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Park reopens trails damaged by tornado
 

Park reopens trails damaged by tornado

Two trails that have been closed since 2011 after receiving extensive damage from a tornado in the western end of…
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Market vendors get shelter form the storm
 

Market vendors get shelter form the storm

The Haywood County Health Department pitched in and gave away tents, tables, coolers and other equipment to vendors at area…
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French Broad trail map comes online
 

French Broad trail map comes online

For paddlers looking to master the French Broad River, a new map is available online detailing the river’s paddle trail.…
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Get ready for 12 hours of Tsali
 

Get ready for 12 hours of Tsali

A grueling, 12-hour mountain bike race will be held from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. Saturday, May 11, at the…
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Azaleas in full bloom in Stecoah
 

Azaleas in full bloom in Stecoah

The azalea garden at Stecoah Valley Center is in full bloom, but will only be for the next few weeks.…
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Volunteers needed at Pisgah wildlife center
 

Volunteers needed at Pisgah wildlife center

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is seeking volunteers to help at its Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education to accommodate a…
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Haywood soccer season kicks off
 

Haywood soccer season kicks off

Haywood County is now signing up players for its adult summer soccer leagues. 
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Park releases new species of predator beetles
 

Park releases new species of predator beetles

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is planning to release two new predatory beetles to stop the spread of the…
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Fishing class conjures images of Brad Pitt and leaping carp
 

Fishing class conjures images of Brad Pitt and leaping carp

Ever since I first watched Brad Pitt fly fishing in the film “The River Runs Through It,” I knew I…
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Water cents
 

Water cents

What falls freely from the sky, rumbles, swooshes, rolls, trickles across the planet; seeps into the earth beneath our feet…
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Advocates want to save little-known old growth pockets
 

Advocates want to save little-known old growth pockets

Hidden among the expanse of forestland in Western North Carolina are little-known pockets of trees that are several centuries old.…
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A rural bookstore that beat the odds
 

A rural bookstore that beat the odds

“Bookshops are magic.” This quotation, buried in the middle of Wendy Welch’s The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap: A…
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Thea & The GreenMan and artist reception planned in Bryson
 

Thea & The GreenMan and artist reception planned in Bryson

A folk concert and artist reception will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, May 18, at the Swain…
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Find the perfect gem for Mother’s Day at Gemboree
 

Find the perfect gem for Mother’s Day at Gemboree

The Mother’s Day Gemboree will run from May 10-12 at the Macon County Community Building in Franklin. Doors will be…
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A hopping weekend in and around Froglevel
 

A hopping weekend in and around Froglevel

Haywood Square to host block party A day of festivities for “Customer Appreciation Day” will be held from 10 a.m.…
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Haywood Art Council welcomes brass quintet for Sunday concert series
 

Haywood Art Council welcomes brass quintet for Sunday concert series

The Pyramid Brass Quintet will play at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 19, at the Haywood County Library in Waynesville as…
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Waynesville Rec center to throw ‘Spring Fling’ kids’ bash
 

Waynesville Rec center to throw ‘Spring Fling’ kids’ bash

The annual “Spring Fling” will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 11, at the Waynesville Recreation…
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Franklin celebrates ‘Airing of the Quilts’
 

Franklin celebrates ‘Airing of the Quilts’

The annual “Airing of the Quilts” festival will be held May 10-11 in downtown Franklin. The event will feature an…
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Habitat for Humanity recovers store treasure
 

Habitat for Humanity recovers store treasure

A valuable piece of the history of the Rickman General Store in Macon County is back in its original home…
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Jackson Arts Council contributes to musician fund
 

Jackson Arts Council contributes to musician fund

Jackson County Arts Council has arranged to donate the money collected in honor of the late Ray Menze to the…
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Craft beer and canines in Frog Level
 

Craft beer and canines in Frog Level

A Dogs and Suds fundraiser for Sarge’s Animal Rescue Foundation will be from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, May 16,…
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WCU professor nominated for Tony Award
 

WCU professor nominated for Tony Award

Broadway star and Western Carolina University Musical Theatre Professor Terrence Mann was recently nominated for a Tony Award for his…
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Making crafts of the past come alive
 

Making crafts of the past come alive

In order to have a clear vision of the future, one must cherish the traditions of the past.  “Southern Appalachian…
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Sen. Davis going way too far to the right
 

Sen. Davis going way too far to the right

To the Editor: Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, and his extreme right-wing partisans have no problem wasting taxpayer money as long…
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What will you do about jack booted thugs?
 

What will you do about jack booted thugs?

