Smoky Mountain News | Aug. 7, 2019 by Smoky Mountain News

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August 7-13, 2019 Vol. 21 Iss. 10

Council gives $50 million to tribal LLC Page 4 Law enforcement grapples with opioids in Appalachia Page 6

CONTENTS On the Cover: Smoky Mountain News reporter Holly Kays reflects on her pilgrimage through Spain on the Camino de Santiago. Originally the network of walking paths were used by medieval pilgrims traveling from all over to Santiago, but now pilgrims come from all over the world to experience their own journey. (Page 38)

News Council gives $50 million to tribal LLC ........................................................................4 N.C. 107 relocation still includes 55 businesses ......................................................5 Law enforcement grapples with opioids in Appalachia ..........................................6 Shining Rock continues to struggle with transparency ..........................................8 Charter school’s enrollment drops ..............................................................................11 Chief candidates speak on the issues ......................................................................12 Friends work to restore Bryson City Cemetery ......................................................14 Community Almanac ........................................................................................................19

Opinion Death, violence and too many guns ............................................................................20

A&E Becky Buller to play ‘An Appalachian Evening’ ......................................................24

Books The Great Escape? Read a book ................................................................................37

Then Naturalist's Corner

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August 7-13, 2019

Speak up ..............................................................................................................................54

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Scott McLeod. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . info@smokymountainnews.com Greg Boothroyd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . greg@smokymountainnews.com Micah McClure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . micah@smokymountainnews.com Travis Bumgardner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . travis@smokymountainnews.com Jessica Murray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jessica.m@smokymountainnews.com Susanna Barbee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . susanna.b@smokymountainnews.com Amanda Bradley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jc-ads@smokymountainnews.com Hylah Birenbaum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . hylah@smokymountainnews.com Scott Collier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . classads@smokymountainnews.com Jessi Stone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jessi@smokymountainnews.com Holly Kays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . holly@smokymountainnews.com Cory Vaillancourt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . cory@smokymountainnews.com Garret K. Woodward. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . garret@smokymountainnews.com Amanda Singletary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . smnbooks@smokymountainnews.com Scott Collier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . classads@smokymountainnews.com Jeff Minick (writing), Chris Cox (writing), George Ellison (writing), Gary Carden (writing), Don Hendershot (writing), Susanna Barbee (writing).

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Council gives $50 million to tribal LLC BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER he Cherokee Tribal Council voted to allocate an additional $50 million to Kituwah LLC, the tribe’s economic development arm, during its regular monthly meeting Thursday, Aug. 1. “With the first $25 million of seed money, our performance has proven that we are good stewards who have been fiduciarily responsible with the tribal funds, with the people’s funds,” Kituwah Board Member Samuel Owle told Tribal Council. “This additional $50 million will help us manage our assets more efficiently.” The LLC was formed in March 2018, with its board seated in June 2018 and a CEO hired in November. The initial $25 million has already been allocated. In the last 90 days, the entity sifted through nearly 80 business proposals and ultimately approved 12 for investments, with another 16 slated for further due diligence, Councilmember Jeremy Wilson, of Wolfetown, said during the Aug. 1 meeting. Allocating the additional $50 million would allow the LLC to pursue further opportunities and cut overhead costs from 4 to 1.75 percent of equity, Owle said. “Every project that we have funded and every investment that we have made is profitable, and with the closing of two additional projects in the next 20 days approximately, those will be immediately profitable as well,” said Mark Hubble, CEO of Kituwah LLC. However, some Tribal Council members were uncertain about transferring such a large sum of money. The tribe’s endowment funds are doing well, earning a return of 8 percent, said Councilmember Perry Shell, of Big Cove. Is more discussion needed to ensure the $50 million investment will be a good one and that the tribe can afford it right now? “I want to see this happen,” he said. “I want to see you guys succeed as well, but at the same time I don’t want to do anything that would negatively impact our own financial situation with the obligations that we already have.” Shell’s comment was partially in response to Finance Secretary Cory

Smoky Mountain News

August 7-13, 2019

Blankenship, who said that Equity Fund No. 2, out of which the resolution proposed to withdraw the $50 million, wasn’t sufficient to contribute such a large sum while also funding the various “essential projects of the tribe” planned to come out of it. Additionally, said Blankenship, he hadn’t yet received the information he’d requested from the LLC to help Tribal Council make an informed decision. “At this time I cannot provide an endorsement for the $50 million equity contribution,” said Blankenship. “I think the LLC should consider some types of milestone distributions so that Council is not necessarily involved in the individual transactions that are occurring with the LLC but the LLC is providing some information that when we hit this milestone, there is an additional $10 million contribution once this milestone is reached.” But waiting, said Hubble, could prove detrimental to some of the LLC’s pending deals. For example, the organization is looking into buying a modular home company that currently supplies many of the homes purchased by tribal members. If the LLC purchased the business, it could sell the homes to tribal members at cost, cutting out the middleman and decreasing the cost of buying a house by 5 to 10 percent. “We’re buying this at kind of a distress price,” he said. “It probably will not be available if we wait.” Some councilmembers then voiced their support for the request. “I don’t think they would be bringing this in here if it wasn’t going to be making us money,” said Councilmember Albert Rose, of Birdtown. “I know they’re already making profit and some of the projects we met on two years ago we have not even started.” “I guess from my standpoint based on the information that’s laying in front of me is that you’re doing your job, you’re doing your work,” said Wilson. “I’ve got all the information that I personally need.” Other councilmembers maintained their reticence. “The price might even go down on that modular company if we table this and let finance meet with them and see what it is

Kituwah LLC’s offices are located on U.S. 441 across from Waffle House. Holly Kays photo that we’ve approved already that won’t be funded now versus this $50 million to the LLC,” said Shell. “We’ve already committed some of this or have already obligated the money we’re talking about right now from my understanding.” Blankenship then followed up to say the tribe could meet the $50 million request if it were spread across multiple funds. He asked that the resolution be amended to include the debt service sinking fund and Endowment Fund No. 1 as additional revenue sources. “You have adequate resources across those three funds to make a $50 million contribution if you have a comfort level with doing that,” said Blankenship, “but it needs to be split across those three funds.” Tribal Council voted to accept Blankenship’s amendment. Before voting on the $50 million, asked Councilmember Bo Crowe, of Wolfetown, wouldn’t it be better to inform the community about what had been done with the original $25 million, thus increasing their

comfort level with the $50 million? “The only thing I’m not comfortable with is when you take the $50 million out of our investment funds, are you able to assure us that it’s going to get the same kind of gains we’ve been seeing in investments, up to 8 percent?” asked Chairman Adam Wachacha, of Snowbird. “If the targeted return to the endowment is 8 percent, we will do better than that,” Hubble replied. He added that a strong market overall has allowed the endowment funds to do as well as they have recently, but that the LLC’s investments will prove more steady than the endowment funds’ returns in the case of a downturn or flattening in the market. Crowe moved to table the resolution, but it failed for lack of a second. Ultimately, Tribal Council voted to fund the LLC’s request, approving the resolution 9-3. Crowe, Wachacha and Vice Chairman David Wolfe voted against the move to pass, with the other nine councilmembers voting in favor.

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N.C. 107 relocation list still includes 55 businesses

WaynesvilleArtSchool.com | 828.246.9869 | 303 N. Haywood Street The N.C. 107 project will require 55 businesses to relocate, including Speedy’s Pizza and Valero Gas Station. Holly Kays photo

More relocations likely after utility easements

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Plain Greek yogurt + berries + nuts • Toasted whole wheat waffle + nut butter • + 8 oz glass of cow’s milk or soy beverage egg + cheddar cheese • Scrambled (+ whole wheat tortilla) made with cow’s • Oatmeal milk + nuts + raisins

August 7-13, 2019

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ased on information presented at a joint government meeting in Jackson County July 23, The Smoky Mountain News reported in its July 31 issue that an updated list of businesses slated for relocation as a result of the N.C. 107 project in Sylva now numbered 39, not the 55 businesses and organizations named in the preliminary plans released last year. However, it turns out that the actual list is unchanged from that released in 2018. “In my slide discussing estimated ROW (right of way) impacts, it listed 39 businesses being taken,” District Engineer Brian Burch said in an email sent to the county manager’s office Friday, July 26. “This number was based on an estimate that we had received in Division 14 from our Appraisal Unit. This is actually the number of parcels containing businesses that may be relocated. The actual number of businesses on those 39 parcels is 55.” In his presentation July 23, Burch had made it clear that businesses included on the current list are unlikely to be taken off of it, and that new businesses could be added once utility plans are finalized. The same is still true, he said in an email to SMN July 31. “I would not expect the businesses already on the list to be removed once the utility easements are added to the plans,” he wrote. “It is also likely that additional businesses will be added to the list due to the utility easements.” The DOT has completed its 65 percent complete plans, but those plans do not yet include utility easements. The easements are expected to be added within the next few weeks, Burch said. The 55 businesses represent about onesixth of Sylva’s business community, a significant chunk of the town’s economy. But, said Burch, being on the list for relocation does not necessarily mean that a business will be forced to move. The DOT puts businesses on the relocation list when it determines that

property will be impacted to the point that the business located there can no longer operate as it currently does. “During right of way negotiations, property owners and tenants may have the option to modify their property or structure to make it a viable location to conduct commercial activities,” he said in an email. The N.C. 107 project has elicited strong feelings and outright ire from some community members since preliminary plans were unveiled last year, and some business owners are taking issue with another aspect of the relocation list — beside each business name, the DOT includes an estimate of the number of people employed there. The total for the 55 businesses is 189 employees. “Looking at those numbers I would say they underestimated by half,” said Charlie Schmidt, general manager at Speedy’s Pizza. Speedy’s is on the list for relocation. The DOT lists Speedy’s as employing eight people. However, Schmidt said there are actually 28 people who work there, about 15 of whom are full-timers. “Half are part-time college students, but they have a job for a reason,” he said. “They need money for something.” Similarly, Sylva Family Chiropractic said they have four employees — three full-time and one part-time — despite being listed as employing two, and Shed’s Hunting Supply said they have three full-time and two parttime employees, yet were listed as having three workers. David Uchiyama, communications manager for DOT’s western region, said the numbers might not be accurate because they’re based on “very casual observations.” The DOT employee coming up with the numbers might just drive by, or they might walk in to grab a cup of coffee or a slice of pizza, thus garnering a closer look. “The estimates are off because they’re not needed,” said Uchiyama. “They’re not a critical component of any of the paperwork at this stage.” They won’t likely be deemed important later, either, he said, as the Federal Highway Administration doesn’t require employment estimates.

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FORCED TO FIGHT Law enforcement grapples with opioids in Appalachia BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER fter a routine surgery, Haywood County native Clayton Suggs ended up hooked on opioids until on the first day alone in his new apartment after a year of sobriety, his addiction eventually cost him his life. Addiction is a slippery slope easy to slide down, but difficult to surmount — especially in the face of the millions and millions of pills flooding nearly every county in the nation, according to a pill tracking database first published July 16 by The Washington Post. Suggs was forced to fight a battle he couldn’t win. Like Suggs, the nation’s law enforcement agencies are fighting that same battle from a different perspective, and fighting just about as hard as Suggs did. “You’ve got to have enforcement, because you’re going to save a few. You’ve got to have treatment, because you’re going to save a few. But we always ignore prevention,“ said retired DEA Agent and Waynesville native Joel Reece. “We’ve probably lost the better part of a generation. We can treat until the cows come home, but we’ve already lost the better part of a generation.”

oel Reece has spent the better part of his life in law enforcement, specifically drug enforcement. He became a Waynesville police officer, like his father, in 1978. “It wasn’t too bad,” he said of local drug activity at the time. “It was normal traffic stuff, DUIs, burglaries. Drugs were starting, but it was mostly weed and a little coke then. It wasn’t nearly the things we’ve got today.” Reece said he had always wanted to work narcotics after seeing a few friends’ lives “ruined” by drugs, but while spending the next 12 years with the State Highway Patrol, he likewise didn’t come across major drug activity often. That all changed in 1990, when he joined the U.S Drug Enforcement Agency as a special agent in Texas. “We had heroin when I was in San Antonio. It was black tar. Ugly, stinky, nasty. I didn’t like working it,” he said. “They put it in balloons, carry it in their mouths or who knows where. It was an issue, but it was basically just confined to the real, real hard-core inner city, and you couldn’t work it. You’re not going to get an undercover in there.” It also had a very low social impact, so it wasn’t really a huge problem for most people. When Reece transferred to the DEA’s Nashville office in 1998, the illegal drug market was beginning to evolve. “When I got there, meth had just come east,” he said. “Nobody was prepared for that, because nobody was trained.” Right around that time, meth production, distribution and usage began to spike, especially in rural Appalachia. “Tennessee got hit very hard,” said Reece. 6

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August 7-13, 2019

“North Carolina, I suspect, got hit harder than they knew, but there just wasn’t anybody working it over here at that time, that early on.” Labs, he said, were popping up everywhere in Tennessee, especially in places like White County and Crossville, between Nashville and Knoxville. “One year, I think it would have been around 2000, we were in over 200 labs in a year,” Reece said. “For whatever reason, the mountains just attract meth people. We would leave in the lab truck literally to go hit one, and by the time we got in somebody was calling about another. You’d debrief some of the crooks, they tell you about another one. We’d get home a lot of times with the sun coming up. ‘Good times’ is probably a little odd to say, but, it was good times.” Cocaine was still an issue, but heroin and pills weren’t really on anybody in Tennessee’s radar — yet. At least, until Reece and his colleagues made what was at that time likely the largest undercover heroin purchase in Tennessee history. “Nobody had seen it there before,” he said. After four years in Nashville, Reece moved further east to Knoxville, in 2006, where he said heroin and opioid pill dealers were starting to become more and more common. “It had begun to raise its head a little,” he said, “but they were still small time. Coke was still king, and crack was still a huge problem. But it wasn’t really raising anybody’s antenna yet.” Although a small town, Knoxville’s proximity to one of the country’s major drug trafficking capitals made East Tennessee one of the most drug-addled regions in the country by 2006. “Atlanta, Georgia is as important as any city in the United States for the cartels,” he said. “Anywhere. If you don’t have the money to buy it, they will front it to you. Up to a kilo. We had 10 and 20-pound seizures, in Chattanooga, a lot of them headed this way. Nowadays, you don’t go out and get a case of beer and beat your chest after a 10-pound seizure.” In 2006, Reece was called to DEA headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he directed a section responsible for a $21 million global drug intercept program, and also engaged in some classified work. From there he was sent west, to the DEA’s New Orleans division, which encompasses parts of several nearby states. Based in Jackson, Mississippi, Reece directed all DEA operations in that state from 2008 through 2011. “While we were there, you kept seeing all the stuff about South Florida, the pill mills,” he said. “Pill mills” are pharmacies or physicians’ offices where addicts know they can score a

Number of pills distributed per person, per year Average yearly total, by county, 2006 through 2012 0

150+ pills

The Washington Post’s “opioid belt” doesn’t quite make it into Western North Carolina, but has ravaged East Tennessee. Washington Post map

Tennessee’s Cocke County – just across the Haywood County line – has about half as many people and twice as many pills per person as Haywood does. Washington Post graphic

gonna happen. What they do — they’ve done it since I was a baby agent — they wait for a user base to get established, and if it doesn’t get established quick enough, they’ll establish it. Once the user base gets big enough, the cartel comes in with a better product, and sells it cheaper.” The cartel business model, coupled with local, state and national efforts to rein in pill prescribers, could hold some ominous implications in the future. “It will get so tight with pills, you could walk in with your arm half cut off, and they’ll give you an aspirin. So, what’s going to take its place? Heroin,” he said. “We’ve already got an addicted generation, but we haven’t seen heroin here like we’re going to see. Pills are going to be hard to come by.” With heroin will come DEA Agent Joel Reece (right) poses in 1998 with what may have been the largest undercover heroin buy in other, more dangerous subTennessee history at the time – nearly a pound. Donated photo stances like the fentanyl that killed Clayton Suggs before he could even put the sheets on his bed the first day in his new apartment. “You know how much fentanyl it takes to kill you? Cover Abe Lincoln’s beard on a The Washington Post’s searchable database of prescription pill distribution information is penny,” Reece said. “That’ll kill any human available online. Although it can be accessed with a free trial account, purchasing a subbeing.” scription helps support ambitious journalistic endeavors like those of The Post, which led to a While working in Knoxville, Reece and federal court’s release of the data cited in this story. the DEA seized several industrial pill presses. www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/dea-pain-pill-database “They’ll get fentanyl, because it’s cheaper. It’s all coming from Mexico, a little bit from the whole thing,” he said. “That’s where it’s but in this battle, you really have to take your China, if it’s mailed. They’ll get a little fenvictories in small doses. You’re not going to tanyl, add some other inert ingredients of the worst.” The Appalachian HIDTA was recognized save the world. You’re going to have to take some kind, put it in a pill press, and press it to as the top HIDTA in the nation in 2015, but them in small doses. And for every baby we make it look like an oxycodone, or a Percocet, Reece left for retirement in 2017. When he save, that’s one we won’t have to deal with for or whatever,” he said. “Then you buy it on the black market, on the street, and you take it did, he didn’t leave behind the lessons a life in the next 40, 50 years.” Reece is understandably pro-prevention because you think that’s what it is. Well, suplaw enforcement taught him. “HIDTA is prohibited by statute from and remains active even in retirement, giving pose the guy who was pressing it put a little engaging in treatment programs, but we presentations to Haywood County students too much fentanyl in there? They’re not in a lab setting with white coasts, could do prevention things,” he said. Among they’re probably half-drunk the Appalachia HIDTA’s seven funded task “You’ve got to have enforcement, or high themselves. And then forces was a program targeting neonatal boom, you’re done.” abstinence syndrome, or NAS. because you’re going to save a few. One such instance Reece NAS occurs when a child is born after You’ve got to have treatment, cited occurred in being exposed to drugs or alcohol in utero. Huntington, West Virginia, Opiates are one of the surest ways to give an because you’re going to save a few. where a bad batch caused a infant NAS, which can cause premature rash of overdoses, right in birth, seizures and birth defects. After birth, But we always ignore prevention.” the middle of The Post’s opiNAS babies can suffer from drug withdrawal — Joel Reece, retired DEA Agent oid belt. symptoms including tremors, vomiting, “It used to be, we’d publidiarrhea and dehydration due to excessive on behalf of locally based anti-drug program cize that kind of thing,” he said. “Now we perspiration. “East Tennessee was specifically one of the Drugs in our Midst. He teaches them about don’t, because if you publicize that, we found the addicts would go to it, because they think worst places in the country for NAS babies,” the dangers of both opioids and meth. “There is not a family, probably, in this it’s better dope. Some of this stuff, it doesn’t said Reece. “Children’s Hospital in Knoxville was known as the go-to place in the country county that doesn’t either have a family mem- have a logical answer to it.” There may be few logical answers in the because they were the experts. Because they ber or know somebody that struggles with nation’s battle with opioids, but there this stuff,” he said. “And that’s crazy.” had so many.” Just as the nation’s drug problems have remains one sure-fire conclusion — even The Appalachia HIDTA’s multi-media campaign — billboards, radio, television — morphed over Reece’s 40-year law enforce- with treatment, with enforcement and with ment career, they’re continuing to evolve prevention education, the DEA agents and was called “No More NAS.” “The first year we did it, NAS baby births even today and will do so well into the future. law enforcement officers following in “We are not going to outwork, out-distrib- Reece’s footsteps will be forced to fight, well in Tennessee dropped 15 percent,” he said. “Now, can you take full credit for that? No, ute, out-manage the cartels,” he said. “It’s not into the future.

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Delve into the data

August 7-13, 2019 Smoky Mountain News

prescription or a large amount of pills without too many questions being asked of them. At the time, Florida was known as one of the best places for a pill addict to travel to or to live, because of the existence of multiple major mills. Reece’s supervisor, the special agent in charge of the New Orleans division, allowed him to establish the first tactical diversion squad. “It was the very first way the DEA decided to combat the diversion of pharmaceuticals,” he said. “They took DEA agents — DEA diversion agents who are not gun-toters but know this business — along with some analysts and some local people, and made a task force. All they worked were diversion cases — pill mills. Bad docs. Bad pharmacies.” What Reece and his colleagues found was shocking. “We actually sent undercovers in, and from the time you walked in the door till the time you walked out the back with prescription in hand,” he said, “it was like 5 to 7 minutes. Hundred bucks. Cash.” That, Reece said, was when he knew that opioid addiction was a bigger problem than it had been in the past. “We are now full-blown in this whole thing by then,” he said. “The cat was out of the bag.” Just as America’s opioid problem was becoming a bona fide epidemic around 2011, Joel Reece’s time with the DEA had to come to an end. “Mandatory retirement at age 57,” he said. “If it wasn’t for that, I’d probably still be there.” Back in Tennessee, he spent the next two years as the manager of a special investigations unit for health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, directing all health care fraud investigations. But in 2014, he returned to the drug enforcement field as the deputy director and Tennessee state coordinator of a program called HIDTA. “HIDTA” stands for High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, and according to the DEA is a program that was created by the Congress with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. HIDTA “provides assistance to federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States.” Not every part of the United States has a HIDTA, but by 2018 there were almost 30 of them across the country — from California to Chicago, Alaska to Appalachia, and everywhere in between. “One of the prerequisites [for establishment of a HIDTA] is that you have to have an issue that is specific to your area that’s not everywhere else but affects other places,” he said. Reece was part of the Appalachian HIDTA, which runs through what The Washington Post calls “the opioid belt” of America — from central West Virginia through the Virginia panhandle down to eastern Kentucky and East Tennessee. At the time, Reece said, the lion’s share of domestic marijuana cultivation took place there. “Through the years, it morphed into a poly-drug HIDTA, and now it’s basically an opioid HIDTA, because that’s the epicenter of

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Shining Rock continues to struggle with transparency

Shining Rock’s plans to leave its current location off Dellwood Road, shown here under construction in 2016, have been suspended. August 7-13, 2019

A Shot Above photo

Board suspends plans for new school facility BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER Editor’s note: This is the seventh in a series of stories on Haywood County’s public charter school, Shining Rock Classical Academy, which has been beset by a host of academic and organizational problems since opening in 2015.

ince 2015, Haywood County’s first public charter school, Shining Rock Classical Academy, has used more than $2.75 million in local taxpayer money to educate children to a level far below the county average, and also below the state average. Not only that, but the troubled school has had three directors in less than four school years — the first of which resigned without explanation, the second of which was fired for sexual harassment, and the current, Joshua Morgan, who was accused of multiple instances of improperly disciplining students while serving as interim head, though he was cleared of all allegations after an investigation by the school’s own board-appointed attorney. The school’s self-appointed board of directors has also repeatedly violated state laws pertaining to public meeting notice requirements as well as closed session justifi8 cations and procedures.

Smoky Mountain News

A flurry of emails to Shining Rock from The Smoky Mountain News asking questions on a variety of topics in the public interest have gone unanswered since at least mid-May. All that being said, during a meeting held the night of Thursday, Aug. 1, the board introduced a lengthy “electronic communications policy” that violates Shining Rock’s own board policies. During the very same Aug. 1 meeting, the board held a three-hour closed session to discuss “facilities,” even though that is not a recognized reason to enter into a closed session under state statute. In both cases, the communications policy and the closed session for “facilities,” documents relating to the agenda items weren’t generally made available for public viewing or comment, except upon special request by those with foreknowledge of the existence of those documents mere days or even hours before a potential vote by the board. Without violating any state law, Shining Rock Classical Academy’s board provided only the bare minimum of transparency, but now the communications policy has been tabled and the property acquisition has been suspended indefinitely after local media outlets questioned the board’s process.

COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN At 1:55 p.m. Monday, July 29, Shining Rock sent out notice of a special-called meeting to be held three days later at 6:30 p.m.

on Thursday, Aug. 1. The school appears to have complied with state sunshine laws mandating public notice of the meeting, which it has repeatedly failed to do in the past. Despite the meeting’s agenda being included with the meeting notice, none of the supporting documents were included — like the proposed electronic communications policy. Around 20 minutes later, The Smoky Mountain News requested a copy of the policy, which wasn’t delivered by Shining Rock until more than 24 hours after that, or about 50 hours prior to the meeting. The proposed policy wasn’t posted anywhere on Shining Rock’s website, meaning that unless a member of the public specifically requested it in time for the meeting, and had it delivered in time like SMN did, they’d have no opportunity to review it or give the board any feedback before the board voted on it. First, the proposed policy says it must be followed not only by students, employees and the school community “at all times,” but also by alumni. That means students who no longer attend the school will purportedly be subject to the conditions within the proposed policy. Those conditions include not contributing to rumors or gossip and not discussing “any concerns related to other students, families, or staff.”

The proposed policy also states that by “posting a comment or other material to Shining Rock sites as outlined above, users give Shining Rock the irrevocable right and license to exercise all copyright, publicity and moral rights with respect to any content provided, which includes using the submission for any purpose in any form and on any media, including but not limited to: displaying, modifying, reproducing, distributing, creating other works from, and publishing your submission.” That’s right — Shining Rock claims “irrevocable” copyright privileges for videos, photos, phrases or anything else posted to its media channels, which can then be repurposed in any way the school sees fit, with no mention of permission from or compensation to its creator. Students, however, “may not under any circumstances create digital video recordings of Shining Rock community members either on campus or at off-campus events for online publication or distribution without consent.” Students are also prohibited from publishing “disparaging or harassing remarks or media about Shining Rock community members,” although who defines what “disparaging” or “harassing” actually means isn’t noted in the proposed policy. Regardless, the proposed policy gives Shining Rock the right to remove comments “whether or not they violate this Policy,” making the argument over what, exactly, is disparaging or harassing a moot argument altogether. Meanwhile, staff members are “encouraged to develop positive media stories for publication” by submitting “final drafts of media releases with appropriate photos” to Shining Rock’s public relations email address.

The school’s selfappointed board of directors has repeatedly violated state laws pertaining to public meeting notice requirements as well as closed session justifications and procedures.

Staff members are also directed to “respond to email, voicemail, verbal and handwritten requests within 24 hours during the work week” because, as the proposed policy states, the “positive perception of [Shining Rock] within the community of Haywood County and the larger community of the State of North Carolina largely depends upon the timeliness and quality of the communications from [Shining Rock] employees, students, parents and community stakeholders.” It’s not clear if that policy applies to requests from the media, but at least one segment of the proposed policy is aimed squarely at journalists.

to not engage, but there is no law that requires [a policy of non-engagement].” Shining Rock’s own board handbook, available on the school’s website, contains just such a policy, which reads “ … as the Board of Directors conducts business in its monthly meeting, it must refrain from engaging in discussion with the audience.” What’s still not clear is who drafted the electronic communications policy to include the “public comment” stipulation in direct opposition to the board’s own policies laid out in its handbook, or why the stipulation was even included in the first place, but the board decided to table the proposed policy anyway.

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BUILDING A MYSTERY

S EE STORY, PAGE 11

Shining Rock enrollment drops dramatically BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER ack-to-school time is here again, and at Shining Rock Classical Academy — Haywood County’s only public charter school — it looks like students this year will have lots more room to grow. No, the school isn’t expanding, despite its second failed attempt to do so in as many years — Head of School Joshua Morgan told Shining Rock’s Board of Directors the night of Aug. 5 that first-day enrollment was just 304 students. Shining Rock officials didn’t respond to an email asking for prior year first-day enrollment totals, but the way charter schools are funded — with taxpayer money — could provide some clues. Each school year, Haywood County Commissioners make a bulk allotment of around $13 million to Haywood County Schools for what’s called “local current expense funding.” Each month, Shining Rock invoices Haywood County Schools, which must pay Shining Rock an equivalent per-pupil amount. According to figures provided by Haywood County Schools, when Shining Rock opened for the 2015-16 school year, that amount was $1,982.80 per pupil. Shining Rock started that school year with 233 students, but its final invoice that year was for 220 students, amounting to a yearly total of $453,286. That year, state school performance data shows Shining Rock earning an impressive score of 70, just above the Haywood County Schools score of 66.8, which ranked HCS among the top 10 percent of all 115 public school districts in the state. The next year, the 2016-17 school year, the sum allotted to each Haywood County student by commissioners grew to $2,022.15 per pupil. Shining Rock began the year invoicing with 350 students, but diminished to 326 by year’s end, for a total of $700,871.

