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Local government stories headlined news during 2005
By Lynn Hotaling
As 2005 draws to a close, a look back reveals a year when local government shifts and controversy dominated the news.
Beginning in January with the removal of Airport Authority Chairman Tom McClure by county commissioners and continuing right through December’s Sylva board decision not to reappoint Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Chairman Lynda Sossamon to represent the town on the Authority, it was a year of surprise moves by elected officials.
Perhaps the biggest shock came with Commissioners’ Chairman Stacy Buchanan’s February announcement that he was resigning effective June 30; a week later, Buchanan made his resignation effective immediately.
Commissioner Brian McMahan was named chairman in Buchanan’s place, and former Commissioner Conrad Burrell was appointed to fill the remainder of McMahan’s term.
Jackson County commissioners’ removal of McClure from “all appointed county positions” was apparently part of an effort to control the Economic Development Commission, as the same motion authorized a seizure of EDC records and suspended the county’s participation in the EDC.
Though an audit showed no wrongdoing, county officials have not rejoined the economic development agency. Southwestern Community College also suspended its participation in the EDC.
That January decision set in motion a chain of events at the Jackson County Airport that remain unresolved. After McClure’s removal from the Airport Authority, commissioners reappointed the other five remaining members and added Canada firefighter Ed Riley. The reconstituted Authority elected new officers, making Gary Buchanan chairman and putting Riley in as secretary-treasurer in place of Jim Rowell, who remained on the board.
McClure, Rowell and Authority member Eldridge Painter sued, receiving an injunction in April that restored McClure and Rowell pending final resolution of the lawsuit. Buchanan, Chip Hall and Commissioner Eddie Madden resigned their seats on the Authority, and commissioners declined to appoint replacements.
Meanwhile, commissioners sought and received legislation allowing the formation of a regional airport authority in partnership with Macon County, and the existing Airport Authority moved ahead with expansion plans at the airport.
Hangar construction plans were halted by legislation introduced by state Sen. John Snow (D-Murphy) that prohibited the Authority from entering into any contracts prior to Sept. 1 and a freeze on N.C. Department of Transportation allocations to the Jackson County Airport.
Other government surprises included commissioners’ January failure to reappoint then TWSA Chairman Mickey Luker to the TWSA board. That action came on the same night that TWSA board members re-elected Luker chairman, leading to Sossamon being named TWSA chairman. Then, at the close of the year, Sylva board members did not reappoint Sossamon as their representative, meaning TWSA’s board will need to elect a new chairman in January.
2005 saw a couple of big stories without happy endings. A Glenvile man who eluded law enforcement personnel in June by entering the rain-swollen Tuckaseigee River, was found five days later in Fontana Lake. And a November armed robbery at the China Dragon restaurant in Cullowhee was tragic all around. The robber shot and wounded three employees, sending them to Mission Hospitals in Asheville, and deputies shot and killed the suspect the following morning at Moss Apartments.
National events seemed closer to home with the spike in gasoline prices caused by damage from Hurricane Katrina being felt at local pumps and 1990 Smoky Mountain High School graduate Dan Ostergaard, now head of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, visiting twice to encourage local preparedness.
In addition, Ostergaard’s Smoky Mountain High School classmate, Phoebe Juel, the 1993 college tournament winner, was back on Jeopardy! to compete in the quiz show’s Ultimate Tournament of Champions.
A nationally-known entertainer, Jay Leno, came to Cullowhee to open Western Carolina University’s new Fine and Performing Arts Center.
Things were less calm on the school front than in the previous year, with longtime SMHS Athletic Director Si Simmons forced out in August and less than unanimous support for Simmons’ successor, Mutt DeGraffenreid.
Other school changes included naming Steve Jones assistant superintendent and making Nathan Frizzell principal at Cullowhee Valley. SMHS Assistant Principal Jay Grissom left that school to be principal at the School of Alternatives.
SMHS football coach Tim Hawkins announced his resignation, but the end of the year seems likely to pass without word of his replacement.
This year’s municipal elections returned all four incumbent mayors – Brenda Oliver, Sylva; Jean Hartbarger, Dillsboro; Steve Gray, Webster; and Jim Davis, Forest Hills – though Davis won after a coin toss when election returns left him tied with Sue Burton.
Zoning and land use issues were again in local news as Sylva officials refused to proceed with annexation of the Nanny’s Lane and Griffin Road areas after engaging in a 2004 turf war with Webster to see who could annex the area first.
