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The News Record
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SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY
On t! 10 Insld ? ... ?
Mars Hill Upsets
NAIA Power Elon
.... Turn To Page 6
78th Year No. 37
PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT MARSHALL, N.C.
THURSDAY, September 20, 1979
15' Per Copy
MARSHALL
N<?fnil( AROLINA
A PROFILE OF MARSHALL was designed
*?' by Stephen McConneU of the Land-of-Sky
Regional Council. It is used on the cover of
the brochure prepared to describe the town
and its environment.
Here's Looking At Marshall!
Town Will Host State Judges Friday
In Effort ToWin Excellence Award
This Friday, Sept. 21, the
Town of Marshall will receive
its final review by state and
local government officials for
its entry into the Community
of Excellence Award Competi
tion.
The purpose of the Gover
nor's Community of Ex
cellence Award Program is to
assist North Carolina com
munities to become more at
tractive for the location of in
dustry and related economic
development. The program
has been established to help
those communities in North
Carolina that need assistance
most - the smaller towns.
In order to receive the com
munity of Excellence Award,
the town must meet guidelines
established by the North
Carolina Department of Com
merce. These include the
development of a County In
dustrial Bond Authority, ap
pointing a community In
dustrial Development Team,
Town Planning Board, and In
dustrial Visitation Team, the
development of a community
brochure and slide show, and
the keeping of a scrapbook
which details all community
development activities.
The review will be held at 10
a.m. at the Housing Authority
Building on Walnut Creek
Road. Community members
participating in the meeting
include: Ervin Adams, chair
man of Madison County Com
missioners; Lawrence
Ponder, mayor of Marshall;
Ed Mash burn, chairman of
the Marshall Township
Development Board; Dr. Don
Anderson, chairman of the
Madison County Planning .
Board; Bryce Hall, chairman
of the Industrial Visitation
Team; James Allen, chair
man of the Marshall Planning
Board; Bill Stump, manager
of Arbee Manufacturing;
Helen Rudisill, manager of the
Merchants Association; Ed
Morton, of the Madison Coun
ty Health Department.
Following the presentations,
the slide show will be shown
and the Town Scrapbook
presented by Jean Taylor. The
final event will be a tour of the
Marshall area to inspect pro
spective industrial sites and
community projects.
Members of the judging
team include: Herman Ander
son, Director of Area Develop
ment, Blue Ridge EMC; Mat
thew Bacoate, member of the
N.C. Board of Economic
Development , Mat McGough,
Obray Ramsey And The Chestnut Tree
By ALAN ANDERSON
I paid a brief visit to Obray
Ramsey last week at his home
an Walnut Mountain and
though he played not a single
note, I came away with a bet
ter understanding of where his
music comes from. Most
Madison County folks know
Obray for his songs ("Little
Sparrow," "Pretty Saro,"
"Cold Rain and Snow," "The
Driver's Boy") and his vir
tuosity on the five-string.
Perhaps fewer people
remember his lifelong love of
nature ? his knowledge of
mountain trees and flowers,
his skill at fishing and hunting,
his collections of minerals and
birds' eggs.
I knew a little of these in
terests, so I was not surprised
when he called to report
discovering a sprouted
chestnut tree bearing full,
healthy chestnuts. The nearly
complete obliteration of
American chestnuts by blight
some 50 years ago has been
one of the great sorrows of the
century. Its wood, its fruit,
and its grandeur are ir
replaceable, and we can only
cheer from the sidelines as
botanists struggle to find some
vaccine or other antidote for
the disease that kills off the
new shoots nearly as fast as
they sprout from old roots.
So it was with great
pleasure that Obray Ramsey
came across these chestnuts,
high on Walnut Mountain, on
beyond the end of Lonesome
Mountain Road, beside a
dead-end dirt track with no
name. We got out of his pickup
abd he posed for the camera
beside a couple of rich, green
chestnuts, and I asked him if
hit remembered the coming of
tip chestnut blight.
?J'Yes, I remember when we
lived on the old home place,
nijr granddad had a big
chestnut orchard; the trees
wftre so big; so many
cjtastnuts. I was there until I
wis 10 years old, and the
bfight started to come in. It hit
the smaller trees first, and
tljfcy cut them and made
mrer line poles. They called
tl|Em phone poles, JUBd tblM
i$re so much in demand that
jjfey started calling any poles
1 "We moved then, and by the
fall in the autumn," be said,
"and on hillsides they'd roll
against a log into a (rile, and
this pile would be covered by
leaves, and in the spring you
could go and find them there,
still good. We'd just rake them
up. You really couldn't starve
to death in those days if you
lived in these hills and knew
enough to look on the uphill
side of a log."
We got back into the truck
and wound slowly down the
road with no name where the
remains of a number of old
farms could be seen through
the second-growth timber. A
skeleton of a barn; a well
preserved house with a tin
roof ; the jungly remains of an
apple orchard planted long
ago by a man named "Lump."
