Newspapers / The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) / May 23, 1984, edition 1 / Page 1
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/ ? III J * *+? -<1^1 ?? T rtADls?k'u The News Rte?j p> X 83 88 88' ~ _ ? ? ? H|| || SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY SINCE 1901 Vol. 84 NO. 21 PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT MARSHALL N C WEDNESDAY, May 23, 1984 25^ M Special Graduation Day Issue w 16-Page Salute To The Class Of 1984 Planning Group Asks F or Economic Agency By C. B. SQUIRE A Madison County ad hoc planning commit tee has recommended that the County Board of Commissioners set up an Economic Develop ment Commission "responsible for promoting and coordinating the various aspects of economic development" in the county. The committee also called for a referendum on school bonds to help pay for needed school building repairs (see other story, this issue). Based on the work of three task forces, the ad hoc group's recommendations will be con sidered by the county's Planning Board at a meeting June 13. The recommendations would then go to the Board of County Commissioners. Essentially a followuptolast year's Planning Board report, "Madison County: Plans for the Future, 1983-1990," the Ad Hoc Committee's report also makes recommendations on such diverse areas as reducing dependence on tobac co in the county's agricultural economy, in dustrial development including new uses for the Melville Shoe Co. site in Hot Springs, tourism development including a county-wide agricultural fair and a farmer-craftsmen market. As to industry, the ad hoc committee's economic development task force calls for a target industry study and survey "to identify specific support-type industries that might be interested in locating in Madison County"; development of a marketing strategy for pro moting industrial sites, and preparation of site plans for "at least the Marshall industrial park site, at least one site in the vicinity of the Mars Hill bypass area, and a plan for the Melville ...site and nearby land" in Hot Springs. Emphasizing the long-range nature of its recommendation for an Economic Develop ment Commission, the Ad Hoc Committee urges that there -Support the Extension Service and state and national forest services "to encourage mere productive agriculture and help identify areas of greatest need"; -Develop a major county agricultural fair to bring together farmers and others "as the key for producing widespread support for im provements in agriculture." In addition to its basic recommendation for a county Economic Development Commission, the Ad Hoc Committee's economic develop ment task force also urged: -Use of land-use controls "to reserve suitable land for both commercial and industrial development." -Greater use by the county of available grant programs. -Promotion of a farmer-craftsmen market, further development of white-water-related enterprises, rejuvenation of the hot springs and development of land there as a tourist attrac tion. But the task force also warned that "there could be adverse impacts on a community" through tourism development-that " without careful planning, tourism could be associated with seasonal unemployment, rapid and haphazard undesirable growth and the deple irMniMrM i, . * v ? Swim Pool 0p Soon The Marshall town swimm ing pool will open tb> flrmt week in June, or poniMy even sooner, tayi Mayo H?Uy three life the totpt; fcut this year ;hf towi School Referendum Backed A school-bond referendum should be held "at the earliest appropriate date" to raise funds to pay for repair of the "rapidly deteriorating"condi tion of many of the county's elementary school buildings, a planning group recommended last week. The Ad Hoc Planning Com mittee added that if the Board of Education and County Com missioners agree, they "can depend on our enthusiastic support of a school bond" to provide resources for "physical plant renovation, repair and construction" essential for accreditation of the county's elementary schools by the Southern Assn. Neither the county budget nor local communities can pro vide such revenues, the task force noted. The task force said it is par ticularly concerned with the "rapidly deteriorating condi tion of most elementary school buildings" in the county, ad ding that the county schools should "provide a demanding and relevant educational ex perience for our youth." Ricker Gets Suspended Sentence William Albert Ricker of Mars Hill, a state Department of Transportation maintenance crew chief, and Edward Hume Paschall of Black Mountain, a retired DOT official, were convicted in U.S. District Court, Asheville, last week of extor tion charges related to con struction of the new Weaverville-Marshall highway. Testimony in the case brought out that a section of the highway on the Weaver ville side of the Ivy River bridge was not built properly, U.S. Attorney Charles Brewer told The News Record this week. Paschall, who was the top state official on the U.S. 25-70 job, was sentenced to one year in prison on one count of extor tion from construction com panies. He also received a 30-month suspended sentence and three years' probation on a second charge, and was fin ed $5,000. Ricker was convicted on two charges of extortion and was Vandals Do $2,400 Damage Vandalism and an apparent theft at the old Capitoia Manufacturing Co. building in Marshall sometime Friday night resulted in a total loss of about |2,400, according to Sheriff E. Y. Ponder. Shortly after midnight, the sheriffs office was called to the building and were toid that while a Crowder Construction Co. employee was working in the boiler-room of the building, a tool box and tools were removed from a storage room upstairs The tools had been last seen about S p.m Friday, and the Crowder fined $5,000 and received a three-yea^ sentence, suspend ed, and was placed on proba tion for three years. Brewer explained that under federal law, a public employee who receives gifts under circumstances where such gifts might influence his ability to see a job is well done is guilty of extortion. A federal court jury found the two men guilty in the early hours of last Thursday after being unable to agree