The News Record
hosts at Rocky Bluff
SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY Page 8
/
76th Year No. 16 PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT MARSHALL, NC THURSDAY, APRIL 21. 1977 15? Per Copy
Your Heritage Waits On A Worn Doorstep
EDITOR'S NOTE: The
following article was received
a few days ago. unsigned. It
contains a great deal of
meaning so Is being published
although we don't know who
wrote It.
A long lived. much
weathered man knocked on
our door seeking permission to
walk back through our small
portion of the wooded hills of
Madison County. He was
searching for his own almost
vanished past
He came back flushed and
eager. having found a
depression where his family's
cabin had stood and the flat
thick rocks of its foundation
Taken from near the worn
stone that had served as
doorstep, he carried a mixed
armful of the white, yellow
centered daffodils and the
butter yellow ones so often
gone wild around old
homesteads
He had brought the flowers
back to us, and from his pocket
he took out a strip of leather
lined with holes and stood
rubbing it between his knobbed
hands as he told us of evenings
spent in the tiny cabin and the
sound of his father's hammer
tapping on the last as he made
the family's shoes When he
left he had grown silent,
distracted with old half
forgotten emotions and un
t ranslatable memories.
We stood and watched him
go, warmed and refreshed by
this sign that you can touch
your past again, if only briefly,
and hear the old lost voices
that speak to our hearts as no
others can.
But I had also suffered the
inner shock anyone must feel
who realizes belatedly that the
beaten path he has taken for
granted is graveled with
precious stones. For I had
walked many times in those
woods and even stood by the
half-buried doorsteps, idly
imagining how the rough
cabins would have looked as I
rested after a successful
treasure hunt for old bottles
I have conjured up little girls
in flour sacking skirts and
rows of corn in old fields still
marked off with piles of stones
among the pines and poplars.
But my television trained ear
had never before recognized
the authentic echoes of the
voices that had spoken ther e
Those echoes stayed with me
long after the pilgrim had
disappeared down our country
road with his piece of worn
shoe leather in his pocket
They brought me to wonder at
the feeling of satisfaction I had
from this brief encounter, the
renewed character and life it
had given to the objects we
prize for their age and old uses
If you are a typical Western
North Carolinian, you, too,
have around you many antique
reminders of the generations
who have prepared this ground
before us. The total number of
these things would surprise the
majority who took the time to
, count them. Recent years,
especially, have seen the
growth of interest in the
reverence for these art ifacts of
our grandparent's daily lives
Old flowered dishes line
cupboard shelves, green ivy
curls out of worn coffee mills
and old pumps hold up
mailboxes Something in us
finds comfort in having these
things around us. They soothe
the eye in a way the brightest
new item cannot do.
But in recent years this
feeling we have always had for
the old family things in our
lives has become almost a
craze; a national bath in
nostalgia.
What are we seeking for?
Do these things represent for
us something in the lives of
those who used them that we
are missing in our own lives?
Is it perhaps the plainness of
their ways, the solidarity of the
family groups that we truly
want to collect to ourselves?
If so, we have been turning
out the wrong attics in our
search There is a legacy for us
that will sustain and enrich our
present lives But it does not
hide inside these objects of
wood and clay and metal, as
much as we may love having
them around us
None of these things are just
what they were before Our
eyes see them differently,
their uses have changed if they
are used at all. If there ia a
tangible heritage, it cannot be
collected, or written on paper,
or even sung. It is something
bred into our bones. It is in the
way a man's hand fits the
smooth handle of an ax, the
way a woman's hand in
stinctively handles an aged
plate that in its turn has held
the meat for uncounted family
meals. That untaught
something that answers to the
sound of a loom; the formerly
unknown feeling that comes at
the first sight through trees of
sturdy logs fitted into a frame
(Continued on Page 2)
Marshbanks
Sisters Set
Scholarship
Two Mars Hill natives,
Fuchsia Virginia Marshbanks
and Flossie Marshbanks, now
residents of Raleigh, have
established a scholarship fund
at Mars Hill College to endow
"The Marshbanks-Anderson
Scholarships" as a memorial
to their father and mother,
William Willis Marshbanks
and Dora Anderson Mar
shbanks
The fund totals more than
160,000. When fully im
plemented, it will provide
scholarships to "superior and
deserving high school
graduates of promise who
desire to prepare themselves
for service to their church,
community, state, and to
humanity."
