Smoky Mountain News | December 25, 2019

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

December 25-31, 2019 Vol. 21 Iss. 30

Meadows announces retirement, 18 seek his seat Page 3 Animal shelter funding approved in Jackson Page 9

From Our Family To Yours,

CONTENTS On the Cover: Nonprofits, churches and individuals work toward filling the hunger gap in Haywood County through a free pantry in Maggie Valley and packaging 11,000 meals for homeless students. (Page 6) Volunteers help package 11,000 meals to feed food insecure students in Haywood County. Jessi Stone photo

News Meadows announces retirement, 18 seek his seat ..................................................3 WNC congressmen oppose Trump impeachment ..................................................4 Jackson approves $700K for new voting machines ................................................5 Animal shelter funding approved in Jackson ..............................................................9 Jackson discusses solutions to slow internet ..........................................................10 Cashiers rep fails to attend Cashiers meeting ........................................................11 WCU student translates Cherokee language ..........................................................12 Nantahala foundation awards grants ..........................................................................13 Community Almanac ........................................................................................................15

Opinion Parks should not depend on fees ................................................................................16

A&E Nocturnal Brewing offers fine ales in Hayesville ....................................................20

Outdoors National parks battle invasion ........................................................................................28

The Naturalist’s Corner

Smoky Mountain News

December 25-31, 2019

Hello solstice my old friend ............................................................................................39

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Rep. Mark Meadows announces P retirement, 18 seek his seat

tion of life and reining in Washington. It has been an honor to call him a friend and I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.”

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national prominence as a widely televised champion of conservative values and the chair of the House Freedom Caucus.

“This was a decision I struggled with greatly,” he continued. “These last eight years, I have been so blessed to serve the people of NC-11 and help give a voice to millions of Americans who feel Washington, D.C., has forgotten them.”

Once Trump took office in January 2017, Meadows’ staunch support of the president earned him even greater influence, but even more scorn from the left.

“Since serving alongside President Trump, I have been a witness to historic economic prosperity, unemployment levels I only dreamed of when I took office, tax and regulatory reforms that are putting the American worker first, our Israeli embassy moved to Jerusalem, and trade deals that were once thought impossible,” he said. “I have seen our law enforcement and first responders receive the support they deserve and our military once again put on a path to maintain its superiority. Through it all, I am so thankful to have been able to serve and give back to the great country I call home.”

It’s that support of the president that may have played a role in Meadows’ departure; even though his district was redrawn with far

less partisan advantage than it had before, he still would have likely defeated all comers had he decided to run. Such a victory would have left him poised to compete for the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Richard Burr. Rather than sit on the sidelines for two years awaiting that chance, all speculation points to Meadows taking some sort of position in the Trump administration.

“My work with President Trump and his administration is only beginning,” Meadows said at the conclusion of his statement. “This President has accomplished incredible results for the country in just three years, and I’m fully committed to staying in the fight with him and his team to build on those successes and deliver on his promises for the years to come. I’ve always said Congress is a temporary job, but the fight to return Washington, D.C., to its rightful owner, We The People, has only just begun.”

North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley released a statement shortly after Meadows’ announcement, praising the popular incumbent.

“Mark Meadows has been an incredible representative for Western North Carolina,” said Whatley. “He has stood strongly in support of the President with an unmatched tenacity for the Second Amendment, preserva-

Smoky Mountain News

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER anta Claus was especially good to Western North Carolina Democrats this year, delivering from his sack one big item on their wish list, and stuffing their stocking with another gift that wasn’t expected, but was met with great appreciation.

First, on Dec. 18, members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump for abusing his power and obstructing Congress. While that’s not likely to lead to any changes in the Oval Office, it is viewed as an historic stain on the presidency afforded only two other men in history.

Perhaps more consequential for Dems was a surprise announcement made by Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, just hours after he spoke and voted at the impeachment hearing the day before.

“For everything there is a season,” Meadows said in a statement Dec. 19. “After prayerful consideration and discussion with family, today I’m announcing that my time serving Western North Carolina in Congress will come to a close at the end of this term.”

In his four terms as North Carolina’s westernmost congressman, Meadows dominated his gerrymandered district and grew to

December 25-31, 2019

Western North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows is calling it a career in Congress, for now. Cory Vaillancourt photo

erhaps the best indicator of Meadows’ influence on and legacy in his district is the sheer number of candidates who are lining up to replace him.

When the filing period for North Carolina candidates closed on Friday, Dec. 20, at noon, 11 Republicans had signed up to succeed him. The first announcement came from Haywood County realtor Lynda Bennett, a longtime party activist and Tea Party enthusiast. Bennett had purchased the domain for her website on Oct. 28, long before Meadows announced his decision.

Bennett was followed shortly thereafter

by Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin. Davis, a fiveterm state senator, announced earlier this year that he wouldn’t seek reelection to that seat, but Meadows’ departure apparently presented an opportunity he couldn’t resist.

Biltmore Park Republican Chuck Archerd is also in; he lost a race for Buncombe County Commission Chairman in 2016 and then ran against Meadows in the 2018 Republican Primary Election, saying it was a precautionary move in the event that Meadows took a position in the Trump administration – he’d been mentioned as a potential chief of staff.

Archerd pulled 13.7 percent of the vote in that race, a race he said he hoped he’d lose.

Meadows’ Senior Advisor Wayne King also threw his hat in the ring, setting off speculation that he might have Meadows’ implicit or explicit backing.

Democrats, on the other hand, are also lining up to replace Meadows. Some, like Pisgah Forest resident and 2018 candidate Steve Woodsmall, have been in the race since before the maps were redrawn, and before Meadows announced his retirement. Michael O’Shea, of Mills River, also filed before the map change and Meadows’ announcement.

Fellow 2018 Dem candidate Phillip Price — who beat Woodsmall and another Dem in that primary — had endorsed O’Shea on the night of Dec. 18, but after Meadows made his intentions known on Dec. 19, Price went ahead and filed to run again anyway.

Kings Mountain attorney Gina Collias also filed for the race, along with Moe Davis, a retired Air Force attorney who is probably best known for his caustic and constant haranguing of both Meadows and Trump on social media.

Additionally, the race will feature two third-party candidates, Franklin resident Tamara Zwinak (Green Party) and Asheville Libertarian Tracey DeBruhl, who in 2018 was arrested for stalking while also running for Buncombe County Sheriff.

The Primary Election will be held on Tuesday, March 3. According to Ballotpedia.com, “Winners in North Carolina primary contests must win by at least 30 percent of the vote plus one. If no candidate reaches this total, a runoff election is held.”

Voter registration for the 2020 Primary Election, which also includes the presidential preference primary, ends on Feb. 7. For more information on candidates, contests and other important deadlines in advance of the election, visit www.ncsbe.gov. The General Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

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news December 25-31, 2019 Smoky Mountain News 4

Candidate filing period ends with a bang STAFF R EPORTS flurry of last-minute sign-ups means that 2020 will likely be a lively election season in Western North Carolina and beyond.

In addition to a litany of statewide judicial and council of state races on the ballot this year — along with a Democratic Presidential Primary — some heavily contested primary elections will take place on Tuesday, March 3.

In Jackson County, two county commission seats are on the ballot with no incumbents in the mix.

Commissioner Ron Mau, a Republican, is leaving his seat for a run at the N.C. House District 119 seat currently held by Waynesville Democrat Joe Sam Queen. Mau will face former Rep. Mike Clampitt, of Swain County, for the right to oppose Queen.

Mickey Luker, a Jackson County commissioner whose absence at county meetings in recent months has sparked criticism, did not sign up to run for any office.

Three Democrats will face off during the March 3 primary to run against Cullowhee Republican Tom Stribling for Mau’s District 3 seat. The Democratic candidates are Brad Stillwell, Susan Bogardus and T. Cody Lewis.

In District 4, which covers the county’s southern end, Republican Mark Letson will run against Democrat Mark Jones.

Jones occupied that commission seat from 2006 until 2016, when Luker defeated him with 53.3 percent of the vote. Upset by Luker’s scanty attendance record — the commissioner has not been to a meeting in person since July, though he has attended multiple subsequent meetings via speakerphone — the Jackson County Republican Party unsuccessfully lobbied county commissioners to relieve Luker of his seat and replace him with a nominee put forward by the party. Letson was that nominee, and he will now seek election to the seat.

The Jackson County Board of Education also has two seats on the ballot in 2020.

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Incumbents Wesley Jamison and Elizabeth Cooper will seek re-election, with Jamison running unopposed and Cooper facing a challenge from Whittier resident Shane Danner.

The office of Soil and Water Conservation District Officer will be on the 2020 ballot as well, but filing for that contest doesn’t start until June.

Swain County’s board of commissioners has two seats up for re-election. Incumbents Roger Parsons, a Democrat, and Kenneth Parton, a Republican, have signed up for a second term. Phillip Carson, a Democrat, has also signed up to run for a seat on the board after losing his chairmanship on the board to Ben Bushyhead during the last election.

Republican H. Robert Lowe and Democrat Mitchell Jenkins will also be challenging the incumbents for their seats. Swain commissioner seats are not divided by districts — candidates run at large and the top vote-getters are elected to four-year terms.

In Macon County, a District 2 seat currently held by Republican Karl Gillespie and District 3 seat held by Republican Paul Higdon are up for election. Gillespie won’t be running for county office since he’s running for state representative. Higdon signed up for another term and will be running unopposed in the March primary.

Three Republicans will be seeking the District 2 seat vacated by Gillespie — Terry Bradley, Bryan Rauers and Josh Young — and two female Democrats — Betty Cloer Wallace and Olga Lampkin. Wallace ran for commissioner in 2018 as well but was beat out by the incumbents.

Regionally, the biggest news is that fourterm incumbent Congressman Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, won’t seek re-election to his seat.

Meadows already had a few Dems lined up to oppose him — 2018 candidate Steve Woodsmall, newcomer Michael O’Shea and retired Air Force attorney Moe Davis — but since Meadows announced his retirement on

WNC congressmen oppose Trump impeachment

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER or just the third time in American history members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted to approve articles of impeachment against the President of the United States, but Western North Carolina’s Republican Congressmen Mark Meadows and Patrick McHenry weren’t among those supporting the charges.

“Today will be remembered as the day your House Democrat majority voted to impeach President @realDonaldTrump for a crime they couldn’t find and a case they

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couldn’t prove,” Meadows tweeted minutes after the votes were counted. “You won’t forget. And neither will we.”

After more than 10 hours of deliberations on Dec. 18, the House divided largely along party lines to approve two counts against President Donald Trump — abuse of power, and obstruction of Congress. Meadows and McHenry voted no on both counts.

The first passed by a margin of 230-197.

Only two Democrats voted against it, including Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, who’s also decided to change parties. Minnesota Dem Collin Peterson was the other. Three addi-

Dec. 19, the 2018 Democratic nominee Phillip Price and Buncombe County attorney Gina Collias have also entered the race.

On the Republican side, 11 candidates have thrown their hats into the ring. Betterknown names to WNC voters include Haywood County Realtor Lynda Bennett, current state Sen. Jim Davis of Franklin, and Meadows Senior Advisor Wayne King. A Libertarian and a Green Party candidate round out that field.

In addition to Waynesville Democratic Rep. Joe Sam Queen’s race, the unexpected retirement of Rep. Michele Presnell, RBurnsville, spurred first-term Republican Haywood Commissioner Mark Pless to seek that seat. Pless has no primary opponent and will face Canton Democrat Alan Jones in November.

Rep. Kevin Corbin is seeking the Senate seat currently held by fellow Franklin resident Jim Davis, and has a primary opponent

in the person of Highlands physician Sarah Conway. Libertarian Clifton Ingram has also filed. Democrats are offering up Victoria Fox, of Canton.

Two Republican Haywood County commissioners are also up for re-election, including Chairman Kevin Ensley and Vice Chairman Brandon Rogers. They’ll meet Clyde Republicans Jennifer Best and Terry Ramey in the primary, and then two of them will face off against Waynesville Democrats Leah Hampton and David Young in the Nov. 3 2020 General Election.

There’s also a comeptitive race for a district court justice seat — Republicans Mitch Brewer, Rich Cassady, Jim Moore and Kaleb Wingate will all fight it out for the chance to take on Bryson City Democrat Justin Greene.

For a complete listing of all North Carolina candidate who have signed up to run for office in 2020, as well as important voter registration information, visit www.ncsbe.gov.

tional Democrats didn’t vote, including 2020 presidential candidate and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.

The second count passed by the same margin, with Gabbard again voting “present.” No Republicans supported either count of impeachment.

The rest of North Carolina’s congressional delegation stuck to party lines. Democrats G.K. Butterfield, David Price and Alma Adams all voted for both articles, and Republicans George Holding, Greg Murphy, Virginia Foxx, Mark Walker, David Rouzer, Richard Hudson, Dan Bishop and Tedd Budd joined Meadows and McHenry in opposing both articles.

There seem to be a number of popular misconceptions surrounding the process and consequences of impeachment; being “impeached” does not mean being removed from office. Impeachment is merely a formal

charge, similar to an indictment.

It will now be the job of the United States Senate to convict or acquit Trump, if and when the articles of impeachment are forwarded to that chamber. Conviction would result in removal. Acquittal would not, and also would not allow Trump another two terms, as has been falsely asserted on social media.

Trump becomes the third president and first Republican to be impeached, after Democrats Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.

Although both were formally impeached, neither were removed from office.

Another popular misconception is that President Richard Nixon was impeached; he wasn’t — after the House Judiciary Committee forwarded articles of impeachment to the full House for a vote in July 1974, Nixon resigned before the House could vote to impeach him.

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Smoky Mountain News

machines, voters make their choices using a similar touch screen interface. However, when they’re finished the machine will print out a human-readable ballot that the voter will then walk over to a separate machine that will record and store the ballot. Ballots will be locked behind three different locks.

If a voter looks down at the printed-out ballot and sees a mistake, poll workers can spoil the ballot and provide a new one — any one voter can do that up to three times.

During this year’s test election in Sylva, some voters expressed concern that people could look at their ballot as they walked it across to the tabulation machine, so the elections board might look into providing privacy folders or screens to shield the ballot marking screens when it does the complete rollout this year.

“One thing we’ve got to watch for is to make sure people don’t leave with that ballot in their hand,” said Stephens. Votes aren’t counted unless they’re fed into the machine, so poll workers will be tasked with monitoring voters as they exit the polling place.

The elections board plans to have two ballot scanners in each precinct so that the location will be covered should one machine fail. Depending on the size of the precinct, each location might have six to eight marking machines.

The new machines will come from the same manufacturer as the current equipment, and while there are multiple options for state-approved machines, many counties are going with the same model as Jackson.

The board has done its due diligence to arrive at that conclusion, said Stephens.

Members have been to multiple conferences featuring demonstrations and sample voting machines, attended a mandatory training session to review all the possible choices, and completed the test election in Sylva.

“We as a board have agreed that’s the equipment we need,” Stephens said. “We think it works best for Jackson County. We think it works better than the other selections, quite frankly.”

The current equipment is still functional, even though it doesn’t meet the new state standards. The vendor has told the board it will pay $61,000 to buy the old equipment back, Lovedahl told commissioners. Other states, and even other countries, still use that type of machine.

Stephens said he’s optimistic about the machines’ potential to serve voters well.

“I have high hopes for this. I really think it’s going to work for us,” he said.

Commissioners approved the $700,000 expenditure during their Dec. 17 meeting in a unanimous vote from those present.

Commissioner Mickey Luker did not attend the meeting.

December 25-31, 2019

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER fter more than three years of anticipating the expenditure, Jackson County has allocated funds to replace its recently decertified voting machines.

“How many years have we been coming here saying we need a million dollars?”

Board of Elections Chairman Kirk Stephens told county commissioners during a Dec. 10 work session. “The good news is maybe not quite a million, but the bad news is the day is here. The year is here. Finally.”

The machines must be replaced to comply with a 2016 state law that prohibits use of voting machines that don’t “use or produce a paper ballot.” The law gave a deadline of Sept. 1, 2019, to comply, but that deadline was extended to Dec. 1 in separate legislation passed in 2018.

“We’d been holding off just to see if the state would come up with any funds, and that’s absolutely not going to happen,” said County Manager Don Adams.

Now, the county needs to make the purchase quickly. The machines must be in place for the March 3 Primary Election, which means they actually have to be ready to go by Feb. 13, when early voting begins.

Before the county election board can actually purchase the machines, the state election board must approve the selection.

But that’s mostly a formality, said Stephens, and with the Primary Election coming up so soon the board is trying to get everything lined up so it can pull the trigger as soon as it receives the official OK from the state. By approving the funds now, he said, commissioners will help that process go more quickly.

Despite other media reports to the contrary, Elections Director Lisa Lovedahl noted, Jackson County will not be affected by any lack of inventory from the vendor.

“We have been confirmed by the vendor Jackson County will have our machines for the March primary,” she said.

Despite being in the final stages of arranging the purchase, the election board does not have a precise cost for the new machines.

“I wish I could tell you right down to the penny how much this is going to cost, but I l can’t and I’m sorry,” said Stephens. “But we’re saying $700,000 and we’re pretty confident we will not be over that amount.”

The election board tested the new machines during this year’s municipal election in Sylva, and the test went well, said Stephens, though the board did learn some lessons that will help the shift go more smoothly when the machines are impley mented countywide.

Currently, voters make their selections on a touch screen, and once they’ve confirmed their choices a receipt is printed in the machine’s interior. With the new

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Jackson approves $700,000 for new voting machines

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Generosity Feeds Haywood Volunteers package 11,000 meals for homeless students

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR t was a sight to behold — more than 200 volunteers of all ages coming together on a cold Saturday morning in December to ensure the youth of Haywood County don’t go hungry.

Those volunteers packaged 11,000 meals in under an hour, setting a new record for the Generosity Feeds program.

“I was completely blessed and blown away,” said event organizer Morgan Fields.

“We were all running on empty from pulling everything together, but seeing all the volunteers working so hard filled our tanks and restored our souls.”

Those packaged meals will go directly to Haywood County students who are considered homeless and/or food insecure.

Unfortunately, that number continues to grow across Western North Carolina.

According to a 2018 USDA study, an estimated 1 in 9 Americans were food insecure, or about 37 million people. North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services says that here, that number is closer to 1 in 5 — or about 21 percent — nearly double the

“Kids can’t focus on learning if they’re hungry — no one can function well when they’re hungry and don’t know where they’re next meal will come from.”

— Morgan Fields, event organizer

gry and don’t know where they’re next meal will come from.”

Fields learned about Generosity Feeds from a business associate and called the organization to see about hosting an event in Haywood County. The nonprofit partners with local communities to put an end to hunger across the United States. Lead Facilitator Jon Crowe, who attended the event Dec. 7 at Pisgah High School, said Generosity Feeds started about eight and a half years ago in one of the wealthiest com-

munities in Virginia where 1 in 4 children were food insecure.

“Today in that same county, one in seven kids are food insecure,” Crowe said, which shows how the program can begin to move the needle in the right direction.

The Haywood County event organizers signed a contract with Generosity Feeds in October to begin the fundraising and volunteer recruitment process. By signing the contract, they were committing to raising $10,000 before the Dec. 7 event and recruit 200 volunteers to help package the meals. It was a bit intimidating for them, Fields said, since they had never done any kind of largescale fundraising like that before.

“We just knew we were being called by God to do something that would have a big impact — something to really start seeing a change in the community when it comes to poverty. We knew we had to do something big,” Fields said.

“The pastor at Calvary Road Baptist always encourages us to serve the community and help others so when we heard about Generosity Feeds, it was the perfect catalyst.”

S EE G ENEROSITY, PAGE 8

Smoky Mountain News

December 25-31, 2019

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national average for children under the age of 18.

In 2014-15, Haywood County had the largest percentage of homeless students in the four counties in The Smoky Mountain News’ coverage area, with 3.94 percent, followed by Jackson County with 3.53 percent, Swain with 1.89 percent and Macon with 0.45 percent. Haywood’s homeless student population was slightly lower in 2018-19 at 3.45 percent, but homeless services coordinators say the true number of homeless students is likely higher than reported.

These stark statistics prompted Fields and two other women from Calvary Road Baptist Church — Kellie Burgess and Bri Kaufman — to spring into action.

“We all three have kids in Haywood County Schools and we felt guilty sitting in a home with a full fridge of food and sending our kids to school with lunch boxes full of food knowing they have peers that eat at school but don’t know what they’ll have to eat when they get home,” Fields said. “Kids can’t focus on learning if they’re hungry — no one can function well when they’re hun-

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Haywood County students volunteer to help package 11,000 meals on Dec. 7 at Pisgah High School during a Generosity Feeds event. Jessi Stone photo

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One of three Haywood County little free pantries is located in front of Our Place Inn, in Maggie Valley. Cory Vaillancourt photo

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Little free pantry locations There are only five little free pantry locations in Western North Carolina — including in Asheville and in Sylva — but three of them are located in Haywood County.

• Clyde: 384 Jones Cove Road • Maggie Valley: 4077 Soco Road • Waynesville: 489 Pigeon Street If you or someone you know needs a little extra food, stop by the little free pantry any time, and be sure to visit www.littlefreepantry.org for an interactive map that lists little free pantry locations nationwide.

Smoky Mountain News

“There are 15 to 20 individuals in a day that will come through sometimes,” said Currin. “There are all different kinds of people that come through. We do have a lot of older folks that are taking care of grandchildren and some of the (social) services don’t apply to them, so they have to visit food pantries.”

December 25-31, 2019

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER ou may be familiar with the concept of the “little free library” — those small outdoor cabinets stuffed with donated books intended to feed the imaginations of young and old alike — but the sobering reality of the nation’s roaring economy is that it’s given birth to a disturbing new permutation of the popular donationbased book boxes: the “little free pantry,” stuffed with food intended to feed Western North Carolina’s increasingly poor and hungry children and adults.

“It started with sort of a winter project, a tote with scarves and gloves and hats and things,” said Kitty Currin, who with her husband has owned Our Place Inn in Maggie Valley Since 2015. “Then Beverly Banks found out about our little project and asked if we would like to host a slightly bigger version with food and other necessary items.”

The big blue shed wasn’t there when the Currins bought the place, so they built a small shanty that still wasn’t quite large enough; they then shipped that one off to Clyde and built the one that now occupies a few square feet in front of their inn, right off Soco Road, last December.

