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Entered at Post Office. Franklin. N O.. ae eeoond claaa matter
Published every Thursday by The Franklin Preea
Franklin. N. C. Telephone 94
WEIMAR JONES Editor
BOB 6. SLOAN Business Manager
J.P BRADY
Editor
IOSS BETTY LOU POUTS Office Manager
CARL P. CABE Mechanical Superintendent
FRANK A. STARRETTE Shop Superintendent
DAVID H SUTTON Stereotyper
CHARLES E. WIU'lTlNOTON Preaaman
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
Outbids Macon Count t Inside Macon County
One Tear $3.09 One Tear 92J0
Ms Months 1.79 81x Months 1.79
Three Months 1.00 Three Months 1.00
JULY ?, 1954
One Way
For quite a while now the columnists have been
saying it's up to President Eisenhower to put Sen
ator McCarthy in his place. Mr. Eisenhower seems
to feel it's up to the Senate. The Democratic sen
ators .say it's up to the Republican members. And
the majority of Republican senators can't, or won't,
do anything.
So maybe it's up to you and me.
What can we do? Well, we pay taxes; and what
gives McCarthy his power is the tax money Con
gress hands over to him, to hire a staff, pay spies,
travel over the country, etc.
If enough of us refused to pay any federal taxes
until Congress stopped appropriating these huge
sums, of OUR money, for McCarthy's antics ? if
enough people did that, we have an idea something
would happen in Washington, and quickly!
A Good Idea
Good ideas that are new usually seem so simple
and so obvious, the wonder is they weren't thought
of long before.
An instance is a development at Otto. There a
community library has been opened to the public.
Not onlv are books available for lending, but good
magazines are to be found in the reading room.
And one of the best features is the plan to operate
the community library, which is housed at the
school, in cooperation with the school's library;
thus all the books in both will be available both to
the public and to the school children.
Like so many worth-while projects in this coun
ty, this one was fathered by the local community
development organization.
If the Otto organization should never develop
another project ? and undoubtedly it will develop
many more ? we'd guess this community library
alone will justify, many times over, the organiza
tion's existence.
Vital To Us, Too
Construction of anv needed road anywhere in
Western North Carolina helps every part of West
ern North Carolina.
Thus, whether they realize it or not, the people
of Haywood County have a vital interest in the
Cowee Gap highway, in Macon and Jackson Coun
ties; and people in Macon and Jackson have a stake
in highways in Haywood.
A case in point is the Pigeon River road, now
under construction, between Newport, in Cocke
County, Tennessee, and Waynesville, in Haywood.
In that particular road, though, we in this area
have a specific interest. It almost surely will prove
a feeder for our Asheville-Atlanta highway ; provid
ing a direct connection between the Midwest and
the South, and making Franklin and this section
more easily available to tourists from the Midwest.
Incidentally, the Pigeon River road, "due to its rel
atively low altitude, should be what the Soco Gap
road is not, an all-weather highway.
So this newspaper hopes Highway Commissioner
Harry Buchanaji will be successful in his efforts to
_get the Pigeon River road put on the interstate
system, and thus make it available for federal aid
funds; obtaining such funds undoubtedly would
speed its completion.
Add similies : As unusual as a local auto tag on
a Highlands street in summer.
For years we've been talking about stream pollu
tion ; and the situation has got no better. Maybe
it's time to try a simple solution ? just stop pol
luting the streams.
New Postal Job
' Si
In a franked envelope from the Post Office De
partment, there comes to this office an announce
ment that "many children are victims of blasting
cap accidents each year".
And so "the Post Office Department and Bureau
of Mines today joined forces in a nation-wide edu
cational campaign to alert boys and girls to the
danger of blasting caps".
That is a worthy objective. No one will question
the desirability of such a campaign.
There is a question, however, as to whether this ,
is 3 proper function of the Post Office Department.
We had thought the department's job was to carry '
the mail.
We also seem to remember that the Post Office
Department has been complaining, for a long time
now, that it hasn't enough funds to do even that
job well.
Religion - and Flowers
Isn't it possible that creating beauty is a form
of religious worship?
If that is true, then it is particularly true here in
Western North Carolina, because nowhere, per
haps, are people blessed with so much God-given
beauty ; and surely we can best show our gratitude
for this gift by trying, in our small way, to add to
the natural beauty that is all about us.
