Smoky Mountain News | December 23, 2020

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Western North Carolina’s Source for Weekly News, Entertainment, Arts, and Outdoor Information

December 23-29, 2020 Vol. 22 Iss. 30

Transparency concerns surround casino purchase Page 10 Cashiers residents against proposed development Page 15

CONTENTS

STAFF

On the Cover: Knowing everyone could use a little bit of normalcy in the midst of a crazy year, Santa and Mrs. Claus made a stop in Clyde over the weekend to spread some Christmas joy — and gifts — to children in need. (Page 18) Garret K. Woodward photo

News Pisgah student pays it forward this Christmas ..........................................................4 First COVID-19 vaccines make it to WNC ................................................................5 Economic development ranking system ‘cuts both ways’ ......................................6 Tribe will buy Indiana casino ............................................................................................8 Transparency concerns surround casino talks ........................................................10 SRCA to offer ninth grade next fall ............................................................................13 School board to borrow funds for office renovations ............................................13 Cashiers residents against proposed development ..............................................15

EDITOR/PUBLISHER: ADVERTISING DIRECTOR: ART DIRECTOR: DESIGN & WEBSITE: DESIGN & PRODUCTION: ADVERTISING SALES:

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Opinion Public rhetoric should prompt removal from foundation ......................................16 Cawthorn shows ignorance on current issues ........................................................17

Books

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Folks and faith: Two books about the South ............................................................21

Outdoors Despite paralysis, woman to cycle Remember the Removal route ..................22

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

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Help make a child’s last wish come true Pisgah student pays it forward this Christmas

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR s Amanda McLeod celebrated her sweet 16 birthday last week, she wasn’t thinking about herself or the rare autoimmune disease she lives with every day — she was thinking of all the other children in need this holiday season.

Instead of asking for gifts for herself, Amanda has made it her goal to raise at least $1,000 for Make A Wish Foundation of WNC by the end of the year.

“During the pandemic I’ve been thinking of how I can help others, and since my birthday is around Christmas, I thought I could use that to raise money for kids in need — they’ve had a hard year,” she said.

Amanda knows all too well how difficult it can be to live with a rare and incurable disease and also how meaningful it is to have your wish granted by Make A Wish Foundation. When she was 12, she began having pain and swelling in her legs and feet.

Amanda’s mother Helen thought it was just puberty at first, but when the swelling wouldn’t subside and she was tired all the time, they decided to see a doctor.

Amanda was then sent to Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte where she was finally diagnosed with Dense Deposit Disease following a kidney biopsy. DDD is a rare kidney disease that mostly impacts children. DDD tends to worsen over time, and about half of affected people develop endstage renal disease within 10 years after symptoms start.

There is no cure for the disease and limited treatments that are not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

“We were lucky enough to get approved for the treatment and now her condition has stabilized,” Helen said. “She has IV infusions every two weeks. She’s passed her 80th infusion so it’s working. We can’t complain — her kidney function is back to normal and she’ll stay on the treatments indefinitely. We’re in a support group with parents of others that have it and some of their children have been

“I want kids that are waiting on a wish to feel that kind of happiness and joy and feel like a kid again.”

— Amanda McLeod

Helen said she was amazed at how quickly the Foundation was able to grant Amanda’s wish. They received a call in late December asking if they’d be able to fly out to Hollywood in 10 days.

“We said ‘absolutely’ and they arranged everything — we just had to show up,” she said.

Amanda and Helen stayed in a hotel overlooking the Hollywood sign and were escorted from the hotel to the set by a stretch limousine that had just been used to deliver celebrities to the Grammy Awards, which was held the same week.

Amanda said the experience on set was incredible. She just couldn’t believe she was hanging out with the cast members she’d been watching on screen for years.

“Once I got off the plane, I was just in total awe of everything,” Amanda said. “Jimmy Kimmel Live was being filmed just across the street. The famous Chinese theatre was right there and we could see the Hollywood sign — it was just so exciting. I spent about seven hours on set with the cast. They took me everywhere. Mark Harmon (who pays NCIS Agent Gibbs) took me to stand in for him

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while they were checking the lighting and I got to do an interrogation with Agent Torres (played by Wilmer Valderrama) — it was so much fun.”

Helen said she was impressed with how much time the cast and crew took to make Amanda’s visit feel special.

“They’d done their research — the cast knew all about her. They wrote in her autograph book saying next time they’d play a game of Monopoly with her because that’s her favorite game and they served her favorite meal (spaghetti) on set that day,” she said.

Amanda said she wants other kids to be able to feel as special as she did that day her wish was granted. While her wish was granted quickly and before the COVID-19 Pandemic began shutting down the U.S., she knows other children weren’t as fortunate

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this year. Many are still waiting for the pandemic to pass so their wishes can be granted.

“I want kids that are waiting on a wish to feel that kind of happiness and joy and feel like a kid again,” she said.

“When I was diagnosed, it changed how I looked at life and I didn’t feel like a kid anymore, but getting my wish, I felt like a kid again — like there’s nothing in the world that can stop me.”

Like so many other children living with incurable diseases, the pandemic has forced Amanda to be extra cautious since her treatments leave her immune system more vulnerable to viruses and infections.

She’s adjusted well to remote learning at Pisgah High and tries to keep up with her friends through texting.

Amanda loves to sing and dance. There hasn’t been much public singing lately, but she’s been able to continue to dance at Music Works thanks to small classes, social distancing and wearing a mask. She was also thrilled to be able to have an outdoor COVID-safe birthday get together with a few of her friends this past Sunday for her birthday.

“It’s been interesting, but I’ve gotten through it,” she said. “I think in the beginning I was a little scared of it — I was a bit of a germaphobe and didn’t want to do anything — but I’ve adjusted to it and I’m hoping next year is better.”

To make a donation to Amanda’s fundraiser for Make A Wish Foundation, visit https://tinyurl.com/ycbmamgr.

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December 23-29, 2020

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on the treatments for 10 years and are still doing well. It’s not a harmful drug, but it just lowers the immune system.”

Because of her condition, Amanda applied to Make A Wish Foundation last November. Her wish was to visit the filming location of her favorite TV show — NCIS. “It’s my favorite show ever. When I got sick and I came home after my diagnosis, it’s the show I watched all the time because I was so tired all the time. There’s 15 seasons on Netflix so I had plenty of episodes to keep me distracted,” Amanda said.

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First COVID-19 vaccines make it to WNC

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Ingles Nutrition Notes written by Ingles Dietitian Leah McGrath What is a 'sugar alcohol'? I see this listed on some sugar-free items I buy

QUESTION:

ANSWER: Sugar alcohols, also known as "polyols", are a type of carbohydrate- that's why you see them listed under the CARBOHYDRATES section on a Nutrition Facts label. Sugar alcohols have a different chemical structure than a sugar, so your body does not process them or absorb them in the same way as it does sugar. Food makers often use sugar alcohols in sugar-free, no-sugar added or "keto" products as they lend sweetness but have fewer calories than sugar or other caloric sweeteners. This is often helpful for those seeking to reduce their caloric intake or intake of carbohydrates (sugar).

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Caution: Excess consumption of products with sugar alcohols can cause gastric (stomach/bowel) distress in some individuals!

Leah McGrath, RDN, LDN

Smoky Mountain News

are not yet available, but a general timeline has been issued by the Haywood County Health Department.

Over the coming weeks and months, vaccinations will proceed as doses are allotted, in the following manner, according to the risk categories recommended by the CDC. The first groups will be the health care workers fighting COVID-19 and the long-term care facility residents who have been most vulnerable throughout the pandemic.

Doctors, nurses, and technicians who interact with patients will be administered vaccines at the hospitals. Long term care facility residents, those in nursing homes, and adult, family, and group homes will be administered by pharmacies at the facilities.

Adults at high risk of severe illness and those at highest risk of exposure will be next.

This will include people with two or more chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, or diabetes.

Also in this group will be essential frontline workers, such as police, teachers, food processing workers, other health care workers, and those who live or work in prisons or homeless shelters.

Following the risk chart, the next group will be other adults at high risk who didn’t get into the previous groups, including adults over age 65, and adults with one chronic illness.

The next group will be students over the age of 16. The currently available vaccines are not yet approved for children under the age of 16. When that happens, they may also be included in this group.

Those employed in jobs that are critical to society and are at a lower risk of exposure will be eligible at this time. Lastly, the general public, anyone who has not yet been vaccinated and would like to will be able to participate after those at high risk have had access.

At each step of the way, the health department will provide updates and plenty of advance notice to make sure that everyone who wants to be vaccinated will have their chance.

December 23-29, 2020

he COVID-19 vaccine distribution has begun in Western North Carolina with the first doses going to healthcare workers and emergency medical technicians and paramedics on the frontlines.

Haywood Regional Medical Center administered the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to its healthcare workers on Dec. 18.

Registered nurse Susan Wynne raised her hand to receive the first dose.

“I have said ever since we’ve talked about a COVID-19 vaccine that I wanted to be first in line, and they took me at my word,” she said. “They called me Tuesday to see if I was serious — I said absolutely. So here I am.”

When asked about the importance of the vaccine, for healthcare workers in particular, she said, “I think that we’re front line, we are [at risk of being] exposed and we need to slow the spread.”

Since that morning, others have opted f into taking the vaccine, including Emergency Room and Intensive Care Unit workers on g the frontlines of COVID-19 patient care.

ER doctor Eric Zickerman said one of the reasons he’s taking the vaccine is to protect his family. “My wife’s not medical, and she’s thrilled that I’ll be more protected at work.

This is a big day,” he said.

“This has been an incredible team effort locally,” said HRMC CEO Greg Caples. “and I want to commend our staff — for staying the course through the pandemic and now for helping this vaccination process run smoothly. It is a very exciting time for science, healthcare and our country.”

Vaccines will continue at Haywood Regional Medical Center for employees, prioritizing as per guidance from the CDC, federal government, and the state of North Carolina.

This vaccine allotment is not available for the public at this time, but, once the vaccine becomes more broadly available, we will encourage our community to get vaccinated.

With the arrival of a vaccine, hope is on the horizon, but there is still a long road ahead to normal. Exact dates for distribution

Ingles Market Corporate Dietitian

@InglesDietitian Leah McGrath - Dietitian 800.334.4936 Ingles Markets… caring about your health

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news The 2021 County Development Tiers map shows persistent poverty— and prosperity—in the usual regions. NCDOC map.

Smoky Mountain News

December 23-29, 2020

Economic development ranking system ‘cuts both ways’

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR ach year around this time, North Carolina takes a look at the economic prosperity, or lack thereof, in every one of its 100 counties. That analysis reveals the haves and the have nots, but it’s about much more than just bragging rights.

Millions of dollars of state funding tied to economic prosperity, or more appropriately, economic distress, is disbursed in a highly competitive arena where winners and losers are decided as grant applications are approved or rejected and projects progress or wither on the vine.

A shift in rank has very real implications, but when rankings are published each year, one thing holds true — questions over whether the state’s County Development Tiers designation system accurately reflects economic realities in counties, rich and poor, from Appalachia to the Atlantic Ocean.

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DEFINING DISTRESS

The state’s County Development Tiers designation system is designed to measure a county’s relative prosperity as compared to others, and to encourage economic activity in those counties that are found to be less prosperous.

Guidelines for calculating a county’s Development Tier designation are provided in General Statute 143B-437.08, but publication of the rankings is left to the North Carolina Department of Commerce.

Since at least 2007, four factors have been 6

used to determine a particular county’s designation.

The first, average unemployment rate, takes data from the NCDOC’s local area unemployment statistics program for the most recent 12 months. Median household income over the previous 12 months is the second factor. The third is percentage population growth over the past 36 months, and the final factor is the adjusted property tax base per capita. The only metric that includes data collected during the Coronavirus Pandemic is unemployment.

Counties are ranked on a scale from 1 to 100 in each of the four factors. All are equally weighted. The highest possible score is 400, and the lowest possible score is four.

Then, counties are ranked by final score, from most economically distressed to least economically distressed. Tier Three indicates the most prosperous counties, and Tier One indicates the most economically distressed.

Per statute, there must be 40 counties in Tier One, 40 counties in Tier Two and 20 counties in Tier Three. Rankings are published on or before Nov. 30 each year, take effect on Jan. 1 and there is no appeal process.

Once they’ve all been sorted into tiers, counties may then become eligible for a number of incentive programs, contingent upon their tier assignment.

One is NCDOC’s Job Development and Investment Grant (JDIG) program, which provides up to 80 percent of tax withholdings from new jobs for counties in Tier One, but 75 percent for counties in tiers two or three.

Another, the OneNC fund uses tier desig-

nations in a similar way. A discretionary cash grant program for job creation, OneNC requires a local government match for all grants. That local match is $1 per state dollar in the most prosperous (Tier Three) counties, $1 per two state dollars in Tier Two counties, and $1 per three state dollars in the most distressed counties (Tier One).

Those are just two of several dozen statewide initiatives that utilize the tier system to determine where funding should be directed, but the system is also helpful for private developers looking to locate in a certain economic development environment.

For example, in North Carolina, budget chain Dollar General has 143 locations in 109 municipalities spread across 69 counties, but only 22 percent of Dollar General locations are in prosperous Tier Three counties.

In 2019, the tier system was tweaked a bit to remove favorable adjustments to counties with small populations or extremely high unemployment rates.

Also eliminated was the stipulation that counties designated as Tier One would remain in that tier for at least one additional year, regardless of ensuing metrics.