Sylva officials in October identified a large “area of consideration” to make future annexation easier.
In Forest Hills, Summit Apartments remained the contentious zoning issue, with Summit’s developers winning a court battle that will allow them to proceed with plans for a total of 18 buildings.
County commissioners struggled with land-use issues as well, as controversy over a proposed shooting range on Tilley Creek continued until adjacent landowners put an end to the plans by purchasing the property in question. Though commissioners were urged to pass an ordinance regulating shooting ranges, they declined to do so. County leaders also turned a deaf ear to pleas from Cashiers residents for an amendment that would reduce the hours construction noise is permitted.
2005 saw continued progress on the WCU campus with the opening of a new residence hall and the announcement of its Millennial Initiative, which will double the size of campus and allow industry partnerships on the new campus that is modeled after the Centennial Campus at N.C. State University in Raleigh.
County residents were saddened this year by the April 16 loss of retired educator Paul Buchanan, who was a principal at the old Webster School and later served as superintendent.
Weather was not the headliner it was in 2004 when back-to-back hurricanes tore through the county in September, but it did figure in the news when a surprise snow storm derailed an early-April adventure race and a July heat wave sent temperatures above 100.
Attendance was good at downtown happenings like April’s Greening Up the Mountains festival and the annual Fourth of July celebration. Residents also turned out for September’s Mountain Heritage Day and Dillsboro’s June Heritage Festival, October antiques fair and December luminaire. A new event, the Western North Carolina Pottery Festival, premiered in November and was termed a success by its organizers.
Plans for an addition to the Cashiers library moved forward with a judge’s ruling that forced a property owner to honor a contract and sell Jackson County the necessary land. A bid for the $1.6 million project was approved in September.
Duke Power’s relicensing applications continued to generate controversy. Webster joined commissioners in backing a “preferred settlement agreement that was submitted to federal power officials in June.
Duke and several conservation agencies filed documents critical of the county plan a few weeks later.
2005 was a good year for Jackson County’s literary community.
Cullowhee poet Kay Byer was named the state’s poet laureate in February, and Tuckasegee writer Thomas Crowe won a statewide award in Novermber.
In addition City Lights, Friends of the Library and the WCU Honors College combined forces to stage the second Great Smoky Mountains Book Fair, a daylong event featuring 50 regional authors that raised more than $3,000 for the new library’s building fund.
In other good news, Cullowhee firefighters received a much-needed aerial truck, thanks to a $715,000 allocation from the legislature initiated by Sen. Snow.
All in all, 2005 was another eventful year in the mountains. A monthly summary follows:
January
Owners of Cullowhee’s Summit Apartments get the go-ahead from Forest Hills officials to put up a fourth building. Summit, which is located on a 14-acre site across N.C. 107 from Western Carolina University, has three buildings and wants to add 15 more but had been blocked from expanding by the Forest Hills town board since early 2004. The decision to allow a fourth building is recommended by town attorney Jay Coward, who said Summit developers have a vested right to go ahead with a fourth building.
Wildflower beds planted in Western North Carolina by N.C. Department of Transportation’s Division 14 are declared the best in the state for the second straight year.
A judge’s ruling puts an end to an ongoing dispute between Jackson County and Cashiers landowner Jim Nichols. Judge Ronald Payne’s decision forces Nichols to honor a sales contract and convey 3.5 acres the county agreed to purchase in order to expand the Cashiers library and Southwestern Community College’s Cashiers Center.
Commissioners remove Economic Development Commission Chairman Tom McClure from all appointed county positions, including his post as chairman of the Jackson County Airport Authority, suspend county participation in the EDC and seize all EDC records. County officials also order an audit of EDC books and call in all delinquent revolving loans.
Two county fire departments – Balsam and Cullowhee – celebrate the opening of new buildings. Balsam’s fire station is located off U.S. 23/74 next to Mount Pleasant Baptist Church; Cullowhee’s second substation is on Caney Fork adjacent to the community center.
An attorney for the N.C. Press Association indicates that commissioners likely violated the state’s Open Meetings Law by failing to discuss publicly their reasons for removing McClure from his appointed posts and suspending the county’s participation in the EDC.
Commissioners opt to retain EDC records until an audit is completed, despite a request from EDC members that the documents be returned. That decision came after a preliminary audit report showed no evidence of wrongdoing by anyone connected with the EDC.
Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority board members re-elect Mickey Luker chairman on the same night that commissioners vote to replace Luker on the TWSA board. Though Luker had been on the TWSA board for five years and served as chairman for three and a half, commissioners instead choose Frank Wilkie to join Randall Turpin as their two TWSA representatives. When Wilkie is unable to serve due to a scheduling conflict, county leaders choose Commissioner Brian McMahan to serve on the TWSA board.
Acting on the advice of county attorney Paul Holt, commissioners reorganize the Airport Authority in the wake of their Jan. 12 decision to remove McClure and reappoint five of its six members – Jim Rowell, Eldridge Painter, Chip Hall, Gary Buchanan and Commissioner Eddie Madden.
Sylva’s former Ford dealer, Chig Cagle, is sentenced in Federal Court to three months home detention and two years’ probation. Cagle pleaded guilty in September 2001 to conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering and offered key testimony that helped convict former Sylva attorney Tom Jones of aiding and abetting bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
February
After months of negotiations, officials from Jackson and Macon counties reach a settlement with regard to the landfill the two agreed in 1995 to share. Under the deal, Jackson agrees to pay Macon $250,000 over the next four years. In return, the landfill contract is terminated, and Jackson is released from all other obligations regarding the Macon County landfill.
By a 3-2 vote, Sylva’s town board members reject a planned annexation of 31 acres along N.C. 116, saying that providing city services to the Nanny’s Lane and Griffin Road area would be too costly.
A final audit report shows that several EDC transactions appear to be inconsistent with approvals noted in the organization’s minutes.
Sylva officials expand their meeting schedule and add a third-Thursday 10 a.m. session to their first-Thursday at 7 p.m. meeting.
Southwestern Community College suspends its participation in the EDC.
Local builder Ed Knapp and his company, Vintage Beams and Timbers, is filmed for a segment of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” Knapp and a team of eight from Vintage Beams is part of an episode that documents construction of a home in Clayton County, Ga. The popular show speeds up the building process so that a home that would normally take six months to construct is completed in only seven days.
Summit Apartment owners appeal Forest Hills’ leaders decision that bans them from building the second phase of their planned 18-building complex.
County commissioners also alter their meeting schedule, moving from the second and third Tuesdays each month to the first and third Mondays. Meeting time remains 6 p.m.
Canada firefighter Ed Riley is the commissioners’ choice to replace McClure on the Airport Authority.
Western Carolina University doubles the size of its campus by acquiring 344 acres of adjacent property and announces its Millennial Initiative, a move designed to enable Western to engage in public-private partnerships to enhance the educational opportunities for students in high-tech programs. University officials say they plan to develop the property as a mulitple-use neighborhood that will be home to a mix of academic buildings, research facilities, business, industry and housing.
Smoky Mountain High School’s varsity cheerleaders earn a national championship in Atlanta. SMHS wins the medium varsity division (15-20 members).
Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority’s board elects former Sylva town board member Lynda Sossamon as its chairman.
Commissioners’ Chairman Stacy Buchanan announces that he will resign from his elected post effective June 30. He cites professional and family concerns as reasons, and says he has accepted the post of assistant head football coach and co-offensive coordinator at SMHS, where he is also a teacher.
Cullowhee’s Kay Byer is appointed by Gov. Mike Easley to be North Carolina’s poet laureate. An award-winning poet and author of several poetry collections, Byer will serve a two-year term.
March
The N.C. Court of Appeals upholds a Superior Court ruling by Judge Marlene Hyatt that allows a suit brought by Sybil Smith of Cashiers to proceed against all defendants. Smith filed the suit on behalf of her daughter in the wake of the sex scandal that rocked the southern Jackson County K-12 Blue Ridge School in June 2001.
A Tennessee public works director, Joe Cline, is chosen to replace Hugh Montgomery as TWSA director.
WCU history professor Curtis Wood makes the news when it is learned that he might offer testimony in the Federal Court trial of serial-bomber Eric Rudolph. However, Rudolph enters a guilty plea and the anticipated trial is cancelled.
Jackson County’s reorganized Airport Authority elects new officers over the objections of members Jim Rowell and Eldridge Painter. Gary Buchanan is voted to replace Tom McClure – who was removed from his post in January by county commissioners – as chairman, and new member Ed Riley is elected secretary-treasurer in place of Rowell.
