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Wednesday, 30 June 2010 15:11

Testing points to potential sediment runoff issues at quarry

Water pollution stemming from a Waynesville rock quarry is 100 times higher than that allowed under state standards, according to recent creek sampling by a state water quality specialist. Silt running off the Harrison Construction rock quarry into nearby Allens…
Wednesday, 30 June 2010 15:10

Franklin, Waynesville downtown organizations thriving

While Sylva’s downtown organization struggles for stable financial footing, similar programs in Waynesville and Franklin are seeing the results that strong support can yield. In May, Gov. Bev Perdue announced the awards of the first round of state funding for…
Wednesday, 30 June 2010 15:09

DSA’s future tenuous without more money

Recently, the town of Sylva passed a $1.6 million budget on a 3 to 2 vote. The most contentious line item in the finance package was a $12,000 allocation to the Downtown Sylva Association. Since the DSA was formed in…
Wednesday, 30 June 2010 15:07

Sylva town board to appoint Graham’s replacement

The Sylva town board is in for another shakeup. The board will vote at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 1, to appoint a replacement for Sarah Graham, who had to step down from her position because she and her family…
Wednesday, 30 June 2010 15:06

Replacement to Sylva town board sets stage for new voting majority

The make-up of Sylva’s town board shifted this week when board members voted 3-1 to replace outgoing board member Sarah Graham with Harold Hensley. The vote changes the town’s disposition from one with a progressive voting majority to one likely…
Wednesday, 30 June 2010 15:05

Runoff election for Swain sheriff sets stage for brisk competition come fall

Swain County residents overwhelmingly chose John Ensley in Tuesday’s Democratic primary runoff for sheriff — those who voted anyway. Ensley, the owner of Yellow Rose Realty, easily prevailed over opponent Mitchell Jenkins with 478 votes. With more than 60 percent…
Wednesday, 30 June 2010 15:04

Cashing in the cash settlement for property tax holiday lacks traction among Swain leaders

At a special session of the Swain County board last week, Commissioner David Monteith stood up and stunned the crowd with a controversial proposal for spending the North Shore Road cash settlement money. Monteith called for a one-year suspension of…
Wednesday, 23 June 2010 14:56

Quarry neighbors square off against workers at public hearing

A packed public hearing last week over a Waynesville rock quarry pitted neighbors opposing an expansion of the mine against its workers. The Allens Creek quarry mines granite, which is used in road building and is the primary raw material…
Wednesday, 23 June 2010 14:54

Building boom underway in medical field

Every hospital in the MedWest Health System — which covers Haywood, Jackson and Swain counties — will see new construction in the next few years. A one-story urgent care center, also housing minor X-ray and laboratory services, will be built…
Wednesday, 23 June 2010 14:53

Tribe moves to implement DNA testing for new applicants to Cherokee rolls

The Tribal Council of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has passed a new enrollment ordinance that requires DNA testing for new applicants to the tribe’s rolls. The DNA testing will be used to verify the applicant’s parental lineage. The…
Wednesday, 23 June 2010 14:48

Quarry regulations fall between the cracks

A Waynesville rock quarry where a major slide occurred last year was operating without rules governing the stability or safety of its massive walls, which tower hundreds of feet in the air. There are no state or federal engineering standards…
Wednesday, 23 June 2010 14:47

Sylva budget passes on split vote

Funding for the Downtown Sylva Association has caused a rift in the Sylva town board for the fifth year running. Town leaders last week approved a $2.3 million budget for the coming fiscal year by a vote of 3 to…
Wednesday, 23 June 2010 14:45

Trooper honored with bridge naming

The N.C. Department of Transportation dedicated the bridge at Exit 31 of Interstate 40 in Haywood County in honor of State Trooper Shawn Blanton, last Thursday, the two-year anniversary of his death. “From this day forward, all who cross this…
Wednesday, 23 June 2010 14:43

