More than 300 competitors converged on Tsali Recreation Area earlier this month for the 14th annual Tsali Challenge Triathlon, a 3-mile lake paddle, 4.5-mile trail run and a 12-mile mountain bike trail ride.

Illegal poaching of hellbenders, a gigantic prehistoric-looking salamander, has become so problematic scientists like Dr. Michael Freake are omitting data on their whereabouts from research papers.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

It’s late at night and Georgie is standing at the door waiting for Dave to come home. Her suitcase is packed. There’s a look of disgust mixed with anguish on her face.

By Chris Cooper

I have to admit — I really don’t know much about Kinky Friedman. I mean, most of us have certainly heard the name, but beyond what seems like the sheer novelty of being a Jewish country artist and the rather non PC nature of a few song titles (“Ride ‘Em Jew Boy” comes to mind) I can’t say I’ve ever even heard a Kinky Friedman song.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

In most rural small-town communities, local theater isn’t known for being particularly racy, daring, or even very good.

By Michael Beadle

Appalachian storyteller and musician Jerry Harmon will perform at Eaglenest in Maggie Valley for one special performance at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Jackson County commission candidate Mark Jones, a Democrat, will face Republican Geoff Higginbotham this November in the only contested race for the county board.

Following the brutal shooting death of a Jackson County woman staying at a local shelter for battered women, District Attorney Mike Bonfoey met with representatives of domestic violence victim advocacy groups in the 30th Judicial District last week to discuss and implement actions enabling domestic violence shelters to improve security.

By Michael Beadle

“Where is Cold Mountain?”

Nearly a decade after Charles Frazier’s debut novel became an international success, folks still come to the area asking about the mountain that has become as much of a tourist icon as Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward Angel.

By Chris Cooper

It’s all too easy to dismiss the ‘80s as an era of day-glow clothes, poofy hair and painfully lame, glossy radio friendly “pop.” And thanks to the popularity of television shows like VH1’s “I Love the ‘80s,” a generation that did most of its growing up in the ‘90s now has nothing but the worst aspects of the previous decade to stare at and be glad they missed.

By Michael Beadle

It’s a gorgeous autumn afternoon in Asheville just a few days before author Charles Frazier begins an 11-city tour for his new book, Thirteen Moons.

By Michael Beadle

The world where artists create can often be a private place off limits to the general public.

If you do a lot of surfing on the Internet, you probably know that astonishing changes are taking place there. Almost every day, Web sites that were previously stiff and uninteresting are suddenly morphing into multi-media sites with color, graphics and sound. Here are my favorites this week!

Bob Cathey

Cathey worked for the U.S. Forest Service for 34 years in timber inventory and currently serves on the soil and water board. He has served on the school board and Haywood Community College Board.

Citing his candidacy for county commissioner, Macon County planning board chairman Ronnie Beale announced his resignation last Wednesday (Sept. 27) putting vice-chairman Larry Stenger in line for the job.

A survey conducted by the Bethel Community Club asked candidates for the Haywood County Board of Commissioners to weigh in on the controversial issue of running water and sewer lines to Bethel.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Prices at the gas pump began falling last month with the announcement that a new pocket of deep-sea oil had been found off the Gulf of Mexico. Locally, regular unleaded hit a mere $2.25 per gallon, or in some cases even less, such as in Maggie Valley where the new Quality Oil Co. station posted prices of $2.02.

The Jackson County Green Energy Park will celebrate the opening of Phase 1 of the park with an open house to be held from 3 to 9 p.m. Oct. 6.

Taylor: Each time we visit the gasoline pump, it is clear that the U.S. has become overly dependent on foreign sources of oil for our energy needs. While the previous Administration – joined by environmental extremists – refused to allow any increases in domestic energy production, we placed ourselves into the position of having to pay whatever price is demanded by OPEC’s greedy cartel.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Macon County commissioner candidates fielded several questions about growth and the county’s future during a forum conducted by the League of Women Voters last Thursday night (Sept. 28).

By Kirkwood Callahan • Guest Columnist

Just over a month remains before voters make the decision who will rise and who will fall in the political races being run before us now. Many issues are bantered about, but absent from any great debate is this question: Who bears the burden of the corruption which spews from Raleigh like the foul contents of a broken sewer main?

The answer to the problem with Segways on the Little Tennessee Greenway in Franklin is not to enact an outright ban. Instead, a well thought out set of regulations to govern the who, when and how of such an operation seems a better answer.

School students who visited the Haywood County Fair last week learned all about bees at a traveling bee hive exhibit from the local North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension Service.

By Kathleen Lamont

Buying local produce enables you to:

• Eat fresher, better tasting, and healthier foods.

The Waynesville Parks and Recreation Department will offer an old school, “wooden bat” softball league this summer.

The organizational meeting will be held at 7:30 pm. Monday, Aug. 12, at the Waynesville Recreation Center. The meeting is mandatory for all team representatives interested in entering a team in the league. The reps must bring a $100 non-refundable cash deposit to secure a team entry.

The wooden bat games will be on Monday and Wednesday nights at the Vance Street field and or the recreation park field. The final payment meeting is scheduled for Aug. 19. The entry fee will depend on the number of teams entered. 

