A National Audubon Society study of bird species in the continental United States and Canada released last week shows that global warming threatens more than half of the bird species in that geographic area, including North Carolina species such as the golden-winged warbler, brown-headed nuthatch and American oystercatcher.

A hike to the salamander capital of the world will come bundled with highland views and explanation from a National Park Service salamander expert, 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Appalachian Highland Science Learning Center in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The University of North Carolina Board of Governors’ three-day visit on the Western Carolina University campus came to a close Sept. 12. The board’s regular monthly meeting included remarks from District 11 U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows and N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory.

The Board of Governors makes policy for the entire UNC system but chose to have this month’s meeting at WCU in honor of the university’s 125th anniversary. 

“I have noticed for the past three days – there is something about this place,” said John Fennebresque, chairman of the board. “Everybody seems to have a smile on their face. It’s unbelievable.” 

McCrory spoke to the Board of Governors about a wide range of issues involving the state budget and the North Carolina economy. He also expressed concern about an issue he said has not been addressed adequately by North Carolina leaders – the long-term maintenance costs of state-owned buildings.

Congressman Meadows, who lives in Glenville, noted how important quality education is to North Carolina.

“The one thing that continues to come back when I mention that I’m from North Carolina is our university system,” he said. “It is something we must protect.” 

UNC President Tom Ross and WCU Chancellor David O. Belcher also made presentations during the weekend. 

“We love Western Carolina University, and I think it shows,” Belcher said. “For 125 years, WCU has been in the business of changing lives. I assure you, the best is yet to come.”

The Sylva Downtown Historic District was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The National Register is administered by the National Park Service and is the country’s official list of United States historic sites considered worthy of preservation. Being selected is a recognition of the downtown district and its importance to the community, Jackson County, the state and the nation.

“We want unannounced reviews and inspections by DENR. It’s like a drug test. You tell them they’re going to be drug tested? They’re clean. So we want unannounced inspections, number one. We want records kept for a minimum of 50 years, not 5 years. We want no wide-range variances on regulations. We don’t want favors given out to criminals that are fracking our land.”

— Louise Heath, Cherokee tribal member

The next step for the endangered red wolf in Eastern North Carolina is an evaluation commissioned by U.S. Fish and Wildlife that includes public comment. 

A population of red wolves reintroduced in coastal counties is the last vestige of the species on the planet, but its long-term sustainability is being examined following clashes with landowners and pressure from coyote hunters.

The evaluation will include two public focus group sessions in the eastern part of the state as well as written public comment and surveys. The evaluation, conducted by the Wildlife Management Institute, will be completed by Dec. 10, at which point it will be peer-reviewed and used to help the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determine red wolf program’s future. The final determination is expected sometime in early 2015. 

Email comments to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and access the survey at jgassett.polldaddy.com/s/red-wolf-restoration-recovery-program. Comments and surveys should be submitted no later than Sept. 12. 

MedicForce, a nonprofit that provides medical care and clinics in remote, third-world areas, is looking for donations of used outdoor gear.

Unneeded kayaks, backpacks, tents, mountain bikes, cycling gloves or any other equipment that’s just been sitting around is being collected and then turned into cash to finish a new clinic in rural Kenya. A used gear collection point will be set up at the Sept. 26-28 at Nantahala Outdoor Center’s Guest Appreciation Festival weekend. Or donations can be picked up by request.

Jono Bryant, a Macon County paramedic and the founder/director of MedicForce, said the project lacks $10,000 in start-up costs, which he needs to raise by November when he has planned a return trip to finish out the project. Terrorism unrest spilling over from Somolia has not deterred the efforts, but rather made the project even more critical.

www.medicforce.org or 828.318.3771. 

A Bryson City man will serve five months and 15 days in jail for illegally harvesting 83 American ginseng roots from Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

It’s the fourth time Billy Joe Hurley, 46, has been caught poaching ginseng, and not the first time he’ll serve jail time for it either.

