The News Record
SERVING THE PEOPLE OF M
4
80th Year No. 35
PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT MARSHAL!
? ? Mi '? i ? 4
ladlson Co inty Library
Marshall, MC id 7 >3
/ !
9#S1
15c Per Copy
Expressway Bringing Changes To Madison
Special T? Hie News Record
Fundamental changes in the lifestyle
of the Marshall-Mars Hill-Weaverville
triangle are expected to be brought
about by the new U.S. 25-70 expressway
linking Marshall and Jupiter with the
existing 19-23 highway to Asheville.
And even though a mile of the new
road has yet to be paved, enough traffic
is using the road so that in the early
evening one car is nearly always within
sight of another.
So the new road is already:
?Cutting get-to-work time for some
people by up to half.
?Raising property values along its
route.
?Increasing population in the
triangle area of Madison and north
Buncombe counties.
Opinions on the increase in real
estate values range from 5% to 2S%,
depending who you ask ? though real
estate people agree there has been an
increase.
Ron Riser, of Timberline Realty in
Asheville, who lives in Mars Hill, says
he believes prices are up 5% to 10% for
the area two miles either side of the
new road, but that people are mainly
buying raw land more than houses due
to high interest rates on mortgages.
Clay Jenkins, whose real estate office
is in Weaverville's Tri -Cities area,
thinks prices are up 20% to 25% for land
three to four miles from the new
highway ? though, he observes, moun
tain tracts are hard to compare since
each piece can be so different.
Lee Roy Griffin
Not only are prices up, says Jenkins,
but there's more activity. Buyers along
the road want to be where they can get
into Asheville quickly for jobs, school or
hospital care, he says. And the
Asheville Chamber of Commerce
reports that people inquiring about the
area include half who are looking for
jobs as well as property.
Lee Roy Griffin, who lives in Weaver
ville and has his real estate office in
Marshall, says he sees prices of real
estate increasing clear to the Ten
nessee line. Now that it's so easy to get
to Marshall, he says, summer home
buyers are willing to consider cabins
that take a little getting to from Mar
shall.
At any rate, population near the
already paved section of the road has
grown so fast that the Red Oak School
in Jupiter has 20 more pupils this fall,
requiring one new teacher and a mobile
classroom unit. Enrollment at the
school had remained about the same for
the previous 10 to 12 years, says Bill
Brigman, principal of the grades 1-8
school.
And the new road has already started
to shrink time and distance for long
time residents. Shirley Hensley, who
lives in the Jupiter area and works in
Weaverville, reports she gets to work
twice as fast.
When the road is fully (and officially)
open, there will be more immediate ef
fects. Obviously, says Dr. David
Knisley of Mars Hill, there will be less
traffic through Mars Hill. Up to now,
some drivers have preferred to use
Route 213 through Mars Hill in order to
avoid the present 25-70 "River Road,''
with its curves between rocky bluffs
and the French Broad
Irma Crawford of Stoney Knob says
"on the River Road, there are all those
big rocks looking out at me. I've always
been sure one would fall on me."
But these small changes are just the
beginning, says Dr. Donald Anderson,
chairman of Mars Hill College's
r-New Location
IjJIU. - > 1 ?
NEW LOCATION - The News
Record has completed the moving
of its business offices to the new
location between Shady Side
Florist and Bowman Hardware on
Main Street in Marshall. The
Photo by N Hancock
newspaper telephone number is
still 649-2741. Story Printing Co.,
located beside French Broad
Chevrolet Co., has changed its
telephone number to 649-3745.
Four-Lane Completion
Set F or Late January
Schedule for official open*
ings of the new U.S. 2S-70
highway from Weaverville to
Marshal] has not yet been
firmed up, according to Earl
McEntire, district engineer of
the State Department of
Transportation.
But he suggests these may
be the dates, subject to
review i
PART A, at the intersection
of 35-70 and the 25-70 Bypass at
Marshall, should be basically
complete by January but
finishing work may extend in
to spring.
PART B, from the U.S. 25-70
Bypass at Marshall to a point
north of the Jupiter road, in
cluding the section not yet sur
faced, should follow the same
Schedule as Part A.
