Public Comment - August 2025 Macon Commissioners Meeting

Macon Media (Bobby) was unable to attend the August 2025 meeting of the Macon County Board of Commissioners. Here is coverage of the meeting.

Media Rollcall
(media outlets that sent reporters to the meeting are listed)

Macon Sense (Dan)
The Franklin Press (Shelby)

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Today's Spotlight:

Public Comment

Summary

A member of the public spoke out in favor of the Burningtown-Iotla Volunteer Fire Department. Another spoke in favor of keeping the Macon County Board of Health as is instead of the Macon County Board of Commissioners taking it over, and one member of the public spoke in favor of returning Animal Control back to the Sheriff's Office. (It was originally under the Sheriff's Office, but a previous Board moved it to the Health Department at the request of a former Sheriff).

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Published at 8.06am on Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Author: Bobby Coggins

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No Injuries From Aircraft Crash at Macon County Airport

At 3:15pm on Thursday, March 11, 2021, there was a report of an aircraft crash at the Macon County Airport. [LINK] A Cessna 421B (tail registration N80056) owned by DuoTech of Franklin ran off the runway this afternoon, sliding in a field for some distance before knocking over a fence and coming to rest in a corner of Liberty Wood Products. According to an eyewitness, there was a pilot and two passengers onboard the aircraft. Everyone on the aircraft exited the plane without injury before fire consumed the twin-engine Cessna. The day before the crash, the aircraft had completed a 52-minute flight testing the "Cessna Airborne Radar Test Platform" on a flight that took it into Georgia and back from 2:01pm to 2:53pm.

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Macon County EMS, Franklin Fire Department, Burningtown Fire Department, Cowee Fire Department, and West Macon Fire Department responded to assist with extinguishing the fire. The Fire Marshall and other personnel established a hazard mitigation downstream from the crash in case fuel leaked into Iotla Creek, which runs to the northeast and drains into the Little Tennessee River. The Macon County Sheriff's Office responded to provide scene security and the North Carolina Highway Patrol responded with several units to gather information for the investigation. One trooper was observed measuring the distance the aircraft slid before coming to rest. The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) will conduct a thorough investigation and Macon Media will share that information once it is released.

Here is a preliminary report of the incident from the NC Highway Patrol:

At about 3:16 p.m. the North Carolina State Highway Patrol responded to an aircraft crash at the Macon County Airport. A twin-engine Cessna 421 B was attempting to take off and ran off the end of the runway catching fire and sustained extensive damage. The pilot of the aircraft and two passengers escaped the aircraft without injuries. The incident is currently being investigated by the FAA and NTSB.

Nine years ago (on March 16, 2012), five people were killed in a crash at the airport. [LINK]

A pilot walked away from a crash landing near the Ledford Stretch section of the Georgia Road (US-441) on November 16, 2018.[LINK]

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If you receive value from what Macon Media provides to the community, please consider becoming a supporter and contribute at least a dollar a month. Those who support Macon Media with at least a dollar a month receive early access to video of some events and meetings before they are made public on the website. Videos and news involving public safety are not subject to early access.



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Published at 8:25pm on Thursday, March 11, 2021

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Structure Fire on Sunset Ridge Road

Bobby Coggins
Publisher & Editor
MaconMedia.com
June 9, 2016


FRANKLIN - Several local volunteer fire departments responded to an early morning structure fire on Sunset Ridge Road. A neighbor reported the fire shortly before 4:00 am and noted there were explosions occurring. (These turned out to be propane tanks).

Burningtown-Iotla Fire Department was the initial responding VFD and Franklin and Cowee Fire Departments provided mutual aid. Clarks Chapel Fire Department was called out to assist after the initial units arrived at the scene. The Command Post reported the fire knocked down at 4:37 am.

No one was known to be at home at the time of the fire and the Fire Marshall is investigating the origin of the fire.

VIDEO AND PHOTOS

The photos are presented in the order they were taken and some of them have been processed so firefighters and the structure can be better seen by the reader.

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Power Outage Rose Creek/Meadows Road Area

Power Outage Rose Creek/Meadows Road Area

A tree fell on some power lines earlier this morning near 4000 Rose Creek Road and electrical service was cut to 160 Duke Energy Customers. Restoration of power is estimated to occur by 1:00 pm today.

Burningtown Fire Department responded to a report of a tree on some power lines and smoking. 

Facebook Mirror of this post.



UPDATES

**12:28 pm** Duke reports electrical service has been restored.

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Fire Claims RV on Rose Creek Road

Bobby Coggins
Publisher & Editor
MaconMedia.com
May 3, 2016

FRANKLIN-- Burningtown Fire Department was called out to report of an RV (Recreational Vehicle) that was reported to be fully involved in fire. The caller reported that the RV was within five feet of another trailer. Franklin and Cowee Fire departments were mutual aid on this incident.

The fire took place just north of the intersection of Rose Creek Road and Saldeer Mountain Road. The road was briefly closed to through traffic during the firefighting operation and was quickly reopened. No injuries were reported.

At the time of this post, determination of the cause had not been made by firefighters. Other photos taken at the scene are posted below, beginning with a Google Map image showing the location of the fire.

All these images may be clicked on to view at a larger size. Once the images are full screen, you may navigate back and forth through them using the right and left arrow on your keyboard. If you are on a mobile device, you may navigate through the images by swiping them from side to side.

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