The Southern Highland Reader

CULLOWHEE – L. Douglas Wilder, the first African-American elected governor in the United States, told a group of Western Carolina University students, faculty and staff that there is still progress to be made in terms of race relations, despite the historic election of Barack Obama as president in 2008.

Recent controversy over Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s comments that a light-skinned, articulate black was more palatable to white American voters provides evidence that America has not advanced as far as many may think, Wilder said Wednesday, Jan. 20.

In a talk titled “The Movement: Past, Present and Future” that was part of WCU’s Martin Luther King Jr. celebration week activities, he spoke about the irony of Reid’s comments coming 20 years after Wilder’s own election as governor of Virginia – a state that once was the seat of the Confederate South.

“That election in 1989 seemed to signify that voters were ready to judge candidates not by the color of the skin, but by the content of their character,” Wilder said, borrowing a phrase from King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. “Here today, Reid is saying that, 20 years later, we really haven’t crossed that threshold.”

Although Reid has since apologized to Obama for private remarks that were made public in the new book “Game Change” about the 2008 presidential election, he still needs to apologize to the rest of the country, Wilder said, calling the embattled politician’s statements among “the most dreadful comments in American political history” and “a slap in the face of the American people.”

Wilder reminded the audience that, throughout American history, progress typically has not been made through big, permanent changes. “It’s about small, consistent steps forward achieving that dream,” he said.

Wilder urged attendees to become aware of the false hopes and false steps that can derail efforts to strive for the American dream. “Don’t ignore your problems, hoping they’ll just go away,” he said. “Don’t think that if you just be patient and wait your turn, you’ll eventually get your time at the front of the line. And don’t think that only insiders know what’s best.”

He also warned against the impact of an increase in selfishness, violence and acceptance of mediocrity on the ability of today’s young people to continue to make progress. “What we need to do next is to not stop dreaming,” he said. “Barack Obama’s election has elicited the need for new dreams.”

Too many people today are quick to blame their problems on others, he said, telling the crowd that his mother constantly reminded him that he could do anything he set his mind to, and that his teachers never complained about a lack of resources.

The WCU event was sponsored by the Office of the Chancellor, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, and the Martin Luther King Jr. planning committee.

(Hat tip: Ashvegas)

Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) released the seventh annual “Ready or Not? Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism” report, which finds that the H1N1 flu outbreak has exposed serious underlying gaps in the nation’s ability to respond to public health emergencies and that the economic crisis is straining an already fragile public health system.

The report contains state-by-state health preparedness scores based on 10 key indicators to assess health emergency preparedness capabilities.

Twenty states scored six or less out of 10 key indicators of public health emergency preparedness.  Nearly two-thirds of states scored seven or less.  Eight states tied for the highest score of nine out of 10: Arkansas, Delaware, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, and Vermont. Montana had the lowest score at three out of 10.  The preparedness indicators are developed in consultation with leading public health experts based on data from publicly available sources or information provided by public officials.

Overall, the report found that the investments made in pandemic and public health preparedness over the past several years dramatically improved U.S. readiness for the H1N1 outbreak.  But it also found that decades of chronic underfunding meant that many core systems were not at-the-ready.  Some key infrastructure concerns were a lack of real-time coordinated disease surveillance and laboratory testing, outdated vaccine production capabilities, limited hospital surge capacity, and a shrinking public health workforce.  In addition, the report found that more than half of states experienced cuts to their public health funding and federal preparedness funds have been cut by 27 percent since fiscal year (FY) 2005, which puts improvements that have been made since the September 11, 2001 tragedies at risk.

See a synopsis of the report here.

CLEMSON–Trailing 56-51 with eight minutes to play, Western Carolina looked to be in a decent spot to make a run Tuesday night at Littlejohn Coliseum. Instead, the Catamounts went stone cold from the field and gave up a 23-6 run down the stretch to lose 79-57 to the 24th-ranked Tigers.

The loss was Western’s first in ten games, and drops the Cats to 10-2.

WCU was without the services of last week’s Southern Conference player of the week Mike Williams, a guard who scored 24 points in Western’s win at Louisville Dec. 12. Williams twisted an ankle in practice over the weekend.

Read more here from ESPN
Read more here from WCU
Read more here from Clemson
Asheville Citizen-Times staffs the game

DILLSBORO–The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld on Tuesday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruling that the Dillsboro Dam should be removed.

