Customers of downtown Waynesville’s restaurants and bars may soon be told to “hit the bricks” — but in a good way. 

Infrastructure in municipal sewer and water systems isn’t cheap, but a debate recently settled in the General Assembly clarified what towns can charge new customers for connecting to the existing system while also anticipating the system’s future needs. 

With municipal budget season coming down to the wire and those municipal budgets coming down to the penny, two Haywood County town governments are hoping to avoid property tax increases by introducing vehicle registration fees. 

For months, town officials have been hard at work creating the framework and the process for updating the Town of Waynesville’s 16-year-old comprehensive plan. Now, it’s time for residents to have their say. 

An engineering report issued to Haywood County Schools June 11 resulted in unanimous approval of a resolution by the board that same day declaring Central Haywood High School’s gymnasium “unsound and unsafe,” but complicated funding streams have left Haywood officials wondering where to find some of the money to replace it.

A cultural survey currently underway that seeks to document the legacy of an overlooked Waynesville community could add to the town’s growing roster of properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

North Carolinians will be asked this November to weigh in on the controversial issue of voter ID if a bill introduced June 7 by Rep. Michele Presnell, R-Burnsville, gains approval. 

Five months into the economic development partnership between the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce, there appears to be some progress being made.

A new tool that compiles a mind-boggling array of economic and demographic data and presents it in a simple map-based interface will give economic developers, public servants and private citizens the tools to make more informed policy decisions across the region and the state. 

North Carolina Republicans were quick to congratulate the first minor political party to gain official recognition by the State Board of Elections, but they haven’t been quite as welcoming to the latest. 

Perhaps not unique in that the reasons for both its popularity and its controversy are intertwined like the limbs of two grapplers struggling to gain the advantage, dwarf wrestling provides jobs where they’re scarce, boosts local economies with events and promotes positive examples of how dwarfs aren’t so different from their average-sized peers. 

Even though the process by which legislative changes to North Carolina’s $23 billion 2018-19 budget were made — shutting out Democrats by limiting floor debate and skipping right to the yea-or-nay vote — that budget now sits on Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk.

Encouraging signs from Haywood County’s Tourism Development Authority suggest the lingering effects of the Great Recession of 2008 may finally be subsiding, and the county’s tourism attractions are drawing more of a year-round crowd. 

Western North Carolina is a region filled with special places, one of the best known being a century-old religious retreat nestled away snugly in the center of Haywood County.

The Town of Waynesville is about to embark on year two of a more conservative budget mindset; the days of 7 percent annual growth are gone, but the days of rising costs are not. 

The Town of Waynesville is about to embark on year two of a more conservative budget mindset; the days of 7 percent annual growth are gone, but the days of rising costs are not. 

A Gastonia-based developer’s request to change a small part of the Town of Waynesville’s zoning rules to allow for multi-family housing in a semi-rural community generated big waves last week.

As thousands of North Carolina teachers descended on the state capitol last week demanding more education funding and better pay, Haywood County’s legislators say progress has been made, and more is coming, but politicizing the issue neglects other state employees who are just as critical to the state’s success. 

One day after the 22nd school shooting of 2018 took place in Texas, a previously planned Second Amendment rally at the Historic Haywood County Courthouse drew citizens and elected officials who explained that the problem was really more a societal issue, than a security issue. 

In April, students at Santa Fe High School southeast of Houston walked out of classes to protest gun violence in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting Feb. 14. 

It’s rare to see great interest taken in the meeting of a municipal planning board, but a contentious proposal that would allow for apartments on a semi-rural piece of land on the outskirts of Waynesville has ignited a debate not only about the future of the 41-acre parcel on Plott Creek Road, but also about the future of the community as a whole. 

A treacherous and heavily travelled portion of U.S. 19/23 east of Canton could soon see major pedestrian improvements if an N.C. Department of Transportation project comes to fruition. 

With no proposed tax increase, slightly lower spending and a healthy fund balance, the Town of Maggie Valley’s proposed FY 2018-19 budget appears to be one of the strongest in the area. 

While Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers has seen several budgets during his previous stint as an alderman, he appears to be pleased with his first as Mayor. 

It’s been a hot topic for almost a year now, but the role of Confederate imagery in contemporary society is no more settled than it was last summer, when riots in Charlottesville, Virginia, brought the issue to small towns across the country. 

Second Amendment supporters in Haywood County will take to the Historic Courthouse lawn May 19 to protest what they say are threats to the Constitution, but the focus of the rally remains on firearms. 

While most people have certainly heard of agritourism, ecotourism and even necrotourism (visiting famous cemeteries and gravesites), most may not have heard of so-called “gun tourism.” 

Although the results have not yet been certified in North Carolina’s May 8 Primary Elections, there were several races where vote totals were decisive enough to declare likely winners. 

Last week, Phillip Price prevailed in a competitive three-way Democratic primary for the right to challenge incumbent Asheville Republican Congressman Mark Meadows in November.

Over the past two summers, visitors to the western end of Haywood County have experienced something few others ever have — a Maggie Valley without Joey’s Pancake House. 

There’s a bit of pruning taking place at Haywood Community College — specifically, the Horticulture Technology program. And just like pruning a real rose bush, it’s painful and runs the risk of killing the plant altogether, but it may also produce beautiful new growth. 

It was a good day for Interim Haywood County Manager Joel Mashburn, and will probably go down as a good day for Haywood County taxpayers as well. 

One memorable afternoon several years ago, Perry Hines was sitting in the dining room of the Open Door after it had closed for the day, discussing with officials from a nearby church a grant opportunity, when there came a knock at the locked front door. 

It’s Primary Election Day in North Carolina, and in Haywood County, there are a number of important races on both the Democratic and Republican ballots.

When local veterinarian Dr. Kristen Hammett appeared before the Haywood County Board of Commissioners on the morning of Sept. 7, 2016, she said she’d just come from euthanizing two animals at the county’s dilapidated shelter, which was at the time 30 percent over capacity, reeked of animal waste and produced a “deafening” roar. 

For a great example of just how important the Town of Waynesville’s comprehensive plan is, one needn’t look any further than the proposed multi-family development located off Plott Creek Road. 

Failing to plan, as it is often said, is planning to fail. 

Canton’s Town Manager Jason Burrell is about to get some help. 

Activists hoping to press the Town of Waynesville into adopting a living wage for full-time employees were recently told that the town was, in fact, already doing so. 

It’s been quite a week for Western Carolina University Chancellor Dr. David Belcher. 

As the opioid crisis continues to rage across the nation and the state, legislators, law enforcement and medical professionals are placing a renewed focus on stopping the next generation of addicts from starting. 

Since 2001 the Smoky Mountain Aquatic Club has been geared toward having a nationally recognized aquatics program that develops and trains swimmers of all ages and abilities.

In the four years since they first launched, Waynesville’s Base Camp summer programs — day camps packed full of outdoor adventure and environmental education — have quickly risen in popularity, selling out in hours, months ahead of when the camps begin. 

When the last bell rings and the doors fly open loosing schoolchildren across the nation out into the sunny summer streets, many of them will turn right back around and participate in a plethora of camps and activities designed to keep them off the couch and active in the world around them. 

Three Democratic seats on the Haywood County Board of Commissioners are up for election this year, but only two of them are being defended by incumbents. 

Problems with moist soil are mucking up what seemed at the time to be a quick, cheap and easy accouterment for an enticing economic development asset, spurring frustration from the public, political candidates and commissioners — frustration that all flows downhill.

A legal snafu has halted work on the Frog Level parking lot paving project as well as delayed action on a possible property acquisition that would bring even more parking to the Waynesville business district.