The large, cavernous room at the heart of Jackson County’s Community Services Center doesn’t see much action these days. It’s no longer open to the public. A trash can sits solemnly collecting water dripping from a leak in the ceiling. 

But the room’s parquet floor still hints and harkens to better days gone by.

Cell phone towers will now be allowed on Jackson County ridgetops — at least according a draft ordinance that’s on its way to commissioners after meeting planning board approval last week. 

The final vote on the draft ordinance was unanimous, but the votes and discussion leading up to that final show of hands — especially the ridgetop-oriented part of the discussion — were not.

Jackson County commissioners will decide in the coming weeks whether to keep Jay Coward on board as their county attorney.

Commissioners will consider other candidates in January. Coward said he will put his name back in the hat and hopes to stay on board.

A tug of war between two Jackson trucking companies over a high-stakes contract for hauling trash was settled last week following days of political tension.

Jackson County commissioners had to decide which of the two local truckers would snag a $2.5 million four-year contract to haul trash to a landfill in Georgia.

The Jackson County Tourism Development Authority may be slimming down. Eventually. 

“It’s in discussion,” said Robert Jumper, chairman of the tourism authority. 

The Jackson TDA was launched by county commissioners and is charged with marketing the area and attracting tourist dollars. The tourism board currently consists of 15 members, all hailing from various pockets of the area’s tourism-related businesses. 

The rolling hills of the Cullowhee River Club unfold beneath a heaven of blue sky as the Tuckasegee River rifles by. The property long belonged to the Battle family, it was known as the Battle farm.

That’s before Ken Newell stumbled into God’s backyard.

For the past four years, Jackson County Neighbors in Need has been footing the bill to put people lacking winter shelter up in motel rooms for the night, but the group is on the lookout for the perfect facility to serve as a central shelter before the winter gets much deeper. 

“We haven’t been able to get into a shelter facility of our own which we are very much hoping to do because it’s very expensive to lodge people in a motel,” said Veronica Nicholas, co-chair of the Neighbors in Need shelter committee. 

Following a pair of community input sessions in October, proposed planning regulations for the Cullowhee area have been tweaked a bit. 

“Relatively minor revisions to text and to maps,” explained Jackson County Planning Director Gerald Green. 

A shake-up in the medical world of maternity care and childbirth means more choices for pregnant women in Jackson, Swain and Macon counties, but also heightened competition for the profitable labor and delivery line.

Two new obstetrics practices were launched within weeks of each other this fall, both catering to women in Jackson, Macon, Swain and beyond. The number of existing practices in the region doubled nearly overnight. 

Cell phone towers in Jackson County cannot currently be built on ridgetops. That looks likely to change as revisions to the county’s ordinance governing cell towers progress. 

Thus far in the revision process, the Jackson County Planning Board has dug into issues such as allowable height and style of construction.