It’s a good day when six to eight people pull up the gravel driveway to the Elvis Museum.

The tiny treasury, a transformed rental cabin, is nestled among one-story homes and a campground on U.S. 19 in Cherokee.

Dee Smith’s museum houses hundreds of Elvis Presley collectibles, from playing cards to pendants. No money exchanges hands; Smith will offer guests a free handmade Elvis magnet or quote bookmark, and ask for, in return, for people to sign her guest book.

This personal collection is, at most, artifacts of affection. Elvis didn’t touch anything sitting on the shelves or hanging on the walls. Instead, the objects, from fan art to well-worn, thick scrapbooks of clippings reporting his military service and love affairs, are evidence of how deeply the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll touched his dedicated fans.

It is almost literally in the shadow of Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort, which since 1997 has towered over nearby diners and gift shops with its more than a thousand rooms. The Elvis Museum is modest; there’s one room and is smaller than a typical mobile home.

“When people come, I ask them where they are from, where they are going,” said Smith, 77, who’s collected Elvis

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DURHAM, N.C. —  Former Duke standout Randy Denton along with eight others were announced as 2014 inductees into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame Monday. Denton, a 1971 All-America selection, is joined in the class by Eddie Biedenbach, A. J. Carr, Bob Colvin, Randy Denton, Lee Gliarmis, Marshall Happer, Rodney Rogers, Bob Waters (posthumously), and Frank Weedon (posthumously).

They will be enshrined at the 51st annual induction banquet on the evening of Friday, May 9, at the Raleigh Convention Center. An afternoon news conference will be held Thursday, May 8, at 4 p.m. at the N.C. Museum of History, home of the exhibit N.C. Sports Hall of Fame, located at 5 East Edenton Street in Raleigh.

“The achievements of this year’s class of inductees enrich North Carolina’s remarkable sports heritage, and they certainly earned the honor of joining the 300 men and women who have been previously enshrined,” said Fredrick Reese, president of the Hall. “This is our 51st class and we will have a program to celebrate this special time in our state’s sports history.”

Banquet ticket information is available at www.ncsportshalloffame.org or by calling (919) 845-3455.

The N.C. Sports Hall of Fame was established in 1963. The permanent exhibit N.C.

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Yes, the Blue Ridge Parkway is for the most part closed today for icy conditions. But, the Visitor Center, at Milepost 384 near the U.S. 74 entrance in Asheville, and the Folk Art Center, at MP 382 near the U.S. 70/Tunnel Road entrance, are both open usual hours today.

There is enough of the parkway road open to allow access to these areas, although the road in between them, as well as north and south, are all closed today.

Even if you’re not interested in going shopping at the Folk Art Center or browsing exhibits and watching the movie at the visitor center, the fact these two buildings are open comes in handy. You can park safely at both places and use them as jumping off points to the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, which scoots  past both buildings, and have yourself a nice, frosty, winter hike. The MTS is marked with a white circle on trees and posts.

Also, both these buildings operated by the National Park Service, have public bathrooms, also nice when you’re out hiking.

If you want to go a little further afoot, you can drive up to the gated sections of the parkway,

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Here we are, just a few days into 2014. It’s the dead of winter, and spring seems a lifetime away. But you can bet that some serious live music will chase away at least some of the winter blues.

Consider these 12 concert picks — a selection that takes us from the mountains to Mali to Martini time — as a survival guide of sorts, a gateway to some musical warmth as the season gets serious.

Jan. 17: Luke Bryan, Lee Brice and Cole Swindell. Country music continues its hold on concert bookings at Rupp Arena with the venue’s first headlining performance by Georgia-born Bryan (of Crash My Party fame). Don’t expect that hold to give way anytime soon: The performance is sold out. (7:30 p.m. Rupp Arena, 430 West Vine Street. Sold out, but last-minute tickets might become available: (859) 233-3565 or Ticketmaster, 1-800-745-3000 or Ticketmaster.com.)

Jan. 22: Yonder Mountain String Band and Travelin’ McCourys. Here’s something different. With Yonder mandolinist Jeff Austin on a brief hiatus after becoming a new dad, the band’s Lexington show will boast Ronnie McCoury and Jason Carter from the

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“Up until the past few days, we had only seen a handful of flu cases,” said Kirsten Cutler, communications manager at Park Ridge.

Though Cutler said it’s too soon to tell how this year’s flu season compares with 2012, she did say, “In North Carolina, it seems to have had a slower start this year.”

But if the flu was off to a slow start, it was also steady. Centers for Disease Control reported the flu was widespread in all parts of North Carolina for the week ending Dec. 28. Earlier this week, the state health department confirmed the total number of flu-related deaths had risen to 13.

“We can say the flu is definitely in Henderson County,” said Henderson County Health Department Communications Specialist Kim Horton.

Making preparations

Hospitals throughout the region have been preparing for the coming wave. Earlier this week, Mission Health implemented visitor limitations since the flu virus is highly contagious.

“Our patients are our first priority, and their health and safety is paramount,” said Dr. Dale Fell, senior vice president and system chief medical officer of Mission Health.

The restriction urges children younger than 12 and people who do not feel well to visit with patients by phone rather

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Winter weather is in the forecast for the next couple of days, including some of the coldest temperatures in recent memory. Cold arctic air will swing south into the Carolinas late Monday, with record low temperatures possible overnight Monday and into Tuesday – around 8 degrees. It also will be windy, with gusts up to 30 miles per hour, and the wind chill could make it feel below zero early Tuesday.

Sunday morning actually hasn’t been as cold, with temperatures in the low 30s, compared to 19 on Saturday.  But there was rain in Charlotte, and freezing rain to the north.  Sunday’s high was expected to be around 45 and  temperatures were expected to stay in the 40s overnight Sunday and into Monday. Snow is likely overnight tonight in Asheville and the mountains.

Monday will be sunny with a high of 42, then temperatures will start to fall Monday afternoon. Tuesday’s high will be in the low 20s. The air mass will shift back to normal by the end of the week, returning day time temperatures to the 50s.

FLU DEATHS ON THE RISE

The number of deaths from flu is rising as the winter flu season gets into full swing in the Carolinas.

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Posted: Saturday, January 4, 2014 3:06 pm

Flu update: More cases, more people seeking shots

MIKE CONLEY

The McDowell News

As more people throughout North Carolina are worried about the flu, local health care providers say they are seeing more folks coming in asking for the vaccine.

Brooke Waycaster is the site manager for the McDowell County Health Department on Spaulding Road, which is a part of the Rutherford-Polk-McDowell District Health Department.

“ We are still giving out flu vaccines on a walk-in basis,” she said. “We’ve seen an increase in the number of people coming in for flu shots.”

The

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