Newspapers / The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) / Dec. 26, 1985, edition 1 / Page 1
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, ,-m^v ?%* kw V tw l "Tr ?" And liajipH ? ?? ' +,-? -'.v.. . * x>n, ^ -, ?> ' V. . jff f MADISON COUNTY LIBRARY GENERAL DELIVERY MARSHALL NC 20753 IEW: SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY SINCE T90? Vol. 85 No. 52 Thursday, December 26, 1985 25c MHC Trustees Named Story On Page 2 ...Please Don 't Drink And Drive Former Marshall Mayor Becomes A Republican Former Marshall Mayor Betty Wild became a Republican on Nov. 20. two weeks after her defeat in the municipal elections. Madison County election officials confirmed that the former mayor switched her voter registration from Democratic to Republican on Nov. 20. The timing of the former mayor's change of party would appear to eliminate her as a candidate in next year's county-wide elections. Since her defeat in the Nov. 5 elec tion. Mrs. Wild had been rumored to be considering entering the county commission race. A frequent critic of Sheriff E Y. Ponder, the former mayor was also rumored to be con sidering a challenge to the sheriff. However, her change in party registration bars her from entering the May primary elections for the county posts. In confirming Wild's change in party affiliation, election officials noted that state election law requires candidates for office to be a member of a party for at least 90 days. The filing period for the State House and Senate, county commis sion. school board, sheriff and clerk of courts races opens on Jan. 6 at noon and continues until noon on Feb. 3. As a new member of the Republican Party, the election of ficial noted, Mrs. Wild will be unable to enter the party's primary race The former mayor could not be reached for comment on Monday. State Asks Marshall To Improve Waste Plant Marshall Mayor Anita Ward called a special meeting of the town's aldermen on MOndav in response to a complaint from the state agency which monitors the town's waste treatment plant on the French Broad River. The mayor had earlier received notification that the treatment plant was releasing too much untreated grease into the river from the plant located on Blannerhassett Island. Max Haner of the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources and Community Development advis <ed Mayor Ward that the town failed a Nov. 26 inspection Haner's letter said the town plant was releasing an unacceptable amount of total suspended solids into the French Broad. Morris Tremble of Wastewater Treatment, Inc. who supervises the town's water and sewer system, said that the problem is caused by restaurants releasing grease into the tftwn's sewer system. Both Tremble and engineer Gary McGill recom mended that the aldermen consider a sewage ordinance requiring food ser vice businesses to install grease traps to prevent oils from entering the town's system McGill presented the aldermen with a sample of such a resolution and asked thai they approve some form of the resolution at their February meeting. Haner's report on the inspection also called for the town to install a water line to the treatment plant. The aldermen voted to have town crews < install the line next week. i The aldermen asked McGill to prepare cost estimates for making other recommended improvements to the sewer system. McG ill recommended that the toard give restaurant owners time to :omply with tlje new ordinance, should they enact one in February. In other busines considered at the special meeting, the town awarded the Madison County Housing Authori ty a $10,000 contract to handle ad ministration of a Community Development Block Grant to provide water and sewer lines on Cody Rd. and Candler Rd. The next meeting of the town board is scheduled for January 13 at 7:30 p.m. Sprinkle Pledges Cooperation Council Sets Public Hearing Dates The Weaverville Town Council set dates for a series of public hearings next month concerning proposed zon ing changes and the clean-up of Lake Louise. The board met on Friday to continue the meeting originally begun on Dec. 16. The council set Jan. 13 at 7 p.m. for a public hearing on the Lake Louise clean-up project. Earlier, the council committed $100,000 to the project The money will match federal funds to be used in the project. The council also named Gary McGill to prepare a site plan for the proposed recreation center on the lakefront. A site plan will be presented at the Jan. 13 hearing. The council also accepted a petition for annexation presented by Larry Buckner on behalf of the owners of the Carroll Buckner property on Weaver Blvd. Buckner is also seeking a change in the town's zoning laws to ermit development of a shopping center on the 22-acre site. The council set a Jan. 27 date for a public hearing on Buckner's rezoning request. The council had earlier set - Jan. 6 as the date for another public hearing for a rezoning request on the south side of Weaver Blvd. Prior to the meeting, outgoing town manager Larry Sprinkle released a statement pledging to co-operate with town officials during his remaining month in office. Sprinkle was fired ef fective Jan. 31 during the town meeting of Dec. 16. 