A new solar project is now complete at Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino and Hotel in Murphy following a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday, March 27.

The Haywood Community College timbersports team claimed first place at the Mid-Atlantic States Intercollegiate Woodsmen’s Meet held at the Haywood County Fairgrounds this past weekend. 

HCC student Darby Hand took first place in the STIHL Timbersports Collegiate Series Mid-Atlantic Qualifier. As a result, he will compete in the U.S. Collegiate Championships in Milwaukee in late July. Following HCC, Penn State Mont Alto came in second place and Montgomery Community College came in third.    

As you walk through your local Ingles Market, why do you buy certain products and not others? Do you have a list in your hand, on your phone or just in your mind… or do you look for inspiration as you walk through the aisles? Do you look for certain labels? Do you check prices or ingredients? 

Super Holiday Tours has organized a special six-night package Nov. 23-29 in New York City to see Western Carolina University’s Pride of the Mountains Marching Band participate in the 2019 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, Nov. 28. 

Lately there seems to be a lot of name calling when it comes to food. Your friends or neighbors may claim they are trying to "eat clean" or say that they pick foods with "clean ingredients."

By Bob Scott • Guest Columnist

Five years ago, as mayor, I was placed in the position of defending the Town of Franklin against undue criticism of the town’s stewardship of the Nikwasi Mound. I am again in that position as the recently formed 501 C(3) Nikwasi Initiative has asked the Town to deed the Mound to the Initiative to “give the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians joint ownership with us and ensure that, in perpetuity, they share equally with us in its care and preservation.” (I am not sure whether the ‘us’ is the town or the Initiative).

To the Editor:

More than one million North Carolinians have no health insurance. Many fall in what is known as the “Medicaid coverage gap” — they cannot afford to buy health insurance without fear of bankruptcy. The majority are working adults, between 18 and 64 years of age, without dependent children. Most live paycheck to paycheck. Many hold two or more part-time jobs. All of us have a family member or neighbor who lives in the gap, playing Russian roulette with their health. Expanding Medicaid will help close the coverage gap, can save lives and preserve the health of working families across Western North Carolina. 

 The Medicaid coverage gap hits rural areas like our mountain home especially hard. Medicaid expansion can bring billions of federal dollars to the state. We are one of 14 states that has rejected Medicaid expansion. Here’s how it works. The federal government pays 90 percent of the costs of expansion while N.C. would pay just 10 percent of the tab. Right now, our citizens pay federal taxes but the state does not receive the 90 percent subsidy back. Basically, we are giving away our hard-earned tax dollars to the 36 states that have expanded Medicaid. It makes no sense to give all that money away. 

Medicaid expansion would bring increased medical care to people with chronic conditions like diabetes or kidney disease. This would not only saves lives but result in fewer health crises, ER visits and hospital days. This saves money for all N.C. citizens. Treatment options for people with mental health issues is critical. Medicaid expansion is exactly what is needed to combat our growing opioid crisis. Out of desperation, people with untreated medical/mental health issues often self-medicate with alcohol, illegal or illicit drugs. In addition to improved health outcomes, Medicaid expansion will help to keep our rural hospitals open. This will bring jobs and with it, a boost to the local economy. 

Please contact your N.C. Senate and House representatives to support Medicaid expansion. It makes sense. It brings money to our state. It saves lives and livelihoods. It brings jobs. We can do better.

Elaine Slocumb

Bryson City

To the Editor:

In the news story “Constituents of color: Meadows defense of Trump angers many,” published in the SMN edition March 13, the title says it all. The animosity expressed in the article against Rep. Mark Meadows has everything to do with his support of President Donald Trump. 

When asked what he (Meadows) “could do better and what can he do in the future to mend fences,”  the answer from one of those interviewed was, “I think he could have done it better by not coming to the defense of the President.” 

It seems in case after case criticism of any Trump supporter is based on just that, their support for Donald Trump. Beyond the anti-Trump accusations, nothing else is credible.

