A Waynesville man has been tapped to lead the state’s Project Food, Land & People program, a national education curriculum covering a wide range of agriculture-related subjects.

The final phase of construction is underway for the Foothills Parkway — which is administered by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — with the 16-mile section scheduled for completion within 12 to 18 months.

Gov. Roy Cooper recently presented a Medallion Award for Volunteer Service to Samuel Smith of Waynesville at the State Capitol in Raleigh.

When Franklin starting working on its 2017-18 budget, Town Manager Summer Woodard warned councilmembers that there was little wiggle room in the $8.6 million fiscal blueprint.

More than a century ago, the state of African-American education in the antebellum South was so utterly deplorable that it took the combined forces of a civil rights pioneer and a department store magnate to make lasting improvements that continue to reverberate across the region, including in Western North Carolina.

The Town of Waynesville has selected an artist and an art piece for its latest public art installation.

The N.C. Department of Transportation is working with the Tennessee Department of Transportation to advise drivers from the Knoxville area heading to Asheville and beyond that taking an alternate route is advisable.

Macon County Public Health Animal Services, along with the Macon County Sheriff’s Office, responded to an animal cruelty complaint on Radio Hill Road May 9 that resulted in the removal of 41 animals. 

Don’t miss “TASTE OF LOCAL” at Ingles Market in Hendersonville (Spartanburg Hwy) Thursday, May 25th • 3-6 p.m. Meet over 20 local farmers, entrepreneurs and suppliers whose products are in this Ingles store and sample!

To the Editor:

The United States of America never has been, is not now and never will be a Christian nation. I put forth three truths to support this statement. The first is that only individuals have the capability to decide for themselves to follow Christian teachings. Americans are required to obey laws enacted by our legislative bodies. We are free, though, to choose what religion to follow.

The second truth is that the Ten Commandments are central to Christian teachings and are followed by Christian believers voluntarily. They are not written into our constitution. It would be virtually impossible to enforce most of the commandments with legal authority. In spite of this fact some over-zealous Americans seem to want to shove Christian doctrine down everybody’s throat much like Muslim extremists do. Witness the turmoil, hatred and killing that take place as a result of attempts to force people to follow a chosen belief system.

The third truth is that our Bill of Rights automatically disobeys the First Commandment by not requiring people to obey the First Commandment. However, this disobedience is similar to the choice that God gave each individual in the King James version of the Bible to believe or not believe in Him. So, if God does not force people to believe in Him how could a government do so? Hence, legally, Americans are provided with the same choice that God gives them to believe or not to believe. Amazingly, people are also prevented from forcing Christianity or any other religion onto their fellow Americans. That was some brilliant thinking by the people who wrote our Constitution.

Interestingly, our laws provide for the taking of human life in war as well as for restitution for certain crimes. How could we reconcile this taking of life if we were indeed a Christian nation? Further, how can Christian churches conscientiously set aside times to honor soldiers who are required to kill in defense of their country (a political entity) in spite of the commandment not to kill?

It is, therefore, with a sense of shame and sadness that I quote a brief section from the book,  Exterminate Them (which is edited by Clifford E. Trafzer and Joel R. Hyer) to show blatantly un-Christian atrocities committed against California Indians in the 1850s/1860s: “In one of the settlements an aged and feeble chief collected the women around him, when they were about flying on the approach of the human bloodhounds, assuring them that white men did not kill squaws and that they would be safe. But they all perished. One of our informants saw twenty six bodies of women and children collected in one spot by the more humane citizens preparatory to burial. Some of them were infants at the breast, whose skulls had been cleft again and again. The whole number slaughtered in a single night was about two hundred and fifty”.

There can be no denying that there have always been some devout Christians in America. But there can be no defensible claim that atrocities of the sort chronicled above can be reconciled by the Doctrine of Manifest Destiny or sanctioned by Christian principles. 

America is not a Christian nation. Individuals may choose to be Christians. That is the truth.  

