New electoral maps approved

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS EDITOR

The North Carolina General Assembly passed new House, Senate and congressional maps last week, but if the lawsuits — some existing, some perhaps forthcoming — can’t stop them, Western North Carolina’s voters will be on the receiving end of something old, something new, something borrowed and nothing blue.

As indicated in maps proposed by the NCGA late last month, the old House district of Rep. Karl Gillespie (R-Franklin) didn’t change a bit. Comprised of Cherokee, Clay, Graham and Macon Counties, District 120 occupies the far western tip of North Carolina and voted more than 74% for then-President Donald Trump in 2020.

The two House districts east of that, however, will experience a fair bit of change. Represented by Swain County Republican Mike Clampitt, District 119 used to consist of Jackson and Swain counties, along with a portion of Haywood County.

Now, the district includes Jackson and Swain, along with all of Transylvania County. Gone is that portion of Haywood, which was given to Rep. Mark Pless (R-Haywood), but Clampitt’s new district still went almost 57 percent for Trump in 2020.

Pless’ 118th District had Madison and Yancey counties, along with outlying areas of Haywood County, but now that he’s responsible for all of Haywood, he no longer counts Yancey as one of his counties. His district remains deeply red, giving Trump more than 63% of the vote in 2020.

Opinion remains divided on whether a split county is an advantage or disadvantage in the General Assembly, but whichever way one leans on the subject, the argument can continue — although the split in the House districts is gone, now there’s one in the Senate.

The 50th Senate District, represented by Franklin Republican Kevin Corbin, used to perfectly overlay the three westernmost House districts, but in a surprise move two towns and 11 precincts in eastern Haywood County were placed in the 47th District.

That includes both Fines Creek precincts, White Oak, Iron Duff, Crabtree, North and South Clyde all six of the Bethel precincts, the Town of Clyde, the Town of Canton and 12,000 voters who went more than 71 percent for Trump in 2020.

Sen. Corbin and Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers both opposed the change on various grounds, but by the time it was proposed there was little that could be done about it. Now, those areas peeled away from Corbin will be represented by Republican Sen. Ralph Hise (R-Mitchell).

Smathers and Corbin both said that they’d work with Hise to ensure that effective representation in that part of Haywood County continues. Pless, who’s worked with Hise before in McDowell and Yancey counties, spoke highly of Hise.

Like Clampitt, Gillespie and Pless, both Corbin (65%) and Hise (64%) remain in safe Republican districts — just like Henderson County Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn.

In one of the most closely watched redraws this year, North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District not only got a new shape, it got a new name — the brand-new 14th Congressional District.

“The North Carolina legislature went to great lengths to study these maps and draw the districts,” Cawthorn told The Smoky Mountain News. “Ultimately, everyone will have their own opinions about the fairness of them, but these are the cards we’ve been dealt. North Carolina is growing and changing — it’s now up to the voters to select their representation based on the maps drawn.”

Substantively, the district isn’t that much

NC 11th Congressional District

(Madison Cawthorn, R-Henderson)

OLD NC-11

• Counties: Avery,

Buncombe, Cherokee,

Clay, Graham, Haywood,

Henderson, Jackson,

Macon, Madison,

McDowell, Mitchell, Polk,

Rutherford (partial),

Swain, Transylvania,

Yancey • Population: 782,217 • Trump 2020 vote: 56.1%

NEW NC-14

• Counties: Avery,

Buncombe, Cherokee,

Clay, Graham, Haywood,

Henderson, Jackson,

Macon, Madison,

Mitchell, Swain,

Transylvania, Watauga (partial), Yancey • Population: 745,670 • Trump 2020 vote: 53.8%

Senate District 47 (Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell)

• Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Caldwell (partial), Haywood (partial), Madison, Mitchell, Watauga, Yancey • Population: 219,135 • Trump 2020 vote: 64.0% Source: northcarolina.redistricitingandyou.org

different; gone are McDowell and Polk counties, and that portion of Rutherford that used to be in Cawthorn’s district. Added into the mix is Watauga County — or, at least, that portion of Watauga where nine-term incumbent Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx doesn’t live.

Cawthorn said he’s made substantial progress on a personal goal to travel to all 100 counties in North Carolina and looks forward to visiting his new county of Watauga soon.

He also doesn’t seem concerned that his new NC-14 district is only 53.8% Republican (based on Trump’s 2020 numbers) compared to his old NC-11’s tally of 56.1%.

“The people of Western North Carolina elected me to serve as their representative in 2020,” Cawthorn said. “I’m confident I will maintain the trust of North Carolinians to return to Congress again in 2022.”

An analysis by fivethirtyeight.com shows that under the old map with 13 congressional districts, there were six solid red districts, two districts that leaned red, one that leaned blue, four that were solid blue and one true toss-up. That map produced a state congressional delegation of eight Republicans and five Democrats.

The same analysis shows that under the new map with 14 congressional districts, Republicans increased the number of safe districts to eight, with an additional two districts that lean Republican including Cawthorn’s).

Under the new map, no districts lean Democrat, but three are considered safe Dem districts and one true toss-up remains, likely giving Republicans 10 or 11 seats in 2022, despite statewide support for Trump in 2020 totaling 49.93%, compared to Biden’s 48.59%.

