A press release from Duke Energy reports that almost 20,000 customers in the six western counties are without power as of 2 p.m. Thursday, June 16, and about 6,700 of those customers in Swain County may not have their electricity service restored until Sunday night, June 19.

The power outages are a result of an intense thunderstorm with high winds that hit the area Wednesday evening. Falling limbs and trees broke down lines and poles. Hardest hit are the Bryson City, Cherokee, Cullowhee and Sylva areas of Swain and Jackson counties.

The storm caused about 26,000 power outages, the most since Hurricane Ivan in September 2004.  (Hurricane Ivan knocked off 31,720 customers overnight on Sept. 16-17, 2004.)

Here is Duke’s estimate of when power will be restored, though the power company says it hopes to beat its estimates:

• Cherokee County
138 without power
Estimated restoration: 11 p.m. Friday, June 17

• Graham
1,215 without power
Estimated restoration: 5 p.m.  Saturday, June 18

• Jackson
9,592 without power
Estimated restoration, Cashiers: 11 p.m. Thursday, June 16
Estimated restoration, rest of Jackson County: 11 p.m. Sunday, June 19

• Macon
2,141 without power
Estimated restoration: 11 p.m. Friday, June 17

• Swain
6,775 without power
Estimated restoration: 11 p.m. Sunday, June 19

Total: 19,861

Outage statistics by county are available at the Duke website,  http://www.duke-energy.com/north-carolina/outages/current.asp

Duke hydroelectric generating reservoirs are currently are handling the runoff. Lake levels are at:  http://www.duke-energy.com/lakes/nantahala/nantahala-lake-levels.asp

So far 570 individual sites with damage have been identified.  While damage assessment is ongoing, scouting teams have reported more than 50 broken poles.

The first wave of over 400 additional Duke crews and contractors from Hickory, Greensboro, and Charlotte areas have begun work in the area.

Duke Energy’s Nantahala Area is a rugged mountain area of 1,729 square miles with about 75,000 customers. They are in Cherokee, Graham, Jackson, Macon, and Swain counties. Customers in these counties include the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, located mostly in Jackson and Swain counties.

Protect appliances by turning off lights and as many appliances and electronics as possible – including heating or air conditioning systems — while the power is out. This will help prevent circuit overload situations when power is restored. You will also reduce the potential for damage to sensitive equipment such as computers, microwave ovens, televisions and recording devices.

Call 800.769.3766 to report a power outage

Come learn about and see live owls Thursday evening, June 16, at The Highlands Biological Foundation’s Nature Center amphitheatre.

The event begins at 8 p.m. with an hour-long educational presentation by the Carolina Raptor Center in collaboration with the Highlands Plateau Audubon Society. Then, at nightfall, participants will have the chance to learn the different calls of local owls from members of the Highlands Plateau Audubon Society before they split into small groups to prowl for owls.  

The “Owl Prowl” is part of the foundation’s “Think About Thursdays” summer lecture series that focuses on the beauty and biodiversity of the southern Appalachians.

Participants should wear light clothing and bring a flashlight. The Owl Prowl is free to the public but contributions to the Carolina Raptor Center are appreciated.

Parking is extremely limited, so visitors are encouraged to carpool or park downtown and walk. 828.526.2221 or www.wcu.edu/hbs.

A guided hike covering ancient Cherokee trails in Highlands will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday, June 23. Wild South Cultural Preservation Director Lamar Marshall will lead the hike.

The Highlands Biological Foundation, as part of their “Think About Thursdays” summer event series, will host the hike. Much of the road system in the Southeast is built directly on Cherokee trails and corridors, which means that, essentially, the Cherokee developed our road system. Marshall has been part of a recent initiative to find and restore the trail and road system of the Cherokee Nation in Western North Carolina.

The hike will leave from the Highlands Nature Center (parking is limited). Advanced registration is required. $10, including lunch.

828.526.2602.

A hike along the Devil’s Britches Trail will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, June 21, at Cataloochee Ranch in Maggie Valley. The Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy (SAHC) is holding the hike.

Judy Coker, ranch owner, and Claire Hobbs, SAHC Public Relations and Outreach Associate, will lead the hike. The hike is of moderate difficulty and covers about four miles, including vistas of the Plott Balsam Range, Hemphill Bald and Soco Gap. The trail will begin at the Ski Lodge Road and turn down the Bunchberry trail until it intersects with the Devil’s Britches road.

Lunch will be at Todd’s Folly rest area, and the return is downhill on Pine Tree Gap Road. Participants should bring water, a camera, warm jacket, sturdy shoes and lunch. Free for SAHC members, $10 for nonmembers. RSVP required.

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

“WNC Nesters,” a field trip from Heintooga Road down to Kituwah, will be held at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 18, by the Great Smoky Mountains Audubon Society as part of their summer program schedule.

