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Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018 Vol. 20 Iss. 18

Waynesville mayor takes plea deal in forgery case Page 4 Pretrial release program coming to WNC Page 6

CONTENTS

STAFF

On the Cover: Western North Carolina author Thomas Rain Crowe discusses his new book chronicling the Baby Beat movement in 1970s San Francisco. (Page 22) Thomas Rain Crowe in his writer’s den on the second floor of his Tuckasegee home in Jackson County. Garret K. Woodward photo

News Haywood tourism continues to grow ............................................................................3 Waynesville mayor pleads in forgery case ..................................................................4 Obamacare navigator funding eliminated ....................................................................5 Pretrial release program coming to Haywood, Jackson ..........................................6 DA under fire for ‘mishandling’ cases ..........................................................................7 Cherokee widens window for election law changes ................................................9 Elders and Woody vie for Jackson commission seat ............................................10 Jackson schools see gains, losses in school grades ............................................12 Haywood wants help planning future of education ................................................13 Workforce housing coming to Sylva ..........................................................................14 Veterans services event coming to Franklin ..............................................................15 Health News ......................................................................................................................17

Opinion

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CONTACT WAYNESVILLE | 144 Montgomery, Waynesville, NC 28786 P: 828.452.4251 | F: 828.452.3585 SYLVA | 629 West Main Street, Sylva, NC 28779 P: 828.631.4829 | F: 828.631.0789 INFO & BILLING | P.O. Box 629, Waynesville, NC 28786

The real problem in Haywood’s tax office ................................................................18

Outdoors Waynesville runners look to incite enthusiasm for jogging ..................................34

The Naturalist’s Corner

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Haywood tourism continues to grow T

actual collections, losing 6 percent. The biggest year-over-year gains were seen in January, September and August.

Some of that is due to the source of the money the TDA collects; by category, hotels and motels do most of the business, for most of the year, except in January, February and March, when it’s all about vacation rentals. The revenue streams, however, can essentially be boiled down to just two — hotels and non-hotels.

“In order to get a really accurate picture of this, the owners have the choice of choosing what category they want to be in, and if

revenues after the 2015-16 fiscal year, but there’s another reason for the Lake’s 45 percent year-over-year growth since then.

“Some of that is attributable to renovations at the Terrace [Hotel] and the Lambuth Inn,” Collins said of the years-long multi-million dollar rehabs that have brought new life to the historic structures.

The growth in the county’s tourism industry isn’t simply limited to the Lake, and isn’t limited to just this past year; over the course of the past 10 fiscal years dating back to 2008-09, it’s clear.

Canton’s collections have jumped almost

here, and we also have a huge inventory of single-family home rentals that contribute to that.”

Waynesville’s growth, from $68,000 in 2008-09 to $119,000 last year is also substantial; the town’s total for the decade is $828,000, and will likely grow even more next year.

“I think we’ll see that go up as the new property comes online,” Collins said of a new Hampton Inn coming to Waynesville’s west side. “They’ll bring in different market share with their [loyalty club] points. People who participate in those [clubs] are very

Fiscal year 2017-18 performance of the 3 percent fund, provided by the Haywood TDA, shows robust growth.

15 percent, from $20,000 in 2008-09 to $30,000 last year; over that period, more than $215,000 has come from Canton.

Clyde went from a measly $461 in 200809 to almost $11,000 last year, and has collected just under $31,000 over the last 10 years.

Lake Junaluska has grown from $9,000 in 2008-09 to just over $46,000 last year, accounting for a whopping 25 percent of the $163,841 collected in the past decade.

Maggie Valley has always been at the core of the county’s tourism industry, although last year’s collections of $180,855 were basically flat over last year’s $180,226.

Over the past decade, however, those totals have grown from $138,000 in 2008-09 and add up to more than $1.45 million in collections.

“They have the most inventory of anybody else, so obviously they’re going to have a larger portion of the occupancy tax because of that,” said Collins. “We have more hotel/motel accommodations out

loyal to that brand. So those may be people who aren’t currently coming here, but we’ll get them because of that.”

What it all adds up to is almost $2.7 million in 1 percent fund collections over the past decade, spent locally to promote tourism.

“Haywood County is made up of mostly small businesses, and tourism certainly contributes to the wellbeing of those small business overall,” said Collins. “Also tourism provides a lot of jobs in the county that are directly attributable to travel and tourism. In addition to the payroll taxes it generates state and local tax revenues and once again, the most important thing on this chart is the tax savings per Haywood County resident.”

That tax savings is estimated to be $272.79 for each and every resident of Haywood County.

“If we didn’t have tourism here,” she said, “people would be paying more in taxes.”

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Smoky Mountain News

you really look in-depth, what you would do is add the cabins and cottages with the vacation rentals,” she said. “If you look at that, then they’re really almost neck-and-neck throughout the year.”

Each of the five zip codes represented in the TDA’s 1 percent fund showed growth over the previous year, except Maggie Valley, which was flat. Large gains were again seen at Lake Junaluska and Clyde.

“There’s just more people coming on board with inventory in Clyde,” Collins said. “Clyde’s a very large zip code, and they have a lot of vacation rentals. They also have Buffalo Creeks Vacations, and they have Majors Estates, so they have some very different inventory. I know in the case of Buffalo Creek, they have gotten a lot of national publicity, so I think that certainly has helped, and Clyde continues to get additional vacation rentals in their inventory.”

A change in how some rooms at Lake Junaluska are taxed resulted in a big jump in

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER he fiscal year for Haywood County’s Tourism Development Authority ended June 30, and now that all the data are in, it looks like 2017-18 was another banner year for overnight stays around the county.

“I think we’ve since the recession continued to see an upswing in tourism throughout the year, so I just think this is a continuation,” said TDA Executive Director Lynn Collins.

According to a report provided to Haywood County commissioners last week, each month from July 2017 through June 2018 showed growth over budgeted estimates, in some cases substantially.

Collections topped 42 percent over projections in January and 30 percent in March; the biggest months in terms of dollar volume were October, July and June, in that order and the lowest February, January and March, respectively.

Collins explained that the process by which the TDA determines projections is complicated but is meant to ensure funding is available to the qualified entities that request it.

“That money is awarded before the budget year starts, so if your projections don’t come in, then you have to go back and take that money away from those people, and that’s not pleasant,” she said.

In 2017-18, the TDA funded a number of projects like the Lake Logan Multisport Festival, the Fines Creek Bluegrass Festival, the Lake Junaluska Independence Day celebration, Maggie Valley Fall Days and Waynesville’s Art After Dark.

“I do the projections in January, so in January I base the projections to the last full year I have,” she said, which means the 201718 projections were based on the 2015-16 fiscal year.

For example, actual collections for the 3 percent TDA fund in July 2017 were about $140,000, but the projection for July 2018 was about $125,000, about 10 percent less.

Actual collections came in at $151,000 or about 20 percent higher.

Although it’s unusual in business to project such substantial revenue declines, Collins said there is a method to the madness. Using the previous full year’s actual collections, the board also looks at how the first four months of the current fiscal year appear to be going, and then decides to increase or decrease Collins’ baseline projections accordingly. Those projections are consistently lower than actual collections.

“I would certainly rather be under than over,” she said. “Even on the 3 percent side, we do our media plan for the whole year, and that money is technically committed, so if we’re not bringing in that money then we have to start pulling back on the media buys, and looking at staffing and everything else.”

February 2018 was the only month of the 2017-18 fiscal year that didn’t top last year’s

news

Waynesville mayor takes plea deal in forgery case

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER aynesville attorney Gavin Brown pled guilty Sept. 18 to two felony counts stemming from an incident in which he forged a notary’s signature and seal on a deed in 2016. The charges were unrelated to his service as Waynesville’s mayor.

Brown’s attorney, his nephew David Brown, told the court that his client had accepted full responsibility since being indicted in January.

“Since we first met on this case, he’s been nothing but forthright with what’s happened,” David Brown said. “He has admitted to me from the very beginning that he made a mistake. It was a dumb mistake and he wishes he could take it back. He’s not denied it at any step of the way to anyone involved.”

But Gavin Brown wanted to be clear that it wasn’t simply a mistake in the sense of being an error or an omission.

“I want the court to fully understand, I made a conscious decision to do something that was wrong, so I ask you no leeway in that respect,” Brown said. “It was stupid and wrong and I accept the consequences for that.”

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Smoky Mountain News

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

BACKGROUND According to statements presented in court by Assistant District Attorney Jeff Jones, Brown, an attorney licensed in North Carolina since 1972, had among his clients for decades James Patrick Bennett, owner of a real estate development firm.

The business, said Jones, has been winding down as the principals are retiring. Each year, for tax purposes, company assets in the form of real property are conveyed out of the company to the principals individually; Brown would assist Bennett with those transfers.

“He would do this on a yearly basis for tax reasons,” said Jones. “Mr. Brown and Mr. Bennett had an understanding that for these intercompany transfers, Mr. Brown had a signed signature page of a deed, and he would put the appropriate parties and

the property description when necessary and then would take care of the deed.”

In 1998, Bennett sold a piece of property to Kathleen Curl. Brown prepared the deed, but it had an error in the description, which went unnoticed for almost two decades; in 2016, Curl tried to sell the property, but the buyer’s attorney, Michael Jordan, noticed that the description was incorrect during the title search. Jordan contacted Brown, who was to prepare a corrected deed.

Gavin Brown will serve 24 months of supervised probation. Town of Waynesville photo That deed was dated March 23, 2016, from Bennett to Curl. Using one of those previously signed pages, Brown presented the deed to Jordan.

Jordan’s legal assistant saw that it wasn’t notarized, and contacted Brown’s legal assistant Kendra Smathers, who is also a licensed notary public. Smathers was not in the office, and did not get the voicemail until the next day.

Brown did, however, and brought the deed back bearing a notary stamp and the signature of Smathers. The next day, Smathers listened to her voicemail, and when the deed became available online, she saw that it was not her signature on it.

Smathers then made a report to the North Carolina State Bar.

support unit here in Waynesville. I think a few of the Browns are here in the audience,” he said, nodding to a small crowd of friends, family and even fellow city officials — like Waynesville Mayor Pro Tem Gary Caldwell, Alderman LeRoy Roberson and Town Attorney Bill Cannon — who showed up to support Brown.

Roberson told the judge how the city had flourished under Brown’s leadership.

“I’ve served with him for around for 11 ROCEEDINGS years now, and found him to be very beneficial, very helpful and a good leader for the During Brown’s hearing, Jones acknowltown. Waynesville has grown under his counedged that Brown’s service as Waynesville’s sel in many ways,” he said. “He’s been not mayor had sparked increased interest in the just a good mayor, but a very good mayor.” case, despite the charges being unrelated to Finally, Brown himself addressed the those duties. Similar rumors arose regarding court.

“I would like to “It was stupid and wrong and I accept thank the District Attorney’s Office for the consequences for that.” allowing me to enter this plea, and I would — Gavin Brown like to thank your Honor for allowing me to enter the plea before you,” he said. “I Brown’s Democratic Party affiliation, and District Attorney Ashley Welch’s Republican accept whatever punishment the court gives me in this matter, and I would like to thank status. my friends and family for supporting me.

“After speaking with District Attorney Most of all I’d like to thank my wife for standWelch, the only way to handle this case was ing by me. Hopefully, your Honor, this will be to treat Mr. Brown as we would anybody else,” he said. “There’s been a lot of attention a chapter in my life that I can turn the corner on, and at some point in time, at my funeral, on this case due to the fact that he’s the I hope people will say, ‘That Gavin Brown, he mayor of Waynesville, but these crimes have was OK.’” nothing to do with him being mayor. These Given that Brown, 71, has no criminal occurred as a private lawyer.” record, did not benefit financially from the Jones said he’d subpoenaed both of the crime and is unlikely to reoffend, he was victims in the case, Smathers and Bennett. offered in a plea deal what’s known as a conBennett said he’d probably not attend the hearing and if he did, it would be in sup- ditional discharge.

Without entering a judgment of guilt, port of Brown. Smathers likewise said she’d Pope ordered that further proceedings be not appear, and did not wish to see Brown deferred and placed Brown on supervised prosecuted. probation for a period of 24 months. He’ll After speaking with the victims in the also perform 50 hours of community service case and based on Brown’s clean record, Jones asked Judge Marvin Pope to accept the within 180 days. If that goes well, not only will Brown not face prison — he could have plea agreement. seen a sentence of up to 17 months on the Brown’s attorney David Brown then two counts — that judgment won’t be asked the judge to do the same. entered, and Brown could even petition to “He is the mayor of Waynesville, he’s have the entire matter winding down his law practice and now expunged from his record. enjoys being the mayor. He’s got a strong

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Additionally, Jordan happened to see Bennett at the gym, and thanked him for issuing the corrected deed. Bennett had no idea what he was talking about.

On Oct. 16, 2017, the N.C. State Bar Association filed a complaint against Brown; a few weeks later, he filed his response, admitting almost everything. In early January, Brown was indicted by a Grand Jury.

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Per article VI of the North Carolina Constitution, “any person who has been adjudged guilty of treason or any other felony against this State” is disqualified from office. However, as Brown hasn’t technically been convicted, he doesn’t have to resign, and he could run again when his term expires in 2019, if so inclined.

Brown’s cooperation with both the bar association and the district attorney’s office left few unanswered questions as to the facts of the case; on Sept. 20, he answered the last two.

“Why I did it, or why my admission?

The Greek word ‘hubris’ probably answers both,” he said.

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Question:

Which prepared foods in the ingles deli are gluten-free. How about the rotisserie chicken? i have celiac disease and need to be very careful.

ANSWER: While there are many prepared items in the deli that are have no gluten-containing ingredients like wheat, barley, and rye; we cannot claim that they are "glutenfree" due to the risk of cross contact.

Because we prepare many gluten-containing items like pasta salads, sandwiches, pizzas etc., the risk of cross contact exists. This means that surfaces, utensils, cooking pans, fryers etc could have gluten-containing residue from those items. Since even a tiny amount of gluten can make someone with celiac disease ill; I would advise you to purchase items that are pre-packaged and labeled as gluten-free.

Smoky Mountain News

consumers through advertising, outreach, flyers social media, community partners, enrollment events and outreach activities.

A Smoky Mountain News Story Aug. 29 revealed that Mountain Projects had also assisted in bringing back more than $1 million to the seven western counties due to the so-called “hardship exemptions” to mandatory health coverage.

Since its inception, Obamacare has levied fines on those without health care coverage, and collected those fines against personal income tax refunds. In 2017, the fine was $695 per adult, or 2.5 percent of household income, whichever is greater. For children, it was $347.50, half of the adult rate. The maximum fine a family would have to pay was $2,085.

But last year, CMS released some new exemptions, chief among them the “lack of choice” exemption. Since only one insurance company offered coverage in most or all Western North Carolina counties, residents can now apply for an exemption to the fine, file an amended tax return and get their money back. Mountain Projects both publicized this fact, and assisted with the exemption filings.

Without funding, the program “would be going away,” according to Plummer.

“There would be no in-person assistance from Mountain Projects,” she said. “So the seven western counties would be without assistance to sign up for, and renew or get refunds. It will be very challenging to meet the needs of consumers.”

Mountain Projects used to hold enrollment events in different places, as well as maintain flexible staff hours, even visiting shut-ins. Lack of internet and lack of public transportation make the process difficult for some.

“That was my motivation to apply for the grant to start with,” said Davis. “That is what’s going away.”

But maybe not — Davis said she’s working on alternate funding sources and hopes to be able to continue providing Obamacare-related services.

“We have very encouraging feedback from a foundation that we will know about in October, as well as a donation that may be able to bridge the time between the loss of federal dollars and the potential foundation dollars,” she said.

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER an Plummer is the Obamacare Navigator program coordinator at Mountain Projects, but probably not for much longer.

Unsurprisingly, after a three-year cooperative agreement expired Sept. 12, Mountain Projects wasn’t selected for re-funding of the Navigator program, which helps people sign up for health care coverage.

“We knew at the time that only $500,000 was available for all of North Carolina, because that’s what Centers for Medicaid Services had allotted,” Plummer said. “The previous year, there was just over $3 million awarded.”

That $500,000 was awarded to Legal Aid of N.C., which will have a presence in all 100 North Carolina counties, albeit less substantial than Mountain Projects did in Western North Carolina.

Four full-time and three part-time Mountain Projects navigators were available in the seven westernmost counties of the state — Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain — for the past six years. It cost the organization about $350,000 to staff the program.

“It was certainly a big reduction for anyone. The funds were cut dramatically,” said Mountain Projects Executive Director Patsy Davis. “There was a 90 percent reduction in funds nationally, so nobody got much money.”

But there’s still so much work to do.

In 2017, more than 11,000 people in the seven western counties enrolled. However, the uninsured rate in the region still lingers around 17 percent, according to the Healthy Lives and Communities County Health Rankings & Roadmaps report.

Currently, an estimated 32,343 remain uninsured, representing about 18 percent of the uninsured in the state, partly due to the Medicaid gap, and partly due to those with higher incomes who still can not afford coverage.

In 2017 alone, Mountain Projects tracked 7,194 consumer interactions in which it assisted consumers with general or specific questions; it conducted 6,000 health care literacy conversations, referred 200 to Medicaid or CHIP, and reached more than 20,000 consumers or potential

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Obamacare navigator funding eliminated

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news

Pretrial release program comes to Western NC New policy aims to provide a fairer judicial system

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR eginning Jan. 1, 2019, Haywood and Jackson counties will be the first judicial district in the state to pilot a pretrial release program aimed at reducing the local jail populations, recidivism rates and increasing the efficiency of the court system.

The program will include a new policy encouraging judges to set more unsecured bonds for people charged with nonviolent, low-level offenses so they can be released from jail while they await their court date.

“No one is being soft on crime — we want to be smart on crime,” said Superior Court Judge Bradley Letts, who is leading the implementation of the program in the 30B Judicial District. “This will provide stability and safety for the community but in a thoughtful way while also being mindful of the costs for the county and taxpayers.”

According to the Pretrial Justice Institute, six out of 10 people sitting in jail — nearly half a million on any given day — are awaiting trial. Many accused low-level offenders stay in jail until their court date because they can’t afford to pay their cash bond, which can range from $200 to a couple thousand dollars depending on the offense.

Pretrial services is a key discussion point when state lawmakers look at criminal justice reform, and as more jurisdictions deal with overcrowded jails and unsustainable budget increases, offering pretrial programs is becoming a necessity to safeguard local resources.

California announced last month it would be the first in the nation to do away with cash bonds to ensure people in the criminal justice system are treated equally whether they are rich or poor. New Jersey’s pretrial justice reform essentially eliminated money bail as well by detaining pretrial defendants only if they are deemed a flight risk or a danger to the community.

While North Carolina may not be ready for that kind of drastic reform yet, a pretrial release program is an easy and inexpensive way to start. If it proves successful in Haywood and Jackson, the program could be expanded to all 100 counties in North Carolina.

Judge Letts has been at the forefront of the effort and has worked toward getting all

Smoky Mountain News

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

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the stakeholders on board, including the District Attorney’s Office, defense attorneys, law enforcement, judges and clerks of court.

“I made a point in the beginning to get everyone involved in the process. We’ve had everyone at the table to get everyone’s comments and feedback,” he said. “Feedback has been positive — we feel like we have a good collaborative effort going.”

Letts was invited to represent North Carolina last year at a pretrial release summit in Raleigh hosted by the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts that included leaders from other states throughout the Southeast.

“When it was all over, our team decided we needed to do a pretrial project to begin looking at reform,” Letts said. “I’m excited to be a leader in this for the state pilot program.”

During this transition, the judicial district is also receiving funds from the State Justice Institute, technical assistance from the Pretrial Justice Institute and support from Professor Jessica Smith at UNC School of Government and Professor Jamie Vaske at Western Carolina University.

Letts has seen firsthand the unintended consequences of people being detained pretrial, but the summit shed more light on the extent of the problems it creates in the system from overcrowded jails to clogging up the court system to how it impacts people’s lives long after they’re released.

According to an article in the Stanford Law Review, defendants detained before they go to trial are 25 percent more likely than their counterparts to plead guilty, 43 percent more likely to be sentenced to jail time and are more likely to commit future crimes.

“Finding that folks detained pretrial have bad outcomes is not surprising, but the magnitude of the bad outcomes is surprising,” Letts said.

Because the court system is backlogged, it can take weeks or even months before a defendant goes to court. In that time, the defendant could lose their employment, have their children placed into foster care or experience other personal consequences that make it more difficult for them to stay out of the criminal justice system in the future.

The cost associated with pretrial incarceration continues to climb and local governments are having a hard time keeping up with the demand. Sheriffs throughout the region have said a vast majority of their inmates are awaiting trial. At an average of $80 a night to keep someone in jail, taxpayers are paying to keep people locked up who haven’t been convicted of their charges.

HOW IT WILL WORK The pretrial release pilot program will only involve people charged with low-level offenses — things like simple drug possession, writing worthless checks, misdemeanor larceny or shoplifting. Beginning Jan. 1, the Judicial District 30B, which

Superior Court Judge Bradley Letts (center) has worked closely with law enforcement, including Haywood Sheriff Greg Christopher and Chief Deputy Jeff Haynes, to implement a pretrial release program. Donated photo includes Haywood and Jackson counties, will have a new pretrial release policy that will allow judges to set an unsecured bond.

“We’ll be dealing with folks committing nonviolent crimes and have small bond amounts. We’re not talking about violent crime and serious offenses — those people will continue to receive secured bonds,” Letts said.

A secured bond requires a defendant to pay it before they are released; they can do so by paying cash in full or by going through a bail bondsmen and paying 10 to 15 percent of the bond. The pilot program means that low-level offenders identified through the program will be given an unsecured bond, which means they will be released after booking and processing and only have to pay the bond if they fail to appear for their court date.

“The county and taxpayers have to pay to house those people in addition to accommodating their medical expenses, but also keeping them in jail is impacting them and their ability to work and provide for themselves and their families and everything else they have a responsibility to do.”

In addition to setting more unsecured bonds for low-level offenses, Letts said he

Downstream consequences of misdemeanor pretrial detention Detained defendants are: n 25 percent more likely than similar released defendants to plead guilty n 43 percent more likely to be sentenced to jail and receive jail sentences that are more than twice as long on average n More likely to commit future crimes Source: Stanford Law Review 6

was exploring the idea of providing legal counsel sooner for indigent defendants. He said it’s been typical for defendants not to get a court-appointed lawyer until their first court date, which could be a few days or a couple of weeks after being arrested and incarcerated.

However, he would like to implement a

new 72-hour policy to make sure defendants charged with a misdemeanor or felony speak to a lawyer within 72 hours of arrest.

Currently, there is only a rule to ensure people charged with a felony get a bond hearing within 96 hours.

“We’re going to explore the possibility of providing counsel at an earlier stage to folks who have been charged so there can be a bond hearing to address the issues of pretrial release,” he said. “We want to see everybody within 72 hours.”

The 30th Judicial District doesn’t have state-funded public defenders like many other counties do — it only has private attorneys who volunteer to be on the list of available court-appointed lawyers. It’s a fairly short list, so Letts said he’s working with N.C. Indigent Defense Services about contracting with attorneys to handle pre-trial hearings.

“They would not only assist the defendant charged but would also help the district attorney prosecutors and judge better understand the issues at hand — the person’s stability, ties to the community, their criminal history and whether they’re a flight risk,” Letts said.

The pre-trial hearing lawyer might not be the lawyer defendant sees when they go to court, but having them on hand to meet the 72-hour hearing policy will hopefully mean a more streamlined court process. A more efficient court system will hopefully lead to fewer continuances and fewer people sitting in jail waiting for a court date — which will

S EE PRETRIAL, PAGE 8

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Amid criticism from some constituents, District Attorney Ashley Welch was presented with recognition from the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office for her integrity and cooperation with law enforcement. Jessi Stone photo to. I was misled in law enforcement’s agreement on the evidence — I was not misled in the facts,” Welch said.

Additionally, Welch said a call from Graham County Sheriff Danny Millsaps might have prevented the miscommunication between her office and law enforcement.

Millsaps has been vocal in the media about his disagreements with Welch, specifically her decision not to immediately prosecute a suspect in the murder case of Lora Orr. “It’s different in Graham County. Had this happened in any other county in the district the sheriff would have called me directly and let me know,” Welch said. “It’s frustrating but it is what it is. Luckily we can fix it and I’m grateful we can and that’s what I tried to do.”

In the Lora Orr case, it’s been reported Welch had to also reopen this case because of Bellas’ poor decision making, but that’s not what happened. The case was never closed.

“The investigation had been ongoing — we didn’t reopen it — we just got the inves-

that charges should wait.

“It was the same night — the crime scene hadn’t been processed yet,” she said.

In hindsight, Welch would have reached out to the SBI sooner to expedite the investigation process, but she said “mishandled” is a strong word to use in this case. Garrel Alva Orr was still indicted in Lora’s death.

Bellas is no longer working with the DA’s office. His last day was June 11, but Welch would not comment on whether he resigned or was terminated from the position, saying it was a private personnel issue. The Cherokee Scout reported that Bellas’ last day was the same day Maria De Los Angeles Brickman was acquitted of murder in Cherokee County — a case Bellas had prosecuted.

The ruling definitely wasn’t what the DA’s office was hoping for, but Welch said she didn’t feel Bellas mishandled that case.

“I don’t feel that case was mishandled.

They had a self-defense argument.

Obviously we didn’t agree with her defense, but I don’t have an inclination it wasn’t han-

Smoky Mountain News

people in the community are not willing to forgive.

“I was trying to do the right thing and I felt like I could make it right, and I was very honest about that and very open with the media,” Welch said. “When you make a mistake you admit it and say I’m sorry, but I feel like I’m being punished for it.”

But the issue is a bit more complicated than that because Welch had a romantic relationship with Bellas while he worked for her office. The relationship was recently made public by a regional crime blog Trappalachia.

Trappalchia reporter Davin Eldridge released a video showing Welch and Bellas hugging and kissing at a rest stop in Alamance County and also a clip of the two coming out of a hotel in Raleigh in February 2017. It’s unknown who took the video footage but many regional media outlets — including The Smoky Mountain News — received the video at their offices in midJanuary 2018. Welch confirmed that she also received the anonymous envelope at her office in Macon County.

The Smoky Mountain News interviewed Welch at the time about the video and questioned whether the relationship with Bellas broke any law or created a conflict of interest.

“My personal life is my personal life — I’ve done nothing illegal or unethical,” she said at the time.

Welch’s office falls under the jurisdiction of the N.C. Judicial Standards Commission, which has no policy concerning employee fraternization. Welch said she was not having a relationship with Bellas before she hired him in 2015 shortly after she was elected.

His high salary of $122,700 a year — only about $5,000 less than Welch’s salary — was also questioned. Welch said that’s what he was making before being hired at her office and she didn’t choose to lower his pay because of his extensive experience as a prosecutor.

“He had worked for the 25th District as an ADA and is a very experienced trial lawyer — that’s what the office needed at the time,” she said.

Bellas was named Chief ADA over the five most western counties and handled serious cases including homicides, robberies and drug trafficking.

