In a year-in-review summary report released this week, Haywood County Sheriff Bill Wilke outlined key accomplishments and challenges from 2024, marking a year of operational growth, community engagement and the continuing fight against crime and drugs. 

With jail expansion debt payments coming on the books and lingering questions about one of the county’s biggest taxpayers, Haywood County Manager Bryant Morehead presented commissioners with a conservative budget that funds some critical needs, but not much else. 

Newly elected Haywood County Sheriff Bill Wilke stepped into some big shoes following the retirement of longtime Sheriff Greg Christopher, but earlier this year Wilke showed Haywood County, along with some of its most vulnerable residents, that he wears some pretty damn big shoes himself. 

It’s been just under a year since Bill Wilke became Haywood County’s sheriff, after longtime popular incumbent, Greg Christopher, decided to call it a career.

Nearly 11 months after a Cherokee County man was shot by police officers in the doorway of his own home, a State Bureau of Investigation probe into the shooting is complete. 

Sometimes a quiet no-show can be a really loud statement.

It’s been a long road for Bill Wilke to become Haywood County’s sheriff, and now that he’s got the job, he’s made some changes. 

New sheriffs in North Carolina are bombarded with new information and leadership duties their first year in office, but Macon County Sheriff Brent Holbrooks came into the position with a unique understanding of the job because he’s seen it firsthand — his father, Homer Holbrooks, was sheriff for 16 years. 

Settling into the role of sheriff is tough for any law enforcement professional, but in Jackson County, Doug Farmer brings a wide range of police experience to the role — experience that has made the transition a bit easier. 

There’s some truth to the old cliché that one readily recognizable sound is the ultimate deterrent against a would-be home intruder.