A TALE OF TWO TIERS Next year’s rankings show 22 counties with different designations than they had in 2020.

Haywood had alternated between Tier Three and Tier Two from 2014 to 2017, but was a Tier Three county from 2017 through 2020. This year, along with Alexander,

Brunswick, Buncombe, Burke, Cherokee, Davie, Hoke, New Hanover, Randolph and Rowan counties, Haywood dropped a tier and is once again a Tier Two county.

“You know it’s funny, when you first get the news it’s a little like, ‘Yes!’ but then it’s a little melancholy because being in Tier Three, we’re pretty prideful in a lot of ways,” said David Francis, a program administrator who handles much of the economic development work on behalf of Haywood County. “Now we’re in Tier Two, which is definitely more reflective of where we need to be.”

In 2020, Haywood was ranked as the 18th most-prosperous of North Carolina’s 100 counties. Now, it’s the 36th most prosperous.

The North Carolina Department of Commerce said in a memo that the 2021 tier change for Haywood was prompted by a huge shift in the county’s unemployment rate. In 2020, only five counties had lower unemployment than Haywood County. Now, 62 counties boast lower unemployment.

“In February, we were at 4,200 jobs lost,” Francis said. “The unemployment rate in May was 14.8 percent, the highest in 30 years.”

More than 55 percent of those job losses came in the accommodation services, retail, arts, entertainment and recreation sectors, which historically have been the pistons powering Haywood’s economic engine.

Francis said that all but about 1,900 of those job losses have returned, so Haywood is clawing its way back from pandemic-induced shutdowns in 2020. However, the impact of those job losses — and the resulting Tier Two designation — could help the county come back even stronger.

“We were excluded from all state-level broadband grants due to the Tier Three status, so now we’re opened up to those. The North Carolina Main Street program and building reuse designations, now we can qualify for those,” he said. “Reuse grants are going to be nice to have. We weren’t able to get infrastructure grants as well, so yeah, this

“Of course, we already ranked quite high in adjusted property tax per capita. I think we were last year 97 and this year we dropped to 96. [The Department of] Commerce indicates the reason we’re a Tier Three is because of our improvement in the other three metrics.”

For 2020, there were 28 counties more prosperous than Macon, according to NCDOC data. This year, there are only 16 more prosperous counties than Macon.

Christopher Chung, CEO of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, answers questions during a Dec. 17 online roundtable. EDPNC photo

Given the nature of any ranking system, there are bound to be complaints about how the ranks are determined. As counties rise and fall in North Carolina’s Development Tier system, criticism seems to be enduring.

“It’s long been an issue, well in advance of when I arrived in North Carolina six years ago,” Chung said. “Thinking back to the interviews that I had for the job, at least one of the local economic developers I met with had brought this up as a challenge. In those six years now, I’ve had a chance to see that up close and personal. I think most people I’ve interacted with would admit it’s far from a perfect system.”

The crux of the matter is one that’s long haunted Haywood — despite some prosperous areas, there still exists a need for grant funding in outlying areas where poverty is common and broadband is not.

“The Wakes, the Mecks — those counties are a different animal, and we were in the same category as those guys,” said Francis.

Chung provided similar examples, including two of North Carolina’s biggest tourist attractions.

“Moore County is where Pinehurst is,” Chung said. “You go to Pinehurst and of course it’s hard to imagine an area being more economically robust than the center of U.S. golf. But you don’t have to go very far in Moore County to get into some really impoverished areas.”

This year, Moore County has again been designated a Tier Three county, as it’s been for at least the past seven years.

“Another good example is Lincoln County,” said Chung. “You get over to Lake Norman, very prosperous, very well-to-do, you have probably one of the higher average household incomes in the whole state. But then you go to the western side of the county and it may as well be a different environment but they’re all sitting within the same county.”

Jackson County and Macon County experience a similar effect with Cashiers and Highlands, respectively.

“When you factor in the different variables, it tends to skew those counties more towards one extreme or the other of its eco-

nomic wellbeing,” Chung said. “As a result, it’s not reflective of the whole picture within that county.”

One longstanding suggestion has been to somehow expand the three-tier designations (think stoplight — red, yellow, green) into something more reflective of a rainbow.

“Yes, that’s definitely a concept we’re familiar with,” said David Rhoades, Communications Director for the North Carolina Department of Commerce. “Indeed, it tracks well with a recommendation our department made back in 2015 when the legislature’s Program Evaluation Division conducted a study of the tier system. At that time, we suggested moving to the concept of an index rather than the three-tier system.”

Rhoades said that’s not necessarily a current recommendation from NCDOC, and such changes haven’t formally been considered since that time.

Another approach would be to do away with the county as the ranking unit, and start using census tracts. Currently, there are 2,195 census tracts in North Carolina.

“Census tracts could be a way to do it,” Chung said. “That would be more granular than looking at county level of jurisdiction.

There are some incentive programs that are more for rural economic development that do look at things like census tracts.

Obviously, tiers are taken into account, but then they also look down at census tracts, so there’s some precedent for this within the economic development world.”

Macon County’s Jenkins said there might be advantages to the system becoming more granular, but questioned how deep NCDOC wants to drill.

“I’m sure more granular it becomes, you’re going to have other issues pop up, so I’m not sure exactly what the best route is,” Jenkins said.

Chung said he’s not sure of the kind of outcomes changes to the tier system would produce.

“I think the challenge,” he said, “is, ‘What system could come along and replace it that would satisfy as many, if not more, objectives and the spirit behind having this type of classification system?’”

December 23-29, 2020

The county’s come a long way since 2015, when it dropped from Tier Two to Tier One. It wouldn’t be until 2019 when Macon regained Tier Two status. For 2021, Macon County climbed into Tier Three, which means Jenkins’ situation is the exact opposite of Haywood’s Francis.

“It’s going to cause us possibly to lose out on some various state funding opportunities — maybe not lose out, but we just won’t be eligible for as much as we would if we were a Tier Two county,” Jenkins said. “For instance, building reuse, some infrastructure programs. I’m really concerned how this is going to affect broadband plans in the future.”

DIFFERENT ANIMALS

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opens up a whole toolbox for us that we didn’t have before.”

Haywood County hasn’t had much luck diversifying its economy, despite a marketing partnership with the Asheville Chamber of Commerce intended to attract new businesses, especially industry.

“I think many of our communities have struggled with product availability,” said Christopher Chung, CEO of the North Carolina Economic Development partnership. “If a manufacturer is going to locate somewhere, they need a bricks-and-mortar establishment to produce their product. That can be an existing vacant building, or it can be an industrial site on which to construct their own facility. In a lot of our communities across the state, they may have a workforce, they may have a great community college that can train that workforce for a specific employer, but they don’t have something ready to go on the timetable of when a company needs it.”

Francis said that infrastructure grants could aid in the creation of new product offerings or foster improvements to Haywood’s current infrastructure, like a build-ready pad at the Beaverdam Industrial Park and a large empty parcel off Jonathan Creek Road.

“If you’re rated as a Tier Three, well, that tells the outside world that things are going d well in your community and across most ecod nomic variables, you’re doing relatively better than most counties in North Carolina,” t said Chung. “However, if you’re trying to a secure some of those state resources tied to the tier system, including incentives, potend tially being a Tier Three might actually put o you at a disadvantage to Tier Two and Tier t One counties going after that same pot of w resources. So it cuts both ways.” e Although 11 counties dropped a tier this year 11 counties also rose a tier, thanks to the h 40-40-20 rule. Beaufort, Camden, Carteret, 0 Chowan, Jones, Onslow, Perquimans and Pitt were all designated as less distressed than in f the previous year, as were the Western North r Carolina counties of Transylvania, Polk and e Macon. n “Out of those four metrics we improved in - three,” said Tommy Jenkins, director of Macon - County’s Economic Development Commission.

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Tribe will buy Indiana casino Closing on $280 million purchase expected in June

Council members were bothered that the resolution proposed for passage did not specifically state where the $120 million would come from, instead listing five different funds that would be used “in coordination or combination.” Chelsea Saunooke was perhaps the most outspoken member in that regard — she said she would have liked to see the allocation amounts broken down and was reticent about draining the Debt Service Sinking Fund as suggested. Saunooke said that off-air conversations ultimately made her feel comfortable with voting yes.

“I had some questions about different scenarios for the investment accounts, and there were three scenarios that we didn’t go over on air, but those scenarios plus another loan setup really helped me,” she said in a followup interview. “We’re not going to dive too far into our revenue streams, particularly our investment streams. That’s what helped change my mind about it.”

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ribal Council decided by a razor-thin margin last week to pursue a $280 million deal to purchase the gaming operation at Caesars Southern Indiana Casino, which would mark the tribe’s first foray into the commercial gaming industry. During the same meeting, Council voted to set up a new LLC to oversee the venture.

The vote, held Dec. 17, came following months of internal discussions and hours of public and semi-public meetings, including a three-hour special session Dec. 15 and a fivehour discussion Dec. 17 that was held via Microsoft Teams and open only to tribal members. Following the discussion, Council came into open session for a vote. While the vote and discussion were both broadcast on Cherokee cable, neither streamed online as is typical for Tribal Council meetings.

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THE PLAN Ceasars Southern Indiana Casino is home to 1,200 slot machines, as well as sports betting, poker and table games. Laurencio Ronquillo photo

December 23-29, 2020

THE VOTE The Smoky Mountain News did not have access to any of the discussions or votes that took place Dec. 17, but three different council members interviewed afterward said the resolutions passed with identical 49-44 votes.

Tribal Council votes use a weighted scale based on the population of each township as of the last tribal census.

All three council members reported that Chairman Adam Wachacha, Snowbird Representative Bucky Brown, Birdtown Representative Boyd Owle, Big Cove Representative Perry Shell, Painttown Representative Tommye Saunooke and Wolfetown Representative Chelsea Saunooke voted in favor of the measure. Opposed were Wolfetown Representative Bo Crowe,

Birdtown Representative Albert Rose, Big Cove Representative Richard French, Yellowhill Representative Tom Wahnetah and Painttown Representative Dike Sneed.

Vice Chairman David Wolfe and his seven votes were absent due to quarantine restrictions. The Smoky Mountain News has requested official voting records but had not received them as of press time.

The resolutions require Principal Chief Richard Sneed’s signature to become effective, but that will not likely be a hurdle as Sneed has been a vocal proponent of the move. A purchasing agreement will be signed later this month with closing expected toward the end of June.

According to a Facebook post from The Cherokee One Feather, the resolution to purchase the casino operation states that the tribe will contribute up to $120 million in cash and secure up to $160 million in financing. The resolution does not specify the source of funding for the down payment, the newspaper reported, simply stating that “the tribe will identify the most advantageous funding mechanism to make the equity contribution.”

The tribe’s plan is to pay back the loan in five years at 5 percent interest, though it would be the newly created LLC, not the tribal government, that would be responsible for servicing the debt.

During the Dec. 15 meeting, some Tribal

The Southern Indiana Casino, located just across the river from Louisville, Kentucky, is up for sale as the result of a July merger between Eldorado Resorts and Caesars Entertainment — the same company that owns Harrah’s, the tribe’s casino management company. The merger created the nation’s largest casino and entertainment company, and in some states the union put them afoul of market share laws, meaning that the company had to sell off some of its operations in those jurisdictions. The casino in Elizabeth, Indiana, is one of those properties. Sneed said that 20 other firms put in bids to buy it. The tribe currently has a signed letter of intent with Caesars.

Under the agreement approved last week, the tribe would purchase the casino’s business operations, not the real estate it’s on — the annual lease pay-

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The purchase is part of the tribe’s ongoing effort to diversify its income streams in the face of looming competition for its extremely lucrative casinos in Cherokee and Murphy.

The newly formed LLC will be key to the gaming operation’s success. According to the resolution passed Dec. 17, EBCI Holdings LLC will be responsible for managing and supervising the operations and business affairs of the commercial gaming enterprise — that is, of casino gaming endeavors organized under state laws rather than through federal laws directed at gaming on tribal lands.

The LLC, to be formed in Delaware, will have a fivemember board of managers, two of whom must be enrolled members of the EBCI. Members will serve fiveyear terms, though those terms will be varied lengths initially to create staggered terms.

While the resolution setting up the board gives the tribe the responsibility of appointing initial members, the board itself will make future appointments, Owle said. Though owned by the tribe, the LLC will be wholly independent from it in terms of managing the business and the proceeds flowing from it.

During the Dec. 15 meeting, the resolution read into the record named Blankenship and Edwin Gray Rose as the board’s enrolled members, with initial terms of four and five years, respectively. The same resolution also named tribal member Adele Jacobs Madden, currently vice president of finance at Harrah’s Cherokee, as the board’s CFO and Scott Barber, regional president for Caesars, as its CEO. SMN has requested a copy of the adopted version of this resolution to verify the board’s final approved membership. The resolution directed the board to hold its first meeting in January 2021.

REFLECTIONS FROM COUNCIL

Smoky Mountain News

The decision to approve the purchase has elicited celebration from some and trepidation from others.

“I’m glad it passed and being part of its passing,” said Owle in response to a request for comment. “The Tribe has been rather stagnant on other forms of diversification since the inception of gaming and with imminent threats that could be all around us in the near future, this is the first step into the commercial gaming atmosphere and is a great start to help change that.”

