To the Editor:

It was odd to be reminded of the Spanish Civil War when reading your article about the Haywood County GOP. It seems that history is repeating itself, though, since your article reflects that the Republicans are having great difficulties organizing and coordinating with the anarchists.

John T. Barrett

Sylva

To the Editor:

In a recent Q&A in The Mountaineer, Congressman Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, seemed very light on specifics related to health care. In response to being asked what he believed to be inadequate in the healthcare bill, in 21 lines of print, he said premiums would not come down enough and that it had to have a safety net for those who can’t afford insurance. Admirable goals. In 28 lines of print in answer to what an ideal affordable health care plan should include, he repeated the same two goals. Is that all? In a conversation with a constituent in his Washington office, he commented, “Who would have thought that health care was so complicated?” Indeed! Who would have thought that a member of Congress voting on national health care legislation would not know that? In health care legislation, a tweak here has repercussions there. It is indeed complicated. You can’t change one component without affecting something else. He also stated that he didn’t want to do anything to hurt children, the poor or the elderly. Then please remember that those are the ones most affected by Medicaid and by the Affordable Care Act.Congressman Meadows: We need to get away from simplistic throw-the-baby-out-with-the-bathwater solutions. I have a problem with repealing the Affordable Care Act if it is not replaced with something better. It is not perfect, but please work to correct its shortcomings. Don’t ditch it till you are sure, in the complicated world of healthcare insurance, that you have something better to offer.

Joanne Strop

Waynesville

A $25,000 donation from the National Park Foundation will help the many Tennessee residents who lost their homes following the Chimney Tops 2 Fire last year. 

The Great Smoky Mountains Association had its best year every for sales and membership in 2016, allowing the organization to contribute more than $2 million in support of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

A 16-acre property adjacent to Panthertown Valley Backcountry Area has been conserved following Mainspring Conservation Trust’s April 21 closing on the purchase.

Sylva’s commissioners unanimously passed a resolution calling for a statewide commitment to eliminate fossil fuels during their meeting Thursday, April 13.

Western North Carolina’s rural roads have drawn their fair share of cyclists who are ready to roll. Weekly rides are underway throughout the region, offering seasoned riders and new converts alike the chance to get pedaling.

The Waynesville Public Art Commission has selected three finalists from a field of eight applicants for its upcoming project in the parking lot in Hazelwood.

In preparation for launching their new brewery, Mountain Layers Brewing in Bryson City, Kim and Mark Pettit had to understand the brewing process, develop a business plan, secure the necessary financing and design a new logo.

Ingles is pleased to welcome some new local food entrepreneurs. Look for these local products (and many others) at your Ingles store:

To the Editor:

White House budget director Michael Mulvaney recently said in an interview that: “When you start looking at places that  we reduce spending, one of the questions we asked was, ‘Can we really continue to ask a coal miner in West Virginia or a single mom in Detroit to pay for these programs?’ The answer was ‘No.’” 

Of course, he was referring to cutting funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. If this is considered the current criteria for what should be curtailed or eliminated from the federal budget, perhaps there are several other items that we should examine.

The weekend trips to Mar-a-Lago by Mr. Trump cost the federal taxpaying public a bit more than $3 million for each outing, according to CBS News. He has made five trips to this resort in the first eight weeks of his presidency.  

The Washington Post reports that the cost of just two of these trips would fund the Interagency Council on Homelessness for one year. This is an agency that is currently slated to be defunded. For what has been spent on these trips to date Meals on Wheels could feed 5,967 senior citizens for a year or 114,583 school children through school programs for that same period. Both of these programs are proposed to be cut in the current budget proposal.

The Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office says that they have spent $570,000 to help security measures for Mr. Trump’s visits, plus it costs approximately $60 thousand per day when he is at Mar-a-Lago. The current total is over $1 million of the Sheriff’s Office budget at this time and is growing with each trip. Add to this that every time Airforce One flies into Palm Beach, the airport is required to close down, disrupting not only travel to and from Palm Beach, but those businesses that depend on the airport and the airport travel. 

I realize that Presidents must travel and must have security. I do not begrudge them of that. I do begrudge the waste incurred in this travel. If Mr. Trump wishes to play golf (which he seems to do on each trip to Mar-a-Lago), he could go to the Trump International Golf Course which is on the outskirts of Washington, D.C.   

