The tug-of-war over how best to spend tourism promotion dollars in Haywood County continues, but this time it appears it will be left up to county commissioners to sort out.

When Al Smith arrived at the backcountry campsite in the Lake Fontana area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for a fall camping trip last month, he didn’t find the remote backcountry experience he’d been looking forward to.

Environmental activists across the country are heralding the Democratic sweep of Congress as a mandate for better stewardship of natural resources and the environment.

A documentary film on Cherokee aired nationwide on public television stations last week. The 90-minute documentary, produced by an all-Native American team, explored cultural, social, education, economic and health issues that are central to life in Native American communities through the lens of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

The Haywood County Tourism Development Authority has an extra $90,000 to spend and everyone seems to have an idea of how it should be put to use.

Haywood County commissioners are poised to pass a slope development ordinance at their meeting next week, but a big question remains: when will the new ordinance go into effect?

Swain County residents tired of the wine selection at the grocery store will soon have not one but two new wine stores to chose from.

A three-year legal saga between the owners of Smoky Mountain Golf Course and the developers of Smoky Mountain Country Club moved one step closer to a resolution this week.

Haywood County commissioners made significant changes to a slope development ordinance created by the county planning board before passing it unanimously Monday night (Nov. 20), watering down some of the key safety measures.

While most golfers are clearing space in the closet for their clubs this winter, Travis Stephenson is already thinking ahead to next season. And he’s a bit worried.

I never realized little old ladies had such sharp elbows, or just how willing they were to use them, until my first experience with the Friends of the Library book sale at the Waynesville library several years ago.

Ron Clauser never saw himself as a lobbyist. He’s an accountant by trade, a world where logic and rationale rule the day. The same could be said of Ed LaFountaine, a career military man and retired major general in the airforce.

Jackson County got a green light from the state to move forward with plans to build a liquor store in Cashiers, despite more than two dozen residents voicing opposition to the particular location that was chosen.

Waynesville has outlawed the use of noisy engine-compression brakes by big trucks.

The number of high school students failing random drug tests in Haywood County has remained constant since the school system put a drug testing policy in place seven years ago.

A whirlwind of global cultures, languages, costumes, music and dance has landed in WNC this week. The annual arrival of the Folkmoot international music and dance festival is a welcome respite from the mid-summer doldrums. 

Neighbors near a towering rock quarry in Waynesville have voiced concerns over a proposed expansion that could cause excavations to creep ever closer to their homes.

A state bill that would have merged Lake Junaluska with the town of Waynesville is dead for now.

A new fixture made an appearance on the sidewalks of Frog Level last week: a giant green frog waving and mugging for motorists as they tooled through this small business district on the outskirts of downtown Waynesville. 

Ever since we splurged on a $2.99 plastic magician’s wand at Santa’s Land last year, my daughter has treated us to the occasional magic show in the living room. They are 90 percent theatrics, and 10 percent tricks. 

The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad and Jackson County reached an impasse on an economic development agreement last week after two years of negotiations.

Haywood County Schools has announced a handful of promotions among principals and assistant principals ahead of the upcoming school year.

My husband is from South Carolina — the state where you don’t have to wear helmets on a motorcycle and you can detonate a backyard fireworks’ show packing enough TNT to last Wile E. Coyote for a lifetime. 

A decade-long tug-of-war over what to do about Sylva’s congested commercial strip of N.C. 107 took an unexpected turn last week.

A compromise has been floated in Raleigh that could break the political impasse over the proposed merger of Lake Junaluska with the town of Waynesville.

The merger of Lake Junaluska with the town of Waynesville has yet to get the blessing of state legislators in Raleigh, and time is now running out.

Angel Medical Center in Franklin officially came under the umbrella of Mission Hospital System this week, a move Angel leaders say will help improve health care for patients and the hospital’s bottom line.

Haywood County could be landing new jobs in the near future — but what type of jobs, how many and when they would be coming are a secret for now.

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.

As a kid, my sister and I had an unspoken pact. If one of us heard Cyndi Lauper come on the radio, we promptly ran through the house hollering “Come quick, she’s on!” 

An uncharacteristically large crowd packed the Swain County commissioners meeting last week (Nov. 21) to oppose a move that will effectively lower the salary of the newly elected sheriff.

The tax on overnight lodging in Haywood County could be increased next year pending approval by the state legislature.

Illegal drug abuse and its repercussions are costing Haywood County taxpayers.

An increase in drug use has led to more drug-related arrests. That means more inmates in the county jail, which it turn takes more jailers.

We have lots of bug barns in our house: from the old-fashioned Mason jar with holes punched in the lid to a new-fangled, plastic-domed “ladybug playground” with tiny slides and such.

I wager in most families bug barns are relegated to the backyard. Ours, however, take up residence on the kitchen table, with up to four bug barns simultaneously occupied by caterpillars, ants, moths, beetles and even spiders.

After a sudden termination of their contract by Haywood Regional Medical Center last week, emergency room doctors say the reputation of hospital CEO David Rice is making it difficult to recruit new doctors to the county.

An ongoing power struggle between Haywood Regional Medical Center CEO David Rice and doctors in the emergency room came to a head last week when the hospital board, at Rice’s recommendation, voted to hand over ER operations to a corporate physician staffing company.

Many hunters in Western North Carolina are hoping that an 1869 law banning hunting on Sunday might finally be lifted.

Phoenix Emergency Physicians is making progress rounding up a new set of emergency room doctors to work at Haywood Regional Medical Center, according to Chris Lutes, the manager of the corporate physician staffing agency.

The Haywood County medical community was expected to voice its disatisfaction Tuesday night with a move by Haywood Regional Medical Center CEO David Rice to oust a long-time group of emergency room physicians and turn over the ER to a corporate physician staffing agency.

Emergency room doctors at Haywood Regional Medical Center have been on a collision course with hospital administration since a brand-new $5 million emergency room opened in December 2004.

By Becky Johnson • Staff Writer

Community outrage with Haywood Regional Medical Center continues to escalate over a move by hospital administration to oust a long-time group of emergency room doctors.

Haywood Emergency Physicians held a two-hour town hall style meeting Tuesday night to answer questions about the termination of their contract by Haywood Regional Medical Center.

The Haywood County medical community sent a strong message at a countywide meeting of doctors last Tuesday night (Dec. 12). In a 50 to 2 vote, physicians asked the hospital board of Haywood Regional Medical Center to reconsider their decision to replace emergency room doctors.

A new set of doctors will take over emergency room operations at Haywood Regional Medical Center at midnight on the night of Dec. 28.

Despite outcry from the medical community and general public, the hospital board of Haywood Regional Medical Center has stood by its decision to oust a long-time group of ER doctors and replace them with a corporate physician staffing company.

Haywood Emergency Physicians expressed concern at a public forum last Tuesday night (Dec. 19) about the turnover of emergency room operations at Haywood Regional Medical Center to a new corporate physician staffing entity at midnight the night of Thursday, Dec. 28.

The current falling out between Haywood Regional Medical Center and the ER doctors is a symptom of a larger problem afoot, according to physicians who appealed to the hospital board on behalf of the medical community last week.

A corporate entity took over emergency room operations at Haywood Regional Medical Center last week, and so far it hasn’t gone great, according to patients and those working inside the ER.

Swain County commissioners have adopted a new policy designed to keep the public more informed and give them a bigger voice in county affairs.