Local

Mitchell schools may open next week

Mitchell News-Journal
Monday, October 28, 2024
Mariel Williams editor@mitchellnews.com The Mitchell County Schools Board of Education is preparing to sell the old Deyton Elementary School building to North Carolina Baptists on Mission (formerly NC Baptist Men) to use as a volunteer hub for disaster recovery construction projects.
Photos/Rachel Hoskins. Volunteers Braxton Jarvis and Lauren Ford review paperwork for propane requests.

Photos/Rachel Hoskins. Volunteers Braxton Jarvis and Lauren Ford review paperwork for propane requests.

Stepping in to faith

Mitchell News-Journal
Monday, October 28, 2024
Rachel Hoskins rhoskins@thefranklinpress.com “I could stand on the sidelines, or I could be here” said 15-year-old Braxton Jarvis, standing in the midst of the old Food Lion building in Spruce Pine. The scene could best be described as organized chaos.

Holmes to fill vacant council seat

Mitchell News-Journal
Monday, October 28, 2024
Mariel Williams editor@mitchellnews.com The Spruce Pine Town Council voted unanimously to appoint attorney Beth Holmes to fill a vacant council seat at a special called meeting last Thursday. Holmes will serve out the remainder of former council member Larry McKinney’s term.
MNJ photo/Mariel Williams. Mayor Charles E. Vines explains the flood damage in Bakersville to Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell, left, and Gov. Roy Cooper, right.

MNJ photo/Mariel Williams. Mayor Charles E. Vines explains the flood damage in Bakersville to Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell, left, and Gov. Roy Cooper, right.

Cooper, Criswell survey damage in Bakersville

Mitchell News-Journal
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Mariel Williams editor@mitchellnews.com Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, accompanied Gov. Roy Cooper on a visit to Bakersville to survey flood damage last week.
Candidates for county commissioner

Candidates for county commissioner

Six seek seats on county commission

Mitchell News-Journal
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Six candidates will appear on this year’s ballot as options for the Mitchell County Board of Commissioners: Lee Ellis, Jan Hamilton, Bill Hoag, Harley Masters, Ron McKinney and Dale Blevins. Additional information on where and how to vote can be found in a separate story in these pages.
Submitted photos. Left: Flood victims Alison Wisely and Knox Petrucci had planned to get married in November. Wisely and Petrucci lived along the North Toe River on Relief Road Extension. Right: Community members are asked to keep an eye out for Moonpie, a female red hound who was last seen on Relief Road Extension in September. Moonpie’s owners, the Wisely and Petrucci family, were lost in the flood.

Submitted photos. Left: Flood victims Alison Wisely and Knox Petrucci had planned to get married in November. Wisely and Petrucci lived along the North Toe River on Relief Road Extension. Right: Community members are asked to keep an eye out for Moonpie, a female red hound who was last seen on Relief Road Extension in September. Moonpie’s owners, the Wisely and Petrucci family, were lost in the flood.

Sorrow in Relief

Mitchell News-Journal
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Mariel Williams editor@mitchellnews.com County Manager Allen Cook confirmed last week that six people died in Mitchell County as a result of Hurricane Helene. Four of those drowned in floodwaters and two others died as a result of accidents related to the storm.
CNI photos/Randy Foster/editor@cherokeescout.com. The Tin Crown consignment store off U.S. 19 East/N.C. 80 near Micaville was destroyed by flooding along Little Crabtree Creek.

CNI photos/Randy Foster/editor@cherokeescout.com. The Tin Crown consignment store off U.S. 19 East/N.C. 80 near Micaville was destroyed by flooding along Little Crabtree Creek.

The lingering impacts of Helene

Mitchell News-Journal
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Randy Foster editor@cherokeescout.com The Tin Crow, a consignment store in Micaville on U.S. 19 East/N.C. 80 halfway between Spruce Pine and Burnsville, posted optimistically on its Facebook page on Thursday, Sept. 26.
MNJ photo/Mariel Williams. Nick Whitson shows the water mark where Hurricane Helene floodwaters stopped rising in O.C. Whitson & Sons, a furniture and general store that has stood in Green Mountain for almost 100 years.

MNJ photo/Mariel Williams. Nick Whitson shows the water mark where Hurricane Helene floodwaters stopped rising in O.C. Whitson & Sons, a furniture and general store that has stood in Green Mountain for almost 100 years.

Green Mountain faces a flood-damaged future

Mitchell News-Journal
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Mariel Williams editor@mitchellnews.com As Nick Whitson walks through his family’s flood-devastated properties in Green Mountain, a question recurs: What can be saved? But for Whitson, “can” is the wrong word. His family has run O.C.