BOONE
Home of Appalachian State Uni
versity; in Boone, Blowing Rock
and Linville Scenic Triangle.
WATAUGA DEMOCRAT
_An independent Weekly Newspaper . . . Eighty-First Year of Continuous Publication
BOONE WEATHER
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VOL. LXXXI—NO. 21
BOONE, WATAUGA COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1968
10 CENTS PER COPY
26 PAGES—3 SECTIONS
Dr. Miller Is
Given Honor For
U. S. Service
Dr. Banner I. Miller, Class of
1939, was recently awarded the
U. S. Department of Commerce
Silver Medal for meritorious
federal service.
The silver medal, the second
highest award given by the De
partment, was presented to Mil
ler in a ceremony at the De
partment of Commerce Build
ing in Washington, D. C„ Oct.
29. The presentation was made
by Secretary C. R. Smith and
by Dr. Robert M. White, Ad
ministrator for the Environ
mental Sciences Services Ad
ministration.
The citation which Miller re
ceived stated that the medal was
awarded “for valuable contri
butions in developing improved
techniques for forecasting the
movement of hurricanes.*’ Mil
ler is Chief of the Prediction
Development Branch of ESSA’s
National hurricane Research
Laboratory, with offices on the
Campus of the University of
Miami, Coral Gables, Fla.
Miller graduated from Appa
lachian in 1938, He later at
tended New York University
where he earned a master of
science degree and the Uni
versity of Chicago, receiving
his Ph. D, from that institu
tion. He has published numer
ous papers in scientific jour
nals and is the co-author of
an authoritative book on hurri
canes, “Atlantic Hurricanes,’’
published in 1960 by LSU Press.
A revised edition was issued
in 1964.
Miller is the son of the late
Mr. and Mrs. Isom S. Miller
who were long time residents
of Boone.
CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS were unloaded and stored Friday in the former fire truck garage
at City Hall. Helping his mother with some of the material is young Craig Russing, age 11.
Mrs. Bev Russing is chairman of the Chamber of Commerce committee on Yule decorations
and recently devised a rental plan for leasing decorations cheaper than buying them and re
placing them periodically. (Staff photo)
Dr. Evans Principal Speaker
At Annual Farm-City Dinner
BY RACHEL RIVERS
The Farm-City Week Dinner
crowd of 265 listened intently
to the story Dr. H. C. Evans
told:
A man was on his deathbed,
the minister wag waiting beside
him.
Suddenly the patient sat up,
tried to speak, tried to form
words, then fell back in exhaus
tion.
The minister called the doc
tor, told him the patient was
trying so hard to ^,x>ak. . .
if only they could help him.
Again the patient began form
ing words, but reached to the
bed table to scribble something
on a sheet of paper. The minis
ter started to pray.
The doctor read the note—
“Get off my oxygen tube.”
TOGETHERNESS
The educator used this story
as part of his theme that “As
we grow in number, we grow
closer and closer and closer
together. We step on their oxy
gen tube, they step on ours.
“If we could just understand
we’re all the same people.”
He gave his audience a smatt
ering of experiences living in
a town of 2,500 another of 7,000
and a city of seven million. He
told about a woman from a New
Dr H.C Ev»n« of Leee-McBeeCollage chat!with A.T. Adams
after tbs Farm-City Week Dinner teat weak. CStlff photo)
York slum area who worked 12
to 14 hours a day scrubbing
floors to take care of a bum hus
band and put two small children
through school.
There was the boy who had
the world’s troubles laid at his
feet, he and the child in a Penn
sylvania camp who broadened
Evan’s outlook when he said
“There goes our chauffeur in
his Cadillac.”
As a truant officer in Morris
town, Dr. Evans asked a nice
looking boy for directions to the
home of a truant student. The
young man identifies himself as
Gwyn Hayes Is
New Alderman
Boone businessman Gwyn
Hayes has been appointed by
the Town Board erf Aldermen
to serve the unexpired term
of the late F red Gragg.
Mayor Clyde R. Greene says
Hayes will take the oath of
office at Thursday night’s meet
ing of the Aldermen in City
Hall. Other Boone Aldermen
are Dr. Hadley M. Wilson and
Dr. James B. Graham.
Mr. Gragg had accepted the
appointment to the Board after
the resignation of Phil Vance,
who had been elected to the
position.
the hunted one and ran.
Working with the mentally re
tarded, Dr. Evans said he had
known “Boys and girls with IQs
of 40 and 50 who could outwit
me.” Some low-IQ 18-year
olds also managed to get jobs
paying more than that of their
teacher.
Once he got a call from a lady
who said her 11 children were
naked and needed clothes. Going
to the home, he found good cloth
es piled from floor to ceiling.
“What’s going on here?” he
asked. “My washing machine
is broken,” she said.
In Banner Elk, N. C., he
met a man he described as
illiterate, isolated, intelli
gent and brilliant at the same
time.
But “Everyone has the same
needs,” he said. “Children here
want the same things children
want in New York City.”
He said he learned two pri
mary things from psychology.
One was rapport, “the ability
to learn to understand others’
problems.” The other was em
pathy whereby “I actually can
step into your shoes. I, for a
moment, become you.” He add
ed this is “The greatest close
He told the group that heart
and mind are essential but most
important is a soul with “room
for people because it has room
(Continued on page two)
Farm Chairman Gives Warning
Grazing Animals Die In
Watauga From Poison
WHITE SNAKEROOT—-“So common, it’s a wonder more animals aren’t sick,” says County
Agent L.E. Tuckwiller. A dry season hurt pasture, causing many animals to ingest the dis
tasteful herb. In Watauga County alone, six grazing animals already are dead from poisoning
accumulated over a period of several days.
