Archived (28944)
Children categories
Jackson board sets sights on historic property
The Jackson County Planning Board is considering establishing a historic preservation commission to help maintain significant landmarks and districts. Such…
Read More
Dressing right for winter weather
By Doug Scarborough • Contributing writer With the winter season here, dressing appropriately to prevent cold injuries is often overlooked.…
Read More
Voters to decide on alcohol sales at Harrah’s
Voters in Cherokee will decide whether alcohol should be sold at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino now that enough signatures have been…
Read More
Dissatisfied, HRMC once more on the hunt for ER docs
Haywood Regional Medical Center will terminate its contract with the corporate physician staffing outfit that supplies doctors for the hospital’s…
Read More
A stellar year for Cataloochee’s elk
When the first batch of 25 elk were released in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park seven years ago, it…
Read More
Land use plan review ‘back on track’
Waynesville leaders vowed to speed up a review of the town’s land use plan after an article in The Smoky…
Read More
That’s me on the couch, counting my blessings
The holidays are upon us, I’m walking almost normal, and I’m ready to sit on the couch and count my…
Read More
Chili’s scouts Waynesville as possible location
Even as one national retailer — Home Depot — is pulling its plans for a Waynesville store, the national restaurant…
Read More
Sustainable travel makes sense
By Cynthia Deale • Western Regional Representative, Center for Sustainable Tourism Editor’s note: This series of green living tips is…
Read More
Macon, Franklin tourism boards take helm during tough climate
Two recently created tourism boards in Macon County met last week to begin discussing how they can make the area…
Read More
DOT meeting should have been advertised
By James McCarthy • Guest Columnist Did the N.C. Department of Transportation hold an illegal meeting on Dec. 4 at…
Read More
For the love of language and song: NC composer and poet laureate intertwine arts
By Christi Marsico • Staff Writer North Carolina’s poet laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer listens to the CD “Alma,” composed by…
Read More
Swanger back in the game with EDC seat
Haywood County Commissioner Mark Swanger is back on the county’s Economic Development Commission five years after he played a critical…
Read More
Holiday transcends economic classes: Family, religion are unifying themes to the season
Charles Phillips of Waynesville may be monetarily poor, but he is rich in the Christmas spirit. Each Christmas Phillips covers…
Read More
Was the night really that silent?
According to old Appalachian tradition, you don’t have to be named Doolittle to hear the animals. You just have to…
Read More
Maggie Valley’s Collins picked again to lead TDA
Lynn Collins, the director of Maggie Valley Chamber of Commerce, was unanimously appointed as the new director of the Haywood…
Read More
Heritage center welcomes new curator
Trevor Jones, a native of St. Cloud, Minn., is the new curator at the Mountain Heritage Center, Western Carolina University’s…
Read More
Music for the land
Dirt Music by Tim Winton. Scribner and Sons, 2003. 411 pages. Well, dear reader, we are about to discuss a…
Read More
Brought on in crisis, extra ambulance shows it’s mettle
When Haywood Regional Medical Center suspended its care of Medicare and Medicaid patients last February, Jim Pressley realized there was…
Read More
Historic harmony: “Songs From Haywood County”
By Christi Marsico • Staff Writer Providing a historic glimpse into triumph and tragedy of real life in Haywood County over…
Read More
College students squeeze value out of trash
It took a team of Western Carolina University students just 10 days and dozens of discarded plastic bottles to design…
Read More
Sylva domestic violence shelter not to blame in murder
The North Carolina Court of Appeals has dismissed a lawsuit filed against a domestic violence shelter by the family of…
Read More
Public land stewardship as economic stimulus
Editor’s Note: The following is testimony delivered by Mark Singleton of Sylva, who is the chairman of the Outdoor Alliance.…
Read More
Life in Hazel Creek: Mountain Discovery Charter School 8th-graders experience life as pre-national park settlers
Editor’s note: The following is series of student-written excerpts from a five-day camping trip taken to the Hazel Creek area…
Read More
Franklin development pushes village-style design
The days of suburban sprawl could be coming to an end as a new type of development — mixed use…
Read More
The Naturalist's Corner
Gun-toting tourist deters smarter than average bear Setting: A campground in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, nightfall, Jan. 13,…
Read More
Waynesville needs to get going on land use plan update
It’s time for Waynesville to get going on its land use plan review, especially since the economic downturn has slowed…
Read More
School air data suspect, officials say
Officials from Haywood County and the state Division of Air Quality are disputing a recently released report by USA Today…
Read More
WestCare, Haywood hospitals hunt for partner
The boards of Haywood Regional Medical Center and WestCare Health System are officially seeking proposals from three hospital systems that…
Read More
Verizon cell tower violates county ordinance
A cell tower company jumped the gun by building onto its tower without the necessary permits from Haywood County. Verizon…
Read More
Russell’s ‘dog of a book’
Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell. Random House, 2008. 272 pages. One of the great delights in browsing…
Read More
Auto dealers lament Shuler’s ‘no’ vote on bailout
U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville, voted against the proposed bailout of the auto industry last week. Gary Tallent, manager of…
Read More
Home Depot scraps Waynesville plans
Home Depot has officially yanked plans to build a store in Waynesville next to the town’s new Super Wal-Mart. The…
Read More
HCC serves up student-grown produce
This spring, the greens served in Haywood Community College’s cafeteria couldn’t have been more local — they were grown just…
Read More
There ain’t no shelter here
There aren’t many options for those without a home in Western North Carolina. Sleeping outside is one, but winter nights…
Read More
Trapping rainwater could solve airport slope problems
Although Jackson County and the Airport Authority prevailed in a lawsuit this month blaming them for slope failure at the…
Read More
Ye Olde Christmas CD roundup ...
By Chris Cooper I guess it’s a kind of Christmas tradition. Every year around this time I go on the…
Read More
No guns, no bikes, and no dogs
By Danny Bernstein • Guest Columnist Our national parks have been assaulted by new rulings in the closing days of…
Read More
Macon may be out of money for K-4 school
There may not be enough money to build a new K-4 school in Macon County because of the economic downturn,…
Read More
Taking a likin’ to the lichen
On a winter walk you will encounter numerous evergreen plants. None is more mysterious or delightful to behold than the…
Read More
Lending a hand
Recently, more than 50 members of the Haywood County community gathered in a church fellowship hall to brainstorm ways to…
Read More
A word with the musicians
Mark W. Winchester (MW) and Milan Miller (MM) answer questions about the collaboration of “Songs From Haywood County.” SMN: How…
Read More
Cherokee petition closes in on alcohol vote
Organizers of a petition drive in Cherokee believe they have enough signatures to force a referendum by voters on whether…
Read More
The economic downturn hits home — hard
The trickle down effect from the national economic downturn is starting to feel more like a flood to agencies in…
Read More
Officials stay away from private DOT meeting, stay within bounds of law
It appears local government officials obeyed the Open Meetings Law when they attended a private N.C. Department of Transportation meeting…
Read More
About Nance Dude
A brief synopsis of “Nance Dude,” which is one of three dramatic monologues in “Land’s End” written by Gary Carden:…
Read More
National parks to lift ban on gun-packing visitors
Visitors could soon be toting loaded, concealed guns in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A long-standing ban on loaded…
Read More
Schools give money back, Big Three ready to take it
As the economic picture gets more and more bleak, the ironies loom larger and larger. Public school systems, community colleges…
Read More
DOT gets earful from public on Southern Loop
Jackson County resident Susan Leveille opposes the construction of a N.C. 107 bypass. “I am very hopeful DOT and all…
Read More
