Malison Coast/ Library ^79
Marshall, M.C. 23753
The news record
SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY
On fh? Intld* ... ?
Greater Ivy Wins
Community Award
... Turn To Page 8
78th Year No. 38
PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT MARSHALL, N C
THURSDAY, September 27, 1979
15' Per Copy
County Hits Snag In Effort Utility Is Grftlltcd $95^000
To Reduce Telephone Rate To Develop Hydro Power
About two dozen Madison
County residents had an in
terview with a representative
of the Public Staff of the N.C.
Utilities Commission last
Friday. They wanted to know
why telephone users in this
county must pay tolls on in
county calls, while users in
nearby Yancey and Mitchell
Counties can call for free.
The answer, according to
the public staffs Gene
Clemmons: Madison County
should have thought of that
years ago when the present
phone system was installed.
TO change that system now
would require installing some
9700,000 worth of new
equipment.
And this, of course, is the
stumbling block. The phone
company is unwilling to foot
the bill by itself, and Madison
County voters would be
almost certain to vote no in a
referendum that called for
even a slight increase in base
rate ? even if it would mean
a lower monthly bill. Clem
mons told the group that the
Westco Telephone Co. would
need a base rate increase of
at least $2.75 to recover the
expense of the new equip
ment.
This issue has been debated
through the mail for over a
year. During that time it has
grown in complexity so much
that Clemmons decided that a
personal meeting was called
for. This meeting, held in the
president's conference room
at Mars Hill College, was not
a formal hearing, but simply
an exchange of information
and questions.
"It is obvious that this is a
very complicated subject,"
said Charles Tolley, manager
of French Broad EMC, at the
beginning of the meeting. "So
Clemmons agreed to come
down and explain some of the
things we don't understand."
Clemmons explained first
that he was not a member of
the utilities commission itself,
but of its agency, the Public
Staff. This agency was
created in 1877 by the state
legislature to give input and
recommendations on
questions of importance to the
commission, which would
then make the decisions.
"I think we're really at a
crossroads," said Clemmons,
"where some sense of
direction needs to be
developed." He cited the
studies done by his office on
the impact of providing ex
panded area service (EAS) to
Madison customers. He said
that an increase in the base
rate would almost certainly
have to accompany EAS, and
that a "reasonable" range for
this ncrease would be bet
ween )2.75 a month and $5.85
a month.
Clemmons said that any
rate change must be achieved
in one of two ways: 1) by an
agreement between the phone
company and subsribers; or
2) through an adversary court
proceeding. He indicated that
Westco would not agree to
EAS without a rate increase,
but that if the subscribers
went to court over the issue,
the odds would be about 10 to
1 against their winning.
When Clemmons had left,
the group discussed the best
course to take. They agreed to
wait for a more favorable
time to make a formal
petition. "If we lost an ad
versary proceeding now,
which Clemmons feels certain
we would," said Charles
Tolley, "it would be much
more difficult to try again.
Likewise, the feeling among
us was that even if we tried to
get a 50-cent increase this
year, with economic con
ditions the way they are, we
wouldn't have a chance. So
we decided to go into a
holding pattern for the time
being and wait."
CHARLES TOLLEY, manager of French
Broad EMC, hopes to have the old Leffel
hydro generator across the river from Mar
shall back in operation in two to three years.
Last week at a Southeastern
Regional Small Hydro Con
ference in Asheville, the coun
ty's electric utility got a plea
sant surprise in the form of a
995,000 grant to reconstruct
the old Capitola Dam in Mar
shall.
The money, according to
Charles Tolley, manager of
French Broad Electric
Membership Corp., can be us
ed to pay for up to 80 percent
of the cost of detailed
engineering and construction
drawings or, if money for this
job can be obtained elsewhere,
to part of the actual construc
tion.
The old Leffel turbine
generator at the dam across
the river from Marshall was
originally installed in 1937 and
produced 355 kilowatts (kw) of
electricity at peak power.
Tolley estimates it could pro
duce 400 or 450 kw when
renovated; it was shut down in
1959 when the construction of
huge coal-fired plants and
lower rates by the big utilities
made it uneconomical to
operate.
Tolley says that French
Broad is looking at "several
configurations" for producing
an additional 1,000 to 1,500 kw
of capacity, either by modify
ing the existing head race (the
concrete channel that brings
water into the turbine) or by
installing a new one.
"Barring any unforeseeable
difficulties," said Tolley the
day after the announcement
on Wednesday, "we have a
reasonable chance of getting
the plant back into operation."
