Population
Watauga County 22,669
10 Year Gain 29.27%
Boone 8.5M
W Year Gain 131.39%
■ U. S. Census na^,r prsiimkwrv
VOLUME—LXXXIII—NO. 10
WATAUGA DEMOCRAT
J ; An Independent Newspaper Serving The Northwest Carolina Mountain Area
__ BOONE, WATAUGA COUNTY, N. C. THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 1970 io CENTS
' . ■; v V,- &
Boone Area
Chamber
Needs You
2R PACS’C_o efr*TTAMo
Hie reading of bids was completed in about half an hour last Thursday. Seated
(from left) are Board of Education member S. C. Eggers Sr., architect Fred
Butner Jr., (standing) Butner’s associate Elwood Wilson, and schools
superintendent Swanson Richards and board member Hugh Hagaman. At
extreme left is John H. Bingham, the board’s attorney. (Staff photo)
Many Queries, Problems
Come To Chamber Office
“I am a student and would
like to transfer to Boone. Can
you give me some information
about accommodations, em
ployment?”
“Please send a list of the
presidents of local
businesses.”
“What are the dates of Horn
in the West? How can I get
tickets?"
“We need brochures and real
estate information.”
“Please send the name of a
good insurance company.”
Such requests are com
monplace at the office of the
Boone Area Chamber of
Commerce, and Mrs. Frank
Ragan, Mrs. Bennie Miller and
Miss Pat Pardue can tell you
all about it—between an
swering telephone calls and
waiting on customers at the
counter.
Starting Monday, a fourth
young woman will be working
part-time at the Boone
Chamber. She is Mrs. Tony
(Deborah) Ray.
And there’s never a dull
moment for any of them.
The girls give information
about license tags and in
winter operate the local
License Bureau for the con
venience of residents.
They keep listings of rental
property.
Sometimes they help people
get reservations—or in lieu of
vacancies in area motels, they
contact residents who will rent
a room or two for the night.
In the case someone wants to
know the name of a good
business of any kind, Mrs.
Miller says they supply a list of
all firms—such U all in
surance agents, •ft'real estate
dealers, and so bit
The letters to be answered
each day average 20, but
Chamber Manager Fred
McNeal says up to 200 letters
have been answered in one
day.
And in keeping with the
emergence of the area as a
year-around recreation
retreat, there’s no let-up in the
work to be done.
The girls have a
mimeographing department
Body MissingGirl
F oundNear Dallas
A young native of the Watauga section of Todd was found
dead last week in the woods near Dallas.
The victim, 20-year-old Virginia Main, had been missing
since Aug. 21, the night she left the home of Mr. and Mrs. Coyt
Matthews, Gastonia residents, to go shopping downtown.
She was found Wednesday, Sept. 2, her body badly decom
posed and Gaston County Coroner Bill McLean said the following
day that the girl was shot in the head with three 25-calibre
bullets.
The Coroner said the disarray of Miss Mains’ clothing
suggested she was sexually molested, "that this may have been
the motive for the attack that took her life." A definite conclusion
would be difficult, he said, as the body had been exposed to ex
tremely warm weather for about 12 days.
The Matthewses turned in a missing person report in
Gastonia on Saturday, Aug. 22. Her mother, Mrs. Biddle Main of
Todd, learned Virginia was missing Sunday, Aug. 23, and began
efforts through newspapers and radio stations to learn her
daughter’s whereabouts. The girl’s father died July 21 in a
drowning accident.
Near Miss Main’s partially disrobed body lay a can of hair
spray and an Aug. 21 copy of the Gastonia Gazette. That was the
night she told Mr. and Mrs. Matthews that she would be retur
ning home after shopping in Gastonia.
Miss Main was a housekeeper and companion to Mrs.
Matthews, an invalid. One of the Matthews’ sons bad reported
seeing Virginia downtown about 7:30. He said she had bought a
record and a newspaper and was planning to return to the house
after buying some shoes.
The body was discovered early Wednesday morning of last
week just off a rural road north of Dallas. Other items police
found near her were a record, newly purchased pantyhose, car
keys, a small handbag and a boa of Anacin.
Mias Main is survived by her mother, Mrs. Blddie H. Main of
Todd; seven sisters, Mrs. Wade Miller, Mrs. Dean Miller and
Mrs. Wayne Elm of Bristol, Va., Mrs. Robert Wood and Mrs.
Elmer Green*, of King George, Va., Mrs. Burl Miller of Fleet
wood and Mrs. Guy Miller of New Castle, Del.; and six brothers,
Johnny and Glenn Main of Boone, and Dean, Walter, 1homas and
Billy Main of Todd.
' The funeral was held at 2 p. m. Saturday at Blackburn
Tabernacle, Todd. Burial was In tha Hopewell Cemetery. —
from which they disburse
minutes of Chamber mem
bership and directors’
meetings and other materials
as called for.
