Newspapers / The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) / Aug. 25, 1982, edition 1 / Page 1
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The news Ri !_II5> aR SiF-V DC! IV * Ml SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUNTY 81st Year No. 34 PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT- AT MARSHALL, N.C. WEDNESDAY, August 25, 1982 15c Per Copy Polls Open From 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Marshall To Decide Bond Issue Thursday BY ROBERT KOENIG Editor Marshall residents will go to the polls Thursday in a special referendum to decide the fate of a proposed $600,000 bond issue. The bonds will be used to pay for renovation of the town's sewer system. The $600,000 which the bond issue would raise represents the town's share of the $1.2 million project. Finan cing from the Farmers Home Ad ministration, the Appalachian Regional Commission and the state will make up the rest of the project's cost. The Farmers Home Administration has awarded Marshall a grant totalling $275,000 for the project. The FMHA has also guaranteed to purchase $496,000 of the bonds at an interest rate below the market rate. The Appalachian Regional Commis sion has awarded Marshall a grant of $200,000 for the project and the state has committed $289,000 toward the pro ject. Thursday's referendum marks the second time Marshall voters have been asked to decide a bond issue to renovate the sewer system. Eight years ago, voters approved a bond issue to finance sewer renovation. The bonds were never issued, however, because the town was unable to secure matching federal funds to finance the project. This time around, the town has secured the guarantees for funding before asking the voters to approve the bond issue. If approved in the referendum, work on the project could begin as soon as next month. Plans have already been drawn by Butler Associates of Asheville, the town's consultant. The project has been in various stages of planning for the past eight years. The project will replace all sewer lines except those on Redmon and Roberts Hill roads. Both these roads will also receive new sewer lines, should funds permit. Other areas of Marshall will have sewer lines replac ed on a priority basis. WalnyA Creek Road will be the first to receive new sewer lines because engineers have determined that it has the worst problem with raw sewage. Other streets on the priority list in clude Mashburn Hill and Cotton Mill Hill. The project will replace existing sewer lines from Marshall to Rollins. It will also put in a sewer line from Madison High School and the new Mar shall Elementary School. Paul Worley Hollow will also receive a new sewer line if voters approve the bond issue. Marshall town officials have endors ed the bond issue and mounted a cam paign for its approval. Mayor Lawrence Ponder has described the referendum as "the most important day in the history of our town." He has warned residents that the town will face serious consequences if the bond issue is not approved, citing warnings Marshall has received from the federal Environmental Protection Agency regarding the dumping of raw sewage into the French Broad River. County officials are also on record in support of the project. County Com missioner James Ledford has stated that the county will have to construct sewer lines into both Madison High School and Marshall Elementary School if the bond issue is not approv ed. The sewer lines will be necessary to keep both schools open. Marshall residents will be able to cast their ballots at the town fire department from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. ? ? I ' 1 Photo bv Bob Koenif KINDERGARTEN STUDENTS at the new Marshall Elementary School have breakfast before beginning classes each morning. Meeting Plans Celebration Private citizens, town of ficials and merchants met at Town Hail in Marshall Aug. 18 to map plans for the upcoming "Pioneer Day" celebration. The celebration is set for Sept. 24 and 25 in connection with the observance of Southern Railway's 100th anniversary in Marshall. Southern Railway plans to marie the occasion by bringing its replica of the famous train, "The Best Friend of Charleston" into town. Southern Railway will also br ing along a railway display car for the weekend-long celebration. The 20 officials and mer chants at the Town Hall meeting formulated plans for community festivities for the weekend. They formed an ad hoc committee to get the Mar shall community involved in the celebration. The commit tee hopes to have crafts displays, music and dancing programs in connection with the festivities being coor dinated by Southern Railway. As Jerry Plemmons ex plained, "The purpose of the committee is to get the com munity involved, to bring peo ple together." The "Pioneer Day" plan ners hope to encourage various organizations in Mar shall to operate participation events at the celebration for both fund-raising and enter tainment. Individuals interested in participating in the "Pioneer i Day" festivities should con tact Cynthia Niles of Roberts Pharmacy on Main