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November 18-24, 2020 Vol. 22 Iss. 25
Rescue squad alleges fraud against former chair Page 18 Smokies completes Trillium Gap trail project Page 30
CONTENTS On the Cover: The COVID-19 Pandemic has led to an urban exodus as people look to escape the cities for more space and fresh air in rural America, and Western North Carolina has been a welcome refuge for those who finally have the opportunity to make the move. (Page 6)
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News Tribe breaks ground on Sevier County development ..............................................4 Western Carolina University athletics returns to play ..............................................9 Jones ahead in Jackson Commission race after canvass ....................................11 Waynesville Parks and Rec receive national accreditation ..................................13 Elevated Mountain turns beer into whiskey ..............................................................14 Macon approves hazard pay for county employees ..............................................17 Rescue squad alleges former chairman committed fraud ....................................18
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Steamline Coffee Co. opens in Waynesville ............................................................26
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Smokies completes $1.3 million trail project ..........................................................30
CLARIFICATION A story in last week’s issue reported that the vacancy created on the Haywood County Board of Commissioners when Republican Mark Pless joins the General Assembly must be filled by a person of the same party upon non-binding consultation with the county party. After the story went to print, Haywood County Attorney Frank Queen discovered that Haywood is one of just 42 counties where the recommendation of the party is binding, if made within 30 days of the vacancy.
SYLVA | 629 West Main Street, Sylva, NC 28779 P: 828.631.4829 | F: 828.631.0789 INFO & BILLING | P.O. Box 629, Waynesville, NC 28786 Copyright 2020 by The Smoky Mountain News.™ Advertising copyright 2020 by The Smoky Mountain News.™ All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. The Smoky Mountain News is available for free in Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain and parts of Buncombe counties. Limit one copy per person. Additional copies may be purchased for $1, payable at the Smoky Mountain News office in advance. No person may, without prior written permission of The Smoky Mountain News, take more than one copy of each issue.
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Bringing back the road trip The newly unveiled vision for a road trip themed development along Interstate 40 in Sevierville is expected to welcome visitors starting in 2022. Donated rendering
Smoky Mountain News
November 18-24, 2020
Tribe breaks ground on Sevier County development BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER he first phase of a development effort worth tens of millions of dollars is expected to open in 2022 following the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ Nov. 10 groundbreaking at the 200-acre site it purchased along Interstate 40 in Tennessee last year. Including about 60 acres and currently referred to as the Roadside District, the section will be developed around the theme of the classic American road trip, including both nostalgic and modern elements of that tradition. “We have the opportunity to build on many of the staples that are commonly known as the Great American Road Trip,” said Kituwah LLC CEO Mark Hubble during the groundbreaking ceremony. “The gas stations of old typically might have had two or
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four pumps. Our gigantic travel center will have over 100, and will be over 60,000 square feet. The diners often featured hamburgers, fried chicken, fries and other staples. We will offer these classic foods and many more through unique experiential dining. Landmarks became defining moments for many of the children. Ours will have both replicas of recognizable classics and unique one-of-a-kind, interactive icons for photos and lifetime memories.”
ROAD TO THE ROAD TRIP Tribal Council approved $13.5 million to purchase the property in July 2019 and tasked its business arm Kituwah LLC with deciding how best to develop it. On Oct. 29, Council approved an additional $25 million to help with site development costs. The tribe also owns 122 acres on the north side of the highway, which it bought in February 2019 for $7.5 million. While that land — previously a KOA campground — is not directly accessible from the interstate, it does contain frontage with Tennessee 66, which intersects I-40 at Exit 407.
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In September, Kituwah announced its intent to develop the southern property as an “experiential destination” featuring a “common theme or narrative” intended to heighten the visitor experience. Knoxville-based development consulting firm OE Experiences is serving as Kituwah’s local representative in seeking out development partners and identifying the highest and best use of the property. The road trip concept was a winner for several reasons, said OE Experiences CEO Matt Cross. “With COVID, obviously air travel is much more difficult, so we see a lot of people focused on the automobile, and so some of it is opportunistic. It’s tapping into that,” he said in an interview. “But then it’s also something that means something different to every generation. So we can have the nostalgia like we see today. We can have a more modern ‘what families do today to travel,’ and it’s flexible enough that it lets us grow, because even though this is the first district it’ll have multiple districts, and we needed to leave ourselves room to respond to every new opportunity we’ll get over the years.”
While Cross’s company is newly hired for the job, Cross himself is not new to property development efforts on the tribe’s Sevier County holdings. As of last December, he was CEO of Ancient Lore Villages at Boyd Hollow, which had hoped to land an agreement with the tribe to develop a story-themed resort on the property. Tribal Council unanimously struck down that request in December. According to public records, OE Experiences filed its business license with the Tennessee Secretary of State on Feb. 11 of this year. Cross said that he originally formed the company with the intention of opening a themed attraction in Sevier County, but that COVID-19 thwarted that plan. When the pandemic hit, OE focused instead on building out a consulting practice. When Kituwah put out a request for proposals to manage its development project, OE responded. “We won that bid and have been busy since June,” Cross said. “It’s been a fun project.” Upon receiving the contract, OE did some traveling to look at a few other experiential developments and get an idea of what works and what doesn’t, using that as a framework for its planning. “Probably the most important lesson was making sure that everyone bought into the vision, and so we’ve been working very hard to keep as many people apprised and aware,” said Cross. “Today all of the show is about helping people get what the vision is, because that excitement, we think, is critical.” In contrast to the unanimous “no” Tribal Council delivered in December when Ancient Lore asked for up to $30 million and 60 percent ownership in the company to make its vision a reality, on Oct. 29 the body gave a unanimous “yes” when asked to appropriate $25 million to ready the site for phase one of the current development plan. Likewise, the project has secured support from Sevier County government and the City of Sevierville, with elected officials from both entities present at the Nov. 10 groundbreaking. “We certainly think that you made a very wise decision in coming here,” Sevierville Mayor Robbie Fox said at the event. “We thank you for having the faith and investing in the future of the city of Sevierville. We think that’s very important. We feel that what’s being proposed here will be extremely successful, and we, the
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Principal Chief Richard Sneed speaks at a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday, Nov. 10.
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Representatives of tribal, city and county government break ground on the project Tuesday, Nov. 10. Holly Kays photo
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MOVING FORWARD
written by Ingles Dietitian Leah McGrath
QUESTION: My friend thinks that brown eggs are better for her. Is that true? Answer: The color of the shell of the egg is due to the breed of chicken and has nothing to do with the nutritional quality of the egg itself. Some breeds of chicken produce white eggs, some lay brown eggs and some lay eggs that are blue/green or even speckled in color! BottoM LIne: Eggs are an inexpensive and versatile source of protein—don't be swayed or confused by the color of the egg shell itself—and definitely don't pay more for eggs based on the color of the shell! 1 large egg has 70 calories and 6 grams of protein.
Leah McGrath, RDN, LDN Ingles Market Corporate Dietitian
Smoky Mountain News
While Kituwah is not yet announcing the names of any specific tenants likely to occupy the site, an anchor tenant who Hubble described to Tribal Council as a “major retailer” in its Oct. 29 meeting has been identified. The development will include both nationally recognized and “authentically local” establishments, he said Nov. 10. “There’s some other good things in the pipeline,” said Principal Chief Richard Sneed. “Those things are not inked yet but some of the things they are working on — it’s going to be impressive.” Hubble said he expects to get the roadwork and grading done by mid-2021 — crews will be on the site within weeks. “The next stage you’ll see is a lot of dynamite and a lot of earthmoving,” he said. Right now, the focus is on developing infrastructure and laying the groundwork, but the development is evaluating partnerships that include ground leases, build-to-suit concepts and traditional leases with improvement allowances in buildings owned by Kituwah, Cross said.
The Roadside District is expected to open in 2022, but that district represents only about 30 percent of the entire property. Full build out will take five to 10 years, Hubble said. The LLC does not yet have any projections as to cash flow return on investment, but the first phase is expected to increase the value of the land by 36 percent. The project comes at a critical time for the EBCI, which depends on revenues from its two casinos to fund its government and provide bi-yearly per capita distributions to its members. The return on investment from those enterprises is unprecedented, Sneed told Tribal Council Oct. 29, and in fact only one casino in the country does better than Cherokee’s enterprise. But that success is at least partially due to the complete monopoly Cherokee has had over the regional gambling industry thus far, Sneed has repeatedly reminded Tribal Council. With multiple states — including North Carolina — now exploring the possibility of allowing commercial gaming and concrete plans in the works to build casinos in Bristol, Virginia, and Kings Mountain., Cherokee’s casinos are expected to take a hit in the coming years. Sneed spearheaded the founding of Kituwah LLC in 2018 with the goal of diversifying the tribe’s income streams in order to decrease its reliance on casino proceeds.
November 18-24, 2020
Ingles Nutrition Notes
@InglesDietitian Leah McGrath - Dietitian 800.334.4936 Ingles Markets… caring about your health
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Pandemic pushes people out of the city
BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR ith the real estate market in Western North Carolina booming right now, it’s clear the region is reaping the economic benefits of the urban exodus happening during the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic drags on and cases are once again on the rise, city dwellers are longing for more open space and fresh air. Mountain communities have been witnessing this rural retreat as the region’s tourism numbers broke all kinds of records this summer and fall, but now that seasonal influx may be moving here for good. According to Canopy MLS, which covers real estate listings in 13 western counties, home sales in September increased 23 percent over last year. Though the pandemic caused an initial slowdown in sales in early spring, year-to-date figures show sales during the first nine months of 2020 ahead of the first nine months of 2019 by 4.2 percent. “Without a doubt, real estate agents across the region have been busy as the pandemic and record-low interest rates continue to drive sales in areas closer to Asheville and have increased interest throughout the region’s growing second-home market,” said Debbie Williams, a Canopy MLS Board of Directors member and executive vice president of Beverly-Hanks Associates. “And though buyers continue to be challenged by competition and price increases due to inventory, the recent rise in new listings is needed and will help with increased choice.” Low inventory was a problem in this area even before COVID-19 hit, but now that the demand is increasing, more people are choosing to list their properties. According to 6 Canopy, new listings rose 6.5 percent year-
Smoky Mountain News
November 18-24, 2020
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over-year in September as sellers brought 1,384 properties to market, 84 more than a year ago. However — year-to-date figures show new listing activity still lags behind 2019 and is down 12.5 percent. A smaller inventory means prices across the region continue to rise and sellers have the advantage over buyers right now. The median sales price ($315,000) rose 20.3 percent year-over-year, and the average sales price ($394,796) rose 29.8 percent year-overyear. Inventory declined 51.9 percent yearover-year, leaving 2,626 homes for sale — or 2.5 months of supply — in September. Properties averaged 73 days on market in September 2020, which is unchanged compared to September 2019. In Haywood County, home sales increased 40 percent in September 2020 compared to September 2019 while inventory was down 55.4 percent over last year. Listings under $200,000 are moving especially quickly and buyers are realizing they need to put a house under contract almost immediately if they want a shot at getting it. “Inventory will continue to pressure prices in the county for the foreseeable future. Both the median sales price ($280,000) and the average sales price ($336,799) rose year-over-year by 18.6 percent and 28.8 percent, respectfully,” Canopy said in a press release. “The average list price in September rose 14.8 percent year-overyear to $351,995, and the list price to sales price measure was 95.3 percent in September. Days on market in September 2020 averaged 66 days versus 61 days in September 2019.” All these trends are in line with national reports that show people who are able are fleeing large urban areas amid COVID-19 and there are several reasons for it — wealthy peo-
ple in the cities are choosing to escape the crowds by moving to their second homes in the mountains, people who are now working remotely are no longer bound to urban centers and are choosing to make a move, and people who have lost their jobs are trying to relocate to wherever jobs can be found. Overall, around one-in-five U.S. adults (22 percent) say they either changed their residence due to the pandemic or know someone who did, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. North Carolina is one of the growing hotspots for people to escape the pandemic. Data compiled by moving company United Van Lines between March and August show that North Carolina is ranked No. 7 on the list of states that saw the biggest influx of new moves. The state saw a 60 percent inbound move rate during the pandemic. “If we just look at the last few months, the top states to move to are not necessarily known for their major metropolitan areas, which shows potential trend to less populated areas,” said Eily Cummings, spokeswoman for United Van Lines’ parent company, UniGroup. On the other hand, New York and New Jersey are the states that have seen the biggest exodus of residents. The data shows that just under half of those moving from New York went to cities in North Carolina, Florida, Texas and California. Neal Hanks Jr., president of BeverlyHanks, agreed that the pandemic has led an increased number of mobile, affluent consumers to establish residency in smaller metropolitan areas like WNC. When compared to the same period last year, luxury home sales skyrocketed from 38 to 109. “The unprecedented increase likely represents a combination of delayed activity from earlier in the year and new demand for
‘It feels like home’ Pandemic spurs migration to Jackson County BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER atrick Cochran and Blair Smoker have lived in the Atlanta area their whole lives, but they’ve long believed that Sylva would someday be their home. As a member of the band Owner of the Sun, Cochran, 48, had been coming to the area for years, playing gigs all over Western North Carolina and typically
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the quality of life found in our mountains,” said Hanks. The growth isn’t just in the western part of the state though. An analysis done by Redfin.com ranked Charlotte as a top destination for homebuyers relocating from other metro areas. The latest migration analysis is based on a sample of more than 1.5 million Redfin.com users who searched for homes across 87 metro areas in the second quarter
Data compiled by moving company United Van Lines between March and August show that North Carolina is ranked No. 7 on the list of states that saw the biggest influx of new moves.
of 2020, excluding searches unlikely to precede an actual relocation or home purchase. Wake County is a hub of activity because of all the economic development projects happening now that are attracting highly skilled job seekers from other cities. According to Triangle Business Journal, North Carolina is also an attractive relocation option for big businesses in California and New York as they look for more ways to cut costs. For now, the migration to North Carolina is seen as a positive for the real estate market. But if the trend continues in WNC’s rural communities, the region’s lack of affordable housing, living wage jobs, broadband service and other critical infrastructure will be exacerbated without additional financial resources to meet the growing needs. staying overnight at a bandmate’s home in Webster. When he and Smoker, 37, started dating six years ago, they began making the trip together. They even got married in Webster, elated when their friends offered their backyard for the ceremony. “It was like, when do we get to move here?” Smoker said as she recalled that first visit. This summer, they finally did.
FLEEING THE CITY Smoker and Cochran are hair stylists, and they own a salon in Atlanta. When the pandemic hit, everything changed. They were closed for 10 weeks, living on nothing. They eventually opened back up, but the cost of doing business had ballooned — supplies were more expensive, and sanitation and social distancing requirements severely limited the number of customers they could serve in a day. It wasn’t fun anymore. In fact, it was downright scary.
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t y r s n s r
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e s y
Jack Smith and his family are enjoying the outdoor spaces and fresh air that the Cashiers area has to offer. Donated photo as stylists in Asheville. These days, they each drive down to Atlanta two days a week to take care of clients there and then head to work in Asheville for an additional two days of work — a stark contrast to the five to seven days per week they’d been working before the pandemic. This new arrangement means a lot of driving, but for two people who love to hike and watch the sun set over the mountains framing their porch, it’s more than worth it. “We left Atlanta for a reason,” said Smoker. “I don’t want to bring that with me. I’ve never been so excited to get a driver’s license and car tags for someplace that just feels right. It feels like home.”
‘AN INSTANT LOVE AFFAIR’ Smoker and Cochran are far from the only ones to have found a home in Western North Carolina during the pandemic. Up on the plateau, John Wolff, 74, and his wife Carol are settling into their new home after leaving their community of 25 years in Texas, a rural area about an hour and a half outside of Austin.
