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 SUBSCRIPTION RATES IN NORTH CAROLINA OUTSIDE NORTH CAROLINA One Year--—--$3.09 One Year _ __ $4 00 Six Months--$1.80 Six Months _$2.50 Four Months —----$1.80 Four Months _$2.00 All Subscriptions Payable in Advance NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS—In requesting change of address, it is important to mention the OLD, as well as the NEW address. 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!