Macon citizens deserve better from DOT on Siler Road project

A major road is in the planning stages, and neighbors and others in the community feel like it’s more of a runaway train that will help developers, encourage sprawl, and subsequently change their future forever rather than a consensus-building project to provide taxpaying citizens with an answer to their transportation woes.

The nice ones are all red and shiny

By David Curtis

If you are driving west along U.S. 23/74 and nearing exit 102, the Waynesville exit, you will see growing along side the road, a tree radiating a brilliant red. Chances are, you will also say something like, “Wow! That’s a nice one.”

Some people really can work miracles

By Stephanie Wampler

I walked across the floor, the crowds cheering, the woman smiling as she handed me an award. Then the crowd fell utterly silent. I turned towards the camera man, smiled, and held up my plaque. It was a timeless moment, and I could think only one thing: How did I get here? No, really, how did I get here?

Days like these can go on forever

I miss all those Sundays at my grandma’s house, so many Sundays, so many years. Once upon a time, it seemed we would never run out of them. It seemed as if there would always be cars lined up like dominos in the driveway, a couple of the trucks pulled up into the yard. It seemed as if the smell of frying chicken would always waft into the living room from the kitchen, drawing the men’s attention momentarily away from the Redskins-Cowboys football game and their talk of work and weather. It seemed as if the women would always be opening doors with their elbows, their arms full of casseroles or pies or three-bean salads.

Free press and tribal politics

The decision by Michell Hicks, chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee, to do away with a column in The Cherokee One Feather was a mistake.

A health care fix is needed

Our story last week about a fund that helps women pay for breast cancer testing and treatment pointed out cracks in the health care system. It’s not surprising that this situation exists, and while we hope the funding issues for this cancer program are solved, we hope — more importantly — that the health care debate that takes place every presidential election cycle will gain some traction this time.

The right too often hides behind the children

On a political talk show recently, a well-known Republican political consultant spent a lot of time attacking public schools in North Carolina and the people who run them. No surprise there.

Sharing the moments as time marches on

By David Curtis

Does time go by faster the older you get, or do we just have a better way to gauge its passing?

Breaking the made in China addiction

By Angela Faye Martin

My husband is unwittingly celebrating my month-long, albeit relative, independence from Chinese goods. He sits across from me at an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet in Sylva. Realizing that we chose Chinese, I remark, “you know, this marks the end of a whole month of having purchased nothing MADE IN CHINA, and it wasn’t all that hard.”

Where do postage stamps come from?

By Sami Felmet • Columnist

My muse seems to be marred in divorce and family issues lately. I think it was about this time of year that I became a single woman again. There were some surprises along the way. Some were hard to reconcile. Others were easier.

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