02.17.10 life

Hot ‘n Cole opens this weekend at playhouse

lif 1B February 17, 2010

SENTINEL

A new book explores growing up in a small Appalachian town during the depressionThe mountains of a bygone erae

Smell something burning?

!at might be good.

Betty Benedict remembers a dif-ferent Hayesville.

Kids roller skated through the courthouse, children had teeth pulled at school, and traveling salesmen would stay at one of the town’s three hotels before going on their way.

Adding a personal touch to Clay Coun-ty’s rich his-tory of names and facts, Benedict self-published a memoir of her local child-hood in Janu-ary.

Bendict wrote the 282 page book with help from her longtime friend Charles !ompson, whom she attended Hayesville Grammar School with.

When !ompson asked to see the poems she had penned as a young girl, she showed him a box full of napkins she had written on before she turned 12 while she sat at her mother’s restaurant on the Square. !ompson suggested en-tering all of the poems into a com-puter to preserve them.

While Benedict was about four-years-old customers at the res-taurant would ask where she was. Benedict recalled her father telling everyone, “I think she’s out wind-

ing ’round the square.”“I had had so many adventures

that I would tell my friends about,” Benedict said. “I would tell these little tales about my childhood and people always said, ‘Oh Betty, you should write a book.’”

For several years Benedict had worked on a poem called “Winding Round the Square” but just couldn’t get everything to fit.

“!ere was just too much to say in a poem and I couldn’t get it to work,” she said. “But I started the book exactly the way the poem started…”

From April until December Benedict would recount her memo-ries as !ompson typed every word into a laptop computer.

“It took a lot of man hours,” !ompson said. “I had to tell her to slow down every once in a while.”

Benedict said she was proud of the book because when she began she had no idea how to make all of the stories flow together.

“I have a memory like an el-ephant,” she said. “I’m 76 and most of my friends this age just can’t re-member anything. I think the reason I remember is be-cause every day

was di"erent.”Benedict was born on the Square

and lived in a house that was on the property of the Tom Day Mall.

“I had a very unusual childhood and I loved hayesville,” she said.

“We were around the Square all the time playing. We played paper dolls up in the courthouse in the courtroom; I mean we just took the whole town over and played.”

!ompson said people couldn’t believe that the book was finished in nine months.

“We were about halfway through it and I told Betty: ‘We could say

anything we want for the rest of the book because people aren’t going to believe it anyway,’” he said. “Some of these tales are unbelievable but they’re true, they’re all true.”

Benedict weaved 40 poems into the book between tales of a Hayes-ville quite unlike the town today. She said many of the names men-tioned in the book would be fa-miliar as ancestors of the county’s modern population.

“It was a thriving little town; it had a lot of charm,” she said. “It’s a shame that all of the old beautiful homes around the square have all been torn down.”

Very few families at the time owned a car because most people could buy anything they wanted at the Square, she said.

“We bought most everything here because my dad was a great believer in buying local. !e shops thrived,” she said. “People made a good living with their businesses… no one had any money but we really never realized it. We all thought we were rich and that everyone else all over the country was like us.”

Downtown Hayesville su"ered the moment the highway was re-routed to bypass the town, Bene-dict said.

“It cut our town o". It cut the commerce o",” she said. “It was like a chop. All of the hotels had no business anymore.”

Benedict said that Hayesville gradually became less of a self-supporting community throughout

It’s been said that a successful musical must have at least three good songs. If that’s true, Hot ‘N Cole, the moving tribute to Cole Porter which opens this weekend at the Peacock Playhouse, will be a hit hands down.

Not three, but forty-nine of the legendary compos-er’s repertoire of show tunes will be performed by the Licklog Players’ talented cast of songbirds. !e sing-ers will also narrate the twists and turns of Porter’s life, from a fledgling songwriter at Yale University to his musical success in trendy Paris.

All the songs and narrations have been flawlessly choreographed by director Laurel Adams, enhancing the performance of both individuals and groups

Suzy Christiansen follows in the footsteps of the late Judy Garland as she belts out a lively rendition of Be a Clown. Her voice range is lower than Garland’s contralto, but her interpretation of the happy sonnet is delightful.

“It’s a demanding arrangement,” she said during rehearsal, “unlike singing a love song because of the choreography, but I love it.”

Janice Minette, who dances as beautifully as she

sings, does an amusing portrayal of Porter’s sophis-ticated American socialite, Mrs. Lowesborough-Goodby. She also sings a romantic duet with Keith Christiansen which is one of the highlights of the evening.

