By Rudy Beharrysingh • Professor, Southwestern Community College

Editor’s note: This series of green living tips is provided by Sustainable Mountain Initiative, a Jackson County coalition of government officials and concerned citizens working together to lead the way toward a more sustainable future.

The issue of climate change and how to lessen the impact of human activities is a hot topic these days, and the solutions to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions are complex, involving nearly every area of everyday living, trade and commerce.

It was only recently that the environmental impact of our diets (and factory farms worldwide) became a major factor in our decisions about how to reduce our impact. In 2006, the United Nations released a report titled “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” which brought these issues to the forefront of public awareness. The report looked at the energy used to raise, feed, transport, slaughter, refrigerate and package the animals for consumption — and found that the production of meat with factory-farmed animals accounted for more than 18 percent of all man-made emissions, more than all forms of transportation combined.

Another UN report in 2007 confirmed these findings and emphasized that the most effective ways for individuals to reduce their carbon output was to drive less — and eat less meat.

The graph below shows the greenhouse gas emissions for each type of diet — vegetarian, vegan, poultry, fish and red meat. The vegan diet takes first place with literally no output of greenhouse gases; the fish and red meat diets tie for last place with an annual output of two tons of greenhouse gases.

Production of meat requires seven to 10 pounds of grain for each pound of meat, leading to deforestation and the use of more than 30 percent of our planet for livestock farming. In addition, energy is required to heat and cool buildings and trucks, to transport animals, and to package animal products safely before they come to the store for you to purchase.

Waste runoff from factory farms pollutes waterways and groundwater and can be more deadly for fish and plants than oil spills; the animal farming industry produces more than 65 percent of our annual nitrous oxide emissions and more than 37 percent of our methane emissions.

The average American diet emits more than 1.5 tons of greenhouse gases per year. For a family of two, switching to a vegan diet could save nearly 2 tons of greenhouse gases per year — as many as by switching your current auto out for a $25,000 hybrid sedan. So if you’re looking for a way to save money and save the planet, eating less or no meat just might be the answer.

By David Curtis

Just a short two weeks ago I was texting my daughter, who was in the process of finishing up her first semester at N.C. State, asking her when her finals would be over, about her arrangements for a ride back to the mountains for Christmas break and when could we expect her home. Typical fatherly questions, and as a typical father I try to stay connected with what’s happening in my daughter’s life.

The response I got from her was a text back that read something like, “Why do you want to know?” followed by, “Are you trying to run my life?” Now I ask you, what kind of question is that to ask a father with two daughters. Of course the answer is I ask these questions because if I don’t prod into your business you will never tell me anything. So I told her that her Nanny and Paw were asking when she would be home, that’s why I’m asking. Playing the Grandparent card is always a good way to deflect suspicion.

As to “running her life,” well excuse me; I thought she was majoring in math education not independent living, and yes, that’s my job. I texted her back to let her know that, if needed, I was fully capable of micromanaging her life from five hours away and would welcome the opportunity, besides, I texted, “Who’s your Daddy?” in case she’s forgotten.

I’m so out of touch with the current culture of our youth today. You would think as a middle school teacher I could pick up on some of the popular slang phrases kids are using now. My daughter informed me the phrase “Who’s your Daddy?” is so, like yesterday, loserville, gone, history, totally over. And, that I needed to grow up.

She’s been home a week now. Caught a ride with a friend from Raleigh to Charlotte. Charlotte is not Canton I told my wife, it’s OK she said, she will drive to Charlotte and bring her home, no big deal. What’s in Charlotte I ask that she can’t be picked up in, say Statesville or Hickory? A boy she’s meeting for lunch I’m told. I made a note to myself to work on improving my micromanagement skills over the Christmas holidays. I’m failing in the boy department.

Several months ago when my wife and I took our daughter off to college I wrote right here in this paper that “I am just too excited about the opportunities that await her than to spend time missing her and wishing she were still home and my little girl. She will always be my little girl, just a little more independent, wiser and grown up.”

My daughter has changed since she went off to college. She has become more independent and does act more grown up, but do children, no matter what age, do they ever become wiser in their parent’s eyes? No matter how successful each of my daughters will become in their careers or the future families they will raise, I will always feel they can benefit from my fatherly advice, experience and wisdom. Does that sound conceited? Or does it sound like something a parent, a father, would say?

The image my daughter likes to portray is one of a self sufficient, independent young woman, but I still catch glimpses of Daddy’s little girl. Now that she is home for break she has things she needs to do, a schedule of her own not relying on mom or dad to drag her places. She puts gas in the car with her own money, runs her own errands, has her own appointments, dates and friends that need visiting. All this without my help or pre-approval, but when the keys got locked in the car one afternoon it was nice to know Daddy was still needed. That’s right, I whispered to myself, who needs your Daddy?

When my daughter was younger and we were out running errands in Waynesville we would often stop at our favorite coffee house for a hot drink — coffee for me and a hot chocolate for her. Several days ago I was meeting my girls at the lake for a run and I was swinging by Panacea for coffee on the way. I called and asked if I could bring them a hot chocolate. My 15-year-old said sure, love one, but my oldest said she would rather I bring her coffee instead.

Did she say coffee? Coffee is an adult drink; it’s our Mt. Dew, our Red Bull, our caffeine jolt in the morning. You’re too young to be drinking coffee. What has happened to my hot chocolate loving little girl?

She is growing up; she has changed in the few short months she has been away. She is learning to make decisions on her own and to use her best judgment as situations arise because her mother and I cannot always be by her side to make those decisions for her anymore. And I am proud of her because she makes good decisions. Still, that Charlotte thing puzzles me.

I think about this as we finished our run and as we are walking back to where we parked the cars. She slips her hand in mine like she used to when she was little. She giggles as we hold hands and swing our arms back and forth a few times, reminding me that she will always be my little girl. And then reluctantly I let her hand slip from mine and I let her go.

My family and I wish you all a blessed Christmas and New Years.

(David Curtis teaches middle school in Haywood County. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)

(poem from Wildwood Flower by Kathryn Stripling Byer)

Two dead leaves

on the table and ice

floats on milk like the ashes

of leaves. Oak

twigs kindle

and fire leaps like a prayer, “Give us

breath.” When I open

the door and breathe deeply

the cold air inflames me.

The fire seizes log after log.

In the garden my husband burns

dead stalks of squash and potatoes.

I sweep my dust into the coals

and our smoke mingles over the orchard.

In autumn I sweep the floor gladly.

I gather the crumbs from the cupboard,

and the rinds of the apples.

When my dustbin grows heavy,

I give what it holds to the fire

and the fire sings its song:

raise your dead

from the earth, make a fire

of their bones,

set them free

to be sky,

to be nothing at all.

By Doug Scarborough • Contributing writer

With the winter season here, dressing appropriately to prevent cold injuries is often overlooked. Significant heat loss while exercising can be prevented by wearing the appropriate layers of waterproof and water-resistant clothing.

The more layers of clothing worn between the skin and air, the more insulation created for the body. Several layers of lighter clothing provide better protection than one single bulky layer.

For the layer directly against the skin, choose a lightweight synthetic material such a polypropylene. This material wicks away moisture from the body’s surface and dries quickly.

The mid-layer of clothing is the insulation for the body to keep warm. This item of clothing should be a bit looser than the first layer, but for the best results it needs to remain in contact with the first layer. Mid-layers commonly made from down, fleece, and polyester also help carry moisture away from the first layer to the outer layer.

The goal of the outer layer is to block wind and allow moisture to escape from the body. Typical outer layer clothing includes shells made of Gore-Tex or wind and water resistant fabrics.

Once a layering plan has been established, you can control your temperature simply by removing or adding additional layers of clothing as needed.

After your core is covered, you need to properly dress your head, hands, and feet. Wear a hat, gloves, socks and shoes that accommodate your selected activity and weather conditions. Keep in mind that wind-blocking fabric is also important for hats and gloves.

Proper layering will not only make you more comfortable during winter activity but also keeps you protected from preventable injuries.

Here’s some more tips:

n Warm up and cool down. Cold weather constricts muscles, so allow enough time for proper stretching to warm up muscles before you exercise. Cool down with stretches to keep you limber and flexible. Leg, arm and calf stretches should be held for 30 seconds each for best results.

n Hydration and Nutrition. Due to the dryness of cold weather, hydration is extremely important. Significant body fluid can be lost, and since sweat may evaporate more quickly than in a hot environment, you may not have a clear indication of how much fluid you are actually losing. Always begin workouts properly hydrated and continue throughout activity.

n For long workout sessions, keep high-energy snack foods available. Energy bars and packaged fruit/nut mixes are easy to carry and make for high carbohydrate snacks.

For more information regarding winter weather gear, hydration and exercise preparation, contact Haywood Sports Medicine at 828.452.8077.

Scarborough is the Sports Medicine Coordinator at Haywood Sports Medicine.

By Cynthia Deale • Western Regional Representative, Center for Sustainable Tourism

Editor’s note: This series of green living tips is provided by Sustainable Mountain Initiative, a Jackson County coalition of government officials and concerned citizens working together to lead the way toward a more sustainable future.

Nearly everyone in the world travels once in a while, even if only to visit relatives for a night or two. Regardless of whether you’re crossing oceans to see new places or visiting friends for an overnight stay, there are some things we can all do to make our travel “green” and to encourage sustainable tourism.

One significant decision we make when we travel is where we stay. Choosing “green” lodging accommodations is easy if you’ve done your research: check to see if the property offers recycling programs, allows guests the option to reuse towels and sheets, uses native plants in its landscaping, incorporates green building techniques or green cleaning products, and contributes to the local community.

Other decisions you can make to green up your travel include riding a bike rather than a car to sightsee in the area; eat at locally-owned restaurants, which often use nearly 100 percent locally produced foods; shop at local markets for products created by that area’s residents from native resources; support local events by attending festivals, fairs and fundraisers; and remember to slow down while traveling to truly take in the culture, history and depth of the places that you visit.

Resources on the web include www.sustainabletourisminternational.org or www.ecu.edu/sustainabletourism.

Two recently created tourism boards in Macon County met last week to begin discussing how they can make the area more of a tourist destination.

The groups, the Tourism Development Authority and the Tourism Development Commission, represent the town of Franklin and Macon County, respectively. Each manages its own pot of money collected from a tax on overnight lodging.

Suffering from lower lodging tax revenues, the groups are trying to decide what they can do to help keep businesses afloat that depend on tourist traffic.

According to the Macon County finance office, lodging taxes in the county are down about $20,000 this year compared to last.

In November 2007 there was $36,331 collected in lodging taxes compared to $30,636 this year.

Last week’s brainstorming session, held at The Factory in Franklin, was designed to think up new ways to draw tourists to the area.

One idea is for the county to host cheerleading tournaments to bring up to 600 teams from all over the country.

Another idea is to start an Appalachian Quilt Trail with large colorfully painted wooden boards displayed on buildings, such as homes and barns, throughout the county. A map and brochure of the “Quilt Trail” would be printed with historical information about the sites. Quilt trails are in Watauga, Avery, Yancey and Mitchell counties currently, according to Linda Harbuck, executive director of the Franklin Chamber of Commerce, who is trying to get a trail established here.

In their efforts to work together the TDA and the TDC want to maintain their own identities but at the same time work together and not duplicate services.

In promoting Macon County they seek to make the area a destination rather than a place tourists pass through on the way to Gatlinburg, Tenn.

A 1,500-seat performing arts center scheduled to open this spring is expected to be a large tourist draw. The facility could stage large-scale theater and music productions.

Macon County Commissioner Bob Simpson said it is important that the entities not just accumulate and sit on the lodging tax money but spend it to promote the area.

The TDC has around $27,000 while the TDA has little to nothing, according to Harbuck. The TDA has no money because the town only recently started collecting its own lodging tax.

With the country in a recession, members of both boards say they are worried about the upcoming summer season being bad for the local merchants.

The summer is the biggest tourist season for the area, while spring and winter are slow. The groups discussed possibly having more events during the off months, but Simpson warned that attempts to do so in the past were met with little attendance and people lost money.

When attempting to develop events, the TDC and TDA said they may want to look at attracting “multi-day events” — functions that take the entire weekend. Such events will keep hotels booked.

But Franklin and Macon County have challenges in bringing large events because there is a lack of hotel space for attendees.

Simpson said if the county wants to draw tourists it needs to create an environment where events can be hosted.

This may require building a convention center, large softball complex and other facilities.

There are only about 300 hotel rooms in Franklin, which is not enough to accommodate large events.

By James McCarthy • Guest Columnist

Did the N.C. Department of Transportation hold an illegal meeting on Dec. 4 at Western Carolina University when it failed to give proper notification or invite the public? Actually there were two meetings held by the DOT on Dec. 4. One advertised and open to the public from 4 to 7 p.m. and the “no notification” meeting earlier on the same day at 2 p.m. for government officials only. The public was not notified nor was it invited to the 2 p.m. meeting. It is this earlier meeting that will be addressed here.

Although there are many opinions on what the law says — and believe me, I’ve heard many pros and cons on this issue — so I decided to go to the law itself. Using the Open Government Guide and conferring with legal counsel to direct me to the proper state statutes in determining if the DOT violated any laws by conducting the 2 p.m. meeting at WCU, there were three main statutes that appeared germane to the issue.

All three fall under the NC General Statute Sections 143-318.9, 10 and 12.

First, in Section 9, “Public Policy” provides that public bodies exist “solely to conduct the people’s business,” and “actions of the bodies to be conducted openly.”

That wasn’t done. The 2 p.m. meeting was not an open meeting because the people were deliberately excluded by the DOT, therefore the people’s business could not be conducted pursuant to state statute.

Second, in NCGS 143-318.10 (B) it states: “For purposes of the Open Meeting Law, public body means any appointed authority or other body of the Stat (DOT), the University of North Carolina or other political subdivision (WCU).” Any group that carries out activities on behalf of a public body or advises a public body is treated as a public body. This section determined both DOT and WCU to be “public bodies.”

We of the Jackson County Citizen Action Group view the aforementioned meeting as an “official” meeting and just because NCDOT never declared the 2 p.m. “meeting” either “open” or “closed” pursuant to NC General Statutes, “Meeting Categories A through G,” we have referred to this meeting, believing it was illegal, as the “Secret Meeting,” in that that meeting only became exposed to the public through the efforts of the media.

NCGS 143-318.12(B) states: “If a public body (DOT) holds an official at any time or place other than a time or place shown on the schedule filed pursuant to subsection (a) of this section it shall give public notice of the time and place of that meeting as provided in that subsection.” Public notice wasn’t given by the DOT. That law wasn’t followed by the DOT.

All DOT staff who where at the meetings in pay status can thank the citizens that were excluded from the “secret” meeting for footing the costs for conducting those meetings and paying the salaries and per diem(s) e.g. lodging, food, travel expenses, or other emoluments of those employees in attendance in pay status, especially those who travel from Raleigh to attend.

