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Mars Hill College Will Unveil
'Heritage' Mural On September 8
F
The unveiling and formal
dedication of Douglas
Terguson's ceramic mural,
"Heritage," will be held on
4Sept. S, which has been
Obsignated "Doug Ferguson
J>ay" by the college.
| Ceremonies will begin at 3
?.m. and will include early
American, traditional, and
string band music by the Ap
palachian Folk, a group com
posed of Lou Therrell on ban
jo, Byard Ray on fiddle, Vi
vian Hartsoe on guitar and
Craig BuBose on base fiddle.
Dr. David Smith, campus
jninister, will give the invoca
tion, and college president Dr.
Fred Bentley will address the
assembly in a tribute to the ar
tist. The dedicatorial prayer
will be given by Dr. Hoyt
Black well, president emeritus
of Mars Hill and namesake of
the building where the mural
was placed.
Ferguson is a native of
Yancey County, born on
"Possum Trot," a small set
tlement near Bald Creek. He
grew up there and attended
grammar and high school at
Bald Creek. He enrolled in
Mars Hill and completed his
studies in art in 1933. He work
ed for the Tennessee Valley
Authority until 1946, gaining
invaluable training and ex
perience in the ceramic
research laboratory at Norris.
Together with his father-in
law, Ernest Wilson, he found
ed the Pigeon Forge Pottery
on the banks of the Little
Pigeon River about five miles
northwest of Gatlinburg.
Since then, Ferguson has
become renown as a potter,
artist, and designer. His
business has drawn tourists
from all over the world; and
he has been commissioned to
create special pieces for such
dignitaries as Queen
Elizabeth ; and he has lectured
all over the world.
Ferguson began thinking of
a gift for the college when he
visited the campus last year at
the invitation of Dr. Bentley.
He originally thought of a
mural on a long, low wall, but
Dr. Bentley directed his atten
tion to the major entrance of
the school's new $1.3 million
administration building,
Blackwell Hall. That entrance
features a glass front which
intersects with a brick wall
and rises for three stories.
At the juncture of the east
wall grows Ferguson's
"Heritage," a ceramic tree of
Appalachian life that spreads
its branches inside and out,
and bears the symbols and ar
tifacts of life in this region.
The mural reaches a total
height of 32-feet-8-inches,
weighs 5,090 pounds, and has a
surface area of 323 square
feet. To mount the mural,
Ferguson cast it in 496 pieces,
putting it together like a giant
jig-saw puzzle.
Ferguson spent a total of 15
months on the project, filling
book after book with sketches
before finalizing a design that
set everything at an angle.
Then piece by piece, he
created the mural at his
Pigeon Forge Pottery. "It
became a spiritual thing with
me," he notes, and admits
that he let business go for the
15 months it took to finish his
largest work.
The public is invited to at
tend the unveiling, and
Ferguson will be available to
answer questions about the
work and sign autographs dur
tag a reception following the
ceremonies in the Peterson
Conference Center of
Blackwell Hall.
DOUGLAS FERGUSON rvears com pie- trance of Blackwell Hall,
tion of the "Heritage" mural at the en
Students Learn About Banking
Typically, people have had
to go to banks to learn about
banking. Today, however, the
banks are going to the school
classroom to teach banking.
This is one of the manifesta
tions of a new filmstrip pro
gram "BANKING IS..."
which the First Union Na
tional Bank presented as a
public service to the students
at Madison High School. Mak
ing the presentation was R.
Bryce Hall, vice president and
city manager of the Marshall
office. Receiving the
mulitmedia filmstrip unit at a
presentation meeting Aug. 28
at First Union Bank at Mar
shall was Patricia Waldrop,
consumer marketing instruc
tor.
In making the presentation,
Hall said, "The program
"BANKING IS..." gives the
student first-hand experience
with the basic banking ac
tivities he will use throughout
his life.
"Writing a check, applying
for a loan, computing interest
and using a bank's services
are things most adults take for
granted, we have done them
all of our lives. But these ac
tivities must be learned, and
for many of today's students
they are as foreign as any new
endeavor.
"Many adults learned bank
ing by trial and error; but, in
today's world of advancing
technology, this is no longer a
satisfactory solution. For in
stance, today checkwriting is
as much a part of life as driv
ing is. Ninety percent of all
financial transactions are
made by check and the
American public will write
over 21.5 billion checks this
year.
"We strongly believe that
the more financially secure a
student becomes through
knowledge and practice of
good banking the better a
citizen he becomes, and the
better our young citizens, the
better our tomorrow."
Hall said that as part of the
program an officer of the bank
is available for a follow-up
classroom question-and
answer session and the stu
dent may be given a tour of the
bank to see the operations at
work.
