The News record
SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY
On thm fniid*
County School Calendar
For 1980-81 Year
... Turn To Page 2
79th Year No. 18
PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT MARSHALL. N.C.
THURSDAY, May 1, 1980
15' Per Copy
Foster Care Experiment Draws High Praise
The problem of footer
children ? finding hornet for
them, helping footer portent*
adjust to them, dealing with
the problems of the natural
parents ? is ooe of the moot
difficult facing any social
agency.
Perhaps the moat serious
difficulty is "drift" - the
movement of a foster child
from one home to another,
with intermediate stops in the
court system. Permanency
planning for each foster child
takes time, patience and
discussion among Judges, at
torneys, social worker*,
parents and cUkha ? and
(tare is seldom enough time,
due to heavy case loads.
. The Department of Social
Services in Madison County is
typical in this respect. Just
over a year ago, Sandy
Marler, in charge of the faster
care program, had more than
30 cases to handle ? far too
many to give careful attention
to any one of them.
Then the state chose
Madison County, along with
seven other counties in the
state, to participate in a year
long pilot program in per- i
manency planning The goal
was to determine whether, by
reducing the caae toad of the
footer care worker, mora
footer children could be placed
in permanent homes. Madison
was the only western county
selected.
"We were very eager to get
into the program," said DSS
Director Anita Davie. "We
knew that with Sandy's case
load, which was X when the
program started, there was no
way to deal effectively with
each child. We also knew that
she could do more if the load
were reduced. Of course every
agency tella the state this
same story, so we needed a
chance to prove it is really
true."
They had their chance, for a
trial year ending in February
1980. Sandy's case load was
reduced to S3, (really
somewhat lower, because
some of the children were sibl
ings). Some of her clients
were shifted to several col
leagues at DSS, who gamely
shouldered the additional
burden for the sake of the ex
periment They are adoption
worker Judy Briggs and pro
tective services worker
Sarawill Bellamy.
At year's end, the results
were unmistakably positive.
As the DSS people told their
colleagues at the state Depart
ment of Human Services
recently, six of the 23 children
had been returned home to
their natural parents ? the
preferred plan in the case of
foster children.
In addition, two children
were cleared for adoption and
seven more were pending
adoption. By comparison, DSS
had been unable to dear any
foster children for adoption
during the previous 24 years.
Of the rest, seven were pen
ding adoptive placement, six
were placed in long-term
foster care and one left the
project.
"We think the project was
very effective," said Anita
Davie. "We were able to move
children out of foster homes
into permanent homes or back
to their natural parents. This
is just too difficult when the
caseload is too high."
Abo, of IS more children ad
ded after the beginning of the
project, eight have been
returned home, and there are
plans to return four more
home. One has been cleared
for adoption.
"The project has ended,"
said Sandy Marler, "but we
are continuing. We are so ex
cited to find that permanency
planning can work that we
don't intend to stop."
DSS does need some addi
tional money to continue the
project, to pay some addi
tional salary expense. But
already the state has in
dicated that at least a small
amount of money is <v?niwg
"It won't be enough for aB 100
counties," said Mrs. Davie,
"but it's a start.
Dr. Saran Morrow, N.C.
secretary of human resources,
recently announced that
$750,000 will be redirected
statewide to the permanency
planning program. "We have
a moral obligation to do all we
can to reduce the number of
children in foster care," she
said. There are more than
(Con Unued on Page 2)
Special Nursing
Program Offers
Care At Home
For some medical patients,
especially those suffering
from long-term ailments, a
hospital is not the most
desirable place to stay. It is
not only expensive, but it also
lacks the comfort and
familiarity of home.
For such patients in
Madison County there is an
alternative: the Home Health
Program. Two home health
nurses, Fay Skemp and Bren
da Pace, and one aide, Linda
Boswell, visit patients
throughout the county on a
regular basis. They check the
diets, medications and vital
signs of scores of home-bound
patients. To many of the pa
tients, these nurses, in their
familiar blue-and-white
Jeeps, have become close
family friends and important
bonds to the outside world.
One of the home health
nurses, Fay Skemp, invited
me recently to go with her on
her rounds. It became ap
parent through the day just
how important she is to her pa
tients, and how much they en
Joy being at home. There they
are free to garden, keep
house, cook their own meals
and most important, make
their own decisions.
