneymakers in nature offers us in this area. Anything that terms of registration revenues — last year we can do to provide an activity for them to the Breakaway actually wound up losing reach that goal is a huge benefit to the money, Hipps said. area.” “The main intent of these events are not

outdoors

Birding at Kituwah Don Hendershot, a naturalist and columnist for The Smoky Mountain News, will lead a bird walk through Kituwah — a conserved tract revered as the spiritual, cultural and geopolitical center of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians — on Monday, April 27. A plethora of bird species are expected to show, including yellow-breasted chat, whiteeyed vireo, indigo bunting, blue grosbeak, orchard oriole and maybe some bobolinks. The 300-acre property is located along the Tuckasegee River in Swain County between Cherokee and Bryson City. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians regained ownership of it in 1996. Nine thousand years of continuous habitation have been documented at the mound at Kituwah. Carpools will leave from Franklin at 8 a.m. and Dillsboro at 8:30 a.m. RSVP to 828.524.5234.

April 22-28, 2015

Paul Carlson honored for conservation work Paul Carlson of Land Trust for the Little Tennessee was named Outstanding Conservationist in the 2015 Roosevelt-Ashe awards given out by Wild South, an environmental organization that works in several southern states. Carlson, LTLT’s founding director, led LTLT for 18 years, helping to conserve and protect thousands of acres before transitioning from the role director to senior advisor at the end of 2014. “We’re inspired by these conservation heroes who have given so much of themselves to help save wild places and wild things in the South,” said Ben Colvin, Wild South’s development director. “Their stories remind us that the greatest conservation achievements are rooted in personal passion.”

Fly-fishing museum opening delayed win-win situation.” Fly-fishing is a growing sport nationwide and in North Carolina, with anglers describing WNC as a “Mecca” for the sport. Between The building that used to house the Tee Pee Restaurant 2002 and 2012, North will soon reopen as the Fly Fishing Museum of the Carolina fly-fishing Southern Appalachians. Holly Kays photo license sales increased 175 percent, with flyrelated sales in the South rising from 16.3 percent of the national total to 23.7 percent, according to the American Fly-Fishing Trade Organization. The tribe’s chamber of commerce will also operate the musuem and be housed in the same building, located plus tie in modern-day fishing and fly fishon Tsali Boulevard. ing,” said Skooter McCoy, the tribe’s desti— By staff writer Holly Kays nation market manager, “we felt like it was a

The grand opening of the Fly-Fishing Museum of the Southern Appalachians in Cherokee, originally intended for May 1, has been rescheduled to 10 a.m. June 6. The original timeline had been pretty ambitious, the project’s self-described instigator, Alen Baker, said last fall. The group just needed more time to get exhibits in place before opening day. The museum will showcase fly-fishing stories, equipment and fishing arts from the Southern Appalachian region. The project is a collaboration by a diverse group of anglers as well as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, which is providing the building. The hope is that the museum will serve as a draw for tourists and fishermen. Proponents hope anglers will extend their trips to WNC to take in the museum and maybe bring the family along. Tribal members see it as a way to showcase the fishrelated aspects of their culture while wel-

coming tourists to town. “To be able to add a new attraction that would have the idea of representing culture,

Plant sale in Franklin

behind the Village of Forest Hills sign. The market, which kicks off April 28, will be held 4 p.m. to dusk Tuesdays through the end of October. Offerings include meats, eggs, cheeses, vegetables, crafts and valueadded products, as well as on-site cooking demonstrations and live music. New vendors still sought. Curt Collins, 828.476.0334. www.facebook.com/cullowheefarmersmarket

A plant sale offering everything from shrubs to veggies to flowers will be held 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 25, at the Environmental Resource Center in Franklin. The sale will be the 13th annual for the Macon County Master Gardener Association, with all proceeds going to development and maintenance of the ERC, a county building that supports environmental programs. 828.349.2046.

Cullowhee farmers market returns The ‘Whee Farmers Market is back this year and in a new location at the corner of North Country Club Drive and N.C. 107

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Spring plant gala and wildflower celebration Wildflower Whimsy, a garden-centered celebration to raise funds for the Highlands Biological Foundation, will be held May 8-9. “This celebration will deepen your

appreciation of spring ephemerals, sharpen your observation skills, and show you some of our favorite places to discover wildflowers,” said Michelle Ruigrok of Highlands Biological Station. The event will begin with a Friday evening wine and hors d’oeuvres reception featuring a native plant auction and lecture on native plants and pollinators by Nancy Adamson of the Xerces Society, at 5:30 p.m. At 10 a.m. on Saturday, participants will choose a guided wildflower walk from a selection of favorite places to seek out new blooms with local and regional experts. Proceeds benefit the Highlands Biological Foundation, which includes the Highlands Biological Station, and the Nature Center, Botanical Garden and Laboratory. www.highlandsbiological.org/ wildflower-whimsy or 828.526.2221.

Diane E. Sherrill, Attorney 289-05

Smoky Mountain News

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Grant brings real-life science to classrooms

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Smoky Mountain News

A $500 grant from the N.C. Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts’ Auxiliary will mean some hands-on science for students of Hayley Cox and Noal Castater, both teachers in Haywood County. Cox, a fourth-grade teacher at Junaluska Elementary School, plans to use the money for water testing kits, hands-on activities, books and magazine subscriptions. Castater, an agriculture teacher at Waynesville Middle School, has already used grant funding to teach his students about hydroponics — a soilless method of growing plants — and will use the $500 to expand his system by snaking 30 feet of PVC pipe on a greenhouse wall for a vertical garden. Students will drill holes in the pipe and maintain the system to grow up to 320 plants. When harvest time comes, students will learn about sales and marketing as they sell the herbs and lettuce. Grants go to projects that enhance learning, using conservation and environmental practices. Applications are already open for next year, for which the deadline is Dec. 1. Gail Heathman, 828.452.2741 or gheathman@haywoodnc.net.

Caring Together Sets Us Apart April 22-28, 2015

An interactive team scavenger hunt at Haywood Regional Health & Fitness Center on May 16 will put participants through the paces of various fitness obstacles as they move through a series of stations. Teams of five will take on the HeartChase challenge by completing 12 checkpoints. Activities include physical challenges such as “laser yoga,” mental exercises like guessing the amount of sodium in a variety of foods and searching for secret words hidden throughout the course. Modified checkpoints are available for participants with physical limitations. Paper forms or a smartphone HeartChase app will guide the games, with winners decided based on points earned by completing checkpoints, finding secret words and fundraising. Prizes are available as well for different fundraising levels. “This event is a great way for our community to learn more about heart-healthy living,” said Dr. David Peterson, cardiologist at Haywood Regional Medical Center. “Sometimes events like these can be eyeopening, because we all have certain assumptions about what is and isn’t good for the heart.” Presented by Haywood Regional Medical Center. Registration available at www.heartchasehaywood.org. Limited space available. Businesses interested in sponsoring checkpoints should call 800.424.DOCS.

outdoors

Teams to tackle fitness and health challenge course to raise money for heart research

enhanced services. When When it it comes comes to to caring caring for for your your h health, ealth, w we e know know that that caring caring together together sets sets us us apart. apart. To To ﬁnd ﬁnd a physician physician or or services, services, call call (844) (844) 414-DOCS. 414-DOCS.

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outdoors Students identify invertebrates captured from the river with aquatics instructors Eric Romaniszyn and Gary Smith. Donated photo

Jackson fifth graders get a conservation education

April 22-28, 2015

More than 200 fifth graders from Jackson County Schools spent two days learning about natural resources at East LaPorte Recreation Park this month. The Conservation Field Days, sponsored by the Jackson County Soil and Water Conservation District, included stations featuring nature games, forestry, adopt-a-tree activities, soils, air quality, wildlife and aquatics, with each component taught by an expert from a local nonprofit or government agency. The conservation district puts these field days on each year to give students a hands-on look at how nature works and why itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important to protect it. Jackson Paper, Coca-Cola, Duke Energy, Ingles and Dunkin Donuts provided support for the event.

Profs to treat public to telescope star party

be accompanied by an adult. Participants should dress warmly. 828.227.2718 or egomez@wcu.edu.

A star party with telescope viewing of the night sky will be will be held by Western Carolina University faculty at 7 p.m. Friday, April 24, at the Jackson County Airport in Cullowhee. Part of the 2015 North Carolina Science Festival, the event is designed to give members of the campus and surrounding communities an up-close view of stars, the moon and the planet Jupiter through telescopes at various magnifications. Enrique Gomez, WCU assistant professor of physics and astronomy, will give a brief presentation on identifying wellknown constellations and stars that can be seen in the sky during the spring season. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Children also can participate in an activity designed to help them understand the tremendous distances that separate the planets and the stars,â&#x20AC;? Gomez said. The viewing is open free of charge. In the event the evening is overcast, the viewing will be canceled. Young children must

Open house to open up outer space A celebration of space will commence at Pisgah Astronomical Research Instituteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Children take a look into a telescope set up at PARI. Donated photo

Junior Ranger Day gives kids a taste of park life Budding park rangers will have a chance to get up close and personal with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park during Junior Ranger Day, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 25. Activities at Oconaluftee Visitor Center will include ranger-guided walks, historic toy and touch tables with animal skins, skulls and scat, as well as a chance to talk to a real wildland firefighter and make dinner bells at a blacksmith shop. Children who complete three specially planned activities will earn a Junior Ranger patch. All activities are free. Visitor center located on U.S. 441 north of Cherokee, just inside the main N.C. entrance of the park. Activities also held on the Tennessee side of the park at Sugarlands and Cades Cove. lloyd_luketin@nps.gov or 865.436.1292.

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Space Day open house, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 2. The event will include the grand opening of a new section of the exhibit gallery housing an array of gems and minerals, mostly from North Carolina. The planetarium will be open for most of the day, featuring staff presentations, new hiking trail sections, and a Galaxy Walk that will allow visitors to enjoy a scale model view of the solar system while strolling campus. Tours of PARIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Astronomical Photographic Data Archive and Astronomy Image Gallery will also commence. Free, with nominal charge for planetarium presentations and refreshments.

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Survival skills conference to be held in Haywood

Office and Retail Building for Lease outdoors

Heritage Life Skills, a fourth-year event featuring classes in survivalist cooking, self-defense and food production skills is coming up May 29-31 at Haywood County Fairgrounds, with registration rates jumping after May 1. Workshops include everything from knife making to food preservation to surveillance detection. Registration is $100 before May 1 and $115 through May 25. Organized by Carolina Readiness Supply. www.carolinareadiness.com.

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Les Wynne passes pieces of archery equipment around the room during a class at last year’s Heritage Life Skills event.

NOW IS THE

Holly Kays photo

River cleanups flow in Swain County A pair of trash pickups in Swain County this weekend aim to make a dent in litter along the Tuckasegee River. ■ From 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, April 25, volunteers will disperse along River Road, U.S. 19 and other locations around Swain County in a cleanup effort with Swain Clean. The group will meet at the Ingles parking lot in Bryson City before fanning out and then gather at 12:30 p.m. for lunch, courtesy of Bojangles. Chris Roth, c.roth76@yahoo.com, 770.315.8950. ■ At 1:30 p.m. April 25, teams will deploy on rafts and along the river’s edge to collect trash for pickup along U.S. 19 and Main Street in Bryson City. The group will meet at Darnell Farms, 2300 Governors Island Rd. in Bryson City. Nantahala Outdoor Center will supply rafts for the event, organized by the Watershed Association of the Tuckasegee River. Roger Clapp, 828.488.8418 or rogerclapp@watrnc.org.

