Letters To The Editor

June 23, 2025 Letters to the Editor. By Robin Morgan / I have some potentially exciting news to share, along with a call to action for those of you willing to help with some advocacy around Hurricane Helene relief. We have a few sources that have shared that the NC Senate is starting to draft their version of a Hurricane Helene Aid package, influenced by the approved House Bill 1012. This is a SIGNIFICANT development, as this was previously going to be lumped into the passage of a State Budget, which has several negotiating hurdles to pass before it sees traction and could take a long while to see the light of day, if at all.

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June 23, 2025 Letters to the Editor. By Maryrose Carroll / Few of us are old enough to remember the heartbreak of the Great Depression, with its gaunt families living in cars, roaming in search of work, but we have seen the photos. I hope the Great Depression is not returning. But we are entering a dangerous progression. More people than ever are experiencing homelessness for the first time. Between 2019 and 2023, the number of individuals entering emergency shelters for the first time increased by more than 23 percent.

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May 5, 2025 Letters to the Editor. By Craig Dudley / I’ve never been able to keep silent in the face of crimes committed in our name. I’m a birthright Quaker who is old enough to remember the affects of McCarthyism in home and school. There is an item in that sentence worth fleshing out. Quakers were the first abolitionists and have stood in support of those at the short end of the stick ever since. We were among the first to stand in support of the new state of Israel seventy some years ago when they were the oppressed.  

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April 2, 2025 Letters to the Editor. By Craig Dudley / “One of the most horrible features of wars is that all the war propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred comes invariably from people who are not fighting.” George Orwell. Reality is 99% perception. Now ask yourself: who really controls your perceptions? “Orthodoxy means not thinking–not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness” and so cries of ‘racism’ go unchallenged and usually without proof no matter which side of the cry you find yourself on.

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March 12, 2025 Letters to the Editor. By Sandy Sherrill Womble / I extend my gratitude to Council Member Cat Perry for her recent blog shared on social media titled “How to Destroy A Small Town’s Charm”.  Her wise words caution the travails of maintaining a “charming” and historic town while negotiating the bumpy road of development.  In Blowing Rock’s case, there are multiple projects in the pipeline of government approval, so the devil is in the details for these future buildings.  Hopefully leaders can be counted on to hammer out contracts that will uphold Blowing Rock’s high standards. With arguably two of the most important gateway projects navigating through City Approval, Mrs. Perry’s words could not be more prescient. 

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February 28, 2025 Letters to the Editor. By Jamie Dixey / The proposed Shoppes on the Parkway project is controversial for a variety of reasons, but I want to address just one of them…Architectural Design.  It’s the part that most of us are going to be acutely aware of day in and day out and the part that is coming under such heavy fire that even the proponents will concede we could do better.  Is it going to be a building we can be proud of, or will it be an eyesore that will grate on us for decades and set a low bar for future projects?

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February 18, 2025 Letters to the Editor. By Craig Dudley / Americans have a sheepish submissiveness at their base these days. All this while they imagine themselves in a Stallone movie and seem to see themselves as the victim. This with eight hundred military bases, or more, around the world but no worry as we’ve assigned ourselves the responsibility to shape the world as we’ve decided it must be. Then of course we must collaborate with Israel as it seems they’re more important than our own country cause they fill our airwaves. In the movie Stallone gets sent to a prison island, like cheeto is doing with some of our criminal aliens, we’re told.

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November 22, 2024 Letters to the Editor. / By Patty Butler / I am writing to express my concern with and make your readers aware of the Blowing Rock Town Council’s vote, taken at the conclusion of November 12’s public hearing, to approve drama/c changes to the zoning provisions in the Land Use Code (“Code”). These changes endanger the historic one and two story buildings downtown, many of which are over 100 years old with several da/ng back to the town’s creation in the late 1800’s. My concerns stem from a place of deep seeded love for Blowing Rock and its charming, unique, and irreplaceable architecture and aesthetic. As a homeowner with multigenerational ties to this special place, I fear our town is in jeopardy of being destroyed by developers. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. 

