By Dee Burrell

At the end of the year, a lot of different celebrations are happening for various reasons. Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza and Winter Solstice, or Yule. When people use the phrase, "The reason for the season," I immediately think the reason for the season is well… the season! The winter season. The Yuletide, which means the time of Yule.

Question: What Does it take to be a Dietitian? 

By Patrick Gleason • Guest Columnist | In times like these, with public resources scarce and taxpayer dollars facing tremendous strain, it’s imperative for state and local officials to focus on core functions of government, of which competing with the likes of Verizon, Comcast, and AT&T is definitely not one. Yet Franklin Mayor Bob Scott penned a guest column in the Asheville Citizen-Times recently arguing for just that, urging the North Carolina General Assembly to permit “local government to compete with big-boy providers” for internet access.  Whether Mayor Scott’s advice can become a reality now depends on the two Jan. 5 U.S. Senate runoff elections taking place in Georgia. 

To the Editor:

As a public middle school teacher in the great state of North Carolina, I could expound for pages about the standardized testing model in our public schools. I hold many strong opinions about it, the administration of, and how the scores are used.  

To the Editor:

All the hype about President Donald Trump claiming voter fraud and the Rudy Giuliani’s traveling legal circus is just the latest Trump scam. Nobody has come up with any evidence of voter fraud of any extent. Of almost 50 legal challenges the only one Giuliani won was to have observers six feet from poll workers instead of 19.

To the Editor:

It seems that Ali Baba Don intends to pardon his 40 thieves. 

To the Editor:

Doctors across America are literally begging people to mask, maintain safe distances, avoid large and small gatherings, earnestly pleading with us to follow preventive measures to keep ourselves and our fellow citizens as safe as humanly possible from the deadly virus infecting our planet.

A total of $1.25 million for six projects in far Western North Carolina received funding in this year’s round of grants from the N.C. Land and Water Fund, formerly known as the Clean Water Management Trust Fund. Statewide, the fund awarded $14.6 million across 39 projects.

The National Park Service Investigative Services Branch continues to seek information related to sexual assaults that may have occurred within Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

Macon County School Board has two new members following the 2020 election and a special appointment to fill a recent vacancy. 

Haywood County is currently experiencing a rapid increase in positive cases of COVID-19, indicating unchecked community spread. Thus, with the health and safety of our patients, families, employees and community in mind, Haywood Regional Medical Center will temporarily suspended visitation to our facility effective 6 a.m. Monday, Dec. 7. This includes inpatient visitation, inpatient and outpatient procedures and surgeries, and the ER.

Between Dec. 1 and Dec. 3, Haywood County Public Health received notice of 79 new cases of COVID-19. As of 5 p.m. Dec. 3, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has recorded a total of 1,286 cases in Haywood County since the pandemic began.

N.C. Department of Transportation officials recently awarded three separate contracts totaling more than $6.7 million to resurface more than 26.2 miles of roads in Graham, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties.

Jorge Hernandez, arrested last year after crashing into a motorcyclist on N.C. 107 near Glenville, killing him, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Jackson County Superior Court, Assistant District Attorney Chris Matheson said.

Diann Catlin • Guest Columnist | Every American should want and demand evidence as to the integrity of the recent 2020 election. Every American should be able to trust the integrity of a record that their own vote actually counted. If there is any way a foreign adversary or a homegrown activist manipulated any pathway so that the will of American people voting their choice is erased and outvoted by dead people or compromising machinery, every American should want to see the proof.

The All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory has hit a new milestone in its quest to document the incredible biodiversity of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, this year passing the 21,000 mark in species identified within the park.

Masks must be worn inside gyms and other fitness facilities following Gov. Roy Cooper’s latest executive order. 

By Laura Lauffer • Contributing writer | During the holiday season, we often recognize and appreciate the farmers in our community for the abundance of food on our tables. Three women farmers in the region shared their farming experience during this challenging year, what it means to them to farm as women and how they continued to grow and distribute their goods to the community in the challenging times of COVID. 

An Alabama man is dead following a fall from an overlook in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. 

Ornithology Season is underway for the N.C. Arboretum’s ecoEXPLORE program, which encourages kids to connect with the outdoors and engage in citizen science. 

In response to concerns about the surge of COVID-19 cases across North Carolina and the U.S. and in consultation with the Jackson County Department of Public Heath, Western Carolina University is canceling the modified in-person commencement ceremonies scheduled for Dec. 10-13 and shifting to a series of virtual ceremonies.

Dear anyone thinking about the holidays and wondering what to get… for themselves,

Question: What’s the difference between celiac disease and gluten sensitivity? 

