Admin
To the Editor:
An article in a local paper on July 5 states that the Macon County Airport Authority met that week to get an update on the widening of runways to allow for use by larger aircraft. The news that the widening is on the way is shocking as the people who will again be most impacted, those living in Iotla Valley, had no information whatever that it was even being planned. With the county having property records and all the information means available, it is obvious that neighbors were not informed because the power brokers know they can move ahead with their schemes without the bother of hearing from people who might object and whose voices will not be listened to anyway.
The Authority chairman takes pride that representatives from Harrah’s Casino had flown in the previous week and were happy they could fly into Franklin instead of Asheville. The comparison is ludicrous, as the Franklin airport cannot ever reach the traffic the Asheville airport has because Asheville is much more centrally located, its airport already has large carrier flights, and its location on a flat plain is conducive to further growth which Franklin’s airport — being hemmed in by mountains — precludes.
It is also mentioned that people staying at Old Edwards Inn were pleased flying into Franklin. The widening will allow larger jets to fly in and more flights to come in daily. So gamblers for the casino and some wealthy folks will reap the benefits while the neighbors bear the brunt of more pollution, more noise, more traffic on our curvy roads, and the eventual irreplaceable loss of our beautiful valley.
Much is made of the economic windfall the airport presently brings to our county with the untested promise being that more airport growth will result, of course, in more jobs, more business opportunities, and economic ripples to benefit all Maconians. I would like to know how many local people were and will be hired by W. K. Dickson, the engineering firm that did the runway extension and now will do the expansion. With all the rosy predictions, are the jobs going to be created by turning N.C. 28 into another fast-food lane and by widening and straightening Airport and Iotla Church roads and all other access roads into our community? It is frighteningly sad that this may be the nightmarish vision that airport and county officials have for Iotla Valley.
Living in a democracy should mean that people, especially common citizens, have a say on their destinies. How can we influence what happens to our lives when decisions are made without notice by a powerful few? Trying to be heard by government these days is a futile and demeaning pursuit as those of us who protested against the runway extension painfully know. That is why citizens don’t attend meetings, that is why we are called apathetic, that is why we are silent now.
Last question: is the widening going to take the runways closer to Iotla Valley School?
Olga F. Pader
Iotla
To the Editor:
I absolutely object to the conclusions in your article about Jake brakes in last week’s edition of The Smoky Mountain News (www.smokymountainnews.com/news/item/11190).
Jake brakes are an absolute necessity for trucks. It prevents the regular brakes from “fading,” which is the overheating of the brakes. This renders them useless and leaves the truck with no working brakes at all. It is absolutely not a matter of maintenance costs.
But I agree on one thing — trucks need to be equipped with a working exhaust system. That will keep the noise down and also will make the Jake brake more efficient.
Any truck manufacturer or truck owner can tell you this. Jake brakes are a safety measure. Wait for the first casualty, heaven forbid it will be a fatality. Without Jake breaks, a truck going downhill is like an out of control roller coaster.
Gino Deneef
Franklin
To the Editor:
The Republicans in Raleigh have approved their “tax reform” and budget, and we will suffer for both.
According to Senate Minority Whip Josh Stein, the GOP “tax reform” cuts $500 million in revenue while their budget cuts $500 million from public education over the next several years. Sixty-five percent of the tax cuts go to the wealthiest 1 percent, while 90 percent of the cuts go to the wealthiest 5 percent. In other words, the Republican priorities are to take a half billion dollars away from public education and give it to the wealthiest and to out-of-state corporations.
If we don’t have a well-educated populace, businesses aren’t going to be all that interested in moving here. The Republicans are destroying public education by allowing private schools to take money and some of the best students away from public schools, leaving less money to teach students who need the most resources.
You cannot expect one adult alone to teach 20-something 5- to 7-year-old children. The Republicans’ $110 million reduction in teacher assistants is unconscionable. As for teacher salaries, we have been taking pay cuts through inflation. In addition, North Carolina has lost 5,000 teachers, and the GOP budget has locked in the money so we can’t hire more even though the population is rising.
As for our own Republican Sen. Jim Davis from Franklin, he wants to keep the salary increase for teachers with advanced degrees. He said, “They started in good faith. It’s unfair to change the rules in midstream.” Bravo. How about applying that same logic to so-called teacher tenure? He voted to get rid of that, so that in the future teachers can be fired for no given reason. Soon teachers can be let go not just because of poor performance (they always could), but maybe they don’t like a teacher’s views or politics, skin color, religious choice, any or no reason. That’s un-American.
