To the Editor:

Donald Trump’s only redeeming value may be that he is the shock to the system the U.S. needs to force some serious self-reflection. We have been living the American Dream for so long we forgot what it is to be awake to what is really going on in our society, especially in the sordid political arena and in the imbalance of wealth accumulation. We Americans need to take stock of the values we want to live by and act accordingly. 

The notion of justice, fairness and compassion for all has been dashed by the craven greed which now fuels our society. Current overblown military budgets came about because we lost track of what our real strengths were: a strong economy, assimilation of immigrants, a desire to live up to the cornerstone of the formation of our nation, liberty and justice for all. 

Blind ambition for wealth and the twisted idea that military strength protects us from foreign influence — along with our overblown national ego — have perverted the character of the nation such that our founding fathers would be shocked at what we have done to our country. Nosce te ipsum, America.

John Barry

Franklin

Bob Savelson • Guest columnist

Thinking about Labor Day, it has been a national holiday since 1894. Consistent with the nation’s ambivalent feelings about whether organized labor should truly be part of its social fabric, the statute was signed by President Grover Cleveland — who earlier that year had dispatched federal troops to break a strike called to support Pullman car employees protesting wage cuts. 

Until further notice, public access to U.S. Forest Service lands in the Nantahala Gorge is closed due to hazards created by recent landslides into the Nantahala River.

The main access roads into Cataloochee and Cades Cove will be closed for several months this winter due to road construction projects. 

This autumn should yield vibrant fall colors in the mountains, according to Western Carolina University’s fall color forecaster Beverly Collins. 

The Western Carolina University Board of Trustees elected a slate of officers for 2019-20 and made appointments to several committees, including a new group that will study the possibility of future beer and wine sales at WCU athletics facilities.

How many times a week are you able to sit down together as a family or with friends and enjoy a meal around the table?

A Georgia man was pronounced dead in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Thursday, Aug. 22, following a cardiac event. 

A Haywood Community College student recently took fourth in a national timbersports competition held in Wisconsin. 

To the Editor:

It has been a long time sense I have written to an Editor, but the opinion in a recent issue issue regarding gun control needs to be addressed.

The writer used some very good examples to support his argument; however, every solution he offered has been tried in the past without satisfactory results. In 1997 England, Canada, Australia and New Zealand implemented almost everything suggested, and the violent crime rate in the United Kingdom has soared by 77 percent since 2007. Their violent crime rate went to 2,034 per 100,000 compared to the USA violent crime rate of 466 per 100,000. These facts can be verified at gunsinamerica.com.

If examining and licensing gun owners and registering guns would work, then wouldn’t vehicle drivers stop violating traffic laws? Every driver and every vehicle is registered, but people still run red lights and drive over the speed limit. How can this be? All have been properly registered, tested and educated, but for some reason laws are violated. Why would anyone think the same procedures would stop mis-use of guns? 

If these proposed law changes would fix the problem, then Chicago would be one of the safest cities in the nation because almost every proposal made is in place in Illinois and/or Chicago. In Illinois to buy a gun or ammunition, you must have a state-issued gun owners identification card that has your picture on it and identifies you as a responsible honest law-abiding person and to acquire these cards you must go through an extensive background check. In Illinois they call it a “good guy card.” In Chicago you have to have a police-issued permit to have a gun and the gun must be registered with the police. This also requires a background check. 

In Chicago a few weeks ago there were 40 people shot and nine killed in one weekend. Nothing was said about this in the mass news media. The amazing thing is that criminals do not obey laws. Imagine that! How do these gang-bangers in Chicago even get ammunition? I guarantee they do not have “good guy cards.” Many of them are too young to even legally buy guns. If gun laws do not work and have been proven almost daily not to work, then why do people continue to suggest we make more of the same laws? To do the same thing over and over and expect different results every time is the definition of insanity.

The so-called gun violence is not a gun problem. We have a people problem. A people problem that most people do not want to fix. The reason is that it will require us to change. We will have to make changes in the way we raise our children, educate our children and the way we treat one another. To make these changes it will probably take at least a generation to completely fix. We must bring the Supreme Being back into our homes, lives and schools. We must return to the Golden Rule and treat others as we would want to be treated. 