Commissioners’ Chairman Stacy Buchanan, who resigned his post in February, decides to step down immediately rather than in June as he indicated he would when he made the announcement.
Lowe’s announces that the company will open a store in Sylva near the intersection of N.C. 107 and N.C. 116.
WCU’s Lady Catamounts capture the Southern Conference title, earning the women’s basketball team its first-ever bid to the NCAA tournament. They subsequently lose to Tennessee in the first round.
SMHS senior Cara Wittekind becomes the first Jackson County student in more than three decades to win a coveted Morehead Scholarship to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Phoebe Juel of Sylva, who was the 1993 Jeopardy! college tournament winner, is back onstage with host Alex Trebek as she competes in Jeopardy!’s Ultimate Tournament of Champions in Los Angeles. Juel, in second place heading into the final round, could not come up with the correct question and was eliminated from competition.
1990 SMHS graduate Dan Ostergaard, named in 2004 to head the nation’s Homeland Security Advisory Council, visits Cullowhee, Sylva and Cherokee. While in town he catches up with Juel, who was a classmate at SMHS. The two were both members of the school’s quiz bowl team.
Commissioner Brian McMahan is named by local Democrat party officials to succeed Stacy Buchanan as chairman of the county commissioners. McMahan, the only nominee, is elected by acclamation. Former Commissioner Conrad Burrell is named to serve the remaining two years of McMahan’s term.
Ousted Airport Authority officers Tom McClure and Jim Rowell, along with Authority member Eldridge Painter, file suit against Jackson County in an effort to be restored to their former positions. Judge Ronald Payne issues a temporary restraining order preventing the reorganized Authority from meeting or taking any action until arguments can be heard in the case.
April
A three-day adventure race through Jackson County that had attracted competitors from across the nation is cancelled when wind, snow and sub-freezing temperatures hit the area April 2. As much as 2 feet of snow is reported on some higher-elevation parts of the course, and emergency personnel are called upon to rescue a number of participants who are unprepared for the hazardous conditions.
Owners of Summit Apartments prevail in court, receiving the go-ahead to develop their 14-acre tract near WCU. Forest Hills officials had blocked Summit’s plans to increase the number of buildings on the site from three to 18, prompting developers to seek judicial relief.
A motion to declare a moratorium on shooting ranges in the county dies for lack of a second during commissioners’ April 4 meeting. The moratorium had wide support among Tilley Creek residents who opposed the location of a planned shooting range in their community. Two weeks later, commissioners direct their planning department to draft an ordinance that would regulate shooting ranges.
Work is completed on Sylva firefighters’ training facility on Fisher Creek. The two-story building allows members of the Sylva Fire Department to simulate conditions of crisis situations and put out practice fires with water from a reservoir that is part of the town’s former water system.
Superior Court Judge Ronald Payne comes down on the side of ousted Airport Authority officers and issues an injunction that restores them to their former positions pending final resolution of the lawsuit filed in March.
Retired educator Paul Buchanan, 91, who spent 20 years as a principal and superintendent in Jackson County, dies April 16 at his home in Rolling Green.
Restored Airport Authority officers indicate plans to move forward with an expansion project that had been on hold since January when commissioners removed Tom McClure from the board.
May
Webster Baptist Church, organized in 1854, celebrates its 150th anniversary during a service led by the Rev. Ray McCall, the church’s longest-serving pastor.
Early rains dampen the turnout for Sylva’s eighth annual Greening Up the Mountains downtown festival.
Simmering controversy between county and Economic Development officials flares again as commissioners discuss ways to avert what they said was an imminent foreclosure action against QC Apparel. EDC officials say the matter has been worked out and that there is no foreclosure threat.
Waverly Green of Sylva is the winner of The Sylva Herald’s annual “Mountain Spring” photo contest.
County commissioners announce their support of a regional airport and ask Rep. Phil Haire to introduce legislation in the General Assembly that would allow creation of a regional airport authority to include both Jackson and Macon counties.
Sylva Manager Richard McHargue announces his resignation from the post he’s held since January 2002.
Commissioners revisit the idea of a moratorium on shooting ranges in the county, and this time the measure passes. During the 90-day ban on ranges, county planners will work to finalize an ordinance governing shooting ranges.
Cullowhee Valley Principal Theresa Peters, who led the school for four years, announces her retirement due to health reasons.
