Ahead In Carolina
The Democrat led all N. C. weeklies
in 1965 Press Assn, contests. It
won first place in General Ex
cellence, Excellence In Typography,
Local News Coverage, Want Ads,
and Second in Display Advertising.
WATAUGA DEMOCRAT
An Independent Weekly Newspaper . . . Seventy-Ninth Year of Continuous Publication
itws,
Sept 27 71 56 .06
Sept 28 89 58
Sept 29 83 58 .11
Sept 90 73 53 .07
Oct 1 58 80 M
Oct 2 56 34
Oct 3 50 ?!
VOLUME LXXIX— NO. 14
BOONE, WATAUGA COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6. 1966
10 CENTS PER COPY 22 PAGES—TWO SECTIONS
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SURVEYING THE FALL COLOR—The season for standing in
awe to gaze at the beauty of the Autumn foliage is at hand in
the North Carolina mountains. This couple and their dog are
enjoying the distant profile of Grandfather Mountain from the
terminus of an Avery County road called Sugar Mountain No. 2.
rhe colorful leaves will be at their best for the rest of Oc
tober.—Hugh Morton photo.
Autumn Is Showing Her Colors
Autumn color is beginning
to show along the crest of
the Blue Ridge. Dogwood,
sourwood. black gum. sumac
and Virginia creeper have
turned a deep red. The poplars
and birches are radiant in
their pale yellows, and the
scarlet of the maples makes
bright splotches in the for
ests.
Superintendent Sam P.
Weems says color is advancing
rapidly along the Parkway and
he expects the colorama to
peak even a little before the
middle of October.
Parkway rangers report that
in Moses Cone Memorial Park
near Blowing Rock fall foliage
has been conspicious for sev
eral days and the height of
color in that area should be
reached, they say. during the
current week. At elevations
lower than Cone Park’s 4,000
feet, color is spotty, Weems
said, and is a week or more
from peak color. He added that
from now on until late Oc
tober good color areas can be
found at some points along
the 469 mile Parkway.
It is pointed out that aut
umn foliage is fragile and
once leaves have turned, a
heavy wind or rain will bring
them down in a hurry.
Democrats Hear Bingham,
Valentine At Dinner Rally
“In every section of the dis
trict we have organizations
ready to roll at full blast for
the next six weeks.
“I predict here again, when
the morning of Nov. 9 rolls
around, there are going to be
a lot of surprised faces—in
cluding my opponent’s: The
Ninth District will have elect
ed a Democratic Congress
man.”
Boone Congressional candi
date Robert Bingham address
ed a crowd of 300 in the Wa
tauga High School auditorium
Saturday night. County candi
dates joined Bingham and
State Democratic Chairman I.
T. Valentine for a dinner rally
leading up to the November
elections.
Bingham told the group he
traveled 25,000 miles on his
trip to Vietnam, “plus 25,000
miles in the District, for a to
tal of 8,000 miles per week in
six months.
“We are going to win,” he
declared, “because there are
people in this district like you
who are giving us their hands
and their hearts, and to me,
this is much more important
than a greased machine paid
for by high-priced furniture.
Thick And Thin
Bingham said he is “proud
to be a Democrat, and I en
thusiastically support the
Democrat Party—from Presi
dent Lyndon Baines Johnson
Retires From Postal Service
Mrs. Pearl E. Eller has retired from the United States Postal
Service after 22 years as Postmistress of the Tamarack Post
Office. Having served the area for 30 years, the Tamarack
station was disconinued in June. Mrs. Eller also maintained
a store at the Post Office. She is married (Mr. Eller’s occupa
tion is farming) and has a son, Edgar E. Eller of Tamarack.
Her son Is a car dealer and her daughter-in-law is employed
by a MounUin City, Tenn., bank. Mrs. Eller enjoys gardening
and does all her household canning and freezing. She is teacher
of the junior Sunday School class at Elk Knob Baptist Church
(Staff photo)
down to every precinct work
er and voter.
“I say if we can’t stay with
the Democratic Party when
things are a little rough, I
question whether we deserve
to be with the Democratic
Party through thick and thin.”
Bingham said one of the
problems of the Democrats
now is inflation, ‘‘But the Re
publicans are trying to make
a lot of political hay out of
that issue—They’re inflating
the inflation issue.”
He said the other side of
the coin is higher business
profits, higher wages, and a
higher standard of living.
Since the Democrats took over
in 1961, he noted no recessions
have occurred.
