Somebody get that cow a pizza
 

Somebody get that cow a pizza

Driving down Russ Avenue on yet another scorching day, I saw a couple of girls out in front of the…
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Meds vs Medicare
 

Meds vs Medicare

Louis Garnett • Guest Columnist This wasn’t my doctor’s office; it was the vendor exhibit hall at a symposium on…
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Elk population on the rise
 

Elk population on the rise

The elk herd in Cataloochee Valley added at least eight babies to its ranks this summer, giving the herd a…
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WCU professor leads Elwha project
 

WCU professor leads Elwha project

Thanks to a National Science Foundation grant-funded project led by a Western Carolina University professor, 25 young people from Washington’s…
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Beak tweaking or evolution
 

Beak tweaking or evolution

One of the tenets of the theory of evolution is a phenomenon known as character displacement. Character displacement states, in…
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Peregrine falcons make a tenuous comeback
 

Peregrine falcons make a tenuous comeback

Peregrine falcons, a recovering endangered species, once again nested successfully this spring on Whiteside Mountain in Highlands.
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First-Ever Tour de Tuck to challenge cyclists
 

First-Ever Tour de Tuck to challenge cyclists

Cyclists will be testing their legs and lungs on the roads of Western North Carolina later this month in the…
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The Moonlight shines again: Maggie lights up with Moonlight Race
 

The Moonlight shines again: Maggie lights up with Moonlight Race

Checking email has gotten a lot more exciting for Wendy Johnson lately. As the organizer for the 28th Annual Maggie…
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Monarch migration
 

Monarch migration

The king of insect migration – King Billy – will soon be gliding its way to Mexico by the millions.…
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Remarkable talent shines in Rosser’s latest
 

Remarkable talent shines in Rosser’s latest

By Chris Cooper Man, I don’t want to start off with the whole “He’s done it again!” thing. You know,…
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HCC Film and Video students finish film by one of their own
 

HCC Film and Video students finish film by one of their own

Students in Haywood Community College’s Film and Video Production Technology Program just finished an original film written by one of…
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Documentary to look at past century of Canton’s history
 

Documentary to look at past century of Canton’s history

Canton’s 100th Labor Day Celebration will feature three showings of a 30-minute documentary about the town’s history at 7:30 p.m.…
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Recommended diversions
 

Recommended diversions

Storytelling The term “storytelling” has been acquired by a diverse number of creative folks from musicians (the late Harry Chapin,…
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TrueBlueGrass: 24th annual Cherokee Bluegrass Festival draws on traditional roots
 

TrueBlueGrass: 24th annual Cherokee Bluegrass Festival draws on traditional roots

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer For the past 24 years, crowds have gathered at Happy Holiday Campground in Cherokee…
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Captives and Captivations
 

Captives and Captivations

Narratives of confinement have long held a fascination for readers. From Saint Paul’s account of his imprisonment to modern stories…
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Blue Ridge shows profit
 

Blue Ridge shows profit

By Michael Beadle Profits are up for Blue Ridge Paper Products nearly two years after devastating floods washed through the…
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Community appeals to Jackson commissioners
 

Community appeals to Jackson commissioners

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Members of a grassroots citizens group rallying against a proposal to build a rock…
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Ghost Town comes to life
 

Ghost Town comes to life

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Once more, for the last time — Ghost Town has sold. The announcement came…
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Loan obtained for Waynesville fire station
 

Loan obtained for Waynesville fire station

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., has helped Waynesville obtain a loan of $2 million to construct its new fire station.
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New neighbors: Change is moving into Jackson County’s Tuckasegee community
 

New neighbors: Change is moving into Jackson County’s Tuckasegee community

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer About half way between Sylva and Cashiers on N.C. 107, between Jackson County’s Caney…
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Sylva set to expand planning district
 

Sylva set to expand planning district

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Sylva Town Board members are expected to move forward with plans to make the…
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The turkey’s role in Cherokee culture
 

The turkey’s role in Cherokee culture

The come back of the wild turkey in the southern mountains in recent years is one of the notable success…
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The time has come to lift Cuban embargo
 

The time has come to lift Cuban embargo

This is about political ignorance, ignorance highlighted by the recent news about Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s apparently serious illness.
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A little surer, a little more lost
 

A little surer, a little more lost

I can’t help feeling, just slightly, like we cheated. You be the judge. The table had been set on our…
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Unified voices calling for a better big box
 

Unified voices calling for a better big box

When Waynesville leaders met earlier this month to discuss the site plan and variance requests for the proposed big-box development…
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Strange happenings in music today
 

