After Tropical Storm Fred moved through Western North Carolina in 2021, litter cleanup throughout the East Fork and downstream along the Pigeon River was an unfunded effort, leaving local responsibility on the backs of property owners, volunteers and programs like Adopt-a-Stream.

To the Editor:

Savings and Loan Collapse. The year 1982 marked the beginning of supply side economics in which deregulation and tax cuts were viewed as the solution to stimulating corporate growth.

It’s tough for a person to get back up on their feet, no matter how well they may have done in the past. Such was the case for Jeremiah Moynihan, a Florida man who after living in Western North Carolina for the last several years found himself sick and homeless with nowhere to turn. 

A new National Park Service report shows that 13,297,647 visitors to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2023 spent $2.2 billion in communities near the park. That spending supported 33,748 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $3.4 billion.

To the Editor:

Why are people so afraid of immigrants, treating them as the other while regularly slandering and marginalizing them? The truth is immigrants contribute greatly to our work force and our economy, paying into Social Security and Medicare with no hope of benefitting from the programs. 

Pactiv Evergreen, owner of the now-shuttered paper mill in Canton, announced last week that it had agreed to sell its Pine Bluff, Arkansas paper mill and an extrusion facility off Howell Mill Road in Waynesville to a South American company for $110 million during the fourth quarter of 2024, if traditional closing conditions are met and foreign antitrust regulators approve. 

The Town of Waynesville, in collaboration with NCWorks Career Center, will host a youth hiring event from 2-5 p.m. Friday, June 14, at the Waynesville Recreation Center. 

Thanks to a partnership between the Macon County Economic Development Commission and the Career and Technical Education department, Macon County high school students can look forward to the opportunity for paid internships next school year. 

On May 24, 2023, Canton Mayor Pro Tem Gail Mull sat on a bench in Sorrels Street Park, waiting to hear the shrill shriek of the steam whistle at Pactiv Evergreen’s century-old paper mill at the heart of town blow for the last time. 

Almost 100 high-paying jobs are expected in Macon County with the expansion of Duotech Services, LLC.