State school performance from that year shows Shining Rock earning a score of 65, just below Haywood County Schools’ score of 68, which again placed HCS in the top 10 percent of all public school districts in the State of North Carolina. The year after that, the 2017-18 school year, the sum allotted to each Haywood County student by commissioners again grew, this time to $2,064.92 per pupil. Shining Rock began the year invoicing for 388 students and ended it by invoicing for 362, totaling $790,117 for the school year. That year, state school performance data shows that Shining Rock’s scores declined drastically to 56, well below the county average of 67.1 and just below the statewide average score of 58. For the 2018-19 school year, the sum allotted to each Haywood County student by commissioners got even larger, $2,107.11 per pupil. Shining Rock began the year invoicing for 387 students, and ended with 366, totaling $810,000 for the year. That year’s state school performance data won’t likely appear for a few more weeks, but the past three school years of declining performance at Shining Rock have cost Haywood County Schools more than $2.7 million in taxpayer funding over four school years. By extrapolation, if Shining Rock’s enrollment remains as low as Morgan said it was, Shining Rock will likely see a $150,000 yearly decrease in revenue from HCS this school year. On the tenth day of the school year, the state “locks in” student enrollment numbers and pays HCS a one-time, per-student sum. In 2018, that sum was almost $5,500 per student. When new students walk in to the Haywood County Schools system on the 11th day, or any other day after that, the state doesn’t supply that money. Prior to this new school year, almost 50 Shining Rock students left the school after the 10th day, costing HCS more than $250,000. Based on Shining Rock’s established attrition rate of 6.19 percent over those four school years, HCS could again see as many as 19 former Shining Rock students come knocking during the year, without the $100,000 in funding HCS would have received from commissioners had they enrolled in HCS prior to day 10. 9

Smoky Mountain News

The attempts by Shining Rock Classical Academy to obscure its doings from the general public aren’t new, and didn’t end with the ill-conceived electronic communications policy, either. Shelby Harrell with The Mountaineer reported in a story Aug. 5 that only hours before the Aug. 1 SRCA meeting, the school had filed a “thick packet” of documents with the Town of Waynesville outlining a plan to build a new K-8 school on a 15.93-acre parcel bordered to the west by Russ Avenue, and to the north by Jule Noland Drive. That was news to The Mountaineer, as well as to The Smoky Mountain News, because no discussion about the specific project, its cost or its justification had ever been conducted by the taxpayer-funded school’s board during the various public meetings attended by representatives of both media outlets over the preceding months and years. As with the electronic communications policy, no one in the media or in the public would know the documents filed by Shining Rock on Aug. 1 were coming. Even if they did, they’d have almost no time to analyze them or conduct additional reporting, or basic fact-finding, or even query the board in any meaningful way as to its intent before the board would consider taking action to move forward with the plan. Later in that same Aug. 1 meeting, the board went into a three-hour closed session anyway, as it indicated it would on the prepublished agenda. Per N.C.G.S. 143318.11(c), “Every motion to close a meeting shall cite one or more of the permissible purposes listed in subsection (a) of this section.” The board indeed made a motion, but the reason cited in the motion is not recognized by N.C. law; both the meeting agenda and Board Member Anna Eason’s motion cited N.C.G.S 143-318.11(a)5 as the reason to go into closed session, for “facilities.” Nowhere in the closed session laws outlined in 143-318.11a(5) does the word “facilities” appear. That section of the law plainly states that its purpose is “to establish, or to instruct the public body’s staff or negotiating agents concerning the position to be taken by or on behalf of the public body in negotiating (i) the price and other material

August 7-13, 2019

“It is understood that from time to time, the media will make requests for information and documentation,” reads the proposed policy. “All communication with members of the media, including representatives for print, television, radio and electronic media outlets, will be conducted during public comment sections of board meetings or in written form through an email address designated for media communications.” Shining Rock has failed to respond to the last half-dozen emails sent by SMN over the last two months, but it’s the “public comment” section of the policy that is perhaps most troubling. As UNC School of Government Professor Frayda Bluestein writes in respected local government blog Coates’ Canons, “ … it is important to note that even when the law requires public bodies to allow public comment, there is no Michelle Haynes general requirement for the public body to respond, even when directly questioned by a member of the public.” That’s exactly what happened the night of Aug. 1, when The Smoky Mountain News took advantage of the meeting’s public comment session to ask Shining Rock Board Chair Michelle Haynes several questions pertaining to the proposed communications policy. “Our public comment session is just f that,” Haynes answered during the meeting. “You can comment publicly for two minutes, and we do not do a Q & A with the board during that time.” When questioned as to how media outlets are supposed to communicate with the board during the public comment sessions of board meetings if the board refuses to answer questions posed of it, Haynes answered, “The public comment session is for public comment.” After a motion was made to consider the proposed policy — opening it up for board discussion — Shining Rock Board Member Jason Moody cited unnamed North Carolina General Statutes as prohibiting such a Q & A session like the one that had just occurred, and the one proposed in the policy. “The board is not allowed to respond to people during the open session part of a board meeting,” Moody responded. “That’s straight out of the General Statutes … we have to take public comment, but we are not allowed to respond to questions at that point in time.” Moody’s incorrect about that, according to the widely-cited Bluestein, who currently serves as the David M. Lawrence Distinguished Professor of Public Law and Government and has been at UNC since 1991. “There is no statute that prohibits board members from engaging with the public during the public comment period,” she wrote. “Many boards have adopted policies

August 7-13, 2019

news

Shining Rock Classical Academy timeline • July 2015: Shining Rock Classical Academy, a brand-new taxpayer-funded public charter school governed by an unelected public board, violates closed-session laws pertaining to property acquisition before it even opens by refusing to name the parcel in question. • August 2015: Shining Rock opens its doors to students for the very first time. • September 2016: State school performance data shows Shining Rock earning a score of 70, just above Haywood County Schools’ score of 66.8. • September 2017: State school performance data shows Shining Rock earning a score of 65, just below HCS’ score of 68, which again places HCS in the top 10 percent of all school districts in the State of North Carolina. • Oct. 20, 2017: Shining Rock violates public meeting notice requirements by sending out notice of special called meeting less than 48 hours prior to the meeting’s commencement, in violation of state law. During that hastilycalled Sunday night meeting, founding Head of School Ben Butler resigns. • Jan. 17, 2018: Shining Rock again violates public meeting notice requirements by improperly rescheduling a meeting. • Jan. 23, 2018: Shining Rock hires Nathan Duncan to replace Butler as the new head of school. • September 2018: State school performance data shows Shining Rock’s scores decline for the second straight year to 56, now well below the county average of 67.1 and just below the state average of 58. • Feb. 21, 2019: Shining Rock’s second Head of School, Nathan Duncan, is fired by the board without explanation. • May 8, 2019: Shining Rock holds a two-hour closed session to discuss hiring a new head of school. Interim Head of School Joshua Morgan emerges as a leading candidate.

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Board Chair Anna Eason tells The Smoky Mountain News she hopes a hire will take place at the next meeting, on May 15. May 9, 2019: Parents of three students file formal complaints against Morgan, alleging multiple instances of improper disciplinary procedures. One initiates an investigation by the Waynesville Police Department. Shining Rock’s board-appointed attorney, David Hostettler, subsequently tells SMN that he will serve as the grievance facilitator, investigate the allegations, and make written recommendations to the board no later than June 7. May 15, 2019: Shining Rock Board Chair Anna Eason steps down. Michelle Haynes, a board member for 11 months, is appointed new chair by the board. No head of school hire is made while Shining Rock’s attorney continues his investigation. May 29, 2019: Reporting by SMN News Editor Jessi Stone reveals former head of school Nathan Duncan was fired after Shining Rock’s attorney found allegations of sexual harassment made against Duncan by a teacher to be credible. June 6, 2019: Shining Rock again violates public meeting notice requirements by not sending out the required notice of an upcoming meeting. During that meeting, the board’s grievance committee dismisses multiple allegations of improper disciplinary procedures by the school’s then-interim head, Joshua Morgan. June 19, 2019: While passing its 2019-20 budget Shining Rock announces it expects lower enrollment for the coming school year. June 19, 2019: SMN sends a list of questions to Shining Rock about the June 6 illegal meeting and the lower enrollment projections. No reply is received. June 20, 2019: District Attorney Ashley Welch declines to charge Morgan with any crimes

related to a Waynesville Police Department investigation into a Shining Rock parent’s contention that Morgan had been unusually forceful with her child. • June 24, 2019: SMN sends a reminder email about the questions sent June 19. No reply is received. • June 27, 2019: Shining Rock hires Joshua Morgan for the permanent head of school position, its third in less than four school years. His one-year contract pays $75,000.

• June 27, 2019: SMN sends a list of questions to Shining Rock about the hiring of Morgan. No reply is received. • June 30, 2019: SMN sends a reminder email to Shining Rock about the questions sent June 27. No reply is received. • July 1, 2019: SMN sends a reminder email to Shining Rock about the questions sent June 27. No reply is received. • July 22, 2019: SMN sends an email to Shining Rock asking about procedures in the event of a measles case at the school. Shining Rock has the highest rate of unvaccinated students in Haywood County. No reply is received. • July 29, 2019: Shining Rock calls a special meeting for Aug.1, during which it intends to consider adopting an electronic communications policy and hold a closed session

regarding property acquisition. • July 29, 2019: The Smoky Mountain News requests a copy of the proposed electronic communications policy. • July 30, 2019: More than 24 hours after making the request and just over 48 hours before the Aug. 1 meeting, SMN receives from Shining Rock the electronic communications policy, which wasn’t otherwise publicly available for viewing before the meeting. • Aug. 1, 2019: According to The Mountaineer newspaper, Shining Rock files paperwork with Waynesville’s Development Services Department “just hours” ahead of the special called meeting, outlining a plan for a new facility. Like the electronic communications policy, the development documents weren’t otherwise publicly available for viewing before the meeting. • Aug. 1, 2019: During the special called meeting, Shining Rock tables the electronic communications policy it drafted because a portion of it violates the board’s own existing policy. During that same special called meeting, Shining Rock holds a three-hour closed session for a purpose not recognized by N.C. law, “facilities.” • Aug. 3, 2019: Shining Rock calls another special meeting with a similar closed session — related to property acquisition — on the agenda. • Aug. 5, 2019: Shining Rock’s second special called meeting in four days begins with a unanimous vote to strike the closed session from the agenda. Head of School Joshua Morgan then gives a “first day of school” update and reports enrollment of just 304 students, dramatically lower than projected and far lower than in any previous year besides the school’s first year. The board then votes unanimously to cease all discussions on the new facilities plan.

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August 7-13, 2019

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Smoky Mountain News

terms of a contract or proposed contract for the acquisition of real property by purchase, option, exchange, or lease; or (ii) the amount of compensation and other material terms of an employment contract or proposed employment contract.” Two other people — school construction contractor Chip Harp and local Wells Fargo financial advisor Larry East — were also present during some or all of the closed session. Even if the closed session was correctly cited, that particular justification for the closed session is only properly used to establish the body’s negotiating position — perhaps, the price it wishes to pay, or other material terms — in real estate acquisition, or in employment contracts. Since by admission the closed session wasn’t about establishing the body’s position in an employment negotiation, it must have been about property acquisition, right? It’s hard to say — Harrell reported in her Aug. 5 story that The Mountaineer had asked for “all minutes related to discussion of the proposed plan,” but that Shining Rock board members said they didn’t have any. “The Mountaineer has regularly covered all Shining Rock Classical Academy board meetings and retreats since the school opened more than four years ago,” reads Harrell’s story. “It is unclear how the Shining Rock board got this far along in the planning process without a single discussion at a public board meeting.” After three hours, the Aug. 1 closed session concluded with the board taking no action, however Board Chair Michelle Haynes told those assembled that she’d likely call another special meeting for the following Monday, Aug. 5. On Saturday, Aug. 3, she did just that by emailing the agenda, which included another call for a closed session per N.C.G.S 143318.11(a)5 — this time omitting all mention of the word “facilities.” But when the meeting commenced on Aug. 5, board members voted to adjust the agenda and omitted the closed session. Under the next agenda item, labeled only “new business,” Head of School Joshua Morgan — who was not listed on the agenda

— took the opportunity to give an update on the first day of school, which had concluded earlier in the day. “The enrollment that we have right now, it looks like it’s 304,” Morgan told the board. “I don’t know if we’re going to have a lot of movement off that number one way or the other.” That number is far below the enrollment totals for the prior three years (see ENROLLMENT, page 9) and will diminish the amount of per-student taxpayer monies that go to the school this year. After Morgan concluded his report on an otherwise spotless first day of school, Board Secretary Melanie Norman made a motion, saying that Joshua Morgan since the current facility clearly meets the needs of the dwindling student population, the board should suspend any further discussions relating to new facilities. That motion passed unanimously, but not before some reassurances by the board that it was the right thing to do. “We have, what, 302?” asked Board Member Mike Mehaffey, who walked into the meeting late and had missed the closed session vote and Morgan’s presentation, but did arrive in time for discussion on the motion. “Last year we had close to 400, so we definitely have the capacity for our enrollment this year.” The land upon which Shining Rock Classical Academy sits is currently leased from the Lake Junaluska Assembly. “This is not our forever home here,” said Haynes of the school’s modular units, paid for with a $2.9 million loan from Forest Citybased charter school consulting outfit Challenge Foundation Properties at 7 percent interest, according to public records sent to SMN in May. “We want a permanent campus, and we want to expand, and we want to [also offer a] high school, but I think at our enrollment, this is where we need to stay.” Questions regarding the lower enrollment totals and their possible implications for the school’s budget were emailed to Shining Rock’s board members Aug. 5. As of press time, no reply was received.

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Shelby Harrell with The Mountaineer reported in a story Aug. 5 that only hours before the Aug. 1 SRCA meeting, the school had filed a “thick packet” of documents with the Town of Waynesville outlining a plan to build a new K-8 school on a 15.93-acre parcel bordered to the west by Russ Avenue, and to the north by Jule Noland Drive. No discussion about the specific project, its cost, or its justification had ever been conducted by the taxpayerfunded school’s board during the various public meetings attended by representatives of both media outlets over the preceding months and years.

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Chief candidates speak on the issues BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ver the last four years, Richard Sneed and Teresa McCoy have found themselves on the opposite side of many an argument, and in September the incumbent chief will face the former Big Cove councilmember once more, at the ballot box. Sneed was elected as vice chief in 2015 but sworn in as principal chief following the impeachment of then-Chief Patrick Lambert in May 2017. He’ll be seeking his first elected term to the seat against McCoy, a 20-year veteran of the Tribal Council who positioned herself as a staunch opponent of the impeachment process and of Sneed’s swearing-in as chief. While Sneed and McCoy agree on some things — the importance of saving the Cherokee language, addressing the opioid epidemic and supporting the recently formed Kituwah LLC — they disagree on others, such as how to respond to the Catawba Indian Nation’s efforts to open a casino in North Carolina and whether the tribal government currently lacks transparency.

TRANSPARENCY

August 7-13, 2019

McCoy charges that, while the tribe has a freedom of information law in place, the Sneed administration has failed to make that information easily accessible. Under her

administration, she promised, the public would be provided “every tool they need at every level of government” so that public information can be provided in an efficient and understandable manner. McCoy spoke decisively against Tribal Council’s policy, in place for more than a year, to forbid any members of the media from entering its chambers except for those working for the tribally owned Cherokee One Feather. “The fastest way for a government to overthrow its public is to get control of its publications,” said McCoy. “And our government’s publications are going to have good things. Our public information will have things that are not so good. But the bottom line is that members of this tribe have the right to read those materials and form their own opinions.” Sneed said he also opposes the media ban but that chamber rules are Tribal Council’s decision. “I am a staunch believer that the free press is the fourth branch of government, that the role of the press is to hold accountable the other three branches of government,” he said. “Do I agree with the media ban? No, it’s silly. That’s their prerogative though.” As to transparency, Sneed said that his administration has already dealt with those issues. “Explain to me some areas where we lack transparency, and we’ll correct it,” he said. Sneed expressed a similar position in a

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interview with SMN, includes line-by-line expenditures for all departments and will be available to the media after it’s delivered to council, he said.

HOUSING

debate The One Feather hosted June 27, and on July 8 the paper published an editorial taking issue with candidates who said tribal government has no transparency issues. Editor Robert Jumper wrote that many requests from the paper result in unanswered emails and unreturned phone calls. The Smoky Mountain News has had these issues as well, and in the past two years has been told by the Attorney General’s office that public records could be given to enrolled members only and had its request for a copy of the fiscal year 2019 budget declined. However, said Sneed, transparency has been on the upswing. The proposed budget for 2020, which he was days away from presenting to Tribal Council at the time of his

Sneed’s administration has made great strides in addressing the housing shortage, he said. Sneed said he started the application process to put the long-unused Coopers Creek property into tribal trust, and this fall, 85 apartment units will open in Painttown with an additional 25 units going in on adjoining property. The ribbon will soon be cut on a development of duplexes, and a master plan is being completed for the 220-acre Camp Creek property. The tribe has also initiated a rate buy-down and down payment assistance program for members looking to buy property off of tribal land. Addressing the housing issue is of utmost importance, said McCoy. If elected, one of the first things she would do would be to meet with Tribal Council to discuss ideas to enhance housing opportunities, and from that discussion a prioritized plan would be developed, including beefed up training in trades required for homebuilding. The goal would be to develop a “safe, standard home” that can be offered to families, “like the ones we built for their

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Meet the candidates Richard Sneed

Teresa McCoy

• Age: 51 • Education/Experience: Sneed spent four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, owned Cornerstone Automotive for five years and was a pastor for 14 years and an industrial arts teacher at Cherokee High School for 12 years, with those two professions overlapping. He was elected as vice chief in 2015 and sworn in as principal chief in 2017. Sneed is an ASE Certified Master Mechanic and earned his teaching certification from Southwestern Community College and University of North Carolina Asheville. • Biggest accomplishment in office: Sneed came into office during a turbulent time in tribal history and said that he is most proud of “the ability of this administration and the team I have around me to mend a lot of wounds and to demonstrate what good governance looks like.” • Top three priorities: Get the budget down to 75 percent of casino projections; complete an elders campus adjoining the hospital; continue to help Kituwah LLC grow and increase revenue streams. • Why should voters choose you? “The evidence supports that over the last two years we’ve demonstrated excellent stewardship over tribal resources. We’ve demonstrated good governance. We’ve demonstrated that we have a vision for economic development that will ensure that our future is secure.”

• Age: 59 • Education/Experience: McCoy was first elected as a Big Cove representative on Tribal Council in 1987, and in the 32 years since she has served 20 years on the body, sponsoring 140 pieces of legislation in that time. McCoy is a graduate of Cherokee High School and attended SCC and Western Carolina University for three years but left to begin working after starting a family. • Biggest accomplishment on council: McCoy is proud of the many pieces of legislation she has submitted and seen become law, including the tribe’s adoption of the Indian Civil Rights Act, the tribal Make a Wish program, occupancy taxes on lodging and the clean needle exchange program. • Top three priorities if elected: Submit housing plans to Tribal Council to place Cherokee families in homes; secure additional funding for programs aimed at curbing the opioid epidemic; increase funding to Kituwah LLC. • Why should voters choose you? “I bring a wealth of knowledge, strength, work ethic, honesty and integrity. I will defend the sovereignty of our nation. I will reach out and develop partnerships with the mountain people of North Carolina and federally recognized tribes of the south and all government agencies.”

ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION

CHEROKEE LANGUAGE Both candidates say that the language can be saved, but they differ on the techniques they believe will play the biggest role. Sneed said the tribe should contract with an outside firm to study best practices from other tribes and then evaluate what Cherokee is doing against that information. But to truly save the language, he said, tribal members need to commit to speaking it with each other in public. This year his administration imple-

mented an adult immersion program in which the tribe pays young people to spend 40 hours each week with Cherokee speakers. A Cherokee language primer will soon be offered free to tribal members. McCoy said that she wants to meet with the tribe’s speakers very soon after being elected so she can hear their thoughts and theories on how to preserve the language. Technology and recordings will be key, she said. The tribe must archive its Cherokee-language songs and sermons and communicate regularly with the other Cherokee tribes on preservation strategies. Expanding New Kituwah Academy through middle and high school will also be a priority.

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OPIOID CRISIS McCoy believes that prevention education for young people will be key to quelling the epidemic. Positive steps include a new recovery facility in Snowbird, a crisis stabilization unit under construction in Cherokee and the Mother Town Project to help those in recovery re-enter the workforce. She submitted the legislation that resulted in the tribe’s needle exchange program, which has shown itself to be successful by various metrics. Sneed echoed McCoy’s praise of the tribe’s new programs and facilities to address the crisis. Like McCoy, he believes that arresting addicts — unless they do something else illegal, like stealing — is not the answer. There is a fine line between helping and enabling, but community members have to understand that relapses will happen along the road to recovery.

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Sneed and McCoy agreed that economic diversification should be a priority for the tribe and expressed support for Kituwah LLC, a new economic development arm the tribe created in March 2018. McCoy said she would support providing the LLC with the financial resources it needs to carry out its mission of providing the tribe financial growth and sustainability through pursuit of various business interests. She sees this as a better long-term plan than simply placing tribal dollars in various investment accounts. The recession in 2008 showed what can happen to such accounts in case of an economic downturn, she said, so the tribe should also invest in businesses that maintain a level of stability even in a bad economy. In regard to the threat of encroachment on casino proceeds from the Catawba, McCoy said the legislation required to make that possible is “not going to happen.” However, she said, in the event that it does, she would favor maintaining open dialogue with the Catawba. “Historically Indian tribes for many years went to war with each other,” she said. “Today it is in the best interest of all tribes to maintain open dialogue, to communicate and to develop partnerships to rely on each other.” Sneed said that financial stability starts with responsible budgeting — the budget he

submitted for fiscal year 2019 was “the most fiscally conservative in a decade,” he said, based on 82 percent of casino projections, and the proposal for 2020 will be 80 percent of projection, with a goal of someday reaching 75 percent. The LLC is the key to diversifying revenue, he said, and is off to a promising start. While the Catawba issue is significant — Sneed has often spoken out against the proposed casino in Cleveland County and the bill introduced in Congress attempting to make it happen — it’s not the only future obstacle for the tribe’s casino business. “I don’t want to say it’s secondary, because that’s a pretty big threat, but as I’ve said to council and to community members, attitude toward gaming is changing rapidly across this country,” he said. What the tribe needs to do is purchase property in neighboring states such as Tennessee and Georgia where it can build hotel and conference center facilities and thereby position itself to be competitive for a license should gaming come to those states.

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August 7-13, 2019

grandparents years ago.” McCoy also favors using tiny homes for land that’s too rugged for traditional housing and purchasing property for housing complexes.

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cousins, some of my school teachers, a next door neighbor and others I knew for a long time,” he said. Today the cemetery property is about 2.5 acres and has about 1,000 grave markers, though Casada said there could still be a few unmarked graves that haven’t been discovered yet.

The Friends of Bryson City Cemetery formed five years ago with the mission of maintaining and beautifying the historic Bryson City Cemetery. Jessi Stone photos

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If these stones could talk August 7-13, 2019

Friends work to restore Bryson City Cemetery BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR It’s quiet and peaceful on the hillside of Bryson City Cemetery. Overlooking the hustle and bustle of downtown, all you can hear are birds chirping and the freshly cut grass crunching underneath your feet, but if those old stones could talk they’d have some stories to tell. With gravesites dating back to the early 1800s, walking through the cemetery is like walking back through time. A who’s who of Swain County’s past, the grounds encompass a vast amount of local history and the sorted tales that connect bootleggers,

lawyers, judges, doctors, soldiers, teachers, farmers, writers and other pioneers of Western North Carolina. Swain County native and local history buff Don Casada has spent a lot of time up on that hill in the last five years as he’s been working with other community members to ensure the cemetery is well maintained. While keeping the grass mowed, restoring headstones and planting flowers, he’s also learned more about the people buried six feet deep. His research into local newspapers and history books has made him well versed in the folks buried there — families, friends and foes — proving no matter what our social standing is during life on earth, we all end up in the same place for eternal rest.

Many family plots have been passed on through the generations, which makes ownership a difficult thing to track. “An overwhelming majority of people who own property here don’t know they own it,” he said. The Bryson City Cemetery of today is thus a combination of the original Cline property with the addition of property given from adjacent landowners — the Franklins and the DeHarts. The Franklins also used their property for a family burying ground and sold tracts

Hailed as the father of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Horace Kephart is undoubtedly the most notable resident of Bryson City Cemetery. As an author and an outdoorsman, Kephart was an active member of the local community. He was killed in a car accident east of Bryson City on April 2, 1931. After his death, CCC and park officials moved a large boulder from the Smokemont area of GSMNP to the cemetery to serve as Kephart’s gravestone. Then there is the tallest gravestone on the hill with a picturesque angel pointing up to the sky. The grave belongs to Fannie Everett Clancy. While it’s never been confirmed, some scholars think the angel is the statue described in Thomas Wolfe’s “Look Homeward Angel.” The angel tombstone was indeed one imported from Carrara, Italy and sold at the Asheville tombstone shop owned by Wolfe’s father in the early 1900s, but Casada doubts it’s the one the author describes in his book. “I don’t think so. Everett died in childbirth in 1904 — Thomas Wolfe would have been 6 years old when that happened. It’s hard to believe he would have known about this stone,” he said. Another notable woman buried on the hill is Ellen Black Winston, who was Casada’s neighbor growing up. “She’s probably the most important person in Swain County buried here,” he said. “She also took me under her wing when I was young and inspired me to pursue a

“I thought our ancestors would have taken immaculate care of the cemetery but that hasn’t been the case.” — Don Casada

Smoky Mountain News

HISTORY

As far back as 1866, the area now known as Bryson City Cemetery was owned by the Cline family and used as a family burial ground. The gravesite of Alfred Cline, a Civil War veteran, is the earliest documented burial, but with dozens of fieldstone-marked graves in the cemetery, some could very well have predated Cline. The Cline family sold the central portion of the cemetery in 1884 for $62.50 to trustees of the three main denominations in Bryson City — Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian — and the churches sold family plots in fee simple. Casada said some plot sales were never recorded with the Register of Deeds, but the first recorded sale of a plot was to M. A. McCauley in November 1909.

Don Casada stands next to the gravesite of avid fisherman Mark Cathey, where he would also like to be buried some day.

to other families as well, including the Coburns and Orrs in the 1920s and early 1930s. Those family plots are the ones located at the bottom of the hill near the cemetery sign. In 1952, the Franklins and DeHarts decided to deed a right of way and road easement over their lands to the three church trustees. The state then obtained easements to encircle the cemetery with a road. Not long after that, the town of Bryson City began maintaining the property, which cost about 1 percent of the town’s budget at the time. Casada said Kelly Bennett was the mayor at the time and could have had a vested interest in maintaining the cemetery since he had family buried there. “I didn’t know I had any relatives up here until I started doing more research — I have

career in engineering.” Born in 1903, Ellen was the daughter of Stanley Warren and Marianna Fischer Black — the namesake of Bryson City’s public library. Ellen graduated from Converse College and received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in sociology from the University of Chicago and would go on to teach social sciences, serve as the dean of girls, and as the director of guidance in the Raleigh high schools from 1928 to 1934. She was chairman of the department of sociology and economics at Meredith College from 1940 to 1944, when she was appointed North Carolina Commissioner of Public Welfare, a position she held until 1963. Casada remembers getting to go visit her at her Raleigh home when he was younger, which was a special treat for a country boy from Bryson City.

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When he told her he was interested in majoring in physics, Ellen encouraged him to look into engineering instead because she knew that’s where the future jobs and money would be. “She was a classy and gracious lady,” he recalled. DK Collins is another community pillar buried in Bryson City. He built the first house in the middle of town and owned a store that housed the first post office in town. The store — a two-story brick building — was described as “the handsomest store west of Asheville” in 1890 and was located where the Swain County Chamber of Commerce building is now. There are 25 Civil War soldiers buried at the cemetery, including 20 confederate soldiers, four union soldiers and one who fought on both sides. Casada, 68, already has his ideal plot picked out at the cemetery for his final resting place — right next to his third cousin twice removed, Mark Cathey, who was a well known outdoorsman during his time. Casada thinks he has the best epitaph in the entire cemetery after telling the story about how Cathey got saved just days before he passed away. “Beloved hunter and fisherman was himself caught by the gospel hook just before the season closed for good,” his tombstone reads.

