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Chattooga at the crossroads
A recurring debate between camps in the Chattooga River controversy is how many paddlers would actually come to the river.…
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The hype on hybrids
Editor’s note: Naturalist Don Hendershot is writing a series of columns exploring the use of alternative energy and fuels. …
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The hardest tree in North America
I wrote a tribute to the black locust tree some time back. It’s time to take another look. This time…
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Hiking club rolls out two new trail challenges
To celebrate its 90th anniversary, the Carolina Mountain Club Challenge committee has added two new hiking challenges this year to…
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Sign-up for behind-the-scenes look at the Smokies
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is beginning a new program that allows nearby residents, business people, teachers and community…
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Conservancy adds on to protected Roan Mountain lands
A 601-acre tract in Avery County near Roan Mountain has been purchased and conserved by the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy.…
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Arrrggghh – a wintry mix
Limeade, tequila and cointreau is not a wintry mix — that is a margarita; something you may resort to when…
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National A.T. gathering making the trek to Cullowhee this summer
A large Appalachian Trail gathering is coming to Western Carolina University this summer, and local trail clubs hosting the week-long…
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150 and counting: WCU grad student research helps get a handle on impacts of mounting numbers of elk
By Jill Ingram • Guest writer, WCU public affairs office Covering long distances in and around Cataloochee Valley, a Western…
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Kerouac still matters, though the perspective has shifted
Of all the Beat writers of the 1940s and 1950s — Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, John Clellon Holmes, Gary Snyder,…
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We need to keep track of all firearms
To the Editor: I miss Martin Luther King. His enlightened reason and fervent advocating for equal rights is sorely missed.…
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Timber harvest at Devil’s Courthouse a good idea
To the Editor: Nature abhors a vacuum. Mother Nature assures change. Organisms are constantly adapting, changing, improving, evolving. Understand-ing life…
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Last issue of SMN painted a vivid picture
To the Editor: How incredibly serendipitous that your newspaper of Jan. 23 should headline the flooding and landslides that occurred…
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More than ever, schools need forest service money
By Brent Martin • Guest Columnist When the 1911 Weeks Act was passed, allowing the federal government to purchase land…
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Upcoming improvement projects on I-40
Tunnel projects to delay work on I-40 The N.C. Department of Transportation will perform work on three tunnels in the…
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Medical foundation appoints new chairman
The Haywood Regional Medical Center Foundation Board of Trustees recently appointed Laura Leatherwood as the new chairman of the board.…
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Hope on the horizon: Hung up by park service, Swain’s cash settlement has been in limbo
A long overdue $4 million payment may finally make its way to Swain County after languishing for the past year…
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The biggest little show in Haywood
Editor’s Note: Given the national debate over gun legislation and controversy swirling around gun shows in particular, The Smoky Mountain…
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Wait for it…a tourism tagline coming soon for Jackson County
The newly formed Jackson County Tourism Development Authority is taking on the task of “branding,” an important first step for…
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Smokies landslide could deal crushing blow to tourism if road repairs drag on
A rain-induced landslide in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park left a gaping hole in U.S. 441, but its impact…
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Can the digital age save the Cherokee language? The halls of Facebook, Google and texting
Susan Gathers was kicked back in the student union one afternoon, her thumbs poised over her smart phone, simultaneously bantering…
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Haywood TDA introduces site tailored to lodging owners
The Haywood County Tourism Development Authority has launched a new website with information specifically for lodging owners.
