The News Record
SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY
81st Year No. 3 PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT m/ ? * THURSDAY, January 21, 1982 15c Per Copy
? 1 . n_ ~ |
Second Winter Storm
Puts County On Hold
By NICHOLAS HANCOCK
An invasion of Arctic air and
Thursday's snow storm put
Madison County "on hold"
last week as traffic slowed and
some businesses closed their
doors in the face of one of the
worst winter storms to hit the
area in years.
Schools were closed for the
entire week and businesses
and residences battled frozen
water pipes in an effort to
carry on as usual in winter's
icy grasp.
The week was ushered in
Sunday, Jan. 10 with below
zero temperatures produced
by an Arctic air mass which
swept almost the entire coun
try and hit Western North
Carolina during the night.
Local residents awoke Mon
day morning to bottomed -out
thermometers and cancelled
school classes.
A winter storm warning was
issued by the National
Weather Service for Tuesday
night and Wednesday, and
while Asheville and Bun
combe County received four to
five inches of snow, Madison
County escaped the brunt of
the storm with one-half to one
inch accumulation Wednes
day.
A second storm which hit
the county early Thursday
morning proved to be the one
which reminded residents
that winter is still here and
can be severe in the moun
tains. Snow began falling at 7
a.m. and continued,
moderately to heavily at
times, through most of the day
and into the night. By noon,
approximately Five inches had
accumulated in the Marshall
area.
Automobile and pedestrian
traffic was almost non
existent in Marshall, and
several offices and downtown
businesses closed their doors
early so employees could go
Easter Holidays On Tap
Madison school students can still look for
ward to Ave Easter vacation days in April,
that is unless schools are closed for several
more days because of snow or inclimate
weather.
School Superintendent Robert L. Edwards
said Monday that the April 12-16 Easter
holidays are still scheduled on the school
system calendar in spite of the six days miss
ed last week and Monday. He said should the
system be closed during February and
March, he would meet with principal and
supervisors to discuss alternative plans for
making up the lost school days.
Students were out Dec. IS for ice and Jan
1148 because of a combination of sub-zero
temperatures and snow for a total of seven
days thus far this year.
Edwards noted that students had .only at
tended school for a total of seven days since
Dec. 16, but 10 of those days were scheduled
Christmas holidays.
"Teachers and principals have said they
prefer to have teachers' workdays on all snow
days unless it is so bad they can't get there,"
he said. "Then they'll get into their holidays
and annual leave days for snow days."
The current school calendar provides 124
annual leave days, 8 holidays and 164
teacher, workdays. Edwards said, thus far,
school personnel have used 94 annual leave
days, 6 holidays and 94 teacher workdays. ,
The county's seven school buildings suf
fered little or no damage during the extreme
cold on Monday and Tuesday of last week.
Spring Creek Elementary reported a frozen
and ruptured water pipe, and an air condition
ing unit atop Madison High School froze and
became inoperable.
v Edwards said hip chief concern has been
the expense of maintaining heat in the
buildings to prevent damage to water pipes.
"In a weeks time, I've ordered six truck loads
of oil. That's over 16,000 everytime one of
them rolls up," he said.
As for any future school closings, the
superintendent said announcements would be
made on the mornings in question over
WMMH and WWNC radio stations and on
WLOS-TV.
Investigation Slow
SBI Officials Say
Investigation into a fire
which destroyed the Hot Spr
ings home of Franklin S.
(Hank) Holmes two weeks ago
is progressing slowly, accor
ding to State Bureau of In
vestigation officials in
Asheville.
"It's going pretty slow, and
we haven't turned up any
leads yet," SBI Agent J.N.
Minter said Monday.
The fire, of undetermined
origin, leveled the six room
log house on Spring Creek
Road early Sunday morning,
Jan. 3. Holmes and his wife
were vacationing in Florida
when the blase was discovered
by a neighbor at 1 a.m.
Holmes and his mother,
Mrs. Alberta Stroud, owner of
the property, say they suspect
arson and cite threatening
phone calls received in
December as a basis for their
suspicions.
