The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is inviting kids and their families to participate in a selection of summer programs that offers more than a dozen hands-on fun activities through a new and expanded Junior Ranger Program.

Rebel records, the venerable bluegrass-only imprint that’s as much a home to royalty like Ralph Stanley as it is young upstarts like Steep Canyon Rangers, has issued a slew of fine CDs in the last few months.

By Michael Beadle

Dee Dee Triplett is a woman of the cloth. Her husband, Robert, is a man of strong metal.

Instant Sociology

Ever had one of those days where nobody, I mean nobody, made much sense? Baffling behaviors everywhere? Here’s my solution: research!

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Macon County residents have the opportunity to help design the first New Urbanist traditional neighborhood in Western North Carolina — a neighborhood that will rely on mixed use and smart growth development practices to create a 22-acre housing complex just outside downtown Franklin.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

As the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hones its final recommendations for the mitigation Duke Power should provide in exchange for using the region’s waterways to produce hydroelectric power, local officials are asking for one thing — more time.

By Chris Cooper

Hold one of your hands up, left or right, whichever you prefer. With your palm facing outward, curl your middle and ring fingers, as well as your thumb, into the palm of your hand, leaving the index and pinky fully extended. You are now making the universal “metal’ sign, similar to the Vulcan “live long and prosper” sign. You may use this particular gesture either in lieu of (or as a precursor to) clapping after a song. If you wish, it can be used to indicate the “metallitude” of someone or something, as well.

We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, Bruce Springsteen

When my brother-in-law sent me this CD, I couldn’t wait to get it in the player. Although I love the raw, unpolished edge to the disc, other listeners say they can’t get past Bruce’s screaming with a banjo in the background. I disagree totally.

The first negative campaign ad hit the airwaves last week in the close-heat Congressional race between U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, R-Brevard, and Heath Shuler, his Democratic challenger.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Preliminary master plans and architectural designs for Franklin’s new mixed-use, smart growth style development were presented last Thursday night (July 17). It was the first chance local residents and government officials had to see what the future looks like for the 23-acre housing complex to be located just outside downtown.

The race between U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, R-Brevard, and challenger Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville, was reclassified from “Leans Republican” to “Toss Up” by the Cook Political Report in late June. The Cook Political Report is a respected national non-partisan political analysis and polling newsletter.

Men between the ages of 45 and 65 who visit the 25-county Blue Ridge National Heritage Area are most interested in outdoor recreation. Women, on the other hand, are more interested in craft activities.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Macon County’s trash is a growing problem, says Chris Stahl, director of the Macon County Solid Waste Department.

The concern of our group is that Swain County appears to have no control of development to inside and outside interests.

One of this year’s Folkmoot groups, Bleuniadur, hails from northern France in the region known as Brittany. SMN’s Michael Beadle conducted an email interview with Fabrice David, executive director of the all-volunteer Breton folk music and dance group.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Folkmoot USA’s Gala Preview will celebrate its first year in its new home at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 20 at Eaglenest Entertainment in Maggie Valley.

Canada – Zephyr

Zephyr, a French Canadian dance company from Edmonton, Alberta, in Western Canada was founded in 2002 through Edmonton’s Francophone Dance School “L’Association la Girandole.” This summer, Zephyr includes Folkmoot as part of the group’s first international tour. The group will participate in Folkmoot immediately following its performance in the well-known festival “Mondial des Cultures” in Drummondville, Quebec.

When a room full of elected officials pleaded with a U.S. senator and a congressman last week to step into the fray over Duke Power’s plan to manage waterways in three western North Carolina counties, they were arguing for the regular folks who use these waterways but often don’t take part in politics. We hope those politicians were listening.

The Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project and WNC Alliance are opposing a logging proposal in the vicinity of Looking Glass Rock, a popular hiking and rock-climbing destination in the Pisgah National Forest.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

A warm mid-morning sun beats down on the back parking lot of the Family Resource Center in Webster where cups of color and paintbrushes await hands eager to put the finishing touches on a small mural that now graces a concrete, stairway wall.

Yes, this is another of those pesky “music you may want to check out” articles. The “canvas stretcher” opening refers to a few artists that, in my opinion, took a relatively comfortable, recognizable form of music (the canvas, if you will) and pushed it (stretched) somewhere a bit further outside the standard boundaries.

To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever, by Will Blythe

For those who enjoy reading about the rise and fall of empires, epic battles and heroic warriors, go and read Blythe’s masterpiece on one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports — Duke vs. UNC.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Franklin voters cast their ballots Tuesday on a referendum on whether to allow malt beverage and mixed drink sales.

The ballot separated the two alcoholic beverages, with voters casting a vote “for” or “against” on-premise malt beverage sales at hotel, motels and restaurants, and off-premises sales by other permitted businesses; and for or against sales of mixed beverages at hotels, restaurants, private clubs, community theaters and convention centers.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s final decision on Duke Power’s relicensing applications for its Western North Carolina hydropower plants heavily favors the proposals developed by the utility in a multi-year stakeholder process.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

In an effort to heal wounded relationships in the downtown Sylva community, local residents and leaders are uniting to develop an underused area of downtown into an attractive, accessible and functional public park.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

A group of Jackson County residents has banded together in protest of a proposed rock crushing operation and quarry to be located in the Tuckasegee community on N.C. 281. County planning official, however, say there’s nothing to worry about — at least for now.

