Bennie Anderson and The Drifters will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 14, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin. The Sock Hops will open the show.

The Sunday Concert Series continues at 3 p.m. Feb. 16 at the Waynesville and Canton libraries.

By Ben Brown • Guest Columnist

Think of it as a starter kit for a comprehensive business plan for North Carolina’s seven westernmost counties. 

That’s as good a way as any to understand the mission of the Opportunity Initiative for Southwestern North Carolina — Opt-In, for short. It’s a 15-month process overseen by the Southwestern Commission Council of Governments representing the seven far western counties and set to wrap by the end of May.

To the Editor:

Some parts of Western North Carolina are loaded with socialist agenda people, especially in Asheville and Cullowhee. 

They must envy the great progress the country of Russia has made. Is not Sochi a shining example of how this socialist country can stage the 2014 Games of the Winter Olympics? Never before has the world seen anything like it! I am sure the millions of people who attend will rave about it for years to come.

However, I am sad to say that in your Feb. 5 issue, several people where whining about what a terrible state North Carolina has become since Gov. Pat McCrory became governor. 

You should get the Rev. Barber to come back to Asheville to lead another protest against Gov. McCrory. Maybe he can persuade Gov. Beverly Perdue to run for re-election so she could get the state’s unemployment rate back up to 9.8 percent, where it was when she left the governor’s mansion in 2012. 

Obviously many people in our state are not unhappy with a high unemployment rate as long as the governor is a Democrat!

Jim Mueller

Glenville

To the Editor:

I want to thank The Smoky Mountain News for the  article in the Feb 5 edition (www.smokymountainnews.com/news/item/12419) concerning the proposed Jackson County Mountain and Hillside Development Ordinance (MHDO). That subject needs public attention, thought and then response to the proposed ordinance. I also think your upcoming article comparing the existing ordinance to the proposed MHDO will help clarify the differences between the two. That will assist those who may not have the time to make that comparison themselves.

While I appreciate your efforts described above, I need to comment on several of the statements made in the article. That article included content from an interview with me, as a member of the planning board. I am concerned that parts of that article may misrepresent my position and beliefs. 

The statement that I have a “confession” to make regarding my prior resident state is the view of the author, not mine. I am neither embarrassed nor reluctant to discuss where I have lived my life (Alabama and Florida). 

Further, I don’t think placing geographic labels on people and the use of terms such as “outsiders” — the reporter’s words, not mine — is constructive to making Jackson County a better place to live. 

This is what’s important: From the moment I arrived in Jackson County in 2002, it became my home. If I’m lucky, I will die here and have my ashes spread in these mountains so I will never leave. Since this is my home, I feel obligated to make it the best that it can be for the generations that will follow me. I believe everyone who now considers Jackson County to be their home feels the same way.

Also, the comment that I came here seeking solitude and beauty and “he wants to see it stay that way” is inaccurate. The words in quotes in the preceding sentence are not mine; but the context of the article implies that they are. To think that any community will stay the same is naive. The only thing that is constant is change. Jackson County will change. The question is: How?

The comment in the MHDO article attributed to Dickie Woodard stating that we would all love to live in Cades Cove is absolutely true, but (as he well knows) is not realistic. I am not categorically against property development in Jackson County. It should and will happen. 

We live in a beautiful part of the United States and that beauty is no secret. Others want to come and enjoy what we enjoy on a daily basis. However, we need to make sure we don’t “love it to death.” If that happens, no one will enjoy the results. 

The question is how the property in Jackson County will be developed, not if it will be developed? That fact is what makes the contents of the MHDO so important.

I also do not categorically defend the existing “steep slope” ordinance. Since I became a member of the planning board, I’ve probably asked as many questions about the justification of the parameters that are included in the existing ordinance as I have asked questions about the contents of the proposed ordinance. There need to be changes to the existing ordinance, and I support those that the planning board, as a whole, has advocated.

Regardless of my position on the proposed MHDO, what’s important is the position of the citizens of Jackson County. As I said in the interview, it’s their ordinance. I strongly encourage them to attend the planning board public hearing and express their views on the subject matter included in the proposed MHDO. 

I appreciate the SMN giving me the opportunity to respond to the article.

Tom Rodgers

Jackson County Planning Board

Cullowhee

Cherokee Bear Zoo has been fined by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for violating worker safety regulations.

