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THE NEWS - RECORD (||j
Volume 75, Number 5. M.?h?M.N.C 15 CENTS PER COPY Fefcnmry M. 197?
' fc?w??? i ii ill i . i ? , ii ?
Wells Charged With
Murder Of Son-In-Law
E
; ?$Troy Wells, of the Big Pine
section of Madison County, is
in the county jail here charged
with the murder of his son-in
law, Harry Haun, also of Big
Bine, Sheriff Ponder an
nounced Tuesday morning
Ponder said the shooting
occurred at the home of Mr.
and Mrs. Haun about 8 40
. _ o'clock Monday night. Ponder
said that one shot entered
Haun 's left side and he died in
a few minutes.
Ponder said the incident
occurred during a family
argument.
Bowman Funeral Home is in
charge of arrangements
which were not made at press
time.
Jury Enters Verdict
On Assault Charges
Charles Taylor, 43, of Shake
[ Rug Road in the Grapevine
section was acquitted Friday
of two counts of charges of
assault with a deadly weapon.
He was, however, convicted
of a third charge of assault
with a deadly weapon, a
misdemeanor.
On that count he originally
had been charged with assault
with a deadly weapon with
intent to kill, -a felony.
W _a j
i ne veraicis were renaerea
by < Buncombe County
Superior Court jury before
Jbdge Harry C. Martin.
?- - Taylor was acquitted of
assaults against Joe R. Wilson
and Jimmy E. Wyatt. He was
convicted of assault against
Michael Worley.
Sheriff's deputies said
Taylor was arrested after an
exchange of gunfire on Jan. 9
in the parking lot of Larry's
-p Tavern in Flat Rock.
:1 d* ?
During the alleged g untight,
deputies said, Worley, who
was a bartender at the tavern
at the time, shot and killed
Doyle Peek, 21, of Rt. 2,
Weaverville. Peek was a
bystander.
Worley has been charged
with manslaughter in Peek's
death and will be tried later.
Judge Partin continued
judgement against Taylor to a
later date.
Lounty
'11 Donates
$1,118.10
C *'
A county-by-county report
has been issued by the
Western North Carolina Lung
Association in Asheville,
which indicates that Madison
county residents have made
donations totaling >1,118.10.
. According to Burnitt Bealle,
?; Executive Director of WNC
Lung Asaociation, "This
deficit of |8,865 will mean that
much lean to meet the needs
and offer services for people
of our own area." He urged
everyone who had not
returned the Christmas Seal
letter received in the fall to do
90 now, and to make a second
contribution if at all possible.
"We dont want to trim any
programs or services", he
added.
Money received from
residents of this county help
support research programs in
lung disease, and professional
training for medical
speciahals and paramedical
personnel, provide
educational programs and
materials for all schools in the
? county, make films available
without charge on loan to
scnooi classes ana outer in
terested groups, and provide
services to patients from this
county at WNC Hospital in
Stack Mountain. "It's a
Matter sf Life or Breath!"
waaK'Ji /r
THF MASSIVE AND (IEAUTIFU1 koine pictured above Is the original
residence of Judge and Mr*. Jeter C. Prttchard and was located on |he Walmt f
Cre It Rc d The II room was later resided in by Mr. and Mrs. (ieorge
hard a> i fai ii: The house *?s purchased b* the late J.F hi
New Democrats Register
In County
The Democratic Party has
added 154 registrations in the
past 60 days; the executive
secretary of thfc Madison
County Board of Elections
said Thursday of last week.
Of this number, said Sharon
Ray, 90 were registered at the
Hot Springs precinct and the
remaining 64 at the county's
other 10 precincts.
In the same two months
period, she said, there were
eight more registrations of
voters as Republicans
The , present total
registration, the board official
said, is 6,079 Democrats, 3,350
Republicans, 185 in
dependents, and US with no
party affiliations.
