The how-to of a jail break
It was a fairly simple inside job in the end, one easily borrowed from the playbook of any Hollywood jailbreak.
Anita Vestal was just a novice jailer, with less than six months on the job at the Swain County jail. But she single-handedly sprang an inmate charged in a bloodbath of a double murder.
Awaiting her fate: Jailer helped murder suspect escape jail, fled with him to California
The jury trial of a Swain County jailer accused of springing a murderer from jail more than four years ago will conclude next week with a certain guilty verdict.
Stepping to old-time rhythms in a Swain County gym
By Jacob Flannick • SMN Correspondent
After ending a series of lessons in which she learned the basic steps of clogging, Dee Decker did not want to stop dancing.
So she held out hope for another floor, eventually moving into a classroom in a vacant church in Bryson City a couple years ago. That is where she — along with a handful of others who regularly take clogging lessons — spent hours during the winter and summer months, stomping and twirling to the old-time folk rhythms of Appalachia.
State reverses itself, gives Swain North Shore interest
Swain County leaders were relieved this month when the state gave them the go ahead to tap $382,000 in interest from the North Shore Road settlement trust fund.
Swain targets education, infrastructure and high tech with $2 million grant
Swain County residents have finally learned where exactly its $2 million in grants from the Golden LEAF Foundation will go — to schools, job training and infrastructure.
State refuses to give North Shore interest money to Swain
The N.C. Department of Revenue is holding money belonging to Swain County captive, according to county officials.
Bryson wants to get rid of unsightly signs
For years Bryson City has battled gaudy signs, decrepit signs and too many signs, particularly along U.S. 19 coming into town. Until now, it’s never had a legal foot to stand on.
Swain school officials take swift action against football player for racial insults on Facebook
A Swain County High School junior varsity football player was suspended from school for 10 days and kicked off the team for racially derogatory comments made to a member of the Cherokee JV football team.
Swain deputies rack up 13 wrecks in three years
A Swain County deputy totaled his patrol car earlier this month after hitting a parked car while going more than 50 miles per hour.
A moving target: Small-towns’ eternal chase for doctors
Five full-time doctors practicing at Swain County Medical Center have left during the past year.
The departures account for half the doctors in the county, who not only staff the emergency room but also take care of patients staying in the hospital and double as family practitioners.
