HE NEWS RECORD
SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY SINCE 190?
?Ivifl I
MAO I SON
Vol. 84 No. 47 COUN IV LlbKAKV Movembe 28, 1984
25<
Community
Calendar
Turkey Shoot In Laurel Set
The Laurel Volunteer Fire Department will hold a turkey
shoot on December 1 from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the Fire Hall.
Everyone is welcome to attend.
4-H'ers To Raffle Firewood
A cord of wood will be raffled at the Ingles Shopping Center
parking lot on Friday, November 30, at 5 p.m. Raffle tickets
are being sold for $1.00. Contact a 4-H member of the Exten
sion Office at 649-2411 for tickets. Sponsored by the Small
Woodlot Committee. . -
Bloodmobile In Mars Hill Friday
The Asheville Area Red Cross bloodmobile will be at Micro
1 Switch in Mars Hill on Friday from 1 to 4 p.m.
Spring Creek VFD Turkey Shoot
The Spring Creek Volunteer Fire Dept. will hold a turkey
shoot Saturday at 1 o'clock. All are welcome.
Optimists Plan Holiday Tourney
The annual Madison County Optimist Club Invitational
Basketball Post-Christmas tournament will be held December
26th-31st at Madison High School Gym beginning at 5 p.m. for
boys and girls, grades 3-8. The Club is now accepting team
enteries. Call Ralph Baldwin, tournament chairman jkat
649-2968 or Bryce Hall, secretary-treasurer at 649-3515 or
255-7356 for more information.
The club will meet on Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. at Mary's Restaurant
on the Marshall Bypass.
Optimists Christmas Cheer Drive
v The Madison County Optimist Club is now receiving dona
tions and selling pecans for their Optimist Christmas Cheer
Fund to benefit needy Madison County children. Donations
can be made at First Union Bank to Bryce Hall, secretary
treasurer. Pecans are available at First Union, Mary's
Restaurant and The News Record Office.
Christmas Parly Is Planned
The Association for Retarded Citizens will sponsor a
Christmas party for mentally retarded adults on Dec. 1 from 3
until 6 p.m. at the Marshall Community Center. Transporta
tion will be provided. For more information, call Jane Trevor
at 689-2026, weekdays from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m.
Home Health To Be Taught
The Hot Springs Health Program and A-B Tech are co
sponsoring a homemaker-home health aid training course.
For more information, call 648-2112 or 622-3245. The course is
scheduled to begin Monday, Dec. 3 in Madison County.
Town Boards To Meet
The Mars Hill and Hot Springs Boards of Aldermen will
meet on Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. in their respective Town Halls.
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The Marshall Board of Aldermen will meet on Dec. lOat 7:30
p.m. in Town Hall.
County Comnjissioners Meet Monday
The Madison County Board of Commissioners will meet on
Dec. 3 at 5:30 p.m in the Madison County Court House.
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Jury selection begins ror
Johnson Murder Trial
By ELIZABETH D. SQUIRE
ASHEVILLE. Jury selection for the first degree murder trial
of Richard Johnson, 36, of Hot Springs in Madison County
Superior Court began Monday in Buncombe County Superior
Court. The defense and District Attorney Tom Rusher agreed
on just three jurors. Based on the speed of first day selections,
defense attorney A.E. Leake estimated that jury selection will
take about three days. Judge Charles C. Lamm, Jr. told a
juror that he might be called back on Wednesday, Ihirsday or
Friday.
The trial will be held in the Madison County Coirt House
before the Buncombe County jury.
There will be no standing in the courtroom, says Sheriff
E.Y. Ponder. The participants in the trial will be allowed in
first and the general public only as space allows. Television
cameras and recording devices have been banned from the
floor by Judge Lamm.
Richard Johnson is charged with murdering his five-year
old daughter, Joyce Johnson. She died on June 20 after being
admitted to Memorial Mission Hospital on June 17 with what
Dr. Tom Howell, an emergency room physician, said ap
peared to be organo-phosphate poisoning. Howell tesified at a
probable cause hearing in July.
Johnson was arrested on July 4 and has remained in the
Madison County jail without band. He was judged competent
to stand trial during an evaluation in September at the
Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh. Judge Lamm ordered the
evaluation after Johnson attempted to dimiss his court
appointed attorney and represent himself.
A woman physical therapist and the male owner of a coun
try store were among the first three jurors, two women and
one man chosen during Monday's session. Four prospective
jurors were excused by the prosecution and three by the
defense. Each is allowed to excuse 14 jurors in all.
Johnson was represented by Buncombe County attorney
William Patton, assisting Marshall attorney Leake. Johnson
conferred with the two lawyers before Patton accepted or ex
cused each prospective juror.
The sprinkling of spectators in the courtroom included
Johnson's sister and his estranged wife, the mother of the
deceased child, who now lives in Asheville.
