The downside of motorcycle tourism
By Lee Shelton • Guest Columnist There has been much discussion about attracting more motorcyclists and motorcycle rallies to the…
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Things change, and sometimes not for the best
I’m not sure where home is, but my children know. They’re first-generation mountaineers, which means, should they stay, they’ve got…
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Playing politics at the expense of our soldiers
By Major Gen. Geoffrey B. Higginbotham In 1998, while serving as a Marine Corps Bases Commander in Japan, I had…
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Pressure mounts to get out of Iraq
Many of us who call these mountains home rely on the isolation, the distance from the cold realities of modern…
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Schools must help with obesity woes
It should come as no shock to learn that children in Western North Carolina, as in the rest of this…
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Paying the price – a parents’ weekend at WCU
By Nancy Geiger • Guest Columnist I went to my first college parent’s weekend this month. I’d been to plenty…
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Who’s dying in Iraq?
Seventy-five percent of the deaths were active duty and 24.8 percent were National Guard or Reserves. Of these, 67.9 percent…
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The job’s done, now it’s time to leave
By Lee Shelton • Guest Columnist The U.S. recently incurred — and then quickly exceeded — the 2,000th casualty in…
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Contemplating the end of Eden
“At times I think there are no words But these to tell what’s true And there are no truths outside…
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Summer's gone, but not forgotten
By John Beckman • Columnist The summer now seems long gone and autumn is headed in the same direction as…
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Press, newsgatherers get special powers in U.S.
I'm sure my paranoia was partly flamed by the buzz about the case of the CIA operative whose name was…
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Every effort should be taken to help elk project succeed
The experimental elk reintroduction into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park should be given every chance to succeed. If that…
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