Ahead In Carolina
The Democrat led all N. C. weeklies
ID 1MB Press Assn, contests. It
Well first place in General Ex
cellence, Excellence in Typography,
Local News Coverage, want Ads,
and Second in Display Advertising.
WATAUGA
An Independent Weekly Newspaper .
DEMOCRAT
Seventy-Ninth Year of Continuous Publication
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18 PAGES— t SECTIONS
VOLUME LXXIX— NO. 38
BOONE, WATAUGA COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1967
10 CENTS PER COPY
Old City
Hall Will
Be Sold
The Boone Board of Aldermen
voted Thursday of last week to
again put up for sale the old
Town Hall property at the cor
ner of Depot and Howard
streets. Town attorney John
H, Bingham was instructed to
prepare for publication an ad
vertisement for bids.
The property comprises a
large corner lot and two-story
brick building. The Town quit
using the building, except for
storage, when offices and fire
trucks were moved to the West
King Street facility.
Hubert Thomas, city clerk
and chief of police, reported
the newly purchased back-hoe
machine is operating at con
siderable savings to the town.
It is being used in the con
struction of the new water
sewer lines and can be used
for other heavy work, such as
snow removal.
City Building Inspector Hoop
er Hendrix will attend the North
Carolina Building Inspectors
School in March and April at
Chapel Hill, the Board decided.
The school is under the au
spices of the Institute of
Government.
The need for revision and re
cording of town ordinances was
brought up and Bingham was
asked to determine what ser
vices the N. C. League of
Municipalities could render in
the matter.
Several delegations of citi
zens attended to report pro
blems resulting from the build
ing of the new sewer and water
systems. The Aldermen decided
that since inconveniences, and
in some instances, hardships,
Have been caused by the large
scale construction, these will
be remedied as fast as pos
sible.
Marvin Scholl (left) and Lewis Brown, main
tenance engineers for Watauga Hospital, ex
amine the huge battery and generator at new
Watauga Hospital. The generation is designed
to supply electrical power to the hospital in
case of regular power failure. It will take
over immediately when the power goes off so
the hospital will always have current. Hos
pital officials point out the hospital is con
nected to both New River .Light and Power
Company and Blue Ridge Electric Corp’s sys
tems to insure the facilities will always have
power.
New Watauga Hospital Will
Soon Be Ready To Occupy
The new Watauga County Hos
pital is fast approaching com
pletion and will be ready for use
shortly, according to Wade E.
Brown, chairman of the hos
pital’s trustees; Mrs. Virginia
Groce, administrator; and Rob
ert Bumbaugh, building com
mittee chairman.
Mrs. Groce said this week the
general contract for the building
has been accepted, subject to
a “punch list”. Other contracts
are expected to be approved
and accepted in the near future.
The “punch list” will be
made up of minor items that
have not met the approval of
hospital officials. As soon as
the contractor has met the
specified requirements, the
items will be punched off and
Parkway Superintendent’s
Office Going To Asheville
The office of the assistant
superintendent of the Blue Ridge
Jaycees Are
Given “Horn”
Concessions
In session Monday, the ex
ecutive committee of the South
ern Appalachian Historical As
sociation accepted the Boone
Jaycees’ bid to operate the con
cession stand on the grounds
of “Horn in the West”.
The bid specified a 50-50
division of profits.
Last summer, the Jaycees
operated the Gift Shop and
Country Store as well as the
concessions. The original bid
of the Boone Rotary Club in
cluded all three, 50-50, but
Monday was amended to in
clude only concessions.
Parkway will be moved from
Roanoke, Va., to Asheville.
Rep. Roy Taylor of North
Carolina’s 11th Congressional
District announced the plan
Wednesday. Taylor’s district
includes Asheville.
Taylor said that moving the
assistant superintendent is a
compromise. Taylor, a member
of the House Interior Commit
tee, had urged that the entire
parkway headquarters, includ
ing the superintendent’s office,
be moved to Asheville.
The congressman’s principal
argument is that in time Ashe
ville will be much nearer the
mid-point of the parkway than
Roanoke. Taylor is a sponsor of
proposals to extend the park
way 190 miles south to a point
near Atlanta. The parkway's
southern terminus is now near
Waynesville.
George B. Hartzog Jr., direc
tor of the National Park Serv
ice, said that moving the assis
tant superintendent’s office to
Asheville “will greatly
strengthen our top-level repre
sentation in North Carolina.’’
