AWARD WINNER
In last 3 years Democrat has won
14 State Press Assn, awards. Eight
of them are first place awards.
VOL. LXXXI—NO. 4
WATAUGA DEMOCRAT
An Independent Weekly Newspaper . . . Eighty-First Year of Continuous Publication
BOONE, WATAUGA COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, JULY 25, 1968 io CENTS PER COPY
BOONE WEATHER
1968 Hi Lo Snow Free. *87 Hi Lo
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$2,190,000 For Gas, Oil, Repairs In 1967
Automobile Ownership Up 41 % In Watauga Co.
The average Watauga County resident has become
more dependent upon the automobile in his daily life
than ever before, according to a new survey.
It shows that a relatively small percentage of local
families are now without cars. Many families, on the
other hand, have more than one.
The net result is that car registrations are higher
in the local area. The rise is attributed to the income
gains of the last few years, which have brought bigger
and better cars within reach of more people.
The figures on car distributions show an average
of 142 cars for every 100 families in Watauga County
as of the first of this year, which is more than was
reported for many sections of the country.
The data is contained in the current consumer markets
study, released by the Standard Rate and Data Service.
It covers every county in the United States.
An increase in the auto population has a direct
impact on the economy as a whole, it is shown. More
money is spent in the purchase and maintenance of
the additional cars, more people are needed to service
them and more roads and parking areas are needed to
contain them.
The amount of business done by Watauga County
service stations alone in the past year, for gas, oil,
accessories and repairs, came to $2,190,000, as com
pared with the 1963 total of $1,886,000, according to
the report.
A number of factors are listed by the automobile
industry to account for the increased number of cars.
One is the nation’s economic strength, which has produced
higher incomes and better living standards.
Another is the expanding networks of roads, which
have made suburban living more feasible. Also cited
is the car-hungry teen-agers, who have made the second
car a necessity in many families.
In Watauga County, the effect has 1 n to raise car
registrations from the 4,610 reported .e years ago to
the 6,500 listed now.
It was equivalent to a net increase of 41.0 percent,
after allowing for those that were discarded.
In the rest of the United States, the gain in the
period was only 23.6 percent and, in the State of North
Carolina, 31.2 percent.
In a combined demonstration-improvement session on a mid
town parking lot, Mrs. Rachel Hartley (named from left), Mrs.
Constance Stallir«sf Mrs. Lowell Furman and Mrs. Melissa
Richardson gather up assorted trash and take a cut at the
weeds. Mrs. Hartley is chairman for civic improvement in
Boone. (Staff photo)
Civic Group Has “Working99
Town Parking Lot In Bad Shape
BY RACHEL RIVERS
An off-street-parking sign at
a downtown streetlight wel
comes visitors and shoppers to
use the North Depot Street city
parking lot, but it is in poor
condition.
Jerry Perry
Is Controller
At University
Jerry Perry, who Joined the
administrative staff of Appa
lachian State University as bud
get officer inSeptember at 1965,
has been given the new title of
Controller.
Perry, a native of Bailey,
N. C„ is to be responsible for
budget preparation and control,
accounting, internal auditing and
all cashiering activities.
"R is felt that the new title
more clearly defines the duties
of the position,” said Ned Tri
vett, Director of Business Af
fairs at the university.
Perry, who earned the A.B.
degree in accounting at Duke
(continued on pad* two)
Hill _
JERRY PERRY
The upper level was closed
by weeds a couple of years
ago and sports an all-day-park
ing sign which is immediately
preceded by an abandoned car.
The lower level, which has
of late become popular with
business people, has an aban
doned car and an abandoned
truck and snaky patches of grass
working up through cracks in
the concrete floor. One entrance
to the lower lot has a not
insignificant hole, which at a
slow speed, results in a clash
of concrete and front bumper
and in turn, a knock to the
exhaust pipe.
Owners of the property gen
erously allowed the Town of
Boone to be responsible for
the lots and their use until
such time as they are privately
developed. But weathering two
city administrations, the off
street land was half-abandoned
and that part still in use has
not recently been tended.
