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Long-held dream becomes reality
 

Long-held dream becomes reality

It’s a project that’s been years in the making, and on Saturday the scores of Jackson County residents who gathered…
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The many rewards of home improvement
 

The many rewards of home improvement

Lately, the days whiz by faster than usual. Now that we have finally decided to put our house up for…
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The Naturalist's Corner
 

The Naturalist's Corner

Crepuscular by nature The sun knows the secret. Beginning and end Are the beautiful times. The soft warm And sensual…
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Ghost Town withdraws loan request
 

Ghost Town withdraws loan request

By Becky Johnson & Julia Merchant A surprising turn of events caused the Maggie Valley town board to call off…
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Haywood considers cutting jobs, raising taxes
 

Haywood considers cutting jobs, raising taxes

Tight times in Haywood County have forced commissioners to consider significant job cuts and a tax increase in an attempt…
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Event kicks off initiative linking artists with nonprofits
 

Event kicks off initiative linking artists with nonprofits

By Julia Merchant • Staff Writer Haywood County jeweler Diannah Beauregard believes that art can change the world. With that…
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Macon, Rabun leaders eye future of water
 

Macon, Rabun leaders eye future of water

Would a water-starved Atlanta ever come after the Little Tennessee River? While it may be a long shot, the prospect…
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Project will restore courthouse’s grandeur
 

Project will restore courthouse’s grandeur

While the feeling of stately grandeur evoked by Jackson’s historic courthouse has remained over the years, many of the original…
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Under siege: Saving the sequoias of the East
 

Under siege: Saving the sequoias of the East

Jesse Webster consulted his GPS and eyed the tangle of rhododendrons stretching out of sight up the mountainside. Somewhere beyond…
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Swain jail escapees returned to NC
 

Swain jail escapees returned to NC

A murder suspect and the guard who allegedly helped him escape from the Swain County jail have been returned to…
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Cutbacks could be less severe in Swain budget
 

Cutbacks could be less severe in Swain budget

Though the Swain County government hasn’t escaped the recession completely, the blow dealt by the economy has been softer there…
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The new frugality is an old idea
 

The new frugality is an old idea

There’s talk all over about America’s newfound love affair with frugality. What Time magazine has dubbed the Great Recession is…
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Remembering Popcorn
 

Remembering Popcorn

To tell you the truth, when I read that some woman claiming to be Popcorn Sutton’s daughter was publishing a…
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A two-horse town
 

A two-horse town

A rift that splintered the town’s longtime farmers market in downtown Waynesville into two opposing groups of vendors continues to…
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Smokies relies on outside support to maintain what makes it special
 

Smokies relies on outside support to maintain what makes it special

When Steve Woody and Barney Coulter got a mysterious call from Smokies Superintendent Randall Pope in the early 1990s asking…
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Persistent WCU grads find work in tough economy
 

Persistent WCU grads find work in tough economy

It’s slim pickin’s out there, as Western Carolina University students are finding out. This past weekend, more than 1,100 graduates…
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Ghost Town seeks ride inspections
 

Ghost Town seeks ride inspections

A team of state inspectors will arrive at Ghost Town in the Sky amusement park on Monday, May 18, in…
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Grant funds installation by Haywood artist
 

Grant funds installation by Haywood artist

Susan Livengood of Fines Creek has been awarded a 2009 Regional Artist Project Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council.…
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Jackson public asked to envision a greenway
 

Jackson public asked to envision a greenway

For nearly a decade, a group of Jackson County residents have envisioned a greenway that would meander for miles from…
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Local farmers markets
 

Local farmers markets

Haywood Waynesville Tailgate Market 8 a.m. to noon Wednesdays and Saturdays at American Legion parking lot near downtown Waynesville. Haywood…
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Erosion laws put to the test
 

Erosion laws put to the test

Haywood County’s sediment and erosion control policies are the subject of a bitter legal battle poised to set statewide precedent.…
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Do you have a gardening question?
 

Do you have a gardening question?

By Jim Janke The purpose of Master Gardener programs is to increase the knowledge of horticulture among home gardeners. Master…
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Street vendors, store owners reach compromise
 

Street vendors, store owners reach compromise

A potential clash between downtown Franklin merchants and street vendors was headed off the pass this week. For years, street…
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Swain jail keys found in get-away truck
 

Swain jail keys found in get-away truck

The Swain County Sheriff’s Department got a welcome piece of news recently when it learned the escape of an inmate…
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Haywood County nixes old Wal-Mart purchase
 

Haywood County nixes old Wal-Mart purchase

It looks like the Department of Social Services in Haywood County won’t be getting a new home after all. Haywood…
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The Naturalist's Corner
 

