Sounds like Waynesville’s leaders heard just what they expected last week regarding South Main Street — many people feel many different ways, and so no matter what the outcome many are going to be unhappy.

Waynesville’s leaders and residents have a real challenge in front of them as they decide just how best to re-design this corridor. South Main Street connects two distinctly different areas — the thriving, historic town center and the new big box development that currently includes Super Wal Mart and Best Buy. Along the way are nice neighborhoods, lots of small businesses, and a lot of open asphalt parking areas. The challenge is to provide the right roadway to bring together two areas that have commonalities and are also, in many ways, polar opposites.

The state Department of Transportation has so far said it will adhere to the town’s wishes. They say this corridor is not connected at all to any of its thoroughfare plans to move mass numbers of vehicles, and so will defer on this one to town leaders and local opinion. That means local residents and towns apparently won’t end up fighting DOT for the road they want, which still happens way too often.

So what is best? It seems fairly obvious that a road that gets progressively smaller as it nears downtown’s portion of Main Street makes sense. Bike lanes and sidewalks should be included the entire length of the route. Waynesville has already established a reputation as a pedestrian-friendly community, and making these main corridors adhere to this long-range plan is obviously in the best interest of the town and its citizens.

The area between Country Club Drive and the entrance to Super Wal Mart will be the most difficult. Some businesses in this area likely won’t be around within a few years, but others are right now awaiting the decision on the roadway so they can complete plans. This is where some will walk away dissatisfied with the final decision. Some think it’s time to four-lane this area — a move that would lead to the razing of many buildings — while others like the haphazard collection of small, privately owned businesses. For some, that’s the character of Hazelwood.

“It seems like they are trying to get rid of old Hazelwood to beautify the town. That’s what the sole purpose is,” said Oma Lou Leatherwood at a public hearing on the road held last week at Hazelwood Elementary School.

For others, the need to re-develop the area is obvious: “It’s just really decrepit looking. They are never going to attract businesses if that stretch is so ugly,” said Joellen Habas.

And so, without doubt, there will be losers and there will be winners. Some aspects of what needs to be done here are obvious, but some decisions will likely be made on the gut instincts of town aldermen. Stay tuned.

By Carl Iobst • Guest Columnist

Over the past few weeks several individuals and one media outlet have provided Jackson County citizens with a comedic Greek Chorus concerning the Jackson County commissioners and their decision to condemn the Dillsboro Dam and the land around it. News stories that have been written about the commissioners supposed ‘exercise in futility’ have come seemingly from a corporate spin doctor’s pen. Other individuals have attempted to “shame” us for not ‘doing the right thing’ and allowing Duke to have its way and destroy a county icon and significant cultural resource.

One individual claims that the powers of a private corporation (Duke) supersede the powers of a duly elected body (Jackson County Commissioners). Pardon me; I thought that the United States was a republic and not an oligarchy. Things change I suppose, despite ‘silly little pieces of paper’ such as the Constitution of the United States.

The supposed “cornerstone” of the integrated Nantahala/Tuckaseigee 2003 Settlement Agreement was actually an “agreement” rammed though by Duke as a sop to the “stakeholders” and their own selfish agendas. This silenced the rest of the environmental community and curried favor with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Duke’s “Great Fear” is that they won’t get another half century of a licensed monopoly on hydro-electric production in Jackson County and make hundreds of millions of dollars from us, the rate-payers.

Yes, it is truly an absolute shame to see Jackson County’s limited natural and cultural resources raped once again. A huge electric power monopoly and a few selfish, self-centered ‘stakeholders’ are going to get what they want — no matter the cost. And the public be damned!

Regardless of the outcome of the FERC re-licensing process, I pity the poor souls (and there have been quite a few) who would sell themselves and the cultural resources of Jackson County for little more than, comparatively speaking, 30 pieces of silver. I can sleep at night; can they?

Carl Iobst is secretary of the Jackson County Citizen Action Group and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

By Tim Campbell • Guest Columnist

Jackson Paper Manufacturing Company has been a proud part of Sylva and Jackson County since 1995. Our community’s highly-skilled and dedicated workforce, solid infrastructure, good business climate and quality of life all combine to make the area a great place to work and live.

We are pleased and fortunate to be able to build on the success we’ve had at Jackson Paper by establishing a new operation in Sylva, Stonewall Packaging. Announced in April, the new venture will take the fluted corrugating medium being made from 100-percent recycled paper at Jackson Paper and linerboard from other manufacturers to produce corrugated sheets of cardboard.