Our first stop was at a small
house by the river Just up from
Marshall where Lloyd Cut
shall and his friend Henry
live. It was Lloyd's 74th birth
day, and Fay brought him a
cake she had made. Lloyd suf
fers from high blood pressure,
pancreatitis, a duodenial ulcer
and bursitis which becomes so
severe at times that he can't
walk. He was feeling all right
today and was clearly moved
by the present. "Thank you for
the cake, Fay, be said
several times. Henry, who
also has dangerously high
blood pressure, made her a
present of green onions from
his garden, which she ac
cepted, and Lloyd got out a
large bag of ramps, which she
declined.
"The biggest problem for a
lot of my patients," she said as
we drove away, "is salt. I
can't get them to cut it out,
and as long as they don't they
won't get well. For most peo
ple with any kind of heart con
dition, salt is bad. It causes
the body to retain too much
fluid, especially in the feet and
sometimes hands. The blood
pools there and the heart has
to work harder to pump. When
they lie down the fluid comes
up around the lungs and the
heart. TMs can cause death by
suffocation ? what many peo
ple here call 'smothering'.
"Then there is diet. We <
at the house of Evie Church ,
who also suffers from high
Mood pressure. Her feet and
ankles were swollen, and
whenever she works in the
garden they become very
sore. Fay took a blood sample
in order to test the clotting
time. Medication for high
blood pressure thins the blood
to ease the heart's pumping
load, but it is important not to
thin the blood too much.
We tiptoed around Evie's
dog, which has bitten Fay
once already, and went over to
Cotton Mill Hill where Geneva
Edwards, 90, lives. She is
Fay's oldest patient and is
cared for by her daughters.
She recently fell and cut her
forehead, which seems to have
set her back and reduced her
appetite; her weight has fallen
to 70 pounds. Fay fussed at her
about eating more and drink
ing more fruit juices. Geneva
protested that she drinks
gallons of juice, and held her
hands wide apart to indicate
how much, but her daughter
told us as we left that she pro
bably swallows no more than a
spoonful at a time.
"When patients get this
old," said Fay, "sometimes
they just refuse to eat enough
to keep themselves going. I
spend a lot of time talking to
them and their families. One
of the most important parts of
my job is talking to them
about death, which many
home-bound patients will soon
face. We try to prepare the pa
tients and families for this, so
that it does not come as a
shock but as something to be
expected."
According to Michael
Norins, director of the Hot
Springs Health Program,
there is a very high "burn-out
rate" among home health
nurses nationwide because the
nurses devote so much atten
tion and time to caring for pa
tients, many of whom die.
"All of the home health
nurses are very strong, very
dedicated people," said
Norins. "They live with a lot of
stress. They have not only the
hard work and the endless
paperwork, but also the
(Continued on Page 13) ,
PAYE'S OLDEST PATIENT,
Geneva Edwards of Cotton Mill
Hill, Marshall, celebrated her
99th birthday in January. Nurse
Skemp takes her blood pressure
and urges her to eat more. Inade
quate diet is one of the most
serious problems with home
bound patients.
Marshall Fire Rates Drop
Homeowners in the Smoky
Mountain Fire District in Madison
County will save money on their
property insurance as a result of
improvement in their fire protec
tion classifications, according to
the North Carolina Insurance
News Service.
INS reported the savings will
apply to homeowners' and fire in
surance policies.
For example, the rate for a
$50,000 brick veneer home in the
Food Stamp
Suspension
Warned
Unless Congress acts quick
ly to provide more funds, food
stamps for the month of June
may be reduced or completely
cancelled. Therefore, all reci
pients are urged to spend their
May allotment wisely.
If funding is not provided by
May IS your local Food Stamp
Office will be ordered by the
Federal Government to stop
all food stamp issuance for
June.
News -Record To Post
May Election Returns
The primary election returns will be
potted on a blackboard in the courtroom in
Marshall next Tuesday night through the
courtesy of The News Record.
Election officials at the various polling
places are asked to phone in the returns as
soon as possible to the county election board
which will be in the courthouse.
The News Record will be a day late next
week so that the readers will have the elec
tion results.
district will drop from $268 to $228
a year. The rate for a similarly
valued frame dwelling will drop
from $310 to $259 per year. The ex
amples are based on the most
widely purchased homeowner's
policy. Savings on other policies
are comparable.
The Smoky Mountain Fire
District includes the town of Mar
shall and the area within a four
mile radius of the fire house.
