Editorials - 12/27/01

Events of 2001 will long be remembered

Just as our parents know with certainty where they were Dec. 7, 1941, when they learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and our generation remembers what we were doing Nov. 22, 1963, when news came of the assassination of President John Kennedy, we will carry the memory of Sept. 11's terrorist attacks with us for the rest of our days.

The shock and horror of hijacked commercial airliners crashing into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., have altered the futuristic landscape depicted in the 1970s epic "2001: A Space Odyssey."

On a national level, all other events of 2001 pale before the cataclysmic tragedy of Sept. 11.

But The Sylva Herald is not a national publication. Though shock waves from the Sept. 11 explosions reverberated in Jackson County and triggered marches and relief efforts here, our year-end retrospective remains, as always, squarely focused on local trends and events.

And what a year it was as Jackson County celebrated its 150th birthday with a variety of historically-themed programs. This week concludes both the county's sesquicentennial year and The Sylva Herald's 75th anniversary, an occasion marked with a weekly series of articles from our earlier editions.

On a less positive note, we saw news of murder and other crimes and alleged crimes dominating our front pages in a way that was both unfamiliar and unsettling. One February issue had news of three murders, and as the year progressed, we reported on a major sex scandal at one local high school and the arrest of a teacher at the other.

Zoning and land use questions popped up over and over again. Despite the cumulative finding from a year's worth of Smart Growth meetings that local residents want some countywide planning to protect our area's scenic beauty and rural character, commissioners considered the question only in bits and pieces in response to community-specific concerns. Though county billboard regulations were upheld in the N.C. Court of Appeals in October, another targeted response, a November ordinance that required sightseeing helicopter operations to fly from the Jackson County Airport, was ruled unconstitutional in December.

Concerns over solid waste disposal and recycling issues, discussed all year, resulted in a Dec. 20 ordinance that will regulate solid waste, and, at year's end, Sylva leaders stand poised to hire the town's first appointed manager, a move county leaders made in July.

As 2001 draws to a close, we find ourselves optimistic as we look toward 2002 - a year we hope will be filled with peace and prosperity both for Jackson County and the nation.

Happy new year.

Back to Archive: 12/27/01.