During its Feb. 22 meeting, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission voted to adopt a slate of proposed rule changes for the coming year, including a pair of controversial measures that will shift the season dates for white-tailed deer and significantly expand the season length for black bear in the mountain region.
Ricardo Fernandez Battini and his wife Suzanne Fernandez spent a stormy night in September 2004 holed up in their home along the Pigeon River in Crabtree, listening.
As Earth Day 2022 bloomed under one of spring’s sunniest skies yet, more than 150 people gathered on a concrete bridge spanning Hominy Creek just outside Canton to celebrate what Mayor Zeb Smathers termed a “gift of genesis” — the long-awaited opening of Chestnut Mountain Nature Park.
The $633 million budget Tribal Council approved Sept. 7 represents a return to growth, after a cautious 2020-2021 budget relied on just 50% of the previous year’s casino proceeds and clocked in 19.5% slimmer than the 2019-2020 document.
Western North Carolina teenager Evy Leibfarth will represent the United States in the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo this year after placing first in two Olympic Team Trials competitions in April.
The first trails at Canton’s Chestnut Mountain Park will be ready to ride before the leaves drop this fall thanks to an overwhelmingly successful fundraising effort from Asheville YouTuber Seth Alvo.
In a normal year, this would be the week that parents hoping to get their kids a coveted place in the enormously popular Base Camp Waynesville Summer Camp series would rush to the Waynesville Recreation Center as registration opened, hoping to snag one of the soon-to-vanish spots.
As a writer focusing on the outdoors, some of my favorite people to work with are the ones who power the area’s many environment-oriented nonprofits. Generally speaking, they’re passionate about their purpose and excited to involve as many people as possible in achieving it.
The second week of classes at Western Carolina University is now underway, and while the COVID-19 Pandemic means that it’s shaping up to be an unusual semester, many students seem to be happy with how the university is handling the situation.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit us all differently. For some of us, it blew to pieces what was otherwise a normal, pleasantly warm spring. For others, it complicated or postponed less routine endeavors like buying a house, planning a trip or earning a degree.
Kids with a penchant for learning and exploration will have the chance to see where their curiosity takes them during ASTROcamp this summer at Smokey Mountain Elementary School.
Fitness has long been an important part of Angel Squirrell’s life, but in recent years she’s found renewed purpose by sharing it with others.
It was close to Christmas 2015 when Mark Stein and Randy Doster opened The Meditation Center in Sylva, an oasis of calming music and inspirational décor in a small white house along N.C. 107.
From flip-flops to overnights to the quintessential northbound thru-hike, there are many different ways to experience the Appalachian Trail on its route from Georgia to Maine. An overnight along the trail at Roaring Fork Shelter near Max Patch was enough to meet a variety of hikers, all hiking the trail their own way.
Every summer for the past seven years, the warmer months have brought opportunity for adventure and learning to the small group of students participating in Camp WILD.
Three years ago, Meg Hanshaw was in full-on planning mode for a camp that she hoped to see grow into something big, but that would — for that summer at least — roll forward hosted in her home with just two campers attending.
Robust voter turnout and early voting enthusiasm made the difference in three Jackson County Board of Commissioners races, causing the board to flip from a Republican to a Democratic majority.
The Jackson County Board of Commissioners will flip to a Democratic majority following a hotly contested election in which three of the five seats appeared on the ballot.
Jackson County Sheriff Chip Hall will keep his job for another four years following a decisive victory on Election Day.
City Lights Café is a fixture in Sylva, a frequent stopping place for downtown workers in search of a cup of coffee, students looking for a place to snack and study or tourists needing a quick and healthy bite before continuing their exploration of Jackson County.
Growing up in Germany as the daughter of a repair shop owner, Ute Grant knew three things about how her life should go: she never wanted to go to America, she never wanted to get married and she never wanted to be self-employed. But life has a way of showing up the firmest of convictions.
Sylva attorney Kim Carpenter’s legal career started after law school, but the year she spent beforehand working with the Swain County Department of Social Services planted the seeds.
When former Sheriff Jimmy Ashe decided not to run for re-election in 2014, a field of six Democrats and three Republicans signed up for the race to replace him, including Chip Hall and Doug Farmer.
Ron Mau is still in the midst of his first term on the Jackson County Board of Commissioners, started in 2016, but this November he’s challenging incumbent Chairman Brian McMahan in McMahan’s bid for re-election.
Jackson County Commissioner Boyce Deitz took office in 2014 after wresting the seat from incumbent Doug Cody, but this time around Cody is looking to reverse that result in a repeat face-off to represent District 2.
Jackson County Commissioner Charles Elders is seeking a fourth term in office this campaign season, but challenger Gayle Woody is hoping election results will instead seat her for a first term.
With harvest season underway, members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians are now reaping the benefits of a springtime program the tribe has sponsored for 15 years running.
This year’s eight-week WNC Get Fit Challenge is set to return Monday, Sept. 10, challenging not just Jackson County residents but people across the region to get moving.
