By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer

When Denise Tyson realized she would have to trek to another county to take part in celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, she did just what the famous civil rights leader would have done — she took a stand.

Since in this age of home video, I seldom get to see many of the best movies of any given year until the following year — when they are finally released on DVD — please consider the following list of 2007’s best movies not only subjective but likely to change once I get around to seeing “Juno,” “There Will Be Blood,” and “Atonement,” among others. Still, I can at the very least highly recommend the five movies listed further below. The list of best albums is twice as long and could be longer still — lots of good stuff this year.

Albums

The National, Boxer — Every year, some band I don’t know anything about comes along and produces an album that ends up moving me so much that I obsess about it for months, playing it over and over until I know it note for note. Such a profound connection between the music and listener is ineffable, so I’ll spare you the purple prose that would be no more useful — or interesting — than describing an intense dream. I’ll just say that this was easily the most affecting album I heard all year, and I haven’t talked with anyone who’s heard it that didn’t also love it.

Arcade Fire, Neon Bible — A follow-up to their widely praised debut. Their sound is dark, brooding, and expansive, but thrilling and literate, too. Another great album.

White Stripes, Icky Thump — I like all their records, but this may be my favorite. After a period of experimentation, Jack White returns to the basics — and has some fun in so doing.

The Apples In Stereo, New Magnetic Wonder — Although they’ve been around awhile, I never heard of them until trying this after an enthusiastic review I read somewhere. Somewhere between power pop and psychedelia, I really have no idea how to describe their sound except to say that it is their own. Lots of good songs on a longish album.

Public Enemy, How You Sell Soul — Has it really been nearly two decades since they provided the juice for Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing”? Even though Flavor Flav has become a reality television cartoon, they continue to make excellent records.

MIA, Kala — More textured and complex than the dancier Arular, it was nonetheless the primary soundtrack for family living room dancing this summer, and an iPod favorite.

Richard Thompson, Sweet Warrior — I recommend just about everything he’s ever done, literally dozens of albums going back nearly four decades. His guitar playing alone is worth the price of admission, and his albums with Fairport Convention and especially his ex-wife, Linda, are all classics. His solo records have been spottier, but this one’s a winner top to bottom.

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Raising Sand — Not what I expected, especially in terms of a sonic landscape that is spookier and more ethereal than anything either of these legends-in-their-own-genres has ever produced. I mean, what is an Alison Krauss album without a mind-numbing, pristinely clean dobro break from Jerry Douglas? It’s a love it or hate it affair, and I love it, especially the Townes Van Zandt cover.

Bruce Springsteen, Magic — Ready made anthems, grungy sound. I like listening to it better in the car than at home.

Jason Isbell, Sirens Of The Ditch — Formerly of the Drive-By Truckers, Isbell may have released the best pure roots rock record of the year, and he can write to boot. His song “Dress Blues” is the best I’ve heard on the very real consequences of the war in Iraq. A little over-produced, but still affecting.

Movies

“No Country For Old Men” — The unlikely team of Cormac McCarthy and the Coen brothers is not so unlikely, when you think about it. As so many have already said, it is their best since “Fargo,” perhaps even better. It may win a bunch of Oscars, and it may also launch yet more movies based on McCarthy’s books, which are surely among the best in American literature. Blood Meridian is on the way, The Road soon to follow. Please, someone, take on Suttree.

“Once” — Unless you have not a romantic bone in your body, you’ll get caught up in this little indie love story/musical in spite of yourself. If your body is full of romantic bones, you’ll want the soundtrack, too.

“Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead” — At 83, Sidney Lumet can still turn out a winner. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Marisa Tomei may get Oscar nominations.

“Away From Her” — A beautiful, heart-wrenching love story at the other end of the spectrum from “Once.” In the latter, see how love begins; in the former, how it endures, in spite of everything, even Alzheimer’s.

“Knocked Up” — Judd Apatow is the hottest thing in Hollywood right now, having followed up “40 Year Old Virgin” with this movie and “Super Bad,” both released this year. All of them are hilarious.

— By Chris Cox

By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer

In one room, a jagged crack runs from wall to wall, evidence of an unstable foundation. In another, the shifting earth has pushed one side of the floor higher than the other at a perceptible angle that causes objects to appear wildly off-kilter. Throughout the building, the roof sags and shows huge water spots. The occupants of the building attempt to alleviate the leakage by putting out 32-gallon containers in the attic when it rains.

