To the Editor:

We moved to Burnsville just over two years ago about two months before the 2016 election. When I registered to vote, I chose the unaffiliated classification. I did so as I was unfamiliar with the politics of my new home and did not wish to commit myself to any one party when I did not know how individual candidates from the two major parties chose to serve their communities.

I have now gone through one election and have two years to observe how my community is represented.  I also receive communications from both parties due to my unaffiliated classification. This is what I have learned.

Rep. Michelle Presnell, R-Burnsville, does not shy away from language that divides us. She tries to draw clear lines of “Us versus Them.” She also embraces misleading language to promote positions she favors. This is evidenced in the attempt to mask the effort to suppress voter registration and the more recent support of ambiguous and misleading wording of the proposed amendments to the state’s Constitution.

On the other hand, I have found that Rhonda Cole Schandevel talks about serving the people. She talks about preserving health care and restoring North Carolina’s educational system to the prestige that once characterized it. While we are blessed with some very good teachers, they lack the system and support to ensure that all of our children have the education that they deserve. I believe Ms. Schandevel will work to reverse this condition. I am also convinced that she will fight for the health care needs of all North Carolinians and not simply for the privileged few. I will be voting for Rhonda Cole Schandevel.

U.S. Congressman Mark Meadows represents me in the U.S. Congress. Now that I live in North Carolina, I have had a chance to observe Rep. Meadows and here are my conclusions. Rep. Meadows really looks the part. He dresses, grooms, and speaks as if he belongs in Washington. The accolades stop there. 

He is the leader of the Freedom Caucasus and no legislation, resolution, or action of any kind is allowed to the House Floor without the blessings of the Freedom Caucus. This group of representatives, which is a minority of the House’s representatives, holds the House hostage due to the influence of the Tea Party voter. This means nothing gets done. We are paying him and providing him a staff to ensure that the House remains stagnant. He is purposefully cutting off the voices of others. Our founding fathers believed that voices needed to be heard regardless of position.

Here is what I have seen on Phillip Price’s website, “Phillip Price will strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being.” Now that is a stance that I can get behind and it is a stance that comes closest to my own personal values. Mr. Price also speaks of the importance of reaching across the aisle and working with others regardless of party affiliation. I will be voting for Phillip Price.

Finally, as a new voter in North Carolina observing our elected officials, I wish to say a word regarding Sen. Richard Burr. I have watched Sen. Burr in his role as co-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He appears to work well with his co-chair, Sen. Mark Warner, and seems to conduct himself with forthrightness and integrity. These are traits that I will support in any politician, even if there are policy differences between that person and myself.

Lee Sease

Burnsville

To the Editor:

About the political cartoon of September 12: Please don’t make horrible political divisions worse by repeating brain-bypassing, emotional-button-pushing, negative phrases, whether to describe Democrats, Republicans or independents. 

Tell me one stand Sen. Elizabeth Warren has taken that makes her anything other than a caring, rational woman. Consumer Protection Agency? The American Association of Pediatrics just announced their own review of research and industry-funded/distorted “research” into plastics’ effects on children and babies’ health. They concluded that the FDA and private industry has suppressed independent science for decades. The result? Babies and children with cancer. We do need protection from big industries whose heads can rationalize a few babies’ deaths away so long as they keep raking in the cash.

Look at what Bernie Sanders actually stands for — and why so many independents as well as Democrats supported him, especially young adults. Although his and Joe Biden’s age-mate, I would like to see younger candidates (I would include Warren because she isn’t so old) from both parties running for president and vice president in 2020, but with the same integrity and values and policies as Sanders and Biden: universal health care that stops America being the only country in the “advanced” world where you can go bankrupt from getting sick, even if you have insurance; protection from greedy corporations that kill us slowly with carcinogens in plastics, water and air; the same stringency for gun ownership as for driving a car or getting a fishing license. How radical is that?  

Let’s all try thinking and acting like Sen. John McCain, who disagreed without name-calling, who found ways to meet people with opposing ideas halfway and find sane compromises. A hero who endured unimaginable torment and stayed captive two-plus more hellish years because he wouldn’t leave his fellow captives behind while going free as an admiral’s son. The Republican who co-sponsored the campaign finance reform, which was later overturned in the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision to the everlasting regret of anyone who values democracy. Sen. McCain was a man who understood that many of the greedy rich — not all the rich — are destroying our democracy and making a mockery of all we purport to stand for.  

What appeals to young adults in the politicians whom your cartoon ridicules is their condemning big money donors in political campaigns, because they really are the root of all our country’s evils. 

Mary Jane Curry

Haywood County

To the Editor:

Despite the best efforts of reporters, a newspaper article will not contain the entire story. This letter to the editor is in defense of the Haywood County Tax Office. I work there.