All of Porters’ songs were familiar to Christiansen, except Easy to Love, one of the selections Adams chose for him to sing. Having quickly learned the lyrics and melody, he thinks it’s a beautiful song.

“It was fun and I enjoy singing it,” he said. His rich baritone voice also does justice to Night and Day and Just One of !ose !ings, the latter the duet with Minette.

!e youngest in the cast, Jason Swint, does an ex-cellent job in moving Porter’s life story along as a nar-rator, but admits he found the music challenging.

“It’s before my time,” said the 26-year old, “and much of it has a dynamic range.”

Despite his youthfulness, his renditions of Dizzy Baby, What is !is !ing Called Love and I’ve Got You Under My Skin are sung like the trouper he proved himself to be.

Harrison Keely/ Sentinel PhotoBenedict’s book, “Walking Round the Square,” is available at Phillips & Lloyd.

By: Harrison Keely

[email protected]

See SQUARE Page 5B

Virginia Kern/ Contributed PhotoActors: Top L-R: Janice Minette, Suzy Christiansen; Bottom L-R: Bob Miller, Jason Swint, Keith Christensen.

When people hear the words “for-est fire,” they likely become alarmed. But fire in the forest is not always a bad thing, and the Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC) and Governor Sonny Perdue want that message to resonate with Georgians.

“When fires in the forest are carefully controlled, they actually improve the health of the forest,” said Neal Edmondson, Prescribed Fire Program Manager for the GFC. “Foresters know this tool as ‘prescribed fire.’ !is type of burn-ing helps protect the forest from devastating wildfires by reducing hazardous tinder on the forest floor that fuels wildfires and threatens homes and property.” Edmondson explained that prescribed burning also enhances reforestation, aesthet-ics and forest access, and is benefi-cial for many types of wildlife.

February 8-14, 2010 is Prescribed Fire Awareness Week in Georgia. Governor Sonny Perdue annually declares the first full week in Febru-ary as a time to recognize this valu-able tool for improving the health of Georgia’s 24 million acres of forest land.

To further educate Georgians about the benefits of forests and prescribed fire, the GFC and South-ern Group of State Foresters are launching a special communications campaign. !e new campaign leads Internet users to www.visitmyfor-est.org, which lists forested public areas by zip code. !e site also pro-vides messages about the benefits of burning, and o"ers access to www.goodfires.org, which details how prescribed fire helps maintain and manage forestlands. Television and radio advertisements will also be used in the campaign.

See PLAYHOUSE Page 5B

BENEDICT

Listen toexcerpts from the book read by the author

ONLINE

Conversely, Bob Miller, who travels from his home in Ellijay, GA to appear in the show, knows and loves all of Porter’s songs.

“I was raised on them,” he laughs. “I’ve loved music since I was able

to walk. Singing is something I’ve always wanted to do.”

Miller will be remembered as the grouchy factory owner in Pa-jama Game, so audiences will be surprised at his tender rendition of You’d Be So Nice to Come Home to. At age 72, he apolo-gizes that his once-mellow tenor voice, which will also be heard in duets and group songs, is not what

it used to be. Audiences might disagree.

Show dates for this delightful musical are Feb 19-21 and 26-28. Tickets now on sale at the Peacock Playhouse box o!ce Mon-Fri, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, Adults $15, Students and Children $8. Rated PG. For further information, tele-phone 1-828-389-8632 or toll free 1-877-691-9906.

Young Harris College’s Division of Fine Arts will present the Young Harris College/Community Con-cert Band in concert Tuesday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m. in Glenn Auditorium of the Clegg Fine Arts Building on the Young Harris College cam-pus. "e performance is free and open to the public. Dr. Benny P. Ferguson, dean of the Division of Fine Arts, will serve as conductor.

YHC music professor Dr. Leigh Miller will be featured as clarinet soloist in Carl Maria Von Weber’s Concertino. Dr. Miller received her doctor of musical arts degree in clarinet performance from "e Ohio State University. Now in her first year at Young Harris College, Dr. Miller teaches music theory.

"e program also includes Block M March by Jerry Bilik, Russian Christmas Music by Al-fred Reed, "ird Suite by Robert Jager, Valdres by Glen Bainum and Johannes Brahms’ Variations on a "eme by Haydn, arranged

by Mark Hindsley."e Young Harris College/

Community Concert Band is composed of approximately 70 members, representing Young Harris College students, local high school students, local teach-ers and musicians, retired profes-sionals, and community and civic leaders.

For more information, call the Young Harris College Division of Fine Arts at (706) 379-5182.

