Friends of the Smokies’ 23rd annual telethon Aug. 23 raised $208,321 in donations to support the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, bringing the total raised since the first telethon in 1995 to more than $3.7 million.

Volunteers are needed to help with efforts to overhaul the Rainbow Falls Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. every Wednesday.

By JoAnna Swanson • Guest Columnist

There are all kinds of signs — signs of the times; signs of the future (omens); traffic signs; stop signs and, of course, the ubiquitous election signs!

To the Editor:

I’m writing in response to a letter by Tom Enterline in the Aug. 30-Sept. 5 issue. He cited two examples in his argument that liberals, not President Trump, are the great dividers of the country. He started with the Confederate memorabilia issue, and then jumped to the bathroom gender question.

Regarding the Confederate monument controversy, he makes several claims that are not true, chiefly that “[t]wo months ago, 99.99 percent of all Americans did not give a single thought to statues or plaques honoring Confederate soldiers.” In 2011 the Pew Research Poll (national) showed a 30 percent negative reaction to the Confederate flag’s display and a 9 percent positive reaction; among blacks, the negative reaction was 41 percent.

A Pew follow-up poll in 2015 found these results virtually unchanged. A YouGov poll in 2013 recorded a 38 percent disapproval and 44 percent considered it a symbol of racism. In a national survey in 2015, 57 percent considered the flag a symbol of Southern pride (the same as in a prior poll in 2000); in the South only, 75 percent of whites polled confirmed it as the symbol of Southern pride, whereas 75 percent of blacks polled saw it plainly racist.

Thus it was clearly controversial before 2017. The tipping point that started the present flood of controversy occurred when, in 2015, Dylan Roof murdered the worshippers in South Carolina while espousing the Confederacy’s racist value. The issue has been as hot as his gun barrel ever since as more and more Southern governors and legislatures have moved to remove public symbols of the confederacy. People, both blacks and whites, have been giving thought to Confederate imagery for almost 150 years, though for most whites it might well have been tacitly approved of. Why not? Whites had all the power.

A second claim is also false: that the riots in Charlottesville yielded a large number of now vocal KKK and Nazi followers who had been “mute” until then. Exactly 100 years before Dylann’s rampage, the second Ku Klux Klan had been founded in Stone Mountain, Georgia, famous for its carvings of four Confederate luminaries. The Klan was the chief enforcer of the Jim Crow era. As reported in 2013 by CBS, between 1927 and 2013 the Klan had murdered 3,446 blacks. The Klan was never “mute” or “nearly nonexistant.” Anyone with access to the internet can confirm this with a little effort. David Duke is a classic example of an out-front KKK member

Mr. Enterline also claimed that in North Carolina, “[a]lmost no one cared if someone whose wires are crossed in regards to their gender used the boys bathroom or the girls bathroom.” Leaving aside hundreds of incidents of bullying of transgender children in school bathrooms, I’ll present a few facts. In 2013, in Colorado, the state school board’s Civil Rights Division approved a transgender girl’s right to use the girls bathroom. This was the first official ruling concerning the question. In 2014, the debate had advanced, and the federal Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights research showed that 51 percent approved use according to the user’s gender identity, with 41 percent opposed. In that poll, 67 percent of younger participants approved.

Finally, in the YouGov poll of 2017, 40 percent approved and 40 percent disapproved. The Supreme Court has recently vacated a lower court’s ruling that granted a transgender boy’s right, essentially leaving it up to the president and the Congress to deal with. Trump’s position is the reverse of Obama’s, which granted the right.

I believe it is always better in argumentation to establish some clear benchmarks. True, statistics and polls don’t guarantee “truth,” but they do establish reasonable benchmarks. Without them people can use words in loose ways and transformation a reasoned discussion or debate into an emotion-driven diatribe. Then no one wins and everyone loses. These and other such civil rights issues are way too big for that.

Ricks Carson

Franklin and Atlanta

To the Editor:

I was glad to read intelligent responses with a different opinion than that of a recent letter whose writer stated that English language proficiency should be a prerequisite for entry into the U.S.

I am sure there are many others who share my history of grandparents emigrating to the U.S. in the early 20th century. My paternal grandparents who came to this country as legal immigrants around 1918 did not speak English; in fact, they were illiterate. They bought a farm, raised 10 children, all of them bilingual. Half of their children — without the benefit of completing elementary school because their help was needed on the farm — went on to own small businesses.

Haven’t we heard enough of this ethnocentric and selfish attitude of fearing cultures different from your own and valuing people only for what they can do for you?

Judy Stockinger

Franklin

Don’t let the quaintness fool you — the small town of Bryson City has plenty of challenges and opportunities facing it as it tries to maintain its rich Appalachian identify while also dealing with the growing pains tourism has brought in the last several years.