By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer

Emergency rooms crowded with mentally ill patients. Sheriff’s deputies spending 96 hours supervising one individual. A sick man or woman whose situation is growing more dire by the second. It all adds up to a recipe for disaster — and North Carolina’s mental health care system is in imminent danger of becoming just that.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

Rachel Upchurch wants to protect the mountains that tower throughout Jackson County however; the Smokey Mountain Elementary student also wants to see more houses and shopping centers built throughout the Qualla community.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

Macon County welcomed its new County Manger Jack Horton back to Western North Carolina earlier this month. Horton, 57, returned to Macon County to fill the county manager position after the retirement of former manager Sam Greenwood. This is Horton’s second stint in the Macon County manager’ seat, having held the same job from 1985-1991. In a recent interview with The Smoky Mountain News, Horton discussed some of the issues the county is facing.

Smoky Mountain News: What’s it like to be back in this part of Western North Carolina?

Horton: It’s great to be back in Western North Carolina. This is probably — of all the places you could live in the world — the most beautiful place that I know of. And that’s just the scenery. The people here are great too. Over the past almost 30 years that I’ve worked in public administration most of it comes from the western part of the state.

SMN: Macon County has changed a lot since you were here last. One of the big issues the county is dealing with is growth?

Horton: Macon County has changed a lot. The population has grown and a lot of people have moved in here to retire or to raise their families, and the population continues to grow. I think what we will see in Macon County probably will be somewhat of an example of what lies in store for all of Western North Carolina when it comes to growth and natural resources.

SMN: County commissioners have begun talking about finding a second water supply for the county? How do you feel about this issue?

Horton: One of the things that we really have to have and that is getting more and more precious everyday is a good, clean, stable water supply. I think we are going to see over the next 20 years that water is going to be critical, and if you are going to have any type of growth, development or a sustainable economy, you’ve got to have a good water supply. It’s critical not only for the economy but also for environmental reasons.

We’ve been blessed in this part of the state for a long time with an abundance of pure and natural water. We have so much available property around here and a good watershed area I think some of the leaders of the past have been very visionary in their efforts to create and maintain water supplies. One of the projects that people point to on this topic is the water project in Waynesville that happened in the 1970s. That has really paid dividends, and I think that every municipality in this region — and throughout the state, for that matter — has got to take a look at their water supply and how they are going to meet the needs of their county and to meet the needs of their economy.

SMN: Macon County just formed an occupancy tax committee to redistribute the county’s lodging tax. The committee members are eager for you to come on board and are looking forward to your ideas. How do you see the county allocating its occupancy tax?

Horton: I was in Macon County when the occupancy tax was instituted back in the late 1980s, and at that time it was decided that the best way to administer that money was to promote travel and tourism through the Greater Franklin Area and the Highlands Chamber of Commerce because they had two different types of clientele that they were trying to reach through travel and tourism.

I haven’t seen the report or talked to anyone yet that has been on the committee about the changes in the occupancy tax and the creation of a TDA. I can’t really comment on it because I don’t know anything about it.

But I am familiar with the TDA. We had a TDA in Haywood County. In Caldwell County the chamber of commerce partnered with the economic and development commission and promoted tourism and travel. I’ve seen chambers of commerce handle the occupancy tax, I’ve seen TDA’s handle the occupancy tax and I’ve seen a combination of both, so I don’t have any predisposed position on it. I’d like to see what the folks here have to say about it.

SMN: The failure of the school bond referendum was very disappointing for the board of commissioners. How do you see the county financing projects like the 5-6 and k-4 schools?

Horton: The bond referendum for the schools was an opportunity to finance the school improvements through a bond issue. The board of county commissioners and the board of education have made the commitment toward new school facilities. We are looking at ways to finance these projects since the bond referendum failed. The need still exists for new school facilities. I think the county is continuing on with its commitment to fund the schools and I think the first action towards that goal is the acquisition of that property for the new 5-6 school. I anticipate that we will be working on ways to figure out a method of financing the school through alternative methods and try to maintain a reasonably low tax rate at the same time.

I think that’s one of the things most people are concerned with — what is it going to do to my property taxes? We’ll evaluate all those things and move forward with it. Macon County is not a large county but it’s a fairly prosperous county and the general consensus is that the county should be able to fund the critical needs of its schools.

SMN: There is some speculation that there may be an increase in property taxes in order to pay off the debt the county is incurring from the capital improvement projects?

Horton: There are several factors when you talk about property taxes. The county has got the lowest tax rate in the entire state right now — 24.5 cents per hundred dollars. The tax rate is extremely low and the reason it’s extremely low is that there’s been a lot of investment in the county. Real estate prices have risen because a lot of people want to live here and buy property.