Founded in 1886, Young Harris College is a private, baccalaureate degree-granting college located in the beautiful mountains of north Georgia. Historically a!li-ated with "e United Methodist Church, Young Harris College educates, inspires and empowers students through the highest qual-ity liberal arts education. Young Harris College received accredi-tation in 2008 to grant bachelor’s degrees.

These establishments will make your dining enjoyable and memorable!

"ings are not always what they seem. "is goes without saying in many cases, but many people pre-tend to be religious in order to hide their baser nature. "e tragedy is that so many people trust them when that’s the last thing they should do. Remember, just because somebody quotes the Bible doesn’t make them good.

In my opinion no film ever made makes this point better than "e Night of the Hunter (1955). Ben Harper (Peter Graves) robs a bank during the Depression. Before he is captured by the police, he is able to hide the money. Although his son, John, knows where he has hidden it, he admonishes John not to tell. Ben is tried and sent to jail for his crime.

"ere he meets Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), a murderous preacher who has been arrested for auto theft. Ben talks in his sleep and

reveals that he has a fortune hid-den away. Harry hatches a plot that involves the killing of Ben and the romancing of his widow in order to recover the money for himself.

"e widow, Willa Harper (Shelly Winters), is deceived by Powell’s chicanery but her children are not. Harry marries Willa to get close to her children so he can determine the hiding place of the money. "en Harry decides he has to get Willa out of the way, so he murders her, pretending that she has run o# be-cause of something that happened on their honeymoon night.

When the children learn that their mother has been murdered, they flee down the river in a boat taken from a friend of theirs. "e preacher pursues them until he finds them at the home of a wid-ow, Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish). Powell harasses them through the night while singing his trademark song “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.”

"e preacher is about to get to

the children, whom he has finally learned, have their father’s stolen money with them. "e police ar-rived in time to arrest him before he is able to do them further harm.

"e film was not a success in the 1950s. For some reason audi-ences and critics seemed to miss the point. In later years the film has come to be more appreciated. Charles Laughton was so disap-pointed with the public reception that he vowed never to direct an-other film. He kept that vow.

"e film was remade at least once for television testifying to its pow-erful message. Today we give a reel memories salute to "e Night of the Hunter.

William V. Reynolds is the author of “Murder in the Okefenokee” avail-able at McCaysville Public Market and Pat’s Country Kitchen in Mc-Caysville; Parris Pharmacy, !e Book Nook and Ingles in Blue Ridge; Book Nook in Blairsville; and Phillips and Lloyd in Hayesville.

LIFE & ARTS 2BSentinel NewspapersFebruary 17, 2010

Reel Memories: #115 - The Night of the Hunter

By: William V. Reynolds Columnist

DOVE PROFILESHair Salon

Karol MartinSalon Owner/StylistMaria & Rachel, Stylists

828-389-8131Located in Moore’s Plaza, Four Points, Hayesville

Matthew 10:30-31

YHC concert band set to perform locally February 23

Journal of a living lady

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Apple Trees: Arkansas Black, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Stayman-Winesap and Jonagold Peach Trees: Elberta and Red Skin Blackberry: Navaho, and Arapaho Blueberry: Mixed Grapes: Reliance (red), "ompson (white)- all seedless Raspberry: Heritage red Strawberry: Tennessee Beauty, Ozark Plums: Ozark Premier, Santa Rosa Cherry: Montmorency, Black Tartarian Pear Trees: Kei#er

Orders will be taken until supplies run out. Call 389-6305 or come by now to place your order! Payment must be received in full by February 19th in order to ensure your order.

Plants will be available for pick up on March 2, from noon until 6:00 pm.

AnnualPlant Sale

Friday Master Class Workshops are returning to the Bear on the Square Mountain Festival in Dahlonega, Ga., on April 16, 2010. "ese in depth, two-hour long music workshops will include some of the music in-dustry‘s top bluegrass and old-time musicians and instructors and are designed to be practical and very hands on.

"e SouthEastern Bluegrass Association (SEBA) Education Committee has signed on as sponsor of the Master Class Workshops.

"e instructors include the Nashville-based Da-vid Peterson and the 1946 Band, which includes Da-vid Peterson (Vocals), Mike Compton Intermediate/Advanced Mandolin), Charlie Cushman (Bluegrass Banjo), Johnny Warren (Bluegrass Fiddle), and Ron Shu$er (Upright Bass). In addition, there will be old-time music greats Beverly Smith (Old-Time Fiddle) and Carl Jones (Clawhammer Banjo). Rounding out the list of instructors will be guitar wizard Curtis Jones (Intermediate/Advanced Guitar) and the national teaching team of Jim Pittman (Beginning/Intermedi-ate Guitar) and Patsy Kline (Beginning/Intermediate Mandolin).