Dave Waldrop

Webster

To the Editor:

On a recent Friday night two 3-week-old kittens were dropped off at the side pen of the Haywood County Animal Shelter. Luckily Officer Jeff Stamey found them that night and contacted Sarge’s Animal Rescue. They had a nursing mom who readily accepted these “orphans.” The person who tossed them in the side pen might have had good intentions, but they should have taken them in when the shelter was open. Had Officer Stamey not found the kittens Friday it is likely they would have died of exposure and hunger.   

Unwanted litters, whether dropped in the side pen or brought to the shelter, cause overcrowding at the shelter and they are at high risk for contracting catch contagious diseases. 

Is their momma cat still roaming around, ready and able to have more kittens? The shelter has a Spay Momma program. Cat owners and dog owners can surrender the litter when it is weaned and will receive a voucher to have momma SPAYED FOR FREE from Haywood Spay/Neuter so that situation will not happen again. 

In Haywood County, money is no impediment to getting your pet spayed or neutered. Most owners are charged only $10 or $20 for the surgery and a rabies vaccination. We can even help if transportation to register for the service or to drop off /pick up of the pet is a problem.

Connie Hewitt, president

Haywood Spay Neuter

To the Editor:

By now, everyone in Macon County and the surrounding counties knows that Angel Medical Center in Franklin is closing the Labor and Delivery Unit (LDU) in July. While most of the focus, justifiably, is on the impact on our local families, it is also important to understand how and why this happened.

Regardless of your feelings about the insurance and health care industries, they are businesses that must make money, or at least break even to stay in business. While the Mission Health press releases are confusing at best, this was ultimately a business decision. That is our current health care reality.

The critical path for the closing of the LDU at Angel began in 2014 when the North Carolina legislature rejected the Medicaid Expansion that was a part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Several Republican-controlled states chose the same path after the Supreme Court ruled that Medicaid expansion under the ACA was optional. Largely as a result of those state-level decisions, medical care in rural areas like ours, has suffered.

From then until now, at least 80 rural hospitals have completely closed their doors. Most of those are in states that did not opt for Medicaid expansion under the ACA. Three are in North Carolina. Many more undoubtedly reduced services.

Rural areas like Macon County have high poverty rates. However, incomes for much of the population are high enough so that individuals are not eligible for traditional Medicaid, but not eligible for subsidies under the ACA.  Consequently, they have no medical insurance.

Federal law requires hospitals to treat anyone who shows up at the emergency department.  Prior to the ACA, the federal government reimbursed hospitals for the costs incurred by the uninsured that were treated in emergency departments.  The ACA removed that reimbursement provision and Angel suffered large losses in its emergency services when the ACA came into effect — and undoubtedly still does. No one envisioned that states would not accept billions in federal dollars to improve health care for its citizens.

Had North Carolina chosen to expand Medicaid in 2014, it would have resulted in a $2.7 billion infusion of funding into the state as we were recovering from the recession. In 2015 it would have been over $3 billion.  Current estimates are about $3 billion a year. These were federal tax dollars that you have already paid that go to other states. This would have generated thousands of high-paying health care jobs in rural areas. 

These federal funds would also have generated almost $100 million in state income tax revenue in addition to the local sales and property tax revenue. That was new revenue at no cost to the state. Even with the increased state contribution from 2017 through 2020, the income and sales tax revenue on the federal 90 percent contribution would cover most of the state cost.

You can thank our current Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, and his Republican colleagues for their role in the closure of the LDU at Angel Medical Center. They opposed the Medicaid expansion.  Give them a call.

John Gladden

Franklin

To the Editor:

I found the article in the May 10 edition citing Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, as advocating “high-risk pools for pre-existing conditions” completely disingenuous. Meadows’ preferred approach on insuring those with pre-existing conditions simply restores problems that Congress addressed when it passed the Affordable Care Act.  

Meadows’ true intentions are reflected in the Obamacare Repeal Act, proposed by Sen. Rand Paul, M.D., and co-sponsored by Rep. Meadows in February.  According to Sen. Paul, that bill would roll back protections for those who have pre-existing conditions to what they were before the Affordable Care Act passed: a person can be denied health insurance if they or their dependent has circumstances defined by the insurance company alone. Back then, companies declined coverage based on pregnancy or expected parent, obesity, mental disorders, arthritis, alcohol abuse/drug abuse with recent treatment, as well as cancer, hepatitis, heart failure and stroke. 

