County shows off during fall
This has been a great month to live in, work in and visit Cherokee County.
Last weekend was one of the best in some time with the Cherokee County Fair’s return after an absence of six years. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of an even bigger and better fair in the future.
This weekend could be on another level, as the annual Welcome Home – A Tribute to All Who Served has merged with the annual Benghazi-Twin Towers Memorial Ride and Veterans Appreciation for what should be a spectacular and patriotic show Saturday at Western Carolina Regional Airport. The day will start the right way with a Veterans Parade in downtown Andrews.
The granddaddy of all local events, John C. Campbell Folk School’s annual Fall Festival, will bring thousands of people to Brasstown on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 1-2. And Andrews will continue to offer fun-filled days a week later with Oktoberfest on Saturday, Oct. 8, giving us four consecutive weekends of first-rate, down-home entertainment.
The cool change in the night air, combined with the decline of COVID-19, is making Cherokee County a place to be. The organizers and volunteers who put on these events can’t be thanked enough for contributing to our quality of life.
‘Drugs are an epidemic’
Incoming Murphy police chief Tim Lominac spoke with the Rotary Club of Murphy on Monday, and made this statement about an ongoing problem: “Drugs are an epidemic.” Since epidemic can be defined as “a sudden, widespread occurrence of a particularly undesirable phenomenon,” he’s exactly right.
Local law enforcement officers run across drug overdoses on a regular basis. At least one sad soul passed away in the lobby of a post office. Others have died while desperately trying to receive treatment to restore them to a full life.
If you’ve read the obituaries page in the Cherokee Scout, you’ve seen victims of drug overdoses. The incredibly addictive and deadly fentanyl poses an additional problem for first responders, who have overdosed while trying to help victims.
The numbers are staggering. Nearly 92,000 people in the United States died from a drug-involved overdose in 2020, including illicit drugs and prescription opioids, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
As Lominac put it, “If you even try illegal drugs once today, it’s like putting a bullet in a gun and playing Russian roulette.” Take his advice and stay safe.
A worthy 180-degree turn
It’s not easy for anyone to change their mind – much less a politician, who will then get accused of flip-flopping or worse. Yet, reversing your path when new information becomes available is a sign of an open mind that’s continuing to learn.
The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners changed course Monday night on charging for Emergency Medical Services calls that require citizen assist, going so far as to refund local residents who already have paid the fee, which went into effect with the 2022-23 fiscal year budget on July 1. Many people first became aware of the fee after reading an article about it on the front page of the Cherokee Scout’s Sept. 7 edition.
Backing off from this fee was the right thing to do for our county, which has an older population on fixed incomes who don’t deserve the insult of a bill on top of whatever is making them feel ill.