The fire review process included a thorough analysis of all communications and decisions made from the time the fire began on Nov. 23, 2016, to the time it left the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at 6 p.m. Nov. 28. According to the review team, here’s how it unfolded.

With so many charities working to assist in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, many Western North Carolina residents are curious about the best way to help.

An acclaimed pianist who has performed around the world and who teaches that musical artists must be entrepreneurs and good communicators as well as skilled technicians is the new director of Western Carolina University’s School of Music.

As members of Western Carolina University’s bass fishing club team — the Bass Cats — were in route to assist in the Hurricane Harvey devastation along the Gulf Coast, the rain pelted down on the windshield and the radio kept issuing reports of people who needed to be rescued.

Equipped with four pickup trucks and four boats to provide rescue and emergency support, a dozen members of the team left campus the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 29. They arrived in Lake Charles, Louisiana, around 3 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Aug. 30, unloading medical supplies, canned food and water before leaving for Orange, Texas.

“We’ve already gotten at least 20 folks to safety, probably more,” said Jason Ashe of Sylva, team member and relief effort organizer, in the dawn hours of Thursday, Aug. 31. “You don’t stop to count, you just get it done, then move to the next call.”

The task ahead of the college students was daunting, but they launched their bass boat near Lake Charles, Louisiana, and made their way into the flooded areas to save those who couldn’t save themselves. The Bass Cats described the scene on their Facebook page as more devastating than any news network could ever portray.

Once there, they were met with an immediate demand for services. Jefferson County, Texas, Sheriff Zena Stephens told multiple news outlets that the entire area was in dire need of a large number of water rescues because of massive flooding and limited response resources.

“My very first call was for an evacuation of a 90-year-old woman who was immobile,” said Jacob Boyd of Canton, team president. “Along with Colby Shope (of Canton) and Zach Tallent (of Franklin), we got her out of the flooded house and loaded her, in her wheelchair, then took her to shallower water where her son was waiting with a pickup truck. She said the water just rose overnight. She woke up with water filling the house, leaving her stranded.”

The WCU fishing team, founded in the spring of 2013, competes in a variety of fishing tournaments and series. For the relief efforts, instead of rods, reels and tackle boxes, they left campus with first-aid kits, locally donated bottled water, containers with gasoline, hygiene items, life vests, Bibles and clothes.

The team witnessed the personal toll the storm has taken on residents of the region. “It’s such a sad situation,” Ashe said. “You’re boating down what used to be a street, with cars and homes submerged below you, and you think about the people who have worked hard to build a life and lost everything.”

Working alongside other rescue units such as the volunteer Cajun Navy, local EMS, and sheriff and fire departments, Boyd said he saw another impact of the flood. “This is dangerous work and you see the stress, fatigue and anxiety that comes from that and being overworked. There’s so much tragedy all around. I’m so glad we’ve been able to be a part of rescues and a happier side of things.”

The team was set to return Monday, Sept. 4, but heading home Sept. 1 after local agencies gained control of the situations in that area.

“We are happy to say that we all remained safe, minus some minor bumps, bruises, and exhaustion,” the team reported on Facebook. “This has been one of the most, if not the most humbling experience any of us have ever been a part of. We did not come to Texas seeking publicity, but it has expanded to something beyond what any of us could have imagined. The amount of support we have garnered throughout this journey has been incredible, and we thank you all so much for your thoughts, prayers, and donations.”

Members of the Bass Cats in addition to Ashe, Boyd, Shope and Tallent are Jack Crumpton, Clint Bartlett, Tyler Watts, Will Crumpton, Parker Jessup, Josh Cannon and Austin Garren.

A Go Fund Me page has been created to help defray team expenses and pay for relief supplies. To donate, go to www.gofundme.com/basscats-travel-expensesbasscats-travel-expenses.

An increase in bear encounters in Panthertown and along the Appalachian Trail through the Nantahala National Forest has resulted in a strong recommendation that backcountry campers use bear-proof containers for all food and scented items.

A group of 13 emergency responders made a 15-mile hike this month to place new wayfinding signs at trail intersections in the Shining Rock area of the Pisgah National Forest.

A 50-75-foot fall from Moore Cove Falls in the Pisgah National Forest left a man dead Wednesday, Aug. 23. According to witnesses, Kim Quang Le, 24, of Virginia, was attempting to climb up the side of the falls and across the top when he fell. He had been visiting the area with four friends.

To the Editor:

It is very disappointing that a clear and unequivocal condemnation of the KKK, American Nazis and the companion white supremacist movements — truly the focal point of events in Charlottesville — is not the starting point of every conversation on the monuments issues.

