The Appalachian Trail Conservancy recently recognized a passel of Franklin businesses and organizations for their support of the Appalachian Trail, naming them AT. Community Supporters for helping out the hiking community, the ATC or the trail itself. Recipients were:

• Three Eagles Outfitters, a hiking and camping outfitter that offers hikers discounts, Internet service, a coffee bar and lounge, in-town shuttles to the store and a free mail drop service.

• The Franklin Chamber of Commerce, which has helped build public awareness about the resources and economic opportunity inherent in the AT’s proximity to Franklin. The chamber highlights Franklin’s status as an AT Community in its Newcomers Guide, where it also prints AT hike information, and the chamber houses an AT display in its building. 

• Outdoor 76, an outdoor supply store downtown that leads hikes on the AT. The store serves 1,000 to 1,500 thru-hikers each year and its owners are members of the AT Community Committee. 

• First Baptist Church of Franklin, which serves a free hiker breakfast for four weeks each spring, last year feeding more than 800 hikers. The church also takes a photo of each hiker and mails it to their home, along with a written note. 

As the weather cools down, the competitive edge will be heating up in the running communities of Western North Carolina over the next few weeks. Push your limits with a fall race in your community. 

A comedy set in Martha’s Vineyard that explores a wealthy world of infinity pools, Bentleys and yacht clubs with men in pink pants, “Elemeno Pea” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 1-3 and at 3 p.m. Oct. 4 in Hoey Auditorium at Western Carolina University.

The 6th Annual ColorFest: Dillsboro Fine Arts & Crafts Fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, in downtown Dillsboro.

Frank Brannon, Jr., proprietor of SpeakEasy Press in Dillsboro, will present “How to Make and Print Photopolymer Plates” for Art League of the Smokies at 6:15 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, at Swain County Center for the Arts in Bryson City.

Featuring local food, music and children’s activities, the 5th annual Taste of Sylva culinary tour will run from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, in downtown Sylva restaurants and in the pavilion at McGuire Gardens on West Main Street.

The 5th annual Barnaroo fall music festival will be held Oct. 4 at Franny’s Farm in Leicester. 

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Claire Lynch will perform at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5, at Cataloochee Ranch in Maggie Valley.

Long recognized and praised as a creative force in acoustic music, Lynch is a pioneer who continually pushes the boundaries of the bluegrass genre. She is the reigning 2013 Female Vocalist of the Year for the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) and a 2012 recipient of the United States Artists Walker Fellowship. Her career has been decorated with many other accolades, including two Grammy nominations and previous IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year awards in 2010 and 1997.

Dinner will be served at 6 p.m. Tickets, which include dinner and the performance, are $60, and reservations are required. 

828.926.1401.

Acclaimed bluegrass/gospel group Balsam Range will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30, at the Colonial Theatre in Canton. The concert is part of the Homegrown in Haywood series being put on by the Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina, an initiative within the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area.

Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at 828.298.5330 (Ext. 303) or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or www.blueridgeheritage.com.

Country megastar Jake Owen will perform at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27 at Harrah’s Cherokee.

Tickets are $45 and $55.

800.745.3000 or www.harrahscherokee.com. 

To the Editor:

Ironically, the executive director of an organization named for the sacrificial bird used in mining operations endorses wind and solar power.

Is he aware, for example, that California’s Ivanpah solar generating plant is routinely incinerating small birds and setting the feathers of larger birds on fire, as well as blinding them? The YouTube videos are simply mesmerizing.

He cannot be unaware that wind turbines are decimating raptors and other canary kin, not to mention the well documented problems regarding sleep disorders in humans and reduced home values.

Someone enlighten me. Is the Canary Coalition pro or anti-canary? To me, it’s reminiscent of the Twilight Zone episode, “To Serve Man.”

Without a “smidgen’”of evidence, Mr. Friedman states, “Wind energy is the least expensive energy option available today.” Somebody better tell the Danes. They are the leaders in wind energy and they pay 40 cents per kilowatt hour.

Nowhere does he address reliability which cannot be provided by solar or wind. If it’s cold and dark, just wait for the sun to rise or the wind to blow. And wait.

Most astonishingly of all, he offers geothermal to allay the concerns of the anti-fracking crowd. Now, I admit drilling holes for exploration, setting off explosions to map the underground landscape with seismic waves, disposing wastewater and enduring earthquakes should concern everyone. Why is he not making us aware that each of these concerns exists in geothermal activities, not just shale fracking?

It may be true, as Mr. Friedman states, “extracting natural gas from the ground results in substantial leakage of raw, unburned methane into the atmosphere.” What he conveniently does not state is that carbon dioxide, methane, hydrogen sulphide and ammonia are also released in geothermal drilling. Why does he omit those relevant details?

