The Town of Waynesville will no longer require speakers at its public comment sessions to reveal their addresses, after a raucous July 25 meeting where some speakers voiced concern over identifying their residences due to violent threats made against the LGBTQ+ community that resulted from a man’s unfounded allegations of indecent behavior at the Waynesville Recreation Center on July 12. 

Long a leader among Western North Carolina’s local governments in the field of environmental sustainability, the Town of Waynesville has taken recent steps to ensure it becomes carbon neutral before 2050 by establishing an oversight board to research, adopt and implement responsible management strategies. 

Get ready for softball season with an organizational meeting for an adult co-ed league at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 21, at the Vance Street Park pavilion in Waynesville.

The field got just a little bit smaller in the race for Waynesville Town Council last week, as one of the nine candidates seeking four available seats withdrew.

To the Editor:

Congratulations to the Smoky Mountain News and Cory Vaillancourt!

Help Haywood Waterways Association celebrate its 25th birthday with trivia and reminiscing 2-5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 19, at BearWaters in Waynesville.

A one-hour, one-person show, a production of “Every Brilliant Thing” by Duncan MacMillan will be held at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 4-5, 11-12, 17-19 and 2 p.m. Aug. 6, 13 and 20 on the Fangmeyer Stage at the Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville.

To the Editor:

After attending the meeting on Tuesday evening at the Waynesville Town Hall, one of the speeches that stuck with me the most wasn’t one I would have expected — it was the dad who said he was afraid for his daughters, and that while he felt for people who believed they were stuck in the wrong bodies, he shouldn’t have to worry every time they went into a bathroom.

The Town of Waynesville is looking for members to serve on its new Environmental Sustainability Board.

Claims of indecent behavior involving a transgender person at the Waynesville Recreation Center roiled this tight-knight rural community last week, even after a town investigation found no evidence that any crimes were committed and that one of the allegations was completely unsubstantiated.

But if those allegations were meant to divide, deride or dishearten the people of Haywood County, they’ve proven to be a spectacular failure after a recent meeting of the Waynesville Town Council that will be remembered as a watershed moment for LGBTQ+ rights in a small Appalachian town nestled right in the heart of MAGA country.