The elected officials need to be reminded of same, but I want to keep the focus on the DOT for now. Also, it is rather sad that of all the local elected officials only one appears to have been a whistle blower, which allowed myself and others to “crash the party.”

On entry I was asked if I was an “official.” I said yes, but I forgot to say what I was an official of.

Did Western Carolina University compromise its position by allowing the Department of Transportation to conduct what now appears to have been an illegal meeting on the WCU campus? WCU being a legal “Public Body” under NCGS doesn’t need even a hint of complicity with DOT in this regard. And in defense of the university, I don’t believe permission would have been given to the DOT to hold these meetings at WCU if the aforementioned had been known to WCU staff beforehand.

The blame belongs with DOT.

Excuses, as it wasn’t done purposely or done out of ignorance or even arrogance, is just not excusable. If the law was broken here, what we have is legal negligence and that behavior is not acceptable. I’m not going to speculate on what the DOT intent on calling the meeting was. I’ve heard they have been doing it for a long time as a standard operational procedure. If they have, it needs to stop and stop immediately. We of JAG will stay on it as a First Amendment issue. We have Americans coming home in body bags in defense of democracy and to many of us democracy starts first with our First Amendment rights.

(James P. McCarthy is President of the Jackson County Citizens Action Group)

By Christi Marsico • Staff Writer

North Carolina’s poet laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer listens to the CD “Alma,” composed by Harold Schiffman, in the mornings as she begins her day and when she drives to her home state of Georgia.

“Every time I hear the cantata, I hear more,” Byer said.

The CD holds special meaning to Byer as texts from her book of poetry, “Wildwood Flower,” inspired the composer to write the CD.

“With every artist no matter the medium you have echoes of works that add another dimension,” said Byer, a Cullowhee resident.

The word alma means “soul” in Latin, and while the poet and composer didn’t know each other until her words inspired his music, their mutual love for the mountains destined them to create the art that crossed their paths.

Written for a mixed chorus, mezzo-soprano solo and orchestra, “Alma” has been professionally performed three times most recently with a European premiere this past October.

Conducted by Mátyás Antal, the cantata was performed by the Gyor Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hungarian National Chorus in Gyor Hungary, which also coincided with Schiffman’s 80th birthday.

The composer

Born in Greensboro, Schiffman knew since age 13 that he wanted to be a composer.

Performing at local venues, he wrote his first pieces of music at age 14.

Schiffman has spent his life composing, and while music is his passion, poetry has been his muse.

For many years the composer has made contributions to the Academy of American Poets, and in the summer of 1993 he received a copy of Byer’s “Wildwood Flower.” Her book of poetry had been selected by the Academy of American Poets as the Lamont Poetry Selection for 1992.

“I just fell in love with the poems and sent her a fan letter,” Schiffman said.

In 1999, a Hungarian conductor wanted Schiffman to compose a mixed chorus and orchestra cantata, and Schiffman thought of Byer’s poems.

“Kay’s poems have marvelous rhythms, wonderful images and fantasy,” Schiffman said. “They are also wrapped up in nature, and I love that, too.”

The composer asked the poet’s permission, and the process of writing his first large choral composition began.

The art of arrangement

Schiffman didn’t analyze the poems he read, allowing the rhythms to come alive in his ears. He felt “lucky” as the music suggested itself out of the poetry.

As he made musical sketches, the music made itself happen and was very “tonal.”

“The poetry was accessible and there were clear forms and from those forms came ideas,” Schiffman said.

The composer felt the central piece of the composition was “Lullaby” due to its rhythm and harmony and related it to everything else he wrote.

In “Alma,“ there are six movements involving texts from “Wildwood Flower,” as well as two Biblical excerpts from The Song of Solomon and The Book of Job.

“Alma is a very romantic lyrical piece of music that has a rich orchestration,” Schiffman said. “Kay has illusions to Celtic and Appalachian music and some passages sound like folk music.”

To intertwine all the ideas involved, the composer turned to his favorite poem “Alma,” which not only inspired the title but opens the cantata.

“Alma is about a fictional mountain woman who lived around the turn of the century,” Schiffman said.

While working on his composition for the CD recording, he met Byer in 2000 at a concert at Western Carolina University.

In 2002, Schiffman finished the cantata, and has drawn critical praise since its CD release in 2004.

He currently resides with his wife, Jane, in Robbinsville part of the year, and while being commissioned for numerous works, Schiffman is thinking about setting new poems from Byer.

A distinguished background

After high school, Schiffman attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received his master’s degree at the University of California at Berkeley.

Following service in the U.S. Army from 1951-54, Schiffman went on to earn his doctorate at Florida State University.

Throughout his musical career, Schiffman was influenced by instructor Roger Sessions in principal composition and mentor Ernst von Dohnányi.

Hired as a faculty professor at FSU in 1959, Schiffman went on to be the founding director of Florida State University Festival of New Music in 1981. He retired in 1983 and was designated Professor Emeritus two years later.

He presently serves as chair of the Music Advisory Board of UNC Greensboro, and has been commissioned to write music by many diverse groups. For more information on Schiffman visit www.haroldschiffman-composer.com.

The poet

Byer, born and raised in Southwest Georgia, promised herself she would live in the mountains that held a fascination with her since childhood.

Upon receiving her master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, she taught poetry in the master’s of fine arts program at the UNC Greensboro. She served as Poet-in-Residence at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, and received the 2001 North Carolina Award for Literature.

Byer has received writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council.

Residing in Cullowhee, she is currently North Carolina’s poet laureate.

She has lived in the mountains of North Carolina since 1968, and when she first arrived in Cullowhee, she felt compelled to get a sense of her new home allowing the cadence, rhythm and way of life to connect with her.

In the midst of changing times, Byer found the mountain way of life staying relatively the same.

“Living toward the land made me feel particularly close to people,” Byer said.

While forming friendships, Byer looked to the mountains for poetry letting the local music and stories permeate her imagination.

Among her many published works she sensed something was different about the “Wildwood Flower” collection.

“These poems would just come to me and I just knew what to say,” Byer said.

Hiking in the Smokies, she imagined what life would be like living ruggedly in the mountains.

While writing she remembered Alma Presley, a friendly neighbor who had welcomed her.

“She was a generous and colorful old lady, and I became found of her,” Byer said.

The fond memory of that neighbor turned into the main voice of her poems as she titled one of them “Alma.”

Byer has always had a passion for music and singing, and when she heard Schiffman’s composition of her poems, it gave her goose bumps.

“He really captured it,” Byer said. “He caught the shades of the voices— the bounce and lilt and the cold sense of being trapped.”

Traveling to Hungary this past fall to see the European premiere of Schiffman’s “Alma” brought a resurrected youth to the poet.

“My poems connected with people so far away and spoke to them like the mountains spoke to me,” Byer said.

The poetic process

Byer describes “Alma” as a woman finding her way through her story by song.

“She was a singer of her own story and grew out of her struggles by singing her way through the dark nights,” Byer said.

The poet believes that women have been devalued in the mountains with little communication between a man and wife as the woman’s role was to be “silent.”

In her first poem “Wildwood Flower,” Byer deals with survival.

In “Empty Glass,” the poet lets the mountain woman’s voice sing despite the desperate cold and isolation.

In the second section, Byer notes the “undulating quality” of her poems as the mountain woman sings back through memories.

“She imagines herself becoming part of nature,” Byer said. “Harold’s music captures that journey of hers.”

While the core poems for Byer are “Alma” and “Empty Glass,” due to their mystical and lyrical aspects of nature, her poem “Lullaby” emerged from the particular image of heavy snow.

During one winter, Byer’s husband noted concern for the pressure of a heavy snow on their roof.

“I thought of Alma alone with snow on her roof,” Byer said. “She’s isolated and alone and needs to dig herself out of this place because she’s suffocating. She sets up a state of mind and she needs to find a way out which is why there is repetition of sound and image.”

It took Byer a year to write all the poems in “Wildwood Flower,“ and another year to organize them.

With other endeavors such as “Appalachian Song Book,” Byer proves her love of language is interwoven in the mountain’s musical fabric.

For more information on Byer visit her blog at www.kathrynstriplingbyer.blogspot.com.

Trevor Jones, a native of St. Cloud, Minn., is the new curator at the Mountain Heritage Center, Western Carolina University’s museum of Southern Appalachian natural and cultural history.

Jones was formerly curator of history at the Neville Public Museum in Green Bay, Wis. He earned bachelor’s degrees in history and German at Grinnell College, and a master’s degree in history and certificate in museum studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

In his role as curator at the Mountain Heritage Center, Jones will write, design and build exhibits; oversee the museum’s collection of artifacts; and assist visitors as they learn about the region.

“I’m excited to be working at the Mountain Heritage Center during such an exciting time in the organization’s history,” Jones said. “The center is in the process of launching innovative new programs and exhibits, and I’m pleased that I can be a part of it.”

Jones has published articles on a wide range of subjects, including the role of American Indians in the Civil War, blacksmithing at the dawn of the 20th century, and the digitization and preservation of rare and fragile museum materials. Recently, his research has focused on civil liberties and World War I.

Earlier this year, Jones was chosen as the first American recipient of the Global Curator Fellowship, a new honor sponsored by the Historians’ Special Interest Group of Museums Australia, and the Curators’ Committee of the American Association of Museums. The fellowship is bestowed upon one American and one Australian each year, and as the American honoree, Jones will attend and present a research paper at the May meeting of the Museums Australia Annual Conference in Newcastle, Australia. He also will attend the May conference of the American Association of Museums in Philadelphia.

The Mountain Heritage Center, located on the ground floor of WCU’s H.F. Robinson Administration Building, spotlights the human and natural history of the Southern Appalachian region with a wide variety of programming for adults and children, and through its exhibits and displays.

The museum is open free to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday year-round, and from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sundays, June through October. Because the Mountain Heritage Center observes a university holiday schedule, visitors should call the museum around major holidays at 828.227.7129 to inquire about visiting hours.

By Christi Marsico • Staff Writer

Providing a historic glimpse into triumph and tragedy of real life in Haywood County over the past 200 years, professional musicians Buddy Melton, Milan Miller and Mark W. Winchester have combined their talents to create the CD “Songs From Haywood County.”

Released in November, all the songs are original country, bluegrass and folk tunes derived from real life characters, criminals and events from Haywood County while celebrating its bicentennial.

Melton and Miller were born and raised in Haywood County with connections that go back to childhood as Melton’s mother was Miller’s second-grade teacher.

Winchester, a native of Monroe, has spent an abundant amount of time in the county and now resides in Nashville.

Melton who currently resides in the Crabtree area of Haywood County, is an accomplished fiddler and singer who performs regularly with the bluegrass band, Balsam Range, which has a new album “Last Train to Kitty Hawk” to be released in early February.

Miller grew up in Waynesville and has lived in Nashville since 1999, and is a multi-instrumentalist who has performed on television and national tours with Alan Jackson and the Grand Ole Opry.

Winchester is a songwriter and is well known for his abilities on the upright bass, which have landed him tenures with Emmylou Harris and the Brian Setzer Orchestra.

He has won a Grammy for his work with Setzer and written a top 40 country hit for Randy Travis.

The trio first worked together as part of the Nashville-based quintet Jubal Foster, which developed a following throughout the Southeast.

As the musicians have stayed friends through the years, creating songs about Haywood County has been a “satisfying experience.”

Taking music and adding an educational element to it with a historical background has been new venture for Melton.

“This was a different thing than anything I’ve done musically,” Melton said.

“It’s like gospel music. Some people can’t stand the pastor preaching, but they enjoy singing the Psalms. You can get some history of who you are from different formats.”

Melton hopes listeners will take away more appreciation for the county‘s history and possibly learn some stories they might not have known.

“Did you know the last shots of the Civil War were shot on Sulphur Springs Road?” Melton asked.

The local historic intrigue was spurred on when Melton noticed two graves near his house on a hill.

After further investigation, he found out the graves belonged to Dave and Mary Mason, and the musicians felt compelled to write the CD’s first song “The First Man They Hanged in This County,” which is about the deadly relations between the Masons.

As the musicians compiled song ideas, they wanted to make sure the CD was well-rounded with a variety of elements involved.

Putting a positive twist on the paper mill in Canton, the song “Papertown,” written by Miller, describes how the mill was a big part of the community as well as how the town was influenced by it.

“It’s a really great song, and I enjoy singing it,” Melton said.

The second song also written by Miller is “Henry Grooms was a Fiddler,” which is about a fiddler, his brother and brother-in-law who was charged with desertion. As the folklore goes, the fiddler, Henry Miller, was instructed to play one final song, and he chose the “Bonparte’s Retreat.”

All three men were shot and buried in a single grave located in a private cemetery.

Melton made efforts to travel to each song’s location and take photos, which are featured in the booklet that comes with the CD along with additional information and donated photos.

It took Melton three days to hike to the cave where Nance Dude was accused of leaving her granddaughter.

The song “Poor Child,” written by Winchester, captures the core of the Nance Dude story.

“It’s an intriguing story because people can’t believe the nature of how it happened and when it happened,” Melton said.

When discussing the song “Interstate,” written by Winchester, Melton noted how the politics involved had an impact on Haywood County “changing the face of the county.”

Melton shared that one of the great things about song writing is having the freedom to take any perspective desired.

When researching the history of Cataloochee, Miller wrote, “The Government is taking our homes,” which describes how the development of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park forced people out of their homes.

Capturing the emotion of that time included involving characters of the county such as in the song, “Sam Love Queen (The Square Dance King)” whose heritage is still alive today as his grandson state Sen. Joe Sam Queen attends and calls local dances.

Joe Sam is featured on this song using calls that were handed down by his grandfather.

Reflecting on his own personal experiences in the song “Good Ole Letha Hicks,” Melton describes the unique personality of a true mountain woman.

“She lived by herself, made moonshine, grew tobacco and had a funny accent,” Melton said. “She was a good person.”

When Melton was a young boy, he and his friends would take Letha firewood. He remembered a mountain hawk’s head staring at him in her living room as well as her hospitality.

“She wanted us to taste the pulled pork and whiskey she had made as well as see her quilts. When you left there, you left with something like a tobacco twist and it‘s hard to get all that into a song,” Melton said. “So we tried to capture some element of that.”

Creating an “Allman Brothers feel,” according to Melton, is the last song on the album, “The Big Gun at the Center of Clyde,” which is a tribute to veterans and written from the gun’s perspective by Winchester.

Used as a rendezvous spot and reference point, many Haywood County natives know the phrase “I’ll meet you at the Big Gun.”

“The gun came off a battleship, and a lot of people don’t know why it’s there,” Melton said. “We wanted to explain its history and presence.”

The group would work on the project whenever they could, emailing music files back and forth for about 10 months.

“Different folks can relate to different songs,” Melton said.

