The Andy Roddick Mountain Challenge will be July 25-26 at the Cedar Creek Racquet Club in Cashiers.

The Smokin’ in the Valley Western North Carolina BBQ Festival will be from noon to 9 p.m. July 25 and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. July 26 at the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds.

Renowned rock band Collective Soul will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday, July 24, at Harrah’s Cherokee.

Folkmoot USA, North Carolina’s official international folklore festival, will hit the stage for a special performance at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 24, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

A six-part lecture series on nature, ecology and conservation will kick off with a program titled “Plott Balsams Business Case for Conservation” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 17, at the Jackson County Library in downtown Sylva.

The relationship between the tourism economy and conserved landscapes will be discussed by Erika Zambello, Stanback intern for The Conservation Fund. She will share data-driven visitor surveys that estimate per-day tourist spending and reveal tourist preferences, opinions on future development and how changes on the landscape would impact their future visitation. Taken together, these results can create a business case for protecting land in North Carolina. 

The six-part series will focus on topics relevant to the conservation arena in the seven western counties and is hosted by the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee and the Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department.

The free programs will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Jackson County Public Library’s Community Room in downtown Sylva. 828.524.2711 or visit www.ltlt.org. 

Other upcoming topics include:

• The Ecological Recovery and Restoration of the Pigeon River: Can the ‘Dirty Bird’ Clean Up? on Friday, July 25, byDr. Tom Martin, Western Carolina University.

• Leopold Land Ethics Leaders on Thursday, July 31, by Rob Hawk, North Carolina Cooperative Extension.

• Golden Winged Warbler and Early Successional Habitat on Thursday, August 7, by Patrick Farrell, N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

• The Mountains-to-Sea Trail – 1,000 Miles Across N.C. on Thursday, August 21, by Kate Dixon, Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.

• Conserving the Natural and Cultural Histories of the Southern Blue Ridge on  Thursday, August 28, by Paul Carlson, Land Trust for the Little Tennessee.

Highlands will get a chance to experience South Africa through a presentation from Jim and Ellen Shelton, long-time birders whose recent trip across the globe allowed them to glimpse some spectacular birds and mammals.

More than a dozen farmers and gardeners will be featured in the annual Jackson County Farm Tour coming up July 26-27.

Tour-goers get a self-guided brochure and can visit the sites in whatever order they please, running from 1 to 6 p.m. both days.

Water quality, aquatic habitats and outdoor recreation will see a boost in Haywood County thanks to $132,000 in new grants awarded through the Pigeon River Fund grant cycle for the first half of the year.

The Pigeon River Fund has awarded $4.85 million since 1996. The money comes from Duke Energy in exchange for damming the Pigeon River for hydropower. The grant fund is managed by the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina.

A total of $247,092 was awarded in the spring grant cycle for projects in Haywood, Buncombe and Madison counties.

The most recent Haywood recipients are: 

• Conservation Trust for North Carolina - $15,500 to support the acquisition of the 53-acre Pinnacle Ridge Tract and increase landowner outreach to facilitate water quality protection in the headwaters of Richland Creek in Haywood County. 

• Haywood Waterways Association - $2,250 toward materials costs for construction of a river access stairway at the Canton Recreational Park. 

• Haywood County Schools Foundation - $27,700 to support the Haywood Environmental Initiative E-STEM (Environmental Science-Technology-Engineering-Math) project. The grant will provide equipment, training and other resources to establish water quality labs at Pisgah and Tuscola High Schools. The Haywood Environmental Initiative, a collaboration among school staff, local water quality agencies and Western Carolina University, incorporates 21st-century technology to engage student learning about the environment. 

• Western Carolina University - $11,317 for student training and faculty efforts collecting and interpreting water quality data as part of the E-STEM project at Tuscola and Pisgah High Schools. 

• Southwestern N.C. Resource Conservation Development Council - $30,000 for shoreline stabilization and stream bank restoration work for erosion prevention at Lake Junaluska. This work will complete a segment of the Lake Junaluska Greenway and improve water quality by reducing sedimentation. 

• Southwestern N.C. Resource Conservation Development Council - $10,000 to complete a conservation easement on 72 acres of rural land close to the East Fork of the upper Pigeon River Watershed in Haywood County. 

• Southwestern N.C. Resource Conservation Development Council - $10,000 to support a multi-agency effort to develop a conservation easement assessment system to ensure that investments in future easement projects improve water quality. 

• Town of Waynesville Parks and Recreation - $25,000 for kayaks and equipment for the Base Camp Waynesville program, encouraging student and adult access to area waterways and educating visitors about water stewardship.  

Applications for the next round of grants are due Sept. 15. www.cfwnc.org or 828.367.9912.  

As the only native trout in North Carolina, brook trout is a well-loved fish, but it’s fallen on some hard times. Competition from introduced rainbow, brown and genetically different northern brook trout has taken its toll, as have acid rain and habitat fragmentation from road construction and land development. 

An effort by the U.S. Forest Service has sought to turn that trend around. Since 2007, the Forest Service has worked to enhance brook trout habitat at four specific sites in the Nantahala National Forest. 

