By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

For more than 60 years, students have been learning at Cowee Elementary School. But with the rise in Macon County’s student population, county leaders are looking to build a new school to accommodate the county’s sudden influx of pupils.

By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer

Landfills in North Carolina should become a lot emptier due to a new law requiring nearly 8,000 restaurants to start recycling alcoholic beverage containers.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

Students at Smokey Mountain Elementary and Cherokee Indian Reservation schools will be learning an important lesson about land development.

Walter Kulash, a private traffic engineer, has been advising the Jackson County Smart Roads Alliance on and off for four years on issues pertaining to the Southern Loop. Kulash specializes in “livable traffic” design and has worked as a consultant on projects all over the country. Kulash will be speaking at a presentation on Jan. 10 hosted by Smart Roads. We asked him for his take whether there’s a fix for N.C. 107 that doesn’t involve the Southern Loop.

Kinky Boots

Start the year off on the right foot with this 2005 Brit flick starring Joel Edgerton as Charlie Price, the hapless inheritor of a shoe factory, and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Lola, the charming drag queen who sets Charlie’s world on fire with the idea for a new niche market of sexy boots. Life allows us to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, if only to learn more about our own insecurities and hidden abilities. In this case, these shoes come in the form of “two-and-a-half feet of tubular sex.” The film’s soundtrack ain’t too shabby either with soulful hits from David Bowie, Nina Simone, and James Brown. My favorite is the sassy salsa number “In These Shoes” by Kirsty MacColl.

Exercise Calendar & Stickers

While you’re making those New Year’s resolutions, try charting your progress on a calendar. Better yet, each day you work out at the gym, run, swim, bike, aerobicize or get some form of exercise, mark it with a sticker — like the ones you used to get for good work in kindergarten. It may seem silly, but it works as a motivator. Keep the calendar somewhere in the house where you’ll see it every day. I keep mine on the bathroom mirror. I like using a colorful assortment of thumbnail-sized stickers with pictures of googly-eyed bugs, butterflies, flowers and fruit. Add a little fun to your exercise goals in ‘08.

Bad President

Count down the last days of Dubya’s lame duck presidency with this handy page-a-day desk calendar featuring head-shaking Bush quotes, fun facts on countless White House blunders, lies from Cabinet lackeys, and quips from your favorite comedians about the Commander of Misspeak. Take another walk through the hall of shame that leads to the Oval Office. The trillion-dollar disaster in Iraq. How we went to war on phony and misleading evidence. Underestimating the subsequent Iraqi insurgency and civil war. Billions in military contracts missing or unaccounted for. Warrantless wiretapping that began seven months before 9/11. Denials of torture and secret prisons only to be proven true. The underfunded, ill-advised, high-stakes testing farce known as No Child Left Behind. The Katrina fiasco. Lax environmental protection. Tax breaks for the rich. Poverty rates that have risen steadily since Bush took office. A ballooning deficit ($9.1 trillion and counting). But you can bet, ol’ George is grateful for his time in the saddle as Leader of the (sort-of) Free World. In his own words back in 2004, he challenged us to hope: “I’m honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein.”

— Michael Beadle

By Chris Cooper

Looking back on the albums and/or shows (be they local, regional or major label offerings) I’ve had the opportunity to write about over the last year, two things struck me: 1) that I was lucky enough to hear all this music in the first place, sometimes even for free, and 2) that I wouldn’t have heard any of it on the “radio.” I know, that’s a pretty easy target these days. The real challenge might be finding anybody that doesn’t hate mainstream radio.

By Michael Beadle

A lawyer battling personal demons returns to a small town near Pittsburgh where a sensational crime forces him to face up to following the letter of the law — even if that means letting a dangerous criminal go free.

By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer

“Overall, it’s been a really tough year for farming,” said Jackson County farmer William Shelton as he reflected back on 2007.

“It’s one for the history books,” agreed Bill Skelton, director of the N.C. Cooperative Extension in Haywood County.

The best news about the proposed Cataloochee Wilderness Resort is that it appears that from here on out, there will be at least some public disclosure on whatever progress is made. At least that is what representatives of the development group are saying, and there’s no doubt that media scrutiny will be very high.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

After investigating the actions of the Macon County School Board for the past two months, officials at the North Carolina State Board of Elections have determined that the school district violated two campaign finance statutes.

By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer

The crowning achievement of Haywood County’s bicentennial celebration is a 600-page, hardcover book that will be the first definitive account of the county’s 200-year history.