A group of developers seek Sylva leaders’ backing for a plan that could place the town’s new post office on a Railroad Avenue lot owned by Sylva Herald Publisher Jim Gray.
An Asheville woman remains in Jackson County’s jail following the May 22 death of her 8-year-old son. The boy died in Michelle Gibson’s car in the parking lot of Mountain Trace Nursing Center while Gibson worked a double shift as a nursing assistant.
State officials give the go-ahead to Duke Power’s plans to remove the Dillsboro Dam as part of the company’s efforts to win new licenses for its hydroelectric plants in Jackson County. Some local leaders, however, continue to oppose the plan, and Webster’s town board joins the Jackson County Commissioners in backing an alternate relicensing proposal that would keep the 90-year-old dam in place.
June
Vandals attack the historic Jackson County Courthouse, sending large concrete planters crashing down the structure’s famous steps. Most of the planters, which had recently been filled with flowers by Sylva Garden Club members, were broken, and the flowers ruined.
Cashiers residents pack a Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority meeting to share concerns about how the southern Jackson County community’s limited sewer capacity is to be allocated. Only 200,000 gallons is available, and TWSA has already received requests for all of it.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians continues its quest to bring live dealers to Harrah’s Cherokee Casino. The tribe is seeking the change through a requested renegotiation of its gaming contract with the state.
Michelle Gibson is bound over in Superior Court and will stand trial for second-degree murder in connection with the May 22 death of her 8-year-old son, Devin.
WCU Chancellor John Bardo announces he will stay at Western and withdraws his name from a list of applicants for the president’s job at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va.
Rain from Tropical Storm Arlene causes minor flooding in the county. More than 6 inches of rain fell along the upper Wolf Creek area in Canada community, swelling the Tuckaseigee River and sending it out of its banks in low-lying areas.
Rescue crews search the Tuckaseigee for a man who entered the water June 14 in an effort to elude law enforcement officers who had employed stop sticks to halt his vehicle. The missing man was Robert Luck, a Cashiers real estate agent. High water caused by heavy rains associated with Tropical Storm Arlene hamper initial search efforts, and Luck’s body is found five days later in Swain County.
A WCU geology professor tells The Herald that science backs Duke Power’s planned removal of the Dillsboro Dam.
Developers withdraw their proposal to place a new Sylva post office on Railroad Avenue.
Jackson County’s Airport Authority has a quorum for the first time since a judge’s ruling reinstated Tom McClure. A resignation from Chip Hall means that McClure, Jim Rowell and Eldridge Painter constituted a quorum and can conduct business.
Fairview Assistant Principal Nathan Frizzell is named principal at Cullowhee Valley.
Jackson County’s “preferred settlement agreement” is filed with federal officials June 16. The document backs keeping the Dillsboro Dam, which Duke Power plans to remove if new operating licenses are granted for the company’s hydroelectric plants in Jackson County.
July
A group of Tilley Creek land owners protect themselves from the advent of a shooting range in their neighborhood by banding together to purchase the proposed site. The group bought four tracts, totaling 194 acres, that had been under contract to Smoke Rise Field Club.
Alleged Courthouse vandal Jeramie Ryan Conner, 25, is arrested in Roscommon, Mich., and extradited to Jackson County to face charges.
Two are killed when a hydroplaning SUV hit a truck on U.S. 23-441 in front of High Country Tire.
Former Sylva Herald reporter Carey King and Sammy Politziner say their vows July 3 during what is believed to be the first wedding at the Courthouse since its renovation and repainting earlier this year.
An alternate relicensing plan submitted to federal power officials by Jackson County and other intervenors draws fire from American Whitewater, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Forest Service, N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, as well as Duke Power. Critics of the Jackson County proposal said it is not in the public’s best interests because it doesn’t protect public access to lakeshores and the West Fork of the Tuckaseigee River.
Michelle Gibson is indicted by a Jackson County Grand Jury on charges of second-degree murder and child abuse in connection with the May death of her 8-year-old son, Devin, who died in Gibson’s car at Mountain Trace while she was working a double shift as a nursing assistant.
Sylva leaders consider various management options – including logging – for the town-owned Pinnacle Park, which is located on 1,000 acres at the head of Fisher Creek that once provided drinking water for the town.
The tribal EMS building in Cherokee is named for former Principal Chief Leon Jones.