When asked why she and Bellas were spotted together in Raleigh and Alamance, Welch said they were visiting legislators and lobbying for state funding for two more prosecutors in the 30th Judicial District, which they were successful in securing.

Welch was newly divorced at the time the video was taken and Bellas marital status was unknown. With no evidence that the brief affair caused any favoritism or disruption in the prosecuting of cases, SMN ultimately decided the DA’s personal life was not worth reporting.

Then the video was made public by other

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

BY J ESSI STONE N EWS E DITOR istrict Attorney Ashley Welch doesn’t have an opponent in the 2018 election, but an online petition to remove her from office had 237 signatures as of Monday afternoon.

Though the young Republican prosecutor won her first term with 60 percent of the vote throughout the seven-county 30th Judicial District, she’s recently been criticized for the way she’s handled — or didn’t handle — a couple of cases. Welch’s morals and ethics have been called into question after a video surfaced exposing a romantic relationship she had with her former Assistant District Attorney Eric Bellas. Though Welch has denied that the relationship had any negative impact on her job performance, it hasn’t stopped some constituents from claiming she’s no longer fit for office.

Christopher Green of Franklin started the petition on Change.org two weeks ago, stating that Welch has failed to prosecute cases and is using political bias and gross misuse of power to affect the personal life of a political candidate.

“We the citizens of North Carolina judicial district 30 deserve a District Attorney who is just, fair and unbiased. In light of recent events Ashley H. Welch has shown to be none of these traits.”

It continues, “The D.A. should be held to a higher moral conduct code than your everyday citizen given the nature of there (sic) job.”

Welch openly admits that a case Bellas reviewed and chose not to prosecute was recently reopened after it was brought to her attention and she was able to review the case file for herself. The case involved a 2016 shooting incident between neighbors Joe Shaffer and James Smith in Graham County.

The two men apparently shot at each other and Shaffer, a retired Iraqi War veteran, nearly died from a gunshot wound to his eye.

No charges were filed against either man at the time of the incident, which Welch said was Bellas’ call.

“I was given very specific information about what evidence in that case showed,” Welch said. “I was also told law enforcement agreed there was not enough evidence to prosecute, but I’ve since learned that was not accurate. I’ve met with law enforcement and talked with the victims. I believe looking at it, it could be open to interpretation but not the way I saw it when I looked at the file.”

But Welch probably had a clearer picture of the incident and Smith’s background by the time she reviewed the case again in August because Smith had recently been charged with shooting his wife. The DA then filed attempted first-degree murder and deadly assault charges against Smith. While Shaffer has forgiven Welch and has said he’s thankful justice is now being served, many

tigative report and met with SBI and proceeded with indictments,” Welch said.

“That’s pretty normal — it’s been a while but it’s not uncommon for the SBI report to take that long.”

The Graham County woman was found shot to death in February. Less than 24 hours later, Welch said, Sheriff Millsaps wanted Bellas to charge Garrel Alva Orr with Lora’s murder, but Welch said her office refused. She said Bellas disagreed with Millsaps on the timing of when charges should be filed — and she agreed with Bellas

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District Attorney under fire for ‘mishandling’ cases

news outlets in August and constituents began questioning how cases were handled under Welch’s watch. Bellas did review the Shaffer/Smith case and declined to prosecute, but Welch said that wasn’t a special privilege — all her ADAs have the authority to review and make calls on cases. In a spread-out seven-county district, Welch said it’s nearly impossible for her to review every case that comes to her office.

“I have to put 100 percent trust in my people. It’s seven counties — I can’t review every single case and I didn’t have a reason

S EE DA, PAGE 8 7

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Letts said a more efficient system would mean swift justice for victims who are waiting for closure.

“My hope is this will not only benefit people in cases but also benefit the court system by moving people through the court system quicker,” Letts said. “It will also benefit victims if cases are heard sooner and resolved sooner. I hope it will increase the efficiency of the courts, which will benefit everybody.”

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Many pretrial services do come with a cost, whether it’s offering court date reminders to defendants or utilizing more probation officers and electronic monitoring devices in lieu of pretrial detention, but the policies chosen for this pilot program won’t have a major impact on the court’s budget.

Letts said the only cost would be working out a contract for the pretrial hearing lawyers who participate in the program.

Another potential cost being explored is the purchase and installation of audio-video equipment inside the Jackson County Detention Center, which will make it easier for defendants to speak with legal counsel sooner.

“We don’t have court every day in Sylva, but we do have District Court here in Haywood every single day. We could do video here for a defendant in Jackson County so we can still have a bond hearing within 72 hours,” Letts said.

Even with some initial costs, most jurisdictions that have implemented pretrial

dled properly,” she said.

Welch said she has gone back and looked at every big case that Bellas handled to ensure everything was handled properly and she’s found no other cases that need to be readdressed.

Welch promoted ADA John Hindsman to handle the heavy-hitting cases in the five most western counties — though he won’t hold the title of Chief ADA. Welch said she’d learned her lesson when it comes to handing out that title because it has led to confusion about who is truly in charge.

“At the end of the day, I’m the DA and I’m the one that makes the decisions. I don’t take away titles so Jeff Jones is still my chief ADA in Haywood and Jackson, but I’m not naming another chief,” she said.

Welch also recently hired a new ADA since Hindsman was promoted — Caleb Decker was recently sworn in. He has 15 years of experience as a defense lawyer.

Despite the critics calling for her removal, Welch maintains she and her staff have done a lot of good for the district in the last four years and will continue to do so during her second term in office. She said her goals would continue to be prosecuting violent offenders and those who prey

services have found tremendous savings in the long run since it costs more to incarcerate people than it does for these services.

For example, a night in jail costs about $80 a night while the average daily cost for pretrial supervision is about $7.17, according to Pretrial Justice Institute.

“Any cost there would be outweighed with savings in the future,” Letts said.

Lucas County, Ohio, is one example of how pretrial services improves an entire judicial system. With the goal of advancing fair practices and reducing the jail population, Lucas County began participating in the Safety and Justice Challenge through the MacArthur Foundation in 2016, which provided grant funds.

With a county population of 440,000 people, Lucas County’s 346-bed jail was constantly over capacity and the county was contemplating building a new jail. After implementing new pre-arrest and pretrial services, the county was able to reduce its jail population by 22 percent in just one year.

The 30th Judicial District may not have a $1.7 million grant to pour into reform programs, but between the pretrial release program being implement through the state, the LEAD jail diversion program being implemented in Haywood and a grant through Haywood Pathways Center to place case workers in the detention center to work with inmates, the county is well on its way to making improvements to the criminal justice system.

“This issues are being discussed around the country and everything I’ve been hearing about will be included in our policy changes,” Letts said. “And these types of changes happening around the country are working based on the data we see.”

upon children.

As the district continues to battle the opioid epidemic and overcrowded jails, Welch said she is excited and hopeful about new programs rolling out in Haywood, especially the LEAD jail diversion program and a new pretrial release program being implemented next year that will hopefully relieve the jail capacity and the overloaded court dockets.

“You don’t expect people to get better if they’re suffering from drug addiction by throwing them in jail,” she said. “What’s great about Haywood is we’re seeing these resources in the community coming together.”

As a DA, she knows criticism comes with the job. With complaints that she is over charging and complaints she offers too many plea deals, Welch says she evaluates every case individually to make the right call.

“We’re definitely trying more cases — when you see a Superior Court session you’ll see we’re trying like crazy. Numbers are going up and that’s the nature of the beast, but we only have so much time in the day,” she said. “Some numbers are increasing and I attribute it to us being aggressive on particular crimes and not pleading down things we shouldn’t, but also you can’t run a system without plea deals.”

Council has until Jan. 1 to enact amendments for 2019 elections

Waynesville police chief speaks on opioids

“Should churches pay taxes?” will be the topic for the Franklin Open Forum at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 1, at the Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub, located downtown at 58 Stewart Street, Franklin.

Those interested in an open exchange of ideas (dialog, not debate) are invited to attend.

For more information, call 828.371.1020.

Waynesville Police Chief Bill Hollingsed is a featured speaker and provides key advice in the North Carolina League of Municipalities’ recently unveiled Opioid Solutions Toolbox.

The toolbox, which can be found on the NCLM website at www.nclm.org/opioidsolutions, is designed to better help member cities and towns address the epidemic of opioid abuse by connecting them with recognized best practices being utilized in other communities.

The toolbox features Hollingsed in several video segments in which he offers real-world advice that can make a difference.

“We’ve got to think outside the box. We’ve got to do something different. We’ve got to get outside our comfort zones. I’ve been a police officer for a long time. This (diversion program for addicts) initially was a concept that was outside of my comfort zone. But I am optimistic about doing something different,” Hollingsed said in one of the video segments.

Community forum on affordable housing Down Home Haywood will host a community forum about affordable housing from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 1, at the Down Home Canton Office, 3 Newfound St., Canton. Enter parking lot for Canton Presbyterian Church — park near church playground and walk around building.

The forum will cover what is considered affordable housing, renters’ rights and the Waynesville Land Use Plan updating process.

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Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ribal Council extended its deadline to complete a slew of amendments to its election ordinance with a unanimous vote during its Sept. 6 meeting.

Previously, the law prohibited any changes to it during an election year, defined as Oct. 1 to Sept. 30 in a year containing elections for tribal offices. Because tribal elections occur every two years, this meant that the election ordinance was untouchable half the time. While the amendment did not change the definition of “election year,” it did add language narrowing the window when the ordinance is off-limits to the time between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 of an election year.

“One thing I observe is that with the restriction on amendments to the chapter the way it’s currently written, it says you can’t change this during an election year, so that’s October to the end of September,” Attorney General Mike McConnell said to Tribal Council during an Aug. 27 work session. “So that cuts out one year and then when the following year comes there’s always a lag of several months, three maybe five months. People get out of the election, they relax, they get into their positions. Then you’re looking at maybe six months out of a two-year period in which you can make changes.”

That narrow window makes it difficult to get anything substantive accomplished,

McConnell said. If Tribal Council votes to extend the window, he told them, he believes his office can recommend some “very good pointed changes” before Jan. 1 but isn’t confident that could be accomplished before Sept. 30.

Tribal Council has been working though the election ordinance for much of the past year following a rocky 2017 election year that included a contested election result in Birdtown and the subsequent revelation that ballots there had likely been tampered with.

Tribal government is still trying to find out who might have done the tampering, with a $100,000 reward on the line for information leading to a conviction.

The investigation into election irregularities that led to the conclusion tampering had likely occurred included other disconcerting findings as well, pointing to an extreme lack of security procedures, training and written policies at the Board of Elections.

Proposed changes to the tribe’s elections law include campaign finance laws — including reporting requirements, of which there are currently zero — residency requirements for candidates and rules making it clear that unethical practices like vote buying are illegal, among others.

However, as McConnell told Tribal Council, “the devil’s in the details,” and the short window to enact changes has made it difficult to get those details right.

“Everyone has ideas for these changes,” he said. “They have to get them into this relatively small window, so it makes the document cumbersome that we bring to you.

We’re not able to bring in periodic changes that would reduce the need for a comprehensive change.”

Councilmember Richard French, of Big

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Cherokee widens window for election law changes

beer, wine and liquor store. The referendum results required a 30 percent turnout to be considered valid, but only 25.6 percent of voters cast a ballot. In 2019, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians will elect all 12 Tribal Council positions, a new chief and vice chief, and three of six school board positions.

Councilmember Tommye Saunooke, of Painttown, agreed with French but added that the draft ordinance as a whole is not ready for adoption.

“I don’t think this document’s ready, and today I can’t support any Attorney General Mike McConnell discusses the election ordinance of it,” she said. with Tribal Council during an Aug. 27 work session. EBCI image That seemed to be the general sentiment around the horseshoe Aug. 27, and “The alcohol referendum, that showed when Tribal Council was held Sept. 6 the that the people felt that their votes didn’t only election ordinance change up for a vote matter anymore when only that many came was an amendment narrowing the time out and voted,” he said during the work session. “We have a big election coming up next when the ordinance is off-limits to changes to the period from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30 of an year, and I want the people of the boundary election year. to know that your vote does mean someTribal Council passed the amendment thing.” unanimously, and Principal Chief Richard In May, the tribe held a referendum vote asking members to approve a tribally owned Sneed has signed it into law.

Cove, said that it’s important the council act to restore faith in the elections process, because that faith is currently at a low in the community.

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Elders and Woody vie for Jackson County Commission seat

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ackson County Commissioner Charles Elders is seeking a fourth term in office this campaign season, but challenger Gayle Woody is hoping election results will instead seat her for a first term.

Woody, a Democrat, said that her major goals if elected include supporting education, protecting the environment, expanding greenways, addressing the opioid crisis and being responsive to the priorities of Jackson County residents.

Elders, a Republican, said that he would look forward to continuing work on the current board’s 15-point list of goals.

Completing the park in the Savannah area and creating one in the Qualla/Barkers Creek area is high on his priority list, and he would also like to secure a location for an industrial park in Jackson County.

Elders and Woody are contending to represent District 1 on the Board of Commissioners, an area that includes the northeastern section of the county comprised of the Qualla, Barkers Creek, Greens Creek and Dillsboro/Sylva North voting districts. The winner of the contest will take office in December and serve four years.

Two other seats on the five-member board are also up for election — the chairman’s

Smoky Mountain News

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

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seat, currently held by Democrat Brian McMahan, and the District 2 seat currently held by Democrat Boyce Deitz. While candidates represent specific districts, all county voters can vote for all commission seats.

For the winners, the election will be only the beginning — the new board of commissioners will be handed a full plate of issues to navigate when the new term starts.

How should the county’s health and social services functions be organized?

The issue: Following the November 2016 elections, Republican commissioners became interested in combining the county’s health and social services departments. A public hearing Jan. 29 drew 11 speakers — all vehemently opposed — but commissioners voted 3-2 to proceed with consolidation.

Once seated, members of the consolidated board made it clear they didn’t agree with the reorganization and in August voted to delay hiring a director of the consolidated department until after the November elections. Commissioners responded by voting 3-2 to abolish the consolidation and instate themselves as the board overseeing the two departments.

Elders: In Elders’ view, what started out as a genuine attempt to streamline county operations and improve services has been twisted into a political issue. While he appreciated public input on the matter, he felt that input wasn’t based on a correct interpretation of what was being proposed.

“This got all blowed up and turned around,” he said. “When we first come up with this, this was just to consolidate the two boards and crosstrain. I didn’t see that would cause all of this corruption of how they have made a big political issue out of this, which it shouldn’t have never been.”

Elders said his primary interest is having the department heads report directly to the county manager in order to correct complaints he’d heard about long wait times for various construction permits and inspections from the health department. Elders said he has not personally discussed those complaints with the health director but believes the reorganization will improve things.

Woody: Woody believes the decision to change the structure of the health and social services departments was a mistake and said that, if elected, she would vote to put things back the way they were, with two separate departments overseen by independent governing boards.

“My point of view is that it’s become an issue of trust and of power, and I believe that we need to trust the excellent people that we have in place,” she said, citing her confidence in the department directors and staff.

Setting commissioners in a place previously held by a board of experts concerns Woody — a former health department employee, she said she knows enough about what it takes to run a health department to know that she isn’t qualified.

What should the county’s role be in addressing homelessness?

The issue: When the economy crashed in 2008, Jackson Neighbors in Need formed to offer emergency assistance for those hit hardest, including overnight shelter in local motel rooms. Over the years, need has grown enough to outstrip the ability of the volunteer-run organization to keep up. The Southwestern Child Development Center is now running the shelter as a stopgap measure, but commissioners are debating a permanent solution — whether the county should open a dedicated shelter building, and if so who would fund and administrate it.

Woody: Woody believes commissioners have a responsibility to counteract homelessness in the community but said that different types of homelessness require different treatment. Homelessness caused by a single event such as a divorce or eviction is a different animal than chronic homelessness brought on by mental illness or drug addiction.

“We need to support those people to get back to being self-sufficient,” Woody said of the situational homelessness category.

“When we do that, they’re not going to fall into the next cycle, which is chronic homelessness.”

While Woody believes the county should have a role in funding the homeless shelter,

Gayle Woody Gayle Woody, 66, grew up in Wheaton, Illinois, but has spent every summer in Jackson County since age 5, when her parents bought Holly Cove Campground near Barkers Creek. She moved to the county full-time after getting her first teaching job in 1974, and in 1982 she started work with the Jackson County Department of Public Health as a health educator in pregnancy prevention. A mother of four, she worked as an art teacher in Jackson County Public Schools from 2002 to 2016 and has been a trainer at the North Carolina School Health Training Center since 1995.

Woody said her decision to run was a response to political polarization at the national level.

“In our culture it’s just become very divisive,” she said. “I thought, ‘I want to bring civility and an attitude of being a servant back into civil service.

I was talking to my husband and he said, ‘Gayle, you’ve been talking about this for a while. If you’re going to do this you better do it now. You’re not getting any younger.’ So I said, ‘OK, now is the time.’”

If elected, this would be her first term in office.

Charles Elders Charles Elders, 75, is a business owner and lifelong Jackson County resident.

His entire working career — a career that’s still ongoing — has been in retail sales, managing various companies and opening stores. But for the past 30 to 35 years he’s owned his own stores. Currently, Elders and his son operate the Elders Superette, an Exxon station along U.S. 74 in Barkers Creek.

“These goals that we have (as commissioners), I do want to see them completed and I feel like I’m in good health,” Elders said of his reason for running again. “I feel like my experience, being 12 years that with my knowledge and knowing the county like I do — I really feel like the county needs me another four years.”

Elders is seeking his fourth term in office, having served his first term in the early 1990s and now finishing up the second of two consecutive terms, 2010-2018.

she doesn’t think it should manage the program. The “best-case scenario,” she said would be for commissioners to fund the shelter with another organization administrating it. By “fund,” Woody said, she means apply for grants, find donations and supplement those sources with taxpayer money.

Elders: While Elders has consistently voted to provide emergency funding for the homeless shelter in years nonprofit funds have come up short, he’s hesitant about the idea of a more permanent shelter building.

“This is something we need to be real cautious on,” he said. “We can’t just leave them out to hang, but we’ve got to work with the other organizations and try to get this down to where we don’t have any homeless people.”

While Elders acknowledges that the county is likely to always have some homelessness, by and large he would rather see resources put into “continuing to educate people and get them back in the workforce rather than encourage them to come into homeless shelters day after day and maybe make a

What does WCU’s growth mean for Jackson County?

The issue: Western Carolina University, which this year enrolled a record 11,639 students, sits at the geographic center of Jackson County and is projected to continue growing. As more students come to WCU and more alumni consider building a life in the community where they earned their degree, Jackson County’s government will have to navigate the opportunities and challenges that situation creates.

Elders: Elders is excited for the opportunities afforded by WCU’s growth and its leadership’s willingness to work with local government. The plan to remake the Green Energy Park is a great example, he said — the partnership between Jackson County and WCU is expected to result in a campus featuring classroom and artist workshop space, an animal shelter and a park area.

To truly capitalize on the university’s growth, Elders said, Jackson County must work to bring in more jobs and businesses so WCU graduates who want to stay and contribute to the community can do so.

“As long as we’re not growing in those areas it will be hard to get them to make this home,” he said. “They’re going to go places where the employment is easier and make an easier living.”

Woody: A retired art teacher, education is a

What should be the priorities in parks and recreation?

The issue: From expanding greenways to building community parks, Jackson County has many priorities for parks and recreation improvements that will need funding to become reality.

Elders: There’s a good deal of repair work needed on community buildings that exist now, Elders said, and keeping completed parks in good shape should be the first priority. After that, he wants to see a community park in the northeastern part of the county become a reality — the county has been working on that for some years, but finding a location has proven difficult.

Elders said that greenways are also important and he supports expanding them.

“That’s something that we are looking closer at now and will be discussing more in the very near future,” he said.

Woody: When it comes to recreation, Woody’s top priority is expanding the greenway.

“An overarching priority for me is to build on the social infrastructure of Jackson County, and what I mean by that are spaces that encourage community involvement, community interaction,” she said.

A greenway is the epitome of that, she believes, though Woody also believes other recreation amenities — such as a park in the Qualla/Barkers Creek area — are important to pursue.

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How should the county navigate increasing education funding requests?

The issue: In North Carolina, the deal is that the state pays for school personnel and the county pays capital costs. However, counties have repeatedly found themselves asked to do more, with many hiring teachers to keep class sizes smaller and supplementing teacher salaries to better compete for employees. A 1-cent tax increase in Jackson County’s 2018-19 budget was enacted to increase security and mental health personnel in the schools following the February school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Elders: Elders recognizes that the cost of extra school security measures enacted this year was substantial but said those measures were necessary, because it’s the county’s job to “make our children as safe as we possibly can, because they are our best resources.”

To balance the various budgetary demands coming from the schools, he said, commissioners should work with the Board of Education to come up with the funding solution that best suits Jackson County, ensuring that something is “absolutely a need” before it’s funded and not “just something we’re creating to try to keep up with another school on the other side of the mountain.”

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

Woody: Woody, like Elders, is enthusiastic about the Green Energy Park project and hopes to see the cooperation between the community and the university that was “greatly enhanced” under the leadership of the late Chancellor David Belcher continue once a successor is chosen.

In addition, she said, the county must work to increase affordable housing opportunities for first-time homebuyers.

“It worked for a long time when it was pretty isolated from outside people moving in,” she said of the traditional system of young people building homes on family land. “But now we have this influx of great people who want to stay and live here. I’m not talking about retirees. I’m talking about younger people starting out.”

topic close to Woody’s heart. She strongly believes in keeping music and art in schools, saying that they enrich students’ lives and improve test scores. Woody expressed confidence in the school system’s current leadership and said county government has done a good job of meeting the challenges thrown at it by the state.

However, she said, the county shouldn’t simply accept the situation.

“I am proud that Jackson County has worked very hard to fulfill the needs of our students, but it’s put a big burden on our county government, so we need to work hard to get the legislature to recognize their responsibility so we in Jackson County can fulfill what’s best for our students,” she said.

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However, he said, “We have to be prepared. We can’t let anybody stay out on the streets in zero weather.”

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Jackson schools see gains and losses in school performance Overall scores steady; graduation rates increase

GAINS IN GRADUATION

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ackson County Schools showed mostly level performance over last year with the release of statewide school performance data for 2017-18 this month.

The scores are composed of 80 percent student achievement and 20 percent student growth, with each school receiving an A-F letter grade and 1 to 100 scores based on those results. All Jackson County schools returned the same letter grade in 2017-18 as they did in 2016-17, though numerical scores did shift some. Of the eight schools receiving scores, five earned a C, and one each received an A, B and D. Jackson County ranked 75 out of 115 schools districts in North Carolina for the 2017-18 school year, an improvement over a ranking of 77 out of 115 in the previous year.

The school system is 11 out of 115 school districts for its four-year cohort graduation rate.

“Students maintained scores for the most part, and of course we are always looking to improve student academics in Jackson County,” said Superintendent Kim Elliott, Ph.D. “I’m extremely, extremely proud of our school growth, because most of them met or exceeded growth.”

Smoky Mountain News

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

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THE RESULTS School performance results look at whether or not each school’s score grew over the past year as it was expected to. Of the eight schools, two met growth requirements (Blue Ridge School and Blue Ridge Early College), three exceeded them (Cullowhee Valley Elementary School, Scotts Creek Elementary School and Smoky Mountain High School) and two did not meet them (Fairview Elementary School and Smokey Mountain Elementary School). A ninth school, the Jackson County School of Alternatives, was judged to be maintaining its performance based on the alternative accountability model by which that school is

Jackson County Schools Superintendent Kim Elliott presents her 2018-19 budget needs to Jackson County commissioners in May. Holly Kays photo monitored.

Smokey Mountain Elementary School’s score plummeted eight points from 51 in 2016-17 to 43 in 2017-18, the lowest score the school has had since the first time school performance grades were calculated in 2013-14, when Smokey Mountain also scored a 43.

The school has remained in the D range throughout the past five years. While it is the only Jackson County school with a D this time around, Blue Ridge Early College, Blue Ridge School and Scotts Creek Elementary School have all earned a D at least once in the past five years. No Jackson County school has received an F in that time, however.

Fairview’s score fell from 61 in 2016-17 to 58 for 2017-18, its lowest score in the five years the state has provided school performance grades. While numerical scores have declined over the past five years, however, Fairview has always landed squarely in the C range.

On the positive side, four schools received their highest numerical scores since school performance grades were implemented. Jackson County Early College received a 94, Smoky Mountain High School an 81, Cullowhee Valley Elementary School a 65 and Blue Ridge School a 62.

“I think what is working is those small group student interventions,” said Elliott. “I believe that helping the students in a small group builds their esteem so that then they’re

School performance scores in Jackson School name Blue Ridge Early College Blue Ridge School Cullowhee Valley Elementary Fairview Elementary Jackson County Early College Scotts Creek Elementary Smokey Mountain Elementary Smoky Mountain High

Elliott also has ideas about how to counteract performance score losses at Fairview and Blue Ridge Early College.

“We need to increase the number of student intervention groups, and we also need to focus on being sure that our lesson plans are aligned with the state curriculum,” she said. “That is what we are honing in on to improve and to constantly look at our performance.”

2016-17 scores C (61) C (61) C (61) C (61) A (90) C (59) D (51) B (77)

2017-18 scores C (57) C (62) C (65) C (58) A (94) C (60) D (43) B (81)

Change -4 +1 +4 -3 +4 +1 -8 +4

able to perform. It also helps with repeating, relearning and reaching mastery on certain components. Also what is working and what we hope to improve upon is the fact that we are being extremely deliberate in our teaching of the standards and ensuring that our standards are aligned with each lesson so that we are using our time wisely.”

CORRECTING LOW SCORES Regarding the low scores at Smokey Mountain Elementary, Elliott believes that teacher turnover was a contributing factor.

Of the 26 teachers at the school, five were new at the beginning of the 2017-18 school year. This year, the school has only three new teachers.

“We are going to reap the benefits of low teacher turnover in the next year,” she said.

“I think on the next test you will see that we will benefit from a stable turnover or lack thereof.”

Socioeconomic factors could also play a role in Smokey Mountain Elementary’s consistently lower scores. The school is one of four in Jackson County — the others are the School of Alternatives, Blue Ridge Early College and Blue Ridge School — that provides free lunch for all students under the Community Eligibility Provision. During the last year the traditional free/reduced lunch program was used, 2015-16, 86.7 percent of Smokey Mountain Elementary students were eligible for free or reduced lunch, a figure on par with Blue Ridge Early College and Blue Ridge School and just half a percentage point lower than the Jackson County School of Alternatives.

To support students at that school, Elliott said, the school system has hired a math intervention specialist for Smokey Mountain Elementary School as well as an instructional coach who will work with schools across the district but be headquartered at Smokey Mountain Elementary.

In addition to school letter grades, the performance data includes other metrics as well, such as graduation rates. Jackson’s rate increased to a robust 92 percent from 86.7 percent last year, with three of the four schools that graduate students holding a graduation rate north of 91 percent. That places Jackson in the top 10 percent of all North Carolina districts and third in the western region for graduation rate.

According to Elliott, increased graduation success at the Jackson County School of Alternatives is a big piece of that high rate.

