Training for people new to trail work will be held from May 29 through June 1 through the Wilderness Skills Institute, aimed at teaching trail volunteers the skills necessary to do trail maintenance in designated wilderness areas.

This training will give participants an understanding of basics in the field, and more skilled trail workers will also be able to tackle technical construction problems with experienced trail crew leaders. It is a joint effort by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, The Wilderness Society, the Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards, the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service.

The training will be held at the Cradle of Forestry off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Transylvania County. Registration is $50 per person and is free to members of the conservancy and the wilderness society. The fee includes camping near the Cradle of Forestry.

www.trailcrews.org

A trail workday in Panthertown Valley will be held Saturday, May 26, and is open to anyone willing to lend a hand.

Trail tools and instructions will be provided. Friends of Panthertown is hosting the trail workday along with REI Asheville, which will offer prizes and incentives for those who volunteer. Pathertown Valley is a 6,300-acre backcountry recreation area in the Nantahala National Forest with almost 30 miles of public trails.

Meet at 9:30 a.m. at the Salt Rock Gap entrance at the end of Breedlove Road in Cashiers. The group plans to hike approximately five miles on easy to moderate trails and be finished by 2:30 p.m. Trail volunteers are asked to pack a lunch, bring plenty of water, wear good shoes, and bring a pair of work gloves and pruners if you have them.

828.269.4453 or www.panthertown.org.

An aqua fitness class at Western Carolina University will be held from 12:10 to 12:55 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting June 12 and running through Aug. 2 in the pool of Reid Gymnasium.

Participants will engage in a variety of aqua exercises designed to increase cardiovascular endurance. Equipment such as water buoys will be utilized at times.

Exercise experts tout the benefits of aqua fitness activities because they allow individuals of all ages to exercise all parts of the body, but because the water causes a body to be buoyant, there is less strain on the muscles and joints. Participants also remain more comfortable because of the cooling effect of the water.

828.227.7397 or http://learn.wcu.edu and click on “Conferences and Community Classes.”

• Black Perigord Truffles: Three years ago researchers brought in Filbert trees that had their roots inoculated with truffle spore. The trees were planted at the station to see if truffles will grow in Western North Carolina. The hope is to develop a new and lucrative cash crop for the region.

• Broccoli trials: This is a five-year effort to develop broccoli varieties suitable for the East Coast. Most of the broccoli now grown in the Eastern U.S. was developed for growing conditions in the western part of the country, which means when it turns warm the broccoli bolts.

• Hemlock and Fraser fir project: Researchers are trying to breed Hemlock or Fraser firs resistant to the lethal adeglid insect that has all but wiped out the species. A few trees in the wild have shown some tolerance for this destructive bug, and researchers hope to capture the genetic traits of those resistant trees. The project is modeled on the American Chestnut Foundation’s breeding program.

• Nitrogen rates on narrow row corn: Prompted by a farmer’s question about how much nitrogen he needed to worry about with his corn, the research station is testing the different levels of nitrogen uptake needed on narrow rows of corn versus wide rows of corn.

• Weed control for organic farmers: Researchers are growing mustard, rye, sorghum-sudan grass, vetch and sun hemp in different plots to test for weed suppression effectiveness. Eventually results of the tests, if proven successful, could be implemented by organic farmers and traditional farmers to cut down on or better control weeds without using herbicides.

• Pumpkin variety trial: A large-scale pumpkin research trial is under way, testing various varieties for yields and quality. The effectiveness of various fungicides on pumpkins is also being evaluated.

• Heirloom tomato evaluations: Researchers are testing varieties of heirloom tomatoes, prized by consumers, for yield and quality. Additionally scientific data on how well organic fungicides work is being collected.

• Canola testing for alternative fuels: Targeting the use of canola oil as a biofuel, canola varieties are being researched to determine yield of oil per acre. Different varieties are being planted, the seed is harvested, and oil is extracted.

n Performance bull testing: Fifty to 60 bulls are brought in each year for performance trials. This includes measuring weight gain and growth, breeding soundness and more. The bulls are then sold to local producers to improve local herds. This program is more than 30 years old.

City Lights Bookstore will host discussions and book signings for two novelists — Bob Plott and Harold Littleton — during the next two weekends.

Plott will present his latest book Colorful Characters of the Great Smoky Mountains at 6:30 p.m., May 26. His book details the legendary lives of a few fascinating people that have lived in the Smoky Mountains. Whether it is French and Indian War hero, Captain Kennedy or Plott’s relative Von Plott, he crafts each narrative to honor the legacy of some of most interesting and influential people of the area.

Harold Littleton will present his historical novel, Jesus A Would Be King, at 2 p.m., June 2. The novel is about two families in the first century of the common era that shaped the course of history. Their quest for power set them on a collision path that shook the empire to its core, altered a thousand-year-old religious tradition and initiated a redefined expectation that dominates religious understanding to this day. This novel takes the reader through a journey that explores several controversial issues regarding the life of Jesus.

To the Editor:

According to recent letters to the editor, Christians, or anyone else, should not be allowed to vote on amendments the “tolerant left” does not support.  This form of discrimination and attacks on Christianity continues to grow in this country and people will continue to defend their right to make individual choices at the ballot box according to their beliefs.

Our basic laws are derived from the book of Leviticus, for those not familiar you can find that in the Holy Bible. Our Constitution states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion; it does not say that religious people can’t participate in government and elections.

We did not hear mournful cries when President Obama supported the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman, before he needed to raise money for reelection. Gays and lesbians are lobbying for special rights that are not necessary. They already have equal rights. Our laws also prevent same-sex heterosexuals from marrying, period.

The LGBT are protected in our constitutions as individuals and rightfully can’t be discriminated against for their lifestyle, nor should they receive special status and privileges. For those living an alternative lifestyle, there are alternative resources to provide for each other, same as those used for heterosexuals who choose to live together.

Many churches publicly supported the marriage amendment, some remained silent and some were against it. How can one say it was “protestant’s forcing their religious beliefs on the populace” when churches clearly supported different views? Were there only Protestants voting for it? Were all the 38 percent that voted against it secularists? What name should we give to the 65.34 percent of registered voters that did not vote?

