Thanks to a new partnership, travelers along the Blue Ridge Parkway can access real time current road and weather conditions from one end of the historic roadway to the other, using BRPweather.com and BRPwebcams.org, newly installed weather stations and webcams. 

Renowned hiking expert and author Danny Bernstein will lead the next Friends of the Smokies Classic Hike on Tuesday, Nov. 19, along Lakeshore Trail at Fontana Lake. 

Smoke could be heavy in the Cades Cove area this month due to a series of controlled burns in the area by fire officials at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

Dillsboro Mayor

Mike Fitzgerald: 18

Dillsboro Town Board 

(five seats available)

Tim Parris: 22

David Jones: 21

David Gates: 20

Beauford Riddle: 19

Jimmy Cabe: 15

Forest Hills Mayor

Kolleen Begley: 30

Forest Hills Town Board 

(three seats available)

Carl Hooper: 27

Clark Corwin: 26

Ron Mau: 25

Webster Mayor

Nick Breedlove (write-in): 61

Webster Town Board 

(five seats open, top three get four-year terms; bottow two get two-year terms)

Tracy Rodes: 53

Danell Moses: 52

Allan Grant: 51

Janice Blanton: 42

Billie Jo Bryson: 37

Highlands Mayor

Patrick Taylor: 260

Brian Stiehler: 174

Highlands Town Board 

(two open seats)

Amy Patterson: 294

Donnie Calloway: 270

David Rogers: 121

Gary Drake: 106

Bryson City Town Board 

(two seats open)

Janine Crisp: 105

Frederick “Rick” Bryson: 85

Brad Walker: 57

Matthew Kirkland: 52

Tom Wilmot: 26

Clyde Town Board 

(two seats available)

Jim Trantham: 22

Carroll Mease: 21

To the Editor:

It’s that time of year again. The Maggie Valley Lodging Association is making plans for its 16th annual Turkey Drive to benefit Haywood County’s disadvantaged residents. 

When the Turkey Drive first started in 1997, we delivered turkey dinners to 45 families. In 1998, we were able to bring Thanksgiving dinners to 75 families. From 1999 through 2007, we have helped 150 families per year. In 2008, 2009 and 2010 we were able to increase that to meals for 200 families. In 2011 and 2012 we reached an all time high of 250 families!

Thanks to the continuing generosity of residents and businesses in the area, we are aiming for a goal of helping at least 250 families again this year, potentially providing in excess of 850 meals.

Our volunteers continue to work with Ingles in Waynesville Manager Jeff Henderson and his staff to purchase and package the food and with the Department of Social Services for its delivery. DSS determines who will receive the Thanksgiving meals based on economic criteria. We deliver the packaged boxes to DSS headquarters, and their counselors help us hand them out. With your generosity we hope to be able to make this year’s drive as successful as those in the recent past.

As in prior years, your donation of $25 will deliver a full meal plus fixings to a family who may otherwise go without Thanksgiving. The dinner includes a whole, uncooked turkey, dressing, vegetables, bread, dessert, and even a disposable foil-baking pan for preparing the bird.

Over the years, the Turkey Drive has turned into a true tradition that many look forward to. Please join with us in this effort once again. Send your check for $25 (or more), made out to MVALA-Turkey Drive (Maggie Valley Area Lodging Association) to: PO Box 1175, Maggie Valley, NC, 28751 as soon as you can.

Please note: Our association pays for all administrative costs, so every cent of your donation goes directly towards the cost of food.

With your help, we look forward to a very successful Thanksgiving Turkey Drive again this year.

Karen Hession

President

Maggie Valley Area Lodging Association

To the Editor:

Historically, the citizens of Jackson County have been overwhelmingly against zoning outside the city limits. After failing to get anywhere with county-wide zoning efforts for some 20 years, our county planners finally got the proposal of community-based zoning put before our commissioners about 15 years ago. Thankfully, the proposal failed. Only one elected Jackson County commissioner has ever voted for community-based zoning.

Approximately 10 years ago, our planners started the “smart growth” approach to planning that eventually led to land-use planning ordinances and regulations that are now among the most stringent in this state. But there will never be enough ordinances and regulations for some people, so our county planner is now working hard to implement more planning for the Cullowhee community.

Are you one of the approximately 300 property owners in this proposed zoning district? We’re all supposed to call it a “planning area,” but land planning general statutes normally regulate the location and use of buildings and structures. And those last nine words could easily mean that many people could suddenly have their property rights replaced by more ordinances, regulations, fees, fines and new taxes. Do you really believe that only the people living in the huge area around Cullowhee could lose property rights? How long will it be before it spreads to your community? Do you think there wouldn’t be the probability of annexation along with taxation?

