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Falls are the leading cause of both fatal and non-fatal injuries for those 65 and older, and the chances of falling and being seriously injured in a fall increase with age.
In recognition of annual Falls Prevention Awareness Day, students and faculty from Western Carolina University’s Department of Physical Therapy are teaming up with the Jackson County Senior Center and Department of Public Health to offer free programs to help older adults decrease their chance of a fall.
• Learn general tips and brief exercises older adults can use to reduce their risk of falling 11-11:30 a.m. Monday, Sept. 17, at the Jackson County Department on Aging office in Sylva. RSVP for lunch. 828.631.8033.
• An hour-long balance improvement exercise class will be held from 2-3 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 21, at the Jackson County Senior Center. 828.586.4944.
• A fall risk screening clinic will be offered at the Cashiers-Glenville Fire Station from 8:45 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 27. Undergo a series of simple tests to assess your fall risk, including medication reviews by a pharmacist, and receive individualized recommendations based on the results. 828.587.8279.
Western Carolina University’s 38th annual Mountain Heritage Day Local is set for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 29 on the campus in Cullowhee.
The foods competition will include divisions for canned goods, baked goods, extracted honey and “heritage foods,” plus the “Best in the West” whole grain recipe contest.
The foods contest is coordinated jointly by the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service’s Jackson County Center and the Mountain Heritage Center. Ribbons will be awarded to the top three entries in youth and adult divisions and a grand champion will be selected from each of the divisions.
Canned goods, honey and heritage foods can be dropped off at the museum between 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Sept. 25. Baked goods and whole grain recipe contest entries should be brought to the Mountain Heritage Center between 7:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 28.
Winners will be announced from the Balsam Stage at Mountain Heritage Day at 12:15 p.m.
For more information, 828.586.4009 or 828. 227.7129 or www.mountainheritageday.com.
A 5-kilometer foot race and other competitions will take place on the day of the festival. Full race details are available at www.claws.wcu.edu/sma/5K.
Other competitions scheduled for Mountain Heritage Day include a chain saw contest, with registration beginning at 9 a.m. and competition starting at 10 a.m., and an old-fashioned attire contest for children and adults and a beard and moustache contest for men at 12:15 p.m. on the Balsam Stage.
828.227.7129.
Autumn’s colors and flavors take center stage from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 6 during the fourth annual “ColorFest – Art & Taste of Appalachia” festival in Dillsboro.
Macon County Public Library in Franklin will show a short film, “Living in Bear Country: Practical Advice on Living Responsibly in Bear Country” at 7 p.m. on Sept. 13.
A growing population of both bears and people in the area means that problems stemming from improper storage of garbage, barbecues and birdfeeders are growing.
Cynthia Strain, Anne Allison and Kathy Sherrard are wildlife educators affiliated with both Appalachian Bear Rescue and the B.E.A.R. Taskforce of the Western NC Alliance. The trio will share information about black bears and explain how to reduce human and bear conflicts.
The B.E.A.R. Task Force joined forces with the Western North Carolina Alliance a year ago, with a mission to promote safe, harmonious coexistence between humans and bears.
The Friends of the Library is sponsoring the program. It is free, open to the public and appropriate for all ages.
The Haywood Arts Regional Theatre will hold auditions for its November production of the celebrated Broadway play “August Osage County” at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 24-25.
“August Osage County” is considered to be one of the greatest productions of the past decade, winning the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for best play. Set in the contemporary Midwest, it is the story a family coming together after a crisis. The play has roles for adults of all ages. This is a very large cast.
Community theater actors will be given scenes to read from the script. Anyone auditioning as a professional actor is expected to have a headshot, resume and prepared monologue. Anyone interested in working backstage on the production is also encouraged to come by during auditions to sign up.
Steve Lloyd is directing the production, and it will run two weeks beginning Nov. 9.
Auditions will be held in the Performing Arts Center at 250 Pigeon St. in Waynesville. www.HartTheatre.com.
Silvia Williams will instruct a workshop on experimental art from 1-3 p.m. on Sept. 14 at Leapin’ Frog Gallery.
Williams is an abstract experimental artist interested in expressing herself through color, texture and line. Students will be doing a collage applied with exciting colors and shapes. Various techniques will be shown and students may choose which technique is most suited for them.
