25th Church Street festival is Oct. 11

The annual Church Street Art and Craft Show in downtown Waynesville will mark its 25th year in 2008, making it one of the mountains’ longest running festivals. The Church Street festival — scheduled for Oct. 11 this year — was founded in 1983 by artist Teresa Pennington and Richard Miller, who owned businesses in the downtown area and wanted to start a festival that would highlight what was then the up-and-coming Main Street of Waynesville.

Perhaps what separates the Church Street festival is the quality of the art. All items must be designed and created by the artist, and the show is designed to be a reflection of the arts and crafts found in the mountains. Art includes colored-pencil, oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastels; porcelain, sculpture, pottery, woodworking, weaving, basketry, quilting, handmade jewelry and wearable art, represented by artisans from throughout the southeast. Many artists demonstrate during the day.

“This is another very successful day for Waynesville. We pretty much have the reputation of having one the finest quality one-day shows in the Southeast. It is a great opportunity to do some Christmas shopping,” said Downtown Waynesville Executive Director Buffy Messer. “Celebrating our 25th year, we have a larger than ever before show planned with more entertainment and venders between the hours of 10 am and 5 pm. We now stage two well-know bands, one at each end of the street, performing throughout the day.”

For more information about the Church Street Arts and Craft Festival, visit www.downtownwaynesville.com or call 828.456.3517.

Haywood Chamber plans two candidate forums

The Greater Haywood County Chamber of Commerce will sponsor two public forums with candidates for county commissioner, school board, N.C. House, Senate and U.S. Congress. The forums will be held at the Lake Junaluska Welcome Center at 6 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 13, and Tuesday, Oct. 14.

Both forums will be broadcast on the Haywood County Information Channel.

The candidates will have the opportunity to answer questions chosen by the Chamber’s Governmental Relations Committee. The forum will focus on the needs of the business community and economic development in Haywood County. Business owners and area residents are encouraged to attend the event to learn about each candidate’s positions, beliefs and qualifications for office.

The forum will be moderated by Haywood Community College President Dr. Rose Johnson and hosted by the Haywood County Chamber Board Chairman Bruce Johnson. Each candidate will be given one and a half minutes for opening remarks. Following opening remarks, each candidate will be asked a series of questions. One and one half minutes will be allowed for a response. Questions may also be submitted in writing from audience members and presented to the candidates.

Questions for candidates may be submitted to Haywood County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director CeCe Hipps at chipps@haywood-nc.com or via fax at 828.456.3021.

DSA director McCurry resigns

Downtown Sylva Association Executive Director Kyle McCurry has announced he will resign effective Oct. 15 for a job in radio broadcasting in upstate New York.

McCurry has only been with the DSA since the end of July.

He said he is resigning because the job in radio is a “great opportunity” that he wasn’t expecting.

During his time as leader of the DSA he said he has accomplished several things including communicating with downtown businesses and expanding the DSA’s boundaries to cover the entire city rather than just Main and Mill streets.

He said the DSA board will discuss replacing him at its meeting Wednesday at 1 p.m. in the DSA office.

McCurry graduated from Western Carolina University in 2007 with a degree in communication.

Haywood TDA donates $15,000 to Parkway

The Haywood County Tourism Development Authority recently donated $15,000 to the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation.

Last year, a contribution from the Haywood TDA helped to clear overgrown foliage that blocked views of Cold Mountain from Milepost 412.

The 469- mile Parkway attracts 21 million visitors each year and provides direct financial benefits to tourism in Haywood County.

“Haywood County’s 46-mile stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway is the highest and wildest segment of all 469 miles,” said Haywood TDA director Scotty Ellis. “The money this board has donated will ensure that visitors can enjoy breathtaking vistas as originally intended.”

Jenkins joins Smoky Mountain Host

Robin Reneau Jenkins was recently named director of communications and member services of Smoky Mountain Host of North Carolina.

Jenkins received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Western Carolina University and taught in the Macon County school system for 30 years. Her responsibilities with Smoky Mountain Host include public relations, marketing, data management, member recruitment and all member-related services.