With more CDs ordered and a Web site in the works, Melton is confident that “Songs From Haywood County” offers something for everyone.

For more information on the CD, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Where to buy

Celebrating the bicentennial of Haywood County is the CD “Songs From Haywood County” performed by Buddy Melton, Milan Miller and Mark W. Winchester.

CDs are available at Osondu Booksellers, Music Box and Smoky Mountain Coffee Roasters in Waynesville as well as Riverview Farm and Garden in Canton.

It took a team of Western Carolina University students just 10 days and dozens of discarded plastic bottles to design and build a product that is original, innovative, creative, useable — and award winning.

Three seniors in engineering technology at WCU will advance to the national Juicy Ideas Collegiate Competition, which challenged college students to design and build a prototype of a useful product out of a trash item. Judging was based on YouTube videos submitted by more than 160 of teams from colleges around the region.

When the required recyclable material was revealed — in this case, plastic bottles — the WCU engineering students began considering the possibilities: a yo-yo, solar panel, mailbox, medical device, cup holder, shower caddy.

“There were tons of things we could have done,” said Drew Tolliver of Atlanta.

“Yeah, we could have built a skyscraper if we wanted to,” fellow team member Ben Plowman of Waynesville said.

They settled, instead, on a windmill capable of generating small amounts of electricity.

Their third team member, Josh Kirkland of Hendersonville, began collecting bags full of empty plastic bottles from his residence hall, and the team broke its work into three stages, following a process they learned in the project management class of Phil Sanger, director of WCU’s Center for Rapid Product Realization.

“It’s really neat, because you think of the process in broader scale and then follow the steps like a waterfall. It’s easy to think about what you have to do down the line and not get overwhelmed,” Plowman said. Tolliver said, “It’s good because you sit there in class, wondering how you’re going to use this, and, bam, you’re using it. It was pretty cool.”

After brainstorming in the library and sharing ideas through instant messaging, the three settled on a miniature windmill and gathered in Plowman’s room to cut out and assemble the pieces. Kirkland figured out how to weld the parts together with solder because glue won’t stick to polypropylene, and they used a small wind-up flashlight motor for the generator. Everything else came from trash bags full of used bottles.

“We had plenty of spares. There was no shortage of the problem, which is the problem. There are so many of these throwaway items around, you need to figure out something to do with them,” Tolliver said.

“We tried to use very part of the bottle, including the cap and the o-ring that holds it on; even the threaded part of the neck,” Plowman said. From those parts, they made the blades, the body of the windmill, and a long post or handle. Best of all, their design works. With a light breeze, the windmill generates a quarter of a volt – enough electricity to power a tiny light or to charge a battery over time.

The contest was organized by AdvantageWest regional economic development arm. Tolliver, Plowman and Kirkland’s team earned third-place honors.

Editor’s Note: The following is testimony delivered by Mark Singleton of Sylva, who is the chairman of the Outdoor Alliance. Singleton is the executive director of the Sylva-based American Whitewater, a paddling advocacy organization. The Outdoor Alliance is made up of six advocacy groups. Singleton spoke to the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Dec. 10.

Mr. Chairman and members of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee:

Outdoor Alliance is a coalition of six national, member-based organizations devoted to conservation and stewardship of our nation’s public lands and waters through responsible human-powered outdoor recreation. The Outdoor Alliance includes: Access Fund, American Canoe Association, American Hiking Society American Whitewater, International Mountain Bicycling Association, and Winter Wildlands Alliance. Collectively, the Outdoor Alliance has members in all 50 states and a network of almost 1,400 local clubs and advocacy groups across the nation. Our coalition represents the millions of Americans who hike, paddle, climb, mountain bike, backcountry ski and snowshoe on our nation’s public lands and waters.

Our staff and members spend much of their free time exploring public lands via the roads, trails, rivers, and at the campsites. Collectively, we witness firsthand the state of these resources and are among the many people impacted by an aging infrastructure that is mismatched with today’s priorities for public land management. We recognize the need for active and immediate efforts to bring our public lands infrastructure and in some cases the lands themselves up to standards. Perhaps most importantly today, we believe that doing so would create an array of economic benefits across multiple sectors of the United States economy immediately and for decades to come.

Specifically, we suggest that the Committee prioritize the following activities in an economic stimulus package:

U.S. Forest Service Road Decommissioning and Restoration: Unmanaged roads can wash out and erode, pollute water, damage wildlife habitat, impact recreation, and speed the spread of weeds. The current 380,000-mile U.S. Forest Service (USFS) road network contains many redundant, obsolete or unnecessary roads that are costly to maintain and do not serve the millions of people who visit national forests. Outdoor Alliance supports a common-sense policy, including retiring unnecessary roads to limit environmental damage and focusing scarce resources on maintaining the roads that best serve the public. Currently, deferred maintenance is over $8.4 billion nationwide and increases annually as allocated funds fall far short of annual maintenance needs. A number of national forests have already set sound road maintenance priorities, but lack the funds to reach those goals. An infusion of funding into road management would immediately put people to work and would avert risks to water supplies, wildlife habitats, recreational opportunities, and fire-sensitive communities.

USFS and BLM Recreation Infrastructure Improvements: Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands often provide the closest and best mountain biking, backcountry skiing, hiking, snowshoeing, paddling, and climbing opportunities for millions of Americans. Investing now in the construction and maintenance of trails, river access areas, campsites, parking areas, sanitary facilities, and other visitor amenities – in the tradition of the Civilian Conservation Corps – would immediately create new jobs and benefit our citizens and gateway economies for decades to come.

Federal Agency Recreation Field Staff: The primary federal land management agencies (U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) each have a significant need for recreation field staff. The National Park Service has proposed 3,000 new rangers as part of their Centennial Initiative, and the other agencies certainly have a similar need. Hiring field staff to interact with the visiting public would directly create thousands of new jobs, encourage recreation-based tourism, reduce planning conflicts and errors, and create new opportunities for volunteerism. We envision these individuals as highly skilled recreationists that share experiences with the public, forming an invaluable personal connection between public land managers and the public.

Each of these priorities would result in both immediate and lasting economic and societal benefits for communities near public lands and the nation as a whole. In addition, each of these priorities is a wise and necessary investment that will protect at-risk public assets. We ask that you consider the following relevant points:

These priorities offer a wide range of jobs. From backcountry trail crews requiring physical stamina, to engineers requiring years of higher education, the priorities we are suggesting provide a full range of job opportunities. Thus, these projects offer work for a broad cross section of citizens.

These priorities offer construction-related jobs. Many of the jobs relating to public lands infrastructure are within the hard-hit construction field. These jobs include heavy equipment operators, engineers, architects, surveyors, landscapers, and general contractors.

These priorities bolster the recreation economy. Outdoor recreation is a $730 billion industry in the US, and the vast majority of outdoor recreation occurs on public lands. These priorities will enhance recreation opportunities and in turn the recreation economy. The economic benefits of these actions are significant in both the manufacturing of outdoor equipment and products, and also in the nature-based tourism economies of countless and often rural communities. It is our belief that high quality infrastructure, landscapes, and management result in high-quality recreational experiences and in turn increased participation in human-powered outdoor recreation.

These priorities avert economic and ecological risks. Many roads and other infrastructure elements require maintenance to prevent failure – and failure can have massive impacts requiring costly remediation. Getting to work on the sizable backlog of basic maintenance and in some cases decommissioning of public land infrastructure is a good and needed investment. Doing so will protect the landscapes, water, and recreation that define our public lands, and protect our nation from future, much larger management expenses. Taking these actions is analogous to putting a new roof on your house to avoid major water damage – and by all accounts there are already some leaks in the old roof.

These priorities can happen right away. There is certainly no shortage of work to be done, and it is our understanding that agencies have active lists of projects in need of implementation. Unlike some agency actions, infrastructure maintenance and enhancements are generally non-controversial and in fact popular with the public. Therefore agencies should be able to complete the planning and implementation of such projects in short order. In the parlance of the day, what we have recommended is “shovel ready.”

These priorities have additional societal value. Protection and enjoyment of our American landscapes are core values of our nation. In addition to their inherent and iconic value, public lands provide human-powered outdoor recreation opportunities that foster public health, childhood development, an invaluable connection with nature, and other quality of life benefits. We believe that investing in our public lands is money well spent.

In conclusion, we feel that offering federal land management agencies significant economic stimulus funds for the priorities that we have listed above will have an immediate and lasting positive impact to the United States economy. We feel that the funding levels suggested at today’s hearing by the witnesses (Roughly $2 to $3.5 billion each for BLM and USFS per year, and roughly $1.5 billion for the NPS) represent reasonable balances between the agencies’ needs and their capacities.

Thank you for considering this testimony.

• Mark Singleton: Executive Director, American Whitewater; Chairman, Outdoor Alliance

• Brady Robinson: Executive Director, Access Fund

• Martin Bartels: Executive Director, American Canoe Association

• Greg Miller: Executive Director, American Hiking Society

• Mike Van Abel: Executive Director, International Mountain Bicycling Association

• Mark Menlove, Executive Director, Winter Wildlands Alliance

Editor’s note: The following is series of student-written excerpts from a five-day camping trip taken to the Hazel Creek area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The trip was taken by eighth-grade students from Mountain Discovery Charter School in Bryson City.

Day One:

The eighth-grade class loaded a Nantahala Outdoor Center bus with Southwestern Community College canoes and paddles. Director of Outdoor Education, Carter Petty said, “The trip would not have been possible without the contributions from Nantahala Outdoor Center and Southwestern Community College.”

The group then drove to Cable Cove and launched the canoes. Before the students set off on their journey, teachers asked them to compare their trip to Hazel Creek to the early settlers’ experience. From there it was the beginning of a week-long fun, and educational adventure. The canoe trip was two miles. After that, the students hiked four miles with heavy school back packs to their campsites.

Mountain Discovery’s well structured P.E. program prepared the eighth-grade class for the strenuous exercise during the trip. After hiking, the eighth-grade class set up camp and began cooking dinner. Eighth-grade student Sidney Parham thoughtfully informed the teachers, “It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn life skills while also learning to work with other people.” Writing by headlamps, the students journaled about their day as early settlers. Students finished the day telling ghost stories around their camp fire.

Day Two

On Tuesday, the eighth-grade class woke up to the sounds of Hazel Creek. The students were all sore from their paddle across the lake and the 4-mile hike to the campsite on the previous day. Everyone ate bagels toasted in a frying pan with peanut butter or cream cheese for breakfast. After finishing the meal, leftovers went into the food bags to hang on bear cables, so the bears wouldn’t raid the campsite.

Splitting into groups, everyone read specific pages in the book, Fontana: A Pocket History by Lance Holland, about different subjects, including mining, logging, splash dams, and Horace Kephart’s contributions to the establishment of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. After the class discussed these topics as a group, they packed up daypacks and went for a 5-mile hike to the Adams-Westfeldt mine. The class took their time and took a few breaks on the way there. Finally, the group discovered the spot on the trail that led to the mine and hiked through briars to get there.

Bushwhacking through the thick undergrowth led the group to a very steep part of the mountainside. Students climbed next to a 30-foot deep mine pit, which anyone could have easily fallen into if it hadn’t been fenced off. When finally reaching the highest point of the mine opening, the class paired up and went in. What was inside was amazing. Students witnessed gleaming ore streaking through the shaft. It was dark and cold with puddles of water everywhere. There was even a bat hanging from the ceiling! After everyone had climbed through the cave, they hiked back to the campsite along Hazel Creek for writing and dinner.

As students busily recorded the day’s events in their journals, their teacher, Mr. Killebrew, cut wood for a campfire. As the sun began to set, all sat around the campfire, listened to each other’s ghost stories, and relaxed. When it was time for “lights out,” everyone got into sleeping bags for a well-earned rest.

Day Three:

After waking up to a nice early morning drizzle, the students enjoyed a nice breakfast of fried bagels and g.o.r.p. (good ol’ raisins and peanuts), the students proceeded with their plans to hike to another campsite, which was about 3 miles away from the one they had been staying in so far.

After the hike, the students set up their tarps, did some reading, and then four of the students — Ethan Swartzentruber, Cassidy Quillen, Sidney Parham, and Colyn Petty — went to help one of their other teachers (who was swapping out for Mr. Jim Killebrew, who had been with them so far) get her things and herself up to the campsite. The students hiked down to the place where they had left their canoes on Monday, got into a canoe, and went out to get the other teacher, Mrs. Randa Jobe, who was quickly and efficiently brought to shore.

After a short hike back to camp with Mrs. Jobe, the students began to cook supper. After a wholesome meal of burritos filled with rice, refried beans, cheese, and salsa, the students enjoyed a quick reading of “The Lorax” by Dr. Suess, and went to sleep.

Day Four:

After the light drizzle the previous day, the eighth-grade students set out towards the Proctor graveyard to learn of Hazel Creek’s ancestry. They made their way up through beautiful scenery towards the graveyard. As the students arrived, the cemetery surroundings reminded them of a great and luscious garden where the departed should be laid to rest.

The group learned of the town’s august lineage starting with Moses and Patience Proctor, the founders of the town of Proctor. The gravestones taught students about life spans in Proctor. While at the cemetery, students also learned about the controversy over the North Shore Road. The eighth-graders learned about the reasons behind both opinions on the Road to Nowhere. Students were amazed that any elderly person would ever be able to access such a remote spot without modern transportation in order to visit their departed loved one’s gravesites.

Later, after doing a tree study around the campsite, most of the eighth-graders went for a swim in a nearby swimming hole. The water was unbelievably cold. One at a time, the students would enter the water, and eventually, being persuaded by their peers, go underwater. At one point, all the eighth-raders ran into the frigid creek and fell forward into the water. The students enjoyed swimming, and the temperature of the water in some ways increased and in other ways stifled the fun in this experience. Most of the time was spent shivering on the waterside, joking and watching Ethan Swartzentruber spiking up his wet hair, a talent the class has been entertained by on many occasions.

Soon, the eighth-graders were tired of their goose bumps and chattering teeth and proceeded to change clothes and make dinner; dinner was rather unappetizing that night. There was a group discussion after the dishes and stoves were cleaned and put away, and after that, they went to bed.

There was a slight issue that had to be dealt with before turning in for the night. There were some men in a campsite that the groups feared were drinking alcohol, which was worrisome for the girls camping nearby. Within minutes, the classmates worked together to relocate the girls closer to the main group where they felt much safer. This showed how much could be done when classmates workd together with a common goal. Thus ended Day 4 of the Hazel Creek camping trip for the Mountain Discovery School eighth-graders.

Day Five:

After a long night on Thursday, the whole class woke up and started to cook toasted bagels and oatmeal. When the group got done cleaning the campsite up, it was time to get into the boats and head back. When canoeing back to the bus, most of the class saw river otters swimming around in the water. The students who saw the otters were amazed how close the otters were to the boats.