A WILD YEAR IN REAL ESTATE For area Realtors, it’s been a shockingly busy year as buyers from all over the country have turned their eye to WNC, hoping to get away from the turmoil and isolation that the virus and widespread protests have caused in cities nationwide. “It’s been really wild,” said Ken Fernandez, incoming president for the Highlands-Cashiers Board of Realtors. “Our inventory is just depleted compared to where we usually are this time of year.” Normally, there would be 1,200 to 1,400 residential units on the market in Highlands and southern Jackson County this time of year — now, there are between 350 and 400, Fernandez said. With attractive listings, it’s not uncommon to have multiple offers within 24 hours, something the Cashiers area had not experienced in years past. There’s also been a complete about-face in the type of buyer Fernandez is dealing with. Previously, about 70 percent of his clients were looking for a part-time home. Now, 60 to 70 percent want to buy a year-round
— Blair Smoker
market grew slightly from 186 in 2019 to 190 in 2020, though that figure is still well below the 215-day average seen in 2018. Some issues that could be impacting those statistics include lack of inventory and delays in securing financing, said Carolina Smokies Association of Realtors Association Executive Charlene Bellavance. However, despite the decrease in homes sold, the total value of sales in the first three quarters actually grew, with the $241,896 sold in 2020 representing an 8.2 percent increase over the 2019 figure. Countywide, there’s been a marked increase in home construction projects, with the Jackson County Permitting and Code Enforcement Department approving 59 building permits for single family homes in August through October of this year, up from 39 during the same period in 2019. The permits represent nearly double the amount of square footage approved in last year’s permits — 98,819 square feet August through October of 2019 compared to 202,328 this year. The Smiths are working with Fernandez in hopes of finding the perfect spot to build their dream home, and they aim to soon add their own tally to that permit count. “We haven’t pulled the trigger, but we’re on the hunt,” Smith said. “We’re making our plans pretty intentional.” 7
Smoky Mountain News
“At the time there wasn’t a whole lot of data from the CDC,” said Cochran. “And it felt like we were just kind of blindly trying to figure out how to make all that work. It seemed like every morning, one of us was having a mild panic attack about just going into work.” Before the pandemic, they’d enjoyed the social scene in Atlanta, the bars and the music and the nights out with friends. COVID took all that away. “Quarantining in the city is a little different than quarantining out here,” said Cochran. “In the city, you just feel like you’re on top of each other.” “There’s no open spaces,” Smoker added. “You go to get out of your house, and you go for a hike, and everything’s packed.” They started talking about Sylva again, and if by fate the pieces fell into place. They found a great house to rent, a 1958 brick construction with three bedrooms and two baths, perfect for the couple plus their three dogs and two cats. It cost about half as much as their place in Atlanta, but for twice the space. Next, they closed down half of their salon in Atlanta and found part-time work
“We left Atlanta for a reason. I don’t want to bring that with me. I’ve never been so excited to get a driver’s license and car tags for someplace that just feels right. It feels like home.”
November 18-24, 2020
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home, many of them younger families. He’s seen quite a few songwriters and others from the Nashville country music industry, as well as people from New England, Ohio, New York, California, Texas and Louisiana, in addition to the usual feeder markets such as Birmingham, Atlanta, Charleston, Charlotte and various parts of Florida. “It just seems like people really view Cashiers and Highlands as a safe place,” he said. The 1,086 listings that closed between Jan. 1 and Nov. 10 of this year had an average selling price of $719,880 with a median price of $500,500 and an average of 206 days on the market. By contrast, the entire calendar year of 2019 had only 836 closed listings — 77 percent of the amount logged in the first 10 months of 2020 — with an average selling price of $608,413, a median price of $445,000, and 231 days on the market. The figures are less dramatic when looking at northern Jackson County, where the number of homes sold actually decreased slightly from 264 in 2019 to 245 in 2020, while the average number of days on the
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“I’ve always had an allure to live in this area,” said Wolff. “I’m not sure why, but for three years I’ve been coming down here a lot, and the more we looked, the more we liked it. The big incentive for us was to get away from the heat in Texas.” Both Wolff and his wife grew up in New Jersey but moved all over the country during Wolff ’s career running companies. For the last 15 years, he’s owned a business building high-end homes, but after turning the company over to his daughter he’s ready to retire somewhere cooler. The pandemic didn’t really affect the Wolffs’ decision to move now, but it did affect their decision to move to Cashiers. When they last visited the area in June, they noticed that many people were wearing facemasks and taking precautions to prevent spread of the virus. “If we didn’t see that, I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe our decision might have been a little bit different. It seems like the people here have concern and respect for what’s going on and are doing what has to be done.” Aspiring Cashiers resident Jack Smith, meanwhile, said the virus was very much a factor in his family’s decision to seek a home in the mountains. Smith, 40, moved to Atlanta from Santa Barbara, California, about four months ago with his wife and three children, ages 2, 7 and 9. The atmosphere of fear and the complete lack of social contact for the kids was downright unhealthy in the Golden State, Smith said. As a developer in the hotel business, 90 percent of his work can be done remotely, so leaving California was an easy decision. “You still felt a lot of the same things (in Atlanta), and you had the riots and you had all these other issues in society affecting us,” he said. “One of the first weekends we moved we heard about Cashiers, and it was an instant love affair. The beauty, and just to be able to be out in space, the community — it’s a small town feel amid such outdoor amenities, it was unlike anything else we had ever seen.”
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From LA to Lake J — a pandemic relocation This Holiday Season SHOP EARLY SHOP LOCAL
Jane Pickett of Los Angeles found refuge in her grandfather’s cabin at Lake Junaluska during the COVID-19 pandemic. Donated photo
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BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER ane Pickett is originally from Atlanta, Georgia. She has lived the last 15 years of her life in Los Angeles, California, but when things began to shut down as the Coronavirus Pandemic spread across the United States, she headed east. Pickett was seeking refuge in a cabin her great grandfather built in the mountains of Western North Carolina on the shores of Lake Junaluska. Not only did the move give her the chance to reside amongst forest and mountains instead of apartment buildings and vacant city streets, it also allowed her to be closer to her aging parents. Pickett is a playwright and a filmmaker. Jane Pickett She moved to LA for grad school 15 years ago, and ended up making a home there. She is also a professor of screenwriting and playwriting at two universities there, California Institute of the Arts and Chapman University. The day-to-day of a filmmaker is very dynamic. Add in teaching at two different universities and it’s easy to understand how varied daily life was for Pickett, pre-pandemic. That variety of life quickly ground to a halt as quarantine restrictions were instated. One of the universities Pickett teaches at gave faculty and staff two weeks to get classes and material fully online. The other university expected that same transition by the next day. “I was scrambling,” Pickett said. “Looking up which remote learning situation was going to be the most effective. Eventually everyone landed on Zoom, but I was like ‘oh my gosh, I have to hold a class virtually tomorrow,’ I had never done that.” Pickett remembers hearing that the uni-
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versities were going to go online from one of her students. The rush to adapt to the new normal was a frenzy. “It had a feeling of like being on Apollo 13 or something, I was like with my students and it was this big accomplishment of ‘we did it! And lift off!’ when we all landed,” Pickett said. The hardest quarantine adjustment for Pickett was not being able to screen her most recent film. This was to be the first screening of the film, and her first ever LA premiere. The outdoor event was cancelled on the first weekend of quarantine. “I live in a walking neighborhood, I’m in a close knit, artistic community where I’m constantly going to meetings, art openings, teaching in person. I’m very much with other people a lot, collaborating. Filmmaking and making plays is inherently working with a lot of different people. And there’s a lot of moving parts, so it was very shocking,” Pickett said. She has been coming to her great grandfather’s cabin at Lake Junaluska every summer, and for a week or two each fall, for most of her life. “This has always been a dear place to me,” Pickett said. In June, Pickett was going to come to Atlanta for her mother’s 81st birthday. The plan was to go to the cabin, quarantine for the appropriate time, and then go see her folks. While she was at the cabin, the calls came in that fall jobs were going to be remote. Teaching and filmmaking. “When I realized jobs would be remote, the fact is that this place enabled me to check in on my folks. It seems safer, health wise, not being right in the middle of the big urban area of Los Angeles where I live,” said Pickett. Quarantining at the cabin also gave Pickett the chance to work on the cabin, a goal she has had for a long time. Her time here has been spent visiting her parents, bringing them groceries, teaching and filmmaking remotely and working on her great
grandfather’s cabin. Pickett is thankful she has been able to be so close to her parents during this time. She has sisters that live in North Carolina that usually make regular visits to see her parents. But they have children and with the dangers of COVID-19, they are avoiding bringing the family together for fear of infecting Pickett’s parents. What’s more, her father got a blood infection while in quarantine and had to be in the hospital for a week. Being so close allowed Pickett to go stay with her mother while her father was in hospital. “I feel very grateful. My relationship to this place is a very deep one. This is a beloved cabin from when I was a child. It has allowed me to deepen my relationship to this place. My great grandfather built this house next to his brother, that house is still there, so this is an old family cabin. While I haven’t been able to go out and do the cultural things, not being able to connect with people in-person in my community, I’ve had nature and this cabin in which to shift my focus, and work on other things.” Pickett has been able to take time to do the things people so often put off in life. She has planted a hedge in the front yard so it can be safer for her nieces and nephews to play when they are able to come visit. She has been able to sort through her grandmother’s things that are still in the attic. It’s allowed her to experiment with living in a different place, closer to her parents. It has allowed her, an avid outdoors person, to utilize the outdoor recreation this area has to offer, with much easier access than in the big city. “Being here means having the comfort of deepening my relationship to my ancestors by being in this interesting old cabin,” Pickett said. “I come from a long line of Methodist preachers. I appreciate and honor that heritage, I come from mindful people, I come from thoughtful people. So as a writer, it makes a lot of sense.”
BY TODD VINYARD CONTRIBUTING WRITER ach athletic season has its challenges, but the 2020-2021 season has more obstacles than usual as teams try to play on safely during a pandemic. Western Carolina University Athletic Director Alex Gray was named the Catamounts athletic director on Feb. 28. The former member of the 2001-2004 WCU Baseball team then had to join the world in dealing with a pandemic. When would it be safe to return to play? How would travel be handled? How would the department face revenue challenges from not having fans at
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games? Those are all questions the new WCU athletic director and his staff had to jump right in to face in 2020. While happy to see sports safely returning with cross country, golf, football and soon basketball, Gary and the WCU athletics staff know they must be careful in these uncertain times. “We’re happy to see teams and our student-athletes able to return to play, but there will be no sense of relief until the entire athletic season is over and we’ve done it safely,” Gary said. “We can’t let our guard down. We’ve got to follow protocols and do the things like washing hands, practicing social distancing and wearing a mask.” Western Carolina athletes are beginning to compete again while following strict safety guidelines. The football team began practicing in October for a season of three
Calling for Everyone to Unite in a Universal Mission of
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WCU quarterback, Mark Wright.
games with Liberty (Nov. 14), Eastern Kentucky (Nov. 21) and North Carolina (Dec. 5). All three games will be played on the road. “We took our time planning the football season. We wanted to see other schools and conferences playing football and what it would look like to play and travel,” Gary said. The Catamounts will have a Southern Conference football spring season of eight contests starting on Feb. 20 that includes home games in Cullowhee. WCU football coach Mark Speir said the team has dealt with safety precautions like team meetings with coaches and others on Zoom during a position team meeting. The Zoom meetings didn’t make it easy to build team chemistry and put in new systems from new coaches like defensive coordinator Andy McCollum. “We’ve talked about how things are going to be different this year,” Speir said. “They are different for all the teams and they have to deal with COVID just like we will. Just like on the football field when things go against you, you have to react and keep going. We’re fortunate to be able to play again, and I appreciate all the efforts of our Chancellor Dr. Kelli Brown and our Athletic Director Alex Gary. Alex has done a great job in the whole situation, like setting up a Zoom call for our players and parents with medical doctors from the NCAA and doctors who helped the Big 10 return to play. It was really helpful to hear that information from those people involved.” Speir and his team were able to take the field for the first time in 2020 in a tough task at undefeated Liberty. A 58-14 loss included using two quarterbacks Will Jones and Mark Wright. The Catamounts plan to play hard this fall season while giving plenty of players a chance to play. “We are going to approach it like an NFL exhibition season,” Speir said before the opening game with Liberty. “NFL teams go in wanting to win, but they also have an agenda of playing as many people as they can. Out of 109 players, we have 51 who are freshmen, so these games give us a chance to see what we have got and give players a
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Western Carolina University athletics returns to play
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chance to play. These games can help us in the future and the upcoming Southern Conference season.” A big part of helping this “NFL exhibition” type football season for Western Carolina and other sports competing relies on COVID-19 testing to make sure things are continuing safely. Building on an existing university partnership with Harris Regional Hospital is helping with the large amount of student-athlete testing WCU will need to do this season. The work could also benefit the community. “Testing 75 to 150 student-athletes a week is a good example of how working through those logistics help us help the community because we are now able to offer this very same thing to local employers,” Harris Regional Hospital and Swain Community Hospital CEO Steve Heatherly said in a press release from Catamount athletics. “If they have some critical mass of employees who just need to be tested, we now know how to do that. We’ve been able to broadly communicate that to the entire community, and we have a couple other of our community partners that are going to benefit from the fact that we had to walk through this process with Western Carolina University.” Testing will be a large part of being able to have a basketball season in Cullowhee. WCU is scheduled to open its basketball season starting Nov. 25 against UNC Wilmington. The Catamount women open the season on the same day against UNC
limited to mask-wearing, maintaining social distance between different parties and observance of North Carolina’s executive orders as well as WCU’s Catamount Cares community standards. Season tickets will not be offered and singleWCU head coach Mark game tickets Speir. WCU photo are currently not available. Should the North Carolina executive order change in regard to indoor attendance capacities during the season, the current directives could be adjusted. This season, Western Carolina will release limited edition Catamount Cutouts availUpdates from WCU Athletics on COVID-19 can be found at https://cataable for purmountsports.com/feature/covid-19relatednews chase for the 2020-21 WCU basketball and volleyball season. Center for the start of the 2020-21 season. For $50, fans can send a photo of themAccording to WCU, families of student-athselves, friends, relatives or even a pet showletes will receive up to two tickets per game ing their Catamount pride and be a part of and will adhere to public health guidance gameday at the Ramsey Center. when attending games, including but not
Asheville. By executive order from Gov. Roy Cooper in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, only student-athlete families will be able to attend basketball games in the Ramsey
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Fans can find out more about the program by visiting catamountsports.com. Revenue in these uncertain times is something WCU Athletics has also had to make plans for. They have launched the “Whee Are One” fundraising campaign to provide immediate-use funds toward expenditures associated with the cost to compete, practice and train during the 2020-21 academic year while WCU Athletics face the changes caused by the pandemic. Catamountsports.com explains that with the postponement of fall sports competition to the spring semester, this fund will help lead WCU Athletics through this time of budgetary uncertainty amidst anticipated revenue losses of $1 million plus. It’s all been part of a very unusual first year for Gary. His former connection to WCU as a student-athlete has helped him navigate it. “It was helpful that I knew coming here this was a community that supports itself,” Gary said. “People are always willing to help. It has been very fortunate to have people in the athletic department who have been here for a while and know who to contact to make things happen. All parts of the university, Jackson County health department, they have all been willing to help. The entire community has been great partners and that is what it takes to work through something this complicated.” Todd Vinyard is a former sports writer with newspapers in Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee now living in western North Carolina.
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Haywood County Health and Human Services is reporting its 37th COVID-19 death. The individual died at home and COVID-19 was listed as the primary/immediate cause of death. The individual was elderly, had underlying medical conditions, and had recently traveled out of state. To protect the family’s privacy, no further information will be released. “Our sympathies go out to the family and loved ones. This is a sad reminder that COVID-19 is a serious and sometimes deadly illness,” said Interim Haywood County Health Director Garron Bradish. Haywood County Public Health received notice of 64 new cases of COVID-19 between Nov. 6 and Nov. 12. The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has recorded 847 cases in Haywood County. Case patterns this week include exposures from positives in the household, work exposures, travel exposures and exposures from funerals, parties and other events or situations where people have gathered in large groups. “COVID-19 cases are going up nationwide, and we are continuing to see a steady and concerning rise in new cases in Haywood County, compared to the relative quiet of September and early October. In the first two weeks of November, we’ve had more new cases than we had during the entire month of September. Since we are continuing to see patterns that suggest that people are relaxing their COVID safety standards around extended family, coworkers and friends, we anticipate the situation getting worse with the holidays approaching and increasingly cold weather pushing people indoors,” said Bradish. As of 5 p.m., Nov. 12, Haywood County’s COVID-19 working number, representing individuals who are in isolation or quarantine due to exposure, is 188 people. Of these, 63 cases are in isolation after testing positive and 125 people are in quarantine, having been identified as a close contact of a known case during contact tracing. All are being monitored by the Haywood County COVID-19 contact tracing team.
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Haywood reports 37th COVID-19 death
Infant perishes in Canton house fire Smoky Mountain News
Emergency personnel were called to a residence in the North Hominy/Canton area in reference to a structure fire with entrapment around 3:48 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 15. Once on scene at 54 McCracken Road, emergency personnel located a 3-month-old male infant inside the residence who was deceased. Three other people including a 3-year-old boy made it out of the residence without injury. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Agencies involved include the Haywood County Sheriff ’s Office, North Canton Fire Department, Clyde Fire Department, Junaluska Fire Department, Jonathan Creek Fire Department, Haywood County Fire Marshal’s Office, Haywood County Emergency Services and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.
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meet a certain percentage of. Even though an agency can be accredited without meeting all of the standards, Waynesville met all 151, something Langston was very proud of. “We had to work with all the departments in the town,� said Langston. “This certainly wasn’t just something we did on our own.� According to Langston, the department worked with the finance department, administration, the development department, fire and police departments in order to get accredited.
