Reunion emotional for many former Ghost Town workers
 

Reunion emotional for many former Ghost Town workers

When Todd Berrong, a former gun fighter at Ghost Town amusement park, walked through the gate of his old stomping…
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Quarry opponents get county support
 

Quarry opponents get county support

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer The grassroots group United Neighbors of Tuckasegee celebrated another victory in the battle to…
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From military campaign to political campaign
 

From military campaign to political campaign

If politics makes strange bedfellows, then surely Rutherford Trace offers some curious pillow talk in the legislative halls of Raleigh…
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Grant allows Sylva to conserve Fisher Creek
 

Grant allows Sylva to conserve Fisher Creek

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer The Town of Sylva has been awarded a $3.5 million grant from the Clean…
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Cotton selected as Haywood manager
 

Cotton selected as Haywood manager

David B. Cotton of Seven Lakes has been named Haywood County manager
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$5 million upgrade planned prior to May 2007 opening
 

$5 million upgrade planned prior to May 2007 opening

As the new owners of Ghost Town in the Sky pondered whether the dated mountaintop amusement park was a good…
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Sylva set to expand planning district
 

Sylva set to expand planning district

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Sylva Town Board members are expected to move forward with plans to make the…
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New neighbors: Change is moving into Jackson County’s Tuckasegee community
 

New neighbors: Change is moving into Jackson County’s Tuckasegee community

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer About half way between Sylva and Cashiers on N.C. 107, between Jackson County’s Caney…
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Loan obtained for Waynesville fire station
 

Loan obtained for Waynesville fire station

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., has helped Waynesville obtain a loan of $2 million to construct its new fire station.
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Ghost Town comes to life
 

Ghost Town comes to life

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Once more, for the last time — Ghost Town has sold. The announcement came…
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Community appeals to Jackson commissioners
 

Community appeals to Jackson commissioners

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Members of a grassroots citizens group rallying against a proposal to build a rock…
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Blue Ridge shows profit
 

Blue Ridge shows profit

By Michael Beadle Profits are up for Blue Ridge Paper Products nearly two years after devastating floods washed through the…
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Documentary to look at past century of Canton’s history
 

Documentary to look at past century of Canton’s history

Canton’s 100th Labor Day Celebration will feature three showings of a 30-minute documentary about the town’s history at 7:30 p.m.…
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Sylva mulls over creating ETJ
 

Sylva mulls over creating ETJ

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Residents from Jackson County’s Allen’s Branch community said they didn’t know exactly what Sylva…
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Maggie Valley Country Club’s transformation moves along
 

Maggie Valley Country Club’s transformation moves along

As part of its transformation to an upscale club and resort, the new Maggie Valley Club is in the midst…
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Keeping downtown alive: Revitalization organizations debate how to best improve downtown communities, as Sylva refocuses following a major spending cut
 

Keeping downtown alive: Revitalization organizations debate how to best improve downtown communities, as Sylva refocuses following a major spending cut

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer With a quick trip on Main Street in downtown Sylva, it’s easy enough to…
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Haywood Extension receives Pigeon River Fund grant
 

Haywood Extension receives Pigeon River Fund grant

The Haywood County center of the NC Cooperative Extension Service has received a $15,000 grant from the Pigeon River Fund.…
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Appearance commission holds its own
 

Appearance commission holds its own

“You can do better.” That was the message last week from Waynesville town leaders to developers of a Super Wal-Mart,…
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Pathways gives awards to mark signing of ADA
 

Pathways gives awards to mark signing of ADA

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Pathways for the Future Center for Independent Living and the Jackson County Department on…
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Neighbors surprised by Dayco development
 

Neighbors surprised by Dayco development

Brenda Fowler’s customers usually keep her posted of the latest news and gossip when they stop in at her produce…
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Champion and Blue Ridge Paper timeline
 

Champion and Blue Ridge Paper timeline

1893 — The town of Pigeon River is reincorporated by the N.C. General Assembly as Canton, N.C.
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Franklin OK’s alcohol sales
 

Franklin OK’s alcohol sales

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer The Franklin Board of Elections went to work Tuesday morning (Aug. 1) to certify…
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Election official concerned about voters being unduly influenced
 

Election official concerned about voters being unduly influenced

The Swain County Board of Commissioners heard concerns from a county election board member last week over the adequacy of…
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Canton celebrates 100 years as a town that works
 

Canton celebrates 100 years as a town that works

Labor Day festivities start early this year in Canton. In commemoration of its 100th Labor Day celebration — believed to…
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The birth of a Haywood County institution: Negotiations for the Champion Fibre Mill and Peter G. Thomson’s Labor Day Legacy
 

The birth of a Haywood County institution: Negotiations for the Champion Fibre Mill and Peter G. Thomson’s Labor Day Legacy

By Patrick Willis • Guest Writer Just more than 100 years ago, Canton welcomed a man from Ohio who would…
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150 show up to oppose Tuckasegee quarry
 

150 show up to oppose Tuckasegee quarry

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Opposition to a proposed rock quarry near the intersection of N.C. 107 and N.C.…
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Cooper wraps up first year as Folkmoot director
 

Cooper wraps up first year as Folkmoot director

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer The 2006 Folkmoot USA international dance festival marks an important first for new executive…
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Tuckasegee residents join forces against proposed quarry
 

Tuckasegee residents join forces against proposed quarry

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer A group of Jackson County residents has banded together in protest of a proposed…
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Sylva proposal includes performance area, market space
 

Sylva proposal includes performance area, market space

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer In an effort to heal wounded relationships in the downtown Sylva community, local residents…
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EDC director confident project is of ‘high quality’
 

EDC director confident project is of ‘high quality’

A proposed big box development featuring a Home Depot and Super Wal-Mart as anchor stores would bring a $45 million…
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FERC ruling favors Duke’s proposals
 

FERC ruling favors Duke’s proposals

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s final decision on Duke Power’s relicensing applications for its…
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Franklin voters cast ballots for on-premise alcohol sales
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

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
 

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 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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Odd jobs
 

Odd jobs

Today’s economy is amazingly complex. Niches of the most obscure order have been found and filled, giving birth to a…
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Probe into unusual school spending account dropped
 

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
 

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
 

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’
 

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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