A total of 20 di#erent Friday workshops are avail-able to choose from, and these will be held on campus in a classroom setting in partnership with the Friends of Music at North Georgia College & State Univer-sity’s Music Department. Workshop times are from 10 a.m.-noon and from 1-3 p.m. Friday, April 16.

"e cost for the Master Class Workshops, which were a popular feature of the festival in past years, are $45 for one class or $75 for two classes, and partici-pants can mix classes according to their preference and availability. Pre-registration is available and encour-aged. However, participants can also sign up the day of the workshops as well.

Private individual Saturday lessons are also available with many of the Master Class Workshop Instructors, and these can be scheduled directly with the instructor using their contact info at the Master Class Workshop page on the Bear on the Square website.

"e festival schedule will also include a group of workshops on Saturday and Sunday, with many of these conducted by this year's Bear on the Square per-formers. Some of these workshops, which are free of charge, will be held in the Workshop Tent sponsored by LVS Homes and located on the Conner House lawn, while others will be held at Hummingbird Lane Art Gallery.

"e 14th annual Bear on the Square Mountain Fes-tival will be an incredible weekend of music and art held in the foothills of the North Georgia mountains. During that weekend, old-time and bluegrass music will fill the Historic Public Square in Dahlonega. "ere will be on-stage performances by local, regional, and national musicians on Saturday and Sunday, and a jur-ied traditional mountain crafts market both those days. Extensive music workshops, a Sunday morning Gospel Jam, an old-time Mountain Dance on Saturday eve-ning, a Live Country Auction on Friday night, fam-ily activities, a heritage focus demonstrating mountain traditions, and food complete the o#erings. For more details, visit www.bearonthesquare.org frequently for updates as the time for the festival approaches.

Bear on the Square Mountain Festival, Inc., which stages the show each year, is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit cultural arts organization whose mission is to preserve and celebrate the culture of the Southern Appala-chians through the presentation of music, traditional craft, and folkways. Tax deductible donations are wel-come and can be sent to P.O. Box 338, Dahlonega, GA 30533.

Playhouse:

Master Class workshops return to square festival

!e North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Clay County Center is in the process of taking orders for fruit trees and berry plants. High quality plants, reasonably priced, may be ordered by calling or visiting the Clay County Cooperative Extension O"ce, 55 Riverside Circle, Suite 108.

!e following varieties of plants will be available:

“Leading Ladies”

Blue Ridge Community "eaterPRESENTS

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Valentine Day has come and gone. We don’t celebrate that day anymore though I still have the first Valentine card Buddy ever gave me. It is sweet. He promised to love me forever.

When we were engaged, but not yet married, I would sneak into his empty mobile home while he was working and leave love notes under his pillow. Soon he got the idea to leave me notes under his pillow so that I would find his first. "ose days were fun and romantic.

We still give cards occasionally, sometimes silly and at other times serious. "e ones that Buddy likes best are those that I make myself with a list of 21 things I love about him.

When God made Hiram Ed-ward Kelly, He threw away the mold. If it were possible to talk the horns o# a Billy goat, Buddy could. Last month our long distance bill was for 868 minutes and only one call was mine. If he can’t find some-

body far or near to engage in con-versation, he will talk to the dog. Rocky pretends to never tire of an old man’s tales.

Buddy is not only a non-stop conversationalist. He is comedic too. I guarantee he can get a laugh out of the sourest soul. When he transformed from the shy, Missis-sippi country boy to reincarnated Johnny Carson on steroids I cannot say. In spite of the evolution of his personality, I am still quite fond of the man.

How many men are the first to get up, raise the heat, fix two cups of steaming co#ee and then nudge his wife awake? How many men start calling friends and family in a panic if their spouse is five minutes later than expected? How many men come through the kitchen and stop to put up the dishes before snacking? How many men put the toilet seat down every time? How many men compliment the cook after nearly forty-five years of eat-ing the same recipes? Not many.

Buddy is as practical as he is witty. "is last Valentine Day I asked him what expensive place he was going to take me. Without missing a beat he replied, “the gas station.”

We didn’t go anywhere. Who needs a fancy restaurant, a box of candy, or a dozen roses when you have my Buddy?

E-mail the author at [email protected].

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Licklog Players second show of the 2010 Sea-son is rapidly coming upon us with auditions

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you can call the Licklog Players at 828 389 8632.