Cost is $25. Leapin’ Frog Gallery is located at 58 Commerce Street in Waynesville. 828.456.8441.
Phillips, Craig, and Dean, an award-winning contemporary Christian music trio, will be in concert at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 21 at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts.
Randy Phillips, Shawn Craig and Dan Dean are all full-time pastors who have been performing together since 1991. They have released 12 albums and 18 number one radio singles. They have sold more than two million albums and earned multiple Dove Awards. Group hits include, “Here I Am to Worship,” “Your Grace Still Amazes Me” and “Crucified with Christ.”
Tickets start at $15 and are available at the theatre’s box office at 1028 Georgia Road in Franklin.
www.GreatMountainMusic.com or 866.273.4615.
Well-known Waynesville artist Jo Kelley will teach a one-day painting workshop from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 6 at River’s Edge Studio in Asheville.
Tickets are on-sale to see pianist Bruce Hornsby at Harrah’s Cherokee Event Center at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 12.
Hornsby writes powerful songs from the heart that touch on several distinctly American traditions: pop, jazz, bluegrass, and ‘60s soul. He had his first hit in 1986 with “The Way It Is.” He continued to release albums and has backed bands to suit the genres in which he works. Most notably, Hornsby has toured as a temporary member of the Grateful Dead in the early ‘90s and collaborated on offshoot recordings and live shows.
Must be 21 years of age or older to attend.
www.ticketmaster.com or 800.745.3000.
Sylva businesses will stay open late Sept. 14 for its monthly art stroll.
Sylva Art Strolls, which are sponsored by Jackson County Visual Arts Association and the Chamber of Commerce, are held from 5-9 p.m. on the second Friday of each month through December.
Gallery 1 will host an artist reception that night for artists in its new multi-medium art show, SEASONS. The event will also include a make-and-take project, where visitors can paint tile coasters.
Signature Brew Coffee Company and Dawn Behling will present an exhibit, “Hot Wax & OctoLove,” showcasing new work that focuses on the whimsical nature of the ocean. Hot Wax refers to the encaustic technique that uses hot wax and pigment.
City Lights Cafe will feature an ongoing exhibit by Corina Pia and will present live music with singers Ansley & Margaret McAllister on acoustic guitar and harp.
Other participating venues include Survival Pride Clothing Store and Art Gallery, Nichols House Antiques and Collectibles, Papou’s Wine Shop, Lulu’s on Main Restaurant, Main Street Bakery, Mill & Main Restaurant, Hooper’s Restaurant, Pixie’s Emporium & Bistro and Guadalupe Cafe.
828.337.3468 or www.MountainLovers.com.
Craft demonstrations at Dogwood Crafters in Dillsboro during the next week include beading by Nan Smith and punch needlework by Jeri Buek.
Guitar duo Jazz Mountain and the male choir Men Macon Music will perform at a double-bill concert starting at 4 p.m. Sept. 16 on Franklin’s Town Square Gazebo on the corner of Main and Iotla streets.
Guitarists Paul Savaiko and Ray Olson perform together as Jazz Mountain, playing material from The Great American Songbook through varied jazz mediums including swing, ballads, bossas and blues, with some contemporary and original tunes added to the mix.
The award-winning Men Macon Music all-male chorus, directed by Tom Fisher, boasts more than two dozen voices and renders selections representing a broad spectrum of music, from show tunes to Americana to humorous numbers.
Attendees should bring a lawn chair. This event is sponsored by the Arts Council of Macon County, with support from the Grassroots Arts Program of the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.
www.ArtsCouncilofMacon.org or 828.524.7683.
16 acts have beat out the competition to go on to the finals of Haywood’s Got Talent at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 22 at the Performing Arts Center.
The line up for the finals will include vocalist Holly Ann Harmon, harpist Samantha Mulholland, bluegrass folk group Productive Paranoia, vocalist Tracy Long, vocalist Lindsay Long, retro-vocalist Ben Tetreault, guitarist Helena Hunt, Raqshuraka Dance Company, “From Rock to Hip Hop” (featuring Forest, Meadow, River and Sky Byrd), singer/guitarist Matthew Curry, Broadway vocalist Ashlyn Combs, contemporary vocalist Tierney Leigh Cody, opera singer Heather Fergusen, classical vocalist Madison Garris, dancer Sara Kachensparger and country singer Ashley Wood.