There was a survey recently made on several college campuses and the results that came out of this survey was that a significant number of the students thought that it was OK to use violence to shut up people that were expressing views that they did not agree with. Look at the number of cases in the past few years where conservative speakers were not allowed to speak on college and university campuses that they were invited to speak at, where the students rioted and destroyed public and private property because they did not want anyone to hear the speakers. 

I believe that it is time that we really take a long hard look at what has happened to society during the last few decades. When I was in school, many years ago, I made a stock for my shotgun in art class. Now the children cannot even carry a nail clipper to school. The change was us. We have become the problem. We are the only ones that can fix the problem and it will not — or should not — require any lawmakers to get involved. Stopping violence, whether by guns, verbal, physical or riots, is something we must do. We are the ones that are responsible and we are the ones that must change.

Donald Kimmel

Waynesville

To the Editor:

The only constant left in this country is our laws. We are only a great people if we abide by what our founders created a few hundred years ago. The current administration is perpetuating constant discourse and fueling divisiveness with racist tweets and rallies. Everyday we are bombarded with rants from the conspirator in charge of our country and interests. He has no shame or love for anyone other than Trump Inc. He has split families from their children and they sit in cages still, he insults anyone he pleases — including our allies — but loves the murderous dictators and respects them. Even before he launched his campaign he spread racist views and lies about others for his own gain.  

Now the threat to our democracy is further eroded by the mass killings targeting people of color. Congratulations Mr. President! You are truly inspirational to so few, but those few apparently listen and agree with your twisted ideology and love their guns and Bible. So here we go, America down the rabbit hole. Laws? No good if no one enforces them. Mitch McConnell is useless and refuses to do his job but he remains in control. He turns a blind eye to the fraud sitting in the Oval Office, he sheds no tears for the people lying dead in our streets. The only power the rest of us have left is our vote. Let’s hope that it’s secure.  

Mylan Sessions

Waynesville 

To the Editor:

The most recent despicable, senseless and tragic “mass shootings” (California, Texas and Ohio) and “mass stabbings” (California) are, once again, going to cause our society to look for answers as to why such events occur. They occur because we, as a society, have allowed irresponsible personal conduct to become the “norm.” There is very little accountability for anyone’s actions until a tragic event occurs. Early warning signs of inappropriate behavior are ignored because we don’t want to “upset” anyone.

They occur because of the degradation of personal and social values that allow some individuals to think they are more important than the other members of our society; and when they feel “wronged” that  they have the “right” to punish anyone , any time for their perceived plight.

They occur because of the violence in movies, TV shows, digital games,  “comic” books and the videos on the internet. These forms of “entertainment” include the unfettered use of handguns, rifles, knives/machetes. futuristic “ray guns” and any other device one could imagine, to do harm to the characters in those media. There seems to be a “hardening” to the sense of the “player” concerning the appropriateness of indiscriminately inflicting harm on others.

They occur because we have a societal problem, one that will not be easily solved and certainly won’t be solved by some “legislative action” (another  law). No one wants to hear this, but we will continue to have these mass shootings/stabbings until our societal values change for the better.

In the 1950s one could go to a Sears, JC Penney, or other such stores and walk out with as many guns as you could afford to purchase. There were no epidemics of mass shootings/stabbings during that time. We had different societal values then. 

I have urged our state’s congressional members to make sensible, meaningful decisions about the inevitable new (but will be mostly ineffective) laws that will probably be passed in order to show that something is being done by the  politicians to address our issues. Knee-jerk, emotion-based, politically-motivated new laws will not solve our problem.  

One area that would positively effect our mass shooting/stabbing situation is to greatly increase the funding for mental health services. We need a means for responsible people, i.e. the “village”, to identify those that exhibit destructive behavior, while retaining “due process” under the law.

I encourage everyone to contact your congressional members to inform them of your position on this matter. 

Tom Rodgers

Cullowhee

To the Editor:

Trump’s been talking about reducing payroll taxes. Beware everyone! Don’t fall for his shell game. Payroll taxes are the Social Security and Medicare taxes! This is just another ploy to justify eliminating these benefits. Tell your representatives that you are not falling for it. 

Penny Wallace 

Waynesville

A severe deluge dropped 3.5 inches of rain in the Nantahala Gorge in Swain County on Saturday and triggered slides that covered the road in four locations within a half-mile stretch on the western side of the gorge and spread debris from the mountainside into the river at three locations.

