FOR BEST RESULTS
advertiser* invariably use the col
umns o t the Democrat. With Its full
paid circulation, intensely covering
the local shopping area, it is the
beat advertising medium available.
EMO
An Independent Weekly Newspaper . . . Seventy-Fifth Year of Continuous Publication 1
BOONE WKA1
1083 Hi L? prec. VI Hi Lo
Dec. 11
Dec. 12
Dec. 13
Dec. l|l
Dec. 15 42
Dec. 16 41
22
8
18
22
7
8
-7
11
8
33
Dec. 17 34 42
VOLUME LXXVw? NO. 25
i VV
. ..
BOONE, WATAUGA COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1M2
i
6 CENTS
20 PAGES? 3 SECTIONS
MISS WATAUGA CUTS RIBBON.? Miss Pat Pittman, an
ASTC co-ed who currently reigns as the county beauty
queen, cuts the ribbon which officially opens the Blowing
Rock Ski Lodge at ceremonies Saturday. The lodge itself
is in the background. Several hundred persons attended
the opening. ? Photo by Flowers.
BOOm POSTOFFICF. HUMS THESE BVSY DAYS
Mailmen Hard Pushed To Serve 1 3,000
Democrat Out Early
The Christmas week edition of the Watauga
Democrat is scheduled to come from the press Fri
day of this week rather than at the usual time, which
would have been the day after Christmas.
In this way the Democrat staff will be able to
spend Monday and Tuesday with their families. At
the same time it will provide another useful edition
before Christmas which will likely contain mostly
greeting advertisements.
The Democrat office will be closed Monday
and Tuesday.
Those who have not already placed orders for
Christmas greeting ads for this special edition, and
who haven't been solicited should call the Democrat
at once. Likewise news or other contributions
should be in the Democrat office almost immediately
to insure insertion in this week end edition.
A.M. Critcher
Dies Saturday
Anson Mitchell Critcher, 03,
of Blowing Rock, died in
Broughton hospital, Morganton,
at 2:30 a. m. Saturday follow
ing a lingering illness.
Mr. Critaber, a retired carp
enter, was born in Watauga
county June 9, 1869 ? during the
administration of President
Ulysses S. Grant. His birth fol
lowed the Alaska Purchase by
two years.
A few months after Mr. Crit
cher's birth came the Financial
"Black Friday" in New York;
caused by the gold corner. Just
prior to his birth, the golden
spike was driven at Promontory,
Utah, marking the junction of
Central Pacific and Union Pa
cific and completing the rail
way to the coast. Later the
same year a woman's suffrage
law was passed in the territory
of Wyoming. Also in 1869, Me
morial Day was first officially
observed.
Mr. Critcher wr.s a son of
Guilford and Rebecca Satter
white Critcher. His wife, Mrs.
Laura Howell Critcher, died
(Continued on page six)
Court House To
Have Holidays
The County Courthouse will
be closed Monday and Tuesday,
December 24 and 29, according
to Robert Shore, Jr., tax sup
ervisor.
The public offices will re
open Wednesday morning.
MISS CHARLOTTE PRESLEY
New Nurse
At Hospital
Miss Charlotte Presley, a
Registered Nurse Anesthetist,
came to work at Watauga Hospi
tal in November of this year.
A former resident of Charlotte,
she graduated from O'Doooghue
High School in 1953 and receiv
ed her nurses training at Mercy
Hospital in Charlotte. After
completing her nurses training
in 1956, she was employed at
the Nalle Cline. In 1900, Ml as
Presley entered the North Car
olina Baptist Hospital School
of Anesthesia In Winston
Salem, and completed the
course in October 1962. Miss
Presley resides at the Watauga
Hospital Nurses Home, and at
tend* St Elizabeth'* Catholic
Orach.
By DALE GADDY
The little toe-headed boy
stood on tip-toe and inched his
innocent blue eyes above the
counter top. Peering beyon&the,
barred window he called, "Gi'me
this many four cent stamps,
please."
As his eyes focused on an
approaching figure be unfolded
his chubby hand and dropped
several coins on the stainless
steel counter. The man inside
the cage chuckled with the
warmth of a Santa Claus as he
winked at the small tot. Seconds
The Boone post office will
be open all day Saturday for
the receiving of mall and the
purchasing of stamps, accord
ing to Postmaster Ralph Be
shears.
Mr. Beshears added that
Christmas cards being sent
any great distance should go
via air mail to insure delivery
before the 25th.
later, the man handed several
stamps to the youngster who
replied in an apparently well
rehearsed manner, "Thank you,
sir."
