A great country needs a wise immigration policy
By Doug Wingeier • Guest Columnist In a previous letter, I described how devastating to human beings our current immigration system…
Read More
Cowee disaster is a moving story
To the Editor: My appreciation goes to Gary Carden and Dave Waldrop from “The Liar’s Bench;” George Frizzell of the…
Read More
Phone questions not a good business practice
To the Editor: MedWest, the company that has taken over our local hospitals as well as many local medical practices,…
Read More
Teaching people to care about conservation
To the Editor: I would like to share with your readers what I have come to realize are fundamental objectives…
Read More
Hoping Lake J – and its infuence – will be around for 200
The Lake Junaluska Assembly is marking its 100th anniversary this year, and a plethora of activities will take place at…
Read More
A moving ‘Liar’s Bench’ performance
Editor’s note: Marie Cochran attended the production of the “Liar’s Bench” on June 20 at the Mountain Heritage Center on…
Read More
We must pass immigration reform
To the Editor: As Congress wrestles with immigration reform, it appears that folks of all political stripes are convinced that…
Read More
‘Hazelwood haircut’ is a destructive practice
To the Editor: I wanted to reply to the “Did That Used to be a Tree?” article in the June…
Read More
Liberal arts education pays different dividends
To the Editor: Bob Wilson’s recent column in a local publication condemning a liberal arts college education is full of…
Read More
N.C. headed toward Third World status
To the Editor: North Carolina is now a state role model — a model for what will happen when a…
Read More
At 14, we’re no longer a baby in the business
There’s just not much exciting about turning 14, but that’s what The Smoky Mountain News turned a couple of weeks…
Read More
Bush attitude toward global warming is growing stale fast
When the administration of George Bush argued Nov. 29 before the Supreme Court that the EPA did not have the…
Read More
Even in tight times, libraries deserve priority funding
By Doug Woodward • Guest Columnist What entity in our community serves the needs of every one of our citizens, whether…
Read More
Wilderness Society had key role in Hall Mountain
To the Editor: Thank you for your coverage of the historic return of Hall Mountain to the Cherokees (www.smokymountainnews.com/outdoors/item/10467). While the…
Read More
Pay on, Jackson residents, pay on
To the Editor: It is true I have been accused of being a negative person concerning a few of the…
Read More
GOP ‘progress’ takes this state backwards
To the Editor: Recently I saw Ralph Laughter, chairman of Macon County’s “Me Party.” We talked about his letter to…
Read More
GOP leadership wasting money, time and more
To the Editor: The 2013 legislation coming out of Raleigh is bad enough to cause sleepless nights and worried man…
Read More
Let’s stop the senseless civilian deaths
To the Editor: At this Memorial Day time of year, we not only honor veterans but also mourn the recent tragic loss…
Read More
Rep. Meadows becomes Tea Party poster boy
To the Editor: Rep. Mark Meadows would like us to think of him as a “moderate or centrist Republican” (SMN,…
Read More
Cutting courthouse trees was a disgrace
To the Editor: I have returned to Waynesville for the summer. I drove past the courthouse and could not believe…
Read More
The boys of summer are, after all, just that – boys
It was a great day for a picnic … or a baseball game. The sun hung there above the horizon…
Read More
Legislative moves will harm rural N.C.
To the Editor: We are well into this Legislature’s session. The governor has put forward his budget. The Senate has proposed…
Read More
Spend fund balance and cut property tax rate
To the Editor: Macon County commissioners can re-sponsibly reduce the property tax. The county manager’s proposed 2014 general fund budget…
Read More
Jackson did not spend $50,000 wisely
To the Editor: My first reaction to the county brand “Play On” was that it must be April 1. Quickly…
Read More
Voucher system will hurt public schools
To the Editor: Sponsors of House Bill 944, the school voucher bill, proposed certain changes during the bill’s first committee…
Read More
Macon should use fund balance, cut tax rate
To the Editor: In 2010, the Macon County Board of Commissioners, under the leadership of then Chairman Ronnie Beale, voted…
Read More
GOP-led legislature making huge strides
To the Editor: North Carolinians are fortunate to now have a legislature that is making historic strides towards fiscal responsibility…
Read More
Graduate programs in music are worth saving
To the Editor: The committee at Western Carolina University charged with evaluating academic programs issued its report on May 22.…
Read More
Schoolhouse Earth is a favorite learning place
To the Editor: At a school bus stop north of Franklin, I pick up trash weekdays from kids apparently tossing…
Read More
Room tax issue won’t change much between now and 2015
Alice Aumen, one of the owners of Cataloochee Ranch and a longtime tourism booster in Haywood County and Western North…
Read More
Haywood commissioners win political game with school board
Haywood County commissioners drew a line in the sand. The Haywood County School Board decided not to cross it. In…
Read More
What are they thinking down in Raleigh?
To the Editor: I continue to be mystified by the behavior of Art Pope’s legislature in Raleigh. While ranting against…
Read More
We must leave better world for our children
To the Editor: New York City has been attacked twice in the past decade — first by Al Qaeda and…
Read More
Correction
A letter from Jane Harrison in the May 8 edition of SMN, “Meadows in the wrong on background checks,” was…
Read More
PCs for grads program thanks supporters
To the Editor: A little over a year ago, the concept of annually awarding donated and refurbished PCs to Haywood…
Read More
Predator beetles work for all hemlocks
To the Editor: Congratulations to the National Park Service for getting the word out about the predator beetles being used…
Read More
State GOP decimates public education
To the Editor: North Carolina’s once proud public education system is under siege by the radical Republican gang in control…
Read More
This time I’m sure of it; at least I think so
When I sat down to write a piece for this week’s paper my topic was already chosen. I was going…
Read More
Where do we go when the public square fractures?
The “fractured public square” refers to the loss of the place where a community discusses ideas, politics and values. The…
Read More
Tribal Council vote on bear zoos disappointing
To the Editor: I am extremely disappointed in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Tribal Council (except members Perry Shell, Terri…
Read More
Meadows in the wrong on background checks
To the Editor: This is an open letter to Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., our district’s freshman congressman: Your vote to…
Read More
What will you do about jack booted thugs?
To the Editor: Watching the YouTube videos (since removed) of the “jack booted thugs” trampling on our Third, Fourth, Fifth,…
Read More
Sen. Davis going way too far to the right
To the Editor: Sen. Jim Davis, R-Franklin, and his extreme right-wing partisans have no problem wasting taxpayer money as long…
Read More
Despite failure, time will come for gun legislation
The defeat of gun control legislation in the Senate wasn’t as much surprising as it was disappointing. This is one…
Read More
When will Americans learn that ‘blowback’ is real?
In 1953, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, at the urging of the British M16, overthrew democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister…
Read More
MedWest Haywood appreciates volunteers
To the Editor: A smile, a touch, a simple “how are you today?” are some of what I hear and…
Read More
Don’t allow filling in of floodplain
To the Editor: I am a local biologist and an avid outdoorsman and spend a great deal of my time…
Read More
Tell your reps to vote against fracking
To the Editor: Most of us have heard the term fracking by now. In states where this underground energy extraction…
Read More
I will miss my conversations with Roger Ebert
I cannot credit film critic Roger Ebert, who died just a couple of weeks ago after a lengthy battle with…
Read More
Democrats need to unite behind Christopher
To the Editor: I’m deeply troubled to learn that some Haywood Democrats are still disgruntled about the appointment of Greg…
Read More