Military parade is just a bad idea
 

Military parade is just a bad idea

To the Editor: Have we lost our sanity? A military parade is an unconscionable waste of national resources, particularly galling…
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Comment

Time to rid Duke of its monopoly
 

Time to rid Duke of its monopoly

To the Editor: When I think about the purpose of industry, it is that our children would have good lives.…
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Comment

Rep. Clampitt needs to listen to constituents
 

Rep. Clampitt needs to listen to constituents

To the Editor: First, I want to thank Rep. Mike Clampitt, R-Bryson City, for holding this latest town hall meeting.…
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Comment

Meadows talks out of both sides of his mouth
 

Meadows talks out of both sides of his mouth

To the Editor: Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, seems to be having a bout of selective amnesia instead of working for…
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Comment

A life in coaching: WCU’s Hunter earns career 700th win
 

A life in coaching: WCU’s Hunter earns career 700th win

By Todd Vinyard • Special to The Smoky Mountain News Western Carolina University head basketball coach Larry Hunter’s team had beaten…
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Comment

A photo from the Veriti report shows an investigator demonstrating how easily some of the “secure” ballot boxes can be accessed. Donated photo
 

Ballot tampering alleged in Cherokee

An audit investigating Birdtown’s disputed 2017 Tribal Council race has concluded that ballot tampering is the likely culprit, with alleged…
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Comment

Haywood County Schools administrators (left to right) Superintendent Dr. Anne Garrett, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Bill Nolte, Human Resource Director Jason Heinz and Board Attorney Pat Smathers prepare for a board meeting Feb. 12. Cory Vaillancourt photo
 

Haywood School Board corrects Open Meetings Law violation

A week’s worth of wintry weather in mid-January resulted in the cancellation of meetings by both the Haywood County School…
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Comment

Medicaid reform is coming
 

Medicaid reform is coming

Major changes are coming to North Carolina’s Medicaid program, and the regional organizations that manage those dollars for behavioral health…
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Comment

Nonprofits to utilize Charity Tracker
 

Nonprofits to utilize Charity Tracker

Charitable giving for nonprofits and churches in Haywood County is about to become much more efficient thanks to the implementation…
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Comment

Mission looking for new location for MAMA
 

Mission looking for new location for MAMA

After rumblings and rumors around town, Mission Health confirmed it is actively looking for a new location for MAMA II,…
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Comment

Pat Kaemmerling, chair of the Western Carolina University Board of Trustees and co-chair of the search committee, walks into the Feb. 5 community forum with some of her fellow search committee members. Holly Kays photo
 

WCU community voices priorities for chancellor search

An enthusiastic friend of students. A die-hard fan of all things Catamount. An efficient administrator, effective political advocate, willing traveler…
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Comment

Calendar flexibility eludes WNC schools
 

Calendar flexibility eludes WNC schools

North Carolina is a huge state with tremendous climactic, economic and geographic diversity, but after a wicked bout of weird…
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Comment

Candidates sign up to run for office
 

Candidates sign up to run for office

With the sign-up period now underway, candidate are throwing their names in the hat to run for various local and…
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Comment

Left: Exhibit D-4 as presented by HCGOP Vice Chair Debbie King, who is suing members of the Haywood Republican Alliance over unauthorized use of her likeness. Right: HCGOP Vice Chair Debbie King (left) and Chairman Ken Henson depicted as 1970s pop duo Sonny & Cher on a button at the center of a lawsuit by King. Donated photo
 

Haywood GOP officer sues over mocking memes

Sticks and stones may break some bones, but according to a lawsuit filed by one local politico, the memes can…
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Comment

Area residents attend a planning workshop to begin envisioning what the future looks like for the small mountain community of Cashiers.
 