Judges for the finals are Rod Leigh, Eric Martinez and Raymond Yarnutoski. The winner will take home $1,000.
Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for students. The Performing Arts Center is located at 250 Pigeon St. in downtown Waynesville.
www.HartTheater.com or 828.456.6322.
Jackson County Library in Sylva begins its new Teen Advisory Group (TAG) from 6-7:30 p.m. Sept. 18 with a special steam punk jewelry and creations workshop.
Teens in grade six through 12 are invited to make suggestions for programs and activities, as well as new books, magazines, movies and audio books. TAG meetings also include socializing, arts and crafts, games and other activities. Many local schools count TAG meeting participation as volunteer time eligible for school credit. Jenifer Ross, a youth services staff member at the library, who makes jewelry and does fine metal work as a hobby, will lead the workshop.
828.586.2016.
For three days in September, the first-ever Dada Festival at Western Carolina University brings together music, dance, the visual arts in the spirit of the early 20th-century art movement known as Dadaism.
The Swain County Public Schools Foundation is looking for people to participate in its first-ever Scarecrow Festival.
Handmade scarecrows will be on display from Oct. 6-20. All businesses, organizations and homeowners are invited to take part. The winning entries will be displayed at the Chili Fest on Oct. 20 at the Bryson City Train Depot.
The entrance fee is $25 per scarecrow. All proceeds go directly into the Swain County Public Schools Foundation, which is responsible for rewarding scholarships for our Swain County students and grants for our teachers.
Entry forms can be picked up at the Swain County Chamber of Commerce or at the Swain County Public School Central Office. Attach a check made out to Swain County Public Schools Foundation and send it to: Laura Holden, Swain County School District, PO Box 2340, Bryson City, NC 28713 by Oct. 1.
770.315.8950.
Greater Haywood County Chamber of Commerce is currently accepting applications for nonprofits and agribusinesses for the 24th annual Haywood County Apple Harvest Festival, scheduled from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 20 on Main Street in Waynesville.
The annual festival, which celebrates the harvest season in Haywood County, features handmade arts and crafts, apples and apple products for sale. In addition, the festival also includes food vendors of all types, educational and information booths, authentic mountain music and dance groups and a children’s fun area.
Nonprofit businesses with an annual operation budget of $200,000 or less and agribusinesses are encouraged to apply. Vendors will receive a 10x12 booth space at a reduced rate of $100. Limited space is available.
The deadline for applications is Sept. 21. Booth space assignments for the festival will be announced after Oct. 5.
Greater Haywood County Chamber of Commerce, Haywood County Extension Service, and Haywood County Apple Growers present the Haywood County Apple Harvest Festival.
Applications are available at www.HaywoodAppleFest.com or 828.456.3021.
Actress Barbara Bates Smith will perform the play “Go, Granny, Go”, the inspiring story of Doris “Granny D” Haddock, at 7 p.m. Sept. 13 at the Mountain Heritage Center at Western Carolina University, with musical accompaniment from Jeff Sebens.
A reception will be held before the performance at 6:30 p.m. Joe Sam Queen, Young Democrats and College Democrats are sponsoring the event. Tickets are $15.
“Granny D,” a 90-year-old in 2000, was considered a national heroine as she completed a walk from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. to bring attention to campaign finance reform.
Smith, noted for her Off-Broadway adaptation and performance of “Ivy Rowe” from Lee Smith’s Fair and Tender Ladies, has toured for 20 years with the works of Lee Smith.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park will celebrate Appalachian folkways at its annual Mountain Life Festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 15 at the Mountain Farm Museum.
An $11.7 million expansion by Sonoco Plastics in Waynesville is now underway, landed in part thanks to $828,000 worth of economic incentives from the state, Haywood county and the town.
Sonoco is currently in the process of expanding its facility on Howell Mill Road off Russ Avenue by 17,000 square feet and transforming it into a 24-hour operation.
The company, which manufactures plastic packaging such as the trays used in frozen dinners, has already spent nearly $1 million on the expansion, said Mark Clasby, executive director of the Economic Development Commission, at a Haywood County Board of Commissioners meeting Monday. The new capital investment on the building expansion and equipment is estimated at $11.7 million.
