Free Republic

I was asked to write a brief history of the Church of the Incarnation, in Highlands. North Carolina, for a local magazine. The piece was intended to be about the building itself, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and was built in 1896. But you cannot research the history of a church without also researching the history of the people who brought that church into being. Of the dozen people who formed the congregation for this church, one was Sarah Whiteside Norton. She was the first non-native American child born in the Highlands area, the daughter of...

Actually, it was a dark and stormy weekend. On Friday, right after the computer office closed, our tower-broadcast Internet access failed. It remained out until Monday morning. Meanwhile, Michelle and I had two articles each that were on deadline. But that was the easy part. We have a good friend who is an adopted grandmother, named Gibson Jefferson McConnaughey, almost 91 years old. A week ago, she was fine for her age. Thursday she was in the hospital with serious complications from a blood clot. Saturday morning she died. Until an hour before she died, she was conscious and talking...

It is not just in people and places that cultural divisions raise their ugly heads. It also happens in weather. In my first fifty years, spent largely in Maryland and D.C., there were maybe five times that the weather was so bad I was trapped in my home. Now that I live on the top of a mountain in the Blue Ridge, being trapped at home by the weather is an ordinary circumstance that happens several times a year, and we prepare for it, routinely. People in most parts of the nation may consider the Weather Channel as not particularly...

Half-size: click for full-size. Found this with a search initiated on the term "exposed pluton". Looking Glass Rock turned up in that search, so I searched more until I found this picture.

If you’ve read many of these columns you know I’m addicted to politics. My spouse, among others, tells me to cut it out from time to time. You may also know I live in a restored farmhouse, at the end of a half-mile gravel road, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. There IS a connection between those two facts. Consider what happens to anyone in a high position in American politics – or running for such a position. I’ve observed the behavior of many men and women who are – or are running to be – Members of Congress, Senators, or...

You’d think that what happens in western Carolina, in the 11th Congressional District, isn’t very important to the powers-that-be in Washington. That’s usually so. But not now. And two extraordinary events that have occurred a year and a half before the 2008 election for that seat, prove the point. Some of you are aware of the TV ads now being run by AFSCME that paint freshman Congressman Heath Shuler, NC 11th, as a good guy. The ad sponsor’s full name is American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. This union is committed to steady expansion of government at all...

Every Member of Congress, and every candidate for Congress, is required to file Reports with the House Ethics Committee on their financial holdings and transactions. Apparently, few people take a serious look at these after they are filed. The Reports filed by incumbent 11th District Representative, Charles Taylor, for the last seven years (the ones available on-line) show five errors in excess of $1 million each, plus one unexplained item for about $20 million. These Reports are filed with the Clerk of the House but they “will be reviewed by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct [the House Ethics...

I am running. For Congress in the 11th District of North Carolina in 2006. Here’s why: Many times I’ve urged my readers to visit the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. This is one of the most beautiful places in the nation, and the world. Millions of people agree; the Great Smokies are the third most popular park destination in the US. There is a power, a majesty, a soothing effect, in the mountains, the forests, the streams, the waterfalls. There is truth in the Bible verse, carved in the oak altar of First Presbyterian Church, Highlands, North Carolina, “I...

GATLINBURG, Tenn. A new report by the National Parks Conservation Association on the future of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park paints a dire picture. "This park is beginning to die," said Tom Kiernan, the conservation group's president. "This assessment clearly shows the park is in danger, and its long-term viability is at risk." High ozone levels, acid rain, continued underfunding and a proposed road on the north shore of Fontana Lake in North Carolina are combining to endanger the park's future, Kiernan said. Much of the damage could be slowed or prevented if certain steps are taken, he said,...