By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is placing a $650 million bet that visitors to Harrah’s casino and hotel are looking for amenities akin to those that are becoming standard across the gaming industry.

In a suite on the 16th floor of Harrah’s Cherokee hotel and casino, Cherokee leaders happily milled about as an architectural animation of expansion plans played repeatedly on a flat-screen TV.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Jackson County commissioners have taken the first step toward temporarily stopping new subdivision development, calling for a Feb. 27 public hearing on a six-month moratorium.

Jackson County took the first step this week to ban new subdivisions until it can write an ordinance to control the proliferation of new developments within its borders. By doing so, its county commissioners proved they have a mettle that is too often lost on elected officials who worry too much about re-election and too little about their constituents.

Micah McClure, a graphic designer in Waynesville, faced a daunting task when asked to redesign the Friends of the Smokies license plate in a way that would capture the essence of America’s most visited national park.

By Kathleen Lamont

In the late 1970’s, Dr. Robert Atkins had a clinic in Santa Monica, Calif., where people went to experience the Atkins Diet first hand for weeks at a time. A friend of mine, a nutritionist on staff, mentioned once that certain processed foods were referred to as “white death.” Certain processed foods being sugar, powdered coffee creamer, artificial sweeteners, and Cool Whip to name a few.

Canton native Marty Stamey has been named the new director of Haywood County’s Emergency Medical Services program.

Gambling at the Harrah’s casino in Cherokee is wildly successful. That success — and the state’s own actions — makes Gov. Mike Easley’s resistance to the use of live dealers slightly ridiculous and enormously hypocritical.

By Doug Wingier • Guest Columnist

We American consumers are richer than most in the world, and as voters more powerful. Yet as one wave of technological change after another washes over us, we tend to accept each as inevitable and out of control, and feel helpless to prevent the coming catastrophe presaged by Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.”

By Carl Iobst

Gee, what’ll they think of next. In Olympia, the capital of Washington state, there’s a state representative that’s proposing that dogs be allowed to drink in bars. Well not exactly drink, although I’m sure that some dog owners might pour a cool one in one of those collapsible doggy bowls for their thirsty purebreds now and then.

By Michael Beadle

The cost of college can get pretty expensive, especially when it comes to paying the monthly electric bill.

George Ivey, a well-known leader in conservation efforts in Haywood County, received the Pigeon River Award for 2006 from Haywood Waterways Association.

American Whitewater has withdrawn its lawsuit challenging a paddling ban on the upper Chattooga River outside Cashiers.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Downtown Sylva will host a non-partisan stand for peace on Saturday, Feb. 17, with 12 hours of non-stop music.

By Chris Cooper

When Norah Jones swept the 2003 Grammies, it was more than just a victory for a new artist — many (including myself) felt it was a statement in support of truly dedicated songwriters and musicians everywhere. It hinted toward the possibility that it was all right to be good again, and that the sea of technologically and cosmetically enhanced “pop” stars might not be as deep as we feared.

“The Painted Veil”

Kitty (Naomi Watts), a bored London socialite, marries Walter Fane (Edward Norton), a doctor and student of infectious diseases who is returning to his work in China.

Jackson County commissioners have called for a public hearing on a proposed moratorium on new subdivision development while the planning board authors a subdivision ordinance. Commissioners want the ordinance to address concerns such as steep slope development and minimum standards. Here are 20 questions and answers about what is, what is not, and what’s undecided.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

A group of about 20 angry Realtors and developers showed up uninvited at a special media briefing Thursday to have another crack at Jackson County officials and further express their dissatisfaction with commissioners’ moves toward enacting a moratorium on subdivision development.

The Commission for a Clean County has announced the first place and honorable mention winners of its 2006 Haywood County Community Pride annual awards program.

By Michael Beadle

He’s been a Beast. An alien bounty hunter. A Rum Tum Tugger and Inspector Javert.

