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To the Editor:
Back when I was growing up in Rhodes Cove, I remember there were a couple of years right after World War II when some of our neighbors vanished. Suddenly there were abandoned houses up on the ridge. While I was riding my Grit route through the cove, I found that some of my customers were missing. Seats in my third-grade class were mysteriously vacant.
“What happened to the Talents?” I asked my grandparents. “Where are the Hollands?” I always got the same answer. “They are gone to Sedro-Woolley.”
Later on when I began to ride the Esso truck with my grandfather, the same thing happened. My grandfather would inquire about missing friends and customers in Glenville, Beta and Whittier, and he was often told that they, too, “had gone to Sedro-Woolley.”
I found that I liked to say that phrase as though it were a magical chant. When my feist dog vanished, I told everyone he had “gone to Sedro-Woolley,” and when my fifth-grade teacher didn’t return after the Christmas break, I figured she was keeping my dog company.
It was quite a surprise when I found out that Sedro-Woolley really exists. When I was in high School, I got a Christmas card from a vanquished neighbor named Alice Potts with a message that said “Merry Christmas from Ester and Joan and Walter” and a host of folks that had vanished over the years.
When I asked why they were all living in the same town on the coast of the state of Washington, she said, “Well, Daddy said that Sedro-Woolley is the closest thing to the mountains of Western North Carolina that he could find.”
Of course, there is another reason why a significant number of people in this region moved to Sedro-Woolley. There was plenty of work there, especially if you came from WNC and had experience “working in timber.” At a time when unregulated harvesting of timber had virtually destroyed all of the forests in our region, the state of Washington had vast reserves of forests.
However, this week, I got another surprise. Joan Buchanan of Sedro-Woolley, Wash., sent me a newspaper clipping from her local paper – an article headlined “$10,000 endowment will be used to explore Tar Heel culture.” The funds are to be used in developing a study of the big migration of people from WNC to their town. According to Ted Anderson, a county commissioner of Skagit County (Washington), the local culture is rich in the “Scottish and Irish blood and culture” from WNC.
The proposed project intends to gather old photographs, oral history and personal stories about the mountain people who moved to Skagit County during the 1940s. The results of this venture will be a festival in July that celebrates the “Tar Heel heritage of music, art and folklore.” Anderson said that they needed to move quickly “before we lose too many of those early migrants who are now quite elderly.”
Anyone who would like to share their stories and family history can call Vicki Young, Program Director at (360) 419-7129, ext 100.
Gary Carden
Sylva
Town, county should look for creative solutions
To the Editor:
As a current property owner of several buildings in downtown Sylva and as a former resident of 43 years, I keep up with the articles in The Sylva Herald each week either online or when my paper arrives.
As Lloyd Cowan used to say when we were both merchants on Main Street, there is much that has been cussed and discussed lately, most of which has been in a pretty negative way. I feel like Sylva and Jackson County should stretch their visions when dealing with growth issues and lack of money as the new library, fire department, Golden Age Club, and other needs and come up with some fresh ideas.
Here is my suggestion, knowing that it may be a touch hard to digest all at one time, but still achievable in some form if there is enough interest.
Jackson County and/or the town of Sylva should consider purchasing the entire entities of the old Shell Station, realty office, and former Cogdill Motor Co. (all of which is for sale). Cogdill’s should be converted into a beautiful new library, saving much of the old facade, at a cost of less than the many millions now projected. A three-story or more parking garage possibly could be built and attached to the new library along Scotts Creek and the railroad track almost all the way down to the current intersection where the Sylva Fire Department now sits by demolishing the old Shell Station and real estate office. As part of the parking structure, a new fire department could possibly be built at the far end or even on top of the building if codes and access could be met. The old fire department could be converted into a new Golden Age Center or some other needed facility, or the Golden Age Center could be part of the new library itself.
What does Sylva and Jackson County gain by this? First, though very expensive itself, it would combine several needed projects into one with possible savings in the long run. It also might then be eligible for some state or federal assistance through one program or another. I’m not for “pork” (as you might imagine) but if somebody’s going to get it, why not Sylva. Second, it would provide much-needed parking for downtown employees and customers as well as for the library and other meeting facilities. Third, it would bring a healthy flow of traffic to downtown, thus insuring the money that has been spent by Sylva Partners in Renewal (now Downtown Business Association) and privately to udpate Main Street and the new update of Mill Street would achieve its goals. It would also provide parking for the possible new use of Mill Street as more of an on-the-street shopping and eating district, instead of mainly warehousing. Nothing survives without adequate parking in our society, no matter how pretty it might be made to look. Thirdly, to free the county/city of its current obligation, I would offer to buy the lot at the Jackson Plaza for a profit if they had no other use for it, though this is in no way my goal.
Think about it.
David Schulman
Asheville
Scottsdale, Ariz.
Editorial ignored Eastern Band’s contributions
To the Editor:
In reply to your editorial comments in the Feb. 4 edition (“With casino’s big profits, why not share with the state?”), I would simply ask that you attempt to educate yourself about the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and the history of the North Carolina state income tax issue.
You might also read your own newspaper, in which many stories have been reported of the Eastern Band giving back to your community. Just turn a couple of pages in the same issue and read “County’s unemployment rate one of the lowest in the state.”
Harrah’s Cherokee Casino is located in the Painttown community on the Qualla Boundary in Jackson County.
Until 1980, all enrolled members of the Eastern Band residing in North Carolina paid North Carolina income taxes. Since that date, the only income of enrolled members exempt from North Carolina state income taxes has to meet all three of the following requirements: it must be derived within the boundary of the Cherokee Indian Reservation; it must be earned by an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; and such income must be derived while the enrolled member lived on the Reservation.