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“This accreditation, even though it’s representing Parks and Recreation specifically, because it covers so many departments is essentially stating that the entire town is operating at the highest level we possibly could be,� said Langston. Going through the process to get the accreditation meant creating a lot of policies and procedures for things like risk management, emergency operations, security plans and orientation plans. The department also had to create a master plan for working with the community on the development of its parks. “Really what this means is, we are meeting the national standard for best practice,� Langston said. “We’re providing top of the line service for our community. It recognizes our community as a great place to live. It’s going to bring a lot of recognition, a lot of exposure to Waynesville across the entire nation.� This isn’t the type of award or recognition that the Parks and Rec department can simply be proud of and put up on the shelf. Langston said that as soon as the department became accredited, directors were reminding them to keep working toward the recertification, which comes around every five years. Out of more than 23,000 parks and rec agencies in the United States, only 186 are currently accredited. “I saw this as an opportunity to provide the best possible blueprint that we could operate on a day-to-day basis and provide the best product for our taxpayers. I knew it was going to be very hard, that it was going to take a long time, but it’s more than worth it for the community,� said Langston.
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BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER he Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department recently earned national accreditation through the Commission for Accreditation of Parks and Recreation Agencies. According to the commission, the CAPRA certification demonstrates that a parks and recreation agency meets national standards of best practice. The certification also helps secure external financial support and reduces cost for the community, holds the agency accountable to the public, ensures responsiveness in meeting the public’s needs and ensures all staff are providing quality customer service. Waynesville Parks and Rec has been working toward this accreditation for seven years now. “We are, by population, the smallest agency in the state to get this accreditation, and the third smallest in the country,� said Parks and Rec Director Rhett Langston. The process was a long one, and throughout it, Waynesville Parks and Rec was scrutinized by folks within the commission, as well as Parks and Rec directors from all over the country. Before the application process even began, Langston said, Waynesville’s application was reviewed by a state representative and a former director of parks and rec. Once the process to be accredited began, Waynesville Parks and Rec was assigned a mentor, a director from Virginia who looked over the application, made corrections and suggested changes. At this point, the Parks and Rec department had reached phase one of the accreditation process. During this phase the application was reviewed by directors from Georgia and Indiana, who made necessary changes. Under normal circumstances, Langston said, the next step would have been the visitation phase, where a three-member panel comes to inspect the rec park and the application for approval. This year, the visitation stage had to be virtual. The panel was made up of directors from Idaho, Illinois and Florida. “We had to go back and forth [with the panel], back and forth. They’d say change this or change that. You need to work on this, or work on that,� Langston said. “We were finally able to get past that.� In the third and final phase, Langston went before the CAPRA board and participated in an interview process. “In our world of parks and recreation, this is the highest thing we can achieve,� said Langston. There are 151 standards outlined by the commission. A portion of those standards have to be met in order to be accredited. Other standards, an agency just needs to
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Waynesville Parks and Rec receive national accreditation
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Glass half full
Elevated Mountain Distilling in Maggie Valley.
Elevated Mountain turns beer into liquor BY BOYD ALLSBROOK CONTRIBUTING WRITER here were many things I expected to experience as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic — stress, isolation, illness, etc. Absent from that list was what I had the pleasure of tasting this weekend — quite simply, the finest liquor I’ve ever waxed poetic about. It’s a story only the wild circumstances of this year could have wrought. It begins with Asheville’s most well-known industry: beer. Often synonymous with craft-tourism, Asheville’s breweries fill an even larger economic role. “A lot of people might not realize that Asheville is a major supply hub for the whole East Coast,” said Dave Angel, owner of Elevated Mountain Distilling Co. in Maggie Valley. “They’re not just making local beer for local people.” When restaurants and bars along the Eastern Seaboard were shuttered in early spring, Asheville breweries kept kegging their product, waiting, hoping for the market to open back up. “Big breweries in Asheville had to make sure they were ready to launch as soon as Delaware or New Jersey or whatever state opened up. They had to have beer ready to go into that market,” said Angel. As 15 days turned to weeks turned to
“Making whiskey’s just like making a cake. The ingredients that go in it define what the final cake is. So it’s not like we can just use this to make our regular whiskey — it’s a unique whiskey that we’ll create.” — Dave Angel
months, and it became clear that things wouldn’t be the same for a long time, those waiting kegs began to pass their sell-by date of 45 days. “Cans and bottles were no problem, but restaurants and bars mainly serve draft beer,” Angel said. Breweries were stuck. They had the supply, but no demand and nowhere to ship it. Hundreds of kegfuls of Asheville’s topquality beer seemed destined for dumping, to become just another casualty in the growing
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litany of COVID losses. The overwhelming sentiment: what a waste. Enter Mr. Angel. “They actually approached me — one of the major breweries in Asheville,” he said. “They had literally thousands and thousands of gallons that had expired. The beer may not have been right but the whiskey, the alcohol in it is perfect. So they gave it to me instead of throwing it away, and that’s what I’m working with.” The way you make whiskey is essentially
to make beer — what distilleries call mash — and then to distill most of that away until you’re left with a high-concentration alcoholic beverage. This process creates a clear liquor called white dog whiskey — what people often refer to incorrectly as moonshine — which is then barrel-aged until it becomes the darker drink you’d recognize as whiskey proper. Understood in distillery terms, the Asheville brewery’s offer was basically for a massive supply of free, quality mash. “They have to write it off, they can’t sell it because it’s expired,” said Angel. “So they’d rather see it go to a good use than to just dump it. I’m very fortunate with that. I still have to pay to distill it and for the propane, the labor — it’s an expense we hadn’t planned on. But they’ve just made it so practical that we’re figuring out how to do that. Literally we get about 2,000 gallons every week. We started
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doing this mid-July; we already have about 45 full barrels of whiskey, made from beer. That’s 2,400 gallons of finished whiskey.” There’s a reason most people haven’t heard of making whiskey from craft beer: the process is normally far too costly. “There’s a lot of distilleries that have dabbled in it,” Angel said. “The problem is that the grain used in beer is a much more premium grain than what you use to make whiskey. So it’s much more expensive.” COVID acts as an unexpected boon here. Because the pandemic’s closures rendered those thousands of gallons of beer worthless as such, Angel suddenly had access to a higher-quality mash than he could have dreamed of in pre-pandemic times. “It saves us a lot of money,” he said. “Normally I have to buy grain, cook my own beer, and then distill it, ferment it — but now I just go straight to distilling it. So it saves a lot of time and money because essentially they’ve made that mash for me.” With the ordinarily impractical cost of brewing such a mash out of the way, the opportunity to create something special had fallen right into his lap. “Making whiskey’s just like making a cake,” said Angel. “The ingredients that go in it define what the final cake is. So it’s not like we can just use this to make our regular whiskey — it’s a unique whiskey that we’ll create.” The white dog whiskey Elevated Mountain distills from Asheville beer is unlike any drink I’ve ever had. A sip, and you’re struck with an almost creamy sweetness intermingled with the hard bite of 135-proof alcohol. This sweetness stays even as the whiskey froths hotly down your throat. So far, so normal — everything you’d expect from high-concentration premium liquor. The aftertaste caught me by surprise, however. The genuine and unmistakable flavor of craft beer — I kid you not — starts to emerge a few seconds after swallowing. It is magnificent. I’m far from a connoisseur; in fact, I’ve been more than indifferent to most liquor I’ve tried. One sample of this made me a convert. That this whiskey exists is due entirely to the COVID-19 pandemic and quick-thinking creativity on the part of Angel and his brewery partners. It’s yet another example of how local businesses have managed to adapt and thrive around this difficult time’s silver linings. “COVID’s been a blessing and a curse both,” said Angel. “Tourism has bounced back a lot. There were a few months there where it was slow, and people weren’t sure. But people have figured out how to travel again, more and more people are figuring out how to work from home. We have to be smart about doing business. People do need to social distance, they do need to wear masks, but if we’re smart and responsible, the economy can stay healthy.” Though Elevated Mountain’s special whiskey has to barrel-age for a couple of years before they sell it, they’re already looking for names. In honor of the unique circumstances surrounding their whiskey, they’re hoping to call it something Ashevillethemed. Message them on Facebook @ElevatedMountain to offer suggestions.
EXPIRES: DECEMBER 5, 2020
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Macon approves hazard pay for county employees
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The IT department has worked diligently to keep the county safe from increased risk of cyberattacks as well as keeping 60 remote learning stations functioning. The finance and human resources department has had to implement and track new programs related to COVID-19 and CARES Act reimbursements and the Board of Elections successfully navigated the 2020 Presidential Election despite all the challenges. Roland said he’s told department heads that once the county had some financial certainty amid all the uncertainty that the pandemic has brought, he would present an equitable recommendation to the board. With
the county recouping some COVID-related costs through the CARES Act to cover regular payroll costs of $364,735, Roland said he felt comfortable using the $350,000 from fund balances to cover the one-time hazard pay. Commission Chairman Jim Tate said as a leader, there’s nothing he’d rather spend the money on that the employees who’ve worked to keep the county government running. Commissioner Ronnie Beale said Macon was one of the few counties in the state that was able to keep all its departments open during the pandemic. While he agreed that county employees have gone above and beyond to get the job done, Commissioner Paul Higdon said that’s what they’re hired to do. While public employees have still had job security during the pandemic and an additional 80 hours of emergency paid leave if they need to be out of work to quarantine, those working in the private sector haven’t had those luxuries. “When we hire employees, we hire them to work during good and bad times,” he said. “No one in the private sector has enjoyed the benefits that’s been afforded to the public sector.” Commissioner Karl Gillespie said his only concern was that the hazard pay be fair across the board for all employees — even part-time workers who are at great risk of being exposed during their shifts. The board approved the hazard pay recommendation 4 to 1 with Higdon opposed.
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Transit services has also helped deliver meals to those in need in addition to meeting the demand for public transportation during a pandemic. “The pandemic hasn’t caused people to stop going to work or the doctor,” Roland said.
November 18-24, 2020
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cially those on the front lines of the pandemic, including the sheriff ’s office, health department and emergency management — have led a “first class mitigation effort” to ensure the county was confronting the pandemic in a way that will eventually allow the county to make a full recovery. “This has required them to risk their own personal health and safety and that of their families,” he said. “They continue to place the health and safety of residents above themselves. I challenge anyone to find another rural community in this state that’s run a more thorough effort than they have.” Roland said department heads did a great job having enough foresight to order enough supplies and materials needed before they became unavailable during the height of the pandemic. Maintenance workers have spent extra time making sure work areas are sanitized, even when an employee using the workspace had tested positive for the virus. They also installed Plexiglass covers in department offices to keep them open to the public for services. The senior services center restructured its entire meal system from an inside congregating system to a drive through setting so seniors could continue to receive meals. The demand for the drive-thru meals has been greater than the normal demand — Roland said the senior center is serving 200 percent more meals than it did this time last year.
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BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR t the recommendation of County Manager Derek Roland, Macon County commissioners recently approved hazard pay for its 300-plus employees. All full-time employees hired before or on Oct. 26, 2019 will receive $750 while active part-time employees will receive $150. The hazard pay bonuses will cost the county roughly $350,000 — $328,037 will be allocated from the county’s General Fund fund balance and $22,000 will be allocated from the solid waste fund balance. “This will have a net zero impact on our current fiscal budget and a net zero impact on the 2021 fiscal budget,” Roland told commissioners. Roland prefaced his request to the board by explaining how county employees have gone above and beyond to provide services and keep departments open to the public during the COVID-19 Pandemic. “I always talk about the employees of this organization and how they’re our greatest asset and that’s never been more evident to me than during the last eight months,” he said. “We’re in the middle of one of the greatest challenges this country’s ever faced and as county manager I assure you no department has been spared from the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.” Roland said every department — espe-
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Rescue squad alleges former chairman committed fraud BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER longtime leader in the GlenvilleCashiers Rescue Squad is facing criminal charges and a civil suit claiming he used lies and deception to position his construction company for a $2 million job building a new rescue station. “We take very seriously the stewardship of our county and donated money, and provision of search and rescue and emergency medical services,” said Nat Turner, CFO for the rescue squad. “Once we identified and found these irregularities, we immediately turned them over to the county and since then have fully cooperated with government and law enforcement officials.” The allegations span several years and feature a renovation project so faulty as to be unusable, stolen funds and an illegally executed contract.
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The Glenville-Cashiers Rescue Squad is a nonprofit organization that provides emergency services to southern Jackson County. Nat Turner photo
AN UNVOTED CONTRACT
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November 18-24, 2020
INADEQUATE LIVING SPACE According to a civil suit the rescue squad filed in June 2019 against the squad’s former chairman Brandy Sullivan, the roots of the story go back to 2016, when Jackson County commissioners approved a tax increase in order to fund a second 24/7 ambulance crew at the rescue squad, which is a nonprofit entity. The plateau’s population was growing and call volumes were increasing, squad leaders told commissioners at the time, and in order to serve the GlenvilleCashiers area in the years to come, they’d need more crew members and a centrally located substation at the crossroads. While plans proceeded for the new building, the second crew was to be housed at the existing squad headquarters. Sullivan, a licensed general contractor, converted a portion of the squad’s equipment and vehicle storage garage into a living space under the auspices of Sullivan Custom Homes LLC, of which he is the president. There was no written contract for the job, but he invoiced the squad $21,520. However, according to the squad’s suit, squad leaders would later find out that, despite including line items for design and permitting costs in the invoice, SCH never pulled any permits for the project. The finished product proved to be rife with code violations, to the point that the squad has had to rent a house for its second crew rather than using the living quarters for which it had shelled out $21,520.
SECURING AN UNLIMITED LICENSE While certainly significant, it is the construction of the still non-existent new squad building — not renovation of the living 18 quarters — that sits at the heart of the legal
“Beginning in October 2017, Sullivan took multiple invoices from Allen, added unjustified amounts to the totals and then issued inflated Sullivan Custom Homes invoices to the rescue squad for Allen’s design work,” the squad’s suit alleges. The county’s audit includes various examples of this, including an Oct. 17, 2017, invoice from T.E. Allen to the rescue squad — but mailed to Sullivan — for $15,300. An Oct. 18, 2017, invoice from SCH then bills the rescue squad for $17,595, which includes the $15,300 engineering cost plus a 15 percent “management fee” of $2,295. The board eventually contacted the vendors directly to obtain copies of the plans, the suit alleges, and severed ties with Sullivan. The board then had the plans evaluated and found that they were deficient in various ways — the squad had to pay about $50,000 for completely new drawings, the suit says.
battle now playing out between the rescue squad and Sullivan, who did not return a call requesting comment for this story. As the rescue squad began to plan and gather funds for the building, its leaders had not yet discovered the deficiencies in Sullivan’s 2016 project, and Sullivan, still serving as chairman of the board, was allegedly angling to land this larger, more lucrative job. Commissioners had agreed to underwrite a $1.8 million loan for the new squad building, with the squad itself raising some additional funds to cover costs above that amount. However, at that time Sullivan’s company did not qualify to do the work. The N.C. Licensing Board for General Contractors requires contractors to hold an unlimited license in order to perform any job valued at more than $1 million, and SCH’s intermediate license was good only for projects valued at $1 million or less. To qualify for an unlimited license, a company’s assets must exceed its liabilities by at least $150,000, and that benchmark appears to have been out of reach for Sullivan. According to the county’s Nov. 20, 2019, forensic audit, SCH’s had only $9,114 in working capital at the time Sullivan applied for licensure, but he used rescue squad funds to make it appear that the number was actually $161,114. On June 29, 2017, the squad’s suit alleges, Sullivan instructed the rescue squad’s treasurer to transfer $152,000 from the squad’s account to SCH, a figure that represented “virtually all” of the squad’s operating funds at the time. The board didn’t authorize the transfer and didn’t even know it had happened, the suit alleges. With the money in his account, Sullivan
allegedly provided bank statements reflecting the artificially enlarged balance to an accounting firm that then provided him with the audited financial statement he needed to apply for licensure. Nowhere in the auditor’s report is the rescue squad identified as the source of the money — instead, the report shows the $152,000 as a long-term loan from Sullivan to his company. Sullivan allegedly generated a fictitious promissory note to give the auditor this impression. The rescue squad’s money didn’t stay in the SCH account long — Sullivan transferred it back on July 5, 2017, less than a week after he allegedly took it. It was there long enough to fool the auditor, but when Sullivan appeared before a notary to sign his application on July 19, the money was long gone from his account, the forensic audit showed. The squad alleges that due to the “fraudulent misrepresentations” contained in the report, the N.C Licensing Board for General Contractors did not know that Sullivan did not qualify and granted him the unlimited license he sought. The allegations don’t stop there. The rescue squad had paid $109,351 in invoices for planning expenses surrounding the project, the squad’s suit alleges, but “despite the fact that the contracts … were between the designers and the rescue squad, Sullivan took possession of the plans,” refusing several board requests to review them. In addition, documents included as attachments with the forensic audit show that at some point in the process, the billing address that T.E. Allen Engineering used for its invoices was changed from the rescue squad’s P.O. Box to the P.O. Box number used by Sullivan Custom Homes.