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Little free pantry ‘fills in the cracks’

extreme wealth gap,” Currin said. “There’s a Currin’s shed contains a wire rack, lot of really rich people and vacation houses stacked with cans of beans, corn, peas and here, but there’s also the people that are tomatoes, as well as dry pastas and a few homeless and transient.” potatoes. She said that sometimes the food While Haywood County is particularly on the shelves is in and out the door in 48 blessed compared to its more westerly neighhours or less. bors, more than one in five children in the Indeed, during the 30 minutes Currin spent explaining the purpose of the little free county are still poor, and hungry.

That’s part of the reason Haywood’s pantry, two separate carloads of people other two little free pantries are both in pulled up, entered the shed, and left with front of Head Start facilities — one in Clyde, groceries. and one in Waynesville; the working poor Banks, a volunteer who helps stock the can have trouble reaching the region’s food pantries, said that most of the food they banks, many of which operate on the same get comes from individuals, but that there 9-to-5 schedules as their employers. was some institutional support behind the “That’s one of our big priorities,” said effort.

Laura Inman, another volunteer who helps “They see that the changes that we’re stock the pantries. “Beverly and I both have making in the community, well as the statishad kids in the school system all these years tics, the numbers that we’re making, espeand so we’ve gone around and figured out cially with hunger and with domestic viowhat the gaps are and we noticed that, hey, lence situations,” she said. we’ve got parents that are working so if they Food isn’t the only thing that can be found in the shed, either. A small display of flyers and pam“I guess people don’t think about phlets lines one wall, offering resources to people who might the need in Maggie Valley need them.

“This is just more of an because there’s an extreme emergency place,” said Currin. wealth gap. There’s a lot of really “It’s to fill the cracks in the system that some people fall rich people and vacation houses through. It’s really important to here, but there’s also the people pair them up with different resources they may need. For that are homeless and transient.” some people it’s as simple as they just need to be able to find — Kitty Currin a few extra places to eat, and some people need more help.

They might need REACH, which is the sexu- need to go there after hours, then they can get food. These (the Clyde and Waynesville al abuse and family domestic violence pantries) are also within walking distance agency, or things like that.”

Racks of clothing and a few pairs of shoes of other groups of people in these communities that can go there and get food if they also line one side of the shed, so that people need it.” who have job interviews or court cases have The pantries’ close association with edusomething presentable to wear. cational institutions also helps out when “Right now it’s winter so we’re looking school’s out. more for jackets and warm things,” said “The saddest part of sending kids home Currin. “I have a section of kids clothes, too. and kids being home on snow days or Again there’s all different kinds of people Christmas break or spring break is that from babies up to teenagers and adults that every day that that kid’s out of school, come here.” chances are they don’t have food to eat,” A story in the Nov. 20 issue of The Inman said.

Smoky Mountain News based on reports Despite historic highs in the stock marissued by the North Carolina Department of ket, and historic lows in unemployment, Health and Human Services said that between 23 and 29 percent of children in the data from the DHHS report indicates the problems of hunger and poverty aren’t getstate’s seven westernmost counties are living ting any better in Western North Carolina. in poverty, and a similar percentage suffer Inman says that as long as the commufrom food insecurity. nity continues to support the little free The epicenter of the issue in this county pantry effort, they’ll do what they need to of 60,000 people remains Waynesville — do to help the hungry in Haywood — holiperhaps because it’s the largest city in the day or not. county, perhaps because the needy are more “If we identify more need, then that’s visible there — but the problem transcends what we’ll do,” she said. “That’s why it’s nice municipal boundaries. to know that we have that community sup“I guess people don’t think about the port. People want to help.” need in Maggie Valley because there’s an

Fight hunger in your community Donations of food, clothing and toiletries are always welcomed at Haywood County’s little free pantries, provided there’s space available. While there’s usually room at the Maggie Valley location, that’s not always the case in Clyde and Waynesville. If you can help fight hunger in Haywood County by donating items or cash, send an email to haywoodpantryproject@gmail.com, call Beverly Banks at 828.550.6884 or check out the group’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/MountainProjectsHaywoodPantryProject.

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news December 25-31, 2019

More than 200 volunteers packaged 11,000 meals in 53 minutes, setting a Generosity Feeds record. Silas and Abel Reece (above, right), members of Calvary Road Baptist Church, help stack boxes of meals. Jessi Stone photos G ENEROSITY, CONTINUED FROM 6

Smoky Mountain News

All along the way, Generosity Feeds provides the community organizers with a coach to keep track of volunteers and donations by starting a webpage for their event. While raising $10,000 in two months seemed daunting, Fields said that ended up being the easy part.

“It’s such a worthy cause everyone wanted to give — we couldn’t have done it without them,” she said. “Our goal was $10,000 and we surpassed that so we upped it to $10,500 and then we surpassed that so we finally had to cut it off at $11,000, which provides 11,000 meals.”

Fields, Burgess and Kaufman used social media and reached out to youth pastors in an effort to recruit school-aged volunteers. Fields said they felt it was important for peers to be involved in this project and hoped to encourage them at a young age to be involved in their community and to give back to others in need.

“About half of the volunteers were middle and high school students, which is awesome,” she said.

It was cold outside that morning, but the Pisgah High cafeteria was filled with warm and enthusiastic spirits ready to go. A DJ kept the music loud and lively as teams lined up at long tables and were assigned jobs within the assembly line process. The smallest of hands worked to open up the bags while others carefully measured and poured the ingredients into it before the last person sealed the bag 8 securely. Small children had their most seri-

Generosity Feed Haywood supporters Financial Partners: • Michael McKee • Tanner and Jenna Jones with Consult Webs • Ryan and Michelle McElroy • Patrick and Kim McClure • Rowdy and Donna Lemoine • Anonymous local donor • Champion Credit Union • Bob and Marla Morris and Blue Ridge Glass • Haywood Landscapes ous work faces on as they stacked boxes upon boxes of completed meals.

“We actually broke the record. Generosity Feeds’ record for packing 11,000 meals was just over 54 minutes and we were done in 53 minutes,” Fields said. “The set up and clean up took a bit longer but the packaging moved quickly.”

The meal being made was black beans and rice with an added pack of veggies and seasonings. The sealed packages have a oneyear shelf life, which means Haywood County Schools can distribute the meals as needed throughout the year to supplement the many backpack programs offered to food insecure students. School social workers and counselors know which kids may need a backpack

full of food and other essentials to get them through the weekend.

“We’ve left it up to the individual schools because they know what they’re needs are more than we do, but we’ll work with them on how many meals they think they’ll need to supplement their backpack programs, especially over the longer breaks like Christmas and summer breaks,” Fields said. “We would definitely do it again if the schools say it was a tremendous help and if they run out of food by next year. Either way, we still want to serve them in whatever capacity they need — we just want to help.”

To learn more about Generosity Feeds, to start an event or to donate to another event, visit www.generosityfeeds.org.

Community Partners: • Pisgah National Honor Society • Tuscola National Honor Society • Haywood Co FCA • New Covenant Church • Calvary Road Baptist Church • Brooklyn Jamison Photography • Woody Boyd and his media team • The Mountaineer • The Smoky Mountain News Inspirational Partners: • Michelle Swanger with Haywood County Schools • Marla Morris with FCA • Special Thanks to Pisgah High School for offering space for the event

Animal shelter funding approved in Jackson F

Zumba to benefit Sarge’s A Zumba fundraiser will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Dec. 28 in the Haywood County Animal Shelter’s Education Room.

Taught by certified instructors Monica Marija Green and Abigail Leatherwood Newton, proceeds from this event will go to

was surprised to see that they were quite high — some as high as $475 per square foot. Even including furnishings, design work, contingency and other additional costs, the approved plan will come out to $350 per square foot. When considering only the estimated construction costs without contingency, it’s $273.40.

“At least we are in the ballpark or below what folks are saying it should be,” said Mau. Chairman Brian McMahan signaled his support by bringing the proposal to a vote.

“I don’t normally make a lot of motions, but I make a motion that we approve the project ordinance,” he said.

Before construction can begin on the animal shelter project, the county will need to relocate the staffed recycling center that cur-

Sarge’s Medical Fund to help animals. A donation of $10 is suggested to be given onsite. RSVP at www.sargeanimals.org.

Community Table offers Christmas meal A group of volunteers will be preparing a Christmas Day feast for anyone in need from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 25, at The Community Table, 23 Central St., Sylva.

The menu will include turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, rolls and dessert.

Maggie Town Hall closures Maggie Valley Town Hall offices will be closing at noon Tuesday, Dec. 24, through Dec. 27, and then again Wednesday, Jan. 1,

rently operates at the back of the property. In August, commissioners approved $325,000 to purchase 3.67 acres along Haywood Road, where they planned to house the recycling center. However, Dillsboro’s town board came out strongly in opposition to the proposed location, fearing that it would hurt tourism.

Commissioners were sympathetic to those concerns and voted during a Nov. 7 meeting to terminate the contract on the land.

“There was a misunderstanding. We worked to clarify and understand each other and we have reached a resolution that I feel very good about, and I hope the town board of Dillsboro will feel the same,” Woody said Nov. 7.

The county has not yet identified an alternative recycling center location.

for Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

Garbage and recycling services will run on regular schedule both weeks. Mondays are trash pickup days and Tuesdays are recycling days. Place your totes out at the curb by 7 a.m.

Join the Women’s March 2020 is set to be a landmark year for the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., and Haywood County women are getting organized to be among the thousands of marchers in D.C. on Saturday, Jan. 18.

If you have an interest in going and want to coordinate your plans for travel and lodging, respond immediately. If enough people are interested, the Haywood County Democratic Party may be able to do some fundraising to help with expenses.

Email haywooddemocrats@gmail.com to express interest.

Smoky Mountain News

Canton Branch Library is now part of a large network of Family Place Libraries throughout the country.

Expanding the traditional role of children’s services, Family Place builds on the knowledge that early learning, parental involvement and supportive communities play a key role in the growth and development of our youngest patrons. The library environment was recently redesigned to be more welcoming and appropriate for children beginning at birth, including specialized programs for parents and young children.

Drop by the library to visit the new early childhood play area, which will be open and available during regular library hours. If you have a child between the ages of 6 months and 3 years old, register them for the upcoming Parent Child Workshop (123 Play with Me) which is a five-week session taking place from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Wednesdays Jan. 8

though Feb. 5 at the Canton Branch. This is the signature program of the Family Place initiative and provides a welcoming environment for parents and young children to play and explore while parents are introduced to key resource professionals on various topics concerning their child’s overall development.

The Family Place Library initiative is funded through the Haywood County Public Library Foundation and the Region A Partnership for Children. Contact Deanna at deanna.lyles@haywoodcountync.gov or 828.356.2563 to register for this program.

The new animal shelter (shown in blue) will replace the existing facility on Airport Road and be built on the site of the current Green Energy Park office. McMillan Pazdan Smith rendering

December 25-31, 2019

Family program at Canton library

important. The initial proposal outlined a multi-phase project that would cost $12 million, but since then the estimated price tag has fallen to $7.56 million.

However, the $3 million animal shelter budget was still too high for Commissioner Boyce Deitz, who was the only commissioner to vote against the project. Commissioner Mickey Luker was not present for the vote, with the remaining three members voting in favor.

“I’m very much for this. I’m very much for this. I’m very much for this,” said Deitz. “But I think it’s outrageously high, and I can’t vote for it. It would be hypocritical of me when there’s so many things I see that sure needs a lot of money spent on in this county.”

Deitz has made it clear since planning began that keeping animal shelter costs low is a priority of his.

“I’m going to have a problem myself if we start talking about $3 million to build an animal shelter,” he said during a February budget meeting.

The other three commissioners agreed that the $5.39 million project ordinance was a big one. However, they said Dec. 17, the spending is necessary.

“We desperately need a new animal rescue center in our county, and it not only serves the animals, but it serves the people of our community,” said Commissioner Gayle Woody. “I can remember when I was a little girl, wild dogs would just run around and some of them were very dangerous. The fact is that we have such a great staff caring for our animals and the citizens to provide safety, and things are not going to get any cheaper. So I feel that I’m going to vote in favor of this.”

Commissioner Ron Mau said he’d done some research in the past week into the persquare-foot cost various architecture firms recommend for animal shelter projects and

news

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER unding for a new animal shelter in Jackson County has been approved following a Dec. 17 vote to OK $5.39 million in funding for the next phase of a project to redevelop the 19-acre property that is currently home to the Jackson County Green Energy Park.

The project ordinance outlines $3.97 million for construction, of which about $3 million would be used to build the animal shelter. The remaining funds will be used to build a parking area, remake the closed landfill into a park with walking trails and complete grading on the site. Rounding out the $5.39 million is $437,000 for architecture and engineering fees, $40,000 for engineering and permitting, $347,000 for furnishings and fixtures and $596,000 in contingency funds.

The ordinance does not include funding for a planned innovation center, which would be built by the county but operated by Western Carolina University as a maker’s space and educational facility. A master plan presented in May estimated the cost of that building at $1.8 million, and commissioners plan to tackle that project at a later date.

County Manager Don Adams hopes to put the animal shelter project out to bid this spring, awarding the contract sometime in early summer for completion in summer 2021. The facility would replace the county’s current animal shelter, a dilapidated building located on Airport Road in Cullowhee. The Green Energy Park makeover was first proposed by WCU in 2017 as a way to use the property more effectively while allowing WCU and the county to enhance one another’s missions.

Commissioners have supported the vision since it was first floated but have made it clear that realizing it in a cost-effective manner is

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Jackson discusses solutions to slow internet

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ylva was named the nation’s slowest city for internet in a recent report from internet service comparison website www.highspeedinternet.com, and that struggle continues to be a frequent topic of conversation in town and county meetings.

One such discussion occurred during a county commissioners work session held Tuesday, Nov. 12, which featured a broadband update from Jackson County Economic Development Director Rich Price.

The past year has seen some real progress on tackling the problem, across multiple fronts, Price said, though slow or nonexistent internet is still a problem in many areas of the county. According to the report from www.highspeedinternet.com, Sylva’s average internet speed is just 6.5 megabits per second. By contrast, the city ranked as having the fastest internet — Bayside, New York — had an average speed of 100.8 megabits per second. Sylva also ranked the sixth slowest for rural internet, with a rural average speed of 5.4 megabits per second.

The Cullowhee area is now seeing a marked improvement in internet access as the result of an agreement between Morris Broadband and Western Carolina University, reached in August 2018. Under the agreement, Morris is using WCU power poles to

December 25-31, 2019

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“The big question is how long does it take for that to get here in the rural areas,” said Price. “The urban areas, that’s where it’s going to go first, much like high-speed broadband.”

In the meantime, he said, both Cashiers and Sylva are interested in establishing an open wireless network for their downtown areas in an effort to better serve visitors.

Cashiers has already achieved that goal, he said, with the nonprofit citizen group Vision Cashiers having recently created a new Wi-Fi district that includes the entire commercial area in Cashiers.

In Sylva, said Town Manager Paige Dowling in response to an email from The Smoky Mountain News, that discussion has been ongoing since 2012 but is still “very preliminary.” It’s unknown as of yet how much it would cost, where the money would come from or if grants are available.

Price said he’s pursuing other avenues as well, currently exploring the possibility of grant funding through Dogwood Health Trust and the Nantahala Health Foundation, which both distribute grants for health-related projects.

“The idea is we’re going to meet with Steve Heatherly (of Harris Regional Hospital) and Casey Cooper from over at the Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority, along with our public health officials from Swain County and Jackson County, and the conversation is going to center around telehealth and telemedicine and what those facilities are currently doing with telehealth,” said Price.

“Could we rationalize creating some kind of an improvement or deployment project relative to broadband to access some of those funds that are out there?”

Sylva police investigating impeachment protest incident

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER he Sylva Police Department is looking into an incident that occurred on Tuesday, Dec. 17, during a protest downtown that was part of a nationwide string of rallies calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

More than 100 protesters were gathered in front of the Jackson County Democratic Party’s headquarters on Mill Street, said rally organizer Nilofer Couture, when a man driving a white pickup truck pulled into the parking lot where the protesters were standing and exited to wave a “big flag with a picture of Trump sort of like Rambo.”

“He was swearing at us and then he got onto the street and started trying to antagonize us and cause trouble,” said Couture, who is a member of the group Indivisible WNC and was also recently elected to a town council seat in the Village of Forest Hills.

Sylva police were on standby at the protest and responded promptly. Within about half an hour, the officer on duty had convinced the man to leave, said Couture, though he continued to circle the block afterward and make obscene hand gestures as he 10 drove by.

Smoky Mountain News

provide high-speed internet access to customers currently connected to that power system. The project is about 75 percent complete, said Price, and expected to be done by next summer. So far about 400 addresses have signed up to receive the service, and there is potential to serve as many as 1,500 new customers.

“I know just from talking to people in the community, those who are getting Morris Broadband service all of a sudden started seeing faster and more reliable service,” Price told commissioners.

Internet access is also expanding as the result of a grant that SkyFi, a Sylva-based company that serves rural customers through wireless signal broadcast from towers, landed this year. In 2018, the N.C. General Assembly appropriated $10 million to further broadband access statewide, allocated through the Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology — or GREAT — Program. SkyFi was one of 21 applicants in 19 counties to receive a combined $9.86 million.

According to the grant’s terms, the company has two years to complete the project, which involves construction of three new towers. However, said Price, SkyFi expects to finish next summer, about one year early. So far, the company has built a tower on Buck Knob overlooking the Blanton Branch area and a second one on Wolf Knob, which over-

looks Roscoe Lewis Road and East Fork Road.

A third tower, to be called Skinner Tower, will overlook the East Laporte and Moody Bridge areas in Tuckasegee. SkyFi currently serves more than 800 customers and will be close to 1,000 once the towers are up, said Price.

However, the GREAT Program is open only to Tier 1 counties, a designation given to North Carolina’s most economically distressed counties. Jackson County was recently re-classified as a Tier 2 county, so it will not be eligible for GREAT funds in the upcoming calendar year. However, said Price, there is language in the appropriations bill that would expand eligibility for GREAT funding to Tier 2 counties as well in 2021.

Commissioner Gayle Woody asked Price about money she’d heard that Frontier Communications had to expand internet access to underserved areas. Price said he’d talked with a Frontier representative in Raleigh about this program, called the Connect America Fund. The funds are restricted for use in underserved areas, and inexplicably Jackson County doesn’t qualify.

“The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) maps with regard to who has service and who doesn’t are wrong,” said Price. “And so what that does is that limits where Frontier can actually make deployment projects.”

The company does not have any plans to make significant investments in Jackson County, said Price.

Chairman Brian McMahan asked what impact the advent of 5G networks might have in this discussion. 5G works so much differently than 4G or 3G, he said, so should the county be planning its infrastructure around that oncoming technology?

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A counter-protester pulls his pickup truck into a rally held in Sylva Dec. 17 calling for President Donald Trump’s impeachment. Isabel Couture photo Nobody has filed a specific report with the police department, and no charges have been filed, said Police Chief Chris Hatton.

However, the department is taking the situation “very seriously” and Hatton is personally reviewing the videos and information his department has received to determine if any laws have been violated.

“This case is important to the Sylva Police Department because we want to make sure that everyone’s rights are protected and

that everyone feels safe while in Sylva,” said Hatton. “This is the reason we were at the protest to begin with — we wanted everyone to feel safe. We have seen several terrible and sad incidents unfold in our country.

Incidents that began much like this situation. Because of these horrible memories, a group of peaceful protesters were in fear that something terrible was about to happen.

Thank God it wasn’t one of the situations we see on national news.”

However, said Hatton, it’s important to note that the incident is not what it’s been made out to be in some sectors of social media. While the counter-protester did pull his vehicle into a parking lot where people were protesting, he did not drive into a crowd with intent to injure the protestors, as has occurred in other parts of the country.

There were no injuries.

“In the videos I’ve seen thus far, you can see the counter-protester’s vehicle stopped in the parking lot, blowing his horn at protesters to move out of his way,” Hatton said.

“The counter-protester then parks his vehicle in a row of parking spaces. Then, he gets out of his vehicle and begins waving a Trump flag at traffic driving by until one of our officers pulls him away from the crowd.”

The officer on-scene was able to “quickly de-escalate the situation,” Hatton said.

Couture agreed with that assessment.

“I don’t think he meant to hurt anyone, but it was odd that you would want to park your car and move a bunch of people out of the way, so he was trying to get into the crowd,” she said.

Anyone with video of the incident is encouraged to send it to Hatton at hatton@sylvapolice.org.

Cashiers rep fails to attend local meeting T

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Smoky Mountain News

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER he Jackson County Commissioners traveled to Cashiers for their Dec. 12 meeting, but Commissioner Mickey Luker — who was elected to represent the Cashiers area — did not attend.

“When I saw Mickey’s name, I thought, ‘Oh goodness, Mickey’s going to be with us,’” Ralph Slaughter, vice chairman for the Jackson County Republican Party, told commissioners during public comment that night, referring to the name plates displayed at each commissioner’s seat.

“Disappointing.”

Luker has not attended a commissioners meeting in person since July 16, and while he has often been counted present via speakerphone, he has not phoned in at all in the past month. Over the last two months, commissioners have held meetings on Nov. 7, Nov. 12, Nov. 25, Dec. 10, Dec. 12 and Dec. 17. Luker attended via speakerphone on Nov. 7 and Nov. 25 but was absent from the remaining four meetings — including the Dec. 12 meeting in his home district. He has not responded to multiple requests for comment spread over several months as to the reason for his continued absence.

“I’m not represented by my fourth district commissioner,” Slaughter said.

Slaughter, along with other Cashiersarea residents, addressed commissioners in

October requesting that they remove Luker from office through a little-used process called amotion, allowing the Jackson County Republican Party to replace him with a candidate of their choice.

Commissioners declined to do so, in followup interviews saying that, while they would prefer Luker to be more involved, they don’t believe his behavior has risen to a level that would warrant overturning the will of the voters who put him in office.

There is nothing in state law that requires elected officials to actually attend the meetings of the body they’re elected to, so, while absences might be frowned upon, it’s not illegal or otherwise a violation of the office. Slaughter would like to see that change.

“The only thing that can be done is there has to be a state law, because there is nothing now to remove a commissioner unless he has committed a felony,” said Slaughter.

Getting state legislators to take that issue up could be a tough sell, however.

