A lineup of fall interpretive programs is underway in Great Smoky Mountains National Park will run through the end of October. From black bears to berries to carbon footprints, the fall programs cover plenty of ground.

Sundays

• Longing for the “Good Ol’ Days.” Join a ranger for a walk on the Mountain Farm Museum and learn what life may have been like on an Appalachian mountain farm. 2 p.m., adjacent to Oconaluftee Visitor Center. 

• Junior Ranger: Smoky Mountain Elk. . Learn about the history of the elk through “show and tell” activities, and then stay and watch the elk come into in the fields. 5:30 p.m., Palmer House in Cataloochee Valley. 

Mondays

Welcome Back to the Smokies! 

Join a ranger to hear the stories of reintroduced species within the park, including peregrine falcons, river otters and elk. 1 p.m., Oconaluftee Visitor Center porch.

Tuesdays

• Do You Have Power? Join a Ranger to learn how to leave a light carbon footprint and help protect the park and planet for future generations. 1 p.m., Oconaluftee Visitor Center porch. 

Wednesdays

• Forecasting the Future with Mother Nature. Nuts were fair, berries late, with several morning fogs and moon rings in August. Join a ranger to learn what this might mean for the upcoming winter and how people in the past used nature to forecast the seasons. 11 a.m., Oconaluftee Visitor Center.

Thursdays

• Black Bears: Big, Smelly and Smart. Discover the ways black bears adapt to their environment and how they prepare for winter. 1 p.m., Oconaluftee Visitor Center.

Fridays

• Myths and Legends of the Cherokee. The lands of the Cherokee once extended through several states within the southeast and included all of the Great Smoky Mountains.  Join a ranger to explore the culture, history and mythology of the Cherokee through storytelling. 1 p.m., Oconaluftee Visitor Center.

Saturdays

• Smoky Mountain Elk. A ranger will take questions about elk and dish on the best places to see them in the park. Hands-on components will reveal how elk stay warm and what it feels like to carry those heavy antlers on your head. 11:30 a.m., Oconaluftee Visitor Center.

828.497.1904

There’s a new specialty license plate coming soon: the brook trout plate.

White-nosed bat syndrome is marching west, and as a result the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has closed the Whiteoak Sink area between Cades Cove and Townsend through March to keep people from spreading the disease to bats hibernating there. 

Cambodia and Thailand might be on the other side of the world from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but they deal with similar resource issues — including plant and wildlife poaching — so the Smokies is reaching out to provide a week of training to 10 female park officials from those southeast Asia countries. 

The outlook for a bright leaf season is improving, as Western Carolina University fearless fall foliage forecaster Kathy Mathews has updated her prediction about the quality of the annual color show, based on changing conditions in the mountains.

The Franklin Chamber of Commerce and Main Street Bakery will offer a How To Create A Gingerbread House seminar at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7, at the Underground Franklin Event Center below the bakery.

The 24th annual Bryson City Chili Cook-Off will be held Saturday, Oct. 18, at the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad Depot.

The Town of Sylva will hold its 125th anniversary celebration from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, in downtown.

The historic Colonial Theatre in downtown Canton has been nominated for a Momentum Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association for best musical venue of the year.

Folk/rock/country singer Chris Minick will perform at 7:45 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, at The Strand at 38 Main in Waynesville.

By Jim Hunt • Guest Columnist

Earlier this year, I called for a state commitment to raise teacher pay to the national average in the next four years. It was a bold proposal, but that’s what leaders do. Since that time, teachers got a raise, but what they didn’t get was a commitment. State lawmakers need to go back to the drawing board if they are going to show teachers that they are valued.

To the Editor:

By this means I thank N.C. Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, for presenting the fracking forum in Macon County to afford his constituents the opportunity to at least attend a meeting where Senate Bill 786, the Energy Modernization Act, was discussed. 

The Energy Modernization Act is the overreaching bill that lifts the moratorium on issuing state permits for hydraulic fracturing for gas, or fracking. The law allows companies to start the processes that will lead to fracking with much protection for those who will profit most, little concern for the health and safety of the people who will someday, somehow be impacted, and a callous disregard for the earth that sustains all of us. 

Sen. Davis is proud to have been one of the bill’s sponsors. His constituents were not heard before the law passed. Now the local governments that more directly represent us are rendered powerless in protecting our land and our lives. Our Franklin Board of Aldermen and our Macon County Commission, as well as all other local government units in the state, are prohibited from passing any ordinances “that in any manner are in conflict or inconsistent with the provisions” of SB786.

The Forum was not designed to give attendees information and respond to the valid concerns most people had. The panel consisted of a Lee County Commissioner who is a member and former chairman of the Mining and Energy Commission, a geologist who serves as the science and energy advisor to the N.C. Senate, a Republican senator from Mocksville, and a member of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League. This cool-headed lady was the lone voice crying in the wilderness, courageously and vainly trying to balance the distorted rosy picture painted by the other panelists of all the good things that fracking will bring us. Sen. Davis politely gave her the opportunity to respond to each question but this effort at fairness could not mitigate the stacking of the deck three to one. 

