Jack Ewing stepped over a pail of drywall mud, dodged electrical wires dangling from the ceiling and picked his way across construction debris littering the bare concrete floor of the gutted Terrace Hotel room.

Downtown Waynesville could feel the not-so-pleasant trickle-down effects if a proposed smoking ban on Haywood County property goes through.

The county ban would evict smokers from the grounds of the justice center and historic courthouse. Striking out in search of safe harbor, they would no doubt make their way to town sidewalks to light up.

Anna Eason has nothing but good things to say about Haywood County Public Schools. It’s a “good school system,” doing “an amazing job with what the state gives.” Two of her three children are students there now, and she herself is a product of North Carolina public schools, going straight through the Wake County system. 

But Eason, together with a team of other parents around Haywood County — and one from Jackson — are on the board of a new school poised to set up shop in Waynesville. Shining Rock Classical Academy will welcome its inaugural classes in July, becoming the first charter school in Haywood County.

Trying to create a small logo that encompasses everything Haywood Community College stands for is no easy task. 

But with only three letters and a symbolic leaf, Aaron Mabry, marketing and communication director, thinks he and Lee White Media pulled it off. The old logo said Haywood Community College and featured a gradient leaf, but the new logo was shortened to HCC, features four new colors and a solid-color leaf.

Overbearing language in Haywood County’s emergency management protocols is being revised to make it more palatable to civil liberty watchdogs.

The emergency plan spells out powers the county can evoke in a major crisis — be it a mundane blizzard or extreme terrorist attack, or even a threat from a rogue paramilitary group.

As the crowd found their seats and got settled, all eyes were on Marty Sohovich.

“I really believe 2014 was one of our best years,” he said. “And we’re turning a corner.”

Haywood County leaders are still in the process of collecting data on broadband Internet service, but they need help from residents living in rural parts of the county. 

Maggie Valley Mayor Ron DeSimone sits on the Haywood County Economic Development Commission and is heading up the effort to bring better broadband service to the county.

Editor's note: The cyberstalking allegations against Monroe Miller were dismissed by a judge following court testimony on March 24, 2015.

Monroe Miller, a watchdog and critic of county government and member of the so-called “patriot faction” of the Haywood County Republican Party, was charged with the misdemeanor of cyberstalking last week.

The charges were taken out by Savannah Tedesco, a 24-year-old woman. She was a volunteer precinct chair in the Haywood GOP but was in the mainstream of the party and not part of Miller’s faction.

Monroe Miller is no stranger to the inbox.

Hundreds of emails from Miller have peppered the email accounts of people in Haywood County over the past five years, targeting those he believes have misstepped.

SEE ALSO:
• GOP insider charged with cyberstalking party volunteer
• To snag a cyberstalker

His targets are accused of being inept or under-handed — and sometimes both. Miller summons large audiences to the email chain, roping in spectators through the cc line to witness the latest attack.

Maggie Valley resident June Johnson wants the town’s recreation plan to go far beyond fixing up an old playground behind town hall. She envisions the park renovations as just the beginning of greater things to come in the valley.