“We had the highest number of graduates from the School of Alternatives this year than we have had in probably 10 years,” she said. “I attribute that to all of our staff in each school working hand-in-hand with students and parents to ensure that students graduate. I also credit Smoky Mountain High School’s freshman academy.”

In 2016-17 and 2017-18, graduation numbers at the School of Alternatives were double what they were in 2015-16, when 24 students out of 107 enrolled high schoolers graduated. In 2016-17, 47 out of 132 students graduated and in 2017-18 48 out of 133 graduated.

David Dalton, bookkeeper and student data manager for the school, said that earlier intervention has greatly contributed to that success. The School of Alternatives is a school of choice — some students are referred there for behavioral reasons, but many others choose to go there because they need something other than what’s available at a traditional high school if they are to graduate.

“Last year both Smoky Mountain High School and the School of Alternatives had drop-out numbers about eight or nine, no more than 10 or 11,” said Dalton. “Three years ago we were over 30 and they were in the upper 20s. We didn’t know some of these kids’ names because they were gone before anybody could get a handle on it.”

Better collaboration between the schools has helped the district to identify kids at risk of dropping out before they disappear, he said. And because the state now allows students to graduate with 22 credits instead of 28, the School of Alternatives can focus on getting kids caught up on core subjects rather than worrying about finding elective credits to bring them toward graduation.

“I’m very proud of this school system, and I don’t always agree that we can measure students on one day in time,” said Elliott. “I do want to say that there are a lot of great things going on in Jackson County Public Schools and we do try very hard to teach the whole child.”

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER When Dr. Bill Nolte was promoted to superintendent of Haywood County Schools this past summer, one of the first things he said he’d do was begin the process of creating a long-term plan for the award-winning school district that recently slipped in academic rankings from 11th to 14th out of 115 districts across the state.

Nolte delivered on that promise with the announcement that a kickoff meeting will be held Oct. 1, and he’s looking for volunteers to serve.

“Haywood County Schools has a long history of strategic long-range planning that has promoted the development and success of our school district,” Nolte said in a release

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Smoky Mountain News

sent last week. “We are pleased to announce the school district is entering a new strategic long-range planning process designed to seek community input regarding the future of Haywood County Schools.”

That process will play out in a way similar to the state process for school improvement planning; four subcommittees have been established — teaching and learning, staff training and support, student health and 21st-century support systems.

Teaching and learning will focus on career and college readiness, curriculum, enhancement, instruction, remediation activities and resources. Staff training and support deals with 21st-century work skills as well as recommendations for recruitment, support and retention of highly effective employees.

Student health will examine the learning environment, physical health, social and emotional health and safety of students.

The final subcommittee, on 21st-century support systems, will look at organizational structures, facilities, processes and tools that promote effectiveness and efficiency across schools as well as departments.

The event is free and open to the public.

Registration is not required, but anyone wishing to serve on one of the committees should visit www. bit.ly/HCSplan by Oct. 1.

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

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

Haywood County Schools will begin its strategic long-range planning process with a kickoff meeting. Although reservations aren’t required, those who wish to serve on any of the subcommittees should visit www.bit.ly/HCSplan to register in advance.

Time: 6 p.m.

Date: Monday, Oct. 1 Location: Tuscola High School auditorium, 564 Tuscola School Rd., Waynesville

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Haywood Schools wants you to help plan future

MyHaywoodRegional.com 13

news

Workforce housing coming to Sylva Apartments will open in 2020

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ork will begin next year on a new apartment complex in Sylva aimed at providing housing rates affordable to working-class people.

The Village Overlook Apartments, to be built on an 8.1-acre tract across from Harris Regional Hospital and behind the property that used to house Nick and Nate’s Pizza and Smoky Mountain Obstetrics and Gynecology, will include 60 units of varying size and is set to open for leasing in the late winter or early spring of 2020.

“We are excited to get to become a part of the Sylva community and provide such needed affordable housing,” said Karen Perry, owner of the developer KRP Investments, based in Clemmons.

The development has been a long time coming, with Perry first approaching the Sylva Town Board in April 2016 with plans to open the complex by March 2018.

However, the plan was dependent on low-income tax credits being awarded from the N.C. Housing Finance Agency, and for two years in a row Perry applied for funding but was denied. However, when the NCHFA announced awards in August, the Village

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Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

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Overlook Apartments project was on the list. cise room, laundry room, computer room and developer fees.

Rents will be set based on the resident’s multi-purpose room where a variety of classes KRP will sell those tax credits to a bank, income and area median income data, with and community events could be held. decreasing its debt on the building and some apartments open to people making at About 76 percent of the construction therefore making lower rent rates possible. costs will come from equity derived from the or below 40 percent of the area median “It’s a competitive application process,” income and others Perry said when open to those makasked what coning 60 percent or tributed to the less. However, the application’s sucincome thresholds cess this time will come into play around. “The difonly when someone ference is simply is applying to live the other properthere — residents ties competing, will be allowed to and this year’s stay in their homes Qualified should their incomes Allocation Plan rise above the threshincluded a bonus old after move-in. point that each Affordable housdeveloper could ing is a rare commodassign to one ity in Sylva, and town applicant of their leaders have been in choice. That staunch support of extra point could the plan since Perry have been a conThe planned workforce housing complex would have 60 apartments housed first floated it in 2016. tributing factor in three buildings, in addition to a community clubhouse. Donated graphic “I think this will to receiving the be great for Sylva,” award this year.” said Commissioner David Nestler when the awarded tax credits. In addition, 11 percent The development is expected to cost $8.5 board discussed the plan in March. “If you’re million to build, with plans calling for 60 units of the cost will come from a Rural below that income threshold, there’s a shortDevelopment Section 538 Permanent Loan, with one, two or three bedrooms contained in 11 percent from the N.C. Workforce Housing age of quality housing in this town, so I three three-story buildings. The complex think this is a great solution.”

Loan Program and 2 percent from deferred would also feature a clubhouse with an exer-

Bridge over the Lake Junaluska now open

Veterans who may be struggling to meet basic needs can take advantage of a plethora of free services; for more information contact the Macon County Veteran Services at 828.349.2151.

• Time: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• Date: Thursday, Sept. 27 • Location: Robert C. Carpenter Community Building, 1288 Georgia Road, Franklin and helping out when needed,” she said.

That’s the idea behind the Smoky Mountain Veteran Stand Down, to be held Thursday, Sept. 27.

“This year will be our fifth year holding the Stand Down. Each year it has grown, and last year we saw a little over 200 veterans from six different states,” said Tabor. “The Stand Down is basically a oneday event of one-stop shopping to provide a veteran with any resource he or she might need. They can get anything from a haircut and a shower to dental care, tax help, social and spiritual needs, and job help.”

All those services are donated, except for dental services, which are covered by community donations.

“Most providers donate their services as an outreach to veterans, and also as a way to say thank you,” Tabor said.

When the bridge closed to vehicular traffic in 2016 due to deterioration of the steel support beams, it was unclear whether the bridge would ever be open to vehicular traffic again. In 2017, the Lake Junaluska Board of Trustees voted to restore the bridge to vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

Service charges collected from property owners at Lake Junaluska will pay for the remaining funds not raised through charitable giving. All are welcome to attend the bridge opening celebration on Oct. 19 at the south end

Tues.-Fri. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

We also cater! Serving all of WNC. 149 Park St, Canton 828-507-6209 www.hitthepitbbq.com

Smoky Mountain News

The bridge over the Lake Junaluska dam is now open to vehicular and pedestrian traffic. All are invited to attend a grand opening at 1 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 19.

The bridge opened ahead of the originally anticipated Oct. 1 completion date and under its $1.2 million budget. The extended Lake Junaluska community helped raise funds to restore the iconic landmark. More than 400 donors from 20 states gave over $700,000 to reopen the bridge. Givers include several organizations, foundations, churches and individuals.

A special offering taken at the Western North Carolina Annual Conference in June raised more than $14,000 toward the restoration of the bridge.

“This is a great example of the Lake Junaluska community — those who live here, who recreate here or who have simply visited over the years — coming together to accomplish a common goal,” said Ken Howle, executive director of Lake Junaluska. “Two years ago we had to close the bridge to vehicular traffic, but the end result is a bridge that is built to last for generations to come and will remain an important landmark, cherished by so many.”

Smoky Mountain Veteran Stand Down

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

BY CORY VAILLANCOURT STAFF WRITER It’s no secret homelessness across the region is a problem, but as in most parts of the country, it’s a bigger problem among veterans of the nation’s armed forces.

“I would say we have about six veterans in Macon County who are truly homeless.

That number fluctuates but that would be an average,” said Leigh Tabor with Macon County Veterans Services. “In the region it is a big problem. Buncombe County has the VRQ (Veteran Restoration Quarters) which houses over 240 men. There is also a place called Steadfast House for female veterans and their children.”

There’s nothing like that in Haywood, Jackson, Macon or Swain counties, but there are veterans service offices in those counties, as well as Cherokee, Clay and Graham counties.

“These offices provide the same services that my office does, and are supplemented by the Canton Veteran Service Center, which is a State service office. Franklin has the VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic, which provides primary care, mental health and other services to veterans in this area,” Tabor said.

Those county-level offices, though, don’t receive funding that can be used to provide assistance, so they typically look to the community for help.

“We do have contacts that we link veterans with so that they can get the services they need, and our service organizations are wonderful about stepping up to the plate

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Community comes together to offer veterans services

of the bridge. The celebration will include brief remarks from board and community leaders, a ribbon cutting and a celebratory walk across the bridge led by the drum line of the Tuscola High School marching band.

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Health

Smoky Mountain News

Support Keiper’s 60 Mile walk for breast cancer Julie Keiper, of Waynesville, will join thousands of other dedicated women and men at the San Diego Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for Breast Cancer Nov. 16-18.

After months of training and fundraising, participants will walk 60 miles for three days to raise awareness and funds for critical research and community outreach programs about breast health, including the importance of early detection.

“As a participant, I have an opportunity to celebrate breast cancer survivorship, honor those who lost their lives to the disease, and ultimately, have an enormous impact on awareness and funding for breast cancer research and community outreach programs,” said Keiper.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure has invested nearly $1 billion toward cancer research, the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer in the world. The actual journey starts months in advance when walkers start training and raising the $2,300 required fundraising minimum.

Keiper needs help reaching her goal of raising a minimum of $2,300. Donations can be made directly to her at www.the3day.org/goto/jak or by calling 800.996.3DAY and referencing Keiper’s participant ID #7818014.

Support cancer patients by donating blood Cancer patients may need blood products during chemotherapy, surgery or treatment for complications. Donated blood is a lifesaving gift most healthy people can give. The community is encouraged to donate blood with the American Red Cross to help those with cancer and many others who need blood.

Donate in Haywood County from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27, at Haywood Regional Medical Center. To make an appointment or to learn more, visit redcrossblood.org or call 800.RED.CROSS.

Free vein seminar offered Sept. 27 Haywood Regional Medical Center is holding a free tired leg/ varicose vein educational program at 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27, at the Vein Center.

The program will be led by Dr. Al Mina.

Interested community members are asked to register for this session by calling 828.452.VEIN (8346).

Space is limited – RSVP required.

The event is aimed at educating anyone in the community who may be suffering from aching, cramping or burning pain in the legs, varicose veins, restless legs, discoloration or skin changes

in the legs, numbness or tingling in the legs, or pain in their legs after activities such as grocery shopping or a short walk up the stairs.

Visit myhaywoodregional.com/vein for further details.

Make home remedies Those interested in learning about and making natural home remedies are invited to join a handson class from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2 at the Jackson County Extension Office. The class will be making fire cider, a warming, energizing, spicy, and tangy tonic that has been known to ward off illnesses such as colds and flu. Learn about the history behind it and the future of this tonic.

Kerri Rayburn, local crafter, soapmaker, and aspiring herbalist will be teaching this class. The cost is $10 and includes all supplies. Call 828.586.4009 to register.

Yoga for Cancer coming to HRMC Whether you are a cancer patient, survivor, newly diagnosed, in treatment, gathering strength or thriving, yoga can support active physical and mental health self-care. Haywood Regional Medical Center is starting a new program available at Haywood Regional Health & Fitness Center for the cancer community — Yoga for Cancer

Survivorship. This program is evidence-based and complements ongoing medical cancer care.

Two complementary classes will be available.

Nourishing YOU is an introductory class and a one-time registration. This class will be offered from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. every other week on Tuesdays. Registration is required. Call 800.424.DOCS (3627).

Flu vaccines available Oct. 1 As flu season is among us, the Jackson County Department of Public Health urges all residents to protect themselves by getting vaccinated against the flu.

Remember that flu can be a serious illness, especially for adults over the age of 65 years, children under five, pregnant women, and those with certain medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease.

JCDPH will begin offering flu vaccines to the public on Oct. 1. Stop by the health department between 9 and 11 a.m. and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to get the vaccine. Prices range from $35 to $60, depending on the type of vaccine administered. No appointments are necessary and a variety of insurances can be billed.

Herbs that help heal How to prepare healing herbs for your health will be the topic of an upcoming presentation at 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18, at the Waynesville Library Auditorium.

Naturopath Michelle Sanderbeck will teach the centuries old art of preparing herbs for healing.

Learn the history of medicinal herbs and how to make tinctures, poultices and decoctions.

Registration is required. Call 828.356.2507 or email kolsen@haywoodnc.net.

Free mobile pharmacy in Franklin N.C. MedAssist will hold a Mobile Free Pharmacy Event from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11, at the Macon County Community Facilities Building, 1288 Georgia Rd., Franklin.

The event, which is in collaboration with Carolina Complete Health, is open to any lowincome individual or family needing free health screenings, education and/or over-the-counter medications. Identification is not required to participate.

Individuals will receive up to up to 10 safe, non-expired medicine cabinet items for their family/home. Additionally, participants will receive other free health care services like information on N.C. MedAssist Free Pharmacy Program and community health resources.

The event is completely volunteer run and expected to serve over 800 participants. If you would like to volunteer, visit www.medassist.org to sign up.

Carolina Complete Health will be assisting

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participants in the selection of reading glasses.

The free readers will be provided on a first come first served basis.

For more information on the Mobile Free Pharmacy and NC MedAssist, visit www.medassist.org.

Harris hires new midwife nurse Harris Regional Hospital recently hired certified nurse midwife Anne Karner to Harris Women’s Care.

Karner has practiced in the region for the past eight years, delivering babies and caring for families from Jackson, Swain, and Macon counties. She received her Master of Science in nursing/midwifery at East Carolina University, a Bachelor of Science in nursing at Western Carolina University and served as a registered nurse in the labor and delivery and mother-baby units at Harris for nine years before becoming a certified nurse midwife.

Harris Women’s Care has locations in Sylva, Bryson City and Franklin.

Call Harris Women’s Care at 828.631.8913 or visit www.myharrisregional.com.

Haywood Home Care recognized Home Care Services of Haywood Regional Medical Center was named a “Premier Performer” in the recently released 2017 SHPBest recognition program results — ranking in the top five percent of providers.

The program is administered by Strategic Health Programs (SHP) to recognize home health agencies that consistently provide high quality service to the patients and families under their care. Recipients were determined by reviewing and ranking the overall satisfaction scores for more than 2,400 home health providers. In addition, award recipients were required to achieve a score better than or equal to the SHP national average throughout the period for each of the publicly reported quality measure domains.

Meridian receives $5,000 grant Haywood Health Foundation awarded Meridian Behavioral Health Services $5,000 toward its Peer Bridger Program, which is focused on linking individuals who have recently been hospitalized for a psychiatric emergency to outpatient behavioral health services.

A Peer Bridger with Meridian is a person who uses his or her own lived experience of recovery from mental illness and/or addiction to support others who are currently struggling with managing their mental health or substance abuse symptoms.

Haywood Health Foundation also awarded Meridian $5,000 for therapeutic and art supplies for children served through their child and family services team. The funding also helped pay for adventure programing for summer camp.

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Opinion

Smoky Mountain News

The real problem in Haywood’s tax office H

Health insurance may disappear under GOP To the Editor: It makes no difference if you support the current administration or not — they’re coming for your health coverage.

It’s no secret the president and Congress are trying to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) little by slow, piece by piece. There is so much political noise right now that many do not realize there are quiet but continuing efforts in the courts to remove the most popular piece of ObamaCare — coverage of pre-existing conditions. That is, banning insurance companies from denying coverage to people with ongoing conditions or recent illness.

It is estimated that as many as 130 million adults under age 65 have at least one condition that could result in not being able to get health insurance. The Kaiser Family Foundation puts the number at about a quarter of the country’s citizens under age 65. These are people like you and me, your neighbors and friends, your family members. Who does not know someone with cancer, diabetes, arthritis, cerebral palsy, emphysema, epilepsy, heart disease, hepatitis, kidney disease, mental illness, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, pregnancy (yes, pregnancy), sleep apnea, just to name a few.

ties with appointed tax collectors), has been criticized for regularly putting in less than 40 hours a week, hasn’t attended recommended training opportunities, and has been unable to answer questions from commissioners about some of the inner workings of his office.

Add all that up, and it makes for problems that commissioners have to deal with. If the position was appointed, it’s likely there would have been severe reprimands or more likely a dismissal. But they can’t fire Matthews. So when he shows up at meetings unprepared when asked tough questions, it makes the news. And when Haywood’s collection percentage is 64th out of 100 counties, commissioners see the Editor opportunity to do better and keep taxes down so that more of the money made by taxpayers and voters can stay in their own pocket.

And that makes Bennett’s criticism of the elected county commissioners last week particularly disturbing.

“You’re going to the newspapers, you’re making statements that can’t be proven one way or another. You do not have to swear on the Bible that you’re telling the truth. The newspaper certainly has no obligation to tell the truth,” she said in the public meeting.

Commissioners shot back. Republican Brandon Rogers,

Scott McLeod

aywood County GOP leaders last week took the podium at a public meeting and proceeded to act as shills for Tax Collector Mike Matthews, trying to make the argument that Matthews suffers more from county commissioners and the media criticizing him than from his own ineptitude.

It was a curious — albeit flawed and completely wrong — argument, one that mistook facts for opinions and also included an unsavory dose of the increasingly popular attack on the media as an entity not caring about whether their reporting is accurate.

We know this line of attack is becoming an integral tool in the bag of tricks for politicos in Washington, D.C., but it is sad to see it slither down to the local level. Haywood GOP Chair Ken Henson and Secretary Lynda Bennett are admirable community leaders who have done much good work to rebuild a fractured Haywood Republican Party. This time, though, it seems their political inclinations — Matthews is a Republican — seemed to hijack common sense because Matthews’ problems are not imagined or made up.

They are very real.

Henson was mostly right when he said commissioners have been critical of Matthews since he was elected. That’s all for good reason. After winning a tight race in 2014, Matthews’ background left him unable to get bonded for the necessary amount. Since then, he has had difficulty understanding some of the nuances of the computer program his office uses, has authorized waiving penalties on past due taxes (which is illegal under state law and never happens in surrounding coun-

someone who has shown great integrity while on the board, was blunt: “I don’t ‘care if they have got a ‘D’ an ‘L’ or an ‘R’ or whatever they go after their name. If we don’t have somebody that’s doing their job, then that puts all of us in a bad position.”

GOP Commissioner Kevin Ensley is as ethical and straight shooting as any elected leader I’ve covered in my entire 30year career in journalism. He is as honorable as they come.

“If there’s a Bible here, I’ll swear on it. I always tell the truth. If you think I’ve told a lie, let me know what it is. The tax collector needs to be appointed,” Ensley said.

At an earlier meeting, Ensley had this to say about Matthews: “Republicans I know are hard-working and work long hours. The Republican Haywood County Tax Collector, not so much. That’s what upsets me.”

As for Bennett’s criticism of newspapers, we do have an obligation to tell the truth. Yes, we make our share of mistakes and have run plenty of corrections, but our very existence is based on the trust readers place in what we write. The First Amendment won’t protect us if we lie, and there are long lists of libel verdicts that prove as much.

The five county commissioners — three Democrat, two Republican, all level-headed, conscientious leaders — elected

by Haywood County are all having problems with the job the tax collector is doing. That unanimity speaks volumes and should send a clear signal to voters that Matthews’ woes are of his own doing and have nothing to do with politics.

(Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com)

LETTERS Many of us remember what it was like before ObamaCare became law in 2009. Insurance companies routinely declined those with preexisting conditions. Even the few companies that did offer coverage often excluded or imposed long waiting periods for those particular conditions. With the click of a computer key, insurance companies could cancel coverage for people who became ill once their policy year ended. Many went without treatment until showing up in the ER … living with unnecessary pain and disability … dying prematurely. ObamaCare made those practices illegal. We cannot go back there.

If Republicans still hold Congress after the November election, anyone with a history of medical problems who doesn’t get health insurance from an employer will likely lose coverage. How do many Republican politicians feel about taking health care away from millions who have done nothing besides have past medical problems? Well, this is what Republican politicians have been saying they wanted all along.

Consider the example of our Rep. Mark Meadows, chair of the House Freedom Caucus, who attempted unsuccessfully to ram through full ObamaCare repeal including preexisting conditions just last year! After the fact, he claimed he didn’t realize that pre-existing conditions was part of the deal. Yah, right!

And if you think none of this matters because you’re covered by Medicare, think again. If Republicans control the Senate in November, they’ll be coming after Medicare next in order to help pay for their tax cut for the wealthy. Who said so? They did!

Voters need to understand the stakes in these midterms. It will be the voters that will determine whether people with medical problems get the health care they need.

Elaine Slocumb Bryson City

We must protect our rights To the Editor: One of our local newspaper’s police activity section featured an officer asking a person he had pulled over if they had anything in the vehicle that he should know about. This violates the spirit, if not the letter, of the Fourth

S EE LETTERS, PAGE 19

LOOKING FOR OPINIONS: The Smoky Mountain News encourages readers to express their opinions through letters to the editor or guest columns. All viewpoints are welcome. Send to Scott McLeod at info@smokymountainnews.com

Nevertheless, she persisted

Susanna Barbee

A

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Trailer Center

Workers suffer due to cost of living To the Editor: Granted, “The American worker is not getting their due” (www.smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/25493), but I have a little different take on the reasons why. I don’t think it’s as much the low wages as the high cost of living.

There are many factors involved, not the least of which is the ever-widening gap between the very rich and the rest of us brought about mainly by greed which worsens with each passing day. But let us consider simply the changes in the cost of living.

I graduated high school in 1957 and a year later was managing a small plastics fac-

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and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution — by asking the person to incriminate themselves — and also indicating that the officer did not suspect anything specific (and thus did not have a reason for a search).

Americans are dying overseas to protect our values and way of life. This seems to me to be playing fast and loose with our constitutional rights. I respect our law enforcement officers, and realize they are doing a hard job. However the end doesn’t justify the means.

David Stearns Otto

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

with you. If you don’t give them room to breathe, they will suffocate you.

Every day, I’m thankful for the black and white post card. I have it sitting up on my dresser and look at it each morning as I’m getting ready. It offers significant encouragement.

Last week, I needed those words for an entirely new reason. I’d found a lump or knot in my breast. My primary physician referred me to get a mammogram and an ultrasound. With my mom being a breast cancer survivor and then passing away of blood cancer, it’s best to get things checked out.

These types of doctor’s appointments spawn a million frantic and stressful thoughts. I’ve known other young women who’ve battled breast cancer. I’ve seen some walk away from the disease victorious, but some haven’t been so fortunate.

I looked at my post card that morning and decided whatever happened, I would have to persist.

Luckily, I left Hope Women’s Center last Friday with an “all clear” report, but others aren’t so lucky. As I sat in the waiting room, I looked around and wondered how many were stage 3 or stage 4, or if someone would leave that day with an initial diagnosis. It hurt my heart thinking about it.

We all have our own turmoil. Many things I’ve battled like death and divorce are external, and I discuss them openly.

Writing and talking about these experiences has been paramount in my healing and grieving. It’s those who keep their turmoil bottled up inside that I worry about. It’s never good to keep the darkness in. Shame and guilt deteriorate when words are wrapped around them. That’s why therapy works. I’ve also learned that seeking happiness is an ongoing process of knowing oneself and forgiving oneself.

I’m grateful I bought that 50-cent post card on a whim in Iowa in March 2017.

Nevertheless, she persisted.

It’s only three words but for me, the sentiment has been everything.

(Susanna Barbee writes for The Smoky Mountain News and Smoky Mountain Living and works with local businesses on developing digital and print media strategies. susanna@mtnsouthmedia.com)

tory (in rural Massachusetts) that employed just four people. I earned $60 a week and took home $54.20 of that amount. On that salary plus what I could earn mowing grass in the summer, shoveling snow in the winter (both with hand tools only) and parking cars nine days in the fall at a nearby race track, I supported a wife, baby, a two-bedroom apartment, a car, tithed to our church and had money left over.

How much would a high school graduate have to earn to do that today, 60 years later?

In 1958, my salary paid the rent ($15 a week), which was our biggest single expense, and allowed us to live middleclass. A new house was about $13K, a new car $2,500, a loaf of bread 20 cents, a dozen eggs 30 cents, coffee $1 a pound, and gas was 25 cents a gallon.

Teachers earned about $5,000 a year (an average wage) and always seemed happy. I like to think it was because I was in their classroom, but it could have been because all 30 to 40 of their students behaved themselves and paid attention.

The owner of the plastics factory earned about seven times what I did. Today he’d want 700 times more and I doubt I’d make a living wage. But, in 1958, with Eisenhower in the White House, Nixon the VP, and smiling Sam Rayburn Speaker of the House, with a three-cent first-class postage stamp and a year at Harvard costing $1,000 ... life was good.

David L. Snell Franklin

opinion

lmost two years ago, I traveled to Iowa with a close friend of mine. We visited her hometown to see her family and attend a concert. One day, we shopped around at a popular store called RAYGUN. It’s one of those quirky stores with cards, magnets, T-shirts, pint glasses and other items adorned with sarcastic, political or satirical sayings and quips.

Recently as I was cleaning out a drawer, I found a purchase I’d made at that store. It was a single black post card with the words “Nevertheless, she persisted,” written in white block lettering.

When I bought the card, my mom Columnist had passed way seven months earlier and my marriage was crumbling. I remember crying through the entire concert. I needed post cards, magnets, anything I could find to convince myself I could go on, that I could persist.

But, when I found the card the other day, it offered new meaning. Being divorced in a small town is grueling. This isn’t Boston or New York where you’re lost in a sea of millions of people and families are made up of all types of genders, sexual orientations, races and configurations. This is Haywood County where most families are still intact, so it’s hard to be different, and it’s hard to watch your children have to be different from their peers and friends.

My boys have been amazing throughout the entire process. I owe much of that to the fact that no matter what, their dad and I put the boys’ feelings before our own. We communicate well and get along, and as a counselor told me one time, “As long as kids know mommy and daddy are OK, they will be OK too.”

I’m also reading a book called The Truth About Children and Divorce by Dr. Robert E. Emery. As of late, it’s been critical in my healing and my acceptance of a new normal.

It’s interesting how grieving the loss of the marriage and grieving the loss of the family unit are two entirely different processes. It’s important to let the emotions have their way

LETTERS, CONTINUED FROM 18

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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28

Cynthia McDermott - mandolin, vocals.