One is a new law that just took effect Jan. 1, and the other is a hoped-for statute that we believe is absolutely necessary for the continued prosperity of Western North Carolina. Both are good for the region.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

The Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail hope its first-ever executive director will be able to complete the missing lengths in the footpath that runs the breadth of the Tar Heel state.

Skinny Dip, Carl Hiaasen

This 512-page novel is a fast read that unfolds like a movie, painting a vivid picture of crime and adventure in South Florida. The story itself isn’t deep — Chaz Perrone offs his wife in an effort to cover up his ineptitude, but even at that he is a failure. However, the story’s moral comes from Hiaasen’s description of the desecration of the Everglades and the human nitwits who plunder and pillage the native environment for their own financial and political gain. He does all this using descriptive phrases such as “psychotic gopher,” characters including a hairy goon who steals fentanyl patches from incapacitated nursing home residents, and a hoard of animals from mating alligators to incontinent lap dogs. Hiaasen produces one of the blurbs of praise on the book jacket for Christopher Moore’s The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror, which though it is slightly late in the season is next on my reading list.

Feist, The Reminder

Those who have seen one of the latest in the ranks of catchy iPod commercials will recogniz Feist’s big band-meets banjo dance number “1234” seemingly stolen from some trendy, ironic British musical. This album is the breakout solo for the Canadian songstress who also has worked with another of my similarly recommended groups, Kings of Convenience on their 2004 release Riot on an Empty Street. The Reminder is split about half and half with songs as equally catchy as “1234” and sinuously, delicately beautiful ballads. It’s an album that will enjoy placement in your collection as one that oft receives play.

Judd Apatow

As of late, the genius of Judd Apatow has become a verb. When a comedy is falling flat Hollywooders are making the call to “Judd it up.” It’s an effort to capitalize on the brand of dead-pan, awkwardly sarcastic humor that has been found to appeal tremendously to those who have grown tired of the sit-coms, canned laugh tracks and politically correct punch lines designed to appeal to the mass market. Apatow has been the mastermind behind recent greats including “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” “The 40-Year Old Virgin,” “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” “Knocked Up,” “Superbad,” and “Juno” and “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,” both now in theaters. You’ll also find his work on television’s long-since cancelled “Freaks and Geeks” and “The Critic.” This year has me looking forward to the release of several upcoming films with Apatow as producer. “Drillbit Taylor” stars Owen Wilson. Seth Rogen, Apatow and Evan Goldberg (also a writer on “Superbad”) jointly wrote “Pineapple Express,” which features Bill Hader and Gary Cole of “Office Space” (Lumbergh) among others. “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” brings more Apatow alumni including Jonah Hill and Paul Rudd, while “Step Brothers” partners the producer with writers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. 2009 promises the re-teaming of Michael Cera and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (both from “Superbad) with Jack Black in “Year One.” Ah to be a fly on the wall.

www.funnyordie.com

All that Apatow talk naturally brings me here to www.funnyordie.com. Created by Will Ferrell, Adam McCay and Christ Henchy this online comedy site is the home of the greatly famed skit “The Landlord.” It’s all homegrown comedy created from the minds of some of Hollywood’s finest and some of the greater world at general’s up and coming current nobodies. Next time you’ve got some time to waste (and a fast Internet connection) go on a video binge. And if you’re one of the 462 million Americans who still hasn’t seen “The Landlord,” make sure to remedy that situation first.

— By Sarah Kucharski

By Michael Beadle

Long before the days of microwaves and fast food meals, there was the slow-cooked stew, a Southern standard prepared in vast pots over an open fire. These stews included tender meats, fresh vegetables, secret seasonings and a day’s worth of preparations that would bring out an entire community.

There was an interesting coincidence on July 11, 2006. Thom Yorke released Eraser to mixed reviews, and the same day a band that still desperately wants to be Radiohead (that would be Muse) dropped their newest, Black Holes And Revelations.

By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer

The widening of Howell Mill Road in Waynesville will take years to complete, cost millions of dollars and displace residents who live along the thoroughfare.

The two-lane road starts at Russ Avenue next to Rite Aid, winds through a residential area, passes the Waynesville Recreation Center and ends at Business 19 close to the Haywood Community College High Tech Center. The DOT project aims to widen the entire road and install sidewalks that will provide pedestrian access to the recreation center and a turning lane that will help alleviate backups and accidents on the increasingly busy stretch.

