Fracking opponents: What they said
“We want unannounced reviews and inspections by DENR. It’s like a drug test. You tell them they’re going to be drug tested? They’re clean. So we want unannounced inspections, number one. We want records kept for a minimum of 50 years, not 5 years. We want no wide-range variances on regulations. We don’t want favors given out to criminals that are fracking our land.”
— Louise Heath, Cherokee tribal member
Fracking opponents sweep public hearing
It didn’t take but a glance around the lawn of the Liston B. Ramsey Center at Western Carolina University to see that Sept. 12 was going to be an eventful evening.
Fracking opponents prepare for battle
It was back to school for a group of staunch fracking opponents on Friday, Sept. 5. The corner conference room in the Jackson County Public Library was a bit small for the 20 people crammed in to it, but they were ready to learn.
Fracking opposition organizes in WNC
Candice Caldwell Day and her husband Shayne recently went to Andrews Airport in Cherokee County.
“To hold up a really big sign,” she said.
One for the books: Steep slope hearing encapsulated in print
The public hearing on Jackson County’s steep slope regulations struck Dave Waldrop as special.
“It was so unbelievable,” Waldrop said.
Petition drive steers toward education funding
Advocates calling for increased state education funding made a stop in Haywood County Monday as part of a statewide tour en route to Raleigh, where they will deliver a stack of petitions signed by 61,000 state residents later this week.
Sylva crowd marks King’s march, vows to continue fight
In honor of the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s march on Washington, D.C., political activists in Western North Carolina celebrated a dream of their own.
Democrats organize Waynesville protest against General Assembly’s actions
More than 150 protestors marched in downtown Waynesville Monday to oppose what they characterize as egregious policies by Republican state lawmakers that will take North Carolina back to the Dark Ages.
Commissioners quietly opt not to rein in protestors
The ordinance was discussed and drafted; Jackson County’s legal counsel had reviewed it; and it had the stamp of approval from the county manager.
Once it got passed, the county would be able to corral and rein in protestors.
Latinos on protest circuit ‘sit-in’ at sheriff’s office
Undocumented workers staged a sit-in at the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office last week to protest the sheriff’s alleged targeting of Latino immigrants through deliberately placed traffic stops.
