WATAUGA DEMOCRAT
_ An independent Weekly Neuxpaper ... Eighty-Second Year of Continuous Publication
BOONE, WATAUGA COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1970
10 CENTS
VOL. LXXXII—NO. 33
BOONE WEATHER
UTO HI Lo Prtc. Snow M HI
Feb. 10 34 22 .18 2”
Feb. 11 38 23 .06 1”
Feb. 12 34 20 .05 1”
Feb. 13 41 23
Feb. 14 41 26
Feb. 15 58 40 31
Feb. 16 47 36 .47
39
42
34
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38
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22 PAGES—2 SECTIONS
NEW SHOW QUEEN—Pretty Miss Becky Harrill was crowned the new Snow Queen of the South
Saturday night during the annual Snow Ball held at Seven Devils. Placing the crown on her head
is Miss Pat Nfczingo, the retiring queen. (Flowers photo)
Becky Harrill Is
New Snow Queen
A tall, stately blonde Appa
lachian coed from Forest City
is the new Snow Queen of the
South.
Miss Becky Harr ill was
crowned during the annual Snow
Ball Saturday night at Seven
Devils.
She was crowned by Mss Pat
Mozlngo of Charlotte who held
the title as the first Snow Queen
Northwestern
Bank Gives ASU
500 Shares Stock
The Northwestern Bank of
North Wilkes boro has given 500
shares of its Capital Corpor
ation Stock to ApjwlachianState
University, Dr. Herbert W, Wey,
ASU president annouiced Mon
day afternoon.
Notification of the gift which
is to become part of the univer
sity's Permanent Endowment
Fund, came from James Dot
son, Trust Officer of the bank.
The stock is valued in excess
of $5.00 per share and pays divi
dends semiannually.
Area Hospitals
Get Duke Funds
Appropriations amounting to
$1,829,264 are being paid to
tospitals and child care institu
tions In the Carollnas this week
by the Duke Endowment.
Watauga County and area hos
pital bequests are as fallow*!
Watauga County Hospital $3,
069; Blowing Rock Hospital $225|
Charles A. Cannon Jr. Memor
ial Hospital, Banner Elk, $2,582;
Garrett Memorial Hospital,
Crossnore $524.
Grandfather Home for Child
ren, Banner Elk, received
$19,214^3 of the Duke disburse
ment.
during the last year.
Miss Harrill was selected
from among the four finalists
who gathered with Snow Carni
val officials during the final
weekend of the annual event.
The new 21-year-old queen
will represent the Snow Carni
val of the South in numerous
television, radio and parade ap
pearances during the next 12
months.
The other finalists were Mar
ilyn J. Bennert, a University of
Georgia coed, third runner-up;
Linda Braswell of Boone, a stu
dent at UNC-Greensboro, who
was second runner-up; and Bar
bara Ford, a speech drama ma
jor at East Tennessee State Uni
versity, first runner-up to
Miss Harrill.
Each of the contestants re
ceived a trophy. They also were
presented a pair of skis each, a
gift from Howard Cottrell, man
ager of the Appalachian State
University Bookstore.
Miss Harr ill, an even six feet
tall, is the daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Marion King HarrUl of
Forest City. She is an alumna of
East Rutherfordton High School.
An Appalachian coed, she has
had experience in public speak
ing and debating. Hei special in
terests are skiing, tennis, golf,
swimming, basketball, painting
and dramatics.
Two years ago, Becky was
elected sweetheart of the Col
legiate Civics Club. The follow
ing year she was Key Club
Sweetheart and currently is jun
ior representative to the 1970
]^fay Court.
The four finalists were se
lected from a field of 11 con
testants. Charles Taylor of
Boone, chairman of the Snow
Queen selection committee, an
nounced that all the entrants have
been named as Snow Carnival
(Continued on page two)
C & D Board Has Meeting Here
Governor Says More And
Better Roads Are Vital
Board Spends
Time Viewing
Ski Facilities
An appearance by Gov. Bob
Scott highlighted the two-day
meeting of the State Board of
Conservation and Development
last week in the Boone area*
Scott addressed a banquet
meeting of the board Friday
night where they were guests
of the Snow Carnival Commit
tee.
Some 300 people attended the
banquet and dance held in the
Holiday Inn. Master of cere
monies was Bob Bingham, chair
man erf the Snow Carnival Com
mittee.
Scott used the occasion to ask
the 27-man board’s help in
pushing his road program. He
noted that good roads are
essential to economic develop
ment and said “we are
conscious about how roads have
been lacking up here ... and
you’ve been living a long time
with it.”
