This year’s autumn display is likely to be a colorful one, according to Western Carolina University fall foliage forecaster Beverly Collins.

To the Editor:

I read reporter Cory Vaillancourt’s account of the Mike Clampitt Town Hall on Sept. 8 with astonishment. While I have a high regard for Vaillancourt’s skills as a journalist and I don’t usually take issue with his writing, I totally disagree with him on two points: I viewed the story Clampitt told that Vaillancourt described as “heartfelt” to be contrived and unprofessional; at no time during the two hour session was Clampitt “on the verge of tears.”

In his story to dispel a racist perception, Clampitt actually portrayed his former supervisor in the Charlotte fire department as a racist and described himself as the only person in a supervisory role to stand up for a black fire fighter who was being unfairly disciplined. Although he didn’t mention specifics, talking about a sensitive personnel matter in a public meeting demonstrates a lack of integrity. I believe that’s why the woman in the audience felt compelled to tell him that the story did nothing to change the perception she had of him.

Following her comment, Clampitt did cross his arms and lower his head (as Vaillancourt reported), but I viewed that action as an effort to overcome his anger before responding. There were no tears because he quickly turned to Vaillancourt and The Mountaineer reporter to say, “Get her name and put this in the paper.” Then, he replied to the woman in a forceful, defensive manner, shutting down any further dialogue by saying, “I’m done talking to you.”

I’m still puzzled as to what Vaillancourt saw that made him describe Clampitt as tearful. I was sitting right in front of Clampitt with a clear view of his face and I saw no sign of tears. From where Vaillancourt was sitting, he only had a side view of Clampitt’s face.  Consequently, it would’ve been hard for him to see tears even if they had been shed!

In closing, I want to point out that there was substantive dialogue reported in the article, but I’m concerned that issues like Medicaid expansion, the opioid crisis and teacher pay are not the ones that will grab the attention of your readers. Perhaps it’s just a sign of the times, but it’s unfortunate that topics like the Confederate flag and racism tend to be what many people choose as their focus.

Myrna Campbell

Chair, Haywood County

Democratic Party

To the Editor:

Following is the letter former Sen. Gordon Humphrey (R-N.H., 1978-1990) sent to both New Hampshire U.S. senators and representatives. This letter was printed in the Concord (N.H.) Monitor and the New Hampshire Gazette. I think your readers will find it of interest.

Dear Rep. Kuster:

President Trump’s threat to rain down “fire and fury” on North Korea is like pouring gasoline on a fire. It’s crazy. Donald Trump is impaired by a seriously sick psyche. His sick mind and reckless conduct could consume the lives of millions. The threat of nuclear war is steeply on the rise.

You must not take comfort in the system of checks and balances.  The president alone has the authority to launch nuclear weapons, the only restraint being the advice of senior advisers who might be present at the time of crisis, and Donald Trump has shown repeated contempt for informed and wise counsel. He is sick of mind, impetuous, arrogant, belligerent and dangerous. Donald Trump should be relieved of the powers of the presidency at the earliest date.

I urge you to support HR 1987, the Oversight Commission on Presidential Capacity Act, which, would establish a commission to determine whether the president is mentally fit. I have asked Rep. Shea-Porter to do the same and have asked Sens. Shaheen and Hassan to lead an effort in the Senate.

HR 1987 is consistent with the intent and the wording of the 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Either the Cabinet or a body created by Congress, may find the president unfit for reasons of health, whereupon his powers are transferred to the vice president.

Serious crises are bearing down on us. We cannot leave our national security and our families’ safety in the hands of a president whose poor judgment, belligerence, vindictiveness and reckless impetuosity constitute an indictment of his mental health.

Donald Trump is seriously sick. He is dangerous. As a citizen, a former U.S. Senator and 12-year member of the Armed Services Committee, I urge you to act at once. This is an emergency.

David L. Snell   

Franklin

To the Editor:

I have seen very little in the corporate media connecting Hurricane Harvey with human-caused climate change. Wonder why? Yet the cause-and--effect relationship is “as plain as the nose on your face.”

Here are some contributing factors:

• Rising sea levels. Due to increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere caused by the burning of fossil fuels, oceans have risen by more than a foot since 1960 in the Gulf off the Texas coast, increasing Harvey’s storm surge that washed into homes and communities.

