Newspapers / The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) / Feb. 14, 1980, edition 1 / Page 1
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- SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY On th* Ins M* ... ? Dale Edmonds Is New Postmaster At Alexander Page 5 79th Year No. 7 PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT MARSHALL, N.C. THURSDAY, February 14, 1980 15' Per Copy To Ski In Madison, You Have To Make Snow By KEVIN MORLEY County Recreation Director When the sky gets gray and the cold wind picks up in the middle of winter, we assume that it's going to snow. If it doesn't show, we are probably relieved, and happy to wait until the next gray sky before thinking about it again. But we don't run a ski slope. Vardy Cody does, and he has to think about snow all the time. Varden is hill manager at Wolf Laurel Ski Resort. His primary duty is to see that Wolf Laurel's nine ski slopes are fit to ski on. If it doesn't snow, he has to make snow. And when his snow starts to melt he has to make some more. The basic need for good ski ing is a surface that allows the skier to maintain safe and sure control This means the snow should be deep enough to provide turning friction but not so deep that the skis bog BLUE RIDGE STAFFERS in clude, seated: Polly Penland and Pete Young; standing: Joe Mar tin, Jean Taylor, Arlene Kolilis, and Cheryl Ezell. Not pictured : Betty Clark. Mental Health : Feeling Good About Yourself And Others According to a little brochure published recently by the National Association for Mental Health, mentally healthy people (l) feel com fortable about themselves (2) feel right about other people and (3) are. able to meet the demands of life. Since it was founded just over five years ago, the Blue Ridge Community Mental Health Center has been help ing county residents to unders tand what good mental health is and to work toward it in their own lives. One of the most difficult jot* for the seven staffers at Blue Ridge is the confusion bet ween mental health and men tal illness. "There is no line that neatly divides the mentally healthy from the unhealthy," the brochure states. "There are JULIA WILLIAMS has joined the staff of The News? Record as advertising manager. She was born in faraway Anchorage, Alaska, but has lived for much of her life in Madison and Buncombe Counties. She moved to Asheville in IMS, and to Marshall in 1970. She graduated from Marshall High School in 1973, the year before consolidation, and studied English and history for two years at Mars Hill College. Previous to joining The News-Record she worked as manager of the Camera Department at K-Mart on Tunnel Road and as secretary to the Burgess Nurses Registry. She is the daughter of the Rev. George Moore and Moselle Moore of Mar shall, and she has a Sfe-year-old daughter, Katherine Ann. She plans to move to Skyway Drive, Marshall, in a few weeks many different degrees of mental health. No one characteristic by itself can be taken as evidence of good mental health, nor the lack of any one as evidence of mental illness. And nobody has all the traits of good mental health all the time." According to center director Joe Martin, the public is beginning to understand that virtually all of us go through periods in our lives when emo tional stress becomes difficult to handle ? and that this has nothing to do with "craziness." Emotional stress can be caused by many things ? financial troubles, poor per formance at school, family arguments, the strain of rais ing small children, the anxiety of living with a heavy drinker, loss of a job and so on. Polly Penland, a social worker at the center, says that frustration with such pro blems is a good reason to talk with someone at Blue Ridge. "If there's something going on in your life," she says, "that bothers you and doesn't seem to go away, it might be that someone else can help you with it. I would say that coming to the mental health center to ask for this help is an act of strength. It's a positive choice to take care of your own health and your own self." An intern at the center, Peter Young, suggests that ig noring a persistent emotional problem is like ignoring ? mechanical problem. "It's like driving a car ? with the front end out of alignment," he says. "You don't want to keep driving it that way or the car will Just keep getting wane. You want to talk to a down. Then again, if the sur face is ice, the skis won't grip at all, resulting in headlong falls and scary slides. And ice is a big problem for Varden Cody. When you remember that in a day perhaps 500 skiers will make five or six runs-a -piece down the hills, you know that the ski slope is going to be packed and scraped repeatedly. What started as a smooth, firm sur face can soon become hard and unyeilding ? an ice sheet. That's when Varden and his crew step-in to maintain a sur face that's safe and suited to skiers, not skaters. In Washington state, Col orado, or New Hampshire, maintaining that surface is a lot easier than it is in North Carolina. Up North, where a ski area may get 40 or 50 feet of snow in some spots and the temperature stays below freezing during the day, the surface is constantly renewed. But in the South, especially this winter, it doesn't snow as often, and higher daytime temperatures tend to melt the surface. At night this melted snow freezes to ice. So southern surface managers have a lot more work to do than their northern counterparts. Cody estimates that he has to produce with his snow-making machinery anywhere from 90 to 96 per cent of the slope surface in the course of a season. The manager up North might make 25 percent. Of course even a northern location is no guarantee of snow. Lake Placid, N.Y.