And what simpler, easier, more appropriate way
than by growing flowers !
So The Press removes its hat to the Franklin
and Highlands garden clubs as they prepare for
their annual flower shows, July 31-August 1 and
August 14-15, respectively.
Though they probably have not thought of it so,
when they encourage flower growing, it seems to
us, they are encouraging a spirit of religious grati
tude.
Others' Opinions
WHAT THEY SEE HERE
(Franklin Lions Club Bulletin)
*?
Visitors coming to Franklin over our four principal highways
see the following between the city limits and the Main Street
business section:
1. 152 bill boards and signs shouting about everything from
supersonic snuff to chittlin' stomps.
2. 4 junkyards decorating the landscape.
3. ? truckloads of trash and dirt on the streets.
4. 1 faded, weed-hidden sign which whispers "Welcome,
Franklin is a good place to live".
REWARDS OF A PUBLIC SERVANT v
(Shelby Cleveland Times) ^
It Is Interesting to note what a conscientious public servant ^
may expect from his country and his countrymen in the United
States of America at mid-Twentieth Century.
The case of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer should be an excel- s
lent illustration, since Dr. Oppenheimer Is the foremost "hero" p
of American physics, or to put it another way the Christopher ?
Columbus of atomic power. ,
It was Dr. Oppenheimer, in the service of our country, who t
more than any other one man gave this nation the key of ad
vent to a new age in human history.
Nine short years later? now? he is hounded out of public |
service, without a monument, without a resolution of thanks, 1
with not even an expression of regret.
We use our public servants with appalling contempt. The past i
President of the United States less than a year ago was seared :
with the brand of treason by supposedly responsible men. The
Prometheus of the atom, by whose labors and loyalty this
iiation became the first possessor of nuclear power, Is now
disgraced and banned from his own secrets.
This is a sad commentary on the contemporary American
character.
It is a sadder commentary on our lack of realism In how to
defend free enterprise, free government and democracy against
the rising might of Communism.
JUST 25 YEARS AGO
HisWands Rejoins North Carolina
(EDITOR'S NOTE: The fol
1 owing feature story, a re
print of an article In The
Aaherille Times, appeared In
The Press July 18, 1929?25
yean ago this week.)
North Carolina's good roads
are about to redeem another
"lost" region of the state.
For over a half a century
that section of Macon county
In which the little town of
Highlands is situated has been
a part of South Carolina ? In
everything but name.
But at last It Is about to
come back Into North Carolina,
thanks to means of transporta
tion -r- and North Carolinians
art waking up to the fact that,
while they Have been neglect
ing this rough and beautiful
country, the people of other
states have seen Its possibili
ties and literally taken the
region over.
Witness just two facts: Citi
zens of Louisiana, South Caro
lina, Georgia and half a doz
en other states have gone to
Highlands once, and then re
turned a second time to build as
beautiful summer homes as may
be found anywhere In Western
North Carolina; and today
Oeorgla capitalists, with the co
operation of Highlands business
men, are constructing a golf
course, up there on the top of
the world, that has been de
OUR DEMOCRACY ***
From the early days, when judges rode around their,
CIRCUITS ON HORSEBACK AND SOMETIMES DELIVEREO THEMS:
OF RULINGS WITHOUT DISMOUNTING, WeVe DERIVED THE FIGUR.C
OF SPEECH * HORSEBACK OPINION* IT MEANS A QUICK, NOT
FULLY CONSIDERED OPINION, USUALLY GIVEN WHEN AN
IMMEDIATE RESPONSE IS WANTED -AND TMATS ' 7S JUSTIFICATION.
When it comes to uotins.mowi
( 1 PRIVILEGE AS CITIZENS TO QHm
WC CAN ABOUT THE ISSUES
IN NOHlMSfR, TO ??T*
ATE, IT IS OUR DUTY AND OUR
N AND WEIGH ALL THE FAC <
NT CANDIDATES, AND ^5-v,
at i nE ?C- .
ared by men who know to
ive promise of being as fine
3 any in the South.