And now two-time Tony Award-winning actor Terrence Mann is bringing his Broadway, film and TV talents to Western Carolina University as director of “The Music Man.” The musical, which runs Feb. 22-25 at the university’s Fine and Performing Arts Center, is Mann’s directorial debut at Western Carolina.

By Chris Cooper

To say that Mountain Heart isn’t exactly your “average” bluegrass band is more than a slight understatement. In fact, somewhere around the middle of Wide Open’s first track, “Traveler’s Prayer,” the band breaks it down with a stack of chords and a rhythmic flair that’s anything but typical for bluegrass. And that’s just the start of it.

I spend a considerable amount of time being disappointed by music. It’s sad, because I also happen to love music, and have for as long as I can recall. But when the Grammys were just around the corner, and I took a quick glimpse at some of the nominees, it just seemed a little depressing.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

The owner of Ghost Town in the Sky and the North Carolina Department of Labor have signed a unique agreement that aims to ensure that the historic Maggie Valley amusement park opens on time.

Downtown Sylva is a special place. The events of the last couple of months only reinforce that fact, and so the momentum to create a better, closer and more unified business community should continue.

By David Redman • Guest Columnist

There is absolutely no doubt about the economic impact the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and its Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Hotel operation have in Western North Carolina.Over the past 10 years the facility has furnished our previously economically depressed area with not just hundreds, but thousands of quality jobs. And guess what? All without incentives from the State of North Carolina.

Landmark Learning, a Cullowhee-based wilderness training center for the outdoor industry, has forged a new partnership with the National Outdoor Leadership School’s Wilderness Medicine Institute.

Franklin’s downtown outdoor gear store just got bigger.

June kicks off the first of a three-part event at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, near Bryson City, called the Canoe Club Challenge. 

Eateries in Western North Carolina have agreed to donate a portion of their proceeds to the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and its work in supporting the parkway.

Plates for the Parkway will include three restaurants in the area that have signed up to contribute to the cause.

Patrons can eat dinner at Guadalupe Café in Sylva on June 11 and have 20 percent of their tab go to the foundation. On June 12, City Lights Café in Sylva will donate the same percentage for the dinner hour, and Panacea Coffeehouse, Cafe & Roastery will be contributing 20 percent of its proceeds throughout the day.

Last year, 32 restaurants participated. But this year, the field was opened up to include restaurants in Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Hickory, Gastonia and Greensboro, bringing that number to nearly 70. The event provides valuable funds for the parkway and gives residents a delectable way to support the cause.

Last year, the foundation provided a record $745,000 to the parkway and its programs.

Mountain visitors and residents can learn more about their black bear neighbors at an upcoming seminar.

A program called “Understanding Our Black Bears” and a dinner will be held Monday, June 1, at the Sapphire Valley Resort’s Community Center. The program is free, but the meal, available from 5 to 6:45 p.m., is $10 for adults and $6 for children. The program will follow. Reservations are recommended but not required. 

The program is sponsored by Mountain Wildlife Days, along with the Sapphire Valley Master Association, to educate folks about living safely with black bears. The event is open to all residents and visitors. 

Russ Regnery, president of the Highlands Plateau Audubon Society will open the evening focusing on black bears and backyard bird feeders as a source of food. Wendy Henkel, a local black bear advocate, will share information to help the general public develop a deeper appreciation of black bears. In addition, she will distribute literature with tips on co-existing with black bears.

828.743.7663.

Get ready for live talons, Waynesville.

Doris Mager, better known as “The Eagle Lady,” will appear with her birds of prey at 10:30 a.m. June 12 at the Waynesville branch of the Haywood County Library. Mager’s program about raptors is for adults and children.

Mager travels around the country putting on such programs and has visited the libraries in Haywood County for about the past eight years. In all, the 87-year-old Mager has been rehabilitating and advocating for birds of prey for more than 50 years.

This year, the performance will not feature Mager’s star bird, Cara, the Caracara, a southern predator bird in the falcon family. Cara died last year at the age of 36. However, the show will include other birds that travel with Mager in her van across the country.