Tolley warned against ex
pecting electricity prices ac
tually to drop, however, even
if the plant comes back on
line. Even though it might be
expected to produce 5 to 7 per
cent of French Broad's de
mand, the majority of the
electricity used here would
still have to be bought from
Carolina Power & Light,
whose rates continue to rise.
"If it were in our power to
put the inflation rate back to 5
percent," said Tolley, "and to
stop the rise in the cost of
generating electricity, then
we could stop rise in the cost of
electricity. But that won't hap
pen in this world.
"One of the first things peo
ple asked me when I came to
this job four years ago,"*
Tolley went on, "was why
can't French Broad supply its
own power. More particularly,
they wanted to know why we
can't put the Capitola plant
back into operation.
"So I started looking into
supplying some of our own
power. I looked at tbe
possibility of building a coal
plant and found that to do that
would just about triple our
rates. It is too expensive to
build a new plant now, with
labor and construction costs.
"So I thought about tbe
dam. I couldn't walk up and
down and look at the water
and just decide on my own to
go ahead and re-do it. But I
knew that there was a lot of
federal money floating around
for hydro power, and then Jim
Stokoe of the Land-of-Sky
Regional Council was in
terested, and he started ask
ing around. He let me know
about John Warren's office at
the applied ecology depart
ment of tbe Research Triangle
Institute. John asked if I
would consent to have their
consulting firm do cost
estimates, and I said of
course; that report is due off
the presses in a week or two."
A summary of the report is
out, however, which con
cludes: "The report clearly
shows that there is potential
(Continued on 10)
N.C. Judges 'Impressed' With Marshall Tour
TOUR GUIDE LAWRENCE
PONDER, mayor of Marshall,
points out sights of interest along
the route mapped out by
organizers of the effort to win a
Community of Excellence Award.
After months of prepara
tion,. Marshall at last had the
chance to show itself off last
Friday to the state judges for
the Community of Excellence
program.
And after three hours of
speeches, a slide show, and a
tour of the town and surroun
ding hills, the community
leaders who have worked on
this program had reason to
feel proud. They had
presented Marshall as not on
ly an attractive and friendly
place to live, but also as a
community that would make a
good home for new industries -
and deserve the help of the
state in finding such in
The judges held a closed
meeting after their tour of
Marshall to share their im
According to the
of the group, Jack
Stuart of the Department of
Commerce, the committee
feels there la a good chance for
the town to win the award.
I was very impressed by
iat
- "sakl
"It's
i
economic base, and that's
what we're here for. In order
to expand that base we want to
help small communities to do
whatever they can to help pro
duce jobs. We're pledged to
assist you, to help you get
what you want. We'll try, with
Region B, to be out here
whenever we're needed, and
to promote the industry
recruiting effort across the
United States ''
Another committee
member, Matthew Bacoate of
Asheville, who is a member of
the N.C. Board of Economic
Development, came away
with an equally positive feel
ing about his half-day in Mar
shall. "The presentation was
really excellent," he said.
"Everyone seemed to believe
what they wre saying, and
they were all very en
thusiastic. They've put a lot of
work and effort and time into
this program, and I think that
all of us were totally impress
ed with what they've done."
The program ba?an Friday
at M a.m.
of the
Walnut Creek.
Lawrence
Ponder") and Marshall ("We
don't have the resources that
some of these towns have, and
this might never have been
possible without the help of the
folks from the Land-of-Sky
Regional Council").
Then came the 10 communi
ty leaders who so impressed
the judges. Marshall does not
have a chamber of com
merce; it can't afford one. So
the people of the town
themselves addressed the
visitors and told them why the
town deserves a Community
of Excellence Award.
The chairman of the board
of commissioners could not at
tend because his daughter was
ill, so Vice Chairman James
Ledford greeted the Judges on
behalf of the county, saying
that "Madison County has a
good labor force - honest peo
ple who want to work for a liv
ing."
Tom Jones, regional
development specialist with
, executive director of the
[ Land-of-Sky Regional Coun
| cil; Bill Cook, recreation con
: sullant of the Department of
I Natural Resources and Com
munity Development; Alan
Lang, chief planner of the
DNRCD; and Roger Scott,
regional development
specialist of the Department
of Commerce.
Then Ed Mashburn gave a
brief history of Marshall and
industry ("After World War II
we looked around and saw we
had no industry at all. Our
young people were leaving,
and we had to do something").
He described4Jhe formation of
the Madison County Develop
ment Commission and the
Marshall Town Development
Board, which are "ready" to
assist industry and become
holding companies to help
finance new industries," said
Mashburn.
