The fall semester came to a close at Western Carolina University on Dec. 14 as commencement exercises were held in Ramsey Regional Activity Center to recognize the university’s newest graduating class and a group of WCU alumni who were awarded degrees in August.

A public input meeting that will help shape the future of the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Dec. 17 in Franklin at the Nantahala Ranger District Office.

It is one of several held it the region over the past month as part of the ongoing development of a master plan to guide the management of the national forests. The meetings were previously scheduled for October but were postponed due to the federal government shutdown.

The four-year process will analyze a wide spectrum of national forest issues, including every form of recreation imaginable, ecological integrity, scenic and cultural values, logging, environmental threats and wilderness area designations.

Public input is being invited to help shape these management strategies for the forests over the next 15 years.

The current round of public input meetings will delve into aspects of the current forest management plan that should change. Some examples offered by the forest service based on stakeholder input to date are:

• How should large mountain bike festivals in the forests be managed?

• Logging in national forests has been dramatically curtailed — has it been curtailed too much?

• In light of burgeoning outdoor recreation, how should conflicts between competing forms of recreation be handled?

• Are trails being properly maintained?

• Should the forest service take a more active role in protecting rare ecosystems, like balds and bogs?

• Should new wilderness areas be designated?

The last forest plan was finalized in 1987. But there are new issues now that weren’t around then. Climate change, the advent of cell towers and wind turbines, the reintroduction of elk in the landscape or even new types of recreation like geocacheing. All these will need to be wrapped into the new forest plan as well.

To read the report, and all about the forest plan process, go to www.fs.usda.gov/goto/nfsnc/nprevision.

The Nantahala Ranger district office is located at 90 Sloan Road outside Franklin.

National Park Service officials want your input on how to manage the Appalachian National Scenic Trail (AT).

Nearly 12,000 plastic bottles will have been saved from a landfill when Western Carolina University students graduate this month. What’s the connection? More than 500 of the 700 graduates and numerous participating alumni will be wearing eco-friendly gowns they purchased at the WCU Bookstore.

Thousands of eyes will look skyward this month as volunteer birders, armed with binoculars, participate in the 114th annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count, Dec. 14-Jan. 5. Among those scouring the state’s back roads and byways will be members of the Franklin Bird Club and the Highlands Plateau Audubon Society.

Those sky watchers at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute are preparing for the winter solstice. Astronomers there say that the sun will be at its most southern point in the sky this year at 12:11 p.m. EST on Friday, Dec. 21, marking the first moment of winter and the shortest day of the year. Why is this significant? At this moment the sun in its apparent path around the sky will stand directly over the Tropic of Capricorn. For an observer at that latitude, the sun will appear directly overhead at noon. However, from Western North Carolina, the noontime sun will appear only about 31½ degrees above the southern horizon, its lowest point of the year.

What’s more, the sun rises at its most southern point along the southeastern horizon and sets at its most southern point on the southwestern horizon. Around this date the days are the shortest of the year and the length of the night the longest. For example, in Brevard sunrise occurs at 7:36 a.m. EST and sunset at 5:23 p.m. Thus, it is above the horizon only 9 hours 47 minutes. And viewers in Asheville, which is slightly north of Brevard, will see the sun for two minutes less that day. PARI is a public not-for-profit public foundation established in 1998 and located in the Pisgah Forest southwest of Asheville. It offers educational programs at all levels, from K-12 through post-graduate research. 

www.pari.edu. 

Several young runners from Western North Carolina turned in best times at recent state-wide and southeastern regional cross country events.

The Lights and Luminaries festival will be held in downtown Dillsboro, Dec. 13-14. Helping Dillsboro glow for the town’s annual Lights and Luminaries festival are Carroll Brown, an associate professor in the hospitality and tourism program at Western Carolina University, and her students. For the last five years, they have helped light more than 2,500 candles, placed luminaries in designated locations and assisted with decorations and lights.

Brown described the ongoing relationship with her students and the town of Dillsboro, which has grown out of the Lights and Luminaries festival, as mutually beneficial. Merchants appreciate the help, and students in her festival and special events course learn from and enjoy the experience.

“The event helps my students get into the Christmas spirit, and many of them bring their parents, which helps the merchants in Dillsboro,” she said. 

www.visitdillsboro.org/specialevents.html.

The Cherokee Healing and Wellness Coalition is sponsoring a Snow Moon (Usgiwi) celebration and potluck lunch will be from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 21, at the Cherokee Youth Center. 

The event will honor retired Cherokee educators for their years of service and the legend of the Red Cedar Tree will be shared. Attendees are asked to bring a traditional Cherokee food dish for the potluck lunch, along with your favorite beverage.  

828.421.9855 or 828.554.6222.

Haywood Early College students recently participated in the National Career Development Association’s Poetry and Poster Contest, “Charting the Course for Our Second Century” held by Haywood Community College.

The Western Carolina University student-created film “Jerry,” a dark comedy about a homeless man who comes back to haunt the local politician who ran him over, won the jury award for the best student film at the 2013 Asheville Cinema Festival.

Wildlife/nature photographer Ron Brunsvold will be the featured artist for December at the Mahogany House Gallery in Waynesville.