Local food guide now available A new edition of Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project’s Local Food Guide is out in time for the spring growing season. The guide lists farmers markets, farms and restaurants and grocers selling local produce in the Southern Appalachians. It is free at various locations throughout the region. New this year is information about farmers markets accepting credit, debit and food stamp payments. The guide also highlights several multi-generation family farms, as well as listings of restaurants, wineries and bed and breakfasts committed to serving local food. www.appalachiangrown.org

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Smoky Mountain News

Appalachian Trail hikers in search of a satisfying meal found it at the First Baptist Church of Franklin this year — 633 of them, representing 44 states and seven foreign countries. Since 2008, the church has served a free hiker breakfast during the four A passport stamp to peak weeks of thru-hiker traf- commemorate breakfast in fic. In addition Franklin touts First Baptist Church’s gift of “pancakes to the meal, hikers get their and inspiration” as fuel to keep hikers’ eyes on the picture taken and a stamped goal. Donated photo

envelope to send it home to a loved one. The church has also joined with several other locations along the A.T. to develop a passport stamp to help hikers remember the places they’ve visited along the way.

TO START April 22-28, 2015

Pancakes popular with AT hikers

TIME

SUPPORTED BY: Haywood County Chamber of Commerce, Haywood Economic Development Council, Haywood Community College Small Business Center, Haywood Advancement Foundation.

Smoky Mountain News April 22-28, 2015

outdoors

WNC Calendar COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • The Haywood Tourism Authority is hosting an informational workshop from 10 a.m.-noon on April 23, at the Bethea Welcome Center in Lake Junaluska. RSVP, contact Ashley Rice at ashley@visitncsmokies.com or 452.0152. • A public hearing will be held by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen at 6:30 p.m. on April 23 in the Board Chambers of the Canton Town Hall to consider the adoption of the Proposed Text Amendments to the Town of Canton Zoning Ordinance to update requirements for keeping fowl and domestic animals inside the corporate limits to promote responsible urban farming practices. • The Jackson County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. on April 23 at the Jackson County Recreation Center in Cullowhee. The purpose of the meeting is to hear public comments regarding the proposed Cullowhee Planning Area Development Standards and District Map. Citizens are invited to make written or oral comments. • Members of the Haywood County Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Task force are urging all community members to wear jeans on “Denim Day,” April 29, as a visible means to promote sexual violence prevention and education. www.denimdayusa.org or 456.7898. • The Jackson County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. on April 30, at the Cashiers-Glenville Recreation Center to consider the creation of a Fire Service District and the levying of a Fire Service Tax. Public invited to attend and offer comments. Written comments may be submitted to Angie Winchester, clerk to the board, 401 Grindstaff Cove Road, Sylva, N.C. 28779. • A joint High School Equivalency Diploma and Adult High School graduation ceremony is set for 7 p.m. on May 1, in Beall Auditorium at Haywood Community College in Clyde. 627.4648. • A public meeting to discuss the possibility of a new county animal shelter with Jackson County commissioners has been scheduled for 6 p.m. on May 4.

BUSINESS & EDUCATION • A small business seminar from 6-8 p.m. on April 23 at Haywood Community College’s Creative Arts Building will help owners craft an effective blog. Speaker is Tara Swiger. sbc.haywood.edu or 627.4512. • Western Carolina University’s School of Nursing and its Nursing Network-Careers in Technology Mentoring Program will host its second annual nursing diversity conference in Asheville on April 24 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with registration beginning at 8:30 a.m. Registration is $45 or student registration is $10 for undergraduates and $15 for graduate students. nursinged.wcu.edu or 227.7397. • An advance beginner Cherokee language class is held from 6:30-9 p.m. on Mondays, April 27, May 4 and May 11, at the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum in Vonore, Tenn. $40 for all four evenings. 423.884.6246. • The Macon County Economic Development Commission will kick off Bizweek with Entrepreneur Networking Night V at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 28. Special guest is Justin Belleme, 2014 Asheville Entrepreneur of the Year. Free. Registration required at www.maconedc.com or by calling 369.2306. Nominations are open for Young Entrepreneur of the Year at www.maconedc.com; finalists will be announced at this event. • Haywood Community College’s Small Business Center will offer a crash course on Mobile Payment Systems in

Smoky Mountain News

• The third-annual “5KARE” 5K at 9 a.m. and Fantastic Fun Run 1K will be held at 8:30 a.m. on April 25 in downtown Waynesville. $10 for ages 12-under, $25. Wear your favorite superhero costume and compete for a best costume award or just run/walk for fun. 456.8995. Register at www.Karehouse.org/20155kare.html. Day of race register at 8 a.m. at the Badcock parking lot. • A spring barbecue/social will be held from 2:30-8:30 p.m. on April 25 at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville. The program will be on the Carolina Mountain Club’s involvement with the Boy Scouts of Western North Carolina. $18 per person includes dinner. Register by April 20. Les Love at 658.1489 or lesrlove55@gmail.com.

• The Macon County Economic Development Commission will hold its BizWeek 2015 Banquet at 6 p.m. on April 30 at Holly Springs Baptist Church. Keynote speaker I Scott T. Hamilton, executive director for the Appalachian Regional Commission. Bizweek Honorees will be named. Free. Registration required at www.maconedc.com or by calling 369.2306.

• A WOOD CARVED SPIRIT by local artist Ron Yount will be raffled off by the Sylva Friends of the Library Used Bookstore on April 25. Tickets on sale now for $1 apiece or six for $5 at the bookstore in Sylva.

• The Jackson County Business and Industry Advisory Committee will hold a regular meeting at 3 p.m. on May 6 in Conference Room A-227 of the Jackson County Justice and Administration Building in Sylva.

• The Western North Carolina AIDS Project’s (WNCAP) 13th annual Dining Out for Life® benefit will take place on April 30 in Asheville and the surrounding communities. Over 100 restaurants donate 20 percent of gross sales that day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. www.wncap.org/dofl or Christ Winebrenner at 252.7489.

FUNDRAISERS AND BENEFITS • A “Giving Them Hope” breakfast, a fundraiser for the foster-care program Hawthorn Heights, is set for April 23. For info or to RSVP, contact Katie Henry at kenry@bariumsprings.org or 231.5413. Donation checks can be mailed to Barium Springs, Attention: Katie Henry; P.O. Box 99; Webster, NC 28788. • The Community Table’s Empty Bowl 2015 is scheduled for 4-8 p.m. on April 24 at the Community Table in Sylva next to the Sylva Pool. $20 for your choice of hand-crafted ceramic bowl donated by local potters. Includes choice of soup, bread and desserts. communitytable.org. • A benefit for KARE will be hosted at Frog Level Brewing from 6-11 p.m. on April 24. Tickets for the benefit include a beer and a bratwurst plate, and are $12 in advance and can be purchased at the brewery or at Clean Sweep The Fireplace Shop in Waynesville. Tickets are $15 at the door. www.karehouse.org. • Western Carolina University’s Friends of the Arts organization will hold its annual benefit fundraiser, with a silent auction, raffle and performance, starting at 4:30 p.m. on April 24. “All Night Long” performance will feature WCU’s Catamount Singers and instrumental group Electri Coul as well as WCU graduate/singersongwriter Jeanne Jolly. Tickets for performance are $15 for adults, $10 for WCU faculty and staff and $5 for students. Tickets available at 227.2479. foa.wcu.edu. • Mountain Laurel Gems and Jewelry has scheduled a fundraiser for REACH from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on April 25. Ten percent of all sales that day will be donated to support victims and children of domestic and sexual violence. www.reachofmaconcounty.org. • Relay for Life of West Haywood kicks off this year’s festival season on April 25 in downtown Waynesville. Main Street will be closed off at 4 p.m. for setup. Local restaurants participate in second-annual Greater Waynesville Wine Race starting at 2:15 p.m. From 6 p.m.-midnight, teams will sell food, crafts and other goodies to raise money for cancer research. Music from Porter family, Hunter Grigg, Matthew Curry and Bohemian Jean. Mark Scott at 627.6137. • A spaghetti dinner will be held from 4-7 p.m. on April 25 at Rockwood United Methodist Church in Canton. $8 for adults; $4 for children 10-under. Includes spaghetti, salad, bread, drink and dessert. 648.6870. Carryouts available.

• Camp Hope Volunteer Clean-Up Day will be held from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. on April 25. Lunch provided.

• 3rd Annual Birdhouse Bash & Silent Auction through the Daydreamz project and Open Door Community Gardeners. Create a birdhouse to donate for silent auction fundaiser hosted by Daydreamz project. Drop off birdhouses at Second Blessing Thrift Store (Waynesville) now till May 7. Birdhouses will be auctioned by silent bids at the Daydreamz booth during The Whole Bloomin’ Thing Festival in Frog Level in Waynesville on May 9th. 476.4231, daydeamz_project@hotmail.com or 734.1570. • REACH’s 7th annual American Girl Tea Party is set for 2 p.m. on May 9 at Cowee Baptist Church. Food, activity booths, door prizes and silent auction. Proceeds support local domestic/sexual violence victims and their children. http://www.reachofmaconcounty.org/events/american-girl-tea-party/# • Spring tea is set for 2-4 p.m. on May 9 at the Pigeon Community Multicultural Development Center in Waynesville. Tickets are $8. Call 452.7232 • The Joe Lasher Jr. Band performs at 7 p.m. on May 9 at the Bridge Park Pavilion in Sylva as part of the “Down Home Tour.” Tickets are $7; proceeds benefit The Community Table. 586.6782 or ctofjackson@gmail.com. www.joelasherjr.com. • Clyde Elementary PTO is selling Asheville Tourists baseball tickets for $6 each. This is a discount of $2/adult and $1/child. Clyde Elementary gets $3 for each ticket sold. No limit on how many tickets can be bought. ptoclydeelementary@gmail.com or 627-2206. • The Haywood County Meals on Wheels program has route openings for volunteer drivers. Substitute drivers also needed. Info: Jeanne Naber at 356.2442. • Friends of the Library Book Sale Committee needs books for its annual sale on July 23-25. Books can be picked up at your home. 627.2370. • Dogs and cats are available for adoption from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays as well as Saturdays at Sarge’s Adoption Center in Waynesville. The public may also adopt Sarge’s cats from PetSmart in Waynesville. www.sargeandfriends.org or 246.9050.

HEALTH MATTERS • “Dementia: Get the Facts” is the topic of a presentation by Dr. Lisa Verges from 2-3 p.m. on April 22 at the

All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted. Waynesville Library Auditorium. 356.2507 or www.haywoodlibrary.org. • Western Carolina University’s annual Earth and Wellness Celebration will be hosted from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 22 on the lawn of A.K. Hinds University Center. $5 lunch. Information displays, games, local crafts, giveaways, hula-hooping and a drum circle from noon to 1:30 p.m. Info: Lauren Bishop (227.3562 or lbishop@wcu.edu). • April Ladies Night Out program entitled “Bat Those Baby Blues” will be held at 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on April 28 in the Angel Medical Center cafeteria in Franklin. Donations of $1 requested for Brighter Vision (canes for the blind). • Hospice volunteer orientation and training will be offered from 8:30 a.m.-noon on Monday, April 27, and from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on April 28, and Monday and Tuesday, May 4-5. Anyone interested in being a hospice volunteer must attend the first session while everyone interested in providing patient care volunteering must attend all sessions. Eric at 452.5039. • The Haywood Regional Hospice and Palliative Care program will host a Service of Celebration and Remembrance at 4 p.m. on May 3 at the Chapel at Lake Junaluska. Through story, music, candle-lighting, and other activities participants will join together to honor loved ones. Free; open to the public.

