June 26, 1997
* Operation "Neat Street" resulted in 77 volunteers sprucing up the aesthetics of downtown Robbinsville. The idea was generated by a $3,800 grant afforded to Graham County from the Appalachian Regional Council – one of 13 distributed statewide – plus an observation from a Waynesville-based resource team that had visited the downtown area and called the location an "eyesore."
* Local resident Tony Odom and Grace Fellowship Baptist Church had both requested access to Robbinsville's water and sewer lines, which looked to expand the town's footprint via annexation. Robbinsville was dealing with a myriad of water-line issues at the time, including clay pipes failing along Milltown Road.
June 26, 1986
* Martha Ann Parks was selected as the new Graham County Department of Social Services Director. Parks replaced Christine Corpening, who was set to retire. Parks brought 34 years of experience to the table; after starting in Graham County in 1952, she worked in Cherokee County for 15 years before returning to where it all began in 1983.
* The Graham Star made the news – yes, you read that correctly. The Star was accused – incorrectly – of littering the streets of Robbinsville with its trash. After an extensive fact-check mission, it was discovered that The Star had simply followed protocol and placed its trash on the curb for collection by town workers, but it was unknowingly thrown across the street by a still-at-large suspect. Star employees scrambled to clean up the mess created by the mysterious vagrant once notified of the problem. Update: Your hometown newspaper sometimes gets accused of producing trash, but this is ridiculous.
June 26, 1980
* The new 1980-81 Robbinsville International Lions Club officers were announced: Harry Owens, president; Pete McCabe, secretary; Donnie Richardson, director; Wayne McClung, director; Adam Green, tail twister; Marshall McClung, lion tamer; J.L. Mashburn, district govern-elect; Joe Erickson, treasurer; and Tom Kuhn, director. Update: Moving forward, we will refer to McClung as The Star's "lion tamer."
* The 13th Annual Trail of Tears Gospel Singing was held in Robbinsville. Groups traveled from Oklahoma (The Psalms Trio and The New Joys); Georgia (The Gospel Express, The Gloryland Travelers and The Southland Quartet); Tennessee (The Friendly Four and The Bruner Family); and of course, from within North Carolina (The Long Family and Robert Wolfe, both from Cherokee, as well as The Powell Branch Quartet, from Candler).
-Compiled by publisher/editor Kevin Hensley.