The town of Franklin now has a new mayor, vice mayor and council member.

After winning their elections in November, the board was officially sworn in during the town’s Dec. 1 meeting. Stacy Guffey, formerly the vice mayor, was sworn in as mayor, newcomers Jeff Berry and Travis Higdon were sworn in as councilmembers and Rita Salain was again sworn in after winning as an incumbent. 

A new EMS base in Haywood County is now operational. 

The base was completed earlier this year. It is part of efforts by Haywood County leaders to improve emergency services coverage and response times. The base, centrally located near the intersection of Russ Avenue and Mauney Cove Road, should do just that with close proximity to Lake Junaluska, Maggie Valley and Jonathan Creek. 

The Fontana Regional Library Board of Trustees is again struggling to implement changes as it trudges forward without legal representation. 

At the Nov. 12 meeting, held in Jackson County, Cynthia Womble, who in September resigned her position as board chair but remains on the board, again expressed concern that Rady Large, an attorney who worked with the board on a pro bono basis, took a new job and couldn’t continue that service.

A new fire substation in Franklin years in the making is now operational. 

After lingering in limbo following initial construction, the state came through with funding to complete the project after Sen. Kevin Corbin and Rep. Karl Gillespie, both Macon County natives, were able to procure what was needed. 

Democrat Danny Davis has announced that he will challenge Republican incumbent Mark Pless for North Carolina 118th House District, made up of Haywood and Madison counties.

Dispatchers are an often overlooked part of a county’s overall emergency response, but their role is as vital as any other. 

This was made clear all across the region during Hurricane Helene, as thousands of 911 calls poured in from people in their most desperate hour. More recently, on Sept. 28, Haywood County Emergency Communicator Kaylin Greene again proved the point by thinking fast with a life on the line to get responders where they needed to go. 

Macon County voters will again have the chance to raise their sales tax by a quarter cent, from 6.75 to 7 cents on the dollar, a measure that unlike raising property taxes would impact not only locals, but also visitors who shop and dine in the area. 

Macon County will begin the consolidation of its county board of public health in January.

The vote to move forward with the consolidation came during the Nov. 13 board of commissioners meeting. In the months leading up to the vote, there was serious concern voiced by members of the community, as there were rumblings that commissioners intended to take over human relations and policy-setting operations for the crucial agency. 

Four Western North Carolina sheriffs were honored with a congressional recognition from Sen. Ted Budd. 

Transylvania County Sheriff Chuck Owenby, Haywood County Sheriff Bill Wilke, Henderson County Sheriff Lowell Griffin and Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller received the honor — which was read aloud on the Senate floor  — for their participation in Operation Uptown Funk earlier this year, which led to the seizure over 30 pounds of methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl, as well as 30 arrests related to drug trafficking. 

The Center for Biological Diversity and MountainTrue are suing the federal government, seeking to ensure laws are followed where they claim the U.S. Forest Service is skirting regulations in allowing the logging of a 135-acre parcel in the Nolichucky Gorge near the small Poplar community on the border between Yancey and Mitchell counties. 

Former Haywood County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Jeff Haynes has been named the county’s new clerk of superior court.

The announcement was made the morning of Nov. 7, two weeks after Hunter Plemmons informed Chief Resident Superior Court Judge Roy Wijewickrama that he was going to resign after eight years of service.

Franklin will have a new mayor and two new council members.

Businesses, homes and county buildings throughout Macon County will sport green lights through Veterans Day, and organizers are hoping that next year, even more will participate. 

The effort is part of a larger campaign organized by the National Association of Counties and the National Association of County Veterans Service Officers.

As the sun set behind the Saunook fire station in west Haywood County, members of the community gathered in the bay that would normally house the fire trucks and anxiously took their seats. They were told the news was good, they just didn’t know how good.  

Haywood County’s elected clerk of superior court Hunter Plemmons has announced that he is resigning from his position effective Nov. 17.

Last September, when Hurricane Helene brought flooding to much of the region, the little league baseball field behind the Waynesville Elks Club was swamped by several inches of water, dugouts were destroyed and lights were carried downstream along with tons of other debris. But now, hundreds of thousands of dollars and hundreds of person-hours later, action has returned to that hallowed diamond. 