From an Asheville Citizen-Times staff report:

The court today denied Jackson County’s petition for review of FERC’s July 2007 order allowing Duke Energy to remove the historic dam.

Read more here, from Lynn Hotaling at the Sylva Herald.

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.

GSMNP–Congressman Heath Shuler recently helped secure a $13 million down-payment from the federal government to help put an end to the nearly-seven-decade controversy over a road once planned along the north shore of Lake Fontana.

The payment, part of a larger, undisclosed sum, would compensate Swain County for the federal government’s choice not to build the road, which was promised in 1943.

National Parks Traveler writer Danny Bernstein gives a history of the controversy here.

Here’s an excerpt:

The North Shore Road issue was revived again in 2001 when former Congressman Charles Taylor, a Republican from western North Carolina, obtained $16 million for further construction of the North Shore Road. This set off a process that looked into the environmental impact of a 35-mile road. The National Park Service held public input forums in various locations around the Smokies and accepted comments from anyone in the U.S. on various ways to resolve the 1943 agreement. Thousands of pages were generated, reviewed, and discussed. Descendants of the original settlers were the only ones who wanted a road in the park. Almost all comments were against the road and for a financial settlement with Swain County, where Fontana Dam is located, one of the four parties to the original agreement.

In December 2007, the Department of the Interior made a decision that officially called for a yet-to-be-specified multi-million-dollar monetary settlement to Swain County instead of a road through one of the most pristine and untouched areas in the East. Though the park is now protected and the North Shore Road will never be built, Congress still has to approve the funds to settle the 1943 agreement.

MURPHY–An elementary and middle school in the Murphy area could be the first in the region to implement an extensive solar power array if the Cherokee County school board gives the green light.

The 4,300 panel array would cut power costs at St. Martins Elementary and Middle School by 85% over 20 years, with a total cost avoidance of over $1 million, according to school superintendent Stephen Lane.

The system would be paid for by green energy tax credits issued by Blue Ridge Mountain Electric Membership Corp.

Read a story about the project from Lizz Harold at Murphy’s Cherokee Scout here.

Follow this link for Duke Energy power outage information.

2009-12-18: Fans and foes of a controversial youth dance club in Sylva aired their thoughts before the Sylva Town Board Thursday. Opponents of “Club Offspring” provided a petition asking the board to investigate the business and to consider closing it. Proponents said the controversy is overblown, and provided a petition of their own. Either way, said Mayor Maurice Moody, we have no evidence that any laws have been broken, but we’ll keep an eye on it.

The dust-up arose after the club, which doesn’t serve alcohol or admit patrons over the age of 24, circulated a flyer that invited teens to come to the venue “as wasted as you want”.

Asheville television WLOS spent the day in Sylva — seeming a little more breathless than the story deserved — and aired images from the club’s MySpace page that showed scantily-dressed teens. One club-goer’s response, in so many words, was that when you dance for hours at a time you need a way to cool off.

More here from WLOS.
More here from the Asheville Citizen-Times.
More here from the Sylva Herald (link will expire in one week)

Sylva teen club draws ire

A teen and young adult party club doing business in Sylva has raised the ire of parents by circulating sketchy flyers that urge kids to “come as wasted as they want” to the venue, located near the intersection of NC 107 and Business 23 downtown.

“Club Offspring”, which does not serve alcohol, advertises that it allows “no adults”.

The flyers, which made their way into the local high school, also made their way into the hands of a local parent, Brian Bartel, who went to Asheville television WLOS with the story and is circulating a petition that he plans to present to the Sylva town board on Thursday. The petition asks the town to shut the club down.

It’s unlikely that the board will have legal standing to do so, whether or not it has the inclination.

Here’s the story from WLOS, in which the station notes that the club’s 22-year-old owner is in the slammer for statutory rape.

More here from Justin Goble at the Sylva Herald.

Bryson City pub owner cited in underage drinking death

The Asheville Citizen-Times Josh Boatwright writes that Charles Hutchinson, owner of Mickey’s Pub in downtown Bryson City, served numerous drinks to an underage patron on May 17, and that that patron left and promptly drove into a nearby building, killing himself.

Hutchinson faces a criminal citation and the suspension of his liquor license.

MURPHY–Dwight Otwell, staff writer for the Cherokee Scout in Murphy, reported recently about efforts made by mountain farmers to diversify and to profit from niche crops.

