Newspapers / The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) / Oct. 5, 1983, edition 1 / Page 1
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The News record SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MADISON COUN' 82nd Year No. 39 PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE COUNTY SEAT AT AAARSHAI < UC MADISON COUNTY LIBRARY /' GENERAL DELIVERY marsi ll t - 15' Per Copy Aldermen Meet Marshall To Seek TV A Assistance The Marshall Board of Aldermen agreed to seek assistance in detecting leaks in the town's water system at their monthly meeting Mon day night. At the suggestion of Jim Stocco of the Land of the Sky Regional Council, the aldermen voted to ask the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to assist Marshall in locating major leaks in the town's aging water system. Stocco told the board that TVA has sophisticated leak detection equipment and technicians available to assist towns in locating the source of water leaks. Stocco said the TVA normally provided towns with the equipment to conduct their own search for leaks. He added, however, that TVA will sometimes, "go beyond the call of duty" and assign a TVA technician to supervise the survey of the water system. Detecting and repairing leaks in the system could pro vide the town with substantial savings in electric charges. Marshall's water is pumped from four wells into the town. By reducing the amount of water that must be pumped, the town will also reduce the charges for the electricity needed to pump the water from the wells. An earlier TVA study of the problem revealed that Mar shall may be losing as much as 40 percent of the water pumped due to leakage in the system. Stocco said, "As I see it, a good solution would be to find where the major leaks are and make repairs. The savings from fixing the major leaks could then pay for additional repairs." Bill Lapstey, an engineer with Butler-Mctiill Associates, told the board members that repairing the leaks in the system will not ac count for all the water the town is pumping. Lapsley said, "What we're calling 'leakage' is actually unac counted for water. There may also be some lines in the system that no one is aware of, or there may be broken meters that are not register ing properly." Gary McGill, an engineer with Butler-Mctiill, supported Stocco's suggestion saying. "This is a problem that will only get worse. At some point, it will have to be addressed. If the town can commit the resources that are necessary, 1 think the town should seize this opportunity. If you seriously want to solve the leakage problem, this is the way to go about it." Morris Trammel, the town's water engineer, told the board that Marshall is pumping ap proximately eight million gallons of water each month, well above the amount pumped at the same time last year. Mayor Lawrence Ponder estimated that the town is billing customers for about two million gallons. Trammel said that the cost of pumping the water from the town wells is about $3,000 per month. Much of the cost of pumping, he said, comes from pumping water from the reservoir on Fortner Hollow. Trammel reported that, while Marshall was pumping about five milion gallons a month last year during July and August, it pumped eight million gallons during the (Continued on Page 7) Hot Springs Bans Public Drinking The Hot Springs Board of Aldermen met Monday night and approved an ordinance prohibiting public drinking of alcoholic beverages. The or dinance came in response to residents' complaints and at the motion of alderman Gene Autrey. The ordinance prohibits (he consumption or display of any alcoholic beverage on the public streets of Hot Springs. The ordinance also prohibits beer drinking in public. The ordinance calls for a $50 fine or imprisonment for up to 30 days for violations. The board unanimously ap proved the ordinance. Meadow Fork Parents To Face Charges The parents of children at tending a private school in the Meadow Pork section have been charged with violations of the Compulsory School At tendance Law. The charges were instituted at the request of the Madison County Board of Education. A hearing on the charges is scheduled for Wednesday in Madison County District Court. Those charged with the violations are Kelly Mount, Sr., Gail Mount, Stan Mcfclroy, Connie McElroy, Kyle Waitt, Debbie Waitt, Juanita Keener, Ralph Keener and Kiana Gidcumb. They are represented by Mars hill at torney Bruce Briggs. LAWRENCE PONDER ...Marshall Mayor files for re-election. Incumbents File For Re-election Incumbent mayors in all three Madison County towns and Weaverville have filed for re-election in the upcoming municipal elections. Mars Hill Mayor Bill Powell and Weaverville Mayor Dr. Lawrence Sprinkle filed for the election last week. <)n Monday, Marshall Mayor Lawrence Ponder and Hot Springs Mayor Debbie Baker entered the race. Municipal elections in all four towns will be held on Nov. 8. Candidates have until noon on Friday- to- file for election. Residents wishing to vote in the municipal elections have until Oct. 10 to register. In Marshall, Ponder filed for the election along with in cumbent aldermen Jackie Davis and John Dodson. The third member of the panel, James Penland, told The News Kecord on Monday night that he is still undecided on making a re-election bid. Earlier, Charlie Sexton and Sammy Lunsford filed for election to the three-member board of aldermen. In Mars Hill, Encumbent Mayor Bill Powell will face Jeanne Hoffmann in the mayoral race. Incumbent aldermen Arthur Wood and Dr. W. O. Duck have filed for election along with William Powell 111 and John L. Chandler. Alderman Gordon Handolph told The News Kecord on Monday night that he will not seek another term on the town board, handolph said he hopes to continue to serve the town as the fire chief. Hot Springs Mayor Debbie Baker officially entered the race for mayor Monday night following the monthly meeting of the board of aldermen. In cumbent aldermen Gene Autrey and Jerry Ramsey have also filed for re-election. The third member of the board, Wesley Staude. has in dicated he would not seek another term. Waylon Furyear and Kenny Ramsey have also filed for the aldermen election. With less than a week to go before filing closes, the Weaverville municipal elec tions have attracted the most entrants Incumbent Mayor Lawrence Sprinkle will be ooposed by