Seven miles of fragmented habitat have been restored, focusing on sections of creek that were encased in large pipes, known as culverts, when being routed under roads. Restoration work has replaced the fully-encased, pipe-style culverts with new bottomless arch culverts — allowing a continuation of the natural stream bottom when passing under roads. 

The Forest Service is also experimenting with limestone to help moderate pH fluctuations. The effort has seen early success, but the Forest Service will continue monitoring for two years.

The project has been partially funded by the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture. The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is also helping with the continued monitoring, and key funding came from settlement agreements with the Tennessee Valley Authority and Duke Energy. 

A three-acre wetland near Cherokee Central Schools will get $25,000 worth of restoration work thanks to a grant that Great Smoky Mountains National Park received from the National Park Foundation to help the Ravensford floodplain wetland keep its natural character. 

Invasive exotic plants have severely impaired the wetland, reducing habitat for native species. Park staff and youth volunteers will remove invasive plants and collect native seed from remnant wetland vegetation that will be used to propagate native species for future plantings.

Restored wetland vegetation will help create a buffer along the edge of the wetland to better filter sediments and potential contaminants from nearby roads. The restored site will not only improve natural habitat and wetland function, but also provide educational opportunities for park visitors and students. 

“We are grateful to the National Park Foundation for providing us the opportunity to both restore this wetland community and provide a unique hands-on learning opportunity,” said Smokies Acting Superintendent Cindy MacLeod. 

For more information on how Smokies biologists identify and map wetlands, see www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/dff7-focusnps2.htm.

A slate of programs July 23-25 at the Highlands Biological Foundation will highlight the benefits of gardening with native plants, including a workshop on maintaining home flowerbeds, a lecture on native plants and a guided tour of the Southern Highlands Reserve. Proceeds from the programs will benefit the Highlands Botanical Garden. 

Haywood Community College student Logan Hawks recently placed third in the nation in the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS Series Collegiate Lumberjack Competition.

He is the third HCC student since 2007 to rank as a top place finisher in the national woodsmen competition. 

To the Editor:

In his column, Martin Dyckman disparages supply-side economics but contradicts himself two paragraphs later stating that teachers are leaving North Carolina, supposedly for higher salaries. 

Jude Wanniski, a leading proponent of supply-side economics, observed that whatever our individual politics, we’re all supply-siders in the micro-economic sense. As individuals we respond to incentives. If teachers are leaving for higher salaries, it is merely the manifestation of the micro-economic application of the supply-side macro-economic theory. It is also the essence of the Laffer Curve he maligns; perhaps without realizing it is nothing more than Rolle’s Theorem from first year calculus. Math is hard.

He writes, “The Kansas economy is trailing its neighbors, the budget is in deficit, its debt has been downgraded, [*] and citizens are horrified at the damage to the public schools.” Substitute “Obama” for “Kansas,”  “damn near everything” for “the public schools” and it would be more accurate.

He worries about outside sources of financing for the Senate race, but he doesn’t appear to be disturbed about the lopsided outside funding and outside agitators of the so-called Moral Monday movement. What about outside organizations trying to overturn the Voter Information Verification Act among other issues? What is the real basis for his objection? Is it the sources or the political affiliations when he determines outside money is bad for North Carolina? Has he stated any concern for the taxpayer money wasted dealing with these and other frivolous and dubious activities?

Is he equally concerned that an outside group — Democracy Alliance — intends to spend $374 million during the midterm election cycle to boost liberal candidates? If he is, we haven’t heard. Where is the moral equivalence?

He describes ALEC as “the public face of the right-wing conspiracy.” Then he condemns: “more than a third of North Carolina’s state legislators are ALEC members.” In Iowa, 73 of 150 legislators are Democrats. In South Dakota, 24 of 105 are Democrats. Each one of them is a member of ALEC. There are many other Democrat members nationwide. Are they also part of the vaunted right-wing conspiracy?

He writes, “ALEC is to public policy as Typhoid Mary was to public health.” Another hyperbolic statement. The myth of Typhoid Mary was that she infected and killed thousands, even hundreds of thousands. The truth is that only four, at most, died from contact with her.

Describing Arthur Laffer as “discredited” is ludicrous; using Paul Krugman as the source of this opprobrium is farcical. Krugman has never run a company or created a job. The only job he had outside academia was as an adviser to Enron in 1999, the same year he wrote a fawning piece on them in Fortune magazine. Enron collapsed in 2001. That December, Krugman wrote a column blaming Enron’s consultants without mentioning his role.

Daniel Okrent, while ombudsman for the New York Times, wrote that “Paul Krugman has the disturbing habit of shaping, slicing and selectively citing numbers.” In 2004, Okrent persuaded the Times op-ed page to adopt a corrections policy for op-ed columnists. Later, when Krugman flouted that policy, Okrent’s successor, Byron Calame adopted a new, more stringent policy.

In 2010, Krugman conceded defeat to commenters on his blog — who were handily refuting him — by essentially silencing them.

Incidentally, if tax cuts never stimulate revenue, someone better notify the North Carolina film office. It claims the 25 percent tax credit has injected $1.09 billion into the state economy and that $3.33 is returned for every dollar of credit.

