The Liar’s Bench has been adopted by the Mountain Heritage Center

The one-year anniversary of The Liar’s Bench will be held at 7 p.m. on June 4 at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva.

The Liar’s Bench, started by Gary Carden, is a gathering of writers, storytellers, musicians and other artists who give informal performances for audiences in Jackson County.

The one-year anniversary show will feature Lloyd Arneach, the Cherokee storyteller; Paul Iarussi, a claw-hammer guitar specialist; and Carden, who will tell “Blow the Tannery Whistle.”

In July, The Liar’s Bench will move to the Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Center auditorium and future programs will be held on Thursday nights. A “murder ballads” program is planned for the July show at the Mountain Heritage Center.

For more information email Carden at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

When Congress passed the Wilderness Act back in 1964, it immediately became one of the most important pieces of conservation legislation in United States history. Worked on for years, with bi-partisan support, the act protected nine million of acres of public land forever from logging, road building, oil and gas leasing, and other forms of development. Importantly, the act protected all the rights of all Americans to hunt, fish, camp, horseback ride, and hike in these areas — forever. Since that time over 100 million acres have been protected with the Wilderness Act, ranging from Alaska to Florida, and millions more remain in need of such protection.  

Yet Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has proposed legislation that would roll back existing protections for tens of millions of acres of unprotected wilderness-quality public lands and national forests across America. If passed, this legislation would open up some of our nation’s most fragile natural landscapes to oil and gas development, road construction, uncontrolled off-road vehicle use, and other unchecked development.

Interestingly, two Republicans in his own state have introduced Wilderness Bills in the current Congress that the legislation would seek to undermine. H.R. 1581, the “Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act,” would undermine decades of land protection in one fell swoop. The legislation would be more aptly named the “Wilderness Elimination Act” because, if it is signed into law, tens of millions of acres of America’s wild lands could be forever lost. Here’s what the legislation would do to America’s scenic treasures: roll back protections for nearly 60 million acres of unroaded national forests

In 2001, the Forest Service finalized a policy that protects nearly 60 million acres of roadless national forest lands by prohibiting road-building and commercial logging on those lands. The policy was the result of years of public outreach, including 600 local public hearings, and remains one of the most popular environmental initiatives ever. The “Wilderness Elimination Act” would overturn this policy and open up these unroaded national forest lands to road building, commercial logging, and other development.   The act also has language to release Wilderness Study Areas.  

Western North Carolina has 1.1 million acres of national forest land, with 178,000 acres of this inventoried as roadless and currently protected under the roadless policy. These are some of the best conservation lands we have left in this part of the state, and 27,500 acres of these roadless lands are Wilderness Study Areas, so designated in 1984 when North Carolina’s had its last Wilderness bill.

Close to home, the 3,200-acre Overflow Wilderness Study Area near Highlands would be a victim of HR 1581. Overflow was designated a Wilderness Study Area in 1984 when North Carolina had its last wilderness bill. Since that time it has been protected from logging and development, and Congressman Shuler (D-Waynesville) has committed to protecting the area permanently if the Macon County commissioners will pass a resolution in support. Yet passage of H.R. 1581 will reverse this designation and place the area back in the timber base.    

The time has come for us to act on Overflow, for the sooner we get legislation introduced to protect it, the less we will have to worry about such legislation as HR 1581 seeking to destroy it. I have heard comments over the last year from commissioners and members of the public that they would be the first in line to stop Overflow from being logged, but yet they would not support Wilderness. The fear seems to be that someone would lose something with such a designation. But legislation to protect Oveflow would guarantee that it remains open to hunting, fishing, camping, and hiking in its current state – and forever.   The Wilderness Act guarantees it.  

Please write Congressman Shuler and ask that he vote against HR 1581 and let him know you support protecting places like Overflow. Time could be running out.

(Brent Martin is the Southern Appalachian Regional Director for The Wilderness Society. His office is in Sylva and he can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)

To the Editor:

The fact that Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, refers to the radical budget being proposed down in Raleigh as the state “living within its means” is a joke. The farce of this proposal is the false notion that businesses are being wildly burdened and that our private sector suffers.   

Unmentioned is North Carolina remaining as the “No. 2 Best State for Business” awarded by 500 CEOs in Chief Executive Magazine. How is our great state outdoing the vast majority of other states, if the government is “on the back” of job-creating businesses? Thanks to North Carolina’s educated workforce, this state has shifted from manufacturing to more knowledge-based jobs such as banks, high-tech endeavors and pharmaceuticals.

The same educated workforce is being dismantled by this proposed budget. Davis touts “we’re fostering early childhood education by adding more than 1,000 teachers to classrooms in grades 1-3.” This stems from the common sense concept that reducing the workload on the professionals hired to educate our children works.  

If adding teacher assistants to grades 1-3 improves the results they produce, why doesn’t the same rule apply for teachers in grades 4-12? Moreover, why doesn’t the same rule apply to mental health workers, prison guards, and all other state employees? While flaunting an addition of 1,000 teachers, Davis neglects mentioning the elimination of 13,000 teaching assistant positions in those exact grades. In total, the Senate budget would eliminate 19,744 jobs.

Davis says “we’re eliminating vacant positions, consolidating departments, and reducing administrative costs and bureaucracy.” Just like the late television direct-response advertisement salesperson Billy Mays would say “… and that’s not all!” What else does this proposed travesty do?  Substantially reduces funding from Smart Start, rape crisis programs, veterans affairs, domestic violence programs, and eliminates the Teaching Fellows program to name just a few.  

Davis claims “the budget slashes taxes and returns more than $1 billion to the private sector, where it will help businesses create thousands of new jobs.” He fails to mention that those are corporate income taxes (sorry everyday citizens) and the 1-cent sales tax about to go before the legislation for reinstatement.   Their proposal is to decrease taxes for large corporations and slash the heavy burden of a penny; while the folks on Main Street suffer. Though the penny tax, if kept, could add up to an estimated $2.26 billion of revenue to state resources over the next two years.

To conclude, the Senate Republicans believe nothing creates jobs like passing ideologically-driven symbolic measures such as defining marriage, getting pro-life commemorative license plates, and naming a “state-mineral” all the while appeasing their corporate financiers. They are all quoting from the same flawed study that never asked what would happen to the state’s economy if 19,744 positions are eliminated and thousands of state workers are in unemployment lines. While the opportunities for the working and middle class are diminished continuously, the radical Raleigh Republicans can rejoice in not paying a penny.

