The Southern Highland Reader

Once, about ten years ago, I was having lunch at a Sylva restaurant called the Spring Street Cafe.

From my table I caught a quick glimpse down an unlikely sightline — framed just so by some plants and interior drapes, down a hallway, and through a cracked door — of a baker’s table. On the table was a wedding cake, and the cake was being carefully decorated by two hands. The hands were all I could see.

The owner of those baker’s hands would one day become my wife, and we would come to own a house across the street from the cafe, where we live today with our three girls.

Spring Street, which has been closed for nearly a year, will soon open again under the ownership of former employee Emily Elders, a Cullowhee native. One of her ideas for an advertisement is a group shot of kids that have sprung from the many friends that have surrounded the cafe for the past ten years. (It better be a big ad).

All along, Spring Street Cafe has held a particular niche in Sylva’s lively-for-a-small-town restaurant scene.

First, in the nineties, it was City Lights Cafe, a small eatery attached to the bookstore upstairs, and under the proprietorship of Joyce and Allen Moore.

About a decade ago it was expanded into it’s full service self by Faye Holliday, whose culinary flair traces at least a little of its lineage to Asheville’s Hector Diaz, owner of the eclectic and popular eateries Salsa’s, Zambra and others.

Holliday and her unusually loyal (for food service) crew built a strong following through wild explorations of fresh local and world cuisines, and Tuesday night old time jam sessions and Sunday brunches were de rigueur among a certain Sylva social set.

Faye’s slow food influence can now be felt in a number of kitchens in the southern mountains.

Holliday sold the place to Lisa Agee a few years back, and Agee, whose desserts were quite a calling card, closed her business last spring, a victim of the economic malaise.

Enter Ms. Elders. As a single mom, a student and director of the Jackson County Greenways Project, you’d think she might have enough on her plate to worry about what’s on everybody else’s, but she’s game. She and a band of volunteers have been sprucing the place up in preparation for a January 26 opening.

“I’m very much inspired by Faye’s ideals,” Elders says. “We’ll be as local and as organic as we can be. My goal right away is to keep price points down, and bring back a lot of the items people remember and love.”

Elders has assembled a crew of former employees and a front-of-the-house manager that’ll be familiar to Sylva folks: Michael Redmon has been a longtime employee of Annie’s Bakery.

Several of the specifics that fans of the place remember will return, sushi Wednesdays and Sunday brunch among them. In addition, Elders and new City Lights Bookstore owner Chris Wilcox hope to develop a more symbiotic relationship than the two businesses have shared before. The cafe’s hours will be much closer to those of the bookstore, and the bookstore will open on Sunday afternoons.

Spring Street will hit the ground running, events-wise. Elders will host a Chamber of Commerce business after hours on January 28th, and will open for business the next day.

Book-signings and an art opening are already on the schedule for February.

SYLVA–City Lights Bookstore, a retail anchor in downtown Sylva since the early eighties, is changing hands.

Owners Joyce and Allen Moore are selling the store to longtime employee Chris Wilcox, effective January 1.

Moore informed her customers of the change in a letter written on Monday, in which she wrote, in part:

As I begin my 66th year and a new decade, I feel the need to slow and simplify my own life, but I believe that I am leaving the store in capable hands, well suited to dealing with the evolving complexities of the bookselling world.

The Moores bought the store from local author Gary Carden in 1986, and moved it from Main Street to its current location at the corner of Spring St. and East Jackson St. a few years later.

In her letter, Moore also wrote:

Chris and his employees will also be facing many changes.  Some are beginning to affect not only the face of the bookselling world, but even the book itself.  It will take hard work, a constant acquisition of new information, flexibility and most of all, your continuing support to carry City Lights into the new decade.

Many independent bookstores across the country are closing in these economic hard times, but you have continued to say with your dollars that having a real bookstore in Sylva is important to you.  It is essential that you continue that commitment, not only to City Lights, but to all the independent businesses in downtown Sylva.

