Herbert “Cowboy” Coward, a Haywood County native who shot to stardom after his hair-raising performance as a villain in the 1972 Burt Reynolds film Deliverance, was killed in a traffic accident in Haywood County yesterday afternoon.

Get ready to chill out at the NC Smokies Ice Festival on January 26-28 at locations throughout the county. 

Winter hikes, winter lights, frosty runs and outdoor ice skating will offer ample opportunity for chilly fun in celebration of the N.C. Smokies Ice Fest Weekend Jan. 26-28. 

The Town of Canton has been through some difficult budget discussions in the past, but this year’s effort, the first to reckon with the full impact of Pactiv Evergreen’s exit from the community after more than a century, looks to be the most trying. 

While mountain residents were busy preparing for Christmas, the Pactiv Evergreen paper mill in Canton that until May 2023 employed more than 1,000 of them was racking up a pair of new environmental violations.

As I think ahead to 2024, I can’t help but feel so lucky to live here, in these mountains. 

Two congressmen, both hoping to become North Carolina’s next attorney general, with be faced with a host of official duties if elected. Paramount among them — at least for many Haywood County residents — is holding Pactiv Evergreen accountable for issues related to the closing of the company’s paper mill in Canton. 

The Grinch who Stole Christmas and Pactiv Evergreen have a lot more in common than just a shared color scheme and stealing presents right out from under the Christmas trees of children.

One of Haywood County’s used bookstores is entering its next chapter with a change of ownership and a continuation of tradition. 

On Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, Haywood County Sheriff’s deputies from the Criminal Suppression Unit located and arrested Tyler James Ponder, 35, of Canton, North Carolina on four counts each of statutory sex offense with a child by an adult and four counts of taking indecent liberties with a child.