You have to wonder why the proposed area contains so many restricted subdivisions. Is the reasoning that these people don’t rely so much on property rights, and would be more inclined to vote for zoning, or maybe that they would help provide a larger tax base someday?

And what about the claimed need for this planning? The six cited reasons are so lame that they haven’t even been mentioned by the committee (of which I am a member) supposedly working on this planning. Is it not an outrage that our property taxes pay the salary of a county planner leading this attempt to steal very important rights that are essential to the ownership of that property.

At least we can be thankful that the majority of our county commissioners campaigned and won the last election on the notion that we had indeed had enough of that sort of overbearing government. There’s no way that they will let a room full of people who think they just have to control the property of others take away such basic rights. 

The people who want this zoning are well organized and good at hiding their true intentions. It’s unlikely that they will mention zoning until late in the process. Probably the best thing all Jackson County voters who value their property rights could do right now is to let our county commissioners know by phone (828.631.2295), letter (401 Grindstaff Cove Road) or email (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) that we have had enough of these schemes that call for more and more ordinances and regulations. And write and/or call N.C. Sen. Jim Davis at 16 W. Jones Street, Room 2111, Raleigh, N.C., phone 919.733.5875. He seems to be for the protection of property rights.

Mike Clark

Cullowhee 

To the Editor:

What has been happening in Washington is more than a catastrophe. Congress is allowing unshared economic growth and prolonged economic insecurity for millions. One in five North Carolinians live in poverty. One in four children live in poverty and hunger. Here, in Macon County, 65 percent of our students now qualify for free or reduced lunch. Medical costs have risen so much since Medicare lost the ability to contract pricing that people are having to do without critical medicines and treatments. By dismantling many of our support nets and antipoverty tools — like the earned income credits — and failure to invest in schools, our own legislature has added to the problem. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Washington seek to make deep and prolonged cuts in all vital safety net programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, preschools programs, and SNAP which work for those among us who fall into lower social economic levels.

Congress should reject federal budget policies that ask the poorest and most vulnerable to bear the greatest load in putting our fiscal house in order. Sequestration targets the smallest portion of the federal budget. Fiscal policies under President Obama are slowly pulling us out. Dismantling and attacking those will result in a return to more insecurity.

I have tremendous respect for FDR’s policies, which pulled our country out of a deepening depression (for more information, read Bulls, Bears and the Ballot Box by Deitrick and Goldfarb, a well-researched popular take on our presidents from Hoover to Obama). What we know doesn’t work — because it has been tried many times — is the trickledown effect; that we have to take care of big business so it will take care of us. Big business doesn’t care. 

My favorite historical periods are the decades of the 1920s and 1930s when Big Business and their leaders led the USA. No job security, lack of safety measures, low pay, little medical care, nothing for seniors or children — who were often made to work until they dropped — brought about a cohesion of workers which resulted in the unions and federal regulations to protect the citizens of the U.S. What we are seeing now is a dismantling of these processes and a return to job insecurity, lack of access to education and training, destruction of mandatory standards in all areas. What does work? Investment in infrastructure, small business, jobs, education. Small business may well be the salvation of our country until a broader scale approach is developed and followed.

If this continues, and we don’t work together to stop it, what will be our end? Fortunately or unfortunately, some among us are still doing OK and aren’t stepping up to speak about the inequities. They may not speak out, but they are talking. We have to work together. Many recognize the problems, but few speak out. It is time to be part of the solution, not the problem

Get involved in community affairs. Go to community meetings. Get to know the facts, not the media fantasies. We need to be educated, not entertained. Find a local problem for which you can offer a solution — join a committee; be a reading volunteer, especially in third-grade classrooms which now face a critical pass or fail test; help fund Hospice House; volunteer to deliver meals. The list is endless for current needs. Please get involved.

Joan Maki

Franklin

To the Editor:

Red flag warnings that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka Obamacare, is a flawed bad law have been flying around from the get-go.

 The bill was ramrodded through Congress during a Christmas Eve session in the Senate. Who would have been paying attention on the eve of a serious U.S. holiday? House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., demanded that, “We have to vote for the bill to know what is in it!” Pelosi and Democrat leaders did not want anyone to know what was in it because this bad law, more than 2,000 pages long, raises taxes, penalizes businesses and therefore kills jobs, steals funding from Medicare, burdens younger citizens with high premiums and deductibles, is loaded with confining regulations, costs government far more than originally predicted and creates more than 150 new agencies, boards, and commissions made up of unelected people who are not accountable to us! Red flags!      