Seating for the show is limited, and participants are asked to arrive early. Large groups are asked to make reservations. Mager will return Aug. 7 for another show at the Waynesville library. 

A new book has been published detailing the story of the grand, four-legged keepers of the Great Smoky Mountains Park: the elk.

The Macon County Master Gardener Association is hosting an open house from 1 until 4 p.m. June 15 at the county’s Environmental Resource Center.

The Great Smoky Mountains Association has turned 60 years old, and although it has changed during the years, its mission has remained the same.

To the Editor:

I have returned to Waynesville for the summer. I drove past the courthouse and could not believe the destruction of those magnificent trees! Shame on the person or persons who ordered this, and shame, shame on the citizens of this community that allowed this to happen. 

If they were diseased, treat them; if they were disrupting water, electricity or sewer lines, move the lines.

You have destroyed a treasure, and I wonder what will be next? Wake up.

Jean King

Waynesville and Juno Beach, Fla.

To the Editor:

Rep. Mark Meadows would like us to think of him as a “moderate or centrist Republican” (SMN, June 5, 2013) in spite of voting 97 percent of the time with his extremist party in the U.S. House. I am a “recovering Republican” and know “centrist or moderate Republicans,” and he ain’t one. More accurately, he is the poster boy of the Tea Party. Let’s face, in this day and time moderate Republicans are as extinct as the dodo.

Mike Jones

To the Editor: 

At this Memorial Day time of year, we not only honor veterans but also mourn the recent tragic loss of life on American soil — at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, the Boston Marathon, the Texas plant explosion, the Oklahoma tornado. Our hearts go out to families of any innocents who die violent deaths, whether killed by other humans or by the severe storms that are hitting us harder and more frequently as climate change intensifies.

But consider this as well. For the past 12 years, our government has conducted military operations in Muslim countries, killing thousands and displacing millions of people, many of them women and children. As we mourn the loss of U.S. lives, we must ask what the loss of Muslim lives means to us. Should we expect Yeminis, Pakistanis, Iraqis, and Afghanis to passively accept loss of life in their countries as a result of attacks ostensibly carried out to keep us safe? Can these military operations continue without leading to repercussions for the “collateral damage” of their loved ones’ deaths? How many are simmering with rage over the deaths of innocent people caused by U.S. bombs, missiles and drones? Can we expect them not to retaliate? How can we call for an end to gun violence here, while at the same time supporting kill lists and the assassination of alleged terrorists and their families with drones? How can we expect to end violence at home while using war as the primary instrument of our foreign policy? We cannot rely on violence to end violence.

Just as the cities of Newtown and Boston need support and time to heal from their ordeals of terror, so do communities in Yemen and Pakistan feel great pain and sorrow due to the killing, maiming and suffering they have experienced. Human life is as precious there as here. The grief we all feel is the same. More killing will not end the suffering. It will only bring new pain, new anger and the urge for more violence.  We need a new approach to foreign policy that does not rely on destruction and death, but on building communities, respecting all life, and promoting diplomacy and negotiation as alternatives to war and retribution.

The billions of our tax dollars spent on war would be better used for development, education and promotion of human rights. They could be invested in healthcare, education, and job creation, and to build bridges between peoples. The cycles of violence and death will only end when we realize that killing begets more killing, while only dialogue and restorative justice can break those cycles. Gandhi warned us that “an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.”

Doug Wingeier

Waynesville

To the Editor:

The 2013 legislation coming out of Raleigh is bad enough to cause sleepless nights and worried man blues over the future of fair elections in North Carolina.

Starting in 2016, we will be required in defense of “ballot security” to show a valid, government-issued photo ID when we vote. In North Carolina, over 600,000 registered voters do not have a driver’s license or comparable documentation.

Apparently, many of our legislators are concerned about voter fraud, as when somebody claims to be voting in your name. Voter impersonation is largely a myth and practically non-existent in the U.S. In North Carolina elections from 2004-2010, less than 5 votes per 1 million involved fraud that could be prevented by using a photo ID. 

