A woman charged with illegally operating sweepstakes-style video gambling machines got off in court this week after prosecutors dismissed the charges.

I recently took stock of our craft supply cupboard and realized it’s looking a little paltry.

At one time, I was proud of the run-of-the-mill pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks and multi-colored pom-poms in our craft stash. But that was before a Michaels craft store opened in Waynesville, and now, I find myself wandering the aisles craving must-have craft supplies I was once blissfully ignorant of. 

Five full-time doctors practicing at Swain County Medical Center have left during the past year.

The departures account for half the doctors in the county, who not only staff the emergency room but also take care of patients staying in the hospital and double as family practitioners.

As Dr. Randall Castor stared down the final weeks of his residency, it was clear those long, grueling years of medical training were about to pay off.

A manufacturing plant that makes parts for big-rig cab interiors has broken ground on a $5.9 million expansion in Canton with plans to add 140 jobs at the factory by 2015. 

Skateboarders from across Western North Carolina have streamed into Waynesville during the past week to try out the town’s newly opened $400,000 skate park.

A proposal to charge youth sports clubs and outside groups rental fees to use school property is being studied by the Haywood County School Board.

Waynesville police discovered a homemade pipe bomb in the bed of a pickup truck in the early hours of the morning Sunday.

When Rodney and Lorraine Conard took the keys to the shuttered Strand movie theater two years ago, the hulking shell was like a blank canvas full of promise — a tad dusty, worn and tattered, but it was loved once and surely could win Waynesville’s heart again.

Maintaining high-quality doctors in Haywood County emerged as a common theme in a public hearing last week on the future of MedWest-Haywood.

Jackson County commissioners took the director of the Jackson County Department on Aging to task this week over why Meals On Wheels still has such a large waiting list.

One of life’s great unsolved mysteries will soon be settled thanks to an official survey of the murky border between Jackson and Macon counties.

Jackson County commissioners signaled support this week to change the way volunteer fire departments are funded, although the plan is not without its critics.

Diamond Brown has perfected the art of bait and switch.

He hooks his unsuspecting subjects with an eye-catching spread of indigenous tools — arrows and adzes, bone awls and baskets, pelts and pestles.

A public hearing on the future of Haywood Regional Medical Center will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22, at the MedWest-Haywood Health & Fitness Center on the hospital campus.

The regional head of the N.C. Depart-ment of Transportation has been demoted after nine years at the helm of road building decisions in the mountain’s far western counties.

When Congress proposed raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour this summer, the resulting vote epitomized the mixed-up world of Washington politics.

Richard Morrison wiled away the hours last Thursday in front of Pop’s Mini Mart in Clyde in hopes of hitching a lift to Waynesville for a mid-day meal at the Open Door soup kitchen.

A long-standing controversy over extending water and sewer lines to the semi-rural community of Bethel could be a defining issue in the election for the Haywood County Soil and Water Conservation District board this November.

Slope proposal

• Cut-and-fill slopes taller than 40 feet are not allowed.

The onset of fall marks the end of the active gardening season for most. It also marks the beginning of some gardeners’ favorite time of year — several months of unadulterated day-dreaming about next year’s garden.

Colorful specialty license plates have been spared the gallows thanks to a bill passed in the final hours of the General Assembly last week. 

The Haywood County commissioners are soliciting construction bids for the long-awaited renovation of the historic courthouse in downtown Waynesville.

When Joe Sam Queen arrived at a reception hosted by the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce earlier this year, the greeters working the door plucked a red carnation from a vase of water, snipped the stem, pinned it to his jacket lapel and sent him inside.

It appears Swain County commissioners were out of sync with public consensus two months ago when they decided to postpone the creation of a county planning board.

Hikers, fishermen and environmentalists won a small victory last week in an on-going tug-of-war with paddlers over the upper Chattooga River — a Wild and Scenic River that tumbles off the Cashiers plateau.

Bond numbers

Haywood County voters approved a $25 million school bond in May 2005 intended to pay for a host of projects. The list of cost estimates presented to the public is as follows:

Slope ordinance

Haywood County commissioners are considering a slope development ordinance with the following restrictions:

There are four seats up for election on the Haywood County school board this November. The county is divided into geographic districts for the school board race. No matter where you live, you can vote in each race. The geographic districts merely dictate where the candidates must live. Here’s a look at the incumbents and their challengers.

From behind the prescription counter at Village Pharmacy in Waynesville, Jim Winfree has a bird’s eye view of rising drug costs in America.

If Congressman Charles Taylor is defeated in two weeks, it could spell the end of plans to build a road through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park outside Bryson City.

All five seats on the Swain County Board of Commissioners are up for election this year. The winners will serve for four years.

The scene at Haywood County commissioner meetings today is quite different from that four years ago. In the year prior to that election, there were so many disgruntled spectators at commissioner meetings that people lined up in the hallway trying to get a seat. The top complaint was the $18 million justice center, nicknamed the “Taj Mahal of Justice” for its price tag and perceived extravagance.