• A warmer ocean leading to more rain. The Gulf of Mexico was 2 to 7 degrees hotter than usual this August, above 80 degrees. Thus, more water evaporated into the storm, and more rain was dumped on the people of Houston.

• A warmer ocean also leads to stronger storms. Harvey grew from a tropical storm to a category 4 hurricane with winds of 235-plus mph in 48 hours. A hotter planet creates a hotter ocean creates such rapid intensification.

Many climate change deniers live in both Houston and Washington, DC. Such denial of climate science and resulting political decisions make us unprepared for such “unnatural” disasters. Isn’t it interesting that Exxon, whose officials publicly pooh-poohed global warming for 30 years while their own research confirmed it, suffered damage to one of their Houston refineries!

Here are some examples of what current actions in Washington are doing to guarantee that other disasters like Harvey will occur:

• Deregulating “Big Oil’s” toxic pollution and the proposed shutdown of the EPA, whose purpose is to protect vulnerable communities adjacent to oil refineries and chemical plants.

• Persecuting immigrant communities. As the storm threatened, ICE was busy rounding up undocumented immigrants seeking safety from the approaching devastation. Its aggressive policing had generated a climate of fear that kept families from seeking shelter.

• Building in the path of the storm. Trump has now signed an executive order instructing the government to ignore climate change when constructing new infrastructure — which means putting more of us in the path of destruction from future storms.

While powerful and well-heeled executives and politicians deceive and manipulate in order to line their pockets, ordinary people like those in Texas we’ve seen on TV lose their homes, livelihoods, health, and sometimes their lives. Yet it’s the votes of “we the people” that have put them in place. Harvey is (another) wake-up call. Unless we take steps to keep fossil fuels in the ground, invest in renewables, drive these (mis)leaders out of office, and plan for a drastically changed world, more people will lose their homes, their hopes, and their lives.

Will we pay attention this time and act for change, or will we once again be lulled into complacency by a veneer of prosperity, the football season, a favorite sitcom, or going shopping?

Doug Wingeier

Waynesville

Two projects deemed by Western Carolina University officials as necessary to meet the demands of a rapidly increasing student enrollment moved forward as the WCU Board of Trustees selected firms to design a new lower campus residence hall and the university’s first parking deck.

Councilmember Alan “B” Ensley, of Yellowhill has been sworn in as Vice Chief following a veto from Principal Chief Richard Sneed on a resolution that would have filled the office through a special election.

The Western Carolina University Foundation recently welcomed six new members to its board of directors following approval of the full slate of nominees by the WCU Board of Trustees.

With a steady stream of hungry students filing by in search of dinner, members of one of Western Carolina University’s founding families gathered Thursday (Sept. 14) to take part in the official rededication of a renovated campus building originally named for one of their kinfolk.

What defines bluegrass music would have to be the banjo played “The Earl Scruggs Way” with the three-finger roll. If it’s played clawhammer style, it would have to be classified “Old Time.” Now, bluegrass music, as a genre, grew out of this. As to musicianship, the chief — Bill Monroe — said if you could play bluegrass music right you could play anything else. What I’ve found is that bluegrass music, like jazz, is built around tight timing. It’s not loose. If you understand that, you can apply it to other types of music.

September is #FamilyMealsMonth – a good time to remind ourselves that enjoying a meal together as a family has many benefits, such as:

A rare case of rabies in a deceased deer has been confirmed in Cherokee County.

A new agreement will allow students from three area schools to co-enroll at the Oconaluftee Job Corps Civilian Conservation Center, giving them training and certifications in high-demand vocational jobs.

Few presidential decisions have been as unjust, unwise and cruel as Donald Trump's threat to deport nearly 700,000 young Americans if Congress can't come together within six months to save them.

For comparison, consider Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears, Woodrow Wilson segregating the federal workforce and Franklin D. Roosevelt ordering Japanese Americans into concentration camps. The underlying factor in all four instances is racism. To deny that is to be part of the problem. If the “sanctity of borders” isn’t naked hypocrisy, why isn’t there a clamor over the nearly 100,000 Canadians who are estimated to have overstayed visas?

