County Ltfcruy 9/8I
?**11 . ?C 28733
Record
SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY
80th Year No. 39
PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT MARSHALL, N.C.
THURSDAY, September 24, 1981
15c Per Copy
School Officials Mum On Opinion Results
By NICHOLAS HANCOCK
Several local school officials con
tacted last Thursday and Friday had
little, if anything, to say concerning the
results of the Public School Opinion
Survey conducted by The News Record
between Sept. 3-10
David Wyatt, principal at Madison
High School, and school board member
Ed Gentry both said they had no com
ments to make regarding the survey
results. Dr. Bobby Jean Rice, super
visor of county schools, also declined
comment, saying she "doesn't like to be
quoted by newspapers . "
J.C. Wallin, principal at Hot Springs
Elementary School, said, "no comment
really, other than it was a weak smat
tering of responses." He said he didn't
feel 139 responses were enough to have
an accurate assessment of the public's
opinion.
Marshall Elementary Principal Fred
Haynie said he had no comment to
questions about the public's attitude
toward the local schools, and added,
"From the survey, I really can't tell
what the attitude of the public is."
School board chairman Bobby
Ponder, Superintendent Robert L. Ed
wards and board member Gerald
Young had the most to say about the
survey per se, and a little about the
public's attitude and concerns regar
ding the school system.
Referring to the 139 respondents to
the survey. Ponder said, "There's real
ly not enough percentage there to give
you much of an idea" about the public's
opinion. He said he considered 139
responses "not very much participa
tion."
Commenting on the public's concern
about "unqualified teachers and
substitutes," Ponder said, "I wonder
who they think we've got that's not cer
tified. Out of 103 (regular classroom)
teachers, they've all got A certificates
or better. Only one has a B certificate."
Ponder said he would "put our teachers
above any."
When asked if he, as a school official,
planned on addressing or investigating
*ny of the problems the public mention
ed in the survey. Ponder said, "I don't
really see that there is anything to in
vestigate. We're always striving to do
better, and in the past few years we've
come a long way."
Ponder concluded with, "It's sort of
funny that out of the five board
members, the only one that received a
decent rating was the one that didn't
have time, or didn't take time, to go
vote a few years ago when we had a
school board referendum." (According
to the survey, Young received the
highest rating based on the public's opi
nion of his performance over the past
two years.)
"I really have no comments on it,"
said Edwards, but the superintendent
went on to say hearing from "about .04
percent" of The News Record's 3,500
circulation was "net really a true
evaluation.' (It was pointed out to Ed
wards that the correct figure was 3.9
percent of the total circulation.)
Edwards noted that the survey show
ed 81 of the 139 respondents had attend
ed school board meetings, and "a lot of
these people didn't get what they
wanted, so you can count that in the
negative position," he said.
When asked if he thought the public
had an accurate assessment of the pro
blems in the schools, Edwards replied,
"No. We rate better than they're giving
us credit for, according to people in the
education field."
Why, then, did the people respond as
they did? "Maybe for not getting their
children released to Buncombe County
is one thing," Edwards answered.
"They've probably had some run-in
with the previous boards of education,
such as (the issue of) building the Mar
shall School on the island. People have
even blamed me with it, and that hap
pened before I was born," he said.
Asked if he planned to investigate any
of the problems mentioned in the poll,
Edwards said, "1 think when I have a
principals' meeting we certainly will
not ignore what (The News Record) has
printed. The principals can also run a
survey in their schools and see what the
children think about it. The children are
the ones who can tell you more about
what's going on in the school system,
but the parents are the ones that pay
the taxes."
He said results from tests given to
students were an indication that the
local system didn't deserve the rather
low rating placed on the system by
survey respondents. "When you start
looking at the many phases of the
system, we're certainly not on the bot
tom," he said.
"I have no qualms with the poll ?
it's just an opinion," Edwards said.