Removing an elected person from office is serious business. The question is, how do you draw a line that protects against outrageous behavior by elected officials without disenfranchising voters?

Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, said that he would “come down strongly” on the side of guarding against overturning the will of the people but that he’s not ruling out some mechanism to ensure that people who are elected to a position actually show up to do the job. However, he would rather see that mechanism, whatever it may be, originate from the local level than from the state.

“I think that it ought to be difficult to

December 25-31, 2019

Luker’s continued absence prompts party leader to float solution

It could be a hard line to draw. What if, for instance, an elected official is battling an illness that keeps him from attending in person for six months, but he’s able to keep up with the issues remotely during that time? Should that person get a pass, while someone who misses the same number of meetings with a less compelling reason does not? And what should happen if someone fails to meet the standard? Could she actually be removed from office, and how would her successor be chosen?

It would also be difficult to make the argument that such a law should apply only to county commissioners and not to other elected officials.

“If there was a state law about serving in elected capacity, I think it would have to be uniform somewhat between other offices,” said Corbin.

Rep. Joe Sam Queen, D-Waynesville, said that while he believes people who are elected to an office should “show up and serve,” he doesn’t see the issue as something that should become a legislative priority.

In this instance, however, there is a remedy — Luker’s term ends next December.

“The voters will have a choice in November, and they’ll straighten this out, I assure you,” Queen said.

That choice will not involve Luker, who had not filed for re-election at the close of the filing period Dec. 20. Luker did not return a request for comment on this story.

WCU journalism student Nate Hadley contributed to this report.

news

Commissioner Gayle Woody talks with Jackson County Republican Party Vice Chairman Ralph Slaughter following the Dec. 12 meeting. Nate Hadley photo

overturn the will of the people, so I would be reluctant to be involved in that,” he said.

“I strongly feel that the voice of the citizens should be heard and should be difficult to overturn.”

That said, “it’s just foreign to me” that someone would run for office but fail to attend meetings once elected, Davis said.

“Frankly, I don’t think it usually is a problem because when people run for office it’s usually because they want to serve. They want to be there,” said Rep. Kevin Corbin, R-Franklin. Corbin is running for Davis’ seat in 2020, as Davis is leaving it to run for the Congressional seat Rep. Mark Meadows will be vacating.

Transylvania County has been dealing with a similar issue lately, according to a June 13 story from The Transylvania Times.

Of the 18 meetings that occurred between that date and Dec. 3, 2018, Commissioner Will Cathey was absent, late or left early from 10 of them. In a Sept. 12 report, the paper said that the board members approved a motion for Chairman Mike Hawkins to investigate what options commissioners might have to work with if Cathey’s absences continued.

Corbin said he would be willing to look into whether a legislative solution would be appropriate.

“I would be willing to look into it,” he said. “I think it’s something you’d have to be very careful about. It would be a little bit of a slippery slope when you start legislating how someone serves in an elected position.”

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news

WCU student working to translate Cherokee language from native newspaper onstance Owl’s master’s degree thesis is more than a means to a graduate degree in American history. It’s a portal to understanding, and perhaps saving, a disappearing language.

Owl, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians who grew up in Cherokee County, is a second-year graduate student at Western Carolina University. She is working with local Cherokee language speakers, Tom Belt and Wiggins Blackfox, to translate portions of the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper, published from about 1828 to 1834 by Elias Boudinot, a formally educated Cherokee.

Belt, who speaks the western dialect of Cherokee, recently retired as coordinator of WCU’s Cherokee Language Program.

Blackfox, who speaks the eastern dialect, works for the program.

Owl’s thesis, tentatively titled “Tsalagi Tsulehisanvhi: Uncovering the Cherokee Language Articles from the Cherokee Phoenix Newspaper,” is separated into three chapters, each one focusing on a distinct time in the history of the Phoenix and the Cherokee Removal: the creation of the newspaper, debates printed within it concerning removal prior to its occurrence, and commentary surrounding U.S. Supreme Court cases involving the Cherokee from 1831 and 1832. Owl mines the Cherokee Phoenix for Cherokee language articles related to each theme and then works with Belt and Blackfox to translate such articles from the Cherokee language into English.

She hopes to use three to five translated stories per chapter.

“The way I’ve been doing research has been basically sitting with a speaker and looking over scans of the original Cherokee Phoenix newspaper, and then I type the translation as we go line by line,” Owl, said.

“I’m not a fluent speaker, so I’m not able to actually translate the content myself.”

The process of translating native language stories into English from scanned copies of a 190-year-old newspaper — where an ink stain or a simple misspelling from the original hand-set type or a fuzzy, low-quality

Smoky Mountain News

December 25-31, 2019

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Graduate student Constance Owl (left) and Cherokee language speaker Tom Belt go over translations from the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper, which was published from about 1828 to 1834. WCU photo copy can change the sound of a word and, therefore, change the meaning of that word — is painstaking and an inexact science. It requires Owl and her partnering speakers to use linguistic context, among other strategies and tools, to figure out the words of the polysynthetic language.

“Polysynthetic language is verb-based, where English is noun-based,” said Belt. “So polysynthetic language is a key component of our speech’s verbs, which means we can change those verbs around in a lot of ways.

It’s been estimated that we can change one verb around 20,000 ways. I can’t tell you what the 19,999th word is for dancing, but if I hear it, I might be able to tell you what that means. So, it’s a real precise language.”

Owl said the challenges have been eyeopening. “I came to this project with an understanding that translation work is not as simple as most might think, but over the past several months I’ve learned how diffi-

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cult it really is,” she said. “Because of issues like dialect, translation can often be challenging because different speakers say or understand certain things in different ways.

With the Phoenix specifically, there is even some language that some speakers today don’t immediately recognize because those words are rarely used today or have been slightly transformed over the years. So, we have had to account for that.”

Owl’s interest in the Cherokee Phoenix began when she was an undergraduate student at Stanford University, where she graduated with a degree in Native American studies in 2018. Belt and Hartwell Francis, former director of WCU’s Cherokee Language Program, were teaching a distance-learning Cherokee language course to Stanford students and used humorous stories from the Phoenix in their classes. The stories piqued Owl’s interest.

“I decided I wanted to dip my toe into

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more historical research, and I knew that the Phoenix was something that interested me,” she said. “I knew that if I wanted to do that then what better place to do it than here at home, where I have people like Tom surrounding me and access to the language.”

Belt, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, spoke solely Cherokee until he was 6 years old and started public school. He moved to Cherokee, North Carolina, in 1991.

“What Constance is doing is important to Cherokee people for several reasons,” Belt said. “One, it clarifies history that hasn’t been clarified, so it also helps in the process of analyzing our own language to make it better understood by those who are secondlearners. It also helps to clarify culture for the American public, too. We all understand that history is going to be an ongoing project forever, right? The more we clarify it, as it’s applied in a real sense, makes the world more understandable.”

For Owl, the intended consequence of her and Belt’s effort is to not only bring a better historical understanding to the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper, but also to help revitalize the Cherokee language —and not just for tribal members.

“When we talk about language revitalization, one of the things you hear is you need to find ways to incorporate the language as much as you can into your everyday life,” she said. “This is part of me incorporating the language into my academic interests.

Owl and her partnering speakers are the first to formally translate the articles, and she wants the translations documented and accessible to not only teachers and learners of the language, but to others, as well. “I’ve talked to many historians and they want this, they want to be able to include real Cherokee perspectives of this kind,” she said.

For Belt, Owl’s work is a literal reflection of the connection between WCU and the Cherokee people.

“It is important to this university not because it’s a part of the academic world, but because it’s important to the physical aspect of this university, which sits on an ancient Cherokee town,” Belt said. “Constance could be anywhere she wanted to be doing this work, but she chose this place because it’s intrinsic to the very idea of that language being absolutely a part of the very ground we walk on here.”

Merry Christmas May Your Holidays Be Merry, Bright and Full of Good Books!

Holly Kays photo

Nantahala foundation awards grants

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he Nantahala Health Foundation has announced its initial grants awarded to local organizations in Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties, and the Qualla Boundary.

As a newly formed nonprofit, NHF focused its 2019 efforts on strategic planning and information gathering before making decisions on where to allocate grant funding.

Nantahala was formed following the sale of Mission Health to HCA Healthcare. As Mission hospitals transitioned from nonprofit to for-profit entities, they could no longer operate a foundation to support the hospital and those legacy foundations transformed to adopt a broader health mission for their communities. Angel Medical Center’s legacy foundation turned into Nantahala Health Foundation. As part of the Mission sale, each of the legacy foundations in the region were awarded $5 million and will receive another $10 million over the next three years to invest in community health initiatives.

After vetting a large number of funding proposals, the foundation has awarded almost $1.5 million to local nonprofits and other organizations addressing the root causes of the community’s most pressing health concerns, including access to healthcare, education, transportation, poverty or quality of housing.

“It is a great privilege to award almost $1.5 million to innovative organizations across Western North Carolina who are working tirelessly to improve the health of people in our community,” said NHF Executive Director Lori Bailey. “The staff and volun-

teers of these organizations are the true community change agents. We look forward to seeing how our collaboration with each of them will build capacity, help address health disparities and strengthen our community.”

Recipients are: Blue Ridge Mountains Health Project/Free Dental Clinic — to increase access to emergency, restorative and preventative dental services to low-income residents.

Clay County Emergency Medical Services — to establish a community paramedicine program that will allow EMTs to operate in expanded paramedic roles by assisting with public health, primary healthcare and preventive services to underserved and chronic patient populations.

Clay County Public Health Department – to support expansion of dental services through the mobile dental program.

Clay County Schools – to increase access to school-based counseling and behavioral health services.

Community Care Clinic of Franklin – to increase access to health care and medication assistance services.

KIDS Place – to support the Child Medical Evaluation Program serving child and youth victims of abuse and neglect.

First Baptist Church of Franklin/Macon Medication Assistance Program – to provide vouchers and support for the Macon Medication Assistance Program.

Macon County Emergency Management Services – to provide improvements in the technology infrastructure for Macon County EMS. Mountain Area Health Education Center – to provide short-term student housing for the Rural Fellowship Program to support student and resident learners who are interested in practicing in the region.

Swain County Emergency Management Services – to establish a community paramedicine program that will allow EMTs to operate in expanded paramedic roles by assisting with public health, primary health-

programming capacity for the county’s Day Camp program.

Clay County Transportation – to support expanded transportation services and to subsidize an affordable fare for passengers within Clay County needing access to employment.

Grace Extended Ministries – to provide transportation alternatives to help establish the women’s residential treatment program.

REACH of Macon County – to purchase a disability equipped passenger van to address transportation barriers.

Clay County Senior Food Project, a collaborative project between Clay County Food Pantry and Matt’s Ministry – to provide food and supplies to address food insecurity among seniors.

HERE in Jackson County – to provide case management services to assist homeless households in securing emergency shelter and aid in obtaining and maintaining permanent, safe, affordable housing.

Jackson County Department of Aging – to purchase thermal hot pads to improve the quality of food delivery to those served by Meals on Wheels.

The Sparrows Nest Food Pantry – to provide food and supplies to address food insecurity among seniors.

Hinton Rural Life Center – to provide supplies for home repair and mold remediation.

Mountain Projects – To provide home repair and rehabilitation for the elderly and disadvantaged people.

For more information on NHF and its funding priorities, visit www.nantahala healthfoundation.org.

news

A Vecinos worker spends some down time playing with a child of one of the farmworkers.

care and preventive services to underserved and chronic patient populations in the community.

Swain County Health Department – to support expansion of dental services to lowincome and uninsured patients.

Vecinos Farmworker Health Program – to purchase medications, preventative supplies, health monitoring devices and vaccines to address patient health concerns and prevent more serious health problems.

Cherokee Indian Hospital – to purchase a simulation mannequin to allow healthcare professionals and students to learn about, prepare for and respond to life threatening emergencies utilizing best standards and evidenced based regimens and equipment.

Graham County Schools – to construct a greenhouse for the Academy that will provide a venue for instruction in gardening, sustainable horticulture and business management and will provide fresh produce for the local community.

HIGHTS – to support the Tiny Home Build proposal, part of the Youth Continuum of Care Project.

Southwestern Child Development – to support expanded eligibility for early childhood education services for children ages 0 to 3.

Southwestern Community College – to purchase equipment for the new optician program.

Swain County Recreation Department – to provide upgrades and renovations to improve accessibility for the recreation department swimming pool, increasing the

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Community Almanac

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SCC’s new Health Sciences building on track Southwestern Community College’s new $21 million Health Sciences Building is starting to take shape on the west side of the Jackson Campus as construction remains on schedule to finish by the summer of 2021.

As of Nov. 20, the structures for both stairwells and the elevator shaft have been erected.

Steel framework is expected to start in midDecember. Crews have been working diligently since breaking ground on May 6. Designed by LS3P, the building project is overseen by Michigan-based Christman Company, which has a regional office in Knoxville, Tenn.

The 55,411-square-foot building will house 10 programs across 23 classrooms and labs, along with a pediatric gym. The increase in space will result in the ability to serve approximately 144 additional students the first year and 284 additional students in each subsequent year.

“We’re pleased to see our programs and students become stronger than ever from the additional resources this new building will provide,” said Mitch Fischer, Dean of Health Sciences.

“Access to a wide variety of free healthcare services will greatly improve the quality of life in our area.”

Funding sources for the project include more than $13 million from Jackson County, $5.4 million from the Connect NC bond and more than $2 million will be covered by an Economic Development Administration grant secured by SCC and Jackson County.

ACA benefits still available The Affordable Care Act is still alive and well for 2020, according to Mountain Projects.

“Anyone who has coverage now and coverage for 2020 should continue to pay your premiums and continue to use your coverage as needed because coverage for 2020 is here to stay,” said Jan Plummer, program coordinator for the Certified Application Counselor program at Mountain Projects.

The ruling released on Wednesday, Dec. 18, only affected the section of ACA dealing with the penalty for not having insurance. The three-judge panel also sent the lawsuit back to the lower court to be reexamined, meaning it will likely take another year to work its way to the Supreme Court. Nothing has happened that will affect coverage for 2020.

Anyone who has a qualifying life change in 2020 should also check out the ACA coverage if they need health insurance because they could qualify for a Special Enrollment Period. Call Mountain Projects at 828.452.1447 if you have any questions or want more information.

sexual assault training offered through REACH. Qualifications include a minimum of a four-year degree or equivalent experience; computer skills; leadership and organization; human relations and more.

Those interested in applying should send their resume to reach@reachofmaconcounty.org. For questions, call 828.369.5544.

HIGHTS receives grant to support youth The Evergreen Foundation has awarded HIGHTS (Helping Inspire Gifts of Hope Trust and Service) grant funding to support the most vulnerable youth within our communities by providing mental health support and job-skills training.

HIGHTS is a nonprofit organization that serves at-risk youth in Jackson, Haywood, Macon and Swain counties and is committed to providing experiential activities and meaningful service learning opportunities for youth involved in public schools, mental health agencies and Juvenile Justice.

For more information about HIGHTS, visit www.hights.org.

REACH of Macon is hiring Waynesville library REACH of Macon County has a full-time posioffers new collection tion open for assistant director for Jackson County.

The person hired would work at the REACH/Center for Domestic Peace office located in Sylva, with some travel to and from the REACH of Macon office in Macon.

Required training includes 20 hours of crisis counseling and dynamics of domestic violence and

The Waynesville branch library has an exciting new collection — the Library of Things — with nontraditional items to check out using your library card.

Current items available for checkout in the Library of Things include a karaoke machine with

two microphones, pressure canner/cooker, cake decorating set, pickleball racquets, food mill, disc golf set, sous vide cooker and a knitting kit.

“This new circulating collection complements the Haywood County Public Library’s mission to inspire our community to connect, discover, and grow, and the vision to offer tools and resources to enable learning,” states Library Director Kathy Vossler.

The Library of Things is sponsored by the Friends of the Library. Cardholders who borrow a “thing” may borrow it for one week with no renewals. Items may be checked out from the Waynesville Library and must be returned during opening hours to the same branch.

For more information contact Kathy Olsen, Adult Services Librarian at kathleen.olsen@haywoodcountync.gov.

U.S. Census needs help While the holiday season is a time when people slow down, the U.S. Census Bureau is moving full steam ahead. With the 2020 Census fast approaching, the bureau is recruiting people now for 2020 Census jobs. The hiring process is starting to ramping up as we hire thousands of people across the country.

Census taker positions provide the perfect opportunity for students, retirees, and part-time or seasonal workers to earn some extra income while helping their community. Pay varies from $13.50 to $22.00 per hour, depending on where the candidate lives.

The results of the 2020 Census will help determine each state’s representation in Congress, as well as how public funds are spent for schools,

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hospitals, roads, and more. As a census taker, you’ll know that you’re earning competitive wages and serving your community in a way that will help for decades to come. These positions offer flexible hours, paid training, and weekly paychecks.

Visit https://www.census.gov/newsroom/presskits/2018/2020-recruitment.html.

Paid apprenticeships available Paid student apprenticeships with area food and farm businesses are now open for applications from WNC students.

The apprenticeship program is part of the EmPOWERing Mountain Food Systems Project in the seven western counties of North Carolina, including the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The Mountain Food & Farm Apprenticeship Program brings education and workforce development opportunities to the region in partnership with Western Carolina University, Haywood Community College, Southwestern Community College, and Tri-County Community College.

Paid Apprentices are matched with regional food and farming mentor businesses along the local supply chain. This program is designed to encourage buying and eating local.

Students can apply at bit.ly/wnc-students.

Apprentices must be enrolled in one of the aforementioned educational institutions or be a graduate within one year. Apprenticeship terms are eight-week or 16-week positions with an average of 20 hours per work week. Students must be 18 years of age or older in order to participate.

For more information, contact Christina Newhouse at christina.emfsapprenticeship@gmail.com or 828.361.2266.

Hospice House 35 percent complete Construction of SECU Hospice House in Franklin, an initiative of Hospice House Foundation of WNC, is 35 percent complete, reflecting roughly $1 million in expenditures, primarily in Macon County.

According to a spokesperson with Western Builders of Sylva, nearly half of their construction crew for the Hospice House project, and weekly payroll for such, is from Macon County. John Barbee, treasurer of Hospice House Foundation of WNC, reported that an analysis of the major subcontractors employed by Western Builders for the Hospice House project are mostly based in Macon County.

Barbee further observed that 10 new FTE jobs will be created by SECU Hospice House in Franklin, representing approximately a $700,000 annual budget flowing into the county. It is anticipated that construction of SECU Hospice House will be complete during summer 2020 with operations commencing shortly thereafter.

HHFWNC has raised $4 million, 89 percent of its $4.5 million campaign goal for SECU Hospice House.

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Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

Because one day they aren’t there T

How much longer can we tolerate Trump?

To the Editor: Only a few short years ago Americans criticized Russian leaders for their overt political philosophy: “The end justifies the means.” In other words, whatever we do is OK as long as we get what we want.

Yet, is this not exactly how Donald Trump has dealt with Ukraine officials in his quest to “dig up dirt” on Joe Biden (his likely presidential opponent in 2020)?

Today I re-read the Ten Commandments along with Proverbs 6:16-23. You can read them for yourself in the King James version of the Bible. The Ten Commandments are a key component of Christian belief. Didn’t the erstwhile Moral Majority brandish them? They (Moral Majority politicians) said little, however, about the seven things that the Lord hates as stated in Proverbs. But! But! Where is the Moral Majority today? Can they not step up and condemn the flood of lies put forth by Donald Trump? After all, lying is specifically covered by the ninth commandment. It is also specifically one of the seven things the Lord hates!

How much longer can Washington politicians (predominantly Republicans) justify the lies and other forms of deception/abuse that

Had I heard the dog barking, I would have shuttled him back into the house so John could work on his buggy in peace, but all I knew in the moment was that Mick Jagger just couldn’t get any satisfaction. John stood as much of the barking as he could — a lot more than he should have — and then came over and pounded on the door. It’s the only time I ever saw him angry. I apologized for not being more attentive. The next day, he called and apologized over and over for losing his cool.

Because John was cool. He was a retired engineer, but I can’t imagine anyone being any busier than John has been in retirement. He was always doing something. Always. He convertColumnist ed that garage into a workshop. He worked on projects, sold things on eBay, got almost daily deliveries from FedEx or UPS. He took turns driving his pickup and the Subaru around town, or he would take that dune buggy out for a spin. Once I thought I saw him wearing a helmet not much different than the one Jack Nicholson wore in “Easy Rider.” He had a great time messing with that buggy.

I can’t imagine a better neighbor than John has been. One cold morning last winter after a heavy snow, an enormous tree fell from another neighbor’s pasture across our driveway.

While we were outside in our heavy coats surveying the damage and trying to figure out what to do about the tree, John came crunching over through the snow with his chainsaw. He sawed all morning, while I lifted and stacked the pieces.

I can think of a dozen or more similar stories, the many times he has helped us and a few times when we might have

Chris Cox

he hardest thing to get used to is the stillness. The quiet.

The absolute absence of any movement at all. Day after day, everything is just as it was the day before.

His old Ford pickup is backed up to the garage, with the headlights pointing straight at our deck like a pair of eyes keeping watch. His late wife’s Subaru — which he could never bring himself to sell after she had a heart attack and passed away on the first day of their tropical vacation 10 years ago — is on the other side, nosed up to the garage door, as if hoping to gain entry. Between them is the golf cart he rode every day down the steep driveway, and then up the road to fetch his mail, with our chihuahua mix keeping pace and barking furiously as he chased along inside our fenced-in yard.

For whatever reason, our dog hated that golf cart. It made him livid. Every morning, he would sit up on the bed, look out the window, and wait for any sign of it. When it finally did appear, speeding up the driveway at a shocking rate of speed, it was as if the dog’s body had been entered by a demon. He thrashed on the bed, tore a full circle, shrieking more than barking, and then diving for the door to give chase.

In the 10 years that we were neighbors, John and I only had one uncomfortable moment, a small handful of cross words. It was over the chihuahua. One summer day a couple of years back, I was home listening to the Rolling Stones on the stereo with the volume turned way up. My son was downstairs playing some similarly loud video games with his friends. And, completely unbeknownst to us, the dog was standing out in the yard, barking incessantly at John, who was over in his driveway tinkering with a dune buggy he had bought as a project and just “for the hell of it.” There might have been 15 feet between the dog and John.

