WATAUGA DEMOCRAT
O
An Independent Weekly Newspaper
ESTABLISHED IN 1888
IN TOP RANKS OF N. C. NON-DAILY NEWSPAPERS
In 1966 and 1967 the Democrat won ten State Press Association awards for General
Excellence, Local News Coverage, Excellence In Typography, Advertising,
Columns, Photographs. Five of these are first place awards.
Published for 45 Years by Robert C. Rivers, Sr.
PUBLISHED THURSDAYS BY RIVERS PRINTING COMPANY, INC., OWNER
R. C. RIVERS, JR„ Editor and Manager JEAN RIVERS. Associate Editor
RACHEL A. RIVERS, Managing Editor
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Entered at the postoffice at Boone, N. C., as second class matter, under the act of Congress of
March 3. 1879.
MEMBER NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION
NORTH CAROLINA PRESS ASSOCIATION
BOONE, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1967
Education Is Essential
“We have entered an age in which
education is not just a luxury permit
ting some men an advantage over
others. It has become a necessity
without which a person is defense
less in this complex, industrialized so
ciety. . . . We have truly entered the
century of the educated man.”
The then Vice-President, Lyndon
Johnson, said those words in a com
mencement address in 1963. Their
truth is becoming clearer every day.
Many young Americans are answer
ing the challenge to become better ed
ucated. Last year, 18 percent of our
young people between the ages of 16
24 were high school dropouts, as com
pared with 25 percent in 1960.
But this reduction is not enough.
The frightening fact remains that too
many teenagers still consider educa
tion a luxury. At the current dropout
rate, by 1975 there will be 32 million
adults in the labor force without a high
school education — 32 million people
who will be unqualified for most of
tomorrow’s jobs.
To stave off this tide of unskilled
workers in a booming economy, Presi
dent Johnson has directed the Presi
dent’s Council on Youth Opportunity
to launch the 1967 Stay-in-School Cam
paign. Every citizen, young and old,
parent and teenager, is being asked to
support this drive to assure that all
wh^ still h*v«!;*-chw»ee for^a decent ed
ucation stay in school and get it.
A young person ’today,' dissatisfied
with school and anxious to get out and
work for the money he wants, is head
ing down a dead-end street if he pur
sues his dreams without a high school
diploma.
He finds out too late that the job
he longed for will be at best a dull,
dirty one with little opportunity for
advancement. Or, the jobless rate of
13 percent for school dropouts suddenly
becomes very real to him as he dis
covers that he doesn’t have the ticket
he needs to get through the employers’
doors.
The money he needs to buy the car,
the clothes, or the stereo he wanted
so badly just isn’t there. He will make
less money than those who graduated
when he does find a job and his future
in any job is limited. In short, a drop
out learns quickly and cruelly what
Lyndon Johnson meant when he called
education a necessity.
For many of these young people,
there is still time. They can go back
and finish high school. For others, it
is too late.
Those who are still in school and
considering dropping out face one of
the most crucial decisions of their
lives. It is up to all of us to follow
the President in urging them to go back
to school this fall and stay there until
they have at least a high school di
ploma. The education they get now
cljarts the course not only for their
individual lives but for the welfare ,pf
our country in the coming decades.
New Status For Cattle
Friday was a proud moment on the
local agriculture scene.
The Watauga Livestock Market,
owned and incorporated by Watauga
County cattlemen, opened its doors to
business and marked the beginning of
new economic status for the cattle
industry.
Watauga County was founded on
agricultural endeavor. Its businesses
grew up as side-products of the horse
drawn plow; its sources of revenue are
eternally traceable to the soil and its
products.
Not many years ago, cattle were a
chief source of farm income here. But
tobacco has become king, while broil
ers edge out cattle for the number two
position. In 1965, cattle brought $575,
200 and in 1966 accounted for $611,
840 of the record total income of $3.
711,843.
The importance of cattle has been
increasing, but the Market will pro
vide a weekly sale and this will have
two effects immediately. Area cat
tlemen will be able to sell at home,
avoiding costly shipping and making
possible the sale of cattle in larger
lots. Secondly, buyers from other
areas will be stimulated by the open
ing of a new territory and the dollar
gains should jump accordingly.
Another feature of the Market will
be special shows and sales for the
promotion of calves, steers, heifers,
grade and purebred stock.