Bingham assailed Broyhill’s
voting record, saying he voted
“no” against area education
programs, anti-poverty pro
grams and the Appalachian
Program, “designed to provide
much needed new roads in our
part of the district.” Bingham
ridiculed Broyhill’s “giving
away large quantities of cook
books and sugar scoops,” and
stated that ”201 times out 228
in four years, Broyhill has
voted with the Republican
Party. He campaigns that it’s
the man,” the candidate charg
eded, “not the party. But it is
the party, not the man, and
the Democratic Party is the
party of the working man.
Bingham congratulated
James Dugger, County Chair
man, for the organization of
(Continued on page six)
Charlotte Girl
Dies In Crash
A Lees-McRae College co-ed
died Friday night after the
car in which she was a passen
ger went out of control and
left the highway just north of
Blowing Rock.
Patrolman Gary L. Morgan
said Miss Kathryn McSween
Brunson age 18, of Charlotte
was thrown from a 1966 Ply
mouth operated by James H.
Cupit, III, 20, of Rosemont,
Pa. The vehicle was owned by
Louis Siegal, Annandale, Va.,
whose son, Barnie Siegal, 19,
a sophomore at Lees-McRae.
was a passenger in the car.
Morgan reported.
The third passenger was
Miss Jaqueline Brown, 18, ot
Annandale, he said.
The accident occurred at
9:30 p.m. Friday, one and
three-tenths miles north of
Blowing Rock on Highway 321
Morgan said the car was travel
ing at a high rate of speed,
and the driver lost control ol
the vehicle in a curve to the
left; the car ran off the right
shoulder, struck a bank, veer
ed into a metal guard rail and
traveled a total of 300 feet be
fore coming to a stop
The Patrolman estimated
the vehicle overturned two
and a half times.
All were thrown out of the
vehicle except the driver.
Miss Brunson’s body was
found in a creek, 76 feet from
the car, he said. The Watauga
Rescue Unit searched the area
for an hour before the body
was found. Miss Brunson’s
home was on Route 6, Char
lotte.
3,000 Old Grads To Come
Spicy Program Planned
F or Homecoming Event
Festivities
Will Begin
Friday, 14th
A weekend of fellowship
and fun, spiced by numerous
activities for alumni and stu
dents, is scheduled for the an
nual Homecoming celebration
at Appalachian State Teach
ers College Oct. 14-16.
Approximately 3,000 former
students are expecterd to con
verge upon the ASTC campus
to join the 4,200 current stu
dents for participation in the
various events, according to
Robert Snead, director of
alumni affairs of the college.
The homecoming festivities
will be launched at 6 p. m.
Friday, Oct. 14, with a pep
rally and bonfire on the park
ing lot of Conrad Stadium.
The annual Kickoff banquet
featuring entertainment and
social activities for alumni
will follow the pep rally. The
chairmen for this event are
Mr. and Mrs. Mark Hodges.
Also on Friday night, a
“sock hop” for students is
slated for Broome-Kirk Gym,
with music to be furnished by
the Magnificents.
A gala parade, under the di
rection of Parade Marshall
Harold Tuner, will be staged
at 10:15 a. m. on Saturday,
with the procession marching
through downtown Boone and
across campus.
Alumni registration, set
from 8 a. m. to noon in the
Student Lounge, will be under
the direction of Mrs. A. E.
Hamby Jr. and the college’s
Vernician Society of which
she is chairman.
The Alumni Luncheon will
begin in the college cafeteria
at 11:30 a m. Saturday with
F. P. Bodenheimer Jr., out
going president of the Alumni
Association, presiding over
the installation of new offic
ers. Mrs. Randy Phillips and
Mrs. Ned Trivette are chair
men of arrangements for the
luncheon event.
A packed stadium is expect
ed on Saturday afternoon
when Appalachian’s Mountain
eers clash with the Catawba
Indians at 2 p. m. in an im
portant Carolinas Conference
football contest. It will be the
31st game in the series dating
back to 1929. The homecoming
queen will be crowned at half
A coffee hour for the pur
pose of relaxation and renew
als of acquaintances will be
held in the Student Lounge
immediately after the game
Chairmen for this session are
Mr. and Mrs. Steve Gabriel
and Mrs. Charles Blackburn.
A Touchdown Dance for
alumni will be staged Satur
day night at the Boone Blow
ing Rock Ski Lodge, with Dr.
Roy Blanton and Paul Smith
serving as chairmen of the en
tertainment activities. Stu
dents will gather during the
same hours for the annual
Homecoming Dance at
Broome-Kirk Gym, where the
Dick Wells Orchestra will pro
vide music.
