Candidates sign up for municipal elections

from Smoky Mountain News | July 7, 2021

UNC president visits Cullowhee

The filing period for candidates seeking municipal governing board seats in November began at noon on Friday, July 2, with several challengers and incumbents already declaring their candidacies.

In Haywood County, elections will be held in Canton, Clyde and Maggie Valley.

Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers and Alderwoman Kristina Smith both filed on July 2, seeking reelection. Alderman Tim Shepard, who was appointed to fill the seat of Alderman James Markey after Markey changed his residency midway through his term, also filed for what will be his first full four-year term if he wins.

Maggie Valley resident John Hinton also filed for a seat on the board of aldermen, but as of press time on July 6, no other candidates had filed in any other Haywood races. Two seats are up for re-election and those seats are currently held by Twinkle Patel and Clayton Davis.

A total of 16 municipal seats are up for election in Jackson County, but as of press time only two people had filed to run. Incumbent Sylva Mayor Lynda Sossamon and incumbent Sylva Commissioner Barbara Hamilton are seeking re-election to their existing seats.

The open seats include the mayoral office for all four incorporated towns and all five aldermanic seats in Dillsboro. In Sylva, the board seats held by Hamilton and Mary Gelbaugh are up for election, as are the Webster board seats held by Leigh Anne Young, Allan Grant and Danell Moses. In Forest Hills the seats held by Ron Yount and Jerry Rice will be on the ballot.

In Macon and Jackson counties, Patrick Taylor hopes to be re-elected mayor of Highlands, and Thomas Craig will seek a seat on the Highlands Board of Commissioners.

The Town of Franklin will be getting a new mayor as well as a new town manager this year. Mayor Bob Scott, who has served four consecutive two-year terms as mayor after serving on the town council, will not be seeking another term in office.

“Most politicians bow out saying ‘to spend more time with family,’ which is code for getting out before an indictment or a scandal breaks. Not me. I am just too darn old. Franklin needs a new mayor,” Scott wrote in a resignation-type letter to the editor.

So far, Jack Horton is the only candidate who has signed up to run for mayor. Horton, 70, is currently serving his first term as a Franklin Town Councilmember, but he’s no stranger to local government. He served as the manager of Macon County from 19851991 and from 2008-2013 and as Haywood County’s manager in between.

“I would have run again, but Council Member Jack Horton has filed to run for mayor. Jack is qualified and well known across the state. I can leave knowing that if elected, Franklin will be in good hands with Jack,” Scott wrote in his letter.

Councilmember David Culpepper’s seat on the board is up for re-election, but he has not yet signed up to run for another term.

The town board seat left vacant by the death of Councilmember Barbara McRae will also need to be filled this year. No one has signed up to run for the open seat yet.

The Town of Bryson City also has two board position up for election. The seats are currently being held by Ben King and Janine Crisp. King, co-owner of Bryson City Outdoors, is completing his first term on the board while Crisp is finishing up her second term. Neither had signed up to run for another term as of press time Tuesday.

Western North Carolina’s General Elections will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 2. Voters must be registered 25 days before the election in order to vote. The candidate filing period ends at noon on Friday, July 16. For up-to-the-minute updates on candidate filings, or to register to vote, visit www.ncsbe.org.

Candidates sign up to run in Canton. Pictured from left are Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers,

Alderwoman Kristina Smith and Alderman Tim Shepard. Donated photo

Haywood courts back in full swing

Haywood County courts are back in full swing following safety-related case delays during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are holding jury trials and at a quick pace,” District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch said. “With the restrictions lifted from the COVID-19 pandemic, Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Bradley B. Letts was ready to catch up on the back log of cases. My office responded by prosecuting five weeks of court over a six-week span in Haywood County Superior Court.”

Typically, Haywood County has 11 to 12 jury trial sessions a year, and so it was unusual to have trial sessions in back-to-back weeks, Welch said. Her office had requested additional court time, and Judge Letts was able to get permission from authorities to hold more court, she said.

“We disposed of about 72 cases during those court sessions, including jury trials, pleas, probation violations, and other pending matters,” Welch said. “One of the five weeks was administrative court, and the other four weeks were jury sessions. I am grateful to the citizens who heeded the call to return as jurors, as our system of justice cannot work without them.”

On May 27, a jury found Brooke Stites Bushyhead, 39, of Waynesville, guilty of two counts of trafficking in methamphetamine. After being stopped for a tag-light violation, more than an ounce of methamphetamine was found on her person, along with cash, a set of digital scales and baggies. She was sentenced to 140 to 186 months in prison.

On June 4, a jury found Jon Jeffrey Hinde, 59, of Clyde, guilty of felonious breaking and entering, larceny and possession of stolen goods. Hinde and others broke into a cabin and stole various items of property. He was sentenced to six to 17 months in prison, followed by supervised probation upon his release. His co-defendants, Natasha Hinde and Ethan Putnam, pleaded guilty afterward.

On June 8, after jury selection, Jose Ax Sub, 37, of Maggie Valley, pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree forcible sexual offense and was sentenced to 120 to 264 months in prison.

That same week, Wendell James McCarty, 60, of Maggie Valley waived his right to a jury trial. Judge Steve Warren convicted McCarty of resisting a public officer and exceeding a safe speed.

On June 24, Arthur Willie Rathbone, 53, of Canton, was found guilty of four counts of assault on a governmental official for fighting with Haywood County Sheriff’s Deputies while being taken into custody on another matter. He received 18 months of supervised probation.

More than 25 cases handled were connected with drug and property crimes, Welch said.

“We want people to be safe in their homes and communities. Districtwide, my office will continue to push for as much court time as we can get in an effort to catch up from the closure of our courts over the past year,” she said.

Man takes plea in fatal DWI case

District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch said a Haywood County man will serve the maximum sentence possible in prison after entering Alford pleas Friday in Macon County Superior Court to a DWI crash that left two dead.

Suspects who enter Alford pleas do not admit guilt but accept there is sufficient evidence to convict and agree to be treated as guilty.

A blood sample showed Jeremy Michael Clark, 28, of Canton, had used methamphetamine prior to an Oct. 31, 2018, wreck on U.S. 64 near Winding Stairs Gap in Macon County. While heading west, his pickup truck crossed the two-lane highway’s center line and smashed head on into a vehicle heading east.

Clark’s girlfriend Megan Lurae James, 26, the mother of their two children and a passenger in the truck, died at the scene. Sixtyyear-old Roger Dooley of Lake Wales, Florida, who was driving the vehicle Clark’s truck hit, died seven days later in a Georgia medical center. Roger Dooley’s wife, Brenda Dooley, was airlifted to Mission Hospital in Asheville with life-threatening injuries, including multiple broken bones and a lacerated spleen.

Assistant district attorneys Jason Arnold and Jim Moore prosecuted the case.

“As the court decides the path forward, the victims have come into this court for active consecutive sentences,” Arnold told Judge Coward. “As this court makes its search for justice in this case, the state of North Carolina (the District Attorney’s Office) can’t see how you could reach any other determination.”

Coward sentenced Clark to a total time of 165 to 232 months for two counts of felony death by vehicle and felony serious injury by vehicle. He ordered Clark to pay $7,840 in court fees, submit a DNA sample and undergo a substance-abuse assessment.