Keep West as tax collector
To the Editor: With the election date drawing near, I am apprehensive about the Republican candidate for Haywood County Tax Collector.…
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‘Granny over the cliff’ just doesn’t work
To the Editor: You have to laugh at the way liberals in the news portray the big bad Republicans. They are…
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GOP wants to cut entitlements
To the Editor: Who cares if you’re a Republican or Democrat? Who cares if you like Biden? Who cares who will…
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Planned Parenthood supports Democrats
To the Editor: Cheri Beasley is a liar. Without providing any proof she claims that the majority of folks in North…
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Into the woods on my 43rd birthday
The sound of falling leaves crunched under our feet as we searched for the white blazes along the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.…
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Conservatives’ concerns helped our schools
To the Editor. I wholeheartedly agree with Editor Scott McLeod’s article in the October issue regarding removing politics from school boards and…
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Vote Platt for N.C. House 119
To the Editor: Al Platt will be a terrific N.C. 119 District representative.
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Medicaid expansion would boost WNC economy
A strong and healthy economy will benefit everyone in Western North Carolina, which is why we need Medicaid expansion. As…
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Destroying democracy is GOP’s agenda
To the Editor: The MAGA Republican agenda has nothing to do with making America great. It has everything to do…
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Two candidates invited, only one likely to show
To the Editor: The sheriff is our highest elected official in Jackson County and has the duty to “keep the…
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Election deniers threaten democracy
To the Editor: The office of secretary of state (not usually considered a high-profile post) this year may well represent…
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Stop voting by political affiliation
To the Editor: I believe voting straight ticket, R or D, is this country’s downfall. Too many voters refuse to…
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Inspired by Haywood’s assistant superintendent
The cool thing about elementary students is they still get excited about the events and activities going on at their…
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Keeping politics out of public schools
Education and public schools have never been completely immune from the shifting winds of politics, but events of the last…
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GOP ad made baseless claims
To the Editor: The print ad published by the Haywood GOP in the 2022 Haywood County Fair Guide was full…
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Time to ‘Man up for women’
To the Editor: Men, especially young men, need to speak out and vote for a woman’s right to a safe,…
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Finding real news is just not that hard
National Public Lands Day dawned crisp and cool Saturday, Sept. 24, a celebration of everything most beloved about fall in…
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Moral decay in U.S. is abominable
To the Editor: Most Americans who care about their country and who vote faithfully want desperately to believe that the…
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Ted Budd is a troubling candidate
To the Editor: I am an independent voter. I belong to no political party, but rather base my choices on…
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Ghost Town’s obituary is written
To the Editor: Frankie Wood conned Alaska Presley into believing he could bring Ghost Town back and was able to…
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Elton John and the value of forever friends
Many moons ago, when I attended a seventh-grade sleepover, I met a new girl in town. Her name was Lana.…
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Reaction to accident is disheartening
To the Editor: It makes me sick to think people would applaud Helping Hands not getting funding from Waynesville after…
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Loose canines are a cyclist’s nightmare
To the Editor: I became a cyclist in June 2020, and it has changed my life for the better. I…
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Swain ‘Rally’ was a huge success
To the Editor: The Swain County “Rally for Health, Hope and Recovery” was a huge success. The event included about…
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Haywood School Board misses an opportunity
When the Haywood County School Board announced that it had chosen Trevor Putnam as the system’s new superintendent, I can’t…
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A cautionary tale of Covid’s resilience
Last week I was among five friends on an outdoor excursion. It was a lovely early fall day, the river…
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We need to stop the overspending
To the Editor: The article regarding the backlash over Biden’s forgiveness of student loans was another, “Well, Susie did it!”…
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We can't normalize Trump’s criminality
To the Editor: Every American should be troubled, attentive and very concerned about the mishandling of classified documents by the…
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Thoughts on hunting and being vegan
I know next to nothing about hunting, but a random man in the gas station got me thinking about the…
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Preserving WNC’s culture and natural beauty
Bluegrass and mountain music. American Indian culture. Unparalleled natural beauty. The most-visited national park in the United States. The tallest…
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Rep. Clampitt’s values aren’t mine
To the Editor: The current issue of The Smoky Mountain News (September 7) has a sticker affixed to the front…
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Reporting just the facts is getting harder
“Alternative facts” was a phrase used by U.S. Counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway, during a “Meet the Press” interview on January 22, 2017,…
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No semi-fascist here
To the Editor: I am not a semi-fascist. A ‘deplorable’, maybe. I am not a MAGA terrorist.
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Does the GOP support Fascism?
To the Editor: With the mewling and whining by Trumpian Republicans at having been accurately branded fascists by the president…
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Feeling a lot like ‘Animal Farm’
To the Editor: This election, remember our personal liberties and freedom to voice sentiments without fear. The risk to our…
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Should Jackson have sheriff’s debate?
To the Editor: With the current Jackson County sheriff not running for re-election, we will have a new sheriff to…
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Let’s have a civil dialogue about abortion
To the Editor: Thank you, Jane Harrison, for setting me straight about my being in the minority of Americans because…
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Successful tyrants sell big lies
Americans may wonder what it felt like to be living in Italy or Germany when they were submitting to tyrants. Now…
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A purple state is a better state
To the Editor: I’ve been a casual visitor to Highlands for years, becoming more of a seasonal visitor and now…
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Trump should be prosecuted
To the Editor: One of the most revealing, declarative statements ever uttered by a politician in the last 50 years…
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Back-to-school season is upon us
In May my boys were counting down the days until school ended; now, they are counting down the days until…
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A year later, there is still much to be done
Earlier this week, I had started writing a column about the progress made in the year since the flooding from…
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