Boom axe operations along the Blue Ridge Parkway will result in closures at various locations along the Blue Ridge Parkway in the coming weeks.

Buncombe County Commissioners voted to commit to complete transition to clean and renewable energy during a meeting Tuesday, Dec. 5.

A portion of the Rim Trail near Hayesville that’s been closed since 2010 has now reopened to the public.

A new fish species has been discovered in the South, with Tennessee Valley Authority biologists identifying the logperch, or Percina apina, in Duck River tributary streams in middle Tennessee.

A routine day of fish population monitoring turned exciting when Mainspring Conservation Trust biologists found a federally threatened fish in a tributary of the Little Tennessee River, the first time that species had been found in that particular stream.

The Appalachian Ranger District of the Pisgah National Forest has a new district ranger following the hire of Richard Thornburgh, who will begin his new position Jan. 7.

Smoky Mountain News writer Holly Kays has introduced her new novel, Shadows of Flowers.

My husband and I are really frustrated. We have been trying to lose weight but it doesn't seem to be working. We have been on a diet for a while but we are gaining weight instead!

A recent disc golf tournament in Waynesville earned nearly $2,000 to support Haywood Waterways Association and Haywood County Special Olympics.

Land conservation in the Highlands of Roan area got a boost with the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy’s purchase of 142 acres at Upper Roaring Creek Valley.

The first phase in construction of a new trail system is now complete with the opening of the Piney Knob Trail System near Murphy Saturday, Nov. 18.

To the Editor:

Special counsel Robert Mueller has uncovered more Russian characters mingling with Trump campaign officials than are found in a Tolstoy novel.

After receiving recommendations from the 1 percent subcommittees, the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority has made final decisions on which projects will receive grant funding.

The black glass Liston B. Ramsey Regional Activity Center is an iconic structure on the Western Carolina University campus, but it will soon have a much different look following the WCU Board of Trustees’ Dec. 1 endorsement of a $3.9 million project.

The Haywood County Arts Council (HCAC), administrator of this year’s Regional Artist Project Grant (RAPG), is pleased to announce grantees selected for the 2017-18 fiscal year.

Devin Patrick Kelley, a 26-year-old Texan, killed 26 people before apparently taking his own life on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017, during church services at Sutherland Springs Baptist Church (Texas). News reports indicate the slaughter was the result of a heated “domestic situation.” All indications are that upon his bad conduct discharge from the U.S. Air Force he should have been identified as an individual who could not buy or possess weapons legally. Sadly, that crucial information was never relayed to civilian authorities. Thus, Kelley obtained and used a Ruger rapid-fire assault rifle as he carried out his atrocious mass murder.

To the Editor:

I recently received a personal assurance from Congressman Mark Meadows, R-Asheville, that the CHIP/Health Choice program upon which tens of thousands of NC families rely  for their children’s health care would be funded.

To the Editor:

Make no mistake about it. The so-called tax reform is first and foremost a payback to the billionaires and millionaires who fund Republican campaigns. The tax breaks for the wealthy provide a huge payback of billions for the millions donated to Republican candidates up and down the ballot.

Record-breaking hiker Jennifer Pharr Davis completed her 1,175-mile adventure on the Mountains-to-Sea trail Saturday, Nov. 18, just in time for Thanksgiving.

A $20,000 donation to the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont from Brookfield Renewable will give low-income kids in the area the chance to attend one of the residential outdoor education programs offered at Tremont.

A multi-year effort to restore forest landscapes in the Grandfather Ranger District of the Pisgah National Forest has won the 2017 Restored and Resilient Landscapes Award from the U.S. Forest Service Southern Region.

North Carolina’s Dry-Cleaning Solvent Cleanup Act Program has hit its 20th anniversary, and since that time the program has handled 466 reports of contaminated sites.

After raising more than half a million dollars to protect 50 pristine acres in the Fires Creek watershed, Mainspring Conservation Trust acquired the property on Monday, Nov. 20.

Clingmans Dome Tower reopened from a closure for rehabilitation work on Wednesday, Nov. 15, but access will be short-lived — the annual closure of Clingmans Dome Road will begin on Friday, Dec. 1, with reopening scheduled for April 1, 2018.

The Pigeon Community Multicultural Development Center will host an inclusive holiday celebration complete with music, snacks and desserts from 5 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 2 in its facility at 450 Pigeon Street.

A crew of more than 50 volunteers from the community decorated Lake Junaluska for the holiday season, including the Rose Walk, the Bethea Welcome Center, the gazebos along the walking trail, the Inspiration Point garden and more.