“Our rangers remain committed to protecting ginseng which was recently placed on the North Carolina watch list for plants in peril due to exploitation,” said Acting Chief Ranger Steve Kloster. “We are hopeful that this conviction will serve as a deterrent to others considering illegally taking this special resource.”

Each year law enforcement rangers seize between 500 and 1,000 illegally poached ginseng roots, a threat the plant cannot withstand indefinitely and could eventually lead to its disappearance, according to a National Park Service botanist who testified at Hurley’s sentencing hearing.

However, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also testified that financial gain is likely to continue to drive poachers since fresh ginseng can bring up to $200 per pound on the black market. It is highly prized as a tonic, especially in Asian markets.

Hurley was most recently caught poaching ginseng in the park in June of this year. He was caught in 2010 and 2011 as well, serving a few months in jail for those offenses as well.

“I am proud of the rangers who work to protect ginseng from poachers,” said Smokies Acting Superintendent Cindy MacLeod. “Ginseng is a precious resource, a difficult plant to grow, and one that we have been using losing to illegal and unsustainable harvests as the forests are being robbed of younger and younger plants.”

A self-guided tour of 37 farms in a several-county region of the mountains will be held Sept. 20-21, giving locavores a chance to see how food is grown and farm animals are raised, taste farm-fresh products and meet the people who make them. 

The annual tour is organized by the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project. 

Farms are scattered through Buncombe County and the seven counties adjoining it, including two in Haywood County. 

• At Two Trees Farm in Canton, Dustin Cornelison and Sara Martin will show off their working homestead, complete with vegetable and flower gardens, orchards, chickens, beehives and a blacksmith shop. They’ll share their knowledge of permaculture and living off the land, and at 2 p.m. each day children will have a chance to take a guided nature hike, scavenger hunt and mapping activity. Cider, blacksmithed goods and other products for sale. 828.646.3662. 

• Sunburst Trout Farm in Canton is a third-generation trout farm with more than 20 raceways below the Shining Rock Wilderness. Sally Eason will give a tour of the processing facility and value-added kitchen. Trout fillets, jerky, pimiento goat cheese and more for sale. 800.673.3051. 

Passes cost $25 in advance or $30 day-of, and admit one carload to all the farms they can get to. Or, it’s $10 for individual farm pass. www.asapconnections.org/events/asaps-farm-tour/2014-participating-farms.

The Friends of Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute’s will unveil a new outdoor amphitheater planetarium with an adjoining nature center on Friday evening, Sept. 12, as part of the annual meeting.

A new fisheries program on the Cherokee Reservation aims to restore the imperiled sicklefin redhorse fish to its native habitat on tribal waters.

A trio of projects will launch renewed efforts to save the eastern hemlock following awards of $75,000 under the Hemlock Restoration Initiative.

Sunburst Trout Farms in Haywood County has received a $150,000 matching fund USDA Value Added Producers Grant.

With a mix of Western song classics and zany send-ups, Riders in the Sky will return to the Western Carolina University stage as they kickoff the Galaxy of Stars series at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14, at the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center in Cullowhee.

The 13th annual RailFest will be held Sept. 12-14 at the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad depot in Bryson City. 

The 6th annual Youth Arts Festival will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20, at the Jackson County Green Energy Park in Dillsboro.

Christian music group Phillips, Craig and Dean will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

To the Editor:

Thom Tillis is one slick fellow. During his debate with Sen. Kay Hagan last Wednesday, he slithered right around the Hobby Lobby issue.

Rather than say whether he agrees that employers should be allowed to deny contraceptives to their female workers, Tillis said the pill should be available over the counter without prescription.

And he implied that he’s in agreement with the American Medical Association about that. But that’s definitely not what the AMA means about making contraceptives more widely available.

The AMA is peeved with pharmacists who claim conscience for refusing to fill contraceptive prescriptions. It’s asking for laws requiring pharmacies to either dispense them or refer patients immediately to competitors who do.

