Grace Episcopal Church in the Mountains in Waynesville is getting ready for the annual Parish Fair from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on July 30.

Each year the fair draws crowds to find bargains, enjoy lunch and listen to music on the grounds, with a special appearance by the Frog Level Philharmonic. All proceeds go to local needs organizations and charities. Last year over $10,000 was raised and distributed through applications for grants.

On the church lawn visitors will find a flea market, garden spot, furniture and a children’s corner with face painting and games. Inside the parish hall will be a display of better clothing, baked goods, appliances and many items in the special boutique.

828.456.6029.

Rodney Carrington will be performing at 9 p.m. on Friday, July 29, at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Hotel’s Event Center. Carrington is a multitalented comedian, actor, and writer who has recorded six major record label comedy albums. He starred in his own sitcom, Rodney, and co-wrote and co-starred with Toby Keith in the movie Beer for my Horses.

Must be 21 or older to attend. Tickets can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com.

The Dismembered Tennesseans will play at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 23, at the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center. It was back in 1945 when a group of students got together and began singing and playing a brand of Bluegrass music that has gone on now for more than 65 years. The name Dismembered Tennesseans seemed good enough a name for a bunch of teenagers who had no long-range plans, and they sang their way through school. But somehow the music never stopped, and the band stayed together for the next six decades, singing and laughing their way across the country.

The concert is preceded by two dinner seatings, served family style at the Stecoah Kitchen. Dinner seatings are at 5 and 6:15 p.m. Reservations are required by calling 828.479.3364. Concert tickets can be purchased in-person at the Stecoah Gallery, by phone, or on the web at www.stecoahvalleycenter.com.

Karen “Sugar” Barnes will perform at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 23, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. Barnes plays heritage blues and was one of the founding members of the “Blue Bombers” from Sylva.

Along with singing, Barnes also plays acoustic guitar, slide guitar and the ukulele. She regularly performs in Western North Carolina with Dave McGill, who will provide backing and singing a few songs of his own. The Friends of the Marianna Black Library will also be there to provide snacks and refreshments.

The program is free and open to the public. 828.488.3030 or visit www.fontanalib.org/brysoncity.

Playfest, an evening of staged play readings, will begin at 7:30 p.m. on July 28 at the Albert Carlton-Cashiers Community Library’s meeting room. Eight entries have been selected from the numerous submissions received from all over the United States.

The plays will be performed with staging, lights and sound, but with scripts in hand. The selected plays are: “One Day at the Christmas Party: What’s in a Name” by Henry Kimmel of Atlanta; “Funeral Arrangements” by David Fleisher of Lake Worth, Florida; “The Rental” by Mark Harvey Levine of Pasadena, California; “Mind Games” by Brian Reeves, of Palm Beach, Florida; “Play It By Ear” by Bonnie Benson of Bethesda, Maryland; “Found Object” by Dennis Porter of Amherst, Massachusetts; “The Gospel According to Bowser” by Dan Borengasser of Springdale, Arizona; and “Just Another Tomorrow” by Western North Carolina playwright Tom Bennett.

828.743.1802.

MusicWorks! Studio of Performing Arts in Waynesville is offering a musical theater/show choir camp experience for young people ages 7 to 18 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Aug. 1-5.

In addition to selections from some of Broadway’s hottest shows, other music styles will also be used including R&B, country, and pop.  Students will also receive instruction in basic to intermediate movement and the elements of choreography.

Campers will begin their mornings with one hour each of acting, dance, and singing lessons, with campers divided by age and skill level. There will also be other surprise activities including a talent show and impromptu instructor presentations. No prior experience is necessary.

A performance will be presented on the final day of class at 3 pm. The cost of the week-long camp is $200 per student.  Siblings can take advantage of a two-for-one rate and a special new friends discount is also available.

828.456.2283.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is starting up an acoustic old-time jam session from 1 to 3 p.m. every third Saturday of the month at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center near Cherokee.

The jam will be held on the porch of the new Oconaluftee Visitor Center. Anyone who plays and would like to share their talents can join in the music gathering regardless of playing level. The jams will follow an “around-the-circle” format, where musicians may lead songs or pass the tune choice to the next person.

The Community Room at the Jackson County Public Library will come alive with country music when the Barn Cats Old Time String Band performs at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 21. Their repertoire includes country blues, bluegrass and honky-tonk style music. Most of the songs they will play were popular in the rural South during the 1920s and 1930s.

Driving rhythm, melodic musicality and tight vocal harmonies are trademarks of a Barn Cat performance. This is music to dance to or just sit back and enjoy.

When not touring with the Freight Hoppers, The Barn Cats perform daily, April through November, for the Great Smoky Mountains Railway in Bryson City.

828.586.2016.

The Macon County Library hosts singer/songwriter Angela Faye Martin at 7 p.m. on July 21.

Martin is a native of Atlanta and now a resident of Cowee. She released her first album, “Pictures From Home,” in 2010 and she’ll bring her singer-songwriter tunes to the next installment in the Thursdays at the Library program.

The program features authors and musicians on a variety of topics. Programs are sponsored by the Friends of the Library and the Macon County Public Library.

828.524.3600 or visit fontanalib.org.

B.J. Thomas and Billy Joe Royal will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, July 22, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. Their Raindrops & Boondocks tour features band favorites and may even include duets of “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling,” “Get Ready,” and “Cry Like a Baby.”

B.J. Thomas is known for a series of hits, including the Oscar-winning “Raindrops keep Fallin’ on my Head,” “(Hey, Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song,” and his cover of Hank Williams’ “I’m so Lonesome I Could Cry.” His other singles include “I Just Can’t Help Believing” and “Hooked on a Feeling.” Billy Joe Royal is known for “Down in the Boondocks,” “I Knew You When,” “Cherry Hill Park,” and “Tell it Like it is.” He will also be performing music from his new album “Going by Daydreams”.

Tickets are $25. 866.273.4615or visit greatmountainmusic.com.

Serious Clark, a folk-fusion trio from Brevard, will perform a free concert at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 21, at Western Carolina University. Serious Clark incorporates elements of alternative rock, improv and country with its looped acoustic guitar and soul-influenced vocals. The show is part of WCU’s 2011 Summer Concert Series.

The event is free and open to the public. 828.227.3622 or visit events.wcu.edu.

Folkmoot 5K

The Folkmoot 5K Run/Walk and Kids Fun Run at 8 a.m. on July 23 has become one of the festival’s signature events.

The race winds through the Hazelwood section of Waynesville and is relatively flat. Expect more than 200 runners on the course, which is ASATF certified and usually draws top runners from the area. It’s also a great race for beginners.

What makes this race unique, of course, is its association with Folkmoot. The race starts and finishes at the Folkmoot Friendship Center, and so the audience includes dozens of dancers and musicians, festival volunteers, and many of those who work for Folkmoot.

Many of the international dancers taking part in the race do so in interesting costumes. There is also music performed live by international musicians at the finish line, which adds a festive flair to completing the run.