Dike Sneed, meanwhile, said that he’s uncomfortable with numerous aspects of both the purchase agreement and the board formation. He doesn’t like the fact that the adopted resolution doesn’t specify where the money will come from.

“Where is this money coming from? How is it going to be paid back?” he said in a follow-up call. “None of it is going to be dispersed to the tribal members. The only way they’re going to see the benefit is through programs.”

He said his “fingers are crossed” and that he hopes the venture takes off. However, he has reservations about the board not having to answer to the tribe, even when it comes to future appointments.

“The amount of non-Indians on it outweighing the enrolled members that are on it, why would we want our children to go and get educations if we’re not going to give them these good jobs?” he said.

Saunooke, meanwhile, said she sees her decision as a vote to invest in the long-term health of the tribe and to listen to her younger constituents who will be the ones living with the fallout of today’s decisions.

Overwhelmingly, she said, members of the younger generations have reached out to her in favor of the deal.

“The younger generation is finally taking a stand and speaking up,” she said. “That’s been something that’s been brought up to me is maybe we’ll get the younger people talking, and this opportunity did. I think for a change they felt like they had a voice.”

Chief Sneed’s office declined to comment on the vote but said a formal press release would be released in the coming weeks.

December 23-29, 2020

$3 and $5 million and would be used to fund tribal programs jeopardized by looming threats to Cherokee’s current monopoly on the local casino market.

The 25 percent rule will limit when the tribe can use the profits, but the EBCI will be the 100 percent owner of the new LLC. Should it choose to sell the operation or dissolve the LLC, the tribe would take ownership of the assets.

Tribal leaders have been discussing the potential purchase publicly since Nov. 5, when Chief Sneed first posted about it on his Facebook page. The purchase is part of the tribe’s ongoing effort to diversify its income streams in the face of looming competition for its extremely lucrative casinos in Cherokee and Murphy.

Since 1997, the tribe’s casino enterprise has enjoyed a complete monopoly over the region’s gaming industry, but now that monopoly is facing threats on multiple fronts. The Catawba Nation has broken ground on a casino in Kings Mountain, though the EBCI hopes to stop that project through an ongoing legal battle.

However, there are solid plans to build a new casino just 130 miles away in Bristol, Virginia. Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida already allow some form of commercial gaming, and Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina are all considering doing likewise.

In a few years, there could be casinos all over the Southeast.

Unlike tribal gaming enterprises, which are regulated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, commercial gaming enterprises are regulated by the states where they are located. Getting into the commercial gaming business now would diversify the geographic markets the tribe relies on for its income and get its foot in the door to be considered for future state-regulated projects, proponents say. Sneed said the tribe would need to make at least three or four more purchases like that underway in Indiana to replace the income that would likely be lost if the Catawba Nation is allowed to complete its casino.

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ment for the 238-acre property totals $32.5 million.

That fact took some Tribal Council members aback, and while Secretary of Finance Cory Blankenship said Dec. 15 that it initially gave him pause as well, now he thinks it’s a positive. The initial risky investment of time and money to get the casino up and running has already been made, and the tribe will have an easier time getting out of the enterprise should it so desire in the future.

“In my opinion that lessens the risk to the tribe in operating this particular business, because we don’t own the bricks and mortar,” said Blankenship.

The venture is expected to bring in $40 million annually in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Casino taxes in Indiana are hefty — according to the Casino Association of Indiana, casinos with between $150 million and $600 million in gross revenue must pay 35 percent.

The operation is expected to yield a return on investment of 19 to 23 percent. However, the tribe would not receive that profit directly or immediately. State laws in Indiana mean that the LLC overseeing the operation can remit only 25 percent of the profits directly back to the tribe each year. The tribe’s 25 percent annual share of cash flowing back to the LLC is expected to fall between

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Smoky Mountain News

December 23-29, 2020

news

Transparency concerns surround Council casino discussions

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER hen the Cherokee Tribal Council waded through its final hours of discussion — and, ultimately, a vote — on the $280 million decision to move forward with the Indiana casino purchase, few tribal members saw them do it.

Normally, Tribal Council meetings are broadcast live online and later archived there as well. That’s how the Dec. 15 special session regarding the potential purchase was conducted, though the archived video was later deleted. After three hours of discussion, Tribal Council voted to table the vote in part to give tribal members a chance to receive more information on the proposed venture.

However, no announcement as to a future meeting date was made until an 8:27 p.m.

Dec. 16 post on Principal Chief Richard Sneed’s Facebook page. Information shared during the Dec. 15 meeting was “picked up by news outlets throughout the United States,” Sneed wrote, implying that this jeopardized the tribe’s business interests. Therefore, he wrote, a meeting open only to tribal members would be held via Microsoft Teams at 10 a.m. the next morning. To access the event, tribal members had to request a link directly from their Tribal Council representative or by contacting Ashleigh Stephens, Sneed’s chief of staff. Sneed’s post also noted that tribal members were welcome to attend in person.

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The meeting was not listed on the tribe’s website, the Tribal Council Facebook page, or on the website the tribe commonly uses to post upcoming agendas and meeting dates.

However, while Sneed’s announcement did not include the venue, multiple sources said that the meeting was broadcast on local cable as well.

After the 10 a.m. session concluded, around 3 p.m., Sneed called a special session that began around 4:30 p.m. but was not broadcast online. That’s when the vote was held.

REACTION FROM JOURNALISTS The announcement on Sneed’s page drew some negative comments, particularly from two tribal members who work as journalists for off-boundary publications.

“Information should either be defined as public or not,” wrote freelance journalist Joe Martin. “There really is no way to share information to tribal members exclusively.”

In an interview, Martin said he requested the meeting link from Stephens and that, while it was provided, he was informed that the information to be presented in the meeting was for tribal members only and she trusted he wouldn’t do a story on it. That rubbed Martin the wrong way, to say the least.

“As far as not doing a story on it, you can’t ask me to do that,” he said. “I have rights

through the Constitution. I have rights through the Indian Civil Rights Act.” Martin said he wanted to be treated the same as any other journalist, and therefore decided to sit the meeting out completely.

But, he said, Sneed’s office is “overstepping its bounds” on this matter — not to mention that it’s simply not realistic to expect every tribal member who logged onto the meeting to keep what they heard to themselves.

“The toothpaste is out of the tube,” he said. “I think there’s a better way they could have dealt with it.”

Travis Long, a tribal member who works as a photojournalist for the Raleigh News & Observer, also expressed opposition to the approach.

“That’s kind of a fine line to walk,” he said. “I understand that they want to educate our citizens, but I also think there’s room for discussion outside just having a special invite to watch it in the streaming format.”

Robert Jumper, editor of the tribally owned Cherokee One Feather, confirmed that his paper was also asked not to report on the meeting.

“I sent a request via email for the credentials to my two Council members but did not receive a response,” Jumper wrote on the paper’s Facebook page. “The Chief ’s Office did respond with the credentials, but also informed that this was basically a quasiclosed session, so, legally, no reporting would

be permitted. In other words, as a tribal citizen, I can view and make comment, but as a journalist, I and the COF staff cannot share any information that is disseminated in the meeting.”

IN RETROSPECT Sneed’s office declined to comment for this story, but in interviews several Tribal Council members said that, while some aspects of the meeting’s implementation troubled them, they agreed with the intent of the format.

“When we had our first session on it (Dec. 15), numbers were thrown out and the company that we were dealing with said they got multiple offers after watching us on livestream,” said Painttown Representative Dike Sneed. “I’ve always wanted it taken off livestream when we were talking about finances. What we’re doing here is nobody’s business but ours.”

“No one should ever give their competition an edge on things,” agreed Birdtown Representative Boyd Owle. “It’s like submitting a sealed bid but letting others see your bid before they submit.”

However, both Dike Sneed and Wolfetown Representative Chelsea Saunooke said that, while there’s a need to keep some information proprietary, they had concerns as to whether the meet-

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Haywood County Health and Human Services is reporting seven more COVID19 deaths, bringing the total number now to 62.

All of the deaths were people over the age of 85. At the time of their death, five were residents of Autumn Care, one was a resident of Silver Bluff and one died at Haywood Regional Medical Center.

Five have COVID-19 listed as the immediate/primary cause of death with no underlying conditions listed. Each of those five has “other significant conditions contributing to death” also noted.

COVID-19 is indicated as the underlying cause (the disease or injury that initiated the events resulting in death) on the death certificates for the other two.

“We at Haywood County Health and Human Services extend our deepest sym-

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COVID cluster at Macon sheriff office Macon County Public Health has identified a COVID-19 cluster of positive cases in the Macon County Sheriff ’s Office.

Six staff persons at the Macon County Sheriff ’s Office have tested positive; all personnel are aware of their exposure and are currently being contacted for testing. Macon County Sheriff ’s Office employees are encouraged to quarantine if they experience symptoms; those who test positive will be given isolation orders. In addition, Macon County Sheriff ’s Office has been provided disinfection guidance.

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Smoky Mountain News

EBCI Attorney General Mike McConnell said that he had no concerns as to whether the meeting format, or the directive that enrolled journalists refrain from reporting on its contents, violated tribal or federal law. In his view, Tribal Council held one closed session meeting and one open session meeting on Dec. 17. Tribal law allows Council to go into closed session for a variety of reasons, including to discuss negotiations relating to proposed contractual agreements and proposed sale or purchase of property. It also states that Tribal Council may halt public broadcast of an open session “if it determines that prohibiting the broadcast is in the best interest of the Tribe or an individual member of the Tribe.”

However, broadcasting a closed session meeting over local cable, as occurred with the session that began at 10 a.m. Dec. 17, would certainly seem to undermine the purpose of a closed session. It is also worth noting that when the ordinance allowing Council to cut broadcast of its open sessions was created, nobody could have imagined that a global pandemic would severely complicate in-person attendance.

“If the chief brings something forward like this again, instead of waiting until the last minute on a deadline, this needs to be brought to the people sooner,” said Dike Sneed. “The information needs to get to them. Having a community that’s not informed on what’s going on is not good.”

facebook.com/smnews December 23-29, 2020

ing afforded tribal members an appropriate level of access. The number of attendees ebbed and flowed, especially given that a new link was sent out every time Council took a recess, but both council members recall at some point asking how many tribal members were on the Microsoft Teams meeting and being told the number was 34. There are more than 16,000 enrolled members in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

“Those that don’t have Channel 28 or weren’t aware of the link, they were upset that they didn’t get to watch the vote, even the meeting,” said Saunooke. “There wasn’t a whole lot of participation on Teams. That did strike concern with me.”

Tagan Crowe, a college student with an interest in tribal politics, was one of those Microsoft Teams attendees. He was unhappy with the way the meeting was set up, saying that it “gave the illusion of wrongdoing and secrecy.”

“Just because we are a sovereign nation doesn’t mean we should be able to kick out the press whenever we want,” he said.

Crowe did his best to inform his fellow tribal members about the proceedings. He sent the access link around to his friends and spent the day posting regular updates to his Facebook page. For the record, he said, he is opposed to the purchase, believing that a new investment in the same industry the tribe already depends on is not true diversification.

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Haywood reports seven more COVID deaths

pathies to the families and loved ones during this time of loss,” said Interim Health Director Garron Bradish. “COVID-19 is a serious and sometimes deadly illness, and case numbers are rising rapidly in our community. We ask everyone to consider the pain and loss this virus can bring with it and do everything you can to help prevent its spread.”

“We urge everyone to be vigilant about masking and social distancing any time you’re going to be around anyone who doesn’t live in your household. Wash your hands regularly and stay home if you’re not feeling well. Now, more than ever, we need everyone in the community using every tool in the intervention toolbox to help slow the spread,” said Bradish.

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SRCA to offer ninth grade next fall

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Smoky Mountain News

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER At a school board meeting Monday, Dec. 14, Haywood County School Board members were split on how to pay for renovations to the new central office building.

Administration recently vacated the old hospital building on North Main Street in Waynesville, as it is soon to be redeveloped into low-income housing by Landmark Realty Group. Haywood County Schools had to be out of the building by the end of December and have temporarily relocated offices to the old Central Elementary building until renovations on the old medical arts building are complete. That building is the future permanent home for central administration offices.

No construction or renovation was done to the old Central Elementary building, as there are plans to reopen the building as a school as the population of Haywood County increases.

Superintendent Dr. Bill Nolte has estimated that renovations to the medical arts building could be completed in mid-to-late 2021.

When the county gave the school system the medical arts building, they also gave $750,000 for

improvements. The remaining $1.9 million for improvements to the new building will come from capital funds. During the meeting School Board member Jimmy Rogers made a motion to pay for improvement of the medical arts building using money solely from the capital fund. However, the motion failed with only Steven Kirkpatrick and David Burnette voting in favor.

Ronnie Clark, chairman of the finance committee, later made a motion to borrow $1 million toward building improvements from the county.

That money would eventually be paid back to the county in full.

“This gives us the ability, to use a phrase we use way too often right now, ‘in these uncertain times,’ to know we have a capital expense fund balance steady in case of any catastrophic or crippling dilemmas that we may face,” board member Bobby Rogers said.

Chairman Chuck Francis agreed with this sentiment saying, “I have a lot of concern about bringing down a fund balance so far, especially after what we experienced with the floods back in Francis and Ivan days and we had very little capital money to try and rebuild.”

The motion to borrow $1 million from the county and use capital funds for the remainder of the renovations cost passed, with Jim Francis, Logan Nesbitt, Ronnie Clark and Larry Henson voting in favor. David Burnette, Steven Kirkpatrick and Jimmy Rogers voted against.