The town of Waynesville and DOT recently agreed on Alternative 2, which calls for a sidewalk to be put in on one side of the road and a middle turning lane at a cost of $12.5 million. The other proposed alternative, number four, would have consisted of the installation of a median down the center of Howell Mill and a multi-use path separated from the road by a ditch at a cost of $14 million. At one time, the town hoped the multi-use path would be connected to its greenway system.

“The town likes Alternative 2 because of the sidewalk, and DOT likes it because it’s a million cheaper,” explained Town Engineer Fred Baker.

Additionally, Baker said, the multi-use path would have cost the town more, since it would require additional right of way to be purchased. The cost would have been $590,000 rather than the $270,000 to only build a sidewalk.

“We were really pushing to do a good pedestrian component to the road. Right now, the best we can do is putting a sidewalk in. At least there will be a pedestrian pathway,” Baker said.

The DOT will start purchasing right of way in 2009, according to District Engineer Jamie Wilson. Five residences and two businesses will be displaced. Construction will begin in 2011 and take two and a half years to complete.

“One thing that takes a long time is buying people’s property,” Baker said.

“There’s people losing their property that aren’t happy. That’s one thing DOT has to balance — the need for the public at large to be able to move about in a community,” he said.

Uprooted and moved

Eighty-two year old Laura Gunter is one resident of Howell Mill Road that will have to be relocated. Gunter has lived in her house for 31 years with Dewey, her 59-year-old mentally handicapped son.

“We hate to give it up, because it’s been home,” she said.

Gunter said she understands that sometimes these things happen, but admits it will be hard to leave.

“It would be bad to have to jerk up and move, but the state’s going to build roads eventually,” she said.

Gunter has another son in the area who will be in charge of talking to the DOT on her behalf. She says her son Dewey, though used to his surroundings, won’t be bothered by the move — and she’ll continue to care for him somewhere else.

“I’ll tend to him as long as I can,” she said.

Gunter is far from alone in her dilemma. According to Andy Simpson, relocation coordinator for the DOT, 231 owners and tenants were relocated due to DOT projects in 2006.

The DOT offers as much assistance as possible to the people they relocate.

“We have to go out and find three comparable properties to what they live in or rent,” Simpson explained from his Raleigh office. “Our right of way agents work very closely with Realtors because they know what the housing market is. We have to inspect all the properties to make sure they’re decent, safe and sanitary.”

The DOT provides transportation to look for housing, provides referrals, sets residents up with Realtors, provides information on mortgages, and pays most of the closing costs of the new property.

It’s not always possible, though, to get a property near the one that has been acquired as right of way. This is a particular concern for Gunter, who says she would miss her proximity to the recreation center, where she walks one mile every day.

“It really depends on the housing market in the area. We start out as close to their house as possible. If they’re in a subdivision, we look at that subdivision, or we look down the street or at side streets, then we go further out to find comparables. In rural areas, we can’t necessarily find other houses similar to those, and they can be up to 15 miles away,” Simpson said.

Balsam Gap Segment

This portion of the trail runs for approximately 35 miles from Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) Balsam Gap Ranger Station (milepost 442.9) to the intersection of the BRP with NC 215 (BRP milepost 423.2). Abundant wildflowers and shrubs such as rhododendron and azalea and a number of wild berry patches — blueberry, strawberry and blackberry — grow along this scenic section. It harbors northern hardwood and spruce-fir forest bird species including black-billed cuckoo, brown creeper, wild turkey, yellow-bellied sapsucker, and black-capped chickadee. Grassy Ridge Mine, an old mica mine, is visible off Grassy Ridge Overlook at BRP milepost 436.8. Spectacular views of the Great Balsam Mountains and the Tuckasegee River Valley are visible from Double Top Mountain Overlook (BRP milepost 435.3). This segment also offers excellent vantage points for watching the monarch butterfly migration.

Mount Pisgah Segment

Running from NC 215 (BRP milepost 423.2) to the BRP French Broad River Bridge (milepost 393.5) for approximately 39 miles (66 miles if following the alternative Art Loeb Trail, the only loop on the MST at this time), this high-elevation segment follows the Pisgah Ledge through the upper reaches of the Pigeon River watershed to spectacular vistas including views of Devil’s Courthouse. The alternative route, Art Loeb Trail, drops down to the Davidson River before climbing back to Mount Pisgah through the Pink Beds. The trail courses past cascades and waterfalls, conifer groves, thickets of mountain laurel, and tunnels of rhododendrons that are breathtakingly beautiful when their blossoms open in May and June. Wild turkeys and northern bobwhites roam below as common yellowthroats, white-breasted nuthatches, cedar waxwings, several species of warblers, and even a few ruby-throated hummingbirds and golden eagles fly above.