Sarge’s Pet Photo Contest is back and it’s a holiday theme. Enter printed photos of your pets in costume or in a fall/winter holiday setting.

“White foods are bad and we shouldn't eat them!” — This saying comes from folks that seek to eliminate some highly processed carbohydrates made with white flour like pastas and white rice, but are all “white foods” really bad for us?

After battling brain cancer since April 2016, Western Carolina University Chancellor David O. Belcher announced Nov. 27 that his treatment is no longer working. He will go on medical leave and does not expect to return to his position.

True or False? “Processed foods are bad” – Not Necessarily - Processing means taking a food from an inedible state and changing it to something that’s edible. Certain processing methods may also make vitamins and minerals more available or help preserve an item so it’s safe to eat.

After 18 hours of snowmaking, Cataloochee Ski Area opened for the winter on Monday, Nov. 20.

Ongoing efforts to revitalize the Franklin River District gained momentum this week when Mainspring Conservation Trust purchased a polluted site in the heart of the area.

Reconstruction has begun to replace the wooden roof of the historic Wayah Bald Fire Tower, which burned up in the Camp Branch Fire during last year’s prolific wildfire season.

Conservation of 147 acres at Stevens Creek, a quiet cove on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Haywood County, will provide further protection for the nation’s most visited national park and the wildlife that calls it home.

A $3,000 grant from the Duke Energy Foundation will help the Highlands Nature Center support its robust school outreach program.

Unleashed dogs have become a safety issue in the Bent Creek Area of the Pisgah National Forest, prompting the U.S. Forest Service to remind forest users that a leash law is in effect there.

In a book on the nature of state legislatures, the journalist Frank Trippett coined the term “true constituency” to explain why so many politicians act as badly as they do.

To the Editor:

Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis stand poised to vote for the current Republican tax bill in Congress. But their past public pronouncements clash with its provisions.

Recently Sen. Burr said that “middle-class Americans can keep more of their hard-earned dollars.” But economic research indicates that proposed elimination of deductions for high mortgages, state and local taxes, and large medical expenses could actually raise taxes for many working families.

Sen. Tillis insists that “one of the greatest threats to the U.S. economy and national security is our national debt.” Yet the GOP plan, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), would increase the debt by $1.7 trillion.

NC Policy Watch reported that, “In North Carolina, analysis shows that 50 percent of the federal tax cuts would go to the richest 5 percent of residents and 13 percent of households would face a tax increase, once the bill is fully implemented.”

If this Republican “wealth transfer” plan passes, the CBO also notes that Medicare would be cut by $25 billion. The Senate bill would also eliminate the Affordable Care Act individual mandate, raising premiums and likely forcing 13 million people off their healthcare insurance.

Current polls indicate less than 25 percent of voters favor this bill. Once again, however, Burr and Tillis talk “tax reform” but support unpopular policies that make their constituents’ lives harder.

Frank L. Fox

Asheville

The holiday season is upon us and shoppers are crowding malls and discount stores to buy the latest gadgets and find the best deals.

Investigators with the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office are seeking the public’s assistance with identifying a person who broke into Bethel Elementary School in evening hours of Monday, Nov. 13.

Nominations for this year’s Southern Trout Legends of the Fly Hall of Fame include several anglers from the Smokies region, two of whom are in Western North Carolina.

The Pisgah National Forest logged the most volunteer hours of any other national forest in 2016, earning Pisgah the Volunteer Award at the 2017 Regional Forester’s Honor Awards ceremony this month.

Robbinsville resident Dick Evans received the Benton MacKaye Trail Association’s highest honor at the organization’s recent 2017 Annual Meeting.

For the first time, vehicles can drive the entire 16-mile section of the Foothills Parkway from Walland to Wears Valley, Tennessee.

A recent purchase of 149 acres by the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy has added to a contiguous block of protected lands surrounding the Sandy Mush community in western Buncombe County.

To the Editor:

It really upsets me when I hear that the economy is doing good and the unemployment rate is down. Sure, people are working, but it means nothing if they still can’t afford housing. The cost of living goes up continuously, but wages don’t.

I live on Social Security and right now I pay over half my income on rent. And that’s without a kitchen. My health needs are such that I can’t eat the way I should without a kitchen. I’ve been approved for section 8, but can’t find a place that rents as low as section 8 now allows and meets my health needs (no stairs, no smokers, etc.)

