Downtown Sylva Association members have voted unanimously to hire an executive director, setting the organization up to more actively advocate for the downtown community.

The following testimony was provided by Rhonda Bedsaul, 47, of Swain County. A similar account was provided by Bedsaul’s husband, Ron, 42. Both affidavits have been turned over to the state election board for further investigation.

By Stephanie Wampler

I begin this article with a momentous announcement. This announcement will, I think, bring a general feeling of gladness to the community. (Drum roll ...) Everyone, I want to tell you that I recently found my inner goddess.

Sometimes, change is for the good.

By Michael Beadle

Sutton Bacon once had dreams of becoming a surgeon.

Canary Coalition, a regional air quality advocacy group based in Sylva, recently reached the 1,000 mark in members, showing a growth of 25 percent in 2006.

By Michael Beadle

For the longest time, forest fires were viewed as hazardous events to avoid at all costs.

Remember Smokey the Bear pointing his finger like Uncle Sam, telling folks to do all they could to prevent forest fires?

By Michael Beadle

A goddess rises through ribbons of translucent alabaster. A pair of doves flutters from bronzed hands. An old, wizen-faced Native American man bandages the head of a wounded pioneer.

Sarah Kucharski • Staff writer

A new prescription drug discount card soon will be available to Macon County residents.

By Chris Cooper

Swing can take many forms. It can bop and bounce like Calloway and Ellington, or it can sprout a 10-gallon hat and spurs in the hands of Bob Wills and his Playboys. It’s been reborn time and again whenever a younger generation looks to the past for something new and inspiring to embrace. After all, “it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.”

By Chris Cooper

Morning Missed: Broken Cords Of Rotten Wood

The Grey Eagle

Over the last four years I have had the great opportunity to work with David Holt in his band, the Lightning Bolts.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Franklin town officials have turned down a request made by the owners of the Wal-Mart plaza in Franklin to help encourage expansion in the store’s current location along the U.S. 441 bypass rather than move forward with company plans to build a new Supercenter.

The Haywood County Board of Commissioners have appointed two new members to the Tourism Development Authority board: Deborah Reed, a leader of the Canton merchant’s association FOCUS, and Art O’Neil, owner of Sunset Inn, Sunset Bakery and Sunset Café at Lake Junaluska, and Sunset on Main restaurant in downtown Waynesville.

Western Carolina University is now the proud owner of the strip of commercial property known locally as the downtown Cullowhee business district.

Few rivers have been the focus of as much controversy over the last century as the Pigeon, a fact that makes it worthwhile to also celebrate the victories as the controversy fades away and a whole new era emerges. A major milestone in those efforts — the lifting of the last advisory against eating fish caught downstream of the paper mill in Canton — occurred earlier this month, one that is among the best pieces of news in the river’s recent history.

Drivers with Appalachian Trail license plates raised $55,000 last year to support the Appalachian Trail Conservancy in North Carolina.

By Michael Beadle

If you’re a mountain biker looking for a challenging course that’s as cold as it is fun, check out the Icycle Mountain Bike Event at Fontana Village this weekend.

By Anna Fariello • Guest Writer

William Rogers has been a professional metalsmith for more than 25 years, but nothing could have prepared him for the work he is doing at the Jackson County Green Energy Park.

By Michael Beadle

Glass dazzles. It bears no secrets.

It illuminates the world around itself.

Expectations are tricky things. You can crack open a CD with basically one of two mindsets: “This is going to be good,” or “Ugh. I need a drink.”

Honeymoon Edition

So my husband and I celebrated our three-month anniversary by finally going on our honeymoon this January. We headed west for a short stay in Las Vegas and then hit the coast of California.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is placing a $650 million bet that visitors to Harrah’s casino and hotel are looking for amenities akin to those that are becoming standard across the gaming industry.

In a suite on the 16th floor of Harrah’s Cherokee hotel and casino, Cherokee leaders happily milled about as an architectural animation of expansion plans played repeatedly on a flat-screen TV.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Jackson County commissioners have taken the first step toward temporarily stopping new subdivision development, calling for a Feb. 27 public hearing on a six-month moratorium.

Jackson County took the first step this week to ban new subdivisions until it can write an ordinance to control the proliferation of new developments within its borders. By doing so, its county commissioners proved they have a mettle that is too often lost on elected officials who worry too much about re-election and too little about their constituents.

Micah McClure, a graphic designer in Waynesville, faced a daunting task when asked to redesign the Friends of the Smokies license plate in a way that would capture the essence of America’s most visited national park.