Sonoco Plastics has operations in other locations, which were considered along with Waynesville for the expansion. Tax credits and grants sweetened the pot, in return for the funding, the company, formerly known as Associated Packaging, needed to add 35 jobs.
Last year, Sonoco Plastics employed 97 people. Now, the company has 132 full-time and 30 part-time employees.
The plant has received $175,000 in job creation grants from the North Carolina Rural Center so far. All funding from the Rural Center must pass through the county, which then disburses it.
Late fees for overdue books and CDs have increased at libraries in Haywood County.
Habitually late bibliophiles previously paid 10 cents per day for every late book or CD, with the maximum charge being $10 per item. However, the Haywood County Board of Commissioners voted this week to up the daily fee to 25 cents per book and CD. Though, the maximum fine will remain at $10, and DVD late fees will remain at $1 a day.
The change puts the Haywood County libraries in line with the other libraries in the state.
The Macon Aero Modelers Club is hosting a charity Fly-In at 9 a.m. Sept. 22 and 10 a.m. Sept. 23 at its flying field in Otto.
The proceeds will go to CareNet, a nonprofit organization that collects food for those in need. Visitors are asked to bring 10 cans of non-perishable food or donate $5 per car for parking.
The Fly-In is open to the public and will feature all types of radio-controlled airplanes and helicopters flying, and on display. The club’s airfield is located about eight miles south of Franklin on Tessentee Road. Hotdogs and barbecue will be available for lunch.
By Chris Cooper
For your consideration this week: some engaging new sounds from Canyon Records, and a frantic but exhilarating tribute to one of Britain’s most brilliant and under-appreciated guitar heroes, Jeff Beck.
“Picket Fences,” and “Northern Exposure”
Is it possible to be nostalgic for the 1990s already? Or maybe it is the relative lack of excellent, quirky, hour-long “dramadies,” especially on network television. Before HBO blew the networks away with “The Sopranos,” “Six Feet Under,” “Deadwood,” and the like, these shows were two of the best television had to offer. “Picket Fences” was created by David Kelley, who also created “LA Law,” “Ally McBeal,” and “Boston Legal,” among other shows, but I thought “Picket Fences” might be the best of the bunch, and after a long delay, the first season is finally available on DVD. Since Kelley’s shows are often topical, some of the episodes seem a bit dated now, and the edginess of the show is not nearly as edgy now in the wake of “The Sopranos,” et al. Still, it is well worth seeking out. “Northern Exposure,” on the other hand, has not dated at all, remaining as fresh and inventive as the day it aired. Instead of watching another stupid reality show, give these a try, or if you know and love them already, go ahead and wallow in some ‘90s nostalgia.
By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer
Increasing congestion coupled with pressure from candidates in the upcoming election is forcing the town of Waynesville to confront growing traffic problems along Russ Avenue.
By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer
Swain County commissioners have approved a measure that will carve out up to one third of the Tourism Development Authority’s total budget to pay for the purchase of a new downtown visitor’s center.
The ordinance — adopted at the commissioners’ July 10 meeting after being approved by the state — also gives commissioners the authority to either increase or decrease the county’s 3 cent occupancy tax. The occupancy tax is generated by those paying to stay overnight in hotels and motels in Swain County.
By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer
Vidalia onions. Georgia peaches. Washington apples. Haywood County tomatoes?
The formal name is still up in the air, but local officials are aiming to make Haywood County known for a variety of tomato unique to the area.
The idea for a product that would distinguish Haywood County came out of the Buy Haywood program, a campaign established through a $60,000 grant from the Golden Leaf Foundation to help market local produce. The Golden Leaf Foundation provides funding to assist farmers in making the transition away from a tobacco-based economy.
By Kathleen Lamont
One doesn’t usually give their septic system a second thought — until the day that you walk into the bathroom and see the bathtub filling up with sewage. It’s Saturday and you’ve never had a problem with your septic tank before. As Carl Malden used to say, what would you do?
It used to be the “revenooers” who were considered the most vile characters in the mountains, but now we have a new villain — the evil developer who swoops in with wads of cash and turns beautiful mountaintops and river valleys into gated developments or golf courses. For that description to hold up, though, local leaders and landowners have to play the part of ignorant country bumpkins who don’t realize they’re being taken advantage of.