REGIONAL–Congress has approved $13 million towards a larger settlement with Swain County to resolve the North Shore Road issue.

Here’s an excerpt from Mark Barrett’s story in the Asheville Citizen-Times:

SYLVA–The holidays are here and so is the spirit of giving!

The Downtown Sylva Association is partnering with The Community Table for a Food Drive from December 1st-23st. Visit some of your favorite downtown hotspots to make a donation that will make a difference at the same time.

Papou’s Wine Shop & Bar, Annie’s Bakery, Yesterday’s Tree, Lulu’s on Main, Friends of the Library, Jackson County Chamber of Commerce, Bubacz’s Underground, Heinzelmannchen Brewery will have a box identified for your donation at their location.

Check our website, www.downtownsylva.org, as this list of merchants will grow in the coming days.

New life for the old post office

It’s hard to think of much that would bring more life to a quiet building than a dance academy, and that’s just what’s coming to Sylva’s old post office, located on Landis St., and closed since spring.

Triple Threat Performing Arts Academy is moving from its current location adjacent NAPA Auto Parts on the Asheville Highway into the old post office. Renovations there are ongoing, and owner Valerie Tissue hopes to crank up in March. Downtown merchants will take note; the academy has over 230 students, whose parents and assorted caretakers have a lot of time on their hands between drop-off and pick-up.

Spring St. Cafe to reopen

Spring St. Cafe would celebrate its ten-year anniversary in March — if it were open. And apparently it might be, as owner Faye Holliday and space-owners Joyce and Allen Moore are close to reaching terms with an interested party …

Downtown wayfinding system

Downtown merchants — particularly the ones who aren’t directly on Main St. — have long complained about the lack of a standardized signage system for the downtown area. Many have resorted to various sandwich boards placed here and there, bringing about the occasional visit from the sign ordinance folks. Town Manager Adrienne Isenhour has been working this year to implement the needed system, and her efforts got a boost this week with a $9,000 municipal grant from county government.

Downtown Sylva Association; another successful parade

From the DSA: Downtown Sylva celebrated its annual Christmas parade Saturday with a great turn out and amazing floats that showed the time, effort, and talent that went into making such a special presentation. Wilmot Baptist Church won “Best in Show” and $200.  Honorable mention was a tie and goes to Yesterday’s Tree and Heritage Christian Academy.

STATEWIDE-The Raleigh News and Observer reports that the state of North Carolina will urge 78,000 state residents whose unemployment benefits recently expired to re-apply for extended benefits recently approved by congress.

An excerpt:

The N.C. Security Employment Commission is preparing to send out the letters this month as it begins administering the extension, which increases benefits by up to 20weeks. Congress boosted maximum jobless benefits five weeks ago from 79 weeks to 99 weeks in the midst of the nation’s most severe economic recession in decades.

Read the story here.

REGIONAL–From Onvia, by way of the North Carolina Economics blog, here’s a nice interactive map of federal stimulus spending in North Carolina. Click on counties to read a summary of projects.

The short take:

• Jackson: 9 projects at a value of $3,811,725
• Swain:  12 projects at a value of $15,667,128
• Graham: 3 projects at a value of $1,260,556
• Cherokee: 9 projects at a value of $98,949,966
• Clay: 3 projects at a value of $25,806,709
• Macon: 6 projects at a value of $6,220,760

GSMNP–Smoky Mountain News outdoor writer Don Hendershot wrote last week that the 2010 omnibus spending bill, due to be signed in a couple of weeks, might  include the long-awaited cash settlement that would (in theory) lay to rest Swain County’s North Shore Road controversy.

Hendershot quotes anonymous sources, and hints that the dollar amount could be greater than the projected $30 million.

