A new canoe portage around the Lake Emory dam is expected to open in Franklin sometime in late spring. 

A new conservation agreement finalized by the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee will protect 104 acres in Cullowhee from development, preserving it for wildlife, small-scale agriculture and timber management. 

For the first time in more than a decade, Great Smoky Mountains National Park saw more than 10 million visitors during 2014.

By Gwang S. Han • Guest Columnist

Obstetrics is the branch of medicine dealing with parturition, including care before and after delivery but also concerned with reproduction of society in a broader sense. The word of “obstetrics,” derived from Latin, means midwife, woman assisting the parturient, or the woman who stood by the parturient. Midwifery is a much older term than obstetrics and originated in England, being used since 1483. The British health care system has a long tradition with midwifery even during the Elizabethan era and allows more power and wider territory for midwives to maneuver and provide their own style of care.

Jerry Pressley, Walmart manager, presented $1,500 to The Arc of Haywood County for holiday presents and clothes to the individuals served in their program.  The Arc of Haywood County is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving individuals with developmental disabilities and their families.

The Jackson County Tourism Development Authority will have some new faces around the table this year after the county commissioners appointed five new members to the board last week. 

Travis LeDoyt, acclaimed by critics as “the world’s best young Elvis,” will bring his tribute to the “King of Rock-N-Roll” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31, in the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center at Western Carolina University.

Acclaimed Haywood County bluegrass group Balsam Range will be one of many acts featured in the premier of ‘David Holt’s State of Music’ at 10 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, on UNC-TV. The show features some of today’s finest musicians like Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops), Bryan Sutton, Josh Goforth and the Branchettes.

“Tracking Time,” an exhibition of paintings by Anna Jensen and Karen Ann Myers, will open with an artist discussion and reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 22, in the Fine Art Museum at Western Carolina University.

QUESTION: I get bored with my plain old oatmeal. Can you give me some ideas on some different things to add to it?

Answer:  Try cooking your oatmeal with milk or flavored non-dairy milk ( like vanilla soy/coconut or almond) to make it more creamy. You can also add in some dried fruit like raisins or chopped dates while cooking the oatmeal.

Projects in Haywood and Swain counties will benefit from an additional $4.5 million of Clean Water Management Trust Fund dollars awarded this month when the trust fund received revenue from specialty license plates and funds returned for previous award participants who wound up with unused money from their projects. 

Pitting insect against insect, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission released predator beetles last month on the Sandy Mush Game Land, located in Buncombe and Madison counties, to combat the devastating effects of the hemlock woolly adelgid on hemlock trees.

Birders turned out throughout Western North Carolina — and the globe — to participate in an avian enthusiast’s favorite winter tradition: the Christmas Bird Count. More than 60,000 birders participated in all 50 states as well as Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands. 

Outdoor Mission Camp in Maggie Valley, an affiliate of Youth for Christ USA, is being outfitted with a new kitchen to serve its faith-based outdoor wilderness adventure camp thanks to donations and volunteers. 

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is part of a new online travel itinerary from the National Park Service that highlights the 22 World Heritage Sites in the United States.

Three new members have been appointed to the tourism board in Haywood County that guides tourism marketing, promotions and development.

The recent round of appointments to the Tourism Development Authority continues a changing of the guard on the tourism board that’s been playing out for two years now. Of the 12-member board, eight have been appointed in the last two years.

To the Editor:

The Nantahala Hiking Club requests that Macon County commissioners reconsider or rescind the resolution passed on July 8, 2014, opposing the designation of additional wilderness areas within the Nantahala National Forest in Macon County. We believe that this resolution was passed prematurely and bypassed input from many interested citizens. Your minutes state that only one person, who represented the interests of one sector of forest users — namely small game hunters — spoke at that meeting.

Our club members do not recall this resolution having been publicized prior to this meeting such that we could have provided our perspective on additional wilderness areas. 

Mr. Kevin Corbin, commission chairman, has been quoted in the press saying that the commission merely expressed its opinion in passing the resolution, a right the members have as other citizens do. Further he is said to have pointed out that a public hearing is not required to pass a resolution and that the vote did not result in a decision, only an agreement on an opinion. Also, the board had not jointly researched the matter prior to approving the resolution. 

Our 290-member strong club is one of the official maintaining clubs of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, caring for nearly 60 miles of the venerable Appalachian Trail from the North Carolina-Georgia border to Wesser in the Nantahala area. Forty-seven of these miles are in Macon County and 13 of them are in the Southern Nantahala Wilderness Area running from Deep Gap to Mooney Gap. Our club officially was begun in 1968 by the Rev. A. Rufus Morgan after decades of work in creating the trail by him and other Maconians.

