By Paul Strop • Guest Columnist

Last summer when we returned to this country, the presidential election was in full cry, and almost every day (it seemed) we heard, “lock her up,” and “build a wall.” The first, I assume referred to the candidate’s opponent, and the second, I assume, referred to the rally-goers’ demand for protection.

Walls have been built for centuries by kings, sultans and dictators for the purpose of protecting their territories and their royal cities from marauding armies who would pillage and destroy these cities. Moulay Ismael in the 17th century built walls to protect his royal city of Meknes. Today, thousands of visitors travel to Morocco to marvel at these structures which still stand. The Great Wall of China was built hundreds of years ago for protection against raiders from Eurasia. Millions of tourists every year walk on these existing walls.

By Joseph Trisha • Guest Columnist

So who else is tired of negative politics and the constant negative President Donald Trump reports every time you turn on the news channel? The news media should just stick to the facts — whether good or bad — without the spin or half truths.

Wouldn’t it be great no matter who was in office if the representatives would just concentrate on helping the people who placed them there? Wouldn’t it be nice if the news outlets would just cover the news with truth and without the constant negativity focused on those who are opposite of their party?

To the Editor:

After reading the letter “You can’t fix stupid” in the March 15 edition of The Smoky Mountain News, I agree with the title. The letter proves it. After all that’s gone on, it’s hard to imagine someone would degrade themselves by writing such. 

The reason this is so short? It’s for those in the Trump audience who apparently lose track in their thinking if things are longer than a Trump tweet.

Tom Boyd

Iron Duff

The Blue Ridge Parkway welcomed 15.18 million visitors in 2016, a slight increase from the 15.05 million who visited in 2015.

The Great Smoky Mountains Association took home top honors from the Public Lands Alliance’s annual awards this year.

Gayle Woody has been named the new president of the Jackson County Arts Council. 

Western Carolina University’s student-run Mountain Area Pro Bono Physical Therapy Clinic has set a goal to expand the availability of its services in 2018.

To the Editor:

I sure enjoy the opinion columns by Chris Cox in The Smoky Mountain News. I enjoy reading it as no holds are barred and the paper tells it like it is. Keep them coming on our one-term (or less) President Donald Rump.

Yes, how can one not help to realize he will do anything to stay in the daily press.

Sure wish you would also write about our N.C. legislature obstructionist, Rep. Michele Presnell, R-Burnsville. Now she will see to it that the Haywood County School board will become partisan. As if she has not done enough to block making the tax collector an appointed position and blocking the Waynesville-Lake Junaluska merger, etc. She is almost as bad as our President. 

If only the voters would look at the issues and not vote party line. Just too many uniformed voters. 

Ron Rookstool

Maggie Valley

Editor’s note: Recent columns by Chris Cox about Donald Trump have been creating a frenzy of responses online. We asked two of those who took part in the online conversation if we could use their pieces as letters to the editor, and they agreed. 

To the Editor:

First off, no anonymous person here. My name is Sandy Sanders. I read Chris Cox column a few weeks ago and started to write you but figured why bother. But after reading today’s bull crap column I couldn’t resist. 

Cox is nothing but another hater who can’t face the fact that Trump won and Clinton lost! Thank God because four more years of the Obama way would have destroyed this country! That Muslim communist spent eight years trying to destroy this country and almost did. 

I sent articles to your worthless editor about Obama and Clinton and he refused to print any of them. He just dogged Trump like you do. You two are prime examples of worthless journalists. The sad fact is that you are allowed to teach any of our children. Only in America, right? 

If losers like you would just sit back, shut the f-up and let the man do his job, maybe you would be surprised. You didn’t dog Obama and he did nothing; oh wait, he tripled our debt! Feel free to respond anytime. There is a saying which fits you and Scott McLeod perfectly: you can’t fix stupid.

Sandy Sanders

Otto

Editor’s note: Recent columns by Chris Cox about Donald Trump have been creating a frenzy of responses online. We asked two of those who took part in the online conversation if we could use their pieces as letters to the editor, and they agreed.