Claud Mandil, former head of the International Energy Agency, a promoter of alternate energy sources, states, “Every type of traditional geothermal drilling can include fracking because of the need to ensure enough water circulates and gets heated.... The risks of provoking seismic activity or water pollution are the same.”  

He further states, “Talk of geothermal and fracking is being hushed up so as not to provoke an outcry. There may be some acceptance of it for geothermal because that energy is renewable.”

Geothermal may actually be worse because different and more difficult techniques must be used to plug the wells and they must be engineered for hotter temperatures and higher water flow.

Douglas Hollett, head of the DOE’s geothermal technologies office states,“The key is learning how to do it in a reliable way, in a responsible way.” When similar statements are made by shale fracking advocates they are routinely ridiculed by opponents.

When two competing energy sources exist and the negatives that apply to both of them are identical and equivalent, but one source is vilified while the other is glorified; ask yourself who benefits.

Mr. Friedman offers up Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute as the efficiency wizard whose ideas we should embrace. Lovins is a leading advocate of geothermal energy. His tax-exempt organization receives $15 million in grants and he receives $750,000 in compensation.

I think we have our answer.

Timothy Van Eck

Whittier

To the Editor:

The deed to the Nikwasi Mound states that, “the mound shall be preserved for the citizens of Macon County and for posterity, and the same shall be kept as it now stands and shall not be excavated, explored, altered, or impaired in any way or used for any commercial purpose, and shall be kept as a monument to the early history of Macon County ....”

Furthermore, “any deed, lease or other contract which in any way may interfere with the objects and purposes of this instrument as above set forth shall be null and void, and should the Town of Franklin at any time fail to carry out the provisions of this instrument, then any citizen of Macon County shall have the right to apply to the Court for injunctive relief and to prosecute said action in their own behalf and in behalf of all other citizens of Macon County.”

Bottom line is that the Nikwasi Mound has been preserved and well maintained for over a half century by the Town of Franklin until a year or so ago when a Town of Franklin power struggle heated up among the mayor, vice mayor, and aldermen, and the mound became a handy bone of contention, a visible way to politically squabble for power and control, and the citizens of Macon County have a vested interest in the mound, a cultural and financial stake in the mound as per the legal deed that describes the preservation and maintenance of mound for “the citizens of Macon County.”

This current brouhaha is not just a political power struggle that the Macon County Commissioners can discount, wash their hands of, and kick the ball to the Franklin Town Board to deal with as a play toy for governance issues. The mound, in the legal care of the Town of Franklin since the 1940s, belongs to all of us, the citizens of Macon County. Simple as that.

Betty Cloer Wallace

Franklin

To the Editor:

We have chosen war yet again because we have deemed someone else’s behavior to be barbaric; in this latest case, it is against ISIS. I agree: beheading civilians is barbaric. Here are some other things I find barbaric.

 It’s barbaric to refer to Afghan civilians killed by U.S. bombs as “collateral damage” rather than “civilian casualties” and consequently to ignore loss of civilian life. It’s barbaric to arbitrarily declare all military-age males killed in drone strikes as “enemy combatants” and consequently to ignore loss of civilian life.

It’s barbaric to send men and women off to war to be physically or mentally maimed and then ignore their needs when they return home. It’s barbaric that 22 veterans commit suicide every day, while mental health care continues to be largely unavailable. It’s barbaric that veterans die while waiting for medical treatment. It’s barbaric that more than one in four women who join the military will be sexually assaulted during their careers.

It’s barbaric that we always have enough money for prisons but not for schools. It’s barbaric that one woman in four will experience domestic violence. It’s barbaric that a report of child abuse is made every 10 seconds. It’s barbaric that aborted children are referred to as “pregnancy terminations.”

It’s barbaric to be so addicted to fossil fuels that we manufacture not only the weapons of war but the justifications for war. It’s barbaric to believe that violence does anything other than beget more violence.

Lisa Bacon

Sylva 

To the Editor:

Since they took over control of the North Carolina Legislature, there has been a great cry among Republican ranks to get our fiscal house in order. They have cut spending on schools, they have cut spending on health care, and they have frozen government hiring for much of their term in office …. well, with a few exceptions of friends of the governor. In the process, these guys got into bed with energy companies and decided that fracking — the energy recovery process that has polluted much of the Southwest and Northeast — is a good idea for North Carolina. Our own state senator describes this as the new “… energy revolution.” He says that with a smile.     

Democrats, now a minority in the legislature, protested the blocking of the Affordable Healthcare Act. Democrats railed against the real cuts to education and voted against a sham raise for teachers. And Democrats came down against fracking in the state, along with a lot of Republican citizens who recognize this as a bomb under our bed.

