Frank Young, the 'discerning outsider'
To the Editor:
For the better part of a year, I have been reading Frank Young's letters
to The Herald. I think he has been giving us advice for much longer
than that, but previously I have been able to ignore his querulous,
impatient and condescending tone.
However, in recent months, he has grown more persistent and irksome,
and despite an avalanche of opposing views, he stubbornly continues
to whine like a petulant child. Last week, for our edification, he decided
to "interpret" Jackson County's history.
According to Frank, both Dillsboro and Webster are ghost towns that
were abandoned due to the devastations wrought by floods (Dillsboro)
and the relocation of our county seat from Webster to Sylva. In Frank's
view, both locations have become barren wastelands and have existed
for the better part of the last century as blighted tracts of real estate.
Now, finally, they have an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution
to the region by yielding up their useless land to the pavement of the
infamous Southern Loop. Why can't we see the logic of this conclusion?
For me the issue is not the validity of Frank's opinion. At heart, I
am one of those unrepentant natives who resent being instructed by a
man who has spent the majority of his life in Florida.
Quite honestly, I don't think I am prejudiced against "outsiders"
since I know that this county has been greatly benefited by the influx
of retirees and professionals who now call Jackson County their home.
However, I am prejudiced against Frank Young because he is a remarkably
arrogant and (thankfully) rare species of outsider.
Specifically, he is "a discerning outsider."
Let me provide my definition of that term. A "discerning outsider"
is one who perceives his "outside" origins as an advantage.
Since he was not born in Jackson County and has no ties with our heritage
and culture, he can perceive what is wrong in our region with a perception
that is unclouded by emotion and/or sentiment. He perceives us the same
way.
We can't see what is logical because we have an emotional attachment
to these mountains and coves. The discerning outsider does not see orchards,
pastures or grandfather's farmhouse. Instead, he sees economic growth
potential and the rapid movement of thousands of vehicles. He sees proliferating
strip malls, housing development and the efficient reduction of mountains
to parking lots‚ and he calls it good!
Even if our discerning outsiders are correct, people like me will continue
to resist the wholesale destruction of our natural resources and our
heritage. Perhaps such resistance is perverse or irrational since I
know that conflicts between a region's tradition/heritage and the onslaught
of economic growth are usually determined by the interests of money,
power and politics.
Perhaps it is inevitable that Jackson County will eventually come to
resemble Frank's hometown‚ a Mecca of pawnshops, drugs, crime and
overpriced real estate. (It has enviable highways though!)
If so, the change won't come with my blessing. Like the residents of
Dillsboro and Webster, I will continue to resist Frank Young's world,
which may be lucrative and convenient‚ but it is also soulless
and devoid of natural beauty.
Finally, I would like to make an appeal to our resident outsider. Why
don't you go home, Frank?
I'm sure it must be tiresome to deal with our stubborn resistance to
what is obviously in "our best interests."
Leave us to stew in our own ignorance and "lack of foresight."
Back in Florida where you can take advantage of mass transit, you will
no longer have to deal with the frustrations of traffic in downtown
Sylva. Get a nice apartment in one of those rabbit warrens for the elderly.
And if you get mugged on your way to the library or the senior citizens
center, the ambulance driver can get you to the hospital in record time.
Gary Carden
Sylva
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Non-natives can contribute to community
To the Editor:
My husband and I moved to Sylva in 2002, and I find the Nov. 20 editorial
a slap in the face to anyone who has moved to Jackson County and was
not born here. Your column implies that Superintendent (Mack) McCary
failed because he was not a Jackson County native, but that Acting Superintendent
(Sue) Nations will succeed because she is a Jackson County native.
In the past 26 years, we have lived in five states, and the logic of
the editorial hints that we were failures in our jobs because we were
not natives of those areas and also could not possibly have understood
our community's needs. I assure you we were successful at work and as
citizens.
Communities thrive because of new ideas that are brought from other
places, and their members grow when their horizons are broadened. Perfection
is an ideal, not reality, but we should constantly strive to improve
our school districts and our communities. Doing something the same old
tired way because that is the way it has always been done is stagnating
and truly burying one's head in the sand. I attend conferences and meetings
in other cities and states to learn what is new in my field so I can
bring it back to my institution and develop innovative ways to do my
job better. I had hoped we moved to a progressive and open-minded community
and would be dismayed to find out this editorial represents the spirit
of Jackson County.
I am not speaking to the issue of whether or not Superintendent McCary
was an effective administrator, or if Acting Superintendent Nations
will be, because I do not know; I am merely reflecting on the seemingly
narrow-minded tone of the editorial that only natives of a community
can be successful members and know what is best for the citizens.
Do not forget that we outsiders bring new businesses to Jackson County
and pump money into the local economy; prospective company owners might
not look twice at Jackson County if they feel its citizens are as reactionary
as you are.
Deborah J. Paulson
Sylva
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Unfortunate Ten Commandments removed in Alabama
To the Editor:
In response to the political cartoon on the Opinion Page of the Nov.