Runoff election for Swain sheriff sets stage for brisk competition come fall

Swain County residents overwhelmingly chose John Ensley in Tuesday’s Democratic primary runoff for sheriff — those who voted anyway. Ensley, the owner of Yellow Rose Realty and a certified North Carolina law enforcement officer, easily prevailed over opponent Mitchell Jenkins…
Wednesday, 23 June 2010 14:41

Franklin clinic demonstrates V.A.’s great leap forward

The Veterans Administration’s community-based outpatient clinic in Franklin will be just two years old in August, but it’s already operating at capacity. The clinic’s three full-time doctors have full dockets, and to them, that’s a sign the V.A.’s new service…
Wednesday, 23 June 2010 14:35

Sylva aims to ban downtown workers from parking on main shopping drag

The town of Sylva plans to impose a new parking law to stop shop owners and employees from taking up customer parking on Main Street. While most towns in the region face the same challenge — what to do about…
Wednesday, 23 June 2010 14:34

Swain to hire animal control officer, yet still lacks vehicle and shelter

Long-awaited relief for Swain County’s dire animal control problem has finally arrived. For years, residents had no recourse if a vicious dog or colony of stray cats took up residence on their property. Now, county officials hope to hire their…
Wednesday, 23 June 2010 14:33

Can’t pop the top

As part of the major renovation of the historic Jackson County Courthouse, workers from Brantley Construction were set to remove the building’s signature dome last Friday. But three separate attempts to lift it off by crane failed. The wood inside…
Wednesday, 23 June 2010 14:31

Summer poses challenge for feeding low-income kids

Thousands of poor and low-income children across Western North Carolina rely on schools to get least at one square meal a day, but with classes now out for summer, there’s no easy solution for keeping kids fed. “This question has…
Wednesday, 16 June 2010 14:25

Quarry expansion plan fuels residents’ complaints

Jackie Shuler has lived in the shadow of the Waynesville rock quarry most of her life. But as blasts have grown stronger and the size of the quarry bigger, so has the list of Shuler’s complaints. “If you were home…
Wednesday, 16 June 2010 14:22

Longtime legal counsel receives WCU Trustees’ Award

Rich Kucharski, chief legal counsel for Western Carolina University, became the seventh person in university history to receive one of the institution’s highest honors when the WCU board of trustees presented him with the Trustees’ Award. Retiring this summer after…
Wednesday, 16 June 2010 14:18

Quarry plays vital role in economy

Harrison Construction’s rock quarry on Allens Creek in Waynesville mines granite for building roads, driveways and concrete house pads. The raw crushed stone forms the base for roadbeds and is also the main ingredient in asphalt and concrete. Harrison has…
Wednesday, 16 June 2010 14:17

Employee pay at center of Jackson County budget debate

With the Jackson County budget a few short weeks from completion, a split emerged among commissioners concerning raises for county workers. Last week Commissioners Tom Massie, William Shelton and Mark Jones voted to eliminate employee raises in the upcoming budget…
Wednesday, 16 June 2010 14:16

Democrats in Swain Sheriff race prepare for runoff

On Tuesday (June 22), Swain County voters will decide which Democrat will face Republican Curtis Cochran in the hotly contested sheriff’s race this fall. Though candidate John Ensley won the primary with an impressive 28 percent of the vote —…
Wednesday, 16 June 2010 14:15

Schools watch, wait and plan as Raleigh budget debate plays out

While university leaders are nervously hoping state lawmakers will pass a budget that looks something like the Senate version, many K-12 school officials are openly rooting for the House version. Seeing public schools and colleges compete for the same budget…
Wednesday, 16 June 2010 14:13

New SCC president had former career at WCU

The Southwestern Community College Board of Trustees has settled on a replacement for outgoing President Cecil Groves. Last week, the board approved the selection of Dr. Richard Collings, president of Wayne State College in Nebraska and a former administrator at…
Wednesday, 16 June 2010 14:11

Budget crunch deals blow to WCU

Western Carolina University Chancellor John Bardo fears the budget passed by the General Assembly this year might cast a shadow over the state’s future for years to come. Like many university leaders across North Carolina, Bardo opposes the House version…
Wednesday, 16 June 2010 14:07