Moving backward could have a great impact in our region. One survey showed that before the Affordable Care Act, one out of three of North Carolinians who applied for individual market insurance (typically self-employed, low-wage employees, early retirees) were denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions.  That’s a lot, especially if it’s you, your family or your employee.  

Medical expenses from one spell of illness can bankrupt a small business or family. Insurance companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, which makes hefty campaign contributions to Meadows and other N.C. political office holders, profits more if the sicker are excluded or charged exorbitant, unaffordable premiums. That is the future that Rep. Meadows prefers for us.  

Charlotte W. Collins

Sapphire

To the Editor:

This is a response to the letter written by Colton Bailey titled, “Festival is Immoral,” that was published in last week’s edition of The Smoky Mountain News. If you believe the consumption of alcohol is immoral, then you can skip this letter. There is nothing here that will change your mind. However, if your biscuits are burning because you believe that the Hook, Line, and Drinker festival is an “immoral ... use of (Jackson County) taxpayer dollars,” then I have some very good news for you. 

Mr. Bailey’s assertion that this upcoming weekend’s Hook, Line, and Drinker festival is funded by “Jackson County taxpayers” is incorrect. What Mr. Bailey did not disclose, presumably because he is unaware of functions of local government, is the fact that not one red cent of Jackson County real estate tax, personal property tax, sales taxes or any tax, county or otherwise, were used to fund any part of the Hook, Line, and Drinker festival. 

Well, who is paying for this soiree? Short answer: probably not you.

Jackson County levies an occupancy tax on overnight hotel, motel and resort guests. This occupancy tax brings in almost $1 million/year. This tax is used to fund the Jackson County Tourism Development Authority, which allocates a portion of its budget for the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce.  

However, it is factually incorrect to say that any tax dollars were used to fund this festival, or any other chamber function, because those occupancy tax dollars are strictly for the chamber’s visitor center and its routine operating expenses. The chamber has not used any tax proceeds to support this upcoming festival or any other chamber event.

The upcoming festival, along with Concerts on the Creek and July 4th fireworks are funded through advertising sales in the chamber’s relocation guide, chamber memberships and business sponsorship. No taxpayer dollars are being used.  

So, are “your” tax dollars going to fund The Hook, Line, and Drinker festival?  N-O-P-E.

If you have enjoyed any of the more than 150 concerts that have been held at Bridge Park over the last seven years, you can thank the chamber of commerce and its business partners. If you’ve enjoyed the fireworks and bands at the July 4th celebration, you can once again thank the chamber and its partners. Julie Spiro’s and Kelly Donaldson’s work at the chamber of commerce nurtures economic growth and facilitates community engagement on behalf of its members. This is the chamber’s only agenda and to suggest otherwise is simple ignorance.

Patrick Dowling

Sylva

Drought has officially disappeared from the mountains.

Heather Grant of Bethel Middle School will see her artwork on 700 T-shirts after winning this year’s T-shirt design contest with the Haywood Waterways Association.

Rainbow Falls Trail: The Rainbow Falls Trail is the next trail in line to get a complete rehabilitation through the Smokies Trails Forever program, funded by Friends of the Smokies. 

A new book has hit the shelves exploring the history of the Hazel Creek community, which is now one of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s most isolated areas.

A poll commissioned by the conservation coalition Land for Tomorrow showed wide support for land and water conservation, with mountain residents voicing the strongest support. Statewide, 73 percent of those polled wanted the state to fund $100 million for the state’s three publicly funded conservation trust funds.

A new 10.5-mile mixed-use trail system is complete in Cherokee, with trails open to the public following a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1:30 p.m. Friday, May 26. A special grand opening event will likely follow in early June.

Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Day has been named as one of the top 20 festivals in the Southeast by the Southeast Tourism Society.

A complaint filed in Haywood County Superior Court late last month alleges that several defendants committed battery and inflicted emotional distress on two children in 2015.