20 Sylva Herald, it was unfortunate that the Ten Commandments display
had to be removed from the Alabama Judicial building.
If Judge Roy Moore had displayed the Ten Commandments on a wall placard
(as is currently the case in the Haywood County Courthouse) rather than
a stone monument. It at least might have met the standards of the so-called
"Lemon-Kurtzman Test." If this had been the case, the display
might not have been ordered removed by U.S. District Judge Byron Thompson.
It is evident that The Sylva Herald is not very supportive of former
Alabama state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore – but what
about the Bible and the Ten Commandments? Why are socialists, atheists
and the ultra-liberal so vehemently opposed to any public mention or
acknowledgment of a God that they claim does not and could not exist?
By the way, they are called the "Ten Commandments," not the
"Ten Suggestions" or the "Ten Recommendations."
God bless America.
Bob Morris
Sylva
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Locate downtown library next to Courthouse
To the Editor:
Most of us find that it is easier to be "against" something
than "for" something. Most of the comments about moving the
Jackson County Library, including my own, have been "against."
I would like to present a positive concept for the new Jackson County
Public Library that is possible and timely.
Last week a group of people who have concerns about the plans for building
the Jackson County Public Library at Southwestern Community College
met with architect Odell Thompson on Courthouse Hill. The Courthouse
was closed and empty. The jail was empty and the other offices that
are on county owned property there are scheduled to be moved soon. It
was a beautiful day and the view was spectacular as we looked out over
the town of Sylva with the Balsams as a backdrop.
We met there to do an informal feasibility study to see if it would
be possible to build a new Jackson County Library behind the old Courthouse.
We made a few assumptions 1) that the old jail and Driver's License
buildings would be torn down, 2) that the Courthouse could be used for
the public meeting spaces and 3) that the short portion of Keener St.
between Ridgeway and Savannah Drive could be closed and that space could
be devoted to parking as could the area currently used by Jackson County
Transit.
The County already owns the property and so money would not need to
be spent to acquire space to build a new library. It would not conflict
with other visions to use the Courthouse as a museum, but would be complementary.
Having a library as a neighbor would help to insure that the museum
is well attended and help to guarantee the continued upkeep of the Courthouse
building.
Museums are expensive to maintain and only by making sure they are successful
and well-utilized can they be sure of continued funding.
Linking the renovation of the Courthouse with building a new library
would provide an attractive package for potential private donors. Most
private funding institutions look with favor on projects that have multiple
benefits.
If we are successful in seeking private funding, the financial carrot
for building the library at Southwestern Community College becomes less
attractive. No one seems to claim that the operational costs for the
county will be less with the building at SCC. The money saved would
be primarily on construction costs.
I would like to invite each of you who reads this letter to go up to
the hill behind the Courthouse and walk behind the old jail and Driver's
License building and look out at the view of the mountains and imagine
looking out the windows of a public library. Ask yourself if you would
find using a library with this view of our mountains more inspiring
than a building lost in the institutional surroundings of SCC. Ask yourself
if your children and grandchildren would appreciate a building with
this history and perspective more than a perfectly functional building
at SCC. Ask yourself if a beautiful new building that complements the
existing Courthouse would inspire creativity and pride within our community
more than a underutilized adjunct to SCC.
Although the Task Force Survey did not ask people where we would prefer
to have the library, they did include the question "If the community
library were located at SCC, would you use the library more, less or
the same?"
A very clear majority said that they would use the library less. Should
we build a library in a place where people do not want to use it?
I do understand that it would be easier to build a public library at
SCC. I do understand that if we do build it at the Courthouse, it will
require more work and possibly more initial expense. But if it insures
the continued usefulness of the Courthouse building and is linked with
a potentially expensive project that will benefit from its proximity;
if it will be used more; if it engenders pride in our community; if
it reflects community cooperation rather than division and if it inspires
our politicians to work with their constituents, wouldn't it be worth
it?
And just for icing on the top, a library next to the Courthouse would
include a built-in fitness center. We could all park on Main Street
and walk up the 107 steps to visit the place that best symbolizes Jackson
County.
Joyce Moore
Sylva
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Reader urges tolerance of different beliefs
To the Editor:
(In response to Vickie Todd's Nov. 6 letter opposing the Sylvan Hearth
Pagan Temple.)
My family, too, has been in these mountains for generations. I am a
100 percent purebred mountain woman, I am part Cherokee and I am also
a Christian.
I do not appreciate Ms. Todd speaking on behalf of all mountain people.
Her views only reiterate the need for cultural and personal growth in
Jackson county. This kind of viewpoint only reinforces the stereotypes
such as those portrayed in the film Deliverance. Many might come to
view that film as a "documentary" rather than the excremental
piece of fiction it actually is.
I wonder does Ms. Todd actually know the definition of the word pagan?
Ms. Todd do you realize that by respecting the earth, hunting herbs,
planting a garden and home canning, you are a practicing pagan?
