Waynesville parking deck could house electric car charging station
 

Waynesville parking deck could house electric car charging station

Electric car owners rejoice. Haywood County may soon be home to two electric car charging stations for the sustainably inclined.…
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A cut above the competition
 

A cut above the competition

Haywood Community College can now boast a national champion after Daniel Jones took the title at the Stihl Collegiate Timbersports…
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Report will provide benchmark on health of WNC’s natural resources
 

Report will provide benchmark on health of WNC’s natural resources

A sweeping status report on natural resources in the mountains is being developed by a regional task force, serving as…
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Sylva native new downtown director
 

Sylva native new downtown director

A 24-year-old with family ties to Jackson County has been hired as the new leader of the Downtown Sylva Association…
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Franklin town board facing no changes
 

Franklin town board facing no changes

There will be no new faces on Franklin’s town board after November’s elections, no matter which way voters decide to…
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Global Poverty Project CEO to speak at WCU
 

Global Poverty Project CEO to speak at WCU

The 28-year-old co-founder and CEO of a global organization committed to eradicating extreme poverty will visit Western Carolina University on…
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Merchants float idea of downtown association in Bryson City
 

Merchants float idea of downtown association in Bryson City

Business owners in Bryson City’s downtown are following in the footsteps of neighboring towns, attempting to put together their own…
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Cherokee election rematch enters into final days
 

Cherokee election rematch enters into final days

Election season is closing in Cherokee, where races for principal chief, vice chief, tribal council and school board members will…
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Waynesville Recreation Center to close for maintenance
 

Waynesville Recreation Center to close for maintenance

The Waynesville Recreation Center will close for routine maintenance work from Sept. 12-18. The center will reopen on Sept. 19…
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Fair tax advocate to speak in Cashiers
 

Fair tax advocate to speak in Cashiers

Laura McCue, district director of N.C. Fair Tax, will be the guest speaker at the Sept. 6 meeting of the…
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Labor Day means fireworks in Maggie
 

Labor Day means fireworks in Maggie

Maggie Valley will have a free Labor Day weekend fireworks on Sunday, Sept. 4, with viewing from the Festival Grounds.…
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Maggie Valley loses another alderman
 

Maggie Valley loses another alderman

Maggie Valley Alderman and motel owner Scott Pauley is leaving his post, pushed out by the region’s sagging economy. Pauley…
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Asheville public radio’s reach threatened by new FM station
 

Asheville public radio’s reach threatened by new FM station

A new FM radio station in Western North Carolina means more than 108,000 people living in the region might not…
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University fights environmental group for rights to radio frequency
 

University fights environmental group for rights to radio frequency

Western Carolina University, eager to broadcast Catamount sports and other school-based programming to a larger audience than it can currently…
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Airwaves up for grabs: Enviro group makes bid for grassroots radio
 

Airwaves up for grabs: Enviro group makes bid for grassroots radio

The Canary Coalition, a nonprofit group rooted in Jackson County that fights for air quality, might soon take to the…
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Religious graduation speech in Macon raises issues over separation of church and state
 

Religious graduation speech in Macon raises issues over separation of church and state

The Macon County School system has changed its tune on the controversial preacher who delivered an overtly religious speech at…
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Bible reading makes a comeback
 

Bible reading makes a comeback

In an out-of-the-way room on the ground floor, seven congregants of Longs Chapel United Methodist Church in Lake Junaluska gather…
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Oliver deserves more credit for his writing skills
 

Oliver deserves more credit for his writing skills

I started to write this column about Duane Oliver before I discovered that he has just published what he tells…
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Farm bill supports water quality efforts
 

Farm bill supports water quality efforts

If you are farming in Haywood County, the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service is accepting applications to support efforts that…
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Don’t just own a forest, manage it for wildlife and tax benefits
 

Don’t just own a forest, manage it for wildlife and tax benefits

Learn how to manage forests for wildlife and timber production, plus review tax strategies and estate planning at an upcoming…
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Taste of the Market to feature Jackson farmers
 

Taste of the Market to feature Jackson farmers

The Jackson County Farmers Market will hold its annual “Taste of the Market” starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 27,…
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Professor to talk about human-animal relationships
 

Professor to talk about human-animal relationships

Hal Herzog of Western Carolina University will discuss the complications of human-animal relationships, the focus of his recently published book,…
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Time to break out that camera
 

Time to break out that camera

Shutterbug alert: A fall field photography program will run for four weeks starting in September in Haywood County. Class members…
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Blue Ridge Breakaway tops 400 participants
 

Blue Ridge Breakaway tops 400 participants

More than 400 riders participated in the second Blue Ridge Breakaway, held this Saturday (Aug. 20) in Haywood County. The…
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Grant money to fund gardening research, education in Haywood
 

Grant money to fund gardening research, education in Haywood

Need help paying for research or educational outreach about the environment, gardening or horticulture? The Haywood County Master Gardener Volunteer…
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Budding gardeners hone greenthumbs
 