Rarely have citizens of North Carolina had such a clear-cut choice in an election. We can choose to elect people who are driven by money, or we can choose to elect people who are concerned about the wellbeing of citizens and our environment.

What does your conscience tell you to choose?

Rick Bryson

Bryson City    

To the Editor:

A candidate for the county commission wants to cut your taxes. That is the basis for his whole campaign. He will save you money. It is an excellent bumper sticker and campaign slogan. For Tea Party types, that is all they need to know, he has their vote.

But what does that slogan really mean for Macon County? By any estimate we already have the lowest ad-valorem  property tax rate of the 100 counties in North Carolina. Does that mean that if elected he would cut school funding, the county sheriff, ball parks, medical services or any of the other many services that make this county a wonderful place to live. Of course none of that matters; the only important goal is to pay as little tax as possible because it is my money.

True conservatives would look at the county balance sheet and think what is good for the county and the people in it. They would see a new dialysis center as a way to preserve the lives of local residents. They would see aid to local schools as a way to maintain our local values. They would see road improvements as a way to help local business. They would see money spent on local social services as a way to keep local families together and protect our children. In other words, they would see past their personal bank accounts to become part of the community that they want to preserve.

We live on one of the best counties in one of the best states in this wonderful country. Anyone who threatens that will not have my vote.

Louise Vitale

Franklin

To the Editor:

I have read with interest the original article by George Ellison questioning the account that Granville Calhoun has provided about the trip of Horace Kephart to Hazel Creek in 1904 and the response made to that article by Granville’s great niece Gwen Franks Breese and Mr. Ellison’s response to her letter. Quite frankly I am appalled by Mr. Ellison’s largely unsupported position that the story related by Mr. Calhoun was false.

To the Editor:

Readers may well be approaching exhaustion with this ongoing exchange regarding circumstances surrounding Horace Kephart’s arrival at Hazel Creek, but since his death the Kephart saga has been misrepresented to a degree rivaling the pervasive stereotyping and inaccuracies found in Our Southern Highlanders (OSH). We feel it important to delineate some factual verities.

Brush clearing at Monteith Farmstead

Appalachian Tree Services of Franklin donated its services to remove several large trees and brush debris from the Monteith Farmstead in Dillsboro and the site of the Appalachian Women’s Museum, which is working to create a museum that will chronicle the rich and diverse history of Southern Appalachian women. www.appwm.org.

Community notes

• A Ceremonial U.S. Flag Retirement Ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, at VFW Post 5202 in Waynesville. If anyone has a flag that needs to be disposed of, drop it off at the Post. 828.456.9346. 

• Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort employees volunteered 21,179 hours in 2014 through roadside clean ups, supply drives, and various other volunteer events. Harrah’s received the WNC Association of Fundraising Professionals’ 2014 Outstanding Business in Philanthropy Award.

• Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Western North Carolina will hold it annual Bowl For Kids’ Sake fundraiser for Haywood County from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 14 at Sky Lanes in Asheville, with a host of teams already signed up and more being accepted. Big Brothers, Big Sisters is a nonprofit organization that partners children facing adversity with volunteers in the community who can provide them guidance and help them achieve success. 828.356.2148.

• Jackson Neighbors in Need raised $8,700 at the Charlie’s Challenge fundraiser on Jan. 31 to benefit the organization’s heating assistance program, weatherization services and emergency shelter. www.jacksonneigborsinneed.org.  

• Social entrepreneurship students at Western Carolina University helped raise more than $1,400 for organizations serving Western North Carolina. 828.227.3295 or www.servicelearning.wcu.edu.

• Catch the Spirit of Appalachia will provide four $500 scholarships for high school seniors pursuing “Appalachian Studies,” with each scholarship focused on a different aspect of Appalachian heritage. www.spiritofappalachia.org. 828.631.4587.

• Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation in Haywood County set a new record high for number of pets saved in a year. In 2014, Sarge’s saved 1,231 dogs and cats — a 13 percent increase from 2013. www.sargeandfriends.org or 828.246.9050.

• Walmart of Waynesville presented a check for $1,500 to The Arc of Haywood County, a nonprofit that serves individuals with developmental disabilities and their families, for Christmas presents and clothes to the individuals served in their program. www.arcofhaywood.org.

• St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Haywood County is providing food, toiletries and other essentials to needy students at Pisgah High School for the second year in a row through the Backpacks of Love program, which sends students home with food every Friday to help them make it through the weekend. The church also provides food through MANNA Food Bank to Meadowbrook Elementary students. Holy Smoke Ministry at St. Andrew’s helps fund the program by selling barbecue at festivals and events. 828.648.7550.

• The Jackson County Youth Leadership Council is giving out mini-grants to other youth groups in the county engaged in community service projects of their own. The teenagers in the club are learning about philanthropy by serving as a mini-foundation to solicit, review and select projects worthy of funding. The Council is a high school 4-H club supported in part by a grant from the Cherokee Preservation Foundation. www.jcyouthleadership.weebly.com or 828.586.4009.

