The News Record
SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY
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79tti Year No. 9
PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT MARSHALL. N.C.
THURSDAY, February 28, 1980
15* Per Copy
A1 Feldman:
On The Beat
For 25 Years
This month. State Trooper
A1 Feldman reached a
milestone in public safety
when he concluded his 25th
year of serving the people of
Madison County.
Few, if any, troopers ? or
law enforcement officials of
any kind, with the notable ex
ception of Sheriff E.Y. Ponder
? can make that claim,
"See how many stripes
there are on that arm?" said
Feldman last week in Mar
shall, pointing to a sleeve
without stripes. "You don't
get promotions by staying in
one place. But I love the peo
ple of this county, and I think
they have been more than will
ing to put up with me, and I've
never wanted to move."
For many of his years
patrolling the highways and
back roads of the county,
Feldman was the only state
trooper in Madison; today
there are four. He is no longer
on the same old beat, having
been promoted at last to a
wide-ranging job that takes
him to 17 counties of Western
North Carolina. His official ti
tle is chemical test
maintenance supervisor, and
what that means is that he
teats, calibrates and repairs
breathalizers - those little
humWims that reveal when a
? driver has had too many far
the road.
"They needed someone with
an electronics background,"
he explained, "and since I've
always tinkered with ham
radios and CBs and so on they
picked me. I love it. I enjoy
getting around and meeting
the folks, and chatting on the
CB Every CB'er in Western
North Carolina knows who 1
am; my handle is
Breathalizer Man.
"I also like the regular
hours. When I worked by
myself in the county, I'd
sometimes have to get up two
and three times in a night
when there were wrecks, and
I'd never know when there'd
be an emergency on a
weekend. Now it's strictly an
8-to-5 job with weekends off."
Feldman, a large, loud
speaking man of high good
humor, says that he has never
regretted his move to Madison
County since his transfer in
February 1955. "I think the
people here are as fine as they
come," he said. "I've never
really had arty trouble in all
this time. Well, several people
have hit me, and I've hit them
back, but I've never pulled a
pistol on anybody.
"When I was working the
roads here I don't think there
was anyone in the county who
didn't know me. They call me
'Big AT, and I don't mind a bit.
I could drive back any dirt
road up Shelton Laurel and if
someone saw me and I didn't
stop for a visit or something to
eat, they'd ask me, What's the
matter Al, are you angry or
something? No sir, when I
retire I'm going to stay right
here in my basement and
work with CB radios. You br
ing em in and I'll fix em."
Al Fetdmm is a native of
Asheville. He graduated from
Davidson College and first
joined the patrol in 1961 in
Mecklenburg County. He was
transferred to Madison Coun
ty because "they couldn't get
anyone to come here, and they
thought I could get along with '
the people." He met his wife
here, the former Shirley
Sprinkle, and they have two
daughters, Ellen Jean, 24, who
is married to Steven Ponder,
and Sandra Elizabeth, 18.
Base Rale For Water Rises In Hoi Springs
The base water rate for <
residents of the town of Hot
Springs will rise this month to
17.96 per household.
The new rate is the result of
two bond issues passed on Oct.
2, 1979 by Hot Springs voters.
Hie bond monies will pay for
substantial improvements to
the town's outdated water and
sewer systems. t
The old rate was $4 50 per t
month for water alone; the t
new rate of 97.96 includes
sewage service. The new rate
pays for 3,500 gallons of water.
If a consumer uses more than i
that amount of water, an addi- |
tional charge of $1 per 1,000 1
gallons will be added to the i
till. Most customers use less
han 3,500 gallons, according
o Town Clerk Muriel Autry.
The vote last fall to raise
vater rates was especially im
portant because of an unusual
y favorable combination of
Hatching grants.
; ? ? ? * : ' ?
