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u The Cherokee Scout
,c, ? ? and Clay County Progress
15* Per Copy
TWO SECTIONS Volume 79 ? Number 34 - Murphy, North Carolina, 28906 - Second Class Postage Paid At Murphy, North Carolina ? Thursday, April 8, 1971
hoard Wrestles With Welfare Budget
Long-Range Plan OK'd
By Wally Avett
Staff Writer
The Cherokee County
commissioners approved a
long-range plan for water-sewer
lines in the Andrews-Murphy
valley and okayed part of the
welfare budget for the coming
year in a busy session on
Monday.
The State Planning Task
Force of North Carolina, aided
by an Appalachian grant,
prepared the study on the
Andrews-Murphy valley. A
preliminary version of the
report was shown the
commissioners in January of
1970 and they approved it then.
Ned Tucker, field
coordinator for the
Southwestern Planning and
Development Commission,
headquartered in Sylva, came
Monday to present the
commissioners with the
final published version of the
plan. At his suggestion, they
formally approved it and sent
copies of their resolution of
approval to the proper
agencies.
Basically, the plan calls for
laying water and sewer lines
from Andrews to Murphy over
the next 30 years, the estimated
cost of the systems to be about
$10.5million. The two towns and
the valley between them would
be supplied with water by a
reservoir on Junaluska Creek
and the valley sewage system
would end at a treatment plant
at Murphy. Both systems would
run by gravity.
"In my opinion, C herokee
County has the most valuable
pix* of real estate in North
Carolina," Tucker said. He said
the valley is well-suited for
industrial development and
could accomodate industry
which would provide 5,000 jobs.
He voiced a fear that if
development of the valley is not
guided, it may be taken over by
"high-priced promoters."
Tucker advised the
commissioners that after
approving the water-sewer
plan, they should contact the
Conservation and Development
Department in Raleigh and set
aside an industrial park in the
county for location of plants in
the future.
V.O. Ayers, who heads the
county Social Services
Department, formerly Welfare,
brought in his budget for the
coming county fiscal year,
which begins July 1. The
commissioners said other
county departments will have
until May 15 to present their
budgets.
The focal point of the Social
Services budget is the Medicaid
section, which like other Social
Services functions is funded by
the federal, state and county
governments, the federal
government paying the largest
part.
Last year the county's
share of Medicaid was set at
$36,640 but that was not enough
as poor people availed
themselves of free medical
services, free dental work,
eyeglasses and drugs under
the new Medicaid program.
With Medicaid running beyond
its budget, the commissioners
approved transfer of funds from
other welfare accounts which
were running below the
expected level. Ayers reported
that through March, the county
has spent $44,361 on Medicaid.
He proposed that the
county's share of Medicaid for
the coming fiscal year be set in
the budget at $72,380 and the
commissioners balked at that
increase. There is much talk in
Raleigh and the General
Assembly, they said, of the
state taking over the Social
Services system, relieving the
counties. The commissioners
deferred any action on the
Medicaid budget until their
regular May meeting,
hoping for some sort of
relief from the Legislature.
They did approve the public
assistance section of the Social
Services budget, which is aid to
the aged, aid to the disabled and
aid to dependent children. The
aid to the blind budget was also
approved.
There was a slight increase
in the county's share of the aid
to the blind program, Ayerssaid,
because the number of blind
people receiving assistance has
increased from 28 to 37. The
other aid programs' budget was
also increased, Ayers pointing
out that the county's share has
been upped in that category
from 12 percent to about 13.5
percent.
The commissioners also
approved a pay raise for
employes of the Social Services
Department, who are paid from
federal, state and county
monies. Ayers asked for a five
percent raise, saying they
needed the extra money to
remain competitive with other
jobs requiring similar
educational standards.
The Cherokee
commissioners went along with
the request, saying they feared
the state and federal part of the
county's welfare monies might
be cut if they refused. Ayers
said after the meeting that the
10 employes in his department
come under the jurisdiction of
the State Personnel Act and
indicated that the
commissioners' fears were
justified, that the pay plan is a
prerequisite in getting state and
federal money.
The county's share of the
administrative cost of his
department will increase this
year to $32,694 from last year's
$27,617 but Ayers emphasized
that the increase is not all due to
the pay rata- ,
The state of North
Carolina in years past has paid
20 percent of the administrative
costs of his department
(salaries, office expenses, etc.)
according to Ayers, but this
year has cut that figure back to
15.6 percent and the county has
had to pick up most of the
slack.
He said if the state had
continued to pay 20 percent of
the costs, the increase due to the
pay raise would have been only
about $1,000.