County commissioners consider allowing private docks on land Jackson County leases from Duke Power at Lake Glenville.
Sylva leaders turn down a request from Lowe’s developers for help with impact fees at the site of their planned store near the intersection of N.C. 107 and N.C. 116.
The future of the Jackson County Airport is in limbo after the General Assembly approves legislation enabling the creation of a regional airport authority and another that places a moratorium on construction projects at the Jackson County Airport until Sept. 1.
Jeramie Ryan Conner pleads guilty in Sylva to May vandalism at the Courthouse.
School and county officials agree on plans for construction at SMHS that will bring new parking areas, a perimeter road and new athletic fields to the 45-year-old campus.
Sylva experiences a heat wave, with a temperature of 104 degrees recorded July 26.
August
Commissioners avoid decisions on two controversial topics – docks and shooting ranges – during an Aug. 1 meeting. The dock question is handed off to lakeshore property owners and a Duke Power representative, and a decision on a proposed shooting range ordinance is tabled.
Two are arrested in the wake of an Aug. 2 assault in the produce aisle of Harold’s Supermarket. Marvin Jackson Cook, 34, of Waynesville is charged with robbery and assault, and Danna Delora Grooms, 35, of Canton is charged with conspiracy and aid and abet.
Sue Ellen Bridgers of Sylva and Ray Kinsland of Cherokee receive honorary degrees during WCU’s August commencement.
Filing closes for municipal elections, and all four of the county’s towns will have contested mayoral races.
SCC’s Cashiers Center moves to a new location that offers twice the space for classes and other services.
Jay Denton, Jackson County commissioners’ chairman from 1998-2002, is named Sylva’s manager.
Law enforcement officials from more than 35 counties gather in Sylva to kick off the fall 2005 “Booze It and Lose It” campaign.
Autopsy results confirm that heat caused the May death of 8-year-old Devin Gibson. His mother, Michelle Gibson, is charged with second-degree murder in connection with his death.
An Aug. 22 localized downpour that dumps massive rain on the Little Savannah watershed apparently triggers two slides on slopes adjacent to the Jackson County Airport. Geologist Rick Wooten with the N.C. Geological Survey said that while the slides appear to be related to airport construction in the late 1970s, further earth movement does not appear imminent.
Cullowhee Valley School’s Jack Collins is named Jackson County’s Teacher of the Year by a panel of educators and community members.
September
Gas prices in Jackson County soar after pipelines in the Gulf Coast are damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Several county residents get involved with hurricane-relief efforts, traveling to Louisiana and Mississippi to deliver supplies and help with feeding those displaced by the storm.
A countywide Katrina-relief fund-raiser spearheaded by The Sylva Herald and WRGC raises more than $33,000 to aid the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast.
County commissioners ask the N.C. Department of Transportation to do a feasibility study on the Jackson County Airport to update one done in 1997. Commissioners cite two August landslides near the Airport as triggering the request; Airport officials say the study has already been updated, pointing to a 2004 report that was mandated by DOT’s Division of Aviation.
Harrah’s Cherokee Casino opens a smoke-free gaming floor.
Local schools report an enrollment increase of about 100 students over the previous year.
Commissioners approve a $1.6 million bid for expansion at the Albert Carlton/Cashiers Community Library.
Word comes of an out-of-court settlement in the civil lawsuit filed in the wake of the sex scandal that rocked Blue Ridge School in the spring of 2001. Sybil Smith of Cashiers, who filed the suit on behalf of her daughter, agreed to end the legal battle for payments of $26,500.
School officials name Steve Jones to the post of assistant superintendent.
Commissioners hire Timm Muth to coordinate the county’s landfill gas recovery project.
Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority board members approve Joe Cline as the utility’s permanent director.
A Sept. 28 gas leak forces the evacuation of part of downtown Sylva. Contractors installing a sewer line for TWSA broke a PSNC natural gas line near the east intersection of Main and Mill streets.
October
Caney Fork’s Martin Cook is named to the Piano Roll of Honor, and The Inspirations, the gospel quartet Cook founded more than 40 years ago, is voted Favorite Gospel Male Quartet at the Singing News Fan Awards in Lexington, Ky.
Sylva leaders approve two variances for a planned Lowe’s store near the intersection of N.C. 107 and N.C. 116. The store got the go-ahead to reduce parking spaces and display a larger sign than Sylva’s zoning ordinance stipulates.
