Opinion

from Smoky Mountain News | April 29, 2020

Dillsboro, Sylva at odds over bridge replacement plan

Caring for our own is what matters

When I think of the stereotypes against Appalachia, what comes to mind is what popular culture has had to say about Appalachian people. The mockery, generalization, and misunderstanding that Hollywood has been producing for generations is the most glaring. I also think of the lesser known impacts of the stereotypes, such as the way the government and our fellow Americans treat the area. I’ve said before that growing up here, in a small town as widely known and simultaneously forgotten as Bryson City, was somewhat like growing up in a novelty store. “One of the cutest small towns in the country,” they boast. “Rated top in the nation for small town living” is displayed across the covers of national travel magazines.

For a place with that many people moving through it, you’d think that we’d have more funding for activities, or that the school districts would have the money to cover a year’s expenses. It’s kind of amazing how blind people with two working eyes can be. They come here, content with the images of “mountain people” they have in their own heads, and see just enough to fill that stereotype. They don’t see anything unusual. They seem to genuinely believe we all live here, working our own farms, driving our old pickups, riding into our quaint little mountain town daily to socialize at the general store like we’re living an episode of “The Waltons.”

Maybe it would be more accurate to say that the tourists want to feel like they are living in an episode of “The Waltons,” but only for as long as they’re here. Most of them go home to wherever they’re visiting from. Some of them decide they want to stay. And despite moving into our community, they still fail to see what’s so obvious to the rest of us. For example, the majority of the residents of Swain County can’t afford to do any casual shopping on Everett Street. Those prices, and products, aren’t for us. They’re for the visitors, little souvenirs to remind them of their trip to the mountains. Our small town gets a lot smaller when you get old enough to realize you can’t afford to shop in most of its stores or eat in most of its restaurants.

I could probably list a hundred things about tourists I don’t particularly like (including the fact that they all flocked here to “escape” the Coronavirus, infecting people as they came). But I would be wrong to not acknowledge all the things they provide for the community. Most of our revenue comes from tourism, and it keeps the town running. We all benefit from putting up with the droves of tourists that spring brings.

Some of us play our parts very well, appealing to what the tourist believes a mountain person should be like in order to get a little bit of what they’re jingling in their wallets. I myself have played that part, though not for any monetary gain. I like to emphasize where I’m from, and my family backgrounds. I get satisfaction from building up their idea of what my family must be like, just so I can watch it crashing down on them as I tell them the truth.

My family, like every single other Appalachian family, is nuanced. It contains lifetimes of instance and detail. It would be impossible to fit that into any stereotype. It is a disservice to the people that lived those lives to even try. I do get angry about the stereotypes, and I can get up in arms about defending the community I’m passionate about. But I also understand that it comes largely from a place of ignorance, and that the only way to fix that is education (That still gets tricky, though, because then you have people trying to experience the mountains and come out thinking they know everything about them). Guest Columnist Catherine Sawyer

I bear no resentment toward mountain people playing the stereotype for their own benefit. We sometimes have few other options. We are told to be “authentic” — whatever that means — but shunned by our own community when playing into it too much. An Appalachian acting like a city slicker is a traitor, and an Appalachian acting like a hillbilly is a sellout. There’s no way to win. We have been ignored, neglected, and exploited for just about as long as we’ve been a recognizable group of people.

I say, if you can find a way to profit amidst all that, go for it. Any funding, personal or community wide, we can squeeze out will benefit us, even if we have to play stupid to get it. The taxes paid by overcharging tourists helps us keep our schools running, keep our welfare programs helping people. The funds we can squeeze make it possible for us to band together when we need to. Those expensive restaurants on Everett do well enough that now, while we are at a standstill, they can offer daily free meals to Swain County students. Our community knows what it’s doing, and we know what we need. We might play the part for those visiting, but we know how to take care of our own when the time comes. And that’s all that matters.

