Smoky Mountain News | April 5, 2023

DA

On the Cover:

Haywood Waterways has received plenty of grants in the past, but one it recently got for flood prevention dwarfs them all. (Page 30) Water covers the town of Canton following the flood Aug. 17, 2021. A Shot Above photo

News

Cemetery

refuses

comply

Opinion

North Carolina’s repeal of local handgun licensing is shameful..........................20 March is a tease, so hello April......................................................................................21

A&E

Cherokee exhibit focuses on mask makers, legacy................................................22 The party everyone’s invited to: National Poetry Month........................................29

Outdoors

Forage with the Museum of the Cherokee Indian....................................................32 Notes From A Plant Nerd: It’s in our blood................................................................34

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Cemetery committee chair refuses to comply with public records law, resigns

BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT P OLITICS E DITOR

Sharon Franks, the embattled chair of Waynesville’s Cemetery Committee who sent a scathing email to a committee member for reporting a parking situation at Green Hill Cemetery, has resigned without fulfilling a public records request in accordance with state law.

“This is notice of my resignation from the town of Waynesville Cemetery Committee effective this day. I hereby relinquish the chair position as well as a committee member,” Franks wrote in a letter dated March 31. “I appreciate the time I have spent on this committee and hope my service has been appreciated.”

In January, Cemetery Committee member Lisa Kay Cook sent a tip to The Smoky Mountain News about cars parking on the grass at the historic cemetery. At the time, Cook said she wanted to start a public conversation about what should be done about the cars, which could end up damaging town property.

The same day a story about the parking issue was published, Franks sent an email to Lisa Kay Cook, the committee member who first reported the issue, as well as other members of the committee. Franks chastised Cook for speaking out, and in the process made a number of troubling and incorrect assertions about North Carolina’s “sunshine laws” designed to preserve the principles of open government.

First, Franks said that committee members needed approval from town aldermen to speak to the media. Town Attorney Martha Bradley told SMN that no such policy exists, and if it did, it would “certainly be a violation of an individual’s First Amendment rights.”

Then, Franks said that a security camera photo of cars parked on the cemetery grass that Cook shared with SMN was private and “was not meant to be shared with anyone.”

The photo is, in fact, a public record that was paid for by and belongs to taxpayers.

Franks also told Cook that the proceedings of the Cemetery Committee — a towncreated public body — were “to remain in these meetings unless otherwise specified.”

Bradley dismissed the claim out of hand. Meetings of all public bodies are always open to the public except in very rare situations outlined in statute.

Franks continued to make several other patently false statements in the email regarding other public records laws.

Cook, who has worked in the funerary industry, said she was “dismayed” and resigned from her volunteer position on the Cemetery Committee.

The day after Franks’ Feb. 2 email, a public records request was filed with the town by The Smoky Mountain News, requesting copies of Franks’ communications.

For weeks, Franks failed to comply with the request, resulting in a memo from Bradley being sent to members of the Cemetery Committee on Feb. 21.

“The purpose of this memorandum is to advise you of laws concerning public records and requests for public records and how those laws apply to your work as a private citizen serving as a volunteer member of a municipal committee to assist you in responding to this request,” Bradley wrote.

The memo goes on to explain what a public record is, and that the laws concerning them are “designed to protect the rights of citizens to access records at all levels of government and to promote transparency and good governance across the state.”

The memo also explains the concept of an “illegal meeting.”

Any time a majority of members of a public body communicate with each other about public business, that constitutes an official meeting.

The Cemetery Committee has five members, so if any three members communicated with each other about Cook, that would meet the definition of a majority discussing public business and therefore would be an official meeting.

Official meetings are subject to laws that outline how members of the public are to be informed of the date, time and location of meetings.

Since no official meetings were announced to the public around the time of Franks’ email to Cook, any communications between Franks and more than one commit-

tee member about the situation would constitute an illegal meeting.

“If three members of the committee meet or have a conference call to discuss cemetery business without providing the required notice to the public, then it is an illegal meeting, and the Town could be subject to harmful legal or political consequences as a result,” Bradley wrote. “Additionally, you, the individual members of the committee, could be required to pay the attorney’s fees

records requested by SMN. Furthermore, public records may not be destroyed without the consent of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

The Cemetery Committee serves an important role in making non-binding recommendations to the Board of Aldermen on cemetery policy and operations and was created back in February 2020, after an emotional Board of Aldermen meeting where people with relatives buried in Green Hill lashed out at the town for conducting a cleanup of mementoes that some had left on graves.

against the Town due to the illegal meeting.”

Bradley’s Feb. 21 memo didn’t result in Franks producing the requested communications.

Franks subsequently canceled the March 21 quarterly meeting of the Cemetery Committee where the parking issue was supposed to be discussed.

Ten days later, and without delivering the requested public records, Franks resigned from the Cemetery Committee.

Franks’ resignation does not absolve her of the obligation to produce the public

Regional rapid response team to host information event for displaced workers

As stunned employees of Pactiv Evergreen’s Canton location continue to process what steps to take after the mill announced mass layoffs beginning in June, the Southwestern Commission’s Workforce Development Board is leading an effort to educate workers about assistance and resources available to them.

April 13-14, members of the Rapid Response Team will host hourly sessions on-site from 6-8 a.m. and 3-6 p.m. for dislocated workers to learn about their options.

Employees will be provided packets with initial information about services for career coun-

seling, job searches, tuition assistance, shortterm workforce training, and education opportunities. Resource providers who can assist with health insurance, food, rent, utilities, transportation, mental health, and budgeting assistance will also be present.

Dr. Shelley White, president of Haywood County Community College, said the college is there to help.

“Employees may choose to take advantage of training opportunities to gain additional skills or take a new career path,” she said. “Many programs can be completed quickly, in a few weeks or

months, in various fields, including manufacturing, construction, health care, and public safety.”

“We hope every displaced worker can attend one of the seven sessions held over the two days, so they can be aware of the services available to assist them and their families during this transition,” said Russ Harris, executive director of the Southwestern Commission.

David Garrett, development director for the Southwestern Workforce, says the partners within the Rapid Response team are working closely together to ensure the displaced workers know the first steps to take during this transition. “We

Without a chair and without addressing the parking issue that sparked the resignations of Cook and ultimately Franks, the efficacy of the Cemetery Committee as an advisor to aldermen is now in jeopardy.

Of late, the committee has taken charge of regulating cemetery tours that some have called disrespectful and has publicized and streamlined the annual cemetery cleanups that necessitated the committee’s formation in the first place.

The committee’s next meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 18, at 2 p.m. in the training room of the public services building on Legion Drive in Waynesville.

Sharon Franks did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

will continue to offer opportunities over the coming months, including job fairs scheduled with Haywood Community College and NCWorks Career Center.

The Rapid Response Team includes the Southwestern Workforce Development Board, NC Division of Workforce Solutions, NCWorks Career Center, Haywood Community College, Mountain Projects, and Haywood County Department of Health and Human Services. For more information on resources, visit milltownstrong.com or contact the Mill Town Strong helpline from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 828.356.2023.

Dozens of cars sit on the grass at Green Hill Cemetery last Halloween.

Town of Waynesville photo

Big changes coming for Waynesville’s governing board

BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT P OLITICS E DITOR

The Town of Waynesville’s municipal governing board has taken steps to modernize its operations by proposing amendments to its charter — changing both the terms it uses to refer to elected representatives, and how those representatives are elected to their terms.

Currently, Waynesville is one of few local governments — and the only one in Haywood County — that doesn’t utilize staggered terms for its mayor and board of aldermen, each of whom are elected at the same time every four years.

There are pros and cons to the current election regimen.

One of the pros is that the entire board can be voted out, all at once.

One of the cons is that the entire board can be voted out, all at once.

The latter scenario would leave the new board with a distinct lack of continuity and a tremendous loss of insti-

Waynesville election preview

Every seat on Waynesville’s Board of Aldermen will be up for election this year, but if the town’s plan for pursuing the staggered terms comes to pass, the order in which candidates finish will be important. The top two finishers will be awarded four-year terms, and the next two finishers will be awarded two-year terms.

In 2025, the candidates who won two-year terms will then run for four-year terms if they so choose, thus setting up the staggered elections going forward.

The election of mayor, which is separate from the aldermanic elections, will not be affected either way.

The General Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 7; however, candidates must file their paperwork with the Board of Elections between noon on Friday, July 7, and noon on Friday, July 21.

Three incumbent aldermen — Chuck Dickson, Julia Boyd Freeman and Anthony Sutton — told The Smoky Mountain News last week that they would seek reelection, as did Mayor Gary Caldwell, who has spent the past 28 years as an alderman and as mayor.

Alderman Jon Feichter said he hadn’t yet made up his mind.

“I absolutely love what I’m doing and who I’m doing it for,” Feichter said. “But I’ve also had some health issues that have been challenging this year. That said, with my love for this community and its people, I think you try and deal with that because like I said, I absolutely love what I’m doing and who I’m doing it for, but ultimately I have not made a decision.”

Retired DEA agent and Waynesville native Joey Reece, who narrowly missed out on winning a seat back in 2019, said he would not run. Reece was recently elected vice chair of the Haywood County Republican Party, and said he’d concentrate his efforts there.

Ronnie Call, who sought appointment to the Waynesville Planning Board last summer but was not selected, has a Facebook page that says he’s a candidate, but Call did not respond to a message asking if he was still planning to run.

The Smoky Mountain News has not yet heard from any others considering a run for alderman, or for mayor.

tutional knowledge.

Back in February, Alderman Chuck Dickson pushed for the change during a town budget retreat, warning of destabilization, turmoil and the potential for a staff exodus if such a scenario ever came to pass.

For years, Waynesville’s board had discussed making a change to where the board would more closely resemble other local governments in the county, with two board seats up for election during one two-year cycle and the other two seats plus the mayor up for election in the next two-year cycle.

With the passage of Town Attorney Martha Bradley’s resolution of intent, the town will now embark on the process of changing its charter.

Transitioning into the new schedule means that for the upcoming Nov. 7 General Election only, the two board candidates with the highest vote totals will win four-year terms, and the next two board candidates will receive a two-year term.

Mayor Gary Caldwell’s first four-year term ends this year, so the timing of the mayoral election won’t change. Candidate filing for the November General Election begins on July 7.

Then, in 2025, the two candidates who didn’t get the highest number of votes would be up for election again — for full four-year terms — thus setting up the staggered format.

A mandatory public hearing on the proposed change will be conducted on April 11, and then within 60 days, the board must adopt an ordinance to make the change official. The ordinance must be adopted at least 90 days prior to the Nov. 7 General Election.

During that same public hearing, the board will also take comment on whether or not to change what, exactly, board members are called.

Right now, Waynesville has a Board of Aldermen, consisting of four aldermen. But some of them aren’t men, and some of them aren’t exactly all that “ald” — the term aldermen means “old men” and has been in use for centuries, persisting in an era in which women can and do hold elected office on a level nearly on par with men.

Alderman Julia Freeman, who is not a man, called the term “antiquated” during that same February budget retreat.

“I travel extensively around the U.S. and people ask me what I do, and I tell them I’m an alderman,” Freeman said at the time.

A number of local governments in Western North Carolina still use the term, including in Clyde and in Maggie Valley, however, more and more have been moving away from the use of gendered language.

The Macon County town of Franklin made the change in 2017, with then-Mayor Bob Scott pointing out that not only were there women on the board, but also that some board members were relatively young.

The Haywood County Town of Canton was something of a pioneer in this movement, and has two women on its board. Although the official title of the town’s governing board is the somewhat linguistically cumbersome “Board of aldermen/women,” Gail Mull and Kristina Proctor are called “alderwomen.”

Waynesville is proposing to change the name of its Board of Aldermen to “Town Council,” and would therefore be comprised of “councilors.”

If the proposed change continues to move forward, the town will likewise have to amend its charter in the same way as for the change to staggered terms.

Waynesville ups affordable housing incentives for nonprofit developer

BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT P OLITICS E DITOR

Continuing to make bold steps in addressing Haywood County’s affordable housing crisis, the Town of Waynesville Board of Aldermen voted March 26 to increase the amount of incentives it will provide for an 84-unit development off Howell Mill Road.

In April 2021, right in the midst of the Coronavirus Pandemic, Mountain Housing Opportunities requested just over $306,000 in incentives for a proposed 5.3-acre development called Balsam Edge.

Aldermen agreed, to the tune of $167,000, after taking into consideration the amount of in-kind services the town would provide.

For 35 years, the private nonprofit MHO has been a major player in regional affordable housing, with more than 1,100 units under its control in four western counties, including Haywood.

The $14 million Balsam Edge development will consist of one-, two- and three-bedroom energy-efficient units, some ADA compliant. Rents will be based on tenant income.

In accordance with the town’s affordable housing policy, incentives were approved at that time with leasing projected to begin by summer 2023. But of course, a lot’s happened since then.

Inflation, especially in the construction industry, has made a mess of more than one capital project, and tax credits applied for by MHO in 2021 didn’t materialize as expected.

Now that they have, MHO still must contend with higher pricing for materials, some on the order of 20% or more. The parcel was annexed into town limits on Feb. 14, but still needs sewer and water service.

On Jan. 27, MHO asked the town of Waynesville to reconsider the original $167,000 incentive, and requested $306,750 during a Feb. 14 meeting.

The town called for a public hearing on March 28, where it approved $284,000.

Per an agreement reached with MHO, the town will connect an 8-inch sewer line to the existing main, extending that to the North Carolina Department of Transportation right-ofway on Howell Mill Road.

MHO will be responsible for boring under Howell Mill Road, where the town will then extend the 8-inch line to the edge of MHO’s parcel. There, MHO will extend the line through the development.

The $284,000 isn’t exactly a cash handout to developers. For the in-kind sewer connection services, the town’s general fund will reimburse the sewer fund $184,000. The other $100,000 in incentives, which will cover system development fees, will come from the general fund and be split between the water fund and the sewer fund, according to Finance Director Misty Hagood.

Only one person, John Nowakowski, spoke during public comment and during the public hearing.

“I think the town is out of control in giving our money to developers,” Nowakowski said, adding that Waynesville’s taxes are some of the highest in the state.

Nowakowski’s assertion is false. According to the North Carolina Department of Revenue, Waynesville’s current ad valorem tax rate isn’t even in the top half of municipal tax rates.

At 43.92 cents per $100 assessed property value, Waynesville ranks 305th out of 710 North Carolina municipalities.

Enfield, the oldest incorporated municipality in Halifax County, has the state’s highest rate at 92.7 cents, while Wesley Chapel, a village in Union County, has a rate of just 1.29 cents. A full 57.04% of North Carolina municipalities have tax rates higher than Waynesville does.

DA recuses herself from police shooting case

Welch says charges against shooting victim, now dropped, based on CCSO statements

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF W RITER

As the State Bureau of Investigation continues its probe into the Dec. 13, 2022, police shooting that severely wounded Murphy resident Jason Harley Kloepfer, District Attorney Ashley Welch is seeking to recuse herself from handling the fallout — because statements members of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office made to Welch and one of her assistant district attorneys mean they are now witnesses in the investigation.

In a March 27 letter addressed to a “Ms. Dismukes” — likely Leslie Dismukes, criminal bureau chief for the N.C. Department of Justice — Welch said that, hours after the shooting, she and the ADA were contacted by the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office and spoke to a detective there.

“As a result of the information relayed to us, Mr. Kloepfer was charged with resist, obstruct and delay as well as communicating threats,” Welch wrote.

The next sentence in the letter implies that the initial information Welch received from the CCSO was not accurate.

“We have dismissed these charges against Mr. Kloepfer,” Welch wrote.

The charges were filed Dec. 13 while Kloepfer was at Erlanger Hospital in

Chattanooga but not dismissed until March 1. Since Dec. 13, Welch’s office has been assisting the SBI with the investigation, she wrote. Now, because of what law enforcement told Welch after the shooting, she and the ADA are witnesses in the case.

“I anticipate myself and others in my office will be interviewed by SBI as part of the ongoing investigation,” she wrote.

This means her office has a conflict of interest under N.C. Bar rules, leading Welch to recuse herself from the matter. In the letter, she asked the Attorney General’s office to take over advising law enforcement agencies as to any criminal investigation and to handle any potential prosecutions.

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

THE SHOOTING

In his original public statement detailing the events of Dec. 12-13, Cherokee County Sheriff Dustin Smith painted Kloepfer as the aggressor, writing that officers fired after Kloepfer “engaged in a verbal altercation” with them and confronted them as he emerged from his camper trailer in the small hours of the night. But home security video Kloepfer released Jan. 18 told a different story.

Officers had responded to Kloepfer’s

home because a neighbor called in expressing concern that he had shot his wife or otherwise harmed her. Law enforcement treated the call as a potential hostage situation and called on the CIPD SWAT team for help, as Cherokee County does not have a SWAT team. Upon arrival, the CIPD team sent a camera robot into the trailer, where Kloepfer’s video shows he and his wife in bed — asleep, alive and uninjured. Light from the robot and loudspeaker commands from police woke them up. Kloepfer stooped down to grab the robot and, complying with instructions from police, came to the door with his hands held high above his head.

