When Katelynn Ledford McCoy stood in front of her Cherokee High School classmates in June 2009, the class valedictorian was so high that, later, she wouldn’t be able to recall a word she said in that long-awaited speech.

Bill Taylor, a former chairman and member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Tribal Council, pleaded guilty Monday, Jan. 9, in a case stemming from an Oct. 6 domestic dispute at his home in Cherokee.

No matter how it all shakes out in the end, Nov. 3, 2022 will be looked upon as a historic day in Western North Carolina as regional leaders took the first few tenuous steps towards creating an enduring partnership to combat the opioid epidemic.

I did hard things last weekend.I put myself in an unfamiliar and uncomfortable situation with no idea of what to expect or how I’d fare so far outside my comfort zone. 

Haywood County will administer state funds to establish an Adult Accountability and Recovery Court meant to help people experiencing substance use disorder get on the right track — and stay there. 

Remember the game of bloody knuckles? You pretended to strike your friend with your fist and if they reacted with a nervous movement you shouted, “you flinched!” and then you got to punch them on the arm as their punishment? Ahh, good times! This instinctive reaction reveals a little more when we look at it under the energetic microscope and apply it to how we can change our conditioned responses to situations that bring us pain. 

A new nonprofit expanding its services into Haywood County is challenging the status quo when it comes to overcoming addiction. 

It’s been nearly seven years since Haywood Pathways Center served up its first meals to the needy, after the then-prison was famously “flipped” by television renovation star Ty Pennington  into its current incarnation as a faith-based residential recovery center. Yet, the need still remains. 

Millions in opioid settlement money is coming to the state, to most counties and even to some municipalities.

By Melanie Threlkeld McConnell • Guest writer | Two Western Carolina University professors with interests in jail populations and addiction issues collaborated with one regional county government to better understand the recovery needs of its jail inmates with substance use disorder.