Republicans are raising the copay on Medicaid to the maximum allowable under federal law; they are restricting women’s reproductive choices; they are taking away local governments’ control and giving it to themselves; and they are even taking away Asheville’s entire water system and aquifer and not giving them a dime for it. The Republicans’ idea of freedom sounds more like a police state.
Things have gotten so desperate that I, as a father, a husband, a homeowner, a taxpayer and responsible American chose to protest this injustice with the only moral and legal option left: peaceful civil disobedience in Raleigh. If we don’t stand up, who will?
The Republicans are proud of “scaling back state government” (cutting public services), but they are doing it on the backs of our children, our poor, our middle class, and our future.
Urge our politicians to allocate some of the $250 million “Rainy Day Fund” to keep our teacher assistants and to reinstate teachers’ civil rights for job security fairness.
Join us at Mountain Moral Monday in Asheville Pack Square at 5 p.m. this Monday on Aug. 5.
Dan Kowal
Franklin
The Haywood Chamber of Commerce Women in Business group will host “Your Performance On Stage … Flourish, Engage, Inspire” from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Aug. 8 at the Gateway Club with Susan Belcher, the wife of Western Carolina University’s chancellor.
Belcher’s performing career spans opera, music, theatre and stage directing. Her extraordinary talents have been displayed on stages across the U.S. Belcher trained at the Chicago Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, where she debuted in the role of angel Zephon in the world premiere of Pendereski’s Paradise Lost. Her musical and straight theatre performances have allowed her to be levitated by magician David Copperfield and romanced by actor John Goodman.
Cost is $25 for Chamber Members and $30 for non-members. Registration required.
828.456.3021 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or www.haywoodchamber.com.
Keller Williams Realty of Waynesville is holding its annual children’s clothes swap next weekend. Drop off new or gently used clothing at its Waynesville office, 2562 Dellwood Road, through Friday, Aug. 9.
Then on Aug. 10 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., parents can stop by the office to pick out items for the upcoming school year. No charge and no donation requirement. School supply donations are being accepted as well. More than 100 Haywood County school children benefited from last year’s event.
828.926.5155 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
•••
Waynesville Rotary Club Foundation is looking for donors to sponsor its backpack program, which it created in partnership with Manna Foodbank to provide hundreds of needy kids with food.
The program, which runs during the school year, provides each child in need with a package of food to take home every Friday to help make it through the weekend. The foundation also collected enough money to give 107 children a bag of nutritious food every week this summer.
To support one child for an entire year, people can donate $128, though donations of any amount are accepted. All donations to Help Haywood’s Hungry Kids are tax-deductable, and checks can be made out to the Waynesville Rotary Foundation, P.O. Box 988, Waynesville, N.C. 28786.
www.MANNAFoodbank.org or 828.299.FOOD.
•••
Altrusa and Haywood Rotary members will be outside Walmart in Waynesville accepting donations of new school supplies from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3.
Requested items include single subject notebooks, backpacks for all ages, three ring notebooks, folders with pockets, pencils, black pens, red pens, round tip scissors, highlighters, colored pencils and erasers.
www.waynesvillealtrusa.org.
•••
People can drop off gently used or new school appropriate clothes for ages Kindergarten through high school at Clothes To Kids of Haywood County at 177 Weldon Way in Lake Junaluska. If no one is there, just leave in bags on table under covered porch.
828.456.8990.
By Michael Beadle
Miss Daisy Werthan is an elderly Jewish widow who has gotten too old to drive herself, so she’ll have to hire a driver. In 1950’s Atlanta, that meant a white woman being driven by a black man. Initially, Miss Daisy refuses, but Hoke, the driver, puts her mind at ease, and the two develop a trusting friendship.
By Michael Beadle
With the blaze of leaf season in full swing, inspiration is all around — especially for local artists.
By Chris Cooper
If you can imagine an even more ticked-off Phil Anselmo fronting a hybrid of COC and Black Sabbath, you’ll have an idea of where mountain metal outfit Southern Cross is coming from.
Sports
I’m sorry, I am an unabashed sports fan. Not one of those people who paints themselves in their team’s colors, or whose happiness or existence depends on the outcome of a particular game.
The Cherokee Preservation Foundation has awarded a $500,000 grant to the Travel and Promotion program of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) to sustain an award-winning, multi-year marketing campaign to attract visitors interested in exploring the Cherokee culture to Cherokee and its three principal cultural attractions.
Voters who got excited at early reports that Congresman Charles Taylor and challenger Heath Shuler had agreed to a debate may have jumped the gun.
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer
In the race for the 119th District seat, candidates Marge Carpenter and Rep. Phil Haire have staked out vastly different issues as key campaign points.