Imagine Tillis, who tried to defund Planned Parenthood, voting for a law like that. Or Justices John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy upholding it.

The AMA has not endorsed routine over-the-counter contraception. For some women, the pill has health consequences requiring a physician's counsel and access to alternatives such as diaphragms and IUDs. 

Moreover, if a drug can be had without a prescription insurance no longer covers it and it is no longer eligible for a medical tax deduction. Nor would the price necessarily be significantly cheaper.  

So what Tillis proposes would likely reduce insurance spending by employers and raise out-of-pocket costs to women. 

There is, of course, a strong argument that employers shouldn't have anything to say about what health care — contraceptive or otherwise — their workers deserve. A single-payer health insurance system is the answer to that. But one doubts that Tillis would agree.

The overriding issue in this election is who North Carolina's junior senator will actually represent. Yes, Hagan votes with President Obama more than 90 percent of the time. But so does every other Democratic senator.

North Carolina is far better off with a senator who supports our president than with one who would vote with the Koch Brothers 100 percent of the time.

Martin Dyckman

Waynesville 

By Avram Friedman

Last year Becky Johnson of The Smoky Mountain News interviewed me about Evergreen Packaging’s plans to convert their electrical power plant from being fueled by coal to natural gas. This transformation was being touted as an advancement that would greatly improve regional air quality as it decreased operating costs due to currently less expensive natural gas. Further incentive was the promise that state government funds, about $12 million, would be made available to subsidize the renovation.

More than 100 shoppers flocked to downtown Sylva on Sept. 5, dollars in hand, to flood the fire-damaged district with an influx of business. Organized by Venture Local, a Franklin organization dedicated to promoting local business, the cash mob drew people from across Jackson and Macon counties. 

“It’s a great event. All these people — that’s a lot of money,” Franklin Mayor Bob Scott said as he left the steps of the old Jackson County Courthouse, where the group had gathered. 

An Aug. 21 fire that started in Trevalino’s Restaurant damaged nearby businesses, causing the temporary closure of a portion of Main Street and some businesses to relocate or close until they get back on their feet. The goal of the cash mob was to show support and help struggling businesses meet those elusive bottom lines. 

“Lots of times tragedy, I think, brings out the best in people. Sometimes bad things that happen to someone provide an opportunity for someone else to be helpful,” said Sylva resident Dottie Hoche while en route to the shops. 

— Holly Kays, staff writer 

A program titled “Touching the Face of History: The Story of the Plott Hound” will be held at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 9 at the Jackson County Library.

This fascinating story of the Plott family and the Plott hound, bred for bear hunting prowess, is a classic American tale of adventure with roots deeply entrenched in North Carolina soil and American history and culture. And it is a story that award winning author and historian Bob Plott, the great-great-great grandson of Johannes George Plott, is uniquely qualified to tell. 

Bob Plott has published several books on hunting and the premier big game hunting dog breed in America, and he is a descendent of the Plott family that bred this specialized hound.

828.586.2016. 

Runners looking for a wilderness challenge will get their chance with the Second Annual Cashiers Trail Mix Mountain Run Experience Saturday, Sept. 13.

Bryson City Bicycles has been named one of America’s Best Bike Shops of 2014. Awarded by the National Bike Dealers Association, fewer than 300 shops out of over 4,000 across the country can claim this honor.

Nantahala Kids Club, a program designed to engage kids in paddling, will kickoff a six-week outdoor recreation program Sept. 8.

Waynesville resident Jennifer Jacobsen recently crossed the finish line of the Ironman Louisville, a challenging race that involves a total 140 miles of swimming, biking and running, in a time of 15 hours, 43 minutes and 8 seconds.

The fracking issue is exploding in Western North Carolina as a public hearing on proposed oil and gas rules in the state draws closer.

Look for special coverage in next week’s issue of The Smoky Mountain News on what the proposed rules mean. We hope the issue will serve as your guide to the fracking debate, and specifically to the pros and cons of the pending rules that will lay the groundwork for oil and gas extraction.