FUND-RAISERS for the plann
ed Mars Hill library have been
earning money by quilting, as
they are shown doing here at the
home of Marie Willis. Seated,
from the left, are: Marie Willis
(the "boss quilter"), Wilma Jar
vis, Violet Navy, Ruth Anderson,
and Evelyn Underwood. Standing
are Victoria Jarvis, Nancy Ander
son and Ayeris Briggs. The
ladies are at work on their fifth
quilt since (Twitfa"w ? a grand
mother's Fan pattern owned by
Sandy Howell and thought to be
of feed sacks, will take about 300
person-hours. The quilt being
displayed in the background, a
Flower Garden pattern owned by
Mrs. George Anderson, took
"only" 160 hours work. The ladies
charge only 00 cents an hour for
their skills, and have five more
quilts lined up to do. "We are driv
ing hard right now," says Dr.
Underwood, "because everything
that can be raised for the library
before the end of march will be
matched by AC money. Anyone
wtahlng to donate is urged to do so
ui lilt .
TROOPER FELDMAN tests the
Breathaliser machine at the
Madison County jail in Marshall.
He is now responsible for check
ing and mat-n??it>inn the
Breathalizer in 17 counties.
Scott To Receive
1st Appalachian
Service Award
Former North Carolina
governor Robert W. "Bob"
Scott will receive the first an
nual Appalachian Leadership
Award from the Appalachian
Scholars of Mars Hill College
on Monday evening, March 3.
The award is made to a per
son who has contributed to the
Appalachian region and its
people through a sincere con
cern for the future of Ap
palachia. The award
recognizes outstanding ser
vice and committment to the
region with an emphasis on
leadership.
The Appalachian Scholars
Program was begun in 1978 at
Mars Hill as an effort to
develop informed, capable
leaders from students within
the region who appreciate the
history and culture unique to
the area and who are sensitive
to the problems of the people
within Appalachia. In addition
to demonstrated leadership
abilities and exceptional
academic achievement, the
students must be from Ap
palachia and must have a
desire to remain within the
region following graduation.
The award was formulated by
and in addition to recognizing
area leaders, the award pro
gram 'will introduce the
students to leaders on the na
tional level and let them
discuss the decision-making
process concerning the future
of Appalachia.
Scott, governor of North
Carolina from 1969 to 1973 and
federal co-chairman of the Ap
palachian Regional Commis
sion (ARC) from 1977 to 1979,
will be cited for his ac
complishments in the many
programs of the ARC, in
cluding health care, educa
tion, housing, employment,
and land development. Accor
ding to the ARC magazine,
? r
GOV BOB SCOTT
" Appalachia," Scott stressed
the need to balance en
vironmental concerns with
development and tried to in
clude a wider range of citizens
in the ARC'S deciison-making
process. It was Scott who
helped form the Council on Ap
palachian Women, whose ex
ecutive offices are housed on
the Mars Hill campus.
Scott is a native of Haw
River and a graduate of North
Carolina State University. In
addition to the governor's
position and the federal co
chairman of ARC, he was
lieutenant governor of North
Carolina from 1965 to 1960, and
has been executive vice
president of the N.C.
Agribusiness Council, Inc.,
Governmental Relations and
Assistance Group; and owner
and operator of Melville
Farms in Haw River.
The award ceremony will be
held in the college's Belk
Auditorium adjacent to the
Wren College Union, beginn
ing at S p.m. Following the
presentation, Scott will ad
dress the group, and there will
be time for a question and
answer session. A receotion
will be held in the main lounge
of the QBllsgs units The
public is invited to attend.
Students From California Spend 3 Weeks In Madison
For three weeks in the
month of January, 18 students
From Westmont College in
Santa Barbara, Calif., came to
Madison County to learn as
much as they could about the
county and its people. In the
end, the people of the county
learned at least as much about
themselves as their visitors
did.
The visit was part of an ex
change program with Mars
Hill College. The students
were introduced to 18 Mars
Hill students, who will take
their turn traveling to Califor
nia in June ? to learn what
they can about California ns
Both visits are part of the
Appalachian Ethnic Heritage
Studies Program at the col
lege. The point of the program
is to make the students aware
of their own ethnic
background in Appalachia,
and to pass on this awareness
to outsiders, many of whom
still believe the "Beverly
Hillbillies" stereotype of
mountain people.