To the Editor:

Does opening your email or Facebook feed or nightly news programs make your blood pressure go up? Does the flood of the political turmoil coming out of the President’s office, the Senate, the House, and North Carolina Legislature leave you “Dazed and Confused”? Join the crowd. Maybe it is because we have not told them what we expect and what our families and communities need. 

The One Equal World organization suggested that people mail a postcard to Trump on March 15th opposing his administration. The idea was to flood his mailbox. That may feel good to some, and it is easy to do, but it really does not address the family and community concerns we want addressed.

Why not create a family portrait postcard with your family on one side and your handwritten requests or concerns plus the address and stamp on the other side? That way your senators, your representative, President Trump, Speaker Paul Ryan, and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will have a picture and know that this letter represents a whole family of voters. There is no time limit on mailing these cards. You can even send emails with your family portrait attached. This is your way of speaking for your family if they agree.  

Local print shops can make cards inexpensively if you provide the photo. Your county library can show you how to do it on your own. It is time for you to tell it like it is. Speak for yourself. And keep speaking out. 

Newton Smith

Tuckasegee

To the Editor:

As a journalist and former member of the working press, I continue to be appalled and frankly disgusted at President Trump’s daily assault on the media. I began my career as a reporter for a Scripps-Howard newspaper in South Florida. My beat was politics. In addition to feature writing, I covered city, county, and special district meetings and the Florida Legislature.

My training (BA in Journalism), my city editor, and my personal integrity demanded the truth, the utmost accuracy, and as the old “Dragnet” character Joe Friday used to say, “The facts ma’am, just the facts.” My livelihood depended on it.

President Trump’s overblown ego, his obsession with ratings, and his personal attacks on anyone who happens to disagree with him do nothing to advance this nation’s substantial agenda. His CODL strategy (confuse, obfuscate, distract, and lie) doesn’t work (although it seems to work for him), won’t work, and only serves to bolster his questionable base of adoring lemmings.

 Sen. John McCain commented on Trump’s labeling of the media as “the enemy of the people.”

“This is how dictators get started,” McCain said. So if this is what Trump’s loyal cadre want, let’s then all ignore these enemies and believe only the pre-packaged drivel of Trump’s Svengali Steve Bannon. 

 Hopefully, the majority of educated, thinking, and independent Americans will see through the smokescreen and reject Trumpworld and the alternate universe in which this president lives.

Kurt J. Volker

Otto

Ingles Markets, 630 Champion Dr., Canton. Thursday, March 23 · 3 to 6 p.m.

To the Editor:

Among the many sources available to explain current events in Washington is an excellent recent book that looks provocatively into the past rather than the present or future. Titled Hitler: Ascent 1889-1939 by the German author Volker Ullrich, it explains in well-documented detail how history's most evil man came to murderous power and, more importantly, why Germans let it happen.

The N.C. Arboretum in Asheville recently completed several upgrades to its facilities, including conversion to LED lights in all indoor fixtures. These lights consume 80 percent less energy than conventional light bulbs. The majority of the campus’s indoor lighting has been converted to LED bulbs as well.

The Blue Ridge Breakaway, which would have celebrated its eighth year in August, has been canceled for this year with the possibility of disappearing altogether following a review for the 2018 season.

The 2017 Polar Plunge Benefit-t-t-ting Kids in the Creek and Environmental Education surpassed its goal to raise $30,600 this year, with 145 people braving Lake Junaluska’s chilly waters Feb. 4 to participate. 

A future addition to Western Carolina University’s gallery of presidential portraits was recently unveiled for the first time as the WCU Board of Trustees got a sneak peek at the recently completed likeness of Chancellor David O. Belcher.

Correction: In the March 1 issue, The Smoky Mountain News incorrectly reported that Jackson Neighbors in Need requested funding from the Jackson County Commissioners. The Southwestern Child Development Commission is the entity that requested the funding, as management of Jackson’s homeless shelter has transitioned from Neighbors in Need to the SWCDC. SMN regrets the error.

At approximately 11:40 a.m., Haywood County Schools Superintendent Anne Garrett received a call from the Haywood Community Learning Center in Waynesville. Learning Center staff reported hearing noises that sounded like gunfire in the distance. The Learning Center went into lockdown, notified law enforcement and notified the superintendent.