• Emma McElroy, a fourth-grader at Riverbend Elementary School, asked friends to bring linens to her 10th birthday party instead of gifts to be donated to the Haywood Pathways Center in Hazelwood. She donated 23 sheet sets, pillows, towels and washcloths and gave the $220 she received in birthday money to Pathways.

• The Macon County School Nutrition Relay for Life Team is selling breast cancer awareness T-shirts as a fundraiser through Feb. 23. From now until relay night, they will be selling homemade Oreo balls dipped in chocolate, cakes and pumpkin rolls. 828.524.4692.

Jamye Cooper will be taking the reins of Haywood Habitat for Humanity, bringing with her 25 years of professional experience in all aspects of nonprofit organizations. 

Her experience includes work as director of corporate and foundation relations at UNC-Asheville and executive director of Folkmoot USA. Most recently, she served as executive director of Dining for Women, an international giving organization based in Greenville, South Carolina.  

“Home is where everything starts,” the Canton mother of three said. “It is personally gratifying to professionally align with my belief that having a safe and stable home is foundational.”

Habitat for Humanity’s mission is to eliminate poverty housing by helping struggling families become homeowners. The Haywood chapter recently broke ground on its 44th home since its founding in 1990. 

Petty Officer 1st Class Chavella Bailey, a 1994 Swain County High School graduate and native of Cherokee, is serving aboard USS Forrest Sherman, one of the world’s most versatile multi-mission combat ships. Bailey is a master-at-arms aboard the Norfolk-based ship, a 510-foot long Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. As a seasoned non-commissioned officer, she mentors junior sailors. 

“I like to see them take on more responsibility and build up their independence,” said Bailey. “I’m kind of a mom figure with young sailors coming to me saying, ‘Ma, can you help me?’”

Approximately 34 officers and 253 enlisted men and women comprise the ship’s company. 

As a member of one of the U.S. Navy¹s most versatile combat ships, Bailey 

and other USS Forrest Sherman sailors feel they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes.

“At the end of the day, my sense of pride comes when nobody got hurt and nobody got in trouble,” said Bailey. “When I retire successfully, I’ll know I’ll have completed a great accomplishment.”

Ken Zulla was called a lot of things during his 30 years as an auditor for the United States government, but his latest title, winner of the 2014 Chief Junaluska Award from the Junaluska Associates, is more positive.

To the Editor:

Fracking is a contentious and potentially disastrous environmental and social issue heading for North Carolina and possibly even our mountains. The Mining and Energy Commission that has been drafting rules to regulate this industry in our state is run by Chairman Jim Womack (Lee County) and others who have direct financial and political ties to the very corporations that will provide the expertise, technology and even the workers (those already skilled in fracking operations). 

As North Carolina has not developed a fossil fuel extraction industry, the very few jobs that are associated with the fracking operations will be filled by experienced workers with long associations with the fracking industry, therefore not providing jobs for local workers. Additionally, revenues derived from the fracking operations will not be spent locally. A 2012 study shows that less than 36 percent of the investments would be spent in North Carolina. 

The shale gas market is an economic boon for the 30-odd states that permit fracking. The severance tax states impose on the process adds up. In 2010, it generated more than $11 billion. The flow of that revenue goes straight into state and federal coffers, as does increased corporate income tax revenue from energy companies profiting from fracking. Locally, the fracking process negatively impacts property values, which in turn depresses property tax revenue.

Local governments enjoy no benefits. Instead, they get stuck with all the fracking problems: noise from blasting, storage of toxic chemicals, degraded water sources and heavy truck traffic, as well as the rising costs of cleaning up the substantial mess fracking leaves behind. 

The rules written by the MEC are woefully inadequate and fail to protect our communities and water supplies. Full disclosure of chemicals used on site, without trade secret protections, should be mandatory. Gas and oil development is not like manufacturing that takes place in a closed system — chemicals are stored with minimal protections on site and are deliberately and accidentally released to the subsurface, air and water, all part of the public’s environment. 

The baseline testing rules are also shamefully weak. Many people in this state get their water from their own private water wells. If fracking comes to your neighborhood, it could contaminate your water. Baseline testing is required in order to prove that the industry is indeed responsible for the contamination. But the draft rules have reduced the area in which baseline testing is required by more than 70 percent since the most recent fracking bill. The wording in the current draft rule puts the burden on the owner of the water well to prove that the gas operator caused contamination. 

How far should fracking wells be from occupied buildings, including homes and schools? What about drinking water wells? Or our rivers and streams? The rules on “setback distances” are supposed to protect people and resources. But the MEC’s drafted rules on setback distances are far less than science would call for, despite the MEC promising us the “best protections in the country.”