Don Hendershot will lead the field trip. Hendershot is a naturalist, biological consultant and freelance writer. His column, “The Naturalist’s Corner,” has appeared in The Smoky Mountain News for more than a decade. He was one of seven journalists in the Southeast nominated for Wild South’s 2011 Roosevelt-Ashe “Outstanding Journalist in Conservation” award.

The field trip group will meet at the Wal-Mart parking lot near Verizon in Waynesville. Participants should bring a bag lunch, water and rain gear. The field trip is free and open to everyone. GSMAS.com.

Discover Life in America (DLIA) is holding a number of events this summer for the public to experience the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Discover Life is a nonprofit organization devoted to identifying every creature in the park. Volunteers are critical to the group’s project.

Tree-team training will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 18. The event is a special, initial training session for a special long-term project in the Smokies. The goal is to document the associated invertebrates of the declining trees of the park. Three or four collecting events will follow the training.

Additionally, DLIA’s Biodiversity Days in the Smokies begins June 22 with a presentation on the Spruce-Fir Moss spider. On June 23, scientific illustrations will be featured. On June 24, there will be a presentation on Springtails and on June 25, there will be a Fern Foray field survey.

828.430.4757.

The Little Tennessee Watershed Association will hold an all-day fundraiser June 23 at local restaurants.

The money raised will benefit the nonprofit organization, which for the past 21 years has worked to protect and restore the health of the Little Tennessee River and its tributaries.

The restaurants involved are Anthony’s in Bryson City, Grapes and Beans Café, in Clayton, Ga., Rana Rinata in Franklin and Fresser’s Eatery in Highlands.

Additionally, Outdoor 76 in Franklin will provide discount coupons for clothing and outdoor recreational equipment at all restaurant locations for this event.

A locally produced summer brunch will be provided by the Jackson County Farmers Market at 11 a.m. on June 26. A tour of three Cullowhee farms will follow the brunch.

The farms available for touring are: Full Spectrum Farms, a 34-acre farm on a mission to serve adults on the autism spectrum; Avant Garden Farm and Venue, a small farm focused on sustainability; and Registered Nursery, a Caney Fork flower garden with select perennials, herbs and lilac bushes.

Ticket prices for the brunch include a buffet prepared by professional chef Chris Dole, beverages, tax, gratuity and farm tour for $40. Tickets are sold at the farmers market or online. Tickets are also available for the farm tour portion only for $10 per car. Proceeds benefit the farmer’s market.

828.631.3033 or locallyproducedevents.com.

The Haywood Historic Farmers Market will be even more festive and lively than usual this Saturday, June 18.

Farmers and market vendors will be cooking up dishes using local foods, including a grilling booth, and giving out free samples and recipes.

Jeanne Driese, a master gardener, will present a soil talk and slideshow at 9 and 11 a.m. about why old-growth forests don’t need fertilizer and how they grow without our “help.” Driese is a member of Big Spring Master Gardeners Association of Greene County Tenn., and has been an organic gardener for 50 years.

Barbara Duncan, awarding winning author, singer, songwriter and poet, will be on stage. Duncan is the educational director at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. She’ll be featured from 9:30 a.m. till 11 a.m.

The Farmers Market runs from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the HART Theater parking lot, next to the Shelton House on Pigeon Street in Waynesville

facebook.com/waynesvillefarmersmarket

Catherine Carter, a WCU professor and poet, will read from and discuss her collection of poetry, Memory of Gills, at City Lights Bookstore at 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 16. The Coffee with the Poet gathering is an ongoing series held every third Thursday of the month and is cosponsored by City Lights Bookstore and NetWest.

Carter’s first volume of poetry exudes a genuinely classical quality: clear-eyed, intelligent, unsentimental, self-aware, and witty in the fullest and best sense.

828.586.9499.

Author Hattie Caldwell Davis will read at the Haywood County Library in Waynesville at 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 19, as part of the Sunday Concert Series at the library.

Davis has written seven books that document the true life stories and histories of the people and places of the Cataloochee and Maggie Valley regions. Her stories describe the life and times of the Western North Carolina pioneer families who settled in the Cataloochee Valley during the 1800s.The event is sponsored by the Haywood County Arts Council. www.haywoodarts.org.

Friends of the Haywood Library will offer a new series, Discovering the Literary South, the Louis D. Rubin Jr. Series, from 4 to 6 p.m. beginning June 23 at the Waynesville branch in the auditorium.

The books in this series demonstrate the “southern-ness” which Rubin noted in his study of Southern literature in the 1950s. The books in the series were all published within the last 20 years, and the region these books travel is home to coal miners, peach growers, tenant farmers, storekeepers, Pentecostal preachers and rockabilly crooners.

The five books to be discussed are Gap Creek: The Story of a Marriage on June 23, A Virtuous Woman, July 14, The Jew Store, Aug. 11; Clover, Aug. 25; and The Coal Tatoo, A Novel, Sept. 15.

