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Due South

Meet the Mayors: Canton’s Zeb Smathers says Helene relief is taking too long

By Leoneda Inge,

Jeff Tiberii, Cole del Charco, Rachel McCarthy

Published January 6, 2026 at 12:50 PM EST

Canton, NC Mayor Zeb Smathers. Aerial footage shows some of the flooding from Helene in Canton, NC. Courtesy WYFF, 2024.

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Meet the Mayors: Canton’s Zeb Smathers says Helene relief is taking too long, and shares his hopes for 2026

Efforts are still underway to rebuild roads, bridges, and parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina. The mayor of Canton wants to make sure his town in the Southern Appalachian Mountains is not forgotten. Meet Zeb Smathers – the long-time Mayor of Canton and his fight to make sure his community is rebuilt after Helene.

Zeb Smathers, Mayor of Canton since November 2017, attorney at Smathers and Smathers Attorneys At Law

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2026 resolutions: thinking big about family

We’re starting off 2026 with a series of interviews with some of the big thinkers in our own backyard: about their resolutions and community-level solutions to help frame up the new year. First up, a conversation about family formation.

Karen Guzzo, family demographer, sociology professor at UNC-Chapel Hill and Director of the Carolina Population Center

Due South

Leoneda Inge

Leoneda Inge is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Leoneda has been a radio journalist for more than 30 years, spending most of her career at WUNC as the Race and Southern Culture reporter. Leoneda’s work includes stories of race, slavery, memory and monuments. She has won "Gracie" awards, an Alfred I. duPont Award and several awards from the Radio, Television, Digital News Association (RTDNA). In 2017, Leoneda was named "Journalist of Distinction" by the National Association of Black Journalists.

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Jeff Tiberii

Jeff Tiberii is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Jeff joined WUNC in 2011. During his 20 years in public radio, he was Morning Edition Host at WFDD and WUNC’s Greensboro Bureau Chief and later, the Capitol Bureau Chief. Jeff has covered state and federal politics, produced the radio documentary “Right Turn,” launched a podcast, and was named North Carolina Radio Reporter of the Year four times.

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Cole del Charco

Cole del Charco is an audio producer and writer based in Durham. He's made stories for public radio's All Things Considered, Morning Edition and Marketplace. Before joining Due South, he spent time as a freelance journalist, an education and daily news reporter for WUNC, and a podcast producer for WFAE in Charlotte.

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Rachel McCarthy

Rachel McCarthy is a producer for "Due South." She previously worked at WUNC as a producer for "The Story with Dick Gordon." More recently, Rachel was podcast managing editor at Capitol Broadcasting Company where she developed narrative series and edited a daily podcast. She also worked at "The Double Shift" podcast as supervising producer. Rachel learned about audio storytelling at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Prior to working in audio journalism, she was a research assistant at the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC.

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