We’ve all experienced the consequences of corporate greed over sound science. Health studies have indicated that potential exposure to toxic air emissions can happen over 4,500 feet from gas wells; yet wells can be as close as 650 feet to occupied buildings! Fracking can potentially destroy our wells and drinking water supplies, setback distances should be increased substantially. Proposed setback distances are only 200 feet from surface waters. Longer setbacks are a no-brainer to protect this state’s people and drinking water from accidents and pollution. 

Ken Brown

Sylva

To the Editor:

On Sept. 9 the National Audubon Society released the results of several years’ worth of studies that predict the future ranges of 588 North American bird species, taking into account measurable levels of accelerated global warming (http://climate.audubon.org). The bird census data that was used in these studies came from citizen derived Christmas Bird Counts as well as Breeding Bird Surveys. Both of these bird survey methods have been frequently carried out in communities around our state and across North America. The weather data for the studies came from the National Weather Data Center and from leading climatologists.

Very briefly, distribution maps of the various bird species were generated and associated with existing climatic characteristics. Then, subtle predicted changes in precipitation, season onset and temperature were added to the computerized models and new future bird distributions were predicted.

The forecasts are remarkable. Some bird species, especially those currently associated with warmer climates, are expected to expand their ranges further north and to what we currently think of as higher, cooler elevations. For example, in Highlands, mockingbirds, a bird that is common at slightly lower elevations, have begun appearing in recent Christmas Bird Counts for the first time. Other bird species are predicted to simply shift distributions further north but without net increases or decreases in total area of distribution. And then there are those species that may not have adequate places to “escape” to where climate and accompanying ecologic conditions are favorable for their survival; of the 588 species studied, 126 species are predicted to suffer severe declines by 2050 and another 188 species by 2080; 314 are considered at-risk species!   

By now you will have guessed that, unless we can reverse or significantly slow the trend in accelerated global warming, our grandchildren will probably not recognize many of the birds that we think of as avian talisman of the Southern Appalachians (e.g., scarlet tanagers, and many of our warbler species … perhaps even our currently plentiful juncos).

This study is the most comprehensive analysis that has specifically addressed the future of large numbers of vertebrate species on our continent in the face of unprecedented rates of global warming. While I doubt anyone would claim these to be perfect forecasts, they are the best information we currently have to help focus our attention on the challenges ahead. And clearly, if accelerated climate change continues, other dramatic ecologic changes, in addition to bird species distribution, will follow suit; at least most birds have the ability to fly to possible new habitat, many of our other fellow creatures and plants are not as mobile.

National Audubon has provided us with some thought provoking projections that involve familiar bird species. Presumably these projections will be further refined and evaluated. Meanwhile, it is our responsibility to vigorously protect our existing environmental strongholds for bird habitat (starting with our own gardens) and, like it or not, to take action to help slow or reverse the accelerated pace of long-term global warming (see also http://nc.audubon.org and http://highlandsaudubonsociety.org/index.html).

Russ Regnery

President, 

Highlands Plateau Audubon Society

To the Editor:

I generally find that when I cast a ballot for anyone in a national election, I’ve voting for the lesser evil. It’s sad, but I’m voting against someone as there’s always much that is still wrong about every candidate running for office at that level. 

That is not true this election. I am voting for Tom Hill for Congress, not just to get rid of U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Cashiers, but because I actually like everything about Tom Hill. I like where Tom Hill stands on the issues. 

And even more, I believe he will stand up for what he believes when faced with the powers that be in Washington. Tom Hill is honest and direct. And I don’t think Tom Hill will cave under the pressure to compromise unreasonably. I added the word unreasonably, as I know nothing but stalemate results from the inability to work with others.

Many people think their vote doesn’t count, and I do believe things are skewed with the electoral process. But we have the numbers to change things in Washington. If the common citizen could get over their apathy and get to the polls, we could get our country back by voting for Tom Hill to be our congressman.

Connie J. Conklin

Dillsboro

To the Editor:

Jane Hipps wants fracking banned in North Carolina. Her opponent, state Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, is a little muddy on the issue. 

Hipps, a Waynesville Democrat challenging Davis to represent Senate District 50 in the N.C. General Assembly, is committed to keeping our mountain water clean and safe from toxic chemicals that are involved in hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” a process used to extract natural gas from deep in the earth. Davis, however, has provided mixed messages on whether he would want fracking in Western North Carolina. While he co-sponsored the bill to lift a moratorium on fracking in North Carolina, he has stated that testing and building a pipeline through our mountains would be too costly. Is Davis softening his stance for election-year politics? 

