Obviously, some business entity is making money by causing hundreds of thousands of people to change their clocks twice a year which is a small, but unnecessary, inconvenience and a very small consideration compared to disrupting every individual’s circadian rhythm which nature provided for …

To students at ASU voting. For the first time in many, many years, thanks to President Donald Trump, there will be jobs waiting for you at graduation.

I just received in my mail the latest campaign poster from the NC Republican Party and I must say how appalled and downright outraged I am at how low a political party can go.

That this midterm election cycle has been contentious is an understatement. Reaching near to the interest of a general election — Watauga saw 1,700 early voters on the first day such ballots could be cast — voices from all sides of the political aisles are reaching out through social media, …

This message to voters pertains to one of the six proposed amendments to the Constitution of North Carolina which will be on your ballot.

If you’ve ever doubted the old axiom, “the power of the press,” rest assured that it has been proven true yet again during First Horizon Foundation’s “25 Years of Giving” video contest.

Just how naïve can people be? During Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court justice nomination hearing he gave a very convincing performance of righteous outrage. If he truly was an innocent man being wrongly accused, why did he not demand a full-blown investigation to clear his name with the resul…

On Sunday, Sept. 23, I was taking the recycle bin to the street when I carelessly allowed it to get out of my control and cans, glass jars and bottles and other stuff rolled down my rather steep drive and into the street, completely covering one lane of the street.

On behalf of High Country Recreation, I would like to thank the county leadership for planning and funding a long needed community recreation center. With a 5-0 vote, the board of commissioners unanimously approved the funding for this new facility.

As the 2018 midterm elections approach, as when any election approaches, I think about the obligation we have to vote as citizens. Recently, myself — founder of a civics group called Small and Mighty Acts — and a few self-appointed (and wonderful) interns planned and hosted a “Midterms Are C…

Dear “Anonymous Senior Executive Administrative Official” who wrote that New York Times Op-ed last week,

The discussion of highly contentious political issues is virtually inescapable. The decisions being made by those who hold power in our nation’s capital has had significant impacts ranging from economic implications to societal transformations. It is because of this that I find it appropriat…

I would like to thank the community of Watauga County.

This morning I got my first look at the new recycle bins that have been provided to all citizens of Boone.

“He gets things done,” a friend recently said to me about the president of the United States. He does, indeed, get things done.

To the editor:

Immediately after the November 2016 general election, a large group of Hillary Clinton supporters, including Washington DC bureaucrats, career establishment politicians and far left activists, began a group labeled “Resist” which was to oppose any dialog, act or proposal made by President Do…

The article “App State solar vehicle team debuts two-passenger car” was incredibly exciting to read (Mountain Times, June 28, tinyurl.com/ycgo54ly), given the dedication of the students working on their car. Solar energy has immense potential in the coming years in the movement to transition…

Everybody involved (Maymead, engineers etc.) deserves praise for keeping U.S. 321 open the whole time while making it a four-lane. Amazing! However, as one who still regularly commutes on 321, I have a few concerns.

A few weeks ago, I received a notice in the mail with information about Blue Ridge Energy’s Annual Membership Meeting and Board of Directors election on June 28. If you buy your electricity from Blue Ridge, you probably did too. Many people may not realize it, but this is the most important …

Why is the annual meeting held at its current time and location?

According to the Washington Post, teacher salaries, on average, have slipped 1.3 percent since 2000, but the average hides wide state-by-state varieties. In states like Arizona, Indiana and North Carolina, teacher salaries have fallen at least 12 percent.

The week that I spent shadowing Congresswoman Virginia Foxx is on the top of my list of most memorable weeks I’ve ever had. I was interested in spending the week with her on the Capitol Hill to see our political system at work for myself.

In medieval Boone, the aristocracy makes enough not to notice dramatic property tax increases. The rest of us who don’t have extravagant incomes such as those provided by various state, county or municipal bodies wonder how long before the tax burden increases to the point we’ll have to deci…

In response to the letter, “Article Gets Tocqueville’s Lessons Wrong” (May 6), criticizing the Walter E. Williams commentary about a Tocqueville lesson on the positives of capitalism, I believe the letter has this entirely wrong and it bothers me that we have history teachers instructing our…

In a recent article, Walter E. Williams criticized the welfare state by celebrating the American tradition of philanthropy as a preferable alternative to “welfare handouts,” (May 11, “Before and after welfare handouts”).