That’s when officers opened fire, hitting Kloepfer in the arm and abdomen. The bullets missed his wife Ali Mahler, who was

the Jan. 20 press release, writing in his resignation letter that the release and statements in it laying out Smith’s intentions to pursue forming a SWAT team for Cherokee County “came as quite a surprise” and “would come at a high cost, minimal use and open the county to TREMENDOUS amounts of liability.”

SMITH’S STORY VS. PUBLIC RECORDS

Contrary to Smith’s statements in the Jan. 20 press release, public records show that Smith did not have to rely on the CIPD for an account of what happened Dec. 13.

The Cherokee SWAT team was not alone on scene that night, and records indicate that

standing directly behind him.

Two days after Kloepfer published his video, Smith released a new statement. He did not apologize for the shooting or for the apparently incorrect statement his office had published. Rather, he wrote that the original press release was prepared by then-County Attorney Darryll Brown based on information received from the Cherokee Indian Police Department and averred that neither he nor Chief Deputy Justin Jacobs were on scene at the time.

Brown resigned his position following

Smith and Jacobs were closer to the action than Smith implied.

According to call logs and radio traffic, at least seven CCSO deputies and investigators were at Kloepfer’s home at the time of the shooting. Radio traffic and Smith’s signature on a mutual assistance agreement signed prior to the SWAT response show that Smith was at the sheriff’s office when the SWAT team arrived in Murphy, and a radio exchange between Smith and Captain David Williams indicates he was even closer to the scene than that when F

The Cherokee SWAT team was not alone on scene that night, and records indicate that Smith and Jacobs were closer to the action than Smith implied.

Jason Harley Kloepfer stands at the door with his hands up one second before officers fired.

Photo from Kloepfer security video

the shooting occurred.

In the exchange, which takes places after the shooting, Williams tells Smith, identified as by his call number 401, that one of the tribal units is asking that Smith stand by.

“I think they’re wanting to follow you back to 400,” he said, referencing the sheriff’s office.

“If we have anything up there, maybe some drinks or anything, they could unwind a little bit,” Williams adds. “I don’t know what we got available, but they’re welcome to anything in my office.”

“10-4,” Smith responds. “I’ll take care of it.”

Later in the recording of law enforcement communications that night, dispatch receives a call from a man whose name is redacted. The person is trying to get in touch with CCSO Investigator Paul Fry, who wasn’t dispatched to the scene until after the shooting occurred.

“I talked to David Williams who said that the chief deputy [Justin Jacobs] was going up with the person who go shot?” the caller asks.

The person seems unfamiliar with CCSO’s personnel, asking whether Paul Fry is the chief deputy.

“No, he’s an investigator,” the dispatcher says.

“Who went with the person who got shot?” the caller asks. “Was it the chief deputy or was it Paul Fry?”

“I’m not sure, to be honest with you,” the dispatcher replies.

CIPD WANTS TIGHTER BODY CAM RELEASE LAWS

Thus far, both CCSO and CIPD have remained tight-lipped about the incident, with Smith consistently ignoring requests for comment and CIPD Chief Carla Neadeau declining to comment, citing the ongoing SBI investigation. Kloepfer’s home video is the only video from that night that has been released to the public thus far.

In subpoenas filed in relation to the now-dropped criminal case, Kloepfer sought body and dash cam video from both law enforcement agencies, as well as video from the robot initially sent into his house. The case was dropped before those subpoenas could be executed, and Neadeau has proposed tribal legislation that would make it even more difficult to obtain that video evidence.

The ordinance, which was read into the record during the March 2 Tribal Council session and can be considered for passage April 6, would exempt police records from release under the tribe’s public records law. The measure would apply to body cams, incar cameras and law enforcement surveillance camera systems.

According to the proposed legislation, the tribe is “beginning to employ” body cams and dash cams, but its public records law was written before these technologies “became commonplace” in Cherokee. The public records law itself is only marginally useful for area journalists. In the past, The Smoky Mountain News has been denied

requests made under the tribe’s public records law and told the law applies only to tribal members.

“It is not feasible nor in the public interest to subject recordings made by bodyworn and in-car cameras to the EBCI’s public records law,” the document says, adding that the ordinance change “does not limit individuals’ ability to access these recordings through other provisions of the Cherokee Code, such as discovery in a criminal or civil action.”

State law, which applies to CCSO but not CIPD, already exempts such recordings from the state public records law and allows their release only following a court order.

CIVIL CASE LIKELY

Welch’s March 27 letter came just one day before Kloepfer released a second video related to the shooting. This one, he said, showed SBI officers investigating the scene at his home the morning afterward. The three-minute, 32-second video includes a clip from the 911 call that prompted the response and three short clips of the SBI officers. In the first one, starting at 11:42 a.m. Dec. 13, an officer asks his colleagues what Kloepfer had been charged with.

“Did they shoot at him, then they went and got a warrant?” the same officer says, accompanied by a laugh of apparent disbelief, in the second clip at 11:44 a.m. In the third clip, at 12:18 p.m., the officers spot Kloepfer’s camera and take it off the wall.

Kloepfer wrote on Facebook that he and his wife, Ali Mahler, have been living out of state since the shooting for “multiple reasons,” the biggest one of which is “fear of being murdered.” In a letter linked on a GoFundMe page raising money for housing, medical bills and other living expenses, Kloepfer and Mahler said that living away from home costs about five times as much as it did to live on their property in Cherokee County, and that neither of them is able to work — Mahler because of “mental and emotional fallout” from the attack, and Kloepfer due to disability from a 2014 injury in which he intervened to save a single mom and her kids, causing a gang member to shoot him, resulting in paralysis.

“Being a fighter, and with my faithful support, Jason rose from the wheelchair and found his ability to walk again,” the letter says. “Still, his injuries have been a constant uphill battle. It took Jason nine years to finally learn to walk again, and he still uses a cane often.”

Mahler and Kloepfer wrote that they “may never feel safe again,” and that “horrendous flashbacks” to what happened and what could have happened Dec. 13 “cripple us for hours.”

Kloepfer has not filed any lawsuit related to the Dec. 13 shooting, but the letter implies such action is coming.

“These things can take a long time, a civil case may take three to four years,” it says. “We are prepared to do battle and fight for justice until the end, no matter how long it takes.”

Harris Regional Hospital Welcomes Dr. Carmen Nations

Harris Regional Hospital recently hired Dr. Carmen Nations, at Harris Pediatric Care. Dr. Nations joining Dr. Jernigan, Dr. White, Brittany Rogers, FNP-C, and Natalie Steinbicker, PA, providing pediatric care services to Jackson County and the surrounding region.

Nations was raised in Cherokee. She received her medical degree from University of Utah School of Medicine and has been in practice for more than 20 years. She completed her residency at East Tennessee State University Pediatrics, and later went on to serve hospitals and practices in Cherokee, Sylva and Western Carolina University. She has a strong passion for (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and specifically global education around resiliency, adolescent health, Down Syndrome and Down Syndrome advocacy.

When she is not working, she enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter, shooting photography, reading, traveling,

hiking and watching sports, especially college basketball and football, volleyball and indoor lacrosse.

Harris Pediatric Care is located at 98 Doctors Drive, Suite 300, Sylva.

Appointments may be made by calling 828.586.9642. For more information on Harris Pediatric Care, visit harrismedicalgroup.com.

facebook.com/smnews

Dr. Carmen Nations

Spongy moth treatment for Cruso postponed

BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT P OLITICS E DITOR

After residents voiced concerns during a March 21 meeting over a North Carolina Department of Agriculture initiative to treat an invasive pest that has infiltrated Haywood County’s Cruso community, the NCDA announced on March 30 that the treatment would be postponed for the rest of the year.

Since 2019, NCDA monitoring efforts — through traps hung from trees — have continued to show larger and larger numbers of the invasive spongy moth lymantria dispar, formerly known as the gypsy moth, in the Cruso area.

The treatment, with a pheromone excreted by female moths, is non-toxic and has shown no negative effects on people, pets, produce or fish, but some in attendance tried to distort material data safety sheets and product warnings to infer that it was dangerous.

In the end, NCDA Plant Pest Administrator Joy Goforth said that some residents complained about a lack of communication that left them with no say in the process.

“We still believe treatment is the best thing to do; however, we recognize that communication could have been improved,” Goforth told The Smoky Mountain News on March 30.

That same day, Rep. Mark Pless (R-

Haywood) sent a letter to Dr. Bill Foote, an official with the NCDA, saying residents still had concerns over the treatment.

“I support the NC Department of Agriculture and do understand the concerns if the spraying is not performed this year,” Pless wrote. “As the Representative for the community of Cruso, I request on behalf of the residents and property owners who object that the proposed spraying be canceled this year. I would ask that you involve members of the community in testing for the spongy moth caterpillar and provide information later this year on the status of this invasive species. Thank you for

your consideration of my request.”

Goforth said the NCDA would continue to trap spongy moths in the area and monitor populations, and will reevaluate the data in preparation for possible treatment next year.

A public meeting that was to be scheduled in advance of the late-June spray treatment will be cancelled, however mailers will be sent to people in the proposed treatment block if and when the spraying is proposed again.

The spongy moth was imported to the northeastern United States in the 1860s, and has since spread across the region, gobbling up millions of acres of forest each year. The

caterpillars that emerge from the spongy egg mass can eat a square foot of greenery per day, and they especially enjoy oak trees.

“It’s a defoliator and left untreated it completely devastates forests,” Goforth said. “Years of deforestation cause mortality and impact our multibillion-dollar forestry and tourism industries.”

The moth can also affect North Carolina’s Christmas tree industry. Although the moths don’t care to eat them, they can hitch a ride on them or leave egg sacs behind as the trees are exported beyond the state’s borders. Transport restrictions on Christmas trees could cripple the industry; more than 20% of Christmas trees in the United States come from North Carolina, including a 78-footer that traveled to the White House last year. If the spongy moth infestation grows, there are myriad other problems that could come with them.

“They’re also problematic for homeowners. There are health concerns. The list is relatively endless as far as problems that will happen,” Goforth said. “Establishment also contributes to a change in forest ecology, which has impacts on wildlife and hunting. The ripple effect of that impacts citizens, agriculture and wildlife as well.”

Read the full NCDA press release by visiting ncagr.gov/paffairs/release/2023/323Crusotrappingupdate.htm.

The presence of a devastating invasive moth has been detected in Haywood County. Wikipedia photo

Declining school enrollment prompts unusual financial ask

BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT P OLITICS E DITOR

Nearly all manner of calamity — global pandemic, cyber-attack, flooding and an impending shutdown of one of the area’s largest, highest-paying employers — has befallen Haywood County in the last three years, with all of them now conspiring to produce a decline in school enrollment that will most certainly create problems of its own.

On April 3, County Manager Bryant Morehead relayed a request to Haywood County commissioners from Trevor Putnam, superintendent of Haywood Schools.

Commissioners approved the request, sending a letter of support to the North Carolina General Assembly and the Department of Public Instruction asking for a “hold harmless” provision that would give the county the flexibility it says it needs to stabilize its finances.

“We’ve had declining enrollment over the past several years. We’ve lost approximately 600 of 7,100 students, so that has us resting at about 6,500, which has implications for the size of staff,” said Putnam. “These adjustments must be made, but a hold harmless provision would allow us to right-size through attrition.”

School funding is tied directly to enrollment numbers. The greater the number of students, the more money the district receives. The capital portion of that funding is especially important, as it basically sets the bar for future facility improvements. The county also partially funds the school system through a funding formula it revisits periodically.

Currently, each student is funded to the tune of about $12,000, meaning those 600 students who’ve gone elsewhere have taken around $7.2 million with them. Putnam’s total budget is on the order of $70 million.

The desired effect of Putnam’s request is that the state freeze per-pupil state funding at current levels for the next three fiscal

years, through June 30, 2026. Putnam said he didn’t think the right-sizing would include adjustments to facility operations.

toward developing a strategic long-term plan to address these challenges and realistically assess and predict school enrollment, personnel and facility needs for the future,” reads the request. “A Hold Harmless Provision for fiscal years 2023-2024, 20242025, and 2025- 2026 would simplify planning significantly by ensuring a base level of state funding for the duration of time needed to design and implement a right-sizing plan that meets the current and future needs of the students and community.”

Putnam told The Smoky Mountain News on April 3 that he’s already made the ask to Haywood County’s legislative delegation, including Rep. Mark Pless (RHaywood), Sen. Kevin Corbin (R-Macon) and Sen. Ralph Hise (R-Mitchell). Putnam also said he thinks Sen. Mike Lee (RHanover), a co-chair of the Senate’s education committee, has seen the request as well.

Including the request for the funding level freeze, Putnam’s also asking for flexibility in two other areas — allocations and class sizes.

State law dictates maximum class sizes; if just one more student shows up to a class than is allowed by law, schools must designate another teacher to bring things into compliance, which isn’t the most efficient use of those resources.

Allocation flexibility refers to some state-funded positions that are only halffunded; since schools can’t hire half of a person, flexibility would allow schools to dip into other pots of money to fund the other half.

As far as the right-sizing plan mentioned in the request, Putnam said that it will be discussed with the Haywood County Schools’ elected board during an April 20 work session. Once the board approves the plan, it will be formally presented during a budget public hearing scheduled for April 27.

Haywood County schools is working on developing a strategic long-term plan to address new challenges with student enrollment.

Parent who alleged Shining Rock abuse charged in connection to ‘harassing’ emails

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF W RITER

Shining Rock Classical Academy is pressing criminal charges against a school parent who previously accused the school of abusive disciplinary tactics.

According to a Waynesville Police Department arrest report, Rebecca Fitzgibbon has been charged with one count of cyberstalking, a misdemeanor. She was arrested on the morning of March 29, after dropping her child off at Shining Rock Classical Academy.

While much of the arrest and incident reports are redacted, the location of the incident is listed as 2150 Russ Avenue, in Waynesville, which matches the address of Shining Rock Classical Academy. According to the report, one person is the victim of the alleged crime, a white male whose name and age are both redacted.

According to the criminal summons, “the defendant unlawfully and willingly did electronically mail to Principal Joshua Morgan and other staff of Shining Rock Classical Academy repeatedly for the purpose of harassing Principal Joshua Morgan and other staff of Shining Rock Classical Academy.”

A court date has been set for April 24.

Jackson schools address vape usage

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF W RITER

The Jackson County Schools Health Advisory Council has been conducting research into vape use among students and its findings have prompted the school board to sign a resolution in support of stricter tobacco laws in North Carolina.

“I want to present this resolution to y’all tonight, hoping that you’ll approve it,” said School Nutrition Director and School Health Advisory Council member, Laura Cabe, during a March 28 Board of Education meeting. “We plan to go to the board of health and so on and meet with all sorts of individuals in our community to show that we want to get some push and support to increase that age to 21 which is what this resolution is about.”

When Congress increased the federal minimum legal age of tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, from 18 to 21 in 2009, North Carolina was one of the few states that chose not to follow the change. North Carolinians can purchase tobacco products when they are 18 years old and although public school campuses are technically tobacco-free, most users can find their way around that stipulation.

The Tobacco 21 Resolution is circulating among school districts in North Carolina and other states without their own Tobacco 21 laws. In the Smoky Mountain News’ four-

Cyberstalking involves the use of electronic communications or email to harass or threaten another person. This can be committed by electronically communicating words or language that threaten to inflict bodily harm on another person; electronically mailing or communicating with another person repeatedly for the purpose of threatening, abusing,

county coverage area, Macon County School Board has also signed the T-21 Resolution. According to a report from the United States Department of Health and Human Services cited in the resolution, 95% of tobacco users start before the age of 21 and in 2019, 27.3% of high school students in North Carolina reported tobacco use.

“This is something that is not born just from us,” said Superintendent Dana Ayers. “It has been shared not just throughout our community and the state, but around the nation. There’s a real push for us to address this in the state of North Carolina, being a tobacco state.”

The Jackson School Health Advisory Council, or SHAC, has identified vaping as a serious concern for the health of its students and made curriculum recommendations in accordance with its findings. As it stands now, middle and high school curriculum include a program called AVOID (anti-vaping online information dissemination). However, SHAC found that vaping is starting at much younger ages, even in elementary school. Therefore, the council made recommendations to look into existing anti-vaping education programs that are appropriate for younger ages.

SHAC is an advisory council made up of more than 20 members, with representatives from each school in the county. Schools were required to have health advisory councils and establish wellness policies following the Child Nutrition and WIC Authorization Act in 2004. Today, some school systems have

annoying or terrifying the person; or electronically mailing or communicating with another person or their family or member of their household and knowingly making false statements regarding death, injury, illness, disfigurement, indecent or criminal conduct.

Last month Ms. Fitzgibbon was notified that she had been banned from the SRCA campus, except to drop off and pick up her child.

Fitzgibbon claims that she was emailing the school to obtain academic information and records regarding her son and to request a parent/ teacher conference.