In contrast, the LGBT are trying to force their beliefs on the majority who continue to stand against changing the definition of marriage. Thirty one states so far have felt it necessary to exercise their 10th Amendment rights in this battle to affirm and defend the definition of marriage. In those 31 states the amendment has passed with a majority ranging from 52 percent to 86 percent. Six states and the District of Columbia allow same sex marriage through legislation or the judicial system, but have not done so by a referendum or amendment, ignoring their constitution and denying the people a vote. In North Carolina 92 out of 100 counties voted for the amendment. Over 50 percent of the states’ Defense Of Marriage Amendments have passed with 62 percent and higher majority. Every time a state has put this issue on a referendum-type ballot, the attack to redefine marriage has failed, twice in California.

There is nothing hateful, fearful or ignorant about standing firm that marriage is between a man and a woman. How could maybe 3 percent of the population have the right to redefine marriage for everyone else? Liberals are always in favor of majority rule, taking a stand and every vote counts, except when they lose.

Carol Odom

Cullowhee

By Martin Dyckman • Guest columnist

In July of 1861, Major Sullivan Ballou of Rhode Island composed a letter to comfort his wife in the event of his death, which came soon after at the first Battle of Bull Run. What he wrote stirred millions of modern American hearts when its reading concluded the first episode of the Ken Burns PBS series The Civil War.

Most may recall it for how beautifully he expressed his profound love for his wife, Sarah. But it also bears remembering now — particularly now — for how he stated his devotion to the Union cause.

“I know,” he wrote, “how American civilization now leans on the triumph of the government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing, perfectly willing, to lay down all my joys in this life to help maintain this government and to pay that debt.”

Not “this country.”  Not “this nation.” Rather, “this government ...”

Ballou understood the government, as established by the Constitution, to be the proudest accomplishment and the living embodiment of the people of the United States. He did not regard the government and the people, in the way some people do now, as antagonists. To Ballou, the nation and the government were inseparable.

That government – our nation – owed its existence and its survival to the principle of compromise, beginning with the Constitution itself. But the time came when some preferred to destroy the government and the nation rather than compromise to any extent over slavery. The Civil War was the result.

Even as we mark the 150th anniversaries of those events, we’re in deep danger again. As before, the crisis is the stubborn refusal of a radical faction to compromise over anything. They may not be threatening to dismember the government this time, but they would reach the same effect by crippling it in two ways: financially, by “starving the beast,” as they say; and morally, by destroying what’s left of the people’s trust in their government.

They’re well on their way to achieving both goals.

Their latest success was Sen. Richard Lugar’s defeat in the Indiana Republican primary. The Pollyannaish explanation is that the voters saw him as no longer a Hoosier but as a Washingtonian. Whatever the truth in that, the larger reality is that it was the radical faction that  exploited it. They include the fanatically anti-tax Club for Growth, the National Rifle Association, and the shadowy ultra-right financiers who nourished the Tea Party. A nonentity like his opponent, Richard Mourdock, could never have won on his own.

It had been quite a while since Lugar had voted with Democrats on anything, but he might do so again one day, as he had when he voted to confirm Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. So he had to go, even if it meant purging the last Republican in Congress who deserved to be called a statesman.

In defeat, Lugar lamented the “unrelenting partisanship” of Mourdock, who happily confirmed it by declaring, “I have a mind-set that says bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view.”

If that’s the future of this country, we have no future.

There are only two ways to destroy the United States. One is by invasion, which hasn’t been a credible threat for 200 years. The other is by subversion – by insidiously, persistently undermining our respect for the government that represents us. No foreign foe has ever succeeded at that, either.

Writing in the time of Joseph McCarthy, the cartoonist Walt Kelly, creator of Pogo, said it best: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

(Dyckman is a retired associate editor of the newspaper formerly known as the St. Petersburg Times who has written several books on Florida politics. He resides in Haywood County and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)

To the Editor:

California is back in the news. Two Saturdays ago, Gov. Jerry Brown announced that the state’s budget deficit would exceed the original estimate he made in January of $9.2 billion. The new deficit is projected to be a remarkable $16 billion. With state spending still through the roof, unemployment at 11 percent, and poverty on the rise in the Golden State, hope is diminishing that California’s finances will ever return to normal with anything short of a declaration of bankruptcy.

So how did California get in this ugly predicament? The same way the federal government did; by interfering with free market forces by erecting a massive welfare leviathan. The only difference between the caretakers in Sacramento and the caretakers in D.C. is that the latter have the political luxury of printing money to forestall the inevitable day of reckoning. Sacramento does not have that same luxury and unless something drastic happens, it faces insolvency right now.

The five features of the welfare state that have brought the current financial calamity upon California are overregulation, bureaucracy, high taxes, social welfare programs, and unionization.

Overregulation and bureaucracy go together. It has been said that the fastest-growing entity in California is government and its biggest products are bureaucracy and regulation. California’s environmental regulations have always been legendary, but little noticed is the enormous bureaucracy built to regulate most other areas of life. Maintaining these ever growing monstrosities costs a fortune. Additionally, their onerous regulations are one reason that for the seventh year in a row Chief Executive Magazine’s survey of 500 chief executives ranked California as the nation’s worst state to do business in.

Besides regulations chasing business from the Golden State, there are also high taxes. Statists claim that California’s budget deficits have been caused by an ever-shrinking tax base. This is the old chicken before the egg argument.

The reason the tax base continues to shrink is precisely because taxes are so high. California has the 48th worst business tax climate. Workers who earn more than $48,000 a year pay a top income tax rate of 9.3 percent, which is higher than what millionaires pay in 47 states. Its sales tax is one of the highest in the nation, at 8.25 percent. Rounding out the levies that rank among the highest in the country are its capital gains taxes, gasoline tax, and vehicle license taxes. High taxes are a big reason why the state has seen a net loss of four million citizens to other states in just the last two decades. When government raises taxes, the astute find ways to avoid them. The industrious cut back their enterprises and in the case of California, many simply left for lower tax states.

Lastly, Californians have voted for and built a huge social welfare system that puts an enormous strain on the state treasury. The state has about 13 percent of the country’s population but 33 percent of its welfare recipients. Add to that the union contracts of state workers and it is no wonder California is a sinking financial ship. Her prison guards and public school teachers are the highest paid in the country. As of 2009, the average pay and benefits package for a firefighter was $175,000 per year.

