VOLUME LXXV1 ? NO. 17
ft
TAUGA DEMOCRAT
WATAUGA COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, IMS
4
Section C
PRICE TEN CENTS
Democrat Writer Tells Of War
Waged By Sheriff On Liquor
By CLASS COX
Some of the activitiea of Wa
tauga County Sheriff Dallas
Cheek and his deputiei seem
to go beyond the call of duty,
even for law-enforcement off
icers. I refer to their all-out,
no-holds-barred war against
"moonshiners' 'and bootleggers.
I got my first inkling of how
difficult this phase of their
work is when Deputy Smith
Brown phoned me last Friday.
"We're going after a whiskey
still we discovered the other
day," he told me. "A couple of
Alcohol Tax Unit agents are
going along, and we thought you
might like to go, too, to get
a picture of the still before we
blow K up."
To get to the still, we went
about four miles out of Boone
on the Blowing Rock Road, turn
ed left on the Parkway, and
then turned left twice more on
tortuous dirt roads. Then fol
lowed four miles of the great
est monstrosity that ever passed
for a road.
Sampson Road is about seven
feet wide, with road banks loom
ing up on both sides tyat invite
collision. Branches from these
banks scrape the sides of ve
hicles. The road is strewn with
rocks and matted with fallen
leaves, and the grades are un
believably steep. A half-dozen
times you are forced to cross
the meanderings of a single
stream, without benefit of ?
bridge.
Driving st breakneck pace, we
avnraged about five miles an
hour on Sampson Koad. But
finally the ATU car ahead stop
ped and the driver indicated
that we had reached our desti
nation.
Well, almost. The still was
accessible only by wading up
stream through the woods for
another quarter of a mile.
An ATU agent soon reported
via walkie-talkie that no one
was around the still at that
time, but that bran had been
strewn around indi
cate to the operators Whether
anyone had been there during
their absence. Working witp
extreme caution, the investigat
or discovered also that the
three mash boxee had just been
filled with about 790 gallons
of mash, but that it would not
be ready to run until about
Monday morning, depending on
the weather.
"Do you want to come back
Monday morning and try to
catch the operator?" ATU
agent Jim Saunders asked
Sheriff Cheek. "It's up to you."
Cheek had a difficult deci
sion. If he decided to liquidate
the itill, then and there, the
moonshiners would be free to
set up other stills and continue
in their unlawful acts. On the
other hand, the still might be
gone by Maaday, since hunting
season would open Tuesday and
hunters might stumble onto it
And if the lawmen arrived too
late Monday morning to estab
lish their waiting positions be
fore the lawbreakers themselves
arrived, they could be walking
Into a dangerous trap.
"I'm all for capturing some of
the men if we can," Cheek said.
"Let's meet in front of my off
ice at four o'clock Monday
morning."
So I didn't get my picture.
Furthermore, I would now have
to get np at three a. m. Mon
day, and go through the whole
mess again, having to lie be
hind a laurel bush somewhere
for hours with temperatures ap
proaching the freeiing point, if
I wanted a picture at all. And
I began to have nightmares
about being chased by little
bearded men with squirrel ri
fles.
I decided to oversleep Mod
day.
But Sheriff Cheek and his
hard-working cohorts didn't ov
ersleep.
"Deputies Brown and Har
mon, ATU agents Saunders and
Sam Cabe, and myself left
Boone at 3:58 a. m." Cheek told
me later, "reaching the still at
S o'clock. I stationed myself at
a point slightly below the still,
and Saunders and the deputies
took positions up the hill,
where anybody that might see
me would have to run. Cabe
hid where he could watch the
road. .
"At 8 JO, a subject started
carrying gallon jugs up the
stream? forty caaea of them. Ha
also brought In three new mash
tens, apparently with no idea
of ceasing operations during
hunting season, and several
bags of coal to fire the still
with.