Yet our state is willing to waste millions of tax dollars to implement public outreach, print new IDs, and create a new state agency with the board of elections to “fix” a problem that barely exists. In fact, voter fraud is much more likely to occur in absentee voting, but these voters will not need to submit an ID when voting — they need only submit a birth date, the last four digits of their social security number, and sign an attestation under penalty of a felony to cast a ballot. So why can’t in-person voters be treated equally?

It’s not just about voting rights. Here’s a few of the pending 2013 bills: deny Medicaid for the poor (SB-4); cut unemployment benefits in half (HB 4); and deny state employees the ability to have union dues taken from their paychecks but allow chamber of commerce dues to be deducted (HB-667).

My own personal “favorite” bad bill is the “Equalize Voter Rights” Senate Bill 667, introduced by Sen. Bill Cook, a Republican, who won the 2012 election by 21 votes. This bill penalizes parents of dependents (e.g. students) who choose to vote at an address other than that of the parent or legal guardian. These parents will lose their North Carolina state tax exemption of $2,000 for claiming a dependent if that person uses a college residency. In the courageous words of Sen. Cook:

“Tax reduction will require courage and fortitude in the face of all the shortsighted special interest groups clamoring for money from state funds …”

If you’ve had enough and don’t have time to travel to Raleigh for a “Moral Monday” protest, you might consider joining local voters in the streets of Waynesville at 11:30 a.m. on Monday, June 24, to protest what is happening in Raleigh. For more information contact Janie Benson at 828.456.4942.

Roger Turner

Sylva

To the Editor:

Recently I saw Ralph Laughter, chairman of Macon County’s “Me Party.” We talked about his letter to the editor in several newspapers praising the work of North Carolina’s GOP legislators.

“I heard their legislation is rather draconian,” I explained to Ralph. 

“Not at all,” he replied. “The legislation will incentivize people back to work, get everyone paying taxes rather than making us pay for everything, and give our citizens the freedom bought by gun manufacturers to have guns for peacefully settling disputes.  

“We want to let the free enterprise system bypass regulations to create jobs fracking in the piedmont, drilling off the Outer Banks and privatizing schools,” he explained. 

I pulled from my pocket a list of proposed bills reported by Democracy North Carolina (They give this Legislature “F” on their report card). Here they are:

• S-4 denies Medicaid for the poor.

• H-4 cuts in half benefits for those who have lost jobs.

• H-82 removes tax breaks for our low- income neighbors. The budget proposes sales taxes on services such as haircuts, groceries and medication.

• H-101 gives estate tax breaks for the rich.

• H-589 creates voting barriers to elderly, minority and low-income citizens by requiring hard to obtain photo IDs.

• H-935 cuts the number of low-income children attending pre-K. The budget proposes cutting teachers’ aides and funding for public schools.

• H-937 permits concealed guns in bars, parks, restaurants and college campuses! Really Ralph???

• H-677 denies state employees having union dues taken out of their checks but allows chamber of commerce dues to be deducted.

• H-730 allows employers to deny women contraception health care.

• H-1011 replaces health care and environmental experts with political appointments on state boards.

• S-489 allows high interest lenders back into the state.

“North Carolina appears to be one of the Republican dominated states subjected to the neo-conservative agenda created by ALEC, the Koch brothers and Art Pope, owner of discounts department stores,” I observed. 

“The success of this legislation will demonstrate the power of our wise and wealthy 1 percent to take our state back to the good old days of 1950s,” Ralph explained. “They paid a lot of money to win the last election and know what is best,” he continued.

I thanked Ralph for clarifying things and invited him to explain to people meeting every Monday afternoon at the state capitol. It is called Moral Monday. Everyone is invited. Come share your love with Ralph!

Ron Robinson

Macon County

To the Editor:

It is true I have been accused of being a negative person concerning a few of the letters I have written to the editor. I don’t think pointing out the obvious is being negative, but what can I say. Today, I’ll try to be very positive. 