California is not alone. For decades, the United States, Greece, and Spain have created welfare states that have choked the lifeblood out of the free market. All face grave financial circumstances today. The free market’s great revenge is that welfare states cannot last forever. Their inevitable collapse comes because they are not self-sustaining. They grow by feeding off the labor of hard-working citizens either through higher taxes or inflation. At some point either those sources dry up or the social programs become so large that no amount of money could ever be raised to keep the scheme going. Like Spain and Greece, California is facing immediate financial insolvency. The only thing keeping the United States from the brink is Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s printing press.

Kenn Jacobine

Jonathan Creek

To the Editor:

Three letters in the May 16-22 edition of the Smoky Mountain News reflect differing views about what the voting results on Amendment One mean, but all three, unintentionally I presume, use numbers from the actual vote count in a misleading way.

The North Carolina “electorate” is the 6,296,759 people who are registered voters. On May 8 only 2,182,675 of those people chose to actually cast ballots in the primary. In other words only 34.66 percent of the electorate voted. Only 35 out of every 100 eligible voters bothered to vote. The true “majority,” the 65 out of 100, said nothing in the primary because they did not think it was important to vote.

Amendment One passed because 61 percent of those voting (the 35 percent) voted in favor and 39 percent voted against.  So Amendment One was not passed by “a majority of North Carolinians” as one letter claimed, because only 35 percent voted. Neither was it “passed with the support of 61 percent of the electorate” as another letter said because the amendment got 61 percent of votes actually cast by 35 percent of the electorate. Also the votes were 61 percent for the amendment and 39 percent against, so the margin of victory is only 22 percent percent and not 61 percent as the other letter claimed.

Is it really that important to be “so ticky” about how the numbers were used?  Yes, it is really important to understand exactly what the voting numbers are saying. The way these numbers were used in the letters left readers with the impression that a strong majority of North Carolinians supported Amendment One, but the reality is that barely 1 in 5 North Carolinians actually voted for the amendment, which is now part of our constitution.

When only 35 percent of the eligible voters bother to vote, any winning vote is a minority opinion even if it gets 100 percent of the votes cast. Amendment One got 61 percent of the votes cast but that was from a minority of the electorate to begin with. Sixty one percent of 35 is 21. That means only 21 of every 100 eligible voters voted for the amendment, 14 voted against it and 65 did not vote at all.  Since when is 21 out of 100 a majority opinion?

People who are passionate about an issue or candidate will usually show up to vote on it when they get a chance. If their view happens to be a minority view within the whole electorate, it can only become law when the majority remain silent by not bothering to vote. Democracy is not a spectator sport; it only works when a true majority participate by taking time to vote. This must be what Plato was talking about when he said, “The price of apathy is to ruled by evil men.”

Jane Harrison

Waynesville

MedWest-Haywood will discontinue in-home aide services in Haywood County, laying off 17 nursing assistants that visit housebound patients and aid them with routine personal, such as bathing.

MedWest-Haywood serves about 200 patients with skilled home health care services in Haywood and surrounding counties. Private companies and other community agencies that offer personal in-home care will take over the services, and the laid-off workers will hopefully be able to get new jobs with those companies.

MedWest-Haywood is working to provide a seamless transition by June 30.

The decision was based on cost. MedWest will continue to provide more skilled home health care services, which include nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, medical social services and home health aide for personal care.

“It’s rare for a hospital to provide in-home aide services as part of home health care,” said Dwayne Hooks, chief nursing officer at MedWest-Haywood. “As a home health division, we can now focus on growing those specialized services that help people in their homes from a clinical aspect.”

The Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department will offer the “Fun in the Sun Summer Camp” for kids ages 5 to 12 beginning June 11 and ending on Aug. 7. The camp will take place Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

There will be swimming, arts and crafts, games, and weekly field trips. The cost is $75 for members of the Waynesville Recreation Center or $95 for non-members for the week. Campers may also register by the day at a cost of $15 for members or $20 for non-members.

828.456.2030 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

MedWest-Harris Emergency Medical Services will host an open house from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on May 23 to celebrate EMS Week.

At the open house, community members can show support for local EMS personnel, get free glucose and blood pressure checks and enjoy light refreshments. Favors for children and adults will also be available.

MedWest EMS serves Western North Carolina residents with paramedics who are certified in advanced cardiac life support, basic trauma life support and pediatric advanced life support. The EMS operates a 911 division and also provides critical care transports from area hospitals to tertiary care centers in the region.

MedWest EMS received accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services for its compliance with national standards of excellence, achieving a perfect accreditation score of 100 percent. MedWest EMS also offers first aid and other courses to area fire departments, schools and other organizations.

828.586.7790. In case of emergency, call 911.

Food coach Manon Fancher of Sylva will be at the Jackson County Public Library at 7 p.m. on May 31 to offer a free program on healthy eating for all ages and body types.

Fancher will discuss different kinds of foods and how to prepare them. She’ll also answer audience questions about different kinds of diets, such as “What does macrobiotic mean? What’s the difference between vegan and vegetarian? What about gluten intolerance?”

Fancher works as a food coach to private clients, helping them with shopping, cooking and storing/preserving foods of all kinds. Her work revolves around educating people about food and how to use different foods for longevity, health and even beauty.

828.586.2016.

The third annual Open Door Benefit Bike Run will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 9.

The fund-raiser, hosted by The Carolina Faith Riders, will raise awareness and money for The Open Door Ministries, a soup kitchen and thrift store in Waynesville.

Registration is from 9-10:45 a.m. There is a $15 per bike entry fee.  

The route will be from The Open Door, through downtown Waynesville to N.C. 276, across the Blue Ridge Parkway, down Soco, through Maggie. The Bike Run will conclude at Dellwood Baptist Church at 12:30 p.m. with music on the lawn and a lunch.

Those who don’t participate in the bike run can join the second leg of the fund-raiser for $15.

828.926.3846 or www.DellwoodBaptist.org.

Time is running out for Haywood County veterans to register to participate in the Memorial Day Parade.