To the Editor: Watching the YouTube videos (since removed) of the “jack booted thugs” trampling on our Third, Fourth, Fifth,…
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Meadows in the wrong on background checks
 

Meadows in the wrong on background checks

To the Editor: This is an open letter to Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., our district’s freshman congressman: Your vote to…
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Tribal Council vote on bear zoos disappointing
 

Tribal Council vote on bear zoos disappointing

To the Editor: I am extremely disappointed in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Tribal Council (except members Perry Shell, Terri…
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Where do we go when the public square fractures?
 

Where do we go when the public square fractures?

The “fractured public square” refers to the loss of the place where a community discusses ideas, politics and values. The…
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A book every naturalist needs on his or her shelf
 

A book every naturalist needs on his or her shelf

Naturalist Donald Culross Peattie (1898-1964) was born in Chicago. In his autobiography The Road of a Naturalist (1941), Peattie recalled…
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Macon enviro group applauds local recyclers
 

Macon enviro group applauds local recyclers

Macon Pride, a county-based environmental organization, has recognized Caterpillar Precision Seals in Franklin for what it deems an exemplary recycling…
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Calling recruits to the bugle corps
 

Calling recruits to the bugle corps

Can you make it in the corps? The Great Smoky Mountains National Park needs volunteers to join the Elk Bugle…
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WCU one of the greenest colleges in country
 

WCU one of the greenest colleges in country

For the third consecutive year, Western Carolina University has been listed by The Princeton Review as one of the most…
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Land trust earns top honors
 

Land trust earns top honors

The Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust has received national accreditation for its work in protecting treasured lands.
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Smokies offers Mountains-to-Sea Trail hike and presentation
 

Smokies offers Mountains-to-Sea Trail hike and presentation

Folks interested in hiking a section of the Mountains to Sea Trail and learning a bit more about the storied…
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Backpackers cautioned to keep food away from bears
 

Backpackers cautioned to keep food away from bears

As spring and backpacking season returns to the mountains, so does bear danger in the woods. A recent bear encounter,…
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When it rains – the tough go hiking
 

When it rains – the tough go hiking

We’ve had a good run in the watershed. The Town of Waynesville has sponsored spring and fall guided hikes in…
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Get your green on
 

Get your green on

EcoFest will showcase more than four dozen demonstrators, vendors, information booths and organizations sharing tips and practical advice on how…
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EcoFest to put ‘green’ living at your finger tips
 

EcoFest to put ‘green’ living at your finger tips

Haywood County is about to experience its newest festival: EcoFest, an ode to sustainability, agriculture and the environment. This year…
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For your culinary and reading pleasure
 

For your culinary and reading pleasure

Most booklovers have suffered that “Oh, no” moment when a friend, with nothing but the best of intentions, presses an…
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When will Americans learn that ‘blowback’ is real?
 

When will Americans learn that ‘blowback’ is real?

In 1953, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, at the urging of the British M16, overthrew democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister…
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MedWest Haywood appreciates volunteers
 

MedWest Haywood appreciates volunteers

To the Editor: A smile, a touch, a simple “how are you today?” are some of what I hear and…
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Don’t allow filling in of floodplain
 

Don’t allow filling in of floodplain

To the Editor: I am a local biologist and an avid outdoorsman and spend a great deal of my time…
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Tell your reps to vote against fracking
 

Tell your reps to vote against fracking

To the Editor: Most of us have heard the term fracking by now. In states where this underground energy extraction…
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Despite failure, time will come for gun legislation
 

Despite failure, time will come for gun legislation

The defeat of gun control legislation in the Senate wasn’t as much surprising as it was disappointing. This is one…
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Stamp out hunger with mail carrier food drive
 

Stamp out hunger with mail carrier food drive

Mail carriers in Haywood County will collected non-perishable food items for the National Letter Carriers’ “Stamp Out Hunger” Food Drive…
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Tuscola students aim to bring clean water to Uganda
 

Tuscola students aim to bring clean water to Uganda

When Sydney Bridges sets out to do something, she doesn’t give up. A 10th grader at Tuscola High School in…
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Conservation funding on the rocks in state budget forecast
 

Conservation funding on the rocks in state budget forecast

The state fund that helped conserve miles of riverfront, protect thousands of acres of undeveloped mountainsides and build countless sewer…
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Firefighter safety versus right to build steep driveways
 

Firefighter safety versus right to build steep driveways

The Jackson County Planning Board debated where to draw the line between safety and individual rights last month in its…
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Bill could move legal notices from newspapers to the Internet
 

Bill could move legal notices from newspapers to the Internet

In several counties in Western North Carolina, a showdown between the printed word and the digital age could soon take…
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Gone, but not forgotten: Confederate Flag issue in Haywood could re-emerge soon
 

Gone, but not forgotten: Confederate Flag issue in Haywood could re-emerge soon

Haywood County commissioners may soon revisit the unsettled issue of whether Confederate Flags can be flown on the lawn of…
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