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Qualla’s art goes worldwide
 

Qualla’s art goes worldwide

Known for its legendary craftsmanship, Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, Inc. just launched its new website, www.quallaartsandcrafts.org. For the first…
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Outfitters brace for early end to season
 

Outfitters brace for early end to season

By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer Whitewater releases from the Nantahala Lake dam will be suspended in October, forcing rafting…
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Letting nature point the way
 

Letting nature point the way

Horace Kephart is best known for Our Southern Highlanders (first published in 1913, with an expanded edition in 1922) and…
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Junaluska Assembly’s long-time musical maestro calls it a career with Aug. 8 performance
 

Junaluska Assembly’s long-time musical maestro calls it a career with Aug. 8 performance

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer The year was 1954. An up-and-coming singer named Elvis Presley was beginning his musical…
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The Naturalist's Corner
 

The Naturalist's Corner

You say to-mah-to, I say to-ma-to At least Avram and I are talking. Want to join us? If we could…
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State budget cuts target after school program for teens
 

State budget cuts target after school program for teens

Proposed cuts to the state budget have threatened after school care for middle school students, with programs in Canton, Franklin,…
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Haywood celebrates completion of historic courthouse renovations
 

Haywood celebrates completion of historic courthouse renovations

Haywood County leaders held a ribbon cutting ceremony Monday on the steps of the newly renovated historic courthouse. The $8.2…
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Macon hires point man in new push for economic development
 

Macon hires point man in new push for economic development

Macon County has hired a full-time economic development coordinator, finally joining the ranks of most counties who employ paid directors…
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Recipes, 7/29/09
 

Recipes, 7/29/09

Zach’s Barbecue Pork: Zach takes a Boston Butt pork shoulder — the cheaper cut of meat the better. He marinates…
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Conversation – what conversation?
 

Conversation – what conversation?

Regular readers of this column probably already know that I’ve run afoul of many regional environmental groups by questioning the…
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Cookouts, lightning bugs, and the relatives
 

Cookouts, lightning bugs, and the relatives

By Karen Dill • Guest Writer July brings warm and often muggy weather to the usually cool mountain glens. It…
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Barker visits WNC in campaign to help bears
 

Barker visits WNC in campaign to help bears

Members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians didn’t have to duke it out with other contestants or so much…
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Local authors proud of fishing trail map
 

Local authors proud of fishing trail map

Ask any fisherman what their favorite stretch of stream is and you may as well be asking for directions to…
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Fundraising ramps up for Waynesville skate park
 

Fundraising ramps up for Waynesville skate park

By Andre A. Rodriguez • Special to the Smoky Mountain News It’s been at least a dozen years since Waynesville’s…
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A few moments – and 10 days – to celebrate cultural understanding
 

A few moments – and 10 days – to celebrate cultural understanding

The end of this year’s Folkmoot USA, some of the acquaintances I made during the festival, and my own ongoing…
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Macon mulls workforce challenges
 

Macon mulls workforce challenges

While it doesn’t seem like much of a news flash, it has emerged as one of the top concerns in…
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WNC Fly Fishing Trail lures new anglers to Jackson streams
 

WNC Fly Fishing Trail lures new anglers to Jackson streams

Alex Bell can’t resist striking up a conversation with fellow fishermen he encounters on the Tuckasegee. But lately, he’s had…
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Clean energy future may be blowing in the wind
 

Clean energy future may be blowing in the wind

Will wind-generated power save the environment or sacrifice it? The answer depends on who you ask and it could have…
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Tunnel greenhouses fend off winter’s grip
 

Tunnel greenhouses fend off winter’s grip

A workshop on how to build a simple greenhouse will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 30, as part…
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Toole explores boxing from inside the ring
 

Toole explores boxing from inside the ring

Pound for Pound by F.X. Toole. HarperCollins, 2007. 416 pages. Million Dollar Baby by F.X. Toole. Harper Perennial 2005. 256…
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Thoroughly modern millipedes
 

Thoroughly modern millipedes

By Jim Janke Every summer one or two people bring samples of ugly little insects into the plant clinic and…
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Investor in Jonathan Creek project claims he was wronged
 

Investor in Jonathan Creek project claims he was wronged

A Tennessee man claims he was defrauded of $328,000 by the players behind Cataloochee Wilderness Resorts, a planned mega development…
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Townhomes one of few additions to Sylva housing in a decade
 

Townhomes one of few additions to Sylva housing in a decade

When Art Pohl moved to Jackson County from Florida 10 years ago, he imagined a golden retirement filled with lazy…
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A fine flower to start with
 

A fine flower to start with

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received in regard to learning wildflowers was to “concentrate on one…
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Graham proposes takeover of Swain land
 

Graham proposes takeover of Swain land

Swain and Graham counties are at odds over who should provide rescue service to the isolated Deals Gap territory, a…
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Hard-to-get taxonomists could make or break ATBI’s future
 