The price of a recent land purchase by Swain County for school expansion has raised some eyebrows among candidates running for commissioner and for school board.

As growth and development accelerate in Swain County, discussion over the need for road and slope regulations has increasingly taken center stage. Swain County lacks any provisions governing mountainside subdivisions. The county does not have a county planning board or a staff planning department.

Four months ago, county commissioners decided to form a county planning board. The following month, commissioners postponed the idea. Candidates were asked where they stand on the issue of a planning board and development regulations.

All five seats on the Swain County Board of Commissioners are up for election. The winners will serve for four years. There will be at least two new faces — one incumbent was ousted in May and one isn’t seeking re-election.

Candidates for chairman: pick one

Glenn Jones, Democrat, incumbent

Jones said he supports the creation of a planning board. He thought the other commissioners agreed as well. Jones said he called for a motion at a meeting in August to move forward with a planning board, but no one spoke up. The motion was tabled at another commissioner’s suggestion.

Jones said it will be one of the first orders of business for the new board of commissioners after the election.

“If I get in, we will proceed with it. I talk to people every day about it.”

Jones said it makes sense for the new board of commissioners to appoint the planning board since the planning board will work closely with the commissioners in deciding what sort of ordinance the county will pursue.

“It will work out better to have a planning board that is appointed by the new board.”

There will be at least two new commissioners joining the board after the election since one sitting commissioner isn’t running and another lost in the primary.

Jim Douthit, Republican, challenger

Douthit supports a planning board and development regulations.

Douthit said he doesn’t understand why “all of a sudden it’s been tabled.”

“I think people realize something has to be done. You can’t put it off and bury your head in the sand. It is here to stay. Everyone is saying ‘I used to see the forest and I used to see the trees — what happened?’”

Douthit said it shouldn’t take long once a planning board is created. The planning board can read ordinances from other counties and pick out elements they like for Swain County.

“You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”

Douthit also suggests creating a regional consortium to address the issues across county line. “This is a regional issue. Every county is talking about it.”

Candidates for commissioner: pick four

Phillip Carson, Democrat, challenger

Carson did not return numerous phone calls left over several days in time to be interviewed for this article. During an interview prior to primary elections in May, Carson said he did not support land-use planning.

“I think if folks have land and wish to develop that, then it’s less taxes we all have to pay. If people want to look at the mountains, they have 44,000 acres back there they can look at that there will never be a house on,” Carson said, referring to a portion of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park outside town.

Mike Clampitt, Republican, challenger

“It needs to be full steam ahead. Right now the tail’s wagging the dog so to speak. We’ve got to get a handle on steep slope development. We need to look at the big picture down the road.” Clampitt said he advocates controlled growth.

James King, Republican, challenger

“We have to get some kind of control on these developments. Whether they are waiting until after the new board is seated, it has got to be addressed.”

King cited the amount of runoff and sediment that is impacting neighbors living below mountain side development.

Genevieve Lindsay, Democrat, incumbent

Lindsey is on the current board of commissioners. She did not return phone calls.

David Monteith, Democrat, incumbent

Monteith is an incumbent and disagrees with the delay in appointing a planning board.

“We are going to have to address steep slope development. We are going to have to have wiser uses of our land to protect our mountains. We are going to have to make the roads not so steep so the sediment doesn’t run off and emergency vehicles can get up them.”

Monteith is concerned about steep, narrow switch backs, too many houses being crammed onto steep land, sediment and run-off washing down onto neighbors and the impact well drilling and dynamiting will have on the underground water table and springs.

The county will have to hire a staff person to oversee the new regulations, Monteith said.

Steve Moon, Democrat, challenger

“There is going to have to be. You don’t want the mountainsides to wash away.”

Deborah Ramsey Patterson, Republican, challenger

“I would push for it. We are going to have to control development and put the environment first or the reason everyone is moving here will cease to exist.” Patterson described herself as an environmentalist.

There are five candidates running for three seats on the Haywood County Board of Commissioners.

Kirk Kirkpatrick, Democrat, attorney

Kirkpatrick has served four years on the board. He was the top vote-getter among the five candidates in the Democrat primary.

“I was a little surprised,” Kirkpatrick said. “I didn’t know how it would come out.”

Kirkpatrick said he does not have any specific initiatives that he wants to pursue in the next four years, but is ready to look at any project brought up by the other commissioners.

“I don’t feel I am an initiator. I don’t feel that is my role on that board. I am more interested in making sure we don’t do stupid stuff,” he said.

By that, Kirkpatrick was referring to his role as a critiquer of new policies or projects.

“I will analyze the things that are promoted by the county and look at legal problems, liability problems and the unforeseen consequences,” Kirkpatrick said. “That’s the way I am trained to perceive things: if this is the issue we are taking on or the project we are taking on, what are the potential results of taking on this issue that way.?”

Kirkpatrick has at least one thing on his to-do list for the next board, however. Haywood Community College will need attention in the next four years, he said.

“At some point in time you are going to have to bite the bullet and raise the money for buildings that are in disrepair. They have been asking for too long and we have been promising for too long not to help them this time.”