YOUNG MATHEMATICIANS
from Madison High traveled last
week to Cullowhee to participate
in the 10th annual Western
Carolina University High School
Mathematics Contest, along with
32 other high schools. Pictured
above are, first row, left to right:
Elaine Fore, Ronnie Weathers,
Chris Wilde, Kevin Johnson,
Karlyn Ammons and Michael
McMahon; second row: Teddy
Allison, Gina Worley, Chuck
Pfaff, Teresa Norris, Jan Blair,
Dana Allen and Sandra Keller;
third row: Dwayne Buckner,
Greg Dillingham, Amy Knisley,
Alfred Dockery, Russell Lambert
and Greg Lisenbee. Not pictured:
Robbie Waites. The competition
was held in algebra I, algebra 2,
geometry and comprehensive
areas. The contest was won by the
Brevard High School team, for the
eighth consecutive year.
Community Development Meeting
Marshall. There will be
Citizens Vote
In Primary
Here May 6
The Primary Election for
both Democratic and
Republican candidates, for
local, state and national of
fices, will be held on May 6,
1980. The purpose is to
nominate candidates who will
run in the general election in
November. In the primary,
voters can vote only for can
didates of their declared par
ty
On entering your polling
place you must state your
name, address and party af
filiation. If you are properly
registered, the primary lever
will be adjusted for your party
in the voting machine. You
can then vote for one can
didate from your party for
each office by turning the
pointer beside the name to the
left until an "x" appears in the
box.
Only two county offices are
up for election ? tax collector
and register of deeds. Both
Democratic and Republican
candidates are running unop
posed, so that they are not
listed on the primary ballot.
Following is a list of can
didates for state and national
offices who will be on the
ballot:
Democratic
Primary
Governor
Salary;- *47, 700, plust $10,000
expenses.
James B. (Jim)Hunt Jr. of
Lucama, age 43. Occupation:
Attorney. Education: BS in
Agricultural Education,
NCSU; MS in Agricultural
Economics, NCSU; Doctor of
Law, UNC-CH.
Robert W. (Bob) Scott, of
Haw River, age SO. Occupa
tion: Dairy Fanner. Educa
tion: Attended Duke Universi
ty for 2 years; received a B.S.
degree in Animal Husbandry,
NCSU.
Harry J. Welsh of Raleigh,
age SO. Occupation: Sr. claim
representative. Education;
B.S. degree, Morehead State
University.
Lieutenant
Governor
Salary: $41,4S4, plus $10,000
expenses.
James C. (Jimmy) Green of
Clarkton, age SO. Occupation:
Businessman and Farmer.
Education: Washingto & Lee
University.
Clyde Pulley of Golds boro,
age 45. Occupation: Com
munity College Instructor.
Education: B.S., Criminal
Justice; M.S., Corrections.
Carl J. Stewart Jr. of
Gastonia, age 43. Occupation:
Attorney. Education: A.B.
and J.D. Duke University.
Associate Justice,
N.C . Supreme
Court
Salary $40,956 (Unexpired
Term Ending 13/31/64)
Ottway Burton of Asheboro,
age 63. Occupation: Lawyer.
Education: Graduate UNC
Chapel Hill - School of Com
merce; Harvard Graduate
School of Business Ad
ministration; UNC-Chapel
Hill School of Law.
J.P. (Phil) Carlton of
PinetofM, age 43. Occupation:
Associate Justice, N.C.
Supreme Court.
Commissioner
Of Insurmnce
High Point College; Masters
Degree - Emory University.
John Ingram of Cary, age
50. Occupation: N.C. In
surance Commissioner.
Education: B.S. in Business
Administration, First in Class,
Doctor of Law Degree, UNC
Chapel Hill.
James E. (Jim) Lo*g of
Burlington, age 39. Occupa
tion: Attorney. Education:
N.C. State University; Univer
sity of North Carolina, B.A.;
University of North Carolina
School of Law, J.D.
Roy H. Rabon Jr. of
Raleigh, age 43. Occupation:
Resigned as District
Manager, U.S. Census, to run.
Education: UNC-CH, IMS
School of Journalism.
Secretary
Of State
Salary: $41,484
George W. Breece of Fayet
teville, age 34. Occupation:
Broker, former Member of
N.C. House of Represen
tatives. Education: B.A.
Atlantic Christian College.
Thad Eure of Win ton, age
80. Occupation: Lawyer;
Dean of Secretaries of State of
America. Education:
Academic and laws Schools,
UNC.
State Senator
James McChire Clark
Zeb R. Shepard
Robert S. Swain
District Court
Judge
Boyd Laine Johnson
Richard George Miller
( Continued on Page 13)
Unaka Center
Invites Public
ToOpen House
The Unaka CMtar in Hot
Springs will hold an open
house on May ? from 5 to 7
p.m. The public is cordtaUy in
vited to see the center'# new
building, BBjMlO^nderson s