CIRCULATION
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^igljlanb^ Hlacoman
71st Year ? No. 14
Franklin, N. C., Thursday, April 5, 1956
*
Sixteen Pages
P.T.A. GROUP
LISTS NEEDS
FINANCIALLY
Says Extra $18,000
Could Put Schools
Under County's Wing
In an analysis of school fi
nancial problems, a county-wide
P. T. A. committee has decided
that an extra $18,000 a year in
the budget could put Macon's
11 schools back under the pro
tecting wing of the county.
At present, from a g7oss"of
about $42,000, P. T. A.'s and
school-operated stores are chan
neling an estimated $17,000 into
school coffers to cover operat
ing expenses not included in the
budget.
H. H. Gnuse, Jr., chairman of
the committee, this week said
P. T. A. representatives estimate
that an additional $18,000 (10
cents of the tax rate) would
"pull the schools over the hump
and let them move ahead in
stead of lagging behind."
Among other things, he said
the committee has concluded
the schools have been dropping
behind a little bit each year be
cause of the shortage of operat
ing funds.
To illustrate, he pointed out
the recent trend in the budget
to use capital outlay money al
most entirely for new construc
tion, with very little going for
equipment.
With this in mind, Mr. Gnuse
said the committee wants to
recommend to the county com
missioners that in the 1956-57
budget the 15 cents levy for
capital outlay be used almost
exclusively for new equipment
and improvements to existing
facilities.
Any new construction could
be financed with state bond
money, he said.
Meet With Brown
At a meeting .Monday night,
the P. T. A. committee met with
Commissioner Wiley Brown and
outlined its findings. Later,
when the county budget is be
ing prepared, the committee will
appear before the entire board
to make its recommendations.
This school year (1955-56),
the county's 11 schools will
spend an estimated $673,719. Of
this amount, about $131,915
(19.5%) is county money and
the remainder is from other
sources.
Taking this figure ($673,719),
the committee reports that all
but $9,000 is for teacher salaries
and travel. And, of the $9,000,
the bulk, $8,600, is for mainte
nance at the schools, with the
remaining $350 allocated for
janitorial supplies.
Tennessee High School Band
Slates Concert Here Today
At 1:30 today (Thursday) the
Harriman (Tenn.) High School
Band will present a concert in
the Franklin High gymnasium
under the auspices of the local
band.
Admission will be 10 and 25
cents, according to Director T.
A. Orr. Proceeds are earmarked
for the local band.
Now on its fifth annual tour,
the Harriman band has made
more than 400 appearances in
concerts, parades, and a variety
of civic, industrial, and athletic
events since its organization In
1940.
In addition to Franklin, stops
on its tour include Cherokee,
Sylva, and Forest City, In this
state, and Westminster and Ab
beville, S. C.
For the local concert, the
band will play a variety of
numbers, ranging from marches
to a rhumba. Two novelty num
bers also are listed.
John Dameron is the director.
V.F.W. Post Gives Go-Ahead
For Work On Athletic Field
After experiencing some dif
ficulty finding a contractor to
do the job, the local V. F. W,
post has given the go-ahead on
Its project to drain and sod the
field at Franklin High.
Macon Mica, local contract
irig concern, started work on
the field Tuesday morning.
The project calls for moving
an estimated 5,000 yards of dirt.
The field will be crowned in the
center to give proper drainage
and then will be sodded.
Jack Ragan, head of the V.
F. W. project committee, said
the contract has been awarded
on a per yard basis. Until it is
known how much dirt will have
to be moved, a price tag can
not be set on the job, he ex
plained.
In its field fund, the post has
about $700, according to the
out-going commander, Zeb .Mea
dows.
"If it runs more than that
we'll just have to go in debt,"
he declared.
He also pointed out that in
dividuals and organizations
might want to contribute to the
fund. Iv
Working with Mr. Ragan on
the project are T. H. Fagg,
Howard Barnard, Edwin T. Wil
liams, and Dick Slagle.
'Long About Sunup, Streams
Were Lined With Fishermen
'Long about sunup this (Thurs
day) morning, houndreds of un
shaven and yawning creatures
of the "Fraternal Order of Avid
Anglers and Waders" lined Ma
con's miles of fast-running
streams and at this moment are
officially opening the '56 sea
son.
Meanwhile, back at the 61d
homestead, all is calm and se
rene. Bleary-eyed spouses are
trying to recoup some of the
"shut-eye" they lost during the
early a. m. while whipping up
breakfast for their intrepid
fishermen.
