“Cool!” was the typical response from kids as Fun Factory visitors walked in to find a colorful, life-sized killer whale on display just inside the Fun Factory’s entrance. It’s the centerpiece of a free August and September arts and crafts program hosted by the Macon County Arts Association and the Fun Factory.

The MCAA is a nonprofit that regularly conducts children’s art classes at its gallery, so the Fun Factory approached them to help create a fun program for kids based around its giant, fiberglass killer whale that just happened to need a new paint job.

The arts and crafts sessions will be from 10 a.m. to noon and from 2 to 4 p.m. on both Saturday, Aug. 28, and Saturday, Sept. 11, inside the Fun Factory in Franklin. These are open sessions, so kids can drop in at any time to create a sea creature craft adn visit the “Art the Whale” display.

“We want them to develop an appreciation for the arts, but this promotion also teaches them about the environment, marine life and even has a recycling component,” said Stephen Clark, MCAA marketing director.  

In addition to helping to put the finishing touches on the whale itself, children who participate also get to recycle empty milk jugs, plastic bottles and more, into craft sea creatures. Clark developed about five different craft creatures including various fish made from recycled bottles, a milk jug whale, and even a crab made out of pasta and pipe cleaners.

Registration is encouraged. All kids who register in advance or on site will be eligible to win prizes. All participants will receive a coupon for a free $5 Fun Card plus a pass to see the Shark Tales movie Friday, Sept. 24, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts.

“We want the kids and parents to bring their own empty plastic milk jugs and bottles to decorate,” said Clark. “But we’ll have plenty of extras on hand if someone forgets.” The MCAA will provide instructors to assist the children at each session, and the Fun Factory is providing all paint and craft supplies.

Many of the craft sea creatures take only about 15 minutes to create. When complete, children can place their sea creatures on display with Art the Whale for future pickup, or they are welcome to leave with their finished crafts.

Registration forms are available inside the Fun Factory, at www.funfactoryfranklin.com or at the Macon County Arts Association/Uptown Gallery on Main Street.

mcaauptowngallery.org or 828.349.4607.

The Smoky Mountain Quilters Guild will present its 2010 quilt show, “Quilting New Trails” Aug. 19-21 at the Community Facilities building in Franklin.

Established in 1983, the guild is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to stimulate an intelligent interest in the art of quilting in the community and to provide opportunities for the exchange of ideas, instruction and the presentation of pertinent information among members of the guild.

Every two years the guild sponsors a quilt show featuring local and national quilts, judged by an NQA (National Quilter’s Association ) accredited judge. There will be cash prizes and ribbons awarded. There is a silent auction featuring small wall hangings made by members of the guild, vendors booths, a Member’s Boutique where items made by guild members can be bought, and raffle tickets for the guild’s scholarship fund.

The dates are Aug. 19, 20, and 21. Thursday and Friday hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $5 per day or $10 unlimited access. For more information call 828.369.2125 or visit www.smokymtnquilters.org.

“I’ll tell you what this is, and I’ll tell you what it’s not,” said Franklin Mayor Joe Collins, opening a public hearing on a special use permit for a proposed Wal-mart Supercenter just outside the town limits.

Collins had anticipated that the capacity crowd gathered in the town hall on Monday night had come to express their opinions about whether they wanted a new Wal-Mart. But he was keen to limit the discussion to a very narrow topic: the size of the building’s footprint and a request for larger signs.

“This is not the time or the place to have a general discussion about whether you do or do not want to have a Wal-mart,” Collins said.

Developers Bright-Meyers, LLC, appeared on behalf of Wal-Mart to secure a necessary special use permit to proceed with the new store.

According to Collins, the public hearing was a carefully proscribed step in a process that began on May 21, when the application was first submitted.

The project’s special use permit application was vetted in a neighborhood compatibility meeting on June 8 in which nearby property owners voiced their opinions, and it was stamped for approval by the town’s planning board on June 15 after a thorough fact-finding process.

