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The News record
SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY SINCE 1901
Vol. 84 No. 9 PUBLISHED WEEKLY "MTY SEAT AT MARSHALL. N C WEDNESDAY, February ?, 1984 25c
Shoe Plant Workers To Br -
For Extended Unemployment
CHARLES ERWIN of ESC briefed workers in
their benefits.
Workers at the Melville
Footwear plant in Hot Springs
will be eligible for extended
unemployment benefits when
the plant closes some time this
summer.
That was the word the
employees received last week
from Charles Irwin of the
Asheville office of the North
Carolina Employment Securi
ty Commission. Irwin and
representatives of the Ten
nessee employment service
briefed the workers on some of
their benefits during a Friday
meeting at the Hot Springs
plant.
"I hope you'll never need
this information," Erwin told
the workers. "But it's good
that you know what you're en
titled to in the event you need
to file for unemployemnt
benefits."
Erwin said that the shoe
plant workers will qualify fot
additional training and educa
tional benefits as dislocated
workers through the ESC and
the Job Training Partnership
Act programs.
Harvey Haines, president ol
Asheville Buncombe
Technical College and of
ficials of Walters State College
in Tennessee also addressee
the workers concerning ad
vanced training at their
schools.
Haines announced that A-E
Tech hopes to offer some
classes for Madison County
residents at the Marshall
Elementary School. The col
lege president said he has met
with the county school board
concerning the project. Final
approval of the proposal will
be left to the county com mis
sioners.
Regarding the >.
benefits, Erwin said that*T>?..
will qualify for assistance in
obtaining new skills training,
extended unemployment
benefits and reimbursement
for travel in search of employ
ment. Workers who have to
relocate will also be eligible
for reimbursement of a por
tion of their moving expenses.
The shoe industry qualifies
for trade act protection
because foreign competition
has increased unemployment
in the industry to 22 percent.
The industry has asked for a
five-year limit on shoe im
ports that would allow
domestic- plants to produce
half the U.S. sales.
Robinson : WNC
Deserves Parity
Western Carolina Universi
ty chancellor Dr. H.F. Robin
son told an economic develop
ment conference that North
Carolina must bring the
western counties to a position
of parity with the rest of the
state and nation.
Robinson said the two most
essential needs of the western
region were more and better
jobs and high-quality ap
propriate education- The
goals, Robinson said, "reflect
the most pressing needs of this
region and the long-standing
desire of the residents of
Western North Carolina to
more fully participate in the
economic growth the state is
enjoying. We keenly feel that
this region has not received
the attention that has been ex
perienced by regions in the
Piedmont, including the
Research Triangle."
WNC has seen significant
improvements in transporta
tion and on all levels of the
educatoinal system, Robinson
said, but added, "Our needs
now are for support and pro
motion of economic develop
ment in bringing industry to
the region." The educator ad
ded, "The overall intent of the
state must be designed to br
ing the western counties Of
North Carolina to a position of
parity with the balance of the
slate and nation. While pro
gress has been made on this
front, there remains a con
siderable gap between this
region and the rest of the
state.
Robinson pointed out that
the western counties are grow
ing at a rate faster than the
rest of the state, and cautioned
that the reliance on textiles as
a major employer has
MARS HILL COLLEGE president Fred
Bentley and Ron Eller attended meeting.
resulted in substantial
unemployment during reces
sions.
Most unemployed workers
and those entering the job
market for the first time are
not prepared for the current
advances in technology,
Robinson said. He said that
(Continued on Page 6)
County Blacked Out
Electric service to most of
Madison County was cut off
for an hour Monday afternoon
because of a downed tree on
Carolina Power and Light
( CP4L ) lines near Burnsville.
According to Charles Tolley ,
general manager of the
French Braod Electric
Membership Coporation
(FBEMC), power to the coun
ty was cut off shortly after
noon when a fallen tree knock
ed out the line that serves
Madison County from Burn
svillle.
Tolley said that FBEMC
cr;ews located the fallen tree
for CP&L and that power to
Madison County had to be re
routed to Madison County
through CP&L lines in
Asheville
The power outage caused
several Marshall businesses
to close temporarily. Classes
at Madison County schools
continued despite the
blackout.
Power was restored to Mar
shall and Mars Hill at 1:12
p.m.
Shucks
" J r- - f ? *
SHOE PLANT workers listened as
ESC and A-B Tech officials explain
ed benefits available. '
Public Hearings,
Meetings Set
The Madison County Board of Commissioners
will hold their regular monthly meeting on
March 5 at 5:30 p.m. in the Madison County
Court House.
The Madison County Board of Education will
hold their regularly scheduled monthly meeting
on March 7 at 10:30 a.m. in the Madison County
Court House.
The Mars Hill Board of Aldermen will hold
their regularly scheduled monthly meeting on
March 5 at 7:30 p.m., in the Mars Hill Town
Hall.
The Marshall Board of Aldermen will hold
their regularly scheduled monthly meeting on
March 5 at 7:30 p.m. The aldermen will also
conduct a public hearing at 7 p.m. to hear com
ments on a proposed application for Communi
ty Development Block Grant funding.
The Hot Springs Board of Aldermen will hold
their regularly scheduled monthly meeting on
March 5 at 7:30 p.m. The board will also con
duct a public meeting at 7 p.m. to hear com
ments on a proposed application for Communi
ty Development Block Grant funding.
Hie public is invited and encouraged to at
tend these public meetings.
January
Jobless
Increase
Unemployment increased
across North Carolina in
January, according to figures
released last week by the
Employment Security Com
mission (BSC). Officials cited
annual seasonal influences in
reporting an increase in
joblessness to 8.1 percent in
January, up from a 7.3 percent
figure in December.
ESC officials said that the
increase was expected. Glenn
Jernigan. chairman of the
ESC, said, "Historically, this
has been the pattern. Layoffs
after the holidays affect those
hired temporarily for retail
trade activity. Adverse
weather conditions influence
the decline in construction
jobs."
Jernigan also pointed out
that the January, 1964 rate is
well below the 10.8 percent
jobless rate the state ex
perienced in January of 1983.
"It's more significant, I
believe, to look at how many
people were employed in
January, 1984 than in the same
month a year ago. There was
an increase of 40,000 workers
in manufacturing jobs and
almost 71,000 in non
manufacturing jobs."
ESC reported that the trade
sector- registered the largest
loss in January, with 14,600
fewer jobs. The construction
industry reported the loss of
6,900 jobs during the month
and government workers tost
some 8,600 positions during
the month.
The average work week for
manufacturing jobs also show
ed a slight decline during
January, down to 39.6 hours
from 40.9 hours recorded in
December. The average hour
ly earnings of manufacturing
workers reported a six-cent
hourly increase in January, up
from 96.83 in December.
Jernigan concluded that the
state's unemployment rate
may remain high in February,
but added that it could show a
slight decline from the
January level. ESC figuures
on individiual counties should
be released later this week.
Old-Fashioned Corn Shucking Brings Back Memories
By ELIZABETH SQUIRE
Seven cows stared in puzzlement last week
while their feed supply was raided for an old
fashioned corn-shucking such as Many area
residents remember as a highlight of their
youth.
Carolyn Coates Rice, who grew up near
Marshall, supplied the corn and joined in the
reminiscence about what corn shucking used to
be like. Mrs. Rice lives in Pink Fojc Cove off
Reems Creek now.
When the field corn was dry in the field and
IN the old U ihio
to righ Tracej