Smoky Mountain News | December 14, 2022

plans large Jackson County development

A look at indigenous work at Art Basel

On the Cover:

Amid the many joys the holiday season brings, birders await the annual Christmas count with the utmost anticipation. In its 123rd year, the event offers plenty of opportunities around Western North Carolina for folks to come out and lay eyes on their favorite birds. (Page 28) A dark eyed Junco enjoys some winter weather. Jocelyn Anderson/Audubon Society photo

News

Major development planned for Qualla Community..................................................4 Cashiers Area Chamber of Commerce gives out awards......................................5 WNC program helps secure life-saving operation for Charlotte man..................6 Autopsy shows Jackson jail death was an overdose................................................7 Cherokee cannabis company receives $63 million from Council........................8 Defendant in Toineeta murder faces additional charges..........................................9 WCU offers numerous honors at Homecoming 2022..........................................10 Macon Schools latest to address budget squeeze................................................12

SBI passes Meadows investigation findings onto AG’s office............................13 In survey, WCU employees express high satisfaction............................................14

CORRECTION

A piece of evidence introduced during a Sept. 28 voter residency challenge in Graham County indicated that a Florida property owned by John and Tina Emerson, whose voter registrations are being challenged in the proceedings, had qualified for a homestead exemption. This was reported in a subsequent story. However, a letter from the Nassau County Property Appraiser’s office states that the exemption was claimed by the previous owner and carried over through the rest of the tax year during which the property was conveyed to the Emersons. The exemption was removed for the 2022 tax year, the first full year the Emersons owned the property, and the Emersons have not applied for the homestead exemption. Smoky Mountain News regrets the error.

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Ingles Nutrition Notes

FOOD WON’T FIX EVERYTHING

It might be surprising to hear a registered dietitian with a degree in Human Nutrition and over 25 years of experience in nutrition saying, “Food won’t fix everything,” but it’s true. Often, I’ll get emails with questions about what foods are best to: prevent cancer, lower blood sugar, lower blood pressure, help heal liver or kidney damage, etc. It’s important to realize that it’s not so much about individual foods or some sort of “Top 10 foods list” as it is about the way we typically eat—also called our diet. There are ways of eating that may be helpful in preventing or managing some illnesses or diseases. There are also ways of eating that may work alongside medications and help manage and treat some diseases and illnesses; BUT individual foods aren’t the only thing that we need to be healthy. We need more than just food to help us feel our best.

• Medical care: Access to good medical care, a health care provider that listens, screening and preventive tests, medications, and vaccinations.

• Good quality rest and sleep.

• Exercise and activity to improve our cardiovascular health, flexibility, reduce stress, improve endurance and (in some individuals) help lower blood pressure and blood sugar.

• Relationships with family, friends, co-workers, neighbors and even our pets that comfort us, bring us joy, and help reduce our stress.

Leah McGrath, RDN, LDN Ingles Market Corporate Dietitian @InglesDietitian

McGrath - Dietitian

written by Ingles Dietitian Leah McGrath

Major development planned for Qualla Community

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF W RITER

Last week, the Jackson County Planning Board reviewed plans for a major subdivision in the Qualla Township on the northern end of the county. The planning board is tasked with reviewing subdivision plans before the process can continue toward approval.

“This is an administrative function,” said Planning Director Mike Poston. “When we’re doing subdivision review, the planning board is tasked in this major subdivision level two, subdivision review, at reviewing whether or not the proposed development meets the standards that are in the adopted subdivision ordinance.”

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is the applicant proposing the subdivision on a 188-acre plot located at 1955 Camp Creek Road in the Qualla Township. Proposed construction would take place in four phases.

Phase one involves the construction of 74 dwelling units of mixed types, two community buildings, a sales office and a post office. Three 20-foot-wide roads will be created during this phase, as well as two one-way roads, 12 feet in width. The proposed single family lots will range from .06 to .18 acres in land area. Also proposed for phase one are a community garden, bus shelter, playground and walking trails.

Phase two would see the construction of another community building, as well as 25 townhomes and 51 single-family home lots. Phase three involves the construction of an estimated 4,500 square foot daycare, a clubhouse and pool, two office buildings, eight townhomes, 110 single-family home lots and 62 multi-family lots. In phase four construction would take place on two mixed use buildings with two offices and six apartments in each, one clubhouse and pool and 120 multi-family buildings.

“First and foremost, the tribe wants to be a good partner and a good neighbor to Jackson County,” said Principal Chief of the ECBI, Richard Sneed. “This structure will increase the property tax base to the county. The EBCI is a member of the Council of government Southwestern Commission and without fail every single meeting that we

have, number one top priority housing. Number one housing, number two access to broadband Wi-Fi, etc.”

The plot on which the subdivision is planned is artificially subdivided by Camp Creek Road. About 29 acres lie on the west side of the road and 160 on the east side.

Jeleniewski, senior planner for Jackson County. “The applicant is providing approximately 38% of open space for this development.”

about expanding our footprint for Balsam West and Cherokee broadband and we will be bringing broadband and Wi-Fi access to this area as well.”

Nearly 78 acres on the east side of the 188acre property have been sectioned off as a protected non-buildable area. No construction is allowed to take place in this portion of the lot, though trails are permitted for recreation.

The portion of the property that is planned as a protected area is the steepest part of the property with an average slope of 45%. Under Jackson County’s subdivision ordinance, if the average slope of a property is above 35%, there is a graduating scale of minimum lot size per dwelling. By removing the 78-acre piece of land, the average slope of the east side of the property drops to 31%, allowing for normal density standards.

“The subdivision is required to provide a minimum 20% open space as well,” said John

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Sewer and water utilities for the entire development will be provided by EBCI. According to Jeleniewski, traveling utilities will come down from the boundary. Because much of it will be a pressurized line, there is an area on the development site for a pump station. Whatever is collected from the development will go to the pump station and then up to the EBCI facility for treatment.

Plans for the development shown here indicate the construction phases people will see.

Residents speaking in public comment before the staff presentation on the subdivision during the planning board meeting Thursday, Dec. 8, expressed concerns about increased traffic on Camp Creek Road. Camp Creek Road is a state-maintained road. The Jackson County subdivision ordinance can only monitor the construction of roads within a development.

“For the Camp Creek section, DOT is the entity that’s responsible for reviewing impacts to their roadway and how and under what conditions they’ll allow property to drive the current connection,” said Poston. “What our county ordinance speaks more towards is how those vehicles access within the development. So, with that in mind, that’s what our subdivision ordinance does is it’s designed to look at how vehicles are going to move in and throughout the proposed development and that’s why we have the road standards that we have.”

According to EBCI staff, preliminary results from NCDOT show that Camp Creek Road would not require any widening and is sufficient to handle traffic flow. Plans for the development include multiple ingress and egress points with road widening as well as turn medians throughout the area where the development abuts Camp Creek.

“The project itself would bring utilities out to the Camp Creek area with no burden on the County taxpayers,” said Sneed.

Additionally, fire service would be provided in part by the EBCI. The boundary has a mutual aid agreement with Jackson, Swain and Haywood counties.

“Fire service would be provided; the tribe has 36 full-time firefighters that would be provided at no cost to the county as well,” said Sneed. “We’re also talking at this time

The Jackson County Planning Board approved plans for the Camp Creek Subdivision under the condition that all proposed site construction be in accordance with the Jackson County Unified Development Ordinance, all other applicable county ordinances, final engineered site construction plans and development agreement when approved by the Jackson County Board of Commissioners. The development agreement should come before the planning board for review and recommendation in January.

“As you can see, the community is well planned and well designed,” said Sneed. “It’s a comprehensive design that exceeds the requirements of the county. The Eastern Band is here to bring value both to be a partner and a good neighbor to the county.”

Cashiers Area Chamber of Commerce gives out Spirit of Community Awards

The Cashiers Area Chamber of Commerce recently awarded its 2022 Spirit of Our Community Awards recognizing well-deserving individuals who dedicate their lives and talents to positively influence the Cashiers, Glenville, Lake Toxaway and Sapphire communities.

Chamber Executive Director, Stephanie Edwards, explained that the Spirit of Our Community Awards shine the spotlight on people who truly represent the character of the Cashiers Area. “They are our friends, neighbors, teachers, business owners, nonprofit volunteers, civic and cultural advocates and others who give beyond what is simply asked,” Edwards said.

Glenn Ubertino — Chair of the Cashiers Area Community Planning Council, Chair of the Cashiers Community Collaborative and President of the Cashiers Area Chamber Board of Directors, among other civic and charitable leadership roles — was named 2022 Citizen of the Year. While owning and managing Zoller Hardware and other affiliated businesses, Ubertino has volunteered significant time and talents to critical growth management initiatives and community wellbeing. He and his wife, Kim, also are familiar faces in nonprofit and education efforts, including support of Southwestern Community College.

Margaret “Maggie” Carton received the 2022 Volunteer of the Year Spirit Award. Carton’s long list of community activities over the years warrants “volunteer extraordinaire” recognition. She serves on the Vision Cashiers Board of Directors, Crossroads Society, and as secretary. She has provided steadfast leadership of the Pathways and Preservation Committee, which develops and maintains a natural pathway system through Cashiers Village and oversees a highway and byway trash collection program among other initiatives. Her major commitments also include the Leadership Cashiers Alumni Network, Friends of Panthertown and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Western North Carolina.

Recognized as Educator of the Year was Tracie Holden, of Blue Ridge School and Early College. According to a press release sent out by the chamber of commerce, Holden is a devoted fourth grade teacher who takes her job of expanding and inspiring young minds very seriously yet does so in a joyful manner. Her impact is broad and far-reaching on students, youth and those of all ages who have benefited from her personal and professional commitments.

“Her grace and compassion extend beyond the classroom and her educational lineage continues with her daughter and Blue Ridge School teaching colleague, Josie,” the release reads.

Badge Siler and Jill Katz, owners and operators of Crossroads Custard & Cold Brew, were honored as 2022 Spirit Award Businesspeople of the Year. Since opening their Slab Town Plaza new concept establishment in 2021, this dynamic duo has demonstrated their community commitment time and again. Jill is an active Leadership Cashiers alumna. Both are always eager to support local nonprofits and schools. The team donates their energies and goods for special community events, providing refreshments from gourmet teas and coffees to delectable breakfast and lunch specialties.

The 2022 Arts & Culture Advocate of the Year is Tim Womick, founder of the Cashiers School of the Arts, in partnership with the Village Green. The recently launched organization promotes arts education for all. Its volunteer-led programming includes Shakespeare 101, Kids’ Introduction to Arts, Family Art Night and ballroom dancing with more planned for the future. Womick has been a familiar face in Cashiers for many years and his environmental work and advocacy extends across the nation. His latest venture in arts promotion is a natural extension of his care and concern for humanity.

The Evergreen Award was given to the Friendship Garden of the Albert CarltonCashiers Community Library, a symbol of the spirit of respect and sustainability of the area. A group of dedicated volunteers, led by chair Susan DeBruin, successfully refurbished the garden with the help of arborists and Bartlett Tree Service. They were able to preserve the historical White Oak through special pruning, irrigation and soil treatment so that it will survive another 100-200 years. The team worked tirelessly to remove bushes, prune, and clean the landscape. They purposely added native plants that will attract butterflies, bees and birds. Generous donors provided funding which contributed to the project’s success.

These Spirit Award winners were featured in the annual Cashiers Christmas Parade on Dec. 3, and will be applauded with a 2023 reception for recipients and sponsors in their honor, recognized in other publications and social media posts and celebrated by their friends, families and colleagues across the Plateau.

WNC program helps secure life-saving operation for Charlotte man

BY B ILL G RAHAM C ONTRIBUTING W RITER

James and Brenda Porcello are thankful for many things this fall, and near the top of that list is Jan Plummer, of Waynesville, a Mountain Projects employee who was among those who helped save James’ life just a few months ago.

Plummer helped make an intricate and expensive surgery possible, just when the family thought they might lose hope.

The Porcellos live in Charlotte and have family in Waynesville. Earlier this year, James discovered he’d developed liver disease, despite a health history that wouldn’t seem to suggest risk. Initial symptoms had been dismissed by his healthcare providers, and he wasn’t diagnosed until much later, when his symptoms had become worse. At that point, his life was in danger and the situation deteriorated quickly.

“I guess in that instance, the healthcare industry failed me,” said James. “I wish I’d known enough about liver health early on to say, ‘wait a minute now, I want this checked.’”

By late August Portello needed a liver transplant, fast.

Vetted by a team of doctors at one of the few hospitals in North Carolina that performs the surgery, he was established as a good candidate, and the operation seemed fast-tracked — until the hospital had a look at the couple’s health insurance. The Porcellos were members of a cost-sharing program. It had served them well in the past, but the hospital found it unacceptable for an operation of this magnitude.

No standard health insurance, they told him, no operation.

Brenda Porcello was stunned.

“I couldn’t believe they would just turn him down outright,” she said.

But the couple had come to their second marriage with four kids each, and one of their sons, Niki, along with a friend, mounted an email-writing campaign in hopes of finding a solution. Word made its way around and reached Jacquie Buttles, an insurance analyst for the North Carolina Department of Insurance. Buttles knew that James’ only solution was with the Healthcare Marketplace, which doesn’t allow pre-existing conditions to prevent coverage. And she knew who to call.

“Jan Plummer at Mountain Projects and I have been program partners for a decade,” Jacquie said. “I thought we should talk this case through to see what options were available for this patient.”

Plummer manages Mountain Projects’ Certified Application Counseling program, known publicly as “GetCoveredWNC”. This grant-funded initiative offers free information about health insurance options and health care resources, and helps clients navigate paperwork and secure insurance

through the Healthcare Marketplace.

Through many years of combined experience, Buttles and Plummer have learned client processes and large agency needs, and they put their heads together to carve out a complicated path forward for James Porcello.

“It’s a shame, but this is the reality of the healthcare industry these days,” Buttles said.

The two had to hurry, as there were only days left in August, and Porcello would need a policy that began Sept. 1. He was hospitalized, and his health was in rapid decline.

“It rarely comes to a life-or-death situation,” said Plummer. “Our counselors help sign people up for health insurance. We specialize in knowing the law, the ins and outs of insurance plans, opportunities for discounts and possible tax credits based on income. But to put that knowledge into practice with someone’s life on the line is a different story.”

The Porcellos couldn’t qualify for a Healthcare.gov plan from a financial standpoint, but Plummer and Buttles knew there were subsidies related to the Inflation Reduction Act and the American Rescue Plan Act that provided help for customers in higher income brackets, and also capped the premium at 8.5%.

First, James would have to apply for Medicaid. This was a formality, because Plummer and Buttles knew he couldn’t qualify, but it was a necessary formality. Working the phones, they pushed his Medicaid application through to rejection in record time and were ready to move forward with his Healthcare Marketplace application.

They quickly worked around Porcello’s late enrollment, found a policy, signed him up, and celebration seemed in order. But then they faced one last unexpected hurdle: the policy came back with an Oct. 1 active date –a month too late to help.

Frantically, they sliced more red tape, identified a paperwork mistake, and finally a policy was in place. Days later, Porcello was in surgery.

“A team of doctors flew to Pittsburgh on a private jet, picked up the liver, and flew it back,” said James.

Porcello’s liver transplant took place at Atrium Health in Charlotte, and he came through with flying colors. He’s made a fast

recovery, with lots of strong family support. The insurance Jan and Jacquie arranged covered the costs of surgery, medications and follow up.

“I am feeling very blessed to have a second chance at life,” says James. “Being as close to death as I was makes me so thankful for every minute I have with my family and friends. I look forward to the upcoming holidays with the optimism of a child on Christmas Eve.”

Plummer and Buttles know the intricacies of health insurance, but rarely do they have the opportunity to help save a life. “This story makes my heart sing,” said Jan “We counselors know this work is important, but don’t always have such an amazing story to tell. I’m so happy that Jacquie called and we could work with this family.”

With years of experience with Medicare and health insurance, Buttles has developed many relationships with insurance carriers and the network of nonprofit assisters. She is well known locally as a skilled expert, but rarely finds herself in situations like the Porcellos’.

“My department at NCDOI often asks me to assist in complicated health insurance issues and I use my knowledge of insurance law and my community connections to try and put the puzzle pieces together to come to a successful resolution for the patient,” she said.

“We were both incredibly happy to play a part in this story,” Buttles continued. “However, there were so many people involved — the family, the doctors, the hospital staff and others. It doesn’t get much better than this feeling for the Porcello family.”

“I am so grateful for everyone involved in my treatment and recovery,” James said. “From the angels who helped me get insurance when I needed it so, to the skillful doctors who did an amazing job with the transplant and the nurses who took care of me when I couldn’t care for myself and my family who was there every minute to support and help me even when it meant sacrificing their time and finances. My heart is filled with gratitude as I go forward in life, not taking anything for granted again.“

Get Covered WNC is a program of Mountain Projects Community Action Agency. For more information about affordable insurance coverage, contact Mountain Projects Healthcare Assistors at 828-4521447 or visit getcoveredwnc.org.

Donate to the organization’s annual holiday Emergency Fund campaign at mountainprojects.org.

From left to right, Jan Shuler Plummer, James Porcello and Jacquie Buttles. Plummer and Buttles helped Porcello get a lifesaving liver transplant.

“We specialize in knowing the law, the ins and outs of insurance plans, opportunities for discounts and possible tax credits based on income. But to put that knowledge into practice with someone’s life on the line is a different story.”