Smoky Mountain Host is a private-public partnership promoting tourism in the seven western most counties of the North Carolina mountains, through a co-op advertising program and an annual travel guide.

Robin is married to Tommy Jenkins. Their son, Thomas, recently graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and he is currently stationed in Quantico, Va. For more information about Smoky Mountain Host call 1.800.432.4678 or visit www.visitsmokies.org.

Local officers trained in mental illness awareness

Fourteen law enforcement officers from the Franklin Police Department and the Macon County Sheriff’s Office attended a workshop, “Recognizing the Warning Signs of Mental Illness and Strategies for Effectively Dealing with it”.

The workshop was held at Southwestern Community College Public Safety Training Complex on Oct. 1 & 2. This training was made possible through a partnership between Smoky Mountain Center, the Mental Health Association in North Carolina, Southwestern Community College, and NAMI Appalachian South (National Alliance on Mental Illness); and was partially funded by a grant from Macon County Community Foundation.

The training provided information to assist with recognition of mental illness and tactics to use in effectively and safely deal with individuals suffering from major mental illness. Members from Smoky Mountain Center provided information on resources and services available in Macon County. NAMI Appalachian South gave a presentation, “In Our Own Voice: Living with Mental Illness”, to help understand persons with mental illness.

This is a first step by this partnership in bringing CIT training to law enforcement officers in Macon and surrounding counties. The CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) program is a nationally recognized training program developed by the Memphis Police Department in 1988.This unique and creative program was established for the purpose of developing a more intelligent, understandable, and safe approach when an officer is called upon to deal face-to-face with the complex issues of a mental illness crisis.

Waynesville power customers going green

The town of Waynesville was recently recognized for achieving the highest customer participation rate of any municipality in the NC GreenPower program, which funds renewable energy projects throughout the state.

Waynesville is one of 45 municipalities that sell electricity to customers. Through the NC GreenPower program, those who buy power from the town can opt to have a certain amount deducted from their bill each month. It can be as little as $5 or as much as $20.

The funds go to support 130 renewable energy projects that generate electricity for the state’s power supply. Recently, the money has gone toward additional landfill methane gas, small hydroelectric generation and a wind project.

The program grew by 36 percent in 2007, but is still trying to gain recognition. Waynesville may have the highest rate of participation in the state, but only 15 customers out of a total of 3,027 participate in the NC GreenPower program — less than half a percent.

Shuler-Mumpower debate postponed

Looks like congressional candidate Carl Mumpower really will have to settle for a debate with his cardboard cutout of Rep. Heath Shuler in lieu of the real thing — for the meantime, anyway.

Shuler cancelled his appearance at an Oct. 2 political forum in Murphy in order to attend the financial bailout vote in Washington (he voted no for a second time). The forum was to be the only time the opponents appeared together before the upcoming election.

That’s no longer the case, however. Shuler called into Asheville radio station WWNC-570 AM Oct. 1 and agreed to a debate with Mumpower at the station the week before the election.

The candidates will appear on the Take a Stand! show hosted by Matt Mittan. They’ll each appear separately first — Mumpower from 4 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 28; Shuler at the same time the next day. Both will field questions from listeners.

Shuler and Mumpower will then debate from 3 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 30. Listeners can call in with questions during the final hour.

Mumpower still plans to conduct his “Shulerman” series, where he’ll debate a cardboard cutout of Shuler in protest of what he says are Shuler’s attempts to dodge a debate. The first event kicks off at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 9 in Bryson City.

Friends launches new Web portal

The Friends of the Jackson County Main Library has a new Web site.

The site contains information about the organization and the new library complex. The site, fojcml.org, allows viewers to navigate easily.

At the site new members to Friends of the Jackson County Main Library can join using a credit card.

Site viewers can make contributions to the new Library Complex Capital Campaign via credit cards or PayPal on The New Library Complex page or can print a pledge form to mail to the Friends.

The Web site includes a slide show of renderings, floor plans and the site plan. As the project progresses, photos of the building site will be posted in this section.

There are opportunities in the Capital Campaign to name various places within the new library in honor of or in memory of individuals and families.