School Board Faces 'Mammoth5 Decisions
By BILL 8TUDENC
Editor
Madison County school officials will await the results of
a state inspection of facilities before they decide how to
spend more than $7.7 million that may be available for
new school construction over the next decade.
That report is not expected from the state Division of
School Planning until mid-December; the Madison Coun
ty School Board must adopt a long-range plan for the
renovation and repair of school facilities by Jan. 1.
The Madison County Board of Education and the
Madison County Board of Commissioners met jointly Fri
day to begin the discussion of how to spend at least
$7,790,018 in state money that will become available over
the next 10 years.
School officials admit they have some important deci
sions to make by the end of the year. They must decide
where to construct new school buildings, where to repair
current facilities and, possibly, where to consolidate
'We are faced with some mammoth deci
sions that will be significantly changing
public education in Madison County for the
next 50 years or so. We have a great burden
upon us.*
James Baker
Madison County school board chairman
schools.
"We are faced with some mammoth decisions that will
be significantly changing public education in Madison
County for the next SO years or so," said James Baker,
school board chairman. "We have a great burden on us."
Robert Edwards, superintendent of Madison County
schools, gave both boards a history of public education in
the county.
"At one time in this county, we had 58 schools," Ed
wards said. "We are down to eight schools now."
Among the possibilities school officials will be con
sidering during the next month is whether further con
solidation of county schools is needed.
"Of course, we have various problems at our existing
schools," Baker said. "Dealing with those problems may
create some other problems -- transportation problems,
problems within communities which might have strong
feelings about schools being closed and their children be
ing transported long distances to other schools."
Before school board members start making those hard
decisions, they want to look at the results of a Division of
School Planning survey of Madison County schools con
ducted by a 10-member committee that visited the county
recently.
But it is likely that Madison County will see some new
schools built in the next 10 years
"I think we can pretty well safely assume that the
recommendation we will receive will call for some pretty
drastic changes in our educational system,'' Baker said.
"We will be looking at the possibility of making some
pretty abrupt construction, rather than repair buildings
that hve been in use for many years."
"To bring an older building up to standards, it will cost
more to renovate a 40-year-old building than to build a
new one," Edwards said.
One factor which is making the school board's job more
difficult is the fact that the school system also may be
eligible for a portion of $95 million in "critical needs
money" recently made available by the state.
School officials have already estimated Madison's total
renovation and construction needs at 136,890,460. That
estimate includes the replacement of all schools in the
county - except Madison High School and Marshall
-Continued on Page !l
Employee* and customers at Marshall's
Super 10 Store were surprised Tuesday af
ternoon when a car crashed through the
BILL STUDENC PHOTO
store'* front windows. No one was Injured in
the accident. > -
Car Crashes Through Storefront
By BILL STUDENC
Editor
The Super 10 store in Marshall look
ed somewhat like a used car
showroom Tuesday afternoon when
an 18-year-old woman drove her car
through the store's front window
Ingrid Michelle Gordin of 580 N
Bear Creek Road, Marshall, was pull
ing into a parking spot in front of
Super 10 in the Ingles Plaza about
4:05 p.m. Tuesday, only to discover
that her car would not stop, according ?
to authorities.
"The girl said she was pulling in
here to do some shopping and her
brakes failed," said Denny Goforth of
the Marshall Police Department.
"She said she just didn't have any
brakes. She pumped them two or
three times and just kept coming and
came on through here," Goforth said,
pointing to a gaping hole in the plate
glass window that had been the front
of the store.
Gordin, who was alone in the car at
the time of the accident, was not in
jured. No employees or customers in
side the store were hurt.
"For some reason, I was looking up
and I saw her. I could see she was go
ing to come on through," said Donna
Wallin, store manager.
Wallin said she ran over to the car
to see if the driver had been hurt.
"She was scared to death," she
said. "I reached in and turned off the
motor. I saw a child can seat in the
Continued on Page 9
New Weaverville Council
Holds Planning Session
By BILL STUDENC
Editor
The newly elected Weaverville
Town Council, meeting in a special
planning retreat Saturday in
Asheville, began plotting the course
of the town over the next two years.
Coucil members, after taking their
oaths of office last Thursday,
gathered Saturday at the Sheraton
Inn to discuss their ideas for Weaver
viUe's future.
"Each member had different
reasons why they ran for office that
they want to get accomplished,"
Weaverville Mayor Reese Lasher
said Tuesday. "Saturday's meeting
was a chance to exchange those
ideas."