— Jan Shuler Plummer

Autopsy shows Jackson jail death was an overdose

has been released. Once the investigation is complete, the case will be submitted to the District Attorney’s Office, which will determine whether or not to press criminal charges.

State law requires jailers to visually check on all inmates at least twice per hour and to lay eyes four times per hour on inmates who are suicidal, mentally ill, intoxicated, violent or erratic. While information has not been released as to which area of the jail Taylor was being held, a review of jail logs showed that jailers were meeting the twice-per-hour standard for all jail pods around the time of Taylor’s death.

Earlier this year the Jackson County Board of Commissioners approved the purchase of a body scanner to assist the sheriff’s department in screening people as they come into the detention center. Total cost for the scanner was $148,730 and the equipment was accepted on Sept. 7. According to Wike, detention staff were trained by the vendor on Sept. 27 and 28, and the system was fully operational on Sept. 29.

However, shortly after the installation of the new scanner, and not long after Taylor’s death, another inmate died while incarcerated at the Jackson County Detention Center. Kevin Scott Watson, 30, of Sylva died there on Oct. 20, after being found unresponsive in his cell.

On Oct. 20, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations received a request from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch to investigate the death of the inmate at the

Jackson County Detention Center. The SBI investigation is ongoing and no additional information is available at this time. SBI investigative files are never made public. Once the investigation is complete, the case will be submitted to the District Attorney’s Office, which will determine whether or not to press criminal charges.

Late last year, Jackson County paid $725,000 in a wrongful death lawsuit after Melissa Middleton Rice died by suicide while left alone in the jail’s booking room in 2019. There have been two other suicide deaths inside the Jackson County Detention Center in the past eight years. Charles “Chuckie” Moose died on Nov. 21, 2014, and Steve Ross on March 13, 2015.

Recently elected Sheriff Doug Farmer took office Dec. 5. He was not in office, nor working at the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, in June when Taylor died, or in October when Watson died. Previous Sheriff Chip Hall, who started working for the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department in 1988, had been leading the department since 2014 and did not seek reelection this year.

“Prisoners transporting contraband inside their bodies has been a thing that’s been ongoing,” Farmer said while on the campaign trail. “Your search techniques have to be spot on because they’ll do a lot of different things that you aren’t expecting them to do.”

On Tuesday, Dec. 13, Farmer said he had not seen the toxicology or autopsy reports and could not comment on an ongoing investigation.

HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF W RITER

Autopsy results for the June death of a man in custody at Jackson County Detention Center indicate that he died of a drug overdose and was able to engage in drug dealing activity while incarcerated.

“Based on postmortem examination and investigative results, my opinion is that the cause of death is acute fentanyl and methamphetamine toxicity,” the report of the Medical Examiner’s autopsy reads.

Eddie Columbus Taylor, 45, died while incarcerated at the Jackson County Detention Center on June 26. He had been found unresponsive in his cell, according to Chief Deputy Matthew Wike. Staff attempted life-saving measures and called 911, but Taylor passed away.

In the 911 call placed at 8:38 a.m. that day, the caller from the jail reported a “1018 nonresponsive” to dispatch. When asked if the person was breathing at all, the caller said there was no breathing and no pulse.

Taylor had been arrested on Friday, June 10, on charges of Failure to Appear/ Fictitious Info to Officer and Child Support Purge. His home address was listed as the Best Western in Dillsboro, and he was being held on a $21,253.41 secured bond.

According to the toxicology report, examiners found Taylor to have amphetamines, fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system. Naloxone, a substance that can be injected, or administered via nasal spray, to reverse an overdose from opioids, was also present in Taylor’s body. This indicates its use by detention center staff as part of life saving measures.

“This 45-year-old black male, incarcerated at Jackson County Jail, was found by his cellmate lying face down on the floor in vomitus,” the summary and interpretation of the report reads. “Resuscitative attempts reportedly removed copious vomitus material.”

Further information in the report suggests that Taylor may have been dealing drugs within the detention center.

“According to his cellmate, the decedent had been dealing drugs and storing them in his mouth,” the report states. “The cellmate had similar material in his mouth.

Postmortem examination is significant for severe hypertensive-type cardiovascular disease. No foreign material is identified in the mouth, airway, esophagus or stomach.”

According to Angie Grube, public information director for the State Bureau of Investigation, SBI is nearing the end of its investigation now that the autopsy report

Eddie Columbus Taylor died here at the Jackson County Jail of “acute fentanyl and methamphetamine toxicity.” File photo

Cherokee cannabis company receives $63 million from Council

As of a year ago, he said, 515 banks and 169 credit unions across the United States bank cannabis revenues.

“It’s just more paperwork,” he said. “It’s more of a headache, but some banks, 515 and 169 credit unions, have chosen to do that and that is the future. So there is no question that it is OK to bank.”

However, Sneed’s other concern proved more difficult to dismiss. He told Tribal Council that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which authorizes tribes to operate casinos on their land, does not allow gaming proceeds to be used to fund illegal activities. While federal policy has become more favorable toward cannabis over the past decade, it’s still illegal.

“We don’t have $62 million in non-gaming revenue sitting in the general revenue fund that we can give to Qualla LLC,” Sneed said.

$86,403, the vice chairman $83,491 and other members $80,600.

Voting to table the resolution were Painttown Rep. Dike Sneed, Yellowhill Rep. David Wolfe and Snowbird/Cherokee County Reps. Bucky Brown and Adam Wachacha. Voting to pass were Wolfetown Rep. Bo Crowe, Yellowhill Rep. T.W. Saunooke, Birdtown Reps. Albert Rose and Boyd Owle, and Big Cove Reps. Richard French and Teresa McCoy.

Sneed then presented names to fill vacant positions on the board. The Qualla Enterprises Board of Managers has five members, four of whom go through the nomination and appointment process. Vice Chairman Albert Rose and Yellowhill Rep. T.W. Saunooke had been sitting in two of the seats, serving temporary six-month terms with no compensation. Those terms ended Sept. 14, and there are now three vacancies.

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF W RITER

Cherokee’s recently created medical cannabis LLC will likely have $63 million at its disposal as it prepares for its first year of retail sales, thanks to a vote from Tribal Council Thursday, Dec. 8. The body also acted to set pay rates for the board of managers at Qualla Enterprises LLC and fill two vacant board seats.

“It gives us a lot of confidence that we’re surrounded by people that have done this so many times, that have the experience, that have the understanding,” Forrest Parker, general manager for Qualla Enterprises LLC, told Tribal Council. “This tribe, I’m so proud of us for putting us in a position to learn from other people’s mistakes so that when we do this right, that number is precise. It’s not $150 million because we’re trying to cover all these things that we don’t know. We actually feel like we actually know.”

The Tribal Council voted in August 2021 to establish a medical marijuana program on the Qualla Boundary, passing an ordinance that created the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Cannabis Advisory Commission to study cannabis-related issues and make regulatory recommendations, as well as the EBCI Cannabis Control board to set regulations. The EBCI formed Qualla Enterprises on March 13, and it was registered with the N.C. Secretary of State Office on July 28, 2022.

While the tribe has thus far authorized production of medical marijuana only, Qualla Enterprises is eying the potential of future expansion to general adult use. In May 2021, Tribal Council voted to remove criminal penalties for possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana or 0.15 ounces or less of hashish. Last week, Parker told Tribal Council that the company estimates it can produce and sell $50 million worth of medical marijuana but that sales could reach $350 million if the pro-

gram opened to general adult use. The facilities planned with the $63 million would accommodate the larger capacity needed to reach the $350 million mark.

“We designed the infrastructure and facilities to be able to produce that, and to be real straight-up and honest with you and tell you that we feel confident that we can produce that,” he said. “We know that in an adult use situation we can also sell that.”

According to the resolution, the money will fund completion of a strategic plan that Qualla Enterprises has presented to Tribal Council. The plan calls for increased staffing, an indoor grow facility and a retail facility. Parker said the company expects to see an extremely high return on investment, around 60%.

“I’ve never seen that opportunity in my time here,” Parker said.

FIGURING OUT FINANCING

The proposal earned widespread support around the horseshoe, but there was spirited disagreement as to how federal law should impact financial planning.

Principal Chief Richard Sneed was concerned about how marijuana’s illegal status under federal law would impact the financial side of the business. He cited the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, a federal law aimed at preventing money laundering that prohibits banks from accepting money derived from certain illegal activity, including the sale of marijuana.

“How are those funds going to come back to the tribe, and will our local bank accept that deposit?” Sneed asked.

Attorney Darian Stanford from Sovereign Solutions Carolina dismissed this concern, pointing to 2014 guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department stating that banking cannabis revenues can be done appropriately.

Big Cove Rep. Teresa McCoy bristled at the idea that the federal government could dictate how the tribe can or can’t use its own money.

“Where we spend our money is none of your business, that’s what needs to be told to them,” she said. “That’s my opinion. They don’t get to come down here and tell us you get to make this money and here’s where you have to spend it.”

Sneed said he supports the cannabis project, but that there’s no reason to risk shutting down the gaming operation to lift it up. Just under half of the tribe’s $732.5 million budget for 2022-23 comes from gaming proceeds, which also provide twice-yearly distributions to tribal members.

“If we were to say that we’re going to use gaming revenues to fund this, then what we put at risk is being shut down at our gaming operation by NIGC for being out of compliance with federal law,” he said.

“I certainly want to make sure this succeeds as well, but I’m certainly not going to jeopardize closing down the casino using gaming money if it says that,” agreed Birdtown Rep. Boyd Owl.

Carolyn West, chair of the Qualla Enterprises board, suggested an amendment to keep gaming revenues out of it — the $63 million would be funded with $10 million from tribal levy funds, which are not connected to gaming, and the tribe would guarantee a loan to cover the rest. Both the amendment and the ordinance passed, 8-2, with Painttown Rep. Dike Sneed and Yellowhill Rep. David Wolfe opposed.

CHANGES TO THE BOARD

Later that day, Tribal Council made decisions regarding the board overseeing Qualla Enterprises. With four members voting to table and six to pass, the body approved a new compensation structure for the board. The chairman will receive an annual salary of

There was disagreement around the horseshoe about whether to consider the legislation, which Sneed submitted. At the beginning of the day, Sneed approached Council to ask why the resolution was not on the agenda, given that he had submitted it on time and in the proper format.

Chairman Richard French said it was left off because Sneed had not submitted resumes for his recommended candidates until that morning and because no confirmation hearings had been held for the candidates. Sneed replied that since the board was formed, six people have been appointed to a seat, without a confirmation hearing held for any of them.

“The precedent has already been established that these board appointments for this particular board don’t go through a confirmation process,” he said.

Currently, there is no tribal law governing how appointments are made. Sneed added that, should confirmation hearings be required, it would be another two or three months before new members were seated.

“We need people on this board now,” he said.

Three of the five positions are vacant, and none of the current members have a finance background. That’s a sorely needed expertise, because, to date, the company has expended about $21 million and will soon have an additional $63 million at its disposal.

While there are three spots to be filled, Sneed recommended only two names, saying that his third candidate is still ensuring he will be able to take the position. Sneed nominated Jacob Reed, whole holds a master’s degree in business administration, and Beth Grant, who has a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Both are tribal members. Tribal Council ultimately approved Sneed’s nominations without opposition, adding a six-month probationary period to the appointments.

The resolutions await action from Chief Sneed to become effective.

Tribal Council has authorized production of medical marijuana but is eyeing the potential of future expansion to general adult use.

Defendant in Toineeta murder faces additional charges

Brandon Tyler Buchanan, 25, of Cherokee is now facing new criminal charges in addition to the first-degree murder charge he faces in the death of Kobe

Toineeta, also a 25-yearold from Cherokee.

According to a Facebook post from the Cherokee Indian Police Department, both Buchanan and Ashlee Blaine Smith, 28, who shared a residence at the address where Toineeta died, are charged with possession with intent to sell/deliver schedule II, possession with intent to sell/deliver schedule IV and possession with intent to sell/deliver schedule VI.

During the homicide investigation, police executed a search warrant at the home and

found 387 oxycodone 30-milligram pills, 99 clonazepam 2-milligram pills, more than 300 grams of marijuana, two firearms and $13,000 cash.

The homicide occurred between 4 and 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 11, at 868 Big Cove Road in Cherokee. Buchanan is accused of shooting Toineeta with a gun, killing him. The investigation is ongoing.

An obituary describes Toineeta as “an old soul who never met a stranger.” A 2015 graduate of Swain County High School, Toineeta was a talented all-around athlete who especially loved football, receiving MVP on the Cherokee Braves JV football team and All Conference his junior year on the Swain Maroon Devils football team. He was a partner in a local drywall company and enjoyed hunting, giving much of the fish and bear meat he got to Cherokee elders.

— By Holly Kays, staff writer

More families now qualify for quality, affordable health insurance

Anyone needing a quality, affordable health insurance plan, now is the time to enroll for 2023. Open Enrollment is underway and ends Janu. 15, 2023. Anyone needing coverage starting Jan. 1 must enroll by Dec. 15.

The Healthcare.gov Marketplace is open, and nonprofits Mountain Projects and Pisgah Legal Services offer free help and can deliver facts on Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance.

Here are five reasons to get covered:

• Your family may qualify for new savings.

Some families who previously were not eligible for financial assistance, and found employer coverage too expensive, may now be eligible for tax credits. More than 200,000 uninsured people could gain coverage, and nearly one million Americans can see their coverage become more affordable.

• It’s more affordable.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services estimate that four out of five people will find plans for $10 or less per month. Tax credits through the Healthcare.gov Marketplace can help reduce monthly premiums. Certified navigators and assisters can help you calculate the amount you are eligible to receive.

• You can’t be denied for pre-existing conditions.

All ACA plans are required to cover

essential benefits, including doctor and hospital visits, prescription drugs, mental health treatment and maternity care.

Consumers also receive free preventive care services, such as immunizations and health screenings.

• Local nonprofits offer free assistance understanding your options.

Mountain Projects and Pisgah Legal Services are pleased to work in partnership to help people review the plans and sign up to get covered.

• Free help is available near you, and there is no pressure to enroll.

Meet with a certified navigator or assister to get the facts on ACA health insurance and find a plan that works for you and your family. There is never any pressure to pick a plan – the decision is totally up to you. You have options to attend a free event or make an appointment that works for your schedule.

• Jackson County: A Navigator will be on-site at Jackson County Library in Sylva every Tuesday from noon to 3 p.m.

• Swain County: A Navigator will be onsite at Marianna Black Library in Bryson City every Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

To make a free appointment, call Mountain Projects at 828.452.1447 or contact Pisgah Legal Services online at pisgahlegal.org/healthcare or call 828.210.3404. Assistance is available in English and Spanish.

Brandon Tyler Buchanan

WCU hands out honors at Homecoming 2022

tian in collegiate athletics. A native of Long Island, New York, Blake grew up in Canton. After graduating from high school, he worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville for a brief stint before enrolling at WCU. He was among the L.A. Rams players, coaches, and staff members receiving Super Bowl rings in July.

Hinson presented the Professional Achievement Award to Paul Johnson, a 1979 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in physical education who is widely regarded as one of the most innovative football coaches in college football. Johnson retired as head coach at Georgia Tech in 2018 after 11 seasons, a stint including nine bowl game appearances, three bowl wins, three Atlantic Coast Championship games and 82 victories. In addition to being named ACC Coach of the Year three times while leading the Yellowjackets, Johnson was selected 2008 National Coach of the Year by CBS Sports.

Western Carolina University’s Homecoming 2022 celebration featured the recognition of three alumni for professional accomplishments in college football coaching, sports performance nutrition and academic excellence, and the contributions of a husband-and-wife team with an extensive record of public service and the man who oversaw WCU’s alumni activities for nearly 20 years.

During the annual Chancellor’s Brunch and Alumni Awards Ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 5, Chancellor Kelli R. Brown presented two Distinguished Service Awards, among the top honors bestowed by the university.

Allison Hinson, president of the WCU Alumni Association Board of Directors, recognized this year’s recipients of the Professional Achievement, Academic Achievement and Young Alumnus awards.

Brown presented one Distinguished Service Award to couple Phillip Haire, a former state legislator who was a driving force behind WCU’s Health and Human Sciences Building and the N.C. Center for the Advancement of Teaching, and spouse Connie Haire, a WCU alumna, retired Southwestern Community College vice president and ceaseless community volunteer.

A captain in the U.S. Air Force, he was a member of WCU’s Board of Trustees from 1992-1998 and served 12 years on the University of North Carolina System Board of Governors. He was Sylva’s town attorney for 27 years, and was an attorney on the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, better known as the Watergate Committee, in 1973-74. He also is among the

founding members of the Catamount Club, serving as its president from 1970-1972. He is a former member of the N.C. House of Representatives, representing District 119 (Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties) from 1999 to 2013.

With a master’s degree in education from WCU in 1984, she joined the administration at SCC as director of resource development in 1986 with later roles of dean of institutional development, vice president for student and institutional development and vice president of the college’s Macon campus. She was executive director of the SCC Foundation for her entire career at the college. She has served on numerous regional boards and chaired many of them. A member of the WCU Foundation Board of Directors, she previously sat on the WCU Alumni Association’s Board of Directors and was chair of WCU’s Friends of the Arts board.

