T HE NEWS RECORD
Serving The People Of Madison County Since 1 90 1
Vol. 86 No. 52
Thursday, December 25, 1986
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Photo by Ann KUchell
A truck loaded with tobacco pulls into an
Asheville burley warehouse during last
week's leaf sales, prior to the closing of the
warehouses for a Christmas and New Year's
break.
. ' ...... ?!?-? . . . .
Christmas Not As Merry
For Area Burley Growers
By ANNE K1TCHKLI.
SUff Writer
Burley tobacco farmers in Western
North Carolina don't have a great
deal to be merry about this
Christmas.
For the past several years, tobacco
growers have been plagued with fall
ing prices. That problem was coupled
this season with the worst drought in
more than 100 years.
The Madison County tobacco quota
of 4.S million pounds is down by 15
percent, according to agricultural ex
perts. The Madison County allotment
is also down by 3 to 4 percent.
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By BILI. STUDKNC
Kditor
P1?? (or a care facility for the
mentally retarded, proposed for con
VWf |#? v|nraw ? w. vvm
itruetkf in|lMtoo() County, failed t?
win approval from county officials
and residents last week
Blue Ridge Center representative*
ted requested that the Madison Coun
II S# million bond to tajil?the^unit
facility.
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According tdfjhe county's
Agricultural ExtwiUon Office, the
drought affectodfthe quantity and
quality of the cr ?, resulting in lower
prices to the fariier. Tobacco is grad
ed by the qualiw of the color, length
and texture of tie leaves. The govern
ment support ^rice is based on the
grade ?
Madison C&iftty tobacco ^farmer
Woody Ammons said the mood is
quite pessimistic among many
farmers this year.
"For the last two years a lot of peo
ple had trouble getting their money
out of their crops," said Ammons. "A
lot of people got into growing when
prices were escalating. It was easy to
get cheap money back then and some
farmers over-extended."
As of last Thursday, the last day of
leaf sales before Christmas break.
Madison County farmers had sold ap
proximately 80 percent of their crop
The support price is the same as last
year with most tobacco selling for 9 to
10 cents above the support price. To
date, the top price for quality tobacco
was $1.61 a pound
Many farmers remember when
they could get nearly $2 a pound for
-Continued on Page 7
Sheriff Requests
Additional Funding
By BILL STl'DENC
Editor
The Madison County Board of Com
missioners agreed Thursday to give
new Sheriff Dedrick Brown a yet
undetermined amount in additional
funding to hire extra help.
That agreement came after Brown
met with the commissioners Thurs
day and told them that he will need
$27,075 more than budgeted for the
sheriff's department for the 1986-87
fiscal year.
That's in addition to the $139,680
allocated by the previous board of
commissioners to former Sheriff
E.Y. Ponder.
? "I need $90,000 to operate for the
next seven months," Brown said. "I
have $77,925 left in the budget, and I'll
need another $12,075, plus, for the
month of December, about $15,000."
And that comes to about $27,075, he
said.
' Brown'sHigures wtVfc as of Dee. 1 ,
and did not include December's ex
penses, he said.
Brown's presentation came follow
ing a line-item by line-item evalua
tion of the budget and his anticipated
needs.
"I don't think we need an increase
in anything except deputies." he said.
Brown said he has three deputies in
the current budget, but only has two
deputies now working. He said that he
wants to add another one as soon as
possible.
"We're kind of short-handed. We
wouldn't be if we can get two more
men, which is what I've figured into
the budget I've asked for," he said.
"It's hard to cover this large a
county with just two deputies, one at
day and one at night," Brown said.
Commissioner Reese Steen asked
Brown if he could wait until comis
sioners have a chance to see how
much money is remaining in the
county's budget.
"I'd like to hire somebody by the
first of the year," Brown said.
Steen then said that the commis
sioners could let him know Monday
how much additional money they
could allocate to his department. But
the commissioners did not discuss the
request at Monday's meeting
During Thurday's meeting, Brown
outlined other departmental needs to
the commissioners, holding a special
meeting in the courtroom of Madison
County Courthouse.