The Boone Civic Improvement
group began thinking about the
parking lot and on Wednesday
morning, July 17, a few garden
club members turned out for
a “working.” Their purpose
was to demonstrate their in
terest in any and all projects
which might add to the attrac
tiveness of the town.
As one commented, they were
unable to fill the hole or move
the abandoned vehicles, but they
got a start by cutting out weeds
and this added to the parking
lot’s attractiveness.
Made up of the Boone clubs
of the Watauga Council of Gard
en Clubs, the Civic Improve
ment people have arranged for
the distribution of litter bags,
for one thing. The Blue Ridge
Garden Club is responsible for
the flower boxes hung along
King Street, but a spokesman
said finances prohibit their
putting up any more just now.
Other plans for civic im
provement may include a dog
wood trail from Boone to the
Horn in the West grounds,
cleaning up creeks and provid
Newland Fire Dept.
Slates Horse Show
The Newland Volunteer Fire
Department will sponsor Its
second annual Horse and Pony
Show July 27th at 2:30 p.m.
It will be held the same
location as last year, beside
the Newland Knitting Mill.
The show will feature English
and Western events with both
horse and pony. Events consist
at: Lead In Line, English Five
and Three Gaited, ladles and
Man's Western Pleasure, Kay
Hole Race, Model Colt. Rescue
Race, Parade Horse, Ladies and
Men's Horsemanship, Western
Five and Three Gaited, Basket
Weave, Tennessee Walking
Horse, Junior and Senior Bar
rel Race, Egg and Spoon Race,
Pole Bending, Ride-A-Buck,
Western Pleasure Pony, Trail
Horse, Pony Driving Pleasure,
Potato Race, There will be a
100 yard race at intermission.
Bring your horse and ponies
for an afternoon of fun and
pleasure. A pie eating contest
will also be featured.
ing flower plots. That s just
part of it, but already, certi
ficates of participation are being
given for outstanding contribu
tions to community beauty and
improvement.
In the near future, repre
sentatives of the group hope
to meet with City Council to
get advice and make suggestions
on restructuring several of the
Town’s old ordinances and to
propose some additional ones.
Bell Employees
Banquet Guests
Employees of the Southern
Bell Telephone and Telegraph
Company Plant Department in
Boone were recognized for their
outstanding industrial safety
record at a recent banquet.
The department has operated
without a motor vehicle or per
sonal injury accident over a
three-year period which began
in February, 1965. During this
time, local company employees
worked 82,748 manhours and
drove 226,824 miles in com
pany vehicles. J. D. Phillips,
District Plant Manager from
Asheville, presented a plaque
commemorating the safety rec
ord.
Boone exchange employees
who were honored were K. D.
Shook, S. C. Swanson, Plant
Foreman, W. E. Rucker, J. D.
Bodenhamer, Plant Manager
C. E. Relley and R. P. Haas.
J. H.McGarity, DivisionCon
struction Supervisor from
Charlotte, presented a similar
jgaque to Boone Construction
employees T. M.Conley, J. A.G,
Eller, D. L. Watson, W. L.
Waters, E. E. Chambers, J. E.
Riggins, and J. W. Stanberry.
Another Mystery Develops
Smelly Water Poses An
Unsolved City Problem
Officials Say
No Danger To
The People
The Town of Boone has
another mystery on its hands.
According to hundreds of calls
to City Hall, city water smells
like sewerage, cucumbers, wa
termelon rind, fish, Chlorox,
Texize, disinfectant, dead cows,
dead horses and fish scales. In
short, it's bitter.
And according to Jack Austin,
supervisor of streets and water
for Boone, the stench began
showing up last week, when he
himself thought a sample of
water vaguely smelled of cu
cumbers. To counter the un
known impurity, Austin said he
stepped up the chlorinator and
the situation began to clear up.
