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Highlands lodge bridges history, music, culture Page 20
On the Cover:
It may be an off year as far as major elections are concerned, but The Smoky Mountain News is still on the political beat covering elections for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, as well as conventions for local and district GOP and Democratic parties.
News
Pactiv’s request for a tax break is soundly rejected..................................................4
Former Chief Hicks to face Sneed in Cherokee’s September election..............5
Macon GOP feud creates uncertainty for county party..........................................6
Building a better Canton..................................................................................................10
State and local Democrats are searching for a way back forward....................12
Haywood Republicans to host election denier........................................................13
Smathers: ‘We will fight’ Pactiv’s tax break request..............................................14
Coalition nears fundraising goal for Ela Dam removal............................................15 Council delays decision on alternate constitution referendum............................16
Opinion
Embracing summertime ..................................................................................................18
Tyrants of all stripes are dangerous..............................................................................19
A&E
Highlands lodge bridges history, music, culture......................................................20
Some words from the wise: gifts for the grad..........................................................27
Book details Carolina Mountain Club’s 100-year history......................................28
Notes from a plant nerd: Put that in your pipe, but don’t smoke it....................34
Jessica Murray.
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Pactiv’s attorneys said that they weren’t aware of any buildings that had been torn down since the 2021 valuation, and that they also weren’t aware of any efforts by Pactiv to market the parcel.
Chairman Flynn repeatedly pushed the Board to consider how much deliberation it wanted to put into the issue, and asked if it was the will of the Board to consider the matter more intensively later in the day, or perhaps reconvene on Monday.
Each member asked questions of Pactiv, mostly looking for any real justification for the reduced assessment. They found none.
At one point, the appeal nearly backfired on Pactiv; Sears asked Tanner what the assessed value of the parcel might be if the functional and economic obsolescence modifiers were removed from the value. Tanner opined that it would be maybe $35-45 million.
Sears then took the initiative, moving to side with Tanner’s recommendation for no change to the $19.8 million assessment. Carr seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
BY CORY VAILLANCOURT P OLITICS E DITORIt took all of about 25 minutes for the Haywood County Board of Equalization and Review to reject Pactiv Evergreen’s request to reduce the assessed value of its $19.8 million parcel in Canton.
“I was not surprised, but I was ecstatic,” said Zeb Smathers, Canton’s mayor. “The Board sent a clear signal that Pactiv did not deserve a tax break, period. Again, for a company that has broken our economy and broken our hearts, they’re not entitled to relief.”
Back in April, Pactiv filed an application to request a hearing on the assessed value of the 185-acre parcel that’s home to the paper mill. The application, submitted by Greg Poore of Baden Tax Management on behalf of Pactiv, says the property is only worth $5.8 million.
If Pactiv had gotten the value it wanted, the $5 billion company would have saved approximately $140,000 in tax payments, with the Town of Canton and Haywood County each out about $70,000.
Boards of equalization and review are enabled under NCGS 105-322 and normally consist of the members of the county’s board of commissioners; however, commissioners can adopt a resolution to appoint others to the board instead.
It’s not clear when Haywood County did so, but the current Board consists of two Democrats, Margaret Ruff of Clyde and Evelyn Cooper of Waynesville; one Republican, Ted Carr of Bethel; and two unaffiliated residents — Chairman Jimmy Flynn of Canton and Jonathan Sears of Waynesville. Skipper Russell serves as an alternate, and appeared in place of Ruff.
Tax Assessor Judy Hickman acted as clerk to the Board, took minutes and was available to act in an advisory capacity, although that
wasn’t needed.
The Haywood County Board of Equalization and Review has several powers and duties enumerated in statute, including reviewing tax listings and hearing taxpayer appeals.
During such appeals, the Board is required to hear any evidence presented by the appellant and by the tax assessor. The Board also has subpoena power for witnesses or documents.
Attorney Charles Mercer, of Raleighbased Young, Moore & Henderson, represented Pactiv in the hearing, and laid out his case for the lower value.
“Due to the age and design of the mill, as well as the market conditions for paper mill transactions, the improvements have little or no contributory value to the land. There is no demand in the market for purchase of the property for continued use as a paper mill,” Mercer said. “The property suffers from high levels of physical depreciation due to age and condition, functional obsolescence due to design factors and external or economic obsolescence due to changes in the domestic pulp and paper industry.”
When The Smoky Mountain News broke the story of Pactiv’s appeal on May 18, Hickman told SMN that the appellant can ultimately challenge the Board’s decision with the North Carolina Department of Revenue’s Property Tax Commission within 30 days of the date the Board mails the decision to the appellant.
That appeal window was one of the major arguments offered by the attorneys representing Haywood County, Collier Marsh and Charles Meeker of Raleigh-based Parker Poe. Meeker is the former mayor of Raleigh.
“Although this is a 2023 tax year appeal, please keep in mind that this is an appeal from the value of the property as of January 1,
2021 valuation,” Marsh told the Board. “So that date, that is important to the Board.”
In 2021, Pactiv’s parcel was assessed at $23,605,600. Pactiv appealed that, and was successful in getting it reduced to the current value of $19,791,400.
“The Board has already considered this appeal once. By statute, when the Board issued its decision in 2022, the taxpayer has 30 days to appeal that decision to the North Carolina Property Tax Commission and this taxpayer elected not to appeal that decision,” Marsh said. “We contend on behalf of the county [that] the taxpayer had a chance to continue that appeal to contest the current assessment and did not, and they should be estopped from continuing any further appeal.”
Marsh’s final point was that Pactiv had not actually presented any proof that there was a problem with the current assessment.
“There are a number of property record cards for this property and a number of documents to go through,” Marsh said. “But the taxpayer hasn't presented any evidence of flaws or any details of issues with those cards, has not identified any errors with the application of the county's schedule of values or the schedule of values itself. Therefore, there's really no evidence in front of the Board today to support a change in value.”
The county then called Jimmy Tanner, a contracted appraiser who performed the valuation in 2021, to testify.
Tanner said that the buildings had already been fully depreciated and in addition, the county had added a 50% functional and a 25% economic obsolescence to the current values.
“We just don't see any reason to reduce the values any more beyond what they are,” Tanner said, adding that any further reduction would basically be saying the buildings aren’t even there.
Pactiv’s next move, should it so decide, would be to appeal to the North Carolina Property Tax Commission, although Marsh appeared to plant the seed that as with Haywood County, Pactiv could have and should have appealed long ago and thus the window for such an appeal had since slammed shut.
The Property Tax Commission consists of five members, three appointed by the governor and one each by the president pro tem of the Senate and the speaker of the House. The Commission’s website lists the members, but it’s not known if the list is current. Party affiliations and county of residence information for Commission members is not listed.
An informational bulletin about the Commission outlines the conditions for appeal, but they’re extremely limited — per a 2009 appellate ruling, a county’s ad valorem tax assessment is presumptively correct.
Appellants may challenge a county board’s determination only if they believe the property is not taxable, if it’s been assessed to the wrong person or if procedural requirements have not been met.
However, there is a way for Pactiv to challenge the ruling even if none of those conditions are met — by producing competent, material and substantial evidence that shows the county assessor used an arbitrary or illegal method of valuation, or that the assessment substantially exceeds the true value of the property.
Hearings before the Commission are de novo, meaning they’re not simply a review of the county board’s decision but rather are a complete re-argument of the original appeal, by both sides. Rules of evidence adopted by state courts are in force.
If Pactiv still doesn’t get what it wants from the Property Tax Commission, its next move would be to a North Carolina Court of Appeals, utilizing the record made at the Commission’s hearing.
Former Principal Chief Michell Hicks will seek a fourth term as top executive for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians after dominating the field in a Primary Election held Thursday, June 1.
Hicks rose to the top from a field of six candidates, drawing 1,075 votes to command support from 41.7% of voters. By contrast, incumbent Richard Sneed received only 548 votes, 21.8% of the total. He edged third-place Robert Saunooke, who received 441 votes, to claim a place in the General Election.
During a debate held May 17, tribal finances were a frequent topic of discussion, with challengers criticizing Sneed for heavy spending to fund a variety of tribal business ventures during his time in office. Hicks, who is a certified public accountant and held the office of principal chief 2003-2015, styled himself as a known quantity with a proven track record in tribal government and the ability to get tribal finances back on track.
“As we move forward in the coming months, I want to assure you that I am fully committed to outlining a comprehensive sustainable plan that will strengthen and uplift our tribe,” he said in a Facebook post following the election. “I recognize the immense responsibility that comes with this position, and I assure you that I take nothing for granted.”
During the debate, Sneed said the spending was necessary to diversify tribal investments as local competition increases for the casino business that fuels tribal revenues. Without such investments, he said, tribal services would suffer as competition stiffened. In a Facebook post following the election, Sneed thanked voters for propelling him to the General Election, saying that he was “heartened” by their support.
“As always, it is an honor to serve the Principle [sic] People as your Principal Chief,” he wrote. “I humbly ask for your continued support and your vote on September 7th so that, together, we may continue to build on the progress we have made.”
Sneed also came in second during the 2019 Primary Election amid a field of five candidates, then returned for a decisive win in the General Election. However, the margin was much smaller during that primary, with less than 1% of the vote separating Sneed and Teresa McCoy.
The principal chief race was just one of six last week, but the only one in which tribal members from all townships were eligible to vote. While Tribal Council members are elected to two-year terms, the principal chief serves for four years. He or she has the
power to veto acts of Tribal Council and, together with the vice chief, is charged with executing legislation and administering day-to-day operations of the tribe.
The 12 members of Tribal Council — two from each township — form the legislative body and are responsible for passing laws and approving budgets. The top four candidates from each township will progress to the General Election.
While all eight Tribal Council incumbents with primary challenges made the cut to compete in the General Election, some could face a tough fight in September. Of the eight, three — Albert Rose, Andrew Oocumma and T.W. Saunooke — finished below the top two spots, with Saunooke placing fourth in his race. In both Wolfetown and Birdtown, the top vote-getter was a person who previously sat on Tribal Council but is not in office now.
Bo Crowe was the top vote-getter in Wolfetown, pulling in 31.8% of the vote just months after resigning the seat in January. Crowe faces criminal charges in tribal court related to an alleged assault but has received widespread support from community members who believe he acted to protect his niece and daughter. Incumbents Mike Parker and Andrew Oocumma — both of whom won their seat by special election within the past year — finished behind Crowe, with 24.4% and 24.2% of the vote, respectively. Bo Crowe’s brother Peanut Crowe will round out the General Election ballot for the race after pulling in 12.4% of the vote.
Jim Owle, who sat on Tribal Council for multiple terms in the early 2000s, was the highest vote-getter in Birdtown with 27.3% of the vote. His brother, incumbent Birdtown Rep. Boyd Owle, was just four votes behind with 27%. Rounding out the top four contenders are Vice Chairman Albert Rose with 19.1% and former First Lady of the tribe Cyndi Lambert with 18.4%.
Sean “Michael” Stamper, who at 32 is the youngest member of Tribal Council, finished first in Painttown with an overwhelming 37.5% of the vote after just a handful of months on the job. During a special election in December, voters chose him to fill the seat left vacant when longtime Rep. Tommye Saunooke died in office last fall. Fellow incumbent Dike Sneed came in second with 21%. Jeff Thompson, who manages a trio of tribal housing and building maintenance programs in Snowbird and Cherokee County, was in third place with 20.3%, just five votes behind Sneed.
Attorney and Qualla Enterprises Board Chair Carolyn West will also advance after securing 10.1% of the vote.
In Yellowhill, incumbent David Wolfe
was by far the most popular candidate, securing 31.8% of the vote. Former Rep. Tom Wahnetah finished second with 20.1%.
Just 14 votes behind him was Community Club Council member Stephanie Saunooke French, who edged incumbent T.W. Saunooke by a scant six votes. Also on the ballot last week was a seat representing Painttown on the Cherokee School Board. According to reporting from The Cherokee One Feather, Micah Swimmer and Regina Rosario will progress to the General Election in that race. The School Board race results were not livestreamed with the rest of the election results, and the
Election Board had not returned a request for the results as of press time.
In September, Cherokee voters will weigh in on all of the above races, plus five more. No primary race was required for vice chief, Snowbird/Cherokee County and Big Cove Tribal Council or Big Y and Yellowhill school board. Jennifer Lynn Thompson is running uncontested for the Yellowhill School Board seat, but the other races all have enough candidates to promise a General Election showdown, but too few to warrant a primary contest.
Primary Election results will become official once certified by Tribal Council.
Principal Chief
†Michell Hicks, 1,075 votes (41.8%)
*Richard Sneed, 548 (21.8%)
Robert Saunooke, 441 (17.1%)
Gary Ledford, 254 (9.9%)
Gene Crowe Jr, 141 (5.5%)
Lori Taylor, 117 (4.5%)
Birdtown Tribal Council
†Jim Owle, 362 (27.3%)
*Boyd Owle, 358 (27%)
*Albert Rose, 253 (19.1%)
Cyndi Lambert, 244 (18.4%)
Joi Owle, 109 (8.2%)
Wolfetown Tribal Council
†Bo Crowe, 400 (31.8%)
*Mike Parker, 307 (24.4%)
*Andrew Oocumma, 305 (24.2%)
Peanut Crowe, 156 (12.4%)
†Chelsea Taylor, 70 (5.6%)
Qiana Powell, 22 (1.8%)
Painttown Tribal Council
*Sean “Michael” Stamper, 239 (37.5%)
*Dike Sneed, 134 (21%)
Jeff Thompson, 129 (20.3%)
Carolyn West, 64 (10.1%)
Andre Brown, 51 (8%)
Richard Delano Huskey, 20 (3.1%)
Yellowhill Tribal Council
*David Wolfe, 191 (31.8%)
†Tom Wahnetah, 121 (20.1%)
Stephanie Saunooke French, 107 (17.8%)
*T.W. Saunooke, 101 (16.8%)
Ernest Tiger, 81 (13.5%)
Painttown School Board
Micah Swimmer, 162 (48.4%)
*Regina Rosario, 97 (29%)
Keyonna Hornbuckle, 76 (22.7%)
* incumbent
† previously held office
Anticipated General Election candidates are in italics.
“Thou shalt not speak ill of other Republicans.”
So goes the famous quote, dubbed the “Eleventh Commandment” by President Ronald Reagan, the man who inspired nationwide unity within the Republican Party throughout his two terms as president. It’s something moderate Republicans across the country have aspired to in recent years amid a sometimes-insurgency from the far right.
They’re also words Carla Miller says with a somber sigh nowadays. Miller retired as chair of the Macon County GOP earlier this year. While there were plans in place to keep momentum in one of the strongest county parties in the whole state, that was upset with little notice when a small group got enough registered Republicans to come out to the county convention in March to install two relatively unknown men, Jimmy Goodman and Dylan Castle, from the more extreme wing of the party. Miller said she wasn’t necessarily upset that other people wanted to step up and seek the chair and vice chair seats; however, the way the whole plan was kept under wraps for months was a lot to handle.
“I was shocked, just shocked,” Miller said. There have been similar upheavals in other counties, even western ones, such as Buncombe and Jackson, where a new wave of leadership with more conservative views hearkening back to the Tea Party overtook the establishment. These kinds of schisms within parties tend to form in areas that are dominated politically by one party or the other. Many times, in those counties or dis-
tricts, a more extreme wing of the party can take power where in swing counties or districts, both parties are pushed more toward the center.
While these kinds of upheavals have taken place in other areas, what makes Macon County’s party leadership change different is the fact that the party had been so strong for several years and the fact that the plan was off former leadership’s radar for months.
The MCGOP was in the throes of a similar inter-party power struggle back in the early 2000s and in the end lost a number of county commission elections to Democrats. Around that time, current MCGOP chair Goodman
had managed to primary a popular more moderate Republican but lost to Democrat Bobby Kuppers. After the Tea Party movement fizzled out, Republican Paul Higdon easily defeated Kuppers and still serves on that board.
In more recent years, Macon County has produced three of the region’s most influential legislators — retired Sen. Jim Davis, Sen. Kevin Corbin and Rep. Karl Gillespie — all of whom first served on the county commission. In addition to those men, the party also produced Robbie Holland, the popular nowretired sheriff who served for 20 years, and Ashley Welch, who was elected as the district attorney of the seven western counties at just 34 years old. Welch was also the first woman and first Republican to win that seat in the
history of the district. She ran unopposed in 2018 and 2022 and still serves in that role.
Perhaps most notably, Mark Meadows, prior to becoming embroiled in controversy surrounding his role on Jan. 6 amid the riot in the Capitol, achieved a meteoric rise to prominence even during his freshman term in the House of Representatives. Meadows began his political career in Macon County and even served as the party’s chair.
The party has even worked outside its own borders and supported Sen. Bobby Hanig en route to his victory over Democrat Valarie Jordan in the third district. Corbin, seeking a supermajority on the Senate, knew that Hanig’s closely contested race might make the difference. He approached Miller. In short order, the Macon County Republican Women sent the Hanig campaign $2,000, and some candidates also sent money they’d raised.
Part of the success in fundraising is courtesy of a retail store that opened in 2016 and the county’s Century Club, made up of 100 Republicans who donate at least $100 to the county party every year.
“In four years, we grew to 110 patriots that were willing to give us $100 a year every single year going forward,” Miller said. “That's a huge base for a little county.”
Many people interviewed by The Smoky Mountain News for this story — people who’ve been involved with the party for years and even decades — said Miller’s commitment to the party has been a big factor in its success. Miller moved here from Florida about 15 years ago with her husband, Rod, once they retired, although she’d been visiting for several years prior to that. Miller said when she introduced herself to the party she was immediately welcomed — and put to work. Talkative and energetic, Miller became vice chair in only a few years, and then a few years after that, in 2014, she became chair.
Miller said the key to the party’s success has been volun- F
teers’ shared dedication to the “mission,” as well as a targeted effort to craft a message specifically tailored to reach rural mountain voters. The goal, she said, was to register as many Republicans and unaffiliated voters as possible, and then take every opportunity possible to educate those voters. Miller said the party has handed out 10,000-15,000 sample ballots every election cycle between 2014 and 2022 and focused on races that typically get less attention during the campaign season, such as judicial races.
On March 10 of this year, multiple people gathered inside John VanHook’s downtown Franklin law office to discuss the future of the Macon GOP and how to get more conservative people into party leadership seats. Two days later, just five days before the convention, several people showed up at the GOP headquarters as the nominating committee, made up of Robbie Holland, Ashley Welch and Carla Miller, was having a meeting.
Macon County Commissioner Danny Antoine was among that group and used that unexpected meeting to nominate Dylan Castle as vice chair; Goodman had already been nominated for chair. At that time, party leadership assumed Holland was going to be unopposed in his run for that seat.
By the night of the convention, most of the upper echelon of the party had caught wind of the full scope of the plot to usher in a new generation of leaders, something that’d been in the works for months. Longtime Macon County GOP volunteer Valarie Niskanen was at the performing arts center that night checking in guests and verifying credentials of registered Republicans who wanted to vote for leadership. She said people came pouring in saying they were going to vote for Jimmy Goodman.
Most were people Niskanen didn’t recognize, and some weren’t even registered Republicans and therefore couldn’t vote. Nonetheless, they were there to support Goodman and Castle.
“I was beginning to be concerned that we were going to run out of programs,” she said.
