The News Record
SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY
-On th? Inside . . . -
Madison 4-Hers Made
Camp-And Friends.
Story On Page 10.
79th Year No. 30
PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT MARSHALL, N.C.
THURSDAY, July 24, 1980
15* Per Copy
School Board Says No More Transfers To Buncombe
Madison Pupils To Stay In County
Madison County Board of Education announc
ed this morning that it is going to assign Madison
County students who have been attending Bun
combe County schools to schools in Madison Coun
ty.
An unknown number of students who reside in
Madison County have been permitted to attend
Buncombe schools. The effect is to lower the
Madison County student enrollment, costing the
Madison school system teachers on its state allot
ment.
The Madison County Board of Education had
received applications from parents of 34 students,
requesting that they be allowed to attend Bun
combe schools next term, prior to Monday's call
ed meeting of the board. All 34 requests were turn
ed down.
The board had called the meeting to consider
assignment of teachers and students. It spent
most of the meeting in executive session. The
meeting concluded at 1 a.m. Tuesday.
Principals from all Madison schools attended
and submitted recommendations for staff
members, including bus drivers, lunchroom per
sonnel, and custodial personnel, at their respec
tive schools.
This morning the board issued a statement
through Supt. R.L. Edwards saying that the prac
tice of permitting Madison students to attend Bun
combe schools not be continued.
The Madison board said it will "begin a
vigorous enforcement of Section 115-176 of the
General Statutes of North Carolina which man
Draft Registration Returns, Young Men Go Sign Up
BY DAY S END MONDAY, a
total of 23 Madison County young
men had registered for the draft
and the only protest heard was a
complaint by one young man that
women should also be subject to
the draft. Dean Richard Cash, 20,
(left photo) with Postal Clerk
Raymond Stines, said "I don't
mind registering but I hate to go. I
do believe they ought to give
women the equality they want and
register them too." He said he lik
ed the Navy as an alternative and
had no qualms of conscience
about going. He lives with his un
cle and aunt ? Robert and Jean
Hensley, on Worley Cove Road.
Also registering was Verlon
Talton, 20, (right, with
Postmaster Jim Craine) of Mar
shall Rt. 4, who said he did not
care whether or not they drafted
women and heard no talk of any
resistance.
(Photo by Lewis Green)
dates that each board of education assign the
school children residing within its administrative
unit to a public school.
"In the past a large number of students
residing in the Madison County School District
have been being assigned to public schools in Bun
combe County by the Buncombe County Board of
Education.
"This practice will be stopped.
"The Madison County Board of Education
believes strongly, as does its administrative per- ? j
sonnel, that its school system is as fine as any
school system in the State of North Carolina. To t
allow children residing in Madison to attend
schools outside the county works a hardship upon
the entire school population of the county as it
leads to Buncombe gaining teachers at the ex
pense of Madison.
"This practice has resulted in a great hard
ship on the students of the county, and it must be
stopped."
Edwards said he did not know this morning
the number of children involved, but that they will
be identified and that their parents will be notified
by letter of the new policy.
Buncombe County Board of Education will
also be notified, as well as schools that have been
receiving the Madison students.
The most significant problem appears to be
along the county line where students have easy
access to Buncombe schools.
Republicans Set
Mars Hill Picnic
A political picnic sponsored
by the Madison Count>
Republican organization has
been set for 11 a.m.-l p.m.
Aug. 2 at the Mars Hill
Recreation Park.
Guests will include State
Sen. I Beverly Lake Jr., the
GOP Candidate for Governor;
Dr. John East, candidate for
the 11th District Congres
sional Seat.
Lunch will be seerved by the
Madison County Republican
Women and the public is in
vited to come and meet the
candidates.
Oak Manufacturing Co. Finds Business Hot
By LEWIS GREEN
The coming decade of the
eighties is posing many
economic problems for the na
tion as a whole, but in Mar
shall and Madison County the
future holds bright potential
for one.
It is the sad state of the
economy and the uncertain
energy situation which is plan
ting the seeds of financial
growth for The Oak Stove
Company, because as people
are forced to economize and
go to new methods of heat,
they are also drawn toward
buying the types of wood burn
ing stoves which are produced
by the company.
Company president Ron
Rice, 42, a Madison County
native, said that prospects are
bright for big growth but that
right now the firm is trying to
consolidate its gains and is not
necessarily trying to grow
rapidly.
"We have grown and grown.
Now we need to stop and catch
up with ourselves,'' Rice said.
Marshall Mayor Lawrence
Ponder said that a team of
local civic and governmental
leaders trying to attract good
industry is a very happy group
of men over the success shown
so far by Oak.
"We are completing a big in
dustrial park here close by
this plant," he said. "This is
something of a showpiece for
MAYOR LA
I standing on one of the industrial
J development sites on Long
Branch Road. In the background
us to present to prospective in
dustries. We are drawing
some interest, by the way,
from other firms who want to
come here."
Leaving Madison County
following his graduation. Rice
went to Florida where he
ultimately worked his way to
the top of a firm there. He was
president of the Division of In
ternational Register at Coral
Gables, Fla., when he decided
to come home again. He had
no clear idea of what he
wanted to do and was piddling
around at first, making a
woodstove as a hobby. Soon
people were asking for them
and the fledgling business took
wing.
"I sold my first stove in 1974
for $220," he said, describing
it as a unit about the size of a
medium-sized Fisher stove.
After the business lifted off he
sold between 4-500 the first
year.
"We doubled every year un
til this year," he said. "We
made 9,800 stoves last year
and that's as many as I want
to run." He now has an invest
ment of (600,000 in the plant
site.
"I spent a good sum last
year in cash on im
provements," he said, adding
that his inventory as of mid
summer amounted to about
$130,000.
"Up until now we have been
busy summer and winter. It
didn't make any difference
(Continued on Page 7)
Industrial Development
Potential Good Here
Industrial development in
Madison County continues at a
slow, careful pace, but most of
the groundwork has been done
so that a faster development
may take place.
Marshall Mayor Lawrence
Ponder say* the industrial
park on Lng Brack Road is
asw ready aad that some pro
tyhaa to offer
.4 He Mid the idea for such a
part *u breached six year*
ago by the Madison County In
dustrial Development Cocn
grani >w obtained ao that
work on the grading might
begin Two alias are n iow
ready, ia addition to a one-half
million gallon reaervolr,
which ia now filled with water
RON RICE, owner of Oak
Manufacturing Co. in Matttaon
County, chats about business mat- ,
ters with his wife, Maria, who
serves the firm as bookkeeper ?
JB* W11' has ***** ?
small enterprise whicti grew out
of a hobby and turned it into a ma
jor woodburning stove manufac
turing company
number of Madison
pie. (Photo by Lewis W