An "agvocate" is someone who advocates for agriculture. I didn't grow up on a farm,  perhaps like some of you. I had been caught up in myths and inaccuracies, some romantic and some just negative, about farming. This was thanks in part to clever marketing by brands, watching fearmongering documentaries, and reading books and articles that perpetuated either romantic or needlessly negative and inaccurate views about agriculture.

To the Editor:

Obviously, the GOP has won control of government for a brief while. The use of such language as “Obamacare has been a disaster from the beginning, and Americans can no longer sustain the crushing weight of its failures” just makes you look worse than you need to. Many people have benefited tremendously from Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), so it's too bad the GOP has an entrenched dogma that won't let them work to improve it. Let's try and move beyond haranguing and do what's best for the country. 

Having said that, we will continue to broadcast the Trump Organization's most egregious lies and gaffes, as well as his general lack of knowledge, skills, and abilities, given that he provides them in video format for us all to enjoy.

The Trump Organization's allegations of voter fraud should be investigated. They should not be allowed to make those allegations unchallenged, for it has a chilling effect on our democracy. Maybe that's their intent?

Bil Aylor

Swain County

To the Editor:

Everyone wants to feel safe. We want to protect our lives, our property and our jobs. When we see a threat to our safety, we react. Politicians know this and have used it to get elected since Roman times. Donald Trump has said immigrants are a threat, they are criminals, they steal our welfare and take our jobs. I promise you I will send them all home and build a great wall to keep them out, and America will be great again. This works on a gut level, no proof needed, “Everyone” knows it’s true.  

But of course it is not true. What follows are facts. If you don't believe in facts just skip to the last paragraph. “With few exceptions, immigrants are less crime prone than natives or have no effect on crime rates.” This is the conclusion of the Cato Institute, which was founded by Charles Koch — the same Charles Koch that liberals love to hate. You don’t need a think tank to know that this is true. If you are here illegally the last thing you want is any contact with any authorities.

Undocumented immigrants do not qualify for welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, and most other public benefits. These programs require proof of legal immigration status. They do send their children to school, they do use the emergency room, and access other local services, so there is a cost to the taxpayer. 

But they also pay lots of taxes; in 2010 they paid over $10.6 billion in state and local taxes. They are also paying over $15 billion a year in Social Security taxes with no intention of ever collecting any benefits. In fact, without that $15 billion a year Social Security would already be facing a shortfall to cover existing payouts.

My parents used to run motels, and their biggest problem was always finding women to clean the rooms every morning. If you grow vegetables, run a packing plant, need apples pickers, or kitchen help, most of the people willing to do this kind of work are here illegally. Why? Because they will work for less.

If you got laid off from your dry wall job because some Mexican will do it for less, whose fault is that? They are taking advantage of a system we created. As long as business want cheap labor and we want cheap apples, there will be a demand for undocumented labors who can be exploited.

Threatening to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants and build a beautiful wall will not solve any of these problems. In fact it will drive these workers deeper underground. That will inevitably increase crime and social unrest. It appears that Donald Trump does not really want to solve this problem, he is happy to let the big lie fester and keep his base happy.

Louis Vitale

Franklin

To the Editor:

People do not appear to understand how important it is that Obamacare be repealed with no replacement. Here is how it works. 

As a senior I live on Social Security with no raises for several years because 94 million people are not working enough, that is half time or not at all. That means the tax receipts are down and less money for government to spend.

When these working age people get a job, then money from payroll taxes will begin to refill federal and state coffers. But that will not happen because small businesses, the backbone of all business, will not hire due to this confiscatory and unreliable health care provisions.

So, people are still not working and small businesses are still not hiring. Elders still do not have an adequate income. School systems do not have enough working resources, newspapers reduce the number of pages because ads are off, and we who depend on vacationers are looking at empty motel rooms, and on and on.

Therefore, entirely eliminate all Obamacare and the 18,000 IRS brownshirts hired to enforce it and give the country a chance to go back to work, and junior can get out of his parents’ basement.