The last re-evaluation saw that the county-wide tax base increase by 60 percent, and so the tax rate went down. I think that the board committed to having a revenue neutral tax base, and if we can hold that line I think we can certainly try and do it. You can affect the amount of taxing coming in by raising the tax rate or growing the tax base, and obviously the best choice is increasing the tax base. We’ll have to take a look and see if the tax base will increase enough to pay any debt service on schools before we look at increasing the tax rate.

SMN: Macon County has been in the forefront with confronting the mental health crisis. How do you see the county addressing this issue?

Horton: The state’s decision to reorganize mental health has created a lot of problems in this region that did not exist before. One of the primary issues is how to deal with people that are an involuntary commitment. It used to be that if somebody was committed involuntarily, they were evaluated and taken to a mental health center and within a few hours they were placed in some place or released. But the problem now is that the two- to three-hour wait has become a one- to two-day wait and is tying up law enforcement officers from all seven counties. The problem is that we don’t have enough population to justify getting the private sector involved to provide services for all the mental health needs.

Since the reorganization of mental health, it has taken away a lot of that provision of mental health services and we are hurting for enough professionals to deal with mental health issues in the region.

I think Macon County is really taking a lead to develop a local task force to try and address all the issues affecting mental health. I would expect that the task force — appointed at the Jan. 14 commissioner meeting — will come up with some really good recommendations.

SMN: What issues do you see the county addressing this year?

Horton: I guess it’s going to be the same issues that been facing them the last several years — the growth, the need for educational facilities, some land-use controls in order to preserve the environment and the quality of life. Also look at water, infrastructure and the transportation system — there is a myriad of issues that need to be addressed. I hope to not only look at this year’s plan of work, but maybe we can develop a plan of things we’d like to address over the next five years and work toward those because you have to take the time and put it on paper and commit it to a plan, otherwise people just talk about it and nothing ever gets done.

I think our focus has got to be on the future, on how we are going to be in the next 15 to 20 years. Our goal is to position Macon County to be a leader in the region in addressing these issues. We are going to concentrate on the future. We are going to address all those issues, and we are going to set up a work plan for this year and the next five years and hopefully look on down the road as far as we can to make sure that when we eventually leave that things are better than when we got here.

SMN: Commissioners have talked about forming a better relationship between the county and its municipalities? How do you feel about this issue?

Horton: I think we need to be transparent to the public eye. My goal is to be responsive to the public and to the media so that we get good information out. In order to do that the board has made a commitment to establish a good working relationship with municipalities in the county. That will be a top goal of mine, to work with Franklin and Highlands. We all serve the same people. Everybody in Highlands and Franklin are also in Macon County. Whatever happens inside city limits also affects those outside city limits, so we got to have a good working relationship with our municipal partners.

By Michael Beadle

What would New York City be without its Statue of Liberty? Picture St. Louis without its Gateway Arch. What would towns and cities be without their signature sculptures and eye-catching murals?

By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer

Coal-fired power plants and renewable energies took center stage as topics at last Saturday’s lieutenant governor’s debate in Asheville.

Don’t you just love being an American.

Just the mere mention of the word “recession” and the next thing you know the government is proposing to spend billions of dollars in the form of tax rebates for people just like you and me so we can go shopping.

The senior citizen population is growing in Western North Carolina, and with that increase comes the increasing potential for abuse, exploitation, or neglect of the elderly.

Reverend Horton Heat: Reverend Organdrum

Maybe all that needs to be said is that somewhere around three and a half minutes into Booker T’s “Can’t Be Still” you realize the Reverend and company have slipped a little snippet of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” under the radar. These guys are nuts.

“3:10 To Yuma”

Russell Crowe as vicious murder Ben Wade and Christian Bale as Dan Evans, a farmer hired to help deliver the captured Wade to the train in Yuma, give outstanding performances in this new version of a previous film by the same name.

Perhaps it is going to take a complete fracturing of the mental health system before policymakers finally realize that North Carolina needs more inpatient facilities to treat patients who are a danger to themselves and society. Well, if it’s a total breakdown they’re waiting for, things are getting perilously close.

By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer

Not too long ago, the number of people who carried on the ancient Cherokee basket-weaving tradition had dwindled to just a handful. Today, the craft is experiencing a resurgence — thanks in part to local organizations helping to restore native plants vital to making the baskets.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

Sylva’s search for a new town manager ended Jan. 17 after Town Manager Jay Denton asked the board for his job back.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

It’s been almost a year since Bonita Fox and her family have taken a sip of water from their well.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

Progress on Jackson County’s corridor study for U.S. 441 is taking shape after three public meetings last week.

Haywood Community College needs help, and the community that benefits from this beloved institution is going to step up. The only question to be answered is in what form that help will come.