The Memorial Day Parade to honor veterans will be held at 11 a.m., May 28, in downtown Waynesville.  The parade will feature National Guard and Reserve Units, the 440th Army National Guard Band from Raleigh, a color guard and veterans’ organizations in Haywood County. ROTC units from Pisgah and Tuscola High Schools are scheduled to participate.  

This year, an application will need to be filled out for parade entries, so that each entry can receive a line up number. Individual veterans do not need to fill out an application, but please call the Veterans Office to be placed on a list for walkers and riders.

Veterans have the option of walking or riding on a float during the parade. In addition, veterans who want to ride a motorcycle may call the Veterans Services Office and fill out a parade application. All vehicles, other than military and public safety vehicles, must be marked with placards or signs on both sides or the front and back to identify the groups, individuals or units participating.

Following the parade, there will be a ceremony on the front steps of the Haywood County Courthouse, located at 215 N. Main Street in Waynesville.

828.734.1525 or 828.452.6634.

The Mountain BizWorks office in Sylva, which serves would-be entrepreneurs and other small business owners in the state’s seven westernmost counties, will close June 30.

Mountain BizWorks is also closing its Hendersonville field office on May 31.

“This is a strategic decision where we are not reacting to losses, but taking action to develop a more effective, creative and sustainable model for working with businesses across western North Carolina,” CEO Shaw Canale said.

Bottom line, financial issues forced the closure. One full-time staffer and one part-time staffer, as well as workshop leaders and business coaches hired on a contract basis, will lose jobs as a result of the shutdown in Sylva.

Canale said the restructuring was necessary to address the evolving needs of the region’s small businesses. She said the new strategy “will enable Mountain BizWorks to invest in efforts that create jobs that sustain families and support asset building.”

Mountain BizWorks plans to do more work along the line of its agricultural program. Canale pointed to the success of its agricultural program over the past year, through which Mountain BizWorks helped over 200 farmers and food producers and distributors in 14 western North Carolina counties start or grow their agricultural businesses. This work is based in Asheville but offered throughout the region.

“The agricultural program demonstrates that it is possible to build a program that is relationship and partnership based rather than building based,” says Canale.

Mountain BizWorks will continue to offer lending, consulting and training to entrepreneurs across the region through its Asheville office. Customized lending, coaching and training in Spanish for Latino entrepreneurs – to be based in the Asheville office – will also be available in all Western North Carolina counties.

Student athletes can get free sports physicals Tuesday, May 29 at the MedWest Health & Fitness Center on the campus of MedWest-Haywood.

More than 60 volunteers and 30 physicians and health care specialists will offer these free sports participation physicals for Haywood County middle and high public school students for the upcoming school year.

The sports physicals will be held at the following times:  

• 5:45 p.m. for Canton Middle School and Bethel Middle School students

• 6:30 p.m. for Pisgah High School students

• 7:15 p.m. for Waynesville Middle School, Bethel Christian Academy and Haywood Christian Academy

• 8 p.m. for Tuscola High School students

Health information packets will be available in the front offices of each school. These packets need to be filled out by parents prior to the physicals. Parental attendance during the physicals is needed in case there are health-related questions or findings by MedWest’s team of physicians and health care specialists.

828.452.8077.

A celebration honoring the sacrifice of those who made the WWII construction of Fontana Dam possible will be held as part of Appalachian History Weekend at Fontana Village Resort on June 1 and 2.  

The program will include guided history hikes, talks, a historical play and readings by authors of regional literature about the Fontana area.

Fontana Dam was built during WWII to generate electricity for Alcoa Aluminum factory, which made airplanes for the war effort. Hundreds of workers and their families poured in to the area to build the dam. Meanwhile, thousands of mountain people made a sacrifice of their own by giving up their homes, farms, towns and land, which were flooded by the creation of Fontana Lake held back by the dam.

“The celebration will honor the citizens of WNC who sacrificed their home, land and way of life for the success of WWII. During this difficult time in American history, these citizens used their ingenuity, creativity and tenacity to reinvent themselves and begin a new life,” said Judy Carpenter with the Proctor Revival Organization, who is hosting the “Time to Remember” festivities in conjunction with Fontana Village.

Events get under way Friday, June 1, with a walking history tour of Fontana Village. A film about the creation of Fontana Dam will be shown that afternoon, and Gary Carden’s one woman play, “Birdell,” about the life of an Appalachian woman, will be presented that evening at 5 p.m. on the porch of the old Gunter Cabin at Fontana Village and again at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Dr. Walter Larimore, author of “Bryson City Tales” and most recently, “Hazel Creek” will be featured as one of several regional authors from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, with a talk by Larimore at 6 p.m. on what he learned during the writing of his book.

There will also be a lake tour and hike to what remains of the old logging town of Proctor on the north shore of Fontana Lake on Saturday, June 2, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. The fee for the four-hour lake tour is $15 and a bag lunch can be added for $10.  Reservations for the lake tour can be made by calling the Fontana Marina at 828.498.2129.

Carpenter is seeking stories from people with memories to share about the Fontana area “People are encouraged to participate by sharing and telling their own histories and stories so that these can be captured and archived for future generations,” Carpenter said. These storytelling sessions will be set by appointment and can be made by calling

www.proctorrevival.com or 828.479.8743.

The Mountain Garden Club will host its annual plant sale from 9 a.m. to noon on May 26.

The sale will take place at the Highlands Ball Field on N.C. 64. In the event of rain, the sale will be held from 1-4 p.m. Sunday, May 27.

There will be rare finds at this event, such as the Clinton lily, and many choices for shade gardens including meadow rue, trillium and Christmas ferns. There will also be old favorites including hostas, lupines, daisies, dahlias, and phlox, as well tomatoes and herbs. New items will include specialty garden tools.

The proceeds of the sale go to college scholarships, educational projects at Highlands School and renovations of the courtyard gardens at the Fidelia Eckerd Living Center, among other things.

Belly dancing group Smoky Mountain Shimmy will teach its first “Introduction to Belly Dance” class from 10 a.m. to noon, June 2, at the Bryson City Health and Fitness Center on Rector Street.

The cost is $20 for the two-hour class, which includes a practice CD for each participant. No prior experience necessary.