As to the other panelists, the MEC member gave a slide presentation that was a slick hard-sell tactic probably similar to what BP used getting permission to drill in the Gulf. The Republican senator must have forgotten where he was because he did not respond to questions but rather delivered one campaign speech after another, complete with family history, his contributions to the welfare of his constituents, promises of good-paying jobs from fracking, and his love of God and country. The only thing missing was babies to kiss. Unfortunately, the clock kept ticking as he kept on stomping. 

The three pro-fracking panelists were not unbiased, honest believers in the merits of fracking but rather zealots with vested interests in convincing the public that fracking would be like manna from heaven. I knew this was true when the geologist compared the potassium that can be one of many unpronounceable and mystery chemicals in the fracking mix to the potassium in our breakfast bananas. And this geologist is a real scientist?

The insult compounding the above injuries was hurled by the MEC member who in a closing rant tried to suggest that being opposed to fracking was unpatriotic and disregarded the lives sacrificed in defending our nation. His words were so hurtful and arrogant that a member of the audience felt compelled to respond even though the public had been barred from making any comments.

Sen. Davis stated that only about 10 percent of the questions submitted had been answered and committed to respond to the rest through his legislative address at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. I appreciate his willingness to hear from his constituents though more questions could have been answered if the panelists had been limited to answering the questions and not promoting their personal agendas. What I appreciate most is Sen. Davis’ reminding the public that we still have a voice in expressing our opposition to all the ills associated with fracking. He reminded us of his support for SB786 and that he is running for reelection this November. Our voices can speak loud and clear at the ballot box.

Olga F. Pader

Franklin

To the Editor:

The letter writer on fracking in the Sept. 17-23 issue of The Smoky Mountain News appears to have been influenced by the bombastic and fictional style of the extreme right. He begins by demeaning those who are critical of fracking and suggests they are un-American. 

The truth is that fracking and the related drilling have been shown to cause contamination of ground water and earthquakes in at least three different states. Some of these effects are noted as much as 15 to 20 miles from the drilling site. Concerns about fracking are neither “hysterical” nor “unpatriotic” as the writer asserts. The concerns are based on facts, not propaganda of oil and gas companies.

Hysteria did not “prevent” development of nuclear power. The valid environmental concerns (Three Mile Island in the U.S., Chernobyl in Russia) and costs of not just safe construction of plants but also disposal of nuclear wastes caused nuclear energy to be economically uncompetitive. Maybe the writer would volunteer to store some nuclear wastes in his basement since the government can’t seem to find a place to put it.

The writer claimed that “… someone would go insane …” from the noise wind farms generate. I have actually visited a wind farm in Illinois some years ago and did not hear any bothersome or even noticeable noise from the big turbines. Maybe the writer should visit such a farm, or maybe his hearing is more acute.

The discussion needs more facts and less ad hominem attacks.  

Norman G. Hoffman, Ph.D.

Waynesville

To the Editor:

Although Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, and his fellow Republicans Sen.  Jim Davis, R-Franklin, and Rep. Michele Presnell, R-Burnsville, like to tout their $1 billion increase in funding for public education, they have little to say about how little of that money actually reaches the classroom. 

Funding for textbooks has remained at around $23 million for the past three years, a considerable drop from the $111 million allocated in the 2009-10 fiscal year. That means that school districts now receive $14.26 per student as opposed to the $67.15 they received some six years ago. The result is that in many districts students are no longer issued textbooks; rather there are class sets, which must remain in the classroom, and many of these are held together by duct tape. 

In 2017 when state funding shifts to digital textbooks, this issue will not fade away. According to June Atkinson, state superintendent of public instruction, it will take approximately $75 million to provide the necessary computers or electronic tablets. Add to that the cost of software. This shift assumes, of course, that students have access to the Internet at home. If not, will we find students and their parents clustered at Starbucks or McDonalds where free wi-fi makes completing homework possible.

Despite an increase of 43,700 students since 2008-09,  the funding for classroom activities (which includes textbooks) has declined by $1 billion, according to Philip Price, CFO for the Department of Public Instruction. So what Tillis and the Republicans in the state House have given with one hand, they have taken away with the other. On Nov. 4, we should tell them that textbooks do matter.

Lynda Self

Waynesville

To the Editor:

As someone with 25-plus years of experience in water and wastewater equipment design, manufacture and installation, I can guarantee that 100 percent of fracked wells will fail at some point in the future and they will release their residual gases and chemicals into our air, water and on our land. All well casings are made with carbon steel, and that material rusts and corrodes upon contact with dissimilar minerals (metals) and moisture. No fracked well is safe, so we are putting millions of wells throughout the USA and our environment at risk along with our precious drinking water and our air quality while transferring this liability to the landowners and their heirs since the fracking companies will be long gone with their profits.

 We need to stop fracking and evaluate this serious threat. If terrorists began injecting these chemicals into our lands, we would be at war. Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, co-authored this fracking bill and all Republicans including our governor approved it without apparent long-term oversight or concern for the people. Perhaps it is time to send a message this November that people and their property rights should come before profits.

Larry Stenger

Franklin

Chopping, sawing, axe throwing, tree climbing, log rolling and more will be on tap during an intercollegiate Woodsmen’s Meet Saturday, Oct. 4 at the Cradle of Forestry in America.

Haywood Community College’s famous Timbersports Team will be one of six teams to compete. 