This past summer, Andrew Allen had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get clinical experience at one of the state’s top teaching hospitals — Vidant Medical in Greenville. 

More than 150 leaders from Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties in North Carolina gathered Aug. 16 in Bryson CIty for the 7 County Western North Carolina Community Summit to discuss strategies about how to collectively create better cooperation in their efforts to encourage lifelong recovery for those suffering from substance use abuse and dependence.

Do you have a favorite local food item? Here are just a few of the local food products you can find at your Ingles Market. Look for the local foods sections at your Ingles Market!

BRYSON CITY – N.C. Department of Transportation crews are working around the clock on U.S. 19/74 until the highway is open through the Nantahala Gorge. 

BRYSON CITY – A heavy rainstorm Saturday evening and four subsequent mudslides have closed U.S. 19/74 in the Nantahala Gorge through the night, and traffic is being detoured around the area.

My wife likes to use stevia for baking as well as cold and hot tea but I can’t stand the taste – it tastes bitter to me, almost like licorice! What’s going on?

An inmate at the Haywood County Detention Center, Zachary Nathaniel Lambright, 20, was pronounced deceased at Haywood Regional Medical Center on Monday, Aug. 19, at 3:02 p.m. following an apparent suicide in his assigned cell in the Haywood County Detention Center.

To the Editor:

All of us are heartbroken with the recent reports of mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton. Texas of all places! The state where we are told everyone would be safer if they had a gun. I’d be shocked if most shoppers in the El Paso Walmart weren’t packin’! Where was the in-store response to the shooting? It failed, along with the bogus notion that more guns means a safer community. Actually, the opposite is true.

To the Editor:

As a nurse practitioner who treats opioid addiction, I am appreciative of The Smoky Mountain News’ coverage of the opioid crisis. Our community benefits from increased visibility of the opioid crisis. Increased visibility leads to decreased stigmatization of addiction as well as increased empathy for those suffering from it, which, in turn, increases access to care. 

To the Editor:

Regularly, for four years, both the Mountaineer and The Smoky Mountain News have published articles lambasting the Shining Rock Classical Academy’s records and activities.

To the Editor:

Lindsay Graham had it right. In 2015, he described Donald Trump as “a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.” Merriam-Webster defines bigot as: a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices. That definition clearly encompasses racism and perfectly describes Mr. Trump.

Fifteen high school students from across the region who are members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians had an opportunity to experience college life first-hand as the second annual Judaculla Camp was held June 17-21 at Western Carolina University.

According to Medicalassistantadvice.com, Haywood Community College’s Medical Assisting program has been ranked number 10 in North Carolina for the year 2019. 

Lake Junaluska residents Pat and Don Rankin are the 2019 recipients of the Chief Junaluska Award, an honor bestowed annually during Associates Weekend at Lake Junaluska.

The N.C. Justice Center posthumously bestowed a Champion of Justice Award on former board member and community advocate Jane Hipps for her lifetime of service to her community and the state of North Carolina.

A man died in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park last week following a cardiac event near the Greenbrier Ranger Station Aug. 9. 

The Cradle of Forestry in America Interpretive Association has a new executive director in Natalie Britt.

Widening work will begin on Interstate 26 in Buncombe County this fall, a project that will include replacing the Blue Ridge Parkway bridge over I-26, bridges over the French Broad River and two other bridges.

The column that appeared in this space last week, “Death, violence and too many guns,” was not written by John Beckman, as indicated. Beckman, a Cullowhee resident who has written many columns for SMN over the years, forwarded the column to SMN from a blog he follows. We assumed he had written in, and it was timely, so we published it. Our apologies to the original author and to Beckman, who says it has felt good this week to have received many complimentary emails from those who have mistaken him for a gifted writer who does very good research.

To the Editor:

On a visit to Bryson City this past weekend, I picked up the most recent copy of your weekly. What a wonderful surprise and enjoyable read! As a former journalist and long-term professional writer, I was so pleased to see that true journalism is alive and thriving in Western North Carolina. My expectations of a local or regional publication were surpassed by your perfect blend of hard news, opinion, arts/entertainment and more. To top it off, the writing was excellent. Well done and keep up the good work!

