A man accused of breaking into an occupied home at Lake Junaluska a week ago was arrested Monday night after allegedly breaking and entering into a Cove Creek home.

The resident of a house on Cove Creek Road reported to deputies that he and his wife came home around 7 p.m. to find a white Mercury Mountaineer SUV parked in his driveway. He said they saw a black man run across the yard, get into the SUV and drive away. The couple got into their car and followed the SUV, calling 911 to inform dispatchers of the incident and the location of the SUV as it drove down Cove Creek Road toward Interstate 40.

Deputies, assisted by the NC Highway Patrol and Maggie Valley Police Department, stopped a 2006 white Mercury Mountaineer shortly thereafter on I-40 eastbound at the exit 20 off-ramp, and the driver was taken into custody.  

Marqui Antown Miller, 35, of Mill Spring in Polk County, was arrested and charged with one count of felony breaking and entering involving the incident on Cove Creek Road, one count of felony burglary regarding the Lake Junaluska home invasion on Hickory Hill and one felony fugitive warrant from South Carolina where he is wanted on charges of first-degree burglary and grand larceny. Miller was jailed on those charges in lieu of $150,000 secured bond. His court date has been set for Feb. 17.

While most people are mourning the coming of another Monday, Rob Russell will be rejoicing as he returns to his job at Western Carolina University Feb. 15. 

Construction on the 0.7-mile connector road through Southwestern Community College has come to a halt after the contractor working on it defaulted on its $15.9 million contract this week.

How do you know you have it? 

Most persons infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection.

To the Editor:

Any who frequent Main Street Waynesville on Wednesday afternoons will know that a group calling ourselves Neighbors for Peace, have been vigiling in front of the courthouse  every week since before Shock and Awe — soon to be 13 years. Among the signs we hold are: “We Are All Prisoners of War,” “War Is Not the Answer,” and “War Is Costly; Peace Is Priceless.”

 In support of the last of these, here are some of the costs of war recently compiled by fellow peace activist Curt Torell of Carrboro:

• Costs to military personnel — Of the 2.5 million U.S. troops deployed in our “wars on terror,” over 50 percent suffer chronic pain, 20 percent wrestle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and/or depression, and 20 percent have sustained traumatic brain injury. These have led to a suicide rate of one active service member and 22 veterans every day. More than 6,800 American troops and 6,780 private contractors have died, and 970,000 new disability claims are pending before the VA.

• Costs to our present and future well-being — While Congress cuts programs for basic human needs, our costs of post-9/11 wars — including future veteran care — stand at $4.4 trillion. We’ve spent $7.6 trillion on defense and homeland security. Yet spending those same dollars on peaceful industry — education, health care, infrastructure, and renewable energy — could produce many more and better paying jobs.

• Costs to our security and image — These wars have created more enemies and extended the battlefield worldwide to places like Paris and San Bernadino. ISIS is using our bombing to recruit, while our employment of torture and drones tarnishes our moral credibility.

• Costs to our planet — The Pentagon is the largest institutional consumer of oil and biggest producer of toxic waste, dumping more pesticides, defoliants, solvents, petroleum, lead, mercury, and depleted uranium than the five biggest American chemical corporations combined.

 These costs are the consequence of an addiction that is out of control. Breaking free of any addiction is not easy. War profiteers will need to shift into new industries. Youth will need to find other challenges. Politicians will need to find constructive ways to look strong and win votes. But people do overcome addictions every day.

To “break clean” from the war addiction, Mr. Torell suggests the following: 

(1) Acknowledge war as an addiction. (2) Call upon a “higher power” to form a “coalition of the willing” to renounce war and promote human rights. (3) Admit the error of using war as a tool of foreign policy that has harmed millions, and make amends to those who have suffered. (4) Learn new ways of dealing with nations that abuse human rights, such as committing to a new code of international conduct, and working through the UN and International Court, rather than acting unilaterally to advance our own interests. (6) Halt the sale and stockpiling of weapons while finding new avenues for economic growth that promote life and do not destroy our planet.