PART C, from the Jupiter
road to the existing U.S. 19-23
Bypass at Weaverville, will
open officially in October.
The existing 25-70 ( the River
Road) will give its number to
the new highway. State Road
191 has been renumbered as
Route 251 as it passes through
Woodfin ? and this number
will be used from the point
where it joins the present
25-70, following the River
Road into Marshall.
In other news linked to the
new highway, the state is stu
dying the need for a traffic
light at the New Stock Road
exit from the 19-23 Bypass at
Woodland Hills. Criteria for
such a light are strict, says
McEntire, and funding would
have to be approved by
Raleigh even if the criteria fit.
But he said the situation will
be renewed in the light of add
ed traffic to the Marshall
Weavervi lie-Mars Hill
triangle.
E.S.
Construction Is Nearly Completed At Western End Of New Expressway
Department of Social and Behavioral
Sciences, who has been collecting facts
and figures about the area. He sees
Marshall, Mars Hill and Weaverville as
a fast-development triangle, and ex
pects fundamental change in the pat
tern of local people's lives over a period
of four or five years.
Now, he says, there is a great exodus
from Madison County every morning of
people who have to leave the county to
find work ? to Buncombe, to greater
Asheville, to Enka. But in the next five
years, says Anderson, he expects the
new road to attract small, decentraliz
ed industries to Madison County so peo
ple can work near home. Thus, he says,
Continued on Page 3
Board Adopts Tuition Policy,
Deliberates Swann's Request
By NICHOLAS HANCOCK
Editor
In a special called meeting
Aug. 19, the Madison County
Board of Education adopted a
resolution to comply with a
new state law which requires
the board to charge tuition to
students from out of state,
from out of the school district
or those residing on military
reservations. The board also
heard, but took no action on, a
request from Roger Swann to
transfer his son's school
records to Yancey County
school system.
In adopting the resolution,
which sets a tuition policy for
the county system, the board
voted to charge (170 tuition to
any students which fall into
the categories set out in the
new law, which was sponsored
by State Rep. Lura S. Tally,
D-Cumberland.
However, Superintendent
Robert L. Edwards said no
students were charged tuition
last year to attend Madison
County schools, and he does
not expect to charge any
students this year. But, Ed
wards said he has sent notices
to the principals to "be on the
alert'' for any students which
come under the law.
The new law, General
Statute 115C-366, was designed
to help local school boards
recoup losses in federal aid,
but it may have a "major
financial impact on a segment
of the public which can ill af
ford further monetary set
backs," according to a state
education official.
The purpose of the law is to
help offset some 911 million
the state will lose in federal
impact aid. That aid has been
provided by the government
because military families and
residents of federal low-rent
housing often do not pay state
or federal taxes while atten
ding state schools.
According to reports from
Raleigh, some state officials
say the law might be challeng
ed in court on the basis that
the students' right to free
education provided under
state constitution is being
abridged by the new law.
No minimum tuition charge
is established by the law, but it
says the rates may not exceed
the amount of per capita local
funding. Edwards said the
rate set by the board last
Wednesday was the maximum
allowed by this rule in the law
for the county system. The
school system received
$550,000 in local funds, and has
a total enrollment of 2,946
students for this school year,
down 49 students from the
same reporting period of last
year.
Edwards said he doesn't see
much impact on Madison
County students in regard to
the tuition law, 'It was mainly
designed for counties having
military bases," he said.
In another matter at the
meeting, the board heard a re
quest from Roger Swann of
Mars Hill to transfer his son's
school records to Yancey
County. Swann told the board
his son was now under the
legal custody of his parents,
Blaine and Hazel Swann who
N.C. Rate Bureau Proposes New Auto Rates
Ml car insui iiw
The bureau proposed Jan. 1,
1W2, as tht' effective dale for
(he new ratvs which are sub
ject t? approval by the stale
insurance rnmrawsiom r.
Personal automobile in
surance rate increases are
restricted by law to a percen
tage that is governed by in
creases in the U.S. Consumer
. . In<1c*
The bureau s Tiling will app
ly to all policies written volun
defined clean risks \
in the North Carolina Rein
surance Facility. The facility
filed llj'W rah* Which will
average IS.t percent higher
than curiSfwt rales. Thes< are
not suhji to thr statutory
cap and can he charged to all
facility politics except "cl?an<
risks a? dinned by statute.