LETTERS Trump uses daily? How much longer can America be the beacon of democracy so desperately needed by the rest of the world if we refuse to walk the path of truth?

How much longer?

Dave Waldrop Webster

Car seat education will save lives To the Editor: Five years ago, shortly after partnering with the Sheriff ’s Office to begin a Safe Kids coalition in Macon County, I went through a 5-day course to become a certified car seat technician. During the rigorous five-day course, taught by experts who traveled here from Raleigh, I learned all about the most common mistakes when installing a car seat, I learned which car seat is best for a child’s age or size, and even which seat is best based on a specific vehicle. We practiced installation on dolls before finishing the week with a free car seat safety inspection station for the community.

Over the last five years, as the Chairman of Safe Kids Macon County, I have organized a dozen car seat safety events that have checked

helped him, though those stories are far fewer. I always enjoyed sitting and drinking a beer with him, talking politics, world affairs, or whatever else might be going on. He was a brilliant man and a kind man. He told me not long after we moved in that his notion of the ideal neighbor is one who is always willing to help, but pretty much minds his own business otherwise. That worked fine for us, and it worked great for 10 years.

Last Monday, when I woke up, made coffee, and went out on the deck to check the weather just like any other day, I was greeted by the sight of a dozen or more vehicles in the driveway we shared with John, emergency vehicles lined up and down, with an ambulance at the top. Law enforcement, First Responders, people swarming, maybe 20 or more. My heart fell through my body like a stone.

John had died in bed, about 36 hours before they found him on Monday morning. Friends had tried calling him on Sunday and got no response. My son said later, “I can’t believe I was just over here playing video games like nothing was wrong while John was over there dying.”

Someone’s there, and then they’re not. “Because I could not stop for death,/He kindly stopped for me.” All of that. My wife had helped him move a new lawnmower just a few weeks ago because he was having some trouble with the clutch in the truck. He’ll never use it. Day after day, his cars and that golf cart just sit there now in the very same spots.

During this holiday season and in the spirit of Christmas, be extra kind to your neighbors, especially the ones who live alone. Reach out while you can, as much as you can. Because someone’s there, and then they’re not.

(Chris Cox is a writer and teacher who lives in Haywood County. jchriscox@live.com)

over 500 car seats. Sometimes those car seat checks were for me friends or coworkers, but most of them were for complete strangers who I have not spoken to since. It is widely known that car seat safety is a great passion of mine and something I constantly advocate for.

On a recent Friday, all of those years of car seat safety and helping others became my own reality when I got a phone call that my mother and my 4-year-old niece were in a rollover accident. Their vehicle didn’t just rollover, but it rolled off the bank and landed upside down in a creek. My husband and I rushed to the scene and by the time we got there, both my mother and niece were safely out of the vehicle. Seeing that car upside own with water rushing through the inside was gut wrenching. I immediately began searching for my mother and niece who were in the ambulance. Worst case scenario flashed through my head. The car was so damaged, I was terrified of how I would find them.

When I opened the ambulance door, I saw my niece. She had a few scratches on her cheek from the broken glass from the back windshield, but otherwise she was safe. And that is when it hit me. She was safe because her Graco five-point harness saved her life.

Had she been in a booster seat, or had the seat not been properly installed, there is no question in my life she would have been seri-

ously injured in that horrific accident. But she wasn’t. A man passing by shortly after the accident jumped in the river and cut the seatbelt that was holding her into the car. She was dangling upside down in the car, but the fivepoint harness of her seat kept her secured. He carried her out of the creek, still fully secured in her car seat.

As her aunt, I am beyond grateful for the string of events that kept her safe that day, as a car seat technician, I know it was no coincidence. My sister had made the right decision of keeping Wren in a five-point harness car seat. That means on impact, there were fivepoints of impact that lessened the injury across her body and helped absorb the impact during the accident. Had my sister made the mistake, which is all too common, of transitioning Wren to a booster seat too early, we would not have had the same outcome. The car seat was properly installed inside the car.

It’s as secured with a seatbelt, which was locked, which kept it secured against the car seat even though the car was flipped upside down. The straps were snug against Wren’s body, and the harness was by her armpits, which ensured that her little body didn’t slip out while it dangled upside down. All things I have preached and scolded and annoyed my sisters to do for their children, and even strangers to do for theirs … while they seem nitpicky or aggravating at

the time, in the event of an accident those are the very things that will save a child’s life, as they did for my niece on Friday.

My mother was also able to walk away from the accident with a minor concussion and a few scratches, undoubtedly because her seatbelt also kept her safe.

Car seat safety is something that you never think you need it … until you do. That is why as Chairman of Safe Kids Macon County, I have worked with incredible volunteers to grow the list of local technicians available to check your child’s car seat for free at anytime. If you haven’t had your seat check, please do so today. Christmas time is a heavy travel season and ensuring your child is in the right seat, and the seat is properly installed could mean the difference in life and death.

To have your child’s seat checked, contact the Macon County Sheriff ’s Annex, the Franklin Police Department, or the Highlands Police Department, the Franklin Fire Department, or the Otto Fire Department, all of which have made it a

priority to have certified car seat technicians on staff to help.

Brittney Lofthouse Safe Kids Macon County Chairman

Mark Jamison

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Memories should last a lifetime.

We have supplements to support brain health & memory.

Thanks for reporting on animal cruelty To the Editor: Thank you for reporting on the recent animal cruelty case in Haywood County.

The suffering of so many animals is truly horrific. Perhaps the silver lining that can come from this terrible tragedy is recognizing and then fixing the corruption that exists within the Haywood County system that is supposed to be protecting animals.

Cory Vaillancourt’s excellent investigation points fingers at Jeff Stamey, Doyle Teague, and Frank Queen. They are bad seeds within the system, and it’s time to spit them out.

Nancy Kay, DVM Sebastapol, Calif.

Authorized Motor Fleet Management Maintenance

Smoky Mountain News

es a view of citizen as merely consumer or customer. This reductive view of citizenship has reached an apotheosis in our current national politics where everything is a deal and politicians polish their brands.

National parks are and exist as an element of national purpose and citizenship.

Charging fees is another step towards making government a purely transactional entity, simply another business from which we purchase services. If we lack the common will to support national parks as an essential national enterprise, will the same logic apply to libraries or schools? What about police and fire? Are all these simply services we purchase? If that’s the case then the idea of government and by extension the law itself is not a matter of community and common purpose but a Randian enterprise in an every man for himself world of isolated individuals.

GSMNP is desperately in need of an infusion of money for maintenance and conservation. We must have the political will to recognize the importance of funding national parks generally. The simple fact of the matter is that the $247 million maintenance backlog for the park is a rounding error in the defense budget – literally .0004 percent. Rather than wander farther down the twisted path of perverting the concepts of government and citizenship into nothing more than transactional business arrangements we should take a step back. A good place to start would be amending statutes like the General Mining Act of 1872 and similar laws that set egregiously low rates for the extraction of resources from public lands.

(Mark Jamison is a retired postmaster who lives in Jackson County. markijamison01@gmail.com.)

December 25-31, 2019

n Democracy’s Discontent: America in Search of a Public Philosophy, the political philosopher Michael Sandel discusses the tension between concepts of citizenship as a participatory responsibility and concepts of government as merely a transactional entity, another business from which we obtain services. In later work, Sandel bemoans our slide from a market economy to a market society, an allencompassing concept that everything is for sale. Sandel’s discussions came to mind as I read Scott McLeod’s recent opinion piece Time to face reality regardGuest Columnist ing the Smokies.

In the piece, McLeod argues that it is time to charge entrance fees to Great Smoky Mountains National Park with the only question being whether or not it is legal to charge fees under current statutory construction. This is an incredibly cynical framing, although I’m certain it was not intended to be cynical. Mr. McLeod’s argument elides the very central question of what our national parks represent and moves directly to the transactional assumption that user fees are a fait accompli. This view, intentional or not, accepts the view that government is simply a business engaged in providing services and that those who wish to use those services should naturally pay for them.

That’s a troubling idea as it reduces national parks to the status of entertainment or recreational service rather than as part of our national heritage held communally. Unfortunately, this implicitly endors-

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828.926.0734. Open 7 days a week 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Celebrating over 25 years.

Enjoy world famous hot dogs as well as burgers, seafood, hushpuppies, hot wings and chicken. Be sure to save room for dessert.

The cobbler, pie and cake selections are sure to satisfy any sweet tooth.

BLUE ROOSTER SOUTHERN GRILL 207 Paragon Parkway, Clyde, Lakeside Plaza at the old Wal-Mart. 828.456.1997. Open Monday through Friday. Friendly and fun family atmosphere. Local, handmade Southern cuisine. Fresh-cut salads; slow-simmered soups; flame grilled burgers and steaks, and homemade signature desserts.

Blue-plates and local fresh vegetables daily.

Brown bagging is permitted. Private parties, catering, and take-out available. Call-ahead seating available.

BOGART’S 303 S. Main St., Waynesville. 828.452.1313.

Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Carry out available. Located in downtown Waynesville, Bogart’s has been long-time noted for great steaks, soups, and salads. Casual family atmosphere in a rustic old-time setting with a menu noted for its practical value. Live Bluegrass/String Band music every Thursday. Walking distance of Waynesville’s unique shops and seasonal festival activities and within one mile of Waynesville Country Club.

BOOJUM BREWING COMPANY 50 N Main Street, Waynesville.

828.246.0350. Taproom Open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday & Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Gem Bar Open Tuesday through Sunday 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. Enjoy lunch, dinner or drinks at

Boojum’s Downtown Waynesville restaurant & bar. Choose from 16 taps of our fresh, delicious & ever rotating Boojum Beer plus cider, wine & craft cocktails. The taproom features seasonal pub faire including tasty burgers, sandwiches, shareables and daily specials that pair perfectly with our beer. Cozy up inside or take in the mountain air on our back deck."

BOURBON BARREL BEEF & ALE 454 Hazelwood Ave., Waynesville, 828.452.9191. Lunch daily 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; dinner nightly at 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday. Wine Down Wednesday’s: ½ off wine by the bottle. We specialize in handcut, all natural steaks from local farms, incredible burgers, and other classic american comfort foods that are made using only the finest local and sustainable ingredients available.

CHEF’S TABLE 30 Church St., Waynesville. 828.452.6210.

From 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday dinner starting at 5 p.m. “Best of” Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator Magazine. Set in a distinguished atmosphere with an exceptional menu. Extensive selection of wine and beer. Reservations honored.

CHURCH STREET DEPOT 34 Church Street, downtown Waynesville.

828.246.6505. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Mouthwatering all beef burgers and dogs, hand-dipped, hand-spun real ice cream shakes and floats, fresh handcut fries. Locally sourced beef. Indoor and outdoor dining. facebook.com/ChurchStreetDepot, twitter.com/ChurchStDepot.

CITY LIGHTS CAFE Spring Street in downtown Sylva.

828.587.2233. Open Monday-Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tasty, healthy and quick. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, espresso, beer and wine.

Come taste the savory and sweet crepes, grilled paninis, fresh, organic salads, soups and more. Outside patio seating. Free Wi-Fi, pet-friendly. Live music and lots of events.

Check the web calendar at citylightscafe.com.

THE CLASSIC WINESELLER 20 Church Street, Waynesville.

828.452.6000. Underground retail wine and

craft beer shop, restaurant, and intimate live music venue. Kitchen opens at 4 p.m.

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

COUNTRY VITTLES: FAMILY STYLE RESTAURANT 3589 Soco Rd, Maggie Valley.

828.926.1820 Winter hours: Wednesday through Sunday 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Family Style at Country Vittles is not a buffet.

Instead our waitresses will bring your food piping hot from the kitchen right to your table and as many refills as you want. So if you have a big appetite, but sure to ask your waitress about our family style service.

EVERETT HOTEL & BISTRO 16 Everett St.,Bryson City. 828.488.1934.

Open daily for dinner at 4:30 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday Brunch from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.; dinner from 4:30-9:30 p.m. Serving fresh and delicious weekday morning lite fare, lunch, dinner, and brunch. Freshly prepared menu offerings range from house-made soups & salads, lite fare & tapas, crepes, specialty sandwiches and burgers. Be sure not to miss the bold flavors and creative combinations that make up the daily Chef Supper Specials. Followed by a tempting selection of desserts prepared daily by our chefs and other local bakers. Enjoy craft beers on tap, as well as our full bar and eclectic wine list.

FERRARA PIZZA & PASTA 243 Paragon Parkway, Clyde.

828.476.5058. Open Monday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday 12 to 8 p.m. Real New Yorkers. Real Italians. Real Pizza. A full service authentic Italian pizzeria and restaurant from New York to the Blue Ridge. Dine in, take out, and delivery. Check out our daily lunch specials plus customer appreciation nights on Monday and Tuesday 5 to 9 p.m. with large cheese pizzas for $9.95.

FIREFLY TAPS & GRILL 128 N. Main St., Waynesville 828.454.5400. Simple, delicious food. A must experience in WNC. Located in downtown Waynesville with an atmosphere that will warm your heart and your belly! Local and regional beers on tap. Full bar, vegetarian options, kids menu, and more.

Reservations accepted. Daily specials. Live music every Saturday from 7 to 10 p.m.

Smoky Mountain News

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828.926.0201 At the Maggie Valley Inn • 70 Soco Road, Maggie Valley

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

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

Closed Tuesday

Sunday 12-9 p.m.

Sandwiches • Burgers • Wraps 32 Felmet Street (828) 246-0927

tasteTHE mountains Open Mon.-Sat. 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Sunday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

p.m. Serving breakfast, lunch, nd dinner.

The restaurant has a 1950s & 60s theme decorated with memorabilia from that era.

FROGS LEAP PUBLIC HOUSE 44 Church St., Downtown Waynesville 828.456.1930 Serving dinner 5 to 9 p.m.

Tuesday through Thursday. 5 to 9:30 p.m.

Friday and Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday. Frogs Leap is a farm to table restaurant focused on local, sustainable, natural and organic products prepared in modern regional dishes. Seasonal menu focuses on Southern comfort foods with upscale flavors.

Reservations accepted. www.frogsleappublichouse.com.

KANINI’S 1196 N. Main St., Waynesville.

828.452.5187. Lunch Monday-Saturday from 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., eat in or carry out. Closed Sunday. A made-from-scratch kitchen using fresh ingredients. Offering a variety of meals to go from frozen meals to be stored and cooked later to “Dinners to Go” that are made fresh and ready to enjoyed that day. We also specialize in catering any event from from corporate lunches to weddings. kaninis.com

GUADALUPE CAFÉ 606 W. Main Street, Sylva. 828.586.9877.

Open 7 days a week at 5 p.m. Located in the historic Hooper’s Drugstore, Guadalupe Café is a chef-owned and operated restaurant serving Caribbean inspired fare complimented by a quirky selection of wines and microbrews. Supporting local farmers of organic produce, livestock, hand-crafted cheese, and using sustainably harvested seafood.

MAD BATTER FOOD & FILM 617 W. Main Street Downtown Sylva.

828.586.3555. Open Monday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. with Sunday Brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Handtossed pizza, house-ground burgers, steak sandwiches & fresh salmon all from scratch.

Casual family friendly atmosphere. Craft beer and interesting wine. Free movies Thursday through Saturday. Visit madbatterfoodfilm.com for this week’s shows & events.

HAZELWOOD FARMACY & SODA FOUNTAIN 429 Hazelwood Avenue, Waynesville.

828.246.6996. Open six days a week, closed Wednesday. 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday; 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday brunch 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Breakfast until noon, old-fashioned luncheonette and diner comfort food.

Historic full service soda fountain.

JOEY'S PANCAKE HOUSE 4309 Soco Rd Maggie Valley.

828.926.0212. Open seven days a week! 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. Joey’s is a family-friendly restaurant that has been serving breakfast to locals and visitors of Western North Carolina for decades. Featuring a large variety of tempting pancakes, golden waffles, country style cured ham and seasonal specials spiked with flavor, Joey's is sure to please all appetites. Join us for what has become a tradition in these parts, breakfast at Joey’s.

JUKEBOX JUNCTION U.S. 276 and N.C. 110 intersection, Bethel.

828.648.4193. 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday; Sunday 8:30 a.m. to 3

MAGGIE VALLEY RESTAURANT 2804 Soco Road, Maggie Valley.

828.926.0425. 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Daily specials including soups, sandwiches and southern dishes along with featured dishes such as fresh fried chicken, rainbow trout, country ham, pork chops and more.

Breakfast all day including omelets, pancakes, biscuits & gravy. facebook.com/carversmvr; instagram @carvers_mvr.

MOUNTAIN PERKS ESPRESSO BAR & CAFÉ 9 Depot St., Bryson City. 828.488.9561.

Open Monday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. With music at the Depot. Sunday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Life is too short for bad coffee. We feature wonderful breakfast and lunch selections. Bagels, wraps, soups, sandwiches, salads and quiche with a variety of specialty coffees, teas and smoothies. Various desserts.

PIGEON RIVER GRILLE 101 Park St., Canton.

828.492.1422. Open Tuesday through Thursday 3 to 8 p.m.; Friday-Saturday noon to 9 p.m.; Sunday noon to 6 p.m. Southerninspired restaurant serving simply prepared, fresh food sourced from top purveyors.

Located riverside at Bearwaters Brewing, enjoy daily specials, sandwiches, wings, fish and chips, flatbreads, soups, salads, and more. Be sure to save room for a slice of the delicious house made cake. Relaxing inside/outside dining and spacious gathering areas for large groups.

RENDEZVOUS RESTAURANT AND BAR Maggie Valley Inn and Conference Center 70 Soco Road, Maggie Valley 828.926.0201 Home of the Maggie Valley Pizzeria. We deliver after 4 p.m. daily to all of Maggie Valley, J-Creek area, and Lake Junaluska.

SALTY DOG'S SEAFOOD & GRILL 3567 Soco Road, Maggie Valley.

828.926.9105. Open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. Full service bar and restaurant located in the center of Maggie Valley.

Featuring daily $6 lunch specials and daily dinner specials such as $1 Taco Tuesdays and 45¢ Wednesday Wings.

SPEEDY’S PIZZA 285 Main Street, Sylva. 828.586.3800.

Open seven days a week. Monday-Friday 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Saturday 3 p.m.-11 p.m., Sunday 4 p.m.-10 p.m. Family-owned for 30 years. Serving hand-tossed pizza made to order, pasta, subs, gourmet salads, calzones and seafood.

TAP ROOM BAR & GRILL 176 Country Club Drive, Waynesville.

828.456.3551. Open seven days a week serving lunch and dinner. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Tucked away inside Waynesville Inn, the Tap Room Bar & Grill has an approachable menu designed around locally sourced, sustainable, farm-to-table ingredients. Full bar and wine cellar. www.thewaynesvilleinn.com.

VITO’S PIZZA 607 Highlands Rd., Franklin.

828.369.9890. Established here in in 1998. Come to Franklin and enjoy our laid back place, a place you can sit back, relax and enjoy our 62” HDTV. Our Pizza dough, sauce, meatballs, and sausage are all made from scratch by Vito. The recipes have been in the family for 50 years (don't ask for the recipes cuz’ you won't get it!) Each Pizza is hand tossed and made with TLC. You're welcome to watch your pizza being created.

WAYNESVILLE PIZZA COMPANY 32 Felmet Street, Waynesville.

828.246.0927. Open Monday through Friday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 10 p.m.; Sunday noon to 9 p.m.; closed Tuesdays. Opened in May 2016, The Waynesville Pizza Company has earned a reputation for having the best hand-tossed pizza in the area. Featuring a custom bar with more than 20 beers and a rustic, family friendly dining room. Menu includes salads, burgers, wraps, hot and cold sandwiches, gourmet pizza, homemade desserts, and a loaded salad bar. The Cuban sandwich is considered by most to be the best in town.

Monday, Tuesday Wednesday Thursday, Friday Saturday Sunday Brunch

7:30am to 4pm Closed 7:30am to 4pm 8am to 4pm 9am to 3pm

MON.-SAT. 11AM–8PM

34 CHURCH ST. WAYNESVILLE 828.246.6505 twitter.com/ChurchStDepot

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#1 BURGER! facebook.com/ChurchStreetDepot

Wine • Port • Champagne Cigars • Gifts

828-452-6000

20 Church Street Downtown Waynesville

classicwineseller.com MONDAY - SATURDAY

10:00AM - 6:00PM

Smoky Mountain News

J. ARTHUR’S RESTAURANT AT MAGGIE VALLEY U.S. 19 in Maggie Valley. 828.926.1817.

Open for dinner at 4:30 Tuesday through Sunday. World-famous prime rib, steaks, fresh seafood, gorgonzola cheese and salads.

All ABC permits and open year-round.

Children always welcome. Take-out menu.

Excellent service and hospitality.

Reservations appreciated.

MAGGIE VALLEY CLUB 1819 Country Club Dr., Maggie Valley.

828.926.1616. maggievalleyclub.com/dine.

Open seasonally for lunch and dinner. Fine and casual fireside dining in welcoming atmosphere. Full bar. Reservations accepted.

SAGEBRUSH STEAKHOUSE 1941 Champion Drive, Canton 828.646.3750 895 Russ Ave., Waynesville 828.452.5822. Sunday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Carry out available.

Sagebrush features hand carved steaks, chicken and award winning BBQ ribs. We have fresh salads, seasonal vegetables and scrumptious deserts. Extensive selection of local craft beers and a full bar. Catering special events is one of our specialties.

828-246-6996 429 Hazelwood Avenue Waynesville

December 25-31, 2019

HARMON’S DEN BISTRO 250 Pigeon St., Waynesville 828.456.6322. Harmon’s Den is located in the Fangmeyer Theater at HART. Open 5:309 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday (Bistro closes at 7:30 p.m. on nights when there is a show in the Fangmeyer Theater) with Sunday brunch at 11 a.m. that includes breakfast and lunch items. Harmon’s Den offers a complete menu with cocktails, wine list, and area beers on tap. Enjoy casual dining with the guarantee of making it to the performance in time, then rub shoulders with the cast afterward with post-show food and beverage service. Reservations recommended. www.harmonsden.harttheatre.org

Monday through Wednesday: 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday: 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. country buffet and salad bar from 5 to 9 p.m. $11.95 with Steve Whiddon on piano.

Friday and Saturday: 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday 11:30 to 8 p.m. 11:30 to 3 p.m. family style, fried chicken, ham, fried fish, salad bar, along with all the fixings, $11.95.