Macon commissioners whittle away at budget, but tax hike stays

Having already committed to a 1.5 cent tax rate increase to pay for building a new school in the north part of the county, Macon County commissioners were forced to cut departmental budgets to the bone this year in the…
Wednesday, 16 June 2010 13:56

Sunburst Trout chef journeys to D.C. in the name of healthy food

Hundreds of chefs gathered in Washington, D.C., Friday, June 4, to launch Chefs Move to Schools, a program designed to get healthy food into cafeterias. Among their ranks was Charles Hudson, the research and development chef for Sunburst Trout Company…
Wednesday, 16 June 2010 13:54

Atmosphere wins over delegates to Lake J’s Methodist conference

Lake Junaluska, a century-old retreat for Methodist clergy and their families, will remain the favored venue for a major annual conference of the United Methodist Church. The Western North Carolina Conference — a formal gathering of Methodist churches from the…
Wednesday, 09 June 2010 13:48

At long last, Cherokee telling their own story

For decades the story of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians wasn’t their own. Tourists flocked to see Cherokee men dance in the streets dressed as Great Plains Indians, arrayed in long feathered headdresses. The tribe’s history play, “Unto These…
Wednesday, 09 June 2010 13:47

Downtown Sylva to get more free parking

Years of complaining by Sylva merchants that there isn’t enough parking downtown has spurred the Sylva town board to lease a private parking lot near the intersection of Mill and Main Streets. The board voted 4 to 1 to lease…
Wednesday, 09 June 2010 13:45

Public outcry pushes Duke to consider new substation site

Duke Energy wants an option to buy land at the Swain County Industrial Park with the intention of using it as the alternate site for an electrical substation, which was originally slated for the Ela area. According to Jason Walls,…
Wednesday, 09 June 2010 13:43

WCU grad drowns during tubing trip

A river tubing trip on a sunny day ended in tragedy last week when a recent Western Carolina University grad drowned. Allen Stanley Brisson, 22, of Cullowhee was tubing with friends on the Tuckasegee River on June 3. According to…
Wednesday, 09 June 2010 13:41

Apartment complex fills unmet need in WNC

The demand for stress-free, turnkey living was largely an untapped market in the region until the recent debut of VantagePointe Homes, a newly completed apartment community located in Waynesville. The 160-unit apartment development on 13.5 acres isn’t the first community…
Wednesday, 09 June 2010 13:39

Haywood budget cuts pose hardship for some library users

Kaleigh Davis, 12, comes to the Haywood County Public Library with her aunt Marlene Arrington almost every Thursday night. Arrington said the family can’t afford a computer at home so when Davis had to do a project that was a…
Wednesday, 09 June 2010 13:38

Trash controversy dominates Haywood budget discussion

When the hour finally arrived for Haywood County commissioners to vote on a budget for the upcoming year, Haywood County Chairman Kirk Kirkpatrick expressed his wish for a unanimous vote. That’s exactly what he got. But that 5-0 victory for…
Wednesday, 09 June 2010 13:35

Towns demand parity in Haywood trash plan

There was one thing Haywood County commissioners, town officials, private haulers and county employees could all agree upon at last week’s public hearing on the budget: Someone, somewhere has to pay for the skyrocketing costs of trash operations in the…
Wednesday, 09 June 2010 13:34

Lake Junaluska at risk of losing most meaningful conference

Despite its peaceful atmosphere and long history as a spiritual center for Methodists, Lake Junaluska may lose the annual United Methodist Church conference it has hosted for more than half a century. Space limitations at the Lake have prompted the…
Wednesday, 09 June 2010 13:30

Civil suit targeting Jackson sheriff fails

“The only reasonable verdict here is for Sheriff Ashe,” Patrick Flanagan told the jury. “He did not commit any wrongdoing here.” The eight-person jury in the Bryson City federal courtroom agreed, taking slightly less than an hour to clear Jackson…
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 20:12

Strand project kick started with state grant

Hidden behind 16 feet of Main Street storefront, the inside of The Strand Theater looks like a cave. The floor slopes down to a black stage surrounded by tall, black walls. Old theater chairs are stacked on the wall closest…
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 20:11

