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The Cherokee Scout
12
pages and Clay County Progress
15' Per Copy
Volume 79 ? Number 15 _ Murphy, North Carolina, 28906 ? Second Class Postage Paid At Murphy, North Carolina ? Thursday, November 12, 1970
HI AST rill: BEARCATS!!*
Wrecked Cell
Cherokee Chief Deputy Glenn
Holloway examines the debris in a wrecked cell of
'the Cherokee County Jail. A prisoner, officers said,
ran loose in the jail on Wednesday of last week,
smashing commodes and wash basins and tearing
up mattresses. Superior Court Judge Frank Snepp
looked over the damage and promptly closed the
jail, releasing the prisoners. (Staff Photo).
lotvn council L,onsiaers
Franchise For Cable TV
The Murphy Town Council
?Monday night again discussed
the construction of a cable
television system with Harold
Shook, who is seeking the
franchise for Murphy.
Shook appeared at the
October meeting to ask for
the franchise and at that time
was instructed to make a for
mal request in writing and
include in his application the
rates which would be charged
subscribers to the system.
White Church
Sets Festival
The Harvest Festival will
be held on Saturday night at
White Church School, beginning
at 6:30.
Sponsored by the PTA, the
festival will include bingo,
cakewalks, darts, a boweling
alley, ring toss, fishing pond
and all sorts of refreshments.
Monday night the council
members and Shook discussed
the planned system at length.
Shook said it would offer a
subscriber some 10 to 12 chan
nels for a fee of about $5 a
month. He said it would have no
effect on the translators which
beam television signals into
Murphy from Fain Mountain.
Shook also pointed out that
with the cable system it would
be possible to purchase a
camera and send local
television programs or athletic
events into the homes of the
cable subscribers.
Two aspects of the idea
seemed to bother Mayor Cloe
Moore and the councilmen. One
was the fear that the majority of
the people in Murphy may join
the cablesystem and then the
stations which maintain the
translators for free TV will
remove them, forcing low
income families to join the
cable or give up television.
The other was the question
of whether to advertise some
sort of public hearing on the
matter, especially since two
out-of-town firms had
previously asked for a cable TV
franchise and the council so far
has taken no action on their
requests.
Finally Mayor Moore ap
pointed a committee of several
of the councilmen to study the
matter and give Shook some
kind of answer at the December
meeting.
In other action, the council
appointed five men to five-year
terms on the Murphy Hospital
Authority - Bobby Burch, Henry
Simmons, Roy Weber, Bill
Brackett and Harvey Kincaid.
NATION AL^\0\
NEWSPAPER
1970^9UNDni52^1?71
Eye Clinic
Is Here
The lions mobile eye
screening clinic is now busy in
Cherokee County, testing the
vision of children between the
ages of three and six.
lions say it is important to
have a child's eyes tested before
he starts school, some children
having a slow start at school
due to eye problems which had
not been detected.
This week the mobile clinic
will be at the square in Murphy
on Wednesday and Thursday all
day.
The following week, it will
be at White Church School on
Monday, at Unaka on Tuesday,
at the A&P parking lot in An
drews on Wednesday, at the
Andrews Health Center on
Thursday and at the Topton
Post Office on Friday.
The mobile clinic will be at
each location from 9 a.m. until
noon and from 1 until 4 p.m. It is
sponsored in this county by the
Murphy Lions, the Andrews
club and the Ranger-Hiwassee
Dam Lions Club.
Computerized Phototypesetting
scout typesetter Betty Clay, right, feeds a perforated tape
into the new Compugraphic 4961 computer put into production this
week as Ruth Anderson, compositor, checks the finished
?photographic reproduction. The computer gives The Scout
greater versatility coupled with high speed, turning out printed
"matter in ready-to-use column widths in a variety of type faces. At
right. Weaver Carringer. recently returned from Army duty in
Fairbanks. Alaska, operates a Compugraphic CG7200 display
phototypesetter. This machine is used to "set" headlines and
advertising material from a typewriter-like keyboard, with
computerized word and letter spacing, replacing three older and
slower machines. (Staff Photos).
Judge Closes Jail
By Wally Avett
Staff Writer
The Cherokee County Jail
was closed down last week by
order of a Superior Court judge
and all the prisoners were
released
State jail inspectors looked
over the local jail Tuesday
morning and returned to
Raleigh to make their report to
the Social Services department,
which will make a ruling "in the
near future" in the case.
As this writing it is not
known whether the county will
be allowed to keep prisoners in
the jail again on a regular basis
or on a six-hour mamimum or
whether it will be used at all.
The jail inspectors have
termed the Cherokee jail "one
of the sorriest in the state and
have threatened to close it in the
past. The county voters ap
proved a $100,000 bond issue for
construction of a new jail in the
election on Tuesday of last
W66k.