RECREATION AND FITNESS • Registration is open April 20-May 1 for a Krav Maga Self-Defense Class in Jackson County. Classes meet from 8-9:45 a.m. on Saturdays starting May 2 at the Recreation Center in Cullowhee. Six weeks. $60. Open to anyone 16 and older. • “Yoga with Beyond Bending Yoga’s Jennifer McIntee is set for 6 p.m. on April 23 at Macon County Public Library in Franklin. 524.3600. • Catamount Community Dance will be held from 7-9 p.m. on April 23 at Western Carolina University’s Reid Gym in Cullowhee. Hosted by the Parks & Recreation Management program at WCU. Circle, line and contra dancing. $10 for admission; $5 for students. Fundraiser for Phipps-Tholkes-Singleton PRM scholarship. Debby Singleton at singleton@email.wcu.edu. • A Women’s Mountain Bike Skills Clinic, taught by former world cup racer Sue Haywood, is set for 9 a.m.noon on April 25 at the Western Carolina University picnic area in Cullowhee. $40 for Nantahala Area SORBA members; $50 for general public. nantahala.area.sorba@gmail.com or call 488.1988. • Registration is underway for Haywood County Recreation & Parks’ adult summer soccer league, which will have games on Monday and Wednesday evenings from June 8-July 26. Deadline is May 20. Register at the Haywood County Recreation & Parks office in Waynesville. 452.6789 or drtaylor@haywoodnc.net. • Smoky Mountain High School’s “Mustang Classic” Golf Tournament will be held June 23 at Balsam Mountain Preserve. All proceeds benefit the high school’s athletic department. Hole-in-One contest for a 2015 Ford Mustang sponsored by Andy Shaw Ford. $135 per player; four-man Captain’s Choice format. Call Adam Phillips (508.2158) or Buddy Parton (507.5066).

POLITICAL CORNER • North and South Jackson County Republicans will meet at 6 p.m. on April 27 at Ryan’s in Sylva.

wnc calendar

Republicans and unaffiliated voters welcome. For info, contact Ralph Slaughter at 743.6491, write jacksonctygop@yahoo.com or visit www.jacksoncountygop.com. • Waynesville Aldermen meeting at 6:30 p.m. second and fourth Tuesday of each month. Town Hall. 456.3515. • The Haywood County NAACP meets at 2 p.m. the fourth Saturday of each month. Location varies around the county for each meeting. Call for info. 400.5475.

THE SPIRITUAL SIDE • “Skill Share: Make Your Owen Veggie Burgers” is set for 4 p.m. on April 25 at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Franklin. Free; all are welcome 524.3691. • A seminar on “Faith in Film” with Frank Casper is set for 11 a.m. on Sunday, April 26, at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Franklin. 316.7857 or Melissa.junkin@gmail.com. • An Open Door Meal & Sing is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on April 29 at First United Methodist Church of Sylva. Devotional prior to the meal. Church members provide meal and beverages.

SENIOR ACTIVITIES • “Shifting Gears to Your Life & Work After Retirement,” a hands-on workshop, will be held from 5:30-8 p.m. on Thursdays till April 23 at Southwestern Community College’s Jackson Campus. Taught by Deborah Aiton. $65. Register at www.southwesterncc.edu, call 339.4497 or write j_williams@southwesterncc.edu. • The Smoky Mountain Senior Games will be held April 24-May 15. For everyone ages 50-up. Info: 293.3053, recjacksonnc.org. • Haywood County Senior Resource Center is consider-

ing the formation of a weekly cribbage group starting in July. Michelle Claytor at mclaytor@mountainprojects.org or 356.2800.

KIDS & FAMILIES • Great Smoky Mountains National Park will celebrate Junior Ranger Day from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on April 25 with special activities at Sugarlands Visitor Center, Cades Cove Visitor Center and Oconaluftee Visitor Center. Activities include ranger-guided walks, historic toy making and more. Lloyd Luketin at 865.436.1292 or lloyd_luketin@nps.gov. • Registration is now underway for a summer basketball camp for boys and girls that is being offered for third through ninth grades at Waynesville Recreation Center. The camp will be held from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, June 29-July 2. Register at Waynesville Recreation Center. Kevin Cantwell at academy7@live.com. • Drop-in information sessions for Shining Rock Classical Academy, a new charter school slated to open in Haywood County for the coming school year, will be held on the following days/times at 52 Walnut Street in Waynesville: 8:15-9 a.m. on April 28 as well as 4-5:30 p.m. every other Thursday from March 5-April 30. • The “Come Paint with Charles Kidz Program” will be at 4 p.m. April 30 at the Charles Heath Gallery in Bryson City. $20 per child. Materials and snacks included. 538.2054. • A beginning baseball program for 3-4 year olds is offered from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Thursdays till May 28 at the Waynesville Recreation Center. Administered by the Youth Development branch of the nonprofit National Alliance for Youth Sports (NAYS) and the Waynesville Parks & Recreation Department. Donald Hummel at 456.2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov. Register at the Waynesville Recreation Center.

• Registration for sandlot baseball in Jackson County will be held from till May 1. Must be between ages 5-7 on May 1. Baseball will be on Monday evenings at Mark Watson Park or Wednesday evenings in Cullowhee. Starts week of May 11. 293.3053.

• “Goonies” will be screened at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on April 24 at the Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. www.madbatterfoodandfilm.com. • “Wall-E” will be screened at 2 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on April 25 at the Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. www.madbatterfoodandfilm.com.

• Tennis lessons for ages 5-8 (5:30-6:15 on Tuesdays) and 9-13 (9:30-10:15 a.m. on Saturdays) are offered through the Jackson County Recreation Center. $45. An Advanced class meets from 7:30-8:15 p.m. on Tuesdays and 11:30-12:15 p.m. on Saturdays. 293.3053.

• Saturday morning cartoons play for free at 11 a.m. at the Strand at 38 Main in Waynesville. 283.0079 or www.38main.com. • Free family movies are shown at 3:30 p.m. each Tuesday at Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. Disney, Hallmark and other family-oriented movies. Popcorn is provided by Friends of the Library. Each attendee receives one free movie check-out. 488.3030.

• A new youth volleyball league for girls in grades fourth-through-eighth will be held on six consecutive Tuesday nights starting May 12. $40. Volunteer coaches needed. 293.3053.

• Family movie time, 4 p.m. Mondays at Jackson County Public Library. Call for title of movie. 586.2016.

KIDS CAMPS • Registration for summer camp at Waynesville Parks and Recreation has started with early bird registration ending April 30. Camp dates are June 8-Aug. 14 at the Waynesville Recreation Center. 456.2030 or tpetrea@waynesvillenc.gov.

• Family movie time Thursdays, 3:45 p.m. at Albert Carlton, Cashiers Community Library. Free with popcorn. Call for title. 743.0215.

• A Summer Day Camp experience for ages 6-to-11 will be offered by Cullowhee United Methodist Church from June 19-Aug. 7. Call 293.9215 or visit http://www.cullowheeumc.org/summer-camp-2015/. • A TetraBrazil Soccer Camp will be offered for Academy, Challenge or Classic Level players from ages 8-15 from June 22-26 at the Waynesville Recreation Center. 456.2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov.

A&E FESTIVALS AND SPECIAL EVENTS

KIDS MOVIES

• The Nantahala Outdoor Center will host its Spring Fling from April 24-26. Weekend festivities include NOC’s World Kayak Hometown Throwdown on April 25, a vendor fair, gear demos, live music, kids’ surf and the chance to race a pro.

• “Tinkerbell: The Legend of the Netherbeast,” will be screened each Saturday in April at noon and 2 p.m. for free at The Strand at 38 Main in Waynesville. www.38main.com or 283.0079

April 22-28, 2015

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Smoky Mountain News

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Second to Fourth Grade

ADVENTURE CHALLENGERS: Fifth to Seventh Grade

Early Bird (on/before April 30): $655 members; $680 non-members After April 30: $700 members; $725 non-members

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â&#x20AC;˘ The 18th annual Greening Up the Mountains spring kickoff street festival is set for 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, April 25, in downtown Sylva.

â&#x20AC;˘ Thunder in the Smokies spring rally will be held from 11 a.m. on May 1 through 10 a.m. on May 3 at the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds. Bike games, bike show, tour rides, music, food, vendors and more. 246.2101. â&#x20AC;˘ The 13th annual Miniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on the Dragon tour is set for Thursday through Saturday, April 30-May 2, at Green Energy Park in Dillsboro. Area businesses that wish to offer special deals for the Mini Cooper group can contact Timm Muth at 631.0271 or tmuth@jacksonnc.org. â&#x20AC;˘ Waynesvilleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 14th â&#x20AC;&#x153;Whole Bloominâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Thingâ&#x20AC;? festival is set for 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, May 9, in Historic Frog Level.

ON STAGE & IN CONCERT â&#x20AC;˘ The Gamelan Ensemble will play April 22 at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. www.wcu.edu. â&#x20AC;˘ A flute studio recital is scheduled for April 23 at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. www.wcu.edu. â&#x20AC;˘ The Moon Show, a theme-based variety show performed by a small cast, will be held at 7:45 p.m. on Thursday, April 23, at The Strand Theatre at 38 Main in Waynesville. PG-13. $10 at the door; $8 in advance at www.38main.com. â&#x20AC;˘ HART Theatre will present Neil Simonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s comedy â&#x20AC;&#x153;Brighton Beach Memoirsâ&#x20AC;? from April 24-May 10 in Waynesville. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. on April 24, 25, May 1, 2, 8, 9 and at 3 p.m. on April 26 and May 3 & 10. Tickets at www.harttheatre.org or by calling the HART Box Office at 456.6322 from 1-5 p.m. on Tuesday through Saturday. Tues-Sat. from 1-5p.m.

â&#x20AC;˘ Saxophone master Rick Margitza will be the special guest performing and instructing at the 2015 Jazz Festival on Saturday, April 25, at Western Carolina Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Coulter Building recital hall in Cullowhee. All classes, rehearsals and performances are free. Magitza offers jazz improvisation master class (12:30 p.m.), rehearsals (2:30 and 4 p.m.) and performances (7:30 and 8:30 p.m.). 227.3261 or pwlosok@wcu.edu.

â&#x20AC;˘ A symphony band concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. on April 28 at the Bardo Arts Center at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. www.wcu.edu. â&#x20AC;˘ A brass ensemble plays at 7:30 p.m. April 29 at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. www.wcu.edu. â&#x20AC;˘ Choral ensembles performs at 7:30 p.m. April 30 in the Coulter Building at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. www.wcu.edu. â&#x20AC;˘ Mangas Colorado (Americana/bluegrass) will play at 7:45 p.m. on April 30 at The Strand at 38 Main in Waynesville. $8 in advance; $10 at the door. www.38main.com or 283.0079. â&#x20AC;˘ â&#x20AC;&#x153;West Side Storyâ&#x20AC;? will hit the stage at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 1, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Tickets start at $20. www.greatmountainmusic.com or 524.1598. â&#x20AC;˘ American Idol winner and Asheville-native Caleb Johnson will play Harrahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cherokee Event Center at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 2, in Cherokee. Tickets $28 and under. 800.745.3000 or ticketmaster.com. â&#x20AC;˘ The Haywood Community Chorus will join with local bluegrass musicians to offer a program of old and new American music at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 3, at First United Methodist Church in Waynesville. Free; contributions accepted.