Race day registration is available beginning at 6:30 a.m. for $25. Race day registration for the Fun Run is $10. For information about the race call 828.452.2997 or 828.734.6478.

Parade Day

The Folkmoot USA Parade will be held on Friday, July 22, on Main Street in downtown Waynesville.

The parade is one of the highlights of the festival and provides potential ticket-buyers a quick look at the groups that will perform much more elaborate dances at venues throughout Western North Carolina.

The parade also serves as the official start to Folkmoot. Dignitaries gathered on the steps of Haywood County’s Historic Courthouse include Folkmoot Board members and elected officials. There is also a performance by the international band, which is comprised of musicians from all the groups at Folkmoot.

The parade starts at 12:30 p.m., but arrive early for good viewing.

Learn to dance

Folkmoot USA will have two dance workshops taught by international dancers. These events are held at the Folkmoot Friendship Center and cost $10. Children 12 and under are $5.

This year’s workshops are at 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 23, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 31.

Call 1.877.365.5872 for information.

Family Night

HomeTrust Bank is hosting a family night at the Folkmoot Friendship Center at 7:30 p.m. on July 20.

This performance by two groups is geared toward families with small children and offers patrons the chance to visit the Folkmoot Friendship Center, where all the dancers and musicians live and rehearse for the 10 days of the festival.

Adults are $10, children $5. Free snacks.

Attend a performance

Folkmoot USA holds dozens of ticketed performances throughout Western North Carolina. This is your chance to see the dance groups and the musicians at their finest as they go through several costume changes and perform a variety of dances. For ticket information call 828.452.2997.

Folkmoot’s International Festival Day will be held from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 30, in Waynesville. The festival features a huge juried craft show, international cuisine, Folkmoot USA performances, regional music and dance and the Passport to the Arts Children’s area.

Expect about 25,000 in downtown Waynesville, so prepare for the crowd if you plan to attend.

Demonstrations such as flame workers, potters and woodworkers will be available. The Passport to the Arts Children’s Area takes children on a trip around the world in the United Community Bank parking lot. The children make rain sticks, abstract inkblots, fiesta headdresses, finger knitting, and origami crafts to take home.

Festival entertainment is provided by Folkmoot USA’s international dancers and musicians, the Smoky Mountain Stompers, students from the Haywood County Arts Council’s Junior Appalachians Musicians program and more.

Entertainment will begin at 10:15 a.m. and performers move along the street with impromptu performances throughout the day.

828.452.0593 or visit www.haywoodarts.org.

In 1984, Flora Gammon agreed to a favor for a colleague and friend, Dr. Clinton Border. He needed her musical expertise for a new festival he was starting called Folkmoot USA. She didn’t know it then, but that favor for a friend would touch off a 27-year relationship with the event and leave ripples of her influence across two-and-a-half decades of Folkmoot history.

Today, Gammon directs the international band, an ensemble made of the musicians who perform in the festival. She also emcees when needed and does various other volunteer duties as a member of the Folkmoot Board of Directors.

But that first year, she took up the daunting task of arranging an interfaith service for festival-goers and participants.

It wasn’t an assignment altogether out of her range; she was then assistant director of music at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, where her mother had long been director. But convincing each cadre of performers, with their separate religions and traditions and language barriers, was a challenge.

The Turkish contingency — a gruff group of men with swords — proved her biggest hurdle.

“The director of the group spoke not one word of English, and I had to sit there and try to get them to understand what we were doing and try to get them to be a part of it,” says Gammon. But in the end, she succeeded. And thus began her career as a kind of cultural liaison with the festival.

It’s just such stories and experiences that Gammon seems to cherish most from her long involvement in the American incarnation of Folkmoot.

She kept directing the interfaith service until it was dropped a few years after the festival’s inception. And when the founder of the international band, Dr. Eva Adcock, died and left the conductor’s baton untended, Gammon took it up.

She started with the group in 1995, and she’s been directing the impromptu folk orchestra ever since. Each year, it’s a surprise what instruments will show up and who will already know the music. Some musicians, she has learned, read music, while some reject it outright, playing solely by ear.

Some will come with conventional symphonic instruments, while some will bring ancient and traditional folk music-makers found in few symphonies.

But, she says, they always make it work.

“They’ve never played music together, and I bring them together and in about 30 minutes we have a band,” says Gammon.

The band plays four songs, and performs at the opening gala, the opening parade and then again at the closing ceremony. They rehearse only once.

Gammon says the lack of rehearsal and mixture of seemingly disparate instruments has never been a problem.

“We have a combination of some totally folk-style instruments and some concert instruments. We have a combination, but at the same time it works, you know. Because even those who come from the countries where they’re playing more classical-type instruments, they’re still playing folk music,” says Gammon.

Gradually, the band has added to its repertoire and increased the number of musicians who return, music in hand, from years past. In 2005, they started playing the Folkmoot USA theme, which had, until then, been played on cassettes that were threatening to wear out.

“I was very pleased to start having them play the theme song,” says Gammon. “We do not allow canned music, but here we were using taped music, and that embarrassed me.”

And as the band and its role have grown and matured with the festival, so has Gammon.

In her first two years with the band, she convinced Dick Trevarthen, a musician and music professor, to do the actual, baton-in-hand direction. She was a singer, mostly, and had no experience whatsoever conducting a band.

“He did it for two years and then said, ‘Here, you can do it.’ He gave me two signals to use, and I said, ‘Well, that’s easy,’” said Gammon. “Though the second year I did it  I forgot what ‘stop’ was.”

That was also the year she learned that a finger across the throat was, apparently, a universal sign for ‘cut the music.’

Her fake-it-to-make-it technique was successful, though. Gammon fondly recalls the memory of a Soviet orchestral conductor unexpectedly approaching her after a performance. Expecting a complaint, she was bracing herself when the woman, in a harsh Russian accent, complimented her directing skills. She jokes that, because of this, she’s nicknamed herself Folkmoot’s Great Impostor.

But after 16 years with the band, she is an impostor no longer, having earned the baton that’s directed hundreds of musicians over the years.

For Gammon, and the musicians she leads, the international band, just like the festival itself, is about the people that comprise it, and recognizing their unique talents.

“It’s giving the musicians an outlet, because we’re mainly a folk dance festival, and so the emphasis is often on the dancers. These are professional musicians that come over here and they are thrown in the background,” says Gammon. This gives them a chance, however brief, to shine.

And whether through Turkish swordsmen, Russian directors or reticent Basques being coaxed into a round of the hokey pokey, it’s clear that Gammon has made her mark on Folkmoot. And it, in turn, has made a mark on her and her indefatigable spirit.

“You get people together and you look them in the eye and you smile and you can do anything you need to do,” said Gammon.

That’s a motto you can probably find her living by, smile on her face, this summer, in front of the international band once more.

Folkmoot Hymn

Used at candlelight closing • Words and Music: R.R. Trevarthan

Folkmoot is friendship, Folkmoot is peace;

Folkmoot is harmony, and Folkmoot is love.

