Even as it sees its own demise over the horizon, the Fontana Regional Library Board of Trustees is moving fast to make its agenda into policy. 

Swain Librarian Jeff Delfield learned through a text that Macon commissioners had voted to begin the process of leaving the Fontana Regional Library system in 2027. 

The June 9 decision follows in the footsteps of Jackson County. Though Jackson commissioners cited concerns about LGBTQ+ material as justification, Macon County framed the vote as a financially prudent move. 

Macon commissioners voted to notify the Fontana Regional Library system of the county’s withdrawal. 

While the item wasn’t included in the agenda for the June 9 meeting that went out to the public, it was added near the beginning of the meeting on a motion by Commissioner Barry Breeden, who spearheaded the withdrawal discussion. 

Jackson County Board of Elections member Jay Pavey described his choice of two potential Cullowhee early voting sites to be a “no brainer.”

When compared to the “approximately 300 square foot” space at the Cullowhee Recreation Center, Pavey, a Republican, said the “1,100, 1,200 square feet” at Western Carolina University’s satellite Health and Human Sciences building — 1.7 miles from campus but accessible to students through WCU’s Cat-Tran transportation system — is substantially better for Jackson County residents. 

Immediately after Jackson County Public Schools Associate Superintendent Jake Buchanan and Southwestern Community College President Don Tomas proposed their respective departmental appropriations for fiscal year 2026-27, Jackson County Manager Kevin King presented commissioners with a May 19 draft county budget that left both requests unfulfilled.  

Swain County Commission meetings have become increasingly heated over the past couple of months. 

One side consists of several vocal constituents and Commissioner David Loftis, sick of what they categorize as unlawful decisions and a general lack of transparency on behalf of the board.

An April 25 Qualla Boundary town hall about data centers, featuring three speakers instrumental in the fight against hyperscale expansion on Indigenous land, both generated support for a tabled tribal council moratorium and explained the myriad ways these facilities can harm environments and cultures alike.  

Brad Hoxit made history last month, but not in a way he’d ever have hoped.

Hoxit appeared in Graham County Superior Court from March 24-27 for a hearing to determine whether he would be permanently removed as sheriff of the small Western North Carolina county. Last week, Superior Court Judge William T. Stetzer did indeed bar Hoxit from returning to office, and now his attorneys say an appeal is imminent. 

What do you do when the place that seems to best accommodate your child fails them the worst? 

That’s the question Amber Kevlin was grappling with on Sept. 25, 2023, after she was called to pick up her 12-year-old autistic son from the office of Shining Rock Classical Academy School Resource Officer Bryan Reeves.

A low-flying plane circling his property was the first sign. The passes were frequent enough to be noticed. Haywood County farmer and longtime Farm Bureau President Don Smart knew immediately what that kind of attention usually means. 

In the old days, Smart said, they’d have been looking for illegal cannabis or tobacco plantings, but that wasn’t why the plane was tracing slow, deliberate circles in the sky over his farm. Two weeks later, confirmation of his suspicions arrived in writing.