Television star and International Bluegrass Music Museum legend Randall Franks, “Officer Randy Goode” of the former show “In the Heat of the Night,” will be a special guest during the “Christmas Show” at 8 p.m. Dec. 14, at the Maggie Valley Opry House. Franks will appear onstage with Raymond Fairchild and his band.

By Joe Hooten • Correspondent

Asheville will once again be the home of the annual Warren Haynes Christmas Jam at the Asheville US Cellular Center Dec. 13-14, where hometown hero and all-around guitar god Haynes will present yet another impressive lineup of talent.

To the Editor:

Today I visited healthcare.gov on the internet, and thanks to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, I am now, at age 63, covered by healthcare insurance for the first time in my adult life.

Throughout my life I’ve had financial ups and downs with periods of relative prosperity and at other times, not so much. But, the real reason I never before invested in healthcare insurance is that I was never exactly certain what I was buying. There was always so much fine print written into the policies I felt as if I needed a lawyer to figure out what would be covered and what would not if, God forbid, I needed extensive medical care or hospitalization. I couldn’t bring myself to spend the time or money on such an uncertain venture.

But, I am so thankful that is no longer the case because of the Affordable Care Act. Now there are standards the healthcare insurance industry has to live by. All pre-existing conditions are covered and so much more. At healthcare.gov I found a set of clear, affordable choices, all of which will ensure that I will never be financially destroyed because of a catastrophic illness or accident. Tonight I will sleep well knowing that my family and I are much more secure in life.

Thank you President Obama and those in Congress who voted to pass the Affordable Care Act.

Avram Friedman

Sylva

To the Editor:

I would like to respond to the article in the Oct. 30 issue of The Smoky Mountain News discussing the “internal debate” which “divides Haywood GOP.” 

In this article, some members of the Republican party of Haywood County were told that they were better suited for the Libertarian party because the Libertarian party is for “conservative purists” who are “so far right they’ve fallen off.”

Let me point out that this is a misguided notion. Libertarians are not far right conservatives. In fact, to be Libertarian is to be neither left nor right. 

Rather, Libertarians consider themselves fiscally responsible and socially liberal and advocate both a smaller government and less restriction on individual rights. I can understand how someone unfamiliar with the philosophy could find themselves confused and misuse the terminology, as Libertarian philosophy defies the simple left-right paradigm that American culture has been saddled with over the last century, and which is advocated throughout the mainstream. Put simply, Libertarians advocate the freedom and responsibility given to the people in the Constitution: we all have unalienable rights that exist without restriction, until their use violates the rights of another. Not only does this mean freedom from burdensome taxation, but also less restriction on the individual and therefore less government.

As you can see, our philosophy is not that of a “far right” Republican, but something different altogether.

That being said, I would also like to reach out to the “conspiracy group” mentioned in the piece who are being accused of dividing the Republican party, and whose contribution to the party appears to be unappreciated. Those conspirators would be more than welcome to join me and my fellow Libertarians at our meetings, at 7 p.m. every second and fourth Tuesdays, at the future site of the Cross Country School of Real Estate, 176 Waynesville Plaza. Our meetings are open to all political persuasions, and we do not expect everyone who attends to be a registered Libertarian. 

The Libertarian Party of Haywood County is interested in hearing what local citizens have to say, and are open to all opinions and perspectives. We only require that participants respect one another and listen to all opinions without censure. We would never limit your freedom of speech, and we encourage the “robust dialogue” that Tracy Coward advocated for the GOP.

I would also like to respond to the fact that in the article Mitchell Powell is quoted claiming that renegade Republicans are part of the GOP because they find it “impossible” to run as Libertarians. This again is a flippant use of terminology and is incorrect. Not only is it possible to run for office in North Carolina as a Libertarian, the Libertarian party of Haywood County is planning to run a candidate for Haywood County commissioner in 2014. I invite any rebellious Republican who is interested in leaving an unappreciative GOP with all its name-calling and petty brawling to join us in this endeavor. Our party could use your enthusiasm to shake up Haywood County government and break the cycle of politics as usual with all its bickering and squabbling. 

We are seeking to move our county forward, and there are many in Haywood County who see through the two-party paradigm to what the founding fathers intended for us. For example, Lynda Bennet from Maggie Valley wrote an opinion piece in the Nov. 27 issue of The Smoky Mountain News where she pointed out that: “Freedom is not free; it must be fought for everyday. Limiting government insures freedom. I will even protect your freedom to disagree with me.”

This is a Libertarian perspective, and I appreciate her taking the time to demonstrate that not everyone has been taken in by the present government’s need to parent us — to control our speech, to protect us from ourselves, to tell us how to think.

Surely, the infighting between the Republicans is only part of that party’s problem in winning over this largely Democratic controlled county. Not only are they so frivolous as to fail to recognize the value of the supporters within their own party, in whatever guise they may appear, they have also shown blatant disregard for real Libertarians and their values. The people of Haywood County expect more maturity from their elected officials, and deserve better.

Windy McKinney

Jonathan Creek

Jackson County retained its status as one of the economically distressed counties in North Carolina according to just-released rankings, but county manager Chuck Wooten thinks some of the factors in that ranking are improving and others are “distorted.”

Leaders from Christ Anglican Church in Cashiers convinced Jackson County commissioners to waive their property tax bill for 2013 even though they applied for a tax-exempt application after the Feb. 1 deadline.

