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An intricate mix of artistic performance, The Moon Show will be held at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 23, at The Strand at 38 Main in Waynesville.
A collaboration between performing artists Valerie Meiss, Rich Risbridger and Madison J. Cripps, the show was born out of the family of Asheville Vaudeville. The Moon Show is the first theme-based variety show performed by a small cast, versed in multiple art forms, interweaving them throughout the evening.
Attendees will experience a variety of beautiful, whimsical vignettes including original folk tales, puppet shows, music, song, and more, all exploring the theme of the moon, the night sky, and the world of dreams.
This performance is all ages, but may have some mature themes. PG-13.
Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door.
www.38main.com.
Bryson City chocolate cook-off
Cooks of all things chocolate will square off at the 8th annual Chocolate Cook-Off from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 25, at the Swain County Chamber of Commerce in Bryson City.
The Friends of the Marianna Black Library will host this tasty event to help raise money for the library. Admission is $8 for adults, $7 for children ages 6 to 16 and Friend’s Members.
www.fontanalib.org/brysoncity or www.greatsmokies.com.
A Whittier man was discovered dead in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park during the early morning hours of March 29.
Tourism is a huge topic with a major impact on Western North Carolina’s economy.
Western Carolina University will host the second annual Tourism Conference next week to focus on one major aspect of the tourism industry — festivals and events.
QUESTION: When Ingles talks about offering “local” food what do you mean by that? Is there a certain area or geographic distance?
ANSWER: There is no legal definition for the word “local” so many retailers set a definition on their own. At Ingles all of our stores are within 250 miles of our Distribution Center in Black Mountain, NC so this is our first tier of our “local” region.
To the Editor:
In March the North Carolina State Parks system celebrated its 100th anniversary with events, gathering and celebrations at the more than 40 state parks scattered across our state. It was a proud day indeed to mark the time a century ago when our legislators at the time had the foresight and devotion to the people of North Carolina to take the bold steps in preserving our shared history and the many unique natural resources and special places we have been blessed with. We should be thankful to these wise people and honor them with our continued commitment and reaffirm our goal of protecting the many wonders our state holds within its borders.
But instead, Gov. Pat McCrory and his cronies marked the day by ramming through dramatic budget cuts to our state park system despite rising visitation rates and use of these spaces by residents and tourist alike, topping 15.6 million visitors in 2014.
Most of the folks that I have met across the state and the country travel often to visit and explore our state's many gems, so why would the governor choose to chop off more of its very lifeline after having already cut 25 percent of their budgets in recent years? It’s a fact that businesses, tourists, investors, retirees and outdoorsmen are attracted to our state because of its natural attributes — as showcased by our state park system.
It would be difficult to attach a dollar figure to the values these attributes have in attracting others, not to mention the intrinsic value put on these places by those of us who live and work here.
And yet our legislators in their self-defined genius have chosen to reallocate those important park monies to fund efforts to promote hydraulic fracking, development of offshore oil and gas drilling and the degrading, encroachment and virtual sell off of these “golden eggs” that nature and creation have given to us all.
It’s alarming to me to see this blatant and obvious kick in the face to our state parks done in the name of job and wealth creation. I’m sure that there are those chosen few who will benefit from this absconding of the public trust and our commonly owned property, but I'm left with the taste of boot heel in my mouth as a taxpayer.
At the very least these actions and budget cuts lack the foresight that our historical legislators of 100 years ago possessed, and the good will entrusted to those that followed to consider the future of all North Carolinians rather than a handful of special interests. Perhaps it's time for the governor, his handlers and his blind supporters to take a long view of our great State — far from the mansion in Raleigh.
Please let him know your thoughts.
John Beckman
Cullowhee
To the Editor:
The letter from Deanna Lyles, “I quit teaching because I love children,” (April 1, The Smoky Mountain News) rocked me back on heels a bit. You state, Miss Lyles, you “quit teaching.” I prefer to believe, you didn’t leave teaching, teaching left you. I would further choose to express, you had the courage and mettle to do what many men and women want to do but haven’t the grit to accomplish. I applaud you, Deanna Lyles, and wish my 15 great grandchildren (all K-12 now) had you for a teacher.
Speaking only for myself, I wish I’d had your courage when I entered the professions of education and mental health in college in 1983 (at the age of 43) to follow my instincts that I was someplace I ought not to be. Being fired from responsible positions, in two different states, should have clued me also. Like the true “plugger” that I am, I soldiered on.
