Like the Virginia Creeper that once traveled through West Jefferson, history runs throughout Ashe County.

Have you ever considered how important public notices are to your daily life? You should.

First responders chomping down as many as donuts as they can might seem a bit cliche — except the first responders on this day were in a class by themselves.

In some professions, you never truly go off duty.

Memo to our new Ashe County Arts Council Executive Director Jeff Fissel:

So many people to thank, so little newsprint to do it all in. …

Not that there aren’t a plethora of opportunities to view fireworks in the High Country … but we know about family traditions, and home fireworks are a large part of that during this time of the year.

Conventional wisdom is that it takes anywhere from six to 10 years to become an expert at a craft or career. If so, retiring Ashe County Arts Council Executive Director Jane Lonon is such a master multiple times over.

So much of what it takes to win in today’s world — and each of us has an individual concept of what winning means — can be learned from the playing field. This was again the lesson as the Ashe Post & Times co-hosted the Mountain Times Publications Best of Preps Student-Athlete Awards on June 2.

Children and exercise go together naturally, and that’s especially so in the summer months when the term is painted with broad strokes. But if those strokes are limited to physical activity alone, your canvas is too narrow, according to studies which advocate for the importance of mental act…

“Words fail when heroes fall.” So said Vice President Mike Pence speaking from Arlington Cemetery on Memorial Day, May 27.

From what one High Country sheriff says are scams ranging from mild aggravations to physical threats and “anything in between,” phishing schemes are blanketing the country, including Ashe and Watauga counties, and the target is often senior citizens.

Eighteen months later and the focus is on the future, protection and training — just as things should be.

With a North Carolina distracted driving bill, “Hands Free NC” (HB144) now before the Senate, what remains to be seen is if the bill will have the same measure of bipartisan support there as it did in passing the House 92-23 on May 7.

We do not often comment on these pages on a letter we receive for publication; we typically choose to let the opinions of the writer become part of public discourse without our commentary.

That spring showers are a common but unreliable High Country occurrence is one important reason to heed warnings from the N.C. Forest Service. That’s especially so during this time of the year:

In North Carolina, a bicycle has the legal bearing of a vehicle — with all the rights and responsibilities. And now that these two-wheeled vehicles are about to begin sharing our High Country roads in earnest with the spring cycling season, it’s important that bicyclists review those rules e…

Want to perform a public service and enjoy nature at the same time? Per the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission: Do nothing.

If it’s been a while — and especially if it’s been a long while — since you’ve visited the Ashe County Public Library, now is a good time to explore everything your publicly funded one-stop information center has to offer.

The coexistence between public conservation and public progress is important throughout all of North Carolina, but in the mountains it reaches a pinnacle unlike that found in the rest of the state.

Awards and honors certainly are indicators of a job well done, but when it’s your local newspaper earning the awards, it’s something more: It’s an indication of the strength of a type of community partnership that extends back to the roots of our nation, to April 24, 1704.

Sunshine Week is important to the work we do at the Ashe Post & Times, but its importance only begins there.

Ashe County agriculture is growing, and that’s good news for all of us.

A wise man once opined in a 1789 letter that “nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

A wise man once opined in a 1789 letter that “nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

It is good news — the best news, actually — that came from Ashe County Sheriff B. Phil Howell late last week: The graffiti threats found in the bathrooms at Ashe County Middle School have been determined to not be “credible.”

As Ashe County Schools concludes — and the Ashe County Sheriff’s Office nears its end of — the investigation into the graffiti threats at Ashe County Middle School, it must be said that the communication to the public of any potential danger appears to be ending much better than it began.

When it comes to delivering nearly 2,500 miles of shoebox gifts around the world — that’s more than 10.6 million laid end-to-end — the Boone-based Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse rivals even the mantra of our professional postal workers. After all, rain, sleet and snow take t…

Who doesn’t love a good awards recognition program?

Each of us has a unique definition of the word, “best.” But, when it comes to the businesses where we shop, the service providers we choose or the organizations we support, there are a few “best of” phrases we can all agree upon: excellent customer service, quality products and positive expe…

Communities across the United States that are concerned about having a voice in the health of their local environments lost a friend and leader with the death of Janet Zeller on Jan. 14.

For the third or fourth storm — or is it the fifth or sixth or … ; much depends upon your own particular elevation and location in the county — since the active 2018 hurricane season melted into winter, a shout-out is again due to the men and women who seemingly ignore the worst of Mother Na…

There has never been a shortage of volunteer spirit in the High Country. Indeed, we would argue that this is one facet of “mountain life” that is inseparable from the idea of “mountain living.”

Thumbs-up: to employees and employers giving back. We know that a number of local businesses — AEV is one (https://tinyurl.com/ycbdbj8n) — offer opportunities for employees to donate to area charities. Some even match their employee donations. That’s all especially important during this time…

Wildlife management is important across North Carolina, but here in the High Country it is more so.

The year that was.

Virginia O’Hanlon, age 8, wrote a letter to the editor of New York’s Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history’s most reprinted newspaper editorial.

Although there are some in Ashe County yet digging out from the effects of our recent winter storm — you know you’re in for a “real” storm when national forecasters make a visit — it is not too early to note the heroic efforts of our utility workers, first responders, emergency personnel and…

President George H.W. Bush died Nov. 30 at the age of 94. Many North Carolina leaders reflected on the lifelong service of our former president and statesman, and a few of those thoughts are included here. To add your own thoughts or remembrances about our nation’s 41st president, visit this…

By the time you read this, Giving Tuesday will have passed. But, in the spirit of the season, those giving opportunities can’t be limited to a single day.

Ready or not, here it comes.

‘Tis the season.

With Tuesday’s elections following what seemed to be a longer-than-usual, and certainly more-divisive-than-usual political season, the winners are clear — and we’re not talking about only the candidates.

A couple of reminders from our local law officers are especially important to note this week.

When near-hurricane force winds and gusts reach our mountains, you know we’re in for some heavy weather.

This much we know:

A "meet-and-greet" interview with the candidates running for the Ashe County Board of Education.

Are you as an informed voter as you’d like to be — or need to be?

Now you see it, now you don’t might be the most apt description of this fall’s leaf season: According to both local university biologists and local residents working from a lifetime of experience, the best leaf-looking will peak early this year. Indeed, the color at some of the High Country’…