Further on in the article, after denouncing Meadows for his role in the Michael Cohen Congressional hearing and his support of President Trump, interviewees and the writer question Meadows’ ability to represent constituents of color. I assume this opinion is because he is white, as is his Congressional district — the other side of the racist coin.  

That claim is expanded because Meadows’ district is described as gerrymandered in his favor. It is remarkable that Democrats are so anti-gerrymandering now that they are out of power in the N.C. legislature after 100 years of control where they did the very same type of gerrymandering. 

Rep. Meadows congressional record shows no support for any legislation that can be construed as against his constituency … unless of course the support of President Donald Trump’s agenda is interpreted as anti-constituency. That Trump agenda has achieved lowest unemployment numbers for workers — including minorities — a historic tax cut that put more earnings in paychecks, a booming economy, better trade deals favorable to the United States, U.S. energy independence, fewer Americans on food stamps, foreign policy that has reduced ISIS to little threat, halting North Korean missile firings and national protection with increased border patrols and illegal migrant control by vowing to finish the wall. Thank you Rep. Meadows for supporting President Trump and his agenda. Hating Trump and his supporters is tedious, trite, erroneous and way overplayed.

Carol Adams

Glenville

To the Editor:

A recent columnist claimed that their church embraces LGBTQ members. Well, my church welcomes LGBTQ as well. But rather than celebrate what is broken, we pray the LGBTQ, and all the broken, will seek reconciliation and healing. 

It breaks my heart to see people desperately clinging to that which the Bible very clearly says will separate them from God. As it relates to homosexuals, nowhere in the Bible does it speak of homosexual acts in a positive or acceptable light. But nowhere in the Bible does it say any of our acts are right with God. Each one of us is born broken, and our best are like dirty rags to God (Isaiah 34). Our brokenness separates us from God and prevents us from living the life He would have us live. The only person to ever be whole was Jesus Christ, our only hope for reconciliation with God. 

God’s love for us does not change our need to obey his commands. God calls us to give ourselves and all our brokenness to Him — our idolatry, selfishness, greed, gluttony and sexual immorality (including adultery, lust and homosexual acts). We are all born with these to some level. It is who we are. We must give them over to God who loves us so much, He died for us even while we were separated. He loves us so much, He made a way for us to be reconciled (John 3). 

And since we are all broken, we are all in the same situation. None of us can think of ourselves as better than anyone else. It should be our life’s goal to lead everyone we can to Jesus, our only hope of reconciliation. There is no room for hate ... of anyone. God created each of us in His image, so we all deserve the same respect as humans and the same hope as broken people. 

Jesus thought so. That is why He came to earth and showed love to everyone. But as with the woman at the well and the woman accused of adultery (John 4 and 8), He expected them to change from what they were to what He called them to be — whole and holy. 

So let’s show dignity and respect to all humans. But also, let’s not embrace our brokenness but embrace the healing that God so desperately wants us all to have. He loves us too much to do anything else. 

David Onder

Waynesville

A recently conserved 50-acre property is the third conservation easement that George Rector and Joan Byrd have donated to Mainspring Conservation Trust in the past five years. 

Western Carolina University’s Police Department needs help identifying a person who may have been involved in discharging a firearm near the South Baseball Lot on campus around 9 p.m. Monday, March 25.

It’s never too early for parents to begin planning for the summer and deciding which summer camp they want their children to attend. Western North Carolina offers a vast variety of summer camps with a focus on outdoor activities, personal growth, fine arts, sports and more.

From early June through early August, the Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center offers residents and visitors of all ages an opportunity to find community and make memories with free or nominally priced activities such as outdoor movie nights, crafts, workshops, game days, yoga, bonfires, moonlight boat rides and more. 

In addition to the year-round fun art spaces and activities for youth, The Bascom, A Center for the Visual Arts in Highlands offers a number of summer camp opportunities.

Most families in Western North Carolina haven’t even taken their spring break yet but already parents are clamoring to secure a spot for their kids at an area summer camp.