I don’t understand what all the fuss is about concerning the $50,000 spent by Jackson County for the branding slogan “Pay On.” I mean after all Jackson County has plenty of tax money paid by the “peons.” The peons are perfectly content to sit back and allow our leaders to spend and spend even more to attract the tourist who will spend and spend their hard earned dollars. We must embrace the wisdom of our leaders and “Pay On”. “Pay On,” Jackson County peons, “Pay On,” and remember to smile.

Frank Parrish

Sylva

To the Editor:

Thank you for your coverage of the historic return of Hall Mountain to the Cherokees (www.smokymountainnews.com/outdoors/item/10467). While the story was good and provided valuable perspectives on the event, it nonetheless failed to mention the role of The Wilderness Society in insuring that the transaction occurred. TWS identified the funding source, assisted in grant writing, and shepherded the grant through a myriad of Washington, D.C., bureaucratic hurdles. It was a great partnership between all of us and what I hope is the first of many. You had to be there!

Brent Martin

Macon County resident

Southern Appalachian Regional Director

The Wilderness Society

Jackson County commissioners will discuss two sets of proposed planning regulations at an upcoming workshop at 2 p.m. on June 17 in the county’s Justice and Administration Building.

One of the items being considered is a new ordinance that was written addressing groundwater recharge in the county. 

Regulations previously existed as part of a larger ordinance but have been separated out into their own draft ordinance. The recharge ordinance addresses issues like requiring impervious surfaces for development to ensure precipitation can be re-absorbed by the ground.

The other item on the agenda is a set of proposed changes to a section of the county’s subdivision ordinance that dictates how much of a development must be left in open space. The proposed changes are generally less stringent than what the county currently has on the books.

Although the changes have been approved by the county’s planning board, any changes to the laws must be passed by commissioners. The drafts of these ordinances were completed last fall, but commissioners have not taken them up until now. A public hearing on the proposed changes could be held as early as the commission’s second meeting in July and voted on that same day. 

Western Carolina Dog Fanciers Association, an area AKC Kennel Club, will host an American Kennel Club all breed dog show from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 15-16 at the Haywood County Agriculture and Activities Center in Waynesville.

A panel discussion will present recent discoveries and observations relating to legendary Western North Carolina figure Horace Kephart at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 13, in the Mountain Heritage Center at Western Carolina University.

WCU’s Mae Claxton and George Frizzell will join writer and historian George Ellison during the program “Horace Kephart Revisited.” Kephart was a 42-year-old librarian looking to make a fresh start in the mountain wilderness when he came to WNC in the summer of 1904. Over the next 27 years, the numerous articles and books he wrote captured a disappearing culture and provided practical advice for outdoor enthusiasts. Kephart also was a major force in the movement to establish Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

The panel discussion is being presented in conjunction with the Mountain Heritage Center exhibit “Horace Kephart in the Great Smoky Mountains,” which will be on display through September.

The panel discussion is free and open to the public.

828.227.7129.

A BBQ & Brews Dinner Train will depart at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 22, at the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad depot in Bryson City.

The dinner features slow-cooked barbeque and beer tastings, showcasing Nantahala and Heinzelmannchen breweries. Each brewery will sponsor trains and provide tastes of their craft beer. Nantahala brewery will be featured June 22 and July 6, with Heinzelmannchen brewery June 29 and July 13. The train travels to the Fontana Trestle and arrives around sunset for a spectacular view.

The event is ages 21 and older. Tickets start at $69. Additional beer will be available for purchase onboard the train. Admission to the Smoky Mountain Trains Museum is included with ticket purchase.

800.872.4681 or www.gsmr.com.

The 38th annual Cherokee Pow Wow Festival is June 14-16 at the Acqouni Expo Center (Old Cherokee High School).

Kim Richey, Irene Kelley and Thomm Jutz will bring an adventurous musical spirit to the Songwriters in the Round series from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, June 15, at the Balsam Mountain Inn.

The Cherokee Bluegrass Festival will run from June 13-15 at the Happy Holiday RV Village in Cherokee.