A Hectic Time
It's been a hectic time for
the women-folk these past few
weeks. The eyes of their hus
bands have mirrored content
ment born of anticipation, as
they hung over the back fence
or dominated dinner table con
versation with penetrating ob
servations about creel limits,
wet and dry flies, and glass and
bamboo rods.
And now, that much is over
(until next year) and the wom
en are looking happily to this
afternoon when hubby deposits
his aching body on the couch
for a snooze, after first giving
instructions on how to properly
scale a fish.
Plenty Of Fish
Victims of "trout-itis" shouldn't
experience any difficulty filling
their creels.
Reed Queen, who is in charge
of the trout rearing pools at
Arrowood Glade, thus week told
of stocking thousands of young
trout in wildlife refuge and
county streams in preparation
for opening day.
Most of the trout run between
seven and twelve inches, he
said, and will average about
nine or ten.
In the Wayah Wildlife Man
agement Area, where trout fish
ing has been curtailed some
what this year, the streams
were stocked with 400 trout.
Standing Indian area, which
offers 60 fishing days this year,
received 1,050.
Cliffside Lake, between Frank
lin and Highlands, was stocked
with 4,200 fish. These were sur
SEE NO. 1, PAGE 8
VIC PERRY
NAMED AS
V.F.W. HEAD
Succeeds Meadows;
Joint Installation
Of Officers Slated
Macon's V. F. W. post has a
new commander in Victor H.
Perry, of Franklin.
He was elected to the post
Wednesday night of last week.
He succeeds Zeb Meadows.
Others elected to serve with
the new commander during the
year are T. H. Fagg, senior vice
commander, Dr. G. R. McSween,
junior vice-commander, Fred
Dowdle, quartermaster, Dr. J.
W. Kahn, post surgeon, the Rev.
R. D. Burnette, post chaplain,
C. Banks Finger, post advocate,
and Mr. Meadows, three year
trustee.
A joint installation of officers
is planned by the post and aux
iliary next Wednesday night at
the post home on Palmer Street.
Mrs. Richard H. Slagle is the
reelected president of the aux
iliary.
DRIVE HERE
IS EXTENDED
To Raise Quota, Red
Cross Campaign Given
Extension To April 15
As anticipated, the county
American Red Cross fund cam
paign has fallen short of its goal
and has been extended 15 days.
The campaign will now run
through April 15, according to
Mrs. Elizabeth .McCollum, chap
ter executive secretary. It was
supposed to close Saturday.
In announc ng the extension
officially, the secretary said
about $1,688.10 of the $3,730
quota is now on hand.
She asked all communities,
schools, and volunteer workers
to report contributions imme
diately so a rundown of local
progress can be forwarded to
national headquarters.
C. A. P. Meeting Set
With the selection of cadets
and senior members to repre
sent Franklin in the upcoming
air search-rescue operation, on
the agenda, C'apt. A. C. Tysing
er urges all members of the
Civic Air Patrol to turn out for
tomorrow (Friday* night's meet
ing at the high school.
The meeting will be at 7:30.
Capt. Tysinger said the local
squadron plans to send several
to Asheville May 10-11-12 for
the state-wide C. A. P. opera
tion.
GAME PROTECTOR Charles H. Boring scratches his head
in amazement at the fishing apparition standing before him
a.11 decked, out in life jacket and carrying a minnow bucket,
lunch box, lantern, net, and an assortment of plugs and flies
''just in case" he runs across something with fins. Under
Rt;?fT Ph. .to hv P. Rr.-Hv
neath all that stuff is Franklin pharmacist Ross Cloor, who
went along with the gag photo to herald today's opening of
the trout season Seeing Mr. C'loer so arrayed, the protector
commented, "If I saw something like that I'd just turn it
loose".
? Press Staff Photo
MEN AND BOYS of the Prentiss Church of God are shown razing the church on the right
of-way of U,S 23-441 south of Franklin. The church is to be rebuilt near t'nion School. The build
ing is one of about 25 being razed or moved along the new highway project.
Fair Meeting
Is Called For
Friday Night
A planning session for Macon
County's fair this fall has been
called for tomorrow (Friday)
night at 7:30 at the Agricul
tural Building.
Emphasizing that "right now"
is the time to begin laying the
foundation for the fall event If
it is to be successful to any de
gree, County Agent T. H. Fagg
yesterday (Wednesday) urged
everyone to turn out and give
a hand. He said a good repre
sentation of both businessmen
and farm men and women is
needed.