A new sign along Old Cullowhee Road now welcomes visitors and residents alike to Cullowhee’s historic center, thanks to efforts from the Cullowhee Revitalization Endeavor, also known as CuRvE.

At the opening of the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre’s current studio production “Venus in Fur,” the Waynesville theatre took the opportunity to honor long-time HART supporter, Mieko Thomson, as its “Volunteer of the Year.” 

To the Editor:

The town of Waynesville has passed an ordinance making defecation and urination on the ground a public health issue. 

Does anyone on the town board realize what is going on in our drinking water supply watershed? Birdwatchers, hikers, ramp diggers, maintenance personnel, school children and uncounted others have entered the Waynesville Watershed since a timber cutting easement was passed Oct. 12, 2004. Do any of the people on these outings have portable toilets?

Haywood County contains thousands of acres of federally owned land. Most of these people could use these areas instead of tromping around in our drinking water supply and leaving human waste. 

Waynesville Town Manager Rob Hite informed me anyone visiting the watershed could use the restroom at the Water Treatment Plant. Maybe Mr. Hite should time himself walking from the upper end of the Quinland Town bottoms and see how long it takes to get to this toilet. 

Charles Miller

Waynesville

To the Editor:

The hate trump crowd that includes the media ringleaders keeps trying to denigrate President Donald Trump any way they can. In the March 13 edition of The Smoky Mountain News, the article “Constituents of Color” uses Rep. Mark Meadow’s exchange during the Michael Cohen, convicted felon, congressional hearing to do harm to the President. Rep. Meadows — in a sincere attempt to refute Cohen’s claim that Donald Trump is racist — used logic for his argument. The SMN article turns Meadows remarks into racism mainly to support the claim that Trump is a racist. This was just another attempt among many to use any means to denounce Donald Trump.

The chosen interviewees, biased against Trump since the 2016 election, speak of hate in their comments while proceeding to vilify Meadows in this astonishing hit job published by the SMN. In their racist comments the writer and interviewees mock a black Trump employee who willingly attended and subsequently defended her appearance at the hearing. They ridicule Meadows who rightly took offense to racist accusations by a member of the committee. They scoff at Meadows reference to his bi-racial family while one interviewee lauds her own bi-racial family. 

Meadows declaration about his 300 private meetings with the President where there was never any racist comments or indications by the president is brushed aside as some kind of joke by another interviewee.

The article then goes on to claim concerns that Rep. Meadows cannot represent constituents of color in a gerrymandered district that favors him. There are no facts to support the claim because it is false. In the end an interviewee sums up the whole purpose of the article by stating, “ I think he could have done it better by not trying to come to the defense of the President.” Once again we see the purpose here is to harm President Trump. Will the hate-Trumpers ever get over the fact that their preferred candidate lost the election in 2016?

Shirley Slaughter 

Cashiers

To the Editor:

Last week both our Senators, Richard Burr and Thom Tillis, had two opportunities to demonstrate that they understood their jobs as described in the Constitution and the oath of office they took to defend that Constitution and not any individual person.

The first chance was a vote to end unauthorized U.S. aid to Saudi Arabia in support of their war in Yemen. The second chance was to support the resolution to cancel Trump’s National Emergency Declaration to take funds authorized for something else to build his wasteful and ineffective wall to fix a situation that doesn’t exist. 

Burr at least had the good sense not to say anything about his vote until after he ignored his duty to defend the congressional power of the purse as assigned by Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution and voted to support Trump in his illegal power grab.  

Sen. Tillis, on the other hand, had written an op-ed in the Washington Post on Feb. 25 saying, “As a U. S.  Senator, I cannot justify providing the executive with more ways to bypass Congress.”  Yet when it was time to vote, he voted no and gave Trump “more ways to bypass Congress” in violation of his oath to defend the Constitution.

