Ke news record
28753
VG THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY SINCE 1907
- ? '? ' ' ??
Vol. 86 No. 2 Thursday, January 9, 1986 25c
DOT Public Hearing Tonight
In Hot Springs
State transportation officials will
hold a public hearing tonight to
discuss a North Carolina Department
of Transportatiort (NCDOTi proposal
to make improvements to US-25-70
from Hot Springs in Madison County
to the Tennessee state line.
The hearing will start at 7:30 p m
in the Community Building. Hot Spr
ings' Department personnel will be at
the hearing to explain the proposed
project, right-of-way requirements
and procedures, the Federal
Highway Administration's involve
ment in. federal-aid projects and
housing relocation advisory
assistance
NCDOT personnel will present
three alternate locations and designs
at the hearing The recommended
alternate follows the existing
l'S-27-70 from west of Hot Springs to
the North Carolina state line. Design
plans call for a 24-foot road with
changes in alignment to lessen curves
and improve traffic operations.
The public is invited to atten<l.the
hearing and make comments, ask
questions or submit material pertain
ing to the project. Additional
material may be submitted until
January 20 to W A. Jarrett. Jr..
public hearing officer. NCDOT. P.O
Box 25201. Raleigh. N. C. 27611.
A map of the three alternate loca
tions and the environmental report
are available for public review at the
Hot Springs City Hall.
For further information about the
hearing contact Garfetl- by mail or
call 19191 733-3244.
County GOP To Meet
The Madison County Republican Parly will hold a meeting Jan. 12. at 3 p.m.
in the Madison County Courthouse. In the event the Courthouse is unavailable,
the location of an alternate meeting site will be posted on the Courthouse door
All party members are urged to attend.
JAM Kit DKDKICK KltOWN
...files in sheriff's race
All Charges Against
Ponder Dismissed
By ROBERT KOENIG
A jury of five men and seven women were selected Tuesday
for the mail fraud trial of -Madison County Democrat leader
Zeno Ponder. The panel heard opening arguments and
testimony on Tuesday as federal prosecutors called several
Department of Transportation employees and Ponder's at
torney to the stand.
Ponder, his wife, Marie; a nephew, Leonard Ponder, and
Marshall Kanner, described as a business associate of the
family, are each charged with 17 counts of mail fraud in con
nection with four land purchases made in Madison County in
1982.
The four defendants were originally indicted on six counts of
mail fraud by a federal grand jury meeting in Asheville in
December. On Monday, the grand jury returned additional in
dictments, adding 11 more counts of mail fraud to the original
charges. Federal prosecutors charge that Ponder, then a
member of the state Department of Transportation board, us
ed inside information on proposed road projects to purchase
property along the route of a planned Spring Creek-MarshaU
road. Ponder entered not guilty pleas to all charges.
EXTRA
Wednesday afternoon, U.S. District Court Judge Woodrow
Jones dismissed all remaining counts of mail fraud against
Zeno Ponder. Marie Ponder. Leonard Ponder, and Marshall
Kanner.
Jones dismissed charges on a motion presented by
Ponder's attorneys Herbert Hyde, Bob Long, and David
Matney.
Dismissal followed the close of the government's evidence
presented by U.S. Attorney Charles Brewer and Assistant U.S.
Attorney Ken Bell.
Complete details of the two-day trial will appear in next
week's edition of The News Record.
In his opening statement to the jury. Bell characterized
Ponder as "the driving force in getting projects approved by
the Madison County Board of Commissioners and the North
Carolina Department of Transportation." Bell said that the
timing of Ponder's action was the key to the prosecution's case
and that the government would seek to prove that he and the
other defendants were attempting to purchase property while
pushing for road projects in Madison County.
Defense attorney Herbert Hyde told the jurors that Ponder
obtained the property in order to give the state a free right-of
way for the proposed road linking Spring Creek and Marshall.
