The Naturalist's Corner: Birding daze
 

The Naturalist's Corner: Birding daze

The six weeks from May 1 to June 15 are always a busy time for me. That is the window…
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Which way is the wilderness?
 

Which way is the wilderness?

The theme of Brent Martin’s new book of essays — The Changing Blue Ridge Mountains — is “It’s a good…
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Books helps us understand our own history
 

Books helps us understand our own history

“We need to know what kind of firm ground other men, belonging to generations before us, have found to stand…
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Global market for recyclables is down in the dumps
 

Global market for recyclables is down in the dumps

Local governments try to do their best in keeping recyclables out of local landfills, in part because it extends the…
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A pile of refuse awaits processing at Haywood County’s Materials Recycling Facility in Clyde. Cory Vaillancourt photo
 

Local waste management resources expensive, finite

Most people don’t give a lot of thought to what happens when they throw something away, but the ecological and…
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Richard Greene helps sort cardboard at the Cartoogechaye recycling center in Macon County. Bob Scott photo
 

Market is down, but Macon County recycling continues

While the global market for recyclable materials can fluctuate month to month, Macon County residents are encouraged to continue utilizing…
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Single stream increases recycling in Swain
 

Single stream increases recycling in Swain

Swain County has had a recycling program in place since the 1990s, but a recent change over to a single-stream…
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Tatia Childers.
 

‘Zero Waste’ group forms in Haywood

Recycling is great but there is more people can do if they want to keep trash out of the landfill…
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WOW donates $10,000 to Sharin Care
 

WOW donates $10,000 to Sharin Care

Women of Waynesville recently donated $10,000 to Sharin Care, a fund designated to help relieve the financial burdens associated with…
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Rep. Queen invites labor secretary to Oconaluftee
 

Rep. Queen invites labor secretary to Oconaluftee

In an effort to save the Oconaluftee Job Corps Center from being shut down, N.C. Rep. Joe Sam Queen, D-Waynesville,…
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Each floor features a cozy community room and a shared kitchen. Cory Vaillancourt photo
 

Major expansion set to open at Pathways

As homelessness continues to rise in Western North Carolina, Haywood County’s innovative and effective adult shelter is about to cut…
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Haywood takes precaution amid measles outbreak
 

Haywood takes precaution amid measles outbreak

As public health officials continue to monitor the measles outbreak across the nation, Haywood County Schools will be taking more…
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Shining Rock holds illegal meeting to dismiss parent grievances
 

Shining Rock holds illegal meeting to dismiss parent grievances

Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of stories on Haywood County’s public charter school, Shining Rock Classical Academy,…
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Canton alderman resigns
 

Canton alderman resigns

Just 18 months after winning the second of two open alderman seats in the town of Canton, James Markey told…
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Franklin cuts nonprofit funding from budget
 

Franklin cuts nonprofit funding from budget

The town of Franklin’s adopted 2019-20 budget will not include funding for local nonprofit organizations as it has in the…
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Macon County raises taxes to fund public education
 

Macon County raises taxes to fund public education

The property tax rate in Macon County will be increasing by half a cent after commissioners approved a 2019-20 budget…
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Denny Laine.
 

Carry me back to the days I knew then: Rock Hall of Famer Denny Laine rolls through WNC

Simply put, singer/guitarist Denny Laine is one of those mystical characters you cross paths with almost serendipitously.  He’s an old…
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Fireworks during Phish at Bonnaroo 2019.
 

This must be the place: In a minute I’ll be free and we’ll be splashing in the sea

On Monday morning, as I woke up, packed and said goodbye to Bonnaroo for this year, I can say —…
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Waynesville man arrested for solicitation, stalking
 

Waynesville man arrested for solicitation, stalking

Leonard “LJ” Green, of Waynesville, was arrestedby June 11 by the Waynesville Police Department for Solicitation for Prostitution and two…
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A rare look into Swain County's past
 

A rare look into Swain County's past

Editor’s note: This column first appeared in a June 2005 edition of The Smoky Mountain News. Several weeks ago I…
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Bears active in Panthertown
 

Bears active in Panthertown

Recent reports of increased bear encounters in Panthertown Valley have prompted a call for caution among visitors.
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A vision for the Tuck: New WATR director looks to make strides in water quality improvement
 

A vision for the Tuck: New WATR director looks to make strides in water quality improvement

The Watershed Association of the Tuckasegee River has a new leader. Two years after former executive director Roger Clapp retired…
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Jackson County to vote on budget
 

Jackson County to vote on budget

Jackson County Commissioners held a special-called meeting Tuesday, June 11, to vote on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2019-2020,…
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Haywood NAACP members began submitting their opinions of the lynching monument at a meeting June 1.
 

NAACP mulls lynching monument in Haywood County

Last month, members of the Haywood Branch of the NAACP took a trip to Montgomery, Alabama to visit a museum…
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McCoy, Sneed will be General Election  principal chief candidates
 

McCoy, Sneed will be General Election principal chief candidates

Voters made their choices during last week’s Primary Elections in Cherokee, with Teresa McCoy coming in as the top vote-getter…
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Earl Lanning, known as a maker of historic rifles, is also an accomplished sculptor.
 

Haywood County to welcome Revolutionary War monument

Earl Lanning was just a little boy in Haywood County during the 1930s, he developed three ambitions. “I used to…
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No tax increase in Waynesville budget
 

No tax increase in Waynesville budget

It's starting to sound like a broken record in Haywood County as North Carolina’s municipal budget season comes to a…
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Abundant Labs CEO Chip Miller (left) and Haywood Chamber President CeCe Hipps announce Miller’s new endeavor in Canton.
 

Hemp processing operation coming to Canton

Haywood County’s latest economic development victory — a state-of-the-art, $12 million hemp processing facility — means that Canton will become…
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Records show Catawba casino developer donated to bill sponsors
 

Records show Catawba casino developer donated to bill sponsors

Federal campaign finance records show that Wallace Cheves, developer for a proposed Catawba Indian Nation casino in Kings Mountain, donated…
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Opposing abortion because of the victim
 

Opposing abortion because of the victim

To the Editor: In the June 5 issue of The Smoky Mountain News, Hannah McLeod imputes the motives of those…
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Thanks for speaking out so forcefully
 

Thanks for speaking out so forcefully

To the Editor: I commend Hannah McLeod for speaking so forthrightly and forcefully about the new extreme abortion laws.
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Twenty down,  20 more to go
 

Twenty down, 20 more to go

To the Editor: Hats off to Scott McLeod and the staff at SMN for navigating two decades of informative, entertaining…
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Thank the hard-working journalists
 

Thank the hard-working journalists

To the Editor: Congratulations The Smoky Mountain News for its 20th anniversary. As a fifth-generation journalist, I thoroughly enjoyed reading…
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Respect for others missing in Edwards’ response
 

Respect for others missing in Edwards’ response

In the most recent edition of the SMN (June 5), I read a guest editorial written by Mr. Sam Edwards…
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You won’t make friends like this again
 

You won’t make friends like this again

 By the time she was 4-years-old, my daughter was better at making friends than I have ever been. When we…
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Oconaluftee Job Corps center to close
 

Oconaluftee Job Corps center to close

  For more than 50 years, disadvantaged youth struggling to find their way in the world have had the chance…
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Interstate 40's westbound lanes in Haywood County are now closed indefinitely.
 

Interstate 40 closed indefinitely after another rockslide

Less than four months after a rockslide in Haywood County closed a 20-mile stretch of Interstate 40, it’s happened again.…
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Comment

Tiny hemp seedlings sprout at the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' Mountain Research Station in Haywood County in July, 2017.
 

Abundant Labs to open hemp processing facility in Canton

Haywood County’s latest economic development victory – a state of the art, $12 million hemp processing facility – means that…
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Comment

Jackson County to vote on budget June 11
 

Jackson County to vote on budget June 11

The Jackson County Commissioners will adopt the budget for fiscal year 2019-2020 in a special-called meeting at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday,…
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Comment

Primary Election results return to Cherokee
 

Primary Election results return to Cherokee

Preliminary results are in from Cherokee’s June 6 Primary Election.
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A work by Michelle Railey.
 

The art of togetherness

Five years ago, Michelle and Robby Railey had one question in mind. “How do we get to the next level?”…
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Passion is no excuse for spreading error
 

Passion is no excuse for spreading error

Upon seeing Hannah McLeod’s recent guest column published in these pages on May 29, my first reaction was that it…
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When the universe offers gifts, unwrap them
 

When the universe offers gifts, unwrap them

The final school bells have rung.  When I was teaching, the last few weeks of school were grueling and felt…
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Kids get running outside. Donated photo
 

Kids in Parks logs one million TRACK Trails adventures

In its mission to engage children with the outdoors, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation’s Kids in Parks program is marking…
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Limestone sand was added directly to the stream at Wolf Laurel Branch to reduce acidity of the water. Water clarity returned to normal after 30 minutes. Donated photo
 

Lime treatment reverses acid rain effects

You can’t always believe what you see. The water in our mountain streams is sometimes polluted even though it appears…
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Mainspring expands to Sylva
 

Mainspring expands to Sylva

Mainspring Conservation Trust now has an office in downtown Sylva. 
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The Naturalist's Corner: 20 years are in the can; as they say in the biz
 

The Naturalist's Corner: 20 years are in the can; as they say in the biz

I can’t, thinking back now, remember what the two floors below us were at 9 Main Street, in 1999 when…
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Loving every word of it, all 630,000
 

Loving every word of it, all 630,000

Let’s start with some basic mathematics. For 20 years, I have reviewed books for The Smoky Mountain News. For some…
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Anna Fariello.
 

Fariello receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Author and curator Anna Fariello was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Folk Art Center during the annual meeting…
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Backstage in Canton with Balsam Range, January 2013. (photo: Garret K. Woodward)
 

This must be the place: No fear or shame in the dignity of your experience, language and knowledge

The first week I lived and worked in Western North Carolina, I slept underneath my desk in the old newsroom…
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