Tillis, in a response to me, goes on to say he is working with the VP and senior White House staff to amend the National Emergencies Act so Democrats can’t do what Trump does. If your oath of office is to defend the Constitution, it shouldn’t matter whether the President is a Democrat or a Republican. The Constitution applies to any President.  Just another example of Tillis supporting one set of rules for Republicans but wanting different rules for Democrats, especially if power is involved.  

Jane Harrison

Waynesville

I think you may be referring to gluten-free products and people avoiding bread either because of gluten or because they are on some sort of weight loss diet.I think you may be referring to gluten-free products and people avoiding bread either because of gluten or because they are on some sort of weight loss diet.

These days there’s so much information about our health easily available to us. We can click on our smart phones or type searches into our browser and find articles and information in seconds. But we can also get overloaded and overwhelmed by information and not know what sites or resources to trust. 

To the Editor: 

If you haven’t researched or assisted a foreigner in easing through the maze of the Immigration and Naturalization Service regulations, you missed a portion of your life that you should cherish. My contacts have been sparse after assisting a Korean in obtaining his Green Card (resident and work status approval) in the early ‘80s. These were the good old days when each alien not qualified for specific work had to have a sponsor (me) to guarantee his/her self-sufficiency by putting up my own assets. 

To the Editor:

Willie is a graduate of WCU and has a degree in sociology. He was told by his instructors he had wonderful opportunities ahead of him. Sure enough the only job he could find paid $7.50 an hour. Gradually he has increased his income as he changed jobs. Willie had several beers upon graduation and was pulled and charged with DWI. He lost his car and was ordered to pay a fine and do community service. Willie could not pay the fines due to low income and the fines grew. 

To the Editor:

In America today we are experiencing tremendous growing pains and challenges to the way things have been, coupled with certainty that the future will not be like the past. 

The Greenhouse Gas Inventory requested by a recent executive order from Gov. Roy Cooper has now been released by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality. 

Western Carolina University once more has an outdoors store on campus following the closure of Blackrock Outdoor Company. 

According to recently released statistics from the National Park Service, the Blue Ridge Parkway logged its lowest visitation since 2014, when it recorded 13.9 million visitors compared to the 14.7 million it welcomed in 2018. 

It’s official: Increased numbers of middle and high school students are choosing to experience personal and spiritual renewal at Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center’s Winter Youth Retreats.

Women of Waynesville, a nonprofit organization that supports the needs of women and children in Haywood County, invites all interested women to attend an open house and membership drive event.

One lane of U.S. 441 South has been closed between Sylva and Franklin out of precaution due to a recurring long crack.

Haywood County NAACP is making a pilgrimage to Montgomery to see the new Legacy Museum: Enslavement to Mass Incarceration and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice honoring victims of lynching. 

Everyone wants to live in a beautiful and litter-free place, and six winners were recognized for their efforts to that end in Haywood County with the 2018 Community Pride Award, bestowed Feb. 27 by the Commission for a Clean County. 

To the Editor:

North Carolina is one of 14 states that has chosen not to expand Medicaid, which provides health care insurance to lower-income citizens. Ninety percent of its costs are covered by the federal government.

Gov. Roy Cooper, in his recent “State of the State” address, has asked for the expansion of Medicaid, whereby federal dollars could revive struggling rural communities by keeping local hospitals open. According to UNC’s Rural Health Research Program, there have been 83 rural hospital closures in the U.S. (2010-2018), mainly in states, not expanding Medicaid. North Carolina hospitals in Blowing Rock, Mocksville, Yadkinville, Scotland Neck, and Bellhaven, no longer provide in-patient services.

State Sen. Phil Berger (R, Eden),  President Pro Tem of the N.C. Senate, tells us “Obamacare Medicaid expansion is wrong for North Carolina.” Despite the fact he represents largely rural communities in Rockingham, Caswell, and Stokes counties, he argues expansion will cost too much, is unsustainable and thus overburdened; and will not improve health outcomes for those who gain coverage.