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â&#x20AC;˘The Fontana Ramblers perform at 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 9, at Fontana Village Resort.

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â&#x20AC;˘ Legendary comedian Jay Leno will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 30, at Harrahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cherokee Resort Event Center. Tickets start at $43. Ticketmaster.com or 800.745.3000.

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â&#x20AC;˘ Tickets are now on sale for â&#x20AC;&#x153;An Appalachian Eveningâ&#x20AC;? summer concert series featuring bluegrass, blues, folk and old-time mountain music. The series starts on June 27 in Stecoah. Season tickets are $150.To purchase tickets, visit: www.stecoahvalleycenter.com/secure.

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â&#x20AC;˘ Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will have an Open Mic night at 8 p.m. on April 22 www.innovationbrewing.com. â&#x20AC;˘ Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will have a jazz night with the Kittle/Collings Duo at 8 p.m. on April 23. www.innovation-brewing.com. â&#x20AC;˘ Chris Minick (singer-songwriter/folk) will play at 6 p.m. on April 23 at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. Free. 454.5664 or www.froglevelbrewing.com.

â&#x20AC;˘ Vocalist Michelle Berting Britt, accompanied by a seven-piece Nashville band, re-create the sound of the Carpenters in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve Only Just Begun: Carpenters Rememberedâ&#x20AC;? at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 26, at WCUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bardo Center in Cullowhee. This show is part of the Galaxy of Stars Series. Season subscriptions are $120/adults; $110/WCU faculty and staff; $45 students and children. Single-show tickets are $21/adults; $16/WCU faculty and staff; $15/person with groups of 20 or more; $7 students and children. 227.2479 or bardoartscenter.wcu.edu.

â&#x20AC;˘ DJ Complete will perform at 9 p.m. on April 23 at Tuckâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tap & Grille in Cullowhee.

â&#x20AC;˘ Balsam Mountain Inn will have Annie Sellick & The Hot Club of Nashville (gypsy jazz, $49 per person) at 6 p.m. on April 26 Includes a buffet dinner. www.balsammountaininn.net.

â&#x20AC;˘ Kabin Fever Party plays at 6 p.m. on April 24 at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. 454.5664 or www.froglevelbrewing.com.

â&#x20AC;˘ An Honors College Concert is scheduled from 6-9 p.m. on April 26 at the University Center Plaza at

â&#x20AC;˘ â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Round the Fire (Grateful Dead tribute) plays at 8:30 p.m. on April 24 at Tipping Point Brewing in Waynesville. Free.

â&#x20AC;˘ Lefty Williams Band (roots/rock) performs at 9 p.m. on April 24 at Tuckâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tap & Grille in Cullowhee. â&#x20AC;˘ Andrews Brewing Company will have Rob Tiger (singer-songwriter) at 6 p.m. on April 24. Free. www.andrewsbrewing.com. â&#x20AC;˘ Dan Shearin (folk/Americana) plays the Classic Wineseller at 7 p.m. on April 24 in Waynesville. 452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com.

Smoky Mountain News

â&#x20AC;˘ Voices in the Laurel Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Choirs present their 19th annual spring concert at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 26, at Longâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Chapel United Methodist Church in Waynesville. Folk songs and spirituals. Sponsored by a Grassroots Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council. Tickets: $10 adults; $7 children. www.voicesinthelaurel.org or 734.9163.

â&#x20AC;˘ A wind ensemble concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. on April 27 at the Bardo Arts Center at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. www.wcu.edu.

April 22-28, 2015

â&#x20AC;˘ Soldierâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Heart (Americana/soul) will play at 7:45 p.m. on April 25 at The Strand at 38 Main in Waynesville. $8 in advance; $10 at the door. www.38main.com or 283.0079.

â&#x20AC;˘ Michael Abernathy senior recital is at 3 p.m. on April 26 at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. www.wcu.edu.

wnc calendar

â&#x20AC;˘ The first â&#x20AC;&#x153;Art After Darkâ&#x20AC;? of the season will feature singer songwriter Matt Welborn from 6-9 p.m. on Friday, May 1, at Mahogany House Art Gallery and Studios in Waynesville. Galleries will have featured artists. 246.0818 or www.themohaganyhouse.com.

Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. www.wcu.edu.

wnc calendar

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• The Dirty Soul Revival (blues/hard rock) plays at 9 p.m. on April 24 at No Name Sports Pub in Sylva. Free. 586.2750 or www.nonamesportspub.com. • Tonology (metal/hard rock) plays at 8 p.m. on April 24 at BearWaters Brewing in Waynesville. www.bwbrewing.com or 246.0602. • Ravenhill (indie/rock) will play at 8 p.m. on April 24 at Nantahala Brewing in Bryson City. Free. www.nantahalabrewing.com. • Bigger than Squirrels performs at 8 p.m. on April 24 at Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub in Franklin. Free. www.rathskellerfranklin.com. • O’Malley’s of Sylva will host karaoke on April 24. • The French Broad’s play April 25 at O’Malley’s of Sylva. • Jazz Mountain performs at 8 p.m. on April 25 at Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub in Franklin. Free. www.rathskellerfranklin.com.

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• Skunk Ruckus (hillbilly rock) plays at 9 p.m. on April 25 at No Name Sports Pub in Sylva. 586.2750 or www.nonamesportspub.com. • Joe Cruz (piano, vocals) plays The Beatles, Elton John and James Taylor at 7 p.m. on April 25, at The Classic Wineseller in Waynesville. Reservations: 452.6000. • Andrews Brewing Company will have Porch 40 (funk/rock, $5) 7at p.m. on April 25. www.andrewsbrewing.com. • Frank Lee (bluegrass/Americana) plays at 7 p.m. on April 25 at Derailed Bar & Lounge in Bryson City. 488.8898. • Rye Baby plays April 26 at O’Malley’s of Sylva. • A Sunday Jazz Brunch with Chad Hallyburton (Americana/folk) is set for April 26 at City Lights Café in Sylva. www.citylightscafe.com. • Chris Williams (singer-songwriter) plays at 9 p.m. on April 27 at No Name Sports Pub in Sylva. Free. 586.2750 or www.nonamesportspub.com.

April 22-28, 2015

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will have an Open Mic night at 8 p.m. April 29 www.innovation-brewing.com. • Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will have a jazz night with the Kittle/Collings Duo at 8 p.m. on April 30. www.innovation-brewing.com. • DJ A-Minor plays at 9 p.m. on April 30 at Tuck’s Tap & Grille in Cullowhee. • CaroMia (Americana/folk) plays May 1 at Andrews Brewing Company. Free. www.andrewsbrewing.com. • Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will have Pismo Spanky (singer-songwriter) at 7 p.m. May 1. Free. 454.5664 or www.froglevelbrewing.com.

Smoky Mountain News

Are you ready for spring time grillin’ and chillin’?

• Ben Sutton & The Ends (rock) will play at 8:30 p.m. on May 1 at Nantahala Brewing in Bryson City. Free. www.nantahalabrewing.com.

Turn your grill into an oven, roaster, and a smoker

• Tipping Point Brewing (Waynesville) will have James Stinnett (singer-songwriter) at 9 p.m. on May 1. Both shows are free. • Gary Carter performs at 8 p.m. on May 1 at Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub in Franklin. Free. www.rathskellerfranklin.com.

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• Goldie & The Screamers will play May 2 at Andrews Brewing Company. Free. www.andrewsbrewing.com. • Heidi Holton (singer-songwriter) plays at 7 p.m. on May 2 at DeRailed Bar & Lounge in Bryson City. 488.8898.

facebook.com/smnews 48

• Gary Carter performs at 8 p.m. on May 2 at Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub in Franklin. Free. www.rathskellerfranklin.com.

BOOKS & AUTHORS • Student poet Alison Howe will be featured at 6:30 p.m. on April 23 at the Jackson County Library in Sylva as part of the Gilbert Chappell Distinguished Poetry Series. 586.2016.

• William Everett will introduce his new book “Sawdust and Soul: A conversation on Woodworking and Spirituality” at 3 p.m. on April 25, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. Reserve copies by calling 586.9499. • The reception for the second annual Greening Up the Mountains Poetry Contest will be held at 1 p.m. on April 25 at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. • Student poet Mary Christensen will be featured at 6:30 p.m. on April 30 at the Jackson County Library in Sylva as part of the Gilbert Chappell Distinguished Poetry Series. 586.2016. • Elise and Phil Okrend will present their coffee table book “Messages to the Heart, Reflections of Beauty and Truth in 2014” at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 25, at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville. 456.6000 or www.blueridgebooksnc.com.

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS • “31,” a Jackson County Extension and Community Association craft club workshop, will be held at 2 p.m. on April 23 in the Conference Room of the Community Service Center in Sylva. 586.4009. • A workshop on Permaculture will be held from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on April 24 at Dovecote Porch and Gardens in Cashiers. Workshop covers how to draw a dream garden with compost stations, greenhouse huts, potting areas and more. $125 per person includes light lunch and field trip. Pre-registration required: 743.0307 or mpdargan@dargan.com. • The Jackson County Arts Council will hold its annual membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. on April 27 in the Community Room of the Jackson County Library Complex in Sylva. Light reception to follow concert. Current members of the arts council and the Jackson County community are welcome. 507.9820 or visit www.jacksoncountyartscouncil.org. • To celebrate National Poetry Month, the Rathskeller Coffee Haus will host an open-mic poetry event at 7 p.m. on April 27 in downtown Franklin. All high school-age poets and lovers of poetry are invited to read or recite their original works as well as share their favorite works by other poets. No pre-registration. Free. Sponsored by the Arts Council of Macon County, supported in part by the Grassroots Arts Program of the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources. artscouncilofmacon.org or 828-524-ARTS. • The Classic Wineseller will host an “Under the Tuscan Sun” wine dinner with New York Times Bestselling author Frances Mayes at 7 p.m. on April 28 in Waynesville. $49.99 per person. www.classicwineseller.com. • Fanciful Vases and Boxes, a hand-building class taught by Hank Shuler, will be held from 6-9 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays till April 30 at Macon County Heritage School north of Franklin. $126 plus clay and tools. For info or to preregister, call 524.7690 or writecoweepotteryschool1@gmail.com. • Cowee Raku Firing will take place from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on April 28 at Macon County Heritage School north of Franklin. Unglazed, handmade pottery pieces will be sold for $10-$20, glaze will be applied before being transformed in fire and smoke. Led by Doug Hubbs, a Macon County potter. • Jugs and Mugs, an opportunity to create faces on jugs and mugs, will be held from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on April 28 at Macon County Heritage School north of Franklin. $50; preregistration required. No experience necessary. For info or to preregister, call 524.7690 or write coweepotteryschool1@gmail.com. • The Taste of Home Cooking School will be held at 6:30 p.m. on May 2 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Two-hour demonstration of existing recipes, cooking tips and innovative products. Tickets: $15. www.greatmountainmusic.om or 524.1598.

• The Mountain Writers Group meets at 1 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville. Free. 456.6000 or www.blueridgebooksnc.com. • The Haywood Community Band rehearses from 78:30 p.m. each Thursday at Grace Episcopal Church in Waynesville. Rhonda Wilson Kram at 456.4880.

