A popular component of Western Carolina University’s annual Mountain Heritage Day are the judged and juried contests, and other competitions. At the 43rd annual event held Saturday, Sept. 30, nearly 300 people entered various events with dozens taking home ribbons or trophies. Results are listed below.

Municipal Election season is upon us in Western North Carolina, and six towns have candidates running for a chance to make a difference in their communities. Read about where they stand on issues before casting a vote in the Nov. 7 election.

Cherokee tribal members could be gathering sochan plants from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as early as next spring after Tribal Council’s vote last week to fund the $68,100 needed to complete the regulatory process.

The Shining Rock Classical Academy Board of Directors accepted the resignation of School Director Ben Butler during a Sunday night emergency board meeting. His resignation is effective immediately.

Lake Junaluska Executive Director Jack Ewing announced today that he will retire on Dec. 31, 2017.

Leah McGrath, RDN, LDN is the Corporate Dietitian for Ingles Markets. She can answer your questions about food from the farm to the plate, whether you want to know about nutrition, ingredients, preparation or agriculture.

As if the changing colors, cooler temps and falling leaves weren’t reminders enough, there’s also those walnuts dropping like cluster bombs onto every metal roof with each gust of wind, busy squirrels underneath. But for me it’s always sticking garlic cloves into the ground that means it won’t be long before the white stuff starts to fly, and it will, despite the warm afternoons.

Fall may seem like the wrong time to be planting things in the garden, but until the ground freezes hard those cloves many of us plunge into the earth will begin sending out roots that will help anchor them into the soil, preventing them from being thrust out by frost heaving the soil upward while it creates it’s icicle menagerie on the surface. Slowly growing all winter long and even sending out a tiny green shoot through the snow, they’re preparing to capture the first warming rays of spring sunshine, giving them a jump on the rest of their competitors in the cool moist dirt.

The summer’s tomato plants have been yanked and the last of the peppers and beans plucked from from their aging parents. The beds need to be cleaned and ready to accept these pungent, ivory-colored gems signaling the end of one season of garden projects and the start of another. For those of us trying to scratch out crops on these hillsides, planting garlic means it’s also time to bring in lots of firewood, clean the ditches, chimney and gutters, change the water filter, fill the propane tank, change the antifreeze in the truck, check the insulation and heat tapes around the well, and plugging any new holes so we can keep the water flowing and the wind out when the mercury drops toward zero. Hell, no wonder planting garlic makes me so tired! It’s a sure sign that we’ve seen the end of the sweaty days and the plunges in the creek to cool off, another growing season blasted by and soon enough we’ll be harvesting those beautiful plump bulbs and celebrating July 4th.

The health benefits of garlic have been known since the time of the Egyptians, and recent studied have shown that the compound Allicin it contains helps to lower cholesterol levels, regulate blood pressure and blood sugar and the antioxidants present protect cells against aging and diseases including the common cold.

For most, it’s the flavor it imparts to foods that make it so special. Most folks who I know that like garlic, really like garlic, bordering on an obsession or cult following. My friend Joe the Italian cook uses enough to require buying by the truckload.

I roped a friend into helping me plant this year (for beer), so while he cleared the summer’s weeds and scratched up the earth I cracked the bulbs or “heads” that have been drying in the barn the past three months into the hundreds of individual cloves we would be planting. A little lime, bone meal and compost mixed into the beds and we were ready to stuff next year’s hopes an inch or two into the soft soil. A layer of straw or mulch helps protect the little orbs and gave a picture perfect finish worthy of toasting, so we did.

With a good portion of the early leaves already blown down, more light filters through the canopy accentuating the growing length of the shadows. Many of summer’s songbird have already departed for warmer climes, leaving the calls of crows, pileated woodpeckers and “year ‘rounders” to fill the quiet of the woods. We may not have any summer left, but who doesn’t like fall out here?

We’re only granted 70 or 80 chances to plant garlic in a lifetime, and there’s no better time than October in the mountains. I got it done. I’m happy.

Now where’s my list … it’s fall y’all.

(John Beckman is a builder, farmer and SMN contributor who lives in Jackson County. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

To the Editor:

I agree 100 percent with Andy Borowitz that there should be a mandatory three-day waiting period whenever the NRA buys any more politicians.