After total repeal they can start with a clean slate and figure out about the people who were unlucky enough to subscribe to Obamacare. They can always have a voucher for Medicare in the interim.

Sure, I’d like to see America great again, but for now let’s just get our mountain people back to work.

Cornelia Cree

Waynesville

To the Editor:

As a constituent of Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, I am disappointed that he did not use this congressional recess to hold a town hall meeting in his district. Instead, he visited a company in Fletcher that builds ultra-light pedal electric trikes and read stories to preschoolers. These activities are not inherently bad, but if he has the time to do these things, why can’t he find the time to hold a town hall? It’s true that he was interviewed by WHKP 1450 AM, but that does not qualify as a town hall. He has Facebook posts but neither does that qualify as a town hall.  

As a member of the House Freedom Caucus, a group that has spearheaded the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), it seems like he would want to discuss his repeal plan with us, because the repeal of the ACA affects many of his constituents directly and indirectly. We want to know what kind of health insurance we’re going to have next year. Will it cover preexisting conditions? Allow children to stay on their parents’ insurance plan till age 26? Cover prescription medications, and provide subsidies to make it more affordable? These questions deserve answers. I want to know if my mom, a cancer survivor, will still be covered and if she will receive subsidies to help pay for her premiums. He should meet with his constituents to answer questions like these.  

Last Tuesday I was among a group of around 100 of his constituents who visited his office in Waynesville to demand he hold a town hall meeting. His aide made us fill out papers with our concerns. Mr. Meadows’ constituents simply want an opportunity to air their concerns. That is how democracy is supposed to work.  

Nilofer Couture

Cullowhee

To the Editor:

Once there was once a busy, thriving community nestled in beautiful mountains that surrounded the town on all sides. Residents and tourists had the luxury of waking up each day to the majestic sight of the sun coming up over the mountains and the unspoiled beauty of their surroundings. Hikers came into town for meals and lodging and to participate in many celebrations. Tourists by the thousands came to enjoy the peace and tranquility this area had to offer.

What happened to cause this beautiful little town to die? 

The end started when the federal government lifted the restrictions on oil well drilling, fracking, forest cutting and pipeline use in and around the national parks. 

Lumber companies began cutting down trees at an alarming rate, stripping the mountains of their green beauty. The once pristine landscape was now dominated by ugly oil rigs as oil companies cleared thousands of acres for drilling. Fracking companies dug huge holes in the ground to catch their toxic waste water, the seepage from which eventually poisoned the town's water system. Companies were allowed to run gas and oil pipelines through the mountains where ever they saw an easy path and the entire area was shrouded in thick brown smog.

The mountains were now nothing more than bare ugly rocks, without trees or wildlife and only oil wells and pipelines as the view. The tourists stopped coming, for there was no beauty to see. Without the tourists the town's income fell to almost nothing, downtown businesses went bankrupt, stores closed and jobs disappeared. The end came very quickly for this small town and most of the residents had to move away to seek jobs elsewhere.

The little community is now one of those ghost towns that cause people passing through to ask, “what happened to this town?”

Do you think this is just a fantasy story or fairy tale? Well, you couldn't be more wrong.

Congress is now proposing legislation which could allow companies to do all those things in our national parks and the EPA is slashing environmental protections. If this happens, our beautiful little mountain towns could end up just like the town in the story.

Call your congressional representatives and demand that they not pass bills that would permit any of this in our national parks. These mountains are our home, our income and the future for our children; don't let them be destroyed. Call now and demand that they be saved.

Bob Schroeder

Franklin

To the Editor:

North Carolina state Sen. Jim Davis, Franklin, in a recent newspaper interview indicated he opposes the repeal of our state's notorious Bathroom Bill since he would never sacrifice our privacy.

I had thought that the rationale behind this law was the oppression and demeaning of transgender persons, so I was very glad to learn that Sen. Davis’ main concern is the privacy issue.

I'm glad because there is a simple, sure-fire, two-step method for ensuring privacy in public restrooms that does not require any government interference:

• If the bathroom has a stall, go into the stall, close the door and latch it.

