“Into the Mist: Tales of Death and Disaster, Mishaps and Misdeeds, Misfortune and Mayhem in Great Smoky Mountains National Park Volume I” is now available in e-book format on popular electronic reader platforms.

The last year has brought an unusual pattern in COVID surges. 

Typically, the virus is worst during the winter with an additional summer surge beginning around June. Last winter, there were fewer infections, hospitalizations and deaths, and while this year’s summer surge has been delayed, it’s now being felt across the region.

To the Editor:

A recent edition of a local paper described the visit of an Israeli envoy to bring relief supplies to our area after Helene.

Yet, the same country, Israel, bombs Gaza daily killing thousands of Palestinians with bombs made in the United States.

Every once in a while, I find myself engrossed in a book that suddenly delivers my ignorance to me on a silver platter.

Haywood County hadn’t logged a coronavirus-related death in the better part of a year. But since Dec. 19, 2023, it has seen five.  

The Cherokee Indian Police Department has determined the identity of the person whose remains were found in an open field Tuesday, Jan. 2, but it’s not disclosing any information about the individual beyond that the person was male.

We hoped he’d die in his sleep, that we’d find him curled up in the bed in that old, familiar way, having slipped as comfortably and naturally from this dimension to the next as a river flows into the sea. 

Across the state, there has been an increase in firearm-related hunting incidents involving serious injury and fatalities. 

The cell phone erupted to life on the nightstand in the pitch-black bedroom. It was 9:30 a.m. in North Carolina. But, for my girlfriend, Sarah, and I, we were three hours behind in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

My birthday is tomorrow. When my dad reached this same age, he had 10 days left to live. I remember the day we lost him as well as I remember any other day of my life.