To the Editor:

I always look forward to the “Awards” issue of The Smoky Mountain News. May I make three short observations?

The “It’s all fun and games until ...” award had one oversight. The unfortunate elk did not “have” to be euthanized, it was just the easiest way out for park officials. There is a behind-the-scenes effort currently under way to prevent a repeat of the unnecessary killing of an elk whose only sin is being friendly.

The “One Size Fits All” award (this year) would have been more appropriately named “There’s a fool born every minute” award. To hire and pay a “branding firm” $50,000 to come up with an inane phrase like “Play On” says a lot about Jackson County’s Tourism Authority ... basically that their breads not fully baked. Any third- or fourth-grade class could have done better, and for a lot less largess.

And once again I failed to make the awards list. How about the “Most unwelcome letters-to-the-editor” award?

David L. Snell

Dillsboro