Morale: Contrary to what you may read, the morale in the office is high. The tax collection clerks agree with the policies of the office, which were established by Tax Collector Mike Matthews when he took office. These policies are to treat everyone who walks into the office or calls on the telephone with helpfulness, compassion and courtesy.

Interest: With the approval of either the tax collector or the deputy tax collector, the clerks did occasionally remove interest. This was done with the belief that the elected tax collector and deputy tax collector had the authority to make such decisions. We have no knowledge of missing codes. Only someone with an intimate knowledge of Keystone, the computer software used to collect and process tax payments, could go undetected in manipulating or removing codes from the Keystone record.

Training: Our training is three days of lectures and an exam in all aspects of property tax assessment and collection law. Again, education helps, but it does not prepare you for the multitude of unusual questions and situations you encounter daily. On-the-job training, what you learn from more experienced employees, is essential. Other collection clerks train us, and co-workers in other departments generously answer our questions. Referencing the Machinery Act, a 399-page book of law that governs property tax assessment and collection, happens often.

Performance: Mike’s record as tax collector speaks for itself. When he took office, he was given a property tax collection rate goal of 96.96 percent by the county manager and the commissioners. He has exceeded that goal every year with collection rates above 97 percent and surpassed all the collection rates of the previous administration. In addition, Mike has drastically reduced total outstanding delinquencies. Please judge the effectiveness of the tax collection office for yourself by speaking with Mike or requesting a more detailed copy of collection rates for tax years 2009 through 2018 from office personnel.

While results are important, Mike takes pride in the way his office works with taxpayers, giving them every opportunity to pay these tax bills in a manner consistent with the taxpayer’s circumstances. The election of a good man to the position of tax collector, a man who makes decisions based on respect for and fair treatment of taxpayers, is highly desired and makes the government responsive to the people.

Politics: Election years bring change in workplace dynamics. Understandably, people want their candidate to win, but some purposely use character assassination and actively work to prevent the incumbent’s efficiency in office. I have no desire to defend accusations and insinuations made in newspaper articles or to air behind the scenes, political intrigues in a public forum, but a good man is being maligned and his office is being hampered from doing its job effectively. 

The tax collection office is operating to the best of our ability despite the partisan politics swirling around us.

Cindy Chaffy

Maggie Valley

Repairs have been completed to Beechertown Road and the Nantahala River access there in the Nantahala National Forest near Franklin. 

Initial estimates for crop damage and livestock losses in North Carolina due to Hurricane Florence are expected to top $1.1 billion, easily outstripping the $400 million seen after Hurricane Matthew in 2016. 

A full week after Ohio resident Mitzie Sue “Susan” Clements, 53, went missing in the Clingmans Dome area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, crews from a three-state area are still trying to find her. 

The ancient Cowee mound in Macon County, once home to a thriving Cherokee town, now has interpretive signs to pay homage to the place’s storied past thanks to three years of collaboration by the Nikwasi Initiative and its partners. 

Phil and Connie Haire have donated a kayak to Southwestern Community College’s Outdoor Leadership Program.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ historical and cultural connections with the land now home to Western Carolina University were commemorated last month as representatives of the tribal and university communities gathered for the unveiling of a sculpture based on the Cherokee syllabary character “wi.”

There will be a DVD release party for acclaimed writer Gary Carden’s play “Birdell” at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. 

The Environmental Protection Agency recently approved a reduction in North Carolina counties required to perform yearly vehicle emissions tests. 

The Jackson County Chamber of Commerce held a STIR Business After Hours event at the newly re-opened Jarrett House in Dillsboro. The chamber ambassador team also held a grand re-opening/ribbon cutting ceremony for the historic inn and restaurant built in 1884. 

A major law enforcement operation targeting drug trafficking in and around the Qualla Boundary has resulted in the arrest of more than 75 individuals on federal, state and tribal charges. 

Macon County Superior Court recently saw guilty pleas and lengthy prison sentences of two drug trafficking defendants. In unrelated cases, Jason Warren Hill and Natasha Bates DeHart both plead guilty to trafficking in methamphetamine and related charges. 

Health insurance may disappear under GOP

To the Editor:

It makes no difference if you support the current administration or not — they’re coming for your health coverage.  

It’s no secret the president and Congress are trying to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) little by slow, piece by piece. There is so much political noise right now that many do not realize there are quiet but continuing efforts in the courts to remove the most popular piece of ObamaCare — coverage of pre-existing conditions. That is, banning insurance companies from denying coverage to people with ongoing conditions or recent illness. 

