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Wednesday, 23 January 2013 00:00

WCU casts wide net to reel back freshmen dropouts

With more than 15,000 applications for just 1,500 freshman spots last year, Western Carolina University has no difficulty attracting students. The harder part is getting them to stay.
Wednesday, 23 January 2013 00:00

Theories swirl around perplexing mountain lights

Ghosts, spirits, swamp gas, gnomes and car headlights — there’s no shortage of hyphotheses behind the mysterious phenomenon along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The real question is, though, have you seen the light?
Wednesday, 23 January 2013 00:00

What lies beneath: A night on the town with Sylva’s musical renaissance

“Once in awhile you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right…”– Grateful Dead “Scarlet Begonias” If the Grateful Dead taught us anything through their music, it would be the mere fact that…
Wednesday, 23 January 2013 00:00

Blues-rock spills into WNC

Blues guitarist Husky Burnette will be performing at 9:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25, at the No Name Sports Pub in Sylva and at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26, at the Water’n Hole in Waynesville.
Wednesday, 23 January 2013 00:00

Calling all chocoholics to Bryson City

Cooks of all things chocolate will square off at the “Sixth Annual Chocolate Cook-Off” from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 23, in Bryson City to raise money for the Swain County library.
Wednesday, 23 January 2013 00:00

Rising country group to play Franklin

Rising country music group Eden’s Edge will take the stage at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 14:13

Steep slope rules on the rocks? Jackson planning board seeks middle ground in ordinance rewrite

Jackson County’s planning board is knee-deep in a page-by-page rewrite of the county’s steep slope rules — a controversial process that seems destined to rekindle past disputes over protecting the mountainsides versus stymieing development. A sweeping slate of mountain building…
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 14:05

Swain lands state grant for riverside pocket park in Bryson

Plans for a riverfront park behind the historic courthouse in Bryson City got a boost thanks to $150,000 from the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund.
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 14:04

Tribe keeps tap flowing for Sequoyah a while longer

“If at first you don’t succeed, simply make your case again” is the lesson the executives at the tribally owned Sequoyah National Golf Course learned earlier this month. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has been propping up the golf…
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 14:01

PETA protests bear zoos in Cherokee on heels of undercover video

Despite being warned not to return to Cherokee without tribal permission, animal rights activists gathered once again last Saturday in front of Chief Saunooke Bear Park waving signs and even donning a bear costume to protest the allegedly inhumane condition…
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 13:57

Cherokee brings more health care in-house with new hospital

When pediatricians at Cherokee Indian Hospital retreat to their desk between patients to log data, research puzzling symptoms or review lab results, they’re constantly looking over their shoulders.
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 13:44

Canton’s fight to keep Camp Hope takes a new turn

Canton leaders are pondering how much time and money to invest in an abandoned summer camp and mountain property left to the town under one condition — its use benefit Haywood County residents. After it was deeded the 100-acre Camp…
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 13:37

Schools weigh cost of increased safety

Officer Michael Harrison has confiscated everything from buck knives and Airsoft pistols from students at Swain High — but never a real gun. Until last week. Harrison and the principal discovered a .22 Remington rifle and assorted ammunition in the…
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 13:35

Veteran apartment proposed in Canton

An empty eyesore in Canton’s downtown could get a new lease on life. The former Jackson’s Appliance store, at the corner of Depot and Main streets in Canton, has lived several short lives during the last several years, but owner…
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 13:33

Headwaters now BearWaters after trademark tangle

Beer had been flowing from the taps of Headwaters Brewing Company in Waynesville for just a few months when the bad news arrived — a cease-and-desist letter from another brewery claiming rights to Headwaters’ name. Victory Brewing Company out of…
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 13:30

DSS says faith-based aid groups help fill in gaps

As government aid shrinks and church groups step up to fill the void, the thin and sometimes fuzzy line between church and state has gotten even more complicated.
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 00:00

