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.”

To the Editor:

I’m writing to thank Rep. Mike Clampitt, Rep. Karl Gillespie and Rep. Mark Pless for siding with the people of Western North Carolina in voting against Senate Bill (SB) 382.  

The number is $53.6 billion. That’s the estimate from the N.C. Office of State Budget and Management for the damage Helene inflicted on Western North Carolina. Those are just dollars; in the bigger picture, lives have been lost, transformed and forever changed. 

Editor’s note: this story contains strong language. 

Since his election in 2022, Haywood County Commissioner Terry Ramey has been known for lying — about his delinquent taxes, about his votes, about being assaulted — but this time, his acquiescent appearance in a YouTube video that spread misinformation about the county’s powers to circumvent state law has Ramey’s fellow commissioners receiving death threats and Haywood’s state representative calling for Ramey’s resignation. 

With North Carolina’s Republican-dominated General Assembly still dead-set on refusing to provide meaningful relief for mountain communities hit hard by Hurricane Helene on Sept. 27, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper traveled to Washington, D.C., with a delegation of western leaders, appealing to higher authority for help.

While it certainly appears that a “red wave” washed over the United States on Nov. 5, that’s not exactly the case in North Carolina, where Democrats held onto critical Council of State offices and made solid gains where it really counts — in the General Assembly. 

Haywood County native and Republican Rep. Mark Pless will return to the North Carolina General Assembly for a third term after voters in Haywood and Madison Counties — both hit hard by Hurricane Helene a month ago — propelled him over his Democratic opponent earlier this evening.

The Republican-led North Carolina General Assembly took its second step in flood recovery on Oct. 24, designating from the state’s $4.4 billion Rainy Day Fund an additional $604 million in funding and resources for disaster recovery in response to Hurricane Helene — far less than the $3.9 billion the state’s Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper wanted, and with little real help to businesses that can’t afford to take out more loans. 

When Hurricane Helene slammed into the Gulf Coast on Sept. 27, the storm’s destructive capabilities instantly grabbed national headlines. Now, the storm is drawing international attention thanks to an Oct. 29 visit to Haywood County by Israeli Consul General Anat Sultan-Dadon.