To the Editor:

For nearly 100 years, the Fontana Regional Library System has reflected the traditional mountain values of literacy, truth and community responsibility. These values guided our grandparents who built the first libraries in these mountains. They guided our parents who supported them. And they guide many of us today. Yet these long-held values are now at risk. 

To the Editor:

Last week I met with the Rep. Chuck Edwards of the N.C. 11th District for a short conversation. I asked his opinion of the military incursion into Portland, Oregon, and he asked me if I lived in Portland. For a beat I was stunned, as if I shouldn’t care about what was happening in any American city.

To the Editor:

Setting aside the fact President Trump is a convicted felon and has been charged with nearly 100 serious crimes for which he’s unlikely to be held accountable, it’s moreover beyond question that he ignited an angry armed mob to attack his own Capitol with the clear intent of overturning an election he knew he’d lost. 

To the Editor:

On June 14, Indivisible Common Ground WNC and other progressive groups mobilized against the excesses of the Trump regime for “No Kings.” Since then, things have gotten worse. Free speech is being muzzled and the government is targeting immigrant families; profiling, arresting and detaining people without warrants, threatening to overtake elections and gutting health care and environmental protections.

To the Editor:

Charlie Kirk was another victim of gun violence in this country, just like Melissa and Mark Hortman, and just like the children at Annunciation Catholic School — 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski. Once again, thoughts and prayers are sent to the victims’ families, and once again politicians react to the tragedy with accusations and recriminations.  

To the Editor:

America’s founders rejected monarchy for a reason: no one should ever hold unchecked power. That’s why Indivisible and others rally under “No Kings,” because that principle is under direct assault.

On the five-year anniversary of the death of civil rights icon and longtime U.S. Congressman John Lewis, more than 170 people clad in black and white gathered on the steps of the Haywood County Historic Courthouse for a somber memorial that quickly turned into a powerful statement of resistance.

A  proposed resolution that expressed support for the Fontana Regional Library system didn’t survive the first four minutes of the Town of Sylva Board of Commissioners meeting on June 12, after Commissioner Jonathan Brown moved to strike the item from the meeting’s agenda. 

To The Editor:

Do you believe that our country deserves better than this current administration? Do you feel fearful, angry, hopeless or powerless at times? Do you wish there was something you could do to bring about positive change? Then come join your voices with ours on Saturday, June 14 at noon at the Haywood County Historic Courthouse for “Hands Off Haywood — No Kings Rally.” 

Two weeks after the Jackson County Commission floated a possible withdrawal from the Fontana Regional Library system, residents showed up to speak at the May 20 commission meeting for more than three and a half hours of public comment, with the majority voicing their opposition to withdrawal.