Last year was the first time
a county fair had been held
here in many years. Although
small, it was termed very suc
cessful and the fair committee,
with the assistance of the local
extension staff, hopes to make
one an annual affair.
"We showed that the job
could be done last year," the
county agent commented, "and
we want this year's to be even
bigger and better . . . but it's
going to be something we'll all
have to work at to put over."
Charlie Sutton and Wiley
Brown are co-chairmen of the
present committee. Holland Mc
Swain is secretary and W. W. ,
Sloan is treasurer.
Highway Work Progressing;
Georgia Starts Short Link
With grading scheduled to
start about May 1, clearing the
right-of-way and building
structures on US 23-441 (south'
from Franklin to the state line
moves along.
Meanwhile, Georgia has start
ed preliminary excavation and
culvert work on the US 23-441
section from Mountain City to
?Clayton, a link of slightly more
than three miles and the cen
ter span of a proposed reloca
tion from the state line south
to Tallulah Falls. The first sec
tion of the project, from the
Una to Mountain City, went into
use last summer. Under terms
of the contract, the contractor
has 220 days to complete the
latest link, it is understood.
On the Franklin-Georgia proj
ect, right-of-way is rapidly be
ing cleared in preparation for
grading operations. About 25
buildings are being razed or
moved from the right-of-way,
according to Resident Engineer
S. T. Usry.
Workmen already have fin
ished pouring the concrete on
the large triple-barrel culvert
in the center of the project , in
the Prentiss area. Work on a
single-barrel culvert closer to
Franklin is coming along, the
engineer reported this week,
and the concrete work on it
should be finished by next
week.
In addition to these two, the
structures contract on the proj
ect calls for construction of a
bridge and seven more culverts
along the 12.46-mile project.
Late News
and
Briefs
PRESS EDITOR STRICKEN
Weimar Jones, editor of The
Press, suffered what has been
described as a mild heart at
tack Sunday night while en
route home from Winston
Salem.
He is now confined to C. J.
Harris Community Hospital,
Sylva, for observation, but ex
pects to return home by the
middle of next week.
The editor and his wife had
spent the Easter week-end with
SEE NO. 2, PAGE 8
Warning Given ?
Sewer System Overworked
Franklin has been warned
that its sewage disposal system
is woefully inadequate, and the
day may not be too far in the
future when the municipality
will be forced to spend 8100,000
or more to modernize it.
A couple of years back, an of
ficial of the state health de
partment frankly warned the
board of aldermen of "the day
when we're going to come here
with some teeth in the laws,"
Warning is about all the de
partment can do at present.
And Franklin, like most small
towns in the state, is ham
strung financially and unable
to make many improvements.
This official, and others who
have followed him, was out
spokenly critical of the town's
inadequate and overworked Im
hoff septic tank oh the Little
Tennessee River and bitterly
condemned the increasingly
popular practice of channeling
sewage into the river "raw".
"Someday," he cautioned, "the
law is going to be on our side
. . . we'll be able to straighten
this thing out."
System Overtaxed
Simply because the town's
.sewase system is overtaxed,
running sewage into the Little
Tennessee "raw" has become
the rule, rather than the ex
ception.
As each new business or home
goes up near the river, a new
sewer pipe goes into the stream.
All of the Bonny Crest sec
tion, East Franklin, and the
East Franklin School sewage is
"raw" ? and the first two are
town-installed pipe systems.
When word that the school
sewage was going "raw" into
the river reached health offic
ials. the hassle with school of
ficials started.
No Teeth
The school won ? as the
state official aptly put it, the
law has no teeth.
Even if the town could afford
to tap all sewer lines into the
regular disposal system, Water
Supt Herman Childers says it
would be useless.
The lone Imhoff septic tank.
built in the early 30's by W. P.
A., can't handle the work it has
to do now. he explains.
Tank Needed
To do an adequate job of
handling the nearly 500 fam
ilies tied into the systejn at
present, another tank of sim
ilar capacity is needed, Supt.
Child 'rs figures.
And t;iis extra unit i sludge
SKr; NO. 2. FAGE 4
1 ? ? Pnm Stuff Photo
THIS TELL-TALE pipe means "raw" sewage is going into the
Little Tennessee Kiver, an increasingly popular practice as new
homes and businesses go up along the stream. Health officials
have warned of "the da.v" when they will have the law behind
them to halt the trend.