It is estimated that as many as 130 million adults under age 65 have at least one condition that could result in not being able to get health insurance. The Kaiser Family Foundation puts the number at about a quarter of the country’s citizens under age 65. These are people like you and me, your neighbors and friends, your family members. Who does not know someone with cancer, diabetes, arthritis, cerebral palsy, emphysema, epilepsy, heart disease, hepatitis, kidney disease, mental illness, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, pregnancy (yes, pregnancy), sleep apnea, just to name a few. 

Many of us remember what it was like before ObamaCare became law in 2009. Insurance companies routinely declined those with preexisting conditions. Even the few companies that did offer coverage often excluded or imposed long waiting periods for those particular conditions. With the click of a computer key, insurance companies could cancel coverage for people who became ill once their policy year ended. Many went without treatment until showing up in the ER … living with unnecessary pain and disability … dying prematurely. ObamaCare made those practices illegal. We cannot go back there. 

If Republicans still hold Congress after the November election, anyone with a history of medical problems who doesn’t get health insurance from an employer will likely lose coverage. How do many Republican politicians feel about taking health care away from millions who have done nothing besides have past medical problems? Well, this is what Republican politicians have been saying they wanted all along.  

Consider the example of our Rep. Mark Meadows, chair of the House Freedom Caucus, who attempted unsuccessfully to ram through full ObamaCare repeal including preexisting conditions just last year! After the fact, he claimed he didn’t realize that pre-existing conditions was part of the deal. Yah, right! 

And if you think none of this matters because you’re covered by Medicare, think again. If Republicans control the Senate in November, they’ll be coming after Medicare next in order to help pay for their tax cut for the wealthy. Who said so? They did!  

Voters need to understand the stakes in these midterms. It will be the voters that will determine whether people with medical problems get the health care they need.

Elaine Slocumb 

Bryson City

We must protect our rights

To the Editor:

One of our local newspaper’s police activity section featured an officer asking a person he had pulled over if they had anything in the vehicle that he should know about. This violates the spirit, if not the letter, of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution — by asking the person to incriminate themselves — and also indicating that the officer did not suspect anything specific (and thus did not have a reason for a search).

Americans are dying overseas to protect our values and way of life. This seems to me to be playing fast and loose with our constitutional rights. I respect our law enforcement officers, and realize they are doing a hard job. However the end doesn’t justify the means.

David Stearns

Otto

Workers suffer due to cost of living

To the Editor:

Granted, “The American worker is not getting their due” (www.smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/25493), but I have a little different take on the reasons why. I don’t think it’s as much the low wages as the high cost of living.

There are many factors involved, not the least of which is the ever-widening gap between the very rich and the rest of us brought about mainly by greed which worsens with each passing day. But let us consider simply the changes in the cost of living. 

I graduated high school in 1957 and a year later was managing a small plastics factory (in rural Massachusetts) that employed just four people. I earned $60 a week and took home $54.20 of that amount. On that salary plus what I could earn mowing grass in the summer, shoveling snow in the winter (both with hand tools only) and parking cars nine days in the fall at a nearby race track, I supported a wife, baby, a two-bedroom apartment, a car, tithed to our church and had money left over.  

How much would a high school graduate have to earn to do that today, 60 years later?

In 1958, my salary paid the rent ($15 a week), which was our biggest single expense, and allowed us to live middle-class. A new house was about $13K, a new car $2,500, a loaf of bread 20 cents, a dozen eggs 30 cents, coffee $1 a pound, and gas was 25 cents a gallon.

Teachers earned about $5,000 a year (an average wage) and always seemed happy. I like to think it was because I was in their classroom, but it could have been because all 30 to 40 of their students behaved themselves and paid attention.

The owner of the plastics factory earned about seven times what I did. Today he’d want 700 times more and I doubt I’d make a living wage. But, in 1958, with Eisenhower in the White House, Nixon the VP, and smiling Sam Rayburn Speaker of the House, with a three-cent first-class postage stamp and a year at Harvard costing $1,000 ... life was good.

David L. Snell 

Franklin

The bridge over the Lake Junaluska dam is now open to vehicular and pedestrian traffic. All are invited to attend a grand opening at 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19.

A man and a bear are dead following an ill-fated ginseng hunt in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

Although Yesenia Navarro grew up with few material possessions, she always believed one catalyst for change was within her grasp — education.

To the Editor:

Today the American economy is strong. The percentage of American unemployed is down, the Dow Jones industrial average is north of 25,000 and millions of jobs, most of which require some degree of higher education, are going unfilled. So what kinds of jobs are available to people without much education? Jobs that do not pay enough to live on.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines a “working poor” person as someone below the poverty line who spent at least half the year either working or looking for employment. In 2016, there were roughly 7.6 million Americans who fell into this category. Most working poor people are over 35, while fewer than five in 100 are between the ages of 16 and 19.

