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Haywood Waterways Association saw its biggest group of litter pickup volunteers ever when 22 people showed up July 11 to help remove 500 pounds of trash from Richland Creek along the Waynesville Recreation Park greenway trail and Howell Mill Road.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Cassius Cash will lead a series of small-group hikes through the park with the dual purpose of enjoying the great outdoors and facilitating open conversations about diversity and racism.
An online forum at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 29, will seek public input to help shape plans for the Chestnut Mountain project in Canton.
To the Editor:
As the Mayor of Franklin, I represent every man, woman and child in the town, regardless of partisan politics or religion.
To the Editor:
“He has erected a multitude of new officers and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people …”
To the Editor:
Duke Energy, through a contractor, has started aerial spraying of herbicides over the rights-of-way for their transmission lines, the lines supported by large steel towers.
To the Editor:
Heather Hyatt Packer would have Haywood County’s School superintendent resign for posting a meme on his Facebook page she views as “racially insensitive.”
To the Editor:
The first duty of our Commander in Chief, Donald Trump, is to protect the people of these United States. He took an oath to perform this most basic of duties. Over a 135,000 American have died as a result of the Covid virus. The family of each person lost to this pandemic can rightly ask: if Donald Trump had done his job would my loved one still be alive?
Swain County will be operating this fall under a hybrid of in-person and remote learning. Parents can choose Plan B, which includes in-person instruction and remote learning or Plan C, which is entirely remote learning.
Parents of Macon County students will have to choose their child’s learning plan for fall semester by July 31.
Public schools and colleges are being forced to develop plans, contingency plans and worst-case scenarios as they prepare for the influx of thousands of students over the next several weeks.
• Colleges, universities announce plans for fall 2020
• Teachers concerned for school safety
• Haywood chooses hybrid plan for school reopenings
• Macon schools offer virtual option
• Back to school plans for Swain County
The Jackson County Department of Public Health has identified a COVID-19 cluster in a local church. Eight individuals who attended a three-day revival on July 12-14 at the Cashiers Church of God have tested positive for COVID-19. All positive individuals are following isolation orders.
Haywood County Health and Human Services is reporting the first two COVID-19 associated deaths in Haywood County. Both individuals died on July 23, at two separate facilities in Haywood County.
Opinion from U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC | The people of Western North Carolina are traditionally denied a front-row seat to Senate debates, and that’s a shame. The chance to see the candidates meet on the same stage to discuss their positions on the important issues facing our state should be available for all North Carolinians, not just the ones that live in Raleigh. That is why I was disappointed when my opponent, Cal Cunningham, broke his word and declined an invitation to participate in a debate this week with WLOS-Asheville.
I’m trying to eat more fish that’s not breaded and fried but need some ideas on how to cook it so it’s not so smelly
The Cheoah Ranger District on the Nantahala National Forest has two new Kids in Parks TRACK Trails, designed to turn an ordinary hike into a fun-filled, discovery-packed adventure.
The Southern Environmental Law Center is representing 16 environmental organizations in a lawsuit claiming that the Trump administration illegally cut corners in “gutting” the National Environmental Policy Act.
Mainspring Conservation Trust has sold 49 acres of land at the headwaters of Laurel Creek to the U.S. Forest Service.
Kay Coriell, a longtime supporter of Franklin’s greenway along the Little Tennessee River, has been honored for her efforts by serving as namesake to the Friends of the Greenway’s butterfly garden.
A graduate of Southwestern Community College’s Outdoor Leadership Program who now holds the title of outdoor recreation planner with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington, D.C., has received SCC’s second annual Distinguished Alumni Award.
Audrey Pearson is the new Trails & Views Forever Program manager at the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation.
By Dale Carpenter • Guest Columnist | North Carolina public schools will reopen while the COVID-19 Pandemic is still with us and it is impossible to predict what will happen as we try to cope with the complexity of it all. Parents, educators and students are learning to adjust day by day to changing conditions.
To the Editor:
As a long-time resident of Haywood County and former contributor to your paper now residing in an Asheville retirement home, I write to commend Moe Davis as a candidate seeking to represent the people of the 11th District in Congress.
To the Editor:
Haywood County’s School Superintendent Dr. Bill Nolte sent shock waves through a decent percentage of the community by posting a tone deaf racially charged meme on Facebook. By now I’d say followers of news and social media have seen the depiction of a rural white family picking cotton suggesting that not everyone who picked cotton was not black.
To the Editor:
The Oxford dictionary has a couple of different definitions of common sense; my favorite being “good judgment and behavior in practical matters,” like checking the tires on my car once a week or wearing a face mask in public until a vaccine can be had.
Up until last week, the nonpartisan races for four school board seats — plus the chairman’s position — looked to be rather sleepy, with only one candidate filling. But as the noon deadline approached on Friday, July 17, a flurry of candidates threw their hats in the ring to ensure some lively contests in the fall.
According to the Beverly-Hanks Q2 2020 Real Estate Market Report, Western North Carolina’s real estate markets have undergone rapid and meaningful adjustments since the end of March. However, a strong seller’s market still makes it a good time for many to meet their real estate goals.