Visioning Cashiers’ future: Planning process kicks off for mountain community

An effort to envision the future of Cashiers is now underway as work begins to create a small area plan…
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Comment

Video gaming parlor nudged out of Waynesville digs
 

Video gaming parlor nudged out of Waynesville digs

A controversial video gaming parlor that opened on Dellwood City Road last summer will cease operations and remove all signage…
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Comment

Rising guitar prodigy Marcus King was recently photographed by Sandlin Gaither. The Marcus King Band will be playing Asheville Feb. 16-17.
 

Soul insight: A conversation with Marcus King

You find yourself frozen. Watching and listening to The Marcus King Band onstage, your feet are stuck to the floor,…
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Comment

This must be the place: ‘I ain’t getting rich now but I’m gettin’ more than by’
 

This must be the place: ‘I ain’t getting rich now but I’m gettin’ more than by’

The solidarity was evident. Sitting onstage this past Monday at Nantahala Brewing in Bryson City, I conducted another episode of…
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Comment

New Yancys album strikes a chord
 

New Yancys album strikes a chord

A southern gothic love triangle set in the age of Trump? Or maybe J.D. Vance’s bestseller Hillbilly Elegy as a…
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Comment

Plant ‘vouchers’ preserve fruiting sprigs of various native plants and record information such as location found and date of fruiting. Holly Kays photos
 

A diverse portfolio: Seed bank works to protect genes of WNC plants

It’s been just about 10 years since the day Joe-Ann McCoy, then living in Iowa and working as the national…
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Comment

Three tons of trash removed in litter pickup
 

Three tons of trash removed in litter pickup

A trash cleanup on upper Scotts Creek in Sylva Saturday, Jan. 27, yielded more than 3.5 tons of trash hauled…
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Comment

N.C. grants Atlantic Coast Pipeline permit
 

N.C. grants Atlantic Coast Pipeline permit

A North Carolina permit granted to the controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline last week — given together with the establishment of…
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Comment

The property contains a diversity of plant life. SAHC photo
 

Conservation easement added at Sandy Mush

A new conservation easement in Boyd Cove will protect 88 acres adjacent to thousands of already-protected acres in the Newfound…
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Comment

Haywood Waterways recognizes water champions
 

Haywood Waterways recognizes water champions

Five “Water Champions” were recognized for their work to protect water quality in Haywood County during Haywood Waterways Association’s annual…
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Comment

One of the Smokies’ finest poets
 

One of the Smokies’ finest poets

Editor’s note: This Back Then column by George Ellison first appeared in the Feb. 15, 2012, edition of The Smoky Mountain…
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Comment

Grief and redemption in the wilds of Wyoming
 

Grief and redemption in the wilds of Wyoming

I fled him down the nights and down the days; I fled him down the arches of the years; I…
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Comment

Meadows protects Trump instead of our democracy
 

Meadows protects Trump instead of our democracy

To the Editor: Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, and some of his fellow Republican representatives may just have become a danger…
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Comment

Electoral College idea just won’t solve problem
 

Electoral College idea just won’t solve problem

To the Editor: That was a clever rebuttal (Jan. 24) from Samuel Edwards to my column on why North Carolina…
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Comment

Trump’s detractors are the hypocrites
 

Trump’s detractors are the hypocrites

To the Editor: I read the article by Smoky Mountain News columnist Chris Cox titled, “I can’t stomach the hypocrisy…
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Comment

Who is it that has blood on their hands?
 

Who is it that has blood on their hands?

To the Editor: There is an ad posted on Donald Trump’s campaign website and YouTube page. It states that if…
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Comment

Whatever you think honey, really
 

Whatever you think honey, really

“I’m absolutely starving,” my wife says, digging through her purse for something as I walk into the kitchen, clearing my…
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Comment

Your gift can unlock a child’s potential
 

Your gift can unlock a child’s potential

Among the many gifts my parents gave me, both the most powerful and the most mysterious were the books that…
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Comment

Unseating Mark Meadows
 

Unseating Mark Meadows

Asheville Republican Congressman Mark Meadows’ extreme partisanship, attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and hypocritical fiscal responsibility make him…
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Comment

A look ahead: Candidates to file for partisan offices
 

A look ahead: Candidates to file for partisan offices

Election season is right around the corner, as candidates begin filing paperwork to run for a variety of partisan offices…
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Comment

Pathways Center receives grant
 

Pathways Center receives grant

Haywood Pathways Center in Waynesville is the recipient of The John William Pope Foundation’s 2018 Joy W. Pope Memorial Grant…
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Comment

The preliminary design by artist Aaron Harris will likely undergo some tweaks before the final version is painted on the Ward’s Plumbing & Heating building. Aaron Harris image
 

Sylva selects muralist

A muralist has been chosen to create the painting that will soon decorate a blank white wall on Mill Street’s…
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Comment

Franklin businesses wary of proposed river district
 

Franklin businesses wary of proposed river district

Franklin Town Council seemed poised to approve a new zoning designation — the River Overlay District — until a packed…
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Comment

The town of Franklin has owned the Whitmire property sine 2004, but still hasn’t made a decision about what to do with the 12.7 acres.
 

Best uses offered for Franklin’s Whitmire property

The results of a $14,000 study that assessed the best uses of the town-owned Whitmire property revealed to the Franklin…
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Comment

A long-vacant former service station will see new life this spring. Cory Vaillancourt photo
 

A Bridge to Frog Level: Cathey family to breathe new life into Walker Service

For generations, the people of Waynesville looked to the auto repair shop at the intersection of Branner Avenue and Depot…
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Comment

David Allen, owner of A1 Marine in Glenville, tells commissioners why he believes the no wake zone issue should be dropped. Holly Kays photo
 

Glenville no wake zone request will go to Raleigh

An effort to get a no wake zone instituted on Lake Glenville will move forward following a split vote of…
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Comment

Sneed survives suspension attempt
 

Sneed survives suspension attempt

An attempt to have Principal Chief Richard Sneed suspended during an investigation into the legality of settlement payouts he approved…
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Comment

Amanda Swimmer’s family members, standing around her, laugh as she cracks a joke during her remarks following Tribal Council’s decision to name her a Beloved Woman. Holly Kays photo
 

Amanda Swimmer named Beloved Woman

A lifelong potter, storyteller and keeper of Cherokee traditions, 97-year-old Amanda Sequoyah Swimmer was given the Eastern Band of Cherokee…
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Comment

Onita Bush, of Snowbird, asks Chairman Adam Wachacha, also of Snowbird, for time to speak on the alcohol issue. Holly Kays photo
 

Tribe will hold alcohol vote

What began as an effort to get rid of alcohol permits granted in conjunction with a 2015 state law ended…
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Comment

Elliott named Jackson schools superintendent
 

Elliott named Jackson schools superintendent

The Jackson County Board of Education has chosen Kimberly Elliott, Ph.D., to serve as the new Superintendent of Schools.
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Comment

Ever since you left town: Louisville honky-tonk band rolls into Waynesville
 

Ever since you left town: Louisville honky-tonk band rolls into Waynesville

For the better part of the last four years, Nick Dittmeier & The Sawdusters have zigzagged to and fro every…
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Comment

This must be the place: ‘And the morning came with bells on’
 

This must be the place: ‘And the morning came with bells on’

Hola. I’ve been saying that an awful lot while currently down here in Cancun, Mexico. Ten days of feet-in-the-sand with…
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Comment

Cartoon, Jan. 31, 2018
 

Cartoon, Jan. 31, 2018

By Will Studenc
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Comment

Let’s get back to honoring all women
 

Let’s get back to honoring all women

To the Editor: Have you told your mother? Your sister? Your aunt? Your niece? Simply put, have you explained to…
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Comment

National park backlog needs attention
 

National park backlog needs attention

To the Editor: I want to commend Holly Kays for her great story on “Breaking the Backlog."  I hope that…
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Comment

Third party efforts futile in U.S.
 

Third party efforts futile in U.S.

To the Editor: I appreciated your article on third parties. The frustration of the people with the two major parties…
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Comment

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