v 91
POLK ’'^LL^R ST
^- ( , 28 72
2nd Class Postage at Tryon. North Carolrna 28782
and additional post offices. Postmaster: send
address changes to The Tryon Daily Bulletin, PO.
Box 790, Tryon. N. C. 28782
THE WORLD'S SMALLEST DAILY NEWSPAPER
Founded Jan. 31. 1928 by Seth M. Vining
(Consolidated with the Polk County News 1955)
Jeffrey A. Byrd, Editor and Publisher
The Tryon Daily Bulletin (USPS 643-360) is
published daily except Sat. and Sun. for S3.' per
year by the Tryon Daily Bulletin. Inc. 106 N. Trade
St., P.O. Box 790, Tryon. N.C. 28782
The Tryon Daily Bulletin
Phone 859-9151
®
Vol. 65 - No. 161
The weekend weather: Fri
day, high 75, low 57, hum. 72
percent, and .30 inches of rain;
Saturday, high 73, low 44, hum.
70 percent; Sunday, high 75,
low 44, hum. 48percent.
They are friends and neigh
bors. They make up 15 percent
of North Carolina's population.
Most are working adults. Most
are married. About 25 percent
of them are children.
They are the people of North
Carolina who have no health
insurance - roughly 900,000
of them.
Too often, these are people
working for Thermal Belt
employers who do not provide
insurance as a benefit.
Yesterday, in our series of
challenges facing the Thermal
Belt medical community, one
doctor estimated a third of his
patients are "self-pay."
Self-pay may be alright for
routine check-ups and flu med
icine. But consider the potential
crisis these people face every
day should a serious illness or
injury occur.
The same doctor told us most
self-pay patients avoid the
doctor's office altogether, wait
ing until they are too sick to go
(Continued On Back Page)
Printed In tho THERMAL BELT ot Western North Carolina
TRYON. N. C 28782
State Board Rules
ACT ’Not Political'
The Association of County
Taxpayers (ACT) is not a poli
tical action committee.
The State Board of Elections
campaign reporting office com
pleted its investigation of ACT,
and notified ACT chairman
Walt Hamill of its findings in a
Sept. 13 letter.
The investigation was
prompted when an anonymous
person, who took the pen name
^I.R. Thompson", wrote the
State Board of Elections ques
tioning ACTS status.
Political action committees
are required to register and file
financial reports with the board
of elections.
In her letter to Hamill, state
board Deputy Director Yvonne
Southerland said that based on
ACTs denials of any political
activity and a lack of any
evidence presented to the con
trary, ACT will not be consid
ered a political action commit
tee.
General voter education, voter
registration drives, and spon
sorship of forums and debates
are not "political action" acti
vities according to the law,
Southerland wrote.
Tryon Police Chief Nathan
Shields and the Rt. Rev. Robert
H. Johnson will be honored at
the Thirteenth Annual Commu
nity Awards Dinner Dance at
Holy Cross Episcopal Church
Saturday from 7 to 10 p.m.
Tickets are on sale now.
Stephen Fitch
Stars In 'Fiddler'
Usually one can say of the
leading actor in any stage
attraction not named an inani
mate object, that he is playing
the title role, as in such attrac
tions as Hamlet, Man of La
Mancha, The Most Happy
Fella, or Titus Andronicus. But
not so in the case of Stephen
Fitch, who is starring in the
production of Fiddler On The
Roof that is coming to the Fine
Arts Center Sept. 26, but who is
not cast in the title role.
He is not the Fiddler, which is
a minor role despite being spot-
lighted in the title. Instead,
Stephen portrays Tevye, the
impoverished dairyman in the
village of Anatevka. The New
York Times dramatic critic who
reviewed the opening of Fiddler
on the Roof on Broadway
wrote, "Tevye is one of the
most glowing creations in the
history of musical theater."
(Continued On Back Page)
16 Pages Today
20C Per 1 ops
A DOCTOR
IN THE
HOUSE
New Medicare Law
Gives St. Luke's
30% More Return
Seventy six percent of St.
Luke's Hospital patients use
Medicare insurance. Histori
cally, that's been hard on the
hospital's pocketbook.
But a 1989 law has given the
hospital a break, at least
through fiscal year 1993.
St. Luke's is the only hospital
in the two Carolinas to qualify
for "Medicare dependent" status
under this law, said St. Luke's
Hospital Board of Trustees
chairman Joe Claud.
To qualify for Medicare
dependent status, a hospital
must have 65% of its patients
on Medicare. St. Luke's has an
average of 76% Medicare
patients.
Thanks to the new law, this
year the hospital began receiv
ing about 30% higher reim
bursements for Medicare
patient services.
"Now we can just about break
even," said board of trustees
member John Elliott. "If not for
the Medicare dependency, the
hospital would be losing its
shirt."
Prior to the new status, St.
Luke's faced a double
whammy. Not only were its
finances clouded by a high per-
(Continued On Back Pace)