Foremost among the council
members' concerns was solving the
town's long-standing water supply
problems. Lasher said.
Weaverville officials have placed a
moratorium on providing water ser
vice to customers outside the town
limits until a new water supply can be
developed.
Town officials have reached an in
terim agreement with the Asheville
Buncombe Water Authority that
should provide sufficient water to
Weaverville until the town can locate
its own source.
Each council member, during the
campaign, said the town's water pro
blem was the most important issue.
They continued to voice that belief at
Saturday's planning retreat, Lasher
said.
"After that (the water issue),
several projects ranked very high on
the list,'' he said.
Some council members said the
town should develop recreational op
portunities for its residents -- possibly
including a new swimming pool com
plex.
Others were more concerned with
-Continued on Page ?
Light Turnout At AIDS Seminar ;
Speakers Stress Education , Prevention
I envisioned
Madison High School filled to capaci
t> for Monda> nighti AIDS
a member of the N.C.
waken Bureau on AIDS ado
were a little disappointed
ill
-rt so
it that it
making headlines worldwide. *
Presenter* also say the attendance
in Madison County was good com
? to the attendance of similar
the Health Depart
; ient as part of the statewide
vane* Awareness Week.'
4an,? Marti! proclaim* th.
N<
L . *.
irtts i spi id
reported cases of AIDS involving
Madison County residents, icH
to literature distibuted during
day's program The neig
counties of Buncombe Haw
McDowell, Macan and Catawba I
hwi a total of 11 cases, however
ting that AIDS Is a growing pro
North Carolina.
Widening Of U.S. 23 Gets
Moved Up On State Road List
V
By BILL STUDENC
Editor
, The N.C. Board of Transporta
tion has pushed the upgrading of
U.S. 23 north of Mars Hill to a four
lane highway higher on its list of
road projects planned for the next
nine years.
The board, during a meeting
Friday in Raleigh, agreed to begin
planning in 1993 and right-of-way
acquisition for the expanded
highway in 1995.
Previously, improvements to
U.S. 23 through Madison County
had been included in the state's
Transportation Improvement Pro
gram for feasibility study only.
The board's action Friday of
ficially places the project into its
TIP program, moving up the
timetable for the creation of a
four-lane freeway from Mare Hill
to the Tennesse line.
"This project was not even in
TIP at all," said John Sutton of
Candler, who represents Division
13 (including Madison and Bun
combe) on the state board.
"This project, we feel, is an
essential project for Madison
County and Buncombe County
and, for that matter, Western
North Carolina as a whole," Sut
ton said Monday. "But this is a
project that, quite frankly, we
don't have the available funds to
do."
U.S. 23 from Asheville to the Tennessee stole line will
be a four-lane highway, under the recently approved
Transportation Improvement Program.
Sutton estimated the cost of im
proving the 10-mile section of U.S.
23 from Mars Hill to Sams Gap at
$48 million to $64 million. That is
the minimum cost for a four-lane
highway, and would not include
the cost of upgrading the road to
meet interstate standards
Some local officials have called
for the extension of Interstate 26,
which now ends in Asheville, along
U.S. 19-23.
Acquistion of right of way for the
highway will cost some $8 million.
-Continued on Page 9
Weavervilk councilmen Bernie K setters ,
Ann Williams, Harold Payne, Franklin
Spears and Ronnie Davis take their oaths of
office.
Burley Sales To Begin
From Staff Reports
Western North Carolina hurley
tobacco fanners are gearing up
Johnson City and Greeneville,
Tenn.
Recent rains have helped bur ley
' crop ready for
market because dry
ing October made it
easy to crumble
week has
?p
Field House
Proposed
For Madison
By BILL STUDENC
Editor
Madison County officials are
enlisting the help of House Speaker
Liston B. Ramsey in their efforts to
build an athletic field house at
Madison High School
Robert Capps, chairman of the
Madison County Board of Commis
sioners, told members of the Madison
County Board of Education earlier
this month that he had contacted
Ramsey to seek his assistance in ob
taining state funding for a field house
"I talked to him < Ramsey- ) and he
told me to go ahead and get some In
formation about how much money
we'd need and come up with a design
and then get back in touch with him
Cappa said thia week
The school board has already hired
architect Wayne Roberts to prepare
plans for a field haae and ohm op
with a co
The proposed field house would in
dude rtrwlng rooms for two teams,
showers, public restrooma, a conces
sion stand, offices, a storage area.
The b?t atte for the field house
would be on the west end of the foot
ball field at O.B. Robert:
.. locatioi rlof U to