He said, 4Tf we are to fol
low through on our goal of
getting clean, high wage in
dustries into our predominately
rural areas, and thus keeping
our population dispersed, then
it is essential that we have more
and better roads into our rural
areas,”
He said good roads are just
as important to C&D members
as to the highway commission.
**I hope we’ll all cooperate to
that end,” he said.
Headquarters ior tne roarers
activities and business sessions
was Hound Ears Lodge. The
meeting opened Friday morning
with a general session. Division
meetings were held the rest of
the day with a final business
session of the full board Satur
day morning. Many of the mem
bers and their wives stayed
through Sunday for further visits
to resorts in the area.
Much of the board’s time was
spent in an on-the-spot Inspec
tion of the growth of the ski
Industry In Watauga and Avery
counties. The board, along with
Scott, were given a bus tour of
all five ski centers Saturday.
And Friday afternoon they
were participants in the Snow
Carnival Parade in Boone,
Official host for the C&D
Board was the Snow Carnival
committee, headed by Bingham.
A number of reports were
considered and announced by
the board during iu> two-day
meeting.
The division of mineral re
sources told the board that the
value of mineral production in
North Carolina during 1969
reached a record high of $85.3
million.
The division said this exceeds
by three per cent the $82.8
million production in 1968 and is
the fifth consecutive year that
(Continued on page two)
HEART QUEEN OF 1970_Little Miss Sandra Barnett, age 7, will reign over the third annual
Heart Ball of Watai«a Couify next Thursday, Feb. 26, at the Eseeola Lodge In Linville. This
picture of Sandra and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lee Barnett, was made at the kickoff luncheon (or
the current Heart Find campaign. At age 6, Sandra underwent open-heart surgery at Emory Uni
versity HoeplttU In Allards, She will be crowned by the reigning Queen of Hearts, Mrs. Wade
Wilmoth of Bum. Qtatf photo)
SKIING ANYONE—Gov. Bob Scott gets the feel of skis at Beech South, Kitty Falger and her husband Willie, directors of the ski
Mountain, as a pair of the world's outstanding instructors look school at Beech, The governor spent Saturday touring the area's
on. In the party are Miss Pat Mozingo Cleft), Snow Queo.1 of the ski resorts, (Flowers photo)
Production Time Lag Will Aid In
Saving Land From Mining Dangers
A normal production “time
lag'* will work in favor of pro
tecting scenic lands in North
western North Carolina from a
new strip mining threat.
The appraisal was given to a
group of citizens meeting with
the mineral resources division
of the State Department of Con
servation and Development Fri
day, Feb, 13, at Hound Ears,
The group was protesting sur
face mining plans of the Gibbsite
Corp. of Rochester, N. Y„ which
has acquired leases on an esti
mated 10,000 to 15,000 acres
Commissioners
In Watauga File
For Re-Election
Watauga County’s three in
cumbent county commissioners
have filed for re-election for
their second two-year terms.
The entire board, headed by
Chairman Perry Greene, paid
their $10 filing fee last week at
the office of J, D, Winebarger,
chairman of the county board of
elections.
Filing with Greene were Ken
neth Wilcox and Gene \\ ilson,
Winebarger said three com
missioners were the only candi
dates as of Tuesday who have
filed. He said the office in the
courthouse will be open full time
beginning March 2,
If theincumbantcommission
ers have opposition from within
their party, they will face their
first test with voters in the May
2 primary. Otherwise, they will
be subject to the general elec
tion in November,
of land in North Carolina and
Virginia,
State Geologist Stephen Con
rad told the group that the “time
lag” in the actual development
of the process and production
will give the state time to act.
He said it normally requires
10 to 15 years between dis
covery of a mineral deposit and
production,
Conrad predicted that the 1971
legislature will be faced with a
strip mining law that will pro
tect lands from unsightly use.
Two further methods of pro
tecting the area from scenic
abuse were offered by the di
Any plans for mineral ex
ploitation that involves waste
would have to meet require
ments of the state's Board of
Water and Air Resources be
fore it begins operation.
And, county governments now
have the power to zone land
that could be used to put up
restrictions against scenic
abuse.