They are regularly called
upon to explain how to get
there from here; to help people
find jobs; to prepare material
for Chamber publications; to
help locate people who are
vacationing here, but the caller
doesn’t know where.
And they hear complaints
about poor service in a motel or
(Continued on page two)
Superior
Court Set
For 21st
Watauga Superior Court will
convene Monday September
21, with Judge P. C. Frone
berger of Gastonia, presiding.
' Hon. W. H. Childs, Jr., the
Solicitor will prosecute the
docket of some 40 cases, 18 of
which are misdemeanors and
22 felonies.
The following have been
summoned for jury duty:
Dorothy L. Aldridge, Floy Baird,
1 Faye Perry Calloway, Ralph
Church, Don C. Cook, William F.
Edmisten, Mary Sue Greene, Rosa
Eva Greene, Lena M. Harmon,
Charles Oscar Hartley, Clayton
Hicks, Mrs. Clyde T. Jones,
Howard Bingham McGuire,
Gardner Matheson, William H.
Miller, Susie G. Norris, Wllborn
Rominger, Cecil Lee Small and
Bonnie H. Steelman.
Ronald Steve Triplett, Alfred B.
Veale, Mrs. L. A. Isenhour, Charles
S. Ross, Harold E. Rice, Nathan T.
Ward, James B. Graham, Thomas
E. Miller and Roy W. Young.
Also, John Crooks Bailey, Robert
Raymond Bond, Randell C. Can
non, Earl Elmer Colvard, William
E. Cox, Ella Mae Fletcher, Dennis
O. Greene, Millard Cecil Hagaman,
Madge Harmon, Doyce Mae
Harmon, Betty Ruth Holder,
Florence H. Lewis, Margaret Ann
McGuire, Ruby S. Michael, Mary
Louise Norris, Don A. Shell,
Cathrine J. Smith, William Gilbert
Spencer, Larry Finley Story, Susie
Louise Underwood, L. H.
Hagaman, Grant J. Cook, B. J.
Hodges, Roy Norris, Clyde
Williams, Frank W. Lewis and
Hazel C. Winkler.
Foster-Sturdivant General Contractor
Low Bids New School
Total Over $1,627,000
Proposals
Are Opened
Thursday
Some 25 company
representatives were present
last Thursday when bids for the
five contracts for the new
Hardin Park Elementary
School in Boone were opened.
Meeting that night, the
Board of Education settled on
the low bidders and notification
is given as follows by Dr.
Swanson Richards, Superin
tendent of County Schools.
The general contractor will
be Foster-Sturdivant Company
who bid $1,079,990.
Plumbing contractor will be
R. D. Boyer Plumbing Com
pany, a Winston-Salem firm
which bid $89,600. The heating
work, at a cost of $197,367, will
be done by Southern Piping and
Engineering Company,
Charlotte.
Electrical work will be done
by Commerical Electric
Company, Inc., of Greensboro,
this bid being $119,133. And
Foodcraft Equipment Com
pany, having bid $53,660, will
Supply kitchen equipment. The
fees of architect Fred Butner
Jr. came to $87,766.
ah contracts except tne one
for kitchen equipment had
alternates for which bids were
set down separately. Dr.
Richards said “We accepted
^11 of the ‘add alternates’ on
the building, which would be
additional walkways, outside
lights and this type of things.”
The grand total of bids was
$1,627,516 and $160,000 was
spent for the elementary school
site—part of the Grady Farth
ing farm in East Boone.
Voters earmarked $900,000 of
the school bonds they approved
in November for the new Boone
school and Appalachian State
University secured $1,250,000
toward the construction. ASU
has need of the Appalachian
Elementary School building,
which belongs to the univer
sity.
Thus expenses for land and
bids, when subtracted from the
$2,150,000 available for the
Hardin Park school, leave
$362,484.
Dr. Richards explained the
bids do not include costs of
paving, seeding, landscaping,
and furniture, but “Sufficient
funds will be available to have
a complete turn-key job. ”
Bids were opened by Elwood
Wilson, an associate of ar
chitect Fred Butner Jr. who
read the offers to some 30
businessmen. The meeting was
held in the Courthouse
basement.
Inquest Will Be Held
In Death Of Mrs. Parker
Watauga County Coroner
Barney Hampton and Highway
Patrolman William Biahop are
continuing their investigation
of the circumstances
surrounding the death on
Monday of Mrs. Faye Whited
Parker, 34.
Mrs. Parker, a resident of
Lakeview Drive in Statesville,
her two daughters and son
were on a camping trip with
Lawrence Holton and it was
Monday when Mrs. Parker
either fell or jumped from the
pickup truck pulling a camper
trailer.
The Coroner said Mrs.
Parker apparently died in
stantly. She was dead on
arrival at the Blowing Rock
Hoapital and the body has been
taken to Morganton for
autopsy.
The group had been staying
at the Buffalo Camp near
Boone’s Fork and the woman’s
death occurred while the truck
was being driven on U. S. 221
about four miles south of
Blowing Rock.
