The jolly elf's jingle bells - Five-year-old Adelia Crowe and seven-year-old Angelika Gloyne, both of Cherokee, shake the magic bells they brought home from a recent train trip to the North Pole. The girls boarded the Polar Express at the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad depot in Bryson City, then munched on cookies and sipped hot chocolate while riding north to the Pole (a.k.a. Whittier). The GSMR excursion....

Federal officials hear varied opinions on Duke relicensing - Federal energy officials listened last week as Duke Power outlined its plans to compensate Jackson and surrounding counties for the company's use of the area's natural resources to generate electricity. Then they listened some more as agency representatives, local government officials and individuals stated why Duke's proposed settlement (see box on page 7A) is or....

Ochre Hill woman dies in Sunday morning fire - An Ochre Hill woman died Sunday (Dec. 12) when an early morning fire engulfed her home. Danice Williams of 377 Posey Blanton Road died after being trapped in her bedroom, said Jackson County Sheriff Jimmy Ashe. Williams called the county's emergency dispatch at 4:47 a.m., and a firefighter was on the scene by 4:50 a.m., said Johnny Nichholson, chief of the Balsam Fire Department. "The whole front of the house – the bedroom area – was engulfed....

Fiber-optic companies told to negotiate - With gas, water and sewer lines crowding the public rights of way, two communications companies are going to have to cooperate if they want their fiber-optic cables to share  space. Sylva leaders voted Thursday (Dec. 9) to allow Balsam West FiberNet to lay cable in the town's rights of way, with the stipulation that the company work with Metrostat Technologies to....

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