Mr. Dyckman wasn’t ranting about “carnage in North Carolina” when those tax cuts were passed. I guess when Democrats legislate tax cuts the only carnage that takes place is in the movies. 

Let the Hunger Games begin.

Timothy A. Van Eck

Whittier

To the Editor:

Republican Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, co-sponsored SB 786, which is now law.

• It fast tracked fracking in North Carolina. Fracking is a process of selecting some chemicals from a toxic group of about 600 types which are then mixed with about 1 million gallons of precious water, injected at up to 20,000 PSI into a well that laterally can extend a half mile in any direction to crack rock/shale to extract oil/gas. Your land could be a half mile away from the wellhead and these chemicals could be going under your homestead. Some of these chemicals are so toxic that state law prohibits public disclosure. You can learn more from publically disclosed info on the internet at Fracfocus.org/chemical-use/what-chemicals-are-used/.

 The wastewater from these wells is generally stored in holding ponds, but if they leak (and they will over time) then surface water could become unusable for human, animal, fish and plant life.

 • This law does not protect us if big oil and gas companies demand that you give them access to your land using a forced pooling concept.

• North Carolina state parks are very vulnerable now to fracking access. National parks may be also. The pristine Needmore Tract in Macon/Swain County is at risk, as are others.

• If your deed does not include mineral rights then private companies can drill on your property.

• What happens to the value of your land if it becomes polluted or if you wish to sell and are within a half mile of a fracking well? When will you know if your water is contaminated?

• In West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, a gas pipeline by Dominion Resources is beginning to be surveyed for a 100-foot right of way through national and state parks as well as private property, and they can force private property owners to sell since they are licensed for eminent domain.

• Texas and Oklahoma are studying why there has been a huge increase in earthquakes around the fracking well areas. Many states have banned fracking, and North Carolina used to be one of them.  A small town in New York won a major court decision giving them back the right to control fracking.

Why the rush to frack? Some chemicals are cancer-causing, some radioactive. Our property rights are important ... so is public disclosure. Where is the public trust by our elected leaders? Get educated. Republicans are supposed to be against big government, so why the hypocrisy?

Larry Stenger

Franklin

To the Editor:

Common Core and understanding the ramifications of the future of our children’s education are something all citizens of the United States of America should be aware. 

My granddaughter advised me that she could not read my handwritten note. This was a shock to me when she was 12 years old.

Since then I have tried to find out as much as I could on the “new” methods of teaching. In The Franklin Press on March 29, 2013, I read an editorial titled “Don’t curse cursive” and realized that the new generation would not be able to read Leonardo Da Vinci’s musings, and the writing of Socrates and Aristotle, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of rights, Dr. Martin Luther King’s letter from the Birmingham jail, etc. 

Now this is only one issue. There are others. By the way, one of their tests shows that we have 52 states and not 50. Isn’t this important for our children to know?

Linda Behr

Franklin  

By John Beckman • Guest Columnist

About eight months ago I had a misunderstanding with a pile of lumber which, when resolved, left me with shattered right wrist. Yes, that right wrist, just like the one you use everyday. Two surgeries and a stack of medical bills later there is still a lot of recovery yet to do, both physically and financially. 

My wife and I have paid for private health insurance out-of-pocket every month for the past 25 years. Our policy has a $5,000 deductible that we pay before the insurance kicks in and then we pay 30 percent of all covered expenses after that, as well as all the uncovered ones. Even a relatively minor incident can end up costing plenty.

The summer ritual of naming new principals and assistant principals before the start of the next school year wrapped up in Haywood County this week.

The annual shuffle is usually trigged by a couple of principals somewhere in the school system retiring or moving on. A ripple effect follows, as each principal or assistant principal moving up the ladder to a bigger school leaves a vacancy of their own in their wake.

The Haywood County School Board made the following changes in school administration during its June meeting, with a handful more announced at the July meeting this week.

First, the two vacancies that started it all: 

• Dale McDonald retired as the principal of Tuscola High School. 

• Jill Barker left the principal post at Bethel Elementary for a position in the central office.

And then:

• Travis Collins is the new principal of Tuscola High. He was the principal at Canton Middle.

• Todd Barbee is the new principal at Canton Middle. He was the principal at North Canton.

• Belinda Trantham is the new principal of North Canton. She was the assistant principal at Clyde Elementary

• Danna Knight is the new assistant principal at Clyde. She was previously an instructional coach for Buncombe County schools.

• Kim Shipman is the new principal of Bethel Elementary. She was the assistant principal of Waynesville Middle.

• Kiffin Queen is the new assistant principal at Waynesville Middle. He was the lead teacher at Junaluska Elementary and had also worked as the exceptional children teacher at Jonathan Valley Elementary.

“I hire the things I cannot teach or cannot give someone. So I try to hire someone who is very intelligent, very hard working, and most of all loves kids,” Trevor Putnam, the principal of Waynesville Middle, said when announcing Queen’s new position at the school board meeting this week.

