Now that the N.C. Department of Transportation has completed a new bridge over the Little Tennessee River in downtown Franklin, the town council is discussing ways to connect the pedestrian walkway to the greenway. 

A couple of Franklin Town Councilmembers want to explore future changes to the ABC store and ABC board while other members think the alcoholic beverage operation is fine the way it is.

When Rob Gasbarro and Cory McCall met in 2008, their friendship formed around hiking and biking the mountains surrounding Franklin, their weekdays filled by burgeoning careers in civil structural engineering and real estate, respectively. 

Then came the recession. Things got bad and then worse. By 2010, the careers that they’d planned to retire in, provide for families with, seemed headed for an early end. 

Just west of the town of Franklin, along a winding back road heading into the mountains surrounding Wayah Bald, sits a picturesque old farmhouse across the street from a babbling stream. Sitting on the porch of that farmhouse one recent afternoon, gazing out over the free-flowing, peaceful waters, is Tom McNish.

Lynn Nicholson has always been a good saleswoman — not because she’s pushy and overbearing but because she’s personable and treats everyone like family. 

Franklin Town Council members decided to hold off on providing input to the attorney general regarding HCA Healthcare’s impending $1.5 billion purchase of Mission Health until the board can agree on what it wants to say.

Ronnie Evans tries to remember his cousin as the beautiful and spunky woman pictured on the cover of his new book — the sparkle emanating from her party dress and her eyes — but the image he can’t get out of his head is the one of her lying on a cold slab following her autopsy in 1963. 

“I see these beautiful photos of her and realize she’d be 95 today if she lived, but I also saw her on a slab after the autopsy was done,” he said. “That and knowing how it happened to her — to know what she was subjected to — that’s why I’ve kept searching for answers.”

Franklin Town Council called a special meeting for Aug. 21 to discuss a couple of mundane business items — street closures and uniform guidance policies — but the board added a closed session item to the agenda to discuss an economic development project. 

After a successful trial run, the parking pattern on Main Street in downtown Franklin will soon be changing permanently.

The Franklin Town Council unanimously approved its 2018-19 budget on Monday night, which includes a 4-cent property tax increase for its residents.