The News Record
SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY
On thm Inside ? . ?
Mars Hill Lions
Tie Liberty Baptist
...Turn To Page 6
78th Year No. 36
PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT MARSHALL, N C
THURSDAY, September 13, 1979
15* Per Copy
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HARRY "PREACH" DAVIS*
CHICKEN found a comfortable home
by the desk in Davis' Gulf Station in
Marshall. "Preach's" black chicken
has become a regular customer at the
station for handouts of grain, and last
week she paid back the attention by
laying an egg a day for several days.
Two Women Rob Local Man
Of Car, Money, And Clothes
In a bizarre case of criminal
ingratitude, two young
AsheviUe women last weekend
turned on a man who was giv
ing them a lift home and robb
ed him at gunpoint of his car,
money and clothes. They then
handcuffed him and left him
wandering naked in the Ivy
section of Madison County.
The man, Charles Brown,
38, of Route 5, Marshall, then
made his way to the home of
Frank Smith on Sproutstown
Road. He persuaded Smith to
call Sheriff E.Y. Ponder, who
rushed to the Smith's home at
2 a.m. Sunday and quickly
notified the AsheviUe Police
Department and Buncombe
County Sheriff's Department.
Working fast on the basis of
information supplied by
Brown, police managed to find
and arrest the women, Cathey
Moss, 19, of 141 Brickyard
Lane in Asheville, and Louise
Sprouse, 20, of the same ad
dress.
On the following day, Mon
day, the women were both ar
raigned on the charge of arm
ed robbery at Madison County
Courthouse in Marshall. They
were on $25,000 bail each.
According to Sheriff
Ponder. Brown met the two
women at Jim's Tavern on
Amboy Road in Asheville.
Brown did not know the
women, but was told by a man
named Fred that they needed
a ride home.
Brown agreed to give them
a lift, and they joined him in
his 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass.
County To Lose Some
$30,000 Per Month
In CETA Income
At the end of this month,
Madison County will lose more
than $30,000 a month in
salaries paid by the federal
government.
Due to changes voted by
Congress last year in the Com
prehensive Employment and
Training Act, no individual
may be paid out of CETA
funds for more than 78 weeks.
Some 3S-40 workers in the
county will reach this
minimum on Sept. 30.
The Madison County Board
of Commissioners is in the
process of trying to find jobs
far affected individuals, either
with the county government or
with private industry in the
area. The county is also call
ing on Buncombe County to
help find openings in its CETA
program or elsewhere in that
county.
Since CETA was passed in
1973, Madison County has
received a large portion of its
payroll income in the form of
CETA funds, under such pro
grams as Title I, Title II, and
Title VI. As a result, the coun
ty has come to depend heavily
on these funds. Nearly every
department of county govern
ment has used CETA in some
way over the years.
9 Jft* example, all four day
Another vital area depen
dent on CETA is the am
bulance corps; seven positions
there will no longer be funded
There are also five ter
minating CETA positions at
the landfill operation; three in
the tax supervisor's office;
one in the veterans' office; one
in the office of public safety;
one in the county courthouse;
and 18 in the adult work ex
perience program - workers
over age 55 who have jobs in a
variety of public services.
The county is now scrambl
ing to help the people in these
positions find jobs, and re
quests help from any
employers who can use
carpenters, carpenters
helpers, plumbers helpers,
cooks, child care workers,
clerk/typists, bus drivers,
truck drivers or laborers.
The county's difficulty is ag
gravated by the federal
government's decision to
place a hiring freeze on
Madison County as of Sept. 1.
The county is currently work
ing with the state division of
Community Employment in
attempting to lift the freeze
Losses In Title I money,
which goes to the adult work
experience program, will be
approximately $8,000 a
month; in Title II and VI
together approximately
00,000 > month; and in other
Title VI moMy, 13,500 a
During the ride and robbery.
Brown learned only that one of
the women was known as
"Cathy," and that both were
in their late teens or early 20s.
According to Sheriff
Ponder, Brown could not
remember his license plate
number, but the Asheville
Police Department was able
to look it up for him quickly
and put out an alert for the
Cutlass.
The man named Fred then
helped Ponder locate relatives
of the women who were quick
ly tracked down, with the help
of Asheville and Buncombe
County police, and arrested in
another car. Brown's car was
found abandoned and out of
gas on Route 209 near the
Asheville landfill
4-H Exchange
Car Wash
Does your car need a bath?
Then bring it to the car wash
Sept. 15 on the Marshall By
pass. The "bath" will be spon
sored by the 4-H Exchange
Club, with the help of Charles
Calvin Eatmon. It will begin
Saturday morning at 9.
This event is intended to
raise funds for the 4-H Ex
change Club's trip to Wiscon
sin next July.
