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|ta News Record
SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY
On tho Insldf ? ? ?
Flood Insurance Available
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.... Turn To Page 8
7?th Year No. 50
PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT MARSHALL. N.C.
THURSDAY, December 20, 1979
15* Per Copy
"ounty Will Lose 105 CETA Jobs I
1 ? ? ?
DAVID WYATT, principal of
Madison High School, has been
selected to participate in the
North Carolina Leadership In
stitution for school prinicpals. The
appointment of Wyatt to this com
mittee was made by Dr. Craig
Phillips, State Superintendent of
Public Instruction in Raleigh.
Wyatt has been principal of
Madison High for the past four
years. He is a native of Madison
County. Wyatt has also served as
principal of Walnut and Hot Spr
ings Elementary schools, as well
as West Elementary School in
King's Mountain and Bat
tleground Elementary School in
Lincoln County.
Energy Crisis Act Will Bring
Money To The Poor For Fuel
The Opportunity Corp. of
Madison-Buncombe counties
has received $206,312 for
households in the two counties
who qualify for the Energy
Crisis Assistance Program.
Madison County will receive
$14, MS, and Buncombe County
will receive $191,446.
All households with an jn
come no higher than 125 per
cent of the Community Ser
vices Administration (CSA)
poverty guidelines and those
certified for supplemental
security income (SSI) who are
heads of households are eligi
ble to receive assistance
under the Energy Crisis
Assistance Program (ECAP).
The 'maximum amount of
assistance to be paid an eligi
ble household under ECAP is
$200. Those persons receiving
a direct payment for fuel
under Aid for Dependent
Children and Supplemental
Security Income will only be
allowed assistance between
the direct payment and the
maximum allowed. The total
amount of funds may be used
for one or a combination of
two or more of the three types
of program assistance listed
below, but in no event must
the maximum amount exceed
$200.
1) Unpaid bills: direct
payments will be made to par
ticipating utility companies
and fuel suppliers for unpaid
bills on behalf of eligible
households which, because of
unpaid bills, have had or been
threatened with having their
utilities shut off or are unable
to obtain heating fuel. No bills
will be paid that were made
prior to July 1, 1979.
2) Advance payment:
payments will be made direct
ly to participating fuel com
panies and utilities on behalf
of an eligible household for
future heating bills that may
be incurred through March 31,
1980.
3) Crisis fuel: immediate
assistance in emergency
situations will be provided to
eligible households.
Assistance will be limited to
providing blankets, space
heaters and emergency sup
plies of heating fuel, and the
maximum amount of
assistance will be limited to
$50 for each household (the
amount expended in the crisis
fund is included in the total
maximum figure of (200).
>: MARS HILL LIONS gathered on
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1' Dec. 17 for their annual Christmas
dinner. They invited 20 county
residents, moat of than visually
impaired, to be their guests, and
presented each with a fruit
basket Harold Parkey of the
WNC Industries for the Blind
president; Mrs. Ralph Hogan; the
Rev. Ralph Hogan; and Ed
Krausse, Lion president. Enter
tainment was provided by singer
Ronnie Rice, a senior at Madison
High School who, is Mind, and by
the Sanctimonious Seven, a group
of musical Asheville Lions who
have mastered the piano, accor
dion, drums, fiddle, base guitar,
kaaoo and washboard.
As a result of big cuts in fun
ding by Congress, 105 Madison
County workers will lose their
CETA jobs by the end of
February.
Already, 75 of these
jobholders have been ter
minated, effective Dec. 14. Of
the remaining 30, some will be
able to work until January,
and the rest will go in
February, according to county
officials.
At the present time, there is
no indication from the state
government in Raleigh that
any of these jobs will be
refunded.
"The only talk we have
heard," said Madison County
finance officer David
Caldwell, "is that there will be
no more funding. We don't ex
pect to hear any more from
CETA until October."
The immediate cause of the
job losses is that Congress
voted this fall to cut one of the
largest CETA programs by 60
percent; a second was cut by
40 percent.
In September, the county
was authorized by Raleigh to
continue spending money on
CETA salaries at last sum
mer's level. They did so for
October and November. Then
in December the county was
informed of the 60 percent cut
in the amount that would be
received for the entire year.