Niskanen said she had known Goodman, but not for very long. One day last year, he came into headquarters and introduced himself.
“He said he used to be involved in the party, and that back then they had precincts organized and did all this stuff,” Niskanen recalled. “He said he was going to make sure we were doing things right. I was like, ‘OK, but where have you been?’”
Although it isn’t known where all the newcomers came from, the word was that many were brought in from the Highlands precinct by longtime GOP volunteer Bodie Catlin.
Antoine, who said he wasn’t at the meeting at VanHook’s office, said he was upset to discover that Castle’s nomination wasn’t listed. Instead, another Republican, Ron Haven, nominated him from the floor.
“I was extremely shocked and upset,” he said.
For some, the large turnout of previously uninvolved Republicans looked something like a Christmas Eve service at church where faithful congregants see new faces they won’t see again all year. Antoine viewed the new faces as a
good thing.
“Don’t you want as big of a turnout as you can?” he said. Goodman and Castle each won the chair and vice chair votes with about 100 votes. As upset as the outgoing party leadership was, the vote was legal and in accordance with procedure. Shocking as it may have been, at the end of the day politics is purely a numbers game, and the newcomers had the numbers.
Miller and Niskanen both said they were upset about the meeting at VanHook’s office, especially because it was so secretive. They both received word from fellow Republicans that they were discussing how to install new leadership.
“I got texts from two or three people telling me that there was a secret meeting … I wrote John and I simply said, ‘What's up? What do I need to know?’” Miller said. “I didn't get any responses.”
There’s quite a bit of mystery surrounding the newly elected leaders. Very few people even knew who Castle was. Castle is from Macon County and went to a Christian college in Florida. He now pastors a home congregation and has been involved with the Smoky Mountain Young Republicans. While many folks didn’t know Castle that well, Antoine did. Antoine first met Castle as a student of his at his karate school. In the week before the convention, Antoine shared multiple Facebook posts voicing his support for Castle.
“This godly man is a breath of fresh air!” Antoine wrote in one post.
“Dylan is smart and well-spoken and has a heart to serve,” Antoine told SMN.
Castle did pop onto some people’s radar leading up to the election as he spoke at multiple public meetings. A gifted and compelling public speaker, Castle’s most impassioned comments may have come when he spoke at a county commission meeting in opposition to the Fontana Regional Library’s inclusion of books meant to educate readers about LGBTQ people, books that he said include “sexually explicit material that is illegal that is available to minors.”
Castle announced his nomination in a Facebook video on March 11. In that video, he notes that he’s been trying to get more involved by going to more public meetings.
In a follow-up video on March 15, he elaborates on his decision to run and how he felt God had called him to get more involved in politics. He acknowledged that a lot of pastors don’t typically get involved in politics and that some people in his congregation may not share his beliefs. He said he believed God called him to politics and opened doors that led him to get more involved in politics.
“We need to bring righteousness back to the public arena,” he said. “I’m not going to apologize for that.”
While Castle was almost a complete unknown, Goodman was familiar to plenty of people.
Most recently, Goodman worked on the campaign to get John Shearl elected to the county commission. Prior to that, he’d unsuccessfully run for several offices, including the commission and the state Senate.
Goodman, who was described in a 2010 article from the John Locke
Foundation as the “founder of a Tea Party chapter in Macon County called Freedom Works,” served on the planning board, where he characteristically made some waves. An SMN story from around the same time highlighted that when Goodman was appointed to the planning board, he was “openly opposed to that very concept.”
When SMN went to the Macon GOP headquarters on May 25, Goodman was present but said several times he didn’t trust any media and didn’t want to talk. However, he did make a few comments. First, he said he believes the party is “strong and coalesced.” A few days prior to the visit to the party headquarters, SMN sent an email to Goodman and several other folks requesting interviews. Goodman said that once he received that email, he told folks in party leadership to not talk for this story. That was confirmed when Castle responded to an email interview request from SMN.
“I apologize for not responding sooner,” that email read. “I am in agreement with Chairman Goodman however, that, at this time we have no comments to share. Thank you for reaching out. Please feel free to reach back out in the future.”
The context surrounding the move to take control of the party has multiple elements.
First, there were several grievances regarding Holland that had simmered for a few years. That became more heated when he at least tacitly supported the “three good men” ticket for county commission, which supported one Republican, one Democrat and one independent candidate. Holland had developed a strong relationship with Commissioner Ronnie Beale because Beale was the county commission liaison to the sheriff’s office.
Most recently, some took issue with Holland taking a job with the school system where he makes $50,000 per year to provide security analysis. The issue with that isn’t that Holland got the job; it’s more so that it wasn’t publicly listed and no other candidates were considered.
Kevin Corbin has also been a target. Largely considered more moderate, Corbin supported Medicaid expansion well before other Republicans statewide, and reaching across the aisle to compromise with Democrats to get legislation passed has been a hallmark of his time in Raleigh.
In an email to fellow Republicans regarding the indictment of former President Trump, Rob Tolp, who moved to the area from Florida in 2020 and now serves as the East Franklin precinct chair, made his feelings clear.
"I want to encourage each of your [sic] to send an email out today demanding a public response from Senator Corbin and Representative Edwards,” that email read. “Weak Republicans who are afraid to get involved with important issues are why we have a Biden administration able to do what it has done for nearly the past 2.5 years."
However, Corbin has the highest rating of any Western North Carolina legislator from both The American Conservative Union and NC Free. Additionally, voters in the region have overwhelmingly elected him to each office he’s sought. He also has a good deal of power and respect in Raleigh, as evidenced by the fact he’s the chair of both the Health Care and Appropriations on Health and Human Services Senate committees.
Corbin told SMN that he’d be happy to talk to Tolp or anyone else who has concerns about his beliefs or how he’s represented Macon County.
“Everyone is entitled to their opinions,” he said. “I’ll let my election results stand.”
Many who have been active in the Macon GOP countermovement have been critical of media at all levels, including local outlets. A favorite target has been Brittany Lofthouse, who produces the Southern Scoop, a regional outlet that mostly focuses on Macon County happenings.
Backlash against Lofthouse intensified after she spoke in favor of the Fontana Regional Library system and its inclusion S EE OVERTHROWN, PAGE 8
of LGBTQ+ themed books. Lofthouse said she’s always voted Republican. While she voted for Cawthorn in 2020, she was vocally against him in 2022 despite his popularity in Macon and other far-west counties.
“I didn’t hide that fact,” she said.
When Rep. Chuck Edwards (RHenderson) defeated Cawthorn and ultimately won the General Election, he announced that Lofthouse was hired to do constituent services in the five westernmost counties. Despite some rumors that Corbin connected Lofthouse with the job in Edwards’ office, she said he was simply a reference and that she and the congressman had established a positive working relationship when she, along with SMN, hosted a candidate forum where he spoke.
“Whenever Chuck won the election and was looking for people to work in the office , I got an email from his staff that said, ‘Hey, Chuck wanted me to reach out to you when he was working on the campaign,’” Lofthouse said.
Once she took the job, some minor backlash was amplified by a piece in the Daily Haymaker that called her a “gay rights activist.”
“That’s what blew that up,” Lofthouse said. “That’s when they said there’s too much pressure; will you resign?’”
Lofthouse obliged.
“I have no hard feelings about Congressman Edwards,” she said. “That was never actually about me. I was a political casualty.”
The man who wrote the story about Lofthouse, Brant Clifton, recently had a piece published by a new Macon County news outlet, the Macon Patriot, an online publication that mostly features far-right think pieces. The first story published called for decentralization.
In an email from Brian Walker of the Macon Patriot, it was made clear that the Macon Patriot doesn’t represent the Macon County GOP. In addition, Walker stated that
while some who share the Patriot’s stories on social media present it as an alternative to other local media, which is perceived by many on the far-right as inherently biased, that isn’t their main intention.
“It’s more a response to the lack of a Christian conservative news outlet in our region,” he said in the email. “As stated on our website, the Macon Patriot exists to provide the most accurate information grounded in an originalist interpretation of the United States Constitution as well as a biblical worldview.”
Miller said VanHook, the man who hosted the clandestine meeting at his office a week before the convention, had always been a good friend to her. In fact, the two are neighbors and Miller had appointed VanHook to the Macon County Board of Elections in each of her last two terms.
However, at a meeting on May 10, Miller
spoke to the Macon County Board of Elections to raise a concern about whether he could keep his seat on the board since he’d engaged in campaigning for Goodman and Castle.
Miller came right out and said she understood that VanHook participated in “secret clandestine meetings”
“Did that occur?” she asked.
She also brought up what she believed was “manipulation” and “interference” in an East Franklin precinct chair meeting at the convention where VanHook and some friends “summarily dismissed a precinct chair that had served there for several years by herself, without help from John.”
The precinct chair who was dismissed was Elizabeth Gibson, who has been a steadfast volunteer for the party, as well as a strong ally of Miller’s. In a written statement to SMN, Gibson said Tolp, who eventually became chair of the precinct, and VanHook “began to try to take over the meeting.”
“Weeks later, I found out that Mr. Tolp or
Mr. VanHook knew who I was or that I had been precinct chair since 2018,” she wrote.
When Gibson called for nominations, one man, Dwight Vinson, nominated Gibson for chair and VanHook nominated Tolp. After counting the 12 votes cast from East Franklin precinct, Tolp was voted in as chair.
“When a board member manipulates either a county convention or a precinct meeting, that’s just plain unacceptable,” Miller told the board. “I don’t care what party you’re from. Frankly, I’m embarrassed to death to be here today because it is not my nature to air the dirty laundry of the Republican party.”
Miller even went as far as saying she’d thought about going to the press with the story. However, SMN was already working on this story before that meeting and reached out to Miller for comment after seeing video of the meeting.
“Disruption, peddling influence, meddling — that started in at least December of 2022, this campaign to disrupt the Republican convention and to change it in a way that completely toppled a very stable political organization … we were known as the leader of the west; we were known statewide as innovative leaders and rule followers,” Miller added.
Niskanen echoed Miller’s sentiments toward VanHook in her interview with SMN.
“I'm very disappointed in John,” she said. “I had a higher opinion of him before.”
Once Miller was done, VanHook asked if anyone else wanted to talk. Tolp introduced himself as and said he was “representing Goodman.” He simply stated that VanHook had been reappointed to the Board of Elections by Goodman and that he “has the full support of the party.”
At the convention, after Tolp was elected chair of the East Franklin precinct, he nominated VanHook for vice chair. VanHook won; however, there was a problem. According to state law, no person can serve on a county board of elections if they hold “any office in a state, congressional district, county or precinct political party or organization.”
But while VanHook was elected vice chair, Macon County Board of Elections Director Melanie Thibault told SMN that when he asked to be a precinct chair, he was informed he couldn’t do that, so he stepped down from that position right away.
“He is a board [of elections] member only,” Thibault said.
The Macon Patriot made it clear where its writers stood and eviscerated the old guard in a piece written by Walker. That story reiterates the point made by many who spoke with SMN for this story — if elections are a numbers game, then anyone campaigning for any office should do what they can to win.
“Ms. Miller appears to be accusing Mr. VanHook of doing what every political campaign strategist has done for the history of our great nation,” that article reads.
Despite saying he doesn’t talk to any media, Goodman provided the Macon Patriot with a statement that reads:
“She said the system was manipulated but I can’t tell how nor do I see any evidence of it. We ran a candidate, and we won by the rules. No election laws or GOP rules were broken.
“Apparently Carla didn’t like that, so she wants the power to meddle in someone’s personal life by removing John VanHook from the Macon County Board of Elections who she supported in her tenure.
“I believe in the integrity of Mr. VanHook and the Macon County GOP Supports Mr. VanHook 100%.”
On May 16, Tolp emailed a link to the story to several Republicans with the subject line “Former Chairwoman of Macon GOP Objects to Legal Party Elections.”
“Macon Patriot published this morning a bombshell story involving former Chairwoman, Carla Miller as she has publicly made false allegations against GOP Representative to the Board of Elections, Mr. John Vanhook,” the email reads. “Let’s get this story out to every Republican you know.”
The Macon Patriot story notes that 14 of 15 precincts were returned to the control of the “grassroots of the party” and alluded to the fact that Miller’s only real objection is that she was unhappy with the convention results.
“Ms. Miller’s attitude smacks of the same haughty actions exhibited by the political establishment in both major political parties in Washington D.C. Does Ms. Miller believe she is a new version of the old European elite and now considers herself a member of the Macon County ‘Blue Bloods’ who are born to rule and wield political power?” the article reads.
“Does she think only certain people within her party’s establishment are entitled to govern the party?” it later reads. “Are every day blue-collar, Republican voters not good enough, smart enough, or wise enough to govern the party to which they belong and show their allegiance?”
Bill McGaha, a recipient of that email and longtime Macon Republican, took objection to the story and took the time to write a lengthy response to the email. He began by stating the first couple of articles published by The Macon Patriot gave him hope it would be “useful in espousing conservative
positions and opinions.” But he took issue with that story. Furthermore, he chastised VanHook, Walker and their allies for fomenting division within the party.
“I would not know Mr. VanHook if I met him on the street,” the email reads. “I will not presume his motivations for his party activities, activities at the Convention, or service on the Board of Elections but he certainly is not an ‘every day blue-collar Republican ...’ I do know that Senator Corbin, DA Welch and retired Sheriff Holland had developed a good slate of nominees for the party and that Mrs. Miller was disappointed when a Chair and Vice Chair who had, at least in my observation, not been actively supporting the party efforts were elected at the convention. That was about as inexplicable as Joe Biden being elected President.”
Later in the email, he addressed Tolp directly, noting that there are two different ways two different types of people may respond to a fire. There are those who bring a bucket of water, and there are those who bring a gas can.
“We do not need people throwing gasoline on what would otherwise have been a flicker,” the email reads.
“If giving life to articles such as Mr. Walker's, which is of little to no value and certainly able to create division, and getting it "out to every Republican you know" is how the party is going to function we may be staring the early 2000s in the face again because the everyday blue-collar Republican and the Unaffiliated voter do not need or want the drama.”
At the end of the day, both factions seem to want one thing — a strong Republican Party. To achieve and maintain that, there must be sustained unity. While Goodman had said he believes the party has coalesced, the events that have taken place since March indicate otherwise.
Antoine said he doesn’t like what he’s been seeing from his party. For him, there are bigger fish to fry.
“I don’t like the circus they turned that into,” he said of the public fallout following the convention. “It turned into a mess, and it never needed to get to that point.”
NC-11 GOP Chair John Anglin noted that new leadership isn’t necessarily bad and that nine of NC-11’s counties have new leadership. He said he’s fine with whoever wins leadership positions in Western North Carolina county Republican parties as long as they conduct business ethically and within the confines of the law.
“Just make sure you’re going about things the right way,” he said. “I was at Macon County’s convention and things were done the way they should have been.”
While he acknowledged there is a split within the party in some counties, he hopes to see that infighting come to an end.
“Our goal is not have those splits, and have it rooted in the fact we want quality servant leadership,” Anglin said. “There’s been a lot of transition; the idea is that you coalesce and circle wagons and pull together, because for us the other choice is horrible.”
Uncertainty haunts Haywood County, and the future of small-town Western North Carolina’s economy, now that the closing of Pactiv Evergreen’s century-old paper mill in Canton is nearly here.
Federal, state and local leaders convened at a Pisgah High School town hall last week, joined by a special guest who shared invaluable insight into a similar situation more than 20 years ago.
Now, local elected officials have a better understanding of the current situation with the mill and some solid guesses as to what the future may hold — if not what could have been done back in February to prevent its closure.
Darryl Hinnant, mayor of Kannapolis, was elected to city council in 2001 and has been mayor of the town since 2013. A recipient of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, Hinnant moved to Kannapolis in 1975 and was a chemist by trade.
As a chemist, Hinnant is familiar with both textile and paper mill operations, and said that at a certain point, Cannon Mills — later known as Pillowtex — was one of his biggest customers.
At its peak, the Kannapolis mill employed around 25,000 people.
“We were a patriarchal community. From that I mean that the mill took care of everything,” Hinnant said. “I heard you say you have to worry about your water treatment plan or your waste treatment plant. In Kannapolis, the mill provided water, sewer,
stormwater, police, fire and all the other normal city activities that you can imagine. The mill paid for it.”
In 1984, after an ownership change, the mill pushed Kannapolis, then the largest unincorporated community in the state, to incorporate and assume those services for itself.
During the late 1980s, the American textile industry began to experience a bit of a downturn due to the effects of cheap foreign labor, marking the beginning of a rough stretch that Hinnant estimates persisted through at least the year 2000.
That year, Pillowtex filed for bankruptcy for the first time, assuring Kannapolis that the move was just to shift some debt around and that it wouldn’t affect local employment levels.
Amid an epic drought, the self-proclaimed problem-solver Hinnant joined city council to work on an issue with the town’s water supply. Two years later, when Pillowtex shut down, Hinnant’s biggest problem wasn’t water.
“All these people were showing up at city council meetings, these great big guys, and they had tears running off their chin,” he said. “They were saying, ‘I have worked here in the mill, my parents had worked in the mill, the grandparents have worked in the mill … I don't know anything but working in the mill, so what am I going to do? I just was told I'm being laid off, and I have no skills. I quit high school the day after I turned 16 and moved into the mill.’”
Those tears came as workers fretted over missed mortgage payments, a lack of health care coverage and all the economic fallout that comes with the largest layoff the state of North Carolina had ever seen —
more than 4,000 workers.
“That's the real issue you have right here in Canton. While it's a lot about what you do with the waste treatment facility … really, first and foremost, this is a people issue,” Hinnant said. “Nothing more than a people issue. All the others are small in comparison to the impacts that happen on the people.”
One year after Pillowtex finally closed in 2003, three authors published a report on how the community responded to the situation.
Here, officials on the state and local level are by now well versed in what’s being called “The Pillowtex Report.”
That report highlights some of Kannapolis’ successes, including a community services center that provided multi-layered social services in one centralized location. It also outlines the efforts of state and federal officials to secure funding streams for employee health care coverage.
The report, however, gives little mention to mental health services.
Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers raised the issue with Hinnant, noting that in the aftermath of the Pillowtex layoffs, an astonishingly high number of people took their own lives. As the real economic consequences of Pactiv Evergreen’s decision to close the Canton mill have yet to set in fully for those workers who are still receiving paychecks, Smathers hopes to avoid the sobering statistics Hinnant had to face.
“Understand that from 2003 to 2023, 20 years now has transpired. The idea to be more aware of, or more willing to talk about, mental health stresses in your life is easier today — even though it's not easy — it's easier today, because it was really considered a real weakness in the past,” Hinnant said. “If you had a mental health problem, [the attitude was], ‘You ought to just tighten up here … you can do better
than that, you can just get better than that.’ But we had about 70 who couldn't do better than that.”
Hinnant said that the county established a mental health task force, soliciting volunteers, and that Kannapolis acquired millions in state funding to establish a mental health treatment facility, including inpatient. More than 20 years later, Hinnant said, mental health treatment is still a work in progress.
While most of the attention in Haywood County is focused on Canton’s current situation, some are beginning to ask questions about why, exactly, this has to be the future that Canton now faces.
On Feb. 8, The Smoky Mountain News first reported that Pactiv had announced plans to idle one of its four papermaking machines. A leaked memo from mill manager John McCarthy confirmed the news.