December 23-29, 2020

School board to borrow county funds for office renovations

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BY J ESSI STONE forward.

N EWS E DITOR “A decision of this magnitude is always tough. hining Rock Classical Academy will begin I am especially appreciative of each board memoffering ninth grade classes in Haywood ber engaging in the conversation so that the tranCounty for the first time since the charter sition toward offering high school grades could be school started in 2015. made with confidence and with clear expectations At its December meeting, the SRCA board of for success,” said Morgan. directors approved a motion made to begin offerBoard Chair Michael Mehaffey added, “This is ing high-school grades effective in August 2021. a fulfillment of our original charter and commitBy state law, public charter schools may add one ment to Haywood County.” grade level per year, which means that for the 2021-22 school year, ninth grade will be Shining Rock Classical Academy. offered. An additional high school grade will A Shot Above photo be added each year afterward.

The SRCA board has been discussing the risks and benefits of adding high school on to the K-8 school for the last couple of years as parents want their children to be able to graduate from Shining Rock instead of having to enroll in a different school for high school courses. Board members want that too, but expanding too quickly could also set the school back financially and academically if it isn’t done properly.

The recent vote was held after evaluating the risks of moving forward, delaying the initiation of high school grades, or remaining as a KSRCA has offered K-8 classes at its current 8 school. Ultimately, the board determined that campus on Dellwood Road (across from Lake the known barriers to taking on additional grades Junaluska) for the last three years but now is movwould be equally significant by moving forward ing forward with plans to construct a $15 million in 2021 or beyond. permanent campus closer to the corner of “When considering academics, culture, Dellwood and Russ Avenue. The new campus, finances, along with facilities, the board came to which will have a 650-student capacity, is supthe conclusion that this August was the most posed to be completed in time for classes to begin responsible time to take this next step,” said Head in August 2021. of School Joshua Morgan.

Applications for Open Enrollment for students During the meeting, the board participated in who wish to attend during the 2021-22 school a lengthy discussion that addressed all aspects of year may be submitted beginning on Jan. 4, 2021, the school currently and the challenges moving at srca.cfacademy.school.

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BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER s the Jan. 6 hearing that will determine the project’s fate draws nearer, opposition is mounting to a plan that would bring 726 new residential units and 159,000 square feet of commercial space to the Cashiers crossroads.

“It’s not, to us, something that fits Cashiers,” said Paul Anderson, spokesperson for the newly formed group Develop Cashiers Responsibly. “We know there will be growth.

But it needs to be kept reasonable and responsible and controlled. It’s just so out of touch with what this community is that people have been up in arms about it and are opposing it strongly.”

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If the council grants approval, the Jackson County Planning Board will be asked to approve the plan under the county’s major subdivision ordinance, triggered for projects including more than eight lots. No public hearing is required prior to that vote, but there will be an opportunity for informal public comment. The developer hopes to break ground during the second quarter of 2021 and open the first phase of the development in 2023.

In addition to the legal fund, Develop Cashiers Responsibly has created a website and a Facebook page, is distributing roadside signs and encourages members to contact council members and write letters to the editor.

site that might be more acceptable to the neighbors,” said Anderson. “We have to look at it the way it is now, and the way it is now, we would have to oppose it.”

THE DEVELOPER’S VISION

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Cashiers residents organize against proposed development

“As far as traffic is concerned, we have inadequate infrastructure as it is without adding any more cars, and this development has 1,400 parking spaces, so presumably there could be up to that many automobiles parked on this property,” said Anderson.

“Most of them if not all of them would at some point try to go to Ingles, which is the only grocery store, and they would cut through our street, Monte Vista, and make it several orders of magnitude more difficult for us to get in and out.”

Anderson was also concerned about the water supply. There is no public water utility in Cashiers, and residents rely on wells, which in turn rely on rainfall that percolates into the ground. Usually there’s plenty of water, but back in 2016 there was a severe drought, and some wells in Gana Sita went dry. What will happen when 726 new residential units pop up overnight?

“That would seem to be a very big draw

Macauley Investments, the project’s developer, did not reply to a request for comment but did publish a press release characterizing the planned development as a “sustainable community” providing “year-round residential, hospitality, retail, entertainment and amenities that authentically reflect the local mountain village character, its heritage and surrounding natural environment.”

“We want to ensure that our efforts align with the community and government’s commercial, residential, infrastructure, aesthetic, programming and other priorities,” said Stephen Macauley, principal of Macauley Investments. “Infrastructure improvements

LOCAL RESISTANCE

INFRASTRUCTURE CONCERNS Both Bessette and Anderson said that traffic-related concerns loomed large in their opposition to the development. The only roads in and out of Cashiers are N.C. 107 and U.S. 64, and they’re both two-lane routes.

They’re not quite capable of handling the current demand, let alone the pressure that would result from the proposed development.

Stay in the loop The quasi-judicial hearing set for 9 a.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 9, at the Village Green Commons Hall in Cashiers is open to the public. The meeting will also stream live on YouTube at http://bit.ly/2KOKubc.

Sound quality issues plagued the initial meeting on Nov. 16, but the planning department believes those issues have been resolved. Develop Cashiers Responsibly has posted project plans on its website www.savecashiers.org. on the water table, and their wells would probably be deeper than our wells,” said Anderson. “It’s not too difficult to envision our wells going dry and us having to dig even deeper wells or maybe not be able to find more water. It’s one of those things we don’t know until it happens.”

Bessette also worried about the pressure that the development might place on the community’s already thin fire department and law enforcement resources.

“If a developer was willing to withdraw the project, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss ways they could develop that

and expansion will benefit not only our development but also the surrounding community.”

The plan provides for “vehicular and pedestrian efficiency and connectivity,” the release said, including a Frank Allen Road extension to reduce traffic impact to the crossroads and “thoughtfully designed” public parking and pedestrian pathways.

The development aims for zero carbon emissions using solar and geothermal energy, as well as reduced light pollution in support of dark sky initiatives and use of fiber-optic technology.

A diverse set of housing options will aim to address the area’s affordable housing shortage, with a charitable foundation funded through a percentage of homeowner dues and real estate transaction fees providing subsidies for teachers, first responders and health care workers who rent there.

The developer envisions a year-round “experiential destination” featuring independent retailers, outdoor performance venues, grotto-style spa facilities, community fireplaces, a variety of dining options and a menu of options for temporary and permanent lodging. The planned development would also include a culinary school, coworking space and event facility.

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Smoky Mountain News

Meanwhile, Cashiers resident Jaret Bessette has gathered 8,580 signatures on his online petition opposing the proposed development. He has also gathered more than 500 responses to a survey seeking more information about the people who are signing the petition. Of those who responded to the survey, he said, about 80 percent were full-time or part-time Cashiers residents.

Bessette, 28, moved to Cashiers in 2018.

Having grown up in a formerly small town outside Orlando, he’s seen what unchecked development can do, and that’s why he decided to get involved.

“The goal is not to stop development completely,” he said, “The goal is to responsibly develop over time and to fit the setting that you’re working in, not just to plop something huge in the middle of the town.”

December 23-29, 2020

Anderson lives in the Gana Sita neighborhood, which abuts the 56-acre area slated for development. He and his neighbors are worried that the project could have devastating impacts on traffic, water wells and other infrastructure. While the plateau’s population swells to an estimated 30,000 residents in the summer, only about 1,500 people live there year-round — the proposed development could double that number.

There are 14 houses in the Gana Sita neighborhood, and their owners have banded together to create a legal defense fund to fight the proposed development. The effort has expanded beyond the neighborhood, as well, with people from all over the plateau contributing to the fund. More than $50,000 has been raised.

“We have been greatly encouraged,” said Anderson. “We have been successful in raising enough to get us at least through the hearing on the 6th of January, and I hope that will be the end of it, but if not, we are prepared to go beyond that.”

The quasi-judicial hearing before the Cashiers Area Community Planning Council was originally scheduled for Nov. 16 but was postponed to Jan. 6 after John Noor, the attorney representing Anderson’s group, said he needed more time to build his case.

Following a court-like hearing, the council will vote as to whether the proposal meets each of six standards necessary to qualify for a special use permit.

Those standards — that it will not endanger public health or safety; is reasonably compatible with the site’s natural and topographic features; won’t substantially injure values of adjacent properties; will be in harmony with the community’s scale, bulk, coverage, density and character; is appropriately located with respect to transportation, water, fire, waste disposal and police resources; and will not cause a traffic hazard or undue congestion. For the permit to be granted, a majority of the seven-member board must vote yes to each standard. Overturning the Jan. 6 decision would require a successful lawsuit before the Jackson County Superior Court.

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Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

Public rhetoric should prompt removal A

Thanks to all the election volunteers To the Editor: With the most contentious presidential election in modern American history coming to a close, there is enough finger-pointing going on to satisfy even the most cynical.

Sadly, that means that a great deal of good work is going unnoticed. Now is the time to thank the many election volunteers, paid and unpaid, who gave so much of their time and energy to help make the voting process work as it should in Swain County.

Inside the polls, there were dozens of people assigned to tasks such as verifying voters’ names and registrations; explaining authorization forms voters must sign; wiping voting booths clean after each use in this time of Covid; providing curbside service, if needed; and redirecting “lost” voters to their proper polling places. The inside workers are recruited from each party, trained by county election staff, and required to keep their own political preferences private.

Outside the polls, the rules are very different. Dozens of partisan volunteers spent their time welcoming voters to the polls, and offering opinions, voting recommendations, candidates’ campaign literature and sample ballots to anyone who was interested. At the Whittier-Cherokee precinct under the leadership of Lisa Montelongo and Mary “Missy” Crowe during early voting and on Election Day, seven young Cherokee people handed

rior motives. Sometimes, given the screwed up state of the world, conspiracy theories are the only things that make sense. So, I can totally see why folks might believe that something like a vaccine for COVID is a government conspiracy to microchip everyone. It definitely would not fall among the worst or most outrageous things that the U.S. government has ever done.

Since COVID began to interfere with normal life back at the first of the year, I’ve heard Janet Presson speak on a number of occasions at public meetings. She’s been called an extremist and a conspiracy theorist due to her anti-vaccine and anti-mask stances, and I have gotten a little bit of insight as to why Janet has landed in this Guest Columnist extremist camp — having a child be permanently vaccine-injured would definitely push a parent to extremism. But there is something to be weighed against our ideologies when we enter the public sphere no matter how autonomous, extreme and skeptical we are of the government, of society as a whole, and that is personal responsibility.

Personal responsibility requires that we make certain that in exercising our personal freedoms we do not harm others. If I am consuming alcohol, my responsibility is to not injure someone else in my altered state. I am personally liable if I wreck a car into someone when I am drunk. If I am carrying a

Jesse-Lee Dunlap

s someone whose politics are centered on bodily autonomy, I sympathize with folks who are against forced vaccinations. I bristle at anything that encroaches on a person’s individual freedoms — restrictions on abortions, prohibition, gun laws, etc. — any mandate, especially any mandate from the government, especially from the American government, which has a long history of using “medicine” to harm black, indigenous, and poor people. We all have ample reason to be cynical and skeptical of the American healthcare system, and no one should be ridiculed for questioning what is in a vaccine. This stuff is going right into your body. It is normal and prudent to question what goes in your body.

Extremists also garner my sympathy. As someone labeled an extremist myself, there are specific events I can point to as things that radicalized me. That’s a common thread with extremists — something happened to us that commits us to an ideology. For me, one of my radicalizing events was watching court proceedings in Haywood County. Sitting in a court room and watching the “justice” system chew up and spit out poor white Appalachians has forever altered my consciousness, and my entire worldview is filtered through that experience. I understand where extremism originates, and I fully understand that people generally view me as a lunatic when I articulate my abolitionist beliefs.

I am also reluctant to belittle folks who are labeled “conspiracy theorists.” Again, if we look at all the awful things the American government has engaged in since its inception, no one can be blamed for thinking that the government has ulte-

LETTERS out information, provided free T-shirts and literature, and made sure Cherokee people voted. Special thanks is given to Gadusi Crowe, Amy Lincoln, P’takatu Lincoln, Simon Montelongo, Quedi Sampson, Mikayla Shell and Rose Shell for all of their efforts. Some of these young people also helped with voter registration prior to early voting.

There were other volunteers, both in and outside the polls, who were required to sit silently as they monitored their locations for problems or voting irregularities.

Clearly, the volunteers, along with paid election staff, got the job done well. When all of the votes were counted during the official canvass on November 13, the numbers showed that 4,675 people voted during early voting, 1,658 voted in person on Election Day and 760 voted by mail-in or absentee ballots.

Fourteen of 58 provisional ballots were accepted; those rejected were cast by out-ofcounty voters. The final total showed that 7,107 out of 10,088 registered Swain County voters cast their ballots. That’s a turnout rate of 70.34 percent — the highest in recent memory.

The process did not end there. There was a recount on November 20 to reexamine votes cast in the race for chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court. Under the watch of the Board of Elections and observers from both parties, the final totals were substantially the same as those reported in the prior canvass. There was a more detailed “hand-eye” recount on

gun in public, it is my responsibility to make certain that my head is on a swivel and that my gun is secure enough that someone can’t disarm me and use my gun for nefarious purposes. I am personally liable if I allow my gun to be snatched from my holster and used to shoot someone because I am preoccupied. When we consider illness in this context of autonomy and responsibility, we are responsible for not getting others sick if we are unwell and contagious. If we do get others sick, we should be held liable for doing so.

