Volunteers jump in to tear down fences

Hundreds of volunteers showed up Thursday to take part in a community-wide effort to tear down the fences of the old Hazelwood prison. After renovations are complete, the prison will become transitional housing and a community kitchen. Ty Pennington, spokesperson for Guaranteed Rate’s Ultimate Neighborhood Give Back Challenge, was on

‘Let’s flip a prison’ — Work begins at Haywood Pathways Center

The rain stayed away Thursday morning as volunteers gathered to begin the process of flipping the old Hazelwood prison and turning into an invaluable community resource. “We’re going to tear down the fences, and we’re going to create a project and a place where we do not imprison but we

Watch a prison be flipped Thursday

The regional, if not the national, spotlight will be on Haywood County Thursday as the Haywood Pathways Center will be a focal point for many. The project to turn a former prison into a halfway house, soup kitchen and emergency shelter mushroomed after entering the Guaranteed Rate Ultimate Neighborhood Giveback

Preparing for the big day

A group from various churches across the county congregated at the former Hazelwood Prison Wednesday to pray for the project’s success. A team from the Guaranteed Rate marketing team arrived Wednesday morning to check on last minute details for the kick-off event at the future Haywood Pathways Center. The effort

Haywood Pathway Final Stretch of Planning

September 24-30, 2014 Smoky Mountain News news 6 BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER It’s going to be an eventful next few days in Waynesville. Haywood Pathways Center is in the final stretch of planning a three-day blitz on the old Hazelwood prison, transforming the former state detention center into a combined soup kitchen, halfway

Haywood Pathways welcomes first guests, continues renovation

At T-minus three days until the scheduled opening day for Haywood Pathways Center, Nick Honerkamp still wasn’t sure how to answer the big question: will the shelter open? “That is the question of the week,” said Honerkamp, one of the leaders of the effort, Wednesday (Nov. 12) morning. A trip down to the Pathways campus in Hazelwood, which used

Faith-based groups forge bold plan for abandoned prison dorms

Reforming lives on a wing and a prayer A proposal to convert a closed-down state prison into a halfway house and homeless shelter in Haywood County is gaining steam. The old prison was given to the county two years ago after the state shut it down, but the county has no real use for it. So it’s been

Sold! How the old state prison was unloaded for just $1

[html tag_image_style=”imagestyles-3″]Sold! How the old state prison was unloaded for just $1 At first blush, the shuttered state prison in Waynesville looks more like a military barracks or summer camp bunkhouse than a prison — except perhaps for the concertina wire around the perimeter and guardhouse at the entrance. But for decades, the tiny, minimum security prison went largely unnoticed, tucked down

Razor wire cut from Pathways Center fences

More changes are slowly being made at the future site of the Haywood Pathways Center in preparation for the arrival of Ty Pennington and the Guaranteed Rate team Sept. 25. Brothers Ethan and Brandon Presnell from A Top Dog Fence Company in Waynesville removed about 350 feet of razor wire

Maggie votes to support Pathways Center

MAGGIE VALLEY — The Maggie Valley governing board adopted a policy on charitable donations, appointed Town Manager Nathan Clark as the tax collector and voted to become a bronze sponsor by donating $3,000 to the Haywood Pathways Center. In their Monday evening meeting, board members heard from Jasey Ketchum, who