The more than $17 million investment in Stonewall will create 61 new jobs over the next three years. The jobs will pay an average of $39,344 not including benefits. Jackson County’s average annual wage is $27,820.

Renovations are already under way on Scotts Creek Road at the old, 200,000-square-foot Chasam Building, which will house the new Stonewall operation. One natural gas boiler that meets or exceeds industry standards for emissions will power the facility. Production is expected to begin there in late fall.

In Phase 2 of the Stonewall project, the company will build a new mill similar to the 139,000-square-foot Jackson Paper manufacturing facility, including a wood-fired boiler and stack. The new mill, to be located on a site adjacent to Jackson Paper, will produce linerboard from 100-percent recycled cardboard. Although we may be permitted to do so, there are no plans to use any fuel source other than wood at the Stonewall mill.

Phase 2 could begin in two to three years, but is contingent on the economy and the demand for the product continuing to grow.

Jackson Paper Manufacturing Company was established in 1995, but the mill sits on an industrial site that has been home for more than a century to various manufacturers, including Mead, which operated a paper mill for nearly 50 years. Federal rules governing the discharge of effluent resulted in closure of the Mead operation in 1974. Subsequent owners converted the mill to the production of 100-percent recycled corrugated medium with a closed-loop water treatment system and began the work of cleaning up the site.

Since 1995, Jackson Paper has invested significantly in facility and machine upgrades at the mill and has systems in place that meet or exceed government mandates and regulations for air and water quality.

Unlike most paper mills, Jackson Paper does not use fossil fuels to fire its boiler but burns waste-wood. The boiler generates steam that powers the turbine-driven paper machine and dryers, and heats the plant. A pollution control scrubber prevents wood ash from leaving the boiler.

With an annual output of more than 100,000 tons of corrugating medium, the mill is the largest producer of 100-percent recycled paper in the state of North Carolina.

Jackson Paper diverts approximately 109,000 tons of Old Corrugated Containers (OCC) – or cardboard – from landfills annually. That’s the equivalent of 72 million boxes the size of an average microwave.

Jackson Paper’s closed-loop water system and treatment facility allows the plant to reuse the large quantities of water needed in the papermaking process, resulting in zero discharge of waste into the stream or sewer.

Many of Jackson Paper’s environmental practices have been recognized by government and business groups, both inside and outside the paper industry. Most recently, the company earned the Sustainable Forestry Initiative designation of the Forest Stewardship Council for its recycling efforts.

Jackson Paper takes very seriously its role as good and responsible stewards of our environment and our communities, and we are committed to applying those same guiding principles and practices as we move forward with the Stonewall project and creating more jobs for the people of this region.

(Tim Campbell is President and CEO of Stonewall Packaging and Jackson Paper Manufacturing Co., an independently-owned mill in Sylva that produces 100-percent recycled paper used by independent box manufacturers to make the fluted layer of corrugated boxes. With 119 employees, Jackson Paper is one of the largest private employers in Jackson County.)

Irene has been in this country for only four years. When she came, she could not speak a word of English. The smugglers became frustrated with her because she kept mispronouncing the one word she had to get right in order to make it across — “American.” When the time finally came, she got it right, and her family was reunited at last, after four long years. Her mother had come previously, and was working as a cook in a local Mexican restaurant. She had hoped to get established and have her family join her. Finally, they did.

Due to Irene’s outstanding performance as a student in Mexico, she could have entered high school here as a sophomore. But she chose to go back a year because she wanted to make sure she learned everything she needed to learn before graduating high school. She didn’t want any short cuts. In four years, she has not only learned the language as well or better than most native speakers, she has excelled in all subject areas and graduated near the top of her class this spring.

She had high hopes of being accepted at Berea College, which had been one of few pathways in higher education available to young undocumented students like Irene, students who have earned a chance by virtue of their performance, but who find most doors closed because they lack a Social Security number. The news that came last winter from Berea was more bitter than the weather. Despite her excellent achievements as a student, she had not been accepted.

Then came her hour of darkness. Make that several weeks of darkness.

“I have always been a person who has a lot of hope and faith,” she said. “But when I got the news from Berea, I lost hope for awhile. It was just gone and I didn’t know what to do.”

Irene is one of those rare people who have a passion for both math and art, which is part of the reason she wants to become an architect, so she can combine these passions in her work. But that day, all she could do was take down the beautiful pictures and photographs she had put up on her wall for inspiration. Suddenly, they were too hard to look at.

Even worse, she had no idea what to say to her younger brothers, Angel and Daniel, who relied on her not only as a role model, but as the source of their own hope — if Irene could make it, maybe THEY could too.