• If there is no stall, lock the door to the bathroom.

Privacy ensured. Problem solved. And, almost certainly, Sen. Davis’ support for a full and unconditional repeal secured.

Bill Spencer

Cullowhee

Over the next few months, prescribed burns will be conducted on all four of North Carolina’s national forests.

A total of $201,000 has been awarded to 35 farm businesses in Western North Carolina as part of this year’s WNC Agricultural Options grant cycle.

Drought is creeping back into the area, with the number of counties designated as experiencing severe drought growing from four on Feb. 14 to 11 on Feb. 21, the most recent map available.

Of 4,000 U.S. bike shops, Motion Makers Bicycles and Bryson City Bicycles were selected as two of the 253 listed as America’s Best Bike Shops by the National Bicycle Dealers Association in 2016.

Work is underway to demolish some buildings and restore others in the Elkmont Historic District of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with some trail closures planned as a result.

 Tickets are now on sale for the Great American Solar Eclipse in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, available on a first-come, first-served basis for $30 apiece.

The Haywood County Arts Council has elected three new members to its Board of Directors. The new members, who will serve three-year terms, are Stephen Curry, Scott Parmele and Clara Schulte.

The Competition Teams of Triple Threat Performing Arts Academy in Sylva traveled to Asheville recently to compete in the regional event for Inspire Dance Competition.

Swain Specialty Clinic, the longstanding group of specialty physician practices at Swain Community Hospital, has expanded to a new space in the medical office building on the hospital campus on Hospital Hill.

Consolidated Metco, Inc., a designer and manufacturer of commercial vehicle truck components, will close its Bryson City plant by February 2018.

Question: My doctor advised me to get less sodium because of high blood pressure. I really like canned soups but they all seem like they are full of sodium. How can I reduce the sodium in soup or canned vegetables?

To the Editor:

It is interesting that the U.S. is so outraged over Mexican illegal immigration when Mexico was actually first to bear the brunt of illegal immigration on this border. 

If you are familiar with history you may remember Sam Houston and his followers “immigrating” to Texas, Mexican land at that time. Mexico, unable to curb this unwanted occupation, established a law making it illegal. Ignoring the law, Sam Houston and his allies persisted and began the campaign to annex Mexico to the U.S. 

Mexico, overwhelmed and frustrated by these actions, eventually agreed to annexation. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo established the new U.S. and Mexico border. When marking boundaries, the U.S. took advantage of Mexico and moved boundaries to positions more favorable to the U.S. 

Annexation put the rights of now former Mexican citizens and their lands into question. We promised to deal fairly and honor their property rights, if documents proving they really owned the land were produced. Sometimes deeds did not exist because the land had been family owned for many generations. The U.S. appropriated much of this property. Ironic isn’t it? 

More is to be learned if we choose to examine this subject more carefully.

Judy Stockinger

Franklin

To the Editor:

In these days of political bickering, I believe that words we use must be precise in order to convey the true meaning of what is being said. As I have stated before, “alternative facts” do not exist. If the facts cannot be empirically proven, then they are either unfounded rumor or outright lies. Therefore I believe it necessary to find a definition of “trump.”

The Oxford Dictionary of the English Language (Claredon Press, Oxford, UK, 1934 edition) has two listings for “ trump.” The first deals with the card game of Whist in which the suit of cards that is “trump” ranks above the other suits in the game. Of course, the “trump” suit changes with each hand of cards and is not permanent. Any particular “trump” suit has only temporary precedence over the others. 

The second listing for “trump” is defined as the “Trumpet blast, as in the last trumpet heralding the end of the world.” This comes from the old French word trompe, meaning a trumpet or horn. This one fits a little better in that it seems to describe how President Trump likes to blow his own horn.

I believe that the next listing on the page is actually more apropos to this discussion though. The word is “trumpery.” The word is defined as “worthless finery, unsound reasoning, things of no real value, tawdry and worthless, fallacious.” This comes from the old French word tromperie, which means deceit. 