On Friday, May 12, at approximately 6:50 a.m., Haywood County Schools bus 52 was making a passenger stop in the Dellwood area of Waynesville when it was hit in the rear by a pickup truck. There was no physical damage to the bus and minor damage to the pickup truck.

One of the staples in my fridge is a jar of natural, no sugar-added peanut butter.  I prefer crunchy because I like the texture  of the nuts.  Peanut butter can be an easy way for those following vegan or vegetarian diets or aiming for more plant-based meals to get protein into their diet.

To the Editor:

In his incessant, sophomoric screeds to diminish Trump, Chris Cox fails once again. He attempts to ridicule Donald Trump’s quote on the Civil War by trying to equate it to a quote from “Animal House.”

We’re all supposed to fall over in derision because Trump said something that Cox apparently thinks is on par with saying that Germany bombed Pearl Harbor, which is indeed an ignorant statement and unworthy of anyone in government. So, I’m left wondering; where was Cox’s faux outrage in March 2014 when Democrat Congressman Keith Ellison did say that Germany bombed Pearl Harbor? He later was a top contender for the DNC chair and was later named Deputy Chairman. Apparently, Democrats have higher standards for Republicans than they do for the leaders of their own party.

Cox compounds his hypocrisy by offering Joe Biden as his candidate of choice. Google “Biden gaffes.” Trump is Ciceronian by comparison. Concerned about Trump’s talking about sexual assault? How about Biden’s innumerable public pawings of women and young girls? Not to mention Bill Clinton’s record. Actions speak louder than words, but crickets from Mr. Cox on those incidents. 

Cox’s choice is the same Joe Biden who is No. 1 on the Cracked.com, Esquire and CNN websites for political plagiarists, handily beating out Obama who made honorable mention. Biden was forced to withdraw from the 1988 presidential race when his plagiarism was revealed. 

Notwithstanding the ad hominem attacks on Trump, Cox’s larger error is on substance.

Trump’s statement was not “really, astoundingly stupid.” It was not something the “average eighth-grader could refute.” Far from it. It was a question that has been asked since the Civil War began: could it have been avoided? It’s a very good question. All other countries ended slavery without internecine warfare. Why couldn’t, why didn’t we?

Civil War historians David Herbert Donald, Avery O. Craven, Charles W. Ramsdell, and James G. Randall among others have postulated that the war was preventable. 

Trump’s speculation that President Andrew Jackson might have prevented the war is not only supported by historians, but also by his actions in the Nullification crisis. Jackson may well have been the ideal person to prevent the carnage a future president wrought. Contemporaneous writers believed it as well, notably Judge William Johnson who stated in 1861, “If by transmigration, the soul of Andrew Jackson had occupied the body of James Buchanan, we would have had peace to-day.” 

Jackson’s response to South Carolina’s Ordinance of Nullification was typical. He was open to compromise and was instrumental in reducing the tariff. But, he also rammed through the “Force Bill” which gave him the power to use armed forces against South Carolina whose governor had assembled an army of 25,000 troops. He sent U.S. Navy warships to Charleston Harbor and threatened to hang any man who worked toward nullification or secession. South Carolina blinked. 

Had Jackson been in power instead of the ineffectual James Buchanan during “Bleeding Kansas,” it is unlikely he would have done nothing for three years to end it. In 1860, South Carolina, having just witnessed Buchanan’s waffling, had no reason to believe Buchanan would stop them from seceding. Jackson’s prior actions and reputation would not have left them so sanguine.

I can make quote comparisons, too. I would categorize Mr. Cox’s ruminations on a par with an actual quote from another Democrat Congressional luminary who stated, “My fear is that the whole island [Guam] will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize.”

Be honest, Mr. Cox. Your problem with Trump is not his intelligence (or lack thereof), his morals, or any action or statement he makes. Your problem with him is his politics.

Timothy Van Eck

Whittier

To the Editor:

Thomas Jefferson once stated “I am for a government rigorously frugal and simple.” Yet, these wise words from our third U.S President are regularly ignored and despised by those on either end of the spectrum, and even ignored by officials in our own local government. 