And as for shows like “The Andy Griffith Show” and “The Waltons,” I love those them. My grandparents were huge fans of both. It would be impossible for me to call them evil or exploitative when I grew up watching my grandparents enjoy them so much. I don’t mind other people across the country enjoying them too. It can bring us together rather than separate us further. And hell, if they want to come out to the mountains and play country music on the porch together, I’d be happy to. That sounds like it would be a lot of fun. (Catherine Sawyer is from the Alarka community of Swain County. She wrote this essay for an Appalachian History class at UNC Asheville. csawyer1@unca.edu)

Good thing ACA remains intact To the Editor:

In spite of the Trump administration’s current litigations to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA), it’s a very good thing that the legislation is still in place during this time of record breaking job losses.

Why is the ACA (termed “Obamacare” by GOP critics) so important right now? Because of the following special provision:

“If you have just left your job for any reason and lost your job-based health coverage, you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period. This means you can enroll in a Marketplace insurance plan any time of year. You usually have 60 days from the day you lose your coverage to enroll.

News flash: Displaced workers who had employer paid insurance thankfully don’t have to rely on the Trump administration to reopen the enrollment period. That’s good because Trump is refusing to do so.

Displaced workers who lost their coverage can call Mountain Projects to seek enrollment assistance from a Certified Application Counselor or pursue Marketplace enrollment at www.healthcare.gov.

The counselors report they are getting lots of calls.

Another option: Check with a private agency that carries other insurance (car, homeowners, etc), to see if they carry Marketplace plans — some do.

Passed without any Republican support in March 2010, the ACA has survived approximately 70 Republican-led attempts to repeal, modify or otherwise curb the bill’s content. Democratic lawmakers overwhelmingly support it and have fortunately been able to prevail in the voting to prevent repeal.

While the Republican lawmakers referred to their actions as “repeal and replace,” they never produced a replacement plan.

The full name of the bill passed in 2010 is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The inclusion of the Special Enrollment Period in the legislation focuses on one of the guiding principles of the Democratic Party: protecting workers.

While Democratic lawmakers could not have foreseen the current health care crisis when they crafted the ACA legislation, the Special Enrollment Period was a key component and it may save lives now. We should all be thankful the bill is still intact. Myrna Campbell

Waynesville

Trump not worthy to be commander-in-chief To the Editor:

One of my favorite books is the King James Bible (1611). Excellent advice. In the 1950s, my mother took us to the nearest Baptist church regularly, Sunday School and Bible study. She had great respect for Billy Graham. Too bad he didn’t have a son who would continue his Christian ministry. Franklin has clearly chosen politics. In the sixties, while in the U.S. Navy, I began to wonder: Is the creation story true? Still, I turned to the Bible for guidance and philosophy.

Church attendance has plummeted, though, during my lifetime. Religion seems to be less relevant to many Americans. Is that true for Christianity as a belief? In the seventies legendary singer Johnny Cash sang, “What is truth?” In the nineties Counting Crows sang of “… the crumbling difference between wrong and right.” Are these songs reflective of the drop in church attendance? Are they signs of a broader societal concern for morality in general?

Now, in 2020, Donald Trump, the

LETTERS

President of the United State, is widely regarded as the world’s biggest liar. Lying is a violation of the Ninth Commandment (Exodus 20:16). Mark Twain’s fictional character Huckleberry Finn is a distant second. Sadly, Trump is real rather than merely a fictional character. Trump may also be world champion in another vice. Proverbs 3: 27 states, “Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.” Marvelous human relations wisdom. Has Trump never read Proverbs? Does he merely refuse to follow sage advice?

Trump was one of the “fortunate sons” that Credence Clearwater Revival sang about in the seventies. He avoided military service during the Vietnam War. Billionaire father. “Bone spurs” in his feet. Still, he belittled American war hero John McCain who spent nearly six years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

Between now and Nov. 3, veterans as well as active service members need to ask themselves this question: Since Donald Trump chooses to lie to us and belittle us, is he worthy of the title commander-in-chief? In my book, he is not. Dave Waldrop Webster F

Time to dump the fake president To the Editor:

Enough is enough. How much longer are Americans willing to tolerate this sad excuse of a president? Anyone in their right mind can clearly see that we are not being led by a sane man. His constant attacks on the reporters trying to get information and his daily lies to us are beyond belief.