ART SHOWINGS AND GALLERIES • A BFA portfolio reception is scheduled from 5-7 p.m. on April 30 at the Fine Art Museum at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. www.wcu.edu. • Photography and folk art digital photography by Candler sisters Barbara Sammons and Francine Menor will be showcased by the Haywood County Arts Council till April 28 at Gallery 86 in Waynesville. Proceeds benefit CarePartners Foundation and CarePartners Hospice in memory of the artists’ mother, Irene Holloway. • The “Countdown to Ecstasy: A Faculty Biennial” art exhibit runs till May 29 in the Fine Arts Museum at Western Carolina University. Featuring professional and studio artwork from WCU faculty members. www.wcu.edu. • The 13th annual Shady Ladies’ Quilt Art Show is set for Friday through Sunday, May 29-31, at Lake Logan

Episcopal Center in Canton. The event, which will be held from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and from noon-5 p.m. on Sunday, features more than 100 new quilts. $5 admission benefits Lake Logan Summer Camp program. Raffle quilt benefits Haywood County charities. www.logan.org for directions. Jane Cole at 456.8885.

CALL FOR VENDORS / SPONSORS • Appalachian Animal Rescue Center of Macon County Super is holding an Adoption Day from 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. on April 25 at West Gate shopping center. Vendors spaces are available for $25. 524.4588. • The Cashiers Area Chamber of Commerce is seeking financial sponsorships for its 23rd annual Tour de Cashiers Mountain Cycling Experience, which is set for May 2. It’s the chamber’s priority event for raising funds to protect and improve the quality of life in the Cashiers area and surrounding mountain communities. http://tinyurl.com/qjpm8d5. • A “Front Street Arts & Crafts Show” will premiere on June 20 in Dillsboro. Silent auction will benefit Community Table of Sylva. Food and entertainment. Vendors can apply at visit dillsboro.org or www.visitdillsboro.org/specialevents.html. 954.707.2004. • A limited number of arts and crafts vendor spots are available for the 2015 Sweet Corn Festival, set for Saturday, July 11, at St. Cyprian’s Church in Franklin. valerieniskanen@gmail.com or 369.6997.

FILM & SCREEN • Cherokee Phoenix Theatres will show the following on April 22 and April 23: “Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2” (PG) 4:30, 7, 9:30 p.m.; “Unfriended” (R) 4:50, 7:10, 9:20 p.m.; “The Longest Ride” (PG-13) 3:20, 6:30 & 9:40 p.m.; “Furious 7” (PG-13) 3, 6:45, 9:50 p.m.;

289-81

Frog Level Brewing

• A movie will be shown at 2 and 6 p.m. on Thursdays in the meeting room of the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. For movie title call: 524.3600.

• The films “Danny Collins” (April 22-23) will be screened at the Highlands Playhouse. Tickets are $9. For show times, go to www.highlandsplayhouse.org.

Outdoors

• “Take 3” will be screened at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on April 23 at the Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. www.madbatterfoodandfilm.com. • “Life Changes Everything” will be shown at 7 p.m. April 24 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Free. Presented by the Christian Training Center International. www.greatmountainmusic.com.

• A bird walk along the greenway will be held starting at 8 a.m. on April 22. Meet at Salali Lane. Parking is off Fox Ridge Road, just south of Franklin Flea Market on Highlands Road. http://franklinbirdclub.com/ or 524.5234.

• “The Big Lebowski” will be screened on April 24 at 9:30 p.m. for free at The Strand at 38 Main in Waynesville. www.38main.com or 283.0079.

• “Bootleggers and Baptists in the Garden of Good & Evil” will be the subject of an Earth Day lecture presented by Bruce Yandle at 4:15 p.m. on April 22 at Western Carolina University’s Killian Building, Room 102. Free. ejlopez@wcu.edu.

• “Wild” will be screened on April 24 at 7 p.m., April 25 at 4 p.m., April 26 at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., April 28 and 29 at 7 p.m. and May 1 at 7 p.m. at The Strand at 38 Main in Waynesville. www.38main.com or call 828.283.0079.

• “History of the Greenway” will be offered by Friends of the Greenway at 10 a.m. on April 23 at Big Bear Shelter. 369.9488.

• “Inherent Vice” will be screened a 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on April 30 at the Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. www.madbatterfoodandfilm.com.

• A stream clean-up of Richland Creek is set for April 25. RSVP by April 23 to Christine O’Brien at Christine.haywoodwaterways@gmail.com or 476.4667.

• Films created by Western Carolina University students will be screened at the seventh annual Controlled Chaos Film Festival at 7 p.m. on May 1, in the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $10 in advance or at the door. Proceeds and donations benefit the Motion Picture Student Project Fund. For info, contact Jack Sholder at 227.2324 or jsholder@wcu.edu.

• A spring wildflower walk at Pearsons Falls Nature Preserve is set for April 24 in Saluda. 1 mile. Observe the diversity of spring wildflowers in the mountains. $5. Van leaves at 10 a.m. from Cullowhee Recreation Center. Max Lanning at maxlanning@jacksonnc.org or 631.2020.

• A classic movie will be shown at 2 p.m. every Friday in the Macon County Public Library Meeting Room.

• Cheoah Ranger District is offering free camping, breakfasts and suppers to volunteers who participate in “Trail-A-Thon” trail maintenance this week till April 24. Meals provided by the Benton MacKaye Trail

JOIN US FOR ARTS EVENTS AT WCU APR. 24 | FRI. 4:30-7:50PM | BARDO ARTS CENTER | FREE

FOAA Beneﬁt: FO Beneﬁt: Silent Auction

APR. 24 | FRI. 8PM | BARDO ARTS CENTER | $

Performance Performance:: Catamount Singers and Electric Soul & Guest

Frog Level Brewing in the business of the month -our main focus is integrity of our beer along with with quality ingredients, brewing technique and insuring full flavors our integrated and balance of beer is achieved. Frog Level has been open for 4 years with 4 employees. It establishes itself as a family atmosphere

APR. 25 | SAT. SAT. 12:30-5PM, 7:30-8:30PM | COULTER COULTER | FREE

Music: Jazz Festival Festival

APR. 26 | SUN. 3PM | BARDO ARTS CENTER | $

Performance: Performance: The Carpenters: We’ve Only Just Begun SAVE THE DATE: MAY 1 | FRI. 7PM | BARDO ARTS CENTER | $

CONTROLLED CHAOS FILM FESTIVAL

Smoky Mountain News

Frog Level Brewing is located at 56 Commerce St, Waynesville, NC 28786 (828) 454-5664

• “Riverwebs” will be screened at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on April 22 at the Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. www.madbatterfoodandfilm.com.

524.3600 or www.fontanalib.org/franklin.

April 22-28, 2015

Business of the Month!

“Get Hard” (R) 10 p.m.; Home (PG) 5, 7:20 p.m.; Legends from the Sky (NR) 4, 7:05, 9:10 p.m.

wnc calendar

• The Lens Luggers Photographic Association will start a Field Photography series at 6 p.m. on May 6 at the Waynesville Old Armory Recreation Center in Waynesville. Participants will meet Wednesday mornings and carpool to various locations to take photos of landmarks, wildlife and wildflowers. They’ll meet on Tuesdays to review the images. Sessions run through June 2. $48 per field shoot and $15 per Tuesday. 20 percent discount for attending all seven sessions. Bob Brytten at 627.0245 or bobfgry@aol.com.

VISIT THE FINE ART MUSEUM FOR ONGOING EXHIBITS | FINEARTMUSEUM.WCU FINEARTMUSEUM.WCU.EDU .EDU

PRESENTING SPONSORS

28 Walnut St. Waynesville | 828.456.3021 | HaywoodChamber.com

EVENTS ARE BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE COLLEGE OF FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS AT AT WCU. JOIN FRIENDS FRIENNDS OF THE ARTS TODAY! TODAAYY!

FOR MORE INFO – 828.227.7028 | ARTS.WCU.EDU 49

wnc calendar

Association. Dick and Margaret Evans at 479.2503 or bmta@frontier.com. • Macon County Master Gardener Association will hold its 13th annual Plant Sale from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on April 25 at the Environmental Resource Center. 349.2046. • The Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage is being held now till April 25 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Gatlinburg, Tenn. The days will be full of wildflower walks, photo tours, art classes and seminars. • Rain barrels are for sale throughout spring for $80.25 each at the USDA Agriculture Service Center in Waynesville. 476.4667 or info@haywoodwaterways.org. • Road litter pickup with SWAIN CLEAN will take place from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on April 25. Meet at Ingles parking lot. Lunch at 12:30 p.m. courtesy of Bojangles. Chris Roth at 770.315.8950 or c.roth76@yahoo.com. • International Migratory Bird Day Celebration will be held from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. on April 25 at the Cradle of Forestry in America in Pisgah Forest. $5; 15-under free. 877.3130 or carlisle@cfaia.org. • A raft and riverside cleanup with WATR is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on April 25. Meet at Darnell Farms. Nantahala Outdoor Center is supplying rafts; experienced watermen/women needed. Roger Clapp at 488.8418 or roger.clapp@WATRnc.org. • The second annual Star Ranch Horse Parade will be held from 1-4 p.m. April 26 on Main Street in downtown Waynesville. The event, put on by the Star Ranch Animal Rescue, celebrates ASPCA’s “Help A Horse Day.”

April 22-28, 2015

• Boating safety courses will be offered by Haywood Community College’s Department of Arts, Sciences and Natural Resources and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commissioner from 6-9:30 p.m. on April 27 in Building 3300 on HCC’s campus. Free. www.ncwildlife.org. • “Spring at Kituwah” bird walk led by naturalist Don Hendershot will be held April 27. Hendershot is a columnist for the Smoky Mountain News. 524.5234. Meet at 8 a.m. at Bi-Lo parking lot in Waynesville or at 8:30 a.m. at Huddle House in Dillsboro to carpool. 524.5234. • A bird walk along the greenway will be held starting at 8 a.m. on April 29. Meet at Macon County Public Library parking area. http://franklinbirdclub.com/ or 524.5234. • A spring wildflower walk through the Corneille Bryan Native Garden is set for May 1 in Lake Junaluska. Observe the diversity of spring wildflowers in the mountains. $5. Van leaves at 10 a.m. from Cullowhee Recreation Center. Max Lanning at maxlanning@jacksonnc.org or 631.2020.

Smoky Mountain News

• Gateway to the Smokies Half-Marathon, sponsored by the Haywood Chamber, starts at 7:30 a.m. on May

Visit www.smokymountainnews.com and click on Calendar for: ■ Complete listings of local music scene ■ Regional festivals ■ Art gallery events and openings ■ Complete listings of recreational offerings at regional health and fitness centers ■ Civic and social club gatherings 2 on Main Street in the mini-park on N. Main. Ends at Frog Level Brewing. • The Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI) will host its annual Space Day open house from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on May 2, in Rosman. Grand opening of a new section of the exhibit gallery housing an array of gems and minerals – mostly from North Carolina. Free; nominal charge for planetarium presentations and food. www.pari.edu. • The 42nd annual Spring Wildflower and Bird Pilgrimage will be held May 2-4 at University of North Carolina Asheville. The event will feature seminars, garden tours and a variety of field trips. • A Solarize WNC information forum will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 5, in Bryson City. Attendees will learn about technologies, meet experienced installers and can take part in a question-and-answer session. www.cleanenergyfor.us/clean-energy-for-wnc/. 631.3447 or info@canaryccoalition.org. • Wildflower Whimsy is set for May 8-9 at the Highlands Biological Station. Heavy hor d’oeuvres, wine reception, native plant auctions and guided wildflower walk. Annual fundraiser for the umbrella organization for the Botanical Garden and Nature Center. $75 for members; $100 for nonmembers. Highlandsbiological.org/wildflower-whimsy/. • Weekly Women’s Mountain Bike Rides are held at 6 p.m. every Tuesday during Daylight Savings Times. Rides alternate weekly between Tsali and WCU trails. Info: nantahala.area.sorba@gmail.com or 488.1988.