The first half of the day will day will include dendrology, team log roll, orienteering, water boil, log toss, tree identification and archery.

After lunch, some of the more hardcore timbersports will begin, with events ranging from the axe throw to the horizontal speed chop to cross-cut sawing to the pole climb. Activities will run from 7:45 a.m. to 5 p.m., followed by a BBQ dinner.

 Last year’s HCC Timbersports Team made it to the mid-Atlantic meet, with team member Logan Hawks taking third place in the nation for the STIHL Timbersports Series Collegiate Lumberjack Competition. 

HCC has a long lineage of top timbersports teams.

Check out the full schedule at www.haywood.edu/news/hcc_to_participate_in_john_g_palmer_intercollegiate_woodsmens_meet_at_forest_festival_day. 

The Cradle of Forestry’s Forest Festival Day will be held 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4.

More than 80 traditional craftsmen, exhibitors and forestry students will be on site sharing demonstrations of old-timey and outdoor skills, such as whittling, woodcarving, candle making, wood turning, fly fishing and tying, falconry and creating cornhusk dolls. 

The festival celebrates the Cradle’s status as the birthplace of forestry in America. Dr. Carl Alwin Schenck, forester for George Vanderbilt’s Biltmore Estate from 1895 to 1909, founded America’s first forestry school in 1898 and used the present Cradle of Forestry area as its summer campus. At that time the word “forestry” was a vague and new idea in the U.S.

$6 ages 16 and older; $3 youth 4 to 15 and holders of America the Beautiful and Golden Age passes; free for children under 4. Located 4 miles south of the Blue Ridge Parkway on U.S. 276 in the Pisgah National Forest, 25 miles from Waynesville. 

www.cradleofforestry.com or 828.877.3130.

Ed Zahniser, son of the man who was widely regarded as the father of the Wilderness Act, will speak at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27 as the keynote speaker of a Wilderness Act celebration at Sugarlands Visitor Center in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The celebration will run from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and conclude with a hike the following morning. 

Outdoor USA Magazine named Nantahala Outdoor Center, located outside Bryson City, as one of the top 100 outdoor specialty retailers in the United States in its September issue. Nominations were judged on outstanding work and entrepreneurial drive, and they were submitted by brands and distributors.

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy recently recognized a passel of Franklin businesses and organizations for their support of the Appalachian Trail, naming them AT. Community Supporters for helping out the hiking community, the ATC or the trail itself. Recipients were:

• Three Eagles Outfitters, a hiking and camping outfitter that offers hikers discounts, Internet service, a coffee bar and lounge, in-town shuttles to the store and a free mail drop service.

• The Franklin Chamber of Commerce, which has helped build public awareness about the resources and economic opportunity inherent in the AT’s proximity to Franklin. The chamber highlights Franklin’s status as an AT Community in its Newcomers Guide, where it also prints AT hike information, and the chamber houses an AT display in its building. 

• Outdoor 76, an outdoor supply store downtown that leads hikes on the AT. The store serves 1,000 to 1,500 thru-hikers each year and its owners are members of the AT Community Committee. 

• First Baptist Church of Franklin, which serves a free hiker breakfast for four weeks each spring, last year feeding more than 800 hikers. The church also takes a photo of each hiker and mails it to their home, along with a written note. 

As the weather cools down, the competitive edge will be heating up in the running communities of Western North Carolina over the next few weeks. Push your limits with a fall race in your community. 

A comedy set in Martha’s Vineyard that explores a wealthy world of infinity pools, Bentleys and yacht clubs with men in pink pants, “Elemeno Pea” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 1-3 and at 3 p.m. Oct. 4 in Hoey Auditorium at Western Carolina University.

The 6th Annual ColorFest: Dillsboro Fine Arts & Crafts Fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, in downtown Dillsboro.

Frank Brannon, Jr., proprietor of SpeakEasy Press in Dillsboro, will present “How to Make and Print Photopolymer Plates” for Art League of the Smokies at 6:15 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, at Swain County Center for the Arts in Bryson City.

Featuring local food, music and children’s activities, the 5th annual Taste of Sylva culinary tour will run from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, in downtown Sylva restaurants and in the pavilion at McGuire Gardens on West Main Street.

The 5th annual Barnaroo fall music festival will be held Oct. 4 at Franny’s Farm in Leicester. 

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Claire Lynch will perform at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5, at Cataloochee Ranch in Maggie Valley.

Long recognized and praised as a creative force in acoustic music, Lynch is a pioneer who continually pushes the boundaries of the bluegrass genre. She is the reigning 2013 Female Vocalist of the Year for the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) and a 2012 recipient of the United States Artists Walker Fellowship. Her career has been decorated with many other accolades, including two Grammy nominations and previous IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year awards in 2010 and 1997.

Dinner will be served at 6 p.m. Tickets, which include dinner and the performance, are $60, and reservations are required. 

828.926.1401.

Acclaimed bluegrass/gospel group Balsam Range will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30, at the Colonial Theatre in Canton. The concert is part of the Homegrown in Haywood series being put on by the Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina, an initiative within the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area.

Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at 828.298.5330 (Ext. 303) or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or www.blueridgeheritage.com.

Country megastar Jake Owen will perform at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27 at Harrah’s Cherokee.

Tickets are $45 and $55.