The books are free and available at the library beginning June 2.  Discussions will be led by scholars and professors from nearby colleges and universities.

828.456.5311 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Auditions for Playfest will get under way Wednesday, June 22, in Cashiers for actors who can play roles between ages 30 to 80. Auditions will be held in the meeting room/theater of the Albert Carlton Cashiers Library. Afternoon auditions begin at 2 p.m. and evening auditions at 6:30 p.m.  

Playfest is an evening of staged play readings with blocking, lighting, sound effects, and suggestions of costuming, but with scripts in hand so that no memorization is necessary. Ellen Greenwald at 828.743.1802.

“Educating Rita,” an award-winning play, will be on stage June 15 through 19, and again from July 1 to 3, at the Martin-Lipscomb Performing Arts Center in Highlands.

The play follows the relationship between a young working-class hairdresser and Dr. Frank Bryant, a cynical middle-aged university lecturer, over a year of night classes.  

The Small Stage Production is co-produced by the Martin -Lipscomb Performing Arts Center and the Highlands-Cashiers Players.

828.526.9047.

A craft festival will be held from 9:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. on June 18 at the Old Mill 1886 in Cherokee.

Artists from all over the Southeast will demonstrate and sell their hand-crafted works. Artists will include Cherokee artists, wood carvers, blacksmiths, quilters, jewelry designers, Appalachian crafters and authors. Smoked barbecue, kettle corn, homemade ice cream and music will be available.

Free admission. 828.497.6526

The Haywood Community Band will perform its second free concert at 6:30 p.m. on June 19, at the pavilion adjacent to the Maggie Valley Town Hall.

The theme is ‘Rhythmization’ and will feature songs such as “Syncopated Clock,” “Sentimental Journey,” and “Take Five.” The concert is sponsored by the Maggie Valley Civic Association. 828.452.5553 or 828.452.7530 or visit www.haywoodcommunityband.com.

The Schoolhouse Café will be opening in the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center on June 15. The café is located in the main building and will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 12 to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Patrons can use the free high-speed Internet as well as outdoor seating. Rose Moberly, formerly of Rosy’s Café in Robbinsville, will be both managing and cooking for the café, which will use local supplies whenever possible.

828.479.3364 or visit www.stecoahvalleycenter.com.

An old-time community songfest will be held at 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 19, at the Town Square in downtown Franklin.

The program will include group singing of old and not-so-old familiar and patriotic songs like “You Are My Sunshine,” “America” and “All I Have To Do Is Dream,” with emphasis on round and harmony singing.  

Ubuntu Franklin, a local a cappella singing group, will demonstrate their special style of participatory singing. Food may be purchased from downtown restaurants and vendors, or attendees can bring their own.

828.524.7683 or visit www.artscouncilofmacon.org.

A Ladies’ Night Out pairing weaving and wine will be held at Oaks Gallery in Dillsboro from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 21.

Learn to weave a small project — a bookmark, festive coaster or a potholder — while spending some quality time with your female friends. Led by Susan Leveille, a weaver all her life and teacher for almost 40 years, she and her husband, Bob, have owned Oaks Gallery for 23 years.

Cost is $6 for the weaving yarn/supplies.

Voices in the Laurel, a regional youth choir, is set to perform on June 18 at Turner Field for the Atlanta Braves game. Tickets are still available for the game on the Atlanta Braves website, www.atlantabraves.com, or tune in to MLB on FOX TV to see the performance.

The choir has been invited to perform every summer for the Atlanta Braves games, in addition to invitational performances around the world, including Washington, D.C., Denver, Manhattan, London, France, Nashville and Asheville.

828.734.8413 or visit www.voicesinthelaurel.org.

The Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival will host five concert showcases for five consecutive Sundays beginning June 19 and ending July 17.

All concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m., except two matinee concerts beginning at 3 p.m. on June 26 and July 3. The concerts will be held at the Performing Arts Center in Waynesville. The Enso String Quartet will play the June 19 and June 26 concerts and the Jasper Quartet will join the festival for the July concerts.

Tickets are $20 or $75 for a season ticket. Students are admitted free of charge. The concerts are sponsored by the Haywood County Arts Council.

828.452.0593 or visit swannanoachambermusic.com.

The Airing of the Quilts exhibit will be held at the new Jackson County Library Complex from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Friday, June 24, and from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 25. The event will include a quilt exhibit, a fashion show and a luncheon. It is the first event to be held at the library and will showcase the work of local quilt makers, both past and present. Antique quilts on loan from area residents will be a part of the show and the collection of quilts will be displayed throughout the library.

Tickets for Saturday’s fashion show and luncheon are $20. The exhibit is free.