For it is friendship, and it is peace;

And it is harmony, that gives us love.

Friendship, Peace, Harmony and Love.

Come Dance, Come Sing

The Folkmoot Theme Song

Words and Music: John Pollard • Come dance, come sing;

Come meet the world as it flies on the wing.

Come laugh, come cry;

Come meet the people, they’re passing you by.

We’re coming together, folk of the world;

Meeting in friendship, the flags to unfurl.

Brothers in dancing, we’re here for today,

At Folkmoot USA.

Batimbo Drummers Ensemble

The Republic of Burundi in central Africa has always been known for its hypnotic drum music, and field recordings of Burundi drumming have entranced listeners for years. Those drum rhythms have also been incorporated into world-fusion music anytime some intense percussion is called for.

The Batimbo Drummers Ensemble retain the responsibility and privilege of making, beating and keeping the drums. Until recently, the drums could only be beaten in homage to the king or to his ancestors. Today their tradition is gradually losing its ritual symbolism to become more of an art reserved for festivals.

The master drummer’s ensemble, dressed in draped robes of green, red, and white, are composed of drums arranged in a circular arc. The drums to the left — “amashakwe” — provide the continuous rhythm, while those on the right — “Ibishikizo” — follow the rhythm given by the soloist (placed in the center of the semi-circle in front of  the others). The performers are in constant interplay with the audience and each drummer may spontaneously leave his drum, take his place in the center of the arc, and dance. In some performances drummers may leap over their drums or place the drums on their heads while playing or dancing.

Strathcona Chinese Dance Company

Strathcona Chinese Dance Company (SCDC), which is affiliated with the Vancouver Academy of Dance, was founded in 1973 by Maria Mimie Ho as a recreational dance program to promote Chinese dance in Canada.

The company derives its name from the Strathcona section of the city of Vancouver, in British Columbia, Canada. Since its inception, the company has grown into a world-renowned dance troupe, performing for many heads of state and dignitaries. SCDC is committed to fostering artistic exchange and enhancing cultural understanding while promoting goodwill and fellowship through the performing arts.

The troupe’s large catalog of traditional Chinese dance includes “The Red Ribbon Dance,” “Flying Kites” and “Peach Blossoms.”

The company last visited Folkmoot 19 years ago in 1992.

Klek of Croatia

Folklore ensemble Klek of Croatia was formed in 1980 with an emphasis on preserving and performing the folk customs of the Croatian and Ogulin cultures.

The group has more than 200 members includding two folklore ensembles, a seniors group, three children’s groups, a mens vocal group, a womens vocal group and a group of tambura players.

The tambura is a folk instrument similar to a lute or mandolin. The 40 members of the tambura group perform dances from cities and different regions in Croatia such as Ogulin, Bizovac, Baranja, Bratina, Split, Lika, Međimurje, Bilogora, Dubrovnik, Ražanac, Vrlika, Hvar and Bunjevac.

The group has more than 200 new and refurbished costumes.

The musicians perform dance tunes and compositions from famous composers.

Klek has performed in folk festivals all over Croatia in other countries such as Hungary, Turkey, France, Belgium, Portugal, Korea, Austria and Italy.

Tahdittomat dance troupe

The Tahdittomat dance troupe from Finland was founded in 1984

for the purpose of preserving traditional Finnish folk dancing.

The group’s aim is to promote traditional Finnish culture throughout the world with activities ranging from dance studies to performances and excursions.

Tahdittomat’s home is in the municipality of Jokionen in southern Finland. Villages in this region of Finland include Haapaniemi, Jokioinen, Lammi, and Latovainio, among others.

Tahdittomat is an ensemble cast of dancers and musicians that are both professionals and enthusiastic amateurs. They range in age from 17 to 40 and perform both in Finland and abroad.  Tahdittomat present both complex allegorical dances, and also more playful fare, all driven by a common thread.  

For example, the troupe often performs a dance entitled “Illatsut” which is told in the Karelian language.  Karelia was a historical province of Finland which is now divided between Finland and Russia.  “Illatsut’s” theme is that of youth and fellowship.

Viard Nouvelle

The Viard Nouvelle dance troupe from the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe has been in existence for 28 years. Since its inception, its leaders have tried to maintain tradition and provide young people an education and outlet through those traditions.  

Among the dances and music performed by Viard Nouvelle is the Gwo ka, which translates to “Big drum.” Gwo ka is both a family of hand drums and the music created with them, which is a major part of Guadeloupian folk music. There are seven rhythms in gwo ka, which are embellished by the drummers. Different sizes of drums establish the foundation and its flourishes, with the largest, the boula, playing the central rhythm and the smaller, markeur drum interplays with the dancers, audience or singer.

Gwo ka singing is usually guttural, nasal and rough, though it can also be bright and smooth. It is accompanied by uplifting and complex harmonies and melodies. There are also dances that tell folk stories that are accompanied by the gwo ka drums.

Guadeloupians still use gwo ka drums in communal experiences called lewozes; this is the most traditional manifestation of gwo ka in modern Guadeloupe. Gwo ka is also played at Carnival and other celebrations. A modernized and popularized form of gwo ka is well-known on the islands; it is known as “gwo ka moderne.”

Figulinas Florinas

The group “Figulinas” — which translates into English as “fictile” — is an appropriate name for this group of talented dancers from the island of Sardinia in Italy.

Figulinas was born 23 years ago when young Sardinian performers with an interest and passion for reconstructing the traditional clothing and folk dances of Sardinia decided to form a group. The name is a play on words stemming from the fact that the area of Sardinia, from which the group hails, is world-renowned for its pottery.

The group is from the city of Sassari which is the second largest city in Sardinia. The characteristics of the group are based mainly in accordance with the canons of traditional Sardinian dance.

Diego Martin Footprints

The Diego Martin Footprints Folk Performers — who hail from the town of Diego Martin in northwestern Trinidad — have been in existence for more than 35 years.

The group represented Trinidad in Folkmoot in 2008 during the 25th anniversary year of the festival. In their own words, Footprints performers strive to, “Be the best we can be, keeping culture alive through dance.”

The most familiar musical tradition represented by the Footprints Folk Performers is Calypso music. Calypso originated as a form of communication between Afro-Caribbean slaves on the island when former slave masters forbid slaves from speaking to each other. A direct relative of Calypso and another specialty of Footprints is Soca, which combines percussion rhythms with Chutney music.

Also familiar to many audiences are the dances of Trinidad, which include the Limbo and Moko Jumbies. The Limbo, a derivative of the word “limber,” is a dance rooted in African history where a performer bends backwards while walking forward, under a pole. When a dancers body passes completely under the pole, it is said to be symbolic of the triumph of life over death. Moko Jumbies are stilt walkers that represent a dance tradition carried from Africa over the Atlantic to Trinidad.

American Racket Dance Company

American Racket Dance Company features American clogging and percussive dance.

American Racket was founded on UF (University of Florida) campus in 2002 by then-student Andy Howard. Since then, American Racket has built a global reputation for high-energy presentations.