800.745.3000 or www.harrahscherokee.com. 

To the Editor:

Ironically, the executive director of an organization named for the sacrificial bird used in mining operations endorses wind and solar power.

Is he aware, for example, that California’s Ivanpah solar generating plant is routinely incinerating small birds and setting the feathers of larger birds on fire, as well as blinding them? The YouTube videos are simply mesmerizing.

He cannot be unaware that wind turbines are decimating raptors and other canary kin, not to mention the well documented problems regarding sleep disorders in humans and reduced home values.

Someone enlighten me. Is the Canary Coalition pro or anti-canary? To me, it’s reminiscent of the Twilight Zone episode, “To Serve Man.”

Without a “smidgen’”of evidence, Mr. Friedman states, “Wind energy is the least expensive energy option available today.” Somebody better tell the Danes. They are the leaders in wind energy and they pay 40 cents per kilowatt hour.

Nowhere does he address reliability which cannot be provided by solar or wind. If it’s cold and dark, just wait for the sun to rise or the wind to blow. And wait.

Most astonishingly of all, he offers geothermal to allay the concerns of the anti-fracking crowd. Now, I admit drilling holes for exploration, setting off explosions to map the underground landscape with seismic waves, disposing wastewater and enduring earthquakes should concern everyone. Why is he not making us aware that each of these concerns exists in geothermal activities, not just shale fracking?

It may be true, as Mr. Friedman states, “extracting natural gas from the ground results in substantial leakage of raw, unburned methane into the atmosphere.” What he conveniently does not state is that carbon dioxide, methane, hydrogen sulphide and ammonia are also released in geothermal drilling. Why does he omit those relevant details?

Claud Mandil, former head of the International Energy Agency, a promoter of alternate energy sources, states, “Every type of traditional geothermal drilling can include fracking because of the need to ensure enough water circulates and gets heated.... The risks of provoking seismic activity or water pollution are the same.”  

He further states, “Talk of geothermal and fracking is being hushed up so as not to provoke an outcry. There may be some acceptance of it for geothermal because that energy is renewable.”

Geothermal may actually be worse because different and more difficult techniques must be used to plug the wells and they must be engineered for hotter temperatures and higher water flow.

Douglas Hollett, head of the DOE’s geothermal technologies office states,“The key is learning how to do it in a reliable way, in a responsible way.” When similar statements are made by shale fracking advocates they are routinely ridiculed by opponents.

When two competing energy sources exist and the negatives that apply to both of them are identical and equivalent, but one source is vilified while the other is glorified; ask yourself who benefits.

Mr. Friedman offers up Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute as the efficiency wizard whose ideas we should embrace. Lovins is a leading advocate of geothermal energy. His tax-exempt organization receives $15 million in grants and he receives $750,000 in compensation.

I think we have our answer.

Timothy Van Eck

Whittier

To the Editor:

The deed to the Nikwasi Mound states that, “the mound shall be preserved for the citizens of Macon County and for posterity, and the same shall be kept as it now stands and shall not be excavated, explored, altered, or impaired in any way or used for any commercial purpose, and shall be kept as a monument to the early history of Macon County ....”

Furthermore, “any deed, lease or other contract which in any way may interfere with the objects and purposes of this instrument as above set forth shall be null and void, and should the Town of Franklin at any time fail to carry out the provisions of this instrument, then any citizen of Macon County shall have the right to apply to the Court for injunctive relief and to prosecute said action in their own behalf and in behalf of all other citizens of Macon County.”

Bottom line is that the Nikwasi Mound has been preserved and well maintained for over a half century by the Town of Franklin until a year or so ago when a Town of Franklin power struggle heated up among the mayor, vice mayor, and aldermen, and the mound became a handy bone of contention, a visible way to politically squabble for power and control, and the citizens of Macon County have a vested interest in the mound, a cultural and financial stake in the mound as per the legal deed that describes the preservation and maintenance of mound for “the citizens of Macon County.”

This current brouhaha is not just a political power struggle that the Macon County Commissioners can discount, wash their hands of, and kick the ball to the Franklin Town Board to deal with as a play toy for governance issues. The mound, in the legal care of the Town of Franklin since the 1940s, belongs to all of us, the citizens of Macon County. Simple as that.

Betty Cloer Wallace

Franklin

To the Editor:

We have chosen war yet again because we have deemed someone else’s behavior to be barbaric; in this latest case, it is against ISIS. I agree: beheading civilians is barbaric. Here are some other things I find barbaric.

 It’s barbaric to refer to Afghan civilians killed by U.S. bombs as “collateral damage” rather than “civilian casualties” and consequently to ignore loss of civilian life. It’s barbaric to arbitrarily declare all military-age males killed in drone strikes as “enemy combatants” and consequently to ignore loss of civilian life.

It’s barbaric to send men and women off to war to be physically or mentally maimed and then ignore their needs when they return home. It’s barbaric that 22 veterans commit suicide every day, while mental health care continues to be largely unavailable. It’s barbaric that veterans die while waiting for medical treatment. It’s barbaric that more than one in four women who join the military will be sexually assaulted during their careers.

It’s barbaric that we always have enough money for prisons but not for schools. It’s barbaric that one woman in four will experience domestic violence. It’s barbaric that a report of child abuse is made every 10 seconds. It’s barbaric that aborted children are referred to as “pregnancy terminations.”