“It’s really just encouraging participants to be more active,” said Janelle Messer, health education supervisor for the Jackson County Department of Public Health. “It has a little bit of competitive feel to it. You can compete for weekly prizes. It’s not just who has the most steps or minutes but who’s the most diligent at putting theirs in, who’s the most improved and that kind of thing over the course of the eight weeks.”
When you enter Western Carolina University from the four-lane, a green-and-white N.C. Department of Transportation sign is the only thing to say that you’ve officially arrived on the Catamount campus.
Western Carolina University got some good news last week when the state legislature approved a budget bill that includes $16.5 million for the first of two phases to replace its aging steam plant, an ever more pressing need that WCU has been clamoring to address for years.
A referendum vote asking Cherokee voters to OK a tribally owned beer, wine and liquor store off casino property failed on two fronts last week — the question received more no votes than yes votes, and turnout fell short of the percentage required to qualify as a valid referendum.
With the deadline to adopt a new budget drawing ever closer, Jackson County Commissioners are still deliberating how to handle $1 million in last-minute budget requests. That’s on top of an already planned $979,800 public safety increase that’s spurred a 1-cent per $100 property tax increase in the proposed budget.
A 441.5-acre piece of land high in the Plott Balsams is well on its way to being permanently conserved following a unanimous vote from the Jackson County Commissioners to contribute $250,000 to its conservation.
With a whole world of mountain beauty to explore, summer leaves no time to waste indoors.
Dogs don’t require much to fulfill their material needs — food, water, a comfy napping spot and regular outdoor excursions, and they’re good to go.
Before Karen Walston began running her first extermination route 16 years ago, she had no plans to become The Bug Lady of WNC. At the time, she was doing a part-time office job for a bigger pest control company, but when she asked for more hours she got more than she bargained for.
It’s 3 p.m. on a weekday, a time when any restaurant would be well within its rights to be all but empty. But business at Granny’s Kitchen in Cherokee is humming along steadily, the main parking lot about half full and the hostess busily engaged with fielding phone calls, ringing up customers on their way out and welcoming customers on their way in.
Josh Moss’s professional world revolved around property management and vacation rentals at the time he decided to open a CrossFit gym.
For someone who’s spent decades introducing thousands of children to the joy of swimming, Mike Creason’s relationship with water didn’t begin too auspiciously.
Healthy living is a whole-family affair with the Cherokee Turning Point program, a seven-week course that aims to reach kids 7-12 who are at risk of developing diabetes.
It’s safe to say that a good solar eclipse photo requires a bit more preparation than your average snapshot.
When Ed Sutton first came to Cherokee in November to break ground on a new trail system, his directive was clear.
“We told him his marching orders were just make it great. Make it awesome,” said Jeremy Hyatt, natural resources and construction director for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
After three full days of testimony and four hours of waiting for a verdict, silence reigned at the Cherokee council house May 25 as Tribal Council convened to deliver its final decision on whether to remove Principal Chief Patrick Lambert from office.
In the three days of testimony that comprised Principal Chief Patrick Lambert’s impeachment hearing, Lambert himself was by far the most prominent witness, spending a total of seven hours on the stand spread over two days.
Impeachment hearings to consider charges against Principal Chief Patrick Lambert stretched on for three days last week, with Tribal Council holding four hours of closed-door deliberations before voting to remove Lambert from office. To view the impeachment hearings in their entirety, visit http://bit.ly/2rB4eED.
Following three days of impeachment hearings, Tribal Council deliberated for four hours before returning to vote in open session. Each of the 12 charges against Principal Chief Patrick Lambert were announced individually, with councilmembers then standing up one by one to cast their vote as guilty, not guilty or abstained.
After three full days of hearings, the Cherokee Tribal Council voted to remove Principal Chief Patrick Lambert from office yesterday.
During a full day of testimony Monday, May 22, the prosecution against Principal Chief Patrick Lambert made its case that Lambert’s administration has operated on a double standard, with one set of rules for him and his supporters and another set for everybody else.
SEE ALSO:
• Cherokee council removes Chief Lambert from office
• The charges
• Tribal members speak
The nine witnesses to take the stand spoke to allegations that Lambert had massively overspent on contracts without proper approval, denied payment for Tribal Council’s legal representation while shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars for his own, and interfered with the Office of Internal Audit’s access to the records it needed to fulfill its function. Allegations also included violations of human resources policies and trading of political favors.
The impeachment process set in motion during a February Tribal Council meeting reached its climax this week as Principal Chief Patrick Lambert faced a list of 12 charges during all-day impeachment hearings May 22-23.
The council house was packed to the gills Monday, May 22, as tribal members gathered to watch the impeachment proceedings against Principal Chief Patrick Lambert. They filled the seats, with additional fold-up chairs brought in to line the aisles. They stood in the halls, craning necks to watch the action, and they packed the lobby, where a livestream of the hearing played on a TV.
