AWARD WINNER
In 1966 and 1967 the Democrat won
10 State Press Assn, awards for
General Excellence, Excellence in
Typography, Local News, Adver
tising, Columns and Photographs.
WATAUGA DEMOCRAT
An Independent Weekly Newspaper . . . Seventy-Ninth Year of Continuous Publication
BOONE
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VOLUME LXXIX—NO. 52
BOONE, WATAUGA COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 1967
10 CENTS PER COPY
28 PAGES—3 SECTIONS
Music And Square Dancing And Fun
Wagon Train Rolling On Pioneer Trail
The Wagon Train will set up camp on the Blowing Rock Road sometime Friday afternoon. (Staff photo)
Secretary Udal In Favor
Of Extension Of Parkway
The Department of the Inter
ior favors enactment of legis
lation which would permit exten
sion of the Blue Ridge Parkway
from Beech Gap 180 miles
toward Atlanta.
Secretary of the Interior
Stewart L. Udall announced the
department's position on the
legislation Wednesday.
A bill to authorize the exten
sion has been introduced in
Congress by Rep. Roy A. Tay
lor.
Rep. Taylor, who is chair
man of the House National Parks
Sub-committee, said he is “ex
tremely pleased" with the de
partment's stand.
Udall's report will enable the
sub-committee to begin hear
ings on the bill; they are ex
pected to be scheduled next
month.
GRAYDON EGGERS
Named Wake
Band President
At the final spring meeting
of the Wake Forest University
Band, the members elected
Graydon Eggers, a junior, as
their president for the coming
school year.
The organization is made up
at the Concert Band, the Var
sity Band and the Marching
Band.
Graydon, a rising senior, is
also a member at The For
esters, an independent musical
group which has been selected
by the Defense Department to
entertain the armed forces in
Europe this summer.
The group will leave early
in July and return in mid
September.
The 469-mile scenic route
will be extended 180 miles from
Beech Gap to the vicinity of Ken
nesaw Mountain National Bat
tlefield Park north of Atlanta
and Marietta, Ga„ if the legis
lation passes Congress.
A report submitted to Con
gress >n 1963 estimated cost of
the extension at $87,536,0u0.
Funds would come from the In
terior Department’s regular
road budget, previously author
ized. There would be no special
appropriation.
The department emphasized
in its report that even if the
extension is approved now,
actual funding would depend upon
‘‘budgetary priorities within the
department and on the Presi
dent’s overall budgetary goals
and priorities."
Rep. Taylor feels ‘‘the pro
posed extension, when complet
ed, will bring millions of addi
tional visitors from the South
eastern states into Western
River Fish Kill
Likely Due To
Some Sort Poison
New River has coughed up
hundreds of dead fish.
Health-Sanitation Director
Jack Cobb says he began getting
reports of the fisi. kill about
6 p. m. Saturday, and was given
an unconfirmed report of a cow
which was killed drinking the
polluted water.
Cobb called in the State
Stream Sanitation Commission
and they started taking water
samples about midnight.
The work went on until 6 a.m.
Sunday. The midnight to dawn
vigil revealed that the pollu
tant. still unknown, was present
only from the construction site
of the town sewer plant, to a
point six miles downstream.
Flowing at a rate of one
and a half miles an hour, the
river is not believed to have
carried the poisonous substance
beyond the 6-mile mark.
Cobb said several of the fish
accompanied the samples to
the Commission’s Asheville of
fice for complete analysis.
Wildlife Protector Tommy
Osborne quickly alerted farm
ers who had cattle at the
river’s side. Cobb said Osborne
also began hauling away the
contaminated ash, tor the pro
tection of other wildlife.
North Carolina**'
Forty-three miles of the ex
tension would be in North Caro
lina. The remaining 137 miles
would be in Georgia.
Most of the route lies through
federally owned forest land.
Where it crosses private land,
rights of way must be acquired
by the states involved, then do
nated to the federal government.
