Franklin voters cast ballots for on-premise alcohol sales
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Franklin voters cast their ballots Tuesday on a referendum on whether to allow malt…
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How to get a ‘better-than-average’ Wal-Mart
Cedarwood Development is no stranger to big box developments like the one the company is proposing in Waynesville. The company…
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Land-use plan on the rocks: Big box stores angle for immunity
Developers of a proposed big box complex in Waynesville are seeking several exemptions from the town’s land-use plan. Waynesville has…
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Gala Preview has a new home
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Folkmoot USA’s Gala Preview will celebrate its first year in its new home at…
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Catching the Folkmoot Bug: 2006 host band, performers dissolve cultural barriers with song
Ted White, a bass player with Whitewater Bluegrass Company, was warming up backstage at a Folkmoot performance last year when…
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Statement from the Concerned Citizens for Responsible Development made at the Swain County commissioners meetings on Tuesday, July 11
The concern of our group is that Swain County appears to have no control of development to inside and outside…
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Trash statistics skewed by second-home residents
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Macon County’s trash is a growing problem, says Chris Stahl, director of the Macon…
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Research probes tourists’ interests, spending patterns
Men between the ages of 45 and 65 who visit the 25-county Blue Ridge National Heritage Area are most interested…
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Growth worries prompt Swain to create planning board
Swain County commissioners informally agreed to consider mountainside development regulations at a meeting last Tuesday (July 11) during what amounted…
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Franklin’s new urban neighborhood plan complete
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Preliminary master plans and architectural designs for Franklin’s new mixed-use, smart growth style development…
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Dayco developers want rules relaxed
Developers of a strip shopping complex at the site of the old Dayco factory in Waynesville are asking for several…
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Locals plead Duke case to congressmen
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer As the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hones its final recommendations for the mitigation Duke…
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Franklin residents to help design new neighborhood
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Macon County residents have the opportunity to help design the first New Urbanist traditional…
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Duke says project does not extend to tribal land
Duke Power discounted accusations last week that a portion of the hydropower operation on the Oconaluftee River extends onto tribal…
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Probe into unusual school spending account dropped
A former Haywood County school employee and Haywood Builder’s Supply have been cleared of wrongdoing in connection with an off-the-books…
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Work of hired consultant causes confusion among lodging community
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Late last month Macon County consultant Gary Nicholson sent out 351 letters to local…
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Willing participation key to Greens Creek cleanup
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Fifty years ago, Jackson County’s Greens Creek was used as a dumping ground —…
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Waynesville ‘blew them all out of the water’
Preliminary results of a zip code market analysis being conducted in Waynesville shows signs of a strong and healthy retail…
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Subject to tax, where applicable
Every few weeks, Scotty Ellis cruises the newspaper classifieds, scans Web sites and scrounges brochures from kiosks at visitor centers…
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Baby steps toward green power
Talitha and Louis Mes erected a 100-foot tall wind tower on a ridge above Crabtree last week to generate environmentally-friendly…
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DSA rallies support to oppose funding cut
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Sylva town board members should expect a heated public comment session at their upcoming…
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Duke could owe tribe Oconaluftee dam profits
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is questioning whether Duke Power concealed the boundary of its hydropower operation on the Oconaluftee…
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Green power: no longer a pipe dream
By Michael Beadle At first it sounds too good to be true. Imagine being able to pipe methane gas from…
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Macon free dental clinic eyes expansion
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Macon County’s Molar Roller is on the move in a forward direction. The mobile…
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Reece’s larger-than-life presence will be missed, say friends
Wade Reece, a well-known figure in Maggie Valley civic life and the tourism industry, passed away last week, leaving a…
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On Sacred Ground
By Michael Beadle Nearly two centuries have passed since the last time Cherokees held a council meeting on the sacred…
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Momentum keeps building for Stop I-3 coalition
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer The Stop I-3 Coalition — the grassroots organization that aims to prevent construction of…
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Verizon expands DSL service in rural areas
High-speed Internet access has been expanded into several rural areas in the region thanks to a technology investment by Verizon…
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Sylva slashes funding for downtown group
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Faced with a $20,000 budget cut, the Downtown Sylva Association is re-examining its plans…
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How to herd a bill
Sen. John Snow, D- Murphy, had a whopper of a week last week. He had four bills on the table…
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A moment of your time? Lobbyists courting lawmakers take center stage in Raleigh
Editor’s note: Smoky Mountain News reporter Becky Johnson spent two days in Raleigh last week covering local representatives at work…
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Pulling the right strings: Lawmakers work to bring home the bacon
It was a big week in the legislative building in Raleigh last week. The House of Representatives would vote on…
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Franklin hires Main Street coordinator
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer A month into her new job as Franklin’s Main Street Program Coordinator, Nancy Deeks…
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Haywood appoints second committee to study TDA
A study committee charged with examining the role and structure of the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority will be formed…
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Bethel survey
The Bethel survey polled a random sample of 273 residents in Bethel via telephone. The Bethel Rural Community Organization sanctioned…
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Macon survey
The survey in Macon County set out to quantify the value the public places on the landscape. Surveys sought to…
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Some question Rinehart’s TDA status after move to Asheville
Joetta Rinehart, a member of the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority board, recently moved to Asheville, throwing into question her…
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TDA’s Reece injured in motorcycle accident
Wade Reece, a member of the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority and a Maggie Valley businessman, was in a motorcycle…
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Land for Tomorrow: Will it pass the state legislature?
Land for Tomorrow is a statewide campaign to raise $1 billion in state funds to preserve farmland and forestland, create…
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Heritage Area program will give out $350,000 in 2006
The Blue Ridge National Heritage Area has announced its 2006 Heritage Grants Program, which will provide and leverage funding for…
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Hearing heated, but no surprises
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s public hearing regarding the recently released draft environmental assessment…
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Haywood considers wider tourism study
The town of Maggie Valley could be getting more than it bargained for when it called on fellow towns in…
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Geologists nearly finished with Macon landslide study
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer N.C. Geological Survey staff hopes to finish its survey of Macon County’s landslide prone…
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Farmers increasingly feel forced off their own land
Butch Deals’ day doesn’t fit the image of the simple farming life. Perched in the air-conditioned cab of a John…
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Bryson City developing first zoning plan
An influx of growth has prompted Bryson City leaders to address land-use planning with hopes of drafting the town’s first…
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Buchner’s father/son account wins literary acclaim
Craig Buchner and his father didn’t say much during their weekends in upstate New York checking spigots on sugar maples,…
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Feelin’ festive: Local event planners examine festival trends
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer June through October is known as festival season in the mountains, and its no…
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Elected officials meet to hear tourism complaints
Elected town and county leaders will be dragged into the Haywood County tourism saga this week. They will be asked…
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Spill the beans
Confession is good for the soul. As any practicing Catholic will tell you, that old tune still plays true. You…
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