Sure, the local government can promote policies that attract new business and sustain current ones, but should it be the role of the local government to promote the sale and consumption of alcohol? Our local Chamber of Commerce certainly believes so. The “Hook, Line, and Drinker” festival, which will be sponsored by the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce, is nothing more than an immoral and impractical way to spend Jackson County taxpayer dollars. 

In addition to this, the Chamber of Commerce has the audacity to label the event as “family friendly.” This seems very counter intuitive considering every fifth-grader in our county sits through an extensive drug and alcohol resistance program, funded by taxpayers as well. So, in a sense, Jackson County promotes resisting alcohol for those in adolescence to mid-twenties, but reverses its position and promotes its consumption later in life. Makes sense doesn’t it? The festival is likely another attempt to paint Sylva as an “alternative Asheville,” as well as an effort to smear the originality that is unique to our town and promote the social liberal agenda that is becoming far too familiar in many cities across America. I hope our county commissioners and leaders will have the courage to oppose this festival, as well as look for new leadership in the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce. 

Colton L. Bailey

Sylva

To the Editor:

The series of articles you have recently been publishing on “Folkmoot’s Cultural Conversations” have been most enlightening — and worth taking to heart. In the interest of becoming cultural ambassadors, we each of us need to learn to practice the attitudes and skills stressed in those conversations — being polite, keeping an open mind, speaking only for self, keeping confidentiality, acknowledging (and resisting) our capacity for prejudice and stereotyping, understanding how and why we define ourselves as we do — and more.

While those conversations have focused on racial and cultural differences, the same attitudes and skills are needed in our discussions of another major issue and threat facing our nation — climate change. 

Research by scientists at George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communications has identified a spectrum of six distinct groups in the U.S. population: the “dismissive” (9 percent) who don’t believe climate change is really happening and thus see it as no threat to our well-being; the “doubtful” (11 percent) who aren’t sure it’s happening but if it is, view it as part of a natural cycle and not human-caused; the “disengaged” (5 percent) who hold no particular beliefs about the matter one way or the other; the “cautious” (23 percent) who believe it’s happening but are immobilized as they wonder what can one person do; the “concerned” (34 percent) who think it’s real and human-caused and address it by lifestyle changes like recycling and changing light bulbs; and the “alarmed” (18 percent), the activist environmentalists who install solar panels, drive electric vehicles, and work for legislation to protect the environment and shift from fossil fuels to alternative forms of energy.

Whichever of these groups we may identify with, in the interest of community cohesiveness and national security and unity, we need to be making use of the above-mentioned Folkmoot approaches by engaging in conversations about global warming. If addressing this head on proves too divisive, we can begin by exploring related topics like clean energy, the plight of coal miners, the revenue neutral carbon tax, the Tesla phenomenon, the effects of violent storms, coal ash ponds, our love of fishing or hiking, or why we like living in the mountains.

By thus breaking the climate silence, we can become “climate ambassadors,” maintaining civility in the process by practicing such time-honored virtues as humility, respect, courage, self-control, teachability, dignity, conviction, kindness, openness, and — need we say it? —love. 

In so doing, we “can bring light, compassion, and determination to the national conversation on climate change: light, by helping people grasp its gravity; compassion by recognizing that those most harmed are innocent victims who need protection; and determination by refusing to accept any future that is unsustainable.”

Doug Wingeier

Waynesville

To the Editor:

A recent letter writer opined that corporations function as groups of people. One single sentence in that essay set me aback. I had never heard anyone express a sentiment, a belief quite like it. She wrote, “To consider a corporation just a nebulous entity, a non-person, is ridiculous.”

I began recalling conversations I have had throughout my life with learned people, songs expressing the nature and yearnings of people as well as books I have read. Nothing I have been exposed to seemed to provide any underpinning for that bold statement. That left me wondering if perhaps I had missed something in the King James Bible creation story. Nope! After re-reading relevant Genesis material I found no mention of God creating a corporation. 

Still puzzled I went back to “The Origin of Species” written by Charles Darwin in 1859. Once again my memory had served me pretty well. Darwin made no mention of any living entity evolving into a corporation.

