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Bryson City conserves 750 acres bordering Smokies
The town of Bryson City finalized a conservation easement this month that will protect a 750-acre tract known as Lands…
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Feds may reinstate roadless areas in Carolinas, Virginia
A ban on logging and road building in roadless areas of the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests is on track…
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Can you say inevitable?
I recently saw some previews for the documentary “Grizzly Man.” You may remember the story. Back in 2003, after 13…
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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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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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In need of help
Steve Salerno’s SHAM: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless (ISBN 1-40005409-5, $24.95) is not only an attack on the…
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Recommended diversions
“Metropolitan” Writer-director Whit Stillman had a surprise hit with this comedy about a middle-class young man and his encounters with…
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Big sounds in this intelligent, intentionally bumpy ride
By Chris Cooper A rather popular band was recently branded with the criticism of being “a small band trying to…
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A high class affair: HART set to open summer blockbuster ‘My Fair Lady’
By Michael Beadle As a Broadway hit, “My Fair Lady” made Julie Andrews a star. As a film, it made…
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Careful of the jimson weed
“Jimson Weed is featured in a set of mystic books recently popular, Carlos Castaneda’s tales of mind expansion with the…
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Media freedom could easily slip away
When Federal Communications Commission officials came to Asheville last week to discuss media ownership regulations, they got an earful from…
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N.C. counties have gotten more democratic
By Lee Shelton After the primary election results were in, I offered a commentary on county government and the implications…
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EPA sued for failing to protect citizens from other states’ pollution
The North Carolina Sierra Club and Southern Environmental Law Center have filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency for…
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Avian nomads
I have just finished by bird point survey for the Forest Service, which takes me to Mt. Mitchell and Roan…
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The race is on
By Michael Beadle You’ll have to excuse Greg Duff if he greets you out of breath. If he’s not in…
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Velvet Leaf Blueberry marks 5,000 species new to Smokies
The All Taxa Biological Inventory hit the 5,000 species milestone this summer in an ongoing effort to document every species…
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A Walk In The Wild: Encounters of the wildlife kind
By Ed Kelley If you spend much time in the outdoors, you will eventually have an encounter with wildlife. I…
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Someone who understands me
In every town I’ve ever lived in — and I have lived in several — I have made a Sports…
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Indian hemp for the long haul
For me, those plants found here in the Smokies region that have verified practical human uses are, in the long…
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Sylva town board cuts DSA funding
By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Sylva town board members’ minds are unchanged about cutting the Downtown Sylva Association’s funding…
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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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NC GreenPower is inexpensive way to take a small step
When Louis and Talitha Mes put up a 100-foot windmill two weeks ago in the Crabtree community of Haywood County…
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Park expands Junior Ranger program
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is inviting kids and their families to participate in a selection of summer programs…
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Chaos is upon us!
Remember the chaos theory — how the flapping of a single butterfly’s wings could produce unknown and unpredictable atmospheric change?…
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Rebel Records roundup
Rebel records, the venerable bluegrass-only imprint that’s as much a home to royalty like Ralph Stanley as it is young…
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Art partnership: Swain County couple Dee Dee and Robert Triplett share a love for creating and sharing one-of-a-kind art pieces
By Michael Beadle Dee Dee Triplett is a woman of the cloth. Her husband, Robert, is a man of strong…
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Recommended diversions
Instant Sociology Ever had one of those days where nobody, I mean nobody, made much sense? Baffling behaviors everywhere? Here’s…
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An open eye
Let’s imagine for a moment that it is Election Day in some unspecified city, and the proper government officials have…
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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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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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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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Mountain Metal Fest raises a joyous noise
By Chris Cooper Hold one of your hands up, left or right, whichever you prefer. With your palm facing outward,…
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Recommended diversions
We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, Bruce Springsteen When my brother-in-law sent me this CD, I couldn’t wait to get…
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Chick check
The word “ubiquitous” is an apt adjective for Chick comics. They show up in motel rooms, garages, pool halls, laundromats,…
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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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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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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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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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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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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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