‘Stranger Things” and DACA truth
 

‘Stranger Things” and DACA truth

To the Editor: With all the news of DACA and how the changes will affect many people including some family,…
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Immigrants need to assimilate
 

Immigrants need to assimilate

To the Editor: A common sense response is necessary to the foolish arguments in a letter printed in a recent…
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Park’s fire response was woefully inadequate
 

Park’s fire response was woefully inadequate

To the Editor: Regarding the Chimney Tops 2 wildfire review article, my stomach clenched as I read quotes from the…
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Safety to improve at Bryson City intersections
 

Safety to improve at Bryson City intersections

Improvements may be coming to five intersections in Bryson City that would increase safety for drivers and pedestrians.
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Green air in the Blue Ridge
 

Green air in the Blue Ridge

A report recently issued by the Land of Sky Clean Vehicles Coalition clears the air about Haywood County’s greenhouse gas…
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WCU total student enrollment tops 11,000
 

WCU total student enrollment tops 11,000

Records continue to fall by the wayside at Western Carolina University, as total student enrollment has surpassed 11,000 for the…
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Behind the scenes of SCC’s high-altitude weather balloon launch on eclipse day
 

Behind the scenes of SCC’s high-altitude weather balloon launch on eclipse day

By Julia Hartbarger • SCC Public Relations A little time has passed since the Great American Solar Eclipse on Aug. 21,…
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Swain schools names interim superintendent
 

Swain schools names interim superintendent

The Swain County Board of Education has named Janet Clapsaddle as interim superintendent of schools after the retirement of Superintendent…
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Franklin doles out $40K in community funding
 

Franklin doles out $40K in community funding

Every year the Franklin Town Council struggles to meet the needs of the community with only $40,000 to spend on…
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Macon to receive $100,000 for community needs
 

Macon to receive $100,000 for community needs

Macon County will receive $100,000 to be used for “community purposes” thanks to help from Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin.
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Franklin meeting gets heated over ABC facility
 

Franklin meeting gets heated over ABC facility

A Franklin Town Council meeting got heated as the mayor and aldermen disagreed over what steps the town should take…
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Garden of Memory dedicated at Lake Junaluska
 

Garden of Memory dedicated at Lake Junaluska

The Lake Junaluska Columbarium and Garden of Memory was recently dedicated during a worship service in Memorial Chapel.
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Drug bust in Hazelwood
 

Drug bust in Hazelwood

On Sept. 7, the Waynesville Police Department’s TAC Unit along with Haywood County’s Multi-jurisdictional Drug Task Force, the U.N.I.T., executed…
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Tourism, trade could grow with WNC railroad renaissance
 

Tourism, trade could grow with WNC railroad renaissance

Long before the Oct. 3, 1880, arrival of the first scheduled train in Asheville, the American railroad has been romanticized…
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Regional leaders work for rail growth
 

Regional leaders work for rail growth

One needn’t look further than industries like Sylva’s Jackson Paper, Canton’s Evergreen Packaging and Waynesville’s Giles Chemical for evidence of…
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Vintage trailers take to Maggie Valley
 

Vintage trailers take to Maggie Valley

Aloha. Aristocrat. Forester. Shasta. Spartan. And of course, Airstream and Winnebago.
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Seven WNC counties to host Annual Stand Down
 

Seven WNC counties to host Annual Stand Down

By Kurt J. Volker • Contributing writer In cooperation with the seven Veteran Services offices in the WNC region, the Macon…
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‘Haywood Five’ to face state disloyalty charges
 

‘Haywood Five’ to face state disloyalty charges

Charges of “political party disloyalty” first leveled by the Haywood County Republican Party this past May against a group of…
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‘Where were you in ‘62?’
 

‘Where were you in ‘62?’

The Jackson County Genealogical Society, winner of Western Carolina University’s 2012 “Mountain Heritage Award,” will host its annual Cruise-In fundraiser…
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This must be the place: ‘Where do you think you’re goin’?’
 

This must be the place: ‘Where do you think you’re goin’?’

It’s the internal struggle. Do you participate in life and soak it in like a sponge being dropped into a…
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The fog of war: Vietnam vet reflects on service, new documentary
 

The fog of war: Vietnam vet reflects on service, new documentary

You could see it in his eyes. Sitting across from James “Jim” Joyce in his office in downtown Waynesville, his…
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Jackson gives toward trail maintenance
 

Jackson gives toward trail maintenance

The Pinnacle Park Foundation and Friends of Panthertown Valley got some help with trail maintenance this month, thanks to a…
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Learning by growing: Veggie garden a teaching tool for Swain students
 

Learning by growing: Veggie garden a teaching tool for Swain students

A summer of hard work is paying tasty dividends for some kids in Swain County 4-H — dividends paid in…
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Colorful fall predicted for Western North Carolina
 

Colorful fall predicted for Western North Carolina

This year’s autumn display is likely to be a colorful one, according to Western Carolina University fall foliage forecaster Beverly…
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To free your mind, just get outside and walk
 

To free your mind, just get outside and walk

In the June 14, 2004, issue of The New Yorker magazine, there was an essay titled “Blocked! Why Do Writers…
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A fine novel and worthwhile history lesson
 

A fine novel and worthwhile history lesson

Because Dr. Hood was only one of five professors in Guilford College’s history department, and because history was my major,…
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The numbers don’t lie, it’s a brave new world
 

The numbers don’t lie, it’s a brave new world

Some things we know, but when someone lays out the numbers and reveals in specific numbers how the big picture…
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Oh, the stories they could tell!
 