At the end of Monday night’s hearing, which was full of opinions from opponents and supporters of the project, the town board voted 6 to 0 to approve the special use permit and open the way for the store. But the vote didn’t do anything to dispel the idea that Wal-Marts are still controversial. The hearing was boisterous and at times contentious, as supporters and critics of the project shouted back and forth.

The proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter would be located at the corner of Wells Grove and Dowdle Mountain roads just off of the N.C. 441 bypass. The 33-acre site is outside the town limits, but within its zoning district and adjacent to the site of a recently constructed middle school.

The town’s unified development ordinance, created in 2007, requires any building over 30,000 square feet to go through a special use permit process.

The Wal-Mart Supercenter will measure 120,000 square feet and include two additional outbuildings of 32,000 square feet and nearly 800 parking places. Wal-Mart also wanted larger signs than are allowed under the town’s ordinance — one on the side of the building and one at the development’s entrance.

Town Planner Mike Grubermann, who has overseen the application process, said the developer’s proposal met the standards of the town’s universal development ordinance in all respects except the two conditions outlined in the special use permit application. He said the roads that provide access to the site are overseen by N.C. Department of Transportation and would require their approval, but traffic counts provided by the developers met his department’s standards.

Franklin developer Marty Kimsey summed up the case for those in support of the special use permit, saying that in a down economy, the new store offered jobs and a boost for the private sector.

“The bottom line is that this site will not be used as a Wal-Mart unless the special use permit is given,” Kimsey said.

Opponents of the project questioned whether Wal-Mart would bring new jobs or hurt existing businesses. They pointed out the potential environmental impact of its placement on the banks of the Little Tennessee River and raised concerns about its effect on traffic patterns in close proximity to the new school.

“I don’t think you could choose a worse area to build something that big,” said Mike Kegan, a resident of Dowdle Mountain Road.

Collins, presiding over the hearing, policed the comments closely at first, but as the hearing wore on, the speakers increasingly used the microphone to talk about their general views on having a new Wal-Mart in town.

John Cantrell, a former high school teacher who was against the permit, was exasperated when Collins cut him off. Cantrell complained about the proximity of the giant commercial complex to the nearby middle school, but Collins deemed them unrelated to the permit application.

“Well, who is it, who is supposed to hear these concerns?” Cantrell asked.

“I don’t know. It’s not us. Not here,” Collins said.

After the hearing was closed, Collins explained the guidelines for public hearings on special use permits are governed by state statutes and that, at the advice of Henning, he attempted to keep the discussion focused on the issue of exceeding square footage requirements.

“It may be that there are [towns] that take a looser approach than this, but I think that’s risky,” Henning said, adding that the developers could appeal the vote of the board if they felt the hearing was stilted.

Kim Hibbard, general counsel for the N.C. League of Municipalities, agreed that quasi-judicial hearings must be held to a different standard from other types of public hearings.

“If it was a quasi-judicial hearing, there are different rules. It would need to be relevant to the situation,” Hibbard said.

However, exactly how much of the comments should have been reined in is subjective.

In the end, in spite of Collins’ best efforts, the meeting did provide a forum for the public to express their opinions about the proposed Wal-mart. While more members of the public spoke in opposition to the project than in support of it, the decision rested with the board and it chose to grant the application without requiring any additional measures from the developers.

Franklin Alderman Bob Scott recused himself from the vote on a special use permit for a Wal-Mart Supercenter this week after conducting an online survey on the issue. Town Attorney John Henning said he believed the survey compromised Scott’s impartiality, citing state statutes that govern the procedures for quasi-judicial public hearings.

The pertinent passage in G.S. 160A-388 says that “impermissible conflicts include, but are not limited to, a member having a fixed opinion prior to hearing the matter that is not susceptible to change.”

Kim Hibbard, general counsel for the N.C. League of Municipalities, said determining whether Scott had compromised his impartiality was ultimately a judgment call.