Last month, the N.C. Department of Environmental and Natural Resources announced it would back off initial plans to test for fracking sites in Western North Carolina for the 2014-2015 fiscal year and would instead focus on sampling shale gas deposits in the Piedmont region of the state. However, that didn’t stop Davis from leading a public panel discussion Sept. 2 in Franklin to help promote the benefits of fracking and to downplay the dangerous side-effects of water contamination and earthquakes that have plagued other states with fracking industries. 

Touting jobs and energy independence for North Carolina, Davis said he was proud to have sponsored the bill to bring fracking to the state. However, key questions remain about public safety and adequate regulations for fracking. Numerous “fraccidents” have occurred in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Texas, Colorado and Wyoming where toxic chemicals have leaked into groundwater, soil and major rivers, killing wildlife and poisoning drinking water. Once the chemicals are used with massive amounts of water to get the natural gas, the toxins and the water are stored in wells. These wells have repeated leaked into groundwater and rivers in other states where fracking has occurred. 

As a state senator representing Western North Carolina, Davis has voted for funding cuts to environmental protections for wetlands and fewer water and air quality monitoring stations in the state. In February, a stormwater pipe burst at a Duke Energy Progress plant near Eden, dumping more than 50,000 tons of coal ash and up to 27 million gallons of wastewater into the Dan River. The disaster highlighted the need for more monitoring of waste sites, including wastewater wells used by fracking industries that could contaminate rivers for decades. 

Jane Hipps doesn’t want Western North Carolina to face a similar environmental catastrophe from fracking and lax oversight of the oil and gas industry. Let’s keep our water clean in this state. Let’s remember what a precious resource water is. We fish in these rivers. We swim in these rivers. We want to pass on this resource to our children and grandchildren. Let’s not throw it away because 

of short-sighted economic gains. Don’t let Sen. Davis sweet-talk you into believing that fracking in North Carolina is safe. It’s not. Elect Jane Hipps for N.C. State Senate District 50 and protect the natural resources of Western North Carolina. 

Michael Beadle

Canton

To the Editor:

It seems that state Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, has found his beach ball, and it’s called fracking.

His feet fly left (well, not willingly), they fly right, they fly fore, they fly aft — all the while he keeps trying to prevent the beach ball from dumping him in the sand. He tilts, he bobs, he evades. But he knows he’s about to get tossed.

Fracking is as popular in Western North Carolina as leprosy. County and town governments across the district have passed resolutions against it. People write letters to newspapers decrying it. Groups get together to protest it.  

In spite of this, Jim, our state senator, co-sponsored the bill in Raleigh that allows fracking to take place in North Carolina, right here, under our homes, in our mountains.

So, Jim, do you feel that beach ball moving under your feet? That’s the voters shifting out from under you, turning to someone who will listen to them.

Rick Bryson

Bryson City alderman   

To the Editor:

Vic Drummond has written several times about the silliness of the anti-fracking group, and I would have to add a few comments to his. We can disregard what the politicians have to say about fracking because they are like hawks and will follow any group hysteria they can find in order to garner votes, most of whom care less about facts, just votes.

I would have to ask the question of whether the anti-fracking groups are unpatriotic and simply following orders from the OPEC oil rich countries that are absolutely against America becoming energy self-reliant because it would cut into their ability to raise money for terrorism around the world. Let’s be honest, we all know that a good part of the price we pay for gas and oil goes to fund murderous outfits like ISIS. I frame this as just a question and of course we really don’t know who started the anti-fracking movement or where its roots may lie. We do know, however, OPEC will not be happy if we become energy self-sufficient and the anti-fracking groups just play into their hands.

The roots could also be woven into a number of environmental groups who see our future as riding bicycles to work, (if there is any work) and living on small farms where we grow our own food and don’t need transportation or electricity.

I doubt if any of the local hysterical anti-fracking group has visited a wind farm because they would quickly find that windmills generating electricity put out a noise that is maddening and continues as long as the wind blows. Locally, someone could go insane with a windmill whining in their backyard. Not to mention the millions of birds killed when they collide with the spinning blades, including our national symbol, the bald eagle.

In my opinion we should not ignore those who just like to lead a group of hysterical people and hear themselves talk. It is, after all, a huge ego trip for anyone so inclined but we need to put that in context and allow for it.

Keep in mind that mass hysteria prevented the further development of nuclear power in the United States and we are so far behind now and construction costs have risen so much that we may never recover. All the while, France gets 80 percent of its power from nuclear and, unlike Germany, is not beholding to Russia for oil.  

All the bumper sticker slogans anti-fracking groups use when they talk about the “rich big oil” folks is smoke and mirrors when in fact most of the work is done by “wild catters” who do the drilling and who gamble, and often lose, and certainly don’t plan on coming anywhere near our area anyway.  

It’s all a big wind, folks, just so much simplistic thinking for the benefit of their friends in Saudi Arabia.”