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November 1, 2024 Letters to the Editor. / By Maryann McCullough / I strongly support Sue Sweeting for Watauga County District 5 County Commissioner.  With her background of 38 years as a Nurse Practitioner, she knows Community needs and importance of supporting our Fire and Sheriff Departments, and all our First responders. She is a strong advocate for our Public Schools and importance of increased support and funding for these areas. With her background in Health care and community involvement, she is more than capable to help us recover from this disaster.  I am an advocate for public school funding and Sue understands the voucher program has changed over the years and now diverts funds to areas that don’t need it. She will work to get more funding for our local schools

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October 30, 2024 Letters to the Editor. / By Jean Kitchin / As our area of the mountains begins to heal from the devastation, we want to express our appreciation to those who have given of their time and resources to help others.  This has truly been a time of witnessing the kindness and compassion of others, as a show of our faith and humanity. We want to thank many in the BRCA community who stayed in Blowing Rock or came back from communities where they have jobs and other obligations to help in person on food lines and in sorting donations and in bringing donations from other areas of the state.  They pitched in with many others, like Sam Garrett and Cathy Baker who so tirelessly worked at the American Legion building day after day sorting donations.  BRCA members served thousands of meals daily alongside many other volunteers from the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation nonprofit group.  We read about Wayne Miller’s kindness in helping to get water to people in need.is Keith Honeycutt

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October 29, 2024 Letters to the Editor. / By Keith Honeycutt / This is Keith Honeycutt a former Watauga County Commissioner. 20 years ago, the citizens of Watauga County were faced with the possibility of having their land controlled with a zoning ordinance that would have given the local government control of their land. Sue Sweeting was one of those commissioners who wanted to zone the property of Watauga County. Your land would have been zoned by the County Commissioners to determine what you could do with your land based on how it was zoned.

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October 15, 2024 Letters to the Editor. By Victoria Smith / The best way to tell how someone will perform in the future is to look at how they have performed in the past. For that reason, the following are a few reasons we should REJECT Sue Sweeting for Watauga County Board of Commissioners. 1. Recused by her peers on Blowing Rock Town Council for Conflict of Interest. 2. “Vaccinate or Terminate” 3. Not able to work with the County or Board of Education

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October 14, 2024 Letters to the Editor. By Cullie Tarleton Rogers / I’m writing in support of Sue Sweeting as the Watauga County Commissioner for District 5 (Blue Ridge, Blowing Rock, Elk and Stony Fork) in the 2024 general election. I have known Sue for well over 20 years. She has always been a hardworking and dedicated individual. As a former elected official myself, I know firsthand the time it takes to be an effective elected official. You have to listen, know the issues and be willing to make bold decisions. Sue checks all these blocks

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September 18, 2024 Letters to the Editor. By Jorgann Bullard Rogers /Sue Sweeting is the epitome of a “public servant”. The citizens of Watauga County can be assured that their needs and interests will be seriously addressed by this dedicated and experienced candidate who desires to serve you as a Watauga County Commissioner. As her neighbor and friend, I have witnessed Sue’s constant determination to reach out to assist others meet their needs and reach their goals. She is involved in numerous community projects, serves on countless committees, and participates in many activities on a regular basis.

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September 16, 2024 Letters to the Editor. By Billie Rogers /Sue Sweeting, a long-time friend and acquaintance, approached me when she discovered I was involved in a Deep Gap community organization, and she knew she had resources that would benefit a project we are working on.  Sue has been politically involved for many years and knows where to go to find the answers you need – places I am not familiar with, but they can be a great help to us.  Several emails and discussions evolved to relay her knowledge and networking skills to us.  We are grateful for all of them.  

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September 13, 2024 Letters to the Editor. By Nancy Zeiss / I’m writing in support of Sue Sweeting as the County Commissioner for District 5 (Blue Ridge, Blowing Rock, Elk, and Stony Fork) in the 2024 fall election. Sue and I have been friends for 24 years, since my family moved to Watauga County. Our daughters were dear friends and grew up together from the age of 12. Sue also became my primary care provider. She was an excellent health care advisor and saw my family through a very difficult health crisis, expertly. I will always be grateful for her care. I am a retired Watauga County Schools employee, one of my highest priorities for a locally elected official is the care and support of our public schools, its students and dedicated employees. Sue is a supporter of public schools and will advocate to address school vouchers.