“Are they really impartial? Have they fixed their opinion already? Have they been getting communications from one side or the other?” Hibbard said. “That’s where you would need to make your judgment, whether the actions fall into that category.”

Scott said his survey was an attempt to gain perspective on the public’s opinion.

• View the results of Scott's survey

“All I was trying to do before all this came up was just find out how people felt. I wasn’t trying to make a determination of whether it was a pro or con, I was trying to feel what the feeling of the public was,” Scott said.

Scott also questioned whether the other aldermen were impartial, adding that it seemed they all had their minds made up which way they were going to vote prior to the meeting.

He did confirm that he would have voted against granting the special use permit had he been allowed to vote.

“I am concerned. If we have this ordinance then allow variances because it is Wal-Mart, is that fair? Why do we have the ordinance if we are going to grant exceptions?” Scott said.

Scott’s public survey had 329 respondents. Over 75 percent of them were in favor of the Wal-Mart. Over 80 percent had a favorable opinion of the company. Perhaps the most interesting response to the survey showed that 40 percent of the respondents thought the public should have a say in the store’s design scheme.

The feature film “Wesley” will be screened at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 13, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

“Wesley” is based closely on the actual events of John Wesley’s life, a story that already reads much like a Hollywood screenplay.

Arledge Armenaki, WCU associate professor of cinematography, was the director of photography for the movie.

Sixteen Western Carolina University students got hands-on experience as crew for “Wesley” during filming on locations in and around Winston-Salem and Morganton for two months in 2007 and two weeks in 2008, including a sold-out red carpet premiere. WCU students and faculty also were cast in the movie.

Wesley is a compelling and controversial main character that women found intensely attractive; there is adventure on the high seas, a terrible storm and near-shipwreck. In the newly settled Savannah, Ga., there is an incredibly romantic but star-crossed love affair that ends tragically. Wesley is crushed, and on his return to England, we experience his spiritual struggle and finally renewal. We are then swept away with his preaching in the fields and his efforts to help the lowest classes of society. His ministry is controversial, there is mob violence, confrontation, and tension followed by his victorious preaching to thousands in his hometown.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the center box office at 1028 Georgia Road in Franklin, at Dalton’s Christian Bookstore in Franklin and Waynesville, and online at GreatMountainMusic.com, or call 866.273.4615.

Instead of stumping on the street corners, Scott has posted a survey on the web using an online polling tool.

“I like to get some kind of a sample of what people are thinking when there’s an important vote coming up,” Scott said.

The Franklin Town Board will hold a public hearing on a special use permit for the project at 7 p.m. on Aug. 2. The new Wal-Mart would be located at the corner of Wells Grove and Dowdle Mountain roads just off of the N.C. 441 bypass. It is just outside the town limits, but within the town’s zoning boundary.

Scott said the blind survey would help him cast an informed vote on the issue.

“The sole purpose of the survey is that I really want to get a handle on how people feel about this project, particularly in the business community,” said Scott.

The survey will close July 20. To participate, visit www.surveymonkey.com/s/XF6BXC5.

A raffle drawing and silent auction will be held on 6 p.m. Saturday, July 24, at Mountain View Intermediate School in Franklin with proceeds going to the Roy Rickman Scholarship.

The Rickman Scholarship is Macon County’s largest local private scholarship. Each year the Franklin Rotary Club awards a $10,000 scholarship and several $1,000 scholarships to deserving Franklin High School graduating seniors based on demonstrated academic achievements, civic involvement and financial status.

The winner of this year’s vehicle raffle grand prize can choose either $15,000 in cash or one of three automobiles: a Ford Focus from Franklin Ford, a Chevy Malibu LS from Smoky Mountain Chevrolet or a Dodge Caliber from Jim Brown Chrysler.

A ticket entitles the purchaser to admission for two to the silent auction and drawing for the grand prize as well as dinner during the event. Cost $100. For more information, call Ashley Vinson at 828.534.3321.