828.508.8697 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or 828.293.5004 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Haywood County Library’s reading program starts Saturday, June 18 with a party beginning at 1 p.m. at the Haywood County Public Library. Magician Ric Singleton will be performing and free popcorn and snow cones will be available.

The program’s theme is “One World, Many Stories.” A teen writing workshop will be offered from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. June 21 and 28, and July 5 and 12. Doris Mager, a.k.a. The Eagle Lady, will return with her Birds of Prey show, there will be appearances by Didgeridoos Down Under, a performance by the Red Herring Puppets, a show titled The Miracle of Science and a Lego Week in July among the features of this summer’s program, which caters to all ages.

828.452.5169.

The summer reading program at the Jackson County Public Library is getting started at 7 p.m. on June 20, with a performance by storyteller Lloyd Arneach.

His stories range from old Cherokee stories to contemporary pieces that he has collected, and many are light-hearted and humorous while highlighting the Cherokee reverence for nature.  

The program will continue throughout the summer, with four age groups available: toddler (birth-2 years), preschool (3-5 years), school age (6-12 years), and young adult (13-18 years). The program will allow kids to explore places from Oceania to Russia through stories, crafts, music, dance and other activities.

Families are welcome to join the Read-to-Me portion of the program. Additionally, an evening program titled “Sleepy Time: Lullabies and Bedtimes around the World” will be held for families. The program began June 13 and will end the last week of July. Registration will be held at the Friends of the Library Used Book Store at 536 West Main Street.

No phone registration will be accepted. Fontanalib.org/Sylva or Betty Screven 828.586.1640 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

To the Editor:

My name is Brian Strum and I live in Clyde. Just prior to my move to Haywood County six years ago, I had put myself into a situation where I had to seek legal advice. After speaking with another attorney regarding the nature of my situation, I was referred to Reid Brown. 

From the moment I met Mr. Brown through the resolution of my legal issues, Mr. Brown treated me as a mentor. The time and care that he showed to me as a client didn’t save me from legal hassles, it did, however, save my life. Having become acquainted with other residents of Haywood County during the course of the last six years, I have encountered others whose lives have been profoundly blessed by time with Mr. Brown. I am forever in debt to Mr. Brown and have repeated my regard for him to many in my life with great and often numbing detail.

I repeat it here for those whom I have not yet had the pleasure of speaking with. In my opinion, Reid Brown is a saint and I will forever hold him in the highest regard.

Brian Strum

Clyde

To the Editor:

A new federal study confirms what many people have sensed — news coverage of state and local government is shrinking at a frightful rate. Politicians who used to fear the press no longer have to worry about being called out.

Here in North Carolina, we don’t have to look further than Raleigh to see what that means. The radical Republicans have cut off House debate 25 times since the session began in February. That compares to only seven times that the Democrats did it in the previous four years.

But I didn’t read that in a newspaper or hear it on television. I learned it from Rep. Ray Rapp’s weekly e-mail, “Ray’s Raleigh Report,” for June 10.

Although his news this time was mostly dismal, there was one bright spot unnoticed in the local media. It was thte passage of HB 824, a nonpartisan redistricting system similar to Iowa’s. Although it would not take effect until the 2020 redistricting, some progress is better than none. Let’s see what the Senate does.

But at the same time the House was abusing power at a breathtaking pace. Some examples:

• Voting to ban dues checkoff for the teacher’s union as punishment for its criticism of the Republicans’ barbarian budget.

• Intruding into doctors’ offices to require women to pay for pre-abortion ultrasounds and listen to what would amount to right-to-life propaganda.

• Plotting to repeal the Racial Justice Act as an amendment substituted for an unrelated Senate bill.

• Requiring picture IDs at the voting booth, where there is rarely fraud, but not for absentee voting, which is more vulnerable to abuse. Some 460,000 North Carolina voters do not have picture IDs. The Republicans know most of them to be students, the elderly, blacks, and poor; in other words, Democratic voters who the Republicans hope will neglect to get the photo IDs.

There hasn’t been such bullying, scheming, and dirty dealing since the Sopranos went off the air. Unfortunately, Republicans at Raleigh is a reality show.

Adding insult to injury with Orwellian doublespeak, they call their voter suppression act a bill to “Restore Confidence in Government.” The only way to restore confidence in North Carolina government is to vote that gang out of Raleigh

Martin A. Dyckman

Waynesville

To the Editor:

Carrie Hahn’s June 8 letter to the editor criticizing The Smoky Mountain News and Reporter Quintin Ellison for the article “Crossing the Line” fails to note that it is not the role of a newspaper to be a cheerleader for elected officials. A newspaper has a duty to hold elected officials accountable to the public. This is what the article does in regards to Macon County Sheriff Robbie Holland.

When a person puts himself up to run for public office, that person is no longer a private citizen. They are fair game to the media looking over their shoulders and reporting on their actions or non-action in their official capacity.

