CSA mural opponents voice concerns to county, town

By Lisa Majors-Duff and Lynn Hotaling

Those with concerns about the Majesty of Mountain Heritage Program, a project of Catch the Spirit of Appalachia, spoke last Thursday (March 7) to both county and town officials. Their protests ranged from the proposed location of the first in a series of murals to the method by which CSA plans to preserve local heritage.

Speaking on behalf of the Sylva Garden Club, President Ruth Balch told members of the Jackson County Board of Commissioners that her organization has worked for 40 years to create the greenspace known today as Bicentennial Park in Sylva.

"Please keep the tranquility of natural growing things in Bicentennial Park," Balch said. "There are many places in Jackson County where you can install artwork. Choose one of those. Leave Bicentennial Park to the serenity and grandeur of nature, for which it was created."

Balch was backed up by Jimmy Childress, former WRGC-AM Radio owner who said he "opposed any sign being erected in Bicentennial Park," which was dedicated in 1976 to his son, Ronnie Childress, after his death from electrocution while working at the radio station.

As mural opponents were addressing county commissioners, the issue was also being raised a few blocks away at the Sylva Town Board meeting. Town board member Eldridge Painter said he'd received calls from Sylva Garden Club members concerning the use of Bicentennial Park.

"(Garden club members) seem to be real upset with the idea of changing the little park going up to the courthouse," Painter said. "Polly Fuller and others took a weed patch and landscaped it, and the Childress family funded a memorial."

Sylva officials should "go on record" opposing any changes at Bicentennial Park that are not supported by the Sylva Garden Club, Painter said.

"I read an article in The Sylva Herald by my neighbor, Gary Carden, that pretty much sums it up," Painter said. "I really have my doubts (about the mural project), and I feel like we should give (garden club members) 100 percent of our support."

Action was not taken on Painter's suggestion because board member Maurice Moody said he thought Catch the Spirit had withdrawn their request to use Bicentennial Park.

"The garden club is meeting with commissioners tonight, and I think the problem is going away," Moody said. "If it does, we won't need to take action."

Moody's statement turned out to be correct. County commissioner Roberta Crawford reported that CSA co-founder Amy Garza had withdrawn her request to use Bicentennial Park for the first mural, titled "Spirits in the Wind," when she became aware of the opposition.

"I appreciate the position of the garden club," Garza said during the county meeting. "We just want to use our talents to improve (Bicentennial Park, but) we are willing to place the mural anywhere someone wants to show us a beautiful place.

"It is not a sign," Garza continued. "It is a piece of magnificent artwork."

As described by its executive director, Lisa Almaraz, the Majesty of Mountain Heritage Program is intended to be a "vehicle for fulfilling the mission of preserving and celebrating local heritage. It is an interdisciplinary program that will bring mountain heritage alive in murals that will go along with true stories of mountain people."

The project's goal is "to integrate visual and performing arts, storytelling, a special creativity and self-esteem curriculum, genealogy and music to help inspire a sense of place and community pride for local people and visitors alike," Almaraz said.

"Those who are opposed to the mural need to help us find a great location if Bicentennial Park is not the place to go," CSA board member Gail Cooper said during Thursday's commissioners' meeting.

"This is a community project," Garza said. "We don't want to do it all ourselves; we just want to spearhead it and make it beautiful."

CSA's original request to use the park for their first mural included an additional request to lease the first floor of the old Jackson County Courthouse, which they said would be transformed into a mountain heritage museum with the assistance of Washington's Smithsonian Institution. "This needs to be looked at very carefully before proceeding," Perry Kelly, president of the Jackson County Arts Council, told the county board last week.

From a search of the Smithsonian website, Kelly said he learned that becoming a affiliate of the museum requires a $25,000 annual fee, strict requirements on the facility (which he said Western Carolina University's Mountain Heritage Museum is unable to meet), full-time staffing provisions and a stipulation that shipping and insurance on borrowed artifacts be the responsibility of the affiliate.

"I feel this is a bit premature," said Sylva author Gary Carden. "There are innumerable alternatives available that have not been considered."

Carden, who said he was appearing to voice his concern about the project, offered to assist with its future development.

"I'm willing to participate to see this is done in the proper manner," he said. "This is the future in relation to my heritage and my culture."

"I think we jumped the gun on the issue with the park," county board Chairman Jay Denton said, referring to his board's approval last month for CSA to use Bicentennial Park. "We need a committee to handle this. We need to let some folks make some decisions to what they feel should represent Jackson County."

To that end, Denton requested Kelly and the Jackson County Arts Association head up such a committee, which would include representatives from several cultural organizations. Kelly agreed and said he would report back.

Back to Archive: 03/14/02.