Cherokee Bear Zoo was cited for allowing workers to have “unprotected contact with bears while feeding, cleaning cages and assisting in mating activities,” according to OSHA documents. In addition to receiving five citations, Cherokee Bear Zoo was fined $3,120.

A site visit from federal OSHA investigators last fall was prompted by a complaint from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA filed an OSHA complaint last summer that included video footage and photographs of workers inside concrete pits with multiple bears. In its complain, PETA suggested it would file legal action against OSHA if OSHA did not conduct a site inspection.

PETA has campaigned for years against the roadside bear zoos in Cherokee. One of the two zoos that kept bears in concrete pits, Chief Saunooke Bear Pit, finally closed last year after repeated federal violation notices for the treatment and care of the animals.

Cherokee Bear Zoo workers apparently went into bear pits to feed them by hand, and in one case to lure a male bear to a female bear enclosure, without protection or barriers between them and the animals. Violations also included the use of bleach cleaning chemicals without proper eye protection.

Four Asheville residents were arrested after an attempt to steal a logsplitter from Lowe’s in Waynesville drew the attention of an alert citizen.

Something about the scene apparently didn’t sit quite right: a person in the bed of a pickup truck holding on to a chain that was towing a logsplitter along behind them. 

“When trying to make their getaway with the stolen log splitter, the suspects found the log splitter’s trailer attachment did not fit onto the ball hitch they had on their truck, so one of the suspects actually sat in the back of the truck, holding onto the chains that were dragging the log splitter behind them,” said Heidi Warren, public information officer for the Haywood County Sheriff’s Department. 

The “alert citizen” called the Waynesville Police Department and then followed the truck until officers arrived on-scene. Kristy Franklin, 34; Deborah Crowe, 24; Dewey Franklin, 42 and Preston Franklin, 23 were arrested for charges ranging from larceny to possession of stolen property.

The 2014 election season officially got underway this week.

Candidates could begin signing up to run for office on Monday. The candidate sign-up period runs for two weeks, closing on Feb. 28.

By Jake Flannick • SMN Correspondent

A design for a new gazebo on the town square in downtown Franklin has been sent back to the drawing board.

Restaurants in Haywood County are being encouraged to jump on the Melange of the Mountains train, which will return this year April 10-13.

The event is expanding again this year, with a growing  lineup of culinary-themed festivities over several days. 

Melange began several years ago as a one-night gala where restaurants showcased samples of their signature dishes. That remains the keystone event of Melange, but it will kick off an entire array of weekend with an array of specialty dinners, culinary demos and tastings hosted by Melange of the Mountains participants. Events such as Farm to Table, Hops to Tap, Sip and Stroke, Dinner on the Mountain, Champagne & Caviar, Five Course Candlelight Dinner, and Wine Pairings will take place throughout the county.

The event is a partnership between the Haywood Chamber of Commerce, Haywood County Tourism Development Authority and Buy Haywood.

A listing of participating restaurants along with additional information will be released at a later date. 

828.456.3021 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

By Jake Flannick • SMN Correspondent

Haywood County leaders have all but signed off on plans by a pair of faith-based groups running social service ministries in the county to convert a defunct state prison into a homeless shelter and halfway house.

A guided hike along the Tallulah River in the Southern Nantahala Wilderness will be held on Saturday, Feb. 15, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of passage of the Wilderness Act.

It is being led by the Nantahala Hiking Club and the Southern Appalachian branch of the Wilderness Society.

The hike is part of a year-long series of outings and programs in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act and organized by the Southern Appalachian branch of The Wilderness Society in partnership with other organizations. Activities will include guided hikes and walks in wilderness areas, events celebrating the connections between wilderness and the arts, trail maintenance volunteer opportunities, celebratory gatherings and more. www.southeastwilderness50.org.

For the meeting place, call the hike leader at 828.369.1983

So, when else would you have an opportunity to race an outhouse down a ski mountain? Thought so. 

A whole lot of people visited the WNC Nature Center last year. The Friends of the WNC Nature Center report that 107,949 people visited the Nature Center in 2013, a record-breaking attendance.

A Haywood County teacher, Janet Frazier, has been named the 2013 North Carolina Elementary Conservation Education Teacher of the Year.