Fracking critics have claimed the spotlight in recent months with a bevy of meetings, speakers, film screenings and discussions. This week, however, fracking supporters got a voice at a forum hosted by N.C. Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, billed as the real story on fracking. Due to press deadlines, the forum could not be included in this week’s edition, but it will be included in next week’s special coverage.

Venue change for fracking hearing 

A public hearing on North Carolina’s proposed oil and gas rules will be held from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12, at the Ramsey Regional Activity Center at Western Carolina University.

This is a change in venue from the original location of WCU’s Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center. University officials opted for the change in venue, according to a press release from the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. 

Registration for those who wish to speak starts at 4 p.m. The deadline for written comments goes through Sept. 30.

Opponents to organize around talking points

The Canary Coalition, Clean Water for North Carolina and Jackson County Coalition Against Fracking will hold a training session from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5, at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva to help fracking opponents hone effective talking points in advance of the upcoming fracking hearing.

The hearing will be a forum for people to recommend specific changes to the proposed rules rather than a place to take a stand as pro- or anti-fracking. The training session will cover the law that passed this summer lifting the ban on fracking in N.C. and the newly proposed rules and guidelines for hydraulic fracturing. Known as fracking, the process involves injecting water mixed with sand and a chemical cocktail into a deep wellbore in order to extract natural gas from the rock below. 

The Canary Coalition, 828.631.3447 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Because of its success last year, the Haywood County Arts Council is bringing back its planned giving exhibition, ArtShare, from Sept. 4-27 at Gallery 86 in Waynesville. 

This unique project is a service to help art collectors or estate agents sell one or more pieces of art with the proceeds being split between the collector and the Haywood County Arts Council. Collectors may want to sell art for a reason such as down-sizing a home, a death in the family, moving to a new home, or a change in one’s taste in art. ArtShare is not designed for direct sales from the creating artists.

The seller will receive 70% of the proceeds and the Haywood County Arts Council will receive 30% as a seller’s commission or the seller may choose to donate the entire proceeds of the sale to the Council.

An opening night reception will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 5 at Gallery 86. There will also be another showing at HART Theatre from Sept. 25 through Oct. 12.

The Jackson County Arts Council will be sponsoring an Art Talk by local artist and board member Clint Hardin that will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12, at the Jackson County Library in Sylva.

A production of Neil Simon’s Broadway hit “The Odd Couple” will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 5-6 and at 3 p.m. Sept. 7 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

Guest artist James Rester, principal horn player with the Reading Symphony Orchestra and Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, will perform a recital at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4, in the Coulter Building at Western Carolina University.

To the Editor:

How can you tell if a politician is lying .... his lips are moving. It’s an old joke; but, as with most humor, there is some truth. When the Republicans took over governing North Carolina in 2010, they made a many promises. So how did it work out?

The conservative battle cry was, “We will cut your taxes.” So, in the next few years the largest tax cuts in modern history of North Carolina were enacted. All these cuts were based on the theory that big tax breaks for wealthy individuals and big corporations would generate greater tax revenue.

So far, just this year, state tax revenue is down more than $630 million, and most experts expect that deficit to get even worse by the end of this fiscal year. And when the second set of tax breaks take effect next year, the state will be even deeper in the hole. There will be less money for schools, roads, public safety, the court system, health care and everything else. And, by the way, unless your income was over $87,000, your overall taxes went up.

Jobs, jobs, jobs. Only Republicans know how to create jobs, they say. It has been almost four years now and, so far, the unemployment rate in North Carolina has not even kept up with the national average. According to the official state labor statistics, 60 percent of the drop in unemployment is due to 105,600 workers dropping out of the labor market. Only 45,000 North Carolina unemployed workers found work in the last fiscal year; many earning less than previously.