Our club has been active in the life of Macon County for many years, participating in Pumpkin Fest, the Christmas Parade, the Walking with Spring program at the Franklin Library, and the spring celebrations for AT thru-hikers including the Hiker Bash at a local motel and Easter gifts at local trailheads, among others. The club presents Hiking 101 programs in elementary and middle schools a few times each year and then takes children on hikes in their own backyard. We work closely with many businesses in our county including two major outdoor outfitters. 

Our long-standing and close relationship in the community resulted in Franklin becoming the first officially-designated Appalachian Trail Community by the AT Conservancy. 

We believe that the passage of the resolution ignored the relationships our club has built over the years throughout our county and the sizable financial and publicity contributions stemming from the network of hiking trails in the Nantahala Forest that our members maintain for the use and enjoyment of Maconians and countless visitors from throughout our nation and even the world. 

The club is presently reviewing the U.S. Forest Service proposed plans for forest use in the Nantahala Forest and, based on preliminary study, think that preserving the integrity of our trails will require supporting some of the proposed additions to wilderness areas by the forest service and that there are other areas that should be considered for wilderness based on various factors. We think the Macon County Commission should have studied this complex issue in depth and sought input from various sectors, including hiking and outdoors representatives. Furthermore, we believe that passing a resolution opposing new wilderness designations in the manner it was done actually ignored the democratic process where all interests are heard and relevant voices have their say. 

As we humans continue to change the natural landscape, preserving some land in its untouched state may prove essential for our survival in understanding the interrelationships of organisms, obtaining cures for diseases, and preserving our connections to the earth and creation. Thousands of AT thru-hikers and hikers attest to the human need for being in nature, for solitude, and for getting away from “civilized” life. Not all things have a monetary value, some things have value beyond the profits that may be derived from cutting down old trees. 

When the Macon County Commission passes a resolution it does more than express the individual opinions of its members. Because it is a governing body and because of the weight and respect that is accorded to it by citizens, the opinions embodied in a resolution exert a strong influence on other government agencies and their actions and may sway the viewpoints of many citizens. 

For these powerful reasons, the Nantahala Hiking Club reiterates that this resolution opposing the designation of additional wilderness areas must be reconsidered, brought up to the public, discussed and examined, and only then will the commission take a position reflecting the views of Macon County citizens.

Olga F. Pader, President

Nantahala Hiking Club

Programs and initiatives to address unmet health care needs in Haywood County could be eligible for mini-grants of up to $5,000 through the Haywood Healthcare Foundation.

Country star Wynonna Judd will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

A performance of the “An Appalachian Songbook: North Carolina in Word, Music and Song” will be held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20, in the Coulter Building at Western Carolina University.

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, Jan. 19, there will be an variety of events around Western North Carolina.

Established as an annual day of remembrance that was passed by both houses of Congress, MLK Day was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in November 1983, with its first celebration occurring in 1986. Since then, U.S. citizens volunteer their service on MLK Day, the third Monday in January.

Mixed media artist Dr. Rachel York-Bridgers will hold a workshop at noon Saturday, Jan. 17, at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva.

QUESTION: One of my New Year’s resolutions was to eat healthier and so I have been trying a gluten-free diet.  Do you think a gluten-free diet is healthy and will it help me lose weight?

Answer:  Gluten is a combination of the proteins (glutenin and gliadin) found in wheat, barley and rye. For individuals with celiac disease,  a gluten-free diet is a medical necessity and is currently the only treatment for that disease. 

Blue Ridge Biofuels, an Asheville-based biodiesel company, is planning to expand to a new facility in Catawba County. 

Learn the business side of farming with the Appalachian Farm School, a pilot agricultural business training program for farmers in the seven western counties of North Carolina. 

There’s something alluring about plunging into icy midwinter water — enough so that it spawns polar plunge fundraisers for sundry causes all over the country.

A quest for sparrow sightings will commence during the morning of Jan. 14 at Kituwah, an area of about 300 acres along the Tuckesegee River in Swain County, between Bryson City and Cherokee. 

Land Trust for the Little Tennessee has a new executive director in Sharon Fouts Taylor, who will move into the leadership role following the retirement of LTLT’s long-time director, Paul Carlson.

A public hearing on proposed changes to hunting, fishing and wildlife management regulations will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 13, in the Enloe Multi-Purpose Room at Tri-County Community College in Murphy. 