The Haires have made more than $250,000 in contributions and pledges to WCU, including a gift of $100,000 in 2017 establishing the endowed scholarships for students in the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Fine and Performing Arts and School of Music.

The second Distinguished Service Award went to Marty Ramsey, the longtime face of WCU alumni affairs who literally grew up on the Cullowhee campus and served as director of the Catamount Club and alumni engagements, including one year leading both offices simultaneously. Ramsey retired earlier this fall with 28 years of service.

A 1985 WCU graduate with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, Ramsey

and his family moved to Cullowhee in 1964 when his father, Harry Ramsey, who later served as assistant to the chancellor for WCU programs in Asheville, accepted a faculty position. His mother, Sue Ramsey, worked as a “dorm mother” in Robertson Hall, where he and his sister lived in the family’s ground floor apartment during much of his childhood.

Ramsey has served as a member of Catamount Athletics Hall of Fame Committee for 28 years and the Chancellor’s Leadership Council for 10 years, and cochaired the University Homecoming Committee for 20 years. In his role as alumni director, he helped introduce three WCU chancellors (John W. Bardo, David O. Belcher and Kelli R. Brown) to alumni across the Southeast and oversaw the Alumni Association Board of Directors. He also established alumni engagement traditions including the annual Purple & Gold Reunion, Legacy Pinning Ceremony and Alumni/Student Job Shadowing Program.

The Young Alumnus Award went to Joey Blake, a 2012 graduate of WCU with a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and dietetics who is director of performance nutrition and wellness for the National Football League’s Los Angeles Rams. In his sixth season with the defending Super Bowl champion team, Blake is responsible for educating and directing all players on their nutrition and hydration related to health and performance.

Prior to joining the Los Angeles Rams, he served as director of football nutrition for the University of South Carolina from 2013-2016 as the first full-time football-only sports dieti-

Before joining Georgia Tech, he was head coach at the U.S. Naval Academy for six years, guiding a program coming off the worst twoyear stretch in its 123-year football history to winning seasons and five bowl game appearances. He was named Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year in 2004. His head-coaching career began with five seasons at thenSouthern Conference member Georgia Southern, where his teams won five-straight conference titles and two NCAA Division IAA national championships. In his five seasons at Georgia Southern, he was named the Division I-AA National Coach of the Year four times. A native of Newland, and his wife, the former Susan Propst, a 1980 WCU graduate, live in Linville.

Lifelong educator J. Allen Queen, who received his bachelor’s degree in 1973 and master’s degree in 1974, is recipient of the Academic Achievement Award. The first member of his family to finish high school and attend college, Queen has been a classroom teacher, school principal, college professor and administrator during his 40-year career as an educator. Much of his teaching, research and academic service integrated into the areas of business, industry and government, and he has published numerous books and articles on those topics.

Queen spent the last half of his career as a professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he served as chair of the Department of Educational Leadership, retiring in 2014 and now holding the title of professor emeritus. His first major publication was a journal article titled “A Workshop on Childhood Abuse and Neglect,” coauthored with wife Patsy Short Queen, who has bachelor’s degrees in education and nursing. The impact of the article and a series of radio and television presentations and related workshops throughout North Carolina conducted by the Queens brought about major changes in local and state laws regarding suspected cases of childhood abuse or neglect. The two, who now live in Kings Mountain, met two weeks into his first semester at WCU.

From left, Distinguished Service Award winner Marty Ramsey, Chancellor Kelli R. Brown, Distinguished Service Award winners Connie and Phil Haire, Alumni Association award winners Allen Queen and Paul Johnson, and Jamie T. Raynor, vice chancellor for advancement.

44 Parker Road • Canton 3 Bed/3.5 Bath | 3,057 sq ft

$750,000

Country roads take me home to this extraordinary luxury home tucked in The Blue Ridge Mountains of Western NC. Located in the gated community of The River at Shining Rock which backs up to US Forest Service protected land, this beauty sits high on a hill and is just a stone's throw from the Pigeon River. There are over 10 contiguous acres available for sale, not developed, surrounding this home which could be purchased for privacy and/or to create river frontage. Quality of construction is evident in this home from the expansive kitchen with custom cabinets and poured concrete counters, to soaring ceilings in the great room with rock fireplace. Primary suite on main with spa like bath including large soaking tub, custom tile walk in shower and massive walk-in closet. Upstairs you will find a huge bonus room, two more bedrooms and bathroom. Heated salt water pool. Large 2 car garage. Basement makes for great storage. Short term rentals allowed.

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Macon Schools latest to address budget squeeze

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF W RITER

This month, the Macon County Schools Board of Education voted to approve its 2022-23 Budget Resolution.

Just like other schools around the region, it is struggling to accommodate state-mandated pay increases and will have to allocate over $500,000 from its fund balance, a move that won’t be sustainable for future budgets.

“The bulk of that [fund balance allocation] is because of the increase to $15 an hour minimum wage that went up this year,” said Angie Cook, finance director for Macon County Schools. “That affected the bulk of our custodial staff, our clerical staff and our teacher assistants. The custodial staff and teacher assistants, for the most part, are in the state fund, but all of your clerical people are [paid locally].”

The state budget, signed into law in July, provided salary increases for all public school employees in the fiscal year. It also increased retirement rates to 24.5% and increased health insurance premiums to $7,397 per employee, per year.

In addition to step increases, as well as an increase to the overall salary schedule for public school employees, the state budget man-

dated increases for hourly employees in the school system. Last year, hourly employees got an increase of 2.5% or up to $13 per hour, whichever was greater. This year, that increased again by 4% or to $15 per hour.

Last year in Macon County, when the school system had to increase hourly employees to at least $13 dollars per hour, the lowest paid hourly employees were at about $12.50 an hour. This meant that the largest mandated increase for hourly employees was only about .50. This year, roughly 100 employees will be getting the $2 raise up to $15.

“That’s a huge impact on our budget,” said Superintendent Dr. Chris Baldwin.

School Board Chairman Jim Breedlove noted that while the school system is required to give those raises, the state has not allocated enough funds to pay for the increase in wages and benefits.

“They did increase the state allotment a little bit for those categories, but it’s not enough to cover the bulk,” said Cook.

Last month, Swain County Schools adopted its budget resolution and faced the same issue, having to allocate over $1 million from its fund balance in order to balance the budget.

“I think it’s really important for everyone here to recognize that swain county is not the

only school system that is fighting this battle,” said Swain County Schools Superintendent Mark Sale at the time. “If you go to any superintendent, any school board, you are going to hear some of the same stories. All of us are struggling in different ways.”

Local money accounts for 14.5% of Macon County Schools funding. This fiscal year, the total local current expense is $10.2 million. A little over $2.5 million of that will go toward locally paid teachers, another $3.3 million goes toward operational support services. Nearly $1 million is allocated for technology support services and $0.75 million covers pay

for clerical workers and the few principals that are paid from local funds.

The state allocation for this portion of the budget is $40,000, federal allocations are $40,000, local revenues are $1.2 million and county appropriations make up $8.2 million of the local current expense fund revenues. The school system allocated $500,000 from its fund balance to reach needed funding levels.

State funding accounts for about 49.5% of the MCS budget.

The total State Public School Fund Appropriation to Macon

Macon County School Board welcomed its new members Dec. 5. From left: Stephanie Laseter, Hillary Wilkes, Jim Breedlove, Melissa Evans, Diedre Breeden and Chris Baldwin. MCS photo

SBI passes Meadows voter fraud investigation findings onto AG’s office

BY KYLE P ERROTTI N EWS E DITOR

Mark Meadows may soon know whether he’ll face voter fraud charges in North Carolina.

The announcement came via a press release from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Tuesday.

“The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation’s (SBI) case file concerning Mark Meadows and allegations of voter fraud has been submitted to the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office for review,” the release reads. “Final case file documentation was submitted in early November. Prosecutors with the AG’s Office will determine whether criminal charges are appropriate, not the SBI. Because the case is now pending a decision by the AG’s Office, no additional information is available.”

Meadows’ potentially felonious voting activity came to light in a March 6 story by Charles Bethea in The New Yorker.

“On September 19th, about three weeks before North Carolina’s voter-registration deadline for the general election, Meadows filed his paperwork,” that story reads. “On a line that asked for his residential address — ‘where you physically live,’ the form instructs — Meadows wrote down the address of a fourteen-by-sixty-two-foot mobile home in Scaly Mountain. He listed his move-in date for this address as the following day, September 20th.”

A few weeks later, The Smoky Mountain

News reported that District Attorney Ashley Welch, whose jurisdiction the case would typically fall under, recused herself.

“After careful consideration and review of the North Carolina State Bar Rules, I feel that my office has a conflict of interest pursuant to North Carolina State Bar rule 1.7 resulting in the recusal of my office,” she said in a March 14 letter to Leslie Dismukes, a prosecutor with the North Carolina Department of Justice.

Welch, also a Republican, said in the letter that she was requesting Attorney General Josh Stein to “handle both the advisement of law enforcement agencies as to any criminal investigation as well as any potential prosecution of Mark Meadows,” noting that the basis for her recusal is that thenCongressman Meadows gave her a campaign contribution in 2014 and also appeared in ads supporting that candidacy.

“The allegations in this case involve potential crimes committed by a government official,” Welch wrote. “Historically I have requested the attorney general’s office to handle prosecutions involving alleged misconduct of government officials. It is in the best interest of justice and the best interest of the people of North Carolina that the attorney general’s office handles the prosecution of this case.”

Raleigh television station WRAL was first to report that Attorney General Josh Stein said through a spokesperson that his office had asked the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation to look into the matter of Mark Meadows’s registration.

In March, Meadows’ voting history shows he cast his March 3, 2020, Republican Primary Election ballot in Transylvania County, but voted absentee by mail in the Nov. 3 General Election using the McConnell Road address.

County Schools is $34.6 million. This money will pay for all state-funded teachers in Macon County, totaling $21.6 million. It also pays $4.8 million for all state-funded exceptional children’s teachers and teacher assistants, $2.1 million for the bulk of principal and assistant principals, and $1.5 million for guidance counselors and media center personnel. Most custodial salaries also come out of this pot of money at about $2.8 million.

Federal funding accounts for about 19% of the MCS budget.

The total Federal Grants Fund for the 2022-23 fiscal year is $13.2 million. This pays for federally funded classroom teachers, EC teachers and Title One teachers, as well as operational services.

The school nutrition program has a budget of $3.2 million. Of that, a little more than $40,000 comes from state funds, $2.7 million comes from federal funds and $486,050 comes from local revenues. All that money goes toward labor and supplies.

The capital outlay budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year is about $6.5 million. Almost all that funding comes from county appropriations, while a little over $200,000 comes from state and federal funds. Of the capital outlay budget, $2.7 million will go toward the Macon Middle locker room and track proj-

ects, and $1.1 million is appropriated for Franklin High School.

Macon County Schools is looking to build a new high school facility in the next couple of years, a needed improvement that will cost the county upwards of $100 million.

“What we need to focus on is that this budget proposal is requiring an allocation of $500,000 from our current fund balance. We can only stand that once or twice,” said Breedlove. “As we have retirements and other things taking place, and positions come in, in terms of making decisions about whether those positions will be filled, it’s time to start looking at those very hard because we’re going to have to attrit. My estimation, there is going to have to be some attrition done. In 2024, we no longer have that stop gap ESSER funding and we can’t continue to appropriate money from our fund balance, just can’t do it.”

Cook noted the likelihood of even more salary and retirement increases in the future.

“We’re into a very tough time, guys,” said Breedlove. “We’ve been through this before. As we enter into this new year, we’ve got to take hard looks at positions and some harder looks at other things, in terms of trying to bring things into line. I hate to say it, but I also think I’m being very realistic.”

WCU employees express high satisfaction

Three-quarters say they’d consider leaving for higher salary

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF W RITER

Western Carolina University is ahead of the pack on employee satisfaction, according to the results of a survey to University of North Carolina System faculty and staff.

“In a nutshell, this pretty much tells me that Western’s workforce is very engaged and also relatively satisfied on the positive perspective, particularly as compared to our peers within the UNC system,” Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources and Payroll Cory Causby told trustees during their Nov. 4 retreat.

The 2022 survey is the third employee engagement survey since 2018, when the UNC System’s new strategic plan called for conducting them every two years. The survey presents employees — both faculty and staff — with a series of 30 statements.

Respondents rank their responses on a five-point scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.”

The statements cover everything from institutional culture to leadership to COVID19 response.

Overall, 64% of WCU employees participated, up from 62% in 2020. This was the second-highest response rate of the 16 institutions, not including the UNC System Office’s 69% participation rate. Of responses given in the survey, 68% were positive — either “agree” or “strongly agree” — up from 66% in 2020 and putting WCU in a tie for third place with the UNC System Office and N.C. State.

The most positive responses came from staff members whose positions are exempt from the State Human Resources Act of North Carolina — mostly professional, salaried positions that do not receive overtime — with a 76% favorable rating. Responses from staff members subject to the SHRA were 68% favorable and faculty came in lowest, at 64%.

Notably, faculty were also the most likely to have concerns about senior leadership, with only 49% indicating confidence in senior leadership. Likewise, only 54% of faculty responded favorably to questions about communication and collaboration at WCU. The only other category response to fall below 60% came from SHRA employees,

only 53% of whom responded favorably to questions about performance management. While the overall scores for these three categories were higher than the system average, they were lower than WCU’s results in 2020.

While faculty indicated lukewarm confidence in senior leadership, the survey does not define what senior leadership means. Respondents gave high positive ratings when asked how they perceive their supervisor or department chair, exceeding scores for the 2018 and 2020 surveys.

“It can be anywhere from the department head to a dean to a division head to the chancellor, but it also goes beyond that,” Causby told trustees. “A lot of times people may be talking about the Board of Trustees, they may be talking about the Board of Governors. In some instances, there were

Meanwhile, SHRA staff clocked in at 75% positive and non-SHRA staff at 78%.

Overall, WCU employees indicated that they’re happy with their jobs and work environment — but also that they’d be willing to leave for a better salary elsewhere.

Employees could select multiple answers to a question asking for reasons why they might consider leaving — and 73% said they’d think about it for a more competitive salary. At a distant second were better work/life balance and better opportunities for career advancement, which were both selected by 32% of respondents. Only 15% of employees selected “satisfied with my current job” as one of their answers.

However, Causby said, those responses don’t necessarily mean that three-quarters of the workforce already has a foot out the door.

adjusted salaries at WCU reached below negative 8% between 2010 and 2019.

Over the past couple of years, WCU and the UNC System as a whole have struggled with extremely high rates of employee turnover. In fiscal year 2022 between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022, 202 employees left WCU voluntarily. The figure does include retirements, deaths, disability or employerdriven separations such as firing or labor force reductions. The four-year average for fiscal years 2018 through 2021 was just half that, at 100.5.

The situation seems to be improving, but it’s not back to normal. Between July and November, WCU saw 65 voluntary separations, a 26% drop from the 82 recorded during the same period last year but nearly double the 38 voluntary separations reflected in

comments about Faculty Senate and combining that with senior leadership. So it’s very broad, and it’s not spelled out or defined in the survey.”

While WCU generally received more favorable results than the UNC System as a whole, this was not true of questions pertaining to its COVID-19 response. The university scored 1-3 percentage points lower than the system average on questions asking about departmental adaptation to work conditions during the pandemic, how clearly the institution communicated policies and procedures to assist employees, and whether the institution is taking appropriate action against the pandemic. Satisfaction was lowest among faculty, who returned a 62% favorable response to COVID-19 questions.

“I think this was an opportunity for many folks to indicate where they had the greatest level of dissatisfaction right now, not that they were leaving,” Causby said. “65% of faculty responded to this. Salary has been a big issue over this past year with faculty.”

While faculty and staff received a combined 6% raise in the 2021 and 2022 state budgets, even this unprecedented amount fails to offset inflation of 7.1% that occurred between November 2021 and November 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator. Salaries have lagged for years prior to the pandemic. A 2021 analysis by WCU business professor Sean Mulholland, who is now director of the Center for Study of Free Enterprise, showed that inflation-

the 2018-2021 four-year average for those months.

The surge in separations is a system-wide trend. During an April Board of Governors meeting held in Cullowhee, UNC Board of Governors Committee on Personnel and Tenure Chair Kellie Hunt Blue said system office staff attribute it to pandemic pressures and the “Great Resignation.” Salary is also frequently mentioned as a driver.

Despite the challenges, Trustee Bryant Kinney said he’s happy with the survey results considering the enormous pressures the university has faced since 2020.

“I think overall this is a compliment to the leadership and the staff and faculty, to have results that to me are pretty darn good coming out of what you came out of,” he said.

WCU’s results were at the front of the pack compared to other UNC System schools. WCU graphic

Community Almanac

Big Brothers Big Sisters gears up for holidays

Frog Level Brewing has partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Haywood County this Holiday Season.

Monte Bumbernick, FLB manager, contacted BBBS that FLB employees and customers wanted to help local families this holiday season. BBBS coordinator Martha Barksdale quickly prepared a “Littles” wish list and presented it to Bumbernick. He stated that employees were excited about this opportunity and love giving back to the community. Within two days, Bumbernick reported that all 36 of the wish lists had been distributed to employees and customers.

Big Brothers Big Sisters is the oldest organized mentoring program in the country and continues to help children facing adversity meet their potential.

Barksdale stated that there are currently 36 children enrolled, and several on the waiting list.