Market Manager Fred Greene and
his associates have accepted the chal
lenge of this new venture and have the
know-how to incorporate into it. Best
wishes to them and to the stockholders.
There seems to be no end to the
Market’s potential.
Parkway Milestone
(Asheville Citizen)
Opening of the new section of the Blue Ridge
Parkway from N. C. 191 at Bent Creek to U. S.
70 at Oteen on Saturday will provide the last
connecting link of this scenic highway between
Grandfather Mountain and the Great Smoky
Mountains National Park—a total distance of
164 miles.
The 10.9 miles of the Parkway from N.C. 191
to U. S. 70 passes through beautiful country, in
cluding a part of the Biltmore Estate. It crosses
the F rench Broad River and the Swannanoa on
high bridges. With access routes leading from
C.S. 74 and U.S. 25 as well as UJS. 70 and
N. C. 191, this stretch will provide a pleasant
wooded drive for residents of the Asheville
area.
Of the overall Parkway route only the link
across Grandfather Mounatin now remains to be
built. The next step will then be construction of
the Southwestern spur into Georgia, which will
open up the Parkway to travelers from Atlanta
and the Deep South.
Inklin’s In Ink
BY RACHEL RIVERS
Being a country dweller, we failed to feel
the Impact of Boone’s water crisis of last
October.
Several businesses, you may recall, re
lieved the situation considerably by partially
or entirely shutting down. These were the ones
who used a great deal of water. Such as service
stations, laundromats and beauty parlors.
The problem was not a lack of water, for
the reservoir was full, but somewhere between
there and Boone, or the users of water in
Boone, most of the water was disappearing.
Finally, an underground Una, broken and
dumping the water supply Into a creek, was
found and the municipal mystery mastered.
Wall-users just didn’t know what Boone
residents were going through.
But the folks on our hill found oik lately.
And it wasn’t a matter of a broken line, or
a faulty pump. There just plain wasn’t any
We all began noticing it several weeks ago,
"hen the faucet would sputter and choke and
tbs water would stop flowing. By waitiig awhile,
one could get enough water to finish whatever
chore he was at, as long as it wasn’t a matter
of washing a whole dish or doing something
extravagant like rinsing out a wash cloth.
And woe be unto he who was all soaped
up in the shower when the shower stopped
and didn't resume showering for more than
an hour.
The well’s dry, we said, while the men
folk labored over the prospect of pressure
valve malfunction and speculated that all the
summer’s rain would replenish the well, as
it always had and always will. And we said,
fearing the worst, the well’s dry.
And that’s whatthe well-digging people said.
So for many days, we’ve been living off the
well-spring of a 5-gallon can, which our spouse
has toted to and from the city. We were planning
to keep house on toted water for the rest of
our days, but the menfolk voted to have the
well dug deeper and managed to hit water
again.
Which changes our mind considerably about
the future of the bathtub Industry.
Avalanche!
<fc^
///oc&Ovru
FROM THE EARLY FILES OF THE DEMOCRAT
$60,000 Given For Macadam
Road To Blowing Rock
Sixty Years Ago
September 5, 1907
The statement of the Bank of
Blowing Rock this week shows
quite a gain in business since
the last report was published.
The stockholders of the Wa
tauga County Bank held their
annual meeting in the bank buil
ding on Tuesday and re-elected
the same Board of Directors for
the ensuing year.
The Macadam Road from Le
noir to Blowing Rock now seems
almost a certainty. We are told
that stock has been taken in the
enterprise to the amount of
more than $60,000. We are told
that Moses H. Cone has taken
$2,500 stock in the road.
Mrs. W. R. Lovill is visit
ing her mother at Sutherland
this week.
I. G. Greer returned to the
University this week.
Romy Storie, who has been
spending his college vacation
with his parents on the Blue
Ridge, is, we are very sorry
to hear, very low of fever.
Mr. Claude Greene, of Col
lettsville, who is just up from a
severe attack erf typhoid fever,
is recuperating at the home of
his father, Mr. Allen Greene
on Meat Camp.
Friend Gill Hodges and family
who have been with friends and
relatives in Watauga for some
time past, left yesterday for
their home at Cheyenne, Okla
homa.
Miss Pearl Moretz, after
spending several weeks with
relatives in Watauga left this
week for her home in Hickory.