“Our family dinners have always been so noisy,” she said. “My brothers are always talking about what they are going to be. One wants to be a doctor. The youngest wants to become a marine biologist. But after we got the news I wasn’t going to be going to Berea, it just got very quiet at dinner. For like two weeks, nobody said anything. We just ate in silence.”

It was then that I noticed Irene’s voice trembling. She tried hard to fight back the tears.

“The most important thing to me is that my brothers not lose hope,” she said. “I could see that what was happening to me was affecting them, too.”

Slowly, Irene got back on her feet. She focused on her studies, on regaining her lost hope somehow. And then, months later, came a letter from Meredith College. She had been accepted. She was in. Her response was not what you might expect.

“I couldn’t really feel happiness,” she said. “I knew if I didn’t get a scholarship, there was no way I could go.”

Indeed, it was going to cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000 for Irene to attend Meredith. They might as well have sent her an invitation to the moon, as long as she could provide her own transportation.

A few weeks later, the transportation arrived as well, in the form of a major scholarship. It didn’t cover everything, but between that, a local scholarship, several private donations, and what she and her family could scrimp together, she will be able to go. In about a month, Irene will be just another freshman at Meredith College, the largest women’s college in the entire Southeast.

The question now is, what about next semester? And the one after that? Irene is an excellent student, but even she cannot complete a degree in one semester. The scholarships will cover most of her expenses — and there will be other scholarships, once she proves that she can excel on that level just as she has proved herself on every other level before — but what about the rest? She is willing to work, of course, to subsidize her own education. The irony is that it will not be easy finding a job because she is undocumented. Still, she expects she will find a way to find some work that will help her get by.

The last time I wrote about Irene, I received several supportive letters, including a few offers of monetary support. If there are people out there who do want to help, please email me and I will direct you to the proper funding source. Believe me, any donations that are given in support of this student are going to be paid back to the world, with incalculable interest.

Irene is finally excited about her future again — “I guess I know what happiness feels like now,” she said — but she is even more grateful for the change she has seen in her brothers.

“It is real for them now,” she said. “It has been noisy again at dinnertime.”

“Cherokee has so much to offer, such as its beautiful mountains, museums, cultural and historical exhibits, Native American shops, friendly residents, and casino. The caged bears may have been a big attraction at one time but are now seen as an embarrassment to the community and should be permanently closed down.”

— Bob Barker, in a letter to Cherokee Chief Michell Hicks

The caged bears in Cherokee that a national animal rights group has recently launched a campaign against have long struck a nerve among many residents and visitors to the area. This most recent effort will once again draw attention to this outdated practice and perhaps end it, but PETA’s (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) own tainted reputation is likely to be as much discussed as the inhumane treatment charges it has brought up.

According to PETA and others — this newspaper has received letters and phone calls from a half dozen visitors to Cherokee over the past 10 years — the bears kept at Santa’s Land, Chief Saunooke’s Trading Post and the Cherokee Bear Zoo are “not being treated humanely.” The organization has garnered the support of popular game show host Bob Barker in the campaign. Barker was raised on a reservation in South Dakota and, according to his biography, is one-eighth Sioux. He has also spent many years as an animal rights activist.

The issue of treating animals humanely is an important one. At least two of the zoos in Cherokee — Santa’s Land and Chief Saunooke’s — have been cited for problems by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the agency responsible for regulating businesses that keep wild animals. PETA’s foray into Cherokee may lead to discussions by the Tribal Council and Hicks to enact tougher local regulations, which in the long run would likely benefit the businesses who keep bears.

Times are changing, and the very fact that 30 years ago many more businesses in Cherokee had bear displays is evidence that the “market” for this kind of “product” is disappearing. People don’t want to pay to see animals kept in enclosures that don’t mimic their natural habitat. In the end, that fact — that the business model for habitats deemed unethical is shrinking — is what will likely bring an end to these practices. And, conversely, places that go through the expense to keep captive bears in habitats that mimic the wild — like the WNC Nature Center in Asheville — earn kudos from most animal rights groups and get more visitors.

The ethical treatment of animals is a complicated issue, however, and sometimes campaigns like this by PETA don’t address the nuances. We won’t defend any mistreatment of animals, but shouldn’t we differentiate between bears born in captivity that are more like pets from those captured after their mother was perhaps killed by a car or hunters, or an animal wounded that couldn’t survive in the wild? Would PETA better serve the animals whose rights it is fighting for by providing grants to businesses to upgrade their habitats, rather than spending money mounting some of the campaigns that has tainted its reputation? And we won’t even go into the area of whether animals should be used in scientific research.