Upon arrival, the exhausted students took everything out of the boat and loaded the bus. Several students helped load the boats onto the bus, while others were cleaning out the boats and securing the life vests and paddles. Finally, the group of eighth-graders jumped on the bus to head to Fontana dam.

Upon arrival at the dam, students learned about how long it took to build the dam and how many people it took to build the dam. Students explored the structure of the dam as Mr. Carter Petty explained the building process.

Time to leave the dam ... students were very happy because everyone had missed the little things like running water, bathrooms, and their own beds. Students had gotten used to the challenges that were put in front of them, and they all worked together to make the trip exciting. Since their return, students have been working together like one big family. This camping trip was a great way to get everyone to open students’ eyes about the hardships endured by early settlers and how one company such as the Ritter Lumber Company can impact so many lives in both positive and ultimately negative ways through taker methods of clear cutting timber, then leaving the land scarred and people without jobs when resources get depleted.

We must all learn from the example set by the Ritter Lumber Co. and consider all consequences on people and ecosystems when we continue to take and consume without regard for our surroundings and others. We CAN make a difference with a greater awareness of the world around us and our impact on it.

It’s time for Waynesville to get going on its land use plan review, especially since the economic downturn has slowed development and provided a window of time where big projects just aren’t coming along.

Waynesville’s land use plan is about five years old. It is based on smart growth principles and requires commercial developers to build sidewalks, plant trees along the street and in their parking lots, and adhere to architectural standards. Signs are kept short and parking lots are kept small, or at least not oversized. Parking is placed to the side or rear so that building facades and not parking lots define the streetscape.

While the plan has won many awards, it is also the bane of some developers. They say it was not designed with some uses in mind — particularly large commercial projects — and therefore needs to be tweaked. Although we support the plan and most of its components, taking a second look is a smart idea. When the plan was passed it was often referred to as a work in progress, able to be updated as Waynesville changed and grew.

A committee was established seven months ago to begin this process. This review needs to begin with the same energy and zeal that accompanied the creation of the original plan. Waynesville’s adoption of this land use plan helped cement its reputation as a progressive town with the backbone to preserve its best attributes while welcoming growth, and a place willing to do so in the face of many critics. It should take pride in continuing to build on that reputation.

Swain gambling on inmates

We hope it works out for Swain County, but we’re fearful that it just isn’t going to happen and that taxpayers are going to be in for a rude awakening.

Swain leaders are hoping that inmates from out of county will defray costs at the new jail. Overhead for the new 109-inmate facility has increased $20,000 per year, and that doesn’t include extra staffing. In addition, the loan payment on the mortgage is $452,000 per year.

“We desperately need it to pay for itself,” says County Commission Chairman Glenn Jones.

So here’s the math: If Swain lands federal prisoners, it gets $75 per day. To pay for the extra overhead — $20,000 — it will need to house at least one federal inmate 267 days a year. That sounds reasonable because if some inmates do come to the facility, it’s likely to be more than one or two.

The loan on the new jail is $454,000 annually, which comes out to $37,833 per month. Again, if federal inmates stay in Swain, it gets $75 per day. The jail would need to house 504 for at least one night per month for that to add up to $37,833. That’s about 17 per day, which would be in addition to the 30 to 50 the jail already deals with each day to meet its own criminal problems.

That sounds like an awful ambitious plan. Swain was able to get a low-interest loan to build a jail much larger than needed for its own inmate population. We wish them the best, but we fear taxpayers are going to end up footing the bill for this project.

Macon leaders do well by constituents

Macon County commissioners took a step last week their constituents will appreciate.

They switched to a twice a month meeting schedule. The Smoky Mountain News reported a couple of weeks ago that the Macon commissioners have recessed a lot more meetings than any other elected body in the region. In the last 10 months they’ve recessed at least 17 meetings. During the same time period Jackson recessed three and Haywood just one.

The problem with recessing meetings is that no public notice is required to reconvene. It keeps the public guessing about when their business is being discussed and decreases the opportunity for voters to attend and offer comment on what’s going on.

If a public body has to recess a few meetings in order to finish dealing with a long agenda, that’s expected. For it to become common practice — as it had in Macon — is a sure-fire way to erode credibility.

The new meetings schedule has the board meeting on the second Monday at 6 p.m. and the fourth Monday at 2 p.m. We think the public will appreciate this new schedule.

This spring, the greens served in Haywood Community College’s cafeteria couldn’t have been more local — they were grown just outside on the college campus itself by horticulture students.

The buy-local movement has taken off at HCC. In addition to ramping up the horticulture capacity on campus to provide even more student-grown food in the cafeteria, the school has also launched initiatives to buy from local farmers.

When Jim Hill took the position as HCC’s food service manager, he learned of lettuce being grown by the horticulture students and approached instructor George Thomas about supplying the cafeteria with produce. Thomas’s students provided lettuce to top burgers and stocked the salad bar with fresh spring mix several times. Hill watched with pleasure as diners sought out the greens grown on site.

“There was really buy-in from the students who eat in the cafeteria,” Hill said. “I like that students in the classes are growing for a purpose.”

Haywood students are learning about alternative growing methods like hydroponics where plants grow in a nutrient rich liquid solution instead of soil, and aeroponics where plants get a fine mist of nutrients and water to the roots in lieu of soil.

What’s more, students are learning a practical skill: how to produce much-needed food.

The college’s current aeroponics system was made possible by a mini grant from the Haywood Community College Foundation. Hill and Thomas are seeking more support so they can expand their systems and expand the college’s food production. In addition to more lettuce, Hill wants to serve herbs, tomatoes, and mixed vegetables grown on campus.

Hill is also championing local farms by asking for it from their produce supplier, Christopher Produce of Haywood County. The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project is in the process of certifying Christopher Produce as an Appalachian Grown distributor. Appalachian Grown branding identifies farm products grown or raised on family farms in Western North Carolina and the Southern Appalachian mountains.

Hill, in addition to participating in Farm to School programs offered by ASAP, will work with the organization to design a promotional campaign for local food in the cafeteria.

“Local food production is a vital part of any community. It provides jobs for growers and a sense of connection to food for the consumer,” Thomas says, looking at local food not only as a product for his students, but as a benefit for all.

By Chris Cooper

I guess it’s a kind of Christmas tradition. Every year around this time I go on the hunt for Christmas music that provides a bit of the prerequisite holiday spirit without making the listener want to smack themselves in the head with a can of cranberry sauce. Or even, worse, stuff it in their ears lest they hear one more version of “Jingle Bells” sung by an aging (or deceased) crooner or some new flavor of the minute pop “star.”

So this time we’ve got Bela Fleck and the Flecktones aiming their prodigious newgrass/jazz/fusion talents at a batch of holiday tunes, and some of the best of the newer batch of female singer-songwriters taking on this classic material with Hotel Café’s Winter Songs collection. Here we go ...

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones: Jingle All The Way

As many times as “Jingle Bells” has been twisted around, mutated or otherwise creatively interpreted, the Flecktones have to be the first to toss the Tuvan throat singing of the Alash Ensemble into the mix. And that’s just the opening track. Fleck and Co. have no trouble fusing forward thinking harmonic ideas with traditional melodies, and throughout Jingle All The Way the chance taking yields wonderful, if sometimes quirky, results. They slip into a swinging, syncopated waltz on “Silent Night,” with bassist extraordinaire Victor Wooten sneaking finger busting lines and sly rhythmic ideas into every nook and cranny. Without warning, the band segues into “Sleigh Ride,” and continues the craziness, this time with Jeff Coffin doubling Fleck’s breakneck reading of the main melody, and humorous fills from all involved. Then Wooten goes off with a gorgeous reading of “The Christmas Song,” and fills it with his signature two-handed tapping, sparkling harmonics and that inimitable sense of daring and precision that’s all his own.

One of the most beautiful Christmas compositions, at least to me, has always been Vince Guaraldi’s “Christmas Time Is Here,” and the Flecktones turn in yet another inspiring reading here, keeping the original’s haunting melody intact while playing around respectfully with the composition. That they couldn’t help but slide into the classic “Linus And Lucy” theme is typical of the group’s virtuosic sense of humor. From here they take on Tchaikovsky, Bach and Joni Mitchell with equal aplomb. This certainly isn’t an album you’ll find yourself listening to out of season, but it’s almost a guarantee that you’ll spin it each and every Christmas after hearing it once.

The Hotel Café Presents: Winter Songs

Some of these are voices you’ve heard in various commercials hawking anything from cell phones to music downloading services. Don’t hold that against them. Some are some of the most recognizable new artists in the singer-songwriter genre; Brandi Carlile, KT Tunstall and Nicole Atkins are certainly forces to be reckoned with. And then there’s Katy Perry, whose inclusion in this project is inexplicable beyond sheer popularity and name recognition. That, indeed, you can hold against whoever spearheaded this thing. At the very least, though, the whole project is for a good cause, with 50 cents of each CD sale going to the Susan G. Komen fund for breast cancer research, and with the artists waiving all royalties on each digital download of the medley track “Auld Lang Syne.”

KT Tunstall takes “Sleigh Ride” to an awfully fun and groovy place, taking chances with the classic’s arrangement with a thick backbeat and a playful toy piano throughout. Alice Smith brings her powerful voice and a certain feeling of world weary soul to “Silver Bells,” and Nicole Atkins spins a classy (and classic in a distinctly vintage sense) version of “Blue Christmas.” And Fiona Apple’s picture perfect “Frosty the Snowman” brings to mind Billie Holiday in its time warping feel and her quivering vibrato. Meiko talks about shooting Santa down in the middle of town (doubtful she’s talking about the gift bearing fat guy) and while this is a fine and unusually sexy original composition, having a female singer cooing about having been “a bad, bad girl...” right next to Fiona Apple’s track seems a little weird. Or fitting- your call. Katy Perry’s take on “White Christmas” is redeemed only by it’s noticeably UNDER-produced quality, quite a step for the MySpace maven.

Winter Songs delivers a pleasant collection of singers and songs for the tinsel and wrapping paper season, and while some tunes fare much better than others, fans of any of these artists will find plenty to like here. I still think Fiona Apple takes the prize here, though. Disagree if you like.

(Chris Cooper can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

By Danny Bernstein • Guest Columnist

Our national parks have been assaulted by new rulings in the closing days of the Bush Administration. Users and lovers of the national parks have to say no — no guns, no bikes, and no dogs.

Guns

The Bush Administration has finalized a decision to allow concealed, loaded firearms at 388 of 391 national park sites. That includes the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The administration did not listen to the vast majority of comments from people who said “no” to allowing guns in national parks. Nor did they listen to the professionals such as the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, the Association of National Park Rangers, the Ranger Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, and the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association.

What upsets me is that these folks making these decisions have never spent a night sleeping cheek to jowl in a shelter or discussed and argued about where to put up a tent. I wonder when they last walked a backcountry trail in a national park. Professional park associations are concerned about opportunistic wildlife killings. Someone sees a bear, panics and shoots it. I’m just as concerned about a person in a shelter getting into an argument over personal space or noise and pulling out a gun. I’ve asked campers to pick up their trash on the trail and campsite and I often get ignored or even cursed out. What if this litterer now has a gun?

“If you’re allowed to carry a concealed weapon on Main Street, you’re allowed to carry that weapon in a national park and wildlife refuge,” an Interior Department spokesman said. This ruling even reached the British newspapers. It’s not going to sound good to international visitors who already think that all Americans carry guns down the street. Yet, national parks are one of the safest places to walk. They’re also the best place to see wildlife, because mountain bikes are not allowed on the trails. Until now.

Bikes

The National Park Service is considering a plan to relax their regulations governing bicycles on trails. This change potentially is being made without public notice or review and would allow Park Superintendents to designate trails for mountain biking. That means that you could be meeting a cyclist coming down the hill on the Alum Cave Trail in the Smokies as you huff and puff up to Mt. LeConte. That scenario in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is not too-far fetched.

Another unintended consequence. Mountain bikers are more prone to accidents and need more rescues than hikers. The Smokies doesn’t need the extra expense of pulling out people who crash on their bikes. Currently the Smokies doesn’t charge an entrance fee and it doesn’t charge for rescues, as several parks do. The park is so underfunded that it shouldn’t be asked to spend more money on rescues or law enforcement.

No one has yet talked about lifting the ban on dogs on backcountry trails, but I stand ready for that one also. There are good reasons why guns, bikes, and dogs are not allowed on the trails. The national parks are meant to preserve the environment and leave it unimpaired for future generations. You want to bike with your dog and gun, go to Pisgah or Nantahala National Forests where hiking is only one of many uses. There’s a big difference between a National Park and a National Forest. In Pisgah, the trails are rougher and less maintained so mountain bikes are not going to make much of a difference.

I have nothing against cyclists, hunters, or dog owners — well maybe dog owners if they can’t control their dogs. Just not in a national park.

Danny Bernstein, a hike leader and outdoor writer, is the author of Hiking the Carolina Mountains. She can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Mark W. Winchester (MW) and Milan Miller (MM) answer questions about the collaboration of “Songs From Haywood County.”

SMN: How was this project different for you from other CDs you have worked on?

MW: It was different in a lot of ways. Setting out with the intention to write it was exciting. Knowing we had these subjects to cover, reading the research, sitting down with a guitar hoping the songs would appear, and being amazed when they did, was wonderful. It was different for me in that I had to let go of my pre-conceived notions of what the final version of the songs I was making up would be. I would go over to Milan’s when I had one and just bang it down roughly as a guitar and vocal demo, and let Milan work his magic. A great example of that is “Maggie of the Valley” because I wrote the melody instrumentally on the guitar, then began to add the lyric, but I never even figured out what chords went with it, so the rough demo is just me singing it over those same notes being played on the guitar. Milan had a lot to do with how great that song turned out as he fleshed it out and built the tracks for it. When I went over one night to play bass on the track, I was blown away with his vocals and the whole backing track. So, the collaborative nature of it was different for me, and in this case wonderful.

MM: There were a couple of main differences. Here in Nashville, most of the recording is driven by hopes of hit records and broad commercial success. Secondly, it is almost a necessity to stay within a specific genre or format to allow for focused promotion and marketing.

With “Songs From Haywood County,” we knew from the conception of the project that outside of people from Haywood County, much of the material might not be of interest, or in some cases even make sense. When we were writing these songs, our main focus was to stick as close to the history books (and folklore) as possible. On the production side of things, we didn’t feel the need to commit to one specific type of music, which explains the blending of country, folk, bluegrass, and pop styles that make up the album.

Do you have a favorite song on the CD? Why?

MW: It is hard to pick a favorite. I know when I use to ride around listening to early rough mixes of the project, the next few days I always found myself humming or singing, “Henry Grooms was a Fiddler” or “The Government’s Taking our Homes” which has such an infectious chorus, I would bust out in that one a lot. What Milan did with “Big Gun” is amazing. That one makes me grin every time I listen to it, and hearing my children belt it out in the car fills me with pride and joy. Of all the songs that came through me, and I say that because as songwriters have always said, the good ones seem to just mysteriously appear, I was glad “Poor Child” came together like it did. That story affected me so the first time Buddy described it, that I knew I wanted to write about it and wanted it to be powerful. But it’s hard to pick a favorite.