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August 7-13, 2019

Casada likes to get to the cemetery early in the morning, enjoying the quiet and calmness before the fog rises up off the Great Smoky Mountains. It takes him 12-16 hours to mow and weedeat the entire cemetery and in the summer months — especially with all the rain this year — the mowing has to be done once a week. “By default, I’ve become the groundskeeper,” he said. “But I’ve been actively trying to recruit younger folks to help.” While the cemetery property is in nearly pristine condition these days, that hasn’t always been the case. Before Friends of the Bryson City Cemetery formed five years ago the historic cemetery wasn’t being properly maintained. The grass wasn’t being cut regularly, poison ivy was climbing up the trees, kudzu was creeping in on the banks and grave markers were falling over. “I thought our ancestors would have taken immaculate care of the cemetery but that hasn’t been the case,” Casada said. Since the cemetery is basically privately owned by the people who purchased plots — many of which don’t live in the area or even know they own cemetery property — the responsibility of maintenance has been a community effort. Casada said he found an old newspaper article about an annual cemetery clean up inviting the community to help maintain the area before the town took over maintenance in the 1950s; “When I graduated from Swain High in

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The stone on Horace Kephart’s grave was moved to Bryson City Cemetery in the early 1930s.

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1969 I remember the cemetery was being well taken care of,” he said. However, by the early 1990s the Bryson City town manager recognized that the town probably shouldn’t be maintaining property it didn’t have easements for and didn’t own. “They had no obligation to maintain it so they backed off significantly and by 2015 when we got involved it was in really bad shape,” Casada said. Friends of Bryson City Cemetery started with about a dozen people supporting the cause and chipping in to clean up the property. It was just a loosely organized group during the first year and then they incorporated as a nonprofit in 2016 so they could begin accepting donations. Now the Friends has a list of about 100 families and individuals supporting the group with a $30 annual membership. In addition to mowing and other maintenance, Casada said the group received a grant that helped him clean and straighten out more than 200 grave markers that were leaning forward and in disrepair. The nonprofit is also working toward raising enough funds to start a perpetual fund through the Western North Carolina

Bryson City Cemetery offers a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains and downtown Bryson City.

Community Foundation to ensure the cemetery will be taken care of in the future. Casada said they would need at least $100,000 — so far the Friends has raised $15,000. Friends holds monthly meetings to discuss the cemetery but also to share history lessons about those buried at the cemetery. Casada said they had a packed house for last month’s meeting, which detailed the sordid murder of U.S. Prohibition Agent James Holland “Hol” Rose. Rose was shot and killed by Babe Burnett and both are buried in the Bryson City Cemetery along with the judge who heard the case in court. Burnett was convicted of the crime but eventually the state ordered a new trial focused on the fact Rose didn’t have a warrant to be on Rose’s property that night out on Brush Creek. Burnett won the appeal but was then arrested and convicted of violating prohibition laws. “We had descendents of both families there at the meeting,” Casada said. “Babe’s great-granddaughter brought along the shotgun that was supposedly used in the shooting.” For more history about the cemetery and how to become a member or make a donation, visit www.friendsofthebccemetery.org.

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Libraries on Tap begins Fontana Regional Library is stepping out of the stacks to bring “Libraries on Tap: Brewing Scavenger Hunt” to Jackson, Macon and Swain counties. “Libraries on Tap” is a collaboration between Fontana Regional Library and local breweries. Libraries on Tap: Brewing Scavenger Hunt is a partnership between local breweries and the FRL system. This year the library has shifted focus to game style events at the breweries. All of the events and prizes will take place in August. Some of the events are trivia, yoga, tastings, and food and beer pairings. Participants will receive a Libraries on Tap (LOT) brochure with an explanation of the program, calendar, and description of each event. This will also include a punch card that contains each partner brewery. This punch card will be used to track the locations that participants have visited to go towards LOT prizes. To see a list of all the events, pick up a brochure from the Jackson County Public Library. For more information about Libraries on Tap please call the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva at 828.586.2016 or visit www.fontanalib.org.

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The Nantahala Health Foundation, a newly formed, public 501(c)(3) organization, has hired its inaugural executive director, Lori Bailey. A native of Western North Carolina, Bailey has more than 25 years of experience working to protect, equip and empower vulnerable citizens across the Carolinas. Her first day as executive director of the foundation will be Sept. 1. “I’m excited to join the community of nonprofits in Western North Carolina doing incredible work to improve the health and wellbeing of residents across our six-county region and the Qualla Boundary,” she said. “I’m looking forward to partnering with them to further their impact and mobilize our mountain communities to address the root cause of issues creating health disparities in the region I consider home. Together, I’m confident our investment in improving lives will create effective change for generations to come.” Bailey holds a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from the University of North Carolina,

The Cherokee Indian Police Department, Swain County Sheriff ’s Office, Jackson County Sheriff ’s Office, Buncombe County Sheriff ’s Office, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Indian Affairs arranged the purchase of one kilogram of methamphetamine through Walter Paul Linn. According to a press release, Linn is a drug trafficker who traffics kilogram quantities of crystal methamphetamine from the Atlanta area. The above listed agencies initiated an operation to safely lure Linn to a meeting location, controlled by law enforcement. Prior to Linn’s arrival, agents learned that he had an outstanding warrant for a probation violation — possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Linn arrived at the location, along with a female identified as Lindsey Marie Sikkema, and they were safely taken into custody by agents, without incident. During the course of the investigation, agents seized approximately 526.1 grams of crystal methamphetamine (street value $53,136.10), approximately 4 grams of heroin (street value $472.00), approximately 2 and a half grams of marijuana (street value $21.16), and about $2,600 in cash. Chief of Police Doug Pheasant commented, “I am extremely proud of this collaborative effort and this team’s dedication to stopping drug trafficking on the Qualla Boundary and Western North Carolina.”

August 7-13, 2019

New health foundation hires director

Large meth seizure in Cherokee

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Jackson County residents will have the chance to get a behind-the-scenes look at how county government works during the third annual Citizens Academy, which is accepting applications through Aug. 16. The eight-week course will start on Thursday, Sept. 12, with all sessions including dinner at 5 p.m., presentations at 5:30 p.m. and dismissal no later than 8:30 p.m. Session dates will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Sept. 19, Sept. 26, Oct. 1, Oct. 3, Oct. 10, Oct. 17, Oct. 24 and Oct. 29. Programs will consist of interactive sessions facilitated by various local government officials and school leaders, and take place at various facilities. They will cover services provided by the county, including administration/governing body, register of deeds, emergency management, public works, sheriff ’s office, health department, soil and water conservation, social services, planning, permitting and code enforcement, parks and recreation, aging, the Jackson County Public School System and Southwestern Community College. The goals of the program are to make citizens aware of the positive impact local government has on their community, increase citizens’ awareness of the value of local government, teach participants how government operates and offer citizens the chance to meet and make connections with county operations and to let them know how they can get involved. Applications to attend the academy will be accepted through Friday, Aug. 16, and should be submitted to the county manager’s office. Applicants must be 18 years old, residents of Jackson County and able to attend all sessions. Space is limited to 25 participants. To request an application, contact Jan Fitzgerald at 828.631.2207 or jcfitzgerald@jacksonnc.org.

Asheville and has worked for 12 years in various public and not-for-profit roles. Visit www.nantahalahealthfoundation.org to read biographies for each of the current board members.

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for a much needed break from the shelter. Also, she would like to recruit more neo-natal fosters, who will receive special training. Other needs include fosters to help with special needs animals, such as those recovering from an illness and senior animals. To find out how you can help, email jessie.metcalf@sargeanimals.org. For information on Sarge’s volunteers, fosters, classes and events, visit www.sargeanimals.org.

Breedlove earns tourism credential Jackson County Tourism Development Authority Executive Director Nick Breedlove recently earned the Certified Destination Management Executive credential, the highest individual educational achievement worldwide in the tourism industry offered through Destinations International. In the past two decades, only 400 industry leaders have received the credential. The program is designed to prepare experienced destination organization professionals to leverage their experience and to apply their knowledge with a focus on vision, leadership, productivity, and implementing business strategies. “I am incredibly proud to have completed this highly recognized and respected program,” said Breedlove. “The courses I took alongside CEO’s from major destinations and small destinations have proven invaluable in bringing back practical approaches to issues we all face. Credit also goes to the TDA’s Board of Directors who embrace and encourage personal and professional development,” he said.

Overdose reversal training offered The NC Harm Reduction Coalition staff will offer overdose recognition and opioid overdose reversal training from noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 13, at Health and Human Services Agency, room 301. This is a drop-in program. Participants will receive free naloxone, harm reduction resources and information on substance use services. For more information, contact Jesse-lee Dunlap, NCHRC Post-Overdose Outreach Specialist, at jesselee@nchrc.org or 828.476.1465.

Play bingo to help REACH REACH Bingo will be held Friday, Aug. 16, at Maggie Valley Pavilion next to town hall. Doors open at 6 p.m. and games begin at 6:30 p.m. The $20 admission includes 20 rounds of ninegame bingo, with prizes for every game. Plus, enter a free drawing for door prizes. Tickets will be available for purchase at the door. Limited concessions also available. Outside food is permitted, but no alcoholic beverages. Proceeds go to benefit REACH of Haywood County and their vital services to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and elder abuse.

Nonprofit bootcamp Southwestern Community College is offering a workshop to provide local nonprofits with the tools they need to support their services and achieve long-term success. The Small Business Center at SCC will host a “Building Nonprofit Capacity Boot Camp” on Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 21-22. The workshops will be offered at the Franklin Chamber of Commerce and are open to nonprofits throughout

SCC’s service area of Jackson, Macon and Swain counties and the Qualla Boundary. Specific topics include: “Learning to Share Your Sandbox: Creating Effective Partnerships” from 9 a.m. to noon on Aug. 21; “How to Fully Fund Your Overhead” from 1 to 4 p.m. on Aug. 21; “Laying the Groundwork for a Successful Strategic Planning Process” from 9 a.m.-noon on Aug. 22 and “Crafting Your Ask” from 1-4 p.m. on Aug. 22. Registration is required: http://bit.ly/2ncPnyf. For more information, email t_henry@southwesterncc.edu or call 828.339.4211.

Raise the Roof with Haywood Habitat Raise the Roof, a fundraising event to provide funds to build a Habitat home in Waynesville, will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort. Don’t miss this fun evening of great food and entertainment to support Haywood Habitat. Tickets are $60 per person. Early bird ticket price of $50 each is available until Aug. 15. This event offers a fun opportunity for a great night out with an inspired menu, music and dancing, raffle and auction items, the famous Habitat hammering contest, and more to support the Habitat pledge to provide safe and affordable housing to deserving families. For more information, visit www.haywoodhabitat.org, call the Haywood Habitat office at 828.452.7960, or visit Jeweler’s Workbench on Main St. in Waynesville to purchase tickets.

Catholic instruction offered at St. John An opportunity to obtain unfiltered information from qualified teachers about what the Catholic Church believes will be offered as Saint John the Evangelist Church presents an intensive course in Christian faith and life. The primary purpose of the course is to pre-

PAWS to host wine-tasting event

pare adults to be admitted to the fellowship of the Catholic Church by baptism (if they are not already baptized) or by confirmation (for those already Christian but not yet in full communion with the Church). It can also be of interest and benefit to people who are presently curious about what the Church really teaches, non-Catholics who have Catholic family and friends, inactive Catholics seeking to renew the practice of their faith, and active Catholics seeking a “refresher” on Church teaching. The class series will begin with a general information meeting at 6 p.m. on Aug. 22 at Saint John the Evangelist Church in Waynesville. For more information, call 828.456.6707.

Free concert for first responders Creekside Farm and RV Park is hosting a free concert and BBQ for all first responders in the area from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, at 4696 Jonathan Creek Rd., Waynesville. The barbecue will be prepared by the Gwinnett County Firefighters out of Georgia and Nashville recording artist Jason Byrd & Band will be performing.

Metcalf joins Sarge’s staff Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation announced the appointment of Jessie Metcalf as volunteer and foster coordinator. Metcalf was an intern for Sarge’s in 2018, completing her bachelor’s degree at Western Carolina University. After graduation, she became an admissions counselor at Asheville Humane Society, where she worked in areas including customer care, the front desk, animal handling, and animal medical. In addition to staffing Sarge’s many events, Metcalf organizes volunteers for ‘doggie dates,’ which is taking dogs out of the shelter for a day,

PAWS of Bryson City will be hosting its 16th annual Wine & Beer Tasting and Silent Auction fundraiser from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 31, at Lands Creek Cabins, Harmony Hall. Pick up tickets at the entrance the night of the event or call 828.333.4267. PAWS Animal Shelter’s mission is to help alleviate the suffering of abandoned abused, homeless and injured cats and dogs in Swain County.

Franklin Rotary raises scholarship funds The Rotary Club of Franklin recently hosted its Annual Roy Rickman Scholarship Fundraiser at Mountain View Intermediate School in Franklin. The scholarship program provides scholarships to academically outstanding Franklin High School students. The scholarships provide funds for students who attend colleges and universities at the undergraduate level. These scholarships are awarded in memory of deceased member Roy Rickman, who served the Franklin club as its president during 1976-77. The club now provides about $19,000 in scholarships each year to a total of 10 students. The club will continue to support students in the field of nursing at Western Carolina University and Southwestern Community College with scholarship opportunities. The club’s Scholarship Committee selects all recipients based on academic merit, community service and financial need.

Recovery program receives grant Renewed Hope Ministries, a 12-month residential, discipleship-based program in Murphy to help men, ages 25 and older struggling with drug and alcohol addition, has received a $4,884 grant from the Evergreen Foundation. The funds will be used to purchase materials to be used in the current shop area, materials to be used in the saw mill shed area, and for materials to repair and upgrade one of the green houses. All these projects enable the ministry to continue to serve and minister to those in need of recovery and life change. The additions and repairs will enable an increased level of opportunity for job training and give the men in residency at the ministry an opportunity to learn important skill sets that will help them in the future.

Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

Death, violence and too many guns I

Immunization rates are huge concern To the Editor: I just received the July 24 issue of The Smoky Mountain News, which gave the immunization records of Haywood County Schools. The paper reported 4.8 percent of Haywood kindergarten students had not received their immunizations. It is below Buncombe (9.9 percent) and statewide (5.9 percent). Medically, this is a tragic neglect of these children who must suffer the risk of disease which we can prevent. Of interest, these figures follow closely the performance of the children in the classroom.

measures, but since then — after meeting with NRA leadership — he has threatened to veto legislation that would enact them. This time he callously called for melding such measures into a bill with his immigration policies. This is crass insensitivity at monumental levels. These tragedies have nothing to do with immigrants. Immigrants too often are the targets. White Americans are the standard perpetrators. Explanations based on mental illness, hate, criminality and other such factors simply do not get at the root cause — we have far too many guns. Americans constitute about 4.4 percent of the world’s population but own 42 percent of the world’s guns. Guest Columnist Adjusted for population, only Yemen has a higher rate of mass shootings among countries with more than 10 million people. Yemen has the world’s second-highest rate of gun ownership after the United States. The U.S. has 120.5 guns per 100 people. Yemen as 52.8 guns per 100 people. Let’s not try to fall back on the baseless argument that ownership of guns in all forms and by all is a protected Constitutional right. All our Constitutional rights are limited. Free speech is a good example. Writing for a unanimous court, Justice Oliver Wendel Holmes wrote: “The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.” This decision in Schenck v. United States, as reinforced and modified in Brandenburg v. Ohio, permits free speech to be limited in many ways that subject citizens to criminal and civil prosecution. You are not free to lie. Lying in court is perjury. Lying to federal investigators is a criminal offense. Dishonest advertising is a crime, conspiracy to commit a crime is a crime, and published and spoken lies expose one to civil prosecution under libel and slander laws. Obscenity is not protected by the Constitution (Miller v. California). This limitation runs from prohibiting child pornography to banning the broadcasting of offensive sound and images and of language deemed inappropriate for children. You can’t threaten others with violence or make remarks that would lead to violence. And in Dennis v. United States the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment does not protect free speech rights of people plotting the overthrow of the government. You are not free to say what you want even in other’s homes and similar private settings. You have almost no free

John Beckman

t is time that we honestly faced up to the basic issues concerning gun violence. For too long people on both sides have skirted around the core of the issue with worn out platitudes, specious arguments, and canned sound-bite justifications. The latest shootings in El Paso and Dayton raised our unbelievable tally of mass shootings to 251 in the last 216 days. They are commonplace in the U.S.; a daily occurrence. Why is this so? Some say that it is caused by guns in the hands of criminals. But are we the most criminal society in the world? Do we breed criminals at such rates? Also, the plague of mass shootings cannot be traced to people with criminal histories. Others say that the mass shooters are crazies. If this were the root cause, the U.S. would have to be breeding crazies at a rate many times higher other countries. If mental health was the issue and the U.S. had no more problem with deranged people than other countries, then the numbers of mass shootings would be equivalent. Others say we should harden soft targets and allow more people to carry guns. However, numerous people in the El Paso Walmart were armed, and in Dayton police had killed the gunman within 30 seconds of the first shot. Yet 31 are dead and over 50 wounded. Every other excuse for our epidemic of mass shootings goes down in flames just as criminality and mental health. Do we have more political discord? Are we more racist? Are we more hate filled? More homophobic? More xenophobic? Even if we add together contributions from all such sources, it still does not explain our scourge of mass shootings. In offering all such “explanations” we duck our responsibility to address the root cause. But why do we do this? Is it because it has not affected our families? Do we care so little about our fellow citizens? Do we assuage our consciences with piously offering our prayers and thoughts, by flying flags at half-staff, and myriad other feeble gestures that allow us avoid the issues. One of the tragedies of the Dayton shooting is that the gunman unintentionally killed his own sister after dropping her and a friend off earlier that evening. But for the chance of being at the wrong night spot, the wrong Walmart, the wrong mall, the wrong school, it could have been your sister, your child. It is not someone else’s problem; it is your problem. But Trump is back at it again. Amid his pious platitudes about gun measures he declared: “Mental illness and hatred pull the trigger. Not the gun.” After last year’s mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas Hugh School in Florida, Trump similarly made a pro forma call for background checks and other half

The lowest percent of unvaccinated children are at Bethel, Junaluska and Riverbend Elementary Schools which are our highest performing schools. The highest percent of unvaccinated children are in Shining Rock Classical Academy (11.4 percent) and Haywood Christian Academy (11.1 percent). Doris B. Hammett, MD Waynesville

Let’s focus On real problems To the Editor: I recently heard someone refer to Western North Carolina as a political backwater, popu-

speech rights in employment as is demonstrated by the continuous terminations of employees for what they say and what they post both on and off the job. Protesters can be confined to Free Speech Zones and you can be arrested for protesting the proximity of the President or Vice President. This authority of the Secret Service has been extended to what have been dubbed National Special Security Events which can include the Super Bowls, the Academy Awards, and the like. If free speech can be limited in so many ways without amending the Constitution, so too can gun rights. If we really wanted to reduce mass shootings and gun violence while permitting hunting, marksmanship and similar sporting uses of guns, we would treat guns as we treat automobiles. • All guns must be registered. • All gun sales and transfers must be reported, including private as well as commercial and theft. • Background checks must be made on all sales and transfers regardless of the venue — private, gun shows and internet included. • All gun owners must be licensed including written and use tests analogous to the written and driving tests for cars — including suitable license renewal schedules. • All gun owners must be insured against damage to people and property. • Just as certain vehicles are not street-legal, ownership and possession certain types of guns and gun accessories should be illegal, including automatic and semiautomatic weapons. For sporting and recreational use bolt and pump actions are just fine in long guns and revolvers are just fine in handguns. And accessories like large capacity magazines and bump stocks are unnecessary. Because of the unique nature of guns, to these we can add: • At manufacture, ballistic samples of bullets and spent casings (or electronic copies of them) should be filed with law enforcement to better trace gun use in crimes. • A buy-back program at fair prices should be implemented to remove from ownership and circulation all illegal guns and gun accessories. Will we enact an effective package of gun violence measures? I don’t think so. Not enough families have been torn apart by gun violence. It is a faded headline within 48 hours and, because it is reported nightly in the evening news, it dwindles into the background. With remarkable lack of caring for our fellow citizens, we continue to see it as “their” problem. (John Beckman is a farmer and builder who lives in Jackson County.

LETTERS lated with paranoid conspiracy theorists. I disagree. I have talked to many well-informed local people who are capable of critical, independent thinking. But I also hear from many good, intelligent, hard-working people who do not have the time to properly educate themselves on local and national political issues. Between working endless hours to earn enough money to raise a family, seeing to church responsibilities, and just trying to stay healthy, these folks just do not have the time to pay much attention to the real issues facing this community and nation. Now, I try to see the good intentions in the endeavors of all people. I assume that our

political leaders are working in the best interest of the people they represent. Just like you and I would. I assume that the vast majority of the people working the local, state, and federal governments are good honest people, professionals who take pride in their work. Just like you and me. Politics is something they mostly think about during election season, but they are otherwise just heads down working just like you and me. So why have some started to look for the evil in the ranks of these hardworking fellow citizens? Conspiracy theories that malign the professionals in organizations such as the FBI, the DOJ, the CIA, the NSA and others fly in

S EE LETTERS, PAGE 21

Chris Cox

LETTERS, CONTINUED FROM 20 the face of common sense. These are hard-working and dedicated people doing the best they can at their work. Just like you and me. These fellow citizens have been toiling tirelessly and diligently for decades defending America ideals. Why would large swaths of these Americans suddenly decide to subvert our Democracy after decades protecting our country from outside attacks and internal subversion? Consider the concept that thousands of government workers sabotaging their own organizations. Where are the voices of the tens of thousands of fellow workers, who would be calling out this alleged widespread corruption? Like you and I would. We as a nation have many serious challenges. Drug addition, millions without healthcare, a refugee system bursting at the seams, persistent poverty especially in Appalachia and our inner cities, stagnant wages. Western North Carolina shares all these problems with the rest of our country. Can we please stop conjuring up visions of secret cabals of fellow Americans subverting the good work we expect from our government employees and focus on the real problems facing our country. John Barry Franklin

Fight for Medicaid expansion To the Editor: Mr. Patrick Gleason, we agree with part of your guest column that appeared in The Smoky Mountain News two weeks ago (www.smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/27 352). There is no such thing as free money. Everything comes at a cost, our tax dollars do not come free, they come right out of our pockets, and they aren’t to be wasted by this legislature. That is why I will not stop working to

expand Medicaid in North Carolina until we get it done. We should all be sick and tired of the waste of our federal tax dollars that we endure every single year that we refuse to expand Medicaid. North Carolinians pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, and we pay our federal taxes! Our Legislature is just refusing to let $5 billion of those tax dollars come back home. Every single year, North Carolina pays more than $2.5 billion in federal taxes for Medicaid expansion. That’s over $5 billion in this two-year budget. For nearly a decade, we have been paying, year after year, for Medicaid expansion. All of it wasted. When you take away the spin, the real question is, do we want to pay for our own healthcare or do we want to ship our tax dollars off, out of state, never to be seen again? Do we want to waste $5 billion for absolutely nothing in return, or do we want to see 500,000 of our neighbors gain healthcare coverage, 6,000 – 8,000 in Haywood, Jackson, and Swain? Do we want to waste $5 billion for nothing, or do we want to lower every North Carolinian’s insurance premiums by an average of 7 percent by closing the coverage gap and stopping the cost shifting? Do we want to waste $5 billion for nothing, or do we want to create over 40,000 new healthcare jobs in North Carolina, more than 400 in Haywood, Jackson, and Swain? Do we want to waste $5 billion for nothing, or do we want to take the single most important step we can to fight the opioid crisis and save thousands of lives every single year, 20 to 30 in Haywood, Jackson, and Swain? It’s high time we start taking our federal taxes and the lives of hard-working North Carolinians seriously. It’s time to expand Medicaid in North Carolina. Rep. Joe Sam Queen Waynesville 21

Smoky Mountain News

lion-dollar project — on the New River, which ran through our county. Some people thought it would bring growth and industry to our sleepy little town and that would be a good thing. Maybe we’d get another red light — or several more — to go with the one we already had. Maybe we’d get a fast food restaurant, or a Stuckey’s, or a Red Lobster! Maybe our citizens would get higher paying jobs. Other people felt that such a change in the town’s character would be a bad thing, that we would lose more than we would gain, that maybe all the growth would not only bring in the “wrong element,” but would also change the people who lived here in some vague, but fundamental, way. Sure, we’d be more cosmopolitan, but we’d also be more corporate. We’d have more jobs, more people, more restaurants, and more red lights, but we’d be dead inside, our souls sucked out like oysters from a shell in the Red Lobster. Naturally, I gave this a lot of thought, finally deciding that I needed to write a poem as part of my letter to the venerable Senator Sam Ervin. It read: Senator Sam, Stop the dam. Elegant, focused, solid rhyme scheme, suitable for a T shirt or bumper sticker, almost a haiku. Mrs. Busic read it, and then looked at me over those wide-framed tortoise-shell glasses of hers that sat on the bridge of her nose, and said, “I think Senator Sam is going to love your poem.” Mrs. Busic was right. A few months later, Senator Sam Ervin read my letter on the floor of the United States Senate. It became a permanent part of the Congressional Record, my first published poem. Alas, it was only the second-best poem I wrote in fifth grade. Later in the academic year, there was a tragedy, which inspired this lyric that was pure Muddy Waters: My darling Deloris Why don’t you adore us? You left me for Steven And now I am grievin’. And that’s why they call it the blues. I don’t know whatever happened to Steven. I’m sure Billy Jack would have hated him. I’m sure he doesn’t have a poem in the Congressional Record. Since it was an election year, Mrs. Busic arranged for us to have an election in class. When the votes had been tallied, George McGovern had defeated Richard Nixon in a landslide. But our votes didn’t count, and Nixon took the White House much to the chagrin of the Sparta Elementary School fifth-grade class of 1973. Not long after that, Senator Sam himself led a committee to investigate the Watergate breakin, which ultimately led to Nixon’s resignation. Senator Sam, Stopped the dam, Then just as slick, Kicked out Tricky Dick. That one’s not in the Congressional Record, but it ought to be. Thank you, Mrs. Busic. (Chris Cox is a writer and teacher. jchriscox@live.com)

August 7-13, 2019

y fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Pattyrae Busic, used to say, “Why, Chris, you’ve got your teeth in your mouth and your mind in Arkansas.” I didn’t know exactly what that meant then and I still don’t. Where else would my teeth be, and why should I be thinking about Arkansas, a place I’d never been and had no interest in visiting? On a good day, I could locate it on a map and name the state capital — a top priority in the fifth grade, it turns Columnist out — but my mind wasn’t in or on Arkansas. It was on Deloris Williams and whether I could talk her into meeting me at the Sparta Theater on Saturday night to see “Billy Jack,” a movie about a peace-loving part-Indian Green Beret Vietnam Veteran who protected his peace-loving girlfriend and her peace-loving students and their peace-loving school — called the Free School, of course — by kicking the crap out of a bunch of local rednecks who thought they were all a bunch of communists or something and wouldn’t stop harassing them. There were a lot of local rednecks I would have liked to kick the crap out of, and when I wasn’t daydreaming about Deloris Williams’ dimples — which snapped up my heart and shook it like a rag doll every time she smiled — I daydreamed about whipping some redneck butt with my friend, Billy Jack, the two of us, peace-loving at heart, but well, you know how rednecks are. You can’t have one nice evening sitting around the bonfire strumming a guitar and singing Woody Guthrie songs without them showing their asses. Then you got to take care of business. You also couldn’t sit with a girl in the Sparta theater without a lot of commentary and spitballs flecked with tobacco from the redneck boys three rows back, at least until the night manager came trundling down the aisle with his trusty flashlight to ferret them out. That’s when you really needed Billy Jack. Mrs. Busic knew I was fond of daydreaming, but unlike most of the other teachers in elementary school, she didn’t hold it against me. She told me I was bright. She told me I had potential and that when I set my mind to it, I was capable of great things. That’s what she said, but I wasn’t so sure. I guess I was a pretty good speller. I could add numbers very quickly. And I could write poems about virtually any topic — presidents, lunchroom meats, cheerleaders, gym class, whatever. One of the things Mrs. Busic had us do in our fifth-grade year was write letters to either of the two senators who represented us in the United States Senate. It was an election year, and we spent some time in class discussing important issues in our country, in our state, and in our home town. There had been quite a debate over whether the town ought to resist efforts by an outfit called The American Electric Power Company to build a dam — a $430 mil-

opinion

A great teacher is like a poem: inspirational, direct

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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 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. BOOJUM BREWING COMPANY 50 N Main Street, Waynesville. 828.246.0350. Taproom Open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday & Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Gem Bar Open Tuesday through Sunday 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. Enjoy lunch, dinner or drinks at Boojum’s Downtown Waynesville restaurant & bar. Choose from 16 taps of our fresh, delicious & ever rotating Boojum Beer plus cider, wine & craft cocktails. The taproom features seasonal pub faire including tasty burgers,

sandwiches, shareables and daily specials that pair perfectly with our beer. BOURBON BARREL BEEF & ALE 454 Hazelwood Ave., Waynesville, 828.452.9191. Lunch daily 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; dinner nightly at 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday. Wine Down Wednesday’s: ½ off wine by the bottle. We specialize in handcut, all natural steaks from local farms, incredible burgers, and other classic american comfort foods that are made using only the finest local and sustainable ingredients available. CHURCH STREET DEPOT 34 Church Street, downtown Waynesville. 828.246.6505. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Mouthwatering all beef burgers and dogs, hand-dipped, hand-spun real ice cream shakes and floats, fresh hand-cut fries. Locally sourced beef. Indoor and outdoor dining. facebook.com/ChurchStreetDepot, twitter.com/ChurchStDepot. 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.