 To secure the necessary votes to pass the ACA, senators and congressman were bribed with funding promises  (Mary Landrieu, Louisiana) or waivers (Ben Nelson, Nebraska).  Michigan Rep. Stupak, a Democrat abortion issue holdout, was convinced to change his vote to “yes” and retired from politics. Red flag!

 Up to 16,000 new IRS employees will administer the mandate that all citizens buy health insurance. The same untrustworthy IRS agency whose agents denied or delayed conservative leaning groups their nonprofit tax status will now have access to our personal health care records.

Objections to the Affordable Care Act surface from all around the nation but we are reminded that the ACA is “the law.” Nevertheless President Obama, without congressional approval, has changed the law by granting 1,000 waivers, delays and additional subsidies, mostly to favored groups — unions, corporations, Congress and their staffs. But, no delays, waivers or exemptions are granted to ordinary individuals who are now burdened with insurance cancellations, additional taxes and penalties. Red flag!

The ACA website is under-functional after millions of dollars were spent to program the site. President Obama kept saying that if you like your insurance plan you can keep it and you can keep your doctor. Not so! Millions have been cancelled by their present insurance company and therefore their doctors because the policy they like does not meet ACA requirements … all policies are mandated now by government not by what the insured chooses. 

Employer funded insurance will be mandated by ACA/Obamacare requirements in 2014, causing many to be cancelled as well. We were told that ACA insurance will cost only $2,500 per year but even if premiums are low, deductibles are exorbitant. We have less choice and less competition.

 There is no doubt that some areas of our healthcare system should be fixed, but the Affordable Care Act is not the way. Tell your congressmen and senators it is time to repeal and redo this bad law and replace it with one that is affordable, improves the quality of our healthcare care, and maintains our personal choices. 

Carol Adams

Glenville

To the Editor:

I read with great interest The Smoky Mountain News’ Oct. 23 Op Ed page and particularly the piece by Robert G. Fulbright of Waynesville. Fulbright’s piece was right on and I totally agree with him!

As a matter of fact, I had written Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Cashiers, while the shutdown was underway, asking him to vote for the bill coming over to the House from the Senate to reopen the government and forego any possibility of default. I mentioned in my email that the shutdown, which he himself helped bring about (and he bragged about doing so), was doing great harm to citizens in his district, to families, businesses, and folks all across North Carolina, and indeed to our nation!

Further, I reminded Rep. Meadows that default would be catastrophic for not only our nation but for the entire global economy. I also pointed out that we — his constituents — would be watching and taking note of his vote.

So for Mr. Meadows, yes, as Mr. Fulbright suggested, we did take note of your vote on the government shutdown and taking the nation to the brink of default! 

 You, Rep. Meadows, will be held accountable for your reckless vote on this matter come November 2014.

Dr. Paul Y. Thompson (retired)

Franklin

Vet-Fest in Waynesville will feature a poker run, live music and food on Saturday, Nov. 9, in the Haywood Square shopping center. 

Live bands will play from 3 to 10 p.m., including Brian Keith & the Mile High Band, Smokerise and Fried Pie Experience. The event is family friendly.

A poker run starts at noon. Motorcyclists will visit five stops, drawing a card at each one to see who has the best hand by the end of the run. Stops include Jack’s Leather Shop in Maggie Valley, Legends in Maggie Valley, Harley Shop in Cherokee and Steel Horses.

The cost is $20 for drivers and $15 for passengers. Proceeds go to the Wounded Warrior Project and veterans initiatives. Haywood Square is in downtown Waynesville on Branner Avenue. 828.734.5795.

Native American Expo set for WCU

The 5th annual Native American Expo at Western Carolina University will run Nov. 11-13, with a series of events and presentations centered on Native American values, traditions and culture. All events will be held in the Grandroom of A.K. Hinds University Center.

Chris Teuton of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will discuss his book Cherokee Stories of Turtle Island Liars’ Club at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 11. Students from WCU Cherokee language and experimental archaeology classes will make presentations at 2:30 p.m. that day. Students from Cherokee Elementary School will perform native songs from 11:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Nov. 12. 

DiGali’I, the Native American student organization, will show the film “Smoke Signals” at 6:30 p.m., with a panel discussion to follow. WCU alumna Dr. Frances Owl-Smith, the first woman physician from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and Dr. Jerri McLemore, associate professor of pathology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and a member of the Creek Nation of Oklahoma, will be honored at 2:30 p.m. Nov. 13, with a closing reception to follow.

The expo, which includes a walkthrough exhibit displaying Native American artifacts and information, is sponsored by the Department of Intercultural Affairs, the Cherokee Studies Program, the Cherokee Heritage Center and the DiGali’I student organization.