Father Jim Murphy explained to commissioners that the church acquired the property in September 2012 and renovations continued until May 2013. After construction was finished, the church filed for its tax-exempt status.

“I know ignorance is no excuse,” said Murphy. “But we have already been a benefit to the community. Already we are attracting parishioners from Bryson City, Cashiers, and even Transylvania County.”

Tax Assessor Bobby McMahon was actually at the church taking measurements for the assessment when Murphy learned of the need to file for a tax-exempt status. 

“I actually helped him take the measurements,” Murphy said.

Commissioner Mark Jones, who lives in Cashiers, confirmed Murphy’s assertions about the renovation and construction dates. 

“They have been doing what a tax-exempt entity would do in the time they have been open,” Jones told fellow commissioners.

McMahon said his office was following standard protocol when it sent the disputed $2,752 tax bill to the church.

 “Everyone has to make application to gain a tax-exempt status. If you fail to file in January, you have to file a reason for good cause,” he said. “The state statute does not specifically say what is ‘good cause.’”

The board voted 4-1 to excuse the tax bill, with Chairman Jack Debnam voting against the move. After the meeting, Debnam said his vote was in support of county staff who followed normal procedures and deserved support for their actions.

Ghost Town in the Sky has been cited for safety violations by the North Carolina Department of Labor stemming from an injury during one of the amusement park’s theatrical gun fights.

The gun fights are a signature attraction at the Maggie Valley theme park, staged several times a day on a mock-up street of an Old West town at the center of the park. The gunslingers use blanks, but somehow, veteran gunfighter Robert Bradley was hit by a projectile from a gun during a show in July.

The citation was issued this week following a several month investigation. It carries a fine of $2,000 and demands abatements. The Maggie Valley amusement park was given 15 days to respond to the citation.

“They have 15 days to pay the fine, contest the citation or request an informal conference,” said Dolores Quesenberry, communications director at the Department of Labor.

The owner of the park, Alaska Presley, told The Smoky Mountain News that she had already requested a conference with the department. 

“The citation is not permanent yet,” she said.

The citation states that the business was in violation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act by not furnishing to employees a place of employment “free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm.”

The citation specifically cited Ghost Town in the Sky for two hazards: the use of revolvers and shotguns capable of firing live ammunition, and the fact that triggers had been removed from the revolvers used in the mock gunfights.

The citation recommended that the firearms used in mock gunfights be replaced or modified so that only blanks could be fired, and that revolvers have triggers installed. Up to now, the firearms used in the gun fights at Ghost Town could be shot simply by pulling and releasing the hammer.

Bradley, a longtime Ghost Town gunsligher who went by the stage name “Apache Kid,” has not worked at the park since his injury. Bradley is suing Ghost Town to retrieve some of the memorabilia at the park that he claims belongs to him. Bradley also says the shooting wasn’t an accident, and believes someone tampered with the gun that shot him.

Maggie Valley police said last month the investigation into the incident is ongoing.

A new campus Master Plan endorsed Friday (Dec. 6) by the Western Carolina University Board of Trustees is designed to closely link physical facilities of the university, including future construction and renovation, to goals of its recently approved strategic plan.

The Fund for Haywood County has approved $40,000 in People in Need grants to local nonprofit organizations that provide critical services for economically disadvantaged people. The grants were made in partnership with The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina (CFWNC) and include:

• A $20,000 grant to Aspire, Youth and Family Inc. for the Kids at Work! program. This grant matches funds received from the State to train at-risk children in cooking-based workplace and life skills.

• A $20,000 grant to the Thirtieth Judicial District Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Alliance to enable the Alliance to continue its Rural Response Team for Underserved Child Victims Exposed to Violence program.

These grants were awarded as part of The Community Foundation’s People in Need focus area grant cycle, and were funded in part by the Janirve Legacy Fund, CFWNC Fundholders and The Fund for Haywood County.

The Fund for Haywood County, an affiliate of The Community Foundation, was established in 1994 by a group of local residents as a permanent endowment and resource for charitable efforts that benefit the entire county. To make a tax-deductible contribution to The Fund for Haywood County, donate online at www.cfwnc.org, with a stock gift, or by mail to The Fund for Haywood County, P.O. Box 627, Waynesville, N.C., 28786. Contributions of any size are welcome and will enable the Fund to support more programs with local dollars.

“We are pleased to join with CFWNC and other partners to fund these grants that will make such a difference for the nonprofit organizations and the people they serve in our community,” said The Fund for Haywood County Advisory Board Chair George Ivey.

Bishop Ivan Abrahams, the South African general secretary of the World Methodist Council who lives at Lake Junaluska, gave the sermon at the funeral of Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg.

Two months after sending a notice informing the Cherokee Bear Zoo of their intent to sue the roadside menagerie for violations of the Endangered Species Act, two enrolled elders of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have filed a lawsuit challenging the zoo’s abusive practice of confining bears, including ESA-protected grizzly bears, to concrete pits.

The elders’ lawsuit argues that these pits — which deny the bears the opportunity to express any natural behavior — violate the ESA’s prohibition on harming protected animals, and it seeks forfeiture of the bears.

