Record
SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON CO1 'NTY SINCE 1901
Vol. 84 No. 25
PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT
MADISON
COUNTY LIBRARY
'jEN'POa j t-. ? . _
June 20, 1964
25c
Marshall Students Take Second
In National History Day Contest
HEATHER STREPPA, left, and MARIA
WISE, seventh grade students at Marshall
Elementary School, won second place honors
in the National History Day contest at the
University of Maryland last Saturday .-Story
on Page 3.
Marshall Board App 1 U ? \yu Budget
Water, Sewer Deficit
at $50,000
By ROBERT KOENIG
The Marshall Board of
Aldermen held a meeting with
the town's accountant last
week to discuss the town's 1986
operating budget. The
aldermen approved a (224,147
budget, but the big story to
come from the meeting was
the revelation that the town's
water and sewer system
operated at a deficit of $50,481
in the current year.
Wednesday's special called
meeting was held to confer
with Brad Pipinger, an ac
countant with the Asheville
firm of J. Donald Williams.
Pipinger helped prepare the
proposed budget. Several
members of the board asked
for the meeting so that provi
sions of the budget could be
explained. The aldermen also
approved several changes to
the original budget estimate
presented at their June 4
Conservatives Dominate At
Southern Baptist Convention
By DIANE WINSTON
The Raleigh New* and
Observer
KANSAS CITY, Mo.- The
bloody battle that many
Southern Baptists expected to
materialize at their 1984 con
vention turned out to be a
bloodless blitzkrieg with the
conservative (action
steamrolling Its way to
domination over the
moderates.
The convention had been
pegged as potentially ffac
tioius for several reasons. Not
only was the new president of
the 14.1 million-member
denomination to be elected,
but there were also controver
sial issues on the agenda.
By the end of the First day,
conservative candidates had
been elected to the denomina
tion's presidency and vice
presidency. When the conven
tion wound down on the third
day, conservative resolutions
opposing abortion on demand
and discouraging the ordina
tion of women had passed.
Conservative strength did
not rally until after the Tues
day morning session. At that
first meeting, when an effort
to end funding for the Baptist
Joint Committee on Public Af
fairs failed, moderates
thought they had a chance of
making their presence felt.
The Baptist Joint Commit
tee, a Washington-based coali
tion of nine Baptist denomina
tions that lobbies on church
and state issues, has been a
focus of conservative ire
because of its opposition to
President Reagan's school
prayer amendment.
When the effort to end fun
ding lost by a slim margin,
supporters of the Joint Com
m it tee claimed a modest vic
tory. Some moderates even
said it argued well for the up
coming discussion on ordina
tion of women and the election
of officers.
But others, including Dr.
R.G. Puckett, editor of the
BibiUcal Repotrer, the North
Carolina Baptist newspaper,
speculated that by the after
noon session conservatives
would bus in supporters to tilt
the balance of votes.
Whether by intent or seren
dipity, the count of
meessengers, as delegates are
called, rose 3,500 by the after
noon session.
A shift in sensibility also
was apparent. A string of iden
tifiabiy conservative men won
election against moderate
challengers. Winners included
the Rev. Charles Stanley of
Atlanta to the SBC presidency,
layman Hillary 'Zig' Ziglar of
Dallas to the first vice
presidency and Judge Paul
Pressler of Houston to the
powerful SBC Executive Com
mittee.
Stanley, a former Moral Ma
jority member, heads a large
television and radio ministry.
Ziglar, a motivational expert,
spoke at the Pastors Conven
tion, a pre-convention meeting
ftf ministers that was attended
mostly by conservatives. In
his speech, he criticized the
Joint Committee, liberal
tendencies in Southern Baptist
seminaries and the SBC Chris
tian Life Commission, the
denominational agency that
handles social issues.
Pressler, along with the
Rev. Paige Patterson of
Dallas, is credited with being
one of the architects of the
continued un rage 4
meeting.
Pipinger explained that it
was necessary to trim some
$3,000 from the 'sales and ser
vices' income figure. Pipinger
also revealed that the town
has $13,900 in Powell Bill funds
for street repairs still unspent
from the current year's
budget. The unspent funds do
not appear in the town's
revenue estimates, Pipinger
said, because the funds were
accounted for in last year's
budget. The town's sewer pro
ject is also not included in the
budget, Pipinger said,
because it was set up earlier
as an ongoing project.
In explaining the town's
water and sewer budget, the
accountant revealed that Mar
shall ran an operating deficit
in the water and sewer ser
vices last year totalling
$50, Ml. The previous ad
ministration had budgetted
water and sewer for $117,000
and actual costs were $117,267.
Unfortunately for Marshall,
however, collections for water
and sewer service during the
year were only $66,786, ac
counting for most of the
deficit.
The aldermen also approved
several changes in expen
ditures. At the urging of
Mayor Wild, the board ap
proved a $12,000 increase in
the operating budget of the
Marshall Police Dept.