Free.

828.227.2276 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

‘Trail of Tears’ symposium in Cherokee

The North Carolina Chapter of the Trail of Tears Association will host a symposium, “Remembering the Removal and Those Who Remained,” from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15, at the Joyce C. Dugan Cultural Arts Center at Cherokee Central School.

At 6 p.m., the N.C. TOTA will host a dinner at the Cultural Arts Center with Brett Riggs from UNC-Chapel Hill, an authority on removal in WNC, as the keynote speaker. There will be a short musical program before his presentation. Because of limited space, pre-registration is required. $25.

On Saturday, Nov.16, the N.C. TOTA will host a pilgrimage by bus to important WNC removal sites. The bus will depart from and arrive back at the Cultural Arts Center.  Due to limited space, pre-paid registration is required and is $40 per person, which includes a box lunch. The daylong symposium is free.

828.227.2735 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Cherokee history discussion in Sylva

In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, the Jackson County Arts Council will sponsor a presentation by Tyler Howe, tribal historic specialist for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, at the Jackson County Public Library Annex in Sylva.

The presentation is titled: “We are left to do the best we can for ourselves — A discussion of Cherokee Self-determination During the Removal Period in Western North Carolina.”

Free.

706.540.9238.

AWAKE (Adults Working and Advocating for Kids’ Empowerment) will host a 20th anniversary celebration from 3 to 6 p.m. Nov. 7 at the Nichols House in Sylva.

AWAKE’s mission is to coordinate and advocate services for abused children in Jackson County. It is a child-friendly place where child victims of abuse can be interviewed once, rather than having to retell the story and relive the trauma numerous times. AWAKE has a multi-disciplinary team who collaborates to effectively bring the child’s case to a resolution. They work to educate the community on signs of abuse and the importance of reporting abuse. AWAKE is available for families if on-site counseling is requested and also supports children and their families involved in criminal justice systems. 

Tickets are $20 per person. 

828.586.3574 or www.awakecenter.org. 

In the coming weeks, Western Carolina University senior Mike Hill may go out after dark to drive up and down the interstates. He’ll be looking at rest areas, hoping to find a brightly lit one with a deserted parking lot that lies next to a black stretch of highway. If the place looks creepy, like something out of a Stephen King story, even better — because it could be.

The world premiere of “Zombies on Campus! A SlaughterPocalypse!” hits the stage nightly at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13-19 in the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center at Western Carolina University.

“African Acrobatics International Presents: Zuma Zuma” will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

Celebrate the richness of African cultures with this show that blends acrobatics, dance and music by incredibly disciplined performers. “America’s Got Talent” finalists in 2011, Zuma Zuma combines the mysticism and magic of the African continent with the excitement of a theatrical cirque performance. With live music and percussionists, the talented cast performs a nonstop, action-packed show.

Tickets are $17 and $22.

866.273.4615 or www.greatmountainmusic.com. 

Bobby Tomberlin, Candi Carpenter and Bill LaBounty will bring an adventurous musical spirit to the Songwriters in the Round series from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16, at the Balsam Mountain Inn.

Country star Rodney Atkins will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16, at Harrah’s Cherokee Event Center.

Atkins has had six No. 1 hits on his first three albums, from “Watching You” and “These Are My People” to his most recent successes, “Take A Back Road” and the platinum selling “Farmer’s Daughter.” Though his new crop of songs has some edge, and the vocal energy may be amped up a notch, Atkins’s persona as a hard-working, patriotic, rock-solid country boy hasn’t changed from his 2003 debut “Honesty.”

Tickets are $24.50, $34.50 and $44.50.

800.745.3000 or www.harrahscherokee.com. 

Bluegrass star Rhonda Vincent will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

The North Carolina Wildlife Federation recently honored those who have contributed to the conservation and safety of the state’s natural resources. The awards were given at the Governor’s Conservation Achievement Awards banquet. The winners were: 

• Wildlife Enforcement Officer of the Year — Sgt. Chad Arnold with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s Special Investigations Unit for his major role in a four-year undercover operation to nab bear poachers.

• Natural Resources Agency of the Year — The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission for its participation in “Operation Something Bruin,” a multi-agency infiltration into bear poaching circles that led to multiple arrests in North Carolina and Georgia.

www.ncwildlife.org.