A Hot Springs hardware
dealer, Bobby Ponder, said
the registration figures for
Hot Springs are significant
and show an effort by
Republicans to take control of
the precinct party machinery
from active Democrats.
Ponder, who presided at the .
Feb. 12 Precinct 6
organizational meeting at the
request of chairman Howard
Tino, out of town that date,
challenged 53 persons at the
Hot Springs school meeting.
The Ponder faction among
the 300 persons present
elected one slate of delegates
to the Comity Democratic
Convention to be held in
Marshall on March 6. An
opposing faction headed by
Larry Phillips also elected a
slate of delegates. ,
The county convention's
acceptance of one group of
Precinct 6 delegates over the
other could result in an appeal
to the State Democratic
Convention later in Rkleigh.
Regarding the new
Democratic registrations in
Hot Springs, the election
board reported that the
Democratic precink official,
Bernice Wright, had handled
13 of the applications, and the
Republican precinct officials,
Tony Gamble and Irene
Robots, had processed the
other 77.
Democrats
Plan For
Convention
Madison County Democrats
are planning for the county
convention which also in
cludes the County Democratic
Executive Committee's
Organization Meeting. The
event will be held at the
Marshall School on the Island
on Saturday afternoon, March
6, beginning at 1 o'clock.
It was also announced that a
hearing concerning the
controversial Hot Springs
Precinct meeting will be held
at this meeting.
All Democrats are urged to
make plans to attend.
Hot Springs Leadership Contested
By JAY HENSLEY
Citizen Staff Writer
Larry Phillips, a Madison
County school teacher, has
taken his claim for leadership
of the Democrats in Precinct
No. 6 to the State Democratic
Executive Committee in
Raleigh:
The claim by Phillips is
contested by Bobby Ponder,
Hot Springs hardware dealer
and a member of the Madison
County school board.
Phillips, in a letter to the
executive committee, charged
that Ponder took charge of the
meeting in the Hot Springs
school house Feb. 12 in
violation of the Democratic
Plan of Organization, since
the first vice chairman of the
precinct was present and
should have presided.
Ponder said the woman is
quite elderly, and that
authorization to preside was
KaofnwMk/l nnnn Kim Ku Unwop/1
Huwn?u upvii null ijj iivncu u
lino, the incumbent who was
out of town.
Ponder's faction re-elected
Tino and others on that slate
by what Phillips calls an at
jtHml mm ? , mm \
mosphere in which Ponder
was "blatantly biased" in
favor of that group.
Phillips, in his letter to
headquarters, charged that
Ponder arbitrarily
disqualified 53 of the 148 votes
cast in favor of his ticket.
Ponder said he peeled off 53
of the names voting for
Phillips because they were
Republicans who switched
their registration to sandbag
the Democratic precinct
election.
"This decision was made by
him 10 to 15 seconds after he
had been informed that the
total vote was 148," Phillips
said of the head count for his
side in the power struggle.
The vote for Ponder's slate
was 135. "We feel that it is
absolutely impossible for him
to analyze the registration
status of 148 voters in this
short length of time," Phillips
told tne executive committee.
The Phillips faction said
they have asked Ponder to
produce names of disqualified
Democrats.
Ponder said a story
published by The Citizen Feb.
20 quoting the executive
secretary of the Madison
County Board of Elections as
saying that 90 of the 154
Democrats added to the
registration in the last 60 days
were from the Hot Springs
precinct backs up his claim.
Ponder was quoted in that
story as saying that the
registration figures for Hot
Springs are significant and
show an effort by Republicans
to take control of the precinct
party machinery from active .
Democrats."
There was nothing in the
report from Sharon Ray, the
board's executive secretary,
to indicate that the new
Democratic registrations are
switchovers from the
Republican party rather than
residents not previously
registered however.
Ponder Monday described
as "hogwash" a charge in the
letter by Phillips that he
(Ponder) adjourned the
meeting when he saw they
were outnumbered and
reconvened at some other
location to finish their
business.
