This story was written by Quintin Ellison, originally published in The Sylva Herald. Police and volunteers used leaf blowers and metal detectors to sweep Pinnacle Park’s entire 18-mile trail system, uncovering and removing 50 or more booby-trap spikes forged from 16-penny nails. Someone hammered the nails into roots. The nails’ heads were clipped or cut off, leaving […]
WCU employees, students protest ban
February 10, 2017 by
This story was written by Quintin Ellison, originally published in The Sylva Herald. Faculty and student leaders at Western Carolina University condemned President Donald Trump’s immigration order as “fundamentally antithetical to the values and goals of higher education and to American values as a whole.” Meeting Feb. 3, Faculty Senate members voted to approve a resolution opposing […]
Trump order strikes home: Foreign-born WCU faculty wonder ‘who is next?’
February 2, 2017 by
This story was written by Quintin Ellison, originally published in The Sylva Herald. Farzaneh Razzaghi returned last week from visiting her mother in Iran. Soon after, President Donald Trump issued his immigration ban on Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia. Though she holds U.S. citizenship, Razzaghi, dean of library services for Western Carolina University, said […]
All politics is local: Jackson County residents march on D.C., Asheville
January 26, 2017 by
This story was written by Quintin Ellison, originally published in The Sylva Herald. As upwards of 500,000 protesters descended Saturday on the nation’s capitol, thousands more streamed into Asheville to show solidarity. Jackson County residents marched in both cities. “I went for all people in the name of human rights. We marched to the White House – […]
Democrat loses TWSA seat
January 13, 2017 by
This story was written by Haley Smith and Quintin Ellison, originally published in The Sylva Herald. Republican Commissioner Mickey Luker denied party politics were involved in Monday’s successful ouster of a prominent local Democrat from the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority. “There isn’t a bit of it politically motivated,” Luker said during the Jackson County Board of Commissioners meeting. […]
Firefighters tame 15 fires in Cherokee; arson blamed
November 21, 2016 by
This story was written by Quintin Ellison, originally published in The Sylva Herald on Nov. 17. In 26 years as the Nantahala District ranger for the U.S. Forest Service, Mike Wilkins has fought a lot of wildfires in Western North Carolina. The veteran firefighter has never seen anything quite like this, however, at least not in […]
