SERVING THE PEOPLE OF MA
WEDNESDAY, March 27, 1985
Community
Calendar
County GOP Convention
The Madison County Republican Party will hold its county
convention Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. in the Madison Coun
ty Court House. All registered Republicans are invited to at
tend.
The annual Lincoln's Day Dinner will be held at Madison H.S.
at 6 p.m. following the convention.
Democratic Women To Meet
The Madison County Democratic Women will meet on
March 27 at 4:30 p.m. in the Register of Deeds office in the
County Court House. All registered Democratic women are in
vited to attend.
WNC Coon Hunters Show
The WNC Coon Hunters Association will sponsor a UKC
Licensed Bench Show and Night Hunt and Show on March 30 at
6 p.m. at the American Enka Union Hall on Sardis Rd.
Walnut-Brush Creek Clubs Meet
The Walnut-Brush Creek Community Development Club
will meet on April 2 at 7 p.m. in the Walnut Baptist Church. All
interested persons are urged to attend.
County Commissioners To Meet
Monday Afternoon
The Madison County Board of County Commissioners will
hold their monthly meeting on April 1 at 1 p.m. in the Madison
County Court House.
School Board Meets April 3
The Madison County Board of Education will meet on April 3
at 10:30 a.m. in the Madison County Court House.
Ebbs Chapel VFD Dinner
The Ebbs Chapel Volunteer Fire Dept. is sponsoring a
turkey and ham dinner on Sunday, March 31 from noon until 2
pjn. in the Upper Laurel Community Center.
Mars Hill Board Meets April 1
The Mars Hill Board of Aldermen will hold their monthly
meeting on April 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall.
Plowshares To Screen Film
Plowshares--a group of Madison
County residents working for world
peace and protection of our
environment-is please to announce a
documentary film series for Spring,
1985. Awardwinning films on a varie
ty of subjects concerning current
social and environmental issues will
be presented. The films will be shown
at both the Media Center of Mars Hill
College, and the Presbyterian Church
in Marshall. Screenings are free, and
the public is invited to attend.
The first film in the series in
"Todos San(os Cuchumatan: Report
from a Guatemalan Village." This
film is about the people of an Indian
village of the Cuchumatan moun
tains. Through interviews with men
and women as they go about their dai
ly work, we learn about the changes
coming to this once subsistance farm
ing community. The film documents
the annual sequence of harvest, the
fiesta of Tedos Santos, and the mass
seasonal migration out of the moun
tains to work in the cotton plantations
of the hot and humid lowlands.
"Todos Santos Cuchumatan" was a
Blue Ribbon Winner at the American
Film Festival.
The film will be presented on
March 27. The Mars Hill College
Media Center screening will be at
3:00 p.m. The Marshall Presbyterian
Church showing will be at 7:30 p.m.
For further information contact
Drew Langsner at 656-2280
In The General Assembly
Bill To Repeal Consecutive Terms
Wins Senate Committee Approval
By ROB CHR1STENSEN
Chief Capitol Correspondent
The New* and Observer
With the backing of powerful
legislative leaders, a bill aimed at
repealing the right of governors to
serve two consecutive terms con
tinued its march through the General
Assembly Thursday.
The Senate Judiciary IV Commit
tee voted 6-1 for a bill that would let
voters decide in November, 1986
whether to amend the state constitu
tion to end succession for the gover
nor and lieutenant governor.
The bill would not apply to
Republican Gov. James G. Martin
and Democratic Lt. Gov. Robert B.
Jordan III.
It appears likely that the House
passed measure will be approved by
the Senate next week. Thirty votes
are needed to approve a constitu
tional amendment in the 50-member
Senate.
"I believe we have enough votes to
pass it," said Sen. Kenneth C. Royall,
Jr . D-Durham, a chief supporter of
the measure.
The legislation has gathered
momentum in part because it has the
support oof most of the legislative
leadership, including House Speaker
Liston B. Ramsey. D-Madison, and
Royall, chairman of the Senate Ways
and Means Committee.
The strength of the support was
demonstrated when Sen. Dennis Win
ner, D-Buncombe, proposed an
amendment that would have schedul
ed the referrendum for the May, 1986
primary elections. He said that the
succession issue should not become
entangled in general election cam
paigns.
But when Royall said the bill's
sponsors wanted the referrendum in
November, Winner quickly withdrew
the amendment without comment.
In 1977, the legislature passed a
constitutional amendment- approved
by the voters in a referrendum later
Committee Approves
Drinking Age Bill
By SHARON OVERTON
The News and Observer
A legislative committee approved a
bill Thursday that would raise North
Carolina's legal drinking age to 21
from 19 for beer and wine effective
Sept. 1, 1986- one month before the
federal government plans to cut
highly funds to states (hat haven't
followed suit
The toll) says the legal-age would
revert, to 19 if Congress repeals the
1984 law or if the courts rule it un
constitutional. Several states have
"sued the federal government, claim
ing the law violates states' rights.
With little debate, the House
Alcohol Beverage Control Committee
approved in a voice vote a motion
made by Rep. Joe R. Hudson,
D-Union, to approve the bill.