Hyde said that Spring Creek residents were promised the road
by then-Gov. Bob Scott when voters were being asked to ap
prove a consolidated high school in the early 1970's.
Hyde told the jurors, "If Zeno Ponder is guilty of anything, it
is overgenerosity. And perhaps one more thing- trying to bring
to fulfillment a promise he thought was fairly made."
The prosecution opened testimony in the case by calling
Jack Murdock, a DOT secondary roads officer, to the stand.
Murdock was consulted by DOT division engineer Earl
Mclntire when the proposed road to Spring Creek was first
considered. He was asked if secondary road funds could be us
ed for a project creating a new road.
Murdock explained that the proposed project was to have
been broken into phases because the county's share of secon
dary road funds for one year would not cover the cost of the en
tire project. Plans called for improvements to a 4.3-mile sec
tion of Little Pine Rd., followed by improvements to Sweet
water Rd. The two roads would be linked by a new bridge to be
constructed over the French Broad River near Redmon.
Murdock told the court that most secondary road projects do
not include funds for right-of-way purchases, but that an ex
ception could be granted by the DOT board on a project the
size of the proposed Spring Creek road project.
DOT deputy secretary Billy Rose also testified on Tuesday.
Rose was the state highway administrator in 1982. He told the
court that he and then-Transportation Secretary William
(Continued On Page 81
Brown Enters County^ Sheriff s Race
James Dedrick Brown of Mars Hill
entered the race for Madison County
Sheriff on Monday, filing with the
county Board of Elections.
Brown, 45. is a native of Madison
County raised in the Little Pine com
munity and now makes his home in
Mars Hill.
The son of the late Walter and An
nie Mae Roberts Brown, he is mar
ried to the former Sharon Chandler, a
native of Walnut. They have three
daughters; Tina B. Hernandez and
Tammy and Tara Brown
Brown attended Madison County
public schools and earned his high
school diploma while serving in the
U.S. Army. He currently operates the
Big D's Fast Stop in Mars Hill and is
owner and operator of the Marshall
Paving Co. Late last year. Brown was
appointed to serve as Madison Coun
ty's license plate agent.
Brown served as Madison County
Sheriff for a brief time in the early
1970's. succeeding Roy Roberts, who
resigned. He was later defeated by
Sheriff E.Y. Ponder in the general
election. In announcing his can
didacy. Brown said that he has long
been interested in law enforcement in
Madison County. Over the years,
Brown said, many residents of the
county. Democrats, Republicans and
independents have expressed their
concerns about law enforcement in
Madison County and encouraged him
to run.
Brown was one of four Republicans
filing for offices on Monday. Mars
Hill businessman Bob Phillips and
Joe Fowler of Walnut both filed as
candidates for the county commis
sion during the opening day of the fil
ing period. Doyle Cody of Mars Hill
also filed for the race for Clerk of
Superior Court.
Incumbent Clerk of Courts Jim
Cody of Marshall was the lone
Democrat to file on Monday. Cody fil
ed for re-election.
Madison County Sheriff E.Y.
Ponder said Tuesday that he is
undecided about whether to seek a
ninth term. Ponder told The News
Record. "I'll run if five or six people
ask me to. But one of those people will
have to be Mrs. Ponder."
Sheriff Ponder's brother, Zeno, is
also rumored to be considering enter
ing the county commission race, but
said Tuesday that he is not "an eager
candidate."
Panel Recommends Not To Hire 16 And 17- Year-Olds
By ANN GREEN
Tht H?n And OlWfW
The National Transportation
Safety poard, citing concerns
about accidents, has recom
mended that North Carolina
school officials stop hiHng 16- and
17-year-olds as school bus drivers.
The safety panel's recommen
dations were issued last month
after an investigation of a bus
wreck involving a. 17-year-old
driver in Ashe County in March
1985.
The board found that bus acci
dent rates were "significantly
higher" for the younger drivers
than for drivers 18 years old and
above, Willis E. Bush, a spokes
man for the panel in Washington,
D.C., said in a telephone interview
Thursday.