The monuments issues are deserving of public discourse, but this conversation must be based on a 100 percent explicit universal rejection of these odious movements. Their adherents and supporters must understand that there is absolutely no place anywhere in the American political dialogue for their beliefs. On this, there are no two sides. This is about who we are morally as a people.

Building on this foundation, we can have a respectful public discussion on the monuments issues. Our political and community leaders at every level should be just that — leaders —with the courage to offer and discuss ideas leading to dialogue and solutions, not just slogans, and with the ability to listen carefully to views articulated within the broad mainstream of who we are as a people.

We have the same duties as citizens. Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, has stepped forward with proposals for North Carolina that deserve serious consideration. They include providing our N.C. communities with the ability to conduct their own dialogue and make their own decisions.

Within the broad mainstream, we will not succeed by trying to shout each other down, verbally or in print. Likewise, we will not succeed with language equating each other with Hitler’s Nazis, Mao’s Red Guard, Soviet Leninists and ISIS terrorists, comparisons that are especially offensive to millions who were genuinely persecuted or worse by these regimes. Not incidentally, those personally offended also include many among us who lost family members along the way. We will not succeed by charging each other with trying to change history. When it comes to addressing and solving problems, we can do better than that.

The American artist Norman Rockwell made a wonderful contribution to American life by picturing who we are as a people. His illustrations are especially timely now and perhaps it would serve all of us well to look at them now.

Bob Savelson

Cashiers and Washington, D.C.

To the Editor:

Let’s all agree on one fact: had the South won the war slavery would have persisted in the Southern states and likely would have been accepted by some of the newly formed territories and states in the Midwest.

We can likely all agree on a second fact: in 1859, there was a United States of America and it was a democracy, at least for white men, that had been in existence for more than 60 years and whose leaders had been elected by voters. When a group of states got its feelings hurt because they didn’t have the votes to control this or that agenda, including slavery, they attacked the U. S. government and that led to hundreds of thousands of people dieing and untold economic losses. That is known as domestic terrorism.

Jefferson Davis was not elected by Southern voters until seven months after the war had started. He won with 97 percent of the vote as there was no opposition. Very democratic.

Like most wars, the upper class lured the working classes into battle by creating false grievances when the reality was the rich were trying to protect their social standing and wealth. And much of that wealth was built on the backs of humans who had been ripped from their families in Africa, chained in boats often owned by wealthy northerners and were imprisoned in labor camps called plantations as well as a few local farms.

I am one who believes that memorials erected on government property that attempt to shed glory on that war, most of which were erected at a time when black people and women had no meaningful say in our government, should be removed.

Should they be destroyed? No. If the Sons of Confederate Soldiers or even the despicable KKK want to put up or shut up, buy the monuments, buy your own land and display the history for anyone who chooses to see it or even donate them to a public civil war museum.

But it is a travesty, viewed daily by millions of black Americans, for any democratically elected body from our town and county governments on up to have such memorials on property that is owned by all of us. Please also remember that in 1940 when the memorial was placed in front of they Haywood County Courthouse, that courthouse contained a balcony in its courtroom that black people, and others “of color,” had to sit in so that white people didn’t have to mingle with them while doing the court’s business. Enough is enough.

Bob Clark

Waynesville

To the Editor:

I read your article about the monuments. Well-written, but I think you’re missing the point. This current political issue is not about the Confederacy or slavery, it’s about widening the divide between us. Liberals, and in particular the liberal media, seek to create issues where there are none so they can confront and then shove their own politics down the throats of their neighbors.

Two months ago, 99.99-percent of all Americans did not give a single thought to statues or plaques honoring Confederate soldiers. It was not an issue. Some liberal, most likely white, sitting on some council in Charlottesville decided that he or she needed to straighten some things out.

Great idea! What did it yield? KKK and Nazis who had been mute and nearly nonexistent are suddenly in the papers, on the TV and all over the internet. Violent “anti” fascists are put forth as the good guys. The two groups of boneheads meet, conflict erupts, a young girl is killed, families are scarred and the country is more divided than ever. Do you think we should give the Charlottesville City Council an “atta boy” for this?   

The bathroom issue in North Carolina was the same thing. Almost no one cared if someone whose wires are crossed in regards to their gender used the boy’s bathroom or the girl’s bathroom. Some liberal in Charlotte did and they needed to straighten the rest of us out.

Great idea! What did it yield? The state lost tens of millions of dollars, businesses would not locate here, bathrooms across the country are a mess and third-grade boys in California schools are being helped by their teachers to make the transition to become girls. Nice job Charlotte, “Atta boy” … or girl, or whatever!

Media jobs attract liberals. Liberals like to straighten the rest of us out, they love to tend to someone else’s business. Just ask them, they are convinced that they are smarter, wiser and kinder than anyone who does not agree with them.

