Archived (29061)
Children categories
Hicks testifies before U.S. Senate committee on positive impact of tribal gaming
Michell Hicks, Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, told a U.S. Senate committee in testimony on July…
Read More
Canton gets new fire chief
The Town of Canton has selected J. Derek Littlejohn as its next fire chief. Littlejohn has been employed with the…
Read More
Swain passes fracking resolution
Swain County recently passed a resolution in opposition to fracking. “Are you familiar with what fracking is?” asked Swain County Commissioner…
Read More
After initially being overlooked, WNC gets fracking hearing
The North Carolina Mining and Energy Commission has scheduled a public hearing on fracking for Western North Carolina. The hearing…
Read More
Prison protest: Hazelwood residents voice concerns about prison conversion
With the lease drawn up and fundraising underway, most people attending the Haywood County Commissioner meeting last week figured that…
Read More
The need to achieve: Western counties work to satisfy state law, get young readers on track
Carson Angel is excited to show off her reading skills as she waits outside East Franklin Elementary for her mom…
Read More
A bright idea: Skaters say park needs lighting
Austin Fore calls it “a blessing.” “If I’m not there every other day I’m bummed,” the Clyde skateboarder said.
Read More
Looking back at strawberry wine, Kephart and Calhoun
In a letter to the editor of the Smoky Mountain News published several weeks ago, Gwen Franks Breese took exception…
Read More
Graveyard Fields celebrates new look
Better public access and trail improvements for Graveyard Fields, one of the most popular spots on the Blue Ridge Parkway,…
Read More
Native plants take root in new Cherokee greenhouse
Native plants are getting a boost in Cherokee with the opening of a 2,200-square-foot greenhouse designed to produce and propagate…
Read More
Nantahala Racing Club and N.C. Wildlife Federation win funds for youth programs
The Nantahala Racing Club and the North Carolina Wildlife Federation came out on top in an online voting contest from…
Read More
Booming triathlons bring economic impact to Haywood
More than 1,200 outdoor atheletes will converge on Lake Logan in Haywood County this weekend for the annual Lake Logan…
Read More
Training initiative garners award for WCU instructor
Sam Fowlkes, who teaches paddlesports and rescue at Western Carolina University, has received prestigious recognition in the field of technical…
Read More
Beyond blueberries: Backyard cornucopia revealed at native plants conference
Taking a walk with Ila Hatter is the outdoors equivalent of sitting beside a scrapbooker as she pages through the…
Read More
Stephen King’s newest is more noir than horror
Each time Stephen King is interviewed, he finds himself responding to the same question: “Where do you get your ideas?”…
Read More
This must be the place
When the camera bulb flashed, it hit me — had it really been that long? Standing in the Belhurst Castle,…
Read More
BBQ Festival & Car Show in Franklin
The 6th Annual Mountain High BBQ Festival and Car Show will be held Aug. 8-9 at the Wayne Proffitt Agricultural…
Read More
Knight brings ‘Songcatcher’s Notebook’ to Bryson
“A Songcatcher’s Notebook: Traditional Music and Storytelling” with singer-songwriter/storyteller Lee Knight will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 31,…
Read More
Sylva welcomes Whitewater Bluegrass Co.
The Whitewater Bluegrass Company will perform as part of the Concerts on the Creek Series at 7: 30 p.m. Friday,…
Read More
WCU dance program director wins national teaching award
Karyn Tomczak, director of the Western Carolina University dance program, will receive the 2014 Dance Teacher Award for Higher Education…
Read More
In other beer news
A home brewing class for beginners will be led by Clark Williams of Frog Level Brewing Company every Tuesday from…
Read More
Franklin brewery readies for spring opening
As the snow melts in Southern Appalachia, the beer will begin to flow from the taps of the Lazy Hiker…
Read More
Bryson brewer named ABA president, hits the road
In the last two weeks, Joe Rowland has soaked in the California sunshine, rafted the Grand Canyon, wandered the Rocky…
Read More
Fracking in a perfect world still problematic
To the Editor: The issue of fracking by the oil and gas industry — already one of the most controversial…
Read More
Giving voters advice and attacking Sen. Davis
To the Editor: Most letters to the editor are benign or overly active, but the one in the July 2…
Read More
Honest survey or deceitful phone ad?