Voted

August 7-13, 2019

in Haywood County!

Smoky Mountain News

Open 7 days a week ALL YEAR! 7am - noon | 828.926.0212 4309 Soco Rd., Maggie Valley

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FERRARA PIZZA & PASTA 243 Paragon Parkway, Clyde. 828.476.5058. Open Monday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday 12 to 8 p.m. Real New Yorkers. Real Italians. Real Pizza. A full service authentic Italian pizzeria and restaurant from New York to the Blue Ridge. Dine in, take out, and delivery. Check out our daily lunch specials plus customer appreciation nights on Monday and Tuesday 5 to 9 p.m. with large cheese pizzas for $9.95. FIREFLY TAPS & GRILL 128 N. Main St., Waynesville 828.454.5400. Simple, delicious food. A must experience in WNC. Located in down-

207 Paragon Parkway, Clyde

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COUNTRY VITTLES: FAMILY STYLE RESTAURANT 3589 Soco Rd, Maggie Valley. 828.926.1820 Winter hours: Wednesday through Sunday 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. 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.

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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. Wednesday through Saturday serving freshly prepared small plates, tapas, charcuterie, desserts. Enjoy live music every Friday and Saturday night at 7pm. www.classicwineseller.com. Also on facebook and twitter.

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tasteTHE mountains town Waynesville with an atmosphere that will warm your heart and your belly! Local and regional beers on tap. Full bar, vegetarian options, kids menu, and more. Reservations accepted. Daily specials. Live music every Saturday from 7 to 10 p.m. Open Mon.-Sat. 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. FROGS LEAP PUBLIC HOUSE 44 Church St., Downtown Waynesville 828.456.1930 Serving dinner 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. 5 to 9:30 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. Reservations accepted. www.frogsleappublichouse.com. HARMON’S DEN BISTRO 250 Pigeon St., Waynesville 828.456.6322. Harmon’s Den is located in the Fangmeyer Theater at HART. Open 5:309 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday (Bistro closes at 7:30 p.m. on nights when there is a show in the Fangmeyer Theater) with Sunday brunch at 11 a.m. that includes breakfast and lunch items. Harmon’s Den offers a complete menu with cocktails, wine list, and area beers on tap. Enjoy casual dining with the guarantee of making it to the performance in time, then rub shoulders with the cast afterward with post-show food and beverage service. Reservations recommended. www.harmonsden.harttheatre.org

JOEY'S PANCAKE HOUSE 4309 Soco Rd Maggie Valley. 828.926.0212. Open seven days a week! 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. Joey’s is a family-friendly restaurant that has been serving breakfast to locals and visitors of Western North Carolina for decades. Featuring a large variety of tempting pancakes, golden waffles, country style cured ham and seasonal specials spiked with flavor, Joey's is sure to please all

KANINI’S 1196 N. Main St., Waynesville. 828.452.5187. Lunch Monday-Saturday from 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., eat in or carry out. Closed Sunday. A made-from-scratch kitchen using fresh ingredients. Offering a variety of meals to go from frozen meals to be stored and cooked later to “Dinners to Go” that are made fresh and ready to enjoyed that day. We also specialize in catering any event from from corporate lunches to weddings. kaninis.com MAD BATTER FOOD & FILM 617 W. Main Street Downtown Sylva. 828.586.3555. Open Monday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. with Sunday Brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Handtossed pizza, house-ground burgers, steak sandwiches & fresh salmon all from scratch. Casual family friendly atmosphere. Craft beer and interesting wine. Free movies Thursday through Saturday. Visit madbatterfoodfilm.com for this week’s shows & events. 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. MAGGIE VALLEY RESTAURANT 2804 Soco Road, Maggie Valley. 828.926.0425. 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Daily specials including soups, sandwiches and southern dishes along with featured dishes such as fresh fried chicken, rainbow trout, country ham, pork chops and more. Breakfast all day including omelets, pancakes, biscuits & gravy. facebook.com/carversmvr; instagram @carvers_mvr. PIGEON RIVER GRILLE 101 Park St., Canton. 828.492.1422. Open Tuesday through Thursday 3 to 8 p.m.; Friday-Saturday noon to 9 p.m.; Sunday noon to 6 p.m. Southerninspired restaurant serving simply prepared, fresh food sourced from top purveyors. Located riverside at Bearwaters Brewing, enjoy daily specials, sandwiches, wings, fish and chips, flatbreads, soups, salads, and more. Be sure to save room for a slice of the delicious house made cake. Relaxing inside/outside dining and spacious gathering areas for large groups.

RENDEZVOUS RESTAURANT AND BAR Maggie Valley Inn and Conference Center 70 Soco Road, Maggie Valley 828.926.0201 Home of the Maggie Valley Pizzeria. We deliver after 4 p.m. daily to all of Maggie Valley, J-Creek area, and Lake Junaluska. Monday through Wednesday: 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday: 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. country buffet and salad bar from 5 to 9 p.m. $11.95 with Steve Whiddon on piano. Friday and Saturday: 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday 11:30 to 8 p.m. 11:30 to 3 p.m. family style, fried chicken, ham, fried fish, salad bar, along with all the fixings, $11.95. SAGEBRUSH STEAKHOUSE 1941 Champion Drive, Canton 828.646.3750 895 Russ Ave., Waynesville 828.452.5822. Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Carry out available. Sagebrush features hand carved steaks, chicken and award winning BBQ ribs. We have fresh salads, seasonal vegetables and scrumptious deserts. 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. TAP ROOM BAR & GRILL 176 Country Club Drive, Waynesville. 828.456.3551. Open seven days a week serving lunch and dinner. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tucked away inside Waynesville Inn, the Tap Room Bar & Grill has an approachable menu designed around locally sourced, sustainable, farm-to-table ingredients. Full bar and wine cellar. www.thewaynesvilleinn.com. WAYNESVILLE PIZZA COMPANY 32 Felmet Street, Waynesville. 828.246.0927. Open Monday through Friday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 10 p.m.; Sunday noon to 9 p.m.; closed Tuesdays. Opened in May 2016, The Waynesville Pizza Company has earned a reputation for having the best hand-tossed pizza in the area. Featuring a custom bar with more than 20 beers and a rustic, family friendly dining room. Menu includes salads, burgers, wraps, hot and cold sandwiches, gourmet pizza, homemade desserts, and a loaded salad bar. The Cuban sandwich is considered by most to be the best in town.

Mon/Wed/Thurs 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

Friday/Saturday 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

Closed Tuesday

Sunday 12-9 p.m.

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Breakfast served all day! OPEN DAILY 7 A.M. TO 8 P.M. SUNDAY 8 A.M. TO 8 P.M. CLOSED TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY 2804 SOCO RD. • MAGGIE VALLEY 828.926.0425 • Facebook.com/carversmvr Instagram- @carvers_mvr

BOOK SIGNING & ART PRESENTATION Saturday, August 10 • 3 p.m. 3 EAST JACKSON STREET • SYLVA

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AT BEARWATERS BREWING Tue-Thurs 12- 9 p.m • Fri-Sat: 12- 10 p.m. Sunday: 12- 9 p.m. • Monday: Closed

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3 E JACKSON ST. • SYLVA, NC

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20 Church Street Downtown Waynesville

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Smoky Mountain News

MAGGIE VALLEY RESTAURANT since 1952 Featured Dishes: Fresh Fried Chicken, Rainbow Trout, Country Ham, Pork-chops & more

Bea Nettles

Wine • Port • Champagne Cigars • Gifts

Carver's

Daily Specials: Soups, Sandwiches & Southern Dishes

Bookstore

August 7-13, 2019

HAZELWOOD FARMACY & SODA FOUNTAIN 429 Hazelwood Avenue, Waynesville. 828.246.6996. Open six days a week, closed Wednesday. 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday; 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday brunch 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Breakfast until noon, old-fashioned luncheonette and diner comfort food. Historic full service soda fountain.

appetites. Join us for what has become a tradition in these parts, breakfast at Joey’s.

A&E

Smoky Mountain News

The rebel and the rose Becky Buller to play ‘An Appalachian Evening’ BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER In bluegrass, there are pioneers and there are pillars — Becky Buller is both. A beloved singer/fiddler, the Minnesota native left the Midwest as a teenager for Southern Appalachia, all in search of that “high, lonesome sound.” And in her lifelong quest to immerse herself in bluegrass music, Buller has become a legend in her own right. A two-time Grammy-winning songwriter and eight-time International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) recipient, Buller has broken down musical and societal barriers. In 2016, she became the first performer in the long history of the IBMAs to win in both the vocal and instrumental categories — of which, she became the first female to win “Fiddle Player of the Year.” Last year, Buller teamed up with an array of incredibly talented female musicians to form the First Ladies of Bluegrass, each member also being the first women to win an IBMA award in their respective instrumental categories — Alison Brown (banjo, 1991), Sierra Hull (mandolin, 2016), Missy Raines (bass, 1998) and Molly Tuttle (guitar, 2017). And yet, residing at the core of her music, is simply someone who was captivated early on by the sights and sounds solely unique to bluegrass and its rich, vibrant scene. She remains as enamored by, curious about, and an important part of the history of bluegrass — past, present, future. Smoky Mountain News: In the last few years, a lot of females are not only getting recognized by the IBMAs, but also finally winning the big awards. What are your thoughts on this current landscape? Becky Buller: I love it. There’s so much great music being made out there. And it’s exciting to see new faces popping up amongst the awards. You know, everybody is deserving. I think it’s easier now for folks to get the word out and [IBMA] members understand the voting process more, which is all helping get these new folks in there.

“I’ve always approached the fiddle in how it works backing up songs … I’ve always been more interested in singing and songwriting, and I’ve used the fiddle to get me there to do what I wanted to do.” — Becky Buller

It’s great to see women making such an incredible showing amongst the nominees over the last several years. But, there have been great women all along in bluegrass music. It’s so incredible to be part of this wave. I think it’s easier now to have your own band and do your own thing. And I’m grateful to be part of the First Ladies of Bluegrass. SMN: What inspired you to dive into the genre of bluegrass? BB: Well, I grew up playing the music with my family. They had a band called Prairie Grass. It was my mom and dad, and another couple, which was Gordy and Roxy Shultz. And I wanted to sing with them. They said, “you have to play something, because everybody in bluegrass plays something.” So, they didn’t have a fiddle. I literally picked up the fiddle so I could sing in their band. And I’ve always approached the fiddle in how it works backing up songs. But, I’ve always been more interested in singing and songwriting, and I’ve used the fiddle to get me there to do what I wanted to do. When I was 16, I heard about East Tennessee State University (Johnson City) and the bluegrass program — I made up

my mind and that was what I was going to do. SMN: What is it about bluegrass that attracts you to that sound and presence? BB: I guess it’s the authenticity of it. You can write about anything. I love that I can sing a song about moonshining and turn around and sing a gospel song, then turn around and sing a murder ballad — that’s OK in bluegrass music, they welcome all of it. I love the story songs, I love writing them and learning them. SMN: Then, I would surmise that you never stop learning, ever. There’s always another rabbit hole to go down… BB: Exactly. There’s always somebody else to be inspired by. I think it was Pablo Casals, the cellist, who in his 90s was asked, “Why do you still practice?” He said, “Well, I just keep thinking I’ll get better.” And that’s where I’m at, too. I want to keep learning and growing — as a musician, person, and entertainer. Editor’s Note: If you would like to listen to the entire audio stream of this conversation, go to YouTube and search: “Becky Buller Garret K. Woodward.”

Want to go? The “An Appalachian Evening” summer concert series will continue with Becky Buller at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Stecoah Valley Center in Robbinsville. Other acts in the series will include: Salt & Light (Aug. 17), The Kruger Brothers (Aug. 24) and Wayne Henderson & Helen White (Aug. 31). As well, the Fall Harvest Festival will feature bluegrass legends The Gibson Brothers at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, at the Stecoah Valley Center. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on www.stecoahvalleycenter.com. All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. in the air-conditioned Lynn L. Shields Auditorium.

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

Never for money, always for love

Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host Bird in Hand (Americana/folk) 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10.

edited by Jessica Cory an Appalachian anthology on the human-nature relationship

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Please allow me to reintroduce myself. I started this column back The Mountain High BBQ Festival & Car Show will around Memorial Day of be held from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Aug. 9 and 10 2013. So, by the calendar on a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 10 at the Wayne Proffitt the wall, that more than six Agricultural Center in Franklin. years of a weekly page to talk A reading of the new Appalachian writers about whatever it is rolling collection Mountains Piled Upon Mountains will through my mind at a particbe held at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, at Blue ular moment — love, politics, Ridge Books in Waynesville. sports, music, policy, slice of life musings, etc. The Jackson County Public Library will host a That’s around 320 musical concert featuring Ashley Heath at 7 p.m. columns with about the same Tuesday Aug. 13, at the library’s Community number of subjects brought Room in Sylva. to light. Initially, I named the The REACH bingo fundraiser will be held at 6:30 column after the Talking p.m. Friday, Aug. 16, at the Maggie Valley Heads song “This Must Be the Pavilion. Place (Naïve Melody).” It’s a tune that’s always resonated Each time I hear it, I’m immediately so deeply within my heart and soul. And I’m transported into this space of harmony and sure it does the same for many of you out connectivity on the most basic of levels there currently reading this. between people, places and things. And Talking Heads leader David Byrne capmemories are conjured of my native North tured love, death and the unknown universe Country when I was fresh out of college and when he sang, “I’m just an animal looking my riff raff crew and I would have late night for a home and/Share the same space for a minute or two/And you love me till my heart Talking Heads dance parties once the bars closed and we simply just didn’t want to go stops/Love me till I’m dead.” home, at least not yet. Byrne has always been able to encompass So, when I heard “This Must Be the Place the absurdity and glorious beauty of humanity, how we’re all just a bit ridiculous and, per- (Naïve Melody)” late Sunday evening, all I could think of was how we as a society are so haps, need to not take ourselves so seriously much better than what we’re currently wit— positive change and cultural progress nessing, what we’re saying and how we’re resides within compassion for fellow man.

Mountains Piled Upon Mountains

August 7-13, 2019

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This must be the place

reacting to the darkness consuming ourselves and our neighbors in the digital age of social media and 24-hour news cycles. While attending a music industry conference in Charlotte, it was dizzying watching the TV in my hotel room throughout the weekend. For someone like myself who happily gave up cable when I moved to Western North Carolina seven years ago, being exposed to the nonstop circus that is mass media, endless commercials and screaming matches between pundits made me sick to my stomach. Surely, we’re better than this, right? Have we all strayed too far from who we really are, which is every single one of us being part of the human race? I remain an eternal optimist throughout this modern era, someone who sees the common themes and trapdoors of history repeating itself constantly through the generations and centuries. Wall-to-wall coverage of these recent shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. It was surreal to observing it all while sitting in that hotel room: the rhetoric, the yelling, the buzzwords. It’s that familiar whirlwind where “we all” get worked up about another national tragedy, only to fall again on deaf ears about any kind of real, tangible change. And I’m not sure what that change would even look like, but I’m sure no change means business as usual, carry on into the “Groundhog Day” scenarios of running in circles as a modern society (hopefully) trying our best to navigate the choppy waters of divisive politics and policy in the 21st century. Do I think the current leaders of our nation have all the answers and solutions? Sadly, no. I sincerely think they either will never know, or have genuinely forgotten, what it is like to be an everyday citizen in our country. Even on the most fundamental of levels, pursuing the “American Dream” is merely trying to survival in an often-cruel world — the daily realities of somehow trying to find footing in our society. If change is going to happen in our time, we as a country and a species need to place a mirror in front of ourselves. I’ve given up long ago on politicians and those “at the top” of actually doing anything for the common good. I’m looking at what I and you (and you, too) can do in our own backyards to help others up, to be the change you do wholeheartedly want to see in the world. The sum of all of our voices and actions has to — and will — add up to enough force to get the ball rolling in right direction. So, where to from here? Well, it all starts with dialogue, changing the narrative from pointing fingers and passing the blame to actually coming together with different points of view and finding a common ground that will breed solutions to deeply contested problems. I hold out hope. I truly do. We can — and are — better than this. I see it, the silver linings in all of this madness. Just as David Byrne joyously sang those many years ago, “And you’re standing here beside me/I love the passing of time/Never for money, always for love.” Life is beautiful, grasp for it, y’all.

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On the beat

David Holt returns to Franklin Four-time Grammy Award winner David Holt and Josh Goforth will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 16, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Holt and rising acoustic music star and Grammy nominee Goforth join together to bring to life the joy and spirit of oldtime mountain music and stories. Between them, the duo combines the virtuosic sounds of guitar, banjo, fiddle, slide guitar, mandolin, and a world of exciting rhythm instruments from hambone (body slapping) rhythms, to spoons, stump-fiddle, rhythm bones, jaw harp and even paper bag. It is a program of songs, stories and amazing musicianship that will appeal to all ages. Produced in conjunction with the Franklin Folk Festival. Tickets start at $17 per person. For more information, call 828.524.1598 or visit www.greatmountainmusic.com.

August 7-13, 2019

David Holt and Josh Goforth.

Becky Buller.

Melody Trucks Band.

the Stecoah Valley Center. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, visit www.stecoahvalleycenter.com. All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. in the air-conditioned Lynn L. Shields Auditorium.

Smoky Mountain News

Groovin’ on the Green

‘An Appalachian Evening’ in Stecoah The “An Appalachian Evening” summer concert series will continue with Becky Buller at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Stecoah Valley Center in Robbinsville. Other acts in the series will include: Salt & Light (Aug. 17), The Kruger Brothers (Aug. 24) and Wayne Henderson & Helen White (Aug. 31). As well, the Fall Harvest Festival will feature bluegrass legends The Gibson Brothers at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, at

The Groovin’ on the Green summer concert series will host Eat a Peach (classic rock) at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 9, at The Village Green in Cashiers. Other performers will include: Americana Jones (roots) Aug. 16, Andrew Beam (classic country) Aug. 23 and Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’Blues (blues) Aug. 31. Coolers are welcome but food and beverage vendors will be on site as well. Dogs must be on a leash and under the control of their owners at all times. Tents must be set up next to the path at the very back of the event lawn. Chairs may be set up in the lawn anytime the day of the concert, however no chairs may be set up within the wings of the Commons until after 4:30 p.m. For a full concert schedule, visit the concerts page on The Village Green website, www.villagegreencashiersnc.com.

Melody Trucks Band rolls into Lazy Hiker Daughter of the late Butch Trucks, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer for The Allman Brothers Band, the Melody Trucks Band will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Franklin. “Our intent — happiness, love, fun, joy,

energy. It’s hard to put my finger on any one single thing and say ‘this is our intent,’” Trucks told The Smoky Mountain News. “I guess our intent is to create a safe space within our band — more like family — so that we can all say what we want to say. Every time I’m onstage with these souls, I feel nothing but joy.” The show is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

On the beat arts & entertainment

Sylva library welcomes MerleFest winner Ashley Heath.

Congratulations to NAI Beverly-H Hanks’

BILL LY Y CASE

Awarded Aw

CCIM Designatiion

Certified Commercial Investment Member The CCIM designation is awarded to commercial real estate professionals upon successful completion of a graduate-level education curriculum annd presentation of a portfolio of qualifying experience. CCIMs are recognized experts in commercial real estate brokerage, leasing, asset management, valuation, and invesstment analysis.

“A Different Stream” is a collection of Heath’s first attempt at songwriting and is a seven song album with six original songs and one cover titled “Ready for The Times to Get Better.” The debut album was released in 2016 at The Asheville Music Hall with the newly formed band Ashley Heath & Her Heathens. Since releasing the record, “A Different Stream” was voted No. 48 on WNCW’s Top 100 Releases of 2016, Heath was named “Artist Of The Year: Regional” by The Greenville Journal in 2016, and she wrapped up her first Kickstarter Campaign in which $11,866 was raised to help fund advertising, promoting, tour support, and vinyl records for new album. This program is free and open to the public. The event is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. For more information, please call the library at 828.586.2016. The Jackson County Public Library is a member of Fontana Regional Library (www.fontanalib.org).

Bryson City community jam

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A community jam will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 15, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. Anyone with a guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dulcimer, anything unplugged, are invited to join. Singers are also welcomed to join in or you can just stop by and listen. The jam is facilitated by Larry Barnett of the Sawmill Creek Porch Band. The community jams offer a chance for musicians of all ages and levels of ability to share music they have learned over the years or learn old-time mountain songs. The music jams are offered to the public each first and third Thursday of the month — year-round. This program received support from the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment of the Arts. 828.488.3030.

Billy Case, CCIM

August 7-13, 2019

The Jackson County Public Library will host a musical concert featuring Ashley Heath at 7 p.m. Tuesday Aug. 13, at the library’s Community Room in Sylva. With a blend of original soul Americana music, Heath has been rising as one of Asheville’s finest musicians with “velvety” vocals and bluesy guitar style. Raised in Madison County, she has developed a strong passion for country, blues, and folk music and has recently released an album of original material “A Different Stream.” She is the 2018 Merlefest Band Competition winner. In March 2015, Heath decided to go full time into singing and playing music, quit her part time job as a barista in downtown Asheville, and recorded her first album “A Different Stream.” The album was recorded at Echo Mountain Recording Studios in Asheville with producer Ryan Burns and engineer Clay Miller.

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On the beat

• Blue Ridge Beer Hub (Waynesville) will host an acoustic jam with Main St. NoTones from 6 to 9 p.m. Aug. 8 and 15. Free and open to the public. www.blueridgebeerhub.com. • Boojum Brewing Company (Waynesville) will host a bluegrass open mic every Wednesday, an all-genres open mic every Thursday and “Woodstock 50th” party Aug. 17. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.boojumbrewing.com.

ALSO:

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host Stuart McNair Aug. 9, Wyatt Edmondson Duo Aug. 10, AcousticENVY Aug. 16 and Stephan Evans & Woodstock Aug. 17. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. www.froglevelbrewing.com. • Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will have an Open Mic night Aug. 7 and 14, and a jazz night with the Kittle/Collings Duo Aug. 8 and 15. All events are free and begin at 8 p.m. www.innovation-brewing.com.

• Macon County Public Library (Franklin) will host The Vagabonds (oldies/country) 2 p.m. Aug. 12. Free and open to the public. • Marianna Black Library (Bryson City) will host Somebody’s Child (Americana) 7 p.m. Aug. 8. Free and open to the public. 828.488.3030 or www.fontanalib.org/brysoncity. • Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host the “Stone Soup” open mic night every Tuesday, Shayler’s Kitchen Aug. 9, Twelfth Fret Aug. 10, Woolybooger & The Loon Aug. 16 and Somebody’s Child (Americana) Aug. 17. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m. www.mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com. • Nantahala Brewing (Bryson City) will host Random Animals Aug. 16 and Casual Yak Aug. 17. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.nantahalabrewing.com. • Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host Captain Midnight Band (waterbed rock) Aug. 15 and STIG Aug. 16. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.nantahalabrewing.com. • Nantahala Outdoor Center (Nantahala Gorge) will host Hustle Souls 6 p.m. Aug. 17. All shows start at 6:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. www.noc.com. • Pickin’ on the Square (Franklin) will host Andrew Chastain Band (country) Aug. 10 and Elderly Brothers (beach/oldies) Aug. 17. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m. www.townoffranklinnc.com. • Pub 319 (Waynesville) will host an open mic night from 8 to 11 p.m. every Wednesday. Free and open to the public. www.pub319socialhouse.com. • Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub (Franklin) will host Mike Yow Aug. 9, The Tuners Aug. 10, George James Aug. 16 and A. Lee Edwards Aug. 17. Shows begin at 8 p.m. Free and open to the public. www.rathskellerfranklin.com. • Salty Dog’s (Maggie Valley) will have Karaoke with Jason Wyatt at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays, Mile High (classic

Concerts on the Creek The 10th season of the Concerts on the Creek summer music series continues with Tuxedo Junction (classic hits) at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 9, at Bridge Park in Sylva. The Town of Sylva, Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department and Jackson County Chamber of Commerce team up to produce the Concerts on the Creek series at the Bridge Park gazebo in Sylva from 7 to 9 p.m. every Friday from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Concerts on the Creek events are free and open to the public with donations encouraged. Bring a chair or blanket and enjoy the show. Occasionally, these events will feature food truck vendors as well. The other performances are as follows: • Aug. 16: Mama Danger (folk/newgrass) • Aug. 23: Troy Underwood (Americana/folk) • Aug. 30: Maggie Valley Band (Americana) For more information, call the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce at 828.586.2155 or visit www.mountainlovers.com. Follow the Concerts on the Creek Facebook page for series updates. rock) 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays, and a Trivia w/Kelsey Jo 8 p.m. Thursdays. • Satulah Mountain Brewing (Highlands) will host “Hoppy Hour” and an open mic at 6 p.m. on Thursdays and live music on Friday evenings. 828.482.9794 or www.satulahmountainbrewing.com. • The Strand at 38 Main (Waynesville) will host an “Open Mic” night from 7 to 9 p.m. on Saturdays. 828.283.0079 or www.38main.com. • The Ugly Dog Pub (Cashiers) will host

Bluegrass Thursdays w/Benny Queen at 6:30 p.m. • The Ugly Dog Pub (Highlands) will host Bluegrass w/Nitrograss Wednesdays at 7 p.m. • The Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host an “Open Mic Night” on Mondays, karaoke on Thursdays and semi-regular music on Fridays and Saturdays. All events at 10 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.456.4750.

Smoky Mountain News

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host an open mic night at 6:30 p.m. every Thursday, Melody Trucks Band Aug. 10 and “BrewStock: Woodstock 50th Anniversary” 7 p.m. Aug. 17. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. For more information and a complete schedule of events, click on www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Legends Sports Grill (Maggie Valley) will host music semi-regularly on weekends. 828.926.9464 or www.facebook.com/legendssportsgrillmaggievalley.

August 7-13, 2019

• Isis Music Hall (West Asheville) will host Lawn Series w/Hot Club of Asheville (jazz) 6 p.m. Aug. 7, Fort Defiance (Americana/folk) 7 p.m. Aug. 7, Dawson Hollow (folk/indie) 8:30 p.m. Aug. 7, Lawn Series w/Matt Fassas Trio (folk/indie) 6 p.m. Aug. 8, Hiroya Tsukamoto (folk/world) 7 p.m. Aug. 8, Ever More Nest (alt-country/Americana) 7 p.m. Aug. 9, The Aristocrats w/Travis Larson Band (instrumental) 8:30 p.m. Aug. 9, Shay Martin Lovette (Americana) 7 p.m. Aug. 10, The Allen Boys (blues/jazz) 8:30 p.m. Aug. 10, Al Petteway (Americana/Celtic) 6 p.m. Aug. 11, Oliver the Crow w/Hoot & Holler (bluegrass/old-time) 7:30 p.m. Aug. 11, Tuesday Bluegrass Sessions hosted by The Thomas Cassell Band 6 p.m. Aug. 13, Lawn Series w/Fwuit (retro/soul) 6 p.m. Aug. 14, Lauren Anderson & Meg Williams (Americana/blues) 7 p.m. Aug. 14 and Jeff Sipe Trio w/Rahm Squad (funk/world) 8:30 p.m. Aug. 14. www.isisasheville.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host Bird in Hand (Americana/folk) 8 p.m. Aug. 10. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. For more information and a complete schedule of events, click on www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

arts & entertainment

• Andrews Brewing Company (Andrews) will host the “Lounge Series” at its Calaboose location Granny’s Mason Jar Aug. 10, Gabe Myers 4 pm. Aug. 11, Jody West Aug. 15, Joey Fortner Aug. 16 and Dana Rogers 4 p.m. Aug. 18. All shows are free and begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.andrewsbrewing.com.

• Whiteside Brewing (Cashiers) will host Seth Brand 6 p.m. Aug. 17. Free. 828.743.6000 or www.whitesidebrewing.com.