By Michael Beadle
Ron Davis is tracking a very special timber rattlesnake along a road at Balsam Mountain Preserve in Jackson County.
In late July, the snake was released back into its habitat after undergoing surgery to have a transmitter placed inside its body. That way, Davis, a natural resources management professor at Western Carolina University, can track the snake with a radio transmitter to learn more about its behavior, habitat and where it will den this fall. This, in turn, should reveal important clues about how timber rattlers survive despite increasing human development carving roads and homes through the very places snakes have long held as a refuge.
By Sami Felmet • Guest Columnist
The birds and the bees. We’re losing them, you know. How will we explain reproduction without them? Maybe it’s easier now with so much sex on TV and in the movies. Is it any wonder the little darlings are having sex younger and have no respect for fidelity? The word is still in Webster’s, but that page is spanking clean at the library.
Editor’s note: Margaret Osondu, owner of Osondu Booksellers in Waynesville, recently conducted an email interview with Masha Hamilton, one of the writers headlining the upcoming Book Mania event Aug. 4 at the Haywood County Justice Center. Masha Hamilton is the author of three novels — Staircase of a Thousand Steps (2001), a Booksense pick by Independent booksellers and a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection; The Distance Between Us (2004), chosen as one of the best books of the year by the Library Journal; and The Camel Bookmobile (2007), a Booksense pick. Hamilton was an Associated Press foreign correspondent for five years in the Middle East and spent another five years in Moscow as a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. With her extensive background covering Kremlin politics, Israel, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Kenya, Hamilton has been able to draw on experiences in war-torn areas to shed light on the families and individuals in parts of the world that few get to see first-hand. She teaches writing workshops throughout the country and has been awarded several fiction fellowships. She lives with her husband and three children in Brooklyn, N.Y.
How old were you when you started writing?
I wrote from early childhood. I always wanted to be a writer.
Who encouraged you?
I was lucky enough to get lots of encouragement from my parents and teachers early on, and from colleagues as a journalist and an author. I am so moved by the support I got that I try to pass that on whenever possible.
Is there anyone in your educational background who inspired your writing?
I have been inspired by the individuals I met and got to know who lived under conditions of duress in the Middle East, Afghanistan, the Soviet Union. Fellow journalists and authors have also inspired me. Each of my three novels is also dedicated to people, living and dead, who I admire and who had a direct impact on my work.
I notice that many of your stories are about courageous individuals who live in countries riddled with strife and adversity. I imagine there have been many who have inspired you or touched a place deep in your heart. Would you tell me about one of those experiences?
My second novel is dedicated to Kevin Carter, a photojournalist and a member of “The Bang Bang Club” in South Africa who won the Pulitzer for one of his photos showing a child, a famine victim in southern Sudan, with a vulture behind her. Even as he was given enormous recognition for the work, he also was criticized for not stopping to help that girl. Two weeks after he was awarded the Pulitzer in New York City, back home in Johannesburg now, he committed suicide. His suicide note read, in part: “I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings & corpses & anger & pain ... of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners....” I thought of Kevin often while working on my second novel which is, in part, about the price journalists pay to bring us vital stories from around the world.
Did you go to Kenya to research for your book The Camel Bookmobile? I understand there really is a camel bookmobile. How true to reality is the one in your book?
Yes, I had the wonderful opportunity to go out with the real camel library. Initially I did my research by phone calls and emails, though. I waited to travel to Garissa and walk out into the bush with the real camel library, in part because of my journalist background. I didn’t want reporting skills to kick in before the story itself was fully formed, and each character impacted by the camel library in diverse ways. I found the area and people much as I’d imagined them from my research, and the issues they struggle with in this isolated region in transition are many of the same issues the characters in the novel face.
We are planning a book drive at our Haywood County Book Mania event on August 4th. Is there any one genre that is most needed for the people in Kenya?
The librarians in the Northeast Province who travel with the camel bookmobile told me children’s storybooks are most popular, general fiction for kids and adults is also high on the list, and much interest is shown in nonfiction books covering topics ranging from astronomy to geography to history. We also like to send books by African authors. The librarians also said, by the way, that patrons especially love it when a book is inscribed with a note from the sender. It helps them feel connected to places only barely imagined.
What are you reading now?
I just finished The Gate by Francois Bizot. Loved it.