The area is abandoned now,
except for occasional visits by
those who live nearby, like
Obray. We came across a se
cond chestnut tree sprouting
about 12 feet high - healthy
and full, but without
chestnuts.
"We sold ours," Obray went
on, passing from story to joke
to story without pause, "for 2
or 3 cents a pound. My grand
dad had a little country store
where he sold 'em. A lot of
bartering went on in a store
like that; you might have a lot
of chestnuts and trade them
for soap or matches.
"This one fellow kept com
ing into the store and he'd buy
matches from my granddad.
Matches cost 5 cents, but he'd
say that all I got is 4 cents, is
that all right? and my grand
dad would say yes. But this got
to happening over and over,
and finally he had to call 'im
on it. The guy made
photographs for a living, with
one of those old tripods and
black hoods and so on, and he
complained that we wasn't do
ing well enough. He was mak
ing photos of a woman who
was trying to keep him down
in price. She was complaining
that the pictures were no good,
and he said, "Lady, before you
can make a good picture,
you'v got to have a good sub
ject."
This reminded Obray of the
story about the car; "Guy up
in Laurel saw the first ear he'd
ever seen cotnin' up the road.
He ran into his house and got
Ma came out and lat
'em have it. Well, that car
stopped real fast and the
OBRAY RAMSEY tosses bread
crumbs to a swarm of brim and a
: V
few smallmouth bass. "I like to
talk to 'em," he explains.
8 Madison Fire Fighters
Dispatched To California
U.S. Forest Service person
nel from Hot Springs were
dispatched Sunday afternoon
to fight forest fires currently
burning throughout Southern
California.
Joe Wallace, district ranger
of the French Broad Ranger
District, reproted that the
crew was alerted at noon Sun
day that they might be dispat
ched. At 2 p.m. they tfere
notified by the forest super
visor in Asheville that they
were being sent to the Los
Padres National Forest near
Los Angeles, Calif. The crew
departed Hot Springs at 3:90
p.m.
They traveled by bus from
Asheville to Knoxville where
they boarded chartered air
craft with other crews from
the south. "They will probably
be on a Are in leas than M
hours" Wallace said.
The crew consisted of Kan
Otean, WUlard Swaney, Eddie
Richer, Tracey Rath bone.
Buck Norton, Jackie Moore
and Wade Strom of Hot Spr
ings and Joey Fore of Mar
shall.
In addition Shirley Brooks,
district clerk from Hot Spr
ings, traveled to Atlanta to
assist regional personnel in
handling arrangements and
dispatching crews from
throughout the southern
United States.
"Western fire fighters have
had a rough season with little
rest since the fire season
started in early June. Large
fires have burned throughout
Idaho, Montana and Califor
nia," Wallace said. "Needless
to say they are probably ex-,
hausted and are now re
questing southern fire fighters
for relief."
Southern California is
regarded by many fire person
nel as being one of the most
dangerous areas in the coun
try, due to very dry weather,
variable winds and explosive
fuels. Physical requirements
for fire fighters are high and
all are required to have com
pleted training in fire
behavior, weather, equipment
and tactics in addition to hav
ing actual fire fighting ex
perience.
Dispatch of crews to the
west during bad fire situations
is not unusual to the French
Broad District employees.
Earlier this year John H.
Lamb Jr. and Mark Holt of
Hot Springs worked on the
Mortar Creek fire in Idaho. In
1977 fourteen men from Hot
Springs worked three weeks
on five forest fires throughout
California and Oregon.
"It is a rough assignment,"
said Wallace, "with crews
often working 14-hour days
and living outdoors." The
combination of hard work and
living conditions takes such a
toll that generally three weeks
is as long as the best physical
ly conditioned people can
take.
Chicken Dinner To Benefit Mars Hill Library
?
Goo* to a Mad cMekn din
Mr on Sept. a (ran is to J
p.m. at tha Kan WH School
TIM charge for adults will be
*.80, and for children under
U $1.80. Daaaart will be
available
^Tj* Mart KWJJbraiX
Western North Carolina
Development Association;
Bob Shepherd, executive
director of the Land-of-Sky
Regional Council; Bill Cook,
Recreation Consultant,
Department of Natural
Resources and Community
Development; Alan Lang,
Chief Planner, Department of
Natural Resources and Com
munity Development, Tom
Jones, Regional Development
Specialist, Department of
Commerce; Roger Scott,
Regional Development
Specialist, Department of
Commerce; and Jack Stuart,
deputy director of the Small
Communities Program,
Department of Commerce.
Awards to each North
Carolina Community of Ex
cellence will be made by
Governor Jim Hunt at the An
nual Economic Development
dinner in Raleigh on Nov. 15.
