Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke to a packed Asheville Civic Center on Monday as boisterous supporters cheered him on inside the arena while virulent anti-Trump protestors heckled people on their way in and out of the event.

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A scuffle inside the civic center interrupted Trump’s speech at one point when a supporter in the upper levels appeared to choke one anti-Trump protestor and slap two others before the protestors were escorted out by security. The man doing the choking was left alone by security.

“You’re a Nazi,” the 20-something female screamed into the face of an elderly veteran.

The veteran shrugged off the comment as he barreled through the onslaught of protesters, only to find a safe haven amid the security guards and likeminded folks headed for the entrance of the Donald J. Trump presidential rally held this past Monday at the U.S. Cellular Center in downtown Asheville.

Haywood County political activists hope to hold a gun rights rally on the grounds of the Historic Haywood County Courthouse just days before the General Election in November.

Waynesville’s youngest public demonstrators — along with their parents and teachers — took to the streets last week to show their love for Central Elementary School, a Waynesville institution that could shut down to as a result of a massive budget shortfall facing the school system.

Attendees at Cullowhee’s hearing on the proposed oil and gas rules Sept. 12 were overwhelmingly anti-fracking, but a small contingent of men showed up on a bus from Winstom-Salem — provided by the N.C. Energy Forum —  wearing sky blue t-shirts bearing the words “Shale Yes.” Except, fracking opponents are saying, the men weren’t exactly informed proponents of the fossil fuel extraction practice.

“We want unannounced reviews and inspections by DENR. It’s like a drug test. You tell them they’re going to be drug tested? They’re clean. So we want unannounced inspections, number one. We want records kept for a minimum of 50 years, not 5 years. We want no wide-range variances on regulations. We don’t want favors given out to criminals that are fracking our land.”

— Louise Heath, Cherokee tribal member

It didn’t take but a glance around the lawn of the Liston B. Ramsey Center at Western Carolina University to see that Sept. 12 was going to be an eventful evening.

It was back to school for a group of staunch fracking opponents on Friday, Sept. 5. The corner conference room in the Jackson County Public Library was a bit small for the 20 people crammed in to it, but they were ready to learn. 

Candice Caldwell Day and her husband Shayne recently went to Andrews Airport in Cherokee County.

“To hold up a really big sign,” she said. 

The public hearing on Jackson County’s steep slope regulations struck Dave Waldrop as special. 

“It was so unbelievable,” Waldrop said.