By the faculty of Western Carolina University’s Department of Anthropology and Sociology

Recent events in Charlottesville, Virginia, demonstrate the inability and unwillingness of the U.S. to deal with issues of race and racism. When neo-Confederates, neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups freely assemble to promote not free speech but violence in the face of a Confederate statue being removed, we must question the purpose of these monuments in our communities.

The Balsam Mountain Preserve Endowment for Jackson County, a local committee created by the residents of Balsam Mountain Preserve, raised more than $15,000 during a recent “Social Hour for Good” fundraising event.

MANNA FoodBank and Haywood Christian Ministry will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 23 for its refrigerated produce pod, the first of its kind in North Carolina.

Before deciding whether to adopt a new statewide law allowing for earlier Sunday alcohol sales, the Franklin Town Council wants to have more input from the community.

With a boost in state appropriations, the North Carolina Arts Council will launch two new programs this year and provide additional support for arts programs in all 100 N.C. counties with more than $6.5 million in grants.

Certain foods may be considered “anti-inflammatory” if they help lessen the effects of some diseases and problems linked to chronic (long-term) inflammation in the body like arthritis, joint pain, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, migraines, diabetes and even certain types of cancer.  If we were to group these foods under one meal plan it would be what is commonly referred to as the “Mediterranean Diet.’

People displaced by flooding in Texas and neighboring states will be able to stay in U.S. Forest Service campgrounds for free following a decision of the Southern Region of the USDA Forest Service.

Friends of the Smokies’ 23rd annual telethon Aug. 23 raised $208,321 in donations to support the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, bringing the total raised since the first telethon in 1995 to more than $3.7 million.

Volunteers are needed to help with efforts to overhaul the Rainbow Falls Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. every Wednesday.

By JoAnna Swanson • Guest Columnist

There are all kinds of signs — signs of the times; signs of the future (omens); traffic signs; stop signs and, of course, the ubiquitous election signs!

To the Editor:

I’m writing in response to a letter by Tom Enterline in the Aug. 30-Sept. 5 issue. He cited two examples in his argument that liberals, not President Trump, are the great dividers of the country. He started with the Confederate memorabilia issue, and then jumped to the bathroom gender question.

Regarding the Confederate monument controversy, he makes several claims that are not true, chiefly that “[t]wo months ago, 99.99 percent of all Americans did not give a single thought to statues or plaques honoring Confederate soldiers.” In 2011 the Pew Research Poll (national) showed a 30 percent negative reaction to the Confederate flag’s display and a 9 percent positive reaction; among blacks, the negative reaction was 41 percent.

A Pew follow-up poll in 2015 found these results virtually unchanged. A YouGov poll in 2013 recorded a 38 percent disapproval and 44 percent considered it a symbol of racism. In a national survey in 2015, 57 percent considered the flag a symbol of Southern pride (the same as in a prior poll in 2000); in the South only, 75 percent of whites polled confirmed it as the symbol of Southern pride, whereas 75 percent of blacks polled saw it plainly racist.

Thus it was clearly controversial before 2017. The tipping point that started the present flood of controversy occurred when, in 2015, Dylan Roof murdered the worshippers in South Carolina while espousing the Confederacy’s racist value. The issue has been as hot as his gun barrel ever since as more and more Southern governors and legislatures have moved to remove public symbols of the confederacy. People, both blacks and whites, have been giving thought to Confederate imagery for almost 150 years, though for most whites it might well have been tacitly approved of. Why not? Whites had all the power.

A second claim is also false: that the riots in Charlottesville yielded a large number of now vocal KKK and Nazi followers who had been “mute” until then. Exactly 100 years before Dylann’s rampage, the second Ku Klux Klan had been founded in Stone Mountain, Georgia, famous for its carvings of four Confederate luminaries. The Klan was the chief enforcer of the Jim Crow era. As reported in 2013 by CBS, between 1927 and 2013 the Klan had murdered 3,446 blacks. The Klan was never “mute” or “nearly nonexistant.” Anyone with access to the internet can confirm this with a little effort. David Duke is a classic example of an out-front KKK member

Mr. Enterline also claimed that in North Carolina, “[a]lmost no one cared if someone whose wires are crossed in regards to their gender used the boys bathroom or the girls bathroom.” Leaving aside hundreds of incidents of bullying of transgender children in school bathrooms, I’ll present a few facts. In 2013, in Colorado, the state school board’s Civil Rights Division approved a transgender girl’s right to use the girls bathroom. This was the first official ruling concerning the question. In 2014, the debate had advanced, and the federal Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights research showed that 51 percent approved use according to the user’s gender identity, with 41 percent opposed. In that poll, 67 percent of younger participants approved.