Rev. Mr. Kistler, Lutheran
minister, is off this week to
spend a few days at the James
town Exposition.
Married on Wednesday of last
week Mr. Green, of Beaver
Dams, to Miss Maggie Sher
wood, youngest daughter of Rev.
J. L. Sherwood. The Democrat
extends congratulations.
Thirty-Nine Years Ago
September 6, 1928
Robert Harmon left Tuesday
to enter school at Oak Ridge
Institute.
Mr. and Mrs. Ed Greene left
last week for Detroit, Mich.,
where they will make their home
in the future.
Miss Ruth Benfield left Sat
urday for Concord, N.C. where
she will teach during the com
ing school year.
Mr. Rana Triplett erf Matney
was here Monday and brought
his daughter to the Watauga
hospital where she will take
treatment for a few weeks for
some rheumatic or other kin
dred trouble.
Attorney Wiley H. Swift and
family of Greensboro passed
through town Monday en route
to Mr. Swifts' old home at A
mantha, where they will spend
a short while before continu
ing on an extended trip north.
Mrs. Hooper Hendrix of
Boone, who has been taking
treatment at Grace Hospital,
Banner Elk, for several weeks,
underwent a serious operation
Tuesday afternoon. A message
from the hospital Wednesday
morning gave the information
that she had rested well dur
ing the night and seemed to be
getting on as well as could be
expected. Her mother, Mrs. H.
J. Hardin, is with her at the
hospital.
Fifteen Years Ago
September 4, 1952
Mr. and Mrs. Jas. E. Under
down, Jr., and son, Jerry, erf
Scotland Neck, were week end
guests of Miss Helen Under
down.
Mrs. A. J. Combs, and daugh
ter, Miss Pansy Combs, of
Lynchburg, Va. were week end
visitors with Mr. and Mrs. A. W.
Smith and Mr. and Mrs. Bill
Rush. Mrs. Combs and Mr.
Smith are brother and sister.
Mr. and Mrs. G.T. Buckland,
Jane and Tad who spent the
summer at State College, Pa.,
where Mr. Buckland worked on
his doctorate at Pennsylvania
State University returned to
their home here Saturday.
Hoyt Edminsten, Ray Ellison,
and Hillary Hobby went deep sea
fishing in the Gulf Stream off
Morehead City last weekend.
They reported a good take of
amber jack and other denizens
of the deep.
Mr. and Mrs. Ferrell Rogers
of Asheville spent the week end
with Mr. and Mrs. E. F. Coe.
Mr. Max Robbins of Greens
boro spent the week end with his
mother, Mrs. J. F. Robbins.
Mr. Henry Gaither and Mr.
Bill Crawford attended the auto
mobile races at Darlington, S.
C. during the week end.
Miss Betty RayeGreene, stu
dent nurse at City Memorial
Hospital in Winston-Salem,
spent the week end with her par
ents, Mr. and Mrs. Clyde R.
Greene.
Mr. and Mrs. Roy Marsh and
Kathryn Anette left Monday for
Oxford, N. C. where Mr. Marsh
will again teach in Oxford Or
phanage.
Just One Thing
BY CARL GOERCH
Last time we were up in
Asheville we ran into Jim Wal
ker of Charlotte who told us
about a little incident that hap
pened up in the mountain coun
try a number erf years a err.
A gentleman conducting a
boys’ school received on the
opening day of the session a
note brought by a small moun
tain boy from the lad's fath
er. It was’crudely written and
read as follows:
“Cur: Knowing you to be a
man of no legs, I wish to put
my bowie in yur Skull.”
The school teacher was
slightly alarmed, but after con
sulting the boy and some others
who knew the idioms of the
mountains, the real meaning of
the note was discovered:
“Sir: knowing you to be a man
erf knowledge, I wish to put my
boy in your school.”
A headline that appeared in a
recent issue erf The Northamp
ton County News, published in
Jackson (with a slight change
in the name):
MISS MARY SMITH
RETURNED HOME
FROM HOSPITAL
GREATLY IMPROVED
Funeral rites were held last
Thursday in Currituck County
with many friends being pres
ent.
The other evening at the Am
bassador Theatre in Raleigh,
we happened to sit alongside a
man who was hard erf hearing.