Bob Wilson   

Franklin

To the Editor:

I read the news that Webster had obtained a planning grant with mixed emotions. Local planning is a good thing. Having served a number of terms on the Jackson County Planning Board I’ve developed a strong appreciation of the value of an ongoing planning process.

On the other hand, local planning initiatives come with some caveats. Small local jurisdictions often suffer from an echo chamber effect born of insularity. In many cases a small cadre of people are the ones most interested in the administration of a small town and project their attitudes and desires on the greater population. Webster, in particular, has suffered from this sort of defect.

Spoken word poet and teacher Matthew Foley will present a spoken-word workshop on Friday, Sept. 26, in the Hunter Library at Western Carolina University.

The Scarecrow Festival will be held Sept. 27 through Oct. 10 in Bryson City.

The Southern Vintage Trailer Friends, members of the national group the Tin Can Tourists, will be hosting their annual fall rally from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Pride Resort located at 4393 Jonathan Creek Rd. in Waynesville.

An exhibit featuring stitch drawing artist Rebecca Ringquist will be held through Nov. 7 at the Fine Art Museum at Western Carolina University.

String musicians from the Asheville Symphony Orchestra will join students and faculty members from the Western Carolina University School of Music in a performance at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 23, at the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center in Cullowhee.

Jackson County residents having problems with nuisance beavers can get help through the N.C. Beaver Management Assistance Program, locally administrated by Jackson County Extension. Though beavers can be helpful by building ponds that control erosion and sedimentation, recharge groundwater and provide wildlife habitat, their dams can also cause flooding and they can destroy timber by chewing through tree trunks. 

Beavers become more active as cooler weather arrives and they start preparing for winter, so the N.C. BMAP allows residents to get assistance in exchange for a small cost-share fee. Participants pay $20 for each visit to their property and $125 for dam removal with no charge for travel time or for the initial assessment. On average, resolving a beaver problem takes about 10 visits over a 30-day period. Costs increase after 15 visits in a one-year period, but landowners wishing to do the work themselves can get individualized training at no cost. 

Requests are handled on a first-come, first-served basis with priority given to situations threatening public health and safety. A major goal of the program is to educate the public and participating landowners in the best strategies for managing beaver damage. 

Robert Hawk, Jackson County extension director, 828.586.4009 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

The Guest Appreciation Festival at Nantahala Outdoor Center Sept. 26-28 will feature an array of activities and attractions for outdoors lovers around the region. The weekend will include a used gear marketplace where anyone with used outdoor gear can set up to sell and swap.

Volunteers are needed to help monitor stream quality in Haywood County, and a training program 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, will give adult volunteers the knowledge they need to get started.

It’s breeding season for elk, and that means that fields in the Cataloochee and Oconaluftee areas of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are closed to use until Oct. 30, when this season, known as the rut, ends. Even when elk are not present, people are not allowed to walk into the fields, which are the prime elk herd habitat.

A National Audubon Society study of bird species in the continental United States and Canada released last week shows that global warming threatens more than half of the bird species in that geographic area, including North Carolina species such as the golden-winged warbler, brown-headed nuthatch and American oystercatcher.

A hike to the salamander capital of the world will come bundled with highland views and explanation from a National Park Service salamander expert, 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Appalachian Highland Science Learning Center in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The University of North Carolina Board of Governors’ three-day visit on the Western Carolina University campus came to a close Sept. 12. The board’s regular monthly meeting included remarks from District 11 U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows and N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory.

The Board of Governors makes policy for the entire UNC system but chose to have this month’s meeting at WCU in honor of the university’s 125th anniversary. 

“I have noticed for the past three days – there is something about this place,” said John Fennebresque, chairman of the board. “Everybody seems to have a smile on their face. It’s unbelievable.” 

McCrory spoke to the Board of Governors about a wide range of issues involving the state budget and the North Carolina economy. He also expressed concern about an issue he said has not been addressed adequately by North Carolina leaders – the long-term maintenance costs of state-owned buildings.

Congressman Meadows, who lives in Glenville, noted how important quality education is to North Carolina.

“The one thing that continues to come back when I mention that I’m from North Carolina is our university system,” he said. “It is something we must protect.” 

UNC President Tom Ross and WCU Chancellor David O. Belcher also made presentations during the weekend. 

“We love Western Carolina University, and I think it shows,” Belcher said. “For 125 years, WCU has been in the business of changing lives. I assure you, the best is yet to come.”

The Sylva Downtown Historic District was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The National Register is administered by the National Park Service and is the country’s official list of United States historic sites considered worthy of preservation. Being selected is a recognition of the downtown district and its importance to the community, Jackson County, the state and the nation.