Like many municipalities this year, Franklin will have competitive races on its ballot, as five people are running for three council seats and two men will square off to see who will be the town’s next mayor. 

Voters had a chance on Sept. 25 to attend a forum featuring each of the candidates, during which they were asked questions that allowed them talk about their backgrounds and some of the most pressing issues facing the town.

When the federal government shut down at midnight Oct. 1, there were a lot of questions, especially for Western North Carolina, where business owners and residents are already on the heels of a year of economic uncertainty.

When the federal government shut down at midnight Oct. 1, there were a lot of questions, especially for Western North Carolina, where business owners and residents are already on the heels of a year of economic uncertainty.

Five days isn’t enough time to process a disaster like Hurricane Helene, yet as uncertainty swirled and rescue operations still played out across Western North Carolina, Dogwood Health Trust’s 16 board members found whatever internet they could, got on a Zoom meeting and approved $30 million in grants to organizations providing vital on-the-ground services. 

Hurricane Helene may not have been so devastating for Western North Carolina were it not for the half foot of rain that dumped on the region just ahead of Sept. 27, 2024. Getting ahead of what promised to be a monumental disaster, on the afternoon of Sept. 26, only about 12 hours before flooding began in some WNC communities, the National Weather Service office in upstate South Carolina issued the following statement: 

Since Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina, residents have learned countless lessons and encountered unforeseen circumstances, even long after the initially recovery phase began. 

As tension develops among Fontana Regional Library trustees and a seismic shift lies ahead in about nine months, the board is plugging ahead without an attorney. 

The July FRL meeting was the last for former board attorney Rady Large, who had offered his services pro bono for about the last two years but had to resign upon taking a job with Western Carolina University.

Macon County has delayed action on consolidating its health board and seems to have taken a commissioner takeover completely off the table. 

On July 8, commissioners began working on a strategy to create a consolidated human services agency with the aim of reducing what multiple people called “silos” that can allow government authorities to operate inefficiently or even perhaps in direct opposition to each other without even knowing it. 

The Fontana Regional Library Board chair and vice chair have both resigned from their leadership positions ahead of the regularly scheduled Sept. 9 meeting.

Macon County Commissioners will gather public comments on Tuesday, Sept. 9, ahead of a potential decision to take over the county health department. 

In North Carolina, county health departments are tasked with acting in residents’ best interest to promote good public health, including environmental health, personal health, vaccinations and disease tracking. 

The signs are still there lining the fragile bank separating Interstate 40 from the Pigeon River — chunks of jagged asphalt, wayward pipes, rusty cables bent into submission by nature. 

Just 11 months ago, as Hurricane Helene mercilessly swamped the whole region, the river, now low and calm, was force-fed by its tributaries and swelled to the point it carried away 10 sections of I-40’s eastbound lanes over about a five-mile stretch near the Tennessee border.

The last year has brought an unusual pattern in COVID surges. 

Typically, the virus is worst during the winter with an additional summer surge beginning around June. Last winter, there were fewer infections, hospitalizations and deaths, and while this year’s summer surge has been delayed, it’s now being felt across the region.

In the wake of the controversy surrounding former Swain County Sheriff Curtis Cochran, the new sheriff, Brian Kirkland, only a month and a half on the job, will have company on the ballot come 2026.  

A Prince George’s County, Maryland, man whose viral video of a confrontation with a group at a dump in Haywood County drew outrage and polarized viewers has said he will file a federal civil rights lawsuit against several parties, including Haywood County Sheriff Bill Wilke.

Richard Baker is in an interesting place, looking back at a prolific body of work while also staring down an uncertain future.  

Baker, who is sitting on the doorstep of 70, had his work featured at a retrospective last weekend at the Folkmoot Center in Waynesville. The event was well attended, largely by people familiar with the artist and his paintings, people who admire his unique style.   

From Sylva to Tokyo, Ella Gamble is making a name for herself on the volleyball court. 

As she heads into her fourth and final year of college eligibility, Gamble, a Smoky Mountain High School graduate, is getting ready to pack her bags to head to the 2025 Deaflympics, to be held in Japan’s sprawling capital city. 

Brian Kirkland, who served as interim sheriff in Swain County following the scandalous retirement of Curtis Cochran, has been appointed to serve out the rest of the current term. 