Looking out on a busy day in Bryson City

For some, graveyards are morbid places. When I was a boy, I never liked to pass by or walk through one … especially in the dark. These days I rather enjoy visiting them ... for awhile. They are generally quiet.…
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 00:00

Global warming series aims to inspire change

A six-week discussion course on climate change called “Global Warming: Changing Course” is being put on by the Western North Carolina Alliance Thursday evenings starting Jan. 24. Learn about the history and science of global warming, personal values and habits…
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 00:00

Lake Junaluska a top spot for winter birding

The Highlands Plateau chapter of the Audubon Society will go birding at Lake Junaluska on Monday, Jan. 21, to mark the first watching excursion of the New Year. The lake is ideal for attracting winter birds and waterfowl. The group…
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 00:00

Haywood Waterways to launch endowment fundraising campaign

The Haywood Waterways Association has named their endowment fund the “Joetta Rinehart Endowment Fund” in honor of one of the organization’s supporters. Rinehart was actively involved in Haywood Waterways, serving on its board of directors and as treasurer.  The Endowment…
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 00:00

Deputy superintendent retires from GSMNP

Kevin FitzGerald, deputy superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park since 2006, retired this month after 34 years with the National Park Service. While stationed at park headquarters on the Tennessee side of the park, he and his wife…
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 00:00

Freeze your icicle off at winter bike race

Riders are invited to compete and spectators are invited to watch at the Icycle Mountain Bike Race at Fontana Village on Jan. 26. The seven-mile course consists of varied terrain with rocks, roots, creeks and open passing lanes that make…
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 00:00

Devil’s Courthouse logging proposal criticized by environmental groups

Proposed logging below Devil’s Courthouse in the Pisgah National Forest is being widely decried among outdoor recreation groups and environmental advocates.
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 00:00

Up in flames?

I sit this morning being bathed in luxurious rain. The kind of life-affirming, life-giving rain the Smokies are noted for. A quick run to town watching the rain cascading down the asphalt, clear here and muddy red there, being sucked…
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 00:00

Saving Shuckstack: Age, weather and vandalism take their toll on Smokies’ firetower

Its bolts are rusting, floor planks are rotting, and its windowpanes shattered. The roof is pocked with holes that let in the rain and snow. Even the some of the guardrails have gone missing from the 60-foot-tall lookout tower —…
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 00:00

An America divided by class

For the past 80 years more and more Americans have linked themselves economically to the machinations of the federal government. Having come to depend so heavily on government regulations and monetary entitlements, and by this dependence having subsequently given so…
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 00:00

WCU events to commemorate legacy of Martin Luther King

Western Carolina University will be hosting a week of events from Jan. 21 to 26 celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 00:00

One-man comedy show at HART in January

The comedy “21A” will be hitting the stage at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 18-19 and 3 p.m. Jan. 20 in the Feichter Studio Theater at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 00:00

Folk duo comes to Sylva

Bryson City husband/wife singer-songwriters Liz and AJ Nance will be performing at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18, and Friday, Feb. 22, at City Lights Café in Sylva. Both shows are free and open to the public. www.citylightscafe.com or 828.587.2233.
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 00:00

All friends were strangers at one time

John Driskell Hopkins was driving in his truck when it struck him. It was a song. Radiating from his satellite radio, it sounded like a fond memory he once knew. The voices and melody were familiar, but he hadn’t ever…
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 00:00

Loosening development regulations a bad idea

To the Editor: I am adamantly opposed to the rescinding or changing of the current steep slope and mountain-top ordinances in Jackson County. It is all is based on greed and amounts to the selling out of our county representatives to the real…
Wednesday, 16 January 2013 00:00

Something strange is haunting our dreams

The teenage cashier at the grocery store is conversing with a customer. “That’s right,” she says. “The only thing that will work is for civilization to collapse so we can all go back to nature.” Later I encounter a friend…
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

