As if Henderson County native David Madison Cawthorn’s meteoric rise to fame wasn’t surprising enough, Cawthorn’s Nov. 11 announcement that he’d run for reelection not in the district that elected him but instead in a newly-drawn district that he doesn’t live in, has set a new bar for political opportunism in Western North Carolina. 

All teachers everywhere are recipients of the Bullsh*t Award every year for what they have to put up with, whether they are recognized for it or not. But in the midst of their third pandemic school year, the award hits home a little harder. 

Cullowhee Valley School stole the running for the Woke Citizens Award when it voted to retire its outdated Rebel mascot, personified by an old Confederate general.