Some parkway maintenance
and ranger personnel already
are located at Asheville. Taylor
said he thinks some purchasing
and procurement personnel will
soon be moved there. He said he
hopes also that as time goes on
the entire 45-member head
quarters staff will “gradually
and systematically” be trans
ferred to Asheville.
The parkway does not have
an assistant superintendent
now, but Taylor indicated that
a man has been selected and
will be named soon.
James E. Eden, assistant su
perintendent for several years,
was promoted to superintendent
recently. He replaced Sam
Weems, who is on temporary
duty in Australia to help plan
the establishment of a national
parkway system there.
MISSION OF MERCY — Watauga County’s
Emergency Rescue Squad was involved Thurs
day in the transfer of a nine-month-old patient
from a hospital in Abingdon, Va., to one in
Belmont where it will receive special treat
ment. George Flowers, squad member, fac
ing camera, is helping make the transfer from
the Abingdon Lifesaving Squad Car to the
Watauga car in front of Boone Town Hall.
Helping him are an unidentified woman and
the driver from Abingdon with back to cam
era. Lumas Trexler, in dark Jacket, accom
panied Flowers to Lenoir where the rescue
squad there took over, carrying the patient to
Hickory. From Hickory the patient was car
ried by another squad to Belmont.
accepted.
Second and third floors were
okayed two weeks ago and pa
tient furniture subsequently has
been moved into third-floor pri
vate and semi-private rooms.
Second floor is the surgical
and obstetrical area.
Mrs. Groce said a lot of
work remains to be done be
fore the facilities can be used,
but “We are hoping to have
open house in February” and
patients may be moved into
the Deerfield Road structure
in March.
She pointed out that no defi
nite dates have been set.
Snow Holidays
May Shorten
School Vacation
These “snow holidays” for
school children may be fun,
but it could shorten their sum
mer vacation by the same num
ber of days they are out this
winter. Or there might be a
few Saturday sessions in the
classrooms.
W. Guy Angel 1, superinten
dent of Watauga County Schools,
explains the situation this way:
The schedule worked out at
the beginning of school called
for classes to end Friday, May
19, if no days were missed.
Saturday classes could be
called, he said, but provisions
in the flexible schedule for
school to continue to June 1,
if necessary, might reduce the
chance of Saturday classes if
no more than twelve days are
missed. Angel 1 explained that
spring holidays might be ad
justed to shorten the term, if
necessary.
Already, six days have been
missed by Watauga students.
These days will have to be made
up so school will be in session
the full term.
The four days missed by
Boone Elementary School and
Watauga High School students
because of the water shortage
in the fall have already been
made up, Angell said.
New Plarkway
Link To Open
During August
The last uncompleted link
of the Blue Ridge Parkway be
tween Grandfather Mountain and
Cherokee-an 11-mile section
that bends around Asheville-is
scheduled to be opened to traffic
by August.
That is the latest word from
the Parkway's district head
quarters here.
District Ranger E. L. Robin
son said the link, which runs
from Oteen across the Biltmore
Estate to the French Broad Riv
er south of Asheville, is more
than 80 per cent complete.
(Continued on page 10)
Mid-March Completion
Boone Post Office Gets
$22,000 In Face-Lifting
Building Is
Said To Be In
Good Condition
A $22,000 face-lifting pro
gram is in progress at Boone’s
Post Office, according to Post
master Ralph L. Beshears.
The general contract was a
warded to L. B. Gallimore, Inc.,
of Greensboro and will be su
pervised under the General Ser
vices Administration, a Federal
agency.
Included in the face-lifting
will be painting inside and out,
also the flag pole, refinishing
floors; repairs to roof and
guttering, aluminum entrance
doors at both the front and
vestibule, installation of lights
at street level of steps, in
stallation of Venetian blinds in
the lobby, and installation of
an oil fed steam boiler to re
place the hand-fed.
Beshears said this is the
most extensive improvement
program that has been initiated
since the Post Office was built
in 1939. The boiler being re
placed, he pointed out, has been
in use since that time.
Mid-March is the projected
completion date.
Talking of the improvements,
Beshears said “We hope the
work will cause as little in
convenience as possible to the
public.” The building recently
was inspected and found to be
in good shape, he added. The
face-lifting is designed4‘to keep
it that way.”
B. W. NASH
Nash Is Named
Coordinator Of
First National
Jacksonville, Jan. 20 — A
veteran of 26 years in the
banking industry has been
named vice president and co
ordinator of all branches for
the First National Bank of
Eastern North Carolina, it was
announced here today.
B. W. Nash, who for the
past two years has been in
charge of operations and per
sonnel for five First National
branches in the Wilmington
area, was named to fill the
newly-created position.