Folksinger Lee Knight will be featured in special !ursday night concert in the Community Room at !e John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C. at 7:00 pm on February 18. !e concert is free although donations are welcome.

Lee Knight hails from the Adirondack Mountains of New York and became interested in folk music while in high school. He was introduced to traditional Southern Appalachian music while attending Wof-ford College in Spartanberg, SC.. As a result, Knight became interested in learning first hand from singers and musicians who carried on the traditions of their families and communities. He has studied folk music in his native Adirondacks, the southern Appalachians, Canada, Russia, Central Asia, Scotland, Colombia and Peru. He performs in community concerts, schools, camps, Elderhostels and libraries around the country accompanying himself on guitar, dulcimer and banjo.

the years, ruined by stores like Wal-Mart and non-local retail outlets.

“Many people regret that a lot of new people have come in but I think that hayesville would have just dried up if they hadn’t,” she said. “I just hope that these shops can re-ally survive and do well here.”

During her childhood, rowdy moonshiners were about the only thing Hayesville had to worry about, she said. Robberies never occurred and locals left their doors unlocked and windows open.

“When we had a prom we couldn’t wear long dresses because a lot of people couldn’t a"ord them so we just wore our regular sunday dress or whatever we had,” she said. “And the football team had such pitiful uniforms but they won all the games.”

Despite having no local family other than her parents, Benedict said she made everyone in town her family.

“Hayesville to me was just the most wonderful place in the world to grow up,” she said.

On January 11, Benedict and !ompson o#cially printed the first 500 copies of the book through Pennsylvania publisher Xlibris, but the supply is quickly dwindling.

In the short time that it’s been available, Benedict said the book had already been shipped to Ger-many, China, Australia and Eng-land among other locations.

!e paperback edition is available for $20 at Phillips & Lloyd and Ti-ger’s in Hayesville. A hardcover edition is also available. Benedict said the books were also available for order online at Amazon.com.

An excerpt of the book is avail-able at the author’s website, Betty-Benedict.com.

Rob Tiger donated a collection of historic Hayesville photos to be printed in the book, !ompson said.

“People just go wild over it,” Benedict said. !ompson added that the book had received several outstanding reviews from online customers.

Benedict donated a copy of the book to Moss Memorial Library in memory of her friend, Mary Janice White Lunsford.

“She died three weeks ago and this book is full of her but she didn’t get to read it,” Benedict said. “!is square was our playground.”

Although the pages are printed, Benedict said she keeps remember-ing more tales she should have in-cluded. Perhaps some of them will make it into a second book she’s considering writing to detail her life after graduating from Hayes-ville High School.

“I wanted to give people a feel of…the way we survived during the depression and World War II,” Benedict said about her book. “We could have had a national disaster and it would have a"ected us very little here…. Most people had no electricity and were not dependent on anyone. Everyone had gardens, wells, and their own animals…. If everything else on Earth had been bombed and destroyed ex-cept Hayesville, North Carolina, we would have just kept winding round the square.”

February brings a popular event for the MMQG in the form of a three day retreat, held at Unicoi Lodge in Helen, GA. Seventy-three mem-bers from five counties in Geor-gia and North Carolina attended classes in a variety of quilting sub-jects. Two of the classes o"ered were "Embellishment" by Dot Vaughn, shown in the photo, and "Machine Quilting" by Frances Arnold, also shown. !e ladies worked dili-gently to complete quilts and other projects brought from home. Deli-cious meals, evening entertainment, and many door prizes made the stay even more enjoyable. !e retreat was planned by Diane Banakas, of Hayesville, NC, Susan Reid, of Murphy, NC. For more information about the Guild, visit the website: www.mistymountainquiltguild.com

Like everyone else on the planet, I saw a lot of pre-game Super Bowl TV coverage on February 7, be-cause there was no racing that day and I had nothing else to do.

And like everyone else in NA-SCAR Nation, I got all excited and fangirlish during the portion of the broadcast when celebrities were giving their picks, and some of “our” drivers were included in that group.

Tony Stewart’s segment was predictable, as he reminded every-one that he’s an Indiana boy and therefore had to go with the In-dianapolis Colts. He looked and sounded good. Score one for the home team.

Just a few seconds later, Mark Martin filled the screen. His prog-nostication went something like this: “I don’t even know who’s play-ing in the Super Bowl, but if Brett Favre was in it, I’d pull for him.”

I hung my head. I closed my eyes. I may have groaned aloud. Surely I hadn’t heard this right. One of the most respected, suc-cessful and popular drivers in the entire sport of NASCAR did not just tell most of the world that he had no clue who was playing in the Super Bowl.