Justin Karr Conley

Macon County native

To the Editor:

It appears that the radical Republicans in control of the N.C. legislature are starving funding for public education to make public schools fail. Then they will ballyhoo privatization as the silver bullet to “fix” education.  

North Carolina is now ranked as the 46th state in the country for per pupil education funding. If the Republican budget passes, we will be at rock bottom. No matter how Republican State Sens. Jim Davis (R-Franklin) and Ralph Hise (R-Spruce Pine) spin it, North Carolina will be below even South Carolina and Mississippi. It is not a big deal to push for devastating cuts to public schools when you don’t believe in them in the first place.

Competition based on the profit motive works well for many discretionary goods and services. From the consumer’s point of view, it’s easy to change the TV channel if you don’t like the program, visit a different restaurant if you didn’t like the meal at your regular, or use a different dry cleaner or car dealer if you’re not satisfied with the service received.

But the profit motive should not be the driving force for essential services such as national security, public safety (police, fire fighters), highways, roads, clean water and air, safe food, and health care. Education is one such essential that would not be served by rampant competition and the profit motive.

Profit is revenue less expenses. The higher the revenue, the lower the expenses, the greater the profit. I’d hate to think skimping would be done on educational expenses for my child to increase some company’s profits. A child is not a car. The profit motive should not drive decisions in providing education.

Carole Larivee

Waynesville

To the Editor:

Republicans are cutting off education from beginning to end in North Carolina.

The new cuts will take away a significant amount of funding from the Smart Start pre-kindergarten program and also from the UNC school system, where cuts are already taking effect. The cuts also include the loss of 13,000 teacher’s aides and more teachers from schools across the country. Class sizes will increase and with the loss of teachers aides a more difficult learning environment for students will arise.

In an effort to make class sizes smaller, the budget is only stifling the current classroom situation at the start and the end of each student’s educational life. North Carolina needs to re-think the cuts to education as a favor to the future of the state and the image of the system as a whole.

Kaley Davis

UNCG student

To the Editor:

This letter is further comment on Quintin Ellison’s column about the Corneille Bryan Native Garden at Lake Junaluska (The Smoky Mountain News, May 18-24). After reading about the garden, my husband and I set out to find it, and we were not disappointed.

This is truly a spot to be treasured and enjoyed in all seasons. The collection of native plants is amazing for the relatively small area. With the help of pamphlets available for a self-guided tour, and labels on plants along the way, we were able to identify many varieties we’d never seen before. 

Walking through the garden is not only educational. It is pure pleasure, a treat for all the senses: plants to see and smell, texture for touch, hearing the chorus of birds, and tasting air freshened by greenery. Well-placed benches along the way also allow one to sit quietly and simply contemplate the wonder of this “gem at Junaluska”.

Many thanks to those who maintain this beautiful hideaway and to Quintin for sharing her knowledge of it.

Lenore Snell

Dillsboro

To the Editor:

Republican Sens. Ralph Hise, R-Spruce Pine, and Jim Davis, R-Franklin, promised “jobs, jobs, jobs” and “better times” for Haywood County during their campaigns.

Did you hear them promise to make the largest budget cuts to education ever made in North Carolina history? You didn’t?  

Did you hear them promise to “create jobs?” You did?

The Republican budget cuts $1.2 billion dollars from state monies crucial to our kids’ educations. Their budget cuts teacher assistants’ jobs, teachers’ jobs, librarians, janitors and staff jobs in our Haywood County Schools. These folks are losing their jobs — jobs that support their families. And our kids will be the worse for it.

Hazelwood prison is being closed. These jobs support Haywood County families.

Gas prices are up and the tourism industry is hurting in Haywood County.

Food prices are up. Unemployment continues to climb. Home foreclosures are increasing.

Where is the help for Haywood County? Where are these jobs and these “better times”?  

Tell us exactly what promises you have kept to Haywood County, Sen. Hise and Sen. Davis?

Chuck Dickson and Sybil Mann

Waynesville

To the Editor:

Jackson County Commissioner Jack Debnam’s recent comments on the proposed SCC spur road are valid and show that he is willing to go to bat for Jackson County’s citizens despite opposition from DOT and other commissioners. He has shown that he will ask the difficult questions, even if his actions put him at odds with others who feel differently about the issue.

It appears that this particular project is receiving special attention from DOT despite much opposition from the community. Most agree that the safety of SCC students and staff is important, but logic and common sense need to be applied in this decision, not favoritism and good-old-boy networking.

I would suggest that the county and DOT look at this project in a different light, and attention be given to alternatives other than another big intrusive road project of questionable value. If emergency access is truly the reason for this project, then it would seem to me that short, simple emergency access roads could be built from SCC onto neighboring DOT and Armory property, which would provide two additional means of access at a fraction of the $13 million price tag.

If reducing traffic on N.C. 116 is the key factor, then we should look at relocating DOT offices and equipment storage to other places in the county where they wouldn’t be adding to the problems. I see little reason why we need these operations on N.C. 116, when offices can be located virtually anywhere and equipment could be stored along the major county routes that it is supposed to service. This would reduce traffic on 116 by around 10 percent in my estimation, provide plenty of room for emergency access and additional room for the future needs of an expanding community college.

We need to look at some creative alternatives and address the really key issues that affect the county’s traffic concerns, not simply offer more pavement and expensive fly-over bridges to move the county forward.

John Beckman

Cullowhee

The Haywood County Chamber of Commerce annual dinner and year in review is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on June 2.

The chamber will honor leaders in the business community with awards.

The dinner will be held at Laurel Ridge Country Club. Tickets are $45 per person or $410 reserved seating for eight people. 828.456.3021.

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The Community Kitchen’s annual golf tournament will be held Friday, June 3, at Lake Junaluska. The pre-registration fee is $50 828.648.0014), and day-of registration $55. Registration includes green fees and golf cart, snacks and drinks, a door prize ticket, T-shirt and dinner provided by the Black Bear Café. The kitchen is still accepting sponsors for the holes and t-shirts and one sponsor for the potential hole-in-one. 828.593.9319.

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The Knights of Columbus, Father Michael Murphy Council #12478, will host its sixth-annual local charities golf tournament at 1:30 p.m., Saturday, June 11, at Lake Junaluska Golf Course.

The tournament will benefit a number of Haywood County charities. There will be a captain’s choice, with a shotgun start. For a donation of $60, each golfer gets 18 holes of golf, a barbecue dinner catered by Nico’s Cafe, and an opportunity to win cash and door prizes. All golfers also have a shot at a new car in the hole-in-one contest.