We, the American public, are obviously being told untruths by our current president, though he and his supporters refer to these as “alternative facts.” As stated above, I do not believe that “alternative facts” exist. They are either misconceptions or falsehoods. In any case the “trumpery” that we are getting from this administration meets the definition of “… unsound reasoning, things of no real value, tawdry and worthless…” and, above all, “fallacious.” We deserve the facts. We deserve the truth.

Luther Jones

Sylva

To the Editor:

We have made much progress in our long-term protections of air, water and the environment since President Richard Nixon signed the Environmental Protection Agency into law in 1970. 

I was a young adult in the 1970s. One of the big problems then was the depletion of the ozone layer. This layer, above the earth’s atmosphere, was being thinned by chemicals, including CFCs used in refrigerators and aerosol cans, including hairspray. Another problem was acid rain, which includes any type of precipitation that forms and contains toxic chemicals, mainly from the burning of fossil fuels, and is very toxic to plants and wildlife.

 I remember there was a dispute over Tennessee acid rain blowing over into the North Carolina mountains and harming our trees and plants. If you remember the haze or smog atmosphere that often hung over the Western North Carolina mountains, blocking out the long-distance view, then you remember acid rain.  

I also remember mercury in fish, not being able to swim in or fish in contaminated beaches, lakes and ponds, the Great Lakes being so depleted of oxygen that they were called dead lakes and could not sustain life, pesticides such as DDT that nearly wiped out our American Bald Eagle, and large oil and chemical spills, leaking drums of toxic byproducts around waterways and in landfills, smoke stacks spewing noxious smog into the air and many other problems caused by an unregulated system with no oversight.  

Therefore, I was very concerned over President Trumps gutting the EPA with an executive order, blocking implementation of grants to states to help with environmental issues such as the coal ash dump by Duke Energy and putting forth an appointee to head the EPA, Scott Pruitt, who as attorney general of Oklahoma, is in several lawsuits against the EPA in his state and has proposed to do away with the agency.

We have made such progress in following EPA’s standards that we have forgotten, or maybe you have never experienced, what it was like before. Let’s all reflect on what we may be giving up without the environmental protections we now enjoy before we return to the “blighted landscape” that we are still struggling to overcome.

PJ Coulter

Waynesville

To the Editor:

The right to clean air and clean water seems to have become a partisan issue in our country over the course of the past few years. Why the weather is a political rallying point I do not know. We sing “This land is your land, this land is my land” expecting it to be so because of what we consider to be our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In Washington, D.C., many bills have been sponsored recently making it hard to keep up.

One bill looming on the horizon now concerning our environment is the plan to dismantle the EPA. Others that have been signed allow coal debris to once again be dumped in our waterways along with abolishing regulations concerning the release of methane gas (a greenhouse gas) into our air. 

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, just voted yea on a bill that “would put the oversight of public lands into the hands of the state,” which may sound pretty good at first glance. However, concerns over fracking, the wildfires and the destruction caused by hurricanes to our state might make us want to slow down and think about that.

Public outcry over the recent proposal by the government to sell off 3.3 million acres of public land stopped it in its tracks. We can make a difference.

The air quality in our mountains has suffered in years past because of winds that bring in air from other states. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddles the border between us and Tennessee. If we as a state adhere to standards we set but our neighbors set their standards lower, what happens when the prevailing winds bring their pollution to us. Do we build a wall?

You would think Americans — given their history — would find it to be their patriotic duty to protect and maintain this land that our forefathers fought so hard to make habitable. Those who grew up in this area who love to hike and hunt with both camera and gun should feel secure that the country itself wants to maintain and protect this haven for both the locals and visitors alike. Our mountains and state are a treasure as are so many other places in our nation.

Pamela Haddock

Sylva  

To the Editor:

Democrats might well consider that you can’t justify your actions based on the idea that, “we are only doing what the Republicans did.” The Republicans were absolutely wrong in refusing to hold hearings and confirm President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. He was qualified, and no one could point to anything that disqualified him. 

It appears this is the same for President Trump’s nominee. Attend the hearings, and unless something in his past disqualifies him, confirm him. The fact he is conservative is not a disqualification any more than one’s being a liberal disqualifies him or her.