Editor's Column
A couple of weeks ago I made a request that
all copy for the News Record be in by 3 p.m. Mon
days, and that request has inspired a number of
questions. Why do we need the copy then? Why not
Tuesday morning, or Monday morning, for that
matter?
For this reason, and because many of our
readers have asked out of curiosity, I would like to
give a brief description of how this paper is
"made." It will be a little vague in parts, because
I haven't yet figured out some of the details
myself. But I promise you one thing, in this age of
high technology, no matter how efficiently the
paper is put out, there is plenty of room for human
error.
It all starts Wednesday mornings, the day
after print day. That's when the weekly cycle
begins, and we begin collecting copy from cor
respondents around the county and from the mail.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are the days
when most of the reporting is done; deadline
pressure has not begun, and those are the days
when I can move around the county. Friday after
noon the first packet of copy is mailed to
Waynesville to be set in type. '
Some more reporting is done on weekends -
holiday festivals and athletic contests are work
for journalists - and then on Monday the ads are
collected. By then our advertisers usually have an
idea of what they want to emphasize during the
coming week, or what they want to put on sale.
Monday at 4:00 the second packet of copy is mail
ed, along with some of the ads. This packet ar
rives at the office of The Mountaineer Tuesday
morning, when it is set in type by three full-time
typesetters. These people use photo-typesetters,
machines that "set" type photographically. The
hot lead of the old Linotype machines has been
replaced by light. Each time the operator presses
a key, it causes a beam of light - shaped lika an
"a," for example, or "g" - to hit a roll of
photographic paper. After a story is finished, the
roll of paper is fed through photographic
developer, basically the same stuff used to make
Girls Launch Message
Barbara Ray and Deborah
Boone's third-grade class at
Marshall Elementary School
launched a bottle into the
French Broad River on Aug.
22.
The group decided to launch
the bottle after reading the
?tory "A Letter by Bottle
Post." The bottle contains the
third-graders' versions of
islanders' distress notes.
The class is asking that
anyone who finds the bottle
please contact Marshall
Elementary School. The
phone number is 649-2434.
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ONE of the messages floating down the
French Broad.
Committee On Aging Named
House Speaker Carl J.
Stewart Jr. of Gastonia an
nounced today his appoint
ments to the Legislative
Research Committee on the
Problems of the Aging. Ap
pointed were: Rep. Ernest B.
Messerof Canton, Rep. Gus N.
Economos of Charlotte, Rep.
Edd Nye of Eiizabethtown,
Claude Farrell of Raleigh, and
Clyde Gordon of Burlington.
The 1979 General Assembly
passed a joint resolution per
mitting the continuance of the
work of the Legislative
Research Commission's study
on the problems of the aging.
Heard And Seen . . .
By POP
The "power of suggestion" seems to be
for real, at least in Marshall. Talking with
several businessmen during the past week
it is evident that with the current street im
provements quite a bit of talk is that to
"keep step" with the improvements, plans
are being made to "dress up" other proper
ty along Main Street - such as renovating
some buildings, etc. Recent clearing of
weeds and bushes behind the courthouse
has greatly improved the appearance. An
over-the-sidewalk awning is also being
studied. Let's hope that a growing (Hide in
our town will continue.
Marvin Faulkner, veteran employee at
Home Electric, is recuperating from a hand
injury when a finger was severed when he
forgot to get it out of the way while handling
a heavy load - hope the finger is soon heal
ed, Marvin.
"Preach" Davit's pet hen is a topic of
conversation - no one can accuse "Preach"
at being "hen-pecked" because the hen ap
parently is very fond of him and stays at the
filling station quite a bit.
with the public last Friday morning proved
quite popular with about 60 citizens atten
ding in the courtroom here. Following an in
formal but informative talk, Lamar opened
the floor for questions and discussions and
several pertinent questions were asked and
answered ably by Gudger. Lamar is well
versed in what was asked and seems to be
on top of what's going on in Washington.
After nearly two hours, the meeting ad
journed and I think everyone present was
better informed on timely subjects. Such
meeting are helpful and it is hoped that
future meetings of this type will be held.
One of the largest crowds in recent
years attended the opening football game of
the season here Friday night when the Enka
Jets defeated the Patriots 21-7 - the Patriots
showed a creditable defense against the
larger Jet team but the offense was unable
to penetrate the heavy Jet forward wall ex
cept for the thrilling 50-yard scoring play by
Tim Wilde As the season progresses, it is
considered one of the best in Western North
Carolina. Although the Madison Marching
Band, under the direction of Bill Stell, only
numbers about 60 members at present, also
performed well and brought loud applause
from the spectators, as did the Enka Band.