"We had no idea how many
nien were helping him unload
the stuff, but it soon became
apparent that we weren't go
ing to catch all of them in
there together. I stepped out of
hiding and started walking
toward the one nun. I was al
moat close enough to grab him
wnen he turned around and
aaw me, let out a yell, and ran
up the hill right into the arms
of the depute
"After they caught him. he
1 out three warning yella to
let the others know what had
happened."
Things happened pretty fast
after that. Saunders returned
to the road just in time to see
three other men drive off in
a blue Chevrolet pickup. Sheriff
J w *Bd hU men Uter aight
thr?? men on foot; but
without the truck in their pos
sesion there wu no basis for
m*king an arerst.
Meantime, Cabe was busy too.
Stopping a black Ford pickup
fi2 "kin* questions of
the driver, when the man sud
denly slammed the truck into
reverse and went tearing up the
narrow road backwards, careen
ing from roadbank to road bank
with great noise and dislodging
dirt and rocks from the
Somewhere, he located a place
to turn around and then con
tinued madly up the hill.
Cabe returned to his car and
pursued the truck, but it had
disappeared by the time he
reached the Parkway.
. ..P1? captured man was iden
tified as Rodney A. Penley, 32
of Patterson, N. C. He was
t?ken to North Wilkesboro and
Pueod under bond for his ap
pearance in Federal Court next
M|y.
It took 11 sticks of dynamite
to demolish the 80-gallon still
Cheek stated, as well as some
diligent work with an axe to
break all the jugs. But at least
it Warmed the chilled officers
to a bearable point. "That was
the most enjoyable part of the j
job," Cheek said.
But a more enjoyable activity
remained. It seems that the op
erators of the still had also car
ried in some groceries to sus
Uln them U?roufh the day. The
lawmen spread out the feast and
enjoyed a "long-delayed break
fast.
The breakfast, all will agree,
was well deserved by the dili
gent Cheek and his staff.
I missed It. While the sher
>f"? department and the ATU
agents were turning in half a
day's hard work, I was sleep
ing.
And I never did get that pic
ture.
Sheriffs Deputy Smith Brown took thli photograph of a part
of the (till which *u captured last Monday by Sheriff
Dallas Cheek, Deputy Ed Harmon, and ATU men Jim
Saunders and Sam Cabe.
Halloween Carnival
At Blowing Rock
. The annual Halloween Car
nival will be held ( at the Blow
ins Rock School Saturday even
ing October 88," at 8 o'clock.
Door prizes will be given, I
and sandwiches will be avail
able at the food booth. The
public is invited.
Merchants and other business
men of Boone, whose contribu
tions are ' appreciated, are a*
follows: >
McClung's Five and Ten,
Swofforffs, Modern Appliance
Co., Boone Drug Co., Southern
Agricultural Insecticides, Bur
gee Furniture Store, Smithey*s,
Watauga Democrat, Western
Auto, Winkler U o t o r Co.,
Belk's, Caudill's, Walker Jew
elry, Parkway Co., Newton's,
Boone Loan & Gun Shop, Wa
tauga Insurance Agency, Wa
S witcli To
@)
HeatingOil
* Economical ? claan burning
* We d?liv?r automatically
R. D. Hodges, Jr.
Agent
HUMBLE OIL A
REFINING COMPANY
Boon, N. C.
Phone
AM 4-SStl or AM 44251
Only thia could come between Chevrolet mud Chevy II.
The Chevdle is a highly polished or on ? trim 115
inch wheelbaae. Remarkably agile and aasy to handle and
park. But it'* roomy inside, with m tkf of the comforts
/wu u eAjrtxi in ? Diner cv.
Its ride comes from the people wMNPiraioped
the Jet-?nooth kind. It* four enginee?VS or 6
?carry that irrepressible Chevrolet qririt ?D
N^w ChtmlU Mmlibu Sport Coupe (foreground) with M*Ubu Super Sport CommtiMt
the way up to 220 hp*. Ita lively, graceful styling And
Body by Iisher craftsmanahip make its modest pnoe all
the more remarkable. And it cobm hi three series and
eleven models? wagons, sedans, sport coupes, convertibles.
