The News Record
SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY
On tha Insld ? . . . ?
Walnut Booster's Club
Is Undefeated This Year
...Turn To Page 3
TVtti Year No. 5
PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT MARSHALL, N C
THURSDAY, January 31, 1980
15* Per Copy
Hunt And Scott Both Visit Madison
Scott Addresses
Meeting At MHC
Attacking the growth of
state government and calling
for higher salaries for
teachers, former Gov. Bob
Scott brought his campaign to
Madison County on Monday
when he held a breakfast
meeting at Mars Hill College
cafeteria with a mixed group
of 30 supporters and interested
listeners.
Scott recalled the many
county roads his father helped
to pave and the political
friends he has made here over
the years &s he criticized "too
many programs attached to
the educational system" and
the "proliferation of govern
ment bureaucracy" under the
Hunt administration.
Scott has been criticized for
challenging Gov. James Hunt,
Head Start Gets
HEW Funds
For 12 Months
The Department of Health,
Education and Welfare
(HEW) has approved a grant
of $399,884 to the Opportunity
Corporation of Madison
Buncombe counties, Con
gressman Lunar Gudger an
nounoed today.
The funding is {qr Head
Start Programs in the area
and was authorized by HEW's
Office of Human Development
Services, Administration for
Children, Youth and Families.
An HEW spokesperson said
the grant will be for continu
ing present Head Start Pro
grams for the next 12-month
period.
a fellow Democrat, to a
primary battle that could
weaken the party state-wide.
A dairy farmer by vocation,
he returned from a poet with
the Appalachian Regional
Commission in Washington to
seek the top job in the state
community college system,
which he failed to get.
Calling himself a "strong
believer in the free enterprise
system," he charged Gov.
Hunt with poor spending
priorities.
"One of the main reasons
government exists," he said,
"is to help the poor and the
elderly and the handicapped
who can't help themselves.
Yet the handicapped services
people tell me that their funds
are being cut back. At the
same time the governor has
ordered a <1.4 million jet
helicopter to fly industrial pro
spects around the state. I
understand that this
helicopter will be able to fly in
bad weather and at night.
Well, they don't have any
business flying in bad
weather, and they can't see
any industrial land at night, so
I don't see why this expensive
helicopter is needed.
"I would also question all
the money being spent to ex
pand thegoveroor s staff This
administration has increased
its staff by 130 percent. I want
to discourage the proliferation
of government bureaucracy,
which is a nonproductive seg
ment of our society. When I'm
governor, you can count on me
doing a right good pruning job
down there in Raleigh.
"A few years ago we saw the
(Continued on Page 6)
GOVERNOR' HUNT, right,
presents a check for im
provements to the Hot Springs
water system to Mayor Swan B.
Huff outside the Hot Springs Com
munity Center. Later in the day
he announced a grant to help
repair erosion damage at
Madison High School and
presented a check for $53,750 to
Commissioner James Ledford at
Greater Ivy for the new industrial
site's water system.
CHATTING WITH former Gov.
Bob Scott are, left to right, Doug
Robinson, Scott, Otis Duck, and
Warren Ponder, who was named
Scott's campaign chairman for
Madison County. The occasion
was a breakfast meeting with
Democrats at Mars Hill College
cafeteria Monday morning.
Older Citizens Offered Tax Breaks
North Carolina's senior
citizens are offered a number
of special tax benefits when
they file their 1919 Federal in
come tax returns, the Internal
Revenue Service uyi
For thoae who are 65 or
older and single, they are not
required to file a tax return
unless their groaa income ia at
A-B Tech Schedules Course
On How To Build With Logs
The Continuing Education
program of Asheville
Buncombe Technical College
wifl offer a course in log
hqrthftwg construction beginn
ing Feb. 11 at ManbaU
Ele m n v School. The
course will meet each Monday
night (ram 7 to 10 fer lb weeks.
and modern
took.