“It’s shameful that the Cherokee Bear Zoo is still displaying intelligent, sensitive bears in tiny concrete pits,” said tribal elder Amy Walker, who filed the lawsuit along with fellow elder Peggy Hill. “It’s obvious to anyone who sees them that these bears are suffering, and they will continue to suffer every day until they are sent to a sanctuary where they’ll finally receive the care they need.” 

The elders contend that the following violations occur at the Cherokee Bear Zoo: 

• The pits that the bears are kept in range in size from about 300 to 1,300 square feet — a tiny fraction of the size of a bear’s normal range in the wild. 

• The pits deny the bears opportunities to forage, hibernate, nest, and satisfy their most basic needs. Instead, they are forced to beg for food from tourists.

• Because of their inadequate environment, the bears exhibit signs of severe psychological distress, including incessant pacing and circling.

• The zoo has housed grizzly cubs in bird cages, as well as the concrete pits, and used the young animals for photo shoots. Once they are deemed to be too large for photo shoots, they are sold or otherwise disposed of.

 Earlier this year, the 11 bears who had been held in similar conditions at Chief Saunooke Bear Park were taken to an animal sanctuary in Texas, where they have trees to climb, ponds to swim in, and fresh, nutritious food to eat.

The Jackson County Farmers Market will hold its annual Holiday Bazaar from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7 and 14 at The Community Table in Sylva.

Western North Carolina residents are asking Duke Energy to rethink its use of fossil fuels in the region. 

Community leaders delivered to Duke Energy representatives more than 5,500 petitions from area residents urging the company to move from burning coal at its Asheville coal plant to investing in homegrown clean energy solutions, the Western North Carolina Alliance said in a press release.

Pollution from the plant is leaking into the French Broad River, says Riverkeeper Hartwell Carson, who helped deliver the petitions. 

“Duke’s toxic coal ash problem is another reason why Asheville needs this plant replaced with clean energy solutions,” Carson said. 

Asheville City Council passed a resolution in late October calling on Duke Energy to partner with the city in moving from fossil fuels to clean energy, the press release stated. 

“North Carolina is now fourth in the country for installed solar capacity,” said Erika Schneider, director of communications at Sundance Power Systems. “Our state is a leader and our region can be a leader, too. Duke Energy only has to look around to find companies and people ready to power our homes and business with clean, local energy made right here.”

The Moss Knob Shooting Range, located in the Nantahala Ranger District, Nantahala National Forest, will reopen in spring 2014 following improvements to the area, such as a new access road to the shooting range from behind the shooting line and building a new earthen backstop for each shooting line. The work also will include drain work, as well as filling and leveling along the firing line. The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and the National Rifle Association are partners in the project. Repairs were scheduled to be completed this fall, but logistical challenges with the project delayed the range’s opening.  For more information on the closing and improvements, contact Thomas Saylors, recreation staff officer of the Nantahala Ranger District, at 828.524.6441 (ext. 424).

College students who spent the past semester doing research at the Highlands Biological Station will present their findings at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10, in the seminar room of the Coker Laboratory, 265 N. Sixth St., Highlands.

Western Carolina University’s athletic training major is giving hands-on experience to its students while helping area high school athletic departments, as part of the curriculum.

Mountain Wildlife Days has created a wildlife education speakers bureau of sorts to share its pool of wildlife experts with area schools and other organizations in the area, a spokesman for the new Mountain Wildlife Outreach said. Mountain Wildlife Outreach was organized to showcase educational opportunities of its highly trained experts in black bears, birds of prey and wolves, said John Edwards, coordinator of Mountain Wildlife Outreach and director of the annual Mountain Wildlife Days in Cashiers. The group provides a “variety of close up, unique educational programs, designed by outstanding experienced presenters to meet the learning and attention level of the audience,” Edwards said.  Some of the presenters include Bill Lea, black bear photographer; wildlife naturalist Michael Skinner; reptile and amphibian expert Steve O’Neil; “wolf man” Rob Gudger; story teller Freeman Owle, who shares his passion for the Cherokee’s value of wildlife; and Pete Kipp, peregrine falcon expert. To find out more, contact John Edwards at 828.743.9648 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

This holiday season pull the kids away from their headsets and video games and show them another version of an electronic toy.

A holiday sale and demonstrations of glassblowing and blacksmithing will be held from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, at the Jackson County Green Energy Park in Dillsboro.

The School of Music at Western Carolina University will present its annual “Sounds of the Season” holiday concert, a performance featuring faculty and students in small chamber groups and larger ensembles, at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8, at the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center in Cullowhee.

This year’s program will include performances by the University Chorus and Concert Choir, accompanied by members of the Western Carolina Civic Orchestra and student and faculty musicians playing sections from Antonia Vivaldi’s “Gloria.”

The WCU Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band and Jazz Guitar Sextet, Percussion Ensemble, Smoky Mountain Brass Quintet, Saxophonic Quartet, Gamelan Angklung, Trombone Ensemble, Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble and Early Music Ensemble also will perform. The Jackson County Children’s Choir, a group made up of 50 students from Fairview, Cullowhee Valley, Scotts Creek, Blue Ridge and Smokey Mountain elementary schools, also will take part in the show. Santa will visit and lead everyone in a sing-a-long to close the program.