As we glanced at him we also
observed that he was baldhead
ed.
AFTER ANOTHER
And then, all of a sudden, we
realized that nearly every hard
of-hearing man of our acquain
tance has lost his hair.
Many places in North Caro
lina bear peculiar names, and
peculiar names always interest
us.
This is particularly true of
some of the townships we have
in the state. Here are a few of
them:
Hot House, in Cherokee;
Snake Bite, in Bertie; Bug Hill,
in Columbus; Seventy-first, in
Cumberland ; Wolf scrape, in
Duplin; Tally Ho, in Granville,
Quewwhiffle, in Hoke; Conocan
ary in Halifax; Pocket, in Cee:
Cartoogecheye, in Macon; Wic
canee, in Northampton; Hog
back , in Transylvania; Six
pound, in Warren, and E£ypt
in Yancey.
In driving alor^ the highways
you've undoubtedly seen signs
printed on the front of trucks:
“NO RIDERS/’
Between Burlington and
Greensboro the other day a big
truck approached us bearing the
sign in front: “LADIES ONLY/*
We were talking to some
friends in the lobby of The
Sir Walter Hotel in Raleigh
last week and somethin was
said about what fine judges we
have in North Carolina. One
member of the group, who re
quests that his name be with
held from publication, made this
remark:
“The best definition I*ve
heard of a judge is that ha's
a poor lawyer who knows the
Governor/*
KING STREET
BY ROB RIVERS
From Behind The Walla . . . A Gift
The other day we received a gift of a beautiful handmade
and hand-tooled leather billfold from Bynum G. Holtzclaw,
mailed to us from Grady, Arkansas , , . Bynum, a Watauga
native, and we have been corresponding for some time, and we
keep him informed of the happenings in his home area by the
Democrat and by letters , , . Unhappily Bynum cant go home
again . . . Like so many others he ran afoul of the law, and
his last letter pinpoints his sad dilemma... He says “I was con
vited of first degree murder April 10, 1940 . . . W. R. Lovill
was my attorney and my father attended the trial with him ...
I was given a life sentence . . . This sentence was commuted
to 75 years in 1964 ... 1 was paroled October 9, 1965 to a
preacher in Blytheville, Ark . . . My salary was $6 per month,
board and room ... I left on May 8, 1966 and went to Lenoir,
N.C., was arrested and returned to Arkansas ... I have served
27 years and have 48 more years to go. I have cancer of the
stomach and have been operated on . . . The paroles board has
denied me futher consideration, so 1 must stay here until I
die ... I am not able to do any work and none is required of
me.”
BYNUM is 75 years old and
served five years in the Cana
dian army in the first world
war ... He doesn't condone
in any way the action which
resulted in his imprisonment
in his letters to us ... He
is ill and lonely and hopeless
... We think the least that
could be done for him would be
to write to him ... He looks
forward avidly to letters from
us and to the arrival of the
Democrat ... He is glad
for us to mention him in our
column and solicits word from
anyone interested . . . We
hope that he may get a lot of
mail to ease his mind in the
long days of his discontent. . .
We enjoy hearing from Bynum,
appreciate his gift and ask
you to write him at this ad
dress: “B. G. Holtzclaw, ASP
38443, Camp 2, Barracks 1,
Box 500, Grady, Arkansas
71644."
Chewing Gum . .
Don’t Swallow It
In the days when we bought
Long Tom Chewing Gum, the
round white stick known local
ly as dog tallow, and laid in a
five-cent package of Walla-Wal
la slabs in the times of our
childish prosperity, word was
“don't ever swalleryer chewin'
gum, it'll grow in ye" . . .
The other kids didn't tell us
what growin* in ye would ac
tually do to our anatomy but
we didn’t chance it, ever . V'V
Now we learn by reading a
heap of extraneous matter that
a lot of gum is now being
swallowed with a reckless aban
don that would have chilled the
short-breeches, barefooted
crowd erf a few years ago . . .
Actually the Food and Drug
Administration is pondering
whether to require manufactur
ers to list the ingredients now
covered by the words “gum
base." . . . These include gutta
hangkang, leche de vaca, mas
searnduba, balata, nispero,
jelutong, terpene resins, natural
rubber and lanolin . . . The
Williamson News adds: “then
take corn syrup, flavoring and
softeners and hardly enough
room is left on the label to
print: “Caution: Chewing Gum
May be Hazardous to the Mental
Health of Those About You."