David hi. Bell on the November ballot. Incum bent council members M J. West, Glenn Brank, Kobert Cheek and L. A. Weaver have filed for election along with challengers Jerry Gordon, Harold Payne, Kobert Driebelbis, M J. Galloway, Kathleen Young and Mary B. Trexler A number of additional can didates are expected to file as the Friday noon deadline ap proaches M.H. Board Approves Sewer Project Budget The Town of Mars Hill will save approximately $2,000 a year in insurance premiums because of a switch in the mat ter the lawn's vehielfc are ih sured. Town manager bahryl Boone made (he announce ment at Monday night's meeting of the board of aldermen. Boone said the town recent ly cancelled a policy it held with Woodson-Kay Insurance Co. in favor of a plan offered by Wright Agency of Weaver - ville. Boone said the savings will be, realized by con solidating policies on the town's vehicles. LeKoy Griffin, owner of the Woodson-Kay agency, ad- | dressed the board and asked that they reconsider their ; decision to cancel the policy | Mars Hill held with his com- | pany. The board decided to re-' , tain their present policy with . the Wright Agency, but invited < Griffin to bid on the insurance policy when the present agree- , ment expires. , Fire Chief and Alderman Gordon Randolph reported that the town' new fire truck should be ready for service by DecgkiWr*" The truck is iKfaoitjfr being outfitted wttb fire figfning equipment. Ran dolph also reported that the department has purchased six monitors with funds provided by the General Assembly. Microswitch of Mars Hill has donated a house on its pro perty to be used for training drills by the Mars Hill and Marshall fire departments. The board also gave ap proval to the budget for the town sewer system. The $2.4 million project is to be funded by a 1325.000 bond issue Mars Hill voters approved in August and by grants and loans from the Farmers Home Loan Ad ministration totaling $2.4 million. Mars Hil^College has also awarded the project (165,000. Boone reported that engineers are now in the pro cess of locating sites for pum ping stations. Mars Hill must purchase easements for each of the pumping stations. T^e aldermen also approved allowing town employee JoAnn Kice sick leave and hired Kon Martin to conduct electrical inspections within the town. Boone asked the aldermen to approve construction of a gravel parking lot for town vehicles between the fire sta tion and the Mars Theatre. The suggestion met with little support. The board agreed to consider the proposal again at a later date. C: N. Willis also came before the board with a pro posal to extend his trailer park on Parkway View to accom modate an additional 11 trailers. The board referred the proposal to the town zon ing board. Mayor Bill Powell told Willis, "The proposal must go before the zoning board first, after which the town board will take it under (Continued on Page 6) Carl Stewart Tours County Carl Stewart, a candidate for the Democratic nomina tion lor lieutenant governor, toured Madison County last Friday. The Gaston County Democrat met with Madison Countians at the courthouse in Marshall and toured a tobacco farm and the Marshall and Walnut tlementary schools. Stewart recently completed a two-year term on the N. C. Department of Transportation board. Before serving on the DOT board, Stewart served two terms as speaker of the N.C. House of Represen tatives. Stewart called for the General Assembly to put a bond referrendum for school construction and waste water treatment facilities on the 1984 ballot. The candidate told The News Record, "The state's : financial condition is sound. . We can't afford to wait until i interest rates go down to i authorize school construction. I would urge the General Assembly to pass the enabling legislation during next year's session so that the voters can decide the issue in the 1964 election." Stewart said the recently enacted half-cent sales tax in crease will not provide enough revenue to construct the number of schools that are needed. "The General Assembly hasn't gone far enough. We've got to realize that, even with the additional half<ent tax, smaller counties cannot afford to build their own schools. During his tour of Madison County, Stewart visited Mar shall Elementary School and spoke with school principal FTed Haynie. After inspecting the main building of the island school, Stewart said, "This is a school that needs to be replaced. It will be more economical to start over than (Continued on Page 6) County's One-Room School Houses Are Remembered By ELIZABETH SQUIRE At one time there were about 67 one-room schools in Madison County ? Zeno Ponder, who went to one of them, and Robert Edwards, Superintendent of Schools, agree about that. Many of those schools were built right after the turn of the century in the term of Gov. Charles Brantley Aycock, who led a movement to build schools at a time when the average school term in North Carolina was four months and many districts had no schools at all. Aycock's goal, says Ponder, was to have a school within a two-mile walk of every pupil Mr. Ponder s own father went to the old Antioch School for six weeks in all ? just long enough to learn to read and write When Aycock became fifth of the state's the one room Pleasant \ iew that hit family Rave the land for tors, Pauline Ditmore; a highway commis sioner, Zeno Ponder again, and many others. The last teacher before the school was closed in the late 1920's was Orla Ponder (Mrs. E.V.) She remembers there were five grades and 22 students. Some of the students believe there were more of them. Perhaps it just seemed like more. Each morning Mrs. Ponder rang a hand bell and the students lined up and marched in. A wood stove heated the school and the students kept it stoked. The boys brought in the wood and the girls brought in the kindling, recalls Marie Clark. A favorite job was bringing in the drinking water in a two-gallon bucket. The bucket had a dipper and each student brought his or her own cup. The students also brought their own lunches from home. THE LAST CLASS at the Pleasant View School, taught by Mr*. E. V. Ponder. Who do you recognise? . Casada Later students like Ponder heard that story recounted, and also hdw | i a train for tack 10 years. (He
The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.)
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