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Ruling On Weaverville's
Ex-Police Chief Postponed
conflicts that did not allow them to be
at the bearing on Tuesday.
And that meaas that Ratbburn'a
grievance bearing will be delayed un
til bis attorney, Devere Lentz of Ashe
ville, and Weaverville town attorney
Bill Barnes can agree to a date and
time for the continuation of the hear
ing, Horne said Wednesday.
Barnes and Uentx may also be dis
cussing the possibility of settling the
matter outside of the grievance
procedures set up by the town.
"That may be a possibility, but I
can't really comment until I find out
something from our attorney," Horne
said. "Anything I would say would be
premature."
Horne said he hopes to be able to
close the book on the Rath burn ter
mination this week.
"Hopefully, it will be done this
week," he said. "I would like to get it
out of the week and do something defi
nite."
By BILL STUDENC
Weaverville official* have called
"time-out" during a grievance bear
ing for former Police Chief Darrell
Rathburn, fired in August for undis
cloaed reasons.
After the firing, Rathburn re
quested that Weaverville officials
grant him a grievance hearing to
present evidence why he believes be
should not have been terminated as
police chief.
That grievance hearing began last
Wednesday, but after three hours evi
dence, town officials and attoneys
representing Weaverville and Rat
hburn agreed to recess the hearing
until 5 : 30 p.m. Tuesday .
Tuesday came and the continuation
of the grievance bearing didn't.
Charles Home, Weaverville town
manager and the man who fired Rat
hburn, said that attorneys for the town
and Rathburn have had scheduling
Home find Rath burn Aug. 22 for
undisclosed reasons after conducting
an internal investigation into the
Weaverville Police Department.
Home, and other Weaverville town
officials, have refused to comment on
the reasons behind the firing, saying
they can not discuss personnel mat
ters.
Rathbura's firing came about one
month after the resignation of two
Weaverville police officers, and a
week after town officials received two
letters from a former candidate for
the Weaverville Town Council and her
husband.
Weaverville officials, however, say
that the letters and the recent resig
nations are only "indirectly" related
to the decision to fire Rathburn .
Weaverville Police Sgt. J.D. Ray
had been appointed acting police chief
after the firing of Rathburn, but re
signed one week later without comm
ent. . > ?
Darreli Rathbnrn
. . .no decision on firing
Nix Drive In Marshall may have been paved at a cost of $5, 790 in
violation of the N.C. Open Meetings Law
Paving Project
May Have Violated
Open Meeting Law
State Officials Await More Input
On Vulcan's Flat Creek Quarry
By MARGARET A. STUDENC
Staff Reporter
The N.C. Department of Natural
Resources and Community Develop
ment may be another two months in
deciding the fate of a proposed rock
quarry in northern Buncombe Coun
ty
It is up to NRCD officials to decide
whether to accept or deny an applica
tion from Vulcan Materials Corp. for
a surface miniM permit for a propo^
ed rock quarry tn UJ! Flat Creelt-eom
munity.
According to Steve Conrad, direc
tor of the department's Division of
Land Resources, state officials are
still waiting for some additional infor
"The application was so vague it was incredible. II was
incomplete and lacking in facts."
Resident Gary Hensley
mation they have requested from
Vulcan Materials before a decision
can be made.
"We just don't have enough infor
mation "ight now to completely
evaluat' all their plans,'' Conrad
Bald. 'V^ V > -T
"The law reads that the depart
ment has 60 days after we receive the
complete application to make our
decision. Until we get all the informa
tion we have requested, we don't con
sider the application to be complete,"
said Conrad.
Flat Creek residents learned in
June that Vulcan Materials Corp.,
which also has quarries in Enka and
in Henderson County , was planning to
budd a granite mine on acres of
land north of Weaverville on U.S.
19-23.
Since June,' area residents have
protested the building of the quarry in
the Flat Creek area.
"It is not a fact that we are fighting
industry in the area.'' Gary Hensley,
a Flat Creek resident opposed to the
quarry, said in an interview Tuesday.
"We welcome industry that would be
beneficial to the community. We just
don't believe the quarry would be that
kind of industry."
Hensley said he believes that a
shoddy application from Vulcan is the
reason for the delay.
"The application was so vague it
was incredible. It was incomplete and
lacking in facts." he said.
Members of the Flat Creek com
munity will be holding a township
meeting at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at
Flat Creek Elementary School
By KIM. STliDKNC
Kditor
A decision made by Marshall of
ficials last month to authorize the
paving of a municipal road may have
violated the N.C Open Meetings Law.
That's the opinion of Marshall's
mayor, an attorney with the N.C.
Press Association and a public
records and meetings specialist with
the N.C. Attorney General's Office.
Hill Paving Co. of Canton paved a
stretch of Nix Drive early last month
at a cost of $5,790. But no Marshall of
ficials seem to remember exactly
when the decision to pave the road
was made.
Minutes of the meetings of the Mar
shall Board of Aldermen do not in
dicate that a vote on the paving of the
road was ever taken
Marshall Mayor Anita Ward said
that's because aldermen Ed "Doc"
Niles and Faye Reid made that deci
sion outside of the regularly schedul
ed board meeting.
"One week I went to Raleigh and
when I came back. Nix Drive was
paved." Ward said. "There was a bill
for more than $5,000 sitting on < town
clerk) Linda (Dodson's) desk when
she came to work one morning "
The board never approved the pav
ing of Nix Drive, she said.