Mrs. Strood says she receiv
ed a call Dec. 8 in which the
caller told her, "Keep your a
out of Hot Springs if you don't
want everything you've got
Holmes and six other
residents who have received
annoying or threatening calls
in recent weeks say they feel
the calls are linked to the Nov.
3 municipal elections and a
controversial gameroom
operated by Holmes. They
think someone is trying to in
timidate them.
Holmes was an unsuccessful
candidate for a board of
aldermen seat, and he along
with numerous supporters, ob
jected to a town ordinance af
fecting his gameroom at the
Dec. 7 aldermen meeting.
Nine other Hot Springs
residents reportedly have
received annoying calls dur
ing the same period of time
Holmes and hit friends were
being harassed, but they have
declined comment to the
press.
County Sheriff E.Y. Ponder
and Hot Sprii*s Police Chief
Leroy Johnson both have said
that they have received no
reports of the phone calls from
the individuals involved.
Johnson said he contacted
the SBI for Mrs. Stroud, but
Ponder said Monday that his
department has not received a
request from Johnson to assist
in the arson investigation.
?On The Inside
Marilyn McMinn-MeCredie is
a noted folkloriat, teacher and
* toryteller . See her story \
on PageS.
home.
Frank Moore, manager of
Wachovia Bank, closed all
three branch offices ? Mar
shall, Mars Hill and Hot Spr
ings ? at noon, saying it was
the first time since he came to
the bank in 1967 that it had
been closed because of the
weather.
First Union National Bank
in Marshall closed its doors at
3 p.m., according to Manager
Bryce Hall, in order to make
sure employees could get
home safely.
However, Northwestern
Bank at the shopping center
on the Marshall Bypass re
mained open until its regular
closing hour, and "had a good
afternoon of business," accor
ding to Hal Johnson, manager.
Bill Zink, of the Agriculture
Stabilization and Control Ser
vice, closed his office at 3 p.m.
Other governmental offices in
the county seat closed early,
and the courthouse ? normal
ly a hub of activity ? looked
deserted moet of the day.
O.A. Gregory of Gregory Oil
Company reported that
delivery trucks were running
two days behind in schedule
because of the abnormally low
temperatures and an increase
in orders for heatiug ??. But
the trucks, equipped with
chains, remained on the road
during the snow.
Boad conditions were "pret
ty rough" according to a
spokesman at the local office
of the N.C. Department of
Transportation. Maintenance
crews manned scrapers and
salt trucks almost continuous
ly from Thursday through
Saturday.
Major paved roads were
cleared and easily passable by
Saturday, but most of the
county's unpaved roads re
mained snow and ice covered
through the weekend and into
this week.
School Superintendent
Robert L'. Edwards cancelled
school again Monday and
Tuesday because of snow
covered and icy road condi
tions in the rural areas of the
county. Late Monday, he said
he would have to wait until
late Tuesday to make a deci
sion regarding the opening of
schools on Wednesday.
While most of the county
was hampered by nature's
wintry clutch. Wolf Laurel Ski
Resort was enjoying unusual
ly brisk business for the
month. Resort spokesmen,
who gauge their success in
numbers of ski days, said
Saturday that they were three
to four days ahead of business
as compared to the same time
last year.
The resort's parking lots
were filled Saturday afternoon
and skiers waited in long lines
at ski lifts as a second Arctic
cold front swept frigid winds
And mdre ?i*w ontotHe mom
tain.
On another positive note.
Sheriff E.Y. Ponder reported
that no major traffic accidents
or weather related deaths oc
curred in the county during
the week. Statewide, 20 deaths
have been attributed to the
week's weather.
SECOND WINTER STORM ?
Western North Carolina's second
major winter storm hit Madison
County Thursday morning with
moderate to heavy snow beginn
ing at 7 o'clock. By 9a.m. approx
imately one inch had ac
Photo tty N Hancock
cumulated in Marshall where few
people were out conducting
business. Ruby Roberts makes
her way through the big flakes
from the First Union Bank to the
courthouse.