To paraphrase Mr. Mulvaney: “… one of the questions we asked was, ‘Can we really continue to ask a coal miner in West Virginia or a single mom in Detroit to pay for these programs?’  The answer was ‘No.’”

Luther Jones

Sylva

To the Editor:

As a former teacher of children with learning disabilities in Alabama, I have experienced the politicization resulting from school board elections. Shame on you, Rep. Michelle Presnell, for introducing a bill to politicize the school board by making elections partisan.

 By April of the first two years I taught, we teachers were having to buy or to go without materials as basic as notebook paper and pencils for student in a district with all low-income children. Of course, we bought them. But we could not clone ourselves so children had enough teachers. 

It is yet another attempt to get people elected who want to annihilate public education. Your bill isn’t being fiscally responsible — it is anti-Christian, anti-democracy, and inhumane.

In Alabama we had bumper stickers that read “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”

I know I cannot change your mind as you yourself have conjured up with this piece of ideological legislation, but I promise you that your every act of ignoring the wishes of your constituents is putting another nail in your political future’s coffin. We are retired and have all the time in the world to campaign against you. We have already begun.

Mary Jane Curry

Waynesville

To the Editor:

Each of Ms. Becky Johnson’s two articles about the Haywood Republican Party were well researched and accurately reported. The actions demonstrated the strength and resolve of the “mainstream Republicans” and the ineffectiveness of the “patriot faction.”

Some of the comments received by Ms. Johnson are comical: 

• “Corrupt” — Ms. Joy Diettle should provide specific details of corruption to have credibility. 

• “Christian conservative” — the Christians that I go to church with do not publish the vile, uncivil, fact-free, slanderous and libelous rants that come from the patriot faction. 

• “Commies,” “socialists,” “crooked,” “underhanded” — not true. 

• “Deceitful” — hardly. Proper notification of precinct  meetings was made giving each side time to muster support. 

• “Cheat sheet” — did the patriot faction already forget the thousands of voter guides that were handed out at the November elections? 

• “Set up” — the patriot faction had every opportunity to recruit support. 

• “Exorcism” — that’s what you do to a cancer, cut it out. 

• “It is too soon to say whether the sides are ready to put the past behind them.” The first test was at the initial meeting of the newly formed Executive Committee. Only one of the two precinct chairmen from the patriot faction even deigned to attend. A motion was made that no recording devices be used. Chairman Ken Henson made a point of stating that he had no objection to recording the meeting. The motion passed with a 15 to 1 vote, but that did not deter Monroe Miller from publishing in an email that “dictator Henson” would not allow recording the meeting. 

However, revenge, not healing or unity, appears to be a motivator. Readers will remember Mr. Miller from an article by Ms. Johnson on Jan. 28, 2015. Mr. Miller was quoted as saying: “You see, my mom loved politics and was heavily involved. That was about the time when the GOP told my parents, ‘You are not from here. We don’t want you. Leave.’ Every time I think of that, it strengthens my resolve to do something about that here and now.”

Time will tell.

Ted Carr 

Bethel

Recent bear encounters in Panthertown have spurred the U.S. Forest Service to issue a warning for visitors to the area. 

A little rain couldn’t drown out the voices of a small group of protestors who gathered at the Historic Haywood County Courthouse on Tax Day, April 18, to demand President Donald Trump release his tax returns.

A brand new Ingles Market on Spartanburg Highway will be opening April 20th.  Be sure and stop by and check out our newest store!

To the Editor:

Haywood County Board Chairman Kirk Kirkpatrick has publicly complained “It feels like we have no representation” in Raleigh because local state House members like myself insist on giving constituents a choice whether to elect their tax collector via referendum.  

However, the citizens of Haywood County might feel they have no representation either if they lost their existing right to vote on this key public position without having any say in the matter, as Commissioner Kirkpatrick prefers.

 As a state representative, I support my constituents having local control over their elections. I will not support permanently removing their right to vote on a key official like tax collector via a directive from Raleigh. The citizens of Haywood County deserve a voice in this matter that a simple referendum would provide.