My grandfather hunted herbs and made cures. My grandmother, while forcing
my father and his siblings to go to church every Sunday, firmly believed
in spells, hexes and ghosts as many of the old-timers did and many still
do. Yet both my grandparents also believed in Christ.
Ms. Todd do you think that God is known only by one name? God can be
Allah, Mohammed, Jesus Christ, Buddha or any number of other aliases.
This may come as quite a shock to a great many people who do not bother
to pick up a book and educate themselves on facts before speaking based
on their individual beliefs fueled by the traditional hellfire and brimstone
emotional expressions.
But Christianity is a direct descendant of what most consider paganism.
There is even such a thing as pagan Christianity. I recommend the following
reading for those who which to speak intelligently rather than emotionally,
Celtic Christianity written by Timothy J. Joyce.
However, I do understand this fear of the unknown. I am, after all,
native to these mountains. My father is a Baptist, my mother a nondenominational
Christian, while I am an orthodox Catholic. We are a family of great
diversity.
We also practice many pagan traditions, such as home canning, growing
a garden, respecting the earth, especially these sacred mountains that
have offered us security from the rest of the world.
I am also a woman with a disability who has experienced first hand the
fear and ignorance of the unknown in a small mountain community.
I would like to remind Ms. Todd and others who fear the unknown, you
do have choice to educate yourself and put aside these unnecessary fears.
It is these type of fears that resulted in Hitler's attempt to eliminate
the Jewish race during World War II, and it is also this kind of fear
and ignorance that escalated hate crimes against Muslims immediately
following 9/11.
Have you learned nothing from that experience? Does the Bible not say
to love thy neighbor?
Janet Meadows
Candler
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Time to end notion of Œgrowth for growth's sake'
To the Editor:
One always runs the risk of being the "fool" by responding
to a Frank Young letter, but how dull life would be without risking
foolishness.
It is hard to imagine the level of suffering Mr. young has endured by
forcing himself to live in a backward and undeveloped county, one populated
by unprofessional loudmouths, who dare to question the authority and
expertise of Department of Transportation traffic engineers. Let us
remind Mr. Young these are the same experts that have been "studying"
improvements to N.C. 107 since 1993 when their own "experts"
recommended in a DOT statewide planning manual that eliminating a traffic
light at Sunrise Park Road would benefit traffic flow at perhaps the
most complained-about intersection on 107.
These same experts more recently told us the most feasible way to fix
107 was to build a four-lane bypass around Sylva, part of which would
be constructed along the Tuckaseigee River, which provides some of the
best trout fishing waters in the Southeast. We won't mention the potential
fragmentation of several communities or natural habitats, but I'm sure
Mr. Young would find this kind of argument entirely too emotional. Let's
just get over it and go shopping at Dollywood in Tennessee. Maybe in
a few years we won't have to drive that far because Franklin will have
added its 500,000-square-foot Mayberry-themed shopping center –
one that recreates small town living (e.g. shopping) at its best.
Mr. Young continues to invoke the standard of "growth for growth's
sake," which is, as Edward Abbey once noted, "the etiology
of the cancer cell." In countless national studies and focus groups
Americans clearly want sprawl development controlled. The connection
between sprawl and the loss of wetlands, forests and open space diminish
one's health and quality of life. Thousands of Jackson County citizens
have a deep sense of that connection.
It is encouraging that several Jackson County municipalities and the
Jackson County Commissioners are endorsing a community-based transportation
planning task force.
I'm not against the construction of new roads or the use of traffic
"experts." The question becomes whose experts will we be using,
and will the task force be open to independent traffic experts, ones
that are capable of thinking "outside the box."
The most sensible proposal I have heard for improving 107 was offered
by a non-traffic expert employed by the town of Sylva. (Jim Aust) essentially
said the real problem with 107 is that "traffic has only one way
in and one way out." His conclusions were based on the fact that
all the feeder roads between the two major intersections at (Business
23/N.C. 107 and N.C. 107/N.C. 116) are dead-end roads. These roads could
be extended to connect to other communities.
One can only hope that whatever experts are used in the future will
truly listen to "non-experts." This also extends to Mr. Young.
Roger Turner
Sylva
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Micro-managing by board of education must end
To the Editor:
I read about the release of our superintendent of the public school
system with serious interest. We are an "at will" state, and
I understand the Board of Education has the authority to hire and fire
the superintendent, so I will not focus on that issue.
I do feel strongly about the opportunity the board now has in selecting
a new superintendent and changing their leadership methods at the same
time.
I believe a system works best when the board pays attention to policy
and allows the operations officer to run the day-to-day operations of
the system.
I believe now is the time for all citizens interested in Jackson County
having the best possible school system to speak out.
The Board of Education has an opportunity to hire the best available
school leader and to change from being a micro-manager to a macro-manager,
thereby allowing the superintendent to lead the operations of our school
system.
I recommend all interested citizens ask the board of education to make
the most of this opportunity.
Hugh Moon
Sylva
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