Reserved seat tickets are on sale now. Prices are $15 for adults, $10 for WCU faculty, staff and those aged 60 and older, and $5 for students and children. All proceeds benefit the School of Music Scholarship Fund.

www.bardoartscenter.wcu.edu  or 828.227.2479.

Renowned bluegrass/gospel group Balsam Range 4th annual “Winter Concert Series” will return to the Colonial Theatre in Canton. 

Guest artists for each of the five concerts include The Jeff Little Trio with Steve Lewis and Josh Scott on Dec. 7; multi-award winner and founding member of the Zac Brown Band, John Driskell Hopkins, Jan. 4; Vancouver Island Music Award winner, The Sweet Lowdown, Feb. 1; premier studio musicians Jeff Collins, David Johnson and Tony Creasman, March 1; and country and bluegrass masters Larry Cordle, Carl Jackson and Jerry Salley, April 5. Balsam Range, winner of the 2013 IBMA Album of the Year for PAPERTOWN, will also perform at each show.

Patrons can enjoy the added benefit of dinner with the members of Balsam Range before the concerts. Tickets for each concert are $20 at The Colonial Theatre box office or by calling 828.235.2760.

www.balsamrange.com.

Brasstown Ringers will present “A Brasstown Christmas” at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 6, at the First United Methodist Church in Franklin.

To the Editor:

Recently, we the employees of WestCare learned of an exciting decision that we are entering into a  partnership with Duke LifePoint Healthcare that will provide resources to help our hospitals in Sylva and Bryson City and our outpatient care center in Franklin serve our community. The new relationship will mean that MedWest is dissolved and WestCare will continue to maintain our long-standing clinical relationship with Mission Health.

This decision did not happen overnight. We have to thank our dedicated WestCare Board of Trustees and our representatives on the MedWest Board who have devoted countless hours over the last 18 months trying to find the right partner. The care of our local communities and the best interests of the dedicated WestCare employees and physicians remained their top priority in the decision-making process. 

We owe them much gratitude for ensuring that our local hospitals are viable for generations to come. Too many hospitals in the current healthcare environment have had to close their doors, but thanks to our WestCare Board of Trustees and our MedWest Board of Representatives, we have a bright future. This sentiment was echoed by staff at recent WestCare employee forums with reactions being hope and optimism. We believe that our new collaboration will lead WestCare into an era of improved health services and technology that would not have been financially possible before.

So if the opportunity presents itself, please reach out to the below listed WestCare Board of Trustee members and our representatives on the MedWest Board and let them know that you appreciate their relentless pursuit of healthcare excellence for our communities.

Board members include: Elizabeth “Bunny” Johns, Daniel Allison, Martha Anderson, MD, Lowell Crisp, Cliff Faull, MD, Joe Hurt, MD, Timothy Lewis, Stephanie Treadway, Ann Marie Wright, John Buenting, MD, Heather Baker, David Thomas, MD, Chuck Wooten and Mark Tyson

 Our MedWest Board of Directors representatives include: Elizabeth “Bunny” Johns, Cliff Faull, MD, Larry Selby, MD, Ed Lewis, MD, Mark Tyson, John Burton and Jerry McKinney.

Submitted on behalf of 288 WestCare employees.

Marian Garrett

Sylva

 Mike Grezlik

Waynesville

Jake Flannick • SMN Correspondent

Building consensus among the increasing number of residents and business owners in Cullowhee is critical to shaping the identity of the area. Growth is outpacing steps to establish a long-term plan for building and economic development, community planners and advocates here agree.

Jackson County Librarian Dottie Brunette will retire at the end of the year, and the public is invited to a reception in her honor from 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 11, at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva.

Brunette has been Jackson County Librarian since May 2007. Previously, she was branch librarian at the Albert Carlton-Cashiers Community Library in Cashiers, and before that worked at the Macon County Public Library and also at WCU’s Hunter Library.

A native of Sylva, Brunette graduated from Western Carolina University and received her Master of Library Science degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Brunette oversaw the library’s 2011 move from its previous location on Main Street to its new home on the site of the Old Courthouse. All together, Brunette has served the Fontana Regional Library system for 17 years. 

828.586.2016.

Michael Bruce 

2nd year assoc.

Hometown: Waynesville

Major: Web Technologies 

App: Class Schedule Organizer

As soon as he learned how to build a mobile application, Michael Bruce put his knowledge to work for his fellow-students.

He started developing an app to enable college students to organize their class schedules based on their major — a kind of digital academic adviser.

“It’s a way to put it in their hands,” he said.

Bruce, who is pursuing his associate’s degree in web technologies at Southwestern Community College, is part of a group of students and faculty from SCC and Western Carolina University who will give presentations and talks at the Carolina Coding Initiative from Dec. 9-11. Part of a series by the N.C. Center for the Advancement of Teaching, the seminars are meant to spread interest in computer programming.

Bruce hopes to share the difficulties he faced while developing his first mobile app, an inventory of photographs and descriptions of the classic cars and motorcycles at the Wheels Through Time museum in Maggie Valley. He spent more than 200 hours over about six months developing the app. 

“It’s a huge time commitment,” Bruce said. Among the technical challenges, he had to synchronize the images to different versions of the iPhone, whether by readjusting their resolution or size. 

