Vailssn Ceur.ty Libra-y Q
Marshal I, H.C. 23753 )/77 A
v" M
The News Record
Olympics ? Ivy's Second
SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY I ... see page 6
76th Year No. 30 PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT MARSHALL, N C THURSDAY, JULY 28, 1977 15* Per Copy
SHERIFF E.Y. PONDER is
shown standing in an acre of
marijuana which was seized
Sunday on Caldwell Branch on
Big Pine. The plants ranged from
eight to 12 feet high.
\A fi f>.
Officers Burn Record
'Grass' Haul, Arrest 2
Sheriff Ponder, deputies and
others seized an estimated
8,000 pounds of marijuana
Sunday in a remote area of
Madison County in what
Ponder stated was the largest
single growth ever taken in
this county It will be recalled
that a little more marijuana
was seized about a year ago,
but it was from several dif
ferent locations.
Sunday 's haul was cut down
in the Caldwell Branch section
of Big Pine, about 18 miles
northwest of Marshall.
Patrick Irwin, 24, and Roy. W.
Hatfield Jr., 33, natives of
Connecticut who have lived in
this county since last March,
were arrested and charged
with the manufacture and
possession of controlled
substance They have been
released under $2,000 bonds
each. Ponder said.
The marijuana, which
covered an entire acre, had the
street value of between
$100,000 and $300,000, Ponder
stated.
In describing the seizure of
the marijuana, Ponder said he
and Deputy Clate Grindstaff,
Gerald Davis and others,
started the search about 5a.m.
Sunday morning and stayed on
the job for 14 hours. Using a
four-wheel drive truck they
went to the scene to find an
acre of marijuana growing,
with most of the "weed" eight
to 12 feet high and ready to
harvest in two or three weeks.
Ponder stated that a large
barn had been built on the
property presumably to store
the marijuana.
Trucks were loaded with the
marijuana and returned to
Marshall where it was stored
in an empty building on Bridge
Street and closely watched
Sunday night by officers to
prevent anyone Dressing into
the building.
A preliminary hearing of
Irwin and Hatfield is
scheduled for Aug. 10 in
District Court here.
MARIJUANA BURNED
Despits heavy showers, the
captured marijuana was
burned Monday afternoon in
the incinerator on the Island
under the direction of Sheriff
Ponder. Many persons braved
the showers to see some 8,000
pounds of the "weed" go up in
smoke.
State Honor
4-H Club
Taps Wise
One of the highest honors in
4-H work was bestowed
Monday night on a Madison
County youth.
Warren Wise, son, of Mr. and
Mrs. Earle Wise, Route 7,
Marshall, was "tapped" into
the State 4-H Honor Club in a
colorful candlelight ceremony
marking one of the highlights
of North Carolina 4-H Congress
in Raleigh.
Membership in the some
1,000-member organization is
a reward for outstanding
service to 4-H work. The 4
H'ers are judged on their
leadership abilities, moral
standards, 4-H activiities and
project achievement. Selec
tion is made after careful
study by the honor club
members. The tapping is a
distinction that is reserved for
less than one-half of one
percent of the state's 4-H
members.
Warren has been a 4-H
member for eight years.
During this time he has
completed projects in different
areas and currently is
president' of the Western
District 4-H clubs of Western
North Carolina.
r
To Pave Roads
Madison County Gets $2Q3,00G Less
The N. C. Department of Transportation will
have $283,000 less this fiscal year to spend on
Madison County's unpaved secondary roads than
last year.
That is because state government has
allocated less money for secondary roads
everywhere and because the DOT will no longer
take into consideration the fact road construction
in mountain counties costs more than it does in the
piedmont or coastal plain.
It is that last fact that hits hardest at western
counties. If the state has less money it can afford
to spend on roads and allocates it equitably, all
share alike. But if geographic realities are
ignored, mountain counties suffer.
If all counties are allotted money according to
miles of unpaved roads ? that's the way current
legislation reads ? mountain counties will fall
progressively behind piedmont and coastal plain
counties in the condition of their roads. It is a
simple dollars and cents fact: if mountain roads
cost more per mile to build, as they do, fewer
roads can be built than elsewhere in the state. And
when all those in the piedmont and coastal plain
have been paved, the mountains will still have
long stretches in gravel and dust.