Bill Spencer

Cullowhee

Western Carolina University has been listed as one of the most environmentally responsible colleges on the continent — for the seventh year in a row.

A $2,650 grant from the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority will help improve the experience of visitors journeying to Cataloochee Valley to view elk.

I have Type 2 diabetes and want to make sure I am following the right type of diet. Can you recommend some resources?

Friends of Panthertown is hoping to learn more about the people who do — or may someday — serve as volunteers through an online survey.

A $500,000 pledge has brought Mainspring Conservation Trust within sight of the finish line to conserving 50 acres of private property in Cherokee and Clay counties, but the nonprofit still needs to raise $25,000 to seal the deal before the contract’s expiration in mid-November.

For the first time in nearly a year, the Chimney Tops Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is open to hikers.

Mary Wannamaker Huff has been named the director of the Lake Junaluska Singers, a choral group that has been a part of Lake Junaluska’s history for more than 60 years. Huff, who served as the group’s interim director for the 2017 season, has agreed to lead the Singers for three more seasons.

The eighth annual Rooted in the Mountains symposium at Western Carolina University brought concepts of Cherokee philosophy and living wellness to campus Sept. 28-29.

To the Editor:

Now that the drama over the ACA is done, it’s time to move on to tax reform.

The current economic disparity between the upper economic classes (1 percent) and everyone else is debilitating to the overall economy and the situation has gotten progressively worse over the last 30 years. The benefits from the current economic recovery, such as they are, have mostly gone to those who already had most of the money.

People with great ideas and the energy to implement them must continue to be rewarded.  However, most of the current wealth disparity has occurred through our tax code that benefits and protects those who already have lots of money.  The current proposals simply continue the transfer of money from the middle to the top economic class.

Here are a few thoughts on what true tax reform might look like. The first principle is that it should reverse the flow of wealth from large corporations and wealthy individuals to the middle-class households who will spend it.   

The top tax rate could be cut to 35 percent since few people in that bracket pay 39.5 percent anyway. However, I would tax capital gains as ordinary income rather than the current flat 15-20 percent. The only potential exception might be capital gains on a primary residence.

I would treat employer provided benefits (like insurance payments) as income. Middle-class tax rates could be adjusted downward to compensate.  Employer 401k contributions would be excluded since that is the main retirement savings plan for people who have that benefit.

Reducing corporate taxes has some merit, with the following caveats. Small business taxes should be lower than those for large corporations since small businesses create more jobs. A 25 percent corporate tax is actually no real change since most large companies pay less than that already. However, I would throw out all corporate exemptions and exclusions and debate each one back into the code individually depending on whether it benefits the overall economy rather than a small sector.

The fundamental issue is whether tax changes benefit those in the middle and the overall economy. Tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations (trickle down) don’t. The history of trickle down in the U.S. proves that it doesn’t. The recent tax cut experiment in Kansas proved a disaster. The current proposals are another bad idea that will hurt millions of Americans and fail to regrow the middle class.

John Gladden

Franklin

To the Editor:

When a deranged person like Stephen Paddock, the Las Vegas shooter, randomly kills and wounds hundreds of  people, the immediate reaction in Congress from politicians and pundits is to invoke the National Rifle Association as the problem.

Yes, the NRA is a lobbying group, but it lobbies for our freedom to bear arms …. to protect the 2nd Amendment of our Bill of Rights. Beyond that mission the NRA teaches about types of guns that are legal, promotes gun safety and educates young and old about gun use. Read their magazine America’s 1st Freedom and you will understand the inoffensive scope and flavor of this organization.

There is no valid reason to cite the NRA as the reason we have gun violence in this country. If you revisit the killing incidents in recent years, you will find the shooters are deranged as in Sandy Hook, domestic terrorists, or ideological terrorists such as the radical Islamists in San Bernardino.

So, leftists and Democrats especially jump right out to denounce the NRA when there is a shooting incident. Yet they are in full support of Planned Parenthood, an organization that really does kill. They abort., i.e., kill babies … sell baby parts and condone killing babies even at 20 weeks of a pregnancy. Planned Parenthood receives over $500 million in federal and state money via Medicaid and Title X funding. You will hear that money is used for women’s preventive health and screening procedures. But, that payment to Planned Parenthood leaves them free to use private monies received, approximately $400 million, to fund their abortion clinics.

