A visually stunning amalgamation of images — both historic and aspirational — now adorns Waynesville’s Pigeon Community Multicultural Development center, breathing new life into an old neighborhood and commemorating the important role of the structure in regional Black history. 

I was raised in a rural, conservative-leaning county with two working parents and six busy kids. My mother was a nurse and public heath educator and my father worked in insurance and real estate before serving three terms as our Republican State House representative and later as a lawyer and court judge.

To the Editor:

On April 12, 1776, North Carolina was the first state to call for independence from Great Britain. Her Provincial Congress, meeting at Halifax, North Carolina, passed a resolution that has come to be known as the “Halifax Resolves.” 

It’s not lost on Colin McBeath how unique and cherished the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) is to locals and visitors alike. 

The true location of one of the most iconic photographs of George Masa has been accurately identified. The photograph, depicting Masa on a rock outcrop with his camera and a companion, was previously believed to have been taken at Graybeard Mountain. Recent findings confirm that the actual location is Blackstack Cliffs in the Cherokee National Forest.  

Southwestern Community College (SCC), a crucial Western North Carolina educational institute since 1964, is exploring the possibility of hosting a scanning day. This event aims to create a comprehensive digital archive of SCC’s rich history. 

A little over three years ago, a stranger in a coffee shop with whom I’d struck up a conversation excused himself from the table, walked to his car and returned with a copy of Steven Pressfield’s “Gates of Fire.”

Recently someone described me as a “longtime columnist for the Smoky Mountain News,” which made me realize I’ve been sharing personal stories, revelations and anecdotes with this audience for quite a while.

It is time to have a fact-based discussion about the biology and history of our knowledge about human reproduction. Much of the current discussion does not reflect the reality of human reproduction. Declaring a fertilized egg to be a person is ridiculous from biological, historical and religious perspectives. 

Anyone interested in the history of our country will benefit by reading “The Dogs of War: 1861” (Oxford University Press, 2011, 128 pages).