Bryce Hall, manager of the
First Union Bank in Marshall,
then discussed the employ
ment picture. "In 1950," he
said, "65 percent of those
employed worked in
agriculture and forestry. By
1970 that figure had dropped to
19 percent, due to the growth
of the manufacturing sector."
He said that the county had
gained 946 jobs in textiles, ap
parel, electrical equipment,
and electrical supplies. In 1970
there were 390 jobs in
manufacturing; in 1974, 810
jobs; and in August 1979 there
were 1,200 jobs, both wage and
salary. In Marshall itself, five
industries now employ 285
workers, who make gloves,
tubular products, stoves,
precious metal contact points
and harpsichords. Three of the
five plants have plans to ex
pand, possibly adding 140
employees to the work force.
James Allen then spoke
about the Marshall Planning
Board, first established
several years ago to obtain the
federal housing units now in
place. Allen listed four goals
of the board for the next year:
1) To review all town or
dinance*, a) To review county
Bill Stump of Arbee
Manufacturing Co. talked
about the advantages of North
Carolina for industry, such as
a workmen's compensation in
surance tax six times cheaper
than that in Michigan, where
Stump came from; low elec
tric power rates ; and low ship
ping rates. Helen Eudisill of
National 5*10, representing
the Marshall Merchants'
Association, described the
satisfactions of living in Mar
shall and the association's
plans for the future, including
a covered walkway for shop
pers and "unified townscape."
Ed Morton, head of the
Madison County Health Ser
vice, told how much health
services have expanded in re
cent years; he also told a long
and generally successful joke
about the man in the
refrigerator.
The main event of the pro
gram was a well-produced
slide show, put together large
ly by Becky Williams of Land
of-Sky . "We've come up with a
kind of slogan for Marshall,"
she said: "A town with pride
in its heritage and a vision for
its future. Right now a lot of
this vision is in the mind, but I
think it is real even so. Mar
shall is a small town that can't
afford a chamber of com
merce, but it does have these
fine people who put this pro
gram together and many
others. For example, this slide
program wasn't narrated by
an outside professional, but by
Marshall's own Randy
Houston. Marshall can do
things itself when it tries."
The judges' recommenda
tion on the award will be pass
ed along to the governor, who
will announce his decision in
approximately two weeks.
STATE JUDGES Roger Scott, left, and Jack 1
Stuart look over statistical information pro !
vided by the town of Marshall during a bus ?
twr of the area.
.
"Pop" Lance Dies;
Was Mars Hill Dean
Harvey Newton "Pop"
Lance, 84, of Route 3 Hen
dersonville, died Sept 19 in a
Henderson ville hospital after
a period of declining health.
A native of Henderson
County, he was a son of the
late John W. and Lula Byers
Lance. He was a veteran of
World War I and was a
member of Barracks 743 of
the World War I Veterans. He
was a member and former
chaplain of both American
Legion Post 77 and Veterans
of Foreign Wars Post 5106.
He received his M.A.
degree from Furman
University of Greenville and
had attended the University
of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill and the University of
Georgia. A member of
Furman University's All
State team in football, he had
coached freshman football at
Furman from 1935 to 1927.
He had been a member of
the faculty at Bdisto
Academy of Columbia, S.C.,
Pleasant Hill Academy of
Tennessee, Alexander Schools
of Union Mills and Fruitland
Baptist Institute in Hen
derson ville.
Lance had retired from
Mars Hill College in 1M6 after
tl years as coach. Dean of
Men and mathematics in
itructor. Two scholarships
ire given in his name yearty
it Mars Ifill College.
He had been named VFW
Han-of-the-Year and was
dactad to the Henderson ville
Chapter Second-Wind Hall of
Fame.
Surviving are his wife,
Florence Justus Lance, to
whom he had been married
for 56 years; a half sister,
Christine Sams of Asheville;
and a half brother, John W.
Lance of Daytona Beach, Fla.
Services were held at 4 p.m.
Sept. 21 in Henderson ville
First Baptist Church of which
he was a life deacon, member
and Sunday School teacher.
The Rev. Allen Jewitt and the
Rev. rich Liner officiated.
Burial was in Oakdale
Cemetery, with military
graveside rites.
Don Harrell
Leaves Post At
Social Agency
"POP" LANCE
Hot Springs
Awarded
$89,900 Grant
Hie town of Hot Springs ha*
been awarded an tW.MO com
munity development block
grant by the federal Depart
of Housing and Urbat
t's SmaU Cities
Program, congressman
The
for
HUD
ings to
will um the!