Sullivan still had his eye on the contract for the new squad building and signed a contract for the project on Feb. 1, 2018, starting work on Feb. 5. The only problem, the rescue squad claims, is that the board never approved the contract and didn’t even know it existed until after the bank loan for the project was approved later that spring. However, the conflict between Sullivan and the squad first appeared in court when Sullivan sued the rescue squad — not the other way around. Sullivan filed his suit on Jan. 25, 2019, claiming that the rescue squad broke its contract with his company when it ordered him to cease and desist construction of the new squad building based on false allegations against Sullivan. Then, Sullivan’s suit said, the rescue squad declined to pay him for the work and materials he’d provided to the site thus far. This led Sullivan to file a lien on Nov. 26, 2018, in the amount of $22,034.55 plus interest and attorney’s fees. According to the squad’s lawsuit, around Feb. 1, 2018, Sullivan prepared a proposed contract that would allow SCH to build the new rescue squad station for a lump sum of $1.96 million, but he never submitted it to the board for approval. Instead, the suit alleges, he “induced” Chief Carl Stewart and Treasurer Sandy Taylor to sign the document when he “falsely suggested” that the contract had been approved. Once he’d obtained the signatures, he started working on the project and invoicing the rescue squad. By early April, board members were asking questions about Sullivan’s role in the project, and Sullivan became “agitated” at the questions, resigning from the board on April 12, 2018, the squad’s suit said. On July 25, 2018, the rescue squad served SCH with a cease and desist letter, ordering the company to stop work. The squad then told Sullivan to submit documentation for work performed prior to the cease and desist letter being issued so that all vendors could be paid for work they’d actually performed, the suit says.
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Sullivan offers an alternative version of events. In court documents, he denies that he refused to turn plans over to the board and avers that he had a valid contract for the project, gathering signatures the way he did on the advice of a local attorney who had “from time to time” served the squad. Sullivan’s suit states that he began work on Feb. 5, 2018, and that in March, two change orders totaling $382,800 were added to the contract, bringing the project’s total value to $2.34 million before a 15 percent markup for the contractor’s fee. The change order was signed by Stewart, Taylor and Sullivan, Sullivan’s suit states. “Plaintiff provided invoices to the Defendant and Defendant made some payments totaling $91,553.45,” Sullivan’s suit reads. “Defendant did not object to Plaintiff ’s performance and in fact sought Plaintiff ’s continued performance until, for reasons satisfactory to itself, it changed its position.” Regarding the initial licensure and
causes of action against Sullivan Custom Homes and eight against Sullivan in his individual capacity. Of the 19 total causes, 15 claim damages in excess of $25,000, and the suit requests a jury trial to determine the total amount.
CRIMINAL CASES AND A LICENSING HEARING
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Sullivan is also facing criminal charges following a State Bureau of Investigations probe. He was indicted Sept. 10 on three counts, all pertaining to the manner in which he obtained his unlimited license. The charges include two felonies — obtaining property by false pretenses and corporate malfeasance — and a misdemeanor for giving false evidence to the N.C. License Board of General Contractors. Sullivan is in trouble with the licensing board too. The rescue squad brought two separate complaints against him in August 2019, and a formal hearing is expected sometime in early 2021, said License Board Executive Director Frank Weisner. The licensing board complaints claim that “The incidents appear to be isolated, Sullivan failed to comply and steps have been taken to protect with state building code requirements and that he taxpayer dollars. We look forward to failed to procure proper permits. continuing to work with the squad “We investigated the case. We obtained evi— Don Adams, County Manager dence that the board’s review committee deteralleged transfer of the $152,000, Sullivan mines supports the allegations, and they denies the allegations in his response to the recommend to the board that Sullivan squad’s complaint but does not offer an Custom Homes be brought before the alternative explanation. board for a hearing,” said Weisner. Sullivan is asking a jury to award him Hearings are conducted in a similar damages in excess of $25,000. The rescue manner to court proceedings. Sullivan will squad “ratified the contract” when it be invited to present his case, and the allowed him to continue work for months board’s prosecution will present theirs. The prior to the cease and desist order, board’s authority is broad, Weisner said — Sullivan’s suit states. It accepted work per discipline can range from a formal repriformed prior to that time, “defeating any mand to suspension or even revocation of arguments it has already raised or may later the license. raise based upon invalid contracting Sullivan’s alleged actions also resulted in authority, defective contract formation or an investigation by the county into overall other theories.” doings at the rescue squad — hence the In its response to Sullivan’s lawsuit, the forensic audit. On May 8, 2019, the county squad denies that it agreed to pay Sullivan’s contracted with Dixon Hughes Goodman to $91,553 invoice or that the contract — ensure that financial irregularities within which it holds was never valid — included a the rescue squad were relegated to the contractor’s fee. It also denies that it had alleged issues involving Sullivan. According “ratified” the contract by its actions prior to to the completed audit dated Nov. 20, 2019, the cease and desist letter. Furthermore, the and published as part of county commissquad claims that it has paid all actual costs sioners’ Oct. 13 work session, they were. associated with the project. “The incidents appear to be isolated, “Plaintiff has never provided an accountand steps have been taken to protect taxing of the $22,034.55, but it appears to conpayer dollars,” County Manager Don sist of the management fee mentioned above Adams told commissioners during an Oct. and a percentage markup, on what was sup13 work session. “We look forward to conposed to be a lump sum agreement, on excatinuing to work with the squad.” vation costs paid directly by the rescue When the squad and the county first squad to one of the Plaintiff ’s vendors,” the started talking about expanding search and squad’s countersuit said. In an earlier pararescue capabilities in the Cashiers area, graph, the document stated that the “purboth the county and the squad had expectported contract” does not provide for a ed that by fall 2020 the new substation management fee and that the attempt to would have been built and in use for some charge such a fee was a “punitive action in time. As it stands, the property set aside for response to the cease and desist letter.” the station is still empty, and there’s no The squad then goes on to bring 11 telling when the project will resume.
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More than 4,000 locations will now offer a curbside drop-off option for the Samaritan’s Purse project Operation Christmas Child. Volunteers are preparing to collect shoebox gifts during National Collection Week, Nov. 16-23. Operation Christmas Child has been collecting and delivering shoebox gifts— filled with school supplies, hygiene items and fun toys — to children worldwide for more than two decades. This is a project
that everyone can still be a part of, even with COVID-19 restrictions. There’s still time for individuals, families, and groups to transform empty shoeboxes into fun gifts. Find a step-bystep guide on the How to Pack a Shoebox webpage, visit samaritanspurse.org/occ. Participants can find the nearest dropoff location and hours of operation as they make plans to drop off their shoebox gifts at samaritanspurse.org/occ/drop-off-locations. The online lookup tool is searchable by city or ZIP code. Drop-off locations nearby include Waynesville First Baptist Church, Bethel Baptist Church and Ochre Hill Baptist Church in Sylva.
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Drop-off locations for Operation Christmas Child
in those votes, but you never know, and as close as it is it’s worth a second look.” Jones, also, does not expect the outcome to change. “I’m so humbled and proud,” he said of his likely win. Of the 336 provisional ballots cast on Election Day — ballots left out of the initial count because there is a question about the voter’s eligibility that must be settled by the election board — 90 were accepted into the final count. “You have to go through the process, and it’s a good and fair process, and it works,” Jones said. Letson outstripped Jones in the provisional ballots, with 56.67 percent of those votes, while Jones did better with absentee voters, receiving 57.35 percent of the vote on those late-arriving ballots. The trends follow those observed on Election Day. Jones received 72.3 percent of the 2,721 absentee votes counted on Election Day while Letson received 65.2 percent of 3,631 in-person Election Day votes. However, Letson pointed out that while he came up short overall, he won all the precincts in southern Jackson County by significant margins, losing only four of the county’s 13 precincts. Letson lost by 34 votes in the Qualla district and pulled only 43.8 percent of 1,601 votes in Webster and 45.4 percent of 4,329 votes in Sylva/Dillsboro. His biggest loss was in the county’s secondlargest precinct of Cullowhee, where he received only 37.7 percent of 4,115 votes. “I’m a little disappointed that Cullowhee is just determining who is our representative, but that’s the way the rules are,” he said. If his lead holds, Jones will be part of a 41 Democratic majority on the board, with Commissioner-Elect Tom Stribling the body’s sole Republican. New commissioners will be sworn in on Monday, Dec. 7, and serve through December 2024.
November 18-24, 2020
BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ollowing canvass Friday, Nov. 13, Democrat Mark Jones is still ahead in the race for the Jackson County Board of Commissioners’ District 4 seat — but barely. Election Day vote tallies put Jones, a 10year veteran of the county commission seeking to rejoin the board after losing to Republican Mickey Luker in 2016, just nine votes ahead of Republican Mark Letson, who is seeking his first elected office. That count did not include provisional ballots or absentee votes that were postmarked Mark Jones by Nov. 3 but had not yet arrived at the Board of Elections. On Friday, the board added 68 absentee ballots and 90 provisional ballots to the count. Letson narrowed the gap by two votes, but it wasn’t enough to overtake Jones’ lead. Mark Letson Though the tally is still subject to the results of a recount, Jones currently has 10,452 votes with Letson coming in just seven votes behind, at 10,445. When results come within 1 percent of each other, candidates have the right to request a recount. Letson has made that request, and the recount is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 19. However, Letson allowed the outcome is not likely to change. “The care that they (the Board of Elections) took to ensure that the votes are counted correctly is a testament to their standards,” said Letson. “I don’t see a swing
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Jones ahead in Jackson Commission race after canvass
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DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY (DEQ) INTENT TO ISSUE NPDES WASTEWATER DISCHARGE PERMIT #NC0000272 WITH PROPOSED REMOVAL OF COLOR VARIANCE
PERMIT APPLICATION Notice is hereby given in accordance with NC General Statutes (G.S.) 150B-21.2 and G.S. 150B-21.3A, G.S. 143-214.1 and federal regulations at 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 131.20 (b), 40 CFR 131.14 and 40 CFR 25.5 that the DEQ, Division of Water Resources (DWR) intends to amend effluent permit requirements applicable to Blue Ridge Paper Products, LLC. Public comment or objection to the draft permit modification is invited. All comments received by January 29, 2021 will be considered in the final determination regarding permit issuance and permit provisions. Blue Ridge Paper Products LLC, (d/b/a Evergreen Packaging), Permit Number NC0000272. Blue Ridge Paper Products, LLC is authorized to discharge wastewater from a facility located at the Blue Ridge Paper Products Wastewater Treatment Plant, off Highway 215 (175 Main Street), Canton, Haywood County, NC to receiving waters designated as the Pigeon River, French Broad River Basin, in accordance with effluent limitations. Some of the parameters are water quality limited. This discharge may affect future allocations in this portion of the French Broad River Basin. The location of the Outfall is: Latitude: 35032’08”; Longitude: 82050’42”. The thermal component of the discharge is subject to effluent limitations under Title 15A North Carolina Administrative Code (NCAC) Subchapter 02B .0211 (18), which proposes thermal effluent limitations disallowing an exceedance of 2.8 degrees C (5.04 degrees F) above the natural water temperature, and in no case to exceed 29 degrees C (84.2 degrees F). The permit holder has requested a continuance of a Clean Water Act Section 316(a) variance. On the basis of 15A NCAC 02B .0208 (b),and other lawful standards and regulations, DWR proposes to continue the 316(a) variance in conjunction with the renewal of the permit. The draft wastewater permit and all related documents are available online at: https://deq.nc.gov/news/events/public-notices-hearings. Printed copies of the draft permit and related documents may be reviewed at the department’s Asheville Regional Office. To make an appointment to review the documents, please call 828-296-4500. Public comment on the draft permit and on the proposed removal of the existing color variance should be mailed to: Wastewater Permitting, Attn: Blue Ridge Paper Products Permit, 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C., 27699-1617. Public comments may also be submitted by email to: publiccomments@ncdenr.gov. Please be sure to include “Blue Ridge Paper Products” in the email’s subject line.
COLOR VARIANCE INFORMATION Notice is also hereby given in accordance with NC G.S. 150B-21.2 and G.S. 150B-21.3A, G.S. 143-214.1 and federal regulations at 40 CFR 131.20 (b), 40 CFR 131.14 and 40 CFR 25.5 that the NC Environmental Management Commission (EMC) is requesting comment on removing the color variance from the effluent permit requirements applicable to Blue Ridge Paper Products, LLC. All comments received by January 29, 2021 will be considered. Comments should be mailed to: Wastewater Permitting, Attn: Blue Ridge Paper Products Permit, 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C., 27699-1617. Public comments may also be submitted by email to: publiccomments@ncdenr.gov. Please be sure to include “Blue Ridge Paper Products” in the email’s subject line. Public records related to the EMC consideration of the variance are located at: https://deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/water-resources/water-resourcescommissions/environmental-management-commission-71
November 18-24, 2020
BACKGROUND The effluent permit limit requirements applicable to Blue Ridge Paper Products, LLC established in compliance with NC G.S. 143-215.1, other lawful standards and regulations promulgated and adopted by the EMC, and the Clean Water Act (Act), as amended, previously contained a variance provision to the state’s narrative, aesthetic, water quality standard for color. The variance was granted July 13, 1988, by the EMC, under provisions in G.S. 143-215.3(e). Further, the variance has been continued under regulations contained in 15A NCAC 02B .0226, Exemptions From Surface Water Quality Standards: “Variances from applicable standards, revisions to water quality standards or site-specific water quality standards may be granted by the Commission on a case-by-case basis pursuant to G.S. 143-215.3(e), 143-214.3 or 143-214.1. A listing of existing variances shall be maintained and made available to the public by the Division. Exemptions established pursuant to this Rule shall be reviewed as part of the Triennial Review of Water Quality Standards conducted pursuant to 40 CFR 131.10(g).” NC DEQ DWR has concluded that a variance from the narrative provision at 15A NCAC 02B .0211(12), historically interpreted as an instream true color value of 50 platinum cobalt units (PCU), is no longer necessary. As outlined in the accompanying supporting materials, significant improvements to the instream concentrations of color in the Pigeon River, combined with specific limits on color and an updated reevaluation regarding the narrative provision and protection of the designated uses, support removal of the variance. While 40 CFR Part 131 requires that “a State may not adopt Water Quality Standard (WQS) variances if the designated use and criterion addressed by the WQS variance can be achieved..." by implementing certain effluent measures, the permit contains technology-based effluent limits (see page 4 of the draft permit) that result in achieving the same goal and are in accordance with the most recent US EPA Technology Review Workgroup recommendations. In addition to the removal of the variance, the 2020 draft permit includes monitoring requirements that the facility meet a monthly average delta ( ) Color of 50 PCU at the Fiberville Bridge, when the Pigeon River flow at Canton is equal or above the Monthly 30Q2 flow of 129 cubic feet per second. Previously, a Settlement Agreement between NC, Tennessee (TN), and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) required that the facility meet an instream color of 50 PCU at the TN/NC state line, located approximately 40 river miles below the discharge. A summary of the history of the variance, review of applicable regulations, and a reevaluation of the stream conditions is located at: https://deq.nc.gov/news/events/public-notices-hearings
RECOMMENDATION In accordance with state and federal regulations, the proposed variance modification to the permit is effectively a change to water quality standards and subject to public hearing. Under 40 CFR Part 131.14 (b)(1)(v) the state has reevaluated the Color Variance, examined the highest attainable condition using all existing and readily available information and, now, provides notification to obtain public input on this reevaluation, to confirm the finding that the present condition for color corresponds to meeting the applicable criterion at 15A NCAC 02B .0211(12) and that a variance is no longer required for this facility per the intent of 40 CFR Part 131. Upon completion of the review process, and certification under 40 CFR Part 132.5(b)(2) from the State’s Attorney General’s office that proper notification has been given, the results of the EMC decisions will be submitted to the EPA for action.
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In the abundance of caution, and to address protective measures to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, the hearing will be held online. Date: January 20, 2021 Time: 6 pm WebEx link: https://ncdenrits.webex.com/ncdenrits/onstage/g.php?MTID=e6dd914ab0c9b2593dbb23321a36af245 WebEx password: Nk2BCEzm7P2 WebEx phone number: 1-415-655-0003 WebEx access code: 171 787 6586 (Please see information below regarding registering for, joining, and commenting at the public hearing.)
REGISTRATION To register for the hearing and provide your preference regarding speaking at the hearing, please visit: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=3IF2etC5mkSFwzCbNftGRcM2xmuszROiks3JDQp2_RURjJSWUpMRThRSURXVzA5WFU5MkdNUzk1UC4u Registration must be completed by 12:00 pm on January 20, 2021. If you have any problems registering online, please call 919-707-9011 or email peter.johnston@ncdenr.gov by the registration deadline of 12:00 pm on January 20, 2021. The Division of Water Resources highly recommends testing your computer's WebEx capabilities prior to the hearing at https://www.webex.com/test-meeting.html. For instructions about digital ways to join the public hearing, please refer to the WebEx Help Center online at https://help.webex.com/en-us/ . To comment during the hearing after your name is called as a registered speaker and/or after the hearing officer asks if any people wish to comment following the registered speakers: - If you join the hearing by phone, press *3 to “raise your hand,” speak, and press *3 to “lower your hand.” - If you join the hearing online, press the “raise your hand” icon, speak, and press the “lower your hand” icon. - The Hearing Officer may limit the length of time that you may speak, so that all those who wish to speak may do so.