What’s next?
I’m working on a novel manuscript called Thirty-One Hours that takes place over that time period in New York City. I’m dreaming of going to Pakistan and returning to Afghanistan.
By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer
Contractors, Realtors and graders in Swain County claim they need more time to comment on an ordinance that would regulate the slope and width of mountainside roads.
County commissioners, who have already held two public hearings on the ordinance, agreed last week to hold a third one.
N.C. Gov. Mike Easley signed a $20.7 billion budget bill Tuesday, July 31, that includes $46.2 million in funding for a new health and gerontological sciences building at Western Carolina University. The 145,000 square-foot facility that will house WCU’s educational and outreach programs in the College of Health and Human Sciences will be the first construction project on the university’s Millennial Initiative property, 344 acres of land located across N.C. Highway 107 from Western’s main campus.
There are serious problems with the energy legislation passed this session in the North Carolina General Assembly, but the bill also marks a watershed moment for North Carolina and the Southeast — this state is now the first in the region to mandate that a percentage of its electricity needs be met with clean energy sources.
What’s in a name? What about Scat?
Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? Maybe. Shakespeare seemed to think so at least. But what about, um, fecal matter? Would it too retain its aromatic qualities under other names?
By Katie Polonsky
I’m a firm believer that when reading a novel, you bring to it the whole of your perspective on the world. You bring hopes, beliefs, experiences, biases.
Speaking of biases, I should warn you: I’m a diehard Harry Potter fan. On July 20th , I lined up to happily endure the claustrophobia-inducing madness that was the Tunnel Road Barnes and Noble to procure my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as close to midnight as possible. I spent the hours counting down to the big moment sprawled on the floor as I worked with little concentration on a crossword puzzle, my iPod crammed securely in my ears to insure no unwanted spoilers invaded my carefully guarded anticipation. I had avoided the Internet for days, refused to watch the news, and acted as though I’d been struck with a severe case of agoraphobia.
It’s a first for the president and a first for Macon County.
Southwestern Community College Board of Trustees named the new Macon Campus after the college’s President Cecil Groves, whom they called “the visionary leader” behind the project. The name of the 27,600- square-foot building on Siler Road will be the Cecil L. Groves Center.
By David Curtis
As a schoolteacher you always wonder how your students will remember you.
“She was a good teacher, but she smelled like garlic,” was my daughter’s comment when the name of a former teacher came up in conversation.
By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer
A sudden turn of events in Haywood County’s bidding for a 22-acre tract slated for use as a park has exposed an overwhelming desire for recreation in the Jonathan Creek and Maggie Valley areas.
Has there ever been a workforce reduction at HRMC in the past 15 years, and does this workforce reduction indicate any long-term financial problems?
This re-engineering process is similar to 1993 when I first arrived. In 1993 there were different issues and work force reduction was not a necessary strategy. The changes we are now making are responding to the changing indicators of the current healthcare system.
The re-engineering process we are going through is the solution to avoid any possible long-term financial problems. Projected revenues were not realized which called for an adjustment in expenses. This was an opportunity to re-engineer the organization to achieve a higher level of operating efficiency.
What is total number of employees at HRMC? (total and full-time equivalencies)
734 FTE’s and 205 part timers, a total of 939 employees.
Has the hospital experienced a net loss in recent months?
The total excess margin fiscal year to date April was 5.18, May was 4.70, June 3.61. The monthly margins for the month of April was -2.19 and June -5.09. In view of the two months losses and the trend of decreasing margins, it was clear that changes needed to be made.
What departments were the workforce reductions in?
Re-engineering occurred in every department including nursing where a number of supervisory positions were transferred to bedside patient care. No bedside nursing positions were reduced. In fact bed side care coverage was increased.
How much of the reduction was achieved through attrition/retirement, how much was through layoffs, how much was through transferring to other departments?
There were 5 administrative positions that we were not able to place through attrition/retirement or transfers to other departments. These personnel will be given first option as the demand for new positions occur.
The press release said the workforce reduction of 36 positions resulted in only five layoffs. How significant are the savings if only five people were actually laid off?
The savings were not measured based on five employees. Savings occurred through attrition and merging positions within departments. The merging process is referred to as a re-engineering of the organization to achieve a higher level of productivity, increasing efficiency, and producing a higher level of quality. It is believed this strategy, which is used by other hospitals and industries will save approximately $ 1.6.million over a twelve month period.
