AWARD WINNER
In 1066 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
Eightieth Year of Continuous Publication
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10 CENTS PER COPY
20 PAGES—2 SECTIONS
Suede Jackets For Christmas
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mas, birt right now they're the proud cache of 15 men from Boone
and Blowing Rock who returned Saturday from a five-day hunt
near Basalt, Colo. The party took five pickups on the 11-day
frip and camped out each night. Part of the meat was processed
Monday and nine deer heads are being mounted as trophies.
Hunters from left (standing) are Steve Johnson, Eston Greene,
Owen Coffey, Norman Critcher, Michael Wood, J, C. Fletcher,
M. W. Greene, Harold Wood and Fred Greer; (kneeling) Roy
Greer, Melvin Triplett, D, J. Black, Billy Baker, Gordon Bolick
and James Coffey.
Burley Tobacco Markets Start
Annual Auctions November 28
ihe Burley Sales Com
mittee voted Friday to oper
tobacco markets in the eight
state belt on Nov. 28 and have
59 1/2 sales hours before the
Christmas holidays—the same
as last year.
Sales will end for Christmas
on Dec. 20 and resume on Jan.
3.
The same preholiday dates
221 Acres Of
Trees Planted
By 34 Farmers
Results of the special tree
planting project show 34 far
mers planted a total of 221
acres according to Roy W. 13
ley, County Office Manager.
The special ACP project
provided for approval of a maxi
mum of 10 acres of tree plant
ing in addition to a farmer's
regular ACP payment.
The majority of tree seed
lings planted were white pine
according to records of ACP
program clerk, Faith Michael.
Records show that a total of
$3,090 from the 1967 allocation
was used for the project.
These funds were re-im
bursed to the Watauga County
ASC Committee by the North
Carolina State ASC Committee
thus increasing the 1967 ACP
allocation by this amount.
were followed last year whei
63 per cent of the crop—or 388
000,000 pounds was sold be
fore the Christmas recess.
The committee, as usual,
limited sales to 3 1/2 hours
per day at 360 baskets an hour,
or 1,260 per day for each sel
of buyers on the market.
An alternate proposal, call
ing for a Nov. 29 opening with
one less pre-Christmas sales
day, was voted down.
Ira Massie, University of
Kentucky tobacco specialist,
said he was afraid of opening
too early because of a
possible rush to the ware
houses by the farmers and of
too late a start that might glut
the market.
The Burley Sales Committee
is interested in having tobacco
delivered in proper order to
the warehouses to prevent fat
stems and excessive short
weights.
It is now a provision of the
contracts between cooperative
associations and warehouses
Whitener To
Speak At Rally
Congressman Basil Whitener
of the 10th District will speak
Friday night, Nov. 17, at a
Democratic rally in Boone.
Tickets are being sold under
the direction of Grady Moretz
Jr., ticket chairman.
Traffic Tantrums
An unofficial count of 635 cars parked at Conrad Stadium
during a recent football game illustrates the fact that the
Town of Boone attracts people: Whether gridiron followers,
vacation travelers or the vast crowd of local shoppers seeking
merchandise and services in the central business district
and its outlying areas.
Our recent editorial, “Traffic Tantrums/* pointed out
that things could be worse: There could be no traffic at all.
But traffic there is and the question arises as to what’s being
done.
Ned Trivette, manager of business affairs at Appalachian
State University, says that students now must be juniors or
seniors in order to bring cars to campus. Last year’s policy
included sophomores among student motorists, but heavy con
struction on campus began to pinch parking spaces and this
measure was taken to ease the situation. Trivette comments
that it has “relieved the situation a good deal/* but it remains
a problem to provide faculty and staff parking as close to
their place of work as university officials would like.
In Boone, the Board of Aldermen has continued the lease
on the city parking lot, which was paved week before last.
Eventually, j rking meters will be installed at the central
location.
The Board now is conducting a study on the prospect of
four-lane traffic in downtown Boone, If the notion is carried
oi*, says Mayor Clyde Greene, additional municipal perkily
areas may be Improved for the business district.
