Sailsoa Cojnty Library
Karshal 1 . N.C. 28753 9-80
The News Record
SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY
On ihm Intldm . . .
Lions Pass .500
Mark In Basketball
. . Turn To Page 8
79th Year No. 2
PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT MARSHALL, N.C.
THURSDAY, January 10, 1980
15* Per Copy
Obray Ramsey
Will Record
At Mars Hill
Obray Ramsey, Madison
County's famed banjo picker,
song writer and arranger, has
agreed to record and discuss
his music on a series of educa
tional tapes for Mars Hill Col
lege.
The agreement was worked
out between Ramsey and head
librarian Lewis Miller, who
plans to schedule the tapes for
regular library loan. A master
tape will be retained as part of
the permanent collection of
the library's Appalachian
Room.
? All of Ramsey's original
songs and arrangements will
be copyrighted by the college,
according to Miller, safeguar
ding the writer against
unauthorized use of the songs.
The purpose of the project,
which has been discussed in
formally for several years, is
both to preserve traditional
mountain music that might
otherwise be lost, and to ex
plain and transcribe Obray
Ramsey's unique picking
style.
"Obray has a lot of music in
his head that's never been
recorded," said Lewis Miller
last week. "I would like to get
as much of it on tape as we
can, and I think Obray feels it
is important to do this, also."
Part of the plan is to pro
duce a notebook containing
the musical notations for each
song. With this, students of
traditional music will be able
to listen to the tape and read
the sheet music at the same
time. The transcribing will be
done by Anita Keller, a stu
dent at the college who has
been studying Obray
Ramsey's music. A music ma
jor and native of Marshall, she
has already produced one
paper on Ramsey for course
credit.
Eventually, Miller and
Wayne Pressley of the college
music department would like
to record similar bodies of
work by other local musicians,
such as Tommy Hunter,
Byard Ray, and Betty Smith.
Hunter, in fact, has already
recorded some of his music
here and Miller and Pressley
would like to work out similar
arrangements with him and
others to the one made with
Obray Ramsey.
The Ramsey project has
evolved through conversa
tions (hat began about five
years ago among Ramsey,
Miller, Pressley and Gary
Spence, a former Mars Hill
student who has studied banjo
with Ramsey for nearly 10
years and now teaches banjo
playing in Asheville.
"Obray is one of the masters
of the banjo," said Miller,
"and I feel it's important that
we have a good record of his
work. Mars Hill College has a
commitment to the Ap
palachian area, and we feel
it's important to promote the
culture here and to be a part of
it.
"We have a number of ongo
ing projects focused on the
area, including the Ap
( Continued on Page 2)
OBRAY RAMSEY
4 Workers Join County Health Department
Over the past few months,
the Madison County Health
Department has moved to All
four out of five vacant posi
tions on its staff.
the fifth position, that of
county nutritionist, remains
open for lack of a qualified
candidate.
These new workers have
now been on the job for
several months ? some arriv
ing here from other states,
some happy to remain in their
native county.
Mary Sanchagrin, R.N., has
joined the six other registered
nurses on the health depart
ment staff. She was raised in
Sacramento, Calif, and moved
with her husband to Mars Hill
eight years ago. She studied
Bob Scott Files For Governor
Former Gov. Bob Scott will
officially file for the office of
governor of North Carolina at
1 p.m. Jan. 7 at the state
Board of Elections in Raleigh.
At 2 p.m. he will hold a press
conference at his campaign
headquarters in the Medical
Arts Building on Wake Forest
Road.
Scott will begin the con
ference with a brief prepared
statement touching on some of
the central issues of his cam
paign, and thereafter will be
available for questions.
nursing at Asheville
Buncombe Tech, where she
earned her nursing degree
four years ago. Before coming
to the health department she
worked at Mission Hospital.
Belva Crowe has joined the
department as an interviewer
for the W1C Program ?
Women, Infants, and
Children. She is a native of
Madison County, born on Ivy
Creek. She has lived on
Walnut Creek for the past 17
years. She worked for the
First Union Bank in Marshall
for 17 years until she was
transferred to Asheville two
years ago. She resigned to be
closer to home, and first came
to the health department as an
immunization aide with the
CETA program.
iPOUR NEW FACES appeared at
Richard Kingston Harpsichords
in Marshall last week, thanks to
a six-month pre-apprentice
; training program sponsored by
the N.C. Department of Labor.
This brings the work force at the
new shop to seven, including
Kingston, his wife Dana, and one
full apprentice, Louis Bollo Pic
tared above, from left to right,
are: Sandy Thomas, Dan Howe,
Richard Kingston, Joe Griffey,
Mary Eagle and Louis Bollo.
They are gathered around the
frame of a Flemish-style harp
sichord N"| built for a student
at BeMt College in Madison,
Wis. Most of the frame, or case,
It built of linden and pine wood.
Judy Major is a native of Il
linois, bom on the prairie in a
small town near Peoria. She
earned her bachelor's degree
at Knox College in nearby
Galesburg, then went to
Tulane in New Orleans for a
master's degre in public
health. She came to North
Carolina a year ago, teaching
at first and then joining the
Hot Springs Program as a
health educator. She spoke to
groups of county residents at
schools, churches, community
clubs, and first aid classes. At
the health department she
continues her job as health
educator, working both in the
schools and in the clinic,
where she helps expectant
mothers with prenatal and
family planning.
Ginny Koranek (pronounced
kor-JHA-nek), a nurse practi
(Continued on Page 3)
Gudger Asks For Help
In Returning Forms
congressman Lamar
Gudger announced today that
U.S. Postal Service
authorities in his 11th Con
gressional District have asked
his office for assistance.
