While unanswered questions remain in the recent death of 49-year-old Franklin resident Melissa Middleton Rice, which occurred on Jan. 18 while in custody of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, public records reveal new information about the hours leading up to her ultimately fatal collapse.

A Sylva man has been charged with assault after Jackson County deputies responded to a Feb. 7 call and found a man with a cut to the right side of his neck along Allens Branch Road in Sylva.

Robert Dylan Thomas, 21, was charged with assault with serious bodily injury and held on a $15,000 secure bond, with victim Jacobe Matthew Conner, 32, also of Sylva, transported to Harris Regional Hospital and later transferred to Mission Hospital in Asheville, according to a press release from the Jackson County Sheriff's Office.

The incident stemmed from a 6 p.m. call reporting an intoxicated male in the roadway yelling at a passerby. The call was quickly followed by an update to the dispatch center that a male had been stabbed at about the same address, the press release said.

Seven years have passed since REACH of Jackson County suddenly shut down operations due to financial issues, leaving the county without a local organization to help victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. 

Following a series of closed session discussions, Jackson County has opted to cancel its $500,000 contract to buy a 5.61-acre tract in Whittier containing the old Pepsi-Cola plant, but it could still pursue the purchase at some point in the future. 

The recent death of a Jackson County Detention Center inmate has spurred a probe from the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation. 

Jackson County got its first glimpse at what a reinvigorated Green Energy Park campus might look like when a preliminary master plan was presented during a county commission meeting Tuesday, Jan. 22. 

Following a series of closed session discussions, Jackson County has opted to cancel its $500,000 contract to purchase a 5.61-acre tract in Whittier containing the old Pepsi-Cola plant.

With the one-year anniversary of Jackson County’s decision to consolidate its health and social services departments looming, commissioners are now talking about returning to the way things were before 2018. 

A Jackson County Detention Center inmate is currently at Mission Hospital in Asheville after having been found unresponsive.

Developing policies to help business owners affected by the upcoming N.C. 107 road project will go on the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority’s backburner until more project details are known, Executive Director Dan Harbaugh said during the board’s Dec. 18 meeting.