Perdue gets enthusiastic welcome in Waynesville

Gov. Beverly Perdue visited Main Street Friday to announce that Waynesville received a $300,000 grant from the state’s Main Street Solutions fund to help with The Strand Theater renovations. “We decided Waynesville would be one of the best places in…
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 20:09

Jackson library campaign marks success, new goals

On May 25 the Friends of the Jackson County Main Library marked the completion of their astonishing two-year fundraising drive, reaching their goal of $1.6 million to outfit the interior of the new library on Courthouse Hill in Sylva. Jane…
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 20:08

Waynesville bookstore changes ownership

Waynesville residents may soon notice the sign on Main Street’s Blue Ridge Books & Café switched out for a new one that says just Blue Ridge Books. The name change will be the most conspicuous sign of the switch in…
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 20:07

What is Buy Haywood?

Supported by the Golden LEAF Foundation since 2007, Buy Haywood has enjoyed success promoting the county’s farms. Its first project targeted grocery store chains and successfully enlisted Whole Foods, Ingles, Food Lion, Bi-Lo, Lowes Food and others into carrying tomatoes,…
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 20:05

Haywood County 911 director calls for help

Haywood County’s technology director Kristy Wood wasn’t exactly latching onto the hope that commissioners would grant her $2.8 million budget request for the county’s 911 Communications department this year. The proposed budget shows an allocation of about $495,000 instead, a…
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 20:01

Cherokee passport checkpoint a fun reminder

Martie Hoofer was driving her motorcycle into Cherokee from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park when an Anikituhwa warrior dressed for battle stopped her and asked for her passport. “I was shocked,” Hoofer said. “I believed him. My passport is…
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 19:58

Swain County to air proposed zoning ordinance

In March Swain County commissioners voted to enact a moratorium that put a halt to Duke Energy’s substation project on a hill overlooking the Cherokee mound site, Kituwah. The moratorium was passed amidst a heated dialogue between the county, the…
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 19:56

County power struggle surfaces in Finn v. Ashe trial

“Putting Mr. Finn out of business is not a duty of the Jackson County sheriff. Is that a fair statement?” asked Frank Contrivo Jr., the lawyer representing David Finn. “That statement or thought has never crossed my mind,” said Jackson…
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 16:42

Linking farmers to restaurants not always easy

On one side are local farmers, toiling from dawn to dusk, trying to compete in an increasingly globalized economy. On the other are local restaurant owners, caught up with the myriad responsibilities of running a successful small business. Hovering in…
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 16:40

New venture welcomed by downtown business community

Downtown Waynesville merchants hope a plan to remodel the old Strand theater as an entertainment venue, restaurant and microbrewery will return the former icon to a Main Street magnet once again. “We are excited about it. We think it is…
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 16:38

Students take lettuce from greenhouse to cafeteria

It doesn’t get much fresher than this. Horticulture students at Smoky Mountain High School in Sylva are helping to feed their peers by supplying the school cafeteria with lettuce. Students are growing lettuce hydroponically in a greenhouse, where plant roots…
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 16:37

From garden to table in Sylva

In Sylva, the buy local mantra is being reinterpreted as grow your own. Volunteers at the Community Table, a nonprofit that provides free, nutritious meals to anyone who needs them, helped to create the Sylva Community Garden six years ago…
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 16:24

Men who built Blue Ridge Parkway recount hard work, dangerous conditions

Lorin Shaw was barely 16 when he landed a job with a crew building the Blue Ridge Parkway in the late-1930s. “We were lucky to get the work because there was no work back then,” said Shaw, who was born…
Wednesday, 02 June 2010 16:03

Complaint filed over ballot counting before polls closed

An election watchdog in Swain County is protesting the tallying of early votes before the close of polls on Election Day, claiming it could have given some candidates an unfair advantage if those results be leaked. The results from early…
Tuesday, 24 August 2010 19:31

