BOONE Home of Appalachian State Uni rersity, in Boone, Blowing Rock and Unville Scenic Triable. VOL. LXXXI— NO. 9 Watauga democrat BOONE WEATHER "S Hi Lo Snow Prec. fn at Le An Independent Weekly Newspaper . . . Eiaht\- First v,„. tn ----vy Eighty.hrst Year of Continuous Publication BOONE, WATAUGA COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA. THURSDAY ATIC.itst oq ,n.o Aug. 20 84 62 Aug. 21 87 67 Aug. 22 89 59 Aug. 23 86 63 Aug. 24 86 63 Aug. 25 81 61 Aug. 26 75 58 .04 10 CENTS PFB rnav 73 60 70 01 69 63 66 60 65 60 70 74 75 55 TAKING SHAPE—ASU’s new split-level Book Store, beii« side the W. H. Plemmons Student Center. The structure is built at a cost of about $400,000, is steadily taking shape be- due to be completed by February. Election Dates September 6-16 Farmers Are Reminded To Vote; Community Nominees Listed GEORGE C. WALLACE Watauga Rally For Wallace Next Saturday A local county-wide organi zational meeting and rally will be held in Watai^a County for Volunteers for Presidential candidate George C. Wallace. The meeting will be held at the Watauga High School Saturday August 31 at 7:30p.m. The main speaker will be the State Chairman of the Ameri can Party erf North Carolina, Reid Stubbs of Charlotte and the State office of the Wallace campaign. The purpose of this meeting is to get workers and volunteers to organize and carry out the campaign in Watauga County. The public is invited to at tend. Blowing Rock Needs Recreation Director Applications are now being accepted for a part-time re creation director for the Town of Blowing Rock. Anyone interested should send Ids resume to the Rev. Richard Holsbouser, Blowing Rock, N.C. Farmers today got a last minute reminder from office manager Roy W. Isley about the ASC elections to be held Sept. 6-16. These elections are to select ASC farmer-committeemen who will serve for the 1969 year as local administrators of the National Farm - Agriculture Program. Ballots will be mailed to all eligible voters on record and anyone who does not receive a ballot should request one from the ASCS office. The ASC committees have charge of the local field ad ministration of the Burley Al lotment Program; the Agricul tural Conservation Program; the Wool Incentive Program; the Wheat Program; and the Feed Grain Program. Various other duties and programs are assigned by the Secretary of Agriculture as needs arise. Any person may vote in the election if he or she is of legal voting age, is a farm owner. Labor Shortage Halts Projects A shortage of available lab or, plus the maze of construc tion projects currently under way in the Boone are, have led to a host of problems con cerning proposed additions on the campus of Appalachian State University. The institution advertised for bids Aug. 15 for a paving and landscaping project for which $150,000 has been appropriated. ‘‘Not a single bid was re ceived,*' said ASU Director of Business Affairs Ned Trivette, who cited an extreme labor shortage as the prime reason. Eight days ago, the university received bids for the construc ton of eight additional tennis courts for which $40,000 had been appropriated. The low bid was in excess of $87,000. Will Ratify Fund Budget A meeting of the membership erf the Watauga County United Fund has been called for noon Thursday, Aug. 29, at the Card inal Restaurant. The purpose of the meeting, according to Fund President Jerry Moretz, will be to rat ify the budget and adopt by laws. It will be a dutch luncheon. And in recent days, bids for the construction of a central warehouse on the ASU campus were received. The low bid was about $10,000 above the $104, 000 set aside for the building project. “We are hopeful that the warehouse construction funds can be worked out,” Trivette offered. “And we plan to re advertise for bids on the land scaping and paving project ir about one month.” Most Stores To Close Labor Day Most downtown businesses will close in observance of Labor Day Monday, according to a spot survey taken by the Watauga Democrat. Most local businesses an swered with a definite no when asked if they would be open, however some firms apparently considered remaining open. One business