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Audit finds vacation rentals dodging the lodging tax
A company hired by the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority has found a dozen businesses that have been evading a…
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County likely to take over reins of new Jackson economic commission
Although Jackson County’s Economic Development Commission has not met in several years, all its board members’ terms have expired and…
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Is Cashiers ABC store a sure bet? Sylva weighs whether to cast its lot with county’s new liquor store endeavors
As Jackson County officials craft plans to open a liquor store in Cashiers, possibly as soon this summer, they must…
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Lake Junaluska winnows options as merger window narrows
Lake Junaluskans got their first glimpse this weekend at what it would take for the community to become its own…
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Descendents rekindle Civil War tale of sheriff shot 150 years ago
The death of Haywood County Sheriff John Phillip Noland — a murder story set against the backdrop of the American Civil…
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Time to fish or cut bait in Canton swimming pool dilemma
The decrepit state of Canton’s aging outdoor swimming pool has left town leaders with two options — bulldoze it and build…
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Macon ponders raises and salary realignments for county workers
Proposed pay raises for county workers in Macon has prompted skepticism from at least two of the five county commissioners,…
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Macon leaders ponder new method for parceling up commissioner voting districts
Macon County commissioners are analyzing the geographic system of electing county leaders after two commissioners from outlying communities questioned whether…
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HCC craft student wins national award
Haywood Community College Professional Crafts Fiber student Rebecca Porche is the recipient of the Handweavers Guild of America’s Dendel Scholarship…
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HART makes big leaps in theater fundraising
Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville has raised $160,000 since last summer in a capital campaign to build a second…
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Fire & Ice gallery show opens
Onlooker John Highsmith takes a gander at “Blue Heron,” the latest metal sculpture from Grace Cathey at the “Fire &…
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Theater troupe brings Civil Rights to life for Jackson students
Theatrical productions of “Struggle for Freedom” and “George Washington Carver and Friends” will be put on for local school students…
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The art of stereotyping: Have Southerners gotten a fair shake from pop culture?
Times may change, but stereotypes tend to linger. Venturing into the off-color humor and often offensive images of Southern culture…
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Northern siskins ‘irrupting’ right now at my feeder
“The opportunistic nature of the species and its partial indifference to constraints of time and space make it an intriguing…
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Big investment made in local bio-fuels
A consortium of Western North Carolina public agencies and private organizations will receive a grant of $766,000 from the N.C.…
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Working farmland protection plan being crafted in Swain
Swain County farmers, landowners, and other interested individuals are invited to share their thoughts and idea on a new farmland…
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I feel the earth move…
It may not have shaken the Richter scale like the stampede of Republican lawmakers and their realtor and developer lobbyists…
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Weather or not: Local Yokel Weather fine tunes forecasts for your neck of the woods
Have you ever been told by the evening news to expect three inches of snow overnight, but after stocking up…
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Historian presents a factual story of Cleopatra
“Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.” — Cicero, 106 B.C. Stacy…
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A different perspective on guns and government
To the Editor: As someone who has lived in four different countries and traveled to several others over the last…
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Shame on Jack Debnam and Jackson’s citizens
To the Editor: Friends, they’ve out-waited us. And, motivated by the smell of money, they appear to have outlasted us…
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Some want to lead by using fear
To the Editor: Don’t let anyone tell you there’s no conspiracy or that conspirators are not busily at work here…
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‘Gun Free Zones’ are danger zones
To the Editor: Legislation has created a zone where the only people protected by a “gun free zone” are the…
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U.S. Postal Service should be left intact
To the Editor: We have just been through a holiday season during which the U.S. Postal Service and its workers…
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State GOP leaders’ tax plan would benefit wealthy
By Martin Dyckman • Guest Columnist A 1996 New Yorker cartoon — poking fun at Steve Forbes’s presidential campaign plank…
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Muddy waters: WNC feels the blues following unrelenting rainstorms
A four-day stretch of heavy rains fell on Western North Carolina, leaving residents wondering if it would ever end. Some…
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Farewell, Mayor Phyllis Waynesville’s longtime town clerk retires
The longest-serving town clerk in Waynesville’s written history will retire next week, taking with her a vast store of institutional…
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Contenders line up to be next Haywood Sheriff
Three men, all with impressive law enforcement backgrounds, are vying to be Haywood County’s next sheriff. The current Sheriff, Bobby…
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