“I don’t believe the complaint is true,” said Fitzgibbon. “I will be glad to bring my evidence in front of a judge. I did email a handful of times to Mr. Morgan and staff, ask for records that I have been denied for almost a year now.”

Fitzgibbon previously lodged a complaint with the North Carolina Office of Charter Schools, a sector of the Department of Public Instruction, alleging that Head of School Josh Morgan used abusive disciplinary tactics.

“Mr. Morgan has violated policy with my child and refuses to work toward resolution,” the Sept. 7, 2022, complaint reads. “I have exhausted all means at school level. The SRCA board of directors did not offer a fair grievance process.”

kept these councils active and the group in Jackson County is particularly effective. Last year the council decided that vaping, increasingly popular among teens, was a serious issue that needed addressing.

“We want to get support from our community and then we can also present this to our state legislators to show how strong and passionate we are about this,” said Cabe. “And really start to work on the law and rezoning these vape shops.”

Besides the age limit for purchasing tobacco products, a primary concern for the Student Health Advisory Council is the relative ease with which vape shops can pop up close to schools.

“I think we have five vape shops within walking distance of Smoky Mountain High School now,” said Cabe. “So that is very concerning.”

The resolution calls for, among other things, establishing a tobacco retailer permitting system. North Carolina is one of only 10 states in the country that do not require tobacco retailers to obtain a license or permit.

“It is easier in North Carolina to get a license to sell vapes than it is to get a fishing license,” said Deputy Superintendent Jake Buchanan. “One of the things that’s very important for us is to spread the word to parents that vapes are not safer than smoking cigarettes. In fact, they’re far more dangerous. To the point where if we had a kid that had the vape of choice, we’d say, ‘take a pack of cigarettes before you take a vape,’

because the vapes, the things that are in them, have landed our kids in the emergency room in serious condition.”

Jackson County schools has dealt with health incidents in which students were using vapes of which they did not know the contents, and were more potent than they were used to, causing serious side effects.

Board member Kim Moore thanked the Student Health Advisory Council and urged her fellow board members to consider vaping and vape shops as predatory.

“I want to encourage my other board members to really consider this because if you can’t see it as predatory, then why are so many popping up right beside our high school,” said Moore. “Like they’re moving to get closer to the kids, and I look at it as like preying on our kids. I feel like we’re the last line of defense.”

“With this resolution, we recognize that we can’t enforce, but we can endorse. I want you to think of this resolution as we’re putting our stamp of approval as JCPS on the fact that there should not be vape shops nearby, the age should be increased and such because it is heavily impacting not just our schools, but our community as a whole,” said Ayers. “I have read this thoroughly and I believe it is something that we should certainly endorse.”

The board approved the resolution unanimously and the advisory council plans to share the resolution with the county health department, county commissioners and eventually, state representatives.

SRCA is pressing charges against a school parent. File photo

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Haywood TDA wants to double visitation dollars

New strategic plan does not address county’s greatest needs

BY C ORY VAILLANCOURT P OLITICS E DITOR

Haywood County’s Tourism Development Authority has experienced stunning growth over the past 30 years, as well as the last three years. With a new executive director now on the job and a new long-term destination plan to guide the organization, the TDA now seeks to double visitation from core markets — without alienating residents.

“Tourism needs to be part of the solution,” said Andy Windham, president of Crawford, the TDA’s South Carolina-based agency of record. “It is not the solution. I wouldn’t want anyone to think tourism is the solution.”

When the TDA was established in 1983, the first-year collections totaled $133,000. At the end of the last fiscal year on June 30, 2022, the TDA narrowly missed breaking the $3 million mark.

Through January of this year, collections totaled $1.9 million, well above projections. If current trends continue, collections for the current fiscal year should end up well over $3 million. The majority of the money is spent

marketing the county as a destination and operating the TDA.

The uptick in collections dates back to the Coronavirus Pandemic. When hotels reopened on a limited basis in the summer of 2020, people from across the region and the

nation looked to the Great Smoky Mountains as a place of peace, away from crowded cities.

But only once during the 30 years the TDA has been in existence has it spent any of its collections on projects that also have a stated benefit to Haywood County’s perma-

nent population.

Last June, the TDA’s one-time special projects fund disbursed $500,000 to five projects, mostly to a greenway, walking trails and a bicycle park.

The move was seen as a way to placate residents who are becoming increasingly sensitive to the negative impacts that come with seasonal tourists, especially in the local housing market.

In February of this year, the TDA reported 1,523 whole-house Airbnb listings in Haywood County, which is almost exactly the number of affordable housing units needed in the area, according to several sources.

Chris Cavanaugh, a longtime consultant for the TDA, worked with Crawford on the long-term plan, which takes its title by riffing on the popular “Hay Now” marketing campaign implemented by the TDA back in 2018.

Called “Hay Now & Next,” the plan focuses on the county as both “a destination and a community,” according to Cavanaugh.

Not surprisingly, the greatest weakness cited by stakeholders interviewed for the plan was affordable housing. F

Haywood County’s tourism industry continues to grow. File photo

Cavanaugh told TDA board members during a March 29 meeting that the lack of affordable housing would prevent the county from reaching its potential.

The greatest threat to the county was reported as the high cost of living.

Haywood’s average per capita income in 2021 was $31,302, while Canopy MLS said that in January, the average list price of a home in the county was $379,499.

Ralph Thompson, operating partner of Washington, D.C.-based Streetsense Consulting, also worked on the long-term plan, particularly on a placemaking concept called “pillars of vibrancy.”

Thompson’s firm has identified 10 of them — access to higher education, a safe and secure environment, health care and wellness facilities, retail options, a forwardthinking government, major employers outside of government, long-term commitment for the community, an adequate long-term tourism plan, infrastructure and funding options.

Each pillar can receive a top score of three points. If a pillar scores a three, it “is good for now and the future,” according to the plan.

Not one of the 10 pillars scored a three. Only two of the pillars — higher education and environment — scored two or higher, meaning they are “good for now but will need work for future growth. Every other pillar scored between 1.04 and 1.97, meaning “the pillar needs work now.”

There’s not a lot the TDA can do about those 10 pillars, however the plan does have 10 goals over a 10-year period to double the number of annual visitor parties to the area.

By July 1, 2024, the TDA should have plans in place to establish a new visitor center, address long-term TDA staffing needs, develop a beautification plan, support the development of additional attractions and infrastructure, expand tourism-related trade school offerings, increase public safety staffing, tweak branding and create a marketing outreach plan that achieves 5% compound annual growth.

None of the goals listed in the plan addresses the county’s greatest threat, cost of living, and only one of the plan’s stated goals addresses the county’s greatest weakness — affordable housing.

Details on how the TDA will accomplish the goal are vague; it seems to rely solely on funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. Although ARPA funding can be used in limited circumstances for affordable housing, qualifying for funding is a rigorous and lengthy process.

Per federal guidelines, ARPA funding must be appropriated no later than Dec. 31, 2024 and must be spent no later than Dec. 31, 2026. Those deadlines leave little time for the application process, the pre-construction process including site selection, engineering and permitting.

The plan doesn’t list an alternative funding source if the ARPA funding doesn’t materialize.

According to long-term estimates in the plan, the TDA’s collections by 2033 will be on the order of $7.4 million a year. Between 2023 and 2033, total revenue collected by the TDA is projected to be more than $58 million.

U.S. Attorneys discuss tribal issues in Cherokee

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF W RITER

The U.S. Attorney General’s Advisory Committee’s Native American Issues Subcommittee is meeting in Cherokee this week, bringing together leaders from across the country to spend three days discussing issues that are important to both the Department of Justice and Native American tribes.

The relationship between tribes and the DOJ has long been fraught with distrust, but Dena King — U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina since November 2021 and current chair of the NAIS — said that she is working to restore that connection. In the past, she said, much of the problem has stemmed from the DOJ not engaging at the community level like it should.

“It’s really important for me to come to the community to meet with members of the community so I can hear directly from members of the community, to include young people, about what their cares, concerns and issues are,” she said. “And I can then better serve as a liaison for the department to then route that information up.”

King spoke in conjunction with Principal Chief Richard Sneed during a press conference prior to the kickoff of the meeting, held April 4-6 at the Cherokee Convention Center in Cherokee. The NAIS consists of 18 U.S. attorneys from across the nation who serve in districts with at least one federally recognized tribe in their jurisdiction. The subcommittee advises the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee and Department of Justice leadership on policy recommendations, federal efforts and initiatives impacting American Indian and Alaska Native communities.

During the three-day meeting, the NAIS will hold panel discussions on crime deterrence and intervention; criminal, legal and legislative updates; missing and murdered indigenous people; drug enforcement and substance use disorder prevention efforts; reentry courts; assistance in provision of services to victims of crime; outreach efforts and programs related to community safety and public health and wellness.

The group will also venture outside of the convention center walls, taking a tour of the Museum of the Cherokee Indian and meeting with student leaders at Cherokee High School for a panel discussion to take in the students’ concerns and issues. King said she has made “very frequent” visits to CHS to speak with student leaders about the issues that are important to them, telling those assembled in the meeting’s opening that she now considers these students to be friends.

“We plan on holding important conversations and making valuable recommendations on how to incorporate the students’ insights into our process and address those issues that are raised,” King said.

During her remarks, King made it clear that she sees relationships with both the tribe’s leaders and its young people as critical to better executing the DOJ’s responsibility

toward the EBCI. After her appointment to the position in November 2021, she said, Sneed was one of her “very first” calls. She wanted to start the relationship off right, she said, and let him know she wanted to explore how the DOJ and EBCI could partner to improve public safety on tribal land.

Sneed agreed that an open line of communication between him and King is a vital first step toward repairing the relationship between the two organizations and, ultimately, better serving tribal members.

“If you ever have questions about trusting the government, just ask an Indian nation and they’ll advise you on how that goes,” Sneed said. “How we correct that is through relationship and building trust between individuals who are in leadership positions with agencies.”

Right now, Sneed said, that is happening in his relationship with King, and the NAIS choosing to convene in Cherokee is a “great first step” toward building further-reaching trust between the two governments.

However, he added in his comments to the 40 NAIS members, law enforcement officers and Attorney General’s Office representatives assembled for opening remarks, the work is far from over. Before European contact, the Cherokee people formed one distinct Cherokee Nation that touched parts of seven modern-day states. Centuries of oppression from the federal government shrank their holdings, divided their people and afflicted them with poverty and, in many cases, divorce from their culture. The EBCI has now reclaimed much of that once-lost identity, and the success of its casino enterprise over the last quarter-century has “effectively ended” the cycle of poverty.

“All this, and yet there’s one lasting negative residual effect of colonialism and the imposition of the federal government — a dependency model of government,” Sneed said.

This idea goes back to Chief Justice John Marshall’s terming Native American tribes in an 1831 Supreme Court decision as “domestic dependent nations” whose relationship to the U.S. should resemble that of a ward to a guardian. That idea laid the foundation for the complicated and often messy relationship between Native American tribes and the modern federal government. Sneed joked that the acronym for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the BIA, could alternately stand for “Bossing Indians Around.”

The result of those policies, Sneed said, include higher rates of suicide, infant mortality, substance use disorder, diabetes and a “staggering” 66% of all Native children being born out of wedlock. He called on the NAIS to take these issues seriously and to enter “meaningful conversations” that will foster the relationships with tribes needed to combat these issues.

“What must come is a much more robust government-to-government relationship, one predicated upon mutual respect, and looking out for that which is in the best interest of tribal nations across Indian country,” he said.

communication is now more important than ever as tribal, state and federal law enforcement navigate fallout from Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta. The July 2022 Supreme Court decision suggested that states have presumptive jurisdiction in Indian County absent federal legislation curtailing that power — mark-

This posture of mutual respect and open

ing a paradigm shift from how jurisdiction had been handled previously and sparking uncertainty about what the decision will mean in practice.

“The department to date has not issued

any guidance on this,” King said. “And so we are truly operating in a sense at the local level, with the discretion of relying very extensively on the partnerships we’ve already developed to kind of wade us through this transitional period.”

Sneed said he would like to see the tribe or its courts talk with the U.S. Attorney’s Office about the implications so all parties have a better understanding of what it might look like should the state try to step in on a criminal case, something that thus far has not happened in North Carolina.

“That one is an area of great concern not only for myself and for our attorney general’s office here, but just across Indian country,” he said. “Because there are a lot of question marks.”

To wit, the committee meeting will include an entire panel discussion dedicated to the implications of the Castro-Huerta decision, King said.

Other goals for ongoing collaboration between the DOJ and the EBCI include expanding the existing operational plan for public safety and continuing to seek additional resources for the Western District, whether those be financial resources or human resources.

“We are seeking out opportunities to bring more personnel to our district to be able to help us in some of the pursuits that we do,” King said.

U.S. Attorney Dena King presents Principal Chief Richard Sneed an award in recognition of his efforts to partner with and support the Western District Court of North Carolina.

Holly Kays photo

Macon school board opposes charter school bill

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF W RITER

The Macon County School Board has signed a resolution in opposition to a bill that would greatly expand the ways in which charter schools have access to locally appropriated public school funding. While the bill’s supporters tout equal funding for charter schools, board members worry the legislation would further strain public school systems that are already strapped for cash.

“This bill is just simply not what it purports to be in equality and fairness,” said Board Attorney John Henning, in a presentation to the school board during its March 27 meeting.

House Bill 219, titled Charter School Omnibus, makes various changes to the laws affecting charter schools. Of most concern to the Macon County School Board are the ways in which charter schools can access funding for public schools, which receive money from federal, state and local governments. Charter schools are independent public schools that receive a certain amount of funding from the public school district in which they operate for each student they enroll. That amount is based on how much funding public schools receive per student, which can vary greatly by county.

“The way that they’re funded, in part, is if there are local appropriations, the idea is

the local amount follows the kids to the charter school,” said Henning. “You got a charter school kid in Macon County who lives here that goes somewhere else for their charter school, the local current expense amount follows them.”

The bill, if passed as currently written, would delete the list of protected funds (those that public schools do not have to share with charter schools), with the exception of trust funds, federal grants with restricted use and special programs. That means that public school districts would be on the hook for sharing appropriations like reimbursements. After the school system has already doled out the per-student local appropriation to a charter school, if it then pays for something using its own money and is reimbursed by the county, the school system would need to share a certain amount of that reimbursement with the charter schools.

“By deleting the list of protected funds, House Bill 219 creates unequal rather than equal local funding for K-12 education,” the resolution reads. “If House Bill 219 passes, the total financial impact to the Macon County Schools lost in K-12 operating funds based on FY 2022-23 will be substantial.”

Local LEAs would lose protections fund balance, federal reimbursements, pre-K classroom funds, tuition and fees for actual costs and sales tax refunds.

What’s more, the school system would be on the hook for any student that is a Macon County resident attending a charter school, even if the charter school is outside Macon County. According to Henning, if a school system appropriated fund balance back into its current expense budget, it would need to figure out how many Macon residents are off at charter schools, any-

services, and the charter school doesn’t, we still have to share any money that we have that’s appropriated locally for these services.”

The bill would also allow a charter school to go to its county commission for capital outlay funding. As it stands now, charter schools must fund capital projects on their own. Henning suggested the board work in tandem with the Macon County Commission to oppose this portion of the legislation.

where, and pay per student back to those charter schools.

“It’s just plain unfair, in addition to being an accounting nightmare,” Henning said.

Superintendent Chris Baldwin noted that House Bill 219 would require public schools to share funding with charter schools, even in cases where charter schools do not provide the services for which public schools receive funding.

“Certain funds that should not be appropriated or shared with charter schools because the charter school does not provide the program,” Baldwin said. “So, in other words, if we provide transportation, meal

“They’ve toyed with that over the years and commissioners have not wanted to entertain that because they know they will be approached and begged for charter school funding to build buildings for them,” said Henning. “That’s also your funding for buildings. The way the bill was written, it would be very difficult to overcome it.”

The Macon County School Board voted unanimously to approve the resolution opposing House Bill 219.

“We have got two parallel public school systems in the state of North Carolina. That’s traditional K-12 school systems like this one, and then charter schools,” said Henning. “If a kid lives in this county and shows up here, you’re enrolled no matter what else is going on. It’s just not true of charter schools.”

“This bill is just simply not what it purports to be in equality and fairness.”

— John Henning

Jackson considers UDO amendments for cell towers, campgrounds

BY HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF W RITER

Jackson County will hold a public hearing on two amendments to its Unified Development Ordinance later this month. The proposed changes would amend the current wireless communications development standards and add development standards for campgrounds.

As it stands now, all new telecommunications towers must apply for a special use permit and receive approval from the board of commissioners in a quasi-judicial hearing. If the amendments are approved, it would provide for an administrative approval process for all wireless communications facility applications.