Finally, in the YouGov poll of 2017, 40 percent approved and 40 percent disapproved. The Supreme Court has recently vacated a lower court’s ruling that granted a transgender boy’s right, essentially leaving it up to the president and the Congress to deal with. Trump’s position is the reverse of Obama’s, which granted the right.

I believe it is always better in argumentation to establish some clear benchmarks. True, statistics and polls don’t guarantee “truth,” but they do establish reasonable benchmarks. Without them people can use words in loose ways and transformation a reasoned discussion or debate into an emotion-driven diatribe. Then no one wins and everyone loses. These and other such civil rights issues are way too big for that.

Ricks Carson

Franklin and Atlanta

To the Editor:

I was glad to read intelligent responses with a different opinion than that of a recent letter whose writer stated that English language proficiency should be a prerequisite for entry into the U.S.

I am sure there are many others who share my history of grandparents emigrating to the U.S. in the early 20th century. My paternal grandparents who came to this country as legal immigrants around 1918 did not speak English; in fact, they were illiterate. They bought a farm, raised 10 children, all of them bilingual. Half of their children — without the benefit of completing elementary school because their help was needed on the farm — went on to own small businesses.

Haven’t we heard enough of this ethnocentric and selfish attitude of fearing cultures different from your own and valuing people only for what they can do for you?

Judy Stockinger

Franklin

Don’t let the quaintness fool you — the small town of Bryson City has plenty of challenges and opportunities facing it as it tries to maintain its rich Appalachian identify while also dealing with the growing pains tourism has brought in the last several years.

The fire review process included a thorough analysis of all communications and decisions made from the time the fire began on Nov. 23, 2016, to the time it left the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at 6 p.m. Nov. 28. According to the review team, here’s how it unfolded.

With so many charities working to assist in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, many Western North Carolina residents are curious about the best way to help.

An acclaimed pianist who has performed around the world and who teaches that musical artists must be entrepreneurs and good communicators as well as skilled technicians is the new director of Western Carolina University’s School of Music.

As members of Western Carolina University’s bass fishing club team — the Bass Cats — were in route to assist in the Hurricane Harvey devastation along the Gulf Coast, the rain pelted down on the windshield and the radio kept issuing reports of people who needed to be rescued.

Equipped with four pickup trucks and four boats to provide rescue and emergency support, a dozen members of the team left campus the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 29. They arrived in Lake Charles, Louisiana, around 3 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Aug. 30, unloading medical supplies, canned food and water before leaving for Orange, Texas.

“We’ve already gotten at least 20 folks to safety, probably more,” said Jason Ashe of Sylva, team member and relief effort organizer, in the dawn hours of Thursday, Aug. 31. “You don’t stop to count, you just get it done, then move to the next call.”

The task ahead of the college students was daunting, but they launched their bass boat near Lake Charles, Louisiana, and made their way into the flooded areas to save those who couldn’t save themselves. The Bass Cats described the scene on their Facebook page as more devastating than any news network could ever portray.

Once there, they were met with an immediate demand for services. Jefferson County, Texas, Sheriff Zena Stephens told multiple news outlets that the entire area was in dire need of a large number of water rescues because of massive flooding and limited response resources.

“My very first call was for an evacuation of a 90-year-old woman who was immobile,” said Jacob Boyd of Canton, team president. “Along with Colby Shope (of Canton) and Zach Tallent (of Franklin), we got her out of the flooded house and loaded her, in her wheelchair, then took her to shallower water where her son was waiting with a pickup truck. She said the water just rose overnight. She woke up with water filling the house, leaving her stranded.”

The WCU fishing team, founded in the spring of 2013, competes in a variety of fishing tournaments and series. For the relief efforts, instead of rods, reels and tackle boxes, they left campus with first-aid kits, locally donated bottled water, containers with gasoline, hygiene items, life vests, Bibles and clothes.