Maybe I have led a sheltered life. Maybe I have been misinformed/uninformed by my experiences in life. Maybe I should have already sensed that some theory other than creation or evolution could enhance knowledge/understanding for humans. If someone can refer me to literature that will shed light on the creation/evolution of corporations as people, I would really appreciate the reference. But, until I find something more convincing than the Bible, Charles Darwin and Abraham Maslow (Motivation and Personality), I will continue to rely on the wisdom of those three sources. 

Dave Waldrop

Webster

New educational panels are now on display at Graveyard Fields, a popular hiking area along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Thru-hiker season is just about over in Western North Carolina, with most folks who are attempting the 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail having made their way north of the region. But they had some help along the way, in the form of several massive “trail magic” efforts locals have spearheaded to make the trek a little more comfortable.

Most of us did not grow up on farms and we may not even see a farm on our daily commute to work or school.  How can we learn more about local agriculture and farming and how can we teach our children about the process of how food gets onto the shelves at the local Ingles Market?

To the Editor:

I read the recent letter by Rep. Mike Clampitt, R-Bryson City, and would just like to say that I disagree and believe that the taxpayers in Haywood County need this to be an appointed position, like the rest of the state, for the following reasons: 

• One, typically no pays attention to this “race” and low voter turnout is common. 

• Second, I trust the judgment of the administration and county officials to pick a qualified person to do this job.

• Third, Haywood County cannot afford the loss of tax collection and the risk of another totally inept candidate winning office due to straight party voters.

Mylan Sessions

Clyde

To the Editor:

While the ACA is being re-considered I am asking why did we allow the insurance industry to convince us that the head is somehow not part of the body? We know that dental and medical illnesses contribute to, or actually cause, other illnesses. For many years mental health was not covered by insurance or covered at a lower benefit than “medical” services. Not so long ago insurers relented and agreed to cover mental health services like any other illness. 

Insurers deemed dental treatment outside of “medical” care. Those of us who have had dental insurance know that benefits are often limited to $500 annually with many services covered at 50 percent. Please contact your representatives and request parity for dental care and keeping mental health coverage at current levels. 

Instead of tweaking the ACA, some think Medicare could be extended to all. Everyone would be covered, with few exclusions (except for dental care, of course). “Alternative facts” are being promulgated that Medicare is somehow socialism, but it is not paid for by the government. Participants pay a premium and co-pays are required for most benefits. 

Judy Stockinger 

Franklin

To the Editor:

We know that the modern newspaper, in fact all media, feeds on controversy, some of it made up for ratings and sales and then hammered to death when nothing else is happening. The fact that there is conflict in Haywood County is barely new. In fact, if there were none we should be worried. Gen. George S Patton said, “When everyone is thinking the same thing, someone is not thinking.” As political correctness dies a needed death more division should come forth.

 This past election demonstrated that there are four political parties forming. Both Democrats and Republicans were — are — divided. The ultra-left which wears vagina suits and expects free college education is one — the far left progressives. Since socialism has never progressed anywhere that will always be popular but not effective.  

The middle group of Democrats — the old DNC which relies on a steady supply of jobs in the bureaucracy is still around and strong. We used to call this “the court house gang” even when they were Republicans. 

 Meanwhile the GOP is divided into the corporate bunch, which relies on big donors and a state of inertia, and finally the Tea Party types, who are focused on the Constitution, law and order, and stability in the job market.

The problem is that the game pieces keep moving. A new generation comes along with a different outlook on government. The millennnials, for example, are less interested in political parties and more interested in policy. They are registering as No Party or Independent.

The next 20 years will decide who comes out ahead but I would not be surprised to see new official parties forming on a national scale.

Cornelia Scott Cree

Maggie Valley

By Martin A. Dyckman • Guest Columnist

Russian paratroopers dropping on the White House lawn could scarcely do more damage to the United States than what the North Carolina Senate called for last week: a convention of the states to tear up the U.S. Constitution. How Donald Trump would love that.

Volunteers are needed to help rangers manage traffic and establish safe wildlife viewing areas in the Cataloochee Valley area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

Severe drought is nearly vanquished in North Carolina, with the number of counties in that designation the lowest it’s been since June 2016.

The new Local Food Guide from the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project is here, including more than 800 listings of places to find local food in Western North Carolina.

Closures and openings have resulted in status changes for some trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Diving into the rich, vibrant and controversial history of bluegrass music, If You Can’t Play, Get Off the Stage: Bluegrass in Western North Carolina and Beyond is the debut work from Garret K. Woodward, arts/entertainment editor for The Smoky Mountain News.

With the current expansion of its New Generations Family Birthing Center, Harris Regional Hospital couldn’t be in a better position to handle an anticipated influx of patients for labor and delivery services.

Having been a dietitian for over 20 years, I've seen fingers pointed at many supposed "villains" of weight and health issues:

All citizens of western North Carolina owe a big “thank you” to Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, and the Freedom Caucus bloc of representatives in the U.S. Congress. This group, led by Mr. Meadows, is responsible for the fact that those of us who are not wealthy, who may have pre-existing medical conditions, who are elderly, or who are not covered by a group health care plan provided by an employer, can still — at least for now — purchase reasonably affordable health care insurance.  

The withdrawal of Speaker Paul Ryan’s American Health Care Act (Ryancare, or Trumpcare depending on your preference) means that the Affordable Care Act will continue as the law of the land “for the foreseeable future,” according to Mr. Ryan. President Trump has made it clear that he will not be bringing up a healthcare initiative again in the near future. Apparently he didn’t really have a plan in mind after all, in spite of his campaign promises. 

The Freedom Caucus put a stake in the ground (and a stake through the heart of the proposed legislation) over the fact that certain provisions of the ACA would survive — it was not a sufficiently complete repeal for this group of radical right politicians.

And it appears quite obvious that the Republican Party, after seven years of grandstanding votes to repeal what they termed “Obamacare” and which became a rallying point for resistance to anything that had President Obama’s or Democratic support, had absolutely no alternative plan or strategy to address health care.

Although the American Health Care Act was eventually exposed as a relatively cold-hearted attempt to cut benefits, such as Medicaid, that largely help the poor and the elderly, in favor of huge tax breaks for corporations and the rich, it still wasn’t enough to satisfy Mark Meadows and the Freedom Caucus. Their insistence on even more severe cuts to benefits, up to or including complete repeal of the ACA, with no replacement at all, was the eventual undoing of the plan. Last minute deal-making to try to bring the Freedom Caucus on board only drove moderate Republicans away from supporting the bill.

Will Mark Meadows and the Freedom Caucus be among those willing to work in a bi-partisan way to achieve a good result for a broad cross section of Americans? It doesn’t seem likely based on what we’ve seen on healthcare and so many other issues. Do they believe that their constituents really want them to vote “no” on every bill that is not a big tax break for the wealthiest 1 percent, or a big cut to any spending programs that aren’t for defense or a border wall?

If that turns out to be the case, remember it when you decide which citizens to send to Washington when election time comes around in 2018.

Dan Chasins

Cashiers

To the Editor:

Friends of Panthertown and Mainspring Conservation Trust would like to thank all of our donors, including Jackson County residents, commissioners, and the Tourism Development Authority for contributing to the 16-acre Salt Rock land acquisition. 

With the outpouring of generosity and community support, together we were successfully able to raise the funds necessary to purchase and conserve this important piece of property. Thank you for helping us protect and maintain Panthertown Valley.

Join the Friends of Panthertown on Saturday, June 3, National Trails Day, at the Salt Rock trailhead to celebrate conservation of Panthertown. Visit www.panthertown.org for more info.

Jason Kimenker

Executive Director

Friends of Panthertown

To the Editor:

Are you sick of government ignoring the people it was meant to represent? Do you want your representatives to do their job and represent you instead of the special interests? The North Carolina legislature is sitting on a bill, right now, that would force the government to work for us.

SB354 — the “We the People Referendum” — would put Citizens United on the NC ballot in 2018, giving citizens a chance to say once and for all that money is not speech and corporations aren’t people. Sign the petition here: http://www.ncwethepeople.org/ncwtp-online-petition.php

This bill would rip the levers of power away from the big money players and special interest and put it where is belongs, with the people. SB 354 is sitting in the Senate Rules Committee. The next step is for committee chair Senator Bill Rabon to put it on his committee agenda and see that the bill gets the vote it deserves. If you want to see this referendum on the ballot then please let Sen. Rabon know, call 919.733.5963 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Garrett Lagan

Bryson City 

To the Editor:

The Haywood County Schools Foundation is a participant in “A Community Thrives” project sponsored by Gannett, USA today, and the Asheville Citizen-Times. In this project there are three categories of Wellness, Arts & Culture and Education. Haywood Schools Foundation entered the Education category. The three winners will receive $100,000 for first place with two $50,000 second- and third-place winners. We are competing with the nation: i.e., Charlotte, Atlanta and Chicago. To win we must have support of all our citizens. Please help us get their support and votes.

Submission was a three-minute video which gave a description of the project which had to be approved for entry. We chose the Citation Awards Program. The Haywood County Schools used it successfully last year and felt that it is a success story. Our video can be seen on line by following these directions:

Google “USA Today: A Community thrives — awarding grants to great ideas.”

Scroll down to submissions. “View all submissions.” You get to a page with Head line “Submit an Idea O Days until voting begins.” When the page comes up, scroll down about 50 rows of submissions. Give the computer time to call up the submissions. Look for Citation Awards for Education.

We are asking our supporters to help us pass the next step. The voting period began at 11:59 a.m. on April 12 and ends at 11:59 a.m. on May 12. Votes will be submitted at www.act.usatoday.comhttp://act.usatoday.com/submit-an-idea/ and by filling out the required information. You may vote one time each day for 30 days. You must be over 13 years of age. At the end of the voting period, up to ten (10) applications in each of the three (3) categories which have received the highest number of votes, will be the finalists and advance to the judging.

Everyone can help our idea to advance to the 10 applications in the education category by voting each day. Set your computer so that when you open it in the morning you can vote for that day. Do this for 30 days and we will be among the finalist if all of our supporters — students, teachers, parents, families, clubs, organizations, businesses, everyone votes. Do vote yourself, every day and remind everyone you meet, “Have you voted?”

Our children thank you.

Doris B. Hammett, MD

Waynesville

To the Editor:

Back in 1979, then National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski received a middle-of-the-night phone call with the alarming news that a large-scale Soviet nuclear attack had been launched against the United States. Moments later a second call carried word that the all-out attack was underway. Convinced that the end was near, Brzezinski was seconds away from waking President Jimmy Carter to persuade him to press the button to begin a retaliatory nuclear response. But then, moments later a third call came canceling the alert and explaining that it was all a human, technical error. A training tape simulating a Soviet attack had mistakenly slipped into the actual early warning network, temporarily confusing the on-duty crew. They had taken eight minutes rather than the prescribed three to correct a near-calamitous error.

Imagine what might happen were such a mistake to occur with the current, trigger-happy Washington crew in charge — claiming authority to engage in acts of war without the congressional approval required by the Constitution. There would be only a few minutes to assess a report’s reliability and decide whether and how to respond. Recently we have had a quick decision to direct several dozen missiles at Syria, killing many civilians. The largest non-nuclear bomb ever exploded indiscriminately has incinerated many in Afghanistan. A nervous, unstable, belligerent Kim Jong Un now has responded by rattling his sabers (missiles) in North Korea. There is no apparent awareness in any quarter of the “law of unintended consequences.”

The U.S. has 7,000 nuclear warheads in its stockpile, with only 100 required to plunge the Earth into darkness, killing millions, destroying agriculture worldwide, and starving billions to death. Yet, while insisting that Iran and North Korea destroy their nuclear capability, the U.S. is disregarding its commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and gearing up to “update” and expand its arsenal.

When will we wake up and realize that the only real protection against nuclear disaster is the total elimination of nuclear weapons?

Doug Wingeier

Waynesville