COMPETITIVE EDGE •Registration for Greening Up the Mountains 5K Run & Walk has begun. The event is April 25. Register at www.imathlete.com or at the Recreation Center in Cullowhee. $15 includes a short sleeve shirt. Info: 293.3053, recjacksonnc.org. • The Nantahala Racing Club’s Slalom Series, an introduction to whitewater racing, is set for April 2526 at the Nantahala Outdoor Center. www.nantahalaracingclub.com. • The inaugural Gateway to the Smokies Half Marathon is set for May 2, in downtown Waynesville. All proceeds go toward an initiative to build a greenway along Richland Creek in Waynesville. Register by

• Registration is open for the 23rd Tour de Cashiers Mountain Cycling Experience, which is set for May 2. Info at www.tourdecashiers.com. • Haywood Regional Medical Center, in collaboration with American Heart Association, will present HeartChase from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on May 16 at the Haywood Regional Health & Fitness Center in Clyde. Registration starts at 9 a.m. HeartChase is an interactive event that moves teams of five through 12 heart-healthy activities. All funds raised go to the American Heart Association. Info:www.heartchasehaywood.org or 800.424.DOCS. Local businesses who wish to sponsor checkpoints at this game may call 800-424-DOCS to receive information. • A 5K Open Water Swim is set for July 12 at Lake Chatuge in Hiwassee, Ga. Register before early season pricing changes on April 1. Register at active.com. Info: 389.6982 • Early registration is open for the Blue Ridge Breakaway, a multi-distance bike ride set for Aug. 15 in Haywood County. Early bird rates are $41 for the 26-mile route through Aug. 1 and $46 for the 51-, 76and 106-mile distances. Blueridgebreakaway.com or 456.3021.

FARM & GARDEN • The Hunter Community Garden in Haywood County is accepting gardeners. $35 per plot. Sarah Scott at 456.3575. • “Get More From Your Vegetable Garden” will be the topic of a free program from 1-2 p.m. on April 23 at Waynesville Library Auditorium. Free. 356.2507. • Macon County Master Gardener Association will hold its 13th annual Plant Sale from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on April 25 at the Environmental Resource Center. 349.2046. • A native plant sale is set for 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on April 25 at Corneille Bryan Native Garden in Lake Junaluska. 778.5938.

now taking applications for garden space in the 2015 Community Garden. The community garden is in its fifth season. $25 per spot. 349.2046. • The Jackson County Poultry Club will hold its regular meeting on the third Thursday of each month at the Jackson County Cooperative Extension Office. 586.4009 or heather_gordon@ncsu.edu. • The Sylva Community Garden and The Cullowhee Community Garden have individual plots available for adoption. Weekly volunteer workdays are from 4 p.m. until Dusk on Thursdays at the Sylva Community Garden (March through November) and from 3 p.m. to dusk Wednesdays and from 10 a.m.-noon Saturdays at Cullowhee (year round). sylvacommunitygarden@gmail.com

HIKING CLUBS • Bill and Sharon Van Horn will share tips for hikes around Franklin with a one-hour program at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 22, at Macon County Public Library in Franklin. 524.3600. • Carolina Mountain Club will hold a 5.5 mile hike with a 1,000-foot ascent on April 22. Jack Fitzgerald at 685.2897 or suejackfitz@bellsouth.net. • The Nantahala Hiking Club will take a moderate-tostrenuous 9.5 mile hike, with an elevation change 1200 ft., on Saturday, April 25, to Palmer Creek in the Smoky Mtns. Park in the Cataloochee area. Keith Patton, 456.8895. • The Nantahala Hiking Club will take a very strenuous 10.6 mile hike, elevation change of 2,700 ft., on Saturday, April 25, to Cold Mountain in the Shining Rock Wilderness. Bill and Sharon Van Horn, 369.1983, for reservations. Limit of eight hikers. • Carolina Mountain Club will hold a 5.4-mile hike with a 750-foot ascent on April 26. Bobbi Powers at667.5419 or bobbipowers23@gmail.com. • Carolina Mountain Club will have a seven-mile hike with a 1,000-foot ascent on April 29. For info, contact Stuart English at 384.4870 or stuengo@comporium.net.

• The Macon County Poultry Club meets the third Tuesday of each month at the Macon County Cooperative extension office in Franklin. 369.3916. • The Jackson County Farmers Market will be on Saturdays from 9 a.m.-noon at its Bridge Park location in Sylva. jacksoncountyfarmersmarket@gmail.com. • A six-week spring wildflower class is being offered from 9 a.m.-noon on Wednesdays through April 29 at Southwestern Community College’s Jackson Campus. Teaches fundamental techniques for identifying wildflowers using ID guides and keys. Instructor is Adam Bigelow, who started the Sylva and Cullowhee community. Jenny Williams at 339.4497 or j_williams@southwesterncc.edu. • The Macon County Community Garden Committee is

289-30

Great Smokies Storage 10’x20’

20’x20’

160

ONE MONTH

FREE WITH 12-MONTH CONTRACT

828.506.4112 or 828.507.8828 50

searching “Gateway to the Smokies” on www.active.com.

Conveniently located off 19/23 by Thad Woods Auction

Puzzles can be found on page 54. These are only the answers.

PRIME REAL ESTATE Advertise in The Smoky Mountain News

ARTS & CRAFTS

MarketPlace information:

ALLISON CREEK Iron Works & Woodworking. Crafting custom metal & woodwork in rustic, country & lodge designs with reclaimed woods! Design & consultation, Barry Downs 828.524.5763, Franklin NC

The Smoky Mountain News Marketplace has a distribution of 16,000 every week to over 500 locations across in Haywood, Jackson, Macon, and Swain counties along with the Qualla Boundary and west Buncombe County. For a link to our MarketPlace Web site, which also contains a link to all of our MarketPlace display advertisers’ Web sites, visit www.smokymountainnews.com.

AUCTION

Rates:

■ Free — Lost or found pet ads. ■ $5 — Residential yard sale ads, ■ $5 — Non-business items that sell for less than $150. ■ $15 — Classified ads that are 50 words or less; each additional line is $2. If your ad is 10 words or less, it will be displayed with a larger type. ■ $3 — Border around ad and $5 — Picture with ad or colored background. ■ $50 — Non-business items, 25 words or less. 3 month or till sold. ■ $300 — Statewide classifieds run in 117 participating newspapers with 1.6 million circulation. Up to 25 words. ■ All classified ads must be pre-paid.

AUCTION Construction Equipment & Trucks, Excavators, Dozers, Dumps & More! April 23rd, 9 AM, Catlett, VA. Accepting Items Daily thru 4/17. Motleys Asset Disposition Group, 804.232.3300x.4, www.motleys.com/industrial, VAAL #16. ABSOLUTE AUCTION April 25 @ 10am. 3950 N.Liberty St. Winston-Salem, NC 27105. Guns-40,000 Rounds/Ammo. Chaparral & Bayliner Boats. Tractors59 Chevy Panel Truck. Leinbach Auction&Realty, LLC. NCAL5871. Auctionzip.com ID#5969. 336.416.9614.

Classified Advertising: Scott Collier, phone 828.452.4251; fax 828.452.3585 classads@smokymountainnews.com

ABSOLUTE AUCTION: 2BR/2BA, Home w/Full Basement. 5860 Norman Dr., Rural Hall, NC 27045. Selling to the Highest Bidder. Saturday, May 2, 12 Noon. Details: www.hallauctionco.com. NCAL-4703/NCREB-197034.

WAYNESVILLE TIRE, COO

Serving Haywood, Jackson & Surrounding Counties

sC Ov E R E

ATR

INC.

Offering:

MAJOR-BRAND TIRES FOR CARS, LIGHT & MEDIUM-DUTY TRUCKS, AND FARM TIRES.

Service truck available for on-site repairs LEE & PATTY ENSLEY, OWNERS

MON-FRI 7:30-5:00 • WAYNESVILLE PLAZA

828-456-5387

289-46

REAL ESTATE AUCTION The Highlands Estate, Stanleytown, Virginia. Thurs., May 7, 4 pm. 13+/- acre English-style estate with a 4075± sq. ft., five-bedroom Flemish bond brick home constructed in 1938. The luxuriously appointed and meticulously maintained home has the original leaded glass windows, flooring, moldings, mantels and paneling. The spectacular professionally-designed gardens and home have been featured in the Virginia Historic Garden Week. Property also has woodlands and a small branch. The minimum bid is only $525,000. Address: 510 Edgewood Dr., Stanleytown, VA 24168. Contact Jonna McGraw (VA#2434), Woltz & Associates, Inc., Real Estate Brokers & Auctioneers (VA#321), 800.551.3588 or visit woltz.com.

AUCTION HARPER’S AUCTION COMPANY Friday April 24th @ 6:00 p.m. Great Deals up for Grab: Furniture, Primitives, Coins, Open Trailer, Cabin Decor, Glass, New Merchandise, Tools, Box Lots and Much More!!! 47 Macon Center Dr. Franklin,NC 828.369.6999. Debra Harper, NCAL #9659, NCFL #9671. harpersauctioncompany.com

BUILDING MATERIALS HAYWOOD BUILDERS Garage Doors, New Installations Service & Repairs, 828.456.6051 100 Charles St. Waynesville Employee Owned.

CONSTRUCTION/ REMODELING ACORN STAIRLIFTS. The AFFORDABLE solution to your stairs! **Limited time -$250 Off Your Stairlift Purchase!** Buy Direct & SAVE. Please call 1.800.291.2712 for FREE DVD and brochure. ALL THINGS BASEMENTY! Basement Systems Inc. Call us for all of your basement needs! Waterproofing, Finishing, Structural Repairs, Humidity and Mold Control. FREE ESTIMATES! Call 1.800.698.9217 DAVE’S CUSTOM HOMES OF WNC, INC Free Estimates & Competitive rates. References avail. upon request. Specializing in: Log Homes, remodeling, decks, new construction, repairs & additions. Owner/Builder: Dave Donaldson. Licensed/Insured. 828.631.0747 or 828.508.0316 SAFE STEP WALK-IN TUB. Alert for Seniors. Bathroom falls can be fatal. Approved by Arthritis Foundation. Therapeutic Jets. Less Than 4 Inch Step-In. Wide Door. Anti-Slip Floors. American Made. Installation Included. Call 800.807.7219 for $750 Off. SULLIVAN HARDWOOD FLOORS Installation- Finish - Refinish 828.399.1847.