I have a friend who loaned me money for a car so I could look for work. My health won’t let me work enough hours at minimum wage to make a difference. I have a master’s degree and the experience to find a part-time professional job that would make a difference. But even though I’ve been applying for work every day, I’ve not even been called for an interview.

I owe a fortune in debt to the “for-profit” hospitals in the surrounding three counties, so I’ve not been able to get the medical care I need. I’m a skin cancer survivor who hasn’t seen a dermatologist in years, and I’ve had five eye surgeries, need more but haven’t seen my ophthalmologist either. And when I had asthmatic-bronchitis recently, I had to make my way to the nearest Mission Hospital (non-profit) some distance away.

I wonder how many people realize that the “for-profit” hospitals can and do turn people away who owe them money. I can’t even get lab work. (they do have to stabilize you, before turning you away, if you come in by ambulance). I have been personally escorted from the campus when I tried to get labs drawn on tests that were paid 100 percent by Medicare. By the way, few things are 100 percent paid for my Medicare these days. My cornea transplant in one eye was, I’m guessing, about three times what it was in the other eye because in the one year since, Medicare quit paying for the cornea tissue, the greatest part of the cost.

I’m totally alone and don’t know what is going to happen to me. I hate that I’ve had this car for three months and haven’t been able to send any money to my friend who helped me get it. And you know what? I am far from the only one in this situation! This is the new normal.

Connie J. Conklin

Whittier

To the Editor:

Government and taxes are common complaints among conservatives, even though they benefit from both. Opinions in our local papers complain property taxes are too high, but our small western counties are among the lowest rates in North Carolina; at commissioners’ meetings, citizens demand the committee “prune” its budget for serious cuts to our public services. Mention taxes in most of the United States, and you will get a negative response; and people often vote for whoever will assure tax cuts, a frequent conservative agenda. Since before our revolution, taxes have incited resistance; yet much in our quality of life depends upon those terrible taxes.

Aside from the everyday costs of government, taxes have afforded us public schools (also Head Start, Pre-K, GEDs, job training, etc.), postal service, public libraries, public community parks and recreation programs, national parks and preserves; government subsidies for agriculture ( a lifeline for small farmers), public elections, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; our transportation systems like highways, bridges, transport hubs like airports, subways, railways, buses, ferries; they supply and support our utilities, our police forces, our military, our national defense programs; social support systems, like unemployment and disability, public health clinics, hospitals and so much more; the quality of these services and the necessary maintenance are assured by the taxes we pay: the more we pay, the better our lives.

Sure, bad governance wastes our taxes but that should be handled in fair elections for all; public officials, unlike private companies, can be held accountable: taxes are our lifeline to a better future, and when they are continually cut, maintenance and infrastructure become degraded and unsafe.

In the 1930s under the New Deal, the CCC put hundreds of thousands to work in national parks and forests, all supported by taxes; the Federal Emergency Work Act: again, taxes; Tennessee Valley Authority: taxes; Rural Electrification: taxes; Social Security: taxes.

The top wealth tax rate at that time was 79 percent, rising to 90 perxcent during and after the wars. New dealers believed that heavy taxes on the wealthiest were a moral imperative. Eisenhower continued these New Deal programs to insure a good life for all. Under Eisenhower, the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 was paid for by taxes. Our space programs, NASA: taxes; Refugee Relief Act: taxes. Taxes gave access to healthcare for older Americans: Medicare was the flagship of a highly concentrated, three-statute endeavor.

The GI Bill transformed the college student body by removing the major hurdle to higher education for returning veterans: again, paid for with taxes. As a result, lower socioeconomic groups were finally represented on campus. The number of college students nearly doubled in the 1940s, from 1.5 million in 1940 to 2.7 million in 1950, as veterans swelled the ranks. Veterans’ benefits: again, taxes; Workman’s Compensation: taxes.  However, the tax rate dropped seriously in the 1980s and is currently at 39 percent for the wealthiest, before deductions.

I have missed many, under-stated more, but my intent is to call attention to the multitude of public services that income taxes, at the national, state, and local levels, provide; and to remind you that these many programs are being continually diminished by our foolish reluctance to increase taxes on the wealthiest. With increased taxes, restoring existing programs and infrastructure would create jobs and restore quality to these valuable American assets, especially in small towns and rural areas where taxes subsidize local farmers and businesses, fund public social services like our schools, our library and post office, our senior center, recreational facilities, infrastructure, and other county government services we have come to depend on: we all enjoy a better life when the quality of life is better for all.

Ruth Ballard

Hayesville