James F. Allen, a veteran
of 18 years in the banking in
dustry who joined First Na
tional earlier this month as an
assistant to Nash, has mean
while been elected assistant
cashier and will assume re
sponsibility for operations and
personnel for the five Wil
mington branches.
J. Hugh Rich, executive vice
president of the statewide
system, said in making both
announcements here today:
"Rapid expansion of the
First National has necessitated
the creation of a central co
ordinator for all branch opera
tions and we are certain that
the talents and energies of
3. W. Nash will prove invalu
ible in delivering an even
ligher level of service to the
(Continued on page 2)
ROB RIVERS, Editor, receives award from Governor Dan K. Moore.
Democrat Wins 5
State Awards
The Watauga Democrat won five State
Press Association awards at the 42nd
Annual Newspaper Institute on the Uni
versity of North Carolina campus Thurs
day night.
These awards were presented by
Governor Dan K. Moore, at the opening
session of the Institute at the Carolina
The local newspaper again won In
the coveted General Excellence category,
taking a third place award.
The judges, a panel composed of mem
bers of the working press from another
State had this to say of the Democrat:
“A well-balanced newspaper with
something for all the family. Typo
graphically sound and clearly planned
throughout. A good newspaper the peo
ple of Watauga County should be proud
of.*’
The Democrat took first place in
the Excellence in Typography division
with the comment that the judges had to
“nit pick*’ in some instances to es
tablish the ratings. They commented:
“Every newspaper examined stands
in the excellent category/’
The Democrat placed second in the
Best Use of Photographs classification,
and received this comment:
“The Watauga Democrat contains a
large number of good photos illustrating
situation stories on schools, civic events,
etc. They no doubt have strong local
civic pride appeal.”
Rob Rivers’ won third place on his
King Street column, of which the judges
said:
“We found his column very well
written, most appealing and original. Even
at a distance, we found his subjects of
interest and colorfully presented. He,
also, was a little lengthy, although he
arranged not to have any run-over to
lose his readers. Well done and
attractively presented from a typo
graphical standpoint.”
The Democrat won third place in
the Best News Coverage category. The
judge said:
“The Watauga Democrat, which I
have picked for third place among week
lies, has comprehensive coverage of its
field. It has particularly good coverage
of education, a subject of interest in a
large segment of homes. Stories are
well written. Headlines have punch, and
leads are generally concise. (I found
the “Pigeon Roost” news concerning the
big snow, page 4 of the February 10
issue, homey and interesting. I am sure
it was well read.)”
Other area newspapers receiving a
wards were the North Wilkesboro Journal -
Patriot—second in best news coverage
and third for best spot news story, and
the Elkin Tribune, second in general
excellence and typography categories and
third in editorials. Both are in the semi- 1
weekly division. ]
(
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“Snoflakes To Sunshine
Safari” Visiting Boone
A one-week, 1400-mile “Sno
flakes to Sunshine Safari0
visits the Boone Division of
IRC, Inc, on Tuesday and Wed
nesday (January 24 and 25),
More than 80 salesmen and
manufactureres’ representa
tives from the major electronic
marketing areas of the United
States are participating.
The “Safari*’ idea was a
dopted by the multi-division,
Philadelphia - headquartered
firm for its 1967 Sales Meeting
so the sales force could see
the new products actually be
ing made and the extensive
plant expansions necessitated
by the introduction of those
products.
The meeting and the journey
started from Philadelphia on
Sunday and initially concen
trated on the products and the
production facilities of the firm
in that city.
After a thorough orientation
at the Hound Ears Club on the
Boone Division’s new products,
the sales team will tour the
Division’s physical facilities
and see the progress that is
being made on the$1.23-million
expansion. Some members of
the firm will probably see snow
for the first time.
The caravan moves on to St.
Petersburg, Florida, for Its
windup on Thursday an] Triday.
The extremes of weather which
the sales team will encounter
on its Safari — the wintry winds
of the Great Smoky Mountains
to Spring-like zephyrs on the
Gulf Coast in St. Petersburg_
the similar to IRC’s coverage
of the resistor product line. ..
from the brute power resistor
(made here) for heavy indus
trial applications to the micro
miniature precision adjustable
trimming potentiometers used
in the country's aerospace pro
grams.
Heading the IRC corporate
executives from Philadelphia
on the trip is J. B. Jenry,
Vice President of Sales aid
Marketing. The IRC sales team
has members from Portiam!
(Oregon), San Francisco, Los
Angeles, Phoenix, Denver, Chi
cago, Dallas, Cleveland, Boston
(Continued on page 6)