1 that tobacco that is weighed
> prior to ten days before the
opening of the market will not
be allowed any “tolerance.”
It is also a provision of the
Standard Buyers’ Conditions of
Sale that tobacco cannot be of
ficially weighed prior to ten
days before the opening of the
market.
The Burley Sales Committee
recommends and urges all far
mers not to deliver, and all
warehousemen not to receive
and officially weigh tobacco
prior to Nov. 18.
Valle Crucis Meeting
Blue Ridge Council Will
DeviseAreaHealthPlan
Four Counties
Are Involved
In Promotion
The Blue Ridge Health Coun
cil officially was incorporated
Saturday at Valle Crucis to
begin comprehensive health
planning for Watauga, Avery,
Mitchell and Yancey counties.
About 50 persons at the
Health Seminar heard Dr. John
Reese of Morganton declare
that total community involve
ment particularily of physicians
and dentists, was essential to
the success of new health pro
jects.
Ur. Keese, a past president
of the North Carolina Medical
Society, also said there were
growing opportunities for co
operation between counties and
between health districts, in the
sharing of personnel and faci
lities, and urged the new group
to keep other areas of the
state fully informed on their
progress.
After lunch at the day-long
seminar, representatives of the
four counties broke up into
small planning groups to dis
cuss three pressing problems.
The group discussing home
health care reported back to
the Health Council a request
for an immediate feasibility
study of ail four counties to
document the need for home
health care and to determine
the best ways of financirg these
new services.
Elderly area residents now
miss out on many services pro
vided by Medicare because
there are no home health care
BREMCO Pays $2,170 A
Day On Loan Retirement
During the first 8 months of
1967, rural electric and tele
phone systems made payments
on their government loans at the
rate of more than $1 million
every working day, and passed
the $3 billion mark in their
total payments on loans, the U.
S. Department of Agriculture
reported recently.
Blue Ridge Electric Mem
bership Corporation’s part of
this payment was $2,170 daily.
The $1 million-a-day cash
flow into the U. S. Treasury
represents the highest level of
principal and interest payments
in the history of the Rural
Electrification Administra
tion’s loan programs. It is
attributed in part to the joint
effort of REA with its borrowers
to help minimize the net cash
demand on the Treasury by mak
ing payments on REA loan*
ahead of due dates.
Interest and principal pay
ments of $203 million for the
8-month period increased total
payments made by REA bor
rowers to more than $3 billion.
This compares with $6.6 bil
Teachers To
Gather Monday
The Watauga County Unit of
the North Carolina Education
Association will meet Monday,
Nov. 6, at 7:30 p. m. at the
Watauga High School.
A program on homework will
be presented by Mrs. Helen
Stroupe, president of the Wa
tauga County unit of the class
room teachers.
lion of REA loan funds they have
invested. The payments over the
life of the two programs include
$324 million paid ahead of due
dates. During the last 8 months,
this balance of advance pay -
ments increased by $38.2 mil
lion, as compared with a re
duction of $4.7 million in the
balance during the preceding 8
months.
“This willingness of the rural
electric and telephone systems
to step up their payments and
help relieve current pressures
on the U. S. Treasury serves to
emphasize the close working
relationship in these two pro
grams of rural people arrl their
Federal Government,” Secre
tary of Agriculture Orville L.
Freeman commented. “Basic
ally, the relationship is a two
(Continued on page six)
agencies or approved extended
care nursing homes in the four
counties accordirg WAMY
Community Action, Inc.
Representatives of the State
Health Department attending the
seminar agreed to conduct a
feasibility study immediately
on home health services.
The group discussing nursing
home facilities recommended
that the Council study and find
ways to provide new facilities
as soon as possible.
The Council also adopted a
report from the dental ser
vices study group which called
for emphaiss on preventive den
tistry to begin solving dental
problems in the area. Initial
efforts in preventive dentistry
might include floridation,
school and home education pro
grams.