View our A&E content online — www.smokymountainnews.com

On the street arts & entertainment

Franklin Area Folk Festival

Cherokee Bonfire & Storytelling

August 7-13, 2019

The Cherokee Bonfire & Storytelling will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 25 at the Oconaluftee Islands Park in Cherokee. Sit by a bonfire, alongside a river, and listen to some of Cherokee’s best storytellers. The bonfire is free and open to the public. There will be no bonfire events in September. For more information, call 800.438.1601 or visit www.visitcherokeenc.com.

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their instruments and join in. Inside on the gym stage, children ages 18 and under are encouraged to compete in the Mountain Youth Talent Contest (performances in traditional Appalachian music, storytelling and dance) sponsored by Jackson County 4-H with support from Catch the Spirit of Appalachia (sign-up on the FAFF website). This free event is co-sponsored annually by the Folk Heritage Association of Macon County and the Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center with support from Cowee Community Development Organization, Rickman’s Store, The Scottish Tartan Museum, Macon County Historical Museum, Franklin Area Chamber of Commerce, Blue Ridge Heritage Music Trail/SEBA and others. The festival is made possible by a grant from the Franklin/Nantahala Tourism Development Committee, the Tourism Development Authority of the Town of Franklin and the Macon County Arts Council, along with funding from local businesses and individuals. For more informatio, visit www.franklinfolkfestival.com or call 800.932.5294.

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The 15th Annual Franklin Area Folk Festival, “A Celebration of Appalachian Heritage,” will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17, at Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center. This family-friendly festival features live heritage demonstrations, Appalachian crafts, old-time mountain music & SEBA (SouthEastern Bluegrass Association) jammin’ sessions, clogging, Civil War reenactors camped on the grounds with infantry drilling and firing demonstrations, kids’ activities, food, textiles, tours, an antique car show, and more. Artisans inside Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center will exhibit Macon County’s rich heritage by teaching us about pottery, textiles, painting, and local history. By linking our future to our past, the Franklin Area Folk Festival sponsors hands-on activities to allow visitors to experience what mountain life was like way back when. These folks learned at their parents’ knee woodcarving, moonshinin’, weaving and spinning, and all the many other heritage skills they’ll be demonstrating. Festival-goers are encouraged to bring

Learn more when you visit our website: mountaincu.org

IT’S TIME TO DANCE The “Friday Night Street Dance” will be held from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 9, in front of the historic courthouse in downtown Waynesville. Live mountain music and clogging. Participation encouraged. Free to attend. www.downtown waynesvilleassociation.com.

On the street

August 7-13, 2019

The Western NC Civil War Roundtable will welcome Edward S. Alexander for a presentation on Monday, Aug. 12, at The Waynesville Inn Golf Resort and Spa. Alexander will be speaking on the Battle of Rappahannock Station in Virginia. He has worked as a park ranger and historian at Richmond National Battlefield Park and Pamplin Historical Park. He has been a contributing member of Emerging Civil War since 2013, serving as lead editor and cartographer of the Emerging Civil War Digital Shorts and author of the book Dawn of Victory: Breakthrough at Petersburg. Alexander has written essays for American Battlefield Trust, the largest Civil War land preservation organization. Currently, Alexander volunteers as Tourism Committee Chairman for the Petersburg Battlefields Foundation. The Battle of Rappahannock Station occurred in early November 1863, well after the summer slaughter at Gettysburg. This action was one of several battles in what was known as the Bristoe Campaign during which the Confederate and Union armies maneuvered across northern Virginia seeking opportunities for battlefield victories before winter set in. The battles were mostly defeats for the Confederates with Rappahannock Station no exception. The Bristoe Campaign was one of multiple missed opportunities and defeats for the Confederates in 1863, all of which contributed to an increased sense of impending disaster on North Carolinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home front. The eveningâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s agenda begins at 5 p.m. with a meet and greet dinner at the Tap Room within The Waynesville Inn Golf Resort and Spa. Dinner will be followed with a social at 6:30 p.m. The meeting and free presentation will commence at 7 p.m. in the Mountaineer room on the second floor of The Waynesville Inn. More information can be found at www.wnccwrt.com.

arts & entertainment

Western NC Civil War Roundtable

REACH bingo fundraiser Smoky Mountain News

The REACH bingo fundraiser will be held at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 16, at the Maggie Valley Pavilion. Doors open at 6 p.m. Your $20 admission includes 20 rounds of nine-game bingo, with prizes for every game. Plus, enter the free drawing for door prizes. Tickets will be available for purchase at the door. Limited concessions also available. Outside food is permitted, but no alcoholic beverages. Proceeds go to benefit REACH of Haywood County and their vital services to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and elder abuse. For more information, call the REACH office at 828.456.7898.

On the table arts & entertainment

Lazy Hiker opens Sylva location

August 7-13, 2019

Franklin barbecue festival The 10th annual Mountain High BBQ Festival & Car Show will be held from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Aug. 9 and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 10 at the Wayne Proffitt Agricultural Center in Franklin. KCBS Sanctioned BBQ Cookoff for Backyard and Professional teams. Barbecue vendors will be on the premises to sell great tasting barbecue. Food vendors, crafters, live music, cooking demonstrations and a car show will round out the exciting features of the festival. Admission is free from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, $5 after 2 p.m. Friday and all-

day Saturday, with children ages 12 and under free. For more information and a full schedule of events, visit www.mountainhighbbqfestival.com or call 828.524.3161. • A free wine tasting will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. Aug. 10 and 17 at Papou’s Wine Shop in Sylva. www.papouswineshop.com or 828.631.3075. • Free cooking demonstrations will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturdays at Country Traditions in Dillsboro. Taste house wines for $3 a glass. www.countrytraditionsnc.com.

ALSO:

Based in Franklin, Lazy Hiker Brewing will host a soft opening of its Sylva outpost with a special performance by Bird in Hand (Americana/folk) 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Mad Batter in downtown Sylva. Lazy Hiker Brewing Company and Mad Batter recently announced that Lazy Hiker will be expanding to Sylva by opening a taproom at Mad Batter’s current location at 617 West Main Street. The taproom will feature Mad Batter’s full menu of entrees, pizza and appetizers. A grand opening is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 23, which will include a live performance by Porch 40 (rock/jam). The renovations will also include a pet-friendly patio and outdoor space. The road less traveled has always been the way for husband and wife duo Bird in Hand. Bryan and Megan Thurman call the Smoky Mountains of Western North Carolina home and the region is directly reflected in their music. Bird in Hand is upbeat and new while still rooted in the tra-

Bird in Hand. ditions of American folk. You can find their debut EP, “Due North,” online at www.birdinhandmusic.com. The show is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

Diane E. Sherrill, Attorney

Smoky Mountain News

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559 W. Main St. • Sylva

On the stage

the Cuckoo’s Nest.” When a new resident arrives and shakes things up, this band of misfits hatch an outrageous plan to break all the rules and in the process rediscover purpose and dignity. HART’s production is being directed by Julie Kinter and features: Pasquale LaCorte and David Spivey, reunited after last season’s hit Over the River and Through the Woods, along with Pam Elder, Vicki Mangieri, Leslie Lang and Ariel Killillay. To make reservations, visit www.harttheatre.org or call the HART Box Office at 828.456.6322.

Michael Jackson tribute show

recreate a Michael Jackson performance. Tickets start at $22 each, with priority seating available. To purchase tickets, visit www.greatmountainmusic.com or call 866.273.4615.

828-333-4267

• The Macon County Community Theater will perform “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 9-10 and at 2 p.m. Aug. 11 at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. 828.524.3600.

ALSO:

• There is free comedy improv class from 7 to 9 p.m. every Thursday at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. No experience necessary, just come to watch or join in the fun. Improv teacher Wayne Porter studied at Sak Comedy Lab in Orlando, Florida, and performed improvisation with several groups. Join Improv WNC on Facebook or just call 828.316.8761.

Jacob Sanchez Diagnosed with autism

Smoky Mountain News

The number one Michael Jackson tribute show in the world, “MJ LIVE” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 9, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. It is presented by a fantastic cast and crew at the Stratosphere Theater on the Las Vegas strip every night of the week as they recreate a true Michael Jackson concert experience. Michael Jackson was a legendary superstar known for his music, dance, and fashion. He earned the title “King of Pop” after decades of making his way to becoming a global figure in popular culture. “MJ LIVE” showcases the energy, excitement, and pure joy of the iconic Michael Jackson. Impersonators of the superstar have perfected his hair styles, facial features, signature gestures, costumes, singing, dancing, and many other details that authentically

For more info Call

August 7-13, 2019

A production of “A Facility for Living” by Katie Forgette will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 9-10, 15-17 and at 2 p.m. Aug. 11 and 18 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville. The comedy is set in the not so distant future when the health care system has fallen apart. For the residents of Federal Nursing Home #273, every day is a monotonous cycle of pills, old Ronald Reagan movies, and mandatory bedtimes all overseen by the killjoy head nurse. If it sounds familiar, the show is billed as “The Golden Girls” meets “One Flew Over

arts & entertainment

HART’s ‘A Facility for Living’

Lack of speech is a sign of autism. Learn the others at autismspeaks.org/signs.

arts & entertainment

WAYNESVILLE OFFICE 74 North Main Street | (828) 634-7333

Smoky Mountain News

August 7-13, 2019

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On the wall

Denise Seay will host a wool applique workshop from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville. Learn the basics of working with wool applique for quilting or craft. The class will cover hand applique and embroidery on wool felt along with how to felt wool and wool garments. Participants will applique some of our

The Dogwood Crafters Co-Op has two upcoming workshops this month. • Brenda Anders, president of Dogwood Crafters and well-known for her ceramics, will lead a beginning ceramics class at her home on from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 13. Participants will learn about greenware and bisque, paints and stains. Cost is $10. Register by Aug. 7. • Get ready for fall when you attend the Fabric Scarecrow workshop from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, at the Dillsboro Masonic Lodge. Bernice Spitzer, a member of Dogwood Crafters, will lead participants in making a 12” cloth scarecrow from a kit which will be furnished. A sewing machine is required and participants will leave with a completed scarecrow. Cost is $11. Register by Aug. 15. To register for either class, call 828.586.2248.

ALSO:

• Carole & June Pearson will train interested volunteers in the techniques of Quilt Block painting over the next few months. The Pearson sisters will be sharing the secrets of quilt block painting on Aug. 12-13 at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville. To discover more about this fascinating aspect of our culture, please join the team of quilt block volunteer painters, and email the HCAC at director@haywoodarts.org or call 828.452.0593. If you are interested in ordering a handcrafted Quilt Block for your home, barn, or business, visit www.quilttrailswnc.org.

• There will be an artist member show through Aug. 24 at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville. For more information, call 828.452.0593, email info@haywoodarts.org or visit www.haywoodarts.org. • The Weekly Open Studio art classes will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville, Instructor will be Betina Morgan. Open to all artists, at any stage of development, and in the medium of your choice. Cost is $20 per class. There will also be a Youth Art Class from 4 to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays. Cost is $10 per class. Contact Morgan at 828.550.6190 or email bmk.morgan@yahoo.com. • A “Beginner Step-By-Step” adult painting class will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. There is also a class at 6:30 p.m. on the last Wednesday of the month at Balsam Fall Brewing in Sylva. Cost is $25 with all supplies provided. For more information on paint dates and/or to RSVP, contact Robin Arramae at 828.400.9560 or wncpaintevents@gmail.com.

Smoky Mountain News

• The next meeting of the Western North Carolina Woodturners Club Inc. will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, at The Bascom in Highlands. Visitors are always welcome. The club meets in Highlands the second Saturday of every month between March and November.

• The “Artist Coffee & Chat” will be from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 8, at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville. Conversation includes updates on all things art locally and regionally. Guest artist will be Sarah Altman. www.haywoodarts.org.

The Museum of the Cherokee Indian has recently opened a major new exhibit, “People of the Clay: Contemporary Cherokee Potters.” It features more than 60 potters from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Cherokee Nation, and more than one hundred works from 1900 to the present. The exhibit will run through next April.

August 7-13, 2019

• The advanced alcohol ink class hosting by artist Dominick DePaolo will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 21, at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville. Class is limited to 10. Cost is $50 for HCAC members, $55 for non-members. RSVP by Aug. 14. Prepayment required. Cash or check accepted (no credit cards). To RSVP, call 828.452.0593.

local animals (bear and Plott Hound) on wool blocks and prepare the block for quilting. Fabric, supplies and design will be provided by the teacher, but attendees can bring their own fabric supplies and /or designs. Great workshop to experiment in wool handwork. Lots of tips and tricks will be shared. Costs is $65 for non-members or $60 for HCAC members. Class fee must be paid to hold your spot for this great class. Cash or Check accepted (no credit cards) To RSVP, call 828.452.0593.

arts & entertainment

Dogwood Crafters workshops

Wool applique workshop

arts & entertainment

What Are Cannabinoids? Cannabinoids are a group of closely related compunds that act on cannbinoid receptors in the body, unique to cannabis (or hemp). The body creates compounds called endocannabinoids, while hemp produces phytocannabinoids, notably cannabidiol. Cannabinoids is traditionally used for pain, sleep, and fibermyalgia. Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Migraines Asthma Breast Cancer

Diabetes Crohnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Disease

Prostate Cancer Menstrual Cancer

CBD has traditionally been used for: Anxiety/Depression Seizures Pain/Fibromyalgia Nausea/Vomiting Sleep Tremors PTSD ADHD/ADD Autism

The Endocannabinoid System is perhaps the most important physiologic systerm involved in establishing and maintaining human health. Although the endocannabinoid system affects a wide variety of biological processes, experts believe that its overall function is to regulate homeostasis. 366 RUSS AVE, WAYNESVILLE | 828.452.0911

Smoky Mountain News

August 7-13, 2019

BiLo Shopping Center | facebook.com/kimspharmacy

Books

Smoky Mountain News

The Great Escape? Read a book uly had come and gone, a month filled with obligations, all of them good, but exhaustion walked hand in hand with those commitments. Often I was tired just kicking off the sheets in the morning. Various projects gobbled up the hours of those long days, and by the time I crashed into my mattress at night, I was one with the walking dead. A vacation wasn’t an option, and I’ve never done well Writer lounging about in the backyard, twiddling my thumbs and contemplating the sunset. And no omphaloskepsis for me, thank you very much. If I’m going to gaze at someone’s navel, bring me the Queen of Sheba. At any rate, I needed a break. I needed some fun. I needed a book. And Blotto, Twinks and the Intimate Revue (Constable, 2018, 201 pages) came to the rescue. British novelist Simon Britt’s story of Blotto and Twinks, siblings who are also amateur detectives, is the silliest, most absurd novel I’ve read in a long time. Perhaps ever. Just when you think the plot can’t possibly get more daft, Britt ladles on another dipper of nonsense: kidnappings, unreal coincidences, Blotto and Twinks trying to escape arranged marriages, a revolution concocted by Barmy Evans, a Welshman with plans to put rich toffs like Blotto and Twinks to work in the coalmines and insert the coalminers into their estates. The story begins when Giles “Whiffler” Tortington, who has fallen in love with a revue dancer, Frou-Frou Gavotte, is kidnapped. Blotto, whose light bulb is dimmer than most, witnesses the kidnapping, and he and Twinks, who is “a woman of astonishing intellect and remarkable beauty,” determine to rescue Whiffler. These two aristocrats enter the world of the London stage, brush elbows with ruffians who have set up a shady business marrying aristocrats to stage girls, and find themselves hunted by the evil Barmy Evans. At one point, Twinks — her real name is Honoria Lyminster — passes muster when

Jeff Minick

she disguises herself first as a Cockney singer and dancer, and later as a man, while brother Blotto, aka Devereux, bumbles in and out of dire situations, armed only with his impenetrable ignorance and his beloved cricket bat. It is not the plot, however, that amuses so much as the language. Here is P.G. Wodehouse, the creator of Jeeves and Bertie Wooster, on steroids. Let’s listen in as Blotto argues with the impresario of the revue, a Frenchman, over his treatment of his female performers:

parable to that of Krakatoa.” Though Blotto is a “fluent fat-chewer, Whiffler’s announcement had momentarily robbed him of the power of speech.” All of this linguistic gusto occurs on one

“Dolly,” snarled the impresario, “you are just such a common slut!” “Now rein in the roans a moment there,” said Blotto. “Don’t forget you are talking to a lady.” “Lady? If that’s a lady, I’m a Dutchman.” “Well, you’re not a Dutchman,” asserted Blotto, “but you still suffer the appalling disadvantage of not being British. You’re a Frenchman, which is an even worse kind of stencher.” “How dare you speak of my countrymen like that?” His Gallic temperament flared. “You are speaking of the country of Napoleon.” “Tickey-Tockey,” Blotto agreed. “But we’re speaking in the country of Wellington. And we all know how that particular ding-dong turned out, don’t we?” In this next exchange, Twinks is questioning her brother about a woman he’d met who now won’t speak to him. Twinks asks Blotto if he didn’t say something to the woman that “put lumps in her custard:” Blotto searched the contents of his brain. It didn’t take long. “Can’t think of anything. We parted as harmonious as two swallows on a telegraph wire.” “What, you saw the young thimble to a cab?” “No, she had her own ‘special taxi service.’” “And what’s that when it’s got spats on?” “A black saloon with tinted glass in the window.” On and on and on it goes. Frou-Frou Gavotte is “an absolute eyewobbler” and “as English as a ham sandwich with mustard, though with a “spoffing odd name.” Admitting to a mistake, Blotto declares himself as “shinnying up the wrong drainpipe.” Whiffler’s desire to marry Frou-Frou “could, by Blotto’s reckoning, cause an eruption com-

single page. If you’re in the mood for some wild antics and champagne prose, give Blotto, Twinks and the Intimate Revue a look. Tickey-Tockey. ••• If instead of humor you’re looking for an adventure to sweep you away from your

fatigue or ennui, let me recommend Rafael Sabatini’s Captain Blood. Nearly a century in print, mention of Captain Blood kept popping up over the years in various books that passed through my hands, yet I never hunted down the novel, believing it to be some tale of a pirate furnished with a hackneyed plot, flat characters, and wooden dialogue. Boy, was I ever wrong. Here is the saga of Peter Blood, physician and former soldier of fortune, who in late seventeenth century England is falsely accused of treason and shipped off as a slave to Barbados. He wins his freedom when he and some other slaves take over a lightly guarded Spanish warship at anchor while her soldiers and sailors ransack the English colony. A man of honor and grit, Blood soon wins the respect of other buccaneers as well as many high-ranking citizens. This tale of romance and warfare on the high seas, of a good man wronged, also polishes up the meaning of some words we neglect today to our shame: courage, honor, prudence, true wisdom. In 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die, renowned book-lover and critic James Mustich says of Captain Blood “the book dares you to put it down. You won’t.” He was right. I didn’t. (Jeff Minick is a writer and teacher. minick0301@gmail.com)

New Appalachian writers collection Featuring Editor Jessica Cory and contributing writers Wayne Caldwell, Ellen Perry and Gene Hyde, a reading and signing of Mountains Piled Upon Mountains will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville. The collection features nearly 50 writers from across Appalachia sharing their place-based fiction, literary nonfiction, and poetry. Moving beyond the tradition of transcendental nature writing, much of the work collected here engages current issues facing the region and the planet. This book includes a mix of new and recent creative work by established and emerging authors. In the pages of Mountains Piled upon Mountains are celebration, mourning, confusion, loneliness, admiration, and other emotions and experiences rooted in place but transcending Appalachia’s boundaries. For more information, call 828.456.6000 or visit www.blueridgebooksnc.com.

Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

Through Spain, frame by frame Camino de Santiago offers a long-distance walk steeped in history

Blue sky and red roofs mark the beginning of the walk from Bustio of Llanes. Holly Kays photos

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER The more you know about the Camino de Santiago, the harder it is to define. The simple explanation is that it’s a walking path that travels through Spain. But in reality that description is a mix of truth and fiction. The path is most well established in Spain, sure, but also passes through various other European countries. And to call it “the path,” singular, is just wrong — there are many caminos, many ways, that together make up The Way. That’s because the origins of this walking path have remarkably little to do with walking. The Spanish “Camino de Santiago” translates to “Way of St. James.” It’s a path — or paths, really, as the people who used it took different routes depending on where they were coming from — that medieval pilgrims once used to journey to Santiago de Compostela, where the bones of St. James, one of the Jesus’ 12 apostles, are said to rest. Since the bones were discovered in 813 A.D., Catholic pilgrims have made the arduous journey from France, Germany, England or any of a number of other European countries to Santiago. There, miracles of healing and forgiveness awaited. Years when the Feast of St. James falls on a Sunday are termed holy years, and successful pilgrims during those times can receive a plenary indulgence, blan-

ket forgiveness for any sins committed in the past. Wars, epidemics and natural catastrophes caused the pilgrimage tradition to decay during the 14th century, but in recent history the Camino has seen a resurgence. An increasing number of the historical routes have been uncovered, and an increasing number of pilgrims — called peregrinos in Spanish — are walking the Camino. In the year 2000, the Oficina de Acogida de Peregrinos in Spain issued 55,004 compostelas, which are certificates of completion. By 2005, that number had nearly doubled to 93,924, and in 2013 it doubled yet again to 215,929. Last year, 327,378 people received the compostela at Santiago. By contrast, in 2018 the Appalachian Trail saw 7,600 thruhikers register at the most popular starting point in Georgia and 1,128 people complete at least 2,000 miles of the trail. Americans account for a small but increasing share of Camino walkers. In 2007, only 2 percent of the compostelas awarded that year were given to Americans. By 2018, that share had risen to 5.7 percent. The sharpest spike occurred between 2013 and 2010, when the percentage rose from 1.2 to 4.7 percent, growing modestly every year since then save for 2018, when it dipped by 0.1 percent. Those numbers don’t even represent the total number of people experiencing the Camino. To receive a compostela, pilgrims must travel the last 100 kilometers on foot or

horseback or do the last 200 kilometers by bicycle. The lengths of the routes vary, but most are much longer than 100 or even 200 kilometers — many pilgrims fall short of the requirements to receive the compostela.

BECOMING A PILGRIM In June 2019, I was one of those pilgrims. I’ve been asked many times how I first heard about the Camino, and it’s a question I have a hard time answering. I started learning Spanish in high school and quickly developed a fascination with both the language and its place of origin. Somewhere along the way somebody told me about the Camino, and the ideas fused. What better way to visit this country I’d always dreamed of visiting than by walking through it, stepping frame by frame through scenes of daily life and natural beauty and cultural peculiarities? And, of course, by eating its famously delicious seafood? After years of daydreaming, I found myself this summer in the Madrid airport, shouldering a 35-liter backpack that contained all my possessions for the next two weeks and accompanied by my mom, my co-adventurer for the trip. Two weeks is not enough to walk the route we’d chosen, the Camino del Norte — not by a long shot. The Norte, which runs along the northern coast from the French border, is more than 800 kilometers long and takes about six weeks to walk. But

Camino de Asheville Asheville resident Don Walton has been hooked on the Camino since 2007, when he spent a month walking the Camino Francés with four other people. Last year, he finished his eighth Camino, and he’s planning a ninth. “The last one is usually my favorite, and that’s generally been true,” Walton said when asked which route he liked the most. “They’re all great. The one I remember most vividly is the most recent one usually.” Walton is also co-coordinator for the Asheville Camino Chapter of the American Pilgrims on the Camino. The national organization has more that 50 chapters spread across the U.S. and works to provide information and encouragement to present and future pilgrims, as well as supporting Camino infrastructure and gathering pilgrims together. The Asheville group is quite active, offering monthly walks on the “Asheville Camino Trail,” routes through the Asheville area designed to mimic terrain found on the Camino Francés and Camino del Norte. Informational presentations are offered at 7 p.m. on the first Monday of each month at REI in Asheville, and informal meetings over coffee are held 9 to 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays at Green Sage Westgate. To learn more, visit www.ashevillecamino.org.

CANTABRIAN COUNTRYSIDE

Smoky Mountain News

S EE CAMINO, PAGE 40

A cow takes in the view from a pasture alongside the Camino coming out of Irún in the Basque Country. (top) A large crucifix hangs above the altar at the Ermita de San Pedro. Between 2 and 4 p.m., many Spanish restaurants serve the 'Menü del Dia,' which typically includes two different plates, dessert and a drink. Pictured here is the second course of a meal in Santander. (below)

August 7-13, 2019

Up through now, I’d been treating the Camino more like a vacation or series of day hikes than like a pilgrimage, whatever that word even means in the modern context. My faith is important to me, but I’m not Catholic, and my reasons for doing the Camino had always had a lot more to do with exploration than with religion. But our third day of walking, which began after a four-hour bus ride that left us more than 100 miles away in Santillana del Mar, represented a turn of the tide. Santillana, located in Cantabria, is a wellpreserved relic of medieval times, famous for its stone buildings and streets. Look down the road, mentally erase the modern clothes of the people walking it, and you can relive the past. It doesn’t take much imagination to hear the clatter of hooves and wagon wheels on the rocks, to smell the stink of livestock waste and unwashed bodies, to replace modern visitors’ jeans and Tshirts with drab medieval garb. “I thought the Camino would be a good idea to clear my mind and see what comes into it while I’m walking. And it did help me a lot,” Mark Lacorte, a 58-year-old Brit who lives in Malta, said as he walked with us through the rolling, pastured countryside past Santillana. “I learned, number one, that you really don’t need much to be happy.” This was not Lacorte’s first Camino — in fact, it was his third. Having retired at age 50, Lacorte has found himself with plenty of time in recent years to explore, and to reflect. “My mother died of cancer when she was 53, and I realized that you just don’t know how much you’ve got left,” he said of his decision to retire early. “The lifestyle I was living was the typical business lifestyle where you work, work, work, trying to accumulate things and money. You get to a point where you think, ‘Do I have enough to be content, or do I really need to keep amassing more?’” We parted ways with Lecorte at the Ermita de San Pedro, an impressive stone church perched on a green hill with a view of the snow-capped Picos de Europa and the Bay of Biscay. Our itinerary for the day was on the shorter side, while he had a longer distance to cover. So we wandered inside this hermitage of St. Peter where we met a man named Gunther Oliveira who served us sweet hot tea, fresh pears and the grand tour. The building used to serve as an albergue, though not any more, he said. As we paused on one of the landings en route to top of the bell tower, he pointed out a sketch leaned up against the wall depicting pilgrims climbing a mountain, the face of St. James hovering to the side. “One of these pilgrims drew this picture,” Oliveira said in Spanish translated by a bilingual pilgrim. “This represents the whole point of the Camino. When your feet are tired after climbing a bunch of mountains, that’s when the spiritual aspect comes to you.” It was, fittingly, a Sunday. We left the

outdoors

neither of us had six weeks to spare, and two seemed long enough to accomplish our goals — see Spain, eat delicious food and, of course, put some miles on our boots. Our starting point was Irún, a small city in Spain’s extreme northeast, part of the Basque Country. The train dumped us off in the middle of the town, leaving us to figure out where in this strange city we might find food and lodging. Camino pilgrims stay in “albergues de peregrinos” — pilgrim hostels — that offer inexpensive but bare-bones accommodations. Some will house you for a donation. Others charge, usually somewhere between 5 and 15 Euros. Amenities and house rules vary, but nearly all of them are set up dormitory-style, with bunk beds and shared bathrooms. Lights-out usually comes around 10 p.m., with the first pilgrims rising more than an hour before the sun. To stay there, you must have a pilgrim’s credential — a document that states who you are and how far you’re planning to walk, and bears stamps from each albergue you’ve stayed at thus far. It was a lot to bumble through, but the camaraderie for which the trail is famous caught us up right away. While we waited to receive our credentials from the friendly older couple running the hostel, we chatted with a multi-national knot of fellow travelers, including a ponytailed Californian man who was a Camino veteran and a young Australian guy who was keenly interested in any help he could get with his non-existent Spanish skills. I knew Spain would be beautiful — Google exists, after all; I’d seen plenty of pictures — but I didn’t understand how beautiful until the sun rose and we began to walk. The Camino quickly pulled us up and out of Irún to walk along dirt roads passing fields of goats and cattle, offering views of Irún’s horseshoe beach and red-roofed buildings in the valley. We ended the day at Pasajes de San Juan, a picturesque town split by a harbor — for 400 years it hosted the Spanish naval fleet — and boasting a tiny but adorable albergue situated on the backside of a hilltop church. After a solid sleep — when you’re tired enough, it’s possible to get a good night’s sleep even when crammed in a room with 15 other people, some of whom snore quite loudly — we were up again and on our way to San Sebastián, a famously beautiful beach city. The walk up the seemingly endless stone steps that ascended the other side of the harbor took our breath away, but we regained it as we reached the top, walking a mostly flat and rocky trail just out of sight of the coastal cliffs. As we drew closer to San Sebastián, however, we had a problem. Apparently a large group of pilgrims had reached the town ahead of us and booked up all the rooms at the albergue where we would have stayed. But as luck would have it, there was still one room available at Albergue Juvenil Ulia, a nearby youth hostel that offered clean and cheap accommodations to go with its million-dollar view of San Sebastián below. We liked it so much, we decided to take a day off the trail and stay an extra night.

outdoors

CAMINO, CONTINUED FROM 39

Fifi Arias says goodbye as we leave her albergue in Bustio.

hermitage and around noon found ourselves at the 18th-century Church of San Martín de Cingüenza, filled with families toting little girls in white dresses and little boys in suits — First Communion Sunday, it would seem. And soon enough we were at our destination for the night, Cóbreces. Stopping there made for a shorter day, but we’d chosen it on purpose, as the guidebook promised an albergue located in an abbey, where the monks would invite pilgrims to join in evening vespers. The guidebook, printed in 2015, apparently wasn’t on top of the times, as the albergue turned out to be a rather creepy and unkempt 30-bed room in which my mom and I were the only guests. Vespers, though, was all we’d hoped, a wash of chants and prayers led by robed monks.