That same day, SMN reached out to Rep. Chuck Edwards’ office to inform him of the developments, and to see if he’d been in communication with Pactiv about potential job loss, or what the reduction in capacity might mean for the mill as a whole, or if the federal government could do anything for Pactiv to avert the current catastrophe.
Edwards refused to speak to SMN at that time. A follow-up email on Feb. 9 garnered the same result. Since then, Edwards has refused to speak to SMN about anything mill-related.
At the June 1 town hall meeting, SMN asked Edwards what specific actions he’d taken between Feb. 8 and March 6 — the day the closing was announced — to prevent the mill from closing.
“I really reserve the right to respond to those media outlets that I've been able to build good relationships with that have reported the news fairly,” Edwards said, without citing any examples of “unfair” reporting. “I didn't respond to that question and I'm not gonna respond to this.”
Thus, Canton is now eating its second elephant, before finishing with its first — recovery from deadly flooding in 2021.
The Pillowtex Report is also silent on economic development, but Hinnant helped to fill in those gaps.
“Can I speculate on what I think might be your next big decision that you might have to make as a community? One of the questions that we had when the mill shut down in 2003, [when] it went into bankruptcy, we had the largest textile mill in North America under one roof,” Hinnant said. “Over 6 million square feet, larger than the Pentagon, under one roof. This was a white elephant in the middle of our town. Literally in the middle of town.”
Canton’s white elephant isn’t quite that big, but the 185-acre mill parcel is literally in the middle of town and is no less an issue for Smathers than it was for Hinnant at the time.
Kannapolis, however, received a backhanded stroke F
of good fortune.
Billionaire businessman David H. Murdock, founder of Dole Foods, had purchased the then-profitable Cannon Mills in 1982. Murdock immediately slashed 2,000 jobs, offloaded company-owned housing, eliminated worker pensions and then sold the whole operation in 1985, while retaining his local property holdings.
Nearly 20 years later, after Pillowtex had closed, Murdock acquired the Pillowtex property, demolished the buildings and partnered with the University of North Carolina System and the state to establish the North Carolina Research Campus, which created around 1,000 mostly whitecollar jobs with good pay.
Part of the decision to tear down the mill, Hinnant said, was first to accept that the mill wasn’t ever coming back — a decision with which Canton seems to have made its peace.
The city went on to purchase 50 acres of the site at $100,000 an acre so it could have some say in how the town would develop absent the mill. Since then, the rejuvenation of Kannapolis has been nothing short of a sweeping success, with new businesses, housing, mixed-use developments and a new stadium for the town’s minor league baseball team.
Without a Murdock-like figure swooping into Canton, the town’s hands are, at present, tied in regard to the parcel. Pactiv Evergreen still owns it, and will until it gets whatever it wants — whatever that is.
Edwards, who hails from Henderson County, said that his family moved around quite a bit when he was young and that he’d for a time lived in a house near to the mill, as uncles and cousins worked inside. His stepfather, he said, worked at the gate.
“I've personally spoken with the executives of Pactiv Evergreen a number of times,” Edwards said, “and I've asked them the question — if you can't operate it, if you don't want to operate it, why don't you sell it?”
Apparently, Edwards didn’t get an answer to his question, or at least an answer he would share with the town hall audience. During Pactiv’s unsuccessful property tax appeal three days prior to the town hall, Pactiv’s attorneys said they weren’t aware of any efforts by the company to market the parcel.
The mill in Canton is more than just a mill; it’s become an identity for generations of area residents to the point that bluegrass musicians sing about it and the high school’s football jerseys read “Milltown” instead of “Canton.”
Smathers asked Hinnant how Kannapolis maintained its identity in the face of potential encroachment from its larger neighbor, Charlotte.
“I don’t mind being west of Asheville,” Smathers quipped. “I don’t want to be West Asheville.”
Hinnant assured Smathers that not only could it be done, but also that it was essential that it be done.
“You don't have to lose your uniqueness in order to be successful. In fact, just the opposite,” he said. “I would say to you that
it is important you remain unique. That is what happened for Kannapolis and what causes people to come to Kannapolis. If you think you've got a problem with Asheville only being 20 miles away, something like that, I was sitting beside a million people who were in Charlotte, who were 22 miles away.”
A historic preservation group formed in the wake of the Kannapolis closure was integral to maintaining the identity of the town, Hinnant explained. The group helped to identify buildings that needed to be torn down, and those that needed to be preserved. Another key for Hinnant was the establishment of a town hall that consolidated services, making it easier and more efficient for investors, developers and residents to conduct business.
“We have been extremely successful, especially in the last 6 to 7 years, of getting new investments to come into our town,” he said. “The very first investment was $64 million worth of public-private investment in our community. That was the first one — we have them standing in line now, waiting to get the next opportunity to invest $60$70 million in our community.”
Edwards said he was pursuing a number of grants, including $4.8 million for wastewater treatment — not nearly enough to fund what will likely be an 8-figure project that will take years, but likely a small part of several funding streams.
The clock is ticking on the wastewater issue — Pactiv will operate it for 22 more months — but until Canton no longer relies on the mill for treatment of its wastewater, full redevelopment of the parcel won’t be possible.
But Hinnant continued to stress that Canton has people problems, above and beyond wastewater and redevelopment.
Administrators at Haywood Community College jumped into action as soon as the closing was announced, and have served as a resource for employment, retraining and other issues pertinent to dislocated workers — just as Rowan-Cabarrus Community College did more than 20 years ago.
Edwards said he was also working on $4 million for workforce development at HCC.
“The community college is your biggest asset,” Hinnant said. “In this community and every other community.”
Hinnant also focused on a recovery effort that focuses on small businesses — something Canton has had plenty of experience with over the past decade.
“In 2013, I was told that the downtown occupancy rate in Canton was 20%. There was boarded up windows,” Smathers said. “We had to change the mindset, we had to make sacrifices. But we did it by increasing the amount of people coming in and supporting small businesses. We were able to expand our tax base without raising taxes … Now we're about up to 90% occupancy downtown and that happened because of not what government did, but [because] of supporting the small businesses and standing by and saying, ‘Guys, we’re in this together. Let's build a better Canton. We did it once. We're going to do it again.’”
The American College of Cardiology (ACC) has recognized Haywood Regional Medical Center (HRMC) with its Cardiac Cath Lab Accreditation with PCI for its demonstrated expertise and commitment in treating cardiac cath lab patients. The ACC’s accreditation recognizes Haywood Regional’s ability to evaluate, diagnose and treat patients who undergo diagnostic catheterizations and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures.
According to the ACC, hospitals that have proven exceptional competency in treating patients who require cardiac catheterization have standardized their assessment process for patients before undergoing catheterization to ensure quality and patient safety. They ensure that care in the procedure room for sedation, infection control, radiation safety, universal protocol and time out procedures is fully coordinated; and have mastered the appropriate transfer to a cath recovery unit to better monitor and track complications, enhance physician-to-patient communication, patient family communication, discharge instructions and follow-up information.
Hospitals receiving Cardiac Cath Lab Accreditation with PCI from the ACC must take part in a multi-faceted clinical process that involves completing a gap analysis, examining variances of care, developing an action plan, a rigorous onsite review and monitoring for sustained success. Improved methods and strategies of caring for patients include streamlining processes, implementing guidelines/standards and adopting best practices in the care of cath lab patients. Facilities that achieve accreditation meet or exceed an array of stringent criteria and have organized a team of doctors, nurses, clinicians and other administrative staff that earnestly support the efforts leading to improved patient outcomes.
In recent years, North Carolina Democrats have helplessly watched their numbers plummet amid a string of crushing defeats that have rendered the party nearly powerless.
Tied to a national platform that doesn’t always resonate with voters in the rural South, a president with low approval ratings going into his reelection campaign and little support in the state’s legislative or judicial institutions, North Carolina’s Democratic Party now looks to a new generation of leaders to plant the seeds of victory at the federal, state and local level.
They failed to stop Donald Trump from winning North Carolina in 2016 and 2020.
They failed to win U.S. Senate seats in 2020 and 2022.
They failed to maintain control of the state Supreme Court after losing three seats since 2020, flipping the court to Republican control with a 5-2 majority.
They failed to prevent General Assembly Republicans from regaining a supermajority in 2022, drastically reducing the power of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper — one of just six statewide elected Democrats.
More trouble is on the horizon for North Carolina Democrats; the state’s congressional delegation swung to a 7-7 tie in 2022 after racially gerrymandered districts were struck down; however, the new Republican Supreme Court recently reversed two decisions handed down by the previous court that will allow the Republican-dominated General Assembly, unchecked, to reinstitute something like the previously struckdown racial and/or partisan gerrymanders.
Dems will be lucky to send three candidates to Congress in 2024.
Perhaps the biggest blow for Democrats, not just in North Carolina but nationally, was the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson. The ruling eliminated the underpinnings of Roe v. Wade and led to abortion restrictions passing, over Cooper’s veto, in May.
“I don't think they're going to stop with this,” said Anderson Clayton, North Carolina Democratic Party chair. “I think what should be on anyone's mind right now is that the Republican Party has really taken the approach of, ‘we have to have a regression of rights to maintain power in this state and in this country.’ When you look at that, you have to sit there and think, ‘well, they're not just coming for women, they're coming
for the LGBTQ community, they're coming for people of color, they're coming for anyone that doesn't fit within the boxes that we all are supposed to check so neatly.’”
Elected in February, the 25-year-old Clayton ousted incumbent Bobbie Richardson, in office since February 2021. Although Clayton served as chair of the Democratic Party in Person County, she’s not seen as the kind of party insider that usually gets leadership roles in the NCDP.
The Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe was unpopular with nearly two-thirds of U.S. voters, and Clayton says the party should organize around it in 2024.
“I think that in North Carolina, one of the things that we didn't lean into hard enough in
tact and pre-election education based around the Affordable Connectivity Program and Biden’s $35 insulin price cap.
Clayton said that the Biden campaign has given her the indication that it will spend heavily in North Carolina. Nobody quite knows what that will look like for now. It may be all television ad buys. It may be all-in on presumptive 2024 Dem governor nominee, Attorney General Josh Stein. It may be something else.
The Biden campaign, Clayton said, also told her that it will have boots on the round early, but nobody quite knows what that will look like, either. It may be offices full of staffers in urban Democratic strongholds. It may be field operatives in rural or swing districts. It may be none of the above, and none of it may matter if Democrats — a minority party in North Carolina with dwindling membership — don’t have the mechanisms to spread their message.
“Infrastructure takes time,” Clayton said.
“And that's not the answer that I know a lot of people want to hear from me right now, but I think that if we don't take the time to build this infrastructure now, we're not going to be in a good place come 2024.”
In some places, building infrastructure becomes much more difficult for Democrats, to the detriment of the state party and statewide candidates.
North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District is one of those places. Nonpartisan redistricting website davesredistricting.org puts the 11th at 53.6% Republican, based on composite voter performance from 2016 though 2020.
second to Beach-Ferrara with 26% of the vote. Dean was seen as more moderate than Beach-Ferrara and has used her strong 2022 performance to become the NC-11 Democrats’ new district chair.
When she was elected unopposed on May 20, Dean said she’d work hard to ensure that the party’s darkest days had passed.
As she begins her term, Dean faces substantial erosion in every single one of her NC-11 counties — the party infrastructure Clayton needs to spread the party’s message.
The counties that currently comprise the 11th have lost almost 30,000 registered Democrats from Jan. 1, 2017, through Jan. 1, 2023 — more than 15% of the Democratic base in the district. Certainly, some of those people are now unaffiliated voters who still support Democratic candidates, but some of them aren’t.
“From 2010 on, we have had a really profound impact from extreme gerrymandering that disenfranchises voters across the board, and that has ramifications up and down the ballot,” Dean said. “That has a serious impact when it comes to fundraising and candidate recruitment for competitive ballots, particularly in the rural counties.”
Accordingly, Dean hasn’t yet heard of any Democrats jumping up to run in the 11th, although that’s also a function of potential gerrymandering at the hands of the General Assembly because nobody knows for certain what the 11th District will look like in the 2024 elections.
Despite the uphill battle, Dean thinks the key to solving the problem of declining interest is building competitive tickets that will draw unaffiliated voters back into the fold.
As with Clayton’s plan, that’s going to require effective messaging, and it’s going to require infrastructure — county level infrastructure.
issue. I think that we actually spent a lot of time running from it in some ways, especially in rural North Carolina. There's this whole assumption that talking about choice in a rural area, and other in places in our state, is not worthwhile,” she said. “I’m talking about the freedom to own your own body as an issue that can win in rural North Carolina.”
Statewide, the number of registered Democrats has decreased from 2.6 million on Jan. 1, 2016 to 2.4 million on June 3, 2023. Keeping Democrats engaged with the party and its candidates has proven difficult and adds to the challenges faced by Clayton’s Democrats in 2024.
“Our party has really gotten far away from, I think, being the party of going out and trying to find our folks and trying to register voters and trying to call more people into our party, rather than really just trying to galvanize our base every three months before an election cycle,” she said. “I want to be out and active now.”
Her plan also involves direct voter con-
But some of those counties consistently perform above 70% for Republicans, ensuring GOP strangleholds on local governments and contributing excess Republican votes — estimated to be on the order of 30,000 or 40,000 — to statewide candidates.
Macon County Republican Sen. Kevin Corbin’s district is 62.2% red. Fellow Macon County Republican Rep. Karl Gillespie’s is 71.5%. Haywood County Republican Rep. Mark Pless’ is 59.9%. Swain County Republican Rep. Mike Clampitt’s is 54.5%.
Although the 11th Congressional District has been redrawn several times in the past decade, no Democrat has been able to come close to their Republican competitor since Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler retired before the 2012 election that vaulted Mark Meadows into the national spotlight.
Most recently, three-term Hendersonville Sen. Chuck Edwards defeated Buncombe County Commissioner Jasmine BeachFerrara by 9.5%, a recent high-water mark for western Dems but still disappointingly distant.
Swannanoa Democrat Katie Dean was a candidate in that Primary Election, placing
“Geographically, this is a very large district. We have a lot of county chairs. That's a lot of cooks in the kitchen,” Dean said. “The biggest thing that I would like to build, cultivate and see is coordination and shared resources, from county to county, so that when we objectively look at what's working and what's not working, we’re being openminded and flexible, to organize in every way possible.”
Haywood County is the largest rural county in NC-11 by population, and the third-largest overall, behind Buncombe and Henderson. It’s also one of those NC-11 counties that has felt the impact of declining Democratic support over the past decade, on the order of 27%.
In 2022, the party lost the state’s only elected tax collector, Democrat Greg West, in favor of a 21-year-old Republican who hadn’t yet graduated from college and had no real-world job experience.
By all accounts, West had done a stellar job over the previous four years, and his only flaw was the “D” next to his name.
Haywood’s Democrats could field only two candidates for the three county commission seats up for election in 2022 and failed to stop a three-time loser who hadn’t paid his taxes for nearly 15 years — Republican Terry F
BY CORY VAILLANCOURT P OLITICS E DITOR
On Thursday, June 8, the Haywood County Republican Party will host an elections “integrity” event featuring an activist with a history of making false claims about election legitimacy in Western North Carolina.
Jane Bilello distributed sham endorsement ballots in the 2020 GOP Primary Election for Congress that were created by a two-day-old “conservative ballot committee” with ties to Maggie Valley real estate agent and then-congressional candidate Lynda Bennett.
Bilello was paid by Bennett for her work as a “field representative” during the campaign.
The sham endorsement ballot prompted outrage among NC-11 Primary Election candidates who said they hadn’t been interviewed for the endorsement, which went to Bennett.
Bennett will be sentenced in federal court on June 20 for a felony campaign finance violation.
The sham endorsement ballot also directed Republican Primary Election voters to avoid supporting incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Thom Tillis.
Bilello is registered as an unaffiliated voter and was chastised for the sham endorsement ballot by then-11th Congressional District GOP Chair Aubrey
Woodard, who went on to serve as Congressman Chuck Edwards’ campaign manager in 2022.
According to Linkedin, Bilello has chaired the Asheville Tea Party since its 2009 inception.
Over those 14 years, the party’s affiliated PAC has been warned of improper activity by the North Carolina State Board of Elections almost half a dozen times, resulting in multiple fines and forfeitures.
In April 2022, Bilello promoted a screening of “2,000 Mules,” a documentary by conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza, who in 2014 was convicted on campaign finance fraud charges. D’Souza’s documentary alleges “ballot stuffing” by Democrats in swing states during the 2020 election without proof, claims that have been proven false by dozens of legitimate news organizations and outside investigators. The film’s companion book was abruptly recalled by publishers in September 2022.
Last fall, Bilello hosted multiple “trainings” on behalf of the North Carolina Elections Integrity Team — a self-appointed group of partisan “observers”. Those trainings instructed attendees on how to file nuisance public records requests for electionrelated documents that, by law, aren’t public records.
Ramey — from winning a seat.
In 2016, the commission had a 3-2 Democrat majority. Now, there’s not a single Democrat on the commission.
“At this point in time, we have a large number of Republican office holders and a smaller number of Democratic office holders, which poses a challenge for the Democratic Party to present its message and to be a presence in local and state government decisions,” said Sybil Mann, newly-elected chair of the HCDP.
Mann, who is married to Democratic Waynesville Town Council Member Chuck Dickson, said that among other things, her party is currently working on plans to recruit Democratic candidates for 2024 county commission and school board races.
Training and supporting those candidates is as important as recruiting them, Mann said.
“I think the Democratic Party can help candidates by offering campaign training, how to campaign door-to-door, how to use volunteers, how to target voters with a message,” she said.
That involves digital literacy, but it also involves maintaining a more active presence in local government affairs; over the past few years, public comment sessions have become the hottest ticket in town, with a constant barrage of misinformation presented by speakers — overwhelmingly Republicans.
Democrats have utterly failed to compete in this arena by advancing their values and countering misinformation with facts.
“We need to be an opposition party that promotes accountability,” Mann said.
Still, many of Mann’s local challenges come full circle to the national party’s disconnect with voters in the rural South.
“I don't want to focus on the national party,” she said. “To the extent that there is a state party and a national party, that's important, because Democrats fight for people, we protect people, we're there for the underdog,” she said. “That's important. But right now, we've got a lot of needs in Haywood County that I think would benefit from Democratic solutions. We really need to concentrate on those.”
Officials on both the local and the state level have been adamant in demanding Pactiv Evergreen be held accountable for a number of unresolved issues since shortly after the company announced it would halt operations in Canton. But now, a week after the mill’s final whistle blew, they’re adopting a more forceful tone.
“There’s no way to sugarcoat heartbreak and pain,” said Attorney General Josh Stein, who toured downtown Canton on the morning of May 31 with Mayor Zeb Smathers.
The Attorney General’s office has been involved with the mill shutdown since right around the time The Smoky Mountain News first broke the story about problems with Pactiv’s $12 million JMAC grant from the state, which was awarded in 2015.
Stein and Gov. Roy Cooper, who visited Canton for at least the second time this year on May 26, both say that by closing up shop before Jan. 1, 2025, Pactiv has violated the terms of that agreement and that the state wants its money back.
“Pactiv Evergreen signed a contract with the state of North Carolina in which it promised to employ a certain number of people through a certain date in exchange for the money,” Stein said. “They failed to uphold their end of the bargain. The state is going to enforce its rights under that contract. I
want you all to know that, and I want to thank Gov. Cooper, who has been on this from the very beginning.
