Outdoors 2018: The year in quotes
From the depths of winter to the height of summer, valley agriculture to mountain exploration, longtime mountain dwellers to new arrivals, a year in Western North Carolina’s great outdoors can provide a lifetime of stories. In 2018, The Smoky Mountain News covered everything from conservation to kudzu, encountering plenty of colorful characters along the way. Here’s a selection of the best quotes we heard this year, about the mountains and from those who love them.
Fake News FREAKOUT!! Part Three
This is my third Christmas as a member of The Smoky Mountain News staff, and this is also the third installment of the FAKE NEWS FREAKOUT. Conspiracy? No. Coincidence? Likely.
But since there seems to be some lingering confusion over what fake news is not (stuff you don’t agree with) and what fake news actually is (the stories below), submitted herewith for your amusement are a number of genuine fake news stories gathered from around the region this past year. Co-conspirators Holly Kays and Jessi Stone contributed to this fake news report, which is fake.
2018: A look back
Before we ring in the New Year, The Smoky Mountain News likes to look back and reflect on the last year of news.
The headlines that have graced our pages in 2018 have had an important impact on the people of Western North Carolina, and our staff has taken its job of reporting and analyzing those issues seriously.
Let my life be a light: After banner year, Balsam Range release ‘Aeonic’
Following a second “Entertainer of the Year” award from the International Bluegrass Music Association this past September in Raleigh, the members of Balsam Range went immediately back into the recording booth.
Hunkered down in the Crossroads Studios in Arden, the quintet burned the midnight oil far into the foliage season, which has resulted in the band’s eighth album, “Aeonic” (out Jan. 4 on Mountain Home Music Company). The record is a testament to the hard work and determination Balsam Range not only possesses, but radiates to inspire those around them, onstage or off.
Patience, persistence and power chords
The core of any sincere and determined musical circle is a simple formula: camaraderie + compassion = musicianship.
Anyone who tries to find footing at all in this haphazard organized chaos of creating and recording music, of booking and promoting shows, can can surely attest to the madness felt — onstage and off. You’re chasing a dream that can seem further and farther away each day you get up and try again, a recognition and stability you fight for with a reckless abandon.
Galax’s enduring popularity
Galax is an evergreen groundcover found throughout the Blue Ridge. The plant can thrive in various settings, but the ideal habitat is a cool moist site with partial shade and acidic soil. It occurs in extensive patches that can reward the observer in every season. As Peter White observed in Wildflowers of the Smokies (1996), “In early spring, its round, evergreen leaves carpet the dormant forest floor. By summer, a tall pillar of tiny white flowers line many park trails. Then, as winter approaches, the deep green leaves turn bronze and crimson to contrast against the coming snows.”
AG looks to protect WNC’s interest in Mission sale
Attorney General Josh Stein recently issued a press release discussing his ongoing review of HCA’s proposed $1.5 billion purchase of the nonprofit Mission Health system.
Little candies make for big friendships
Somewhere on the outskirts of Cleveland, Ohio, about 18 months ago, Waynesville resident Peg Harmon — who notes her first name is just one letter away from “Pez” — experienced the power of one tiny candy in bringing people together.
Pay for court-appointed lawyers remains stagnant
Under the Sixth Amendment every criminal defendant has a constitutional right to legal representation — and if you can’t afford a lawyer, you have the right to have one provided by the state.
Planted in the mountains: WNC botanist reflects on a lifetime of discovery
Dan Pittillo has made his name as a botanist, but he could easily have ended up a dairy farmer instead.
Born in Henderson County the oldest of five, Pittillo entered the world in 1938, when the Great Depression was in full swing and people were used to not having much. For the first two years of his life his parents didn’t even have a house — the family lived with his grandparents while his father worked to build one.