As I write or vent this opinion tonight, I’ve just learned that he now insists on his name being printed on the stimulus checks. Really? It’s not his money! Millions of Americans are out of work with no health insurance, no savings and no clue what the future holds. So, let’s slow these payments down even more to feed his megalomaniac personality?

This man has proven over and over and over again that he is incompatible with anything resembling intelligence. But he does own a well-documented record of criminal wrongdoing, with many still under investigation yet currently lost in the media shuffle. Most of his cronies are in prison or jail.

A businessman? Ha! How does someone bankrupt a casino three times, an airline, and many other failed ventures? Not to mention a real estate school that was proven fraudulent. This is why no reputable banks will deal with him or Trump Inc. for years. He owes millions of dollars in debt, bills unpaid, workers unpaid, contractors unpaid. He never paid for his inauguration and still owes numerous cities money for his reelection rallies.

Tax returns? Not available as he fights to constantly keep them secret. Like his besties — Putin, Jong and the other ruthless dictators he praises — he shares their same affliction of narcissism, a lust for power and more money. He has absolutely no ability to remotely feel anything for others other than himself. His utter failure as a leader in this global crisis further demonstrates the magnitude of his incompetence.

Our country used to be the leader on the world stage. Now we are a laughingstock. Maybe my country will hopefully learn a huge lesson in that we need to come together, recover from this pandemic, and elect a leader that actually believes in our constitution. America is now in the I.C.U. It’s up to us as voters to save ourselves from this insanity called Trump, our fake president, and try listening to real news. It’s out there. Mylan Sessions

Waynesville

Trump talk is a really bad joke To the Editor:

Anyone with half a brain knows that Trump was making a sarcastic joke when he suggested that people inject bleach to cure COVID-19. As any astute follower of Donald Trump over the past three years knows, most everything coming out of his mouth is a joke. If the president has something serious to say, it generally comes out of the other end. At the ready is a team of experts — Pence, Meadows, Hannity, Limbaugh, and of course, McConnell — who make it all shine and smell good. It’s time for people to wake up and smell the coffee, or whatever. John H. Fisher Hendersonville

Trump eyes Medicare, Social Security cuts To the Editor:

Lately. through observing the news media, I have seen mass support for gun ownership and confirmation of the Second Amendment. My life of being associated with firearms began 72 years ago when I was 7 years old. I’m not worried about my guns, but I am worried about my Social Security and Medicare.

According to the New York Times, in his latest budget, President Trump has proposed cutting Social Security programs $26 billion and safety net programs like Medicare and Medicaid $1.9 trillion. This was after giving his rich cronies a $1.3 trillion tax break.

In the presidential campaign, I saw Trump on television state that he would leave Social Security and Medicare alone.

What else can you expect out of a pathological liar? Charles Miller

Waynesville

Let’s open the Parkway To the Editor:

Despite the social distancing, wearing masks, stay at home orders, and all of the CDC stats and briefings we have witnessed over the past 40-plus days, the COVID-19 curve has flattened along with CDC models that were not altogether accurate. The models were way overestimated.

The American people have been very patient and are now wanting to return to work. Children want to return to school as do their parents. Serology studies are indicating that the virus is not as deadly as once was thought in addition to the majority of affected patients having successfully recovered.

It makes zero sense for the Blue Ridge Parkway to be closed as people want to drive and enjoy the beautiful scenery. The Parkway could easily be reopened with the caveat that they still socially distance on hiking trails and in picnic areas. We cannot continue this isolation. These rules are not healthy for a free society nor for our economy. We need not risk lapsing into a great depression as a result of the government’s desire to “keep us safe.”

Let common sense rule. Pam McAloon Maggie Valley

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