N.C. senators voted 47-1 to ban the video gambling machines that have evolved to circumvent a statewide ban. Court battles waged by the gaming industry had previously stalled new legislation to outlaw video sweepstakes.

The ban proposed in the House would go into effect Dec. 1. Towns like Maggie Valley, Franklin, Canton and Hendersonville would no longer be able to charge the $2,500 or more annual licensing fees on the newly illegal businesses.

Rapp, D-Mars Hill — who has been a major opponent of video gambling all along — looks forward to finally voting against sweepstakes in the House.

“It’s spreading like a contagion, and it’s got to be stopped,” said Rapp. “This puts an exclamation point on the fact that it’s an illegal activity.”

Sen. Joe Sam Queen, D-Waynesville, wholeheartedly supported a total ban on sweepstakes machines when it came to a vote in the Senate.

“These parlors are nothing more than unregulated casinos operating outside the law,” said Queen. “I listened to all sides, but stand firmly with the sheriffs and police chiefs across the state who asked us to tighten the law because of the increase in crime and high social costs that come with these illicit operations.”

Rapp cited a desperate woman in Marshall who robbed a Wachovia Bank after running up debt at two video sweepstakes places.

Rapp also pointed out that the machines are predominantly found in poor neighborhoods. According to a survey conducted in Florida, the majority of people who play earn less than $30,000 a year or are retirees.

But the gaming industry — which previously denied that internet sweepstakes were at all related to video gambling — argues now that regulation is the key. It would protect customers and create accountability for businesses.

“[Taxation] would provide more than $500 million a year in revenue according to recent figures released by the N.C. Lottery,” said William Thevaos, president of the Entertainment Group of North Carolina. “Lawmakers know there’s a pot of money there if they would just regulate it and tax it.”

Rapp has hardly been won over by the argument.

“If an activity’s wrong, you don’t do it,” said Rapp, adding that most people would not advocate making other illegal activities permissible simply to generate revenue.

Rapp said out of frustration, he has sometimes considered resorting to what his attorneys term the “nuclear option” — banning sweepstakes of all kinds.

“Every time we try to do this surgically, and sit there with our lawyers, it’s a challenge,” said Rapp. “[But] cooler heads prevailed.”

The Veterans Administration’s community-based outpatient clinic in Franklin will be just two years old in August, but it’s already operating at capacity.

The clinic’s three full-time doctors have full dockets, and to them, that’s a sign the V.A.’s new service delivery model is working.

The Franklin community-based outpatient clinic is the only place the over 10,000 veterans from the far western counties in North Carolina and north Georgia can get basic services without driving all the way to the Charles George V.A. Medical Center in Asheville.

Kathy Spence, an Air Force veteran who lives in Clayton, Ga., comes to the Franklin clinic at least once a month for a variety of ailments from Parkinson’s to fybromyalgia. Previously, she’d drive two hours both ways to the V.A. Medical Center in Asheville.

“It makes a big difference for me,” said Spence. “Everybody here is friendly. If you have a question, they work on it as quickly as possible and when I talk, they hear me. They all treat me like a human being.”

Dr. David Ramsey, the clinic’s director, said the community-based outpatient clinics are the future of the V.A. medical system, and with two wars still going, he expects to see more of them in Western North Carolina.

“We do have two wars going on. We do have folks who will be returning, and it’s likely that we’ll be having more community-based outpatient clinics, but we’ll need to start thinking about how to handle these numbers,” said Ramsey.

The Franklin clinic is designed to provide integrated outpatient services for veterans in Western North Carolina so they don’t have to schlep back and forth to Asheville for all of their needs. But the benefits go beyond that.

“One thing I’ve seen is it’s a small community. Veterans know other veterans, and once they’re comfortable the word will spread,” said Dr. Mike Newberry, the clinic’s full-time psychiatrist.

Newberry and Ramsey are part of a new breed of V.A. doctors. Both men have experience with the military but spent decades in private practices. Their career shift to treat veterans was a calling, but they quickly found the V.A. was on the cutting edge of new health care models, like integrated medicine.

