Opinion

Autumn life

Thursday, October 17, 2024

Autumn life is beautiful, many colors to behold. We watch with great expectancy for each color to unfold. We stand in awe of its beauty and linger while we can, And thank our Heavenly Father for his goodness toward man.

The grave of Bas Shaw. Photo by Marshall McClung/The Graham Star

‘The Dragon’ has always been dangerous

Marshall McClung

Thursday, October 17, 2024

The section of U.S. Highway 129 across the Tennessee mountains and into North Carolina – now known for some time as the “Tail of the Dragon” – has made a name for itself. This is mainly due to the number of motorcycle accidents, including several fatal ones each year.

Donated goods collected in Graham County were delivered to Burnsville on Oct. 8. Photo by Eric Reece/The Graham Star

County responds to Helene relief efforts

Eric Reece

Thursday, October 17, 2024

The good folks of Graham County have done it again. A call was sent out for help – and the response came back loud and clear: help the people affected by Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina. The destruction from Helene is massive and I am still trying to understand the devastation.

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Scott Kamps

Friday, October 11, 2024

In 1918, H.L. Mencken wrote, “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” Doomsday hysteria permeates religious and political history.

Mitigation after Helene

Lynne Stevens

Friday, October 11, 2024

While Robbinsville was mercifully denied the tragedy of our Western North Carolina neighbors, serious concerns lie ahead. There are economic realities the politicians and parts of the country who question the science of climate change must reconcile. FEMA is out of regular funding as of Aug.

The U.S. Forest Service timber cruising crew in the 1930s, near what is now the Joyce Kilmer Forest. From left are Walt Smith, Bryant McClure, Fred Weise, Roan Bradley and John Waslik. Photo courtesy of John Beasley

Logging almost stunted national forest

Marshall McClung

Thursday, October 3, 2024

Of the many visitors that come to Joyce Kilmer Forest each year, very few probably know that it was almost logged by Gennett Lumber Company. In 1935, Andrew Gennett and a crew of young foresters were exploring timber land on Big and Little Santeetlah creeks in Graham County.

Perseverance through the storm

Eric Reece

Thursday, October 3, 2024

News outlets have reported Hurricane Helene as being a storm of Biblical proportions. This metaphor recalls the story of Noah and the flood in Genesis 6-8. The rain came down for 40 days and nights, and flooded the earth. The flood was caused by the wickedness of humanity.

A stubborn and undeniable fact: the brevity of life

Scott Kamps

Thursday, September 26, 2024

Leo Tolstoy brilliantly described a common reaction in The Death of Ivan Ilyich, when he wrote, “…the mere fact of the death of a near acquaintance aroused, as usual, in all who heard of it the complacent feeling that, ‘it is he who is dead and not I.

IVFs present family dilemma

Lynne Stevens

Thursday, September 26, 2024

For years, the overturning of Roe v. Wade was in the GOP’s sights and Trump’s Supreme Court brought forced pregnancy into reality. The GOP knows that wealthy women will not be forced to bare children they are not prepared to raise.

With September comes changes

Marshall McClung

Thursday, September 19, 2024

A number of songs dealing with romance have been written about the month of September. February is supposed to be the month of romance since we celebrate Valentine’s Day then. It seems for some reason that a number of disappointed lovers were left hoping for a change in September.