Tuscola gets new head football coach

Tommy Pursley, who spent two decades as the head football coach at Northeast Guilford High School in Mcleansville, has been hired as the new head football coach at Tuscola High School in Clyde. He is known for the third longest winning streak in high school football in the state. His team regularly made it to championship games, he has 226 wins on his record as a head coach and has a collection of Coach of the Year awards.

Pursley had recently retired from a one-year stint as the defensive coordinator at Brevard College.

“This is one of the few places that would drag me out of retirement,” Pursley said at a school board meeting where the announcement was made this week. 

Pursley added that he began his football career as a player at Appalachian State — so he’ll feel right at home with Tuscola’s team colors of black and gold and Mountaineers nickname.

Tuscola’s previous head coach announced a surprise resignation recently to take a job at a bigger high school down east.

WestCare Health will launch a new full-time primary care clinic in the Health and Human Sciences Building at Western Carolina University, with a targeted opening in September. 

The clinic is the result of a partnership between the hospital and the university to expand access to care while also offering hands-on learning for health sciences students.

A family nurse practitioner will begin seeing patients this fall when the clinic opens and will be joined by a physician recruited to the community specifically for the clinic at WCU. 

“Through this important partnership, we can provide exceptional health services to our community while supporting the development of a highly skilled health workforce for the future,” said Doug Keskula, dean of WCU’s College of Health and Human Sciences, adding that the clinic will also provide faculty with research opportunities.

Steve Heatherly, president and CEO of WestCare, said the collaboration is a win-win.

“WestCare is committed to serving the community through access and education so that local healthcare can be strengthened from both the patient and provider aspects,” Heatherly said. “The clinic at WCU creates an environment for the hospital to partner with the university in improving lives.”

In December 2013, WestCare opened a rehabilitation and sports medicine clinic in the building. Carolina West Sports Medicine provides care to the community and collaborates clinically with WCU rehabilitation and sports medicine faculty, staff and students. 

Three weeks after a fire in the power room knocked out electricity at Haywood Regional Medical Center, the hospital is fully open and accepting patients. The hospital had already opened its emergency department and business offices back up on June 30 after getting a double generator backup system in place but had to hold off accepting inpatients until getting back on Duke Energy power. 

“We are incredibly pleased with the pace of this process,” said Janie Sinacore-Jaberg, the hospital’s president and CEO. “I said all along that we weren’t going to rush it, and we didn’t. We did everything correctly, methodically and in a very organized way.”

The hospital accepted its first inpatients following the fire on July 10. Because the length of stay for most inpatients is on the short side, patients who were transferred to neighboring hospitals during the closure are not being transferred back, said Christina Deidesheimer, director of strategy and marketing. 

“I don’t believe that we transferred back any patients from other facilities,” she said. “The length of stay for most patients is pretty short, so most likely most of these patients that we have [moved] have been discharged.”

The hospital has not yet finished negotiations with the insurance company, so there’s no word yet on how much of the lost profit from the closure a claim might recoup. There’s also no verdict yet on what caused the fire in the first place. 

“That investigation’s still ongoing,” Deidesheimer said. “We wish these things would happen within a couple weeks, but unfortunately they take quite a long time.”

 The Emergency Department at MedWest Haywood is fully online, having treated 180 patients during the Fourth of July weekend. The department, along with outpatient services and the hospital’s business offices, re-opened June 30, 11 days after a fire in the power room shut down the whole building, causing 62 patients to be evacuated to hospitals in neighboring counties. 

Kids program offers chance to touch bones, or delve into digestion

Haywood Public Library will get more than skin deep with a forensic anthropology program at 3 p.m. Thursday, July 17, at the Waynesville branch and Tuesday, July 29, at the Canton branch.

John Williams, director of Western Carolina University’s forensic anthropology program, will present the program as part of the library’s Summer Science Fun Club for children ages 9-16. He’ll talk about what it’s like to be a forensic anthropologist, and he’ll bring along some real human bones. Participants will get to handle them and see how to determine a skeleton’s age and sex. Williams is one of 72 board-certified forensic anthropologists in the nation and has worked with human skeletons for nearly 40 years. 

Also coming up, an interactive program on animal eating habits and digestion will be held at 11 a.m. July 10 at the library in Waynesville and again July 17 at the library in Canton, led by children’s author Dawn Cusick who will incorporate her books into the discussion. Children will be able to create a diet for their animal and make a fun dessert complete with digestive juices.

828.648.2924 for Canton or 828.452.5169 for Waynesville. 

Camp acquaints kids with Scottish heritage

A three-day Farm to Fork day damp for kids ages 5 to 13 focusing on Scottish Appalachian heritage will be held from July 29-31 in Haywood County through the 4-H program.

Campers will get to tour a local sheep farm and Scottish Highlander Cattle farm in Haywood County, have afternoon tea at the Herron House, create Scottish crafts, make shortbread, participate in a youth version of the Scottish games, and learn about farming and preservation methods used by the early Scottish Appalachian settlers.   

It is put on by the Haywood County Cooperative Extension 4-H arm and sponsored by Farm Bureau. The cost is $35, which includes materials and lunches, and includes joining 4-H. 828.456.3575. 

Nantahala Lake spawned two state fishing records within a week during the month of June.