Over the last 40 years, corporate profits have risen, but real wages have remained flat for workers without a college education. Since 1973, American productivity has increased by 77 percent, while hourly pay has grown by only 12 percent. If the federal minimum wage tracked productivity, it would be more than $20 an hour, not today’s poverty wage of $7.25. 

One of the most effective antipoverty solutions is a decent-paying job, scarce as they are. Today, 41.7 million laborers — nearly a third of the American work force — earn less than $12 an hour, and almost none of their employers offer health insurance. The most recent tax cut package was supposed to raise wages and spur hiring, but instead a record amount of stock buybacks and dividend payouts took place after the tax cut, benefiting investors and company executives over workers.

How much did corporation benefit from this tax cut? The Commerce Department said that after-tax profits across the U.S. rose 16.1 percent in the quarter ended June 30 from a year earlier, the largest year-over-year gain in six years. Because of the lower corporate tax rate signed into law last year, taxes paid by U.S. companies in that quarter were down 33 percent from a year earlier, according to the government data, or more than $100 billion at an annual rate.

“More than 70 percent of this [tax cut] will be returned to workers,” said White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at a January press conference.

However, companies have instead used the extra cash to spend billions of dollars buying back their own stock, boosting the value of shares held by investors. Buybacks reduce the number of shares on the market, immediately increasing the value of the shares that investors already hold. Over the past year, S&P 500 companies have given their shareholders a record $1 trillion in the form of buybacks and dividends.

Clearly, there is enough corporate profit to share with employees, but large corporations act as if there is no incentive to share profitability with their workers who drive corporate success but live below the poverty level.

In July, the White House Council of Economic Advisers issued a report endorsing work requirements for the nation’s largest welfare programs. The council favored “negative incentives,” which means recipients must work to receive aid, and the council dismissed “positive incentives,” like tax benefits for low-income workers, because the former is cheaper. The council also claimed that America’s welfare policies have brought about a “decline in self-sufficiency,” a claim that has no factual basis and which maligns every member of the working poor who need assistance to feed, clothe, and shelter their families.

One of the claims made buy ardent supporters of a “pure free market capitalism” is that a rising economy necessarily lifts up the financial fortunes of all members of society, including the poor. Unfortunately, the need for public assistance is a direct result of the failure of capitalism to deliver on that promise.

John Barry

Franklin

By Hannah McLeod • Guest Columnist

The vote to approve Brett Kavanaugh for a seat on the Supreme Court of the United States, scheduled for Thursday, has been postponed until the Senate judiciary Committee can hear testimony by Kavanaugh and the woman who has accused him of sexual assault.

The Haywood County Sheriff’s Office has requested the assistance of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation to conduct a criminal investigation into a former HCSO detective’s activities as well as an outside consultant to oversee a complete inventory and audit of the Office’s evidence room.

By Bob Scott • Guest Columnist

The proposed Mission/HCA sale could be the most significant event — negative or positive — to affect Franklin and the region for decades. As Franklin’s mayor, I have a duty and obligation to see that our residents and visitors are not shortchanged in this $1.5 billion sale of Mission to HCA.

To the Editor:

Repaving a perfectly good Smoky Mountain Expressway appears to be another classic example of government wasteful spending.

I used to work for a company years ago that did business with government contractors. Each year they would needlessly spend funds or risk having their budgets reduced for the next year. Is there an explanation for this repaving that citizens are not aware of? From my perspective (and others), we don’t see any purpose for this. It seems there are so many other needs that the city, county or state has and could use funds for.

If there is a reasonable explanation and if I’ve missed it, can you please reprint it?

Jack West

Balsam

To the Editor:

This letter will by definition have to be somewhat brief to avoid backlash from those seeking bias confirmation for opposing views.

The Sept. 5 op-ed in the New York Times titled, “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration,” should (but probably will not) be read in its entirety by every American.

As the pundits pick and choose their ideas of the good or bad points in the op-ed, as they attempt to analyze it as biased or unbiased, as they classify it as self-serving or patriotic, I would make only one point. Read the article in its entirety and make up your own mind. Try to ask and answer your own questions. Judge it based on you own beliefs.

Richard Gould

Waynesville

To the Editor:

Decisions made at all levels of government (president and Congress in Washington, D.C., General Assembly in Raleigh and county commissioners, sheriffs, courts, etc.) impact your daily lives. All federal laws passed by the Congress directly impact us in our local communities. How our state representatives and senators votes on issues such as fracking, Medicaid expansion, education, etc., should be a concern to you. 