American Racket is a guaranteed toe-tapping, hand-clapping good time for all and a celebration of what young adults are doing to revive and reinvent the dance culture of the United States.

Andy Howard founded SoundStage in 2001 while attending University of Florida; the original group comprised students and regional dancers specializing in clogging, tap and other forms of percussive dance.  In 2007, the group relocated to Central Florida and adopted the name “American Racket,” originally the name of a performance organized and choreographed by Howard for the Orlando International Fringe Festival. Howard was inducted into the All-American Clogging Team in 2002.

American Racket has represented the United States as “cultural ambassadors” at international festivals sanctioned by C.I.O.F.F. (International Council of Organizations for Folklore Festivals) in Costa Rica, Brazil, and Canada.

Wednesday, July 27   

1:00 pm    Hazelwood Elementary School. Free Event.

2:00 pm    Blue Ridge Community College, Bo Thomas Auditorium, Flat Rock. (6 Groups) Adults $25; Faculty, Students & Children (12 & under) 1/2 price.

7:30 pm    Blue Ridge Community College, Bo Thomas Auditorium, Flat Rock. (6 Groups) Adults $25; Faculty, Students & Children (12 & under) 1/2 price.

7:30 pm    Swain High School, Bryson City. (3 Groups) Adults $16; Children (12 & under) 1/2 price.

Thursday, July 28   

7:30 pm    Smoky Mtn. Center for Performing Arts, Franklin. (4 Groups) Adults $25, $20; Children (12 & under) $10.

7:30 pm    Haywood Community College, Waynesville. (5 Groups) Reserved seating: $25, $20; General admission $15; Children (12 & under) 1/2 price.

Friday, July 29

2:00 pm    Extravaganza Matinee, Stompin’ Ground, Maggie Valley. (7 Groups) Reserved seating: $25, $20; General admission $15; Children (12 & under) 1/2 price.

7:30 pm    Extravaganza, Stompin’ Ground, Maggie Valley. (7 Groups) Reserved seating: $25, $20; General admission $15; Children (12 & under) 1/2 price.

Saturday, July 30

10-5    Haywood County Arts Council’s International Festival Day, Main Street, Waynesville. Free Event.

7:30 pm    Haywood Community College, Clyde.  (All Groups) Reserved seating: $30, $25; General admission $20; Children (12 & under) 1/2 price.

Sunday, July 31

7:00 pm    Candlelight Closing, Stuart Auditorium, Lake Junaluska. (All Groups) Reserved seating: $30, $25; General admission $20; Children (12 & under) 1/2 price.

To the Editor:

Have you ever wanted to go to Manhattan and see a Broadway musical? Well, you don’t have to travel that far, Broadway has come to us! Just when you thought the HART Theater couldn’t get any better, Stephen Lloyd pulled out all the stops and out-did himself one more time!!

“Gypsy” is a must for everyone! The acting is amazing! Who knew how much talent is hiding in our small community? Where did these terrific singers come from?!? It is obvious this cast worked incredibly hard but also had the time of their lives performing this wonderful musical.

I urge one and all to make your reservations soon, this musical won’t last forever. I myself just might head back over to HART and see if I can get in one more performance, it’s that good!!

Judy Justice

Waynesville

To the Editor:

When funds are limited and cuts need to be made, wise decisions are imperative. As a former educator with 25 years of experience, I commend the N.C. General Assembly for making judicious decisions for the students of this state.  

When I became guidance director of the high school I was working in, I was shocked and appalled to learn that 60 percent of our incoming ninth-graders read at the sixth-grade level or below. One of the most serious errors made in education is to continually promote students whose reading scores are significantly below grade level. If students can’t read high school level material, how can they be expected to graduate?

North Carolina’s bipartisan 2011-2012 budget funds all teachers and teacher assistants; no teacher in N.C. will lose their job as a result of this budget. Furthermore, an additional 1,100 teacher positions are funded for grades 1 through 3. Equally important, over the next three years, class sizes will be reduced to 1 to 15 students for grades 1 through 3.

I believe that this is the absolute best use of educational funds. The primary grades are the most important for establishing a firm foundation for learning. Students who do not learn to read are students who fail. Spending more money on education is not the answer. Correctly allocating funds to the primary grades will improve education.  

Thank you, legislators, for your sound judgment.

Gail Chapman

Otto

The basic issue is safety. That’s it, plain and simple.

While one Jackson County commissioner has questioned the need for R-5000, a new access road for Southwestern Community College’s Jackson Campus, the board of trustees and I contend that not only is there a driving need, it accelerates daily.

From a single building in 1964, the Jackson Campus has expanded to six buildings, plus the new Early College facility built last summer. The same road that served a few dozen students back in 1964 now serves a soaring enrollment of 3,668 college students, plus faculty and staff. Add to that the 155 high-schoolers at the Early College.

With only one way in and out for the entire campus, a new road is needed not just to alleviate congestion, but to mainly ensure safety. During an emergency or the need for quick evacuation, a single road is a handicap.

Back in 1994, 30 years after the campus opened, the need for a new road was included in the SCC Master Plan. Developed by Moore and Associates of Asheville, the plan suggested the college consider other points of access to campus since there is only one way in and out. A possible area, they suggested, was from N.C. 107, with the proper right-of-way into the back property at its most southeast point.

That’s 17 years ago. Our board realized then, even before 9/11 or incidences like Virginia Tech, that we needed to protect the safety of our students.

In the 1990s the college began looking at alternatives. On July 28, 1998, then-President Cecil Groves presented aerial photos of the SCC campus to the board and discussed the development of a potential direct access road to N.C. 107. Since the college is built on a hillside, college officials decided the best alternative would be a loop road around campus with direct access to NC 107. In addition to providing safety for  campus, it would help eliminate congestion at the N.C. 107 and N.C. 116 intersection.

On Feb. 12, 1999, the SCC Board of Trustees approved a plan of property acquisition, as outlined within the revised college master plan. Maps and aerial shots of a proposed route at the back of campus linking to N.C. 107 were included in that 1999 revised master plan. On Oct, 15, 1999, the State Board of Community Colleges approved SCC’s property acquisition plan, including the N.C. 107 access plan for a second means of access to the campus.

Following the state board approval, in 2000 we contacted various agencies outlining the college’s property acquisition plans and the N.C. 107 access road. Among these were David Gourley, real property agent, State Property Office; Wayne McDevitt, secretary, N.C. Department of Environmental and Natural Resources; Ron Watson, division engineer, N.C. Department of Transportation; and Jay Denton, chairman of the Jackson County Board of Commissioners.

It has taken the college 10 years to acquire the three parcels of property necessary to build the road. During those 10 years the agencies involved were kept informed of our plans and progress. Also during those 10 years the college secured legislative action and funding to relocate the N.C. Division of Forestry offices. A planning grant was received in fiscal year 2007-08, with a construction allocation awarded fiscal year 2008-09.

I have been involved with this project since day one and I can tell you it’s been a slow, methodical process, certainly not fast-tracked at all.