“We now have needs for adult women and men wanting to make an impact on a child’s life. The commitment is minimal, but the payoffs are priceless.

Frog Level Brewing is reaching out to many other local nonprofits with fundraising opportunities and also host a variety of gatherings and events for Big Brothers Big Sisters.

For more information about Big Brothers Big Sisters, please reach out to Martha Barksdale, 828.273.3601.

Frog

Wallace receives NC Public Library award

Karen Wallace, director of Fontana Regional Library, has been awarded the most prestigious statewide honor by the NC Public Library Directors Association (NCPLDA). The award was presented at their recent 2022 Awards Banquet in WinstonSalem.

Over the past 30 years, Wallace has exemplified the very definition of leadership, not only for the Fontana Regional Library (FRL), but for libraries and librarians across the state. She became the Macon County Librarian in 1992 and, since 2006, she has held the dual role as Macon County Librarian and Regional Library Director.

Wallace serves as a mentor for the profession, encouraging employee promotions from within FRL, giving staff opportunities to learn, giving support and encouragement, and offering leadership and advice.

She has contributed to the growth and development of FRL on multiple levels that transcend library walls and creates a stronger community through leadership, innovation, programming, customer service, access, and facilities.

Wallace has consistently worked hard to achieve grants for projects that enhance library services in meaningful ways. FRL’s Digital Seniors project was nationally recognized in 2022 by the Southeastern Association of Area Agencies on Aging (SE4A) who acknowledge services to older

adults.

The goal was to provide seniors with both the technology (including internet connectivity) and the skills they need to use digital devices to explore the internet in a way that is meaningful to them on an individual basis. The Library provided initial home set-up and ongoing one-on-one instruction for using a Chromebook and wi-fi hotspot.

Since 2020, FRL has received $572,000 from local, state, and federal grants to support various projects that directly benefit residents of Macon, Jackson, and Swain counties.

Her impact on FRL’s community has been enduring as well as significant. North Carolina libraries across the state have benefited from her experience, as she has served on the NC Cardinal Governance Committee, State Library Commission and as the Regional Library Representative for NCPLDA.

The NCPLDA committee stated, “It is a privilege to acknowledge Karen Wallace as Director of the Year for her steadfast leadership, positive attitude, and commitment to serving others.”

Eagle Tax Breaks, Eagle Pack & Ship relocates

On Wednesday, Dec. 7, the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce staff and ambassadors held a ribbon cutting/grand opening celebration for Eagle Pack and Ship and Eagle Tax Breaks.

Relocated to 583 Asheville Highway, Suite 2, in Sylva, the two businesses are located in the same building.

Eagle Pack and Ship specializes in shipping via DHL, FedEx, Freight, UPS, USPS. They also provide vacant office space for rent, complete with Wi-Fi and available phone/receptionist phone service. They provide both traditional and expedited passport services, P.O. Boxes, a meeting room with a coffee pot, ink toners, shredding service, bill pays, copies, faxing, lamination, notary service, packing supplies, and bill pay services.

Eagle Tax Breaks provides bookkeeping, earned income credit, filing income taxes electronically, individual tax preparers, tax refunds and more.

For more information, visit their website at eaglepackandship.com or call 828.631.0238. Their hours of operation are Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

HCHF awards grant to Four Seasons

Highlands Cashiers Health Foundation (HCHF) has awarded Four Seasons, The Care You Trust a grant to support the purchase of a mobile medical vehicle and SIM mannequin.

This equipment will enhance the education and training for staff, ultimately affecting the care provided to patients served in the Highlands and Cashiers area. Four Seasons will also be able to provide care to more rural patients throughout the

western region.

“Ensuring that quality care is available wherever one calls home is our priority,” said Four Seasons President and CEO, Dr. Millicent BurkeSinclair. “When a member of our community needs serious illness or end-of-life care, we are available and now, more than ever before, we will be more accessible and more responsive. We believe that every moment is important throughout the seasons of life and through the support of this grant, we will be able to expand our commitment to high quality training for staff so that we can provide even higher quality care to those in need. We are grateful for HCHF’s generosity and dedication to Western North Carolina.”

The mobile unit equipped with a mannequin and educational technology will create flexible space for training new staff, verifying required competencies, and conducting refresher courses for existing staff. The Mobile SIM Lab will allow Four Seasons to conduct required CPR recertifications, skills assessments, and hospice and palliative care-specific training for nurses, CNAs, social workers, and home health aides. This vehicle and simulation technology will also allow Four Seasons to expand their reach in recruitment, training, and skills assessment of healthcare staff in the six westernmost counties of North Carolina

Gibby Shaheen, Town Clerk/Accounts Payable Technician for the Town of Highlands, has firsthand experience working with Four Seasons, as they helped support her father, Gilbert Beck.

“It is such a great comfort to have someone to guide and reassure you through the process,” Shaheen said. “It was a blessing for sure. I am so excited that the Foundation is supporting Four Seasons. Any time you can make the training process easier by taking the training to the people is a huge advantage. The people of western North Carolina will greatly benefit from that service.”

“We are excited to be able to partner with Four Seasons for this grant,” says Robin Tindall, CEO and Executive Director of Highlands Cashiers Health Foundation. “The new mobile unit and SIM mannequin will create new opportunities for certification and training upgrades. Four Seasons provides needed care for patients and families facing difficult times, and we are thrilled to help them expand their services in our community.”

Franklin Chamber ribbon cutting for Vignette Realty

The Franklin Chamber of Commerce recently held a ribbon cutting downtown for Vignette Realty, whose office is located on Main Street in Acorn Suites above Wells Fargo Bank.

The company was founded by top agents Kristie Brennan and Rashaune De La Cruz with the goal of bringing an unparalleled customer experience and world-class marketing to Franklin and the surrounding areas.

Since its inception one year ago, the company has already welcomed two additional agents, José Feria and Jeff Willson, and achieved over 100 transactions and $26 million in sales volume thus far.

Level Brewing manager Monte Bumbernick and Haywood County Big Brothers Big Sisters’ Martha Barksdale. FLB has partnered with BBBS this holiday season. Donated photo

There’s more to life than politics — amen to that

Iwas blasting classic Rolling Stones in my truck yesterday at a few minutes before 5 p.m. when the phone rang. I did not recognize the number so debated whether to answer what was likely a junk call from someone asking me about my car warranty or — one I’ve been getting of late — someone trying to sell me a vacation package with a particular hotel chain. The caller ID said it was coming from Greensboro. With a spur-of-the-moment decision I hit the accept button and said hello.

“Is this The Smoky Mountain News?” came a voice. The caller had a distinct Southern accent that reminded me of family, so I immediately warmed to the voice. Sounded like a middle-aged male.

“Well, this is Scott McLeod. I’m the newspaper’s editor and publisher. Can I help you?”

“OK, this is the number I found for the paper,” he said. “Sure, that’s right, what can I do for you?” I asked again. Then it came, politely delivered, matter of fact, no anger or derision in the voice. I’ll put this in quotes even though I did not pull over and immediately write it down. I’m paraphrasing, but this is what he told me.

“Well, I’m calling papers around the state during the holidays. I’m a veteran, and I just don’t think it’s right that they’re putting the faces of those arrested and convicted for the Jan. 6 thing at the Capitol all over the newspapers and they are having to serve time and yet when BLM and Antifa were rioting and looting all around the country they didn’t get arrested, and it didn’t make the papers and they did lots more harm. I think it’s biased.”

Is it Trump or the Constitution?

Donald Trump is many things most people wouldn’t want in a neighbor, coworker or son in-law. He’s uncouth, lecherous, manipulative, egotistical, arrogant, vindictive, paranoid, humorless, bigoted, willfully ignorant, lazy, dishonest — a grifter as well as a pathological liar — and cruel.

Even so, he got nearly 63 million votes for president in 2016 and more than 74 million in 2020, when he was defeated according to every reckoning but his own

Could so many people be that blind to his obvious faults? Not likely. To some voters, they may actually have been attributes. His combativeness, disdain for institutions and so-called “elites,” and his contempt toward minorities and immigrants appealed to people sharing his prejudices. To some folks who oppose abortion, nothing else matters, and he didn’t disappoint them. Wealthy contributors were rewarded for their indulgence with enormous tax breaks.

But now, he’s gone far beyond debatable policies. Within days of entertaining two

“Well, OK.”

“That’s it, I just think y’all need to be fair and want you to think about it over the holidays. Thanks for listening,” he said.

And then he ended the call.

And so I drove on toward my house, trying to decipher what I’d just heard. The comparison of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol to the protests that rocked this country in the summer of 2020 has been made before. It usually comes from those who think the fallout from the Jan. 6 insurrection has been too harsh and the reaction to the summer of rioting too lax, like what my caller had said.

I did some research, and this excerpt from a New York Times article puts that in perspective: About 15 million to 26 million people participated in Black Lives Matter protests across the United States in the summer of 2020, and the vast majority of them were peaceful. More than 17,000 people were arrested in connection to the racial justice protests, according to a tally by The Washington Post. Out of some 2,600 arrests with details about the charge or protester, 582, or about 22 percent, were charged with crimes related to violence or the threat of violence. In other words, 1 in about 4,400 committed a violent crime, assuming the same crime rate across the entire arrestee population.

In comparison, crowd experts and officials have estimated that up to 10,000 people entered the Capitol grounds. Out of the more

notorious antisemites at Mar-A-Lago, he confessed — indeed, boasted — his contempt for the Constitution and his instinct for dictatorship.

This is what he wrote on Truth Social, his woefully misnamed in-house medium: “Do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” (Italics added.)

That would be the Constitution that on Jan. 20, 2017, he swore to “preserve, protect and defend.”

That oath is spelled out in the Constitution itself. It is noteworthy that the oath does not command loyalty to the nation but rather to the Constitution. Nothing in it allows the “termination” of any part of it. The writ of habeas corpus may be suspended “in cases of rebellion or insurrection,” but the power to do that is lodged in Article I, the congressional article, rather than in Article II, which governs the executive branch.

Trump’s stated contempt for the Constitution illuminates his state of mind when he urged a mob to come to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, promising “it will be wild,” and when he sent the mob to the Capitol, inflaming it with angry words at his own vice president for refusing to set aside the electoral votes that would make Joe Biden president.

In so saying, Trump made Attorney

than 729 arrested so far, 176, or about a quarter, have been charged with crimes related to violence. In other words, at least 1 in 56 committed a violent crime.

So there’s that regarding the comparison. Look, when the BLM protests turned to riots, they were condemned by most Americans. It’s one thing to use your First Amendment right to protest, another to loot and destroy private property. That’s unacceptable, as was the destruction and violence during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

But I kept coming back to the fact that this guy called me, and, according to what he said, is calling newspapers elsewhere. How fantastic is that. And so I called him back this morning. It went to voice mail, I told him I appreciated him calling, and my phone rang a few minutes later.

“I missed your call,” he said.

I told him that this was the editor of The Smoky Mountain News that he spoke with yesterday. We chatted, learned his name was Jeff, and that he’s had little luck contacting large newspapers around the state. We talked a little politics, he told me he’s gone from Democrat to Republican and is now an Independent. I told him about my conservative Southern Democrat father who later in life embraced social causes.

“You know, life’s not all politics. We probably got a lot more in common than we have differences. People need to remember that. And thanks for calling back, Scott.”

We’ll likely never talk again, and I don’t even know where’s he lives. Happy holidays, Jeff, and more power to you. (SMN Editor and Publisher Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com.)

General Merrick Garland’s burden much lighter. It would be no easy call to authorize the indictment of a former president for sedition no matter how much he might deserve it. But in Trump’s own words, that former president has renounced his oath to the Constitution — an oath that comes with no expiration date.

Each citizen also has a decision to make.

Trump is running for the presidency again. No one who truly loves our country and its Constitution should be comfortable with that, no matter what else Trump might say or do.

One can be loyal to Trump or loyal to the United States. But no one can possibly be both.

(Martin A. Dyckman lives in Asheville and can be reached at dyckmanm@bellsouth.net.)

Editor Scott McLeod

Guest Columnist

Martin Dyckman

N.C. Treasurer puts politics ahead of humanity’s future

BY ROB SCHOFIELD G UEST C OLUMNIST

Can morality play a role in capitalism?

Should it? Human society has, of course, wrestled with this dilemma for centuries.

For some market fundamentalists on the ideological right, all morality — at least when it comes to the roles of investors and consumers — is to be found in profits and bargains.

Yes, that computer manufacturer (or meat packer or clothing producer) may poison its neighbors and rely upon horrific sweatshops that employ young children in conditions little different from slavery, but hey, so long as their return on investment is high and prices low, goes the thinking, that’s a problem for someone else to solve.

Interestingly, for very different reasons, some on the other end of the spectrum also view the idea of drawing lines in this realm as a futile exercise. Don’t kid yourself, goes this argument; it’s absurd to pretend that one can actively participate in the modern capitalist economy without abetting exploitation and injustice.

Meanwhile, for the large majority of us who find ourselves somewhere in between those points of view, making a judgment call on such matters can often be a challenge. Sometimes it’s hard to obtain accurate information about the depths of a company’s anti-social behavior. In other instances, a firm may have a mixed record or be moving in the right direction.

And things can really get complicated when the question is not merely whether to patronize a particular company, but whether to invest in it. After all, most people do not select individual stocks to buy and sell; they rely on professionals (like pension managers and mutual funds) who bunch thousands of investors and scores of investments.

But as numerous examples in which once predatory companies changed their ways attest, progress in this realm is possible. And happily, one important partial solution for those who hope to be part of building a better kind of capitalism has been the emergence of some large investment groups who seek to both abet societal progress while also making a profit.

Take, for instance, the investment company with the world’s largest portfolio, BlackRock. A while back, BlackRock, which manages $10 trillion or more in assets, announced that it would use some of the outsized economic power and influence it commands to help tackle the global climate emergency.

As an eminently reasonable explanation on the firm’s website makes clear, BlackRock views such investments a socially responsible and a path to long-term profits.

The policy makes enormous sense at a moment in history in which the urgency of rapidly reining in global carbon emissions has never been greater. Scientists report

that humans have already produced more carbon emissions in the last three decades than had occurred in the previous two-anda-half centuries. To think that we could somehow serve as successful stewards of the global biosphere and the life forms that call it home without rapidly altering this pattern and slowing the global warming it’s causing is simply preposterous.

Unfortunately, when it comes to preposterous notions about our ever-more-fragile planet and the modern economy, no one is more shameless or prolific than the apologists for 21st century robber-baron capitalism at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

Ever since BlackRock made its announcement, ALEC has been relentlessly attacking the move and sending signals to its right-wing minions in government to join in. And so it came to pass last week that North Carolina Treasurer Dale Folwell — a far-right true believer on myriad issues who’s always looking to raise his profile in anticipation of a 2024 gubernatorial run — announced that he was joining the ALEC chorus and calling for the resignation of BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.

Folwell — a politician with a notably spotty record on the environment whose own investments strategies have quite arguably cost the state big sums since he took office — claims that BlackRock is somehow endangering the billions of dollars in state investments he manages with this policy.

A more accurate assessment is that BlackRock is making giant fossil fuel companies (and their mouthpieces in politics) uncomfortable by both highlighting the industry’s long-term lack of economic viability and helping the world to end its heroin-like addiction to its products.

As New York City Comptroller Brad Lander explained in an on-the-mark letter to Fink this September, pols like Folwell are “waging a war of political distraction in the hopes of protecting the fossil fuel interests.” If anything, he rightfully noted, BlackRock should be moving more aggressively with its climate work.

Indeed, like Lander, many environmental advocates are deeply concerned that BlackRock is already wimping out on its initial commitment.

The bottom line: the global climate emergency is an all-hands-on-deck existential crisis in which vastly more in the way of aggressive commitments from giant controllers of capital like BlackRock are (and will be) absolutely essential. And the notion that North Carolina’s Treasurer is intentionally using state resources to help undermine such efforts constitutes a massive betrayal of the people he’s sworn to serve.

Rob Schofield, Director of NC Policy Watch, has three decades of experience as a lawyer, lobbyist, writer and commentator. rob@ncpolicywatch.com.)

Art Basel brings indigenous work to Miami Beach

BY B REANNA DELANNOY C ONTRIBUTING W RITER

Throughout the ages, art has given us a means to display all facets of our lives to the world; it can be therapy, an outlet, activism in both still life and performance.

There’s a multitude of immeasurable ways humans can express what we bear witness to.

Native art has always been a part of my life. I grew up with my immediate and extended family — who are Cloverdale Pomo and Blackfoot — at school, work, and yet when I step outside that familiar space, I find that indigenous art is only a minor aspect of many communities. So, I set a goal while attending this year’s Art Basel in Miami Beach, Florida, to find indigenous representation amid the art week chaos.

Art week is not just one show, but several fairs and events all over the area, so I needed to keep my search direct, knowing well that the representation would be severely lacking. This is not a small-town art market; between all the fairs there billions of dollars are spent in a short period. However, I found it interesting that of the roughly 4,000 artists represented by 280 galleries from around the world, only one — K. Art — is native-owned and represents exclusively native artists.

The buzz surrounding the gallery and my curiosity made this my first stop while meandering among the sea of Euro-centric discord.