>srtse(Jhe Winter Olympics, hjw the largest assemblage of snow making machinery in the world, brought in to offset the snowless winter. Much of the $200 million sports ex travaganza will be ran on ar tificial surfaces. With a crew of four, Varden grooms the slopes and works pretty much day and night through the coldest months. If the snow is not falling then Varden makes it fall with machinery that is a great deal more effective than what the average rainmaker would possess. Through the energies of five 250-horsepower diesel air compressors and two elec tric compressors rated at 180 and 350 horsepower, water is forced throught special nozzles that spew it out in tiny droplets. These droplets turn to snow readily in freezing air. An elaborate network of pipes and hoses can produce several inches of snow an hour, keep ing the main slope white until Mother Nature augments man's efforts with a blanketing snow fall that allows skiing on all nine slopes. Now comes the grooming. With a sno-cat, a double tracked machine that looks like it came straight out of the Artie, Varden can have an assortment of implements that a farmer would be proud of . If he's faced by an icy slope Varden will hook up the ripper and break up tbe solid surface. Then he can draw the powder maker over it and soften it up : a bit. Then the drag can be hauled out to even up the grade and everything's ready to go. Should there be a good natural snow, it might be necessary to use the packer to firm up the surface. One thing about tbe South, Varden says, la that there are i ners down here. hard on slopes, falling a M and that gouging the i .area ? the ski lift. Riding the lift is almost as much fun as the aiding, ? a leisurely ride up the slope, high above the surface and the skiers, dangl ing from a smoothly moving cable in a two-person chair. Rising steadily, seeing the massive bulk of Big Bald Mountain, snow-capped, loom ing in the distance, one is ex hilarated, and rested for the coming challenge of sliding back down the mountains. If you ride to the top most run, you're 1,000 feet above the bottom and liable to en counter slopes that I estimated to be 60 to 70 degrees. I estimated those slopes,, I did not ski down than. I just stood and watched in awe at those who did. If I had had a pair of skis I'm sure I'd have been on the begin ner's slope, which is a reasonable approach for the novice to take. Without using the lift, the number of rides that the skier can make is sharply reduced. The experience would be mostly that of hiking. The lift is supported on massive steel towers and safeguarded by an intricate computer-controlled system that senses changes in cable pressure, able to stop the machine instantly if a pro blem arises. Ski lifts are tight ly regulated by the govern ment and inspected often. Varden has to make sure that folks have a safe ride up as well as a smoothe ski down. Varden has been practicing (Continued on Page 4) VERDON CODY rides the first chair up the Wolf Laurel lift; he is often the only man on the lift without skis. It is his responsibili ty to keep thelif t running ? and to keep smooth snow on the slopes during winters like this one, which is seldom an easy job. County Heart Fund Drive Begins Dr. Richard Hoffman, chairman of the Fund-Raising Campaign for the Madison County Heart Fund, announc ed the selection of the fund raising team and a schedule of events which will begin on Feb. 19 and continue through June 1. This year's goal, set by the Fund-raising Committee, is $5,000. Dr. William Sears, president of the Madison County Heart Fund Associa tion, stated that less than $1,000 was raised last year, due to some unanticipated problems. However, the Heart Fund Committee believes that Madison County will support a major campaign for this im portant chairity in 1900. Serving with Dr. Hoffman on the Fund Raising Commit tee are: Jeanette Wilde, special events chairman; Marie Ponder, chairman of HEART FUND COORDINATORS gathered for final organizational meetings this week, including Jeannette Wilde, Shirley Baldwin, Claude Gibson, Richard Hoffman, Joseph Godwin, Helm Lamkin and Bill Sears. Solicitation of Corporate In dustries and Employees; Claude Gibson, Special Gifts chairman; Dr. Joseph God win, chairman of the College Division; Shirley Baldwin, chairman of the Madison County School Solicitation; and Helen Lankin, Heart Fund town chairman. The kick-off for the solicita tion of the college community, corporations, and businesses will begin Feb. 19 and continue through March 19. Mrs Ponder and Mrs. Lankin hopes to contact every business, in dustry, and corporation in the county. Jeanette Wilde, chairman of the Special Events Commit tee, is planning a county-wide flea market, bar-b-que and fair to be held the second week in May. Details of this day of fun and frolic involving the whole county will be announc ed in the near future. Shirley Baldwin is planning several events involving students in the county school system. There will be basket ball games and a dance held in cooperation with the Student Government Association of Mars Hill College, and in dividual projects in the various grade schools. Dr. Hoffman asks that any persons in the conty who would like to volunteer for any of the projects to contact the cnairman 01 w project. Commissioners Honor Liston Ramsey Hie Madison County Board of Commis sioners passed a resolution at its regular meeting Feb. 8 acknowledging the "exceptional service of Rep. Liston Ramsey to the citizens of Madison County." The resolution reads as follows: "Whereas, Rep. Ramsey has assisted Madison County in acquiring funds for the following projects: ? Construction of Madison County In ? Ollnigttin and programs for ekfcrly citizens. ? Program monies for Madison County recreation program. ? Program monies for regional cofagM and universities. And ? Support for various programs in our elementary schools and in Madison County High School.
The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.)
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Feb. 14, 1980, edition 1
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