Was there not enough work to go around for the existing staff, or, do these layoffs mean some departments are short-staffed?
Most of these changes were recommended by HRMC Directors. Our mutual understanding was that no changes would be made that would affect quality care. Their successful efforts to share functions and cross over departmental lines made the re-engineering process work very well.
Is the reduction connected to the overall nurse restructuring?
Ms Harris began the process in nursing shortly after her arrival in February. Administration had begun considering changes needed to enhance the delivery of patient care and services prior to her arrival. I conducted a national search to assure the highest level of expertise would be employed to produce an improved level of patient care.
At the surgery center public hearing, we heard about staff taking a mandatory day off to help save on payroll. Was this administration only or other employees as well? Did this not do the trick to save money?
A mandatory day off without pay was requested of our Department Directors. I also requested two days off without pay for HRMC Administrators including myself. Re-engineering involved a serious commitment to achieving efficiencies which should result in cost reductions. The example starts with leadership.
Is this an odd time for a downturn in patient census, during the summer months when second-home owners are in town and the population in the community is up?
We have discussed this with our medical staff leadership only to learn that volumes tend to be down across the board. Medical staff leadership has not been able to find a negative reason.
Is the lack of orthopedic services, namely no on-call orthopedists, one reason for lackluster patient census?
We have half of the on-call covered. However, covering only half call has an impact. Based on the progress we have made in our recent recruitment efforts we are encouraged that a resolve may be in the making by the end of this year.
Has the ER transition contributed to census being down?
Emergency visits this year- to- date are up by 4%.
How will the new surgery center potentially bring up patient volume and/or revenue, and does this cash-flow issue jeopardize the $16.5 million center?
Our current surgery system, although a safe one, is inefficient and cost ineffective for the hospital, the surgeons, and the patients. Demographics show HRMC has significant growth potential in surgical services that cannot be met in our current facility. Our success in delivering an efficient and cost effective surgery program is required in order to grow the organization. The surgery center, including space for additional services remains on schedule. Its successful completion is critical to sustaining a quality hospital for this community.
Will the layoff affect public support for the surgery center?
Re-engineering the organization to be accountable to the public for a well run organization, I should think is what the public expects and will support.
By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer
A bill hailed by state and local officials as a way to help pad the bank accounts of county governments may not turn out to be as simple, or as lucrative, as it initially appeared.
By Michael Beadle
So you think you’ve got singing talent? Think you have what it takes to leap and strut on a Broadway stage? Think you’re ready for the bright lights?
Young actors, dancers and singers from around the country came to Western Carolina University last week to take part in the first-ever Broadway in the Mountains camp, an intensive week-long study that featured master classes in auditioning techniques, scene study, dance, song interpretation and all aspects of a musical theatre performance.
By Chris Cooper
Ronnie McCoury: Little Mo’ McCoury
You’d be hard pressed to find a family more deserving of the title “bluegrass royalty” than Del McCoury and sons. Over the years, the group has epitomized the idea of keeping it in the family, and not for the sake of novelty. McCoury’s kids literally grew up on the road with their father, surrounded by all things musically high and lonesome, as well as anything that could be picked, strummed, plucked or bowed.
With all this in mind, it’s really no surprise that mandolinist/vocalist Ronnie McCoury would bring the many facets of the family concept together with Little Mo’ McCoury, an all bluegrass, all children’s album that has more than enough appeal to reach those of us that passed “knee high to a grasshopper” status long ago.
Tackling anyone from Dylan to Randy Newman to Woody Guthrie (and that’s just in the first three tunes) the purpose here is clear from the start — make an album that kids will love, without sacrificing musicality or resorting to the “Barney” styled goofiness that tends to plague many such projects.
Each track is introduced with a different tyke reading off the song title, and from there you get the best of all available worlds: the genetically perfect harmonies of the McCoury clan, the occasional giggle inducing (especially for the toddler set) moo or cluck or insert-barn-animal-noise-here sound effect (as on their excellent rendition of “Man Gave Names To All The Animals”) and appropriately virtuosic picking from everyone involved.
