Vol. 87 No. 14
MADISON *
COUNTY LIBRARY
GENERAL DELIVERY
MARSHALL NC
00039
ir Communities Since 1 90 1
' w.itkk ?. ? ,:.i
The Marshall depot awaits word of its fate
? a wrecking ball or renovation into a mu
BILL STUDENC PHOTO
seum of Western North Carolina railroad
history.
Marshall Still Trying
To Salvage Old Depot
By BILL STUDENC
Editor
The town of Marshall is
negotiating with Southern
Railway officials over the future
of the historic train depot ,
Those talks come after the N.C.
Utilities Commission's refusal
earlier this year to enter the
dispute between Marshall and the
railroad company. ?
Marshall Mayor Anita Ward is
corresponding with Southern
Railway officials in an attempt to
convince them to allow the depot,
at least 45 years old, to remain in
its current location.
The company was on the verge
of destroying the depot last year
when a group of Marshall area
residents organized to try to save
the structure.^
Marshall officials would like to
turn the depot, closed in May 1986,
into a museum illustrating the im
pact of the railroads on Western
North Carolina.
The railroad has said it would
sell the building to the town, but
only if it is moved to another loca
tion. Railway officials say the
depot's proximity to both the
railroad tracks and U.S. 25-70
represents a safety hazard and
potential lawsuits.
But Marshall officials say they
cannot afford the expense of mov
ing the building, and members of
the Friends of the Marshall Depot
group say that moviqg the
building would fes??n Wfhfcj&rtC?t;
significance. ? v".
The town asked the N.C
Utilities Commission to enter the
dispute, and commission
members came to Marshall in
December for a public hearing on
the issue.
The commission has since found
that, because the Marshall depot
is no longer serving the public con
venience, the commission has no
jurisdiction over the building.
"Because the facility is no
longer serving a public purpose,
the examiner is of the opinion, and
so finds and concludes, that the
commission has no authority to
regulate its dispostion," the c<An
mission ruled.
But, in a section of its ruling en
titled "Further Comments," the
commission also stated: "The
evidence presented at the hearing
showed that there is public in
terest in the town of Marshall in
preserving the depot . . . Because
of the interest shown at the hear
ing in preserving the building, the
examiner hopes that some
satisfactory resolution of tMi
issue can be found."
Marshall's mayor is also hoping
'for a satisfactory resolution, and
she says there is a good chance
that negotiations with the railroad
company may prove successful.
Ward said she has discussed
with Southern Railway officials
the possibility of the company
deeding the building to the town,
and leasing the property to the
town on an annual basis for a
small, token amount.
Attorneys for the railroad have
drawn up an agreement, which is
now being examined by real estate
and insurance experts.
-Continued on back page
Security Is Tight
At Chandler Retrial
By BILL STUDENC
Editor
ASHEVILLE - Security measures
were extremely tight in Buncombe
County Courthouse as the retrial of
Andrew "Junior" Chandler, the
29-year-old Marshall man charged
with sexually molesting seven
Madison County children, began this
week.
Several deputies with the Bun
combe County Sheriff's Department
stood guard outside the lone door to
the fifth-floor courtroom as four of
the seven children, aged 2 to 5 at the
time of the alleged assault, took the
witness stand Tuesday.
No spectators were allowed in the
courtroom during the children's
testimony, as was the case in
Chandler's first trial - which ended in
a mistrial Feb. 2. when a Madison
County jury was unable to reach a
unanimous verdict. The children's
testimony was continuing at
presstime Wednesday.
But, unlike Chandler's first trial,
the various factions involved in the
emotion-filled case have been kept
away from each other. Superior
Court Judge Douglas Albright se
questered the prosecution's
witnesses, keeping them away from
courtroom spectators and defense
witnesses.
Several members of Chandler's
family - although not as many as at
tended the trial in Marshall - have
traveled to Asheville for the retrial.
Albright ordered the family members
to remain on a separate floor of the
courthouse while the children
testified Tuesday and Wednesday.
Deputies, armed with metal detec
tors, searched all spectators before
allowing them into the courtroom
during Monday's jury selection pro
ceedings. The searching of spectators
should continue throughout the
course of the trial.
The security precautions are ap
parently the result of rumors of
weapons being brought into Madison
County Courthouse during Chandler's
first trial. Parents of some of the
alleged yictims also reported receiv
ing threats during that trial.
Superior Court Judge James A.
Andrew 'Junior' Chandler
. .on trial again
Beatty Jr. cited the security pro
blems as a major reason for ordering
Chandler's retrial moved to Bun
combe County Prosecutors, in re
questing the change of venue, also
-Continued on back page
Ponder: Madison Should
Withdraw From District
By BILL STUDENC
Editor
Pemocratic patriarch Zeno Ponder
admits he'd like Madison Cownty to
secede from the Judicial district
where be has been charged with con
spiring to profit unlawfully from in
side information obtained when he
sat on the N.C. Board of Transporta
tion.