However, Janet Presson is unwilling to engage in the trade off of personal ideologies and personal responsibilities. She and others have spent their life energy during public comments lately to rail against COVID precautions and mock simple measures that would keep our community safer. And it is one thing for Joe Public to get up during public comments and say whatever is on his mind, but it is quite another for a nurse, a nurse who sits on the Haywood Healthcare Foundation board, to stand up publicly and deny science.

With the power that rests in the hands of Haywood Healthcare Foundation board members, it is important that we have people on the board who rely on data to make decisions. It is obvious that Janet Presson cannot serve in this capacity and needs to be removed from the Haywood Healthcare Foundation board immediately. The well-being of our community depends on it.

(Jesse Lee Dunlap lives in Waynesville, is a harm reduction advocate and works for Down Home NC in Haywood County. queer4jesus@protonmail.com)

December 8 because the margin between the two candidates was razor thin, statewide.

No matter which candidates you were backing and who won or lost, we owe a debt of gratitude to the dozens of Swain County volunteers whose efforts and enthusiasm make the voting system work, year after year, election after election. Thanks, volunteers! It could not have been done without you.

Mary A. Herr Cherokee

I was watched over by angels To the Editor: I wanted to let everyone know what an amazing medical community we are fortunate enough to live in, especially during this Blessed Christmas season of hope.

At 10 p.m. on May 13, 2020, I was ready to go to bed, but my husband, Dick, convinced me to stay up a little longer. He was the first angel that came to my aid. (My doctor said if I had gone to bed, I probably would have died in my sleep.)

After watching television for a few minutes, my husband told me later that when he spoke to me and I didn’t answer, he immediately knew something was wrong and called 911.

My second angels, the EMT personnel, arrived within 10 minutes after the call, because they were already in our area. They asked what hospital I wanted to go to, I could

no longer speak, but nodded my head to go to Haywood Regional Medical Center.

The angels were there in the Emergency Room at Haywood where I was immediately taken for a Cat Scan of the brain. I found out later that they found a massive blood clot in the speech and memory center of my brain.

The clot was too large to be treated with TPA, the clot busting drug, but due to Mission Hospital’s community partnership with Haywood, I was immediately transported to Mission Hospital’s Stroke Center where the greatest surgical team in the world was waiting for me, with Dr. Jonas Goldstein at the helm.

They rushed me into OR at 2 a.m. where they performed a neuro-thrombectomy. That is a surgical procedure where, guided by X-ray technology, they insert a catheter into the aorta and guide it into the area of the brain where the clot is located. The catheter they use for this has small surgical instruments attached to the end of it that are used to remove the clot.

After this procedure, I was in ICU for three days. The first couple of days I was not making much sense verbally and did not realize how grave my situation had been. By the third day I was speaking normally again and was aware of what I had been through. When the neurologist, Dr. Alexander Schneider, came into my room he called me “The Miracle Patient.” I thanked him for going to medical school and he replied with the greatest humility, “No, I’m just a small part of a great team. God is the one to

Cawthorn shows ignorance on current issues band internet across WNC, Cawthorn has advocated for establishing “integrity in our elections” and sanctioned the implementation of voter ID laws in North Carolina. By doing so, he only further fuels a baseless crusade against voter fraud, which has not been proven to be systemic or widespread enough to have affected the outcome of any election, including his own. In addition, Cawthorn also endorsed the frivolous Texas lawsuit filed by Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, to invalidate the presidential election. Such rhetoric from duly elected members of Congress is tantamount to sedition and treason against the republic and is antithetical to the principles of democracy itself.

Existing research from the University of California San Diego found that photo ID laws have a particularly depressive effect on turnout rates among racial minorities and other vulnerable groups, worsening the participation gap between voters of color and whites. By initiating strict voter ID laws, states can alter the electorate and shift outcomes toward those on the right, contributing to Republicans and their national partisan advantage. Meanwhile, voter ID laws continue to be enforced in a discriminatory manner; minority voters disproportionately lack photo identification; nationally, up to 25 percent of African-American citizens of voting age lack government-issued photo identification, compared to only 8 percent of whites. Since Madison Cawthorn and the GOP he so claims to be independent of has been unable to prove widespread voter fraud, perhaps, disenfranchising people of color, such as myself, is his genuine intention?

Nonetheless, even if they could prevent voter fraud, it is imperative to note that state legislatures control such rules for voter ID laws, leaving Madison Cawthorn with a minimal role in creating such legislation even though the GOP-controlled General Assembly is already in support of such a measure.

To be fair, though, most citizens are unaware of the federal government’s complexities and which elected officials would be responsible for such a role. It would seem Congressman-elect Madison Cawthorn is, as well.

(Erick Mendez is from Franklin and is a graduate student at Western Carolina University. emendez1@catamount.wcu.edu)

thank. He is the healer.”

I have been doing exactly that every day of my remarkable recovery. I have no residual problems of any kind. I will continue to pray and thank God for guiding my husband, the hands of all the doctors, nurses, EMT drivers and everyone that was a part of my healing. They are the reason, with God’s

help, I am able to communicate and have maintained my lifetime for memories.

What better time than this season of wonder, hope and new birth to be aware of all the goodness around us and be eternally grateful for the true gifts we have been given.

Maria Morgan Waynesville

Erick Mendez

A

@SmokyMtnNews

FACES

OF

HAYWOOD

“W

e joined the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce just after opening our market in downtown Waynesville. It immediately brought us closer to our neighbors in the county. We met dozens of other local business owners who greeted us with open arms.

Being a part of the Haywood Chamber over the past 18 months of having our market has helped us stay in the know of what’s going on in the county. The events are always great for networking, even when they’re virtual!”

— Richie, Carrie, Kaiden & Landry Griffin

828 Market on Main

Smoky Mountain News

ccording to the U.S. House records, at 25 years old, Madison Cawthorn — who will represent the 11th District and Western North Carolina — will become the youngest elected member of Congress in history. Cawthorn has styled himself as a leader of a new generation of conservatives, unafraid to criticize the Republican Party; however, Cawthorn has adopted President Trump’s tactics, particularly in basing his candidacy on a foundation of lies, only further confirming Cawthorn’s intentions as a sycophant Guest Columnist to Trump’s agenda.

As a native Western North Carolinian and a member of Generation Z, I felt compelled to voice my concerns against the elected congressman representing my hometown nestled in the heart of these Blue Ridge Mountains.

Over the duration of the congressional race between Madison Cawthorn and his Democratic opponent, Moe Davis, Cawthorn repeatedly demonstrated his moral and intellectual deficiencies as a congressional candidate and human being.

When he was not misleading about his rejection from the Naval Academy or trivializing his endorsements by his former colleagues and the president of Patrick Henry College (PHC), only to have alumni of PHC sign an open letter denouncing Cawthorn for the public misrepresentation of his past, and self-admitted academic failings, Cawthorn is prevaricating about his many inappropriate sexual misconduct allegations from his former female colleagues. In only a few short weeks since winning his congressional seat, before he has even sworn the oath of office, Cawthorn has disappointingly demonstrated his focus is not the residents of Western North Carolina (WNC). Instead, it is to inflame the divisions between us further and give credence to President Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud that ultimately undermine American democracy.

Rather than commit to working across the aisle to achieve desperately needed stimulus for our small businesses or push for the fundamental necessity of accessible broad-

828.456.3021 HaywoodChamber.com 17

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A&E

Smoky Mountain News

The day Santa came to Red Fox Loop In search of the Christmas spirit in Appalachia

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER ith a frigid wind pushing across the parking lot of the Clyde Volunteer Fire Department last Saturday afternoon, Santa Claus stood at the base of the World Trade Center memorial in front of the building and paid his respects.

A few passing vehicles on the bustling U.S. 19-23 highway honked in solidarity of the burly man with the perfectly trimmed white beard and flowing red coat — this timeless, symbolic figure representing all that is good, just and possible during the holiday season. Santa would wave to the anonymous faces, his signature smile beaming up and down the road.

One car abruptly slammed its brakes and yanked itself into the parking lot. A young family popped out meet Santa, their little boy in his mask shyly approaching jolly ol’ Saint Nick, only to be greeted by a hearty belly laugh.

“Well, it’s been a rough year for a lot of people, and I just want everyone to be healthy and happy,” said Santa. “For Mrs. Claus and I, we get to see the good in people, which is something we need to share in the world. Love one another — that’s our motto. Just think what a happy world this would be if we all loved one another.”

When Santa and Mrs. Claus aren’t busy at the North Pole, they spend their time bouncing between the mountains of Western North Carolina and the beach. And each year around Thanksgiving, they ride through this region in their trusty Ford Expedition, always radiating that pure sense of the Christmas spirit.

“It’s about bringing some normalcy to all of our families and the children, to bring that happiness and joy — we’re proud to be part of that,” said Mrs. Claus. “We get to meet and talk with people from all walks of life, all social backgrounds — the Christmas spirit crosses all social barriers.”

On Saturday, Santa and Mrs. Claus climbed into a Clyde fire truck and were escorted by a Haywood County sheriff to the Red Fox Loop mobile home park a few miles down the road.

With the help of Piney Grove Methodist Church in Canton and Red Fox manager Verlin Shuler, dozens of presents were handed out to kids in the park.

Rolling along the swift Pigeon River and under a busy interstate overpass, Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive at Red Fox, which is tucked up on a quaint hillside. If you didn’t know it was there, you’d probably drive by it none the wiser. The duo walked the loop around the

W

The Smokey Mountain Santa (left) paid a special visit to the Red Fox Loop mobile home park in Clyde this past weekend. Khloe Leatherwood (right) eagerly awaits Santa. (photos: Garret K. Woodward). park (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in tow, too), the flashing lights of the fire truck and police car following them.

In the small crowd of parents and children gathered near the entrance to the park, one person mentioned how nice it was for once to see the flashing lights of the sheriff in the park for a positive occasion.

“It’s no secret that this park used to be infected with meth, but it’s a lot better than it was,” Shuler said, holding a large box of gift bags to hand to Santa and give out. “We’ve worked real hard to make the park respectable.

I ain’t going to lie, there’s probably still meth in here. I can’t say it’s all gone, I’m no fool. But, the sheriff ’s department has continued to work with us to clean it up — the kids here deserve a fair chance.”

Shuler himself is now the guardian of three young children: ages three, five and seven.

They aren’t Shuler’s, but he stepped in to help raise them while their mother continues to battle a devastating meth addiction.

“Having Santa here today really goes back to my childhood,” Shuler said, a few tears rolling down the well-earned wrinkles on his face. “I was raised in foster care, and a lot of these kids have been sent to foster care. I can relate to these kids when I see them smile being around Santa. And, for me, it makes me feel great to walk this loop and they be hollering my name.”

Sitting on the tailgate of a 4x4 truck, sevenyear-old Khloe Leatherwood had made it just in time for Santa and Mrs. Claus to visit her house. After a day of squirrel hunting with her family, the youngster was overwhelmed by their presence.

“She’s super excited because she hasn’t gotten to see Santa at all. It means so much to lift these children’s spirits,” said Khloe’s mother, Carmon Leatherwood. “It’s been rough for all of us ‘round here. The [kids] have been isolated and haven’t had the best year. It’s such a blessing for Santa, Mrs. Claus and Verlin to do this for these children.”

Words and sentiments so damn common in 2020, seemingly more so for the folks of Red Fox Loop. The cold wind and darkness of winter slowly creeping in for the long haul of the next few months. Handing out toy footballs and sticker books, Santa & Co. continued by each driveway.

“The most important part is to have that caring, loving and sharing of your heart — not just at Christmas, but year-round.”

— Mrs. Claus

Kids in shorts and T-shirts with no shoes running up and down the loop in anticipation of their special guests. Kids dressed in their Sunday’s best emerging from trailers covered in rust spots, the address of the humble abode written crudely in black spray paint next to the front door.

There were adults in wheelchairs in the cold mud, raising their head in gratitude when Santa would move towards them and say hello.

And there was this one little girl, probably no

more than five or six years old. Blasting out the door of a nearby trailer into the crisp December air, she stopped immediately and waited for the signal from her father to get permission to leave the front yard.

The little girl was pretty much running in place she was so eager to see Santa. With his back to her, she waved and yelled for Santa to finally notice her. Mrs. Claus saw the little girl and motioned for Santa to turn around. He did so and she instantly became this beam of light, of hope and optimism.

Her father lit a cigarette and leaned against an old car, nodding his head to the little girl that it was OK to walk over there, but she had to put on her tiny mask first.

With her mask carefully placed, she bolted for Santa. She hugged him. He smiled and handed her a small gift. She thanked him and ran back to her dad finishing up his smoke, the two of them heading back together into the warmth of the trailer.

“The most important part is to have that caring, loving and sharing of your heart — not just at Christmas, but year-round,” said Mrs. Claus.

“That is the spirit and magic of Christmas. It comes from within your heart and your soul.

Seeing the magic in the eyes of others, children of all ages — it’s a wonderful feeling.”

Editor’s Note: Though we here at The Smoky Mountain News aim to respect the anonymity and subtle, sincere magic of Santa & Mrs. Claus as they make their way back to the North Pole, besides wishing all of Western North Carolina a Merry Christmas and happy holiday season, they told us you can reach them by clicking on www.smokeymountainsantawnc.com. Any and all messages will be warmly welcomed.