“If I’m with someone and all of the sudden they’re not feeling well, all I have to do is walk them down the hall,” said Newberry, the psychiatrist. “It’s a great way to practice medicine.”

The team approach — which stresses communication between providers rather than compartmentalized fields of medicine carried out in separate offices — is a national trend.

“You’re not a lone provider on the frontier anymore,” Ramsey said.

In addition to three full-time doctors, one of whom is a psychiatrist, the clinic has a full-time psychologist, a registered nurse, and two social workers. It offers an eye clinic, primary care, mental health services, and a remote lab.

“Putting all of those services together is a huge number of visits saved for the veterans,” Ramsey said.

In addition to saving veterans the travel time, the clinic also offers a more intimate environment.

“It does make it a more comfortable place to come,” said Newberry. “They don’t like big crowds, big buildings and lots of noise.”

The local setting made a real difference when a suicidal veteran called the clinic in the midst of making an attempt on his life but would not reveal his identity. Doris Elders, part of the clinic’s staff, recognized the man’s voice, called 911 and saved his life.

“It connects the veterans more to the providers and less to the facility,” said Ramsey.

For Ramsey, who has only been with the V.A. for two and a half years, part of his job is showing the veterans that the system has changed.

“The V.A. has improved so much in the past 15 years, and unfortunately some of the veterans have been in the system longer than that and almost felt like they were serving the V.A.,” Ramsey said. “Sometimes you have to let people know that they’re number one.”

Larry Funke, a 60-year-old Vietnam veteran from Murphy, never dealt with the old V.A. Funke said he hadn’t seen a doctor in 35 years when he was hospitalized for heart failure in 2006. He still travels to Asheville for many of his specialized treatments, but the Franklin clinic allows him to travel shorter distances for his checkups.

“Everybody I’ve ever dealt with in the V.A. has been wonderful people,” Funke said.

Another aspect of the V.A.’s shift in service delivery is the move towards a web-based platform. My HealtheVet, a new program, allows vets to access their records, schedule appointments and monitor their treatments via the web.

The program builds on the V.A.’s use of computerized medical records, which are far better than paper charts still used in most private practices and can track patient data from state to state.

With a new generation of tech-savvy veterans, the Web-based approach may be the future of the system, but in the western counties the bulk of the population is still Vietnam-era and older.

“Moving the V.A. into the next generation, we also have to keep hold of the previous generations,” Ramsey said. “We have OEF vets using I-phones and older vets who don’t have computers.”

Serving a unique population

Veterans are a particular kind of medical population. According to Ramsey, they have a suicide rate seven times greater than the general population and a rate of diabetes three times as great.

Both of those numbers can be linked to high rates of alcohol abuse. Ramsey said the V.A.’s record of treating the veteran population speaks for itself.

“We have generally a sicker population, but we have better outcomes than any other healthcare system in the country,” Ramsey said.

Sandra Melter, the clinic’s administrator, knows the veteran population firsthand. Her brother was a Vietnam veteran who died of cancer as a result of his exposure to Agent Orange, and his experience has shaped her life.

“It leaves a lasting impression on you that you never get over,” Melter said.

Melter’s husband was a World War II veteran who fought in the Pacific, and while he didn’t speak a lot about his wartime experience, it was part of their marriage.

She uses her experience as motivation to provide better care to the veterans she deals with on a regular basis.

“They are different from everybody else, and I have the greatest respect for what they went through for us,” Melter said. “Most of them are always in some kind of pain, and you have to realize they might not be happy all the time. The veterans have so much support right now, but they may not always know it.”

As a psychiatrist, Newberry sees the challenges young returning veterans face when they re-enter society. Post-traumatic stress syndrome leads to substance abuse, but the veterans avoid seeking mental health services for fear it will hurt their job prospects, Newberry said.