Jazz and Bossa Standards, originals.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29

Joe Cruz - piano, vocals. Beatles, Elton John, James Taylor + More.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4

Bronco Wine Dinner with winery representative Deborah Williams, $55 per person + tax & gratuity, 7pm.

Four wines paired with food.

Taste the Mountains is an ever-evolving paid section of places to dine in Western North Carolina. If you would like to be included in the listing please contact our advertising department at 828.452.4251

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 hand-cut, 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.

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.

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,

CATALOOCHEE RANCH 119 Ranch Dr., Maggie Valley.

828.926.1401. Breakfast seven days a week, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. – with eggs, bacon, sausage, oatmeal, fresh fruit, sometimes French toast or pancakes, and always all-youcan-eat. Lunch menu every day from 12 noon to 2 p.m. includes homemade soup du jour and fresh-made salads. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday night will feature an evening cookout on the terrace. On all other nights of the week, dinner is served family style and includes locally sourced vegetables, homemade breads, jellies, desserts, and a wide selection of wine and craft beer. The evening social hour starts at 6 p.m., dinner is served starting at 7 p.m., and cozy rooms and cabins are available if you love us so much that you want to stay for breakfast, too. Please call for reservations. And see our dinner menu online at www.cataloocheeranch.com/dining.

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 hand-cut 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.

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5

James Hammel guitar, vocals.

Jazz, Pop, Originals.

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Joe Cruz piano, vocals. Beatles, Elton John, James Taylor + More.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11

Date Night Wine Pairing Dinner, $55 per person + tax & gratuity, 7pm. Four wines paired with food. Live entertainment by pianist Kevin Williams.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12

Dulci Ellenberger & Kevin Williams guitar, piano, vocals. Americana, Pop, Originals.

Catalo t oche ee Ranch 119 Ranch Drive, Maggie Valley, NC Catalooche eeRanch.com

Smoky Mountain News

828-452-6000 • classicwineseller.com 20 Church Street, Waynesville, NC

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

Meetings, Events, Parties & More Sun.–Thurs. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

1941 Champion Dr. • Canton 828−646−3750 895 Russ Ave. • Waynesville 828−452−5822

tasteTHEmountains 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.

and organic products prepared in modern regional dishes. Seasonal menu focuses on Southern comfort foods with upscale flavors.

Reservations accepted. www.frogsleappublichouse.com.

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.

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 and supporting the local food and local farm-to-table program. 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. Menus created to fit your special event. kaninis.com

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. 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.

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

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Menu at CityLightsCafe.com 3 E JACKSON ST. • SYLVA, NC

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Daily Specials: Soups, Sandwiches & Southern Dishes

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Breakfast : Omelets, Pancakes, Biscuits & Gravy!

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, JCreek area, and Lake Junaluska. 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.

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.

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.

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Any day is a great day when it starts with Joey’s Pancakes!

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Smoky Mountain News

MAGGIE VALLEY RESTAURANT

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

828.926.1616. maggievalleyclub.com/dine.

Open seasonally for lunch and dinner. Fine

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.

$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

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

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

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

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Real Local Families, Real Local Farms, Real Local Food 21

22

A&E

Smoky Mountain News

Thomas Rain Crowe and Neeli Cherkovski at the Proposition 15 Rally in Union Square Park in San Francisco, 1976.

Pam Mosher photo

University of the streets With new book, WNC writer chronicles the Baby Beat movement

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD STAFF WRITER At 69, Thomas Rain Crowe feels pretty good, considering.

“I’m not looking forward to 70, it’s kind of a psychological thing with a lot of people,” he chuckled. “But, I feel great, except for that my body is starting to do what it normally does as it gets older. Certain things start to go down, go out — I’m slowing down.”

Crowe rocks gently in his chair one recent sunny morning, in an old farmhouse he and his wife have owned for decades. Estimated to be around 140 years old, the humble abode is tucked in a valley just a stone’s throw from the intersection of N.C. 107 and 281 in rural Jackson County. Crowe glances out the window onto a large garden filled with flowers and creatures in his backyard, in the shadow of a mountain ridge reminiscent of his childhood growing up in Robbinsville.

As the crow flies, his Tuckasegee home is about 2,607 miles from the legendary City Lights bookstore (owned/operated by iconic

poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who is still kicking at age 99) in the heart of San Francisco.

But, in Crowe’s mind, that location, and the wild, wondrous writers and artists that once inhabited it, are a lot closer in his memory.

“Everybody has always told me I should write a book about San Francisco in the 1970s,” he said. “Well, I kind of have, if you look at all my books that I’ve written, that deal with that in one way or another. That story is really there, but I’ve never really written a complete narrative.”

A lifelong writer/poet, and one of much notoriety, Crowe just released Starting From San Francisco: The Baby Beat Generation and the Second San Francisco Renaissance (Third Mind Books). The book chronicles the literary (and other artistic) circles roaming the city following the counterculture movement that was created in post-World War II by the Beats and lasted through the late 1960s with the hippies who took over.

“The whole renaissance that went on in the Bay Area in the 1970s? This country has

never seen anything like that, never, not even close,” Crowe marveled. “It was huge, all these different factions. And we all interacted in one way or another from time-to-time, all aware of what each other was doing. This made Paris in the 1920s look like small potatoes.”

Though most folks may be aware of the

Want to know more?

Anyone interested in purchasing a copy of Thomas Rain Crowe’s Starting From San Francisco: The Baby Beat Generation and the Second San Francisco Renaissance, can go to www.thirdmindbooks.com and click on the “Browse” tab for the “New Arrivals” section.

The book is also available at the following bookstores: City Lights (Sylva), Firestorm (West Asheville) and Malaprops (Asheville). You can also reach Crowe directly by emailing newnativepress@hotmail.com or by clicking on www.newnativepress.org.

hippie movement of the 1960s, many might not realize that was a direct result of the seeds planted by the Beat Generation, a widely-scattered group of college students, societal dropouts and military veterans following World War II. Who were the “Beats”? We’re talking the sorrowful poetry of Allen Ginsberg (most notably the poem “Howl”), the wildness Zen works of Gary Snyder, fringe writer William S. Burroughs (author of Naked Lunch and Junky), the spiritually wacky wanderlust of Neal Cassady, and the “King of the Beats,” Jack Kerouac, with his seminal 1957 book On the Road.

That literary masterpiece, as close to earning the title of “The Great American Novel” since the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, launched a million dreams in the adolescent and young adult hearts of those wanting something more than the 1940s/1950s societal norms, plastic suburban expectations and material standards. That lifestyle was seen as neutering the creative free spirit, and it was the Beats who were saying as much for several years until the counterculture explosion of the 1960s.

And one of those millions of dreamers was Crowe. In the early 1970s, at age 21, he took off from Robbinsville, from Graham County, from Western North Carolina, and from the United States, with his eyes aimed at France, seeking to claim the romanticized writer’s paradise so many American

F

Thomas Rain Crowe at the San Francisco International Poetry Festival, 1976. Pam Mosher photo

“This book is not about ‘me’ — it’s all about ‘us.’

It’s all about what went down in the seventies in San Francisco.”

— Thomas Rain Crowe

Smoky Mountain News

only family to me, they’re my literary tribe.

They’re the most important group of people in my life, and I’m even including my biological family.”

When he returned to Western North Carolina, Crowe launched New Native Press, an independent publishing company (poetry, literary books, broadsides, recordings), one which was created in the same mold as Ferlinghetti’s City Lights. New Native is still pushing ahead in the digital age of the 21st century, sporadically releasing works from friends and colleagues of Crowe’s, mainly those from the Baby Beat circle.

In recent years, the idea for Starting from San Francisco came from a happenstance interaction. A summer resident in Cashiers, originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, started to read all of the works of renowned local authors (Charles Frazier, Ron Rash, David

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

Thomas Rain Crowe, 2018. Garret K. Woodward photo

erally getting your education being in the aura and the presence of these people — it’s not classes and they’re not giving lectures.”

By 1979, some six or so years following his arrival, Crowe began to grow weary of the scene, ready for the next step, a new chapter. At the time, Crowe found himself living in a teepee in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California. The impending, harsh winter was upon him. He decided to head back to Western North Carolina and stay in the cabin of a now deceased old mountain man Crowe had befriended years earlier — an experience Crowe chronicled in his book Zoro’s Field, a throwback to Henry David Thoreau’s Walden Pond. “[The Baby Beats all] scattered in the late 1970s,” Crowe said. “But, I’ve been in touch with all of them ever since then. They’re not

Joy), only to come across the works of Crowe. “[And that summer resident and I] become good friends over the last couple of years. He went back to Ann Arbor and told this rare book dealer [there about me] whose specialty is the Beat Generation,” Crowe said. “[The book dealer has] got one of the biggest Beat collections of anyone in the world. And he told this guy about all the stuff that I had.

The rare book dealer, Arthur Nusbaum of Third Mind Books, called me and asked me about my collection. I wrote it all out and sent it to him. He looked at it and got back to me right away, ‘I’d like to buy this collection.’

We’re talking a lot of stuff.”

Nusbaum made Crowe an offer for the collection he couldn’t refuse. Crowe could use the money, all while Nusbaum would preserve the collection where it would remain good hands. It was a win-win. Crowe sold the numerous boxes of documents, photographs, posters and trinkets. But Nusbaum wasn’t done. He would soon attend a yearly Beat Conference, and wanted to present Crowe’s collection, a way to introduce many Beat Generation freaks who might be in the dark about the subsequent Baby Beats. “[Arthur] sent me 20 pages of questions [for background information], and he wanted me to answer all these questions. So, I started off with the first question, and next thing I knew I answered all of his questions — 90 pages of stuff I had written, because once I got in that space, the memories, getting back in that place in the 1970s, I just kept writing and writing,” Crowe said. “[Then Arthur called] with follow up questions to the questions. We talked for four hours on the phone. I’ve never talked for four hours on the phone. I’ve never even talked for an hour on the phone. Then, they transcribed the entire phone conversation.

‘We’re thinking about doing a book. We have so much material, we think it’d make a good book.’”

Thus, Starting From San Francisco was born. Part anthology of Crowe’s personal collection, part Q&A from Crowe’s conversations. This past summer, Crowe traveled back to San Francisco to the Beat Museum for the book launch.

“This book is not about ‘me’ — it’s all about ‘us.’ It’s all about what went down in the seventies in San Francisco,” Crowe said.

“This book is history. It’s about the Beat tradition, now in its third generation. It’s been passed down hand-to-hand. And all of us Baby Beats are now hanging out with younger people who are from that tradition or identify with that tradition.”

And yet, as he’s knocking on the door of 70, Crowe doesn’t come across as a man of his age. His mind, heart and soul are a timeless source of creativity, curiosity and compassion.

“I believe in destiny. I think there’s something going on that we don’t understand.

People talk about souls, but I think there’s more physics involved in it than we know about,” Crowe said. “Destiny, whatever it is, and I think it was kind of written that this is the way I was supposed to live my life.

Apparently, there’s nothing you can do to avoid that. You can try, but I think you still end up where you’re supposed to be, in the 23

arts & entertainment

exiles have sought across the pond for the better part of a century.

But that endeavor quickly faded, with Crowe hearing that the “real deal” was not in France at that time, but back in California, San Francisco to be specific. There resided the remaining members of the original Beat Generation, with troves of new faces relocating to the city every single day. So, he figured why not try his luck on the West Coast and set sail, arriving in 1973, only to immediately find himself right in the mix of the rapid change overtaking the city.

“I ended up in San Francisco and all my heroes (Ferlinghetti, Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Diane di Prima) were hanging out, and available, and anxious to talk to all of us younger poets,” Crowe said. “There was nothing going on for [the remaining original Beats] in the early 1970s, the hippie movement and rock-n-roll did away with the Beats. They were just hanging around with nothing to do. And we got the idea to resurrect Beatitude magazine, and that really excited Ferlinghetti. That really lit the fire — it just got bigger and bigger.”

Establishing himself in and around the Bay Area, Crowe was now immersed in the what would become the Baby Beat movement, the second generation of the original Beats. But, that name would come from, perhaps, an unexpected person — Richard Brautigan. A haphazard, bull-in-a-Chinashop character — in his writing and daily interactions — Brautigan (author of Trout Fishing in America and In Watermelon Sugar), considered a pillar of the Beat Generation, didn’t take too kindly to these new kids in town sniffing around his old stomping grounds, especially one evening when Crowe and his cronies rolled into Specs’ bar in North Beach. “[Baby Beats] — it’s just a convenient moniker, but it’s true. It was Brautigan, it was an epithet he threw at us one night in a bar,” Crowe reminisced. “‘You don’t want to mess around with these guys, they’re just a bunch of Baby Beats,’ [Brautigan chastised the young writers]. [Then we all] went to Brautigan’s apartment, sitting in his living room, drinking beer, where he then got in a fight [over his literary credibility].”

But, no matter the outcome of another wild night on the town. Crowe and his peers felt welcomed, and were in many respects.

“How lucky I was, and how much timing plays into everything in your life. It’s all about timing, and my timing just happened to be right,” Crowe said, “It was timing and luck, and how open and accommodating all these older guys were to us younger guys.

They didn’t have to be, they were famous.”

And the Baby Beats would find themselves in cafes and dive bars, late at night or early in the morning, all sharing ideas, poems, artwork and optimism aimed in pursuit of whatever it took to evoke and nurture the creative spirit in an era of anti-Vietnam protests, environmental protests, women’s rights and gay rights marches, all amid uncertain times in the post-Nixon/preReagan years.

“We used to call it the ‘university of the streets,’ because it was all going on in the cafes and the bars,” Crowe said. “You’re lit-

arts & entertainment

On the wall

Grants available for artists Now through Oct. 5, the Haywood County Arts Council is accepting applications for North Carolina Arts Council Regional Artists Project Grants (RAPG).

These grants will fund artists in Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson and Macon counties at any phase of their professional development. Qualifying projects must occur between Dec. 1, 2018, and June 30, 2019. For application information, and to learn more about the competitive review process, visit www.haywoodarts.org/regional-artist-project-grant.

Grant recipients will receive notification of their award by Oct. 31. Grants generally range from $400 to $1,200 and recipients may use their grants to cover equipment purchases, professional development training, marketing, and more.

The Regional Artists Project program is managed through a consortium comprising the North Carolina Arts Council and local

arts organizations throughout western North Carolina including: the Art League of Highlands-Cashiers & the Greater Plateau, Cherokee County Arts Council, Clay County Historical & Arts Council, Haywood County Arts Council, Jackson County Arts Council, and the Stecoah Valley Arts, Crafts & Educational Center, Inc. Since 1985, the North Carolina Arts Council has provided funds for the Regional Artists Project Grants, which have been matched by the regional consortium members to create a larger pool of funds to support the professional development of professional artists in Western North Carolina.

The Haywood County Arts Council is supported in part by the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.

For more information, contact Leigh Forrester, RAPG program administrator at 828.452.0593 or director@haywoodarts.org.

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

Do you like Legos?

The next Lego Club meeting will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27, at Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.

The library provides Legos and Duplos for ages 3 and up. The only thing area children need to bring is their imagination. This program provides an excellent opportunity for children to learn how to develop fine motor skills. It also develops problem-solving skills, organization, planning through construction, and improves creativity.

All area children are invited join in and let your creativity shine. This month the theme will be “Engineering Escapes,” which will test your building skills to get out of a “canyon.”

The Marianna Black Library is also requesting that you consider donating your gently used Legos and Duplos to the library, to help expand the Lego Club.

For more information, call the library at 828.488.3030.

Diane E. Sherrill, Attorney

Is a Will Enough?

Smoky Mountain News

FREE LUNCHEON SEMINAR

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Best Western in Dillsboro

October 24

Southwestern Community College Reservations Suggested

828.586.4051

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find us at: facebook.com/smnews

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Smoky Mountain News

It will mark 1,000 days straight.

This past Tuesday, I will have gone for a run 1,000 days in-a-row. “The Streak,” as it is known to myself and close friends/family, has overtaken my subconscious for the better part of the last three years. Not in bad way, more so as that one thing I do, and look forward to Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage doing, each day, evenif it’s a Day, a festival celebrating Southern Appalachian whirlwind in finding the time culture through concerts, living-history and place to lace up my shoes demonstrations and competitions, will be held from and head out the door.

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, on the campus “The Streak” wasn’t in Cullowhee. planned. It happened by Swing/rock act The Squirrel Nut Zippers will chance. Just before New Year’s perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, at the Eve 2015, I found myself in Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts New York City, spending the days leading up to the ball drop in Franklin. in Times Square at an apartThe Women of Waynesville invites the public to ment in Brooklyn, staying with come celebrate the release of its 2019 charity my best buddy from college calendar from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, at and his fiancé. Prior to “The Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville.

Streak,” I would run one day, then do something else the The annual fundraiser for the Jackson County next day (hiking, mountain bikGenealogical Society’s Annual Fundraiser, the ing, weightlifting), only to run “Rebel Cruise-In” will take place from 2 to 4 again the following day (one p.m. Sunday, Sept. 30, at Mark Watson Park in Sylva. day on, one day off ).

The “Art After Dark” season will continue from But, while in Brooklyn, far 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5, in downtown from mountains and without a Waynesville. bike, I figured the only way I would be able to get a workout in the whole time I was there so I kept running. Jan. 9, 2016: “Three-mile was to just run every day. Day One was Dec. trail run up and down Midnight Hole trail in 31, 2015, which was a 6-mile run from Big Creek in the Great Smoky Mountains Franklin Street in Greenpoint to Flushing National Park. Late afternoon. Got dark and Avenue and back. Day Three was a memoslight drizzle up the trail. Threw some fresh

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Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

rable trek, a 6.5-mile run from Franklin Street in Greenpoint over the Brooklyn Bridge to the Financial District in Manhattan, where I stopped and looked up at the Freedom Tower in awe and remembrance before ducking down into the subway back to Brooklyn.

Once I returned to Western North Carolina, my legs were feeling pretty good,

arts & entertainment

This must be the place

mountain water on my face at the waterfall.

Muddy. Alone. Silence. River flowing. Mud puddles and breathing. Zen. Dreamlike.”

Somewhere around the second week in “The Streak,” I figured, “Well, I’ll run every day until my birthday,” which is Feb. 5. Once that date rolled around, I figured why not run 100 days in-a-row? Even as a lifelong runner, and someone who ran competitively for a D-1 college, I was now entering unknown territory, wondering if it could all lead to getting burned out, or worse — an injury. To curb that possibility, I would somewhat try to run up and down in mileage as the days went along: 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1.

But, as “The Streak” went along, I didn’t go crazy, rather it was the contrary. I found a new level of a “Zen zone,” where running has, and will forever remain, my escape from daily distractions and reactions. It is just me and my breathing in sync with my feet hitting the ground.

Yes, there were rough days where I had very little time and/or still hadn’t figured out a place to go for a run, mostly days I was traveling, which are numerous. On a road trip to Texas in January 2017, I found myself in rural Arkansas without having gone for a run yet. So, I found a random Walmart parking lot to camp out in the back of my truck for the evening, and threw on my running shoes somewhere around 10 p.m. (have to get the run in before midnight to count) to go for a jog down a desolate road, a thunderstorm quickly approaching from the west.

There were always obstacles like that. But, like anything in life, if you really want to do it or achieve it, you will.

And yet, when I think of all of those 1,000 days within “The Streak,” what immediately comes to mind are all of those incredible sunrises and sunsets, whether it be on the warm sandy beaches of the Gulf Coast or in 20-below-zero weather during Christmas back home in my native North Country of Upstate New York.

It was also all of those quiet moments of solitude running down dirt trails in the backwoods of Vermont, Tennessee, Maine, Alabama, Florida, etc. It was those days I really didn’t feel good or was sick, but still mustered up the energy to head out where the rubber meets the road, or the days I couldn’t wait to go for a run, out of excitement for whatever was going on in my life on a particular day, my mindset full and ready to put my legs into overdrive.

But, mainly, all of those runs during (and before) “The Streak” were a way for me to clear my mind, to cleanse my soul, and find balance in my thoughts and emotions.

Running will always be my outlet for clarity amid the chaos of the cosmos.

With each stride, I thought of people I missed, some still alive, others not. Runs before my aunt and uncle’s funerals where I gave a eulogy at both. Runs in the weeks following a breakup where I felt as lost as I was lonely. And runs where I would try to figuratively find my way out of the fog in my mind, once again finding footing and a sense of self only found in the depths of a sweaty, glorious jog down the road.

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

Adults $24 Seniors $22 Students $11 *Special $16 tickets for all Adults on Thursday, October 11.

Special $8 Tickets for all Students on Thursdays & Sundays.

The Performing Arts Center at the Shelton House 250 Pigeon St. in Waynesville, NC

For More Information and Tickets:

828-456-6322 | www.harttheatre.org This project was supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural & Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

25

On the beat arts & entertainment

• Andrews Brewing Company (Andrews) will host the “Lounge Series” at its Calaboose location with Troy Underwood (singer-songwriter) Sept. 27, Twelfth Fret (Americana/folk) Sept. 28, Tom Edwards Oct. 4, Rachel Stewart Oct. 5 and Tessia Oct. 6. All shows are free and begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

There will also be an “Oktoberfest” from 2 to 8 p.m. Sept. 29 at the Main Street location with food, games and live music by Bonham & The Bastards 4:30 p.m. and Dottie 6:30 p.m. www.andrewsbrewing.com.

ALSO:

• Balsam Falls Brewing (Sylva) will host Cat & Crow Sept. 28. All shows begin at 8 p.m. www.facebook.com/balsamfallsbrewing.

Squirrel Nut Zippers.

Smoky Mountain News

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

Squirrel Nut Zippers to play Franklin

26

Widely-acclaimed swing/rock act The Squirrel Nut Zippers will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

The band began their musical journey in Chapel Hill in the mid 1990s as a musician’s escape from the cookie cutter world of modern rock radio at the time.

Between 1995-2000 the Squirrel Nut Zippers sold over three million albums.

Their watershed album “Hot” (1996) was recorded in the heat of New Orleans, fueled by a youthful hunger to unlock the secrets of

old world jazz. This passion mixed with klezmer, blues and random bits of contemporary musical leanings became the band’s signature style.

At the time, there were few other bands inhabiting this space. The album would eventually break free of any “jazz” stereotypes and land on commercial radio, taking the band to remarkable heights for what was essentially an anti-establishment sound.

Tickets start at $25 per person. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, call 828.524.1598 or visit www.greatmountainmusic.com.

Bryson City community jam A community jam will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 4, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.

Anyone with a guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dulcimer, anything unplugged, are invited to join. Singers are also welcomed to join in or you can just stop by and listen. The jam is facilitated

by Larry Barnett of Grampa’s Music in Bryson City.

The community jams offer a chance for musicians of all ages and levels of ability to share music they have learned over the years or learn old-time mountain songs. The music jams are offered to the public each first and third Thursday of the month — year-round. This program received support from the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment of the Arts.

828.488.3030.

Pickin’ on the Square The Pickin’ on the Square summer concert series will feature Curtis Blackwell & The Dixie Bluegrass Boys at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, at the Gazebo in downtown Franklin.

The concert series is free and open to the public. Bring your lawn chair. Food vendors will also be available. Other performers will be Blueridge (southern gospel) Oct. 6 and Conrad Hefner w/Mike Holt & Donnie Clay (variety) Oct. 13.

For more information, visit www.townoffranklinnc.com.

• Balsam Mountain Inn (Balsam) will host the “Songwriters in the Round” series with the Chatham Rabbits (Americana/old-time) at 7:30 p.m. Sept.

29. Tickets are $20 per person. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, call 828.456.9498 or visit www.balsammountaininn.net.

• Blue Ridge Beer Hub (Waynesville) will host an acoustic jam with Main St. NoTones from 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 27 and Oct. 4. Free and open to the public. www.blueridgebeerhub.com.

• Bogart’s Restaurant & Tavern (Waynesville) will host Eddie Rose & Highway 40 (bluegrass/Americana) at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 27. Free and open to the public. www.highwayforty.com.

• Boojum Brewing Company (Waynesville) will host GrudaTree Sept. 29 and In Flight Oct. 6. All shows are free and begin at 9 p.m. www.boojumbrewing.com.

• The Classic Wineseller (Waynesville) will host Cynthia McDermott (mandolin/vocals) Sept. 28, Joe Cruz (piano/pop) Sept. 29 and Oct. 6, and James Hammel (guitar/vocals) Oct. 5. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m.

828.452.6000 or www.classicwineseller.com.

• Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host Sept. 28, Woolly Adelgrid 7:30 p.m. Sept.

29 and Eli Moseley Oct. 6. All shows are free. www.curraheebrew.com.

• The Cut Cocktail Lounge (Sylva) will host “Rock the Vote” with PMA (reggae/rock) 9 p.m. Oct. 5. 828.631.4795.

• Firefly Taps & Grille (Waynesville) will host Bryce Dento (singer-songwriter) 7 p.m. Sept. 29.

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host Elysium Park Sept. 28, Whiskey River

Band Sept. 29, Amy Mercier Oct. 5 and Ed Kelley w/Steve Goldman & Melissa Oct. 6.

All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. www.froglevelbrewing.com.

• Harmon’s Den Bistro at HART (Waynesville) will host karaoke and an open mic at 8 p.m. on Saturdays. All are welcome. www.harttheatre.org.

• The High Dive (Highlands) will host Stig (progressive jazz/funk) Sept. 28.

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will have an Open Mic night Sept. 26 and Oct. 3, and a jazz night with the Kittle/Collings Duo Sept. 27 and Oct. 4, Rossdafareye Sept.

29 and Tina Collins Duo Oct. 6. All events are free and begin at 8 p.m. www.innovation-brewing.com.

• Isis Music Hall (West Asheville) will host Danny Burns 7 p.m. Sept. 26, Elisabeth Beckwitt 7 p.m. Sept. 27, The Weight Band 9 p.m. Sept. 28, Mike & Amy Aiken 7 p.m. Sept. 29, Damon Fowler 9 p.m.

Sept. 29, Jonathan Byrd & The Pickup Cowboy 5:30 p.m. Sept. 30, JigJam 7:30 p.m. Sept. 30 and A Different Thread 7 p.m. Oct. 3. For more information about the performances and/or to purchase tickets, visit www.isisasheville.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host an open mic night at 6:30 p.m. every Thursday, Troy Underwood (singer-songwriter) Sept. 28, Natti Love Joys Sept. 29 and “Hike-toberfest” w/The Buchanan Boys (country/rock) 7 p.m. Oct. 6. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. For more information and a complete schedule of events, click on www.lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• The Mountain Heritage Center (Western Carolina University) will host Jake Blount & Tatiana Hargreaves (Americana) 6 p.m.

Oct. 4. Open jam to follow the performance. Free to attend.

• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will host an open mic night every Thursday, Aces Down Sept. 28 and Tiki Time Sept. 29. All shows are free and begin at 7 p.m. www.mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

• Nantahala Brewing (Bryson City) will host The Freeway Revival (rock/jam) Sept. 28 and Flatland Tourists Oct. 5. All shows are free and begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Jonathan Newell will also perform at 6 p.m. in The Warehouse location. www.nantahalabrewing.com.