PAINTING JAMISON CUSTOM PAINTING & PRESSURE WASHING Interior, exterior, all your pressure washing needs and more. Specialize in Removal of Carpenter Bees - Cedar or Log Homes or Painted or Siding! Call or Text Now for a Free Estimate at 828.508.9727

CARS DONATE YOUR CAR, Truck or Boat to Heritage for the Blind. Free 3 Day Vacation, Tax Deductible, Free Towing, All Paperwork Taken Care Of. 800.337.9038. TOP CASH FOR CARS, Call Now For An Instant Offer. Top Dollar Paid, Any Car/Truck, Any Condition. Running or Not. Free Pick-up/Tow. 1.800.761.9396 SAPA

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES BE YOUR OWN BOSS! PT/FT No Exp Needed. Training Provided Not MLM No Cold Calling Earn Up to $5000 per month! Set Your Own Hours Schedule your Interviews Now at: www.bizpro104.com GET PAID WEEKLY! FT and PT mail work from home. For full details visit: www.750weekly.com or call 512.827.0060 (24/7) SAPA HOME BASED BUSINESS Serious impact on retirement for self-motivated people. Create your own safety net. Flex hours. FREE online training! Escalating income potential! For more info visit: www.project4wellness.com SAPA ONLINE MILLIONAIRE’S Secrets Revealed! The internet has made thousands of millionaires! Learn their secrets. FREE info at www.revealall.info or 1.305.515.6884. SAPA

WNC MarketPlace

EMPLOYMENT GTI- NOW HIRING! Top Pay for CDL A Drivers! Dry Van. No touch freight. Frequent time at home. Well-appointed trucks. EOE. 866.646.1969. GordonCareers.com

EMPLOYMENT HIGH-TECH CAREER With U.S. Navy. Elite tech training w/great pay, benefits, vacation, $ for school. HS grads ages 17-34. Call Mon. - Fri. 800.662.7419

PEBBLES LOOKS LIKE A MINIATURE LABRADOR RETRIEVER! SHE IS AN EASYGOING, AFFECTIONATE AND GENTLE GIRL WHO WANTS NOTHING MORE THAN TO BE BY YOUR SIDE!

www.smokymountainnews.com

April 22-28, 2015

WHISKERS A YOUNG SOLID BLACK KITTY, ABOUT A YEAR OLD. HE IS VERY FRIENDLY AND REWARDS ATTENTION WITH LOUD PURRS. HE'S VERY HANDSOME BOY WITH BIG ROUND GOLDEN EYES, AND SILKY BLACK FUR.

EMPLOYMENT CONTROLLER A small, rapidly growing commercial lender seeks experienced accounting professional for the position of company controller. We are based in Cherokee, NC and serve the Qualla Boundary and the 7 far western counties of NC. This position will be responsible for all financial aspects of the organization, including accounting, financial reporting, and cash management. This person will oversee and manage grants, commercial loan entries, and commercial banking relationships. He or she will work closely with our audit team, CPA firm, collections agencies, legal team, and other lending agencies. The ideal candidate will possess a Bachelor’s degree in accounting (Master’s degree preferred, but not required), knowledge of nonprofit accounting practices, knowledge of or ability to quickly adapt to a commercial lending environment, and the ability to work well in a fast-paced small team environment. Highly competitive pay and benefits package for the right candidate. Email resume no later than 5:00 pm. April 30, 2015 to: russseagle@sequoyahfund.org

EMPLOYMENT

DRIVERS: CDL-A 1yr. exp. Earn $1200+ per week. Guaranteed Home Time. Excellent Benefits & Bonuses. 100% No-Touch, 70% D&H. 855.842.8498

MAPLE TREE VETERINARY Hospital is seeking an experienced Full Time Lead Veterinary Technician. Submit cover letter, resume and references to: kbirthright@mapletreevet.com

$1,000 WEEKLY!! Mailing Brochures From Home. Helping home workers since 2001. Genuine Opportunity. NO Experience Required. Start Immediately. www.MailingMembers.com SAPA

MAST GENERAL STORE Waynesville now hiring part time sales associates for Candy and Graphics Departments. Must be outgoing, energetic & customer service focused; willing to work mornings and/or afternoons, weekends & holidays. Please apply in person at 63 N. Main St., Waynesville; or email completed application to: Melanee@mastgeneralstore.com No Phone Calls Please.

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS RAILROAD IN BRYSON CITY Is now hiring for Reservationist. Earn train passes, retail and food discounts, and more! Qualified applicants must successfully pass a background check. Applications are available at Bryson City Depot or online at: www.gsmr.com HOME TIME WEEKLY! Company & Owner Operators. Regional Lanes. Verifiable Experience, CDL-A. Apply: www.driveforbrown.com, Contact Doug: 704.927.6440 (Charlotte/Western NC) Bryan: 864.430.5235 (Eastern NC) LOAN ASSISTANT/BRANCH OFFICE COORDINATOR Waynesville, NC - Full Time w/ Benefits - Clerical, Accounting, Loan Processing/Service, and Customer Service. Responsible for Office Operations and Reporting. Career Advancement Potential. Associates Degree in Business or Accounting Required or Equiv. Exp. Skills in MS Office Required. 2+ Years Office Training or Equiv. Exp. Preferred. Must Be Self Driven and Able to Work Independently. Send Confidential Resume & Starting Salary Req. to: carhr@AgFirst.com By May 4th. EEO - M/W/D/V www.carolinafarmcredit.com 25 DRIVER TRAINEES NEEDED! Become a driver for Stevens Transport! No Experience Needed! New drivers earn $800+ per week! PAID CDL TRAINING! Stevens covers all costs! 1.888.748.4137. drive4stevens.com ATTN: DRIVERS $2K Sign-On Bonus We Put Drivers First! Earn $55,000K/yr + Bonuses/ Great Equipment W/APU’s. Pet/Rider Program. CDL-A Required 1.888.592.4752 www.drive4melton.mobi SAPA AVIATION GRADS Work With Jetblue, Boeing, Delta, And Others- Start Here With Hands On Training For FAA Certification. Financial Aid If Qualified. Call Aviation Institute Of Maintenance 1.866.724.5403 SAPA

MAD BATTER FOOD & FILM Located in Beautiful Downtown Sylva, is Hiring for Line Cook and Wait Staff. Please Call or Come by Between 2 - 4p.m., Mon. - Fri. 828.586.3555 “CAN YOU DIG IT?” Heavy Equipment Operator Training! 3 Week Program. Bulldozers, Backhoes, excavators. Lifetime Job Placement Assistance with National Certifications. VA benefits Eligible! 1.866.985.1448. SAPA

FINANCIAL BEWARE OF LOAN FRAUD. Please check with the Better Business Bureau or Consumer Protection Agency before sending any money to any loan company. SAPA FED UP WITH CREDIT CARD DEBT? Consolidated Credit Can Help Reduce Interest & Get You Out of Debt Faster. FREE Consultation. Call Now: 888.262.5339 SAPA SOCIAL SECURITY Disability Benefits. Unable to work? Denied benefits? We Can Help! WIN or Pay Nothing! Contact Bill Gordon & Associates at 1.800.371.1734 to start your application today!

FINANCIAL REDUCE YOUR PAST TAX BILL By as much as 75 Percent. Stop Levies, Liens and Wage Garnishments. Call The Tax DR Now to see if you Qualify 1.800.396.9719 SELL YOUR STRUCTURED Settlement or annuity payments for CASH NOW. You don't have to wait for your future payments any longer! Call 1.800.316.0271.

FURNITURE COMPARE QUALITY & PRICE Shop Tupelo’s, 828.926.8778. HAYWOOD BEDDING, INC. The best bedding at the best price! 533 Hazelwood Ave. Waynesville 828.456.4240

REAL ESTATE ANNOUNCEMENT 67 ACRES CULLOWHEE Borders USFS, Includes 2/BR 2/BA 1,600 sq. ft. House & 480 sq. ft. Workshop. $399,000. www.918gapbranch.blogspot.com For More Details, or Call 828.586.0165

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

NICOL ARMS APARTMENTS NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS Offering 1 & 2 Bedroom Apartments, Starting at $400 Section 8 Accepted - Handicapped Accessible Units When Available

OFFICE HOURS: Tues. & Wed. 10:00am - 5:00pm & Thurs. 10:00am- 12:00pm 168 E. Nicol Arms Road Sylva, NC 28779

Phone# 1.828.586.3346 TDD# 1.800.725.2962 Equal Housing Opportunity

HOMES FOR SALE

BRUCE MCGOVERN A Full Service Realtor shamrock13@charter.net McGovern Property Management 828.283.2112. NEAR ASHEVILLE, NC. New custom built 1,328 sf log cabin on 2.2 ac. $79,900. Features mtn views, pict windows, loft, decks EZ to finish. 828.286.1666.

STORAGE SPACE FOR RENT CLIMATE CONTROLLED STORAGE UNITS FOR RENT 1 Month Free with 12 Month Rental. Maggie Valley, Hwy. 19, 1106 Soco Rd. For more information call Torry

maggievalleyselfstorage.com GREAT SMOKIES STORAGE Conveniently located off 19/23 by Thad Woods Auction. Available for lease now: 10â&#x20AC;&#x2122;x10â&#x20AC;&#x2122; units for $55, 20â&#x20AC;&#x2122;x20â&#x20AC;&#x2122; units for $160. Get one month FREE with 12 month contract. Call 828.507.8828 or 828.506.4112 for more info.

PETS HAYWOOD SPAY/NEUTER 828.452.1329

Tuesday-Friday, 11 - 5 pm or by Apt. 182 Richland Street, Waynesville, NC.

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HEMLOCK HEALERS, INC. Dedicated to Saving Our Hemlocks. Owner/Operator Frank Varvoutis, NC Pesticide Applicatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s License #22864. 48 Spruce St. Maggie Valley, NC 828.734.7819 828.926.7883, Email: hemlockhealers@yahoo.com

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Lifestyle Properties â&#x20AC;&#x201D; vistasofwestfield.com Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Great Smokys Realty â&#x20AC;&#x201D; BHHSGreatSmokysRealty.com â&#x20AC;˘ Eugene L. Strickland â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Gene@4Smokys.com

Beverly Hanks & Associates

Waynesville Office: 828-564-1950 Bryson City Office: 828-488-2200 Brevard Office: 828-884-3556

FOR SALE BORING/CARPENTER BEE TRAPS No Chemicals, Poisons or Anything to Harm the Environment. Handmade in Haywood County. 1 for $20, 2 or More for $15 each. 828.593.8321

Haywood County Real Estate Agents

www.4smokys.com ÂŠ

2015 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently owned and operated framchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and

the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.ÂŽ Equal Housing Opportunity

â&#x20AC;˘ â&#x20AC;˘ â&#x20AC;˘ â&#x20AC;˘ â&#x20AC;˘

beverly-hanks.com Michelle McElroy â&#x20AC;&#x201D; beverly-hanks.com Marilynn Obrig â&#x20AC;&#x201D; beverly-hanks.com Mike Stamey â&#x20AC;&#x201D; beverly-hanks.com Ellen Sither â&#x20AC;&#x201D; beverly-hanks.com Brook Parrott â&#x20AC;&#x201D; beverly-hanks.com

Emerson Group

CHAMPION SUPPLY Janitorial supplies. Professional cleaning products, vacuums, janitorial paper products, swimming pool chemicals, environmentally friendly chemicals, indoor & outdoor light bulbs, odor elimination products, equipment repair including household vacuums. Free delivery across WNC. www.championsupply.com 800.222.0581, 828.225.1075.

