Bruce’s Bruises
Skis: Just A Touch Of Terror
BY
BRUCE PARRISH
MAC Newi Bureau
(First of Seven Weekly
Column)
-MONTREAT - Ah, the
slopes touched by the lithe
skier — those poles pumping
furiously down the mile-long
hul. A spraying cloud of snow
signals the 60 m.pJi. descent
has ended abruptly. That was
nty idea of skiing. I em
phasize, was.
Montreat-Anderson College
offers a seven-week ski course
fqr its students each winter. I
thought as one of the college
staff I would see what they
experienced annually at Sugar
Mountain in Banner Elk.
About 80 sold-out ski en
thusiasts were born our first
lesson. Thankfully, our spirits
are tempered, not broken, by
tWfc perils on one day on the
slopes. In other words, we’re
as-hot on skiing as a little child
is.jbn Santa Gaus. <
I
My first sighting of the !
slopes, though from afar, sent !
me on my feet. My neck '
craned toward one slope and I
naively I thought I soon would
be one of the skiers swooping
down that slope.
However, the beginner’s
slope had not yet caught my
gaze nor tripped my sk;.
Once in the ski lodge, my
excitement heightened and I
chuckled at the Frankenstein
like walk of everyone in those
clunky ski boots. I became
oblivious to any thoi4ghts of ski
accidents or a rough time.
Out to the slopes for a one
and a half hour lesson from
the instructor, Sam. The
foreign accents of some in
structors often make them
difficult to understand. But
fortunately, Sam’s speech was
understood easily and his
command of the group ex
cellent.
His first instructions
presented no problem. The
students and I learned to
clomp sideways uphill.
And then we began skiing
slowly down the beginner’s
slope where the humble spirits
dwell. Our first assignment —
learn to ski with our skis
parallel, our bodies forward
and our rumps parallel to the
sack of our heels. Whoopee.
One girl, however, added an
>ccasional touch of levity and
lavoc to our group of 13. In
;tead of skiing straight like
lam said, she continually
'eered into us which sent a
ew novices sprawling.
More comic relief came our
nay from the girl who always
lad trouble getting up after a
•all. Camels have risen more
gracefully. “Well,” she
mused, “That’s the way Sam
told me to do it.”
Key points, Sam told us,
ANCHORING
! Make Your Mobile Home Safe And Secure!
$10 Per Anchor Installed
CONTACT
0. K. BRYSON 883.2220
[ were knowing how to
snowplow or stop and how to
i turn. I’d just like to note that
the fence at the end of the
beginner’s slope proved
mighty convenient and sturdy
for stopping.
i A hardier student than I and
'■ a novice too,Bill Buchanan, of
Spruce Pine, soon convinced
me to assault the intermediate
slope with him. Neither of us
knew what to expect from the
ski lift or the slope which we
had seen earlier when ap
proaching Sugar Mountain.
We lined up for the chair lift
having no notion whether it
would run us over or drag us
up the mountain. The lift
swept us off our feet with a
rude smack to the rumps. The
jolt knocked one of Bill’s skis
off. No sweat — he’d just
fasten it when we got off the
life.
There we sat; Bill’s ski
dangled; and suddenly, our
predicament came to light.
We would have to ski off the
ramp at the hilltop.
It’s not hard to clamp a ski
to a boot, unless it is done in
mid-air from a precarious
perch on a chair lift. For
tunately, we were blessed and
our combined efforts met with
success . . . just in time!
The ramp rose sharply
before us and neither of us
knew what to do. I jumped,
then Bill. I was shouting in
relief and then in hilarity
when I saw Bill sprawled on
the ramp with a ski off. His
time came later when I
bumped the ramp wall and the
the ground. I also lost a ski.
Just a touch of terror
threatened as the speed of my
descent caused me to leave
most of my senses behind. To
execute a snowplow or a turn
never entered my mind. The
speed increased and then I
met my first mogul. That’s ski
talk for small bumps or hills.
After hitting a couple, I
became a tumbling mass
surrounded by a man-made
blizzard. I finally stopped and
found myself encrusted with
wet, freezing snow.
Well, the first run ended
with only one other fall. But
the succeeding times proved
to be more glorious and less
frequented by falls.
THE KEY: Lean forward,
snowplow and turn, and above
all, beware of the moguls.
My hope for next week’s
lesson lies in finding the same
trail which saw me down
several times without a fall.
balsam wove Youth
Club Reorganized
BY
RUBY WUESTHOFF
The Balsam Grove Youth
Club met and reorganized
Thursday night, Jan. 23.
The Youth Club was split
into three individual groups:
the youth group ages ranging
from 13 to 19; the junior youth
group ages ranging from 6 to
12; and the preschool group
ages up to 6 years.
Officers were elected:
Wanda Owen, president;
Ricky McCall, vice president;
Sherry Lawter, secretary and
Bonnie McCall, treasurer.
It was decided that
meetings will be held on every
other Thursday at 7 p.m. The
next meeting will be Thursday
night, Feb. 6, at 7 p.m.
The Youth and Junior youth
will be holding their meetings
together. All other activities
will be separated.
Anyone needing rides to the
meetings contact Nancy
Galloway at 655-2234.
The next V.F.D. meeting
will be held Jan. 27 at 7 p.m.