Dr. Groves, now president emeritus, said it well in this brief statement, “What we had was an overwhelming need, but with 10 years of tireless planning we developed a workable solution, along with the funding to fix the problem.”

Just down the road Smoky Mountain High School, situated on a hillside with a single road in and out, faced a similar situation. DOT funds were secured to build a second road for the high school. The high school students on our campus, as well as our college students, deserve the same safety factor. We have tried not to burden our commissioners and local taxpayers, and that’s why we worked diligently to secure DOT funding for SCC’s new road.

(George Stanley is the SCC Project Manager for this project.)

If you read the information Duke Energy is spreading throughout the news media in its vast public relations campaign, you’d be led to believe the request for a 15 percent rate increase (17 percent for residential ratepayers) is a result of meeting new environmental regulations, especially in building the new “state-of-the-art” coal unit at Cliffside.

This is a distortion of reality that should be understood by all public officials, news outlets and members of the rate-paying public. I commend the Macon County Commissioners and the Franklin Board of Alderman for being the first public officials to take a stand against this round of rate hikes. Hopefully others will follow in short order.

This is the second of three rate hikes Duke Energy will be requesting for its expansion at Cliffside. For those who have not followed this issue closely, the energy from this plant is not intended to meet the energy needs of North Carolinians, where demand has been steadily declining due to efficiency and conservation measures in the past decade.

Rather, the Cliffside project is part of Duke Energy’s plan for expansion into new competing territories in other states. For example, in 2009 Duke expanded by signing a contract with five electric cooperatives in South Carolina to provide up to 1,500 megawatts of new capacity. That’s more than twice the capacity of the new unit at Cliffside, indicating an already existing large surplus of generating capacity for Duke Energy.

In addition, the new Cliffside hardly represents “state-of-the-art” coal technology, not even by the industry’s own standards. So-called “clean coal” technology was previously defined by the industry as Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) technology in which clean-burning methane gas is the ultimate fuel extracted from the coal prior to burning. IGCC units would in addition, supposedly, allow for the capture and sequestration of CO2 or greenhouse gases.  

Duke Energy chose not to build an IGCC plant at Cliffside (perhaps because the practicality did not live up to the industry hype), but instead is constructing an old-fashioned, dirty, pulverized coal-burning power plant that will release into our air sulfur-dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury, hydrogen chloride, cadmium, barium, dioxins and dozens of other hazardous and toxic chemicals. While it’s true that the new plant will reduce the output of most of these pollutants from what older plants produced without emission controls, the poisons of Cliffside’s operation will continue to add to the buildup of toxins already permeating our environment, including and especially mercury. The new unit at Cliffside will do nothing to reduce CO2 emissions, and in fact will double its previous output of greenhouse gases to approximately 6 million tons per year, or as much as would be produced by a million automobiles.

The continued use of coal derived from mountaintop removal mining is devastating a huge geographical region in Appalachia, its people, its history and its water supply. And the toxic coal ash pile from Cliffside’s operation will build as a catastrophe in waiting.

There is nothing responsible about the Cliffside project and ratepayers in North Carolina should not finance this project through outrageously high rate increases. The state should instead be pursuing policies that will result in further reductions in energy consumption and the transformation to clean, safe, less expensive renewable technologies as quickly as possible.

Write to the NC Utilities Commission Chairman Edward Finley and request multiple hearings throughout the state on Duke Energy’s application for a rate increase: Chairman Edward Finley, NC Utilities Commission, 4325 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C., 27699-4325; or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; or call 919.733.6067.

(Avram Friedman is executive director of the Canary Coalition, a clean air advocacy group. he can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)

Former Gov. Jim Hunt toured Cherokee last week at the invitation of Cherokee Preservation Foundation.

The governor, who helped negotiate the agreements between the EBCI and the State of North Carolina that paved the way for the casino and the establishment of Cherokee Preservation Foundation, came to see how the Foundation has invested in cultural preservation, economic development and environmental preservation over the past decade.  He was accompanied by his wife and their daughter Rachel.

During the trip, he toured Cherokee, taking in new facilities and improvements made to the reservation since his last visit nearly a decade ago. He also met with tribal, cultural and community leaders to talk about progress made in recent years. It was his office that allowed the birth of casino gaming on the reservation, so this tour was a chance to see the fruits of that decision, more than 10 years on.

The Cherokee Preservation Foundation has given out more than $50 million to various Cherokee projects since its creation in 2000.

“When I last visited Cherokee ten or so years ago, the cultural organizations like Qualla Arts and Crafts, the Museum, the Drama and Village had wonderful products and programs, but the facilities were dated and not up to par with other venues around the state and region. Ten years later, I see a very different picture,” Hunt told guests at an evening dinner hosted by the Cherokee Preservation Foundation.

Hunt was the governor from 1977 to 1985 and 1993 to 2001. He is the longest-serving governor in the state’s history.

The state Department of Transportation has agreed to pay 80 percent of the cost for a quarter-mile of sidewalks in old Cullowhee if Jackson County will chip in $9,000, or 20 percent of the overall price tag.

The DOT is building a new bridge over the Tuckasegee River in Cullowhee, a short distance upstream from the existing bridge. As part of the project, the road would be rebuilt from Central Drive to about the area of the Cullowhee Café, according to County Planner Gerald Green.

While the project calls for bike lanes and sidewalks on the bridge, it did not originally include sidewalks along the rest of the new road section.

But Green told commissioners this week that DOT has agreed to put them in if the county would share a portion of the cost.

Rick Bennett, owner of Cullowhee Real Estate and a member of CuRvE, a community group working to revitalize the area, urged commissioners to help with the sidewalks.

“We think the sidewalks are a phenomenal idea,” he said, adding that the new bridge would “change the face of Cullowhee.”

He cited the low matching cost as generous “in these economic times.”

CuRvE has piggybacked on the bridge replacement to advance the idea of a riverfront park in Cullowhee. If built, the park would be multi-use, and likely include picnic tables, public beach access to the river and a boat launch. The bridge replacement, if designed properly, could facilitate the park, which in turn could jumpstart revitalization in Old Cullowhee.

Jackson commissioners, at Commissioners Mark Jones’ request, delayed a vote until fellow board member Joe Cowan could be present. The board is scheduled to make its decision at the August meeting. If commissioners do vote to pay for a portion of the sidewalks as requested, Green indicated the money would come out of next year’s fiscal year budget.

A vote of approval, County Manager Chuck Wooten told commissioners, would serve as “a commitment that in the future the commission would provide the funds.”

Construction is scheduled for April 2013.

The 2011 Meet me in the Smokies Open will be held at 10:00 a.m. on July 29, at the Sequoyah National Golf Club. Prizes will be awarded to the 1st and 2nd place teams as well as hole-in-one prizes, longest drive and closest to the pin. Proceeds benefit the Sequoyah National Junior Golf Program. $400 per foursome. 828.497.6700.