Cable TV Arrives In Madison
In Marshall And Mars Hill . ? . ... And Hot Springs
Within a few weeks televi
sion viewers in Marshall, then
in Mars Hill, will be offered
the chance to buy full cable
service that will bring 12 chan
nels of interference-free pro
gramming to both com
munities.
According to Ray Miller,
owner of the Clearview Cable
Co. of Burnsville, "the elec
tronics are just about in place
now. I've got everything ready
to turn on and go."
Miller says that the receiv
ing antennas are in place in
Marshall, next to the town
reservoir, and are being in
stalled in Mars Hill, on Little
Mountain. The cable is being
hung along existing power
poles. About 75 percent of it is
in place in Marshall, and 90
percent in Mars Hill.
There are several minor
problems holding up final in
stallation to homes. One is a
delay in gaining approval to
cross the tracks of the
Southern Railway Co. in Mar
shall, near the old power sta
tion. Federal regulations re
quire permission to hang a
cable over the track. The
regional office in Knoxville
must first approve the ap
plication, which must then be
sent on to Washington.
Miller is only mildly impa
tient with the delay, however,
in view of the generally more
lenient attitude of the Federal
Communications Commis
sion. "The FCC has relaxed a
lot of their rules in the last few
years," he said. "Before, it
wasn't even practical to serve
an area with this small a
population with cable."
Miller says the installation
fee for cable will be $15, and
the monthly use charge $7.75.
He says he has laid about 15
miles of cable so far, passing
nearly 400 homes in Mars Hill
and 230 homes in Marshall. He
also will offer the service to
students at Mars Hill College
in some 600 dormitory units.
He anticipates that over half
the houses on his routes will
take advantage of the service.
In Burnsville, where Miller
also operates a cable system,
some 700 people have signed
up, out of 1,000 houses along
his route.
Miller, who was born it)
High Point and whose family
is from Yancey County, has
worked in the cable field con
tinuously for the past 25 years.
He moved to California in 1956
and started several cable
systems there, as he did later
in Nevada and Texas. He
returned to the mountains in
1966, disenchanted with big
city lifestyle, and moved to
Burnsville. There he started
the area's first cable company
in 1969. Later he started
another in Surfside Beach and
South Myrtle Beach, SC.,
which he sold in 1977, and he
now owns a company in
Carolina Beach, N.C., in addi
tion to Clearview.
Once the present system is
in place and functioning,
Miller hopes to expand the
available channels by setting
up his own satellite receiving
station. This requires a
"frequency coordination
search," to make sure he
won't be interfering with
another operation; posting a
public notice for 30 days; and
FCC approval from
Washington. All of that will
(Continued on fi)
While Marshall and Mars
Hill are being wired for cable
TV by Ray Miller's company,
Hot Springs is being tended to
by Charles Edmonds. Ed
monds. who is from Columbia,
S C., has started a company
called WEB Communications
and is trying to wire Hot Spr
ings in time for the World
Series.
"He'd better get it ready by
World Series time," joked Bill
Whitten, "or we'll run him out
of town." Whitten is one of the
members of a TV Advisory
Committee formed to oversee
the project and he is an avid
baseball fan.
"Seriously," said Whitten,
"Edmonds has been doing a
fine job, as far as I can tell.
The problem came with all the
rain in July. That really put
him behind. He even spent two
days out in the rain trying to
put up wires, but it can't be
done. If it hadn't been for that
month we'd be done by now
The urgency of Hot Springs
plight is made more acute by
the approaching loss of Chan
nel 6 out of Krioxville, which is
converting to ABC on Sept, 17,
And ABC, as Whitten unhapp;
ly points out, does not carry
the World Series.
Edmonds plans to charge
$10 for the initial hookup; if he
has to make the connection
later, after his first pass down
a particular street, the fee will
be $25. The monthly rate will
be $7 for one television set, $9
for two sets and $10 for three
sets.
Edmonds plans to set his
antennas behind Deer Park
Mountain about 8,000 feet
from the town. He is presently
working with his crew on wir
ing the streets and hopes to
begin installing lines to homes
by Oct. 1.
Meeting Set To Discuss
Cheaper Phone Service
A special meeting has been [
arranged between more than '
a dozen Madison County ?
residents and Gene Clem
mons, director of the Com
munications Division of the
North Carolina Utilities Com
mission on Sept. 21 at Mars
Hill College.
The purpose of the meeting
is to discuss the possibility of
eliminating telephone charges
for in-county calls.
Since September 1978, a
number of Madison County
citizens, led by Charles R.
Tolley, general manager of
French Broad Electric
Membership Corp. in Mar
shall, has questioned the
fairness of charging telephone
customers for in-county calls.
These citizens have pointed
out to the Utilities Commis
sion that residents of
neighboring Yancey and Mit
chell counties are not charged
for in-county calls, and yet
pay approximately the same
basic monthly charge for local
service as do Madison
residents.