Until now, the state record for a kokanee salmon was 3 pounds, 9 ounces, set in 2009 by Swannanoa resident Ashley Swann, but Fred Mix of Rainbow Springs broke that. He landed a 3-pound, 15-ounce fish with a homemade spinner, putting his own name in the record books. 

But five days later, Mills River resident Jeffery Todd Smith broke Mix’s record, reeling in a 4-pound, 1-ounce kokanee salmon. Smith said he’s been trolling the lake, which houses the only kokanee salmon in the state, for two years, hoping to break a record. On June 11, which was both his birthday and his day off work, Smith finally reached his goal after nearly nine hours of trolling. 

To earn an N.C. Freshwater Fish State Record, anglers must catch fish with a rod and reel or cane pole, have the fish weighed on a scale certified by the N.C. Department of Agriculture with one witness, have the fish certified by a fisheries biologist from the Commission and submit an application with a full, side-view photo of the fish. 

A list of North Carolina freshwater fish state records is available at www.ncwildlife.org/Fishing/FishingRecords/ApplyforaNorthCarolinaStateFreshwaterFishin.aspx. 

The annual Cherokee Dog Days Fishing Tournament will be held in Cherokee again July 18-19, with $10,000 in cash prizes available.

A new website and brochure highlight all the fishing opportunities available in Swain County.

The 11th annual Mountain Wildlife Days will take over Sapphire Valley Resort near Cashiers, N.C. June 18-19, activities ranging from a presentation on with world of mammals to a raptor demonstration to bluegrass gospel music. 

To the Editor:

I have never met George Ellison, but I am appalled as a result of his referring to Granville Calhoun as an untruthful person in a column published back in November 2013. 

I am a great niece of Granville’s. My grandfather, William Clifford Calhoun, who died in 1929, was his brother. As a child growing up in Bryson City in the late 1940s and the 1950s, I remember Uncle Granville as honest, kind and helpful. All of our family held him in high esteem and considered his word to be his honor, not only in dealings with people but in looking at the past. We all respected him and considered him to be the patriarch of our family.

In reference to Mr. Ellison's accusation that Granville lied (or maybe I should say made up a Mark Twain tale) about Horace Kephart's arrival in the Smoky Mountains and the happenings of the immediate weeks that followed, I personally never heard Granville tell about it. However, my mother, Verayle Calhoun Franks; my grandmother, Nora Lee Calhoun; and my husband, Bob Breese, did hear him give the account and he gave it to each of them at different times. 

I want to point out that my husband knew Granville long before he met and married me and his respect and admiration for him has no connection to my family. The following is Granville's unwavering story as told to each of them.

He received a letter from a member of the Kephart family asking if Kephart could come to the mountains and stay for a period of time with him (Granville) and his wife, Lillie Hall Calhoun, as he needed a change of location and time to work on some issues. The Calhouns agreed to the request and Granville went to the depot to meet Kephart on the scheduled day of his arrival. He rode one horse and took one for Kephart to ride.

However, when Kephart arrived he was passed out. Therefore, Granville tied him to one horse which he led while riding the other one until they reached the Calhoun home. Lilly gave Kephart milk and later nourishing light food all while gradually tapering his alcohol intake. 

I do not recall hearing strawberry wine or pale red wine mentioned. I have always assumed that he was given corn liquor as that was used by many mountain families for health-related problems.

Another point of concern in Mr. Ellison's article is the way in which he referred to Granville as a mountaineer who worked as a timber cruiser, dam builder and caretaker for the mine on Little Fork. I am certain that Granville was proud to be a native of the Smokies, as most of us with that heritage are. However, the description obviously was not meant as a compliment. 

Also, I wonder why Mr. Ellison failed to include the following description of Granville: he was a member of the school committee (now called the school board); he was called upon by the North Carolina Park Commission as an expert witness during the original park acquisition; he was involved in numerous business propositions including banking and real estate where honesty in dealing would be essential for maintenance of reputation. These were not just on Hazel Creek but included activities in Bryson City during the early 1900s.

I trust you will share this strikingly different account of the incident in an effort to set matters straight.

Gwen Franks Breese

To the Editor:

Alduous Huxley once said, “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”

Recently, in a conversation with a friend, somehow the talk turned toward the subject of climate change. While he did not deny that climate change might be occurring, he was convinced that human activity was not the cause.

I should have asked him a few questions to see how he dealt with things once considered to be actual facts. Such as: does the sun revolve around the earth? Is the earth flat?  

I assume that he would have answered no to all of these questions. For centuries we believed that a yes was the answer to all of these questions, until science proved that these were not true.

This climate change discussion reminded me of another more recent fight over facts. For years, the gasoline additive tetra-ethyl lead was treated as a hazardous material that caused neurological problems for workers in the factories. However, it took decades after the problem of contamination from leaded gasoline was known that laws were passed to protect human health from this toxin.  

Why the delay? Intense lobbying and distortion of the facts by those who were making profits from production of tetra-ethyl lead — the kind that was put into gasoline.