Upon arriving, I immediately saw work by Edgar Heap of Birds (Cheyenne and Arapaho), Roybn Tsinnajinnie (Diné /Navajo) and Erin Gingrich (Koyukon Athabaskan and Inupiaq). I was completely engrossed by the pieces and the stories behind them. There was no hesitation diving right into a discussion, speaking with satirical humor about serious topics and environmental work the artists were producing.

Mentioned in this discussion was an artist whose work has had a profound impact on me. Luzene Hill (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians) is a conceptual artist who lives in Atlanta. Her piece “To Rise and Begin Again” (2022) was shown at this year’s Amory Show in New York. The sculpture is made up of aluminum columns varying in size with the Cherokee syllabary atop each column. The columns are set to resemble New York City skyscrapers referencing the indigenous ironworkers that contributed to the construction of the iconic skyline. As the columns vary in height with the syllabary placed atop, this represents the growth and decline of the Cherokee language. Luzenes Hill’s current and past works continue to shine a light on pertinent topics that not only focus on Cherokee stories and concerns, but also the experiences that affect native communities across the country.

Next stop was Wynwood. My old hangouts drastically changed over the years, but the

artists’ dedication is still fully present. Over the last couple of decades, graffiti artists and muralists from all over the world have traveled to Miami yearly to paint and relay their messages, messages that are also presented by a myriad of Indigenous artist, more than any art

fair in Miami. Each style is represented, and each is the accumulation of years of lives lived. Whether it’s blockbusters or wildstyles, heaven-spots and murals, a strong social message can be found. Muralist Cranio, Fabio Flop, Craig Anthony Miller, Carlos Rodriguez (CarlosRMK), Grow Love, and so many others stood out in such a profound way making a powerful impact on an already giant platform.

I grew up around a lot of street artists and know the positive impact they provide that is crucial to burgeoning communities and movements. This fall, I was thrilled to see the success of a local project that started in Western North Carolina. The Indigenous Walls Project curates murals and events throughout the year in Asheville that focus on Indigenous languages and traditions, leading the community surrounding this endeavor to start up conversations. This is done by providing space for native artists to showcase their work along with using public forums to open discussions with the community.

Anyone interested in seeing work from Luzene Hill, her piece, “Disruption,” can be seen at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, which will be showing until September 2023.

The Indigenous Walls Project murals can be found throughout Asheville. Be sure to check their social media handles for mural locations and artists’ information.

Grow Love and Taylor Hertzog Colab Wynwood MuralFest 2022

Left: Robyn Tsinnajinnie “Cold Water” 2022. Right: Luzene Hill “To Rise and Begin Again” 2022

This must be the place

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

ence trauma, sadness or grief — there’s usually (hopefully) this glimmer of hope that someday things will change, and for the better. You’ll become an adult. You’ll make your own decisions. And life will be, well, what you make it.

HOT PICKS

1A special holiday production of “A Christmas Story” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 16-17 and at 2 p.m. Dec. 18 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

2“Holiday Fireworks” will be held from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16, on West Main Street in Sylva.

It’s 51 degrees with a warm sun and blue skies hovering above downtown Waynesville. A little after 2 p.m. Monday with a cup o’joe in-hand while sitting at Orchard Coffee. Folks milling about in conversation, others simply reading a book or typing away.

Emerging from bed in the ole humble abode this morning, I didn’t realize that Christmas is just around the corner. Maybe it’s the oddly warm weather in Appalachia compared to the heavy snowfall and freezing cold temperatures the day I left the North Country for Haywood County last month.

But, me thinks it’s just being busy, head buried in work obligations and writing assignments. Places to be and hands to shake. Things to do and endless miles traveled in the Tacoma pickup. Shit, I was going for a jog in the humid swamps of Florida just about a week ago, a far contrast from that November run in ankle-deep snow in the Adirondacks.

Maybe I forgot Christmas (and the impending New Year’s Eve) is soon to be here. Maybe I just hate it when this time of year takes forever to arrive, and yet disappears in a blink of an eye, usually with a bleak hangover on Jan. 1 amid grey skies and no places open for a much-needed greasy spoon breakfast cure.

At 37, I find this time of year usually leaves me teetering on a fine line between sadness and gratitude, a place I’ve been balancing along for some time now. To be honest, I can’t really remember when I started to feel those sad aches and pains of life. Maybe they’ve been there since the beginning? Who knows? Who cares?

I just know that “all that darkness” lingers somewhere in the background, hiding behind a tree in the forest of my wandering and pondering. To be sad and to be happy (and everything in-between) is to be human, right? Each of our respective paths in life is a pendulum swing between the good, the bad, and the ugly.

And yet, I think the last few years — whether due to the pandemic, politics, or the organized chaos and white noise of the digital age — all of us are probably in this same boat, more so a rollercoaster of emotions, where we are keenly aware of our vulnerability. And we see the edge of our sanity, and we’ll do whatever it takes to either not fall over or merely ignore where the edge is. Head held high. Onward, eh?

I feel this year was, for good or ill, the one where everything really came into focus. When you’re young, you’re bright-eyed and bushy-tailed — now yes, you might experi-

But, the thing “they” sometimes don’t tell you is that the life you make can be built with new emotional walls and clear windows, but those memories of the past — the road to the here and now — can, and do, remain in a shoebox (or many shoeboxes) in the closet of your mind.

And you can’t seem to be able to throw the shoebox away. So, it just gathers dust,

3“A Night Before Christmas” will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 17 in downtown Waynesville.

4“Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” musical will be held at 7 p.m. Dec. 16-17 and 2 p.m. Dec. 17 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

5“Holiday Market” with local artisans will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 16-17 at 117 Island Street in Bryson City.

concert or sauntering around an art gallery. That, and disappearing into the depths of Mother Nature. Lace up the hiking boots and hit the trailhead. It’s done wonders for humanity since we first achieved consciousness, and it’s as important and vital now as ever before.

So, yeah, here I am. Age 37. Single. No roommates. A vagabond journalist. More at home on the road ramblin’ than sitting in my apartment. Never met a stranger. A hopeless romantic to a fault. Rough around the edge, but an eternal smilin’ fool.

and sometimes something triggers you to reopen it and examine its contents, hold the mental images in your hand in hopes of salvation. Thus, 2022 was a year where I walked into that closet and dusted off several of those shoeboxes.

Cathartic? Yes. But, hot damn, it can be a hole of despair that you must be well-aware of when to pull yourself out of. Those ladders out of the dark hole of despair are the Drive-By Truckers or Crosby Stills & Nash on the truck stereo on a solo drive down a backroad. Or endless cups of coffee with a friend in a diner — nowhere to be but here, and with you.

And, for me at least, writing about it is my biggest, most sturdy ladder. The empty page and my restless thoughts deep down within remain the vessel that I’ll continually climb into in search of honest truths and hard-earned realizations. Like clockwork, once the column — this one or any other — is finished, I feel lighter within.

That’s what the creative realm does for those who create and for those who absorb the creation. Reading a book, going to a live

Christmas is almost here, a sometimesuncomfortable season and wide-range of emotions for me, one that I’ll always wrestle with (and I know I’m not alone in that sentiment). But, those urges to completely avoid the Hallmark sugary-sweet nature of the holiday in the modern world will subside oncein-a-while.

Like last night, when my urge to avoid and ignore the impending holiday fa-la-la-lala subsided when I got a text late Sunday afternoon from a dear friend and his wife. Hadn’t seen them and hung out in a little bit. They invited me over for a steak and potatoes dinner.

A hearty feast, to say the least. Laughter and guitars being played around the dining room table. Crack a beer and rehash cherished stories from back-in-the-day, plans eventually made to make new ones in the coming months — people, places and things to look forward to in the depths of the winter doldrums.

Sitting at that table, that sense of gratitude and happiness — of human connection and that feeling of familiarity of your true self — bubbling up to the surface of the moment unfolding before you and yours. Truth? The holidays are hard for every single one of us. But, sincere friendship and genuine love is the cosmic glue that keeps it (us) all together.

Life is beautiful, grasp for it, y’all.

Know it’s a wonderful world, if you can put aside the sadness

The entrance to Big Creek.

(Garret K. Woodward photo)

On the beat Heath to play Frog Level

Rising Asheville singersongwriter Ashley Heath will perform at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16, at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville.

With a voice often described as “velvet soul,” Heath has been winning over the hearts of Americana music lovers since she gave up her barista apron in the spring of 2015. Currently on tour in support of her sophomore album, “Where Hope Never Dies,” Heath continues to deliver her signature blend of sultry blues and anthemic rock n’ roll arrangements.

Aside from appearances at MerleFest, Bonnaroo and Shakori Hills, Heath has also supported Donna The Buffalo, Del McCoury Band, Anders Osborne, Shamarr Allen (of Galactic), and other staples on the scene.

Often compared to music influences Bonnie Raitt, Grace Potter and Susan Tedeschi, Heath still manages to find a voice all her own, and has been recognized across

The show is free and open to the public. 828.454.5664 or froglevelbrewing.com. For more on Heath, click on ashleyleeannheath.com.

Bryson City gets the blues

Old-time blues/folk singer-songwriter Woolybooger will perform at 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 18, at Mountain Layers Brewing in Bryson City Dubbed “music to grow your hair out to,” the Murphy musician, Gavin Graves, is well-regarded for his mix of blues and roots music into a unique Southern Appalachian tone. Free and open to the public. 828.538.0115 or mountainlayersbrewingcompany.

Americana, folk at Mountain Layers

Jackson County Americana/folk duo Bird in Hand will perform at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16, at Mountain Layers Brewing Company in Bryson City.

The road less traveled has always been the way for husband-and-wife duo Bird in Hand. Bryan and Megan Thurman call the Great Smoky Mountains of Western North Carolina home and the region is directly reflected in their music. Bird in Hand is upbeat and new while still rooted in the traditions of American folk.

The two have played all over the Appalachian region, as well as across the country, and share an onstage chemistry that demands attention. They need to be seen live to understand the meaning of “Appalachian Thunder Folk.”

You can find their debut EP, “Due North,” online at birdinhandmusic.com. The show is free and open to the public. mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

Southern Appalachia for her strong songwriting and vocal abilities, having made the WNCW Top 100 list and Mountain Xpress “Best Of” awards several years in a row.

Ashley Heath. (File photo)

Woolybooger. (File photo)

On the beat

• Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) will host an open mic from 8 to 10 p.m. every Thursday. Free and open to the public. 828.631.1987 or balsamfallsbrewing.com.

• Blue Ridge Beer Hub (Waynesville) will host a semi-regular acoustic jam with the Main Street NoTones from 7 to 9 p.m. every first and third Thursday of the month. Free and open to the public. For more information, click on blueridgebeerhub.com.

• Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host karaoke at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, trivia at 7 p.m. on Thursdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.246.0350 or boojumbrewing.com.

• Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.634.0078 or curraheebrew.com.

• Farm At Old Edwards (Highlands) will host the “Orchard Sessions” on select dates. Tickets start at $25 per person. For tickets, click on oldedwardshospitality.com/ orchardsessions.

• Folkmoot Friendship Center (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. For tickets, click on folkmoot.org.

• Fontana Village Resort Wildwood Grill will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 800.849.2258 or fontanavillage.com.

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host Ashley Heath (rock/soul) 7 p.m. Dec. 16, The Live Wires Dec. 17 and Kind Clean Gentlemen 5:30 p.m. Dec. 22. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public unless otherwise noted. 828.454.5664 or froglevelbrewing.com.

• Frog Quarters (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. Located at 573 East Main Street. littletennessee.org or 828.369.8488.

• Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort (Cherokee) will host semi-regular live music and entertainment on the weekends. For a full schedule of events and/or to buy tickets, caesars.com/harrahs-cherokee.

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host “Trivia Night with Kirk” from 7 to 9 p.m. every Tuesday, Open Mic Night every Wednesday, “Ugly Sweater Holiday Party” with Shane Meade (indie/soul) 5 p.m. Dec. 15, J.R. Williams (singer-songwriter) Dec. 16 and Old Sap (Americana/folk) Dec. 22. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.

• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host “Music Bingo” with Hibiscus Sunshine every Wednesday and semi-regular live music on

the weekends. All events begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host a New Year’s Eve party with The V8s 9 p.m. Dec. 31. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host Trivia Night at 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday, Old Time Jam 6:30 p.m. every Thursday and a New Year’s Eve party with Urban Soil (reggae/soul) 9 p.m. Dec. 31. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

ALSO:

• Moss Valley (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. Food trucks and beverages available onsite. Bring a lawn chair. Presented by Drake Software.

• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host Open Mic Night w/Ivor Sparks every Wednesday, Bird In Hand (Americana/indie) Dec. 16, The Dirty French Broads (Americana) Dec. 17, Woolybooger (blues/folk) 5 p.m. Dec. 18 and Steve Heffker (singer-songwriter) Dec. 23. All shows begin at 6 p.m unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.538.0115 or mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

• Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.641.9797 or nantahalabrewing.com.

• Nantahala Outdoor Center (Nantahala Gorge) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows behind at 5 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. noc.com.

• Orchard Coffee (Waynesville) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. 828.246.9264 or orchardcoffeeroasters.com.

• Quirky Birds Treehouse & Bistro (Dillsboro) will host Open Mic Night at 7 p.m. every Tuesday and semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.586.1717 or facebook.com/quirkybirdstreehouse.

• Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Shows begin at 8 p.m. Free and open to the public. 828.369.6796.

• The Scotsman (Waynesville) will host The Carter Giegerich Trio (Celtic/bluegrass) from 2 to 5 p.m. every Sunday, David Reynolds (singer-songwriter) Dec. 15, Live Celtic Jam 4 p.m. Dec. 17, The Paper Crowns (Americana/rock) Dec. 17, Jon Cox (country/rock) Dec. 22 and We Three Swing

Rock rolls into The Scotsman

The Paper Crowns. (File photo)

Popular Asheville act The Paper Crowns will hit the stage at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, at The Scotsman in Waynesville.

Spiro & Nicole Nicolopoulos have returned to their jam and psychedelic roots with The Paper Crowns. The songs are a seamless blend of blues, psychedelic, Southern rock, folk, and funk — all steeped in the deep traditions of American music. The duo is also well-known regionally for their top-tier improvised jams, soulful harmonies, and richly cultivated songwriting.

The show is free and open to the public. 828.246.6292 or scotsmanpublic.com.

(jazz) Dec. 23. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.246.6292 or scotsmanpublic.com.

• Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on smokymountainarts.com or 828.524.1598.

• Southern Porch (Canton) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.492.8009 or southern-porch.com.

• Stecoah Valley Center (Robbinsville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.479.3364 or stecoahvalleycenter.com.

• The Ugly Dog Pub (Cashiers) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. 828.743.3000 or theuglydogpub.com.

• The Ugly Dog Pub (Highlands) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.526.8364 or theuglydogpub.com.

• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host J.C. “The Parrothead” Dec. 14 and 21, Outlaw Whiskey Dec. 16, Mile High Band Dec. 17, Paradise 56 Dec. 22 and Genepool Dec. 23. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.538.2488.

• Valley Cigar & Wine Co. (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows are at 2 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.944.0686 or valleycigarandwineco.com.

• Valley Tavern (Maggie Valley) will host Blended Hemp Dec. 15, Karaoke with Jason Dec. 16, 20 and 23, and Keil Nathan Smith (singer-songwriter) Dec. 22. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.926.7440 or valley-tavern.com.

• Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 9:30 p.m. 828.456.4750 or facebook.com/waternhole.bar.

• Whiteside Brewing (Cashiers) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.743.6000 or whitesidebrewing.com.

• Wine Bar & Cellar (Sylva) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. 828.631.3075 or facebook.com/thewinebarandcellar.

• Yonder Community Market (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. Donations encouraged. 828.200.2169 or eatrealfoodinc.com.

Christmas in Appalachia

BRYSON CITY

• “Holiday Market” with local artisans will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 16-17 at 117 Island St. in Bryson City. Outdoor event. Leashed pets are welcome. 828.488.7857 or greatsmokies.com/events.

• “Christmas Hayrides Through the Lights” will run on Wednesdays through Saturdays until Dec. 23 at Darnell Farms in Bryson City. Enjoy the hayride and a cup of hot cocoa. Limited seating available. Reservations are priority with limited walk-ins. There will also be a “Santa’s Workshop” onsite. darnellfarms.com or call 828.488.2376.

• The popular “Polar Express” train ride will resume rides on select dates from the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad depot in downtown Bryson City. 800.872.4681 or gsmr.com.

• “Letters to Santa, Cocoa & Cookies” is now being offered by the Swain County Heritage Museum and Visitor Center in Bryson City. Complimentary hot cocoa and cookies. Kids will love the opportunity to write and mail their letters to Santa. Materials provided, with the last day to submit letters being Christmas Eve. greatsmokies.com.

• “Christmas Lights Drive-Thru” will run through Dec. 31 at the Great Smoky Mountains Event Park (formerly Inspiration Park) in Bryson City. For more information, a full schedule of activities and/or to purchase tickets, click on greatsmokies.com/christmas-light-show-bryson-city.

FRANKLIN

• “Winter Wonderland Nights” is now underway 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. The celebration will continue throughout the holidays in December. franklin-chamber.com.

• “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” musical will be held at 7 p.m. Dec. 16-17 and 2 p.m. Dec. 17 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Tickets are $13 in advance, $15 day of show. Sponsored by First Bank. smokymountainarts.com or 828.524.1598.