Board member Ed Niles did
not attend the Wednesday
afternoon budget session. At
the request of the board,
Mayor Wild conferred with
Niles by phone before the
aldermen voted on the budget
( Continued on Page 8)
TOWN OF MARSHALL
BUDGET ORDINANCE, FY 1984-85
GENERAL FUND
REVENUES ANTICIPATED
Ad Valorem taxes $112,147
(based on a 96 percent collection rate, 85
cents per $100 valuation. Total valuation:
$13,743,529.00)
Other taxes 42,000
Intergovernmental 30,000
(unrestricted)
Powell Bill 17,000
Licenses and permits 1,000
Investment Earnings 5,000
Sales and service 10,000
Miscellaneous 7,000
TOTAL REVENUE... $224,147
EXPENDITURES:
Administration $45,000
Recreation. 5,000
Tax 500
Police 32,000
Fire 6,000
Street 55,000
Sanitation 61,502
Debt Service 6,000
(principal retirement)
Interest 26,145
TOTAL EXPENDITURES $224,147
MARSHALL WATER AND SEWER FUND
OPERATING REVENUES $70,000
OPERATING EXPENSES $70,000
Board
Studies
Using
Computer
By STEVE FERGUSON
The Marshall Board of
Aldermen are reviewing a
proposal to change the billing
system to a computerized
system for sending out tax,
water, sewer and other bills
by the town.
Cost of the service would be
$3,300, excluding cost of
materials. Frank and Cecelia
Ward of Marshall made the
proposal, and asked the town
for a five-year contract.
"Rebilling of taxes to those
who are delinquent, with any
late charges calculated, can
be accomplished far more
easily than is now possible,"
the Wards' report states. The
system would also be used to
send out town payroll checks.
"The price seems very
reasonable for what they're
offering," said Brad Pipinger,
of J. Donald Williams, P. A.
Use of the new system would
eliminate the manual system
now used by the town.
Billing
Rollins Man Shoots, Kills Son
A 38-year old Marshall man was killed early
Tuesday morning at his father's home on
Rollins Rd. Landon Hensley was pronounced
dead on arrival at Memorial Mission Hospital
in Asheville after being shot once in the
stomach by his father, Zeb Hensley, 77, of
Rollins.
Madison County Sheriff E.Y. Ponder
reported he received a call at about 3:15 a.m.
Tuesday and responded to the Hensley home.
Landon Hensley was found with a single gun
( Continued on Page 8>
^Richard Kingston : Harpsichord Maker
Behind Marshall's Downtown Revitalization
By STEVE FERGUSON
Richard Kingston has been interested in
harpsichords since he was three years old.
Now he lives and works in Marshall and is one
of the top (our harpsichord makers in the
United States.
Kingston, a former Army brat, is the kind of
guy you'll talk to and thai ask: "You're not
from around here, are you?" He'll tell you he's
not a native, but considers Marshall his home.
When he was three, his mother enrolled him
in a record-a-month dub, and one of the records
they sent him was a musical conversation bet
ween two instruments, entitled "Said the Piano
to the Harpsichord." It was one of his favorite
records.
Being in an Army family, Kingston traveled
all across the United States and Europe, but
much of that time was spent in the South.
In college in Texas, his ambition was to
become a certified public accountant. Kingston
says he also had an interest in Baroque and
Rennaissance music during that time. Natural
ly, his interest in the harpsichord went hand-in
band with that sort of miaicJ
tm m
Kingston Bf^ys
Th< word got out about my
getting orders from universities and churches
all over the country."
Operating out of Dallas, Richard Kingston
Harpsichords had a big shop, seven employees
and was producing 25 harpsichords per year.
Kingston's 11-year-old business was well
established, but it was giving him high blood
pressure. And he hated the hot climate in
Dallas.
He decided to move to the Western North
Carolina mountains.
"I had falloi in love with this area," Kingston
says. "It was sort of assumed (by business con
nections and friends) that I would relocate to
the Research Triangle Park area in the eastern
part of the state. I didn't want to do that. I
wanted to live in the mountains."
Kingston says the dry climate of the moun
tain area was suitable to making his instru
ment, and he wanted to be near Asheville, since
it is the economic center of the mountains.
one-half years, has a three-year-old son,
Richard III, and Diana is expecting another
child in a month. Kingston says Marshall is his
permanent home, and he likes the townspeople.
"To put it in Madison County terminology,"
Kingston says, "they're a real bunch of
fellers."
To try and improve his adopted home,
Kingston is very active in the downtown
redevelopment program in Marshall. He says
he feels he owes something to the community.
"The main reason I've taken on the respon
sibility and I've taken so much time to devote to
this downtown revitalization work, is that I
regard it as community service," Kingston
says. "Marshall's been good to us, the people
have been good to us, and I feel like I owe
something to the community."
Kingston's successful business certainly adds
to the community. His shop on Main Street in
Marshall now has 14 back orders and produces
about ten harpsichords per year. After one is
ordered, it takes nine to IS months work before
it is completed.
Local people do the
tenor KMMt