The Naturalist's Corner

What’s that buzzin? “Daddy, daddy, there’s a yellowjacket in the bedroom!” cried Izzy. And somehow, the dusty old synapses fired…
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Slowed housing market poses challenges for Swain property revaluation
 

Slowed housing market poses challenges for Swain property revaluation

The burst of the nation’s housing bubble has caused real estate markets to tank — everywhere, it seems, but in…
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The story of the fiddlehead
 

The story of the fiddlehead

Fiddleheads are emerging from the leaf litter in our forests. Almost everyone, even those not especially interested in plants, has…
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A haven of nectar and beauty
 

A haven of nectar and beauty

The irises my wife, Elizabeth, cultivates in our yard are coming into full bloom as I write this. Their shapes…
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School serves as model for dealing with runoff
 

School serves as model for dealing with runoff

Innovative techniques for dispersing runoff and protecting neighboring streams will be highlighted during a program at 6:30 p.m. Monday, May…
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Kephart proved to be a key figure in shepherding idea of a national park
 

Kephart proved to be a key figure in shepherding idea of a national park

With massive logging operations running full tilt in the Smokies in the 1920s, the sanctity of what once seemed like…
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Carden’s views on Kephart have softened
 

Carden’s views on Kephart have softened

As a struggling albeit brilliant writer, Gary Carden never turns down money. So when an out-of-town man in a rental…
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Finding distinction in literature
 

Finding distinction in literature

The Genius by Jesse Kellerman. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2008. 384 pages Sixty years ago, Graham Greene, one of the great…
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Ellison came to WNC as a ‘Kephart pilgrim’
 

Ellison came to WNC as a ‘Kephart pilgrim’

While George and Elizabeth Ellison are fixtures in Bryson City today — Elizabeth as a renowned artist and George as…
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Miss California takes on gay marriage
 

Miss California takes on gay marriage

I cannot remember the last time I watched a minute of a beauty pageant. I never had much of an…
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You, too, can bike to work
 

You, too, can bike to work

Whether it’s for fitness, for fun or to save the planet, there’s plenty of reasons to bike to work. There’s…
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Gate goes up, Gorge community blocked out
 

Gate goes up, Gorge community blocked out

By Julia Merchant • Staff writer One day last October, Bud Dills, a longtime Nantahala Gorge resident, headed down to…
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Ghost Town files financial statements with bankruptcy court
 

Ghost Town files financial statements with bankruptcy court

Ghost Town in the Sky owners paid themselves nearly $25,000 over two weeks in March despite the company being in…
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Jackson reluctant to turn over Duke dredging permits
 

Jackson reluctant to turn over Duke dredging permits

An attorney for Duke Energy gave Jackson County commissioners a “friendly reminder” this week to stop dragging their feet on…
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Paying homage to the early park supporters
 

Paying homage to the early park supporters

“When I first came into the Smokies the whole region was one of superb primeval forest. My sylvan studio spread…
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New bypass alone can’t fix N.C. 107 traffic
 

New bypass alone can’t fix N.C. 107 traffic

A fix for impending traffic congestion on N.C. 107 in Sylva doesn’t lie solely with a new bypass but will…
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Spot land-use plan to mark first forray into zoning
 

Spot land-use plan to mark first forray into zoning

Jackson County leaders have finished the first draft of a planning ordinance they hope will transform the U.S. 441 corridor…
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CSA programs bring together consumers and the hands that feed them
 

CSA programs bring together consumers and the hands that feed them

Walk among the rows and rows of hydroponic butter leaf lettuce growing in William Shelton’s greenhouse, and you’ll notice a…
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Library bids come in well under budget
 

Library bids come in well under budget

The bad economy has finally reaped some dividends for Jackson County taxpayers. Construction of the new Jackson County library and…
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The Naturalist's Corner
 

The Naturalist's Corner

A decade of Birding for the Arts This past Saturday morning (May 2) more than 20 arts patrons and bird…
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Ghost Town and alderman at loggerheads
 

Ghost Town and alderman at loggerheads

Ghost Town CEO Steve Shiver threatened to sue Maggie Valley Alderman Colin Edwards during a town meeting this week. Edwards…
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Celebrating 75 years
 

Celebrating 75 years

More than 200 state and local dignitaries gathered for a ceremony atop Clingmans Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains National…
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Smokies prepare for bat-decimating disease
 

Smokies prepare for bat-decimating disease

In response to a growing concern about a new malady that has killed an estimated 400,000 bats north of here…
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Judging Kephart: Legacy of author, outdoorsman still debated
 

Judging Kephart: Legacy of author, outdoorsman still debated

George Ellison never knows when a Horace Kephart pilgrim will come calling. But invariably, they will come — creaking up…
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New program aims to bring abusers to justice
 

New program aims to bring abusers to justice

Victims of domestic violence in Western North Carolina recently received a powerful new voice to help bring them justice. A…
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