wondered ‘‘What are the others doing?” The Crest Store indicated that they will remain open for busi net s oil Labor Day. Craftsmen Of 4 Counties To Show At Blowing Rock Craftsmen from Watauga, Avery, Mitchell and Yancey counties will display their handiwork at the second annual Blue Ridge Hearthslde Crafts Fair In the Blowing Rock City Park Saturday, Aug, 31. The Blowing Rock Art Show will be held In the park at the same time and craftsmen and artists will be there to greet the public. Frank Proffitt Jr. i who is well known for his dul cimer making and playing will demonstrate his art and other craftsmen plan to bring crafts items that they have never before shown. Handmade dolls, sweaters, bonnets and aprons; carved toys, animals and candleholders; wooden bowls and picture frames, honey suckle baskets, broom sage and broomcora brooms, and quilts in many patterns and styles, are just a few of the crafts that will be featured. Standard mountain toys also will be sold. Art displays and crafts booths will open at 9 a.m. Saturday. The fair is sponsored by the Blue Ridge Hearthside Crafts Association with the co operation of the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce and P*rks Commission. operator, tenant or share cropper; and is taking part or is eligible to participate in any of the farm programs ad ministered by the committee. A person who is in charge of the entire farming operations of a farm is eligible even if not of legal voting age. A per son may vote only once and may vote in the community where he lives or has an in terest in a farm. Ballots will be publicly counted at the ASCS Office Sept. 20. The nominee who re ceives the most votes in each community will serve as the chairman; the second most votes, vice-chairman; third most votes, regular member; and fourth and fifth place will serve as alternates. The three regular community committee men will meet at the county convention on Sept. 25, and sel ect a three-year county com mitteeman and two alternates. The chairman and vice-chair man for 1969 also will be sel ected. Incumbent community com mitteemen met Friday, Aug. 23, and drew up a slate of nominees. The county committeemen met Monday, Aug. 26, to complete the slate of nominees for the mail election ballots. The slate of nominees for each community follows: Beaver Dam: Howard Cable, Glyde Cornett, George P. Ed misten, Jesse Moore, Dudley Norris, Linville Norris, Har mon Presnell, Robert Warren and Fred Winebarger. Brushy Fork: Coy Billings, Lonnie Henson, Custer Hicks, Jack W. Hicks, Howard J. Hod ges, A. Y. Howell and Joe Mc Neil. Love Creek: Herbert Greer, Ralph Greer, Jack Henson, Burl Lawrence, J. T. Mast, Audie Presnell and J, C. Winebarger. Laurel Creek: Frank Cable, Leonard Ward, Charles Glenn, Ned Glenn, Graydon Hagaman, Bill Harmon, John Presnell and Roosevelt V, Presnell. Meat Camp: Fred N. Brown, Clenn Howell, ClydeS. Jackson, Willard Norris, James L. Penley, Blrine Stanberry and James F. Tennant. New River: Collis Austin, H. E. Brookshire, Wilson Brown, Marion O. Coffey, John Cook, Ed Critcher, Fred Critcherand Vance Keller. North Fork: Willie Laing, Claude May, Loyd Miller, Grady Potter, Mack Thomas, Mark Thomas, Argus Wallace and James D. Wilson. Shawneehaw: W. Fate Baird, Will Byrd, Clyde J. Eggers, Rus sel Farthing, Lee Ward and Arlen Yates. Stony Fork: J. L. Coffey, Sr., Doc Cox, W. B. Day, Don Hayes, Vester O. Phillips and W. H. Stanberry. Watauga: H. O. Aldridge, Spencer Aldridge, George Byrd, Don Cook, Robert W. Greene, Arlle B. Hodges, Claude Gar land, Jeff Shook and Tom Ward, —o ojsuriuiNS A Week Ahead Of Schedule T own’s $925,000Sewer Plant Now In Operation Can Provide For City Of Over 10,000 A sewer plant costing over $925,000 and capable of pro viding service for more than 10,000 people began operation last Thursday and engineers say it is the largest and most modern plant of its type in the area. The plant is designed to treat all types of sewage. Equipment such as a commutater for shred ding solid sewage, a detraner for scooping out the solid ma terial and a high rate trickling filter are a few of the pieces used to scientifically treat the