It’s barbaric to be so addicted to fossil fuels that we manufacture not only the weapons of war but the justifications for war. It’s barbaric to believe that violence does anything other than beget more violence.

Lisa Bacon

Sylva 

To the Editor:

Since they took over control of the North Carolina Legislature, there has been a great cry among Republican ranks to get our fiscal house in order. They have cut spending on schools, they have cut spending on health care, and they have frozen government hiring for much of their term in office …. well, with a few exceptions of friends of the governor. In the process, these guys got into bed with energy companies and decided that fracking — the energy recovery process that has polluted much of the Southwest and Northeast — is a good idea for North Carolina. Our own state senator describes this as the new “… energy revolution.” He says that with a smile.     

Democrats, now a minority in the legislature, protested the blocking of the Affordable Healthcare Act. Democrats railed against the real cuts to education and voted against a sham raise for teachers. And Democrats came down against fracking in the state, along with a lot of Republican citizens who recognize this as a bomb under our bed.

Rarely have citizens of North Carolina had such a clear-cut choice in an election. We can choose to elect people who are driven by money, or we can choose to elect people who are concerned about the wellbeing of citizens and our environment.

What does your conscience tell you to choose?

Rick Bryson

Bryson City    

To the Editor:

A candidate for the county commission wants to cut your taxes. That is the basis for his whole campaign. He will save you money. It is an excellent bumper sticker and campaign slogan. For Tea Party types, that is all they need to know, he has their vote.

But what does that slogan really mean for Macon County? By any estimate we already have the lowest ad-valorem  property tax rate of the 100 counties in North Carolina. Does that mean that if elected he would cut school funding, the county sheriff, ball parks, medical services or any of the other many services that make this county a wonderful place to live. Of course none of that matters; the only important goal is to pay as little tax as possible because it is my money.

True conservatives would look at the county balance sheet and think what is good for the county and the people in it. They would see a new dialysis center as a way to preserve the lives of local residents. They would see aid to local schools as a way to maintain our local values. They would see road improvements as a way to help local business. They would see money spent on local social services as a way to keep local families together and protect our children. In other words, they would see past their personal bank accounts to become part of the community that they want to preserve.

We live on one of the best counties in one of the best states in this wonderful country. Anyone who threatens that will not have my vote.

Louise Vitale

Franklin

To the Editor:

I have read with interest the original article by George Ellison questioning the account that Granville Calhoun has provided about the trip of Horace Kephart to Hazel Creek in 1904 and the response made to that article by Granville’s great niece Gwen Franks Breese and Mr. Ellison’s response to her letter. Quite frankly I am appalled by Mr. Ellison’s largely unsupported position that the story related by Mr. Calhoun was false.

To the Editor:

Readers may well be approaching exhaustion with this ongoing exchange regarding circumstances surrounding Horace Kephart’s arrival at Hazel Creek, but since his death the Kephart saga has been misrepresented to a degree rivaling the pervasive stereotyping and inaccuracies found in Our Southern Highlanders (OSH). We feel it important to delineate some factual verities.

Brush clearing at Monteith Farmstead

Appalachian Tree Services of Franklin donated its services to remove several large trees and brush debris from the Monteith Farmstead in Dillsboro and the site of the Appalachian Women’s Museum, which is working to create a museum that will chronicle the rich and diverse history of Southern Appalachian women. www.appwm.org.

Community notes

• A Ceremonial U.S. Flag Retirement Ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, at VFW Post 5202 in Waynesville. If anyone has a flag that needs to be disposed of, drop it off at the Post. 828.456.9346. 

• Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort employees volunteered 21,179 hours in 2014 through roadside clean ups, supply drives, and various other volunteer events. Harrah’s received the WNC Association of Fundraising Professionals’ 2014 Outstanding Business in Philanthropy Award.

• Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Western North Carolina will hold it annual Bowl For Kids’ Sake fundraiser for Haywood County from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 14 at Sky Lanes in Asheville, with a host of teams already signed up and more being accepted. Big Brothers, Big Sisters is a nonprofit organization that partners children facing adversity with volunteers in the community who can provide them guidance and help them achieve success. 828.356.2148.

• Jackson Neighbors in Need raised $8,700 at the Charlie’s Challenge fundraiser on Jan. 31 to benefit the organization’s heating assistance program, weatherization services and emergency shelter. www.jacksonneigborsinneed.org.  

• Social entrepreneurship students at Western Carolina University helped raise more than $1,400 for organizations serving Western North Carolina. 828.227.3295 or www.servicelearning.wcu.edu.

• Catch the Spirit of Appalachia will provide four $500 scholarships for high school seniors pursuing “Appalachian Studies,” with each scholarship focused on a different aspect of Appalachian heritage. www.spiritofappalachia.org. 828.631.4587.

• Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation in Haywood County set a new record high for number of pets saved in a year. In 2014, Sarge’s saved 1,231 dogs and cats — a 13 percent increase from 2013. www.sargeandfriends.org or 828.246.9050.

• Walmart of Waynesville presented a check for $1,500 to The Arc of Haywood County, a nonprofit that serves individuals with developmental disabilities and their families, for Christmas presents and clothes to the individuals served in their program. www.arcofhaywood.org.