The Haywood County Public Library has received an $18,500 grant to be used for a home-school outreach collection. These federal funds are investments that help libraries deliver relevant and up-to-date services for their communities. The home-school collection will contain audio and print materials for children from kindergarten through high school targeting the home-school community and will be housed in the Pennsylvania Ave. branch in Canton.

“Receiving this federal funding for materials will enrich the lives of children in our home-school community,” said Library Director Sharon Woodrow. “These children and their parents depend on the public library system to provide a large percentage of their reading materials.”

Library Director Sharon Woodrow said that a small amount of the collection will be available in the next few weeks and will expand as funding allows. 828.356.2504 or 828.648.2924.

Mission Outpatient Care Center will celebrate its grand opening on Hospital Drive with health presentations on July 20 and 21 from 6 to 7 p.m. and a community celebration at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 23.

The discussion for Wednesday, July 20 will be “Bone, Joint, and Back Pain: Understanding Common Causes and Treatments” by orthopedic surgeon David Jarrett, of Asheville Orthopaedic Associates, and orthopedic surgeon and spine specialist Hubert Gooch Jr., of Carolina Spine and Neurosurgery Center.

Thursday, July 21 will be “Weight Management 101: Your Life, Your Options, Your Health” by bariatric and internal medicine specialist Sonja Humphrey, of Mission Weight Management Center.

The festivities on Saturday will begin with a ribbon cutting at 11:30 a.m. Free t-shirts will be given to the first 50 adults who register. Mission Health System President and CEO Ronald A. Paulus, will be greeting guests. Tours of the facility will be offered along with children’s activities and the opportunity to complete body mass index and blood pressure screenings. The bluegrass band Appalachian Fire will be playing and the food is free and provided by Holy Smoke, a ministry of St. Andrews On The Hill of Canton.

The new center offers a wide variety of healthcare services, including family medicine, imaging and laboratory services, orthopedic care, spine care, neurosurgery evaluations and follow-up care, and wound healing services. Seating is limited for the physician presentations. To pre-register, call 828.505.1809 or visit missionhospitals.org/ClydeCare.

A dementia-training workshop is available from 9:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 26, at the Haywood Community Connections. The Smoky Mountain Center Geriatric and Adult Mental Heal Specialty team is partnering with the Area Agency on Aging and Haywood Community Connections to provide the workshop. The speaker will be award winning occupational therapist and dementia care specialist Heather McKay. 828.586.5501 ext. 1248.

Haywood Habitat for Humanity and Long’s Chapel Church came together to remodel a Habitat home in the Lake Junaluska community for Lisa Horn and her two daughters.

Horn returned to the Waynesville area five years ago after ending an abusive marriage, and was struggling to support her daughters when she was approached by the Rev. Charles Wilson about her interest in being a Haywood Habitat for Humanity partner family. She qualified; and on July 10, Lisa Horn and friends gathered to dedicate her future home. Haywood Habitat is holding an open enrollment through July for prospective partner families. 828.452.7960.

Grace Episcopal Church is accepting applications from local nonprofit agencies to be awarded grants following the annual parish fair.

All proceeds from the event will be given to mission outreach grants. Most grants are $500 or less. Greater consideration is given to applications that would aid a specific project rather than simply aid ordinary operating funds. Application forms may be picked up at the church office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays from 9 a.m. to noon.

Information should include the name of the agency, address, phone number and contact person, the services the agency provides, purpose and need of the grant requested, and the amount requested. The request should also include a copy of the group’s 2011 budget with sources of income and expected expenditures and signatures of the program manager and executive director. Applicants should mail the information to the Mission Outreach Committee, Grace Church in the Mountains, 394 N. Haywood Street, Waynesville, NC 28786.

The race for the state’s 50th Senate District, a seat currently held by Sen. Jim Davis, R-Macon County, is shaping up as a potentially epic political battle next year in Western North Carolina.

The only question for Democrats is whether the party’s choice to try to dethrone Davis will be former Sen. John Snow, D-Murphy, or former Sen. Joe Sam Queen, D-Waynesville.

Davis beat Snow in last year’s election; state political newcomer Ralph Hise, R-Spruce Pine, ousted Queen. Hise now represents the 47th Senate District, which currently includes Avery, Haywood, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell and Yancey counties.

Snow and Queen confirmed they each want to run, but the two friends said they would not compete directly against one another in a primary. Instead, it will be one man or the other, decided somehow in a yet-to-be-determined manner.

“That’s sort of the gist of it right now,” Queen said. “We are both willing to run, and are both available to run, but we have to come up with the best solution.”

Snow said he and Queen have agreed that “whichever way the decision is made, the other will help the other.”

Snow, however, a longtime judge whose district encompassed the exact political boundaries now comprising the 50th Senate District, is cautious about getting ahead of potential court challenges.

“Our district would be upheld without question, but if others are in contest, you won’t go forward on any of the changes,” Snow said. “It would revert us back to the old district. And that has happened before.”

In other words, the 2012 race could take place using current boundaries while court challenges play out.

Snow brightened when talking about the possibilities, however, of campaigning in this new Senate district.

“I think this does create a better district for me,” he said. “It is exactly the same district I held as a judge, and I’m familiar with the people.”

The former head of Swain County’s Department of Social Services won’t be getting her job back, members of the county’s DSS board decided in a called meeting on Monday.

The board had dismissed Cagle following a hearing last month, but she launched an appeal attempting to be reinstalled in the position.

The appeal triggered a second hearing before the board, where Cagle was allowed to plead her case again in closed session.

Now that the board has again voted to uphold her dismissal, Cagle has one final recourse, to appeal to the N.C. Office of State Personnel.

She was dismissed in the wake of a scandal sparked by the death of 15-month-old Aubrey Littlejohn who died in January. The State Bureau of Investigation is investigating an alleged cover-up at the agency. A social worker claimed he had been directed by superiors to falsify records following the baby’s death.

However, Cagle was fired for reasons unrelated to that case. Reasons cited were insubordination and “conduct unbecoming of a state employee.”

Interim Director Jerry Smith, who came to the job from Brevard, will stay until a permanent replacement is found.

Western Carolina University recently unveiled a new webcam designed to provide visitors with a look at the newly redesigned central campus.

The new camera replaces an old unit that was located behind a glass window, which meant the image often was obscured by glare.

The new camera is located on Balsam Residence Hall and boasts an image size about 50 percent larger than the older model. Color and brightness have improved as well.

The webcam produces a snapshot of the central core area of campus, and the image is updated every 10 seconds. Visitors will need to refresh browsers to see the updated image.

The webcam can be found at uccam.wcu.edu.

Carolina West Sports Medicine will hold a free seminar on youth-sports related topics at 6 p.m. July 21 at the Swain County High School Center for the Arts.

Topics to be covered are: concussions, heat and hydration, lightning preparedness, basic first aid, and stretching and warming up exercises to prevent injury. 828.586.7934 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

A physician with Carolina West Sports Medicine will discuss how to avoid sports injuries during the monthly pediatric wellness lecture series event at Harris Medical Park in Sylva from 6 to 7 p.m. on July 18.