"The present board of education was
elected by the people and when the elec
tion comes, if this (survey) is a true
analysis of it, then they have the
privilege to change it."
Board member Young said he
thought the survey "made a lot of peo
ple think about some things, and some
people got to say some things that
maybe they've been wanting to say for
a long tine."
"I wasn't surprised at the things peo
ple thought about our schools," he said.
"They may not have covered them all
(problems), but they have said what
they think. And, I think we have some
problems or I would never have run for
(he board of education,' he added.
Young said he would like to see the
school board discuss some of the pro
blems mentioned in the survey with the
schools administrative staffs, "and I
would personally like to look more in
depth at some of the things the people
said about our school system."
"But I'm just one board member, and
whether we can, or will, do anything I
don't know," Young said.
? Who Participated In Survey?
By NICHOLAS HANCX)CK
The "typical" respondent to the Public
School Opinion Survey conducted recently
by The News Record was a 42-year-old
woman with three years of college educa
tion, according to statistical informaton re
quested at the end of the survey.
However, construction of a model
representative from statistical figures
gives only a limited picture of the 139 per
sons who participated in the public opinion
poll.
In all, 80 women and 59 men took part in
the survey which indicated Madison County
residents are less than happy with their
local school system and would make some
changes regarding "politics in the schools,
poor quality of teachers, and poor ad
ministrative leadership" if they were in a
position to do so.
The youngest respondent was 19 and the
oldest was 75. The majority of the
respondents were in a 30 to 45 age bracket.
m
Two of the respondents indicated hav
ing less than a ninth grade education, but 39
percent said they had some high school
(grades 9-12) with 33 percent saying they
had completed the 12th grade. Thirty-three
percent indicated having some college
education and 20 percent said they com
pleted four years of college. One quarter (25
percent) of the respondents said they had
completed one or more years of post college
study. (Two respondents did not indicate
their education level.)
The survey, designed to determine the
public's attitude toward the local public
school system, was conducted by The News
Record Sept. 3-12.
Hundreds Enjoy 'Riverfest'
Hundreds of people turned
out in near perfect Saturday
weather to celebrate the Mar
shall's "Riverfest" on Blan
nanhassett Island.
Kids and adults of all ages
wandered through the flea
market booths and par
ticipated in the dozen or so
fair-like activities planned foi
the culmination of the annual
French Broad River Week
celebration.
Mrs. Helen Rudisill, local
chairman of this year'i
"Riverfest," said she was well
pleased with the large number
of people who had shown up al
the island as early as 10:*
a.m., shortly after th?
festivities began. Mrs
Rudisill was given one of tht
morning's first rides in WLOS
TV hot air balloon by Channel
IS television personality "Mr
BUI."
Debbie Ricker, 16 am!
shall as first place winner in
the junior division of the con
test. (See photos on Page 3).
Flea market booths
reported doing brisk business
during most of the day. The
Unaka Center of Hot Springs
was kept busy making and
selling personalized photo but
tons to spectators, and the
mothers of the Marshall
Hillbilly Cloggers seemed to
be having much success sell
ing fudge and cupcakes to
raise money to help the danc
ing team go to the N.C. State
Fair in Raleigh in October.
Other "Riverfest" activities
included a Juggling act per
formed by Captain Slow
(Louie Zeller of Laurel), an
afternoon Softball game,
canoe and raft trips by
Smokey Mountain River Ex
peditions and French Broad
Rafting Co., dancing by the
Hillbilly Cloggers, country
The Bear and
Owl from the N.C.
l and Mrs Ruth
I 'it
"RIVERVEST" Chairman Helen Rudisill
takes a ride in Mr Bill's" Thirtoon Balloon
from WLOS-TV at Saturday's river celebra
tion on Blannanhassett Island in Marshall.
for thr festivities and to meet the well -known
televisior ; iity. ^
Photo by N Hancock
Three Of Four Vehicles Damaged Friday
Vandals Damage Four Cars
In High School Parking Lot
By NICHOLAS HANCOCK
Four automobiles belonging
to Madison High School
students were damaged late
Friday afternoon in what ap
peared to be an act of van
dalism in the parking lot of the
high school.