“We want unannounced reviews and inspections by DENR. It’s like a drug test. You tell them they’re going to be drug tested? They’re clean. So we want unannounced inspections, number one. We want records kept for a minimum of 50 years, not 5 years. We want no wide-range variances on regulations. We don’t want favors given out to criminals that are fracking our land.”

— Louise Heath, Cherokee tribal member

The next step for the endangered red wolf in Eastern North Carolina is an evaluation commissioned by U.S. Fish and Wildlife that includes public comment. 

A population of red wolves reintroduced in coastal counties is the last vestige of the species on the planet, but its long-term sustainability is being examined following clashes with landowners and pressure from coyote hunters.

The evaluation will include two public focus group sessions in the eastern part of the state as well as written public comment and surveys. The evaluation, conducted by the Wildlife Management Institute, will be completed by Dec. 10, at which point it will be peer-reviewed and used to help the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determine red wolf program’s future. The final determination is expected sometime in early 2015. 

Email comments to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and access the survey at jgassett.polldaddy.com/s/red-wolf-restoration-recovery-program. Comments and surveys should be submitted no later than Sept. 12. 

MedicForce, a nonprofit that provides medical care and clinics in remote, third-world areas, is looking for donations of used outdoor gear.

Unneeded kayaks, backpacks, tents, mountain bikes, cycling gloves or any other equipment that’s just been sitting around is being collected and then turned into cash to finish a new clinic in rural Kenya. A used gear collection point will be set up at the Sept. 26-28 at Nantahala Outdoor Center’s Guest Appreciation Festival weekend. Or donations can be picked up by request.

Jono Bryant, a Macon County paramedic and the founder/director of MedicForce, said the project lacks $10,000 in start-up costs, which he needs to raise by November when he has planned a return trip to finish out the project. Terrorism unrest spilling over from Somolia has not deterred the efforts, but rather made the project even more critical.

www.medicforce.org or 828.318.3771. 

A Bryson City man will serve five months and 15 days in jail for illegally harvesting 83 American ginseng roots from Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

It’s the fourth time Billy Joe Hurley, 46, has been caught poaching ginseng, and not the first time he’ll serve jail time for it either.

“Our rangers remain committed to protecting ginseng which was recently placed on the North Carolina watch list for plants in peril due to exploitation,” said Acting Chief Ranger Steve Kloster. “We are hopeful that this conviction will serve as a deterrent to others considering illegally taking this special resource.”

Each year law enforcement rangers seize between 500 and 1,000 illegally poached ginseng roots, a threat the plant cannot withstand indefinitely and could eventually lead to its disappearance, according to a National Park Service botanist who testified at Hurley’s sentencing hearing.

However, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also testified that financial gain is likely to continue to drive poachers since fresh ginseng can bring up to $200 per pound on the black market. It is highly prized as a tonic, especially in Asian markets.

Hurley was most recently caught poaching ginseng in the park in June of this year. He was caught in 2010 and 2011 as well, serving a few months in jail for those offenses as well.

“I am proud of the rangers who work to protect ginseng from poachers,” said Smokies Acting Superintendent Cindy MacLeod. “Ginseng is a precious resource, a difficult plant to grow, and one that we have been using losing to illegal and unsustainable harvests as the forests are being robbed of younger and younger plants.”

A self-guided tour of 37 farms in a several-county region of the mountains will be held Sept. 20-21, giving locavores a chance to see how food is grown and farm animals are raised, taste farm-fresh products and meet the people who make them. 

The annual tour is organized by the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project. 

Farms are scattered through Buncombe County and the seven counties adjoining it, including two in Haywood County. 

• At Two Trees Farm in Canton, Dustin Cornelison and Sara Martin will show off their working homestead, complete with vegetable and flower gardens, orchards, chickens, beehives and a blacksmith shop. They’ll share their knowledge of permaculture and living off the land, and at 2 p.m. each day children will have a chance to take a guided nature hike, scavenger hunt and mapping activity. Cider, blacksmithed goods and other products for sale. 828.646.3662. 

• Sunburst Trout Farm in Canton is a third-generation trout farm with more than 20 raceways below the Shining Rock Wilderness. Sally Eason will give a tour of the processing facility and value-added kitchen. Trout fillets, jerky, pimiento goat cheese and more for sale. 800.673.3051. 

Passes cost $25 in advance or $30 day-of, and admit one carload to all the farms they can get to. Or, it’s $10 for individual farm pass. www.asapconnections.org/events/asaps-farm-tour/2014-participating-farms.

The Friends of Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute’s will unveil a new outdoor amphitheater planetarium with an adjoining nature center on Friday evening, Sept. 12, as part of the annual meeting.

A new fisheries program on the Cherokee Reservation aims to restore the imperiled sicklefin redhorse fish to its native habitat on tribal waters.