waste material. Sewage at the station located on Daniel Boone Drive in Boone, can be pumped through the plant’s four large pumps at an average rate of 1.8 million gallons a day. Peak flow for the pumps is 3 million gallons, while the average flow for the Boone area is only 500,000gal lons a day. After passing through the pumping station, sewage enters a primary tank where solid material is allowed to settle to the bottom. It is then scraped off. The water then goes to a unit looking something like a lawn sprinkler. BACTERIA The high rate trickling fil ter is a circular pit 109 feet across filled 8 feet deep with fist-sized rocks. On these rocks grow a type of bacteria capable of destroying the types of bac teria found in sewage water. Waste water is poured over and through the rocks. After treat mant in the trickling filter, the water enters a secondary tank where solid waste can set tle to the bottom. By this time any solid material left in the water is very fine. Water is piped from the sec ondary tank to the chlorine con tact chamber where the puri fying chemical is added at a dosage recommended by the state and adjusted by several instruments located in the lab oratory. After passing through the contact chamber the water is clean and pure and is emp tied into the South Fork of New River. «ccoraing 10 ^onny tfullard, an inspector with Moore-Gard ner Engineers, the water pass ed into New River is no dif ferent from the water already there. He added that most peo ple have a misconception about a sewage treatment operation. “People think that this is a nasty, smelly, dirty job,” he said. “After waste is treated, there's not a thing wrong with it.” waste matter stays with the plant much longer than do liquids. After solid material is taken from the water it is dumped into a “holding hop per” where samples are studied in the lab to determine the amount and type of treatment necessary. Lime is usually added to the solid waste in the hopper before it is pumped to a hugh digester measuring 60 feet in diameter and almost 100 feet deep. In the digester the waste is heated to a constant 80 degrees, which Bullard says helps the material to give off its gaseous waste sooner. After lengthy treatment in the digester the sludge is pumped into sand filled drying boxes where it dries in the sun and open air. The material is poured four to five inches thick and dries to a cake about a inch and a half thick. Bullard said this cake is completely treated and is not in anyway contaminated. He commented that some sewage disposal plants, notably on the (Continued cn page seven) «A?i3*D>rL °F SCH00L? With children pouring over the railing and runnirg out the doors at Pr, Vaca,t,on hasu just started- Actually it’s just ended and these youngsters! Dr W GN4* 1 7h"? °°! are leaving the building after the first day ofschool. ' * * Person, school principal, reported that opening day business went well and said that 885 children attended first-day classes. (Staff photo) 11 and S3ld Viverette Is Named Head Of State REA Corp. Cecil E. Viverette, general manager of Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation of Lenoir, was elected in Raleigh as new president of North Caro lina Electric Membership Cor poration. N.C. EMC is the bargaining and negotiating organization of North Carolina’s electric coo peratives. Viverette was picked to head the organization at the conclusion of a three-day meet ing of N. C. EMC and Tarheel Electric Membership Associa tion in Raleigh August 22. A leader in the area served by Blue Ridge, Viverette i~ a past president of Tarheel Electric. Blue Ridge EMC, largest electric cooperative in the state and one of the largest in the ration, serves 23,000 con sumer-owners in Alexander, Mleghany, Ashe, Caldwell, Wat luga and Wilkes counties. Red Cross Board Will Meet Friday The Board of Directors of he Watauga Chapter of the American Red Cross will hold ts regular meeting at the Car linal RestaurantFridayatnoon. All members are urged to ttend. County Schools Have Total 4,122 Students A total of 4,122 students were enrolled in Watauga County Schools by the end of the second school day. This is an increase