Madison County Sheriff
E.Y. Ponder said the vehicles i
belonged to Larry Howell, i
Keith Kramer, Chris Wilde,
and Marlon Franklin, all
students at the high school.
The cars had been left in the
parking lot at the school when <
the football team traveled to
Rosman for a game. t
Investigation at the scene of >
the incident revealed that so
meone had apparently ramm- <
ed the cars with another vehi- c
cle. A 1976 Mustang owned by c
Howell was hit in the right i
rear and slammed into the left *
front of Kramer's 1976
Chevrolet Monza which was c
shoved into the right roar of c
the 1979 Mustang owned by c
Wilde. It appeared the
Volkswagon owned by a
Franklin had been hit f
separately. t
A note, thought to be written
>y the vandals, was left on the
windshield of Howell's car.
Sheriff Ponder said Satur
iay he had no estimate of the
?ost of repairing the damage
lone to the vehicles, and his
nvestigation of the Incident
vas still underway.
Madison High School Prin
ipal David Wyatt said Sun
lay he didn't know if the van
laiism was perpetrated by
students, outsiders or what,"'
ind he added that in the
uture, the school administra
ion "will do whatever is
necessary to stop such things"
from happening on school pro
perty.'
A passer-by, who had been
jogging at the high school,
reported seeing the damaged
cars at 5:30 p.m. Wyatt said
the football team left for
Rosman on activity buses
about 4 p.m. Friday. Howell,
Kramer and Wilde are
members of the football team.
A high school Janitor, Ovie
Ammnns, told Ponder he
heard no unusual noises out
side the building while he was
still in the school.
Public Meetings
A series of public meetings will be held
Sept. 28 through Oct. 1 for the purpose of
discussing the sewer system construction
project for the Town of Marshall.
It is requested that the residents attend
the meeting for their area as follows: Mon
day, Sept. 28 ? Walnut Creek and Hill
Street area; Tuesday, Sept. 29 ? Rollins
area; Wednesday, Sept . 30 ? Rector Corner
area; Thursday, Oct. 1 ? Redmon Road ?
Roberts Hill area.
All meetings will begin at 7 p.m. at
Town Hall and will be attended by the
mayor, board of aldermen, the town
engineers and town attorney. Your atten
dance is very important.
J. Davis Files
Jackie Davis, incumbent
Marshall alderman, filed as a
candidate Thursday to seek
his third term on the town
council.
Davis, 46, and a Marshall
native, said he felt "it is im
portant at this time" to run
again for one of the three
council seats up for grabs in
the Nov. 3 election.
"Many things need to be
finished out," Davis said
referring to completion of
work projects funded with a
HUD grant and the town's
sewer and water line projects.
"Besides, it's one of the things 1
I like to do,' he said.
He said he feels progress in t
Ute town is going along fine, ?
and "it is important to keep c
good public relations between /
Davis
he town and its citizens."
The self-employed contrar
or and his wife, Natalie, Uve
? Rollins Road. They have
me daughter, 19, who works in
tshevilie and attends collegr
Ponder Files For Mayor's Office
Marshall Mayor Lawrence
Ponder filed as a candidate for
re-election last week and an
nounced he is seeking his third
consecutive term as mayor of
the county seat.
Pointing <>ut his 11 years of
1 In - in. ? ip
improve Marshall and
*
T.'
continue
the work on the town's water
"Wi need U <-on(inue to
recruit industry and jobs for
ol Marshall/."
indicating his
I [oal is to secur? 1,000
industrial jobs for the Mar
shall workforce
A ^ III IN 1 ,)
sr u
th<> ma
?iwMh
Electric
and
existing funding agencies lor
I he approval of the Ifrban
Action Grant to
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renaotu
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ed revenue i thl |
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