Liberals are unified. Like the lemmings they all run in the same direction no matter where that path is heading. Most have no clue or care as to what that path will yield. They believe that they are righteous and that is all that matters.

Old friend, you called our president of six months the great divider. You may wish to look in the mirror on that one. After all, when it comes down to it you and your newspaper just tow the party line.

Let’s get together and ride some motorcycles. Maybe a road trip to Mt. Rushmore. I’d like to see it before the lemmings jackhammer Washington and Jefferson off the side of the mountain.

Tom Enterline

Boone

To the Editor:

The ugly fight between Blue Cross and Mission Hospital has no winners. Thousands of Western North Carolina residents stand to get hurt. It appears the parties are unable to even have a civil conversation.

So my question is why aren’t our elected officials — Rep. Michelle Presnell, R-Burnsville, Rep. Mike Clampbitt, R-Bryson City, Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, and U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, doing something to ensure health care access for their constituents and protecting hundreds of health care jobs?

They have voted to push Medicaid in North Carolina into a for-profit corporate structure, refused to expand Medicaid, and on the part of Rep. Meadows supported a proposed federal budget that would cut up to $700 billion from Medicaid, which will badly hurt nursing homes residents, the 40 percent of North Carolina children on Medicaid, and disabled citizens.

So at least get involved in helping BCBSNC and Mission resolve their conflict. Do something positive for a change!

Stephen Wall MD

Waynesville

To the Editor:

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, does a disservice to all Americans, but particularly to legal immigrants, by fanning the flames of xenophobia with unsubstantiated claims of terrorists crossing our southern border. He cites one case. I’m not buying it. I’m much more concerned about our own home-grown terrorists (think Charlottesville).

He proposes spending the massive amount of $15 billion to build an unnecessary wall, plus infrastructure, along the border while much-needed repairs to failing infrastructure nationwide go without funding. I strongly object to directing money toward this project when it could be used elsewhere in ways that would truly benefit our country (water supplies and safety, highways and bridges, healthcare facilities, education, etc.).

Is this an effort to placate supporters or could it possibly be an effort to redirect attention from healthcare? His last effort to do that was holding his only town hall meeting in a small town at the far edge of his district, but the auditorium was packed anyway. That didn’t work; I don’t think this effort will work either. The demand for affordable health care is not going to go away, but I hope the misdirected efforts toward building a wall disappear as more and more people understand the true costs and the consequences.

Joanne Strop

Waynesville

To the Editor:

I am growing increasingly weary of hearing and reading the far right’s use of disparaging terms to describe those who possess liberal thinking.

What is wrong with a spirit of generosity and compassion toward those less fortunate than you or of different cultures, i.e., “bleeding-heart liberal”? Is it better to be hard-hearted or have a heart of stone?

What is wrong with considering the feelings and dignity of others by being “politically correct”? Would you insult and deride those different than you or deprive them of their civil rights?

When did education and critical thinking become a bad thing as in the “cultural elite.” Wouldn’t you rather have a president and lawmakers who are smarter than you?

I, for one, wear these labels proudly even though this divisive language is apparently meant to insult and demean. Like all name-calling, use of this verbiage serves to objectify and dehumanize those at which is directed. Once you do that it is easier to deprive them of respect and their basic human rights. Isn’t it time to stop this bullying and try to see the common ground between us instead of the constant undermining of this process by hateful epithets?

Judy Stockinger

Franklin

After the North Carolina General Assembly’s recent passage of the so-called “brunch bill,” municipal governments in Haywood County have been slow to adopt local ordinances allowing for the sale and service of fortified and unfortified wines, malt beverages and mixed drinks in restaurants, hotels, private clubs, convention centers and community theaters beginning at 10 a.m. Sundays, but that could all change Tuesday, Sept. 12.

The Waynesville Police Department responded to the report of a child abduction from Frazier Street Thursday afternoon.

Dear Leah: I need some snack ideas for my classroom that are dairy-free and shelf stable. — Back to School Teacher

To the Editor:

In response to Editor Scott McLeod’s column about public prayers (www.smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/20540), secular society would like nothing better than for Christians to be quiet about their faith in Jesus Christ. It’s OK if we do it silently or in the privacy of our own homes, just not in the public square. Many early Christians lost their lives because of this and are still dying today on the mission field.

The Pharisees told Jesus in Luke 19:40 to ask his disciples to stop teaching and preaching in his name. Jesus said “If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Christians, let’s not make the stones have to cry out because of our silence.

Judy Kirkpatrick

Iron Duff

To the Editor:

Can we please stop referring to access to health care insurance as “access to health care” and health care insurers as “health care providers”?

Health care insurers are “middlemen” taking a cut of your health care dollars and betting against us needing many health care services. Removing the middleman means that our health care dollars will go to doctors and other actual providers of health care instead of to insurance premiums.