Madison County has 318 miles of unpaved
roads now. State government has allotted $399,200
for paving some of them this fiscal year (ending
June 30, 1978). Last year Madison got $682,200 in
its initial allocation; more came later. That's a
difference of $283,000 without the supplement.
Madison is faring the same way as her neigh
bors. Haywood, for instance, has 242 miles of
unpaved roads; she got $477,200 last year in the
initial allocation and will receive $303,900 this
year, a difference of $175,000. Buncombe, ex
pecting to get about $900,000, will get closer to
$471,000.
Altogether, the seven counties in the 13th
Highway Division which includes Madison will
receive $2,250,000 this year compared to $4,226,700
last year.
With 141 miles of unpaved roads Yancey will
get $177,700. Mitchell, with 146 miles, will get
$182,900.
i Bridges, Secondary Roads
. *
\ Discussed At Hearing Here
?
By JIM STORY
Bridges and secondary
roads in Madison County were
the main topics at the public
hearing held Wednesday night
of last week at the courthouse
here.
Highway officials, including
Joe Randall, of the State Board i
of Transportation; Jim i
Medlin, division engineer; i
W i?i ? m 11 i _i a i
uamei martin, assistant
division engineer; and Don
Dawson, district engineer;
explained to the sparce
gathering a "recommended
program" and heard questions
tram several persons present,
including Dr. Don Anderson, a
member of the Madison
County Board of Education,
other representatives from
Mars Hill, and citizens from
Grapevine.
The meeting was opened by
Mrs. Virginia Anderson,
chairperson of the county
board of commissioners, who
presided.
Mrs. Anderson recognized
Randall who explained the
purpose of the meeting and
introduced Daniel Martin,
assistant division engineer,
who outlined needs of the
county secondary roads.
He pointed out that there
were 375 miles of unpaved
secondary roads which, if
improved and paved, would
cost approximately
Inn AAA nnn
?ou.uw.uw.
Martin also said that there
were 580 miles of paved
secondary roads in the county
which would cost ap
proximately $11,000,000 to
widen approximately 25 per
cent of these roads.
He then spoke of the con
dition of some of the 216
bridges that need to be
replaced, but added that this
would be approximately
$7,400,000. Martin and Jim
Medlin, division engineer, both
emphasized the need for
rebuilt bridgee or for vast
improvements due to
problems of school buses, log
trucks, fuel trucks, feed trucks
and other large vehicles not
being able to legally cross
many of the bridges. Total
county needs for secondary
roads is estimated to be
$48,400,000, it was stated.
The recommended program
suggested was to use all the
money allocated, which is only
$399,900, to replace some of
a.i l : a l
inese orioges. rtisu, iu |u over
these bridges with
representatives of the county
school board and the com
missioners for their approvals.
Officials also told the
gathering that where possible
repairs would be feasible this
would be done, but pointed out
that the average coat of repairs
was $1,000per foot.
Dr. Anderson led a
discussion relative to how the
secondary road funds were
appropriated this year.
Randall explained that he is
doing all he can to determine
answers to some of the
questions relative to how the
interpretation concerning
allocations of secondary road
funds were decided.
The Grapevine spokesman's
comments and questions in
volved a bridge in that area.
Also attending the hearing
was Jim Ledford, a member
(Continued on Page 8)
BILLOWS of smoke and fire
roared into rainy skies Monday
afternoon as some 8,000 pounds of
marijuana, with street values
estimated between $100,000 and
$300,000, went up in smoke. The
burning took place at the in
cinerator on the Island here.
(Phot by Jim Story)
Dance, Folk Festival
Set For August 4-6
The 50th annual Mountain
Dance and Folk Festival, the
traditional showcase for
Southern Appalachian talent,
will take place on the nights of
Aug. 4,5, and 6 in the Thomas
Wolfe Auditorium of the
Asheville Civic Center.
Founded by the late
folklorist, Bascom Lamar
Lunsford, of South Turkey
Creek, the festival will present
old-time mountain music from
which Bluegrass sprang and
ballads sung in accents kin to
those heard when they were
aired by the Court of Henry IV.
