Rural animal care offers constant joy, constant challenge for vet clinic

It’s not unusual to hear a visiting veterinarian term Cherokee Animal Care Clinic an emergency day clinic, Dr. Robbie McLeod…
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Finding femininity in the family business

Amanda James Shaw never expected she’d be back in her hometown of Franklin running the family business, especially a power…
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Stepping out on faith at Sylva’s Sassy Frass

Originally from Jackson, Tennessee. Tammy Fuller moved to Sylva seven years ago. Four years after that she opened Sassy Frass…
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The disappearing glass ceiling: Women-run entities rise in importance, numbers
 

The disappearing glass ceiling: Women-run entities rise in importance, numbers

Lisa Leatherman wasn’t trying to prove a point when she joined Nantahala Power and Light in 1987, the company’s third-ever…
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Moonlit magic in Balsam
 

Moonlit magic in Balsam

The first time Merrily Teasley saw the Balsam Mountain Inn was somewhat dreamlike. It was during a full moon hike…
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Tapping into the future: Nicole Dexter of Innovation Brewing
 

Tapping into the future: Nicole Dexter of Innovation Brewing

It’s nearing lunchtime in downtown Sylva. The noonday traffic passes by a small building that houses Innovation Brewing. Inside, Nicole…
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Choppy seas? Not a chance: It’s always smooth sailing for Nyda Bittmann-Neville
 

Choppy seas? Not a chance: It’s always smooth sailing for Nyda Bittmann-Neville

Nyda Bittmann-Neville is a powerhouse of business savvy. Grace and poise define her. Professional becomes her. Composed and collected —…
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Women in Business 2015
 

Women in Business 2015

Women climbing the corporate ladder or owning their own businesses is nothing new, and in fact North Carolina is among…
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Connecting a community: Women of Waynesville make their mark
 

Connecting a community: Women of Waynesville make their mark

Turning onto North Hill Street in downtown Waynesville, you’re immediately greeted by overhanging maples sporting the latest in fall colors.…
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Self-made, self-reliant and self-driven: Michele Rogers turns whatever life deals her into a winning hand
 

Self-made, self-reliant and self-driven: Michele Rogers turns whatever life deals her into a winning hand

Michele Rogers had no job, no college degree, no husband and no place of her own when she pulled up…
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A passion for paper: Slusser’s spent her career in a male-dominated industry
 

A passion for paper: Slusser’s spent her career in a male-dominated industry

Most people don’t kick off their retirement by becoming president of a company, but Nicki Slusser is not most people.
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Building a legacy: Sheppard Insurance is a mother-daughter, all-woman affair
 

Building a legacy: Sheppard Insurance is a mother-daughter, all-woman affair

When Kathy Sheppard got her start in the insurance world 30 years ago, she was a pioneer in a male-dominated…
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Hanneke Ware: Making a home in the mountains
 

Hanneke Ware: Making a home in the mountains

Back in 1990, Hanneke and George Ware’s odds for success were long. A pair of non-locals living in what was…
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Women weave talents into successful yarn store
 

Women weave talents into successful yarn store

Three women in Franklin have been able to weave their multiple talents together to run a successful downtown business.
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Lisa Potts: Every day is Christmas
 

Lisa Potts: Every day is Christmas

For Lisa Potts, Christmas isn’t just a holiday — it’s a way of life. Potts owns Nancy Tut’s Christmas Shop…
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Family pride and persistence: Macon Furniture Mart marches on
 

Family pride and persistence: Macon Furniture Mart marches on

Like many women, Karen Buchanan Bacon loves to shop. She loves skimming through Pottery Barn and Southern Living magazines looking…
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Taking on the challenge: Bridges balances career and motherhood as casino executive
 

Taking on the challenge: Bridges balances career and motherhood as casino executive

If you’d asked Leeann Bridges 20 years ago what her ideal career would look like, she probably wouldn’t have told…
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Serving up Southern cuisine and camaraderie
 

Serving up Southern cuisine and camaraderie

There was little fanfare in 2010 when Mary Earnest opened the Blue Rooster, a Southern diner in a strip mall…
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Diane Cutler, Bryson City Bicycles
 

Diane Cutler, Bryson City Bicycles

Diane Cutler, Co-owner Bryson City Bicycles. Board Member – Nantahala Area Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association. www.brysoncitybicycles.com. 
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Monica Brown, Fryemont Inn
 