Sheriff Claude Anderson
said a prisoner ran wild on last
Wednesday, shattering several
commodes and wash basins
inside the jail, causing ex
tensive water damage.
Superior Court Judge
Frank W. Snepp Jr. of
Charlotte, presiding over a
session of court here, went to
the jail to view the damage. He
returned to the courtroom with
all the prisoners behind him.
"Half the plumbing fixtures
were broken out, some of the
windows were broken out
making it hard to heat and there
were the remains of foods on
the- floor and the mattresses
were filthy," the judge said.
"There were two women in
cells with no privacy," he ad
ded. "The jail was not fit for
occupancy by human beings for
anything more than a few
hours."
Judge Snepp released some
of the prisoners on their own
recognisance to stand trial later
and for others he ruled that they
had appealed to his Superior
Court and that their sentences
were the time they had already
served in the jail, effectively
freeing them.
Jerry Green, 34, was
identified as the man who did
the damage and was sent off for
treatment. He has been in and
out of the jail for the past
several months, including one
short-lived escape, but the
judge said after looking at the
jail that he himself would
probably have wrecked it if he
had been in Green's place.
Green has been charged with
two counts of damaging public
property.
Judge Snepp ordered that
the jail be used, if properly
repaired, for keeping prisoners
only for a maximum of six
hours - "either someone
awaiting trial or for keeping a
drunk" until he sobers up.
The judge also telephoned
the state jail inspection section
of the Social Services depart
ment and on Monday two of
ficials met at the courthouse
with Clay and Cherokee com
missioners to discuss the
situation. The two counties have
tentatively planned to build a
jail at Murphy to serve both and
the state officials want to see
the project started.
The regional inspector,
James H. Pitts of Asheville, and
the chief of Jail Detention
Services in Raleigh, N.C.
Williams, said four jails in the
state have been closed down
and "by all rights both Clay and
Cherokee jails should be
closed."
There was much discussion
of jail construction and how
costs could be trimmed but it
soon developed that the com
missioners have not heard yet
from their application for a
$100,000 federal grant and do not
have enough money to start the
project without the federal
money.
At the end of the meeting.
the commissioners agreed to
check on the status of the
federal grant and also to have
their architect, James L.
Padgett of Asheville, meet with
a man from the Jail Detention
rvices and design a jail for
: two counties, to be con
ucted on the courthouse
rking lot behind the present
1 in Murphy.
Williams and Pitts in
spected the Cherokee jail on
Tuesday morning but said a
decision will have to be made
in Raleigh as to how the jail
can be used until a new one is
built.
Board Of Education Applies
For Tri-Tech Building Loan
The Cherokee County Board
of Education applied for a low
interest loan in its meeting last
week to finance a building
program at Tri-County Tech.
The Cherokee County com
missioners had voted at their
meeting earlier in the week in
favor of the $25,000 loan, which
will be paid back by the county
to the state Literary Fund. The
special fund charges an interest
rate of 44 per cent.
Holland McSwain, Tri-Tech
president, explained in the
county school board meeting
Thursday night that the
building program will see a
large new building rise on the
Peachtree campus and also
includes remodeling present
structures to do away with the
"prison look," the school for
merly serving as a prison camp.
McSwain told the board of
education that federal Ap
palachian funds in the amount
of $300,000 have been approved
for building at Tri-Tech, funds
provided on a 80-20 basis.
The local 20 percent will be
provided, he said, with the
$25,000 loan from the state
Literary Fund and with $50,000
gotten from the last Legislature
by State Senator Herman West
for Tri-Tech.
McSwain had indicated in
the past that local money for the
project would also be sought
from Clay and Graham coun
ties. Students from both study
at Tri-Tech but the school is
located in Cherokee, which has
a greater population than both
the other two combined, and
this county has provided more
money by far than the other two
counties.
In other business, the board
of education approved a policy
of providing school lunches
either free or at a reduced cost
to children unable to pay the full
price.
Superintendent John
Jordan said an application form
For such lunches, based on a
table showing family sizes and
annual incomes, has been sent
parents of each child in the
system. Using the table, the
ocal principals and lunchroom
supervisors will decide on the
eligibility fo the child, he added.
If a parent is dissatisfied
with the ruling as to whether his
child is eligible or not to receive
lunch free or at a reduced cost,
he may request a hearing to
appeal the decision, Jordan
said. He noted that a
ticket system of some sort will
probably be installed so that
there will be no discrimination
and no way for any of the
children to know who paid the
Full price for his lunch ticket,
who paid a reduced price or who
Jot a ticket free.
Canvass Sets Official Vote Returns
The official canvass of t
votes cast in Cherokee Coui
in last week's general electi
was made on Thursday and
major changes were seen.
Candidates of both parti*
winners and losers, we
present in the courtroom as t
Board of Elections began t
long process of reviewing t
vote-counting procedure a
adding in a few absentee balk
and correcting errors made
the tally on Tuesday night.