"It may have needed to be paved,"
Ward said. "I have no problem with
that. But whey didn't they have a
meeting?"
Niles and Reid. when contacted this
week, said they were under the im
pression that the paving of the road
had been discussed at an earlier
board meeting, but said they could
not be sure that the board had ever
voted on it.
"I thought that was done in an open
meeting,'' Reid said. "1 don't recall
which one; I haven't the faintest
idea."
"I think it was discussed, but I
won't say for positive, when we were
talking to Vader Shelton at a
meeting," Niles said.
During that meeting, the board
agreed to install water and sewer
lines to an apartment owned by
Shelton, and to repave any of the
roadway torn up during that work.
"I think both projects were men
tioned at the same time, and probably
others,'' Reid said.
While work was being done on the
project at Shelton 's apartment. Niles
and members of the town crew decid
ed to go ahead and instruct Hill Pav
ing Co. to resurface Nix Drive
"The culvert on that road had to be
fixed," Niles said. "It had sunken
down and was in pretty bad shape. A
car could have dropped a wheel off of
there and1 wrecked. "
Niles admitted that he told Hill
Paving Co. to proceed with the pacing
of Nix Drive, but said that he sees
nothing wrong with that.
"The guy had his equipment up
here and said. I'm down here with
my equipment and I can do it now and
save some time and expense,' " Niles
-Continued on back page
Hot Springs Hopefuls Withdraw;
Cioli Cites Harassing Calls
By BILL STUDENC
Editor
Two candidates challenging the
current Hot Springs mayor for elec
tion in November have withdrawn
from the campaign - one dropping
out after receiving harassing
telephone calls.
Although municipal elections are
more than a month off. Mayor Kenny
Ramsey has already been virtually
assured of re-election because Of the
withdrawal of his only competition.
The development all but
guarantees that Ramsey will win re
election to a second term, barring an
unforeseen write-in campaign
Candidates Gerald Cioli and Glen
W. Norton withdrew from the
mayor's race for "personal reasons.''
said Larry Huntsinger. chairman of
the Hot Springs Board of Election.
Cioli told The News Record Monday
that harassing telephone calls led to
his decision to withdraw from the
race.
"I had a couple of harassing phone
calls atthe house," Cioli said. "We've
only been here for less than a year
and I don't want to make any enemies
in this town. I like the town, and I love
the people. I thought I could - and I
still think I can - help the town."
Cioli and his wife received two or
three anonymous telephone calls
about his candidacy, he said.
"The callB stated that I'm Italian
and who do I think I am trying to take
over this town."
Cioli said he did not have any idea
who might have made the phone
calls.
"There are too many nice people in
this town. If running for mayor is go
ing to make me enemies, then I don't
want it. It's not worth it," he said.
"Maybe if I'm still around in a cou
ple of years, I'll try again," Cioli said.
"Then I'll kiAw the town a little bet
ter and the tcwn will know me a little
better, too."
Cioli said he thought he stood a
good chance of winning the election.
He said he helped register a large
number of young and elderly voters.
Norton, when contacted Tuesday,
would only Uittt pcisonal
reasons" led to his decision to drop
out of the mayor's race.
Ramsey, a Hot Springs alderman
for one term before winning the
mayor's race in 1965, said he is
"disappointed" at the withdrawal of
his challengers.
"In another way, it makes me think
the people think I'm doing a good job
and that the people have confidence
in me or I wtald have had more peo
ple running against me," Ramsey
said.
Ramsey said he believed he would
have been re-elected mayor even if
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...wtaMwrbyfefealt
his competition had not dropped out
of the race.
A full slate of candidates remains
in the race for three aldermen posi
tions, including incumbent Wesley
Staude.
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Two New Programs Face WNC Farmers
I:
BY BILL STUDENC
Editor 1
Western North Carolina farmers
have two new programs, one federal
and one state, to worry about in the
coming years
The two programs are the Food
Security Act of 1965. better-known as
the Farm BUI. vhich requires
farmers to appt;. <
tices to severly eroding bund, and the
N.C Agr ullune st Shore Pro
gram for No n point Source Pollution
t*
The Agricultural Cost-Share Pro
gram makes state money available to
farmers to reduce the flow of
pollutants into streams, B levins said,
and one of the biggest pollutants of
water in the mountains is sediment
from soil erosion.
"We cmi use the cost share funds to
apply conservation techniques we
will need to apply under the Farm
Farm Bill Called A
'Major Rethinking'
AKD i
i
I to ?rv< ly er? . land
b. purely in ry
in l N >w lav
*'i!l force farmers to
Uw ighi libta opsoil or lace
Bill," B levins said
Here's a quick look at the two pro
grams and what they will mean for
area farmers:
FARM BILL , ? * >
Under the Farm BUI of 1MB. all
erodible cropland beiif farm
have a conservation plan
by January 1M0. i
squires that the con
plan be tn use by January
losing federal farm benefits which
haw kept many agricultural enter
priaea afloat in recent yeara.
Federal aj^ nctaa have alao had to
takeOMn ltamiliai thewat
chdofp of the new cgnaarvation pro
Madison Sheriff
Gets $40,000 Grant
: ?' -v;.
From Staff Reports
The Madison County Sheriff's
Department will um $40,000 in
0-ant money from the state to pay
the salary of a drug-enforcement
Officer and purchase a vehicle to
be used in dnig-related arrests
Gov Jsmes Martin swdiujsiI
last week ttw swarding of the