LARRY PHILLIPS
Ponder, who is the nephew
of Zeno Ponder, chairman of
the Madison County
Democratic Executive
Committee, said he adjourned
the meeting and members of
his faction went to their
homes.
An official with the State
Democratic Executive
Committee said Monday that
Phillips' letter has been
referred to the Council of
Review, which probably wont
consider the matter until
sometime just before the state
convention in June.
A number of such com
plaints are received following
precinct elections, and the
committee tries to get them
all in before the council is
called together to make a
recommendation, a state
Democratic official said.
Flood Sweeps 4 To Death In Newfound Section Sunday
By MARION ELLIS
a ad PATRICK O'DONNELL
Wayne Mahaffey, 30,
watched with horror early
Sunday as a 15-foot wall of
water swept four of his neigh
bors in the Newfound com
munity to their deaths.
Mahaffey, a landscaper,
was returning from a bowling
night out in Canton abotA 2:15
a.m. when he found his pickup
truck's path blocked by rising
water in front of the home of
l^eonard "Bud" Led better An
earthen dam atop Bear
Wallow Mountain had burst
after a heavy rain.
"I honked the horn, and I
hollered, but no lights came on
in the house," Mahaffey said.
"Then it came all of a
sudden. There was no way to
do anything about it. Rocks
half as big as a car were flying
through the air."
As the headlights from his
truck beamed onto the scene
Mahaffey watched the water
from the swollen Newfoisid
creek batter the Led better
house and sweep away a 7,000
pound tractor.
The body of Led better, a 43
year-old tobacco fanner, was
found hours later about a mile
down the creek, which nor
mally is less than a food deep
and about three feet wide. The
bodies of his wife, Mickey, and
his mother, Mrs. Savannah
I.edbetter, 77, were found
nearby. His son, Leslie, IS,
was found about a half mile
away.
No other injuries were
reported, although about 100
homes were evacuated.
Residents were being allowed
to return home late Sunday
after officials had been
assured that no more im
mediate flooding from the
dam was expected.
Newfound is about IS miles
northwest of Asheville.
The only other member of
the I-edbetter family, Allen
Ledbetter, 20, had spent the
night with friends and sur
vived. He was under sedation
from the shock late Sunday
and unable to talk to repor
ters.
Another eyewitness, Sam
Worley, 26, who was half a
mile down the creek, said the
rushing water sounded like
"IS frieght trains running
wide open."
Just why the dam, about two
miles up from the I >ed betters'
five-room frame house, gave
way was under investigation
Sunday, but neighbors said
they had been concerned for
years about the possibility of
such a flash flood.
"I've always bad kind of a
fear of that lake," Mahaffey
said.
According to area residents,
the three-acre lake was built
about IS years ago and
stocked with fish, but it hasnt
been used for years.
No one was sure Sunday
night who owned the lake
property. Area residents said
it had changed hands at least
twice in the last few years.
Officials said a preliminary
inspection showed that the
? . V ?.
bottom portion of the dam was
water-logged all the way
through and it had shifted
forward during the night,
causing about IS feet of the top
portion to fall way. The dam
was about SO feet high and 7S
feet wide.
The column of water that
rushed down the mountain
was only about 40 to 100 feet
wide and narrowly missed
other homes, although it did
severe damage to farmland.
Several farm animals, in
cluding the Led betters' 6 pigs
and some of the 60 head of
cattle, apparently perished.
"It took about half my yard,
and I had a few things washed
away," said Wayne King, the
I .edbetters' next-door niegh
bor. "It just gushed down and
took everything in its path."
King, who had heard
Mahaffey's warnings, put his
wife and two sons in the family
car until the wall of water had
gone.
A
"We're tired from being up
all night, but we're okay," he
said. "1 just wish they (the
l>edbetters) had woke up."
Local American Legion Post Congratulated
indicates that Marshall Phst
No 317 ha. conducted a highly
successful membership drive.