• St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Haywood County is providing food, toiletries and other essentials to needy students at Pisgah High School for the second year in a row through the Backpacks of Love program, which sends students home with food every Friday to help them make it through the weekend. The church also provides food through MANNA Food Bank to Meadowbrook Elementary students. Holy Smoke Ministry at St. Andrew’s helps fund the program by selling barbecue at festivals and events. 828.648.7550.

• The Jackson County Youth Leadership Council is giving out mini-grants to other youth groups in the county engaged in community service projects of their own. The teenagers in the club are learning about philanthropy by serving as a mini-foundation to solicit, review and select projects worthy of funding. The Council is a high school 4-H club supported in part by a grant from the Cherokee Preservation Foundation. www.jcyouthleadership.weebly.com or 828.586.4009.

• Emma McElroy, a fourth-grader at Riverbend Elementary School, asked friends to bring linens to her 10th birthday party instead of gifts to be donated to the Haywood Pathways Center in Hazelwood. She donated 23 sheet sets, pillows, towels and washcloths and gave the $220 she received in birthday money to Pathways.

• The Macon County School Nutrition Relay for Life Team is selling breast cancer awareness T-shirts as a fundraiser through Feb. 23. From now until relay night, they will be selling homemade Oreo balls dipped in chocolate, cakes and pumpkin rolls. 828.524.4692.

Jamye Cooper will be taking the reins of Haywood Habitat for Humanity, bringing with her 25 years of professional experience in all aspects of nonprofit organizations. 

Her experience includes work as director of corporate and foundation relations at UNC-Asheville and executive director of Folkmoot USA. Most recently, she served as executive director of Dining for Women, an international giving organization based in Greenville, South Carolina.  

“Home is where everything starts,” the Canton mother of three said. “It is personally gratifying to professionally align with my belief that having a safe and stable home is foundational.”

Habitat for Humanity’s mission is to eliminate poverty housing by helping struggling families become homeowners. The Haywood chapter recently broke ground on its 44th home since its founding in 1990. 

Petty Officer 1st Class Chavella Bailey, a 1994 Swain County High School graduate and native of Cherokee, is serving aboard USS Forrest Sherman, one of the world’s most versatile multi-mission combat ships. Bailey is a master-at-arms aboard the Norfolk-based ship, a 510-foot long Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. As a seasoned non-commissioned officer, she mentors junior sailors. 

“I like to see them take on more responsibility and build up their independence,” said Bailey. “I’m kind of a mom figure with young sailors coming to me saying, ‘Ma, can you help me?’”

Approximately 34 officers and 253 enlisted men and women comprise the ship’s company. 

As a member of one of the U.S. Navy¹s most versatile combat ships, Bailey 

and other USS Forrest Sherman sailors feel they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes.

“At the end of the day, my sense of pride comes when nobody got hurt and nobody got in trouble,” said Bailey. “When I retire successfully, I’ll know I’ll have completed a great accomplishment.”

Ken Zulla was called a lot of things during his 30 years as an auditor for the United States government, but his latest title, winner of the 2014 Chief Junaluska Award from the Junaluska Associates, is more positive.

To the Editor:

Fracking is a contentious and potentially disastrous environmental and social issue heading for North Carolina and possibly even our mountains. The Mining and Energy Commission that has been drafting rules to regulate this industry in our state is run by Chairman Jim Womack (Lee County) and others who have direct financial and political ties to the very corporations that will provide the expertise, technology and even the workers (those already skilled in fracking operations). 

As North Carolina has not developed a fossil fuel extraction industry, the very few jobs that are associated with the fracking operations will be filled by experienced workers with long associations with the fracking industry, therefore not providing jobs for local workers. Additionally, revenues derived from the fracking operations will not be spent locally. A 2012 study shows that less than 36 percent of the investments would be spent in North Carolina. 

The shale gas market is an economic boon for the 30-odd states that permit fracking. The severance tax states impose on the process adds up. In 2010, it generated more than $11 billion. The flow of that revenue goes straight into state and federal coffers, as does increased corporate income tax revenue from energy companies profiting from fracking. Locally, the fracking process negatively impacts property values, which in turn depresses property tax revenue.

Local governments enjoy no benefits. Instead, they get stuck with all the fracking problems: noise from blasting, storage of toxic chemicals, degraded water sources and heavy truck traffic, as well as the rising costs of cleaning up the substantial mess fracking leaves behind. 

The rules written by the MEC are woefully inadequate and fail to protect our communities and water supplies. Full disclosure of chemicals used on site, without trade secret protections, should be mandatory. Gas and oil development is not like manufacturing that takes place in a closed system — chemicals are stored with minimal protections on site and are deliberately and accidentally released to the subsurface, air and water, all part of the public’s environment. 

The baseline testing rules are also shamefully weak. Many people in this state get their water from their own private water wells. If fracking comes to your neighborhood, it could contaminate your water. Baseline testing is required in order to prove that the industry is indeed responsible for the contamination. But the draft rules have reduced the area in which baseline testing is required by more than 70 percent since the most recent fracking bill. The wording in the current draft rule puts the burden on the owner of the water well to prove that the gas operator caused contamination. 

