To the Editor:

State Rep. Mark Pless, R-Haywood, is facilitating property de-annexation with a group of current Town of Maggie Valley property owners. They are testing the water to see if they can put more dollars in their pockets, take tax dollars away from the Town and allow unfettered development to their parcels.

A small group of property owners in Maggie Valley are taking advantage of Rep. Mark Pless’ offer to de-annex them from the town, with at least one citing development restrictions and others saying they’re not getting what they’re paying for. 

Last week, Haywood County Republican Rep. Mark Pless filed a bill that would strip the county of its ability to levy room occupancy taxes. Now, he’s revealed that the impact of tourism on public safety and tight county budgets are also a motivating force behind it. 

Today in the North Carolina General Assembly, Haywood County Republican Rep. Mark Pless filed a bill that would strip the county of its ability to levy room occupancy taxes.

After Hurricane Helene completed its devastating march from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Smoky Mountains, the struggles of disaster survivors — from environmental devastation and bureaucratic hurdles to inadequate recovery support — have exposed a broken cycle of aid and accountability, where truth and trust become enveloped in a murky ethical mist that consists, at least partially, of exploitative promises made worse by false premises and finger-pointing.

Apprehension over the fate of a huge industrial parcel in the heart of Canton is now transitioning to cautious optimism.

The last few years have been a helluva ride for Haywood County Commissioner Terry “double down” Ramey. Prior to his 2022 election, Ramey faced criticism over his decade-long nonpayment of county property taxes, so he did what any decent, upstanding, God-fearing man would do — he lied about it and threatened the media for reporting on it. 

Hurricane Helene victims in Western North Carolina have eagerly been awaiting an expected holiday gift in the form of federal aid since the Sept. 27 storm pounded the region, but after nearly three months of wholly insufficient action in the General Assembly and a last-minute House vote in Washington, the only gift under the Christmas tree this year was pink bunny pajamas. 

Two weeks after an unusual meeting where Commissioner Terry Ramey was told to resign over lies he helped spread about the post-Helene housing situation in Haywood County, the other four commissioners made clear they weren’t in the mood for any more shenanigans — removing one woman from the meeting, refuting more lies and even using a little bit of poetry from a cherished Western North Carolina scribe to keep things on track. 

After decades of paying for hurricane recovery operations along the North Carolina coast, Western North Carolina taxpayers finally had a reason to ask the rest of the state to return the favor in the wake of Hurricane Helene. On Dec. 11, the rest of the state answered with a resounding “no.”