Evergreen should not get to keep tax dollars
To the Editor: Taxpayers should be infuriated about any tax dollars going to such an organization as the Evergreen Foundation. …
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Tourism industry has to market a moving target
Tourism leaders in the mountains agree they’ve got to re-invent their marketing tactics over the next decade to stay competitive.…
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Feds listening to our outdoors agenda
By Ken MurphyWestern North Carolina is a special place, a region with awe-inspiring scenic vistas, waterways and forested watersheds that…
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The real problem with the economy
To the Editor: Let’s look at what truly stimulates an economy, creates jobs, drives markets and produces tax revenue to…
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Poll reveals discontent among the populace
To the Editor: The Smoky Mountain News and Western Carolina University’s Gibb Knotts and Chris Cooper are to be commended…
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State must do better job at Allens Creek quarry
Finding the sweet spot in government regulation, like on a wooden baseball bat, is often difficult. It’s the place where…
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Perhaps the real terrorists are here among us
By Thomas Crowe • Guest Columnist With the recent rash of mining disasters, oil and gas spills here in the…
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Watching the world’s game
Every four years the World Cup interrupts business as usual for a month in countries that have nothing else in…
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Economic development that works for the region
A couple of stories we’ve covered in the last two weeks illustrate better than any data the new face of…
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Williams’ world is one of blues, ghouls and Budweiser
By Brent MartinI went down to the water but he left me in the mud; I wanted me some wine…
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Tough times lead to tough choices
For its entire existence, this country’s leaders have wrestled with the slippery issue of power and how much is too…
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WNC’s economic stimulus lies in tourism
By David Huskins • Guest Columnist Much of the talk nationally, as well as locally, has been centered on how…
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An engaged – and very angry – electorate
The primary election is over now, but even before the vote tallies made winners and losers out of so many…
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A package from home opens portal to a treasured past
When I took my morning walk with our miniature dachshund to the mailbox to get the mail last Friday, I…
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Time to tackle immigration reform
Now that the health care debate is over, here’s what we have: a very middle-of-the-road health insurance reform package. Most…
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Will cell phones rule the World??
By John Beckman • Guest Columnist If Alexander Graham Bell were alive today he’d probably be carrying an iPhone. Based…
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Life and death aboard a tin can
By Dr. Robert H. Spiro Jr. • Guest Columnist Friday, April 6, 1945, is a day emblazoned in my memory.…
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President Obama’s change brings debt and doubts
By Kirkwood Callahan • Guest Columnist Plunging public support for Obamacare accelerates presidential efforts to convince the nation that great…
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Marking Easter with a community of three
When I was young, Easter was a circumscribed affair. We woke up, hunted for painted eggs in the backyard, ate…
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Politicians would be wise to read the Tea leaves
By Bruce Gardner • Guest Columnist The Tea Party movement is sweeping the nation and has found its way through…
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How we found the Wondermutt
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a news story about how animal rescue organizations are being inundated with unwanted…
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Evergreen’s fate is important to WNC
Mix a strong environmental ethos, economic realism and strong community pride all together in the same brain (mine, in this…
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‘Judge not,’ or so my mom always taught me
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and…
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Watching sleazy 80s movies late at night
“Don’t do it, Dan.” Michael Douglas is Dan Gallagher, and he is sitting across the table from Alex Forrest, played…
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Making sure Swain County gets its due
The cash settlement now signed and sealed for Swain County in lieu of building the North Shore Road is a…
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‘Accidental note’ starts teen’s healing process
By Buffy Queen • Guest Columnist As the middle school girls trailed out of the classroom one morning last spring,…
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Rich Cove may be a portent of things to come
Writing about the weather is usually about as exciting as a yawn. For 12 months, though, we in the mountains…
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Fur clumps, scratches and other musings on store cat Kea
By Chris Cooper Kea was a filthy, grease-covered little miscreant when she was found by In Your Ear Music Emporium…
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A cold winter’s hike reminds me of the value of wild places
Back in early January, I found myself waking early to pack for a day-long excursion into the backwoods of Chunky…
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It’s a bum deal ... I resent the hell out of it
By Joe Cowan • Guest Columnist Editor’s note: Jackson County Commissioner Joe Cowan made the following comments following a vote…
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If you reform a reform, is it still reform?
Michael Watson, assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, contends the state’s overhaul of its behavioral health…
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National Guard soldiers deserve better
The Smoky Mountain News cover story last week about the troubles faced by returning National Guard soldiers after deployments in…
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Finding a WNC solution for ‘aging in place’
With so many unknowns ahead, it’s comforting there are proven solutions to one big challenge — the aging of the…
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Striking a balance between religion and religous freedom
Religion and its place in local government have once again arisen as issues in North Carolina. This means that many…
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What to take from 2009? How about some positive signs for the year ahead
What to say about 2009? How about this: it ended on a high note for the overall economy, and that…
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My year-end list obsessions won’t go away
I have an irresistible urge to make a list. Apparently, it is what people must do at year’s end, especially…
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We need good journalism; for now that means newspapers
By Mark Jamison • Guest Columnist I’ve spent most of my life minding my own business. I was raised by…
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Yeah right, sure it’s gonna snow
“Winter Storm Warning, Haywood County.” That’s what it said on television Thursday night, up in the top right corner of…
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Fix the flaws, stay the course
Waynesville’s land-use plan is an ambitious set of ideas adopted during a booming economic era and thus full of the…
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Round and round we go, where it ends, nobody knows
In the news business, the interplay between the Internet, mobile devices, television and print is at a precipitous crossroads where…
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Christmas gifts from the heart
According to the government standards defining poverty in the 1950’s, I was poor. My father did not hold a regular…
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Casino one step away from the total package
Let’s just say it’s about time. A state special deputy attorney general said in a Nov. 25 letter that alcohol…
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Tiger hurts himself with silence
Poor Tiger Woods. He is not only the greatest golfer of all time, but also perhaps the world’s most popular…
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Satire hits hard, but it works
Satire is one of language’s most powerful weapons, and when used effectively, it can foster meaningful dialogue on important topics.…
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Shuler collects baggage, but he’ll likely survive this one
Now that it’s clear that Rep. Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville, did indeed mislead everyone about his involvement in a land deal…
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Flirting with my own mortality
I felt something clutch, almost seize up, and then a shooting pain in my chest, and my first thought was,…
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You may hear a Blue Dog howl
By Kirkwood Callahan • Guest Columnist Conservative victories and liberal angst – often repressed — characterized last week’s elections in…
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A gift from the grave on Veteran’s Day
By Karen Dill • Guest Columnist “Mom,” my daughter Anna began on her phone call from Washington, D.C., “wasn’t Grandpa…
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Ugly public discourse and the future of truth
More and more these days, it seems those who follow the news have strong opinions on the tone of public…
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Irritating public comment must be tolerated
Haywood County elected officials may sometimes get fed up dealing with the incessant public record requests and the three-hour meetings…
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