Starting Dec. 1, 2025, contractors will be on-site at the Haywood County parking deck located at 143 Branner Ave. in Waynesville to begin replacing both elevators.

The elevators currently in use are more than 20 years old and upgrading them is necessary to keep things running safely and smoothly. The project will take about six months to complete. 

Haywood County will mark the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene this week with a series of commemorations beginning during the opening ceremonies of the annual Haywood County Fair. At 5 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 25, a proclamation will be read at the Smoky Mountain Event Center, and attendees will have the chance to recognize first responders, volunteers and partner organizations who have played a role in recovery.

Haywood County will mark the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene this week with a series of commemorations beginning during the opening ceremonies of the annual Haywood County Fair.

Since 1932, the ashlar veneer of the Haywood County Courthouse in Waynesville has borne silent witness to memorable events in local and national history — the Great Depression, World War II, Korea, the Civil Rights era, Vietnam, 9/11, Afghanistan, the Gulf Wars and most recently the county’s first LGBTQ+ Pride celebration — but a gathering on Flag Day, the same day President Donald Trump celebrated his birthday with a military parade in Washington, D.C., may prove to be just as enduring. 

I get asked about it after every protest I’ve been to, from Andrews to Asheville, from Chicago to Washington, D.C., and everywhere in between. 

Rally attendance is one of the most debated aspects of any public gathering — be it left, right, center, secular or spiritual. At outdoor venues that don’t use ticketing and don’t have fences or walls to contain the crowds, estimates can be even more difficult. 

From June 27 to 29, IDEA Haywood will present the second annual “Pride on Main” celebration in Waynesville under the banner, “y’all means all.”

Festivities begin Friday, June 27, at 9 p.m. with a kickoff event at the Water’n Hole Bar & Grill. On Saturday, Pride begins at 10 a.m. at the Haywood County Courthouse with opening remarks and performances by Grand Marshal Kat Williams, an Emmy-nominated singer.

Members of the community, including numerous people from several law enforcement agencies, gathered on the lawn in front of Haywood County’s historic courthouse last Wednesday for an event to highlight a growing problem in our community — child abuse. 

A series of recent bomb threats to multiple targets across Waynesville has law enforcement asking for tips that could help with arrests. 

On April 14, the Hazelwood Ingles was evacuated due to a threat, the seventh in 10 days according to Waynesville Police Chief David Adams. Previously, Walmart had been evacuated at least twice.

“We don’t have any leads right now,” Adams said. “We definitely need the public’s help.”

Adams said his department had received assistance from the State Bureau of Investigation and that they were reviewing videotape from the incidents, which appear to involve written threats in bathrooms.

Anyone with information about the messages can submit an anonymous tip through the town’s police app, by calling Crime Stoppers at 877.92.CRIME or the WPD at 828.452.2491 or through WPD’s Facebook page.

On March 19, a threat cleared out the Haywood County Courthouse in the early afternoon; however, a suspect was apprehended less than four hours later.

Sheriff Bill Wilke said the courthouse threat was different from the others in that it was submitted by phone.

“Not to reveal too many methods, but with the utilization of witnesses and technology, that came to a close very quickly,” Wilke said.

— Cory Vaillancourt, Politics Editor

To the Editor:

For the past month, several hundred people have gathered in front of the Haywood County Courthouse at noon every Friday. We have declared our defiance of the Trump-Musk billionaire takeover of our government and their assault on freedom, justice and the well-being of our nation.

Earl Lanning was just a little boy in Haywood County during the 1930s, he developed three ambitions.

“I used to go see all these World War I airplane movies — war movies,” he said. “I wanted to be a flyer, I wanted to be an American cowboy, and I wanted to be in the field of art in some way. I didn’t know at the time what was going to be.”