The NRA, an organization that does not kill but is a support for constitutional freedom, is railed against by members of Congress while Planned Parenthood, an organization that actually does kill, receives strong support from members of Congress. Go figure.

Carol Adams

Glenville

To the Editor:

After reading that this is Newspaper Week in the U.S., I happened to see an article about a Twitter “tweet” from someone who seems to advocate murdering journalists. I saw it in an article showing that the man occupying the White House re-tweeted it to his 15 million-plus Twitter followers.

I hope that all professional associations of journalists will address this execrable behavior by Donald Trump as well as his fan who posted it in the first place.

Every day we awaken to moral outrages worse than the day before. When will this national nightmare be ended by impeachment or the 25th Amendment, Section 2, removing that mentally ill person from Washington?

Mary Curry

Waynesville

Sidewalks are coming to Skyland Drive in Sylva along a 0.7-mile section stretching from the Old Asheville Highway to its intersection with Chipper Curve Road.

Condiments are “…edible food items added to a dish or a meal…not strictly necessary but serve to enhance the flavor.” Often when we think of condiments we automatically mention mayonnaise, mustard, relish and ketchup but there are so many other condiments that can be used to compliment dishes that you make at home.

Sales of Friends of the Smokies license plates brought in $230,000 over the first half of 2017, a 6 percent increase from last year that brings the plates’ overall fundraising total to $4.3 million since they were first sold in North Carolina.

Three Western North Carolina properties are among those to be protected through $3.28 million in grants recently awarded by the N.C. Agriculture Development and Farmland Preservation Trust.

A recent dam removal on Santeetlah Creek in the Nantahala National Forest is allowing native fish to return to high-quality habitat found in the waterway.

More than 600 pounds of apples wound up in the pantries of people in need thanks to the efforts of 14 Girl Scouts during a Sept. 23 glean at the Waynesville home of John and Nancy Shillinglaw.

To the Editor:

President Trump never ceases to amaze me on his downward spiral to be the worst president in U.S. history.

The potential Nero of American political history, President Trump fiddles on Twitter hill about NFL football players kneeling while 3.5 million Americans on Puerto Rico suffer and die in the aftermath of a major hurricane; while his fifth attempt at an Obamacare repeal bill dies; while he ratchets up a potential nuclear holocaust with North Korea; and while he continues on his general insidious course of dividing an already dangerously polarized country.

It’s particularly amazing that Trump disparages Sen. John McCain, who flew hundreds of combat missions as a Navy pilot in Vietnam before he was shot down, tortured and imprisoned by the communists at the “Hanoi Hilton” during the height of the war.

It should be noted Trump got a deferment from serving in Vietnam due to “bone spurs” in his foot. McCain, by the way, had most of his bones broken during his crash and subsequent torture by the communist in Hanoi.

Trump has bragged about chasing women in the New York City disco scene during the time McCain was imprisoned. Trump, in a radio interview with Howard Stern, said avoiding STDs was “my personal Vietnam.”

Yet, this narcissistic man is our president. The Republic will survive because we are stronger than one sick aberration.

James Budd

Bryson City

To the Editor:

Last week the US Congress failed to reauthorized the Children’s Health Insurance Plan — CHIP — known in North Carolina as Health Choice. Seven million children in the U.S. rely on this plan for their health insurance. Several thousand of these children live in Western North Carolina. I have been a pediatrician in Haywood County for 28 years and have treated many children with serious chronic diseases, including cancer. For hundreds of families in WNC Health Choice is not an option — it is a life or death necessity.

Our Congressman, Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, knows what the tragedy of cancer can do to a family. He lost his sister and father to cancer. We can only offer him our deepest sympathy for those tragedies. Congressman Meadows now must step up and protect those children — many of whom who suffer from serious diseases or need preventive care — and who rely on Health Choice. So far he has NOT done so.

CHIP was passed in the 1990s by an effort of both political parties working together. It is time to put aside useless partisan bickering and stand up for the health of the children of this country. Re-fund CHIP/Health Choice NOW!

