May 8, 1986
* A.J. Peterson and Arthur Odom – both Republicans – were elected to the respective offices of sheriff and county commissioner during the primary. Of the 5,366 registered voters in the county at the time, 3,040 (57%) cast a primary ballot. Among the candidates nominated to the November election were Sandra Smith and Alfred Wiggins (D), as well as Larry Wiggins and Tommy Stewart (R) for the board of education; as well as Odom, Chester Crisp and Raymond Williams (R), plus Wade J. Garland, Ernest Stiles and Mack Huffman (D) for county commissioner.
* Three county residents were found guilty of land violations inside the Nantahala National Forest. Donald Ray Jordan, 25, was fined $1,500 (plus $25 in court costs) for marijuana possession off Old Highway 129; Gary Gene Queen, 21, was fined $1,200 and court costs for the same violation in the Lake Santeetlah area of U.S. 129; and Patrick Teesateskie, 29, was fined $100 – plus court costs – for littering in the West Buffalo community.
May 8, 1980
* In light of a group from Farley Cemetery appearing before the Graham County Board of Commissioners to question the lack of upkeep at the cemetery, commissioner Raymond Williams made a motion for the local cemetery commission to meet quarterly. The board passed the motion, with the hope that oversights such as the one at Farley could be avoided in the future.
May 8, 1970
* A "heavy turnout" for the primary election saw candidates elected from a whopping 47-person field. Elected to the non-partisan board of education was Joe B. Collins, Wayne Carringer, J. Ralph Jenkins, Gary Jenkins and Gerald Phillips. Nominated for the November general election were sheriff candidates Dillard Jordan (D) and Melvin Howell (R); commission candidates Roy A. Jones, Frank Long and David Ross Smith (D), as well as Beecher Orr, Michael Gates and Kay C. Keever (R); and in the race for register of deeds, Leonard Davis (D) and James Arnold Orr (R).
-Compiled by publisher/editor Kevin Hensley.