You have the right to vote in county, state and national elections. Many people have fought and died for this freedom. Take full advantage of this right as your vote does count. Many elections have been won by one or two votes. Voting makes sure your voice and opinions are heard. Convicted felons can now vote in North Carolina if they have served their time and are no longer on probation or parole. 

Be an informed voter. Don’t believe the negative ads you see on TV or what is mailed to you. If the person running for office is currently serving, check out their voting record. If they have not been in office, check out their platform and look at what they have done in their lives. 

The Electoral College applies only to the presidential election and does not have any effect on other political races. There are no presidential elections this year, but there will be in 2020. Whoever is elected president appoints Supreme Court justices whose appointments are for life and can determine the course of history for generations. 

You can register to vote at any time at your local Board of Elections during regular office hours. The date for the General Election is Nov. 6. Deadline for registering for the Nov. 6 election is Oct. 12. However, you can register and vote during the early voting period from Oct. 17 to Nov. 3. In the General Election in November, you can vote for anyone from any party. 

Regardless of what party you are or what candidates you support, please exercise your right to vote and vote by absentee ballot, early voting or on Election Day. The future of your children and grandchildren is at stake. 

Mary A. Herr

Cherokee 

To the Editor:

There has been a coup unfolding in the White House. Our Republic is in imminent danger of devolving into an autocracy. The senior White House staff, a group of appointed political supplicants, who swore an oath to the Constitution, have decided that expediency justifies their illegal thwarting of the Constitution. In the now infamous op-ed letter written by a senior member of the White House staff, that anonymous writer asks us to work together with this shadow government, to support their effort to keep Trump from doing less harm to our country than he is capable of. They have convinced themselves that they are patriots, even while acting outside the Constitution. These so-called patriots have likely been perpetuating this hoax from the very start of the Trump presidency.

We have a dangerously incompetent chief executive and his senior staff is a cabal of crass, egotistical, mostly incompetent, political know-nothings. Under this administration, the Supreme Court is being stacked illegitimately. Children have been abducted. Millions of Americans have been left without healthcare. Wealth has been stolen from middle and lower class and showered on the wealthy. Corporations have been anointed as super-citizens, with lower tax rates than for mere human citizens and with more influence on federal elected politicians through the enormity of their campaign donations.

Our Republic has never been so vulnerable. Federal policies are being implemented by unelected, egotistical leeches. The Rule of Law is fracturing. 

This administration has is no respect for our Constitution. The viability of our democracy has already been considerably damaged by these political pirates. Restoring respect for and adherence to our Constitution may take years.

What can we citizens do to restore sanity to our executive branch?

Vote!

We have heard these words before, “this is the most important election this country has held”. Usually these words are invoked when citizens are vehemently opposed to an opposing political party’s policies. The crisis this country is in now makes these previous political conflicts look like a teapot in a tempest. Your ballot in the upcoming mid-term elections is your tool to dismantle this governing aberration.

Vote! 

John Barry

Franklin

Chimney Rock State Park is now hike-in only following the start of work to stabilize its upper parking lot Sept. 4. 

The Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum at Bardo Arts Center is pleased to announce a year-long exhibition inspired by and named after Western Carolina University’s 2018 Campus Theme. 

A North Carolina State Trooper and a few good Samaritans helped save the life of a woman caught in rapids while tubing in the Tuckasegee River near Bryson City.  

By Dr. Tara Hogan, D.C. • Guest writer

According to the Mayo clinic’s experts, sitting too often can cause a number of health conditions such as heart problems, metabolic syndrome, obesity and high blood sugar. In addition, sitting has been linked to an unhealthy brain. So, how can sitting be this bad? 

By Jerica Rossi • Guest writer

While people were walking into class, I heard a woman whisper to her friend, “I’m really nervous to go to class right now.”

As someone who loves diving head-first into the unknown, I had a hard time relating, but I’m sure there are many of you out there who do. Whether you’re brand new to yoga or someone who has been out of practice for quite some time, the nerves can be real. So let’s break it down and see what you can do about it.

By Wende Goode • Guest writer

Negativity surrounds us, is embodied in us.

Until a couple of years ago, I felt like I was a pretty positive person. Seeing the good in others, feeling good about life and my journey. One day this all changed. That day I realized that I had been lying to myself.

There is increasing interest in knowing where our food comes from. But how about milk? I recently posted a photo of a dairy farmer on his farm in Buncombe County and received this tweet in response:

To the Editor:

Just over a year ago, Charlottesville, Virginia, was flooded with hate, thinly-veiled fascism, and white supremacy, all over the Charlottesville City Council’s decision to remove Confederate monuments from public spaces. 

