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THE NEWS - Record - /
SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY
75th Year No. 18 PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT MARSHALL, N.C. THURSDAY, MAY 27, 1976 15? Per Copy
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Betty's Mother: 'I love her always 9
"I was Just as shocked as anyone
else when I heard the news about
Betty and that Hays fellow," Mrs.
Norman Roberts told The News
Record Monday.
She was talking about the news
of her daughter's having told The
Washington Post that one of her
Washington friends, Ohio Rep.
Wayne L. Hays, has paid her
$14,000 a year in government
money to be his mistress.
"Several newspaper reporters
and television representatives
kept me awake a great deal
Sunday night with phone calls and
other media personnel visited me
on Monday," Mrs. Roberts
commented to The News-Record.
She said she told them all she knew
which was very little. "Surely they
can't blame me for what has
happened," she said.
She also said she was misquoted
in some news stories and was very
unhappy about the way some of the
"stories were turned around and
twisted from the truth." .
"One of the stories stated that
Betty Lou Ray had sent me large
sums of money, which is ab
solutely untrue. She did oc
casionally send me some money
and would call about every two
weeks to find out how I was getting
along but she never sent me large
sums," Mrs. Roberts said.
Mrs. Roberts said the last time
she saw Betty was in Asheville in
January. "She called me this past
Mother's Day to wish me well ."
Mrs. Roberts said she knew
absolutely nothing about Betty's
affair with Congressman Hays but
said she thought Betty was mighty
brave" to subject herself to such
embarrassment in order to expose
what goes on in Washington.
"I hate to see Betty, now known
as Elizabeth Ray, put through all
this mess, but I hope she knows
what she's doing," Mrs. Roberts
said.
Asked if she thought her
daughter might be in danger
following alleged threats, Mrs.
Roberts said that Betty called her
aunt, Mrs. Pansy Jean Ledford,
who lives near Asheville on
Monday and said she was "safe
and protected". Mrs. Roberts
stated that Betty was very fond of
Mrs. Ledford. "Betty has always
felt very close to Pansy Jean and
me," Mrs. Roberts said.
Mrs. Roberts said that Betty
stayed with her grandmother,
Mrs. Delia Smith Allen, who lives
in the Brush Creek section near
Marshall most of her young life but
after graduating from Marshall
High School she went to
Washington to seek employment.
"I know she was a fine girl who
desired to become a movie star or
a model. She was always a real
pretty girl and I think she still is,"
Mrs. Roberts said.
"I love her very much and
always will," she concluded.
Betty Lou Ray
141 Will Graduate
From Madison High
Madison High School will
graduate 141 seniors on
Tuesday night at 7:30 in
ceremonies in the high school
gymnasium.
Guest speaker will be John
Parris of Sylva, noted
Asheville Citizen-Times
columnist. Miss Pam Max
well, senior class secretary,
will introduce Parris.
The following program has
been announced:
Organ prelude by Mark
Jones, organist in the music
department of Mars Hill
College. Included in the organ
selections will be "Jubilate",
"Chaconne", and "Crown
Imperial".
Processional: "Pomp and
Circumstance".
The invocation will be given
by Shirley Goforth, senior
class treasurer; welcoming
remarks by Kent McPeters,
senior class president.
Two anthems: "It's A
Wonderful Thing To Be Me"
and "The Patriot's Dream"
will be rendered by the
Madison High chorus under
the direction of Mrs. Dorothy
Roberts of the Mars Hill
College Music Department.
Larry Peek, senior class
vice president, will be a
student speaker, followed by a
solo, "The Hands of Time" by
Harrell Wood, popular senior.
Ricky Anderson, senior
class reporter, will also be a
student speaker.
The presentation of
diplomas will be made by
David Wyatt, principal; J.
Bruce Phillips, assistant
.ptieeipftk and Fender AMisoD
Jr., an outstanding senior.
Miss Shirley Goforth will
pronounce the benediction
which will be followed by the
recessional, "Carillon".
Seniors graduating include;
Lydia Roxanne Allen, Roger
Dewayne Allen, +Fender Leo
Allison Jr., + Vanessa Diane
Ammons, Nancy Elizabeth
Anders, + William Richard
Anderson, Wanda Sue Bailey,
Carolyn Irene Baker, Vivian
Lane Bechtol, James Fredrick
Bishop, David Junior Black
well, Danny Lee Boone, Karan
Vanessa Boone, Janet Elaine
Brady, Timothy Ray Bragg,
+Terry Dwayne Briggs,
-(-Cheryl Ann Britt, -(-Phyllis
Elaine Buckner, Timothy K.