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

live in a one-bedroom apartment in downtown Waynesville. Been here going on eight and a half years. Aside from my shelves of old books (many already read, most to get to, someday) and vinyl records, there are a handful of old guitars in the corner, of which I’ll pull one or two out around my third beer of the evening, usually strumming some uplifting chords, either through memory or by way of simple curiosity along the fretboard.

I

It ain’t much to look at, but the ole space is warm when I choose to put the heat on.

The fridge works and is usually filled with enough food to get through the impending week. I don’t need much, either. And that’s by choice, where I decided long ago to not want much, not ask for much, but always aim for a better tomorrow, even if today didn’t go as well as I’d planned when I awoke into the unknown morning.

The paycheck I receive every two weeks from this newspaper mostly goes right back out the door to my rent, utilities, truck repairs and college loans (that are now going into the 14th year of repayment).

The Toyota Tacoma outside my door is beat up, with a busted front bumper and in

December 23-29, 2020

There’s too much in this world I can’t seem to shake

buy some groceries to fill the fridge for the impending week.

Christmas is a few days away, but it feels more like a million miles from any semblance of reality for many of us, probably even you, as well, who decided to keep read this far down the page. But, I remain optimistic. My spirits are holding steady.

Take a sip of beer, grab the guitar, strum some uplifting chords, either through memory or by way of simple curiosity along the fretboard.

I hear word this evening of another pandemic stimulus bill passing through Congress. This $600 relief check that will be directly deposited in my bank account sometime in early 2021. Who knows anymore, am I right? That check will cover most of my college loans for February, with, hopefully, a little left over to buy myself a nice steak dinner at the fancy restaurant near Main Street. It’s the little things like that steak dinner that make a face in the crowd feel human again, if but for a moment.

I’m a simple person with a long list of things I want to do. Not own or save up to buy, but “do.” Like that trip to Paris, France: top of this list. Or maybe finally visit my best buddy from college in Sydney, Australia, to see him and his Aussie wife for the first time since that rollicking New Year’s Eve in New York City long ago, right before they left the country to start a family in her native land. I look forward to finally meeting their daughters, rather than images and updates via Facebook or Instagram.

It’s cold tonight, but I know that I can turn the baseboard heaters on if I want to.

And, for that, I consider myself lucky. For there are many who know turning on their heaters isn’t a choice, it’s a hard reality of basic truths about the human condition, and what it means to have to struggle in the face of adversity, in a time when we are supposedly the most advanced and prosperous society in the history of mankind.

I’m a simple person with a long list of things I want to do. And it’s the little things like that steak dinner that make a face in the crowd feel human again, if but for a moment. But, for now, at 2:16 a.m. Tuesday, I’m going to take another sip of beer, grab the guitar, and strum some uplifting chords, either through memory or by way of simple curiosity along the fretboard.

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

arts & entertainment

This must be the place

need of two new back tires. Way overdue for an oil change, too. Winter is coming and for someone who traverses these mountains every day in search of “the story, I’m already putting aside the next check to go straight to the tire shop a few blocks away down Russ Avenue.

It ain’t much, but it’s more than many might have, or hope to have. And I’m wellaware of that. I’m grateful for my lot in life, and I work hard to ensure that lot remains steady underneath my feet, able to hold up the heavy hopes and dreams I’m held onto since I was a kid trying his hardest to leave the North Country and maybe, somewhere down the line, return as the “local boy done good.”

By 2 a.m. most nights I’m wide awake.

I try to fall asleep, but it never seems to work.

My mind races, thinking about nothing and everything, about the past and things I can’t seem to let go, a future of unknowns where you realize that the only thing you can really take hold of in life is how you react in any given situation.

Cold air seeps through the cracks in the window frames of the old house, the heater not needed until the temperature drops another 10 degrees. No sense in turning it on now. Throw on a sweater to keep warm, just like we did as kids back in that 1820 limestone farmhouse surrounded by cornfields on the Canadian Border. Save those pennies and dollars for those lingering college loans, maybe even enough left over one day to repair that front bumper.

Thoughts of those freezing tonight. Faces that maybe didn’t even have dinner, let alone a hearty lunch like I was able to buy earlier today when I felt hungry and had enough in my pocket to ensure the transaction, and to

Smoky Mountain News 19

arts & entertainment

On the street

‘A Decade in Fiber’ exhibition

Metal sculptor Grace Cathey.

December 23-29, 2020

Haywood art studio tour The Haywood County Arts Council invites all Haywood County studio artists to participate in the annual Haywood County Studio Tour scheduled for June 26-27, 2021.

The Haywood County Studio Tour is a two-day, self-guided, free event in which Haywood County artists open their studios to the public.

To participate, the studio must be in Haywood County. Artists may choose to open their Haywood County studio or to join with another studio host. The HCAC will act as a liaison between artists needing a host site and studios that have space for additional artists.

• Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) will host an open mic from 8 to 10 p.m. every Thursday.

Free and open to the public. www.balsamfallsbrewing.com.

• Elevated Mountain Distilling Company will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. www.elevatedmountain.com.

Smoky Mountain News

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends.

Free and open to the public. www.froglevelbrewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host Trailer Hippies Dec. 26 and David Flowers Jan. 16. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. For more information and a complete schedule of events, click on www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host The Waymores Jan. 22. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. For more information and a complete schedule of events, click on www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

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

20 www.nantahalabrewing.com.

The artist/studio application and policies for participation may be found on the Haywood County Arts Council website or picked up from HCAC Gallery & Gifts at 86 North Main Street in Waynesville. Email completed forms to artist@haywoodarts.org or mail to P.O. Box 306, Waynesville, NC 28786.

The deadline for the completed studio tour application is Friday, Feb. 5, 2021.

The Haywood County Studio Tour Exhibit Opening Reception is on Friday, June 4, 2021, if feasible. The HCAC will follow the NC Governor’s mandates regarding COVID. www.haywoodarts.org.

• The “Community Christmas Eve Service of Candlelight and Worship” will be presented by Cowee Baptist Church at 6 p.m.

Dec. 24 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Masks will be required and space is limited. Doors will open 30 minutes prior to the service. This event is free and no tickets are necessary. www.greatmountainmusic.com.

• “Winter Wonderland Nights” will continue through the holiday season in Franklin.

Downtown will feature living window displays of the holidays, live sounds of the season outdoors at the gazebo and inside stores, free holiday attractions (weather permitting), refreshments, hot cider, great sales from local merchants, and much more. www.franklin-chamber.com.

Haywood Community College in Clyde recently wrapped up an exhibition to celebrate graduates in the Professional Crafts Fiber program from the last decade.

Originally envisioned as an in-person show, “A Decade in Fiber” quickly transitioned into a digital format in response to the pandemic. Celebrating graduates from 2009 through 2019, the show brought together the work spanning most of instructor Amy Putansu’s time at the college.

In an article Putansu wrote for “Textile Society of America,” she describes the technical breadth of the work. “Most notable is the range of textile techniques, as well as the mix of functional fabrics, wall art pieces and structural installation,” she explains.

“Objects in this show combine handwovens with resist-dyeing, stitching, quilting, and garment construction.

The students never cease to amaze me in their depth, their integrity, and devotion to the craft.”

To view the digital catalog of the work, visit https://issuu.com/ aputansu/docs/hcc_pro_ crafts_fiber_program.

HCC’s Professional Crafts programs offer an innovative, affordable, groundbreaking craft education. Through a unique blend of studio experience, classroom education and hands-on business experience, students can achieve the skills necessary to become viable independent studio artists or to become valuable, skilled employees in the expanding craft industry.

Registration for spring semester is now open. For more information about registration, visit haywood.edu or email hcc-advising@haywood.edu.

‘Triggerfish’ yardage by Hannah Mitsu Shimabukuro.

ALSO:

• The annual “Polar Express” train ride is now departing from the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad depot in downtown Bryson City. For a complete listing of departure dates and times, call 800.872.4681 or click on www.gsmr.com.

• There will be a free wine tasting from 2 to 5 p.m every Saturday at The Wine Bar & Cellar in Sylva. 828.631.3075.

‘It’s a Small, Small Work’ exhibit The Haywood County Arts Council annual show, “It’s a Small, Small Work,” will be showcased through Jan. 9 at the HCAC Gallery & Gifts in Waynesville.

The 2020 exhibit will feature 47 artists and almost 300 individual works of art for sale. The show provides a unique opportunity for budding artists to exhibit their work, as well as the opportunity for more seasoned artists to test their boundaries.

All pieces submitted are exactly 12” or

smaller in every dimension, including base, matting, and frame. All artwork is for sale, priced at $300 or less, and must have been created in the last two years. Commission will be the gallery’s usual 60 percent (artist) to 40 percent (HCAC) split.

The Haywood County Arts Council’s small work show was launched in 2008 to demonstrate that original artwork is affordable and fun. Most businesses, homes and apartments can accommodate smaller works of art — and the show promotes buying local and regional work to help support artists in Western North Carolina. www.haywoodarts.org or 828.452.0593.

On the shelf

Jeff Minick

Minnesota is a writer and an editor, and her job requires her to keep a sharp eye on the news — but my Haywood County buddy, Anna, reads either books, real newspapers, or book catalogues, and rarely visits the Internet. “So why don’t you look at things online?” I asked her this past week. “Screens

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Smoky Mountain News

annoy me,” she said, “and I recognize it’s too easy for me to waste time that way.”

Screens don’t annoy many of us — that Anna put it this way is one of many reasons I enjoy talking with her — but we can certainly waste a truckload of time looking at them.

At any rate, New Year’s is fast approaching, that time when some of us determine to hit the gym or lose weight — I could stand to do both — and I hereby resolve to read more books.

I’m not particularly good at keeping resolutions. I’ve even broken New Year’s resolutions and Lenten vows within 24 hours of making them, which illustrates that old saw, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” I always start

with good intentions, but sooner rather than later find myself stumbling once again down the path of broken promises.

Once I did discover the willpower to keep such a resolution. Three years ago this month, I vowed to read Will and Ariel Durant’s mammoth 11-Volume The Story of Civilization in one year.

By early December, I closed the final volume and congratulated myself for having climbed Mount Durant.

But I can’t claim all of the credit for that show of resolve. Most likely, publicly posting that resolution on jeffminick.com helped me reach the top of that summit. My fear of failure in the eyes of others motivated me to keep up on climbing.

So here I go again.

No matter what 2021 brings in terms of news — and you can bet the bank it will deliver plenty — I’m going to read a book a month above and beyond the books I will read weekly for review.

Since some other people write reviews here from time to time, this means I should read about 60 books this year.

Some of the books I read on my own time will be new, others old. I’ve already started Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe, for example, and when I finish that novel, I’ll move on to Independent People by Nobel Prize winner Halldor Laxness.

I’ll also read contemporary novels, biographies, and histories.

Starting today, I’ll pour a cup of tea, sit in a chair with a book in my hand, and reacquire a lost habit.

We’ll see how this resolution pans out.

Goal for next week: A review of Banjo Man by June Titus and 100 pages of Ivanhoe.

(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)

STRAND

December 23-29, 2020

arper Lee of To Kill A Mockingbird fame once wrote, “Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved reading.

One does not love breathing.”

Which is how I’ve felt since I first learned to read more than 60 years ago. Reading books was as natural eating or sleeping for me. On various applications I filled out in my younger days, under hobbies I listed reading until I one day I realized the error of my ways.

Collecting stamps or building model ships were hobbies, but Writer reading for me belonged in a nameless category all its own.

Even in the busiest time of my life, when I was operating two businesses in Waynesville, one of which was a bookstore, and when I was teaching adult basic education to prisoners in Hazelwood, homeschooling my children, and scrambling like a maniac to pay debts and bills, I found time for books. I’d snatch a few moments from the daily whirl and take in some pages from Shelby Foote’s magnificent The Civil War: A Narrative, or drink in the latest Anne Tyler novel, or bring John Gardner’s Mickelsson’s Ghosts to bed with me.

In the last year or so, however, my lifelong love affair with books has taken a dive.

Oh, I still read, but now, like so many Americans, I find myself swept up by online news and commentary about the coronavirus, the bitter divisions in our country, and the presidential elections. Books read for pleasure or instruction have taken a backseat to the ephemera and distractions of the Internet.

Time for a change.

What first inspired my shift in navigation was a conversation with a New York friend who works as an editor. While we were talking, she lamented her neglect of books, claiming the national news had eroded her former engagement with novels and works of history. Her words acted as a mirror for me, for like her I had pushed books aside and was spending several hours a day skimming through articles about the here and now on my computer.

This realization brought to mind four friends with whom I’ve had recent conversations, two in North Carolina, one in Virginia, and the last in Minnesota, who remain inveterate readers of books. When we speak by phone or in person, they bring up authors and titles that have captured their interest and imagination, and then ask me what’s on my reading list. I usually mention some book I’m reading for review, but rare is the book read for my own enjoyment.

Of these friends, three do spend time online every day — the woman in

AT THE

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blessing.” Before receiving it, she had no idea how she’d ever afford such an expensive bike.

A friend of the family offered to cover the cost of a 14-passenger van that she’ll use as a support vehicle for the trip, and another friend will travel with her to watch out for her left side, as Bradley’s vision isn’t very good there. Still another will bike it with her. An out-of-state veteran she connected with who is also in a wheelchair will go with her as well, as will her daughter, now 9, who attends an online charter school. Her service dog Amilyah will come along, and her personal aid will drive the van.