In other action, the
commissioners:
- Named Commissioner
Jack Lovingood to represent
them on the Resource
Conservation and Development
steering committee.
- Accepted the telephoned
resignation of Joe El-Khouri
from the Cherokee County
Rural Development Authority
and named Jack Phillips to take
his place.
. Voted to advertise
delinquent taxes in June and
hold the tax sale the first
Tuesday in July.
i Mr. and Mrs. Jim Roberts and children boat dock operators
New Family Arrives
To Operate Boat Dock
An Asheville family moved
to the Grape Creek section of
Cherokee County last week as
the new operator's of what was
formerly known as Elmo's Boat
Dock.
Mr. and Mrs. Jim Roberts
and their three children say
they're "here to stay." They
will be living at the lodge at the
boat landing.
They have purchased the
facilities from Mrs. Jo Taylor,
widow of the late Elmer Taylor,
who operated the dock for
several years before his death
in a speedboat accident. They
are in the process of making an
application to the U.S. Forest
Service, which controls
Hiwassee lakeside lands, for a
10-year use permit to operate-,
the dock.
Koberts, who is leaving a
position as quality control
manager (or the Ball Corp. in
Asheville, says he has been
fishing on Hiwassee Lake for a
number of years and likes this
area, having recently
purchased land in the Grape
Creek section for a cabin.
He says he hopes to open
"as soon as possible," offering
bait, gas, boats and motors for
rent and storage for boats of all
types.
"This year we'll probably
have to tie boats to cables and
leave them in the open," he
said, adding that the deadline
for removing all barrels and
replacing them with other
methods of flotation is the first
of 1972.
The dock's three boat slips,
which float largely on barrells,
are in a dilapidated condition,
he said, and will probably have
to be replaced entirely.
Easter Services
Planned In Clay
A countywide Easter
Sunrise Service will be held at
Hinton Rural Life Center
Sunday beginning at 6 a.m. The
Rev. P.H. McCarn, state
supervisor of the Church of God
of Charlotte, will be the
speaker. Special mugif is
planned..
On Thursday night April 8,
a Communion service will be
held at the Hayesville First
United Methodist Church
beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Cherokee Gets Ranger
Harold L. Coleman has
come back home to Murphy as
the new Cherokee County forest
ranger.
"This is the happiest
occasion of my life," Coleman
said Tuesday. "It's one I've
1 longed for. I'm happy to be back
in Murphy and meeting old
friends again."
A native of Cherokee
County, Coleman is the son of
Mr. and Mrs. Bailey Coleman of
Route 3. He replaces Harold
Hatchett, who retired from the
ranger's post March 1.
Coleman's father, an employe
of the U.S. Forest Service, and
Hatchett have been friends for a
number of years and the new
ranger revealed Tuesday that
when he was born, he was
named for the man he is
replacing.
Coleman graduated from
Mwphy High School in 1957 and
In 1961 graduated from a forest
ranger's course at the
University of Florida. He was
as the ranger of Lee
Sanford In 1964, a Job
hi tea held since then.
He is married to the former
Sylvia Ligertwood of Biddeford,
Maine, and they will be living on
Route 3, Murphy.
Clell Head served as acting
ranger during the month of
March.
Harold L. Coleman
Sales Tax
Vote Set
Cherokee County voters will go to the
polls on Saturday, May 22 to vote on the
proposed county local one percent sales tax.
Dean Pullium, chairman of the Cherokee
County Board of Elections, announced the
election this week, the polls to be open in the
usual places from 6:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m.
Pullium noted that no absentee ballots \yill be
allowed in this election.
Cherokee County commissioners have
called for the special election and will go to the
people in a series of public meetings to explain
the need for the tax. The local sales tax was
defeated in Cherokee in 1969 by a vote of 950 to
697.
The commissioners Monday found a
strong ally as Gene Farmer, president of the
Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce, told
them that the Chamber's directors had voted
in their last meeting to support the sales tax
and work for its passage.
"We realize we need it and we'll work with
you in any way we can to help," Farmer told
the commissioners.
The commissioners discussed meetings
planned foe. various communities around the
county, which will be announced later, and
Farmer said Chamber directors will be happy
to participate in these sessions.
School Pupils Join Campaign
Pupils at Murphy Elementary joined in the
clean-up and beautification movement now
sweeping the area this week. Mrs. Talitha
Goodwin's class, top. chose as a class project the
Murphy Garden Club's picnic area and went to
work picking up litter there. Mrs. Eric Townson's
class was busy in the rocky soil of the school t
playground, the boys planting vegetables and the'
girls planting flowers. . -
Clean-Up, Beautification Drives
Beginning Across Cherokee, Clay
Spring cleaning is a
customary exercise in many
homes and this week it spread
to the communities at large as
various groups began their
campaigns.