Octogenarian Jim Pader will talk about his record-setting hike up Mount Whitney from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12, at REI in Asheville.

To the Editor:

The Jackson County commissioners recently made a mistake — an honest, well-meaning, well-intentioned error, yet a mistake nonetheless. Imposing background checks on county volunteers is government intrusion and is wrong. These infringements to our freedoms are totally contrary to the natural rights principles codified by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, the other founders in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights; and, all the men (and a few women) who fought against and achieved victory over a tyrannical British king.

What took so long for American citizens to allow their government to violate us with airport strip searches, lock down whole cities for martial law exercises by the Department of Homeland Security and the military, conduct illegal searches of people and property in search of one lone alleged bomber (Boston, January 2013), use metal detectors against citizens lawfully entering public buildings, and, yes, forcing county volunteers to endure background checks in an assault on their persons and reputations? Apathy. 

We’re more interested in sports on big screen televisions, adult beverages in our refrigerators, and fast food hamburgers in our stomachs than holding our local, state, and federal representatives honest, open, accountable, and within the constitutional rule of law.

Collectivists (progressives) such as Benito Mussolini and Adolph Hitler used tools of oppression such as these before and we're seeing these Fascist, authoritarian tools of enslavement used here in America in the 21st century where our government has become the common enemy of us all.

Opposing this fascism are the forces of individual freedom, smaller government, fiscal sanity, and the constitutional rule of law. Numerous men and women in our communities haven't given up on politically restoring the Constitution and the republic, although peacefully accomplishing this is becoming less and less possible everyday.

Call, write and email the county commissioners and demand that they reverse their decision to impose background checks on law-abiding county volunteers. Even something as small as this will send a message to your representatives (those seats are yours and mine) that the Fascist tide must stop and begin to reverse here, now.

What you do here today will make a difference as to whether your children and grandchildren become slaves or whether we reestablish our Creator-given American freedoms.

Which side are you on?

Carl Iobst

Cullowhee

To the Editor:

The alleged embezzlement of around $50,000 from Macon County taxpayers by a county employee highlights incompetency within the county’s “award winning” finance department. The allegations in Judge Letts’ search warrant for the Macon County Board of Elections (BOE) office lay out the damning details.

The alleged embezzler wrote at least 29 “check requests” between July 2013 and mid-January 2014 with insufficient documentation and no or forged signature authorizations. Without hesitation finance’s accounts payable (A/P) issued checks totaling around $50,000 to sham vendors. The checks were given to the embezzler who allegedly pocketed the money.

Macon County, with more than 400 employees and a budget of nearly $60 million annually, has a finance department using purchase order (PO) and payment procedures appropriate for a “mom and pop” shop.

Why would the county’s finance department process any “check requests” except in very limited and carefully controlled circumstances? To handle 29 “check requests” from one employee over a short period is astounding. Especially since many didn’t meet authorization requirements, involved “vendors” who weren’t vetted, receipt of services wasn’t verified, and checks weren’t mailed to the vendors. Was there a co-conspirator within the finance department? Will any finance department employees be disciplined for failure to follow procedures? Are there any written procedures?

“Check requests” are ripe for fraud and at least one employee figured that out. How many other undetected embezzlements have occurred, or are occurring, within Macon County government?

The county manager must hire an independent forensic auditor, or an auditor from the Office of the State Auditor, to thoroughly review all aspects of Macon County’s Finance Department. The forensic auditor must assure everyone that no other illegal activities have occurred or are occurring, and assure that all purchasing procedures in the finance department are brought up to 21st century standards.

Until a forensic audit is completed, corrective actions are implemented, and a public report is issued to county residents answering all questions raised, residents should have no confidence that the county’s finance department is protecting taxpayers’ money.

Vic Drummond

Franklin

To the Editor:

If you have been following the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, you have recently learned that 85 individuals control more wealth than the less wealthy half of the world’s population …  that’s 3.5 billion people. It just underscores the extreme differences in wealth in our world.  

With that on my mind, I couldn’t help but think of North Carolina’s hardworking teachers who are now ranked 46th in pay in the country. I’m sure you are aware of the decision by our state legislature to give a bonus of $2,000 over four years to 25 percent of the teachers in each school district. This 25 percent are to be chosen, somehow, by the principals and superintendents, leaving the other 75 percent to wonder why they were not included. Oh, and of course, the teachers are also giving up their recourse to due process, which opens the door to political based control.

