The News Record p?n
For Farmers
SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY ln Trouble On Page 6
76th Year No. 4 PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT MARSHALL. N.C THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1?77 15' Per Copy
Ethie Plemmons...40 acres were her world
By DOT JACKSON
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer
Sunday they buried 80-year-old Ethia
Plemmons of Spring Creek community
in Madison County, who went out to her
barn to feed her chickens, fell and died
m the cold.
Her funeral was at Mount Pleasant
Baptist Church in Hot Springs with
burial in the churchyard.
"Miss Ethie," born on the same
mountain farm where she died, had
lived alone for 25 years in her isolated
one-room cabin. She chopped wood for
her stove and heater, read by a single
oil lamp and dipped her water from a
tiny spring close to her porch.
"I ain't much wanting electric
lights," she once said. Electricity, she
said, was nothing but lightning on
wires, so though the power company
brought the lines and hooked them to
her house, she wouldn't let the wires be
brought inside.
She hoed her living from the
mountainside. Her loft sagged with
winter squash and potatoes and meat
and produce. In the evenings, she
called her grazing cows home, each by
name. They knew no one but her and
would fade back into the bordering
woods until strangers got out of sight.
She had been married, briefly, many
years ago. But the man wouldn't work
to suit her, she said, "so I ran him off."
Her dog slept close to the front door,
ready to bark at rare passersby. Her
(Continued on Page 6)
Schools Can Cut
/
15 Days For Snow
Supt. Robert L. Edwards
.* toM the News-Record Monday
that he a waned that the
decision by a majority of the
state school board members to
let the snow-bound Western
North Carolina schools cut IS
days off the 180-day school
year would be verified at the
state board meeting on Feb. 10.
As of Monday of this week,
Edwards said be had had no
official word from Dr. Craig
Phillips, state superintendent,
bat stated that be felt
reasonably assured the cut in
days would become effective.
The board members were
polled by telephone Friday
after 90 school superintendents
from Western North Carolina
visited Raleigh Thursday and
asked for relief from the state
laws that require schools to
stay open 180 days a year while
not letting the school year
exceed 10 months.
Avery County School Supt.
ww ss.n ...l ?s~?i
narry mcutx, wiiuw kiiuujs
have been dosed 20 days
because of snow and tee, said
"Everyone wants to give 180
days of school if possible. We
all are committed to that. But
the weather has been pretty
severe so we'll just have to
givea little."
But even with the relief from
the state school board, many
schools may be in trouble. In
previous years, schools have
been closed more often during
March than any other month,
the superintendent* tokl state
officiate Thursday.
That means some school
districts could use up the
regularly scheduled "snow
days" as well as the IS days
that the state board has agreed
to waive for some of the
mountain school districts.
Mrs. Linda Irwin, the
board's information coor
dinator, said state laws allow
the board to waive up to 60 days
of a 180-day school year.
However, any reductions
beyond the 15 days approved
by the state board would mean
cuts in pay for teachers
Schools in Avery, Madison,
Mitchell and Yancey counties
have been closed for 20 or more
days because of the snow and
ice. Buncombe County schools
have been closed 14 days, and
the Aaheville schools have
been closed 13 days by snow.
~~Tfce telephone poll of the
state school board members
Friday is not a binding legal
action. All it means is that the
board members polled hate
said they will vote for the
proposal during the board
meeting Feb. 10, said Mrs.
Irwin.
Most school districts have
scheduled more than 180 days
for the school year. They then
set aside between 10 and 20
,4aya lor emergencies like
?now. The proposed state '
board resolution would require '
districts to use up the "snow
days" before seeking special
relief from the state board.
'Miss Ethie' Heads Toward Her Cabin On The Mountain
\ .
Region B Receives Extra GETA Funds
The Regional Manpower
Advisory Committee for
Henderson, Madison, and
Transylvania counties met
Wednesday, Jan. 19, at the
Land-of-Sky Regional Council
office at 10 a.m. with Chair
man James Ledford of
Madison County presiding.
After a welcome to guests
and members, minutes of the
Sept. 13 meeting were ap
proved.
The first item of business
was the allocation of additional
CETA Title I funds. The
committee voted to spend
$8,134 in vocational training
funds for an Emergency
Medical Technician (EMT)
training class in Madison
County. The class will be
operated by Asheville
Buncombe Technical
Institute.
Elizabeth Worsham,
Manpower director, stated
that $134,461 in Title I training
funds were also planned for the
three counties. She explained a
proposed breakout for
allocation of these funds, along
with general descriptions of
each Manpower program, and
the methodology used for the
proposed allocations. The
committee voted to accept the
proposed recommendations
for the funds and also voted to
divide equally an unallocated
$2,654 among the three adult
work experience programs.
The additional funds will be
available in February, pen
ding approval by the Office of
Employment and Training in
Raleigh.
I SSinHfl fnr mratinn nf th?
[ youth and adult work ex
perience programs and
vocational scholarship
programs are contracted to
Land-of-Sky Regional Council
and subcontracted to program
operators in the three counties.