828.550.1711 or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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The Small Business Center of Haywood Community College will offer a free seminar, “Financing Your Small Business,” on Tuesday morning, June 7. The session is from 8-10 a.m. on campus in the boardroom of the Frazell Administration building.

828.627.4512.

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A $600,000 housing grant was awarded to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to create housing or economic opportunities for low- to moderate-income families. The competitive grants are provided through HUD’s Indian Community Development Block Grant Program.

Recipients can use funds for various housing projects, including rehabilitating housing, building new housing or buying land to support new housing construction. The grant can also used to build infrastructure such as roads, water and sewer facilities.

A local Dillsboro inn had four recipes featured in the Southern Living cookbook, Off the Eaten Path: Favorite Southern Dives and 150 Recipes that Made Them Famous.

The Jarrett House, a favorite Dillsboro bed and breakfast for the past 127 years, has received national recognition for its regional expertise. Pages 160 to 163 of the cookbook contain photos of the Jarrett House, an introduction to the restaurant and four of its famous recipes.

Morgan Murphy, the former travel and food editor for Southern Living magazine, toured the South in his old Cadillac, searching for the region’s best restaurants and recipes. He stopped at the Jarrett House, giving the GPS coordinates for fellow travelers, on his way through North Carolina.

“The cooking here is as straightforward and simple as their buttery biscuits. You won’t find complex ingredients or cutting-edge techniques. But what you will find is delectable Southern fare served with a smile,” Murphy wrote about the Jarrett House.

Murphy’s favorite was the chicken and dumplings. “I’d be a dumpling myself if I lived anywhere near the Jarrett House,” he wrote. The cookbook lists the ingredients and preparation instructions for the dish, including the diner secret: two kinds of pepper give the recipe a “country kick.”

Murphy included the Jarrett House’s 3-step recipe for Vinegar Pie, describing the taste as “something between a poundcake and a pecan pie without pecans. Yum.” The Jarrett House’s “easy, four-ingredient biscuits” and house apples (2 pounds sliced apples, 1 cup sugar) were also featured.

The Hartbargers have owned the Jarrett House for 36 years; in that time, Southern Living has visited the restaurant and written articles about it periodically, which the restaurant has kept for display. According to Jim Hartbarger, Southern Living has always offered an extremely positive response.

Hartbarger said the Jarrett House was chosen over other restaurants “because of its age and standards. It was a no-miss situation.” When Murphy came to visit the restaurant last year, he sat down for lunch and interviewed the staff, making sure he had a story to accompany the recipes.

“Southern Living has always been good to us. It’s an honor, and we’re really proud,” Hartbarger said.

By Tessa Rodes • SMN Intern

An Appalachian Lifestyle Celebration will come to downtown Waynesville from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, June, 11. The festival is a heritage-themed event providing educational and entertainment opportunities for guests of all ages, where traditional crafts are demonstrated and offered for sale. Two stages will feature live entertainment throughout the day.

Four-time Grammy award-winner David Holt and Grammy nominee Josh Goforth will join together to bring old-time mountain music and stories to audiences. Holt and Goforth combine guitar, banjo, fiddle, slide guitar, mandolin and rhythm instruments from hambone (body slapping) rhythms, to spoons, stump-fiddle, rhythm bones, jaw harp, and even paper bag.

Michael Reno Harrell, a songwriter and veteran storyteller, along with The Hominy Valley Boys and the Hill Country Band and other favorites will also perform.

Former N.C. state senator Joe Sam Queen will lead a square dance at 12:30 p.m. at the center stage.

Throughout the day, visitors can enjoy storytelling by local authors, folk toys, arts and craft, vintage tractors and tools. Watch demonstrations of basket making, blacksmithing, quilting, weaving, woodworking, wood carving, pottery, painting and soap making. Traditional food will also be offered.

828.456.3517 or visit downtownwaynesville.com.

The Bach Chorale Children’s Choir of Lafayette, Ind., will perform a program called “Ireland Ascending” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 7, at the Fines Creek Community Center in Clyde.

The choir will be accompanied by local resident Anne Lough, who will share some of her favorite songs and relate the history of the songs’ origins. She will play both the stringed and hammer dulcimers.

The concert is free and open to the public, though donations will be requested. 828.627.1113.

A summer music series will kick off at 7 p.m. on June 9 with musician Dusk Weaver at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.  

This year’s line-up will offer local music for the community every second and fourth Thursday. Weather permitting, these programs will be presented on the front porch of the library; otherwise, they will be moved to the library auditorium. Snacks and refreshments will be provided by the Friends of the Marianna Black Library.

For this performance, Dusk will sing lead vocals and will play acoustic guitar, autoharp and a variety of diatonic harmonicas. He will be accompanied by Caroline and Tristan Carr who add vocal harmonies, djembe, mandolin, and wazoogle to the act. The ensemble will appear as Dusk & Sky.

828.488.3030 or visit www.fontanalib.org/brysoncity.

Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” is coming to Haywood Community College at 7 p.m. on June 10, and 2:30 p.m. on June 11. MusicWorks! Studio of Performing Arts is producing the show under the direction of Lynne Wells-Meyer.

Adapted from the animated film by its original screenwriter, the heart-warming musical is the classic love story of Belle and the Beast, who is really a prince trapped in a spell. If the Beast can learn to love and be loved in return, the spell will be broken and he will be transformed back to his former self. However, time is running out, and if the Beast does not learn his lesson soon, he will be doomed for all eternity. The show features original music from the movie, plus additional songs written especially for the stage.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children ages 3 to 17. 828.456.2283.

“Deathtrap,” a murder-mystery by Ira Levin, will be performed at 7:30 p.m. on June 3, 4 and 9 through 11, and at 3 p.m. on June 4 and 12, at the Performing Arts Center at the Shelton House in Waynesville.

The show, which ran for more than 1,800 performances on Broadway, is produced locally by the Haywood Arts Regional Theater.

Tickets are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors and $8 for students and children. Special $5 discount tickets are available for students for Thursday and Sunday performances.

828.456.6322 or visit harttheatre.com.

Balladeers Anne and Rob Lough will present a concert of traditional music at 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 5, on the Macon County Courthouse Plaza in Franklin.

The program includes folk songs that reflect the musical heritage of the Southern Appalachians and the nation, including mountain ballads, songs of the American frontier and other traditional Irish and Scottish tunes, with some tall tales thrown in.