Monica Brown, Fryemont Inn

Monica Brown, Innkeeper — Fryemont Inn, Bryson City. Chairperson – Smoky Mountain Host. Board Member – Swain County Tourist Development Authority. www.fryemontinn.com
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Farmer’s daughter finds life purpose in family business

It may be mostly men tending to the crops these days at Darnell Farms, but it’s Afton Roberts who has…
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Urban areas to steal more seats in Raleigh, leaving the mountains with less
 

Urban areas to steal more seats in Raleigh, leaving the mountains with less

Urban areas grew at a torrid pace over the past decade — so get ready, legislators in the mountains and…
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Redistricting to grow mountain districts
 

Redistricting to grow mountain districts

In legislatures around the nation, it’s that time of decade again — time to break out the old redistricting maps…
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Building districts by the numbers
 

Building districts by the numbers

This year, the math of moving districts will give virtually every western block a shift. Sen. Jim Davis’s, R-Franklin, Senate…
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Shuler left with Republican-leaning district after new maps slice liberal Asheville out of WNC
 

Shuler left with Republican-leaning district after new maps slice liberal Asheville out of WNC

Democrats are crying foul over new Congressional district lines that with seemingly surgical precision slice the City of Asheville, a…
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Democrats: GOP blatantly gerrymandered WNC’s seat in Congress
 

Democrats: GOP blatantly gerrymandered WNC’s seat in Congress

New Congressional districts crafted by state GOP leaders that appear to position the party for political domination in North Carolina…
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Cherokee chief removed from office: Lambert’s impeachment causes anger as primary election draws near

After three full days of testimony and four hours of waiting for a verdict, silence reigned at the Cherokee council house May 25 as Tribal Council convened to deliver its final decision on whether to remove Principal Chief Patrick Lambert from office.
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Lambert defends against impeachment charges

In the three days of testimony that comprised Principal Chief Patrick Lambert’s impeachment hearing, Lambert himself was by far the most prominent witness, spending a total of seven hours on the stand spread over two days. 
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A timeline of impeachment week

Impeachment hearings to consider charges against Principal Chief Patrick Lambert stretched on for three days last week, with Tribal Council holding four hours of closed-door deliberations before voting to remove Lambert from office. To view the impeachment hearings in their entirety, visit http://bit.ly/2rB4eED.
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Impeachment hearings: How they voted

Following three days of impeachment hearings, Tribal Council deliberated for four hours before returning to vote in open session. Each of the 12 charges against Principal Chief Patrick Lambert were announced individually, with councilmembers then standing up one by one to cast their vote as guilty, not guilty or abstained.
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Cherokee council removes Chief Lambert from office

After three full days of hearings, the Cherokee Tribal Council voted to remove Principal Chief Patrick Lambert from office yesterday.
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Impeachment hearings begin: Prosecution alleges corruption in Lambert administration

During a full day of testimony Monday, May 22, the prosecution against Principal Chief Patrick Lambert made its case that Lambert’s administration has operated on a double standard, with one set of rules for him and his supporters and another set for everybody else.  SEE ALSO:• Cherokee council removes Chief Lambert from office• The charges• Tribal members speak The nine witnesses to take the stand spoke to…
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Impeachment hearings: The charges

The impeachment process set in motion during a February Tribal Council meeting reached its climax this week as Principal Chief Patrick Lambert faced a list of 12 charges during all-day impeachment hearings May 22-23.
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Impeachment hearings: Tribal members speak

The council house was packed to the gills Monday, May 22, as tribal members gathered to watch the impeachment proceedings against Principal Chief Patrick Lambert. They filled the seats, with additional fold-up chairs brought in to line the aisles. They stood in the halls, craning necks to watch the action, and they packed the lobby, where a livestream of the hearing played on a TV.
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Impeachment hearing scheduled for May 22

In the last minutes of a daylong session Thursday, May 11, the Cherokee Tribal Council voted to set a new hearing date for impeachment charges against Principal Chief Patrick Lambert. The vote scheduled the hearing for Thursday, May 18, but the date was later changed to 10 a.m. Monday, May 22, to accommodate the chief’s travel schedule.
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Cherokee court hears arguments in impeachment lawsuit
 

