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Wednesday, 13 February 2013 00:00

Stellar lumberjack team carves out a niche at HCC

Haywood Community College leaders are collecting donations to give its lumberjack club a facility worthy of its prestige.
Wednesday, 13 February 2013 00:00

A mixed bag of home building signals hope for 2013

It may still be too soon to declare an economic rebound, but recent construction data may point toward a housing sector comeback led by high-end, new home building in Jackson County.
Wednesday, 13 February 2013 00:00

HCC unveils new Professional Arts and Crafts center

With her hands fluttering like a hummingbird, Dana Claire loops skeins of colored yarn around a large pegboard. Claire has been interested in fiber crafts her entire life and now, in her retirement years, has she decided to pursue her…
Wednesday, 13 February 2013 00:00

Exhibit focusing on artists as critics, curators and writers

The Fine Art Museum will host a “Third Thursday” reception for a new exhibit, “Critology,” at 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, at Western Carolina University.
Wednesday, 13 February 2013 00:00

Mardis Gras king and queen contest raises funds for Haywood School Foundation

The fundraising race is on among several business and civic leaders in Haywood County who are competing for the title of Mardis Gras King and Queen in the annual Haywood County Schools Foundation benefit.
Wednesday, 13 February 2013 00:00

‘Rashomon’ brings Japanese tale and sword fighting to stage

Stage and screen students from Western Carolina University will perform the classic drama “Rashomon” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20, through Saturday, Feb. 23, in the Hoey Auditorium.
Wednesday, 13 February 2013 00:00

HART greets Valentine’s Day with marriage musical

The Broadway Musical “I Do, I Do” is coming to the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14 and 16, and 3 p.m. Feb. 17.
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

It’s all, really, about the tadpoles

The kids are doing their best to amuse themselves there at the water’s edge, but they are past restless. Something needs to happen, and sometimes when you’re fishing, not much does. “Dad, can we skip rocks yet?” Dylan wants to…
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

Ushering in a new era in Maggie Valley

A whole lot of residents and business owners are excited — and that’s putting it mildly — about Ghost Town’s May 25 re-opening. It’s probably the most anticipated business event in years in Haywood County, and there’s good reason to…
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

The lamentable loss of Appalachian yard junk

By Brent Martin The most popular subject of conversation in mountain communities today deals with the hollows and ridge tops of Appalachia being filled to capacity with gated and mysterious wealth.
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

Trail head earns accolades

Who is he: Tobias Miller, who lives near Sylva, was honored this month as the 2006 employee of the year in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Miller is the trails foreman for the North Carolina side of the park.…
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

From dogwood to blackberry winter

Frost warnings and advisories across the Blue Ridge tonight (May 18) officially announce this year’s “blackberry winter.” It is coming about six weeks after “dogwood winter” and will be a much more gentle reminder of Ma Nature’s cold side. The…
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

Tag helps nonprofit reach $1 million mark

Motorists sporting Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park license plates have helped the organization top the $1 million fund-raising mark since the inception of the specialty license plates in 1999.
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

Moratorium opponents suffer setback

A group of Realtors and developers challenging the legality of Jackson County’s five-month moratorium on new subdivisions lost the first round in court Thursday (May 24.)
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

Jackson planners propose exempting existing lots from steep slope rules

For the second week in a row, the Jackson County planning board watered down proposed development regulations following rounds of public comment.
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

Ressurecting the Ghost of Maggie past

Bob Cordier likes a challenge. So, when the 25-year veteran of the amusement park industry decided he was bored with building houses and was ready to get back into the business, Ghost Town in the Sky seemed a natural fit.
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

Sky-high hopes: Maggie Valley’s theme park destination looks to the future with an eye on the past

After they opened Joey’s Pancake House in 1966, Brenda O’Keefe and her late husband would calculate how much pancake batter they’d need based on the number of cars they saw at local hotels on their way to work. Brenda and…
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

A new park opens

“Ghost Town is one of the biggest things that has happened to the western end of North Carolina in many a day. It has proven a giant boost to the economy of a people long hampered by a natural terrain…
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