Agriculture has dwindled rapidly in the mountains, where farmers face not only the standard competition from industrial farming, but the added challenge of a lack of flat land.

Otwell’s lead:

Farmers who make their entire livelihood from working the land are almost a relic from the past in Cherokee County.

As the number of large farms has steadily dwindled, a new type of farmer has emerged, one who can forge a living from an acre or two growing for a specialty market.

He goes on to interview a vintner, a dairy farmer and vegetable farmers, all of whom are using innovative methods to make their famrs work.

Another excerpt:

A new type of market is using the Internet to sell products to high-end restaurants or consumers. The main market for this area is Atlanta.

The idea is that a chef gets the fresh produce he wants the next day, Wood said. The chef knows the farm the produce comes from and he trusts it. A person with as little as a half acre of land willing to grow specialty crops can make $20,000 to $30,000 an acre.

Read Otwell’s story in the Scout here.

NATIONAL–The New York Times published an extensive feature about drinking water this week, with a focus on outdated regulations and a great deal of extra information.

Here’s the lead from the Times’s Charles Duhigg:

The 35-year-old federal law regulating tap water is so out of date that the water Americans drink can pose what scientists say are serious health risks — and still be legal.

Only 91 contaminants are regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act, yet more than 60,000 chemicals are used within the United States, according to Environmental Protection Agency estimates. Government and independent scientists have scrutinized thousands of those chemicals in recent decades, and identified hundreds associated with a risk of cancer and other diseases at small concentrations in drinking water, according to an analysis of government records by The New York Times.

But not one chemical has been added to the list of those regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act since 2000.

The Times story package includes access to the Environmental Working Group’s national drinking water database, from which readers can easily find test results on water systems across our region. Examine whether contaminants in your water supply met two standards: the legal limits established by the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the typically stricter health guidelines.

Follow the links below to search up your system:

Jackson County

Graham County

Macon County

Clay County

Cherokee County

Swain County

Read the New York Times story here.

FONTANA VILLAGE–A legal battle is brewing between Fontana Village Resort and Graham County government over a first-time $80,000 property tax bill that the resort says is being levied against leased property.

At issue is whether the property leased by the resort from the Tennessee Valley Authority is taxable. Erma Phillips, Chief Tax Assessor for Graham County, contends that a recent court ruling makes “leasehold” properties taxable, and that the Village land is such a property,

Attorneys for Fontana Village say that fees of a comparable amount, paid annually by the TVA, stand in place of the taxes, and that Graham County’s collection attempts amount to double taxation.

Read a story by James Budd of the Graham Star here.

CULLOWHEE–The Asheville Citizen-Times’s Keith Jarrett reports that Western Carolina University head football coach Dennis Wagner has turned down an offer to join new Kansas coach Turner Gill as an assistant coach.

Wagner said he was offered the job as offensive line coach and assistant head coach by Gill, the former Nebraska quarterback who left the head coaching job at Buffalo to take over the Jayhawks.

“Turner offered me the job Saturday night and I turned it down Tuesday morning,” Wagner said.  “I told him it was in my best interests to stay at Western Carolina.”

Blog post here.

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:

CULLOWHEE–Western Carolina University transitioned to the next generation of its web presence last night, as it launched a revised version of its website.

According to Dirk Herr-Hoyman, Western’s Director of Web Services, and a release from the university, the site now offers “revamped news and events sections featuring a feed from a live campus events calendar; links to WCU social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter; a lighter color scheme; a less cluttered page header intended to make the page easier to navigate; and an improved WCU site search engine.”

“It’s a tuneup, something that on the web you get to do every few years if you want to keep up,” Herr-Hoyman said.

More from Teresa Killian Tate at The Reporter:

The modifications addressed in the first tune-up were driven in part by the need to improve online publicity about campus events.

“Last year’s interactive audit of the WCU Web site by Stamats consultants confirmed what many of us already knew – the Web is the first place many people go to find out what’s happening at the university,” said Bill Studenc, senior director of news services.

Laura Huff, e-marketing coordinator for WCU, said the tuned-up homepage will not only contain a link to a new comprehensive campus event calendar but also preview select upcoming “hot” events.

“This preview, a short list of events dynamically updated with fresh content, will better promote the wide variety of events offered to the region,” said Huff. “Visitors to the homepage will have easier access to information about all the public events happening on campus.”

Visit WCU’s site here.