That situation is similar to the current climate change debate. The largest economic interests are clearly aligned against efforts to address the causes of rapid climate change. On the other hand, the scientific community clearly understands that the high rate of carbon dioxide release into the atmosphere is steadily raising the air and ocean temperatures; thus changing the heat balance of the entire world. That, by definition, is climate change.

So, what will it take to begin reducing carbon emissions? Will it take the predictions of the scientists coming true before we will take this problem seriously? Will it take things like persistent drought in some parts of the country with excessive storms and flooding in others? Maybe heightened awareness will come when the insurance industry begins changing rates, or the intelligence and military communities begin planning for the consequences of predicted climate changes. Oh, excuse me, those things are already happening! 

Maybe it’s time for all of us to accept the facts and begin taking rapid climate change seriously.

John Gladden

Franklin

To the Editor:

The cage is open and the monster is on the loose. Despite promises of comprehensive safeguards for the health and safety of affected North Carolinians, Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, and Rep. Roger West, R-Marble, knocked the door off of the cage, turning loose the oil and gas industry in our state without provision for proper waste disposal of hazardous chemicals used in fracking operations or adequate provisions for long-term drilling site restoration. 

Fracking — the process of injecting under pressure, large amounts of water containing toxic chemicals into horizontally drilled wells to release natural gas — comes to North Carolina with a poor track record for health and safety, despite what proponents will tell you. Fracking requires a heavy industrial buildup, complete with giant well pads containing multiple wells, miles of tanker and heavy equipment trucks rumbling down our country roads (an estimate of 4,000 trips per well on average over the lifespan of the well), and noisy equipment that runs all night.

The North Carolina Legislature has made it a crime to disclose the chemicals used in fracking. They will tell you it’s a trade secret, but is public outcry over carcinogens — which have been definitively linked to fracking operations in other states — the real reason? 

Then comes the most devious provision of SL-2014-4. Your legislature, through Section 14 of the new law, has silenced your voice by making it illegal for any county, town or other local entity to prohibit fracking. Does that sound like democracy in America? Hardly. What’s more, it is likely unconstitutional. Take a look at Section 2 of the North Carolina Constitution: “All political power is vested in and derived from the people; all government of right originates from the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole.” How then, can the local will of the people be subverted to the corporate interests of the oil and gas industry and the appointed (not elected) state board which oversees their operations?

Our legislators who so badly want fracking to begin, and those with a monetary interest in the industry will tout “energy independence,” when, in actuality, they want to build an export terminal on the North Carolina coast to sell the liquid natural gas abroad (Part VII, Sec 22). According to ABC News in Raleigh (WTVD), $20,000 of taxpayer money has been used by the Department of Natural Resources  (our regulatory agency) to market North Carolina’s LNG potential to buyers as far away as London, money that was supposed to address possible fracking problems.

Is there a way out of this deep dark fracking well? Yes there is. It is a tough, long struggle against powerful corporate interests, but New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Hampshire, Ohio, New Mexico and other states are meeting with significant success. Despite state legislatures which have behaved in a similar fashion to North Carolina’s lawmakers, towns, cities and counties in these states continue to pass local laws prohibiting fracking. In the town of Dryden, N.Y., the local prohibition of fracking has been upheld by the state Supreme Court and then the state Appellate Court in a unanimous decision. But once more, the oil and gas corporations (not the State) have taken them to court.

What does this mean to us in Western North Carolina? If we, as residents of these irreplaceable mountains, don’t want our countryside turned into an industrial zone, several actions need to happen. 

• Our will must be made known to our county commissioners and town boards most emphatically, through personal appearances, phone calls and petitions. 

• Our local officials must have the courage to act on the people’s will, writing and passing the necessary ordinances to prohibit fracking.

• There must be attorneys, preferably pro-bono, who believe strongly that this is an issue of upholding the rights of ordinary citizens under the North Carolina Constitution, and who will work to see the issue through to a successful conclusion, despite lawsuits from the oil and gas industry.

So, yes, may we all live to see another day of blue sky, blooming rhododendron and sparkling creeks. 

Doug Woodward

Franklin

The 11th annual Folk Festival will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 19, in downtown Franklin.

The event includes over 100 heritage demonstrations, which include basket making, woodcarving, moonshining, weaving, spinning and more. There will also be exhibits, fireman competitions, Civil War reenactors, live bluegrass music and jam sessions, as well as children’s activities. 

Free.

www.franklinfolkfestival.com. 

The 17th annual Sweet Corn Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 12 at St. Cyprian’s Church in Franklin.

Food, with a focus on sweet corn, can be enjoyed at tables under the shade of large trees that grace the property. Bill Crawford tells about the long-standing celebration of corn that existed in Franklin with the Cherokees, and continues now with the Sweet Corn Festival. The ancient Nikwasi Cherokee Mound between Main and Palmer streets in Franklin had a constant burning fire that was only extinguished just before the Green-corn dance each year. In addition to a hot meal with corn, attendees may purchase watermelon slices and baked goods.

Alongside children’s activities and onsite vendors, live music will be provided by Erik Hendrix, Dave Stewart and Nikwasi Dulcimers. Two dance groups, the High Mountain Squares and Macon County Line Dancers, will take the stage midday.

