Lee Buchanan
editor@thefranklinpress.com
As we say goodbye to 2019, let’s take a look at what we consider the top stories of the year. From seismic shifts in local health care to the challenges of roundabouts, it was a momentous 12 months in Macon County
BATTLE OF NIKWASI
A proposal to transfer the deed of the historic Native American Nikwasi Mound to a nonprofit organization triggered a sometimes-bitter debate over property rights and the preservation of cultural heritage. The Nikwasi Initiative, made up of community leaders, Mainspring Conservation Trust and the Eastern Tribe of Cherokee Indians, vowed to preserve the mound as part of a “cultural corridor” aimed at nurturing and promoting the region’s cultural assets. Opponents accused the town of betraying the trust of Franklin residents, who had raised money to buy the property and save the mound from development in 1946, giving the deed to the town.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Road projects have become an all-too-familiar part of daily life in Macon County over the past few years, but the clearing and construction, the digging, paving and repaving reached a fever pitch in 2019. Traffic cones diverted traffic along Sylva Road and Georgia Road - the two main access roads into the county – for much of the year as NCDOT crews worked to prevent the cracking of the highway over Cowee Mountain. The project that will eventually widen and remodel Georgia Road hasn’t officially begun, but utilities work often had the highway reduced to a single lane in places. Two of the four roundabouts planned for the town opened for traffic in 2019, with two more to be built buy August 2020.
HOSPITAL DRAMA
The controversial $1.5 billion acquisition of Mission Health and Angel Medical Center by the for-profit company HCA was finalized in February, a deal that caused deep concern for many about the future of health care in Macon County. HCA committed to building a new hospital to replace the aging Angel after determining that modernizing the current hospital was not financially feasible. The new 86,000-square-foot hospital will be built on 12.89 acres at 14 One Center Court. What’s still up in the air, however, is what will become of the current site.
ENTEGRA SOLD
Bigger is better these days in the banking business, and that trend played out in 2019 when Entegra, Franklin’s hometown bank since 1922, agreed to be acquired by First Citizens in a merger valued at $220 million. Entegra shareholders approved the merger in August. As part of agreements with federal regulators, three Entegra branches will be sold to a third company, Select Bank, including one in Franklin at Holly Springs Plaza. Entegra operates 18 branches in Western North Carolina, Upstate South Carolina and North Georgia. Expect the rest of the Entegra signs to come down in 2020 as the transition continues. Bank executives have not disclosed the fate of the Entegra headquarters building on Hyatt Road.
HELP WANTED
With the unemployment rate at historic lows – 3.8 percent in November in North Carolina – Macon County employers struggled to find qualified workers in 2019. At least two new restaurants, Haywood Smokehouse and a new Bojangles’ location, were still searching for workers when they opened their doors for business, and “help wanted” signs are a common sight all over town. But even as businesses were scrambling to fill positions, job fairs drew crowds of job seekers throughout the year.
ALL POLITICS IS LOCAL
The local races contested in the 2019 off-year elections saw Bob Scott fend off a challenge from town council member Barbara McRae to win a fourth term. Scott will be working with two new faces on town council after Jack Horton and Michael Lewis won seats, replacing Brandon McMahon and Adam Kimsey.
Changes in state and national government touched off a domino effect among Macon County politicians. State Rep. Kevin Corbin is pursuing the state senate seat vacated by Jim Davis, who is now running for the GOP nomination to replace U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, who announced that he wouldn’t seek another term. And county commissioner Karl Gillespie is stepping up to state politics in a bid to fill Corbin’s house seat.
Back at the county level, three candidates – Terry Bradley, Bryan Rauers and Josh Young – are running for the Republican nomination for the District 2 seat on the board of commissioners. Betty Cloer Wallace filed for the Democratic primary and will face Olga Lampkin for the nomination. District 3 commissioner Paul Higdon is running unopposed.
FATAL TRANSPORT CRASH
Investigators say a Macon County deputy was driving 80 mph when his transit van crashed on a rain-slick road and rolled over multiple times on Feb. 12. A Franklin man, James Richard Baggott, who was being transporting home from a medical facility in Winston-Salem, died in the wreck. The deputy, Cody Mitchell, was charged with misdemeanor death by vehicle but the case has not yet been heard in court.
RISING FROM THE ASHES
In the pre-dawn hours of Friday, Feb. 1, fire broke out in the service department of Franklin Ford, and within minutes commuters on their way to work on US 441 were calling in to report flames leaping from the building. Firefighters and law enforcement officers raced to the scene, where sub-freezing temperatures and water from firefighting efforts turned the parking lot and part of the highway into a sheet of glass. After the dust settled, the company had a temporary service facility up within weeks, along with a “sales hut.” Construction is underway on a completely new dealership, which the company hopes to open by July.
HOSPICE HOUSE
After more than a decade of planning and fundraising, the Hospice House of Western North Carolina is taking shape off Maple Street in Franklin. The hospice foundation has raised more than $4 million toward its $4.5 million goal, with funds coming from philanthropists, churches, community and government grants, and memorial donation requests included in many obituaries. As of December, construction of the SECU Hospice House was 35 percent complete as crew worked toward a February 2020 completion. The facility will serve the six far-western counties of North Carolina and northeast Georgia.
FEEDING A NEED
Hunger is nearly impossible to quantify, but even in today’s booming economy there are families who don’t have adequate access to nutritious food. One quantifiable number is 75,000 pounds. That’s the amount of food distributed to Macon County residents this year by MANNA FoodBank. MANNA isn’t alone in helping to feed the county’s less fortunate, of course. CareNet continues to be a steady source of sustenance for many people, as do food banks at numerous churches. But the popularity of MANNA’s new mobile “pop-up” food pantries serves as stark evidence of a real need.