Statistical date m paid
claims, other expenses and
trends indicated the need for
an overaH average increases
of 18 percent, said Thomas S.
Carpenior. cMrpian of the
an
average 19.7 percent Increase
in the rate level for the colli
sion and comprehensive In
surance coverages
"Even with inflation
moderating, by the time our
rati* can be implemented all
?E535?
live in Yancey County, and
that as a resident of Yancey
his records needed to be sent
to Mt. Heritage High School.
The board, through its at
torney Larry Leake, told
Swann that since his parents
were the legal guardians of
the boy, they should have the
Yancey County school of
ficials request the boy's
records. The board took no ac
tion pending a request from
Yancey school officials.
In his second appearance
before the board this month,
Swann told the board that his
son, Jeffrey Britt, a ninth
grade student, had been living
in Yancey County since Aug.
11 and that he had spent "60
percent of the summer with
his grandparents." Swann
said since his job requires his
being away from home most
weekdays and his wife teaches
at Mt. Heritage, he felt it was
in the best interest of his son to
live with his parents and at
tend school in Yancey.
Leake told Swann and his at
torney, Bruce Briggs, that
after a phone conversation
with the superintendent of
Yancey schools "it appears on
the surface that this is a
device to allow your child to go
to Yancey County schools. In
my opinion, Madison County
still has jurisdiction at this
time," he said.
"That's not correct," Swann
countered. But Leake ques
tioned the purpose of Swann's
custody transfer as being one
to circumvent Madison's at
tendance policy.
Briggs asked the board if
they were aware of any
Madison residents teaching in
the Buncombe County schools
who were allowed to take their
children to Buncombe schools.
Both Edwards and Leake
denied any knowledge of such
a situation.
Even though Swann said he
was appealing on behalf of his
father who was not at the
meeting, Leake said the re
quest for the transfer of the
records needed to be signed by
"those who have custody" of
the child. The board decided to
wait until it heard from
Yancey school officials. Until
the records are transfered,
Swann's son will not be of
ficially registered in the
Yancey schools.
Monday, Edwards said the
board had received a request
from Yancey, but the board
will not act on the request until
its Sept. 8 meeting.
The board denied a previous
request for reassignment of
Swann's son to Yancey County
at its Aug. 3 meeting.
Man Jailed In Shooting
A 64-year old county mar
was jailed Tuesday fot
allegedly shooting another
man during a fight inside In
gle's supermarker at the
Madison Plaza shopping
center.
Marshall Police Chief Bill
Lisenbee said Starling
Chandler, of Route 4, Marshall
was jailed on charges of
assault with a deadly weapon
in connection with the 4:46
p.m. shooting of Baxter
Shelton, 57, of Route 6, Mar
shall.
Shelton was taken to
Memorial Mission Hospital
where he was treated for a
single gunshot wound in the
abdomen.
said the
took place after the
stop Chandler I
ing drivers in tl
of the
He said
icated and
force his
stop him and the two men
entered the supermarket
where they began wrestling.
Lisenbee said witnesses
reported that both men were
off their feet on the super
market floor when Chandler
pulled a .32 caliber revolver
and shot Shelton. The bullet
pierced Shelton's lower ab
domen, went through his body
and exited his left buttock, he
said.
Authorities at the jail said
Chandler has been released on
a $2,000 bond.
Judge Appointed
A 27-year-old lawyer who
once served as town attorney
for Boone has been appointed
to fiU a judgeship in the 34th
Judicial District created by
the 1MI General Assembly.
He is Charles Philip Ginn,
who has been a resident of
Cary for the past year and ia
moving back to Bmm.
Aides' at the clerk of court's
Ginn's appointment by Gov.
Jim Hunt is for a term ending
on Dec. 5, 1982. He could run
for a four-year term in the
November 1881 election
He will join Chief District
Court Judge Robert H. Lacey
and Judge Alexander Lyerly,
botlfc Republicans, in the
district.
Gfnn is a 1974 graduate of
Appalachian State Univeristy
lit'"
the Unlverktty of
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