JAMES D. BARKER
James Barker
Gets Position
In Raleigh
James D. Barker and for
merly of Ashe County has ac
cepted a position as Associate
State Supervisor in Trade and
Industry Education for the North
Carolina Department of Public
Instruction in Raleigh.
Barker is presently teaching
at Watauga High School where
he has been employed for three
years. He also has taught ex
tension classes for N. C. State
University and Caldwell Tech
while in Boone.
He received his B.S. from
Appalachian State University in
1965 and is working toward his
M.A.
Early Edition Next Week
Next week’s edition of the Democrat will come from
the presses Monday evening rather than Tuesday to take
care of tht Thanksgiving advertising needs of some of
the local business houses.
The Democrat is glad to render this special service
for Thanksgiving week and respectfully asks that ad
vertisers and contributors cooperate fully during the
current week to help us make this advanced deadline.
Monday, it is again reminded, will be like Tuesday
normally is—too late for any but hard news copy.
Snakeroot Is
Given As Cause
Of Fatalities
Two horses and four cows
have died and several other
animals in Watauga County are
sick with fall poisoning, which
is sometimes known as milk
sick disease or white snakeroot
poisoning.
The County Extension Chair
man, L. E. Tuckwiller, said the
weed poisoning seems to be
worse at the higher elevations,
“in areas surrounding Rich
Mountain on all sides and out
on the Beech Mountain.’
Not only does fall poisioning
affect grazing animals such as
cattle, sheep, hogs, horses and
goats, it also can affect humans
drinking milk from the affect
ed animals.
And the weed which causes the
poisoning is “so common,’ says
Tuckwiller, “it’s a wonder more
animals aren’t sick.’’
UVE OR DEAD
“The weed grows in shady
places or rich cove land and
results in what we call an ac
cumulative poisioning.” Tuck
willer said that an animal may
eat it for several days, though
it may be “perhaps three to
four weeks before he is af
fected.
“Evidently, it doesn’t taste
good to animals, but they eat
it because of grass failure or
dry weather such as we’ve had
this year.”
Frost kills it he said, but
it still can be potent after dead
and if baled with hay for winter
feed. If it is consumed before
a snowfall, the symptoms may
show up when animals are un
der stress such as produced by
stoppage of grazing or shipping.
A State-produced pamphlet
called “Stock Poisoning Plants
(Continued on page two)
Boone Burley Mart
Auctions To Start
The Boone Tobacco Market
opens at 9 Monday morning
with sales starting out in the
Farmers Burley warehouse just
west of Boone.
Manager R. C. Coleman said
Tuesday that three-quarters of
a million pounds burley was
pn the floors of Farmer’s Bur
ley where daily quotas will be
sold until the house is empty.
Then buyers will go to Big Bur
ley on the Highway 105-421
Bypass and sell out there while
the other warehouse is being
refilled.
Sale days will be Monday
through Saturday each week al
though sales will be called off
Thursday, Nov. 28, in obser
vance of Thanksgiving Day.
Sales will run from 9 a.m.
until the quota has been sold.
The Boone market serves to
bacco farmers in Watauga,
Avery, Ashe*Alleghany, Yancey
and Mitchell as well as other
mountain counties. Tobacco long
has been Watauga’s king crop
in the listing of total income
from agricultural pursuits.
Overall, farmers who traded
their tobacco in Boone’s ware
houses last year received pay
ments in the vicinity of two and
a quarter million dollars. This
season, all major tobacco buy
ing companies again will be
represented at the sales.
Coleman said there is no set
duration for market operations
here. Some 350 people are ex
pected to be involved in each
day’s sales.
(continued on page two)
G.O.P. Victory
Rally Tonight
A Republican victory rally
will be held Thursday night
in the Holiday Inn Restaurant
in Boone.
Republican county officials
along with Tenth District Rep.
Jim Broyhill will be featured.
Dinner time is 7 p. m.
Local Marriages Increase
Bigger Baby Crop Seen For Watauga County
Aj was predicted, the postwar baby boom that took
place in Watauga County during the late '40s is now
producing a marriage boom.
And, in turn, the marriage boom means that a bigger
baby crop may be expected (or the next (ew years.
In general, the annual ratio between number of
births and number of marriages In the local area Is about
2.88.
As a consequence, with the marked increase In
marriages locally, a corresponding rise in births Is
foreseen.
Beports from all over the country show a sharp
advance in the number of marriages taking place. In the
first six months of 1968 alone, the total was up more
than IQ percent over last year.
No less than 2,000,000 couples in the United States
will be marching to the altar this year, as against 1,523,
400 in 1960, it is estimated.
The figures are from the Department of Commerce
and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
On the basis of their findings, the marriage rate in
Watauga County is now approximately 8.3 per 1,000
residents.
By way of comparison, the rate was 7.4 per 1,000
in the local area in 1964.
The upswing is directly attributed to the sharp rise
in the number of young people who have arrived at the
marrying age.
The latest Census Bureau figures show that there are
some 1,729 young men and women locally between the
ages of 20 and 25, which is the span in which most first
marriages take place.
This is a greater number than is usual in that age
group.
With each new marriage a new family is formed and,
with each family a new household, with its need of furni
ture, dishes, linens, floor covering, electrical appliance,
draperies and many other items that go into housekeeping.
Eventually, the need will be for baby carriages, too.
The Census Bureau estimates that the average
annual increase in number of households in the United
States, for the next few years, will be about 1,200,000
as compared with 882,000 in the 1960-66 period.