earlier in the day on two of three charges against Paschall and on both charges against Bicker. The prosecution then dropped the third count against Paschall from the in dictment. During a period when both Bicker and Paschall were ex pected to be working at the construction site. Brewer ex plained, they were found to have accepted a free visit to a Hilton Head Island, S.C., villa plujs round-trip air fare from one of the construction firms on the job, Asheville Contrac ting Co., and a visit to a hun ting lodge in Texas from another contractor, Phillip6 Jordan Inc. of Knoxville, formerly of Bobbins ville. Bicker was later removed from the project, b ut Brewer said the extortion laws still covered his actions. Evidence brought out in the trial showed that some 2,000 feet of the highway, completed before a federal highway in spector disapproved it, was improperly built, Brewer said. Specifications called for a six inch cushion of under-three inch rock, he said, to give the road some elasticity, but the section in question was found to contain 40 to M percent "shot rock" from blasting PATRIOT PRIDE STAFF MEMBERS, from left to right, Tim Goldsmith, Kelly Robinson, Lisa Honeycutt, Tammy Harris, Traci Baldwin, Kay Rice, Annette Thomas, Cindy Deitz, Sherry Shelton, Julie Allison, Greta Grif fin (front), Deirdre Smith, Julie Meeks, Rebec ca Edmonds. Man Charged In Slabbing Doug Lunsford of Marshall white mate, 24, has beeti charged with assault with a weapon and inflicting . I alrious injury, not resulting in death, in the apparent stabb ing of Donnie Roberts, also of Marshall, Sheriff E.Y. Ponder told the News Record. On Tuesday, May 15, at 10:30 p.m. Gary Ball of Mar shall rushed into his office, the sheriff said, and called him to a hill behind the court house on Hill street where Ponder found Donnie Roberts on a bed in an upstairs room of his house, apparently suffering from a number of knife wounds. Roberts was rushed to Memorial Mission hospital by ambulance for surgery. Investigation revealed that the victim ran out of gas and that Lunsford stopped and gave him and his family a ride home, the sheriff said. The two men spent some time together apparently drinking beer, Ponder said and an argument broke out between the victim and the assailant. A fight broke out in the yard of the victim's home, Ponder said. Lunsford came and turn ed himself in to the sheriff the same night, Ponder said., Lunsford was released on $3,000 bond. Tennessee Man Arrested In ?helton Laurel Direll Tipton, who allegedly struck a child in the head with ' a plank with a nail in it, was J apprehended in Shelton Laurel last Thursday by sheriffs and deputies from To Uplift Downtown: Awnings And Flowers, Maybe Horse Trolley Members of the Marshall Merchants' Association are waiting to hear June I whether > grant of approximately i62,400 will be available to andscape downtown, said Richard Kingston at the {roup's meeting last week. Meanwhile the group is working on a few quick short ange possibilities for making lowntown more inviting, rhese include trash cans >ainted like barber poles, new iwnings for downtown >uildings, a possible :ooperative window washing .ystem, possible street washing on Friday evenings, Marshall-uplift campaign but ons for downtown workers, ind a concerted campaign to >earch for more sources of funding. Estimates are ilready available foir the iwnings. Longer-term possibilities for making downtown a magnet for shoppers include acquiring more parking space, cleaning the faces of lowntown buildings, finding a mural painter to decorate some blank walls, and even acquiring a horse-drawn trolley to ferry customers up and down Main Street. Some estimates are already in hand for washing down the Beech Sees 'Thunder Road' buildings on Main Street, Kingston said, but these seem high. Doug Dodson and Kingston will attend a three-day con ference of the North Carolina Downtown Development Association where funding for downtown development will be discussed. If sales and revenues are up, the town will make more money and the county will make more money Kingston said. "271-million tourists spent money in North Carolina last year. How many of them spent money in Marshall?" Members of the association recalled how the fire depart ment under chief Joe Fisher used to wash down Main Street in the summertime from about 1960 through 1972. One truck and two men or sometimes just two men at taching the hose to hydrants did the job in less than three hours. The merchants said they would look into asking the town government and the firemen if some way could not be worked out to get the streets washed again. Kingston told the group that the Madison County Historical Society's efforts to get an in ventory of historic buildings in the county, and possibly na tional registration for some buildings, will be beneficial to efforts to uplift downtown Marshall. The formation of a new Marshall Historical Society is also helpful . Weaverville Ponders Budget A major item in Weaver ville's proposed 1984-85 budget is $380,000 to help pay for a new town reservior, but there are "essentially no major changes from the present budget plus matters that we have already discussed." town manager Larry Sprinkle told the town's Board of Com missioners on Monday. The board, taking its first look at the proposed budget for next year, scheduled a voU <>? ,h" proposal and a public bearing on raeaawa Sharirq funds for its next regular under the proposed new budget, the town's tax rati should remain at 85 cents pa 1100 of valuation. Genera r office in front for m* polite department. A Urge increase in the public buildings category, to $10,600 from $4,235, includes funds for plumbing repairs and painting at the Hillside Community Center. A 1.1 percent increase in the police budget includes funds for aaeh equipment as bullet proof vests needed now that Weaverville has its own department. HM fire department budfce! ? is down 7.4% to $37,050 The 1 street department budget will ' go UP by 130.1 percent to
The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.)
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May 23, 1984, edition 1
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