According to the planning department, there are two reasons for the change. First, the county has held several hearings for wireless communications towers over the past seven years with almost no input from the community or owners of adjacent properties. Second, the quasi-judicial process is more like a court case than a public hearing. It is a regimented process only open to people with legal standing. In addition to changes in the state statutes regarding appeals of quasi-judicial cases that create legal liability issues for local governments, this is leading to communities reevaluating the approval process.

“What we’ve seen over the last couple years in the state legislature is that how we hold those hearings, and how appeals can be made to those hearings, does present some liability to the county about how that operates,” said Jackson County Planning Director Mike Poston. “That led us to really talk about how do we approve wireless communications towers. And we’re proposing to commissioners that we move to an administrative approval process.”

The proposed amendments would also increase tower heights up to 199 feet, from 180 feet, in recognition of the county’s unique topographic challenges and the need to include the co-location spaces for two additional providers required at all towers.

“There are certain areas where 180 feet would not necessarily gain the type of coverage needed for a particular type of tower or in a particular area,” said Poston.

Towers that exceed 200 feet are required by federal regulations to be lit up at night.

“One of the things that we did is we’ve exempted facilities owned by the state of North Carolina that are emergency management facilities,” said Poston. “If the state came in and said ‘we need a viper tower at this location,’ we’re going to tell them to move ahead with that because we’ve already provided exemptions for those types of emergency management

types of services.”

The proposed campground regulations are intended to help guide campground development in Jackson County while providing for health, safety and general welfare of the county and campground users. Currently there are no existing regulations for developing campgrounds in Jackson County.

According to planning staff, there has been an increase in the number of campgrounds being proposed and developed in the county. The idea for the regulations arose from discussion during the permit review staff meeting that includes representatives from the code enforcement department, environmental health, planning and other departments.

“Working with this group, we tried to put together some rules that we think doesn’t limit your ability to put in a campground inherently, you can still do that, but we want to put some framework to how those happen,” said Poston. “Because we were hearing comments from our environmental health folks about waste disposal and folks making use of our creeks and rivers for various sundry activities including laundry and all of those things.”

The proposed regulations include a minimum lot size required to establish a campground, maximum density of sites per acre, setback distances for property lines adjacent to campsites, minimum road construction requirements, 911 addressing and signage, as well as requirements for bathhouses and laundry rooms.

The proposal defines a campground as two or more temporary or permanent buildings, tents or other structures established or maintained as a temporary living quarter, operated for recreation, religious, education or vacation purposes. Any existing campgrounds at the time the ordinance is adopted will become subject to the ordinance if they are expanded.

All proposed campgrounds must be a minimum of 2 acres in size. The proposed ordinance splits campgrounds into two levels with specific regulations for each level; level one campgrounds have at least two campsites but fewer than 15 and level two campgrounds have more than 15 campsites.

At the March 14 commissioner meeting, Poston told the board that there has been little feedback from the public regarding the proposed UDO amendments.

“We’ve not heard any comments,” said Poston. “We did hold a public hearing at the planning board level and received no public comments during that process.”

The public hearing will be held at 6:25 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, at the Justice and Administration Building in Sylva.

Farm school helps businesses start, grow

Like most participants in this year’s Appalachian Farm School, Cindy Anthony is in the early stages of overseeing an agriculture-based business.

Though she’d sold her own produce and free-range eggs for years at the Jackson County Farmer’s Market, Anthony only recently acquired Thomas Berry Farm in Cullowhee. She came to the farm school with hopes of finding ways to incorporate value-added products.

By the time this year’s school concluded on March 6, she’d gained much more.

“We went on a field trip to JAAR Farms, and that was very helpful to me,” Anthony said. “They helped me with my business plan, and the guest speakers gave a lot of insights. The Small Business Center offers so many resources. The one-on-one consultation was especially helpful to me, and so was the networking at the farm school — being able to talk to other people facing some of the same challenges.”

Organized by Southwestern Community College’s Small Business Center, the eighth annual Appalachian Farm School started in January. Ten participants met every Monday for eight weeks and received insights from industry professionals on topics ranging from business planning to resources and funding options.

For Anthony, the session on creating a business plan was particularly helpful. The Thomas Berry Farm, which has been around for more than 40 years, has a loyal following of clients who pay to pick their own blueberries on a two-acre plot.

Blueberry season only lasts from July through August, so Anthony has been searching for revenue streams outside that 2-month window.

Cindy Anthony, who owns the Thomas Berry Farm in Cullowhee, recently participated in the Appalachian Farm School that is organized and hosted annually by Southwestern Community College’s Small Business Center. Donated photo

“People are wanting to come out from June through at least October, so having jams, jellies and other products will allow me to open earlier and sell locally produced items,” Anthony said. “The Farm School helped me put together a business plan that’ll allow me to do that. They drilled down on all aspects of running the business, like insurance and building community support.”

The Appalachian Farm School is free of charge. For more information about the free resources offered through SCC’s Small Business Center, contact Harris at 828.339.4211 or m_harris@southwesterncc.edu.

Tourism program coincides with HCC registration

Summer and fall semester registration at Haywood Community College is now open. Summer courses begin Monday, June 5, and fall courses start Monday, Aug. 14.

With over 30 curricular programs in nine different career clusters, students can pursue a certificate, diploma or associate degree at a fraction of the cost of a four-year school.

HCC offers a variety of courses delivered in an array of methods to fit all schedules. From in-per-

son to entirely online, the college has what students need to create a flexible schedule for those who are employed or may also be balancing a family, making it easy to get the credentials needed to move forward. Students will find options in fields directly aligned with career opportunities, including healthcare, manufacturing, natural resources, public safety, professional crafts and many others.

Starting in the fall 2023 term, HCC will offer a new Tourism Certificate which is part of the already established Business Administration associate degree. Students can complete their associate degree in business administration with a concentration in tourism or complete the Tourism Certificate. This new program was a request from

WCU names new director of Mountain Heritage Center

our local community partners who work every day in careers related to the tourism industry. This program specifically focuses on boosting options for those working in tourism and hospitality roles to become managers and pursue other growth opportunities.

As part of this program, students can be matched with their current employer or other area employer to obtain work-based learning which is part of the certificate learning hours. The tourism industry spans many businesses such as restaurants, hotels, event spaces, special attractions, country clubs and more.

With a combination of funding sources, attending HCC could be at no cost. Through the generosity of donors, HCC has a variety of scholar-

ship opportunities available to students. For more information and for grant and scholarship eligibility requirements, visit haywood.edu or call 828.627.2821.

Goodnight Foundation establishes new professorship

Western Carolina University’s College of Education and Allied Professions is the recipient of a $1.5 million gift from the Goodnight Educational Foundation to create a new endowed professorship in the field of early literacy.

The Goodnight Distinguished Professorship in Early Literacy at WCU will be established pending receipt of a requested $1 million match from the University of North Carolina Distinguished Professors Endowment Trust Fund, which would bring the total amount of the fund to $2.5 million.

The endowed professorship, the 27th funded at WCU since 1996, represents the first investment in WCU by the Goodnight Educational Foundation, which has an extensive record of providing financial support for programs and projects in education and the arts across North Carolina.

A national search to select the Goodnight Distinguished Professor of Early Literacy is now underway, said Kim Winter, dean of WCU’s College of Education and Allied Professions.

When appointed, WCU’s Goodnight Distinguished Professor of Early Literacy will join seven other distinguished professors to provide a network of early literacy expertise designed to help advance the UNC System’s current literacy initiatives through engaging in outreach and sharing best practices, Winter said.

The Goodnight Educational Foundation was cofounded by James J. Goodnight, founder and chief executive officer of SAS, an international analytics software company based in in Cary, and spouse Ann Goodnight, who is senior director of community relations at SAS. The foundation is providing gifts to create endowed professorships in early literacy at three other UNC institutions, and the C.D. Spangler Foundation is making contributions for similar professorships at four system institutions.

A portion of the Goodnight Foundation’s gift to WCU is designated for immediate use funding to be distributed evenly in the 2023-2024 and 20242025 academic years to enable the university to fill the distinguished professorship by the 2023 fall semester.

On March 1, Western Carolina University named Amber Clawson Albert as the new director of the Mountain Heritage Center following the retirement of Pam Meister in December 2022. Albert brings a wealth of experience as a public historian and preservationist to this role, as well as the following academic credentials: a doctorate in public history from Middle Tennessee State University, a master’s degree in history from the College of Charleston and a bachelor’s degree in public relations from Appalachian State University.

Albert served as the manager of Community and Academic Learning at Reynolda House Museum of American Art at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem the past four years. Prior to that, she was the executive director of the Historical Association of Catawba County, and research assistant at the Middle Tennessee State University Center for Historic Preservation for four years.

There will be an open house and reception to welcome Albert from 3:30-4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 13, with brief remarks at 4 p.m. in the Mountain Heritage Center gallery located in Hunter Library. Light refreshments and a tour of the latest installation, “Crossroads: Change in Rural America” from the Smithsonian Institute Traveling Exhibition Services, will be offered to those attending.

The Mountain Heritage Center was created in 1975 to research and celebrate Southern Appalachia’s cultural heritage and history from artifacts collected starting in the 1920s. The center’s staff work with faculty, students, staff, alumni, donors and community members to discover the rich traditions of our region, examine them through new perspectives and to increase understanding of the people and cultures that call the area home. For more information about the Mountain Heritage Center, visit mhc.wcu.edu or the office and gallery in Hunter Library.

NC’s repeal of handgun licensing is shameful

Since 2020 gun violence has been the leading cause of death among children in the United States, not automobile accidents or disease (the two causes that historically led the way).

That’s a tragically dubious distinction, especially since our elected leaders don’t appear even vaguely interested in doing anything to combat this rising epidemic. In fact, in North Carolina lawmakers — including the GOP leadership and every rank-and-file Republican — voted last week to make it easier to acquire handguns. And a smaller group of GOP lawmakers — with Rep. Mike Clampitt, (R-Swain), leading the way — held a press conference encouraging support for tightening drunk driving laws as a way of saving children while ignoring the gun issue.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, gun violence — homicides, accidental deaths and suicides — killed 4,357 children in the United States in 2020. Last year, more than two-thirds of the gun deaths — 2,279 — were homicides. Suicides made up 30% of the gun deaths at 1,078.

Access to guns is a huge part of this problem. David Hemenway, a professor of health policy at Harvard and codirector of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, told the New York Times that the proliferation of guns would likely lead to more deaths among children.

“When there are more guns around, there’s more death. It’s just so easy when you get in arguments, when you rob somebody — if you have a gun, it’s so much easier to kill.”

The road to tyranny starts with censorship

To the Editor:

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Franklin Roosevelt said this at his inauguration in 1933. Today we have a clear example of this. A vocal minority, driven by fear, is attempting to suppress the public’s access to knowledge. This minority wants to ban books from the local library and our schools that they think are a threat to their beliefs, their ideology and their view of American culture.

Most people would agree that parents are the most important influence on shaping a child’s thinking as he/she grows up. That is how it should be. However, these book banners seem to fear that their influence in not enough. They want to remove all reading material that doesn’t agree with their way of thinking. This is an attempt by a minority to dictate what the majority of readers should have access to. Exposing people to a variety of ideas is the way we develop critical thinking skills. Parents who don’t want to expose their children to different points of view should home school them.

America is a multicultural country. A minority of Americans are fearful of what they see as a threat to their view of what constitutes American culture. Any attempt at censorship of the printed word by a minority is an attack on our First Amendment freedom of speech. Whether it is written or spoken, speech is speech.

In his book “On Tyranny, Twenty Lessons

Which makes what North Carolina lawmakers did last week so much more appalling. With three Democrats not in the chamber for various reasons, Republicans had the votes to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of a bill that did away with the requirement that local sheriffs issue permits for the purchase of handguns. The measure also allows concealed permit holders to carry guns in schools that double as places of worship and launches a twoyear firearm safe-storage campaign. Buyers still must undergo a federal background check, but only if the purchase is from a federally licensed gun dealer. Gun show purchases and those made online are easy workarounds for someone wanting to avoid a federal background check.

Even before the General Assembly overrode Cooper’s veto of the local licensing program, North Carolinians Against Gun Violence estimated that 22% of purchases were made without obtaining a permit. No doubt that number will soar in the coming months and years even though a 2022 poll conducted by WRAL in Raleigh found 90% of North Carolinians supported local licensing laws.

The General Assembly vote, by the way, occurred two days after a shooting at a Nashville, Tennessee, school killed three students and three adults.

LETTERS

From The Twentieth Century,” Timothy Snyder says, “It is institutions that help preserve our democracy. They need our help. They fall one after the other unless each is defended from the beginning.” He suggests that we each pick an institution and work actively to defend it.

Book banning is a double-edged sword. Book banners are motivated by a fear of knowledge. People who disagree with them often remain silent out of fear of retaliation. We live in a society today where some people view violence as a legitimate form of selfexpression.

President Roosevelt was right.

Margery Abel Franklin

Use common sense with library controversy

To the Editor:

As a parent, as a teacher of elementary children and as a former member of the Macon County Library Board, I have some thoughts about the library controversy.

Children should not have access to pornographic material at our schools and libraries. That is common sense. It is also common sense that we should not destroy our community libraries due to a handful of materials.

I agree with freedom of expression and information as outlined in our First Amendment. I believe it is important to lead

Clampitt’s proposal to tighten the standard for drunk driving from .08 to .05 would make North Carolina only the second state in the nation — after Utah — to endorse such a strict standard for DUIs. He said during the press conference that the bill would protect children from being needlessly harmed or killed by drunk drivers. Though there is little support for the measure, no one’s arguing that lawmakers shouldn’t discuss and debate alcohol laws and make changes as they deem necessary.

But when a reporter asked about tightening gun laws to protect children, those at the news conference in Raleigh — according to WRAL News — “struggled to explain why similar arguments haven’t caught on with GOP lawmakers who consistently reject them from gun control advocates.”

“Clampitt called the two issues ‘apples and oranges’ and said that he didn’t want to politicize his press conference on the DWI bills. (State Insurance Commissioner Mike) Causey said the comparison between guns and alcohol might not be a fair one, but he acknowledged “some similarities,” according to WRAL.

Guns are killing thousands of children a year in the U.S. and easy access is exacerbating the problem. That’s not an opinion, it’s fact. Once again, though, lawmakers are unwilling to craft legislation to slow this slaughter because they fear repercussions from voters, the gun lobby or both. It’s shameful, but that’s the world we live in.

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

with values. I also believe in the spirit of compromise as it was written into our Constitution. In that reality, nobody gets 100% of what they want, but fair solutions are possible and must be pursued. That is what is needed here and now.

That compromise could include moving sensitive materials and/or labeling those that have sexual acts graphically displayed, regard-

many dedicated and skilled library employees lose their livelihoods.

We also don’t need Macon County taxpayers to come up with several million dollars for books and videos (currently over 80,000 in the Franklin library alone), magazines, computers, internet servers, network equipment, broadband contracts, subscriptions, IT services, shelves, tables, desks and chairs. Currently, Macon County owns the Franklin and Nantahala library buildings, but nothing inside.

less of sexual orientation. It could be something else that achieves the same ends. What we do not need is stonewalling on the one hand, and torches and pitchforks on the other.

I understand emotions are running high and everyone wants to stand their ground, but that isn’t what’s best for the community.

We do not need to get past the point of no return, where a group of partisan commissioners micromanage our community libraries and hand-pick library staff, and

We need to be clear about what is behind the push to remove materials: a well-orchestrated fear campaign targeting our LGBTQ+ community. The point is to silence, isolate, and disappear our friends, family members, co-workers and neighbors. Unfortunately, the teen suicide rate in the LGBTQ+ community is extremely high, due to labeling, rejection, persecution, humiliation, bullying and discrimination. None of this is true Christian behavior. Jesus spent time with the outcasts of His culture, and He treated them with dignity and respect. We should all do the same.

Time is running out for common sense solutions. The Macon County commissioners are meeting next week, and as is often the case, decisions are made before the meeting begins. The time for compromise is now.

Dan Kowal Franklin

Editor Scott McLeod

March is a tease, so hello April

March is over. It’s over at last, thank merciful heavens.

Listen, to be fair, there are a few things I like about March. For one thing, it isn’t January, when it gets dark at 4 o’clock and you spend your evenings in fuzzy socks and fleece pajamas, sipping a glass of tepid green tea while looking mournfully over a stack of holiday receipts and trying to summon the willpower to give salads another chance so in a few weeks maybe your pants won’t cut angry little trails across your midsection anymore.

Maybe March is not as miserable as it is maddening. There’s more light, yes, and sometimes wonderful little clusters of warm, sunny days that gather like old friends welcoming you to spring. Birds appear, robins plump and hungry, blue jays strutting, mourning doves on the branch over your driveway as if they were in a theater balcony watching you get into your car to go to work, as if that were the most fascinating thing in the world.

But March is a tease, tempting you into notions that spring has arrived at last, and then the day after you pack up your sweaters, the first storm arrives like a rogue elephant trampling kids at the carnival. Winds whipping, trees down everywhere, power outages for hours and that’s if you’re lucky, no internet, lightning cracking across the way, God’s electric finger pointing this way and that, dogs hiding and huddling under the bed while you round up whatever half-burned candles you can find with the little spotlight on your iPhone.

