EDC director Clasby announces retirement
After a career spanning more than 14 years as the executive director of Haywood County’s Economic Development Council, Mark Clasby told EDC board members Nov. 2 that this year would be his last.
Wastewater treatment plant has urgent needs, huge price tag
For the second meeting in a row, consultants presented the Waynesville Board of Aldermen with some unpleasant realities about the town’s critical infrastructure.
Asheville, Haywood chambers to ink economic development deal
The economies of Haywood and Buncombe counties are and have been intricately linked for some time now, but a forthcoming agreement between them will soon formalize an economic development partnership designed to move both counties forward in a more efficient, more effective manner.
Do you write stories to dispel rumors?
“A lie can run around the world before the truth has its boots on.”
That’s one of the few quotes or sayings I can summon up at will. At some point it was etched into my memory. An internet search credits it to Terry Pratchett, a recently deceased but very popular British author of fantasy novels whom I have never read.
Keeping the river clean: Adopt-a-Stream volunteers keep litter out of Haywood’s waterways
It’s a sunny, abnormally warm October afternoon, and Tom Anspach is ready to meet it with a canoe on the Pigeon River.
But Anspach, accompanied by 19-year-old Josh Arford, isn’t there to paddle for miles or fish for trout. He’s there to fish for trash.
Growing up in freedom: Gladys Knight performance to benefit proposed Canton community center
Just outside of a small Western North Carolina community known as “Papertown USA” sits a dilapidated 84-year old brick schoolhouse surrounded by an even smaller, mostly African-American community known as “Gibsontown.”
“It was a very boxed-in world,” said Billy McDowell, who grew up in the neighborhood. “That world was all you knew. The internet wasn’t here, and so the only thing we had was the six and 11 o’clock news, which we never watched.”
Boom or bust? New index charts Haywood’s economy
Earlier this year, a series of stories in The Smoky Mountain News focusing on Haywood County’s economy explored its various economic sectors, the businesses that comprise them, the organizations that aid them and the ultimate financial impact of them.
Shining Rock school director resigns
The Shining Rock Classical Academy Board of Directors accepted the resignation of School Director Ben Butler during a Sunday night emergency board meeting. His resignation is effective immediately.
Shining Rock’s scores below most others
When Shining Rock Classical Academy opened in 2015, the public charter school was hailed as a victory for local proponents of school choice and promised to provide an academically rigorous, comprehensive college preparatory curriculum.
Haywood hires interim county manager
Haywood County native Joel R. Mashburn has been selected to serve as interim county manager following the recent and unexpected departure of former County Manager Ira Dove on Oct. 3.