The article in question was well balanced by presenting both sides of this controversy and the issue is a legitimate news story. The role of a newspaper is to be a watchdog on elected officials to guard against abuse of power. That is why our founding fathers granted freedom of the press in the First Amendment. And, by the same token, that is why letters to the editor give those who disagree with a news story the right to air their views on the news of the day, as Hahn has done.  

Hahn’s attack on Ellison, calling her reporting abilities as “amazingly inadequate” has not been my impression of Ellison. Let me assure Hahn that Ellison is one of the best investigative reporters it has been my pleasure to know. I spent many of my adult years as a newspaper reporter, beginning in 1960, so I feel qualified to pass judgment on Ellison’s reporting ability.

The story was not “tawdry sensationalist journalism in a local newspaper” as Hahn says. On its face, it appears to be an issue of community interest and therefore it has news value concerning an elected official, a sheriff.

All too often we are prone to accuse the messenger (reporter) who brings us the bad news of being prejudiced, biased, and/or inadequate when we disagree with their reporting. These criticism are often rendered in order to take the spotlight off the issue surrounding the story.

I do not know who is right or wrong in this controversy. But The Smoky Mountain News did not step out of bounds in bringing this situation to the public’s attention.

The Smoky Mountain News has left it up to the public to draw its own conclusion regarding this incident from the information in the story. Hahn has certainly presented her reaction to this story quite vocally. Although I disagree with her, I do commend her for taking the time to write.

Bob Scott

Franklin

Tony “T.J.” Eaves, a rising Western Carolina University senior from Hamlet, recently was elected 2011-12 WCU student body president.

Eaves previously served as chief justice of WCU’s Student Government Association supreme court. Eaves is pursuing a degree in business administration and law, and is a member of Mortar Board Honor Society.

He is the son of Tony and Tina Eaves and a 2008 graduate of Richmond Senior High School. As SGA president, Eaves serves as an ex-officio member of the WCU Board of Trustees.

MedWest Health System is now offering a nurse advice line.

The MedWest Nurse Line, 1-855-MEDWEST (633-9378) is a call center based service that will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The call center is operated by TeleHealth Solutions.

The call center is staffed with qualified customer service representatives and registered nurses trained to be experts in telephone triage.

The advice line is not intended to replace primary care physicians or to handle emergency health issues. Nurses will provide general information and cannot diagnose or provide patient-specific information as they do not have access to a patient’s medical records.

Common problems that might be appropriate for the MedWest Nurse Line include burns, chronic headaches or other persistent aches, and high fever. If follow-up care is needed, callers are directed to the nearest emergency department, urgent care center or physician practice — depending on the nature of the call.

Southwestern Community College is integrating some of its classes into the Web Technology program, which will allow students to develop applications for Android and Apple operating system devices.

The classes will look at Android phones and tablets and Apple iPhones, iPads and iPods.

Southwestern is also introducing two new programming courses including JAVA and C#. These are two of the most commonly used languages in mobile application development.

The college will offer a Mobile Design certificate that would be an option for those who don’t want a full two year degree or already have a degree.

Both the Web Technology and Computer Information Technology curriculums are offered totally online.

828.339.4494 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

National HIV Testing Day is June 27. Free tests will be provided at the Haywood County Health Department all day from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. No appointments are necessary and walk-ins will be accepted. Incentives will be available to those who are tested.

828.452.6675

“Ideas that Changed the World” will be the focus of the second-annual Explorations in History Summer Institute, a five-day program for teachers that will be held in June at Western Carolina University.

This year’s institute will assist teachers in investigating ways to teach world history and world literature in middle grade and secondary classrooms, with activities each day including seminars, hands-on activities and the use of primary documents. The institute will be held Monday, June 20, through Friday, June 24, with a different topic and speaker featured each day.

The program is designed for teachers of history, social science and literature, but it would also be relevant for other teachers and individuals interested in learning more about world history and literature.

learn.wcu.edu or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 828.227.7397 or 800.928.4968.

Haywood County’s first Friends of Agriculture breakfast will be held from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. Friday, June 17, at the Haywood Agricultural Center at 589 Raccoon Road in Waynesville.

This is an opportunity for farmers, chefs and other agriculture supporters to have a joint forum and discussion.

The Buy Haywood Market Development Project is sponsoring the breakfast with support from the Farmer-to-Chef program and N.C. Cooperative Extension Service. Lynn Sprague, director of the Office of Agricultural Economic Development for Polk County, will be the guest speaker. Free Admission. Call or email to confirm attendance. 828.713.5431 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Regional Center for the Advancement of Children at Haywood Community College is still accepting children from the ages of 6 to 12 for its summer day camp.

The camp runs through August 17. Hours are 7:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Cost of the camp is $460 per month.