Here’s an excerpt from Hendershot’s story:

After more fits, there was another start at construction back in 2000 when then Rep. Charles Taylor and then Sen. Jesse Helms appropriated $16 million for construction of the North Shore Road. Even though the $16 million was about $550 million short of the estimated cost of such a road, the appropriation spurred some Swain County residents to action.

The Citizens for the Economic Future of Swain County was created in 2001. Although totally lacking in acronym-imagination, the CEFSC did strike a chord with many Swain County residents and environmental groups with its proposal for a cash settlement in lieu of the improbable North Shore Road. Through some mathematical calisthenics the group came up with a settlement figure of $52 million.

Read the whole piece here

See a timeline through 2001, also from the Smoky Mountain News, here.

NATIONAL/STATEWIDE–A federal stimulus program designed to help keep the unemployed insured is phasing out.

The lead from the Philadelphia Inquirer:

At a time when the unemployment rate tops 10 percent, many unemployed Americans will no longer qualify for federally subsidized health insurance.

That’s because a nine-month health-insurance subsidy that was part of the federal stimulus legislation began to end Monday for many who have relied on it. As many as 7 million people were eligible for the subsidy in 2009, according to government statistics.

People who have not used up their nine-month subsidy will be able to finish it. But no one laid off after the end of the year will be able to start using the subsidy. Parts of the stimulus legislation dealing with the insurance coverage end Dec. 31.

Read the story here.

ROBBINSVILLE–In a move that apparently came as a surprise to members of the Graham County Travel and Tourism Board, Graham County commissioners disbanded the board in a 3-1 vote last week.

Interesting political shenanigans are nothing new in the lightly-populated county, and the commissioners’ vote has the feel of more of the same.

Writes James Budd in the Graham Star:

Travel and Tourism Board Chairman Dirk Cody said commissioners did not discuss their plans with the board, but he would have resigned if asked …

“I told Trull and Snyder if they had a problem with me, I would have been glad to step down,” Cody said.

Cody added that travel and tourism is too vital to Graham County’s economy to tamper with.

The N.C. Department of Commerce reports tourism was responsible for putting $23.42 million in Graham County’s economy in 2008. More than 270 jobs with an annual payroll of $4.34 million were generated from tourism last year.

[Board member Linda] Ditmore said she was surprised by the commission’s vote and had no warning.

“I don’t understand why it was disbanded,” she said. “We cannot exist without an effective travel and tourism authority.”

Travel and tourism boards and authorities oversee occupancy tax revenues and invest them in tourism marketing efforts in many North Carolina counties.

Read Budd’s story here.

REGIONAL–Ingles Markets, one of the larger grocery chains doing business in the western region, announced earlier in the fall that it would not allow Salvation Army bell-ringing at its stores this holiday season.

After some public pressure, it has reached a compromise with the charity.

From editor Kelly Donaldson’s story for the Cashiers Crossroads Chronicle:

Craig A. Gontner, Captain, WNC Area Coordinator and Waynesville Corps Officer with the regional Salvation Army office that serves Cashiers, said, “Ingles did make a business decision at a corporate level to allow only unmanned kettles to be placed in their stores. The Salvation Army’s view is that we understand their decision and value the partnership.

“Ingles is a committed friend and partner to the Salvation Army and this community,” added Gontner. “Ingles has agreed to allow bell ringers to be present for the time just prior to Christmas, Monday, Dec. 21 through Thursday, Dec. 24. We plan on utilizing this opportunity.”

The Hendersonville Times-News reported that Ingles originally banned bell-ringers to provide its customers with an “unsolicited environment” during the holiday season, given the tight economy. The Times-News also reported on the compromise. It’s lead: “The spirit of Christmas — and sensitivity to a barrage of customer complaints — has won the day.”

The compromise limits bell-ringers to a few days just prior to Christmas, down from more than a full month’s worth of ringing in previous years.

STATEWIDE–The Charlotte Observer’s Jack Betts has a look at the challenges facing the decade-old Golden LEAF fund; the non-profit formed to dole out North Carolina’s share of the national tobacco settlement.