Yes, he did.!is, in my spontaneous and very

reactionary opinion, was going to be a PR disaster. As NASCAR continues to fight for dominance in professional sports -- a battle in which it is performing quite well -- it is vitally important that our athletes be visible, approachable, articulate, and relatable.

But then it hit me, like one of those smack yourself in the head “Wow, I could’ve had a V8” mo-ments. !e day before the Super Bowl, Martin went out and won his first-ever Daytona 500 pole, becoming the oldest driver in his-tory to start NASCAR’s No. 1 race in the No. 1 spot.

I couldn’t help but wonder, if someone had asked New Orleans Saints and Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees on that afternoon before the game who was sitting on the pole for the Daytona 500, would he have known the answer?

I’m no Vegas odds maker, but I’m thinking probably not.

Sometimes it seems that what gets not only athletes, but people in general, into hot water, is the scat-tershot approach we take to getting the things we want.

!e ability to identify your goals, making a plan outlining how you’re going to achieve them, and setting that plan into motion is a critical key to success. !is is often de-scribed as the sniper-versus-shot-gun tactic. You only hit one thing instead of a bunch of random ones, but it’s the one thing you were aim-ing for.

!is is a great definition of how NASCAR drivers and their teams work. !ey set their sights on their target, and they don’t allow them-selves to get sidetracked. You don’t hear stories about them jetting o" to Monaco with global superstars, because they don’t. !eir numer-ous alleged girlfriends aren’t being interviewed on tabloid TV shows, because they don’t have any. !ey aren’t going out to bars and shoot-ing themselves in the foot, because … that’s just dumb.

A handful of them did go o" their heads and got really wild during the o" season, doing crazy stu" like going o" and racing in other series; can you imagine? But for the most part, when the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was in the record books, they had some Christmas dinner and got to work on 2010.

Mark Martin has never won the Daytona 500; that was his imme-diate target, his one and only in-terest. If he had won the thing 25 times, he would still feel the same way. But so did the 42 other drivers on the track with him on February 14.

So what if Martin didn’t know who was playing in the Super Bowl? His mind was on something much more important to him, that day and every day -- stock car rac-ing.

For one of NASCAR’s most be-loved drivers to publicly admit he wasn’t paying much attention to what was happening over in some-one else’s world didn’t demonstrate an attention deficit, or a lack of in-terest.

Instead, it was a glorious example of what absolute, immovable focus looks like, and that’s the best PR a sport could ever hope to have.

Square:

!ere are two new fiber classes coming up at Yarn Circle, “Needle Felting” with Kay Patterson and “Be-ginning Weaving” with Pam Howard.

!e Needle Felting class is a three hour workshop and will focus on using barbed felting needles to sculpt loose wool in three dimensional pieces for dolls and animals. In this class students will choose from a vari-ety of colors of fine Merino wool and apply this excit-ing technique to forming heads and faces. All experi-ence levels are welcome.

!e Needle Felting class will be this Saturday, Feb-ruary 20 from 10 am to 1 pm. !ere will be a $30 charge plus materials. Call to ensure that space is available.

Kay Patterson is from Cherokee County and a fre-quent instructor at Yarn Circle and the John C. Camp-bell Folk School.

Starting in March Pam Howard will be teaching a Beginning Weaving class on Tuesday nights, the 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th. Students will choose from Yarn Circle’s Wall of Color and work on floor looms to cre-ate one-of-a-kind weaves.

Classes run from 6:30 to 9 pm each night. Pre-registration and a deposit of $50 is required toward total tuition of $150. Looms will be provided. Space is limited.

Pam Howard is the Resident Weaver at the John C. Campbell Folk School.

To register, and for more information on these and other classes, call Yarn Circle at 828-835-4592 or email [email protected]. Yarn Circle is located next to Tri-County Community College, at 4400 US High 64 East, Alt. !e website is yarncircle.com.