Mount Mitchell Segment

High-country hiking is excellent along this stretch which runs approximately 14.5 miles from Balsam Gap Parking Overlook (BRP milepost 359.8) to U.S. Forest Service Black Mountain Campground. In these spruce-fir forests chances are good for sighting the northern saw-whet owl, pine siskin, red crossbill, veery, downy woodpecker, golden-crowned kinglet, and a number of warblers. Small mammals and white-tailed deer, black bears, bobcats, and gray foxes roam this area. Some of the most spectacular scenery east of the Mississippi includes views of the Asheville Watershed, Potato Knob and Mount Mitchell in the Black Mountain range, and the nearby Great Craggy Mountains. This trail segment also includes a short side trail to the summit of Mount Mitchell, at 6,684 feet the highest point east of the Mississippi River.

(From the Web site http://www.sherpaguides.com/north_carolina/mountains/long_trails/mountains_to_sea_trail.html)

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

Sylva Town Manager Jay Denton has resigned from his job to become the executive director of Jackson County’s Economic Development Commission, but county commissioners refused to confirm his appointment to that position when they met Monday night (Jan. 7).

Upcountry Carolina Beef Hash

5 lbs lean beef, cut up for stew

1 1/2 lbs large onions diced

1 lb butter

1-2 tbsp salt

pepper for taste

— York County, S.C., recipe

Brunswick Stew of Brunswick Co., Va.

6 hens

15 lbs potatoes

5 lbs onions

5 lbs sugar

3 lbs butter

5 lbs fatback

4 qt tomatoes

4 qt corn

1 box celery seed

1 box black pepper

1 box red pepper

— Thea Matthews

Lowcountry Boil

5 large boiling potatoes

1 1/2 lbs smoked sausages

6 ears of corn

2 lbs shrimp in the shell

Boil all in water flavored by crab boil

and serve with hot sauce.

— Vertamae Grosvenor

Kentucky Burgoo

2 lbs beef shank/brisket

3 lbs mutton or breast of lamb

6 qt. water

2 bay leaves

2 dried red pepper pods

2 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. sage

1 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. black pepper

3 cloves garlic

3 1/2 – 4 lbs chicken, quartered

1 lb boiling potatoes

1 lb onions, peeled and chopped

1/2 lb carrots, peeled and chopped

2 cups cabbage, chopped

2 cups tomatoes — blanched, peeled, seeded and chopped

1 large green pepper, diced

1 cup lima beans

1 1/2 cup whole kernel corn

1 cup okra, sliced

1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley

Boil meats with spices. Simmer 1 1/2 hours. Meats are boned and coarsely ground. Return meat to pot and add vegetables for stew to slowly simmer another 2 hours.

School official will use lottery proceeds to install artifical turf at the Pisgah and Tuscola high school stadiums, it was announced at a county commissioners meeting on Jan. 7.

By Michael Sanera • Guest Columnist

In what appears to be a first in Jackson County, planners from a private consulting firm have been invited to teach students at Smokey Mountain Elementary and Cherokee Indian Reservation schools. The consultant will use a one-sided curriculum called Box City that not only ignores the realities of private land ownership, but also encourages students to engage in political activity. The Box City curriculum provides students with small cardboard boxes and maps so they can plan their ideal community.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

As Shelli Milling of Georgia unpacked her minivan she watched her two sons play in the snow at Maggie Valley’s Jonathan Creek Inn parking lot.

By David Curtis

College football and presidential primary politics make strange bedfellows, but in this New Year I think they have been sharing the same sheets.

By Michael Beadle

Brad Ulrich was 10 years old when he began playing the trumpet. He’d started with the guitar but picked up his brother’s trumpet to sneak a few notes here and there.

By Chris Cooper

A few years ago there was this gangly guy with a mop of shaggy blonde hair sitting on a bench reading Beneath The Wheel by Herman Hesse. I recognized the book because a friend of mine had recently acquired a copy, and I’d made a half-hearted attempt to work my way through it.