• “A Classic Christmas” will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, on Main Street in Franklin. Classic car show, Santa, live music, seasonal sales, and an ugly sweater contest. thestreetsoffranklinnc@gmail.com.

MAGGIE VALLEY

• “Meet Appalachian Santa” at 5 p.m. Dec. 18 at the Valley Tavern in Maggie Valley. Free and open to the public. 828.926.7440 or valley-tavern.com.

SYLVA

• “Holiday Fireworks” will be held from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 16, on West Main Street in Sylva. A holiday concert with Terri

Lynn Queen & Scott Baker will also be held from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on the porch of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce. discoverjacksonnc.com.

• “Holidays Around The World” will be held at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 20, in the Community Room at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. Discover the holidays of the season and how they are celebrated across the globe. This program will include centers to explore with snacks, games, crafts, and more. The event is free and open to the public. At 6:30 p.m. everyone is invited to join Cathy Arps and Gayle & Phil Woody on the library steps for the annual Christmas Caroling. Co-sponsored by the Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. For more information, call the library at 828.586.2016. The Jackson County Public Library is a member of Fontana Regional Library (fontanalib.org).

• A screening of “Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch” will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 22, in the Community Room at the Jackson County

Public Library in Sylva. There will be special snacks, crafts and games before the movie. The event is free and open to the public. Cosponsored by the Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. For more information, call the library at 828.586.2016. The Jackson County Public Library is a member of Fontana Regional Library (fontanalib.org).

WAYNESVILLE

• “Strand of Lights” drive-thru light show will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. through Dec. 30 at the Smoky Mountain Event Center (formerly the Haywood County Fairgrounds). Tickets for the nightly show are available online at 38main.com, with only 100 cars per onehour time slot. This helps reduce wait time and traffic congestion for a more enjoyable experience. Admission is $20 per vehicle. The drive-thru winds around the Smoky Mountain Event Center campus for nearly one-mile. Play your favorite carols (and sing-along) as the route takes you past numerous 2D displays, mixed with lighted buildings and holiday experiences throughout.

• “A Night Before Christmas” will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 17 in downtown Waynesville. Hundreds of Luminaries, live music, clogging, church choirs, Santa & Mrs. Claus, storytelling, holiday treats and beverages, and more. For a full list of participants and events, click on downtownwaynesville.com.

WHITTIER

• “Breakfast with Santa” will be held from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, at 8615 Highway 74 West. Enjoy a meal with Santa and an officer. Toy donations will also be accepted. mountainlovers.com.

HCAC ‘Small Works’ exhibit

The Haywood County Arts Council’s (HCAC) “Small Works” exhibit will run through Dec. 31 at the HCAC Gallery & Gifts showroom in downtown Waynesville.

The annual exhibit that expands the types of work for sale in the downtown Waynesville gallery, as well as who can display their work. Other than specially curated exhibits, which occur a couple times annually, this exhibit is the only one that allows any artist within the western mountain region to participate for a small fee.

With dozens of artists participating, the exhibit promises to be eclectic. Although the only requirement is that the pieces be 12 inches in any dimension or smaller, HCAC

• Jackson County Arts Council will host an opening of its new Gallery Rotunda art show at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 20, at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva. Snacks and drinks will be served. For more information, please call the library at 828.586.2016 or email at jcpl-adults@fontanalib.org. This event is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. The library is a member of Fontana Regional Library (fontanalib.org).

challenged participants who are making holiday themed works to consider artistic expressions that are multicultural in nature and celebrate the many different holidays, ways of celebrating, and ways of experiencing holidays.

HCAC also encouraged participants to create works that celebrate Appalachian heritage and craft.

“Our vision is that this exhibit embodies not only the giving spirit, but also a multi-cultural spirit that speaks to the diversity of people, cultures, and religions that make up Appalachia,” Beryl said.

For more information, click on haywoodarts.org.

• Southwestern Community College Swain Arts Center (Bryson City) will host an array of workshops for adults and kids. For more information on the upcoming classes and/or to sign-up, click on southwesterncc.edu/scclocations/swain-center.

• Dogwood Crafters in Dillsboro will host an array of upcoming art classes and workshops. For more information and a full schedule of activities, click on dogwoodcrafters.com/classes.html or call 828.586.2248.

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There is a deep shame associated with not being able to provide your family with a decent, clean, safe place to live". This has become a distant memory for families thanks to you and others for your generosity.

On the stage

HART presents ‘A Christmas Story’

A special holiday production of “A Christmas Story” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 16-17 and at 2 p.m. Dec. 18 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

“A Christmas Story” is the tale of young Ralphie and his quest to receive a Red Ryder carbine action air rifle for Christmas. Adapted from the classic 1983 film, the stage production offers audiences a laugh out loud experience as their favorite holiday story comes to life.

Audiences have an extra special treat this year when they arrive at the show early to shop HART’s Holiday Market. Opening an hour before showtime, guests will be able to shop HART costumes, vintage clothing, props, interior decor, and even some furniture at discount prices located in the

Fangmeyer Lobby.

The production features both new faces and HART favorites with Pasquale LaCorte as Ralph/Narrator, Charles Dunn as Ralphie, Sarah Lipham as Mother, Tom Bastek as The Old Man, Tristan Johnson as Randy, Bonnie DeMarco as Miss Shields, Henry Blackburn as Flick, Eli Penny as Schwartz, Keira Ollis as Esther Jane Alberry, Addi Manning as Helen Weathers, and Oliver Lingle as Scut Farkas.

Erin McCarson will be making her HART directing debut, with HART’s Operation Manager Julie Kinter as her stage manager, and lighting design from Abby Aumen.

To purchase tickets, click on harttheatre.org or by calling the Box Office at 828.456.6322. Winter Box Office hours are 3 to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

On the table

• “Flights & Bites” will be held starting at 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays at Bosu’s Wine Shop in downtown Waynesville. For more information on upcoming events, wine tastings and special dinners, click on waynesvillewine.com.

• A free wine tasting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. every Thursday and 2 to 5 p.m. every Saturday at The Wine Bar & Cellar in Sylva. 828.631.3075.

• “Take A Flight” with four new wines every Friday and Saturdays at the Bryson City

Wine Market. Select from a gourmet selection of charcuterie to enjoy with your wines. Educational classes and other events are also available. For more information, call 828.538.0420.

• “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on select dates at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City. Full service all-adult first class car. Wine pairings with a meal, and more. For more information and/or to register, call 800.872.4681 or click on gsmr.com.

The cast of ‘A Christmas Story.’ (Courtesy of HART)

Drunk and down but never defeated

Take a broken-hearted, alcoholic English professor, some colleagues seeking his dismissal from the university, several women who desire him for different reasons, and a series of encounters in bars in Charlottesville, Virginia, and you have the basic ingredients of Victor Cabas’s tragicomic “Postmodern Blues” (Hypocrite Press, 2020, 170 pages).

Our wild ride with Jack Shock, the novel’s narrator, begins when he is dumped on a Guatemalan highway by an enraged woman with “the good, tight body of a Golden Gloves bantam-weight and too bad for her, the face to go with it.” A friend rescues Jack from his exile on the lonely road and takes him to the airport, where he catches a plane to the States, having received word that his father is dying.

Waiting to meet him in his father’s house in D.C. is Samantha Callaghan, his lifelong friend, who has watched over his father in his last days. With her long dark hair, blue eyes, and freckled nose, “Sam was the kind of girl Capra would have matched with Gary Cooper or Jimmy Stewart.”

Jack arrives just in time to say goodbye to his father. Afterwards, he returns to his teaching duties at the University of Virginia, where he and the department chair Vandillingham immediately renew their mutual hatred for each other. Vandillingham spends the rest of the novel trying to find some way to oust Jack, who has tenure, from the department, and Jack doesn’t help matters much by staying plastered on bourbon most of the time, including in the classroom.

Sylva monthly book club

A monthly book club is being currently offered at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva.

Each month, a library staff member will be discussing some of the new book titles that the library has received. Particular attention will be paid to “under the radar” titles and authors, new releases, and other books that the staff is excit-

Plaguing him as well is his ex-wife Donna, or his wife, as it turns out, since for nefarious reasons she never finalized the divorce papers she had requested he return to her. Jack despises Donna, but she possesses the sexual allure and the power to attract him.

Another in the cast of female ex-lovers is Susan Monteith, a former student who became Jack’s lover after her graduation. In contrast to Donna, she is a sweet soul who genuinely cares for Jack, even in his current condition of distressed and drunk.

Another support for Jack in this chaos and tribulation is Robert Johnson, the longdead Mississippi blues musician. Jack is a great fan of his music, and plays the blues on his guitar. References to Johnson pop up again and again in the book, including some of his lyrics: “I looked out the mountain, far as I could see/Some man had my woman/And the lonesome blues had me.”

But through all his trials and various loves, it’s Sam he loves the most. A note left him by his father brings Jack, and Sam, some news that could permanently end their growing intimacy, but to say more would spoil the plot.

To give away the ending would do the same, yet here, it seems, Cabas makes a misstep. The reason given for the arrival of some murderous bad guys in Jack’s life, compliments of Donna, makes little sense.

This brief synopsis of “Postmodern Blues” may sound misleadingly grim. Many of the situations in which Jack lands as well as his running commentary on life, his friends and foes, and his drinking bring plenty of smiles. Near the beginning of the novel, for example, Jack meets Charles D. Bledsoe, attorney-at-law, who’s chasing after Sam. “Charley-Boy was about my age and

ed about.

The next meeting will be at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15, in the Conference Room. The book to be discussed this month is “Moon of the Crusted Snow” by Waubgeshig Rice. This novel is a daring post-apocalyptic thriller focused on a rural Indigenous community in northern Canada.

“Moon of the Crusted Snow” follows a group of community members after they are cut off from

even looked a little like me, but not so scuffed and dinged. To enhance the resemblance, or so I flattered myself, Sam had encouraged him to grow a beard and the result was an effect as manicured and artificial as a plucked eyebrow.”

Here’s a description of his nemesis, Vandillingham, waiting to pounce on Jack: “The great man had stationed himself at the center of the hallway just outside the door, staring stonily as the students flowed past him, left and right. His face was twitching like a cat with a dust bunny on one of its whiskers.”

Like Jack, I’m not a fan of postmodernism in our university lit departments, or anywhere else for that matter, and I got some laughs from his comments on this crew. Of Vandillingham he says, “‘Moby Dick’ was of no more value in his canon than a Mike Marvel comic book.” Of the others in the department who profess “to believe that words had no meaning,” Jack notes: “There were no values and no meanings. As far as I could tell this desert included everything except the oases of their own brilliance. Someday somebody was going to gavel down the whole pretentious business.”

Regrettably, Victor Cabas died in 2018, with the novel on which he had worked off and on for so many years still unpublished. In his Introduction to the book titled “Better Late Than Never,” Caine O’Rear sketches out the man, noting his similarities to Jack Shock, but stressing that “Postmodern Blues” is not a strictly autobiographical novel.

According to O’Rear, and to a former Cabas student I happen to know, Victor Cabas was a beloved teacher at the university who felt, unlike postmodernists, that “books had transformative power and could change lives, and he seemed to genuinely care for each of them (the students).”

Because of his own love affair with the bottle until the age of 40, his admiration for the blues, and his musical talents, Cabas was well-known not just among his students, but in Downtown Charlottesville itself, where he frequently performed.

O’Rear writes, “For everyone who knew Victor, and his fans were numerous, we’re lucky to have this record from the man.”

And so am I.

(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.)

the rest of the world amidst a societal collapse. All are welcome and no registration is required. For more information on when the club will meet, please call the library at 828.586.2016.

This club is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. The JCPL is a member of Fontana Regional Library (fontanalib.org).

Writer Jeff Minick

Count for Christmas

In 123rd year, annual bird count yields critical conservation data

Join the Christmas Bird Count

From Dec. 14 to Jan. 5, birders across the hemisphere will gather to tally the birds in their communities.

Each count takes place in a circle that is 15 miles wide and led by a compiler who is responsible for organizing volunteers and submitting observations to the Audubon Society. In each circle, participants tally all birds seen or heard that day, logging both species and total numbers to provide a clear idea of the health of that particular population.

Circles still accepting volunteers include:

• Thursday, Dec. 15, in Hot Springs. This circle is centered on N.C. 209 about 6 miles south of Hot Springs. Sign up with Mark Hopey at markhopey@gmail.com.

• Friday, Dec. 16, in Highlands. The group will meet at Kelsey Hutchinson Park at 7:30 a.m. The count lasts until 1 p.m. for most participants. To sign up, contact Brock Hutchins at 404.295.0663.

• Sunday, Dec. 18, in Gatlinburg. This circle is centered in Gatlinburg and includes parts of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. To discuss areas that still need coverage, contact Keith Watson at 865.314.3197.

BY HOLLY KAYS OUTDOORS E DITOR

As Christmas 1900 approached, ornithologist Frank Chapman hatched an idea.

Chapman, like other observers and scientists in the blossoming conservation movement, was concerned about declining bird populations, and about how one of the era’s favorite holiday traditions contributed. In the Christmas Side Hunt, hunters would choose sides, head outdoors with their guns, and compete to see which team could bring back the biggest pile of feathered and furred quarry. Chapman proposed that the Audubon Society, in which he was an officer, start a new holiday tradition, the Christmas Bird Census. Participants would count birds rather than hunting them.

DOCUMENTING DECLINE

This month, the 123rd annual Christmas Bird Count will commence in circles across the globe. A far cry from the 27 people who counted 25 areas in 1900, the event has grown to include more than 2,600 count circles and 76,000 observers conducting counts between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5. Last year, participants tallied more than 42 million birds representing about 2,500 species. Counts are held across North and Central America and sprinkled throughout South America. Even far-flung places like the Northern Mariana Islands, Bermuda and Drake Passage off the tip of Argentina have a Christmas Bird Count.

It is one of the world’s longest-running

wildlife censuses, welcoming expert and novice birders alike — and gathering data that has proven instrumental to understanding long-term trends in bird populations.

“It’s a great way for folks to feel like a part of something a little bit bigger and know that the data gets used for some really important monitoring and predictions about where we’re going,” said Curtis Smalling, director of conservation for Audubon North Carolina. “And it becomes increasingly important as these risks aren’t going away. Urbanization and climate change and weather changes, all those things are not going away anytime soon.”

Unfortunately, the data shows, the birds aren’t doing well. And that’s an extreme understatement.

Perhaps the most dramatic finding that the Christmas Bird Count has informed is a 2019 research article in the journal Science showing that since 1970, the number of birds in the United States and Canada had declined by nearly 3 billion — a 29% drop. The study drew from a variety of datasets to reach that conclusion, including the Christmas Bird Count.

Known in conservation circles as the “3

billion bird report,” the finding marked a turning point in understanding the magnitude and urgency of the problems birds are facing. The study evaluated population changes in 529 bird species and found that 57% saw “steep declines” over the 48-year period the study examined. More than 90% of the loss came from 12 bird families, including familiar ones like sparrows, warblers, blackbirds and finches. Many widespread and common species declined, and because even invasive species and birds adapted to a wide variety of habitats were among them, the study authors said it’s likely that declining species are not being replaced by those that do well in human-altered landscapes.

Grassland species were the hardest hit, with 74% declining and a population loss of 53% since 1970, but forested habitats are also seeing huge losses, with an estimated reduction of more than 1 billion birds since 1970. In North Carolina, one-quarter of bird species are declining.

Over the years, CBC data have been used in more than 300 peer-reviewed articles, including a January 2022 Audubon study that used 90 years of Christmas Bird Count data to show how bird ranges have shifted amid a

• Tuesday, Dec. 20, in Etowah. This Henderson County circle is led by Kevin Burke. To sign up, contact him at 240.422.9483 or birdingburke@gmail.com.

• TBD in Swannanoa. A limited number of slots are available for this circle. All sections require significant driving time through neighborhoods, so teams are limited to four people. For more information, contact Tom Tribble at tntribble@gmail.com.

Anybody who lives in one of the circle areas can participate by counting birds in their backyard and submitting results to the compiler. For a map showing all Christmas Bird Count circles, click on “Join the Christmas Bird Count” at christmasbirdcount.org.

century of major environmental changes. The study, published in Global Change Biology, concluded that changes in climate are driving when and where birds spend the winter, while changes in land use and land cover are driving distributions of species with limited or declining habitat.

Changes in climate and changes in habitat both impact birds, but it’s often difficult to separate their effects into two separate pots, Smalling said.

— Curtis Smalling

“It is kind of hard to tease out because everything’s related,” he said. “Changes in climate also affects vegetation and tree species distribution, and all the rest of it. Certain bird species are more specifically tied to a particular food source or a particular vegetation type or whatever. And so

The northern cardinal is the state bird for seven states, including North Carolina. Michele Black/Audubon Society photo

“Keeping track of how the birds are doing is a good proxy for how we’re doing with the environment in general.”

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

It’s a grim picture, but Smalling said it’s not too late to make a difference. He points to the example of wetland birds, the only group in the 2019 study posting an increase in populations. Since 1970, their populations have grown by 56%.

“They’re actually just recovering to pre1950 numbers, but a lot of that is thanks to conservation of where they nest in the prairie potholes and really increased efforts for overwinter survival, mostly at our refuge system,” he said.

That shows conservation works, and that it is possible to stem the tide of decline. Even in the midst of climate change, it’s possible for local action to mitigate effects.