The team witnessed the personal toll the storm has taken on residents of the region. “It’s such a sad situation,” Ashe said. “You’re boating down what used to be a street, with cars and homes submerged below you, and you think about the people who have worked hard to build a life and lost everything.”

Working alongside other rescue units such as the volunteer Cajun Navy, local EMS, and sheriff and fire departments, Boyd said he saw another impact of the flood. “This is dangerous work and you see the stress, fatigue and anxiety that comes from that and being overworked. There’s so much tragedy all around. I’m so glad we’ve been able to be a part of rescues and a happier side of things.”

The team was set to return Monday, Sept. 4, but heading home Sept. 1 after local agencies gained control of the situations in that area.

“We are happy to say that we all remained safe, minus some minor bumps, bruises, and exhaustion,” the team reported on Facebook. “This has been one of the most, if not the most humbling experience any of us have ever been a part of. We did not come to Texas seeking publicity, but it has expanded to something beyond what any of us could have imagined. The amount of support we have garnered throughout this journey has been incredible, and we thank you all so much for your thoughts, prayers, and donations.”

Members of the Bass Cats in addition to Ashe, Boyd, Shope and Tallent are Jack Crumpton, Clint Bartlett, Tyler Watts, Will Crumpton, Parker Jessup, Josh Cannon and Austin Garren.

A Go Fund Me page has been created to help defray team expenses and pay for relief supplies. To donate, go to www.gofundme.com/basscats-travel-expensesbasscats-travel-expenses.

An increase in bear encounters in Panthertown and along the Appalachian Trail through the Nantahala National Forest has resulted in a strong recommendation that backcountry campers use bear-proof containers for all food and scented items.

A group of 13 emergency responders made a 15-mile hike this month to place new wayfinding signs at trail intersections in the Shining Rock area of the Pisgah National Forest.

A 50-75-foot fall from Moore Cove Falls in the Pisgah National Forest left a man dead Wednesday, Aug. 23. According to witnesses, Kim Quang Le, 24, of Virginia, was attempting to climb up the side of the falls and across the top when he fell. He had been visiting the area with four friends.

To the Editor:

It is very disappointing that a clear and unequivocal condemnation of the KKK, American Nazis and the companion white supremacist movements — truly the focal point of events in Charlottesville — is not the starting point of every conversation on the monuments issues.

The monuments issues are deserving of public discourse, but this conversation must be based on a 100 percent explicit universal rejection of these odious movements. Their adherents and supporters must understand that there is absolutely no place anywhere in the American political dialogue for their beliefs. On this, there are no two sides. This is about who we are morally as a people.

Building on this foundation, we can have a respectful public discussion on the monuments issues. Our political and community leaders at every level should be just that — leaders —with the courage to offer and discuss ideas leading to dialogue and solutions, not just slogans, and with the ability to listen carefully to views articulated within the broad mainstream of who we are as a people.

We have the same duties as citizens. Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, has stepped forward with proposals for North Carolina that deserve serious consideration. They include providing our N.C. communities with the ability to conduct their own dialogue and make their own decisions.

Within the broad mainstream, we will not succeed by trying to shout each other down, verbally or in print. Likewise, we will not succeed with language equating each other with Hitler’s Nazis, Mao’s Red Guard, Soviet Leninists and ISIS terrorists, comparisons that are especially offensive to millions who were genuinely persecuted or worse by these regimes. Not incidentally, those personally offended also include many among us who lost family members along the way. We will not succeed by charging each other with trying to change history. When it comes to addressing and solving problems, we can do better than that.

The American artist Norman Rockwell made a wonderful contribution to American life by picturing who we are as a people. His illustrations are especially timely now and perhaps it would serve all of us well to look at them now.

Bob Savelson

Cashiers and Washington, D.C.

To the Editor:

Let’s all agree on one fact: had the South won the war slavery would have persisted in the Southern states and likely would have been accepted by some of the newly formed territories and states in the Midwest.