This meant, essentially, that
no CETA money was left; it
had all been spent in two mon
ths, except for a small amount
that enables the county to
keep a handful of people on
certain key jobs.
Of the 30 people who will be
employed for another month
or two, 12 work at the day care
centers, five in the ambulance
service, two in secretarial
jobs, one as recreation direc
tor, one as a teacher's aide,
one as a cook at the jail, one as
a driver, one at the landfill,
and six as maintenance people
at the schools and elsewhere.
The county hopes to transfer
some of these people to other
jobs or find other funding for
their jobs. Some will reach the
Congress Votes To Extend
Important Funding Agency
The U.S. House of Represen
tatives, by a vote of 301 to 99,
has reauthorized the Ap
palachian Regional Commis
sion (ARC) through fiscal
year 1961.
The action was included in
the National Economic
Development and Public
Works Act of 1979 (H.R. 2063).
The ARC has been and con
tinues to be an important
economic force in Madison
All applicants should bring
proof of income, ie, check
stubs, statements of
employer, statements from
Social Security Administra
tion, statements from the
Department of Social Services
and any other resources.
Priority shall be given to
elderly persons (age 60 and
over) and/or handicapped
persons who meet the eligibili
ty requirements.
Applications will be taken
daily, Monday through Fri
day, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. star
ting Dec. 19 at the following
locations: The Opportunity
Corp. of Madison-Buncombe
counties, 50 Westgate
Parkway, Asheville; the Op
portunity Corp. of Madison
Buncombe counties; Marshall
Community Center, Marshall.
Applications for the Energy
Crisis Assistance Program
will not be taken after March
31, 1980. All applicants will be
notified of approval or disap
proval of eligibilty. Pro
cedures for appeal have been
set forth for any applicant
denied assistance.
County. In the past year and a
half, grants from the ARC
have helped pay for compac
ting trucks for the Madison
County Solid Waste Project,
the study of returning Capitola
Dam in Marshall to use for
hydroelectric power genera
tion, site work and septic
tanks for the housing renova
tion project in Spillcorn and
the soon-to-be-built Laurel
Medical Center. ARC money
will also be used to build a
branch library in the town of
Mars Hill (see The News
Record, Dec. 13. 1979).
H.R. 2063 authorizes the
ARC to receive $2 billion for
construction of highways and
access roads during the next
four years and $340 million for
other programs during the
next two years.
The bill also contains
amendments that broaden
ARC's authority to assist
housing projects, foster new
initiatives to assist enterprise
development, provide human
services to people in remote
and hard-to-reach areas, and
reinstate a five-year time
limit for funding new ARC
child development projects (it
permits exceptions to the time
limit for existing projects).
According to House Public
Works and Transportation
Committee Chairman Harold
T. Johnson of California, the
ARC "is helping to reverse the
long-standing economic
deterioration in this region...
between 1976 and 1977, the
region added approximately
1.48 million jobs. However, the
region still lags behind the na
tion and remains one of
America's largest pockets of
poverty."
Congressman William H.
Harsha of Ohio, ranking
member of the full committee,
said: "The highway network
of the ARC is at the base of the
total development program
for the region. This highway
system is already opening up
the region to the rest of the
country and making it easier
for Appalachian people to get
to jobs, housing and public
services.
"The region's housing pro
blem is one of the biggest
challenges facing the commis
sion. Almost one million
homes in the region do not
meet the federal definition of
safe and adequate housing.
One of the reasons for this is
tfce severe lack of sites
suitable for housing. H.K. M3
authorizes the commission to
use its funds to acquire land as
well as meet the costs of off
site and on-site development
and raise the commission's
share from 10 to 25 percent."
Committee Chairman
Robert A. Roe of New Jersey
said, "Of the area's 19 million
inhabitants, 2.7 million con
tinue to live in poverty. Only
six out of the region's 397 coun
ties have a per capita income
that has reached the national
average. Despite im
provements in the availability
of health, facilities, serious
health problems continue. In
fant mortality rates still ex
ceed those in the rest of the
country. There is hepatitis,
streptococcus and tuber
culosis, measles and rubella."
Other committee members
pointed out that many com
munities have no sewers and
no water systems; there are
no local finances for road im
provement and many roads
are impassable to school
buses.
On the plus side, ac
complishments of the ARC in
clude funding 496 primary
medical and dental care pro
jects and over 1,000 other
health-related projects since
1965.