Then about noon Saturday,
Austin was called by Ray’s
Kingburgers, who reported that
the chlorine in their water sup
ply was too heavy. Next came
a call from photographer George
Flowers, who said his water
tanks had an odor about them.
At Flowers’ studio, Austin found
that the water was a rusty color
and contained residue.
Calling in Jack Cobb, Dis
trict Health Department Sani
tarian, Austin was in touch with
State Health Department Engi
neers in Raleigh. Determining
that city water was safe to
drink because of chlorination,
local and State officals began
seeking the cause of the weird
occurrence.
Boone Mayor Clyde R. Greene
took water samples to Raleigh
Monday where an analysis was
to be made and reported by
telephone at the earliest date.
No information was available
by Tuesday morning, but Cobb,
Austin and the Raleigh engi
neers continued their on-the
spot probe into the mystery.
Meanwhile, Austin had at
tempted to draw the city’s wa
ter from the main reservoir’s
feeder stream, but found this
source was not substantial
enough to keep the chlorinator
going.
The supervisor said a change
in water temperature can cause
a shallow lake to “turnover”
so that clear and heavy water
mix, “just like stirring it with
a stick.”
In any case, the foul-water
problem caused many Boone
residents to think their plumb
ing systems were rusting out
or otherwise unfit while others
are using less drinking water,
pending the officials’ findings.
The first problem encounter
ed with the new water system
was a shortage which was traced
to a major break in an under
ground line.
THE GREER FAMILY—Competing with 26 bands at the seventh annual Fiddler’s Convention
in Elkin, the Greer Family of Triplett won second place. At left is William Hartley, electric
guitar- Janice Greer playing a six-string guitar; and James Greer with his harmonica. Making
appearances on request, the three have performed at several local functions including the Boone
camp of the Daniel Boone Wagon Train and talent shows.
Parking Meters Will
Bite You, Apt As Not
Parking meter tickets, in a manner of speaking,
now have teeth in them.
After several years quietly abiding the whim of the
violator, the Town of Boone has instructed its traffic
division to enforce the penalties provided for delinquency
in paying parking meter fines.
Under the new system, the bite is as follows:
Fifty-cent parking tickets must be paid within 48
hours, as required by city ordinance. Stubs from unpaid
tickets then are collected and bills madeoutin an amount
double the original fine. If the owner of the car fails
to pay within seven days, a warrent is issued and he
is summoned to Mayor’s Court.
If found guilty there, the violator will receive an
additional fine plus court costs.
For 10 fifty-cent tickets, the statement will read,
“Payment of $10 for the above tickets will close your
case.” The doubling is done after expiration of the
48-hour deadline for payment.
ft An estimated 150 statements have been mailed to
A Boone residents.
“Diary Of Adam And Eve”
At Powder Horn Theatre
“The Diary of Adam and
Eve,” the first segment of the
recent Broadway hit musical
“The Apple Tree” will be pre
sented by Powder Horn Theater
Friday and Saturday, July 26and
27. The play is based onaBhort
story by Mark Twain.
The role of Eve will be played
by Phyllis MacBryde of Boone.
Phyllis serves as Nancy Ward’s
understudy for Horn in the West.
Tony Lewicki of Green Bay,
Wis., will portray Adam. He is
the Horn’s Jack Stuart.
Roger Howell of Weaverville,
N. C., the Horn’s Col. Mac
Keniie, is cast as the snake,
All three cast members hav<
(Continued on page two)
CHARLES L. YOUNCE
Chas. L Younce
New Principal
Lenoir Jr. Hi
Lenoir, July 16-On August 1,
. Charles L. Younce will assume
; duties as principal erf Lenoir
Junior High School.
A native of Boone, and a resi
dent of Lenoir for the past 17
years, Mr. Younce has served
as a teacher at Lenoir Junior
High School, principal of East
Harper Ekementary School,and
as a teacher in the Surry County
School system.
He had previously served as
sales manager of the Lenoir
Mirror Company, Union Mirror
Company and was connected with
(continued on page two)