Why are companies, large and small, taking their new jobs to other states? Our deteriorating  education and health care systems, our failure to improve our aging infrastructure and our hostile political environment, are red flags to most companies. Our Tea Party controlled, penny-wise and pound-foolish state legislature is chasing the good jobs away to the more progressive states.

“We promise to fix the broken Medicaid system.” So how did that promise work out? First, let’s remember that under the Democrats, the system was one of the best in the country. Then the Republican legislature repeatedly underfunded it, creating the crisis they promised to fix. Mismanagement, software program bugs, and an incompetent leadership, have, in the last two years, made matters worse. It has created a real crisis for those who depend on Medicaid.

All this could be remedied if the legislature had accepted the expanded Medicaid offered by the federal government. We still will be paying for this benefit with our federal taxes even if we don’t accept the money. The total loss to the state over the next 9 years is estimated to be $51 billion. If you are one of the almost half a million of this state’s citizens who don’t have health care because of this political move, then you truly know that this is another promise not kept. 

So if you don’t mind being continually lied to, then keep these politicians in office.   

Louis Vitale

Franklin

To the Editor:

As one who blew the whistle on Osborne Farm Inc., I can attest that PETA’s footage shows what I saw week after week: cows wading knee-deep through their own waste, which splashed onto their udders right before they were milked, and forced to eat in that manure and to lie down in that feces-filled yard every night. The wire purportedly now keeping cows from the deepest manure was strung up as the farm’s management prepared for a state inspection. Ironically, when I put a wire up weeks earlier to try to keep cows away from the manure, management took it down.

 I blew the whistle because I worried for cows like “2,” whose protruding skeleton and overgrown right hoof I repeatedly reported to farm management, to no avail. I risked a job I needed because I was worried for cow “188” — whom I named Maggie — who grew so thin she was little more than skin and bones and who could not keep up with the herd, limping along instead. I called PETA because even when I told the farm owner about a cow whose pus-filled sore smelled so strongly that it made another worker nauseous, I never saw any veterinarian show up to care for her or any of the cows.

It’s a shame that the suffering of Maggie and the rest of the cows at Osborne Farm — some of who bled from the nose and had hoof ailments, mastitis, and other ailments — has become lost in a ridiculous guessing game about a video that accurately depicts reality at the farm.

Gna Wyatt

Whittier

A Celebration of Women in Methodism will begin at the World Methodist Museum at 3:45 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6, at the World Methodist Museum in Lake Junaluska.

After winning a nationwide voting contest to land a $50,000 prize, Haywood Pathways Center is looking for volunteers to pitch in on a three-day work project Sept. 25-27 to make its prison renovation project a reality. TV personality Ty Pennington will be there Sept. 25, lending his enthusiasm and expertise as part of Haywood Pathways’ contest winnings. 

Liner notes for the new album released by the Great Smoky Mountains Association — “Carroll Best and The White Oak String Band: Old-time Bluegrass from the Great Smoky Mountains, 1956 & 1959.”

A tour of four historic gem mines will give a view into Franklin’s past, beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 30.

Following a gem mine introductory presentation, tour-goers will get in their own vehicles and caravan to historic mines in the Cowee and Burningtown areas. The gem industry has played an influential role in Macon County’s past, though it has declined in recent decades. 

$5 per vehicle donation requested. Carpooling encouraged. Meet at the Historic Cowee School, a.k.a. Macon Heritage Center. Hosted by Friends of the Rickman Store. 828.349.7476 or 828.371.7689.

A forum organized by N.C. Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, will give the public a chance to learn more about shale energy rulemaking, exporation and development in North Carolina at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

Jim Womack, former chairman of the Mining and Energy Commission, will be the featured speaker, followed by a question-and-answer panel discussion with fracking experts. 

Topics will include:

• Guidelines from the N.C. General Assembly.

• The organizing and rulemaking process of the MEC.

• Known information about shale energy deposits in the Triassic Basin.

• Potential benefits of developing shale resources.

• Myths about shale energy development, or fracking.