We can likely all agree on a second fact: in 1859, there was a United States of America and it was a democracy, at least for white men, that had been in existence for more than 60 years and whose leaders had been elected by voters. When a group of states got its feelings hurt because they didn’t have the votes to control this or that agenda, including slavery, they attacked the U. S. government and that led to hundreds of thousands of people dieing and untold economic losses. That is known as domestic terrorism.

Jefferson Davis was not elected by Southern voters until seven months after the war had started. He won with 97 percent of the vote as there was no opposition. Very democratic.

Like most wars, the upper class lured the working classes into battle by creating false grievances when the reality was the rich were trying to protect their social standing and wealth. And much of that wealth was built on the backs of humans who had been ripped from their families in Africa, chained in boats often owned by wealthy northerners and were imprisoned in labor camps called plantations as well as a few local farms.

I am one who believes that memorials erected on government property that attempt to shed glory on that war, most of which were erected at a time when black people and women had no meaningful say in our government, should be removed.

Should they be destroyed? No. If the Sons of Confederate Soldiers or even the despicable KKK want to put up or shut up, buy the monuments, buy your own land and display the history for anyone who chooses to see it or even donate them to a public civil war museum.

But it is a travesty, viewed daily by millions of black Americans, for any democratically elected body from our town and county governments on up to have such memorials on property that is owned by all of us. Please also remember that in 1940 when the memorial was placed in front of they Haywood County Courthouse, that courthouse contained a balcony in its courtroom that black people, and others “of color,” had to sit in so that white people didn’t have to mingle with them while doing the court’s business. Enough is enough.

Bob Clark

Waynesville

To the Editor:

I read your article about the monuments. Well-written, but I think you’re missing the point. This current political issue is not about the Confederacy or slavery, it’s about widening the divide between us. Liberals, and in particular the liberal media, seek to create issues where there are none so they can confront and then shove their own politics down the throats of their neighbors.

Two months ago, 99.99-percent of all Americans did not give a single thought to statues or plaques honoring Confederate soldiers. It was not an issue. Some liberal, most likely white, sitting on some council in Charlottesville decided that he or she needed to straighten some things out.

Great idea! What did it yield? KKK and Nazis who had been mute and nearly nonexistent are suddenly in the papers, on the TV and all over the internet. Violent “anti” fascists are put forth as the good guys. The two groups of boneheads meet, conflict erupts, a young girl is killed, families are scarred and the country is more divided than ever. Do you think we should give the Charlottesville City Council an “atta boy” for this?   

The bathroom issue in North Carolina was the same thing. Almost no one cared if someone whose wires are crossed in regards to their gender used the boy’s bathroom or the girl’s bathroom. Some liberal in Charlotte did and they needed to straighten the rest of us out.

Great idea! What did it yield? The state lost tens of millions of dollars, businesses would not locate here, bathrooms across the country are a mess and third-grade boys in California schools are being helped by their teachers to make the transition to become girls. Nice job Charlotte, “Atta boy” … or girl, or whatever!

Media jobs attract liberals. Liberals like to straighten the rest of us out, they love to tend to someone else’s business. Just ask them, they are convinced that they are smarter, wiser and kinder than anyone who does not agree with them.

Liberals are unified. Like the lemmings they all run in the same direction no matter where that path is heading. Most have no clue or care as to what that path will yield. They believe that they are righteous and that is all that matters.

Old friend, you called our president of six months the great divider. You may wish to look in the mirror on that one. After all, when it comes down to it you and your newspaper just tow the party line.

Let’s get together and ride some motorcycles. Maybe a road trip to Mt. Rushmore. I’d like to see it before the lemmings jackhammer Washington and Jefferson off the side of the mountain.

Tom Enterline

Boone

To the Editor:

The ugly fight between Blue Cross and Mission Hospital has no winners. Thousands of Western North Carolina residents stand to get hurt. It appears the parties are unable to even have a civil conversation.

So my question is why aren’t our elected officials — Rep. Michelle Presnell, R-Burnsville, Rep. Mike Clampbitt, R-Bryson City, Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, and U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, doing something to ensure health care access for their constituents and protecting hundreds of health care jobs?

They have voted to push Medicaid in North Carolina into a for-profit corporate structure, refused to expand Medicaid, and on the part of Rep. Meadows supported a proposed federal budget that would cut up to $700 billion from Medicaid, which will badly hurt nursing homes residents, the 40 percent of North Carolina children on Medicaid, and disabled citizens.