The nightmarish caricature of the V.A. system paints a picture of a veteran negotiating a Kafka-esque bureaucracy equipped with a file folder and an ID number, wandering the halls of an endless antiseptic hospital building begging some brown shoe doc to legitimize his claims.

The reality now is that more doctors, nurses and administrators are coming to the V.A. from the private sector because it offers meaningful work, stable employment, and good benefits.

That fact — along with the addition of the smaller community-based clinics — has made the V.A. experience a lot like what you would find in a civilian doctor’s office.

After spending two decades in private practice in Sylva, Ramsey, who grew up an Army brat, saw the V.A. as a great way to end his career.

“I wanted to help the people I grew up around,” Ramsey said.

Angel Medical Center in Franklin may soon come under the wing of Mission Hospital in Asheville.

Smaller, rural hospitals are increasingly forging partnerships with larger hospitals as it becomes tougher financially to go it alone. Angel’s 15-member hospital board unanimously voted to explore an affiliation with Mission for both financial reasons and in hopes of improving health care in the community.

“There is no question there are some financial advantages,” said Angel CEO Tim Hubbs. Particularly when it comes to economies of scale when ordering supplies and negotiating purchase contracts.

“They have more negotiating power than us. We are one-twentieth of their size,” Hubbs said.

Mission brings in more than $1 billion in net patient revenue a year and has 800 doctors that practice there. Angel has 41 physicians and averages about 15 patients staying each night in the hospital

Medical care for people in Macon County could also benefit, Hubbs said. Doctors would have the benefit of consulting with specialists over cases and diagnosis. Ideally, doctors from Mission in more specialized fields would be willing to hold office hours in Franklin certain days of the month, helping patients who now have to travel out of the county. Hubbs said Mission won’t try to compete with established practices in Franklin, and would only make forays into specialties that Macon County doesn’t have the patient base to support.

Last year, Haywood Regional Medical Center joined forces with WestCare hospitals in Sylva and Bryson City. The trio then entered a management contract with Carolinas HealthCare System, a massive conglomerate based in Charlotte with 32 hospitals under its umbrella.

Two years ago, that number was just 22 — showing just how rapidly rural hospitals are affiliating with bigger institutions.

Mission, meanwhile, has partnerships with the hospitals in Spruce Pine and McDowell County. The hospital in Brevard is exploring an affiliation with Mission as well.

Hubbs said the Angel hospital board feels Mission is a better fit than jumping on board with WestCare and Haywood. Hubbs said Angel has a long-standing relationship with Mission already, and Mission has continually broached the subject of an affiliation with Angel over the years.

Mission vied for an affiliation with WestCare and Haywood but was beat out by Carolinas. That makes Angel all the more important strategically for Mission as it aims to transition from its reputation as the go-to regional hospital for advanced procedures to a flagship institution at the head of a regional network.

“I know they would love to see other hospitals in the region join them as well,” Hubbs said. “I think they have to figure out what they can bring to the table.”

Mission was too close for comfort for many Haywood physicians, who felt the proximity makes Mission more of a competitor than potential partner. Franklin physicians could feel the same way toward WestCare. Several medical practices in Sylva have satellite offices in Franklin, capturing patients who are then seen at Harris instead of Angel.

Hubbs said the presence of Sylva-base physicians in Franklin has been mutually beneficial in ways, however.

“WestCare over the years has provided office space over here to give their physicians fuller practices, and we also had some weak spots in terms of physicians in our own community,” Hubbs said.

An affiliation with Mission could take many forms, from an outright sale of the hospital at one end of the spectrum to a management contract on the other. Hubbs envisions something in the middle, with some level of shared ownership yet a measure of local autonomy.

“We wouldn’t want Mission to be able to control all things,” Hubbs said.

Hubbs said Angel Medical Center has lost money the past two years, though he would not share hard numbers. The hospital’s financial statements are private.

The loss is largely due to upfront costs of new equipment and recruiting new doctors, both of which will reap benefits down the road.

“We have been making heavy investments in the future,” Hubbs said.