MM: I can honestly say that I like all of the songs included on the project, but for different reasons. For example, I remember very clearly the first time Mark (Winchester) played me the song about the Nance Dude story (“Poor Child”). I couldn’t believe how he had captured the horror and emotion of the story in a 3-minute song. If I listen closely to the words, I still get a little unnerved, even after hearing it many times through the recording process. “Papertown” is more of a sentimental favorite, while songs like “Interstate” and “For The Pigeon River” are fun from a musical standpoint because we really get to step on the gas.

What do you want folks to know the most about this CD?

MW: What I want people to know most about this CD is a hard question. For one thing, it is absolutely a ride that is worth the cost of admission. I heard a famous novelist say once in regards to historical fiction that the broad understanding of a time, or an event, or a place is best arrived at by looking at the details of the individual lives and circumstances involved — or something to that effect, and I feel that is what makes this CD so appealing. The stories are real and true. I gave one to a friend to listen to, a Canadian whose lived in America for many years and her comment was, “Great CD!, I’m right there. It really pulls you in.” So. I want people to know — if you’re from up around there, It’s gonna feel like home. And if you’re not from up around there, this record will make you wish you were.

The only other thing I would add is that it was such a satisfying experience to work with Milan and Buddy on this in such a collaborative way. It unfolded at a natural pace, over time, and to sit there and just start talking about all the unique things that happened in Haywood County and knock around the idea that if we made up songs about all of them we could have a CD — to start that process, and then find out halfway through that it was the county’s bicentennial, (and the songs were turning out great by then) made it seem like fate. In the music business, it is so rare to have a project go so smoothly, and not bog down in ego. It seemed like the roles that fell to us, we were each suited to, and we didn’t have to force anything. It wouldn’t have happened without Buddy’s research, writin’, fiddlin’ and beautiful voice, and Milan Miller’s talent as a writer, singer, musician and especially producer. He wouldn’t put it on the CD that way, but he produced this record. He has a real talent for it. Anyway. I’m proud to be a part of Haywood County’s history now, too.

MM: It was a lot of fun to make this record, and I certainly learned things about Haywood County that I didn’t previously know. Hopefully the listeners will have a similar experience and find it both entertaining and educational.

I hold Buddy and Mark in very high regard, both as friends and musicians, and it was great to get to work with them again. I also appreciate the overwhelming support that we have received from the community since we released this project in late November.

A brief synopsis of “Nance Dude,” which is one of three dramatic monologues in “Land’s End” written by Gary Carden:

In February of 1913, Nancy Kerley, more commonly known as Nance Dude, was told by her son-in-law, Will Putnam, to take her 2-year-old granddaughter, Roberta, and give her away.

The child was rumored to be born out of wedlock, and the family had more people living in the home than was allowed by the landlord.

For three days Dude walked the roads of Haywood County, and no one would take the child. She carried the little girl the majority of the time.

Finally, Dude risked going home, and the door was locked.

Dude got desperate as she ventured near Ad Tate Knob on Utah Mountain in Dellwood.

Upon returning to the Putnam home, she said she gave the little girl to a preacher in Tennessee.

Two weeks later, the little girl was found dead in a cave, and a lynch mob showed up to hang Dude.

She was 65 when she was sentenced to prison. She came home at age 80, and her daughter, Lizzy, wouldn’t let her stay.

She had a $10 bill in her shoe, which she slid under the door and then walked out of Jonathan’s Creek for good.

A grocer gave her a can of peaches and took her to Conley’s Creek where she lived in a utility shed which had a dirt floor and no running water or electricity. This was her home until she died.

Visitors could soon be toting loaded, concealed guns in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

A long-standing ban on loaded guns in national parks has been lifted by the Bush Administration.

Of 140,000 public comments that came in on the issue, the vast majority opposed the proposal — including every former director of the National Park Service who is still living and several park ranger associations.

Park rangers have come out strongly against the move, fearing it will increase danger in remote areas without back-up law enforcement nearby. National parks are currently some of the safest places in the United States for crime, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report.

“This regulation will put visitors, employees and precious resources of the National Park System at risk,” said Bill Wade, president of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees. “We will do everything possible to overturn it and return to a common-sense approach to guns in national parks that has been working for decades.”

Wade said the Bush Administration buckled to the interests of the National Rifle Association over the concerns of every day Americans.

The new regulation would not only risk the safety of visitors and rangers but could increase shootings of wildlife, according to opponents.

Hunting is not allowed in national parks. Right now, it is easy to tell if someone is in the park trying to hunt illegally. But if guns were allowed, poachers could simply say they are out for a stroll with their guns in hand but not hunting. The Association of National Park Rangers believes that wildlife poaching will increase as a result.

The National Parks Conservation Association contends the government should have conducted a formal environmental review of the policy change since it has the potential to affect resources, namely wildlife. That argument could provided the basis for a court appeal.

Previously, visitors with guns in their vehicles that passed through national parks had to make sure the gun wasn’t loaded and was safely stowed. Hunters chasing their dogs or wounded game across the national park boundary had to hide their guns under rocks or bushes before crossing into the park.

The new specialty license plate for Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, sporting a black bear against a mountain ridge line, continues to show record support among drivers.

Friends of the Smokies brought in $338,280 from its special black bear license plate program in 2008, an increase of $95,520 or 39 percent over 2007.

“We are truly thankful to see such strong support for the tag program during these uncertain economic times,” said Elaine Stewart, manager of the North Carolina office of Friends of the Smokies. “It’s harder for people to give a lot these days, but when a lot of people give a little, it really adds up.”

Of the extra $30 cost for the specialty tag, $20 goes to Friends of the Smokies to support projects and programs on the North Carolina side of the park. Launched in 1999, the Smokies license plate has now raised nearly $1.5 million.

With these funds, Friends of the Smokies has supported a wide variety of projects and programs in 2008:

• Assisting with black bear conservation initiatives.

• Helping purchase two electric vehicles for use in Smokemont and Cataloochee.

• Providing educational programs for park visitors and local schoolchildren.

• Launching plans for new educational exhibits at Oconaluftee Visitor Center.

• Protecting the park’s hemlock forests from the deadly hemlock woolly adelgid.

• Supporting the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center in Haywood County.

• Improving backcountry safety and management programs.

• Supporting air quality research.

• Sustaining the country’s largest Student Conservation Association internship program.

• Providing support for the park’s Volunteer Visitor Assistance Program.

“Next year we will celebrate the park’s 75th anniversary,” said Stephen W. Woody, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Friends of the Smokies. “We have so much work to do then to support conservation, education, trail improvements, and more, and we hope people will continue to contribute to our efforts one plate at a time.”

By Christi Marsico • Staff Writer

Stoned by children, considered a witch by some and a complete outcast by others, the story of Nance Dude has left a legacy in Haywood County.

Local playwright and storyteller Gary Carden has written the play “Nance Dude,” which will be performed by Elizabeth Westall Dec. 12 and 13 at Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

In the winter of 1913, the 65-year-old woman, Nance Dude, was found guilty of causing the death of her 2-year-old granddaughter by burying her in a cave in Haywood County.

She was almost lynched and ended up serving 15 years of hard labor of her 30-year sentence as a convict at the women’s prison in Raleigh.

Paroled at the age of 80, she lived out the rest of her life on Conley’s Creek near Bryson City and died at the age of 104 in 1952.

“She dropped dead chopping wood to sell to tourists,” Carden said. “She made enough money to keep body and soul together.”

Carden remembers seeing Dude when he was a child riding in his grandfather’s oil truck as they passed her on the road.

“She was an incredibly old woman with all this wood tied on her back with a mob of dogs around her,” Carden said.

Carden based his play on the book “The Legend of Nance Dude,” by Maurice Stanley.

The playwright noted Stanley married a woman from Waynesville and while visiting Haywood County, Stanley spent time at the library and stumbled onto the history of Dude which prompted him to write his book.

Carden has asked Stanley to be involved with his play, sharing his perspective as a humanist scholar.

Carden has turned Dude’s story into a provocative piece believing she paid for being an unwed mother who was forced to make bargains and tradeoffs all her life.

“I dealt with the role of women in the mountain culture, and Dude is an indication of that,” Carden said.

Writing the piece over a decade ago, the playwright had thought of writing about Dude for years since he had known her story since childhood.

“Most local people know her story front-wards and backwards, and my goal is to give a voice to the people who were denied a voice,” said Carden

Carden’s play predicts what she might have said given the chance to speak. The most intriguing fact about Nance Dude is her silence. She never confessed to her crime, nor provided any information about the circumstances surrounding it, according to Carden.

“She was a victim of total circumstance,” Carden said.

During his research of Haywood County and Western North Carolina, certain aspects of that time period made an impression on Carden, and he wove them into the framework of what her life was like.

“She was alive during the Civil War and saw soldiers come home,” Carden said.

The playwright touches on other local folklore in hints and indications throughout Dude’s monologue, such as the fiddler, farmer and handicapped man who were shot in Jonathan’s Creek, as well as the man who laid down in his ashes and died laughing.

Carden wants the audience to take away an awareness that this woman “is an awful lot like you and me.”

“She’s a survivor and did what she had to do to stay alive,” Carden said.

Westall’s “Nance Dude”

Westall, 77, has performed “Nance Dude” hundreds of times for numerous events including museums, schools and libraries around the region, and Carden feels her portrayal of Dude is “exactly right.”

The actress has appeared in numerous productions in the Burnsville area since she retired from teaching drama and English at Mountain Heritage High School.

The story of Dude touches Westall’s heart now just as much as it did the first time she performed it.

“This is the best thing I’ll ever do,” Westall said. “There’s something about one heart, one soul, one miserable lost person who reaches out to others.”

Westall is legally blind, and the first thing she does when preparing to perform is locate the boundaries where she can move.

“Maybe the fact that I don’t see has made me more aware of the frailties of other people,” Westall said.

With a black book, chair, stump and hatchet, the actress portrays the Dude as a suffering person during the 55-minute performance, and she believes that on a whole the piece touches men more than women.

“Gary Carden does a miraculous job of seeing inside a woman’s mind and heart,” Westall said. “He has a way with words.”

The actress believes that since Carden didn’t condemn her, she shouldn’t either.

Though many people think Dude is guilty of abandoning her grandchild, Westall doesn’t rule out the possibility that the son-in-law had a hand in the actual crime and Dude took the blame.

“I think circumstances can drive people to do unthinkable things and put people in situations they never dreamed they‘d be in,” Westall said.

She hopes the audience will feel compassion toward her portrayal of Dude, acknowledging she is a somebody who loved and was loved and had a raw deal all her life, according to Westall.

The actress believes Dude lived to be 104 because of her tenacity and strength, and when she started rehearsing the play over 10 years ago, she wept.

Sensing the character reached out to her, Westall confessed she does feel selfish about the part — like it’s hers.

“I love doing this play, and this might be the last time I do it. I am getting old, and I have done this a long time. I’ll be 78 on Christmas Day, which is not quite as old as Nance Dude, but getting there,” Westall said.

By Linda McFarland • Guest Columnist

Here we are in the holidays, the most sacred and profane time of year. When we yearn for simple pleasures and traditions, for celebrations which affirm connection and presence, how do we find meaning in the frenzy of consumption and excess?

Each year, for me, the challenge is to distill the essence of this season to determine what is good and nurturing, what really feeds our spirits and gives us hope, what is the proper antidote to the spiritual junk food that rains down on us, relentless and unbidden.

What I hear, in the silence, is:

Be more, do less. Be quiet. Turn off everything that makes noise and claims your attention. Listen to the stillness that ensues. Savor the silence. This is the time of the solstice, the time of long nights and darkness and mystery and introspection. Allow yourself to rest.

Be grateful. Notice all your blessings: life and breath and health, clean water, fresh air, food, shelter, warm clothes, people you love who love you, even those you don’t like very much but you tolerate and learn from, the stars that shine up there all the time even when you can’t see them, the presence of the Holy.

Be restless, unwilling to settle for anyone else’s idea of what this time looks like and means.

Be generous. Act on every impulse to do good, especially if no one else will know who did it.

Be attentive. Notice what is really going on, this minute, not what you expect to happen. Be playful. Do something different, daily, something “unlike you.” Have fun!

Be honest. Consider what is important to you, really worth your time and attention. Live that.

Be open to wonder, innocent, seeing with the eyes of a child.

Be tender. Pray for an open heart, and allow that to happen.

Be gentle with yourself. If you are the main creator of festivities in your circle, ask for help. Share the work and play. Most everything is more fun with a buddy. Be reasonable and relaxed.

Be excited with anticipation, as when a baby is expected. Something new and special is coming. Welcome it. Be willing to be surprised.

Be aware. Hold within your consciousness the contradictions — beauty and gaudiness, violence and peace, grief and joy, exhaustion and energy, poverty and abundance, darkness and radiance, the divine and the ordinary, “no room” and infinite space.

Rejoice! You have reclaimed the holiday season, infused it with meaning. Let it come to you!

Linda McFarland lives at Lake Junaluska.

By David Curtis

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a noise?

If a man is putting up Christmas lights and his wife is not there to supervise, is he still wrong?

There are no answers to the questions above, for they are philosophical in nature — not questions with good solid answers, but the type of questions that make you question life itself. Like, “Why am I out here in the cold and dark — did I say cold? — stringing lights on this bush.”

Several times this past week I saw a couple of dedicated employees from the town of Clyde faithfully stringing Christmas lights. The workers were using long poles to string the lights high in the 40-plus Bradford pear trees that run the length of Clyde’s main street. It was two men that were stringing the lights; probably veterans of many Christmas light details so no spousal supervision was needed as these two carried out the holiday ritual for which Clyde is well known.

I remember reading in the paper several years back the former mayor of Clyde, when asked what the town board has done for its residents (it must have been an election year question), said something to the effect that they were really proud of their Christmas lights. And they should be, the lights are simple white lights tastefully strung from tree to tree — not flashing obscenely, or multi colored, or surrounded by tacky inflatable Santas, reindeer or smiling Christmas trees. My daughter calls these contraptions “blowy-uppies.”

Growing up in Minnesota, I’m used to it getting dark early in the winter, around October. OK, we’re not quite that far north, but in December it is usually dark by 4:30 in the afternoon, so you would think having Christmas lights would be a popular activity to ward off seasonal depression disorder. Besides, ice fishing doesn’t really get going until after New Year’s.

I don’t recall many neighbors in my hometown that put up Christmas lights, but those that did used the only lights available — red, blue, green and yellow colored lights with large bulbs that sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t. As fancy as we got was to outline the front window and door, then if there was any lights extra maybe circle them a few times around whatever was growing by the front steps.