HCC has very little risk on green energy venture, say experts

Alternative energy has emerged as a sticking point in the debate over a proposed $10 million creative arts building at Haywood Community College. The project is in limbo as it awaits approval from county commissioners, who have expressed reservations for…
Tuesday, 24 August 2010 19:29

Spine Center coming to Angel Medical

Spine care for residents of Macon and adjoining counties will be available in Franklin beginning Tuesday, Sept. 7 with the opening of Mission Outpatient Spine Center at Angel Medical Center. A grand opening celebration will be held at noon on Sept.…
Tuesday, 24 August 2010 19:28

HCC offers business planning course

Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning will be offered from 6 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursdays from Sept. 14 through Oct. 7. This four-week course will be held at Haywood Community College in the Freedlander Building in Room 204.…
Tuesday, 24 August 2010 19:26

Scenic highway designation extended along Little Tennessee River

The historic significance of the Cowee Valley corridor received a national boost this month following the designation of N.C. 28 as part of the Indian Lakes Scenic Byway. “We had to make our case for the project, document the project…
Tuesday, 24 August 2010 19:25

Foreclosure threatened against Ghost Town amusement park

Ghost Town in the Sky is staring down the barrel of foreclosure. BB&T has filed for foreclosure against the amusement park, which owes BB&T $9.5 million dating back to 2007. Of that amount, $6.5 million was to purchase of the…
Tuesday, 24 August 2010 19:24

Blue Ridge Hall opens its doors

Of the 1,450 Western Carolina University freshmen set to move in Aug. 20, about 375 will score a room in the brand new Blue Ridge Hall. The hall is the second of a pair of residence halls built as part…
Tuesday, 24 August 2010 19:24

Free hand screening to be held at Harris

Dr. Paul Cutting, an orthopedic doctor at Western Carolina Orthopedic Specialists who specializes in hand and upper extremity surgery, will offer a free hand screening from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday. Sept. 9, at the outpatient therapy department in…
Tuesday, 24 August 2010 19:23

Children and youth provide leadership at Peace Celebration

Lake Junaluska Assembly invites youth and children to become peacemakers at the 2010 Lake Junaluska Peace Celebration: Mosaic of Hope, Sept. 18 through 19. The unique two-day event features leadership from children’s activist Jeni Stepanek, as well as youth and…
Tuesday, 24 August 2010 19:22

Contractor heads to court over unpaid grading work

A Jackson County grading company was left holding the bag on more than $200,000 in site work after the developer who hired it went bankrupt. The grading company has filed a lawsuit targeting the current property owner in hopes of…
Tuesday, 24 August 2010 19:21

Jackson Child Support enforcement best in the state

For the second time in three years, the Jackson County Child Support Enforcement Program has achieved the ranking of No. 1 in the state, according to a report released by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services for fiscal…
Tuesday, 24 August 2010 19:20

Rabies shots likely in store for dozens

More than 40 people in Haywood County might have been exposed to rabies after a baby raccoon a family was caring for died and tested positive for the disease. The raccoon died of rabies infection Aug. 13. Prior to its…
Tuesday, 24 August 2010 19:18

New policy at Tuscola touches off student dissent

In the 1970s, blue jeans and boys with shaggy hair were as scandalous in Western North Carolina schools as miniskirts and pants sagging well below the waist are today. Teenage fashion continues marching onward in its evolution, leaving school administrators…
Tuesday, 24 August 2010 19:17

Decrepit Swain jail to be bulldozed for extra downtown parking

Bryson City merchants can expect some relief from the downtown parking crunch once the old Swain County Jail is torn down in the next two weeks. The crumbling jail was abandoned a couple of years ago for a new multimillion-dollar…
Tuesday, 24 August 2010 19:16

Bar passes on recommending judge for vacant seat

Attorneys in the state’s seven westernmost counties sent a message to the governor this week that they don’t want a temporary fill-in as judge before the November election. The retirement of longtime District Court Judge Danny Davis would typically trigger…
Tuesday, 24 August 2010 19:14