I value the unique input the citizens of Haywood County have on local government by electing their tax collector, just as they elected me to serve them. Holding a referendum at a cost of $5,000 is a small price to pay to let our voters decide if they want to continue electing their tax collector.  

Right now Haywood County citizens have taxation with a unique, locally elected form of representation. They deserve input whether to keep it that way. 

Rep. Mike Clampitt

North Carolina House Member

Haywood, Jackson & Swain Counties

To the Editor:

Funny how Rep. Mike Clampitt, R-Bryson City, never mentions once that we are the only county in the state where this position is elected, that there are very few counties (I believe just one) who had to have a referendum on this issue and also that this was a unanimous decision by our board of commissioners made up of three Democrats and two Republicans. 

The people of Haywood County vote every two years to put commissioners in place to make decisions for what is in the best interests of all of Haywood County. 

He is trying to turn this thing and make it about voting and choice, but he is listening to the few and truly ignoring the voters in Haywood County who selected the give of us as Commissioners to make decisions. We did that and he as well as Rep. Michele Presnell, R-Burnsville, just ignored us.

Kirk Kirkpatrick,

Chairman, Haywood County Board of Commissioners

To the Editor:

As I prepared to leave home to participate in Sylva’s rally and march for affordable health care access (held Saturday, April 1, at Bridge Park and downtown), I was eager to hear local doctors, patients, and leaders speak about current needs and costs of health care, particularly in Jackson and Macon counties.

Then it occurred to me that I might not be alive to attend this event if I had not had access to affordable care twenty-some years ago. My gynecologist had recommended a baseline mammogram during an annual physical. I was a graduate student who was not sure my insurance would cover a mammogram or whether I had enough cash in my checking account to afford it otherwise. I took the financial chance, had the mammogram, and found out that I had breast cancer. Two weeks later, I had a modified radical mastectomy.  

Since then, my concern that I will have cancer again and that it will not be caught in time to save me is relieved with annual mammograms. Since graduation I have been lucky to work for large employers who provide access to group insurance, with affordable (though increasing) monthly payroll and annual deductions. Lucky to remain in that employ not only to retain this benefit, but to remain in work I wanted to do. Lucky to remain under the regular care of physical and mental health care providers who diagnose, treat, and advise me for other life-challenging health needs. 

What if my early luck had not been so good? What might have happened if I had not taken the chance on affording my first mammogram? If I had not chosen a vocation was not hirable by large, for-profit employers with affordable health care access? If I had not been able to remain employed in it? 

What about people who do not have such good luck?  Individuals I will never know as well as folks who are my family, friends, colleagues, leaders, neighbors? Do I deserve the “benefit” of affordable health care access more than they do? Morally, could I not care about their care? Ethically, could I advocate for my own pocketbook at the expense of their lives?

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  Love one another.  

Marsha Lee Baker

Cullowhee

Spring is here, and that means that most roads and facilities on the area’s many acres of public lands are either open or will open soon. Here’s run-down of opening dates for some of the region’s most popular areas.

Students from Haywood Community College came in fourth in a wildlife-centric competition during which they competed against 24 other schools.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park now boasts two new propane-fueling stations and six new propane-fueled trucks following an unveiling April 5. 

Haywood Community College Professional Crafts students recently participated in the School-to-Market Program at the American Craft Council’s American Craft Show in Atlanta, Georgia.

In many of Haywood County Schools’ media centers, including North Canton Elementary School, media specialists are working with teachers to create maker stations for students.

The articles of impeachment passed by the Cherokee Tribal Council on April 6 outline seven grounds on which to remove Principal Chief Patrick Lambert from office. In a Facebook post, Lambert offered a counterpoint to each accusation. 

You may notice some bright green live basil plants in the produce section of your Ingles Market with a "Tyger River Smart Farm" sticker.

By Norman Hoffman • Guest Columnist

A guest column by Joseph Trisha in the March 22 edition (www.smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/19589) makes a plea for unity and putting aside opposition to President Trump. This would be more credible if the Republicans had done the same for Obama when he became president instead of opposing virtually anything that Obama accepted or supported.

The difference with current concerns about Trump is that his political career is based on lies. His initial ascent in politics, his campaign, and his presidency all have a foundation based on lies. He gained national prominence with the lie that Obama was not born in the U.S. — as if that made a difference. McCain, Romney, and Cruz were all born in foreign countries, yet that was not an issue. Why? Because their mothers, like Obama’s, were all American citizens — and they were white.