”Without elaborating on the current state of enforcement, Stein said that he’d personally met with company officials and that his staff continues to meet with them.
“We are in communication with Pactiv about its legal obligations and we’re optimistic we’ll get to a good place,” Stein told a group that included Town Manager Nick Scheuer and Haywood County Economic and Community Development Director David Francis, along with Haywood Community College President Shelley White and its dean of workforce continuing education, Doug Birchfield.
Asked about Pactiv’s response to the allegations, Stein simply said the company had been “professional.”
When asked about Pactiv’s request for a reappraisal of its 185-acre parcel, Stein punted; it’s really more of a local matter, subject to the jurisdiction of the Haywood County Board of Equalization and Review.
In essence, Pactiv says the $19.7 million assessed value of the property is off — way off. According to documents filed with the county, Pactiv’s opinion is more along the lines of about $5.8 million. Property tax payments are calculated using assessed value, so any reduction would mean more money out of the pockets of local governments, and
local taxpayers.
Pactiv’s net revenues in 2022 were more than $5 billion. If Pactiv gets its way, the reassessment would save the company about
was “like knocking you down and then stepping on you before you leave” and that it was “shameful.”
Smathers, who previously said the reappraisal request left him feeling “disgusted,” used his strongest language to date.
$140,000, costing Canton and Haywood County governments around $70,000 each. In more basic terms, what Pactiv’s really asking for is a tax break.
Last Friday, Cooper told The Smoky Mountain News that the company’s request
“To be clear about that, no. The feeling of the county and the town is, we’re not giving tax breaks — basically what they’re asking for — to a company that has broken our economy and our hearts,” Smathers said. “We disagree with the math of it, and we disagree with the principle of asking at this point for a tax break. The answer that question is no, and we will fight them locally, all the way to Raleigh, wherever it may go. That money belongs here in this community, to these taxpayers, period.”
The Haywood County Board of Equalization and Review meets Friday morning to consider Pactiv’s request.
A coalition working to remove the aged Ela Dam in Swain County has raised $8 million of an estimated $10 million needed to complete the project.
Franklin-based Mainspring Conservation Trust, which will purchase the dam and oversee removal efforts, has received $4 million from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Fish Passage Program, which is funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has committed another $4 million toward the project, but putting that contribution to use required approval from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ Tribal Council.
“It is no small feat to enter into a contract of this type and magnitude for something as unique that we are collectively working on,” said Joey Owle, Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources for the EBCI, which is leading the coalition. “This project truly embodies the meaning of effective partnership between a wide variety of partners.”
Owle updated Tribal Council on the funding during a May 31 Budget Council session during which he sought Council approval for a memorandum of agreement that would allow the tribe to receive the Wildlife Commission funding on behalf of Mainspring.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to where we can get federal [and] state funding to pay for this and carry out the project without having to take loans, without having to ask the tribe for any funding,” Owle said.
The dam removal project stems from an October 2021 incident in which the dam’s operator, Northbrook Power Management, inadvertently released a massive amount of sediment that blanketed the downstream river, severely impacting aquatic communities living there. Afterward, Owle approached the dam’s owner, Northbrook Carolina Hydro II, about removing the structure. In use since 1925, Ela Dam is approaching its 100th birthday and produces very little energy. Removing it will restore the natural flow of the river and allow fish and other aquatic organisms to move freely between its upstream and downstream reaches. The project is expected to reopen nearly 550 miles of habitat to sensitive and rare aquatic species like the sicklefin redhorse fish and Appalachian elktoe mussel.
In February 2022, Tribal Council voted unanimously to take the lead on forming the dam removal coalition, but a subsequent vote that June shot down a resolution committing the tribe to acquiring the property. Mainspring stepped up to fill that role, so the EBCI is acting as a passthrough entity, receiving the money and providing it to Mainspring to complete the project. Mainspring hopes to eventually give the 60-acre property to the tribe.
“This project is a true partnership, and it will take all of the partners at the table to see it through,” said Mainspring Executive Director Jordan Smith. “Northbrook continues to be a valuable partner in the coalition, and I am thankful for their continued commitment to the project as we work through the feasibility, design and fundraising phase of the project. “
Progress over the last year has been “remarkable,” Owle said.
“We’ve been able to do in 18 months what many tribes work decades doing,” he told Tribal Council.
Thus far, the coalition has applied for various grants worth about $25 million in total. It’s now learning the results of those applications. With $8 million now committed from the Wildlife Commission and USFWS, Owle said, he has a call scheduled with “another federal agency” that is willing to provide the remaining funds. Removal is expected to cost $6-$8 million, with another $2 million required to provide Mainspring with liability insurance.
According to Owle, the draft agreement with the Wildlife Commission would require the tribe to use the awarded funds solely to remove Ela Dam, give the Commission the opportunity to review and provide feedback on the project, notify the Wildlife Commission of any delays or concerns and submit a written report by Dec. 31, 2025.
The agreement is similar to that in effect for the Ravensfork dam removal project, in Cherokee’s Big Cove community, Owle said. The EBCI has raised $11 million for that project, of which $3 million is state funding. The project is under contract and approaching the 60% design benchmark.
Tribal Council members, three of whom were elected to their positions after the body’s 2022 votes on the project, had ques-
tions for Owle. Many of their queries focused on how the removal would impact upstream landowners who now have waterfront property on the reservoir. Once the dam is removed, the water would retreat into the riverbed, changing the way they currently use their property. Owle said he’s
talked to two of the concerned enrolled members who have waterfront property and that neither opposed the project, but that both had questions about it.
Wolfetown Rep. Mike Parker, who was the sole member to vote against the resolution, said that he’s talked to several waterfront property owners — some enrolled members and others not — and that they were not in favor of dam removal. Why, he asked Owle, had no public hearings been held?
Owle replied that public hearings would be held once the project reaches the execution phase, but that thus far the coalition has been focused on fundraising. Additionally, the coalition has secured $800,000 for design and engineering work. That phase is 30% complete, and the coalition expects to reach the 90% mark by August.
Most Tribal Council members seemed satisfied with Owle’s answers to their questions. Ten members voted in favor of the resolution, with Parker the sole opposing vote. Painttown Rep. Michael Stamper abstained, saying he couldn’t vote in favor without seeing a copy of the draft agreement, which was not attached to the resolution. Owle told Stamper he would provide it promptly. He declined a request from The Smoky Mountain News to view the document.
In a narrowly divided vote Thursday, June 1, the Cherokee Tribal Council delayed deciding on a resolution seeking to upend a planned referendum to approve the tribe’s first constitution in more than 150 years.
Just two months ago, on April 6, the body unanimously approved the referendum resolution put forth by the Cherokee Community Club Council. During the Sept. 7 General Election, the resolution stated, tribal members would have the chance to vote for or against a proposed constitution that a dedicated group of community members have spent the past six years drafting, publishing and revising.
But in the weeks after the resolution’s passage, Attorney General Michael McConnell told the group that aspects of the document would have harmful unintended consequences if allowed to go into effect as written. He recommended withdrawing the resolution and instead pursuing incremental changes to the Charter and Governing Document that currently stands as the tribe’s supreme law.
The Community Club Council publicly rejected that proposal, but the June 1 agenda included a resolution submitted by McConnell’s office that aims to do just that. If enacted, the resolution would rescind the April 6 referendum resolution — along with a 2022 resolution approving referendum questions regarding term limits and staggered terms for Tribal Council — and
replace them with four questions. These questions would ask voters to change the charter’s name to “Constitution of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians,” enshrine the Judicial Branch as “a separate and coequal branch of government,” apply provisions of the Indian Civil Rights Act to judicial proceedings, and limit elected officials in the executive and legislative branches to two consecutive four-year terms.
When the session opened June 1, McConnell asked that the resolution be read, given a number and tabled for a work session. Tribal Council agreed to the request, but after the resolution was a read Wolfetown Rep. Mike Parker said he wanted to hear from both McConnell and the Community Club Council, kicking off a 50-minute discussion that at times became heated.
“The fundamental question is what [is] our vision of the best approach,” McConnell said. “Our vision of the best approach, and the more likely successful approach, is to amend the charter in pieces, giving the public relatively short questions that they can have in front of them on the ballot as they’re there deciding whether to check yes or no. Now, the approach of the Constitution Committee is to do a repeal and replace of the charter with the constitution.”
The proposed constitution also contains “substantive provisions” that would represent an “abrupt, dramatic change” to tribal
government, McConnell said. He doesn’t believe that the public is aware of the extent of those changes and thinks that “we should be more direct about some of the changes that are being made in that constitution.”
“To get into those weeds, we could take several hours to do it,” he said.
Beloved Woman Carmaleta Monteith — who is a member of both the Constitution Committee and the Community Club Council — pointed to a sentence in McConnell’s resolution stating that the proposed constitution “contains several positive concepts that could strengthen tribal sovereignty and governance if properly expressed and executed … so as not to trigger unintended or unwanted consequences.” She was disappointed, she said, to see McConnell submit a resolution that, rather than seeking to ensure ideas in the constitution are “properly expressed and executed,” instead aims to tack a small subset of those ideas onto the existing charter.
The Constitution Committee had already — explicitly and publicly — rejected that strategy, she said.
“We rejected this because the charter is not the voice of the people,” she said. “It’s the voice of the government.”
Changing the title and adding a handful of new sections, she said, won’t change that.
McConnell questioned whether the Community Club Council could rightly call itself “the voice of the people.”
“They have presented themselves as the voice of the people,” he said. “They are the
voice of a committee.”
That’s not so, the Community Club Council representatives told Council. The constitution language has been discussed in Community Council and Constitution Committee meetings for years, with public participation welcomed, Monteith said. The Cherokee One Feather ran a series offering a side-by-side comparison of the charter and the proposed constitution, and after gathering feedback the paper ran the series again. Every tribal member received a personal copy of the document in the mail, and during a two-day Constitution Convention in March, broadcast via Facebook Live, the Community Club Council discussed and voted on “every single recommendation” submitted by community members.
“This is a document from the people and what the people want — not what Mike McConnell wants,” said Community Club Council member Ernest Tiger. “I don’t understand what a non-tribal member is doing telling us what we’re supposed to be doing with our lives and our laws.”
The Community Club Council met with McConnell to discuss potential revisions to the constitution, Tiger said, but he “flat-out refused to work with us.” The comment triggered a round of verbal sparring between Tiger and McConnell.
“At no time have I refused to work with the Constitution Committee,” McConnell said. “Ernie [Tiger], I take great offense at what you said.”
“You flat out lied,” Tiger
returned.
Chairman Richard French resorted to banging his gavel in order to get the conversation back on track.
“We’re not enemies nor wanting to put them in a corner and blame them,” Monteith said of members of McConnell’s office. “That’s not the purpose of this. The purpose is to produce a document that is properly expressed, and to me that’s what needs to be done now — not that they [the Attorney General’s Office] are going to write it for us. We’ll do it like we did at the convention, vote yay or nay.”
Community Club Council member Stephanie Saunooke then asked Council to kill McConnell’s resolution. Such an action would leave no doubt to the community that the constitution referendum would go on as planned.
“Give our people the right to vote,” she said. “Give our people their voices back. Put it on referendum. If they vote yay or nay, at least you gave them a chance to speak.”
None of the constitution’s proponents claimed that the document was perfect — rather, they said, it was the best effort by a broad coalition of tribal members over many years to give the tribe a governing document that represents the will of the people.
“This constitution is by the people, and that’s what a constitution is,” said Yellowhill resident Peggy Hill. “It’s from the bottom up, not from the top down like a charter is.”
While there is still time to make changes to the document before the election process begins, that time is quickly ticking away — and Council’s willingness to consider walking back its April 6 decision may have hurt the chances of seeing such changes through.
“[McConnell] brought to our attention the fact that if we made any changes anywhere, any word whatsoever, to the current document that was approved by Tribal Council, that we would have to rescind and go through this whole process again,” said Shannon Swimmer, a former clerk of court for the tribe. “The Constitution Committee’s concern was that it would not be passed by Council, so we would be taking several steps back.”
Tribal Council has “probably three weeks” to make adjustments, but doing so would require the Community Club Council to request rescinding the approved resolution and present an amended version for adoption, said Yellowhill Rep. David Wolfe.
“If they’re not willing to do that, they’re stuck with what they presented,” he said.
As of now, Swimmer said, a quality document exists, ready to be voted on, and the Community Club Council is ready to launch a robust education campaign ahead of the election.
“Up until now we have never had something this thorough come through before,” said Big Cove Rep. Teresa McCoy.
Birdtown Rep. Boyd Owle disagreed with that assessment. He should have read the proposed constitution more closely before voting to pass it in April, he said, because there’s “some stuff in there I cer-
tainly don’t like.”
“I’ve been out campaigning. I’m from the biggest community here and a lot of my people said, ‘No, it’s not ready. It’s a bad product,’” he said. “There’s some stuff in there that’s really going to be very difficult to operate under.”
The final vote was deeply divided but ultimately dismissed Stephanie Saunooke’s request that Tribal Council kill the resolution. Snowbird/Cherokee County Rep. Adam Wachacha moved to table McConnell’s resolution, with a second from Painttown Rep. Dike Sneed. Of the 12 members, seven voted to table, forestalling any potential move to kill — Chairman Richard French, Vice Chairman Albert Rose, Painttown Reps. Michael Stamper and Dike Sneed, Snowbird/Cherokee County Reps. Bucky Brown and Adam Wachacha and Owle.
While it remains to be seen whether tribal members will have the chance to vote on the document Tribal Council approved in April, there is disagreement as to what, if any, negative impacts could follow its adoption.
According to McConnell, the proposed constitution sets the Community Club Council up as an unelected body in Tribal Council with a role in deciding whether the constitution can be changed; prevents Tribal Council from granting rights of way, ensuring that anyone residing on a landlocked parcel of property will remain landlocked; and prevents the tribe from granting limited waivers of sovereign immunity for the purpose of contracting, therefore restricting its ability to carry out economic development projects. He listed additional concerns in an April 28 commentary published in The Cherokee One Feather.
Monteith, meanwhile, said that the constitution’s silence on various points of tribal law is purposeful, and that the language was developed with input from various judges and attorneys within the tribe. McConnell’s interpretation is just that, she said — his interpretation.
“Whatever is missing is covered by the code, which you operate under all the time,” she said.
Swimmer offered a directly hopeful view of what the constitution could do for the Cherokee people, should they choose to adopt it.
“You are not going to lose your per capita. That’s the number one thing. You are going to have rights that are going to be protected and guaranteed by the constitution,” she said. “That was the whole point of working on this, was to guarantee people’s rights.”
Tribal Council’s decision to table McConnell’s resolution leaves the fate of the proposed constitution up in the air. The June 1 meeting was the last regular Council meeting ahead of the July 1 deadline that, according to the Community Club Council, the EBCI Board of Elections has for finalizing ballot language. However, the body could hold a special-called meeting to discuss and vote on the measure.
Cherokee voters may have the chance to approve legalized marijuana use for adults and by-the-glass mixed drinks at establishments off casino grounds through referendum votes this fall.
During its June 1 meeting, Tribal Council voted unanimously to approve a referendum question that would allow the sale of mixed drinks at establishments other than Harrah’s Cherokee Casino. It also unanimously tabled for future discussion a resolution presented by Big Cove Rep. Teresa McCoy that would ask voters whether they support legalizing the possession and use of cannabis for people 21 years and older.
The cannabis resolution seemed to have broad support from Tribal Council, but some members wanted an opportunity to discuss it with their communities before approving the referendum language.
“I’m not opposed to the people voting on this in referendum,” said Rep. Mike Parker. “However, I think we need time to, like I said, meet with the community club in Wolfetown and Big Y to get their input.”
McCoy reminded Tribal Council that the referendum resolutions are time-sensitive, due to the Board of Election’s deadline for printing ballots, so it’s important to finalize those decisions as quickly as possible.
“I do encourage every representative, take that to your communities and just talk to your people about it,” said McCoy. “Again, getting people to the polls is very important, and I hope that they come out and vote. It’s either going to be yes or it’s going to be no. Council is not doing anything other than offering people the opportunity to participate in their own decision-making.”
If the resolution passes and corresponding laws are adopted, it will be up to the Cannabis Control Board to make any necessary rules surrounding production and sale of legal, recreational cannabis.
A separate resolution — submitted by Vice Chairman Albert Rose, Birdtown Rep. Boyd Owle and Yellowhill Rep. T.W. Saunooke — seeks to ask voters whether they support allowing the Tribal ABC Commission “to issue mixed beverage permits for the sale of mixed beverages on tribal lands to qualified establishments including but not limited to restaurants, hotels, convention centers and nonprofit organizations.”
The original resolution called for the question to be asked during a special election, but a unanimously approved amendment allowed it to be asked on the Sept. 7 General Election ballot instead.
“I’d hate for it to fail just because it falls on a day that not everybody can make it to the polls,” said Painttown Rep. Sean “Michael” Stamper, who proposed the amendment. “I’d much rather have it put on September’s [ballot], give it the best chance to pass if that’s the case.”
If approved, the referenda would represent the continuation of a period of rapid
change for tribal laws regarding alcohol and cannabis. Historically, tribal members have opposed measures to make alcohol more widely available within the community — even Harrah’s Cherokee Casino was dry for its first 12 years of existence.
Then, after multiple failed referenda seeking to allow alcohol sales off casino property, in 2021 voters approved a trio of referendum questions, allowing retail beer sales, an ABC package store and beer and wine sales at establishments like restaurants and hotels. That same year, Tribal
Council voted to decriminalize possession of small amounts of cannabis and established a system for allowing medicinal use of the drug.
The mixed beverage referendum resolution awaits the signature of Principal Chief Richard Sneed to become effective. Should it be enacted, the question will join three already approved referendum questions on the September ballot. One question seeks to limit Tribal Council members to two consecutive four-year terms, a second seeks to shift Tribal Council to staggered terms and a third asks voters to adopt the proposed constitution submitted by the Cherokee Community Club Council.
While the resolution including this third question has been approved and enacted, its future remains unclear. A resolution containing questions intended as a substitute for all three already approved referenda was discussed and tabled during the June 1 Tribal Council meeting (see story on page 16), with a work session expected on the topic soon.
Referendum questions that require a change to the Charter and Governing Document, which includes the three already enacted questions, require voter turnout of at least 51%. Other referenda, like those approved June 1, require a 30% voter turnout.
If a referendum question is approved by voters and meets the turnout threshold, the results are certified by the Board of Elections and deemed a binding action. No decision made through a referendum vote can be overturned without another referendum, and issues decided by referendum vote may not be reconsidered for at least two years afterward.
According to the calendar, summertime is still a couple weeks away, but with morning birds singing and the sun brightly shining, it certainly feels like we’ve already rolled over into the summer season.
Last weekend I sat in the blazing Kingsport, Tennessee, heat for two days watching my younger son play baseball. Driving back to Waynesville, I could feel the coolness settle in about the time we drove through that picturesque section of I26 West near the Tennessee/North Carolina border around Madison County. Cruising along, I took in the grandeur of the vibrant green mountains and breathed deeply, taking it all in.
There is something truly special about summertime in Western North Carolina. It’s one of the most beautiful places on earth and the weather is mostly wonderful. Despite midday high temperatures, at least we have cool mornings and evenings.
