As the temperature drops in Western North Carolina, the fun only heats up. The holiday season here is filled with events and activities aimed to celebrate the best way we know how — with friends, family and visitors alike. 

We’ve had more than a week of picture-perfect fall days, usually a part of the recipe for a busy, successful tourist season. But there’s an unshakeable uneasiness among the business community since Helene, and especially in Haywood County. I hope elected leaders take note. 

With the North Carolina General Assembly’s preliminary $273 million relief bill in the rearview mirror, Western North Carolina Sen. Kevin Corbin (R-Macon) is looking down the road at the General Assembly’s next move — a billion-dollar relief bill coming Oct. 24. During a recent meeting with Haywood County officials, Corbin spent about an hour trying to learn what, exactly, the needs are.  

“I can promise you what you won't get,” Corbin said. “You won't get things you don't ask for.”

Throughout Hurricane Helene, the slogan going around Haywood County has been, “neighbors helping neighbors.” The personification of those words is nowhere more apparent than at Haywood Pathways Center in Waynesville, where a small group of volunteers gathered on Oct. 5 to minister to some of the county’s most vulnerable residents.

Putting the truck into park, my girlfriend, Sarah, and I finally returned to our quaint apartment in downtown Waynesville Monday evening. After a long journey from the North Carolina coast back to Haywood County this weekend, it’s been a whirlwind of emotions.  

Tropical Storm Helene was predicted to bring significant flooding to Western North Carolina, but it's hard to fathom how much destruction has actually been wrought. As the storm developed, readers from around the area sent photos into Smoky Mountain News. Here's a look at some of them. 

• BearWaters 1 BearWaters 1
• BearWaters 2 BearWaters 2
• Thompson Cove Thompson Cove
• Downtown Clyde Downtown Clyde
• Clyde House Clyde House
• Clyde bridge Clyde bridge
• Coleman Mountain Bridge 1 Coleman Mountain Bridge 1
• Coleman Mountain Bridge 2 Coleman Mountain Bridge 2
• Frog Level flooding Frog Level flooding
• Maggie Valley landslide Maggie Valley landslide
• Wanyesville flooding Wanyesville flooding
• Macon County flooding Macon County flooding
• Canton Moose Lodge Canton Moose Lodge
• Downtown Canton Downtown Canton
• Waynesville Ingles Waynesville Ingles
•  

Haywood Community College, in partnership with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission are hosting an event on the campus of Haywood Community College to celebrate our national conservation heritage.

Haywood Regional Medical Center announced the launch of a convenient walk-in mammography clinic at the HRMC Breast Center, located on the second floor of the Outpatient Care Center at 581 Leroy George Drive in Clyde. 

Haywood Waterways is calling for volunteers to take part in a county-wide cleanup event that removes tons of trash from local waterways and roadways. 

The Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 980 holds its regular meetings on the third Tuesday of each month at 5 p.m. in the Sara Brown Town Hall in Clyde.