When I was hired by Jackson County Schools in February 2001, I could have used some of your bravery, Miss Lyles, because I knew after one week my days were numbered. I was informed by a social worker that I intimidated her by the way I was sitting. I’m sure I mumbled a politically correct, groveling apology in order to keep my job when I should have said, “I’ve been sitting this way for about 60 years, I hope you find some way to live with it.”
Likewise, when a school principal said to me, “David, don’t do so much, you’re making me look bad,” I should have said (but didn’t), “Sir, if I’m making you look bad, you’re not doing your job.” I lasted seven years.
The United States Navy believed me qualified to assist Iranian naval instructors (which I did). When I applied for a lateral licensure through WCU to be an elementary school guidance counselor (I have an master’s degree in community-counseling-psychology), I was told I wasn’t qualified because I didn’t have “multiculturalism” in my college transcripts.
Miss Lyles, I commend you for quitting for all the right reasons, and I admire your courage and tenacity. I waited until I was told I wasn’t qualified to be a teachers’ aide before I gave up. All in all, Deanna, you did great.
David L. Snell
Franklin
To the Editor:
A representative from the N.C. Department of Transportation recently briefed Dillsboro board on plans to replace the bridge just west of Harold’s Supermarket. One statement caught my attention: “with the existence of a professionally-drawn conceptual design, a pedestrian walkway linking the Monteith Park and downtown Dillsboro would be permitted beneath the bridge.”
I urge Jackson County to take advantage of this opportunity. Envision a county recreation center (serving northern Jackson) located at the 16-acre Monteith Park accessed by a greenway from both Sylva and Dillsboro. Envision a two-mile, scenic, winding, mostly level “urban stroll” from downtown Sylva to the Tuckasegee River via the Mark Watson Park, the Monteith Park, and downtown Dillsboro.
Preservation, economic stimulation, and outdoor activity.
Tim Osment
Sylva,
Jackson County Genealogical Society, Appalachian Women’s Museum,
North Carolina Museum Council
Emissions tests for cars and trucks are no longer necessary to protect air quality in more than half the counties where state testing is currently required, including Haywood County.
The grand opening celebration for The Terrace at Lake Junaluska is scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday, April 16, in The Terrace Auditorium, located on the third floor.
The Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage will kick off its 65th year of outdoors programming Tuesday, April 21, with the five-day event lasting through April 25.
With a higher-than-normal volume of thru-hikers expected next season, the Nantahala Hiking Club is getting prepared with upgrades to the Rock Gap Shelter located near Standing Indian Campground in Macon County.
A study of lymphoproliferative disease virus, a malady affecting wild turkeys, is calling in help from hunters.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is now able to administer its own water quality certifications, becoming the 49th tribe in the nation to gain authority from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to administer the Water Quality Standards Program.
The nation’s largest single-day river litter removal will mark its 31st year Saturday, April 18.
A network of amateur rain and weather spotters are contributing to the scientific understanding of niche weather patterns on a local and regional level.
Applications are open for teachers looking to attend the 2015 Family Nature Summit, based in Lake Junaluska.
The Watershed Association of the Tuckasegee River will hold its annual meeting celebrating Earth Month at 6 p.m. Monday, April 13, in the community room of the Ginger Lynn Welch Complex on Acquoni Road in Cherokee.
A pair of Western Carolina University students took first this spring, in the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Eastern Regional, presented by Bass Pro Shops, bringing in a three-day total of 42 pounds, 6 ounces.
Austin Neary and Alex Frazier targeted spawning fish but also fished nearby docks and rocks in Lake Norman near Charlotte with dropshots and jerkbaits, putting up with chilly temperatures from a nasty cold front that swept through the second day of the competition. The combination of three fishing patterns helped the pair navigate changeable weather patterns to bring in the fish.
“I could probably run through a brick wall right now,” Frazier said following his and Neary’s win.
The anglers will go on to compete in the national championship in June.
The Southeast’s most grueling team race will take off from Pink Beds Picnic Area in the Pisgah National Forest near Brevard April 17, covering 212 miles before ending at Nantahala Outdoor Center April 18.
After closing the area in September to protect wintering bats, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will reopen Whiteoak Sink — but with limited access through May 15.
As part of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the production of “The Actor and The Assassin” will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. April 10-11, 14, 17-18 and 3 p.m. April 12 and 19 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.
More than 60 Jackson County school students received awards for work exhibited at Western Carolina University during Youth Art Month.
The School of Stage and Screen will close its 2014-15 Mainstage season with a high-flying production of the J.M Barrie classic “Peter Pan: The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up,” at 7:30 p.m. April 16-18 and 3 p.m. April 19 in the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center at Western Carolina University.