An excerpt:

In its one decade of existence, Golden LEAF has sometimes inspired its supporters with potentially transformative initiatives such as $100 million for a manufacturing facility at the Global TransPark in Kinston for aerospace component fabrication.

And it has infuriated its detractors by doling out money in ways that remind them of nothing so much as political slush funds financed with public money. A recent critical report from State Auditor Beth Wood flayed the organization for its inability to produce minutes of meetings, criticized its ethics practices, faulted it for making a spending decision in closed session and blasted its refusal to fully cooperate with auditors. At one point an auditor was escorted out of a Golden LEAF file room that auditors had been given access to, prompting suspicions the foundation was trying to hide something.

Read the entire piece here.

NANTAHALA–Nantahala Outdoor Center has announced its title sponsorship of the 2010 Outdoor Industry Association Rendezvous in Asheville, NC. OIA’s Rendezvous is an annual leadership conference for the outdoor industry, and NOC along with the Asheville Chamber of Commerce welcome these leaders October 5-7, 2010.

“In a way, we’re welcoming home a group whose industry is a fundamental part of why the Asheville area is such a compelling destination,” said Tim Lampkin, Director of Convention Sales & Group Services at the Asheville Convention & Visitors Bureau. “This is a region that celebrates its natural treasures, so we heartily welcome the businesses and associations that help us make our natural assets economic ones.”

Rendezvous will bring together leaders from across the country for a week of keynote speakers, breakout sessions, networking opportunities, recreation and entertainment, capped off with a volunteer service project to give back to the host community.

“We are excited to partner with NOC for Rendezvous 2010 and look forward to bringing the industry to Asheville next fall to showcase their efforts, as well as all the density of outdoor recreation and retailers in the area,” said Ann Obenchain, vice president of marketing and member services for OIA. “NOC’s leadership as a business in the Southeast and as a retailer in the outdoor industry is paramount and we are looking forward adding more paddlesports and retail influences to the event with their help.”

On the final day of Rendezvous, OIA attendees will give back to the community by working together to cleanup recreation areas in and around Asheville. This event will prove to be a special opportunity for leaders in the outdoor industry to make an impact on Asheville’s outdoor and paddling communities.

FRANKLIN–Citing the current economic downturn and resulting instability in the real estate market, Macon County tax assessor Richard Lightner asked the county’s board of commissioners to postpone property revaluations for two years. They agreed, in a unanimous vote.

Read Colin McCandless’s story for the Franklin Press here.

Here’s a quote from Lightner:

“The market’s real unstable right now,” Lightner said. “There’s a lot of stuff listed for sale. Sales are slower than in the past. So you really just don’t have the marketability.

“Basically, the numbers say we shouldn’t do a reval right now.”

SYLVA–Last year, when automobile gas prices were through the roof, CSX railroad began running obvious ads, making a point the industry could’ve been making all along: it makes more sense to pull a couple of hundred trailers with two or three engines than a couple of hundred trailers with a couple of hundred engines.

Well, no kidding. That’s true no matter how pricey gas becomes.

CSX’s tagline – “our trains can move a ton of freight 436 miles on a single gallon of fuel” – has become a fighting slogan for the entire industry lately, as the prevailing economic and environmental winds begin to signal a railroad renaissance.

Financier Warren Buffet’s purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad recently drove the point home. Said Adam Hochberg on National Public Radio: “Buffett’s $44 billion acquisition, via his company Berkshire Hathaway, is one of a number of signs that freight railroads are in resurgence. While they may have been thought of as passé in the 1960s and 1970s, they’re now playing a vital role in the transportation system.”

Lobbyists for the asphalt and trucking companies, who for so long thought railroads were kaput, still make the argument that logistically, trucks work better.

“You can’t back a freight train up to the Harris Teeter,” one industry rep told Business North Carolina not long ago.

