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.

As part of its transformation to an upscale club and resort, the new Maggie Valley Club is in the midst of a $6 million clubhouse renovation and redesign.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Residents from Jackson County’s Allen’s Branch community said they didn’t know exactly what Sylva town officials were talking about during an informational session regarding plans to bring the area under the town’s extra territorial jurisdiction held Monday night — but they didn’t like it.

Louis Garnett • Guest Columnist

This wasn’t my doctor’s office; it was the vendor exhibit hall at a symposium on pharmaceutical promotion.

The clerk behind the window stuck a form into an Effexor clipboard and handed me a Gentiva pen. But sitting down to read and sign, my elbow intruded onto a chairside table, knocking a flutter of somethings onto the carpet. Collecting the mess, I discovered entry cards for an Imitrex “My-graine Stories Contest,” soliciting migraine experiences in 400 words or less — well, correctly “fewer,” but maybe the judging would be outsourced.

Thanks to a National Science Foundation grant-funded project led by a Western Carolina University professor, 25 young people from Washington’s Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe are seeing firsthand how the nation’s largest dam removal project will impact a river system with deep spiritual and cultural significance to the tribe.

Peregrine falcons, a recovering endangered species, once again nested successfully this spring on Whiteside Mountain in Highlands.

Cyclists will be testing their legs and lungs on the roads of Western North Carolina later this month in the debut of the Tour de Tuck Bike Challenge on Saturday, Aug. 19.

By Chris Cooper

Man, I don’t want to start off with the whole “He’s done it again!” thing. You know, the kind of review where the author is obviously a fan of the artist already, and can do nothing but toss out glowing praise for every note, every beat, every letter of the liner notes. I so don’t want to come off as “that guy.”

Students in Haywood Community College’s Film and Video Production Technology Program just finished an original film written by one of its students.

Canton’s 100th Labor Day Celebration will feature three showings of a 30-minute documentary about the town’s history at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 25; 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 27; and at 4 p.m. on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 4. All showings are free and will be held at the Canton Colonial Theater.

Storytelling

The term “storytelling” has been acquired by a diverse number of creative folks from musicians (the late Harry Chapin, for example) to artists, filmmakers and writers.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

For the past 24 years, crowds have gathered at Happy Holiday Campground in Cherokee for the annual Cherokee Bluegrass Festival.

By Michael Beadle

Profits are up for Blue Ridge Paper Products nearly two years after devastating floods washed through the Canton paper mill, causing $7 million in damages and temporarily shutting down production.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Members of a grassroots citizens group rallying against a proposal to build a rock quarry in the Tuckasegee community of Jackson County will appear before county commissioners Thursday, Aug. 17, to plead their case further.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Once more, for the last time — Ghost Town has sold.

The announcement came Tuesday morning as regional economic developers unveiled plans for the Maggie Valley theme park to reopen in May 2007. Hank Woodburn, owner of Adventure Landing, which has nine amusement attractions in four states, Al Harper, owner of the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, and Peter Hairston, an independent venture capitalist were expected to close the deal with Ghost Town owner R.B. Coburn Tuesday afternoon.

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., has helped Waynesville obtain a loan of $2 million to construct its new fire station.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

About half way between Sylva and Cashiers on N.C. 107, between Jackson County’s Caney Fork and Glenville communities, is the small but busy Tuckasegee.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Sylva Town Board members are expected to move forward with plans to make the Allen’s Branch community part of the town’s extra territorial jurisdiction Thursday, Aug. 17. However, several local residents are pushing for the boundary’s lines to be redrawn.

This is about political ignorance, ignorance highlighted by the recent news about Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s apparently serious illness.

When Waynesville leaders met earlier this month to discuss the site plan and variance requests for the proposed big-box development at the old Dayco site, it seems they spoke with a unanimous voice, urging construction of something other than an off-the-shelf retail center.

By Chris Cooper

Here are a few things about “modern” rock and pop that I’ve found interesting (in a morbid curiosity kind of way) or just plain depressing recently. Maybe I’ve too much time on my hands. Maybe some of this will actually make sense. Who knows? Read, then discuss amongst yourselves.

“Scoop”

The world’s been in need of a good Woody Allen film and this murder-mystery/comedy fabulously fills the void. As the magician “Splendini” Allen is a hoot, essentially playing himself with a few card tricks up his sleeves.

David B. Cotton of Seven Lakes has been named Haywood County manager

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

The Town of Sylva has been awarded a $3.5 million grant from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund to purchase a conservation easement to protect its 1,088-acre Fisher Creek watershed.

If politics makes strange bedfellows, then surely Rutherford Trace offers some curious pillow talk in the legislative halls of Raleigh and Washington, D.C.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

The grassroots group United Neighbors of Tuckasegee celebrated another victory in the battle to keep a rock quarry from locating in its community when county commissioners passed a resolution Thursday night (Aug. 17) imploring state officials not to issue a permit to quarry operators.

When Todd Berrong, a former gun fighter at Ghost Town amusement park, walked through the gate of his old stomping grounds this week, he saw a circle of six men dressed in cowboy hats and boots, gun holsters slung around their waist, complete with leather vests and chaps.

By Michael Beadle

To some, it was a crucial military campaign early in the Revolutionary War, an unprecedented patriot force that crushed a potential British ally and paved the way for American independence and inevitable white settlements in Western North Carolina.

By Sarah Kucharski • Staff Writer

Town aldermen are moving ahead with plans to vote the Allen’s Branch community into Sylva’s planning jurisdiction.

Citizens in Jackson County’s Tuckasegee community should consider themselves lucky. The problem, however, is that luck doesn’t always hold.

It appears very likely now that a proposal to construct a rock quarry in this rural community is not going to fly. Jackson County enacted a high-impact industry ordinance in May 2002 that placed relatively tight regulations on quarries and mines. According to that law, the proposed rock crusher would have to be 1,320 linear feet from the nearest home.

On-going farmland conservation efforts in the rural Haywood County community of Bethel got a boost with a $20,000 grant from the Pigeon River Fund this month.