Cherokee court hears arguments in impeachment lawsuit

Two days of hearings in the Cherokee Supreme Court wrapped up today, with the three-justice panel now charged with deciding whether to order a halt to impeachment proceedings against Principal Chief Patrick Lambert until the court can come to a final decision on the lawsuit challenging Tribal Council’s actions.
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Cherokee court lifts impeachment stay
 

Cherokee court lifts impeachment stay

A court-ordered stay over impeachment proceedings against Principal Chief Patrick Lambert has been lifted following an order filed at 5:09 p.m. Wednesday, May 10.
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Cherokee court allows impeachment to continue

The Cherokee Supreme Court issued a pair of rulings last week that paved the way for impeachment efforts against Principal Chief Patrick Lambert to continue. However, the order left several key points of contention unaddressed, meaning the issue will likely continue to appear on the court schedule.
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Cherokee court ruling declines to uphold Grand Council votes; Supreme Court to review decision

A recent ruling from the Cherokee Tribal Court has called the authority of Grand Council into question. Temporary Associate Judge Sharon Tracey Barrett denied a request for a court order stopping Tribal Council from pursuing impeachment against Principal Chief Patrick Lambert, though 84 percent of enrolled members who cast ballots during an April 18 Grand Council session voted to repeal the impeachment legislation.
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Impeachment stalled

Tribal Council will have to change the date set for Principal Chief Patrick Lambert’s impeachment hearing for the third time — if, that is, the Cherokee Tribal Court allows the impeachment to move forward.
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Grand Council vs. Tribal Council: Disagreement over Grand Council’s authority spurs lawsuit

It’s safe to say that the Cherokee Tribal Council is not scurrying to incorporate the decisions of Grand Council into its future actions. Tribal Council held a special-called meeting Wednesday, April 19 — the day after Grand Council was held — in which it set a new impeachment hearing date to comply with a recent order from the Cherokee Supreme Court and shot down an amendment…
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Tribal members discuss impeachment, Grand Council, and the state of the tribe

It would be near impossible to find someone in Cherokee these days who doesn’t know about the political turmoil enveloping the tribe, or who doesn’t have an opinion about who’s to blame. Last week The Smoky Mountain News ventured over to Food Lion, the Qualla Boundary’s only grocery store, asking tribal members for their take on the whole thing as they walked in to pick up…
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Cherokee chief receives massive support at Grand Council

Big Cove Road in Cherokee slowed to a standstill last week as traffic backed up for more than a mile, en route to Cherokee Central School and the Grand Council meeting that Principal Chief Patrick Lambert had called for 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 18. The spacious parking lot at Cherokee Central School, where the event was to be held, quickly reached capacity. Some drivers pulled off…
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Grand Council votes to stop impeachment

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians held its first Grand Council in 20 years yesterday, with traffic backing up for more than a mile down Big Cove Road as tribal members flocked to the event, held at Cherokee High School.
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Court denies lawsuit of anti-impeachment councilmember

The Cherokee Tribal Court has denied a complaint that Councilmember Teresa McCoy, of Big Cove, filed asking that the court restrain the Tribal Council from taking certain types of actions.
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Unstable ground: Complex questions surround upcoming Cherokee impeachment process

More than a year of tension and fighting within the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians government will come to a head this week, with a hearing for impeachment charges against Principal Chief Patrick Lambert slated for Thursday, April 20, and Lambert calling a Grand Council of all enrolled members for Tuesday, April 18, in an attempt to save his position.  But, while some big decisions about…
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Grounds for impeachment

The articles of impeachment passed by the Cherokee Tribal Council on April 6 outline seven grounds on which to remove Principal Chief Patrick Lambert from office. In a Facebook post, Lambert offered a counterpoint to each accusation. 
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Governmental crisis in Cherokee: Impeachment hearing scheduled for Chief Lambert

From the moment April’s Tribal Council session began — 8:30 a.m. sharp on the sixth — the Cherokee Council House was packed. Tribal members filled the seats and stood against the walls leading out to the lobby, where chairs in front of a TV broadcasting the meeting inside quickly reached capacity. Faces bearing expressions of sadness, or anticipation, or grim resignation, they waited for the action…
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One house at a time: Bug lady keeps WNC homes pest-free

Before Karen Walston began running her first extermination route 16 years ago, she had no plans to become The Bug…
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