Children who attend the camp will participate in several activities and “field trips” to different areas on the college campus, including working in the vegetable garden with horticulture, disc golf, trips to the HCC Library, computer lab and a bug camp.

828.565.4187.

According to the Princeton Review, Western Carolina University is one of the most environmentally responsible colleges in the United States and Canada. The Princeton Review chose the colleges after surveying administrators at hundreds of colleges across the continent. One program that contributed to the success of WCU was WHEE Save, a campus-wide energy conservation program (now known as Reducing Our Carbon Paw Print). Through WHEE Save, energy was reduced by 10 to 15 percent. WCU also has a $5.6 million energy performance contract underway to make several campus buildings more energy efficient. 9 percent of WCU’s food budget is spent on local or organic food and the campus also switched to using E10 rather than petroleum. For more information about WCU’s sustainability efforts, cal 828.227.3562 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Haywood Community College has received the top ranking in the state in the Recyclemania competition for the second consecutive year. HCC is also ranked as number seven in the nation. Recyclemania is a friendly competition between colleges and universities that is used to encourage waste reduction across campuses.

The rankings are decided by who collects the largest amount of recyclables per capita, the largest amount of total recyclables, the least amount of trash per capita or by the highest recycling rate. HCC, over the ten-week competition, recycled over 11,000 pounds of material.

For more information, call 828.627.4135.

Haywood Community College has received a silver rating through the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS). STARS, which was developed by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, is a transparent framework for colleges and universities to gauge progress towards sustainability.

It is used throughout the United States and Canada. The possible ratings range from bronze and silver to gold and platinum. So far, no college or university has yet achieved a platinum rating.

For more information about AASHE or the STARS program, please visit www.aashe.org.

MedWest Health System has started construction on an urgent care center along Interstate 40, at Exit 31, in Canton.

The location will be the new home of the urgent care center currently located on the MedWest-Haywood campus. MedWest serves western Haywood County with an urgent care center on Hazelwood Avenue in west Waynesville, and Jackson County with a new urgent care center in the Walmart Plaza in Sylva, set to be complete in July.

The MedWest Urgent Care Center in Canton will provide space for seven additional treatment rooms, bringing the total number of treatment rooms to 16. Urgent care centers provide care for non-life-threatening injuries and episodic illnesses and serve to offload volume from emergency departments, making wait times shorter for the treatment of such conditions. Patients treated at MedWest Urgent Care Centers can also find assistance in locating a primary care physician for follow-up and future needs, if the patient is not established with a physician.

The MedWest Urgent Care Center in Canton is scheduled to be open by December and will include two bays for Haywood EMS vehicles, as well as two sleeping rooms and showers for EMS workers. The Haywood County Sheriff’s Office and the North Carolina Highway Patrol will also have space in the building.

Macon County non-profit organizations have until July 30 to apply for grants through the Macon County Community Funding Pool.

Organizations applying for funds must provide financial statements such as budgets and federal tax-exempt reports, organization goals and objectives and program descriptions, and board/staff roster. Groups not incorporated as non-profits may enlist an established non-profit to serve as their fiscal agent.

Application forms and instructions are available on the Macon County website, www.maconnc.org, or at the Macon County Public Library.

First-time applicants should contact Karen Wallace, 828.524.3600, or Mary Ann Sloan, 828.526.4280, to discuss their proposal.

Governor Beverly Perdue nixed the $19.7 billion state budget put on her desk by the General Assembly Sunday, winning herself a place in state history.

She is the first governor to veto a budget since veto powers were granted in 1997, and she told lawmakers that education was the impetus for her action.

“For the first time, we have a legislature that is turning its back on our schools, our children, our longstanding investments in education and our future economic prospects,” said Perdue in a statement and speech last Sunday.

Perdue’s veto is unlikely to hold, however. The GOP is expressing confidence that it has the votes necessary to override her historic thumbs down. Five House Democrats voted with Republicans to pass the budget, enough to override the veto if they continue bucking their party. Republicans have a tight enough grasp of the Senate not to need Democrat help for an override vote in that chamber.

Perdue posited that the budget as-is would cause “generational damage” by cutting funds to K-12 schools, preschool programs More at Four and Smart Start and elderly care.

It takes a super-majority of 60 percent to override the Governor’s veto.

In the House, that means 72 votes. There are 68 Republicans in the House — four short of what’s needed to buck the Governor’s veto. But five Democrats had previously sided with Republicans in voting for the budget, and Representative Phil Haire, D-Sylva, doesn’t think those five Democrats can be persuaded to come back to their own party.

“Some of them were promised something in the budget,” Haire said.

Haire personally voted against the budget proffered by Republican leadership.

“I think it is going to have a devastating effect on North Carolina, and it will takes us years to regain the status where we are now,” said Haire.

In the Senate, there are 31 Republicans compared to 19 Democrats, one more than needed to meet the super majority criteria.

