A two-car collision on the Hwy. 441 Bypass claimed the life of a young Franklin woman on Monday evening. Officers from the Franklin Police Department, the Franklin Fire Department and Macon County EMS responded to a call to 9-1-1 dispatch which reported the accident at 7:50 p.m.

According to Lt. Steve Apel of the Franklin Police Department, nineteen-yearold Kathleen Stewart was driving a 2003 Toyota Camry when she failed to check for traffic before pulling out from Cat Creek Road across the northbound lanes of the bypass. Stewart pulled into the path a 2007 Jeep Commander driven by Alana Wilson, 25, of Highlands.

Stewart's Camry, struck by the jeep on the driver's side, flew across the median before coming to a stop near the southbound lanes of the highway. The Jeep continued traveling another 150 feet before coming to a stop. Both vehicles were destroyed.

Fallen N.C. law enforcement remembered at Law Enforcement Memorial Day

A solemn service to remember North Carolina’s law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty was held at the gazebo in the Franklin Town Square last Friday. Local officials and representatives of the various branches of law enforcement in the county attended the memorial event hosted by Lodge No. 81 of the Fraternal Order of Police of Macon and Jackson Counties.

“Let us never forget but always remember, not only on this day, but every day, our fallen brothers and sisters who have paid the ultimate price,” entreated Al Caiata, retired deputy chief of Cape Coral Florida Police Department and guest speaker at the event.

A man suspected of killing his estranged wife and another man in Sylva was arrested in South Carolina.

On Friday, at approximately 1:15 p.m., officers with the Sylva Police Department responded to a shooting at the Sunrise Park neighborhood in Sylva. Upon arrival they found the bodies of Melody Nicole Conger, 20, and Kevin Shawn Frady, 25, who had been shot to death. Conger and Frady were both residents of Sylva.

According to a statement by SPD detective Jenni Rumsey, the suspect, 23-year-old Matthew Wayne Moore turned himself into the Easley Police Department in South Carolina at 7:40 p.m. later that evening. Moore has been charged with two counts of murder and is being held in the Jackson County Jail without bond.

Since Alderman Jerry Evans passed away in February, his seat on Franklin’s Town Board has remained vacant. At the board’s continuation meeting on Monday, the seat was finally filled.

The Board voted unanimously to approve Farrell Jamison as the new alderman to assume the remainder of Evans’ term, which ends in November. At that point, a partial two-year term will be up for election, along with three other seats, to finish out Evans’ four-year term, starting in December. The other positions will be four-year terms.

Jamison, who has worked for Franklin Fire and Rescue for 34 years, now works part-time as a fire and rescue training coordinator for Southwestern Community College, along with serving as the county fire investigator.