A “Cardio Belly Dance” class will be taught from 10-11 a.m. every Saturday morning, from June 9 – August 25, at the center. Cost is $8 per class or $35 for a five-week pass. Comfortable work out clothing and tennis shoes are encouraged, midriff exposure optional. Jingles are provided.

Belly dance is a dance style that originated in the Middle East involving muscle control and isolation, especially in the torso. All belly dancing, regardless of style, is an excellent workout that uses muscles that may not be used on a daily basis. It’s also a social event bringing together women of all ages, sizes and backgrounds, and it’s a form of self-expression.

Laura Plantenburg and Sarah Hofecker will teach the classes.

828.736.4980 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Chapter 2 Books in Cashiers will host a Memorial Day fund-raising event to benefit the Special Operations Adventure Race and Special Operations Warrior Foundation from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., May 28.

Everybody is invited to stop and chat with local retired members of the U.S. Armed Forces and browse through military books brought in for the event. The special guests will tell stories and answer questions. The local VFW will also be there to hand out memorial poppies for their fund-raiser.

The Special Operations Warrior Foundation provides full scholarship grants, counseling and immediate financial assistance to the surviving children of special operations personnel who die in missions. SOAR and SOWF will receive 20 percent of the profit from book sales at the event.

828.743.5015 or www.specialops.org or www.soarhighighlands.org.

The Annie Lee Bryson Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Skylar Clark from Pisgah High School.

The scholarship provides $500 to deserving students from Jackson, Macon, Haywood and Swain counties who show an interest in traditional crafts. This year, the committee selected Clark to receive the scholarship because she demonstrated academic and artistic achievement along with community participation.  

Clark plans to study education at Appalachian State University. She enjoys quilting classes and volunteers at homeless shelters and soup kitchens. In her essay, Clark wrote, “I am so lucky to live in an area where our heritage and region has been preserved well enough so that the tradition of crafts can be passed down to younger generations.”

Auditions for “The Fox on the Fairway” by the Highlands Cashiers Players will be held at 3 p.m. on June 3 and 5:30 p.m. June 4. Auditions will be at the Performing Arts Center in Highlands.

The parts are for one young man, two older men, one young woman and two older women. The play is a wild and crazy comedy by Ken Ludwig, master of modern farce.

Rehearsals will be held in July and August. Performance dates are Aug. 22-26 and Aug. 30- Sept. 2. Scripts may be obtained in the Hudson Library in Highlands, the Cashiers Library or by special arrangement with the director Tanji Armor.

828.526.9227.

The Haywood Regional Arts Theater will preview its next musical production, The Marvelous Wonderettes, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 24, as a fundraiser for REACH of Haywood and The Creative Thought Center.

The Marvelous Wonderettes is an upbeat musical that starts in 1958 when four teenage girls attend their prom and step in for the missing musical act. They perform many hit songs from that era. Then, at their 10-year reunion, they come together to perform some of the hit songs of that time. Mark Jones, who has previously acted for HART, is the director.

Tickets are priced at $15, which saves $9 over the regular price. You can purchase REACH tickets for The Marvelous Wonderettes at REACH’s Resale Store, the REACH office, or from REACH board members. Tickets can be purchased at the door as well. The Marvelous Wonderettes will open for their regular season May 25 to June 10.

828.456.7898.

Smoky Mountain Community Theatre in Bryson City is hosting “Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare at 7:30 p.m., May 25-28.

Tickets are $8 for adults, $5 for students ages 6 to 18 and children under 6 are free.

“Twelfth Night” is a romantic comedy that involves several cases of mistaken identity. The main character, Viola, is shipwrecked and, because she has no prospects, disguises herself as a man and enters the service of Duke Orsino. Orsino sends “him” out to woo the beautiful Olivia on his behalf. Instead of falling for Orsino, Olivia falls for Viola. Add a court jester, a few drunks and sword fights … can anything be made right again?

828.488.8227 or www.smctheatre.com.

A gala concert will be held to benefit the summer program at Pigeon Community Multi-Cultural Development Center at 7 p.m. May 25 at Grace Episcopal Church’s Thatcher Parish Hall in Waynesville.

The concert will feature four performance groups, including Signature Winds of Haywood County, a woodwind quintet that plays a variety of music; Becky Mendoza, a vocalist from Canton who will do a selection of Latino songs and cover songs by Selena; The Men of Liberty, an African American men’s choir that performs gospel and other a capella arrangements; and The Frog Level Philharmonic, a Dixieland jazz band.

Admission will be $10 for adults and children will be admitted for free. Tickets are available at the Grace Church Office.

The summer program actively involves children in learning and recreational experiences. In addition to reading and tutoring, the program includes field trips, special events, food, and computer support.

828.456.6029.

Three new artists — Crystal Allen from Canton, Hank Shuler from Franklin and Janice Swanger from Waynesville — will now exhibit their work at The Mainstreet Artists’ Co-op.

Allen specializes in wheel-thrown and hand-built pottery. Shel draws inspiration from her forays into calligraphy and watercolor painting as well as nature. Visit with her at the gallery on Waynesville’s Evening of Art from 5-9 p.m. on June 1.

Shuler is a ceramicist who specializes in clay sculpture. She creates a variety of animals including foxes, bears, bobcats, hound dogs and cats. Shuler completed her master pottery certificate at Southwestern Community College, where she set up the heritage arts program. She will be at the gallery on May 30.

Swanger has been drawing and painting in colored pencil for more than 20 years. With this medium, she is known for her portrayal of animals, especially the family pet. She paints dog and cat portraits in both colored pencil and oil colors. She will be at the gallery on May 28.

The co-op is located at 93 Main Street in Waynesville. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

828.246.0526.

Jackson County Green Energy Park in Dillsboro is offering a class that will teach students how to create a glass landscape paperweight on Saturday, May 26. Sessions will be available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in 30-minute time slots.

With the assistance of local glass artist Aaron Shufelt, participants will work with molten glass and an optic mold to create interesting effects in a beautiful glass paperweight. No experience is necessary, and children ages 13-17 may participate with a parent present. Participants are asked to dress in cotton clothing with long pants and closed toe shoes.