The societal comedy “Elemeno Pea” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 16-17 and at 3 p.m. Jan. 18 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

John MacLean will be the guest speaker during the Sylva Photo Club’s meeting at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10, at the Cullowee Methodist Church on the Western Carolina University campus.

Pianist Richard Shulman and jazz band One Leg Up will perform in the Haywood public libraries.

To the Editor:

About 10 years ago I said to a client of mine perhaps the most outrageous thing I’ve ever said: “The worst thing that ever happened to America was the loss of the Soviet Union.”

For a moment, my client thought that I’d lost my mind.

It was an exaggeration, yes, but then I explained that as a nation, we seemed programmed to search out an enemy, and struggle with them, for dominance, for survival. In the last century we had the Kaiser, Hitler, Tojo, Stalin, Ho Chi Minh, Manuel Noriega, Ayatollah Khomeini, Saddam Hussein, and a few that I can’t even remember. Each has come and gone: the Soviet Union was there the longest, but we spent them into bankruptcy; then they, too, disappeared. 

Without a clear cut enemy, we have turned on ourselves, and today our elected leaders have molded government into a theater of the absurd in which they create week-to-week panics, the crisis du jour … health care, immigration, or some obscure conflict halfway around the globe that in no reasonable way involves us. These are solvable problems, but too many of us fall into the emotion of these panics without questioning why.  

In advertising, sex sells; in politics, fear sells. Without the Soviet Union and the other list of enemies, we have turned on ourselves.

It’s always been tough to be an American because Thomas Jefferson and George Washington and Benjamin Franklin and John Adams and a few other smart people wrote a paper that require us to be thinking citizens, to take charge of our government by voting, and by not falling prey to the panic spread by those who feed us fear to keep themselves in the headlines. We are Americans, and we are given a special charge by the founding fathers to keep the faith in the original brilliant idea of America. But this isn’t easy. It’s easier to react to concocted crises than to find the reasonable political path that moves America forward.

America is not without its problems. Corporations bleed our industry by sending plants overseas. Jobs disappear. As a nation, we don’t invest nearly enough in our future through education, and we don’t spend nearly enough on figuring out how to employ and feed the next generation. Other nations are rising to turn the globe into their own empire, and this is the real threat. They are serious. Will we continue as America in that kind of environment?

The answer lies in our ability to measure up to the tough things, to pay attention to the global realities and not the soap opera infighting of a congress and talk show hosts who think that making noise is progress. It isn’t. If we can agree to reason together again as Americans — Republicans, Democrats, and Independents — we can make government work again, with a chance to turn over a country to our children that would draw a nod from the founding fathers.

Are you and I up to the task of believing in their vision of America? To do so, we are going to have to relearn how to talk to each other again.

Rick Bryson

Bryson City

To the Editor:

I was happy to read the article about the need for a new animal shelter in Haywood County. There is no doubt that the current one has long served its purpose. I really believe that many people here would gladly donate to a construction fund and a land donation would really speed things up.

A more central location, like near the old drive in movie theater, or similar would be ideal.  And on another note, how about another dog park area behind the dam at Lake Junaluska? It is flat and grassy and owned by the county, I believe. The one in town was ruined and every time I pass by there I never see many dogs there anymore. There’s plenty of space behind the dam to the left side and it would be no interference to the picnic area and fishing.

Mylan Sessions

Clyde

To the Editor:

The recent announcement by the U.S. Forest Service of more potential logging in the new forest management proposals led some environmental groups to hype it as if every tree in the forest were going to be cut down. This is hardly the case. 

This plan would help biodiversity in our national forests. When areas are opened up to sunlight by logging or burning, the rapid regrowth creates early successional habitat that is vital for many types of wildlife to survive and thrive. With declining populations of deer, grouse, and woodcock, to name a few, this type of habitat is desperately needed. Songbirds, rabbits, mice, etc., also thrive in this habitat that, in turn, benefits predator animals, such as owls, bobcats, and foxes. 

This type of habitat is also critical to the continued growth of the very popular elk herd that was introduced in Western North Carolina. Our forests need to be managed for the wildlife as well as for recreational uses. Locking up millions of acres in wilderness with no management at all is not the answer.

Mark B. Rogers

Canton

Great Smoky Mountains National Park will limit the type of firewood brought into the park in order to protect forests. 

Beginning in March 2015, only heat-treated firewood that is bundled and displays a certification stamp by the USDA or a state department of agriculture will be allowed for use in park campgrounds. 

QUESTION: What's the difference between an organic label and the non-gmo project seal? 

A Cullowhee-based forest management group was recently recognized for its work by Root Cause, a regional initiative to raise awareness of sustainable forestry industries.