And then winter is suddenly back, back, cruel and mean-spirited, breathing out its foul, killing frost. Blossoms wither and die, the rhododendron’s bright pink flowers fading to brown, the color of weak coffee.

Two days ago it was 78 degrees and you were wearing gym shorts and flip flops on your way to the mailbox. Now it’s 21 degrees and you’re scraping ice from your windshield, nose raw and leaking, ears numb, your sweaters stacked and shaking with laughter in their plastic storage bins. In March, even your own clothes mock you. We really should not complain. We didn’t get one of those big, crippling snows we sometimes get in March. It took us days or weeks, in some cases, to dig out from

underneath the blizzard of ‘93. Another big March snow killed my favorite dogwood tree a few years later, snapping it in half like a number two pencil.

When it’s like this, with its fierce winds or heavy snows, March can feel like that abusive boyfriend or girlfriend you once had, warm and loving one minute, catering to your every need, not only bringing you those beautiful flowers, but writing you poems and leaving them in places around the house, and then making a scrumptious dinner without being asked and leaving the kitchen spotless afterward.

Things are great, but the next minute, March turns on you out of nowhere with no warning. It grunts if it speaks at all, tracking its muddy feet across your clean floors and expensive Persian rug. It makes Pop Tarts for dinner and still somehow leaves the kitchen filthy. It spends your mortgage payment at the casino and flirts with your friends.

When it’s not warm, man, March is so, so cold. You know you should leave, but you can’t. You’re stuck with March in a codependent hell.

So you make the best of it. You focus on forgiveness. You embrace its terrible inconsistencies and always look for the good. For example, you love March Madness, also known as the NCAA basketball tournament. Like everyone else, you dutifully fill out your brackets, even though you don’t really watch that much college basketball and have never heard of half the teams playing in it.

Should you do a little research and make the most informed, best educated choices you can as you fill out your bracket, or should you go with an approach slightly more whimsical and less scientific, such as choosing the team with the cutest mascot? Or should you choose teams based on the best anagrams you can compose from their mascot name?

The answer, of course, is that it doesn’t matter at all, because no matter what you do, no matter which approach you take, your bracket will be in utter shambles within 48 hours after the tournament starts. You have no chance at all. Because it’s March, and March is messing with you again, because that’s what March does.

You can’t beat it, but you can endure it, and now you have. Hello, April! My, what pretty eyes you have. When I get over this sinus infection March gave me, I’ll be quite the catch.

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

Columnist Chris Cox

‘Behind the Mask’

Cherokee exhibit focuses on mask makers, legacy

S PECIAL TO SMN

Showcased at the Chief Joyce Dugan Cultural Arts Center in Cherokee, the new exhibition, “Behind the Mask: Cherokee Mask Makers and their Legacy,” aims to reinforce the significance of Cherokee masks — their history and use, as well as their meaning and significance.

The exhibition takes a historical approach to focus on early 20th century mask makers, with particular emphasis on Will West Long and three other Big Cove mask makers: Long’s friend and fellow student, Deliskie Climbingbear; Long’s older brother Lawyer Calhoun; and Allen Long, Will West Long’s son.

“Much of what we know about traditional culture, including what we know about masks, we know from Long,” said Curator Anna Fariello, in reference to Will West Long as one of the most significant figures in Cherokee history.

An authority on language, ceremony, and medicine, Will West Long dedicated his life to preserving and sharing his culture. Ethnologist William Fenton, writing about Long said, “His name is associated with the work of every field ethnologist who ventured into Big Cove from 1887 until 1947, when he passed away.”

“I was particularly drawn to Will West Long, who was often cited as both an inspiration and an authority on traditional culture,” Fariello said. “Little did I realize that there would be few written or photographic records describing Cherokee culture in the earliest decades of the 20th century — finding those resources proved to be difficult.”

The exhibition is made up of 13 text panels with photographs of Big Cove mask makers and their masks. One panel identifies the oldest known existing Cherokee masks and a lost mask by Charley Lossie, Long’s older cousin who taught him mask mak-

ing. Three audio recordings, songs sung by Long and Climbingbear, run on a loop throughout the exhibit.

Also on view is a short film made in 1927, no doubt the earliest film of Cherokee dance ever produced. The silent film includes demonstrations of dances that took place in front of Will West Long’s home in Big Cove. Four masked dancers arrive draped in blankets and sheets and are joined by women wearing terrapin shell rattles and holding feather wands. Long is seen with the dancers.

Funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, one goal of the project is to identify masks in public collections so that they may be shared with the Cherokee community.

Masks were located at the Denver Museum, Gilcrease Museum, National Museum of Natural History, National Museum of the American Indian and Pennsylvania Museum. Many of these masks are reproduced on the exhibit panels.

In addition to local sources, photographs, documents and recordings were found at the American Folklife Center, American Philosophical Society, Great Smoky Mountains National Park Archives, and National Anthropological Archives.

All in all, the project acquired 20 photographs of masks by Will West Long and almost 50 of other Cherokee masks located in various parts of the country, as well as 25 previously

unknown photographs of Big Cove artisans.

At the close of this project, these will be added to the archives of the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. Central Schools Community Affairs Division and EBCI Destination Marketing were primary partners in the project.

The project funded a number of in-school projects at Cherokee Central, including a two-week workshop in which carving teacher and mask maker Josh Adams taught mask making in the style of Will West Long to students and former students. These masks are included in the exhibition.

Students in Lori Reed’s Cultural Arts class participated in a clay mask workshop led by Laura Walkingstick. The workshops aimed to inspire future generations to pursue the traditional arts of their past.

Later in the semester, students will have an opportunity to participate in two “Days of Culture,” where they will learn about a variety of traditional crafts from eight EBCI craft makers.

Want to go?

A reception for the exhibition “Behind the Mask: Cherokee Mask Makers and their Legacy” will be held from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, April 6, at the Chief Joyce Dugan Cultural Arts Center in the Cherokee Central School, located at 86 Elk Crossing Lane in Cherokee.

To view the exhibition during school hours, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, visitors enter through the middle school and must show a current ID. The exhibit will remain open until June 1.

Will West Long (above), an authority on Cherokee language, ceremony, and medicine, dedicated his life to preserving and sharing his culture. Courtesy of Western Carolina University Special Collections

Anna Fariello. Donated photo

This must be the place

BY GARRET K. WOODWARD

‘The road goes on forever and the party never ends’

Hello from Room 519 at the Canvas Hotel in downtown Dallas, Texas. It’s almost 80 degrees. Monday morning. Bluebird skies with a welcomed breeze rolling through the vast landscape of the Lone Star State.

I’ve been down here since last Wednesday evening, landing at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport by way of Charlotte and Asheville earlier in the day. A whirlwind of people, places and things, all in an effort to get to Dallas to cover the grand reopening of the famous Longhorn Ballroom — an iconic music venue in the southern part of the city, within earshot of Interstate 35.

Opened in 1950 by country legend Bob Wills (and The Texas Playboys), the “House That Bob Built” has had new life breathed into it after years, more so decades, of neglect and decay.

Although the interior has finally been renovated and brought upto-date, the overall aesthetic (especially the exterior) is a wondrous time capsule.

Hopping out of the car in the parking lot of the Longhorn on Thursday, its grand reopening, I felt like I had stepped back in time. Old, vintage neon signs on the roof with large murals depicting numerous scenes of cowboys, horses, cattle and Bob Wills himself.

Entering the wooden double doors of the Longhorn, there were dozens of photographs of past acts who had taken the stage there: Willie Nelson, Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughn, Waylon Jennings, B.B. King, Merle Haggard and so on. Nearby was a case filled with Wills memorabilia and instruments.

Throughout the weekend attending the celebration, a slew of popular modern groups performed: Asleep at the Wheel, Old Crow Medicine Show, Joshua Ray Walker, Morgan Wade and Lucero.

On Friday evening, in the midst of Old Crow’s rollickin’ set, there was a special oneoff appearance by Robert Earl Keen, the sacred Texas troubadour, who joined the band for a rendition of “Walkin’ Cane.” The electric crowd erupted when Keen strolled onstage in his first public performance since retiring from touring last September.

And I found myself standing there, side-

stage during the Old Crow set, watching the audience gyrate and roar with fervor. Keen bulldozed the listener over with the essence of what it means to be a singer-songwriter in Texas, more so America and its constant evolution of self.

Sipping a cold Lone Star beer, my heart and soul absorbed the overwhelming scene unfolding before my eyes. Cowboy hats and boots with a mirror shine. Wrangler jeans and pearl snap shirts tucked in neatly. Cowgirl boots of fine leather or rattlesnake. Ponytails tucked beneath crisp flat brim hats, some adorned with a bright feather or two.

Sunday morning quickly appeared. I opened my eyes in the pitch-black hotel room and didn’t know where I was for a moment. I’ve been on the road so much the last year or so that, for a few seconds, I thought I was back in Florida or at my par-

HOT PICKS 1

A beloved Western North Carolina tradition, the “Easter Hat Parade” will take place at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 8, in downtown Dillsboro. 2

A stage production of “Elephant’s Graveyard” will be held at 7:30 p.m. April 7-8 and at 2 p.m. April 9 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville. 3

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

The Scotsman (Waynesville) will host Very Jerry Band (Grateful Dead tribute) at 8 p.m. Friday, April 7.

EVENTS

Celtic Sundays

W/The Carter Giegerich Trio - 2-5 pm

Incredible Celtic Folk - Every Sunday

Relaxation Along With Your Guinness!

Thursday, April 6 th

Christina Chandler 8pm - 10pm

Singer-Songwriter - Rock

Friday, April 7 th

Very Jerry Band 8pm - 11pm

Adamas Entertainment presents: Dead Night: The Grateful Dead Cover Band

Saturday, April 8 th

ents’ farmhouse in the North Country, maybe even actually in the bed of my humble abode in Waynesville.

Nope. Dallas. Confirmation of location came upon sliding out of bed and pulling up the blinds, only to look out onto the sleepy late weekend skyline of the city. Massive skyscrapers and bright neon lights in the distance. Dark clouds on the horizon soon to overtake the town with tornado warnings ticking across the TV screen that afternoon.

It was decided to spend the last day in Dallas wandering around downtown, the main objective to visit Dealey Plaza, the infamous location of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963.

5

“Easter Eggstravaganza” will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 8, at Darnell Farms in Bryson City.

And although I had passed through Dealey, several years ago it was in haste and not to genuinely be present and soak in this tragic chapter of American history.

With a personal and sincere fascination for JFK, the Vietnam War and the counterculture of the 1960s, meandering through Dealey is a surreal, eerie and sorrowful experience. That sick feeling in your stomach to know “this” is the exact spot where the trajectory of the world forever shifted — a deep sense of loss, all of that hope, potential and possibility for a brighter tomorrow gone in an instant.

The sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository building where Lee Harvey Oswald sat and awaited the presidential motorcade. Two “X” markings on the road where Kennedy was hit by the assassin’s bullets. The grassy knoll and enduring controversy of conspiracy and truth, which will be questioned and examined until the end of time.

Eventually, like clockwork, the afternoon storm reared its ugly head. Thick raindrops and thunder echoed throughout the city, ricocheting between the skyscrapers and down upon Dealey. Other tourists and visitors quickly left for dry ground. But, I wanted to read what the large memorial sign said on the grass knoll overlooking the two “X” marks.

It was the final paragraph of Kennedy’s speech he was supposed to give at the Dallas Trade Mart had he actually made it there on that fateful day in November 1963: “We in this country, in this generation, are — by destiny rather than choice — the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of ‘peace on earth, good will toward men.’ That must always be our goal, and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: ‘except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.’”

Celtic Road Jam 4pm - 6pm

Thursday, April 13 th

Borderline Band 8pm - 10pm

Traditional Country - Americana

ScotsmanPublic.com

• 37 CHURCH STREET • DOWNTOWN WAYNESVILLE

@thescotsmanwaynesville

Mon-Thurs: 4 PM -12 AM | Fri-Sun: 12 PM -12 AM

The Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas, Texas. Garret K. Woodward

On the beat

Bluegrass supergroup to debut at Stecoah

Five heavyweights in the world of bluegrass will come together for a special debut performance of supergroup Grass Of ‘23 at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 15, at the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center in Robbinsville.

Alongside Bryson City native and guitar wizard Seth Taylor, the ensemble also includes Barry Abernathy (banjo), Mark Fain (bass), Darrell Webb (mandolin), and Ron Stewart (fiddle) in a never-before-seen combo.

Together this quintet (most of whom

• Altered Frequencies (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.342.8014 or alteredfrequencies.net.

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

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

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

Americana, folk at Frog Level

Asheville-based singer-songwriter David Earl Tomlinson will perform at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 8, at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville.

Tomlinson is a self-proclaimed, “Part carnival barker, part preacher. Part con man, part mystic.” His vast musical influences and live performance style swirls around the realms of Americana, roots and folk.

Free and open to the public. 828.454.5664 or froglevelbrewing.com.

Bryson City community jam

are multi-instrumentalists) have contributed to groups such as J.D. Crowe, Dailey & Vincent, Joe Diffie, Alan Jackson, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Lonesome River Band, Martina McBride, Dolly Parton, Tom Petty, Ricky Skaggs, Rhonda Vincent, and Lee Ann Womack, amongst many others.

Tickets are $25 for adults, $10 for grades K12. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to stecoahvalleycenter.com or call 828.479.3364.

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

Anyone with a guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dulcimer, anything unplugged, is 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 the Sawmill Creek Porch Band. 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 — spring, summer, fall.

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.

p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.246.0350 or boojumbrewing.com.

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

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

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

• Fontana Village Resort Wildwood Grill will host semi-regular live music on the week-

ends. Free and open to the public. 800.849.2258 or fontanavillage.com.

• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host its weekly “Tuesday Jazz Series” at 5:30 p.m., Carolina Freightshakers (rock/oldies) April 7 and David Earl Tomlinson April 8. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public unless otherwise noted. 828.454.5664 or froglevelbrewing.com.

• Happ’s Place (Glenville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. happsplace.com or 828.742.5700.

ALSO:

• Frog Quarters (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows are at 11 a.m. Free and open to the public. Located at 573 East Main St. littletennessee.org or 828.369.8488.

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

• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host “Trivia Night w/Kirk” from 7-9 p.m. every Monday, Open Mic Night every Wednesday, Andy Ferrell (singer-songwriter) April 8 and Dalton Allen (singer-songwriter) April 14. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.

Seth Taylor will play Robbinsville on April 15. File photo)

David Earl Tomlinson rolls into Frog Level April 8. File photo

• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host “Music Bingo” on Wednesdays and semiregular live music on the weekends. All events begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Franklin) will host “Music Bingo” 6 p.m. Tuesdays, trivia 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Open Mic 6:30 p.m. Thursdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Lazy Hiker Brewing (Sylva) will host trivia 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Old Time Jam 6:30 p.m. Thursdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.349.2337 or lazyhikerbrewing.com.

• Meadowlark Motel (Maggie Valley) will host “Live Music Celtic Friday” (Celtic/jam) 7 p.m. April 7. All shows begin at 6:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to meadowlarkmotel.com or 828.926.1717.

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

• Mountain Layers Brewing (Bryson City) will semi-regular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.538.0115 or mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

• Nantahala Brewing (Sylva) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.641.9797 or nantahalabrewing.com.

• Nantahala Outdoor Center (Nantahala

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

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

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

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

• Salty Dog’s Seafood & Grill (Maggie Valley) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.926.9105.

• Satulah Mountain Brewing (Highlands) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.482.9794 or satulahmountainbrewing.com.

• Sauced (Waynesville) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.246.9585 or saucedwnc.com

• The Scotsman (Waynesville) will host a “Celtic Jam” 2-5 p.m. Sundays, Christina Chandler (singer-songwriter) April 6, Very Jerry Band (Grateful Dead tribute) April 7, “Celtic Road Jam” 4 p.m. April 8, Borderline (Americana/country) April 13 and Motel Pearl (Americana) 9 p.m. April 14. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.246.6292 or scotsmanpublic.com.

• SlopeSide Tavern (Sapphire) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 828.743.8655 or slopesidetavern.com.

Innovation welcomes Ferrell

Southern Appalachian singer-songwriter Andy Ferrell will hit the stage at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 8, at Innovation Brewing in Sylva.

Born in Boone, Ferrell grew up in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the birthplace of Appalachian traditional music and the home of the great Doc Watson. Growing up in Watson’s shadow, and with a folk guitarist for a father, Appalachian roots play a

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

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

• Stecoah Valley Center (Robbinsville) will host Grass of ‘23 (Americana/bluegrass)

Dulcimer group ‘Pic’ & Play’

The Pic’ & Play Mountain Dulcimer Players will be resuming in-person jam sessions at the St. John’s Episcopal Church basement fellowship hall in Sylva.