With summer on the horizon, I’ve made a few commitments to myself. I know how quickly this time of the year flies by, and I want to make sure I enjoy every minute of it. I want to share these personal commitments with my readers in hopes you, too, will challenge yourself to slow down and embrace this lovely season.
To begin with, I have a goal to reconnect with fun. Women are notorious for being unable to have good ol’ fashioned fun. It’s like somewhere along the way, we simply forget how to be silly and goofy and enjoy hobbies that aren’t connected to productivity.
This lack of ability to have fun is something I’ve been thinking about for a while. I’ve been trying to notice times where I feel lighter, more joyful. Riding roller coasters, playing tennis, paddle boarding, board games and reading are activities where I feel like I’m having fun. This summer, I plan to
To the Editor:
Letter-writer Dave Waldrop (SMN, May 25 edition) asked: “What is the cost of mass murder?” The next day, in another local newspaper, the same writer asked: “Why ignore a part of the Second Amendment?” Both are excellent questions; however, his underinformed critics seem mainly interested in muddying the waters with capricious descriptions of what constitutes an assault weapon adding their vacillating opinions and interpretations of the Second Amendment.
Pardon me for pointing out the obvious, but (technology aside) younger generations seem painfully bereft of knowledge of our heritage, American history, the founders’ intent and the Constitution they produced. I often wonder if American history is still being taught in public schools.
Whether it is or not, the fact (“something that actually exists; reality; truth”) remains, the United States is the only industrialized and (supposedly) civilized nation on earth to generate and then allow to continue unabated the slaughter of its children and innocent men and women.
Let us begin with one absolute fact. The
weave more of all of that into my life. Granted, it’s not a simple task to ride a roller coaster but we plan to make an intentional effort to get the family to Dollywood so we can all feel the up-and-down excitement of roller coasters.
A unique experience I’ve had lately that ended up being fun was visiting the local farmers market then cooking a meal or making a dish with the items we purchased. A farmers market is uplifting for many reasons and using the items purchased makes it even more fulfilling. The things I do for “fun” have changed since my younger years but the feeling is still the same.That’s what we need to remember. The act of having fun evolves as we grow older but that doesn’t mean we should give up on it. Something else I plan to do this summer is to sit down more often. I’m too much of a busy body and have the hardest time sitting down and relaxing. I always feel like there is more to do or more tasks to accomplish. Even when the rest of the family is relaxing, I’m up doing random things like chopping carrots or folding laundry. I’m sure this is something systemic in nature that has been ingrained in me since childhood. It’s probably going to be a hard habit to break, but I’m going to work at it.
Additionally, I plan to get outside multiple times a day. I work from home primarily, so it’s easy to get stuck in my office or in the house cleaning or cooking. Living in Haywood County, the outdoor adventure options are limitless and we plan to take advantage of that this summer. Our kids are busy with jobs, camps and sports workouts, so we don’t have any
Second Amendment was originally adopted so that Congress could not disarm a state militia, assuring the preservation of the “citizen soldier.” It was never intended as a guarantee (as some people would have you believe) of a citizens’ right to keep and bear arms free from government restrictions. Because the Supreme Court has never found the Second Amendment to be within the meaning of the 14th Amendment’s due process clause, each state has the authority to limit its citizens’ rights to keep and bear arms.
Keep in mind, the founders could not have foreseen life in 21st century America. They wrote the Constitution on the foundation of known history and based on the knowledge and experiences possessed in their era.
Because the Supreme Court has ruled on only a handful of cases regarding the Second Amendment, and because the wording of the Second Amendment is vague and subject to a wide variety of interpretations and meaning, it is reasonable to assume the gun-control debate will not be settled anytime soon.
So, we are left with wealthy gun manufacturers and others who profit from the sale of guns and a Congress anxious to be counted as benefactors of unrestricted gun ownership,
big trips scheduled. With that in mind, we hope to enjoy more local activities like rafting, kayaking, hiking, tubing and horseback riding. On a smaller scale, I plan to get outside and do the little things like walk my dog more often or make it a habit to eat dinner on the deck.
Next, I am going to be moving my body a lot during the next couple of months. I love to run, but I’m hoping to incorporate more unique physical activities such as tennis, open water swimming, mountain biking, paddle boarding and kayaking. I don’t want summer to pass by and I’ve done nothing but gone on hot, sweaty runs. We all know that exercise in general is a huge mood and health booster, but getting active in new ways offers additional benefits. To make this happen, I need to get up earlier and go to bed earlier. Those of you who get up before 8:00 a.m every day know how magical a Smoky Mountain summer morning can be. I don’t want to miss out on those.
Lastly, I’m going to try and be more lighthearted this summer. There’s enough heaviness in the world without me adding negative energy to it. I’m working hard to stop overthinking or worry about what’s happening in the future. We’ve had several earthquakes lately in Haywood County and even though they were relatively small, they made me realize how pointless it is to waste time on trivialities or things I have no control over. My goal is to be more mindful of the present because that’s really all we can be certain of.
As we move into the dog days of summer, I hope we can all find some time to relax and a few activities that offer a little fun. Lord knows, we all need it.
(Susanna Shetley is a writer, editor and digital media specialist at SMN and Smoky Mountain Living. susanna.b@smokymountainnews.com.)
therefore the massacre of our citizens will very likely continue unabated into the future.
It is up to us to stop the bloodshed (if it can be stopped) and to decide what kind of a nation we want to be. Or, we can remain apathetic about it all. Apathy ... according to the
Donald Trump is a paradigm of vices who deserved both of his impeachments and deserves indictment — which may happen in August — for trying to steal the 2020 election that he falsely claimed was stolen from him.
For him to be running for president again isn’t as frightening, however, as the fact that so many people who consider themselves good Americans are eager to vote for him again.
Don’t they care that his conduct after the election, culminating in the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an attempt to overthrow our government and the Constitution he swore to protect and defend?
To forgive his character flaws and willful ignorance is one thing, but to tolerate and reward the moral equivalent of treason should be out of bounds.
MAGA voters are, for the most part, people who believe that they love our country. But they’re fawning over a failed leader who is incapable of loving anything but himself.
Most of them tell the pollsters that they believe the election was stolen from Trump, notwithstanding the well-reported fact that his own Justice Department told him it wasn’t.
But I wonder if they really believe it or are simply saying what they think MAGA people are expected to say. Deep in their hearts, I suspect, many know the truth. And don’t care.
That would mean they have no more respect for the Constitution than he does and no more love for America than he has. It would mean they are as willing as he is to destroy our democracy. The MAGA disdain for American democracy is powered by fear.
Gene Nichol, the progressive law professor and author at the University of North Carolina, explains it this way: It’s the fear that “pluralistic democracy is going to over-
come their traditional privilege,” which they intend to preserve “even if you have to destroy democracy to do it.”
That fear is manifested in legislation almost everywhere Republicans rule to forbid the honest teaching of how racism has influenced American history and continues to do so now.
No one knows, of course, how the Supreme Court would have sorted it out had Trump been able to bully Vice President Mike Pence into calling off the electoral vote count and turning our future over to fraudulent electors in Georgia and other key states.
Had the court ruled against him, Trump likely have ignored that too. There would have been a constitutional crisis, turned deadly by his armed followers.
His tax cuts and his far-right judicial appointments may be sweet music to many conservatives, but there’s no shortage of other Republican politicians who would deliver similar results without putting democracy in peril.
This is not an endorsement of Trump’s main rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. He’s as dictatorial as Trump, in some ways more so, and his cruelty to transgender youth is more appalling than anything I’ve seen from any president. Not even Trump sought to cripple a corporation for criticizing his policies, like DeSantis vs. Disney.
DeSantis is a ruthless anti-vaxxer who put a quack doctor in charge of Florida’s health department and has left the state defenseless against the next pandemic. Think about what he would do to national preparedness. He’s made the Florida Supreme Court into a branch of the Republican Party in the expectation it will uphold his near-total abortion ban.
Although DeSantis has never tried to steal an election, he refuses to say what he thinks about Trump’s coup, which makes him a denier too. DeSantis has been a farright true believer his entire political career. Trump, it is often noted, doesn’t believe in anything but himself.
It’s difficult to say which is more dangerous.
(Dyckman is a journalist who lives in Asheville. dyckmanm@bellsouth.net.)
Sitting at a table on the front patio of the Highlander Mountain House, Jason Reeves looks up at the historic lodge with an expression of gratitude, only to then gaze back at the bordering Main Street of downtown Highlands.
“You know, the most fulfilling part of ‘all this’ is being able to bring people together,” said Reeves, owner of the HMH. “There was void here and I felt it. So, I figured let’s bring people from different walks of life into this place — culture, art, music, food.”
Inside the HMH that evening was rising Chicago-based indie-rock singer Neal Francis. Hot off a blistering set of funk-nsoul at the recent Bear Shadow Music Festival at the nearby Winfield Farm, Francis was hosting a packed out late-night DJ set in The Ruffled Grouse Tavern — a cozy, dimly lit cocktail lounge in the depths of the HMH.
“In this kind of polarizing time in our society, it’s great to have this platform where people meet others they might not cross paths with otherwise,” Reeves said. “But, they show up at this humble abode in the mountains and everybody cares about the music and the art — they care about each other and walk away fulfilled.”
Hailing from Charleston, South Carolina, Reeves purchased the HMH property in February 2020. Originally constructed in 1885 for a supposed retired Charleston sea captain, the house is commonly known to be the second-oldest building in Highlands after the Old Edwards Inn.
“I knew the [HMH] could be more and I could see every single detail of it in my mind,” Reeves said. “Realizing that potential [of the building] became kind of a compulsion to me, maybe like the way any artist feels — whatever is inside needs to get out. [With the HMH], the building was finally getting its soul back.”
After an extensive eight-month renovation process, the HMH reopened as an 18room boutique Appalachian lodge, one
filled with antique furniture and modernday amenities.
“The vision for the HMH has always been as a kind of ‘living room for the area,’ a throwback to a historic tavern where folks can converge over food, drink, warmth, culture and conversation,” Reeves said. “And the fireplace seating lends itself to conversation because of the almost-forced proximity between guests to strike up a meaningful conversation — something that almost never happens in a hotel lobby.”
The HMH also includes the tavern, a restaurant component and a robust live music series. To note, marquee singer-songwriters like Drive-By Truckers frontman Patterson Hood and Grammy winner Sarah Jarosz have sat next to the fireplace and wowed small audiences in a genuinely intimate setting of libations and pinch-yourself moments.
“Music has always been the great unifier in my life. It doesn’t matter where you’ve come from or where you’re going, if two strangers relate to a song, then maybe they’re not really strangers anymore,” Reeves said. “The inspiration and connection music provides me is as important as breathing and will be [part of] everything I’ll ever do in this life.”
Approaching the midnight hour, the Francis DJ set is in full-swing within the tavern. The rollickin’ melodies weave between signature Motown numbers and Chicago blues/soul classics. Silhouettes of numerous figures can be seen through the windows. They’re mingling, laughing, each immersed in the here and now.
Getting up from his seat on the patio, Reeves excuses himself to head back into the party — a vibrant scene and welcoming atmosphere, once dreamt of and now coming to fruition in real time.
“The whole thing has been surreal — it’s happenstance, really,” Reeves said. “There’s some magic here and I think we just found a way to unlock it. There’s good energy here and now all these people are picking up on it — we’re just going to keep riding the wave.”
The Highlander Mountain House is located at 270 Main St. in Highlands. For more information, go to highlandermountainhouse.com, call 828.526.2590 or email info@highlandermountainhouse.com.
The Ruffled Grouse Tavern is open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday, with dinner from 5:30-9 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. The bar is open 4:30-10 p.m. daily.
The HMH’s popular “Salon Series” concerts will feature acclaimed singer-songwriters Erin Rae (Thursday, June 22), Waylon Payne (Monday, July 3) and Caleb Caudle (Thursday, July 27). There’s also a free Sunday Bluegrass Residency from noon to 2:30 p.m. For tickets to the shows, go to highlandermountainhouse.com/offers-and-events.
BY GARRET K. WOODWARD
in the mountain retreat) and can step off the front porch onto mossy grounds under a shady tree canopy of silence and tranquility — instead of concrete sidewalks and pavement outside my front door, the white noise of cars and humanity zipping by at a moment’s notice.
It wasn’t the daily sounds of passerby traffic on Russ Avenue in downtown
Waynesville or the Tuesday morning garbage truck flipping up the dumpster to empty its contents from the pizza joint next door to my apartment that woke me up.
No, it was the slight, jovial whimper of two small dogs at the bedside in the wee hours of Sunday morning that brought me out of my slumber and into the impending day. The sun had yet to rise, with the early morning shadows still ominous and present in the forest outside the large windows of the master bedroom.
Half-asleep and still in a somewhat dreamlike state, my girlfriend and I hopped out of bed and proceeded to head downstairs to let the dogs outside to relieve themselves and to get a few more sniffs in of any and all critters that may have wandered into the backyard in the midnight hour.
Tucked in the ancient woods on a mountain ridge overlooking West Waynesville, this beautiful home isn’t mine, nor is it my significant other’s. It’s owned by dear friends who asked us to house sit for them this past weekend, mostly to let out the small canines and feed the numerous cats who each have taken up a respective corner of the home.
For someone like myself who lives a simple, nomadic life (personally and professionally) — one where I lay my head and leave all earthly possession in a quaint one-bedroom apartment — it’s quite surreal to “play house,” especially in such a large, welcoming abode.
This mountain retreat is filled with vaulted ceilings, a two-sided fireplace, exposed wood beams, sprawling kitchen with a stove that could cook for an army, numerous living quarters with endless natural light cascading through the windows and an outdoor space for a romantic breakfast or lunch — all atop several acres of backwoods exploration.
Although I’m a minimalist, the home is quite intriguing, where I find myself absorbing all the fine details and tasteful style to perhaps someday apply to a forested abode of my own. I might not seek out a house as big in size and scope, but I do see many of these same features as things to someday implement in that cabin in the depths of the desolate Adirondack Mountains — the one I’ve always envisioned for myself at some point down the line, whenever that may be.
Although I’m a minimalist, it’s tempting to want and desire a place where I don’t have to wait to use the bathroom (there are three
Thus, as I sat and consumed my eggs and coffee with gusto next to my girlfriend on the back porch of the picturesque mountain property, I found myself pondering the idea of manifestation — how real and tangible it is in the grand scheme of things, where I stand with my past/current manifestations and what the future may look like if I were to stop for a moment and think genuinely on “Where to from here?”
Growing up in the North Country of Upstate New York, I’ve always had this fantasy of that cabin the ADKs. Wooden bungalow structure. Filled with exposed beams and hanging artwork. Fireplace with wood chopped in the “back forty” earlier that day. Lots of natural light. Open-concept kitchen area into the dining room and living room. One bedroom for myself and my partner, one for incoming guests.
Oh, and a writing room. Preferably the smallest room in the furthest corner of the bungalow. This quiet space with an old desk
facing towards a window overlooking the nearby tree line and mystical forest. Shelves of beloved books and vinyl records. And a few guitar cases within reach.
Grab for a guitar case. Pop it open. Pluck the six-string if the mood is right, melodic inspiration striking between spurts of the written word — whether on deadline, on assignment or simply for the sake of getting
Popular Asheville rock act The Andrew Thelston Band will hit the “Concerts on the Creek” stage at 7 p.m. Friday, June 9, at the gazebo in Bridge Park in downtown Sylva.
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A special stage production of “Big Fish” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. June 8-10 and 2 p.m. June 11 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.
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The Marianna Black Library will host its “Summer Music Series” with an evening of old-time and traditional music from Susan Pepper & Tom at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 8, at the library in Bryson City.
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The annual ArtFest community event will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 9-10 at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin.
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Danita Dodson will present her new book, “The Medicine Woods,” at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 10, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.
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whatever is ricocheting around one’s restless mind and thoughts out on the empty page, ultimately relieving the pent up creative energy within.
And who knows when or if those vivid images of the future may come to fruition, eh? Time and space will always dictate what the universe wants to do. It’s been that way since the beginning. But, ain’t it fun to daydream, to wander and ponder this all too big world of hopes and aspirations? Visions of what might be and could be fascinate the mind — the heart and soul shining with endless possibility.
Finishing up the eggs and coffee late Sunday morning at the mountain house, I gazed around into the surrounding forest with a sincere sense of gratitude for where I currently stood, physically or spiritually. I kept thinking — more so manifesting — that cabin in the woods fantasy which remains in the deepest depths of my being.
It’s that same spot within, whether consciously and subconsciously, where I’ve held other dreams, many of which eventually becoming a reality, come hell or high water — of the written word, true romance, unimaginable adventures and strangers soon becoming fast friends, interviews and articles, friendships and relationships, nothing and everything and whatever lies in-between.
Life is beautiful, grasp for it, y’all.
‘And all my trails, won’t you take my hand, gonna raise it up all across this land’The backwoods of Haywood County on a lazy Sunday. Garret K. Woodward photo
Regional blues/folk singer-songwriter Heidi Holton will perform at 7 p.m. Friday, June 9, in the Speakeasy Bar at the Meadowlark Motel in Maggie Valley.
Acclaimed singer-songwriter and former member of Americana/indie juggernaut Band of Horses, Tyler Ramsey will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 17, at Yonder Community Market in Franklin.
Praised by NPR, Stereogum, WNYC and The Huffington Post, Ramsey is a multi-instrumentalist equally at home playing guitar, piano, keyboards, bass and percussion, but is best known as a talented finger-style guitarist and singer-songwriter.
A well-established and acclaimed guitar player and singer in the burgeoning Western North Carolina music scene, which he calls home, Ramsey first learned to play music on piano before moving to the guitar.
Ramsey grew up listening to and studying country-blues guitar players like Mance Lipscomb and Mississippi John Hurt, and American finger pickers like John Fahey and Leo Kottke — absorbing their sound and making it all his own.
Admission is a suggested donation of $20. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on eatrealfoodinc.com.
To learn about Tyler Ramsey, go to tylerramsey.com.
• Altered Frequencies (Franklin) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.342.8014 or alteredfrequencies.net.
• Angry Elk Brewing (Whittier) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. All shows are free and open to the public. 828.497.1015 or facebook.com/angryelkbrewingco.
The Town of Sylva, Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department and Jackson County Chamber of Commerce are proud to present the 14th annual season of the “Concerts on the Creek” music series.
Holton is turning heads with her unique take on one of America’s oldest popular musical traditions: the blues. She began young, leaving Murphy to play in rock bands in Athens, Georgia, and New Orleans, Louisiana, before the blues called and she answered.
She studied under the great Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna) and then disappeared to Alaska’s arctic interior to perfect her craft. She then moved back to Murphy and is touring around the country.
The show is free and open to the public. For more information, go to meadowlarkmotel.com/events or call 828.9261717.
• Concerts On The Creek (Sylva) will host Andrew Thelston Band (rock/soul) June 9 and Robbie Litt Band (rock/country) June 16 at Bridge Park in Sylva. All shows begin at 7 p.m. Everyone is encouraged to bring a chair or blanket. These events are free, but donations are encouraged. 828.586.2155 or mountainlovers.com/concerts-on-the-creek.
Popular Asheville rock act The Andrew Thelston Band will hit the stage at 7 p.m. Friday, June 9, at the gazebo in Bridge Park in downtown Sylva. This particular concert will feature originals and covers for the first hour, and a very special Fleetwood Mac tribute for the second hour.