During the campaign, Trump lied about almost everything form the Clinton Foundation to unemployment statistics. Trump claimed unemployment was not around 5 percent as the data showed, but as high as 40 percent, which was ridiculous even for a lot of minority subpopulations. As soon as he became president, the 5 percent figure was declared accurate.

Trump lied about giving healthcare to everyone. In point of fact, the TrumpCare bill that he pushed was nothing but a tax cut for the wealthiest. It did not increase healthcare coverage to anyone. More than 20 million people covered by the Affordable Care Act would have lost coverage. Insurance would not have been more affordable for anyone. What the TrumpCare bill did was cut the taxes on the rich in the ACA that help pay for subsidies for those who would otherwise not have coverage.

Trump claimed he had no business with Russia, but his son stated that Russians were involved with a disproportionate proportion of the Trump family businesses. In 2014 Trump bragged that he did business with Russian oligarchs.  Last year his son-in-law met with Russian bank officials who also have ties to the Russian spy agency and possible involvement in money laundering. 

The previous columnist stated, “President Trump has accomplished many positive changes…” However, Trump has no positive accomplishments. The alleged saving of 800 jobs at Carrier was a case of smoke and mirrors. A recent news report indicated that Carrier was cutting 700 jobs in Indiana. Other jobs were also cut. The so-called saved jobs were not going overseas in the first place.

The writer correctly indicates that the debt is an important issue, but not for Trump. His new budget would cut taxes for the wealthy and increase the debt. It makes no economic or mathematical sense to cut taxes if you want to cut the deficit or national debt. One does not take a pay cut to be better able to pay the mortgage. Tax cuts have never improved the economy or created jobs — they have only added to the deficit.

In short, we cannot believe anything President Trump or his administration say. Their history is to say one thing and do the opposite.

(Norman Hoffman lives in Waynesville and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)

To the Editor:

We the people of these United States deserve a better way to put into power those who run for office. Money is currently the primary player in our elections. Morally, this is wrong!

There is a ballot measure, the We the People Act (HB 453 and S 354), making its way through the legislative process stating that corporations are not people and money is not speech. This ballot measure opens to the people of North Carolina a chance to vote on the measure in 2018.

Contact your legislators in the Committee On Rules and Operations of the Senate and tell them to pass S 354 out of committee and to the floor of the Senate.

Contact your legislators in the Committee On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House and tell them to pass H453 out of committee and to the floor of the House. 

One person, one vote is our constitutional right. Your input is very important. Go to www.ncwethepeople.org to read and sign the petition. Encourage your family and friends to get on board. Contact your representatives. They need to know of your support. Remember, corporations have no soul!

Joan Palmroos

Otto 

To the Editor:

I have one thing to say to the business owners who feel that equal pay for equal work, safety and environmental regulations, and providing benefits to full-time employees instead of hiring part-time employees to avoid doing so, would constitute an “undue financial burden.” 

If you cannot afford to participate in these fair and reasonable business practices, perhaps you should consider another line of work. Hopefully for you, your employer will have a different opinion regarding the business they operate. 

Judy Stockinger 

Franklin

To the Editor:

From where comes all this hate and disrespect directed at the President? 

I expect and respect differing opinions, especially when it comes to politics, but not the  blatant disrespect expressed in recent letters, “our one term — or less — President Donald Rump,” from one who spent a career in military service. 

We have seen our military severely diminished over the past eight years, and we now have a president who is pledged to rebuilding it so that our beloved country can be safe from those emboldened by a weak 44th president. President Trump — that’s with an uppercase “T” not an “R,” was elected an a platform of “Making America Great Again.” Evidently his detractors do not share this vision or desire. They would prefer to revert to the years of national decline. For this attitude, I express only my disappointment in them

I am registered as “unaffiliated” and voted for both Democrats and Republicans in the past election.