All enrolled members living off the reservation and in surrounding North Carolina counties – like Jackson – are subject to North Carolina income taxes. All enrolled members working off the reservation in surrounding North Carolina counties – like Jackson – also pay North Carolina income taxes.
Enrolled members pay federal income taxes, as well as Social Security and Medicare taxes. Enrolled members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, like other employers in North Carolina, also pay North Carolina state unemployment taxes to the Employment Security Commission, at some of the highest tax rates in the state. Enrolled members of the Eastern Band pay North Carolina and county local option sales taxes with every purchase made off the boundary, including Wal-Mart in Sylva, local grocers, local auto dealers and countless other local merchants and businesses, including The Sylva Herald Publishing Co.
Enrolled members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians also educate their children. Now, more than ever, tribal leaders are spending millions of “casino dollars” on community schools and a platinum higher education funding program.
The tribe has contributed large sums of money for programs involving Southwestern Community College and Western Carolina University. Just a few months ago your newspaper was reporting about the grand opening event at WCU’s new Fine and Performing Arts Center, with $100,000 of support from the Eastern Band. In efforts with SCC President Cecil Groves, a joint venture to bring broadband computer access to the rural communities of Western North Carolina has been formed with funding from the Eastern Band.
Tribal leaders have negotiated in good faith with state officials, and in return for tribal advances, the Eastern Band has turned millions of dollars into an endowment fund reserved for the preservation of Cherokee culture and education. The Cherokee Preservation Foundation was established to manage many of the “casino dollars” you refer to in your editorial. You might go back through your archives and find reports of Jackson County recipients of grants from this agency.
Would you really rather see these funds turned over directly to the N.C. Department of Revenue? Do you think that would help fund the governor’s multi-million dollar tax credits to corporate giants like Dell Computers?
Local schools, including those in Jackson County, receive federal funds in lieu of the lost property tax due to the exempt property base of reservation lands. Local schools, including those in Jackson County, also receive federal funds via the Indian Education Act and other programs available to public schools serving enrolled members of Native American Indian tribes. Much of this money goes into the general or local current expense fund, serving every child in the school district, not just the Native Americans.
If current events and recent history cannot show you the contribution that members of the Eastern Band and tribal leaders have made to Jackson County, then might I suggest any one of a hundred books written about the cruelties bestowed up on the Cherokees by your government? Begin with John Ehle’s “The Trail of Tears, the Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation.” Do you need to be reminded that the very ground you call your own was stolen from your Cherokee neighbors?
Gerena Parker
Sylva
Continuing saga: Dirty water
To the Editor:
The dirty water that I was forced to buy from the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority, as no other source is available, was not and is not just my problem. It is a community problem, a problem for the town of Sylva and other municipalities, and last but not least, for Jackson County.
In a 2004 appearance before the Sylva town board, I posed the question, “How many of you have dirty water like I do? Please raise your hands.” No one indicated they had. The Sylva TWSA board member was, to my knowledge, not instructed to investigate my statement.
Their function is to insure clean water for all taxpayers. Unless there is enough legal, punitive action to force TWSA into compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency law, any of you can be forced by TWSA to drink and use dirty water. This means if the TWSA board refuses to spend the money to place lines to a new tap on of clean water – a known one with proven clean water – you can do nothing because the agencies we expect to protect us do not function as we think they do. Let me qualify that statement. If you have the money to hire a lawyer, institute a suit with proper evidence and have the monetary ability to pay for a suit that may take two or three years, you may get justice. From what I have seen and read in a long life, the court does not regard lightly or tolerate the constitutional violation of the Equal Rights Clause.
TWSA has unlimited money to sustain a court action. Otherwise, forcing me to buy contaminated water, a very dangerous thing to do, creating the climate that damaged even the structural stability of my home, would not have happened. I would have been in court and forced them to provide clean water for me years ago. At this age (very much a senior) and knowing what I would face, court wasn’t an option. I decided I had freedom of speech and the freedom of the press to be heard in the court of public opinion. And I hope those of you that have dirty water will ask to be heard in this same court of public opinion.
Some of you will not be able to do so because of your job or your families’ jobs and what could happen. This fear has been expressed to me on other issues I have written about to The Sylva Herald. One man told me, “I would like to speak out as you do, but my job makes it impossible. However, I can privately talk to my neighbors and friends and I can vote.”
Fortunately, we can all address the failures of those who promised good government on an equal basis to all but fail to deliver. The silent majority can sometimes speak loud and clear for a change. The election of Stacy Knotts, a young, unlocal, political unkown (she was the high vote-getter of all town board members including the mayor) was a clear mandate from the people.
This saga of dirty water has led me down bitter paths. It is an awful feeling to live in a climate of fear. For many years when I left home for local destinations or traveled away on trips, I never knew if I would have a home or any possessions left, as the hot water heaters’ glass liners continued to develop pin holes from gritty water and burst.
It has been equally bitter to watch the TWSA board, people you know, deprive you of clean water and practice a form of extortion by making you buy dirty water because you couldn’t kick them out or afford court to stop them. I asked for a clean water tap on in April or May 2005 before a leaking water heater extensively damaged my home’s interior June 19, 2005. (TWSA Director Joe) Cline stated, reflecting the board also, that I would have to pay for the lines for a tap on. In other words, if you want clean water – even though the dirty water is our fault – you will have to pay for it.
The policies toward me were about money, just as some bright board member tried to save money by taking away TWSA employees’ Christmas bonus. This board member made no proposal to cut the board’s $2,000 per year salary or cut out their Christmas presents.
Is this board serving the public interest? I consider their conduct shameful.
Marie Leatherwood
Sylva
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