After the briefing at the
Housing Authority building
the group will pass along Main
Street to see the Housing
Authority units for the elderly,
the drainage and paving work
being done on the street, the
modification of First Union
Bank, the library window
displays, and various
buildings and sights along the
way. They will then visit the
elementary school and the
Conover Glove co. and move
back up Skyline Drive.
Above the town the group
will see the water reservoir,
the new cable TV tower, the
recreation park, Arbee
Manufacturing Co., Deringer
Manufacturing Co., Madison
High School, and the bypass
shopping center.
After a visit to the
Mashburn Industrial Site and
the health and mental health
buildings, the group will drive
to the new REA building site
and then to the day care
center and the site of the Mar
shall Industrial Park.
The community members
participating in the inspection
met last Monday for a final
discussion of plans and a
review of the brochure
prepared for the inspecting
team. Everyone seemed
relieved and a little surprised
to have all preparations in
order, after several months of
hard work.
"If we win this award," said
Mayor Lawrence Ponder, "we
want to kind of relive this in
spection day. We'd like to
show the whole community
what we've prepared - the
(Continued on 8)
James Minnix Named
Pastor At Marshall
James Michael Minnix,
formerly pastor of the
Wakeminster Baptist Church
in Raleigh, has been called as
pastor of the Marshall Baptist
Church Marshall.
The Rev. Minnix attended
JAMES M. MINNIX
Gardner-Webb College in Boil
ing Springs where he was
selected for the dean's list in
1970-71, chosen by the presi
dent of the college as the
Greek Honor Student in 1971,
elected president of the
Biblical Languages Club in
1972, and graduated with
honors in 1972 with a degree in
Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic.
He also attended Southeastern
Baptist Theological Seminary
in Wake Forest.
He is married to the former
Jayne Lloyd of Shelby and
they are the parents of two
children, a daughter. Sherry,
who is IS years of age and a
son Christopher who is 9 years
of age. They will reside in the
Marshall Baptist Church
Pastorium on Walnut Creek
Road in Marshall
The Rev. Jimmy Buckner,
of Walnut, has been serving as
interim pastor.
Manpower Course Helps
Drop-outs Get Back In
54 Madison Students Have Graduated
At Hot Springs, Walnut And Greater Ivy
Last Friday was graduation
day for 54 Madison County
residents who completed the
eight-week Asheville
Buncombe Tech Manpower
Program.
The program was offered at
three locations this year ? at
Greater Ivy, Walnut and Hot
Springs. Tins represents an
increase from last year's
limited program, which was
offered only at AB Tech in
Asheville. Few students,
especially from the western
areas of the county, could
afford to attend from such a
distance.
The purpose of the program
is to build both skills and
confidence in students who
have failed to finish high
school, and who have had
difficulty finding steady
employment.
"I think the program is of
tremendous value," said
Linda Bigger*, an instructor
at Hot Springs. "Some of the
students have been out of
school for several yean and
this helps them pick up their
confidence again. We're
really positively oriented, and
for anyone who shows any
desire at all we'll do
everything we can to get them
on their feet."
Students are paid 1.90 an
hour to attend the course.
This money comes from a
number of public programs,
such as the Comprehensive
Act For many of the students
here. Some of them have
families to support. They
have to pay the rent, and so
on.
"Here they have a chance
to be paid for eight weeks to
help them decide what to do
and to help them learn some
skills."
Locella Lewis, an in
structors' aide in the Man
power program, says that in
many cases the program
seems to make all the dif
ference between giving up
and trying again.
"I've been just amazed by
the progress some of these
students make," says says.
"They start out thinking they
are worth just nothing, and
end up really thinking they
can get somewhere."
In fact, the success of the
program in placing its
students is the best testimony
to success. Seventeen have
found job* already, ranging
from nursing to waiting on
tables to working for the
Forest Service, and this is no
small achievement in job
scarce times like these. Tan
more are going on to A-B
Tech to develop a technical
skill, and 10 have completed
their requirements for a
Graduate Equivalency
Diploma.
As ? further mark of the
desire of these students to
take full advantage of the
course, B of the 54 had
true for English, science and
so on. If possible, a student is
helped to complete the
requirements to graduate.
Several will return to high
school to finish on their own.
A second part of the course
is called Human Resources
Development, or HRD. Here
the instructors discuss with
students what kind of job they
think they want, what kinds of
skills they might need, what
skills they have already, how
to get an interview with an
employer, how to conduct
themself during an interview,
what kinds of questions to
expect, and so on. There it a
general orientation to the
whole job market and the
kinds of jobs that exist today.
Finally, the instructors try to
bring out each student's
motivation and encourage an
optimistic attitude about
themselves
The last, and newest, part
of the course is called Skills
Training, which offers more
practical instruction in such
techniques aa mechanics,
carpentry, and welding. This
is the first yew that this
segment has been preeanted
in the county, and it will
probably be expanded next
tag*