Check out our events and menu at rendezvousmaggievalley.com

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

Sunday: 12- 9 p.m. • Monday: Closed

101 PARK ST. CANTON 828.492.1422 PIGEONRIVERGRILLE.COM

19

20

A&E

Smoky Mountain News

Crafting a sense of community Nocturnal Brewing offers fine ales in Hayesville

David Grace.

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER or a place that was dry just a decade ago, Clay County is now home to one of the finest craft breweries in Western North Carolina.

“Our beers are mostly driven on tradition, but we also try to push the boundaries,” said David Grace, brewmaster at Nocturnal Brewing in downtown Hayesville. “We definitely do the tried and true American styles craft beers, but we also push heavily into fruity beers and sours.”

Situated just off the town square, the brewery is housed in what was a former car dealership. Opened in October 2018, the 3,800square-foot space is inviting, with the brewing operations alongside tables and an extended bar counter. The outdoor patio complements the vibrant social nature now overtaking this once quiet — more so dormant — downtown that has had a reawakening in recent years.

“I get really excited when I walk in here and see all these people enjoying what we’re doing,

F

Want to go?

Nocturnal Brewing is located at 893 U.S. 64 Business in downtown Hayesville. The brewery also offers a full menu. For more information, click on www.nocturnalbrewing.com or call 828.305.7337. and that we’ve provided the community with something they wanted,” said Brittany Redding, manager of Nocturnal. “Everything we’ve done here is a little bit of each of us who works here — it feels like a family.”

Grace and Redding were part of a crew of folks from Atlanta, Georgia, who worked at The Brick Store Pub, a world-renowned craft beer haven in Decatur. It was at the pub where the seed was planted to launch Nocturnal. The owners of the pub approached a handful of their employees about opening a brewery in Hayesville, a place the owners had second homes.

“They pretty much gave us free range to make this place our own. They gave us the resources we needed and trusted in what we envision for the property,” Redding said. “We were able to combine all of our experience in brewing, cooking and the service industry, and put it together to create this space.”

Offering an array of tasty ales, Nocturnal operates on a 2.5-barrel system with about a 100-gallon capacity per brewing session, where Grace does two batches per week. In terms of his experience, Grace learned by doing it himself, starting with a homebrew kit over a

Nocturnal Brewing specializes in traditional ales alongside fruity styles and sour offerings. decade ago and picking up his talented skill set through various jobs in the craft beer industry.

“I love the passion and camaraderie of the brewing community. I love to cook and create something, and this industry just pulled me in because of that aspect of this position,” Grace said. “And I really like the collaboration beers between breweries, too, which is something we’re looking forward to doing soon with other breweries around our region.”

Grace noted many of his ales contain local ingredients, including strawberries and watermelons from SMM Farms (Hayesville), while a lot of the produce in the food dishes comes from Carringer Farms (Franklin). In a full circle endeavor, Nocturnal gives its spent brewing

Brittany Redding. grains to pigs at Still Waters Landing (Hayesville) and Brasstown Beef, both of which provide meat to the brewery.

“We’re really fortunate to be starting this brewery in such a vast agricultural state like North Carolina — we’re able to get fresh produce and meats all throughout the year,” Grace said.

“Hayesville is in this pocket where we’re a short drive from North Georgia and East Tennessee.

This entire area is great for agriculture and we’re focusing on sourcing as many things as we can from right in our own backyard.”

“And we’re been able to find this balance in the menu and in the kitchen where we can offer farm-to-table options, but also still have that pretty casual pub style food,” Redding added.

Now with one year under its belt, Nocturnal is looking to complement its stellar craft beer and restaurant components with more activities, from regular live music and trivia to special release beer tastings and dinner events. Coming into 2020, Grace hopes to also amp up the brewing operation to a five- or seven-barrel system.

“It’s a very humbling experience to live and work in such a beautiful place. I wake up and look out my back window and all I can see is the mountain range,” Grace said. “And then I come in here to the brewery and there’s a whole range of opportunities. It’s a hands-on creation that I’m just happy to be doing and sharing with people.”

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

I-26 just west of Asheville.

There will be a special performance by Darren Nicholson and friends, titled “Uptown Downhome,” at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 31, at the Folkmoot Friendship Center in Waynesville.

The “Polar Express” will depart on select times through Dec. 31 from the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad depot in Bryson City.

ive or take, it’s about Boojum Brewing Company (Waynesville) will host 1,010 miles from “The Great Gatsby” New Year’s Eve Party at 9 Waynesville, North p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 31.

Carolina (my current home) to Plattsburgh, New York (my The Swain County Genealogical & Historical hometown). I know this fact Society will present “Remembering Hol Rose and seeing as about twice a year I Babe Burnett,” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 2, at roar up and down the interthe Swain County Regional Business Education states of the Eastern Seaboard and Training Center in Bryson City. either heading home for the Andrews Brewing Company (Andrews) will host holidays or back to Southern Joey Fortner (singer-songwriter) 6 p.m. Friday, Appalachia for work.

Jan. 3.

Starting with I-40 to Asheville, it’s I-26 into Johnson City, Tennessee, onward to I-81 into aging parents. I think of not being there on Christmas morning to watch my niece open Virginia through West Virginia, Maryland, presents or not being able to watch football and Pennsylvania, all the way up to I-88 in Binghamton, New York, then I-90 to Albany, with my dad over a cold beer next to the fiery woodstove.

New York, and, lastly, I-87 amid the Seeing as it’s so damn expensive to fly Adirondack Mountains to Plattsburgh. home (I could literally go to Europe for the Depending on traffic, it takes me about price of flying back to the North Country), I 18 hours or so to make the trek. And there start to plot out when I will depart from my always comes a point before I take on that humble abode in Haywood County. As drive where I contemplate whether or not it would easier and cheaper to fly home, or not you’re reading this, I’ve already gone through the range of emotions of heading go home at all. home for the holidays, seeing as the game But, then I think about missing out on plan is to once again be home for Christmas. quality time with my family, whether it be As someone who has always felt more at my five-year-old niece, my little sister or my

G

Entertainment Schedule Dec 27 | Karaoke | 7-10 PM Fuego Food Truck Dec 28 | Bluegrass Jam | 6-9 PM Appalachian Smoke Food Truck

CELEBRATE NEW YEAR’S EVE! 9PM to 12:30AM Featuring

the Mile High Band Fireworks by Maggie’s First Night Committee at 11PM

CASUAL FINE DINING WITH LIVE MUSIC COVERED PATIO LATE NIGHT MENU

KITCHEN 743 TUESDAY THRU SUNDAY FROM 5PM UNTIL...

SUNDAY BRUNCH 10AM TO 2PM

Smoky Mountain News

HOT PICKS 1 2 3 4 5

WEEKEND ENTERTAINMENT

December 25-31, 2019

There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars

FULL BAR SERVING BEER, WINE, COCKTAILS NOW OPEN 10 AM-7 PM MONDAY-THURSDAY 10 AM- 10 PM FRIDAY-SATURDAY

arts & entertainment

This must be the place

home when on the road — either for work or play — these long-distance jaunts have always been in my blood, but it seems to get more daunting with age.

When I was fresh out of college and hungry to see the country, I remember nonstop (all in one sitting) trips from Buffalo, New York, to Rapid City, South Dakota (1,522 miles) or those handful of excursions from Jackson, Wyoming, to Reno, Nevada (706 miles) and San Francisco, California (924 miles). Heck, when I moved out west in 2008, that trip from Plattsburgh to Driggs, Idaho, was quite the haul (2,258 miles).

Sometimes I had folks to keep me company. But, mostly I was — and remain — alone and in deep thought, only to be shook out of it by rest area or gas station stops, the sporadic Waffle House urge in the wee hours of some hazy morning below the MasonDixon Line.

And yet, as much as I may detest the never-ending drive home, I’m sitting here right now in Waynesville already thinking about who I’m hoping to see and what I’m aiming to do while home. Visiting old friends from high school. Skiing a day or two at Whiteface or Jay Peak if I can get the chance.

Maybe a hike in the Adirondacks or an afternoon motoring to nearby Montreal, Quebec.

But, mostly, my mind is drifting back to the driving route. For every mile traveled, there’s some beautiful or interesting sight to behold, from the Blue Ridge to Adirondack mountain ranges. I think of places like Bristol, Abingdon, Roanoke, Carlisle and Mountain Top or spots like Natural Bridge, Shenandoah National Park, and so forth.

Lately, I’ve been using this All Trails app on my smart phone. With it, I’m able to find trails or greenways near the interstate where I can slide away from hours of monotonous driving and lace up my running shoes.

The app has brought me to countless trailheads and community paths of beauty and splendor: the most random of which being a picturesque former railroad track now running trail through silent cornfields, just a stone’s throw from a heavily congested highway.

And, like clockwork, there always comes a point where I find myself in some sort of Zen zone on the drive home, those tranquil moments where the vehicle is in a steady, free-flowing motion, your mind wandering, usually making sense of the past year — a rewind to prep for the new calendar on the walls of your heart.

It’s in those Zen zone moments where I thank my lucky stars I’m able to channel that kind of spirit and emotion, something I chase after — literally and figuratively — when out on the open road, the ideal music radiating from my truck stereo, seamlessly provoking sentiments and actions from the furthest extents of my being.

So, wherever you’re headed this holiday season, may your travels be safe and your thoughts worthy in hopes of finding balance within. Remember, the sun will rise tomorrow, as it always does. And whenever life gets a little too hectic, there’s always the endless open road to clear your mind, body and soul.

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

AVAILABLE FOR PRIVATE EVENTS 743 HAYWOOD RD • WEST ASHEVILLE

ISISASHEVILLE.COM 828.575.2737

21

Smoky Mountain News

December 25-31, 2019

arts & entertainment

On the beat

NYE party at Folkmoot features Darren Nicholson and friends In celebration of New Year’s Eve, there will be a special performance by Darren Nicholson and friends, titled “Uptown Downhome,” at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 31, in the Queen Auditorium at the Folkmoot Friendship Center in Waynesville.

It’ll be an evening designed for music lovers and sweethearts, featuring Balsam Range’s Darren Nicholson, Jennifer Nicholson, Waynesville’s own Bohemian Jean and percussionist Richard Foulk sharing an eclectic mix of jazz standards, R&B, country, bluegrass, blues and more.

Nicholson is a Grammy Award nominee and a recipient of numerous International Bluegrass Music Association’s Awards, including “Entertainer of the Year” (2014, 2018), “Song of the Year” (2011) and “Album of the Year” (2006, 2017).

He has appeared countless times on WSM’s Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium, CMT, GAC and many of the world’s most famous venues and networks.

Currently, he records and tours as a full-time, founding member of Balsam Range with all sorts of collaborative efforts each year.

Bohemian Jean is a husband and wife duo made up of Waynesville residents Matthew Welborn and Jessi Stone. The two have been performing Matthew’s originals and Jessi’s favorite covers together for more than 15 years. Jessi chooses songs that suit her soulful

alto voice — including hits from Janis Joplin, Stevie Nicks, Patsy Cline and Bonnie Raitt — while Matthew plays acoustic guitar, provides rich harmonies and shares his original songs as well. Matt and Jessi are also members of local band Stone Crazy.

Asheville-based percussionist Richard Foulk is known across the region for his live and studio music, including work with the popular band Sons of Ralph, Balsam Range and the Honeycutters.

Enjoy celebratory food and drinks, dance with your sweetheart, make your new years pronouncements and ring in the new year with one of Haywood County’s most celebrated artists. This party will be a friendly, fun, semi-formal event.

The New Years menu will include an hors d’oeuvre buffet, with sweet and savory dishes served throughout the evening. A champagne toast is included in the ticket price. Beer and wine are available for purchase.

Babysitting services are available for kids between 5 and 12 years old. Kids will enjoy hands-on make and take activities, board games, finger foods and movies throughout the night with Folkmoot’s expert guide staff.

Kids will have an opportunity to nap if needed. Cost is $25 per child.

Tickets are $50 per person. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, visit www.folkmoot.org or call 828.452.2997.

• Andrews Brewing Company (Andrews) will host the “Lounge Series” at its Calaboose location with Andrew Chastain Dec. 26, Wyatt & Blue Dec. 27, Scott Streible Dec. 28, Bill Vespasian 4 p.m. Dec. 29, Joey Fortner Jan. 3 and Scott Stambaugh Jan. 4. All shows are free and begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.andrewsbrewing.com.

“The Great Gatsby” New Year’s Eve Party Dec. 31. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.boojumbrewing.com.

• Blue Ridge Beer Hub (Waynesville) will host an acoustic jam with Main St. NoTones from 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 26 and Jan. 2. Free and open to the public. www.blueridgebeerhub.com.

• Boojum Brewing Company (Waynesville) will host a bluegrass open mic every Wednesday, an all-genres open mic every Thursday and

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host DJ Kountry Dec. 28, Elysium Park Jan. 4 and Alma Russ 4 p.m. Jan. 5. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. www.froglevelbrewing.com.

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• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will have an Open Mic night Dec. 25 and Jan. 3, a jazz night with the Kittle/Collings Duo Dec. 26 and Jan. 4, and a “Prohibition Ends Here” New Year’s Eve Party Dec. 31. All events are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.innovation-brewing.com.

Darren Nicholson.

• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host Clint Roberts Dec. 28, New Year’s Eve Dance Party 8 p.m. Dec. 31 and A. Lee Edwards Jan. 4.

All events are free and begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.innovationbrewing.com.

• Isis Music Hall (West Asheville) will host Papadosio (rock/jam) 9 p.m. Dec. 27-28, Peggy Ratusz’s student showcase (jazz/soul) 6 p.m. Dec. 29, Dirty Logic (Steely Dan tribute) 7:30 p.m. Dec. 29 and Ellis Dyson & The Shambles (jazz/old-time) 9 p.m. Dec. 31. For more information about the performances and/or to purchase tickets, click on www.isisasheville.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host an open mic night at 6:30 p.m. every Thursday,

Heidi Holton (blues/folk) Dec. 27, Mother Legacy Band Dec. 28 and The Ramcats 9 p.m. Dec. 31. All shows begin at 8 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 STIG (funk) Dec. 28 and Beggar’s Clan 9:30 p.m.

Dec. 31. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. For more information and a complete schedule of events, click on www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Legends Sports Grill (Maggie Valley) will host music semi-regularly on weekends.

828.926.9464 or www.facebook.com/legendssportsgrillmaggievalley.

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• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host the “Stone Soup” open mic night every Tuesday, Woolybooger & The Loon Dec. 27 and Frank & Allie Lee Dec. 28. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m. www.mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

• Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host Captain Midnight Band (rock/soul) 8 p.m. Jan. 10. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. www.nantahalabrewing.com.

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• Mad Anthony’s Taproom & Restaurant (Waynesville) will host “Music Bingo” 7 p.m.

Dec. 26. All shows are free and open to the public. 828.246.9249.

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• Pub 319 (Waynesville) will host an open mic night from 8 to 11 p.m. every Wednesday.

Free and open to the public. www.pub319socialhouse.com.

• Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub (Franklin) will host Blue Jazz Dec. 27 and Mike Chaet Dec. 28. Shows begin at 8 p.m. Free and open to the public. www.rathskellerfranklin.com.

• Salty Dog’s (Maggie Valley) will have Karaoke with Jason Wyatt at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays, Mile High (classic rock) 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays, and a Trivia w/Kelsey Jo 8 p.m. Thursdays.

ALSO:

• The Strand at 38 Main (Waynesville) will host an “Open Mic” night from 7 to 9 p.m. on Saturdays. 828.283.0079 or www.38main.com.

December 25-31, 2019

• Satulah Mountain Brewing (Highlands) will host “Hoppy Hour” and an open mic at 6 p.m. on Thursdays and live music on Friday evenings. 828.482.9794 or www.satulahmountainbrewing.com.

• The Ugly Dog Pub (Cashiers) will host Bluegrass Thursdays w/Benny Queen at 6:30 p.m. and Hustle Souls 9 p.m. Dec. 31.

• The Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host an “Open Mic Night” on Mondays, karaoke on Thursdays and semi-regular music on Fridays and Saturdays. All events at 9:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

828.456.4750.

Smoky Mountain News

• The Ugly Dog Pub (Highlands) will host Bluegrass w/Nitrograss Wednesdays at 7 p.m. and a New Year’s Eve Party 9:30 p.m.

Dec. 31.

• Whiteside Brewing (Cashiers) will host a New Year’s Eve Party 9 p.m. Dec. 31. Free and open to the public. 828.743.6000 or www.whitesidebrewing.com.

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News, A&E, Outdoors coverage and more each week in Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties. Visit www.smokymountainnews.com to read, comment and search over 10 years of archives.

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December 25-31, 2019

The “Polar Express” will depart on select times through Dec. 31 from the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad depot in Bryson City. For more information on departures or to purchase tickets, click on www.gsmr.com.

Don Casada will lead the presentation assisted by Brenda Gordon, a great-granddaughter of Hol Rose, and Gary Reece, grandson of the Brownings.

Conversation and refreshments will follow the presentation. This is free and open to the public.

.smokymountainnews.com

POLAR EXPRESS IN BRYSON CITY

The next meeting of the Swain County Genealogical & Historical Society will host a presentation, “Remembering Hol Rose and Babe Burnett,” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 2, at the Swain County Regional Business Education and Training Center in Bryson City.

With the possible exception of the building of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, no event in Swain County in the first half of the 20th century had broader exposure than the death of U.S. Prohibition Agent Hol Rose at the hand of “Babe” Burnett.

Rose died as the result of a gunshot blast in 1920 near the Burnett Barn on upper Brush Creek. Burnett, wounded by either Rose or law officer Charlie Beck, fled the scene and eluded pursuers by crossing the ridge to Lakey Creek. Initially, he hid out near the home of cousin Etta Browning. In May 1921, Burnett turned himself in.

This presentation will review the life and death of Hol Rose and information about Rose’s extended family including Hol’s uncle, Quill Rose. Babe Burnette and his family, along with developments connected with the trials and strong local sympathy for Burnett will also be part of the discussion as well as the story of the marriage of Babe Burnett’s son Verlin to Hol Rose’s daughter, Ima, who met during Babe’s first trial.

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144 MONTGOMAERY ST. · WAYNESVILLE | 828.452.4251 629 W. MAIN ST. · SYLVA | 828.631.4829 WWW.SMOKYMOUNTAINNEWS.COM

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• Stonehouse Pottery (Waynesville) will be doing an Open Studio Tour and Sale the first Sunday of each month to help support our local nonprofits. Each month highlights a different artist and that artists chooses his or her nonprofit. Stonehouse Pottery and the artist then give a portion of the proceeds as a donation to that nonprofit.

• The Weekly Open Studio art classes will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville, Instructor will be Betina Morgan. Open to all

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artists, at any stage of development, and in the medium of your choice. Cost is $25 per class. There will also be a Youth Art Class from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m. on Wednesdays. Cost is $15 per class. Contact Morgan at 828.550.6190 or email bmk.morgan@yahoo.com.

• The Museum of the Cherokee Indian’s exhibit, “People of the Clay: Contemporary Cherokee Potters,” features more than 60 potters from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Cherokee Nation, and more than one hundred works from 1900 to the present.

The exhibit will run through April.

• A “Beginner Step-By-Step” adult painting class will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. There is also a class at 6:30 p.m. on the last Wednesday of the month at Balsam Fall Brewing in Sylva. Cost is $25 with all supplies provided. For more information on paint dates and/or to RSVP, contact Robin Arramae at 828.400.9560 or wncpaintevents@gmail.com.

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Smoky Mountain News

• A showing of new works and a series of prints by Jenean Hornbuckle is currently on display at the Rotunda Gallery in the Sylva library. The show will be up through Jan. 7.

The gallery is open library hours, Monday through Saturday. For more information about the event or the Rotunda Gallery space, contact the Jackson County Arts Council at info@jacksoncountyarts.org or 828.507.9820.

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.

December 25-31, 2019

The Haywood County Arts Council annual show, “It’s a Small, Small Work,” will be held through Jan. 4 in HCAC Gallery & Gifts in Waynesville.

The 2019 exhibit will feature 60 artists and almost 240 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,

arts & entertainment

‘It’s a Small, Small Work’ exhibit

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Bosu’s tastings, small plates Bosu’s Wine Shop in Waynesville will host an array of wine tastings and small plates throughout the week.

• Mondays: Free tastings and discounts on select styles of wine that changes weekly.

• Thursdays: Five for $5 wine tasting, with small plates available for purchase from Chef Bryan’s gourmet cuisine in The Secret Wine Bar. • Wednesday-Saturday: The Secret Wine Bar will be open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

• Fridays: The Secret Wine Bar will be open for drinks and small plates from 5 to 9 p.m.

• Saturdays: Champagne cocktails from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Secret Wine Bar will be open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. There will also be a free wine tasting from 1 to 5 p.m.

Dog friendly patio and front garden open, weather permitting. 828.452.0120 or email info@waynesvillewine.com.

• A free wine tasting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Dec. 26 and Jan. 2, and 2 to 5 p.m.

Dec. 28 and Jan. 4 at The Wine Bar & Cellar in Sylva. 828.631.3075.

• Free cooking demonstrations will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturdays at Country Traditions in Dillsboro.

Watch the demonstrations, eat samples and taste house wines for $3 a glass. All recipes posted online. www.countrytraditionsnc.com.

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Smoky Mountain News

On the stage

26

• There is free comedy improv class from 7 to 9 p.m. every Thursday at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. No experience necessary, just come to watch or join in the fun.

Improv teacher Wayne Porter studied at Sak Comedy Lab in Orlando, Florida, and performed improvisation with several groups. Join Improv WNC on Facebook or just call 828.316.8761.

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Books

Smoky Mountain News

27

The story of a Beat original nce upon a time there was a poet named Bob Kaufman. He hadn’t spoken in anything resembling normal language in almost 12 years. Having taken a vow of silence as his own personal protest against American hyprocrisy and racial injustice, Bob Kaufman is probably the most important and unheralded of all the Beat generation literary luminaries. He was the true original. In the streets. On target.

Under the radar. Yet at the forefront, breaking all the barriers.

An African Writer American born in 1925 and originally from New Orleans, he ended up in San Francisco where I ran into him in the 1970s in the streets, cafes and bars in North Beach. As one of the original editors of the Beat mimeograph literary magazine Beatitude, he was already a local legend and heralded greatly in France as “the black Rimbaud.” But at this point in his life he was not speaking. Not complete sentences anyway. Occasionally a rare word or phrase would emerge from his lips and everyone present would stop what they were doing and take notice and try and attach meaning to his random utterings.