The North Carolina Department of Commerce released the county tier designations for 2021, showing that Haywood moved to a more economically stressed tier and Macon County moved to a less economically stressed tier. 

COVID-19 is surging in Western North Carolina counties, and eight nursing homes in Haywood, Jackson and Macon counties are currently battling ongoing outbreaks. 

UPDATE: The N.C. Board of Transportation unanimously approved the renaming during its Dec. 2 meeting. 

The 4.2-mile stretch of U.S. 441 between U.S. 19 and the Smoky Mountain Expressway in Whittier will soon be known as the Beloved Man Dr. Jerry Wolfe Highway if the N.C. Board of Transportation approves the naming request at its Dec. 2 meeting. 

The Jackson County Branch of the North Carolina Conference of the NAACP was recently awarded a $25,000 grant from the Duke Energy Foundation. This is one of 40 such grants to local nonprofit programs throughout the state that are focused on achieving social justice and racial equity in their communities.

The Haywood County Health and Human Services Agency has identified COVID-19 outbreaks at Autumn Care of Waynesville, Maggie Valley Nursing & Rehabilitation, and Haywood Nursing & Rehabilitation.

Like many of you I bought some extra cans of whole berry cranberry sauce at my Ingles Market. So then I started thinking—what can I do with it besides making cranberry sauce?

A Macon County resident diagnosed with COVID-19 passed away Sunday. The person was over the age of 65 and had underlying health conditions. 

Haywood County Health and Human Services has reported three more COVID-19 related deaths as of Nov. 24, bringing the county’s total to 40 people. 

Alarka Institute in Cowee is now selling seeds and young plants of the Franklinia, one of the most rare shrubs in the world.

Despite the pandemic, the recently formed WNC Climate Action Coalition is still hard at work.

Blue Cross NC has contributed $275,000 to the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project this year to help combat food insecurity caused by the pandemic while also helping farmers. 

A trio of conservation groups is suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act, charging that new and illegal agency policies bar use of proven management measures to save the red wolves. 

More than 50 volunteers showed up for MountainTrue’s 10th annual Lake Chatuge Shoreline Cleanup on Nov. 7, removing 1.8 tons of trash. 

The beloved discount outdoor gear store The Frugal Backpacker has announced that it will close its stores in Asheville and Greenville, South Carolina, as a result of the ongoing pandemic. 

To the Editor:

This is my first letter to the editor, ever.  So you know that I feel strongly enough to write it. 

To the Editor:

I read with understanding and sadness the article about people leaving the cities and moving to Western North Carolina because of the fresh air and space. Before long they will turn Western North Carolina into exactly what they are trying to get away from. It won’t take long. It’s already happening.

Janice Workman

Bryson City

To the Editor:

Like government and business leaders across the country, I am continually looking for ways to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our county. So when I discovered new research that could detect traces of COVID in wastewater, I felt compelled to try and replicate it in Jackson County. 

To the Editor:

To counter the recent assertions from some suggesting that this past election was fraudulent and illegitimate, I would like to put out the following arguments:

By Steve Wall • Guest Columnist | On Sept. 10, 2020, Donald Trump greeted a cheering crowd in Freeland, Michigan, with these exact words: “We brought you a lot of car plants, Michigan! We brought you a LOT of car plants. You know that, right!”

This was greeted with excited cheers. So I have to wonder — did many of the people in the crowd realize there were no new car plants built in Michigan during the Trump administration? Were any aware that over 3,000 workers in the Michigan auto industry had lost their jobs since 2017?

By Boyd Allsbrook • Contributing writer | This year’s post-Thanksgiving weekend of shopping holidays will be unlike any other. This should come as no surprise when one considers a market made unpredictable in the wake of a global pandemic, large swaths of the consuming public now reticent to venture outside and their consequent move to the safety of purely online vendors. 

The National Park Service announced it is partnering with the U.S. Forest Service on a project that includes a proposal for additional access to the Graveyard Fields trail system from John Rock Overlook at Milepost 419.4 on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  

District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch announced that she has breast cancer and is undergoing medical treatment.

A Ghost of Christmas Past, femme-forward adaptation of Charles Dickens' ‘A Christmas Carol’ adapted by Ashlee Wasmund will premiere virtually this Thanksgiving. 

Eliada works hard to make the holidays a special time for the children in our care. This year, due to the pandemic, children and youth need support more than ever.

Allegiant recently announced a new nonstop route to McCarran International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas from Asheville Regional Airport beginning March 4, 2021. To celebrate, the company is offering one-way fares on the new route as low as $79.