Vol 87 No. SB
High School Football Season
See Special Supplement
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Serving The People Of Our Communities Since 1901
27,1987
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Ramsey Brings Home $1 Million In 'Pork'
By BILL STUDENC
Editor
Madison County wu one of the big
winners in the General Assembly's
pork barrel battles of 1987, as House
Speaker Luton B. Ramsey helped
win $1,125,000 for town and county
projects.
That figure doesn't include $334,034
in previously appropriated money
that will be made available to
Madison County towns as a result of
legislation requested by Ramsey.
The special appropriations money
- usually called "pork barrel" funds
- will be used in Marshall for water
and sewer projects, in Hot Springs for
a new municipal building and for
tourism promotion, in Mars Hill for a
community building at the college,
and in Madison County for a new
landfill, health and domestic violence
programs and a new campus of
Asheville-Buncombe Technical Col
lege.
So many projects in Madison Coun
ty - and elsewhere in Ramsey's
district and across Western North
Carolina - won pork barrel funding
that Ramsey has been the target of
some criticism. But Ramsey said he
doesn't pay a lot of attention to critics
who say he's sending too much of the
state's money to the folks back home.
"I don't worry about what these
papers are saying," Ramsey said
Tuesday in a telephone interview. "If
I help Charlotte get $9 million for a
cultural center, that's fine. But if I
get a little something for a water and
sewer line back home, it's called pork
barrel."
In addition to the special appropria
tions, Madison County should also
receive >10 million over the next 10
years for the construction of new
schools. Buncombe County would
receive $80 million under the "Better
Schools For North Carolina" legisla
tion, approved last month. The
legislation appropriates $3.2 billion
statewide over the next decade.
Ramsey called that legislation "the
highlight of the whole General
Assembly."
"That ($10 million) will go a long
way toward solving our building
needs in Madison County," he said.
"It won't build a fancy new school on
every creek, but it will certainly help.
Our people just don't have the money
to build the buildings themselves.''
Madison County municipalities will
also benefit from Ramsey legislation
giving towns one more year to apply
for already allocated money set aside
by the state for local sewer and water
Lake Louise Project Receives $5,000
The on-going Lake Louise pro
ject in Weaverville recently
received a 15,000 boost (Tom the
General Assembly.
The boost comes in the form of a
special appropriations bill that
won General Assembly approval
during this month's lengthy
budget battles.
The "pork barrel" money will
go toward the cleanup and
rehabilitation of the lake, which in
recent years had become little
more than a haven for lillypads
and water bugs.
Weaverville officials are con
structing a multi-purpose recrea
tional area at the lake, including
picnic grounds, a playground,
covered shelters and an exercise
trail around the perimeter of the
lake.
The project was originally
scheduled to be complete by July
4, but additional work delayed
completion by two months, and
town officials expected to wrap up
the project by Labor Day.
But Weaverville . officials now
Weaverville Town Manager Charles Home
explains to a North Buncombe County resi
dent the town's plans to extend zoning regula
BILL STUDENC PHOTO
tlons into portions of a one-mile extrater
ritorial area.
Spring Creek Principal
Resigns To Take New Job
By MARGARET A. STUDENC
Staff Writer
Spring Creek Elementary School
will be losing its current principal,
Larry Plemmons, as of Sept. l to
North Canton Elementary School in
Haywood County.
Plemmons' resignation came dur
ing the Madison County Board of
Education's Monday night meeting.
The board accepted the resignation.
Plemmons, contacted Tuesday,
said he has always had good coopera
tion from the Spring Creek communi
ty aod has had a good group of
coworkers.
"The reason I'm leaving is because
it ( North Canton) is closer to where I
live," said Plemmons. who resides
near Waynesville.
Madison County Schools
Superintendent Bobby Edwards said
he will hate to loae Plemmons.
"He's served the community well,
as well as the school," said Edwards.
The school board also accepted the
resignation of Marshall Elementary
teacher Donald Banks.
Alio on Monday night, each board
member received a copy of the
1986-87 energy cost report compiled
from French Broad Electrical
Membership Cooperative and
Carolina Power k Light invoices and
from school principal monthly
reports on fuel usage.
The total combined cost of electrici
ty and fuel oil for the 1906-87 school
year was $244,862. Madison High and
Marshall Primary were at the top of
the list with a total of $114,877 in
energy cost, while Spring Creek was
at the bottom with a total cost of
$11, on.
The board also received a report on
the first week of enrollment. A* of
Friday, total enrollment in Madisoa
County was 2,688. Or. Bobby Jean
Rice, general supervisor, said this
figure usually increases over the first
weeks of the school year.
Linda Harrell, director of special
education for Madison County,
presented the board with contracts
for physical therapy for school
children
?CoottaMd oil Page >
im '?:*&%* ?<*>? >,f~ W i vJf .?