But some industry analysts believe that almost any regulations created to fight emissions will favor railroads, and that logistical issues with moving goods on the local level are easily overcome – in fact, are already overcome in some cases by the use of containers that can then be moved to flatbed trucks.

Closer to home, the topic reminds me of a sidewalk conversation I had in Sylva when gas was at it’s peak. “Before long,” my friend told me, “we’ll be able to ride a train to Asheville.”

I’m not sure I’m buying that – the cost of the necessary trestle work between Sylva and Waynesville alone would raise even Buffet’s eyebrows – but it is safe to assume that freight trains (which are allowed to run on ricketier tracks than passenger trains) aren’t going anywhere soon, even from our area.

A representative from Norfolk Southern Railway told me as much not long ago, saying that the line between Asheville and Sylva, which Norfolk Southern owns, is a money maker. The expansion of Jackson Paper Manufacturing in Sylva can only help.

As for true passenger rail, though, most of its advances will be focused on the cities.

Still, mountain residents can catch Amtrak in Toccoa Falls, GA, or Greenville, SC and ride the Southern Crescent southwest toward New Orleans or northeast toward Washington, through the Piedmont and to all points beyond.

Proponents of the long-fought-for return of passenger rail to Asheville are still at it, so that Amtrak spur — which would run up the mountain from the Piedmont — is still a possibility. (The two links in the previous sentence are from the Asheville Citizen-Times, here’s a Twitter report from MountainXpress from a recent Asheville Rail Corridor meeting).

And plans for the long-considered magnetic levitation train between Atlanta and Chattanooga and perhaps on to Nashville just got an infusion of federal cash. Maglev trains, used widely in Japan and Europe, achieve speeds of some 300 mph, mainly by not touching the ground.

If you don’t plan to hop a train anytime soon, but still like to think about them, this post from Ruminations from the Distant Hills and this one from Appalachian History might tickle your fancy. And here’s a history of the WNC Railroad from Tim Osment for WCU’s Digital Heritage.

Here’s a phenomenal flickr set, if you like to look at pictures.

ROBBINSVILLE-Zelerie Rose at the Graham Star writes that $120,000 of funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act supports a program to control invasive plant species and support habitat of two federally-listed endangered species along the Cheoah River.

Here’s a clip from Rose’s story:

The three-year project started this fall, involves nine miles of river and will protect the Virginia Spiraea, a federally-threatened shrub, and the Appalachian Elktoe, a federally-endangered mussel.

The treatment of the non-native species such as mimosa, Oriental bittersweet, yam, privet, Japanese honeysuckle, princess tree, kudzu, and multiflora rose, is the collaborative effort of Western North Carolina Alliance, the Cherokee Environmental Natural Resource Office, and North Carolina National Forests.

“Our job is to work with the various organizations involved in the project and educate them about non-native invasive plants,” said Bob Gale, ecologist for WNC Alliance. “These plants were introduced both intentionally and accidentally and have no natural controls limiting their spread. Left untreated they can threaten or endanger native habitats and native wildlife species.”

Read the story from the Graham Star here.

CASHIERS–David Joy at the Cashiers Crossroads Chronicle examines the impact of alcohol blue laws in Jackson County, and suggests that 2010 might be the year for a county-wide referendum.

An excerpt:

The sale of alcohol in Sylva and Dillsboro, both townships in a supposedly dry Jackson County, may ruffle the feathers of many conservative citizens, but these sales have brought in large revenues for state law enforcement and state alcohol education, as well as county and town recreation and general funds.

Since 2000 the Sylva ABC Board alone has brought $104,109 for N.C. alcohol education and $78,681 for N.C. law enforcement.

Furthermore, the Sylva ABC Board contributes 20 percent of their net profits to Sylva and Jackson County Recreation (10 percent each), and 100 percent of the remaining net profits to the Sylva and Jackson County general funds (50 percent each).