 If the costs of this addiction disturb you, join us in front of the courthouse on Wednesdays, 4-5 p.m., as we seek to proclaim that “War Is Not the Answer.”

Doug Wingeier, 

Waynesville

To the Editor:

I would like the economics professors who wrote a letter in last week’s Smoky Mountain News (www.smokymountainnews.com/opinion/item/17086) to please explain with some specifics how Western Carolina University Professor Ed Lopez has been “subjected to unjustified criticism.” In the guest column I wrote I used the professor’s own writings to discuss the situation, using direct quotes from those writings. If you feel I mischaracterized the professor’s position I would be happy to engage you on specifics.

You write that “misguided, misinformed, and in some cases ideologically biased voices have been raised against Professor Lopez and his initiatives.” The sentence is a bit of an unspecific ad hominem, which quite frankly could be turned around in at least a couple of your cases. I wonder, is it ideological to point out that Dr. Lopez is a frequent speaker for groups funded by both the Kochs and Art Pope, both of whom fully acknowledge their ideological and political goals.

The fields of Public Choice Theory and Austrian economics are largely ideological by their own definition and assertion (would you like some von Mises quotes to back that up?). The proposed Center would seem to have a focus on branches of economics that are far from mainstream. That hardly seems like a prescription for benefiting our students (“our” as in products of North Carolina and our public university system).

Within your own department I would contrast the proposal with Dr. Ha’s record, which gives an exemplary example of practical and useful research focused on the local and regional economy. Perhaps a Center for Mountain Economies focused on the challenges we face in Western North Carolina would be more suitable for the area.

As colleagues of Dr. Lopez, it is perhaps expected and understandable that you would come to his defense. Unfortunately, your letter doesn’t provide much of a defense.

Furthermore, to suggest that the criticisms  leveled at the proposal are “not only unjust but detrimental to the people of North Carolina, the stature of the UNC system, its commitment to academic freedom, and in the final analysis, counter-productive” is little more than emotionally charged language that at the least can be disposed of as high dudgeon and at its worst betrays a failure to understand the basic democratic process or the purpose and place of a publicly funded university.

In addition to my earlier comment, let me further note that in my guest column (www.smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/17008) I specifically exempted Dr. Lopez’s teaching or selection of content from criticism — criticism of the subject matter is not criticism of the teacher. 

Further, I think it is rather hard to argue that The Smoky Mountain News’ coverage has focused on Dr. Lopez’s character or teaching. The reporting has been straightforward in looking at the grant and the circumstances surrounding its offer.

Dr. Lopez’s behavior, his teaching, and his character are not at issue. And they should not be without demonstration that he acted outside the norms, procedures and processes of the institution in pursuing the grant.

Parenthetically, it is worth noting that the premise of much of Dr. Lopez’s writing is that individuals act out of self-interest and that institutions can be manipulated by small and/or powerful groups in ways that enhance self-interest over institutional purpose. Dr. Lopez correctly uses the example of sugar subsidies as a flawed policy, but why not subsidies from billionaires to move public institutions in preferred directions? Could that not speak to a flawed or perhaps undemocratic policy?

Mark Jamison

Cullowhee

By Jimmy Rogers • Guest Columnist

If Central Elementary in Waynesville is forced to close because of budget cuts and losing enrollment to charter schools, Haywood County will know who to thank — politicians like Rep. Michele Presnell, R-Burnsville, who have voted time and time again for budgets that shortchange our public schools in order to keep tax breaks for folks at the top.

A nuisance algae capable of harming stream habitats has come to Jackson County, and water users will have to help out to keep it from spreading.

Deep snow in the mountains last week stranded a transmission tower repairman near the summit of Mount Pisgah Jan. 25, launching a massive and technical high-altitude snow rescue operation.

A section of Cullowhee Creek in Jackson County will turn into a laboratory — with elementary school students as its researchers — through a project called “Watershed Moments: Exploring Science and Math in Cullowhee Creek.”