The Governor and Democrats in the legislature are pushing to keep a 1-cent sales tax that Republicans want to eliminate. Keeping the extra sales tax, say Perdue and other Democrats, could raise $900,000 to fill the more than $2 billion funding gap facing the state.

Haire doubts Republicans will capitulate on their position on the sales tax.

“Not no, but heck no. If they do that they renege on their whole campaign promise,” Haire said.

Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, said keeping the sales tax, billed as a “temporary measure” when it was put in place two years ago, is non-negotiable.

“It expires June 30, and if they thought that they needed a tax for longer than that, they should’ve voted for it. If the legislature wanted to have a penny sales tax, they’d have to introduce a bill and vote on it, and that’s just not going to happen,” said Davis.

With Republicans unwilling to compromise on the sales tax, Perdue’s veto, if it stood, would accomplish little but a prolonged stalemate.

“The first of July you get to a shut down if you don’t have a budget,” Haire said.

The Nantahala Outdoor Center’s Canoe Club Challenge 2011 is scheduled for 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on June 18, July 16 and Aug. 13. The timed slalom course will be set up between the bridges at NOC. An awards ceremony will follow at 7 p.m. on the porch of Slow Joe’s Café.

The race is open to everyone, even beginners and first-timers. Paddlers can make as many runs through the course as they would like and only their best time will count. Each completed run will earn points toward a trophy awarded to the canoe club with the most points at the end of the event series. However, participants need not belong to a paddling club to participate; boaters can team up with clubs or start their own.

Paddlers are welcome to practice on the course all day leading up to the event, and at 2:30 p.m., 1996 Canoe/Kayak Olympian Wayne Dickert will be on hand for a demo run of the course as well as advice, tips and encouragement for the paddlers. Free live music will begin at 8:30 p.m. at The Pourover.

828.423.0158.

“Woodsy Owl’s Curiosity Club,” a nature and educational series presented by The Cradle of Forestry, will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon every Thursday this summer, ending Aug. 4. The club is for kids ages 4 to 7 and their guardians to participate in activities, explore the theme of forestry and learn to care for the land alongside Woodsy Owl, the U.S. Forest Service’s conservation symbol.

During the program, each child will receive a copy of the book Woodsy Owl’s ABCs and will make a craft specific to a forestry topic to bring home. Kids can also participate in the Forest Discovery Center scavenger hunt or the Adventure Zone, designed for children on the autism spectrum. Topics for the series include Plants: Parts and Crafts on June 9, Critter Tricks on July 21, Fire Safety on Aug. 4 and many others.

The curiosity club costs $4 per child and $2.50 for adult guardians. The Cradle of Forestry is located in the Pisgah National Forest, six miles north of Looking Glass Falls at milepost 412 on Highway 276.

828.877.3130 or visit cradleofforestry.org.

The Basulto Academy of Defense, located in downtwown Waynesville, has expanded the schedule of its successful Brazilian Jiu Jitsu program to include more classes in the art/sport of Vale Tudo.

Also known as No-Holds-Barred (NHB) or as Mixed-Martial Arts (MMA), the term Vale Tudo means “anything goes” and its roots are part of the Brazilian fight culture from which the world-reknowned martial art of Gracie Jiu Jitsu spawned in Rio de Janiero. 

MMA has evolved into one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, with events being televised even on national networks. Many people take up Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Vale Tudo classes with no intention of ever fighting in the octagon but for the benefits of the very intense workouts.

“When the Gracie family helped create the Ultimate Fighting Championships in 1993, their goal was to showcase the effectiveness of their martial art,” says Armando Basulto, chief instructor at Basulto Academy of Defense. “What most people didn’t realize is that in Brazil, this type of MMA event already had an established history stretching back to the 1920’s. The modern sport of MMA requires a solid foundation in different disciplines including Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, kickboxing and wrestling.”

Instructor Armando Basulto is not only a professor of Gracie Jiu Jitsu, holding a black belt under Royler Gracie, but is also an experienced and fully-accredited kickboxing coach with more than 20 years experience coaching boxing, Muay Thai and Savate. In Europe, Basulto was both a boxer and coach and achieved the rank of Silver Glove in Boxe Française Savate (the highest rank in the sport) and teaching credential (Moniteur) by the Fédération Internationale de Savate in Paris, France. His boxers have fought in the USA and in Europe

Classes are currently offered at the Basulto Gracie Jiu Jitsu Club, located at GroundSwell Fitness 218 Branner Ave. downtown Waynesville. www.wncbjj.com or 828.230.5056.

The Family Farm Tour, organized by Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP), will be held on the weekend of June 25 and 26. The event is a self-guided driving tour into the farms of 41 Western North Carolina food producers — many of which are not regularly open to visitors.