Attending the division's meet
ing were Mrs, Doris Potter,
president of the 11-county
Northwest North Carolina De
velopment Association; R. Philip
Hanes Jr„ Winston-Salem
manufacturirg executive; Webb
Smailing, manager of the Wilkes
Chamber of Commerce, and
Gardner Ridley (if Winston
Salem, a recreation consultant,
Mrs, Potter told the division
that the Gibbsite Corporation
has leased lands in Ashe, Al
leghany, Wilkes and Surry
counties and areas in South
western Virginia,
She said the firm plans to use
a new process to separate the
ore out of the earth, Mrs, Pot
ter explained that the Gibbsite
Correction In Road Work Report
The last paragraph of oQr Feb. 12 story about secondary
road work In Watauga County Is in error.
As Gilbert Mast, engineer for the District Highway Depart
ment, points out, the $18,087.39 was allocated for the paving of
Howard's Creek Road and Clint Norris Road, which has been
completed.
That part of the funds “to complete Rainbow Trail, the old
Hartley Road, Hampton Road, Coffey Road, Big Branch Road and
Spice Creek Road" should not have been grouped under paving
programs. Mast explains this means that grading, drainage and
stabilizing of the roads is being accomplished with these funds.
The projects are now 90 per cent finished, he added.
We regret the error and hope this will clarify the situation for
those who reside on the roads named in the last paragraph.
Corporation is a new subsiduary
of the Colonial Oil and Gas
Corporation, The parent firm,
she noted, was organized in
August, 1968,
Hanes told the three-man C&D
division that lands optioned by
the Gibbsite Corporation lie
among Rogers Park and the vast
Stone Mountain reservation that
have been given to the state
for development as a park. He
said that there are instances
where lands under option to
Gibbsite lie within 50 feet of the
Blue Ridge Parkway escarp
ment.
He asked that division to seek
some sort of “holding action’*
from the C&D board to halt the
Gibbsite exportation,
Conrad indicated that with
out legislation, the state is
powerless to halt the operation,
“I don’t know of any action the
state can take to prevent’’people
from disposing of the minerals
on land they own, he said,
John Watlington of Winston
Salem, chairman of the mineral
division, said the division would
be premature in seeking a state
ment from the full C &D board
in opposition to the Gibbsite
jians.
He urged Hanes and the group
to seek earlier relief from the
counties where Gibbsite is hold
ii*' land options, Watlington said
the matter could be brought up
again at the board’s spring
meeting in April in Winston
Salem,
Conrad said that the Gibbsite
Corporation has “just blanketed
Ski Report
Skiing conditions Tuesday
ranged from fair to poor on
three slopes in the Watauga
area. Two slopes were closed.
As reported by the Chamber
of Commerce reporting service
in Boone, the following con
ditions were prevalent:
Appalachian Ski Mountain had
only beginners and intermediate
slopes open with fair conditions.
The base was 16 inches at 38
degrees.
All slopes at Beech Moun
tain were open with fair con
ditions. Bases were 15 Inches
at 40 degrees.
Hound Ears, for members and
guests only, reported poor con
ditions at 40 degrees.
Sugar Mountain and Seven
Devils were closed.
the area with as much tana as
they could get under lease. The
next step will be drilling to see
which to drop,**
Mrs. Potter told the division
(Continued on page seven)
Honorary Head Of
Arthritis Chapter
In County Named
Mrs. Ted Tester of the Beth
el community has been named
honorary chairman of the Wa
tauga County Chapter of the
Arthritis Foundation of North
Carolina.
Serving with her as co-chair
men of organization and the
funds drive are Mr. and Mrs.
Arinfield Coffey of Route 3,
Boone. Announcement comes
from diaries Attardi Jr.t field
director vsith the Arthritis
Foundation of North Carolina.
Attardi says that figures from
the Federal Department of
Health. Education and Welfare
indicate that one out of every 11
people in Watauga County stffer
from some type of arthritis.
A drive for funds is planned for
May.
Holshouser Is
Running Again
For N. C. Senate
Republican State Rep. Jim
my Holshouser has announced
that he will seek re-election as
representative of the 44th Dis
trict for Watauga, Avery and
Mitchell counties.
Holshouser, who is chairman
of the State Republican Party,
will be seeking his fourth term
in the House.
Ilolshouser’s announcement
had been expected. And as a lea
der among the youthful segment
of this party, he has be in men
tioned in Republican Party cir
cles as a possible candidate for
governor.
Holshouser was an opponent
tor Gov. Dob Scott’s tax pack
age which included Increased
and new taxes in a number of
areas to finance the current ap
propriations program.
Locally, Holshouser is attor
ney for the Watauga Countv
(Continued on page two)