The sisters' family ties with
the college date back to its
founding in 1856. An uncle, the
Rev. J. W Marshbanks. was
one of the founders of the
college and was a charter
member of the board of
trustees.
It was his young slave, Joe,
who was held by a contractor
to secure payment of the debt
on the first building erected at
the college. Since then, the
Anderson and Marshbanks
families have played
significant roles in the
development of the school.
The Marshbanks home,
located where the college's
science building now stands,
was a gathering place for
young people.
"It is our hope," the donors
said, "that the scholarships
made possible by this gift will
provide the opportunities and
blessings which we envision
for many of the future citizen;
and leaders of our state."
Virginia Marshbanks
received her education at
Mars Hill, the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro,
and the nursing division of the
Medical College of Virginia.
Her professional career was
spent in hospital ad
ministration in Virginia, West
Virginia and North Carolina.
Flossie Marahbanks
received her education at
Mare Hill, Meredith, and Wake
Forest. She was admitted to
the North Carolina Bar and
practiced law for several
years.
APPROXIMATELY 60 persons
from the Marshall-Walnut areas
attended the election of four
directors to the Hot Springs health
program board of directors at
Madison High School Monday
night. Tom Wallin, president and
chairman of the Hot Springs
health program, presided.
Directors previously elected to
the full board are: Hot Springs,
Fred Tolley, Larry Plemmon ;,
Eugene Wills, Harold Anderson; . .
Laurel, Dennis Tweed, L. A.
Zimmerman Jr., Leonard Gosnell
and Walter Gosnell.
MARSHALL-WALNUT directors
were elected Monday night and
will join previously-elected
directors of the Hot Springs and
Laurel areas on the board of
directors of the Hot Springs health
program. Left to right, Jerry
Plemmons (Marshall), 0. A.
Gregory (Marshall), Tom Wallin
(Walnut), and Cloice Plemmons
(Walnut). Marshall and Walnut
have consolidated into one unit.
Food Stamps: A Money - Maker In Madison
By GRACE HAYNIE
Outreach Coordinator
There is an industry in
Madison County which brings
thousands of dollars into the
local economy every year but
which only a few people
recognize as a money
producing element of Madison
County.
What is it? The local food
stamp program, operated by
the Department of Social
Services.
Many people react to food
stamps as just another ex
pense paid for by their tax
dollar. But what they don't
know about is the money
generated by having the
program here.
We are talking about things
like the tax money paid into the
county from the sales tax
collected on food, a tax
collected on food stamps in the
same way it is collected on
regular currency.
That, however, is just part of
the picture. There are many
grocery stores which would be
in bad shape if it was not for
food stamps. Five dollars
worth of food stamps collected
by a grocery is the same as $5
collected in greenbacKs.
There are still other ways
that food stamps bring money
into Madison County. Most
people who get food stamps
(Continued on Page 2)
Hundreds
Expected
At Benefit
Hundreds of mountain music
lovers are expected to come to
Marshall Saturday night to
attend the third annual Cancer
Benefit program which will be
held in the Madison High
School gymnasium. The
program will get under way at
7 o'clock.
The program will feature a
variety of outstanding local
talent including square dance
teams, ballad singers, gospel
singers and other musical
groups.
This program will serve a
two-fold purpose by giving
recognition to local talent and
at the same time raising funds
to support the fight against
cancer.
Anyone or any group in
terested in participating in this
event is asked to contact Rick
McDevitt at 649-2905.
Quentin Ramsey, local
musician and one of the
originators of the Sodom Old
time Music Festival, will be
master of ceremonies.
Ramsey is a well-known
master of ceremonies having
served in the Mountain Dance
and Folk Festival.
Included on the program
Saturday night will be old-time
ballad singing, clog dancing,
square dancing. Blue Grass
bands, and old time bands.
A special clog dance
exhibition by the Erwin High
School doggers will be one of
the features.
Among those to perform will
include Carl Chandler and
Band, Cas Wallin, Devie
Norton, Joe Chandler, Tim
Chandler and Band, Peter Gott
and family, Ralph Lewis and
family, in addition to dance
teams from several schools in
the county.
