While President Donald Trump ran on slimming government bureaucracy — ostensibly the stated aim of the Department of Government Efficiency — given the state of post-Hurricane Helene aid, the Department of Homeland Security could perhaps fill an entire office with paperwork in need of Kristi Noem’s signature. 

Michael Whatley’s first trip to Western North Carolina as President Donald Trump’s hand-picked Hurricane Helene “recovery czar” was not the sort of open, public event many victims of the storm had hoped for; instead, Whatley appeared Sept. 22 at a closed-door FEMA Review Council meeting in Fletcher where a leaked agenda lists him as a subcommittee co-chair and “former Republican National Committee chair” — not as the person Trump tapped to head up widely-panned recovery efforts. 

Scenic Chimney Rock has historically been an out-of-the-way place, nestled tightly against the Broad River in a narrow valley between lush, towering peaks that peer down at nearby Lake Lure. It’s always been difficult to get there — especially now, with most roads still closed 11 months after Hurricane Helene — but you’ll know you’re heading in the right direction up Highway 9 by the near-ceaseless stream of dump trucks coming down and out. 

To the Editor:

On June 12, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made the following statement during a news conference regarding about 4,700 U.S. military troops in Los Angeles: “We are not going away. We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into the city.” 

To the Editor:

This morning I read an article in the New York Times titled “Musk Targeted FEMA. Storm-Battered Communities Are Paying a Price.” The article describes how the federal government has stopped making FEMA payments to states and non-profits and has given DOGE full system access to FEMA’s financial management system.