psige 6
April 8, 2002
FEATURES
A Breakthrough in
Brevard History
-by ALISSIA NORMAN, staff writer-
Unsure about whether or not she wanted
to attend colleee, but willfully listening to
the advice of ner high school counselor,
Mary Alice Wilkes Mooney went on to be
come the first African-American to attend
Brevard College nearly thirty years after it
was established in its present location.
A graduate of Allen High School, a for
merly existing private boarding school in
Asheville, Mooney became a Brevard Col
lege student in 1962 at the age of eighteen.
Although she attended for only one and one-
half years, what she learned has helped her
throughout her lifetime and is still helping
her this very day.
“The people were civil, not very friendly,
but civil,” she says with a chuckle, “But then
again, I was not very friendly either. I was
shy, and I did not know how to communi
cate very well with others. My time at
Brevard College helped me to mature, learn
how to relate to others, and know how to
conduct myself in any environment regard
less of whether or not it is an environment I
prefer. I have no regrets, and 1 am glad I
went.”
Mooney majored in secretarial science, tak
ing classes in typing, short hand, history, and
English to complete her degree require
ments. Today she is employed as a secretary
at RJ-S Ecusta here in Transylvania County.
Her advice to all young adults is to finish
high school and go on to college to become
a graduate. She says it is one of the most
important decisions a student will ever make.
TVA Tightens the Noose:
Water Release Issues on the Ocoee River
-Clarion staff photo.-
-by CHRIS BEAUVAIS, guest writer-
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has
recendy announced a fee increase on the
Ocoee River in Tennessee that would force
commercial outfitters to pay a great deal
more for whitewater releases. They also an
nounced that they would no longer supply
free water to national events held on the river.
These events include the Ocoee Rodeo and
the U.S. Canoe and Kayak team trials. The
fee increase has the potential to ruin small
rafting companies and force larger ones to
pull out of Ae river. This will leave a beau
tiful intermediate whitewater river dry. There
is another, much bigger issue to be discussed
here; does man truly have the right to “own”
the water to a naturally free flowing river?
The Ocoee issue is a long way from over.
Whitewater paddling, like every other sport,
carries its own set of frustrations and issues
to deal with. Being a kayaker myself, I check
several websites nearly every day to see which
rivers are flowing and where the closest
storm is. Often, days go by with litde or no
rain, forcing anxious paddlers to rely on dam-
controlled rivers like the Green, the
Nantahala, the Pigeon, and one of my per
sonal favorites, the Ocoee. Unfortunately,
just like every other sport, when there is
money to be made, people want to reach their
hand deeper and deeper into the till.
The Ocoee is an incredibly diverse natural
and man made river. The Upper Ocoee in
cludes the manmade $26 miUion Olympic
Whitewater Center, home of the U.S. Ca
noe and Kayak teams, and site of the Ocoee
Rodeo, and National Slalom competitions.
If this section of river is closed, the U.S.
Olympic Teams will be forced to find a new
training ground, decreasing much of the rev
enue coming into the surrounding areas. As
a matter of fact, the local economy gains over
30 times the amount of money that TVA
forgoes for every whitewater release, and the
Ocoee is the only river in the country where
recrearionalists are charged for water. The
Middle and Lower Ocoee is home to a $20
million a year commercial rafting industry.
Thousands of people flock to the river when
the dams release to catch wild rides on rap
ids such as Smiley’s and Hell Hole, but all
this can soon change.
Currendy, American Whitewater (AW), a
national conservation organi2ation dedicated
to river access, has opened a forum to dis
cuss planning and release schedules with the
TVA in hopes to lower or eradicate the fee
increase, and has invited professionals from
around the globe to voice their opinions
about the issue. This forum encourages
people to voice their opinions, while at the
same time take a look from the perspective
of the odier side. As a matter of fact, AW
has place the Ocoee issue in their top ten
conservation issues list, one of two located
in the Southern Appalachians.
I recendy had the privilege of discussing
the issue with Kevin Colburn, the Eastern
Conservation and Access Associate for
American Whitewater, who deals with all the
paddling related issues in the Eastern U.S.,
and is the organizer of the Ocoee campaign.
Colburn told me that “TVA no longer re
ceives appropriations from congress, and is
apparendy 25 billion dollars in debt. They
feel that they were great stewards at the
Ocoee because they “subsidized” the
whitewater recreation industry for 5 years
through providing several free releases for
events and through allowing rafting compa
nies to purchase water.” This decision to
increase fees means that “in a few years there
could be no more water flowing through the
upper Ocoee, and the 26 million dollar
Ocoee whitewater center will no longer have
white\rater as an attraction,” and that “raft
ing companies will continue to buy their 20
allowed days per year at increasingly great
costs until it is no longer economically fea
sible, which will not take long.” What all of
this points to is that one day, there might
not be any more whitewater flowing through
the Ocoee, and Tennessee will no longer have
such a great source of revenue because of
TVWs greed.
When I asked Colburn about TVA’s stance
that they own” the water that flows through
the river, he simply responded, “it is not ethi
cal and it is not legal.” He then expounded
on his statement by explaining that, “The
waters of the US belong to the public, thanks
to the public trust doctrine. This is a wise
le^l acknowledgement that rivers have in
trinsic value and are simply too complex and
valuable to belong to anyone. TVA has taken
the Ocoee hostage and is profiting from it
at the expense of the regional economy, other
river users, and the river itself... If TVA were
privatized, rather than a pseudo-governmen
tal organization, releases would be required
by FERC... This greedy behavior is far
from ethical.”
American Whitewater is fighting hard to
keep TVA from increasing the fees for the
river, and recendy Colburn was nominated I
to represent downstream recreationalists on
a review board for the Reservoir Operations
Study (ROS) of the Ocoee. Colburn told me
that AW been supplying TVA with informa
tion and possible solutions, and is trying to j
work with them toward a resolution. Yet,
“without a huge public response, the Ocoee
win likely dry up.” There are three steps that
the general public can do to help save the
river:
Step 1. File comments on the ROJ” during scoping
(March 21st - April) that say how important the
Ocoee is and that free releases must be provided.
Step 2. File ROS comments after the Draft En
vironmental Impact Statement comes out in March
of 03, following AW’s recommendations. We are
going to follow the forest services preferred alterna-
tive from a 1996 alternative that requests 74 re
leases per year be provided by TVA.
Step 3. Call, wnte, or visit with your congres
sional representatives and tell them that there must
be releases provided on the Ocoee, or TVA should
be reformed.
Thanks to Colburn and American
Whitewater, “we finally have a process to get
releases in the upper Ocoee. TVA’s auda
cious attitude about owning the water should
not stand without public opposition. Ev- I
eryone that has ever rafted the Ocoee should I
file comments on this issue and demand that
TVA begin sharing die Ocoee with its other '
millions of owners. Plenty of people think
that TVA must be reformed to be more fi
nancially, ethically and environmentally re
sponsible. With the Ocoee issue, TVA has
a chance to prove them right or wrong.”
The time has come for action. Grab your
pens and grab your paddles. Let TVA know
what you think of t^s kind of illegal behav
ior. It is time that the paddling community
shares one voice. We cannot let another river
go dry.
For more information, see:
www.americanwhitewater.org