Now, UNC Chapel Hill is staunchly divided over the UNC administration’s complacency over Silent Sam — the Confederate monument UNC calls its own that was recently toppled by protestors.

This isn’t a concept foreign to Southern Appalachia. In fact, many Confederate monuments call Western North Carolina home. This includes the Confederate monument depicting a Civil War soldier that stands halfway up the stairs to the historic Jackson County courthouse that overlooks the town of Sylva. The statue is just a handful of miles away from Western Carolina University, where racial tensions have continued to peak and plateau for years.

Western Carolina students and Jackson County residents have experienced racially charged chalking, the N-word being shouted from residence halls and public spaces, a lackluster administrative response, and numerous other things that hardly make it easy for the university to retain students, faculty, and staff of color.

The last thing we need is another Confederate monument, overlooking the our college town as a reminder that once upon a time, and maybe more recently than we care to admit, people of color were not welcome here. I believe the dark history of the U.S., while not to be forgotten, should not be paraded like “participation trophies” for the Confederate Army, scattered across the places we call home.

Sara Mears

Cullowhee

To the Editor:

I recently attended the Jackson County Board of Commissioners meeting specifically to apologize to Commissioner Charles Elders. 

I was appointed to the DSS (Department of Social Services) Board last year. The commissioners voted to combine the Health Department with DSS this year and the commissioners offered me a seat on that combined Health Services Board.  

From the very first meeting — there have been three meetings — complaints have been logged ad nauseam and ad infinitum regarding the reasons for the commissioners’ decision. In fact, one board member made a motion to have the county manager request from the commissioners a written explanation for the merger of the two departments.  

The commissioners declined to submit a letter, so the new Health Services Board member that submitted the original request made a motion to withhold consent on hiring a director for the combined departments “until after the November elections.” 

I felt as if I was hijacked. I thought I would be serving on a board that would help people, not serving on a board that wanted to usurp the powers of the elected board of commissioners. The newly formed Health Services Board is not an elected board. The county did not have an opportunity to vote on those appointments. The Jackson County Board of Commissioners, however, were elected by the people of the county. That is a political move pure and simple. 

However, I was having trouble with how to respond to the motion — should I say “aye” or “nay?” I said aye. Upon reflection, I determined I made an error in that vote. 

The commissioners’ vote to combine DSS and the Health Department was a 3 to 2 split along party lines. The reason the combined board member made the motion to forestall the hiring of a new combined board director until after the election was a political move, hoping to put a liberal in Commissioner Charles Elder’s seat in November so that the liberal could dissolve the union. She has already stated she will do that if elected. 

The Asheville Citizen Times on Sunday, Aug. 19, had a column by John Boyle on Buncombe County’s government scandal for, I quote, “a lack of oversight.” The federal indictments against former Buncombe County Manager Wanda Greene, et al, are still coming in. The column from Boyle further states, speaking of Green: “… it looks like she had no qualms about misleading commissioners, county officials and the media, or intimidating underlings into not asking a lot of questions, all the while commissioners adored her.”  

I am not impugning either Jackson County’s manager or the current two directors of the Health Department and DSS. I, personally, have admiration for these three people. Yet, in light of what is happening in Buncombe County, why in the world would anyone push away more oversight in Jackson County? The contention is because it creates a new position of director over the combined departments. 

Yet, isn’t that what the left always seeks, an increase in government jobs? Bill Clinton heartily approved such events, as does the Democratic Party. Why? The reason for these shenanigans is to try to dislodge Charles Elders from his seat on the county commission. Elders is one of the finest men in this county. He cares a great deal more about service to those in need than do those jockeying with politics. 

Elders would like to see the new Health Services Department become more efficient and cost saving. Other counties have reported this came about for them, according to some of the other commissioners. It doesn’t necessarily mean it would for Jackson County, but more oversight is a good thing. I don’t have to ask Buncombe County officials to know that. 

I apologize to you, Charles Elders, for falling into that political trap. I volunteered to serve on the DSS Board and Health Services Board to give back to this wonderful community. I did not expect to be pressured into this political mess. Shame on those who try to jam politics down people’s throats.

Just as an aside, please, when you say, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” think a little about what you have just said. The ad nauseam part comes in here. I have heard this said on this issue until I gag. You need to buy a horse and buggy then, because that mode of transportation was never broken. Thank you, I like improvements, I’ll take the car.

Deborah J. Stanley

Sylva

My doctor has recommended that I get more omega 3's in my diet but I don't like fish. What are some other options?

By Kirkwood Callahan • Guest Columnist

Crime does not pay — so most Americans have been told. However, it places enormous costs on society. Victims and families are traumatized by the tragic loss of life and property while government at all levels bears the burden of apprehending, prosecuting and confining offenders. No region is shielded from crime’s evil effects and costs. 