Platinum or china may be the standard 20th anniversary gift, but Friends of the Smokies, a non-profit organization that supports the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is hoping for a little something in green to celebrate its 20th year. For every $30 motorists pay for a specialty Friends of the Smokies license plate, $20 goes to the organization. According to the newest NC Department of Motor Vehicles report, third quarter sales of specialty license plates were the highest of this year generating $116,140 for Friends of the Smokies and more than $400,000 in specialty license plates in general.  The Friends of the Smokies funds are used on the North Carolina side of the park to help manage bears, support Elk Bugle Corps Park volunteers and educate schoolchildren on park activities. Since 1993, Friends of the Smokies organization has raised more than $41 million to help maintain Great Smoky Mountains National Park, including the establishment of the $4 million Trails Forever endowment to improve Smoky Mountain hiking trails in perpetuity.

www.friendsofthesmokies.org or 828.452.0720.

Buy Haywood has gone high tech to help promote the county’s abundance of locally grown produce, flowers and food items, and handcrafted products. A YouTube video at www.youtube.com/use/BuyHaywoodProject gives viewers a sample of the various products they can buy that originate from Haywood County. The video is designed to help boost agritourism in Haywood County, according to Tina Masciarelli, Buy Haywood project coordinator. “Each product is a whole that makes up our vibrant community,” she said. Masciarelli is also working on a Haywood County Agritourism Guide (formerly known as the Farm Map & Brochure).  She is looking for Haywood County farms that accept visitors, value-added or specialty food retail stores that feature products with Haywood County grown ingredients, farm to fork restaurants that support local farmers consistently throughout the growing season by featuring Haywood County ingredients in their menu items, roadside stands that sell Haywood County grown products or other farming or agriculture related recreation and/or educational opportunities.

www.facebook.com/buyhaywood or 828.734.9574.

More than $22,000 was raised for the Madison Hornbuckle Children’s Cancer Foundation at the 2nd annual Cherokee Harvest Half Marathon & 5K in Cherokee recently. Jill Konkol of Winston-Salem (18:50) and Phil Latter of Bryson City (15:38) were the winners of the 5K.

Duke Energy will spend more than $100,000 on seven streamside habitat projects in the watersheds and tailwaters of its Nantahala area hydroelectric projects. Duke’s Riparian Habitat Enhancement Fund grant of $109,057 plus matching and in-kind funds for the projects total $406,873.62.

People with physical disabilities will have better access to Lake Glenville, thanks to upgrades to some of the lake’s amenities.  

Blackrock Mountain summit, a 5,700 foot peak that overlooks the Blue Ridge Parkway, has been purchased by the Southern Applachian Highlands Conservancy (SAHC).

To the Editor:

When Reconstruction came to the South after the Civil War, big plantations were worked by nearly destitute farmers for a share of what their labor produced. They got enough to live on — barely — but the lion’s share of the produce went to the landowner. Farmers were intentionally kept poor, and this form of economic servitude lasted until the South became industrialized. 

Now can it be that North Carolina is trending back to a modern form of sharecropper economy? Disturbing indicators coming from the new administration in Raleigh point to a small, wealthy segment of the population controlling a larger, economically depressed population. Consider recent legislation designed to widen the separation between the wealthy and working man:

 Education — Reductions by the Republican legislature in per capita spending on public education has put North Carolina in the cellar, on a par with Mississippi where the schools are often so poor that employers have to retrain graduates on simple skills, in what are called “learning laboratories.” As has been proven for decades, a progressive school system graduates enlightened, capable students. However, the Mississippi case proves the reverse is also true. Dumbing down public education produces students who don’t know how to read a ruler, limiting them to menial jobs only. On the other hand, the legislature is working to build up private secondary schools, those that require substantial tuition to attend. Whose children do you think are going to be able to pay these high tuition costs? If this comes to pass, wealthy kids will do calculus; poor kids will be stuck with arithmetic … if even that. 

Massive jump in the number of sales tax items — Taking 4.75 percent out of the pocket of a millionaire for a purchase is chump change. But when you take 4.75 percent out of the pocket of someone who makes $10 an hour, it’s a big bite. Thus, when the Republican administration lowered the income tax to favor the rich and boosted the numbers of items by over 130 on which to impose sales tax, they swung the burden of paying for state services onto the middle and low-income people. 

Unemployment — To have a workforce available to work low-paying jobs, it is necessary that they stay hungry and under-employed. The drastic cut in unemployment benefits by the Republican administration in Raleigh effectively does just that: keeps wage earners desperate for any work they can get. 

Voting — In the legislature, 108 members don’t want elderly, Black, Hispanic, or working people to vote — because the fear that these voters would not vote for them. They are probably right, but it doesn’t mean that a restrictive voter identification law is the right thing to do. The spirit of democracy demands that everyone who is eligible to vote be encouraged to do so. The mandatory voter ID law passed by the Republican legislature is a pointless hurdle to be overcome by would-be voters and smacks of the old poll tax that was used to suppress the Black vote in North Carolina. Also, they have shortened the early voting period and eliminated on-site registration. What the Gang of 108 is saying is that if you are not with them, they don’t want you to vote. Remember, voting is power. The Gang of 108 wants to keep the power to themselves, the rest of us on the outside looking in. 