Our local state representatives have been absolutely silent on this critical issue. Rep. Mike Clampitt, R-Bryson City, and Rep. Michelle Presnell, R-Burnsville, will you lend your voices to meet the needs of the children of WNC? Speak with Congressman Meadows. I have called his office and alerted his staff to the crisis about to hit hundreds of families in your districts. Failure to act on this would be a moral failure.

Stephen Wall, MD

Waynesville

To the Editor:

All men and women who have served in the armed forces can hold their heads high when they learn the courage of Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria, who spoke to the cadets of the Air Force Academy after incidents of racial harassment at the Academy.

“If you cannot treat someone,” he told them, “with respect and dignity, then you don’t need to be here.” He goes on, “if you cannot treat someone from a different race or different skin color with dignity and respect, then you need to get out”

Wouldn’t it be refreshing to hear our president say those bold words?  Instead, he has called some black athletes “sons of bitches” (respect and dignity?). Furthermore, he wraps himself in our flag to attempt to stifle these black athletes’ protests of racial injustice. Protesting, however, is not disrespect; it is actually the reason many young men and women lie in graves in Normandy and other sites in France. They gave their lives to defeat a tyrant who had no respect for people of different religions or different skin color. They gave their lives to preserve the American right to protest

Wouldn’t it also be refreshing to hear such bold words from our white supremacist-oriented AG? Instead, he hides behind some vague notion of ‘national security’ while attempting to deport all the brown-skinned immigrants from our country. Deporting mothers and grandmothers who have lived peacefully in our country for 20-plus years does not make our nation more secure.

The words of Lt. Gen. Silveria are forceful and to the point. He is aware that he can not change national events dealing with bigotry and racial injustice. He mentions Charlottesville, Ferguson, and the NFL protests. But he is saying that racial bigotry and injustice will not be tolerated at the Academy during his watch.

And perhaps that is the best we can all do. We cannot prevent the degradation of people of different colors, races, or genders, or creeds in all parts of the world. We can, however, take action to stop it in our own little corner of the world.

The general shows us the way. Bravo, General!

Paul Strop

Waynesville

To the Editor:

I am completely mystified by a recent letter writer’s response to my letter questioning the legitimacy of requiring English proficiency for legal immigration to the U.S. How do most of his arguments relate to the topic he claims to comment on?

As to being among the 50 percent (and I do wonder how he came upon this specific figure) of those who do not currently pay income tax, yes I am a retiree. I have paid income taxes for the 50 plus years of my working life. Is the letter writer saying that this counts for nothing? So retirees are not to have a say in government policies because our working life is over? So are we now considered irrelevant and of no value?

To imply that I am somehow against the acquisition of English after residency has been established is again another erroneous assumption on the part of this letter writer. As a matter of fact, I have volunteered tutoring English to nonnative speakers while I was a wage earner. I am currently volunteering my time and money, (although I am on a fixed income) to establish an ESL program here in Macon County. I wonder what percentage of their time other useless retirees spend in volunteer activities?

I grant the letter writer that perhaps other terminology would more aptly describe English speakers supporting this prerequisite. However, to assume that the terms “selfish “and “ethnocentric” have racist overtones against white people or to imply that I consider them “evil” is dead wrong. Incidentally, I do happen to be white, although my race should be of no concern to anyone.

Lastly, how do the merits of capitalism relate to English proficiency as a requirement for legal immigration to the U.S.?

Judy Stockinger

Franklin

Spriggly’s Beescaping is a new small business located in Waynesville that offers workshops, products, and services to create environments that support beneficial pollinators.

Swain County officials came together last week to dedicate the Charters of Freedom monument that can now be seen just outside the county’s administrative building.

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced the 2017 National Blue Ribbon Schools, which included Riverbend Elementary School in Haywood County.

It’s September in the hills when Western Carolina University’s fall foliage forecaster Beverly Collins attempts to quantify the quality of the annual color show in Western North Carolina through a scientific-based prediction. And Collins is anticipating a good display across the mountains this year.

To the Editor:

With all the news of DACA and how the changes will affect many people including some family, I have been trying to decide where I stand on the issue. I wanted to write about the people who have lived here their entire lives and how this must seem.

