Public concerns over the visual blight of a proposed cell tower in the Cashiers area have prompted Verizon Wireless to alter its design for the tower, namely by disguising it to look like a very tall, very big pine tree.

It was time for something different.

“We’ve been looking at doing something like this for years,” said Sally Peterkin. “And when we found the right place, we knew it was time to do it.”

Highlands and Cashiers are perched on the edge of the Blue Ridge Escarpment, where the mountains plunge sharply from a high plateau, creating the right ingredients not only for bountiful waterfalls but a temperate rainforest, one of the few in North America. This makes for lush vegetation, plus special designations such as “salamander and lichen capital of the world.”

Cashiers area property owners have long complained that they pay more than their fair share when it comes to property taxes — ponying up 60 percent of the county’s total property taxes.

The vibe in the Cashiers library was thick with polite tension as Jackson County Manager Chuck Wooten recently stood before a roomful of curious skeptics.

The undertone was summed up by an audience member about halfway through the meeting.

Jackson County and the town of Sylva agreed this month to merge the entities’ separate Alcoholic Beverage Control boards. The deal means that Jackson and Sylva will share in the overall profits generated throughout the county, including those generated at the yet-to-open ABC store in Cashiers.

To relieve sewer gridlock in the Cashiers area, the Tuckasegee Water and Sewer Authority may change its rules to let developers swap, transfer and even sell unused sewer capacity.

Legendary American tennis stars Andy Roddick and Jim Courier will battle it out in a charity exhibition match in Cashiers this Saturday, hopefully raising as much as $200,000 to support and expand a wide variety of youth programs in the area.

“This is a once in a lifetime experience,” said William McKee, the chairman for the United Community Bank Mountain Challenge. “These are two of the most highly regarded players in their sport, and it’s incredible to have two world-class athletes donate their time. Both of these guys do philanthropy around the country, and to have them come to this little village is a huge treat for us all.”

After a tumultuous start to hashing out a blueprint for this year’s finances, the Jackson County Tourism Development Authority reached a moment of harmony last week when its members unanimously adopted a budget.

Jackson County got a green light from the state to move forward with plans to build a liquor store in Cashiers, despite more than two dozen residents voicing opposition to the particular location that was chosen.