Proceeds from the festival this year support the All Saints Community and CareNet. Other organizations have benefited from the event in years past, including Wesley’s Playground.

www.sweetcornfestivalnc.com. 

The Heritage Alive! Mountain Youth Talent Contest will be held at 3 p.m. July 19 during the Franklin Folk Festival.

The 50th anniversary production of the Broadway blockbuster “Hello Dolly” will be held at 7:30 p.m. July 11-12, 17-19, 24-26, Aug. 1-2 and at 3 p.m. July 13, 20, 27 and Aug. 3 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

The Haywood County Arts Council will once again host ArtFest (formerly called International Festival Day) from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 19 in downtown Waynesville. 

Funk/soul group Emporium will perform as part of Concerts on the Creek from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, July 11, at Bridge Park in Sylva.

Maggie Valley Sanitary District and the town of Waynesville got props from the N.C. Division of Water Resources for an outstanding drinking water supply earlier this summer. The water providers were two of 38 statewide to receive the N.C. Area Wide Optimization Award for surpassing federal and state drinking water standards with outstanding low turbidity levels. Turbidity is a measure of water’s cloudiness. 

A coalition of 17 organizations based in Western North Carolina is calling for a public hearing somewhere in the western part of the state on new oil and gas rules being developed the N.C. Mining and Energy Commission.

Three public hearings are scheduled for August in Raleigh, Sanford and Reidsville, but these locations are four or more hours away from WNC. However, the western region could see the impacts of fracking, pending the results of a study of the area’s natural gas potential, slated to begin this summer. 

“Now that seven counties in the west are being tested for potential shale gas, Western N. C. could be directly affected by these rules, and we demand a chance to participate in the public hearings,” said Garrett Lagan, of Swain County.

The letter points out that the Mining and Energy Commission was charged with developing regulations for hydraulic fracturing for the entire state, and WNC residents should not be left out of the opportunity for public input to protect their communities.  

Geologic testing in WNC is in its preliminary stages, and results will not be known before the end of 2015. The rules are set to go into effect before that time, and these hearings are the only public hearings the commission is planning. 

“Even if exploration in the western counties proves that there will not be hydraulic fracturing in the mountains, these rules still affect the state of the whole, and we still have right to have our voices heard,”  said Sally Morgan of Clean Water for North Carolina.

Groups that signed the letter include Appalachian Voices, The Canary Coalition, Clean Water for N.C., Coalition Against Fracking in WNC, Coalition Against Fracking (Swain County), Environmental and Conservation Organization, Frack Free Madison, Greenpeace N.C., League of Women Voters of Macon County, Mountain People’s Assembly, Mountain Voices Alliance, People Advocating Real Conservancy, People For Clean Mountains, Positive Changes Youth Ministries, Western N.C. Sierra Club, Pisgah Group of the Sierra Club, and the Western North Carolina Alliance. 

The next public meeting in the forest plan revision process for Pisgah and Nantahala national forests is planned for 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 10 in Asheville. Wildlife habitat and managing for ecosystem integrity and diversity will be the main topics of discussion, and a comment station for Wild and Scenic Rivers will also be available. 

The meeting is just the next installment in a series of public forums leading up to development of a final management plan in August 2016. The new management plan will guide the ecological, recreational and economic management of the forest for the next two decades. 

The meeting will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Resort Drive in Asheville. Complete information on the planning process is available at www.fs.usda.gov/detail/nfsnc/home/?cid=stelprdb5397660. 

A new app for iPhone and Android will give hikers a guide to more than 300 hikes in the mountains of Western North Carolina, Georgia and upstate South Carolina.

The Hemlock Restoration Initiative is seeking proposals to turn $50,000 worth of grant funding into a win in the battle to save hemlocks from the wooly adelgid.

Part contest, part festival, part education and part science, the 2014 Discover Life in America BioBlitz will bring citizens and scientists from across the country together in a race against time to see how many fungal species they can count in 24 hours in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

To the Editor:

I am writing today with a heavy heart. I am saddened, frustrated and embarrassed. We live in one of the most beautiful parts of the world, and the fact that I have to pick up garbage everywhere I go has become nauseating.

I am a firm believer in the motto “bring back more that you take” when going into our forests — or anywhere for that matter. However, it has gotten to the point that I have to bring gloves and take hefty bags with me every time I visit the Sunburst area.

I am from the mountains and Sunburst has always been one of my favorite places to visit. This past weekend, my fiancée and I decided to take some out-of-town guests for an adventure. Our adventure quickly turned into a litter-collecting extravaganza. Dirty diapers, broken glass, plastic, bottles full of tobacco spit, old clothes, cigarette butts and fastfood bags were all over. We were humiliated to tell our friends not to let their children go barefoot for fear of getting cut. 

I won’t be going back to Sunburst for a while. And, if I go back again and see that much trash, I’ll break down in tears.

We need to respect Mother Nature. Let’s try and keep North Carolina beautiful.

Michelle and Robby Railey

Haywood County

To the Editor:

I am a politician — a local one — and while I make jokes about politics, I take the work seriously because it’s an opportunity to make changes that benefit people. To get elected, I talked about ideas and walked all over my community, knocking on doors and dodging the occasional dog that figured I was invading its territory. Four other people were in the race with me. Not once did I say anything negative about them. They were all good people and had their own ideas. What we had was a contest of ideas.

