Macon planning efforts gaining momentum
Susan Ervin has served on Macon County’s Planning Board for so long she can’t actually remember how many years it’s…
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Haywood leaders voice support for test farm
The region might be at risk of losing an important agricultural research station in Haywood County if a proposed state…
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Haywood bids for recreation tract in Jonathan Creek
By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer Haywood County officials are jumping at the chance to purchase 22 acres of land…
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County OKs $3 million for immediate HCC needs
By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer Haywood Community College is finally on track to receive some much needed funding after…
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Consultant recommends Jackson library site
Where to put a new Jackson County library is no closer to a resolution following a $20,000 study by a…
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Bryson City seeks citizen input in land-use plan
Want to build anything you want in a downtown location that receives a ton of visitors each summer? Then Bryson…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Fun Facts about Ghost Town
• Ghost Town in the Sky first opened its doors to the public in June 1961. Construction began in September…
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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.
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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…
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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…
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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…
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A new park opens
“Ghost Town is one of the biggest things that has happened to the western end of North Carolina in many…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Haywood TDA helps Parkway views
Drivers on the Blue Ridge Parkway will be able to catch a few more views from overlooks through the Haywood…
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State, local well regulators on the way
No one knows how many wells are planted in the mountainsides of Western North Carolina.
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Survey studies public input in Macon County
As county planner in Macon County, Stacey Guffey knows a little bit about controversy and soliciting public opinion.
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Planners already planning to revisit development rules
As public comments rolled in to the Jackson County planning office on a proposed steep slope ordinance, one provision that…
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Jackson planners take public advice, relax some proposals
Proposed development regulations in Jackson County were made later this week after dozens of written public comments flooded the planning…
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Impasse proves too much for Mountain Projects
A disagreement between Haywood County commissioners over an intergenerational Head Start and senior day care facility has come to an…
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The big drawdown
JD McCurry has seen his share of horror stories in his 20 plus years as a well driller. Take the…
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Cherokee contemplates Wal-Mart’s impact
Some residents on the Cherokee Indian Reservation are calling for a referendum vote on whether Wal-Mart Stores should be allowed…
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No resolution yet on Head Start property
Mountain Projects director Patsy Dowling hit another wall this week in her attempt to lease land from the county for…
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Hospital response to story raises questions
An article that appeared in The Smoky Mountain News opinion section two weeks ago based on an anonymous interview with…
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History buffs urge Macon to protect landmarks
Members of a heritage task force in Macon County want town and county leaders to form a commission with regulatory…
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Some highlights of the draft Jackson County steep slope ordinance
• The ordinance only applies to development on slopes greater than 30 percent. • Developers must file a hydrology report,…
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Deadline nears for public input on steep slope ordinance
The Jackson County planning board is accepting written public comment through May 14 on the latest version of a draft…
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Commissioners give HRMC board vote of confidence
All three Haywood Regional Medical Center board members were reappointed this week for another three years by the Haywood County…
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Swain leaders tout river access, horse ring upgrades
Not that many years ago, anglers and boaters wanting to gain access to the Tuckasegee River in Swain County essentially…
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Studio 33 wins $10,000 start-up award from Haywood Chamber
Custom jewelry business Studio 33 and its owner Diannah Beauregard won the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce Business Start-up Competition…
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Road standards would help rescue vehicles
When a roaring forest fire whipped through a mountainside development in Swain County two months ago — burning nine homes…
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New WCU business dean has academic, business experience
Ronald A. Johnson, who holds the JP Morgan Chase Chair in Finance in the Jesse H. Jones School of Business…
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TDA quiets some critics with festival funding hike
The Haywood County Tourism Development Authority gave out twice as much money in grants for festivals this year, quelling some…
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Downtown Sylva gets free wireless access
When Rhonda Williams fired up her laptop in the Sylva library a couple of weeks ago, she was pleasantly surprised…
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State considers controls on steep slope construction
Local governments balking at controlling development on steep mountainsides would be forced into action if the General Assembly passes a…
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New ER director says transition going well
The board of the Haywood Regional Medical Center heard a glowing report last week on how the hospital’s emergency department…
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Jackson citizens asked to ‘imagine ... a library’
A coffee shop. That’s one of the more unique but interesting ideas that emerged during a series of public input…
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Affordable housing on the plateau
Each weekend, Carol Austin figures out what meals her family is going to eat during the upcoming workweek. She shops…
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Tribe helps preserve Cowee Mound in Macon
As a child growing up in Oklahoma, Tom Belt often heard that there were reasons a group of Cherokee had…
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Leaders, citizens demand input as road plan progresses
After a two-year lull, debate over a controversial expressway through Jackson County known as the Southern Loop could soon re-emerge.
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Shuler touts Heritage Area funding
Representative Heath Shuler announced Monday that the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area has been allocated a federal appropriation of $748,955…
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Nurses need more support, applicants say
One of the top issues that emerged during county commissioner interviews of hospital board applicants last week was the need…
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Law provides few protections for Indian mounds
When it comes right down to it, the good will of private landowners is often what stands between saving Indian…
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Deteriorating perception of HRMC a focus of interviews
The rift between Haywood Regional Medical Center administration and the medical community needs to be repaired, and public confidence in…
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