of 99 students over the second day of the 1967-68 school term. Of the eight elementary Is Host Weed Researchers Arlie B. Hodges of Sugar Grove was host to the North Carolina Burley Tobacco Re search Workers last Thursday. He was assisted in explain ing the test on his farm to control tobacco blackroot rot by L. E. Tuck wilier, County Extension Chairman; Furney A. Todd, Extension Tobacco Di sease Specialist; and Harold Ross, Extension Agronomy Specialist (Tobacco). The test on the Hodges farm consisted of the use of the seven different chemicals in corporated into the soil before tobacco was set, plus the use of two varieties of tobacco one of which is supposed to be highly resistant to the blackroot rot disease. Each test plot is now clearly marked and Hodges invites to bacco growers to come by and see the response to each chemi cal before the tobacco is cut. schools, only three registered fewer than the comparative number for the year before. Cove Creek Elementary had 15 less that its 67-68 number, Green Valley had 18 leas and Valle Crucis showed a decrease of 15. Appalachian Elementary picked up an additional 73 stud ents for a total of 907. Other increases were Bethel, 6; Blow in Rock, 12; Mabel, 10; and Parkway, 19. Enrollment at Watauga High School is 1,212, which reflects an increase of 28 students over the 67-68 figures for the second day of the term. The trainable mentally retarded class has seven enrolled this year—a de crease of one student from the previous school year. Elementary schools enroll ments of 2,910 are broken down this way. Appalachian has 907; Bethel, 181; Blowing Rock, 280; Coye Creek, 364; Green Valley, 290; Mabel, 213; Parkway, 436; and Valle Crucis, 232 for 1968 69. The total includes the train able class of seven. Busses ran on schedule and authorities commented that this was one of the better first days of school. Boone Police Chief Red Lyons said that traffic ran “better than expected”. One teaching vacancy on the elementary level was reported by the county school board. Horn In West Closes; Expects $2,500 Profit A profit of about $2,500 is expected to be realized when the final bookwork of the 1968 Horn In The West season is completed within the next few weeks. The outdoor drama ended its summer productions last Sat urday night with a total of 30, 051 paid admissions for an average of 631.3 persons per performance. The attendance figure was 2,644 above the 1967 total, although the drama played on six more dates (55) last summer than in 1968. Co. GOP To Open Campaign Sept. 7th Watauga Republican Chair man Cecil Miller announced Tuesday that the local GOP will officially open its 1968 campaign Saturday, Sept, 7, with an all-day open house and picnic featuring Congressman James Broyhill, Miller said the county head quarters will be located in down town Boone, in the building formerly occupied by Todd & Higgins Service Station. He indicated that open house will be held as part of the opening day activities and that Republicans, Democrats and In dependents all are invited to stop by the new headquarters. The Sept. 7 activities will be climaxed by a campaign kick off rally and picnic at the Horn in the West picnic grounds late that afternoon. Miller said local candidates and a number of state candidates will be on hand for the rally. Horn In The West, which experienced a loss of approxi mately $11,000 a year ago, has expenses this year of about $78,500. The final income total, when funds from the concessions and gift shop-country store are received, should be approxi mately $81,000. The nightly breakdown for the drama was: 5,317 paid admis sions on eight Tuesdays for a 665 average; 4,065on eight Wed nesdays for 508 avenge; 3,990 on eight Thursdays for 490 average; 4,463 on eight Fridays for 558 average; 9,048 for »< Saturdays for 1,005 avan«se and 3,238 on eight Sundays tor 405 average. Of tbe 25,684 tickets sold at the Daniel Boone Theater ticket office, 4,649 were for the $3.50 reserved seats; 5,888 for tS seats; 8,752 for IB seats; 1,914 for $1.50 children's tickets in the $3 section; and 4,481 ft children’s tickets tor the it section. (Continued on pngs seven) ■ ■ t 't. .<