â&#x20AC;˘ George Escaravage â&#x20AC;&#x201D; gke333@gmail.com

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72 Pars? 75 Lose power ACROSS 76 “Later!” 1 Laid fresh concrete 79 Arduous trip on 80 Suffix with Japan 8 Waste 81 45 half 13 Found 83 “My gripe is as fol20 Like gushing actors lows ...” 21 Malia’s sister 86 Coup, e.g. 22 Kildare locale 88 Lay new turf on 23 More with-it red 89 Not well-lit fish? 91 Crab claws 25 Runs fast 92 Bullfighting cheer 26 1980s NBC sitcom 95 Gaudy scarves 27 “Teh” for “the,” for 98 Be soaked one 100 Zool. or ecol. 28 Jazzy singing 101 Skeptical egg 29 “Growing Pains” layer? actor Alan 105 Disease-free sea 30 Tower for fodder predators? 32 Uncanny 110 Actress Matlin 34 24-hr. money 111 Rat catcher sources 113 ‘60s conflict site 36 Japan natives, e.g. 114 “Star Wars” royal 38 “Lookie there, mus- 115 Royal home cle-building stuff!”? 117 Gillette shaver 42 Terrestrial chapeau? brand 44 Dem.’s opponent 119 “- yellow ribbon 45 - -cone (frozen round ...” treat) 122 Journalist Nellie 46 “Just you wait, 123 Not unusual ‘iggins ...” 124 Things found at dis47 Near-failing mark count shoe stores? 48 Analyzed 127 Italian city 52 Cochlea site 128 Steel, for one 54 “Will - learn?!” 129 Adversaries 58 Beer brand 130 Agrees (to) 60 Microwave saltines? 131 “Black Velvet” 66 Orchestra section singer Alannah 67 - Moines 132 Orchestra leader 69 Old Spice alternative 70 Reagan speechwriter DOWN Peggy 1 Go over again, as old 71 Cyberspace address issues

2 Mrs. Oskar Schindler 3 Easy-to-catch hit 4 Org. for Rafael Nadal 5 - Cong 6 “- Time We Say Goodbye” 7 Dictator 8 Air marshal’s org. 9 Copies Dr. Dre 10 U.S. humane org. 11 Put away, as a sword 12 “NewsRadio” co-star Phil 13 Shopping aid 14 Oliver Twist, e.g. 15 Bright red 16 Silverstone or Keys 17 Tall ale mug 18 International compact 19 Cavity filler’s deg. 24 Branching-out points 31 “- Next Chapter” (Winfrey series) 33 Eat in style 35 Least lenient 37 “- loves me ...” 39 California’s Point 40 Astra automaker 41 Biblical ark builder 43 - and terminer 48 Waylay 49 “Yes, -!” 50 Peak climber, e.g. 51 Dumbbell 53 Chastised 55 SUV cousins 56 Prefix with warrior 57 “Bringing Up Baby” studio 59 Sang loudly 61 Radius site 62 Part of CRT 63 Alternative to lettuce

64 Oakland footballer 65 Smiles villainously 68 Dinar earner 72 Hovels 73 Once named 74 Lop the crop 77 “- goin’ down!” 78 Suffix of sugars 81 Pianist’s seat 82 Communal 84 Boxcar rider 85 Bait biter 87 Smack 90 Complain 92 Unit of resistance 93 Frogs and kangaroos 94 Angers a lot 96 Patriarch of Judaism 97 Majestic 99 Juan’s silver 102 Enlighten, in poems 103 Kevin of “Saturday Night Live” 104 Pour gently, as wine 106 “Relapse” rapper 107 Hang a new worm on 108 Word with app or bee 109 Makes the assertion 112 Green shampoo 116 Periods 118 Burn balm 120 Ferber or Krabappel 121 Chick chaser? 123 Nipper’s co. 125 Procedure: Abbr. 126 Dash lengths

answers on page 50

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WEEKLY SUDOKU Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each small 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine. Answers on Page 50

Devil’s Walkingstick is known as The Toothache Tree

George Ellison

“The cascading, four foot, doubly-compound leaves of devil’s walking stick, bunched near the end of long crooked thorny stems reaching as tall as 20 feet, give this plant a decidedly tropical look — it’s a plant that might fit in nicely on the set of Jurassic Park. In fact, its leaves are the largest of any in the continental United States. Masses of small white flowers are borne above the leaves in equally Columnist impressive terminal panicles, developing into a profusion of dark purple fruits … so heavy that the plant at times droops to the ground.” — James T. Costa, Highlands Botanical Garden: A Naturalist’s Guide (2012).

everal years ago, in late summer, I was with a group botanizing the Big Laurel (Alarka Laurel) section of the Cowee Mountain Range just south of Bryson City where Swain County adjoins Macon and Jackson counties. Walking along the Spruce Trail at about 4,000 feet (where the southernmost stand of red spruce in North America is located), we came to the old Nancy Green homesite, which she maintained in this ethereal set-

BACK THEN ting into the 1930s. (I wish I knew more about Nancy Green and would appreciate hearing from anyone who does.) Apple trees, periwinkle and other domesticated plants common to such sites were in evidence. But the most curious item by far was a stand of shrubby trees armed with prickly spines on their bare trunks and topped with enormous plumes of black fruit. Although it’s a fairly frequent species throughout the region below 3,500 feet, Aralia spinosa is often overlooked despite its curious growth strategies and human associations. Like some people, some plants make such a vivid first impression that you never forget them. My first encounter with the plant, years ago, was memorable. Working my way down a steep slope, I was reaching out, grabbing saplings for balance when I unwittingly seized upon A. spinosa. The toxic thorns that circle the trunk sank into my hand giving me a shock that was almost electric. Back in earlier times — when the average citizen was more keenly aware of the natural world than is the case today — every plant

was tested for its potential use as an implement, food or medicine. Those that had actual or supposed medicinal properties were esteemed and sometimes cultivated so as to be nearby when required. This is no doubt why we found the plant persisting at 4,000 feet in the Cowees at Nancy Green’s old homeplace. A. spinosa was one of those easily cultivated items that had a wonderful use. When you’ve got a toothache and no dentist, you’ll try anything, including popping the tooth out with pliers if it gets that bad. According to Le Page du Praz in his History of Louisana (1758), as quoted in Donald Culross Peattie’s A Natural History of Trees (1950), “the inner bark has the property of curing the toothache. The patient rolls it up the size of a bean, puts it upon the aching tooth.” Steven Foster and James A. Duke suggest in A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants (1990) that a “tincture of berries was also used for toothaches.” The white settlers learned these applica-

April 22-28, 2015

HUNGRY?

tions from the Cherokees and other Indian tribes of the region. Paul B. Hamel and Mary U. Chiltoskey in Cherokee Plants: Their Uses — A 400 Year History (1975), state that the plant was not only used for “ache of decaying teeth” but as a root-salve for old sores or as a root tea for a variety of ailments. Let’s bring this A. spinosa treatise to a conclusion by quoting Peattie yet again on another of A. spinosa’s curious associations: “Back in the last century when trees were cultivated for their very grotesqueness, this strange, clumsy, disproportionate, at once pretentious and yet somehow insignificant little tree or tall shrub was in fashion. With the cast-iron mastiff on the lawn, the wooden gingerbread on the eaves, or — if the mansion were stone — the castellations on the roof, a fine, flourishing, horrendous specimen of [devil’s walkingstick] produced an effect which might wake envy in the bosoms of less fortunate neighbors.” Unlike Peattie, I find A.spinosa to be a handsome (if somewhat strange) plant with uncommonly interesting botanical aspects and folk connections. As Tim Spira notes in his Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachians (2011) it is “an attractive plant in woodland borders.” (George Ellison is a naturalist and writer. He can be reached at info@georgeellison.com.)

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AutoStarUSA AutoStarUSA.com .com Kathleen Kortlang Internal Internal A Auditor uditor M eet Kathleen Meet K athleen Kortlang, Kor tlang, one of the Management M anagement TTeam eam members at at W Waynesville aynesville A Automotive. utomotive. Three months Three months ago ago,, K Kathleen athleen Kor Kortlang tlang joined the W Waynesville aynesville Automotive Automotive tteam eam where where she works works for for o the Accounting Accounting Management Management department. department. native has a long history history in the aut This This souther southern n California Califfor o nia native auto o industr industry, y, having w orked for for companies companies like Hertz Hertz and Sonic having worked Sonic Automotive. Automotive. Kor Kortlang tlang spent spent 14 yyears ears w working orking her way way up to Automotive to Controller Controller aatt SSonic onic A utomotive where she handled “everything “everything money where money..” June, Kor tlang lef ft SSonic onic and moved moved east from Last June, Kortlang left from Las Vegas Vegas to to North North Carolina. Kortlang Kortlang debated debated as tto Carolina. o whether or not she w would ould rreturn eturn to to the automotive industry, industry, but a visit visi to automotive to Waynesville Waynesville Automotive Automotive helped her make up her mind mind..

280 Hyatt Hyatt Creek Creek Rd., Rd., Waynesville, Waynesville, NC 28786

285 Hyatt Hyatt Creek Creek Rd., Rd., Waynesville, Waynesville, NC 28786

“It w “It was as the only dealership I visit visited. ed. A After fter meeting V Van an and TTim im and seeing wha whatt a w wonderful onderful w work ork environment environment they had here, here, I knew knew this was was where where I wanted wanted tto o be be,,” Kortlang Kortlang said. said. W While hile Kor Kortlang tlang enjo enjoys ys man manyy par parts ts of her job job,, especially the people she w works orks with, her fa favorite vorite part part is the div diversity. ersity. The The different different depar departments, tments, cconstant onstant buzz of daily ac activity tivity along with getting tto o kknow now cust customers omers keeps the job interesting interesting on a daily basis basis..

April 22-28, 2015

eciation her e. EEveryone veryone is rreally eally nic ““There There is a high lev level el of appr appreciation here. nice, e, w works orks w well ell ttogether ogether and genuinely car es about each other e’re like family tlang said cares other.. W We’re family,,” Kor Kortlang said.. W hen she isn ’t w orking, Kor tlang enjo ys spending time with her husband orks at at the When isn’t working, Kortlang enjoys husband,, who w works Henderson ville location location and her ttwo wo st epdaughters. Kor tlang also enjo ys spending time with her sister sister Hendersonville stepdaughters. Kortlang enjoys and her two two children children along with her parents, parents, who she recently recently mo ved in ne xt door tto. o. G ardening is one moved next Gardening of Kor tlang’s fa vorite hobbies. hobbies. She also enjoys enjoys being outdoors outdoors and doing anything anything water water or iented Kortlang’s favorite oriented aliffor o nia. because it rreminds eminds her of g growing rowing up b byy a lake in C California. Say “hello” “hello” to to Kathleen Kathleen next next time yyou’re ou’re aatt W aynesville A utomotive. Say Waynesville Automotive.

*Excludes additional shop supplies & hazardous waste fees. Excludes synthetics, diesels & some specialty vehicles. Not combinable with other of offers. fffers. See Service Advisor for details.

CAN CANTON TON

SY S YLLLVA VA

ASHE ASHEVILLE VILLE

BLACK MOUNTAIN A BLACK MOUNTAIN

750 Champion Drive Canton, NC 28716

1188 West Main Street Sylva, NC 28779

2 Westgate Parkway Asheville, NC 28806

306 Black Mountain Ave. Black Mountain, NC 28711

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Smoky Mountain News

CERTIFIED CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED PRE-OWNED SPECIALS

22012 201 20 012 0112 D Do Dodge oddge dg ge G Grand rraand nd C Ca Caravan arraaavvvaan

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*Prices do not include taxes, title, license or $499 doc fee. See dealer for details. Subject to prior sale. Artwork for illustration purpose only.

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