Don West, Commands^, *
the Pool, has received a letter
from Department
fl ? reporting that
Poat No. 317 has exceeded Ms
(joalfor 1976 The Department
Commandei espr i
4 fwl thanks to j
the Post leaden *nd tnem
?
bership workers for their
effort.
Steve Carver, State Com
mander said, 'The mem
bership of every f .e^ionnaire
makes it psmthle for The
American Legion to maintain
service for the sick and
disabled in hospitals. Mem
berships make possible all the J
legion programs, such as
care far need) children.
Boy's State, Boy
Scoot 1 r ..ops Oratorical
untesl 1 n ini' inly Servie
Law and Order and all the
others. I am proud to
congratulate Post No. 317
upon this notable
.'?Movement."
Post Commander West
explained that Raise Youi
Sights To Serve", the theme of
SS^-'r-0?'
"We are accepting (tea
payments now from
Legionnaires and eligible
veterans whose membership
In essential if the local
i, . i/ .i! ^ is to continue its
AW ?5I
to expand its
and ictlvities,
i ... . ../iw ?' thr final ^
" ",r;
Blue Ridge Shoe Company
Names Plant Heads
<
It has been announced that
Bennett C. Byrd has been
appointed Plant Manager of
the new Blue Ridge Shoe plant
in Hot Springs, Byrd joined
Blue Ridge Shoe Company in
December 1963, as a Heel Seat
lasting operator at the Boone,
N. C. plant. He worked his way
up to Department Manager.
Trainee in September 1965,
and was sent to Sparta, N.C.
Since then, he has held several
management positions at
Wilkesboro, Boone, and Mtn.
City, Tenn. He has been plant
manager of the Mowitain City
plant since February 1971.
SI? 1 -s - - i It-a CnMnito
tie resides ai twi aprings,
and his wife, Mary A.; and
son, Kevin; and daughter.
Michelle will join him as soon
as school is out.
The remainder of the
management staff will be
composed of; Juanita B.
Phillips, Officer Manager;
Thomas D. Davis, Depart
ment Manager Stitching;
Rudolph A. Stout, De
partment Manager Stitching;
Paul N. Lovin, Jr., Depart
ment Manager Cutting;
Dennis B. Freeman,
Department Manager Bot
toming; Newland L. Reese,
Department Manager Supply;
Bill Willett, Department
Manager Pntiking.
Donald Kamsey Now
Marshall Alderman
Donald J. Ramsey, owner of
Don's Auto Parts on Main
Street here, has been ap
pointed an alderman for the
Town of Marshall. Mr.
Ramsey a graduate ?f Mar
shall High School, is the mo(
Mr. and Mrs. Jack Ramsey, of
of the board of directors of the
Marshall Housing Authority ,
prior to Ms appointment as I
"ST'^Mcceeds Charles
Ham" Crowe who recently
Mr Ramsey Is married to
the former Miss Sheila
?rts. They have two
Hot Springs Tomato C&.
Under New Ownership
Fred Shelton, well-known
resident of Route 3, Marshall,
announced this week that he is
the new owner and manager of
the Hot Springs Tomato
Company.
Mr. Shelton has been tlw
owner and builder of the
Laurel Tomato Of., and has
had vast experience in the
tomato business.
"Anyone in the Hot Springs
area who wishes tomato
plants may contact me by
' calling 656-2328, or are invited
to visit my home," Mt.r
Shetton stated.
More definite ad
opening of the Hot Springs
tomato shed will be published
in this newspaper.
Harrell Succeeds
ffomeov
'
At the regular meeting of
Madison County Board of
Social Services held on
Monday, February 23, Donald
F. HarreU of Mars Hill, was
appointed Director TrMnee (f
the Department of Social
Services to replace Mrs.
Frances C. Ramsey, who will
- w ? ? >
retire as Director at the end of
this month.
Mr. HarreU Joined the staff
in March IMS as a Social
Madison FFA
Wins First Plac*
m the P
A. C. Reytioi