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The Foothills View
We See It Your Way
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THURS.,MAY20,1982
BOILING SPRINGS, NC
$7.00 Per Year Single Copy 15 Cents
Grassy Pond Pipeline On Hold?
BY TOM RABON
VIEW STAFF
Dale Blanton remembers the
dry summer of 1981.
Blanton, a farmer in the No. 1
Township, saw his crop yield of
soybeans, cotton, and grain
sorghum cut in half because of
drought last summer in
Cleveland County. The well that
supplied water for his cattle also
dried up, and Blanton began haul
ing water in a mobile 1000 gallon
tank for livestock belonging to
him and his lieighbor, Billy Joe
McCraw, whose own farm pond
had dried up.
“I got desperate,” said Mc
Craw, who sustained pasture
damage and had to have his well
dug deeper.
Farmers in No. 1 and other
communities may see some more
dry summers before a proposed
hook-up is begun to the Grassy
Pond water line located in
Cherokee County, South
Carolina.
Last fall about 300 people
solicited taps and paid deposits to
the privately-owned Grassy Pond
Water Company to extend its
water line into the No. 1 Township
in Cleveland County and into the
Stateline community in Ruther
ford County. Now the status of the
proposed extension is unclear due
to:
crossing state lines;
financing by Farmers Home
Administration (FHmA).
People running short of water
solicited the taps last fall in No. 1,
Stateline, Camps Creek, Lavonia,
and Prospect communities. Ac
cording to Mrs. Virginia Scruggs,
who canvassed her own com
munity of Stateline, applicants
paid a deposit fee of $150 for a
residential tap and $300 for a
commercial tap to the Grassy
Pond company.
“They turned to us because
they think they’ll never get any
help from Boiling Springs,”
Smith Wood, former president of
the company, said at the time.
According to Miles Gettys, pre
sent head of the company, the
deposits have been pooled
together and are currently being
held in escrow for the applicants.
Grassy Pond Co. at the time
planned to get approval, from
both North and South Carolina to
extend the pipeline across the
state line and then apply to the
FHmA for a loan to complete the
project.
Apparently the loan application
has not been made.
Don Wilkins, assistant director
of the FHmA in Greenville, S.C.,
said that he met with represen
tatives of the Grassy Pond water
board about a year ago, but as of
May 7 no formal application for a
loan had been submitted.
“Grassy Pond is in the process
of completing preliminary
engineering work,” Wilkins said.
Grassy Pond Co. currently serves
about 700 taps in South Carolina,
and the additional 300 taps in
North Carolina would create one
of the largest rural water
districts in the two states.
The present engineer for ’the
Grassy Pond company, Edgar
Williams, Jr., of Rock Hill S.C.,
says the FHmA loan is the reason
for the uncertainty.
“Most of it (beginning the pro
ject) is a matter of federal finan
cing which has changed a lot in
the last six months,” Williams
said.
If the project is ever com
pleted, it would unique in its size
The North Carolina residents
could either form, their own water
district and purchase water from
Grassy Pond or join the com
pany.
Grassy Pond Water Company
buys its water directly from the
city of Gaffney, S.C. Last sum
mer’s drought caused Lake
Whelchel, the city’s only source
of water, to drop below its normal
level, and the Gaffney Board of
Public Works decided to increase
the flow into the lake this sum
mer by laying a 30-inch pipe from
the Broad River to Lake
Whelchel.
Caps And Gowns
Fire At Bedrock Road
Six trucks from Shanghai
and Boiling Springs Rural
fire departments answered
the call about 8:30 Satur
day morning to this blaze in
a tool shed belonging to
James Hickman on
Bedrock Road. Firechief
Dennis Hamrick of the
Shanghai department said
both the shed and the tools
inside were destroyed, for
a total loss of approximate
ly $1000. The Shanghai
department with an assist
from Boiling Springs put
out the fire in about ten
minutes. Cause of the blaze
is still under investigation,
Hamrick said.
City fire reported a quiet
week with one grass fire
May 11 extinguished, at
South Main.
Boiling Springs city
police reported the
recovery May 17 of an air
conditioner reported stolen
from G.T. McSwain’s store
after a repairman working
on the appliance called
police.
Officer James Clary
questioned a Boiling
Springs resident who had
At The Crossroads
Barbara Dover called to
remind townspeople of two
conservation meetings.
The first regular meeting
of the new Cleveland Coun
ty area Sierra Club will be
held-May 25, she said, at
7:30 p.m. upstairs at the
Cleveland County
Historical Museum. This
Thursday, May 20, the
Cleveland League of Con
servation (CLOC) will
meet at John Knox
Presbyterian Church at
7:30 p.m. for a program on
the new South Mountain
State Park.
devote class time May 19-21
to help the American Heart
Association find out what
students know about car
diovascular disease and its
prevention. The students
will take a test designed to
let the Association know
what it needs to tell the kids
to avoid heart trouble as
adults.
brought the conditioner in
for repair
No charges were filed.
“There is nothing quite like the charged atmosphere of a small col
lege on commencement day,” college president Dr. Craven
Williams told 270 candidates awaiting associate, bachelor, and
master degrees Saturday at Gardner-Webb College.
This is the first time that graduate degrees have been awarded by
the college, and the first deaf students received bachelor degrees.
Dr. Williams, above right, is pictured with Dr. Ben Fisher, former
executive director of the Education Conimission of the Southern
Baptist Convention.
Bob Blackburn wants to
remind students about car
diovascular health and
treatment. Bob tells us that
Cleveland County school
teachers and students will
Did you ever play a
prank as a child? Ruther
ford County native and
humorist Jim Henson re
counts on our “Commen
tary” page how a country
prank involving a lighted
beesmoker and some water
poured between the floor
cracks created an episode
that at least two of the
three participants are will
ing to remember.
Kathleen Hunt. called to
let us know that although
the Flint Hills Chapter of
the Daughters of the
American Revolution held
their last meeting for this
spring and summer, plans
are already underway for
the DAR’s celebrated quilt
making.
Mrs. Joe Kendrick
distributed quilt squares to
members at the May 11
meeting for the Cathedral
Window Quilt to be made
by the chapter for its an-
sell-a-thon this fall.
Also at the Tuesday night
meeting at the fellowship
hall of Boiling Springs
United Methodist, Miss
Betty Hamrick, chaplain,
conducted an installation
service for one new
member, Mrs. Angelia
Griffin Goode.
Mrs. Robert Sweezy,
regent, presided over the
meeting, and Mrs. James
L. Padgett gave an account
of the 82nd state conference
held in Pinehurst March 9-
11.
Treasurer’s report was
given by Mrs. Brooks
Piercy.
Hostesses for the
meeting were Mrs. Ken
drick, Mrs. Nancy Griffin
Mrs. Austin Anthony, and
Mrs. Goode.
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