Maybe it’s kind of a cliché, but I’ll say it anyway: the key to making an album like this work is whether you can hear the players having fun in their performances, which obviously wasn’t a problem for these guys. From the call and response banjo conversation on “Mama’s Blues” to McCoury’s bouncing arrangement of “The Fox” to a perfectly lovely little take on “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” (which I’d imagine will help send many little ones off to dream) Little Mo’ McCoury packs 18 tunes into less than an hour’s time, offers something engaging on each track. It’s easily the most listenable children’s album to come along in a very long time.
Pick and grin? How about pick and giggle?
Merle Haggard: The Bluegrass Sessions
If ever there’s a country music Rushmore carved into an unsuspecting mountain somewhere, Waylon, Willie, Merle and Johnny are the shoe-ins for stone-carved portraiture.
Over the years each artist has managed to dabble in multiple genres while retaining their individual personalities, whether it was Cash taking on Trent Reznor or Willie stepping into the world of reggae, or the various collaborations that brought them together, like the first Highwaymen album (albeit without Haggard) or Haggard's enthusiastic foray into western swing on his hard-to-find tribute album to Bob Wills. And each has been at the forefront of true “country” music from its very beginnings, able to create amazing music and make a difference no matter what the current climate of the genre might be.
Produced by Ronnie Reno, son of bluegrass legend Don Reno, and with a stellar cast of players assembled by the inimitable Marty Stuart, The Bluegrass Sessions strikes a fine balance between Haggard’s deep country roots and a respect for bluegrass tradition, right down to having the players cut the songs live in a circle, reacting to Haggard’s every nuance and vocal inflection.
Some of the drive and momentum of traditional bluegrass is sacrificed to better suit his delivery, but in return the listener is rewarded with much more sensitive playing from all involved, especially that of Dobro virtuoso Rob Ickes, who steals the show time and again with gorgeous fills and accompaniment — check out his moody, melodic playing on “Mama’s Prayers” and tasty phrasing during “Wouldn’t That Be Something.”
By surrounding himself with players equally at home in the worlds of bluegrass and country, Haggard makes The Bluegrass Sessions sound like a perfectly logical step. But at the core of it all is his songwriting, be it re-workings of classic tunes like “Big City” or hearing Hag take on Wal-Mart, Bush, crappy karaoke bars and pervasive American complacency on “What Happened?”
Blues, bluegrass, country ... whatever — Merle’s the man, as if we even have to be reminded of that fact. Wonderful stuff.
(Chris Cooper can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
By John Armour
If you’ve read many of these columns you know I’m addicted to politics. My spouse, among others, tells me from time to time to cut it out. You may also know I live in a restored farmhouse at the end of a half-mile gravel road in Highlands. There is a connection between those two facts.
By Chris Cooper
So, answer me this: how many people, artists especially, can maintain a vital career for 38 years and counting? Musically speaking, how many of them could possibly continue performing material from their first few albums and still manage to find new places to go with it, new colors and interpretations even after countless lineup changes, deaths, drug debacles and all manner of inner turmoil, let alone the multitude of cultural climate shifts that inevitably come with doing anything for nearly 40 years?
By Michael Beadle
Maggie Valley’s annual running event is only days away, and it looks to be regaining its reputation as one of Western North Carolina’s biggest races.
As of last week, the number of registrants for the Maggie Valley Moonlight Race was up by more than 100 percent when compared to registrations during the same period last year. Race Director Wendy Johnson and her crew of volunteers are expecting an even larger draw this year.
By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer
The woman at the forefront of Haywood Community College’s progressive new vision of sustainability didn’t come to the college to champion that cause. Her vast life experiences, though, did help to mold her desire for a better world.
By Brett Martin
Western North Carolina is rich with great literature written on the region, and there are still a few jewels that have gone largely unnoticed or are forgotten. One of these would have to be Eliot Porter’s Appalachian Wilderness: The Great Smoky Mountains that included a “Natural and Human History” by the late Edward Abbey and was published in 1973.
Haywood County experienced its best tourism year ever during the 2006-2007 fiscal year, according to lodging tax figures released by the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority.
From July 2006 through June 2007, Haywood County accommodations collected more than $700,000 in occupancy tax — a 3 percent fee charged to guests who stay at a lodging facility within the county. That’s a 7 percent jump in occupancy tax revenue from the previous fiscal year and the most in Haywood County history.