For nature photographer Bill Lea, Cades Cove is heaven on earth.

Jim Lauderdale: The Bluegrass Diaries

If you recognize the name, little more needs to be said. Long one of the first-call songwriters in Nashville, Jim Lauderdale is probably the guy responsible for penning some of your favorite country tunes.

More than 150 people traveled from all over Western North Carolina to attend the first official Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at Bryson City’s Historic Calhoun House on Jan. 21.

“No Country For Old Men”

There’s a whole list of movies (films?) I’ve seen that I respected, on many levels enjoyed, and don’t have an overwhelming urge to see again. This isn’t a comment on the quality of the films, but maybe a statement of just how brutally honest they were, how ugly a portrait of ourselves and our little world they painted and convinced us to stare at for, say, about two hours.

By Marsha Crites • Guest Columnist

She is very thin, about 6 years old, her hair is unkempt and her nose is running, but her smile is broad and captivating. It is hard to walk with her wrapped around my waist in the marketplace.

By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer

With a potential end to the North Shore Road saga looming, supporters of constructing the 30-mile road through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park are confronting their fear of what a wilderness designation would mean for the park and Swain County.

By Michael Beadle

Watch out Broadway. Get Carnegie Hall ready.

Skeletal remains found in Macon County’s Nantahala National Forest Feb. 2 are those of an 80-year-old hiker who disappeared in October 2007, authorities say.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

Living “green” is a way of life for Mark and Darcia Bondurant. The Haywood County family of four works diligently everyday to reduce their carbon footprint by doing everything from buying locally produced food to heating their two-story mountain home with a passive solar design, a technique that utilizes the sun’s rays for warmth.

By Jim Janke • Special to the Smoky Mountain News

Editor’s note: This is the first of what will become a regular feature on gardening by the Haywood County master gardeners. Look for it every other week.

“I can dig it, he can dig it,

She can dig it, we can dig it,

They can dig it, you can dig it........”

By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer

Driving a tractor-trailer in Haywood County or a motorcycle in Swain? Use caution. Both counties top the list of AAA Carolinas recently released report on the most dangerous places to drive in North Carolina.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

Macon County residents will have the opportunity to weigh in on amendments to the county’s flood damage prevention and watershed ordinances at a public hearing on Feb. 11.

By Rep. Heath Shuler

After more than 60 years of contentious debate that has divided our community, we are finally nearing a fair and conclusive solution to the issue of the North Shore Road. This solution will provide a fair monetary settlement to the people of Swain County that will be used to improve our schools and economy well into the years ahead.

Kindle

In case you don’t know, the Kindle is Amazon’s answer to the paperless book. It’s a wireless, portable electronic tablet, I guess, and its advocates say it is the first electronic device that comes close to replicating a book. Introduced this year, I ordered one and am trying to decide if the tactile, sensual pleasures of a reading a novel can be replicated by a machine.

The term “contemporary bluegrass” is open to a ridiculous amount of interpretation. For some it signifies anything that strays even a little beyond the template set by Ralph Stanley, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs — which means that damn near everything we hear nowadays that falls under the heading of bluegrass is “contemporary.”

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Penn. — A year from the day he announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president, Punxsutawney Phil, the most famous groundhog in the land, has dropped out of the race for the highest office in the land.

There’s not a one-size-fits-all model for how counties should promote economic development, but at the very least there should be one skilled specialist on the county’s payroll whose sole responsibility is to promote job growth and help existing business. Put the right person in that position and it will pay for itself many times over.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

Jackson County solid waste officials are cracking down on how businesses dispose of their trash, a move that has small business owners like Teresa Dowd up in arms.

By Jennifer Garlesky & Julia Merchant • Staff Writers

Two Swain County employees will join representatives from the Department of Interior, the State of North Carolina and the Tennessee Valley Authority to negotiate a new contract that will replace the 1943 North Shore Road agreement.

The U.S. Forest Service is about to release its opinion on whether to allow boating on the Chattooga River. It’s been a long and complicated battle, but here’s hoping that American Whitewater’s attempt to open the river to kayaking is successful.

By Victoria McDonald • Guest Columnist

Reverend C. T. Vivian is a living legend of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. He was a rider on the first “Freedom Bus” that went to Jackson, Miss. He worked on the executive staff of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

Macon County’s eight-month moratorium on the permitting of recreational vehicles in the floodplain will be lifted next month.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Owners of Plott Hounds will say that the hound is unlike any other.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

Sylva Town Board members want to see hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers sharing the trails in Pinnacle Park, 1,100 acres of land located at the northern part of town.