Elected to the interim board
of directors were Clifford Al
dridge, Dr. H. C. Evans and
Dr. Lawson Tate from Avery
County; the Rev. W. Ross Bail
ey» Hr. J. T. McRae and Mrs,
Hugh Dobbin from Mitchell
County; Mrs. Ernest Briggs
and Oscar Deyton from Yan
cey County; Mrs. Jack Groce,
Joe Hartley and the Rev. George
Abele from Watauga County.
Average Watauga Worker
In Better Financial Shane
To what extent has the general
economic expansion, now in its
80th month, improved the lot of
the average working man in Wa
tauga County?
Dr. Edmisten
Gets Research
Grant $25,240
Dr. Joe A. Edmisten of the
University of Georgia Depart
ment of Botany has been awarded
a grant of $25,240 by the Air
Force Office of Scientific Re
search for a study of theroleof
epiphyllae in the nitrogen cycle
of tropical rain forests.
The grant provides for a year
of investigation of the leaf algae,
fungi, lichens, and liverworts
in the El Verde rain forest east
of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and
in the forests of the Darien Pro
vince of Panama. Dr. Edmis
ten’s study will be directed to
ward an understanding of the
ability of epiphyllae to fix at
mospheric nitrogen in the trop
ical rain forest ecosystem. The
long range importance of the
investigation will be in regard to
improved food sources for a
rapidly expanding population.
Dr. Edmisten, an assistant
professor in the botany depart
ment, has been associated with
tropical research in recent
(Continued on page seven)
UK. EUMJ5TEN
How much more can he buy
with his weekly wage than he
was able to buy in the early
part of 1961, when the record
breaking upswing began?
The figures show that he is in
better financial shape today than
he was then, despite the steady
increase in the cost of living.
His earnings have gone up more
than enough to absorb this in
crease. The surplus represents
the net gain in his purchasing
power.
Latest repoits on the subject,
based upon national studies re
leased by the Department of
labor, by the Tax Foundation
and others, indicate the pro
gress that has been made in the
80 months.
They show that per capita in
come in Watauga County rose
considerably during that period.
The gain amounted to 29.6 per
cent locally.
The comparable gain in the
United States was 29.3 percent.
During the same 80 months,
the cost of goods and services
went up by about 10 percent.
Because of the favorable dif
ferential, the average worker
in the local area is that much
better off today.
fr or example, he now earns
enough, after putting in some
117 minutes on the job, to buy
a carton of cigarettes. With 32
minutes of his time he can pur
chase a pound of butter and, with
150 minutes, a pair of cotton
work pants.
He would have had to work
much longer, back in 1961, to
earn the money for these items
and most others.
The Tax Foundation, a
national non-profit research
organization, shows how much
time is spent by the average
working man in the United
States, during an eight-hour day,
in providing for his family’s
various requirements.
Taxes take the most time—2
hours and 25 minutes. Housing
and household operations are
next, with 1 hour and 26 minutes.
Then comes food and tobacco, 1
hour and 14 minutes, transpor
tation, 40 minutes, clothir^ and
accessories, 30 minutes, recre
ation, 18 minutes, medical ser
vices, 21 minutes, and the re
maining 1 hour and 6 minutes
for all other purposes.
ROGER H1LSMAN
Roger Ililsman
To Be Speaker
At University
Roger HiJsman, former As
sistant Secretary of State for
Far Eastern Affairs and
currently professor erf govern
ment at Columbia University,
will be the speaker when Ap
palachian State University pre
sents the first in a series of
lectures to be given through
out the 1967-68 academic year.
This initial lecture will be
held at 8 p.m., Tuesday, Nov.
7, in the auditorium of I. G.
(Continued on page seven)
Draft Board Is
Closed 30 Days
The Watauga County Draft
Board office will be closed
thirty days due to the illness
of the principal clerk, Mrs.
Evelyn Coffey.
Joe Todd, Chairman, states
that personnel from Raleigh
came here and took care of the
induction process for October.