The current situation of insurers raising premiums and dropping out of the Affordable Care Act is our wake-up call to get the insurance industry out of routine health care. The insurance industry says it is losing money having to pay out more claims and if the government doesn’t help consumers pay premiums they might actually go out of business. A look at insurance company investments and holdings shows they are not hurting, but profits will be diminished if they are unable to place unreasonable restrictions on what they will cover.

The insurance industry has convinced us that we are unable to have health care without their “help.” This is why a single payer system, like Medicare for all, is the best plan, removing middlemen’s profits and directing health care dollars to doctors and others who have actually earned them by providing the services.

Judy Stockinger

Franklin

To the Editor:

How many times have we heard or said “history repeats itself?” I’d say often regarding everything from politics, to family, to world events or even everyday life.

In the U.S today we are seeing the repeat of Hitler’s Nazi Germany where thugs systematically destroyed German history … books were burned, commemorative monuments were torn down and the culture was demeaned to bolster the Hitler regime. The same actions occurred in communist China during the Red Guard Cultural Revolution, during the Russian Revolution and by ISIS terrorist who are destroying much of the centuries old Middle East history.

Is that who we are? In our country the reason given for the destruction of our public monuments is that they are offensive to some in our society. These heinous acts are not committed just because someone is offended. No, it is a concentrated attempt to negate our history and replace it with the culture and ideology of radical far left progressives.

Someone is offended? There is another side to that coin … those who are offended by the idea that a group of thugs can march onto public property and knock down any statue, plaque or monument they claim is offensive. Where do these radical leftists get so emboldened to think they and they alone can make a decision of what goes or stays in the public square?

Where are our elected officials and public leaders who we expect to stand up to mob rule and to halt law breakers? Where is the community outrage that demands to say yea or nay to the fate any public display? The mobs that are executing destruction now in public places have already destroyed private property throughout the nation …. Ferguson, Berkeley, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore to name only four locations where buildings and automobiles were burned, windows and anything in their way was destroyed in general rampages by these criminals.

Law-abiding citizens must make their voices heard to elected and other public officials who in our country are in their positions to execute the will of the people who elected them and pay their salaries.

Carol Adams

Glenville

To the Editor:

There was a man who was born at Stratford Hall, Virginia, and his boyhood home was in Alexandria, Virginia. He finished second in his graduating class at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He went on to be the only man in history to be sought after to be the commanding general of both sides of opposing armies in a bloody war.

There is a mansion he lived in that is a memorial to this man that stands guard over the graves of the heroes of The United States of America in Arlington Cemetery. This man loved his country, the United States, but was also dedicated to his Southern heritage. The man was Robert E. Lee.

Will we burn down the memorial to him known as Lee-Custis Mansion where in the front yard of his home is the grave of John F. Kennedy Jr. and the eternal flame as well as the thousands of war heroes buried there?

Why do you not report this so the citizens of our country can get a brief history lesson? Will Gettysburg be next?

John Thornton (Tommy) Thomas, Jr.

Waynesville

To the Editor:

Donald Trump has vowed to build a wall between the U.S.A. and Mexico. He even claims that Mexico will pay for it. Top Mexican leaders disagree. This wall is envisioned in spite of the fact that Mexico has never attempted to manipulate any of our elections. They are good neighbors of long standing. Trump has basically blamed Mexicans for corrupting Americans with drugs and other crimes. This is a pretty good explanation for domestic problems if you are one who prefers to shift the blame for your behavior onto someone else.

On the other hand, Trump initiated discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin about working with Russia on cybersecurity. Remember, this conversation is in the midst of several investigations of Russian meddling/effecting the outcome of the 2016 election. Bear in mind as well that this reckless move by Trump was made on his first official meeting with the president of a long-term adversarial nation.

Meanwhile, on the home front Trump is making every move he can imagine to disenfranchise certain voters in America. This is despite the fact that very little domestic voter fraud has been reported by any voting precinct in America.

What is Trump’s real motive? Some say he is trying to carry out a coup and seize absolute power over America. Russian leader Nikita Kruschev boasted several years back that Russia would “Take America without firing a shot … we will bury you.” Americans laughed at that prospect then. Does anybody believe it is now possible? Congress needs to pay very close attention to Trump’s foreign relations fiascos. As Buffalo Springfield sang, “Somethin’s happenin’ here. What it is ain’t exactly clear.”

This Republican Congress has a responsibility to make matters of national security clear to the people. Have they asked Trump to brief them on his discussions with Putin? They should. They have all pledged allegiance to the United States of America. To my knowledge no one in the White House (including congressmen/women) has pledged allegiance to Russia.