A huge debate is racing through our community regarding the sales tax referendum on the current ballot. I voted yes for the following reasons:

On March 26, the U. S. Census Bureau announced last minute that the 2020 census will ask every household in the United States to record which members of their family are United States citizens.

Our coral reefs are in danger. Our coral reefs have been dying off at an alarming rate every year for the past two decades. This is no longer an issue we can put off as every year that we ignore it larger portions of reefs are dying.

The other day I saw a sign that read, "Black Lives Matter." Later, I saw a bumper sticker, "Blue Lives Matter." The next day I saw a billboard that said, "Wildlife Matters." Finally, I saw a sign and bumper sticker that read, "All Life Matters" —  unless you are a baby still in the womb?

I send my sincere appreciation to those sturdy folks who are willing to work all through a cold winter night to keep the streets of Boone ready for the morning travel that many must do. To each of you, Thank you!

Can mountain bikers, hikers and horseback riders get along on the trails of the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests? Can we also co-exist with birders who need peace and quiet, loggers that depend on our forests for their livelihoods and ecologists who want to protect rare species? The ans…

If you care what happens to your hard-earned tax money, you need to know the candidates and vote with knowledge and your conscience in this May’s primary election. There are outstanding Watauga County Republican candidates who have strong conservative fiscal Judeo-Christian family values in …

I read with great interest two Feb. 28 ‘Letter to the Editor’ submissions, “We need common-sense gun control,” and “Don’t arm educators,” and wanted to acknowledge that both writers are expressing heartfelt and sincere feelings for the Florida high school victims of attacks on our most innoc…

After the 17 deaths at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Fla., and after the heroic advocacy of the Parkland students in the wake of that tragedy, we are finally realizing that we need common sense gun control in the United States. We need to outlaw bump stocks. We need a renewal of…

In my opinion, any suggestion that school teachers should be armed in the classroom in order to protect students could only be proposed by those who want to sell more guns and parroted by fools who want the gun makers’ good will. I was trained as a teacher and as a soldier (U.S.M.C. and the …

I read with interest your “State Republicans unveil K-3 class size plan” article. Having been a teacher for many years myself, I know how class size can effect learning. What I could not agree with is the plan’s stated intention that they “could no longer spend state dollars … on areas like …

I recently read an article in the newspaper which indicated that high moral values are not a priority concern of yours with regard to the election of political leaders. Surely this must be a “fake news” report, especially since the Rev. Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham …

Your recent piece entitled “Baptist Association launches gospel-spreading initiative in western Watauga” would have made me angry — if I weren’t so busy laughing! Who are these people?? Apparently they have the one and only pipeline to the one and only correct religion in the world.

There is a group of us men from St. Elizabeth of the Hill Country Catholic Church that meets for breakfast on Thursday mornings. At the end of our meeting we always do the trivia questions from the Mountain Times, which also runs in the Watauga Democrat and the Ashe Post & Times. It is g…

Danger signs? Lately, those of us who travel the highways have paid attention to signs warning us of bridges which ice over more quickly than the rest of the highway. Those who like to walk or skate on frozen ponds or lakes are often confronted with signs warning of possible thin ice and the…

In the last month and a half I have seen a new traffic “fad,” both during the day and after dark. A vehicle will stop at a stoplight in a left turn lane. When the light does not instantly turn green, the driver will turn left anyway on a red light. I have seen this happen no less than five t…

Pat Buchanan’s “Is Flynn’s defection a death blow” (Dec. 6) is a despicable attempt to thwart Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s blatant, multi-pronged, successful attacks on our democracy during the 2016 elections. Flynn plead guilty to a felony from lying to the FBI, but Buchanan…

Republicans in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives have both passed different budget reconciliation legislation in the respective Houses of Congress. You and I should expect war next. And, of course, Republicans are about completing the trifecta of eliminating Social Security, …

A Thanksgiving approaches, I am compelled to reach out to the men and women of the Boone area who responded to the call for rescue following my accident on the Hebron Colony Rocks July 8.

Why is it that we, the citizens of Watauga County, get a recereation center we didn't ask for, or get any real time to vote/voice our opinion about, and it raises our taxes, but we get regular floods that our elected officials say they are powerless in their great construction 'boom' to do a…

On Oct. 19, Bill Aceto, the chairman of the Watauga County Board of Elections, requested a stay on a Wake County Superior Court ruling made on Oc. 12, which established the Appalachian State University Student Union as an early-voting site for Boone elections. Just a week after students won …