By Kathleen Lamont

In the late 1970’s, Dr. Robert Atkins had a clinic in Santa Monica, Calif., where people went to experience the Atkins Diet first hand for weeks at a time. A friend of mine, a nutritionist on staff, mentioned once that certain processed foods were referred to as “white death.” Certain processed foods being sugar, powdered coffee creamer, artificial sweeteners, and Cool Whip to name a few.

Canton native Marty Stamey has been named the new director of Haywood County’s Emergency Medical Services program.

Gambling at the Harrah’s casino in Cherokee is wildly successful. That success — and the state’s own actions — makes Gov. Mike Easley’s resistance to the use of live dealers slightly ridiculous and enormously hypocritical.

By Doug Wingier • Guest Columnist

We American consumers are richer than most in the world, and as voters more powerful. Yet as one wave of technological change after another washes over us, we tend to accept each as inevitable and out of control, and feel helpless to prevent the coming catastrophe presaged by Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.”

By Carl Iobst

Gee, what’ll they think of next. In Olympia, the capital of Washington state, there’s a state representative that’s proposing that dogs be allowed to drink in bars. Well not exactly drink, although I’m sure that some dog owners might pour a cool one in one of those collapsible doggy bowls for their thirsty purebreds now and then.

By Michael Beadle

The cost of college can get pretty expensive, especially when it comes to paying the monthly electric bill.

George Ivey, a well-known leader in conservation efforts in Haywood County, received the Pigeon River Award for 2006 from Haywood Waterways Association.

American Whitewater has withdrawn its lawsuit challenging a paddling ban on the upper Chattooga River outside Cashiers.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Downtown Sylva will host a non-partisan stand for peace on Saturday, Feb. 17, with 12 hours of non-stop music.

By Chris Cooper

When Norah Jones swept the 2003 Grammies, it was more than just a victory for a new artist — many (including myself) felt it was a statement in support of truly dedicated songwriters and musicians everywhere. It hinted toward the possibility that it was all right to be good again, and that the sea of technologically and cosmetically enhanced “pop” stars might not be as deep as we feared.

“The Painted Veil”

Kitty (Naomi Watts), a bored London socialite, marries Walter Fane (Edward Norton), a doctor and student of infectious diseases who is returning to his work in China.

Jackson County commissioners have called for a public hearing on a proposed moratorium on new subdivision development while the planning board authors a subdivision ordinance. Commissioners want the ordinance to address concerns such as steep slope development and minimum standards. Here are 20 questions and answers about what is, what is not, and what’s undecided.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

A group of about 20 angry Realtors and developers showed up uninvited at a special media briefing Thursday to have another crack at Jackson County officials and further express their dissatisfaction with commissioners’ moves toward enacting a moratorium on subdivision development.

The Commission for a Clean County has announced the first place and honorable mention winners of its 2006 Haywood County Community Pride annual awards program.

By Michael Beadle

He’s been a Beast. An alien bounty hunter. A Rum Tum Tugger and Inspector Javert.

And now two-time Tony Award-winning actor Terrence Mann is bringing his Broadway, film and TV talents to Western Carolina University as director of “The Music Man.” The musical, which runs Feb. 22-25 at the university’s Fine and Performing Arts Center, is Mann’s directorial debut at Western Carolina.

By Chris Cooper

To say that Mountain Heart isn’t exactly your “average” bluegrass band is more than a slight understatement. In fact, somewhere around the middle of Wide Open’s first track, “Traveler’s Prayer,” the band breaks it down with a stack of chords and a rhythmic flair that’s anything but typical for bluegrass. And that’s just the start of it.

I spend a considerable amount of time being disappointed by music. It’s sad, because I also happen to love music, and have for as long as I can recall. But when the Grammys were just around the corner, and I took a quick glimpse at some of the nominees, it just seemed a little depressing.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

The owner of Ghost Town in the Sky and the North Carolina Department of Labor have signed a unique agreement that aims to ensure that the historic Maggie Valley amusement park opens on time.

Downtown Sylva is a special place. The events of the last couple of months only reinforce that fact, and so the momentum to create a better, closer and more unified business community should continue.

By David Redman • Guest Columnist

There is absolutely no doubt about the economic impact the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and its Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Hotel operation have in Western North Carolina.Over the past 10 years the facility has furnished our previously economically depressed area with not just hundreds, but thousands of quality jobs. And guess what? All without incentives from the State of North Carolina.

Landmark Learning, a Cullowhee-based wilderness training center for the outdoor industry, has forged a new partnership with the National Outdoor Leadership School’s Wilderness Medicine Institute.

Franklin’s downtown outdoor gear store just got bigger.

June kicks off the first of a three-part event at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, near Bryson City, called the Canoe Club Challenge.