To the Editor:

When my Needmore neighbors and I began working in 2000 to protect 4,500 acres from development, we never imagined that 26 years later we would be fighting Duke Energy over our own private property.

Duke Energy acquired 4,500 acres along the Little Tennessee River when it bought a local independent utility in 1988. The land had originally been purchased at low prices from residents of Swain and Macon counties for a dam project on the Little Tennessee that was never built.

A looming deadline on a critical wastewater agreement has exposed a growing divide between Canton officials and their private partner, with negotiations stalled over cost, oversight and the data needed to shape the town’s long-term infrastructure plans. 

Town leaders confirmed they do not yet have an extension in place for wastewater treatment services as the current agreement with mill site owner Eric Spirtas was set to expire at 5 p.m. March 31 — when The Smoky Mountain News went to print — leaving only days to resolve a dispute that has been building over months. 

The political rift over an upcoming Democratic gala — an internal dust-up that sparked chatter across Western North Carolina political circles — was nowhere in sight on Aug. 12, as three NC-11 congressional hopefuls stepped to the podium in Waynesville alongside state party chair Anderson Clayton. 

Every May 20, beneath the proverbial shadows of Charlotte’s modern glass and steel skyline, supporters gather to commemorate what they believe was the first declaration of independence in the American colonies, made more than a year before the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.

To the Editor:

I am sending this in hopes that it might save some of my neighbors in Franklin and other WNC communities some aggravation and some money.  My wife and I travel south on U.S. 23/441 through Clayton and then Tallulah Falls on our way to the Atlanta airport fairly often. 

A challenger in the Haywood County commissioner race lost ground last week in a fight with the county over his property values, a three-year dispute laced with political overtones.

Denny King claims the county incorrectly pegged the value of his home and land, which in turn determines his property tax bill. King has accused the county of mass errors in a countywide property revaluation conducted in 2011, a criticism that is a cornerstone of his campaign for county commissioner.