Read Joy’s story here.

STATEWIDE–Elaine Mejia at NC Policy Watch reports today on state Senate majority leader Tony Rand’s remarks yesterday at the Budget & Tax Center’s legislative briefing in Fayetteville.

An excerpt:

… state tax revenues are behind projections by $90 million through the end of October. In the grand scheme of things that is not too much money. What is troubling about this is that the state’s revenue forecast assumes that the worst months would be at the beginning of the fiscal year and after that things would begin to head slowly upward. Moreover, the budget for fiscal year 2010-11 assumes that revenues will grow at a rate of 2.8%. If revenues continue to fall behind the forecast the Governor will be forced to take painful mid-year actions to address this year’s gap and the General Assembly will be forced to make another round of budget cuts sooner rather than later.

Read her post here.

REGIONAL–199th district state representative Phil Haire forwarded the following resources:

For personal economic aid information in North Carolina:

North Carolina residents in need of government services related to personal finance, health and medical, nutrition, careers, transportation, and housing assistance might find some help through the PEARL NC website Personal Economic Aid Resource Links in North Carolina.

Many of the services identified on PEARL are free or are provided at reduced cost to support individuals and families struggling to make ends meet.

For assistance with prescription medication from the Partnership for Prescription Assistance

The Partnership for Prescription Assistance is America’s pharmaceutical companies working together with the health care community to help people in need.

Since the launch of the Partnership for Prescription Assistance in April, 2005, more than 5.7 million Americans have found programs that can help them pay for their medicines. Thousands more find help every single day.

If you don’t have prescription coverage and can’t afford your medicines, call 1-888-477-2669 or go to www.pparx.org. More than 2,500 brand-name and generic medicines are covered. You could get them free or nearly free. Finding out if you qualify is quick and easy. Here’s all you have to do:

1. Know the names of the medicines you take.
2. Call toll-free – 1-888-477-2669.
3. A trained specialist will answer your questions and help you apply.

For assistance with prescription medication from the Social Security Administration

You may be eligible to get extra help paying for your prescription drugs. The Medicare Prescription Drug Program gives you a choice of prescription plans that offer various types of coverage. You may be able to get extra help to pay for the monthly premiums, annual deductibles, and co-payments related to the Medicare Prescription Drug Program.

You may complete an online application at www.socialsecurity.gov.

Your application will be reviewed and you will be sent a letter advising you as to whether or not you qualify for extra help. To use the extra help, you must enroll in a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan.

If you need information about Medicare Prescription Drug plans or how to enroll in a plan, call 1-800-MEDICARE or visit www.medicare.gov

REGIONAL–Asheville Citizen-Times editorial page editor and columnist Jim Buchanan (a Sylva native) notes in a Sunday column that North Carolina was recently named number one in the nation in terms of its business climate by Site Selection, an economic development magazine.

It’s the eighth time in nine years that the tarheel state has been so named.

Buchanan points out that the warm-hearth economic climate is limited to certain parts of the state.

An excerpt:

North Carolina’s business climate, it seems, is a lot like its … well, climate. Different parts of the state have markedly different weather. And looking at the Site report, it seems the same applies to business weather.

In the Charlotte/Raleigh corridor and the Research Triangle area, the business climate is blindingly beautiful. Business partnerships with universities and colleges are humming along, and the area has transitioned well from the tobacco/textiles/furniture economy to finance, medical and energy concerns.

<snip>

No silver bullet solution to the economic downturn or economic unevenness came out of our board conversation. Instead, many familiar issues and questions resurfaced, like the geographical and transportation challenges that are unique to the mountains. And frankly, blue-skying about economic development is fine, but that’s down the road. The task at hand for our leaders in a time of rolling credit crisis, high unemployment and an era of want most of us have never witnessed in our lifetimes is to simply make sure the social fabric doesn’t rip clean apart.

Read the whole piece here.