Jackson County is almost at the end of its rope in the fight against Duke Power, but it is important that it make this final appeal. Its citizens deserve one more attempt at getting their fair share in what has become a drawn-out battle.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

Tom Dowell searches a large topographic map of Jackson County for his home located along Airy Lane. He is one of the many residents whose homes may be in jeopardy if the North Carolina Department of Transportation gets its way and the Southern Loop is built.

By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer

Patricia Frisbee Meyer’s son needed help.

The mental illness he had battled since childhood stayed mostly under control, but Meyer knew the onset of a bad episode when she saw it. Meyer, along with her husband, took her son to the emergency room at Haywood Regional Medical Center that Sunday — beginning a saga in which her son was restrained for nearly 48 hours before getting the care he desperately needed.

By Angela Faye Martin

Presently, I am stalking though my local library collecting my thoughts on what I will write about in my next column when, wham! Someone across the room is getting a call on their cell phone.

The chair of Haywood County’s Tourism Development Authority says a misdemeaor marijuana charge against the organization’s executive director will not affect her job status.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

Viewers across the state will have the opportunity to learn about Jackson County’s green energy production from their living room.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

The Southern Appalachian brook trout population is surviving through the drought that has been plaguing Western North Carolina this past year, according to Great Smoky Mountain National Park fisheries biologists Matt Kulp.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

After working two years as Sylva’s town manager, Jay Denton will be leaving his post Jan. 31 with the hopes of becoming the new executive director for Jackson County’s Economic Development Commission.

By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer

When Denise Tyson realized she would have to trek to another county to take part in celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, she did just what the famous civil rights leader would have done — she took a stand.

Since in this age of home video, I seldom get to see many of the best movies of any given year until the following year — when they are finally released on DVD — please consider the following list of 2007’s best movies not only subjective but likely to change once I get around to seeing “Juno,” “There Will Be Blood,” and “Atonement,” among others. Still, I can at the very least highly recommend the five movies listed further below. The list of best albums is twice as long and could be longer still — lots of good stuff this year.

Albums

The National, Boxer — Every year, some band I don’t know anything about comes along and produces an album that ends up moving me so much that I obsess about it for months, playing it over and over until I know it note for note. Such a profound connection between the music and listener is ineffable, so I’ll spare you the purple prose that would be no more useful — or interesting — than describing an intense dream. I’ll just say that this was easily the most affecting album I heard all year, and I haven’t talked with anyone who’s heard it that didn’t also love it.

Arcade Fire, Neon Bible — A follow-up to their widely praised debut. Their sound is dark, brooding, and expansive, but thrilling and literate, too. Another great album.

White Stripes, Icky Thump — I like all their records, but this may be my favorite. After a period of experimentation, Jack White returns to the basics — and has some fun in so doing.

The Apples In Stereo, New Magnetic Wonder — Although they’ve been around awhile, I never heard of them until trying this after an enthusiastic review I read somewhere. Somewhere between power pop and psychedelia, I really have no idea how to describe their sound except to say that it is their own. Lots of good songs on a longish album.

Public Enemy, How You Sell Soul — Has it really been nearly two decades since they provided the juice for Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing”? Even though Flavor Flav has become a reality television cartoon, they continue to make excellent records.

MIA, Kala — More textured and complex than the dancier Arular, it was nonetheless the primary soundtrack for family living room dancing this summer, and an iPod favorite.

Richard Thompson, Sweet Warrior — I recommend just about everything he’s ever done, literally dozens of albums going back nearly four decades. His guitar playing alone is worth the price of admission, and his albums with Fairport Convention and especially his ex-wife, Linda, are all classics. His solo records have been spottier, but this one’s a winner top to bottom.

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Raising Sand — Not what I expected, especially in terms of a sonic landscape that is spookier and more ethereal than anything either of these legends-in-their-own-genres has ever produced. I mean, what is an Alison Krauss album without a mind-numbing, pristinely clean dobro break from Jerry Douglas? It’s a love it or hate it affair, and I love it, especially the Townes Van Zandt cover.

Bruce Springsteen, Magic — Ready made anthems, grungy sound. I like listening to it better in the car than at home.

Jason Isbell, Sirens Of The Ditch — Formerly of the Drive-By Truckers, Isbell may have released the best pure roots rock record of the year, and he can write to boot. His song “Dress Blues” is the best I’ve heard on the very real consequences of the war in Iraq. A little over-produced, but still affecting.

