Education is alternative to killing more bears
To the Editor: The changes in the five-year black bear management plan currently being proposed by the North Carolina Wildlife…
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Plan for teacher raises a bone of contention
The ramifications of one particularly disturbing directive passed in the last session of the General Assembly is unfolding right now…
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Columnist’s anti-Israel tirade distorts truth
David C. Friedman • Guest Columnist Doug Wingeier’s op-ed published in The Smoky Mountain News on Dec. 25, 2013, titled, “Christmas…
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Views on Israel based on life experiences
Doug Wingeier • Columnist My oh my! Looks like the long arm of Israeli surveillance has reached out to us…
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Much of ACA came from conservatives
To the Editor: When Hillary Clinton proposed a government-run, single-payer system to solve our health care crisis, Republicans responded by proposing…
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Natural areas under assault from warming
To the Editor: I love this time of year. Cold, crisp days remind me of the days I spent with…
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Lake J annexation issue not fairly represented
To the Editor: While I recognize that The Smoky Mountain News’ annual year in review awards are meant to be…
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Lots of problems with ‘Something Bruin’
In numerous newspapers in late November 2013, it was reported that six U.S. Forest Service (USFS) employees from Western North…
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If the shelf was small, these are the books I’d fill it with
Each new year brings out the list-makers, pundits and critics who catalogue everything from the year’s best movies, books, and…
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Education reform effort is like a slap in the face
To the Editor: This move by the state to “reward” 25 percent of the state’s teachers (and I’m not even…
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Christmas ‘peace’ in the land of the Holy One
Doug Wingeier • Columnist Some years back I spent the Christmas season in the Land of the Holy One. (It is…
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Why voter ID and not background checks?
To the Editor: I do not understand why so many Republican congressmen support voter I.D. laws when it has been…
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My, how the universe has changed course
To the Editor: After the Clinton administrations’ efforts to get a universal health care bill passed back in the 90s,…
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Gov. McCrory, N.C. are moving forward
To the Editor: No doubt 2013 was a much better year for Western North Carolina than was the previous year. …
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Earth’s warming will harm wildlife
To the Editor: I love this time of year. Cold, crisp days remind me of the days I spent with…
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Healthcare is people, not logos
John Beckman • Columnist The discussions and debates regarding health care on both the local and national levels have been going…
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Libertarians alive and well in Haywood County
To the Editor: I would like to respond to the article in the Oct. 30 issue of The Smoky Mountain…
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Affordable Care Act a blessing for my family
To the Editor: Today I visited healthcare.gov on the internet, and thanks to the Affordable Care Act, also known as…
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The horse ‘network’ warmly welcomes a stranger
I was trying to sell myself to my prospective new boss, Scott McLeod. I may not know anyone in the…
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WestCare employees excited about changes
To the Editor: Recently, we the employees of WestCare learned of an exciting decision that we are entering into a …
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Righting what’s wrong means making changes
We are now — officially — barreling into the holidays. Thanksgiving is already a fading, drowsy memory of turkey carcasses…
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Gov. McCrory is leading a turnaround in N.C.
To the Editor: For the past few months some of the people in Western North Carolina who write letters to…
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Who are the real job creators?
To the Editor: As I write this, the stock market is hovering around record highs. The Federal Reserve is keeping…
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Zoning advocates had predictable response
To the Editor: The response from zoning advocates — to my letter that was printed two weeks ago — was typical.…
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Freedom versus limited government
To the Editor: Limited government was ridiculed in a recent Smoky Mountain News article. Most Americans are strong believers in…
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Resilient living on a different planet
By Doug Wingeier • Columnist In early October we spent two weeks in our 150-year-old log cabin situated on a corner…
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Once we did it, dancing with the Mouse was well worth it all
We had talked about going to Disney World for so long that it had become an abstraction, so distant and…
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Civility begins with us
By Doug Wingeier • Columnist The cover story in the Oct. 30-Nov. 5 issue of The Smoky Mountain News described divisions in…
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Community help needed to save education
I’ve heard all the speeches and read all the legislative fantasies, and I’m still not satisfied with what I’ve heard…
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Enough of unbridled growth in Cullowhee
To the Editor: Cullowhee is the fastest growing community in Jackson County. After several years of effort and well-attended community…
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Planning in Cullowhee is a community effort
To the Editor: I attended last week’s open forum sponsored by the newly formed Cullowhee community planning group where local…
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Cullowhee planning will help community
To the Editor: As a retort to the concerned citizen who wrote a letter to the editor about the intent…
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Improving patient care is priority
The last couple of weeks have been filled with a lot of news about Haywood Regional Medical Center and its…
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Turkey drive helps many needy families
To the Editor: It’s that time of year again. The Maggie Valley Lodging Association is making plans for its 16th…
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Don’t let Cullowhee planning steal rights
To the Editor: Historically, the citizens of Jackson County have been overwhelmingly against zoning outside the city limits. After failing…
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We are headed down the wrong path
To the Editor: What has been happening in Washington is more than a catastrophe. Congress is allowing unshared economic growth…
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We should have seen ACA red flags
To the Editor: Red flag warnings that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka Obamacare, is a flawed bad law have…
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Meadows will be held accountable for vote
To the Editor: I read with great interest The Smoky Mountain News’ Oct. 23 Op Ed page and particularly the…
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Legislative actions suck life from public schools
By Dawn Gilchrist-Young • Guest Columnist If I could create for you an apt metaphor for public education, it would…
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Legislators pass judgement on the poorest among us
I am writing this in my classroom on a Friday evening in the hours of quiet before the kickoff for…
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The return of the sharecropper state
To the Editor: When Reconstruction came to the South after the Civil War, big plantations were worked by nearly destitute…
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Replace Tea Party with rational Republicans
To the Editor: With the government shutdown fiasco, we have learned what TEA in Tea Party really stands for “Totally…
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Learning to compromise would restore hope
To the Editor: I would like Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Cashiers, to realize that there was a time when opposing parties…
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Dependency is what leads to vulnerability
To the Editor: I once asked a gentleman why he placed so much reliance on government and he replied, “Because…
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Let’s learn to live with black bears
To the Editor: As a better solution to the proposed “killing” of more black bears being advocated by the North…
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Zeb sincere about helping Canton
To the Editor: Have you Canton folks taken a good look at the candidates for the four seats on the…
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Canton has had a lot of recent accomplishments
To the Editor: This is my first ever letter to the editor. I feel I must respond to comments made…
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Let’s send Rep. Meadows home
To the Editor: On Tuesday, Oct. 15, I delivered to Rep. Meadows’ office in Hendersonville more than 32,000 signatures of…
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Shutdown ignites strong feelings about public lands
By Sarah Kucharski • Columnist The government shutdown went into effect on the first night I arrived in Yosemite National…
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Give chance a piece, or something like that
By John Beckman • Guest Columnist There’s a lot to be said for making careful plans in our lives, crafting a…
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