Attendees should bring a lawn chair and sit in the shade of the courthouse, where the artists will perform.

828.524.7683 or visit www.artscouncilofmacon.org.

A series of introductory glassblowing classes will begin in June at the Jackson County Green Energy Park.

Students may choose to attend classes from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Fridays beginning June 3; 6 to 9 p.m. on Mondays beginning June 6; or 6 to 9 p.m. on Tuesdays beginning June 7. Classes meet four times and cost $270, with the option of two additional meetings for a total of $390.

Students will learn the fundamentals of glassblowing through demonstrations and one-on-one instruction. No experience is required.

828.227.7397 or visit learn.wcu.edu.

Adult pottery courses will be offered this summer by Southwestern Community College’s Heritage Arts Institute at the SCC Swain Center.

Offerings include a four-week beginner’s class in June where students will focus on centering and opening up, learn to pull a cylinder, throw a bowl and trim and glaze their pieces. A second course in July is intended to build on skills acquired in the June class.

Classes run from June 7 to June 30 and July 5 to July 28. The cost is $65 for the course.

For advanced students, a course in advanced firing techniques will be offered June 16 through Aug. 9 for $120.

828.488.6413.

A Women’s Circle focusing on the divine feminine within will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 2, at The Creative Thought Center in Waynesville.

Shari Starrfire will guide participants in an evening of dance, journeying and sharing about what it means to activate and accelerate consciousness as women. Starrfire will provide an overview of the upcoming series on Awakening & Accelerating the Divine Feminine she will be facilitating.

828.246.2794 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Art workshops that provide encounters with nature will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 5, with an acrylic landscape painting class. Travel to the Blue Ridge Parkway to experience painting the rows of blue, purple and green mountain ranges of the Smoky Mountains with Catch the Spirit of Appalachia, a local arts group.

Students will gather at Water Rock Knob on the Blue Ridge Parkway where they will capture the view with acrylics on canvas.

During inclement weather, the workshops are conducted in a yurt studio at Nature’s Home Preserve. There is possibly hiking involved and each person will complete a Plein Air or still-life painting weather permitting. Some of the techniques covered are: spontaneous composition, working with complementary colors, figure painting, botanical drawing, landscape and still life painting. The fee is $36 with all materials furnished.

Other workshops will be held on the first Saturday of every month through November.

828.293.2239 or visit www.doreylart.yurtstudio.com.

The Good Old Time camp, a summer day camp for children, will be held 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., June 20 through June 24. The camp is hosted by Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Center, arts programs and Hunter Library.

The program will focus on the culture of the region, including the Cherokee and pioneer experience. Children will spend time investigating and creating crafts such as mask-making, quilting, candle-making, open-hearth cooking and pottery-making. They also will experience a performance of old-time music and go on field trips to local sites of natural and historic interest.

Sponsored in part by the Jackson County Arts Council, the camp is designed for rising fourth- through sixth-graders.

Tuition is $80 per child, with lunch provided at the WCU dining hall. Registration is limited to the first 16 children and the deadline to register is Friday, June 3.

828.227.7397 or visit www.wcu.edu/28903.asp.

The 6th annual Patchwork Folk and Fabric Festival is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 4, at the Jackson County Recreation Center.

Quilts will be on display, with each one telling its own story. On loan from local women, these quilt stories bring forth memories of a community.

Brenda Anders and Larry Walther of Dillsboro’s Dogwood Crafters will be holding a “bed turning,” with more than 30 quilts. As they turn each quilt, they will tell its story.

Surrounding the quilt displays and raffles will be demonstrations of spinning, weaving, crocheting, tatting, rug braiding, caning, sewing, cornshuck creations, and more. Vendors will have nature art and photography, aprons, local plants and flowers, jewelry making, cloth rugs, scarves, pillows, homemade chocolate candy creations, hand-painted hand saws, glass beads and more. Live music will be provided by Ron Smith.

Organizers are still looking for other quilts to share at the bed turning during the festival, so please contact Brenda Anders if you want to display your treasured quilt. 828.506.8331 or 828.293.3053.

The Waynesville Gallery Association will present Art After Dark  from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, June 3.

Art After Dark takes place the first Friday of each month, May through December. Enjoy a stroll through working studios and galleries on Main Street, Depot Street and in Historic Frog Level.

Festive Art After Dark flags denote participating galleries like Burr Studio and Gallery, Earthworks Frame Shop, Earthworks Gallery, Gallery Two Six Two, Grace Cathey Sculpture Garden and Gallery, Haywood County Arts Council’s Gallery 86, Jeweler’s Workbench, Textures, TPennington Art Gallery, and Twigs and Leaves Gallery. Multi-instrumentalist Michael Pilgrim will provide musical entertainment during the evening as he strolls Main Street.

Haywood County Arts Council’s Gallery 86 is hosting an artist reception during Art After Dark for its Appalachian Heritage exhibition which includes pottery, quilting, gunsmithing, sculpture, and baskets.

Visit TPennington Art Gallery to see a new release entitled “Peaks of Otter Dogwood - Blue Ridge Parkway.” The work is part of a new series called “Fences along the Parkway.” Artist Teresa Pennington will be offering a special discount to June Art After Dark patrons.

Twigs and Leaves Gallery will be featuring wood carver Mark Strom, who will be demonstrating the age old art of carving wood panels into works of nature. Years of working with clay combined with his love of nature are responsible for the elegantly simple, strong and straightforward wood carvings that he now produces.

Kids can fish for free and register to win prizes, including two lifetime licenses, at a variety of fishing events in Western North Carolina.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is supporting these fishing events as part of National Fishing and Boating Week. The grand prize is a lifetime sportsman license, which includes freshwater and saltwater fishing privileges, as well as hunting privileges. The first prize is a lifetime freshwater fishing license. There are 150 fishing-related prizes, such as tackle boxes, rod-and-reel combos and fishing line. Local sponsors for many events will provide prizes and gifts to registered participants as well.

More than 2,500 children are expected to attend these events across the state, catching commission-stocked fish from trout in the mountains to catfish and sunfish in the Piedmont and coastal regions.  

Kids’ fishing days

• Jackson County, Cullowhee Creek

June 4 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Limited to first 40 kids, ages 7 to 12. 828.293.3053.

• Macon County, Cliffside Lake

June 4 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Register on site day of event; for kids ages 15 and younger. 828.524.6441, ext. 421.

• Haywood County, Max Patch Pond

June 11 from 9 a.m. until noon.