A growing body of research shows that Medicaid expansion’s benefits extend far beyond coverage and access to care — it also saves lives, reduces family bankruptcy, and increases access to opioid treatment. Nationally, 62 percent of all personal bankruptcy is due to medical expenses. 

The Republican Party has become the Party of “No,” except when shutting down the federal government or depleting the federal treasury through tax “reforms” that benefit the upper 1 percent. Perhaps Mr. Berger has it wrong; perhaps he is wrong for North Carolina. Or he can always cancel his own publicly-funded health insurance coverage.

Roger Turner

Asheville

To the Editor:

Unbelievable that Rep. Mark Meadows (R-Brevard) chose to use a black female HUD employee as a token, cheap prop to demonstrate that Trump cannot possibly be racist. He should be ashamed and apologize for portraying our district as a bunch of backwards thinking hillbillies.  

Trump has proven over and over that he is a racist, and if Rep. Meadows refuses to believe it then he needs to take one of the dozens of vacant jobs in the White House and let us be represented by someone else.

And shame of her for agreeing to participate with him, unless she had no choice.  

Mylan Sessions 

Waynesville

To the Editor:

Like Andrew Morgan (see Mountaineer, Feb. 25, Guest Columnist), I too am alarmed by the rhetoric from the anti-jihadist who spoke at the local Republican Party Headquarters. Unlike Mr. Morgan, I am not a Muslim. I have, however, lived in Muslim countries for several years and lived in Muslim homes. You do not need to fear Muslims. True Muslims, like true Christians, are striving to follow a high moral code and lead a spiritually guided life. The people you should fear are those who believe that they have cornered the market on truth.

One example of misinterpretation in Mr. Gaubatz’s article regards the Muslim call to prayer, which is heard five times a day. It is a reminder to the faithful to reaffirm their spirituality through prayer. It does not mean to drop everything they are doing at the moment and pray. The prayer can be five minutes later, an hour later, or if on the job, whenever the person has a break. 

I wonder about such fear-mongering. Fear is a very powerful motivator and is often used to control people, especially those who react instead of thinking through “hot button” issues. Could this talk possibly be politically motivated since we have a major election coming up next year?  The message that hardened criminals are pouring across our southern border has been repeatedly fact-checked and proven false. Since that “fear” has been debunked, it is no longer as effective. Is it being replaced by stirring up a fear of Muslims?

Seems we always have to have an “us against them” bogeyman in an attempt to sow fear. There is more strength in unity than in division, and our nation desperately needs that strength. Like Mr. Morgan and Mr. Gaubatz, I am a patriot. I was deeply moved by the words of John Harris recently as he talked about thinking of his children at the time of making a major political decision. “We have got to come up with a way to transcend our partisan politics, and the exploitation of processes like this for political gain. That goes for both parties, Democrats and Republicans. And Libertarians,” he said. “I’m just left thinking that we can all do a lot better than this.”

We must do better.

Joanne Strop

Waynesville

Traditionally, the title of Beloved Man or Beloved Woman was reserved for Cherokee people who had proven themselves valiant warriors in battle but had grown too old to fight anymore. They would come home to an honored place in their tribe, serving their community in new ways, off the battlefield. 

Macon County nonprofit organizations have until March 29 to apply for county funds allocated in the county’s current fiscal year budget, through the Macon County Community Funding Pool.

The North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition (NCHRC) is a statewide grassroots organization dedicated to implementing harm reduction interventions, public health strategies, drug policy transformation and justice reform.

The inaugural Leadership Cashiers class recently launched its seven-month program with an opening retreat at Mountaintop Golf & Lake Club. The Cashiers Area Chamber’s new community engagement initiative is based on a development model used by many cities across the country to prepare and motivate participants to offer quality community leadership.

Thanks to the hard work and prudent fiscal decision making of both elected officials and administration, Haywood County’s been rewarded with a slightly higher bond rating by 160-year-old financial services agency and credit bellwether Standard & Poor’s. 

Macon County Public Health has confirmed an outbreak of meningitis.