Archived (29788)
Children categories
Longtime legal counsel receives WCU Trustees’ Award
Rich Kucharski, chief legal counsel for Western Carolina University, became the seventh person in university history to receive one of…
Read More
Watching the world’s game
Every four years the World Cup interrupts business as usual for a month in countries that have nothing else in…
Read More
Sylva woodworker goes back to the future
In our commodity-driven world, it may seem absurd to spend a year making a table. But for Sylva woodworker Brian…
Read More
Quarry plays vital role in economy
Harrison Construction’s rock quarry on Allens Creek in Waynesville mines granite for building roads, driveways and concrete house pads. The…
Read More
Employee pay at center of Jackson County budget debate
With the Jackson County budget a few short weeks from completion, a split emerged among commissioners concerning raises for county…
Read More
Democrats in Swain Sheriff race prepare for runoff
On Tuesday (June 22), Swain County voters will decide which Democrat will face Republican Curtis Cochran in the hotly contested…
Read More
Schools watch, wait and plan as Raleigh budget debate plays out
While university leaders are nervously hoping state lawmakers will pass a budget that looks something like the Senate version, many…
Read More
New SCC president had former career at WCU
The Southwestern Community College Board of Trustees has settled on a replacement for outgoing President Cecil Groves. Last week, the…
Read More
Budget crunch deals blow to WCU
Western Carolina University Chancellor John Bardo fears the budget passed by the General Assembly this year might cast a shadow…
Read More
Macon commissioners whittle away at budget, but tax hike stays
Having already committed to a 1.5 cent tax rate increase to pay for building a new school in the north…
Read More
2010 Cold Mountain Heritage Tour planned in Haywood County
The last Cold Mountain Heritage Tour, sponsored by The Bethel Rural Community Organization, will be held from 9 a.m. to…
Read More
Exploring Sylva’s secret garden
Jay Coward is no stranger to Pinnacle Park. When the work day ends, Coward often trades in his attorney’s suit…
Read More
The Naturalist's Corner
Skulker of the tangles The other morning at 6 o’clock at Hickey Fork in the Pisgah National Forest’s Shelton Laurel…
Read More
Main Street grant doesn’t help economy, it hurts it
By Lynda Bennett • Guest Columnist Protestors in Waynesville recently dismissed Gov. Beverly Perdue’s stimulus grants as simply “baking up”…
Read More
Sunburst Trout chef journeys to D.C. in the name of healthy food
Hundreds of chefs gathered in Washington, D.C., Friday, June 4, to launch Chefs Move to Schools, a program designed to…
Read More
Atmosphere wins over delegates to Lake J’s Methodist conference
Lake Junaluska, a century-old retreat for Methodist clergy and their families, will remain the favored venue for a major annual…
Read More
At long last, Cherokee telling their own story
For decades the story of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians wasn’t their own. Tourists flocked to see Cherokee men…
Read More
Downtown Sylva to get more free parking
Years of complaining by Sylva merchants that there isn’t enough parking downtown has spurred the Sylva town board to lease…
Read More
Public outcry pushes Duke to consider new substation site
Duke Energy wants an option to buy land at the Swain County Industrial Park with the intention of using it…
Read More
WCU grad drowns during tubing trip
A river tubing trip on a sunny day ended in tragedy last week when a recent Western Carolina University grad…
Read More
Apartment complex fills unmet need in WNC
The demand for stress-free, turnkey living was largely an untapped market in the region until the recent debut of VantagePointe…
Read More
The Naturalist's Corner
uddling – a kaleidoscope adventure Maddy (my 4-year-old) and I had been in the woods at Harmons Den checking on…
Read More
Haywood budget cuts pose hardship for some library users
Kaleigh Davis, 12, comes to the Haywood County Public Library with her aunt Marlene Arrington almost every Thursday night. Arrington…
Read More
Trash controversy dominates Haywood budget discussion
When the hour finally arrived for Haywood County commissioners to vote on a budget for the upcoming year, Haywood County…
Read More
Towns demand parity in Haywood trash plan
There was one thing Haywood County commissioners, town officials, private haulers and county employees could all agree upon at last…