My wife likes Christmas lights, but they don’t like me. For several years when the girls were little we would put what seemed like miles of small colored lights around a fat blue spruce in the front yard. I would use a long forked stick to place the lights on the high branches. The first couple nights the light would look festive, then the Christmas light gremlins would arrive.

You know the routine; several days of Christmas light bliss and then without warning your holiday light display goes to hell in a hand basket. You plug in the lights and the top of the tree is dark, or the lights in the middle of the tree flash, then the dog chews the extension cord in half. You remove the top strand and go through 30 feet of lights bulb by bulb only to discover it was just the fuse, something your wife suggested you check first. You replace the strand and a day later another goes out.

The spruce is now too large to decorate — boy were those needles sharp — so now instead of lighting up one large tree we do several smaller evergreens, with more forgiving foliage, and several boxwood. The colored lights are also gone. We’ve upgraded to the newest technology in Christmas lighting — LED (light emitting diode) lights.

The new LED lights emit a very bright light that is whitish blue in color. The selling point of the new lights is that LEDs use one-tenth the electricity of the super bright mini-lights that they are replacing. As a comparison the new LED lights burn one-hundredth the energy that the incandescent lights of my youth. The new lights are reported to last up to 11 holiday seasons and rarely burn out.

The LEDs are more expensive than the traditional super bright lights — we got a $3 rebate for each strand of old lights we bought, so that helped out — but the savings in lowered energy costs can quickly offset the extra cost of the lights. I did notice the LED lights were shorter than the old strand of lights, so it will take a few extra strands.

Will the LEDs be more reliable than my old colored lights? I sure hope so, but I cringed when I saw there was a fuse and replacement bulbs in each of the light boxes. I may need the help of the guys from Clyde if I have any trouble.

(David Curtis teaches school in Haywood County. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)

By Chris Cooper

My participation in the Play For Peace project has been, honestly, primarily for purely selfish reasons. The opportunity to play music live is one I’ll rarely pass up, especially when the lineup includes an abundance of fine players involved in our little community. The first PFP was mostly inspired by a pointless and tragic act of violence in 2007, which functioned as a platform to unite some of these musicians to simply make some noise and, at the very least, make people think about the things that are happening around us; good and bad. The “peace” thing brings with it some connotations, indeed: visions of well meaning but motivationally challenged hippies spring to mind. The peace symbol itself is a bit of a cliché, sadly. And up until a point- how in the heck does all this “playing” result in any more “peace” for anybody? Interesting.

Here’s the catch, though. The first PFP actually worked. So did the second. The event grew and grew, not without the prerequisite amount of missteps and scheduling blunders, but people knew about it, and began to anticipate the next happening. Musicians wanted to be involved, and- suddenly might not be the best word, if you asked the sometimes overwhelmed but always high-spirited event coordinator Eli Hashemi- it was a full blown festival, with music in nearly every genre represented with all day shows that often last from 2 pm to 2 am. The purpose grew as well, with hand made t-shirts being sold and donations accepted to move beyond simply “raising awareness” to actually assisting returning soldiers from Iraq that, time and again, are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and find themselves lost and without the necessary means to cope with life outside of the military.

Pretty heavy stuff, indeed. But it also demonstrates how a simple idea, in the hands of a motivated person, can take on a life of its own and in many ways grow well beyond the initial expectations. As well, it shows that, under the right circumstances, a bunch of slacker musicians will actually get off their collective butts and put some energy into something beyond themselves. In my case, this meant taking the invitation of bassist Adam Bigelow to participate in a little musical endeavor (which at the last minute was bestowed the moniker Fungus Head- don’t ask...) that was to perform Saturday, December 6th at Guadalupe Café. The band consisted of Bigelow, drummer Nick Demos, guitarist Tommy Dennison and me. I was in a band with Demos and Bigelow called Triggerfish for a while, and Dennison has been a staple of the regional music scene for many years now. The guy’s also one helluva guitarist, a melodic player with fantastic technique that always makes me look at my fingers and wonder what the heck a goof like me is doing on stage with him.

But we were just a small part of an all day music affair; the bill included former Commonfolkers turned Freight Hoppers Issac Deal and Bradley Adams backing up mountain music expert Frank Lee, former Ali Baba’s Tahini and Mother Vinegar frontman Karl Engelmann going solo with and acoustic set, the punk jazz antics of Solito and a kind of impromptu set from a few of the members of local faves CIA, who as well sat in on our set with wonderful results. Though I was unable to catch all of the performances, what I did hear (and see) was great stuff, and the feedback from those lucky enough to catch the majority of the performances was nothing but positive.

As for our performance goes, well, it’s tough for me to say exactly, because I’m usually too busy trying to make it through the songs without falling on my face. But the audience’s reaction, let alone the sheer amount of people that came out in support of the event, was nothing short of inspiring. Whoops and hollers erupted from the crowd for all the players involved, every time any of us did something “cool” we got a reaction, which means- my goodness- people were actually listening. The tunes ranged from originals that Dennison and I put together over two rehearsals, and older Triggerfish tune, some Meters and, of course, an extended reading of Hendrix’s “Third Stone From The Sun,” which stands out as one of my favorite moments of the evening. It’s rare to get onstage with another guitarist and actually “go for it” together, as opposed to trying to outdo each other. In this case, the energy was positive and the results, though occasionally sloppy (my fault) were pure and unadulterated fun.

But let’s not forget that, though the music was happening and the booty shaking abounded, this was an event with an ever growing purpose, one that will certainly take on more power and importance with each continuing installment of the Play For Peace concept. At the same time that I left the stage feeling the rush of adrenalin and appreciated the compliments for the band’s performance, I hoped that in the back of everyone’s mind was the underlying awareness of why it all happened in the first place. If nothing else, maybe those in attendance were able to shake off some of the weariness we’re all experiencing this season, and find a bit of much needed peace within themselves.

(Chris Cooper can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

By Dr. Allan Zacher, M.D.

Flu season is here. You and your family and friends have not gotten it yet, but if you look at Google Flu Trends (http://www.google.org/flutrends/) you will see that we are on the early part of a significant upswing in cases that happens every year.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a branch of the U.S. government, about 36,000 people die per year and 200,000 are hospitalized with flu. This does not include the perhaps 1 million people who will be incapacitated for days to weeks but aren’t sick enough to go to the hospital.

About 36,000 people actually die of the flu each year, almost the number of people in the United States who die in automobile accidents. And like automobile accidents, the flu is largely preventable.

First, let’s identify what “Flu” really is (and is not). There are many diseases caused (usually) by viruses that people call the flu, but many are not actually THE flu. The medical definition is a disease which is caused by the influenza virus. This has a set of typical symptoms which generally start with a sore throat, body aches, fever and a “bad” feeling which is called malaises by your doctor. The symptoms which start in the throat may progress down the airway to the lungs resulting in wheezing, cough, “heaviness” in the chest. It is the effects on the lungs which can lead to very serious medical complications, hospitalization and even death.

Unfortunately, complicating the picture are perhaps dozens of viruses which cause “flu like symptoms” of sore throat, runny nose, headache. Many of these are “cold viruses” (unfortunately another complicated disease, because “colds” may actually be caused by any one of about a half dozen viruses). There is also the “stomach flu” which is not flu at all, but rather a gastro-intestinal upse, caused by yet other viruses or bacteria or even food poisoning.

What can you do to prevent flu? There are actually a number of things which are helpful. Try to stay away from people who are sick and appear to be sick. Wash your hands frequently and especially if you have your hands near your face (the influenza virus really likes the soft wet tissue at the back of the nose and mouth — this is where it usually gets its start). If you are sick, either stay home or wear a mask when out. As funny as this looks, it will help prevent the spread of the virus. Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze.

The flu vaccine (flu shot) is very helpful. There is what I call an old wives tale of people getting the flu because of the vaccine. This is not possible and not what happened. First, the vaccine takes about two weeks to build up your immunity. So if you had been exposed to flu and it was starting to grow but you did not have symptoms yet, you could come down with the disease immediately after bring vaccinated. Also, the flu vaccine covers only three strains of flu virus, two “A” strains and one “B” strain. The specific strains are selected early in the year as those thought to be the most prevalent. If you get the vaccination and are unlucky enough to get a strain not covered by this year’s vaccination you will still get flu.

The vaccine (shot or nasal spray) will not protect you from other diseases — and here’s why the old wives tale is so prevalent — like colds and other flu like illnesses. There will be no protection from these other illnesses. This is probably what you or your friend got when they said they got “the worst case of flu after the flu shot”.

But importantly it will protect you from the most prevalent and dangerous true flu illnesses. The CDC estimates that many of the thousands of deaths and hospitalizations would be eliminated if everyone for whom it is recommended got the flu vaccination (or nasal spray).

To find out more information, please see the CDC Web site which is an excellent source of information (http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/vaccine/index.htm). Get the flu vaccine, wash your hands frequently, avoid touching your face if your hands may have been contaminated, and stay home if you get sick.

(Dr. Allan Zacher, MD, is the medical director and owner of Interventional Pain Services of Western North Carolina, located in Clyde.)

By Jim Janke

Editor’s note: This is a regular feature on gardening by the Haywood County master gardeners. Look for it every other week.

Does cold weather cause gardening catalogs to stuff my mailbox? Or does the arrival of so much recyclable paper cause the cold weather?

Whatever the cause, gardeners pore through these publications, looking for new flowers and vegetables, and confirming that old favorites are still available. I enjoy the planning process for next year’s garden almost as much as putting the plants in the ground, so these catalogs add to the joy of my holiday season. But I’m an engineer, so that figures.

If your mailbox doesn’t get filled automatically, here are my favorite seed and plant sources, arranged alphabetically. Use these websites to order directly, or to request a catalog via snail-mail. Other gardening friends use many other vendors and are quite happy with them, so this list is far from exhaustive.

Seeds

Burpee www.burpee.com

Cooks www.cooksgarden.com

Jung www.jungseed.com

Park www.parkseed.com

Stokes www.stokeseeds.com

Territorial www.territorialseed.com

Vermont Bean www.vermontbean.com

Plants

(I buy most of my perennials,

shrubs and trees locally):

Bluestone Perennials www.bluestoneperennials.com

Jackson Perkins www.jacksonandperkins.com

Musser Forests www.musserforests.com

While you are in a planning frame of mind, do a couple of things now to make next year’s garden the best it can be. Develop a system of recording what was good, and what wasn’t so good each year. Note the seed type and variety; where and when purchased; seed starting conditions and germination rate; and a summary of its performance. Likewise record how your purchased annual and vegetable plants performed.

These notes will help you improve your garden each year. The note-taking system might as simple as a couple of written pages, or as complex as a full blown relational database on your computer. Or use one of the excellent multi-year garden journals that are available. The key is to record what you did, how well you liked the result, and be able to refer to those notes.

Then make scale diagrams of each of your annual and vegetable beds, and photocopy these original diagrams for use in planning where each plant will go. This is essential for intensive gardening, and to best use the available garden space throughout the season. These diagrams help you to avoid over-ordering either seeds or plants, because you can quickly see how much will fit in each garden area. Keep these diagrams with each year’s notes as a record of what was planted in each area.

Diagrams of the other areas of your landscape are also useful, showing the perennials, shrubs, and trees you’ve planted, and how long they’ve been in the ground. Looking at each landscaped area with the diagram in hand gives you a feel for what is working or not; the diagram is also a good place for notes.

For me the jury is still out: do I enjoy PLANNING or PLANTING more? I’m not sure.

Jim Janke is a Master Gardener Volunteer in Haywood County. For more information call the Haywood County Extension Center at 828.456.3575.

By Chris Cooper

It’s in the phrasing; the careful sculpting of each and every note. It’s something about the intent, the message conveyed with each musical statement. The way Jeff Beck grabs a guitar string and twists, bends, swoops and otherwise manipulates it with the sheer force of his will is one of the most magical things in music, and has been for the last forty odd years.

While the names Hendrix, Clapton, Page and Santana easily conjure up visions of six-string greatness in almost anyone’s mind, Beck belongs at the top of that heap while inexplicably remaining woefully unrecognized and underappreciated outside of musician’s circles. Here’s a guy that slipped tasty and forward thinking raga inspired ideas and radically fuzzed out tones into his work with the Yardbirds in the 60’s, fused the complexities of the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s work with his “from the hip” guitar style in the 70’s (and with a broader sense of melody and accessibility) with the classic albums Wired and Blow By Blow, and appeared on pop tunes in the 80’s that everybody heard. And still, even still, most people couldn’t name one of his songs. I mean, Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel was largely based on Jeff Beck, right down to the scene where he’s thumbing through a hot rod magazine in the airport. It’s a mystery for the ages, I tell you.

With the release of Live At Ronnie Scott’s, the most fascinating things about Beck are fully and beautifully displayed. The set is culled from a five-night stand that touches on the best of his catalog, and I shouldn’t even try to point out the highlights. Not only is the guitarist fearless and in the finest of form, his band is completely up to the task as well. When your drummer has the last name Colaiuta, things can’t really go wrong. Twenty-one-year-old bass phenom Tal Wilkenfeld is nearly as bold as the bandleader himself; her solo early in the set on Stevie Wonder’s “Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers,” let alone her relentless pocket throughout the album is the glue that makes these musical conversations work. Listen to a track like “Angel (Footsteps)” and try to think of a bassist that can make a groove like this move in such a sensual way. Only a few should come to mind, and those would likely be some of the best in the business. And Beck’s exploration of the world of melodic possibilities contained within such a groove is the reason I’m writing this — the man has a set of golden ears, a sense of harmony that did not come from this planet.

People talk about how certain musicians have reached the point of having their chosen instrument become almost another limb, a part of their body. With Beck, this is painfully true. Not to get too technical, but his use of the whammy (or tremolo) bar on the Fender Stratocaster is the epitome of taste and control. His sense of pitch and control, his ability to scoop one note into another is simply beyond compare. The guitarist’s sense of timing and phrasing has been compared to the best of vocalists, whether it’s Billy Holiday or the Bulgarian choir singers that have inspired him over the years. And while he can interpret songs by almost anyone with equal aplomb (be it Mingus or McCartney), his irrepressible personality always shines through. If you’ve heard Beck once, you’ll know him every single time, and eventually you’ll recognize his influence on just about every reigning “guitar god” worth mentioning over the last — well, ever since there was such a term as “guitar god,” to be completely honest.

But if you absolutely need me to do a “song by song” thing, here we go: “Scatterbrain” is a furious reading that at least doubles the tempo of the original version- and if you know that version at all, this is a fairly scary proposition. “Nadia” shows off Beck’s otherworldly phrasing in an almost drum’n’bass context, and the seamless fusing of “Blast From The East” into “Led Boots” lets drummer Vinnie Colaiuta stretch his legs (and arms, and everything else) to great effect. That Beck’s guitar one moment resembles the tonality of a harmonica, a bagpipe, then a penny whistle, then some kind of tortured violin, then an “air raid siren dipped in honey” (not mine, but a most fitting description) is merely icing on the proverbial cake. Once the band hits the Beatles’ “A Day In The Life,” at least one thing’s clear; this isn’t just another instrumental guitar album from “just another” instrumental guitar guy — it’s a courageous musical statement from one of the finest musicians on the planet.