"The law says we have to have a
jailer on duty and awake 24 hours a
day. seven days a week," Brown said.
"We haven't had this. A cook has
been serving as jailer, matron and
everything. That's fine, if nothing
happens, but it leaves us open for a
lawsuit."
Brown has arranged with Bun
combe County Sheriff Buck Lyda to
transport female prisoners to Bun
combe County Jail, which could save
-Continued on Page 7
Ponder: "I'm Not Behind
County Firings, Hirings"
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Party leader Zeno Ponder denied
beiog behind a rash of hirings and
I inngs of county employees.
"I art) not meddling in the af
fairs of the county
commissioners," Ponder said dur
ing Thursday's special meeting of
the Madison County Board of Com
missioners "If you want my help,
you can call me. I will do anything
honorable to help the county pro
gress."
Opponents of recent hirings and
firings by the county commis
sioners have suggested that
Ponder, a longtime Democratic
Party strongman in Madison
County, is calling the shots.
Critics have said that Ponder is
telling the county commissioners
who to fire and who to hire.
Ponder said he wanted to "set
the record straight."
"I work pretty steady, about 60
hours a week, and I stay at home,"
he said. "I've not had a visit from
any three of you, which is fine."
Ponder said he had not ap
meetings of the county commis
sioners.
"At the last meeting it sdunded
like a duet between Bob Phillips
and (Commissioner) Dr. Reese
Steen quoting my agenda and
what I was doing," he said.
"If I ever get around to appoin
ting anybody to speak for me, it
won't be Robert Phillips. That
won't happen until after Jimmy
Carter is appointed by Ronald
Reagan to be secretary of state,"
Ponder said.
Phillips is an unsuccessful
Republican candidate for county
commissioner.
Ponder also said his opponents
would not be able to lessen his in
fluence on Madison County.
"Regardless of whay any of my
enemies might say, they'll have a
hell of a time erasing my name
from the history books of Madison
County," he said.
Ponder listed now highways, a
high school and a shopping center
among his accomplishments.
Former Sheriff 'Ponders'
His 32 -Year Career
By ELIZABETH D. SQUIRE
Feature Writer
It took the defeat of an unhelpful
governor, the discovery of a Jail toilet
telephone system and three and a half
years of hard work to solve the most
fascinating case of the 32-year career
of former Madison County Sheriff
E.Y. Ponder
The case in question was the
late-1960s Rothchild-Garner-Kimes
case, which Ponder recently recalled
for The News Record during his first
out of office following his defeat
Dedrick Brown
Madison County
any other man,
nurders, he
to the normal
I his mother, who lived and ran a store
in the Shut-In section, were tied up
and robbed . In the process of the rob
bery, Lawson died of a heart attack,
leading to charges of murder.
The first big break in the case came
with the help of an out-of-state
sheriff, which is not unusual, Ponder
said. Sheriffs help each other much
l:>? - ' ? ?-? I 1? -a* 1
1 1 K * neignoors rivip c?cn oincr , nc
said, and he had a network of sheriff
' neighbors."
A sheriff in Nebraska called
Ponder and described "our murder, in
Madison County." A prisoner, ap
parently hoping for a reward, had
told the Nebraska sheriff about the
case, Ponder said.
Ponder, who did a lot of traveling in
his role as sheriff, set right out for
Lincoln, Neb. On that trip Mrs.
Im "I was the
?ftth the
light but the
But persistence paid off. On Sunday
morning the prisoner identified
Charles Rothchild, George Garner
and Jimmy Kimes.
Ponder already had information
obtained - in ways he still has to keep
secret, nearly 20 years later - that
Rothchild had said something in
Arkansas prison possibly <
him to the murder of a]
Georgia. A man i
row for that murder, i
be released as a result o
of the MadisoQ County i
' si
But the