STATEWIDE–Brian Postelle at the Mountain Xpress has a look at statewide smoking regulations that go into effect in early January, and he focuses on the fact that municipalities will have expanded powers to restrict smoking in outside areas.

It’s an obvious subject in Asheville, where hipsters congregate and smoke in lots of places.

Here’s an excerpt from Postelle’s story:

… unlike enclosed bars and restaurants, where secondhand smoke fills whole rooms, some maintain that outdoor areas do not pose as clear a danger.

“We’re outside. Why wouldn’t we be allowed to smoke?” asks Aerin Moonbourne after lighting up with friends at [Pritchard Park].

[Patrick] Mullen, though, points to mounting evidence of secondhand smoke danger. “I don’t think that it’s any question anymore that it’s a health issue,” he countered. The air in the park, he maintains, is “pretty cloudy most of the time, and there’s cigarette butts all over.”

But Gabriel McKinney, also enjoying a smoke at the park, believes there’s a larger agenda lurking behind the ban. “They do this every year,” he asserts. “It’s just digging up dirt to push the homeless out.”

Read the piece here.

ROBBINSVILLE/NATIONAL–The Supreme Court heard arguments recently in a 15-year-old whistle-blower case that had its headwaters in Robbinsville.

Originally, Robbinsville resident Karen Wilson, an employee of the Graham County Soil and Water Conservation District, alleged fraud in the the way the county handled federal disaster relief after a 1995 storm.

A judge eventually threw the case out, ruling that Wilson’s claim was based in part on information that was made publicly available through a Graham County audit. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit reversed that decision, however, saying only federal administrative reports, audits or investigations would have precluded her suit under the False Claims Act.

In brief, the case might settle the issue of whether federal “whistle-blower” lawsuits can proceed based on information that is publicly available on the local or state level, but might not be known to federal authorities.

Thirty states have joined the side of the Graham County Soil and Water Conservation District in the case, and its outcome, with a ruling due in July, is being closely watched.

Here’s how USA Today described the case in this story:

[The] case tests when some citizen lawsuits might be kept out of court under a provision aimed at opportunistic lawsuits based simply on information publicly available. It is being closely followed by the National League of Cities, a majority of the states and the Washington-based Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund, which encourages citizen lawsuits and strong government enforcement of the False Claims Act.

The act prohibits citizen lawsuits arising from public disclosures “in a congressional, administrative or (Government Accountability Office) report, hearing, audit or investigation.” The question Monday was whether that exemption relates only to federal reports — as the Department of Justice argues — or blocks a whistle-blower from bringing a claim based on information publicly available in a state or local report.

That question, which has divided lower court judges, arose in a North Carolina case before the high court. An employee of the Graham County Soil and Water Conservation District alleged fraud tied to the county’s participation in a federal disaster relief program after a storm in 1995.

A federal trial judge rejected the lawsuit brought by Karen Wilson, saying a Graham County audit of the controversy had documented some of the problems she cited, including the county’s failure to seek competitive bids. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit reversed, saying only federal administrative reports, audits or investigations would have precluded her suit under the False Claims Act.

Here’s a piece from James Budd at the Graham Star.

CULLOWHEE–In a letter published in this week’s Smoky Mountain News, Jeannette Evans, owner of Cullowhee’s Mad Batter and principal in the area transportation advocacy group Smart Roads, has a look at where the “southern loop” issue stands.

A clip:

A new bypass has enormous potential to drastically change our community’s traffic patterns, economy and landscape. Conversely, all the other projects located in the CTP are designed to improve and/or expand existing roads, thus improving current traffic patterns and preserving our landscape. DOT’s own modeling showed that the 107 Connector would not solve the congestion on N.C. 107 or at the intersection of Asheville Highway. It is primarily these congestion areas that are cited as reasons for building the 107 Connector.

Read her letter here.

REGIONAL–Asheville blogger Ashvegas laments the news that the Hendersonville newspaper, the Times-News (a New York Times paper), will soon move to its new offices in a shopping center.

Right there between Goodys and the Shoe Show, we imagine. Oh, wait, Goodys is history.

Here’s Ashvegas’s lead:

Yes, here’s the announcement we’ve been expecting: the Hendersonville Times-News is moving its downsized operation into smaller space in a shopping center. Over the past couple of years, the New York Times-owned newspaper has reduced staff, moved the printing of the newspaper to South Carolina and made other cost-cutting measures.

And here’s his post.

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.