828.456.2030 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

A retired Western Carolina University professor and Jackson County environmentalist has been given top honors for his work in education and advocacy.

The N.C. Wildlife Federation has honored Dan Pittillo with the Environmental Educator of the Year award. Pittillo spent 50 years educating at the academic, regional, community and grassroots levels, and is still involved in environmental issues across the mountains.

The award is part of the Governor’s Conservation Achievement Awards, (GCAA) an effort to honor individuals, governmental bodies, organizations and others who have exhibited commitment to conservation in North Carolina. The GCAA ceremony will take place at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7 at the Embassy Suites in Cary.

Award winners are nominated by the residents of North Carolina and decided upon by a committee of scientists, environmental educators and conservation activists. Categories of achievement include wildlife conservation, water conservation, forestry, sportsmen and others. This is the 50th anniversary of the awards. 

This summer was no waste for teachers and students who enrolled in a Great Smoky Mountains Park program that put them on the front lines of park management.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials have honored a Duke Energy scientist for his work in helping to restore aquatic species near the Dillsboro Dam.

Main Street Waynesville wasn’t the only place to get a spit and polish before visitors and performers from around the world arrived for Folkmoot USA.  The Richland Creek Garden Club, Waynesville’s first garden club, spruced up the Folkmoot Friendship Center gardens with new flowers, native plants and a good weeding. 

The Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute will host a program about the role of the astronomical site in the Pisgah National Forest during the historic Apollo space missions.

The Art League of the Smokies will meet at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6, at the Swain County Center for the Arts in Bryson City.  Featured artist will be Bente Starcke King, whose DVD, “Beautiful Botanicals—Painting and Drawing Flowers and Plants” will be shown. The film shows techniques and principles involved in botanical painting with demonstrations done from fresh flowers and plants. Born in Denmark, King received her degree in art and illustration in Copenhagen before relocating to the United States. For the past 15 years, she has held the position of staff botanical illustrator at the L.H Bailey Hortorium. 

The event is sponsored by Swain County Center for the Arts and Swain County Schools. 

828.488.7843 or www.swain.k12.nc.us/cfta.

Dharma teacher Trish Thompson, ordained by Thich Nhat Hanh and a certified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction instructor, will offer a workshop from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3, at St. David’s Episcopal church in Cullowhee.

The workshop will explore various mindfulness practices for health and happiness, in oneself, the community and the world. 

Sponsored by St. David’s Episcopal Church, the event is open to all. Fee is $15 or whatever you can afford, and includes a vegetarian meal. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

“Dining for The Bascom” will be from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 7, at the Lakeside Restaurant in Highlands. 

Diners will help The Bascom visual arts center by having 15 percent of the gross sales from their meals donated to the nonprofit organization. “Evenings at Lakeside” will continue until Oct. 1. 828.526.9419. 

The Bascom is open year-round, Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m. 

www.TheBascom.org or 828.526.4949.

Spencers Theatre of Illusion will take the stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

Kevin and Cindy Spencer present a high-tech stage show that combines drama, comedy, romance and suspense with special effects. Their unique illusions have earned them the Performing Arts Entertainers of the Year for six consecutive years. They have also been named America’s Best Entertainers multiple times and were recently named International Magicians of the Year, an award previously presented to Penn & Teller, David Copperfield, and Criss Angel.

Tickets start at $15 per person.

www.greatmountainmusic.com or 866.273.4615.

The 8th annual Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation Downtown Waynesville Dog Walk will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 3. Sign up begins at 9 a.m. in front of the Haywood County Courthouse.

Painter Kel Tanner will have a solo exhibition from Aug. 7 to Sept. 2 at Haywood County Arts Council’s Gallery 86 in Waynesville. An artist reception will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 9, at the gallery.

The Pop Ferguson Blues Review will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3, at the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center in Robbinsville. 

Legendary southern rock group, The Black Crowes, performs at 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 2, at Harrah’s Cherokee.

The 4th Annual Popcorn Sutton Summer Jam will be from 4 to 11 p.m. Friday, Aug. 2, and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3, at the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds.

To the Editor:

In a recent letter to the Editor, Sen. Thom Goolsby, R-Wilmington, changed his name for the weekly protests against Republican decisions in Raleigh from “Moron Mondays” to “Money Mondays.”

Ah-ha, the truth is out! He has to connect money to the movement because he and his Republican cronies cannot, for the life of them, connect the movement with morality. There is not a moral bone in their bodies. Talk about money. This legislature was, with the help of the Citizens United case, bought and paid for by corporate money. 

There is another movement afoot to amend the Constitution to declare that corporations are not persons. Sixteen states have signed resolutions to amend. It takes 38 states to take it to Congress. It will take some time but it will be done. Petitions are online at MoveToAmend.org.

Make no mistake about it, Republicans are terrified of these grassroots movements that are growing and coming to a city near you soon. A Moral Monday gathering will be held in Asheville at 5 p.m. on Aug. 5. Be there if you care. Organize, agitate and spread the truth.

 Joan Palmroos

Otto

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.