Photos by Anngee Quinones-Belian//Staff Correspondent Walter Abbott and Lynn Brumby are staying at the Best Western in Murphy thanks to the American Red Cross.

Sam Jokich/Staff Correspondent It’s easy during the winter months to forget about Cherokee County’s outstanding natural scenery.

Photos by Anngee Quinones-Belian/Staff Correspondent  About 35 people met at Downtown Pizza in Murphy on Dec. 7 to discuss concerns about their communities and hear updates on projects already in the works.

This is the front page of the Dec. 27, 1934, edition of the Cherokee Scout, which was 89 years ago today.

Wreck on the highway Shelley Dietrich/Contributing Photographer An automobile accident on U.S. 64 West in Ranger about 1:20 p.m. Dec. 5 resulted in injuries and backed up traffic on the four-lane highway for some time.

Sam Jokich/Staff Correspondent The Junior Appalachian Musicians Program – who travel across the country interviewing bluegrass musicians, with the goal of saving lost songs from long ago and educating a new generation of listeners – was in downtown Murphy on Dec. 16. They were interviewing three generations of local musicians. That includes local treasure Jan Davidson, past president of John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown. Davidson shared stories of Cherokee County and musicians of the past, plus play