Live At Ronnie Scott’s is one of the rarest of listening opportunities. There have been plenty of fantastic guitar-oriented, mostly instrumental releases over the years, but this one in particular will likely be held in the highest regard. Why is that? Because for the longest time, Jeff Beck has been able to transcend his instrument to the point of purely and simply making music- yes, he can blow you away with sheer technique, his tone is impeccable, and it seems he can play anything in the world and make it sound magical. But what stands out over all of that is that he colors every musical moment with a different, often unexpected hue. He’s not afraid to be ugly and abrasive, because the next note will be as smooth and sexy as can be. He’ll slap you in the face and turn around and whisper in your ear, and accomplish it all with something as inherently barbaric as a plank of wood with some wires strapped to it. This is one of those “must have” recordings. That’s all I really have to say.

(Chris Cooper can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

By Christi Marsico • Staff Writer

Wearing white sneakers with a buzz haircut, Tighe Wachacha enters the Burger King in Waynesville followed by his cardigan-clad cohort Matthew Yates.

Wachacha, 28, is married with one child and Yates, 27, is engaged.

The friendship these two men found in making films has set ablaze their ambitions as they launch their video production company, Twin Paths Productions, LLC.

Yates, who grew up in Kernersville, N.C., always knew he wanted to make films.

After living in Colorado and attending a few schools, Yates moved back to North Carolina determined to go to film school. Specifically looking for a two-year program, he came across Haywood Community College’s Film and Video Production courses online and applied.

Wachacha grew up in Cherokee and began his college pursuits in media arts at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan. When Wachacha moved back to his home state, he began looking for a film program as well. Upon picking up an application at HCC, Wachacha felt he had found the right place.

Wachacha met Yates the first day of class, and they became fast friends as they both progressed in their film studies.

“We got to do everything from day one like handling the camera,” Wachacha said.

“HCC saved me. It was the best thing that could have happened to me.”

They gained real world experience during the making of biotechnology training films where they were expected to take on the producer roles during the project.

The film series focused on “everything from bio-fuels to genetically modified foods,” according to Yates.

Yates and Wachacha are still in touch with their professors from HCC, referring to them as “more like friends than professors.”

Wheels

Through Time

Since graduating HCC in 2007, the film fellows have been working at the Wheels Through Time, a motorcycle museum in Maggie Valley. The duo has produced about 75 percent of the videos on the Wheels Through Time’s Web site.

Wachacha and Yates work 35 to 40 hours a week at the museum on a variety of projects from filming human-interest pieces, technology shows, to traveling for the museum filming various events.

The work has allowed the filmmakers to cut their teeth on multiple tasks while taking away valuable lessons.

“We’ve learned how to adapt ourselves in different situations and think on our feet,” Yates said.

“In school, it was a controlled environment, and at Wheels we push ourselves to see how much we can get out of ourselves with little preparation,” Wachacha added.

Feeling grateful from all they have learned and continue to learn at the museum, the filmmakers are preparing for future endeavors.

Their own biz

The film friends began serious discussions about a production company their second year at HCC.

“The name of our company reflects those paths from the first day we met,” Wachacha said. “We came the long way around on getting on track to what we needed to do.”

Yates describes Wachacha as a “go getter” and more “vocal” than he is, pushing him out of his comfort zones.

“Tighe’s good at everything that I’m not,” Yates said.

Wachacha feels his partner can be summed up on one word — “planner.”

“Matt uses his head more than I do,” Wachacha said.

The Web site for Twin Path Productions is not the only project in the works as the film partners are writing a screenplay, editing a music video for the Asheville band The Davids, and researching a documentary.

“The documentary is our baby,” Wachacha said.

The film will document five Cherokee “beloved women” while exploring the roles of women in Cherokee and European culture.

“It will recognize efforts of a lot of women and what they’ve done for the tribe throughout its history from education to preserving language,” Wachacha said.

Since June, their company has been crafting videos for the Cherokee Preservation Foundation.

“We have been shooting and gathering footage explaining what the Preservation Foundation does for the tribe,” Yates said.

Looking into the future with so much on their plates in the present, the filmmakers have two ultimate goals for their production company: pay their bills and make a feature film. They are also determined that Twin Path Productions will succeed in the film business and remain based in Western North Carolina.

“You don’t have to live in Wilmington or Hollywood to make movies,” Yates said.

“You could put us into any situation, and we’ll make it work,” Wachacha said.

“I am 100 percent confident we could shoot anything anybody asked us to.”

Preserving stories one project at time as well as loving what they do is what has given Twin Path Productions the confidence to strive for more.

“We’ve come this far and at the start it was determination, and now we have the equipment and the skills,” Wachacha said.

For more information on Twin Path Productions, call 828.399.1385 or 828.582.2406 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

It wasn’t until the late 1970s that my wife, Elizabeth, and I first started birding in a systematic fashion. That is, we began learning to distinguish species by their calls and songs as well as by their distinctive markings. For a while, it seemed to be an almost impossible task.

Little by little, however, we began to sort out the easier visual and auditory cues. We already knew some of the more common resident birds — cardinals, tufted titmice, pileated woodpeckers, robins, blue jays, white-breasted nuthatches, song sparrows, phoebes, etc. — by sight and sound. To these we quickly added indigo buntings, Arcadian flycatchers, blue-gray gnatcatchers, red-eyed and white-eyed vireos, rose-breasted grosbeaks, and other distinctive species that migrate north from the Gulf Coast or Central and South America into the southern Appalachians to breed.

After several seasons, we’d reached the point where we felt comfortable with identifying most of the species that appear in Western North Carolina on a permanent, summer breeding, or winter resident basis, as well as (to a lesser extent) those that only migrate through in the spring and fall.

But well into the 1980s, we remained somewhat intimidated by the wood warblers. To be truthful, we still have problems with warbler identification during the fall season when almost all of them have ceased singing and have assumed similar drab colorations.

Thirty-seven of the 40 or so warbler species listed in the field guide for the eastern United States have been reported from our region; and, of these, more than 30 can be expected on a regular basis.

Warblers are often described as “the butterflies of the bird world.” They don’t hold still. All you usually get is a fleeting second to try to catch their vocalizations and markings before they’re long gone. And they’re all pretty much the same size with songs and field marks that can be similar.

The first warbler we got a firm handle on was the yellow-rumped. One December morning we spotted a flock of them feeding in the river birches that line the Tuckasegee River here in Bryson City. We knew they were warblers. And we knew that only a few warbler species over-winter in WNC. And then — bingo! — we spotted their bright yellow rumps.

Few warblers winter in the Smokies region. The yellow-rumped is by far the most common one that does so.

Formerly considered two species — the myrtle warbler in the East (which displays a white throat) and the Audubon’s warbler in West (which displays a yellow throat) — the yellow-rumped warbler was reclassified as a single species when it was established that the myrtle and Audubon’s sub-types hybridized where their ranges overlap. It is one of the most common warblers in all of North America, with a breeding range that extends from Alaska south to Guatemala and east to the northeastern United States.

As might be anticipated, this species is one of the most ecologically generalized. Individuals forage in a broad range of microhabitats and employ a variety of foraging techniques, from fly-catching to foliage-gleaning for insects. During the winter, it can be observed in almost any habitat, expanding its diet to include a substantial amount of fruit. Its ability to digest the waxes in bayberries allows some yellow-rumped populations to winter in coastal areas as far north as Nova Scotia.

The designation “yellow-rumped” is apt because this warbler displays that signature rump color even in non-breeding plumage.

Back in the early 1990s, I was birding with ornithologist Paul Kerlinger on Horn Island in the Gulf Islands off the Mississippi coast. Scanning some nearby shrubs through his binoculars, Paul sighed and said, ‘It’s just another damned ‘butter-butt.’”

Not knowing what he was talking about I took a look through my binoculars. It was a yellow-rumped warbler. Paul’s description was perfect.

See for yourself. The “butter-butts” are just now arriving back in the Smokies region from their northern breeding grounds.

George Ellison wrote the biographical introductions for the reissues of two Appalachian classics: Horace Kephart’s Our Southern Highlanders and James Mooney’s History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees. In June 2005, a selection of his Back Then columns was published by The History Press in Charleston as Mountain Passages: Natural and Cultural History of Western North Carolina and the Great Smoky Mountains. Readers can contact him at P.O. Box 1262, Bryson City, N.C., 28713, or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

“’Official meeting’ means a meeting, assembly, or gathering together at any time or place ... of a majority of the members of a public body for the purpose of conducting hearings, participating in deliberations, or voting upon or otherwise transacting the public business within the jurisdiction, real or apparent, of the public body. However, a social meeting or other informal assembly or gathering together of the members of a public body does not constitute an official meeting unless called or held to evade the spirit and purposes of this Article.”

GS 143-318.10-d

Newspapers make a big deal out of open meetings and open government. We believe it is our duty to make waves when some entity is either purposely or out of ignorance not taking the right steps to make sure the public’s business is done in the open. Open government is each American’s birthright, so we speak up when we think there’s a problem.

Last week we wrote two stories about the state’s Open Meetings Law (quoted above) and potential problems in two communities here in Western North Carolina. Here’s what’s going on.

In Macon County, commissioners have gotten into the troubling habit of recessing their meetings instead of ending them and then holding a new meeting. If a meeting is recessed, the public body is under no obligation to re-publicize the continued meeting. That makes it too easy to exclude the public, whether that’s the intent ornot.

Recessing some meetings makes life for commissioners a lot easier, and we certainly understand that it is sometimes necessary. However, in Macon County 15 were recessed in the first nine months of the year. In Jackson County the number was three and in Haywood the number is one.

As Commissioner Jim Davis told this newspaper, “... we’re not doing anything illegal.”

He’s right, and we’re not suggesting they are.

However, it’s just not a good way to do the public’s business. Commissioners should go out of their way to keep their bosses — the taxpayers — informed of what they are doing and how they can participate. It’s called good government. As an attorney for the N.C. Press Association said, “Just because it’s legal doesn’t make it right.”

If they have so much business to cover, then hold two regularly scheduled meetings a month. Most similar-sized counties do. But don’t take steps that by their very nature confuse the public.

Over in Jackson County, the state Department of Transportation official probably thought they were just being polite by inviting elected officials to a private meeting to discuss a road project. Unfortunately, the state officials conducting the meeting are putting county commissioners and other elected officials in a precarious place.

The DOT plans to meet with elected officials from 2 to 3 p.m. on Dec. 4, and then hold a public meeting from 4 to 7 p.m. The meetings are to discuss the controversial Southern Loop, a proposed highway that could bisect Jackson County and has been the subject of heated discussion over the past few years.

Again, the DOT may not be intentionally trying to abuse the state’s open meeting laws. However, getting a majority of any elected board together to discuss anything that’s that elected entity’s business is a clear violation of the law.

In truth, even getting less than a majority together with the clear intent to avoid the majority mandate is a violation of the spirit of the state Open Meetings Law.

This one is also easy to fix. Meet with town and county administrators and board chairmen, and have them update their colleagues. Or just hold the meeting and invite the public.

By Avram Friedman • Executive Director, Canary Coalition

Getting “off the grid” is more and more appealing to many of us as the cost of energy goes up and our awareness about the health and environmental impacts of coal and nuclear power grows. Expense is the major obstacle to taking your home off the grid, though it always makes economic sense in the long run.

Going 100 percent solar wind, geothermal or micro-hydro can seem impossible when considering the up-front costs of these systems. However, by approaching the problem in reasonable stages, establishing priorities, and figuring costs, you can take a simplified approach to being more energy-independent — the only personal investment you’ll make with a guaranteed payback.

Most often in residential applications, the first step is to install solar water heaters. Electric or gas water heaters account for up to 60 percent of residential energy use in the Southeast — installing a solar water heater can reduce your energy bill by nearly $25 per month. A handy person can build an adequate, functional solar water heater for a few hundred dollars, or one can purchase a pre-manufactured system for a little more. I recommend the “batch-type” heaters for simplicity and reliability; ground mounting, rather than roof mounting, is preferable if possible. For good instructions on how to build or install a solar hot water heater, visit www.builditsolar.com.

The next priority might be to provide electrical power for water pumping, refrigeration, lighting, computers, or sound system. Decide what your priorities are and what’s most important to you and begin to build a modular generating system that can be expanded at your pace. You can use solar, micro-hydro, or wind, depending on the availability of your resources. For micro-hydro, you’ll need a year-round creek on your property within a few hundred feet of your house. Wind is generally feasible only at elevations above 3,000 feet with a 500-foot radius unobstructed by tall trees or buildings.

The solar option, however, is almost universally available. While photovoltaic systems can be expensive, the cost can be minimized by investing in highly efficient electrical appliances like slow pumps for your well, LED lighting, solid-state refrigeration, or a laptop computer. This reduces the size and cost of your solar array and battery storage systems. Start with one 12-volt circuit in your house, and add on to the system as your budget allows. You can even check online for surplus or used solar electric panels — there are many available to save you money.

Lastly, in many states, homeowners can take advantage of net-metering laws that allow easy use of utility-company energy as a back-up for home-based systems. This removes the need for battery storage and makes it easier to become energy-independent. You can let your legislators know of your interest in home-based renewable energy systems and advocate to them for a more inclusive net-metering law in North Carolina.

By Zack Dean • Smoky Mtn. High School

I had to work late on Nov. 4, so upon coming home that night I didn’t know what to expect.

I walked into the living room to find a group of my mother’s friends glued to the couch, entranced by Barack Obama’s historical victory speech. As I joined them on the couch, I found myself curious as to what my peers thought of the election results, or if they even cared. My answer was clear the next day at school.

Sporting an Obama shirt, I received numerous high fives and pats on the back, a few snide comments but mostly apathy. Only a small number of my senior class was able to vote, and supporters of the newly elected president were scattered throughout the halls; some students were more interested in the results than others. Even with the few students interested in the previous night’s announcement, it was hard to differentiate the students who had a genuine opinion and those who were just wrapped up in the excitement.

I began to casually bring up the election in my conversations that day in school, resulting in a plethora of responses.

“(I’m) not 100 percent happy, but America chose” confessed Smoky Mountain High School Senior Ronnie Mau. “The election didn’t unite America like people thought it would.”

Senior Seth Kuehn agreed with Ronnie’s view on the election: “The change that Obama promises isn’t the kind of change we actually need.”

This kind of response was widespread, but pro-Obama comments were also sprinkled throughout. Fellow classmate Keller Berry confidently stated that, “With the outcome of this election, America has let out a sigh of relief, America needs a change, and Obama can bring it”.