Specifically, the Mars Hill
students will learn to unders
tand their family, economic
and religious background.
They will participate in
classes and workshops, teach
in public schools, and give
slide/tape presentations to
diverse audiences. "We
hope," says program director
Jerry Plemmons, "this will
help the students who leave
the close-knit kinship system
of their mountain homes to try
to negotiate the higher educa
tion system and other 'foreign'
environments."
When the California
students arrived here, they
met their Madison County
counterparts and went to the
Highlander Center in New
Market, Tenn. for five days of
orientation. During the re
maining two weeks each stu
dent was allowed to plan his or
her own schedule according to
individual interests. Using the
college as a base, they travel
ed throughout the county,
visiting mountain homes, day
care centers, medical, educa
tional, and law enforcement
facilities, local artisans,
historical sites, and local
businesses.
Eight of the students, for ex
ample, sat in during a session
of district court in Marshall to
learn how an Appalachian
judicial system works. One
student spent a full 24- hour
shift with Kathy Jellico on the
ambulance service in Mar
shall. Several students went to
the home of Teresa Zimmer
man for dinner, to the farm of
Drew and Louise Langsner
where a log house is being
built, and to the home of Peter
and Polly Gott, who played
mountain music for them.
On their last evenings
together in Madison, the
students gathered to compare
notes on their experiences
Each of them toid the group ?
through a speech, or licit, or
song ? what they had learned
here. Some made up poems,
others wrote short plays. It
was clear that all had had
good, and in many cases mov
ing, experiences.
"We were challenged and
stretched in more ways than
one," went the report of two
students, who had traveled
together for the two weeks.
(Continued an Page 2)
Marshall Asks Return Of Planning Queries
The Town of Marshall has
mailed 350 questionnaires to
residents in an effort to gather
citizens' opinions on a number
of current issues. The Town
would like to urge all residents
to fill out these forms and
return them as soon as possi
ble in the enclosed envelopes.
The questionnaire was
drawn up by the Town Plann
ing Board, which was recently
reorganized. The board would
like to use the results of this
survey as the basis for making
important decisions that af
fect everyone in the Marshall
area.
The function of the planning
board is to study present
trends and needs in order to
advise the Town Board in
allocating municipal tax
money and other business.
The questionnaire includes
inquiries on such issues as at
tracting industries, rehabilita
tion of housing, improvement
of the library, zoning, medical
service*, police and fire pro
tection, roads, recreation,
restoration of the existing
business district along the
French Broad River, water
and sewer services, and low
cost housing for lower-income
residents of the town.
3 County Women Hurt
In Head-on Collision
A head-on auto collision
near Woodfin Sunday after
noon left a Marshall woman in
critical condition in Mission
Hospital, authorities reported.
Undergoing surgery Sunday
night (or severe head injuries
was Karen D. Frisby, 18, of
Redmond Road, Marshall,
hospital spokesmen said.
Karen Is the daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Morris Frisby.
Also injured in the crash
was Donna L. Branan, It, of
Route 1, authorities said. She
ditto* at the hospital Sunday
arm and facial fractures, the
Mr. and Mrs. Bob Carter.
Miss Carter and her
passenger, Alice L. Ball of
Route 3, Marshall, were both
under treatment for less
severe injuries >
Miss Brannan was a
passenger in Miss Frisby's
Maverick.
Buncombe County Rescue
Squad workers struggled
about 10 minutes to free Miss
Frisby tram the wreckage.
She was trapped in her car by
the steering wheel and a front
VISITORS FROM CALIFORNIA I
include Chuck Coleman,
Stephanie Bushnell, Carol
Fred Clement, Judy
Dodge, Kathy Erday, David
Gelman, Kim Higdon, Cynthia
V.nfler Eta Julie While, Terri
WhiUemore and Beth Whittaker
J ? Westmant I