Otis Sizemore

Maggie Valley

To the Editor:

It’s terrible that such a thing has come to pass, that the “so-called President” must be removed, but it is absolutely, critically necessary. The man has not exhibited the first indication of knowledge, skill, or ability to serve in this or any other position. If he remains in office, our country will suffer damage the likes of which haven’t been seen in ages. His only skill is the short con — he’s pulling money out of our pockets with both hands in violation of the The Foreign Emoluments Clause, Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 and the Domestic Emoluments Clause, Article II, Section 1, Clause 7, of the United States Constitution.

Our congressional representatives should bring charges against him.

His incessant attacks on our institutions of government are designed to obfuscate his lack of ability, creating a diversion while he works to tear our country apart. He is the benchmark example of one who cries “Fire” in a crowded theater, creating chaos where there was at least a semblance of order and sanity.

Please start this process so that America can begin to progress again, you must not allow us to be controlled by a madman.

William Aylor

Swain County 

To the Editor:

Our Congressman Mark Meadows may have forgotten the needs of the voters who elected him. While Meadows wants to “drive down healthcare costs and insurance premiums,” his real aim seems to be eliminating government regulation and support for affordable medical care.

Meadows considers the Affordable Care Act “yet another healthcare entitlement” to be repealed. All subsidies and tax credits that help participants buy insurance would be eliminated. Clearly that would have a disastrous effect on thousands of industrious District 11 citizens who provide help for their families through Obamacare.

Rep. Meadows, a self-described fiscal hawk, believes driving down government costs is a priority. But a Western North Carolina food stand worker recently said, “It needs to be less about money and more about people.” She and her mother are scared that skyrocketing increases in prescription drug and hospitalization costs may do them in.

They and other Carolina workers interviewed on a national news program remarked that “maybe a ‘Medicare for All’ system would be better.” One local maintenance worker commented, “If you are going to help me, help me 100 percent, like other countries like Canada do.”

Ohio Representative John Conyers has submitted HR 676 – the “Expanded & Improved Medicare for All Act” to the 115th Congress. His bill can be properly funded using existing resources for healthcare revenue and small tax increases. All people would have the freedom to choose their health providers, and the end result would be vastly lower costs to individual families, corporations, and the government.

We cannot and should not allow Tea-Party Republicans to harm struggling families. If enough of us speak up for affordable, universal healthcare for all hard-working Americans, perhaps Rep. Meadows and the rest of Congress will enact a humane and fiscally-responsible healthcare bill like “Medicare for All.”

Frank L. Fox

Asheville 

To the Editor:

We are loudly and frequently reminded of the many things that we are supposed to be afraid of every day. However, I cannot help but notice that among these repetitive ravings corporate America’s complete lack of a moral compass is conspicuously absent.

Perhaps my fellow citizens have failed to notice that we, as a society, have invested a great deal of trust, power and authority in legal entities whose only reason for existing is to make a profit. These companies, many of which provide vital services such as food and energy production and distribution, are so focused on the bottom line that they feel justified in using their positions as integral components of society to buy politicians.

These misguided politicians then strip away any regulations from their corporate patrons, allowing them to recklessly pursue profit without having to consider their moral duty to the very society they service.

Receiving a reward for a job well done is one thing, but behaving like a parasite sucking its host dry is quite another.

To help combat this internal threat, contact your state representatives and tell them you want to get money out of politics then go to www.ncwethepeople.org to learn more.

Cory Lomax

Sylva

To the Editor:

Like Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, and others before them, Rep. Mike Clampitt, R-Bryson City, and Kevin Corbin, R-Franklin, have been seduced by the dark side in Raleigh. It used to only happen when local politicians went to Washington, but now it has infected our state government as well.

Just Davis co-sponsored the current law allowing fracking of our water supply throughout North Carolina and voting for HB2, Clampitt and Corbin have been cajoled into introducing HB 249, the so-called “Economic Terrorist” bill.

This would label anyone an “Economic Terrorist” for briefly occupying a road as a part of a protest, enhancing punishment for this “terrorist activity.”

How many Patriots during our American Revolution would have been labeled “Economic Terrorists” according to this bill?

When our elected officials refuse to listen to their electorate, even hiding from their constituents, what other non-violent means do we have to express our views under the First Amendment?

With HB 249, we have another highly divisive, extremist and unconstitutional piece of legislation looking to solve a problem that for the most part doesn’t exist.

Clampitt and Corbin would be wise to continue to think for themselves and do the right thing in Raleigh, rather than fall into groupthink.