The group welcomes all beginners and experienced dulcimer players, including mountain (lap) dulcimer and hammered dulcimer players. Songs played include traditional mountain tunes, hymns and more modern music. The group meets at 1:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Saturday of every month in the basement of St. John’s.

Pic’ & Play has been playing together since 1995. The more experienced members welcome new players, help them navigate their instruments and guide them through some of the basics of tuning, strumming and playing.

The mountain dulcimer, also known as a fretted dulcimer or a lap dulcimer, is a uniquely American instrument. It evolved from the German scheitholz sometime in the early 1800s in Appalachia and was largely known only in this region until popularized more broadly in the 1950s.

For more information, call Kathy Jaqua at 828.349.3930 or Don Selzer at 828.293.0074.

large role in Ferrell’s music.

On his latest album, “At Home and In Nashville,” Ferrell focuses on country songwriting with a bittersweet edge, much like his heroes Hank Williams and Townes Van Zandt.

The show is free and open to the public. For more information on Ferrell, go to andyferrell.com. To learn about Innovation Brewing, go to innovation-brewing.com.

7:30 p.m. April 15 ($25 admission) and a Community Jam 5:30 p.m. April 18. 828.479.3364 or stecoahvalleycenter.com.

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

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

• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Macon County Line April 7, Outlaw Whiskey April 8, Tricia Ann (Americana) April 13, Jon Cox (country/rock) April 14 and Tammy & The Tune Twisters April 15. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.538.2488.

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

• Valley Tavern (Maggie Valley) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.926.7440 or valley-tavern.com.

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

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

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

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

Andy Ferrell will hits Sylva

‘Airing of the Quilts’ open call

The Appalachian Women’s Museum invites quilters and quilt collectors a chance to show off their fabrics during the annual “Airing of the Quilts” from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 6, at the museum in Dillsboro. With an April 15 deadline, registration to show a quilt is open now at appwomen.org/quilts.

Quilting can be lonely work. A new quilt means hours and hours spent alone measuring, cutting, sewing, pinning, quilting and binding. By the time one is done with a quilt, it feels good to show others that accomplishment.

At the same time, there are older quilts in closets and cedar chests in most families that need to come out into the air.

If they could talk, they would tell of decades of cold nights and warm bodies, of wrapping up babies and comforting the elderly. A quilt might tell of the loving hands that created it and even the individual pieces — the tan from a loved one’s shirt or stripes from an old tie — can tell stories of years past.

The airing of the quilts is a traditional rite of spring in the mountains. After a long winter with families snuggled under layers of warm handmade quilts, the warmer weather of springtime gave women a chance to freshen up and air-out these essential covers.

To honor this tradition, the AWM held its first event in 2018 with more than 65 quilts hanging on the wraparound porch, from clotheslines in the yard and on quilt racks and other surfaces throughout the first floor of the museum.

There will also be a fabric scrap exchange, a quilt pattern and book exchange, raffle and music. Unlike previous events, organizers are allowing repeats for those who have something so special they want to air it again.

Find more information and an entry form at appwomen.org/quilts. Print and return one form for each quilt to AWM, P.O. Box 245, Dillsboro, NC 28725.

Day-of, quilts must be delivered to the AWM between 810 a.m. Saturday, May 6, or call the museum at 828.482.5860 to make arrangements. Pickup after the event is 3-3:45 p.m. Quilts must be picked up the day of the airing.

For more information, email the museum at events@appwomen.org.

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

• Monday | CLOSED

• Tuesday & Wednesday | 11am-5pm (bar 6)

• Thursday | 11am-5pm (bar 6pm)

• Friday | 11am-5pm Lunch Menu 5pm-8pm Dinner Menu

• Saturday | 11am-5pm Lunch Menu 5pm-8pm Dinner Menu

• Sunday | 11am-5pm (bar 6pm)

Experience a Casual, Relaxing Atmosphere

perfect for all walks of life, from families to golf groups to ladies who lunch. We pride ourselves on using fresh ingredients from our gardens and supporting local farmers. The details are priority.

Dillsboro’s ‘Easter Hat Parade’

A beloved Western North Carolina tradition, the “Easter Hat Parade” will take place at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 8, in downtown Dillsboro.

Bring your finest Easter bonnet and dress up the smiles on everyone’s face by joining in and walking in the parade. And if you do not participate in the parade, you can simply do as hundreds of others do — come to Dillsboro and watch the array of folks strolling “down the avenue” in their finery.

Bring your own hat or arrive early (10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.) at Dogwood Crafters to make your own. A full day of fun will include kid’s activities, face painting and visits with the Easter Bunny.

Ribbons and prizes will also be awarded for unusual hat categories. The parade travels on streets around downtown. This is a pet-friendly event.

For more information, go to visitdillsboro.org/specialevents.

• Smoky Mountain Spring Fest will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 15, at the Stecoah Valley Center in Robbinsville. Children’s activities, arts and crafts, food vendors, and much more. This event is free and open to the public. 828.479.3364 or stecoahvalleycenter.com.

• “Easter Eggstravaganza” will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 8, at Darnell Farms in Bryson City. Egg hunt, food trucks, vendors, family-friendly activities and an appearance by the Easter Bunny. For

more information, go to facebook.com/darnellfarmsnc.

• “Bunny Hopper Express” train event will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 8, at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City. Festivities include an Easter egg hunt with prizes, a giveaway bag with activities to enjoy during the train ride, and an Easter treat for our junior railroaders to enjoy. There will also be plenty of opportunities for pictures with the Easter Bunny. Boxed lunches available. For more information and/or to register, call 800.872.4681 or go to gsmr.com.

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

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

• “Take A Flight” with four new wines every

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

• “Uncorked: Wine & Rail Pairing Experience” will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on select dates at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad in Bryson City. Full service all-adult first class car. Wine pairings with a meal, and more. For more information and/or to register, call 800.872.4681 or go to gsmr.com.

The ‘Easter Hat Parade’ returns to Dillsboro April 8. File photo

The Appalachian Women’s Museum in Dillsboro will host quilters and collectors at their annual ‘Airing of the Quilts.’

Donated photo

On the wall

New sculpture at WCU

Located outside Western Carolina University’s Apodaca Science Building is a new sculpture by Spruce Pine artist Hoss Haley, titled “Staurolite,” that will be installed in the coming weeks.

This new work is part of a comprehensive initiative within the Apodaca Science Building spearheaded by WCU’s Public Art Committee and the WCU Fine Art Museum.

During the design phase of the Apodaca Science Building in 2018-2019, the WCU Fine Art Museum and the University’s Public Art Committee advocated for funds in the construction budget to commission and purchase site-responsive artwork that would be permanently displayed within the building’s footprint.

This created opportunities for WCU Fine Art Museum’s curatorial team, in conjunction with the Public Art Committee and faculty in the arts and sciences, to select artwork and commission new works with a meaningful connection to the building’s design concepts, the Cherokee history of the site, and the sciences practiced by students and faculty in the building.

The museum commissioned several works for Apodaca, including glass works by Janis Miltenberger that explore connections between plants and human health, a kinetic glass and steel sculpture by John Littleton and Kate Vogel that draws inspiration from chaos theory, and an impending bronze sculpture by Eastern Band Cherokee artist Joshua Adams that tells the story of Judaculla.

The museum also acquired a painting by current undergraduate student Amber Rousseau that connects to her research on bird window strikes on campus, as well as a ceramic work by Eastern Band Cherokee artist Joel Queen and the WCU Digali’i Native American Student Organization entitled “We only want to be seen as human.”

Haley’s “Staurolite” is a 12-foot representation of a Staurolite

Twin, a native mineral commonly found in Northern Georgia but also present in the Western North Carolina region.

The name “Staurolite” comes from the Greek word “stauros” for cross and “lithos” for stone, giving it a literal translation of “crossstone.” Haley created his sculpture to look like the mineral after discovering ties to local geology and lore.

“For many years, people have used fairy stones as good luck charms, believing that they protect the wearer,” Haley said.

Future art installations in the Apodaca Science Building will continue throughout 2023, featuring Joshua Adams and others. Follow Bardo Arts Center on Facebook or Instagram to learn more about new installations in the building and find out more information about Haley’s artist talk about his new sculpture.

For more information, go to wcu.edu/bardo-arts-center.

Haley’s ‘Staurolite’ is a 12-foot representation of a Staurolite Twin, a native mineral commonly found in Northern Georgia but also present in the Western North Carolina region.

• The immersive installation “Courtney M. Leonard — BREACH: Logbook | CORIOLIS” is currently being showcased through May 5 in the Fine Art Museum at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.

Created by the Shinnecock Nation ceramic artist as part of Leonard’s BREACH series, the exhibition explores cultural and historical connections to water, fishing practices, and sustainability. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday. Free and open to the public.

arts.wcu.edu/breach.

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

• Dogwood Crafters in Dillsboro will offer a selection of upcoming art classes and workshops. For more information and a full schedule of activities, go to dogwoodcrafters.com/classes.html or call 828.586.2248.

Donated photo

On the stage

Justice, morality in ‘Elephant’s Graveyard’

A stage production of “Elephant’s Graveyard” will be held at 7:30 p.m. April 7-8 and at 2 p.m. April 9 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

HART’s Studio Season often presents plays that make you think and may challenge your world views. “Elephant’s Graveyard” is a play that examines justice, morality, and fear based on the true story of tragedy in Erwin, Tennessee in September of 1916.

Directed by Western Carolina University student Grace Hayes and utilizing the vast talents of fellow WCU students as well as HART veteran actors, they have created a moving performance.

When a traveling circus stumbles into a gory tragedy in the muddy town of Erwin, Tennessee, both the town and circus must face the harsh reality of justice, revenge, and heartbreak, resulting in the only known lynching of an elephant.

“Elephant’s Graveyard” buzzes with truth about the consequences of misun-

derstanding, the invisible but enormous gap between artists and their audiences, and the infernal beauty of vaudeville.

The show features performances from WCU students Caitlyn Brown, Kenna Gokey, Dabney Doepner, Hope Chellman, Imani Hargett, Matthew McCanless, Ryan Culbreth, and Blair Burris as well as HART community actors David Spivey, Vicki Mangieri, Mark Kroczynski, Jay Howell, and Jenny Taylor.

The artistic team is led by director Grace Hayes and includes WCU students Dani Gama, Annie Watsic, Luke Younts, Stephanie Gall, Matthew McCaskill and Riley Ready.

To make reservations, call the HART Box Office at 828.456.6322 or go to harttheatre.org to make reservations online. Tickets are $21.50 for adults, $11.50 for students. Mature content, mature audiences only.

HART Box Office winter hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 35 p.m. HART is located at 250 Pigeon St. in Waynesville.

The cast of ‘Elephant’s Graveyard,’ a play that will run at HART Theatre.

Donated photo

The party everyone’s invited to: National Poetry Month

April is the season when Chaucer’s pilgrims gathered before setting off to Canterbury and the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket. “Oh, to be in England,” wrote poet Robert Browning, “Now that April’s there.” Later, T.S. Eliot added a different perspective: “April is the cruellest month, breeding lilacs out of a dead land.”

In her poem “Spring,” Edna St. Vincent Millay also looks askance at the fourth month: “To what purpose, April, do you return again?” and then ends with

“It is not enough that yearly, down this hill/April/Comes

like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.”

In April, poets have often discovered joy and sorrow, love and grief, the sacred and the profane. It is also the month when the rest of us are invited to join poets and enthusiasts for National Poetry Month. Sponsored by the National Academy of American Poets, and now in its 28th year, this festival of of verse written long ago and as recently as yesterday is the largest literary celebration in the world. Libraries, schools, bookstores, families, and poets all break out the noisemakers and balloons, and make a 30-day party of poetry. Anyone wishing to join in the festivities has only to search online for “National Poetry Month” and start clicking.

That fingertip exploration will bring the adventurer dozens of ideas for celebrations, hundreds of great poems, and online readings by lovers of verse and the poets themselves. Check out, for example, poets.org, and you’ll find all sorts of clever ideas, particularly for the kids, that will help bring to life the poems of writers both living and dead.

Now, certain readers of this column may be entertaining some thoughts along these lines: “Poetry. Don’t make me laugh. I haven’t read a poem since Old Lady Fleming’s lit class in high school. Talk about a snore. Studying that junk was like taking a hit of Xanax. It turned me into a zombie.”

Yet that same guy will finish up his coffee, put aside this paper, and head outside to his Ford Ranger, where he’ll flip on Johnny

Cash singing “Long Black Veil:”

The judge said, son, what is your alibi If you were somewhere else, then you won’t have to die.

I spoke not a word, though it meant my life For I’d been in the arms of my best friend’s wife. He doesn’t realize it, but our pickup driv-

Despite these encounters with obscure verse, I would argue that inside most of us there’s a heart for poetry. My proof? Take any 3-year-old, plop that little whirlwind down on the sofa beside you, and open “Mother Goose.” Add a dose of dramatic flair, put some rhythm in your delivery, and feed him classics like “Baa Baa Black Sheep,” “The Farmer in the Dell,” and “Little Boy Blue.” That kid may have never laid eyes on a sheep and couldn’t tell you what a dell is for all the M&Ms in the world, but if you’re putting some beat and rhyme into your voice, you’re going to have a captive audience. Add hand-motion poems like “Pat-a-Cake” and “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider,” and your triumph is complete.

er is listening to poetry, only in this case it’s set to music. “Long Black Veil” is a beautiful ballad about personal honor and the death of an innocent man.

Others may claim they just don’t get poetry. They read Eliot’s “The Waste Land” and think it might be more appropriately titled “A Waste of Time.” Wallace Stevens’ “The Emperor of Ice-Cream” leaves them as bumfuzzled and frustrated as the man who has once again misplaced his car keys.

Here I can sympathize. Years ago, I sat in a bar in Charlottesville, Virginia, listening to a 20-something writer read a long, impressionistic poem about a motorcycle wreck. For nearly half an hour, we in his miserable captive audience suffered his water torture of nonsensical verse. Here is a facsimile representative of our time in that dungeon:

Hot tar and gravel

The whine of a single mosquito

Sky the color of dust

A whirring of crickets

Broken glass

Jenelle phone home

Or was that E.T.

Such a torment might easily have qualified as a tenth circle in Dante’s Hell.

Ehrman reading, signing at Folkmoot

Like those children, we adults can also enjoy a romp with words, a rollicking verse or a humorous surprise as is found in C.A. Smith’s “An Unexpected Ending.” On the other hand, a poem can provide solace for an aching heart. We may not fully grasp, for example, the meaning of Millay’s “Dirge Without Music,” but for anyone who has ever grieved by the grave of a recently departed loved one this raw elegy will likely strike home.

They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.  More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.

Which brings us to this point: poetry is good for the soul. It is wisdom distilled. It can bring us laughter and tears, beauty and truth, but whatever its effect, at best it expands us, making us more fully human.

And here’s April, tapping us on the shoulder, opening the door, and inviting us to the banquet.

Let’s join the party.

(Jeff Minick reviews books and has written four of his own: two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust On Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, “Learning As I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.” minick0301@gmail.com.)

Presented by Blue Ridge Books, a special reading and signing with Bart D. Ehrman will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, April 14, in the Queen Auditorium at the Folkmoot Friendship Center in Waynesville.

Ehrman, an authority on the New Testament and history of early Christianity, is a distinguished professor of religious studies at UNC Chapel Hill. He has written or edited more than 30 books and created nine popular audio and video courses for “The Great Courses.” His books have been translated into 27 languages, with over two million copies and courses sold.

Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door. Tickets available at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville or by calling the bookstore at 828.456.6000.

Writer Jeff Minick

Dialing down the risk

Haywood Waterways hopes to reduce future flood risk with grant

BY HOLLY KAYS OUTDOORS E DITOR

Over the next two years, Haywood Waterways Association will implement a $2 million grant aimed at protecting Canton, Clyde and Cruso when the next flood comes. The grant is by far the largest in Haywood Waterways’ 25-year history.

“Is it big? Yes. But are we able to do it? Yes,” said Executive Director Preston Jacobsen. “We have through time gained experience and the resources required, whether that be the team or the labor itself, the experience that we have through the years of work or the partnerships that we’ve established through those decades of being an organiza-

tion. So this was just more of a natural evolution of us scaling up to this level of work.”

While Haywood Waterways has a quartercentury track record of putting grants to use for water quality and river restoration projects, historically those grants have been a fraction the size of the newly awarded N.C. Land and Water Fund grant — generally $150,000 to $350,000 at the high end.

But larger sums are needed to combat a larger problem. In 2004, two back-to-back hurricanes caused the Pigeon River to swell and a 500-year flood to inundate Canton and Clyde. In 2021, it happened again, this time as the result of flash flooding from Tropical Storm Fred. Rapidly rising floodwaters ripped through Cruso and down into Bethel and Canton, killing six people and causing tens of millions of dollars in property damage.

The NCLWCF — formerly known as the N.C. Clean Water Management Trust Fund — received $67 million worth of requests for $15

million of funding from its Flood Risk Reduction Grant. Not only was Haywood Waterways selected as one of 17 funded projects, but it received $2 million of its $2.3 million request, tying it with the City of Kinston in Lenoir County for the largest award received.

