Four Western North Carolina sheriffs were honored with a congressional recognition from Sen. Ted Budd. 

Transylvania County Sheriff Chuck Owenby, Haywood County Sheriff Bill Wilke, Henderson County Sheriff Lowell Griffin and Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller received the honor — which was read aloud on the Senate floor  — for their participation in Operation Uptown Funk earlier this year, which led to the seizure over 30 pounds of methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl, as well as 30 arrests related to drug trafficking. 

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation SBI, in partnership with the Henderson County Drug Interdiction and Criminal Enforcement unit, concluded “Operation Uptown Funk,” a year-long investigation into an alleged local Drug Trafficking Organization. 

District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch today said a Haywood County jury recently convicted a Bryson City man on seven criminal charges in connection with trafficking in illegal drugs. 

Two people in unrelated cases pleaded guilty to trafficking charges in Cherokee County, District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch said. 

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has become the first tribal nation to adopt a tool that gives real-time updates on where and when people are overdosing on drugs — essential knowledge in an ever-shifting and ever-raging drug epidemic.

It’s the inevitable result of human nature.

Addiction has impacted almost every American — even those who’ve never suffered from the disease usually know someone who has. As the crisis has worsened over time, the societal impacts have become impossible to ignore as more Western North Carolina residents and businesses fall victim to property crimes committed by people looking to steal something worth enough to get the drugs they need.