News

A tobacco barn on Hwy. 143, captured after snow fell in Graham County in Jan. 2018. Photo by Art Miller/amiller@grahamstar.com

A tobacco barn on Hwy. 143, captured after snow fell in Graham County in Jan. 2018. Photo by Art Miller/amiller@grahamstar.com

Fading barns harken simple times

Robbi Pounds
Thursday, January 23, 2020
Half a million tobacco barns once sat in North Carolina fields.  In recent decades, many states have actively discouraged tobacco production, while industrialized farming methods rendered tobacco barns largely irrelevant to the modern farm.
Madison Coffey, Isabelle Handy, Daniella Giese, Ashley Ruston, Catherine Cloutier, Matthew Griffin, Craig Bucci and Slesha Tuladhar (clockwise from bottom left) work on Valentine’s Day cards for troops stationed overseas Friday at the Snowbird Community Library. Photo by Art Miller/amiller@grahamstar.com

Madison Coffey, Isabelle Handy, Daniella Giese, Ashley Ruston, Catherine Cloutier, Matthew Griffin, Craig Bucci and Slesha Tuladhar (clockwise from bottom left) work on Valentine’s Day cards for troops stationed overseas Friday at the Snowbird Community Library. Photo by Art Miller/amiller@grahamstar.com

Love from afar

Robbi Pounds
Thursday, January 23, 2020
Snowbird – The Snowbird Community Library hosted the second annual Valentine’s Cards for our Troops event Friday, which saw nearly a dozen visitors from all over the world crafting Valentines for soldiers deployed overseas.
Oralene Simmons will be the keynote speaker at Western Carolina University's Martin Luther King, Jr. recognition Wednesday, Jan. 22.

Oralene Simmons will be the keynote speaker at Western Carolina University's Martin Luther King, Jr. recognition Wednesday, Jan. 22.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Speaker is Pioneer in Civil Rights

News Staff
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Cullowhee – A civil rights pioneer, community leader and instrumental voice for social justice in the mountains will be the keynote speaker for Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations at Western Carolina University.
A bald eagle, in-flight over Lake Junaluska in Haywood County. Photo by Amy Boggan/Contributing Photographer

A bald eagle, in-flight over Lake Junaluska in Haywood County. Photo by Amy Boggan/Contributing Photographer

Soaring from brink of extinction

Robbi Pounds
Thursday, January 16, 2020
The most majestic of birds, the symbol of our nation, the most sacred bird in Cherokee culture – crouched by the side of the highway, choking down hunks of roadkill opossum – has prompted Graham County residents to wonder: is this normal?  Is the bald eagle population increasing?

Census needs workers

Robbi Pounds
Thursday, January 16, 2020
As the U.S. Census Bureau prepares for this year’s count, Murphy and Andrews have only half the number of census workers needed. Graham County has even fewer.  Though temporary, these jobs pay well, at $17 per hour and 58 cents per mile.
Lex Hooper, Wade Hamilton, Samson Jones Candler Edwards and Drey Keener (from left) handle some weaponry, which was part of the Civil War unit at Robbinsville High School on Monday. Photos by Art Miller/amiller@grahamstar.com

Lex Hooper, Wade Hamilton, Samson Jones Candler Edwards and Drey Keener (from left) handle some weaponry, which was part of the Civil War unit at Robbinsville High School on Monday. Photos by Art Miller/amiller@grahamstar.com

Civil unit

Robbi Pounds
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Robbinsville – The Civil War came alive Monday inside the Robbinsville High School auditorium, as re-enactors Austin Walls, Carol Hensley and Annette Hensley shared both their knowledge and extensive collection of artifacts with students and teachers.
Heavy public interest in the Town of Robbinsville meeting on Jan. 8 – originally believed to be the session a resolution that would allow alcohol sales to appear on the next ballot – forced a last-minute relocation to the nearby Graham County Courthouse. Photo by Kevin Hensley/editor@grahamstar.com

Heavy public interest in the Town of Robbinsville meeting on Jan. 8 – originally believed to be the session a resolution that would allow alcohol sales to appear on the next ballot – forced a last-minute relocation to the nearby Graham County Courthouse. Photo by Kevin Hensley/editor@grahamstar.com

No alcohol sales – for now

Kevin Hensley
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Robbinsville – Formal at times – contentious at others – the Jan. 8 town Board of Aldermen meeting was spearheaded by a 45-minute public comment period on a proposal that would allow voters to decide on alcohol sales within the city limits.