Thank you Maggie Valley voters

news For veterans, service doesn’t stop when uniform comes off

Retired U.S. Army Sgt. Kori Osienger (left) says her little enjoys hanging out with her. Cory Vaillancourt photo

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS EDITOR

On Veterans Day, we commemorate the service of members of the armed forces of the United States, past and present. But for some of those veterans, the call to serve persists long after they take off their uniforms for the last time and return to civilian life.

One such veteran in Haywood County demonstrates that call to serve through her volunteer work, which is making a difference in the life of a child.

Ever since she was a little girl growing up in a military family in Florida, Kori Osienger has known exactly what she wanted to do — serve.

“Every time 9-11 rolls around my mom likes to tell that I got off the bus and was like, ‘I have to do something,’” said Osienger, now 32. “I decided I wanted to be an Army medic so during my senior year of high school I went to EMT school, dual-enrolled, and I joined the Army right out of high school as a combat medic.”

Osienger reported to Fort Bragg three days before she turned 19, in 2007. Six weeks later, she found herself in Afghanistan.

“I was what is called a ’68 Whiskey,’ a combat medic,” she said. “We worked in some trauma rooms. I was the medic for a protective services detail for a while, and then I was attached out with an infantry unit on the front line to assist with female local nationals.”

That year, U.S. casualties began to spike, going from less than 50 a year in the opening stages of the war to more than a hundred a year once Osienger got there.

“It was never slow,” she said. “Every day was something different. I like to say it was the best worst days of my life.”

Over the next four years, U.S. forces regularly logged over 300 fatalities a year, topping out at 496 in 2010.

On her second deployment, Osienger almost became one of them.

“I was injured by an IED. An improvised explosive device hit our Humvee and I ended up with a traumatic brain injury, injured my back, and we lost a couple guys that day too.”

For a long time, Osienger blamed herself. As a medic, it was her job to bring everybody home, but that day, her job was to comfort dying soldiers in their final moments. In addition to her physical injuries, Osienger also experiences post-traumatic stress disorder.

“There’s generalized anxiety, certain things bring on flashbacks, panic attacks,” she said.

Her service dog, Battle, helps with that, but there is something else that helps her deal with the effects of PTSD.

Osienger is rated by the VA as 100% disabled, so she doesn’t really have to work, but that same little girl who got off the school bus in 2001 wanting to do something about 9-11 now spends her time serving as a volunteer in her Haywood County community.

“I do Big Brothers/Big Sisters here, and I love it. I was just kind of googling things to volunteer, to be able to do something, get out of the house, and I came across the website,” she said. “I just thought that would be really cool, to be able to help influence kids and be there for them, be a friend for them.”

Founded in 1904, the nonprofit Big Brothers Association merged with the Catholic Big Sisters in 1977 to become Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America, a one-onone mentoring program that matches adults, called “bigs” with children, called “littles.”

Kori Osienger’s “little” is a third grader we’ll call David, and he says they get to do all kinds of fun stuff together.

“She’s nice to me and she picks me up usually,” David said. “I like to paint with her and go putt-putting and paddle boarding.”

David said he’s doing great in school this year and is learning from Osienger how to become a better listener.

Martha Barksdale is the program coordinator for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Haywood and Madison Counties. She made the match between Osienger and her little.

“We look for children that are facing adversity. They could be from a single-parent home. They could have had a recent death in their family. We do have a growing number of children in this community and all communities that live with a grandparent or another relative,” Barksdale said. “They just don’t have opportunities that some kids get, they can’t get out and do a lot of things, so we’re looking for a child that could benefit from more activity.”

Barksdale said the Haywood office runs on an annual budget of between $25,000 and $30,000 a year. Bigs don’t get paid for their service, but littles don’t have to pay for the program, either. Right now, there are 33 pairs of bigs and littles in Haywood County. Over the past 2 years, as bigs and littles cycle in and cycle out of the program, there have been a total of 55.

Some bigs, like Osienger, find that they benefit from BBBS as well.

“Well that’s the beautiful thing about Big Brothers/Big Sisters,” Barksdale said. “The volunteer gets as much or more out of this relationship as the child.”

Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Western North Carolina is always looking for more bigs — especially men — to pair with their littles.

For more information, visit bbbswnc.org.

You can help

Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Western North Carolina matches children (“littles”) who could benefit from mentoring by adults (“bigs”) who are ready to help, but there’s always a list of littles hoping that someone like you can spare a few hours a month. Applying to become a “big” is quick and easy. After a comprehensive background check, personal interview, reference check and short orientation session, a BBBS program manager creates an appropriate pair. Although couples (married, or not) and women can be paired with boys or girls, men can only be paired with boys, which sometimes leads to boys waiting for their big to appear. BBBS of WNC operates programs out of 18 different offices, in almost every Western North Carolina county and community. For more information on how you can help a child near your home, visit bbbswnc.org or facebook.com/bbbswnc. In Haywood or Madison counties, contact Program Manager Martha Barksdale at 828.273.3601 or by emailing haywood@bbbswnc.org.