Beware homemade cupcakes
school may ban party foods
By Frank Bradley
Sentinel writer
Who can resist a nice fluffy cupcake, well iced with colorful sprinkles? Most adults can’t as our waistlines give evidence to. Then think how hard it is for five, six, seven-year old child to forego that treat, especially if it is homemade like my mama used [...]

$2 million loans & grants for TCCC education
Federal and NC loans and grants are a boon for area
By Frank Bradley
Sentinel writer
If extreme T-partiers had it their way, Clay, Cherokee and Graham counties would be suffering a lot more economically than they are today. Pushing for draconian cuts in the federal and state’s educational budget would [...]

Nigh on a hundred folks gathered at the Truett Memorial Baptist Church last Saturday for a reunion of Hayesville High School graduates, who have well been around for a few years. It was the HHS Multi-class reunion. It happens on the first Saturday of October each year.m Opal Tiger, who just turned 98, was not [...]

HHS aptitude scores
top national average
By Frank Bradley
Sentinel writer
Clay County Schools once again topped the county school systems west of Asheville in high school seniors performance on 2011 SAT scores. There were 53 students who took the tests, which represented 58.6 percent of graduating seniors.
In all three categories (math, critical reading & writing), Clay County equaled [...]

The Green Column
by Richard C. MacCrea, Andrews Valley Initiative
rmaccrea1@gmail.com
Radon Success Story
A local home was recently tested for radon and the results scared the home buyers. The average radon level was 7.4 pCi/l. (Any building above 4 pCi/l is supposed to be repaired. Some are even recommending repairs on buildings higher than 2pCi/l.) The buyers were [...]

The Green Column
by Richard C. MacCrea, Andrews Valley Initiative
rmaccrea1@gmail.com
What’s the Deal With Radon?
In my work I have been doing a lot of radon testing lately. But sometimes when the results come back higher than they should, panic sets in. There is no need to panic.
Radon is Fixable! In our beautiful mountains we have local companies [...]

Clay County Deed Transactions
September 26, 2011 – September 30, 2011

William Richard Boyd, Jr.-TR and Susan McAninch sold 7.01 acres, Lot B (Staurolite Woods) in Brasstown Township to United Community Bank for $ 59,000 on September 26, 2011.
United Community Bank sold 1.07 acres, Lot 1 (Longview Meadows) & 1.16 acres, Lot 22F (Longview Ridge) in [...]

A Taste of the Thames
By: Willis P. Whichard
Special to the Smoky Mountain Sentinel
Part VI:  Mapledurham and an Anniversary celebration.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
On the way to breakfast I stepped out of the hotel from door to get a sense of the weather. It was raining and cool.
We began the walking day by crossing over the Thames [...]

Tusquittee Chronicles Part XIII
By Claude Moss
SAN FRANCISCO–1953–I was nine years of age. We were near the border of the upper and lower Tusquittee districts, and it was three miles to school in either direction. In 1884, through the influence of Grandfather Moss, money was allotted by the county for a three month session; and an [...]

Leaning Left
Jim Fitzgerald
Last week, I watched an interview of two well respected hedge fund managers. They had a markedly different opinion of the financial direction of the country. The interviewer remarked that he was surprised at their responses considering the fact they were both looking at the exact same financial data. That interchange appears to [...]