Last September a petition
was drawn up for the purpose
of requesting a change in the
county telephone rate struc
ture. Since then 1,802 persons
have signed the petition.
The petition reads, in part:
"Madison County is a rugged,
nountainous copy in the ex
reme western end of the state
?nd receives telephone ser
vice from Westco Telephone
Co. This telephone service is
provided through three
separate dial areas. Any call
between any two exchanges or
areas constitutes a toll call.
Many citizens live less than
one mile from a neighbor and
must place a toll call to com
municate by telephone. Many
citizens must place a toll call
to reach the county sheriff's
department, health depart
ment, social services, and
other important county offices
and service. Parents, in many
cases, must place a toll call to
reach their children who are
students at Madison High
School. Also, people must
often place toll calls to reach a
doctor or emergency medical
help within the county."
Since the petition was cir
culated, a number of letters
have been exchanged between
the Utilities Commission and
several citizens, including
Tolley ; R.L. Edwards,
superintendent of education;
Michael Norms, project direc
tor for the Hot Springs Health
Program; and Fred B
Bentley, president of Mars
Hill College.
"We have been asking the
Utilities Commission from the
beginning,'' saidTolley, "why
the telephone company should
recover in-county toll
revenues. The first response
to our request ''was that the
company could provide ex
panded area service for $5.83
additional per month. Then
they came down to $2.75 addi
tional. Any increase would
simply not be acceptable in
Madison County. I finally ask
ed to appear before the com
mission, and they agreed."
Men's Softball
Tournament
The annual Laurel Men's
Slow-pitch softball tourna
ment will be held on the Island
in Marshall Sept. 20, 21, 22 and
23, according to Dwayne Cut
shall, president of the Laurel
Boosters Club
The double-elimination
event is sponsored by the
Laurel Boosters Club.
Cuts ha 1 1 said that the entry
fee is $40. Trophies will be
presented to first, second,
third and fourth place teams,
as well as a home run trophy .
Each team should furnish
its own balls.
For further information con
tact Cutshall at 656-2572
RAY MILLER, owner of Clearview Cable
Co., stands below lines already installed in
Marshall. The TV wire is the one directly
above the thickest wire in view.
Patriots Edge Reynolds For Season's First Win
Mike Hensley's brilliant
25-yard touchdown gallop in
the third quarter, followed by
his placement squarely
through the uprights for the
extra point enabled the
Madison Patriots to come
from behind to defeat the A.C.
Reynolds Rockets 7-6 at Oren
E. Roberts Memorial Stadium
here last Friday night.
The victory gave the
Patriots a 1-1 record and
equalled their season's total
wins last season. The non
conference battle was the first
victory in many years for the
Patriots over a Big Mac oppo
nent.
Both teams played a rather
non-exciting first quarter with
practically no offensive move
ment. The Patriots made only
two first downs and the
Rockets nooe.
With ?:40 left in the second
quarter, the Rockets
recovered a Patriot fumble on
the Madison 21-yard line. Two
plays later, the Patriots were
penalised 15 yards for a per
sonal foul. The Patriot
defense, led by Fran Randall
and Lee Hoffman, held the
Rockets for two plays but with
4:50 left, Lenny Metts, a
senior fulback, plowed over
from the 1-yard marker to
score. However, the place
ment for extra point was wide
and the Rockets held a 6-0
lead.
Following the ensuing
kickoff, the Patriots made
their deepest penetration,
spearheaded by the running of
Mike Hensley and Tim Mer
rill. The Pats marched to the
Rocket ll-yard line and ap
peared to be headed for pay
dirt, but a Patriot fumble was
recovered by Reynolds to stop
the drive. The half ended with
the visitors still leading Ml.
The two teams executed
their plays better in the se
cond half with the defense
outclassing the offense.
On an exchange of punts
during the first half of the
third quarter, Mike Heneley's
short punt went out of bounds
were back In buriMn with
Metts and Randy Briggs driv
ing to the 15-yard line.
However the aggressive
defense of the Patriots led to a
Rocket fumble which was
recovered by the Patriots.
Merrill and Phil Bentley
spearheaded a Patriot drive to
the Rocket 25-yard line. From
there Mike Hensley broke off
tackle, eluded several
tacklere and leaped about 4
feet over the safety man to tie
the game at 6-6; the Patriot
fans went wild. Hensley calm
ly split the uprights with the
tie-breaking and eventually
winning extra point.
Prom this time on, the re
juvenated Patriots controlled
the game with vicious defen
sive play, led by Kevin
Barmtte, Lee Hoffman, Mike
Hensley and the other Patriot
player*. A blocked punt in the
fourth quarter by John Clark
also aided in the victory
The Rockets started a
0
COACH MIKE COOK and Ms
team leap for Joy as time runs out
.... v