Highlands has, certainly, two
istinctions: It lays claim to
sing the highest incorporated
>wn in the east; and ft un
Dubtedly is the most cosmo
alitan community in the South,
ear 'round residents ? quest
>r beauty brought some, while
lat for health drew others ?
re there from all over the
orld.
And the third chapter is be
lg written today. The state is
instructing as a part of No.
B, a road direct from Highlands
j Franklin.
The state is building a road ?
nd how!
Rather, the state is blasting
ut a road.
And what a road!
It follows the course of the
ullasaja river, rising some
500 feet in a few miles, and
tands, at some points, 250 feet
bove the river's gorge, with
tie rock dropping sheer from
tie road to the cataract at the
ottom of the mountain. Above,
he rock towers straight up
gain.
For ^ distance of 1,000 hori
ontal feet, here is the proced
re that was followed: From the
op of the cliff, above where
he road now stands, men were
jwered by ropes to the point
.'here the highway was to be
ut out of the granite. Holes
fere drilled, "loaded", and the
lynamite blasts set off. Then
he same process was repeated.
This point is near one of the
hree beautiful falls along this
tretch of No. 28 that, for
cenery, combines waterfall,
irecipitous and frowning gray
tone cliffs, and vistas of dis
ant mountains. The second.
Dry" falls, long famous for
he fact that one can walk, dry,
inderneath the rock over which
;he river pours.
And at the third waterfall
;he highway engineers, through
accident or intent, have done
something that will draw ex
clamation from the most blase.
Coming from Highlands, the
motorist suddenly rounds a
aurve to see almost directly
?*. t
above him Bridal Veil falls. The t!
water leaps gracefully from a t
rock overhanging the road, and v
strikes the outer edge of the n
highway, random drops rattling t
on the top of the car as the i
machine passes underneath it. n
It is appropriately named, c
The water is that of a com- e
paratively small tributary of li
the Cullasaja, and as it nears b
the top of a cliff, on the outer r
edge of the road, its spray is g
hardly more than mist. g
The grading of the road is j
practically complete, after two a
years of work. Plans are to c
hardsurface it; highway com- i
mission officials estimate that r
the grading will be complete t
within about two months. It Is t
20 miles in length. r
About a year ago a group of 1
Atlanta business men, golfing i
bent, "discovered" Highlands. \
Thereupon Highlands Estates, ^
Inc., was organized, and work <
was begun on the Highlands i
golf course and country club. <
The group includes, among
others, Robert T. Jones, father .
of Bobby Jones. A number of '
Highlands business men also 1
own stock.
Four hundred acres was pur- .
chased, much of it thick-set in .
rhododendron and laurel, and
work began. The 18-hole golf
course, when completed, will .
have cost approximately $75,000.
The almost complete club
house was burned last April,
but work was almost immedi
ately begun on a new structure,
which will be finished in about
three months at a cost of $75,
000. The size of the building
can be visualized by pointing
out that it will be almost a
quarter of a mile around. A
formal opening is planned for
next June.
The course itself, nine holes
of which are complete, was laid
off by Donald Ross, noted golf
architect. It has as smooth and
velvety a turf ? where a few
months ago was wilderness ? as
could be imagined, surrounded
by strikingly beautiful moun
tain scenery, with water prac
tically always in view. On one
side is the municipal lake, on
Continued On Pace Three ?
STRICTLY
, PERSONAL
By WEIMAR JONES
down ? and complain because
people order from out of town.
They spend millions of dol
lars for cold drinks to cool off
In hot weather, when a warm,
drink Is much more effective
for the purpose.
They boast about our great
churches and schools In Amer
ica ? but spend more for al
cohol and tobacco than for
churches and schools combined.
Wonder why they don't boast
about the things they really
value, as Indicated by the way
they spend their money?
They wear a lot of loud
clothes their parents wouldn't
have been caught dead In? but
refer to people who talk In loud
tones as vulgar.
They endanger their own and
other people's lives driving at a
mad rate, only to arrive early
and get bored waiting for ap
pointments that wasn't Impor
tant In the first place.
? ? ?
Yes, sir; people are funny.
That Is, everybody but us.
Aren't people funny?
They think It's terrible for a
politician to vote anything but
the straight ticket in an elec
tion, but they never bat on
eye, once that same politician
Is elected to Congress, when he
teams up with the Republican
(or Democratic) opposition on
legislative Issues.