In terms of musical ambassadors within the melodic melting pot of a scene that is Western North Carolina, you’d be hardpressed to find an artist as dedicated and inclusive as that of Andrew Thelston.
Throughout his exploration of these mountains and their inhabitants, Thelston has remained a sponge of sorts, always soaking in the knowledge and wisdom of astute musicians, the sacred act of performance, and the ancient craft of creation — either in collaboration, in passing, through a recording or in the presence of live music.
The culmination of these vast, ongoing experiences and interactions remains the fire of intent within Thelston to hold steady and navigate his own course, which currently is The Andrew Thelston Band — a rock/soul ensemble of power and swagger.
These events are free with donations encouraged. Everyone is welcome. Dogs must be on a leash. No smoking, vaping, coolers or tents allowed. Bring a chair or blanket. There will be food trucks available on most nights.
For more information, please contact the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce at 828.586.2155 or visit the Concerts on the Creek Facebook page. A full schedule of dates and performers can be found at mountainlovers.com/concerts-on-the-creek.
• Friday Night Live (Highlands) will host Johnny Webb Band (country/rock) June 9 and Steady Hand String Band (Americana) June 16 at Town Square on Main Street. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. highlandschamber.org.
host a Sunday Bluegrass Residency noon to 2:30 p.m. and Erin Rae (singer-songwriter) 8:30 p.m. June 22. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to highlandermountainhouse.com.
• 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. For more information, go to blueridgebeerhub.com.
• Boojum Brewing (Waynesville) will host music bingo 7 p.m. Mondays, karaoke at 8:30 p.m. Wednesdays, trivia at 7 p.m. Thursdays, Scott Low & The South (Americana/indie) June 10 and Chilitonic June 17. All shows begin at 9 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.246.0350 or boojumbrewing.com.
• Cashiers Live (Cashiers) will host To The Limit (Eagles tribute) 7 p.m. June 17. Tickets are $40 for adults, $12 for kids under age 12. VIP options available. Doors at 6 p.m. For more information cashierslive.com.
• Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center (Franklin) will host Mountain Heart (bluegrass) 6 p.m. June 17. Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for children. blueridgemusicnc.com/concerts.
• Currahee Brewing (Franklin) will host semiregular live music on the weekends. All shows begin at 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. 828.634.0078 or curraheebrew.com.
• Farm At Old Edwards (Highlands) will host the “Orchard Sessions” with Erick Baker (singersongwriter) June 15. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Tickets start at $25 per person. For tickets, go to oldedwardshospitality.com/orchardsessions.
• Folkmoot Friendship Center (Waynesville) will host Josh Goforth (Americana/folk) 7 p.m. June 16. Tickets are $20 for adults. Ages 12 and under free. Doors at 5:30 p.m. For tickets, go to folkmoot.org.
• Fontana Village Resort Wildwood Grill will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. Free and open to the public. 800.849.2258 or fontanavillage.com.
• Frog Level Brewing (Waynesville) will host its weekly “Tuesday Jazz Series” at 5:30 p.m., Arnold Hill June 9, Color Machine June 10 and Jacob’s Well (Americana) 4 p.m. June 11. 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.
• Groovin’ on the Green (Cashiers) will host Caribbean Cowboys (beach/oldies) June 9. Shows begin at 6:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. Donations encouraged. villagegreencashiersnc.com/concerts.
• Happ’s Place (Glenville) will host Doug Ramsey (singer-songwriter) June 9, Rock Holler June 16 and The Whitewater Heathens June 17. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. happsplace.com or 828.742.5700.
• Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort (Cherokee) will host Travis Tritt (country) 9 p.m. June 9 and Colt Ford (country/rock) 9 p.m. June 16. For a full schedule of events and/or to buy tickets, caesars.com/harrahs-cherokee.
• Highlander Mountain House (Highlands) will
• Highlands Performing Arts Center will host Empire Trio (classical/Broadway) 7:30 p.m. June 11. Tickets start at $49 per person. For tickets, go to highlandsperformingarts.com.
• Innovation Brewing (Sylva) will host “Trivia Night with Kirk” from 7-9 p.m. every Monday, Open Mic Night every Wednesday, Tim McWilliams (singer-songwriter) June 10 and Jesse Williams (singer-songwriter) June 17. All shows begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.
• Innovation Station (Dillsboro) will host “Music Bingo” on Wednesdays and semi-regular live music on the weekends. All events begin at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. innovation-brewing.com.
• Jackson County Public Library (Sylva) will host The Jazz Cats (jazz/swing) 6 p.m. June 15 in the Community Room. 828.586.2016 or jcpl-adults@fontanalib.org.
• 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 the “Lazy Hiker Turns 8”
The Marianna Black Library will host its “Summer Music Series” with an evening of old-time and traditional music from Susan Pepper & Tom Estes at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 8, at the library in Bryson City.
Pepper and Estes share a passion for oldtime music traditions from Western North Carolina. Both have recorded and learned from great traditional artists from the region — and have individually devoted decades to studying and teaching this music.
In concert, they hope to share the spirit of joy and deep meaning and connection that has been passed on to them. This program is free to the public and all are welcomed.
Other performances scheduled for the “Summer Music Series” will include Liz Nance June 22, Kelli Dodd June 29 and Frank Lee on July 13.
For more information or driving directions, call the library at 828.488.3030 or click on fontanalib.org/brysoncity.
A community jam will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 15, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. Anyone with a guitar, banjo, mandolin,
birthday party 2 p.m. June 10. 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 “Trivia Night with Jason Wyatt” June 8, Heidi Holton (blues/folk) 7 p.m. June 9 and Hearts Gone South (country/soul) June 10. 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 host Mountain Gypsy (Americana) June 9, Jacob’s Well (Americana) June 10, Frank Lee (Americana/old-time) 5 p.m. June 11, Twelfth Fret (Americana) June 16, Zip Robertson (singer-songwriter) June 17 and Wyatt Espalin (singer-songwriter) 5 p.m. June 18. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.538.0115 or
fiddle, dulcimer or 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.
The Jackson County Public Library will host local quartet The Jazz Cats at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 15, in the Community Room of the library in Sylva.
The Jazz Cats will perform classic jazz music, featuring songs from the swing and bossa nova eras. For more information, please call the library at 828.586.2016 or email at jcpl-adults@fontanalib.org.
This event is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Jackson County Public Library and the Jackson County Arts Council. The library is a member of Fontana Regional Library (fontanalib.org).
mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.
• Music On The River (Cherokee) will host semi-regular live music on the Water Beetle Stage. For more information, go to visitcherokeenc.com and go to the “Events” tab.
• Nantahala Brewing Outpost (Sylva) will host semi-regular 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.
• Pickin’ On The Square (Franklin) will host Outlaw Whiskey (oldies/country) June 10. All shows begin at 6 p.m. at the Gazebo in downtown. Free and open to the public. franklinnc.com/pickin-on-the-square.html.
• 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 Andrew Rickman (singer-songwriter) June 9, Russell’s Karaoke June 10, Wayne McAllister (singer-songwriter) June 16 and Tyler Kemmerling (singer-songwriter) June 17.
Renowned bluegrass/jam group
Mountain Heart will perform at 6 p.m. Saturday, June 17, on the lawn stage at the Historic Cowee School in Franklin.
The band has been fearlessly revolutionizing the way acoustic music can be presented and played, its name has been synonymous with cutting-edge excellence in acoustic music circles since the group’s creation.
Mountain Heart, or its individual members, have been nominated for Grammys, ACM and CMA awards. The band has also been nominated for, and won, multiple
Free and open to the public. 828.926.9105.
• Santé Wine Bar (Sylva) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.631.3075 or facebook.com/thewinebarandcellar.
• Satulah Mountain Brewing (Highlands) will host semi-regular live music on the weekends. 828.482.9794 or satulahmountainbrewing.com.
• Saturdays On Pine (Highlands) will host Firecracker Jazz Band June 10 and Dive Bar Divas June 17 at Kelsey-Hutchinson Park on Pine Street. All shows begin at 6 p.m. Free and open to the public. highlandschamber.org.
• 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, Keil Nathan Smith (singer-songwriter) June 8, Very Jerry Band (Grateful Dead tribute) June 9, Alma Russ (Americana/indie) June 15, Skies Of Avalon (alt-rock) 9 p.m. June 16 and Celtic Road Jam 4 p.m. June 17. 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 Kevin Daniel & The Bottom Line 7 p.m. June 22. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public.
They have appeared on the revered stage of the Grand Ole Opry in excess of 130 times and have shared the stage with acts ranging from Lynyrd Skynyrd, Montgomery Gentry, Merle Haggard, George Jones and Brad Paisley to Alison Krauss, Tony Rice, The Avett Brothers, Yonder Mountain String Band, The Punch Brothers, Levon Helm, John Fogerty and many more.
Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for children. Rain or shine. Tickets available at coweeschool.org/music.
828.743.8655 or slopesidetavern.com.
• Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts (Franklin) will host Debbie Gibson 7:30 p.m. June 16. Tickets start at $24 per person, with priority seating and VIP options available. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to smokymountainarts.com or 828.524.1598.
• The Ugly Dog Pub (Highlands) will host “Bluegrass Wednesday” at 6:30 p.m. each week and Darren Nicholson (Americana/bluegrass) 8 p.m. May 26. 828.526.8364 or theuglydogpub.com.
• Unplugged Pub (Bryson City) will host Jacob’s Well June 8, Jon Cox June 9, Rock Holler June 10, Karaoke w/Lori June 14, Blackjack Country June 15, Macon County Line June 16 and Keil Nathan Smith & Sudden Change June 17. All shows begin at 8 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Free and open to the public. 828.538.2488.
• Whiteside Brewing (Cashiers) will host Laney Bishop June 9, “Whiteside 5th Birthday Party” noon June 10, Andy Ferrell June 16 and Maggie Valley Band June 17. All shows begin at 6 p.m. unless otherwise noted. 828.743.6000 or whitesidebrewing.com.
• Yonder Community Market (Franklin) will host Tyler Ramsey (indie/folk) 7 p.m. June 17. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, go to eatrealfoodinc.com.
The “Unto These Hills” stage production will be held at 7 p.m. nightly throughout the summer at the Cherokee Mountainside Theatre.
This decades-old acclaimed outdoor drama traces the Cherokee people through the eons, through the zenith of their power, through the heartbreak of the Trail of Tears, finally ending, appropriately, in the present day, where the Cherokee people, much like their newly re-scripted drama, continue to rewrite their place in the world — a place based on traditional Cherokee values and modern sensibilities.
For more information on show dates and/or to purchase tickets, go to visitcherokeenc.com and click on the “Events” tab.
A special stage production of “Big Fish” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. June 8-10 and 2 p.m. June 11 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.
Will grew up hearing his father, Edward Bloom, tell him tall tales in which he was always the hero of his own story. As Will ventures into fatherhood himself, he is on a quest to find the man behind the stories before it is too late.
And so the audience goes on a wild ride through fantasy flashbacks filled with spectacular dance numbers, beautiful music by Andrew Lippa and piles of costume changes.
It’s a timeless tale of a child finally seeing his parent as a complete person and of the journey we all make from child to adult to parent ourselves. Was Edward Bloom trying to impress his son with his tall tales? Or was he trying to inspire him to live the life he always hoped he would?
Tickets start at $17.50 per person. For more information, go to harttheatre.org or call the Box Office at 828.456.6322.
‘Big Fish’ will close out its run at HART this weekend. Donated photo
The Cherokee Bonfire & Storytelling will be held from 7-9 p.m. Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays through Oct. 31 at the Oconaluftee Islands Park in Cherokee. Sit by a bonfire, alongside a river and listen to some of Cherokee’s best storytellers. The bonfire is free and open to the public. For more information, call 800.438.1601 or go to visitcherokeenc.com.
• Dale’s Wheels Through Time Museum in Maggie Valley will offer free admission to Haywood County residents on the first Saturday of each month throughout its 2023 season. The collection features over 375 of the world’s rarest and most sought-after American motorcycles from over 30 manufacturers. The museum is located at 62 Vintage Lane in Maggie Valley and is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday until Nov. 20. For more information about the museum and its collections, visit wheelsthroughtime.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.
Educational classes and other events are also available. For more information, call 828.538.0420.
• “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.
• “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. As well, there will be a “Beer Train to Dillsboro” at 6 p.m. Saturday, June 17. For more information and/or to register, call 800.872.4681 or go to gsmr.com.
The annual QuickDraw art fundraiser will once again be held in-person from 4:309 p.m. Saturday, June 10, at Laurel Ridge Country Club in Waynesville.
The cocktail social will include an hourlong QuickDraw Challenge, silent auction, refreshments and dinner. Live artists will be working in the public eye, creating timed pieces, which will then be auctioned off.
Proceeds go to art classroom supplies in schools and college scholarships for art-related studies. QuickDraw’s signature auction for art education features several unique items to benefit art education in schools.
• 4:30 p.m. — Cocktail Social. Register your bidder number and watch artists prep
before the shotgun start.
• 5-6 p.m. — Artist Stopwatch Challenge. Hour of live creation. Stroll and marvel at the motivated live-action artists painting to beat the clock. Stroll and chat with demonstrator artists using fiber, clay, metals, glass, wood and more, all process-intensive mediums that enable them to work and talk. Each demo artist offers a finished original work at silent auction while they showcase techniques on a piece in process.
• 6 p.m. — Breather. Snacks and conversation and live music while artists frame the pieces and set up the auction preview. Live music from pianist Craig Summers. Art teachers show off student works.
• 6:30 p.m. — Live Art Auction. Bid on fresh, original art, ready to hang. Become a collector who saw the artist make it. Team with artists to inspire students and creative classrooms, put supplies on teacher shelves and send kids to college.
• 7:45 p.m. — Dinner and cash bar. Meet your artist over delicious food and monitor your silent auction bids.
Tickets are $125 per person. VIP tables and sponsorships are also available. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on quickdrawofwnc.com.
The fifth annual Blue Ridge Heritage Weekend Arts & Crafts Festival will return June 16-17 to the Shelton House in Waynesville.
A fundraising event for the preservation of the historic home, also known as “The Museum of NC Handicrafts,” there will be artisans and demonstrations onsite, as well as food trucks/vendors and live Appalachian music on the front porch.
Live music will be held from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Performers include Cold Mountain Bluegrass, Cider House, Bean Sidhe, Alex Travers, Ginny McAfee, Sadie Wicker &
Friends, Chris Minich, Appalachian Consort, Lorraine Connor and Paddywack.
The Shelton House has a 43-year history as “The Museum of North Carolina Handicrafts,” featuring talented artists and artisans from across North Carolina. It is also listed as a stop on the “Blue Ridge Craft Trail” and on the “Appalachian Mural Trail.” Free and open to the public. Donations are appreciated. All donations go to the preservation of the historic site. Sponsors for the event are also welcome. Bring your lawn chairs. For more information, go to sheltonhouse.org or call 828.452.1551.
The annual ArtFest community event will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 9-10 at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. There will be art activities for kids and adults, with Friday’s focus on kids. Local area Macon County Schools art teachers will be onsite to have art activities for kids, which include several make and takes.
Art Minis will be on hand for purchase to support raising funds for Macon County Schools Visual Arts programs. Also, there
• Cherokee Gourd Artists Gathering will be held from June 7-11 at the Cherokee Indian Fairgrounds. Gourd artists from the United States and Canada gather to collaborate on gourd art, which will be for sale. Watch them work carving, painting and sculpting. Classes are available for a fee. For more information, go to visitcherokeenc.com and go to the “Events” tab.
• “Art After Dark” will take place from 6-9 p.m. Friday, July 7, in downtown Waynesville. Each first Friday of the month (MayDecember), Main Street transforms into an evening of art, live music, finger foods, beverages and shopping as artisan studios and galleries keep their doors open later for local residents and visitors alike. For more information, go to downtownwaynesville.com.
• “Paint & Sip” will be held from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, June 8, at Mountain Layers Brewing in Waynesville. Enjoy a fun evening with friends as you create your own personal masterpiece. Cost is $30 per person, which includes all materials as well as two hours of instruction. Space is limited. Text or call Robin Arramae at 828.400.9560 to sign up.
• Waynesville Photography Club meets at 7 p.m. every third Monday each month on the second floor of the Haywood Regional Health & Fitness Center in Clyde. The club is a nonprofit organization that exists for the enjoyment of photography and the improvement of one’s skills. They welcome photographers of all skill levels to share ideas and images
will be a raffle with tickets being sold for a chance to win an original painting by local award-winning artist Jean Blackmer. Saturday will focus on adult art workshops, demonstrations and activities. Food vendors will be available alongside photo booths, facepainting and chalk art.
For more information, visit the Uptown Gallery located at 30 East Main St. in Franklin or email franklinuptowngallery@gmail.com.
at the monthly meetings. Email waynesvillephotoclub@charter.net or follow them on Facebook: Waynesville Photography Club.
• Summer Artisans Market will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on the second Saturday of the month through September at the Nantahala Outdoor Center. Artisan vendors and more. For more information, go to noc.com.
• Farmer’s Market (with artisans) will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays through October at 117 Island St. in Bryson City. Stop by the old barn by the river for local, homegrown produce, as well as baked goods, jellies and preserves, authentic crafts and more. Food truck, picnic tables and live music. Leashed pets are welcome. Outdoor event. 828.488.7857.
• Jackson County Green Energy Park (Dillsboro) will be offering a slew of classes, events and activities for artisans, locals and visitors. For more information and a full schedule, go to jcgep.org.
• Southwestern Community College Swain Arts Center (Bryson City) will host an array of workshops for adults and kids. For more information on the upcoming classes and/or to sign-up, 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.
Ah, graduation!
Time for those who have earned a degree to don cap-and-gown, take their diplomas in hand, party hearty and turn their sights on the future.
Relatives and friends of the graduate are always looking for a gift to match this rite of passage. The young generally appreciate cash, as do many of us geezers, but many gift-givers look for something more personal. If Samantha’s heading off to college in the fall, they might buy her some decoration or appliance for her dorm room. If college senior Sam is setting up an apartment after accepting a tech job, some furniture or kitchen utensils might be in order.
And of course, everyone wants to offer the grad some advice. Uncle Bill, who’s raised a glass at the celebration a few too many times, tells his nephew to consider joining the Marines. “They’ll make a man of you,” he says to the strapping 22-year-old who started on the university’s rugby team. Meanwhile, sweet-natured Alicia, who’s about to begin work as an assistant at a large law firm, listens patiently as Grandma warns her about lecherous men. “They’re only looking for one thing,” she says, “and it ain’t how fast you type.” And though they’ve had 18 years to instill some sense in their rising college freshman, like Polonius in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” many parents spend the drive to deliver their son to campus hammering home lessons about doing the laundry and choosing friends wisely.
This flurry of advice begins with the commencement ceremonies themselves. Valedictorians and speakers enjoin the graduates to face up to the challenges ahead of them, to use their knowledge and skills to make a difference, and to live good lives. Many of these graduation speeches are quite good, but it’s likely the graduates themselves are deaf, at least for the moment. While the orator at the podium is urging them to conquer the world, that 17-year-old in the mortar board is just praying she doesn’t trip crossing the stage.