A PLACE TO LAY ONE’S HEAD

Smoky Mountain News

August 7-13, 2019

As a pilgrim, you never really know where you’ll be spending the next night, or how far you’ll be walking to get there. Even after you get there, there’s more walking — to find dinner, buy groceries or look for an ATM. There’s a lot of walking, and nobody escapes the blisters. Our guidebook, wasn’t always accurate as to which places had opened or closed in the last several years. It wasn’t until we’d walked 13 miles to San Vicente de la Barquera — on increasingly blistered feet — that we discovered the town’s sole albergue de peregrinos had since closed. Luckily, as we were bumbling around the albergue’s purported location we ran into a French couple, also pilgrims, who told us about a woman who was renting rooms in a nearby apartment. We walked in the direction indicated, and sure enough a tiny Spanish lady hailed us from her second-story balcony. Before we knew it we were upstairs handing her 13 Euros apiece. Something similar happened the next day. We were headed for Colombres, and with 120 beds we figured the hostel would be easy to get into. But as we drew closer we ran into a pilgrim we’d met before — the same guy who had translated for Oliveira at the hermitage — and he informed us there was a giant festival going on in Colombres and likely no beds available. But, he said, there was this new albergue that had opened in nearby Bustio last year, not included in our book. We should check it out. We did, and it was perhaps the best thing that happened the whole trip. The albergue, it turned out, was located in a townhouse operated by Fifi Arias and her 59-year-old daughter Maria Luz. We knocked and were immediately welcomed, served a giant cup of sweet, milky coffee and shown up to an actual bedroom, with actual beds covered with actual sheets. The room had doors and cabinets made of richly carved wood and a private bathroom featuring a clawfoot tub with a wraparound shower curtain. All of this, ours for the night. I would come to find out that this was Arias’ family home, and that it had eight 40 bedrooms — one for each of the seven chil-

dren who had grown up there and one for the parents. Arias and Luz had previously lived in Santander, a city some distance to the east, when a pair of tragedies befell them. First, Arias had a stroke that left her without the ability to walk or write. Then, her son died in front of her. “We opened the albergue so that my mother could get healthy,” Luz said in Spanish. It’s Arias’ job to write in the pilgrims’ information when they arrive, a task that’s helped to rebuild her small motor skills. And perhaps more importantly, the constant interactions with these people from such different places and walks of life have bolstered her previously failing emotional health. Luz’s face lit up when she spoke about the pilgrims, and the wonders the albergue has

done for her and for her mother. “I’m content. I’m good,” said Luz. “And so that has to reflect onto the pilgrims. It’s a good energy that we give to the pilgrims.”

THE JOURNEY, NOT THE DESTINATION We left Luz’s home to walk our final and longest day on the Camino, a nearly 16-mile trek to the purportedly hipster town of Llanes that would take us through some of the most spectacular coastal scenery of the trip but also offer the most stringent test of our physical limits. Luz’s story stayed with me, though, throughout the walk. The trauma of loss and illness, the healing power of service to others, and the bond that forms as a result. I

I pause for a moment to take in a view of the Bay of Biscay. Karen Kays photo

began to think more carefully about what it meant, that pilgrims had walked this trail for centuries before me, in a time when the world was a much larger, scarier and unknown sort of place, leaving behind their families yet still pressing onward, not knowing where they would lay their head at night or where their next meal would come from. In my head, I’d often compared the Camino to the Appalachian Trail. That’s the easiest analogy for my American brain. They’re both long-distance treks, done on foot, enjoying (or plagued by, depending on your perspective) increasing popularity due to the publication of various books and movies as well as a growing interest in outdoor recreation. But the Camino is fundamentally different, to its very core. The A.T. was created for the purpose of the journey, envisioned as a trail through the wilderness where people could find escape and renewal. But for the Camino, the journey was borne of necessity, merely a byproduct of the early pilgrims’ determination to reach Santiago. “People would go to Santiago because there in the cathedral, in Santiago, they were being healed. They were experiencing relief from the guilt of sin. There wasn’t this mystique around the Camino itself,” my friend Bridget Ryder reflected as we sat outside a bar in Madrid, sipping wine the night before an airplane would return me to the States. Ryder is a devout Catholic, has completed the Camino Francés and even wrote her master’s thesis on the Camino. She and her husband, a Spaniard, live in Madrid. Of all the people I know personally, she’s certainly the most qualified to ponder the meaning of the Camino. If you want the Holy Year plenary indulgence the church grants at Santiago, you can get there however you want, she said. You can drive a car, even. But for most people these days — even Catholics — the journey itself has taken on the greater significance. “They’re thinking about how cool it is to walk across Spain, and not that people don’t do that from a genuinely Christian perspective,” Ryder said. “There’s Catholic groups that go and you read their stories and for them, this is real religion. But it’s a reverse dynamic.” In modern times, Santiago has in some ways become important because of the Camino, rather than the Camino being important because of Santiago. For Ryder, too, it was the journey, rather than the destination, that motivated her to walk the Francés. I didn’t make it to Santiago, and never even really planned to. That in itself puts me in that more modern group of journey-motivated pilgrims. And I’m OK with that, because it’s the journey that imparts the thrill of exploring a foreign country on foot, the gratitude that comes with casting yourself untethered into an unknown place and finding your needs somehow met, and the joy of sitting outdoors as the Spanish sun finally sets, sipping wine with friends and talking about the things that make us human.

Man found alive after four days lost in the Smokies

joint command structure was definitely a contributing factor to the success of this operation. We cannot thank all of the agencies who supported this effort enough for their dedicated commitment to bringing Mr. Lynch home safely to his family.” Before the search’s successful conclusion, Lynch, who is from Woodbridge, New Jersey, was last seen at The Swag Resort in Haywood County along the park boundary at 3:20 p.m. Saturday, July 27. He has mild dementia and may have been confused about his location, the park said in an ini-

Rainstorm causes death in the Smokies

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Extremely heavy rainfall in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park caused rockslides, downed trees, flash flooding and a fatality on Thursday, Aug. 1. The incident occurred around 3 p.m. in the northern portion of the park near Gatlinburg, with more than 4 inches of rain falling in a localized area between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge in just over an hour. During the storm, a tree fell on a 2006 Honda Odessa driven by Barry Willard Wallace, 73, of Cedartown, Georgia, along the southbound Spur between the Welcome Center and the Gatlinburg bypass. Wallace died as a result of his injuries. There were no other passengers or vehicles involved in the accident. The response involved multiple agencies, including emergency road crews from the National Park Service, City of Pigeon Forge and Tennessee Department of Transportation with help from the Sevier County Emergency Management Agency and Pigeon Forge Police Department, and emergency response from NPS, the Gatlinburg Police Department and the Gatlinburg Fire Department. The Tennessee Highway Patrol is assisting with the accident investigation. For up-to-date information regarding the closure and reopening of main park roadways, follow SmokiesRoadsNPS on Twitter, subscribe to receive text messages by texting “follow smokiesroadsnps” to 40404, or visit the park website at www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/temproadclose.htm.

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August 7-13, 2019

After spending four nights lost in the backcountry of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, searchers found 58-year-old Kevin Mark Lynch alert and responsive on Wednesday, July 31. “From the moment we learned of Lynch’s disappearance, Haywood County Emergency Management and National Park Service staff worked quickly to take an aggressive and proactive approach with search tactics due to the dire circumstances surrounding Lynch’s health condition,” said Park Chief Ranger Lisa Hendy. “The successful utilization of a

outdoors

Searcher leaders huddle at the command post. NPS photo

tial press release. A helicopter equipped with infrared traveled the area on Sunday, July 28, and beginning on that day drones began to be used to get a birds-eye view of the search area. By Monday, July 29, the search had amplified to include 180 searchers, investigators and incident command personnel from 30 different agencies. Another helicopter was deployed on Tuesday, July 30, and trackers with dog search teams went out to examine any points of interest identified by the helicopter. By that point, 209 searchers, trackers and incident command personnel from 323 agencies were involved, with about 60 agencies assisting over the course of the entire operation. Grid search team members encountered the first significant lead of the ordeal on Wednesday, July 31, when they discovered a hat and pair of sunglasses about 1,600 feet southeast of the Cataloochee Divide Trail. Shortly afterward, a second grid search team found what appeared to be fresh footprints leading toward Ferguson Cabin. After these finds, search efforts were consolidated and redirected to areas adjacent to where the clues were discovered. Within a few hours, Lynch was discovered after he responded to searchers’ yells, only about three-quarters of a mile from the last place he’d been seen. Lynch was transported by Haywood County EMS to Haywood Regional Medical Center for assessment where he was reunited with his family, who had gathered near the command center daily since his disappearance.

outdoors

Girl Scouts complete Smokies service A group of Girl Scouts recently completed 80 hours of service in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as part of a program offered through collaboration by the Student Conservation

The crew removes invasive species at Purchase Knob. Donated photo

Smoky Mountain News

August 7-13, 2019

Association and Girl Scouts of America. Titled the “Girl Scouts of America Destination Project,” the program offers an opportunity for high school girls from across the country to perform hands-on conservation work while also learning about career opportunities with the National Park Service. The all-girl crew rehabilitated trails, cleaned campgrounds,

removed invasive species and provided educational programs to visitors, working alongside female leaders throughout the experience to learn how to operate equipment and use hand tools. “I met so many strong women in the park service on this trip. They inspired me to be strong and confident in a male-dominated position. Thank you Smokies. This is a trip I’ll never forget,” said Girl Scout Noelle Myshock of Michigan. The crew performed critical cleanup work at one of the busiest campgrounds in the park following the July 4 weekend, rehabbed the trail surface and cut back brush along Trillium Gap and Kanati Fork trails and removed invasive plant species at Purchase Knob. They also had the opportunity to share their experience with visitors at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center, where they provided general park information and education about park resources to hundreds of people. More information about the program is available at www.thesca.org/connect/blog/sca-girlscouts-double-down-outdoors.

The hike will include parts of three different trails. Friends of the Smokies photo

Hike the Smokies A 7.4-mile hike featuring stunning mountain vistas and fascinating cultural history will be offered Tuesday, Aug. 13, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The route will include the Appalachian Trail, Sweat Heifer Trail and Kephart Prong, passing by an historic CC camp and with a complimentary Rocky Top Tours shuttle providing a rare opportunity for a “net downhill” hiking experience. Lynda Doucette, who recently retired from a 30-

year career with the Park Service — for the past 16 years as an interpretive ranger in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — will lead the hike. The outing is part of Friends of the Smokies’ Classic Hikes of the Smokies series, offered on the second Tuesday of each month, March to December. Hikes are $20 for members and $35 for nonmembers. Register at www.hike.friendsofthesmokies.org.

Discover the mountains’ natural apothecary Spend a day discovering how early Native Americans and mountain settlers found a bounty from which to live off the land with Foraging for Food and Farmacy, a course offered Saturday, Aug. 17, through the Smoky Mountain Field School in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Instructor Ila Hatter will teach participants how to identify plants and trees used for dye, food, medicines, crafts and other daily items, with opportunity to sample delicious wild flavors appropriate to the seasons. She will share herb-lore from medicine men and granny women as the group searches the woods and fields for hidden treasures, including the area around the Mountain Farmstead and the Luftee riverside. The course costs $69 and will be held 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., meeting at the Collins Creek Picnic Pavilion near the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. The Smoky Mountain Field School is offered by the University of Tennessee Knoxville.

Celebrate Smokey Bear’s 75th Smokey Bear turns 75 this year, and celebrations will commemorate the landmark this weekend in Cashiers and Brevard. n At 10:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 9, a presentation from Friends of Panthertown will be held at the Albert Carlton-Cashiers Community Library in Cashiers. n From 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., kids of all ages are invited to the Cradle of Forestry in America in the Pisgah National Forest near Brevard. Smokey himself will be present to help cut his birthday cake and greet his friends. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., children’s music, Smokey Bingo, a wildfire obstacle

course, prize drawings, party favor bags and a parade led by the Rosman High School Marching Band will be offered. Admission is $6 for adults and $3 for youth 4 to 12. At 1:30 p.m., the party will continue with a live animal program from Carolina Mountain Naturalists, and from 2:30 to 4 p.m. participants can drop in to see the Pisgah River Rangers at the Cradle’s pond, where they can investigate the creates that live in or near the freshwater pond. Smokey Bear has been a symbol of fire safety and fire prevention since 1944. The purpose of the Smokey program is to create and maintain public awareness about the need to prevent unplanned, human-caused wildland fires.

outdoors August 7-13, 2019

Smoky Mountain News

outdoors

Meteors will shoot through the sky during the annual meteor shower next week. PARI photo

August 7-13, 2019

Experience the Perseids The annual Perseid Meteor Shower is coming around again, this year expected to reach a peak of 90 meteors per hour from Monday night into Tuesday morning, Aug. 12-13. The Learning Center at PARI, located in Rosman, will host a viewing event Aug. 10, with packages including dark sky tent camping on campus, meals and educational programming with educators throughout the evening. Stargazers will have the chance to see

Jupiter, which sets shortly after midnight, and Saturn, which is at its highest point in mid-evening. The Perseids are best observed between 11 p.m. and dawn from a clear, dark location with a good horizon. Look northeast to find the meteors appearing to radiate out of the constellation of Perseus the hero, just below the “W” of Cassiopeia. To make a reservation for the PARI event, contact 828.862.5554 or visit www.pari.edu.

Sip cocktails at the Reserve

Smoky Mountain News

A celebration of summer will offer botanical cocktails, llamas and lemonade, 5-7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 16, at the Southern Highlands Reserve in Lake Toxaway. The event will be held at the Viewsite overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains and be held rain or shine, with attire casual. Hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, wine and lemonade will be served and prepared by Asheville Chef Brekken Casey. $125 per person, with children under 12 free. RSVP at www.southernhighlandsreserve.org/events/viewsite-sip.

Celebrate conservation An event celebrating the merger of the Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition and MountainTrue will be held 5:30 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17, at Staurolite Farm in Brasstown. Longtime members of both organizations will join with staff and members of the public to celebrate with food, games and a tour of one of the Coalition’s oldest stream restoration projects, Trout Cove Branch, with music by Gnarly Fingers. The merger represents a renewal of MountainTrue’s roots in far Western North Carolina, as well as a renewal of the Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition’s pro-

Local favorite Gnarly Fingers will play during the merger celebration event. grams. Free, with RSVP requested at www.mountaintrue.org/event/21549.

See inside the past and future forest Sun shoots through a stand of trees. Amy Conlee photo

Georgia Forestry Foundation Board. The lecture is part of the Zahner Conservation Lecture Series, which offers weekly talks on conservation-related topics, Thursdays through Sept. 12. This lecture is

sponsored by Margie Bauer, Lane and Mark Murrah, and Lucy and Steve Trawick. A free shuttle will run from Founders Park in Highlands beginning at 5:30 p.m. For a full schedule, visit www.highlandsbiological.org.

Experience local food at Asheville event

An event connecting farmers, chefs and artisan food producers in the region will be held 6 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 15, at New Belgium Brewing Co. in Asheville. The 2019 Local Food Experience will allow attendees to meet farmers, chefs and artisans while sampling small plates highlighting seasonal foods grown and raised in the Southern Appalachians. The event will also feature an exclusive food-themed silent auction, scavenger hunt and a friendly chef competition for favorite dish. The event is organized by the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project and sponsored by Katie Button Restaurants. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased at www.asapconnections.org, with proceeds benefiting ASAP’s programs to help local farms thrive and build healthy communities through connections to local food. C U LT U R E

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Registration is open for the fall PGA Jr. League team at Lake Junaluska Golf Course, open to players 13 and younger regardless of skill level. The season runs from early September through the end of October, with practices on select Wednesdays from 4 to 5 p.m., covering skills such as putting, chipping and playing as a team. Matches will be Thursday afternoons in a two-person scramble format in which team players work together, hitting the “best ball” of each of their two shots throughout the match. Charlie Carswell, a PGA professional who serves as the pro shop manager and golf professional at Lake Junaluska Golf Course, will be the team captain. Registration fee of $190 includes team practice sessions, matches, home and away jerseys, bag tag, a performance ball cap, performance T-shirt, drawstring bag, access to the PGA Jr. League Merchandise Store, 10 percent discount on items in stock at the Lake Junaluska pro shop and a 20 percent discount on individual lessons. Scholarships are available. To register for the Lake Junaluska PGA Jr. team, visit www.pgajrleague.com/sign-up. For more information or to request scholarship assistance, contact Carswell at 828.456.5777 or ctcarswell@lakejunaluska.com.

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Learn about the past and present of Southern Appalachian forests with a lecture offered at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 15, at the Highlands Nature Center in Highlands. Lindsay Boring, Ph.D., will present “Forests of the Southern Appalachians: Windows into their Past and Future.” Climate, topography, soils and other influences have interacted with human land use history and disturbances to shape the forests of the 21st century. Boring will explore the connections between historic human influences and how the changing climate and current land uses will affect the Appalachian forests of the future. Boring is a forest scientist and ecologist whose career has spanned more than 40 years at the University of Georgia and Jones Ecological Research Center. He and his wife, Kay Kirkman, Ph.D., have recently retired and now reside in Waynesville. He continues to serve on the UGA Graduate Education Advancement Board and the

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WNC Calendar

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COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • The Haywood County chapter of the National Ladies Homestead Gathering will hold its inaugural meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 8 in the Cork & Cleaver of the Waynesville Inn & Country Club. Haywood.nc@nlhg.org. • Birthday celebrations for Smokey Bear’s 75th will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 9, at the Albert Carlton-Cashiers Community Library in Cashiers and from 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Cradle of Forestry in America in Pisgah Forest. Pisgah event: $6 for adults; $3 for ages 4-12. • First Responders Appreciation Day is set for 4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Creekwood Farm RV Park, 4696 Jonathan Creek Road in Waynesville. Barbecue and concert featuring Nashville recording artists Jason Byrd and Band. • Lazy Hiker Brewing will host a soft opening of its Sylva outpost with a special performance by Bird in Hand (Americana/folk) 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Mad Batter in downtown Sylva. Lazy Hiker Brewing Company and Mad Batter recently announced that Lazy Hiker will be expanding to Sylva by opening a taproom at Mad Batter’s current location at 617 West Main Street. The taproom will feature Mad Batter’s full menu of entrees, pizza and appetizers. A grand opening is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 23, which will include a live performance by Porch 40 (rock/jam). The renovations will also include a pet-friendly patio and outdoor space. www.lazyhikerbrewing.com. • Bakari Sellers, a CNN political analyst and the youngest elected official in America, will serve as keynote speaker for Western Carolina University’s New Student Convocation at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 16, at the Ramsey Regional Activity Center in Cullowhee. Public is welcome. • Gnarly Fingers will perform during a celebration of the merger of the Hiwassee River Watershed Coalition and MountainTrue, from 5:30-9 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 17, at Staurolite Farm in Brasstown. RSVP: www.mountaintrue.org/event/21549. • Registration is underway for Marriage Enrichment Retreats that will be offered three more times over the next year at Lake Junaluska. Led by Ned Martin, an expert in marriage counseling. Price is $699 per couple. Dates are Aug. 18-20 of 2019 and Sept. 29-Oct. 1 in 2019. Registration and info: www.lakejunaluska.com/marriage or 800.222.4930. • Jackson County Arts Council is accepting applications for Grassroots subgrants through Aug. 30. Financial support for Jackson County community groups and nonprofit organizations that offer programs and projects that enhance the arts for county residents. Application info: www.jacksoncountyarts.org or info@jacksoncountyarts.org. Info: 507.9820.

BUSINESS & EDUCATION • Registration is underway for a Five-Star Customer Service for the Hospitality Industry workshop, which will be offered by Western Carolina University’s Office of Professional Growth and Enrichment from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 16, at WCU Biltmore Park in Asheville. Registration: $119. For info or to sign up: pdp.wcu.edu or jcthompson@wcu.edu. • A workshop on “Building Nonprofit Capacity” is scheduled for Aug. 21-22 at the Franklin Chamber of commerce. Learn how to create and sustain a business model that keeps your nonprofit organization thriving for years to come. Preregistration is required: http://bit.ly/2ncPnyf. • Registration is underway for a “Powerful

All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted. Communications Strategies for Women Workshop” that will be offered by Western Carolina University’s Office of Professional Growth and Enrichment from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 23, at WCU’s instructional site at Biltmore Park. $169. Register: pdp.wcu.edu or 227.7397. • Haywood Community College will offer boating safety courses from 6-9 p.m. on Aug. 28-29 on the campus of HCC, Building 3300, Room 3322. Must attend consecutive evenings. Future offering is Sept. 18-19. Preregistration required: www.ncwildlife.org. • Registration is underway for offer a business writing workshop entitled “Professional Business Writing from the Basics to Audience Engagement” that will be offered by Western Carolina University’s Office of Professional Growth and Enrichmen from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 29, at WCU Biltmore Park in Asheville. Led by Drew Virtue, associate professor in WCU’s Department of English. Cost: $139 by Aug. 1; $169 after. Pdp.wcu.edu or 227.7397. • Registration is underway for a six-week online beginning German language course that will be offered by Western Carolina University’s Office of Professional Growth and Enrichment from Sept. 4-Oct. 15 in Cullowhee. Cost: $79. Register or get more info: learn.wcu.edu or 227.7397. • Registration is underway for a “Lean Thinking” workshop that will be offered from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 13, at WCU Biltmore Park in Asheville. Instructor is Dr. Todd Creasy, MBA director and associate professor of management and project management at WCU. Focus is on improving customer experience while reducing unnecessary clutter and process steps. Cost: $249 by Aug. 30; $279 after. For info and to register: pdp.wcu.edu or 227.7397. • Registration is underway for a Digital Marketing and Public Relations Certificate program that will be offered from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Fridays from Sept. 27-Nov. 8 at WCU Biltmore Park in Asheville. Taught by Scott Rader, associate professor of Marketing & Entrepreneurship. Registration: $640 for the full program or $119 for each individual workshop. Pdp.wcu.edu or 227.7397.

FUNDRAISERS AND BENEFITS • Waynesville Yoga Center will host a birthday fundraiser for the Riley Howell Foundation on Wednesday, Aug. 14. Donation-based classes ($5 minimum). Register: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com. • Tickets are on sale for “Raise the Roof” – a fundraising event to support a Habitat home in Waynesville. The event is at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14, at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort. Tickets: $50 through Aug. 15; $60 after. Music, dancing, dinner, raffle, silent auction, Habitat hammering contest and more. www.haywoodhabitat.org or 452.7960. • REACH Bingo is set for 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 16, at the Maggie Valley Pavilion. $20 admission includes 30 rounds of nine-game bingo. Proceeds support services to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and elder abuse. 456.7898. • Ticket reservations are being accepted for Pawsitively Purrfect Part a fundraiser that will benefit the Cashiers-Highlands Humane Society being held on Monday, Aug. 19, at Country Club of Sapphire Valley. Cost is $195 per person, $390 per couple or $1,800 for a table of 10. To request an alert once tickets are available, call 743.5769 or write shannon@CHhumanesociety.org.

• Donors and sponsorships are being accepted now for the PAWS 16th annual Wine Tasting and Silent Auction. Event is Aug. 31; proceeds benefit PAWS of Bryson City. www.pawsbrysoncity.org. • Tickets are on sale now for Southwestern Community’s “Boots, Blue Jeans & Bling” gala, which is set for Sept. 7 at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort. Fundraiser supporting student scholarships. Musical entertainment by Steve Johannessen (classics) and Crocodile Smile (variety of danceable music). Dinner, silent auction, wine pull, cornhole, best-dressed contest and more. www.southwesterncc.edu/gala, 339.4227 or k_posey@southwesterncc.edu. • Tickets for Haywood Community College Foundation’s fourth annual Shine & Dine Gala are on sale. The event is from 6-8:30 p.m. on Sept. 13, at Laurel Ridge Country Club in Waynesville; theme is “Simple as Black and White.” Buffet dinner, music and opportunity to support HCC through a wine pull and auction. Sponsorship levels from $250-$5,000. Individual tickets: $75. Hccgalaevents.com or 627.4522. Sponsorship info: 627.4544 or pahardin@haywood.edu.

VOLUNTEERS & VENDORS • Tables are available to rent for the Jackson County Senior Center’s upcoming Yard Sales and Craft Shows, which are from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. on Saturdays, Sept. 14 and Oct. 13, at the Department on Aging building in Sylva. Cost: $10 for one table or two for $15. Info: 586.5494.

HEALTH MATTERS • Parkinson’s Support in the Mountains meets at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 8, in the Heritage Room of the Jackson County Department on Aging, 100 County Services Park in Sylva. • A “Preparation for Childbirth” class will be offered from 7-9 p.m. on Thursdays from Aug. 8-29 and Oct. 324 at Haywood Regional Medical Center in Waynesville. Pre-registration required: MyHaywoodRegional.com/ParentClasses or 452.8440. • A Naloxone Training and Distribution is set for noon-2 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 13, at the Health and Human Services Agency in Waynesville. Overdose recognition and opioid overdose reversal training. 476.1465, 356.2248 or jesselee@nchrc.org. • Mountain Audiology will host its Lunch with the Doctors event on Thursday, Aug. 15, at its Franklin Office and on Friday, Aug. 16, at the Clyde Office. Lunch from local restaurant provided. Register: 627.1950. • Mountain Audiology will offer “Best of Hearing Care” screenings from Aug. 12-16 at its Franklin office and from Aug. 19-23 at its Clyde office. Appointments: 627.1950. • Yoga Basics 5 Week Series, Level 2, is scheduled for 6:45-7:45 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 22, at Waynesville Yoga Center. Cost: $70 or $65 if completed YB1 or YBCC1. Register: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com.

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 on Fridays at the Haywood Breast Center in Waynesville. Info: MyHaywoodRegional.com/YogaforCancer or 452.8691. • On the third weekend of each month, Maggie Valley Wellness Center hosts donation-based acupuncture appointments. $35-55. 944.0288 or maggievalleywellness.com. • “Your Amazing Newborn” class will be offered from 79 p.m. on Sept. 5 and Nov. 7 at Haywood Regional Medical Center in Waynesville. Focusing on abilities, behavior, appearance and reflexes of your new baby. Pre-registration required: MyHaywoodRegional.com/ParentClasses or 452.8440. • “Breastfeeding A-Z” class will be offered from 7-9 p.m. on Sept. 12 and Nov. 14 at Haywood Regional Medical Center in Waynesville. Focusing on techniques for proper latching and comfortable positions for a baby and mom to get started. Pre-registration required: MyHaywoodRegional.com/ParentClasses or 452.8440.

RECREATION AND FITNESS • Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department will sponsor a “Back to the 50s” dance party from 7-8:45 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Waynesville Recreation Center. $10 per person. Sally.roach@ymail.com or 456.2030. • Cultivating an At-Home Yoga Practice with Amber Kleid is set for 1-2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 10, at Waynesville Yoga Center. Cost: $30 in advance or $35 day of. Register: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com. • Yoga Basics 90-minute Crash Course: Level 2 will be offered from 2-3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 11, at Waynesville Yoga Center. Cost: $20. Register: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com. • Yoga with Live Music will be offered from 6:30-7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 14, at Waynesville Yoga Center. Donations accepted. Djembe, flutes, violin, handpan, singing bowls, bango and tongue drum. Register: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com.

SPIRITUAL

• Buti, Hoops + Bubbles is scheduled for 6-7:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 23, at Waynesville Yoga Center. Cost: $25. Register: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com.

• An opportunity to obtain unfiltered information from qualified teachers about what the Catholic Church believes and how members are called to live out their faith will be offered starting at 6 p.m. on Aug. 22 at Saint John the Evangelist Church in Waynesville. 456.6707.