THE GRANTS

The $2 million grant will fund flood risk and flood impact reduction projects throughout the Upper Pigeon River and Upper Hominy Creek watersheds in Haywood County — with a focus on the Town of Canton.

“There is a need for a flood risk reduction plan, and there is an urgent need to protect what we have while we have that opportunity to do so, before and while development continues to increase and population continues to grow,” Jacobsen said. “So we’re looking at this as more of a hedge. Along the same vein, we’re also shoring up and working on restoration projects where applicable to reduce the impacts downstream, whether that be water quality impacts or property and human life impacts to businesses and personal homeowners downstream.”

Haywood Waterways is not going it alone. The Town of Canton, Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy and Haywood County Soil and Water Conservation District are all partnering on the project Haywood

Waterways is administering. The partners will carry out the project in concert with a $200,000 grant Haywood Waterways received in October 2022, also from the NCLWCF, to fund planning efforts for the types of projects to be funded through the more recent $2 million grant.

“This planning grant is pairing up with this larger flood risk reduction grant to do the actual work,” Jacobsen said. “It was sort of backwards chicken-and-the-egg situation, but the funding became available at different times from the state legislature.”

Planning work is now in its initial stages, with community meetings from Clyde upstream as far as Cruso to take place this summer and fall, giving the planning team and engineering firm insight about issues and opportunities to work toward a more floodresilient Pigeon River Watershed. Also this summer, Haywood Waterways will conduct its search for an engineering firm to do hydrologic modeling, create a finite project list and possibly carry out selected projects as well.

“We’re a team of three and a board of 15 members and with partners galore, but it’s really the community that makes this kind of work happen,” Jacobsen said.

After planning is complete, most of the work will take place in late 2023 and throughout 2024, potentially extending into 2025.

The flood risk reduction project area does

Volunteers plant river cane at Rivers Edge Park in Clyde during a January 2021 project aimed to boost the property’s resilience against flooding. Holly Kays photo

FFloodwaters surge outside the home of Natasha Bright in Cruso on Aug. 17, 2021. Natasha Bright photo

Mainspring celebrates land purchases

Clean up the Tuck

Mainspring Conservation Trust has purchased two new properties that will add to ongoing conservation projects in Macon and Jackson counties.

In Macon County, Mainspring has purchased a pasture that was formerly part of the Earnest Childers Farm, adding acreage to two other Mainspring tracts that are all part of Historic Watauga Town. These tracts will continue to be available for teaching and research in Western Carolina University’s anthropology program.

Mainspring also bought Sweetwater Cove in the Caney Fork watershed of Jackson County. On three sides, the land abuts U.S. Forest Service property. Mainspring is working on multiple projects that will conserve much of the forested coves that protect the headwaters of Sugar Creek.

not include Chestnut Mountain Nature Park, the 500-acre park that Canton opened 1 mile east of town last spring. However, Haywood Waterways is currently working on stream bank improvements on the property through yet another NCLWF grant. The survey is nearly complete for the $180,000 project. Next comes planning and design permitting, with shovels expected to be in the ground this summer.

THE WORK

Work will include completing previously identified shovel-ready projects to stabilize riverbanks in the watershed and working with the Town of Canton to establish engineered flood storage — if feasible — and secure a clean water intake source that also provides additional community benefits. Haywood Waterways will also identify data infrastructure gaps in the area, setting them and their partners up for future funding to install new gauges and sensors to better map out flood frequency and impacts.

About half the grant funds will go toward efforts to conserve farmland, secure conservation easements and purchase land for conservation in areas at greatest risk for future flooding.

When land is developed, natural filtration systems like grass and tree roots often disappear in favor of hard surfaces like concrete and asphalt. Stormwater flows quickly over these impervious surfaces, picking up pollutants as it speeds toward the nearest stream. On the other hand, natural surfaces slow the water down, keeping the riverbanks from filling up as quickly and catching pollutants before they can enter the waterway. By protecting land along the Pigeon River and its tributaries from development, Haywood Waterways hopes to keep future flood risk from climbing higher.

This effort is a scaled-up version of Rivers Edge Park in Clyde, which was created following the 2004 flood. FEMA funding allowed the town to buy out the 4.5-acre

property, and in 2013 the park was created as floodwater storage to protect against future flooding, with recreation as a secondary purpose. In the years since, Haywood Waterways has received grants to create a master plan for the park and revegetate it with native species intended to further mitigate flooding impacts.

“We actually used that as one of our prime examples of work that can be done here locally,” Jacobsen said. “River’s Edge is still undergoing maintenance and improvement, but it continues to do what it was intended to do.”

The October planning grant contains funding for a study that hopes to put a dollar figure on such flood reduction benefits.

“We hope that there is opportunity to show that there is an economic and environmental benefit to protecting or evaluating a piece of property along the floodplain comparable with what the private market may value it at,” Jacobsen said.

Such a result, he said, could encourage the state to adjust how it evaluates easements and conservation pricing to match the private market.

“We think if we’re able to show from a protection standpoint, the value of that land is comparable to the private market, we may able to see an increase in conservation easements, not only in our part of the state but across the region,” he said.

Use of project funds is “extremely flexible,” but roughly 40-50% of the $2 million grant — about $800,000 to $1.1 million — will likely go toward conservation easements and land acquisition. Jacobsen hopes to protect 50-100 acres upstream of Canton this way.

“Really we’re just listening to our partners,” Jacobsen said. “We knew that there was a need. We’re always aware of funding opportunities and when they become available, and so we just do what we do best and kind of mesh all that together in a package and an application. And here we are, awarded $2 million to take on that opportunity.”

The annual Tuck River Cleanup will commence on Saturday, April 15, inviting hundreds of volunteers to raft or walk 20 miles of the Tuckasegee River between Cullowhee and Whittier in search of litter.

The event will be based at the Western Carolina University Alumni Tower on campus, with registration held 911 a.m. Due to available gear, registration for those wishing to raft the river will be limited to 500 volunteers. Walkers can register 10-11 a.m.

The first 300 registrants will receive a free T-shirt upon their return, and supplies will be provided.

Rafters will be assigned to a raft and given a paddle, personal flotation device and trash bags. Participants must weigh at least 40 pounds and wear shoes that won’t come off in the water. Crocs and flip-flops are not allowed, nor are coolers, glass or alcohol.

For more information, contact coordinator Martin Jacurso at 828.227.8804. Pre-registration is not available.

Explore Panthertown

Friends of Panthertown is hosting a series of trail work days and guided hikes this month.

• On Friday, April 7, take a guided, 8-mile hike to the top of Big Green Mountain, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. from Salt Rock Gap.

• At 6-7 p.m. Tuesday, April 11, attend a virtual open house with Friends of

Panthertown to chat, ask questions and give feedback.

• Pitch in 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 15, for a volunteer trail workday cleaning up the headwaters, starting from Salt Rock Gap.

• Watercolor and hike the icons of Panthertown Saturday, April 29, with Friends of Panthertown and Debby Singleton. Sign up at panthertown.org/contact. Learn more at panthertown.org/events.

Western Carolina University students raft the Tuckasegee River in search of trash and other debris during a previous Tuck River Cleanup. WCU photo

Executive Director Jordan Smith (left) and Land Conservation Manager Emmie

Cornell stand in front of the newly acquired property at Historic Watauga Town. Mainspring photo

Become a lifelong gardener

Learn how to indulge your love of gardening despite age or mobility level during a two-hour program at 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 19, at the Haywood County Cooperative Extension Office on Raccoon Road in Waynesville.

Topics will include how to adapt existing tools for more efficient use around the garden, proper body mechanics to use while working in the garden and garden design. Haywood County Master Gardener Volunteers Rusti Nichols and Carleen Treviño will facilitate the class.

To reserve a spot, mail a $10 check and email address or drop if off in person by Friday, April 14. Checks should be payable to Haywood CES and mailed or delivered to Extension Learn to Grow Class, 589 Raccoon Road, Suite 118, Waynesville, NC 28786. Direct questions to mgarticles@charter.net or 828.456.3575. Proceeds fund horticultural projects and grants in Haywood County.

Professor publishes book celebrating Alfred Russel Wallace

A new book by Jim Costa, executive director of Western Carolina University’s Highlands Biological Station, showcases the life of a Victorian-era scientist who was arguably just as important as Charles Darwin.

“The kudos tend to go to the first discoverers, such as Darwin,” Costa said, but Wallace was right there on the same intellectual path as Darwin, independently pursuing the question of species origins and discovering natural selection.

“Radical by Nature — The Revolutionary Life of Alfred Russel Wallace” dives into scholarly research, journals, notebooks and letters that bring Wallace’s fascinating history to life. Wallace co-discovered natural selection and founded the field of evolutionary biogeography through his expeditions in South America and southeast Asia, discovering thousands of species new to science and publishing dozens of papers, many considered landmark works today. He wrote more than 20 books, some now considered classics of biology.

The book also examines Wallace’s complicated relationship with Darwin and how, despite their differences, the two were friends and mutually supportive of each other’s work.

Costa’s book, which has already garnered starred reviews from Kirkus and Foreword Reviews, has just been published by Princeton University Press and is available from all major booksellers.

Go birding

Join birding expert Howard Browers at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, April 6, on the Waynesville Greenway to look for returning songbirds. Loaner binoculars are available. Sign up at haywoodcountync.gov/recreation.

Forage with the Museum of the Cherokee Indian

A lecture series focusing on foraging will extend through May at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee.

In addition to springtime harvests, the series also highlights and encourages traditional craft, including beadwork, corn bead harvesting and use and ribbon skirt making.

Upcoming programs include a discussion on the history of Cherokee beadwork at 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 5; a virtual tagalong with a Cherokee forager hunting for ramps at 5 p.m. Friday, April 14; the stepby-step process of planting, growing and harvesting corn beads at 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 19; and a search for the delectable wild springtime green sochan at 5 p.m. Friday, April 28.

“This season’s lecture series has a focus on foraging and the preparation of foraged foods, as well as the environmental impact and sustainability of foraging correctly,” said Jennifer Wilson, Aniyvwiyahi Community Program Coordinator at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. “The gathering of food and gathering together to share and take in this knowledge is important for our Eastern Band of Cherokee

Indians community, but also for the surrounding communities to maintain the longevity of some of these endangered plants.”

Programs are offered virtually and avail-

Unravel the secrets of soil

Learn about soils and composting at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 8, at Bicentennial Park in Sylva.

able on MCI’s YouTube channel. The Spring Lecture Series is made possible through support from the North Carolina Arts Council. For more information, visit mci.org.

Minda Daughtry, horticulture agent for Jackson County Cooperative Extension, will share her extensive knowledge about soil remediation, soil testing and sampling, adjusting soil pH and nutrients, fertilizers and soil biology. She’ll also touch on composting: slow and fast composting, vermicompost, common composting problems and how to troubleshoot them.

This

is not a workshop, and no registration is required. Bring a camp or folding chair to this outdoor class. Co-sponsored by the Jackson County Public Library and Friends of the Jackson County Public Library. 828.586.2016 or jcpl-adults@fontanalib.org.

EPA proposes PFAS regulation

Public comment is open through May 30 for a proposed regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency to establish legally enforceable levels of six types of PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances known as “forever chemicals,” that are known to occur in drinking water.

The EPA is proposing a maximum contaminant level of 4 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS and would also regulate GenX chemicals, PFNA, PFHxS and PFBS using a Hazard Index calculation to deter-

mine if the combined levels of these PFAS pose a potential risk to human health.

Once the proposed EPA rule becomes final, public water systems will have three years to comply with the regulation. The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality has been working with public water systems to prepare for the proposed regulation and assess PFAS levels in drinking water systems statewide. The department is using Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to help address PFAS contamination. It is also acting to better identify PFAS sources and to reduce emissions and discharges.

This includes requiring PFAS informa-

tion from new facilities and industries, developing permit conditions, inventorying and prioritizing locations for additional assessment, conducting groundwater testing and additional monitoring in areas with known or suspected contamination and requiring all solid waste sanitary landfills to include PFAS analysis in all regular groundwater, surface water and leachate samples.

For more information about PFAS, visit deq.nc.gov/news/key-issues/emergingcompounds/understanding-pfas. To view or comment on the proposed EPA regulation, visit regulations.gov and search for Docket EPA-HQ-OW-2022-0114.

Group size limited at Whiteoak Sink during wildflower season

During the wildflower season at Whiteoak Sink in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which extends through Sunday, May 7, visitors will be limited to groups of eight or fewer people.

Whiteoak Sink is a unique, sensitive area that hosts many rare plants. Limiting group size is intended to protect these species from trampling, which has been an issue in the past. Overuse causes damage and soil compaction when large groups crowd off-trail to take photos or view flowers up close.

A team of volunteers on site will provide wildflower viewing information and collect monitoring data. Park managers have monitored sensitive wildflower species in the Whiteoak Sink area since 2016. The Smokies has more species of flowering plants than any other North American national park.

Parking is limited, so visitors should come prepared with alternative destinations in case the lot is full. Parking is not allowed on road shoulders.

free demonstration

A forager uses the traditional, sustainable method of harvesting ramps. MCI photo

A photographer bends down to frame a wildflower. NPS photo

House bill seeks $5 million for wildlife crossings

The N.C. House of Representatives has filed a budget bill that includes $5 million for infrastructure to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions across the state, earning applause from the Safe Passage Fund Coalition.

“We are so grateful that the House has prioritized funding to reduce wildlife–vehicle collisions on Interstate 40 near the Smokies and elsewhere around North Carolina,” said Jeff Hunter, Southern Appalachian director of National Parks Conservation Association, a Safe Passage Fund Coalition member. “This is a win-win for wildlife and the motoring public.”

The Coalition — comprised of The Conservation Fund, Defenders of Wildlife, Great Smoky Mountains Association, National Parks Conservation Association, North Carolina Wildlife Federation, Wildlands Network and The Wilderness Society — is working to make the 28-mile section of Interstate 40 in the Pigeon River Gorge a safer place for people and wildlife.

Infrastructure that would be covered by the funding includes overpasses, underpasses and fences along roads and highways to increase safety for wildlife and humans alike. According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, 20,331 wildlife–vehicle collisions were reported across the state in 2019, and 18,607 such collisions were reported in 2020 — a decrease the NCDOT largely attributes to reduced travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. A 2021 release from the department

additionally estimated that 7% of all reported vehicle crashes in the state involve animal strikes, with almost half occurring in the twilight hours or at night, between October and December.

State funding would leverage unprecedented federal resources and could help complete projects currently underway. In the Pigeon River Gorge, one such project, along I-40 at Exit 7 near Harmon Den, has seen progress recently with the installation of wildlife benches and cattle guards to deter wildlife from making dangerous crossings into traffic. But fencing to funnel wildlife under the highway has not yet been installed due to lack of funding.

Earlier this year, members of the Safe Passage Fund Coalition issued an action alert to their supporters to urge N.C. Governor Roy Cooper to allocate funding to protect wildlife from roadway collisions, citing President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which included $350 million for wildlife crossing construction over and under roadways.

It’s still early in the budget process, with the House filing its initial version of its budget bill March 6. The bill now awaits consideration from the House Appropriations Committee. Allocating the funds will require agreement by the Senate and either a signature by or veto override of Gov. Roy Cooper. The budget process is expected to wrap up by the end of the fiscal year June 30.

Spur Tunnel reopens for Easter week

The Spur Tunnel in Sevier County, Tennessee, will be open to two lanes April 7-16 in anticipation of high demand the week of Easter. It will return to one lane April 7 through the end of the month as contractors finish installing new lights and pavement striping. The tunnel is expected to fully reopen by the end of April.

Linville Gorge camping permits move online

Due to increased demand leading to frequent busy signals and long hold times, overnight permits for the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area will now be available online rather than through the Grandfather Ranger District Office.

Permits are now available on recreation.gov, a move intended to streamline the process and make permits more accessible. While permits remain free, a $6 fee is now required for each transaction, though not for each person — one group leader can reserve permits for up to 10 people.

There will be no changes to other permit requirements. Linville Gorge Wilderness Area has had a quote-based permit system in place since the 1970s, with permits required to camp Friday and Saturday nights May through October, and on Sunday nights during three-day holiday weekends. Fifty permits are available per

night, of which 35 are reservable one month in advance and 15 are set aside for lastminute reservations three nights in advance. No permit is needed for day use, roadside camping or camping on Table Rock.

Permits for May are now open, and going forward the one-month window will open on the first day of the previous month. For example, June permits will be reservable starting at 10 a.m. May 1. Last-minute permits for the weekend of May 5 will be available online at 10 a.m. May 3. Reserve permits at recreation.gov or by phone to 877.444.6777.

Half marathon racers will run through downtown Bryson City Saturday, May 20. File photo

Race into strawberry season

The Strawberry Jam Half Marathon/5K will return for its second year Saturday, May 20, in Bryson City. The half marathon will start at 7 a.m. and the 5K at 7:15 a.m.

