Scott McLeod

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op frHaywood County’s hospital was in trouble. The average number of patients staying overnight had dropped precipitously, causing severe problems to the hospital’s cash flow. The relationship between the administration and most of the physicians was fractured. Many of those doctors and many Haywood County citizens feared the hospital might close if it didn’t adapt to the fast-changing health care landscape.

Though that sounds eerily similar to just a few years ago, it was 1993. I was a new-to-the-job 33-year-old editor of The Mountaineer in Waynesville. i was just a few months in town when rumblings of the hospital’s woes began trickling out. A group of five or six doctors decided they wanted the local media to hear their side — off the record — and so invited my wife and I to a dinner at one of their homes. 

op fr“Absolutely ridiculous.” Those are the words of Rep. Joe Sam Queen, D-Waynesville, to describe the actions of Rep. Michelle Presnell, R-Burnsville, who has twice in two consecutive legislative sessions stopped in its tracks a bill that would merge Lake Junaluska with Waynesville.

Rep. Queen is being too kind by far. Asinine might better describe her opposition to this bill.

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op frTrue story. My wife Lori and I were enjoying a delicious, refreshing IPA at the Wedge Brewery on Sunday afternoon, rewarding ourselves after a brutal trail run in the mid-day heat at Bent Creek (brutal, at least, by my estimation; Lori and our dog, Django, were just loping along the entire time, well ahead of me). The brewery in the Asheville River Arts District was relatively crowded and the sun was blazing, so we shared a shaded table with a couple about our age who invited us to sit after making friends with Django.

We soon found out they were from the Charleston area, he an engineer with Boeing and she a public school secretary. More interesting, however, is why they decided to come to the mountains for a long weekend: beer.

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It happened months back, but the request was typical of what we hear everyday in this business: will you do a story about us?

That’s a request I like to get. We are, after all, in the business of telling stories, whether it’s about your government or your neighbor.

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Amnesty? In the immigration controversy that is dividing Congress and the nation, this has become the most misused term in the politician’s vernacular. It’s being used as wedge by those who favor a policy that is heavy on relentless enforcement and deportation. This policy, instead of celebrating the spirit of hard work that is the backbone of this country’s success, would have us rely instead on the twin weaknesses of insecurity and insularity. That’s not the America I want for our future.

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Note to all candidates seeking office in Western North Carolina, and all their constituents: repeat these words, over and over — zoning, land use, high-impact ordinances, long-range planning, master planning. Say them again, and try to get over the fear they seem to inspire in local politicians. These aren’t bad words, using them won’t deter growth, and advocating for them does not violate any principles of our American way of life. Those who argue they do are simply trying to dupe you through fear into letting them do as they please, which, in the worst case, means make money from raping the land.

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Around the region and throughout the world, there’s a lot going on right now. My “column ideas” folder runneth over, so here’s a little house cleaning, a few random thoughts as the news keep churning:

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Ideas. Those who have them become leaders and gravitate to places where they can implement them. All of the counties of Western North Carolina, including Haywood, need leaders with fresh ideas if we are to confront a future that is bringing untold changes. That was Mark Swanger’s strength, and it will be missed.

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I don’t bash public schools. My wife’s a teacher, my children have gotten a great education at these schools, and we’ve been able to solve every major problem that ever arose with a teacher.

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Each year as summer dawns, when children begin counting the days until shoes become something they just have to keep track of and not wear, I continue a tradition started on June 2, 1999. That was the date the first issue of The Smoky Mountain News was published.

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If you think taking tangible steps to protect farmland is more about nostalgia than anything else, guess again. As change continues at its rapidly accelerating pace, having protected private land on which to grow crops could become an important part of the American economy.

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When Federal Communications Commission officials came to Asheville last week to discuss media ownership regulations, they got an earful from a crowd that was mostly against media consolidation of any kind. We hope FCC officials get this reaction everywhere they go, because the decisions they make in the next few years could have a profound and, perhaps, chilling effect on the media as we know it today.

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“Sausage is good!?”

My 7-year-old son was looking out the window of the van when he blurted the words out of his mouth. We were taking the normal route home, and the cattle herd we pass every day was huddled lazily under one of the few shade trees.

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They didn’t show up. That alone signals, or maybe “symbolizes” is the proper word, a shift in citizen attitudes that would have seemed unimaginable just a couple of years ago.

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I can’t help feeling, just slightly, like we cheated. You be the judge.

The table had been set on our recent family vacation for a trip unlike any I’d ever experienced. We had planned a four-night sailing trip on my father-in-law’s 32-foot sloop “Tranquilo.” My wife Lori and I may joke around at home about who wears the pants, but on the boat there’s no doubt — she dons the captain’s hat. She has sailed for years with her father in the waters around the Neuse River and Pamlico Sound, so he trusts her to get his beloved boat back to its slip safely while we — the kids and I — are the benefactors of a great time.

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People are saying the new Ghost Town will be a shot in the arm for Maggie Valley. That’s probably an understatement, but the new development and its cash infusion into this tourist town will also provide an important opportunity to talk about the future of Western North Carolina, especially as it pertains to the number of visitors and the changing tourism industry.

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As the front page of this week’s paper illustrates, it’s election season. Trouble is, it’s just not feeling much like it yet. U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, R-Brevard, and Heath Shuler, this Democratic challenger from Waynesville, are still mostly preaching to their respective choirs at local party events.

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op frThe rapid pace of change these days often leaves many of us feeling helpless in its wake. Things change, then change some more, and finally a transformation so complete has taken place that very little of what we started with is familiar.

Think the music industry, or what the phone in your pocket will do. Crazy stuff.

But every now and again, one can look around and note things that haven’t changed that much. In some cases that is very reassuring; other times it’s scary.

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op frFor school systems in relatively poor, rural areas where resources are scarce and student achievement is low, there’s no magic bullet that will suddenly transform the public education system. No, it’s mostly just roll-up-your-sleeves hard work by teachers and administrators to make sure the job gets done to the best of one’s ability.

However, getting all of a county’s leaders on the same page so they can at least be educated about the needs and challenges facing teachers and students is a good move, and that’s just what is happening right now in Swain County. If this initial overture turns into a real relationship — and a willingness by county leaders to understand its school system — it will only mean good things for Swain students.

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op frI think Jack Debnam was wise to delay action on the rewrite of the Jackson County steep slope rules until after the November election, but I don’t believe that will take politics out of the final decision on this issue.

No, to the contrary, the county board’s decision to delay action has provided voters with at least one issue to discuss and dissect ad infinitum in the coming election season. Sitting commissioners and candidates alike will be forced to stake out their position, and by the time voters step into the booth on Election Day, they will know where each candidate stands.

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op frWords sometimes change meaning. It may take a few years, but it happens, and it especially happens in politics.

A comment was recently posted on www.smokymountainnews.com in response to a column I wrote two weeks ago about the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority’s request to hike the room tax. The column covered several points, among them my support for increasing the room tax.

 

Within that commenter’s post was this gem of a line: “Scott McLeod, liberal publisher of The Smoky Mountain News and his band of Socialists ….”

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op frSome teacher a long time ago explained to my class of intro to political science undergrads the difference between a statesman and a representative. The statesman, once elected, votes his conscience and does not necessarily bend with the whims of voters; the representative votes according to the wishes of their constituency. That’s a notable difference. What’s confusing, though, is when a leader goes both ways, depending on which is most convenient.

 

As Haywood leaders try to convince Rep. Michele Presnell, R-Burnsville, to support a hike in the room tax from 4 to 6 percent that almost everyone who holds elected office in the county favors, I was reading what she had said about the tax and trying to figure out where her opposition is coming from.

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op fr“The less you know, the more you believe.”

– Bono

Quality journalism is a powerful force. I’ve been fortunate to be able to witness that truth often during my career in the newspaper business. I’ve seen stories that helped the afflicted, honored the deserving, and brought down the powerful. I’ve been involved in stories that brought tears of joy to a mother’s eyes and tears of regret from an arrogant leader. I’ve held my notebook in hand and listened to someone who asks us for their trust tell such bald-faced lies it shocked even a jaded reporter.

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Haywood’s elected leaders plan to invite their three General Assembly representatives to a March meeting in hopes of reviving a bill that would raise the tax on overnight lodging stays and using the additional money for capital projects to boost tourism. 

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op frThe ramifications of one particularly disturbing directive passed in the last session of the General Assembly is unfolding right now in every county in North Carolina, and it promises to provide some spirited political drama that just about no one saw coming when it passed.

Legislative leaders decided they would provide meager pay raises of $2,000 over four years — yes, a whopping $500 a year — to 25 percent of teachers in each of the state’s school systems. The lawmakers decided it was best to leave it up to each school system to decide how to conjure up a fair formula to decide which teachers would get a raise and which wouldn’t.

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Ron Robinson thinks a state senator should represent all of his constituents. 

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op frWe are now — officially — barreling into the holidays. Thanksgiving is already a fading, drowsy memory of turkey carcasses and piles of dirty dishes. As we march onward toward Christmas and the new year, my mind always goes into the same pattern, one I can’t shake: I think of blessings and shortcomings, wondering why the things that aren’t right can’t be righted. 

And so a couple of recent articles about opportunity in this country and how those who come from wealth are more likely than ever in recent history to remain in the upper income brackets hit home. In order to change this, we need to do more for children, especially those who haven’t reached what we have traditionally deemed “school age.”

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If the very thought of trying your hand at computer programming or writing software code is intimidating, Dr. Jonathan Wade has got an event for you.

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Franklin’s mayoral candidates are offering voters distinctly different visions of leadership as they square off for the town’s top political position.

Sissy Pattillo, who is completing her second term as a town alderman, used the word “collaboration” at least four times while answering questions during a recent forum sponsored by the Macon County League of Women Voters.

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op frMy people are rooted in the South. On both mom’s and dad’s sides of the family, very few have moved far from North and South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia. It’s not one town or a single homeplace we embrace, but nearby relatives and their pull, a blood kinship that runs deeper than my understanding of it.

 

Because of that — or, perhaps, in spite of it — I grew up with a bit of wanderlust. During high school and college, there were summer adventures with friends to the Carolina coast, out west and down to the Gulf of Mexico, trips where I took whatever work I could and used the money to move around a bit more. 

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op frFrom the very first few days I lived in the mountains — as an 18-year-old freshman at Appalachian State University — late-summer days have always gotten my blood pumping. The fresh, cool breezes that suggest the coming fall do battle with the lingering summer heat scream at you to get outside and do something, anything but stay inside and inactive. 

Saturday was one of those days. A few clouds punctuating a blue sky, warm in the sun but cool in the shade. By the time noon rolled around the chores were still stacked up like a winter’s worth of cordwood, a neat pile that one could have chosen to keep working on. Or not.

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op frI’ve always loved school. Consequently, I detest what the General Assembly is doing to education.

As a kid, I knew that looking forward to school each day put me in a minority. Maybe it was my parents’ influence. My dad was a high school graduate and the son of a textile mill foreman in Cheraw, S.C. He joined the Navy as soon as he could and got the hell out of Cheraw. My mom quit high school when she got married at 16 but earned her GED when she was in her 40s. I always felt that they both had high expectations for me — the youngest of three boys — from a very early age.

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op frThe photo ID requirements included in the new voting law passed by the General Assembly and recently signed by Gov. Pat McCrory are problematic. Still, if it was just a voter ID law there wouldn’t be so much hell being raised about the bill’s ramifications. It’s the other voter suppression measures in this over-reaching bill that have many scratching their heads and wondering just what’s going on.

As most anyone who follows public policy in this country knows, voter ID laws — a requirement that every person have a state-approved photo identification card before being allowed to cast a vote — are being passed in many states and are very controversial.

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op frIt’s difficult for me to believe that the new leadership in Raleigh would purposely sacrifice development in the state’s rural areas at the altar of political ideology. On purpose or not, however, that’s the way it looks to many of us who live in places not named Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro or Winston-Salem. 

Everyone braced for change when Gov. Pat McCrory and Republicans in both the House and Senate were duly elected to govern North Carolina. That’s the natural order of politics — to the winner goes the spoils. However, even many long-time observers were caught unawares by the speed, the ideological bent, and the reliance on unproven economic principals that infused the legislation passed during the first session in which the GOP had total control of the state.

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op frThe General Assembly’s renewal of the specialty license plates for North Carolina drivers surprised many only because it seemed such a no-brainer that it was curious there was even a debate. Thank goodness lawmakers saw the light.

Let’s take a look at what was almost undone by our state legislators: a program that produces — without any extra public spending — millions of dollars for some of North Carolina’s most prominent nonprofits, providing them with money to invest in some of the of the state’s treasures. That list includes coastal estuaries and sea turtles along with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian Trail.

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It probably shouldn’t have gotten to me. But it did, in a big way.

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op frEver know you are in a good place at the right time? Every now and then that sentiment — about living Western North Carolina right now — overwhelms me.

I’ve been messing around with newspapers and journalism in some form or another since I was 13. It’s a vocation that puts one in contact with all kinds of people and takes one to all kinds of places. So I’m mostly beyond those “gee whiz” moments that are often part of the job.

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A small spot on the side of a valley overlooking the Tuckasegee River outside Dillsboro may not seem the obvious place for any kind of technological firsts, but that’s what alternative energy experts were proclaiming last Friday (Oct. 6) at the grand opening of the much-anticipated Jackson County Green Energy Park.

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Thirty-six year-old Ken McKim has lots of ideas about the issues he would tackle if he can wrest the 50th District state Senate seat from incumbent Democrat Sen. John Snow.

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When Sen. John Snow talks about being a senator for the far western counties that he calls home, he becomes animated and impassioned.

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I’m not sure when the characteristics of being frugal and not wasting became derisive traits, why it became wimpy to drive a small car, how it became popular to make fun of those who wanted the best of the technological advances but not its excesses.

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The ups and downs across a graph that tell of a business’ profits and losses may not be very interesting, but look beyond those peaks and valleys and a fascinating story might emerge.

Blue Ridge Paper’s last 15 years, viewed by a historian sometime in the future, will mirror the nation-changing events that have swept across the American manufacturing landscape. This snapshot, just a short segment of a 100-year-old company’s life, is inextricably tied to significant events in U.S. and regional history. During these years, Blue Ridge Paper and its predecessor Champion have gone from an environmental pariah in the 1980s to a champion of workers rights in the 1990s, from a survivor in the new millennium to a company that is poised and ready for a major expansion.

 

Mountain made Expansion?

Bob Williams, who acts a spokesman for Blue Ridge but has worked for years in the environmental end of business at the Canton paper mill, says Blue Ridge lost out on an expansion opportunity a few weeks ago that could have included a $750 million financing package. Details of the acquisition are hidden under a confidentiality agreement, but the Associated Press reported last week that International Paper sold a division of its company to a competitor that would have been attractive to Blue Ridge.

“It’s a small community. People are saying that we made an offer, but the seller went in the other direction,” said Williams, alluding to the deal that fell through.

What? Blue Ridge expanding, looking to grow, flexing a little industrial muscle? This is a mill that had been written off by most observers as on its last leg, just one breath and a gasp from the same mass grave already filled with hundreds of old-style American manufacturers. The company may not be a Wall Street darling, but according to Williams it’s doing well enough to have attracted the $750 million from investors. Williams acknowledges the surprise many may have associated with last week’s news, but he pointed to the company’s recent history.

‘We have the best workforce around, we’re a scrappy organization and we pay attention to our customers,” said Williams. “If you live through what we live through, you must be doing something right.”

One key to Blue Ridge’s success may be the very primal act of survival. Hang around, they say in business circles, and you’ll succeed. Don’t give up. Find your own way. In these mountains, that sounds like a pretty normal way of life for generations of families, and that spirit infuses the mill.

“Because of the contraction in our industry, we’ve benefited from supply and demand,” said Williams. More than 100 paper machines at various plants have shut down since 2000. To keep operating, Blue Ridge has continued to keep costs down.

“It’s clear that we are one of the leaner companies in the industry,” said Williams.

And so along come the investors willing to come up with the money for expansion. Williams says the community shouldn’t be surprised if Blue Ridge makes an announcement in the next year about an acquisition that will allow it to grow, but only time will tell if the right deal materializes. If it happens, things in Canton could change in several ways. It could lead to a re-capitalization of the entire company. In other words, all the money available from investors might not be spent on an acquisition, according to Williams. Some might be used to re-structure the company’s debt and change its relationship with KPR, the investment firm that came up with the cash for the buyout from Champion in 1999.

 

A long way to here

It remains to be seen if Blue Ridge will reach the potential Williams and other executives are eyeing. This company has seen its share of ups and downs, though, leading one to believe that almost anything is possible.

It wasn’t that long ago — in the late 1980s and early 1990s — when environmental regulations and lawsuits from residents in Tennessee over pollution in the Pigeon River threatened to shut down the old Champion mill. I remember attending a bizarre event in Waterville in the early 1990s, the community on the North Carolina-Tennessee border on the shores of the Pigeon River. Champion was heralding efforts to clean the Pigeon while at the same time CP&L (now Progress Energy) announced plans to begin regular water releases from Walters Lake that were expected to jump start the river’s whitewater industry.

As hundreds of visitors gathered to watch world-class kayakers maneuver the rapids, Tennessee protestors descended on the river’s opposite bank, down the steep incline from I-40, some holding signs and others shouting and waving fists at the whitewater spectators. Some were dressed as grim reapers, a reminder of charges that dioxins in the river were causing cancer and endangering lives.

Champion made it through this struggle, but it decided to sell the mill in 1999. Financial experts from throughout the region worked to put together a plan to keep the region’s largest private employer open, and it worked. Employees would become part-owners of the mill.

But the future looked bleak. Paper prices began to drop as foreign competition increased. Just when things looked back, they got worse. 9-11 knocked a hole in the U.S.’s economy. In particular, the airline industry tanked. One of Blue Ridge’s major products is juice and milk cartons used by the airline industry. Losses mounted.

Things got worse before they got better. The anthrax scare that killed five people started on Sept. 18, 2001, just a week after 9-11. The poison was being delivered through the mail. Direct mail advertisements became a worrisome proposition, and the market temporarily dried up. One of Blue Ridge’s major products is envelope paper used by many of the companies in this business. More losses, and things were looking grim.

Finally, the twin hurricanes of September 2004 made history at Blue Ridge Paper. For the first time since it’s opening in 1909, the mill shut down completely, its waste treatment facilities and paper machines inundated. Company estimates say that $40 million in sales were lost during the time the mill could not operate.


The here and now

But all that is history. Blue Ridge turned a profit this past quarter. It has survived while competitors tanked, become lean, sought out and won new customers, and is in the best shape since the buyout in 1999.

“Taken together, all of this has presented us with choices we haven’t had in quite some time,” said Williams. “We’re in a growth mode.”

The huge Canton mill and its packaging plants are just small guys in the international paper industry. And there is always the danger that a company looking to expand is also needing to expand in order to survive.

Who knows if this optimistic cycle will last, but at least for now, Blue Ridge, its workforce and its executives can look at what they have gone through and take a little pride in their efforts.

“In the 15 years I’ve been with the company, we’ve died a thousand deaths,” said Williams. “But we remain standing. It’s kind of a case study in U.S. industry.”

(Scott McLeod can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)

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By the time we hit the streets with this edition and this column is read, the election that has been dominating the news will be behind us. Talking heads and columnists will be digesting and spinning the results, givingtheir take on what it all means. As of this writing, though, we don’t know who will win.

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Haywood County commissioners agreed on Monday (Nov. 20) to ask the General Assembly for an increase in the room tax and to distribute the extra money to tourism board subcommittees in each zip code.

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Some time this holiday weekend, my nephew Sterling will come for a visit at my mother’s house. He’s a high school senior, and he is still unsure of his college plans.

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op fr“Thank you sir, may I have another.”

The line by Kevin Bacon from the now-classic film “Animal House” kept popping into my head as I went down the list of what this year’s GOP-led General Assembly is doing to North Carolina. In the movie, Bacon is being hazed as part of a fraternity initiation, and every time he is hit with a paddle he asks for another painful blow. Here in the Tar Heel state, you think legislative leaders are done pushing the state toward the likes of Mississippi or South Carolina, and then something else almost ridiculous hits the news that they have passed or seriously considered passing.

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op frI’m not sure it represents a new philosophy or perhaps is just an acknowledgement of reality, but the decision by the state Department of Transportation to hold off on any further planning for the massive Southern Loop project in Jackson County was certainly welcome news.

It was September 2001 when the controversy over this proposed bypass erupted in Jackson County and made its first appearance in the pages of The Smoky Mountain News. Malcom MacNeil, the former owner of the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad, was circulating a petition from the very outset that garnered more than 500 signatures to get the state to back off the project.

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op frThe Lake Junaluska Assembly is marking its 100th anniversary this year, and a plethora of activities will take place at the Methodist conference center during the July 4 week. I’m not Methodist, but because of my job as a journalist in this region, I’ve seen first-hand the positive impact the Lake has had on Haywood County and the surrounding area. And I’m not talking about economics and tourism and dollars, though it has a positive impact in that area as well.

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op frThere’s just not much exciting about turning 14, but that’s what The Smoky Mountain News turned a couple of weeks ago. I can keep up with our age because of the volume number on the front of this edition and because I track it by my son’s birthday. He was just shy of a year old when we started, and this summer he’ll turn 15 and take driver’s ed. 

It’s a middling anniversary, not like 10 or 15, and it seems a long way yet to 20. Still, I sometimes pinch myself or throw cold water on my face and wonder if I’m dreaming. When we hatched the idea for this newspaper more than 14 years ago, and when the first edition of  The Smoky Mountain News rolled off the presses on June 5, 1999, I had no idea whether we would survive. Way back then, it was more a dream than a well-planned business venture.

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In the years I’ve been going to Swain County, David Monteith has emerged as a barometer of sorts. One may disagree with Monteith on a particular issue, but the independent-thinking county commissioner can almost always be counted on to vote with a conscience, a commitment to what he feels is right.

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