Miss Tina Diamadourous,
(Continued on page six)
IRC To Spend $1,230,000
On Expansion This Fall
Start of a five-year, multi
million-dollar expansion of its
resistor and other electronic
component production facili
ties at Boone was announced
by IRC, Inc., this week.
IRC will spend $1,230,000
on the first phase of the pro
gram this fall, according to
Wilson H. Oelkers, president
of the Philadelphia-based com
pany.
"About half of the initial
appropriation will go for new
equipment and the balance
for a 31,000-square-foot addi
tion to be completed late next
spring,” Oelkers said.
"By 1971,” he continued,
"we expect to more than
double our present employ
ment of about 650 at Boone.”
He added that expansion plans
are tied to market forecasts
which “indicate mounting de
mand for IRC products.”
IRC’s Boone division manu
factures resistors, selenium
rectifiers and diodes and re
sistance specialties.
Craft Presnell (left) talks with Horticulturist
Donald Dunlap at his home in Beech Creek
Community. Dunlap is holding a Rhododen
dron cutting, one of 5.200 Presnell is rooting.
Story on page three. (Staff photo)
Shallcross Speaks At
GOP Fund-Raising Event
One hundred, fifteen per
sons attended a Republican
fund-raising rally at the Cha
let Restaurant Monday night.
Guest speaker was John Shall
cross, candidate for the U. S.
Senate.
Precincts represented at the
meeting were Bald Mountain,
Shawneehaw, Stony Fork, Bea
ver Dam, Elk, Blue Ridge,
Blowing Rock, Cove Creek,
North Fork, Meat Camp 1,
Brushy Fork, Boone and New
River.
Shallcross, a resident of
North Carolina for eight years
and owner of a company
which employs 315 men and
women told his audience that
his opponent, Sen. Everette
Jordan, will run on his record.
“I suggest that he play his
record loud and clear on the
hi-fi set Bobby Baker gave to
LBJ,” Shallcross began. He
said that the “70-year-old”
junior Senator had presided
over the Baker case for one
and a half years, and at the
request of the President,
“swept it under the rug.”
He said his reason for run
ning are Bobby Baker and
the fact that North Carolina
is entitled to better represen
tation in the Senate. Shall
cross said the Senator voted
with LBJ on 5 out of 7 issues,
“and when President Johnson
needs a sure vote, he’s got it.”
Taxes, Integrity
“When American boys are
dying, it is ridiculous that the
most powerful military gov
ernment in the world keeps a
no-win policy ... in an area
roughly the size of the state
Courthouse Bond
Issue Vote Nov. 8
The question of whether
$450,000 in bonds shall be
issued by Watauga County
for the construction of a new
courthouse on the site of the
old one will be submitted to
the voters of the county at
the general election, Nov. 8,
it was decided by the County
Commissioners in regular
session Monday.
The ballots will contain
squares in which the voter
may indicate whether he is
for or against the bond pro
posal.
The registration books for
the general election, it should
be noted, will be opened at
9 a m. Oct. 15 for the regis
tration of new voters. No
general new registration will
be held. The registrars in
each precinct of the county
shall keep the books open at
the usual polling places for
three Saturdays including
the 15th, 22nd and 29th. Sat
urday, Nov. 5, will be ob
served as challenge day, the
election being held the fol
lowing Tuesday.
of Washington.” The candi
date advised bringing the
Southeast Asia conflict to a
speedy conclusion by block
ading the enemy’s supply
ports.
Shallcross referred to 1966
as the ‘‘year of the big tax”
and said that higher social
security taxes, re-application
of the excise tax and deficit
(Continued on page six)
United Fund
Luncheon Set
A United Fund victory
luncheon was set Tuesday
morning at a breakfast meet
ing at the Gateway Restaur
ant.
Campaign Chairman Stanley
Harris and President Wade
Wilmouth spoke to 35 busi
ness people who met to re
ceive pledge cards and enve
lopes.
A report was heard on the
County’s industries. One al
ready has pledged 100 per
cent participation in the cam
paign and the others are at
work on the project
United Fund this year seeks
$16,000 for 23 charitable ag
encies.
United Fund donors and
workers are invited to attend
the luncheon at noon, Monday
at the Cardinal Restaurant
Rivers Editor Of Week
“Publisher’s Auxiliary", bimonthly publication af the
National Newspaper Association, last week featured Boh
Rivers, editor-publisher of the Watauga Democrat, as Ha
“Editor of the Week".
Requested by the N. N. A. publication, the feature
contains information on the editor’s Journalistic career,
following the progress af the newspaper from Us estab
lishment in 1888, when Rob Rivers Sr.
present. y