The wee Wataugan moved
through the post office foyer,
pressed against one of the
heavy front doors, and skipped
out of sight.
Inside the cage the yet-smil
ing man said, "He's one of ap
proximately 13,000 patrons we
have at the Boone post office."
The speaker slid the stamp
drawer back into its cavity,
turned, and walked to his carp
eted office.
Sitting in a leather covered
(Continued on page 1, sec. C)
Burley W arehouses
Set Closing Dates
Tobacco sales this week at
Big Burley Warehouse in
Boone netted 209,146 pounds
at $57.41 per hundred for ?
total of $130,083.68, accord
ing to warehouse officials.
Big Barley's last sale of
the month will be Thursday,
December 20. The warehouse
will re-open for a sale on
January 8.
Figures for the week Just
past were not made available
in detailed form by Mountain
Burley Warehouses although
officials did report a running
total of 3,450,138 pounds of
tobacco sold since the market
opened a few weeks ago.
Mountain Burley has paid out
a total of $2,117,106.98 during
the sale*.
The latter Market will close
December 21 and will re-open
Seal Sales Reach
52 Percent Goal
? - m ? ? .? %u> +
During the accounting period
of last week the Christmas Seal
Campaign showed Watauga
County as having reached 52%
of its 1962 goal, according to
Grady Moretz, Jr., Seal Chair
man for the Watauga Tubercu
losis Association.
Mr. Moretz and the Board of
Directors of the Tuberculosis
Association are highly pleased
with the response so far to the
Christmas Seal Letters. Those
who have been busy with holi
day doings and failed to answer
their seal letters are urged to
take a moment now for their
participation in this worthwhile
program. The next reporting
and accounting period for seal
contributions will be early in
January.
Reminders have been mailed
to those "busy people" who
have not found time to answer
their seal letters. Mr. Moretz
points out that if the original
reply envelope has been mis
placed by anyone, just any
envelope, with your name and
address, would bring your
Christmas Seal contribution
when addressed to the Wa
tauga Tuberculosis Association,
Boone.
BlowingRockSki
Has Week End Opening
I.
2 Thousand
i
Gather For
Activities
The Blowing Rock Ski Lodge
officially opened its first full
season of winter sports Satur
day, and swarms of skiers con
verged on the three slopes af
ter pretty Pat Pitman, "Miss
Watauga County" cut the rib
bon to start the new resort
activity. *
Sunday long lines of auto
mobiles ascended Ski Moun
tain, In almost bumper-to
bumper fashion to bring win
ter tports enthusiasts to the
new playground, and large
numbers of spectators gather
ed to fill the lodge and have
their first look at the popular
winter time sport. Large
numbers of skiers were on the
slopes throughout the after
noon, and the people came
from widely diverse sections
of the country.
Those present for the opening
ceremony included state and
local government officials; of
ficers and directors of . the
Santa Claus
Will Appear
Ai Ski Slope
Santa Clans U going to
make a special appearance at
the Blowing Rock Ski Lodge
December 25th at 1 o'clock,
President N. E. .Thalhelmer
announced Monday afternoon.
The Jolly old elf with the
snowy beard will don the slip
pery slivers and go plummet
ing down the main ski slope
Christmas afternoon to the
delight of the youngsters and
others.
Mr. Thalheimer points out
that everyone is Invited, but
that a spectator charge will
be in effect.
young corporation; press, radio
and television representatives
from over the Southeast, and
several hundred spectators, in
cluding veteran skiers and
many others attracted to the
sport for the first time by the
new resort.
About three feet of snow, pro
vided both by nature and by
the resort's modern snow mak
ing machinery, covered the
slopes which were hewn out of
a barren mountainside.
At a dinner Saturday night
M. E. (Bill) Thalheimer,
president of the corporation,
told officials and ? t h e r
guests: "The advent of winter
(Continued on page six)
SKI INSTRUCTORS PAUSE FOR A POSE DURING SATURDAY'S OPENING CEREMONIES
AT THE BLOWING ROCK SKI LODGE? Flowers photo.
ASC Personnel Setting Up
F eed, Grain Bases For F arms
Local Agricultural Stabiliza
tion and Conservation Service
personnel are presently in the
process of setting up feed grain
bases and productivity indexes
on all Watauga county farms
with a 1959-60 history of at least
one acre average, according to
Roy W. Isley, ASCS county off
ice manager.
The ASC community* commit
teemen review the history of
planted acreage and set a farm
base and also recommend a pre
liminary index for each farm
in their respective community.