Public education is the foundation of our economic strength as a state. According to the North Carolina Constitution, it is the responsibility of the state legislature to guarantee an adequate public education to all our students. Yet it seems the current administration has a warped idea of how to insure that. Cutting funding to education has never enhanced it. Keeping a lid on teacher pay is a guarantee that many teachers will leave for greener pastures in neighboring states, or find a more lucrative profession … and it will negatively impact our state now and in the future.  

Perhaps Gov. Pat McCrory and our state legislature will consider the benefits of education when they set the new budget.  Instead of punishing our educators, I would ask them to make a goal of bringing teacher pay up to the nation’s median … 25th is so much better than 46th and falling.

Nancy Scott

Franklin

To the Editor:

I served on the Waynesville Public Art Commission from 2006 until March of 2011. Public art was a brand new commission at the time, tasked with not only starting a public art collection for the town of Waynesville but raising private funds to purchase the art, setting up all procedures for soliciting proposals from artists, choosing the location and overseeing the installation of the artworks, and writing the manual for the care of the art collection and procedures for de-accession of artworks, either donated or purchased.

Part of all this background work was also establishing a mission statement to guide the procurement of the art: The mission of the Waynesville Public Art Commission is to engage the community and enrich public spaces through original art that celebrates Waynesville’s unique historic, cultural, natural and human resources.

The members of the commission worked for months on the wording of this mission statement with the goal of insuring that Waynesville’s public art collection would be appropriate to an Appalachian mountain community.

I see that this mission statement is still posted on the Town of Waynesville’s website. I respectfully submit a request to the current Public Art Commission members for an explanation as to how the sculpture titled “La Femme” fits the mission statement. Or, has the mission statement been changed?

I can accept the inclusion of Bill Eleazer’s “Chasing Tadpoles” into the collection. As a long-time art teacher at Tuscola High School, Mr. Eleazer had a long association with the community and chasing tadpoles is an activity that can occur right in the middle of town down in Frog Level. Or in Vance Street Park which would be a most appropriate location for this piece.

But a giant, modernistic bust of a woman titled “La Femme”?

I think an explanation is in order.

Kaaren Stoner

Iron Duff

By Jake Flannick • SMN Correspondent

Years have passed since Jack McJunkin’s dog was struck and fatally injured by a car on a Swain County road. But memories of the episode linger.

Iconic rockers REO Speedwagon will play at 9 p.m. Feb. 14 at Harrah’s Cherokee Event Center.

Formed in 1967, signed in 1971, and fronted by legendary vocalist Kevin Cronin since 1972, REO Speedwagon is a band whose career will always carry on with music that continues to define excellence in song craftsmanship and brilliant live performance for several generations of fans. Tickets are $40, $55 and $65.

800.745.3000 or www.harrahscherokee.com.

The 1960s version of the production “A Doll’s House” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12-15 and at 3 p.m. Feb. 16, in the Hoey Auditorium at Western Carolina University.

A reception and conversation with artist Lizzy Falcon will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb.13, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin. Her paintings and sculptures will be on display through February at the library.

A “Coffee and Chocolate Reception” and gallery talk with artist Matt Liddle will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, at the Jackson County Public Library Complex in Sylva. 

Legendary country singer Merle Haggard will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, at Harrah’s Cherokee Event Center. Haggard has 40 #1 hits, a spot in the Country Music Hall of Fame and countless music awards for songwriting and performing.

Buy Haywood is collecting listings for an agri-tourism guide to feature produce stands, farmers markets, value-added products with local ingredients and even restaurants that feature locally-grown or raised foods on their menus.

“Find Your Adventure! 2014 Haywood County Agritourism Guide” highlights the rich farming and agricultural heritage of the county. Submit your entry by 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, including: 

• Farms that accept visitors.

• Plant nurseries and landscaping businesses with stock propagated in Haywood County.

• Value-added and specialty retail stores featuring products with Haywood County grown ingredients.

• “Farm to Table” restaurants and “local flavor” entertainment spots supporting local products consistently throughout the growing season by featuring Haywood County ingredients in their menu items—including products grown or raised by chefs/restaurants as well as products purchased from local farms/growers and farmer markets.