• The Oconaluftee Visitor Center (Cherokee) will host a back porch old-time music jam from 1 to 3 p.m. Oct. 6. All are welcome to come play or simply sit and listen to sounds of Southern Appalachia.

On the beat arts & entertainment

Chatham Rabbits.

‘Songwriters in the Round’

• Pub 319 (Waynesville) will host an open mic night from 8 to 11 p.m. on Wednesday. Free and open to the public. www.pub319socialhouse.com.

• 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.

• 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.

• The Ugly Dog Pub (Highlands) will host Andrew Thelston Band (rock) Sept. 28, 28 Pages (rock) Oct. 5 and Harlem River Noise (r&b/rock) Oct. 12. All shows begin at 9:30 p.m.

ALSO:

• 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.

• Soul Infusion Tea House & Bistro (Sylva) will host Trippin Hardie 4 p.m. Sept. 29 (free). 828.586.1717 or www.soulinfusion.com.

• The Water’n Hole Bar & Grill (Waynesville) will host Cannonball Jars Sept. 28 and Aunt Bee’s Jam Band Sept. 29. All shows begin at 9:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

828.456.4750.

• Whiteside Brewing (Cashiers) will host Jay Drummonds & George Reeves Oct. 5 and George Reeves & David Watt Besley Oct. 11.

All shows start at 5:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.743.6000 or www.whitesidebrewing.com.

Smoky Mountain News

Community School of Durham where where she creates and implements programs based upon North Carolina music and African American roots music.

Austin McCombie always loved the music his family played, but didn’t know it had a name. His relatives in Southwest Virginia played bluegrass and his parents in Wilmington immersed him in 1990s country classics and beach music standards.

Somewhere in the middle, he found the name for his favorite sound: old-time.

Tickets are $20 per person. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, call 828.456.9498 or visit www.balsammountaininn.net.

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

The “Songwriters in the Round” series will welcome the Chatham Rabbits at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, at the Balsam Mountain Inn. Sarah Osborne McCombie grew up in the piedmont of North Carolina. At age 18, her voice landed her onstage at Prissy Polly’s BBQ with her favorite band, the iconic old-time trio, The South Carolina Broadcasters. After that night, they offered her a banjo and a job.

She has garnered tremendous experience and exposure to the wide expanse of American roots music. Post Broadcasters, Sarah served as the music teacher at the Friends School of Wilmington, and is currently the music teacher at Montessori

27

arts & entertainment

On the street Cherokee Bonfire & Storytelling The Cherokee Bonfire & Storytelling will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 27 at the Oconaluftee Islands Park.

Sit by a bonfire, alongside a river, and listen to some of Cherokee’s best storytellers. The bonfire is free and open to the public. There will be no bonfire events in September. www.visitcherokeenc.com.

Smoky Mountain News

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

Cherokee Indian Fair

28

The 106th annual Cherokee Indian Fair will take place Oct. 2-6 at the Cherokee Indian Fairgrounds.

The Indian Fair Parade kicks off the festivities on Tuesday. Like the typical county fair, Cherokee invites a top-of-theline carnival to provide amusements all week for the young and old alike. From games to high-tech rides, the carnival is always a welcome feature at the Fair. Community arts and crafts exhibits, Miss Cherokee contest.

Nationally known entertainers.

General admission is $10 per person at the gate, Tuesday through Friday. Children ages 6 and under will be admitted for free. Admission on Saturday is $15. The headlining act that day will be The Legends of Country, which features Larry Stewart, the lead singer for Restless Heart, Tim Rushlow, the lead singer for Little Texas, and Jeff Cook the fiddle player and guitarist for Alabama.

For more information and a full schedule of events, visit www.visitcherokeenc.com.

Indian village now open The popular Oconaluftee Indian Village will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday through Nov. 10.

As you step into the Oconaluftee Indian Village, you’re transported back to witness the challenges of Cherokee life at a time of rapid cultural change. Tour guides help you explore the historic events and figures of the 1760’s.

Visitors can interact with villagers as they participate in their daily activities. The Village also hosts live reenactments, interactive demonstrations, and Hands-On Cherokee Pottery for Kids classes For more information, visit www.cherokeehistorical.org.

Can you escape the corn maze?

The annual corn maze and pumpkin patch will return from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Oct. 31 at Darnell Farms in Bryson City.

Come to the farm for some old-fashioned fun. Walk through the corn maze ($8 admission) by answering difficult trivia questions at each numbered stop in order to avoid the winding turns and dead ends. Enjoy a

hayride ($10 admission) and visit the huge six-acre pumpkin patch, where you and your family choose your perfect Jack O’ Lantern.

Prices vary by size.

All the kids will enjoy the Kiddie Corn Box, The 20-foot-long farm slide from the Hay Pyramid, and the 20-foot swing set, right on the river bank. The “Maze of the Dead,” “Zombie Pumpkin Patch” and “Haunted Hayride” will take place at 8 p.m.

Oct. 26-31.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/darnellfarmsnc.

Mountain Heritage Day returns Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Day, a free family oriented festival that celebrates Southern Appalachian culture through concerts, living-history demonstrations, competitions and awards programs, will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, on the WCU campus in Cullowhee.

Named one of the top 20 festivals in the Southeast by the Southeast Tourism Society, this year’s event will include additional musical acts, vendors and an expectation of more visitors, organizers said.

The festival started as Founders’ Day on Oct. 26, 1974, at the inauguration ceremony of WCU Chancellor H.F. “Cotton” Robinson and became known as Mountain Heritage Day the following year.

Mountain Heritage Day has become renowned as a showcase of mountain music, family activities and the region’s finest arts and crafts, and vendors offering ethnic, heritage and festival food. Rain or shine, the festival brings history to life and

fun to thousands. Shuttles will operate throughout the day, with stops at designated free parking and attraction locations.

A 5K race begins at 8 a.m. and winds its way through the campus. A nationally recognized chainsaw and timber sports event draws numerous competitors. A vintage, classic and antique car and truck show is a viewers’ choice contest, with attendees able to walk among the vehicles and cast votes, with plaques presented to the winning picks.

Mountain Heritage Day is part of the Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina, with www.blueridgemusicnc.com an easy and convenient way to find festivals, concerts, jam sessions and plenty of singing and dancing to the traditional music of Western North Carolina.

To learn more about WCU’s premier festival and to view a full schedule of events, visit www.mountainheritageday.com or call 828.227.3039.

• The final Friday Night Street Dance of the year will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28, on Main

Street in Waynesville. Mountain music and clogging. All welcome to attend and participate. Free. www.downtownwaynesville.com.

ALSO:

Folk School ‘Fall Festival’ The annual “Fall Festival” will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 6-7 at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown.

Visit over 240 fine craft exhibitors and watch more than 40 artisans demonstrate traditional and contemporary crafts. Fill your ears with bluegrass, gospel, folk, and Celtic music on both days. Tap your toes to clogging, Morris, and Garland dance per-

formances throughout the weekend. www.folkschool.org.

On the street arts & entertainment

Cashiers Leaf Festival

The Leaf Festival will be held Oct. 5-7 on the Village Green in Cashiers.

Arts, crafts, food vendors, live music, and much more. Presented by the Greater Cashiers Area Merchants Association.

Free admission. www.visitcashiersvalley.com.

ColorFest will be held on Oct. 6 in Dillsboro.

Smoky Mountain Arts Festival The Smoky Mountain Arts Festival will take place 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 5-14 on Fry Street at the Train Depot in Bryson City.

Browse artwork for sale by over 30 artists under the big tent at the train depot plaza.

Paintings, prints, photography, sculpture, artisan jewelry, pottery & gifts inspired by the Smokies. Vote for a people’s choice award.

Free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.greatsmokies.com.

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Smoky Mountain News

The 10th annual ColorFest will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6, in downtown Dillsboro.

Come spend the day in a walk-about mountain town filled with color and history.

It’s the perfect place to showcase authentic works of the hand, and the perfect place for you to enjoy a day of fun, food, live music, artisan demonstrations, entertainment and shopping.

Artisans will be displaying authentic Cherokee art, pottery, jewelry, photography, loom beading, handmade soaps, many kinds of needle work, Christmas ornaments, pine cone wreaths, candles, rustic furniture, chair caning, baskets and much more.

For more information, visit www.visitdillsboro.org.

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

ColorFest celebrates 10 years

HOURS Monday - Friday

MyHarrisRegional.com

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arts & entertainment

On the street Ready for the ‘Rebel Cruise-In’?

The annual fundraiser for the Jackson County Genealogical Society’s Annual Fundraiser, the “Rebel Cruise-In” will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 30, at Mark Watson Park in Sylva.

The event will have cruisers from Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain and Clay Counties, as well as folks from northern Georgia, that have participated in previous events. The “Rebel Cruise-in” commemorates The Rebel Restaurant, a fixture of Sylva in the 1960s and 1970s.

The event will conclude with a police-escorted cruise from Mark Watson Park through Sylva on Main Street to the Sylva Plaza where the Rebel once stood. The cruisers will “circle the Rebel” and then travel from there down Mill Street in Sylva to Dillsboro and return to Mark Watson Park.

Classic cars and trucks, rat rods, and muscle cars are welcome with a registration fee of $20 per vehicle. The annual fundraiser for the Jackson County Genealogical Society will include T-shirt and poster sales, a food truck, and a 50/50 raffle. For more information, = call 828.226.3798 or 828.506.9241.

Peanuts Pumpkin Patch Express Young women deliver ice in 1918.

National Archives, Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs photo

Smoky Mountain News

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

Smithsonian exhibit at WCU

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Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Center will host the Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit “The Way We Worked,” chronicling late 19th- and early 20th-century jobs and labor and based on photographs from the National Archives.

The exhibit will be on display through Wednesday, Nov. 7, in the Mountain Heritage Center’s Hunter Library gallery. It is free and open to the public. During WCU’s annual Mountain Heritage Day fall festival on Saturday, Sept. 29, a free shuttle service will be available to take festivalgoers to the exhibit.

National Archives photographs depict many aspects of work, from the clothing worn, the locations and conditions, and workplace conflict. The photos also document a workforce shaped by many factors immigration and ethnicity, slavery and racial segregation, wage labor and technology, gender roles and class as well as by the American ideals of freedom and equality.

In addition to the photos, the exhibit includes audio, allowing visitors to hear

excerpts from interviews with workers who describe what it was like to be a glove maker in the 1890s, a packinghouse worker in the 1930s, or a coal miner in the early 20th century. A video showing a variety of workplaces and a selection of work songs completes the experience.

“The Way We Worked” exhibit has been made possible at Western Carolina University by the North Carolina Humanities Council, a statewide nonprofit and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. “The Way We Worked,” an exhibition created by the National Archives, is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and state humanities councils nationwide. Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the U.S. Congress.

Special tours with a curriculum-based program will be available for K-12 school groups planning to visit the exhibit. For more information, go to mhc.wcu.edu or call 828.227.7129.

The Peanuts Pumpkin Patch Express will depart at 4 p.m. Oct. 5 and 12, and noon and 4 p.m.

Oct. 6-7 and 13-14 at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City.

On board the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, guests will hear a narration of Schulz’s “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” as the train travels to the Pumpkin Patch. Upon arrival, passengers will be greeted and have a photo opportunity with Charlie Brown, Lucy, and Snoopy.

Activities to enjoy at The Great Pumpkin Patch will include: campfire marshmallows, a coloring station, temporary tattoos, trick or treating, bouncy house, hayrides and live musical entertainment.

For tickets, visit www.gsmr.com or 800.872.4681.

WOW releases 2019 charity calendar The Women of Waynesville invites the public to come celebrate the release of its 2019 charity calendar from 6 to 9 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 29, at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville.

WOW has produced a semi-nude calendar featuring its own members for seven years and all proceeds go toward the nonprofit’s mission of helping women and children in Haywood County.

Come purchase your copy of the 2019 calendar and have it autographed by the models. Meet the talented photographer behind this year’s calendar, Craig Burgwardt, and see behind-the-scenes outtakes from the calendar photo shoots taken throughout Haywood County. Frog Level is now serving food from their new kitchen, The Canteen, and Whiskey River Band will be providing live music beginning at 7 p.m.

“The WOW calendar is all about showing real women with real bodies and trying to expand the narrow societal view of beauty,” said WOW President Jessi Stone. “Our members are 25 to 75 and they’re all bold, strong and fun women making a difference in the community — that’s beautiful.”

Thanks to sponsorships from local businesses and the photographer donating his time, WOW can put all calendar proceeds toward helping other nonprofits.

Since forming in 2012, WOW has raised over $175,000 to support other charities including Mountain Projects, Habitat for Humanity, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Girls on the Run of WNC, Pigeon Community Multicultural Development Center, Radical Inclusion, Haywood County Schools Foundation, REACH, KARE and Western Economic Development Organization.

For more information about WOW or to purchase a calendar online, visit www.womenofwaynesville.org.

On the table Bosu’s tastings, small plates

The Secret Wine Company.

Bosu’s Wine Shop in Waynesville will host wine tastings and small plates from Chef Stacy’s gourmet cuisine, available at The Secret Wine Company within the shop. Dog friendly patio and front garden open, weather permitting. n Sept. 27/Oct. 4: Five for $5 Wine Tasting from 5 to 9 p.m.

Come taste five magnificent wines and dine on Chef Stacy’s gourmet cuisine. n Sept. 28/Oct. 5: Secret Wine Bar Night from 5 to 9 p.m..

Gourmet food, and a great wine & beer menu.

For more information, call 828.452.0120 or visit www.waynesvillewine.com.

• There will be a free wine tasting from 1 to 5 p.m. Sept. 29 and Oct. 6 at Bosu’s Wine Shop in Waynesville. www.waynesvillewine.com or 828.452.0120.

• A free wine tasting will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. Sept. 29 and Oct. 6 at Papou’s Wine Shop in Sylva. www.papouswineshop.com or 828.631.3075.

ALSO:

• 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.

On the stage arts & entertainment

New comedy at HART the leads in Chicago and The Producers.

Since then, she has gotten her graduate degree in directing and moved back to help run the family business, Asheville’s Wicked Weed Brewery.

Theatre in Waynesville.

Nick is a single, Italian-American guy from New Jersey. His parents retired and moved to Florida. That doesn’t mean his family isn’t still in Jersey. In fact, he sees both sets of his grandparents every Sunday for dinner. This is routine until he has to tell them that he’s been offered a dream job in Seattle. When they find out, the results become a hilarious set of attempts to sabotage his attempts to leave.

The show ran off Broadway for two years, becoming a major hit.

HART’s production is being directed by Candice Dickinson. Dickinson was one of

Her cast includes: Amanda Klinikowski as Caitlyn, Josiah McManus as Nick, Allison Stinson as Aida, Lyn Donley as Emma, David Spivey as Frank and Pasquale LaCorte as Nunzio.

There are special discount tickets for the Thursday, Oct. 11 performance. To make ticket reservations, call 828.456.6322 from 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday or visit www.harttheatre.org.

Harmons’ Den Bistro is also open for dinner before all evening performances and for Sunday Brunch beginning at 11 a.m. with reservations required.

• There is free comedy improv class from 7 to 9 p.m. every Tuesday at Moo Mountain Bakery in Maggie Valley. No experience necessary, just come to watch or join in the

ALSO:

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

A heartwarming comedy by Joe Dipietro, “Over the River and Through the Woods” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28-29, Oct. 4-6, 12-13 and at 2 p.m. Sept. 30, Oct. 7 and 14 at the Haywood Arts Regional

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 come on down to the bakery 2511 Soco Road.

WCU presenting classic musical ‘Cabaret’ productions in New York and London, as well as a 1972 film of the same name. The show is not recommended for children 12 and younger.

The all-student cast for the WCU production includes Derrick Bass as Bradshaw, Tayler Harris as Bowles, Caleb Warren as emcee at the Kit Kat club, Caroline Ryan as Fraulein Schneider, and Anthony Sims as Herr Shultz.

The show will be directed and choreographed by Ashlee Wasmund, director of WCU’s programs in dance and musical theatre, and Kristen Hedberg, assistant professor of voice, will serve as musical director. Two students, Victoria Russell and Lauren Hunkele, will be assistant director and assistant music director, respectively.

Tickets are $20 for adults; $15 for WCU faculty and staff, and seniors; and $10 for students. For tickets or more information, visit arts.wcu.edu/cabaret or call the box office of John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center at 828.227.2479.

SPACE AVAILABLE

Smoky Mountain News

Kicking off Western Carolina University’s 2018-19 Mainstage theater season, the classic musical “Cabaret” will be staged by the students and faculty of WCU’s School of Stage and Screen. Shows are scheduled at 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 27-29 and at 3 p.m. Sept. 30 at WCU’s Hoey Auditorium.

With music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb and book by Joe Masteroff, “Cabaret” is set in 1931 Berlin and the seedy nightlife of the Kit Kat club, where a young American writer, Clifford Bradshaw, becomes infatuated with an English cabaret performer, Sally Bowles, in the midst of the Nazi party’s rise to power. The hit musical, featuring such popular numbers as “Willkommen” and “Don’t Tell Mama,” has delighted audiences for more than 50 years while also serving as a continuing warning about the dangers of totalitarianism.

The original Broadway production of “Cabaret” in 1966 inspired many subsequent

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arts & entertainment

On the wall Floor-cloth rug artist demonstration The Haywood County Arts Council (HCAC) is excited to announce that local artist Sheree Sorrells will be demonstrating her original technique of weaving fabric strips to make tiles to be used in the construction of a floor-cloth rug from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6, at the HCAC Gallery & Gifts in downtown Waynesville.

Sorrells is fascinated by color, and how it affects our sense of being. The interaction of colors steals her attention. Her art life has evolved from a weaver to a painter to collage.

Textile is her natural medium. Sorrells is enjoying the freedom of developing wall pieces and floor rugs that explore the many expansions and limitations of fabric.

For more information about the Haywood County Arts Council, visit www.haywoodarts.org.

‘Paint & Sip Workshop’

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

The “Paint & Sip Workshop” will be held from noon to 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28, at Gallery Zella in Bryson City.

Enjoy learning to paint with a buddy, daughter, son or even your sweetheart. Take home an incredible memory of your trip to the mountains — your own original painting on

canvas. Enjoy a glass of wine (or soft beverage) and a light snack.

Your painting instructor, Your painting instructor, Carol Conti has taught painting for over 20 years. Students will be presented with a Smoky Mountain landscape, then Owen will guide you in creating your own master work of art.

Cost is $50, which includes all materials.

For more information, call 828.488.3638 or visit www.galleryzella.com.

ArtQuest returns to Haywood This October, local residents and visitors are invited to view work from Haywood County artists in the Haywood County Arts Council’s Gallery & Gifts showroom in downtown Waynesville.

Participants work in diverse media, including clay, fiber, wood, jewelry, glass, mixedmedia, sculpture, and two-dimensional applications. You can view the work of 12 local artists from Oct. 5-27, with the Art After Dark & Artist Reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Oct. 5 at Gallery & Gifts.

The ArtQuest Studio Tour is organized by a dedicated group of Haywood County artists and the fall tour runs from Oct. 26-28. For additional information, visit www.haywoodarts.org or www.artquesthaywood.com.

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Let us provide you with the most exceptional experience possible!

Waynesville art walk, live music The “Art After Dark” season will continue from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5, in downtown Waynesville.

Each first Friday of the month (May-December), Main Street transforms into an evening of art, music, finger foods, beverages and shopping as artisan studios and galleries keep their doors open later for local residents and visitors.

Participants include Burr Studio, Cedar Hill Studios, Earthworks Gallery, Haywood County Arts Council’s Gallery & Gifts, The Jeweler’s Workbench, Moose Crossing Burl Wood Gallery, T. Pennington Art Gallery, Twigs and Leaves Gallery and The Village Framer.

It is free to attend Art After Dark. www.waynesvillegalleryassociation.com.

• “Art to the Rescue” will be held at 5 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 29, at the Bloemsma Barn in Franklin. The show is sponsored by Franklin’s Humane Society. Open to the public. 828.371.1293.

• The “Landscape Takes Many Forms” painting workshop with instructor Diane McPhail will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sept. 26-27 at the Uptown Gallery in Franklin. Fee is $125 for non-members, $100 for members. All materials included. To register, call 828.349.4607 or email franklinuptowngallery@gmail.com.

ALSO:

Smoky Mountain News

• A “Beginner Step-By-Step” painting class will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursdays (Sept. 27) at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. Cost is $25 with all supplies provided. RSVP by contacting Robin Arramae at 828.400.9560 or paintnitewaynesville@gmail.com.

• The “Meet the Artists” reception with Brian Hannum (pianist), Drew Campbell (photographer) and Jon Houglum (painter) will be from 3 to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28, at Gallery Zella in Bryson City. Enjoy North Carolina wine, food and music. Free to attend. For more information, call 828.488.3638 or visit www.galleryzella.com.

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• An exhibition for artisans Wanda DavisBrowne and Judy McManus will continue through Oct. 6 at Gallery 1 in Sylva. DavisBrowne’s photos are inspired by the diverse natural patterns and colors of nature, primarily flora. A glass artist, McManus was invited to join working artists at Jackson County’s Green Energy Park in Dillsboro in 2010. She also teaches classes and gives demonstrations at the facility and exhibits

art in the GEP gallery. www.facebook.com/artinthemountains.

• Mad Batter Food & Film (Sylva) will host a free movie night at 7:30 p.m. every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. For the full schedule of screenings, visit www.madbatterfoodandfilm.com.

• The Waynesville Fiber Friends will meet from 10 a.m. to noon on the second Saturday of the month at the Panacea Coffee House in Waynesville. All crafters and beginners interested in learning are invited. You can keep up with them through their Facebook group or by calling 828.276.6226 for more information.

• “Thursday Painters Open Studio” from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. at the Franklin Uptown Gallery. Bring a bag lunch, project and supplies. Free to the public. Membership not required. For information, call 828.349.4607.

• A “Youth Art Class” will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon every Saturday at the Appalachian Art Farm on 22 Morris Street in Sylva. All ages welcome. $10 includes instruction, materials and snack. For more information, email appalachianartfarm@gmail.com or find them on Facebook.

• Free classes and open studio times are being offered at The Uptown Gallery in Franklin. Join others at a painting open studio session from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. every Tuesday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursdays. For information on days open, hours and additional art classes and workshops, contact the gallery on 30 East Main Street at 828.349.4607.

Books

Smoky Mountain News

33

A slow, beautiful tale told through letters nglish farmwife and mother Tina Hopgood writes to Professor P.V. Glob.

The professor had long ago dedicated his book, The Bog People, to a group of schoolgirls, including Tina, who had written him questions about his discovery of the remains of the prehistoric Tollund Man. Though 40 years have passed since Professor Glob published his book, Tina writes to him on the off chance that he may yet be Writer alive. Behind the words of her letter, self-confessedly incoherent, lie large questions: Have I lived a life worth living? What is my connection to the past? Have I buried myself in a bog?

Anders Larsen, a curator at Denmark’s Silkeborg Museum, responds to Tina, informing her that Professor Glob has passed away and encouraging her to pay the museum a visit.

And so begins Anne Youngson’s Meet Me at the Museum (Flatiron Books, 2018, 272 pages), a tender tale of two people — a woman wondering if she has wasted her days and a strait-laced widower in the throes of grief over the death of his wife. Ever so slowly, their past, their present circumstances, their thoughts and dreams unfold one to the other through letters and emails.

Here we learn of Tina’s life in East Anglia, her work as a farmer’s wife, her joys and sorrows regarding her husband, a hard-working man who has little use for poetry or music, and their three grown children, the two boys similar to their father, and her daughter Mary, a taciturn accountant who eventually weds a Lithuanian emigrant.

In Tina, Youngson gives readers a woman who in the autumn of her years is questioning all that she has done, marrying because of pregnancy at the age of 20, spending her days in the kitchen and with farm chores, and leading what she sometimes thinks of as a backwater life. Tina and Bella, her best

Jeff Minick

E

friend, one of the other girls who had written to Professor Glob and who is now dead from cancer, had long planned to visit the museum

and the remains of Tollund Man. With Bella deceased, Tina believes she has missed yet another opportunity to make good on a promise made in the past.

Anders Larsen is man whose “business is

Open call for art, literature review Calling all artists, writers, poets and local creatives: This is your chance to show off your craft.

Submissions are now being accepted for the 2019 edition of Milestone, the biennial art and literature review published by Southwestern Community College.

Milestone is a publication that showcases the creative expressions of local writers and visual artists.

The periodical is representative of the abundance of talent in the region and seeks to foster this creative potential by providing artists an opportunity to gain public awareness.

All residents of Jackson, Macon, and Swain counties and the Qualla Boundary, as well as SCC students and alumni, are eligible. Only unpublished work may be submitted. Prose should not exceed 2,000 words, and poems should be limited to two pages in length. Writers may submit more than one work. All writing must be double-spaced and submitted in paper format or via email. Each page must be numbered, and the author’s name, address, telephone number and email address should be included on the

facts. I collect and catalog facts and artifacts, from which the facts are deduced, relating to the life and times of Iron Age man.” This selfdescription may sound barebones and dry, but Anders soon shows himself as a man capable of loving others deeply.

Long married to a mentally ill woman who has recently died, Anders Larsen has two children, a lawyer and an architect, who bring him great happiness. Despite that comfort, he spends most of his days outside of work alone, following a routine, still grieving his deceased wife.

One other character who figures large in this novel is the Tollund Man. Having died violently 2,000 years ago, his remains preserved by the bog in which he was buried, the Tolland Man serves as a sort of touchstone for Tina, a standard by which she takes the measure of her own life.

The tranquil, timeless beauty of the Tollund Man’s face, which Tina has seen only in pic-

tures, prompt her again and again to look to him, and to Anders, for answers to her questions about the meaning of the past and its impact on her present.

As letters flow back and forth between Tina and Anders, the two draw closer, able to read the other’s mood by a turn of a phrase, granted happiness by some bit of good news, offering advice. As their friendship grows, their affection for each other becomes tangled by boundaries and confused emotions.

This marvelous book owes much of its charm to Youngson’s magical use of language. The correspondence of Tina and Anders has an old-fashioned ring to it, a formality almost Victorian, that lends a beauty to the prose, and yet we feel at the same time that Meet Me at the Museum is planted squarely in the 21st century. Moreover, Youngson creates in Tina Hopgood and Anders Larsen two people who, by the time we have finished their story, seem as real as the wind and soil of Tina’s East Anglian farm. In Tina particularly, Youngson gives a woman who, with quiet determination and a few false steps, faces and overcomes the challenges, some of them tough indeed, which come her way.

In our world of rush-and-spin, some readers may find Meet Me at the Museum a slow read. Through their letters, Tina and Anders, with the wisdom of their years and experience, take the time to get to know each other, sometimes withdrawing, sometimes exerting great tact, careful always about sharing their emotions, trying, like the good people they are, to avoid hurting the other. For me, however, Meet Me at the Museum is precisely the sort of novel I need these days, a story for adults about friendship, love, kindness, and courage.

At the end of Meet Me at the Museum, Anders writes to Tina, “I have listened to everything you have told me and to the silences where I have heard the things you did not say.”