Certain basic took will be
required, including a aaw,
axe, tape or ride, framing
AMIIAMk ]AlrA| A IL 1 ! ?j,
scjUo n ?' v - i * ' j iK line,
There will be a material* fee
of approximately IK and a IS
registration fpa. ?
Peter Gott, a Madison Coun
ty craftaman, will be tbe 1ft
leart $4,300. If a couple U filing
Jointly, they can make (7,400
tax free if both are 6S or older ;
and if one is under ?, the in
come amount is IS, 400.
Many North Carolinians
began receiving Social Securi
ty pensions for the first time
last year. The IRS says that
monies received from Social
Security are not taxable.
This year the personal ex
emption has been Incrsaamd to
$1,000; howeuM, for taxpayers
85 or older, the exemption la
doubted
Hunt Stops At Hot Springs ,
Madison High , Greater Ivy
Gov. James Hunt Jr. swept
into Madison County on Mon
day like a political Santa
Claus, bearing gifts totalling
some >190,000 which he
dispensed in Hot Springs,
Marshall and Greater Ivy.
The largest check he
brought with him was for Hot
Springs' water system. This
grant, for $88,400, is part of
funding recently obtained to
construct 11,450 feet of water
mains, 11 fire hydrants, a
chlorinator, a master meter,
and an equipment house. The
total project cost is $353,600.
Another check, for $53,750,
Farmers Are Warned
Of Blue Mold Return
Burley Day 1960 was held
Jan. 22 at the Great Smokies
Hilton in Asheville. Some 350
farmers, researchers, agri
business people, and extension
agents attended the day-long
event. Madison County was
represented by approximately
50 farmers and wives.
The morning portion of the
educational program was
highlighted by the blue mold
story as told by Professor
Furney Todd of N.C. State
University. Farmers were
told that the problem could
again be very serious in 1900.
They were urged to spray
their plant beds on a weekly
basis with Ferbam or Maneb,
to destroy plant beds after
transplanting, and to spray
the crop ip the field with a
fungicide or with Strep
tomycin if the disease enters
the area. The new material
called Ridamill has not been
cleared by E.P.A. Farmers
will be kept informed by their
Agricultural Extension Office
on the status of this material.
An early warning alert
system will keep fanners in
formed of the danger of a blue
mold outbreak. The alert
system, with headquarters at
N.C. State University, will
consist of members in all
tobacco-producing states and
Canada. Each county will ask
key farmers to report disease
outbreaks to the county exten
sion office.
During the Research-on
Wheels luncheon, sponsored
by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco
Co., six Madison farmers
received awards. These six,
Burgin Buckner, Gay Merrill,
Claude Cody, Charlie Zink,
Roy Amnions, and Walter
Gosnell, were recognized for
growing cm-farm test tobacco
in 1979.
Madison County received a
third-place award for par
ticipation in the R-9-P pro
gram. The R-9-P program if
one which encourages
farmers to plow under all
tobacco roots with a turning
plow in the fall. By
eliminating nine pests, burley
farmers can make an addi
tional (200 per acre from their
crop. Farmers are urged to
contact their tobacco agents
for answers to their tobacco
questions. The Madison Coun
ty tobacco agent is Wiley
DuVall.
Madison County Doctors Set Record
Quietly, two Madison Coun
ty physicians, Dr. Otis Duck of
Mars Hill and Dr. Lawrence
McElroy of Marshall, have
been working on a medical
record of sorts. Dr. Duck has
been president of the county
medical society since 1951 and
Dr. McElroy has been
secretary-treasurer for the
same period. This year they
enter their 30th year in these
positions ? longer than any
other county leadership team
in the state.
Dr. McElroy has practiced
medicine in the county since
1932, and Dr. Duck since 1946,
but the Madison County
Medical Society was mori
bund during and immediately
after World War II. It was ful
ly reactivated only in 19S1,
when officers were elected.