1985: The Year In Review News Highlights From The Front Pages Of The News Record January The year began with news that Hot Springs wpjuld be forced to cash in the town's savings in order to pay a $30,000 debt ow ed to the North Carolina Employment Security Commission. The debt was incurred for unemployment benefits paid to workers on a 1979 housing rehabilitation project. A former publisher of The News Record, Jerue Babb, was found in a Spartanburg, S.C. motel room with his wrists slash ed. Police believe Babb committed suicide after strangling his 31-year old wife in their Tuxedo home. Madison County Commissioner James Ledford was elected as the chairman of the Land of the Sky Regional Council. Marshall completed a $1.3 million sewer project with some $94,746 to spare and Contel announced plans for changes in the countywide telephone system. A winter storm from Canada swept across the South, bring ing record cold temperatures. Readings as low as 23 below zero were reported in Madison County, forcing the closing of schools and businesses. A elderly Grapevine woman, Alice Peck, was found dead in her home, a victim of the record cold temperatures. A January 15 wreck on Hot Springs Mountain claimed the lives of Harold J. Ledford and Allie C. Mathis. U.S. Agriculture Secretary John R. Block called for the gradual phase-out of the tobacco price support program, beginning a year of uncertainty for the nation's tobaco farmers. At year's end, Congress was still debating the future of the program. . i .. I m *fflw ? m w iffi ' if j SM FEBRUARY The bad news for tobacco farmers continued in February with the announcement that burley tobacco quotas would be cut 10 percent below the 1964 level. The News Record conducted a poll of readers concerning toll-free telephone service. Response was overwhelmingly in favor of the service. Results of the survey were presented at a public hearing in Marshall. Later in the year, COntel oficials announced that toll-free countywide service would be offered later this year when the installation of digital switching equip ment was completed. A Feb. 11 snowstorm which dropped up to two feet on Madison County closed schools and delayed The News Record for two days A special edition" was published on Feb. 15. to suspend police cfaiqf jqe W. Marshall and f*r?r*r police!?ff$e?r Carl ie Gunter reached atrtftiWJf -court settlement in a $350,000 lawsuit stemming from Guntei?" dismissal in 1983. The settlement co6t Marshall $3,700 in payments made to Gunter and his attorney, Herbert Hyde of Asheville. Assistant DA James Baker completed an investigation of the shooting incident involving forer police chief Joe Griffey. Although the report stated that Griffey acted "without any basis for justification" * no charges were filed. Despite the DA's findings, Marshall aldermen John Dodson and Sammy Lunsford voted to fire the chief at a Feb. 25 meeting. The firing was opposed by board member Ed Niles and Marshall Mayor Betty Wild, who told reporters, "I think Mr. Griffey is getting the royal shaft. I'm not through fighting t<h i s " Larry Davis was named as the town's acting police chief. Davis later resigned following a dispute with Mayor Wild. In Mars Hill, the Cooper Construction Co. of Hendersonville was awarded the contract on the town's sewer construction project. ? ' MARCH March blew in with news that the county commissioners had awarded $8,000 to Team Madison, a group of Madison High basketball players who toured Europe in June. The commis sioners also settled once and for all time the name of the road to be known as Grandview Road in the Alexander section bordering Madison County. Plans for a unique facelift on the Marshall Glove Co. plant were announced. Sheldon Greene and crew later refinished the outer wall of the factory to reflect turn-of-the-century scenes at the former cotton mill. In Mars Hill, the board of aldermen approved a contract with Cooper Construction Co. for the town's new sewer pro ject. The aldermen also approved the hiring of two new policemen, Donald Sheppard and Richard Roberts. March 13 saw the first of a three-part series examining James Ledford's business relationship with Madison County agencies. A check of reciepts indicated that the commissioner's service stations had provided 16,247.35 in goods and services to the county Transportation Authority and Emergency Medical Service during the 1984 fiscal year State law limits the amount of business public officials may conduct agencies to $5,000 per year. M if, ? fiW ? William LaMotte was the only fatality resulting from the detour which paralyzed Madison County roads while DOT ere#* worked to clear the wreckage of the March 5 rockslide near the Tennessee border. Lawmakers in Raleigh approved a change in state law rais ing the legal drinking age to 21 in 1966. V APRIL Trouble invoking the Marshall Police Dept. continued in April with the theft and destruction of one of the town's patrol cars. Vandals stolkand set fire to the car after abandoning it at the rock qUarry south of town. No arrests were ever made in connection with thelheft. Just the day before the patrol car was stolen, acting police chief Larry Davis Submitted his resignation to Marshall Mayor Betty Wild. Mars Hill attorney Bruce Briggs was elected as the Republican Party county chairman at the county convention. Briggs later accepted k post with the state parole board ih Raleigh. \ R.Z. Ponder Was re-elected as chairman of the Madison County Board of Education at their April 3 meeting. The first of two manhunts in the West Madison communities was begun when State Trooper Giles Harmon was found shot to death on Interstate 40 in Haywood County. The trooper was found while patrolling the 1-40 section closed by a March rockslide. Two days later, police found Billy Denton McQueen near the sight of the shooting. McQueen was later convicted of first degree murder by a Haywood County jury. A Sunday afternoon fire on April 21 destroyed the Petersburg home of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Littrell. The day before, some 335 members attended French Broad EMC's an nual meeting at Madison H.S. While many were attending the electric cooperative's meeting, another 573 volunteers waded into Madison County creeks and rivers for the first annual clean-up effort. Marshall received word that the (Jowntown I had received approval for designation as a The tional mont h of May began with good news. The county I approved the sal? of a 3>acre iract the MHu.. w<vuMigi al Park to Kenpak Converters, brake gt idfoi plant later in the year and is expected to b* ipr ly in l
The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.)
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Dec. 26, 1985, edition 1
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