10 years ago
* Officers arrived at an apartment on Moose Branch, finding Trenton Ray Fabian having two stab wounds. The suspect, Shawn Todd Underwood fled the scene and was tracked by a canine unit to a field on Cody’s Creek. Taken into custody, he was charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. He was under a $100,000 bond. Officers couldn’t tell the extent of Fabian’s injuries, so he was flown to Mission Hospital in Asheville and released two days later.
* A line of storms barreled out of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, killing two people as it swept into Graham County. “It was scattered, but mostly in the northern part of the county, hitting Tapoco to Gladdens Creek and Yellow Creek to Meadow Branch, then over to Fontana,” said Larry Hembree, Graham County Emergency Management Director. Numerous trees were down and power lines were down and power lost at the historic Tapoco Lodge. Marshall McClung reported fires from downed power lines were started at Santeetlah Dam Road and in the Tuskeegee area.
25 years ago
* “The Independence Day storm that roared across the Nantahala Power and Light area created more damage than Hurricane Fran or the blizzard of 1993,” said Fred Alexander, Nantahala Power and Light manager of corporate communications. About 2,000 Robbinsville customers were without service and restoration efforts seemed complicated by thousands of downed trees across power lines. “Repair work involved virtually rebuilding six miles of line,” said Alexander. After three days, power had been restored to most customers. The remaining 27 locations in Cherokee and Macon Counties were expected to be restored the following day.
* Rob Mason, the new executive director of Graham County’s Chamber of Commerce, began his new position on July 1. Before moving to Graham County, the Masons’ lived in Myrtle Beach, where Rob owned a window washing and janitorial service. During Operation Neat Street, Mason was out with soap, mop and squeegee cleaning the windows on Main Street. “It was great to see everybody down here working,” he said. “The pace of life and the beauty of the region,” were the things Mason said that drew his family to relocate here.
-Compiled by Diane West