Thank you, Anne Youngson, for this gift.

You have allowed us to listen as well.

(Jeff Minick is a writer and teacher. minick0301@gmail.com)

last page of each submission.

Visual artists and photographers may submit only black and white copies of original artwork and also must include name, address, telephone number, email address, title of work and photo caption (if applicable) on the back of each submission. Artists and photographers also may submit more than one work.

First- and second-place cash prizes will be awarded in three categories: poetry, prose (short story or nonfiction works) and visual arts, including photography. In addition, one cash prize will be awarded for cover art.

Literary submissions must be postmarked by Dec. 3 and sent to SCC Milestone; Attn. Toni Knott; 447 College Drive; Sylva, NC 28779 or via email to milestone@southwesterncc.edu.

Submissions in visual art must be postmarked by the same date and sent to the same address, Attn.

Bob Keeling, or via email to milestone@southwesterncc.edu.

For more information, contact Milestone Managing Editor Toni Knott at 828.339.4325.

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Outdoors

Smoky Mountain News

Andrew Shepherd runs the Art Loeb Trail at Tennant Mountain.

Steve Reinhold photo

Mountains at a running pace WAYNESVILLE TRAIL RUNNERS LOOK TO INCITE ENTHUSIASM FOR JOGGING

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER ndrew Shepherd has only been a runner for about two years. But when he took up the hobby, he was after more than a casual 5K. Shepherd and six of his friends decided last July to tackle a single-day trail run of the Art Loeb Trail, a 31.1-mile path that begins along the Davidson River near Brevard and gains about 4,000 feet before descending the mountains into the Bethel area of Haywood County.

“Once we decided to do that trail, we were like, ‘I guess we better start training so we can actually do it,’” Shepherd said.

Shepherd, a 31-year-old Waynesville native, prepared for the adventure by heading up to the Black Balsam area on the Blue Ridge Parkway as many evenings as he could after work — usually four or five days a week — to get in some miles. And eventually, the big day arrived.

The group had chosen the auspicious date of Friday, Oct. 13, to embark on their adventure, starting on the Bethel side at about 6:30 a.m. or so, while it was still dark.

They climbed Cold Mountain using headlamps to find their way, arriving atop 6,214foot Black Balsam when it was still cool and very foggy. Then around 11 a.m. the fog cleared away, and it was a picture-perfect autumn day, crisp and sunny and clear. By 4 p.m., the group had conquered the entire trail and emerged at the Davidson River Campground.

“I was actually really surprised on how well we did, because up to that point we had never done more than about 12 to 15 miles,” Shepherd said.

It was a hard day, but a fulfilling accomplishment. So much so that the group hopes

to do it again this year, and for years again after that.

“Just actually completing it and saying that we did it,” said Shepherd when asked to name the highlight of the experience. “It’s kind of a big achievement just to be able to do

A

Andrew Shepherd (from left), William Wells and Garrett Banner take a selfie after reaching Cold Mountain.

Andrew Shepherd photo

that many miles.”

And to do it right in their own backyard, too. One of the trail runners is from Brevard, the rest from Waynesville. The Art Loeb is the trail that connects their hometowns.

But Shepherd doesn’t see running the Art Loeb — or trail running in general — as a closed-club sport. He’s in the midst of forming a running club in town, trying to gather people of all ability levels with an interest in running to get together and enjoy the outdoors.

He envisions it as a two-tier endeavor — he’s already launched a Wednesday night running club in town and wants to organize a weekend trail running group in the near future.

“Hiking you get to see a lot of the features in our area and the mountains and everything, but you get to see little pieces at a time,” he said. “Where trail running you can cover 10 miles in a couple hours and see a lot more in a day.”

The Wednesday night group is based at Boojum Brewing Company in Waynesville, with runners meeting at 6 p.m. on the brewery’s back porch to get organized, starting the run at 6:30 p.m. The run will last 45 minutes to an hour, with participants able to choose between a 3.5-mile and 5-mile loop that runs through downtown, to the greenway at the Waynesville Recreation Park and back again.

Afterward, it’s back to Boojum for a beer.

Get running A new running group has formed in Waynesville, meeting at 6 p.m. on Wednesdays on the back porch of Boojum Brewing Company downtown. The group heads out to run at 6:30 p.m., with 3.5-mile and 5-mile routes available, returning to the brewery afterward for a beer. Future plans are in the works for a weekend trail running club as well.

Andrew Shepherd, 828.734.5329.

“They’ve got that beer called Reward (Pale Ale) and it’s just so fitting for after a run,” said Shepherd.

Going forward, though, he’d like to form a separate trail running group, which would meet on Saturday or Sunday mornings to run a pre-determined loop of trail, with varied routes within the loop for runners of different ability levels. Shepherd envisions an advanced group of runners that can keep an 8-minute pace and complete 10 miles, a medium group of runners that can keep a 9.5-minute pace and run for 7 or 8 miles and a beginning group of runners with a pace over 10 minutes that could do 5 miles or so.

“Then we can all start out at the same place and end at about the same time back together,” he said.

Unlike with an afternoon jog through the neighborhood, taking in a view is as much the goal of a trail run as is the exercise itself.

“Instead of just thinking about, ‘OK, we’re going to go out there

F

Woman injured in bear encounter tal, where she was treated and released.

However, the attacking bear was ultimately euthanized. N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission staff trapped the bear and cubs over the weekend, deciding to euthanize the mother bear in order to protect human safety and keep the cubs from learning aggressive behavior. The cubs were deemed healthy and old enough to live independently, and were relocated to a remote area.

According to Colleen Olfenbuttel, bear specialist for the Wildlife Commission, Rhegness followed proper bear safety procedures but was the victim of an unusual “perfect storm” of events. This included the fact

outdoors

A Swannanoa woman sustained serious, though non-life-threatening, injuries Tuesday, Sept. 18, after an encounter with a black bear.

At about 10:30 p.m., Toni Rhegness, 75, was walking her dog on a leash in front of her house when she saw three bear cubs in a neighbor’s trash, which was scheduled for pickup the next morning. The dog barked and Rhegness shouted to scare the cubs off, picked up her dog and headed toward the house. However, she hadn’t seen the adult female bear, and the bear bit Rhegness and scratched her repeatedly.

Rhegness’ husband took her to the hospi-

that bears can be protective while feeding, and of their young; the dog barking throughout the incident; dark conditions making it hard to see the female bear; and the fact that bears are most active at night, when the incident occurred.

Bear safety is especially important this year, Olfenbuttel said, because heavy rains earlier in the year have resulted in a substantial lack of natural foods for bears.

“This lack of food means bears are getting bolder and going into neighborhoods and other places they may normally avoid seeking food,” Olftenbuttel said. “Unsecured trash cans left out overnight are one of the biggest attractants to bears.”

Read up on bear safety at www.bearwise.org.

CASUAL FINE DINING WITH LIVE MUSIC COVERED PATIO LATE NIGHT MENU

Celebrate Satulah A two-day celebration of the Satulah Mountain Preserve near Highlands will kick off at 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 28 and conclude at 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29.

On Friday, all are invited to meet at Founders Park in downtown Highlands at 10 a.m. with lunch and water for a roundtrip hike to the summit of Mount Satulah, led by Kyle Pursel of the Highlands Cashiers Land Trust. The group will return around 2 p.m.

Satulah Mountain is the first property the HCLT conserved, more than a century ago when concerned citizens raised $500 to protect its summit.

Since then, HCLT has conserved more than 3,000 acres of land in Highlands and Cashiers.

From 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, HCLT will host its annual Chili Cook-Off at Founders Park. Pick up an entry form at HCLT offices in the Peggy Crosby Center, Highlands Chamber of Commerce and Satulah Mountain Brewing Company or online at hicashlt.org. To judge, plan to be around from 1 to 3 pm. Judges and contestants each pay a $10 fee. Satulah Mountain Brewing Company will be selling craft beer on site with yard games available and contestants announced by 4 p.m. Proceeds benefit the HCLT. info.hitrust@earthlink.net or 828.526.1111. www.hicashlt.org.

743 HAYWOOD RD • WEST ASHEVILLE

Hike to the Frying Pan

ISISASHEVILLE.COM 828.575.2737

William Wells (left) and Garrett Banner pause during a 2017 run of the Art Loeb Trail to enjoy the view from Devils Courthouse on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Andrew Shepherd photo

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

An easy 1.5-mile roundtrip hike to Frying Pan Fire Tower will offer spectacular panoramic views at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 5.

Blue Ridge Parkway rangers will lead this excursion to check out what’s in bloom and learn a bit of local history. Hikers should meet at the dirt pullout at milepost 409.6 of the Parkway, 1 mile south of the Pisgah Inn and Campground. Be sure not to block the gate and bring water, good walking shoes and clothing for changeable weather.

828.298.5330, ext. 304.

Smoky Mountain News

and do 10 miles this morning,’ it’s like, ‘We’re going to go see two views and a waterfall,’” Shepherd explained. “It kind of breaks it up where you’re not actually thinking about running 10 miles. You’re thinking about, ‘Oh, hey, we’re going out here to this waterfall.’”

There’s also the question of what you take with you. A hiker doing 10 miles might have a pretty hefty daypack, while a road runner might just bring a small bit of water with her. A trail runner goes somewhere in between, Shepherd said. He’ll typically take a first aid kit, a small water filter, snacks and a headlamp.

“Unless we’re doing something big, we try to stick closer to areas where there’s people or roads,” he said. “It’s not, ‘Hey, we’re going to take it out 10 miles into the middle of nowhere for your first time.’”

With two Boojum Wednesdays under his belt now, Shepherd is feeling good about the budding running club and interest level from the community. And as he looks to the future, he’s hoping to recruit more people to take joy in the hobby he’s found himself hooked on.

“A lot of times with our work schedules and everything, it’s hard for us to get together all the time to run,” he said of his Art Loeb friends, “so it would be nice to have more people to get out and enjoy it with.”

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

SATURDAY & SUNDAY BRUNCH FROM 10AM TO 2PM

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newsdesk crafts

outdoors

Live animal programs offered for schools Schools and other educational organizations in Western North Carolina have the opportunity to bring wildlife education programs to their home turf through the Mountain Wildlife Outreach program.

These professional-quality presentations offer a variety of live animals and are narrated by experienced wildlife advocates. These include the wolves of Rob Gudger, the raptors of the Balsam Mountain Trust Nature Center, the reptiles and amphibians of Steve O’Neil, the birds, mammals and reptiles of naturalist Carlton Burke and exotic animals from the North Georgia Zoo and “Wings to Soar,� a popular summer attraction at Rock City. All presentations are designed to engage the audience in a special way regarding our valued “wild lives� and “wild places�.

This outreach is offered by friends of Mountain Wildlife Days, a two-day event held in July at the Sapphire Valley Resort.

To schedule a program, contact John Edwards at blackbears66@gmail.com or 864.934.1935.

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Haywood Regional Medical Center

welcomes

National park volunteers receive regional recognition

Smoky Mountain News

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

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Great Smoky Mountains National Park volunteers received regional recognition through the George and Helen Hartzog Awards Program for Outstanding Volunteers this summer.

In particular, Charlie Chmielewski received the National Park Service Southeast Region Enduring Service Award for his dedicated volunteer service to the park’s Fisheries Division since 1993. An active member of Trout Unlimited, Chmielewski acts as a liaison between the park and about 1,300 other volunteers who have dedicated more than 17,000 cumulative hours to the Park Service.

Chmielewski, whose service hours exceed 23,000, has taken the lead in teaching youth and adults how to participate in field projects such as water quality monitoring, stream studies and brook trout restoration.

Data he and the volunteers he works with have collected since 2008 have allowed the park to develop a comprehensive stream recovery plan.

A cadre of volunteers known as the Laurel Falls Rovers received the NPS Southeast Region Outstanding Volunteer Group Award for their work to help more than 300,000 park visitors enjoy a safe and informed experience on the 3-mile Laurel Falls Trail, which is a top destination due to views of its 80-foot cascade.

The honorees are among nearly 250,000 volunteers across the nation that donate their time, skills and talents to the NPS each year. Each year, more than 2,800 volunteers perform a variety of activities in the Smokies. Sign up to join them at www.nps.gov/grsm/getinvolved/volunteer.htm.

Get an early start in basketball

A tiger swallowtail butterfly perches on eupatorium. Highlands Biological Station photo

Explore the world of butterflies Little-known and often surprising aspects of butterfly and moth behavior will take the spotlight at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2, in the Community Room of the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva.

Jim Costa, Ph.D., will explore the diversity of butterflies and moths in the region, including their ecology, structure and plant adaptations, along with pinned specimens, highlighting information that will make it

unlikely that participants will look at these winged insects the same way again.

Costa is the executive director of the Highlands Biological Station in Highlands and a professor of biology at Western Carolina University. He has authored several books on entomology and evolution.

Free, and co-sponsored by Friends of the Jackson County Public Library.

828.586.2016.

Wayneville Rec Center to close briefly The Waynesville Recreation Center will

Fire Mountain Inferno to return With the inaugural event now in the books, the date is set for next year’s Fire Mountain Inferno XC and Enduro Weekend — it will return to Cherokee on April 27 and 28, 2019.

Taking place on the heavily lauded Fire Mountain Trails System, the event includes two days of cross-country and enduro mountain bike racing for all experience levels. The 2018 event attracted 125 riders from all over the Southeast, and the field is expected to expand in the coming year.

Register and find further race details at www.gloryhoundevents.com/event/fire-mountain-inferno-xc-and-enduro-weekend.

Golf tourney a win for charity The Maggie Valley Lions Club raised more than $10,000 for local charities with its 10th annual Golf Tournament and Silent Auction held Thursday, Aug. 23.

That outcome is a marked increase from last year, which netted $6,000, and higher than the $8,000 goal for 2018. Most proceeds go to Haywood County charities, with some money going elsewhere North Carolina.

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

Meet the migrants Birding instructor Don Hendershot will lead an outing in search of migrating creatures during a workshop titled “Migration Madness” Saturday, Sept. 29, on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Participants will see hummingbirds, monarch butterflies, raptors and more, with meeting places in Waynesville and Franklin to head to a unique spot called Ridge Junction that allows folks to get comfy at the overlook with a chair to wait for migrants. $55, and offered by Alarka Institute. Register at www.alarkaexpeditions.com.

Get the scoop on pollinators Phyllis Stiles of Bee City USA will visit Waynesville at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2, at the Haywood County Extension Office to talk

about the importance of pollinators and how to save them.

This entertaining and informative program will explain the Bee City USA movement and is offered by the Haywood County Beekeepers Chapter as part of its monthly meeting. Free.

Explore the 18th-century world of the great American naturalist William Bartram with a talk offered at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin.

Brent Martin, executive director of the N.C. Bartram Trail Society, will discuss Bartram and his May 1775 journey into the Little Tennessee River Valley. The only known account of the area at the time, Bartram offers a unique view of the period’s plant, animal and Cherokee culture. ncbartramtrail.org.

Chimney Rock reopens Chimney Rock State Park is now reopen, complete with a working elevator, after a tough year that included extensive damage from Tropical Storm Alberto and a short closure due to Hurricane Florence.

A retaining wall under the park’s upper parking lot collapsed earlier this year following Alberto, but stabilization work is now complete. The parking lot had been closed since Memorial Day weekend, with the entire park closed to vehicular traffic earlier this month for repairs.

Chimney Rock State Park is located on U.S. 64 25 miles southeast of Asheville in Rutherford County.

LUNCH DAILY 11:30 A.M.-2:30 P.M. DINNER NIGHTLY AT 5 P.M. TUESDAY-SATURDAY Voted Best Steak in Waynesville

Wine Down Wednesdays 1/2 off bottle of wine

Classic local American comfort foods, craft beers, along with small batch bourbons & whiskey.

Vegetarian options available

Smoky Mountain News

Experience Bartram’s world

outdoors

A Waynesville basketball program aimed at helping kids develop basic sports skills is open to children who will be 5 or 6 as of Oct. 31.

A parent meeting for Smart Start basketball will be held 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16, with one-hour sessions held 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Tuesdays at the Waynesville Recreation Center for six weeks starting Oct. 23.

The $25 registration fee includes a mini dribbling basketball, a participant manual and a T-shirt.

Smart Start Sports Development is a national sports program teaching children the skills they’ll need to participate in organized youth leagues.

Registration deadline is 5:30 p.m. Oct. 9.

828.456.2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov.

close at 9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27, for annual cleaning and maintenance.

The Center will reopen at 5 a.m. Friday, Oct. 5. The pool and water park will reopen Saturday, Oct. 6, at 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. respectively.

828.456.2030 or rlangston@waynesvillenc.gov.

Closed Sunday & Monday 454 Hazelwood Avenue • Waynesville Call 828.452.9191 for reservations 37

outdoors

Stock the Pigeon

Volunteers help maintain a fire pit. NPS photo

Clean up the campground

Smoky Mountain News

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

Help the Great Smoky Mountains National Park keep clean with a service day at Smokemont Campground near Cherokee, 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 29, with an opportunity for an afternoon adventure afterward.

The event is part of the Smokies Service Days series, with morning volunteer opportunities offered on Saturdays followed by an optional enrichment adventure in the afternoon. Other scheduled service days are: • Historic preservation and campground maintenance Oct. 6 at Cataloochee Valley.

• Picnic area and campground cleanup Oct. 27 at Deep Creek near Bryson City.

• Campground cleanup Nov. 3 at Cosby in Tennessee.

• Litter patrol Nov. 10 at the Gatlinburg park boundary.

• Campground cleanup Nov. 17 at Elkmont.

• Vegetation management Nov. 23 at Wears Valley in Tennessee.

Park staff will provide tools and safety gear, with participants asked to wear closed-toed shoes and bring a lunch if planning to stay for the enrichment activity. Sign up with Logan Boldon at 865.436.1278 or logan_boldon@partner.nps.gov. Space limited in some cases.

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Fish fans are invited to help the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and Trout Unlimited Cataloochee chapter stock the West Fork of the Pigeon River, 10:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 5.

Volunteers are invited to bring a clean 5-gallon bucket and a friend to help stock around 1,500 pounds of fish.

Waders are also recommended.

The job will take about three hours to complete, with at least 25 volunteers needed.

It’s the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s A young volunteer learns how responsibility to stock the river, stocking is done. but having a volunteer force to Holly Kays photo help allows the fish to be dispersed more evenly along the river, resulting in a more enjoyable fishing experience.

The group will meet at a parking lot that’s past Lake Logan and before Sunburst Campground off of N.C. 215, across from the shooting range. Volunteers are encouraged to bring a rod for fishing afterward. tucataloochee427@gmail.com.

Delayed Harvest fishing rules begin Delayed Harvest Trout Waters regulations will go into effect Saturday, Oct. 1, staying in place until 30 minutes after sunset May 31, 2019.

Under Delayed Harvest rules, anglers can’t harvest or possess trout in Delayed Harvest waters and may use only artificial lures with a single hook to catch fish — no natural bait. Artificial lures may not be treated with any substance to attract fish with taste or smell.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission stocks Delayed Harvest waters from fall to spring.

Diamond-shaped, black-and-white signs mark the affected waters, which are popular locations for catch-and-release fishing while the regulations are in effect.

Delayed Harvest Trout Waters locations, stocking dates, information on regulations and trout fishing maps are online at www.ncwildlife.org/Learning/Species/Fish/Trout/TroutFishing.aspx.

Live like a lumberjack Forestry students, craftsmen, exhibitors and entertainers will converge at the Cradle of Forestry in America Saturday, Oct. 6, to celebrate forests and forest heritage.

The Forest Festival day and 23rd annual John G. Palmer Intercollegiate Woodsmen’s Meet will begin at 8 a.m. and close out at 5 p.m.

The woodsmen’s meet is an annual lumberjack competition organized by Haywood Community College, with HCC set to compete against 10 other teams hailing from Pennsylvania, North Carolina and everywhere in between. Events include archery, log rolling, axe throwing, speed chopping and more.

Simultaneously, wood carvers, weavers and other demonstrators will be presenting their skills along the 1-mile Forest Festival Trail.

Admission is $10, $5 for youth 4 to 12 and holders of Friends of the Cradle, America the Beautiful and Golden Age pass-

Hunt safe A free hunter safety certification course will be offered 6-9 p.m. Oct. 8-9 at Haywood Community College.

Offered by HCC’s Department of Arts, Sciences and Natural Resources in partnership with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, the course will be held in

es. Free for children 3 and under.

The Cradle of Forestry is located along U.S. 276 in the Pisgah National Forest, about 35 miles south of Waynesville.

828.877.3130.

MST birthday weekend logs 2,700 miles An initial tally shows that 434 hikers cumulatively covered 2,756 miles of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail during its birthday weekend Sept. 7 to 9, an average of 6.4 miles per hiker.

Highlighted stories included that of Mary Stewart, who hiked 36.3 miles in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to reach Clingmans Dome and complete her section hike of the entire MST, making her the trail’s 96th completer and fourth this year.

All who participated in the birthday weekend hike are invited to add their story at www.mountainstoseatrail.org/birthdayhike. room 3322 of building 3300. Participants must come both days to get certified.

Free and no age limits, though classes are taught at a sixth-grade level and tests must be completed without assistance. The certification is accepted in every state and province in North America.

Registration required at www.ncwildlife.org.

WNC Calendar COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS • 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 audiobooks 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.

• Southwestern Community College is accepting submissions from artists, writers, poets and local creatives for its biennial art and literature review entitled “Milestone.” Open to all residents of Jackson, Macon, Swain Counties and the Qualla Boundary – as well as SCC students and alumni. Only unpublished work is eligible. Must be postmarked by Dec. 3 and sent to SCC Milestone; Attn. Toni Knott; 447 College Drive; Sylva, NC 28779, or milestone@southwesterncc.edu.

• The annual corn maze and pumpkin patch will return from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Oct. 31 at Darnell Farms in Bryson City. Come to the farm for some old-fashioned fun. All the kids will enjoy the Kiddie Corn Box, The 20foot-long farm slide from the Hay Pyramid, and the 20foot swing set, right on the river bank. The “Maze of the Dead,” “Zombie Pumpkin Patch” and “Haunted Hayride” will take place at 8 p.m. Oct. 26-31. www.facebook.com/darnellfarmsnc.

• Smoky Mountains Veteran Stand Down is scheduled for 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 27, at the Robert C. Carpenter Community Building in Franklin. Haircuts, dental, optometry, veteran’s benefits, education, legal, counseling and more. Breakfast and lunch included.

Bring VA ID card or DD-214 if possible. 349.2151, ltabor@maconnc.org or cblack@maconnc.org.

• Nominations are being sought for the Mountain Heritage Awards that will be presented on Saturday, Sept. 29, on Western Carolina University’s campus in Cullowhee. Awards go to individual and organization for contributions to or playing a prominent role in research, preservation and curation of Southern Appalachian history, culture and folklore. Nominations can be sent to pameister@wcu.edu, Mountain Heritage Center, 1 University Drive, Cullowhee N.C. 28723, or drop off in person at Room 240 of WCU’s Hunter Library.

• Haywood County’s sixth-annual prayer walk entitled “Community March Against Drugs in our Midst” is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 30, starting at the corner of South Main and Academy Streets in Waynesville. 648.1358.

• Registration is underway for Marriage Enrichment Retreats that will be offered four times over the next year at Lake Junaluska. Led by Ned Martin, an expert in marriage counseling. Price is $699 per couple. Dates are Sept. 30-Oct 2; March 10-12, Aug. 18-20 of 2019 and Sept. 29-Oct. 1 in 2019. Registration and info: www.lakejunaluska.com/marriage or 800.222.4930.

• The Cherokee Bonfire & Storytelling will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 27 at the Oconaluftee Islands Park.

Sit by a bonfire, alongside a river, and listen to some of Cherokee’s best storytellers. The bonfire is free and open to the public. There will be no bonfire events in September. www.visitcherokeenc.com.

• Oconaluftee Indian Village will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday through Nov. 10. As you step into the Oconaluftee Indian Village, you’re transported back to witness the challenges of Cherokee life at a time of rapid cultural change. Tour guides help you explore the historic events and figures of the 1760’s. www.cherokeehistorical.org.

All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.

BUSINESS & EDUCATION • Todd May, professor of philosophy at Clemson University, will present “Our Stories and Our Values” at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 27, in Room 223 of the Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. 227.3852 or amckenzie@wcu.edu.

• The Rooted in the Mountains symposium, designed to integrate indigenous and local knowledge with health and environmental issues, is scheduled for Thursday and Friday, Sept. 27-28, at Western Carolina University’s Blue Ridge Conference Room in Cullowhee.

For schedule or to register: go.wcu.edu/RootedintheMountains or 227.2164.

• “Should Churches Pay Taxes?” will be the topic for the Franklin Open Forum, which is at 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 1, at Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub, 58 Stewart Street in Franklin. Open exchange of ideas; dialog, not debate. 371.1020.

• Haywood Community College’s Small Business Center will offer a seminar entitled “Choosing Your Small Business Legal Structure” from 5-7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 2, at the College’s Regional High Tech Center, Room 3021, in Waynesville. For info or to register: SBC.Haywood.edu or 627.4512.

• Registration is underway for Western Carolina University’s Digital Marketing and Public Relations Certificate program, which starts Oct. 5 at WCU Biltmore Park in Asheville. Six individual workshops ($119 each or $640 to attend all). Classes meet from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on six consecutive Fridays. Full schedule, info and register: pdp.wcu.edu or 227.7397.

• Registration is underway for the Inaugural Outdoor Economy Conference that’s coming to Western Carolina University on Oct. 5. Topics include product development, workforce development, marketing, financing and stewardship of natural resources. Early registration: $159. Outdoor.wcu.edu, 227.2587 or salido@wcu.edu.

• Haywood Community College will offer hunter safety courses from 6-9 p.m. on Oct. 8-9 and Nov. 5-6 in Clyde. Preregistration required: www.ncwildlife.org.

• An all-day workshop organized by the Incremental Development Alliance, a nonprofit, will be offered on Oct. 11 at the US Cellular Center in downtown Waynesville. Cost: $200. The organization aims to teach wannabe developers of small-scale rentals how to plan, design, finance and manage projects. Presented by Jim Kumon. www.incrementaldevelopment.org.

FUNDRAISERS AND BENEFITS • Haywood County Schools Foundation’s Fall Bingo Fundraiser will be held at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29, at the Canton Armory. $20 for 20 games. Chance to win $500. Info: jwood@haywood.k12.nc.us or 456.2400.

• Cashiers Annual Animal Blessing is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29, at the Village Green Commons. Info: goodshepherdofcashiers.com or 743.2359.

• The Women of Waynesville invites the public to come celebrate the release of its 2019 charity calendar from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. WOW has produced a semi-nude calendar featuring its own members for seven years and all proceeds go toward the nonprofit’s mission of helping women and children in Haywood County. Since forming in 2012, WOW has raised over $175,000. www.womenofwaynesville.org.

Smoky Mountain News

• “Art to the Rescue” will be held at 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, at the Bloemsma Barn in Franklin. The show is sponsored by Franklin’s Humane Society. Open to the public. 371.1293.