We the people would be better served if those who control our General Assembly focused on improving our health care, child care, public education, job opportunities, and wages in rural North Carolina. If you agree, let them know.

Dan Kowal

Macon County

To the Editor:

I am a conservative. I conserve. A conservative wisely preserves, conserves and saves. A conservative secures and manages that which is available, to maintain or increase as possible or necessary, across all resources. 

As a child of the depression and the World War that followed, I learned to conserve. Everyone did. As a young wife and mother in later years, putting into practice the lessons of my youth, I sometimes made wrong choices by selecting what I thought was the wise, less expensive product or action. In the long run I would sometimes find that my conservative selection was more costly, and was not an effective choice to meet my goals. And so I learned.  

Learning is something that our present day self-described “conservatives” apparently either cannot or refuse to do. Giving lip service to the word “conserve” as an interchangeable for “savings” does not result in actual long-term savings on any level — local, state, or national.

Cutting programs simply due to their expense does not relieve the oft-threatened future burdens to our children. Without real thought, or perhaps necessary judicious trimming, you are ultimately increasing the problems these cut programs help solve. 

Numerous published reports by verifiably non-partisan research agencies are willfully ignored and discounted by bluster and public ballyhoo. Certified fiscal records (past and projected) that disprove the numerous willfully false claims and clearly misapplied conservation are blithely dismissed as “fake.”  

So, even though you mislabel me and those who share more humane positions which actually result in both human and fiscal savings, we so-called liberals ultimately are, by more accurately applied definition, the “truly conservative.”

Shirley Ches

Franklin

To the Editor:

If you were the boss of three employees (let’s call them Mark Meadows, Thom Tillis, and Richard Burr) and they repeatedly refused to meet with you and even refused to answer your questions about the way they were doing their jobs, how would you feel about it? Frustrated? Disrespected? Outraged?

Our elected officials are public servants who are supposed to be working for us, who are supposed to be improving our quality of life. That’s why we pay them.

So how is it that despite many requests and demonstrations, our representatives have stubbornly refused to hold town halls, have refused to meet with us as a group to answer our questions face to face?

I was puzzled about this until I realized that these politicians do not regard us as their constituents.  Constituents are people you feel you have to respect — people you feel you’re answerable to. Clearly, Meadows, Tillis, and Burr have not been acting as if they work for us.  It’s not us they feel obliged to represent.

They do, however, seem to regard Republican Party heads, special-interest groups, and billionaire donors, such as Betsy DeVos, as their bosses. Apparently, if we want their ear, we need to pony up $70,000 in campaign contributions.

So what would you do if you were the boss of three employees who were stubbornly insubordinate? Employees who ignored your repeated requests for a meeting? Wouldn’t you fire them?

Bill Spencer

Cullowhee

To the Editor:

The media is crowing over this so-called big loss for Trump by having to postpone the elimination of Obamacare.  

Not so fast. This is a major move forward. Let’s go back to December 24, 2009, in the dead of night when the Senate Democrats passed this thing with nary a Republican vote.  When Congress goes skulking about you can be sure they are up to mischief.

But all Congress knew then that a bill requiring an entire population to buy insurance, whether they needed it or not, would result in huge profits for insurance companies and also benefit for-profit-hospitals as it turned out.

Now here comes Trump. Nobody in D.C., home of the insurance company lobbyists, thought this man would win so they did not divest their fat portfolios of insurance stock. As long as they knew Obama would veto them the GOP was happy enough to send up repeal bills.  

But now the tables are turned and the truth exposed. Trump holds the upper hand. He will wait patiently, allowing them time to dump their stocks and he’ll go back for full repeal later on, possibly even after the Congress alone must face the collapse of the system they both profited from and tolerated.

“Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive,” Sir Walter Scott.

Cornelia Scott Cree

Waynesville

The Fly Fishing Museum of the Southern Appalachians received the largest single donation it’s ever seen when Georgia resident Bob Bagerski gifted the museum with 50 handcrafted bamboo fly rods, 50 reels, six split willow creels, five wooden rod cases, four nets and three rod caddies.

Lake Junaluska has won six awards from the United Methodist Association of Communicators for video production, publications, social media, photography and campaign planning.