I was excited to see some of my peers as enthusiastic and interested in this historical change of power as I was. But this excitement lost its sweetness as I heard an overwhelming amount of “I don’t knows” and “who cares?”

As young adults it is hard to make a decision based solely on what we know and believe. For the most part we lack the life experience needed to make an informed decision on which party to support. At this age our view on politics is heavily influenced by our family. It is rare to witness a student whose political beliefs differ from their parents.

But this isn’t bad. As fledgling leaders it is important for us to have a world view, no matter how biased. Without this early perspective, we are at the mercy of pop culture and side chatter that skews our opinions. I consider myself — and my generation — supremely lucky to live in a time where young people have such interest, and in some cases influence, on the politics of our nation.

After all, as I am sure you know, an overwhelming number of young Americans turned out to support President-elect Barack Obama. It was encouraging that day, to see some of my peers so energetic about the election of our new leader. All in all the youth of America is capable of enormous influence on our nation, and it is of great importance that we realize that power.

(Zack Dean attends Smoky Mountain High School in Sylva and has been following a reporter at The Smoky Mountain News as part of his senior project.)

For two weeks every summer, the Folkmoot Center is a popping nightspot. Well after midnight, little crowds cluster around the exit doors, tiny clouds of smoke rising around them. Inside, in what was once the Hazelwood Elementary School Cafeteria, a bunch of Canadians — who do Chinese dances — are holding strings while other dancers jump through them to the beat of Gary Glitter’s Rock N Roll Part 2.

The manager for the Italian team, a short and dapper older gentleman, is giving a tween Guadelupean a run for his money in the leaping-over-strings department. The Finnish, though, are killing everybody.

“Oh, Finland’s got some ups,” says a Canadian in a Dr. Seuss hat, commentating the game over the loudspeaker, as a tall, blond guy leaps over the final string.

Never mind that 50 percent of the people in the room may or may not know what ‘ups’ means. Or who Gary Glitter is. Or what the person across the table from them is really saying.

At Folkmoot, the universality of creativity transcends the many and varied language barriers between the performers and musicians who gather for the annual folk festival.

This year, there are six languages and seven countries, which sometimes makes communication a challenge.

A few groups share some common languages. The Americans and Canadians have little problem communicating, the group from Guadeloupe, a Francophone island, share that language with Burundi, where French and Swahili compete for dominance.

And technology helps.

In the hallway after performances have ended, Idris, a young Guadeloupean, is trying to get his point across to Doug Garrett, a former guide who is now a volunteer and guide coordinator.

“J’ai besoin d’un badge?”

“No,” says Garrett, who speaks no French. “Spanish, but not French.”

But there is a computer, and with the helpful assistance of Google Translate, the problem is solved.

Oh right. You’ve lost your badge? asks Garrett.

Oui, replies Idris.

OK, come back in an hour and we’ll have one ready.

Such exchanges force the conversants to be linguistically innovative.

In one overheard exchange, the simple question ‘what’s the weather like in your country?’ was broached. It becomes less simple, however, when one party doesn’t know the word ‘weather.’ So what’s another way to express the concept of weather?

But backstage at the performances and in downtime around the Folkmoot Friendship Center, the common languages — dance and music — engender camaraderie.

Under the awnings behind The Stompin’ Ground in Maggie Valley, the Finns and Canadians exchanged steps while awaiting their turn with the crowd inside.

Later that night, the Croatians shared their moves with everyone as the crowd pivoted haltingly around the room, the Croatian women practicing their signature keening shout, something akin to an extremely high-pitched war cry.

Flora Gammon said it has always been this way. Leader of the International Band and long-time Folkmoot volunteer, she says dance bringing everyone together has been a long-running theme with the festival.

“Once we had a group from Spain, the Basques, that were here, and they were the most standoffish group I’ve ever seen in my life,” says Gammon. “So we were all saying ‘Let's teach each other dances.’ And it came my turn to teach an American dance, and I said, well, I'll teach you the hokey pokey. I don’t know what it is about the hokey pokey that in the Basque language seems to make them all happy, but they were smiling and communicating with everybody and having a great time.”

This year, there are no standoffish groups. From Italy to Canada and every group in between, they may not speak the same language, but they seem to understand each other just fine.

Dogs performing aerial tricks and other extreme stunts will come to Cherokee for the Carolina Dock Dogs exhibition Aug. 5 through 7.

There is also an open division for anyone 7 years or older and any dog 6 months or older.

Practice sessions are held Friday. The first wave of competitions will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday and last into the evening. Contests gear back up Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m. with finals at 2 p.m. Main contests include Outdoor Big Air, Extreme Vertical and Speed Retrieve.

Registration fees for DockDogs at www.carolinadockdogs.com/Cherokee.html

Kids ages 3 to 11 will swarm the river bank at Oconaluftee Island Park in Cherokee for the 10th annual Talking Trees Children’s Trout Derby on August 6.

Fishing poles and gear are provided, as well as instruction from experienced fishermen, allowing kids who have never fished before a chance to try their hand. Cherokee Fish and Game will stock 15,000 trout  prior to the event.

Registration is mandatory and slots go fast. Registration must be done in person the day before the event on Friday, Aug. 5, at the Cherokee Fairgrounds from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Festivities during registration day include exhibits, food booths, Native American dancers and live music.

For any slots that are left, registration the day of the event will begin at 6 a.m.

Kids get free breakfast and lunch, with lots of prizes to go around. Fishing is held between 8 a.m. and noon.

Owners of the region’s largest fly shops and fishing outfitters will share insight on local waters at the next meeting of the Plateau Fly Fishing Club, held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 9, at the Cashiers library.

Joe Street and Chris Anderson, owners of River’s Edge Outfitters in Cherokee and Spruce Pine, will focus on strategies to use when fishing the Little Tennessee, Raven’s Fork and South Holston rivers. Maps to those locations will be provided free of charge.

Following the presentation, a raffle will be held featuring a Brookings two-person float trip on the Tuckaseegee River and a day on the Raven Fork Trophy Water, donated by River’s Edge.  

828.885.7130.

Swain’s newest 4-H Club, the Outdoor Adventurers, hiked Clingmans Dome to the observation tower and participated in two Junior Ranger Programs in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Students learned how to pack for a day hike, hiking basics, and outdoor exploration techniques. They studied numerous plant species, trees, birds, lichens, rock formations, cloud condensation and saw a very large buck.

The focus of Outdoor Adventurers 4-H is exploring the outdoors and gardening. It is open to youth county wide, K-12, and meets at  the Marianna Black Library Gardens Tuesday afternoons from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. 828.488.3848 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

North Carolina’s land trusts, including the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee and Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy, have for a second time received federal funds to conserve land and protect views from 20 of the state’s scenic byways, including the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The Federal Highway Administration’s National Scenic Byways Program recently awarded $2.7 million to a collection of 10 land trusts and the Conservation Trust for North Carolina.

Land trusts will use the new grant funding to build on a 2006 Scenic Byways grant, which helped land trusts develop conservation plans along 25 Scenic Byways in North Carolina. The 2011 grant will pay to implement elements of those plans, such as outreach to landowners regarding conservation efforts and acquiring property and conservation easements.

Scenic drives to receive conservation funding include the Cherohala Skyway, Waterfall Byway and Nantahala Byway in the western most counties.

Conservation planning funds have been awarded for the Forest Heritage in Haywood and Transylvania counties and Whitewater Way spanning in Jackson and Transylvania counties.

“North Carolina is renowned for its scenic drives, from the Outer Banks Scenic Byway to the Sandhills Drive and Pottery Road in the Piedmont to the Blue Ridge Parkway, which by itself welcomes 16 million to 17 million visitors a year. We must protect the breathtaking natural landscapes that bring people to these regions,” said Acting Executive Director Margaret Newbold of Conservation Trust for North Carolina.

Learn to put a little hop in your brew on a tour of Hop’n Blueberry Farm and Pisgah Brewing Company.

The dual hop tour takes place Saturday, Aug. 6. Tickets are $8 per person and include two beer samples. 

Pisgah Brewing Company has been producing a “wet hop” beer with fresh hops grown at Hop’n Blueberry Farm for the last three years. This unique beer only happens once per year when hops are picked and added to the brewing process at the brewery within hours after leaving the farm.

The tour begins at the farm where owner Van Burnette will share information about growing hops from the ground up.

www.hopnblueberryfarm.com or www.pisgahbrewing.com

Appalachian crafters, old-timey demonstrations, Cherokee culture and mountain music will be celebrated during a special event at the Waterrock Knob Visitor Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 6.

“Blue Ridge Parkway: Celebrating Heritage and Communities” will feature craft demonstrations, Cherokee dancers, Appalachian story tellers, old-time and bluegrass bands and clogging.

Entertainment includes The Ross Brothers at 10 a.m., the J Creek Cloggers at 11 a.m.; The Cherokee Friends Dancers at 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.; Ammon Sisters Mountain Storytelling at noon; and The Boys from Tuckaseegee at 2 p.m. National Park Service Rangers will be giving short interpretive talks between performers.

Crafts displays will include pottery, woodcarving, spinning, knitting, chair caning and more. Participating authors include: Bob Plott of Strike and Stay, David and Anne M. Whisnant of When the Parkway Came and Super Scenic Motorway. Food will be available for purchase from Big Mountain BBQ.

Waterrock Knob is at mile marker 451 on the Parkway between Waynesville and Maggie Valley. 828.456.9530 ext. 3.

Learn how to be safe in the woods while hunting through a series of Hunter Safety courses at Haywood Community College.

Haywood Community College’s Natural Resources Division and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission will offer Hunter Safety courses Aug. 15 through Aug. 17 from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on the HCC campus. Participants must attend three consecutive evenings to receive their certification.

Additional Hunter Safety courses will be offered Sept. 6 through Sept. 8; Oct. 10 through Oct. 12; and Nov. 7 through Nov. 9.

Pre-registration required. Anyone interested in taking a hunter safety course must register online in order to attend any session at www.ncwildlife.org.

N.C. land trusts win $2.7 million grant to protect scenic byways

Young campers from the Pigeon Community Multicultural Development Center in Waynesville were given a hands-on lesson about water quality in rivers at the Oconaluftee Islands Park in Cherokee. Haywood Waterways Association partnered with the Watershed Association of the Tuckasegee River (WATR) to teach the kids how to catch aquatic creatures.

Kids identified insects in the trays, cups, and buckets and learned how each insects indicated something significant about the water quality.

“When the kids learn about water, it adds another holistic academic component to our summer programming, which ups its value to the students,” said Lin Forney, director of the Pigeon Development Center. “After learning how pollution affects water quality and how important it is to use this resource wisely, the campers had a better idea of why we need to preserve and protect our water sources.”

For more information on the Kids in the Creek or to organize water quality education programs for your group, call 828.631.2823 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The new 2011 edition of the Haywood County farm map and brochure has been released.

The new publication lists more than 40 locations to buy locally grown plants, produce, Christmas trees, and more. The featured sites include farm stands, plant nurseries, tailgate markets, trout farms, and places where you can ride horses or go on a llama trek. A calendar of farm-related events is also included in the brochure.

“The map and brochure has something for everyone,” said George Ivey, who coordinates the Buy Haywood project, which promotes local, high-quality farm products to community-minded consumers. The brochure is available at the Haywood County visitor centers in Balsam, Canton, and Waynesville; the Haywood County and Maggie Valley Chambers of Commerce; and Haywood County Cooperative Extension. You can also view and print a copy online at www.buyhaywood.com/farmmap.

An opportunity to learn about the trees in downtown Sylva and surrounding areas takes place Thursday, Aug. 11, with a walking tour of the town’s “Tree Walk.”

Peggy Hurt, member and past president of the Sylva Garden Club, will lead the walk. Those who want to participate should meet in the atrium of the Jackson County Public Library complex at 10 a.m. The tour should last approximately 90 minutes.

The Sylva Garden Club compiled and published a booklet titled “The Sylva Tree Walk” in 1981, and updated the material in 2008. The booklet includes a brief description of each of the trees featured in the walk. Also, in 2008 each of the trees was relabeled for easy identification. “The Sylva Tree Walk” booklets are available for purchase at the Friends of the Library Used Book Store on Main Street in Sylva and at the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce.

828.586.2016.

Local author Louise K. Nelson will be at Blue Ridge Books in Waynesville from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 30.

Nelson has written several books, mainly on Haywood County’s early history. Nelson was born in Haywood County 85 years ago, but her family settled in Haywood County in 1802, while her husband, Floyd Nelson’s family settled in 1785. Between the long history of their two families and the history that Nelson herself has lived through, the history in her books is written with firsthand experience.

For more information or to reserve one of Nelson’s books, call 828.456.6000.

Historians Reed Henson and David and Debbie Patterson will hearken back to the Confederacy at 7 p.m. on July 28 at the Macon County Library with their collection of arms, clothing, flags and equipment that would have been used at the time. They’ll also talk about Western North Carolina’s part in the War Between the States.

For more information call 828.524.3600 or visit fontanalib.org.

Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Center will host and sponsor a free performance of “The Liars Bench” Southern Appalachian variety show at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4.

“The Liars Bench” was founded by Sylva writer and storyteller Gary Carden in June 2010, and the show’s cast presented monthly programs at City Lights bookstore in Sylva during its first year. The ensemble gave its first performance in the Mountain Heritage Center auditorium in July to a standing-room-only crowd.

“Cherokee in a Changing World” will be the theme for the upcoming performance at the museum. Cherokee storyteller Lloyd Arneach will speak about the myth of the Nunnihi, Carden will deliver a tale titled “When the Tourist Came,” and Barbara McRae will give a presentation on the Nikwasi Mound.

Robert Conley, WCU’s Sequoyah Distinguished Professor in Cherokee Studies, will also discuss major issues facing the Cherokee people today, as well as present some theories about an ancient Cherokee ritual known as the “Booger Dance.” Barbara Duncan, a musician and poet from the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, and Liars Bench regular Paul Iarussi, a claw-hammer guitarist, also will perform.

For more information about the show call the Mountain Heritage Center at 828.227.7129.

The Marianna Black Library in Bryson City has been celebrating “One World, Many Stories” during its annual summer reading program all summer long.  Community children have had a chance to bring their own hand-crafted passports to Australia, Egypt, England, China, Mexico and Brazil.

Family Night will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday, July 29, in the library auditorium. This celebration will include a song that the children have been working on all summer and a slide show. Pizzas will be provided by Bryson City Pizza Hut.

For more information about the summer reading program schedule and times, call 828.488.3030 or visit www.fontanalib.org/brysoncity.

Dine at Lakeside Restaurant on Wednesday, July 27, and help The Bascom Visual Arts Center. Lakeside will donate 15 percent of the gross sales from the evening’s supporters to the art center.

When making your reservation, be sure to mention you are dining to support The Bascom. To make a reservation call 828.526.9419.