Confusion Hampered Firemen
By NICHOLAS HANCOCK
Editor
Confusion over a newly installed
water line and fire hydrant apparently
was a major factor in preventing Hot
Springs Firemen from extinguishing
the blaze which leveled the Hank
Holmes house on Spring Creek Road
earlier this month.
The State Bureau of Investigation is
trying to determine if the fire was an
accident or if arson was involved.
R.Z. (Bobby) Ponder, a volunteer
fireman, said in a recent interview that
the hydrant had not been turned on
when the fire truck arrived at the
scene. Ponder said no water came out
of the hydrant when it's valve was open,
so he sent Wesley Staude and Robert
Ponder Jr. back to town to get a wrench
to open the valve in the main water line
leading to the hydrant.
Staude said the fire department
didn't know that the newly installed
water line had not been connected to the
town's main system. Opening the valve
in the water line only provided Firemen
with what Staude called backwash,
"drainage from the hydrant up above
on the line," he said.
"W* turned it (the water line valve)
wide open. We went back and checked it
again. We tried everything we knew to
try, but we weren't getting anything but
what was leaking out," Staude said.
As a result refilling the 500 gallon fire
truck required nearly 30 minutes when,
under ordinary conditions, the opera
tion would have required less than four
minutes, according to Staude.
"We had the option of going to
another hydrant down the street, but
it's my understanding that it wasn't
operational fither," he said.
Ponder said there was no other
source of water to fight the blaze and
explained that the town's fire truck was
not equipped to pump water out of Spr
ing Creek, which flowed near the house.
He declined further comment on the
fire saying he would prefer to wait until
the SBI investigation of the incident is
completed.
SBI Supervisor J.N. Minter said Mon
day the investigation "is going slow.''
Statements concerning the hydrant
and the water line conflict. Police Chief
Leroy Johnson, who is also supervisor
of the town's water system, said the
hydrant had been tested. But William
Stilwell, contractor who is currently in
stalling the town's new water system,
told The News Record that neither the
hydrant nor the line had been checked.
Johnson said the water line had been
installed about two months ago and the
hydrant had been installed on Friday
before the early Sunday morning fire.
"The hydrant was tested when it was
turned on to get air out of the line," he
said.
But Stilwell said his company poured
a concrete thrust block behind the
hydrant, and at least 48 hours are re
quired for the concrete to set up before
any testing is done. He said his men
would not have checked the hydrant
before Monday or Tuesday.
Johnson said he inspected the water
line valve sometime after the fire and
found it to be three turns short of being
fully open. He said it was a "14 round"
valve, and he attributed the unusually
low water pressure to the three stay
turns.
Stilwell said he's not sure what hap
pened that caused the difficulty for the
firemen. "It's the fire chief's decision
whether to use that line. But I don't
know if anybody else would have done
anything different," he said.
The contractor added that work on
the water system would probably be
completed by mid or late February,
and he pointed out there are at least
five newly installed fire hydrants which
are currently not operating in the town
? One on Paint Rock Road, one on Spr
ing Street and three on Berry Ridge
Road, jar . s '??; :?
MHMkvM. HotCMk
Controversial Hydrant
A FIRE HYDRANT stands only a few years
from the ruins of the Hank Holmes residence,
which was levelled by fire Jan. S.
Ramsey Announces
Representative Listen B.
Raaaatyot Marshall, Speaker
of the North Carolina House of
Representatives, announced
Thursday as a canJMtfttor
?
Ramsey, who was elected
Speaker of the House in
January 1981, said be will be a
candidate to succeed htmaeif
in that position if the voters or
elect him to the House
Ramsey saM he has com
mitments from enough
members of the House
Democratic majority to win
re-election as Speaker in
Counties la the House, is a
retired businessman who
devotes full time to his duties
to the legislative branch of
government Prior to bis elec
ton as Speaker, he served
eight years on the Advisory
Budget commission, a
1 2- member body '
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