Knowledge is power, the English philosopher tells us, but transmitting that knowledge often comes at a price.

A regional history of oil embargoes, skyrocketing interest rates, warm winters and the first state zoning legislation to affect the Sugar Mountain region — HB 661 was ratified by the N.C. General Assembly on June, 14, 1985 — might have deterred lesser leaders, but not Gunther Jochl.

Do you ever feel like you don’t quite know what Christmas is all about?

Eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon 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.

A bustling holiday season can mean being busted following a few initiatives coming out now from the North Carolina Department of Transportation. So, all the better to watch out. …

The idea to place wreaths on the graves of veterans buried in Ashelawn Memorial Chapel & Gardens is one that is honorable and growing.

To anyone who’s been driving our mountain roads during the past few weeks, it comes as no surprise to know that more than half of all vehicle-deer collisions occur in late fall and early winter. Across the state, that statistic equals tens of thousands of accidents, with injuries and even fa…

Thanksgiving, it seems, has been evolving for a very long time. Consider:

The upcoming holidays mean not only a break from school for Ashe students, but also more free time and social interactions for children and teens to spend on their phones, tablets and computers.

Snow in the forecast and on the ground this week means more than slippery, winter conditions, it means the first slippery, winter conditions of the season — and that means drivers need to re-acclimate to ski season in the High Country.

How often do we offer a sentiment to someone without truly thinking about it?

We’ll keep this brief, because this week is Halloween and if you’re not busy prepping costumes for your own little trick-or-treaters, you’re undoubtedly heading out to the store to battle the throng in the candy aisles.

One of the most important volunteer roles in our community today is acting as the voice for our most vulnerable population — children who are abused and neglected.

If you’re an air traveler, REAL ID is going to get real serious for you within the next year.

School bus rides that can last hours, random days missed due to inclement weather and for many, poor or lack of internet connectivity are but a few of the challenges facing students of Ashe County Schools.

There is rightly a sense of pride when we look for a tag on a product and see the label, “Made in the USA” — words that mean something special to the average American.

New highways and bridges represent new directions and opportunities for us to travel. Yet, as we begin traveling the Baldridge Bridge — and many of us will, on a daily basis — let’s take a moment to reflect on the road that led us to this Deep Gap junction.

Sept. 11, 2001, will for most of us be one of those days for which we remember exactly where we were when we first learned the news of terrorism strikes on our nation.

For any driver in Ashe County, the prospect of a deer unexpectedly crossing in front of your vehicle is a real and daily possibility. For many of us — simply read the wreck reports for more information — such collisions do occur and have happened with frequency.

With tens of billions of scam and robo phone calls reaching Americans throughout the nation annually, many receivers choose — wisely — to press the decline button on their phone apps or simply not take the call if they are unsure who is attempting to contact them.

School violence, vandalism and incidents of harassment are appearing throughout the nation, and while Ashe County has been more fortunate than other communities, it is not immune.

Although autumn comes early in the High Country, there’s still plenty of summer left — but with it the need to be a bit more cautious as the seasons begin to merge and school buses will again appear on the road.

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.