Be smart, and things don’t have to get worse
Let me wish each and every one of you a Happy Thanksgiving. Each year at the Passover celebration, there is…
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Look to the stars and beyond
I’ve been looking at the stars a lot lately. It started several weeks ago. It was 10:18 p.m. on a…
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Who is your neighbor? Being Black in Waynesville
By Brandi Hinnant-Crawford • Guest Columnist | In 2014, on my 30th birthday, I got a call from my former department head…
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To reduce overdose deaths, start in the local jail
By Albert M. Kopak • Guest Columnist You may have a story about Peter, while someone down the road has…
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The dog’s eating our daughter’s college fund
I think our chihuahua has an eating disorder. He’s a rescue, and since we rescued him, he’s twice the dog…
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You won’t make friends like this again
By the time she was 4-years-old, my daughter was better at making friends than I have ever been. When we…
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Memorial Day is more than flags and speeches
My wife, Lori, and I recently attended the wedding of my nephew in Fayetteville. While there, we wandered around downtown…
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When will the school shootings end?
“But for the grace of God, it could have been my child.” News of college and school shootings cut straight…
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Remembering Riley as a seventh-grader, during Teacher Appreciation Week
The thing I miss about teaching is human connection, being part of something bigger than myself. When I was in…
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With title, Nikwasi Initiative can move forward
The volunteer board members of the nonprofit Nikwasi Initiative are appreciative of the public’s interest in our mission and role…
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Nikwasi Initiative can proceed without deed
By Bob Scott • Guest columnist As mayor of Franklin, my duty and loyalty is to the town. With that…
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Is a ‘responsible media’ a fading memory?
It’s one of those anniversaries most would rather forget: April 20, 1999, the Columbine High School shooting. Two high school…
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Home is far way, but also here with me
By Hannah McLeod • Guest columnist I arrived in Costa Rica at the beginning of February. After floundering for a…
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It’s the right time for the Nikwasi Initiative
From the outside looking in, the current Nikwasi Mound disagreement in Franklin seems almost contrived. I mean, do serious people…
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Our job is to earn trust and keep it
A little more than two weeks ago I was part of a public radio panel that was discussing the “state…
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Economics and the tilt to socialism
My son was home from college for spring break. As we ate dinner one night, he described to my wife…
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Changing primaries could help system
By Martin Dyckman • Guest Columnist Every member of Congress is required to swear loyalty to the Constitution, not to…
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My church embraces LGBTQ members
By Nina Dove • Guest Columnist When I walked into a Reconciling Ministries meeting at my church (First United Methodist Church…
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Open government is part of who we are
Whereas the public bodies that administer the legislative, policy-making, quasi-judicial, administrative, and advisory functions of North Carolina and its political…
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Hysteria yes; a national emergency, no
Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-eight dead. Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, Virginia. Thirty-three dead. Stoneman Douglass High School, Parkland,…
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Columns and newspapers can change views
By John Hood • Guest Columnist I have written a syndicated column on politics and public policy for North Carolina…
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The tide is turning on marijuana
The libertarian in me believes in the “live and let live” mantra, which when it comes to legalizing pot means…
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The inherent flaw of a rush to judgment
His is the face that provoked untold millions of posts on social media, the teenage boy from Kentucky face-to-face with…
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The homeless issue is not going away
A genuine dilemma, or merely some people grousing? You tell me. We’ve been hearing complaints for months now that the…
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We gym rats have our own little cliques
When I was in my teens, I was so skinny that people winced when they saw me. The local druggist…
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My personal happiness project for 2019
What is a New Year’s resolution anyway? Just a statement we make aloud while toasting friends and family with a…
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Serving ‘something larger than themselves’
“Stray from the truth, and whoever corrects you can be dismissed as ‘the other side.’ The strategy runs on a…
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An alternative solution for N.C. 107
By Carl Queen • Guest Columnist As a long-time resident of Sylva — 48 years — I have had a…
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Mueller investigation closing in on Trump
“He (Trump) knows very little about the legislative process, hasn’t learned anything, hasn’t surrounded himself with people that can get…
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Nurturing the ties that bind
I’ve spent most of my career at small newspapers, and one thing I’ve learned is the value of making connections.…
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Meadows reacts too lightly to ethics rebuke
It sure would be nice for his constituents to hear Rep. Mark Meadows come out with a mea culpa regarding…
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In-hospital hospice just not the same
By Lorna Sterling • Guest Columnist Like many in the Haywood County community, I am concerned about the transfer of…
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Election results will make for a stronger democracy
There were many winners and losers last week on Election Day, but perhaps the best outcome is that the move…
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‘Hyper-partisan’ moves threaten UNC’s future
The sudden resignation of Margaret Spellings as president of the UNC system should be a wake-up call to every North…
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At least two elected officials need to go
As election fatigue sets in, keep this in mind: it’s the local races that will most affect each of us.…
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Finding inspiration in banned books
My mom was a librarian and my dad an English teacher so books were always stacked on the dining room…
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Power-drunk GOP leaders try grabbing for more
By Martin Dyckman • Guest Columnist A nonpartisan nominating commission can be the best method of appointing judges. Or it…
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Raising boys and respecting women
As a child, I wanted to grow up and plan a big fancy wedding with a ruffly white dress, then…
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Is this the demeanor of a Supreme Court justice?
I did not go to college with Brett Kavanaugh, but I went to college at about the same time he…
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The real problem in Haywood’s tax office
Haywood County GOP leaders last week took the podium at a public meeting and proceeded to act as shills for…
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Acknowledging differences and embracing brotherhood
For many years, I thought of myself as one of Flannery O’Connor’s “Christ-haunted” characters, living my life in a kind…
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As the buckeyes fall, I await my old friend
The sounds, the feel of the coming fall is always comforting, like reconnecting with an old and dear friend. It…
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The American worker is not getting their due
Every Labor Day we celebrate the American worker. We wax nostalgic about the bygone days of the great American middle…
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What happened to true conservatives?
By Martin Dyckman • Guest Columnist The two most abused and misused words in America are “conservative” and “populist.” Politicians and…
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Americans know better, even if Trump doesn’t
We native-born Americans — most of us, anyway — have no real concept of life under a despot except from…
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An antidote to our society’s hysteria
Over the past few decades, our society has pushed for more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) students. Countries like…
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In this case, the choice is obvious
“Take the high road.” It’s a simple code for life, but one too few take to heart and even fewer…
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Politics and the search for WCU’s chancellor
As the yoke of political influence grows ever heavier around the neck of the UNC Board of Governors, Western Carolina…
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There’s magic in these evening Edisto walks
EDISTO ISLAND, SC – For us, the magic of Steamboat Landing Road begins where the pavement ends, where the asphalt…
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My eyes and heart open after Mexico trip
Though my parents were both teachers and worked second jobs to give my sister and me all we needed, they…
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