The four Haywood County farms are Chambers Farm Market, Mountain Organic Research and Extension Unit, Sunburst Trout and Ten Acre Garden. The remaining 37 farms are located in Buncombe, Yancey and Madison counties.

During the tour, participants can taste farm-fresh treats, interact with farm animals, learn how food grows and meet the community’s food producers. An admission button, which admits an entire carload, can be purchased online or at several local businesses (a list of these can be found online). Buttons are $25 in advance. A tour guide, including a map and direcetions, tour tips and details, is also available at these vendors or online for download.

Familyfarmtour.com or 828.236.1282.

Curtis Smalling, the mountain region biologist for Audubon N.C., will speak at a program for the Highlands Plateau Society at 8 p.m. on Monday, June 13. The next day, Smalling will lead a bird watching field trip at 7:30 p.m. around Highlands.

Smalling began keeping bird lists in elementary school and has used his birding skills to survey golden-winged warblers in Western North Carolina for Audubon. He has taken part in Cornell University’s golden-winged warbler Atlas Project, which was designed to determine the population status and habitat of the golden-winged warbler, the blue-winged warbler and their hybrids.

The golden-winged warbler is a small, strikingly marked and near-threatened species. It’s generally declining across its range, most likely as a result of habitat loss and competition/interbreeding with the very closely related blue-winged warbler. Smalling has done extensive research on these warblers in the wintering grounds in Nicaragua, and his program will feature photographs of these and other warblers in WNC.

The program is free, open to the public and will be held at the Highlands Civic Center. 828.787.1387.

A Birding Eco Tour is set for Thursday, June 9. The hike is held by The Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust (HCLT) will hold a Birding Eco Tour on June 9 led by Highlands Plateau Audubon Society members. Hikers will have the chance to identify indigo buntings, red-eyed vireos and black-throated blue warblers, among others.

According to the one of the hike leaders, Don Shure of the Highlands Plateau Audubon Society, this time of year is ideal for observing these birds, as the colors are vibrant and the calls will be sharp during nesting season. The Highlands Plateau has been designated an Important Bird Area by state, national and international bird conservation organizations.

Eco Tours are $5 for HCLT members and $35 for nonmembers, including the easy, guided hike, lunch and a HCLT membership. 828.526.1111 or hitrust.earthlink.net.

Discover Life in America (DLIA) is holding a number of events this summer for the public to experience the synchronous fireflies that illuminate the Great Smoky Mountain National Park during the first weeks of June.

A fundraising event will be held from 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. on June 10 and June 11 at Norton Creek Sanctuary near Gatlinburg. Participants will be able to view and learn about synchronous fireflies and ask questions to a firefly expert on site. Heavy hors d’oeuvres, beer and wine will be provided. There will be a short walk to the site. $75.

The annual Firefly Festival will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 11 at the Nantahala Outdoor Center Great Outpost in Gatlinburg. It is a free event open to the public with live music provided by Captain Firefly, as well as artwork, an insect zoo, kids’ activities, food and drink vendors, a bioluminescence room and two synchronous firefly presentations.

Another firefly presentation and picnic will be held from 7:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. on June 12 at the Park Grill. After the presentation, food and drink, participants will carpool to a secret site in the park. There will be a short hike, and guests should be prepared for inclement weather. $50.

For all events except the Firefly Festival, space is limited and reservations are required. 828.430.4756.

The newly formed chapter of Nantahala Area SORBA, the Southeast Off-Road Bicycle Association, will host an event called “Ride, Rinse and Recover” at Tsali Recreation Area starting at 1 p.m. on Sunday, June 12.

Club members and others interested in the chapter’s trail maintenance and building efforts are invited to join a casual group ride at 1 p.m. followed by a trip to the lake and picnic. Participants are encouraged to bring a bike, family and friends, camp chairs, picnic food to share, and ideas for future trail projects.

Membership applications will be available at the event. For more information, send an email to Sae Smyrl, club president, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and join the Nantahala Area SORBA Facebook group.

The Land Trust of the Little Tennessee, the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust, and the Wildlands Network received a Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) conservation grant to help private landowners and government agencies in the southeastern United States protect special forest sites though working-forest conservation easements.

The three nonprofit conservation organizations were awarded a total of $65,000 over two years to work with hardwood forest owners, government agencies and SFI program participants to encourage owners to consider easements, and to offer advice and technical assistance.

Project activities will include community education and outreach workshops, training and technical assistance, and production of materials showing the value of easements. Other project partners are the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, the Nature Conservancy – North Carolina Chapter, along with SFI program participants, Louisiana-Pacific Corporation and Resource Management Service LLC.

A working-forest conservation easement is a voluntary contract between a landowner and a land trust, government agency or other qualified organization in which the owner places permanent restrictions on future uses of the property to protect forest resources, while still managing it responsibly. It can result in potential tax benefits for the landowner, who still owns the property.