Budding gardeners hone greenthumbs

Young gardeners from Junaluska Elementary School won first place recently in a landscape design competition at the N.C. Master Gardeners…
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Testifying
 

Testifying

I just wanted to shout an amen to brother George Ellison’s Aug. 10 Back Then column, “Late summer is an…
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Get your horse vaccinated
 

Get your horse vaccinated

A horse in the eastern part of the state tested positive this month for Easter Equine Encephalomyelitis, a warning to…
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Dahlia show coming to Waynesville
 

Dahlia show coming to Waynesville

Three local dahlia growers in Haywood County, Jack Leatherwood, Johnny Trantham and Ken Zula, were recently visited by Southern Living…
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A great race makes a comeback
 

A great race makes a comeback

There aren’t too many road races in Western North Carolina with the storied history of the Maggie Valley Moonlight Race,…
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Ron Rash to read from new poetry collection
 

Ron Rash to read from new poetry collection

Ron Rash will visit City Lights Bookstore to read from his first poetry book in 10 years, Waking, at 1…
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McDarris reads from new book at Blue Ridge Books
 

McDarris reads from new book at Blue Ridge Books

Local author Vivian McDarris will read from her recent book, Black Fog, at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 27, at…
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Rash’s new book of poetry evocative, resonant
 

Rash’s new book of poetry evocative, resonant

When I was nine years old, I once caught a 12-inch brown trout at the point where two small Jackson…
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When it comes to stings, all aren’t created equal
 

When it comes to stings, all aren’t created equal

A number of readers have informed me that the agonizing sting I described in last week’s column was the work…
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Lake issue raises complex questions
 

Lake issue raises complex questions

To the Editor: Thank you for the thoughtful, informative and balanced article on Lake Emory in Franklin. I would like…
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Park proposals add insult to injury
 

Park proposals add insult to injury

I recently wrote in the Swain County newspaper about a singularly misguided proposal by Great Smoky Mountains National Park leadership…
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The man behind the town An unabashed champion of Canton, Pat Smathers nears the end of his dozen year tenure
 

The man behind the town An unabashed champion of Canton, Pat Smathers nears the end of his dozen year tenure

Pat Smathers is what you might call a born politician. His first campaign was pitching Terry Sanford’s 1960 run for…
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What’s in their wallets? Salaries could be a factor in upcoming tribal election
 

What’s in their wallets? Salaries could be a factor in upcoming tribal election

Cherokee tribal elections are little more than a week away, and with the economy topping the list of major issues,…
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Divulging Lambert’s salary a political tug-of-war
 

Divulging Lambert’s salary a political tug-of-war

Principal chief candidate Patrick Lambert is calling foul after refusing to divulge his pay information to the tribe’s internal auditors.…
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RV park planned for Scaly
 

RV park planned for Scaly

A new motorcoach resort for up to 21 recreation vehicles will be built on N.C. 106 in the Scaly Mountain…
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Tourism summit coming up at Lake Junaluska
 

Tourism summit coming up at Lake Junaluska

It’s not too late to register for this year’s Gather ‘Round the Blue Ridge, the fifth-annual meeting of the Blue…
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Bryson residents needed to make town better
 

Bryson residents needed to make town better

HandMade in America has spent the past year assessing how to make Bryson City a better place to live, and…
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DOT plans new rest area in Balsam to serve other side of the highway
 

DOT plans new rest area in Balsam to serve other side of the highway

A new roadside rest area is coming to Balsam, serving westbound travelers on U.S. 23-74. It will sit on seven…
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Sexual assualt suspects at large
 

Sexual assualt suspects at large

Investigators are looking for two men who followed a woman to her home in the Cashiers area and sexually assaulted…
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Chopping prowess lands woodsman coveted spot in national championship
 

Chopping prowess lands woodsman coveted spot in national championship

In 24 seconds flat, Daniel Jones can chop through a 13-inch white pine log, perched atop it and swinging his…
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U.S. Senator Burr gets back to basics with Waynesville businessmen
 

U.S. Senator Burr gets back to basics with Waynesville businessmen

U.S. Senator Richard Burr, R-N.C., didn’t don kid gloves when addressing a cross section of Haywood County business leaders representing…
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Students — and their wallets — return to Jackson County
 

Students — and their wallets — return to Jackson County

Aside from the occasional “welcome WCU students” signs, there isn’t much visible evidence in Sylva that signals more than 7,000…
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Faculty packs overflow balcony to hear new chancellor’s opening address
 

Faculty packs overflow balcony to hear new chancellor’s opening address

Western Carolina University is facing, at best, an austere financial year. Chancellor David Belcher, in his first address to faculty…
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WCU’s lack of college scene viewed by many as an asset
 

WCU’s lack of college scene viewed by many as an asset

Between the two of them, daughter Alison “Ali” Howie is clearly holding up better than her mother, Paula Dennis. “I’m…
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Macon planning board sends  toned-down construction rules to commissioners….again
 

Macon planning board sends toned-down construction rules to commissioners….again

Macon County’s embattled planning board has agreed on a handful of basic construction guidelines for developers building houses and roads.…
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