Along with two others who helped develop the app, Bruce hopes to release it to Apple for approval. If it appears in the tech company’s app store, he is guaranteed a share of revenue from paid downloads.

In many ways, mobile developers are artists. They give shape to ideas by writing software code, usually involving more technical expertise than designing websites, said Bruce. He has a few web site clients in Waynesville, where he lives, and he has helped to build the site of the Sylva Police Department as part of a class project.

The craft can prove lucrative. Mobile apps generated nearly $10 billion in revenue in 2011, according to an October 2012 study by a wireless industry trade group. It said more than 500,000 jobs have emerged since Android Market and Apple iTunes, the two major app stores, opened in 2008.

Still, the chances of turning what many consider a side job into a livelihood are small. Given the stiff competition in a mobile app market flooded with developers, Bruce said, “The odds are stacked against you.” Few developers can hope for an app like Angry Birds, among the top-selling paid mobile apps for the iPhone in the United States and Europe.

Nonetheless, the app market is versatile, Bruce said, as it shifts away from investments in new concepts toward innovations of existing software programs.

Bruce, 23, plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in computer science at Western. He is committed to finding work in the filed he describes as an “intrinsic part of my life.”

— By Jake Flannick, SMN Correspondent

Hayden Thomas

Senior

Hometown: Burnsville

Major: Computer Science

App: Vehicle-Tracking (Public Transportation)

For Hayden Thomas, it’s all about practicality.

“I think my favorite part of the mobile apps course is that the information I’m learning all feels practical,” he said. “When I’m working on an assignment or studying an example, I know I’ll able to use the things I’m learning some other time.”

Thomas and his partner are currently working on a vehicle-tracking app, which takes Google Maps and applies it to the current location of public transportation. The app allows users to see and figure out how far a specific mode of public transportation may be from their stop. At Western Carolina University, the app would let students know just how far away their commuter bus is, giving them ways to better plan ahead.

“It will also be able to display the vehicle’s routes, stops and current speed,” Thomas explained. “The app is part of a larger project that will also include a website that users without smart phones can access, as well as tools that will help the people who run the buses to collect information about how people use their services.”

When developing an app idea, Thomas said, one of the biggest obstacles is determining if the idea warrants an app. Some ideas could be just applied to a website, while others could go straight to a smart phone.

“Some of the challenges with implementing the idea are anticipating how people will use the app and making sure that the app is easy to understand and use,” he said. “You can’t always predict how people will use your app, and after spending so much time working on it, you have ideas of how it should work.”

Asked if there is any downside to the increasing popularity of apps, Thomas is optimistic that the end justifies the means. He believes  each app can provide helpful resources.

“I think the only real downside to smart phone apps is that sometimes people end up focusing more on their phones than the world around them, but that’s a problem with a lot of modern technologies,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a major problem, though, and I think the usefulness of smart phones really outweighs the downsides.”

With graduation on the horizon, Thomas has enjoyed his time in the phone app course at WCU. Along with providing him with the tools he needs to enter the technological workforce, it also has opened many doors of creativity and analytical thought.

“I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect going into a mobile apps course,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot about working with Android and how to utilize its features, as well as how to make apps easy to understand and use, so that’s something that came as a pleasant surprise.”

— By Garret K. Woodward, Staff Writer

Blake Bowen

Senior 

Hometown: Asheville

Major: Computer Information Systems

App: Cherokee Language Learning

A self-proclaimed technology geek, Blake Bowen has been fascinated with smart phones since their inception.

“I always have to have the latest thing in technology, and right now that’s smart phones,” he said. “A smart phone is only as good as the apps that run on it, so I’m always looking for new and exciting apps.”

Bowen has found his niche in the phone apps course at Western Carolina University. He likes the format of the curriculum and how the academic side blurs the lines with the creative element of the process. And with each new phase of smart phone, comes an array of innovative and useful phone applications, or apps, like GPS, restaurant finders or breaking news, which can use the hardware to its fullest capacity.

“The course is based on real world projects with real clients. Dr. Clapper runs the course like a real development studio would, assigning students to a position that best suits their talents,” Bowen said. “There’s no grading rubric that students must follow. This allows students to explore and find solutions that would not be possible if the class was run like a typical college course. Our projects don’t have to include ‘X,’ ‘Y’ and ‘Z’ because ‘X,’ ‘Y’ and ‘Z’ isn’t the best solution.”

For his project, Bowen developed the “Talk To Me: A Cherokee Language-Learning App.” The app takes the Cherokee language and makes it into a fun, easy and interactive game design. Users connect symbols and sounds by listening to audio in four different games modes. They then use the app to process through different levels of the game. Eventually they retain the information on a subconscious level. Bowen developed the app as a collaboration between the Cherokee Studies, Computer Information Systems and Graphic Design departments at WCU.

“I think apps, particularly games, are the ultimate expression of creativity,” Bowen said. “So many of your senses are involved when using apps, and it takes a set of talented developers to be able to package everything into something of value that people will enjoy.”

Bowen will graduate at the end of this semester. He plans to continue work on the Cherokee app, and hopefully pursue other ideas he has ready to spring to life. 

