This must be the place: Sometimes the songs that we hear are just songs of our own

Standing on the sidewalk, I leaned onto the open garage door window of Sauced in downtown Waynesville. Sunday evening right before the rainstorm rolled in. An array of the younger, service industry crowd finally sitting down to congregate and enjoy a beverage on their own time. 

Crisis pregnancy center opens in Waynesville

Just three days after protesters gathered on the courthouse lawn in Waynesville to demonstrate  their support for legal abortion, a nonprofit with a different perspective on the issue that has roiled the nation since May 2 — when a leaked draft  of a U.S. Supreme Court decision showed that the landmark Roe v. Wade precedent is in danger — opened on the other side of Depot Street in downtown Waynesville.

Waynesville rally for Roe is a sign of things to come

As it often does, the Historic Haywood Courthouse played host to a rally on May 14 that drew about 50 people, an equal number of signs and a small contingent of counterdemonstrators. Unlike in recent years, it wasn’t a rally supporting Black Lives Matter, or law enforcement officers, or local issues like the proposed jail expansion.

Reproductive Rights Rally

On Saturday, May 14, "We Are WNC" along with concerned citizens of Haywood County will host a rally in Waynesville to stand in solidarity that the right to choose an abortion be protected in the wake of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe. V Wade. The landmark decision from 1973 has given women and others who can become pregnant access to safe, legal abortions.  

Waynesville hopes to spark residential solar generation

Unlike most North Carolina municipalities, the Town of Waynesville operates its own electric service, giving it greater local control over billing, rates and policies that monopolies like Duke Energy don’t offer.

Taxes, fees may 
go up in new Waynesville budget

Declining revenues and a growing list of capital improvements are both putting the squeeze on Waynesville’s finances, but a proposed 2-cent increase in property taxes might not be enough to address them all. 

Waynesville approves 
housing development

A 59-unit townhome development on 7.7 acres just off East Street in Waynesville has been approved over opposition from neighbors, several planning board members and a town alderman.

Waynesville takes a look at board meeting procedures

Governing a small municipality is work enough, but add in unprecedented amounts of federal recovery funds that need to be appropriated and a strong undercurrent of residential development and the workload for Waynesville’s aldermen and planning board only gets bigger and bigger.

Social media rumors fuel false child trafficking concerns

As increasing child abuse rates continue to plague many homes in Haywood County, a recent red herring took hold on social media, leading the Waynesville Police Department and Haywood County Sheriff’s Office to investigate an alleged human trafficking ring that doesn’t seem to exist.

Waynesville aldermen ponder projects

It’s a critical time in the Town of Waynesville. Legacy problems like aging sewer and water infrastructure and a malfunctioning downtown association are almost in the rearview mirror, as are the uncertainty and disruption of the Coronavirus Pandemic. 

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