Healthcare — The Affordable Care Act will reduce health insurance premiums for working people by 25 to 50 percent, and ensure that they get timely health care, not desperation health care at emergency rooms. But, our elected Republican leaders in Raleigh have turned their backs on this extraordinary benefit from Washington. So, those of us who have been health care poor will stay health care poor. 

It’s clear that the Republican-led legislature in Raleigh is taking North Carolina toward a new plantation mentality, where the wealthy and empowered decide what share of the economic crop the rest of us can have. In the old days after the Civil War, it was “40 acres and a mule.” Are you ready for the 21st Century version? 

Rick Bryson 

Bryson City

To the Editor:

With the government shutdown fiasco, we have learned what TEA in Tea Party really stands for “Totally Egocentric Anarchists.” Tea Party legislators meet the definition of anarchist: a person who promotes disorder or excites revolt against any established rule or law.

They are certainly not patriots. They were willing to damage the U.S., its reputation, credit, and economy to oppose a law. That law (Obamacare) is largely based on previous Republican proposals and principles. The opposition — without any alternative solutions — seems based primarily on the fact that those Republican proposals are now embraced by a president who is not an old white guy.

They are not conservatives because the only things they seem to want to conserve are their personal bank accounts and the wealth of the rich. In this state they passed a law that could force landowners to allow oil companies to do fracking on their land to get at natural gas. At the national level, they want to do away with the Environmental Protection Agency so that corporations can pollute at will.

Before you think that the solution is to kick out all incumbents, remember that this mischief of the shutdown was caused by newly elected Tea Party legislators. If you want to avoid more mischief, kick out the Tea Party extremists and replace them with rational Republicans or Democrats.

Norman G. Hoffmann

Waynesville

To the Editor:

I would like Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Cashiers, to realize that there was a time when opposing parties would come together and work for the good of our citizens. Though there are many examples, let me point to one with which I was intimately involved. 

Throughout the fifties and sixties, the pollution problems of the Potomac River had become infamous. In 1957, the U.S. Public Health Service declared the Potomac unsafe for swimming. A sign fastened to the pier at Mt. Vernon advised visitors to “Avoid Contact With Polluted River Water.” The Potomac, the drinking water source for D.C., had become very difficult to adequately treat. 

This growing problem was addressed not by a political faction, but by a coalition of U.S. congressmen from the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. Maryland’s Republican Rep. Gilbert Gude led the group and brought national river legislation before the House. The coalition’s work continued over the next several decades, culminating in vastly improved water quality for all those who depended on the Potomac. “Environmentalist” was not a dirty word, but a term of which one could be justly proud.

Fast forward to October 2013. The Tea Party, willing to work only for their own narrow interests, reportedly has called Rep. Meadows their “poster boy.” The shutdown occurred because the Tea Party finds the Affordable Care Act — duly passed into law by our Congress — unpalatable for their taste. Thus they held the entire U.S. hostage.

Never mind the consequences. The small businesses wrecked by this shutdown, businesses that reach far beyond the direct furloughs, businesses that may not survive. The incredible devastation to the lives of hard-working men and women, barely keeping their heads above water in the best of times. This country is being taken back to the Dark Ages and those who are the architects – the Tea Party – are disclaiming any responsibility.

Give hope to those who have had their trust betrayed by their elected representatives.

Doug Woodward

Franklin

To the Editor:

I once asked a gentleman why he placed so much reliance on government and he replied, “Because your life can turn on a dime.” To me, that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. A recent example can be found in the recent problems with electronic bank transfers for food assistance. For these people, life did indeed turn on that dime. In the time it took to say “system down,” they went from being able to walk into the grocery store and purchase their whims to not being able to put food on the table. Dependency placed them in a very vulnerable position. 

Dependency is as much a mindset as it is a financial position. Those that ascribe to personal responsibility were better able to weather that storm because they took the time to practice restraint, watch the sales flyers, and cut coupons. They opt to methodically build upon their pantry staples. When the system went down, they were prepared. They may have failed to get that gallon of milk, but their family was not going to go hungry.

This exposure to vulnerability is not limited to individuals. During the government shutdown, when the White House ordered the park closed and the Pisgah Inn to cease operations, it had a ripple effect because so much of our area’s prosperity is based on tourism. 