It was announced that there
will be no competition among
the participants.
Admission will be 50 cents
for students and $1 for adults
with all proceeds going to the
American Cancer Society to
"wipe out cancer in our
lifetime."
Refreshments will be on sale
and the entire entertainment
will be fun for the whole
family, officials said.
April is a special month in
Madison County because the
American Cancer Society's
educational and fund raising
crusade gives people a chance
to DO something about cancer.
"This is a time ot very
concentrated action," Charles
Tolley, 1977 Cancer Crusade
chairman explained, "Gov.
Hunt, President Carter and the
members of Congress have
officially named April as
Cancer Control Month."
Grassy Greek Being Replanted I
U. S. Forest Service per
sonnel oil Thursday began
replanting white pine on the
Grassy Creek area which was
controlled burned by the
agency on April It.
Timber on the ridge was
killed by southern pine beetles
last summer and needed
reforestation.
Because of the large
amounts of rhododendron,
mountain laurel and slash,
burning was needed in order to
reduce competition to the
white pine seedlings.
Forest worker Lester
Frisbee said, "I'd lots rather
plant in the soot and ashea as
try to climb through such thick
brush."
Burning should also increase
huckleberries which were
abundant in the 1940s and 90s
and are a favorite food of many
wildlife species including
turkey, grouse and bear.
According to Dick Owenby,
assistant ranger at Hot
Springs, the trees are expected
to be sawtlmber sized by the
time they are 40 years old. "We
have ?hinn-'t ? - srea on Doe
Bra run twice .<ince It was
planted In the 1090s and the
remaining stand averages 16
inches in diameter and almost
100 feet tall," Owenby said.
Owenby further explained,
"that controlled burning
without doing significant
environmental damage is
virtually an art since soil and
fuel moisture, wind direction
and speed, and relative
humidity must be perfect."
Control lines were con
structed and fire hoaes laid in
advance so that watar was
available to prevent the fire
from spreading. Twenty
employees and local Are
wardens were on hand to keep
the blase contained. Aircraft
were used overhead to watch
for fires which were ignited by
flying sparks. One such spot
fire did occur and burned
about a quarter acre before the
crew extinguished it.
A close examination of the
area after the burn revealed
that a small layer of leaves and
other organic material still
covered the soil protect!^ it
from erosion until the new
timber crop
established.
U. S. FOREST SERVICE per
sonnel, left to right: Spencer
Rollins, Willard Swaney. Lester
Prisbee and Steve Burns plant
;;?V ' '\ ' ?
white pines in the Grassy Creek
area which was control burned
last week.
WIC Provides
Better Nutrition
Madison County is now
participating in the WIC
Program, a supplemental food
program for women, infants
and children. The program
provides nutritious foods for
new mothers, pregnant or
nursing women, infants and
children up to 5 years old. The
foods provided by WIC sup
plement rather than replace
the foods that should already
be included in the diet.
Onlv foods which have the
right amount of certain
nutrients can be used in the
WIC program. The foods in
cluded are iron fortified infant
formula, iron fortified infant
cereal, infant juice, cheese,
cereal, fruit and vegetable
Mi At. X 'II <. abj -MM
juice and eggs. These foods are
very good sources of protein,
calcium, iron and vitamins ?
nutrients which are essential
for growth and development in
infants and young children and
for the health of pregnant
women and nursing mothers.
To be eligible for WIC, you
must live in the geographical
area, be eligible for reduced
price medical care, and be
certified as being at nutritional
risk.
Anyone interested in WIC
should contact Madison
County Health Department at
649-3531 or can Hot Springs
Health Program at Hot
Springs, 622-3711, Laurel 656
2611 or Walnut, 649-3500.
Mars Hill
Merchants
Organize
Approximately 40
businessmen and women of the
Mars Hill area met Monday
night at the Town HaD for an
organisational meeting of the
Mars Hill Merchants
Association. Ed Howard,
chairman of the committee
which gaaiheaded the
Officers elected are: Ed
Howard, president, DaMei
Boons, vies pi sal dent; Mm.
Harold Ammons, secretary:
Mrs. Clayton Willis, treasurer!
"Plans, bylaws, projects,
committees, etc. will he
decided at a future meedi*,"
Howard said.
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