The Southern Highland Reader

First posted May 5, 2009 DILLSBORO–I find the Dillsboro Dam controversy a little boggling, and I’m not alone. It isn’t the fundamentals of the argument between Duke Energy and supporters of keeping the dam that are hard to grasp — although Duke’s relicensing agreement is complex — but more particularly how the Dillsboro situation fits [...]

SYLVA–The lauded expansion of Sylva’s Jackson Paper Manufacturing Company has come to a halt. Stonewall Packaging, LLC, launched in spring of 2009, has announced it will close its doors. The century old Jackson Paper plant that dominates downtown Sylva is not affected by the closing — Stonewall Packaging, located in a renovated facility further out [...]

The New York Times uses one of its killer graphics to describe Facebook’s complicated privacy options. Writes Nick Bilton in this article: Facebook users who hope to make their personal information private should be prepared to spend a lot of time pressing a lot of buttons. To opt out of full disclosure of most information, [...]

SYLVA–The Downtown Sylva Association has announced the lineup for its annual Taste of Downtown Sylva culinary walking tour. The tour, set for June 26, features the following restaurants: Papou’s Wine Shop and Bar, Lulu’s on Main, Signature Brew Coffee Company, Eric’s Fresh Fish Market, Bill’s Back Street Take-Out, Spring St. Café, Restaurant 553, My Place, [...]

CHEROKEE–The Cherokee Preservation Foundation, funded by gaming revenues produced by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, began making economic development grants in 2002. Since then, it has awarded 487 grants totaling nearly $40 million. Every dollar of the Foundation’s support has been matched by $1.41 in secured grants or other funding or in-kind resources, making [...]

FRANKLIN–The Land Trust for the Little Tennessee (LTLT) would like to thank Governor Perdue for recommending continued funding for the Clean Water Management Trust Fund (CWMTF) at $50 million for the upcoming fiscal year. Her support is vital in making sure that conservation remains a priority in these tough economic times. With the governor’s budget [...]

KITUWAH–A controversy over Duke Energy’s plans to build a relay station in Kituwah valley near Bryson City has reached the boiling point. The relay station, serviced by multiple 100-foot towers, is being constructed on a parcel of land that Duke owns near the Kituwah Mound – one of the most sacred spots of the Cherokee. [...]

A Cullowhee resident and project fanatic blogs his construction of a hand-hewn cabin in the shadow of Painter Knob.

RALEIGH–New numbers from Public Policy Polling show Sen Richard Burr’s numbers are falling against either of the two possible Democratic nominees who might run against him this fall. Burr now leads Elaine Marshall by a single percentage point, and Cal Cunningham by five points. Burr has been widely predicted to win easily in November, but [...]

CULLOWHEE – Ron Rash, the John and Dorothy Parris Distinguished Professor of Appalachian Cultural Studies at Western Carolina University, is the recipient of a prestigious O. Henry Prize for 2010. Rash received the award, his second O. Henry Prize, for his short story “Into the Gorge,” published in the fall 2008 edition of The Southern [...]

First posted June 20, 2008 CULLOWHEE–Amy Ammons Garza glows. She’s standing before a dazzling quilt with some twenty intricately detailed blocks that seem lifted straight from the pages of a finely illustrated children’s picture book. For each block, the rich and vibrant colors are so thoughtfully chosen that the quilt has an illuminated quality like [...]

First posted May 17, 2008 HAYESVILLE-Sylva blogger Gulahiyi offers up a post about a place called Smackass Gap, out beyond the better-known Chunky Gal mountain on U.S. 64. I’d never heard of Smackass (the place), nor had I heard of it’s more notable products, an author named – wait for it – Eudora Rumph. Actually, [...]

Originally posted July 13, 2009 LEICESTER-Once, in a field near Franklin, Jonathan Hearne was hit by lightning. Or rather, lightning struck the tool he was using to shear wool off a sheep. The bolt then jumped from the shears to his knees, and with a burst of flame “blew the bottoms off his feet” and [...]

“…within me there lay an invincible summer.” — Albert Camus Bookbinding and photo by Emily Wilson of Sylva

(First posted April 23, 2008) “KIMSEY CREEK–Every year about this time, when the stinkingest vegetable known to man gets ripe and tender, [Burton] Bumgarner gets out his mattock and flour sack and heads back into the high, cool hills to dig ramps. His favorite spot is here in the wild and rugged Nantahala Mountains whose [...]

CULLOWHEE–Western Carolina University’s Lectures, Concerts and Exhibitions Series will present an “Evening of Spoken Word” featuring poet, actor and musician Saul Williams on Tuesday, Feb. 16, at the Fine and Performing Arts Center. The evening will begin at 6 p.m. in the center’s Star Lobby and Fine Art Gallery with a performance by DJ Brett [...]

CULLOWHEE – L. Douglas Wilder, the first African-American elected governor in the United States, told a group of Western Carolina University students, faculty and staff that there is still progress to be made in terms of race relations, despite the historic election of Barack Obama as president in 2008. Recent controversy over Senate Majority Leader [...]

From the because-I-just-can’t-help-myself department, here are a few basketball notes: 1. The Augusta Chronicle tells its readers that an entrepreneur’s plans to launch an all-white men’s professional basketball league in the southeast are meeting with an oddly tepid response. In a statement, the All-American Basketball Alliance announced that “only players that are natural born United [...]

Every town worth its grinds needs a coffee magnate, and now Sylva has one. John Bubacz, owner of Signature Brew Coffee Company and Bubacz’s Underground on Main Street has purchased the competition — Shot in the Dark Cafe — from Lucy Silverman and Justin Goble. Silverman and Goble were recently married, and she has taken [...]

Once, about ten years ago, I was having lunch at a Sylva restaurant called the Spring Street Cafe. From my table I caught a quick glimpse down an unlikely sightline — framed just so by some plants and interior drapes, down a hallway, and through a cracked door — of a baker’s table. On the [...]