The good news is that our citizens rallied to support the Pisgah Inn and both North Carolina and Tennessee decided to use state funds to reopen the park and preserve our local economy. The bad news is that both of these measures were reactive versus proactive.

We must be like the individual I noted above and keep staples in the pantry. The state must reconsider the current political power structure and revenue stream. It is as if we send a whole pig to D.C. then beg for a few strips of bacon for our compliance. 

In 1800, Thomas Jefferson wrote: “Our country is too large to have all its affairs directed by a single government. Public servants at such a distance, and from under the eye of their constituents, ... reduces us to a single consolidated government, it would become the most corrupt government on the earth.”

A bureaucrat in D.C. does not know you as a neighbor or friend, but rather as a statistic and a nuisance to be dismissed. As Brian Roberts stated in a recent piece regarding our politicians in D.C., “They are ignoring you, return the favor.” We must reclaim our state’s authority granted under the Tenth Amend-ment. If we do not change our level of dependency upon the federal government we will always be vulnerable to its decrees. After all, it was the states that created the federal government, not the other way around.

Ginny Jahrmarkt

Sapphire

Haywood Community College recently received a $20,000 matching grant from the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership (BRNHAP) to develop and implement an Appalachian Heritage Arts Music Program at the college.

Music Heritage is identified as one of the core interpretive themes for the BRNHAP focusing on traditional music with significant history in the region.   

The Appalachian Heritage Arts Music Program is designed for individuals to be able to explore the rich heritage of Appalachian music from the novice to those with career ambitions. Continuing Education classes are being offered in HCC’s Creative Arts Building in a dedicated space equipped with state of the art theatre surround sound and recording capabilities.

Classes include Guitar Basics, Introduction to the Banjo, and Getting Started on the Fiddle. As the program grows, other courses will be offered such as: Beginning and Advanced Old Time Bluegrass and Clawhammer Banjo; Bluegrass, Folk, and Bass Guitar; Mandolin; Dulcimer; Dobro; and Appalachian Clogging.

828.246.9233 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Eric Davis, 23, was indicted on one charge of first-degree murder and two charges of felony child abuse Monday. He is currently being held without bond.

Davis’ 4-year-old daughter was found injured and abuse in the Qualla Motel in Whittier Oct. 11. She was transported to Mission Hospital where she later died.

Davis initially faced charges of intentional child abused and inflicting serious bodily harm, but after an autopsy was completed, law enforcement added first-degree murder to the list of charges, which a grand jury indicted Davis on.

If found guilty of murder, Davis could face life in prison or even the death penalty.

The Jackson County Planning Department will host a meeting at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 5 at Cullowhee Valley School to gather input from residents about the future development of the area.

Jackson County Planner Gerald Green said the department is seeking the opinions of residents and business owners as it moves forward with the development of the Cullowhee Community Plan.

The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. with an informal question and answer session. The formal program will begin at 6 p.m. with an opportunity for attendees to provide their thoughts regarding the future development of Cullowhee. 

For information, contact Green at 828.631.2255 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Haywood Community Band will honor founding director Bob Hall during a performance at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 3, at the First United Methodist Church in Waynesville.

Selections include Joplin’s “Ragtime Follies,” The Symphonic Beatles and Greensleeves: A Fantasia for Band. The Haywood Community Band is supported in part by a grassroots grant from the Haywood County Arts Council and the North Carolina Arts Council.

Free.

www.haywoodcommunityband.org or 828.456.4800.

Art After Dark will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1, in downtown Waynesville.

Stroll through working studios and galleries on Main Street and Depot Street. Festive Art After Dark flags denote participating galleries, such as Haywood County Arts Council’s Gallery 86, Earthworks, Jeweler’s Workbench, Twigs and Leaves Gallery, TPennington Art Gallery, Main Street Artist’s Co-op, Grace Cathey Sculpture Garden and Gallery, Cedar Hill Studios and the Village Framer.

The event is presented by the Waynesville Gallery Association. Free.

www.downtownwaynesville.com.

Tickets for the 2013 Madrigal Dinner at Western Carolina University will go on sale at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5. The event will be held at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, in the Grandroom of WCU’s A.K. Hinds University Center. 

Held annually at WCU since 1970, the Madrigal Dinner recreates the pageantry, music and food of 16th-century England, with authentic madrigal entertainment and costumes. The menu will include a choice of three entrees: grilled pork loin chop with bourbon-apple glaze, honey citrus glazed Cornish game hen, or a vegetarian plate featuring a shepherd’s pie. They entrees will be served with wassail, hearts of romaine salad with sugared pecans and dried cranberries with a balsamic vinaigrette, roasted garlic mashed new potatoes, honey cinnamon glazed carrots, plum pudding, rolls, tea, water and coffee. Tables seat eight patrons.