Auditionsfor Agatha Christie’s

Mystery, !e Mousetrap

Frances Allen, of Blairsville; Instructor Dot Vaughn, of Young Harris; and Leslie Boone, of Lilburn

Felting and weaving classes o!ered

Knight to perform

Nascar focus hits homeBy: Cathy ElliottColumnist

AUCTION!!Grand Opening!!Blairsville Auction

Located AtVICTORIA’S CENTER

2386 Hwy 762 ½Miles East of BlairsvilleHundreds of Items

all sold absolute w/ no reserve***************************************************************************

Sporting GoodsBicycles--Electronics--Furniture

Small Appliances--CollectiblesAntiques--Clothing--Linens

Decorative AccessoriesSaturday, Feb. 20th- Sale starts at 10:00am

Doors open at 9:00 am


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Mother Nature’s Black Gold

Your crossword puzzle of the week

Last

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FACEBOOK.COM/NEWSSENTINELGet involved.Become a fan today at:

ACROSS1. Portend5. Inundated10. Sexual assault14. Cain’s brother15. China grass16. Flair17. Stipulations19. It makes coins20. It opens a lock

21. Writing table22. Chemical cousin24. Vivacious25. Baronial26. Misplace29. Flower part30. Runs in neutral31. Copy32. Bar bill35. Sleigh

36. Indicate37. Information38. Golf ball support39. Two40. Moses’ brother41. Puncture43. Any of several complex proteins44. Popeye ate this46. Wise one47. !rill48. Quarries

49. Apple or rhubarb52. Sword53. A system of musclebuilding ex-

ercises56. Not more57. Energy58. Once ____ a time59. Formerly (archaic)60. Black61. Heredity carrier

DOWN1. Not front2. Double-reed woodwind3. Declare untrue4. Old age5. Blood vessel6. Midsection7. Berserk8. Trangression9. Lacking decisiveness10. Distant11. Pertaining to nourishment12. A jury or board13. Way in18. Notions23. Identical24. Implored25. Rock26. Fog27. Indolent

28. Drowsiness29. Piece of cake31. Sofa33. “Smallest particle”34. Curse36. Become conscious of37. Stupor39. Trade40. Anxiety42. Swallow43. Diner44. Inscribed pillar45. Someone who plays the bagpipe46. Apostle Peter48. Jump up and down49. Water carrier50. Computer symbol51. Slave54. Bro or sis55. Carpet

As I sit by my woodstove on this cold February day, I find my thoughts drifting towards that bright spring day when I will pick the first sugar snap peas growing in my garden. Soon I’ll be sowing flats of seeds, watching in amazement as the tiny seedlings beg to be transplanted into larger pots which will fill my greenhouse with promises of summer flow-ers and fresh garden vegetables.

I have gardened for more than twenty-five years and yet, each spring, I am awestruck by the magic and productive power of a tiny seed. !is same magic takes place every year on our forest floors. Where there is now a dusting of snow across leaf litter, there will soon appear hepatica, bloodroot, trillium, solomon’s seal, trout lilies and ladies slip-pers. Whether scattered by the wind and wild life or carefully planted by the human hand, seeds fill our world with beauty and life sustaining nourish-ment.

As impressive as the seed may be, it could not survive without Mother Nature’s black gold – rich fertile soil. During the quiet months of winter as well as spring, summer and fall, the living soil is replete with activity. One acre of fertile topsoil con-tains approximately eleven tons of biological life. Earthworms aerate the soil and fertilize it with their castings. Millions and millions of micro-organisms – bacteria, fungi, algae and protozoa – work in the top six to twelve inches of the soil decomposing,

digesting plant and animal matter and feeding nu-trients to plants. Nature’s perfect recycling system is in constant motion turning plant and animal mat-ter into rich humus and top soil. But nature works slowly, taking up to 500 years to build one inch of topsoil.

I have always believed that close observation of the natural world can be one of our greatest teach-ers. Nature is patient, slow and precise. In nature nothing is wasted. If we want healthy and produc-tive soil that will sustain us for many years, we must nourish that soil.

Composting is a perfect lesson from nature. By creating a home composting area, we can recycle our food and yard wastes and produce our own “black gold” which feeds our soil, our plants and ourselves. Compost enclosures can be as simple as a hardware cloth cylinder large enough to circle the compost heap, to a commercially produced revolv-ing drum unit. Turning the pile will hasten decom-position, lending a hand to the busy microorgan-isms and worms working in the pile.

Learning from nature is both educational and rewarding. Following her lead will point us towards a sustainable future!

!e Preservation Committee sponsors projects to promote environmental stewardship and the preservation of native plants. For more information about projects and volunteer opportunities, contact Jennifer Cordier (706-745-9317) or Clare John-ston (706-745-2655; www.gmrec.uga.edu; Geor-gia Mountain Research and Education Center).

First-Time Home Buyer Seminar o"ered at One Dozen Who Care

!ursday, Feb. 25th 6 - 8 p.m. at the ODWC o"ce

Located between Dollar General & Slices Pizza(formerly PJs Pizza)

65 Wilson St., Ste. 6, Andrews

Interest rates are at historic lows! First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit

how to use Credit to your advantage

Amy Belec has been with First Citizens Bank for over 12 years. She is in her 3rd year as a Mortgage Banker at First Citizens.

