One house at a time: Bug lady keeps WNC homes pest-free
 

One house at a time: Bug lady keeps WNC homes pest-free

Before Karen Walston began running her first extermination route 16 years ago, she had no plans to become The Bug…
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Serio serious about self-defense
 

Serio serious about self-defense

The story of every small business is different and unique, but some follow an economic development narrative being heard more…
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Creating a community at the Blue Moon Salon
 

Creating a community at the Blue Moon Salon

When you’ve done something for as long as Mitzi Cope has, you tend to learn a thing or two —…
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Recipe for success: Mixing women and wine always a good idea
 

Recipe for success: Mixing women and wine always a good idea

Heather and Robert Acton have it all figured out. Living on the outskirts of Swain County near the national park…
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In the book business: Books Unlimited owner shares love of reading
 

In the book business: Books Unlimited owner shares love of reading

The book business is rebounding thanks to people like Suzanne Harouff who’ve never given up on it.
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Power of self-healing: Dr. Sparks takes long-range approach to personal health
 

Power of self-healing: Dr. Sparks takes long-range approach to personal health

Too often patients visit Dr. Linda Sparks as a last resort. Only after years of not being able to find…
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Building business in Haywood County
 

Building business in Haywood County

Its no surprise that The Smoky Mountain News’ annual Women in Business issue highlights women who are in business, but…
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The family that works together: Home cooking and community still draws crowds at Granny’s Kitchen
 

The family that works together: Home cooking and community still draws crowds at Granny’s Kitchen

It’s 3 p.m. on a weekday, a time when any restaurant would be well within its rights to be all…
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This must be the place: ‘They won’t know what route I’m going…’
 

This must be the place: ‘They won’t know what route I’m going…’

For a moment, I thought the dog was going to charge me. Running along the quiet back country of Southwest…
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Comment

Runoff election overturns recount results in Cherokee
 

Runoff election overturns recount results in Cherokee

An Oct. 10 runoff election to determine the winner of a disputed Tribal Council seat ended with a reversal of…
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Comment

Stocking the Pigeon: Trout stocking a team effort in Haywood
 

Stocking the Pigeon: Trout stocking a team effort in Haywood

It’s a sunny Friday morning on the Pigeon River when the bucket brigade assembles, five-gallon containers in hand. The stock…
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Comment

Panthertown seeks input through survey
 

Panthertown seeks input through survey

Friends of Panthertown is hoping to learn more about the people who do — or may someday — serve as…
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Comment

Fires Creek conservation project still needs $25,000
 

Fires Creek conservation project still needs $25,000

A $500,000 pledge has brought Mainspring Conservation Trust within sight of the finish line to conserving 50 acres of private…
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Comment

Chimney Tops Trail reopens
 

Chimney Tops Trail reopens

For the first time in nearly a year, the Chimney Tops Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is…
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Comment

All’s well that ends with an elk
 

All’s well that ends with an elk

I had the pleasure of leading a birding trip for Alarka Expeditions on Friday September 29. I had been in…
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Comment

My list of notable books set in WNC
 

My list of notable books set in WNC

This past summer, I reviewed The Leader’s Bookshelf for The Smoky Mountain News. After seven years of interviewing many of…
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Comment

What should I say? Greensky Bluegrass returns to WNC
 

What should I say? Greensky Bluegrass returns to WNC

Why not? Why not include Greensky Bluegrass in the sacred — sometimes stale and stuffy — pantheon that is bluegrass…
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This must be the place: ‘What a way to ride, oh what a way to go’
 

This must be the place: ‘What a way to ride, oh what a way to go’

Three pickup trucks. One stretch of highway. Since 2005, I’ve routinely traversed a never-ending stretch of Interstate 81 from north-central…
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Comment

New director named for Lake Junaluska Singers
 

New director named for Lake Junaluska Singers

Mary Wannamaker Huff has been named the director of the Lake Junaluska Singers, a choral group that has been a…
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Comment

Symposium draws on tradition, looks to future
 

Symposium draws on tradition, looks to future

The eighth annual Rooted in the Mountains symposium at Western Carolina University brought concepts of Cherokee philosophy and living wellness…
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Comment

Save your crude posts for other websites, please
 

Save your crude posts for other websites, please

Something newspaper editors never say: “I wish that fewer people responded to that piece in last week’s paper.” Well, thanks…
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Comment

Apply for open seat on Haywood school board
 

Apply for open seat on Haywood school board

Following the resignation of Beaverdam school board member Scott Smith, Haywood County School Board Chairman Chuck Francis revealed the procedure…
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Comment

If I had a purple crayon…
 

If I had a purple crayon…

Last night I read Harold and the Purple Crayon to my 5-year-old. He sat wide-eyed with an expression of intrigue…
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Comment

Tax reform plan won’t help middle class
 

Tax reform plan won’t help middle class

To the Editor: Now that the drama over the ACA is done, it’s time to move on to tax reform.…
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Comment

Planned Parenthood kills, not the NRA
 

Planned Parenthood kills, not the NRA

To the Editor: When a deranged person like Stephen Paddock, the Las Vegas shooter, randomly kills and wounds hundreds of …
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Comment

Tweet shows that Trump is unfit
 

Tweet shows that Trump is unfit

To the Editor: After reading that this is Newspaper Week in the U.S., I happened to see an article about…
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Comment

Swain parents want more from recreation center
 

Swain parents want more from recreation center

Several parents made it clear during a recent Swain County commissioners meeting they want to have more recreational opportunities for…
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Comment

Spate of county resignations raises questions
 

Spate of county resignations raises questions

Several well-known Haywood County employees in high-ranking positions have terminated their own employment over the past few months, leading to…
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Comment

Haywood manager Dove was valued public servant
 

Haywood manager Dove was valued public servant

Although Ira Dove’s tenure as Haywood County manager was relatively short, his long service to the county and the contributions…
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Comment

Court upholds runoff in Cherokee
 

Court upholds runoff in Cherokee

A lawsuit seeking to overturn a Board of Elections decision to hold an Oct. 10 runoff election for Birdtown Tribal…
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Comment

Skyland Drive to get sidewalks
 

Skyland Drive to get sidewalks

Sidewalks are coming to Skyland Drive in Sylva along a 0.7-mile section stretching from the Old Asheville Highway to its…
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Comment

WCU student dies in shooting; Two teens arrested in connection
 

WCU student dies in shooting; Two teens arrested in connection

A late-night shooting near the Western Carolina University campus Friday, Oct. 6, has left a student dead.
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Comment

Staying in the game: New policies could define Waynesville economic development for decades
 

Staying in the game: New policies could define Waynesville economic development for decades

After realizing small but consistent gains in local business development over the past few years, the town of Waynesville has…
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Comment

Candidate forums next week in Canton, Maggie Valley
 

Candidate forums next week in Canton, Maggie Valley

To mark the start of early voting, The Smoky Mountain News will host a pair of free candidate forums in…
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Comment

Developer takes Jackson to court over permit denial
 

Developer takes Jackson to court over permit denial

Denial of a permit to build a 388-bed student housing complex in Cullowhee will land Jackson County in court after…
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Comment

Bryson Senior Living close to completion
 

Bryson Senior Living close to completion

When Bryson Senior Living, an assisted living facility in Swain County, opens in January, a major void in the community…
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Comment

Bryson City secures new maintenance property
 

Bryson City secures new maintenance property

After months of negotiations, the town of Bryson City has finally closed on a piece of property that will allow…
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Comment

Pedaling toward Mitchell: Biking and biology go hand-in-hand for WCU professor
 

Pedaling toward Mitchell: Biking and biology go hand-in-hand for WCU professor

Darby Harris is going on a bike ride Saturday, Oct. 7, but how far he’ll pedal will be a mystery…
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Comment

Proceeds grow from Smokies plates
 

Proceeds grow from Smokies plates

Sales of Friends of the Smokies license plates brought in $230,000 over the first half of 2017, a 6 percent…
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Comment

Grant funds to protect farmland
 

Grant funds to protect farmland

Three Western North Carolina properties are among those to be protected through $3.28 million in grants recently awarded by the…
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Comment

Dam removal to boost native species
 

Dam removal to boost native species

A recent dam removal on Santeetlah Creek in the Nantahala National Forest is allowing native fish to return to high-quality…
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Comment

Scouts bring in the apple harvest
 

Scouts bring in the apple harvest

More than 600 pounds of apples wound up in the pantries of people in need thanks to the efforts of…
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Comment

When they bloom, ‘fall’s a-coming’
 

When they bloom, ‘fall’s a-coming’

Late summer has slid into early autumn. The end of summer officially arrived with the autumnal equinox of Sept. 23,…
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Comment

Books that transcend the divisiveness
 

Books that transcend the divisiveness

From Thanksgiving dinners to football games, from the floors of Congress to Joe’s Bar & Grill, from universities to kindergartens,…
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Comment

After tragedy in Vegas, where to from here?
 

After tragedy in Vegas, where to from here?

I’ve never shot a gun. Nope. Not once. I come from a family of gun owners. I’ve held plenty of…
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Comment

A part of my generation’s soundtrack
 

A part of my generation’s soundtrack

We were pretty full of ourselves, I guess. Barely 19, barely finished with our freshman year in college, having left…
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Comment

We can survive the Trump era
 

We can survive the Trump era

To the Editor: President Trump never ceases to amaze me on his downward spiral to be the worst president in…
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Comment

Children’s healthcare must be supported
 

Children’s healthcare must be supported

To the Editor: Last week the US Congress failed to reauthorized the Children’s Health Insurance Plan — CHIP — known…
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Comment

Air Force Academy general deserves praise
 

Air Force Academy general deserves praise

To the Editor: All men and women who have served in the armed forces can hold their heads high when…
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