Space is limited to 12 participants each day, and pre-registration is strongly suggested though some walk-in slots will be available. There is a $25 registration fee.

828.631.0271 or www.jcgep.org.

The instructors of Stecoah Junior Appalachian Musicians will host a Spring Bluegrass Celebration at Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center on May 19.

The JAM instructors formed the group “The Leftovers” and include Bill Pruett, Dwight Bradshaw, Karl Sutter, Bradley Adams, Larry Barnett, Sue Bullock and special guest Sonny Reighard.

The efforts of these JAM instructors and local musicians to preserve the Appalachian heritage and musical roots give cause for this Spring Bluegrass Celebration. Doors will open at 6 p.m., and the show will start at 7:30 p.m. In addition to celebrating these musicians and Appalachian heritage, the center will be showing their new state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems made possible in part by grant funds from the Golden Leaf Foundation. In addition, the newly expanded Schoolhouse Café will be open before the show and during intermission for a light dinner or snack.

StecoahValleyCenter.com.

Sheryl Crow will be performing at Harrah’s Cherokee Event Center at 7:30 p.m. June 24.

Crow has sold 16 million albums in the United States and 35 million albums worldwide. She has performed duets with Mick Jagger, Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton, Luciano Pavarotti, John Mellencamp, Kid Rock, Michelle Branch and Sting. She has also won nine Grammy Awards during the course of her career. Her most famous songs include “All I Wanna Do,” “Strong Enough,” “If It Makes You Happy,” “Everyday Is a Winding Road,” “Soak Up the Sun,” “Steve McQueen” and “The First Cut Is the Deepest.”

Tickets are on-sale now, and you must be 21 years of age or older to attend.

www.ticketmaster.com.

The Shady Ladies Quilting Group is selling tickets for a chance to win a unique quilt made by the entire group. Proceeds from ticket sales will go to Save the Warmth and two food kitchens.

“Everything we make on the sale of tickets goes to help needy residents of Haywood County stay warm in the winter and get a good meal,” said Jane Bird, a member of The Shady Ladies.

The 2012 quilt “Thinking Outside the Basket” is a colorful queen-sized quilt composed of scrappy basket blocks.  The quilt will be auctioned June 1 through June 3 during the annual exhibition of quilt art by the Shady Ladies at Lake Logan Episcopal Center in Haywood County. They will exhibit 100 of their newest quilts ranging from artistic wall hangings to traditional bed quilts.

The show also includes a boutique stocked with small quilts and quilt-related items for people interested in more than just viewing quilts. The show will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 1 and June 2 and from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The $3 admission charge will be donated to Lake Logan’s Summer Camp Program. 828.456.8885.

Anthropology students at Western Carolina University are experiencing hands-on learning in Clay County through archaeological digs and participation in the ongoing construction of an outdoor museum exhibit that portrays a Cherokee village from 1650 through 1750.

Jane Eastman, WCU anthropology professor and director of the WCU Cherokee Studies Program, and her students have helped develop the outdoor Cherokee Homestead Exhibit, located a couple of blocks from the central square of downtown Hayesville. The exhibit features to-scale replicas of a Cherokee summer house, winter house and corncrib. This is set against the backdrop of a large-scale mural with details of elements of Cherokee life and contemporary metal sculptures referencing the seven Cherokee clans and other symbols of the tribe.  

The connection to Clay County began when Eastman was asked to conduct a field study on the site of a planned housing development near Spike Buck Mound and the Quanassee village archaeological sites in Hayesville. Evidence suggests that the mound and the areas surrounding it were a substantial Cherokee settlement. The development never materialized.

The exhibit is a project of the Clay County Communities Revitalization Association in partnership with the adjacent Clay County Historical and Arts Council Museum.

Members of the Clay County Communities Revitalization Association envision the outdoor Cherokee exhibit and a nearby connector trail now under construction as enhancements to local quality of life and a regional draw for visitors.

828.227.3841 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

A new 196-page guidebook titled Family Fun in the Smokies: A Family-friendly Guide to the Great Smoky Mountains by Katy Koontz has been released by the Great Smoky Mountains Association.

The book is made up of maps, games, illustrations, photographs, fun facts, “factivities,” and an authoritative text based on the author’s personal experiences and interviews with park rangers and other “insiders.”

According to co-editor Steve Kemp, the goal of the book is to “help families with kids make the most of their time in and around Great Smoky Mountains National Park and avoid common family vacation pitfalls like driving two hours to find that a campground is full or a road has been gated for the season. It’s also nice not to waste half your weekend deciding what everyone wants to do.”

The new book is organized mostly by activities, including “Waterfall Hikes & Walks,” “Historic Walking Tours,” “Scenic Drives,” “Hikes & Walks with Views,” “Picnicking,” “Biking,” “Horseback Riding,” “Ranger Programs,” “Camping,” “Animals,” and “Best Bets Outside the Park.”

Author Katy Koontz lives in Knoxville, Tenn. Family Fun in the Smokies sells for $11.95 and is available in area bookstores, outdoor shops and in park visitor centers.

888.898.9102 ext. 226 or www.SmokiesInformation.org.

A three-day cycling and camping trip around Bryson City is set for Friday, May 18, through Sunday, May 20, under the guidance of the Western North Carolina Alliance.

The trip starts with an exploration of Burningtown and Cowee valleys in Macon County and an overnight stay at Deep Creek Campground. Saturday night will include an optional waterfall hike, dinner and a trip to the Nantahala Brewing Company.

On Sunday, the group will head out from the campground by bike to the “Road to Nowhere,” an eight-mile road in Bryson City that’s inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

You must be able to bring you own bike and camping equipment, though some gear is available if you don’t have any. Cost is $40 for Alliance members and $50 for non-members. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 828.258.8737.

The second annual “bike to work day” ride in Haywood County will be held beginning at 8 a.m. on Friday, May 18. The ride will depart from Best Buy parking lot on South Main in Waynesville, and will make its way via portions of the Haywood Hub to the town’s park at the intersection of Depot and Main streets.

“Ride to Work Day” events draw attention to the possibilities of commuting to work, saving gas, and improving the quality of the environment. The 2011 event attracted 14 cyclists. This year’s organizers hope to double that number to 28.