“I suddenly think about my friends, you know, getting on their private jets. And I think, well, you know, maybe they have the right idea. Maybe all that we have to do is mouth a few platitudes, show a good, expression of concern on our faces, buy a Prius, drive it around for a while and give it to the maid, attend a few fundraisers and you’re done. Because, actually, all anybody really wants to do is talk about it.”

— Author Michael Crichton in 2007

That was Michael Crichton — the author of such books as Jurassic Park and, more to the point, State of Fear — speaking last year to scientists debating the reality of global warming and whether human activity is the culprit. For those who don’t know, Crichton has become the naysayers’ Al Gore, the person called to speak when a celebrity draw is needed at conventions and gatherings attended by those who say melting polar ice caps are just nature’s way.

By Chris Cooper

Ah, the joy of finding good stuff in the “undeservedly discarded disc” section of any music store. Here a few recent scores: pop melodrama from Bleu and a superb album from the most underappreciated — and one of the best, in my opinion — bands in the country.

By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer

It’s a scenario that plays out every day: A bored 12-year-old girl named Crystal enters a Yahoo chatroom. Immediately, a screen pops up. “A/S/L/?” — age, sex, location? — another chat user inquires. Within minutes, Crystal has revealed that she’s a seventh-grader who lives in Waynesville, N.C., and she’s on the computer while both her parents (whom she’s mad at) are at work. The user Crystal is chatting with — a 13-year-old boy — sympathizes with her about fighting with her parents. Suddenly, Crystal has a new friend she can confide in.

Poems from Guantanamo

They’re supposed to be the worst of the worst from al-Qaeda and the Taliban, evildoers locked up for plotting unspeakable crimes of terror under the twisted doctrines of Islamo-fascism.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

A plan to distribute Macon County’s occupancy tax has been formulated, leaving the final approval up to the board of commissioners.

By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer

Sandi Dotherow loves the town of Franklin so much that she spends all her free time shopping and dining at downtown businesses.

The endangered Indiana bat saw a 9 percent population increase between 2005 and 2007, continuing a 12-year rise in bat numbers. However, a mysterious illness in the Northeast poses a threat to this success.

The number of Indiana bats rose from 469,000 to more than 513,000 between 2005 and 2007, according to population estimate surveys by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

“While that seems like a lot of bats, every winter they come together in massive numbers in a few caves and mines to hibernate, making them extremely vulnerable,” said Robert Currie, a bat biologist with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Asheville.

Human disturbance at hibernation sites was the lead factor in the bat’s decline and led to its listing as an endangered species.

“Now the bat’s habit of aggregating in large numbers at hibernation sites may make them more vulnerable to the rapid spread of this new disease,” said Currie.

The disease was first noted in New York, where biologists documented the death of thousands of bats, including several hundred Indiana bats, all apparently infected by a fungus which formed white tufts on the bats’ muzzles, giving it the name white nose syndrome. In addition to the white muzzle, dead bats appeared to have used up their winter fat stores and had congregated much closer to cave entrances than usual.

Researchers are trying to determine if the fungus itself is responsible for the deaths or if its presence is a symptom of another problem.

Indiana bats have been known to hibernate in Western North Carolina. More commonly, however, the bats migrate to WNC and make it their home during the warmer months. Thus far, white nose syndrome has only been documented in New York and Vermont. Until they have a better understanding of the nature of the disease and how it’s transmitted, biologists urge cavers to help prevent its potential spread.

To that end, the Service provides these recommendations:

• Do not touch any bats (living or dead), especially those with a white muzzle or nose.

• If you are in a cave and see bats with white muzzles or noses, exit the cave immediately, avoiding contact with other bats. Do not enter any other caves prior to decontaminating your clothing and gear.

• Contact your state fish and wildlife agency or your nearest U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office to report observations.

• Report any dead bats found outdoors or any unusual numbers of bats outside during cold weather, especially near a cave or mine where bats hibernate.

• Decontaminate your clothing and all caving equipment using these procedures:

– Remove your caving gear when you get to the vehicle and put it in a closed plastic garbage bag to prevent contamination of the interior or trunk.

– Wash caving clothes using hot water, detergent and a normal bleach cycle.

– Dry the clothes thoroughly and dry them at hot temperatures.

– Scrape the dirt from boots and soak them in a 10 percent bleach solution (one part chlorine bleach, nine parts water). Soak porous boots longer than nonporous boots.

– Wash or soak cave packs and thoroughly clean helmets and lights with a 10 percent bleach solution or a similarly effective disinfectant.

By Michael Beadle

Phyllis Jarvinen was tired of all the paperwork, the endless forms and bureaucratic red tape that clogged up her job as a therapist working with children.