“I started my career at WCU as a Computer Science major, which involved writing a bunch of algorithms that I personally hated doing. However, once Dr. Clapper showed me the types of apps his students were working on, I was immediately sold on picking up programming again,” he said. “It turns out I’m really good at programming, and I definitely found a niche that excites me.”

— By Garret K. Woodward, Staff Writer

Diedre Massingale

Graduate

Hometown: Balsam Grove 

Major: Web Technologies

App: Balsam Grove Cookbook

Diedre Massingale wanted to share the recipes of the Transylvania County hamlet where she lives with her family. So she turned to her technical expertise, developing a mobile application containing dozens of pages of ingredients, some of them family staples passed down from generation to generation.

It was an idea that took shape over many early mornings and evenings on her way to work or after family dinners. At 34, she has two kids, aged 11 and 14.

“If you’ve got it in your mind, you can do anything with it,” she said. Massingale earned a certificate in mobile app programming from Southwestern Community College in the spring. “Anybody can do anything” through computer programming, she said.

That is one of the messages she is seeking to share at a series of seminars, called the “Carolina Coding Initiative,” from Dec. 9-11. Students and faculty from Southwestern and Western Carolina University will give presentations and talks about computer programming as a way to spread interest in what has emerged as a major industry.

Massingale hopes to share the process of developing her cookbook app, which she finished a couple of weeks ago. At around the same time she finished another app, for a spa in Brevard, which allows users to view prices and arrange appointments.

She hopes her digital cookbook, which consists of instructions for two dozen recipes that are part of an existing community cookbook in Balsam Grove, will  draw recognition not only around the region, but across the country and beyond.

“There’s a lot of people who want small community,” said Massingale, who plans to offer it as a free download in the mobile app market in the near future. She expects to spend the next year developing a paid version, containing more than 300 total recipes in the cookbook, for the Android Market store. 

Massingale began studying computer programming in the mid-2000s. Since then, she has earned two online associate’s degrees — computer information technology and web technologies — also from Southwestern.

“It took me a while,” she said, balancing her main job as a teacher’s assistant at Davidson River School in Brevard. She helps maintain the school’s Chrome Books, donated through a grant from Google.

Massingale, who grew up in the Little Canada community in Jackson County, has faced some challenges  earning her degrees. After ruling out the possibility of making the one-hour drive to the closest Southwestern campus in Jackson, she sought grants to study online. She plans eventually to pursue a bachelor’s degree in teaching, for computer programming.

Perhaps her strongest motivation comes from her role as a mother.

“I wanted to do something for my family,” said Massingale.

For more information about the seminars, visit www.nccat.org.

— By Jake Flannick, SMN Correspondent

Todd Michael

Senior

Hometown: Burlington

Major: Computer Information Systems

App: Orientation (WCU campus tours)

Todd Michael knew from an early age that he wanted to pursue a career in phone apps.

“My interest in developing apps started when I was in high school and I got my first cell phone,” he said. “I had been learning very basic coding techniques and thought it’d be cool to develop apps as a career. Once I heard Dr. Clapper was going to be teaching a course in mobile web apps, I immediately wanted to sign up.”

Teaming up with the Western North Carolina Orientation Department, Michael and his partners are currently developing a mobile app that would give tours to freshmen and incoming transfer students. The app provides the user with a map and marker to pinpoint where they are and where they need to go using Google Maps.

“It’s how they can get from point A to point B on our campus,” Michael said. “This way, the users will not be confused as to where they are on campus. It will be completed and pushed out at the end of this semester.”

In bringing the idea to light, Thomas takes great pride in working patiently in a team to reach the completion of an idea. He believes he has gained teamwork skills that will make the transition from student to employee that much easier.

“I enjoy the fact that we are working in a team in order to achieve a goal,” he said. “Outside of school, new employees are going to be faced with challenges, such as working with people you’re unfamiliar with. In this capstone course, we must work with clients and interact with one another in order to develop our apps and their features.”

Looking into the future, Thomas sees the potential of new computers that don’t require a hard drive, where software is directly downloaded over the Internet.

“I believe there will come a time where mobile devices will reach a stage similar to this, where all the internal mobile software is loaded from a source outside the device,” he said. 

Thomas points to the personal and professional skills he has acquired through the phone app course as key to his success in future career pursuits. It’s about developing technology, but not losing sight of the original component: humanity.

“One of the most difficult challenges with developing a feature or idea for an app is making sure the client or user likes the new features of the idea,” he said. “As a developer, we may have great ideas, but ultimately it is the user who decides if those ideas are worth adding or not.”

— By Garret K. Woodward, Staff Writer

By Paul Clark • SMN Correspondent

So, here’s the problem. It’s raining and you need to catch the CAT TRAN, one of the purple vans that shuttle students and staff around Western Carolina University.

The Southern Appalachian Office of the Wilderness Society will host a reception for “Land of the Crooked Water,” an exhibit of works by Joshua Grant from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Dec. 3 at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. The series of art prints will be on display at the library through the month of January. 

“Land of the Crooked Water” depicts Western North Carolina landscapes in a combination of abstract and realist styles. 

828.524.3600 or www.fontanalib.org.

“An Enchanted Broadway Holiday Show” performed by award-winning recording artists Lee Lessack and Joanna O’Brien begins at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3, in the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center at Western Carolina University. 