Election probe likely to swing on interpretation

A state election investigator is trying to determine whether a Swain County voting drive targeting the poor and elderly crossed the line from exceptionally ambitious to improper.
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

A hard day’s work

On Earth’s Furrowed Brow: The Appalachian Farm in Photographs by Tim Barnwell. W. W. Norton, 2007. 224 pages. For a time my father’s love affair with decaying barns and farmhouses became something of a family joke. If he decided to…
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

Recommended diversions

A Homecoming, Of Sorts (whilst never leaving Main Street) I’ve lived in WNC for nearly four years now. I’ve written about the musicians and venues around here. I’ve poked a little fun at Sylva and Cullowhee but taken an outsider’s…
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

Taking steps in the right direction

By Chris Cooper If a band stays together long enough, it’ll probably morph into something a little beyond its starting point. At least, that’s the idea. With King Wilkie, this evolution involved letting the straight bluegrass roots of their beginnings…
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

Dazzle of Light: John Phillips’ new Fire and Light Glass Studio and Gallery in Otto offers artwork, classes and glass art supplies

By Michael Beadle There’s a dance of light in a work of glass. Move around the piece and it changes color as if it were alive.
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

Open space requirement set at 25 percent

How much open space should be required in new developments? That question has caused the most contention among Jackson County planning board members over the past four months as they have hammered out a revolutionary array of new development regulations.
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

Proposed election law change follows Swain nursing home irregularities

The General Assembly is considering a bill that could solve a Catch 22 in election law: how to legitimately help nursing home patients vote without creating a climate ripe for abuse.
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

Ghost Town re-opens

After being closed for five years, a North Carolina icon, Ghost Town In The Sky, is re-opening on May 25.
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

Fun Facts about Ghost Town

• Ghost Town in the Sky first opened its doors to the public in June 1961. Construction began in September 1960, with the extensive removal of 70 feet from the mountain top for the western townsite. Thousands of yards of…
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

History of Ghost Town in the Sky

Businessman R. B. Coburn, who was inspired to build a park with a western theme after visiting several ghost towns in the American West, conceived Ghost Town in the Sky.
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

Ghost Town goes silver screen

Dean Teaster’s Ghost Town “The Movie” will premiere at the Eaglenest Entertainment Center in Maggie Valley at 7 p.m. on June 2.
Wednesday, 23 May 2007 00:00

The mountain rhodo show

Rhododendrons are a part of the heath family (Ericaceae), which includes such diverse members in regard to size and habitat as pipsissewa, trailing arbutus, mountain laurel, doghobble, and sourwood. There are three evergreen rhododendron species in the southern mountains: rosebay…
Wednesday, 30 May 2007 00:00

Pedaling my America: Jackson County native A.J. Rowell prepares for 10,000-mile summer cycling ride from Arctic Alaska to Cullowhee

By Michael Beadle Before you ask the most obvious question – why? – remember, it’s not a race or a sudden urge to drop out of society so he doesn’t have to pay his bills. Like the bumper sticker reminds…
Wednesday, 30 May 2007 00:00

The Naturalist's Corner: Fuel for thought

Biofuels have been getting a lot of media and blogosphere attention lately, and with the price of gas at $3 per gallon and climbing that’s not likely to change. Whether you get your news from the Internet, the newspaper or…
Wednesday, 30 May 2007 00:00

A surprising reminder of a common bond

By Stephanie Wampler One morning in early spring, I woke up before anyone else and went out on my porch. The air was cool and clear, the thin morning mist was a veil over the grey trees of winter. A…
Wednesday, 30 May 2007 00:00

Park Service opinion could seal road’s fate

The road, it appears, stops here. Now, elected leaders and citizens must demand a timetable for the $52 million settlement due Swain County.
Wednesday, 30 May 2007 00:00

I’m sorry for all the impotence ads

By John Armor • Guest Columnist There are certain categories of ads on TV which offend me, and no doubt you, whenever they appear. There are the impotence ads. (Known as “E.D.” to its friends.) Plus the constipation/diarrhea ads. Plus…
Wednesday, 30 May 2007 00:00