• The annual fundraiser for the Jackson County Genealogical Society’s Annual Fundraiser, the “Rebel Cruise-In” will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 30, at Mark Watson Park in Sylva. Classic cars and trucks, rat rods, and muscle cars are welcome with a registration fee of $20 per vehicle. The annual fundraiser for the Jackson County Genealogical Society will include t-shirt and poster sales, a food truck, and a 50/50 raffle. 226.3798 or 506.9241.

• The 54th annual Waynesville Kiwanis Club Barbecue, benefitting the children of Haywood County, is scheduled for 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 2, at the First United Methodist Church Dining Hall in Waynesville. $10 per plate.

• Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation will hold its 10th annual Furry Friends Benefit Bash at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 4, at the Laurel Ridge Country Club in Waynesville. Tickets: $80 per person. Table sponsorships: $675. www.sargeanimals.org/event/10thffbb or 246.9050.

• The Highlands Biological Foundation will host “Highlands on the Half Shell: Oyster Roast to Benefit the Highlands Biological Foundation” from 4 p.m. until dark on Sunday, Oct. 7, at the meadow behind Valentine House at 888 Horse Cove Road in Highlands. Tickets: $75 for members; $100 for nonmembers. www.highlandsbiological.org or 526.2221.

• Tickets are on sale now for the Literary Council of Buncombe County’s 11th annual Authors for Literacy Dinner & Silent Auction, which features a keynote from New York Times bestselling author Barbara Kingsolver on Nov. 29 at the Crowne Plaza Resort Expo Center in Asheville. $95 for general admission. Limited number of VIP passes available, including a meet-and-greet with the author. 254.3442, ext. 206 or www.litcouncil.com.

• The Community Table has a Blue Plate Special fundraiser from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on the last Wednesday of each month from January through October in Sylva. $7 minimum donation; dine-in or carry-out. 586.6782.

HEALTH MATTERS • The Haywood County Senior Resource Center holds a dementia caregivers support group from 4:30-6 p.m. on Tuesdays in Waynesville. 452.6761 or www.haywoodseniors.org.

• A “Drugs in Our Midst” prayer walk is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 30, starting at the corner of South Main and Academy in Waynesville.

• The American Red Cross will hold a blood drive from 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m. on Sept. 27 at the Haywood Regional Medical Center’s Fitness Center in Clyde.

Redcrossblood.org or 800.733.2767.

• Macon County Public Health will have an influenza vaccination clinic from 2-6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 3, at Highlands Community Building, 869 N. 4th Street, in Highlands. Regular flu vaccine: $32; preservative-free flu vaccine: $35. High-does vaccine, available for ages 65-up: $60.

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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 required: 306.853.5028 (Cherokee) or 421.2972 (Franklin).

• An emotions essential oils class is being offered at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 10 at Mad Batter Food & Film in beautiful downtown Sylva. Come learn how to use essential oils for balancing your emotions. Each participants gets to make one free rollerbottle blend to take home. RSVP to Wende Goode at 246.2256 or goodeoils@gmail.com. Space is limited.

• NC MedAssist will hold a Mobile Free Pharmacy Event from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 11, at the Macon County Community Facilities Building in Franklin. Open to low-income individuals and families needing health screenings, education and over-the-counter medications. Volunteer: www.medassist.org.

• Registration is underway for an eating disorder workshop with Linda Bacon, Ph.D. the workshop is scheduled for 12:30-5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 25, at the Folk Art Center Auditorium in Asheville. Title is: “Nurturing Body Respect: The Facts, Fictions and Clinical Path” – an evidence based alternative to weight-focused care. Advance tickets only; no on-site tickets. 298.7928. info@crcfored.com, . https://tinyurl.com/ya9qtvhh or 337.4685.

• 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.

• The American Red Cross has an urgent need for blood donors due to an emergency shortage. To schedule an appointment or donate, use the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit RedCrossBlood.org or call 800.RED.CROSS (800.733.2767).

• 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.

• The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention “Out of the Darkness Walk” is scheduled for 1-4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 7, at Carrier Park on Amboy Road in Asheville. 561.302.1119 or ootdwalk.nc.asheville@gmail.com.

• “Laughing Balsam Sangha,” a meeting for Mindfullness in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, meets will meet from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Mondays at 318 Skyland Drive in Sylva. Included are sitting and walking meditation, and Dharma discussion. Free admission.

335.8210, and “Like” them on Facebook.

• National Alliance on Mental Illness will offer two 12week family-to-family courses for families/friends of individuals living with a serious mental illness starting Oct. 4 in Franklin and Oct. 10 in Cherokee. Registration

• A “Walk With A Doc” program is scheduled for 10 a.m. each Saturday at the Lake Junaluska Kern Center or Canton Rec Park.

MyHaywoodRegional.com/WalkwithaDoc.

wnc calendar

• Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families (ACA) meets at noon on Saturdays at the First United Methodist Church Outreach Center at 171 Main St. in Franklin. 407.758.6433 or adultchildren.org.

• Line Dance Lessons will be held on Tuesdays in Waynesville. Times are 7 to 8 p.m. every other Tuesday.

Cost is $10 per class and will feature modern/traditional line dancing. 734.0873 or kimcampbellross@gmail.com for more information.

• The Jackson County Department of Public Health will offer a general clinic from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 587.8225.

• A Food Addicts Anonymous Twelve-Step fellowship group meets at 5:30 p.m. on Mondays at Grace Church in the Mountains in Waynesville. www.foodaddictsanonymous.org.

• A free, weekly grief support group will meet from 12:30-2 p.m. on Thursdays at the SECU Hospice House in Franklin. 692.6178 or mlee@fourseasonscfl.org.

RECREATION AND FITNESS • CommUnity Square Dance is scheduled for 7-9 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29, at Reid Gym on Western Carolina University’s Campus in Cullowhee.

• 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.

•A community jam will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 4, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. Anyone with a guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dulcimer, anything unplugged, are invited to join. Singers are also welcomed to join in or you can just stop by and listen. The jam is facilitated by Larry Barnett of Grampa’s Music in Bryson City. 488.3030.

• Registration is underway for Personal Spiritual Retreats that will be offered at Lake Junaluska in the coming months. Experienced spiritual directors and clergy guide you through a group centering session, evening prayer service and an individual spiritual direction session, while leaving you ample time for personal reflection and renewal. $297 for two nights lodging in Lambuth Inn, program and retreat booklet.

Dates are Oct. 1-3 and Nov. 5-7. www.lakejunaluska.com/retreats.

POLITICAL • Down Home Haywood holds its monthly community meetings at 2:30 p.m. on the third Saturday of each month at Canton Presbyterian Church. Tackling issues like healthcare, wages, housing and more. chelsea@downhomenc.org.

• A debate for Jackson County commissioners candidates is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Sept. 27 in the

• The Haywood County Republican Party will have a Shindig on Sept. 29 at Henson Cove. BBQ, music and prizes. Tickets: www.Haywood.NC.GOP. 506.0205.

• Macon County sheriff candidates’ debate is scheduled for 6:30-8 p.m. on Oct. 2 in Courtroom “A” of Macon County Courthouse in Franklin. Featuring Sheriff Robert Holland and challengers Eric Giles and Bryan Carpenter as well as district court judge candidates: Jude Kristina Earwood and challenger Leo Phillips.

• The Haywood County Libertarian Party is now meeting at Blue Ridge Books on Main Street from 4:30-6 p.m. every second Monday of the month. These meetings will be for discussion on current events, and are open to the public.

• A lunch-and-discussion group will be held by the League of Women Voters at noon on the second Thursday of each month at Tartan Hall of the First Presbyterian Church in Franklin. RSVP for lunch: lwvmacon@wild-dog-mountain.info or 524.8369.

SENIOR ACTIVITIES • The Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department has set a time for senior citizens (55-older) to play tennis from 9 a.m.-noon on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays through Oct. 28 at the Donnie Pankiw Tennis Center in Waynesville. For players intermediate or higher skill level. $1 per day. 456.2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov.

• The Waynesville Recreation Center will offer addi-

tional courts for pickleball for seniors from 7 a.m.noon on Mondays through Fridays. For ages 60-up.

Free for members; $3 for nonmembers. 456.2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov.

• 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 • Senior croquet for ages 55 and older is offered from 9-11:30 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Vance Street Park in front of Waynesville Recreation Center.

Free. For info, contact Donald Hummel at 456.2030 or dhummel@waynesvillenc.gov.

• 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.

KIDS & FAMILIES • Registration deadline is Oct. 5 for Makerspace Haywood, a STEM-focused event for grades third through 12th. Opportunity to make and play with robotics, circuitry, little bits, coding, programming, interactive art and audio recording. Event is from 68:30 p.m. on Oct. 19. Cost: $15 per participant. No onsite registration. Register: http://bit.ly/MakerspaceHaywood.

•A Lego club will meet at 4 p.m. every fourth Thursday of the month, at Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. Library provides Legos and Duplos for ages 3 and up. Free. 488.3030.

Smoky Mountain News

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

• 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.

SPIRITUAL • Registration is underway for a Self-Directed Retreats that will be offered at Lake Junaluska in the coming months. Spend time walking the trails, meditating in gardens, in private devotions, journaling, reflecting and more. Lake Junaluska will also provide a booklet with optional agendas, resources and ideas for structuring your retreat. $97 per person, per night, including lodging in Lambuth Inn, breakfast and retreat booklet. Other dates are available, pricing varies. Dates are Oct. 17-18, Oct. 29-Nov. 1 and Nov. 19-21. www.lakejunaluska.com/retreats.

Burrell Building Conference Center at Southwestern Community College’s Jackson Campus in Sylva.

Candidates include Boyce Deitz, Doug Cody, Charles Elders, Ron Mau, Brian McMahan and Gayle Woody. All questions will be asked by students in Dr. Bucky Dann’s Social Problems class. www.southwesterncc.edu or 828.339.4000.

The Waynesville Recreation Center will close at 9 pm on Thursday, September 27, for annual cleaning and maintenance work.

The Waynesville Recreation Center will reopen on Friday, October 5, at 5 am. The pool will reopen at 7 am and water park at 11 am on Saturday, October 6.

WAYNESVILLE

PARKS AND RECREATION

828.456.2030 40

or email rlangston@waynesvillenc.gov

550 VANCE STREET • WAYNESVILLE

Puzzles can be found on page 46 These are only the answers.

• The Peanuts Pumpkin Patch Express will depart at 4 p.m. Oct. 5 and 12, and noon and 4 p.m. Oct. 6-7 and 13-14 at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City. www.gsmr.com or 800.872.4681.

• Registration is underway for a Smart Start Basketball program that will be offered for five and six-year olds this fall. Deadline is 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 9. Organizational meeting is at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 16. Info: 456.2030 or dhummell@waynesvillenc.gov. Register at the Waynesville Recreation Center.

KIDS FILMS • “Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom”, will be shown at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 21 and 7 p.m. on Sept. 22 at Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. Free. 586.3555.

• “Solo Star Wars”, will be shown on Sept. 27, 29, and 29 at Mad Batter Food & Film in Sylva. Free.

586.3555.

• “The Addams Family” (1991) is showing at 5 p.m. on Oct. 5 at The Strand On Main. See www.38main.com for tickets, $1 show.

• “Hocus Pocus” (1993) is showing at 5 p.m. on Oct. 12 at The Strand On Main. See www.38main.com for tickets, $1 show.

FESTIVALS AND SPECIAL EVENTS

• The “Art After Dark” in downtown Waynesville is hosted on the first Friday of the month (MayDecember), Main Street transforms into an evening of art, music, finger foods, beverages and shopping as artisan studios and galleries keep their doors open later for local residents and visitors. www.waynesvillegalleryassociation.com.

FOOD & DRINK • Bosu’s Wine Shop in Waynesville will host five for $5 Wine Tasting from 5 to 9 p.m. Sept. 27/Oct. 4. Come taste five magnificent wines and dine on Chef Stacy’s gourmet cuisine. 452.0120 or www.waynesvillewine.com.

• Bosu’s Wine Shop in Waynesville will host Secret Wine Bar Night from 5 to 9 p.m. Sept. 28/Oct. 5.

Gourmet food, and a great wine & beer menu.

452.0120 or www.waynesvillewine.com.

ON STAGE & IN CONCERT • The classic musical “Cabaret” will be staged Thursday through Sunday, Sept. 27-30, by students and faculty of Western Carolina University’s School of Stage and Screen at Hoey Auditorium in Cullowhee.

Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. on Thursday through Saturday and 3 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets: $20 for adults; $15 for WCU faculty and staff and seniors; and $10 for students. Arts.wcu.edu/cabaret or 227.2479.

• Widely-acclaimed swing/rock act The Squirrel Nut Zippers will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Tickets start at $25 per person. 524.1598 or www.greatmountainmusic.com.

• Nantahala Outdoor Center’s Guest Appreciation Festival is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Sept.

28-29, in Nantahala. Riverside games, whitewater rafting, adventure films, gear deals and more activities. Full schedule: www.noc.com/events/guest-appreciation-festival-gaf.

• HART will present the comedy “Over the River and Through the Woods” starting Sept. 28 in Waynesville.

Performances are Sept. 28-30, Oct. 4-7, Oct. 11-14.

Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 p.m. on Sundays. Reservations: www.harttheatre.org or 456.6322.

• Grammy Award-winner Mike Farris will perform at the “Come Together Recovery Festival,” which is scheduled for 5:30-9 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 28, at the Franklin town gazebo. Multiple information booths focused on recovery. 524.4910.

• The “Songwriters in the Round” series will welcome the Chatham Rabbits at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, at the Balsam Mountain Inn. Tickets are $20 per person. 456.9498 or www.balsammountaininn.net.

• The Leaf Festival will be held Oct. 5-7 on the Village Green in Cashiers.

Arts, crafts, food vendors, live music, and much more.

Presented by the Greater Cashiers Area Merchants Association. Free admission. www.visitcashiersvalley.com.

• The 10th annual ColorFest, Dillsboro’s Fine Arts & Crafts Fair, is scheduled for 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Oct. 6 in Dillsboro. Featuring the work of more than 40 artisans. Info: 506.8331.

• The Pickin’ on the Square summer concert series will feature Curtis Blackwell & The Dixie Bluegrass Boys at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29, at the Gazebo in downtown Franklin. www.townoffranklinnc.com.

• Sugato Nag, a sitar virtuoso and citizen of Bengal, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2, in the recital hall of Western Carolina University’s Coulter Building.

• Tickets are on sale for the Highlands Cashiers Players’ presentation of Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” that will be presented on Thursdays through Sundays from Oct. 18-28 at the Highlands Performing Arts Center in Highlands. Evening shows are at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday matinees are at 2:30 p.m. Tickets: Highlandscashiersplayers.org or 526.8084.

taproom in West Asheville

747 Haywood Road

Smoky Mountain News

• Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Day, a free family oriented festival that celebrates Southern Appalachian culture through concerts, living-history demonstrations, competitions and awards programs, will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 29, on the WCU campus in Cullowhee. www.mountainheritageday.com or 227.3039.

we are opening a Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

A&E

• The Smoky Mountain Arts Festival will take place 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 5-14 on Fry Street at the Train Depot in Bryson City. Browse artwork for sale by over 30 artists under the big tent at the train depot plaza.

Paintings, prints, photography, sculpture, artisan jewelry, pottery & gifts inspired by the Smokies. Vote for a people’s choice award. Free and open to the public. www.greatsmokies.com.

new

• ESTEAM (Entrepreneurship, Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) – “Building Confidence Today for the STEM Careers of Tomorrow” will be held on Sept. 28 at Southwestern Community College in Sylva. For seventh grade boys and girls.

Hands-on, informative sessions. mtbenign@ncsu.edu or https://sciencehouse.ncsu.edu.

• The annual “Fall Festival” will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 6-7 at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown. Over 240 fine craft exhibitors and 40 artisans demonstrating traditional and contemporary crafts. Music and dance performances. www.folkschool.org.

wnc calendar

• Cullowhee Valley School will have its fall festival from 4:30-8:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 28, in Cullowhee.

Cotton candy booth, face painting, inflatable games and activities. Raises money for school projects and equipment purchases.

• Tickets are on sale now for “Choir Music Weekend,” which is Oct. 19-21 at Lake Junaluska. Learn and perform eight anthems, attend workshops and celebrate

41

wnc calendar

autumn colors. 800.222.4930, communications@lakejunaluska.com or www.lakejunaluska.com/events/worship/choirmusic.

Bardo Arts Center will have a yearlong exhibition on “Defining America” through May 3 in Cullowhee. Info: 227.ARTS or bardoartscenter.wcu.edu.

• Tickets are on sale now for “Follies,” which will be screened as part of the Bardo Arts Center’s Sunday Cinema Series at 3 p.m. on Oct. 21 in Cullowhee. $15 for adults; $10 for WCU faculty/staff and seniors and $5 for students. Arts.wcu.cinema or 828.227.ARTS.

• The Haywood County Arts Council will present the ARTQUEST Studio Tour from Oct. 5-27 at 86 N. Main Street in Waynesville. Featuring work from 12 Haywood County artists. Art After Dark and artist reception is from 6-9 p.m. on Oct. 5. www.haywoodarts.org or www.ArtQuestHaywood.com.

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS • The Haywood County Public Library is offering online lifelong learning courses in over 30 subject areas, many of which offer continuing education units, through Universal Class. Free for library cardholders. www.haywoodlibrary.org or 452.5169.

• A “Beginner Step-By-Step” painting class will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 27 at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. Cost is $25 with all supplies provided. RSVP by contacting Robin Arramae at 400.9560 or paintnitewaynesville@gmail.com.

• The Glenville Area Historical Society will hold its annual meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 27, at the Glenville Community Center.

• The Jackson County Senior Center will offer a Fabric Pumpkin Craft Class on Thursday, Sept. 27, at 100 County Services Park in Sylva. $3 for Senior Center participants and $5 for non-participants. Info and registration: 631.8032.

• The “Paint & Sip Workshop” will be held from noon to 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28, at Gallery Zella in Bryson City. Cost is $50, which includes all materials.

488.3638 or www.galleryzella.com.

Smoky Mountain News

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

• The “Meet the Artists” reception with Brian Hannum (pianist), Drew Campbell (photographer) and Jon Houglum (painter) will be from 3 to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept.

28, at Gallery Zella in Bryson City. Enjoy North Carolina wine, food and music. Free to attend. 488.3638 or www.galleryzella.com.

• Local artist Sheree Sorrells will demonstrate her original technique of weaving fabric strips to make tiles to be used in the construction of a floor-cloth rug from 14 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 6, at the Haywood County Arts Council Gallery & Gifts in Waynesville.

• Registration is underway for “Carving a Wood Spirit,” a class offered through Dogwood Crafters from 1-5 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 11-12, at the Dillsboro Masonic Lodge. Registration deadline is Oct. 4. Carve a unique creation from a pine knot or locust bark. $20. Register: 586.2248.

• The Autumn Leaves Craft Show is scheduled for Thursday through Saturday, Oct. 11-13, at the Macon County Fairgrounds in Franklin. Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday. Info: 349.4324 or 706.490.5144.

Attendees are asked to bring a can of cat food for the Catman2 Shelter.

• The High Country Quilt Guild will hold its 28th annual Quilt Show from Thursday through Saturday, Oct. 1113, at First Baptist Church of Maggie Valley. Hours are noon-4 p.m. on Thursday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Entry fee: $3. Highcountryquilters.wordpress.com.

• An exhibition for artisans Wanda Davis-Browne and Judy McManus will continue through Oct. 6 at Gallery 1 in Sylva. Davis-Browne’s photos are inspired by the diverse natural patterns and colors of nature, primarily flora. A glass artist, McManus was invited to join working artists at Jackson County’s Green Energy Park in Dillsboro in 2010. She also teaches classes and gives demonstrations at the facility and exhibits art in the GEP gallery. www.facebook.com/artinthemountains.

• Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Center will host the Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit “The Way We Worked,” chronicling late 19th and early 20th century jobs and labor and based on photographs from the National Archives.

The exhibit will be on display through Wednesday, Nov. 7, in the Mountain Heritage Center’s Hunter Library gallery. It is free and open to the public. In addition to the photos, the exhibit includes audio, allowing visitors to hear excerpts from interviews with workers who describe what it was like to be a glove maker in the 1890s, a packinghouse worker in the 1930s, or a coal miner in the early 20th century. A video showing a variety of workplaces and a selection of work songs completes the experience. Special tours with a curriculumbased program will be available for K-12 school groups planning to visit the exhibit. mhc.wcu.edu or 227.7129.

• The newest exhibit in the Bardo Arts Center at Western Carolina University, “Grids & Gradients: The Visual Systems of Vernon Pratt” will run through Nov. 9 at the Fine Art Museum Gallery C on campus in Cullowhee. bardoartscenter.wcu.edu.

• The Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum at the Bardo Arts Center is pleased to announce the opening of its newest exhibition “Glass Catalyst: Littleton’s Legacy in Contemporary Sculpture,” which will run through Dec. 7. Littleton’s work and other glass artist will be on display. A key work in the exhibition will be a new acquisition to the Museum’s collection: a glass sculpture by Harvey Littleton entitled “Terracotta Arc.” Regular museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and Thursdays until 7 p.m. 227.ARTS or bardoartscenter.wcu.edu.

FILM & SCREEN • “Eighth Grade” is showing at 7 p.m. on Sept. 26-27 at The Strand On Main. See www.38main.com for tickets.

• “We the Animals” is showing at 1 p.m. & 4 p.m. on Sept. 29-30, 10 a.m. on Sept. 30 and 7 p.m. on Sept.

28-30 at The Strand On Main. See www.38main.com for tickets.

• “The Children Act” is showing at 1 p.m. & 4 p.m. on Oct. 6, 10 a.m. & 1 p.m. on Oct. 7, and 7 p.m. on Oct. 5-7 at The Strand On Main. See www.38main.com for tickets.

ART SHOWINGS AND GALLERIES • The “Meet the Artists” reception with Brian Hannum (pianist), Drew Campbell (photographer) and Jon Houglum (painter) will be from 3 to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept.

28, at Gallery Zella in Bryson City. Enjoy North Carolina wine, food and music. Free to attend. 488.3638 or www.galleryzella.com.

• The Haywood County Arts Council will hold a new showcase featuring local artist Bee Sieberg & Students exhibiting their work through Sept. 29 at the gallery in downtown Waynesville. www.haywoodarts.org.

42 • The Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum at

Outdoors • Volunteers are being sought to help re-pot native azaleas from 9 a.m.-noon on Tuesdays through Thursdays at the Southern Highlands Reserve in Lake Toxaway. For info, and to schedule a shift: anorton@southernhighlandsreserve.org.

• A statewide litter sweep is scheduled through Sept.

29. Organized by the N.C. Department of

Transportation’s Adopt-A-Highway program. Sign up: https://tinyurl.com/ycwc7f4p.

• A “Women’s Introduction to Fly-Fishing” will be offered to ages 12-up from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Sept. 28 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard.

Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• The Highlands Cashiers Land Trust will host its annual Hike to Satulah from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 28. Meet at Founders Park in Highlands.

• The Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust will host its annual Chili Cook-off from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept.

29, at Founders Park in Highlands. $10 allows you to sample all chili, cornbread, iced tea and dessert.

Info.hitrust@earthlink.net, 526.1111 or www.hicashlt.org.

• Great Smoky Mountains National Park Officials will hold a Campground Clean-Up at Smokemont on Sept.

29 near Cherokee. Volunteers needed: 865.436.1278 or logan_boldon@partner.nps.gov.

• “Trapping 101” will be offered to ages 12-up from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Sept. 29 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• Learn how to create a native woodland garden during a lecture at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. Led by Lisa Wagner, director of education at the South Carolina Botanical Garden at Clemson University. Wagner’s blog: www.naturalgardening.blogspot.com.

• “Migration Madness” workshop and search for migrating creatures is scheduled for Saturday, Sept.

29, on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Led by birding instructor Don Hendershot. $55. www.alarkaexpeditions.com.

• “Identifying Birds of Prey” will be offered to ages 10up from 9 a.m.-noon on Sept. 29 at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• The Jackson County Public Library will host a program entitled “Butterflies and Moths of the Southern Appalachians” at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 2, in Sylva. 586.2016.

• The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and Trout Unlimited Cataloochee Chapter are seeking volunteers to help stock the West Fork of the Pigeon River at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 5. Tucataloochee427@gmail.com.

• Blue Ridge Parkway rangers will lead an easy, 1.5mile round-trip hike at 10 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 5, to Frying Pan Fire Tower. Meet at the dirt pullout at Milepost 409.6. Info: 298.5330, ext. 304.

• An “Introduction to Fly Fishing” course will be offered to ages 12-up from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Oct. 5 at Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• Forest Festival Day and the 23rd annual John G. Palmer Intercollegiate Woodsmen’s Meet are scheduled for 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 6, at the Cradle of Forestry in Pisgah National Forest. $10, $5 for ages 412 and Friends of the Cradle, America the Beautiful and Golden Age passholders. 877.3130.

• An “Intro to Hunting” course will be offered to ages 12-up from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Oct. 6 at Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education in Brevard. Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/yb28fpz8.

• A Historic Preservation & Campground Maintenance event is scheduled for Oct. 6 at Cataloochee.

Volunteers needed: 865.436.1278 or logan_boldon@partner.nps.gov.

• Western Carolina Dog Fanciers Association will host both a Canine Good Citizen test and a Canine Good Citizen Advanced test in conjunction with this year’s Bark in the Park, to be held on Sunday, October 7 at Mark Watson Park in Sylva. Testing for CGC and CGCA runs from 9:30 a.m.-noon and costs $10 per dog/handler team. Preregister: ncdogwich@yahoo.com. Testing for AKC Trick Dog title begins at approximately 1:30 p.m. $10. Info: www.akc.org.

• Volunteers are being sought for work day on the Reasonover Creek Trail from 8:45 a.m.-1 p.m. on Oct. 13 in Henderson and Transylvania Counties. llbmwb@gmail.com.

• Registration is underway for “Nature at Night” – an easy-to-moderate hike scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 20, at Chimney Rock State Park. $23 adults; $8 for annual passholder; $13 youth (ages 5-15) and $6 per Rockin’ Discovery Passholder. Visit an area typically not open to the public. Advance registration required: chimneyrockpark.com.

• An opportunity to fly in one off World War II’s most vital Aircraft, EAA’s B-17G “Aluminum Overcast,” will be offered from Nov. 2-4 at the Macon County Airport in Franklin. Flights from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Cost: $435 for EAA members; $475 for nonmembers. Ground tours available from 2-5 p.m. Cost: $10 for 8-under; $20 for all others except veterans and active military, which get ground tours for free. B17.org or 800.359.6217.

COMPETITIVE EDGE • The series of cyclocross competitions will continue on Sept. 30 at Pisgah Brewing in Black Mountain and Oct. 7 at the Oskar Blues REEB Ranch in Hendersonville.

Races in multiple categories. Registration: free for ages 10-15; $10 for women in the beginner’s category and $20 for all other categories. Sign up: www.pre-reg.com.

• The 12th annual Power of Pink 5K run, walk and dog walk is scheduled for Sept. 29 in the historic Frog Level area of Waynesville. Fundraiser for Haywood Healthcare Foundation to support those who need mammograms and testing for cancer screening. Register: GloryHoundEvents.com. Info: 452.8343.