Thanks to a wrong turn that Bradley believes was in fact meant to be, she ended up meeting a man who makes his living working with paracyclers all over the world. He adapted her bike to fit her particular needs and wants to offer mechanical support for the trip itself, though she must raise money to fund his services.

“That was supposed to have been a wrong turn, but it wasn’t,” she said. “It’s like things are manifesting along the way, things that don’t make sense.”

The handcycle allows Bradley, whose legs are paralyzed, to power the bike with her arms. Donated photos

Trail of Love Despite paralysis, EBCI member will cycle Remember the Removal

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER aranda Bradley knows exactly what her 2015 self would say if she knew what the 2020 version was up to now. “‘You’re crazy. You’re in a wheelchair. You can’t even hold your bowels.’ That’s what I would say at this point,” said Bradley.

In the summer of 2015, Bradley, now 36, was in a devastating car accident. Her aunt was driving, she was in the passenger seat and her then-3-year-old daughter Kristin was in the back seat — on the driver’s side, thankfully. They got t-boned on the passenger side, and a spinal cord injury left Bradley’s legs paralyzed.

That medical history might make Bradley an unlikely candidate to complete the 950mile Remember the Removal bicycle route that her fellow Cherokee tribal members make each June to commemorate the tragic Trail of Tears. But in 2021, that’s exactly what Bradley plans to do, just in September rather than June. The weather will be cooler then,

M

and September also happens to be National Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month.

“I feel that God wants me to do this — as a Cherokee woman, as somebody in a wheelchair, as someone who was not supposed to live,” said Bradley. “I died twice. It’s just saying, ‘Hey, God can do anything through me.’ I want to change the face of what disability looks like.”

PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER The idea came to her in April 2018 when she attended the Cherokee Choices Stress & Healing Arts Retreat. The Remember the Removal riders were there, talking about their experiences and urging attendees to think about going themselves. Their stories ignited Bradley’s imagination, but as a woman in a wheelchair, it seemed like an impossible dream.

“And then it came to me,” she said. “Hey, do it on a handcycle.”

At that point, Bradley had never tried a handcycle before. In fact, it had been more than two decades since she’d done much in the way of physical exercise at all. She’d loved playing basketball as a kid, but that stopped around the time she turned 12. It was a traumatic year for Bradley — she was diagnosed

Fuel the ride Maranda Bradley needs help funding her attempt to handcycle the 950-mile Remember the Removal route next year. She is hoping to raise $20,000 to defray the cost of the trip. Donate online at www.gofundme.com/f/21lb3e4hio.

with scoliosis and she injured her knee, spurring years of physical therapy. But the deeper wound of that year was her dad’s decision to leave the family.

“It was a real rough time,” said Bradley. “A lot of my mental health declined because of that, and then I grew up just out there, doing whatever I wanted to do, not caring about nobody, not even myself. Now, being a mother, I want different for my own child.”

Bradley believes the bicycle trip to be a calling from God, and since receiving that calling in 2018, she’s watched the logistics fall into place. Meanwhile, she’s been working hard to get her body fit and healthy for the journey.

At the time of the accident, Bradley weighed about 330 pounds. Now, she’s down to 215, and counting. It’s a constant effort to stay true to her workout schedule and her diet, resisting the ever-present temptation to fill her stomach with empty calories. In terms of diet, the pandemic put her in a downward spiral — she kept doing her workouts, but had a hard time keeping her diet healthy.

“The biggest thing is putting my body in the mission against wanting to eat sweets, wanting to eat the bad stuff,” she said.

Throughout all this, though, unresolved questions remained surrounding how she’d find a bike and who would go with her on the journey. This year, those questions have received an onslaught of answers.

Bradley found the perfect bike at an adaptive sports store in Greenville — it’s high enough that she can transfer herself between bike and wheelchair, and it’s got a motor to help her up the hills — and this summer she received an Easterseals UCP Healthy Living Grant from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services that covered the entire $5,800 price tag. She called the grant a “God

STEP BY STEP That’s not to say there haven’t been setbacks. Bradley’s training took a hit this year when a pair of injuries kept her in a boot for the entire summer. On May 21, she fractured her leg in two places when nerve spasms caused it to fall off the footplate of her wheelchair and smack into the door. At the end of August, another spasm caused her to chip a bone in the other ankle. Now she has straps on the chair to keep that from happening again, but the injuries kept her in a boot from May through October. She didn’t get to ride much this summer.

“That put me really far back,” she said. “I couldn’t stand on my standing frame, and I was getting used to doing that at least two or three times a week. Now I’m doing it every day.”

The standing frame is important for Bradley to build strength and bone density — sitting all the time can make the bones weak and brittle.

The cold weather has also challenged Bradley’s progress. She can’t bike much during the winter, but when the weather’s nice, she gets out and rides, for now mostly just up and down her driveway repeatedly, an hour or more at a time.

It’s hard to say what September will bring.

Nobody has ever done the Remember the Removal route on a handcycle before, and while Bradley is resolved to do as much of the 950-mile route as possible, planning for 50mile days, she knows she’ll have to skip at least some sections. Some will be too hilly, and others will be on roads too dangerous for her particular set-up.

But Bradley is going with the full endorsement of her tribe, which has provided her with maps to navigate her journey and a network of people and organ-

A six-week winter sports program aimed at women who learn better with female instructors will be offered on Wednesdays from Jan. 13 through Feb. 17 at Cataloochee Ski Area in Maggie Valley.

Women on Wednesdays will begin each week with a two-hour clinic starting at 10 a.m., with the opportunity to practice afterward through 4:30 p.m.

Cost is $110 for lessons only, with an option to pay an additional $60 for a lift ticket and $40 for equipment rental. Sign up at www.cataloochee.com or contact 828.926.0285 or info@cataloochee.com with questions.

Bradley shares a moment with her daughter Kristin and Lita, one of the family’s three dogs.

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Her favorite verse is the oft-quoted Philippians 4:13 — “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It’s been her mantra, and she plans to continue living by those words once she returns home.

Bradley wants to be a voice for the voiceless, and particularly for Cherokee people with disabilities.

There’s an acute need for more local adaptive services and facilities, she said — without them, people are living isolated lives devoid of the community and stimulation they need to thrive.

“Nobody thinks about what I have to go through,” said Bradley. “It’s hard, living from a wheelchair, not being able to walk, and having to have an aid to go with me and drive me places.”

Her new, healthier lifestyle has given her a whole new lease on life. She wants to see the tribe and the region expand infrastructure and opportunities for people with mobility challenges, and she wants to show people with those challenges that it’s still possible to hope.

“From my experience, your faith and what you believe in plays a big role in your body, what you put in your mind,” she said.

“If you’re always thinking negative thoughts, that’s where your body will go.

But if you think higher thoughts — ‘I will walk today. I will do great today’ — you will go far.”

The 2015 version of Bradley might think the 2020 version is nuts, but that’s OK. Bradley knows that the best version of herself lies ahead, not behind.

“I’ve come so far, but I don’t want to look back,” she said, “and I don’t want to go backward.”

Apply in person or e-mail your resume to Chris@ThePrintHaus.com

Smoky Mountain News

izations to help her along the way. She’s also received permission to use the tribal seal on the T-shirts she’s printing for her supporters.

Instead of the Trail of Tears, she’s calling it the “Trail of Love.”

“I want to do this as remembering our ancestors, but I also want to bring the love of God to it,” she said. “To show God is in the middle of your pandemic, your bad lifestyle choices, your whatever.”

• • • • •

December 23-29, 2020

Maranda Bradley’s service dog Amilyah will join her for the ride next fall.

WAYNESVILLE TIRE, INC.

outdoors

Cataloochee offers program for women

23

Spend the summer at Tremont outdoors

Registration is now open for 2021 summer and adult programs at the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont.

Tremont hosts a range of outdoor programs designed for all ages to live and learn in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The 2021 program schedule features summer camps for kids and teens, family camp, professional development for teachers, photography workshops, hiking and backpacking weeks, naturalist programs, wilderness emergency medical courses and more. Programs typically last three to 10 days.

In 2020, Tremont cancelled many spring and summer programs due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, with new safety procedures in place, Tremont has been successfully hosting adult field programs this fall and plans to use these precautions and procedures for 2021 programs.

Check out the offerings at www.gsmit.org/program/calendar.

a website to take you to places where there are no websites.

Smoky Mountain News

December 23-29, 2020

Log on. Plan a getaway.

Let yourself unplug.

24

Teens explore the mountains during a summer adventure camp. Tremont photo

Get the scoop on Island Park Learn about efforts to restore Bryson City’s Island Park with an online presentation at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12.

Tony Ward, Western Region Program Coordinator for MountainTrue, will discuss his role in the project, which is a partnership between Bryson City, the Tuckasegee River Alliance and MountainTrue.

Ward will cover his plan to manage the nonnative invasive plant species that currently overrun the island through socially distanced, small group workdays. Descriptions of the plants they are looking to control as well as the short-term and long-term techniques the project is using to control nonnative species will be provided.

Sign up at www.mountaintrue.org/event.

Donated photo

Parking lot project concludes at Chimney Rock was left of the old retaining wall.

Once the space was cleared, contractor GLF Construction Corporation laid 400 linear feet of 24-36-inch pipe and added seven new storm drains. More than 900 dump truck loads brought in nearly 18,000 tons of gravel to rebuild the parking area, and pavers laid 1,400 tons of asphalt. A new 670-foot retaining wall was built using 1,600 interlocking blocks with a cobblestone finish. The wall is 40 feet high at its highest point.

Tour the Southern Highlands Reserve Tickets are now available for visitor days in 2021 at the Southern Highlands Reserve in Lake Toxaway.

This year, many tours sold out long before their dates, so buying in advance is the best bet.

Private tours are also available for those seeking a personalized experience.

Find out more at www.southernhighlandsreserve.org.

Join the Christmas Bird Count

Each individual count takes place in a 15-mile-wide circle and is led by a compiler responsible for safely organizing volunteers and submitting observations directly to Audubon. Within each circle, participants tally all birds seen or heard that day — not just the species, but also total numbers to provide a clear idea of the health of that particular population. Masks and social distancing are mandatory.

To learn more or find a local circle, visit www.audubon.org/conservation/science/c hristmas-bird-count.

Environmental Justice grant available A grant opportunity from the National Environmental Health Partnership Council is open through Jan. 8.

Three community-based organizations will be awarded grants of up to $10,000 apiece. The project aims to provide technical assistance to organizations that work to address environmental injustices.

Learn more at https://www.apha.org//media/files/pdf/topics/environment/partners/nehpc/nehpc_ejta_rfa.ashx

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Smoky Mountain News

While some local counts were canceled this year due to COVID-19, many community scientists from across the hemisphere will participate in the 121st annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count.

Through Jan. 5, bird lovers will participate in counts while observing COVID-19 guidelines. The 12 decades’ worth of data collected by participants continue to contribute to one of only two large existing pools of information notifying ornithologists and conservation biologists about what conservation action is required to protect birds and the places they need. When combined with other surveys such as the Breeding Bird Survey, the Audubon CBC provides a picture of how bird populations have changed in time and space over the past hundred years in North Carolina and across the continent.

A new round of winners has been announced for the annual EcoForester Awards, honoring the people and organizations that are making a difference in forestry around the region. n Lee Hensley of the Asheville Watershed Management Team won the 2020 Root Cause Award for working to steward the 20,000-acre watershed that benefits the entire community.

Clean and abundant water is a result of careful planning and wise forest stewardship. n Mark Megalos, a forestry professional with N.C. State Cooperative Extension, received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his 34 years as a leader in North Carolina forestry. A professor in the N.C. State College of Natural Resources, Megalos’ skills in conservation planning and dedication to landowner education earned him this award. n Teresa and Bruce Pittillo received the 2020

EcoForester of the Year Award for demonstrating ecologically beneficial forestry on their land. Proactive forestry, forest stewardship planning and invasive species control efforts are all in use on their property.

EcoForesters is a nonprofit forest management group in Asheville whose mission is to conserve and restore Appalachian forests through education and stewardship.

Each year, award winners are chosen who exemplify Mark Megalos won the EcoForesters’ Lifetime Achievement mission and Award in honor of his 34 approach to years in forestry. forest stewardDonated photo ship.

December 23-29, 2020

A 10-month-long construction project to restore a retaining wall and expand a parking lot washed out during heavy rains in 2017 and 2018 is now complete at Chimney Rock State Park in Rutherford County.

Prior to the project’s conclusion, guests had to be shuttled up the mountain rather than parking there themselves. The $2.98 million project involved digging down 26 feet and removing 24,300 cubic yards of dirt, rock and debris from the foundation of the original retaining wall, as well as what

Awards honor sustainable forestry

outdoors

After 10 months of construction and nearly $3 million, a new parking lot and retaining wall is complete at Chimney Rock.

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December 23-29, 2020

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to continue to make memories and enjoy Inland fishing and hunting license sales the outdoors for years to come.” have skyrocketed in 2020, with a 23 percent increase in licenses sold since stayHunters and anglers at-home orders should wear blaze orange were lifted in when heading out to the May. woods. Missy McGaw/NCWRC photo Christmas Eve and Christmas Day have traditionally been some of the year’s highest-traffic hunting days, so with more people likely to be in the woods this year, law enforcement officers at the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission are urging caution.

“There is a tendency to become complacent about safety when hunting and fishing with friends and family,” said Capt.