The action Club Meeting will
follow at 7:30 p.m. We need
your support for a better
community.
Teresa McCall will be
having a birthday Monday
Jan. 27. We all wish her a
happy birthday.
Diesel-powered tractors
haven taken over the farm
tractor trade. U.S. Depart
ment of Agriculture fig
ures indicate that 80 per
cent of all new tractors
are diesel, and this domi
nance over gasoline-pow
ered machines is expected
to grow.__
IS HAVING A GIGANTIC
“MAKE ME AN OFFER”
SALE
Mobile Home Brokers Manager
RICHARD BARNETT
SAYS
V
“Come to our lot and look over our outstanding selection of mobile
homes. You’ll find the retail price of each home posted inside, then,
make me any reasonable offer, and if its fair, I’LL TAKE IT! ”
10% Down — Up To 12 Years To Pay!
Be Sure To Register
For A Free
DIGITAL CLOCK
AM-FM RADIO
To Be Awarded On
JANUARY 31st
NOTICE!
We Have
3 REMAINING
1973 MODEL HOMES
Thai We Are Willing To
Let Go For
COST—Plus Set Up & Delivery
FHA Financing Available On Double Wides For 10% Down
RICHARD BARNETT
AH Mobile Homes Manager
GUARANTEED
In Writing!
877-3205
OO
Located One Mile East From Entrance
To Pisgah National Forest On Highway 64
Science For You
=..MP tm /-Mi a
By
BOBBROWN
PROBLEM: High voltage.
NEEDED: A girl with long hair, a board, pint Mason jars,
orlon acrylic garment, a neon lamp (Calectro NE-51 will do),
two more people.
• DO THIS: Make a platform with the board and glass jars.
Have the long-haired girl stand on it. Have someone rub her hair
downward to the waist with the acrylic. The third person may
then draw a spark from the insulated girl’s finger.
HERE’S WHY: Rubbing the hair puts a charge of elec
tricity over the girl on the platform. The charge (or part of it)
will jump as a spark to someone else. This works only when
humidity is very low, usually only in cold winter in a heated
room. But it is possible to get 10,000 harmless volts this way.
If the girl holds a neon lamp, and someone else takes the
spark from the tip of the lamp, it will flash each time the spark
jumps.
The jars must be clean and dry. The hair and the acrylic must
be dry, and the rubbing must be done vigorously. Note how the
hair tends to stand out—each hair takes on the same charge, and
like charges repel.
It may be more convenient to hold the lamp bulb with a
wire handle as shown, but this is not necessary. The high voltage
involved is perfectly harmless; the electric current is very low.
The effect of the spark may be felt slightly on different parts of
the body, however.
This special “Science For You” feature is spon
sored by Olin Corporation at Pisgah Forest in co
operation with The Transylvania Times.
See The Times For The
Best In Job Printing
Citizens Participation
Office Personnel Named
Mrs. James E. Holshouser,
Jr., rhairman of the Gover
nor’s Commission on Citizen
Participation, today an
nounced the staff ap
pointments of executive
director and assistant
director for the Office of
Citizen Participation.
Michael Robison, formerly
of Washington, D.C. is the new
executive director of the of
fice. Robison was formerly
with the Involvement Corps in
Washington, and also has
experience with the Bank of
America as community
liaison officer. He was also the
president of the Los Angeles
Community Action Center in
California.
Ms. Marilyn Jean Calhoun
of Raleigh, will be the
assistant director of the office.
She completed her un
dergraduate work at the
University of North Carolina
in Greensboro in 1974, and also
studied at Davidson College
and Boston University. Ms.
Calhoun has served as the
intern for the commission
since the establishment of the
office in July.
Robison and Ms. Calhoun
will be working to gather
information concerning all dt
North Carolina’s volunteer
programs and review the
coordinated volunteer
programs which have been
developed in other states. The
office will be located in
Raleigh at 301 North Blount
Street. (
MORE POWER
The principal advantage
of a diesel engine over a
gasoline engine is that the
diesel produces more pow
er from a gallon of fuel.
When you think of
prescriptions, think of
VARNER’S, adv.
Nightly Today Through Tues.
At 7:00 & 8:50
Relates To People
Like
“Summer of’42”
&
“The Graduate”
—Starring—
Timothy
Bottoms
&
Lindsay
Wagner
In
Color
Rated (PG)
CO-ED
Starts A Limited
4 Day Engagement
Wednesday At 7:30
AOOCERS- HAMMERSTQN’J
— With —
Julie Andrews
Rated G
20% OFF
On A Selected Group Of
MEN’S SHOES
Including Such Famous Brands As
JARMAN ★ THOM McAN ★ DEXTER
For Example
Shoes Regularly Priced
$24.95
AT PAT’S
*1995
Shoes Regularly Priced
$19.95
AT PAT’S
IJ595
Flus Many More Similar Reductions!
SPECIAL PURCHASE
100 Pair Of
Men’s Pro-Keds Basketball Shoes
Two Colors To Choose From
Red, White & Blue
Brown & Tan
Regularly
$21.95
-
Sizes 6% to 13
Medium & Narrow Widths
SPECIAL fi\Q *5
AT PAT’S
BREVARD'S ONLY DRTVE-jlw uAm/i>uuiuiun anus oiui
On. North Broad Street — In the College Shopping Center