(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . DKos Asheville Open Thread: Paws on hot pavement, Word from the Smokies, KKK marketing in Sylva [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-15 Welcome to DKos Asheville . This space appears each weekend to share links to news and opinion from Asheville and Western North Carolina. The floor is open for comment and discussion. Wishing all a good day from this beautiful part of the world. “Daily Kos fights for a progressive America by empowering its community and allies with information and tools to directly impact the political process.” Please jump the fold for links to a few stories I found interesting this week. Paw safety in the heat, Same-Sex marriage milestone, a weird KKK thing is Sylva, home to WCU, Cicadas, local theater, and Word from the Smokies. I hope you enjoy. ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — As summer sets in and we take extra precautions in the heat, it is important to remember to take extra care with our furry friends. Pavement can become dangerously hot causing discomfort, blisters or burns to a dog’s paw pads. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, an air temperature of 86 degrees can heat the asphalt temperature to 135 degrees. ASHEVILLE TO EXPERIENCE FIRST HEAT WAVE OF THE SEASON; HIGHS TO HIT 90S A good rule of thumb is to place your hand or bare foot comfortably on the pavement for 10 seconds. If it’s too hot for you, it’s too hot for your dog’s paws. Here are some safety tips for the heat: Walk your dog in the early morning or evening, avoiding the hottest part of the day. Look out for grassy or shaded areas to walk on, too. Take cool water with you on longer walks and leave plenty of fresh cold water around to keep pets hydrated. Mine love to bob for ice cubes. They also like to lay on their cool mats on warm days. Try to avoid long walks on pavement. Hot pavement can increase a dog’s body temperature and contribute to the development of heat stress and heat stroke. Some dog types are particularly susceptible to overheating. Small and short-legged dogs are closer to the hot ground, so they absorb more heat. MORE in this story: Know the signs of heat exhaustion in dogs. Know the signs of heat stroke in dogs. ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — It was nearly a decade ago when Buncombe County was a part of equal rights history. It was October 2014 when the first same-sex marriage in North Carolina was made official on the Register of Deeds office steps. To celebrate the historic year, the office arranged for a new display to be placed on the walls at the entrance. A collection of photos lines the hallway and serves as a timeline for that memorable October day. The photography by Max Cooper includes a timeline of county officials, citizens and the first legally married couple reacting to the ruling in favor of the LGBTQ community. “It’s a whirlwind of emotions to walk through this hall of time,” Buncombe County Register of Deeds Drew Reisinger said Friday, June 14. “There are some beautiful humans who are showing love through their eyes. The photographer captured some incredible moments that will forever be remembered by those who were there.” About four months ago, neon pink signs bearing the initials “KKK” took Sylva by storm. The outrageous display was made possible by the misspelling of words like “Kurve,” “Kove” and “Kommerce” — paired with the first names of investors Kim and Kole Clapsaddle. In a recent article published in The Sylva Herald, the Clapsaddles defended their affinity for K words, noting that all their own names and children’s names started with K. But in 2024, it’s difficult to imagine that anyone, let alone a business, could be so wholly tone deaf.Many of us see it for something else: a racist dog whistle. A wink at the history and current reality of racism entrenched in Southern Appalachian culture. A message that is not welcome in this town. And, unfortunately, the promotional signs were just the warning shot. The signs promoted commercial properties all over our town — properties that may soon, presumably, bear those same disgraceful names. Initial community outrage may have been quieted by the mayor-advised removal of the promotional signs. But the Clapsaddles still have a choice to make as they bring these businesses to life. That choice — how they will market their empire — is bound to shape their relationship with Sylva forever, while shaping the image of our community itself. With longer days, butterflies aflutter and trees in full leaf, signs that summer is slowly settling into the mountains of Western North Carolina are all around us. Adding to those cues this year, however, is the historic emergence of not one but two broods of periodical cicadas — an insect native to North America and known for its rather loud mating song that permeates a summer evening. The two broods will emerge simultaneously across the eastern United States: brood 19, which only appears every 13 years, and the 17-year brood, known as brood number 13. Luke Owen, who works as a commercial horticulture agent at the N.C. Cooperative Extension, says that while only brood 19 will make an appearance in Western North Carolina, the occasion is just as momentous. “It’s going to be a cool thing for people to see if they get a chance,” he says. Xpress sat down with Owen to learn about the life cycle of cicadas and where we might see them this season. If you’re a fan of local theater, Western North Carolina offers plenty of options. Below are some highlights of productions hitting various stages across the region. Matchmaker, matchmaker Already in full swing, Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre’s 50th season reaches its centerpiece production with Fiddler on the Roof. Set in pre-revolutionary Russia, the musical theater classic follows tradition-minded Jewish peasant Tevye as he marries off his three idealistic daughters and contends with growing antisemitism in his village. The show runs Thursday, June 20-Sunday, June 30, at Owen Theatre on the campus of Mars Hill University. Janice Vertucci Schreiber directs this 60th-anniversary production of the beloved book by Joseph Stein, featuring music by Jerry Bock and lyrics from Sheldon Harnick. A Western North Carolina resident for the past six years, Vertucci Schreiber has a long history with the musical, which she describes as “extremely close to [her] heart.” No good thing ever dies Three decades after writer/director Frank Darabont memorably adapted the Stephen Kingnovella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption for the screen, the tale of wrongfully convicted felon Andy Dufresne’s odds-defying perseverance in Shawshank State Prison makes its way to the Flat Rock Playhouse stage. This adaptation of The Shawshank Redemption by Owen O’Neil and Dave Johns runs Friday, June 14-Sunday, June 30, and features such local veterans as Scott Treadway (Warden Stammas) and Pasquale LaCorte. “There’s some legends and stories about this particular area, this place we’re at right now,” said Tommy Cabe, who is the forest resource specialist for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and a member of the tribe, looking out over the vibrantly green forest floor surrounding a tiny stream that flows across Chimney Tops Trail. The same could be said of locations throughout Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a stunning landscape that has been home to Cherokee people for countless generations, long before the park was created and before the first European sailor ever made berth in North America. As the colonial era unfolded and the United States of America was established on land already occupied by diverse Native nations, European colonists and the U.S. government pushed the Cherokee onto ever-smaller pieces of their original territory until 1838, when the U.S. Army commenced a campaign to forcibly gather and remove Cherokee people to Oklahoma on the deadly Trail of Tears. Still, some Cherokee people escaped removal or managed to return. Today their ancestors, now known as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, occupy a remnant of the original territory adjacent to the park’s southeastern boundary. That history has imbued many tribal members with a well-earned distrust of the federal government. But a historic partnership between the tribe and the park, now in its sixth year, is helping to heal those wounds. In 2019, the two parties signed an agreement to issue tribal members permits to gather sochan (Rudbeckia laciniata), a culturally and nutritionally important native plant also known as cutleaf coneflower or green-headed coneflower. Five years later, both the tribe and the National Park Service are calling the program a success. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2024/6/15/2246814/-DKos-Asheville-Open-Thread-Paws-on-hot-pavement-Word-from-the-Smokies-KKK-marketing-in-Sylva Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/