As fall visitors flocked to Western North Carolina in mid-October, Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center welcomed a distinguished visitor — former First Lady Laura Bush and a group of her childhood friends.

The future site of Shining Rock Classical Academy at 1023 Dellwood Road isn’t in the town limits of Waynesville, but that hasn’t stopped the Lake Junaluska Assembly from asking town aldermen to annex the parcel so it can receive municipal services.

Shining Rock Classical Academy leaders were hoping students would start classes this year at a new campus on Dellwood Road, but a delay in getting the modular classrooms installed forced them to change the plan. 

For Tony Campolo, spending last week amid a gathering of senior citizens from across the Southeast was just about the most exciting thing imaginable. And that’s even taking into account that he views “exciting” as an overused word that’s best avoided.

Evening is suspended over Lake Junaluska as doors open for the 8 p.m. Taizé service, its coming fall foretold by the soft-sided clouds gathered over the sinking sun.

The resignation of Lake Junaluska Singers Director Dr. Melodie Galloway comes after one member of the well-known choral group made several written allegations to Junaluska officials after his termination from the group on June 25.

Waterfowl have been scarce across Western North Carolina this fall and winter. Traditional haunts like Lake Julian in Asheville, Lake James near Marion and our own waterfowl magnet Lake Junaluska have been mostly vacant this season. Even coot numbers are really low this year.

Leaders of Lake Junaluska and the town of Waynesville are weighing whether to try once again to push a merger bill through the General Assembly next year, or whether they are better off staying outside the political arena for a while.

The entire staff was called into the Shining Rock Classical Academy’s board meeting Monday afternoon to hear the news — the charter school has finally secured a location for the next five years.

Any day now. 

That’s what Robbie Inman has been telling himself for weeks as he cruises Raleigh news sites, trying to cipher out when an end to the budget logjam in the General Assembly would end.