So at least get involved in helping BCBSNC and Mission resolve their conflict. Do something positive for a change!

Stephen Wall MD

Waynesville

To the Editor:

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, does a disservice to all Americans, but particularly to legal immigrants, by fanning the flames of xenophobia with unsubstantiated claims of terrorists crossing our southern border. He cites one case. I’m not buying it. I’m much more concerned about our own home-grown terrorists (think Charlottesville).

He proposes spending the massive amount of $15 billion to build an unnecessary wall, plus infrastructure, along the border while much-needed repairs to failing infrastructure nationwide go without funding. I strongly object to directing money toward this project when it could be used elsewhere in ways that would truly benefit our country (water supplies and safety, highways and bridges, healthcare facilities, education, etc.).

Is this an effort to placate supporters or could it possibly be an effort to redirect attention from healthcare? His last effort to do that was holding his only town hall meeting in a small town at the far edge of his district, but the auditorium was packed anyway. That didn’t work; I don’t think this effort will work either. The demand for affordable health care is not going to go away, but I hope the misdirected efforts toward building a wall disappear as more and more people understand the true costs and the consequences.

Joanne Strop

Waynesville

To the Editor:

I am growing increasingly weary of hearing and reading the far right’s use of disparaging terms to describe those who possess liberal thinking.

What is wrong with a spirit of generosity and compassion toward those less fortunate than you or of different cultures, i.e., “bleeding-heart liberal”? Is it better to be hard-hearted or have a heart of stone?

What is wrong with considering the feelings and dignity of others by being “politically correct”? Would you insult and deride those different than you or deprive them of their civil rights?

When did education and critical thinking become a bad thing as in the “cultural elite.” Wouldn’t you rather have a president and lawmakers who are smarter than you?

I, for one, wear these labels proudly even though this divisive language is apparently meant to insult and demean. Like all name-calling, use of this verbiage serves to objectify and dehumanize those at which is directed. Once you do that it is easier to deprive them of respect and their basic human rights. Isn’t it time to stop this bullying and try to see the common ground between us instead of the constant undermining of this process by hateful epithets?

Judy Stockinger

Franklin

After the North Carolina General Assembly’s recent passage of the so-called “brunch bill,” municipal governments in Haywood County have been slow to adopt local ordinances allowing for the sale and service of fortified and unfortified wines, malt beverages and mixed drinks in restaurants, hotels, private clubs, convention centers and community theaters beginning at 10 a.m. Sundays, but that could all change Tuesday, Sept. 12.

The Waynesville Police Department responded to the report of a child abduction from Frazier Street Thursday afternoon.

Dear Leah: I need some snack ideas for my classroom that are dairy-free and shelf stable. — Back to School Teacher

To the Editor:

In response to Editor Scott McLeod’s column about public prayers (www.smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/20540), secular society would like nothing better than for Christians to be quiet about their faith in Jesus Christ. It’s OK if we do it silently or in the privacy of our own homes, just not in the public square. Many early Christians lost their lives because of this and are still dying today on the mission field.

The Pharisees told Jesus in Luke 19:40 to ask his disciples to stop teaching and preaching in his name. Jesus said “If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Christians, let’s not make the stones have to cry out because of our silence.

Judy Kirkpatrick

Iron Duff

To the Editor:

Can we please stop referring to access to health care insurance as “access to health care” and health care insurers as “health care providers”?

Health care insurers are “middlemen” taking a cut of your health care dollars and betting against us needing many health care services. Removing the middleman means that our health care dollars will go to doctors and other actual providers of health care instead of to insurance premiums.

The current situation of insurers raising premiums and dropping out of the Affordable Care Act is our wake-up call to get the insurance industry out of routine health care. The insurance industry says it is losing money having to pay out more claims and if the government doesn’t help consumers pay premiums they might actually go out of business. A look at insurance company investments and holdings shows they are not hurting, but profits will be diminished if they are unable to place unreasonable restrictions on what they will cover.

The insurance industry has convinced us that we are unable to have health care without their “help.” This is why a single payer system, like Medicare for all, is the best plan, removing middlemen’s profits and directing health care dollars to doctors and others who have actually earned them by providing the services.