Register on site day of the event. 828.682.6146.

• Graham County, Santeetlah Creek

June 4 from 9 a.m. until noon.

Pre-registration at U.S. Forest Service office, Cheoah Ranger District, Robbinsville. Rain date: June 11. 828.837.5152, ext. 118.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission will open approximately 63.5 miles of trout streams and one lake classified as delayed-harvest trout waters under hatchery-supported regulations on Saturday, June 4.

But there’s a catch . . . only anglers 15 years old and younger can fish these waters from 6 a.m. until 11:59 a.m. At noon, these waters open to all anglers.

The youth-only fishing time frame is designed to promote trout fishing among young anglers and to provide special opportunities for young anglers to catch — and keep — fish.

Under hatchery-supported regulations, in effect through Sept. 30, anglers can keep a maximum of seven trout per day, with no bait restrictions or minimum size limits. Fishing license required.

Go to www.ncwildlife.org/Regs/Regs_Fishing.htm for a list of delayed-harvest trout waters, regulation information and trout maps.

A Salamander Soiree is set for June 2 at 6 p.m. as the kickoff to “Think About Thursdays,” a summer series of programs and talks sponsored by the Highlands Biological Station.

The Salamander Soiree will feature a reception and games, followed by a brief lecture about salamanders. Award-winning author Cathryn Sill and wildlife illustrator John Sill will sign copies of their acclaimed “About” series of children’s books, and we will also announce the winners of a Salamander Art Contest.

After the Salamander Soiree, at 9 p.m., there will be a flashlight-guided Salamander Meander, featuring a short presentation followed by a hike with herpetologists along the Biological Station’s Garden Trails to search for salamanders. Advanced registration and a fee of $5 per person are required, and participants of the Salamander Meander must be over the age of seven. 828.526.2623.

This summer, the Highlands Biological Foundation is introducing new events and programs to the Thursday series in addition to its traditional Zahner Lectures — such as workshops, family events and guided interpretive hikes — that focus on the beauty and biodiversity of the Highlands Plateau. There will still be a few of the more traditional lectures on science and ecology topics as part of the series.

Other June programs on Thursdays are:

n June 9, Brett Wright talks about “Simply Child’s Play: It Isn’t So Simple,” a discussion of the deleterious effects of Nature Deficit Disorder on children of all ages. Wright is a professor and the chairman of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C.  Wright serves as the co-chairman of the U.S. Play Coalition, an organization he helped establish with former National Park Service Director Fran P. Mainella.

n June 16, the annual Owl Prowl. Meet at the Nature Center amphitheater at 8 p.m. for an educational presentation given by the Carolina Raptor Center. This program will last approximately one hour, and is offered in collaboration with the Highlands Plateau Audubon Society. Following the program, stay until dark for the “Owl Prowl,” led by several members of the Audubon Society. The Owl Prowl is free to the public, but contributions for the Carolina Raptor Center are appreciated.

n June 23 two programs are scheduled. At 10 a.m. depart from the parking lot of the Nature Center for a hike led by Lamar Marshall of Wild South to explore the Ancient Cherokee Trails of Macon County. This moderately difficult hike will last for approximately four hours, and will include lunch. Advanced registration and a fee of $10 per person are required due to limited space and lunch expense. 828.526.2221. At 8:30 p.m. learn about regional frogs. This event will feature a 30-minute presentation on general frog biology, and the natural history of local species, followed by a short walk to Lindenwood Lake in the Botanical Garden to look and listen for frogs. Bring a flashlight. Admission is $5 per person. Ages are seven to adult, and advanced registration is required 828.526.2623.

n June 30, award-winning storyteller Gary Carden will share his Appalachian Stories of Conservation. Carden, a playwright and an artist, is the author of “Mason Jars in the Flood and Other Stories.” This event is free and open to all.

Stayed tuned to The Smoky Mountain News outdoors calendar for weekly events throughout summer.

Rangers at Great Smoky Mountains National Park are continuing to search for a Cary man who was reported missing April 27.

The park is asking that anybody who may have seen the subject, Christopher Lee Cessna, 45, in the last three weeks, whether in the park or elsewhere, contact rangers.

Cessna had been reported missing to the Cary Police Department, which issued a Missing Person Report, but it was not sent to the park, because family members had no reason to suspect that he would go there.

Rangers learned that Cessna may be in the park when they checked the license plate of a vehicle that had been parked at Newfound Gap Parking area for some time and discovered it was his. The car didn’t arouse earlier notice because the Appalachian Trail crosses the park at Newfound Gap, and it is common for vehicles to be left there for weeks at a time by hikers.

Park officials report that Cessna had been despondent and that a handgun he owned could not be located at his residence, so they are concerned about the possibility that he may have planned to take his own life.

Cessna is 45 years old, white, 5 feet 10 inches tall, and weighs 230 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes and a fair complexion.

865.436.1230.

On June 4, from 10 a.m. until noon at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education, Tim Spira will give a 45-minute presentation followed by questions and discussion about the ecology of Southern Appalachian Wildflowers. Spira is a plant ecologist, photographer, native plant gardener and professor of botany at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C., where he teaches courses in field botany, plant ecology and the natural history of wildflowers. He’s just published Wildflowers and Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont: A Naturalist’s Guide to the Carolinas, Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia (University of North Carolina Press). The event will be followed by a book signing and guided wildflower walk.

Another Swain County man, Gregory Cline, 35, was convicted of one count of tampering in federal court for breaking into a trailhead collection box.

After rangers learned that money was being stolen from a self-pay trail map collection box, an extended surveillance operation was conducted, which netted Cline as a suspect. Cline received 57 days in jail and was ordered to pay $57 restitution, the amount he had stolen. Cline has appealed the case.

Two Swain County men were convicted and sentenced in federal court last month in Bryson City for stealing ginseng from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Billy Joe Hurley, 42, and Jeffrey N. Hurley, 34, of Bryson City, were found guilty and were sentenced to a jail term for illegal possession of American ginseng. Billy Joe Hurley was sentenced to 75 days in jail and fined $5,540 in restitution to the park for possessing 554 wild ginseng roots; and Jeffrey Hurley was sentenced to 14 days in jail and fined $2,510 in restitution to the park for possessing 251 roots.

In late October, as part of an ongoing investigation, a ranger caught the Hurley brothers in the North Carolina area of the park with more than 11 pounds of freshly dug roots that had been poached in one day’s time. The roots were later aged by park biologists, and it was determined that most of the roots were at least 10 years old, but some of the larger ones were found to be 30 to 40 years old. The offense carries a maximum misdemeanor penalty of up to 6 months in jail and/or fine of up to $5,000.