Riders will be accompanied by cycle-mounted Waynesville police. Registration and helmets are required. Children under 15 should be accompanied by an adult.

The ride is sponsored by the Waynesville Police Department, Smoky Mountain Café, Best Buy and BicycleHaywoodNC, a chapter of Blue Ridge Bicycle Club.

Smoky Mountain Café will provide drink and post-ride nourishments for the participants.

Nathan Chapman, guide and flyrod builder, will be the speaker at the 7 p.m. June 5 meeting of the Plateau Fly Fishing Club at the Albert Carlton Library in Cashiers.

His presentation will focus on how and where to fish for native brook trout in Western North Carolina. Chapman has guided extensively across the Southern Appalachians, and he will discuss some of his favorite fishing locations. Prior to the meeting, Chapman will conduct a casting clinic at the pond behind the library.

After the presentation, a raffle will be held for one of Chapman’s handcrafted Steffen Brothers flyrods.

828.885.7130

A free running seminar will be held from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 22, at MedWest Rehabilitation Services on the MedWest-Harris campus in Sylva with expert orthopedic physical therapist and competitive runner Todd Watson.

Watson is a professor of physical therapy at Western Carolina University and a two-time Boston Marathon finisher. In the seminar, he will help attendees learn more about the Chi Running technique, barefoot running, what physical therapy can do for runners and how to improve or begin a running program. Both the Chi Running method and barefoot running concept are designed to reduce wear and tear on joints, minimize impact and maximize the efficiency of running for improved health and fitness.

The seminar will consist of a talk about optimal running technique and Chi Running, a demonstration and discussion. Attendees will also be able to sign up for free individual injury screens as well to identify existing or potential problem areas and receive treatment options.

Both beginning and experienced runners can benefit from attending this seminar. Attendance is limited and is available on a first-come first serve basis.

828.586.7235.

The Nantahala Area Sorba (Southern off-road biking association) has started a weekly mountain bike ride 6:15 p.m. every Thursday at Tsali Recreation Area. The group meets at 6 p.m., and the ride is for all levels of bikers. The group rides the easiest trail in Tsali.

828.506.0133.

Visitors to The North Carolina Arboretum will be encouraged to stop and smell the roses when the Asheville Blue Ridge Rose Society Exhibition debuts to the public from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 19 and Sunday, May 20.

Award-winning roses of every color and size will be featured at this year’s exhibition, “Roses, Roses, Roses!” Experts will be on hand to answer questions and provide information about selection, care, and history of these garden plants. A sale will be held in conjunction with the exhibition, which will include rose plants, fertilizer, and soil amendments, and educational programs will be offered throughout the weekend.

Programs during the Rose Society Exhibition include:

Knock Out Roses, Disease Resistant Roses, Growing Roses on Slopes, Basic Rose Care, Old Garden Roses, Miniature Roses and Roses for Beginners.

The Rose Society Exhibition is one of the most popular events hosted by The North Carolina Arboretum. The exhibition is free for Arboretum Society members or with the standard parking fee ($8 per personal motor vehicle).

828.665.2492 or www.ncarboretum.org.

The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy is celebrating its protection of more than 50,000 acres across Western North Carolina and East Tennessee. This is the organization’s 38th year of preserving land from the Highlands of Roan to the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

“Protecting 50,000 acres of the Blue Ridge Mountains is a tremendous accomplishment that demonstrates the commitment of a dedicated group of people to forever preserve one of the most important places in the world for biodiversity,” said Carl Silverstein, SAHC executive director. “We invite the Appalachian community to celebrate with us, to play a role in protecting the rich diversity of the Southern Appalachians.”

This land protection ranges from vast tracts, including the recent acquisition of 225-acre Spear Tops in the Roan Highlands, to smaller in-holdings transferred to Mt. Mitchell State Park.  

As the organization matured, it evolved to protect mountains and places further afield. In the early 1990s, SAHC pioneered the use of easements in the Southeast to protect Cataloochee Ranch at the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

“Our family has lived in these mountains for almost a hundred years. Cataloochee Ranch was originally founded in 1933, and thanks to our conservation easement with SAHC, we know it will continue to be here, generation after generation,” said Judy Coker, co-owner of Catalochee Ranch.

An eight-week medicinal botany class will be held at Haywood Community College beginning May 19 through July 14. The class will explore the historical, botanical and traditional uses of medicinal plants, including Southern Appalachian native herbs.

The instructor, Richard Gualandi, Jr., is a graduate of HCC and Western Carolina University, and holds a master’s degree in plant science from the University of Tennessee. Gualandi currently works for the N.C. Bionetwork’s Biobusiness Center and Lab helping natural products businesses with product development and analysis of medicinal plants.

Course information will be offered in an online format and will meet for lab sessions on campus two Saturdays, covering basic herbal preparation techniques and common cultivation methods.

The cost of the class is $100. 828.565.4244 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

An outing along the Bartram Trail near Jones Gap and the nearby Fishhawk Mountains is set for Saturday, May 19.

The Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust and the Highlands Plateau Audubon Society is sponsoring the event. The outing will include additional stops along Turtle Pond Road to investigate contrasting ecologies.

The two-mile hike is of moderate difficulty, with the primary emphasis being bird watching and identification as well as general natural history. Participants will carpool from a Highlands location at 7:30 a.m. and should return by early afternoon. A picnic lunch will be provided.

Russ Regnery, president of the Highlands Plateau Audubon Society, will co-lead the trip with Cheryl and Panos Kanes from Georgia.

Cost is $10 for HCLT members and $35 for nonmembers, which includes a membership to the Land Trust.  

828.526.1111.

Hunters might soon be hunting coyote and wild swine at night with a light on private lands.

The new regulations are year-round, seven days a week. Hunting on Sundays is allowed only on private lands with archery equipment.

The new regulations are scheduled to take effect Aug. 1 pending final approval by the Rules Review Commission of the N.C. Wildlife Commission. Currently, there is no closed season on either species, but hunting them at night is not allowed except by permit for feral swine.

Local writers will have the opportunity to hone their skills with UNC Asheville’s Great Smokies Writing Program summer workshops in poetry and prose. This year, a class will be held in Waynesville.