Movies

“No Country For Old Men” — The unlikely team of Cormac McCarthy and the Coen brothers is not so unlikely, when you think about it. As so many have already said, it is their best since “Fargo,” perhaps even better. It may win a bunch of Oscars, and it may also launch yet more movies based on McCarthy’s books, which are surely among the best in American literature. Blood Meridian is on the way, The Road soon to follow. Please, someone, take on Suttree.

“Once” — Unless you have not a romantic bone in your body, you’ll get caught up in this little indie love story/musical in spite of yourself. If your body is full of romantic bones, you’ll want the soundtrack, too.

“Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead” — At 83, Sidney Lumet can still turn out a winner. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Marisa Tomei may get Oscar nominations.

“Away From Her” — A beautiful, heart-wrenching love story at the other end of the spectrum from “Once.” In the latter, see how love begins; in the former, how it endures, in spite of everything, even Alzheimer’s.

“Knocked Up” — Judd Apatow is the hottest thing in Hollywood right now, having followed up “40 Year Old Virgin” with this movie and “Super Bad,” both released this year. All of them are hilarious.

— By Chris Cox

By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer

In one room, a jagged crack runs from wall to wall, evidence of an unstable foundation. In another, the shifting earth has pushed one side of the floor higher than the other at a perceptible angle that causes objects to appear wildly off-kilter. Throughout the building, the roof sags and shows huge water spots. The occupants of the building attempt to alleviate the leakage by putting out 32-gallon containers in the attic when it rains.

By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer

Emergency rooms crowded with mentally ill patients. Sheriff’s deputies spending 96 hours supervising one individual. A sick man or woman whose situation is growing more dire by the second. It all adds up to a recipe for disaster — and North Carolina’s mental health care system is in imminent danger of becoming just that.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

Rachel Upchurch wants to protect the mountains that tower throughout Jackson County however; the Smokey Mountain Elementary student also wants to see more houses and shopping centers built throughout the Qualla community.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

Macon County welcomed its new County Manger Jack Horton back to Western North Carolina earlier this month. Horton, 57, returned to Macon County to fill the county manager position after the retirement of former manager Sam Greenwood. This is Horton’s second stint in the Macon County manager’ seat, having held the same job from 1985-1991. In a recent interview with The Smoky Mountain News, Horton discussed some of the issues the county is facing.

Smoky Mountain News: What’s it like to be back in this part of Western North Carolina?

Horton: It’s great to be back in Western North Carolina. This is probably — of all the places you could live in the world — the most beautiful place that I know of. And that’s just the scenery. The people here are great too. Over the past almost 30 years that I’ve worked in public administration most of it comes from the western part of the state.

SMN: Macon County has changed a lot since you were here last. One of the big issues the county is dealing with is growth?

Horton: Macon County has changed a lot. The population has grown and a lot of people have moved in here to retire or to raise their families, and the population continues to grow. I think what we will see in Macon County probably will be somewhat of an example of what lies in store for all of Western North Carolina when it comes to growth and natural resources.

SMN: County commissioners have begun talking about finding a second water supply for the county? How do you feel about this issue?

Horton: One of the things that we really have to have and that is getting more and more precious everyday is a good, clean, stable water supply. I think we are going to see over the next 20 years that water is going to be critical, and if you are going to have any type of growth, development or a sustainable economy, you’ve got to have a good water supply. It’s critical not only for the economy but also for environmental reasons.

We’ve been blessed in this part of the state for a long time with an abundance of pure and natural water. We have so much available property around here and a good watershed area I think some of the leaders of the past have been very visionary in their efforts to create and maintain water supplies. One of the projects that people point to on this topic is the water project in Waynesville that happened in the 1970s. That has really paid dividends, and I think that every municipality in this region — and throughout the state, for that matter — has got to take a look at their water supply and how they are going to meet the needs of their county and to meet the needs of their economy.

SMN: Macon County just formed an occupancy tax committee to redistribute the county’s lodging tax. The committee members are eager for you to come on board and are looking forward to your ideas. How do you see the county allocating its occupancy tax?

Horton: I was in Macon County when the occupancy tax was instituted back in the late 1980s, and at that time it was decided that the best way to administer that money was to promote travel and tourism through the Greater Franklin Area and the Highlands Chamber of Commerce because they had two different types of clientele that they were trying to reach through travel and tourism.

I haven’t seen the report or talked to anyone yet that has been on the committee about the changes in the occupancy tax and the creation of a TDA. I can’t really comment on it because I don’t know anything about it.