The totals were approv
ed sent in to the state Board
Elections in Raleigh after t
canvass was completed
Thursday night about 7 o'cloc
The official figures are
follows:
Democratic Congressm;
Roy Taylor beat his GC
challenger Luke Atkinson
Cherokee by a vote of 4228
2905.
Erwin Patton, Democr;
beat W.P. Bradley, Republica
for state representative in th
county by a vote of 3666 to 33f
GOP State Senator Hermi
West Herman West beat D
r*_
Carl Killian in Cherokee by only
eight votes, 3623 to 3615.
The Democratic candidate
for clerk of court, Jimmy
Howse, beat the incumbent Don
Ramsey, 3652 to 3536.
Ed Graves, the Republican
incumbent Register of Deeds,
beat the Democratic candidate,
Mrs. Thelma Crawford, by 95
votes - 3651 to 3556.
Blain Stalcup, Democrat,
was elected sheriff over Charles
White, 3893 to 3344.
In the District I com
missioners' race, the results
were correct as printed last
week. Democrat W.T. Moore
stayed on the board of com
missioners with 1165 votes to
Mauripe West's 982.
In the District 2 race,
Republican Jack Lovingood
beat Ray Sims, 1396 to 1095.
In the District 3 race,
Republican Jack Simonds saw
an increase in the slim lead he
had held over Democrat Fred
Sneed when the votes were first
counted Tuesday night. The
final figure saw Simonds the
winner, 1307 to 1221.
? l*
Roy Stalcup, Democrat,
beat John Donley for county
surveyor, 3721 to 3398. J.B. Hall,
Democrat, beat Ralph Rayfield
for coroner, 3896 to 3233.
The final figure for voters
favoring the jail bond issue was
3803, with 2903 voting against it.
In the school board voting,
Dr. Charles VanGorder with
4423 votes, Dr. W.A. Hoover
with 3574 and the Rev. Robert
Barker, with 3571 were the
winners
J. Doyle Burch polled 2979
votes in the school board race,
Charles Aiken got 2724 and
Johnny Wilson drew 2639 votes.
Brasstown Record'
Was Error In Tally
ino, mere was notning irregular in tne voting last
week at Brasstown precinct - what looked like a "record"
turnout of voters proved to be a counting error.
The Scout published the registration Figures for the 17
county precincts last week along with the unofficial
returns from the general election. Several people noticed
that Brasstown has a total registration of 255 but the
returns printed showed more than 270 votes counted in
several races.
The Cherokee County Board of Elections checked into
the figures and found that an error was made in the tally
at the precinct after the election. The split ballots are
counted, it was explained, and then the straight tickets
are also counted. Then the number of straight tickets
voted for the Democratic side is added to every
Democratic candidate's total and the same is done with
R epublican straight tickets for the Republican side of
the ballot.
The error was that the number of Democrat straight
tickets voted was added, in some races, to both can
didates. The returns, example, showed GOP State Senator
Herman West beating Dr. Carl Killian, the Democrat, in
Brasstown by a vote of 145 to 135. The actual tally, once
the error was corrected, saw Dr. Killian beating West in
that precinct by a vote of 135 to 92.
v^oumy ixepumieans
Vole ?traight...Regardless
Hundreds of Republican
voters in Cherokee County
proved last week in the election
that they will vote a straight
party ticket ? even if nobody is
running on the Republican side
of the ballot.
ice in many cases, feeling that
vote for 29 blank lines was
orthless.
This was demonstrated in
the judges' ballot, on which 29
Democratic candidates were
listed for Superior Court posts.
No Republican candidates were
listed on the right hand side of
the ballot, although there were
lines where write-in candidates
could be entered.
There was a good bit of
snickering, especially by the
Democrats, when the official
canvass was made on Thursday
of last week. For in the returns
from some precincts, a good
number of Republicans had not
written in any names at all but
had marked a straight GOP
vote for the blank right side of
the ballot.
In Andrews North Ward, for
example, 214 straight
Republican votes were
recorded for the empty side of
the judges' ballot. Other
precincts had witnessed the
same thing, it was explained,
but the precinct officials had
thrown out the ballots in that
NOVEMM* 1970
s m i w t r t
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22 23 24 25 26 27 21
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THANKSGIVING
I
SUPER MARKET
TENNESSEE STREET
CPS
Kathy Killian ?
Daughter of Mr. A Mrs.
Jack D. Killian, Kenny
Lovingood ? Oeughter of
Mr. A Mrs. Kenneth
Lovingood, Becky
Haigler ? Daughter of Mr.
A Mrs. BNI Haigler,
Michelle Helton ?
Daughter of Mr. A Mrs.
James Helton, AprR
Ahemathy ? Daughter of
Mr. A Mrs. Unford
Ahemathy.