Judy Stockinger

Franklin

To the Editor:

How many times have we heard or said “history repeats itself?” I’d say often regarding everything from politics, to family, to world events or even everyday life.

In the U.S today we are seeing the repeat of Hitler’s Nazi Germany where thugs systematically destroyed German history … books were burned, commemorative monuments were torn down and the culture was demeaned to bolster the Hitler regime. The same actions occurred in communist China during the Red Guard Cultural Revolution, during the Russian Revolution and by ISIS terrorist who are destroying much of the centuries old Middle East history.

Is that who we are? In our country the reason given for the destruction of our public monuments is that they are offensive to some in our society. These heinous acts are not committed just because someone is offended. No, it is a concentrated attempt to negate our history and replace it with the culture and ideology of radical far left progressives.

Someone is offended? There is another side to that coin … those who are offended by the idea that a group of thugs can march onto public property and knock down any statue, plaque or monument they claim is offensive. Where do these radical leftists get so emboldened to think they and they alone can make a decision of what goes or stays in the public square?

Where are our elected officials and public leaders who we expect to stand up to mob rule and to halt law breakers? Where is the community outrage that demands to say yea or nay to the fate any public display? The mobs that are executing destruction now in public places have already destroyed private property throughout the nation …. Ferguson, Berkeley, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore to name only four locations where buildings and automobiles were burned, windows and anything in their way was destroyed in general rampages by these criminals.

Law-abiding citizens must make their voices heard to elected and other public officials who in our country are in their positions to execute the will of the people who elected them and pay their salaries.

Carol Adams

Glenville

To the Editor:

There was a man who was born at Stratford Hall, Virginia, and his boyhood home was in Alexandria, Virginia. He finished second in his graduating class at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He went on to be the only man in history to be sought after to be the commanding general of both sides of opposing armies in a bloody war.

There is a mansion he lived in that is a memorial to this man that stands guard over the graves of the heroes of The United States of America in Arlington Cemetery. This man loved his country, the United States, but was also dedicated to his Southern heritage. The man was Robert E. Lee.

Will we burn down the memorial to him known as Lee-Custis Mansion where in the front yard of his home is the grave of John F. Kennedy Jr. and the eternal flame as well as the thousands of war heroes buried there?

Why do you not report this so the citizens of our country can get a brief history lesson? Will Gettysburg be next?

John Thornton (Tommy) Thomas, Jr.

Waynesville

To the Editor:

Donald Trump has vowed to build a wall between the U.S.A. and Mexico. He even claims that Mexico will pay for it. Top Mexican leaders disagree. This wall is envisioned in spite of the fact that Mexico has never attempted to manipulate any of our elections. They are good neighbors of long standing. Trump has basically blamed Mexicans for corrupting Americans with drugs and other crimes. This is a pretty good explanation for domestic problems if you are one who prefers to shift the blame for your behavior onto someone else.

On the other hand, Trump initiated discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin about working with Russia on cybersecurity. Remember, this conversation is in the midst of several investigations of Russian meddling/effecting the outcome of the 2016 election. Bear in mind as well that this reckless move by Trump was made on his first official meeting with the president of a long-term adversarial nation.

Meanwhile, on the home front Trump is making every move he can imagine to disenfranchise certain voters in America. This is despite the fact that very little domestic voter fraud has been reported by any voting precinct in America.

What is Trump’s real motive? Some say he is trying to carry out a coup and seize absolute power over America. Russian leader Nikita Kruschev boasted several years back that Russia would “Take America without firing a shot … we will bury you.” Americans laughed at that prospect then. Does anybody believe it is now possible? Congress needs to pay very close attention to Trump’s foreign relations fiascos. As Buffalo Springfield sang, “Somethin’s happenin’ here. What it is ain’t exactly clear.”

This Republican Congress has a responsibility to make matters of national security clear to the people. Have they asked Trump to brief them on his discussions with Putin? They should. They have all pledged allegiance to the United States of America. To my knowledge no one in the White House (including congressmen/women) has pledged allegiance to Russia.

Dave Waldrop

Webster

A potentially harmful algal bloom continues to grow in parts of Fontana Lake, and state officials are warning people to avoid touching it.