They eat too much, smoke
too much, and drink too much
? and wonder why so many
other people (of course it won't
happen to them!) die of high
blood pressure and heart at
tacks.
If they're white women, they
spend thousands of dollars to
put a curl -in their hair; If
they're Negro women, they
spend thousands to take It out.
Customers think it's terrible
that local merchants dont car
ry full stocks ? and order from
mall order houses without look
ing to see if the local merchant
has what they want. And mer
chants let their stocks run
News Making ,
As ft Looks
To A Maconite
? By BOB BLOU
A little more than a year ago
>cal people tried to keep the
ew administration of the Fed
ral government from combln
ig the Wantahala forest with
tie Plsgah forest. This was
ibeled an economy measure,
ocal persons familiar with the
ttuatlon doubted very much
hat money would be saved,
his paper questioned the po
itlon. One of the reasons, mqity
f us felt that all the economy
tiey talked about would not be
btalned was that we felt that
re would not get the same serv
;e from the Forest service that
re had through the years. A
rip to Arrowood, popular local
lcnlc area seems to bear this
ut. The place Is the dirtiest
nd the most run down that I
iave ever seen it. As Is often
tie case when someone talks
bout saving money they just
lean they will give less serv
te. if the Forest Service is sav
ig any money on the Nanta
ala-Pisgah merger any satis
actlon they are enjoying should
e offset by the fact that they
re sure giving less service.
? ? ?
Something very essential to
'ranklin if we want to get any
Jurist dollars is good recrea
lon facilities. The Franklin
olf course and swimming pool
re one of the few attempts to
leet this need. Both the Prank
In Jaycees and Mr. T. W. Angel,
.r., Mr. Frank Duncan, and
Ir. and Mrs. George R. Pat
lllo are to be commended for
he fine work they have done
here. However, because of the
irater problem, a lot of develop
(ient capital is needed for both
he golf course and the pool,
f either the chamber of com
nerce or the town of Franklin
ould raise from fifty to sev
nty-five thousand dollars to be
janed on a long time loan
iasis and at very low Interest
ate to develop the pool and
:olf course it would be a very
;ood investment. Both the peo
>le who buy Summer homes
md those who stay at tourist
ourts want recreational facil
ties. Swimming and golf are
nusts for a lot of people on
heir vacations. I doubt that
he golf course and pool would
nake their money back for a
ong time but the additional
noney spent by the people they
vould bring and help hold here
vould be many many times the
:ost. In the meantime the local
jeople would have the benefit
>f better recreational facilities.
Otto Wildlife Club
Plans Meeting Friday
The Otto Wildlife Club will
lold its monthly meeting at
,he school tomorrow (Friday)
light at 8 o'clock, it was an
nounced this week by the pres
ident, Gline Holland.
Do You
Remember?
(Looking backward through
the files of The Press >
50 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
Mr. R. L. Porter had his
wheat threshed out last week
on his Gribble farm, and It
turned out 816 bushels of fine
quality. He sold it and delivered
It direct from the thresher to
the Harris RoUer MU1 for $1.00
per bushel.
Messrs. Lee Crawford and
Will Sloan with their families
are camping on Wayah Bald a
few weeks. ,
Mr. R. Furman Jarrett, of
Waynesvllle, is spending this
week here with his parents.
25 YEARS AGO
Two Boy Scouts, Billy Sloan
and Tony Welch, last week
were installed as first class
Scouts before a Court of Honor
composed of J. S. Conley, Dick
Jones, Major S. A. Harris, and
the Scoutmaster, Rev. J. A.
Flanagan.
Mrs. S. T. Ramsey and grand
daughters, Misses Lola and Jes
sie Ramsey, have returned from
a week's visit with friends and
relatives In Georgia.
10 YEARS AGO
1st Lieut. Charles R. Hunni
cutt, son of Mrs. Blanche Hun
nicutt, Franklin, and husband
of Mrs. .Martha E. Hunnlcutt,
Leatherman, has been decorat
ed with the Distinguished Fly
ing Cross.
Pvt. Harry Kinsland, son of
Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Kinsland, of
Route 4, who Is stationed at
Kingman Air Base, Kingman,
Ariz., is home on a furlough.