Tickets are $23 for WCU students and $38 for all others. They may be purchased in the administrative offices located on the second floor of the University Center from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Reservations can be made over the telephone by calling 828.227.7206, but the tickets must be purchased with a credit card (MasterCard, Visa or Discover.)

www.wcu.edu. 

Quilter Susan Sheets (pictured) was one of many first place winners from Jackson County at the 2013 Mountain State Fair.

George Frizzell, head of special collections at Western Carolina University’s Hunter Library, is the 2013 recipient of the Thornton W. Mitchell Service Award for outstanding service to the archival profession in North Carolina.

The Western Carolina University School of Music will present a concert by the Smoky Mountain Brass Quintet at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5, at the recital hall of the Coulter Building in Cullowhee.

A Sylva conservation organization was featured at the Making a Difference Monday program Oct. 21 at the Oskar Blues Tasty Weasel Taproom in Brevard. 

The Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards demonstrated cross-cut saw skills they use when building and maintaining trails in wilderness areas. They also discussed SAWS’ work in the national forests of the Southeast. SAWS is a project of the Southern Appalachian Office of The Wilderness Society in Sylva. 

Sales in the Tasty Weasel Taproom went to SAWS to support its trail stewardship and restoration work in the Appalachians.

www.trailcrews.org.

A Bryson City brewery has chipped in $1,000 to support the Appalachian Trail Ridgerunner program, whose mission is to preserve and improve the hiking experience along the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

The recent donation by Nantahala Brewing Co., which uses water from the Smokies in its beer making, came from sales of its newly released Trail Magic Ale. This sixth installment of the Trail Magic Ale series is a 10.2 percent Rye Wine and an award-winning beer, named for the random acts of kindness many hikers experience along the A.T. 

The brew company was founded in early 2009 and brewery operations and distribution began in May of 2010. For 15 years the Ridgerunner program has recruited individuals to provide visitor information, perform trail maintenance, advise hikers on trail conditions and provide vital real-time information for emergencies and possible problem bears along the 71 miles of A.T. that run through the Smokies. 

www.friendsofthesmokies.org or 828.452.0720.

Olympic silver medalist and Asheville resident Lauren Tamayo will serve as guest speaker at the Haywood Chamber of Commerce Women in Business luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Nov. 5 at the Gateway Club in Waynesville.

Tamayo is a veteran rider with 15 years racing experience, a multiple Junior and U23 National Champion and Pan American Champion, and a National Team member who has represented the United States in both the Junior and Elite World Championships for both the track and road. 

Cost is $25 for Chamber members and $30 for non-members. Registration is required. The Gateway Club is located at 37 Church St. in Waynesville.

828.456.3021 or www.haywoodchamber.com.

Paddlers and swiftwater rescue experts from across the country will gather Oct. 25-27 in Jackson County for the 2013 American Canoe Association Swiftwater Rescue Conference, much of it on the Tuckaseegee River.

The Land Trust for the Little Tennessee (LTLT) will host its 14th annual fall celebration from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, at the Historic Cowee School near Franklin.

Forget roses. Susan Belcher is hoping for beds of Cullowhee lilies to blanket Western North Carolina in the coming years. 

Belcher — the wife of WCU Chancellor John Belcher — is leading an effort by the Western Carolina University Alumni Association to re-establish the flower in the Cullowhee valley by selling packages of the flower bulbs. The proceeds will be used to support the development of Cullowhee lily flowerbeds on campus and to grow a WCU Alumni Association Scholarship fund.

The packages will be sold through the month of October for $10 each. They may be purchased at Catamount Clothing and Gifts and Tuckasegee Trading Co. in Cullowhee; Bradley’s General Store, Dillsboro Smokehouse, Dogwood Crafters, Hopberry – A Primitive Home Collection, Oaks Gallery, Tunnel Mountain Crafts in Dillsboro; at Bryson Farm Supply, Country Road Farms Nursery & Garden Center, Ray’s Florist & Greenhouse and the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce in Sylva; and at other locations in Jackson County. The bulbs and Cullowhee lily notecards will be for sale before and during the Catamount Homecoming game against Elon Saturday, Oct. 26. 

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 828.227.7335.

Award winning naturalist and writer George Ellison will present a lecture titled “Edible, Utilitarian, and Religio-Medical Plants Used by the Cherokees” at 7 p.m. Nov. 4 at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin.  

Every fall, folks flock to Rhodes Big View between Highlands and Cashiers to photograph the bear shadow that appears in the Chattooga River headwaters. Photographers set up their cameras and wait for the shadow to creep over the mountains.