!e First-Time Home Buyer Seminar will answer many of your questions on the above topics. Call 828-321-2273 to register. Please leave your name and

fee at the door.

One Dozen Who Care, Inc. is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) Community Development Corporation in Andrews, NC. www.odwc.org

By: Jennifer CordierPlant Rescue Team

February 17, 2010!e Sentinel Newsgroup

These local businesses provide a wide variety of products and services to help make your life a little better and easier. Call them today!

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Once again the Teas from the Heart ministry hosted a group of ladies who seldom are waited upon. Mothers and care-givers of children with special needs from local communities were recently treated to a day of pampering.

Black-suited gentlemen parked vehicles and escorted each guest to the in-viting foyer of the home of Ken and Phyllis Ott in Hiawassee. Waiting greet-ers met each guest and introduced her to a Teas from the Heart table hostess.

Gathered in small groups around red roses and a heart-themed table, the formal tea began. Smiling servers poured English teas and passed tiers of scrumptious hors deurs.

!e ladies at each of the tables quickly bonded. !ey shared common expe-riences unique to their sometimes stressful task. !e cheerful chatter, punctu-ated by occasional laughter and sometime tears, continued until the groups dispersed to a spacious room for the inspiring program.

Kim Boyd of Towns County presented special music that gave witness to her sincere faith. Kim played the keyboard and sang songs that she had composed just days before the tea. She is pianist of New Life Church in Hayesville.

Speaker Zadie Peters, the mother of a son and daughter with special needs, shared her poignant story of the medical, emotional and spiritual challenges that she and her children encountered from the moment of birth to adult-hood. Zadie is an advocate for the developmental disabled.

Teas from the Heart ministry, a non-profit (501c) foundation), began in 2003 when a small group of women met to discuss a non-denominational venue for meeting the needs of ladies in the mountain area. !is well-coordi-nated tea, with its numerous ministering teams was one of many that joined women together for inspiration and encouragement.

David Turk, John Nicholson, Paul Furnas, and Randy Pruitt take part in the pageant at left.

!e Womanless Beauty Pageant for the benefit of the Enotah Family Drug Court. Enotah takes in the counties of Towns and Union. Chuck Shissler of Clay will also be one of the contestants.

Teas from the heart

Contributed PhotoSpeaker Zadie Peters and Musician Kim Boyd

Womanless pageant helps out drug court

Do you have a news story? If you have something you feel that needs to be

published in the Sentinel Newspaper

Email - [email protected] - 828.389.8338

WHAT IT TAKES TO BE #1“Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing.! You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time.! Winning is a habit.! Unfortunately, so is losing.!There is no room for second place.! There is only one place in my game, and that’s "rst place.! I have "nished second twice in my time at Green Bay, and I don’t ever want to "nish second again.! There is a second place bowl game, but it is a game for losers played by losers.! It is and always has been an Ameri-can zeal to be "rst in anything we do, and to win, and to win, and to win.!Every time a football player goes to play his trade he’s got to play from the ground up-from the soles of his feet right up to his head.! Every inch of him has to play.! Some guys play with their heads.! That’s O.K. you’ve got to be smart to be number one in any business.! But more importantly, you’ve got to play with your heart, with every "ber of your body.! If you’re lucky enough to "nd a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he’s never going to come o# the "eld second.!!Running a football team is no di#erent than running any other kind of organization-an army, a political party or a business.! The principles are the same.! The object is to win-to beat the other guy.! Maybe that sounds hard or cruel.! It don’t think it is.

It is a reality of life that men are competitive and the most competitive games draw the most competitive men.! That’s why they are there-to compete.! To know the rules and objectives when they get in the game.! The object is to win fairly, squarely, by the rules-but to win.!And in truth, I’ve never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in this heart, didn’t appreciate the grind, the discipline.! There is some-thing in good men that really yearns for discipline and the harsh reality of head to head combat.!I don’t say these things because I believe in the “brute” nature of man or that men must be brutalized to be combative.! I believe in God, and I believe in hu-man decency.! But I "rmly believe that any man’s "nest hour, the greatest ful"llment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the "eld of battle – victorious.”

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ~Vince Lombardi

Thanks to our Customers and Clients.!Thanks to my Friends, Family and my Team – the best Real Estate Agents in Western North Carolina.

Mountain PropertiesDavid Ritz

Toll Free: 1-877-837-3002Fax: 828-837-8372

Murphy , NCwww.cometothemountains.com

02.17.10 life

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