It seemed strange to be merely a spec
tator after so many years "covering" the
game for this newspaper but I enjoyed sit
ting beneath the press box instead of being
in the press box. I missed the fellows in the
press box but observing a game as a
"spectator" has its advantages.
I like the new term, "jocky lot" better
than "flea market" - 1 always thought of a
flea market as a flea-infested place instead
of the (dace to buy all sorts of everything.
Ann Thomason asked me Friday why I
always called her husband "Ricky" instead
of "Rick" - she says only Us mother calls
him Ricky and I'm the only person who says
Ricky ? well, Ann, it's just a habit I fell into
long ago and I never noticed it - I'll try to
in the future
> friend - just like you
art.
photographs, and all the {daces that have been hit"1
by beams of light- all the a's, b's, and so on - come
out black. So you end up with strips of photo paper *
with stories printed on them.
All this typesetting is being done Tuesday!
morning, while I am getting the last stories in<?
shape in Marshall. Then at about 11 a.m., I pack -
up all the late copy, the late ads, the late;'
photographs, the ad manifest sheet, the classified.,
ads, the legal ads, the personals, births, final*
obituaries and weddings and leave for"
Waynesville.
This leaving has proven to be the weak link in:
the production process. The first week I did this >
without Pop's supervision, I changed cars at'
home and left my briefcase, and all the above, in'
the wrong car. I was in East Canton before L
discovered this disaster, and it was Pop who sav-'
ed me, bringing the briefcase himself. And only
last week I got two miles from Marshall before
realizing I had brought everything but the stories
and photos!
After the hour's drive to The Mountaineer,
where the paper is printed, there follow several'
hours of pressure-filled, high-tension work while
the typesetting, layout, plating and printing are'
done. J
In simplified form, here is what happens. The ?
rest of the copy is set, and all of those strips of.[
paper ? stories, headlines, captions, ads,
everything - are coated on the back with sticky, li
quid wax and laid out flat on the slanted chest
high work tables. At the same time, layout sheets
the size of each News Record page are laid out
next to the strips and we begin sticking the strips
to the sheets. We also put in the ads, which have
been put together by several people who
specialize in graphic layout, and the photographs v
which have been reshot to specified size. It usual
ly takes about two hours to make everything fit;-'
reset headlines that don't fit, look for missing cap-'
tions, rewrite lost headlines, and have last-minute
stories set and waxed and laid out. ?'
Then each page' is carried upstairs to be
"shot" by a huge camera, which produces a single
negative of the entire page. Then that negative is;
set in another machine, against a photo-sensitive
metal sheet. After several chemical steps, this
machine produces a plate bearing the entire im
age of the page. The plates are then carried to the
pressroom and bolted onto the huge drums in pro
per sequence. As the drums turn, the plates are in-J
ked and pressed against paper, producing The
News Record. The papet Is printed/ once the
presses start rolling, in a mere 20 minutes.
' That, in fact, is the easy part. After printing,
all the papers must be addressed for mailing, one
at a time, and bundled for easier handling for the,
post office. A single machine - or human - error
, and some unlucky subscriber doesn't get a paper
that week (until they call the office and advise us
that we have fallen short of perfection once,
again).
When bundling is finished, about 6 p.m., I sw~
ing the bundles into my bus and drive the return:
trip to Marshall, where the bags are left at the
post office for mailing early Wednesday morning/
Other bundles go to racks or counters throughout1
the county. *
If this whole process sounds fast, it is. And if it
sounds like we might make mistakes, we do. Last"
week, for example, Bryce Hall, the Marshall;
manager of First Union Bank, was startled to.
learn in The News Record that he was manager of:
Wachovia Bank (Frank Moore of Wachovia may
have been even more startled). The Board ofc
Elections was startled to learn that it was meetings
at the same time as the Board of Education (my
only defense is that "elections" has the same
number of letters as "education"). And a number
of people wondered whether the woman pictured
picking blueberries was not Inez King (she was^
and is). &
But things are getting better, I tell myself;4
the mistakes are becoming slightly harder to find,
and perhaps fewer in number. And oh, that day L
mislaid my briefcase: I forgot to mention that the-*
moon was full that day. Something was bound to;
go wrong. I
The News -Record
NON-PARTISAN IN POLITICS (USPS 39a^?i)
ALAN H. ANDERSON. Editor
JAMES I. STORY, Editorial Consultant
And Columnist
Published Weekly By
Madison County PuMsMng Co. Inc.
BOX 369 MARSHALL, N.C. 28753