Following Womack’s presentation, Davis will moderate a question-and-answer session between the audience and a guest panel of experts on the N.C. shale energy program, environmental issues and related legislation. Information including peer-reviewed papers, videos, books and maps will be available for audience members to take home. 

Questions must be submitted in writing on blank index cards and will be drawn at random. No signs are allowed inside the building. 

828.524.1598. 

Jim Costa, executive director of the Highlands Biological Station, will close out the Highlands Biological Foundation’s summer Zahner Conservation Lecture Series with a talk titled “The Force of Admiration: Wallace and Darwin on the Evolutionary Trail,” 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4 at the Highlands Nature Center. 

A major freestyle paddling competition will come to the Nantahala Gorge Sept. 4-6, with top freestylers from across the continent converging on the Nantahala River’s famous “wave” to vie for the title of Pan American Champion.

More than 350 runners streamed down Main Street in downtown Waynesville last Friday evening for the annual Main Street Mile. Top male runners crossed the finish line in just over 4 minutes.

A monument built to commemorate a popular 1800s watering hole has long been hidden by ivy and vines, but an Eagle Scout project by Joey Rolland has restored the Pigeon Gap Watering Hole outside the Bethel community of Haywood County to its former glory. 

Author Michael Beadle will present an illustrated talk focusing on the history of the town of Canton and, specifically, the town’s annual Labor Day Celebration at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4, in the Mountain Heritage Center at Western Carolina University.

Beadle will address aspects of Canton’s development in conjunction with the growth of the Champion paper mill. The other focus of his talk, the Labor Day event, has been taking place in the town since 1906 and is one of the largest events of its type in the state.

Beadle writes poetry, history, fiction and journalistic pieces. He has published more than 1,500 articles in newspapers and magazines in North Carolina and is the recipient of several honors from the N.C. Press Association. As an author of local history, he has written or co-written four books about Haywood County, including a comprehensive history of the county. His most recent work is a collection of historic Canton photographs.

The event is being held in conjunction with WCU’s interdisciplinary learning theme for the 2014-15 school year, “North Carolina: Our State, Our Time.”

Free.

828.227.7129.

Local residents will have an opportunity to learn interesting and historical details about their family quilts during the Quilt Discovery Evening from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28, in the Mountain Heritage Center at Western Carolina University.

With new equipment secured from onsite craft brewing, Southwestern Community College will host a brewing program from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Thursday from Sept. 4-Nov. 20 in Sylva. 

Country megastar Tim McGraw will perform at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 31, at Harrah’s Cherokee.

The 44th annual Smoky Mountain Folk Festival will be held Aug. 29-30 at the Stuart Auditorium in Lake Junaluska.

To the Editor:

Ah, August. Vacation time. Yeah!!  

Never mind that ISIS is beheading its way through Syria and Iraq. That Christians are being driven into death or despair. As our esteemed leader said a few weeks ago, referring to ISIS; “The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a JV team puts on Laker uniforms that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant.”  Surprise — looks like they put on Chicago Bears uniforms and need to be taken seriously.  

Can you imagine the State Department being surprised, with John Kerry at the helm? The same John Kerry who recently was ignored by diplomats from Egypt and Israel when cease-fire talks were held. A perfect moment to display his impotence as diplomatic spokesman for a country rapidly earning third-world status.

How I yearn for the days when Hilldebeast (Kerry’s predecessor) was “resetting” our relationship with Russia. Just push the reset button (“reset” was misspelled in Russian) and Putin will be our friend. Remember a couple of years ago when the commander-in-chief was heard through an open microphone appealing to Dmitry Medvedev to allow him space on the contentious European missile defense issue, claiming he could be more flexible after his reelection? I wonder how the folks in Eastern Europe feel about that.

We have every right to advise others how to manage their affairs and protect their borders. After all, we’re doing such a stellar job of protecting ours. With the cartels and coyotes running the show, killing our border agents and ushering in disease and drains on our already depleted treasuries, surely we are the go-to experts.

