Newspapers / The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) / Dec. 24, 1987, edition 1 / Page 1
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The NEWS RECORD Serving The People Of Our Communities Since 1901 ? ? ? ? ? ?2 Thursday, December 24, 1987 25c ywmp-wr*- ? I X// e)U0J9 Traffic Signal May Reduce Accidents By BILL STUDENC Editor The N.C. Department of Transportation has install ed new signal lights at the intersection of N.C. 213 and U.S. 19-23 at Mars Hill. Traffic safety officials say they hope the new lights, which coat $25,000, will reduce the rate of accidents at what may be the most dangerous intersection in Madison County. "That is the single most dangerous intersection in the county," said Madison County Sheriff Dedrick Brown. "The statistics will prove that." Sgt. Zeb Phillips of the N.C. Highway Patrol agrees. According to statistics at the Highway Patrol's Burn sville office, there have been 11 reportable two-car ac cidents at the intersection of U.S. 19-23 and N.C. 213 during the past year. Six of those 11 accidents involved personal injuries, Phillips said. Four accidents resulted in "serious per sonal injury," he said. Those 11 accidents caused some $40,000 in property damage, Phillips said. "The new lights will not eliminate all the wrecks, but we hope it will reduce them," he said. "Drivers still need to be cautious and make sure the other lanes of traffic have stopped before they pull out." One state trooper last week clocked a motorist traveling through intersection at more than 70 mph, Phillips said. The motorist had gone through the red light without slowing down, he said. "Don't just pull out without looking, even if you have the right of way," he said. "You might be right, but don't be dead right." DOT workers installed the lights two weeks ago, and the new traffic signals went on line last week, said Jack Buckner, DOT highway maintenance engineer for Madison and Yancey counties. "It took about a week to get them ready," Buckner said. "We let them flash for a couple of days so that people could get used to them." Buckner said he believes the signals will help the flow of traffic through Mart Hill . "Sometimes Big Branch (now Carl Eller Road) is loaded with traffic from the steakhouse, Micro Switch workers and the college, and that can give us a lot of problems," he said. "We think this will stop that." The new lights include a "leading green" light for vehicles making left-hand turns, Buckner said. If a proposal to convert U.S. 19-23 into an interstate highway leading from Asheville to Tennessee is ap proved, the signal lights will hstve to be removed and a new clover leaf-type intersection constructed. But those kinds of improvements to U.S. 19-23 are several years away, Brown said, and the expense of installing the signal lights should be well worth it becaus^nh^ccidentMha^wiinj^revente^^^^ President Signs Law; No Nnkes In WNC From Staff Reports President Ronald Reagan made it official Tuesday - high-level nuclear waste will not be stored in Western North Carolina. When Reagan signed the Budget Reconciliation Act, he also approved an end to the U.S. Department of Energy's search for a nuclear waste repository on the East Coast. . _ And that means that a lOS-square mile tract in the Sandy Mush section of Buncombe, Madison and Haywood County is no longer being looked at by DOE as a possible dump site. The U.S. House of Representatives approved by one vote - 200-206 - an agreement reached last week by Con gressional conferees. U.S. Rep. James McClure Clarke, D-N.C., voted for the legislative package, although it does allow for the con struction of a Monitored Retrievable Storage facility - something he has vehemently opposed. "It's official now," Terry Garren, Clarke's administrative assistant, said Tuesday afternoon. "President Reagan signed the bill 30 minutes ago." The legislative package - which also includes a controversial funding package for the contras of Nicaragua - authorizes several major changes in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. Foremost among those changes, at least as far as WNC is concerned, is that the new bill eliminates the provi sion in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act calling for an eastern dump site. The law also specifies that there will be only one repository site - at Yucca Mountain, Nev. "To put it bluntly, we had the political power to gang up on Nevada and make them the dump site," Gar ren said. Although the agreement does in clude provisions for the establish ment of the temporary storage facili ty (MRS). Clarke said there are several restHctfons placed m the MRS. "We were able to place many restrictions on the proposed MRS that may make it impossible to ever build the MRS, or, if it is ever built, at least 10 or 15 years in the future," Clarke said. Several of the proposed MRS sites are near North Carolina, including a -Continued on Page I Marshall Chief Of P olice Stripped Of Title By Town By BILL STUDENC Editor The newly elected Marshall Board of Aldermen agreed Monday night to strip William Lisenbee of the title of Marshall police chief. The decision comes four months after the former Marshall governing board appointed Lisenbee as chief of the Marshall Police Department. During Monday's meeting of the town board, Marshall Mayor Anita Ward asked the aldermen if they wanted to reappoint Lisenbee to police chief. "No, I don't," said newly elected Alderman Jackie Davis. "I second that motion," said Alder man Iverson Bradley, also a newcomer to the Marshall board. "I don't think we need a police chief." Alderman Ed "Doc" Niles, the only returning alderman who was on the board in August when Lisenbee was named police chief, disagreed. I1 "I think we ought to have someone check things and keep time sheets and that type of thing," Niles said. "I think we need that for the town crew, too." But the two new aldermen outvoted Niles and agreed that the town simply does not need a police chief. "We can handle that (ad ministrative work) right here in the office," Davis said. With that action, the board also agreed that all four Marshall police officers - including Lisenbee - will work overtime as necessary, will work on weekends and will be placed on rotating shifts. While serving as police chief, Lisenbee did not work nights or weekends, Ward said. "I think the overtime needs to be divided up equally among the four of them, put them on rotating shifts and let them take their turn. " Bradley made a motion that the position of Marshall police chief be eliminated. Davis seconded the mo tion. No formal vote was taken, but Ward announced passage of the mo tion by consensus. The action will not affect Lisenbee's salary, Ward said. In other action Monday, the hoard heard of two legal problems holding up the completion of the Cody Road Candler Road sewer line project, funded by a grant from the NLC. Department of Natural Resouces and Community Development. Some 163,257 in grant money is left over from that project, said Sam Parker, director of the Marshall Housing Authority. But two problems have prevented him from closing out that grant. One problem is a civil lawsuit filed against the town by Bob Moore con tending that the town caused $10,000 worth of damage to his home by -Continued oa Page ? Tournament Time High School basketball season is kicking into high gear, as both Madison and North Buncombe prepare for holiday tournaments next week. Left. North Bun combe varsity boys coach Fred Ray huddles with his team in a recent game. Below, Ricky McDevitt, coach of Madison's Lady Patriots, shouts words of encouragement. See Page 8. BILL STUDENC PHOTOS Slate Files Appeal Of Welch Retrial . I ByBILLTTtOBNC The N.C. Attorney General's Of dee hu asked the U.S. Court of Appeals to overturn a federal juke's order calling for a retrial of a man convicted of the IMS kid in the At filed legal pa) rs with the ?k U.S Circuit Court of / ?? in an attempt to j trial of 1 ... . tree kidnapping and the ? rape of a l#-year-old Mar* Hill College student former U.S. District Court Judp David Sentelle ruled in June that Welch should be granted a new trial on the ground that ooe of may nol the fact that hi the man who dated tlx- victim at WeaverviUe Excee* Water From Staff Report* The town of WMverville hat already spent every cent of IB, 000 allocated for the purchaae of water from the Aaheville- Buncombe Water Authority during the current flacal year. That bit of bad new* forced the
The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.)
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Dec. 24, 1987, edition 1
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