Dave Waldrop

Webster

A potentially harmful algal bloom continues to grow in parts of Fontana Lake, and state officials are warning people to avoid touching it.

A 310-acre conservation easement has been established at the watershed feeding the Town of Weaverville in Buncombe County, protecting the headwaters of Reems Creek, forest habitat and scenic views from Reems Creek Valley.

There is now a new way to access the Profile Trail at Grandfather Mountain State Park in Avery County following the Aug. 11 dedication of a 0.7-mile extension of the existing trail.

Having already claimed the record for the fastest thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, Jennifer Pharr Davis, of Asheville, is now attempting to hike the 1,200-mile Mountains-to-Sea Trail with her husband Brew and their two children, ages 4 and 11 months, supporting and hiking with her along the way.

Formed in Raleigh in 1999, Chatham County Line has emerged as one of those unique branches of tone and approach in bluegrass. Whereas other popular groups may focus on lightning-fast finger pickin’ or a thunderous foot-stomp, Chatham County Line adheres more to the songwriting, ballad roots of the genre.

Throughout the 1980s, Ricky Skaggs was the toast of country music. Twelve #1 hits, eight CMA and ACM awards, a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and fronting one of the most successful touring acts around, he was a true ambassador of the genre, onstage and in the studio.

The gardens at the Historic Shelton House in Waynesville are now attracting monarch butterflies, thanks to the efforts of the dedicated volunteers who maintain the gardens.

Two Pisgah High School students will end their summer in possession of newfound natural resources-related knowledge following the Resource Conservation Workshop at N.C. State University in Raleigh, with one of them earning hundreds in scholarship dollars as well.

Western North Carolina will have two representatives on the 19-member N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission following a round of appointments by Gov. Roy Cooper.

A new state law will expand hunters’ ability to pursue their sport on Sundays.

A new science education program will soon launch in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park thanks to a $1 million Veverka Family Foundation donation to the National Parks Foundation.

Responding to Jeanne Dupois Editorial:

We read with great interest the editorial from Jeanne Dupois regarding the many challenges that Mission Health faces in serving Western North Carolina and her associated skepticism. We don’t blame her for being frustrated; we are too.

Since 1885, Mission Health has been dedicated to serving the Western North Carolina community by providing world-class healthcare for all, regardless of the ability to pay. Now, 125 years later, we continue to fulfill the values we were founded on and have a terrific record on both nation-leading performance and community benefit.

Ms. Dupois’ letter makes several comments about “profits.” It is true that Mission Health — like any organizations — requires a positive margin to survive. However, the distinction between our “profits” and a for-profit organization is what happens with those profits. In our case, they are only used for the benefit of the community and not to benefit any shareholders.

Why do we need a margin? It costs Mission Health $4.4 million per day to keep our doors open. With the uncertainty of federal and state healthcare funding, and Mission’s heavy reliance on Medicare and Medicaid for 70 percent of our patients, it is dangerous to operate otherwise. Our patients and caregivers depend on us for their healthcare and economic welfare, as do private businesses that support our employees. Economic instability at Mission Health would cause significant economic harm to all of Western North Carolina.

With respect to the billing comments, we agree that our nation’s hospital payment system is absurd. No one recognizes that more than we do. A system designed so that all hospitals lose money on Medicare and Medicaid, and that forces them to cross-subsidize via private insurers to remain viable is a really bad system. That’s particularly true for those organizations caring for more patients with governmental insurance through no fault of their own. But it’s the system we have.

Because of regulations and historical oddities, hospital billing is complex and billed charges rarely reflect the amount ever paid or collected for services. Fees must represent the total cost of operations, not just the discrete services provided to individual patients. In fact, many of the largest costs (such as nursing salaries or the costs of facilities) are not allowed to be billed at all. But common sense shows it would be impossible to operate a hospital if these costs were not reimbursed in some manner, however odd.

Billing rules established by insurance companies and governmental payers result in correspondingly “unusual charges,” such as your famous “$15 Band-Aid.” That price is not real, is not paid by anyone and has little to do with its cost; instead it represents other large costs that are “not allowed to be billed.” For example, fees must cover the cost of uncompensated care provided to patients ($70 million last year) and the costs of staff and technology required to meet the needs of any patient 24-7, 365 days per year.

Mental health care, a major crisis in North Carolina and nationally, is a prime example of our fundamentally flawed payment system. States have backed away from their responsibility for the neediest among us, and hospitals are left with the burden of finding ways to care for these individuals without reimbursement for doing so.

Finally, you may be surprised to know that Mission Health is a significant research and teaching organization, responsible for educating more than 95 physicians, 600 nurses, 70 medical students and 1,000 other clinical students every year.