The real world is also nuanced. These Cherokee operations are legitimate businesses owned by families who are trying to make a living, providing jobs and surviving in this economic environment. That’s not to say it’s all right to treat animals inhumanely in the name of money, but remember there are regulators who do inspect and keep tabs on these businesses.

Cherokee would be better off by enacting stricter regulations, establishing itself as a leader in the field of captive animal welfare, and then helping businesses find a way to comply. That would go along way toward ending this lingering practice that, on its own, will likely die a slow death and likely continue to bring criticism to the Tribe.

Most small southern towns have a place like The Coffee Shop in Sylva — a cafe that has become a local landmark.

I hopped curb here in 1950 when it had a wooden frame exterior and the jukebox had both “Put Another Nickel In” (Theresa Brewer) and “A Fool Such As I” (Jim Reeves). At night, the parking lot was always full of WW II veterans in souped-up cars. Sylva was “wet” and life was good.

Just up the street, the Ritz had just begun showing Sunday movies and I never missed a Cagney, Mitchum or Bogart. I got my salary docked every Sunday because I insisted on seeing the final 15 minutes of the movie before I came to work for Cicero Bryson. I would stand in the back of the theater with the door open, and when the credits started sliding down the screen, I would run like hell.

Now, 60 years later, The Coffee Shop has morphed into a kind of nostalgia museum where you can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner under the benevolent stares of multiple John Waynes, Clint Eastwoods, Dale Earnhardts and The Three Stooges. There are tattered Confederate flags, Robert E. Lee and his generals, James Dean, Bogart, Elvis and Marilyn frolic in period shots of drive-in cafe parking lots and all-night restaurants (a parody of Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks”), their images interspersed with vintage Coco-Cola signs, Uneeda Biscuits ads and hundreds of personalized license plates (RAMB-FEV, BADABANG, NOTKNOWWN POISINUS), with every state (and Aruba) accounted for.

Advertisements for fresh strawberry pie sit cheek to jowl with a seating section labeled “Police Officer Parking.” A collection of vintage pop bottles (Sunspot, Grapette) mingle with potted plants and birdhouses. Johnny Cash, a photo of the Brothers of the Bush (1950’s Centennial) and a photo of Popcorn Sutton. The sheer magnitude of this display causes visitors to stand, mouth agape, staring at the walls, while the constant clatter of spatulas, the sizzle of butter, bacon, hamburger, and the shouts of the “breakfast crew” mingles in a kind of grand, roaring symphony of sound, smells and color.

The majority of The Coffee Shop patrons are local. Elderly couples eat dinner here and the daily menu reflects local preferences: fried okra, cabbage, meatloaf, trout, slaw, potato salad. A significant number of Cherokees eat regularly, and there are the WCU college students who often stare about as they eat as though they had found themselves in an exotic, primitive village in Russia or Germany.

But The Coffee Shop endures, a primal life form that simply acquires an additional layer of scales and armor: a protective coating of ... history and pop stars, Uneeda Biscuits and Coke — a shield that deflects “the changing world.”

(Gary Carden is a writer and storyteller who lives in Sylva. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)

By Bob Scott • Guest Columnist

North Carolina Legislators have declared war on tube roses.

Tube roses are little roses and pens in glass tubes. Also on the legislator’s list of evil products are cigar splitters. Splitters are plastic tubes that split cigars lengthwise. Both are sold at convenience stores.

Our legislators apparently believe that these products will increase the use of illegal drugs. So the legislature passed “An Act to Provide for the Regulation of Certain Devices that May be Used as Drug Paraphernalia.”

Our legislator’s fear is that drug users will use glass tube roses to smoke crack or methamphetamine and cigar splitters will be used to split cigars so they can be packed with marijuana. In the legislators’ thought process, this is reason enough to require these products to be kept behind the counter and anyone wishing to buy them must sign for them. It’s pandering to the public for votes by bragging how tough on drugs they are. Toughness, not logic, is the legislators’ quest.

The bill defines a glass tube as an object which is hollow, either open or closed at either end, no less than two or more than seven inches in length. Which brings up the question of whether high school and college chemistry classes’ test tubes should be put on the legislators’ controlled paraphernalia list?

Here’s a scenario: Let’s say you rush into a convenience store and you desperately need the key to the restroom. You notice a line at the counter. Everyone is getting impatient because one of the local drug users is struggling to fill out the paperwork to buy a tube rose. You, waiting for the rest room key along with beer buyers, are the big losers. A tube rose buyer is nothing but trouble.