Just looking around

I’m rediscovering that it’s good to just slip out of the office and amble around town for a few minutes. The semi-urban landscape here in Bryson City — or any of the other little mountain towns — provides an interesting…
Wednesday, 30 May 2007 00:00

What they’re saying

“It’s well past time to bury this boondoggle and resolve the issue in this positive way for the park and the people. The ‘Road to Nowhere’ has been a dark cloud over the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the…
Wednesday, 30 May 2007 00:00

Judge rules Realtors’ loss is not irreparable

A group of Realtors and developers challenging the legality of Jackson County’s five-month moratorium on new subdivisions lost the first round in court Thursday (May 24).
Wednesday, 30 May 2007 00:00

The end of the road? Park Service recommends cash instead of road

The National Park Service has finally chosen sides in the long-standing debate over whether to build a 30-mile road through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park backcountry outside Bryson City.
Wednesday, 30 May 2007 00:00

Cherokee dedicates first section of downtown greenway

A long-range plan to make Cherokee a friendlier place to walk, visit and shop moved forward last week with the dedication of a quarter-mile section of a proposed three-mile greenway.
Wednesday, 30 May 2007 00:00

Another look at Wolfe

Thomas Wolfe: An Illustrated Biography by Ted Mitchell. Pegasus Books, 2007. 341 pages. Thirty-three years ago this month, at the dreg-ends of an evil winter and a harsh spring, I went to the library at the University of Connecticut and…
Wednesday, 30 May 2007 00:00

Recommended diversions

Memorial Day with a soldier He’s just a kid, 23 year old I think, dating one of my young cousins. My brother, a veteran who is 51, and I stood against the privacy fence at a weekend cookout in Fayetteville…
Wednesday, 30 May 2007 00:00

Good music for nice people

By Chris Cooper John Prine and Mac Wiseman: Standard Songs For Average People John Prine just sounds like a nice guy. You can almost hear the side of his mouth curl into a grin as he finishes a line, even…
Wednesday, 30 May 2007 00:00

Dance of the people: Women use traditional art form for fun and exercise

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer With vigorous hip pops and shimmies, members of the Sidra bellydancing group are sending small metal coins and beads flying. The costume decor rolls and bounces across the hardwood floor and the dancers smile,…
Wednesday, 06 February 2013 15:11

Taking God out of schools was mistake

To the Editor: Just over five weeks ago a mentally disturbed 19-year-old young man went into a school in Connecticut and slaughtered 20 young people and 6 adults. Mentally disturbed people caused similar incidents in the last few years, including…
Wednesday, 06 February 2013 15:11

Jackson should not sell out to developers

To the Editor: Thank you for your excellent reporting on the consideration to a change in the development rules in Jackson County. The economy is not a reason for a change in the rules. Once a mountain is changed there…
Wednesday, 06 February 2013 15:09

Majoring in philosophy? More power to you

Republican Gov. Pat McCrory is trying to temper disparaging remarks he made early last week about the value of a liberal arts education. He certainly needs to, and while he’s at it he should assure this state’s citizens that he…
Wednesday, 06 February 2013 14:57

Zombie lore, one bite at a time

If you are literate and moderately aware of what passes for entertainment in film, popular novels and comics, then you are acquainted with of the strange “zombie” craze that is currently dominating much of the popular arts. In recent years,…
Wednesday, 06 February 2013 14:54

Oil lamps have long history of lighting the way

Surprisingly, a recent column about wood-burning cookstoves attracted as much attention as anything I’ve written for years. Folks who live in The Smoky Mountain News distribution area and can pick up the print edition were the most numerous e-mail correspondents,…
Wednesday, 06 February 2013 14:36

Local fisherman lands silver at championships

Angler and Sylva native Josh Stephens recently earned a silver medal in team competition during the National Fly Fishing Championship in Bend, Ore., as a member of one of the Team USA squads competing.
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