• Five Prana Ayurvedic Skincare Workshop is set for 1-3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 24, at Waynesville Yoga Center. Cost: $50. Register: 246.6570 or waynesvilleyogacenter.com.

• Registration is underway for Guided Personal Retreats, on Sept. 16-18 and Oct. 21-23 at Lake Junaluska. Lakejunaluska.com/retreats or 800.222.4930.

• Honoring Your Spirit: Sound Healing and Meditation is set for 6:30-7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 25, at Waynesville Yoga Center. Cost: $20. Register: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com. • Gentle Yoga for Cancer is offered from 1:30-2:30 p.m.

POLITICAL • The Jackson County Democratic Party will hold its monthly meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 20, at party headquarters, 500 Mill St. in Sylva.

AUTHORS AND BOOKS

• Jim Costa will offer a lecture about his newest book “An Alfred Wallace Companion” at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 8, at the Highlands Nature Center. Part of the Zahner Lecture Series. Wallace was a 19th century naturalist who co-discovered the principle of natural selection (along with Darwin) and was founder of the field of evolutionary biogeography. www.highlandsbiological.org or 526.2221. • A reading of the new Appalachian writers collection Mountains Piled Upon Mountains will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville.

Aug. 16, Andrew Beam (classic country) on Aug. 23 and Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’Blues (blues) on Aug. 31. www.villagegreencashiersnc.com

• Registration is underway for the fall PGA Jr. League golf team at Lake Junaluska golf Course. League runs from September through October. Registration fee: $190. Register: www.pgajrleague.com/sign-up. Info: 456.5777 or ctcarswell@lakejunaluska.com.

• The Concerts on the Creek will host Tuxedo Junction (classic hits) at 7 p.m. on Aug. 9 at Bridge Park in downtown Sylva. Free and open to the public. Occasionally there are food trucks onsite. 586.2155 or www.mountainlovers.com.

KIDS FILMS • “Lion King”, will be shown at 1 p.m. & 7 p.m. on Aug. 7 at The Strand in downtown Waynesville. Visit www.38main.com for pricing & tickets. 283.0079. • “The Lion King”, will be shown at Smoky Mountain Cinema in Waynesville Plaza. Shown at 1:30, 4:30, 7:50, and 10:15 p.m. on Aug. 8. Visit www.fandango.com for pricing & tickets. Info. on Facebook or 246.0588.

• Anna Fariello will be presenting her book Craft & Community at book signing and reception at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 23, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.

A&E

SENIOR ACTIVITIES • Senior Tennis Time is from 9 a.m.-noon every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Oct. 30 at the Donnie Pankiw Tennis Center at 128 W. Marshall Street in Waynesville. For ages 55-up; intermediate or higher skill level. $1 per person per day. 456.2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov.

KIDS & FAMILIES • Woodsy Owl’s Curiosity Club will be offered for ages 4-7 from 10:30 a.m.-noon on Wednesdays and Thursdays, through Aug. 8, at the Cradle of Forestry in America near Brevard. Learning, outdoor activities and crafts. $5 for kids and $3 for accompanying adults. Info and register: 877.3130.

• A “Snorkeling in the Stream” program will be offered to ages 8-15 from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on Aug. 8 and Aug. 12 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/y53o5ddq. • A “Nature Nuts: Monarchs” program will be offered to ages 4-7 from 9-11 a.m. on Aug. 9 and Aug. 31 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/y53o5ddq. • An “Eco Explorers: Monarchs” program will be offered to ages 8-13 from 1-3 p.m. on Aug. 9 and Aug. 31 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/y53o5ddq.

• ASAP’s Local Food Experience is set for 6-8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 15, at New Belgium Brewing Co. in Asheville. Meet farmers, chefs and artisans. Foodthemed silent auction, scavenger hunt and chef competition. Tickets: $30; available at asapconnections.org. Support programs to help local farms thrive. • Tickets are available now for the 15th annual Franklin Area Folk Festival entitled “A Celebration of Appalachian Heritage.” Event is from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 17, at Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center in Franklin. www.FranklinFolkFestival.com or 524.6564. • Tickets are available for the 49th Smoky Mountain Folk Festival, which is scheduled for Aug. 30-31 at Lake Junaluska. Info and tickets: lakejunaluska.com/sm-folk-festival or 800.222.4930. • Tickets are on sale now for “Thunder in the Smokies” motorcycle rally, which is Sept. 6-8 in Maggie Valley. Vendors, Blue Ridge Parkway Tour Ride, bike show, games and more. Handlebarcorral.com.

FOOD & DRINK

• Discovery Camp with weekly camps are available through Aug. 16 at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville. Open to pre-K through rising eighth graders. Register: www.ncarboretum.org/education-programs/discoverycamp.

• The “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, August 10, Sept. 7, 21 & 22, Nov. 2 and Dec 31 at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City. Full service all-adult first-class car. Wine pairings with a meal and more. 800.872.4681 or www.gsmr.com.

• Online registration is underway for the 2019-20 Young Artists Program, which is set for Aug. 28-30 at Waynesville Art School. For ages 5-19. Info: 246.9869 or www.WaynesvilleArtSchool.com.

• Bryson City Wine Market will offer “Destination Italy” – a tour of Italian wines – from 6-8 p.m. on Aug. 14. Cost: $30. RSVP: 538.0420.

• Base Camp on the Go, a series of outdoor and environmental education activities, will be offered at a variety of locations this summer, through the first week in August: 5:30-8:30 p.m. on Mondays at Waynesville Recreation Center; 2 p.m. on Tuesdays at

SUMMER MUSIC • Groovin’ on the Green will feature Eat A Peach (classic rock) on Aug. 9 at The Village Green in Cashiers. Upcoming acts include, Americana Jones (roots) on

• The Concerts on the Creek will host Mama Danger (folk/newgrass) at 7 p.m. on Aug. 16 at Bridge Park in downtown Sylva. Free and open to the public. Occasionally there are food trucks onsite. 586.2155 or www.mountainlovers.com. • Pickin’ on the Square (Franklin) will Elderly Brothers (beach/oldies) on Aug. 17. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m. www.townoffranklinnc.com. • Nantahala Outdoor Center (Nantahala Gorge) will host Hustle Souls 6 p.m. Aug. 17. All shows start at 6:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. www.noc.com.

ON STAGE & IN CONCERT • The Macon County Community Theater will perform "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 9-10 and at 2 p.m. Aug. 11 at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. 828.524.3600. • “A Facility for Living” by Katie Forgette will be on stage at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 9-10, 15-17 and at 2 p.m. Aug. 11 and 18 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville. www.harttheatre.org or 456.6322. • The number one Michael Jackson tribute show in the world, “MJ LIVE” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 9, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. It is presented by a fantastic cast and crew at the Stratosphere Theater on the famous Las Vegas strip every night of the week as they recreate a true Michael Jackson concert experience. Tickets start at $22 each, with priority seating available. www.greatmountainmusic.com or 866.273.4615. • Becky Buller performs at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 10 at the Stecoah Valley Center in Robbinsville. Upcoming acts include Salt & Light (Aug. 17), The Kruger Brothers (Aug. 24) and Wayne Henderson and Helen White (Aug. 31). Info and tickets: www.stecoahvalleycenter.com. • Macon County Public Library (Franklin) will host The Vagabonds (oldies/country) 2 p.m. Aug. 12. Free and open to the public. • The Jackson County Public Library will host a musical concert featuring Ashley Heath, blend of original soul Americana music at 7 p.m. Tuesday Aug. 13, at the library’s Community Room in Sylva. Free and open to the public. 586.2016 or www.fontanalib.org. • Four-time Grammy Award winner David Holt and Josh Goforth will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 16, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Holt and rising acoustic music star and Grammy nominee Goforth join together to bring to life the joy and spirit of old-time mountain music and stories. Tickets start at $17 per person. 524.1598 or www.greatmountainmusic.com.

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS • Bingo will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 8 and 22 at the Maggie Valley Pavilion next to town hall. 956.7630.

• A handcrafted greeting cards workshop will be offered from 2-4:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 12, at First Baptist Church of Waynesville. Cost: $35 (includes all supplies). Register or get more info: 456.9197 or charspaintings@msn.com. • The Western NC Civil War Roundtable will welcome Edward S. Alexander and his presentation on the Battle of Rappahannock Station on Aug. 12 at the Waynesville Inn. Meet and greet dinner at 5 p.m., social at 6:30 p.m., presentation at 7 p.m. http://wnccwrt.com. • Dogwood Crafters Co-Op will offer a beginning ceramics class from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 13, at the home of leader Brenda Anders. Learn about greenware and bisque, paints and stains. Cost: $10. Register by Aug. 7 by calling: 586.2248. • Bag Bonanza of new and gently used handbags, wallets, totes, etc. will be held from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 17, at the Spiritual Light Center next to the Gazebo Restaurant, Heritage Hollow, in Franklin. 524.6687. • Dogwood Crafters Co-Op will offer a Fabric Scarecrow workshop from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 22, at the Dillsboro Masonic Lodge. Cost: $11. Register by Aug. 15 by calling: 586.2248. • Registration is underway for a Blacksmithing Fundamentals Class that will be offered from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 24-25, at the Green Energy Park in Dillsboro. Cost: $275(includes materials). Preregistration required: 631.0271. Info: www.JCGEP.org. • NCWN-West and the Jackson County Regional Public Library will host “A Day for Writers” on Saturday, Aug. 24, at the library in Sylva. Keynote speaker is C. Hope Clark, author of two mystery series. Other presenters include poet Joseph Bathanti, novelist David Joy, writer/editor Carol Crawford and Karen Paul Holmes. $65 for NCWN members; $78 for nonmembers or $35 for students. www.netwestwriters.blogspot.com. Register online: www.ncwriters.org. Info: gcbmountaingirl@gmail.com. • Registration is underway for an Intermediate Bladesmithing Class, which will be offered from 9 a.m.4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 7-8, at Jackson County Green Energy Park in Dillsboro. Led by Brock Martin of WarFire Forge. Produce a blade of high-carbon steel with more attention on fit and finish. Advance registration required: 631.0271 or www.JCGEP.org. • Applications are being accepted for the Jackson County Citizens Academy, which begins at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 12. Opportunity for county residents to get an in-depth look at the functions of county government. For info or to request and application: 631.2207 or jcfitzgerald@jacksonnc.org.

ART SHOWINGS AND GALLERIES • The Museum of the Cherokee Indian has recently opened a major new exhibit, “People of the Clay: Contemporary Cherokee Potters.” It features more than 60 potters from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Cherokee Nation, and more than one hundred works from 1900 to the present. The exhibit will run through April 2020.

Smoky Mountain News

• A program on salamanders will be offered to ages 8-12 from 9-11 a.m. on Aug. 9 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/y53o5ddq.

• The Southwestern Community College’s Automotive Club will host its annual car show on Aug. 9-10 at the Mountain High BBQ Festival, which is at the Wayne Proffitt Agricultural Center in Franklin. Entry fees: $10 for Friday (includes entry to the BBQ festival for one individual); $20 pre-registration for Friday and Saturday (includes two entries to the BBQ festival each day) or $25 per car for Saturday (includes two entries to BBQ festival). D_myers@southwesterncc.edu.

• The “An Appalachian Evening” summer concert series will continue with Becky Buller at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Stecoah Valley Center in the air-conditioned Lynn L. Shields Auditorium in Robbinsville. Other acts in the series will include: Salt & Light (Aug. 17), The Kruger Brothers (Aug. 24) and Wayne Henderson & Helen White (Aug. 31). www.stecoahvalleycenter.com..

August 7-13, 2019

• The Junior Forester Program will be offered to ages 8-12 from 10:30 a.m.-noon on Thursdays, through Aug. 8, at the Cradle of Forestry in America near Brevard. Learning, outdoor activities and crafts. $5 for kids and $3 for accompanying adults. Info and register: 877.3130.

SPECIAL EVENTS & FESTIVALS

• Pickin’ on the Square (Franklin) will Andrew Chastain Band (country) Aug. 10. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m. www.townoffranklinnc.com.

• Denise Seay will host a wool applique workshop from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville. Learn the basics of working with wool applique for quilting or craft. The class will cover hand applique and embroidery on wool felt along with how to felt wool and wool garments. Fabric, supplies and design will be provided by the teacher, but attendees can bring their own fabric supplies and /or designs. Costs is $65 for nonmembers or $60 for HCAC members. Class fee must be paid to hold your spot for this great classTo RSVP, call 452.0593.

wnc calendar

• Anna Fariello will be presenting her book Craft & Community during the next Jackson County Genealogical Society meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 8, in the Community Room at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva.

the Canton Town Park; 2 p.m. on Wednesdays at Fines Creek and 10 a.m.-noon on Fridays at Waynesville Recreation Center. cmiller@waynesville.gov.

• An artist member show will be held through Aug. 24 at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville. 47

wnc calendar

452.0593, info@haywoodarts.org or www.haywoodarts.org. • An art exhibition entitled “High Art of the Lowcountry” will be on display through Sept. 15 at the Bascom, 323 Franklin road in Highlands. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Mondays through Saturdays; noon-5 p.m. on Sundays. Info: www.thebascom.org or 526.4949. • New artist and medium will be featured every month at the Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

FILM & SCREEN • “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”, will be shown at Smoky Mountain Cinema in Waynesville Plaza. Shown at 12:30, 4:45, & 8:15 p.m. on Aug. 7-8. Visit www.fandango.com for pricing & tickets. Info. on Facebook or 246.0588. • “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw”, is showing at Smoky Mountain Cinema in Waynesville Plaza at 1, 4, 7 & 9:55 p.m. on Aug. 7-8.. Visit www.fandango.com for pricing & tickets. Info. on Facebook or 246.0588. • “The Kitchen”, will be shown at 10 a.m., 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 9, 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m., and 7 p.m. on Aug. 10-11, 1 p.m. Aug. 12 & 14 and 7 p.m. Aug. 12-15 at The Strand in downtown Waynesville. Visit www.38main.com for pricing & tickets. 283.0079. • The Second Tuesday Movie Group meets at 2 p.m. in the Waynesville Library Auditorium. For info, including movie title: 452.5169.

August 7-13, 2019

Outdoors • The Franklin Bird Club will have a bird walk along the Greenway at 8 a.m. on Aug. 7. Meet at Salali Lane. FranklinBirdClub.com or 524.5234. • Blue Ridge Parkway rangers will lead an easy, twomile round-trip hike at 10 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 9. Hike will commence from the long gravel pull-off at Milepost 395, which is approximately one mile south of NC 191. • The Learning Center at Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute will host its second Perseids event on Aug. 10 near Rosman. Info and reservations: 862.5554 or www.pari.edu. • A “Fly-tying for the Beginner” will be offered to ages 12-up from 9 a.m.-noon on Aug. 10 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/y53o5ddq.

Smoky Mountain News

• Franklin Bird Club will have a meeting at 7 p.m. on

• A Tackle Rigging class will be offered from 9 a.m.noon on Aug. 26 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/y53o5ddq.

• Backpacking course, will be offered by Landmark Learning on Aug. 12-16 and Oct. 21-25. www.landmarklearning.org.

• Volunteer work days for the Trails Forever program are held every Wednesday, through August, in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. For details and to volunteer: 497.1949 or adam_monroe@nps.gov.

• The Historic Preservation Commission has rescheduled its monthly meeting for 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 13, in the Genealogy Study Room (second floor) of the Jackson County Public Library. • A “Casting for Beginners: Level I” program will be offered to ages 12-up from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Aug. 14 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/y53o5ddq. • The Franklin Bird Club will have a bird walk along the Greenway at 8 a.m. on Aug. 14. Meet at the Macon County Public Library parking area. FranklinBirdClub.com or 524.5234. • A lecture about “Forests of the Southern Appalachians” will be offered by Dr. Lindsay Boring at 6 p.m. on Aug. 15 at the Highlands Nature Center. Part of the Zahner Lecture Series. www.highlandsbiological.org or 526.2221. • A Summer Fun event is scheduled for 5-7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 16, at Southern Highlands Reserve, 558 Summit Ridge Road in Lake Toxaway. $125 (free for children under 12). www.southernhighlandsreserve.org. • A “Trapping 101” program will be offered to ages 12-up from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Aug. 17 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/y53o5ddq. • Friends of the Smokies is partnering with Navitat Canopy Adventures to offer one day each month through September where Navitat visitors receive a 10 percent discount, and a portion of sales will be donated to Friends of the Smokies. Dates are: Saturday, Aug. 17 and Saturday, Sept. 28. Navitat Asheville is located at 242 Poverty Branch Road in Barnardsville. Reservations and info: 626.3700. • A Hunter Education Course will be offered to all ages from 6-9 p.m. on Aug. 20-21 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/y53o5ddq. • The Franklin Bird Club will have a bird walk along the Greenway at 8 a.m. on Aug. 21. Meet at the Big Bear Shelter parking area. FranklinBirdClub.com or 524.5234. • The Franklin Bird Club will have a bird walk along the Greenway at 8 a.m. on Aug. 28. Park off Fox Ridge Road, south of Franklin Flea Market on Highlands Road. FranklinBirdClub.com or 524.5234. • The Franklin Bird Club will have a bird walk along the Greenway at 8 a.m. on Sept. 4. Meet at the Macon County Public Library parking area. FranklinBirdClub.com or 524.5234.

Helping Seniors With Their Needs We can handle your day to day financial transactions, including assistance with check writing, payment of monthly bills and coordination of other services. If you have limited mobility, contact us about an in-home visit.

Norris Elder Services, LLC 48

Aug. 12 at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. Presentation of “Spring Birding Along the North Florida Cost” by Jim and Ellen Shelton; photos by Tim Carstens. FranklinBirdClub.com or 524.5234.

828-452-2256

Norris Professional Building 177 North Main St., Waynesville www.norriselderservices.com www.norrisandassoc.com

• Registration is underway for “Picture Yourself in the Smokies” event, which is Friday through Sunday, Sept. 20-22, at the River Terrace Resort and Convention Center in Gatlinburg, Tenn. Early bird registration until July 12. Info: lisad@gsmassoc.org or 865.436.7318, ext. 257. • The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission Hatchery Supported Trout Waters is open from 7 a.m. until onehalf-hour after sunset until last day of February. Info: https://tinyurl.com/yae8ffqn. • A cycling ride exploring the Western Carolina University mountain bike trails will be offered at 6 p.m. every other Thursday in Cullowhee. Participants will meet at the N.C. Center for the Advancement of Teaching and divide into a beginner group and a nonbeginner group, with 60 to 90 minutes on the trail each time. Organized by the Nantahala Area Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association, with an event page at www.facebook.com/NantahalaAreaSORBA/. nantahala.area.sorba@gmail.com • A cycling ride exploring the Fire Mountain Trail System in Cherokee will be offered at 6 p.m. every other Thursday. Participants will divide into a beginner group and a non-beginner group, with 60 to 90 minutes on the trail each time. Organized by the Nantahala Area Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association, with an event page at www.facebook.com/NantahalaAreaSORBA/. nantahala.area.sorba@gmail.com. • An easy cycling ride aiming to help people ease into a healthier lifestyle through cycling is offered in the Canton area, typically covering 8-10 miles. Road bikes are preferred, and helmets are required. Nobody will be left behind. A partnership of Bicycle Haywood N.C., the Blue Ridge Bike Club and MountainWise. For specific start times and locations: mttrantham@hotmail.com. • Sons of the American Legion in Waynesville will have a Turkey Shoot at 9 a.m. every Saturday on Legion Drive. • Volunteers are being sought to help re-pot native azaleas from 9 a.m.-noon on Tuesdays through Thursdays at the Southern Highlands Reserve in Lake Toxaway. For info, and to schedule a shift: anorton@southernhighlandsreserve.org. • A cycling ride leaves at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, with alternating starts at Smoky Mountain Bicycles and South Macon Elementary School in Franklin. Routes vary. Road bikes only. A no drop ride. Organized by Smoky Mountain Bicycles, 369.2881 or

info@smokymtnbikes.com. Check the “Macon County Cyclists” Facebook page for updates. • A no-drop relaxed cycling road ride will roll from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesdays through the end of October from Motion Makers Bicycle Shop in Sylva. Routes vary and are open to cyclists of all levels. Organized by Motion Makers, 586.6925. • A group road cycling ride will leave at 6 p.m. on Tuesdays through the end of October from Motion Makers Bicycle Shop in Sylva to tackle a 40-mile “race” to the Balsam Post Office, climbing 1,600 feet of elevation gain. Organized by Motion Makers, 586.6925. • A pair of ladies-only mountain bike rides will be offered at 6 p.m. on Wednesdays through Oct. 31 from the Ledford Branch Trailhead at Bent Creek in Asheville. A beginner-friendly, recovery pace social ride will cover 5 to 8 miles, with all skill levels encouraged to attend. Simultaneously, a training ride for ladies who know how to handle a bike and want to increase their speed will cover 8 to 12 miles on Bent Creek’s more technical trails. Organized by Motion Makers Bicycle Shop. 633.2227. • A weekly nighttime mountain bike ride is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Mondays from the Ledford Branch Trailhead at Bent Creek in Asheville. Organized by Motion Makers Bicycles. 633.2227. • Starting in June, a cycling ride will leave at 8 a.m. on Saturdays from South Macon Elementary School in Franklin. Routes vary with distances typically 15-25 miles. Road bikes only. A no drop ride. Organized by Smoky Mountain Bicycles, 369.2881 or info@smokymtnbikes.com. Check the “Macon County Cyclists” Facebook page for updates. • A 25-mile cycling ride covering the back roads from Sylva to Balsam leaves at 6 p.m. Tuesdays from Motion Makers Bicycle Shop in Sylva. The route includes 1,600 feet of elevation gain. Organized by Motion Makers, 586.6925. • An easy cycling ride aiming to help people ease into a healthier lifestyle through cycling is offered Thursday mornings in the Canton area, typically covering 8-10 miles. Road bikes are preferred and helmets are required. Nobody will be left behind. A partnership of Bicycle Haywood N.C., the Blue Ridge Bike Club and MountainWise. For specific start times and locations: mttrantham@hotmail.com. • A beginner-friendly social cycling ride for women will begin at 6:15 p.m. on Mondays from the Bent Creek Ledford Parking Lot, covering 5-to-8 miles of mountain bike trails. Start back in the fall. Organized By Motion Makers Bicycle Shop. 633.2227. • The Nantahala Hiking Club holds a Saturday Work Hike on the fourth Saturday of each month. 369.1983. • Great Smoky Mountains National Park is recruiting volunteers to assist the Trails Forever trail crew for a rehabilitation project on the Rainbow Falls Trail from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. every Wednesday. Sign up or get more

Puzzles can be found on page 53 These are only the answers.

soncountyfarmersmarket@gmail.com or www.jacksoncoutyfarmersmarket.org.

• A Spay/Neuter Clinic is offered from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Tuesdays through Fridays at 182 Richland Street in Waynesville. As low as $10. 452.1329.

• The ‘Whee Farmers Market is held from 3-6 p.m. on Tuesdays through the end of October at the entrance to the village of Forest Hills off North Country Club Drive in Cullowhee. 476.0334 or www.thewheemarket.org.

• North Carolina residents are invited to participate in the “NC’s Candid Critters” – the largest camera trap survey ever. Residents of Jackson, Macon and Swain Counties can participate in a brief online training process then borrow a camera trap from any Fontana Regional Library location. Info: NCCandidCritters.org or www.fontanalib.org. • The Franklin Appalachian Trail Community Council meets at 10 a.m. every second Tuesday in Franklin. Contact Kristina Moe at kmoe@fontanalib.org for location. Franklintraildays.com.

• Haywood Historic Farmers Market is on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon at the HART Theater parking lot and Wednesdays from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the First Baptist Church overflow parking lot beside Exxon. waynesvillefarmersmarket.com or haywoodfarmersmarket@gmail.com. • The Original Waynesville Tailgate Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon at 171 Legion Drive in Waynesville. 456.1830 or vrogers12@att.net.

• Franklin Farmers Tailgate Market runs 8 a.m. to noon, on East Palmer Street across from Drake Software. 349.2049 or www.facebook.com/franklinncfarmersmarket. • “Locally Grown on the Green,” the Cashiers farm stand market for local growers, will be held from 3-6 p.m. every Wednesday at the Village Green Commons on Frank Allen Rd. next to the Cashiers post office. info@villagegreencashiersnc.com or 743.3434.

HIKING CLUBS • Carolina Mountain Club will have a 7.2 mile hike with a 900-foot ascent on Aug. 10 from Bennett Gap to Bridges Camp Gap and Big East. Info and reservations: 337.5845 or laurafrisbie@gmail.com. • The Nantahala Hiking Club will take a moderate sixmile hike with an elevation change of 500 feet on

Saturday, Aug. 10, from Warwoman Dell to Martin’s Creek Falls on the Georgia Bartram Trail. Info and reservations: 772.233.7277. • The Nantahala Hiking Club will take a moderate, three-mile hike with an elevation change of 500 feet on Sunday. Aug. 11, on the Wayah Loop, Info and reservations: 524.5298. • Friends of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will offer a 7.4-mile hike on Tuesday, Aug. 13, on the Appalachian Trail, Sweat Heifer Trail and Kephart Prong Trail. Leader is Lynda Doucette, who recently retired after a 30-year career with the National Park Service. $20 for members; $35 for new members. Hike.FriendsOfTheSmokies.org.

wnc calendar

info: 497.1949, Adam_Monroe@nps.gov or https://friendsofthesmokies.org/trailsforever/volunteer.

• Carolina Mountain Club will take an eight-mile hike with a 1,100-foot ascent on Wednesday, Aug. 14, on Boogerman Trail. Info and reservations: 405.596.2632

COMPETITIVE EDGE • Sponsors, cyclists and runners are invited to participate in the 27th annual Tour de Cashiers Mountain Cycling and 5K run on Saturday, Sept. 7, in Cashiers. Contributions support the Cashiers Area Chamber of Commerce’s community and economic development efforts. Deadline to sponsor is Aug. 16. Bike race entry: $50. 5K entry: $25 (Prices increase after Aug. 4). Sign up: www.bikesignup.com or www.cashiersareachamber.com.

Saturday, August 17 th • 1 - 4 pm

& Indian Motorcycle Flat Track Celebration!

FARM AND GARDEN • A Zahner Lecture on “The Plant-Pollinator Love Affair That Keeps Our Planet Humming” will be offered at 6 p.m. on Aug. 22 at the Highlands Nature Center. Part of the Zahner Lecture Series. www.highlandsbiological.org or 526.2221. • Garden workdays are held from 3 p.m. until dusk every Wednesday at Cullowhee Community Garden, 65 S. Painter Road. Weeding, mulching, general garden maintenance. 587.8212.

Food, Fun, & Live Music! Featuring

• Foraging for Food and Farmacy, an opportunity to discover how early Native Americans and mountain settlers found a bounty from which to live, is set for 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 17, at the Collins Creek Picnic Pavilion near the Oconaluftee Vistor Center near Cherokee. Cost: $69. Offered through the Smoky Mountain Field School. https://tinyurl.com/y4tfyjc9.

August 7-13, 2019

Mile High Band

• Registration is open for the 2019 Organic Growers School’s Farm Beginnings Farmer Training. On-farm workshops at the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy’s Community Farm in Alexander. Applications accepted through Sept. 15. Apply: organicgrowersschool.org/farmers/farm-beginnings.

• The Haywood County Plant Clinic is open every business day at the Haywood County Extension Center on Raccoon Road in Waynesville. Master Gardeners are available to answer questions about lawns, vegetables, flowers, trees and more. Info: 456.3575.

• The Macon County Poultry Club of Franklin meets at 7 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month at the Cooperative Extension Office on Thomas Heights Rd, Open to the public. 369.3916.

On August 17th we’ll be celebrating the start of Flat Track season. The first 50 people will receive a free race flag giveaway. Demo Rides on the all new FTR1200. (While supplies last)

FARMERS MARKETS • The Swain County Farmer’s Market is held from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. every Friday through October at the barn on Island Street in downtown Bryson City. 488.3848 or www.facebook.com/SwainCountyFarmersMarket. • Jackson County Farmers Market runs from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays at Bridge Park in downtown Sylva. jack-

Smoky Mountain News

• Local farmers can stop by the Cooperative Extension Office on Acquoni Road from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. every fourth Friday to learn about USDA Farm Service Agency programs in the 2014 Farm Bill. Info: 488.2684, ext. 2 (Wednesday through Friday) or 524.3175, ext. 2 (Monday through Wednesday).

