Hendersonville, but making the move to the Bonfoey’s office would allow her to try higher level cases. “He asked me where do you see yourself in 10 years, and I said somebody’s chief assistant DA or elected DA or a federal prosecutor,” said Welch, who has always had bigger career ambitions. “I am not good at sitting still and I never have been.” Welch’s husband, Brian, is the attorney for the Macon County Sheriff ’s Office. They do not have children. Both Moore and Welch will have to run in a primary on their party’s ticket in May before facing off against each other in the general election next November. Whether additional candidates step forward to run in either party won’t be known for sure until the candidate sign-up period in February comes and goes. Republican Party leaders are working behind the scenes to discourage any other Republican candidates from running against Welch in the primary. Meanwhile, Attorney Bill Jones, who has a private practice in Waynesville, has dropped out of the DA race after initially announcing plans to run on the Democratic ticket a couple of months ago, leaving Moore as the only Democratic currently in the running. To read a past article on Jim Moore’s candidate announcement, go to www.smokymountainnews.com and click on this story.
Applicants sought for Haywood boards
The Board of County Commissioners is seeking applicants to fill three vacancies on the Haywood County Agriculture Advisory Board (Farmland Preservation) and three vacancies on the Tourism Development Authority Board. The three positions on the Agriculture Advisory Board are at-large positions for three-year terms. The positions on the Tourism Development Authority are for three-year terms, for representatives of accommodations with more than 20 units; accommodations with 20 units or less; and a tourism-related business. Application deadline is 5 p.m. Dec. 4. Download a form at www.haywoodnc.net and attach in an email to aowens@haywoodnc.net. Or pick up and drop off a form from the third floor of the Haywood County Courthouse, 215 North Main Street in Waynesville.
“There is no perfect model and there is no one size fits all,” said Leatherwood. “The one thing we need to do is be flexible. Haywood needs to be poised to look out for ourselves.” A separate economic development commission board would exist apart from the chamber’s board of directors. Although it would be a subset of the chamber, the economic development board would have its own specific focus. “The thing that generated the most discussion was the board composition. We wanted to err on the side of inclusion,” Leatherwood said. A big board means more knowledge, more ideas and more fundraising outlets to tap. “People who are going to make an investment want a seat at the table,” Leatherwood said.
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It will also be more effective by providing a one-stop shop for prospective companies. “This is really a must for our day and age. They want to go to one web site, one source, for all the information on schools, tourism, health, our culture, housing, wages and other topics,” Benton-Neville said. Bringing economic development under the umbrella of the chamber will “take it to the next level,” according to Laura Leatherwood, a Haywood Community College vice president. Measureable benchmarks and an accountability matrix would be built in, Leatherwood said. A chamber task force studied the structure used by 17 other communities in the state with dual chamber-economic development bodies.
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November 20-26, 2013
BY B ECKY JOHNSON STAFF WRITER Assistant District Attorney Ashley Welch, a Republican from Macon County, announced this week she will be running for district attorney next year. District Attorney Mike Bonfoey, who has been the top prosecutor for the seven western counties for 10 years, is not running for reelection. Meanwhile, Assistant District Attorney Jim Moore, a Democrat from Waynesville, announced his plans to run for DA a couple of months ago. Moore had begun campaigning since back in the summer. Welch, 36, and Moore, 52, have worked together as assistant prosecutors for eight years. They are both involved in trying a case this week against a Swain jailer accused of helping a man charged with murder escape from jail. Welch said Moore was one of the first people she told of her plans to run, and he was not surprised. Welch believes it will be a cordial race. “I am not running against him, I am running for the office,” Welch said. Welch, who attended law school at UNC-Chapel Hill, is from Hendersonville. Upon graduating, she worked as an assistant district attorney in Hendersonville for two years. She got a cold call one day from Bonfoey asking her to come meet with him and she was offered a job. Welch was working as a district court prosecutor in
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