"We issued a safety recommen
dation because we see a safety
pnblem thai naais t? ta ad
dressed," he said.
The board has recommended
the same thing for South Carolina
and Alabama because thoee states
also uae high school students to fill
their bus driver ranks, Both said.
The states are not required to
comply with the recommenda
tions. But the panel investigates
thousands of tridents each year,
ranging from airline crashes to
marina and Its recom
\ per - ; an h<
. ' Bush said
Using statistics from the last
16- and 17-year-olds vs. 8.1 acci
dents for older drivers. In 1963-84,
it was 14 accidents for the younger
drivers vs. 10 for older drivers,
and in 1964-85, it was 13.2 acci
dents vs. 9.2.
In the Ashe County wreck, a bus
carrying 22 teenagers ran off N.C.
88, rolled over once and went
down a steep embankment. All the
students were injured, most suf
fering cuts and bruises, but there
were no fatalities.
"We were trying to find out
what caused the accident, and in
this one, we determined that
inattention of the school bus driv
er was probably the cause of the
accident," Bush said.
B. Norfleet Gardner, North Car
olina's school bus transportation
director, said Thursday by tele
phone that he disagreed with the
paneTrfindings on the Ashe Coun
ty wreck and questioned its as
sessment of the state's driver
safety record. Gardner also said it
would cost North Carolina mil
of dollars to replace its
? driven,
"Year after year, we've had one
of the best (safety) records in the
nation," he said.
In the Ashe County wreck, there
was a Student discipline problem
on the bus, he said. "It was not a
driver problem," he said.
said that according to
I '1-fMr by
tad 12,915
Their ranks
had (ewer than 7,000 student bus
drivers, or about 54 percent of the
total..
Gardner said school systems
use students as drivers "basically
because of convenience. They are
handy because they are at school,
they are easily trained, and they
are easily supervised. They're
available all day, and, of course,
it's because of the economy."
School systems usually have
trouble finding adults willing to
drive buses for wages that range
from $3.35 an hour to several
dollars above that, he said. "Few
adults want a part-time Job that
only pays minimum wage," Gard
ner said. The differences in pay
depend on driver experience and
bow much money local school
systems can add to the pay.
No firm figure was available on
bow much it would cost the state
to replace its 4,200 16- and 17
year-old bus drivers. But raising
the pay of bus drivers costs the
state t7 million a year for every II
the pay Jumps, according to Gard
Looking at the safety record, he
said there were eight fatalities
involving school buses in North
Carolina last year .
Six of those who died were
? | ?n| Milt ? i 1'- - -? l_ _ l.tL|A
students involved in I true*
school bus cdlldw in Greene
County. The bus driver was It, bat
officials have said the truck
crossed into the path of tbe bus.
driver, be said, and the other was
in Cumberland County and in
volved a 19-year-old driver.
The Greene County accident
also was investigated by the safe
ty panel last year, Gardner said.
But the results of the investigation
into that accident, described by
federal officials as the nation's
worst school bus wreck in at least
five years, have not yet been
released.
Asked why that accident and the
Ashe County accident were inves
tigated, Bush said: "We pick and
choose accidents, based on taking
a look at significant safety issues.
One of the areas we've been
interested in is school bus safety."
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg
school system is phasing out its
use of student bus drivers because
of concern about how the students
handled heavy traffic and because
of safety concerns raised by par
ents.
In that school system, there are
?o^40 student drivers left in a
total of 637 drivers, and the
students are 17- or 18-year-olds. So
far, the system has noted a
dramatic 40 percent decrease in
its accident rate this year com
pared to last, said William H.
Neely, assistant director of trans
portation for the school system.
In Wake County, the latest
statistics available Thursday
showed the system employing 668
bus drivers ? 15 of them 16-year
olds and 905 of them 17-year-olds.