Community Almanac Junalusak Woman’s Club decorates for fall This year Junaluska Woman’s Club members have crafted plans for wonderful, supportive projects and fundraising events that, during the pandemic, have had to be canceled again and again. So, when someone came up with the idea of decorating Lake Junaluska’s East Gate, several members (and a few willing husbands) were eager to get to work. “It was a perfect early fall day with lots of sunshine and beauty from the lake as our inspiration,” said Nancy Hood. They started with several bales of hay and plenty of pumpkins. Then they added pots of fall flowers, a few fallen branches and a couple of wreaths from leftover decorations. One worker said that as they stood back and admired their handiwork, several folks drove by and expressed their appreciation to the group for adding the fall décor to the already beautiful grounds.
KARE Festival of Trees goes virtual
Baptist Children’s Homes expands
This year, the Forga Family KARE House Festival of Trees will be held virtually with 17 trees available for auction, as well as an opportunity to bid on additional auction items. The opportunity to begin bidding will start at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 19 and ends at 9 p.m. Nov. 30. Trees will be delivered Dec. 2. Trees will be on display for public viewing across Haywood County at Laurel Ridge Country Club, Beverly Hanks, Champion Credit Union, and Legacy Dance Studio. Normally pictures do not do them justice but there will be pictures available on the bidding site. KARE’s child medical evaluation numbers have doubled and case numbers have increased by 37 cases in the last quarter. Visit www.karehouse.org to give a direct donation to the agency.
Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina is adding a key and historic component to its already comprehensive array of services to children and families. The 135-year-old nonprofit is assuming ownership of Christian Adoption Services, giving BCH the ability to aid families with domestic and international adoptions. “This is an extraordinary way for Baptist Children’s Homes to celebrate its 135th anniversary,” said Michael C. Blackwell, who has served as BCH President/CEO since 1983. “Now more than ever, boys and girls need to be cared for by dedicated families who can give them the love and protection they deserve. Bringing in the proven expertise of Christian Adoption Services expands our ability to offer children hope.” Together, BCH and CAS have almost 176 years of experience in providing compassionate services to bring help, hope and healing to vulnerable children.
Drop off Operation Christmas Child boxes More than 4,000 locations will now offer a curbside drop-off option for the Samaritan’s Purse project, Operation Christmas Child. Volunteers are preparing to collect shoebox gifts during National Collection Week, Nov. 16-23. Operation Christmas Child has been collecting and delivering shoebox gifts — filled with school supplies, hygiene items and fun toys — to children worldwide for more than two decades. There’s still time for individuals, families, and groups to transform empty shoeboxes into fun gifts. Find a step-by-step guide on the How to Pack a Shoebox webpage, visit samaritanspurse.org/occ. Drop-off locations nearby include Waynesville First Baptist Church, Bethel Baptist Church and Ochre Hill Baptist Church in Sylva.
Raffle to benefit homeless families On Saturday, Nov. 21, a local nonprofit focused on providing assistance to the unsheltered will hold a charity raffle — with a little help from Haywood County’s own bluegrass super-group Balsam Range. Helping Hands of Haywood is currently offering raffle tickets for $1 each, or 6 for $5. Winners will be drawn by members of Balsam Range at 7 p.m. live on Facebook. Prizes include photo sessions, quilts, artwork, dining, pet grooming services, retail gift cards, greens fees at area golf courses and more. All proceeds will be used to help a fam-
Smoky Mountain News
ily experiencing temporary homelessness through the EACH initiative, another local nonprofit charged with mitigating homelessness. For more information on prizes or to purchase tickets, visit www.haywoodhelpinghands.org or call 828.508.3420.
Health Foundation NIMble grants More than 30 Western North Carolina nonprofits and public service agencies have been awarded Needs Immediately Met, or NIMble, grants from Nantahala Health Foundation in support of programs designed to achieve better health outcomes for regional residents. Organizations located in Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Jackson, Macon, Swain counties, and the Qualla Boundary, many with immediate needs as a result of COVID-19’s impact on the region, were awarded a total of $272,882. “The primary goal of our NIMble grant program is to ensure our quick response to meet our partners’ most crucial needs,” Nantahala Health Foundation Executive Director Lori Bailey said. “In addition to meeting these urgent needs, NIMble has helped us identify and work with organizational leaders who have developed innovative ideas for addressing the social determinants of health in our region.” According to Bailey, more than 75% of awarded NIMble grants, or $212,499, will support regional recovery efforts. For more information about Nantahala Health Foundation, visit nantahalahealthfoundation.org.
Evergreen Foundation awards grants The Evergreen Foundation recently awarded $173,000 in second quarter funding to six nonprofit agencies providing programs and services for individuals with Behavioral Health, Substance Abuse and Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities throughout Western North Carolina. • The Arc of Haywood County — $25,000 to replace security cameras in their group homes serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. • Hawthorne Heights — $79,551 in funding as a match for a Juvenile Crime Commission grant to resume respite services at the WNC youth shelter in Bryson City. • Youth Villages — $30,000 in match funding to provide post foster care services in WNC. Services include assisting youth with employment, housing and higher education opportunities. • Macon Citizens Habilities — $15,115 to purchase supplies to repair the roof and skylight at their day services facility, which serves individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. • LifeSpan Services — $13,326 to create welcoming outdoor spaces and install an automatic door at their campus in Cherokee County. • Life Challenge — $10,000 to make repairs to their sewer and water system for their program serving women with Substance Use Disorders in WNC.
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To learn more, visit the web site at www.evergreenfoundationnc.org or contact Denise Coleman at dcoleman@evergreennc.org.
Haywood Hospice hosts memorial Haywood Hospice & Palliative Care recently hosted its annual Memorial event outside the Lake Junaluska Chapel. This year’s theme was “Creating Memories and Leaving a Legacy.” The event was open to families and friends whose loved one was in Hospice care, as well as others in our community who had lost a loved one in the past year. Melanie Seeger, bereavement coordinator for Haywood Hospice, welcomed guests to the event and spoke on the importance of sharing stories and memories of a loved one. “With all that has gone on this year, it was encouraging to see a good crowd come and meet outside for our memorial service,” said Chip Wheat, executive director of Haywood Hospice. “We appreciate everyone who helped make this event possible” Haywood Healthcare Foundation sponsors the memorial event.
Macon not testing during holidays Due to upcoming holidays, Macon County Public Health will not be conducting COVID-19 testing the weeks of Thanksgiving and Christmas. For those who are asymptomatic, and believe they have been exposed to COVID-19, follow CDC and NCDHHS guidance of quarantining for 14 days after exposure. Those who have been exposed and are experiencing symptoms should reach out to their primary care provider or seek emergency help. For other testing sites in the area, visit: https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/about-covid-19/testing/find-my- testing-place.
Haywood Foundation grant recipients The board of advisors of the Haywood County Community Foundation recently announced $4,090 in local grant awards from its community grantmaking fund. • $1,500 to Clothes to Kids of Haywood County, Inc. for the Bottoms Up program • $910 to The Community Kitchen for feeding the needy of Haywood County • $1,000 to the Haywood County Gleaners for general operating support • $680 to the Haywood Habitat for Humanity for the Homebuyer Education for Low-Income Homebuyers program For further information, contact NCCF Community Leadership Officer Colby Martin at 828.358.0030 or cmartin@nccommunityfoundation.org or visit the NCCF website at www.nccommunityfoundation.org.
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Opinion
Smoky Mountain News
No time to let down our guard
The USA is on a downhill slide To the Editor: I hope all the idiots who voted for Biden are happy. Our country is going down the tubes. Welcome to socialism: all our taxes will be higher, unions will take over, small businesses will close, we will have open borders, and all of our jobs will be shipped to China. Then they will declare Biden unfit to be president and then Kamala Harris will be president and she will pick Hillary Clinton as vice president. The country will be in a shambles and it won’t take four years for the Democrats to do it. Greg Brom Waynesville
GOP leadership is sickening To the Editor: It sickens me — a 72-year-old, seven-year U.S. Air Force and Vietnam veteran — the depths to which this GOP administration and GOP members of Congress are descending. It has always been clear that their interests lie solely in personal power and personal gain. To believe in this GOP administration, and to support their actions and goals, requires massive ignorance or nefarious calculation of personal benefit. This GOP administration and GOP members of Congress constantly display lack of character and amorality. This GOP administration has no interest in the progress of America and the world, and seeks simply
pening in North Carolina started overwhelming the media over the next couple of weeks, and most of us are familiar with what happened next: Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency and implemented a series of shutdowns. On March 14, schools were ordered closed for, initially, two weeks; a week later, Cooper ordered them closed for the remainder of the year. The shutdowns culminated in the closure of many bars and restaurants for indoor dining on March 17. After that, it was a cascade of events, a time when the medical community was coming to grips with the Editor reality of community spread, quarantines, shortages and deaths. The rest of us — all of us who are part of “the economy” — had to with deal businesses shutting down, job losses, school shutdowns, and re-calculating just how we get through the day and do our jobs and take care of our families. So yeah, the fatigue is real, but here’s another truth: the worst is yet to come. New daily records for COVID cases are being set across U.S. states and in Europe. The fears of medical equipment shortages are becoming real. Morgues in some
Scott McLeod
If you’re feeling COVID fatigue, it’s no wonder. It seems this all started “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” We could be so lucky. In fact, it was one year ago, Nov. 17, 2019, that the first case of the novel coronavirus emerged was reported from a seafood market in Wuhan, China. At least that’s according to Chinese government data that was reported in the South China Morning Post. Now, a year later as I write this, life on the planet may never be the same. That’s especially true for the families and friends of the 1,334,978 who have perished worldwide; the 247,000 who have died in the U.S.; and the 4,800 in North Carolina. I started looking back to track how we got to where we are today. Researchers who have studied samples from flu tests think travelers from Wuhan may have entered California in mid-January and early February. Cases of non-travelers having the virus were reported in Washington state at about the same time, and Eastern Seaboard cases — presumably contracted from European travelers — were also reported in February. As is obvious now, efforts to control the spread failed miserably. The first case to reach North Carolina was reported on March 3, from someone who had traveled to Washington State. The first widespread news stories about what was hap-
LETTERS and nakedly to ignore reality in favor of their twisted mindset, that only they are to be believed, that every fact illustrating their malfeasance must be fake news. The most difficult part of governance is actual good management. America desperately needs our elected representatives to spend our money to good effect by employing personnel with provable expertise. This GOP administration has made no pretense, since the 2016 election, of having such a goal, similar to GOP administrations since the election of Reagan, who in his initial inaugural address of January 20, 1981, said, “Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.” In fact, bad government is the problem, and the GOP excels in bad government. This GOP administration and Congress are now engaged in tremendous lies about the American election with no apparent goal except diversion and distraction, as well as fund-raising to help pay the President’s massive debt, and firing up their base at whatever cost to America. Attorney General William Barr has unleashed his Justice Department minions in support of this farce, and Emily Murphy, a Trump appointee and former Republican staffer on Capitol Hill, now the General Services Administrator, refuses the obligations of her office to the incoming President. Meanwhile, they continue, under the radar to most people, their destruction of protections of the American commons, so their overloads are free to extract and abuse as they see fit. We are better than this. I’m probably misquoting someone, but we all do better when
cities are once again filled to capacity. Right now, one of our counties — Haywood — has five people with COVID in the hospital’s intensive care unit. That’s the most it’s had since the outbreak. Our friends and neighbors are in there caring those sick folks, so we can only wish the caregivers and those with the virus our best. In the midst of all this, two vaccines are in the research and development stages. According to the Centers for Disease Control website, doses of the vaccine may be available by the end of 2020. Still, it will be several months into 2021 before it is widely available and, according the CDC, research on children and the effects of the vaccine may take longer. In other words, the first doses may not be available to children. One of the most unfortunate outcomes of this pandemic has been the battle lines that have been drawn. Science tells us masks are effective, but some just won’t do it. Unless laws are passed mandating mask wearing, those who refuse are within their rights to put others in danger. And so we have to deal with a pandemic, a fractured economy, and fighting among neighbors about whether masks should be worn — one more aspect of the COVID fatigue plaguing almost everyone. Fatigue, yes. But all the evidence says we can’t let down our guard. Not yet. (Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com)
we all do better. That can only happen when the GOP drastically changes its mindset, and begins to work for their boss, the American people, who hired them. Bil Aylor Bryson City
GOP ignorance is staggering To the Editor: Joe Biden won, period. Biden won by the same “landslide” of 306 electoral votes as Trump declared in 2016. The difference is that the margins of victory by state tend to be larger than Trump’s but, unlike Trump, Biden also won the overall popular vote. There was no widespread voter fraud
other than the Republican attempts at voter suppression by limiting voting places and other tactics to suppress votes. The so-called “Stop the Steal” is just another one of Roger Stone’s dirty tricks warmed over for another pass at sowing discord.
What is most distressing are the elected Republicans who are placating Trump’s ego by denying Biden’s clear victory. Trump’s mental illness makes him unable to face reality, but senators and representatives don’t have that excuse. Their failure to accept reality and deal with the COVID-19 pandemic is costing thousands of lives. The Trump administration long ago gave up trying to do anything constructive about the pandemic. That “do nothing” strategy and adherence to the fantasy that it will “just go away” are now costing thousands of Americans to die each day. The Republicans in Congress also are doing absolutely nothing. The only thing Mitch McConnell cares about is getting another ideologue appointed to a lifetime judicial appointment. They don’t seem to understand that we need to address the pandemic to get economic recovery. The apparent ignorance is staggering. With newly elected Republicans it does not look like things will get better from their end. Our local congressman seems to think he is going to Washington to fight the “libs” instead of working for the overall interests of the district, such as broadband and economic development. The new Republican senator in Alabama could not correctly identify the three branches of the federal government and claimed we fought World War II to defeat socialists instead of the white-supremacist Nazis. When someone brings up socialists or socialism, it typically means the person doesn’t know what he or she is talking about. Norm Hoffman Waynesville
The bright spots of a pandemic holiday
Susanna Shetley
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Smoky Mountain News
cookbooks and my late mother’s holiday recipes. This year I plan to be in the kitchen baking sweets and making savory dishes. Christmas music and movies: For a couple years after my mom’s passing, I couldn’t listen to Christmas music or watch holiday movies. They felt too jarring for my psyche. My mom loved all things holiday and it just didn’t feel right to experience the surfacelevel delight of music and movies. Once my grief was in a better place, I realized she’d want me to continue listening to Bing Crosby and tuning the TV to the Hallmark Channel for two months. These small pleasures are especially alluring during a pandemic when escaping from reality is truly healing. Shopping small: I always try to support local businesses but this year more than ever I plan to shop small. Online sales have soared during 2020 due to everyone being at home more than usual. This has affected small businesses throughout the country. We’re lucky to live in an area with a vast array of locally owned shops and galleries. Though it’s tempting to stay in my cozy house and order stuff online, it’s also fun to get out and support our local economy. Traditions: Traditions during a pandemic can be tricky, especially when a lot of traditions involve crowds. This year we probably won’t enjoy a Christmas Parade or walk around the Winter Lights event at the N.C. Arboretum. We usually visit Santa at Biltmore for a fun photo, but I’m not sure if he’ll be in attendance this year. Nonetheless, a strange year such as this offers the chance to incorporate new traditions, such as making DIY gifts like candles and soaps or completing a yearly holiday puzzle. Loved ones: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought us all closer not only to our loved ones but also to the meaning of life. Whether it’s over a Zoom call or in person, the most important aspect of this holiday season will be spending time and communicating with those I love. If there’s ever a time to slow down and make that phone call or send that card, it’s during the holidays. A year ago we were in New York City enjoying The Rockettes Christmas Spectacular, frolicking through Central Park, navigating a crowded Times Square and shopping at Macy’s. That’s not happening this year, for us or any other family. Yet, I’m not going to let a pandemic ruin my holiday experience. I’ve accepted this year will feel different than years past. That acceptance was the first step in finding a unique kind of contentment in 2020. My challenge for you is to do the same. Your list may look different than mine, but whatever you hold close this holiday season, may it bring you authentic joy and some reprieve from a year that has exhausted all of us. (Susanna Shetley is an editor, writer, and digital media specialist for The Smoky Mountain News, Smoky Mountain Living and Mountain South Media. susanna.b@smokymountainnews.com.)