Both races start and end at Darnell Farms, which will be holding its annual Strawberry Jam Festival that day. The half marathon course has been redesigned for

2023. This improved route will include a 1mile loop at Darnell Farms then follow U.S. 19 through Bryson City. Runners will go twice through the outer edge of Deep Creek in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park before following a section of the Tuckeseegee River and then to the finish at Darnell Farms. Aid stations with water and Gatorade will be set up every 2 miles.

Registration is $70 for the half marathon and $35 for the 5K. Sign up at gloryhoundevents.com.

Waynesville playground closed for repairs

The all-abilities playground in the Waynesville Recreation Park will be closed for about three weeks for drainage repairs. The playground will reopen to the public as soon as repairs are finished. For more information contact 828.456.2030 or lkinsland@waynesvillenc.gov.

Ingles Nutrition Notes

written by Ingles Dietitian Leah McGrath

5 EXPENSIVE MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE GROCERY SHOPPING

1. Shopping when hungry. When we’re hungry EVERYTHING looks good! We find ourselves putting things in our shopping cart because the packaging is appealing, and the descriptions sound tasty…and who can resist the smell of freshly baked breads or donuts when we’re hungry (or “hangry”).

2. No plan. If you don’t have a plan for meals, it’s easy to get sidetracked and end up missing important recipe ingredients. Make sure you have a shopping list and some recipes in mind.

3. Too brand loyal. If you refuse to buy or try different brands you may be missing out on great sale items or store brands.

4. Fooled by packaging. Manufacturers can get creative with how they package food. Be sure and check the unit price on the shelf to make sure you’re not paying more for a fancy box or container.

5. Using convenience and prepared foods. Generally, the more you can prepare and cook foods yourself, the more you’ll save. This is true for many items from breads and desserts to trail mix and even meat items. Convenience and prepared foods may save you time – but they won’t save you money so choose wisely.

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

Leah

McGrath - Dietitian

Ingles Markets… caring about your health

Notes from a Plant Nerd

BY ADAM B IGELOW

It’s in our blood

Each spring I am struck by the beauty and encouraged by the support given by bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) as it emerges and begins its process of opening the flower and unfurling the leaf. The flower bud and leaf come up together, poking through the duff of last year’s tree leaves blanketing the forest floor. Before opening, the flower looks like an egg on the end of a long skinny stalk. This top-heavy flower might just flop over, were it not for the leaf wrapped around the stem, like a helping hand holding the flower for us to see.

Both the common name of bloodroot and the botanical Latin name of Sanguinaria are references to the reddish-orange sap that oozes out of the root, or more correctly from the rhizome. A rhizome is a modified stem that grows underground and sends out both roots and shoots from growth points, or nodes, found along the stem. There are many plants that produce rhizomes, including rivercane (Arundinaria spp.), some ferns and grasses. There are some rhizomes that we eat, like ginger and turmeric.

The rhizome and its bloodlike sap have many uses, both historically and currently. It is important to note that bloodroot should not be used as medicine, either topically or internally, unless you are under the care of a knowledgeable medicinal herbalist, as it is a potent and strong medicine. Bloodroot is in the poppy family of plants (Papaveraceae) and like other members of this plant family, including opium poppies, it has potentially toxic alkaloids that can be poisonous to animals, including humans.

Many a kid growing up in Appalachia has memories of digging up bloodroot, snapping open the rhizome to watch the “blood” ooze, and then painting their faces and lips with the sap. I’m going to suggest to not let kids do that anymore. This toxic sap has been used to burn off skin tags and warts, and can have lasting, negative impacts on skin. But that is not to say that we shouldn’t be using bloodroot as a dye. Just not on your person.

Cherokee and other indigenous people of eastern North America have and continue to use the sap of bloodroot as a red dye in basket making, along with yellowroot (Xanthorhiza simplicissima) for yellow color, black walnut (Juglans nigra) for brown and butternut (Juglans cinera) for black. In researching this part of the story, I came across an article by the late George Ellison, a naturalist without compare, from the Dec. 14, 2005, issue of The Smoky

Mountain News, online at smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/15308-traditional-cherokee-dyes.)

Once the flower of bloodroot has had enough time to strengthen and grow, it opens into a beautiful, shock-white flower with vivid yellow stamens. The leaf then unfurls from around the stem. Its supporting role finished, it lays out flat above the ground and begins photosynthesizing to capture sunlight. As the season progresses and the tree canopy fills in, blocking sunlight from the forest floor, the bloodroot leaves get larger until they eventually die back in the late summer/early fall.

Bloodroot and many other spring wild-

flowers in Southern Appalachia have developed an interesting method of dispersing their seeds. Each seed of bloodroot develops a fat and protein rich part called an elaiosome that is attached to the seed. Ants, and it turns out yellowjackets, find this elaiosome delicious, and will carry the seeds back to their mounds, eat the elaiosome and toss the seed onto their waste pile. This effectively plants the seed, allowing it to grow. Often you can see a cluster of bloodroot — or trilliums (Trillium spp.), which also have elaiosomes — that are all growing from a central area. This indicates that they were planted by these accidental ant farmers.

Unfortunately, it turns out that imported red fire ants, which have invaded the mountains in the last 10 years, like to eat both the elaiosome and the seed of bloodroot and other spring wildflowers, which will contribute to the decline of wildflower populations, along with the impacts of habitat loss through development and human-caused climate change. However, I remain sanguine that bloodroot and other wildflowers of Southern Appalachia will continue to thrive long after I am gone. Especially if we fall in love with them and protect them. It’s in our blood to do so.

(Adam Bigelow lives in Cullowhee and leads weekly wildflower walks and ecotours through Bigelow’s Botanical Excursions. bigelownc@gmail.com.)

Bloodroot is named for the reddish-orange sap that oozes from its rhizome.

Adam Bigelow photo

COMMUNITY EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

• The Jackson Arts Market takes place from 1-5 p.m. every Saturday at 533 West Main St. in Sylva with live music and an array of local artists.

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

• Jackson County Green Energy Park is once again welcoming visitors. It is open to the public each week 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. For more information email info@jacksonnc.org or 828.631.0271.

FUNDRAISERS AND B ENEFITS

• Jackson County Senior Center will host a GIANT Yard Sale from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, April 1. Proceeds from the event will fund the Smoky Mountain Senior Games which begin on Monday, April 3.

H EALTH AND WELLNESS

• A Feldenkrais class will be held 5:30-6:30 p.m. Wednesdays, April 5, 12, 26 and May 3, at the Folkmoot Friendship Center in Conference Room A1. Feldenkrais uses gentle movement and directed awareness to help you increase ease of movement and improve flexibility and coordination. Mats not supplied. Class costs $18$25 on a sliding scale, to register or learn more call 505.438.9109 or email eetm2023@proton.me.

• Yoga for kids of all ages will take place at 4 p.m. Thursday, April 27, at the Macon County Library. Bring a yoga mat. For more call 828.524.3600.

• Mountain Area pregnancy Services and the WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counselor work together to provide a casual support group for prenatal and breastfeeding individuals from 1-2 p.m. on Tuesdays at Mountain Area Pregnancy Services, 177 N Main St. Waynesville, NC. All are welcome, registration is recommended. For more information please call 828.558.4550.

CLUBS AND M EETINGS

• Chess 101 takes place 3:30-4:30 p.m. every Friday at the Canton Branch of the Haywood County Library. For more information, email Ashlyn Godleski at ashlyn.godleski@haywoodcountync.gov or call 828.356.2567.

• The Canton Branch of the Haywood County Public Library Creative Writing Group meets 10:30 a.m.-noon on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month. For more information, email Jennifer at jennifer.stuart@haywoodcountync.gov or call 828.356.2561.

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

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

AUTHORS AND B OOKS

• Professor Bart D. Ehrman, Biblical scholar and author of six New York Times bestselling books including “Jesus” and “The Triumph of Christianity,” will speak

n All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.

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

and answer questions at 7 p.m. Friday, April 14, at the Queen Auditorium in the Folkmoot Friendship Center at 112 Virginia Ave. in Waynesville. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door Tickets may be purchased at Blue Ridge Books or by calling 828.226.5921.

• Tremont Writers Conference, an intensive five-day retreat for writers of fiction, nonfiction and poetry will take place Wednesday, Oct. 25-29. Applications to participate in the event may be submitted online now through April 30 at writers.gsmit.org.

K IDS & FAMILIES

• Creative Writing Club will take place at 3:30 p.m. on the fourth Wednesday of every month at the Macon County Public Library. The writing club is intended for ages 8-12. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.

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

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

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

• Art afternoon takes place at 3:30 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month at the Macon County Public Library. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.

A&E

• Art in the Gardens will take place April 2-May 15 at Lake Junaluska. Artwork by Lake Junaluska community artists will be featured in several of the 16 gardens throughout the grounds. For more information visit lakejunaluska.com/activities.

• A reception for the exhibition “Behind the Mask: Cherokee Mask Makers and their Legacy” will be held from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, April 6, at the Chief Joyce Dugan Cultural Arts Center. The exhibition remains open until June 1.

• The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad welcomes back The Bunny Hopper Express Easter Train April 7-8. The trip departs the historic Bryson City Depot at 10:30 a.m. For more information visit gsmr.com/events.

• The Easter Hat Parade will take place at 2 p.m. Saturday, April. 8, in Dillsboro. Bring your Easter Bonnet to wear. Egg hunt at 11 a.m. at Monteith Park, registration for the parade begins at noon.

• Easter “Eggstravaganza” Egg Hunt will take place 10

a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, April 8, at Darnell Farms. For more information visit darnellfarms.com.

• Appalachian Dance Hootenanny will take place 6-9 p.m. April 15 at the Folkmoot Friendship Center in Waynesville. Tickets are $25. For more information visit eventbrite.com/e/appalachian-dance-hootenanny-tickets-520667258787.

• The 25th annual Greening Up the Mountains will take place 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, April 22, in downtown Sylva. For more information and a schedule of events visit greeningupthemountains.com.

• “Meander in May,” the free, self-guided arts festival organized by the Highlands Chamber of Commerce/Visit Highlands, NC will return at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 20. For more information and a schedule of events visit highlandschamber.org.

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

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

F OOD AND D RINK

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

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

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

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

CLASSES AND PROGRAMS

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

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

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

ART SHOWINGS AND GALLERIES

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

Visit www.smokymountainnews.com

n Complete listings of local music scene

n Regional festivals

n Art gallery events and openings

n Complete listings of recreational offerings at health and fitness centers

n Civic and social club gatherings

own project and a bag lunch. 828.349.4607 or pm14034@yahoo.com.

Outdoors

• Join birding expert Howard Browers at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, April 6, on the Waynesville Greenway to look for returning songbirds. Loaner binoculars are available. Sign up at haywoodcountync.gov/recreation.

• Volunteers are needed for the Plateau Pickup at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, April 15. To participate, send an email to events@highlandschamber.org or call 828.526.5841. For more information about Plateau Pickup or other Highlands events, visit highlandschamber.org.

• The annual Tuck River Cleanup will commence on Saturday, April 15, inviting hundreds of volunteers to raft or walk 20 miles of the Tuckasegee River between Cullowhee and Whittier in search of litter. For more information, contact coordinator Martin Jacurso at 828.227.8804. Pre-registration is not available.

• Learn how to indulge your love of gardening despite age or mobility level during a two-hour program at 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 19, at the Haywood County Cooperative Extension Office on Raccoon Road in Waynesville. Direct questions to mgarticles@charter.net or 828.456.3575.

• Green Energy Park will offer a custom “Forged in Fire” two-day blade course from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. FridaySaturday, May 5-6. No prior experience required. Cost is $550, materials included. Space is limited, registration required. For more information or to register, contact the GEP at 828.631.0271.

• Friends of the Greenway will host the Spring Arts & Crafts event, “FROG FAIR” from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. May 6 at FROG Quarters, 573 E. Main at the Town bridge in Franklin. Vendor spaces are available, volunteers are needed. For more information email frog28734@gmail.com.

• The Strawberry Jam Half Marathon/5K will return for its second year Saturday, May 20, in Bryson City. The half marathon will start at 7 a.m. and the 5K at 7:15 a.m. Registration is $70 for the half marathon and $35 for the 5K. Sign up at gloryhoundevents.com.

• The Cashiers Historical Society will host the Jan Wyatt Symposium, “Talking Trout,” on Thursday, June 15, at Canyon Kitchen in Lonesome Valley, Sapphire. For more information visit cahsiershistoricalsociety.org.

• Haywood County Master Gardener volunteers offer a virtual plant clinic to answer any questions. Leave a message at the Cooperative Extension Office at 828.456.3575 or email haywoodemgv@gmail.com with a description of any homeowner gardening issue, including lawns, vegetables, flowers, trees and ornamental plants; disease, insect, weed or wildlife problems; soils (including soil test results) and fertilizers; freeze and frost damage; and cultural and chemical solutions to plant problems. Within a few days, a Haywood County Master Gardener Volunteer will get back

with research-based information.

Market PLACE WNC

Legals

MarketPlace information:

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

Rates:

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

• Free — Lost or found pet ads.

• $6 — Residential yard sale ads.*

• $1 — Yard Sale Rain Insurance

Yard sale rained out? Call us by 10a.m. Monday for your ad to run again FREE

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

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

• Boost in Print

• Add Photo $6

• Bold ad $2

• Yellow, Green, Pink or Blue Highlight $4

• Border $4

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

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

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

NOTICE OF ADMINISTRATION

Case No.2023 E 000187 Teresa Saunders, having Mary Sue woodruff before Jun 22 2023, or Teresa Saunders 409 Hillside Terrace Dr Waynesville NC 28786

Announcements

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Haywood Co. Real Estate Agents

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate- Heritage

• Carolyn Lauter - carolyn@bhgheritage.com

Beverly Hanks & Associates- beverly-hanks.com

“WORKING CATS”

Asheville Humane Society has cats available who are best suited to life in a barn/farm, warehouse, etc. Fully vaccinated and spayed/ neutered. (828) 761-2001 adoptions@ ashevillehumane.org

TREEING WALKER

COONHOUND MIX, LADYBIRD 6 yr-old girl; energetic, curious. Loves cuddling and toys. Needs to be your only dog. Asheville Humane Society (828) 761-2001 adoptions@ashevillehumane.org

Real Estate

Announcements

PUBLISHER’S NOTICE

Entertainment

HUGHESNET SATELLITE INTERNET – Final

Health/Beauty

ATTENTION OXYGEN THERAPY USERS!

Home Improvement

BEAUTIFUL BATH UPDATES

ELIMINATE GUTTER CLEANING FOREVER!

• Billie Green - bgreen@beverly-hanks.com

• Brian K. Noland - brianknoland.com

• Anne Page - apage@beverly-hanks.com

• Jerry Powell - jpowell@beverly-hanks.com

• Catherine Proben - cproben@beverly-hanks.com

• Ellen Sither - esither@beverly-hanks.com

• Mike Stamey - mikestamey@beverly-hanks.com

• Karen Hollingsed- khollingsed@beverly-hanks.com

• Laura Thomas - lthomas@beverly-hanks.com

• John Keith - jkeith@beverly-hanks.com

• Randall Rogers - rrogers@beverly-hanks.com

• Susan Hooper - shooper@beverly-hanks.com

• Hunter Wyman - hwyman@beverly-hanks.com

• Julie Lapkoff - julielapkoff@beverly-hanks.com

• Darrin Graves - dgraves@beverly-hanks.com

ERA Sunburst Realty - sunburstrealty.com

• Amy Spivey - amyspivey.com

• Rick Border - sunburstrealty.com

• Randy Flanigan - 706-207-9436

• Steve Mauldin - 828-734-4864

EXP Realty

• Ashley Owens Rutkosky - ashley.rutkosky@exp.realty

Keller Williams Realty - kellerwilliamswaynesville.com

• The Morris Team - www.themorristeamnc.com

• Ron Breese - ronbreese.com

• Landen Stevenson- landen@landenkstevenson.com

Lakeshore Realty

• Phyllis Robinson - lakeshore@lakejunaluska.com

Mountain Dreams Realty- maggievalleyhomesales.com

• Lyndia Massey- buyfromlyndia@yahoo.com

Mountain Creek Real Estate

• Ron Rosendahl - 828-593-8700

McGovern Real Estate & Property Management

• Bruce McGovern - shamrock13.com

Premier Sotheby's International Realty

• DeAnn Suchy - deann.suchy@premiersir.com

• Kaye Matthews - kaye.matthews@premiersir.com

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

• The Real Team - TheRealTeamNC.com

• Dan Womack - womackdan@aol.com

• Mary Hansen - mwhansen@charter.net

• Billy Case- billyncase@gmail.com

Rob Roland Realty

• Rob Roland - 828-400-1923

Smoky Mountain Retreat Realty

• Tom Johnson - tomsj7@gmail.com

• Sherell Johnson - Sherellwj@aol.com

Here’s How It Works: