Rescue squad volunteer charged with embezzlement

After allegedly depositing money meant to purchase emergency rescue equipment in a personal account, Cullowhee resident Addam Carl Holdorf, 21, is free on $20,000 bond.

Elections embezzlement case lands on DA’s desk

fr BOEIt could be just a matter of months before District Attorney Ashley Welch decides whether to press charges in a year-old case of alleged embezzlement at the Macon County Board of Elections, but the investigation still has legs on the federal level.

To snag a cyberstalker

For most Americans, the Internet has moved from novelty to normal, but translating that shift in norms into law has required some innovation of its own. Since California became the first state to pass a law specifically addressing cyberstalking in 1999, a growing number of states have followed suit, including — just one year after California — North Carolina. 

Campaign aims to reduce amount of prescription meds in Haywood

fr painmedsThere’s a good amount of opioids in Haywood County, more than twice the national average. And apparently there’s a good number of people overdosing on the prescription medications as well. 

Theft, vandalism spur Forest Service to build gate

The U.S. Forest Service is planning to install a gate on Wine Spring Road near Franklin after communications equipment housed less than a mile up the road at Wine Spring Gap was repeatedly stolen and vandalized. Damage has totaled $20,000 in losses, and one of the victims, Macon County Emergency Services, requested that the Forest Service do something about it. 

The slow leak: Junaluska Sanitary District rocked by embezzlement

No one knows for sure what motivated Scarlette Heatherly the first time she skimmed a little cash off the top of a customer’s water bill.

But once she figured out she could get away with it, she couldn’t seem to stop. Heatherly stole $210,000 from the Junaluska Sanitary District over a six-year period.

Student jailed following alleged threats at Tuscola High

It was a pretty normal Wednesday morning was for most students at Tuscola High School last week, but as the school day went on word leaked out that one second-period biology class had involved threats, a call to the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office and the arrest of 16-year-old sophomore Joseph “Joey” Jacobs. 

Grid failure sparks shooting, car chase

fr verizonA man shot up the outside of a Verizon Wireless store in Waynesville last week following a town wide outage of both Verizon service and Charter Cable.

The dual outages cut off communication with the outside world for thousands of residents when their cell phones, TV and internet service went down for a few hours last Thursday evening.

Sex abuse case to be retried in tribal court following federal dismissal

Nine months ago, a federal sex abuse case against Harland Squirrel, of Cherokee, ended in dismissal after the jury failed to reach a verdict. But the case hasn’t gone away. In May, Squirrel will face the charges again in tribal court. 

Clyde house of prostitution was fronted by pet store

Clyde’s new police chief has only been on the job a few weeks. But Terry Troutman already had his hands full before he even got sworn in.

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