Want to cheek further? Consider thto your
Chevrolet dttler's.
tauga Savings & Loan Associa
tion, Boone Supply Co., Greene
Furniture Store, Church's, Cof
fey's Building Supply, Builders
Super Market, Norris Furni
ture Hart, Varsity Shop, Dixie
Music Shop, Carolina Phar
macy, Carolina Business Mach
ines, S tailings Jewelry, Farm
ers Hardware, Watauga FCX,
Flowers Photo Shop, Federal
Land Bank, Trallway Cleaners,
Hountain Oil Co., Crest Store,
Hunt's Dept. Store, Jay Grocery
& Service Station, Greene
Bros. Body Shop.
State Board Of Higher Education
Makes Biennial Visit To ASTC
The State Board of Higher
RrtuMrttai Friday gave final ap
proval to the establishment of a
two-year college center at Sey
mour - Johnson Air Force Base
near Gokfeboro.
It also aproved construction of
self - liquidating projacts at Win
ston- Salem State Callage and
Charlotte College which had been
authorised by the 1963 General
Assembly.
The AF base center will be
established by East Cwolina Col
lege at Greenville, N. C. The
board had fiven the proposal
tentative approval at its meeting
Boone Man Wins
Fishing Award
Myrtle Beach, S. C. ? H. E.
Poindexter of Boone won an
award in the September compe
tition of the Grand Strand Fish
ing Rodeo in Myrtle Beach and
the 80-Mile Grand Strand of
South Carolina, according to
Walter Hosier, rodeo chairman.
Poindexter entered a first
place, 7-pound, 4-ounce Bonito
offshore.
The $10,000 fishing rodeo of
fers ten dollar fish - shaped
checks as first place awards
each month. Forty-four fish are
eligible in three divisions ? pier,
surf small boat, and deep sea.
Spaak urges new moves to
bolster peace.
Uot December. After that the
project was appraised by the
Southern Association of Colleges
and Secondary Schools.
The board's actions were
among those taken during the
board's biennial visit to Appa
lachian State Teachers College at
Boone. The business session also
constituted the board's regular
meeting for October.
The two years of work at Sey
mour Johnson will be available to
either civilian or military person
nel.
Winston-Salem will build a dor
mitory tor 215 men, and Char
lotte an addition to the Student
Union building. Winston - Salem
and FlayetteviUe State Colleges
have before the board requests
for granting both the B. A and
& S. degrees (Winston -Salem
State gives on the B. S. now.)
The board said yesterday that
a team of educators will be on
the campus of Winston - Salem
State Collage on November 3 and
4 for evaluations which are to be
made before the request can re
ceive final action. Similar visits
are to be paid to Fayetteville
State College later.
It was announced that the
board has reactivated its Ad
visory Committee on Nursing.
Among those attending the
conference at Appalachian were
Dr. Oliver Oarmfchael of Ashe
vttto, chairman of the board;
William A. Dees, Jr., of Golds
boco, vice chairman; Mrs. Har
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INLAID
i? B. Stein o f Fayetteville, sec
retary; Joseph W. Grier, Jr., a f
Charlotte and Ailen H Gwyn,
Jr., of Reidsville, members; Dr.
'Howard it Boozer, assistant
board director; and Mrs. Elea
nor S. Parker, educational re
search analyst, both of Raleigh.
Representatives from other
institutions included Dr. C. Rob
ert Benson, president of Gaston
Technical Institute; Miss Bonnie
E. Cone, president of Charlotte
College; Charles Milner, director
of extension, 'University of North
Carolina; Ed Ruggles, director
of extension. North Carolina State
of the University of North Caro
lina at Raleigh; Dr. David
Middleton, director of extension.
East Carolina College; Dr. Eng
Ifch Jones, president of Pem
broke State College; 'Dr. George
T. Kyle, dean of North Carolina
College at Duiham; Dr. L^wis
Dowdy of A4T College, Greens
boro; Dr. WUHam Randall, (resi
dent of Wilmington College;
Frank Brown of Western Caro
lina College; and Dr. W. Archie
Blount oi Winston - Salem State
College.
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