Colorful Creations, a “Paint Your Own Pottery” studio owned by Jimbo and Stacy Ledford, recently opened in Franklin.
The Smoky Mountain Oyster & Seafood Festival will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 18, at the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds.
Country/southern rocker Joe Lasher Jr. will perform at 7 p.m. April 18 at the Colonial Theatre in Canton. Tickets are $7, with proceeds going to The Community Kitchen, a local MANNA FoodBank partner.
QUESTION: I heard you were going to be at the Mother Earth News Fair. When and where is it and what will you be doing there?
ANSWER: The Mother Earth News Fair will be held at the WNC Ag Center near the Asheville Airport on April 11th and 12th ( Saturday and Sunday).
Clingmans Dome Road in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park opened last week, six days ahead of its scheduled April 1 opening.
The Jackson County Bike Rodeo is calling all kids to come out 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, April 11, to the Jackson Recreation Park in Cullowhee to learn more about life on two wheels.
The fifth annual Assault on BlackRock trail race is now in the rearview mirror, with 82 brave souls battling freezing temperatures frosted with snow and ice to complete the grueling 7-mile race.
A forum on how to transition to solar energy will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, at the Macon County Public Library in Franklin, the second in a string of events to be held throughout the region this spring and summer.
At its annual Scholarship Fundraising Dinner on March 20, the board of Catch the Spirit of Appalachia in Jackson County awarded three scholarships to three deserving applicants. In the presence of over 100 attendees in the fellowship hall of Cullowhee Baptist Church on the campus of Western Carolina University, the following awards were presented:
• The Annie Lee Bryson Memorial Scholarship was presented to Blake John-David Ward of Whittier. Ward is a member of the show choir at Smoky Mountain High, a member of student council, FCA, Crossfit Swerve, and varsity football, wrestling, track and field. He helps work with kids at Riverside Cove youth camp, and helps his family on the farm raising cattle and with the family garden.
• The Mary Jane Queen Memorial Scholarship was presented to Connor Luckey-Smith, from Clyde. Luckey-Smith is enrolled at Four Oaks Academy, plus dually enrolled in the Jackson County Early College and Haywood Early College. He began playing at an early age, and has come into contact with many gifted musicians. He and his brother, along with the band Productive Paranoia, play at area nursing homes, benefits, fundraisers, and more.
• The Elmer & Irene Hooper Memorial Scholarship was presented to Grace Ella Morris, from Cullowhee. Morris goes to Smoky Mountain High and Jackson County Early College. An avid fiddle player, Grace spent countless hours performing with the Community Appalachian Music group, playing “Old Time Music” at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. She has been going on mission trips since 2012, spending time with senior adults in the community, and is a current member of the Jackson County Bible club. She came up through JAM in Haywood County, volunteered with the Jackson County Junior Appalachian Musicians and is now a teacher with the organization.
Catch the Spirit of Appalachia’s scholarship program is supported, in part, from the Catch the Spirit of Appalachia Endowment, a component fund of the North Carolina Community Foundations.
A creative photography and folk art exhibit, “Memories — Past, Present and Future” will be showcased April 6-28 in Gallery 86 at the Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville.
One year after hosting a highly successful event at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., the Cherokee Nation, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians are again partnering to host “Cherokee Days.”
The 9th Street Stompers will perform at 7 p.m. Friday, April 17, at The Classic Wineseller in Waynesville.
Country music legend Loretta Lynn will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 11, at Harrah’s Cherokee.
To the Editor:
Recently, I had to make a tough but necessary decision. As I entered my 23rd year of teaching in North Carolina in traditional public schools as well as a charter school and in all regions of our great state, I realized that teaching was not the job I had signed up for.
I want to offer that along with my North Carolina certification for grades K-6 as well as reading grades K-12, I also hold my National Board Certification in Literacy as a way to help readers understand I had put my heart and soul into the profession. I was not just sitting stagnate waiting for retirement time.
I did what some think unspeakable. Yes, I quit halfway through this school year to take a job in another field. So, I am a teacher who quit. Quitting and entering another profession was not a decision I took lightly. It took a lot of soul searching, prayer, a pay cut, and graduate school. I want to use this opportunity to clarify why I quit:
• I quit because of the ever-increasing role of bureaucracy and red tape involved in our present system of education.
• I quit because my best was no longer good enough.
• I quit because a test score took precedence over a living, breathing student.
• I quit because I could not live under the pressure of being off schedule.
• I quit because I want to have a positive impact on learning which cannot be accurately measured through a test score.
• I quit because professional judgment was essentially a thing of the past.
