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Forest Hills leaders are ‘bunch of dirtbags’
To the Editor:
As a student at Western Carolina University, I am appalled at the attitude that Forest Hills has toward students.
The Village is headed by some officials that are not only selfish, but might meet the definition of senile. They’re a bunch of old, worn-out mediocre achievers who think that they live in Beverly Hills.
If it was up to them, WCU students would be relegated to rat-infested slums and gutted-out mobile homes.
Their current dispute with the Summit Apartments is proof enough that they could care less about the living conditions of our student body. After all, the Summit people were the first ones to bring decent student housing to the off-campus community, and now Forest Hills launches their anti-WCU agenda. What a bunch of dirtbags!
As for the future, it would be nice if the state did an eminent-domain purchase of the Robbins site at the corner of North Country Club and Stadium View drives. What a great location for a high-rise dorm.
Gregg McGraha
Cullowhee
Time for Smoke Rise to ‘do the right thing’
To the Editor:
A few weeks ago in my letter to the editor of The Sylva Herald, I started that “Any threat to our homes or our communities would be met with swift, passionate, well-organized, well-financed and well-publicized resistance.” I also stated that Smoke Rise Field Club should “do the right thing, the responsible thing, the smart thing” and leave Tilley Creek alone. I believe the events of the past few weeks have borne out my prediction.
However, as the late, great Karen Carpenter said, “We’ve only just begun.”
Along the way we have picked up more support, both moral and financial. We are engaged in mutual support with several other groups that recognize these are county-wide concerns.
We always said this issue was not about guns. It is not even about a shooting range. It is about coerced real estate development.
We have considered taking this issue to court. We all would like to avoid that, but if we are forced to exercise this option, the list of co-respondents would be extensive. This can be avoided, but Smoke Rise, its members, its backers and its agents will not listen to us. Perhaps they would listen to the Jackson County Board of Commissioners.
It’s not too late for Smoke Rise, its members and its agents to do the responsible thing, to do the smart thing. Leave Tilley Creek alone. Leave the Tilley Creek residents alone.
Louis Spagna
Cullowhee
Madden, McMahan are men of conscience, integrity
To the Editor:
Monday night, after the commissioners meeting, I had the opportunity to have a long conversation with Commissioners (Eddie) Madden and (Brian) McMahan regarding the issues surrounding Smoke Rise Field Club and its proposed shooting range on Tilley Creek. I have had differences with both of these commissioners over the way the board has approached this issue, and I may continue to find grounds to be critical of the way they handle the matter in the future. I will say however that after our conversation Monday night I am convinced that both Madden and McMahan are men of integrity and conscience who are truly concerned and troubled by the implications of this issue.
This issue has stirred great passion in the community. It has been portrayed variously as being about property rights, locals versus outsiders, second amendment rights, zoning and regulation. It has led to a verbal barrage that has spared neither the residents of Tilley Creek nor the commissioners. At its heart this issue has raised basic fundamental questions.In the changing environment of Jackson County how do we honor our traditional mountain values, protect our existing communities and respect the rights of both individuals and communities? Basically, how do we live as neighbors?
Smoke Rise Field Club is a private club. Other than the names of a few officers, its members have hidden under a veil of anonymity. At various times it has offered assertions and representations to both the commissioners and the community that have proved to be untrue. Last November, the club conveyed to Madden that it had search criteria that would exclude as unsuitable properties that were near homes and churches. The club maintained that it would take its search for property outside the county. The club has maintained that it would adhere to basic tenets of environmental stewardship and yet it has left a mess at one site and ignored even reasonable care in the selection of its proposed site. The club claims it wishes to be a good neighbor yet it has acquired the rights to the Tilley Creek property using tactics and methods that are unethical and taint the county’s real estate industry.
I have been critical of our commissioners, but I must concede that they have been placed in a tremendously difficult position. Should they be forced to draw up heavy-handed regulations that may end up having unintended consequences just to counteract the antisocial and unneighborly behavior of one group? How do they reconcile their governing principles with the need to protect communities and residents when there is one small group that refuses to abide by the basic social compact?
Smoke Rise Field Club has chosen a wholly unsuitable site. It fails the most basic test of development; the backyard test. Would you put something in your neighbor’s backyard that you would refuse to have in your own backyard? The site fails to meet the criteria that Smoke Rise publicly set itself. The site fails basic environmental tests. The site fails every test of common sense. Smoke Rise has made a bad choice, pure and simple. Yet it continues to hide behind anonymity and to force this controversy to a difficult and unsuitable close.
This issue has had nothing to do with property rights, gun rights or zoning. This issue has everything to do with a bad neighbor who has shown nothing but disrespect for the community of Tilley Creek and the county as a whole.
Our commissioners have been put in a difficult position. I may not have agreed with how they initially responded, and I may end up disagreeing with their final solution, but I am convinced, after talking with Commissioners McMahan and Madden that their response will be crafted from a position of integrity and conscience. Unfortunately we cannot say the same for the members of Smoke Rise, whoever they may be.
Mark Jamison
Cullowhee
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