To the Editor:

The Immigration Act of 1990 was the last time significant changes were made to legal immigration and is considered outdated for today’s challenges. In 2013 a bipartisanship bill passed the Senate with a strong majority, including provisions for border security, E-Verify and a pathway to citizenship, but failed to get a House vote due to lack of support from House Republicans. 

Jackson County’s various governing boards spent much of the year demonstrating that governing does not require attendance, consistency, basic curiosity about consequences, respect for the law or for the feelings of taxpayers, voters and young people. 

Shining Rock Classical Academy’s taxpayer-funded, unelected governing board pledged “a new direction” on transparency and accountability after a June court ruling dismissed its claims of defamation against a parent and found the school had improperly used government authority to impede public records requests, but that pledge appears to have been short-lived with the recent passage of a media policy in direct response to a forthcoming story by The Smoky Mountain News. 

Editor's note: this story has been updated with a statement from Cynthia Mason Womble, acting chair of the Fontana Regional Library system board. 

In a historic decision that will reshape the future of public library services in Jackson County, commissioners voted Tuesday night to withdraw from the Fontana Regional Library system after months of controversy over content and control.

Finally face to face amid a simmering standoff over library governance and subjectively inappropriate material in a regional library system that’s served locals for more than 80 years, Jackson County commissioners spent nearly three hours in a joint meeting with the Fontana Regional Library Board of Trustees on June 19 learning just how much they don’t know about running a library.

Citizens and constituents of Sylva, I’d like to offer you an apology. In fact, I owe you two.

All Sylva residents are also Jackson County constituents — Sylva is the county seat, and county-level decisions affect us directly. The Jackson County Public Library is a clear example. 

Since 1932, the ashlar veneer of the Haywood County Courthouse in Waynesville has borne silent witness to memorable events in local and national history — the Great Depression, World War II, Korea, the Civil Rights era, Vietnam, 9/11, Afghanistan, the Gulf Wars and most recently the county’s first LGBTQ+ Pride celebration — but a gathering on Flag Day, the same day President Donald Trump celebrated his birthday with a military parade in Washington, D.C., may prove to be just as enduring. 

In a year when Jackson County commissioners are proposing a substantial property tax hike, outside agitators are still pushing commissioners to consider a costly withdrawal from the Fontana Regional Library system that could result in an even costlier lawsuit, all over an issue that will never be resolved to everyone’s liking — the definition of “inappropriate.” 

Hands off Haywood will host a rally and speakers beginning at noon on Saturday, June 14 at the Historic Haywood County Court House, 285 Main St. in Waynesville.

In recognition of Flag Day, rally organizers have purchased small American flags to distribute to participants. 

To the Editor:

Here in Western North Carolina, we know the value of independence, personal responsibility and limited government. That’s why I’m deeply concerned about a quiet move coming out of Washington that doesn’t seem to be getting the attention it deserves and that could affect every one of us.