• Local breweries featuring Haywood County hops or local food items.

• Sites and organizations dedicated to preservation of Haywood County’s rich agriculture heritage

• Farmers markets, roadside stands, tailgates and on-farm markets that sell Haywood County grown/produced products.

• Other farming/agriculture related or educational opportunities

• Local festivals/events with a farming or agriculture related theme.

Contact Tina Masciarelli, Buy Haywood Project Coordinator, at 828.734.9574 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Western Regional Science and Engineering Fair will bring students from across the region to Western Carolina University on Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 5-6.

The theme for this year fair is “Climate Change: What it Means to You.” Science projects created by students will be available for viewing by the public from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. each day. 

Students in the elementary division will showcase their projects on Feb. 5. Students in the middle and high school division will display their projects Feb. 6. 

Both days will include a 9:15 a.m. presentation titled “From the Mountains to the Sea: What Does Climate Change Mean for Me?” delivered by Karsten Shein, a physical scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville. 

Held at the Ramsey Center. Free.

sciencefair.wcu.edu or 828.227.7397.

Photography workshop to focus on Appalachian barns

A weekend photography workshop called “The Appalachian Barn Workshop: The Barns of Haywood and Madison Counties” will be held March 28-30 through EarthSong Photography.

Photographer Don McGowan will offer a full day of field work in Madison and Haywood counties, a creative program and a full critique session. Cost is $275, part of which will be a donation to the Appalachian Barn Alliance to help preserve the historic buildings. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call Don McGowan at 828.788.0687.

Lens Luggers to host photo sharing sessions

The Lens Luggers photography group has begun holding monthly sharing sessions in Waynesville for photographers to talk shop and critique each other’s photos.

The sessions will be held from 6 and 8 p.m. the first Thursday of each month at First United Methodist Church in Waynesville. The first meeting is February 6 and all are invited.

“It’s a great opportunity to pick up some photo tips, take away feedback from fellow photographers and find out which kind of camera and lenses produce the kind of images you want,” said Bob Grytten, the club leader and photography outing leader.

During the informal forum, members will show their images using a digital projector. There will be a Q&A session as well as open discussion. 

www.lensluggerworld.com, 828.627.0245 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

There are three other photography clubs in the area: Carolina Nature Photography Association centered in Asheville, Cold Mountain Photographic Society in Haywood County and the Sylva Photo Club.

A program about birds of prey called “Heads Up for Hunters of the Sky” will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6, at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park outside Cherokee.

More than 60 brave souls are taking the Polar Plunge challenge by jumping into Lake Junaluska this Saturday, Feb. 1.

Roger Skillman had just finished a hike and was driving home through the Pisgah National Forest in Transylvania County when something caught his eye.

A yearlong celebration of Western Carolina University’s 125th anniversary kicked off Thursday, Jan. 23, in Cullowhee.

Recreating the music of the Beatles, “1964: The Tribute,” will perform at 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9, in the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center at Western Carolina University.

Haywood Community College’s Continuing Education Department will offer a number of classes in the Creative Arts Building in the coming weeks. From learning several programs on a Mac computer to stained glass, there’s something for everyone. 

Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation is now accepting photographs for its 8th annual “Pet Photography Contest.”

To the Editor:

A critical skill for magicians is to be able to misdirect your attention while executing the deception. “Look at this hand while I fool you with the other one.”  

Such is the current attack on climate change by those who try to convince us that it’s not an important issue. The new strategy is not so much to deny that climate change isn’t happening, but rather to state that it has happened before and is a natural process. So why should we worry?

This change from “it isn’t happening” to “it’s happened before” would be irrelevant and silly if it weren’t so dangerous. The basic fact is true. The earth has been both significantly warmer and colder than now. Likewise, ocean levels have been both higher and lower than they are now. So what’s the big deal?

The crucial fact that isn’t mentioned is that these events occurred thousands and millions of years ago and that the changes occurred over centuries and millennia rather than over decades. The “Big Deal” is that thousands of years ago we did not have most of the population living near seacoasts, we did not have New York, Charleston, Miami and hundreds of other coastal communities. We did not have major military installations like Norfolk and San Diego with all of the buildings, roads, bridges, pipelines, etc., associated with those cities and bases.