State Says No To Marshall,
Yes To Weaverville Grant
By BILL tniDCNC
? '
Stale officials have rejected Mar
< thalfs request for son? 1330,000 in
ilon project on Cotton MSI Hill, while
iwardi [ nearly $1'. 1,000 to Weaver
iile
stall (proved 1159,897 <
Jousim 1 wer
\ fco. n Hillside an ia?t
str Mil
T ifficials i reived word of the
"Thte Is the third time we've been
turned down. "
Marshall officials had hoped to
e *220.000 in gram money
and renovate several
to
in the <
^
money from
state officials V
But town officiate bad thought I
were required to expand only !
cant of the 1HS grant money,
We never thought that
to
i learn of i
say that the late delivery of pipes
needed for water lines has pushed
the estimated completion date to
mid-September.
The $5,000 in pork barrel money
will enable the town to do addi
tional culverting work around the
lake.
"We are putting in culverts at
the upper end of the lake to give us
more green space," said Charles
Home, Weaverville town
manager. "That will permit us to
channel water and create a larger
area for recreation."
projects.
The General Assembly ap
propriated a total of $120 million in
Senate Bill II funds to be used by
towns in the 1965-87 biennium for
water and sewer projects. But the
deadline for applying for the funds
has expired, and much of the money
was destined to revert back to the
state treasury.
Ramsey's legislation will enable
Mars Hill, Marshall and Hot Springs
to apply for their share of $334,034 in
Senate Bill II money allocated to
Madison County.
Mars Hill will be eligible to apply
for $203,070 to use toward its on-going
project at the town spillway and
reservoir; Marshall will be able to
apply for 180,964 for various water
and sewer projects; and Hot Springs
will be eligible for 960,000.
"Time had expired, and the money
would revert back to the general
?Continued on Page t
Weaverville Extends Zoning
Power Along U.S. 19-23
By BILL STUDENC
Editor
The Weaverville Town Council
unanimously agreed Thursday to ex
tend zoning regulations into a one
mile extraterritorial area along the
west side of the U.S. 19-23 corridor.
Weaverville officials, during a
public hearing at North Buncombe
Middle School, said the step w is
necessary to help protect the quality ?
of Hft in the rapidly developing
Weaverville area.
"This is a mechanism we feel will
give you an opportunity to manage
your land value better and to have a
better quality of life in your
neighborhood," said Cbarlie Home,
Weaverville town manager.
Municipal zoning regulations, ef
fective Sept. 15, will be in force in the
area Immediately adjacent to U.S.
19-23 on the west side of the highway,
from the Flat Creek Road exit to New
Stock Road.
Weaverville zoning regulations will
also apply in the Stoney Knob and
Woodland Hills areas on the east side
of U.S. 19-23.
Town officials say they intend to ex
tend zoning regulations to areas east
of U.S. 19-23 from Flat Creek down to
Merrimon Avenue later, possibly in
January.
"We are right now looking at only
the higt-demand, highly developed
area along the west side of U.S.
19-23," Home said.
Neatly lOOJ^idpnts of the N&rth
Buncombe art* attended Thursday's
public hearing, but only 13 spoke dur
ing the sessMn - and none in opposi
tion to the council's plans.
Most of those who did speak had
specific questions about extrater
ritorial zoning. The major question
was, does the extension of municipal
zoning regulations into unincor
porated areas of the county mean
that annexation is next on the
council's agenda?
"I'm not so opposed to people keep
ing their neighborhoods like they
should be," North Buncombe resident
Jim Garrison said. "But have you got
in the back of your mind annexing
this area?"
Weaverville Mayor Reese Lasher
responded to that question. "Number
one, I can't stand here tonight and tell
you what a future board for the town
of Weaverville might do," Lasher
said. "But we have no plans to do any
involuntary --nexations and no plans
to start any in\.luntary
annexations."
A number of residents who liye out
side WeavervdieY corporate limits
told the council they welcome zoning
controls.
"Hie best opportunity all of you
folks have to protect your property
values and the quality of life you have
now is to go along with the town of
Weaverville and let them protect
you," said Steve Zamowski of Upper
Plat Creek.
" The state and the county will not
protect your welfare," Zamowski
said. "Without zoning, you're on your
own."
Joe Joyner agreed that zoning
regulations are necessary because of
the threat of unchecked development.
-Continued on Page I
..1 . I I
Mr. and Mrs. Raleigh English ef Mara Htt
give Dr. Fred Bentley, president of Mara Hill
College, the deed to a house and lot in Mars
* 9 %? ?
?? -'Jm- ? 1 \ * 811 o,w v
Y-. ? E8 . * ; . '?,* ? - -
HUI which wfll become the site of ? new ad
lege chapel while Jin Cox. director of
development for the college (right) watches.
Englishes Donate Land To
Mars Hill College For Chapel
B ? ' - '
" Mt f
in its 131-year
i? going to
to Mm hs tr. nd
rh -.glisf. of
ut I mi make
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J tree* in town wtth i
My.
ed it to Mrs. EnflMh.
'?Whooraw&decBed to build a
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