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer
In some elections an incumbent candidate may face a political newcomer, like the congressional race between Rep. Charles Taylor, R-Brevard, and Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville.
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer
• Mark Jones, 47, a Democrat, has been the general manager of High Hampton Inn since 1997. He began working there in 1987 as a bellman. He is divorced. He graduated from Western Carolina University with a degree in land planning.
Several groups compile score cards for state legislators based on their voting record. Queen and Presnell were both ranked by these groups during their respective years in the state Senate.
Gibbs Knotts, a political science professor at Western Carolina University, took time to address the gay marriage issue and how it might affect the upcoming election between Rep. Charles Taylor, R-Brevard, and challenger Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville.
Taylor: My position is, and has always been, that marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman.
Resource managers and plant specialists with the Blue Ridge Parkway are calling on neighboring landowners to help rein in the destructive growth of exotic plants. They’re inviting the public to comment on a proposed Exotic Plant Management Plan that is open for public input through Oct. 31.
1. What specific legislation or policies are at the top of your list?
1. What specific legislation or policies are at the top of your list?
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer
Editor’s note: The names of domestic violence victims Linda and Anne, who were interviewed for this story, have been changed.
The afternoon Linda decided to leave her fiancé, she waited until he was asleep, put a slip of paper with the phone number of the Haywood County Reach Shelter in her pocket along with her cell phone, and walked out the back door very quietly.
This past weekend’s sudden drop in overnight temperatures into the high 20s (26 degrees and 28 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively, at our place near Bryson City) was unprecedented in our experience. That is, during the 33 years my wife, Elizabeth, and I have resided in Western North Carolina, we have never known temperatures to drop from the low 40s into the high 20s without at least a few nights in the 30s in between.
By Mark Jaben
I always marvel at people that tell me they haven’t been to a doctor in 25 years. Not engaging the health care system is a great strategy if you can get by with it. But then, they are seeing me, so what does that say.
By Chris Cooper
The stellar songwriting talents of Jim Lauderdale have been tapped by a “who’s who” of country music and bluegrass stars — anyone from George Strait to the Dixie Chicks, blues grandfather John Mayall to newer country upstarts like Shelby Lynne.
Growing up in the suburbs of Detroit, Jim Stoltz first learned to appreciate nature on family camping trips.
By Michael Beadle
The marathon can be such a fickle race.
As much as you prepare for it, a lot can go wrong in those 26.2 miles. Missing a water station. Getting a blister. Maybe there’s a sudden downpour of rain or it’s an abnormally hot day. So much running and preparation builds into a matter of hours. And then disaster strikes.
Editors note: Bill and Sharon Van Horn with the Nantahala Hiking Club in Franklin recently attended a conference in West Virginia that focused on connecting children with nature. Bill Van Horn provides this dispatch on what he learned from the conference.
Democratic congressional candidate Heath Shuler’s decision to back away from a debate with Rep. Charles Taylor sent shockwaves through the mountains this past weekend. Politicos, however, say Shuler’s decision is hardly surprising given his lead in the polls, but we feel strongly it was a poor choice to deny voters the opportunity to hear both candidates debate the issues from the same stage.
A Tall One
Earlier this month North Carolina won five medals at the 2006 Great American Beer Festival Competition —
Heath Shuler: America is truly facing a health care crisis. Over 46 million Americans are currently living without health insurance — 27 million of those are working Americans whose employers do not offer insurance.
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer
If you or someone you know is thinking about leaving an abusive relationship, there are some things that are good to know.
By Michael Beadle
Shafts of sun pierce through a misty forest. A thick river of fog rolls through ancient mountains. Plump sparrows perch on a bare branch thin as tin foil.
By Chris Cooper
“Timeless” is one of those words tossed around a lot in reference to music. Everybody wants to write a song that’s “timeless,” right? A tune that sounds just as good today as it will 20 or 30 years down the line, regardless of changes in what’s thought of as “cool” — that’s the goal, correct?
Book By Book
Michael Dirda, a reviewer for The Washington Post Book World and winner of a Pulitzer Prize for criticism, gives readers a treat in this small volume of meditations on life and literature.
The Bridge Park Project is a community effort to create a covered performance pavilion, market space, public gardens, and improved parking at the municipal parking lot in downtown Sylva, between Mill Street and Scotts Creek.
Most of us in the course of a week find a reason to go to downtown Sylva. We may go out to eat, or to the library, post office or bank, or perhaps just shop. There’s plenty of pleasure — and necessity — to be found downtown for residents of the area. As a real, working, genuine town, Sylva functions very well.