The cost of replacing, relocating or protecting all of this is astronomical. Consider the cost and disruption caused by Superstorm Sandy ($65 billion, 650,000 homes damaged or destroyed) and imagine how much worse it would have been if sea level was a foot higher. We could build dikes like the Netherlands or storm gates like London, but at what cost?

The danger in the new rhetoric from the climate change deniers is this: climate change is happening and sea level is rising. There is also a strong suggestion that extreme climate events are becoming more frequent and severe, as predicted by the climate scientists. It’s going to cost a lot to deal with, both in dollars and lives. The longer we delay, the more it will cost.

The insurance industry and U.S. Department of Defense are taking this issue seriously. Maybe it’s time that the public and Congress take a fact-based approach to the problem rather than following the misdirection to irrelevant issues.

John Gladden

Franklin

To the Editor:

James Womack, Chairman of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources Mining and Energy Commission, would ask us to suspend disbelief when he states on a recent visit to the fracking fields of Bradford County, Penn., “… [that] I had to almost get on top of the wells before I could see them.”

In his zeal for a “win-win for everybody,” Mr. Womack has chosen not to see other aspects of a landscape under dispersed industrialization: a network of interconnected well pads, pipelines, freshwater impoundments, compressor stations, and access roads, along with artificial lighting and helicopter noise, and the millions of gallons of water needed per drill site, that accompany fracking. The oil and gas industry may be able to screen some of this “sprawl” from the roadside view, but seen from the air it’s a different story: a soul-less, ransacked nowhere.

My introduction to the fracking landscape occurred in the San Juan Basin in northern New Mexico and included the schizophrenic world of the “split estate,” whereby the landowner owns everything above the surface, and the industry owns the minerals below the surface.

This world is well documented in Josh Fox’s 2010 documentary, Gasland, a personal journey from Pennsylvania to the oil and gas boom states out West in order to understand the impacts of fracking. Gasland has become a cautionary tale for citizens in central Pennsylvania, the hub of the Marcellus fracking boom.

Fossil fuel extraction on public lands in North Carolina is not new. In 1982 citizens in Macon County formed a coalition to oppose exploratory drilling for oil in the Nantahala National Forest, and one of the critical allies in opposing drilling were hunters, especially bear hunters, who rightly feared the loss of bear habitat. This unusual alliance of hunters, conservationists, and locals eventually led to the formation of a regional environmental organization, the WNC Alliance; and to the eventual revision of USFS Management Policy for the Nantahala Forest by not permitting such exploration. 

As in the struggle for voting rights, the struggle for the preservation of our public lands from industrial development never ends. 

We should all understand the impacts of fracking and the ultimate loss of wildlife habitat go far beyond the current controversy of government over-reach in its undercover operation against hunters in WNC. I hope hunters will show the same passion in defending public lands from development as they did in 1982.

Roger Turner

Sylva

To the Editor:

The billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch don’t live in North Carolina. One resides in New York City, the other in Kansas. So they can’t vote here.

But what they’re doing to North Carolina has vastly more impact than any two votes.

They’re taking our forthcoming election into their deep pockets, already having spent as much as $5 million through their front organization, Americans for Prosperity, to weaken and defeat our U.S. senator Kay Hagan.

In a sane world, there would be no difference between an illegal vote and outside campaign money. One would be as criminal as the other.

But this is the asylum to which the Supreme Court has condemned us.

The only election abuse that the Republicans in Raleigh care about is the voter fraud that doesn’t exist. They’re simply delighted with the Kochs’ big bucks.

For misplaced priorities, that recalls the Washington policeman who should have been guarding President Lincoln the night he was shot. To show he had been on duty after all, he turned up at headquarters the next morning with a streetwalker he had arrested.

Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., has been hurt in the polls by an assault that is massive and murderous. By some reckoning, she is the number one target nationwide of these ruthless right-wingers, who have spent an estimated $20 million with the election still nearly a year away.

How much of it comes from the Koch bullies themselves and how much from others can’t be discerned. The details are concealed in an ingenious web of money laundering.

The pretense is that their money barrage is about issues, not candidates. It is a distinction without a difference. The ads belabor Obamacare and Democrats like Hagan who have supported it.

Why would these petrochemical billionaires care so much about Obamacare?   