Cleanse - As in “I’m going on a 30-day cleanse so I’m not eating____.”

To the Editor:

Regarding Mr. Martin Dyckman’s op-ed published in the March 8 issue of The Smokey Mountain News, I found his historical comments on Hitler’s rise to power to be quite accurate and thought-provoking. The comparison to President Trump’s rise to power is indeed interesting. 

However, his allegation that the people that voted for him were “more interested in throwing bombs than in building bridges” is inaccurate. His assertion regarding “the great moral character” of Trump’s opponent is unquestionably inaccurate. Hillary Clinton possesses many characteristics, none of which could be described as “great moral character.” Rather, she appears to be self-absorbed, imbued with a sense of entitlement (thought she deserved the presidency), a proven liar (email server, Benghazi),  an ineffective leader (Benghazi), a dirty tricks dealer (Sanders), an opportunist and an influence dealer (Clinton Foundation) and a poor judge of character (Bill and Monica).

It wasn’t just the “deplorables” and the “bomb throwers” that voted for Donald Trump — it was also those for whom there was no viable alternative. In addition, those voters were sick and tired of the leadership during the last eight years. They felt that if they were unhappy with the last eight years, then the next four would be even worse. 

Mr. Dyckman is correct in that there is little similarity to the conditions in Germany in the 1930s and the conditions in our country in the 2000s. We are fortunate to have a system of checks and balances that hopefully will preclude any rise of authoritarianism.  

There is a practical reason that the Electoral College exists — it prevents the greatly populated states from forcing their will on the remainder of the country. Whether one feels that is a good thing or not depends, I suppose, upon where one resides. In any event, it is our system as it exists today.  

Hopefully, Mr. Trump will prove to be a good president for our country. If not, then there is always 2020.

Stephen Thomason

To the Editor:

 The other day I read something that chilled me to the bone, especially considering the direction the new administration is taking our country. After living in Germany for 13 years and touring the concentration camps of Auschwitz, Dachau and Buchenwald that were liberated at the end of World War II and remembering the Japanese-American internment camps, I am becoming fearful.

I urge you to read the following quotation attributed to Martin Niemöller (1892-1984), who was a prominent German Protestant pastor and, as an outspoken foe of Adolf Hitler, spent the last years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. He believed that through their silence many German and Protestant leaders were complicit in the ensuing Holocaust:

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out —

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out —

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out —

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.”

What if you were to change these groups to: Catholics, Mormons, Mexicans, Italians, Asian-Americans, African-Americans, LGBTQ, etc.? We need to strongly reject and speak out against any such discrimination of any and all people. 

Nancy Copeland

Waynesville

To the Editor:

I was born in a steel town in 1948. When I was 2, we moved to a textile town. I remember my mother telling me that in the steel town, she checked the wind direction before she washed clothes since if the wind was blowing toward our house, the clothes would just get dirty when she hung them out to dry. Growing up in a textile mill town, I remember the creeks running the color of whatever dye was used that day.

The air was unhealthy to breathe in the steel town, and the water was unsafe to contact in the textile town. There were no fish, or pretty much anything else, living in those creeks. A pond downstream from those mills was later declared unsafe for fishing or swimming because of high concentrations of toxic metals.

I lived on the Hudson River for a few years. Indiscriminant dumping of waste to that river had eliminated several profitable fisheries and killed those jobs. PCB releases from a General Electric plant subsequently shut down a profitable striped bass fishery. Acid rain did the same thing to recreational fisheries in Upstate New York lakes.

The creation of the Environmental Protection Agency under a Republican president and subsequent authorization of the Clean Air and Clean Water acts eliminated the worst of those abuses.

Adapting to these and subsequent regulations added costs to these industries and municipalities. What seems to be lost in the conversations are the jobs that were created to develop technologies to prevent the pollution, build the equipment to meet the requirements and monitor the results. Those are real jobs that contribute to the economy.

What is also lost in the current conversation is the improved human health associated with the reduction in air and water pollution. This includes both the reduction in premature deaths and health care costs to treat the diseases caused by bad air and water.

Clean air and water have its own associated industries. What would rural Western North Carolina be without tourism, outdoor recreation and clean-environment related retirees? A recent analysis by WCU showed that tourism alone generated $154 million in spending and produced $27 million in worker income in 2015.

Thank the EPA for our economy while we still have it.

John Gladden

Franklin

To the Editor:

Please don’t even try to convince most people that Republicans are slow to change due to some long-standing conservative ideology or a spiritual (Christian) base which they claimed only a few years ago with their “Contract with America” and/or “Moral Majority.” Think back a few months to the Republican campaign. Republican establishment leaders were doing everything they knew how to prevent Donald Trump from becoming their nominee for President of the United States. Little did they realize (or want to admit?) how keenly Trump sensed the mood of rural Americans. It seems now that rural Americans as well as establishment Republican leaders knew very little about how closely Donald Trump associated with Vladimir Putin on a personal/business basis. This potentially dangerous relationship will now play out during Trump’s presidential term.

Fast forward to Trump’s grab for power by winning the Republican primary. Once Trump benefited from the devious “Christian” influence of Franklin Graham asking his followers to “hold their noses” and FBI Director James Comey mailed his damning letter undermining Hillary Clinton, most of the erstwhile Trump critics lined up in support of their brand-new, billion-dollar hero. This success at the voting booth was enhanced by massive advertising dollars from the National Rifle Association as well.

Fake news, false statements from Trump, devious utterances from the FBI Director, sheep-herding by a famous evangelist’s son, hacking by Vladimir Putin will all be accepted now by Republican leaders in the Congress of the United States. Why? Christian values? American values? Dedication to Democracy? Insistence on fair voting in every precinct? Making every vote count? Hardly! The answer is Republicans won the fraudulent election. They not only maintained power in Congress, they gained coveted seats giving them enormous political power. But, political power does not automatically confer moral influence to those holding the power.

Do Republicans want to investigate the influence of hacking by Vladimir Putin? Few of them have shown any inclination. And, most are fighting the idea of a bipartisan special committee and disclosure to the American people. If they do agree with an investigation they will try to hide the truth from us (the American citizens who are told “Your vote counts”). But, how can every vote count if they have been tainted by the hacking of a foreign power? We are left to ponder — Who elected the President of the United States?

What Americans believed to be a bedrock, a cornerstone of our system of transferring power has shifted like mercury on slick glass-much like the speed with which Republicans rushed to get on the Trump wagon. Now, instead of Republicans joining Democrats and demanding the suspension of all subsequent legal moves until we can feel assured of the validity of this election, they have moved swiftly to install the man they once labeled as a fraudulent, racist, unfit, womanizing buffoon.

Has there been that much of a moral shift within the Republican Party in the last decade? Has there been that much of a shift with most Americans? Do we prefer political party power at the expense of the voting power of all Americans? 

Are there other people who are getting bored with the false claims that Republicans are more patriotic, stronger Christians, more dedicated to constitutional principles? Could Franklin Graham possibly be acting Christ-like when he calls Democrats “atheistic, godless progressives”? Is it not getting clear as a bell that what they strive for is Republican Party power at any cost? Democrats need not get pious now. They can be just as guilty of the same excessive struggle for power. 

Perhaps politics has always included chicanery. If so, why do Christians rush headlong into it? Can they really uphold biblical principles while seeking earthly power? Few expect that Republicans will change like mercury on slick glass. But, would it not be wonderful for America if enough listened to their consciences and decided to do what is right morally rather than what is politically expedient in this crucial hour? Democracy could use a little good news like that.

Dave Waldrop

Webster

Despite some negative publicity last month when spikes were planted along the trails at Pinnacle Park in Sylva, turnout was high for the grueling Assault on Blackrock trail race Saturday, March 18, at Pinnacle Park.

The WNC Nature Center will launch a regional education outreach program thanks to a $52,000 grant Friends of the WNC Nature Center received from the N.C. Science Museums Grant Program.

Lake Junaluska will hold a memorial service for Rev. Dr. Jimmy Carr at 3 p.m. Thursday, March 30, in Stuart Auditorium.

Question: My son who is 17 years old was recently advised by his dermatologist to eliminate some foods to see if they help with a skin condition.  Currently he is supposed to avoid wheat, dairy, eggs and oats as well as shrimp.  I am at a loss of what to fix for him. Can you give me some ideas?