The show will feature holiday classics such as “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” “Carol of the Bells,” “Some Children See Him,” “Merry Christmas, Darling” and “O Holy Night.”

Lessack, who is known for his graceful baritone, has toured the United States and Europe to sold-out crowds. In addition, he founded LML Music, which is home to more than 100 recording artists and performers. Soprano O’Brien has trained in classical music and has a degree in opera from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She has a wide range of musical styles, but has worked over the years to bridge the gap between opera, Broadway and pop.

The performance at WCU is part of the 2013-14 Arts and Cultural Events Performance Series. For more information about the ACE series, visit www.ace.wcu.edu. Tickets are free for students and $5 for all others.

bardoartscenter.wcu.edu or 828.227.2479.

The 2013 Franklin Christmas Parade will be at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 1 in downtown.

The Appalachian Women’s Museum has kicked off its first fundraiser since reaching an agreement with the Town of Dillsboro to restore and preserve the 1908 Farmhouse at the Monteith Farmstead.

The inaugural Hayweird County Hometown Holiday Jam will be at 9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 29, at the Water’n Hole Bar and Grill in Waynesville.

To the Editor:

For the past few months some of the people in Western North Carolina who write letters to the editor want to blame Gov. Pat McCrory for the sorry state of affairs in the State. He knew what he was getting into. He knew his popularity would suffer as he carried out his plan to get the state moving again and that his popularity would improve if he could increase employment and add more revenue to the state’s treasury. 

North Carolina was broke when he took over. It is going to take several years to repair the problems he inherited when he became the governor. He worked with legislators to fix tax laws that have hurt our state. 

Well over a million people are unemployed in North Carolina. Putting people back to work is the prime interest for Gov. McCrory. Without more people working and paying taxes, teachers, policemen and government works are not going to have their pay increased. Adding thousands of people to the employment list is the only way to increase our state’s income. 

With the new tax laws, several companies have moved into our state and several businesses have announced expansions. Out unemployment rate is now 8 percent. We have dropped from being 49 to 39 on the unemployment list. 

The unemployed people in North Carolina know that their governor is out there trying to help them find employment. Tell me how else we can improve our state’s social networks, including our education system, without adding more money to the state’s treasury? Whether you like Pat McCrory or not, he is a man who knows how to help people find jobs. People with jobs pay taxes and buy stuff, which is what North Carolina needs. It is too bad that is not happening all over the United States.

Jim Mueller

Glenville 

To the Editor:

As I write this, the stock market is hovering around record highs. The Federal Reserve is keeping interest rates low to stimulate borrowing and investment. Corporate profits are generally high and many companies are sitting on record amounts of cash. This should be the sign of a booming economy that is creating lots of jobs. In reality, the economy is stagnant and unemployment is stubbornly high. So what is the problem?

The problem is demand. The people who would buy the products that these companies make don’t have the money to purchase them. It’s fairly simple. There are two parts of a consumer economy: producers and consumers. If there’s no demand for the products, companies are not going to invest in more capacity and jobs. In this economy, it’s the consumers who are missing. While the wealthy certainly consume, there’s a limit to how much stuff they can buy that will stimulate the core economy.

If I have a successful business, I’m only going in invest in new production capacity if there is a demand for my product. If the majority of consumers don’t have money for other than essentials, then I’m not going to invest and create new jobs. Whether a small local business or a large corporation, if there’s no prospect of profit, there’s no investment and no new jobs. It’s that simple!

It is an article of faith among conservatives that the job creators are those with the wealth to invest in companies, thereby creating jobs for workers. This supply side approach to economics assumes that wealth will trickle down to the middle and lower economic classes. By this theory, the more money in the hands of the wealthy, the more will “trickle down” to the middle and lower economic classes.

Since the initiation of this strategy during the Reagan administration, there has been a dramatic redistribution of wealth in the country, moving more and more money into the accounts of the upper 5 percent and away from the 95 percent. Because of this transfer of wealth the 95 percent do not have enough money to keep the economy healthy through their purchases. That’s where we are now. 

So who are the job creators? Like most complex problems, such as operating a national economy, it’s a team effort. There is no doubt that investment money is needed (that’s the wealthy and money rich companies), but the consumer is equally important in having a thriving economy. If you want to meet a real job creator, go look in the mirror.

John Gladden

Franklin

To the Editor:

The response from zoning advocates — to my letter that was printed two weeks ago — was typical. There will always be people who place their aesthetic values over the rights of others. They will be supported by those who would like to eliminate more competition in the apartment business or other businesses. Then the people who think more government regulation is the answer to everything will gladly advance the effort of a small coalition of people who want to clean up old Cullowhee into an underhanded attempt to zone thousands of acres from Locust Creek to East Laport.

The approximately 300 property owners who may be about to have their property strictly zoned should have already been notified by certified mail of this possibility. The notion that these property owners should show up at meetings dominated by people who have been organizing for over two years is ridiculous. Questionnaires could have been sent out with tax notices.

Explain the U.S. 441 corridor zoning ordinance and what it has meant to us all instead of hiding behind the word “planning.”

Most all of us would like to see a more healthy Cullowhee, but shouldn’t it be accomplished in an approved democratic procedure (such as incorporation) with the vote of the majority of affected property owners?

Mike Clark

Cullowhee