Or what about the potential to create a black-market for tube roses? Immediately the price of tube roses will soar and every child in North Carolina becomes a potential customer for a dealer hooking our children on tube roses — or worse yet — cigar splitters. “Psst. Hey kid. Wanta buy a tube rose? No money. No problem. Take the money from your momma’s pocket book.” Another child becomes a criminal.

With the passage of this legislation, we will need federal and state grants for task forces witt multi-jurisdictional authority to go after tube rose/splitter dealers. We could divert law enforcement officers from duties dealing with domestic violence, child abuse, traffic control, theft, murder and all those things which have a severe impact on society. They would check the records of convenience stores to see who is buying tube roses and cigar splitters.

The bill says that records must be kept for two years. Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies can inspect the records within 48 hours of the sale. The owners of convenience stores are required to train employees on the bill. A retailer or employee who willfully violates the bill is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor. The bill becomes law on Dec.1, 2009, so there may be a rush to buy tube roses and splitters. The best advice to the public is to get them now, before the bill goes into effect.

It is encouraging to know that the North Carolina Legislature is concerned with such weighty issues. But shouldn’t they be concerned with teacher layoffs, cuts to substance abuse treatment, health and human services funding, taxes, ethics and common sense?

Shouldn’t the legislature spend time working to create treatment and rehabilitation programs for drug users? Or developing a strategy to prevent drug abuse rather than the old, worn out, ineffective “War on Drugs” that costs this nation billions and funds drug cartels and terrorist groups? Sleep well North Carolina. Your legislature is half awake.

The House passed the legislation (HB 722) March 23, and the Senate passed it unanimously in early June.

(Bob Scott is a former newspaper reporter and law enforcement officer. He lives in Franklin.)

Don’t you just love how words and labels take on a life of their own in the ideological debate that helps shape public policy. The give-and-take of real debate is important — as it helps us find a middle ground upon which to govern — but the word play often gets comical.

My, uhhmm, favorite in this current political climate is the claim that we are becoming a socialist country. The fear is that the trifecta of bank bailouts, red-ink stimulus packages and corporate handouts is sending us down the path of no return, and that soon the government will own even more private corporations. Now, as the politicians try to find a way to provide health care for every citizen, the cry is getting even more common.

As a New York Times writer put it a couple of months ago, “socialism” has replaced “liberal” as the “go-to” slur among conservatives who love to hear themselves talk.

It’s not just at the national scene that this accusation is getting tossed around. At the Tea Parties protesting higher taxes it was claimed that the country is changing, but in the wrong way. As the different groups around North Carolina protested spending at the local level, you could read about accusations that even county governments were becoming socialistic, whatever that means.

“Once the government owns GM,” a man was saying the other day in the locker room at the gym, “there’s no turning back. We’ll have to buy more private companies because no one else is going to want to buy them.”

And that’s really the crux of this new front in the ideological war. In this country, particularly since FDR and the New Deal era, government has taken a strong role in addressing our social problems. Most of these programs were aimed at the poor, the elderly, and the infirm. Those of different political stripes argued over how to administer the programs and how much should be spent, but there was general agreement that the less fortunate deserved government help.

But now it’s not just the needy we are helping. No, this time we step in and help rich bankers and U.S. autoworkers making $60,000 per year, all in the name of saving the economy. Before blasting Obama about all this, let’s remember that it was the previous administration that jumped into the fray by approving the initial bank bailout.

Then along came Obama and the tab to the banks grew, along with the approval to help the auto industry and the larger package of stimulus spending. And now, there’s a chance this government largesse will extend to California and maybe another state or two who are drowning in red ink.

But just what defines socialism, if that is indeed where we are headed? According to Newsweek, European democracies spend on average 47.1 percent of their country’s gross domestic product, while in the U.S. the figure is 39.1 percent. I don’t know what an economist would say, but it seems we still have a ways to go in a strict economic sense before we resemble those governments we love to hate in Europe.

The argument — whether one is conservative or liberal — should not be about labels. Those labels — like “socialism” — make arguing the nuances of important policy more difficult, kind of like demonizing the opponent rather than matching wits against them. What we should be worrying about is just how much government intervention is necessary, and what is the wisest way to spend our depleting federal and state resources.

Way back in March, President Obama had this to say during an interview on this subject: “By the time we got here, there already had been an enormous infusion of taxpayer money into the financial system. The fact that we’ve had to take these extraordinary measures and intervene is not an indication of my ideological preference, but an indication of the degree to which lax regulation and extravagant risk taking has precipitated a crisis.”

