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Jim and Rhonda do it different
Jim Lauderdale: The Bluegrass Diaries If you recognize the name, little more needs to be said. Long one of the…
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Tis the season of politics and lies
The truth is that, at the state level, no one is giving Pat Smathers a chance to win in his…
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More than 150 attend Swain’s historic first MLK celebration
More than 150 people traveled from all over Western North Carolina to attend the first official Martin Luther King Jr.…
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Reward offered in Parkway bear killing
A driver on the Blue Ridge Parkway last November witnessed a group of hunters and their dogs corner a black…
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Recommended diversions
“No Country For Old Men” There’s a whole list of movies (films?) I’ve seen that I respected, on many levels…
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Oh, the glorious memory of boredom
George Bernard Shaw once said, “It’s a shame that youth is wasted on the young.” If that is true, then…
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Fundamental issues are ignored in immigration debate
By Marsha Crites • Guest Columnist She is very thin, about 6 years old, her hair is unkempt and her…
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North Shore Road proponents fear wilderness designation
By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer With a potential end to the North Shore Road saga looming, supporters of constructing…
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Right in the thick of it
Our southern mountains are old and relatively sedate when compared with the Himalayas, Rockies, and other “young” mountain ranges. But…
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The Naturalist's Corner
There she was when I got up around 6:30 this morning, the buttons from her blue jeans shining radiantly just…
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The Chattooga compromise: With solitude at stake, Chattooga recreation to be reined in
A long-awaited decision over paddling on the Upper Chattooga is expected within weeks by the National Forest Service.
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Music to their ears: Local students earn high marks in national performance competition
By Michael Beadle Watch out Broadway. Get Carnegie Hall ready.
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Wings of winter
Winter birding is often slow going. There is no chorus of rowdy and randy males singing lustily, and weather conditions…
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Dr. Elisha Mitchell
While scanning the shelves of a rare bookstore in Asheville several months ago, I happened upon a regional volume by…
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Body found in Macon in missing hiker case
Skeletal remains found in Macon County’s Nantahala National Forest Feb. 2 are those of an 80-year-old hiker who disappeared in…
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Living with a green state of mind: Western North Carolina residents take steps to reduce their carbon footprint
By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer Living “green” is a way of life for Mark and Darcia Bondurant. The Haywood…
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Garden questions
By Jim Janke • Special to the Smoky Mountain News Editor’s note: This is the first of what will become…
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Final countdown to the Chattooga decision
There are nine scenarios on the table in the debate over whether paddling should be allowed on the Upper Chattooga.…
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Mountain roads cited as among the state’s most dangerous
By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer Driving a tractor-trailer in Haywood County or a motorcycle in Swain? Use caution. Both…
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Ordinance changes could lift floodplain development ban
By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer Macon County residents will have the opportunity to weigh in on amendments to the…
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North Shore area won’t be designated a wilderness
By Rep. Heath Shuler After more than 60 years of contentious debate that has divided our community, we are finally…
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Letter writers take me to task twice in one week
Fair’s fair, so I’ll print an anonymous letter I received over the weekend. We usually don’t print anonymous submissions, but…
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Recommended diversions
Kindle In case you don’t know, the Kindle is Amazon’s answer to the paperless book. It’s a wireless, portable electronic…
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Bluegrass’ contemporary class
The term “contemporary bluegrass” is open to a ridiculous amount of interpretation. For some it signifies anything that strays even…
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Life chronicles
How To Make A Journal Of Your Life by D. Price. Ten Speed Press, $9.95. Ant Farm by Simon Rich.…
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This rodent won’t make it to the White House
PUNXSUTAWNEY, Penn. — A year from the day he announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president, Punxsutawney Phil,…
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Counties need full-time economic development director
There’s not a one-size-fits-all model for how counties should promote economic development, but at the very least there should be…
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Business owners and their trash
By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer Jackson County solid waste officials are cracking down on how businesses dispose of their…
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Swain chooses negotiators for North Shore settlement
By Jennifer Garlesky & Julia Merchant • Staff Writers Two Swain County employees will join representatives from the Department of…
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Forest Service should let boaters on the Chattooga
The U.S. Forest Service is about to release its opinion on whether to allow boating on the Chattooga River. It’s…
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Reverend C. T. Vivian sheds light on roots of Civil Rights movement
By Victoria McDonald • Guest Columnist Reverend C. T. Vivian is a living legend of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.…
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Franklin adopts new rules for floodplain construction
By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer Macon County’s eight-month moratorium on the permitting of recreational vehicles in the floodplain will…
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Mountain waters aren’t what they appear; Scotts Creek tests ‘scary high’ for contaminates
Unsafe levels of fecal coliform in the Tuckasegee River and two tributaries around Dillsboro have Jackson County public health officials…
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Upper world guardians
We are all fascinated by birds. In addition to being pretty (even buzzards are pretty in their own way), they…
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The Plott Hound: Bob Plott writes the definitive book on his family’s famed hunting hounds
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Owners of Plott Hounds will say that the hound is unlike any other.
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Sylva wants to diversify Pinnacle Park usage
By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer Sylva Town Board members want to see hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers sharing…
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The greening of America
“I suddenly think about my friends, you know, getting on their private jets. And I think, well, you know, maybe…
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Gems from the used bin
By Chris Cooper Ah, the joy of finding good stuff in the “undeservedly discarded disc” section of any music store.…
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Local and regional agencies are making strides in the fight against online predators, but much work remains to be done
By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer It’s a scenario that plays out every day: A bored 12-year-old girl named Crystal…
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Recommended diversions
Poems from Guantanamo They’re supposed to be the worst of the worst from al-Qaeda and the Taliban, evildoers locked up…
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Development regs at issue in Jackson election
When Jackson County commissioners passed strict mountainside development regulations last year, opponents pledged to get even come election time.
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As Cowan ponders whether to run, a rematch in the making
Voters in Jackson County could have a rematch in the May primary between two candidates who ran against each other…
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Room tax plan would split Macon into three districts
By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer A plan to distribute Macon County’s occupancy tax has been formulated, leaving the final…
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Franklin leaders mull downtown options
By Jennifer Garlesky • Staff Writer Sandi Dotherow loves the town of Franklin so much that she spends all her…
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Poetry dying for readers
In a Prominent Bar in Secaucus: New and Selected Poems, 1955 by X.J. Kennedy. — The Johns Hopkins University Press,…
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My bags are packed
And I’m Loosiana bound — you do know it was named after Louis, not Louise?
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A long time coming
The public is two-and-a-half years late learning that a popular area for swimming, rafting and fishing in Jackson County isn’t…
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Too close to call
The most fascinating race for President of the United States in my lifetime could have become a good bit more…
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Endangered bat numbers rise, but mysterious illness poses threat
The endangered Indiana bat saw a 9 percent population increase between 2005 and 2007, continuing a 12-year rise in bat…
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Painting over Bureaucracy
By Michael Beadle Phyllis Jarvinen was tired of all the paperwork, the endless forms and bureaucratic red tape that clogged…
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