Hard-to-get taxonomists could make or break ATBI’s future

As the inventory of every living species in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park trudges into its tenth year, it…
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Wildflowers peaking right now
 

Wildflowers peaking right now

Interesting wildflowers appear throughout Western North Carolina from late February into early November. Most wildflower identification and observation takes place…
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Region to get assisted living campus
 

Region to get assisted living campus

A groundbreaking was held last Thursday (July 16) at the site of a new assisted living complex being built in…
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Europe’s unrest lead to creation of Wellco
 

Europe’s unrest lead to creation of Wellco

When Heinz Rollman left behind the unrest of Europe and struck out for America in 1939, the fate of his…
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Ghost Town still honing bankruptcy comeback plan
 

Ghost Town still honing bankruptcy comeback plan

Ghost Town in the Sky wants more time to prepare its bankruptcy reorganization plan and is seeking an extension. The…
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Hard work takes place off Folkmoot stages
 

Hard work takes place off Folkmoot stages

By Andre A. Rodriguez Each morning of the Folkmoot festival, the members of Shalom Israel Ashdod spend at least one…
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New Swain jail fails to rake in overflow inmates
 

New Swain jail fails to rake in overflow inmates

When Swain County opened a new $10 million jail last fall with 109 beds — four times bigger than necessary…
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Veterans touch down in Washington for memorial visit
 

Veterans touch down in Washington for memorial visit

Two groups of Jackson County’s World War II veterans visited Washington, D.C.’s war memorial this year thanks to a project…
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Cataloochee Resort developer says retail component viable
 

Cataloochee Resort developer says retail component viable

Jimmy and Keith Leatherwood were always glad to see the developers of Cataloochee Wilderness Resorts walk in to their local…
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Waynesville’s South Main presents a vexing problem
 

Waynesville’s South Main presents a vexing problem

Sounds like Waynesville’s leaders heard just what they expected last week regarding South Main Street — many people feel many…
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Empty jail beds fuel feud between Swain sheriff, county
 

Empty jail beds fuel feud between Swain sheriff, county

The new Swain jail costs the county $610,000 a year more than the old jail: $450,000 in debt payments and…
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Life in the richest place on earth
 

Life in the richest place on earth

When Jim Lowe strikes out on his twice-monthly foray to check insect traps in the Smokies, he never knows just…
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Don West’s affinity for Appalachia
 

Don West’s affinity for Appalachia

A Hard Journey by James J. Lorence. University of Illinois Press, 2009. 344 pages. Once on a warm, summer afternoon…
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Loss of Hazelwood manufacturer marks the end of an era
 

Loss of Hazelwood manufacturer marks the end of an era

When Mary Ann Enloe was growing up in the blue-collar hub of Hazelwood, she didn’t know anyone with an alarm…
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HVO to purchase Wellco site
 

HVO to purchase Wellco site

Although Wellco shoe plant in Waynesville is closing, the community will be spared the blight of another vacant industrial site.…
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Heliker & Lahotan Foundation’s WNC connection keeps the creative vision alive
 

Heliker & Lahotan Foundation’s WNC connection keeps the creative vision alive

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer Gaily colored petals of long-stemmed Cosmos flowers lilt along on the sea-swept winds that…
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Folkmoot experience shared across generations of performers
 

Folkmoot experience shared across generations of performers

By Andre A. Rodriguez Twenty-five years after their father represented the Netherlands at the first Folkmoot festival, a second generation…
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Volunteers keep the Smokies ticking
 

Volunteers keep the Smokies ticking

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park boasts more volunteers than nearly any other park. Last year, 2,780 volunteers logged a…
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The Naturalist's Corner
 

The Naturalist's Corner

Up in the air Western North Carolina senators Joe Sam Queen, Martin Nesbitt and John Snow might be wishing they…
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Can Duke supporters sleep at night?
 

Can Duke supporters sleep at night?

By Carl Iobst • Guest Columnist Over the past few weeks several individuals and one media outlet have provided Jackson…
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Change of signage overdue, according to brand’s owner
 

Change of signage overdue, according to brand’s owner

A regular guest at the Dillsboro Holiday Inn Express upset by phone and Internet outages at the hotel discovered it…
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NC residents state concerns at hearing on Rabun sewage permit
 

NC residents state concerns at hearing on Rabun sewage permit

Macon County residents fearful that a proposed sewage treatment plant in Georgia will harm the Little Tennessee River turned out…
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‘Skeleton’ of a plan
 

‘Skeleton’ of a plan

Derek Roland’s presentation about the effort to create a comprehensive planning document for Macon County suggested that a progressive document…
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Jackson Paper proud of its successes
 

Jackson Paper proud of its successes

By Tim Campbell • Guest Columnist Jackson Paper Manufacturing Company has been a proud part of Sylva and Jackson County…
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Macon to create broad plan — again
 

Macon to create broad plan — again

At a forum on Macon County’s move to begin working on a comprehensive plan to address future growth, the presenter…
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