Editor’s note: The following is a submission from Haywood Waterways Association reflecting on the organization’s work to protect and improve water quality in Haywood County.

Since 1998, Haywood Waterways Association has instructed thousands of children, written more than a hundred successful grant applications and partnered on projects that directly improve water quality. But what do the Kids in the Creek program or stabilizing stream banks actually mean for water quality in Haywood County?

A 76-acre tract along the Appalachian Trail on Roan Mountain has been permanently protected thanks to the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, safeguarding scenic views and wildlife habitat.

The tract is half a mile from Carvers Gap, a popular access point for the AT and the Roan Highlands near the Tennessee line.

Oil painter Jon Houglum will demonstrate “Oil Painting Techniques in a Portrait” for the Art League of the Smokies at 6:15 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 8, at the Swain County Center for the Arts in Bryson City. 

A Dillsboro book artist and adjunct instructor at Southwestern Community College, Frank Brannon has been selected for the first Mary B. Regan Residency Grant for a project to revitalize the Cherokee language through his artistry as a letterpress printer. 

Singer-songwriter Dan Shearin will perform at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 9, at The Classic Wine Seller in Waynesville.

To the Editor:

It’s time for New Year’s resolutions, particularly those about our health. Although gun violence remains the leading cause of death among young people, our most dangerous weapon is still our fork. 

Forty-five times as many die of chronic diseases linked to a diet containing animal products, sugar and salt. Hardly a month goes by without another study linking consumption of animal products with obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and certain cancers. No reputable study has ever shown an opposite result.

But times are changing. Hundreds of schools, colleges, hospitals and corporate cafeterias have embraced Meatless Monday. According to a Gallup poll, 22 percent of American consumers are avoiding meat and 12 percent are avoiding dairy products. Harris Interactive claims that 47 percent of American consumers are reducing consumption of animal products.

Accordingly, plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy products are growing explosively, propelled by investments from Microsoft, Paypal and Twitter founders. Fast-food chains like Chipotle, Subway and Taco Bell are rolling out vegan options. 

Let this New Year’s resolution be about exploring the rich variety of plant-based entrees, lunch meats, cheeses, ice creams and milks in our supermarket. The Internet offers tons of recipes and transition tips.

Weston Madrigal

Waynesville

To the Editor:

As we approach the year 2015, I appeal to the decision makers of Haywood County to take a progressive, positive action with a request to fix an obvious problem with a local bill which would fix this by next election. As a private senior citizen, I believe it is time for a local bill to our state legislature for changing the method of selecting the county tax collector.

If the remaining 99 counties of North Carolina choose to appoint a tax collector by training, experience, qualifications and references, it would behoove Haywood County to do likewise.

Now is the time to make changes by changes in local election practices.

Ernestine E. Upchurch

Maggie Valley

Southwestern Community College student Stanley Kingsberry has landed a patent for his invention of a magnetic wrench system.

Though offers to buy his invention are streaming in from companies across the nation, he’s holding out for a bid in the nine-figure range. Kingsberry said he hopes to make a firm decision by March on whether to lease the idea to tool manufacturers or sell it outright. 

By Thomas Crowe • Guest Columnist

In case you didn't know it, right here in our midst we have a gem of an organization — an organization that has been fighting for clean air and water for all of us here in Western North Carolina since 1999.

As a founding board member, while I know that many folks have probably heard of the Canary Coalition (think “canary in the coal mine”), there are many that may not be aware of what it does to raise public consciousness about environmental issues and to influence public policy related to these issues.

By Laura Amour • Guest Columnist

“The mountains attract seekers.”

That comment was made by a cherished friend that I have known most of my life.  We grew up together in Memphis, went our separate ways, and ended up about an hour away from each other ... here in the mountains. We have always enjoyed thinking “outside the box.” We always looked for meaning in our lives, whether it existed or not. Did the fact that we are kindred spirits in this way have anything to do with both of us moving to the mountains?

To the Editor:

An article in the Dec. 17-23 issue of The Smoky Mountain News states that the Pigeon Center in Waynesville serves “the black community and ... underserved populations.” In fact, the programs offered there draw many of us who belong to neither of those groups. 

Changemakers for Racial Understanding is a joint project with Grace Episcopal Church, facilitated by trained leaders from the Center for Participatory Change. Members of “Lift Every Voice,” both black and white, are collecting the history of the African-American community in Haywood County, and this program offers internships to history students at Western Carolina University. The Pigeon Center board is very diverse. 

I believe anybody who’s been there will agree that the Pigeon Center is a place of open-hearted community where all are welcome.

Sara Jenkins

​Lake Junaluska