Manager’s push for outside help raises concerns

Finding a new police chief for Sylva might take more time than anticipated after some of the town’s board members balked at using outside help. In early August, Town Manager Adrienne Isenhower notified commissioners via email she intended to enlist…
Tuesday, 17 August 2010 20:14

Unsuspecting couple faces foreclosure after chain of events

A Canton couple has sued town Alderman Eric Dills and three attorneys after learning their home was unknowingly being used as collateral by Dills’ for a revolving loan. For more than 10 years, Carol and Joseph Hannah were unaware that…
Tuesday, 17 August 2010 20:13

Chevy hybrid put through the paces

When General Motors began looking for a good place to test the power of a new Hybrid car being released this fall, two of WNC’s most notorious curvy roads rose to the top. Both Tail of the Dragon and Hellbender…
Tuesday, 17 August 2010 20:12

Benefit dinner planned for Catman2 shelter

The Balsam Mountain Inn will have a special dinner at 6 and 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 24 to provide donations to the Catman2 Spay and Neuter program. All proceeds from the dinner will defray costs for the shelter and pay…
Tuesday, 17 August 2010 20:11

Arts building debate focuses on cost, green technology, and importance of craft industry

A crowd of 50 Haywood Community College supporters turned out Monday at a two-and-a-half hour public hearing to urge county commissioners to back a $10.3 million project to build a new Creative Arts building. Artists, gallery owners, craft instructors and…
Tuesday, 17 August 2010 20:10

Waynesville’s special police unit puts new spin on fighting crime

Not long ago, Waynesville’s historic Frog Level district was fraught with littered beer bottles and an unrelenting band of vagrants. “Sleeping under back decks, defecating on front doorsteps, leaving wine bottles and beer cans,” said Lieutenant Brian Beck. “The creek…
Tuesday, 17 August 2010 20:06

Trying for a lifetime to forgive

Inside Mary J. Messer’s cozy Bargain Books in Waynesville, hundreds of thousands of books are stacked ceiling high. Messer sits herself close to the door so she can greet customers as soon as they walk in and help them navigate…
Tuesday, 17 August 2010 20:05

Retired general to speak to Jackson GOP

The Jackson County GOP’s Orville Coward Forum on Public Issues program featuring Retired U.S. Marine Corp Gen. Geoff Higginbotham will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 23, at the Sapphire Resort Community Center in Sapphire. Gen. Higginbotham’s service…
Tuesday, 17 August 2010 20:02

Cherokee’s new nerve center pushes the envelope inside and out

State-of-the-art defines just about everything the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians builds these days. Gorgeous architectural lines, native mountain building materials, energy efficient green design — with price tags to match — are hallmarks of everything from a $140 million…
Tuesday, 17 August 2010 19:57

Jackson businesses checked for taxable equipment

Jackson County launched a comprehensive audit two years ago to make sure businesses are paying enough taxes on all their equipment and machinery. So far, more than 300 have been audited, reaping an additional $90,000 in annual tax revenue. Just…
Tuesday, 17 August 2010 19:55

Jackson Paper says tax bill tallied unfairly

After being hit with a county audit of its machinery, Jackson Paper factory in Sylva is disputing what it considers a highly inflated tax bill. The business audit claimed Jackson Paper had been underestimating the value of its equipment for…
Tuesday, 17 August 2010 19:53

Cowee hatches plans for community center of the first degree

According to public input so far, a reworked Cowee School could bear close resemblance to another historic Western North Carolina schoolhouse — what is now known as the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center in Graham County. Students at the Cowee…
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 20:23

HCC offers new courses through JobsNOW Program

Haywood Community College will offer Medical Office Assistant, Nurse Aide I, and Phlebotomy courses in August through the JobsNOW Program. Students in the programs can obtain a certificate in less than six months that includes workplace readiness skills and completion…
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 20:22

African-American Clergy summit provides self-care and renewal

Lake Junaluska Assembly will hold its African-American Clergy Health Summit September 27 to 28. Participants will participate in a self-care covenant workshop designed specifically for African-American clergy, which reflects the health summit’s theme, “Wanting to Heal and Be Healed,” John…
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 20:21