‘Cat on a Ledge’ by acclaimed Waynesville painter Jenny Buckner was recently named an “Honorable Mention for Artistic Excellence 2015” by Southwest Art, a renowned publication within the industry.

Haywood County Schools have pulled the trigger on Saturday school, announcing that this Saturday (Jan. 30) will be a snow make-up day. School will dismiss at 12 p.m.

To the Editor:

We the undersigned, Western Carolina University’s economics faculty, wish to express support for our colleague Dr. Ed López, WCU’s BB&T Distinguished Professor of Capitalism. Unfortunately, he has been subject to unjustified criticism in this publication. In contrast, we who know him best have the highest, most profound confidence in his personal integrity and have no hesitation about sharing that opinion publicly. 

As practicing academic economists, we also endorse the integrity, value, and relevance of his research. Only a small minority of faculty at any institution nationwide can even approach the quality, quantity, and impact of his research publications. In the few years he has been on the faculty at Western, he has made a distinguished contribution to improving the university’s public stature and intellectual climate.  

Furthermore, we fully endorse his efforts to establish a Center for the Study of Free Enterprise. The Center will directly benefit our students and we are dismayed that misguided, misinformed, and in some cases ideologically biased voices have been raised against Professor López and his initiatives.  

This is not only unjust but detrimental to the people of North Carolina, the stature of the UNC system, its commitment to academic freedom, and in the final analysis, counter-productive.  

Robert F. Mulligan, Ph.D.

Professor of Economics

James H. Ullmer, Ph.D.

Professor of Economics

Inhuck Steve Ha, Ph.D. 

Professor of Economics

Zac Gochenour, Ph.D.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics

To the Editor:

Regarding the school district’s budget shortfall, rather than the proposed drastic reductions in the public schools programs and the possible closing of Central Elementary School: why is no one talking about increasing revenue? Of all the government services we benefit from, the schools are one place where we cannot put off needed spending until another year. If a student gets behind we cannot so easily make it up next year.

It is in all of our benefits to give our students the best education possible. Better education generally equals better-paying jobs, putting more money into the economy, helping us all out. Businesses don’t move into communities with poor schools. The best schools have music programs, science enrichment, and integrated programs like the A+ program at Central Elementary. We don’t serve our students well by trying to force them all into a single learning model. 

Music, sports, and A+ performance give students that might not be academically gifted a chance to shine and lead, giving them an incentive to keep working at their academics. They also provide opportunities for college scholarships. Non-revenue sports like cross-country give all team members a chance to compete and contribute. Haywood County Schools has held its own compared to other schools in the state in many of its programs. Case in point, we placed multiple students in the middle school all-region Jazz Band once again last week. Let's not cut them back.

Central Elementary has a unique program: the arts integration A+ program. It used to be a school that attracted students from other parts of the district. It’s A+ program has been badly hurt by past budget cuts, losing its full-time arts teacher/A+ coordinator, cutting back to art every other week and cutting out drama and dance specials. It’s been a testament to the teaching staff attracted to the A+ concept that it continues to be an excellent school and to perform at or above district averages most years in year-end testing. 

If a school needs to be closed because the district has lost sufficient enrollment that we don’t have enough students for all of our buildings, that is one thing, but if we are thinking of closing a good school with a unique program just to save money, that is shameful. I’ll gladly pay more taxes to keep my community’s schools a point of pride and to insure the next generation has every opportunity I had growing up or more. Put increasing revenue on the table, not just cuts.

Paul Super

Waynesville

By Martin Dyckman • Guest Columnist

People generally don’t care to hear how things are done better elsewhere, but there are some things about North Carolina that are done better elsewhere and now is the time to talk about one of them.

The dismissal of Waynesville Town Manager Marcy Onieal is the case in point.

A new program rewarding people who turn in poachers aims to crack down on illegal wildlife harvest. 

“Despite our constant efforts, it is not possible for our officers to apprehend all violators on their own,” said Lt. B.J. Meyer of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s law enforcement division. “We need the guidance and support of the public to be most effective, so we rely on our citizens to assist in the reduction of wildlife crimes.”