Funds for operation of
orientation and motivation
classes at Asheville
Buncombe Technical Institute
and Blue Ridge Technical
Institute are channeled
through the Department of
Community Colleges A class
size training project in
Madison County is operated by
Aaheville-Buncombe
Technical Institute and the
employment security
Commission. Fundi for On
the-Job Training in the three
countiee are contracted
directly between the Office of
Employment and Training and
the Employment Security
Commiaeton
The committee dti'Mtd to
adopt a bi-monthly meeting
schedule and have program
operator* make periodic
reports at theae meeting*.
The final item of business
was the election of 1V77 RMAC
officers Offices* were elected
a* follow*: chairman, Chick
Martin, Tranaphrania County;
vice chairman, Robert
V n.KSs Henderson Cosmty;
secretary, Virginia Anderson,
Madison County;
yJiam?Urtan, ^^^Kathy
pointed by the lead regional
organization to advise the
council on local manpower and
training needs and to make
recommendations to the
council on programs to best
serve the regional needs.
Committee membership is
composed of local officials,
manpower clients,
representatives of business,
industry, and labor, and
professionals in education,
employment and community
service organizations.
Robert Shepherd, executive
director, commended James
Ledford, outgoing chairman
for his support and con
tributions to the RMAC during
his term as chairman.
Young Accepts Baptist
Church Pastorate Here
Tk. n n \n a t/_. ?
inciwT. il. vumjcih ioung
of Aulander, has accepted the
pastorate of Marshall Baptist
Church and will preach his
first sermon on Feb. 6.
Mr. and Mrs. Young and
their son, Shawn, 9, and their
daughter, Shannon, 17 months,
expect to move into the
pastorium on Walnut Creek
Road on Feb. 1.
Born in Alexandria, Va.,
Nov. 9,1941, his family moved
to Mars Hill where his father
entered Mars Hill College to
study for the ministry.
Following graduation from
high school in Thornton, Goto.,
Vincent returned to Mars Hill
where he received Ms B.A.
in 1968 He rewdwdhUVLD*
Baptist Seminary in Wake
Forest in 1173.
WklU a Miwiani a? UaM Hill
Collage, he served as pastor of
Porta of Ivy Baptist Church
* ?Mi mm - ?? --- - - J-1??j
IrOVn IW4 H ma VII OftlftlMQ
by that church in 1M4. Prom
the Porto of Ivy church he
went to Cteedmore where he
Baptist Church lor five years,
then became pastor of the
Aulander Baptist Church in
l9tl.
Mrs Teuac Is the former
Kathleen *K>thy" Lindocy of
flfld fM*
rlMfprK?teiy.
XT?t> va7^!^i
JStouT"SJta"tfhtn' Hk ?
i n ? mj ? f i v
REV. R. VINCENT YOUNG
ACP Sign-Up Extended
The ASCS Office has been
accepting request for cost
sharing under the 1977 ACP for
the past week and a half. Since
weather conditions have been
such that many residents on
rural roaas nave Deen unaoie
to travel, the county com
mittee has extended the sign
up period until Feb. 4.
The committee encourages
all interested farmers to sign a
request for ACP cost-sharing
to establish a vegetative cover,
improve vegetative cover,
lime farmland, install un
derground drainage or par
ticipate in any of the other
approved practices in the
county program
Remember, the 1977 ACP
sign-up has been extended to
Fab. 4.
Industry
On Parade
Show Starts
Ifce spotlight will be on
Western North Carolina's
Industries this weekend as
"Industry on Parade," the 1S77
industrial fair , opens Thur
sday night in the AaheriOe
Last year, J2,000 persons
tuned out to have, look aad
this year, than will be even
Voltage Reduction
Lifted By EMC
French Broad EMC was
notified today (Jan. 3S) by
Carolina Power h Light
Company that the five percent
voltage reduction plan that
had been in effect has been
lifted.'' The extreme cold
weather that ha* been ex
perienced during the last few
weeks resulted in record peak
demands for power and forced
this temporary voltage cut
back.
Even though the cutback in
voltage has been lifted, French
Broad EMC continues to
conserve as much energy as
puaelble Postpone any
cooking, washing, etc., that is
off heat in unused area* of your
home, set your theromstats no
higher than 65 degrees, and
practice conservation with all
your home appliances. Your
(Continued on Page 6)
Ed Niles
Marshall
Alderman
Ed NUas. Marshall phar
madat and owiwr of Roberta
f>h?rmacjr, was sworn inaas
maoabarsf the Marshall board
of aldsrman on Wednaaday
"HawK^SItoy w d, wbo
Nilas will ssnrs as water
commissioner, a post hoM by
Wild Iv mans soars
Other 4
Donald Ramsay.
MIRAGE? Don't M the sign fool
you. TOo isn't sand you're looking
at but tt It moor in foreground and
ioe in the French Broad River at
Rollins, a suburb of Marshal) The
iMwoare ?as taken last Friday
afternoon. It'i bean many, many
years the river !??? bean
froten aver between the Marshall
dam and the Ivy railroad trestle.
(Photo by Jim Story) W