So, finishing up back on our dispute with BCBSNC, we really aren’t trying to whine, but instead seeking desperately needed help. Like everyone, our costs are rising and BCBSNC has unilaterally demanded that we receive no payment increase, even while they have raised prices significantly to employers (mid-single digits, per spokesperson Lew Borman) and individuals (14.1 percent). We aren’t asking for a lot, much less than what BCBSNC has asked of employers and individuals.

Charles Ayscue,

Senior Vice President Finance and Chief Financial Officer, Mission Health

To the Editor:

In a recent spate of Confederacy hype, much has been racist and much has been misleading. However, we do need to correct our history books; and we especially need to end the senseless argument that slavery was not a cause for the civil war. Everything that preceded this terrible war was about an economy and a racist ideology based upon the buying and selling of people as property. Every opposing argument is tainted by the refusal to acknowledge the horrible conditions of slavery that flourished in our country, especially in the agrarian South.

An entire population was encouraged by a white aristocracy to promote hatred and violence, poor white against even poorer blacks (please read William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning”). More than 600,000 perished in this internal struggle, a war fought to justify slave labor or whatever name they use to deny the shame and evil of racism and inequity.

Grief and memory are reasonable expressions for the loss of so many, but giving this war another reason, another deception is wrong; and it is a slap in the face to both black and white who lost everything in this inhuman effort to make money. It was pure, unadulterated greed. Statues or memorials honoring those who died in the struggle are one thing (Andersonville is one of the most heartbreaking memorials to the soldiers who suffered); however, statues that celebrate and honor the cause of the Confederacy are a different thing.

Yes, we can find slavery in many cultures and we can find it still today throughout the world, unfortunately. However, that argument will never justify our own role in this practice. With so little reconstruction or reparations after the war, we released millions of impoverished, uneducated, devalued people to flee north to ghettos or to remain tortured and repressed among people who lynched, burned and inflicted endless other cruelties.

Like other wars of genocide, our country must end this prideful and shameful defense of a war that ripped our country apart. Yet it has been allowed to continue over the following 150-plus years via Jim Crow, vicious segregation, and a very prejudiced denial of rights that continue today. Michelle Alexander writes of the New Jim Crow that still kills and imprisons black men every day in America.

It seems an impossible task to undo the unspeakable wrongs, but I believe that until we right or at least take responsibility for this terrible legacy, we cannot end the misery, prejudice, and injustice that continue today. Let’s not forget the many who died in the Civil War, but let’s cease to celebrate the Confederacy.

Ruth Ballard

Hayesville

To the Editor:

I appreciate and agree with your well-expressed thoughts on government meetings and prayer. Thank you for taking a public stance on such a controversial issue.

Marcia Goldstein

Waynesville

A brand new Public Services Training Facility was unveiled Monday at Haywood Community College.

On Aug. 21, the day of the Great American Eclipse, 50 high-altitude weather balloon teams from across the country will launch their payloads into the air to capture live images and video from the edge of space that will go straight to NASA’s website.

More than a month has passed since Mission Health announced it would terminate its contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina on Oct. 5, leaving thousands of BCBS policyholders in Western North Carolina to pay more for out-of-network services at Mission facilities or seek care elsewhere.

The nonprofit healthcare system and the insurance giant have since been embroiled in a public relations battle that has played out through newspaper ads and social media campaigns. On one hand, Mission says it attempted for six months to negotiate with BCBS for better reimbursement rates for services but that BCBS — with its 72 percent market share — wouldn’t budge.

On the other hand, Blue Cross says Mission’s cost of services were already higher than most other hospitals in the state. Unlike other hospitals that renewed their contract with Mission, BCBS said Mission administration wasn’t willing to work “to slow down unsustainable cost increases.”

There’s plenty of finger-pointing still going on, but BCBS customers — especially those who have a BCBS plan through the federal health care exchange — will be the ones to suffer if the two entities don’t reach an agreement.

An Aug. 10 release from Mission announcing it would allow health insurance exchange BCBS policyholders to remain in-network made it seem like the two parties were beginning to iron out some details, but BCBS quickly issued its own press prelease rejecting Mission’s proposal.

Specifically, Mission Health offered to stay in-network and accept its current payment rates with no increase from BCBS for care provided to anyone covered by a policy purchased on the federal exchange since BCBS is currently the only provider offering plans on the exchange.

While employers can choose another provider to offer benefit plans to employees and seniors purchasing Medicare Advantage coverage have multiple choices available, consumers who purchased their health insurance coverage on the exchange unfortunately only have one choice.

According to a press release, Mission Health would honor current payment rates — the “forever zero” approach BCBSNC has demanded — for all persons insured through the exchange for 2018 or until such time as a new agreement is reached with BCBSNC that covers all care provided to all patients.