Rewards from the Turn-in-Poachers program, or TIP, range from $100 to $1,000 depending on the severity of the crime and fines assessed by the court. All tips will remain anonymous, but the  Wildlife Commission must receive names and contact information to provide an award. 

The program was developed in partnership with the N.C. Bowhunters Association through a state law that established the Wildlife Poacher Reward Fund. The fund receives 10 percent of replacement and investigative costs from wildlife cases, as well as money from the restoration fees convicted wildlife violators are required to pay. 

Submit tips:

• Online at www.tipsubmit.com/webtipforms/webform.aspx?id=127&AgencyID=1304.

• Using the free smartphone app TipSoft.

• By texting 274637. Start the message with WILDTIP and include your name to be eligible for an award. 

• By calling 1-855-WILDTIP.

Report wildlife violations other than poaching to 1.800.662.7137.

An exhibition highlighting the return of North America’s wolves and peregrine falcons from the brink of extinction will be on display at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville through May 8.

An avid local hiker will share the story of her pilgrimage along the 208-mile Camino Primitivo in Spain at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28, at the Community Room of the Jackson County Library in Sylva.

Allen Newland with A Shot Above aerial photography took these shots on Sunday, Jan. 24, showing the aftermath of Snow Storm Jonas in Haywood County.

Thursday, Jan. 28th at Ingles Markets — Candler, NC, Sand Hill Road — 3 to 6 p.m.

A public hearing on Duke Energy’s plan to build two new power plants to replace its soon-to-retire Asheville coal plant will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26, at the Buncombe Count Courthouse in Asheville. 

Initially, Duke had planned to replace the coal plant with a 650-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant and 45-mile transmission line to Campobello, South Carolina. The plan drew opposition from people who felt that the transmission line be a blight on the mountain landscape.

In response, the utility revised its proposal to eliminate the transmission line. It wants to build two 280-megawatt units and potentially a third 193-megawatt unit in 2023 if demand at the time warrants it. 

Environmental advocates have praised the new plan as a vast improvement over the initial proposal while questioning size of the project, especially the provision for a third unit.

“Duke has told the public that they are looking for cleaner alternatives, then they turn around and ask the public utilities commission for permission to build the additional unit seven years before they say it might be necessary,” said Julie Mayfield, co-director of MountainTrue. 

However, according to Duke’s regional president Lloyd Yates, the plan “balances concerns raised by the community and the very real need for more electricity to serve this growing region.” 

The Gateway to the Smokies Half Marathon will send runners all around Waynesville on Saturday, May 14 — and for anyone looking to get in on the action, the time to start training is now.

Smokies Superintendent Cassius Cash has issued a challenge to all hardy souls wishing to join him in celebrating the National Park Service’s 100th birthday this year: hike 100 miles of trail inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park between Jan. 1 and Dec. 6.

To the Editor:

Startling new findings show that if you are a middle-aged white person, your life expectancy is dramatically declining. Almost every other demographic in the western world is doing better. In the United States, every other group — including blacks, Hispanics, the young and the old — are all living longer. According to Angus Deaton, a Nobel prize winning scientist, the reasons driving these higher death rates are suicides, drugs and alcohol abuse, and chronic untreated diseases. 

I think the real underlying reason is fear. Fear of change; fear of losing power; fear of other religions; fear of immigrants; fear of losing your job; fear of rising minorities; and fear of the rising power of women. You name it. The ground they grew up on has shifted under their feet. Most have worked hard all their lives and have little or nothing to show for it. And many in this group have no health insurance. For this group their anger is palpable, and for some, the only escape is through drugs, alcohol and suicide.

Fear is a powerful emotion and it is basic to our human nature. When used in a smart way, it can be a effective political tool. Its use in politics is nothing new. Our history is littered with effective rants against immigrants, religions, minorities, especially blacks. Today's politics are no different. Just mention, the Muslim religion, Syrian refugees, Mexican immigrants, minorities or women's rights, and that fear fills the room with angry voters who are looking for someone to bring back the good old days.