Some voters in Swain County consider the North Shore Road a litmus test for candidates in the county commissioners race and base their decision accordingly. The Swain County Board voted 4 to 1 four years ago in favor of a $52 million cash settlement in lieu of the road.
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer
The race for District Attorney is garnering what some may say is an unusual amount of attention, considering that whomever is elected is someone that most of the general public hopes never to have any dealings with.
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer
The candidates for the District 119 House race describe themselves as polar opposites.
Charles Taylor: The federal government should live up to its 60-year-old commitment to Swain County residents and complete the North Shore Road.
The North Shore Road is proposed to go through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park from Bryson City to Tennessee along the north shore of Lake Fontana. The area was not always backcountry, however. It was once home to mining and logging towns and farming communities until the construction of Lake Fontana to generate hydropower for the World War II effort.
The lake flooded some communities and isolated others by flooding the only road in and out. With a war on, the government could not afford to build a new road on higher ground. So more than 200 families living in the suddenly isolated region were forced to evacuate. The land was ceded to the park service.
At the time, the government promised to rebuild the road. It signed a legal contract pledging to do so, but hasn’t yet. Families who sacrificed their homes for the war effort believe the government should uphold its promise.
What is the cash settlement?
A group of Swain County residents fed up with the long-standing debate developed an idea several years ago for the federal government to pay a cash settlement in lieu of building the road.
Their premise: like it or not, the road will never be built. Congress will never appropriate and the funds, and even if it did, lawsuits by environmental groups would stop it from happening anyway. So they began lobbying for a cash settlement of $52 million for Swain County, an idea that has gained wide popularity.
The $52 million price for a cash settlement is the accumulated interest on the cost of the road. At the time the road was flooded in 1943, the county owed $694,000 for its construction. Even though the road was flooded, the county spent another 30 years paying off the debt on the worthless road. The cash settlement would compensate the county for the loss of the road.
Over the last two decades, the number of drug-affected infants has been growing. It is estimated that as many as one in 10 babies born in this country has suffered some degree of drug exposure. Due to the short time mothers spent in the hospital after giving birth, many of the infant’s symptoms are less likely to be recognized
— From the state Guardian Ad Litem Web site
When the 30th Judicial District Guardian Ad Litem program holds a workshop this week addressing the issues of substance abuse and social risk factors in infants, chances are good that too few professionals will show up. That’s a shame, because abuse of unborn children remains a major problem in this country, one that gets too little attention.
By Mark Jaben
In the 1970s, a book written about a doctor’s internship experience, The House of God, reached near cult status for its reasonably accurate — if not cynical — portrayal of one intern’s experience surviving medical training.
By Michael Beadle
There are still dark corners in this world yet to be explored.
1. What specific legislation or policies are at the top of your list?
Jobs, to make sure we have infrastructure in place to bring new jobs into our communities.
2. What are three of the most pressing issues facing the people of your district, and how can the state legislature deal with them?
Jobs, as stated above. Second, to draw up legislation dealing with meth lab cleanup, and strengthen laws on meth labs. Three, to take the medicaid burden off the local government.
3. Should the legislature help seniors with property taxes by adjusting the homestead exemption on their homes?
Yes.
4. What is your position on lobbyist and campaign reform?
I voted for lobbyist reform and sponsored a bill to tighten more campaign reform. We can prohibit lobbyists from soliciting campaign contributions.
5. Do you support more extensive state action to help with farmland preservation? If so, what specific measures should be enacted?
.Yes, We could give tax breaks to keep small farms and large acreage in the hands of the farmer. And we can amend the NC Constitution to protect private property from being taken for economic development.
6. What is the most pressing educational need in the state?
We should use national tests to evaluate students performance and remove violent and disrespectful students from classrooms and empower teachers to deal with problem students and strengthen vocational education.
7. What can the state afford to do to help counties with increasing Medicaid costs?
Increase the availability and affordability of healthcare and healthcare insurance.
8. When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A small businessman.
9. What is your favorite television show?
The O’Reilly Factor
10. Describe your philosophy of government in 100 words.
I realize that the people are the government. We as Legislators are there to be a voice for the people and to serve them. We need to prioritize spending, eliminate waste, and make government more efficient be requiring a zero based budget. And by establishing a taxpayer protection act for North Carolinians. and ending the raids from the highway trust fund. By lowering taxes and making sure North Carolinians keep more of their money to invest and do business.
What specific legislation or policies are at the top of your list?
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer
Macon County’s three Democratic commissioners are facing a challenge from three Republican contenders in a race that could potentially swing the board’s majority rule.
By Lee Shelton
As the Nov. 7 election date approaches, the “Good Governance Legion” is, again, “banging their noise makers” in Haywood County.