This brings me to “Stranger Things,” the Netflix original hit show. In the show, an adolescent boy, Will, is taken from this world to another, which becomes known as “the upside down.” Will is alone in the “upside down,” leaving his friends and family to search frantically for the friend they know, love and have grown up together. Then a mysterious stranger appears. A girl known only as Eleven. Soon, Eleven demonstrates she possesses supernatural powers and may be the key to getting Will home.

As the mystery unfolds it becomes apparent a secretive government experiment gone awry is behind all the chaos. I won’t completely spoil the ending for those that haven’t seen the show. My point is the people brought here as children and know America as home willingly gave the government their information. And now in an experiment to “make America great again,” their information will be used to send them to another world.

Marcos Gutierrez

Clyde

To the Editor:

A common sense response is necessary to the foolish arguments in a letter printed in a recent edition of The Smoky Mountain News. One could argue plausibly that being proficient in English prior to migrating to the United states may not always be possible, especially if the immigrant is from a brutal Marxist dictatorship; however, it is inarguable that obtaining that proficiency as soon as possible would be a substantial benefit to both the immigrant as well as U.S. citizens. Furthermore, it is also inarguable that newly arrived immigrants should be required to learn English since it is the language of our country.

As the letter writer well knew, no one fears immigrants who obey our immigration laws and work toward citizenship in order to adopt and accept American culture and traditions.

There is a most definite fear of massive, untraceable illegal immigrants who, especially along our southern border, are overwhelming our infrastructure and generous taxpayer funded social welfare programs.

Many of us who are paying higher and higher taxes are tired of these people taking advantage of our system. We are fed up. That was what was reflected in the election.

Undocumented people are the same as illegal. It’s not just a matter of semantics — illegal is illegal. Making it sound softer does not diminish the effect these people have on our economy. Maybe you are one of the 50 percent of the U.S. citizens that don’t pay a dime income tax. No skin in the game; it doesn’t touch you. But it certainly touches the other half of the population.

While your paternal grandparents assimilated, or tried to fit into the U.S. customs, and learned English, many now do not and will not. We have eased up on requiring immigrants (not through laws) to assimilate and look what it’s getting us: poor school performance from classrooms being forced to teach kids who don’t know English, overburdening our healthcare costs, overcrowding our jails, and so on. I suggest the letter writer do some research on the late writer Ted White. He was no conservative but he spoke out for the vital need for one unifying language so that the U.S. doesn’t become balkanized.

Look at the former Yugoslavia: three separate cultures hated each other so much that the people went on a brutal killing spree in the 1990s? And perhaps you don’t know about the problems continuing to plague the French speaking Quebec. Living here in the beautiful safe mountains gives you no idea of what’s going on in other countries unless you read and research.

Finally, there is nothing “ethnocentric” or “selfish” (meaning those “evil white people,” right?) about believing in and supporting a distinctly American culture that includes capitalism. Capitalism is why America is so great and envied; it also is why you get to enjoy setting up any type of business you care to! This is why people across the globe try there very best to enter our country in the first place!

James Devries

Bryson City

To the Editor:

Regarding the Chimney Tops 2 wildfire review article, my stomach clenched as I read quotes from the report: “no evidence of negligence,” “park employees did the best they could,” and “the fire was not typical of eastern Tennessee.” Then the clincher: Park Superintendent Cassius Cash “embraces” the findings. Oh, I’ll bet he did.

And a young mother, on a mild November evening, “embraced” her little daughters for the last time, as a racing inferno bore down on them in the pitch dark, with nowhere to run. Her name was Constance Reed, and her last act was wrapping herself around 9-year-old Lily and 12-year-old Chloe in an attempt to protect their innocent lives.

Cassius Cash also had the opportunity to protect innocent lives. But he had plans for his Thanksgiving vacation and some pesky little wildfire wasn’t going to interfere. So he didn’t request additional resources and crews early on, when containment or eradication was still feasible. Shocking, considering that the area was in the highest level of drought monitoring by the NOAA: D4-EXCEPTIONAL, or that the nearest point of civilization (Gatlinburg) was a mere five miles from fire origination.