How far should fracking wells be from occupied buildings, including homes and schools? What about drinking water wells? Or our rivers and streams? The rules on “setback distances” are supposed to protect people and resources. But the MEC’s drafted rules on setback distances are far less than science would call for, despite the MEC promising us the “best protections in the country.”

We’ve all experienced the consequences of corporate greed over sound science. Health studies have indicated that potential exposure to toxic air emissions can happen over 4,500 feet from gas wells; yet wells can be as close as 650 feet to occupied buildings! Fracking can potentially destroy our wells and drinking water supplies, setback distances should be increased substantially. Proposed setback distances are only 200 feet from surface waters. Longer setbacks are a no-brainer to protect this state’s people and drinking water from accidents and pollution. 

Ken Brown

Sylva

To the Editor:

On Sept. 9 the National Audubon Society released the results of several years’ worth of studies that predict the future ranges of 588 North American bird species, taking into account measurable levels of accelerated global warming (http://climate.audubon.org). The bird census data that was used in these studies came from citizen derived Christmas Bird Counts as well as Breeding Bird Surveys. Both of these bird survey methods have been frequently carried out in communities around our state and across North America. The weather data for the studies came from the National Weather Data Center and from leading climatologists.

Very briefly, distribution maps of the various bird species were generated and associated with existing climatic characteristics. Then, subtle predicted changes in precipitation, season onset and temperature were added to the computerized models and new future bird distributions were predicted.

The forecasts are remarkable. Some bird species, especially those currently associated with warmer climates, are expected to expand their ranges further north and to what we currently think of as higher, cooler elevations. For example, in Highlands, mockingbirds, a bird that is common at slightly lower elevations, have begun appearing in recent Christmas Bird Counts for the first time. Other bird species are predicted to simply shift distributions further north but without net increases or decreases in total area of distribution. And then there are those species that may not have adequate places to “escape” to where climate and accompanying ecologic conditions are favorable for their survival; of the 588 species studied, 126 species are predicted to suffer severe declines by 2050 and another 188 species by 2080; 314 are considered at-risk species!   

By now you will have guessed that, unless we can reverse or significantly slow the trend in accelerated global warming, our grandchildren will probably not recognize many of the birds that we think of as avian talisman of the Southern Appalachians (e.g., scarlet tanagers, and many of our warbler species … perhaps even our currently plentiful juncos).

This study is the most comprehensive analysis that has specifically addressed the future of large numbers of vertebrate species on our continent in the face of unprecedented rates of global warming. While I doubt anyone would claim these to be perfect forecasts, they are the best information we currently have to help focus our attention on the challenges ahead. And clearly, if accelerated climate change continues, other dramatic ecologic changes, in addition to bird species distribution, will follow suit; at least most birds have the ability to fly to possible new habitat, many of our other fellow creatures and plants are not as mobile.

National Audubon has provided us with some thought provoking projections that involve familiar bird species. Presumably these projections will be further refined and evaluated. Meanwhile, it is our responsibility to vigorously protect our existing environmental strongholds for bird habitat (starting with our own gardens) and, like it or not, to take action to help slow or reverse the accelerated pace of long-term global warming (see also http://nc.audubon.org and http://highlandsaudubonsociety.org/index.html).

Russ Regnery

President, 

Highlands Plateau Audubon Society

To the Editor:

I generally find that when I cast a ballot for anyone in a national election, I’ve voting for the lesser evil. It’s sad, but I’m voting against someone as there’s always much that is still wrong about every candidate running for office at that level. 

That is not true this election. I am voting for Tom Hill for Congress, not just to get rid of U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Cashiers, but because I actually like everything about Tom Hill. I like where Tom Hill stands on the issues. 

And even more, I believe he will stand up for what he believes when faced with the powers that be in Washington. Tom Hill is honest and direct. And I don’t think Tom Hill will cave under the pressure to compromise unreasonably. I added the word unreasonably, as I know nothing but stalemate results from the inability to work with others.

Many people think their vote doesn’t count, and I do believe things are skewed with the electoral process. But we have the numbers to change things in Washington. If the common citizen could get over their apathy and get to the polls, we could get our country back by voting for Tom Hill to be our congressman.

Connie J. Conklin

Dillsboro

To the Editor:

Jane Hipps wants fracking banned in North Carolina. Her opponent, state Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, is a little muddy on the issue. 

Hipps, a Waynesville Democrat challenging Davis to represent Senate District 50 in the N.C. General Assembly, is committed to keeping our mountain water clean and safe from toxic chemicals that are involved in hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” a process used to extract natural gas from deep in the earth. Davis, however, has provided mixed messages on whether he would want fracking in Western North Carolina. While he co-sponsored the bill to lift a moratorium on fracking in North Carolina, he has stated that testing and building a pipeline through our mountains would be too costly. Is Davis softening his stance for election-year politics? 

Last month, the N.C. Department of Environmental and Natural Resources announced it would back off initial plans to test for fracking sites in Western North Carolina for the 2014-2015 fiscal year and would instead focus on sampling shale gas deposits in the Piedmont region of the state. However, that didn’t stop Davis from leading a public panel discussion Sept. 2 in Franklin to help promote the benefits of fracking and to downplay the dangerous side-effects of water contamination and earthquakes that have plagued other states with fracking industries. 