In Murphy, Mayor Cloe
Moore has declared litter an
eyesore that discourages new
business and new residents and
proclaimed the third week in
April as Extra Effort Days,
calling upon all citizens to keep
the town free of litter.
The Murphy Garden
Club is staging its annual clean
up and anti-litter drive for the
third week of April.
Mrs. Holland McSwain is
litterbug chairman and she and
her committee are formulating
plans to make a clean-sweep
of Murphy. Details will be
announced at a later date but in
Primary
Set At
Andrews
Andrews will hold a
Democratic primary next
Tuesday in connection with its
town election, set for May 4.
The deadline for filing for
mayor or one of the four council
seats passed by Tuesday with
no Republicans at all filing.
Ty Burnette, Democrat, is
unopposed for the ottice ot
mayor.
The four Democratic
councilmen, Leo Hurst, Paul
Parker, Ray Hogsed and John
Raxter, have all filed for re
jection and are faced with four
:hallengers- Democrats DeWitt
Sharpe, Roy Williams, Sam
Ward and Gordon Phillips.
Mrs. Zora Bryson, town
jerk, said all voting will be at
the Town Hall next Tuesday,
from 6:30 a.m. until 6:30 p.m.
rhe top four vote-getters will
then be the Democratic
candidates in the general
election.
The general election is
required by law, Mrs. Brvson
said, regardless of the fact that
there will be no printed
opposition on the ballot for the
Democratic canddiates.
the meantime they are asking
all citizens to begin to collect
trash and other unsightly
articles from their houses and
yards. Trucks are scheduled to
pick up trash on Thursday,
April 22.
Other members of the
Litterbug Committee are Mrs.
Francis Bourne, Jr., co
chairman; Mrs. Eric Townson;
Mrs. Frank Forsyth, Mrs. Hans
Beerkens, Mrs. Dan Lamb, and
Mrs. Walter Mauney.
At Brasstown, the 4-H Club
began a clean-up drive on
Monday of this week, with cash
prizes to be awarded on April 24
to the top four trash collectors
in the club. Mrs. Barry Wheeler
said the money prizes will go to
the biggest collectors of bottles,
cans and non-burnable items.
The collected trash will be
taken to the dump at
Hayesville, she said, and the 4
H'ers will have it bagged up.
However, volunteer labor and
trucks are needed to make the
haul anyone wishing to help
on that Saturday, April 24,
should call Mrs. Barry Wheeler.
At Hayesville, an
enthusiastic group met at
Hayesville School auditorium
last Friday night to make plans
for the annual clean-up
sponsored by the Clay County
Lions Gub. That drive, now
under way, got a big boost this
week as it developed that Sam
Cox's junkyard is being cleared
of old car bodies and the
operation can handle any old
cars that are delivered to the
yard.
Cox said the operation began
Monday and the crusher will
accomodate any old car bodies
which are brought in, but he
requested that whole bodies, not
just parts, be delivered at the
yard, located about a mile west
of Hayesville. The offer is good,
he added, only while the
crusher is stationed at his
junkyard.
At the Friday night meeting
in Hayesville, Carl Moses
reported that die Clay County
Rescue Squad will be glad to
assist in burning down old
unsightly buildings but should
be given a few days' notice.
Mrs. Edgar Price, heading
the beautification committee of
the Homemakers Club, said
members of the club plan to
plant and cultivate flowers on
the Courthouse lawn in
Hayesville this Summer, and
will encourage planting of
dogwoods and painting of
mailboxes throughout the
county.
Bill Bradley was
commended at the meeting for
furnishing a truck being used by
Operation Mainstream workers
cleaning up town and county
property around Hayesville.
Those at the meeting also
agreed to write to Reynolds
Aluminum Co. on the possibility
of collecting aluminum beer
cans for re<ycling the metal in
them.
APRIL 1971
S M T w T I S
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LEFT TO RIGHT
KAREN RUTH MOORE
?Mr.&Mrs. Ferd Moore
ANGELA LEIGH HENORIX
?Mr.&Mrs. Jim Mendrix
TAMARA LYNN BARTON
?Mrs. Mary Frances Hughes
MARGARET LYNN HALL
?Mr.&Mrs. John Burton Hall
^ FASHIONS FOmTHE FAMILY
COLLINS-CHAIN DSP'
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