New neighbors: Change is moving into Jackson County’s Tuckasegee community
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer About half way between Sylva and Cashiers on N.C. 107, between Jackson County’s Caney…
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Loan obtained for Waynesville fire station
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., has helped Waynesville obtain a loan of $2 million to construct its new fire station.
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Ghost Town comes to life
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Once more, for the last time — Ghost Town has sold. The announcement came…
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Community appeals to Jackson commissioners
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Members of a grassroots citizens group rallying against a proposal to build a rock…
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Blue Ridge shows profit
By Michael Beadle Profits are up for Blue Ridge Paper Products nearly two years after devastating floods washed through the…
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Documentary to look at past century of Canton’s history
Canton’s 100th Labor Day Celebration will feature three showings of a 30-minute documentary about the town’s history at 7:30 p.m.…
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Sylva mulls over creating ETJ
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Residents from Jackson County’s Allen’s Branch community said they didn’t know exactly what Sylva…
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Maggie Valley Country Club’s transformation moves along
As part of its transformation to an upscale club and resort, the new Maggie Valley Club is in the midst…
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Keeping downtown alive: Revitalization organizations debate how to best improve downtown communities, as Sylva refocuses following a major spending cut
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer With a quick trip on Main Street in downtown Sylva, it’s easy enough to…
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Haywood Extension receives Pigeon River Fund grant
The Haywood County center of the NC Cooperative Extension Service has received a $15,000 grant from the Pigeon River Fund.…
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Appearance commission holds its own
“You can do better.” That was the message last week from Waynesville town leaders to developers of a Super Wal-Mart,…
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Pathways gives awards to mark signing of ADA
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Pathways for the Future Center for Independent Living and the Jackson County Department on…
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Neighbors surprised by Dayco development
Brenda Fowler’s customers usually keep her posted of the latest news and gossip when they stop in at her produce…
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Champion and Blue Ridge Paper timeline
1893 — The town of Pigeon River is reincorporated by the N.C. General Assembly as Canton, N.C.
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Franklin OK’s alcohol sales
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer The Franklin Board of Elections went to work Tuesday morning (Aug. 1) to certify…
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Election official concerned about voters being unduly influenced
The Swain County Board of Commissioners heard concerns from a county election board member last week over the adequacy of…
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Canton celebrates 100 years as a town that works
Labor Day festivities start early this year in Canton. In commemoration of its 100th Labor Day celebration — believed to…
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The birth of a Haywood County institution: Negotiations for the Champion Fibre Mill and Peter G. Thomson’s Labor Day Legacy
By Patrick Willis • Guest Writer Just more than 100 years ago, Canton welcomed a man from Ohio who would…
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150 show up to oppose Tuckasegee quarry
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Opposition to a proposed rock quarry near the intersection of N.C. 107 and N.C.…
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Cooper wraps up first year as Folkmoot director
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer The 2006 Folkmoot USA international dance festival marks an important first for new executive…
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Tuckasegee residents join forces against proposed quarry
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer A group of Jackson County residents has banded together in protest of a proposed…
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Sylva proposal includes performance area, market space
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer In an effort to heal wounded relationships in the downtown Sylva community, local residents…
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EDC director confident project is of ‘high quality’
A proposed big box development featuring a Home Depot and Super Wal-Mart as anchor stores would bring a $45 million…
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FERC ruling favors Duke’s proposals
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s final decision on Duke Power’s relicensing applications for its…
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Franklin voters cast ballots for on-premise alcohol sales
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Franklin voters cast their ballots Tuesday on a referendum on whether to allow malt…
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How to get a ‘better-than-average’ Wal-Mart
Cedarwood Development is no stranger to big box developments like the one the company is proposing in Waynesville. The company…
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Land-use plan on the rocks: Big box stores angle for immunity
Developers of a proposed big box complex in Waynesville are seeking several exemptions from the town’s land-use plan. Waynesville has…
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Gala Preview has a new home
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Folkmoot USA’s Gala Preview will celebrate its first year in its new home at…
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Catching the Folkmoot Bug: 2006 host band, performers dissolve cultural barriers with song
Ted White, a bass player with Whitewater Bluegrass Company, was warming up backstage at a Folkmoot performance last year when…
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Statement from the Concerned Citizens for Responsible Development made at the Swain County commissioners meetings on Tuesday, July 11
The concern of our group is that Swain County appears to have no control of development to inside and outside…
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Trash statistics skewed by second-home residents
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Macon County’s trash is a growing problem, says Chris Stahl, director of the Macon…
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Research probes tourists’ interests, spending patterns
Men between the ages of 45 and 65 who visit the 25-county Blue Ridge National Heritage Area are most interested…
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Growth worries prompt Swain to create planning board
Swain County commissioners informally agreed to consider mountainside development regulations at a meeting last Tuesday (July 11) during what amounted…
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Franklin’s new urban neighborhood plan complete
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Preliminary master plans and architectural designs for Franklin’s new mixed-use, smart growth style development…
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Dayco developers want rules relaxed
Developers of a strip shopping complex at the site of the old Dayco factory in Waynesville are asking for several…
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Locals plead Duke case to congressmen
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer As the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hones its final recommendations for the mitigation Duke…
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Franklin residents to help design new neighborhood
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Macon County residents have the opportunity to help design the first New Urbanist traditional…
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Duke says project does not extend to tribal land
Duke Power discounted accusations last week that a portion of the hydropower operation on the Oconaluftee River extends onto tribal…
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Probe into unusual school spending account dropped
A former Haywood County school employee and Haywood Builder’s Supply have been cleared of wrongdoing in connection with an off-the-books…
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Work of hired consultant causes confusion among lodging community
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Late last month Macon County consultant Gary Nicholson sent out 351 letters to local…
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Willing participation key to Greens Creek cleanup
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Fifty years ago, Jackson County’s Greens Creek was used as a dumping ground —…
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Waynesville ‘blew them all out of the water’
Preliminary results of a zip code market analysis being conducted in Waynesville shows signs of a strong and healthy retail…
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Subject to tax, where applicable
Every few weeks, Scotty Ellis cruises the newspaper classifieds, scans Web sites and scrounges brochures from kiosks at visitor centers…
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Baby steps toward green power
Talitha and Louis Mes erected a 100-foot tall wind tower on a ridge above Crabtree last week to generate environmentally-friendly…
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DSA rallies support to oppose funding cut
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Sylva town board members should expect a heated public comment session at their upcoming…
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Duke could owe tribe Oconaluftee dam profits
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is questioning whether Duke Power concealed the boundary of its hydropower operation on the Oconaluftee…
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Green power: no longer a pipe dream
By Michael Beadle At first it sounds too good to be true. Imagine being able to pipe methane gas from…
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Macon free dental clinic eyes expansion
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Macon County’s Molar Roller is on the move in a forward direction. The mobile…
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Reece’s larger-than-life presence will be missed, say friends
Wade Reece, a well-known figure in Maggie Valley civic life and the tourism industry, passed away last week, leaving a…
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