“Because the shifts in distribution seem to be tied pretty closely to the ability of an individual bird to be productive, (with) the things you can do to make those birds in your neighborhood or your yard or your state or whatever as productive as possible, you can mitigate the effects,” he said.

Many people may believe that when it gets a little too warm or a little too developed or otherwise inhospitable in a bird’s home, it will fly off in search of a place that’s cooler, wilder or just a better fit for its needs. But that’s not true, Smalling said.

“People often assume that the birds just fly to where the conditions are optimal,” he said, “and for some birds that may be true. Some of the shorebirds and waterbirds might do some of that, but for a lot of our songbirds especially that people are most familiar with, they’re going to go and live their lives where they live their lives.”

Distributions change over time as birds living in more stressful environments have fewer chicks, while birds living in more optimal conditions reproduce at higher rates. Because the birds aren’t fleeing, the people who live alongside them can slow the pace of the forces reducing their success — by protecting undeveloped habitat, by planting the trees and shrubs birds need to thrive and taking other measures to reduce threats the birds face.

That’s important everywhere, but especially in Western North Carolina, which projections expect to become a climate refuge for species coming from lower elevations seeking relief. At the same time, species like saw-whet owls and brown creepers that specialize in high-elevation habitats will face increasing pressure.

“They only have so far upslope they can go before they run out of room,” Smalling said.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

The CBC is far from being the only annual census of bird populations, but it’s unique in its longevity and in the time of year it occurs. It shows where various species are choosing to spend the winter,

A species that specializes in mountain environments, the sawwhet owl is considered to be at risk from climate change impacts.

Help your backyard birds

Bird populations are facing enormous challenges, but small individual actions can help. Here are some suggestions from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

1. Drink shade-grown coffee, which has a lower impact on North American songbirds that spend their winters on coffee plantations in Central and South America.

2. Keep birds from colliding with your windows by turning lights out at night and exploring options like window tape and “zen curtains” to keep birds away during the day.

3. Keep cats indoors. An estimated 2.6 billion birds in the U.S. and Canada are killed by cats each year.

4. Participate in citizen science efforts — like the Christmas Bird Count!

5. Pass a love of birds on to the next generation. Resources and ideas from Celebrate Urban Birds and Bird Academy can help.

6. Garden with native plants, which are better at feeding birds than introduced species. Reduce the amount of grass and nonnative species in your yard while increasing the variety and coverage of native plants.

7. Make any patch of land over which you have influence hospitable for birds. In addition to summer and winter habitat, migratory birds need a thread of green connecting the two, giving them a place to find food and shelter.

8. Buy a Duck Stamp. Fully 98% of its $25 face value goes toward protecting and maintaining land in the National Wildlife Refuge system, and it gets you into those refuges free all year.

9. Use less plastic, which often winds up in the ocean, accumulating toxins and disrupting food chains.

10. Support organizations that work to help birds.

and it gives a snapshot of bird populations that spend much of the year further north, where there are fewer people around to count them.

“When they come south to where lots more people are and lots more people are counting, it gives us a chance to monitor how they’re doing,” Smalling said.

Similarly, waterfowl like geese and ducks are easier to count in the winter, when they hang out together in big groups, than in the summer when they’re dispersed to their various nesting sites.

The relative ease of the count is key to its importance, and to why there are so many citizen science efforts to tally the

birds. Unlike many other types of wildlife, birds are vocal, active and often easily visible. They don’t live under rocks and leaf piles like salamanders or flee out of sight like bobcats and foxes, but the resources they depend on are critical to the success of countless other animal species as well.

By going out year after year to tally the birds of the Western Hemisphere, the tens of thousands of people who participate in the Christmas Bird Count help paint a picture not only of what’s going on with birds, but of what’s happening with the planet.

“Keeping track of how the birds are doing is a good proxy for how we’re doing with the environment in general,” he said.

Tremont sets Giving Tuesday record

The Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont received more than $72,000 in donations during Giving Tuesday, Nov. 29, surpassing the organization’s previous Giving Tuesday record by nearly $20,000.

“We are honored and humbled by the response from our community,” said President & CEO Catey McClary. “These gifts affirm that the work we do each day makes a difference in people’s lives. When we see both $10 and $10,000 donations coming in together, it shows us that we are reaching a wide network of supporters, and that matters to us.”

A gift of $25,000 in matching funds helped Tremont reach its Giving Tuesday total, with annual donors encouraged to make their gifts on that date to leverage the matches and drive momentum. More than 110 people gave Nov. 29, with donations ranging from $5 to $10,000.

More deer test positive for CWD

Two more deer have tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease, an always-fatal illness affecting cervids like deer and elk.

The two deer were found in Surry County, which neighbors Yadkin County where the first two CWD-positive deer were found earlier this year. An additional deer tested positive in Surry County in October.

Since the first case was detected in March, special regulations have been in place in two areas of the state’s northwestern region, called the primary and secondary surveillance areas. One of these regulations is mandatory testing, in effect in both areas. Mandatory testing ended in the secondary surveillance area Nov. 27, but the two new detections fall in that secondary area, so wildlife officials strongly recommend that hunters continue submitting harvested deer’s lymph nodes for testing. Mandatory testing in the primary surveillance area ends Jan. 2.

Transporting deer outside the surveillance area is strictly prohibited.

Though the disease does not affect people, it is highly transmissible between deer and spreads via saliva, urine and feces when the deer is alive, and through carcass parts once it’s dead. Because the disease takes a long time to reach its fatal conclusion as it spreads through the nervous system, causing spongy holes in the brain, infected deer can appear healthy.

Three free testing options are available. Hunters can submit their deer head at a CWD Testing Drop-off Station, take their harvested deer to a Wildlife Commission staffed check station or ask their meat processor or taxidermist if they participate in the Cervid Health Cooperator program. If so, they will submit a sample as part of their services.

Find testing locations on the interactive map at ncwildlife.org/cwd. Test results are available on the agency’s website several weeks after the sample is received no matter how the sample is submitted.

those then are going to show some pretty strong correlations between what climate is actually driving.”

Gary Zeng/Audubon Society photo

Earthquake rattles

Hendersonville

An earthquake just south of Hendersonville gave residents a shake at 10:23 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake had a magnitude of 2.7 on the Mercalli Modified Intensity Scale and occurred 1.5 kilometers below ground.

On the scale, an intensity of two or three is considered weak, with a two felt only be a few people at rest, especially on the upper floors of buildings, and a three felt indoors by many and

Tour the waterfalls of DuPont

A two-wheeled waterfall tour cruising Transylvania County, “The Land of Waterfalls,” will spin by 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, hosted by REI.

The group will travel 10-12 miles through DuPont State Recreational Forest on gravel roads, visiting several waterfalls and mountain lakes along the way. Professional guides

outdoors by a few, according to USGS. At this intensity, dishes, windows and doors can be disturbed and walls can make a cracking sound, with cars rocked “noticeably.” The sensation is akin to a heavy truck striking a building.

For more about the earthquake, visit earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/se60501781/executive.

will share history of the area, as well as offer tips and basic instruction to make your ride enjoyable.

Participants can borrow mountain bikes at no additional charge. The excursion is recommended for cyclists 14 and older, and those under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. The class is for people who are already comfortable riding a bike on rolling terrain. Cost is $79 for REI members and $109 for non-members. The outing will repeat Sunday, Jan. 22; Saturday, Feb. 11; and Sunday, March 12.

Smokies headquarters rehab project open for bids

A project to rehabilitate the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Headquarters near Gatlinburg will open for bid submission on Thursday, Dec. 15.

Proposed work includes a remodel of the headquarters building, construction of a new annex building to address workspace deficiencies, rehabilitation of the water and sewer systems, and demolition of the outdated Little River Ranger Station. The work will take place within the existing Sugarlands area, including about 10 acres

George Masa book wins Thomas Wolfe award

Brent Martin has been named the winner of the 2022 Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award for his book “George Masa’s Wild Vision: A Japanese Immigrant Imagines

of developed and previously disturbed land.

The project will bring facilities into compliance with accessibility standards, improve energy efficiency, comply with safety codes, and improve visitor and employee health and safety. Any work to historic structures will be sensitive to the historic nature of the building.

Construction is expected to begin in September 2023. The project proposal and specifications are available at sam.gov.

tion inspired by visits to Masa’s old haunts with Masa’s crisp black-and-white landscape photography from the 1920s and 1930s. It’s an experiential ode, not a biography.

Martin was one of five finalists for this year’s award. Originated by the Louis Lipinsky family, the Award has been presented annually by the Western North Carolina Historical Association since 1955 for printed works that focus special attention on Western North Carolina. The award comes with a cash prize of $2,500. Martin received it during a Dec. 13 ceremony at UNC-Asheville’s Reuter Center.

Born in Japan, Masa made his way to the Southern Appalachians in the early 1900s, where his photographs of the region’s wild places became instrumental in building the case to designate the Great Smoky Mountains as a national park. In the book Martin, a poet, essayist and outdoorsman based in Cowee, pairs creative nonfic-

This year’s finalists were chosen from an original group of over 50 nominations. Other finalists were Anne Chesky Smith, for “Murder at Asheville’s Battery Park Hotel: The Search for Helen Clevenger’s Killer;” Lance Greene, for “Their Determination to Remain; A Cherokee Community’s Resistance to the Trail of Tears;” Heather Newton, for “McMullen Circle;” and John Ross, for “Through the Mountains: The French Broad River and Time.”

Western North Carolina.”

Brent Martin. File photo

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park Headquarters is slated for major expansion and rehabilitation. NPS photo

A map shows where people reported feeling the earthquake Dec. 7. USGS map

New plan limits annual air tours over the Smokies

A new air tour management plan is now in place for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and though it includes an annual cap on air tours, that cap won’t cause much change from the status quo.

The plan authorizes up to 946 tours each year on six defined routes over the park and up to a half-mile outside it, at altitudes above 2,600 feet. This is equivalent to the average 946 air tours per year reported over the park from 2017 to 2019. The plan becomes effective 90 days after it was signed on Dec. 2.

Commercial air tours have occurred over the Smokies for many years without defined operating parameters. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is among 24 parks in the National Park System for which the agencies are developing air tour management plans or voluntary agreements, through a joint effort of the National Park Service and Federal Aviation Administration. The plans must meet the requirements from the National Parks Air Tour Management Act to mitigate or prevent significant adverse impacts from commercial air tours on the park and NPS’s obligation to protect the park’s natural and cultural resources, wildlife and the visitor enjoyment.

“We appreciate the tireless work that went into the development of the Smokies air tour management plan,” said Superintendent Cassius Cash. “The plan incorporates several improvements that allow continued air tour activity, while at the same time better protecting the wilderness character of the backcountry, wildlife populations, natural soundscapes, and the visitor experience in historic areas like Cades Cove.”

An important part of the process is the inclusion of American Indian tribes. The agencies consulted with tribes that have tribal lands within or adjacent to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and with tribes that attach historic and cultural significance to resources within the park.

The final air tour management plan is available at parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?documentID=123803.

Smokies acts against roadside parking

Through March, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will work to install boulders, split-rail fences and wooden posts to prevent roadside parking in busy areas. This will result in a series of single-lane weekday road closures.

Over the last decade, extremely high use at several park destinations has resulted in unsafe conditions for motorists and pedestrians, increased roadway congestion and damaged roadsides.  “It’s critical that we protect iconic park destinations from the unintended consequences associated with too many people trying to squeeze into the same places at the same time on the same days,” said Superintendent Cassius Cash. “Through this action, we’re helping ensure that people have the opportunity to safely visit in a manner that respects the country’s most visited national park.”

Closures will occur at Newfound Gap Road near the Gatlinburg, Alum Cave and Chimney Tops trailheads; Little River Road

Lane closure planned for Spur tunnel repairs

Tunnel repairs on the northbound Spur between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge will require a lane closure Jan. 3 to April 7, 2023.

Concrete barriers will be placed along the center line of the tunnel to allow crews to make repairs within the closed lane while allowing through traffic on the open lane. Drivers should proceed slowly and refrain from honking while traveling through the work zone. Closures will be in place 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the construction period.

Crews will replace drains, clean and paint the tunnel interior, replace sodium lights with new LED lights, install a new lighting control system on Huskey Grove Road and install a propane-powered genera-

near Laurel Falls trailhead; Cherokee Orchard Road; and Big Creek and Deep Creek picnic areas. Road protection measures will also be installed along sections of Clingmans Dome Road and Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.

Visitors should plan ahead and come prepared with alternative destinations in case they do not find parking available at desired sites. By carefully choosing the time of day, time of year and day of the week, visitors can help improve their chances of finding a safe parking space in designated, durable parking areas, even at iconic destinations. The park offers more than 800 miles of trails and more than 380 miles of scenic roadways, and staff are available to assist in trip planning, seven days a week, at Sugarlands Visitor Center, Oconaluftee Visitor Center and the Backcountry Office. For more information, visit nps.gov/grsm/learn/management/ves. htm.

tor for emergency backup. The work is funded through the Federal Highway Administration, which awarded a $10.3 million contract to Bryant’s Land Development of Burnsville. Work should be fully complete by June 5, and the contract incentivizes Bryant’s with $10,000 per day for up to 45 days before April 7 to complete work requiring the lane closure early.

Cars parked along the road near Laurel Falls Trailhead damage the vegetation trying to grow there. NPS photo

Puzzles can be found on page 38

These are only the answers.

BY B URT KORNEGAY

Moses Creek goes global

To my eyes it was as magnificent a tree as could be found in Western North Carolina — an eastern hemlock near Dismal Falls, on the flank of Big Pisgah Mountain. Every bit of 5 feet thick and 150 feet tall, probably rooted there before 1492, the hemlock had dark, deeply furrowed bark protecting a trunk that rose higher than nearby trees into clear air, where its deep-green needles, gathered in a conical crown, took in the sun. Dismal Creek flowed past, its downhill rush contrasting with the tree’s still, upward, enduring stance on the mountain. When I used to lead backpacking trips in Panthertown and took side hikes there, the tree was as much the destination as the waterfall itself.

Until the year it became painful to see. An insect called the hemlock wooly adelgid, accidentally introduced into the United States from Asia, was spreading through the mountains in the 1990s, and like loggers of old, it went for the biggest, most mature trees first. The insect was smaller than a pinhead, but that year a million pinheads pierced the needles of the great tree and sucked the life out of it. The crown thinned, turned dull grey. By 2000 what greeted my eyes was a giant snag.

The insect was the immediate cause of the tree’s death, and the death of tens of thousands of other hemlocks. But there was a deeper, underlying cause: globalization, the commercial movement of goods from every part of the world to every other part, and especially to our part, bringing not only the stuff for which Americans shop till they drop, but foreign pests and blights. That hemlock’s death, for me, was the herald of globalization.

Waves of infestations have washed on these mountain shores since Becky and I moved here nearly 40 years ago. We watched the Balsam wooly adelgid, from Europe, turn the firs that crowned the Great Smokies into skeletal “ghost forests.” We watched dogwood anthracnose kill flowering dogwoods along the trails we hiked. Eight years ago, weird little candy-cane shaped tubes of sawdust began to emerge ominously from the trunks of two healthy sassafras trees growing near our house—a sure sign, I learned with sadness, of the invasive red bay ambrosia beetle boring its way within. The beetle lays its eggs in plants of the laurel family, which includes sassafras, and, along with a wilting fungus it carries, it killed both our trees by summer’s end.

In 2019, a stone’s throw from where the sassafras had been, I noticed the largest white ash tree on our land was losing its leaves. The next summer the bare branches turned a strange, blotchy, yellow color. I discovered that the blotches were places where the tree’s handsomely patterned bark was being stripped back by woodpeckers that were going after the larvae of the Asian emerald ash borers, eating their way through the tree’s cambium.

Now, four years later, every one of our large ash trees is dead. I’m a canoeist, and my favorite paddle is carved out of white ash. My canoe’s gunwales, thwarts, and seats are made of that tree’s beautiful straightgrained wood. The tree’s seeds look like miniature canoe paddles. Because we heat with wood, I have felled and bucked up some of the dead ashes. The wood splits with a single pop of the maul. Ash makes for a hot fire on a cold day; but give me back the living ash tree, not woodstove ash. What other pests have “globalized” Moses Creek? Every fall, two days after the first hard frost, Asian lady beetles begin to work their way into our house for the winter. Preceding them by a month, marmorated stinkbugs by the hundreds buzz in like tiny drones and latch onto our windows, doors and walls. It seems like just yesterday that I saw the telltale mounds of fire ants newly arrived at the mouth of Moses Creek. Moving faster than the ants, Japanese stiltgrass has begun to choke out the native wildflowers.

It was just yesterday — Sept. 18, to be exact — that a friend sent me a picture of a brand-new animal on his Cullowhee Creek land: the Joro spider, from Asia. The spider had stretched a web across Fred’s trail, its tough strands needed to support the spider’s black and yellow body and 4inch leg span.

As for tomorrow? Rest assured that whatever creek you live up, the gypsy moth and the spotted lantern fly are coming to a tree near you.

It is not cheap clothes from Bangladesh, ipe wood from Brazil, coffee from Sumatra, cars from Mexico, more products from China than you can shake a stick at, but the accompanying pests and diseases that wreck our native plants and animals — this is what globalization means up Moses Creek.

(Burt Kornegay ran Slickrock Expeditions in Cullowhee for 30 years, and he is the author of

“A Guide’s Guide to Panthertown Valley.” He lives with his wife Becky up Moses Creek in Jackson County.)