Mountaineer Little League Baseball has been around since the 1970s, but like everything else, once Hurricane Helene hit, its immediate future was uncertain. 

The child care industry has been sounding the alarm for years now, but with federal stabilization grants drying up a few months ago, what was for many a smoldering problem has become a five-alarm fire. 

Former Swain County Sheriff Curtis Cochran, who retired earlier this month amid sexual assault charges, is now facing a second-degree rape charge.

Cochran was formally indicted on the latest charge Monday, July 21, and was arrested by an SBI agent the morning of Tuesday, July, 22.

As the Fontana Regional Library sizes up a monumental change coming into the focus over the hill like a band of Vandals looking to sack Rome, its outgoing attorney, Rady Large, offers a simple piece of advice. 

Rebecca Fitzgibbon hasn’t breathed easy since her 11-year-old son was put in the back of a police car by his school principal in the parking lot of Shining Rock Classical Academy. Since then, as she’s looked for accountability — or at least answers — she’s faced public scrutiny, legal threats and even criminal charges. 

In the wake of numerous criminal charges from both the state and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians tied to two alleged sexual assaults, Curtis Cochran has retired from his position as the Swain County Sheriff. 

Thousands of people set out to hike the Appalachian Trail every year. About a quarter of those people finish. In 1973, Mike Rayder was one of a small number to attempt the feat and likely one of the first 100 ever to finish the trail. 

An Asheville law firm has filed a civil suit on behalf of two minor female clients alleging that the girls were sexually abused while employed at a Bojangles fast food restaurant near Lake Junaluska in Haywood County. 

A judge has ordered Shining Rock Classical Academy to turn over public records at the center of a civil bench trial heard in Haywood County Superior Court over a month ago.

Swain County Sheriff Curtis Cochran has been charged with several crimes after allegedly soliciting two women for sexual acts and is now suspended from office.

Cochran, who was first elected to office in 2006, was charged on June 27 with one count of sexual battery, soliciting a prostitute and assault on a female, all misdemeanors, as well as felonious restraint. In addition, Cochran has been charged with violations of the Cherokee Code; specifically, two counts of oppression in office and one count of abusive sexual contact.

Ellen Pitt has dedicated the last two and a half decades to combatting drunk driving in Western North Carolina, and the one of the latest fronts in that fight involves her quest to get courts to use continuous alcohol monitoring bracelets for defendants in “high-risk” DWI cases. 

It’s the week paddlers from across the state and even the nation look forward to all year; it’s also the week Swain County resident Tom Womble has been working toward for a half-year as the “boots on the ground,” planner. 

Heavy Metal Ric Savage couldn’t stand it. He was helpless, sidelined while his tag-team partner, Shane Austin, took a beating from a pair of masked maniacs.

Just when things looked their bleakest, after barely breaking free of a chokehold, Austin mustered the strength to tag Savage in. Savage went to work, dishing out elbows like hot biscuits on a Sunday morning before grabbing each villain by the neck and banging their heads together like Moe would do Larry and Curly.

Last weekend, Haywood County’s Republican Party hosted a fundraiser at the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds that featured music, professional wrestling, a car show and a hearty helping of conservative politics.

Following the event, event organizer and Haywood GOP Treasurer Kim Genova thanked the volunteers that made the event go smoothly, as well as those who turned out. 

Leaders from Western Carolina University kicked off a massive $37 million renovation to the school’s E.J. Whitmire Stadium last Thursday.

The event, which brought in a large and energetic crowd, severed as a groundbreaking ceremony for the project, which will include a new press box, coaches’ offices, player study areas and a hospitality center which will be known as the “Western Skybox.” The stadium, which is over 50 years old, will now feature over 10,000 square feet of new space. 

There are few, if any, occasions that take place in a Haywood County courtroom that are as joyous as a celebration for someone who graduates from the Adult Accountability and Recovery Court program. 

Last Friday, the program honored its third and fourth graduates. Both individuals were joined by family and friends who knew too well how addiction had derailed their lives.

At odd hours of the day and night, Maggie Valley resident David Crane grabs a cup of coffee, meanders to the basement of his mountain cabin and speaks with the members of the high-level international workgroup he chairs. The aim: Establish a court through which to try Vladimir Putin and others for crimes of aggression against Ukraine.