November 18-24, 2020
’ve started listening to Christmas music and it’s not even Thanksgiving, but you know what? It’s 2020 and anything goes. Whatever makes the world feel less heavy is allowable. Most of us have never experienced the holidays during a pandemic. I’m finding it a bit discombobulating. Normally this is the week I visit my boys’ schools to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal Columnist in the cafeteria. Invitations regarding holiday programs, plays, chorus performances and band concerts would be in backpacks. But, not this year. All of those events have gone virtual or are not happening. Similarly, this is the time of year where companies, foundations, chambers of commerce and other entities are planning holiday parties and soirees. Between my boyfriend and me, we usually have a pretty full social calendar during the month of December. This year our weekends are free of festive fun but full of soccer games. They delayed the soccer season several months so the kids are playing games well into December, as opposed to ending in early November. Again, everything is off-kilter this year. Not only is it not recommended to attend large gatherings, COVID-19 data suggests small family gatherings are petri dishes for viral contagion. Nonetheless, I think most families are still trying to figure out creative ways to be together this holiday season. Wisdom coach Patricia Ryan Madson offers this piece of advice, “If you can’t get out of it, get into it.” With that being said, I’m trying not to bemoan the loss of a normal holiday season. Instead, I’m going to roll with it and find some positives. I made a list of things that will make me happy this season. Advent wreath: An Advent Wreath has been special to me for a long time. It offers a quiet reflective component to the hustle and bustle of a typical holiday season. Each year we craft our own wreath with a metal base, wire and fresh greenery. Each night we say a prayer as we light the respective candle. In no way does the pandemic affect us having and lighting an Advent Wreath, although 2020 will affect the nature of our prayers, to be sure. Baking and making holiday goodies: Though I have several friends who enjoy baking and making goodies during the holidays, I don’t customarily do this. This year The Smoky Mountain News published our inaugural holiday cookbook. As I was assembling the book, I enjoyed reading through all of the recipes. Our cookbook also led me to look through many of my old
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A&E
Smoky Mountain News
Cabell Tice, co-owner of Steamline Coffee Co. in Waynesville. (photos: Luke Sutton Photo)
“By offering our own beans, we can put something out we’re fully proud of — we’re not taking a break on the pursuit of excellence.” — Cabell Tice, Steamline Coffee Co.
From bean to table Steamline Coffee Co. opens in Waynesville BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER riday morning in downtown Waynesville and Orchard Coffee is bustling. There are those entering and waiting patiently for strong coffee and freshly baked goods, those exiting with full hands and big smiles. It’s a familiar sight for the popular familyrun business, the operation itself now coming up on a year and a half since it opened the doors. And yet, for co-owner Cabell Tice, all he can think of lately is what’s down the road — literally and figuratively. “It’s all been part of the plan. I’ve been passionate about roasting for a number of years,” Tice said. “I’ve worked for some roasters. And I’ve roasted coffee in competitions, where we did really well, too.” The “part of the plan” Tice is referring to is Steamline Coffee Co. A full-scale roastery just a few buildings down the hill from Orchard on
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alone and enter this kind of relaxed space, where I have music playing and I’m focused on the quality of our product.” As a tribute to his mother, Maria, who remains a beloved fixture behind the counter at Orchard, Tice has been experimenting with and producing roasted coffee from her native Mexico. “I wanted to be able to highlight coffee from Mexico. So, most recently, I’ve been able to source a Mexican coffee that we love from Chiapas,” Tice said. “And in doing that first Chiapas roast, it felt so much more important to me within the roasting process. It wasn’t just making beans, it felt like part of who I am, and it means so much to serve that coffee alongside my mom at Orchard.” With Steamline, Tice looks at the new venture as a way to ensure the quality of ingredients and brand awareness radiating from up the hill at Orchard.
Depot Street, Steamline was recently launched by Tice and his family, which includes his mother, siblings, wife and children. “I wanted the roasting brand to be different than Orchard, because I feel that Orchard really embodies the spirit of farming, which is a big part of the heritage of this area,” Tice said. “With Steamline, it’s celebrating the train and railroad lines that connected and expanded this country, ultimately bringing growth to Waynesville, Haywood County and Western North Carolina.” Although Steamline initially planned to start roasting in January, the pandemic and eventual economic shutdown stalled those plans, where all focus and energy went into ensuring the financial stability of Orchard. “Steamline had to go on pause for a while, where that capital to start the roastery was put to the side in case we needed it going forward with Orchard,” Tice said. “Thankfully, after a few months of being open and still able to sell coffee and goods at Orchard, we knew we could put Steamline into high gear to start roasting.” Tice noted that, as of now, Steamline will not do any online sales. All of its roasted coffee will only be sold onsite at Orchard. Heading
down to Steamline once a week, Tice estimates the company produces about 150 pounds of coffee in that single roasting session, all of which gone and sold within days. “Once you’ve built your flavor profiles and your curves, it’s kind of anti-climactic because you’re just replicating the process and simply paying attention to ensuring that the machinery works properly,” Tice chuckled. “But, for me, what I love about it is being able to work
“For us, we know we’re using the best ingredients, where everything has a good balance of flavor and we have control over all the facets of the bean,” Tice said. “By offering our own beans, we can put something out we’re fully proud of — we’re not taking a break on the pursuit of excellence.” Aside from the ever-evolving nature of his businesses, Tice & Co. will also be expanding the food menu at Orchard. The current breakfast options will soon include lunch dishes, with dining hours also extending throughout most of the day. “We have big dreams as a small shop,” Tice said. “Our goal is to do the best job here, to really serve our community. We love Haywood County, so our focus is to keep ingraining ourselves in this awesome place.” When asked about how 2020 and the shutdown affected his business and family, Tice paused for a moment, seemingly remembering all of those faces (from near and far) who still showed up at the front door — standing six feet apart down the hill and around the corner — in search of a cup o’joe. “When the pandemic hit, you really could see that people were voting with their dollar. They were saying they care about our business and that they want us to stay here — that really kept us going,” Tice said. “When we opened, we took a chance on Waynesville and Waynesville took a chance on us. We showed up here and didn’t know anybody. This community has fully embraced our business and who we are as people.”
BY GARRET K. WOODWARD
Guitar strumming on the new porch. (photo: Garret K. Woodward)
So, where am I right now? Well, physically, I’m sitting in the back of our office, by myself in the conference room near the kitchen and mini-fridge. The blue coffee cup next to my laptop is full of the caffeinated black liquid that gives me the strength to type fast enough to meet those pesky deadlines. It’s Tuesday morning and whoever is here today helps in proofing the newspaper
before it goes to press and hits newsstands on Wednesday. It’s cool and dimly lit back here, which is to my liking, especially when I’m writing or simply trying to ease into the responsibilities at hand. Emotionally? I’m not really sure where I am these days. Sometimes I feel like I have it all dialed in, within my heart and soul (and current position of life and work), this stable footing of self and of purpose. Other days, I feel like I’m all over the map, this haphazard existence where decisions are seemingly made in haste in an effort to not fall into some kind of predictable pattern of movement and persona. I’ll probably have more to say about the
November 18-24, 2020
There’s all kinds of magic, it’s hard to believe
little heavy, especially when you unlock your front door and step into a quiet apartment, the only sign of recent movement being your unmade bed and half-empty beer can on the kitchen counter. You shut the door behind you, look at the clock and wonder what to do with the rest of the evening? Anyhow, I had done some writing at a coffee shop and went for an afternoon run. Lots of thoughts and pondering while trotting along the side streets of downtown Waynesville. Circling back to the humble abode, I felt distant. Very alone. So, I grabbed my guitar and sat on the wraparound front porch, strumming some tunes and watching the sun fall behind Balsam Gap. Next door is a popular pizza parlor. As I was playing along, this man about my age gets out of his car in the parking lot and approaches the porch. “Sounds pretty good,” the man said in a friendly tone. “I’m trying,” I replied modestly. “Yeah, I tried to learn guitar. Never got far with it, but I can play ‘Smoke on the Water,’” he laughed. We ended up talking for a little bit about where we’re from, my new porch (and the wild story of how the renovation came to fruition), the impending winter, etc. A truly sincere and kind soul. Just waiting for his pizza to bring home to his family. Eventually, his pizza order was ready. He said goodbye and strolled back across the parking lot to the restaurant. The sun was now long gone, the last of the day’s rays somewhere outside of Nashville. That simple chat erased the sense of loneliness, if but for a moment. So, thanks, Ruben. Maybe this column is a ramble. Or maybe it’s the thoughts in real time of a fellow human waking up each morning and trying to be a better person than the previous day. I remain optimistic in where we’re headed. I believe in the compassion and camaraderie of the human spirit. Reach out and connect, just don’t forget to wear your mask and keep some distance. This “new normal” doesn’t mean the end of making new friends and finding yourself in a happenstance interaction that can turn any frown upside down. If anything, 2020 has emphasized the importance of simply saying hello to another and seeing where the conversation takes you. Life is beautiful, grasp for it, y’all.
arts & entertainment
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This must be the place
gigantic elephant in the room that is 2020 and the question of “Where to from here?” in a month or so when New Year’s Eve rolls around. A holiday season recap, if you will, of this dumpster fire of a calendar year, where we stand together and gaze around at what’s left to embrace, pondering the hard truths of the age-old saying, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” Quick thought: if the ball in Times Square drops and nobody is around to hear or see it, did 2020 really end? Can you imagine ushering in 2021 with an empty Times Square? All those blinking lights and not a soul to stand there in awe of one moment transitioning into the next. Though I suppose that image of empty and silent New Year’s celebrations is par for the course when it comes to where we stand today, as a society and just as John & Jane Q. Public trying to navigate these choppy and unknown waters, personally and professionally. Like many of you out there, I’ve been getting “pandemic fatigue,” this seemingly endless motion of modern-day societal interaction (or lack thereof ) and noise from the internet, TV, radio or whoever you find yourself next going on and on about the virus. Not to mention the tip of the iceberg that is national politics in 2020, a dangerous beehive I’ll stand clear of for now. I’m keeping my head up. Always wearing my mask in any public setting. Constantly washing my hands. Standing six feet or so away from another human being at the grocery store, gas station, liquor store, department store, fitness gym, and so on. But, more importantly, I’ve been keeping tabs on all my beloved friends and family members around the country and across the globe. Even before “all of this,” I’ve always aimed to keep an open line of communication with those I love and adore, even if they’re far away and we might not actually talk as often as we’d like. And yet, this past Saturday I felt a little isolated. Lonely, perhaps. Where all things loved and familiar seem further and farther away, whether physically or emotionally. It’s been a long year, for all of us. An even longer year for those like myself who live, work and travel alone, too. No regrets. Seek new adventure and friendship, always. But, on certain days, your heart hangs a
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November 18-24, 2020
arts & entertainment
On the street
Sylva readies for holiday season The Main Street Sylva Association (MSSA) is working hard to provide a Covidsafe holiday experience in 2020. The MSSA has already started its annual Shop Small, Shop Local campaign by distributing flyers and making social media posts about effort. This is in conjunction with the annual American Express campaign, which assists small towns all across the country with marketing materials. By being Covid safe, the public is encouraged to social distance, wear a mask and frequently sanitize hands. The MSSA has announced that holiday music will be provided throughout the Home for the Holidays season starting on “Black Friday,” Nov. 27. Downtown shoppers and diners can expect to hear holiday music on Friday nights in downtown Sylva from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Nov. 27, Dec. 4, 11, and 18. Additionally, on Shop Small Saturday (Nov. 28), holiday music will fill the streets from noon to 4:30 p.m. For the first time, the Bridge Park Pavilion will be lighted throughout the holiday season as well. Main Street Sylva Team member Kelly
Donaldson said the Jackson County Ale Trail will be extra spirited this season with “Holiday Cheer Beer” as well. “Our four local breweries in the district will be showcasing their Holiday Cheer Beer, including Innovation Brewing’s Drury Lane Gingerbread Brown Ale, Balsam Falls’ Santa’s Dirty Secret Cream Ale, and Lazy Hiker Brewing’s Winter Nutterland Brown Ale. Nantahala Brewing’s ale will be announced,” he said. The second annual Holiday Window Decorating Contest is being sponsored again this year by the MSSA and its Sylva Art and Design Committee (SADC). Businesses should email sylvaartdesign@gmail.com with their business name and contact information to participate. Displays should be finalized by Thanksgiving Day for judging on Friday, Nov. 27. The deadline to enter is 5 p.m. on Nov. 23. The official annual Town of Sylva Christmas Tree will be beautifully decorated and ready for viewing at the fountain in front of the historic courthouse throughout the Home for the Holidays season, starting on Friday, Nov. 27.
• Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) will host an open mic from 8 to 10 p.m. every Thursday. Free and open to the public. www.balsamfallsbrewing.com.
Green in Cashiers. Holiday music, s’mores and more. Visit Santa at the gazebo from 5 to 6 p.m. Free to attend. www.villagegreencashiersnc.com or 828.743.3434.
• Elevated Mountain Distilling Company will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. www.elevatedmountain.com.
• “Winter Wonderland Nights” will return at 5 p.m. Nov. 28 in Franklin. Downtown will feature living window displays of the holidays, live sounds of the season outdoors at the gazebo and inside stores, free holiday attractions (weather permitting), refreshments, hot cider, great sales from local merchants, and much more. www.franklinchamber.com.
• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host Open Mic Night Nov. 19 and Isaac Corbitt (rock/soul) Nov. 28. All shows begin at 7 p.m. www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.
Smoky Mountain News
• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host WoolyBooger Nov. 20. All shows begin at 7 p.m. www.lazyhikerbrewing.com. • A drive-in concert series with St. Paul & The Broken Bones (soul/rock) will be held Nov. 19 at the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. Gates open at 6 p.m. Hosted by The Grey Eagle and Worthwhile Sounds, tickets are available at www.thegreyeagle.com. • Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host semiregular live music on the weekends and Joey Fortner & The Universal Sound (rock/folk) 6 p.m. Nov. 21. Free and open to the public. www.nantahalabrewing.com. • Waynesville Yoga Center will host Akitchitay (traditional/indigenous) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 27. $20 per person. www.waynesvilleyogacenter.com. 28
• The Christmas tree lighting will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. Nov. 27 at The Village
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• The annual “Polar Express” train ride is now departing from the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad depot in downtown Bryson City. 800.872.4681 or www.gsmr.com. • There will be a holiday wreath-making class from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 28 at Ray’s Florist & Greenhouse in Sylva. Cost is $59.95, which includes supplies and light refreshments. A $10 deposit will reserve your spot. www.greatbluefarms.com. • The comedy improv show “A Night of Laughs with Brett & Tim” will hit the stage at 7 p.m. Nov. 20 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Tickets are $10 per person. For tickets, click on www.greatmountainmusic.com or call 828.524.1598. • There will be a free wine tasting from 2 to 5 p.m every Saturday at The Wine Bar & Cellar in Sylva. 828.631.3075.
Do you know the Universal Sound?
Joey Fortner & The Universal Sound. Americana/indie act Joey Fortner & The Universal Sound will perform at 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, at the Nantahala Brewing Outpost in Sylva. Formerly of Soldier’s Heart and Through the Hills, singer/guitarist Joey Fortner is striking it out on his own with this rollicking new formation, one of rock melodies and poignant ballads. The show is free and open to the public. www.nantahalabrewing.com.
Maggie Valley welcomes soul act Renowned rock/soul sensation St. Paul & The Broken Bones will perform on Thursday, Nov. 19, at the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. Gates open at 6 p.m. Social distancing and safety protocols will be enforced. Based out of Alabama, the group formed in 2012, releasing their debut album “Half the City” in 2014 and its follow up, 2016’s “Sea of Noise,” to much worldwide acclaim. Hosted by The Grey Eagle and Worthwhile Sounds, tickets are available at www.thegreyeagle.com.
Americana, indie at Grey Eagle The Maggie Valley Band will perform a special patio show at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, at The Grey Eagle in Asheville. The show will be a celebration of the band’s latest EP, “Something New Vol. 1.” A blend of old-time mountain, Americana and psychedelic folk music, the Haywood County group is fronted by siblings Whitney and Caroline Miller. The duo has gone through several changes since they first set out on their melodic adventure several years ago. But, what remains is the unbreakable bond of sisterhood, something that’s become a stronghold — and strong suit — in what it will take to break into the next level of their promising careers.
The Maggie Valley Band. Tickets are $8 per person. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to www.thegreyeagle.com and click on the “Calendar” tab.