One of the original elk brought to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park 10 years ago as part of a reintroduction of the magnificent species was shot and killed by a poacher in February.

The killing took place in Haywood County just outside of the park, in the 12 Mile Strip along the Pigeon River Gorge near Waterville heading toward the state line. Elk are listed as a species of special concern by the state, so it is illegal to shoot them even if they have wandered outside the national park.

A reward of $5,000 is on the table for information leading to the poacher’s arrest and conviction. A group of elk fans calling themselves Friends of the Elk have put up the reward money.

“The hope is the announcement of the reward will loosen some tongues,” said Bill Burkett of Weaverville, who has contributed to the reward kitty. The shooting has been under investigation by the N.C. Wildlife Commission but was kept quiet until now.

Burkett said they decided to pitch in and offer a reward “when it seemed like the law enforcement investigation wasn’t going anywhere.”

The area where the elk was shot is very remote. It’s possible no one saw anything, but Burkett suspected whoever shot it may have told his friends. Poachers took the antlers, hide, hooves and meat.

Based on the carcass left behind, poachers had butchered the elk, which is no small job.

“To get the quarters and the back strap and any salvageable meat small enough to carry off, I would guess three to four hours. This is a big critter so it took these people a while to do this,” Burkett said.

Hooves are sometimes mounted on the wall pointing upwards like a hook to make a gun rack or coat rack. As for the antlers, elk drop theirs every winter. The spot where the antlers grow had been cut away by the poachers anyway.

Poachers wisely left the radio collar behind — the collar can be tracked by park rangers. In fact, the motionless collar may be what altered rangers there was a problem and led them to the spot.

“When the collar stops moving something is wrong,” Burkett said.

It is unlikely the poacher was out hunting and accidentally shot the elk, or that it was even an impulse shooting. Dear and bear season are over by February. While grouse and rabbits are in season, those are hunted with shotguns, and it would take a high-power rifle to bring down an elk, Burkett surmised. Burkett is a member of the Great Smoky Mountains chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, which provided financial support for the elk reintroduction in the park.

The park is still concerned about the loss of the elk, even though it is outside the park boundary.

“The illegal poaching outside of the park borders interferes with our ability to manage and protect resources inside the park,” said Nancy Gray, park spokeswoman.

The park is phasing out the use of radio collars and ear tags as the 130-member herd proves it can survive (unless poached illegally) without being actively managed by park rangers, Gray said.

This was the third elk killed since the reintroduction took place, and marks the second elk slain outside of the national park. Last year, Bruce Wayne Cromer, of Stovall, was charged with shooting an elk on Nov. 13, 2009, in Cataloochee. He was fined $15,000 in restitution to the park and his truck and firearm were confiscated. He was also sentenced to six months in jail.

The poacher of the first elk killed eluded prosecution.

Information about the poaching can be reported at 800.662.7137. Information can also be reported to local N.C. wildlife officers, Daniel Cable at 828.450.7894 or Jeff Jackson at 828.450.7895.

A bald eagle was shot and killed at the Maggie Festival Grounds, a large open field off the main drag through town, in early May.

A reward of up to $2,500 is offered to anyone for information leading to a conviction of the person responsible for killing the eagle. U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the N.C. Wildlife Commission are investigation the shooting.

Bullet fragments were removed from the carcass. The eagle was an immature bald eagle and lacked the characteristic adult white head and tail feathers.

Bald eagles were taken off the endangered species list in 2007, but are still protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Violations carry a fine of up to $100,000 and up to one year in federal prison.

Anyone with information should call Special Agent Tom Chisdock with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement at 828.258.2084 or Captain Greg Daniels with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission at 828.337.9425.

Mast General Store in Waynesville will donate a portion of its sales on Saturday June 4 to the to Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy in honor of National Land Trust Day. Since 2004, Mast has donated $54,000 to the conservancy during the annual land trust event.

Also, a guided “wild edibles” hike on a protected tract near the entrance to Cataloochee Valley in Haywood County will be held June 4 starting at 11 a.m. The tract is situated on the Cataloochee Divide adjacent to the Smokies national park and features good views. The landowners, Chip and Kay Hultquist, will lead the group on a hike in a search for edible plants, which will be served up for an evening meal prepared in a cabin on the property, followed by a campfire.

The cost is $25 for SAHC members; $35 for non-members. RSVP at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 828.253.0095 ex. 205.

Rain barrels, which hook into your gutters to catch rain coming off your roof, are being sold for $75 in a joint conservation project by Haywood Waterways Association, the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce and the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service in Haywood County. Proceeds will benefit each organization.

Rain barrels are good for water conservation and are an investment for maintaining healthy gardens and landscaping. During drought they provide a source of water for irrigation, and reduce the strain on rivers and wells. By capturing and retaining rainwater they help reduce stormwater impacts when it does rain.

The 55-gallon barrels are made from recycled pickle containers. They are fitted with connections for a garden hose, overflow pipes or to connect multiple barrels in series. The barrels also have a drain and bug screen. The tops can be removed for easy cleaning and maintenance.

The barrels will be at the Agricultural Service Center on Raccoon Road, on Thursday, May 26 from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Rain barrels can also be ordered through Eric Romaniszyn, Haywood Waterways’ Executive Director at 828.631.2823 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Display models are at the Chamber of Commerce, extension office or Waynesville Fly Shop.

A Waynesville watershed hike is scheduled for Saturday, June 11, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Naturalist Don Hendershot and Western Carolina University Forestry Professor Peter Bates will lead the group. Bates and Hendershot will discuss the flora and fauna of the watershed, as well as the watershed management plan that governs it.

The Waynesville watershed is a 9,000-acre preserve, flanking the mountains to the south of town, running from Allen’s Creek to the Blue Ridge Parkway. The watershed is normally closed to public access, with hikes offered just twice a year in the spring and fall.

Participants must be able to hike 3 to 5 miles in moderately strenuous terrain. Birders should bring their binoculars. No pets allowed.

Directions will be sent after registration.

828.452.2491.

Botanist Tim Spira will present a program based on his new book, Wildflowers and Plant Communities of the Southern Applachian Mountains and Piedmont, at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 27, at City Lights bookstore in Sylva.

Spira, a botanist at Clemson University, takes a holistic, ecological approach that enables the reader to identify and learn about plants in their natural communities.