If Emperor Nero fiddled while Rome burned, what was Cash doing while his forestland empire torched up? Probably eating and watching the game, thinking, “If this all goes horribly wrong I’ll just blame it on my Fire Management Officer, he’s on a pretty low rung of the ladder. Oh yeah, and the wind. I’ll say the wind caught us by surprise. That’s a good one.”

This “independent” review team, hand-picked by the NPS, by the way, may have let park management off the proverbial hook, but the souls of the people who perished needlessly that night, (and there were many more than 14), and the traumatized individuals who fled from their burning homes with only the clothes on their backs, demand true accountability and a righteous apology, not more lies and excuses.

Mary-Frances Keefe

Bryson City (formerly of Gatlinburg)

Records continue to fall by the wayside at Western Carolina University, as total student enrollment has surpassed 11,000 for the first time in the institution’s history and as the GPA of the entering freshman class has hit an all-time high.

By Julia Hartbarger • SCC Public Relations

A little time has passed since the Great American Solar Eclipse on Aug. 21, but the memory will always be there for myself and millions of others who were fortunate enough to witness the celestial event of a lifetime.

The Swain County Board of Education has named Janet Clapsaddle as interim superintendent of schools after the retirement of Superintendent Sam Pattillo.

The Lake Junaluska Columbarium and Garden of Memory was recently dedicated during a worship service in Memorial Chapel.

On Sept. 7, the Waynesville Police Department’s TAC Unit along with Haywood County’s Multi-jurisdictional Drug Task Force, the U.N.I.T., executed a search warrant at 252 Camelot Street in Waynesville.

By Kurt J. Volker • Contributing writer

In cooperation with the seven Veteran Services offices in the WNC region, the Macon County Veterans Services Office will host the fourth annual Veterans Stand Down from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5, at the Robert C. Carpenter Community Building, 1288 Georgia Road, in Franklin.

The Jackson County Genealogical Society, winner of Western Carolina University’s 2012 “Mountain Heritage Award,” will host its annual Cruise-In fundraiser from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 1, at the Sylva Plaza.

The Pinnacle Park Foundation and Friends of Panthertown Valley got some help with trail maintenance this month, thanks to a pair of donations from the Jackson County Tourism Development Authority.

This year’s autumn display is likely to be a colorful one, according to Western Carolina University fall foliage forecaster Beverly Collins.

To the Editor:

I read reporter Cory Vaillancourt’s account of the Mike Clampitt Town Hall on Sept. 8 with astonishment. While I have a high regard for Vaillancourt’s skills as a journalist and I don’t usually take issue with his writing, I totally disagree with him on two points: I viewed the story Clampitt told that Vaillancourt described as “heartfelt” to be contrived and unprofessional; at no time during the two hour session was Clampitt “on the verge of tears.”

In his story to dispel a racist perception, Clampitt actually portrayed his former supervisor in the Charlotte fire department as a racist and described himself as the only person in a supervisory role to stand up for a black fire fighter who was being unfairly disciplined. Although he didn’t mention specifics, talking about a sensitive personnel matter in a public meeting demonstrates a lack of integrity. I believe that’s why the woman in the audience felt compelled to tell him that the story did nothing to change the perception she had of him.

Following her comment, Clampitt did cross his arms and lower his head (as Vaillancourt reported), but I viewed that action as an effort to overcome his anger before responding. There were no tears because he quickly turned to Vaillancourt and The Mountaineer reporter to say, “Get her name and put this in the paper.” Then, he replied to the woman in a forceful, defensive manner, shutting down any further dialogue by saying, “I’m done talking to you.”

I’m still puzzled as to what Vaillancourt saw that made him describe Clampitt as tearful. I was sitting right in front of Clampitt with a clear view of his face and I saw no sign of tears. From where Vaillancourt was sitting, he only had a side view of Clampitt’s face.  Consequently, it would’ve been hard for him to see tears even if they had been shed!

In closing, I want to point out that there was substantive dialogue reported in the article, but I’m concerned that issues like Medicaid expansion, the opioid crisis and teacher pay are not the ones that will grab the attention of your readers. Perhaps it’s just a sign of the times, but it’s unfortunate that topics like the Confederate flag and racism tend to be what many people choose as their focus.

Myrna Campbell

Chair, Haywood County

Democratic Party