Oh, the stories they could tell!

The treehouse that we had built in our backyard when we bought our house eight years ago sits vacant on…
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Taking exception to reporter’s assessment
 

Taking exception to reporter’s assessment

To the Editor: I read reporter Cory Vaillancourt’s account of the Mike Clampitt Town Hall on Sept. 8 with astonishment.…
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Trump is unfit to remain in office
 

Trump is unfit to remain in office

To the Editor: Following is the letter former Sen. Gordon Humphrey (R-N.H., 1978-1990) sent to both New Hampshire U.S. senators…
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Comment

Climate change aided Harvey’s wrath
 

Climate change aided Harvey’s wrath

To the Editor: I have seen very little in the corporate media connecting Hurricane Harvey with human-caused climate change. Wonder…
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Comment

Spotlight blares on rare medical condition
 

Spotlight blares on rare medical condition

What if you could see sounds and hear pictures? About 4 percent of people across the world possess a rare…
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Jury acquits in rape case
 

Jury acquits in rape case

Nearly three years after a Sylva Halloween party resulted in his indictment for statutory rape, Cody Jenkins is a free…
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Giving back at Goodyacre: Ambitious plans in play at Canton area farm
 

Giving back at Goodyacre: Ambitious plans in play at Canton area farm

At one time or another, many of us have thought about giving up on the hustling, bustling daily life of…
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Residence hall, parking deck projects move forward at WCU
 

Residence hall, parking deck projects move forward at WCU

Two projects deemed by Western Carolina University officials as necessary to meet the demands of a rapidly increasing student enrollment…
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Of gods and governments: Brunch ordinance latest conflict between church, state
 

Of gods and governments: Brunch ordinance latest conflict between church, state

The inherent paradox in American government is that a nation founded upon Christian values by Christians provides for the separation…
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Waynesville brunch ordinance sends message
 

Waynesville brunch ordinance sends message

After two low-key meetings that saw no opposition, the Town of Waynesville Board of Aldermen passed an ordinance moving the…
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Brunch battle brewing in Canton
 

Brunch battle brewing in Canton

Over the past few years, Canton has made its case as a progressive, pragmatic, scrappy mill town fighting to attract…
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Comment

Brunch ordinance adoption varies in WNC
 

Brunch ordinance adoption varies in WNC

With the June 29 passage of Senate Bill 155, North Carolina became the 47th state in the union to allow…
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Unneeded, unwanted: brunch ordinance faces long odds in Maggie, Haywood
 

Unneeded, unwanted: brunch ordinance faces long odds in Maggie, Haywood

To date, most area governments that have heard a brunch bill ordinance have passed one. In other areas like Canton…
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Revised plans for Jackson Health Department will include one-stop permitting
 

Revised plans for Jackson Health Department will include one-stop permitting

Jackson County will spend $10,000 on a revised plan to renovate the Health Department building off Hospital Road after commissioners…
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Comment

Pigs as pets in Canton?
 

Pigs as pets in Canton?

For decades, urban jurisdictions have enacted animal ordinances intended to sequester the odiferous, unsightly sprawl of animal husbandry outside of…
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Comment

Puppy party postponed: Proposed Waynesville ordinance told by board to sit, stay
 

Puppy party postponed: Proposed Waynesville ordinance told by board to sit, stay

Daytrippers with dogs are driving demand for an amendment to Waynesville’s pet policy at fairs and fests, but owners might…
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Comment

Council chooses Ensley as vice chief
 

Council chooses Ensley as vice chief

Councilmember Alan “B” Ensley, of Yellowhill has been sworn in as Vice Chief following a veto from Principal Chief Richard…
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Total recount likely in Cherokee elections
 

Total recount likely in Cherokee elections

The results of a recount in the race for Birdtown Tribal Council sent shock waves through Cherokee from the moment…
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Comment

Six members appointed to WCU Foundation Board of Directors
 

Six members appointed to WCU Foundation Board of Directors

The Western Carolina University Foundation recently welcomed six new members to its board of directors following approval of the full…
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WCU rededicates Brown as newest dining facility
 

WCU rededicates Brown as newest dining facility

With a steady stream of hungry students filing by in search of dinner, members of one of Western Carolina University’s…
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WCU’s Mountain Heritage Day returns
 

WCU’s Mountain Heritage Day returns

Western Carolina University’s Mountain Heritage Day, a free family oriented festival that celebrates Southern Appalachian culture through concerts, living-history demonstrations,…
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Tell it from the mountain: ‘Uncle Ted’ White on bluegrass, the late Steve Sutton
 

Tell it from the mountain: ‘Uncle Ted’ White on bluegrass, the late Steve Sutton

What defines bluegrass music would have to be the banjo played “The Earl Scruggs Way” with the three-finger roll. If…
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Comment

This must be the place: ‘Remember me if I forget…’
 

This must be the place: ‘Remember me if I forget…’

He suggested two. I bought three. Standing in the small main office of the Woodsmoke Campground in Unicoi, Tennessee, I…
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