He will show slides from the book and give a talk on the plant communities that local hikers can find in this area.

828.586.9499.

The Cherokee Gourd Artists Gathering, themed “Gourds in the Wind,” will take place from Friday, June 3, to Sunday, June 5, at the Cherokee Indian Fairgrounds.

Classes, demonstrations, displays of finished art, vendors and contests fill the schedule for the weekend event. Some early activities begin on Thursday, June 2.

The gathering is free to attend and the classes are volunteer-taught, though there may be a fee for supplies. Sign-up for classes like bowl carving, gourd basketry and primitive pyrography continue through Sunday, May 29.

828.497.9131, ext. 238 or visit gourdgathering.net.

A Mahjong Party will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 7, at the home of sponsor Kay Isserman in Waynesville as part of the 2011 FUNd Party Series by the Haywood County Arts Council.

Mahjong is a Chinese game usually played by four people with 136 or 144 tiles, the object being to collect winning sets of these. Participants can play in any style and lunch will be offered at the event, located at 209 Rocky Knob Road.

Tickets are $30. The registration deadline for foursomes or individuals is May 31. 828.452.0593 or visit at www.haywoodarts.org.

Who’s Got Talent?, a local talent competition featuring singers, dancers and variety acts, will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 31, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

About 20 acts and performers of all ages will compete for the audience’s vote and the winner will receive a cash prize. The success of the first Who’s Got Talent? presented last spring, encouraged the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts to offer a second, larger event this spring and again in the fall.

Tickets are $5. 866. 273.4615 or visit GreatMountainMusic.com.

Local artist Silvia Cabrera Williams will teach an experimental watermedia workshop from 2 to 4 p.m. each Thursday in June at the Leapin’ Frog Gallery in Waynesville.

Many common household items such as shaving cream, dishwashing rinse aid, petroleum jelly and aluminum foil will be used to produce experimental art. Feel free to bring failed watercolors to revive.

Williams has been an artist for many years and is a member of the International Society of Experimental Artists. Her favorite media are watercolor, ink and acrylics.

Cost is $100. Supply list available upon registration.

828.456.8441 to reserve your space.

Katharine Whalen and Chimney Choir will perform on Thursday, June 2, and The Back Pages will perform on Thursday, June 9, as part of the Western Carolina University Summer Concert Series.

The concerts and will be held on the University Center lawn at 7 p.m. and are free and open to the public. Katharine Whalen, a vocalist for 90s band Squirrel Nut Zippers, will be accompanied by her current band, The Fascinators, as they combine jazz and modern electronic effects.

Chimney Choir, a Colorado-based band, will combine vocal harmonies with their multi-instrumental arrangements.

The Back Pages, a local classic and southern rock band, will perform the following week. 828.227.3622 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

One hundred quilts made by the Shady Ladies quilting group will be on display at their annual Quilt Show from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, June 3 and 4, and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 5, at Lake Logan Episcopal Center.

Admission is $3 and will be donated to Lake Logan Summer Camp Program. One quilt, a queen-size named Birds of a Feather, will be raffled off. All proceeds from the raffle will be donated to Haywood County charities and residents in need. Lake Logan’s Dining Hall is open for lunch on Friday and Saturday and brunch on Sunday.

828.456.8885 or visit www.lakelogan.org.

Country music, film and TV star Reba McEntire will perform from 7:30 p.m. to midnight on Sunday, May 29, at Harrah’s Cherokee casino.

McEntire has produced 63 top 10 hits, starred in a hit TV show on The WB and is the only female in country music history to attain a number one song in four decades. She won Female Vocalist of the Year at the Country Music Association awards four years in a row and Favorite Country Female Artist at the American Music Awards 12 times.

Tickets are $75 to $125. You must be 21 or older to attend the concert or enter the casino.

800.745.3000.

Accordion virtuoso Tony Lovello will perform at the Smoky Mountain Accordion Jam at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 4, at The Maggie Valley Club.

Since 2000, Lovello has returned to show business and recorded 14 CDs, performed 250 concerts, received five Lifetime Achievement Awards and was hailed as “The Living Legend of the Accordion World” by the National Accordion Association. The Smoky Mountain Accordion Jam will begin at 2 p.m. and anyone can play until 5 p.m., when food and beverages will be available for purchase at the Pin High Bar and Grille.

Tickets are $16.50. 828.734.2975.

Oconaluftee Institute for Cultural Arts in Cherokee is offering the chance to learn mixed media drawing and realist oil painting in June.

Mixed media drawing will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays from May 30 to June 6. This course will invite students to be experimental with a variety of materials by drawing on paper, then adding collage materials to create layers and two-dimensional depth. Participants will learn how to build a multi-layered drawing and collage composition using a variety of drawing and scrap materials on sturdy paper primed with gesso. The cost is $36.

A course titled “Learning from the Old Masters” will run from 6 to 8 p.m. each Wednesday from June 1 to 22. Students will learn to construct a realist oil painting using techniques similar to that of 16th and 17th century European masters such as Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Vermeer.

Participants should provide their own materials, which consist of a basic paint set, selection of brushes, mediums and a surface to paint on. The cost is $62.

828.497.3945 or  email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Tatting, caning, quilting and spinning demonstrations will highlight the 6th annual Patchwork Folk and Fabric Festival scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 4, at the Jackson County Recreation Center in Cullowhee.

The festival is presented by Catch the Spirit of Appalachia, the Appalachian Homestead Farm and Preserve and the Jackson County Parks and Recreational Department.

Participants may purchase homemade lunch, made by the board of directors of CSA.

828.293.3053.

Maybe it’s the fear of snakes, mountain lions, or Bigfoot. Or the perceived boredom of time spent unplugged. Perhaps it’s basic opposition to exertion and sweat. Whatever the reasons, fewer people nationwide are spending time in the great outdoors.

If you like getting away from it all, though, this trend might not seem so bad. You can enjoy a hike on a remote trail or cycle down a country road without someone next to you blabbing on their cell phone or barking about some divisive political issue.

But I also see danger in the isolation — and not just the obvious risk of getting injured or hopelessly lost and needing help, though that’s reason enough to welcome human company.

To me, the greater problem may be that if very few people experience the great outdoors, then only a small number will care when our wild or rural areas are threatened by sprawling development, exotic species, pollution or other problems. And if these open spaces suffer declines, so will important community resources like clean water, clean air, fresh food, tourism dollars, wildlife, and more.