St. tor more information. For your convenience, an application form appears on Page 6 Southern Railway has an nounced that the public will be allowed to ride "The Best Friend of Charleston" during the weekend celebration. Plans call for Friday, Sept. 34 to be senior citizens day, with the train ride open to both seniors and children. The general public will be invited to ride the train on the celebration's closing day. N.C. Jobless At 9.8 Percent . Unemployment figures in North Carolina have reached their highest level in over 30 years, according to figures released by the Employment Security Commiaaion on Mon day. Hie figures indicated an unemployment rate of ? J per cent for the month of July. The state figure of M percent is identical to the July national Glenn R. Jernigan, the chairman of the North Carolina Employment Securi ty Commission attributed much of the increase in unemployment to temporary layoffs in mid-July. He reported that several manufacturing industries laid off workers in significant numbers for a short period near t I holiday. ing Jobs ?: VP! ?Iwwed am of 9 Declines were jobs (-1.7 percent) and Elec trical Machinery jobs were down 2,000 ( 4.? percent) . Non durable good* losses were most significant for Textile Mill Products, down 3,700 (-1.7 percent), and Apparel and Related Products lost 1.000 (-1.2 percent). On a further positive note, agriculture added M.500 (42.0 pel .?lit) workers fi Jdy. Ml. The average weekly hours worked by production worker* in manufacturing declined to S7.S, below mid June's 38.0 period in 1*1 the figure was N.1 Tobacco Market Appears Uncertain By ROBERT KOENIG Just as they prepare to harvest a bumper crop described as one of the finest in recent years, area tobacco ?ir.t?irs are faced v.itt* a tobacco market sending up mixed signals. A randon survey of companies and public officials familiar with the tobacco market failed to produce a consensus on which direction the market will go this fall. Part of the reason for the uncertainty results from the tax incrase on cigarettes enacted by congress last week. The eight-cent increase in the federal tax on a package of cigarettes was a part of a $99 billion tax package. The eight-cent increase is a 100 percent hike in the federal tax. All those questioned in telephone interviews last week agreed that the tax hike would effect the fall tobacco market. There was, however, a wide range of opinions as to how much of an impact the tax hike would have. According to news reports last week that the R.J. Reynolds Co. oi Winston Salem planned to cut back on tobacco purchases as a result of the tax increase. Reached by telephone Friday, Reynolds spokesman Nat Walker said, "We're taking a conservative approach to the situation. Historically, every time the price of cigarettes has risen, there has been a drop in sales. With this in crease in taxes, we fully ex pect that sales will go down. How much they will go down, and for how long, we have no way of knowing at this point. We will be highly selective in our purchase this fall. The early flue cured crop this year came in at a rather poor quali ty. This was due to the large amount of rain the farmers down south received. That it the primary reason buying has been off so far this year." An official with the Agriculture Department, who declined to be identified, said that the Reynolds move is a Muff. He pointed out that low tar and nicotine cigarettes presently account up to 60 per cent of cigarette sales. This of ficial told us, "If they plan to keep selling low tar, low nicotine cigarettes, they'll have to continue buying burley tobacco." The American Tobacco Co. of Reidsville has no plans to alter its purchases as a result of the tax increase. Robert Rukheyser, a spokesman for the company told us, "We plan to go ahead with our planned purchases. The tax increase will have some impact on sales, but we don't believe that it will be significant." A spokesman for the Southwest Tobacco Co., a ma jor buyer for both foreign and domestic companies, expects a soft market in tobacco this year, but gave other reasons for this. He declined to say to what extent his company would curtail purchases. John Starkey, a spokesman for the company, explained that experts of American tobacco are expected to decline because many foreign countries have recently im posed excise taxes on im ported tobacco. The increased strength of the dollar on foreign markets is also a fac tor in the decrease in demand. SUrkey cited West Gar many, where the dollar has recently increased some 90 percent in value against the mark. On top of this increase, the German government recently raised the excise lax on cigarettes by SI percent. SUrkey said he expects a soft market for tobacco this fell He said the increased tax would be a factor, but said the extend of Ms effect will be rlnlrii- in. * ii_n_rl K? Knm **->??.-* l-t ,.f neierminea 05 ntm mucri 01
The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.)
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Aug. 25, 1982, edition 1
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