Both the private sector and the government failed us in this crisis. Now as a country we have to find some middle ground between the wealth production that comes with a freewheeling private sector and unfettered capitalism, and the proper role for government oversight and stiff bureaucratic regulations.

The government has a role in helping us out of this mess. How large a role is still being debated, but that intervention has nothing to do with socialism.

It won’t be easy, but I don’t think there’s much chance we’ll become a socialist country in the process.

(Scott McLeod can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)

By John Sanderson • Guest Columnist

It was great to learn recently about the effort the Haywood County Schools Foundation (HCSF) is making to support our school system in these difficult economic times. I applaud HCSF for donating $30,000 to the school system to mitigate somewhat the impact to our local schools of possibly losing 36 teaching positions in the upcoming school year (now forty-six, according to more recent estimates). There is also great merit in initiating a grassroots campaign to continue to generate local dollars and encourage volunteerism to lessen the impact of losing teaching positions. But I find it difficult to feel any real sense of satisfaction or comfort when reading about these admittedly exemplary local efforts, especially after seeing all of the proposed cuts to education in the House version of the state budget.

Thirty thousand dollars is certainly a significant outlay of funds, but this amount will not even pay for a full beginning teacher (actually, about 75 percent of one). For example, if the Foundation is unbelievably successful and raises, say, $120,000, that amount would provide funding for no more than four beginning teacher positions. The total amount of HCSF funding would reduce the number of lost teaching positions from 46 to a mere 42.

In other words, a likely best-case scenario would be for each of Haywood County’s schools to lose at least two teaching positions, and in a number of schools to lose as many as three or four, even after local citizens, businesses, and civic organizations, through the Foundation, have made tremendous efforts and fiscal sacrifices.

Some might suggest that these losses would not be all that harmful to individual schools, losing just a couple of teachers in most cases. But as a former teacher and recently retired school principal, I can assure you that the loss of even a single teacher in a relatively small school is very significant, especially in this period of intense scrutiny and high-stakes accountability. When faced with such reductions in teaching staff, principals are forced to make very difficult choices about resource allocation.

In an elementary school, for example, does the principal keep class sizes smaller in the early grades, when students need lots of individual attention as they develop basic academic and social skills that provide the foundation for future success? Or does she keep the numbers lower in the upper grades where scores on standardized tests determine the school’s status on federal and state accountability measures? Middle and high school principals in similar circumstances often have to consider entirely eliminating some course offerings and/or significantly increasing class sizes. No school system should have every principal in every school faced with such gut-wrenching decisions at the same time.

My greatest concern in the short term, then, is the all-but-certain loss of teachers in every Haywood school this coming year. A further concern, however, is that some communities in our state might be able to offset the impact of their reductions in state funding, thus contributing to an inequitable system of schooling across the state. Wealthier communities may have enough local resources to offset their losses, and that is great for them I suppose. But what about those counties like Haywood? In a state where the Constitution specifically states that “equal [educational] opportunities shall be provided for all students” in a “uniform system of free public schools,” can it ever be acceptable for school systems to have significant differences in the level of funding available to provide educational opportunities for the children in their care?

•••

The N.C. Supreme Court actually provided an answer to that question a few years ago in the Leandro vs State of North Carolina decision. The Supreme Court ruled that the N.C. Constitution guarantees every child “an opportunity to receive a sound basic education in our public schools,” but the Court did not give much guidance as to what exactly constitutes a “sound basic education.” The Court did conclude, however, that the N.C. Constitution “does not require substantially equal funding or educational advantages in all school districts.” In other words, it is currently considered constitutional for kids in different communities across our state to have greater or lesser educational “advantages” on the basis of nothing more than the economic circumstances in those communities. Personally, I find this to be distressing, and I believe a lot of people would share my concern if they were aware of this N.C. Supreme Court decision.

I fear, moreover, that the already existing gap in educational opportunities between the “haves” and the “have-nots” will widen significantly if the currently proposed cuts come about. I believe that children from Murphy to Manteo (and from Hemphill to Hyder Mountain, for that matter) should have essentially the same educational opportunities and “advantages.” The fact that something is “constitutional” in the eyes of a majority of seven State Supreme Court justices does not necessarily make it desirable or even acceptable, and I find the very real possibility that we may soon have a noticeably tiered public educational system to be unacceptable. So, what are caring, concerned parents and citizens to do in the face of these threats to the equitable provision of quality educational opportunities throughout our state?