Republicans, on the other hand, might well consider abandoning the philosophy of “might makes right.” Neither your party nor anyone else has a monopoly on good ideas. The best ideas come from gathering facts and seeking other views. An open mind produces better ideas than a closed one, and opposite views can disclose weaknesses in anyone’s ideas. Just because one has the power to do what they want doesn’t make what they do right. Otherwise, we would seek a dictatorship and not democracy.

Remember it was a child who stated the obvious, “The Emperor has no clothes,” when everyone else ignored the obvious. Both parties put forth periodic bad ideas. Speak up, act like you can think, show some courage, and don't hide behind the cloak of the party.

Finally, examples of bad ideas from both sides of the aisle are easily illustrated. Our poor and lower class is expanding. That is bad for the country. Many Democratic Party government social programs have not achieved what they set out to accomplish. So don’t just throw more money at them. 

For Republicans, the poor haven’t chosen their lot. Poor people aren’t lazy, they need assistance — the question becomes what will “assist” (not rescue) them the most. As Lyndon Johnson once said, “You can’t chain a man for 100 years, and then lead him to the starting line of a race expecting him to compete with everyone else.”

Every snowflake in an avalanche pleads not guilty. I need to change the two square feet I occupy, both in thought and action. I need to remember I can make a difference.

Steven E. Philo

Franklin

To the Editor:

For the last decade, I have questioned my party allegiance, as well as the allegiance of others to their party. Though I have always voted Democrat, many issues and candidates have tested that loyalty. However, despite these differences, I have found the Democrats to be closer to issues that are most compassionate and, though I am not religious, most Christian.

It all comes down to this, doesn’t it? Most of us repeatedly vote for one party, despite the candidates, because that party has come to stand for issues we value. My major issues are:

• Money in politics — Though there has always been money in politics, the Supreme Court ruling equating corporations to people unleashed the lobbyists to turn many of our politicians into millionaires.

• Social issues — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the best public education possible for all children, along with programs that attempt to eliminate poverty and inequity. 

• An end to war and the many negatives that enable it. One of those negatives is that many young men and women, largely our enlisted fighting force, enter the military solely because their education has limited their possibilities.

So write down three issues that repeatedly make you vote Republican or Democrat; and if you had to argue them, could you defend them, as I must, with actual evidence? We should all look forward to that peaceful discussion.

Ruth Ballard

Hayesville

To the Editor:

The article ”Unfair collection practices in tax collector’s office?” (Feb. 25 edition) wisely includes a question mark because the article has not a shred of evidence pointing to malfeasance by elected tax collector Mike Matthews’ alleged bias to benefit Republican activists.  

What The Smoky Mountain News wrote is a hit piece; the verbs make this clear as in paragraph 3,”  Hanson ‘seems to be catching a break’” (no proof) and near the end “delinquent accounts ‘don’t appear’ to have been properly pursued.”

The article is missing the following information: How many total delinquent accounts are there, how much money is involved, what is the average length of delay, and of what party are these delinquents, unaffiliated, or independent, not just Republican and Democrat officeholders. What fines were collected from these accounts? How many years delay are there in other accounts?

 Nor does the journalist cite any reasons for delinquency. Tax law recognizes problems for businesses such as the present unseasonably warm weather affecting Maggie Valley’s ski venues, hospital bills, accidents, divorces and expense for aged parents. In 2009, economists predicted that Appalachia would not recover from the Great Recession until 2015, surely an important factor. 

An important reason voters elect a tax collector is to prevent political people forcing an employee to go after a citizen through taxes. If Matthews has done the opposite, that is favor one party’s representatives, there is no verification. Sadly we have become so inured to fake news we no long recognize it. It has been going on for years. 

This article should be called an editorial and titled: “We don’t like the tax collector and here’s why.” Now there’s an honest headline that’s real news.

Ted Carr    

Bethel

A human-caused fire estimated at 132 acres is burning in the Shining Rock Wilderness Area about 20 miles south of Waynesville. It is within the Pisgah Ranger District of the Pisgah National Forest in the headwaters of Crawford Creek.