• The Mountain Heritage Day 5K is scheduled for 8 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29, at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee. $15 for WCU students; $20 for general public. Proceeds benefit the Cory David Spaugh Sport Management Association Scholarship Fund. www.mountainheritageday.com.

FARM AND GARDEN • Haywood County Beekeepers Chapter will present a talk from Phyllis Stiles of Bee City USA at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 2, at the Haywood County Extension Office on Raccoon Road in Waynesville. Importance of pollinators and how to help save them.

• A hands-on class making fire cider – a warming, energizing, spicy and tangy tonic for colds and flu – is scheduled for 5:30-7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 2, at the Jackson County Extension Office in Sylva. Cost: $10 (includes all supplies). Register: 586.4009.

FARMERS MARKETS • “Locally Grown on the Green,” the Cashiers farm stand market for local growers, will be held from 3-6 p.m. every Wednesday at the Village Green Commons in Cashiers. info@villagegreencashiersnc.com or 743.3434.

• The Swain County Farmer’s Market is held from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. every Friday through October on Island Street in downtown Bryson City. 488.3681 or chamber@greatsmokies.com.

• Jackson County Farmers Market runs from 9 to noon on Saturdays at Bridge Park in downtown Sylva.

• Waynesville Historic Farmers Market runs from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays 8 a.m. to noon at the HART Theater parking lot. waynesvillefarmersmarket.com • Franklin Farmers Tailgate Market runs from 8 a.m. to noon, Saturdays through the end of October, on East Palmer Street across from Drake Software. 349.2049 or www.facebook.com/franklinncfarmersmarket.

• The ‘Whee Farmers Market, Cullowhee runs from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays through the end of October, at the University Inn on 563 North Country Club Drive in Cullowhee. 476.0334 or

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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:

■ Free — Lost or found pet ads.

■ $5 — Residential yard sale ads, ■ $5 — Non-business items that sell for less than $150.

■ $15 — Classified ads that are 50 words or less; each additional line is $2.

If your ad is 10 words or less, it will be displayed with a larger type.

■ $3 — Border around ad and $5 — Picture with ad or colored background.

■ $50 — Non-business items, 25 words or less. 3 month or till sold.

■ $375 — Statewide classifieds run in 170 participating newspapers with 1.1+ million circulation. Up to 25 words.

■ All classified ads must be pre-paid.

Classified Advertising: Scott Collier, phone 828.452.4251; fax 828.452.3585 classads@smokymountainnews.com

Great Smokies Storage 10’x20’

92

$

20’x20’

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ONE MONTH

FREE WITH 12-MONTH CONTRACT

REAL ESTATE AUCTION: 231.7 acre farm offers incredible views of the mountains and beautiful countryside. Spacious 2-story farm house, barn and bold stream that runs through several tracts.

Property is being offered in 8 tracts with approx. 1 mile of road frontage on Black Hollow Rd. Bid Your Price! Tract 1 being sold Absolute.

Auction held Oct. 26, 5pm at the Dublin Lions Club. For more info: woltz.com or call 800.551.3588.

Woltz & Ass. Inc. (VA#321) Real Estate Brokers & Auctioneers.

RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT Acreage, Commercial Acreage & Combined Lots from Statesville to Lexington, NC. Online auction w/ Live Bidding Center, Oct. 23 @ 2pm, ironhorseauction.com 800.997.2248 NCAL#3936 PUBLIC AUCTION September 29 @ 10am. 201 S. Central Ave. Locust, NC. Selling Vehicles, Trucks, Trailors, Toro Workmans Electric Pallet Jacks, Tractor & Equipment. New Tools & Products by Industrial Distributor. www.ClassicAuctions.com 704.791.8825 NCAF5479

CONSTRUCTION/ REMODELING CARPENTRY Repairs, Renovations, Custom Trim Work. 35yrs Exp., Small Jobs Okay. Free Estimates. Call Mike 828.246.3034 ALL THINGS BASEMENTY! Basement Systems Inc. Call us for all of your basement needs!

Waterproofing, Finishing, Structural Repairs, Humidity and Mold Control FREE ESTIMATES! Call 1.800.698.9217 ACORN STAIRLIFTS. The affordable solution to your stairs! **Limited time -$250 Off Your Stairlift Purchase!** Buy Direct & SAVE. Please call 1.855.808.9573 for FREE DVD and brochure.

BATHROOM RENOVATIONS. Easy, One Day Updates! We specialize in safe bathing. Grab bars, no slip flooring & seated showers.

Call for a free in-home consultation: 877.661.6587 SAPA REPLACEMMENT WINDOWS $189 Installed. Economy White Thermal Window & Labor. Double Pane No Gimmicks Just $189!!! Free estimate Lifetime Warranty 804.266.0694 Fairways Windows

FROG POND ESTATE SALES HELPING IN HARD TIMES DOWNSIZING ESTATE SALES CLEAN OUT SERVICE • COMPANY TRANSFER • DIVORCE • LOST LOVED ONE WE ARE KNOWN FOR HONESTY & INTEGRITY

828.506.4112 or 828.507.8828 Conveniently located off 19/23 by Thad Woods Auction

828-734-3874 18 COMMERCE STREET WAYNESVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA 28786 WWW.FROGLEVELDOWNSIZING.COM

BUILDING MATERIALS HAYWOOD BUILDERS Garage Doors, New Installations Service & Repairs, 828.456.6051 100 Charles St. Waynesville Employee Owned.

LEGAL NOTICES NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL AND CULTURAL RESOURCES Notice is hereby given that the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, pursuant to the authority vested in it by North Carolina General Statute 113A87, proposes to designate the segment Cherokee to Big Witch Gap as part of the Mountains to Sea State Trail.

Location of the Trail This section of the Mountains to Sea State Trail is in Cherokee (Swain County). The trail begins at the intersection of 441 and the Blue Ridge Parkway and continues for 2.7 miles to Big Witch Gap. The agency responsible for operating and maintaining the trail is the National Park Service, Blue Ridge Parkway.

A map of the trail, along with this legal notice, is posted in the Swain County Courthouse for public information.

Information on the trail may be obtained from: Smith Raynor State Trails Planner North Carolina State Parks 1615 Mail Service Center Raleigh NC 27699-1615 smith.raynor@ncparks.gov Comment Process Interested persons may send written comments relevant to the proposed action to: Smith Raynor State Trails Planner North Carolina State Parks 1615 Mail Service Center Raleigh NC 27699-1615 smith.raynor@ncparks.gov

Comments will be received through October 1, 2018

WNC MarketPlace

LEGAL NOTICES SKANSKA USA BUILDING INC. Invites you to bid on Western Carolina University’s new Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (“STEM”) Building in Cullowhee, NC. The project consists of initial building demolition, construction of a five-story, 181,000 square foot building followed by additional demolition of a further existing building. The project will be procured in a phased bidding fashion and this invitation is for re-bid as part of the second phase of bidding. The following details the re-bid package(s): BID PACKAGES: (RE-BID) • Bids Due: October 4, 2018 at 2p.m. EST • BP 07.1 – Fire-Proofing (RE-BID) • Pre-Bid Meeting: N/A • RFI Cut Off: N/A • Bid Drop Off/Opening: October 4, 2018 at 2p.m. EST

www.smokymountainnews.com

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

Western Carolina University c/o Skanska Bid Facilities Planning, Design + Construction 3476 Old Cullowhee Road Cullowhee, NC 28723 Only pre-qualified firms are allowed to bid. A list of prequalified first tier bidders can be made available on request to all interested second and third tier bidders. To request that list, please e-mail Christian Edwards at: christian.edwards@skanska.com.

Documents can be made available via an iSqFt invitation link.

Addenda will be posted and you will continue to be notified of changes utilizing this on-line service.

For further information and questions please contact: Christian Edwards at christian.edwards@skanska.com / (919) 422-8916 or Sandy Gray at sandy.gray@skanska.com / (919) 406-4451.

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CARS 2013 SUBARU LEGACY 2.5i Premium Sedan. Like New. 20,350 Miles. Best Price Over/Under $14,999. Ph#:

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EMPLOYMENT ALEX SMITH GARDEN DESIGN Is seeking Full-Time Gardener/ Landscaper for Scaly Mountain, NC Location. Experience desirable, but not required. Must be a Team Player and have a Positive Attitude. Must be able to Work Outside in All Kinds of Weather and be able to Lift at least 40lbs. Competitive Pay & Benefits. Driver’s License and Clean Driving Record Desired. Please Call Mark Smolarsky 828.200.0407 or Email Kristen Landfield: Kristen@AlexSmith GardenDesign.com AIRLINE MECHANIC TRAINING – Get FAA Technician certification.

Approved for military benefits.

Financial Aid if qualified. Job placement assistance. Call Us at 866.724.5403 BALSAM MOUNTAIN PRESERVE, Sylva. Is Seeking: Wait Staff $10/Hr.+ Tips & Housekeepers $10/Hr. No Exp. Necessary, Training Provided. Flexible Hours.

16/20 Hours per Week. Please Collect an Application from the Main Gate: 81 Preserve Rd. Sylva or email: memberservices@ balsammountain.com FTCC Fayetteville Technical Community College is now accepting applications for the following positions: Compliance Officer - PT Information Specialist: Athletics . For detailed information and to apply, please visit our employment portal https://faytechcc.peopleadmin.com Human Resources Office Phone: 910.678.7342 Internet: http://www.faytechcc.edu EOE

EMPLOYMENT THE JACKSON CO. DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES Is recruiting for a Social Worker in Child Protective Services. This position investigates reports of child abuse and neglect and provides services to families where needs have been identified. Requires limited availability after hours and on weekends on a rotating basis. The starting salary is $41,276.54, depending on education and experience.

Minimum qualifications include a four-year degree in a Human Service field. Preference will be given to applicants with a Master's or Bachelor's Degree in Social Work and/or experience providing Social Work services.

Applicants should complete a NC State application form (PD-107) and submit it to the Jackson County Department of Social Services, Attn: Dianne Cauley, 15 Griffin Street, Sylva, NC 28779, or the Sylva branch of the NC Career Works Center by October 12th.

JUVENILE MEDIATION PROGRAM Seeks Youth Coordinator. Community outreach for restorative justice / bullying prevention services for 15-20 hr./wk. position in Haywood and nearby counties. Experience working with youth and Bachelors in related field and required.

Send cover letter & resume to: PO Box 1802, Sylva, NC 28779 or to: info@mountainmediation.org FTCC Fayetteville Technical Community College is now accepting applications for the following positions: A/C, Heating & Refrigeration Technology Instructor. For detailed information and to apply, please visit our employment portal at: https://faytechcc.peopleadmin.com Human Resources Office Phone: 910.678.7342 Internet: http://www.faytechcc.edu An Equal Opportunity Employer

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BORING/CARPENTER BEE TRAPS No Chemicals, Poisons or Anything to Harm the Environment.

Handmade in Haywood County. 1 for $20, 2 or More for $15 each.

828.593.8321 HEMLOCK HEALERS, INC. Dedicated to Saving Our Hemlocks. Owner/Operator Frank Varvoutis, NC Pesticide Applicator’s License #22864. 48 Spruce St. Maggie Valley, NC 828.734.7819 Email hemlockhealers@yahoo.com

FURNITURE COMPARE QUALITY & PRICE Shop Tupelo’s, 828.926.8778.

Prevent Unwanted Litters!

The Heat Is On! Spay/Neuter For Haywood Pets As Low As $10.

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EMPLOYMENT DEDICATED REGIONAL ROUTES Owner Operators, Drivers, Fleet Owners. Weekly Settlements. Minimum 12 months 48-53' tractor trailer experience. 800.832.7036 ext. 1626, cwsapps@ilgi.com. www.cwsdedicated.com

828-476-8999

LYRICA AN ADORABLE LITTLE MIXED BREED DOG WITH A WIRY COAT AND SLENDER FRAME, WEIGHING ABOUT 12 LBS. SHE'S ONLY ABOUT A YEAR OLD, AND STILL VERY MUCH A PLAYFUL PUPPY. SHE MAY TAKE A LITTLE WHILE TO WARM UP TO NEW PEOPLE BUT ONCE SHE DOES, SHE A SWEET, LOVING DOLL BABY. LULU A PETITE FEMALE CALICO KITTY ABOUT ONE YEAR OLD. SHE'S A SWEET GIRL, FRIENDLY AND AFFECTIONATE, AND SEEMS TO ADAPT EASILY TO NEW SURROUNDINGS. SHE JUST NEEDS A NEW FAMILY TO LOVE.

REAL ESTATE ANNOUNCEMENT

GOT LAND? Our Hunters will Pay Top $$$ To hunt your land. Call for a FREE info packet & Quote. 1.866.309.1507 www.BaseCampLeasing.com SAPA RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT Acreage, Commercial Acreage & Combined Lots from Statesville to Lexington, NC. Online auction w/ Live Bidding Center, Oct. 23 @ 2pm, ironhorseauction.com 800.997.2248 NCAL#3936

HOMES FOR SALE BRUCE MCGOVERN A Full Service Realtor, Locally Owned and Operated mcgovernpropertymgt@gmail.com McGovern Property Management 828.283.2112.

REVERSE MORTGAGE: Homeowners age 62+ turn your home equity into tax-free cash!

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COMM. PROP. FOR RENT

Brian Noland RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL PROFESSIONAL

bknoland@beverly-hanks.com

828.734.5201 74 North Main Street Waynesville, NC 28786

828.452.5809 beverly-hanks.com

just sell properties, sell Idon't Lifestyles

HIGHLY VISIBLE COMMERCIAL 440 Sq. Ft. Top Level Open Space with Bathroom and Easy Access on 1301 Asheville Rd. Waynesville. Monthly Rent $550, Heat Included. Electric Separate. Call 828.452.2235 for Appointment.

Marsha Block 828-558-1682

marshablockestates@gmail.com

STORAGE SPACE FOR RENT GREAT SMOKIES STORAGE

71 N Main St. Waynesville • 828.564.9393 remax-waynesvillenc.com

Conveniently located off 19/23

by Thad Woods Auction. Available for lease now: 10’x10’ units for $55, 20’x20’ units for $160.

Get one month FREE with 12 month contract. Call 828.507.8828 or 828.506.4112 for more info.

Phyllis Robinson OWNER/BROKER

(828) 712-5578

lakeshore@lakejunaluska.com

The Only Name in Junaluska Real Estate

CAVALIER ARMS APARTMENTS NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

www.LakeshoreRealtyNC.com Conveniently located in the Bethea Welcome Center

Offering 2 & 3 Bedroom Apartments, Starting at $420.00 Section 8 Accepted - Rental Assistance When Available Handicapped Accessible Units When Available

OFFICE HOURS: Tuesday & Thursday 8:00a.m. - 5:00p.m.

50 Duckett Cove Road, Waynesville, NC 28786

Phone# 1.828.456.6776 TDD# 1.800.725.2962 Equal Housing Opportunity

Catherine Proben

Monday, Wednesday & Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm 168E Nicol Arms Road Sylva, NC 28779

Phone# 1.828.586.3346 TDD# 1.800.735.2962 Equal Housing Opportunity

Lakeshore Realty • Phyllis Robinson - lakeshore@lakejunaluska.com

Mountain Creek Realty • Ron Rosendahl - ron@mountaincreekrealestate.com

Mountain Dreams Realty- maggievalleyhomesales.com

cproben@beverly-hanks.com

McGovern Real Estate & Property Management

74 N. Main St., Waynesville, NC

828.452.5809

$641,00 4BD/5BA 4BD 4B BD/ D/5 /5B 5BA BA - 34 349 3494 494 94 Sq Ft 4BD 4B 4BD/4BA BD/ D/4 /4B 4BA BA on on Ma Mai Main ain in Le Lev Level eve vel el 2 Bonus Boonu nus us Rooms/1BA Roo Ro oooms ms/ s/1 /1B 1BA BA Lower Low owe wer er LLevel ev eve vel ell Gorg rggeou eous F Fiirreeeppl pllaac pla ace in Gr Grea reat Roo re oom Fire Fi F ireepppla plllaac ace & JJaac acuzz uzzzzi in M Maaste aster BD BD Exxcel xcell xc elle e leent ent en Vac acat cati atio a ioon Re Rent Ren enta ntaal Dec De Deck eck ck w/ w/H w/Hot /Ho Hoot TTub uub Fac Fa Facing accing inng V Viiew ieews ws Innnco ccom ome Coomp Complete mpl ple leete Pr Pri Privacy riv iva vac acy cy oonn 8.

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find us at: facebook.com/smnews

• Bruce McGovern - shamrock13.com RE/MAX Executive - remax-waynesvillenc.com remax-maggievalleync.com • Holly Fletcher - hollyfletcher1975@gmail.com • The Real Team - TheRealTeamNC.com • Ron Breese - ronbreese.com • Landen Stevenson- Landen@landenstevenson.com • Dan Womack - womackdan@aol.com • Mary & Roger Hansen - mwhansen@charter.net • Judy Meyers - jameyers@charter.net • David Rogers - davidr@remax-waynesvillenc.com • Marsha Block- marshablockestates@gmail.com Rob Roland Realty - robrolandrealty.com

• Rob Roland - rroland33@gmail.com Rock Realty- rockrealtyonline.com Jeff Ferguson-jeff.rockrealty@gmail.com

smokymountainnews.com

OFFICE HOURS:

Jerry Lee Mountain Realty Jerry Lee Hatley- jerryhatley@bellsouth.net Keller Williams Realty - kellerwilliamswaynesville.com • The Morris Team - www.themorristeamnc.com

• Shirley Cole - shirleycole13@gmail.com Mountain Home Properties mountaindream.com • Cindy Dubose - cdubose@mountaindream.com

NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

Section 8 Accepted - Handicapped Accessible Units When Available

• Carolyn Lauter - carolyn@bhgheritage.com Beverly Hanks & Associates- beverly-hanks.com • Ann Eavenson - anneavenson@beverly-hanks.com • George Escaravage - gescar@beverly-hanks.com • Billie Green - bgreen@beverly-hanks.com • Michelle McElroy- michellemcelroy@beverly-hanks.com • Marilynn Obrig - mobrig@beverly-hanks.com • Steve Mauldin - smauldin@beverly-hanks.com • Brian K. Noland - brianknoland.com • Anne Page - apage@beverly-hanks.com • Brooke Parrott - bparrott@beverly-hanks.com • Jerry Powell - jpowell@beverly-hanks.com • Catherine Proben - cproben@beverly-hanks.com • Ellen Sither - ellensither@beverly-hanks.com • Mike Stamey - mikestamey@beverly-hanks.com • Karen Hollingsed- khollingsed@beverly-hanks.com • Steve Mauldin- smauldin@beverly-hanks.com • Jerry Powell - jpowell@beverly-hanks.com • Mike Stamey - mstamey@beverly-hanks.com ERA Sunburst Realty - sunburstrealty.com • Amy Spivey - amyspivey.com • Rick Border - sunburstrealty.com • Pam James - pjames@sunburstrealty.com

Cell: 828-734-9157 Office: 828-452-5809

NICOL ARMS APARTMENTS We Are Offering 2 Bedroom Apartments, Starting From $460.00

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices/Great Smokys Realty - www.4Smokys.com Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate- Heritage

Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018

91 N. Lakeshore Dr. Lake Junaluska 828.456.4070

Haywood Co. Real Estate Agents

WNC MarketPlace

LEASE TO OWN 1/2 Acre Lots with Mobile Homes & Empty 1/2 Acre + Lots!

Located Next to Cherokee Indian Reservation, 2.5 Miles from Harrah’s Cherokee Casino.

For More Information Please Call 828.506.0578

HOMES FOR SALE NEW ENERGY EFFICIENT Architecturally Designed Home.

One-Story, 3BR, 2Full Baths with tile, New Stainless Appliances, Granite Counter tops, Stamped Stacked Driveway/Patio/Porch.

1.34 acres near JAARS in Wildwood Subdivision: 7304 Davis Road, Waxhaw, NC. Call: 704.207.6023 or 704.444.0155.

The Smoky Mountain Retreat at Eagles Nest • Tom Johnson - tomsj7@gmail.com • Sherell Johnson - sherellwj@aol.com

TO ADVERTISE IN THE NEXT ISSUE 828.452.4251 | ads@smokymountainnews.com 45

WNC MarketPlace Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018 www.smokymountainnews.com 46

SUPER

CROSSWORD

DRUNK IN THE KITCHEN ACROSS 1 Deceive 8 Scarce supply 14 Champaign’s twin city 20 Composer Vivaldi 21 Concert bonus 22 “La Cage aux --” 23 What Swiss steak may be braised in 25 Circular window 26 Personal identity 27 High-arcing shots 28 “Gotcha!”

30 To be, in Bordeaux 31 Expanded 35 Ballpark snack with lots of toppings 39 Amtrak stop 40 Care for 41 Make sad 42 Title for Tuck 44 Big bird that doesn’t fly 47 Honeybunch 48 They may be sprinkled on sauteed spinach 55 Partner of Porgy 56 Southern French city 57 Yuletide 58 Quits 61 Arab prince 62 Mine metal 64 Genie’s gift 66 Actor Cariou 67 Actor Jacobi 70 Popular cookout side 73 Armour product in a can 76 With 96-Down, “Hang on a minute!”

77 “I’m impressed!”

78 Jane of fiction 80 Suffix with pagan 81 Final words from Caesar 82 Superstars 84 Two-masted craft 86 Exhorting individual 87 Abnormally deep sleep 90 Movie theater tubful 94 Staves off 97 Colo.-to-Ga. direction 98 Thrashes 99 Old World elk 101 “‘Tis a shame” 104 Midday snoozes 109 Specialty of Popeyes 112 Cause of heartache 113 Elvis’ middle name 114 Go -- spree 115 Indian tourist city 117 Ride ordered by app 118 Like some census data 121 Rollmop’s main ingredient 126 Big name in online brokerages 127 Alternative to PJs 128 Oozing stuff 129 Teeterboard 130 PC-linking protocol 131 Head locks DOWN 1 Catholic services 2 Bent (on) 3 -- Artois (beer) 4 Unlike the Atkins diet 5 Ending for phenyl 6 Assistance 7 “i” or “j” top

8 Floor model 9 Empower 10 Follows, as advice 11 Aussie hopper 12 Tire feature 13 Pronoun for both genders 14 Aliens’ craft 15 Fabled bird 16 Maryland crustaceans 17 Mentally alert 18 Woody Allen film subject 19 Sizes up 24 Prehistoric 29 Total up 32 Schisms 33 ‘90s veep Al 34 “Idylls of the King” lady 36 Yemeni city 37 Homer’s TV neighbor 38 Lummox 40 Sextet half 43 Sleeping woe 45 Lotsa 46 4x4, briefly 48 Judo-like exercise fad 49 Financial guru Suze 50 Comparable 51 Sahara-like 52 Info-packed 53 Lilly of drugs 54 Sea dogs 59 Look as if 60 Termination 62 Certain reed 63 Program for getting clean 65 Lance 67 Turn loose

68 Western film 69 Do a 180 71 Palme -72 Finches’ homes 74 Wavy mark in Spanish 75 Bygone Ford make, briefly 79 Reuben bread 82 Fragrant white flowers 83 Natl. voting day 85 Spun traps 86 Agitate 87 Subway charges, e.g.

88 Judge too highly 89 So-so 91 Ship wood 92 UTEP part 93 Big elevator innovator 95 Nugent with a guitar 96 See 76-Across 100 Pi-sigma link 102 Enter via the cracks 103 “Life of Pi” director 105 Drinks loudly 106 Memoirist Wolff 107 Redress 108 Durable coat fabrics 110 Data for a database 111 Michael of “Alfie” 112 Sonny 116 Be still 119 Mouth rinse bottle abbr.

120 Writer Wallace 122 Cato’s 450 123 33rd pres.

124 Eternally, to poets 125 Singer Des’--

ANSWERS ON PAGE 40

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The naturalist’s corner

BY DON H ENDERSHOT

Celebration crashers y bride and I celebrated our anniversary by ditching the kids and renting a cabin near Blue Ridge, Ga., for the weekend.

During breakfast at Mercier Orchards — where, by the way, we discovered a yummy new (to us) apple, “September wonder” — we scrapped the “no phones at the table” rule and began searching for a manageable adventure. We settled on a short waterfall hike in the nearby Chattahoochee National Forest.

We made a couple of stops for provisions, went back and stocked the cabin then struck out for Fall Branch Falls shortly after lunch on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. We let the nice “waze” lady guide us on a short picturesque drive alongside the Toccoa River to Stanley Creek Road. After a couple of miles on the gravel Stanley Creek Road we came to the trailhead and were surprised to find a number of parked cars, Benton MacKaye Trail Association volunteers, and a couple of kiosks.

Volunteers were graciously offering cold water, donuts and grilled hot dogs to any takers. We found out we had stumbled upon

M

the Benton MacKaye Trail Association’s “Grand Opening of the Fall Branch Falls Reroute.” We accepted a couple of bottles of water and headed up the trail to the falls.

And it was up, but it wasn’t too steep and Benton MacKaye trail volunteers had added steps where needed and the newly rerouted trail was in great shape. It was also a short hike — just over two-tenths of a mile — to the falls. One could catch glimpses of Fall Branch on the hike up.

The trail split at the falls with one section going to the base of the falls where there was a small overlook and the other tracking alongside the falls to the top. The falls was a series of cascades sliding over grey rock framed by rhododendrons. There is one major drop of about 30 feet into a small pool at the base. The amount of water tumbling depends, of course, on local rainfall. One of the BM volunteers at the overlook told us it had been quite dry the last couple of weeks; still there was a pretty good flow. Fall Branch flows into Stanley Creek just beyond the falls, which is quickly swallowed by the Toccoa River.

We kicked around the falls a little bit then went back down to the trailhead and stopped at one of the kiosks. Joy Forehand,

Appalachian Trail. The AT tracks east from Springer Mountain while BM takes a more westerly course. They both then turn north and meet up again around Fontana Lake in the GSMNP. They parallel each other from the southwestern end of the park to the northeastern Benton MacKaye Trail Association kiosk. corner, with BM taking a Don Hendershot photo more southerly route. They meet up again at Big Creek Campground, which is the terminus of BM and where the AT exits the park.

The Benton MacKaye trail is nearly 300 miles long and meanders through Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. It was estabMacKaye volunteers worked with Forest lished by volunteers between 1980 and Service personnel to map out the reroute 2005 as a more primitive alternative to the and then BM volunteers did the yeomen’s heavily used AT. work of establishing the new trail.

To learn about the Benton MacKaye Most hikers around Western North Trail — including how to become a BM volCarolina are familiar with the Benton unteer — go to www.bmta.org.

MacKaye Trail through the Great Smoky (Don Hendershot is a naturalist and a writer Mountains National Park but may not realwho lives in Haywood County. He can be ize the trail starts on Springer Mountain in reached at ddihen1@bellsouth.net) Georgia at the same point as the Benton MacKaye Trail Association secretary, told us about the reroute. According to Forehand, the process took about five years from start to finish. She said the old trail, which followed an old jeep road, had become eroded and unmanageable. Benton

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Smoky Mountain News Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2018