Sylva town board members designate an “area of consideration” that includes Kings Mountain, Dillardtown, Cope Creek, East Cope Creek and portions of Dills Cove, Allens Branch, Kitchens Branch, Fisher Creek, Beta and Fairview. Once such a zone is created and exists for a year, town leaders can annex portions of it in just 40 days.
U.S. Postal Service officials announce three sites still under consideration for a new post office in Sylva – two at Jackson Plaza and one owned by Norman Flaxman just off N.C. 107 on Hensley Circle.
Local elections officials clear John Faulk to run in Dillsboro’s municipal elections. Faulk’s candidacy had been challenged by a Dillsboro resident who said Faulk actually lives in Sylva.
Jay Leno, host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” was in Cullowhee to headline the black-tie gala that opened WCU’s new Fine and Performing Arts Center.
Sylva town board member Anne Cabe, citing “personal reasons,” resigns her post and withdraws as a candidate in Sylva’s upcoming municipal elections.
November
The Sylva Herald announces its first-ever Christmas photo contest, with winners to be published in the newspaper’s Dec. 22 edition.
Most incumbents – including Mayors Brenda Oliver, Sylva; Jean Hartbarger, Dillsboro; and Steve Gray, Webster –prevail in county municipal elections. The Forest Hills mayoral race, which ended in a tie between incumbent Jim Davis and Sue Burton, is settled by a coin toss that allows Davis to remain mayor.
Tuckasegee author and poet Thomas Crowe earns statewide recognition when he is named recipient of the Ragan Old North State Award for Nonfiction by the N.C. Literary and Historical Association. Crowe won the award for his 2004 book “Zoro’s Field: My Life in the Appalachian Woods.”
An armed robbery at Cullowhee’s China Dragon leaves three restaurant workers hospitalized with gun shot wounds. The robbery suspect, Dewann McCollum, is killed the following morning by law enforcement officers when he refuses to surrender. Results of a State Bureau of Investigation probe place McCollum at the China Dragon crime scene and reveal that he has recently fired a gun.
Dillsboro voters say “yes” to on-premise sales of beer and wine.
Sylva board members table the reappointment of TWSA Chairman Lynda Sossamon, saying they want the matter decided in December after recently-elected members Stacy Knotts and Harold Hensley join the board.
Sylva’s annual Christmas Parade draws hundreds downtown to kick off the holiday season.
Local retailers report brisk sales on the Friday after Thanksgiving, which is viewed as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.
December
Sylva board members, with Mayor Brenda Oliver breaking the tie, reappoint TWSA Chairman Lynda Sossamon to represent Sylva on TWSA’s board. Two weeks later, with the backing of new member Harold Hensley, Sylva board members Ray Lewis and Danny Allen vote to revisit that appointment and then overturn it. New Sylva board member Stacy Knotts is appointed to serve a three-year term on the TWSA board.
Homeland Security Advisory Council Director Dan Ostergaard, a 1990 SMHS graduate, tells an audience at WCU that homeland security depends on every citizen doing his part. “The homeland isn’t safe unless the hometown is same, and the hometown isn’t safe unless the home is safe,” Ostergaard said.
Five Jackson County women – Elaine White, Margie Hall, Joyce Cooper, Mary Adams and Stella Hall – are named recipients of the Governor’s Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service.
Cullowhee firefighters receive a new aerial truck that will enable them to reach the top floors of WCU’s high-rise dormitories. The $715,000 purchase was made possible through a grant from the General Assembly based on legislation introduced by state Sen. John Snow (D-Murphy).
District Attorney Mike Bonfoey confirms that former Sylva town board member Anne Cabe is under investigation by the SBI. While Bonfoey won’t comment on the specifics of the case, The Herald learns the probe centers around money missing from New Savannah Baptist Church.
Two pre-Christmas bank robberies dampen Jackson County’s holiday cheer. Two male suspects take an undisclosed amount of cash from United Community Bank in Cashiers Dec. 19 and flee toward South Carolina, while a lone male suspect hits SunTrust in downtown Sylva on Dec. 20. The Sylva robbery bears many similarities to a Dec. 22, 2003, heist at the same bank (then Central Carolina Bank) and may be the work of the same robber, law enforcement officials say.
Wes Stone of Cullowhee is the winner of this newspaper’s first Christmas photo contest.
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