It wasn’t until the fall of 1974 that I heard him speak in a normal voice — one day sitting in Malvina’s Cafe when he literally jumped up on the table where I and a few other magazine editors were seated in a meeting to co-publish a book by a poet in San Quentin prison as he started reciting a lengthy oration of random excerpts by Whitman, Lorca, Keats, Eliot, Olson, Rimbaud and his own poems.

From this amazing performance it wasn’t long until we had organized a poetry reading for him at the Savoy Tivoli in North Beach where there were over a hundred and fifty people crammed into that small venue as well as at least that many in the street waiting to get in and to hear their Beat hero read for the first time in 12 years. Bob Kaufman delivered with lines like these: “Let us carry Inca staves

Thomas Crowe

O

to hawk-priest rituals on altars/of bleeding suns./Let us blow African jazz in Alabama jungles and wail/savage lovesongs of unchained fire./Let us melt jelly-like into damp caves of lip-biting women/and feel dew-charred dampnesses of gyrating/univers-

es of smoke-flavored jazz.” And on and on it went like a tidal wave of hip observation and comprehension that covers the globe with delicate details and insightful images.

Kaufman’s crisp Whitmanesque jazz lines and style inspired and influenced people like Carl Solomon, who in turn inspired Allen Ginsberg, who influenced an expanded generation of peers and prodigy. While not a house-

Book chronicles Smokies characters, history Journalist and author Holly Kays has released a new work, Trailblazers & Traditionalists: Modern-day Smoky Mountain People.

The book is a compilation of 33 feature stories written previously published in the weekly newsmagazine The Smoky Mountain News, where Kays works as a journalist. The book offers an intimate look into the lives of some of the diverse and fascinating people who call this mountainous region home.

hold name like Kerouac, Ferlinghetti, Corso, McClure and Burroughs, he was a major influence on them all. In short, he was a major influence on everyone that came into contract with him and/or his poems. Since his death in January of 1986 countless tributes have been written to and about him. Three of these tributes, as well as some excellent photos and a biographical chronology, are included in The Collected Poems of Bob Kaufman by two of the collection’s editors, Neeli Cherkovski and Raymond Foye, as well as a foreword

by San Francsico native and family friend Devorah Major. Included are some revealing behind-the-scenes stories and revelations about the man, his work and the scene that he created and then presided over for well over thirty years.

In some literary circles Bob Kaufman is known as a “jazz poet.”

And jazz was certainly ever-evident in the rhythmic structures and imagery of his poems. In collections that are now considered to be among his major contributions to American literature, such as Solitudes Crowded With Loneliness, Second April, Does the Secret Mind Whisper?, Golden Sardine and The Ancient Rain, we can experience the jazz influences in Kaufman’s verse, such as these lines in the poem “Tequila Jazz”: “Unseen

Kays makes her home in the mountains of Western North Carolina. In 2017, she published her debut title, a novel called Shadows of Flowers.

Having earned 30 state and national awards during her journalism career thus far, Kays covers a range of topics for the regional newsmagazine The Smoky Mountain News and is a regular contributor to Smoky Mountain Living Magazine. Originally from Williamsport, Maryland, she is a graduate of Virginia Tech’s creative writing and natural resources programs.

Trailblazers & Traditionalists retails for $15.95, with $19.95 covering shipping, fees and taxes. It is published by The Smoky

wings of jazz,/Flapping, flapping,/Carry me off, carry me off./Dirt of a world covers me,/My secret heart,/Beating with unheard jazz.”

During the 1970s when I had almost daily contact with Kaufman, and after his cafe tabletop oration and that first reading at the Savoy Tivoli, Bob was included in almost every reading that was organized and held in San Francisco and the Bay Area and beyond.

It was like something of a second-coming and everyone wanted to hear him again or for the first time. Major benefit readings that we organized for Beatitude magazine at Francis Ford Coppola’s Little Fox Theatre in his Zoetrope Productions building and then the First Annual San Francisco International Poetry Festival (1976) were prime examples of the demand for his presence and his poetry.

Now, over 30 years since his death in 1986, with his poetry having been translated in several languages and with this City Lights Books publication of The Collected Poems of Bob Kaufman we now have something that will surely put him in the pantheon of “the Beat Gods” with regards to the general public, as well as with archivists and special collections libraries around the globe.

It is often said of poets that they don’t get the kind of recognition that they deserve until after they die. In the case of Bob Kaufman this is true and it isn’t. He was a legend in certain circles of poets, musicians and artists during his lifetime, but now, since his death, enough books have been published and films have been made about his life and his work that he surely will be read and remembered for generations to come. Such is the importance and the quality of the work of this Beat original. I leave you with these lines from his poem “Falling Forward”: “All I know is this stillness/arising as absolute possibility,/a constant readiness to allow being./This is the movement of becoming./Why do I hesitate?”

Thomas Crowe is a regular contributor to The Smoky Mountain News. He is the author of Starting From San Francisco: The Baby Beat Generation and the Second San Francisco Renaissance. He lives in the Tuckasegee community in Jackson County. He can be reached at newnativepress@hotmail.com

Mountain News. Order the book from Kays’ Facebook page, www.facebook.com/hollykaysauthor, send $19.95 to paypal.me/hollykays or mail a check made out to “Holly Kays Writing” to 144 Montgomery Street, Waynesville, NC.

• Monthly Poetry Reading at Panacea Coffeehouse in Waynesville.

Last Saturdays every month at 2 p.m. Bring your poetry, essays and writings to share. Be sure to order drinks and snacks and tip the staff of Panacea. For more information, contact Morella Poe at poevampyre@gmail.com.

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28

Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

A Smokies staff member treats a hemlock tree to protect it from the hemlock wooly adelgid. NPS photo

National parks battle invasion Upper-level action needed A PRESSING ISSUE The Park Service listened, earlier this year to combat invasive hiring a national invasive animal coordinator who is now working to develop a system-wide animals, group finds effort to control invasive animal populations.

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER he National Park Service is embarking on a system-wide effort to crack down on invasive animal species following the conclusion of a three-year research endeavor conducted by a panel of experts in fields ranging from park management to emerging technology.

The Park Service reached out to members of the group in 2016, asking them to review the agency’s existing approach to invasive animal management and to look at the results of data collected from park units across the country. Combining panel members’ expert knowledge with data results and information gleaned from questions to park staff, the group produced an internal report to the Park Service as well as a scientific paper published this month in the journal “Biological Invasions.”

The authors concluded that “the global threat of invasive animals substantially undermines the National Park Service mission” and that coordinated action, partnerships with neighboring agencies and public engagement are needed to address the threat. While the Park Service has had a service-wide invasive plant management program for nearly two decades, there was no such program focusing on invasive animals — that must change, the authors said.

T

“There has been information about the concerns associated with invasive animals species for over 100 years within various parks. It’s certainly not a new issue,” said lead author Ashley Dayer, a conservation social scientist who holds a doctorate from Cornell University and is currently a fish and wildlife conservation professor at Virginia Tech.

It’s not a new issue, but it’s a pressing issue. As human populations have become more mobile and numerous, the pace of invasive species introductions has picked up, with those species throwing the natural rhythm of the ecosystems they inhabit off-balance and often outcompeting or otherwise adversely affecting native species.

Dayer wasn’t surprised to see the study conclude that invasive animal species are a problem for the national parks, but she was surprised to learn how big the problem is. Parks responding to the group’s survey reported a cumulative 1,409 populations of invasive animals species representing 331 species.

Invertebrates accounted for the largest share of those species, at 130, followed by 103 fish species, 37 mammal species, 36 bird species, 17 reptile species and eight amphibian species — these invasive were causing impacts to all major biomes, from ocean reefs to inland deserts.

Local national park units, including the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway and Appalachian Trail, are no

exception. Invasive animal species listed on the Smokies’ website include feral hogs, rainbow trout, hemlock wooly adelgids, balsam wooly adelgids and Asian lady beetles. Most of these species are present across the region, affecting public lands throughout Western North Carolina and even Appalachia.

The Smokies dedicates significant resources to controlling invasive species, with at least 20 employees whose primary responsibility revolves around those efforts, said park spokesperson Dana Soehn. Policies like requiring firewood brought into the park to be certified heat-treated are aimed at preventing additional invasive species from establishing, and the park has staff that focus on removing invasive plants, treating trees to combat pests like the hemlock wooly adelgid, removing rainbow trout from certain stream segments and removing feral hogs. As a larger park, the Smokies is better equipped to address the issue than are some smaller parks that may not even have any positions focused specifically on natural resources, let alone invasive species. However, the nation’s mostvisited national park is also a large one — it’s next to impossible to thoroughly monitor all 816 square miles for invasive species. The Parkway has no positions that are completely dedicated to invasive species issues, though it does cooperate with other agencies, and some staff members with other primary job descriptions work on those issues when possible.

UPPER-LEVEL ACTION NEEDED As a whole, the national parks don’t have a good handle on invasive species control, and

they know it.

“I think what’s also really concerning is that they feel like only 11 percent of them were under control, and only 23 percent of them did they actually have a plan for,” said Dayer. “Given the resources and time they had available, they just hadn’t been able to put in the effort to come up with a plan for what to do with them.”

It’s no secret that the national parks are underfunded and, in many cases, over-visited.

As of the end of fiscal year 2018, the Park Service had a total $11.92 billion in deferred maintenance. There’s a lot that needs doing and not enough money to do it with.

However, putting invasive species management on the backburner is likely to pass on higher costs to the future.

“There’s a lot of evidence that suggests that first making sure they aren’t introduced is the way to go, but after that dealing with them at the beginning of the time when they show up in a landscape is much more costeffective and easier to be successful,” said Dayer. “Without a plan you would expect it would be even more challenging to have that effect.”

Addressing the threat will require action from the Park Service’s highest levels. Threats from invasive animals are currently under-prioritized and under-funded, and park staff say it’s hard to communicate the importance of control efforts to their park leadership.

“Lacking national prioritization, park units may not prioritize invasive species management because other challenges are more pressing or because they want to avoid the bureaucratic obstacles to meeting compliance requirements for management efforts,” the paper said.

However, the paper added, the Park Service should avoid siloing decisions related to invasive animal species in a structure that prevents staff in that program from effectively communicating with programs that deal with other, potentially competing, objectives.

Investment in cross-issue decision-making is critical, the paper said. However, it acknowledged, “this alternative approach would require institutional change in NPS far beyond invasive animals and may be more of a long-term goal.”

Such an effort will require partnerships with communities and agencies outside park boundaries, the paper found, because in many cases invasives enter parks when populations spread from adjoining lands.

Additionally, many invasives found on park lands are a problem outside the park as well — collaboration could increase the effectiveness of interventions and avoid duplication of efforts.

The Park Service must also make public engagement a priority. The public’s support and cooperation is critical to success, the paper said, and there are many differing opinions about how to deal with invasive species.

One such example relates to the paper’s finding that the Park Service should look to emerging technologies to aid in

work did not include development of a cost estimate for implementing its recommendations, but the figure would likely be significant. To be truly effective, an invasive animal control program would have to hit hard and continue afterward with long-term monitoring.

And, while land managers would no doubt like to see every single non-native species disappear from America’s national parks, that’s unlikely to occur — prioritization will be key.

“It certainly will be challenging to address every single population of every species of invasive in every park,” said Dayer, “but I think we can make wise decisions about the ones that are having the worst impact to what people value and where we think we can have results.”

Haw Orchard Ridge rises high as seen from the Appalachian Trail. Travis Bordley photo Michelle Pugliese said. It rises to more than 5,400 feet in elevation and is visible from the A.T. at Round Bald and Grassy Ridge Bald. Funding from Fred and Alice Stanback and from the Conservation Trust for North Carolina made the acquisition possible.

December 25-31, 2019

invasive species control. eDNA can be used in tandem with boat inspections to look out for quagga and zebra mussels, plant pathogens can be used as biocontrols to eradicate undesirable species and gene drives can control invasive animals.

“With emerging technology and with invasive management in general, in many cases there are philosophical decisions to be made, and there’s also weighing what the public thinks about them as well,” said Dayer. “There’s really wide-ranging thoughts from the public on what to do related to invasive species.”

Of course, enacting any of these ideas would require money, and there’s no word yet as to what type of commitment the Park Service might be able to make to a systemwide invasive animals program. The group’s

A 51-acre conservation purchase in the Highlands of Roan will protect a prominent ridge near the Appalachian Trail.

The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy bought the Haw Orchard Ridge property, which adjoins the Pisgah National Forest just south of Roan High Knob, and will manage it as a nature preserve. The organization will restore conifer habitat there for birds, using a recently awarded grant from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Land Trust Bird Conservation Initiative to actively manage red spruce-Fraser fir and rapidly declining shortleaf pine habitats, monitor vegetation growth and bird populations and conduct preand post-management workshops to demonstrate the use of low-cost, minimal impact forestry practices to restore declining conifer ecosystems in the Southern Appalachians to benefit birds of greatest conservation need.

“This spruce-fir stand is used by numerous rare high-elevation species

including red crossbill, northern saw-whet owl and pygmy salamander,” said Roan Stewardship Director Marquette Crockett.

“It is also inhabited by federally endangered species including the Carolina northern flying squirrel and the spruce-fir moss spider. We hope that our protection of this property and restoration work will help to create a safe haven for these climate-sensitive species.”

Protecting Haw Orchard Ridge has been an SAHC priority for decades, the organization’s land protection director

outdoors

Conservation purchase will protect birds, A.T. views

In the Everglades National Park, the invasive Burmese python competes directly with the native top predator, which is the American alligator. NPS photo

Feral hogs thrive in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park but are dangerous and destructive invasive animals.

Bill Lea photo

Smoky Mountain News

Looking Forward to Seeing You in 2020!

828.456.3021 HaywoodChamber.com

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WCU recognized as ‘green college’

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Smoky Mountain News

December 25-31, 2019

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For the ninth year running, Western Carolina University has made The Princeton Review’s list of North America’s most environmentally responsible colleges.

WCU is included in the 2019 edition of the education services company’s “Guide to Green Colleges,” which profiles 413 higher education institutions that were found to have strong commitments to green practices and programs during the company’s survey of nearly 700 schools. Criteria for

making the guide included the schools’ academic offerings and initiatives, campus policies and practices, and green career preparation for students. In a company survey conducted this year, 64 percent of the 11,900 teens and parents polled said having information about a college’s commitment to the environment would affect their decision to apply to, or attend, a school.

WCU’s inclusion on the “green colleges” list comes as the campus community is

Soil testing offered through state ag department The peak season period for soil testing in the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is underway and will continue through March 31.

During this time period, soil testing will cost $4 per sample. The fee is in place during peak season to encourage earlier sampling in the fall, which is one of the soil lab’s busiest times of year. Testing is free for growers and homeowners outside of peak season.

Weather has been generally favorable for growers during this harvest season, unlike the unusually wet months of fall 2018 after Hurricane Florence.

The soil lab has already analyzed more than 123,000 samples since July 1.

Growers can submit sample information forms and fee payments at www.ncagr.gov/agronomi/pals/ after establishing an account under the utility link.

919.733.2655.

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Students enjoy a sunny day at WCU’s Electron Garden on the Green, a power-producing 10kilowatt solar photovoltaic system and hammock hanging lounge. WCU photo

holding a series of programs and events in conjunction with the university learning theme for academic year 2019-20 — “Sustainability and Environment.” The campus theme committee is accepting requests for support for spring semester programs and events through Jan. 30 at go.wcu.edu/campustheme.

Lauren Bishop, WCU’s chief sustainability officer in the Office of Sustainability and Energy Management, credited the campus energy manager David King with completing much of the work that resulted in WCU’s inclusion in the list.

This year, WCU is expected to surpass $1 million in total avoided costs due to investments in metering and energy saving projects since 2013, King said. A state law allows the university to reinvest documented energy savings into future energy-related projects. The most recent project, at the Health and Human Sciences Building, takes the classroom schedule and pushes it down to the building automation system that controls heating and cooling, which can account for up to half of a building’s energy use. By not heating and cooling unoccupied spaces, energy use in the building has been reduced 25 percent — $50,000 per year — compared to its first year of operation in 2012.

Bishop also cited the work of the Sustainable Energy Initiative, a student committee “that continues to show strong leadership on campus,” and the efforts of Dana Brown, WCU’s new recycling coordinator, who is “making major process improvements to help meet our recycling goals.”

For more information about WCU’s sustainability efforts, contact Bishop at 828.227.3562 or lbishop@wcu.edu.

susanna@mtnsouthmedia.com

SCC’s NPS law enforcement program graduates 17 Pledging their utmost dedication and respect to this nation’s natural resources, 17 graduates from Southwestern Community College’s National Park Service Park Ranger Law Enforcement Academy program walked across the stage on Friday, Dec. 6, at the Public Safety Training Center in Macon County.

Graduating class 103 includes siblings, members of the military, a retired engineer and a former police chief. Although they come from different walks of life, the graduates are connected by their passion, work ethic and leadership abilities.

The program — which requires more than

700 hours of training, including being pepper sprayed, tasered and physically restrained — is extremely rigorous and thorough in preparing students for real-world experiences.

“It’s changed me for the better,” said Ronald Reese, a 73-year-old native of Signal Mountain, Tennessee, who completed the program after retiring from a career as a metallurgical engineer. “I’ve found a new appreciation for this field. The instructors are phenomenal.

Their passion, talent and experience are incredible, and they are the reason this academy is as strong as it is.”

Robert Cooper joined the program after serving as the Chief of Police for Kure Beach in New Hanover County for 20 years.

“I’ve had a rewarding career in law enforcement, but I wanted to do something different,” said Cooper. “I’ve always been interested in the outdoors, hiking and fishing, so when my friend

who lives in Sylva told me about the program, I thought it might be the perfect fit for me.”

Others in the program have always known that they wanted a career with the Park Service.

Rachel Hellwig, who grew up in Atlanta, remembers spending childhood summers with her father at a cabin in Canada, always fishing and enjoying the outdoors. She graduated from Georgia Southern University with a degree in wildlife recreation and began gathering work experience at National Park Service units.

“I joined the Academy because I also wanted to learn the law enforcement side of the field, and this is a really great program,” Hellwig said.

The next NPS-PRLEA program will run from Jan. 6 to May 4 at SCC’s Public Safety Training Center in Macon County.

For more information on the program, contact Don Coleman at 828.306.7055 or d_coleman@southwesterncc.edu.

National forests announce seasonal road closures outdoors

Seasonal closures in the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests will begin on Jan. 2. Planned opening dates may change depending on weather.

These closures help reduce road maintenance costs and decrease wildlife disturbance, allowing the animals to conserve energy while food is scarce. During long bouts of adverse weather, roads may also be closed to protect public safety.

Emergency closures can occur at any time. Contact the district ranger office for information about current road conditions.

PISGAH NATIONAL FOREST Appalachian Ranger District • The following roads will be closed Jan. 2 through April 2: Big Ivy (FSR 74), Stony Fork (FSR 63), Cataloochee (FSR 3549), Hickey Fork (FSR 465), South Toe River (FSR 472), Neals Creek (FSR 2074), Flat Top (FSR 278), Hurricane Gap (FSR 457), Rich Mountain Fire Tower (FSR 467A), Long Arm (FSR 287), Mills Ridge (FSR 113).

Hike into the New Year their own food and water. However, hot chocolate, s’mores and cookies will be provided afterward courtesy of Friends of Gorges. n Grandfather Mountain State Park. A stroll along the lower Profile Trail will make for an unforgettable winter hike, with the group meeting at the Profile Trail parking area at 1 p.m. Ranger Appling will lead the excursion. This trail section is moderate, and hiking boots are strongly recommended. Participants should bring their own water and snacks, and dress for the weather. No pets, and children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. n Mount Mitchell State Park. Learn about the park’s unique high alpine environment during a strenuous 2-mile hike atop the Black Mountains ridgeline to Mount Craig, beginning at 1 p.m. at the Deep Gap Trailhead in the picnic area of the Lower Summit Parking Lot. The hike includes an elevation change of 275 feet and will take about three hours, depending on the group’s pace. Winter clothing and insulated hiking boots with traction devices such as crampons are recommended for this time of year. Hikers should bring water and a snack. If the Blue Ridge Parkway or the park is closed due to winter weather, the hike will be rescheduled for the earliest available date. Unsafe trail conditions could also result in a change of plans, with the group instead hiking the three-quarter-mile Balsam Nature Trail.

An 8-mile hike in the Pisgah National Forest will offer exceptional ridgeline views on Sunday, Jan. 5.

Led by the Carolina Mountain Club, this moderate woodland hike will begin at the Coontree Picnic Area and climb to Bennett Gap before making it to Buckwheat Knob, where the group will enjoy some lunch before returning via a different trail to complete the loop.

Carpool meeting places available in Asheville and Pisgah Forest. Visitors welcome, but no dogs. RSVP to hike leader Lorraine Bernhardt, 828.699.8857 or lsbernhardt50@gmail.com.

Prepare for a pilgrimage Asheville’s chapter of American Pilgrims on the Camino will hold three sessions held 7 to 8:30 p.m. at REI in Asheville over the coming months to offer information to people thinking of exploring the Camino de Santiago in Spain. n Monday, Jan. 6. Chris Slater and Rebecca Weston will

present “Camino 101,” covering the history of the Camino, the different routes, how to get there and types of accommodations available. n Tuesday, Jan. 28. This session will focus on the Camino del Norte, which traverses the northern border of Spain along the Bay of Biscay. n Monday, Feb. 3. This session’s title is “Camino 201.”

Free, with registration required at www.rei.com/events.

NANTAHALA NATIONAL FOREST Nantahala Ranger District • The following roads will be closed on Jan. 2 through March 15: Boardtree (FSR 388), Deep Gap (FSR 71), Shingletree (FSR 713), Shope Fork (FSR 751), Connelly Creek (FSR 86 through Alarka-Laurel), Winding Stairs (FSR 422), Big Creek (FSR 4567), Moses Creek (FSR 4651), Sugar Creek (FSR 4665), Wolf Mountain (FSR 4663C), Beech Flats (FSR 4668), Upper Nantahala (FSR 67), Shingletree (FSR 713), Ball Creek (FSR 83), Wayah Bald (FSR 69), Little Yellow Mountain (FSR 367), Cold Spring Gap (FSR 4663), Old Bald Road (FSR 4652), Gage Creek (FSR 4648), Charley Knob (FSR 4654).