Smoky Mountain Cabin Raffle to benefit mentor program

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Western North Carolina will hold the 1st Annual Smoky Mountain Cabin Raffle to benefit its efforts to recruit, screen, train and support caring adults who want to make a difference in the life of a…
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 20:21

Neighbor to Family offers free foster parent classes

Neighbor to Family, a nonprofit aimed at improving foster care by keeping siblings together, is offering free classes to potential foster parents. Classes will be held at the Neighbor to Family office beginning with an orientation class at 5:30 p.m.…
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 20:20

Grief support offered to the community

An eight-week grief support group will meet from noon to 1:30 p.m. Tuesdays from Aug. 24 to Oct. 12 in the second floor classroom at Haywood Regional Health & Fitness Center. The group sessions will be facilitated by Dan Yearick,…
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 20:19

Glenville residents launch Glenville Area History Project

Glenville residents are working to preserve the area’s rich history. Woody Hayes is leading a group of community members as they record and transcribe interviews of prominent residents. Residents will be asked for recollections, photos, drawings and other documents. In…
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 20:17

HCC building headed for a public hearing

For months, debate surrounding the price tag of a new Creative Arts building on the Haywood Community College campus has largely pitted the county commissioners against the college board. But now, on the eve of a key public hearing that…
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 20:16

Medicaid applicant victim of financial theft by DSS worker

An elderly man was swindled out of $5,500 by a Department of Social Services employee in Swain County, according to an investigation by the Bryson City police department. As nursing home bills for his wife mounted, the man had sought…
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 20:15

Elder abuse training available to public

The 30th Judicial District Domestic Violence-Sexual Assault Alliance is working to end elder abuse by offering training sessions across the far western counties of North Carolina. Statistics from the National Center for Elder Abuse state that between one and two…
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 20:13

Angling for floor space in the old Cowee school

From the Macon County Fire Department to a persistent group of contra dancers, a long list of groups is vying for the chance to use the old Cowee school once it is vacated by students in two years. Stacy Guffey,…
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 20:11

Federal money to outfit community college with green teaching tools

A $300,000 federal grant awarded to three community colleges will help ready a Western North Carolina workforce for the rapidly growing green technology field. Some 400 students are expected to enroll in programs supported by the Appalachian Regional Commission grant…
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 20:10

Jackson Green Energy Park gets its day in the sun

The Jackson County Green Energy Park took center stage last week as Governor Bev Perdue and the Appalachian Regional Commission dropped in for a tour, touting the initiative as a model of the new green economy. Perdue spent about an…
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 20:06

WCU unveils plans for Town Center

Western Carolina University hopes to create a new commercial hub to bolster life on campus and serve the larger Cullowhee community. The university wants to carve out 35 acres from the main campus to create a “Town Center.” Building sites…
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 20:02

Forest Hills hears Cullowhee’s pitch to join forces

The idea of turning Cullowhee into a real town drew several dozen people to a public presentation last week where they were hit with contrasting images of Old Cullowhee — a before and after of what exists now compared to…
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 20:01

MedWest introduces new physicians

MedWest Health System invites the community to meet several new physicians who have recently joined the medical staff at its Sylva campus 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 16, in the lobby of Harris Regional Hospital. A reception for the…
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 20:00

HRMC foundation holds golf outing

The Haywood Regional Medical Center Foundation will host the 19th Annual Charitable Classic Golf & Gala Aug. 31 and Sept. 1. This year, the fundraiser will include a third golf course and offer two chances to win a new car.…
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 20:00

Farmers and chefs come to table

The Buy Haywood Project is bringing farmers and chefs from Haywood County and surrounding counties together for the third in a series of meetings aimed at connecting local farmers and chefs. The meeting, which will feature a panel of local…
Tuesday, 10 August 2010 19:59

Hospital hosts annual medical symposium

The Highlands-Cashiers Hospital and its Board of Directors is offering area physicians, active and retired, the opportunity to attend a continuing educational seminar beginning 8 a.m. Aug. 13 at the Jane Woodruff Clinic, Suite 103. The seminar will focus on…
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