Landing jobs should be part of the mix
 

Landing jobs should be part of the mix

By Becky Anderson This is the time for members of the 2007 North Carolina General Assembly to follow their hearts…
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May the North Shore Road rest in peace
 

May the North Shore Road rest in peace

Swain County native Heath Shuler is doing his home county a favor by putting together a powerful congressional coalition to…
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Hiking to build a better world
 

Hiking to build a better world

By Michael Beadle Jon Brown and Scott Cochran want to help a small town in Bosnia and Herzegovina rebuild after…
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Judge strikes blow for property rights advocates
 

Judge strikes blow for property rights advocates

A federal judge in San Francisco told the Bush administration on March 30 that it didn’t have the right to…
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Figuratively speaking
 

Figuratively speaking

By Sarah Kucharski Entering figurative sculptor Wesley Wofford’s studio one is struck by the sheer size of his works.
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Cowboy Junkies reflect on the family dynamic
 

Cowboy Junkies reflect on the family dynamic

The Cowboy Junkies have this thing that only they can do, and as easy as it is to recognize that…
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Recommended diversions
 

Recommended diversions

Well, let’s just consider this a collection of things I would NOT recommend. But maybe reading this will constitute a…
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Today’s writing smacks of sameness
 

Today’s writing smacks of sameness

The 1920s were a golden age for American fiction and poetry. F. Scott Fizgerald helped give the decade its name…
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Clean and renewable, biodiesel takes off in WNC
 

Clean and renewable, biodiesel takes off in WNC

When Greg Kidd saw his odometer hit 250,000 miles last spring, he knew he would reluctantly be catapulted into the…
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Ghost Town has a deluge of job applicants
 

Ghost Town has a deluge of job applicants

When Ghost Town in the Sky recently held auditions to fill its entertainment needs, about 40 potential cowboys competed for…
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Jackson planners consider open space for new developments
 

Jackson planners consider open space for new developments

Developers in Jackson County could be asked to designate 25 percent of new developments as conserved open space under a…
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Reasons for closing Jobs Corps still unclear
 

Reasons for closing Jobs Corps still unclear

Three weeks after federal officials rolled into town and abruptly shut down the Oconaluftee Jobs Corps Center in Swain County,…
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Legality of Job Corps votes questioned
 

Legality of Job Corps votes questioned

When Mike Clampitt was making get out the vote calls during his campaign for Swain County commissioner last fall, he…
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Let’s stop the hypocrisy
 

Let’s stop the hypocrisy

Thank goodness for Don Imus. After 25 years of gutteral lyrics in the name of entertainment, none of which was…
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I know just what you’re thinking ...
 

I know just what you’re thinking ...

Call me a little superstitious, but I defend my right to harbor a few fears. That’s why, after breaking my…
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WNC is at the forefront of the green revolution
 

WNC is at the forefront of the green revolution

The expansion announced last week by Smoky Mountain Biofuels and Mountain Energy will help place Western North Carolina at the…
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Franklin trail network to offer new rides for bikers
 

Franklin trail network to offer new rides for bikers

For years, Jack Lansford and his mountain biking buddies in Franklin would have to load up their bikes and hit…
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Navy still at war with NC
 

Navy still at war with NC

You have to admire the tenacity of America’s armed forces. We can all take pride in the heroism, courage and…
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Nature Center unveiled: Balsam Mountain Preserve opens Southern Appalachian exhibit to the public
 

Nature Center unveiled: Balsam Mountain Preserve opens Southern Appalachian exhibit to the public

Walking into the new nature center at the Balsam Mountain Preserve in Jackson County is like walking into a replica…
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Carving his niche: Dennis Ruane’s career flows like his artwork
 

Carving his niche: Dennis Ruane’s career flows like his artwork

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Sitting at a workbench in the back of his gallery on Main Street in…
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Todd Snider looks at life, Nashville with a songwriter’s eye view
 

Todd Snider looks at life, Nashville with a songwriter’s eye view

By Chris Cooper See, the primary difference between Todd Snider and Ryan Adams is that Snider didn’t get so caught…
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Recommended diversions
 

Recommended diversions

Guests of the Ayatollah and Kite Runner Trying to understand the Middle East? Here are two books — one non-fiction…
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Heir to the King
 

Heir to the King

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill. William Morrow, 2007. 376 pages Although both the publisher and the author of Heart-Shaped Box…
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Adding it up
 

Adding it up

A traffic study was conducted to assess the traffic impacts of a new Super Wal-Mart and Home Depot complex coming…
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Crowded field seek seats in Cherokee
 

Crowded field seek seats in Cherokee

Seven people have plunked down the necessary $500 filing fee required to campaign for principal chief of the Eastern Band…
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What the new road will look like
 

What the new road will look like

About $1.5 million in roadwork is planned to accommodate the increased traffic on South Main Street and Hyatt Creek Roads…
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Haywood commissioners still split on Mountain Projects deal
 

Haywood commissioners still split on Mountain Projects deal

Haywood County commissioners continue to disagree on what kind of deal to give Mountain Projects on a tract of county…
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What should a new library look like?
 

What should a new library look like?

The Sylva library is favorite destination for Kim Mathis and her four children. There’s just one problem. “The library has…
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Despite delays, Macon SCC campus almost ready
 

Despite delays, Macon SCC campus almost ready

Southwestern Community College officials anticipate holding classes this fall at a new satellite campus in Macon County, more than a…
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Traffic footprint of Super Wal-Mart could reach far and wide
 

Traffic footprint of Super Wal-Mart could reach far and wide

Brace yourself, West Waynesville: a new Super Wal-Mart and Home Depot complex due to open next summer will bring an…
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Guyot’s Smokies
 

Guyot’s Smokies

Paul Fink and Myron H. Avery were two of the foremost explorers of the Southern Appalachians — especially the Great…
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Recommended diversions
 

Recommended diversions

National Poetry Month In honor of National Poetry Month this April, here are some recommendations for poetry lovers and those…
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Livingroom predators
 

Livingroom predators

Relentless Enemies: Lions and Buffalo by Dereck and Beverly Joubert. National Geographic, 2006. 176 pages. Four years ago, my family…
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Access management
 

Access management

Access management deploys numerous design techniques to reduce congestion on clogged roads, five-lane drags being the primary candidate.
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Deteriorating perception of HRMC a focus of interviews
 

Deteriorating perception of HRMC a focus of interviews

The rift between Haywood Regional Medical Center administration and the medical community needs to be repaired, and public confidence in…
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Law provides few protections for Indian mounds
 

Law provides few protections for Indian mounds

When it comes right down to it, the good will of private landowners is often what stands between saving Indian…
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Nurses need more support, applicants say
 

Nurses need more support, applicants say

One of the top issues that emerged during county commissioner interviews of hospital board applicants last week was the need…
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Shuler touts Heritage Area funding
 

Shuler touts Heritage Area funding

Representative Heath Shuler announced Monday that the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area has been allocated a federal appropriation of $748,955…
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Leaders, citizens demand input as road plan progresses
 

Leaders, citizens demand input as road plan progresses

After a two-year lull, debate over a controversial expressway through Jackson County known as the Southern Loop could soon re-emerge.
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Tribe helps preserve Cowee Mound in Macon
 

Tribe helps preserve Cowee Mound in Macon

As a child growing up in Oklahoma, Tom Belt often heard that there were reasons a group of Cherokee had…
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Bartram’s early accounts of Cowee
 

Bartram’s early accounts of Cowee

The preservation of the Cowee mound and village site alongside the Little Tennessee River in Macon County is truly significant…
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Media blew it at Virginia Tech
 

Media blew it at Virginia Tech

The same popular culture that some have alleged to produce yet another mass murderer wasted no time in trying to…
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Haywood nurses frustrated by changes
 

Haywood nurses frustrated by changes

Editor’s note: A group of nurses who work at the Haywood Regional Medical Center Emergency Room recently contacted The Smoky…
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No time for sentimentality
 

No time for sentimentality

By Dawn Gilchrist Young   “ ... and all day I turn over my own best thoughts, each one as…
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Two Poems by Zora Walker
 

Two Poems by Zora Walker

The Man in the Pickup Truck You may be a man who drives a cadillac and lives in a big…
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West Waynesville roadwork needs to be designed well
 

West Waynesville roadwork needs to be designed well

Imagine how this scenario could work, if it was a reality: a state Department of Transportation in lockstep with the…
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Man of Stihl: HCC student to compete at national collegiate timber sports championship in July
 

Man of Stihl: HCC student to compete at national collegiate timber sports championship in July

By Michael Beadle Jay Blackburn never figured he’d be competing against the best axe-chopping, saw-cutting athletes in the country when…
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Navy’s top 10 reasons for choosing Site C
 

Navy’s top 10 reasons for choosing Site C

The Navy has decided that a site in Washington and Beaufort counties in eastern North Carolina, about three to five…
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Putting the “mock” in Democracy: Capitol Steps troupe brings political laughs to WCU
 

Putting the “mock” in Democracy: Capitol Steps troupe brings political laughs to WCU

By Michael Beadle Along with death and taxes, one of the most predictable things in life seems to be political…
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Laying down the Lawson
 

Laying down the Lawson

By Chris Cooper Fusing soaring gospel harmony with finely tuned bluegrass firepower, Doyle Lawson has forged an easily recognizable and…
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