Are the ‘possums adapting to headlight glare

Where have all the opossums gone? People worry about cerulean warblers and frogs and honeybees and ash trees and hemlocks and snail darters and so on … as they should. But is anybody out there besides me worried about ‘possums?…
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

New soil and water expert named

Waynesville native John Ottinger has been named District Conservationist for the Haywood and Madison counties Soil and Water Conservation District.
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

Food cables help backpackers ward off bears

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy has provided $800 from its specialty license plate funds to help secure backpackers’ food from bears along the Appalachian Trail within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

A closer look

Only you can apply the brakes to slow down the Courthouse Timber Sale and get everyone to take a closer look. This sale – scheduled for nearly 500 acres in the Pisgah National Forest near the foot of Devils Courthouse…
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

Carrying the torch through history

It’s all started with a phone call. A lifelong thirst for adventure led Ronald R. Cooper to a love of backpacking, where he soon began hiking around the Grand Canyon and beyond. But, he was in search of a new…
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

Half-price sale at Friends of the Library bookstore in Sylva

A half-price book sale will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 19 and from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20, at the Friends of the Jackson County Library used bookstore in Sylva. Before the sale…
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

Uncompromising, dark and a worthwhile read

A couple of years ago, I blundered into something called “The Bottom Dog Appalachian Writers Series.” Published in Ohio, this series is dedicated to showcasing “new Appalachian writers.”  When I looked at the list of writers and poets, I didn’t…
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

Marijuana in national forests is out of control

To the Editor: Since the mid 1990s, Mexican criminals have been growing marijuana in our national forests. In recent years these operations have spread to at least 20 states and 67 national forests as well as on private land. We…
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

Let’s do the hard work on mental illness

To the Editor: Almost everyone has an opinion about how to combat violent, mass killing. My hope is that we will not be distracted by all the static and go for quick solutions that may make us feel safer but…
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

Our state's priorities have gone askew

The swearing in of new Gov. Pat McCrory this past weekend brought to mind a conversation at a recent holiday party. I was sequestered with a few political types and several issues came up that had been covered in The…
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

Changing the rules: Jackson re-writing development standards amid new economic realities

By Becky Johnson & Andrew Kasper • Staff Writers For two years now, Jackson County’s planning board has systematically combed over and rewritten some of its development rules once hailed as the most protective — yet restrictive — in the…
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

Haywood welcomes off-site veterans’ health services

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will establish a local field office in Haywood County where veterans who are new to the system can register and qualify for medical benefits in a more expedited fashion.
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

Help-wanted: new top lawman for Haywood County

Those vying to be the next sheriff of Haywood County have until 2 p.m. Jan. 17 to get their applications turned in. Haywood Sheriff Bobby Suttles is stepping down with two years left to go on his term. Because Suttles…
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

WCU settles wrongful death suit with football player’s family

Western Carolina University has agreed to a $600,000 out-of-court settlment in a civil suit brought by the family of Ja’Quayvin Smalls, a junior defensive back from Mount Pleasant, S.C. who died during an off-season football practice in July 2009.
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

Canton to bid farewell to long-time town anchor

Canton Town Manager Al Matthews has announced his impending retirement, and while his last day won’t be for months yet, he’s already plotting ways to spend his new-found free time after a long career in town government.
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

Cherokee breaks new ground with fines for domestic violence

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is hitting domestic violence abusers in their pocketbooks. People convicted of domestic violence-related charges must now pay a $1,000 fine, in addition to other penalties handed down by tribal court. Tribal council approved of…
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

Sweepstakes parlor closings leave some winners, some losers

Carol Anthony sat at in the back corner of a sweepstakes parlor in Maggie Valley one afternoon last week, getting her last fix of video gaming in before the next day’s ban took away what she claimed was her sole…
Wednesday, 09 January 2013 00:00

Acclaimed songwriter brings guitar, harmonic folk to Waynesville’s Wineseller

Singer/songwriter Ben Wilson will be featured at the Friday Night Live music series from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, Jan. 11, at the Classic Wineseller in Waynesville.
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