On the shelf
Jeff Minick
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for older readers seeking some gentle amusement. Written by a Catholic nun, Sister Mary Faith, Candy Cane Lane’s Story (iUniverse, 2019, 18 pages) sounds like a Christmas book, which it is in a sense, but really it is a sweet — there’s that word again — look at a mother and father, the birth of their baby, and the beauty and love they share with her. With its excellent photographs and simple story line, Candy Cane Lane’s Story is a fine book for the little folk in your life. Finally, I have read most of Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World (Penguin, 2020, 284 pages). Newport explains how the tech companies aim and succeed at making so many of us addicts to social media, the dangers of that addiction — less engagement with the physical world, stress, a feeling of inferiority for some, hours wasted — and how to “declutter” our tech lives and spend our time in more meaningful ways. Though we usually associate addiction with drugs or alcohol, Newport includes this definition of the word from psychologists: “Addiction is a condition in which a person engages in the use of a substance or in a behavior for which the rewarding effects provide a compelling incentive to repeatedly pursue the behavior despite detrimental consequences.” Keeping that definition in mind, here’s what Sean Parker, the founding president of Facebook, had to say in 2017:
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“The thought process that went into building these applications, Facebook being the first of them … was all about: ‘How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?’ And that means we need to sort of give you a dopamine hit every once in a while, because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post or whatever.” Though I am rarely on social media, Digital Minimalism made me more aware of the time I waste daily online “mindlessly following trails of links, skipping from one headline to another.” Time for me to try and do better in that department. (Jeff Minick reviews books and has written four of his own: two novels, Amanda Bell and Dust On Their Wings, and two works of nonfiction, Learning As I Go and Movies Make the Man. minick0301@gmail.com)
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“Practice,” “Mindful Tip,” and “Reflection.” The first three parts give advice and assignments to the reader, while “Reflection” asks specific questions and leaves space for participants to record their thoughts. Everyday Mindfulness is an excellent workbook for those who find themselves in a rut or are so stressed by life that they feel overwhelmed. The 108 practices are reminders to reconnect to the moment and to the world. Lorri Moulton’s Spell Bound (Lavender Lass Books, 2020, 139 pages) is a fairytale novella for everyone from adolescents to adults. Having lost three jobs in as many months, Felicia feels at the end of her rope when she learns of a position in the large, mysterious house of Mr. Oliver Bertrand. Felicia expects to be hired as a housekeeper, but instead serves as Bertrand’s apprentice — a sorcerer’s apprentice, as it were, because Bertrand is a wizard of sorts. As she becomes accustomed to the eccentricities of Bertrand, the household staff, and even the pets, Nora the cat and Hob the parrot, Felicia begins exploring the house, goes to the cellar, finds an old book, and with Nora the cat watchfully eyeing her, reads what turns out to be an old spell. When she wakens, Felicia discovers that Nora and Hob have returned to their natural state. They are pixies and are eager to return home to the magical realm in which they and otherworldly creatures live. In this strange, new world, Felicia finds herself caught up in a power struggle featuring pixies, elves, fairies, and trolls, court intrigue, and an attempted coup. She also falls deeply in love with Hob, and they must decide whether to live as humans or as pixies. Billed as a “Clean/Sweet Fairytale,” Spell Bound fulfills that promise. Because the fiction I usually review is rarely clean or sweet, this innocent and romantic tale took me back to books I read in my boyhood. A fine gift to a younger reader and one
November 18-24, 2020
s I write this book review, the presidential election is one day away. Like many of my readers, I have followed the online news regarding this race — the polls, the rallies, the daily barrage of commentaries on who deserves our votes. In the next few days, these weighty and acrimonious conflicts will, I hope, be resolved. The rest of the news is eaten up by stories about coronWriter avirus — if I never hear that word again, I will be among the happiest of men — and riots in American cities. Grim, eh? Of course, many of us have ways of escape from this deluge of fear mongering, finger pointing, and at times, sheer hysteria. We turn off our electronic devices, pour a beer, call a friend, spend some time working on the yard, exercising, and so on, and often find rest and recovery in these activities. As for me, the next couple of hours will be given over to the frivolity of writing a review of books having absolutely nothing to do with politics, the pandemic, and the madness that has gripped our country for most of this year. First up is Everyday Mindfulness: 108 Practices to Empower Yourself and Transform Your Life (TCK Publishing, 2020, 244 pages). Melissa Steginus, who lives on Canada’s West Coast, is a life coach and wellness expert with years of experience in her field, and in Everyday Mindfulness she shares her knowledge with readers. In her introduction Steginus writes, “You can use your daily tasks and routines to immerse yourself in the present moment and appreciate the wonder of your existence — if you pay attention.” The 108 practices do include paying attention to activities like sleep, cooking, and shopping, but also address such areas as the spiritual, the care of the emotions, work, and relationships. In “Chapter Three: Rational,” for instance, Steginus offers sections on such topics as “Start With What’s Important,” “Write Your Priorities,” and “Assess Your Worries. Especially agreeable to many readers will be the short lessons. Each one is only two pages long and is divided into “Purpose,”
Ponder releases second novel The Appalachian Cowboy is a new paperback novel written by Anthony E. Ponder. He is a Madison County native and author. This story begins in 1879 in the fictional West Texas town of Los Villas. Junior Justus is the main character. He is searching for his newspaper reporter brother, Josh. They are from Madison County, although the county name does not appear in the story. “Finding an authentic backdrop for a gunfight posed a problem,” Ponder said. “There are not many places in our area with an old west setting. Ghost Town in the Sky in Maggie Valley was the perfect and perhaps only location. Ms. Alaska Presley graciously permitted me and YAV Publisher, Christopher Yavelow, to gain access to this gated property. On Christmas Eve 2019, the book cover photos were taken in gorgeous 72 degree weather.” His books may be purchased online from Amazon, Walmart, or ordered from your favorite bookstore. The Appalachian Cowboy is also available through Kindle ebooks.
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Helpful, innocent, sweet, informative: four reads
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Before noon on a November Tuesday, the area surrounding Grotto Falls is already busy. Holly Kays photo
Smoothing the way to LeConte A crew member works to construct a rock wall at Grotto Falls. NPS photo
Smokies completes $1.3 million trail project BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER he few remaining leaves hanging in the trees shine like stained glass as the morning sun rises high enough to outrun the slopes above Trillium Gap Trailhead in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The abnormally warm November day is perfect for hiking, the play of sunlight on autumn leaves and the sweeping views glimpsed through mostly bare branches commanding complete attention. It’s easy to forget the ground
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Before (left) and after images of the approach to Grotto Falls show the magnitude of the recently completed project. NPS photo
beneath your boots, feet moving forward automatically as eyes focus up and around, only occasionally flickering downward. It’s the way hiking is supposed to be, but until quite recently a hiker who failed to keep her eyes on the ground while walking Trillium Gap to Grotto Falls or progressing to the trail’s terminus at Mount LeConte would likely trip at least once. Now, after two years of work, thousands of hours of labor and millions of pounds of materials, an extensive rehabilitation project on the Trillium Gap Trail is complete. In total, the project cost $1.338 million, of which $550,000 came from Friends of the Smokies and $788,000 from the National Park Service. “I’m so proud of the work that our group did, our Trails Forever Crew did,” Smokies Superintendent Cassius Cash said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Nov. 10. “It’s all about sustainability.” Trails Forever is a partnership program between the park and Friends of the Smokies, which has donated more than $2 million over the last decade to employ a highly skilled trail crew focusing on reconstruction efforts at high-use and high-priority trails. The program also provides a mechanism for volunteers to work alongside the professional trail crew — in 2019, 53 volunteers contributed 386 hours of labor to the Trillium Gap project, though none participated in 2020 due to the pandemic.
TRAIL WORK AS EMERGENCY PREVENTION The Trillium Gap Trail was first built by Civilian Conservation Corps crews in the 1930s, and in addition to the wear and tear you might expect any facility to incur in the space of 90 years, the trail has — like the rest of the park — seen a dramatic increase in use since then. In 1940, only 860,960 people visit-
ed the park over the entire year. In seven out of 12 months last year, visitation outstripped that figure within a single month. Trillium Gap is one of the six trails leading to Mount LeConte and features Grotto Falls just 1.3 miles in, so it’s a popular choice among the park’s 12 million annual visitors. Decades of use, erosion and gradual trail braiding and widening caused by millions of feet had resulted in a trail that in many places was deeply eroded with exposed roots, rocks, mud and user-created side paths that could confuse wayfinding and further exacerbate erosion issues. Chief Ranger Lisa Hendy said that the rehabilitation work is sure to reduce the number of emergency calls rescue teams receive there. “When people come down tired and the trail has been smoothed out, and it’s been built well, and there’s not a lot of loose rocks and things in it, it just makes it that much less likely that they’re going to hurt themselves,” she said. “High-quality trail work is the foundation of preventative search and rescue.” Smokies Emergency Manager Liz Hall is currently analyzing park data to get a better idea of where in the park rescue calls are occurring and how those hotspots have changed over time. While those statistics are not yet complete, she could say that, anecdotally speaking, the number of calls has gone down following completion of previous trail rehabilitation projects.
ELBOW GREASE REQUIRED The hallmark of a quality trail construction job is a path that flows so smoothly and flawlessly that you barely notice it’s there, or realize that your stroll through the woods is possible due to thousands of hours of backbreaking labor that somebody else put in years before. The rehabilitated Trillium Gap Trail meets that standard, time and time again. “Our goal is just to make it look like a natural footpath,” said Trails Forever Crew Leader Josh Shapiro. “We want to go as minimal as we can on structures.” Going minimal on structures does not mean going minimal on labor. Rehabbing every segment along the 6.7-mile trail in need of work required bringing in 14 million pounds of crushed rock to fill 80,000 cubic feet, along with somewhere between 700 and 800 black locust logs to create steps and water bars. Altogether, the crew installed 681 steps, 224 square feet of retaining walls, 525 linear feet of drainage ditches, 378 linear feet of elevated trail surfaces and 51 drainage features. At the approach to Grotto Falls, crews began to use more rock than stone in the construction of steps, water bars and other features. In total, they placed more than 538 native stones along the trail. “Stone is always our first choice,” said Shapiro. It’s heavier and harder to move than locust wood, and because crews are only able to use stone harvested from within the trail corridor, it’s harder to
Trillium Gap is the fifth trail in the park to get a complete makeover courtesy of the Trails Forever program — previous projects were the Forney Ridge, Chimney Tops, Alum Cave and Rainbow Falls trails — and it won’t be the last. In 2021, the crew will start work on the popular Abrams Falls Trail, whose trailhead is located in the far western end of Cades Cove. “We’re very excited about that trail, because it is one of our top most visited trails,” said Tim Chandler, executive director and CEO of Friends of the Smokies. Heavy use has taken its toll on the trail, which has widened and eroded over time. The choice represents a pivot to focusing more on shorter trails that tend to attract less experienced hikers, said Smokies spokesperson Dana Soehn. “Sometimes it’s more beginner hikers on some of these more popular trails, short trails to waterfalls, and Abrams Falls fits that,” said Soehn. “It’s only about two-anda-half miles to the destination. We get a lot of new hikers who often are not as prepared with the foot gear and everything they need to be able to have a safe hike.” The safer and more well-maintained the trail is, the more accidents — and subsequent search and rescue responses — can be prevented. In keeping with that line of thinking, the Trails Forever Crew will also perform critical work on other trails simultaneously with the Abrams Falls project, including the Noah Bud Ogle Nature Trail, Oconaluftee River Trail and Fighting Creek Nature Trail. The Abrams Falls project won’t be as hefty an undertaking as the Trillium Gap rehab, but it’s expected to take at least one full season to complete. A full closure of that trail will go into effect during weekdays May 10 through Nov. 10, 2021, with the trail closed from 7 a.m. Monday to 5:30 p.m. Thursday throughout that time but fully open Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and federal holidays. “There are a lot of injuries out there,” Shapiro said, “so I think we just want to try to make it a lot safer.”
stands at that point. Registration is $25 in advance or $30 on race day. The Student Emergency Fund helps SCC students who encounter unforeseen financial emergencies. Register at www.ultrasignup.com.
Virtual race raised $70K for the Smokies The fourth annual Cades Cove Loop Lope has raised $70,000 for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park despite having to take place virtually this year to prevent spread of COVID-19. The 5K and 10-mile race was originally slated for Nov. 8 but was converted to a virtual race in which participants ran the designated distance at their own preferred time and place. More than 350 runners participated in the virtual race and received a commemorative medal, T-shirt and neck gaiter mask. Proceeds benefited Friends of the Smokies, an official nonprofit partner of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and will support park programs and projects including environmental education, historic preservation and wildlife management. More information, including results, are online at www.looplope.org. To learn more about sponsorship opportunities for the 2021 race, businesses can contact Kathryn at kathryn@friendsofthesmokies.org.
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come by. But it makes up for those shortcomings in durability. Stone lasts much longer than locust. That said, the rock steps at the Grotto Falls approach were probably the most difficult features to build, Trails Forever Crew Member Eric Wood said. Stone weighs about 200 pounds per cubic foot, and federal regulations prohibit the crews from using machinery on the trails, so the rocks had to be moved with ropes, pulleys and pure muscle. “I think this is probably what we’re most proud of from last year,” said Wood, gesturing to the stonework surrounding the falls. COVID-19 also complicated the project. Locust may be lighter than stone, but a 50foot log can still weigh several thousand pounds. The crew had hoped for a helicopter to drop the logs needed for the upper portion of the trail at the top of the mountain, but pandemic-related issues derailed that effort. “The mules were able to get into some
UP NEXT, ABRAMS FALLS
The Assault on BlackRock trail race is set for Saturday, March 20, next year, and proceeds will benefit the Southwestern Community College Student Emergency Fund. The grueling course starts from Sylva’s Pinnacle Park to traverse 7 miles of trail with 2,770 feet of elevation gain. Participants will climb rocky roadbeds and a single-track trail to the 5,810-foot BlackRock summit in the spruce-fir forest topping the Plott Balsam Mountains. The point offers a nearly 360degree view. T-shirts are guaranteed to those who register prior to March 1, and prizes will be awarded to top finishers. Anyone who completes the race in 101 minutes or less will get a belt buckle. While the race typically begins at 9 a.m., staggered start times might be necessary depending on where the pandemic
November 18-24, 2020
Friends of the Smokies and its supporters have raised $89,000 this year to fund search and rescue efforts in the Smokies. On Tuesday, Nov. 10, the nonprofit handed over the keys to a 2021 Dodge Ram 1500 truck, a gift that comes on the heels of a trailer that Friends donated in 2019 for use as a mobile command post for active searches. “Our gratitude is enormous,” Chief Ranger Lisa Hendy said following the presentation. “I got here about a year and a half ago, and one of the things I was tasked with was expanding our capabilities to respond to search and rescue cases. But the best way to do that is to just reduce the number of search and rescue incidents.” The truck will be instrumental for Emergency Manager Liz Hall’s efforts to build up the park’s preventative search and rescue program, which will use volunteers to help educate and prepare hikers, thus preventing emergency situations before they occur. Hall will drive the truck in the course of running her preventative program but will also use it to haul the trailer in response to emergency situations. Of the $89,000, hikers Chris Ford and Nancy East contributed $30,000 following a three-week fundraising hike they completed this fall traversing all 900 miles of trail within park boundaries.
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Smokies search and rescue gets a boost
spots,” said Shapiro, “but we had to carry these logs much longer distances.” That fact, plus the sheer effort involved in getting to the work sites, made the second year of the project especially challenging. The first year focused on the lower part of the trail near the trailhead, but during the second year, crews hiked long distances to reach their backcountry worksites. “Having to hike 10 miles a day, that burns up so much time,” said Shapiro. “We just have less time to work on the trail, and we have to get the same amount done.” Get it done they did, and the result is a sturdy, sustainable trail that’s built to guide hikers to the top of Mount LeConte for decades to come. “It’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get to reimagine this from start to finish,” Smokies Trails Manager Tobias Miller said at the ribbon cutting.