After all indexes have been
set in a community the county
Yule Closing
Hours Given
The Merchants Association
and Chamber of Commerce re
commend their members ob
serve December 25 and 26 as
Christmas holidays and only
January 1 for the New Year,
according to CO president Her
man Wilcox.
A survey, Wilcox says, shows
that most of the retail stores ?
with the exception of the hard
ware and grocery stores ? will
remain closed both days, Dec
ember 25 and 26.
Automobile dealers indicate
that they will close on noon
Monday, December 24 and will
re-open on Wednesday the 26th.
FIRST TAG.? Boone's first city automobile
tags went on sale Monday at CM? Hall Here,
Chief of Police Hubert Thomas assists the
initial customer, David Spainhour, wit* the
plate. Thomas states that ft* Up, mao
datory for all persons living within Uta town
limit* more than 14 days out of the year,
will be on aale until February 15. The
yellow-on-black tags Mil for one dollar each;
1,000 ww? on hand Monday? ?aff photo.
committee will review and ap
prove bases and indexes on each
farm in the county. The total
base acreage cannot exceed the
program acreage of 3007 acres
a* set by the Agricultural Mark
etin^ Service, Mr. Isley said.
The average yield of all farms
oa corn has been set at 01.7
bushels for the county and the
total index for the county must
fall within very close tolerance
to this average. '
The Secretary of Agriculture
announced a special provision
for "small farms" that divert
acreage under the 1963 feed
grain program. These small
farms (farms with a total base
of less than 20 acres) can di
vert their entire acreage and
get a payment on the entire
acreage btxed on 90 percent of
'the county price support rate.
It was originally announced that
these farmers. would get a pay
( Continued on page.aix)
Trailer, With
Chemicals,
Burns On 421
North Wilkesboro. ? The trail
er of a tractor-trailer rig loaded
with Inflammable chemicals was
consumed Friday by fire in an
accident along U. S. 421 east
of Boone.
Bay McDaniel of Bobbins,
who had just driven down a
series of mountain roads from
the Tennessee line, escaped in
jury. He said the fire apparent
ly started from faulty rear
brakes.
McDaniel stopped the rig
when he first smelled smoke,
attempted ot put out the fire
with a portable extinguisher,
(Continued on page six)
Bank Plans
Proceeding
Plans ire proceeding toward
ti>? opening of the first Nation
al Bank of Boone, it was learn
ed the first of the week, and
stock in the enterprise is now
being offered to the public.
Mr. G. R. Andrews will be
the acting agent for the Bank,
and it is explained that all
funds from the sale of stock
will be deposited in the North
Carolina National Bank until
the new bank is in operation.
Stock may be purchased from
either one of the following or
ganizers:
A. J. Williams, E. F. Co?, G.
R. Andrews, agent; Phil H.
Vance, Jr., J. T. Winkler, Tom
Greer, Hack D. Brown.
When the J300,000 authorized
stock is sold, ? board of direc
tors will be named by the stock
holders, it is explained.
The plans of the new bank
are to occupy the former loca
tion of the Boone Trail Restaur
ant, adjoining the Watauga
Savings & Loan Association.
The new bank organizers say
they hope to have the building
remodeled and have the insti
tution in operation within 90
days.
Health Dept.
Closing Set
The Health Department
will be closed the following
date* for the Christmas holi
days, Monday, Tuesday and
Wednesday, December 24, 25,
and 26, and also on Tuesday
January 1, New Years Day.
Governor Names Putnam
? Lk fl*- * . - ' ? . t ? . , ; . . v'r - ; > .a Sv &
To Textbook Commission
Miss Charles Elizabeth Put
nam, first grade teacher at the
Boone Elementary School, was
recently sworn in by Governor
Terry San/ord as a member of
the North Carolina Textbook
Commission.
Her appointment is for three
year*.
The commission is composed
of teachers, principals, super
visors, and superintendents.
Miss Putnam will assist in re
viewing snd evaluating text
books for adoption by the State
within the next three years.
A native of Cleveland county,
Miss Putnam is a graduate of
Appalachian College and George
Peabody College. She ha* been
associated with the Boone Ele
mentary School since 1932 and
is a member of the ASTC Edu
cation Department.
When sworn in at Raleigh,
Gov. Sanford made the follow
ing remarks: "The last Text
book Commission had to read
so many books that they almost
ended up blind and with a cane."
Miss Putnam said that the f
first thing that she did upon
returning from Raleigh was to
buy a good pair of glasses.
: Dr. W. H. Plemmons, {(resi
dent of Appalachian, had book
cases built in Miss Putnam's
study at school to hold the many
books she will be reveiwiog dur
ing the next three yarn.