By Marian Larson • Contributing Writer

So you’ve been to several of the performances, shopped for souvenirs, even hung out with some of the dancers? Here are a few things you still may not know about the behind-the-scenes side to Folkmoot USA.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

The 2006 Folkmoot USA international dance festival marks an important first for new executive director Jamye Cooper. This year will be the first year that she has organized the festival from start to finish, and thereby the first real test of her skills.

By Marian Larson • Contributing Writer

Not even a broken limb could keep one die-hard fan from missing a Folkmoot performance.

But then, “Folkmoot-fanaticism” seems to run in Karen Ford’s family.

By Marian Larson • Contributing Writer

They are part camp counselor, part dorm parent, and part U.N. ambassador.

As Folkmoot arrives in Waynesville this week, the visiting dancers must somehow orient to their temporary American life in the mountains. Someone must help them manage their strict daily routine and orchestrate the elements of their day from meal to shower to performance.

The effort to change the lottery funding formula so that counties in Western North Carolina get their fair share of proceeds is, for all intents and purposes, dead for this year. That’s too bad, but it also leaves voters with an important issue to discuss with candidates during the upcoming legislative election.

Dave Linn, a triathlete from Franklin, has been chosen for the United States triathlon team going to the World Championships in Switzerland at the end of August.

By Michael Beadle

It’s mid-morning at Cartoogechaye Creek just below the Macon County Recreation Park’s tennis courts in Franklin.

Bill McClarney, a veteran aquatic biologist, instructs a dozen volunteers to put on waders and descend into the cool, foot-high waters of the Cartoogechaye to see what’s living there.

Tasty, fish flavored morsels will be dropped from overhead aircraft along the North Carolina-Tennessee line in Haywood and Swain counties in coming weeks to be gobbled up by raccoons.

By Michael Beadle

Phil Smathers still vividly recalls those Saturdays as a kid when 25 cents bought a hot dog, sucker and a movie at the Colonial Theatre. He’d be there all day with his friends watching the latest Buck Rogers adventures, old cowboy Westerns, and exotic stories about Sinbad.

By Chris Cooper

Kate Campbell’s roots in southern storytelling and musical tradition run deep. Her earlier albums, specifically Songs From The Levee and Moonpie Dreams bridged the gaps between folk, country and pop in a manner not unlike Mary Chapin Carpenter’s mid-90’s work.

Books by Larry Brown

It’s probably a prejudice on my part, but it seems to me there are more good writers from the South than all the other regions in the country combined, and Brown, who died too young from a heart attack a few years ago, is among them.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Opposition to a proposed rock quarry near the intersection of N.C. 107 and N.C. 281 in Jackson County has prompted state officials to take an unusual step by calling for a public hearing on the company’s permit application before the written comment period has even closed.

By Patrick Willis • Guest Writer

Just more than 100 years ago, Canton welcomed a man from Ohio who would change the town’s history forever.

In early 1905, an industrialist named Peter G. Thomson decided to visit Western North Carolina with the hopes of building a pulp mill and extract plant to supply his paper factories in Ohio. Thomson knew vast timber in the Southern Appalachian Mountains would greatly benefit his business.

Labor Day festivities start early this year in Canton.

In commemoration of its 100th Labor Day celebration — believed to be one of the oldest, continual celebrations of its kind in the country — the Town of Canton has pulled out all the stops to present more than two dozen events throughout the month of August and early September.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

The Franklin Board of Elections went to work Tuesday morning (Aug. 1) to certify results of a referendum in which voters passed beer and liquor sales, opening the door for local businesses to begin submitting permit applications to the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

1893 — The town of Pigeon River is reincorporated by the N.C. General Assembly as Canton, N.C.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Pathways for the Future Center for Independent Living and the Jackson County Department on Aging held the 1st Annual Mountain Community Access Awards Presentation Friday, July 21.

Ho-hum.

Franklin voters approved the sale of mixed drinks and beer in a vote held last week. Few were surprised the measure passed. In truth, few seem to care too much.

The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina recently awarded $25,000 to a group of 13 land conservation organizations working collectively to protect wildlife habitat, farmland, scenic landscapes and clean drinking water in the southern region of Western North Carolina’s. Blue Ridge Mountains.

When world-renowned pianist Konstantin Soukhovetski comes to the Performing Arts Center in Waynesville this weekend, audiences will get a good look at one of today’s rising stars in classical music.

By Chris Cooper

It’s pretty rough going for the characters in Chris Knight’s songwriting.

There’s booze, violence and regret lurking around every corner. There are sad folks using other sad people to make themselves feel better, families losing their farms, and the loneliness and stillness that come with loss. But they still manage to party at the local juke joint, look back on better days, and keep an eye out for a glimmer of hope here and there.

Hands on the wheel

For less than $20, you can buy a decent hands-free earset for your cellular phone. I’m not talking about wearing it walking around town — people with those Blue Tooth things in their ears look a little too much like a mutant Lieutenant Uhura.

The Haywood County center of the NC Cooperative Extension Service has received a $15,000 grant from the Pigeon River Fund. This project will promote understanding of storm water issues and implement at least 10 residential rain pockets, a storm water best management practice.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

With a quick trip on Main Street in downtown Sylva, it’s easy enough to see the small town as a quaint collection of professional offices, locally owned restaurants, galleries, clothing and specialty shops.

Each business is located in a historically significant building, many of the old brick storefronts still bearing the name of their original owner somewhere up high in the masonry. Dotted with trees and park benches and old style lampposts, Main Street lures tourists for some lunch and an afternoon of shopping. Gaggles of families come from Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida, indicated by the license plates lined up along the street’s two-hour parking.