Branden Jones of the agency’s Law Enforcement Check out a full list of safety tips at Division. “As you spend time bonding over www.ncwildlife.org/hunting/lawsthese activities, don’t forget to keep safety safety/home-from-the-hunt. as your number one priority. We want you

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Nantahala Outdoor Center will offer its much-loved Guide School in 2021, and students can receive 25 percent off when they register by Jan. 1.

Lasting four to five days, these sessions offer top-notch training in the skills needed to pursue work as a professional raft guide for commercial outfitters, summer camps, clubs and outdoor schools. Participants will learn to read whitewater, use river signals, maneuver and rig rafts, tie knots, work with guests and perform other basic river operations.

Dates are Feb. 28 to March 6, March 7-13, March 14-20, March 19-21 and 26-28, March 2127, March 28 to April 3, April 4-10, April 9-11 and 16-18, April 11-17 and May 9-15.

Students must be 18 years or older. Course cost is $475. Register at www.noc.com/lessonstraining/paddling-school/raft-guide-school.

Smoky Mountain News

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

26

Puzzles can be found on page 30 These are only the answers.

New bike trails coming to Wilson Creek A project that will add 10 additional miles of mountain biking and hiking trails to the Wilson Creek Area in Caldwell and Avery counties has been approved by the Pisgah National Forest’s Grandfather Ranger District.

This five-year effort began in 2015 when the Grandfather Ranger District began a partnership with local mountain bike users and volunteers — and in particular the Northwest North Carolina Mountain Bike Alliance — to improve maintenance of the Wilson Creek Trails. Under this partnership, users saw restoration of some of their favorite area trails, including Woodruff

Ridge and the “21 Jumps” section of the Wilson Ridge Trail.

Work began to formally assess needs for changes to the current trail systems, and greater connectivity for the area’s mountain biking trails was identified as a need — hence the recently approved project.

Work will begin this winter to construct new sections of trail on Yancey Ridge, Schoolhouse Ridge and Jackson Knob Trails. This work is funded through a Santa Cruz Bicycles PayDirt Grant awarded to the Northwest N.C. Mountain Bike Alliance and an N.C. Recreation and Trails Program Grant awarded to the Grandfather District. Additional work will take place on surrounding Forest Service roads through a partnership with Trout Unlimited.

WNC Calendar COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • The Jackson County Public Library, The Department on Aging, and The Department of Social Services are collecting new blankets for people in need. New hats, scarves, and gloves can also be donated. Items can be dropped off at Jackson County Public Library's Atrium, the Jackson County Department of Aging's front desk and the front desk of The Department of Social Services. Items should be new and in their packaging.

Blankets and other items will be available for those in need through January 15 at the three locations listed above. For more information, call the library at 828.586.2016. The Jackson County Public Library is a member of Fontana Regional Library (www.fontanalib.org).

• On Monday, Jan. 18, 2021, the Jackson County NC chapter of the NAACP, along with Reconcile Sylva, Down Home NC, Change NC and Indivisible Common Ground WNC will be co-sponsoring a march and rally honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The rally will take place at Bridge Park, in Sylva, starting at 2 p.m. All are invited to attend, masked and following safe distancing. Hand signs only (no sticks) and for safety reasons, no dogs.

For more information, contact Lianna Costantino at 828.331.8688.

KIDS & FAMILIES • Cataloochee Ski Area will continue to offer its Afterschool Ski & Ride Program in 2021, using a sevenweek format that will begin the week of Jan. 5. Cost is $110 for lesson only, $130 for a lift ticket and $50 for equipment rental. Space is limited, and sign-ups end Jan. 2. Learn more or sign up at cataloochee.com/programs/afterschool-programs.

POLITICAL CORNER • The January meeting for the Swain County Democratic Party Whittier-Cherokee precinct will be held at 6 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 12 via Zoom. The agenda will include discussing new officers and plans for 2021. For more info or to request a link, call 828.497.9498.

A&E

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host Trailer Hippies Dec. 26 and David Flowers Jan. 16. All shows begin at 7 p.m. For more information and a complete schedule of events, click on www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host The Waymores Jan. 22. All shows begin at 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. For more information and a complete schedule of events, click on www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

HOLIDAY EVENTS • The annual “Polar Express” train ride is now departing from the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad depot in downtown Bryson City. For a complete listing of departure dates and times, call 800.872.4681 or click on www.gsmr.com.

• The “Community Christmas Eve Service of Candlelight and Worship” will be presented by Cowee Baptist Church at 6 p.m. Dec. 24 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

Masks will be required and space is limited. Doors will open 30 minutes prior to the service. This event is free and no tickets are necessary. www.greatmountainmusic.com.

n All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted. n To have your item listed email to calendar@smokymountainnews.com • The annual “Handmade Holiday Sale,” which is normally held at Western Carolina University, will have its event go virtual this year. Those interested can view and purchase the handmade items by clicking on arts.wcu.edu/handmade.

• “Winter Wonderland Nights” will continue through the holiday season in Franklin. Downtown will feature living window displays of the holidays, live sounds of the season outdoors at the gazebo and inside stores, free holiday attractions (weather permitting), refreshments, hot cider, great sales from local merchants, and much more. www.franklin-chamber.com.

• First United Methodist Church in Sylva will be holding online Christmas worship services. "Lessons and Carols,” the Christmas story told through song and scripture will begin Monday, Dec. 21. Christmas Eve Candlelight service will be broadcast live at 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 24. Broadcasts can be found at www.youtube.com/sylvafirstunitedmethodistchurch or www.sylvafumc.org. For more information contact the church office at 828/586-2358.

ART SHOWINGS AND GALLERIES • The Haywood County Arts Council annual show, “It’s a Small, Small Work,” will be showcased through Jan. 9 at the HCAC Gallery & Gifts in Waynesville.

• A display of 50 powerful paintings showcasing the most remote and wild corners of the Canadian Arctic is on display through Jan. 3 at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville. Entrance to the exhibit is free with the arboretum’s standard $16 parking fee. Face coverings are required for visitors age 5 and older.

• The Haywood County Arts Council invites all Haywood County studio artists to participate in the annual Haywood County Studio Tour scheduled for June 26-27, 2021. The artist/studio application and policies for participation may be found on the HCAC website or picked up from HCAC Gallery & Gifts at 86 North Main Street in Waynesville. Email completed forms to artist@haywoodarts.org or mail to P.O. Box 306, Waynesville, NC 28786. The deadline for the completed studio tour application is Friday, Feb. 5, 2021. The Haywood County Studio Tour Exhibit Opening Reception is on Friday, June 4, 2021, if feasible. The HCAC will follow the NC Governor’s mandates regarding COVID. For more information visit the Haywood County Arts Council website at www.haywoodarts.org.

Outdoors

• While some local counts were canceled this year due to COVID-19, many community scientists from across the hemisphere will participate in the 121st annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. Between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5, bird lovers will participate in counts while observing COVID-19 guidelines. To learn more or find a local circle, visit www.audubon.org/conservation/science/christmas-bird-count.

• Learn about efforts to restore Bryson City’s Island Park with an online presentation at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12. Tony Ward, Western Region Program Coordinator for MountainTrue, will discuss his role in the project, which

Smoky Mountain News

is a partnership between Bryson City, the Tuckaseegee River Alliance and MountainTrue. Sign up at mountaintrue.org/event.

• A six-week winter sports program aimed at women who learn better with female instructors will be offered on Wednesdays from Jan. 13 through Feb. 17 at Cataloochee Ski Area in Maggie Valley. Women on Wednesdays will begin each week with a two-hour clinic starting at 10 a.m., with the opportunity to practice afterward through 4:30 p.m. Cost is $110 for lessons only, with an option to pay an additional $60 for a lift ticket and $40 for equipment rental. Sign up at www.cataloochee.com or contact 828.926.0285 or info@cataloochee.com with questions.

• The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy has issued a challenge to complete its 60 miles in 60 days Virtual Hiking Challenge, kicking off New Year’s Day. To complete the challenge, participants must walk, run or hike 60 miles by March 1. Registration ends Feb. 1, but earlier registration means more time to log the miles. The basic cost to join is $25, with Level 2 registration priced at $50 and Level 3 registration at $100.

All proceeds help support SAHC’s ongoing land and water conservation efforts. Sign up at appalachian.org/event/sahcs-winter-hiking-challenge60-miles-in-60-days/ • Jackson County’s annual Run in 2021 5K will be held in a virtual format this year. The virtual race begins at 6 a.m. Friday, Jan. 1. Participants can run or walk 5 kilometers anywhere they please, submitting results by noon Jan. 3. T-shirts can be picked up between Dec. 30 and Jan. 9, with mailing available as well. Cost is $20.

Register at www.runsignup.com.

27

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

Complete listings of local music scene Regional festivals Art gallery events and openings Complete listings of recreational offerings at health and fitness centers n Civic and social club gatherings • The Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference, typically held each year in Savannah, Georgia, will be offered virtually this year Jan. 5-7. For more information, visit www.seregionalconference.org.

• Cataloochee Ski Area will continue to offer its Afterschool Ski & Ride Program in 2021, using a sevenweek format that will begin the week of Jan. 5. Cost is $110 for lesson only, $130 for a lift ticket and $50 for equipment rental. Space is limited, and sign-ups end Jan. 2. Learn more or sign up at cataloochee.com/programs/afterschool-programs.

• A series of horticulture classes aimed at home gardeners will be offered in the New Year through Haywood County Cooperative Extension. Planned sessions are: Jan. 19, Vegetable Gardening; Feb. 17, Lawn & Weeds; March 2, Introduction to Home Food Preservation; March 18, Landscaping with Native Plants; April 13, Pruning Trees & Shrubs. Classes, taught by extension agents and experienced Master Gardener volunteers, will last for approximately two hours and be held via Zoom until face-to-face training is possible. Sign up by emailing mgarticles@charter.net. Cost is $10 per class.

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29

SUPER

CROSSWORD

POP TRIOS ACROSS 1 Dreamworld 9 Pa 12 Incline 16 Big -- whale 19 Person copying another 20 Straight-ahead view 22 Dandy sort 23 "That raving guy is lying!"? [1958, 1999, 1983] 25 Regret a lot 26 Mythical ship 27 Plane-related 28 Compass dir.

29 Growing field 30 Franklin brought a certain continent's nations back together? [1972, 1979, 1983] 36 Very reactive element 40 Actor Ely 41 Inflexible 42 Assist an unwise fugitive?

[1965, 2002, 1961] 49 Like cold fish 50 Muscular jerk 51 Organic compound 52 Castle encirclers 56 Join others in the attack 59 Poetic foot 61 -- long way 62 Effortless progress with zero snags? [2017, 1999, 1980] 69 Certain scroll key on PC 70 -- Dhabi (emirate) 71 Mr. -- ("Fantasy Island" host) 72 Kings and queens hold agave liquor dear? [2013,

79 80 81 82 85 87 88 93

98 101 102 103

110 111 112 113 117 118

124 125 126 127 128 129 130

1966, 1958] High peak Revered sort Directs Cantata kin Dirt clump Ph.D. or MBA Allergic reaction?

City's main business section during a tornado?

[1982, 1967, 1965] The Everly Brothers' "-Clown" Bovine cry Old Fords Rigg made Rooney go "Wow!"? [1957, 2000, 1982] Many a seized car Honest prez Revered sort Messy stack Bitter brew This puzzle's long answers each consist of three of these Actor Gulager Extolling Analgesics "Keystone" lawman Move upward Heckling cry Fresh beginning

DOWN 1 Mother of Helen of Troy 2 Love deity 3 Chest organ 4 Choir voice 5 Test facility 6 Gobbled up 7 Actor Lloyd

8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 21 24 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 43 44 45 46 47 48 53 54 55 56 57 58 60 62 63 64 65

Less sweet, as wine Gobbles up In-favor vote JFK, e.g.

High-strung Vine-covered Grassy area Mom's skill, in brief Fright-filled Wellspring Epithet for Tarzan Most recent Before Sorbet alternative, for short Shine up Broody rock genre Japanese dance-drama Concerning "So cute!"

Beer bubbles "-- -ching!"

Slim fish -- -Blo fuse NYSE debut Of ears Jaunty tune Frosts Modular part Ark-itect?

Charity Katy Perry's "I Kissed --" Toy truck maker Wise guy Cola biggie Actor Epps of "Shooter" "Ora pro --" ("Pray for us") Root beer brand Filmmaker Pier -- Pasolini Nile's home Stephen of "Ondine" Suffix with play or faith

66 67 68 69 73 74 75 76 77 78 83 84 86 88 89 90 91 92 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 104 105 106 107 108 109 113 114 115 116 118 119 120 121 122 123

Kick out Debt slip Chou En- -Soho stroller Roman 350 Consecrated Sufficient, in poetry Lamarr of "Comrade X" Ticked (off) Accordingly Prefix with botany or biology "-- Little Tenderness" Lightest coin Actor Griffith Dol. parts Farming tool Barn percher Slip- -- (mules, e.g.)

D.C.'s land Silent "OK" Santo -Diminutive Audiophile's storage item Danny of "Ruby" Wrap, as a weak wrist Papas' partners Activist Hoffman Final letters Chemical suffix "Over There" composer Kevin of "Silverado" Pitcher -- Wilhelm Central Sicilian city Golden -- (senior) "Hey ... over this way!"

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December 23-29, 2020

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Smoky Mountain News December 23-29, 2020