This cycle, Canton’s ballot carries the weight of five hard years. A global pandemic. Tropical Storm Fred in 2021. A mill closure in 2023 that upended municipal finance. Hurricane Helene in 2024. The next four years will test the town’s ability to finish flood recovery, modernize water and sewer, help redevelop the mill site and keep taxes predictable while still paving streets and paying bills. 

The U.S. Forest Service has made major progress repairing the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests a year after Hurricane Helene’s devastation. Across the Southeast, forests suffered from flooding, landslides, and wind damage that closed roads, trails, and campsites critical to the region’s outdoor economy. 

Marianna Black Library in Bryson City was an outdated facility by 2010, so staff commissioned a feasibility study. On Sept. 10, the library held a groundbreaking for its $7.1 million expansion and renovation, 15 years down the line.  

Waynesville Police Chief David Adams had a simple answer when Town Council Member Jon Feichter asked him if he thought the department’s utilization of a social worker to handle some calls had been worthwhile. 

“Yes sir,” Adams said. 

Officials at all levels of government, including new U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, visited the construction area along I-40 near the Tennessee border to take a look at progress and renew the pledge to get the necessary repairs done as quickly and safely as possible. 

By the end of the 1900s, groups of marginalized Americans like women, Blacks, Hispanics and others had made great strides in their respective liberation movements after centuries of subjugation, leaving some to wonder if we’d ever again witness the bravery and sacrifice required when the oppressed refuse to be treated as second-class citizens any longer. 

To the Editor:

This letter is in response to LeRoy E. Cossette’s letter stating how bad a Harris presidency would be for the United States, dangerous even, since he (incorrectly) states she is a Marxist socialist. 

A true mark of an artist is how well they age. 

Not simply by the passing years on the calendar, for that’s a privilege in itself to experience.

To the Editor:

In North Caroline we have a candidate for governor who is reputed to have said “I absolutely want to go back to the America where women couldn’t vote … We want to bring back the America where Republicans and principles and true ideas of freedom rule.”  

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep. 

— Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”