Burt Kornegay. Becky Kornegay photo

COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

• The Jackson County Farmers Market meets every Saturday November through March 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and April through October 9 a.m.-noon at Bridge Park in Sylva, 110 Railroad St. Special events listed on Facebook and Instagram.

• The Jackson Arts Market takes place from 1-5 p.m. every Saturday at 533 West Main St. in Sylva with live music and an array of local artists. Jared Smith ‘Blue’ will play Oct. 22, Taylor Knighton will play Oct. 29, Wooly Booger will play Nov. 5, Clayton Justice will play Nov. 12.

• Cowee School Farmer’s Market is held Wednesdays from 3-6 p.m., at 51 Cowee School Drive in Franklin. The market has produce, plant starts, eggs, baked goods, flowers, food trucks and music. For more information or for an application, visit www.coweeschool.org or call 828.369.4080.

• Jackson County Green Energy Park is once again welcoming visitors. It is open to the public each week 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. Public classes will resume this spring. JCGEP will also host live glassblowing demonstrations at Innovation Station during the Lights and Luminaries festival in Dillsboro. For more information email info@jacksonnc.org or 828.631.0271.

H OLIDAYS

• The Jackson County Chamber of Commerce and Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department will present the third annual Holiday Fireworks and Concert in downtown Sylva on Friday, Dec. 16. The chamber will host a holiday-themed concert by local rockers Terri Lynn Queen and Scott Baker from 6:30-7:30 p.m. on the front porch of the chamber at 773 West Main St. in Sylva. The fireworks will follow at 7:30 p.m. For more information, please contact the chamber at 828.586.2155 or visit www.mountainlovers.com.

• The Jackson County Public Library is hosting Holidays Around the World at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 20, in the Community Room. This program will include centers to explore with snacks, games, crafts and more. Open and free to the public. For more information call the library at 828.586.2016.

• The Jackson County Public Library is showing the movie “Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch” at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 22, in the community room. There will be special snacks, crafts and games before the movie. The program is free and open to the public. For more information, call the library at 828.586.2016.

• Smoky Mountain Christmas Light Spectacular will take place 6-10 p.m. Nov. 10-Dec. 31, at the Great Smoky Mountain Event Park. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays in November, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. BrysonCityChristman.com

FUNDRAISERS AND B ENEFITS

• New blankets can be dropped off at the Mountain Projects Office, 2177 Asheville Road in Waynesville, or online purchases can be shipped directly to the agency through Dec. 23, for the annual Blanket Drive. Financial contributions towards winter heating bills can be made online at mountainprojects.org/giving or checks can be sent by mail. Annotate checks with “Winter Warmth.”

CLUBS AND M EETINGS

• The Canton Branch Creative Writing Group meets 10:30 a.m.-noon on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month. For more information, email Jennifer at jennifer.stuart@haywoodcountync.gov or call

n All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.

n To have your item listed email to calendar@smokymountainnews.com

828.356.2561.

• Knit Night takes place at 5:30-7:30 p.m. every second Tuesday of the month at The Stecoah Valley Center. The event is free and open to the public. RSVP is recommended: 828.479.3364 or amber@stecoahvalleycenter.com.

• Sylva Writers Group meets at 10:30 a.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month, starting Jan. 11, at City Lights Bookstore. For more information contact sylvawriters@gmail.com.

S UPPORT G ROUPS

• Highlands Mountain View Group holds open A.A. meetings in Highlands at the First Presbyterian Church, 471 Main St., at 5:30 p.m. on Monday and at noon on Wednesday and Friday. The Cashiers Valley Group holds open meetings at the Albert Carlton Cashiers Community Library at 7 p.m. Tuesday, 5 p.m. Friday and Sunday, and at 9 a.m. Saturday. Zoom meetings are available at noon on Monday, at 7 p.m. Monday and Wednesday and at 9 a.m. Saturday (ID# 921 817 2966, password CVG2020). For more information, please visit www.aawnc80.org or to speak with a member of AA 24/7 at 828.349.4357.

• The SHARE Project and RISE Resources in Support of Empowerment bring you Smart Recovery Friends and Family at 6:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of every month in the Haywood Regional Health and Fitness Center Upstairs Classroom.

• Free support meeting for families and friends who are struggling in their relationships with loved ones in addiction. Meetings provide concerned significant others the tools needed to effectively support loved ones without supporting the addictive behavior. These tools help family and friends better cope with loved one’s situation and regain peace of mind. Meetings take place from 6-7:30 p.m. every other Thursday at RISE, located at 926 East Main St. in Sylva. More information at www.risewnc.org or 828.477.4136.

• Haywood Hospice & Palliative Care is sponsoring a Community Grief Gathering at 1 p.m. on the second Wednesday of the month at the Canton Library in the meeting room. Each month will feature a different grief topic. The Haywood County Public Library and Haywood Hospice require that masks be worn inside the building. For more information or to RSVP, please contact Dan Pyles at 828.452.5039 or email Daniel.pyles@lhcgroup.com

• Dementia Caregivers Support Group, for those providing care for folks who are dealing with dementia, meets from 4:30-6 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of every month at the Haywood Senior Resource Center (81 Elmwood Way, Waynesville). For additional information call 828.476.7985.

• Al-Anon, for families and friends of alcoholics, meets every Monday night from 7-8 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 77 Jackson St., Sylva. Enter at front of church through the door to the left of the sanctuary; meeting is first door on the right. The Church requests that you wear a mask if you are not vaccinated.

• Narcotics Anonymous meetings are back “live” inperson after a year of being on Zoom only. Local meetings are at noon on Mondays and Wednesdays at Sylva First United Methodist Church in downtown Sylva. Entrance at back of building.

K IDS & FAMILIES

• Move and Groove Storytime takes place 10:30-11 a.m. every Thursday, at the Canton branch of the Haywood County Public Library. Exciting, interactive music and movement story time ideal for children 2-6 years old. For more information contact Ashlyn at ashlyn.godleski@haywoodcountync.gov or at 828.356.2567.

• Mother Goose Storytime takes place 10:30-11 a.m. every Wednesday, at the Waynesville branch of the Haywood County Public Library. Ideal for children from birth to 2 years old. For more information, contact Lisa at lisa.hartzell@haywoodcountync.gov or call 828.356.2511.

• Wiggle Worms Storytime takes place 10:30-11 a.m. every Tuesday, at the Waynesville branch of the Haywood County Public Library. Ideal for children 2-6 years old. For more information contact Lisa at lisa.hartzell@haywoodcountync.gov or call 828.356.2511.

• Next Chapter Book Club Haywood is a fun, energetic and highly interactive book club, ideal for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The group meets every second and fourth Monday of the month. For more information, email Jennifer at jennifer.stuart@haywoodcountync.gov or call 828.356.2561.

• Storytime takes place at 10 a.m. every Tuesday at the Macon County Library. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.

• Toddler’s Rock takes place at 10 a.m. every Monday at the Macon County Library. Get ready to rock with songs, books, rhymes and playing with instruments. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.

Visit www.smokymountainnews.com and click on Calendar for:

n Complete listings of local music scene

n Regional festivals

n Art gallery events and openings

n Complete listings of recreational offerings at health and fitness centers

n Civic and social club gatherings

• Take a trip around the world with four different wines every Friday 11 a.m.-8 p.m. and Saturday 11a.m.-6 p.m. at the Bryson City Wine Market. Pick from artisan Charcuterie Foods to enjoy with wines. 828.538.0420

• Cooking classes take place at the McKinley Edwards Inn from 6-8:30 p.m. on Thursday nights. To reserve your spot call 828.488.9626.

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS

• Chess 101 takes place from 3:30-4:30 p.m. every Friday in the Canton Branch of the Haywood County Public Library. No registration required, for more information call 828.648.2924.

• Wired Wednesday, one-on-one technology help is available at 3-5 p.m. every Wednesday at the Canton Branch of the Haywood County Library. For more information or to register, call 828.648.2924.

• Uptown Gallery, 30 East Main St. Franklin, will be offering Children’s Art Classes Wednesdays afternoons. Adult workshops in watercolor, acrylic paint pouring, encaustic and glass fusing are also offered. Free painting is available 10 a.m.-3 p.m. every Monday in the classroom. A membership meeting takes place on the second Sunday of the month at 3 p.m. All are welcome. Call 828.349.4607 for more information.

A&E

• Storytelling with Gary Garden will take place 6-7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7, in the meeting room of the Macon County Public Library.

• Karaoke takes place at 7 p.m. every Friday at the Meadowlark Motel in Maggie Valley. Call 828.926.1717 or visit meadowlarkmotel.com.

• Paint and Sip at Waynesville Art School will be held every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 7-9:30 p.m. To learn more and register call 828.246.9869 or visit PaintAndSipWaynesville.com/upcoming-events. Registration is required, $45.

• Mountain Makers Craft Market will be held from noon-4 p.m. the first Sunday of each month at 308 North Haywood St. in downtown Waynesville. Over two dozen artisans selling handmade and vintage goods. Special events will be held when scheduled. mountainmakersmarket.com.

F OOD AND D RINK

• BBQ and Live Music takes place at 6 p.m. every Saturday at the Meadowlark Motel. Call 828.926.1717 or visit meadowlarkmotel.com.

• “Flights & Bites” will be held starting at 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays at Bosu’s Wine Shop in downtown Waynesville. For more information on upcoming events, wine tastings and special dinners, click on waynesvillewine.com.

• A free wine tasting will be held from 6-8 p.m. every Thursday and 2-5 p.m. every Saturday at The Wine Bar & Cellar in Sylva. 828.631.3075.

ART SHOWINGS AND GALLERIES

• “Thursday Painters” group will be held from 10 a.m.3 p.m. on Thursdays at The Uptown Gallery in Franklin. Free and open to the public. All skill levels and mediums are welcome. Participants are responsible for their own project and a bag lunch. 828.349.4607 or pm14034@yahoo.com.

Outdoors

• Hike along Hemphill Bald Trail from Sheepback to Gooseberry Knob on Wednesday, Dec. 14, with Haywood County Recreation and Parks. The hike is 5.7 miles with an elevation gain of 1,412 feet. All hikes are $10. Sign up at bit.ly/haywoodrec.

• REI will host a bike tour of the waterfalls at DuPont State Recreational Forest 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17. The group will travel 10-12 miles on gravel roads. Participants can borrow a mountain bike at no additional charge. Cost is $79 for REI members and $109 for non-members. The outing will repeat Sunday, Jan. 22; Saturday, Feb. 11; and Sunday, March 12.

• Tickets are now on sale for Winter Lights, an open-air walk-through light show of more than 1 million lights running Nov. 18-Dec. 31 at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville. Ticket prices range from $30 to $60 per car depending on the date and entry time, with members receiving a $5 discount. Flex tickets are $75. For more information or to reserve tickets, visit ncarboretum.org/winter-lights.

Market PLACE WNC

Legals

MarketPlace information:

The Smoky Mountain News Marketplace has a distribution of 16,000 copies across 500 locations in Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties, including the Qualla Boundary and west Buncombe County. Visit www.wncmarketplace.com to place your ad!

Rates:

• $15 — Classified ads that are 25 words, 25¢ per word after.

• Free — Lost or found pet ads.

• $6 — Residential yard sale ads.*

• $1 — Yard Sale Rain Insurance Yard sale rained out? Call us by 10a.m. Monday for your ad to run again FREE

• $375 — Statewide classifieds run in 170 participating newspapers with 1.1+ million circulation. (Limit 25 words or less)

• Boost Online — Have your ad featured at top of category online $4

• Boost in Print

• Add Photo $6

• Bold ad $2

• Yellow, Green, Pink or Blue Highlight $4

• Border $4

Note: Highlighted ads automatically generate a border so if you’re placing an ad online and select a highlight color, the “add border” feature will not be available on the screen.

Note: Yard sale ads require an address. This location will be displayed on a map on www.wncmarketplace.com

p: 828.452.4251 · f:828.452.3585 classads@smokymountainnews.com www.wncmarketplace.com

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

Mountain projects Inc. is planning to submit a proposal to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Economic Opportunity for a one year grant under the Community Services Block Grant program. Public input is requested to utilize funding. The public hearing will be held in Haywood County at 10:00am on Monday December 21, 2022 at the Mountain Projects Road, Waynesville and in Jackson Co at 2:00pm on Monday December 21, 2022 at Moun-tain

154B Medical Park Loop,

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THE JACKSON COUNTY DEPARTMENT Of Social Services is recruiting for a Proits Child Support Program. Responsibilities include setting up all child service which involves answering the phone, data entry of employer information, updating addresses, and insurorders at the Clerk of continuance and dismissal orders on court day and getting them to the other assigned duties.

This position requires graduation from high school and demonstrated knowledge, skills and abilities gained through at least three years ofequivalent combination of training and experience. The starting salary is will be accepted through December 30, 2022.

THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES is currently recruiting for a Community Employment Case Manager. This position will provide eligibility determination and Employment Services to

their families. This position assesses individuals and families for particiProgram and works to eliminate barriers to clients’ economic self-suf-

also performs employee applications as well as

Individuals qualifying for this position must be able to effectively assess persons with regard to their employability and the barriers to their economic have thorough knowledge thorough knowledge of the laws, regulations, policies and proceduresand maintain effective working relationships with supervisor, clients and their families, as well as with civil, medical, social and religious organizaideas clearly and con-

will be considered who have a Bachelor’s degree in human services or

years of experience providing casework services in a human services

degree and three years of experience providing casework services in a human services setting, one of which must be at the Income Maintenance

SOLID GRAY CAT, MISTY 2-yr old girl; sweet and playful. Loves people, but hates dogs! Happy in a sunny window. Asheville Humane Society (828) 761-2001 adoptions@ashevillehumane.org

four years of casework experience, one of which must be at the Income maintenance Caseworker and six years of experience as a caseworker in a human services setting, one of which must be at the Income Maintenance equivalent combination of training and experience. The starting salary is education and experiDecember 30, 2022.

Home Goods

PITBULL MIX DOG, POPPY (CHARCOAL&WHITE) Sweet 7-year old girl; easy to handle, likes car rides. Prefer to be only pet. Asheville Humane Society (828) 761-2001 adoptions@ ashevillehumane.org

Real Estate Announcements

PUBLISHER’S NOTICE -

ing in this newspaper is -

Haywood Co. Real Estate Agents

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate- Heritage

• Carolyn Lauter - carolyn@bhgheritage.com

Beverly Hanks & Associates- beverly-hanks.com

• Billie Green - bgreen@beverly-hanks.com

• Brian K. Noland - brianknoland.com

• Anne Page - apage@beverly-hanks.com

• Jerry Powell - jpowell@beverly-hanks.com

• Catherine Proben - cproben@beverly-hanks.com

• Ellen Sither - esither@beverly-hanks.com

• Mike Stamey - mikestamey@beverly-hanks.com

• Karen Hollingsed- khollingsed@beverly-hanks.com

• Billy Case- billycase@beverly-hanks.com

• Laura Thomas - lthomas@beverly-hanks.com

• John Keith - jkeith@beverly-hanks.com

• Randall Rogers - rrogers@beverly-hanks.com

• Susan Hooper - shooper@beverly-hanks.com

• Hunter Wyman - hwyman@beverly-hanks.com

• Julie Lapkoff - julielapkoff@beverly-hanks.com

• Darrin Graves - dgraves@beverly-hanks.com

Emerson Group - emersongroupus.com

• George Escaravage - george@emersongroupus.com

• Chuck Brown - chuck@emersongroupus.com

ERA Sunburst Realty - sunburstrealty.com

• Amy Spivey - amyspivey.com

• Rick Border - sunburstrealty.com

• Randy Flanigan - 706-207-9436

• Steve Mauldin - 828-734-4864

Keller Williams Realty - kellerwilliamswaynesville.com

• The Morris Team - www.themorristeamnc.com

Lakeshore Realty

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illegal to advertise ‘any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin, or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or status includes children under 18 living with parents or legal guardians and pregnant women. This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate in dwellings advertised on equal opportunity basis.

Rentals

TIMESHARE CANCELLATION EXPERTS.

LLC Over $50,000,000 in timeshare debt and

• Phyllis Robinson - lakeshore@lakejunaluska.com

Mountain Dreams Realty- maggievalleyhomesales.com

• Lyndia Massey- buyfromlyndia@yahoo.com

Mountain Creek Real Estate

• Ron Rosendahl - 828-593-8700

McGovern Real Estate & Property Management

• Bruce McGovern - shamrock13.com

Premier Sotheby's International

Realty

• DeAnn Suchy - deann.suchy@premiersir.com

• Kaye Matthews - kaye.matthews@premiersir.com

RE/MAX Executive - remax-waynesvillenc.com remax-maggievalleync.com

• The Real Team - TheRealTeamNC.com

• Ron Breese - ronbreese.com

• Landen Stevenson- landen@landenkstevenson.com

• Dan Womack - womackdan@aol.com

• Mary Hansen - mwhansen@charter.net

• David Willet - davidwillet1@live.com

• Sara Sherman - sarashermanncrealtor@gmail.com

• David Rogers- davidr@remax-waynesville.com

• Judy Meyers - jameyers@charter.net Rob Roland Realty

Rob Roland - 828-400-1923

Johnson - tomsj7@gmail.com

- Sherellwj@aol.com

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