Make a big difference
Local residents regularly call the Cherokee Scout office and ask, “What can we do to make a difference in our community?” Our answer is to simply pick something you care about and get involved; you’re needed.
Victoria Ivie of Murphy is an example of that. The “bored mom who went down the rabbit hole” came up with plans to revitalize Konehete Veterans Park by infusing it with family friendly, active and healthy attractions. Read the article in the July 26 edition of the Scout.
Happily, Ivie’s making progress. The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners and Murphy Town Council have given her the go-ahead to pursue grants for the proposed $1.1 million project.
If folks sit around and wait for the government to solve everything, we’re going to be waiting for a mighty long time. It takes caring local residents like Ivie to get involved and make a difference. If you’re bored, too, find a favorite rabbit hole and do some good in the place we call home.
Open dam restrooms
Folks often take things like restrooms for granted – that is, until you really need one and can’t find anything other than a tree and leaves.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the Tennessee Valley Authority has kept the restrooms closed at Hiwassee Dam. Last weekend, a van load of people stopped to visit the dam and were dismayed when the doors were locked.
“I don’t get mad about many things, but that embarrassed me,” local resident Larry Foster told the Cherokee Scout. He watched men keep lookout while their lady friends went behind the bushes.
He sees this as yet another loss for the community. The dam had a full-time security guard when it was a popular hangout for locals. Parents with boats used to come on the weekends and give kids a ride or chance to ski. There were beautiful shade trees, but almost all of them have been cut down. Boulders placed along the shoreline make it harder for boating and swimming. And the nearby campground closed.
Foster has been looking into the situation, and apparently plans are being made to remodel the restrooms by mid-2024. Results from the Scout’s poll question last week show the vast majority agrees with him that Hiwassee Dam’s restrooms should be reopened for use by the public.
“The entire dam was built in four years,” Foster said, “but we can’t fix the bathrooms in two years?”
The Kudzu chronicles
The dictionary defines Kudzu as “a quick-growing eastern Asian climbing plant with reddish-purple flowers, used as a fodder crop and for erosion control. It has become a pest in the southeastern United States.”
One drive down highways in Cherokee and surrounding counties, and the effect of kudzu is obvious. It has flourished in the Nantahala Gorge, overtaking homes and vehicles, trees and telephone poles. And today, it’s encroaching on the sides of some of the area’s most traveled highways, like U.S. 19/129 headed to Blairsville, Ga., and U.S. 19/74 in Topton.
The N.C. Department of Transportation is spending hundreds of millions of dollars upgrading the four-lane highway in Murphy and the two-lane Blairsville Highway. Yet, the DOT isn’t spending nearly enough keeping roadsides clear of vegetation and mowing down unsightly weeds in highway medians.
Fall started Saturday, and the tourism season is upon us. That makes this the perfect time to do a community-wide cleanup and present our best face before visitors arrive to time for our fabulous fairs and festivals. It will also make our county a safer place to drive in.
We can work it out
The Cherokee Scout historically has had one of the lowest subscription rates for similar-size weekly newspapers in the Southeast, and after the national economy tanked in 2008 we redoubled our efforts to keep prices low. Unfortunately, inflation and the rising cost of essential expenses – like staffing, newsprint and ink – have forced us to raise both annual delivery rates as well as the single-copy price. While no one wants to pay more for anything, the truth is $1.50 a copy per week – or just 88 cents by mail – is still a good deal. You can’t even buy most drinks for that price.
However, I never want a few dollars to get in the way of someone reading their local newspaper. If you have difficulty paying for your next subscription to the Scout, please give me a call. I’m sure we can work something out to keep you in the know with what’s happening in our community. Thanks for reading.
– Publisher David Brown