Strange happenings in music today

By Chris Cooper Here are a few things about “modern” rock and pop that I’ve found interesting (in a morbid…
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Recommended diversions
 

Recommended diversions

“Scoop” The world’s been in need of a good Woody Allen film and this murder-mystery/comedy fabulously fills the void. As…
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Betrayed, rejection and self-destruction
 

Betrayed, rejection and self-destruction

15 years ago, Donna Tautt’s The Secret History managed to acquire an amazing following among university students in the United…
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$5 million upgrade planned prior to May 2007 opening
 

$5 million upgrade planned prior to May 2007 opening

As the new owners of Ghost Town in the Sky pondered whether the dated mountaintop amusement park was a good…
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Cotton selected as Haywood manager
 

Cotton selected as Haywood manager

David B. Cotton of Seven Lakes has been named Haywood County manager
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Grant allows Sylva to conserve Fisher Creek
 

Grant allows Sylva to conserve Fisher Creek

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer The Town of Sylva has been awarded a $3.5 million grant from the Clean…
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From military campaign to political campaign
 

From military campaign to political campaign

If politics makes strange bedfellows, then surely Rutherford Trace offers some curious pillow talk in the legislative halls of Raleigh…
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Quarry opponents get county support
 

Quarry opponents get county support

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer The grassroots group United Neighbors of Tuckasegee celebrated another victory in the battle to…
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Reunion emotional for many former Ghost Town workers
 

Reunion emotional for many former Ghost Town workers

When Todd Berrong, a former gun fighter at Ghost Town amusement park, walked through the gate of his old stomping…
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Rutherford Trace: Local historians examine the legacy of a shock-and-awe Revolutionary War campaign against the Cherokee
 

Rutherford Trace: Local historians examine the legacy of a shock-and-awe Revolutionary War campaign against the Cherokee

By Michael Beadle To some, it was a crucial military campaign early in the Revolutionary War, an unprecedented patriot force…
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Sylva set to extend planning jurisdiction to Allen’s Branch
 

Sylva set to extend planning jurisdiction to Allen’s Branch

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Town aldermen are moving ahead with plans to vote the Allen’s Branch community into…
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Wal-Mart rolls out unique design
 

Wal-Mart rolls out unique design

The controversy over a proposed Super Wal-Mart complex in Waynesville took a turn at a town planning board meeting this…
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Chinquapins a hardy, unusual shrub
 

Chinquapins a hardy, unusual shrub

Do you have chinquapins growing on your property or in your vicinity? If so, you’re fortunate. For my money, “the…
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Immigration and a complicit, angry America
 

Immigration and a complicit, angry America

On July 13, the Buncombe County Republican Action Club posted two billboards in Asheville featuring a photograph of a Mexican…
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Quarry plan showcases planning shortfalls
 

Quarry plan showcases planning shortfalls

Citizens in Jackson County’s Tuckasegee community should consider themselves lucky. The problem, however, is that luck doesn’t always hold. It…
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Bethel group receives grants for conservation
 

Bethel group receives grants for conservation

On-going farmland conservation efforts in the rural Haywood County community of Bethel got a boost with a $20,000 grant from…
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Two flew over the cuckoo’s nest
 

Two flew over the cuckoo’s nest

Nothing takes me back to that shotgun shack along the dusty road around Horseshoe Lake quicker than the call of…
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SCC students help with Parkway film
 

SCC students help with Parkway film

When Bentley Robison enrolled in the Surveying Technology program at Southwestern Community College, he never imagined he would become an…
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Quarry opponents speak out at public hearing
 

Quarry opponents speak out at public hearing

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer   About two hundred concerned citizens packed into a Jackson County courtroom Tuesday night…
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Charlie Daniels rocks Canton Sept. 1
 

Charlie Daniels rocks Canton Sept. 1

The Town of Canton’s Labor Day celebrations reach fever pitch this weekend with the Paper Bowl — the football game…
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Jim Black’s enablers carry on
 

Jim Black’s enablers carry on

The scandals around N.C. House Speaker Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, multiply like mushrooms on the forest floor. Yet a casual reader…
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Canary Coalition is leading in the right direction
 

Canary Coalition is leading in the right direction

Too often people tend to write off efforts by the most hard-core social activists as excessive or simply impossible to…
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The oil nut’s curious little green fruits
 

The oil nut’s curious little green fruits

For me, the fall season is one of the most invigorating times to get out in the woods and prowl…
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The unfriendly skies
 

The unfriendly skies

I was working in the yard the other afternoon when I heard a crisp “whap!” — like the sound of…
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