It was a time and a place, and now that place is gone.

Or is it?

I came across some version of that idiom about time and place a few months ago, just as we at The Smoky Mountain News were beginning to discuss how to cover the one-year anniversary of Helene’s historic and deadly impact on this place we call home.

To the Editor:

A year ago …. who would have thought …

That the richest man in the world who helped elect the president with $290 million would be appointed to a bogus government agency and then walk in to real agencies with his teenage hackers with handles like “Big Balls” and fire thousands of government employees, destroying decades of institutional knowledge and dismantling agencies and parts of agencies that work on behalf of and protect American citizens. 

To the Editor:

In compliance with Executive Order 14253, an official sign has now been posted in the Oconaluftee Visitors Center of our beloved (and already beleaguered) Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and, I presume, at all of the hundreds of other sites overseen by the National Park Service.

To the Editor:

Since 1945 the world has been more peaceful and prosperous than any other time in history. That is because of American’s leadership role in the world under both Republican and Democratic administrations. We were an America committed to the rule of law at home and a universal mission abroad to constantly work to make the world freer and more democratic, more decent and a healthier place for more people.

After what Haywood County has been through does anyone want to think about the hurricane season from June 1 to November 30? After watching my office being destroyed in 2004 along with most of Downtown Canton, I sure don’t want to be reminded. But we need to be.

The towns of Sylva, Webster, Cullowhee and Cashiers are all connected by five lanes of chaos, better known as N.C. 107.