The National Park Service is seeking tips from the public to aid in the ongoing investigation of an assault that occurred in the Deep Creek area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

On Dec. 22, 2025, at approximately 5:40 p.m., an individual approached two vehicles believed to have been involved in a motor vehicle collision near the Deep Creek Picnic Area.

Editor’s Note: This is the transcript of a recent voice memo Garret left for a friend of his on Thursday, Jan. 8, in the aftermath of the incident in Minneapolis, Minnesota, between a protester and an ICE agent. To note, both Garret’s father (U.S. Immigration) and grandfather (U.S. Customs) were career officers for the federal government (now retired). In 2003, Immigration and Customs combined to form ICE due to the Homeland Security Act of 2002.

Good afternoon. You’re probably slaving away at your [office] desk doing your favorite thing, which is working inside under fluorescent lighting, I would assume. [Laughs]. Oh, man, I don’t know where this message is going to go, but I just was wanting to vent about…[well], it’s almost hard to vent anymore, because it’s like every day is just this chaotic frustration of things outside of my [front] door and things across the country and things around the world. 

Swain County’s standing animal services ordinance dates back to late 2019, pending the establishment of an animal services center and adequate funding for its operation and staff. 

As Swain’s first county-operated animal shelter prepared to open its doors — with staff to include Jerry Bryan, who has served for two years as the department’s director, and Pam Orr, who has worked as an officer for six months — the animal services committee began working on a new draft. 

A Jackson County commissioner brought up the issue of library security during the commission’s March 4 meeting, citing safety concerns for staff at the Jackson County Library in Sylva.

After Hurricane Helene completed its devastating march from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Smoky Mountains, the struggles of disaster survivors — from environmental devastation and bureaucratic hurdles to inadequate recovery support — have exposed a broken cycle of aid and accountability, where truth and trust become enveloped in a murky ethical mist that consists, at least partially, of exploitative promises made worse by false premises and finger-pointing.

To the Editor:

Donald Trump promised at the NRA convention to roll back gun control measures enacted under Biden and to fire the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 

The Charlotte FBI division office announced that the bureau is investigating an officer-involved shooting on the Qualla Boundary that left one person dead. 

Martin Medina, 32, an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison and three years of supervised release for a firearms offense, assaulting federal officers and assault with intent to commit murder. 

U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced John Allen Wise, 45, of Cashiers, to 121 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for distribution of methamphetamine and illegal possession of firearms, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. 

The State Bureau of Investigation is investigating an officer-involved shooting with the Haywood County Sheriff’s office over the weekend.