For one thing, they’re afraid that the kinks will be worked out and the American people will eventually see Obamacare as the most decent thing since Social Security and Medicare — and would credit the Democrats for it. The Kochs don’t like Democrats.

For another, the Kochs are just plain mean. They hate government. Their father was a founder of the John Birch Society, and the fruit didn’t fall far from the tree.

Lastly, it serves the purposes of the plutocracy that the Kochs epitomize to keep the American people in thrall to their employers for health care. Obamacare gives Americans the option to change jobs or strike out for themselves without putting their family’s health in peril. It sets them free from the plantation and the company store.

If the Kochs win, we will have replaced government of, by and for the people with government of, by and for billionaires.

The subversive Citizens United of four years ago can’t be undone soon enough. For now, we can only hope that the good people of North Carolina — and elsewhere — will see through the Koch propaganda campaign to the reasons behind it.

Kay Hagan deserves our votes. The Kochs don’t.

Martin A. Dyckman

Waynesville

To the Editor:

Thanks to the wildlife officers for catching the poacher who shot the mother bear on our private property. Well done!     

Jerry Bevino

Bryson City

Sales of the Friends of the Smokies specialty license plate in North Carolina increased in the fourth quarter, benefiting priority projects in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) including science education programs.

The North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles has released fourth quarter figures with $93,520 going to Friends of the Smokies from specialty plate sales, an increase from the same period last year. Total contributions from the Smokies plate now top $3.5 million since the program launched in 1999.

These contributions help fund projects on the North Carolina side of GSMNP including supporting the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center at Purchase Knob and the Parks as Classrooms program. Through Parks as Classrooms, students participate in hands-on, curriculum-based environmental education lessons that highlight the natural biodiversity found in GSMNP. Funding support from Friends of the Smokies allows the program to be offered for free, giving thousands of elementary, middle, and high school students from Western North Carolina the opportunity to discover new experiences in the park each year.

To help support Great Smoky Mountains National Park and programs like Parks as Classrooms, North Carolina residents can purchase a Friends of the Smokies specialty license plate now, regardless of plate expiration date. Go to any North Carolina license plate office or www.ncdot.gov/dmv/vehicle/plates. 

For more information and to download a specialty plate application, visit www.friendsofthesmokies.org or contact Brent McDaniel at Friends of the Smokies, 828.452.0720.

Jake Flannick • SMN Correspondent

For as long as he can remember, Austin Brown’s fascination with plants has remained rooted in their relationship with people.

A Sylva farm-to-table restaurant is featured in the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project’s (ASAP) Get Local initiative for its additional sourcing this month from Appalachia Grown certified farms.

Guadalupe Café added additional meat-based items to its menu after January was designated as meat month by ASAP. The restaurant rotates specials such as queso con carne, bison chili, goat burgers and pork chops. 

“For the past several years, we’ve seen interest in Get Local grow, with chefs whipping up intensely creative dishes around the month’s ingredient,” says Molly Nicholie, ASAP’s Local Food Campaign director. “With the initiative in 2014, we want to shine the spotlight on them as well as the featured ingredient, giving these chefs even more opportunities to get inspired by our local bounty and diners more chances to connect with the source of their food.” 

www.asapconnections.org or 828.236.1282. 

A whole lot of people visited the WNC Nature Center last year. The Friends of the WNC Nature Center report that 107,949 people visited the Nature Center in 2013, a record-breaking attendance. Last year also saw the completion of several projects and developments at the Nature Center, including a new Red Wolf boardwalk and viewing areas, an improved Red Wolf habitat and the addition of a black ant exhibit in Appalachian Station.

Also, several new play features for kids were added, including an oversized bog turtle, a new “barn chores” play area in the North Carolina Farm and the Arachnid Adventure climbing playground near the wolf habitats. 

www.wildwnc.org.

Tracking elk in Great Smoky Mountains National Park just got a little easier, thanks to a grant from Charter Communications. The communications and technology company gave a grant for $13,720 to Friends of the Smokies for the purchase of 15 radio collars and two receivers for tracking and monitoring elk throughout the park. 

Tube World in Maggie Valley treated 170 students from Clyde Elementary to a fieldtrip last week as part of a creative school incentive program to encourage positive behavior.

Three new public access sites and boat put-ins have been developed along the Tuckasegee River in Jackson County: