Cory Vaillancourt

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The economies of Haywood and Buncombe counties are and have been intricately linked for some time now, but a forthcoming agreement between them will soon formalize an economic development partnership designed to move both counties forward in a more efficient, more effective manner.

Comment

Just outside of a small Western North Carolina community known as “Papertown USA” sits a dilapidated 84-year old brick schoolhouse surrounded by an even smaller, mostly African-American community known as “Gibsontown.”

“It was a very boxed-in world,” said Billy McDowell, who grew up in the neighborhood. “That world was all you knew. The internet wasn’t here, and so the only thing we had was the six and 11 o’clock news, which we never watched.”

Comment

Canton Alderman Zeb Smathers isn’t quite mayor yet, but that didn’t stop one local brewery from releasing a “Mayor Smathers Victory Ale” over a month ago, nor has it stopped Smathers — who is running unopposed — from laying out an aggressive plan designed to make the last four years of Canton progress “pale in comparison.”

Comment

Unlike Haywood County’s other contested municipal election — in Maggie Valley — two incumbents are running for reelection and seek to defend their seats from three challengers.

Comment

An electric rate study Waynesville Mayor Gavin Brown called “sobering” was presented to the Waynesville Board of Aldermen Oct. 10 and shows shrewd fiscal management on behalf of the town, but an inevitable rate increase on the horizon.

Comment

Earlier this year, a series of stories in The Smoky Mountain News focusing on Haywood County’s economy explored its various economic sectors, the businesses that comprise them, the organizations that aid them and the ultimate financial impact of them.

Comment

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 7. Until then, residents of North Carolina can vote on various days and at various times at any early voting location in their county of residence.


Haywood County

Haywood County Senior Resource Center

81 Elmwood Way, Waynesville

• Thursday, Oct. 19 – Friday, Oct. 20 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

• Monday, Oct. 23 – Friday, Oct. 27 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

• Monday, Oct. 30 – Friday, Nov. 3 8:30 a.m-5 p.m.

• Saturday, Nov. 4 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

Jackson County

Jackson County Board of Elections office

876 Skyland Drive, Sylva

• Thursday, Oct. 19 – Friday, Oct. 20 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

• Monday, Oct. 23 - Friday, Oct. 27 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

• Monday, Oct. 30 - Friday, Nov. 3 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

• Saturday, Nov. 4 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

Macon County

Macon County Board of Elections office

5 West Main Street, Franklin

• Thursday, Oct. 19 – Friday, Oct. 20 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

• Monday, Oct. 23 – Friday, Oct. 27 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

• Monday, Oct. 30 – Friday, Nov. 3 8 a.m.-5  p.m.

• Saturday, Nov. 4  9  a.m.-1  p.m.

Highlands Civic Center

600 North Fourth Street, Highlands

• Thursday, Oct. 26 – Friday, Oct. 27  9 a.m.-4 p.m.

• Monday, Oct. 30 - Friday, Nov. 3 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

• Saturday, Nov. 4 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Swain County

Swain County Board Of Elections Office

1422 Highway 19 South, Bryson City

• Thursday, Oct. 19 - Saturday, Oct. 21 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

• Monday, Oct. 23 - Saturday, Oct. 28 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

• Monday, Oct. 30 - Friday, Nov. 3 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

• Saturday, Nov. 4 8 a.m.-1 p.m.

Comment

When Shining Rock Classical Academy opened in 2015, the public charter school was hailed as a victory for local proponents of school choice and promised to provide an academically rigorous, comprehensive college preparatory curriculum.

Comment

A highly anticipated public hearing that drew double the usual crowd to a Canton Town Board meeting wasn’t as contentious as it could have been, but the fight over a proposed Brunch Bill ordinance isn’t finished yet.

Comment

Inasmuch as any document can be truly hallowed on a local government level, that document is the comprehensive plan.

Comment

Haywood County native Joel R. Mashburn has been selected to serve as interim county manager following the recent and unexpected departure of former County Manager Ira Dove on Oct. 3.

Comment

The story of every small business is different and unique, but some follow an economic development narrative being heard more and more in Western North Carolina — an entrepreneur with professional skills decided to open a business in Haywood County because they wanted to be here.

When you’ve done something for as long as Mitzi Cope has, you tend to learn a thing or two — not just about business, but about life.

Its no surprise that The Smoky Mountain News’ annual Women in Business issue highlights women who are in business, but this year, we decided to focus on something a bit more meta: the daughter of a woman in business who is a woman in the business of getting women into business.

Following the resignation of Beaverdam school board member Scott Smith, Haywood County School Board Chairman Chuck Francis revealed the procedure by which his replacement will be selected.

Comment

Several well-known Haywood County employees in high-ranking positions have terminated their own employment over the past few months, leading to wild conjecture that the resignations are unusual, related or nefarious in nature.

Comment

Although Ira Dove’s tenure as Haywood County manager was relatively short, his long service to the county and the contributions he made as manager will ultimately leave him remembered as an integral piece of a rural government working to address larger issues.

Comment

Sunday morning mimosas aren’t yet on the table in Maggie Valley because a proposed ordinance that would allow the sales of alcohol before noon on Sundays is.

Comment

After realizing small but consistent gains in local business development over the past few years, the town of Waynesville has recently undertaken several initiatives designed to strengthen the economic vitality of the town while also guiding that development in a direction acceptable to the community as a whole.

Comment

To mark the start of early voting, The Smoky Mountain News will host a pair of free candidate forums in the towns of Canton and Maggie Valley.

Comment

Haywood County Manager Ira Dove has resigned; a resignation letter was sent out the morning of Oct. 4 from Candace Way, who serves as both clerk to the Haywood County Board of County Commissioners as well as executive assistant to the County Manager.

The letter, dated October 3, 2017, reads as follows.

Commissioners,

For the past 17 years it has been my humble privilege to serve with some of the finest people in making Haywood County a better place.

Whether as the attorney for social services, director of social services, or county manager it was always an honor to serve our citizens. Together we fed the hungry and gained access to medical care. For those in need, together, we protected children and adults and made public safety stronger than ever. Together, we did all this and more.

With a heart full of thanks for those who gave their full measure of commitment to public service, I recognize the time has come for me to move onto the next chapter of my career. I hereby resigned my position at Haywood County manager.

Sincerely,

Ira Dove.

Haywood County Borad of Commissioners Chairman Kirk Kirkpatrick said that the county stands by Dove's statement and he didn't want to elaborate further, but he did say that Dove is leaving on good terms, without animosity, and that he wouldn't hesitate to reccomend him for other positions. 

"We wish him well and hope he does well in whatever he chooses to do," Kirkpatrick said. 

Assistant County manager Stoney Blevins will pick up some of the slack in the meantime; commissioners this morning were in the process of confirming the he had the authority to sign necessary documents. 

Kirkpatrick also said that the county would likely begin considering a replacement process at the next scheduled meeting - Oct. 16 - and would not call a special meeting prior. 

Look for more info on this situation as it develops.

Comment

A spate of early announcements by local candidates hoping to gain seats in the North Carolina General Assembly may have voters feeling like they’ve been here before — because the candidates certainly have.

Comment

Play, it is said, is the work of children.

But a substantial population of disabled kids who’ve up until now been excluded from playing with their peers — peers of all ability levels — will soon have much work to be done.

Comment

Giggles, snickers, snorts and outright laughter echoed through the Town of Canton’s Sept. 28 board meeting as an ordinance regarding “pigs as pets” was again discussed.

Comment

Although Waynesville aldermen continue to seek a definitive answer on whether or not to rescind the town’s 15 year-old policy of banning pets from festivals, they’ve embraced a temporary measure that may help point them in the right direction.

Comment

The causes of homelessness — and homelessness in Haywood County — are varied and numerous, but according to the Haywood Pathways Center more must be done locally to address the problem regardless of source.

Comment

Thanks to the N.C. Supreme Court and the North Carolina General Assembly, the Town of Waynesville’s about to be back in the capacity use fee business.

Comment

A report recently issued by the Land of Sky Clean Vehicles Coalition clears the air about Haywood County’s greenhouse gas reductions.

Comment

Long before the Oct. 3, 1880, arrival of the first scheduled train in Asheville, the American railroad has been romanticized in both story and song, on stage and on screen.

Trains took us to our baby, or away from our baby. Trains took us off to war, or home to peace. Trains opened vast swaths of the American West to settlement, bringing with them jobs, growth, trade and prosperity while quietly gliding over miles upon miles of cold steel rail.

Comment

One needn’t look further than industries like Sylva’s Jackson Paper, Canton’s Evergreen Packaging and Waynesville’s Giles Chemical for evidence of how rail access benefits the economy in small Western North Carolina towns.

Comment

Aloha. Aristocrat. Forester. Shasta. Spartan. And of course, Airstream and Winnebago.

Comment

Charges of “political party disloyalty” first leveled by the Haywood County Republican Party this past May against a group of local Republican dissidents known as the “Haywood Five” will move forward to the state level, The Smoky Mountain News has confirmed.

Comment

What if you could see sounds and hear pictures?

About 4 percent of people across the world possess a rare ability that allows them to do just that. It’s called synesthesia, which Dr. Michael Vavra insists isn’t a disorder or even a medical condition.

Comment

At one time or another, many of us have thought about giving up on the hustling, bustling daily life of the modern world — especially on those mornings where you wake up feeling like Charles Bukowski.

Two Canton residents lucky enough to do so are so grateful for the opportunity that their first instinct was to give back.

Comment

The inherent paradox in American government is that a nation founded upon Christian values by Christians provides for the separation of church and state in its governing charter.

While that is de jure status quo, it is far from de facto; customs, holidays and laws with a basis in Christianity remain at the core of the American tradition, often with implicit if not explicit government support.

Comment

After two low-key meetings that saw no opposition, the Town of Waynesville Board of Aldermen passed an ordinance moving the start of alcohol sales on Sundays from noon to 10 a.m.

Comment

Over the past few years, Canton has made its case as a progressive, pragmatic, scrappy mill town fighting to attract new investments and new residents.

Comment

With the June 29 passage of Senate Bill 155, North Carolina became the 47th state in the union to allow alcohol service before noon on Sundays.

Comment

To date, most area governments that have heard a brunch bill ordinance have passed one. In other areas like Canton and Sylva, the ordinances still have a fighting chance.

Comment

For decades, urban jurisdictions have enacted animal ordinances intended to sequester the odiferous, unsightly sprawl of animal husbandry outside of town limits.

Comment

Daytrippers with dogs are driving demand for an amendment to Waynesville’s pet policy at fairs and fests, but owners might not get the bone they’ve been begging for.

Comment

In a nation of more than 320 million people, a small group of just 800,000 sit squarely in the crosshairs of a controversial proposal that could end their dream of American citizenship and possibly erode the underpinnings of the American Dream itself.

Comment

A sparsely attended town hall meeting hosted by Bryson City Republican Rep. Mike Clampitt took an unexpected turn Sept. 5 when a member of the crowd called him a racist.

Comment

The bad news is that Haywood County Schools failed to improve upon last year’s school district performance ranking.

Comment

Waynesville’s popular Main Street shopping district has seen some changes over the years, and as time goes by, everyone from retailers to restaurateurs have moved in, moved out and moved about the strip.

Comment

The proposition is simple — establish a transition from fossil fuels to 100 percent clean energy by 2050 or face climate calamity, according to the N.C. Climate Solutions Coalition.

Working in support of the former is retired Haywood County schoolteacher Susan Williams, who for months now has been circulating a resolution to Haywood County’s local governments calling for support.

Comment

Although the clean energy resolution circulating through many local governments of late has been alternately called “aspirational” and “empty” by some, a quick survey of some of the Western North Carolina municipalities that have adopted the resolution shows that while a few have long been in the business of greening up government, others may just use the resolution as an impetus to start doing so.

Comment

After a disappointing loss to an entrenched incumbent in 2016, Beaverdam’s Rhonda Cole Schandevel announced Aug. 26 that she’ll again be a Democratic candidate for the North Carolina General Assembly in House District 118.

Comment

Haywood County competes favorably with Buncombe County in a number of areas; while employment, housing, cultural attractions and tourist amenities easily come to mind, there’s now a new way Waynesville measures up to Asheville — yoga.

Like salads, smoothies are what you make of them — and you can easily make them into a high-fat, high-calorie mess barely better than a Big Mac.

Smokey Mountain News Logo
SUPPORT THE SMOKY MOUNTAIN NEWS AND
INDEPENDENT, AWARD-WINNING JOURNALISM
Go to top
Payment Information

/

At our inception 20 years ago, we chose to be different. Unlike other news organizations, we made the decision to provide in-depth, regional reporting free to anyone who wanted access to it. We don’t plan to change that model. Support from our readers will help us maintain and strengthen the editorial independence that is crucial to our mission to help make Western North Carolina a better place to call home. If you are able, please support The Smoky Mountain News.

The Smoky Mountain News is a wholly private corporation. Reader contributions support the journalistic mission of SMN to remain independent. Your support of SMN does not constitute a charitable donation. If you have a question about contributing to SMN, please contact us.