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September 12, 2024 Letters to the Editor. By Carrington Pertalion / I was fortunate in my early career as a Registered Nurse to work with Sue Sweeting, FNP at the Watauga County Health Department in the mid-1990’s.  Her exemplary skills as a healthcare practitioner and as a patient advocate were impressed upon me in my early career.   Sue has been a role model for me and a friend to my family for 3 decades. Sue Sweeting has served as County Commissioner in the past and was outstanding in her role representing and protecting local law enforcement, public school teachers, staff and students, healthcare workers, and all residents of Watauga County.

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August 23, 2024 Letters to the Editor. By Greg King / First, I labored under the impression that volunteers serving the Town in elected or appointed positions had a duty to promote confidence in Town decisions and contribute to the public trust fairly and honestly. They are, after all, part of the Town administration and if they found themselves unable to perform as required, they could or should resign.  Bergstrom writes “…Blowing Rock has not been open, honest or transparent…”
And “The Town attempted to skirt…”. These do not sound like confidence building or building public trust. It may be better for Bergstrom to resign and simply state he is unable to fulfill his obligation. 

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August 23, 2024 Letters to the Editor. By Craig Dudley / In ‘our’ democracy which isn’t, you vote in primaries to choose your candidate. We were established as a democratic republic: not a democracy. There’s a difference. Kamala wasn’t chosen in elections but installed by party bosses when the survival of old joe became questionable against the orange man. So the current ‘dance’ in Chicago touting a non-existent democracy is a sham designed to obfuscate. Mindlessness rules the Western world. This is even true of Trump supporters where one would hope awareness prevails. It doesn’t. There are many examples in American history in which the choice of the people was ignored in favor of the ruling ‘elite’. The Vietnam war is a good example as were our other various wars, all begun without congressional action, using doublespeak to ‘authorize’ them.

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August 22, 2024 Letters to the Editor. By Jean Kitchin / We recently came across the letter to the editor from Wayne Miller published in the High Country Press – Blowing Rock on August 15, 2024, and we would like to take this opportunity to address the insinuations in the letter regarding the Blowing Rock Civic Association (BRCA).  BRCA is a North Carolina non-profit corporation formed in 2015.  It has a 26 member Board of Trustees and a 7 member Executive Committee.  It has several hundred individual members, nearly all of whom are Blowing Rock homeowners. They reside throughout the Blowing Rock community. A number of our members, including our Board and Executive Committee members, from time to time serve in leadership roles in Blowing Rock government, churches, charitable organizations, homeowners’ associations, arts organizations, clubs and business and professional organizations.

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August 21, 2024 Letters to the Editor. By Gregg Bergstrom / So, Wayne Miller is back to writing Letters to The Editor about his favorite Blowing Rock boogey man, the BRCA, and just in time to begin his campaign for Town Council in 2025. This of course comes off his letter writing campaign in the 2023 election in which he was rewarded with a seat on the Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors for his efforts. In his latest diatribe he states in emphatic generalities, and of course without any qualifications or facts, what the motivations and intentions of other citizens are. Mr. Miller is the epitome of the phrase; don’t let the facts get in the way of a good self-serving yarn.

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August 20, 2024 Letters to the Editor. By Delores Smith / Mr. Dudley’s response to my Letter to the Editor, yet again, pens the pejorative “joos” and, yet again, rants and rambles through 10 barely coherent paragraphs. He might do well to look into an adult education course in English composition. He challenges anyone to debate his awareness of history and geography, yet then doesn’t accept that debate by providing verifiable facts as counterpoints to my reply. What he does do is divert into a defense of conspiracy theories (so as to ensure that he doesn’t really ever have to provide actual facts, should he choose not to), and introduces new and exciting commentary regarding Israel!!

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