Tusquitee Ranger District • The following roads will be closed Jan. 2 through April 1: Bear Paw (FSR 435), Cherokee Lake (FSR 313), Deep Gap (FSR 71), Nelson Ridge (FSR 351), Perry Gap (FSR 350), Powerline Cove (FSR 6020), Tellico River (FSR 420-5), Beech Creek (FSR 307), Chambers Creek (FSR 2071), Derreberry Gap (FSR 614B), Panther Gap (FSR 85A), Persimmon Creek (FSR 651), Stateline Loop (FSR 420-6), Tuni Gap (FSR 440).

Smoky Mountain News

Hike Coontree

Pisgah Ranger District • Lickstone Road (FSR 97) will close Jan. 3 through Aug. 31.

• Ivestor Gap Gate (FSR 816) will close Jan. 1 to Aug. 14.

December 25-31, 2019

Kick 2020 off with an adventure by participating in one of the First Day Hikes offered by N.C. State Parks. Parks across the state will host guided hikes on New Year’s Day, with plenty of local offerings. n Chimney Rock State Park. A group stroll up the 3.2-mile entrance road will commence at 8 a.m., meeting at the park entrance next to Old Rock Café. Usually restricted to vehicle traffic only, the road will be pedestrian-only that morning and admission will be free for hikers. A park ranger will lead an informative discussion about the park’s history during the walk, including a crossing of the bridge over Rocky Broad River, which was first traversed in 1916. A shuttle will be available at the top to return hikers to their vehicles at Chimney Rock Village by 10 a.m., and hikers can return to the park that same day at no charge. n Gorges State Park. Meet at the visitor center at 10 a.m. to join a ranger for a 2.4-mile hike to Upper Bearwallow Falls.

All participants must be prepared for cold temperatures and a strenuous hike, also bringing their own food and water.

However, hot chocolate and cookies will be provided afterward courtesy of Friends of Gorges. n Gorges State Park. Meet at Bearwallow Picnic Area at 2 p.m. to join a ranger on a kid-friendly 0.8-mile hike to Upper Bearwallow Falls. All participants must be prepared for cold temperatures and a strenuous hike, also bringing

Grandfather Ranger District • The following roads will be closed Jan. 2 to April 1: New Ginger Cake (FSR 496), Thunder Hole Road (FSR 4071), Steels Creek (FSR 228), Lost Cove (FSR 464A), Curtis Creek Campground and FSR 482.

• The following roads will be closed Jan. 2 to Sept. 1: Dobson Knob (FSR 106, western half at the second gate), Carrol Creek (FSR 4096), Pearcy Creek (FSR 4101).

• The following recreation areas and associated roads will close Jan. 6 through April 1: Brown Mountain OHV area (FSR 299), Table Rock Picnic Area (FSR 99) • The following roads will remain closed to motorized traffic due to storm damage: Schoolhouse Ridge (FSR 4068), Jarrett Creek (FSR 4030), Marks Mountain (FSR 451), Big Chestnut (FSR 198), Craig Creek/Mortimer-Piedmont (FSR 982).

Cheoah Ranger District • The following roads will be closed Jan. 2 to April 1: Big Fat (FSR 62), Tatham Gap/Long Creek (FSR 423), Santeelah Creek (FSR 81), Farley Cove (FSR 407), Long Hungry (FSR 1127).

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WNC Calendar

Smoky Mountain News

COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • The Juvenile Crime Prevention Council will hold a regular meeting at noon on Jan. 9 at the Justice & Administration Building, 401 Grindstaff Cove Rd., Room A227, in Sylva.

• Bingo Night is at 6 p.m. on the second Saturday at the Fines Creek Community Center. 25 cents per game.

Info: www.fb.me/finescreekorg or 593.7042.

• Jackson County Planning Board: 6 p.m. second Thursday of the month. Heritage room at the Department of Aging, 100 County Services Park in Sylva. 631.2261.

• The Jackson County Department of Public Health is seeking input from the community: http://health.jacksonnc.org/surveys. Info: 587.8288.

• Cat adoption hours are from noon-5 p.m. on Fridays and noon-4 p.m. on Saturdays at 453 Jones Cove Road in Clyde. Adoption fee: $10 for cats one-year and older.

Check out available cats at www.petharbor.com.

452.1329 or 550.3662.

• Cashiers Area Chamber is seeking feedback to improve visitors’ experiences to the area. Take the survey at: tinyurl.com/y6w4uqyo.

• Fontana Regional Library now offers anyone with a library card free access to eMagazines, for reading on any mobile device or computer. This new service joins our popular eBooks and digital audiobook`s selection — all available 24/7 from the library’s digital collection. To get started enjoying digital magazines as well as eBooks and audiobooks, visit e-inc.overdrive.com or download the Libby reading app. www.fontanalib.org.

BUSINESS & EDUCATION • Registration is underway for a Quickbooks Summit that will be offered through Haywood Community College’s Small Business Center from 8 a.m.-6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 9, in Building 200, Room 203 in Clyde. For info or to register: 627.4512 or SBC.Haywood.edu.

• Registration is underway for the spring semester at Haywood Community College in Clyde. www.haywood.edu, hcc-advising@haywood.edu or 627.2821.

• The Jackson County Public Library in Sylva will be starting a monthly documentary series called “DocuWednesday” at 4 p.m. on the last Wednesday of each month. The movies will be shown in the beautiful movie theater in the Community Room. At the end of each movie, the staff member who selected that documentary will lead a short discussion with the public. If you would like to know what movie will be showing each month, please email Benjamin Woody at bwoody@fontanalib.org to be placed on an email list.

586.2016. www.fontanalib.org.

All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.

• Concealed carry handgun is offered every other Saturday 8:30am-5pm starting at Mountain Range indoor shooting range. Lunch provided. Class $60.

452.7870 or mountainrangenc@yahoo.com.

• Small business owners can find materials and services to support business growth at Fontana Regional Library’s locations in Macon, Jackson and Swain Counties. Computer classes and one-on-one assistance available. 586.2016 or www.fontanalib.org.

• A meeting of current and former employees of the Waynesville plant of Champion/Blue Ridge/Evergreen is held at 8 a.m. on the first Monday of each month at Bojangles near Lake Junaluska’s entrance.

• One-on-one computer lessons are offered weekly at the Waynesville and Canton branches of the Haywood County Public Library. Lesson slots are available from 10 a.m.-noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Canton and from 3-5 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Waynesville Library. Sign up at the front desk of either library or call 356.2507 for the Waynesville Library or 648.2924 for the Canton Library.

FUNDRAISERS AND BENEFITS • Stonehouse Pottery (Waynesville) will be doing an Open Studio Tour and Sale the first Sunday of each month to help support our local nonprofits. Each month highlights a different artist and that artists chooses his or her nonprofit. Stonehouse Pottery and the artist then give a portion of the proceeds as a donation to that nonprofit.

VOLUNTEERS & VENDORS • Feline Urgent Rescue is seeking volunteers and sponsors. Info: 422.2704, www.furofwnc.org, www.facebook.com/furofwnc or 844.888.CATS (2287).

• Senior Companion volunteers are being sought to serve with the Land of the Sky Senior Companion Program in Henderson, Buncombe, Transylvania and Madison Counties. Serve older adults who want to remain living independently at home in those counties.

• Great Smoky Mountains National Park is seeking volunteers to assist rangers with managing traffic and establishing safe wildlife viewing areas within the Cataloochee Valley area. To register for training or get more info: Kathleen_stuart@nps.gov or 497.1914.

• Haywood Regional Medical Center is seeking volunteers of all ages for ongoing support at the hospital, outpatient care center and the Homestead. For info and to apply: 452.8301, stop by the information desk in the lobby or volunteer@haymed.org. Anyone interested in becoming a hospice volunteer can call 452.5039.

• Haywood Community College’s Workforce Continuing Education Department is offering a wide variety of courses. For a complete listing: www.haywood.edu. Info: 627.4669.

• STAR Rescue Ranch is seeking volunteers to help with horse care, fundraising events, barn maintenance and more at the only equine rescue in Haywood County.

828.400.4940.

• The African-American Business Association Workshop & Meetup is scheduled for 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. on the third Tuesday of every month at the Arthur R. Edington Education & Career Center in Asheville.

• Volunteer Opportunities are available throughout the region, call John at the Haywood Jackson Volunteer Center today and get started sharing your talents. 3562833

• Evening classes for anyone wanting to obtain a high school equivalency diploma are offered from 5:30-8:30 p.m. on Mondays through Thursdays at Haywood Community College in Clyde. 627.4648.

• Phone Assurance Volunteers are needed to make daily or weekly wellness check-in calls for the Haywood County Senior Resource Center. 356.2800.

• The Western North Carolina Civil War Round Table meets at 7 p.m. on the second Monday of each month at the HF Robinson Auditorium at the Western Carolina University Campus in Cullowhee.

HEALTH MATTERS • Yoga for Back Care is set for noon-1 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 28, at Waynesville Yoga Center. Cost:

$15. Info and reservations: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com.

• Group Breathwork Healing is set for 5:30-6:45 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 28, at Waynesville Yoga Center. Cost: $15. Info and reservations: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com.

• A monthly grief support group will meet from noon1:30 p.m. on the first Friday of each month, with complimentary lunch provided, at Haywood Hospice Office, 43 Bowman Dr., in Waynesville. 452.5039 or Melanie.seeger@lhcgroup.com.

• Al-Anon, a confidential support group for friends and family members of alcoholics, meets at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesdays at Grace Episcopal Church in Waynesville.

440.724.5994.

• Haywood County Health & Human Services Agency will hold a monthly night clinic from 4:30-6 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at 157 Paragon Parkway in Clyde next to Tractor Supply. Annual exams, birth control, child health, lab testing, immunizations, STI/STD exams and counseling. Appointments: 452.6675.

• Co-Dependents Anonymous, a support group for those wishing to create more fulfilling relationships with themselves and others, will meet from 5:30-6:30 p.m. on Fridays at the Friendship House, 566 S. Haywood St., in Waynesville. http://coda.org.

• The Haywood Chapter of Survivors of Suicide Loss meets from 6:30-8 p.m. on the first Monday of each month at the Fellowship Hall of Hazelwood Presbyterian Church in Waynesville. Info: 910.528.0169.

• The WNC Ostomy Support Group will meet from 6-7 p.m. every second Monday at the Jackson County Center Cooperative Extension’s Meeting Room, 876 Skyland Dr., Suite 6, in Sylva. Group is for people living with a urostomy, ileostomy, colostomy or a continent diversion.

Facilitated by Certified Ostomy Nurses.

Visit www.smokymountainnews.com and click on Calendar for: ■ Complete listings of local music scene ■ Regional festivals ■ Art gallery events and openings ■ Complete listings of recreational offerings at regional health and fitness centers ■ Civic and social club gatherings • The Jackson County Senior Center will offer a Caregiver Education Class at 10 a.m. on the third Monday of every month in the Board Room of the Department of Aging in Sylva. 586.5494.

• The Haywood County Dementia Caregivers' Support Group meets at the Haywood Senior Resource Center (81 Elmwood Way, Waynesville). The meetings are scheduled from 4:30 PM until 6:00 PM on the fourth Tuesday. 926.0018.

• Community First Aid and CPR classes are offered from 6-10 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month at Haywood Community College in Clyde. Info: 564.5133 or HCC-CPRraining@haywood.edu.

• Nutrition counseling and diabetes education are offered through Macon County Public Health in Franklin.

349.2455.

• Western Carolina University’s student-run, Mountain Area Pro Bono Physical Therapy Clinic will be open from 6-8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays of each month. 227.3527.

• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) holds a support group for family, friends, and those dealing with mental illness on the 1st Thursday of each month in the 2nd floor classroom at Haywood Regional Medical Center at 6:30 p.m.

• Gentle Yoga for Cancer is offered from 1:30-2:30 p.m. on Fridays at the Haywood Breast Center in Waynesville.

Info: MyHaywoodRegional.com/YogaforCancer or 452.8691.

• HIV and syphilis testing will is offered during normal business hours at Jackson County Health Department.

• “Nourishing You” – an introductory “Yoga for Cancer” class, is offered from 1:30-2:30 p.m. on Fridays at the Haywood Breast Center in Waynesville. Taught by Kim Mulholland, Mindful Yoga for Cancer Duke Integrative Medicine Trainer. Info: 452.8691 or MyHaywoodRegional.com/YogaforCancer.

• Sunrise Flow + Ground is set for 7-8:15 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 30, at Waynesville Yoga Center. Cost: $15.

Info and reservations: 246.6570 or WaynesvilleYogaCenter.com.

• A Community Acupuncture Clinic is held on the third weekend of each month at 461 Moody Farm Road in Maggie Valley. Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday and 1-4 p.m. on Sunday. Sliding scale cost is $35-$55.

Offered by Barbara Dennis, a Licensed Acupuncturist and Registered Nurse.

• Jackson County Department of Public Health is offering diabetes self-management education as well as medical nutrition therapy. Info: 587.8240 or http://health.jacksonnc.org/wic.

• The Haywood County Senior Resource Center holds a dementia caregivers support group from 4:30-6 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday each month in Waynesville.

356.2800 or www.haywoodseniors.org.

• “Riding the Waves of Cancer” meets from 2:30-4 p.m. on Thursdays at the Haywood Regional Health & Fitness Center. Physician referral from an oncologist or cancer doctor is required: Myhaywoodregional.com/yogaforcancer. 452.8691.

• Codependents Anonymous (CoDA) meets at 5:30 p.m. on Fridays at the Friendship House on Academy Street, behind and adjoining the First United Methodist Church of Waynesville. Group of persons desiring healthy and fulfilling relationships. 775.2782 or www.coda.org.

RECREATION AND FITNESS

• Registration is underway for Aqua Fitness that will be offered from 5:30-6:15 p.m. on Mondays through Thursdays during the spring semester, starting Jan. 13, at Reid Gym Pool on Western Carolina University’s campus in Cullowhee. Registration fee: $65 for the semester. Info or to register: swim.wcu.edu or 227.7397.

• An hour yoga class is offered at 9 a.m. on Wednesdays at the Maggie Valley Wellness Center. $15 for a single class, or $55 for a package of four classes.

944.0288 or maggievalleywellness.com.

• Dance Tonight Haywood offers weekly evening classes Foxtrot or Tango (Mondays 6) and Carolina Shag (Mondays 7), Salsa (Tuesdays, Beginners 7 p.m. & Advance 8 to 10 p.m.), Swing (Wednesdays, Beginners 7 p.m. & Advance 8 p.m.) and Waltz (Thursdays, Beginners 7 p.m. & Advance 8 p.m.), Open Ballroom (Fridays, 7 p.m. & practice dance from 8 to 9:30 p.m.), and Argentine Tango Practica/Tea Dance (Sundays, 2 to 5 p.m) at 61 ½ Main Street in Canton. For times, prices and to RSVP, call 316.1344.

• Tai Chi & QiGong classes are being offered at 7 p.m. on Mondays at Angie’s Dance Academy in Clyde.

450.3741 or paul@pcasper.net.

• A Tai Chi for Arthritis, Level 1, class is being offered at 11:30 p.m. on Thursdays at Angie’s Dance Academy in Clyde. 450.3741 or paul@pcasper.net.

• A Tai Chi for Arthritis, Level 2, class is being offered at 12:30 p.m. on Thursdays at Angie’s Dance Academy in Clyde. 450.3741 or paul@pcasper.net.

• The Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department is now offering pickleball on four indoor courts from 7 a.m.-2 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays, at the Waynesville Recreation Center. Equipment provided; free for members or daily admission for nonmembers.

456.2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov.

• ZUMBA! Class with Monica Green, are offered from 6-7 p.m. on Monday & Wednesday, at the Canton Armory. $5 per class. 648.2363 or parks@cantonnc.com.

• ZUMBA is offered at First United Methodist Church in Waynesville on Thursdays at 6 p.m. with Patti Burke. Check Facebook page Patti Burke Zumba Students for additional information such as holiday or weather related cancelations. $5 per class.

• There will be several ballroom and Latin dance classes offered on Sundays and Mondays at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. Classes for beginners, intermediate and all levels. $10 per class. For more information, click on www.froglevelbrewing.com.

• Flow + Center Yoga is offered from 9-9:55 a.m. on Wednesdays at Maggie Valley Wellness Center.

944.0288 or maggievalleywellness.com.

• Gentle Vin Yin Yoga is offered from 9-9:55 a.m. on Fridays through November at Maggie Valley Wellness Center. 944.0288 or maggievalleywellness.com.

• The Safekids USA/Blue Dragon Taekwondo School is offering self-defense classes from 9-10 a.m. on Saturdays. $5 per class. For females 14-older. Classes are at 93 Jones Cove Road in Clyde.

• Karaoke is happening at 8 p.m. on Saturdays at Harmon’s Den Bistro at HART Theatre in Waynesville.

• A wide variety of yoga classes are offered daily through the Waynesville Yoga Center. For updated, current listings, visit: http://waynesvilleyogacenter.com/class-schedule.

• Yoga classes designed specifically for those who have experienced trauma are being offered at the Fitness Connection in Waynesville. www.sonshineyoga.com.

• Tai chi is offered from 10:45-11:45 a.m. every Tuesday and Thursday at Haywood Regional Health and Fitness Center. It’s also offered from 1-2 p.m. on Thursdays. Taught by Bill Muerdter. For info about the classes or HRHFC memberships and offerings, call

• Pickleball is from 1-3 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday nights at First Methodist Church in Sylva. $1 each time you play; equipment provided. 293.3053.

• The Canton Armory is open to the public for walking from 7:45-9 a.m. on Monday through Friday unless the facility is booked till spring. 648.2363. parks@cantonnc.com.

POLITICAL • Tickets and corporate table reservations are available for the Annual Awards Banquet and Franklin Chamber of Commerce annual meeting, which are at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 16, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Info and reservations: 524.3161.

AUTHORS AND BOOKS • A poetry reading is held at 2 p.m. on the last Saturday of each month at Panacea in Waynesville.

Bring poetry, essays and writings. poevampyre@gmail.com.

• Waynesville Book Club at 5:30 p.m. on the first Monday of each month at Waynesville Library Meet to discuss books, which are chosen by each member (taking turns) and provided by the library. New members are welcome. For more information, 356.2507.

SENIOR ACTIVITIES • Western North Carolina Cribbage Club meets at 6:30 p.m. every Monday. Info: 926.3978.

• The Mexican Train Dominoes Group seeks new players to join games at 1 p.m. on Tuesdays at the Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

• Book Club is held at 2 p.m. on the third Wednesday of the month at the Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800 • A Hand & Foot card game is held at 1 p.m. on Thursdays at Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

• Senior Sale Day is on the third Friday of every month at the Friends of the Library Used Bookstore. Patrons 60 and older get 20 percent off all purchases.

Proceeds benefit the Sylva Library.

• Pinochle game is played at 1 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

• Mah Jongg is played at 1 p.m. on Wednesdays at

If you have limited mobility, contact us about an in-home visit.

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Jeffrey W. Norris & Associates, PLLC

828-452-2221

• A Parkinson’s Support Group is held at 2 p.m. on the last Wednesday of each month at the Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

KIDS & FAMILIES • Kids’ Night Out for ages 4-14 is set for 6-8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 27, at Waynesville Art School, 303 N. Haywood St., in Waynesville. WaynesvilleArtSchool.com or 246.9869.

• Registration is underway for a pair of basketball camps that will be offered this winter at Waynesville Recreation Center. led by former Appalachian State head coach Kevin Cantwell. Camps are held from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. on Dec. 30-31 and Jan. 2-3. $100 per camper, or attend both camps for $175. Applications available at Waynesville Recreation Center; make checks payable to Cantwell. Info: academy7@live.com or www.kevincantwellbasketball.com.

• The Canton Branch Library will host a “Parent Child Workshop (123 Play with Me)” from 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. on Wednesdays, Jan. 8-Feb. 5. For parents of children ages six months to three years old.

Deanna.lyles@haywoodcountync.gov or 356.2563.

• Registration is underway for the 2020 Region 8 Western Regional Science fair, which is set for Thursday and Friday, Feb. 13-14, in the Ramsey Regional Activity Center at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. Thursday’s event is for grades 3-5; Friday is for grades 6-12. Info: sciencefair.wcu.edu or 227.7397.

• The “Polar Express” will depart on select times through Dec. 31 from the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad depot. www.gsmr.com.

KIDS FILMS • “Jumanji: The Next Level”, will be showing through Jan. 2 at Smoky Mountain Cinema in Waynesville Plaza. Visit www.fandango.com or http://smokymountaincinema.com/ for showtimes, pricing & tickets.

Info. on Facebook or 246.0588.

• “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”, will be showing through Jan 2 at Smoky Mountain Cinema in Waynesville Plaza. Visit www.fandango.com or http://smokymountaincinema.com/ for showtimes, pricing & tickets. Info. on Facebook or 246.0588.

• “Frozen II”, will be showing on through Dec. 26 at The Strand on Main in Waynesville. 38main.com.

• “The Polar Express”, will be showing at 11 a.m. on Dec. 24 at The Strand on Main in Waynesville.

38main.com.

• A family movie will be shown at 10:30 a.m. every Friday at Hudson Library in Highlands.

A&E • New Year’s Eve, there will be a special performance

by Darren Nicholson and friends, titled “Uptown Downhome,” at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 31, in the Queen Auditorium at the Folkmoot Friendship Center in Waynesville.

• Sign-ups are underway for “Mardi Gras in the Mountains,” a children’s costume contest, pet costume contest and pantomime music parade that will be held on Feb. 22. Proceeds benefit Appalachian Animal Rescue Center in Franklin. For details on participation, sponsorships and volunteers: 369.0092.

• Boojum Brewing Company (Waynesville) will host “The Great Gatsby” New Year’s Eve Party at 9 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 31.

• Mother Goose On the Loose early childhood curriculum will be featured in a Reading Adventures Storytime program that’s offered at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesdays at Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.

Blends rhyming with movement, storytelling, simple songs, music and sensory play. 488.3030.

• The “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec 31 at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City.

Full service all-adult first-class car. Wine pairings with a meal and more. 800.872.4681 or www.gsmr.com.