To the Editor:

Phillip Price, who is running for U.S. Congress from the 11th District, lists 289 “Past Events” on his “Phillip Price for Congress” Facebook page (as of August 23). That’s almost 300 events just since he announced his candidacy. He also lists, as of the same date, 27 more “Upcoming Events.” From these numbers alone it’s clear that Phillip Price cares about what the people of Western North Carolina think and that he’s dedicated to listening to them and interacting with them. He has made himself available to the people. I personally have seen and heard him twice in Sylva, once in Webster and once at Balsam Mountain.

Now guess how many past and upcoming events are listed at Rep. Mark Meadows for Congress Facebook page? Keep in mind that it’s less than 70 days until the election, and consider that the U.S. House has been out of session the entire month of August. They don’t reconvene until Sept. 4. Meadows has had both incentive and ample opportunity to interact publicly with his constituents. Most members of Congress who are running for re-election welcome the August recess as a time to seriously reconnect with the voters back home. 

First, guess the number of “Past Events” listed. (Hint: guess a low number.)  The correct answer is three. Of those three, one was in 2012, one was in 2014, and the most recent was over two years ago in June of 2016. 

Now guess the number of “Upcoming Events” listed (as of August 23). The correct answer is zero. A big fat zero. 

That’s right, the note under “Upcoming Events” says, “Mark Meadows for Congress does not have any upcoming events.” And remember it’s less than two months until early voting begins. It’s true that Meadows also has another (non-campaign) Facebook page, so to be fair we should include the events noted there as well.  That page lists one past event dated in August of last year, and under the “Upcoming Events” heading you will find the note “Mark Meadows does not have any upcoming events.”

The facts speak for themselves. Meadows is hiding out.  He’s refusing to interact with voters on a personal level, presumably because he doesn’t really consider us as constituents that he has to answer to. In sharp contrast, Phillip Price is accessible and caring, a true man of the people.

It’s time to put Meadows out to pasture.

Bill Spencer

Cullowhee

To the Editor:

I attended the Sylva Town Meeting the other week and viewed the plan for the road re-design. The room overflowed with townspeople and concerned business owners who spoke against this plan as drawn. The point that hit home to me, a Glenville resident, was the failure of communication between DOT and the people.  

Jay Coward spoke eloquently on the plan being flawed and offered excellent alternatives. I am hoping that the DOT heard the people and will work with the people now. Businesses that have been present in Sylva for decades should remain untouched and respected. Round-bouts properly constructed with nice centers would not only add charm to Sylva but would be efficient for traffic flow. The idea of having a median constructed where drivers have no access to turn into businesses without having to do u-turns is extremely dangerous. Slow down and meet with the people! People make the town.

I’ve been a resident in Jackson County since 2009 but have vacationed here since 1978 and realize I’m considered a transplant; I accept that … but I must address the expansion of N.C. 107 South issue as well. 

I love the mountains ... the curves that follow the river ... the roads that are a bit narrow; it lets you know you should slow down to enjoy where you are. I am sickened by what the DOT has done on U.S. 64 East in Toxaway, tearing apart several mountains just to cut a road. I am sickened by the work on N.C. 107 South toward Cashiers too. Are we trying to just plow our way through these gorgeous mountains making it faster to go from one place to another?  

Sure, the curvy roads can be dangerous if drivers are dangerous. Personal accountability again is being taken away for us. If all drive responsibly, we shouldn’t have to drill into our mountains only to try to prevent accidents of those who aren’t responsible. That’s again making laws for all because of the few, or one.  Insane.

God made our mountains for us to enjoy. You have to slow down to see their majesty. We don’t need a wider road ... we need folks to leave a bit earlier to get to places. I want the mountains to remain as they were meant to be, mighty and respected.

Trish Chambers

Glenville

To the Editor:

The U.S. is a country of asylum seekers and their children. Every immigrant to the U.S. arrived at our borders looking to escape from either government tyranny, economic hardship or criminal violence.

U.S. law and international law requires that asylum seekers who present themselves to our immigration personnel be given the opportunity to prove their reasons for seeking asylum. A new policy recently implemented requires that asylum seekers be turned away at the border; federal agents are actually standing at the borderline at established border crossings to physically prevent an asylum seekers from stepping foot on U.S. soil. A person must be actually standing on U.S. soil in order to request asylum; preventing these people from stepping across the painted borderline means there is no opportunity for them to plea their case to an immigration judge. 