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Trump administration criticized for implementation of conservation law nvironmental groups are decrying the Trump Administration’s execution of the Great American Outdoors Act and the Dingell Act, which permanently reauthorized the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The acts were hailed as major bipartisan victories providing sorely needed funding for maintenance and conservation of public lands, with Trump signing both into law. The landmark GAOA uses royalties from offshore oil and natural gas to permanently and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund at $900 million a year to invest in conservation and recreation opportunities across the nation. It also dedicates up to $9.5 billion over five years to address the high-priority repair needs on public lands. “The Administration has utterly blown its shot at implementing this historic conservation and recreation law, whiffing on three separate chances to get this right,” said Drew McConville, senior managing director of government relations at The Wilderness Society and a spokesperson for the LWCF Coalition. The GAOA, which Trump signed Aug. 4, gave his administration 90 days to submit lists of projects to receive funding. The administration did not release the lists until a week after the deadline passed Nov. 2, and McConville said that the project lists have “nowhere near” the required level of detail and that they “short-sheet” federal land conservation and recreation. The GAOA required that at least 40 percent of all LWCF monies be used to address urgent needs in America’s national parks, national wildlife refuges, national forests, national scenic and historic trails and other treasured feder-
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“Interior Sec. David Bernhardt’s latest efforts to sabotage the successful implementation of LWCF by not adequately addressing the National Park Service’s land acquisition backlog — and adding additional layers of bureaucracy — is an unconscionable violation of Congress’ intent,” added Phil Francis, chair of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks. al public lands, with that same threshold required for critiBernhardt, meanwhile, said that the GAOA is the “greatcal state and local grant programs under LWCF. Trump’s est conservation funding law in U.S. history” and that the plan does not meet that standard, environmental groups GAOA Implementation Task Force he established earlier say. this year has been working to develop a strategy that will While environmental groups are unhappy with the maximize the act’s impact. Trump Administration’s execution of the legislation, the “Under the leadership of President Trump, Interior is LWCF Coalition applauds alternative LWCF spending plans hard at work to implement this landmark legislation and to released in both the House and Senate. The Senate version, be stewards of the money Congress has entrusted us to released Nov. 10 by Senate Interior Appropriations manage,” Bernhardt said. “These actions ensure land acquisitions will increase recreation opportunities, enhance conservation The administration did not release the lists until a benefits and provide flexibility to our partners in states and local comweek after the deadline passed Nov. 2, and munities to ensure this investment is McConville said that the project lists have “nowhere managed and allocated in the best possible manner.” near” the required level of detail. According to Bernhardt, the order prioritizes investments that increase public access for recreation, Chairman Lisa Murkowski, comes closer to meeting the 40 enhance conservation and support recovery of endangered percent threshold but ultimately falls short when all eligible species; increase flexibility for how states and communities LWCF deposits are included. The House bill does meet the match and spend LWCF grants; and gives states and comstandard. munities a voice in federal land. Meanwhile, McConville McConville also blasted the recently released secretarial criticized the order’s “needless limits” on western land conorder from Department of Interior Secretary David servation and “unnecessary procedural hurdles” for urgentBernhardt that will guide implementation of the GAOA and ly needed projects. Francis said the order places too much LWCF funding. The guidelines will “place untenable new emphasis on recreational access when determining funding. N restrictions on already-authorized conservation and rewrite No statement on the issue has been posted on the White the rulebook for how LWCF works in communities across House page since the lists were due. the country,” McConville said. — By Holly Kays, staff writer
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A one-day Green Market allowing residents and visitors alike to stock up on locally sourced meat and produce for Thanksgiving will be held 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, at The Village Green Commons on Frank Allen Road in Cashiers. Most of the familiar seasonal vendors will be on hand, including Deal Family Farms, Pineapple Sage Farm, Native Private Culinary, Many Hands Peace Farms, Posey Hollow Farm, Backwoods Bakery, Sacred Mountain Herbals and My Sister’s Garden. Items ranging from eggs to spice blends to wild-caught fish will be available, as well as unique Christmas gifts like soaps and handmade wreaths. The Village Green began its Green Market in 2016, and tremendous success in 2020 spurred it to extend into the fall. For more information, contact director@cashiersgreen.com.
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The Agribusiness Summit will return in a virtual format this year, slated for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Dec. 7. The 2020 summit will feature new, relevant topics for current and prospective agribusinesses. Topics will include postCOVID marketing; taking sales, marketing and delivery online; farm business diversification; and more. The summit is offered by the small business centers of Haywood, Southwestern and Tri-County community colleges. Registration is free, but pre-registration is required at www.ncsbc.net/workshop.aspx?ekey=25040 0110.
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A pop up shop showcasing nature-oriented merchandise will set up outside the Highlands Nature Center 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28. The nature center revamped its gift shop earlier this year, but COVID19 hampered its ability to show off the changes. Products include books, board games, puzzles, finger puppets, coffee mugs, canvas totes and more. Quantities are limited, so come early. 828.526.2623.
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Public hearing planned for red-cockaded woodpecker The red-cockaded woodpecker could be downgraded from an endangered species to a threatened species if a proposal from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is adopted, and a public hearing slated for 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1, will give citizens a chance to weigh in. The virtual meeting will feature a presentation from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and public comment from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Written comments will be accepted through Monday, Dec. 7. The woodpecker was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969, when there were
estimated to be fewer than 4,000 clusters of the birds. Today, the FWS estimates there are nearly 7,800 clusters in 11 states ranging from southern Virginia to eastern Texas. A cluster is a group of cavity trees used by one or more woodpeckers. More information is available at https://bit.ly/3lq3uke. To attend the meeting and provide oral arguments, follow the instructions at https://bit.ly/3poh4vm. The proposed rule was published on Oct. 8, opening up a 60day public comment period that ends Dec. 7. Read the rule or offer written comment at https://bit.ly/3ltb4j6.
Become a sedimentation sentinel Join a growing group of volunteers working to identify sources of sediment in Western North Carolina streams by participating in a training 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, at Cold Mountain Gap Trailhead in Panthertown Valley. Participants will learn how to prioritize coldwater conservation to secure the biggest benefit. After the training, volunteers can work on their own schedule to cover priority roads and trails in the Tuckasegee, Pigeon, Upper French Broad, Davidson and Mills River Watersheds. Sign up with Jeff Wright at jeff.wright@tu.org.
Pitch in with Panthertown Friends of Panthertown is hosting a series of trail work days this fall, and all are invited to come pitch in. Scheduled workdays are Saturday, Nov. 21; Saturday, Nov. 28; Wednesday, Dec. 2; Friday, Dec. 11; Saturday, Dec. 12; Saturday, Dec. 19. No previous trail work experience is necessary. Participants will get a guided tour of the valley and meet others who also love Panthertown. To sign up, visit www.panthertown.org/volunteer.
Volunteers help maintain Panthertown’s 30 miles of trail. File photo
WNC Calendar COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • Canton First Baptist Church is collecting Coats and winter warmth items for Haywood Share The Warmth Mission project. These will be distributed beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 19. Donations can be dropped off at Canton First Baptist Church Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sundays at 11 a.m. and Wednesdays at 6 p.m. until Nov. 18. Boxes are placed outside at the lower glass door or call the office to arrange another time for drop-off at 828.648.2367. • The Jackson County Branch of the NC NAACP meeting scheduled at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 21 will be online. There will be biannual branch elections and planning for MLK Day events. All dues paying members are encouraged to vote. Email jcnaacp54ab@gmail.com to receive instructions to join online. • On Saturday, Nov. 21, a local nonprofit focused on providing assistance to the unsheltered will hold a charity raffle with Haywood County’s own bluegrass supergroup Balsam Range. Helping Hands of Haywood is currently offering raffle tickets for $1 each, or 6 for $5. Winners will be drawn by members of Balsam Range at 7 p.m. live on Facebook. All proceeds will be used to help a family experiencing temporary homelessness through the EACH initiative, another local nonprofit charged with mitigating homelessness. For more information on prizes or to purchase tickets, visit www.haywoodhelpinghands.org or call 828.508.3420. • There will be a food drive 12:30 to 1:15 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6 at 45 Crown Ridge Road in Sylva. Anyone can contact foodministry@liveforgiven.life for more information.
BUSINESS & EDUCATION • Franklin’s Mobile Museum, formerly Arduino Club, will meet with masks at 1 p.m. each Saturday beginning Nov. 7 outdoors at the Wesley Park pavilion, 573 NE Main St., Franklin. For more info, visit franklinsmobilemuseum.com. • In November and December, on the first and third Fridays, a Career Advisor from the Swain County NCWorks Career Center will be at the library to assist job seekers with their job search efforts. Assistance filling out job applications, creating professional resumes, and preparing for interviews will be provided. The Marianna Black Library is located in Downtown Bryson City at the corner of Academy and Rector. For more information or to make an appointment, call the Marianna Black Library at 828.488.3030 or visit www.fontanlaib.org.
A&E
• Americana/indie act Joey Fortner & The Universal Sound will perform at 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, at the Nantahala Brewing Outpost in Sylva. The show is free and open to the public. For more information, click on www.nantahalabrewing.com. • The Maggie Valley Band will perform a special patio show at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, at The Grey Eagle in Asheville. Tickets are $8 per per-
n All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted. n To have your item listed email to calendar@smokymountainnews.com son. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to www.thegreyeagle.com and click on the “Calendar” tab. • There will be a holiday wreath-making class from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 28 at Ray’s Florist & Greenhouse in Sylva. Cost is $59.95, which includes supplies and light refreshments. A $10 deposit will reserve your spot. www.greatbluefarms.com. • Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host Good Bonez Nov. 14. All shows begin at 6:30 p.m. Free and open to the public.www.froglevelbrewing.com. • Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host Open Mic Night Nov. 19 and Isaac Corbitt (rock/soul) Nov. 28. All shows begin at 7 p.m. For more information and a complete schedule of events, click on www.lazyhikerbrewing.com. • Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host Sly Sparrow Nov. 13 and WoolyBooger Nov. 20. All shows begin at 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. For more information and a complete schedule of events, click on www.lazyhikerbrewing.com. • The Maggie Valley Festival Grounds will host a drive-in concert series with Keller Williams & Friends (jam/acoustic) Nov. 13 and St. Paul & The Broken Bones (soul/rock) Nov. 19. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. Gates open at 6 p.m. Hosted by The Grey Eagle and Worthwhile Sounds, tickets are available at www.thegreyeagle.com. • Waynesville Yoga Center will host Akitchitay (traditional/indigenous) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 27. $20 per person. www.waynesvilleyogacenter.com. • Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) will host an open mic from 8 to 10 p.m. every Thursday. Free and open to the public. www.balsamfallsbrewing.com. • The annual “Polar Express” train ride is now departing from the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad depot in downtown Bryson City. For a complete listing of departure dates and times, call 800.872.4681 or click on www.gsmr.com. • The Haywood County Arts Council annual show, “It’s a Small, Small Work,” will be showcased through Jan. 9 at the HCAC Gallery & Gifts in Waynesville.
FOOD AND DRINK • A one-day Green Market allowing residents and visitors alike to stock up on locally sourced meat and produce for Thanksgiving will be held 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, at The Village Green Commons on Frank Allen Road. For more information, contact director@cashiersgreen.com.
Outdoors
• A virtual program focused on Highlands’ yearround greenery will be offered 1 to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, via Facebook. Watch the premiere on the Highlands Biological Station Facebook page, @highlandsbiologicalstation or
Smoky Mountain News
35
Brian Noland RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL PROFESSIONAL
find it afterward on the Highlands Biological YouTube channel. Contact Engelbrektsson with questions at 828.526.2623.
bknoland@beverly-hanks.com
828.734.5201
• Join a growing group of volunteers working to identify sources of sediment in Western North Carolina streams by participating in a training 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, at Cold Mountain Gap Trailhead in Panthertown Valley. Sign up with Jeff Wright at jeff.wright@tu.org.
74 North Main Street Waynesville, NC 28786
828.452.5809
• A pop-up shop showcasing nature-oriented merchandise will set up outside the Highlands Nature Center 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28. Products include books, board games, puzzles, finger puppets, coffee mugs, canvas totes and more. Quantities are limited, so come early. Call 828.526.2623 for more information. • The red-cockaded woodpecker could be downgraded from an endangered species to a threatened species if a proposal from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is adopted, and a public hearing slated for 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1, will give citizens a chance to weigh in. The meeting will feature a presentation from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and public comment from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Written comments will be accepted through Monday, Dec. 7. To attend the meeting and provide oral arguments, follow the instructions at https://bit.ly/3poH4vM. • The Agribusiness Summit will return in a virtual format this year, slated for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Dec. 7. The summit is offered by the small business centers of Haywood, Southwestern and Tri-County community colleges. Registration is free, but pre-registration is required at www.ncsbc.net/workshop.aspx?ekey=250400110. • Friends of Panthertown is hosting a series of trail work days this fall, and all are invited to come pitch in. Scheduled work days are Thursday, Nov. 12; Saturday, Nov. 21; Saturday, Nov. 28; Wednesday, Dec. 2; Friday, Dec. 11; Saturday, Dec. 12; Saturday, Dec. 19. To sign up, visit www.panthertown.org/volunteer. • The annual Winter Lights event at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville opens Friday, Nov. 20, but due to COVID-19 it will be a drive-thru experience this time around. To better accommodate guests, the Arboretum has extended show dates and times, with the event running daily 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. from Nov. 20 to Jan. 10, 2021. Incoming gates close at 10 p.m. When purchased in advance, tickets are $25 per vehicle and $30 at the gate. Tickets are on sale at ncwinterlights.com.
KAREN HOLLINGSED BROKER ASSOCIATE
(828) 734-6222
KHOLLINGSED@BEVERLY-HANKS.COM
74 N. Main St. Waynesville, NC
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Randall Rogers BROKER ASSOCIATE —————————————
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HIKING CLUBS • The Nantahala Hiking Club will take a moderate, 4.7 mile hike to the Thomas Divide Ridge in Smoky Mountain National Park Saturday, Nov. 21. The club will meet at 9 a.m. at the Bi- Lo parking lot. Call leader Gail Lehman for reservations, 524.5298. Visitors are welcome. • The Nantahala Hiking Club will take a moderate 3-mile hike from Coweeta Lab to Forest Service Rd. 751-B. On Sunday, Nov. 22. The club will meet at 1 p.m. at the Smoky Mountains Visitor Center at. Call leader Katharine Brown, 421.4178, for reservations. Visitors are welcome. • The Nantahala hiking Club will take a 6.2-mile hike from Winding Stairs to Wallace Gap on the Appalachian Trail on Friday, Nov. 27. The club will meet at 9:30 a.m. at Westgate Plaza in Franklin. Call leader Katharine Brown for reservations, 421.4178. Visitors are welcome.
Ellen Sither esither@beverly-hanks.com (828) 734-8305
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Employment
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Job Analyst. Grounds Technician. For detailed information and to apply, please visit our employment portal at: https://faytechcc.peopleadmin.com. +XPDQ 5HVRXUFHV 2I¿FH Phone: (910) 678-7342. Internet: http://www.faytechcc.edu. An Equal Opportunity Employer. COMPUTER & IT TRAINING PROGRAM! Train ONLINE to get the skills to become a Computer & +HOS 'HVN 3URIHVVLRQDO now! Grants and Scholarships available for certain SURJUDPV IRU TXDOL¿HG DSplicants. Call CTI for details! Call 833-990-0354. (M-F 8am-6pm ET) THE JACKSON COUNTY DEPARTMENT Of Social Services is recruiting for an Income Maintenance Caseworker. This position is responsible for intake, application processing and review functions in determining eligibility for Family and Children’s Medicaid. Above average communication, computer and work organizational skills are required. Work involves direct contact with the public. Applicants should have one year of Income Maintenance Casework experience. Applicants will also be
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November 18-24, 2020
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37
SUPER
CROSSWORD
ATROCIOUS TUNES ACROSS 1 Talk big 6 Generally speaking 15 Lhasa -- (little dogs) 20 Ed of "Gus" 21 Small drying item on a bathroom bar 22 Obama's successor 23 Start of a riddle 25 Have a blast 26 "Yummy!" 27 "Exodus" actor Mineo 28 Lyric forgetter's syllables 29 "Yippee!" 30 "Forbidden" perfume 33 Common pet lizard 38 Warlike deity 39 Riddle, part 2 44 India's place 46 Brand of contact lens cleaner 47 Place to exit 48 Riddle, part 3 52 Unfurled, e.g. 57 Former Disney head Michael 58 Uncle, in Spain 59 Depict by drawing 62 Met maven 63 No, in Essen 66 -- bow (upper lip shape) 68 A-list person 69 Riddle, part 4 73 "Neon" fish in a tank 75 Naturally illuminated at dusk 76 Duel weapon 77 Baldwin of "Andron" 78 Morse E's 79 Jet grounded in '03
81 86 88 91 95 96 97 104 105 106 107 110 112 115 117 118 124 125 126 127 128 129
"-- Fideles" West Texas city Riddle, part 5 Munchkin Farm baby Crimson and carmine End of the riddle Actress Tara Write the score to Polo of "The Fosters" Time of note Official seal -- Na Na Lopsided Lopsided Riddle's answer Plow maker Consensus Acting teacher Stella "90210" actor Rob Quality of sharp pain Ex-NFLer Grier
DOWN 1 Humorously indecent 2 Milo of film 3 Study of data patterns 4 Alien seekers' program, for short 5 Sad, in Nice 6 Many a time 7 Casual turndown 8 Top fighter pilots 9 Inferior -- cava 10 And others, in Latin 11 -- -com (film category) 12 Feeling of amazement 13 Prefix with magnetic 14 Munchkin 15 Gillette shaver brand 16 Major for a future D.A.
17 18 19 24 28 31 32 34 35 36 37 40 41 42 43 44 45 49 50 51 53 54 55 56 59 60 61 64 65 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 78
Actress Mena Eggy dish Belly flop result Fake display "The Far Side" cartoonist Gary Hamilton dueler Aaron Web surfer, say Great joy Brand of fleecy boots -- Lingus Vegas-to-Helena dir. Violin virtuoso Hilary Having a shot to win Shaped like a die Purported psychic gift Suffix for an enzyme Fashion's Anna -Skin dye State north of Calif. Like a boor Blissful site Aswan's river Woman in 53-Down Little bit Actress Tyler or Ullmann Concept, in Calais New car sticker fig. Words in an analogy Food box datum: Abbr. Miniature couch for a pooch Female college students, outdatedly One foot forward Two-tone whale Part of HRH 52-week unit -- Bo (fitness option) Certain pipe fitting Neglects to
80 82 83 84 85 87 88 89 90 92 93 94 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 108 109 111 113 114 116 118 119 120 121 122 123
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ANSWERS ON PAGE 34
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Smoky Mountain News November 18-24, 2020