Skeeter Curtis, 70, Democrat, deputy insurance commissioner for western region, retired from Champion management, retired insurance salesman

Curtis’ top mission if elected is to address property tax breaks for low-income seniors.

Property tax breaks for seniors are currently limited to those who own 10 acres or less of land and have a household income of less than $20,000. If they meet that requirement, they can get a 50 percent reduction in property tax only on the value of their house, but not their land.

“Times have changed. We need to look at raising that minimum. We need to look at tax breaks on the acreage and not just the home value.”

The current board of commissioners passed a resolution recently calling on state representatives to explore a new formula for property tax breaks for low-income seniors.

Curtis said that’s not an adequate step.

“Where have they been for the last four years? Haywood County needs a voice and a part of that legislation before it is introduced. We need to start getting progressive of how we do these things. We want to have input and we probably want to get some of our joining counties to come on board.”

Curtis also said the school system needs more money from the county for building repairs and for teacher salary supplements. He also wants to help Haywood Community College with building needs.

“It is going to be a tough situation to give tax relief and at the same time try to bring up our facilities where they need to be,” Curtis said.

Bill Upton, 61, retired school superintendent and high school principal

Upton is advocating education as his top campaign platform.

“I still think education is number one,” Upton said. Primarily, Upton wants to increase salary supplements for teachers. Like many counties, Haywood supplements the base salary provided by the state. A formula was created three years ago to inch the supplement up bit by bit, but it is not enough to keep up, Upton said.

“If we don’t retain our most valuable resources, our teachers, our educational system will go backwards. I think we are going to have to pay a supplement that is competitive to keep our teachers. I think everyone feels like they want their child to have it better than they had it, so we have to educate our children.”

Upton said luring the best teachers means better education, which in turn means a better economy.

“The better education we have in our county, the better jobs we will be able to pull into the county. To me that ties together. If we don’t educate our workforce we aren’t going to get jobs in here. Any industry when they come into the county, the first thing they ask is what kind of school system do you have.”

Kevin Ensley, 45, Republican, surveyor

Ensley has served on the board of commissioners for four years.

Ensley said the board has made a lot of changes in four years in how they operate.

“Before I felt like a lot of the commissioners didn’t inform themselves on the issues. I felt they didn’t go about making decisions the right way.”

Ensley said county government is now more transparent and open, witnessed by a lack of public opposition. For example, no one showed up to the public hearing on the county budget this year, compared to the couple of hundred that showed up for the budget public hearing in 2002.

During Ensley’s first tenure he helped lead an overhaul of the county economic development commission to make it more effective.

“I also felt like they didn’t go after jobs like they should. There were a lot of complaints with the EDC. It seemed like the only job they were doing was the one for the director and his secretary. There was a 1980s mindset that you could build an industrial park and get big industry to locate there. but it’s a changing economy and we had to adapt to it.”

The new EDC played a direct role in keeping two major employers from leaving the county, assisted with flood recovery for small business, helped find a buyer to reopen Ghost Town amusement park, and found a buyer for the old Dayco industrial site, namely Super Wal-Mart and Home Depot.

“All of these would not have been pursued under the old EDC,” Ensley said. “The evidence shows that it is working, it is doing what I think the average citizen expects it to be doing, which is getting jobs in the areas.”

Ensley also cited many improvements in county recreation facilities.

Carlyle Ferguson, 65, Republican, retired dairy farmer

Ferguson served six years on the board of county commissioners from 1998 to 2004. He decided to run again due to the narrow margin that he lost by two years ago — only 1 percent.

Ferguson said he wants to expand property tax breaks for seniors with low-incomes.

“I would like to talk about that with the rest of the board and the state and see how possible that would be.”

Ferguson also wants to pursue projects for Haywood Community College.

“We have ignored them. For years we’ve just said folks ‘Give us a chance to get this other stuff done and we’ll get to you.’ I think everybody is ready to help them out.”

Ferguson pledges to be a fair commissioner.

“As a commissioner you can have all these dreams but when you go into that meeting, you don’t know what’s coming across that desk. You need to be prepared to meet the challenges and respect other people’s ideas.”

All five candidates running for Haywood County commissioner say they support a proposed slope development ordinance, which is poised for passage this month before the new board takes office.

It was a tight race between two candidates running for Swain County commission chairman, but Chairman Glenn Jones hung on to his seat by a mere 184 votes against challenger Jim Douthit.

An unusually large margin separated Democratic and Republican candidates in the Haywood County commissioners race, suggesting that Republican candidates were victims of national sentiments — namely disapproval of President Bush and the Republican-led Congress.

A county-appointed tourism task force charged with making recommendations to improve the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority agrees on one thing: the tourism board is too weighted towards lodging owners.

Overwhelming support from Haywood County voters will return Joe Sam Queen, D-Waynesville, to the state Senate after a two-year hiatus following a defeat in 2004.

One of the biggest upsets in Tuesday’s election was the Swain County sheriff’s race, where Republican challenger Curtis Cochran beat long-time Democratic Sheriff Bob Ogle by a mere 92 votes.