That’s what politics should be. But the political landscape in Western North Carolina has turned nasty. To get elected, a few candidates are willing to say almost anything about their opponent. Truth has become a victim, and in that way so are voters who are often forced to hold their nose and choose between candidates who would prefer to slam each other with personal attacks rather than be responsible for their own ideas.

Those of us who live in the N.C. 50th Senatorial District, however, have a much clearer choice this year. Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, the incumbent, got elected with outsider’s money paying for literature that said that his last opponent, John Snow, favored abortion. John Snow did not favor abortion, but the truth got smothered with last-minute mailings and we got Jim Davis in Raleigh.

This year, Davis is at it again. This time he’s even sneakier. His outside money is paying for a telephone “political survey” that is designed to paint a negative picture about his opponent, Jane Hipps. If you get a call from these people, they will ask you if you would vote for someone who is quoted as saying that she will raise taxes and cut funding to schools.

Saying that Jane Hipps will raise taxes and cut funding to schools is about like saying Thomas Wolfe couldn’t write. This absurdity is mind numbing. Jane has spent almost 40 years as an educator in North Carolina. The absurdity becomes ridiculous when we know that it was Jim Davis who raised taxes (on 137 items and services that we use) and cut the school budget to where it is one of the lowest in the nation.                 

Should you get a call from Jim Davis’ bogus pollsters, be prepared to tell them that you won’t be led by lies and half-truths. Tell them that when Jim Davis learns to tell the truth and talk about ideas, then you will listen … but by then the election will be over.

Rick Bryson

Bryson City

To the Editor:

Actions speak louder than words. North Carolina residents need to pay attention. The loud, false, words of the Republican legislators in Raleigh attempt to drown out the truth. Republicans claim to be the party of less big government and more local control. Their actions tell a different story. The Republican dominated legislative seized power from local governments to regulate environmental issues. Now, local municipalities’ environmental ordinances are void. State law dominates.

Big government in Raleigh attempted to take over both the Asheville water system and the Charlotte airport. Who benefits if the state takes over locally controlled facilities? Republicans would turn these facilities over to private corporate ownership to be run for a profit. In truth, residents would pay more for these services. The Republican led legislature has repealed the franchise tax. This profits corporations and big businesses that support legislators’ election campaigns. The loss of this revenue, and other state tax dollars, is forcing local municipalities to increase local taxes, cut local services and funding for public schools.

Who benefits from big government’s power grab? Not local municipalities and North Carolina citizens. Our Republican-dominated state government serves for the benefit of private corporations and big businesses. Gas companies will make millions from fracking North Carolina as a result of a new state law. State Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, supports fracking, claiming it will create jobs, benefitting the economy without harming the environment. In truth few local jobs would be created. Gas companies employ their own trained people and move them from job to job. Gas removed from North Carolina will not benefit our state. 

Have you noticed prices for movies, live performances, shows, guided tours, etc., have increased? Beginning Jan. 1, the state imposed a 4.75 percent “privilege” tax on most entertainment activities. Are you pleased to know Raleigh has reduced taxes on the purchase of corporate yachts and private jets?

State government is shifting the tax burden to North Carolina’s citizens while creating greater profits for corporations and big businesses. Republicans claim that providing added profit incentives will lure business to North Carolina and create jobs. What corporations would be attracted to our state where public education ranks near the bottom and North Carolina’s beautiful treasured environment is endangered?

Margery Abel

Franklin

Haywood Community College Professional Crafts Fiber students and recent graduates recently won awards in the national juried student fiber exhibition Spotlight on Student Fiber Trends 2014 at the Lamar Dodd School of Art Galleries at the University of Georgia in Athens.

Student Clara Schulte and 2014 graduates Dana Claire and Deanna Lynch were each recipients of awards. Entrants included students in leading four-year universities and private art schools. 

Schulte was the recipient of the Edwina Bringle Award for her work titled “Wrapped in Smiles.” Schulte was also awarded Merit Prize for her piece called “Winter Trail.” “Spring Kimono” by Lynch was also awarded Merit Prize. The prize sponsor for both Merit Prizes was Georgia Yarn Company. 

Appalachian Art Glass will teach the Tiffany method of making stained glass through August at the Jackson County Green Energy Park in Dillsboro.

Acclaimed musicians Laura Boosinger and Josh Goforth will open the Songcatchers Music Series at 4 p.m. Sunday, July 6, at the Cradle of Forestry in America.

The Summer Jazz Series returns for the month of July at The Classic Wineseller in Waynesville. The series takes place at 7 p.m. July 5, 12, 19 and 26. 

Biologists will get a boost in monitoring Smokies elk populations, thanks to a $13,720 grant Friends of the Smokies received from Charter Communications, Inc. The grant money purchased 15 radio collars and two receivers to track and monitor the large mammals. 

A horse exhibition hosted by Friends of Panthertown from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 28, will raise money for conservation and trail maintenance in Panthertown Valley, a national forest recreation area near Cashiers.