Hampton said an inquest is to
be conducted early next week.
The body is to be buried in
Carthage, Tenn., Mrs.
Parker’s borne town.
The County Sheriff’s
Department is assisting in the
investigation.
The 77 new faculty members and 300 returning
professors at Appalachian State University heard
Dr. Herbert Wey reveal a slate of new ASU
programs at their first official meeting on campus
Monday morning. Above, Dr. Nicholas Erneston,
Dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts, in
troduces the 18 new members of his faculty while
Dr. Wey and Dr. Terry Epperson wait their turns at
the podium.
ASU President Wey Tells
Faculty Of New Programs
BY LEWIS GASTON
ASU News Bureau
The president of Ap
palachian State University and
10 members of his ad
ministrative cabinet will
return to the classroom as
instructors for at least one
course during this academic
year.
Dr. Herbert Wey, who made
the announcement Monday
morning at the first meeting of
his 377 faculty members, said,
“The administrators of this
university are here to serve the
faculty and the students.
“We cannot do this unless we
have an administrative in
volvement in the classroom.”
Parkway Fee
Collection
Will Continue
Fee collection will continue
in the Blue Ridge Parkway
Campgrounds for the
remainder of the travel season
according to Superintendent
Granville B. Liles.
All campgrounds will remain
open through October 31.
During the winter months
camping will also be allowed
with limited facilities at Otter
Creek and Roanoke Mountain
Campgrounds in Virginia and
Doughton Park and Linville
Falls Campgrounds in North
Carolina.
Because of a shortage of
personnel, payment of the
camping fees in some cases
will be on the honor system
with the camper requested to
pay the fee at the nearest
Ranger Office. Fees will
remain the same with $2 being
charged per site per night.
Holders of the $7 “Parklands
Passport” are accorded at $1
credit making the cost to them
$1 per site per night.
The meeting, at which 77 new
instructors were introduced,
was the first scheduled activity
of the university’s 67th
academic year. Registration of
an expected 7,000 students
began Tuesday morning. Fall
quarter classes will start
Thursday at 8 a. m.
Other points from a slate of
new programs revealed to the
faculty by Wey included:
—A continued effort by the
president to secure faculty
Campus Groups To Give
Students Gay Welcome
Appalachian’s Artist and Lecture Series and the university’s
Student Government Association have teamed to give ASU’s
students the welcome of their lives this weekend.
A double concert bill begins Friday at 8 p. m. with the
Smithsonian Institute, a group described by A & L chairman
Rogers Whltener as Nashville based jazz band with a repertoire
ranging from bluegrass to hard rock.
The concert-dance takes place in Broom-Kirk Gym on the
campus.
On Saturday at 8 p. m., Junior Walker and the All Stars will
represent the SGA in a Varsity Gymnasium concert.
Walker, recognized as one of the top stars among the rock
saxaphonists, has recorded hits such as “Shotgun” and "What
Does It Take (to win your love)”. He and his Allstars have toured
the country and have become acknowledged crowd pleasers.
Both concerts are open to the public. Students will be ad
mitted by I. D. card and visitors to the campus may purchase
tickets at the door.
Watauga Republicans
Set Open House, Dinner
Saturday will be a double
barreled day for Watauga
County Republicans.
Open house will be held from
2 to 5 p. m. at Republican
Headquarters on West King
Street. And from 5 to 8, ham
supper will be served at the
Mabel School.
Congressman Jim Broyhill
will begin his address to the
dinner crowd about 8 p. m.
Tickets, which are being sold
throughout the county, are
available atheadquarters as of
Wednesday (Sept. 9), says
Lura (Mrs. Ralph) Greene.
Boone Weather
ini HI Lo Prec. Soow
Sept. 1 78 57
Sept. 2 78 57
Sept. 3 81 S7
Sept, 4 76 60 .33
Sept. 5 75 SO
Sept. 8 77 50
Sept. 7 73 8*
HI La
salaries here that are con
sistent throughout the state
system of higher education.
ASU’s average nine-month
salary of $12,241 is below the
average faculty paycheck at
UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC
Greensboro and at N. C. State
University, Wey pointed out:
—A pledge by Wey to level
ASU’s enrollment to about
7,500 students in order to
continue to improve the
university’s curriculum and
quality of undergraduate and
graduate instruction;
—Continued emphasis on a
new program which will allow
more instruction to take place
outside the university
classroom. "Universities are
beginning to rewrite their
curriculums,” Wey said,”
(Continued on page two)
Students For Meal
Day Set For Oct 4
The Students for a Meal
Sunday, sponsored by the
Community-Campus Relations
Committee, will be held Oct. 4.
CCRC Tuesday night held a
get-acquainted party, with
Watauga County freshmen
students playing hosts to the
other freshmen on campus.
Cokes and cookies were served
and music was provided.
Also, the committee is
having "Welcome to Moun
taineer Country” strips made
to be put on area billboards.