Exit 100 off U.S. 74 82 LOCUST DRIVE | WAYNESVILLE | NC

SMSH.CO FOR OUR FULL INVENTORY

828.452.7276

Hours: Monday - Friday 9:00-6:00 Saturday 9:00-5:00

PRIME REAL ESTATE Advertise in The Smoky Mountain News

AUCTION

MarketPlace information: 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.

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. ■ $375 — Statewide classifieds run in 170 participating newspapers with 1.1+ million circulation. Up to 25 words. ■ All classified ads must be pre-paid.

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

NEW UNITS READY TO

RENT

10’x10’

ONLY

PER MONTH

Great Smokies Storage Call 828.506.4112 greatsmokiesstorage.com

Conveniently located off 19/23 by Thad Woods Auction

ABSOLUTE AUCTION 82 Acre Farm In 6 Tracts Farm House * Barns * Out Buildings * Personal Property 1733 Joe Thomas Road, Grassy Creek, NC SATURDAY AUGUST 17, 2019 10:30 AM BOYER Realty & Auction Jimmy Boyer NCAL#1792, 1.336.572.2323 boyerrealty@skybest.com BoyerRealtyandAuction.com AUCTION SEPT. 12, 533 Acres Halifax, VA. Available in its entirety or in 10 tracts ranging from 10 – 123 acres. Bid live or online. www.Motleys.com. SVN/Motleys. 877-MOTLEYS. (NC5914) BANKRUPTCY AUCTION Boat, Car & Jet Ski Auction in Rockingham, NC, Online Only, Begins Closing 8/7 at 2pm, Property at 174 Airport Rd., Rockingham, NC, Bankruptcy Case # 18-10838, ironhorseauction.com, 800.997.2248, NCAL 3936 ONLINE ONLY AUCTION Construction Equipment And Trucks Auction. Sun. Aug.11-Tues. Aug.13 at 11 a.m. Large selection located in NC and VA. Bid online motleys.com/industrial. Motleys Industrial. 919.280.1573. VA16. ONLINE ONLY AUCTION Construction Equipment and Trucks Auction. Sun Aug 11th @ 5am -Tues Aug 13th at 11 am. Large selection located in NC and VA. Accepting Consignments. Bid online: MOTLEYS.COM/INDUSTRIAL. Motleys Industrial. 919.280.1573. VA16. YOUR AD COULD REACH 1.6 MILLION HOMES ACROSS NC! Your classified ad could be reaching over 1.6 Million Homes across North Carolina! Place your ad with The Smoky Mountain News on the NC Statewide Classified Ad Network- Over 100 NC newspapers for a low cost of $375 for 25-word ad to appear in each paper! Additional words are $10 each. The whole state at your fingertips! It's a smart advertising buy! Call Scott Collier at 828.452.4251 or for more information visit the N.C. Press Association's website at: www.ncpress.com, 919.516.8009

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

PAINTING JAMISON CUSTOM PAINTING & PRESSURE WASHING Interior, exterior, all pressure washing needs and more. Specializing in Removal of Carpenter Bees • New Product Guarantees Success - Save Your Home Before Its Too Late! Cedar, Log Homes, Painted or Siding! Call or Text Now for a Free Estimate at 828.508.9727

CONSTRUCTION/ REMODELING AFFORDABLE NEW SIDING! Beautify your home! Save on monthly energy bills with beautiful New Siding from 1800Remodel! Up to 18 months no interest. Restrictions Apply 877.731.0014

CONSTRUCTION/ REMODELING ELIMINATE GUTTER CLEANING Forever! LeafFilter, the most advanced debris-blocking gutter protection. Schedule a FREE LeafFilter estimate today. 15% off and 0% financing for those who qualify. PLUS Senior & Military Discounts. Call 1.888.927.8649 SAPA BATHROOM RENOVATIONS. Easy, One Day Updates! We specialize in safe bathing. Grab bars, no slip flooring & seated showers. Call for a free in-home consultation: 877.661.6587 SAPA 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 for more information 800.807.7219 and for $750 Off. HAYWOOD BUILDERS Garage Doors, New Installations Service & Repairs, 828.456.6051 100 Charles St. Waynesville Employee Owned.

DAVE’S CUSTOM HOMES OF WNC, 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

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

ENERGY SAVING NEW WINDOWS! Beautify your home! Save on monthly energy bills with NEW WINDOWS from 1800Remodel! Up to 18 months no interest. Restrictions apply, for more info 888.676.0813

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ROOFING: REPLACE OR REPAIR. All types of materials available. Flat roofs too. www.highlandroofingnc.com From the Crystal coast, Wilmington, Fayetteville, Triad, and the Triangle. 252.726.2600, 252.758.0076, 910.777.8988, 919.676.5969, 910.483.3530, and 704.332.0555. Highland Residential Roofing.

CARS -

AUTO INSURANCE Starting At $49/ Month! Call for your fee rate comparison to see how much you can save! Call: 855.970.1224 CARS/TRUCKS WANTED!!! Top Dollar Offer! Free Towing From Home, Office or Body Shop. All Makes & Models 2000-2016. Same Day Pick-Up Available! Call Now: 1.800.761.9396 SAPA

CARS -

DONATE YOUR CAR TO CHARITY. Receive maximum value of write off for your taxes. Running or not! All conditions accepted. Free pick-up. Call Now for details. 855.972.0354 SAPA FREE AUTO INSURANCE QUOTES. See how much you can save! High risk SR22 driver policies available! Call 855.970.1224 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 DENIED SOCIAL SECURITY Disability? Appeal! If you’re 50+, filed for SSD and denied, our attorneys can help get you approved! No money out of pockets! Call 1.866.411.1551 SAPA

GET THE FUNDING FIRST! Build Your Business Next! Start Your Business First. Visit us at: www.startingmybusinesscredit.com We Can Help You! SAPA NEED IRS RELIEF $10K - $125K+. Get Fresh Start or Forgiveness. Call 1.888.856.8066 Monday through Friday 7am-5pm (PST) SAPA

YOU DON’T HAVE TO LIVE With Bad Credit and High Interest Rates! Get a FREE Consultation Today, and Start Improving your Credit Now. Call 855.705.7246 Today! SAPA

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

NEW AUTHORS WANTED! Page Publishing will help you self-publish your own book. FREE author submission kit! Limited offer! Why wait? Call us now: 844.660.6943 HAVE AN IDEA For an invention/new product? We help everyday inventors try to patent and submit their ideas to companies! Call InventHelp®, FREE INFO! 866.783.0557 SAPA INVENTORS Free Info Packet! Have your product idea developed affordably by the Research & Development pros and presented to manufacturers. Call 1.844.348.2206 for a Free Idea Starter Guide. Submit your idea for a free consultation.

EMPLOYMENT AIRLINES ARE HIRING Get FAA approved hands on Aviation training. Financial aid for qualified students - Career placement assistance. CALL Aviation Institute of Maintenance 866.441.6890 SAPA EDUCATION/VACANCIES 2019-2020: Elementary Education, Special Education, School Psychologist, Middle Education, Biology, Agricultural Education, Mathematics, Building Trades, Business & Information Technology, English, Instructional Technology Resources. www.pecps.k12.va.us. Prince Edward County Public Schools. Farmville, Virginia 23901. 434.315.2100. Equal Opportunity Enployer FTCC Fayetteville Technical Community College is now accepting applications for the following positions: Biology Instructor (10-month contract), Database Management Instructor, Director of Facility Services, Simulation & Game Development/Digital Media Instructor. For detailed information and to apply please visit our employment portal https://faytechcc.peopleadmin.com Human Resources Office Phone: 910.678.7342 Internet: http://www.faytechcc.edu An Equal Opportunity Employer

OWNER OPERATORS, DRIVERS, Fleet Owners for DEDICATED Regional routes. Weekly Settlements. Minimum 12 months 48-53’ tractor trailer experience. 800.832.7036 ext.1626, cwsapps@ilgi.com. www.cwsdedicated.com BOATBUILDING CAREERS Bayliss Boatworks is Hiring! Carpenters, painters, welders, electricians and CNC operators and programmers. Full-time work and great benefits. Visit: www.baylissboatworks.com/about/careers WORK FROM ANYWHERE You have an Internet connection. 13 positions available. Start as soon as today. As simple as checking your email. Complete online training provided. Visit this website for details: https://bit.ly/2yewvor SAPA

PET SUPPLIES & SERVICES THE FLEA BEACON® Is a Patented Device to Control Fleas in the Home Without Toxic Chemicals or Costly Exterminators. Results Overnight! Junaluska Feed Center, www.fleabeacon.com

LOST DOG: Black Spaniel-Labrador mix, medium size, older female. One front paw speckled with white, plumelike tail. She is loved & missed. 828.230.0673 HAYWOOD SPAY/NEUTER 828.452.1329

Climate Control

Storage 48 SECURITY CAMERAS AND MANAGEMENT ON SITE

Sizes from 5’x5’ to 10’x20’

1106 Soco Road (Hwy 19), Maggie Valley, NC 28751

Call:

828-476-8999

MaggieValleySelfStorage.com torry@torry1.com Torry Pinter, Sr. 828-734-6500

Prevent Unwanted Litters! The Heat Is On! Spay/Neuter For Haywood Pets As Low As $10. Operation Pit is in Effect! Free Spay/Neuter, Microchip & Vaccines For Haywood Pitbull Types & Mixes! Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 10:30 am - 4:30 pm 182 Richland Street, Waynesville

KILL BED BUGS! Buy Harris Sprays, Traps, Kits, Mattress Covers. DETECT, KILL, PREVENT. Available: Hardware Stores, The Home Depot, homedepot.com USE KENNEL DIP® To Treat Fleas, Ticks, Mange, Stable Flies & Mosquitoes Where They Breed. NC Clampitt Hardware, 828.488.2782, or visit us at: www.kennelvax.com

Climate Controlled

Find Us One mile past State Rd. 276 and Hwy-19 on the right side, across from Frankie’s Italian Restaurant

RE/MAX

EXECUTIVE

Ron Breese Broker/Owner 71 North Main Street Waynesville, NC 28786 Cell: 828.400.9029 ron@ronbreese.com

www.ronbreese.com

Each office independently owned & operated.

Margie MacDonald BROKER/REALTOR®

828-734-9265

Margie@4Smokys.com

Your Agent. Your Neighbor. WAYNESVILLE OFFICE:

Great Smokys Realty

828-564-1950 www.4smokys.com

36 S. Main St. Waynesville

SFR, ECO, GREEN

147 WALNUT STREET • WAYNESVILLE

NOEL - ADOPTED ABOUT 2-1/2 YEARS AGO, BUT HAD TO BE RETURNED THROUGH NO FAULT OF HER OWN. SHE IS AN AWESOME DOG, NOW ABOUT 4-1/2 YEARS OLD, LOVELY TO WALK ON LEASH, KNOWS "SIT", AND HOUSE TRAINED. SHE IS A BEAUTIFUL, GENTLE DOG WHO WILL BE A TERRIFIC COMPANION AND BEST FRIEND TO HER LUCKY ADOPTER.

LUCIA - BEAUTIFUL GRAY & WHITE FLUFF BALL KITTY, ONLY ABOUT 10 MONTHS OLD. SHE LIKES TO BE PETTED & BRUSHED! SHE IS A LITTLE SHY AND TENDS TO STAY OUT OF SIGHT, BUT IF YOU GO SLOW AND TALK QUIETLY TO HER SHE'LL QUICKLY WARM UP. SHE'LL DO WELL IN A QUIET HOME WITH LOVING FOLKS.

828.506.7137

aspivey@sunburstrealty.com

www.sunburstrealty.com/amy-spivey

smokymountainnews.com

OVER $10K IN DEBT? Be debt free in 24-48 months. Pay a fraction of what you owe. A+ BBB rated. Call National Debt Relief 855.862.0096. SAPA

AVON - EARN EXTRA $$. Sell online or in person from home or work. Free website included. No inventory required. For more info, Call: 844.613.2230 SAPA

PART-TIME BOOKKEEPER Needed for Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville. 6-8 Hrs. per Week. Must be Proficient in QuickBooks. Call to Apply 828.452.0593

PET SUPPLIES & SERVICES

August 7-13, 2019

DO YOU OWE More than $5000 in Tax Debt? Call Wells & Associates INC. We solve Tax Problems! Personal or Business! IRS, State and Local. 30 years in Business! Call NOW for a free consultation at an office near you. 1.844.290.2092 SAPA

20 PEOPLE NEEDED!! Ground Floor Opportunity! Experience History In The Making!! Free 3 Minute Recording Tells It All! 1.800.763.8168 or visit us at: www.healthyprosper.org

EMPLOYMENT DRIVE WITH UBER. No experience is required, but you'll need a Smartphone. It's fun and easy. For more information, call: 1.800.655.7452

WNC MarketPlace

CASH FOR CARS! We buy all cars! Junk, high-end, totaled – it doesn’t matter! Get free towing and same day cash! NEWER MODELS too! Call 1.866.508.8362. SAPA

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

WNC MarketPlace

Michelle McElroy BROKER ASSOCIATE

Haywood Co. Real Estate Agents Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices/Great Smokys Realty - www.4Smokys.com Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate- Heritage • Carolyn Lauter - carolyn@bhgheritage.com Beverly Hanks & Associates- beverly-hanks.com • Ann Eavenson - anneavenson@beverly-hanks.com • Billie Green - bgreen@beverly-hanks.com • Michelle McElroy- michellemcelroy@beverly-hanks.com • Steve Mauldin - smauldin@beverly-hanks.com • Brian K. Noland - brianknoland.com • Anne Page - apage@beverly-hanks.com • Brooke Parrott - bparrott@beverly-hanks.com • Jerry Powell - jpowell@beverly-hanks.com • Catherine Proben - cproben@beverly-hanks.com • Ellen Sither - ellensither@beverly-hanks.com • Mike Stamey - mikestamey@beverly-hanks.com • Karen Hollingsed- khollingsed@beverly-hanks.com • Billy Case- billycase@beverly-hanks.com • Laura Thomas - lthomas@beverly-hanks.com • John Keith - jkeith@beverly-hanks.com

(828) 400-9463 michelle@beverly-hanks.com Haywood County Real Estate Expert & Top Producing REALTOR®

Catherine Proben Cell: 828-734-9157 Ofﬁce: 828-452-5809

PUBLISHER’S NOTICE 74 N. Main St., Waynesville, NC

828.452.5809

Mike Stamey

mstamey@beverly-hanks.com

828-508-9607

www.smokymountainnews.com

August 7-13, 2019

Jerry Lee Mountain Realty

www.beverly-hanks.com

• Phyllis Robinson - lakeshore@lakejunaluska.com

Mountain Dreams Realty- maggievalleyhomesales.com Mountain Home Properties mountaindream.com • Cindy Dubose - cdubose@mountaindream.com

Steve Mauldin

828.734.4864

smauldin@beverly-hanks.com

74 N. Main St.,Waynesville

828.452.5809

beverly-hanks.com

The Smoky Mountain Retreat at Eagles Nest

• Marsha Block - marsha@weichertunlimited.com

WNC Real Estate Store

GATED, LEVEL, ALL WOODED, 5+acre building lots, utilities available in S.E. Tennessee, between Chattanooga and Nashville. www.timber-wood.com Call now to schedule tour 423.802.0296 SAPA

GOT LAND? Our Hunters will Pay Top $$$ To hunt your land. Call for a FREE info packet & Quote. 1.866.309.1507 www.BaseCampLeasing.com SAPA

HOMES FOR SALE BRUCE MCGOVERN A Full Service Realtor, Locally Owned and Operated mcgovernpropertymgt@gmail.com McGovern Property Management 828.283.2112. SAVE YOUR HOME! Are you behind paying your Mortgage? Denied a Loan Modification? Is the bank threatening foreclosure? CALL Homeowner’s Relief Line now! Free Consultation 844.359.4330 SAPA THREATENING FORECLOSURE? Call Homeowner's Relief Line now! Free Consultation 844.359.4330 SAPA

VACATION/ TRAVEL OFFER: Book Your Flight Today on United, Delta, American, Air France, Air Canada. We have the best rates. Call today to learn more 1.855.613.1407 Mon-Fri:10:00am to 7:00pm Sat & Sun: 11:30 am to 7:00 pm (all times Eastern) SAPA

STORAGE SPACE FOR RENT GREAT SMOKIES STORAGE Conveniently located off 19/23 by Thad Woods Auction. Available for lease now: 10’x10’ units for $55, 20’x20’ units for $160. Get one month FREE with 12 month contract. Call 828.507.8828 or 828.506.4112 for more information.

NICOL ARMS APARTMENTS MOVE IN TODAY

Rental Assistance Available - Handicapped Accessible Units Available

• Tom Johnson - tomsj7@gmail.com • Sherell Johnson - sherellwj@aol.com

Weichart Realtors Unlimited

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 equal opportunity basis.

REAL ESTATE ANNOUNCEMENT

We Are Offering 1 & 2 Bedroom Apartments, Starting From $535.00

• Rob Roland - rroland33@gmail.com

• Jeff Baldwin - jeff@WNCforMe.com

74 NORTH MAIN ST. • WAYNESVILLE, NC

Lakeshore Realty

• Bruce McGovern - shamrock13.com RE/MAX Executive - remax-waynesvillenc.com remax-maggievalleync.com • Holly Fletcher - hollyfletcher1975@gmail.com • The Real Team - TheRealTeamNC.com • Ron Breese - ronbreese.com • Landen Stevenson- Landen@landenstevenson.com • Dan Womack - womackdan@aol.com • Mary & Roger Hansen - mwhansen@charter.net • Judy Meyers - jameyers@charter.net • David Rogers - davidr@remax-waynesvillenc.com • Juli Rogers - julimeaserogers@gmail.com Rob Roland Realty - robrolandrealty.com

LEASE TO OWN 1/2 Acre Lots with Mobile Homes & Empty 1/2 Acre + Lots! Located Next to Cherokee Indian Reservation, 2.5 Miles from Harrah’s Cherokee Casino. For More Information Please Call 828.506.0578

cproben@beverly-hanks.com

• George Escaravage - george@IJBProperties.com ERA Sunburst Realty - sunburstrealty.com • Amy Spivey - amyspivey.com • Rick Border - sunburstrealty.com • Pam James - pjames@sunburstrealty.com

McGovern Real Estate & Property Management

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

REAL ESTATE ANNOUNCEMENT

Christie’s Ivester Jackson Blackstream

Jerry Lee Hatley- jerryhatley@bellsouth.net Keller Williams Realty - kellerwilliamswaynesville.com • The Morris Team - www.themorristeamnc.com • Julie Lapkoff - julielapkoff@kw.com

LAWN & GARDEN

OFFICE HOURS: Ellen Sither esither@beverly-hanks.com (828) 734-8305

Monday, Wednesday & Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm 168 E. Nicol Arms Road Sylva, NC 28779

TO ADVERTISE IN THE NEXT ISSUE

Phone# 1.828.586.3346 TDD# 1.800.735.2962

828.452.4251 | ads@smokymountainnews.com

Equal Housing Opportunity

FOR SALE

HAYWOOD BEDDING, INC. The best bedding at the best price! 533 Hazelwood Ave. Waynesville 828.456.4240 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 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.

MEDICAL WELLNESS ADVOCATE mydoterra.com/blueridge wellness ACCURATE & CONVENIENT Preventive health screenings from LifeLine Screening. Understand your risk for heart disease, stroke, and more before symptoms. Special: 5 vital screenings only $149! 855.634.8538 FINANCIAL BENEFITS For those facing serious illness. You may qualify for a Living Benefit Loan today (up to 50 percent of your Life Insurance Policy Death Benefit.) Free Info. CALL 1.855.402.5487 SAPA USE ROUNDUP WEEDKILLER? Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Multiple Myeloma, and Leukemia may result from RoundUp exposure. A recent $2 billion judgment was awarded in a RoundUp injury case. Call 1.619.493.4791 or email: roundup@breakinginjurynews.com and let us begin work on your RoundUp case today.

SUDOKU

SERVICES DISH NETWORK $59.99 For 190 Channels! Add High Speed Internet for ONLY $14.95/month. Best Technology. Best Value. Smart HD DVR Included. FREE Installation. Some restrictions apply. Call 1.855.419.7188 SAPA NEED HELP WITH FAMILY LAW? Can't Afford a $5000 Retainer? Low Cost Legal Services- Pay As You Go- As low as $750-$1500. Get Legal Help Now! Call Us at 1.855.982.0484 Mon-Fri 7am to 4pm (PCT) SAPA STILL PAYING TOO MUCH For your MEDICATION? Save up to 90% on RX refill! Order today and receive free shipping on 1st order prescription required. Call 1.866.577.7573 SAPA

CROSSWORD

MAGAZINE ENTERTAIN-MENT ACROSS 1 Warlocks 8 Missus' counterparts 15 Impetus 20 Sinister look 21 Is an affront to 22 Castro, e.g. 23 First page in a news magazine? 25 Pee Wee of old baseball 26 Bewilder 27 Starchy pudding foodstuff 28 Give fizz to 29 QED's center 33 Auto variety 36 Have no subscription to a humor magazine? 38 Otter relative 40 Apple variety 42 "Hawaii Five-O" nickname 43 Business magazine shared by a mother, a father and their kids? 47 Gazing 51 Resin used in adhesives 52 Heady quaff 53 Snitch 55 Novelist, e.g. 56 Garr of the screen 57 Billy Joel's "-- It Goes" 59 Trailways fleet unit 61 Small bay 62 Classic Fords 64 "I demand to see that financial magazine!"? 69 "You -- kiddin'!" 71 Pen-filled attraction 72 Saintly ring 73 Celebrity magazine

79 84 85 86 88 89 92 95 96 97 99 102 104 105 106

110 113 114 115 117 119 120

127 128 129 130 131 132

that's not a special issue? Diminished Old salts -- carte menu Firetruck noise Eat supper Bests Hence "Sheesh!" Artist Max Started to wake Inherit a fashion magazine? Concerning the kidneys Rainbow flag initialism Carpenter's gun, perhaps Post-it stuck in a page of a wellness magazine? Back of a 45 record Harper of "Far North" First game of the season Artsy NYC district Pilaf base Ties together Drop a health magazine in a filled bathtub? Map feature Having two complete chromosome sets Pyrenees principality Prescient types Has ill will for Pays a visit

DOWN 1 Fly trapper 2 "-- been there" 3 First of two sharp turns 4 Former ring king

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 24 28 29 30 31 32 34 35 37 39 41 44 45 46 48 49 50 54 57 58 60 63 65 66 67

Tear apart Ruling house Capture Sty resident Aliens' ship Closest buds, briefly Antiseptic solution brand British architect Jones Astronomer Halley Cleveland-to-Akron dir. Many a TSA employee Its capital is San Juan At right angles to the keel Haile Selassie disciple, informally Jabbed with a bent leg Novelist Buntline Nixon's veep Spiro Lacking vigor Got as profit Knight suits Friend of Alice Kramden In a new way Trail mix bit Faucet Actor Ron Stick (out) Engine part Antiquated Dresden's river "Bring --!" Campbell of the screen -- Poupon Certain Christian Laos' home Be seepy -- Na Na Shared PC system Wine and dine, maybe Janitors' tools Flair

68 70 73 74 75 76 77 78 80 81 82 83 87 90 91 93 94 96 98 100 101 103 106 107 108 109 111 112 116 118 120 121 122 123 124 125 126

Unruly bunch Gun lobbyists' gp. Great Plains natives Have a hissy Eins, zwei, -- ... "OK, you win!" Picnic place, in Paris Ceilings Not clumsy Prickly feeling Follows as a result Hinders Penlight-wielding doc Advance exams Madrid Mr. Links target Texter's "Yowza!" Longoria of the screen "-- Kapital" Diminish Minimal bit of cash Nielsen of "Airplane!" "Ora pro --" Share a view Jittery Purls, e.g. Deep anger Aria queens Have way too much, for short Prefix with spore Prez on a dime Quarry Places for forks: Abbr. Best CPA hirer Sky sphere Call of dissent

ANSWERS ON PAGE 48

smokymountainnews.com

Here’s How It Works: Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine 3x3 boxes. To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The more numbers you name, Answers on 48 the easier it gets to solve the puzzle!

OXYGEN Anytime. Anywhere. No tanks to refill. No deliveries. The All-New Inogen One G4 is only 2.8 pounds! FAA approved! FREE info kit: 866.954.2694

SUPER

August 7-13, 2019

WHEN YOU BUY A SMARTPHONE On AT&T Next Get A $250 AT&T Visa® Reward Card ! Limited Time Offer. More For Your Thing. (*Req's well-qualified credit. Limits & restr's apply.) Call US Now! 1.866.639.6524 or visit: www.250reward.com/NC SAPA

FREON R12 WANTED: Certified Buyer Will Pay Ca$H For R12 Cylinders Or Cases Of Cans. www.refrigerantfinders.com, 312.291.9169

MEDICAL LUNG CANCER? Asbestos exposure in industrial, construction, manufacturing jobs, or military may be the cause. Family in the home were also exposed. $30 billion is set aside for asbestos victims with cancer. Valuable settlement monies may not require filing a lawsuit. Call 1.866.795.3684 or email: cancer@breakinginjurynews.com SAPA

WNC MarketPlace

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time and wildfire risks on up to 4,000 acres at a time. The insect and disease CE has been used to good effect on Pisgah National Forest to allow the treatment of ash trees for emerald ash borer, to reduce the risk of severe fire and to restore yellow pines.” NEPA was years in the making, likely dating back to a 1967 task force report directed The Forest Service and proponents of to the Secretary of Health Education and this new rule constantly point to insect Welfare called “A Strategy for a Livable infestations and more prevalent catastrophic Environment” amid growing concern about wildfire as needs for implementing the new environmental abuses generated by the rule. However, according to Josh Kelly, pubindustrial and economic boom following lic lands field biologist with MountainTrue, World War II. It can be onerous at times and in a piece he wrote for the Transylvania surely could use some streamlining – not Times, “The Forest Service already has more gutting. You can take a look at some of than a dozen CEs that preclude the requireNEPA’s success stories here: ment for development of alternatives and www.nrdc.org/resources/never-eliminatethat shorten the period of public input. The public-advice-nepa-success-stories. Kelly told me a good analogy for the NEPA process would be if you were considering building a home. One would do all the groundwork first, selecting a site, getting architectural plans having a good framework before you actually begin construction — that’s what NEPA does, he said. We don’t need to scrap Prescribed burns are one method Forest Service it. Rather, “We need to conuses to mitigate for wildfires. creative commons photo tinue building on the successes of collaborative manexisting CEs are fairly broad and cover many agement and stewardship and scale up for actions, including those to address forest more success. The Forest Service has all of pests and disease on up to 2,000 acres at a the authorities it needs to complete its mis-

The naturalist’s corner BY DON H ENDERSHOT

Speak up f you want the opportunity to have knowledge about and input on actions, policies and/or decisions affecting property you own, you need to speak up now. The present administration and the USDA Forest Service announced, in June, plans to “streamline” the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) protocols when it comes to actions receiving federal funding on federal lands, which the public owns. If you’re a fisherman or woman this “streamlining” may more resemble “gutting” the NEPA process. Some of the actions it would allow without public notification and/or comment include allowing logging on up to 4,200 acres or 6.6 square miles; building five miles of new roads and/or closing existing roads; or allowing mining projects smaller than 640 acres. These actions would be allowed under a process called categorical exclusions or CEs. Up to 75 percent of current Forest Service actions that require environmental analyses and/or public comment could be executed under these new CEs and modifications to current CEs with no public notice, no public comment and no environmental analysis.

Smoky Mountain News

August 7-13, 2019

sion. What is needed is continued progress on the current path, not shortcuts,” Kelly wrote. Kelly said by commenting you can, “show your support for NEPA and value your right as a citizen to oversee government policy.” There are several ways to comment according to the Forest Service: Go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal. You may submit a comment by clicking on “Comment Now!” Mail written comments to USDA-Forest Service Attn: Amy Barker, USDA Forest Service, Geospatial Technology and Applications Center, 125 South State Street, Suite 7105, Salt Lake City, UT 84138. There is also a link for commenting at https://mountaintrue.org/take-action-protect-the-publics-role-in-public-lands/ and/or the Southern Environmental Law Center’s action page http://ourforestsourvoice.org. I imagine many of you are like I with friends who are biologists, botanists, foresters, technicians etc with the Forest Service — who you likely trust implicitly. But there are a few things to consider — all too often these employees are left to implement plans passed down to them — who will be in their place 20 years from now — and even if these actions are much needed and results will be welcomed, it’s still my property and I want to be informed. (Don Hendershot is a writer and naturalist. His book, A Year From the Naturalist’s Corner, Vol. 1, is available at regional bookstores or by contacting Don at ddihen1@bellsouth.net)

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