Rep. Taylor said he^£ anxious
to secure enactment of the legis-.
lation so North Carolina and
Georgia may proceed im
mediately with acquiring the
land before prices go higher
He launched the effort to ex
tend the Parkway in 1961 with
legislation authorizing a feas
ibility study at a cost of $35,000.
The extension was recom
mended as a result of the study
but legislation authorizing it had
been held up by government
agencies, pending a broad study
of national parkway needs.
Watauga Schools To
BegiunOn August 22
The school calendar, 1967-68,
has been released by the Board
of Education,
Watauga County students will
report for registration and
orientation Monday, Aug. 21,
for one-half day. The first full
day of the regular 180-day
school term will be Tuesday,
Aug. 22.
Public Offices
To Close Fourth
All offices in the Watauga
County Courthouse will be
closed July 4, being open Mon
day, July 3, and again on the
5th.
The offices of the Chamber
of Commerce and the credit
bureau will be closed andCofC
Manager Fred McNeil notes
that most of the central bus
iness district will observe In
dependence Day.
Teachers will report on
Thursday, Aug, 17, for orien
tation and preparation for stu
dent registration.
Holidays are listed as Sept.
19, District NCEA meeting in
Boone; Nov. 23-24, Thanks
giving; Dec. 22-Jan. 1, Christ
mas holidays; April 12-15,
Easter.
The regular school term is
scheduled to close Wednesday,
May 15, 1968. Teachers would
complete their term of em
ployment the following Friday.
Courthouse Bids
Opened Today
Tax Supervisor Claude Dan
ner says bids for the con
struction of a new County Court
house will be opened at 2 p. m.,
June 29, in the court room.
If the low bid is acceptable,
contracts will be let soon there
after.
TRUSTEES MEET AT COLLEGE—Three members of Appalachian State’s Board of Trustees
were honored Saturday when the college’s policy-making body held its final meeting of the 1965-67
academic year. Mrs. J. E. Broyhill, Chairman William J. Conrad and Lester P. Martin Jr. were
presented certificates in appreciation for their services. Each has completed an eight-year term
following appointment by former governors. Seated 0-r) are Mrs. Broyhill of Lenoir; John P.
Frank, vice-chairman of Mount Airy; Mr. Conrad of Winston-Salem; Dr. W. H. Plemmons, Ap
palachian president; and Mrs. Earleen G. Pritchett, secretary to the president. Standing 0-r) are
Dr. J. B. Hagaman Jr. of Boone; Wayne H. Shoaf of Lexington; C’ de C. Armfield Jr. of Lenoir;
John H. Vickers of Charlotte; George Corn of Shelby; Mr. Maran af Mocksville; E. G. Lackey
of Winston-Salem; and William B. Rankin of Lincolnton. W. R. Winkler of Boone was unable to
attend Saturday’s meeting In the college cafeteria.
Descendant Of Boone Is
Having Fun On Journey
BY RACHEL RIVERS
The creekside camping and
campfire cooking suits Mrs.
Farris Buckels just fine.
She's one of 300 men, women
and children climbing the Blue
Ridge to Boone with the annual
Daniel Boone Wagon Train,
which commemorates Daniel
Boone's westward advance and
its significance to American
heritage.
There are oxen, mules and
horses; women in long gowns
and bonnets; covered wagons
decked out with pioneer relics.
The Train started from North
Wilkesboro Tuesday morning,
aiming to hit the Boone/camp
Friday afternoon. Visitors
crowd into the camps each night
for music and square-dancing
and good food.
But in between are some 6
hours of hard travel a day.
And while other descendants
Details Of Parade On
Picture Page No. 3
of Daniel Boone are along for
the fifth trip, perhaps none
is quite so thrilled with it all
as the woman from Houston,
Pa.
TICKLED TO DEATH
“Granny, tell me about Dan
iel.*’
That was Mrs. Buckels, nee
Farris Goe, at the skirt of her
grandmother, Mary Francis Ho
ward Goe. The scene was the
Goe Mansion, Old Landing, Ky.,
where Mrs. Goe was born in
1896.