These asylum seekers are not choosing to present themselves to U.S. immigration courts because they plan to live off U.S. government largess. These people are escaping from the government and gang-related torture and murder common in their country of origin. The deadly trek these asylum seekers take across thousands of miles of inhospitable landscape is a dangerous but necessary risk to take, a risk that keeps their children out of the hands of murdering gang members and corrupt government policies in their native countries.

Most Americans learned something about the history of asylum seekers coming to America. In particular, we have all seen the images of thousands of Irish, German, Polish and other European refugees, escaping starvation from crop failures and political pogroms, standing in line waiting to have their asylum request processed on Ellis Island in New York Harbor.

The people did not come to America simply to live off the largess of the American. They came to escape the certain death awaiting them and their families if they did not flee their native lands. The asylum seekers coming from South and Central America are facing the same kinds of threats of death and unlawful imprisonment as did the European asylum seekers who came to America in the late 19th century and early 20th century.  

The moral, ethical and lawful imperative to offer these modern-day asylum seekers refuge is no different than it was 100 years ago. The color of their skin and their native language may be different then that of their predecessors from Europe 100 years ago, but their plights are no less compelling. These people are no less a member of the family of man as were the asylum-seeking people who came before them.

John Barry

Franklin

To the Editor:

As a teacher for 25 years, I realize the importance of good role models for children. They look to others for cues, especially persons in authority like parents, teachers, ministers, and those in official capacities. Children want to know if our character is comprised of honest, fair-minded, consistent, compassionate actions. Young people also appreciate a willingness to apologize and to admit failures — two components of humility.

Sadly, the one at the highest level in our nation is serving as one of the poorest role models a child could have. Our children are being cheated and deserve better. Adults who chose Donald Trump as president cannot plead ignorance as to his character. We all witnessed his behavior in the Republican primary and again in his presidential campaign.

Ideally, all of us, including children, would be able to look at our president as someone with honorable character. Naturally, humans experience occasional lapses in judgement, but when these lapses become incorporated into a public lifestyle of dishonesty, childish insults, vulgarity, arrogance and lack of grace and compassion, well, no conscientious parent wants a child to emulate that. 

Corroborating this point is the fact that not one of my Republican friends has ever provided an answer to my question: what aspect of Trump’s character would you like your child to adopt?

One only has to observe the chaos and intrigue in this administration to see how necessary character is. We discount its importance at our own peril.

Larry Brown

Bryson City

To the Editor:

I remember not so long ago when I could have a civil discussion with a friend who was a Republican. I did not think George Bush was the sharpest pencil in the box and my friend was sure Obama was totally unprepared to be President. We argued about deficits, how to fix health care, free trade and immigration. We were talking in a common language, and the facts were still the facts. My friend had good reasons for his  positions. 

Today when I question the reasons for an exploding deficit I get no such response. Where are the Republicans who for eight years attacked President Obama because of rising deficits? They correctly argued that the increasing interest bill on our deficit will have to be paid by our children. Apparently that no longer matters. 

Back in the day, before the Affordable Care Act  (ACA), everyone agreed that the old system was badly broken and something had to be done. We strongly disagreed on how to fix the skyrocketing cost of health care, but fix it we must. Where are the Republicans who had a better plan? Today there is no plan except to drive a stake into the heart of the ACA. Do the Republicans want to go back to the days when the leading cause of bankruptcies was health care debt?

The United States learned a hard lesson from the Great Depression. Trade barriers like tariffs are a double-edged sword. Since the end of WWII, Republicans have been advocates of free trade and the creation of the global economy. They were right. The last 70 years of global economic growth, led by the United States, have created the prosperous world we now live in. Not every trade deal was great, but on balance far more jobs were created than lost.

Where are those Republicans now that Canada and the European Union are our trading enemies? How is it that soy farmers in the Midwest and U.S. steel consumers are already in serious trouble because of a trade war we started with China? 

Immigration stirs deep feeling in both political parties, but even very conservative business owners acknowledge that we need a supply of short-term labor. Literally millions of these jobs are now filled with both legal and illegal immigrants. Where are these Republicans now that there is an all-out attack on every form of immigration? How do they plan to fill those jobs that American workers traditionally will not do?

I do not understand where my Republican friends have gone. Have they been chased out of the party they created and loved? Are they waiting and hoping that the principles they once advocated for will come back in fashion? Or are they willing to live in a world of alternative facts and where loyalty to this president is all that matters? 

Louis Vitale

Franklin

An additional 150 acres of land in Jackson County has been conserved with Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust. 

The Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont is inviting volunteers to take part in monarch tagging in the Cades Coves area of the park. 

Friends of the Smokies collected $210,525 in donations during its 24th annual Friends Across the Mountains Telethon from hundreds of callers, online donations and support from sponsors Dollywood, Mast General Store, Pilot Flying J and SmartBank.