The world has felt heavy lately… more than usual. I’ve felt pretty helpless. Thinking to myself, “What’s the use?” It takes so much energy to deflect all the hate and negativity happening around us, it’s easy to feel apathetic and give up. 

Waynesville native, retired DEA agent and unsuccessful 2019 Waynesville aldermanic candidate Joey Reece will run for mayor of Waynesville, Reece told The Smoky Mountain News on the afternoon of July 17.

On a recent mid-May morning, Kevin Sandefur spent five hours spreading gravel in the parking lot of the brand new BearWaters Brewing location on South Main Street in Waynesville. 

The candidate filing period for November’s municipal elections that opened on July 7 ends this coming Friday, July 21, at noon, and although things are starting to solidify in some races, there have been and may continue to be some surprises. 

Waynesville’s consideration of a social district in its downtown core took an interesting turn on June 27, when members of the Town Council voted 4-1 to halt discussion of the issue — in effect, killing it. 

Waynesville’s USA Farm Labor is suing the federal government in hopes of changing a new rule it claims will cost the company hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, of dollars per year. 

Open container alcohol consumption in cities and towns across North Carolina has met with positive results, according to local administrators and police officers — which is why opponents of Waynesville’s proposed “social district” are resorting to misinformation and sensationalism to impose their minority viewpoint on the majority of downtown stakeholders who overwhelmingly support such a district.

After more than a year of consideration, the Downtown Waynesville Commission has voted unanimously to recommend the establishment of a social district along and adjacent to the Main Street corridor.

That the American health care coverage system is broken shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone, even proponents of the 2010 Affordable Care Act who thought Obamacare would make coverage affordable for everyone. But as long as workers with employer-subsidized health care are forced to rely on the generosity of capitalists for their health and well-being, there will continue to be crises like the one currently unfolding with soon-to-be unemployed workers at Pactiv-Evergreen’s Haywood County facilities.

There won’t be a tax increase, and there won’t be any borrowing from fund balance, but that doesn’t mean the Town of Waynesville’s proposed budget is flush with cash — with inflationary pressures outpacing revenue growth and substantial borrowing on the horizon, administrators are looking to keep the town’s financial house in good order.