Since then, the membership
has remained quite steady at
around 10 members. Today
there are nine members and
two associate members, who
are dentists.
The county medical society
is an affiliate of the N.C. State
Medical Society, which, in
turn, is a unit of the American
Medical Association. All AMA
members must first be
members of the local
organizations. Dra. Duck and
McElroy are also charter
members of the American
Academy of Family Practice,
founded in 1MB.
The function of the society is
primarily educational. The
John Lawrence of Asheville
gave a talk on pacemakers.
Both doctors are natives of
Madison County. Dr. McEIroy
was born in Marshall, in the
house next to the Baptist
Church ? a pre-Civil War
house. He went to college at
the University of North
Carolina when that school only
offered two years of medical
education, then finished his
degree work at Washington
University in St. Louis. He did
his internship at. Harper
Hospital in Rochester, N.Y.,
then returned to Marshall in
1932, at the nadir of the
Depression.
"It was rather tough then,"
recalled Dr. McEIroy. "The
banks closed here about the
time I started. A lot of people
couldn't pay when they were
sick, and a lot of others could
only pay when their tobacco
money came in.
"The diagnoses have chang
ed a good deal since the '30s,"
he went on. "There used to be
a lot of what they called
catarrh of the atomach. No
one really knew what that
was, bat anyone who had
anything wrong with their
stomach said they had
catarrh.
"There won many more
DRS. LAWRENCE McELROY, seated, and
| Otis Duck met in Dr. McElroy's office in
ff?r?hall to reminisce about medical frac
tice in Madison. Dr. McElroy has been prac
ticing here since 1S32, Dr. Duck since tm.
the county medical society.
Like Dr. McEroy, Dr. Duok
has mw many changes in the
practice of medicine since his
will provide water service to
the Madison County industrial
park near Marshall and the
nursing home in Mars Hill. Ac
tual construction at the in
dustrial site will include a
500,000 gallon elevated water
storage tank and 2,800 feet of
water main connecting the
tank to the Marshall water
system. The total cost of that
project will be $215,000.
He also announced a grant
for $48,000 to help repair ero
sion damage at Madison High
School.
Unlike former Gov. Bob
Scott, who visited the county
earlier the same day and who
is running against Hunt for the
gubernatorial nomination this
spring. Hunt launched no cam
paign attacks. He did not even
mention re-election, confining
his talks - at the Hot Springs
Community Center, Madison
High School, and Greater Ivy
Community Center - to county
projects and people
Throughout Gov. Hunt's
visit he was accompanied by
virtually the entire
Democratic hierarchy in this
Democratic county, underlin
ing the difficulty of unseating
an incumbent.
"I can't think of any
reason," Mid Zen# Ponder,
co-chairman of Hum's county
campaign "why another can
didate should challenge ? the
first governor of this state to
get along with a president
since FDR, and who has had
the courage to face a tough
issue like succession. There's
no reason why Bob Scott
couldn't have waited four
years."
The governor was accom
panied on his speedy drive
from one end of the county and
back by Zeno Ponder, Sheriff
E.Y. Ponder, State Sen. Larry
Leake, Probation Officer
Roger Haynie, Wayne
McDevitt of the State Depart
ment of Natural Resources
and Community Developers,
State Rep. Lis ton Ramsey,
and State Rep. Ernest Messer
of Canton.
He presented the Hot Spr
ings check to Mayor Swan B.
Huff, and paid tribute to Com
missioner Virginia Anderson,
Day Care Supervisor Teresa
Zimmerman and Nutrition
Site Supervisor Dorothy
Shupe. Among the others pre
sent were Court Clerk James
Cody, Register of Deeds Jena
Lee Buckner and Tax Col
lecter Harold Wallin.
Wayne McDlevitt is the se
cond co-chairman of Hunt's
Madison County campaign,
while Roger Haynie is the
friends of Jim Hunt co
ordinator, having charge