When the going gets rough, our president and Congress get going — on vacation, that is. After all, it is August.

Don Swanson

Franklin

To the Editor:

Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, and other Republican state legislators voted not to expand Medicaid. Early studies showed this would be a costly mistake. However, a new study completed by the largest non-profit organization devoted entirely to advancing health care for the public, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, shows just how costly this would be for North Carolina. The state will lose $51 billion in federal funding between 2013-2022. The North Carolina portion of Medicaid expansion totals $3.1 billion. The report shows that for every $1 a state invests in Medicaid, it will receive $13.41 in federal funds.  

The governor and state legislature have put forward the “big lie” that the state Medicaid program is too broken to be expanded. The facts simply don’t show a broken system. Data from the Kaiser Foundation show that “the average annual growth in NC’s Medicaid program has declined for the last 20 years.” “Current annual cost growth for Medicaid in N.C. is actually the lowest in the nation and much lower than the national average.”  (http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2013/06/12/nc-medicaid-success-four-charts-and-one-letter/).

Our state simply cannot afford to give away $51 billion in revenue. This is an awful economic decision. In addition, the fact that we as a state are letting on average four of our citizens die every day starting Jan. 1, 2014, because we are denying 414,000 of our citizens adequate health care is morally appalling and simply wrong. Davis and other legislators can pass a bill tomorrow to change this disastrous decision. Please contact him to correct this travesty.

Ed Morris, MD, PhD

Franklin

To the Editor:

Western North Carolina is one of the most beautiful places on earth. The majestic mountains, the lush green forests and valleys, the small family farms, waterfalls, rivers, streams, along with the pristine sky all inspire us on a daily basis. We treasure this natural abundance, and like all inheritance, we must be wise stewards for our future generations.

Unfortunately, there is a fundamental threat to all of this:  hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” This could destroy it all. 

Fracking is an industrial process using millions of gallons of our pristine mountain water mixed with toxic chemicals pumped underground at extremely high pressure to break apart natural gas-infused shale rock thousands of feet below the surface.

Each well turns 3 to 5 million gallons of clean water into a poisonous stew. There is no “safe” treatment or disposal of the hundreds of millions of gallons of permanently-polluted water that return to the surface. 

 There has been a huge increase in earthquakes since fracking began in Oklahoma, according to CNN. 

 Well water has been permanently poisoned in many areas that that have been fracked in Pennsylvania, where more than 100 cases of pollution were confirmed over the past five years. Also, radioactive radium levels were about 200 times greater in sediment from a creek where wastewater was discharged from a treatment plant than in sediment upstream from fracking, according to USA Today.

Expensive homes have become uninhabitable and worthless as a result of toxic air pollution caused by fracking in Texas, where nosebleeds, migraines, vision problems, nausea, rashes and vomiting were caused by a neighbor’s fracking wells, according to CNN.

We don’t need huge trucks rumbling by our homes at all hours, clear cutting for new roads and pipelines criss-crossing our fragile mountainsides over our state, federal and private property. We don’t need 20-foot-tall gas flare-offs lighting up the night sky and the whine of giant compressors keeping us up night after night.

 Proponents of fracking tell us that it is safe, if done correctly. In a perfect world, where cost-cutting, corrosion and human error don’t occur, fracking might be safe. 

There are no rules, no promises, no regulations, no penalties and no amount of money that can fix fracked groundwater. Once the ground water is contaminated, it is poisoned forever. That risk is unacceptable.

These are facts, and those of us who love this place don’t want fracking here.

 Our homes are our greatest investment, our greatest achievement, our greatest gift to our children. Let us preserve this gift for future generations. Tell our county commissioners. Tell our state legislators. Just say no to fracking.

 State Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, now claims that fracking probably won’t come to WNC, yet the law he cosponsored was designed so that we local citizens can’t block it. In November, we need to retire Mr. Davis and the other legislators who voted for this. We need to outlaw fracking before it starts, before it’s too late. 

Dan Kowal

Franklin