And then there are those crafty rogues — I happily count myself among them — who prefer slipping their advice to graduates through books. You hand the beaming kid
her gift, say “You might want to take a look at this. It’s important,” smile mysteriously, and fade into the woodwork. Your task is finished, and with any luck you’ve piqued her curiosity.
Here are two books that will do the trick.
years, with his father unable to support him and absent for long periods from home, Hajim ended up in a series of foster homes and orphanages. Decades would pass before he discovered his mother was alive and reestablished a relationship with her.
Determined to make something of himself, Hajim won a Navy ROTC scholarship to college, graduated with a degree in chemical engineering, served out his stint in the Navy and after a short time entered Harvard Business School. From there, he was on to Wall Street, where over the next 40 years he became legendary for his work ethic, business acumen and honesty.
From his early experiences, Hajim understood the value of an education and has a passion for helping young people receive the same opportunities. He has given away millions to scholarship funds and university programs, but his interest is even deeper and more personal. He has spoken, for instance, at dozens of graduations and youth meetings, including audiences of young people who are undergoing the same hardscrabble existence he suffered. He recounts his story in full in his 2021 memoir “On the Road Less Traveled.”
In “The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Getting Ahead: Dos and Don’ts of Right Behavior, Tough Thinking, Clear Writing, and Living a Good Life” (Currency Publishers, 2014, 144 pages), Charles Murray offers straight up takes on such topics as successful job interviews, dress and demeanor in the workplace, the importance of work-related writing and the value of travel, marriage and an exploration of religion. Here’s a book that may well prevent the foolish and the naïve from falling flat on their faces.
Short and easy to read, “The Curmudgeon’s Guide” is a great gift for those starting out on their careers.
Next up is Ed Hajim’s “The Island of 4 P’s: A Modern Fable About Preparing for Your Future” (Skyhorse, 2023, 168 pages).
Hajim (pronounced HEY-Jim) is a selfmade 86-year-old multi-millionaire who suffered a rough childhood and adolescence. After his parents divorced when Hajim was three years old, his father kidnapped his son, told him his mother had died and whisked him off to California. After several
Now Hajim has written a new book aimed specifically at young people, “The Island of 4 P’s.” Seeking advice about his future, the young Marketus travels to an island, where he meets his guide, Archimedes. The pair visit the four villages of passions, principles, partners and plans, drawing lessons from each of them and integrating that knowledge into a working template for Marketus’s future.
Distilling the wisdom of a lifetime into this tale, Hajim provides youth with lots of big-picture ideas and questions designed to bring fullness and joy to their lives. “That’s why I wrote this book,” he tells them, “so you can use my experience to help you navigate troubled waters.” Grab your paddles, young people, and hop aboard.
So, congratulations to all you graduates! And since everyone else is tossing in their two cents, here’s my advice: love life, show kindness and be grateful for every day you draw a breath.
(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.)
Danita Dodson will present her new book, “The Medicine Woods,” at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 10, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. Dodson’s new poetry collection is a graceful and soul-stirring meditation on how our planet’s future lies in the ability to embrace the oneness of life and practice nonviolence toward each other, the trees, the seas, and all beings.
In this second collection of awe-inspiring poetry, Dodson uplifts the ecological stewardship that obliges us to seek healing in its many forms — to walk in the woods, to cure waters, to return the soil to its original state of health, to mend broken hearts and minds, to give justice to the oppressed. To reserve copies of Dodson’s books, please call City Lights Bookstore at 828.586.9499.
Coming to the end of a year that included not only the onset of an unprecedented global pandemic but also the publication of her book on the history of Dupont State Recreational Forest, Danny Bernstein was just pausing to take a breath when she realized an
important anniversary sat not far over the horizon. In 2023, Carolina Mountain Club would celebrate its 100th birthday. Somebody, she decided, had to chronicle its story.
“Once I knew nobody else was doing it,” she said, “I kind of got in gear.”
The result is “Carolina Mountain Club: One Hundred Years,” a 195-page book published in April. The book tells the story of an Asheville-based organization that now boasts about 1,200 members, offering five hikes each week and organizing 10 weekly trail maintenance crews.
Bernstein will present her book “Carolina Mountain Club: One Hundred Years” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 20, at Pack Library in Asheville.
Learn more at buncombecounty.org/governing/depts/lib rary/branch-locations/packmemorial.aspx.
The book retails for $19.95 and is available online from Friends of the Mountainsto-Sea Trail at stores.portmerch.com/mountainstoseatrail or at various retail stores in Asheville, including Malaprop’s Bookstore, REI, Mast General Store and Second
Counterintuitively, the story of this 100year-old Southern hiking club starts in Boston in 1876. That’s the year that the Appalachian Mountain Club was formed by a group of outdoor enthusiasts, many of whom from Ivy League universities. Enticed by stories of the 6,000-foot mountains down south, they set out to start a southern chapter. Headquartered in Asheville, the new chapter launched in 1920.
But the Southern Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club didn’t last long. The club collected annual dues of $8, equivalent to about $125 today, and most of that money left to fund trail projects up north. The southern group decided to separate from the
AMC, and on July 16, 1923, the Carolina Mountain Club was formed.
The split was amicable, and the influence of AMC bequeathed a culture that still influences CMC today, Bernstein said.
“Given that they were dealing with educated women [with AMC], women were accepted exactly the same as men,” she said. “I'm not sure that would have happened if it had been a homegrown club here.”
Secondly, AMC had a system of rules for how to lead a hike, many of which CMC still observes. For instance, hike leaders must scout the trail before the day of the hike, and while hiking there must be a designated person in the front and back of the group. To include people without access to cars, the hikers always meet at a central location and carpool to the trailhead.
“It was a pretty good start for CMC,” Bernstein said.
Bernstein, like nearly everyone else alive today, wasn’t around in 1923, so writing the book involved a combination of library research and interviews with CMC members in possession of the longest memories. Navigating sometimes cumbersome pandemic-era rules, Bernstein spent a lot of time in the library at University of North Carolina at Asheville, whose special collections includes an archive of CMC papers.
She also talked to people, starting with the oldest first. This decision quickly brought her to Lew Blodgett, who turned 100 at the end of May — making him just about seven weeks older than CMC itself. Blodgett joined CMC in 1972, so while he’s the oldest member, his is not the oldest membership. But he had saved “every scrap of paper” about CMC since joining, which he gave to Bernstein.
“He was a wealth of information, and so was his stuff,” Bernstein said.
From her research emerged the story of a club that has adapted with the times without losing sight of its core mission — advocating for trails, and helping more people to enjoy them.
Even during World War II, when gas rations made travel difficult, CMC members kept enjoying the mountains. They just had to be more strategic about it. Incredibly, public transportation that existed at the time made it possible for them to access a plethora of remote trailheads without using personal vehicles.
“The most amazing one was Arch Nichols, one of the guys who was very instrumental in [preserving] Max Patch,” she said. “He worked for the Forest Service here. He worked for the Forest Service here his whole career. And so he was drafted. And on leave he and a couple of buddies took a bus or a couple of buses from here into the [Great Smoky Mountains National] Park, where they could climb Clingmans Dome,” she said. “Don't try that today.”
Trail building and maintenance have also been part of CMC’s mandate since the very early days of its existence. Two years after CMC was created, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy formed in support of Benton MacKaye’s vision of a wilderness trail stretching from Georgia to Maine. In January 1931, the ATC established the Carolina Appalachian Trail Club as the official maintainer of the trail through nearly all of North Carolina and Tennessee. But by the end of the year, the two clubs had merged under the CMC name.
Since then, new A.T. maintaining clubs have come into existence, leaving CMC with responsibility for a more manageable 94-mile stretch of the 2,200mile A.T. But the club has taken on new challenges as well, building and maintaining a variety of trails in the area and playing an instrumental role in the development of the 1,175-mile Mountains-toSea Trail. The club is charged with maintaining 130 miles of that route.
In addition to crews, CMC uses a “section maintainer concept,” which Bernstein believes it may have pioneered. Section maintainers “adopt” a 2- or 3-mile section of trail and are asked to go out once each season, four times per year, to do basic maintenance and report any larger problems for the trail crews to tackle.
Perhaps one of the biggest accomplishments in the club’s history is the conservation of Max Patch, a beloved bald on the North Carolina/Tennessee line near Hot Springs. It’s now part of the Pisgah National Forest and hosts a stretch of the A.T., but in the early 1980s, its owners were looking to develop the land or build an indoor ski resort on it. CMC campaigned hard to get the U.S. Forest Service to buy it instead. The 392-acre property officially joined the Pisgah National Forest on July 9, 1983.
This conservation project took place in an
The Carolina Mountain Club will celebrate its 100th birthday 1-5 p.m. Sunday, July 16, at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville. This free, family-friendly party will fea-
era before land trusts were common. Back then, Bernstein said, CMC was much more involved with land conservation efforts than it is now.
“I realized we don't do that anymore,” she said. “We do help others, but really now it's the conservancies that do that. They're the ones who negotiate with the government and the owners to buy land they’re trying to protect.”
That doesn’t mean CMC isn’t involved with conservation and stewardship efforts. Its representatives were active during the decadelong process to create a revised PisgahNantahala Forest Plan, and when overuse and misuse at Max Patch was damaging this beloved place in 2020, it was CMC, together with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and U.S. Forest Service, that developed a plan of action. This year, the club received an award from the Public Lands Association for its efforts (See story on page 33).
Bernstein hopes her book will commemorate the efforts of those who carried CMC from 1923 to 2023 and serve as a resource for those who will shepherd it through the next 100 years. She expects that the people sitting in her place a century from now will still love trails, still need trails and have even more hiking options at their disposal than CMC members do now.
“If you were sitting here 50 years ago, plus or minus a little, you would not have thought about the MST and how it has gone from an idea to, especially in the mountains, a wonderful trail,” she said.
It stands to reason, she said, that trails not yet thought of today will be reality in the decades to come. And more trails means more camaraderie, because at its heart CMC is a club that’s as much about the relationships developed along the way than it is the trail itself.
“You don't need to know anybody to come with us,” she said. “You don't need an introduction. You don't need your husband to come with you. Just come. And people do.”
ture more than 20 booths from local nonprofit partners, guided hikes, kids’ activities, live music and food trucks and ice cream. Entrance to the arboretum will be free for those attending the party.
Learn more about the event or find a hiking schedule at carolinamountainclub.org.
An earthquake that shook the Canton area during the early morning hours of Sunday, June 4, was the largest in a series of quakes centered around the same area along Crabtree Mountain Road about 3 miles north of downtown Canton.
The 3.2 magnitude quake occurred at 6:09 a.m. June 4, with 638 people reporting to the U.S. Geological Survey that they’d felt it. Reports were filed from locations ranging from Rock Hill, South Carolina, north nearly to Johnson City, and from Chattanooga east to Winston-Salem. None of the reports stated that damage had occurred as a result of the quake, instead reporting only weak or light shaking.
It is one of only four earthquakes over magnitude 3 to occur in Western North Carolina since 2000, the others occurring in 2005 near Hot Springs, 2006 near Maggie Valley and 2009 near the Tennessee line west of Murphy.
The earthquake was one of seven to rattle the Canton area over the past two weeks. Prior to the 3.2 magnitude quake, at 12:08 a.m. June 4, a 2.5 magnitude quake was recorded. Afterward, at 4:35 p.m., came a 2.2 magnitude quake.
At 7:28 p.m. Tuesday, May 23, the USGS recorded a 2.8 magnitude quake, followed by a pair of slightly weaker earthquakes Thursday, May 25. A 2.2 magnitude earthquake occurred at 6:16 p.m., and a 2.4 magnitude earthquake happened at 6:27 p.m.
The very next day, a fourth earthquake occurred in the same area. This much lighter quake registered a magnitude of 1.8.
The earthquakes came surrounding a momentous day for the town of Canton, with Wednesday, May 24, bringing the last blow of the whistle on the town’s 115-year-old paper mill as it ceases production for good.
In a post on Twitter, Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers he said he plans to ask the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality and the N.C. Geological Survey for an analysis of this outburst of seismic activity. He also questioned whether the cluster of quakes could be related to the mill’s closure.
“I obviously want that question answered, but we will see where the science takes us,” he wrote.
Haywood County Emergency Services offered an indirect reply to this concern, also on Twitter.
“Geologists have found no reason to suspect human activity could be the cause of these quakes,” the post reads. “They are simply a natural event that happens from time to time.”
For more information about earthquakes in the United States, visit earthquake.usgs.gov.
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susan.hooper@allentate.com
As a resident of Haywood County for over 35 years, I have developed a deep understanding of the local real estate market. Being an active participant in the community and staying informed with the latest trends and developments in the area, I have established myself as a local expert.
As a real estate professional with an unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction, I am the right choice for you when it comes to buying, selling, or investing in property in Western North Carolina.
I’m dedicated to leveraging my knowledge of the region’s unique characteristics to help you achieve your real estate goals. Don’t hesitate to contact me today to learn more about how I can guide you through the real estate process and make your dream a reality.
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- Kevin Wells, Seller
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A bipartisan bill seeking to designate the Benton MacKaye Trail as a National Scenic Trail has been introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives as the Benton MacKaye Trail Association continues a push it began in 2021 to bestow the prestigious designation upon the 288-mile trail.
The Benton MacKaye Scenic Trail Act, or H.R.3683, is co-sponsored by six representatives from each of the three states through which the trail passes — Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia — including Rep. Chuck Edwards.
The prestigious designation is reserved for trails that epitomize the stunning beauty of America’s wide array of natural landscapes. The trails also offer outstanding recreational opportunities. Only 11 trails have received this honor, including the
A new “Junior Ranger Activity Guide” is now available from the Great Smoky Mountains Association, an interactive guidebook packed with 38 pages of fun activities to introduce kids of all ages to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
After completing at least five activities and five experiences outlined in the guide (with help from a parent or guardian), kids can be officially sworn in as Junior Rangers at any park visitor center. Activities include stargazing, making s’mores, observing insects along the trail and finding a checklist of patterns in nature.
Featuring colorful illustrations by Jesse White and a tear-out postcard to send to friends back home, the guide is available for $4.50 at park visitor centers or online at smokiesinfor-
Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail.
A similar bill was introduced in the House last year but did not pass. However, Benton MacKaye Trail Association President Ken Cissna is optimistic about this go-around. The bill was introduced May 25 and referred to the Committee on Natural Resources.
“This year’s a whole new ballgame,” he said. “The outpouring of public support has been fantastic and we’re making steady progress — the House bill is just the first step.”
Known for its beauty and peaceful seclusion, the 288-mile trail passes through three National Forests (the Chattahoochee-Oconee, Cherokee and Nantahala) and traverses six Wilderness Areas as well as 93 miles in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Since its inception in 1980, the BMTA
first constructed and now has maintained the trail for 43 years. The route was completed in 2005. Today, just 15 miles remain on private land or as short road walks – 95% of the route is on public lands managed by either the U.S. Forest Service or the National Park Service. In
fiscal year 2022, BMTA’s volunteers contributed nearly 8,000 hours to trail maintenance.
For more information, contact BMTA Communications Director contact Joy Forehandat jwfbrga@gmail.com.
Deadlines are approaching for applications and nominations for a pair of annual awards given by the N.C. Wildlife Federation.
The deadline is June 15 for nominations of conservation heroes from across the state to be considered in NCWF’s 59th annual Governor’s Conservation Achievement Awards. Awards honor people and organizations that exhibit unwavering commitment to conserving North Carolina’s natural resources.
Meanwhile, a June 16 deadline is coming up to apply for one of seven scholarships available from the NCWF. This may be awarded as seven $1,000 grants or as six $1,000 grants and one $2,500 award to a student of exemplary merit. Three grants will go to undergraduate students and three for post-graduate candidates.
Learn more at ncwf.org.
mation.org. It was developed by park staff with support from GSMA and assistance from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Cherokee Speakers Council.
Go camping with the family during an event Friday, June 16, through Saturday, June 17, at Ralph J. Andrews Campground on Lake Glenville in Jackson County.
The experience will include s’mores, a campfire and paddling. Dinner on Friday and breakfast Saturday will be provided, with kayaking and fishing offered Saturday morning. Cost is $65 for a family of four, with an additional $10 for every additional family member up to six per campsite. Immediate family will not have to rent additional sites.
Equipment rentals are available. Tents are $10, sleeping bags $5 and sleeping mats $2. Register at jcprd.recdesk.com/community/program.
Go birding with an expert at 8 a.m. Wednesday, June 14, at Sams Knob in the Pisgah National Forest.
Howard Browers will lead this outing organized through Haywood County Recreation and Parks. Cost is $10. Sign up at haywoodcountync.gov/recreation.
Through Aug. 31, three Storybook Trail of the Smokies displays featuring pages in English and Spanish will be open in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and nearby Gatlinburg. Storybook Trails installations are up along Fighting Creek Nature Trail at Sugarlands Visitor Center in the park and along trails at Mills Park and Mynatt Park in the City of Gatlinburg. The trails will feature books published by the Great Smoky Mountains Association: “We’re Going to the Mountains (Vamos a las Montañas)” by Steve Kemp, “The Great Smoky Mountains Salamander Ball (El Baile de las Salamandras en las Montañas Smokies)”
Troublesome Cub (El Osezno Problematico)” by Lisa Horstman. Each month, the stories will rotate among the three parks.
The first Storybook Trail of the Smokies traveled to trails across the park
in 2021 and 2022, featuring a rotation of stories in English and one bilingual book in English and Cherokee.
Volunteers are needed to help trail crews in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park rehabilitate the Ramsey Cascades and Little Cataloochee trails, with work sessions 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays through September.
The work on Ramsey Cascades Trail is part of a two-year project through the Trails Forever program supported by Friends of the Smokies. The 4-mile Ramsey Cascades Trail is one of the park’s most popular and offers the only route to the park’s tallest waterfall, 100-foot Ramsey Cascades. Rehabilitation will improve overall trail safety and protect the park’s natural resources.
Volunteers will perform a range of trail maintenance and rehabilitation work, including installing drainage features, rehabilitating trail surfaces, building raised trail segments and removing brush. Jobs vary in complexity, but all volunteers must be able to hike at least 4 miles and safely perform strenuous and often difficult manual labor. They should be comfortable lifting heavy objects and using hand tools.
Equipment and safety gear will be supplied by the park, but volunteers should wear long pants and sturdy, closed-toed shoes, and they must bring all the food, water and personal gear they will need for the day.
To sign up for a workday, contact Adam Monroe at 828.497.1949 or adam_monroe@nps.gov.
Entomologist Charles Dial will lead a 4mile Walk N’ Talk hike through Panthertown Valley Backcountry Area 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday, June 9, meeting at
Salt Rock Gap Trailhead. The group will take in scenic views and visit a favorite waterfall, and Dial will discuss pests impacting the forest, particularly those impacting the eastern hemlock. Free, with registration required at panthertown.org/events. Contact Kara with questions at kara@panthertown.org.
The Highlands Biological Foundation will kick off its annual Zahner Conservation Lecture Series at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 15, with a talk from biologist Allen Hurlbert titled “Birds, Big Data and Citizen Science: Understanding the Impacts of Global Change.”
Lectures will be held each Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Highlands Nature Center through Aug. 10, with topics ranging from microplastics to regional geology to historical Cherokee
landscapes. A small reception will follow each lecture. This year marks the 100th birthday of the late Dr. Robert Zahner. The series is named for him and his wife Glenda Zahner in recognition of their contributions of land conservation efforts on the HighlandsCashiers Plateau.
In his talk, Hurlbert will offer examples of how citizen science has enhanced our understanding of how global change impacts bird and insect bird food across North America,
The Carolina Mountain Club and U.S. Forest Service received the 2023 Public Lands Partner Award, honoring “exemplary partnership” and “stunning achievements” surrounding the restoration of Max Patch. The national award celebrates the best in public lands partnerships.
During the past four years, CMC has taken a leading role in organizing and enacting a Visitor Use Management Committee for Max Patch on the Appalachian Ranger District. In Spring of 2018, CMC and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy developed the Max Patch VUM Committee, bringing together representatives from the Pisgah National Forest, Cherokee National Forest and community members.
“Despite facing continued challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, our community has per-
The U.S. Forest Service will spend $3.8 million in funding from the federal Great American Outdoors Act to support projects in North Carolina during the 2023 fiscal year.
“We are excited to see these funds get put to use across North Carolina’s National Forests,” said Forest Supervisor James Melonas. “The funding will improve visitor experience and access by addressing deferred maintenance on several of our popular roads, trails and recreation sites.”
These projects support a recent announcement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Interior proposing a combined $2.8 billion in funding for fiscal year 2024 to improve infrastructure, recreation facili-
severed,” said Dan Puskar, President and CEO of PLA. “Together, we have done incredible things.”
Since 2018, the Carolina Mountain Club, the Forest Service and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy have worked hard to improve the visitor experience and sustainable recreation at Max Patch. Achievements include instituting a process to plan management actions, implementing a trail ambassador program, regular trail maintenance for increased visitation, additional signage and fencing and restoration of vegetation.
Although the nomination focused heavily on efforts at Max Patch, the award recognizes CMC’s other work to strengthen its federal partners and expand outside partnerships on public lands. In 2022, CMC members reported 22,139 hours of volunteer work across four national forest ranger districts spanning three national forests in two states. The club maintains more than 400 miles of trails in North Carolina’s national forests. It received the PLA award as it prepares to celebrate its 100th birthday in July.
ties, public lands access and land and water conservation as the Great American Outdoors Act reaches the third of its five years. The Act addresses the growing $7 billion backlog of deferred maintenance on national forests and grasslands.
Including the authorized and funded deferred maintenance projects for fiscal year 2023, the National Forests in North Carolina currently have 11 projects in various stages of development funded through the program, with over $1.2 million already put to work in contracts and agreements on the ground.
One project currently being implemented is the Cradle of Forestry National Historic Area Major Rehabilitation. This $2 million project will restore chimneys at historic buildings; rebuild the historic sawmill, help to implement the interpretive master plan and improve exhibits. Additionally, trail resurfacing and other important maintenance needs will be completed.
and how individuals can help these efforts. An accomplished ecologist and academic leader, Hurlbert holds a Ph.D. in biology and is currently a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also serves as the director of graduate studies for the Environment, Ecology and Energy Program. He has been a member of the Highlands Biological Station’s Board of Scientific Advisors since 2016.
Free, through sponsorship from Kim and Rich Daugherty and Kathy and Bestor Ward. The full lineup of Zahner lectures is online at highlandsbiological.org.
Hikes to see the flame azaleas in bloom on Hooper Bald, just off the Cherohala Skyway, will be offered Saturday, June 10, by the Partners of Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock Wilderness.
It’s difficult to predict when peak bloom will be, but the nonprofit believes June 10 is a good bet. There is a hiking trail to follow, and some guided walks may be offered depending on weather and attendees. For more information, contact president@joycekilmerslickrock.org.
Students at Mountain Discovery Charter School in Bryson City have been learning through outdoor exploration this spring.
In April, the school’s third graders rafted down the Nantahala River, learning about rowing mechanics and teamwork while building courage and love for whitewater. Meanwhile, seventh graders embarked on a backpacking trip along Noland Divide, hiking the 15-mile trail over three days and two nights while studying the changing biomes as they descended in elevation.
“The trilliums were everywhere, same with the trout lilies and spring beauties and bluets and pink lady slippers,” said seventh-grader Luna Deal. “I really wish I was still out in the woods, hiking through the park, talking to my classmates about our stories.”
Puzzles can be found on page 38
These are only the answers.
BY ADAM B IGELOW
Plants and butterflies have a long history of evolution and interconnected relationships. Plants serve as food for caterpillars who eat their leaves to gain energy for their growth and transformations. This co-evolved host-plant relationship mostly occurs between native plants and native caterpillars. Many butterflies depend on this relationship for their lives.
Here’s how it works: plants “eat” sunlight, transforming solar energy into sugar and carbohydrates through the process of photosynthesis. Insects, especially caterpillars of moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera) then eat the plant leaves. This is the main way solar energy is moved up and into the ecosystem and food web. Exotic plants — i.e. those that did not evolve in a region, grew up somewhere else — do not participate in this relationship as most native butterflies will not recognize exotic plants as a good and safe place to lay their eggs.
This is one of the reasons I, and so many other people and organizations are promoting the use of native plants in your landscape.
Caterpillars eat the leaves of native plants, then birds and other animals eat many of those caterpillars and feed their young on them. Then those critters are eaten by other critters, who are consumed in turn by others, and finally the bacteria, fungi and other soil micro-organisms consume the waste. All of these organisms are interconnected in the food web. It’s the circle of life.
One of the most fascinating of these interconnected host plant relationships is that of the pipevine swallowtail butterfly (Battus philenor) and the Dutchman’s pipe, aka pipevine (Isotrema macrophyllum). The Dutchman’s pipe plant is loaded with a toxic chemical that keeps insects from eating its leaves. Most insects would die if they tried to dine on a pipevine leaf. But not only can the caterpillars of the pipevine swallowtail butterfly eat the leaves, it is one of only two plants in southern Appalachia that they can eat. The other is a plant called Virginia snakeroot (Endodeca serpentaria).
Dutchman’s pipe is a woody vine with large, heart-shaped leaves. It is known as pipevine because its flower is shaped similar to a meerschaum pipe, the curved type of pipe that Sherlock Holmes smoked. Pipevine flowers are green with a mottled red center that is trying to resemble the appearance of a dead animal. And the flowers emit a scent that smells like rotting meat. All of this is because they are trying to attract flies, their main pollinating insects, who think they are going to get a meal, and are instead tricked into pollinating the flowers.
Mountain folk call Dutchman’s pipe porchvine, as they liked to plant it on the sunny side of a porch to provide shade in the afternoon. When I learned of this, I got excited and thought, “I want porchvine growing up the side of my porch.” So, I went and bought one from a reputable and ethical plant nursery, so that I could
be sure that they weren’t just dug from the woods, and I planted one on the southwestern corner of my porch. It grows there to this day. I enjoy telling this story when I give talks at garden clubs. Everything is happy and fine until I get to this part of the story. See, that first year I planted the Dutchman’s pipe these insects came and ate it all the way to the ground. This is when I often hear a collective sigh of “oh no” as I tell of the plant being consumed by insects. I wait a bit for emphasis, and then respond with an enthusiastic “oh yeah!”
Because the only insects those could have been are the caterpillars of the pipevine swallowtail butterfly. And that is why I planted it. One of the reasons anyway. To support pipevine swallowtail butterflies. The plant recovered just fine that first year. The next year it was only eaten 3/4ths of the way down. By year 4 you’d hardly notice the leaf damage, and it began flowering. Now, it grows lushly on my front porch, casting shade with its big, green, heart-shaped leaves and blooming profusely.
I now get to sit and take my morning coffee on the porch observing the flowers, watching pipevine swallowtail butterflies lay their eggs on the leaves. I get to see those eggs hatch into small caterpillars that grow progressively larger before crawling off to safety to go into their chrysalis and transform into an adult butterfly through metamorphosis. All while sipping coffee on my front porch, watching the circle of life. It’s like “The Lion King” in my yard. And that is just one plant and one insect that co-evolved together long ago.
Most every plant in my landscape has coevolved relationships like this that I get to watch. And you can too. All you need to do is plant native plants in your landscape to attract native insects. It’s simple. If you plant them, they will come.
(Adam Bigelow lives in Cullowhee and leads weekly wildflower walks most Fridays and offers consultations and private group tours through Bigelow's Botanical Excursions. bigelownc@gmail.com.)
• The Jackson County Farmers Market meets every Saturday November through March 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and April through October 9 a.m.-noon at Bridge Park in Sylva, 110 Railroad St. Special events listed on Facebook and Instagram.
• The Jackson Arts Market takes place from 1-5 p.m. every Saturday at 533 West Main St. in Sylva with live music and an array of local artists.
• The Franklin Chamber of Commerce Pop Up Market will be held 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, June 10, at the Franklin Chamber of Commerce Welcome Center located at 98 Hyatt Road.
• The Cogburn reunion will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 24, at the Cruso Community Center, 13186 Cruso Road. Bring a dish of food and/or drinks to share. Meat and paper products will be provided.
• The annual QuickDraw Live Art Demo and Auction will take place 4:30-9 p.m. Saturday, June 10, at Laurel Ridge Country Club in Waynesville. Tickets are online and include the quick draw, auction and dinner. Fine more information and tickets at QuickDrawofWNC.com.
• The Macon County Library will offer free lunches, provided by the Macon County Public School system 1111:30 a.m. June 5 through July 31, except Monday July 4. For kids up to age 18.
• A free Lunch and Learn session will be held noon-1 p.m. Wednesday, June 14, at Haywood Regional Health and Fitness Center. Medical experts will share information about Esophageal cancer, the 10th most common cancer in the world. Space is limited and guests must RSVP by June 9 to guarantee a reserved lunch. To RSVP, visit MyHaywoodRegional.com/LunchAndLearn or call 828.452.8828.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 at writers.gsmit.org.
n All phone numbers area code 828 unless otherwise noted.
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• 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.
• Storytime takes place at 10 a.m. every Tuesday at the Macon County Library. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.
• Toddler’s Rock takes place at 10 a.m. every Monday at the Macon County Library. Get ready to rock with songs, books, rhymes and playing with instruments. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.
• Culture Talk takes place at 2 p.m. on the first Wednesday of every month at the Macon County Public Library. Travel the world from inside your library. This event features guest speakers and food sampling from the location being discussed. For more information visit fontanalib.org or call 828.524.3600.
• 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.
• The Gourd Gathering will take place June 7-11 at the Smoky Mountain Event Center. Events include classes, make and take sessions, free children’s make and take classes, vendors, silent auctions and more. No admission charge. For more information visit gourdgathering.org.
• Artfest, a free community art event, will take place 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, June 9, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. Free and open to the public. There will be art activities for kids and adults. Visit the Uptown Gallery located at 30 East Main St. in downtown Franklin for more information, or email franklinuptowngallery@gmail.com.
• World Wide Knit in Public Day will be celebrated 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, June 10, at the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center. Attendees should bring their own bag lunch or RSVP at 828.479.3364. Email amber@stecoahvalleycenter.com with any questions.
• The Highlands Performing Arts Center will present the Empire Trio at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 11. Tickets are available online at highlandsperformingarts.com.
• An event with Karen Kingsbury, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author, will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 17, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Tickets are on sale at smokypartners.com. For more information call 828.349.3200.
• Mountain Voices Chorus will hold a concert at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 22, at First United Methodist Church in Franklin.
• Trivia Night is hosted 6:30-8:30 p.m. ever Thursday evening at the Meadowlark Motel in Maggie Valley. For more information visit meadowlarkmotel.com.
• Paint and Sip at Waynesville Art School will be held every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 7-9:30 p.m.
To learn more and register call 828.246.9869 or visit PaintAndSipWaynesville.com/upcoming-events. Registration is required, $45.
• Mountain Makers Craft Market will be held from noon-4 p.m. the first Sunday of each month at 308 North Haywood St. in downtown Waynesville. Over two dozen artisans selling handmade and vintage goods. Special events will be held when scheduled. mountainmakersmarket.com.
• Smoky Mountain Event Center presents Bingo Night with doors opening at 4:30 p.m. and games starting at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month. For more information visit smokymountaineventcenter.com.
• “Flights & Bites” will be held starting at 4 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays at Bosu’s Wine Shop in downtown Waynesville. For more information on upcoming events, wine tastings and special dinners, click on waynesvillewine.com.
• 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.
• Blacksmithing Fundamentals, a class taught by Brock Martin designed to introduce students to the art of blacksmithing, will be held 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, June 30 and Saturday, July 1, at the Green Energy Park in Jackson County. Cost is $160, due at registration. Space is limited. For more information or to register, contact the Green Energy Park at 828.631.0271.
• “Armor Construction: Gothic Gauntlet,” a class that teaches various techniques involved in constructing armor, will be offered 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday and Saturdays, August 5-6, at the Green Energy Park in Jackson County. Cost is $550, space is limited, pre-registration required. For more information or to register, contact the GEP at 828.631.0271.
• 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.
• “Thursday Painters” group will be held from 10 a.m.3 p.m. on Thursdays at The Uptown Gallery in Franklin. Free and open to the public. All skill levels and mediums are welcome. Participants are responsible for their own project and a bag lunch. 828.349.4607 or pm14034@yahoo.com.
• International hiker and writer Jen Seymour will speak at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 8, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. The program is offered by the
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Nantahala Hiking Club. Attendees will be entered to win a raffle valued at $25.
• Take a hike to Siler Bald in Macon County with Jackson County Parks and Recreation, leaving at 10 a.m. Thursday, June 8, from the Cullowhee Recreation Center. Cost is $7. Register at jcprd.recdesk.com/community/program. Contact Trevor Brown with questions at 828.293.3053, ext. 9, or trevorbrown@jacksonnc.org.
• Learn how to grow dahlias from an expert during a lecture at 11 a.m. Friday, June 9, at the Environmental Resource Center in Franklin. The event is free and presented by Macon County Master Gardeners Association. The ERC is located at 1624 Lakeside Drive.
• Entomologist Charles Dial will lead a 4-mile Walk N’ Talk hike through Panthertown Valley Backcountry Area 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday, June 9, meeting at Salt Rock Gap Trailhead. Free, with registration required at panthertown.org/events. Contact Kara with questions at kara@panthertown.org.
• Hikes to see the flame azaleas in bloom on Hooper Bald, just off the Cherohala Skyway, will be offered Saturday, June 10, by the Partners of Joyce KilmerSlickrock Wilderness. For more information, contact president@joycekilmerslickrock.org.
• Go birding with an expert at 8 a.m. Wednesday, June 14, at Sams Knob in the Pisgah National Forest. Howard Browers will lead this outing organized through Haywood County Recreation and Parks. Cost is $10. Sign up at haywoodcountync.gov/recreation.
• The Highlands Biological Foundation will kick off its annual Zahner Conservation Lecture Series at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 15, with a talk from biologist Allen Hurlbert titled “Birds, Big Data and Citizen Science: Understanding the Impacts of Global Change.” Lectures will be held each Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Highlands Nature Center through Aug. 10, with topics ranging from microplastics to regional geology to historical Cherokee landscapes. Free, through sponsorship from Kim and Rich Daugherty and Kathy and Bestor Ward. The full lineup of Zahner lectures is online at highlandsbiological.org.
• 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.
• The 2023 Jan Wyatt Symposium will explore unanswered questions about local trout species and their health and wellbeing Thursday, June 15, at Canyon Kitchen in Sapphire. Cost is $100, and proceeds will benefit the Cashiers Historical Society. Sign up under “Events” at cashiershistoricalsociety.org.
• Go camping with the family during an event Friday, June 16, through Saturday, June 17, at Ralph J. Andrews Campground on Lake Glenville in Jackson County. Register at jcprd.recdesk.com/community/program.
• Blue Ridge Mountain Drivers offers monthly open water diver scuba certification classes. This is the basic class needed to become a certified scuba diver. Pool sessions are held at Waynesville Recreation Center pool. Prior registration required. Register online at blueridgemountaindivers.com or call 864.710.1567.
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)
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• Bold ad $2
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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
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NOTICE OF ADMINISTRATION
Case No.2023 E 000309 Joyce Angelina Sutton, Billy Denver Henry JR Aug 24 2023
HOOPER REUNION
July 8th at Hiawassee Senior Center. All relatives of brother Absalom, Clemmons Hooper and Susan Hooper Stephens invited. Covered dish luncheon at noon. 954 N. Main St. Hiawassee, GA 30546. Any questions text 706581-2016
Administrator 128 Welch Messer Dr Clyde, NC 28721
DRINKING
DONATE YOUR VEHICLE
ABSOLUTE ESTATE AUCTION Estate of Kenneth Wayne Pace (Deceased) Saturday, June 17th, 2023 - 10 am LIVE ONSITE AUCTION / ONLINE BIDDING WWW. EJ-AUCTION.COM
Location: 1084 Old Howard Gap Rd Saluda, NC 28773 Many large trucks, equipment and tools have been tucked away in the woods for years. Now the items will be sold to the Highest Bidder. All items will have to be removed before June 24th, 2023 if not the items will be considered abandoned. Partial Listing: Antique Cars and Trucks, Construction Equipment, Road Tractors, Shop full of tools and misc. So Much at this Auction
EDWARD JOHNSON
AUCTIONEERS, INC Hot Springs, NC 828-593-9649 NC8134 NC8496 (828) 5939649 ejohnson@ ej-auction.com
HOME INSPECTION
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Electronics
HOME INTERNET NOW
AVAILABLE
MILL TOWN STRONG Career and Resource Fair. Friday June 16, 2023. 11:00am - 4:00pm. Smoky Mountain Event Center (formerly Haywood Co Fairgrounds). 758 Crabtree Road Waynesville NC. Meet employers in manufacturing, logistics, public safety, construction, government, hospitality, healtcare, IT, education and more! Tap into free resources to help with employment services, career counseling, short-term training, prescription sign-up, refurbished laptops and starting your own business. FREE
LAPTOP AND LUNCH
Evergreen workers with mill badge that sign in at NCWorks table. Event hosted by NCWorks. For more information call 828.558.6170 or email haywoodcounty@ ncworks.gov.
BEGIN A NEW CAREER
Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate - Heritage
• Carolyn Lauter - carolyn@bhgheritage.com
Allen Tate/Beverly-Hanks Realtors - beverly-hanks.com
• Billie Green - bgreen@allentate.com
• Brian K. Noland - bknoland@allentate.com
• Anne Page - apage@allentate.com
• Jerry Powell - jpowell@allentate.com
• Catherine Proben - cproben@allentate.com
• Ellen Sither - esither@allentate.com
• Karen Hollingsed- khollingsed@allentate.com
• John Keith - jkeith@allentate.com
• Randall Rogers - rrogers@allentate.com
• Susan Hooper - shooper@allentate.com
• Hunter Wyman - hwyman@allentate.com
•Julie Lapkoff - julielapkoff@allentate.com
•Darrin Graves - dgraves@allentate.com
ERA Sunburst Realty - sunburstrealty.com
•Rick Border - sunburstrealty.com
• Randy Flanigan - 706-207-9436
• Steve Mauldin - 828-734-4864
Keller Williams Realty - kellerwilliamswaynesville.com
•The Morris Team - www.themorristeamnc.com
• 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
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
10 Attaches, as a seat belt 11 Dog tether 12 Chichi 13 Sporty 1990s Toyotas
14 U.S. snoop gp. 15 Nabs
16 Hoi -- (the masses)
17 Like single-person bands 18 B-board