This use of fear is not only dangerous to individuals but it is corrosive to our politics. We have real problems to solve. If all a candidate has to offer is fear and divisive attacks, then the solutions we can all agree on are never going to happen. Promising to recreate the false nostalgia of the past, ignores who we are today, the real changes we must accept, and the bright future that is possible.

We must find a way to work together, and ignore the fear being trumpeted by the hate mongers. Our goal should be fairness and equality for all. That can only be achieved if we all put our emotions in check and get down to the hard work required for real democracy.

Louis Vitale

Franklin

To the Editor

 Closing the stable after the horse has bolted describes Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech last Tuesday night. After almost seven and a half years in office Obama now appeals for civility and partisanship. 

This is the president who mockingly jabbed “I won” to Republican congressional leaders during a 2009 meeting about Obama’s stimulus package where Republicans expressed concerns about spending and tax credits in the package. This is the president who has ignored military leaders’ advice on how to handle ISIS and other U.S. involvements in world conflicts. This is the President who stated that “if Congress doesn’t act I will.”

He has kept that “promise” by changing Obamacare law and making up his own amnesty law by executive orders. Soon to come are Obama’s proposed gun control executive orders that threaten our Second Amendment rights. What comes out of Obama’s mouth has nothing to do with his actions. 

 Following the State of the Union, Democrat National Chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz discredited the Republican response speaker from South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as a Republican token female not fit to assume the response role. She then launched into a tirade about diversity. Democrat diversity in presidential candidates boils down to an aging governor, a socialist and a candidate about to be indicted for public corruption. All are northeasterners! No geographic diversity there! 

The Republican candidate slate includes business persons, physicians, a female, Hispanics, an African-American, governors and senators hailing from states throughout the nation. That is a picture of the diversity in the USA and for that matter in the Republican Party, Ms. Wasserman-Shultz. 

The Democratic Party and the Obama administration are a debacle that hopefully we will never have to experience in office again.

Carol Adams

Glenville

Tony Lossiah was a good man, a quiet guy with a caring heart. He loved his family and worked hard on the job, say the friends and family still mourning his loss in the tightknit Cherokee community. 

No charges will be filed following suicides at the Jackson County Detention Center in November 2014 and March 2015, District Attorney Ashley Welch announced last week.

Democratic candidates who pledge to fight for more education funding could resonate with parents witnessing the impacts of the funding shortfall in Haywood Schools. Or those voters could likewise be turned off by candidates making political hay over the issue.

You may have seen the news about an outbreak of norovirus in Boston that caused over a hundred students in Boston who had eaten at a Chipotle restaurant to become ill. www.wsj.com/articles/norovirus-confirmed-in-boston-chipotle-outbreak-1449684009 It’s important to remember that we can also make ourselves sick at home if we don’t handle food properly and observe food safety in the home. Norovirus is a very contagious virus.

By Mark Jamison • Guest Columnist

The proposed $2 million gift from the Charles Koch Foundation to Western Carolina University to establish a Center of Free Enterprise raises several questions.

To the Editor:

The political season has kicked in full bore, and what we are about to witness is politics of the anglerfish. Anglerfish have a lighted lure above their heads to attract smaller fish. But it’s a fake, nothing to do with the true purpose of the anglerfish. The hidden agenda is its large mouth. When the small fish approaches the lure, it’s a gonner. That’s nature’s ultimate bait-and-switch.

Some politicians are good at this trick, too. They say one thing to distract your attention, maybe get you outraged into supporting some issue, then — wham — you vote for them, then they go off to work their own agendas. Sometimes, that agenda is simply just to improve their electability or power … but it does nothing to move the country forward.

There are tons of examples, old and new. Remember Richard Nixon? They didn’t call him “Tricky Dick” for nothing. Seems that he demonized just about everyone who ran against him, as a communist or pinko. (His term.) Decency and reality were tossed out the window. Now, we’ve got Donald Trump, labeling people from Mexico as “… rapists and murderers.” His words.  

In both cases, do the accusations of these politicians move the country forward? Not an inch. 