“Daniel was a daily subject
in our house,*’ she said this
weekend, and so at the age erf
71, when she was asked to come
along on the Wagon Train, “I
jumped at it ... I was just
tickled to death.*’
She had read about the trek
in Grit Magazine and sent a tap
ed message to Chief Scout Ivey
Moore in North Wilkesboro.
Things started popping, and
soon, Northwestern Bank said
“Be our guest’* and she came
to the Wilkesboro camp, which
nestles along the historic Yad
kin River.
But it might seem a hard
trip for a 71-year-old woman,
who, appearing to be in her
middle 50*s, has a son 50; and
in fact has been married 53
years to Joseph Buckels, age
74, who still operates a power
shovel for a construction com
pany.
Hearty stock—and Mrs.
Buckels adds “If I didn’t live
(Continued on page three)
Officials To
Take Over City
Next Monday
City officials will be sworn
into office at 9 a. m. Monday at
City Hall.
They will be Mayor Clyde
R. Greene and Aldermen Phil
H. Vance Jr., Dr. James B.
Graham and Dr. Hadley M„
Wilson.
GETS CAPITOL RELIC—Former Legislator S. C. Eggers Sr.
stands beside chair noa 101, which he occupied when serving
in the North Carolina Legislature. There were 170 of the solid
cherry chairs in the old legislative Chambers when the Depart
ment of Archives and History decided to hold a drawing for
them. Eggers said some 800 persons, former legislators at^j
descendants of same, had bid for the century-old chairs. He
learned of his good fortune the last of May, and went to Raleigh
this month to collect the prize. (Staff photo)
1,100 Expected At
Land Bank Meeting
Stockholders of the Federal
Land Bank Association of Boone
will hold their annual meeting
Saturday, July 1.
Meeting place again is the
auditorium of the Boone Ele
mentary School.
' Time is set for 11 a. m.
to give visitors a chance to
see the Wagon Train Parade
through Boone.
John H. Hollar, manager
appraiser of the Association,
says some 1,100 are expected
to attend. A prize of $25 will
be awarded to the person bring
ing the most people to the meet
ing.
Several out-of-state visitors,
interested in seeing how the
annual affair is conducted, are
expected because of the Boone
Association’s reputation for
large stockholders meetings
within the Federal I .and Bank
group.
S. C. Eggers Sr., president,
will preside. The welcome will
be given by Mayor Wade E.
JOHN H. HOLLAR
Hollar will read the minutes
of the 1966 meet and present
the annual report which is ex
pected to reveal that outstanding
loans total more than $5 million,
(continued on page two)
Federal Grant To Benefit
Schools Of Watauga County
Federal funds, in the amount
erf $43,650, have been earmarked
for two Watauga County pro
grams,
Guy Angel 1, Superintendent
of Schools, says notice of the
legislative action came to Willis
Moretz, co-ordinator of Federal
programs, from the office at
Congressman Broyhill Thurs
day.
The Mini-Grant Projects,
under Title 111 of the Elemen
tary and Seconday Education
Act, will assist the adminis
trative unit in planning pro
grams in vocational an] audio
visual education.
Money for the projects, which
were submitted to Washington
in the spring, is budgeted mainly
for personnel and administra
tive costs.
“FORTUNATE"
Entitled “Planning a Com
prehensive Educational Media
Program", the first Mini-Grant
will allow for planning and im
plementing a comprehensive ed
ucational media program, in
cluding audio-visual, for the
schools of this district.
“It would include means and
methods of acquisition, distri
bution and proper utilization of
films, filmstrips, slides, pre
recorded tapes, transparencies,
video-tapes and other non-book
material." Angell says voca
tional aspects of this type pro
gram for secondary students
would be considered.
"Planning a Unified Voca
tional Education Program",
Mini-Grant no. 2 would pro
vide personnel to plan and carry
out a program emphasizing the
building trades. TMs would
serve secondary school students
and trainable adults In the area.
Prime purpose of the grants
is to provide funds to Tmplnr
technical personnel to develop
(continued on pace two)