By Boyd Allsbrook • Contributing writer | In light of the recent national uproar over police brutality, law enforcement training has rocketed to the forefront of public discussion. It’s a complicated topic; not merely for the politically charged rhetoric it now commonly evokes, but also because approaches to training new officers vary widely from state to state, county to county and agency to agency. It’s a convoluted process and made more difficult to grasp still when you factor in how agencies emphasize different aspects of training on even a personal basis.
Four months after the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians filed suit against the U.S. Department of the Interior’s decision to allow the Catawba Indian Nation to move forward with plans for a casino in Kings Mountain, the DOI has officially taken the land into trust and the Catawba have broken ground on the site. However, the EBCI is still fighting the decision, on July 6 submitting a new, amended complaint in the case.
Buncombe’s share less than other NC counties, neighboring states
By Mark Barrett
AVL Watchdog
A bill that would have changed the distribution of Buncombe County’s controversial hotel tax to better benefit local government is likely dead until at least next year.
RALEIGH — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) selected 13 businesses to join its pool of qualified vendors to support the state’s response to COVID-19, bringing the total number of vendors to 39.
Jackson County Department of Public Health has identified a COVID-19 outbreak at a local skilled nursing facility. Five employees at the Skyland Care Center have tested positive for COVID-19. All positive employees are following isolation orders.
Haywood County Public Health received notice of 14 new cases of COVID-19 since July 14, which brings the number of cases recorded in Haywood County to 146. The individuals reside in Haywood County and are in isolation.
By Sally Kestin and John Maines
Of 911 calls and requests for assistance to Asheville Police, less than 1 percent involve a violent crime, an AVL Watchdog analysis of police dispatch data shows.
Is there an easy way to find low-sodium products at Ingles?
The Left Loop Trail of the Tsali Trail Complex in the Nantahala National Forest is closed for maintenance work.
Local applicants are wanted for facilities management jobs in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
A search and rescue effort in the Shining Rock Wilderness area of the Pisgah National Forest had a happy ending last week when rescuers found missing hikers Kelly and Mark Kleinbrahm, as well as their son Noah, around 1 p.m. Tuesday, July 7.
Discover the amazing diversity of life in the Pigeon River with an event on Saturday, July 25, at Jukebox Junction in Bethel.
Tour 10-Acre Garden and enjoy a wood-fired pizza Saturday, July 25, at the Ten Acre Garden in Bethel.
With rising case counts showing that the Coronavirus Pandemic is far from over, a new round of cancellation announcements has emerged.
By Brandi Hinnant-Crawford • Guest Columnist | In 2014, on my 30th birthday, I got a call from my former department head offering me a job at Western Carolina University. I was ecstatic; I was going home. Upstate New York winters are not kind to girls raised in the south (aka GRITS), and the Old North State is the state I love more than any other in the union — everyone was happy. Two years after living in Jackson County, I heard about these amazing kindergarten classrooms at Hazelwood Elementary; I wanted my kids to have this wonderful experience. After apartment living for two years, I moved into a colleague’s house in Waynesville. Finally—the west was feeling like home. My kids had a yard, and I had Belk (Modern, Southern, Style!). Plus, Waynesville is halfway between my Cullowhee office and Biltmore Park classroom. Jackpot!
To the Editor:
I am writing this to the Haywood County School Board and the citizens of Haywood County.
My name is Brandon Milan. I am a decade-long resident of Haywood County and the white father of two Black children, one of whom is already a student in the Haywood County School system.
Artists in all disciplines are eligible to apply for grants to support their professional and artistic development through a partnership of the North Carolina Arts Council and Asheville Area Arts Council, Haywood County Arts Council, Arts Council of Henderson County, Tryon Fine Arts Center, Rutherford County Recreation, Cultural, and Heritage Commission, and the Transylvania Community Arts Council.
The Jackson County Department of Public Health has confirmed that two recent deaths in Jackson County residents are related to COVID-19.
Nantahala Health Foundation has announced a call for grant proposals directed at regional nonprofits and governmental agencies with immediate needs, especially those magnified by the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Haywood County Public Health received notice on July 10 of two new cases of COVID-19. This brings the number of cases recorded in Haywood County to 117. The individuals are in isolation at home. The individuals reside in Haywood County.
House Bill 1043 requires school systems to develop a Remediation and Summer Jump Start Plan for the 2020-2021 school year. Remediation and Summer Jump Start is defined as supplemental summer learning programs for students who were in K-4 in the 2019-2020 school year whose learning has been negatively affected by the impacts of COVID-19.
The search for missing hikers Kelly and Mark Kleinbrahm and their son Noah ended successfully Tuesday afternoon around 1 p.m. when the family were found safe in an off-trail area east of Ivestor Gap Trail and south of Graveyard Ridge Trail in the Shining Rock Wilderness area of Pisgah National Forest.
Haywood County Public Health received notice on July 9 of six new cases of COVID-19. This brings the number of cases recorded in Haywood County as of 4 p.m. July 9 to 115. The individuals are in isolation at home. The individuals reside in Haywood County.