There are two words that tell when a politician is pulling his anglerfish stunt: Hate and fear. When a politician spews hate and fear, he’s trying to divert your attention away from his real purpose, which you can bet has nothing to do with building roads or schools or otherwise advancing the nation’s interest.

Demand reality of candidates — including me. Inflammatory words get us nothing, except a disillusioned electorate when they realize that they’ve been fooled again.

Rick Bryson

Bryson City

Democratic candidate for N.C. 11th Congressional District 

To the Editor:

The Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century brought about real positive change: the end of legalized segregation in education, jobs, housing, public facilities, and private businesses. Further, equal opportunity in voting was enshrined in the Voting Rights Act.

These changes did not come easily, as they were won with blood. Good people bled and died. Good people were brutalized, arrested, and imprisoned.

Today, we see the rollback of many of these rights, especially in voting rights and education. The Supreme Court recently nullified a section of the Voting Rights Act, and immediately our state legislature created impediments to voting. In public education, we’ve seen the steady decline of per student spending by the state government, as well as drastic cuts in textbook funds and teacher assistants. 

Meanwhile, the state is taking our tax dollars away from accountable public schools and giving them to unaccountable for-profit charter schools, including religious schools. The largest recipient of our state tax dollars is a Christian school, the second largest is a Muslim school. 

As the need has arisen, so has the NAACP. While it was founded to fight for the rights of African Americans, it has since expanded its scope to include all those who face injustice whether they be black, white, and beyond.

It is time, again, to stand up to injustice, hatred, fear, indifference, greed and corruption. We The People need to stand together and demand that our state and our nation be returned to us.

With you we can stand together, sing together, march together, write together, eat together, dance together and win together. We need you, and all people of good heart, to come together and make history. This is our time.

Join us at 3 p.m. this Monday, Jan. 18, in Sylva as we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We will meet at Bridge Park on the back street of downtown Sylva, or for bad weather, check our website at jacksonncnaacp.org

We will share a meal, sing, and speak. Join us to make this a better community.

Dan Kowal

Communications Chair

Jackson County NAACP

A state ban on poultry sales and shows in place since August was lifted a week earlier than anticipated, as 2015 closed without the avian flu spreading to North Carolina. 

Outbreak of the disease in the Midwest killed nearly 50 million birds, and state officials had worried that the flu would spread to North Carolina with fall migration. The ban was instated, and small flock owners were required to register their birds with the state in order to help with response in case of a flu outbreak. Both the ban and the registration requirement have now been dropped. 

New information will be posted at www.ncagr.gov/avianflu.

Haywood County dairy farmers may soon be required to give a portion of their proceeds for dairy-related education, research and industry promotion if an upcoming referendum vote gets a two-thirds majority from Grade A producers in the state. 

The referendum vote will be the first of its kind for dairy farmers, conducted in all North Carolina counties conaining Grade A dairy operations. If passed it would require a contribution of 2 cents per 100 pounds of milk sold, effective for three years starting March 1. 

Voting will take place Jan. 20 at N.C. Cooperative Extension Service offices in 46 counties with Grade A dairy herds. Absentee ballots are available at extension offices now. 919.545.1237.

The Land Trust for the Little Tennessee started off the new year with a new name, officially launching its new identity as Mainspring Conservation Trust.

The new name reflects the organization’s growing scope of work, which has spread its land conservation work beyond the Little Tennessee River watershed. Mainspring’s footprint includes the watersheds of the Hiawassee and Tuckasegee rivers and even across the state line in Rabun County, Georgia. The organization’s mission has broadened as well, expanding to include water research projects and educational programming in addition to land conservation.It has a new website, too, www.mainspringconserves.org.

Work has started on new trails and signs along the Chattooga River aimed at improving access for paddlers.

People wanting to get in on the stand up paddleboard craze will have a chance to learn the basics at the indoor pool at the Waynesville Recreation Center, with practice sessions from 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. every other Wednesday beginning Jan. 20.