Air Force Bombers Are Flying
Low-level Missions In Madison
Strategic Air Command
(SAC) bombers are flying a
low level training route that
begins over Madison County,
continues east and north
through North Carolina and
Virginia and west to end in
southeastern Kentucky, the
Air Force announced last
week. The routh, now called
IR-7S, was opened in 1978 as
OB-14 and will continue to be
used for an'indeflnite period of
time.
The unarmed eight-engine
B-M Stratofortresses and
swing-wing FB-111 fighter
bombers are flying the route
at subsonic speeds along a
centerline at an eight mile
wide corridor at altitudes
tional training.
Aircraft do not carry bombs
on these training flights, ac
cording to Air Force
spokesmen. All bombing is
simulated and radar scored by
a ground based scoring site.
Radar bomb scoring (RBS)
equipment is located near
Richmond, Ky. The site, using
radio and radar signals,
measures the accuracy of
electronic signals simulating
bomb releases and simulated
launching of short range at
tack missiles (SRAMs).
Traveling easterly, aircraft
with the aircraft continuing in
a north, northwesterly direc
tion. Crossing the North
Carolina-Virginia border, the
flight proceeds to a point near
Grundy. Crossing into Ken
tucky and continuing nor
thwest, the aircraft begin the
simulated bomb run north of
Jackson, Ky? and terminate
near Stanford.
Departing the route near
Stanford, the aircraft begin to
climb, turning left and exiting
the pattern south of London,
Ky.
18-month CETA employment
limit and be phased out for
that reason.
Of the 75 workers laid off,
the largest single group was
employed cleaning debris and
litter from streambanks, an
effort that had received
criticism for lack of effec
tiveness. Others were
employed at the schools, day
care centers, and in outreach
programs doing carpentry,
cleaning, driving,
maintenance and teaching
work.
As a result of the layoffs, the
county will lose between
$17,000 and $18,000 a week in
salaries.
Earlier cuts in September
resulted in the loss of some
$7,500 per week in salaries.
These cuts came about when
Congress tightened the
eligibility requirements for
CETA jobs, ruling that no In
dividual could hold a position
for more than 18 months.
Since the Comprehensive
Employment and Training
Act was passed by Congress in
1973, many of its programs
have come under heavy
criticism ? especially Title
VI, which is the program suf
fering the 60 percent cut.
Critics have Charged that
much CETA work is either
whimsical, unnecessary, or
the kind of job that should be
done by local government.
JAMES CRAINE stands before the Marshall
Post Office on the first day of his new job.
Craine Is Named
Postmaster Here
James Alvin Craine. 40. a
native of Madison County, has
been appointed postmaster in
Marshall.
Raymond Stines, the officer
in charge since the departure
of Roger Wood, will remain in
the Marshall Post Office as
clerk.
Craine will move to this job
from his present position at
the Asheville Post Office,
where he was the Tour One
supervisor.
He was raised on Brush
Creek and graduated from
Walnut High School in 1967. He
went to work at the post office
in Greensboro in 1959, but soon
requested to be transferred to
a position closer to home. In
1960 his request was granted
when he was sent to Asheville
as a clerk.
After three months in
Asheville he joined the U.S.
Army, serving most of his two
year term at Ft. Lewis, Wash.
In 1962 he returned to his job in
Asheville, which he held until
1973. At that time he was pro
moted to foreman, in charge
of the mail processing unit
that routes mail to other post
offices throughout Western
North Carolina
In 1974 Craine had a brief
chance to serve in his heme
this for the last six or seven
years," he said last week.
"I've always wanted to come
back to where I grew up."
While in Asheville Craine
completed a degree in
business at A-B Tech, and took
several post office cor
respondence courses in
management.
To get the job in Marshall,
he had to make formal ap
plication in competition with
other applicants and then ap
pear before an interview at
the regional post office head
quarters in Memphis, Tenn.
He is presently living in
Alexander with his wife,
Estelle; their daughter. Shan
non, IS; and their son, Darren,
IS. The family has lived there
for 10 years, and Craine says
they will soon move to Mar
shall He attends the Alex
ander Baptist Church aad
works with the French BroW
Youth League.
School Board
Meeting Dates
Set For 1980
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