Dr. Judson Garbarino will be the guest speaker. He has special training in ultrasound and conscious sedation and is skilled in medical acupuncture. He is a team physician for Western Carolina University Athletics and performs sports physicals and concussion evaluations. The session is free and open to the public.  Light refreshments will be served.

828.586.9642.

PAWS Animal Shelter in Bryson City has won a $1,000 prize for getting the most votes in a second round of voting in The Animal Rescue Site’s $300,000 Challenge.

Sixty-seven shelters and rescue groups received grants in the second round of voting, ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 in various categories.

A third round of voting began earlier this month for a chance at an even larger grant. Supporters of PAWS Animal Shelter can vote once a day at www.theanimalrescuesite.com and help the cause.

PAWS Animal Shelter posts its adoptable pets online at www.petfinder.com/shelters/NC233.html.

Angel Medical Center will hold a series of health screenings in Macon County as part of a Live Smart event on Thursday, July 14, from 8 a.m. to noon. The health screenings will be from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. You must fast for 12 hours before participating in the screenings, and pre-register by calling 828.369.4166.

A complete heart-healthy breakfast will be included with educational booths, and Dr. Michael J. Kegan from Asheville Cardiology Associates will discuss heart disease at 9:15 a.m., 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.

Candidates who want to run in town elections have until at 12 p.m. on Friday, July 15, to sign up, except in Franklin and Highlands where filing won’t begin until July 25.

As of press time Tuesday, here’s who had signed up to run:

Waynesville

J. Wells Greeley, Gary Caldwell and Leroy Roberson, all sitting aldermen, will run. Alderwoman Libba Feichter is not running again. No new challengers have entered the race yet. Gavin Brown is currently unopposed for mayor.

Canton

Current aldermen Jimmy Flynn, Kenneth Holland and Ed Underwood are running. Stanley Metcalf, Patrick Willis, Cecil Patton and Phil Smathers have also filed. No one is yet running for mayor.

Maggie Valley

Alderman Phil Aldridge is running for re-election, joined by Phillip Wight. Alderwoman Danya Vanhook is up for election but has not yet filed. Alderwoman Saralyn Price is running for mayor, along with challenger Ron DeSimone. Current Mayor Roger McElroy is not yet running.

Sylva

Ray Lewis, Chris Matheson and Harold Hensley have filed for re-election, along with challenger John Bubacz.

Forest Hills

Only Alan Begley has registered to run for mayor.

This year’s Downtown Waynesville Dog Walk will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 6, with sign-up at 9 a.m. The Dog Walk is hosted by Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation and the Youth for Sarge group will lead the dog walk with the Sarge banner.

Doyle Teague, president of the board of directors, said, “The Dog Walk is Sarge’s biggest fundraiser of the year. Individuals and teams raising donations for Sarge’s is critical to offset the costs of medical supplies, boarding dogs and cats… and opening the new adoption center.”

Teams that collect the most money in the form of donations to Sarge’s will win a prize. First- and second-place prizes will also be awarded to individuals for the most money collected. Tammy Watford, news anchor at WLOS-TV and Eddie Foxx and Sharon Green, morning hosts at 99 Kiss County Radio will judge the contests for the Best Tail Wagger, Best Dressed, Most Talented and Best Owner/Dog look-alike. Jeanne Naber will return as the emcee for the day and for the contests.

Registration forms are available online at www.sargeandfriends.org. Pre-registration will be held from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, August 4 and 5 at Sarge’s Adoption Center in Waynesville.

Registration fee is $15 per person and children under 10 are free. 828.246.9050 or www.sargeandfriends.org or Sarge’s Facebook page.

A state teacher-training center based in Cullowhee has slashed half its workforce in the fallout of a nearly 50-percent budget cut by the General Assembly.

The N.C. Center for the Advancement of Teaching went from a state-funded budget of $6.1 million to $3.1 million.

The 25-year institution, which is credited with helping the state to retain teachers by inspiring them through professional development, had 82 full and part-time workers. Thirteen of those are based at NCCAT’s smaller campus in Ocracoke. The final stay-or-leave numbers for that campus are still in flux.

But in Cullowhee, 22 fulltime positions and 11 hourly-contracted positions were eliminated. Additionally, three workers opted to go from fulltime positions to three-quarter time positions, and eight vacant positions are not being filled. Total, including Ocracoke, 35 to 40 positions are being eliminated.

Linda Suggs, chair of NCCAT’s board of trustees, said in a news release that NCCAT will be reorganizing and shifting resources to best serve the teachers and schools of North Carolina.

“This is an opportunity for us to reinvent ourselves while remaining true to our vision of advancing teaching as an art and a profession,” Suggs said at a recent joint meeting of the NCCAT Board of Trustees and the Development Foundation of NCCAT. “We can still impact a large number of teachers with this budget.”

Elaine Franklin, executive director of NCCAT, said a budget cut of this magnitude made a reduction in the size of the organization unavoidable. The organization hopes to raise more in private funds and grants to help offset the losses. NCCAT’s new model will be characterized by a move toward greater diversity in terms of programming content, sources of funding and use of resources, she said.

“During this fiscal year, we will be transitioning to a new model for delivering NCCAT’s mission,” Franklin said.

By reducing the number of week-long residential seminars, where teachers from around the state travel to NCCAT to participate, the center will bring training directly to schools to provide a greater degree of outreach, Franklin said.

“Our goal is to maintain NCCAT’s reputation for high-quality professional development programs and services,” Suggs said, “but to do so in a way that is fiscally sound and supported by educational policy in the twenty-first century.”

— By Quintin Ellison

Haywood Regional Medical Center Hospice and Palliative Care will hold a volunteer training series from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on July 25, 26, 27 and 28 at Balsam Mountain Inn.

This 12-hour program will help volunteers find their niche in hospice volunteerism. Volunteer opportunities include: patient and family support, companionship visits, respite care for caregivers, errands, bereavement support, delivering a rose to the family after death, office assistance, chaplaincy and other professional services, and events planning.

Pre-registration is required. 828.452.8578 for an application and more information.

Maggie Valley is now taking bids for improvements at Parham Park. Licensed grading contractors are welcome to submit construction bids for the project. The work will include grading, construction of a parking lot, and a walking trail.

Bids must be received by the town clerk at the Maggie Valley Town Hall until 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 20, at which time the bids will be publicly opened and read aloud. The envelopes with the bids must be sealed and addressed to the Town of Maggie Valley and designated as a “Construction Bid for Parham Park Improvements.”

The scope of the work and construction documents can be viewed at Town Hall or at www.townofmaggievalley.com. Performance and payment bonds are not required. No bids may be withdrawn after the scheduled closing time for the receipt of bid for a period of 60 days.

Farmers seeking assistance for crops damaged in 2009 have until Friday, July 29, to apply for help under the Revenue Assistance Payments Program (SURE).

SURE provides crop disaster assistance to eligible Swain and Jackson County producers on farms that lost crop production or quality.