But I am familiar with the TDA. We had a TDA in Haywood County. In Caldwell County the chamber of commerce partnered with the economic and development commission and promoted tourism and travel. I’ve seen chambers of commerce handle the occupancy tax, I’ve seen TDA’s handle the occupancy tax and I’ve seen a combination of both, so I don’t have any predisposed position on it. I’d like to see what the folks here have to say about it.

SMN: The failure of the school bond referendum was very disappointing for the board of commissioners. How do you see the county financing projects like the 5-6 and k-4 schools?

Horton: The bond referendum for the schools was an opportunity to finance the school improvements through a bond issue. The board of county commissioners and the board of education have made the commitment toward new school facilities. We are looking at ways to finance these projects since the bond referendum failed. The need still exists for new school facilities. I think the county is continuing on with its commitment to fund the schools and I think the first action towards that goal is the acquisition of that property for the new 5-6 school. I anticipate that we will be working on ways to figure out a method of financing the school through alternative methods and try to maintain a reasonably low tax rate at the same time.

I think that’s one of the things most people are concerned with — what is it going to do to my property taxes? We’ll evaluate all those things and move forward with it. Macon County is not a large county but it’s a fairly prosperous county and the general consensus is that the county should be able to fund the critical needs of its schools.

SMN: There is some speculation that there may be an increase in property taxes in order to pay off the debt the county is incurring from the capital improvement projects?

Horton: There are several factors when you talk about property taxes. The county has got the lowest tax rate in the entire state right now — 24.5 cents per hundred dollars. The tax rate is extremely low and the reason it’s extremely low is that there’s been a lot of investment in the county. Real estate prices have risen because a lot of people want to live here and buy property.

The last re-evaluation saw that the county-wide tax base increase by 60 percent, and so the tax rate went down. I think that the board committed to having a revenue neutral tax base, and if we can hold that line I think we can certainly try and do it. You can affect the amount of taxing coming in by raising the tax rate or growing the tax base, and obviously the best choice is increasing the tax base. We’ll have to take a look and see if the tax base will increase enough to pay any debt service on schools before we look at increasing the tax rate.

SMN: Macon County has been in the forefront with confronting the mental health crisis. How do you see the county addressing this issue?

Horton: The state’s decision to reorganize mental health has created a lot of problems in this region that did not exist before. One of the primary issues is how to deal with people that are an involuntary commitment. It used to be that if somebody was committed involuntarily, they were evaluated and taken to a mental health center and within a few hours they were placed in some place or released. But the problem now is that the two- to three-hour wait has become a one- to two-day wait and is tying up law enforcement officers from all seven counties. The problem is that we don’t have enough population to justify getting the private sector involved to provide services for all the mental health needs.

Since the reorganization of mental health, it has taken away a lot of that provision of mental health services and we are hurting for enough professionals to deal with mental health issues in the region.

I think Macon County is really taking a lead to develop a local task force to try and address all the issues affecting mental health. I would expect that the task force — appointed at the Jan. 14 commissioner meeting — will come up with some really good recommendations.

SMN: What issues do you see the county addressing this year?

Horton: I guess it’s going to be the same issues that been facing them the last several years — the growth, the need for educational facilities, some land-use controls in order to preserve the environment and the quality of life. Also look at water, infrastructure and the transportation system — there is a myriad of issues that need to be addressed. I hope to not only look at this year’s plan of work, but maybe we can develop a plan of things we’d like to address over the next five years and work toward those because you have to take the time and put it on paper and commit it to a plan, otherwise people just talk about it and nothing ever gets done.

I think our focus has got to be on the future, on how we are going to be in the next 15 to 20 years. Our goal is to position Macon County to be a leader in the region in addressing these issues. We are going to concentrate on the future. We are going to address all those issues, and we are going to set up a work plan for this year and the next five years and hopefully look on down the road as far as we can to make sure that when we eventually leave that things are better than when we got here.

SMN: Commissioners have talked about forming a better relationship between the county and its municipalities? How do you feel about this issue?

Horton: I think we need to be transparent to the public eye. My goal is to be responsive to the public and to the media so that we get good information out. In order to do that the board has made a commitment to establish a good working relationship with municipalities in the county. That will be a top goal of mine, to work with Franklin and Highlands. We all serve the same people. Everybody in Highlands and Franklin are also in Macon County. Whatever happens inside city limits also affects those outside city limits, so we got to have a good working relationship with our municipal partners.

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