The production of the Nora Ephron play “Love Loss and What I Wore” will take place at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 15-16 and 3 p.m. Jan. 17 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

The sudden announcement this week that Central Elementary School in Waynesville could be closed in Haywood County has prompted a swirling litany of questions for both parents and the public at large.

SEE ALSO:
• Parents shocked over Central Elementary closing
• Closing Central Elementary emotional for school officials
• Cuts widespread as Haywood faces $2.4 million shortfall

Since 1940, the Federal Government has provided Impact Aid Funding to assist school districts that have lost a portion of their local tax base because of Federal ownership of property. 

This week I got a call from a customer curious about an ingredient and wondering what it was and what it is used for.

To the Editor:

Two happenings in the past 12 months led me to some end-of-the-year musings. The happenings were related, though one was personal and the other one plays out in the public arena. In the end my participation in both coalesced into a stronger belief in the great idea of wilderness because I had experienced wilderness up-close and personal in one and in the other I participated in the Forest Service Plan Revision for the Nantahala National Forest.   

Beginning in early February on a cold morning, I joined three friends on a hike in the Ellicott Rock Wilderness. I had signed up for The Wilderness Society’s Dirty Dozen Hike Challenge which required hiking at least 10 miles in 12 different wilderness areas. I signed up as a lark, aware that I was an unlikely candidate to accomplish such an adventure given my age and physique, among other reasons. The opportunity of hiking so many new trails and the fun I knew we would share as the Wild Bunch was too enticing to pass up. So that day I crossed the Chattooga River in icy water halfway up my thighs, an utterly absurd and crazy thing for someone who hates the cold. 

I was hooked. I completed my 12th hike at the end of September, some easy, some extremely difficult, each one memorable and each one increasing my love for the wild places in our world. I share this personal experience not to win admiration, but to affirm that going into the wilderness is within reach of most of us if we have the desire to be part of untrammeled nature and are willing to prepare to do so.

The Mountains-to-Sea Trail, Section 2, reached a few yards from a Blue Ridge Parkway parking spot, best embodied for me the marvels and magnificence of wilderness. This trail would be rated as “easy” with some short “moderate” sections by most hiking guides. 

I have followed closely the Forest Service Plan Revision process. At meetings and through the media, I have become keenly aware of the misconceptions about wilderness that are held by so many people and of the demands by various groups to open up wilderness areas for their particular interests (some harmless and already allowed, some highly destructive and benefiting just a few).

I have come to realize that so many of our trails and public lands would diminish little by little without the protection of wilderness designation. I also have been surprised at the contrast of those who advocate for less wilderness and those who support it. The opposition strongly and unabashedly expresses its opinions and gains widespread support. The wilderness supporters, in general, are reticent to express their love for the wild lands because of our society’s misguided views of human progress. 

Well, I am starting my New Year’s resolutions early. From hereon I will express my support for wilderness and share my new-found guiding principle: Wilderness for all, all ways, always!

Olga Pader

Franklin

Dear Friends: It’s New Years Eve and I wanted to take a moment to thank you for all that you contribute to Folkmoot’s mission of building cultural understanding. Whether you are a volunteer, a seasonal worker, a financial contributor, a board member, a grantor or sponsor, staff person or ticket buyer, we share in the success of Folkmoot.

Acclaimed rapper Waka Flocka Flame will hit the stage at 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14, in the Ramsey Regional Activity Center at Western Carolina University.

A new trail guide covering the Balsams section of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail is out, meaning that the trail’s route through Western North Carolina is now completely covered by the guide series released by Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.

The 61-mile Balsams section, which includes the area from Waterrock Knob to Pisgah Inn, is one of the most rugged and least accessible sections of the MST. The new guide contains a breakdown of landmarks along the trail and information for finding maps and amenities. 

The MST is a still-evolving trail, so even with the map done it’s important to check for updates before setting out. The trail stretches 1,000 miles and will ultimately link Clingman’s Dome with Jockey’s Ridge State Park on the coast. About two-thirds of the route is currently complete. 

www.ncmst.org/the-trail/trailguide.