Continued on Page 4
Mars Hill College
Gets *2 Million
^Federal Grant 1
Mars Hills College received word Friday that
it has been awarded a $2 million grant ? the
largest in its 129-year history. U. 8. Rep. Roy A.
Taylor made the announcement.
The award was made by the Department of
Health. Education and Welfare under Title III of
the Amended Higher Education Act of 1965 through
the Advanced Institutional Development Program
(AIDP). It will allow Mars Hill to complete its full
development as a senior college.
Mars Hill was the only North Carolina in
stitution among the 32 colleges and universities in
23 states receiving nearly 957 million in AIDP
funds.
The funds will cover an initial six-month
planning program scheduled to begin July 1 and a
five-year development span beginning Jan. 1,1977.
The five-year plan will cover I# major areas
relating to the college's competence-based
curriculum: a management information system,
an evaluation center, the Mentor program, areas
of specialisation, the social work degree, a
program for teachers of gifted children, youth
Services program, the continuing education
program, and the experiential education and
career counseling centers.
The new cirriculum was designed to cover six
general areas of competence the college deems
(Continued on 4)
Filing
Deadline
Friday
The Madison County board
of elections announced this
week that the deadline for
candidates to file is Friday at
noon.
Was Marshall Woman
9 \> ? - ?< j ? ' *
Congressman's Lover?
Betty Lou Ray of Washington. D.C., a
native of Marshall, became a household
word here Monday following news
media disclosure of her alleged love
affair with Ohio Congressman Wayne
Hays in Washington.
Not too many people remembered
Betty since she has been gone from
Marshall for more than 10 years and
seldom visited here.
Newmen and telecasters converged
on Marshall Monday to And out all they
could about the blond beauty who told
The Washington Post that one of her
Washington friends, Congressman
Hays, has paid her $14,000 a year in
government money to be his mistress.
Not too much could be learned other
than her early life here. Betty was born
near Marshall but her father, Oliver
Ray, was killed in a car accident near
Barnardsville when Betty was only 2V4
years old.
"She lived most of the time with her
grandmother, Mrs. Delia Smith Allen of
the Brush Creek area near Marshall,"
Mrs. Norman Roberts, Betty's mother,
said.
"She was a fine girl," Mrs. Roberta
said. "She always seemed to desire
becoming a movie star."
Mrs. Roberts, who is the mother of
five other children by a subsequent
marriage since she was married to the
late Oliver P. Ray, said her daughter
(Continued on 4)
7 Communities Enter Development Program
Seven communities in
Madison County are par
ticipating in the Western North
Carolina Community
Development Program this
year, Morris L. McGough,
executive vice president,
announced this week.
The communities include
Big Laurel, Sleepy Valley, Bull
Creek, Forks of Ivy, Upper
Laurel, Greater Ivy and Mars
Hill.
The community develop
ment program is now in its 27th
year. It is sponsored on an area
basis by the WNC Develop
ment Association in
cooperation with the N. C.
Agricultural Extension Ser
vice and local sponsors in each
county. Objectives of the
program is to boost com
munity pride and spirit and to
encourage people to work
together to build better areas
in which to live. It is a grass
roots program based on what
people in the communities can
accomplish with their own
resources. Results over the
years have included the
erection of nearly 100 com
munity centers, playgrounds,
fire departments and many
beautifies tion projects.
Area wards totaling $7,500
will be presented next fall to
Emery Metcalf
Announces
For Register
Emery Metcalf is a can
didate for Register of Deeds
for Madisoa County. He la a
Democrat.
HO is the son of Mrs Blanch
Alien Metcalf of the Loi?
Branch community and the"!
late Garrett Metcalf.
eJEm?7 lnr"?iv*d jjj
Baptist Church
the communities showing (he
greatest improvement duMg
the year. These are psuildrt
by area business firms and
industries. An estimated
$12,000415,000 in local awards
will be presented in cossh
petition within the counties.
Communities are dhrhbd
into three ctivteons (or Judging
purposes Division "A" for
communities with leas than 76
families has X entires;
Division "B", 76-160 families,
"C", those with over l?
areas will be Judged on tits
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