•••

First of all, I fully support every effort the HCSF is making to lessen the impact of the budget cuts, so I would suggest that all concerned citizens support the HCSF and our schools. But I also think that now is a very appropriate, and even necessary time to remind our legislators that the N.C. State Constitution says that education is, in fact, a “right” of the people, and that the state has a “duty ... to guard and maintain that right.” I believe, furthermore, that concerned citizens need to let our representatives know that if the legislature approves these proposed cuts to educational funding, the state will not be fulfilling one of its key constitutional obligations. Even by applying the very minimal standard established in the Leandro case, is it remotely possible to provide the required “sound basic education” from one year to the next when there are going to be 6,005 fewer teachers to provide it, 4,663 fewer teacher assistants to help, possibly 5 to 10 fewer days to provide it in, no professional development for teachers (for at least two years), and $38 million less for textbooks? I think not.

Following are a few questions and comments I would like for our local legislators to consider. I then want them to return to Raleigh with a renewed commitment to take up leadership roles in fighting the myopic view of education that seems to be dominant at the moment:

• How can the state consider cutting professional and paraprofessional classroom positions so drastically and not consider making equivalent cuts in the increasingly monstrous testing/accountability program that is becoming (and in many ways already is) the “testing tail” that is wagging the “education dog?” Continuing to demand the same (or better) levels of performance on state tests while grossly reducing fundamental resources is nonsensical on the face of it. The testing/school accountability budget needs to be studied in depth to see where logical and significant reductions can be made, thus freeing up funds for hiring teachers and providing more meaningful curriculum support, rather than paying for (1) the mind-numbing marathon tests of endurance that have become a sine qua non in education today, and (2) the bureaucracy that benefits from the current arrangement

• How can our legislature allow a system of public schools to exist in North Carolina that will potentially have tremendous differences in the amount and quality of the educational opportunities they offer their students? We cannot allow the North Carolina public school system to become a “tiered system” with wealthy communities able to offer their children significantly better educational opportunities than is possible in less affluent areas. Students in Haywood, Swain, Jackson, Pender, or Onslow County deserve the same quality education that students in Wake, Guilford, or Mecklenburg County receive, so bright, hard-working students anywhere have a genuinely equal chance of attending one of our state’s universities, and then pursuing their desired career paths.

• If the money generated by “The Education Lottery” is not going to be used specifically and consistently for the purpose of funding a first-rate educational system for all students in our state, how about introducing a bill to rename it something catchy like “The Governor’s Mad Money Lottery?” But no matter what, the state needs to stop engaging in “bait and switch” tactics by calling the lottery an “education lottery” and then using the money for anything but education in hard times.

• Finally, how about the issue that no politician seems to want to deal with: increasing state revenues? Politicians do not even want to use the “T word” because doing so could be political suicide. No one wants higher taxes — and maybe now is not the time to consider increases in certain kinds of taxes — but adding 25 cents to the cost of a beer, for example, will hardly cause beer producers and distributors to become destitute or ruin our state economy. That act alone would generate significant additional tax revenue, and a few more “sin taxes” could offset even more of our budgetary imbalance. At least the most recent House budget proposal does include some tax revenue hikes, though not enough to stem the negative effects of the education cuts.

If our legislators honestly believe that the only way to balance the budget, without raising additional revenue, is to make these onerous cuts that will make ours an inequitable, second-rate state educational system, then it is time for them to stop dodging their responsibility and to do what’s necessary. It’s a cliché to say, “You get what you pay for.” But it’s true. If we, the people of North Carolina, want a first-rate education system for all of our children — one that will attract industry, one that will prepare our children for the challenges ahead, one that will place our students on a relatively level playing field with other students in America and throughout the world — then we will have to pay for it. It’s as simple as that. And cutting the school year by 10 days, eliminating more than 6,000 teaching positions, calling a halt to staff development funding for two years, and trying to excuse such actions as necessary in the short-term interest of balancing a budget is, to use another cliché, “penny-wise and pound-foolish.”

These are very difficult economic times, but times like these do not diminish the importance of education. If anything, the difficult times we face make it more important than ever that our children become even better prepared to deal with the increasing challenges and economic uncertainties they will face as adults. In times like these, in fact, a “sound basic education” becomes much more than a minimal set of 20th century “survival skills,” and our state government has a duty to provide our children — all of our children — with equal educational opportunities, regardless of community size, wealth, or other arbitrary differences.