Musical instruments will
include fiddles, dulcimers,
five-string banjos, dobros,
mouth and jews harps,
musical saws and simple
mountain tune bows However,
the emphasis will be on dan
cing, mountain style. During
the three nights of the festival,
352 clog, buck and great circle
style square dancers will swirl
across the stage.
The traditional opening time
is, "along about sundown", in
the words of the minstrel of
South Turkey Creek. This
year, around 7 p.m. each
evening, Lamar Lunsford, son
of the founder and a veteran of
50 festivals, will officially open
the show with "The Gray
Eagle . " While the fiddlers are
playing this favorite tune of
Bascom Lunsford, an old-time
dancer will show the younger
dancers how it should be done.
Quentin Ramsey of Madison
County will be the master of
ceremonies. He will introduce
doggers and smooth dancers
from mountain areas such as
Spillcorn Creek, Noontootly,
Deep Gap, Sandy Mush, Max
Patch and Bushy Mountain,
who will compete for the giant
dance cups. Winners of the
smooth dance and clog dance
divisions reign for the year
following the festival as
champions, "the best in the
mountains." Current cham
pions, the Rough Creek
Cloggers of Haywood County
and the VaileySprings Smooth
Dancers of Limestone, will be
on hand Saturday night to
defend their titles against the
winners of Thursday and
Friday nights competition.
The team from Limestone won
in 1975 and 1976. According to
(Continued on PageS)
U. S. Program
To Help Poor
Pay Fuel Bills
Lonnie Burton, executive
director of the Opportunity
Corporation of Madison
Buncombe counties stated that
the Opportunity Corporation
has been designed as the local
administering agency for the
special Crisis Intervention
program.
Burton stated the purpose of
this program is to provide
funds to relieve part of the
burden of last winter's energy
costs on the poor and near
poor
In Gov. James B. Hunt Jr.'s
recent news release, the
program which begins
Tuesday will provide aid in two
ways:
1. advance payments of $100
to utility companies and fuel
suppliers to cover future
winter bills for low-income
citizens over SO years old who
have had trouble meeting last
winter's fuel bills;
2. payments of up to $250 to
utility companies and fuel
suppliers for low-income
persons who have had service
shut off because of unpaid bilk
from last winter.
Gov. Hunt stated that the
state's allocation of
94,090,000.00 for the special
Crisis Intervention piugia^
will be distributed by the
SEOO in the Department off
Natural Resources anil
Community Development.
Burton stated that locally,
the Opportunity Corporation ef
Madison-Buncombe counties
is administering the program
in both Madison and Bun
combe county. The allocation
(Continuedon Paget)
ST* 'dli " i ? -A- ? in
Electricity's Going Off Sunday
French Broad Electric
tfembenhip Corporation has
cheduled power outages
Sunday at both their Marshall
ind Mara Hill aubatationa,
veather permitting.
The Marshall substation is
cheduled to be off between the
knits of 1 and S p.m. to allow
7PAL crewi to repair switches
lear the Marshall substation
rhia will affect the following
treat: in and around Mar
ihall. Walnut Creek,
Grapevine, East Fork, Uttle ]
Pine, Walnut, Big Pine, Spring
Creek, Laurel and the Hot
Springs area.
The Mars Hill substation will
be off from * to 3:30 p.m. for
French Broad EMC crews to
remove a booster bank of
transformers and do cable
splicing. This will affect
persons in and around Mars
Hill, California Croak, Upper
Big Laurel, Middle Pork.
Beech Glen, Paint Pork,
Barnardsville and Younglife.
The cooperative urges its
members to keep their
freezers closed during any
extended outage. If a freezer is
full it will stay frozen for about
two days if it is not opened. A
freezer that is half full should
stay frozen for about >4 hours.
The outage scheduled for
Sunday should not be long
enough to cause concern for
refrigerators. Stores and
filling stations are urged to
take proper precautions for
their freezers. As long as these
freezers are not opened, ice
cream and other frozen food
should be all right.
French Brand EMC regrets
any inconvenience this
outrage may cauee the
members and thanks you for
your cooperattea during this