“We take our responsibility as Western North Carolina’s only safety net health system incredibly seriously,” said Ronald A. Paulus, MD, president and chief executive officer of Mission Health. “Our commitment goes far beyond providing nationally recognized, high quality, cost-effective healthcare to our community. We understand that those purchasing insurance on the exchange are among the most vulnerable in our region and have no alternative, so it is our responsibility to ensure that access to health insurance — a life transforming event — remains available to everyone. By accepting BCBSNC’s ‘forever zero’ approach for these individuals, we can help protect those who have exchange-based insurance, some being insured for the first ever time in their lives.”

Blue Cross NC President and CEO Brad Wilson acknowledged Mission’s attempt to partially rescind its contract termination, but rejected the offer.

“We were disappointed when Mission Health decided to unilaterally terminate those contracts last month,” he said. “With today’s proposal, Mission Health continues to turn its back on senior citizens, state and county employees, businesses and taxpayers across Western North Carolina. This is unfair to tens of thousands of other members; therefore Blue Cross NC has no choice but to reject this offer.”

Wilson said BCBS remains ready and willing to negotiate on behalf of all WNC members as soon as Mission Health fully withdraws its termination. He also pointed to a recent study — www.wallethub.com/edu/ states-with-best-health-care/23457/ — that validates North Carolina already has some of the most expensive health care in the nation, and every increase in hospital costs leads directly to even higher premiums.

“We hope that Mission Health reconsiders its decision to terminate our contracts. In the meantime, we will continue to work with Western North Carolina’s other doctors and hospitals — who share our goal of making quality, affordable health care available to as many North Carolinians as possible,” Wilson said.

The current contract between Mission Health and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina expires at midnight on Oct. 4, 2017. Negotiations must result in a new agreement by midnight on Oct. 4, 2017, for Mission Health to remain in the BCBSNC network for all consumers, including those covered by policies purchased on the exchange. This announcement effectively excludes those on the exchange from being impacted by BCBSNC’s unwillingness to even speak with us about a contract critical to Mission Health’s long run survival.

For more information from Mission, visit www.standwithmission.org.

Thursday, August 24, 3-6 p.m. Ingles Market at 1865 Hendersonville Rd.

To the Editor:    

On July 4, the President of the United States addressed the quadrennial Jamboree of the Boy Scouts of America. Unfortunately, the speaker was Donald Trump.

The first annual meeting of the National Council of the Boy Scouts was held in the East Room of the White House in February of 1911 where President Taft addressed those in attendance. Taft, as President, was named as the honorary president of the Boy Scouts of America, a tradition that has been continued to this day. It is an honorific only, and implies no political connection or political affiliation.

In 1916, the Congress granted a charter to the Boy Scouts, making it one of the very few organizations to be so  granted by that body. To be granted a congressional charter the organization must be “… patriotic, charitable, historical, or educational …” It must also be non-political. I believe that the only two other organizations with charters at that time were the American Red Cross and the American Legion.

The Boy Scouts of America are recognized as a 501 (c) (3) organization under the Internal Revenue Service code. This means that it is tax exempt. It also means that to maintain this status it must be apolitical. The Code specifically states that  “… it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates…”

Many presidents have been invited to speak at the national jamboree. Indeed, it has become traditional to invite the sitting president to do so since the 1935 Jamboree that was cancelled because of the national polio epidemic. Harry Truman addressed the Scouts in 1950 and Eisenhower did so by video in 1953 and in person in 1960. Lyndon Johnson was the speaker in 1964. Nancy Reagan filled in for her husband in 1985 as President Reagan was recovering from surgery. In 1989 it was George H. W. Bush and in 1997 Bill Clinton. George Bush Jr. sent a video in 2001 and spoke in person in 2005. President Obama addressed the group by video in 2010.

In all of these instances the message has been about the fine work that scouting is doing and the uplifting principles of scouting. Never, until now, has a presidential speaker tried to turn an assemblage of Scouts into a self-congratulatory pep rally and a bid to influence an upcoming vote in the Senate.

The actions of Mr. Trump in this circumstance were inappropriate. He brought politics to an organization that is supposed to be non-political. I realize that there is a great spectrum of political and social beliefs within those members of the scouting movement, but the strength of the organization has always been that the Scout Oath and Law is  a constant that all Scouts can agree upon, thereby promoting unity rather than divisiveness.

Scouting promotes character. President Calvin Coolidge, in his 1926 address to the BSA National Council meeting, said “Character is what a person is; it represents the aggregate of distinctive mental and moral qualities belonging to an individual … Good character means a mental  and moral fiber of high order, one which may be woven into the fabric of the community and state, going to make a great nation — great in the broadest meaning of the word”

Perhaps our current president should take a lesson from the Boy Scouts in how to “Make America Great Again.”

Luther Jones

Sylva