Slight slip for Haywood Schools rank

Achieving high academic performance levels is one thing, but maintaining them is quite another, and after two straight years ranked 11 out of 115 public school districts in the state, recent reports from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction show that Haywood County schools slid three places to a still-impressive 14. 

THE MILL VS THE HILL: Small town high school football in the rural South

Doug’s in Clyde is a typical manifestation of a stereotypical small-town barbershop in the rural American South. 

Its wooden walls are lined with knick-knacks, claptrap and faded family photos of people and places long gone. Three men stand behind three vintage teal and steel barber’s chairs, while three men sit in them. Others wait on red vinyl couches next to checkerboards beneath the watchful gaze of Andy Griffith and Floyd Lawson. 

Haywood Tax Collector will pay for own mistakes

A slew of county tax penalties waived by Tax Collector Mike Matthews’ office will have to be re-added to some tax bills because they were improperly released.

Folkmoot honors inmates

It takes a lot of work throughout the year to produce the Folkmoot festival; much of that work goes on behind the scenes and much of it is done by volunteers, without whom the festival simply couldn’t sustain itself.

Haywood County announces new manager

After nearly a year without a permanent county manager, Haywood County commissioners voted unanimously Aug. 20 to extend an offer to Assistant Gaston County Manager Bryant E. Morehead. 

No mystery behind hotel incentives

As first reported in The Smoky Mountain News more than four months ago, Waynesville’s getting a new hotel, and that new hotel is getting lots of tax breaks. The reasons why are no mystery either, according to Haywood County Program Administrator David Francis. 

WNC employers — Haywood Chamber wants to hear from you

As Haywood County’s economic development efforts ensue, one oft-overlooked aspect of the area’s offerings — like land development opportunities and development incentives — is the quality of the workforce. 

Plott Creek site plan OK’d

The site plan submitted by developers for a controversial 200-unit apartment complex off Plott Creek Road was approved by the Town of Waynesville Planning Board July 30, but not before a marathon meeting that dragged on for more than six hours and threatened to stretch into the next day. 

Leadership Haywood starts next month

Even the smallest communities are composed of a dizzying array of institutional and organizational groups that can either work together — or against each other — in the collection and distribution of limited resources to the utmost benefit of that community. 

Mountain Projects eyes parcel for affordable housing

A 4.4-acre parcel in the Allens Creek community could soon put a small dent in Haywood County’s affordable housing crisis, if negotiations between the owner and local human services agency Mountain Projects go well. 

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