To the Editor: Recently “SSI” surveys popped up on my called ID and in a moment of curiosity I answered…
Read More
‘Trust’ is insufficient check on any elected official
Most anyone who has worked for a living, volunteered, or held elected office has stood at the edge of the…
Read More
New talent and old influences enter jam genre
By Chris Cooper Approaching the “jam band” thing from some very different angles, Umphrey’s McGee manage to bring shades of…
Read More
$254 million Harrah’s expansion targets baby boomers
Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Hotel is planning a $254 million expansion and upgrade of its operations, including a third hotel…
Read More
Wonderful words
Like many of my fellow writers and readers, I am a sucker for word books. I love dictionaries —…
Read More
Recommended diversions
“Bubble” Director Steven Soderbergh, the darling of the Sundance film festival, had an audacious idea. Take a bare bones script…
Read More
Residents irate about DOT’s plan for Hazelwood Elementary road
A $1.66 million plan to build middle turn lanes on Plott Creek Road from Hazelwood Elementary School to Sulphur Springs…
Read More
Waiting for the smoke to clear: Officers deal with the professional and emotional aftermath of using a gun in the line of duty
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Law enforcement officers might spend their entire careers without ever firing their gun in…
Read More
Lyon was among WNC’s notable botanist
Andre and Francois Michaux, and John Fraser, and soon to be followed by Thomas Nuttall, Asa Gray, and Moses Ashley…
Read More
A primer on the right way to use a gun
By Sarah Kucharski On a chilly, rain soaked Sunday morning the last weekend of January I stood under a peaked,…
Read More
Small towns make for different news
I remember the specific moment in my journalism career when I sealed my future as a small-town newspaperman. I was…
Read More
Time for change at Cherokee’s ‘Unto These Hills’
“It’s going to be a bit of a change, but change is not always bad. This is just one little…
Read More
TDA board on track, confident in director
By Dori Pope • Guest columnist I recently had the honor and exciting challenge of being voted the Chair of…
Read More
Bigfoot: personal encounter?
For 12 years, Wanda Childers has brushed off encounters with a mysterious creature lurking around her trailer in the Whittier…
Read More
The hunt for Bigfoot comes to town
Stealth is not the preferred modus operandi of the Bigfoot team when they roll into town. Their black suburban, bound…
Read More
The Bigfoot crew
The team of Bigfoot researchers who came to Cherokee last week to investigate reports of a mysterious creature encounter run…
Read More
We’ll weather the weather, whatever it is
One of my daughter Izzy’s favorite videos is “Little Bear’s Winter Tales.” She likes the episode with the blizzard. The…
Read More
Open government always a good thing
It’s easy for elected leaders to say they support open government. Proving that support is something altogether different and more…
Read More
A thank you for helping hands
Editor’s note: Barbara McCarty worked on a flood task force that allocated more than $800,000 in private donations to victims…
Read More
Land trusts launch national vetting process
Land conservation trusts cropping up across Western North Carolina and the rest of the country will soon be able to…
Read More
The guns of winter
There was a blast from Vice President Dick Cheney’s 28-gauge shotgun — a gun, by the way, that one Web…
Read More
A pickle of a Prong
I felt like I should have had crampons on my boots, like the spikes mountain climbers use on ice. The…
Read More
Boggs represents country music’s greatest hope
Though it’s become a standard target for critical blasting, not all of modern country music is bad. Keith Urban turned…
Read More
Pivot points: WCU art museum presents poetry and painting from three inter-related generations
By Michael Beadle “Pivot Points” is not your typical art exhibit. Then again, the new Fine Art Museum on the…
Read More
Recommended diversions
Joni Mitchell “Anything that moves me, influences me.” — Joni Mitchell
Read More