In my mind, it all comes down to one simple question: “Do we the people of North Carolina value education enough to be willing to do what is necessary to see that all of our children receive the “sound basic education” that our times, and the N.C. Constitution, require?” If we do, then we must communicate our feelings to our elected representatives. Our region is very fortunate to have outstanding representatives working for us in Raleigh, but these folks have to know we have their backs if they are to go up against entrenched and well organized groups that may not share our concerns. On the other hand, if we do not value education and our children’s future enough to find ways to pay for a first-rate system, then we need do nothing, and the system will collapse around us soon enough. I urge you to get active and make a difference.

(John Sanderson is recently retired as an elementary school principal in Haywood County. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)

When people say that Jim Carrey can’t act and that his movies are terrible, I always point to “The Truman Show,” which is not only a great movie, but has a great theme, a warning of the pernicious influence of reality television. In some ways, the movie was prophetic in anticipating the atrocities to come, the exploitation of human beings in the name of entertainment. But if we could see shows such as “The Bachelor” and “The Apprentice” coming, who would have dared guess that “Jon and Kate Plus Eight” would ever be possible?

In the pursuit of instant fame and easy money, it is hardly surprising that people would subject themselves to various forms of ridicule. After all, in our culture, there is no greater wish that can be granted than to become famous, whatever the reason and by whatever means necessary. If someone is willing to eat a bowl of slugs, drink goat blood, or have their physical imperfections pointed out with a laser pointer by Lorenzo Llamas in front of a hooting audience, these are their own choices. The right to degrade one’s self is one bonus of being an American. You get to choose.

Choosing it for your own kids, well, that’s another matter. That is my objection to “Jon and Kate Plus Eight.” In the interest of full disclosure, I had better add that my wife is a fan of the show. Last year, I began noticing a bunch of episodes piling up on TiVo, and I asked her about it. She gave me her pat response.

“But those kids are so CUTE,” she said, so breathlessly that I feared if I pushed it, we might soon be talking about converting the upstairs bedroom back into a nursery.

“I’ll bet they are!” I said. “Have fun watching them.”

One afternoon, I walked in mid-episode and decided to give it a try. I didn’t want to be accused of passing judgment on something I’ve never seen. Then again, I’ve never eaten a bowl of slugs or drank a pint of goat’s blood. Still, I watched for about 10 minutes or so until I got a good whiff of Kate’s personality, Jon’s maddening passivity, and the show’s only real reality, which is that these children are a bunch of little Truman’s, whose lives are being recorded for the entertainment of others, without their consent.

Please don’t tell me that the children actually LOVE this and that it is good for them. Children would also love ice cream for breakfast, and to attend Chuck E. Cheese rather than school. We don’t let them because — all together now — we are the ADULTS, and as such, we are responsible for deciding what is best for them. It is best for them not to have ice cream for breakfast. It is best for them not to have their lives become a source of entertainment for the voyeuristic masses.

Even if you could make a convincing argument that they are accustomed to the cameras since they have always been there, what happens when the cameras — and the attention that goes with them — are suddenly taken away? Have either Jon or Kate ever done the slightest bit of research on the troubled lives of child stars? Go ahead and Google Danny Bonaduce. I dare you. For every Ron Howard, there are 12 Danny Bonaduce’s. Google the three child starts from “Different Strokes.” It’s not pretty, and these were child actors, not kids whose own lives are the plot and theme of the show.

Given the recent tabloid stories about alleged infidelity on the part of both parents, and the admitted friction between them, surely there is some squeamishness among even the most devoted fans. “Tune in NEXT week when the Gosselin children break down in tears while Daddy packs his clothes!” Riveting television! Maybe they’ll save the divorce proceedings for sweeps week.

I understand that raising eight kids poses a financial burden I can barely imagine, and that the appeal of getting some help — not to mention moving into a million dollar home, among who knows what other perks — must be very great indeed. But what price can be placed on an ordinary, healthy childhood outside the glare of the lights, away from the fawning masses all crowding in to hug children they know from seeing them on television?

I admit that I watched the premier of season two a couple of weeks ago, just out of morbid curiosity. I wanted to see how the producers — not to mention Jon and Kate — would handle the publicity frenzy surrounding their troubled marriage. It was a thoroughly depressing experience, and I immediately felt guilty for whatever part I might have played in keeping the ratings for this show high enough to keep it on the air.

If you really care about these kids, send a donation for their college fund, and then turn the channel. Let’s do the right thing and put this show out of its misery. Free the Gosselin Eight! Kick the reality TV habit, while you still can. Renew your library card. Become part of the solution.

(Chris Cox is a writer and teacher who lives in Waynesville. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)