When the trial begins in Madison County, a county bus and
driver will carry the jury from the courthouse in Asheville to
the courthouse in Marshall each day and stand ready to return
them each day when the judge dismisses court.
DaycoCorp. Backs Out
Of Hot Springs Plans
By BILL STUDENC ''
Day to Corp. ofticialV announce
ment last week of a new five-year con
tract at tbe company's Waynesviile
plant was a "good news-bad news"
situation for western North Carolina's
economy.
For Haywood County, the an
nouncement was good news, pre
venting the transfer of possibly up to
350 jobs from Waynesviile to a new
facilty ia Hot Springs.
But for the people in the small Mad
ison County town, the agreement was
bad news, putting on hold their hopes
for a desperately needed boost to p
stagnant economy.
Dayco officials had announced in
October their intention to open a new
facility in Hot Springs to manufacture
curved rubber automotive hoses ?
the same product manufactured in
Waynesviile.
Some 150 new jobs would be created
by the new plant, with 100 more jobs to
be transferred from Wayensville to
Hot Springs by mid-1985 and possibly
up to 250 more transfers later, if an
on-going contract dispute with United
Local Rubber Workers 277 had not
been settled. A new contract agree
ment was reached last week.
"Our plans to for the curved hose
facility have been cancelled at this
time," Arnold Robinson, industrial
relations manager at Dayco's plant in
^aynesv^Ue, s*M thit morarng
["Everything in Hot^Springs ha# been
put on hold . "
Needless to say, the folks in Mad
ison County, faced with an un
employment rate of 10.4 percent, are
not pleased with the turn of events.
The county's unemployment rate was
4 percent more than the state average
of 6.S percent in September.
Madison County residents had
hoped that a new manufacturing fa
cility would help compensate for the
loss of some 400 jobs with the closing
of the Melville Shoe Company earlier
this year.
"Everyone here is on edge and very
disappointed," said Debbie Baker,
Hot Springs mayor. "We were all very
excited when Dayco announced the
plans in October."
Ms. Baker said she would be meet
ing with Dayco officials within the
next Jew weeks to discuss the com
pany's plans for the Hot Springs fa
cility.
Robinson said Dayco, which still
has the lease on the 89,000 square foot
facility, had two options it could pur
sue.
Dayco can either sell the building to
another manufacturer, or the com
pany can still open a new facility in
Hot Springs, but one that does not
make curved hose, Robinson said.
Only one factor is certain, he said,
and that it that Dayco will not manu
facture curved automotive hose in Hat
Springs.
"We just don't know yet," Robinson
said. "We haven't had time to study
any of the options (or it. If we plan to
use it, we'll do it very soon. If we don't,
we will, of course, find someone else to
move into the building and begin to
provide Jobs for those folks."
Those jobs are the primary concern
of Madison County residents, said
Charles Erwin, manager of the Em
ployment Security Commission offi
cer serving Madison County.
"Of course, we're glad that they
worked out the contract with the union
because that's good for the folks in
Waynesville," Erwin said this morn
ing. "But we sure were hopeful that
some new jobs were coming to Mad
ison County. We're really hoping that
they get something going down there,
because we sure do need it. "
"Those jobs sure would have been a
shot in the arm for the people of Mad
ison County," said David Caldwell,
county auditor. "Any job would have
been very helpful to that end of the
county. Now it's up in the air whether
Dayco will go ahead with any plans or
not. We hope they will, because that
will really help the people here. A lot
of them were really counting on it."
Some Madison County residents
have expressed concern that Dayco
official* were only using the proposed
Hot Springs facility as a pawn in nego
tiations with union representatives.
(Continued on Page 6
Burley
Markets
Reopen
Burley tobacco markets in North
Carolina and Tennessee reopened
Monday after the Thanksgiving Day
recess. Prices for the leaf remained
near the levels recorded during the
first week of sales in most markets.
Farmers and Growers Warehouse
in Asheville reported sales of 121,998
pounds during Monday's sale at an
average price of $1.M55 per pound.
Day's Tobacco Warehouse in
Asheville reported sales of 403,722
pounds for an average sale price of
$1.8507 per pound.
In Tennessee, the Growers
Warehouse in Greeneville reported
sales of 640,962 pounds at an average
price of 11.8520 pa- pound.
Sales will continue through the
week.
Martin 's Example Provides Inspiration
By REBECCA ELLER
Hot Sprinfi Health Program
Every now and then someone
crosses our path who touches us deep
ly and causes us to reexamine o?r
lives One such individual is Shirley
Martin of Sandy Mush Having suf
fered from a degenerative handicap
ping condition since she was 16,
Shirley demonstrates a rare op
timism which is an inspiration to
those who are privileged to knfrw her.
When she was a junior in high
rokruJ CKi -I-., k.wnn nvruipieiwinf!
r>ooi experiencing