• Waynesville Art School offers the Young Artist Program in the afternoons for 5-6 year old, 7-8 year old, 9-12 year old. Intro to Printmaking and Evening studies in arts is offered for 13-19 year old. Waynesville Art School is located at 303 N. Haywood Street. Info: 246.9869, info@waynesvilleartschool.com or visit WaynesvilleArtSchool.com for schedule and to register.

• Bosu’s Wine Shop in Waynesville is offering lunch on Saturdays, “Lunch with us” from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. featuring fresh seasonal menu with outdoor seating weather preminting. 452.0120 or www.waynesvillewine.com.

FOOD & DRINK

• Bryson City Wine Market offers flights from 4-7 p.m. on Fridays and from 2-5 p.m. on Saturdays. Flight of four wines for $5.

Puzzles can be found on page 38 These are only the answers.

Smoky Mountain News

Estate Planning Estate Administration Trustee Services

• A Canasta card game is set for 1 p.m. on Mondays at the Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

• Mountain Wildlife offers wildlife education programs for schools and organizations in Western North Carolina, free of charge. If you are interested in having them visit your group contact them at blackbears66@gmail.com, 743.9648 or visit the website at www.mountainwildlifedays.com.

December 25-31, 2019

• The Maggie Valley Wellness Center is offering two yoga classes from 9-9:55 a.m. on Wednesdays through March: Gentle Flow with Candra and Gentle Vin Yin with Jamie. 944.0288 or maggievalleywellness.com.

• Ultimate Frisbee games are held from 5:30-8 p.m. on Mondays at the Cullowhee Recreation Park.

Organized by Jackson County Parks & Recreation.

Pick-up style. 293.2053 or www.rec.jacksonnc.org.

Haywood County Senior Resource Center in Waynesville. 356.2800.

wnc calendar

• Tai Chi for Beginners is offered at 1:30 p.m. on Thursdays at Angie’s Dance Academy in Clyde.

450.3741 or paul@pcasper.net.

452.8080 or visit MyHaywoodRegional.com/Fitness.

Norris Professional Building 177 North Main St., Waynesville www.norrisandassoc.com www.norriselderservices.com 33

wnc calendar

• Bosu’s Wine Shop in Waynesville will host five for $5 Wine Tasting from 5 to 9 p.m. on Thursdays. Come taste five magnificent wines and dine on Chef Bryan’s gourmet cuisine. 452.0120 or www.waynesvillewine.com.

• Secret Wine Bar is hosted by Bosu’s in Waynesville on Fridays from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Contact for more information and make reservations. 452.1020.

• A free wine tasting will be held from 1-5 p.m. on Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Bosu Wine Shop in Waynesville. 452.0120 or www.waynesvillewine.com.

Bosu’s will host a Cocktails & Lunch on Saturday’s.

Serving house-made champagne cocktails from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. www.waynesvillewine.com • A free wine tasting will be held from 2-5 p.m. on Saturdays at Papou’s Wine Shop in Sylva. www.papouswineshop.com or 631.3075.

• “Brown Bag at the Depot” – an opportunity to gather with neighbors – is at noon every Friday at Sylva’s newest park at the corner of Spring and Mill Street along Railroad Ave. For info, contact Paige Dowling at townmanager@townofsylva.org.

Smoky Mountain News

December 25-31, 2019

• Graceann’s Amazing Breakfast is 8-10 a.m. every Tuesday in the Sapphire Room at the Sapphire Valley Community Center. $8.50 for adults; $5 for children.

Includes coffee and orange juice. 743.7663.

and begin at 7:15 p.m. 828.452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com.

• The Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host an “Open Mic Night” on Mondays and karaoke on Thursdays. All events at 10 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.456.4750.

• Haywood Arts Regional Theatre is opened up its bistro Harmons’ Den for karaoke performance on Saturday nights. It is also open mic night at 8 p.m.. On nights when there’s a theater performance in the Fangmeyer Theater, karaoke begins after the show is over. www.harttheatre.org.

• Open Mic Night is from 7-9 p.m. on Saturdays at The Strand on 38 Main in Waynesville. 283.0079 or

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS • Don Casada and friends will present “Remembering Hol Rose and Babe Burnett” at the Jan. 2 meeting of the Swain County Genealogical and Historical Society.

Group meets at 6:30 p.m. at the Swain County Regional Business Education and Training Center in Bryson City.

• Free cooking demonstrations will be held from 5-7 p.m. on Saturdays at Country Traditions in Dillsboro.

Watch the demonstrations, eat samples and taste house wines for $3 a glass. All recipes posted online. www.countrytraditionsnc.com.

• Asheville’s chapter of American Pilgrims on the Camino will hold a session from 7-8:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 6, at REI in Asheville to offer info about exploring the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Chris Slater and Rebecca Weston will present “Camino 101” covering the history, different routes, how to get there and accommodations available. Future sessions set for same time on Jan. 28 and Feb. 3. Registration required: www.rei.com/events.

• A game day will occur from 2-9 p.m. every third Saturday of the month at Papou’s Wine Shop & Bar in Sylva. Bring dice, cards or board games.

586.6300.

• A nature observation and journaling course will be offered through the Alarka Institute on Saturday, Jan. 11, in Franklin. Cost: $55. Sign up: www.alarkaexpeditions.com.

• A wine tasting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays The Classic Wineseller in Waynesville.

Free with dinner ($15 minimum). 452.6000.

• The Macon County Art Association will hold a class for creating paintings on fall leaves from 1-3 p.m. on Jan. 12 in Franklin. With artist Maryellen Tully.

Register: 349.6704 or stop by the gallery at 34 W. Main Street in Franklin.

ON STAGE & IN CONCERT • Tickets are available now for a performance by the Fisk Jubilee Singers, which is set for 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 13, in the University Center at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. Tickets: $5 for WCU students, $10 for non-WCU students and WCU faculty and staff and $15 for general admission. Available at bardoartscenter.wcu.edu or 227.2479.

• Western North Carolina Cribbage Club meets at 6:30 p.m. every Monday. Info: 926.3978.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host an open mic night at 6:30 p.m. every Thursday. www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• The Weekly Open Studio art classes will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville, Instructor will be Betina Morgan. Open to all artists, at any stage of development, and in the medium of your choice. Cost is $25 per class. There will also be a Youth Art Class from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m. on Wednesdays. Cost is $15 per class. Contact Morgan at 550.6190 or email bmk.morgan@yahoo.com.

• Pub 319 (Waynesville) will host an open mic night from 8-11 p.m. every Wednesday. Free and open to the public. www.pub319socialhouse.com.

• Friends of the Canton Area Historical Museum will meet at 11 a.m. every third Tuesday at the museum, 36 Park Street in Canton.

• Salty Dog’s (Maggie Valley) will have Karaoke with Jason Wyatt at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays, Mile High (classic rock) 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays, and a Trivia w/Kelsey Jo 8 p.m. Thursdays.

• Encouraging art classes for beginning through advanced adults are offered by the Inspired Art Ministry at the following times and dates: Drawing classes from 1-4 p.m. on Mondays; painting classes from 1-4 p.m. on Tuesdays. Info: 456.9197, charspaintings@msn.com or www.iamclasses.wbs.com.

• Satulah Mountain Brewing (Highlands) will host “Hoppy Hour” and an open mic at 6 p.m. on Thursdays and live music on Friday evenings. 482.9794 or www.satulahmountainbrewing.com.

• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host an open mic night every Thursday. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m. www.mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

• Boojum Brewing Company (Waynesville) will host a bluegrass open mic every Wednesday and an all-genres open mic every Thursday. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. www.boojumbrewing.com.

• Waynesville Art School offers “The Joy of Drawing”, Still Life in Color: Acrylic & Pastel and “Relief Printmaking” classes for adults at 303 N. Haywood Street. Info: 246.9869, info@waynesvilleartschool.com or WaynesvilleArtSchool.com.

• Grandfather Mountain State Park will offer a guided “First Day Hike” stroll at 1 p.m. on Jan. 1 along the lower Profile Trail.

• Mount Mitchell State Park will offer a guided “First Day Hike” at 1 p.m. on Jan. 1. Strenuous, two-mile hike atop the Black Mountains Ridgeline to Mount Craig.

• Landmark Learning will offer courses in Wilderness First Responder Registration is also underway for Jan. 14-12 class in Asheville, Jan. 18-26 in Brevard and Feb. 8-16, March 7-15 and March 14-22 in Cullowhee.

Info: www.landmarklearning.org.

• Landmark Learning is offering several options to take a Wilderness First Responder Recertification class, starting with a Jan. 10-12 in Brevard.

Registration is also underway for courses on Feb. 28 in Cullowhee and March 1 in Brevard. www.landmarklearning.org.

• Registration is underway for several options to take a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician program through Landmark Learning, starting with a class from Jan. 4-31 in Cullowhee. Other options include May 23-June 19, July 11-Aug. 7 and Oct. 3-30. www.landmarklearning.org.

• Public Comment is now open for proposed changes to N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission rules with a public hearing planned for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 14, at Southwestern Community College’s Myers Auditorium in Sylva. View proposed changes: www.ncwildlife.org/Proposed-Regulations. Send comments to regulations@ncwildlife.org or Rule-Making Coordinator, N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, 1701 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C. 27699.

• An opportunity to learn about winter hikes and waterfalls in Western North Carolina will be offered from 7-8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 2, at REI in Asheville. Registration required: www.rei.com/events.

Class repeats at the same time on Thursday, Feb. 20.

• Registration is underway for the Landmark Outdoor Educator Semester, which is offered May 14-June 30, through Landmark Learning. www.landmarklearning.org.

Outdoors • Chimney Rock State Park will host a 3.2-mile guided “First Day Hike” at 8 a.m. on Jan. 1.

• The Classic Wineseller (Waynesville) will host live

• Gorges State Park will host a 2.4-mile guided “First Day Hike” at 10 a.m. on Jan. 1. Hike is to Upper

meets at 10 a.m. every second Tuesday in Franklin.

Contact Kristina Moe at kmoe@fontanalib.org for location. Franklintraildays.com.

COMPETITIVE EDGE • Run in 2020 5K will start at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 1, at the Cullowhee Recreation Center in Jackson County. Signup and packet pickup from 9:45-10:45 a.m.; half-mile fun run starts at 11:45 a.m. Early registration is $20: www.runsignup.com.

FARM AND GARDEN • Southwestern Community College’s Small Business Center is offering its sixth annual “Appalachian Farm School” from 6-9 p.m. on Tuesdays from Jan. 14March 3 in the Burrell Building of SCC’s Jackson Campus in Sylva. For anyone interested in growing vegetables, fruits, other crops and livestock as a sustainable business. Preregistration required: http://bit.ly/AFS2020SBC. Info: t_henry@southwesterncc.edu or 339.4426.

• Registration is underway for the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project’s annual Business of Farming Conference, which will be held from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on Feb. 22 at the AB Tech Conference Center in Asheville. Cost: $75 if registering by Feb. 1 or $95 after. asapconnections.org or 236.1282.

• Garden workdays are held from 3 p.m. until dusk every Wednesday at Cullowhee Community Garden, 65 S. Painter Road. Weeding, mulching, general garden maintenance. 587.8212.

HIKING CLUBS • Carolina Mountain Club will take a 6.5-mile hike with a 1,200 foot elevation gain on Jan. 1 at Green River Game Lands. Info and reservations: 692.0116, 699.6296 or bbente@bellsouth.net.

• Carolina Mountain Club will take a 4.5-mile hike with a 1,400 foot ascent on Sunday, Jan. 5, on Vineyard Gap Trail. Info and reservations: 785.9593 • Carolina Mountain Club will take a nine-mile hike with a 2,400 foot elevation gain on Wednesday, Jan. 8, at Sassafras Mountain. Info and reservations: 505.2815, 989.8755 or jwilcox@unca.edu.

• The Asheville Winter Bike League will offer structured group rides at 10 a.m. every Saturday through Jan. 25. $5 donation requested. Sign up required: https://tinyurl.com/yx5byb8h.

• Carolina Mountain Club will take a seven-mile hike with a 900 foot ascent on Sunday, Jan. 11, on the sunny side of Bent Creek. Info and reservations: 505.0471, 860.798.9905 or mwbromberg@yahoo.com.

• Sons of the American Legion will present a Turkey Shoot at 9 a.m. every Saturday through April at 171 Legion Dr. in Waynesville. $2 per round; refreshments provided. Weather permitting. 456.8691.

• Carolina Mountain Club will take a 4.5-mile hike with an 880 foot elevation gain on Sunday, Jan. 12, at the N.C. Arboretum. Info and reservations: 667.4519 or bobbipowers23@gmail.com.

• The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission Hatchery Supported Trout Waters is open from 7 a.m. until onehalf-hour after sunset until last day of February. Info: https://tinyurl.com/yae8ffqn.

• Carolina Mountain Club will take a 9.8-mile hike with a 1,300 foot ascent on Sunday, Jan. 12, at Corn Mills Shoals. Info and reservations: 458.1281, mcornn@aol.com, 458.1281 or katherinekyle@gmail.com.

• The Nantahala Hiking Club holds a Saturday Work Hike on the fourth Saturday of each month. 369.1983.

• Great Smoky Mountains National Park is recruiting volunteers to assist the Trails Forever trail crew for a rehabilitation project on the Rainbow Falls Trail from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. every Wednesday. Sign up or get more info: 497.1949, Adam_Monroe@nps.gov or https://friendsofthesmokies.org/trailsforever/volunteer.

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

• The Strand at 38 Main (Waynesville) will host an “Open Mic” night from 7 to 9 p.m. on Saturdays.

283.0079 or www.38main.com.

34 music on Fridays and Saturdays. All shows are free

Bearwallow Falls. At 2 p.m. on the same day, a kidfriendly, 0.8-mile hike will also go to Upper Bearwallow Falls.

• North Carolina residents are invited to participate in the “NC’s Candid Critters” – the largest camera trap survey ever. Residents of Jackson, Macon and Swain Counties can participate in a brief online training process then borrow a camera trap from any Fontana Regional Library location. Info: NCCandidCritters.org or www.fontanalib.org.

• The Franklin Appalachian Trail Community Council

• Carolina Mountain Club will take a 9.5-mile hike with a 3,251 foot ascent on Wednesday, Jan. 15, from Wildcat Rock to Trombatore trail and beyond. Info and reservations: 240.385.4879 or chckmill@icloud.com.

OUTDOOR CLUBS • The North Carolina Catch program, a three-phase conservation education effort focusing on aquatic environments, will be offered through May 15. The program is offered by the Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department. Free for members; daily admission for non-members. 456.2030 • The Cataloochee Chapter of Trout Unlimited meets the second Tuesday of the month starting with a social hour at 5:30 p.m. at Rendezvous restaurant located on the corner of Jonathan Creek Road and Soco Road in Maggie Valley. Come early and eat if you like. 631.5543.

Market WNC PLACE

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MarketPlace information:

The Smoky Mountain News Marketplace has a distribution of 16,000 every week to over 500 locations across in Haywood, Jackson, Macon, and Swain counties along with the Qualla Boundary and west Buncombe County. For a link to our MarketPlace Web site, which also contains a link to all of our MarketPlace display advertisers’ Web sites, visit www.smokymountainnews.com.

Rates: • • • •

• • • • • • • •

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

Free — Lost or found pet ads. $6 — Residential yard sale ads. $1 — Yard Sale Rain Insurance (if a yard sale is rained out the advertiser must contact SMN by 10 a.m. Monday for their ad to run again for free) Legal Notices — 25¢ per word $375 — Statewide classifieds run in 170 participating newspapers with Boost Online — Featured ad at top of category online $4 Boost in Print Add Photo $6 Bold ad $2 Yellow, Green, Pink or Blue Highlight $4 Border $4

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

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

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

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37

SUPER

CROSSWORD

MIX OF FISH ACROSS 1 Creole cooking pod 5 Early Andeans 10 Concert stage items 14 Disgrace 19 Cover thickly 20 Declines 21 Wrongful act, legally 22 Of the ear 23 Grabs hold of a fish?

25 Give a fish medication?

27 Choose (to) 28 Baseball stat 29 Like spoiled cooking oil 30 Clamor 31 Fish smeared with black gunk?

34 Cheeky 37 Have bills 38 Mineo of "Giant" 39 Suffix for an enzyme 40 Not as cruel 41 Turn liquid 44 Old horse 47 Fish drifting about aimlessly?

50 Actor Stiller 51 Baseball stat 53 Hoppy quaff 54 Wash. bigwig 55 Fish covered with more grit?

59 Modifies 64 Conceal 65 Fake ID 66 1,051, in old Rome 68 Larch, e.g.

69 Makes a fish more softhearted?

71 Honey-colored fish?

74 Score -- with (impress)

75 76 77 78 80 85 87 88 89 90 96 97 98 99 100 102 104 106 112 113 115 116 117 120 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129

It's south of Can. Eye parts with irises Splits Triplets of adjacent nucleotides Cures a fish by salting and drying?

Western treaty inits.

Hide -- hair Actress Davis of "The Matrix Reloaded" Ending for Bronx Fish that's a sainted guardian?

O'er there For fear that Runner Bolt "Botch- --" (Rosemary Clooney hit) It precedes Sept.

Barely obtain, with "out" Gratify, as a base instinct Accept a Facebook request from a fish?

Boat in Genesis Twilled fabrics Old's opposite, in German Yellow tropical fruit Teach a fish privately?

Catches a fish in a net?

Flee to get hitched Lance cpl.'s org.

Free-for-all Fair shelter Philly's train system Light meal French river to the Rhone Singer Anita or Aubrey

DOWN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 24 26 29 32 33 35 36 39 41 42 43 45 46 48 49 51 52 56 57 58 60

61 Eightsome Aussie critter Leaf-gathering tool user Had to admit an error Theoretical things Unclothed Bow of "It" Holy tables Atlanta-to-Miami dir.

Perfumery oil Bards' A.M. On-the-nose Furniture finishers Went unused Palette part Erte's style Seafarer Hyundai compact Crock-Pot meal Grid stats Puts more ammo in Al -- (pasta preference) Seafarer Long side up Max. or min.

"I'll second that" Samantha Bee's station Expulsion Earthworm, e.g.

2009 "Star Trek" director J.J. Seepage of methane, e.g.

Heavyweight great Put on TV again Suffers Dog part "I'll second that" Informer Envoy's building Just clear of the bottom, as an anchor

62 63 67 69 70 71 72 73 76 79 81 82 83 84 86 90 91 92 93 94 95 97 101 103 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 114 118 119 120 121

Boarding school student, informally Some china ensembles Divinity sch.

Not as much Bud Actress Sarandon Rd.'s cousin No more than Cheese type Hubbubs Not a soul As to Old man Baseball Hall of Famer Ralph On Soc. Sec., often Operated on smaller than a national level Transforms, as larvae In general Sleeveless casual shirt Free (of) Lovingly, in music Rapa -Ushered in Music styles 53-Across containers Q-U queue Sell for Writer Zora -- Hurston Super- -Got along A Trump ex Spruced up They support teeth roots Choose (to) Stephen of "Utopia" Texter's "Didn't need to hear that!"

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ANSWERS ON PAGE 33

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38

www.smokymountainnews.com

December 25-31, 2019

WNC MarketPlace

ness. The neurosciences have been studying the effects of ALAN on circadian rhythms.

There has been ecological, physiological and technological research on different aspects of ALAN and now scientists are working on creating more collaboration among the different disciplines to try and get a better

The naturalist’s corner

BY DON H ENDERSHOT

Hello solstice my old friend he official time of the 2019 winter solstice in the northern hemisphere is 11:19 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Saturday, Dec. 21. That is the time the sun reaches the Tropic of Cancer and is directly overhead. That will be the shortest day and longest night of the year. For thousands of years civilizations have celebrated the fact, from this point on days will be getting longer. However, it’s becoming more and more apparent this long “dark” night should be revered as well.

Up until the last 150 years or so one thing on the planet has been a constant — night skies have been dark. The planet, its species, its environment and its ecology have all evolved within this over-arching framework. People speak of a circadian rhythm.

Circadian comes from the Latin — circa “around” and diem “day” literally translating to around a day. Circadian rhythms of plants and animals are widely recognized and have been studied and quantified. But the planet has it’s own circadian rhythm comprised of all those species of plants and animals that

T

are either nocturnal, diurnal or crepuscular and the myriads of interactions and connections associated with them.

But then, according to legend, one Benjamin Franklin was flying his kite around Philadelphia in a thunderstorm and voilà, electricity, soon followed by the incandescent bulb and now LED and those dark nights have been and are being radically altered. This phenomenon known as ALAN (artificial light at night) is recent (in scientific terms,) immensely large (just look at a NASA photo of light pollution) and spreading at a 5G rate.

Most scientists are looking at ALAN as a kind of pollution and it rivals CO2 emissions, water pollution and climate change as one of the most widespread and pernicious problems of the Antrhopocene. The largest problem studying ALAN is the simple fact it’s unprecedented. There are no natural analogies with which to compare it. Even with climate change scientists have records of what happens to Earth’s climate when CO2 levels rise. But ALAN is the first of its kind.

The study is ramping up across different disciplines. Scotobiology is the study of biology directly and specifically affected by dark-

I like the long nights winter brings to weary souls rest reflect then spring Don Hendershot photo

comprehensive picture.

Some biological impacts from ALAN have been known for years and we, attired in our comfortable suit of human complacency have, until very recently, just shrugged it off.

It is known, artificial light in windows and on towers etc. has been killing millions of

songbirds twice a year during annual migration. Hatchling sea turtles are disoriented by and crawl toward ALAN rather than toward the ambient light of the ocean.

But ALAN is more complicated and convoluted and permeates our environment in ways just now being discovered by science. A study of bats in the Netherlands discovered fast flying species of the genus Pipistrellus gather under certain lights and feast on insects attracted while slow flying genera like Myotis avoid lighted areas (possibly for fear of predators like owls.) The result is loss of habitat for slow flying species.

Light pollution appears to be negatively impacting critical “dark-requiring” processes of most plant and animal species on the planet.

In the late 1980s Hal emerged and still lingers as one of the scariest villains of all time, but ALAN scares me more.

(Don Hendershot is a writer and naturalist.

His book, A Year From the Naturalist’s Corner, Vol. 1, is available at regional bookstores or by contacting Don at ddihen1@bellsouth.net)

December 25-31, 2019

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