But Ponder says his latest con
spiracy indictment has nothing to do
with recent discussion that Madison
County should pull out of the 24th
Judicial District and join with Bun
combe County.
Ponder says the proposal is merely
a matter of geography.
"To me, it just makes a whole lot of
sense," he said. "If you have a civil
or criminal matter, it would be a heck
of a lot easier to go on a four-lane
highway to Asheville than a winding,
narrow, mountain road to Boone (the
'I'm not in favor of adding any additional counties to our
district. '
+? ? -*>?? Roberta. Fisot'r
Buncombe County District Attorney
main office of the 24th Judicial
District). If anybody questions that,
they ought to try to drive to Boone."
Ponder has previously contended
that 24th Judicial District Attorney J.
Thomas Rusher, a Republican, sub
mitted a bill of indictment to a
Madison County grand jury in an at
tempt to oust a powerful Democratic
rival.
That grand jury indicted Ponder on
a charge of conspiring to profit il
legally by secretly purchasing land in
the path of a proposed road linking
Marshal to the communities of Trust
and Spring Creek. Ponder is accused
of using inside information available
to him through his position on the
state Board of Transportation aod
setting up a secret trust fund to buy
some 300 acres of land in 1962
The recent emergence of talk about
Madison County seceding from
Rusher's district has led to some
speculation that Ponder 's indictment
may be behind the move. Ponder
calls that speculation unfounded.
The proposal first surfaced last
month when Madison County
Democrats gathered for annual
precinct meetings.
-Continued on back page
Tobacco Growers Optimistic As '87 Season Draws Near
By ADAM SEESSEL
The News and Observer
The 1967 growing season is upon
North Carolina tobacco farmers, and
they're facing it with high spirits.
"There's more optimism than there
has been in probably six to seven
years," said T. Carlton Blalock, ex
ecutive director of the Tobacco
Growers Association of North
Carolina. "Tljey feel we've turned the
corner. They're optimistic in the
direction in which we're going."
Blalock and others said the leaf
grower*, moot of whom will finish
putting their seedlings in the ground
this month, were optimistic for two
reasons: A good water supply and a
revamped tobacco program that pro
ved last year it was a money-maker.
The outlook for other field crops is
mixed, however, and many growers
remain troubled by high interest
rates, low crop prices and declining
land values.
Leaf growers have been blessed
this year with plentiful rains and oc
casional snows, in stark contrast to
the early stages of last year, the
beginning of the infamous 1986
drought.
"The best thing is, thos ponds are
Weaverville Business
Deals In Sight, Sound
By ANNE KHX HKl.L
Mays moved to the Weavervillc
are* from Tampa, Fla, where he did
everything from stand-up corned) to
radio to creative consultant work in
The Mays family came to Weaver
lUe last spring long <
plan into motion. The plan includes
Mot Bt ar as ? reativi
base for the people of th?* area, as
well < tor g agen
Cies antJ t sses.
Th? Personal Communications
Development
ready," said W.K. Collins, a
specialist in charge of crop science
for the N.C. Agricultural Extension
Service.
It's been so wet, in fact, that potato
and cabbage planting has been
delayed slightly, although
agriculture officials say the hold-up
probably will not have serious conse
quences.
In addition to the wet weather, leaf
growers are confident the new
federal price support program will
put more money in their pockets.
Under the new program, the
government guarantees farmers a ?
lower price than in the past, but also
charges fanners less to run the pro
gram - and most farmers saw their
net income Increase under the pro
gram in 1986.
"For the past two years, there's
been so much concern about the
stability of the tobacco program that
growers have really been sort of
down in the damps," said Gerald F.
Peedin, the extension service's tobac
co specialist. i"Now we have what we
think's a workable program, so
they're eager to go."
Peanut and cotton farmers, both of
which haw adkl federal support pro
grams, also seem upbeat, experts
said. But other growers are not. Corn
and soybean prices, for example, con
tinue to look unfavorable for growers
because of the crops' chronic over
supply.
"Those that grow only tobacco,
corn and soybeans are saying that my
tobacco is the only thing I can count
on to feed my family," Peedin said.
An oversipply of pesticides and
other supplies will keep production
costs do wn this year, but many
farmers remain caught in a web of
large debts, low income, declining
land values and scarce credit.
"So many still have their backs to
the wall,'' Collins said.
That dampens the mood of many of
the state's growers -- even some of
those who have a profitable 1987 to
look forward to do, Collins said.
"It's kind of like fighting in a war -
they're a lot of soldiers that have
fallen," he said. "There's been so
many people that have dropped off
the scene, and it's on the farmers'
minds."
Steen, Capps Disagree
Over Special Meetings
By BILL STUDENC
Commissioner Reeae Stem served
? Friday that be will no longer
daytime meetings of
the Macfiaon County Board of Cora
rainiooert called at the laat minute
Staen told Robert Capps - who, at
* the board of commis
Mr calling
IF
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to discuss th? county's landfill pro
blemi K tneetfkt of the county cop
of the
Madison Countj Emerge ?i
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