The questionnaires mailed
in December to Gudger' s con
stituents are posing problems
on return. "As they explain it
to me, unless the question
nairs are folded or stapled
when they are mailed back to
me, they tend to jam the
automatic mail processing
machinery. This delays not
only the questionnaires, but
other mail as well."
The congressman called
upon his constituents to
cooperate with the Postal Se
vice by sealing the questio
naires with either tap? or
staple. "This will ease tt
burden on postal authoritie
and expedite return of tt
questionnaires, which are a
important means of findin
out how WNC residents fet
about issues facing the Coi
gress," Gudger said.
The same instructions appl
to new questionnaires bein
mailed in January, whic
were already printed and i
the process of distribute
when the problem was calle
to the Congressman's atter
tion by postal officials.
Candidates May File
For General Election
file their official notices with the Madison County
Board of Elections at the Ramsey Office Building,
Main Street, Marshall, N.C.
Officials to be elected in the November
general election include: two N.C. House of
Representatives, two State Senators, the County
Register of Deeds, and the T*x Collector.
The filing deadline will be at 12 noon on
Candidates for local and state offices can now
February 4,
Hons is open
between the
Auto Accidents
Claim The Lives
Of 3 Residents
In three separate accidents,
three residents of Madison County
were killed during the past week
in automobile accidents.
Two of the victims, Michael Am
nions and McKinley Riddle, died
on county roads, while the third,
Mrs. Betty Wood, died in Ten
nessee.
The unusual number of deaths
could not be attributed to any
single factor, although roads
throughout the area have been
wet and at times icy during the
week. Several of the accidents oc
curred under conditions of poor
visibility.
Riddle was killed while walking
along the river highway between
Hayes Run and Marshall in
almost exactly the same spot
another pedestrian was run down
two years ago, in another January
accident. This is a particularly
dangerous stretch of road with
narrow shoulders and nowhere for
pedestrians to retreat if a car
should approach.
According to a state highway
patrolman, the total number of
highway deaths in the state for the
first week of the year was three,
two of which occurred in Madison
County. The third took place in
Buncombe County.
French Broad Electric
Gets CP&L Refund
French Broad Electric
Membership Corporation has
received $625,444.45 from
Carolina Power & Light Co.
representing a refund in set
tlement of wholesale power
overcharges during the period
oi May 1, 1976 through
December 1977. Since this
case is no longer under appeal
these monies can be refunded
to members as soon as they
can be processed.
There will be some ad
ministrative costs involved in
processing these refunds to
members, which will be taken
from the total amount of the
refund. At the January
meeting of the Cooperative's
Board of Directors a final
decision will be made as to the
total amount that will be
refunded and the manner in
which these refunds will be
made. It is anticipated that
checks will be issued for these
refunds rather than showing
as credits on power bills as
was done in the past.
Only members who received
electric service from French
Broad EMC between May 1,
1976 and Dec. 31, 1977 will
receive a refund. The refund
will be based on each
member's usage during that
time.
"We are working rapidly to
develop a computer program
to proportion the refund fairly
to every member receiving
service between May 1976 and
December 1977," stated
Charles Tolley, Coop General
Manager. "We hope the
refunds can be made during
the month of March."
Mckinley riddle
McKinley Riddle, 66, of the
Hayes Run community of
Marshall, was instantly killed
Monday morning about 7:45
when he apparently walked in
to the path of a '-2-ton pickup
truck driven by Leslie Tweed,
66, of the Rollins section of
Marshall.
Warren Edwards, Marshall
policeman who investigated
accident Mtfl Shcria
Ponder, stated that from
evidence. Riddle was walking
toward Marshall on the left
side of U.S. 25-70. As Tweed's
truck approached Riddle,
Tweed told officers, Riddle
suddenly started across the
highway and was struck by
the truck.
Edwards said the fatal acci
dent was ruled unavoidable,
although investigation is con
tinuing.
According to Tweed's state
ment, he was headed toward
his home from Marshall, driv
ing at about 20-25 miles per
Mike Allen Is New Owner
Of Teague Milling Co.
After 42 years as the owner
of Teague Milling Co. in Mar
shall, Ernest Teague is calling
it a career and selling his
business to a younger man.
r~ Last week the old milling
n~ company and feed store
a became Allen Farm Supply
le Co., the property of Mike Allen
s< of Redmon Road, Marshall,
?e The milling part of the
? business was shut down in the
'8 early 1960s, but the sale of feed
el for farm animals has con
>- tinued to flourish. It has been
augmented by a line of
y veterinary supplies, from hog
8 vitamins to horse pills.
h Ernest Teague was born and
n raised in Marshall, moving to
n Mars Hill in 1974. He says that
d his plans now are to take a
well-earned rest.
"Tbe business paid off pret
ty well for me," he said. "Now
I'm going to enjoy myself for a
while. After you work for 83
years you ought to do
something else. We'll be going
down to Florida pretty soon
for a vacation."
Teague began Ma career
with the AfcP Tea Co., manag
ing AAP stores in Asheville,
Black Mountain, and Mar
shall He boi?ht the milling
and feed business from a man
MIKE ALLEN, left, and Ernest Teague
i stand before Allan Farm Supply, formerly
Teague Milling Co. Allen is now the third
1 owner of the business, which began in 19a
a* City Milling Ob.
si* k of ? not ' H
r tM war. We used to ship
_ tota of hay I've bad 10
railroad carloads at hay sit
on the aiding bare, most of
coaiing in from
in U* earjjr
i