To be eligible, producers must have suffered at least a 10 percent production loss on a crop of economic significance and have insurance under the Federal Crop Insurance Act or the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program.

The farm must also be in a county that was declared a primary disaster county or contiguous county by the Secretary of Agriculture or have actual production on a farm that was less than 50 percent of the normal production on the farm because of a natural disaster. For more information, visit the Swain/Jackson County FSA office or disaster.fsa.usda.gov.

Linda Seestedt-Stanford, who has been serving as Western Carolina University’s interim provost since last summer, is returning to her previous position as dean of the College of Health and Human Science to help the college make the transition into its new four-story, 160,000-square-foot building, a $46 million project featuring clinical and laboratory spaces, and offices and meeting areas for College of Health and Human Sciences programs that are currently located across four buildings.

New WCU Chancellor David O. Belcher appointed Beth Tyson Lofquist, associate provost, to serve as the new interim provost.

The Office of the Provost oversees every aspect of academics at WCU. The provost position has been held open in anticipation of a new chancellor taking the helm, with the job of hiring a permanent provost being deferred to the new administration. With Belcher now in place, the university will soon launch a national search for a permanent provost.

Lofquist became the university’s associate provost in 2008, She had been associate vice chancellor for academic affairs since 2005 and before that the head of the department of birth through kindergarten, elementary and middle grades education from 2002 to 2005.

She holds three degrees from WCU – a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education, a master’s degree in early childhood education and an educational specialist degree in intermediate education.

Middle and high school students can experience various digital media through Southwestern Community College with a week-long series July 18-21 in Cashiers. Students will learn about digital photography and videography, audio capture and editing, and web media, and develop several projects using free and easily available software.

The class meets from 10 a.m. until noon and costs $55. 828.339.4497.

Macon County’s first move after buying a canary-colored bright yellow building in downtown Franklin will be to paint it, probably an inoffensive brown, Commissioner Kevin Corbin said.

The building, appraised in value for more than $700,000 was purchased for about $300,000. It is located on the corner of Palmer and Patton streets.

United Community Bank ended up with the 10,000-square-foot building as the result of foreclosure proceedings.

“They were willing to make a good deal on it to get it off their books,” Corbin said this week. “Less than 50 cents on the dollar, and we had the available funds.”

The money will come from savings.

Initially, the plan is to house sheriff’s department detectives in the downtown property. They are currently working out of rented space, Corbin said. The county will be able to save on rent money and come out ahead in the long run.

There will still be space left over, but the county has not yet figured out what else it might put in the building.

There will be some wiring and other work needed to finish the building. The building is located next to the Macon County Emergency Medical Services building.

— By Quintin Ellison

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy recently announced that Asheville resident Lenny Bernstein, plus two other North Carolinians, have been elected to the group’s board of directors.

Bernstein, an active member and past president of the Carolina Mountain Club, is an Appalachian Trail 2000-miler (someone who has hiked the entire trail), and has been a trail maintainer for more than 20 years. He is a life member of the ATC. He currently chairs the Stewardship Council’s Land and Resource Protection Committee, which advises the board of directors on trail-management policies and programs. He has a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and had a 40-year career in the petroleum industry.

Clark Wright, a lawyer in New Bern, and Rich Daileader, a vice-president with Wells Fargo in Charlotte, have also been elected to the ATC’s 15-member board, whose members are elected to two-year terms.

A guided float down the Little Tennessee River will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, July 21, as part of the Highlands Biological Foundation’s “Think About Thursdays” summer event series.

Jenny Sanders of the Little Tennessee Watershed Association and Brent Martin of the Wilderness Society will guide the canoe trip. Learn about various aspects of the river, from the diverse flora and fauna of the Little Tennessee to its rich history and deep connections to the Cherokee.

The canoe trip will begin at Jerry Anselmo’s Great Smokey Mountains Fish Camp, and take out near the Rickman General Store in Cowee.  Registration required; lunch is included in the $35 fee.

828.526.2221.

After 21 years of monitoring the health of the Little Tennessee Watershed, the group most responsible for that work will release a “State of the Streams” report.

The unveiling of this report by the Little Tennessee Watershed Association will take place Thursday, July 14, at a League of Women Voters of Macon County luncheon in Franklin.

The first edition of this report covered the years 1990-2002, and contained information about each major tributary in the watershed.  

Jenny Sanders, executive director of LTWA, will present highlights from the report and explain how citizens can be involved in watershed protection.

The program will be held at Tartan Hall in Franklin and will begin at 12:15 p.m. Lunch is available at noon by reservation, for $5. The public is invited.

828.371.0527 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Want to give your daughter a taste of what it means to be an archaeologist?

Girls ages nine through 14 can participate in an upcoming SciGirls program called “Digging Archaeology: Techniques for Finding and Preserving the Past” at The Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute in the Pisgah Forest from 6 to 8 p.m Tuesday, July 26.

It is part of the monthly SciGirls series at PARI, and is affiliated with a national effort to engage girls in science sponsored by Twin Cities Public Television.

The July SciGirls program will explore the documentation process for archaeology. Girls will examine tools and techniques used in archaeology, and have the opportunity to explore a citizen science project headed by National Geographic.

PARI hosts a SciGirls event the last Tuesday of each month. $10 per student.

www.pari.edu.

Jason Mehler of Asheville crossed the finish line as the overall winner during the MedWest Triathlon held Saturday, July 9, at the Haywood Regional Medical Center Health and Fitness Center. Nicole Crane of Asheville was the overall female winner as more than 90 racers from as far away as Florida and Iowa took part in the 300-yard swim, 10.6-mile bike ride and 5K foot race.

COMPLETE RESULTS: www.leetiming.com/HT2011OPEN_OA.HTM

{gallery}medwest_2011_triathlon{/gallery}

Explore Balsam Mountain Preserve with two hikes this month, including to Jackson County’s most iconic and distinctive mountaintops. The 4,400-acre private eco-development between Waynesville and Sylva has 3,500 acres in conservation and a team of staff naturalists, who occasionally offer guided hikes and programs for the public.

• The first is the Double Top Mountain hike from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 23.

The Double Top hike is a 1.2-mile jaunt that begins at 4,700 feet and ends on the peak of Double Top at 5,481 feet. This moderately strenuous hike is less than 3 miles round trip, but includes frequent nature interpretive stops and time for lunch at the summit. The hike is limited to 20 participants, and costs $5 per person. Bring drinking water, lunch and raingear. A high-clearance vehicle is suggested if carpooling to the trailhead is needed.

• The second is a Balsam Mountain Trust Tour showcasing trees from 10 a.m. until noon on July 30. The “Magnificent Trees” survey highlights the 75 or so tree species in Balsam Mountain Preserve. This will be a combination walking/auto expedition to learn about native trees, led by Ron Lance, a botanical author and forest ecologist. The group will see some record-setting tree giants, including a 78-foot serviceberry. Ages 10 and older. The trip is limited to 20 participants, and costs $5 per person.

828.631.1060.