Meanwhile, a fair number of doctors, teachers, and others are concerned that children who don’t play outside may experience higher rates of obesity, attention-deficit disorders, and other maladies. They’ve written books like Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder and launched myriad “No Child Left Inside” efforts.

With so many people working on the issue, I wasn’t surprised when a recent news story announced a “positive trend” in outdoor recreation. The Outdoor Foundation had released its 2010 Outdoor Recreation Participation Report, which highlighted “many encouraging trends-especially for youth.”

Unfortunately, their “positive trend” consisted of a smaller annual rate of decline in outdoor recreation compared to the previous study. I’m no math expert, but to me, a decline in a decline is still a decline.

That left me wondering who or what can truly reverse the trend. A new website, www.planetexplore.com, marks one major effort to help people find ways to enjoy the great outdoors. Partners include major outdoor gear companies and conservation groups. Sounds promising, right? When I first searched for local events, the site offered up a drumming class and a winery tour. More recently, they’ve listed a plant sale, a tree-drawing workshop, and a “mini-landfill” project to help you “learn how things rot.” Hmm.

In case fermentation and decomposition aren’t your idea of getting back to nature, consider the basic walk in the woods. For anyone with children or grandchildren, check out www.kidsinparks.com, sponsored by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. The site has great ideas for getting kids excited about hiking.

Of course, we don’t need the internet to lead us outdoors. Step one: fold up the paper or turn off the computer. Step two: go outside. Step three: take a nature photo or take a hike, but whatever you do, take someone with you — a spouse, a friend, a parent, a child, or anyone who hasn’t been outside much lately. Maybe I’ll see you there. And maybe the next report on trends in outdoor recreation will be truly positive.

(George Ivey is a Haywood County-based consultant and author of the novel Up River. Contact him at www.georgeivey.com.)

To the Editor:

I’d like to thank the state House of Representatives for putting rich white kids first in North Carolina with your vote on May 3. It’s about time! I am so tired of these hard working, poor and minority children who go to school everyday trying to make their lives better in the only safe environment they know.

I want to thank you for creating jobs in North Carolina, specifically at the ESC to handle the larger unemployment lines coming our way in the next few years. It will feel good to get rid of these high-paid, fat-cat teacher assistants, counselors, school nurses, custodians and secretaries that help to feed and put clothes on the backs of these little leaches on society. The $600,000 House Bill 351 alone will take care of the salaries of seven teaching assistants right away, and showing my driver’s license when I vote will always trump a child’s welfare in my book.

I applaud you for your efforts! I know that you really want to look into the faces of these children as you sign the bills to eliminate the positions of the only trustworthy person in their lives; however, I can understand that it is probably more beneficial to your busy schedule not to mention your re-election campaigns to pass the responsibility of job layoffs to the State Board of Education. Why become involved with the needs and concerns of your constituents now? After all, life is like golf, lowest score wins! And now, you’ve put North Carolinaright on par to take the lead!

House representatives, I want to thank you for helping Art Pope, your very own “Skip” Stam, and of course your campaign contributing friend Bob Luddy to make some money off of these kids backs. You could have done the easy thing and continued the 1 cent sales tax that 70 percent of North Carolinians support, maybe even closed the captive Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) tax loophole that would actually generate income from big corporations who owe back taxes here in North Carolina. Or any number of smaller cuts in different areas, but you didn’t so thanks.

Really, we didn’t hire you to be creative thinkers, and you certainly haven’t disappointed. I want to thank you for the sound financial advice I have learned from you. From now on when I am in financial straits at home I will cut out my food budget and stop cashing my paycheck! Because I know that not feeding myself and having no income to pay the bills will always keep me healthy and get me out of debt.

N.C. House Representatives, I thank you from the bottom of my heart! The great state of North Carolina thanks you! I am sure that kids who are affected by the elimination of the state’s dropout prevention programs and the other members of the gangs they join will be thanking you and the rest of us some time in the near future as well. Especially when you have to cut law enforcement jobs in the next budget because God knows those people will be sucking the life out of our state by then! That however is for another letter, for another time.

Frederick Sean Parnell

Hickory

To the Editor:

Do you think more of your car than you do of your children?

If something is wrong with your car, you take it to a dealer to be fixed. When you get it back and it still is not right you either take it back to the dealer until you are satisfied or you go to another dealer. Competition forces the dealers to do a better job and satisfy their customers.

You send your child to school for 12 years and your chances are 2 to 1 that they will graduate. Even if they do, they have a 75 percent chance that they are behind grade level and will require 1 to 1.5 years of remediation to make it through college or to prepare for a productive and successful life.

Why do you not demand the same level of “customer service” and results from the business you have entrusted to educate your children? After all, is this not your most important responsibility as a parent?

You say, “Well there are no other options.” Whose fault is that? You continue to elect politicians that refuse to allow you the options a parent needs to see that their child receives the best education possible for that particular child. Every year since 1996, your previous state senators and state representatives voted to deny you those options by refusing to allow competition to exist. Your current state representatives, Phil Haire, D-Sylva, and Ray Rapp, D-Mars Hill, continue to do this. When will you realize that they vote for their best interests (campaign contributions) and the best interests of the monopoly, not the best interests of your children and grandchildren?

We have a lot excellent teachers in our public school system, but too often the best of them are frustrated by the bureaucracy that stifles their ability to teach. We can do better for our children and competition will cause all options to improve.

Bruce Gardner

Waynesville

To The Editor:

I attended the recent public hearing on the Comprehensive Transportation Plan and came away confused.  First, according to the Division Engineer who manages Division 14 of the N.C. Department of Transportation, of which Macon is a part, all this hoopla about requiring a Comprehensive Plan or we’ll be cut off from road projects is not accurate.  Yet it seems that the county administration is under the impression that this is the case.

Aside from the confusion over why the plan is necessary, I’m trying to understand its purpose, which, among other things, is ostensibly to create an environment that attracts jobs. Yet, there are many provisions and recommendations that make home construction more difficult and more expensive.

Considering the current plight of the construction industry and the attendant businesses — developers, realtors, well drillers, septic system contractors, landscapers, heating and air contractors, furniture stores, carpet layers, appliance stores, appraisers, cabinet makers, surveyors, interior decorators, tile contractors and so on — one wonders why county officials would consider the recommendations included in the Plan.

To trade the possibility of attracting job creators in the future, a task that has proven to be unsuccessful in the past, for the certainty of job destruction in the here and now seems like a fools game to me.

Don Swanson

Franklin