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Press photo/Jake Browning - The old Pine Grove School has been restored thanks to the efforts of the Pine Grove Community Club. The club is disbanding due to a decline in membership and difficulties related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Press photo/Jake Browning - The old Pine Grove School has been restored thanks to the efforts of the Pine Grove Community Club. The club is disbanding due to a decline in membership and difficulties related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pine Grove Community Club disbanding

Jake Browning
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
The Pine Grove Community Club had its final meeting on Sept. 9, and the final vote was to end the club after nearly two decades. The club was initially formed as an effort to save the old Pine Grove School building, a one-room schoolhouse that operated from 1855-1949.

Owens hired as new town manager

Mia Overton
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Franklin’s new town manager, Amie Owens, began work on Monday, Sept. 13, just in time for a meeting about the town’s proposed skate park that evening.
Press photo/Jake Browning SK828 organizer Tim Shaw and Franklin Town Planner Justin Setser speaking at the Town Council’s meeting at the Whitmire property on Monday night.

Press photo/Jake Browning SK828 organizer Tim Shaw and Franklin Town Planner Justin Setser speaking at the Town Council’s meeting at the Whitmire property on Monday night.

Town Council moves skate park to Whitmire

Jake Browning
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
During a continued session on Monday night, Franklin’s Town Council decided that the Whitmire property would serve as the home of Franklin’s new skate park.
Press photo/Jake Browning - The NCWorks Job Fair featured a dozen regional employers including Macon Program for Progress, Harrah’s Cherokee and Parkdale, each of whom had at least one available position that pays $15 an hour or more.

Press photo/Jake Browning - The NCWorks Job Fair featured a dozen regional employers including Macon Program for Progress, Harrah’s Cherokee and Parkdale, each of whom had at least one available position that pays $15 an hour or more.

NCWorks sees increase in turnout for job fair

Jake Browning
Tuesday, September 7, 2021
NCWorks got the job done with their latest job fair, which leveraged big wages for a big showing from the local workforce. COVID-19 has had a major impact on NCWorks job fairs since 2020.
Photo/Jin Lee - An aerial view of the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City. Carlye Dougherty, a graduate of Franklin High School, lived just blocks from the World Trade Center during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Photo/Jin Lee - An aerial view of the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City. Carlye Dougherty, a graduate of Franklin High School, lived just blocks from the World Trade Center during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

‘It was like nothing I had ever seen’

News Staff
Tuesday, September 7, 2021
Twenty years ago on Sept. 11, Carlye Dougherty woke up and started getting ready for a job interview. “It was a totally normal day,” said Dougherty (nee Clark), a 1995 Franklin High School graduate. But it was soon to turn into a day like no other.
Press photo/Jake Browning - Tyler Payne of Carolina Underbrushing clears vegetation at the future site of the Barbara McRae Cherokee Heritage Apple Trail. The trail will be located at the half-mile marker on the north end of the Little Tennessee River Greenway.

Press photo/Jake Browning - Tyler Payne of Carolina Underbrushing clears vegetation at the future site of the Barbara McRae Cherokee Heritage Apple Trail. The trail will be located at the half-mile marker on the north end of the Little Tennessee River Greenway.

Nikwasi Initiative restores historic orchard site

Jake Browning
Tuesday, September 7, 2021
Site preparation has begun at the future location of the Barbara McRae Cherokee Heritage Apple Trail, the next major project from the Nikwasi Initiative. Apples aren’t native to the Franklin area, but the Cherokee who lived here were clever in cultivating them once they were brought from overseas.
News

News

Union online due to staff quarantines

Jake Browning
Tuesday, September 7, 2021
Union Academy students are currently learning from a distance because too many staff members are quarantining for COVID-19. Principal Diane Cotton said the school has been very diligent about practicing prevention measures.
Photo submitted - Mainspring recently demolished the old SImpson Oil building and if funding from the EPA comes through, the group will develop the site to create more green space in East Franklin.

Photo submitted - Mainspring recently demolished the old SImpson Oil building and if funding from the EPA comes through, the group will develop the site to create more green space in East Franklin.

Mainspring demolishes Simpson Oil, plans green space

Jake Browning
Tuesday, August 31, 2021
The former Simpson Oil building, which stood at the end of East Main Street across from Mainspring Conservation Trust, is no more, and the trust that owns the land hopes what comes next will be a gift to the whole community.
Press photo/Jake Browning - Ned Kraft and members of the Presbyterian Church men’s group are collecting donations to help homeless veterans.

Press photo/Jake Browning - Ned Kraft and members of the Presbyterian Church men’s group are collecting donations to help homeless veterans.

Help Homeless Veterans Week, Sept. 5-11

Jake Browning
Tuesday, August 31, 2021
For the first time since 2019, the First Presbyterian Church men’s group will be putting on Help Homeless Veterans Week in Franklin to help Macon County’s retired service members. Help Homeless Veterans Week started in 2014 and was a mainstay at the end of every summer in Franklin for five years.