Touting jobs and energy independence for North Carolina, Davis said he was proud to have sponsored the bill to bring fracking to the state. However, key questions remain about public safety and adequate regulations for fracking. Numerous “fraccidents” have occurred in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Texas, Colorado and Wyoming where toxic chemicals have leaked into groundwater, soil and major rivers, killing wildlife and poisoning drinking water. Once the chemicals are used with massive amounts of water to get the natural gas, the toxins and the water are stored in wells. These wells have repeated leaked into groundwater and rivers in other states where fracking has occurred. 

As a state senator representing Western North Carolina, Davis has voted for funding cuts to environmental protections for wetlands and fewer water and air quality monitoring stations in the state. In February, a stormwater pipe burst at a Duke Energy Progress plant near Eden, dumping more than 50,000 tons of coal ash and up to 27 million gallons of wastewater into the Dan River. The disaster highlighted the need for more monitoring of waste sites, including wastewater wells used by fracking industries that could contaminate rivers for decades. 

Jane Hipps doesn’t want Western North Carolina to face a similar environmental catastrophe from fracking and lax oversight of the oil and gas industry. Let’s keep our water clean in this state. Let’s remember what a precious resource water is. We fish in these rivers. We swim in these rivers. We want to pass on this resource to our children and grandchildren. Let’s not throw it away because 

of short-sighted economic gains. Don’t let Sen. Davis sweet-talk you into believing that fracking in North Carolina is safe. It’s not. Elect Jane Hipps for N.C. State Senate District 50 and protect the natural resources of Western North Carolina. 

Michael Beadle

Canton

To the Editor:

It seems that state Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, has found his beach ball, and it’s called fracking.

His feet fly left (well, not willingly), they fly right, they fly fore, they fly aft — all the while he keeps trying to prevent the beach ball from dumping him in the sand. He tilts, he bobs, he evades. But he knows he’s about to get tossed.

Fracking is as popular in Western North Carolina as leprosy. County and town governments across the district have passed resolutions against it. People write letters to newspapers decrying it. Groups get together to protest it.  

In spite of this, Jim, our state senator, co-sponsored the bill in Raleigh that allows fracking to take place in North Carolina, right here, under our homes, in our mountains.

So, Jim, do you feel that beach ball moving under your feet? That’s the voters shifting out from under you, turning to someone who will listen to them.

Rick Bryson

Bryson City alderman   

To the Editor:

Vic Drummond has written several times about the silliness of the anti-fracking group, and I would have to add a few comments to his. We can disregard what the politicians have to say about fracking because they are like hawks and will follow any group hysteria they can find in order to garner votes, most of whom care less about facts, just votes.

I would have to ask the question of whether the anti-fracking groups are unpatriotic and simply following orders from the OPEC oil rich countries that are absolutely against America becoming energy self-reliant because it would cut into their ability to raise money for terrorism around the world. Let’s be honest, we all know that a good part of the price we pay for gas and oil goes to fund murderous outfits like ISIS. I frame this as just a question and of course we really don’t know who started the anti-fracking movement or where its roots may lie. We do know, however, OPEC will not be happy if we become energy self-sufficient and the anti-fracking groups just play into their hands.

The roots could also be woven into a number of environmental groups who see our future as riding bicycles to work, (if there is any work) and living on small farms where we grow our own food and don’t need transportation or electricity.

I doubt if any of the local hysterical anti-fracking group has visited a wind farm because they would quickly find that windmills generating electricity put out a noise that is maddening and continues as long as the wind blows. Locally, someone could go insane with a windmill whining in their backyard. Not to mention the millions of birds killed when they collide with the spinning blades, including our national symbol, the bald eagle.

In my opinion we should not ignore those who just like to lead a group of hysterical people and hear themselves talk. It is, after all, a huge ego trip for anyone so inclined but we need to put that in context and allow for it.

Keep in mind that mass hysteria prevented the further development of nuclear power in the United States and we are so far behind now and construction costs have risen so much that we may never recover. All the while, France gets 80 percent of its power from nuclear and, unlike Germany, is not beholding to Russia for oil.  

All the bumper sticker slogans anti-fracking groups use when they talk about the “rich big oil” folks is smoke and mirrors when in fact most of the work is done by “wild catters” who do the drilling and who gamble, and often lose, and certainly don’t plan on coming anywhere near our area anyway.  

It’s all a big wind, folks, just so much simplistic thinking for the benefit of their friends in Saudi Arabia.”

Bob Wilson   

Franklin

To the Editor:

I read the news that Webster had obtained a planning grant with mixed emotions. Local planning is a good thing. Having served a number of terms on the Jackson County Planning Board I’ve developed a strong appreciation of the value of an ongoing planning process.

On the other hand, local planning initiatives come with some caveats. Small local jurisdictions often suffer from an echo chamber effect born of insularity. In many cases a small cadre of people are the ones most interested in the administration of a small town and project their attitudes and desires on the greater population. Webster, in particular, has suffered from this sort of defect.

Spoken word poet and teacher Matthew Foley will present a spoken-word workshop on Friday, Sept. 26, in the Hunter Library at Western Carolina University.

The Scarecrow Festival will be held Sept. 27 through Oct. 10 in Bryson City.