"Most committee members felt
there was not a whole lot of choice in
the matter," said Rep. William E.
Clark, D-Cumberland, committee
chairman, in an interview. "Had you
not had the money issue, we would
have had a much more lively
debate."
Based heavily on legislation in
troduced last month by Rep. George
W. Miller, Jr., D-Durham, the version
of the bill approved by the committee
is considered the most moderate of
three sent to a subcommittee for
review. This version has the support
of associations representing
restaurants, convenience stores and
retail merchants because it will allow
18-year olds to serve or sell beer and
wine, even though they can't drink it.
Although Gov. James G. Martin
repeated in a news conference Thurs
day his opposition to raising the
drinking age, Clark predicted that the
bill would pass both the House and
Senate with little trouble.
Rep. Coy C. Privette, R-Cabarrus,
who voted against the measure, said
the law should take effect this fall and
should not be tied t the federal man
date. He said he planned to offer
amendments addressing those points
on the House floor.
Congress last year mandated that
states failing to raise the drinking age
by Oct. 1, 1986, would lose five per
cent of their federal highway money.
An additional 10 percent would be
withheld in the 1987-88 fiscal year.
State officials estimate that North
Carolina could lose )28.6 million, or 15
percent of its highway funds, during
the first two years of the federal
crackdown.
Students representing Duke
University, N.C. State University and
the University of N.C. at Chapel Hill
told the committee members that a
drinking age of 21 wasn't constitu
tional and wouldn't be obeyed.
"...Tens of thousands of North
Carolina citizens will become
criminals unnecessarily," said Mar
tin T. November, Duke University
student body president.
t^at year- to let governors and lieute
nant governors serve two consecutive
terms.
The succession amendment was
pushed through by Gov. James B.
Hunt, Jr., a Democrat.
There was no committee debate on
the merits of gubernatorial succes
sion Thursday.
Voting against the measure was
Sen. Laurence A. Cobb,
R-Mecklenburg.
"I philosophically believe that you
have a better balance of power when
you have a governor who can serve
two terms," Cobb said in an interview
after the meeting.
"I am not one who agrees with the
leadership here who say we have one
of the strongest governors in the na
tion. I think any student of politics
would dispute that."
Martin has voiced opposition to
repealing succession, but he has not
actively lobbied against the measure.
Jordan has said he is neutral on the
issue and has avoided involvement.
Although there was no debate
Thursday, supporters of the measure
have argued that gubernatorial suc
cession has caused governors to
become more worried about re
election than doing their jobs and that
public attitudes have turned against
succession.
Succession supporters have said
the measure was a legislatiuve raid
on the powers of the executive
branch. They contend that succession
allows governors more time to carry
out their programs, provides con
tinuity in government and provides a
better balance between the executive
and legislative branches.
They also contend that much of the
impetus for repeal comes from politi
cians frustrated with waiting eight
years to move up the ladder in state
politics. One effect of succession was
that 10 Democrats ran for governor
last year, after having waited two
terms for Hunt to leave office.
LITTER GRACES THE ROADSIDE AT WALNUT CREEK
RD. and U.S. 25-70. Roadside trash and litter at dump sites are
creating a hazardous situation as well as an unsightly
mess. -More pictures on Page 5.
Government Program Stores Seed For Future Farming
By BORIS WEINTRAUB
Sometime around the year 2038, a
technician at the National Seed
Storage Laboratory in Fort Collins,
Colorado will reach into a vat of ex
tremely cold liquid nitrogen, pluck
out a tube containing thousands of
seeds that have been there since 1978,
and send them out to be planted.
If all goes according to plan, those
seeds will grow into healthy plants
and will produce new seeds that can
be stored for another 50 to 100 years,
still retaining their usefulness The
National Plant Germptasm System,
of which the laboratory is a major
part, will have taken another step
toward preaerviang the genetic diver
sity of the nation's food crops
Moat Americans have neither
heard of plant germplasm nor given a
second's thought to genetic diversity
characteristics. It controls whether
corn will be yellow or white ; how high
the yield of a soybean plant will be;
whether a tomato will be hardy and
resistant to bruises; how vulnerable
wheat Will be to leaf or stem rust.
The more diverse the germ plasm
base is-and the National Small Grain
Collection at Beltsville, Md , to take
one example, hag about 40,000 dif
ferent varieties of wheat,
domesticated and wild- the better a
breeder's chances of finding a variety
with the characteristics he needs to
improve his crop.
But if most of a crop in the field is
genetically uniform, the potential ex
ists for a disaster if that crop is
threatened by a disease aor a pest to
which it is not resistant Studies show
that American crop* remain
vulnerable to such outbreaks as the
ring high productivity.
"Of the 15 crops-rice, wheat, corn,
sorghum, barley, potato, cassava,
sweet potato, bean, soybean,
peanaut, cane, beets, banana, and
coco nut-that literally stand between
mankind and starvation, not one is
native to what is now the United
States," he says.
This means that the seeds must
come from other nations, most of
them in the Third World, were food
crops originated. For several
reasons, irtcluding urbanisation,
population growth, substitution of
modern hybrids for
varieties, and internatic
getting such seeds Isn't i
to be. Either the ?r to