• I quit because I wanted to be treated as a professional.
• I quit because I no longer felt I could speak my mind without fear of being singled out.
• I quit because I was no longer a teacher, but someone who had been given a job that was physically impossible to complete.
• I quit because of the overuse of assessments no matter the name they are given.
• I quit because we have created students who see reading as a test and not a pathway to learning.
• I quit because teaching students became secondary to assessing students.
• I quit because I love children and learning and had to find another way to have a positive impact on them.
As a teacher who quit, I want to implore everyone to stand up and be a part of doing what is right for children. Our future depends on it.
Deanna Lyles
Waynesville
Harris Regional Hospital and Swain County Hospital have finally settled on new names following the purchase of the hospitals by Duke LifePoint Healthcare last year, but the change announced this week is a minor one.
QUESTION: When something is USDA certified organic does it mean the farmer doesn’t use pesticides on their crops or orchards?
ANSWER: This is not a yes/no answer. How farmers manage their crops depends on the crop, the climate, the land , and the pressures (rainfall, insects, weeds) during the growing season.
Graveyard Fields is closed to overnight camping following a bear break-in to a tent in the popular recreation area, and the U.S. Forest Service is also requiring campers to use bear canisters in adjacent public lands.
Cataloochee Ski Area closed for the season Sunday, ending 141 days of open slopes for 2014-15.
The season outstripped the ski area’s average 126 days per season, but closure came slightly earlier than last season’s March 27 ending. However, the resort saw its best season ever in terms of visitor numbers, logging a 3 percent increase over the 2013-14 season.
“We attribute a lot of that increase to our continued work in bringing new participants to winter sports with programs like our Slide in 5 package, afterschool programs and other learning programs and packages,” said Tammy Brown, spokesperson for Cataloochee. “This type of programming helps us create new skiers and snowboarders who we hope will grow with us and return to ski or ride with us in the future.”
A recently awarded $200,000 grant will pay for two years of work to improve water quality and raise public awareness of clean water for Richland Creek in Haywood County.
The N.C. Division of Water Resources Grant will pay for the Richland Creek Restoration Project to stabilize 5,100 feet of stream bank to reduce erosion, repair 10 failing septic systems to prevent water contamination and construct rain gardens and cisterns to capture and treat stormwater from 65,000 square feet of hard surfaces.
Restoration efforts at Richland Creek began in 2006, combating the impacts of sediment and bacteria that had landed Richland Creek and its tributary Raccoon Creek on the state list of impaired waterways. A laundry list of organizations — local, state and national — have footed the bill, and the partners are providing $140,000 in matching support for this next phase of the project.
Haywood Waterways Association, 828.476.4667 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Following a seven-year brook trout restoration project, Lynn Camp Prong in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is now open to fishing.
Early registration is open for the Blue Ridge Breakaway, a multi-distance bike ride based in Haywood County.
The battle against the hemlock wooly adelgid in North Carolina will continue with help from a bevy of grants from the Hemlock Restoration Initiative, a grant pool set up to fund promising research in the fight against the invasive aphid-like insect that kills hemlocks.
The Hemlock Restoration Initiative is spearheaded by N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler and funded through the state’s multi-million dollar legal settlment with the Tennessee Valley Authority stemming from a federal air pollution lawsuit.
Without intervention, adelgid infestations can kill trees within just a few years. Hemlocks are ecological staples of Appalachian forests, cooling stream temperatures, storing water and providing food and habitat for wildlife.
• National Park Service work crews will suit up to chemically treat hemlock trees located along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Haywood, Transylvania, Avery and Watauga counties, funded through a $25,000 grant awarded to the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation.
• Southwestern N.C. Resource Conservation & Development Council received $25,000 toward its work to create a hybrid hemlock species that will resist the aphid-like insect. The project, based at the Mountain Research Station in Waynesville, involves identifying resistant trees and testing their progeny throughout 17 eligible counties.
• The Blue Ridge Resource Conservation and Development Council received $25,000 to release predator beetles that feed on the adelgid. The beetles, Laricobius nigrinus, are winter predators that must be wild-caught during their active period from April to May.
Friends of the Smokies got its largest-ever fourth-quarter check from sales of the Smokies bear license plate, accruing $105,080 for projects on the North Carolina side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Teams of middle and high school students from across Western North Carolina went head-to-head over their knowledge of environmental science and natural resource management March 13, with students from Haywood, Swain and Macon counties all representing at the Area 1 Envirothon Competition.
The roof trusses went up on the new Daniel and Belle Fangmeyer Theater on March 21 at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.