Hugh Findlay, freelance writer/poet

Durham

To the Editor:

I am an registered nurse, and have been for more years than I’ll admit. Understanding my HIPAA responsibilities, here is a true but masked story about a night shift in the late 1960s in the ICU of a large city hospital. One of my patients that night was a teenage girl; I even remember her name. We were doing everything we could to keep her alive, but she died — died from a tetanus infection after an illegal back alley abortion several days earlier. I was there when she died. Her family didn’t even bother to show up that night. She experienced a horrible death. As I prepared her body for transfer to the morgue, I cried. With reflection, my personal and professional beliefs and values about abortion landed softly in my heart and have remained steadfast.    

Fast forward to 2019. Abortion has been legal since 1973, several years too late for my young patient. It is settled law, says Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh (2018). Moreover, there are numerous methods of birth control, some more reliable than others. That said, some people wonder why abortion is still necessary. Why were there about 27,000 abortions performed in North Carolina last year, about 87 percent within in the first trimester (12 weeks)?

Here’s a sampling of reasons culled from personal and professional experience, as well as stories from an anonymous OB/GYN physician. I am a divorced mother with a full-time job; I can’t afford to feed the children I already have. I am in an abusive relationship and can’t leave. I went into heart failure last time. My tubes were tied; I never intended to have more kids. I’m 14 weeks along and addicted to heroin. I’m married and had an affair; I made a mistake and don’t want to lose my family. I got drunk and don’t know who the father is. I was raped. I am 13 years old. He had a vasectomy; I never thought I could get pregnant. I am 48 years old. I have breast cancer and am getting chemotherapy. I think I want children someday but I am not ready to be a mother now. My uterus ruptured during my last pregnancy. My diabetes is out of control and I not eligible for Medicaid. My baby has multiple anomalies. I have a full ride scholarship to Princeton starting next month. I am scared I will kill myself. That’s why. 

If you would never have an abortion because your religion says it’s is wrong, I respect your choice. If you believe that your fertilized ovum is already a baby, I respect your belief. If you would never have an abortion because you believe that abortion is murder, I respect your belief. If you are impregnated by a rapist and believe you have the duty to carry the pregnancy to term, I respect that too. In fact, I respect whatever choices you make and beliefs you hold about YOUR reproductive rights. I am not going to try and change your mind. I speak on behalf of the girls and women who make different choices or have different beliefs. Please show us the same respect. Respect choice. 

Elaine Slocumb

Bryson City

To the Editor:

Actually, this letter is especially to Republican and Republican-leaning unaffiliated voters. 

Editor’s note: Names have been changed to protect the identity of those interviewed for this story. 

Five miles down an Appalachian dirt road 45 minutes from nowhere is where Daphne Laurel was raised, right in the heart of the sparsely populated mountainous region hit hardest by the ongoing opioid crisis. 

Following a national search, Dogwood Health Trust, a private, non-operating foundation whose sole purpose is to improve the health and well-being of all people and communities of Western North Carolina, has selected philanthropic and health equity leader Antony Chiang as Dogwood’s initial chief executive officer.

I unwrapped my ground beef and it was red on the outside but gray/slightly brown on the inside! What’s going on?

By John Beckman • Guest Columnist

It is time that we honestly faced up to the basic issues concerning gun violence. For too long people on both sides have skirted around the core of the issue with worn out platitudes, specious arguments, and canned sound-bite justifications. 

The latest shootings in El Paso and Dayton raised our unbelievable tally of mass shootings to 251 in the last 216 days. They are commonplace in the U.S.; a daily occurrence.

To the Editor:

Mr. Patrick Gleason, we agree with part of your guest column that appeared in The Smoky Mountain News two weeks ago (www.smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/27352). There is no such thing as free money. Everything comes at a cost, our tax dollars do not come free, they come right out of our pockets, and they aren’t to be wasted by this legislature. That is why I will not stop working to expand Medicaid in North Carolina until we get it done. We should all be sick and tired of the waste of our federal tax dollars that we endure every single year that we refuse to expand Medicaid. 

North Carolinians pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, and we pay our federal taxes! Our Legislature is just refusing to let $5 billion of those tax dollars come back home. 

Every single year, North Carolina pays more than $2.5 billion in federal taxes for Medicaid expansion. That’s over $5 billion in this two-year budget. For nearly a decade, we have been paying, year after year, for Medicaid expansion. All of it wasted. 

When you take away the spin, the real question is, do we want to pay for our own healthcare or do we want to ship our tax dollars off, out of state, never to be seen again? 