. . . Those of us who stuck the
stuff to the bedpost to use again
the next day, might say: “Don’t
swaller hit; hit'll not only grow
in you and fill you up, hit'll run
all yer folks crazy."
Apple Butter Time
The Hartford Courant kindles
the memory and whets the ap
petite with this ditty:
A lad knew it was inevitable.
On a pleasant Saturday morning
mother would say, "We'll make
apple butter today," and a 12
year-older faced the facts. The
apple parer was fastened to the
kitchen table, and sisters pared
and cored the apples. A boy
started the fire under the hang
ing kettle in the back yard.
The process itself was not
complicated. Sweet cider was
heated to the boiling point, and
quartered apples were added.
Then the work began. All day
long the simmering, fragrant
mass had to be stirred. All day
long the fire had to be kept
just so. Occasionally a lad could
induce a sister to stir a few
minutes while he restored his
strength with cookies and
creamy milk.
Mother was particular about
her apple butter. She used a
combination at Baldwins, North
ern Spies, Blue Pearmalns, and
Snow apples. The mass must
not boil hard. "Just keep It
simmering," was her edict. It
was not hard work, but a lad
who ought to be out In the woods
on s beautiful autumn day thought
it more monotonous than churn
ing.
Toward day’s and, whan
shadows wars filling the valleys,
and the flames beneath the kaU
tie made a picture in the dark,
mother put in the spices. It
was a secret formula. Father
came around to see how things
were going, and to taste. “Just
a dite more cinnamon, ” he might
say or “Just a whiffle more
cloves.” Then came the wel
come announcement, “Just
right mother,” and a lad knew
that apple butter was made for
another year.
Uncle
Pinkney
HIS PAL AVERIN’S
Dear Mister Editor:
The feller that runs the coun
try store was in bad trouble.
Some salesman come along last
week and give him a cardboard
sign that says “THINK BIG.”
He nailed it up on the wall be
hind the cash register and when
the fellers come in Saturday
night fer their weekly session
they immed. give him a vote
of “ no confidence,” like some
of them foreign rulers git when
they was throwed out of office.
First off, Zeke Grubb said we
was living in times when most
of the room in the newspapers
was took up with the little things
in life. Fer instant, he reported
he had saw this little item on
the front page of a newspaper
saying miniskirts in London has
got so short they was calling ’em
minibelts. He claimed it would
be mighty hard to think big on
such a small subject.
Ed Doolittle was not 100 per
cent agreed with the fellers in
this matter. He allowed as how
you had to think big when you
got to reading about the nation
al debt and was talking to the
loan man at the bank about your
taxes. In fact, said Ed, you had
to think big anytime you saw
anything in the papers from
Washington. He reported he had
saw a item from Washington last
week where the pentagon boys
had spent $215,000 fer monkeys
last year to carry out some sort
of experiment. Ed said the Con
gressman that discovered this
item announced he was happy to
find out they wasn’t using them
monkeys to run the Pentagon
computers.
Josh Clodhopper, that as a
general rule don't think big or
little most of the time, butted
in to say he was going to quit
raising wheat from now on and
start raising monkeys. He was
wondering if the U. S. Depart
ment of Agriculture had any
quota on monkeys. Ed was at
the opinion they wasn’t no quota
at the present time, but if a few
farmers started raising mon
keys they would shore put ’em
on the quota list immediate.
I think, Mister Editor, Bug
Hookum had the best idea of
any of the fellers. He said we
was living in a age when it
was better not to think small or
big or in any shape or form.
How was a feller going to think,
ask Bug, when he saw in the
papers where we was gitting
square bathtubs in these fancy
houses, when we was gitting
electric hairbrushes and work
ing on a electric toothpick?
Personal, I’m mostly agreed
with Bug in this matter. If you
think big you got to think of
Vietnam, rising prices, bigger
taxes. Everything big is bad and
everthlng little ain’t even worth
thinking about. My old lady,
fer Instant, will go to a sale
and buy anything she thinks the
store is losing money on, wheth
er she needs it or not. That
comes from thinking too much.
When you write yore editorials,
Mister Editor, don’t git no head
ache thinking ’em up.
Yours truly,
llncls Dan