Visit www.agc.unca.edu/great-smokies-writing-program to see descriptions of other courses that are part of the Great Smokies Writing Program. All other classes will take place in Asheville.

Classes are open to all interested writers but class size is limited; early registration is recommended. Each course qualifies for one UNC Asheville credit hour in literature and language. In-state tuition and fees for five-session courses are $117.92; cost for out-of-state residents is $578.96. A $20 non-refundable application fee for new students will also be charged.

828.250.2353 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Friends of the Haywood Public Library will hold its annual meeting at 7 p.m. on May 24 at First United Methodist Church in Waynesville.

Guest speaker will be Ann B. Ross, author of the Miss Julia series. Her latest book is Miss Julia Rocks the Cradle. Books will be available to purchase and will be autographed by Ross. There will be a short business meeting to elect officers and the Friend of the Year will be announced.

The evening will conclude with a dessert buffet catered by Kanini’s. Tickets for the buffet are $8 and can be purchased at the Waynesville, Canton and Maggie Valley branches or at Blue Ridge Books and Gallery 86.

To the Editor:

I thought that the letter by Dr. Laci Jamison (www.smokymountainnews.com/component/k2/item/6931) in the May 2 edition was a wonderful expression of her dedication to her profession. Her patients will be fortunate to experience her care.

William G. Sullivan

Raleigh

To the Editor:

Statistics claim that the purpose of licensure laws is to protect people and produce quality results. They would say that through licensing, states can guarantee that whether you are educating your children, insuring your life, or getting a haircut you can be assured that the provider of those services has been through a state sanctioned training program and thus will render services with at least a minimal standard of performance required to ensure the health and vitality of society.

But what about marriage licenses? Are they intended to guarantee a minimal quality of family life? Apparently they were first intended to do just that. In the United States, by the early 1920s, marriage license laws in at least 38 states made it a crime for whites to marry blacks, “mulattos,” Japanese, Chinese, Indians, “Mongolians,” “Malays” or Filipinos. It doesn’t make it right and these laws seem totally reprehensible to us today, but they did reflect the social mores of that time period.

So, what does it say about our time period that voters are still supporting similarly repugnant laws? I speak of course about the voters of North Carolina recent approval of an amendment to the state constitution making anything other than a union between one man and one woman an invalid relationship under state law. The amendment passed with the support of 61 percent of the electorate! What’s worse is that North Carolina became the 30th state to amend its constitution to prohibit marriage between same-sex couples.

Whatever happened to the principle that constitutions are meant to limit the scope of government and protect individual rights? It apparently has been thrown out the window, into the street, and run over by traffic time and time again just like other time tested principles of constitutionalism.

And like all laws dealing with personal matters, the number of unintended consequences once this law goes into effect will be huge. An ACLU analysis of the new constitutional mandate indicates that domestic violence laws could be undermined for folks in unmarried relationships; parents that aren’t married to each other could no longer have the same child custody and visitation rights as married parents; end-of-life arrangements like wills could be altered; and lastly, agreements between unmarried life partners could be determined null and void.

In the final analysis, government has no right being in the business of determining who can marry whom. We are talking about private relationships between consenting adults.  It has no more right to interfere in this area of life than it does to tell people where they can live within the country or how many children they can have.  

When you think about it, why do you need a license to marry but not to have children?  Are children not a larger and more complicated responsibility because they are totally dependent on their parents, unlike spouses who are self-sustaining adults? Like child rearing, marriage is a private matter and it should be privatized – it should be formed by a document similar to a business contract between the two individuals involved. The only time government involvement would be warranted would be when one of the marriage principles asked it to adjudicate the terms of the marriage contract.

Private marriages would eliminate all of the political issues surrounding same-sex marriage – issues like whether other states must honor a same-sex marriage granted in another state (full faith and credit clause of the Constitution), divorce rights, dividing assets, child custody, and next of kin status. All of these issues could be addressed in the marriage contract. It is true that companies could deny workers the same benefits received by workers in a heterosexual marriage, but those companies would run the risk of losing top quality applicants to fill important positions. Otherwise same-sex couples could bid for benefits outside of their employment and negotiate higher salaries to cover the additional costs.  

At the end of the day, licensing laws are a means for government to control society. Within the institution of marriage they have been/are being used to place value on one kind of relationship over another. They are anti-democratic, intolerant, and infringe upon the liberty of individuals. By making marriage a totally private endeavor, a political issue that divides our country would be eliminated. This would free up time and resources to confront the really important issues facing America – war, the devalued dollar, and the erosion of our civil rights. People would be free to live as the Founders intended and the age of bigotry with regard to marriage could finally end.  

Kenn Jacobine teaches internationally and maintains a summer residence in Western North Carolina

To the Editor:

The passage of Amendment One by a majority of North Carolinians this week adds fuel to a fire burning in the bellies of civil rights activists nationwide who are working hard even today to ensure cases on marriage equality are soon heard by our U.S. Supreme Court. This law will, on the federal level, eventually be overturned.

But like my family and friends, I am greatly saddened to think of the message this amendment sends to all our gay brothers and sisters here in our mountain home. So to them I want to say this: even though you may feel alone, you are not. Don’t give up hope but instead keep on working to overcome ignorance and fear. Many allies here in your hometown believe in you and in your right to live peacefully and love whom you choose. I certainly do. 

Mary Alice Lamb

Waynesville

To the Editor:

If you have listened to TV news or seen the national print media since Tuesday, May 8, you have heard  and read some of the most disgraceful, denigrating referrals to the state of North Carolina and North Carolina voters. Why? Because by an over 60 percent margin North Carolina voters passed a constitutional amendment that states marriage here is between one man and one woman.

Of course there are people in North Carolina and throughout the nation who disagree with the amendment. On the other hand 31 states, over half of the states in the United States, have also voted for a similar status that marriage is between one man and one woman.

It is obvious that liberals and the far left, including the mainstream media, have no tolerance for any person, institution or voter whose positions include that marriage is between one man and one woman. Yet it appears that those disagreeing entities demand that everyone tolerate their same sex marriage position fully.

Liberals and the far left continually throw around the idea that tolerance is a characteristic we all should embrace. This is their perfect opportunity to practice what they preach.

Carol Adams

Glenville