Do we want to waste $5 billion for absolutely nothing in return, or do we want to see 500,000 of our neighbors gain healthcare coverage, 6,000 – 8,000 in Haywood, Jackson, and Swain?

Do we want to waste $5 billion for nothing, or do we want to lower every North Carolinian’s insurance premiums by an average of 7 percent by closing the coverage gap and stopping the cost shifting? 

Do we want to waste $5 billion for nothing, or do we want to create over 40,000 new healthcare jobs in North Carolina, more than 400 in Haywood, Jackson, and Swain?

Do we want to waste $5 billion for nothing, or do we want to take the single most important step we can to fight the opioid crisis and save thousands of lives every single year, 20 to 30 in Haywood, Jackson, and Swain?

It’s high time we start taking our federal taxes and the lives of hard-working North Carolinians seriously. It’s time to expand Medicaid in North Carolina. 

Rep. Joe Sam Queen

Waynesville

To the Editor:

I recently heard someone refer to Western North Carolina as a political backwater, populated with paranoid conspiracy theorists. I disagree. I have talked to many well-informed local people who are capable of critical, independent thinking. But I also hear from many good, intelligent, hard-working people who do not have the time to properly educate themselves on local and national political issues. Between working endless hours to earn enough money to raise a family, seeing to church responsibilities, and just trying to stay healthy, these folks just do not have the time to pay much attention to the real issues facing this community and nation. 

Now, I try to see the good intentions in the endeavors of all people. I assume that our political leaders are working in the best interest of the people they represent. Just like you and I would. I assume that the vast majority of the people working the local, state, and federal governments are good honest people, professionals who take pride in their work. Just like you and me. Politics is something they mostly think about during election season, but they are otherwise just heads down working just like you and me.

So why have some started to look for the evil in the ranks of these hardworking fellow citizens? Conspiracy theories that malign the professionals in organizations such as the FBI, the DOJ, the CIA, the NSA and others fly in the face of common sense. These are hard-working and dedicated people doing the best they can at their work. Just like you and me. These fellow citizens have been toiling tirelessly and diligently for decades defending America ideals. Why would large swaths of these Americans suddenly decide to subvert our Democracy after decades protecting our country from outside attacks and internal subversion? Consider the concept that thousands of government workers sabotaging their own organizations. Where are the voices of the tens of thousands of fellow workers, who would be calling out this alleged widespread corruption? Like you and I would. 

We as a nation have many serious challenges. Drug addition, millions without healthcare, a refugee system bursting at the seams, persistent poverty especially in Appalachia and our inner cities, stagnant wages. Western North Carolina shares all these problems with the rest of our country. Can we please stop conjuring up visions of secret cabals of fellow Americans subverting the good work we expect from our government employees and focus on the real problems facing our country.

John Barry

Franklin

To the Editor:

I just received the July 24 issue of The Smoky Mountain News, which gave the immunization records of Haywood County Schools. The paper reported 4.8 percent of Haywood kindergarten students had not received their immunizations. It is below Buncombe (9.9 percent) and statewide (5.9 percent). Medically, this is a tragic neglect of these children who must suffer the risk of disease which we can prevent.

Of interest, these figures follow closely the performance of the children in the classroom. The lowest percent of unvaccinated children are at Bethel, Junaluska and Riverbend Elementary Schools which are our highest performing schools. The highest percent of unvaccinated children are in Shining Rock Classical Academy (11.4 percent) and Haywood Christian Academy (11.1 percent).

Doris B. Hammett, MD

Waynesville 

After spending four nights lost in the backcountry of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, searchers found 58-year-old Kevin Mark Lynch alert and responsive on Wednesday, July 31. 

Extremely heavy rainfall in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park caused rockslides, downed trees, flash flooding and a fatality on Thursday, Aug. 1. 

A group of Girl Scouts recently completed 80 hours of service in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as part of a program offered through collaboration by the Student Conservation Association and Girl Scouts of America. 

Fontana Regional Library is stepping out of the stacks to bring “Libraries on Tap: Brewing Scavenger Hunt” to Jackson, Macon and Swain counties. “Libraries on Tap” is a collaboration between Fontana Regional Library and local breweries.

The Cherokee Indian Police Department, Swain County Sheriff’s Office, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Indian Affairs arranged the purchase of one kilogram of methamphetamine through Walter Paul Linn.