Read More
Lake Junaluska at risk of losing most meaningful conference
Despite its peaceful atmosphere and long history as a spiritual center for Methodists, Lake Junaluska may lose the annual United…
Read More
Conservation of tract protects the Pigeon River
A 92-acre tract near the Little East Fork of the Pigeon River in the Bethel community in Haywood County has…
Read More
Civil suit targeting Jackson sheriff fails
“The only reasonable verdict here is for Sheriff Ashe,” Patrick Flanagan told the jury. “He did not commit any wrongdoing…
Read More
An ongoing preservation
This past week, we took our 11-year-old granddaughter, Daisy, who is visiting from Colorado, to the Cherokee Indian Village. She…
Read More
Yearning for ancient ties
The Memory of Gills by Catherine Carter. Louisiana State University Press, 2006. 59 pages. Recently, when Catherine Carter was asked…
Read More
Protection of mountain’s vast tract hinges on funding
An 8,000 acre tract in Transylvania County, the largest block of privately owned wilderness in the southern Blue Ridge Mountains,…
Read More
Economic development that works for the region
A couple of stories we’ve covered in the last two weeks illustrate better than any data the new face of…
Read More
Quilt celebrates rec center’s contributions
Catch the Spirit of Appalachia and the Appalachian Homestead Farm & Preserve recently presented a hand pieced, appliquéd quilt of…
Read More
Juggling through books
In Spite of Myself: A Memoir by Christopher Plummer. Knopf, 2008. 656 pages. Like most readers, I usually have a…
Read More
Instructor instills lifelong appreciation for art
Many people might say Lilian Parks is a staple to the regional art community. “Lil” as she is known to…
Read More
Strand project kick started with state grant
Hidden behind 16 feet of Main Street storefront, the inside of The Strand Theater looks like a cave. The floor…
Read More
Perdue gets enthusiastic welcome in Waynesville
Gov. Beverly Perdue visited Main Street Friday to announce that Waynesville received a $300,000 grant from the state’s Main Street…
Read More
Jackson library campaign marks success, new goals
On May 25 the Friends of the Jackson County Main Library marked the completion of their astonishing two-year fundraising drive,…
Read More
Waynesville bookstore changes ownership
Waynesville residents may soon notice the sign on Main Street’s Blue Ridge Books & Café switched out for a new…
Read More
Haywood County 911 director calls for help
Haywood County’s technology director Kristy Wood wasn’t exactly latching onto the hope that commissioners would grant her $2.8 million budget…
Read More
Rock star treatment a surprise as WCU quintet visits China
Western Carolina University’s quintet in residence should consider letting the Travel Channel tag along before embarking on its next international…
Read More
Ecology and culture intertwine with incredibly useful river cane
The Cherokee uses and ecology of river cane will be discussed during a guided walk from 10 a.m. to noon…
Read More
Cherokee passport checkpoint a fun reminder
Martie Hoofer was driving her motorcycle into Cherokee from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park when an Anikituhwa warrior dressed…
Read More
Rediscovering inspiration
In the mid-1970s my primary writing interest was poetry. I was consumed night and day by poetry for perhaps five…
Read More
Swain County to air proposed zoning ordinance
In March Swain County commissioners voted to enact a moratorium that put a halt to Duke Energy’s substation project on…
Read More
County power struggle surfaces in Finn v. Ashe trial
“Putting Mr. Finn out of business is not a duty of the Jackson County sheriff. Is that a fair statement?”…
Read More
Linking farmers to restaurants not always easy
On one side are local farmers, toiling from dawn to dusk, trying to compete in an increasingly globalized economy. On…
Read More
New venture welcomed by downtown business community
Downtown Waynesville merchants hope a plan to remodel the old Strand theater as an entertainment venue, restaurant and microbrewery will…
Read More
Students take lettuce from greenhouse to cafeteria
It doesn’t get much fresher than this. Horticulture students at Smoky Mountain High School in Sylva are helping to feed…
Read More
From garden to table in Sylva
In Sylva, the buy local mantra is being reinterpreted as grow your own. Volunteers at the Community Table, a nonprofit…
Read More
