Newspapers / The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) / Jan. 29, 1987, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
The NEWS RECORD Serving The People Of Madison County Since 1 90 1 : ? T? 1 ? ? ^ . . ?* ? ? . ... ?? __ Vol. 87 No. 5 Thursday, January 29, 1987 25c A winter storm that dumped more than a foot of snow on Madison County last week gave cars a somewhat less than aero dynamic look. Their Business Is Snow Biz By ANNE KITCHELL Staff Writer Most Madison County motorists would be quick to agree that the men and women of the N.C. Highway Department deserve a round of applause for their tireless efforts to keep the county mobile during last week's monster snowstorm. Some 44 state employees have been responsible for clearing 647 miles of ice-packed roads in the wake of the most crippling storm of the year. "You have to be obligated to this job or you won't do it," said state highway employee Lawrence (Dugan) Treadway. "People just don't realize how dangerous pushing snow is." State road crews, beginning late last Wednesday, worked night and day removing snow and ice dumped on the area by the storm. Some parts of the county received as much as 20 inches of heavy, wet snow as temperatures plummeted into the teens over the weekend. "We have to work as a team," said Treadway. "We don't have radios or CBs so everybody has to look out for each other. One mistake could cost you your life." Road crews work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week until the snow emergency is over. Some people might think the dangerous business of ymffr'Pg snow is strictly a man's job, but that's not the case. Madison Coun ty has three women employees who work shoulder-to-shoulder with the men. According to state worker Mar rita Chapman, the women have few problems with their male co workers. "Some men don't think it's a woman's place out here," said Chapman. "Most of the guys we work with are real good, though." One male state worker said, "Women do the same jobs as the men. Anything we can do they can do as well." The first thing a visitor to the highway shed notices is a sense of comradery among the employees. Several employees' attribute this to the dangerous nature of the job. -Continued on back page Winter Storms Hit WNC By ANNE KITCHELL Staff Writer Madison County is still digging out from the aftermath of the season's first major snow storms. More than 16 inches of heavy, wet snow fell in parts of the coun ty, paralyzing residents and bring ing traffic to a halt. State highway workers' efforts to clear main arteries seemed, at times, futile as ice, sleet and sub freezing temperatures frosted the roads, causing near-impassable conditions. By Saturday morning, the roads had two inches of ice with a dusting of new snow on top, mak ing for treacherous driving condi tions all across Western North Carolina. Snow that had melted during the day Friday re-froze, turning roads into veritable skating rinks. WNC residents awoke Monday morning to find that Mother Nature had left yet another light dusting of snow on the ice-covered roads. And overnight temperatures in the single digits did nothing to help the situation. -Continaed on back page Pkotot by BUIStudenc t The U.S. 25-70 Bypass became a ribbon of black set against a white background, thanks to last week's snowstorm. The bypass was one of the first roads cleared by state highway crews. Tobacco SaJes Down In >#6 By RICHARD SHUMATE The Meantaloeer ummer's drought, plus a 6 percent cutback In the federal tobac co allotment, caused a plunge in w)? activity at the Aabevilk tobacco market in the recent season This year, about S 78 million pounds of tobacco changed hands at the four Asheville warehouses, compared to U.5 million last year - a drop of 23 J furtoar. Million last It was some of the others " The only figure that remained relatively stable was the price. This ytfr. tobacco aoM for alighUy more than |1S< per pound, down about a penny and a half from last year's price Woody said the yearlong drought which dried Western North Carolina fields and a cutback In the allotment (the amount of tobacco farmers are spotty in Western North Carolina - tome farmen did relatively well while aome had aa much aa <0 percent of their crop wiped out. The overall allotment was decree* ed by ? percent, which waa the max imum decrease allowed by law, said This year was the first year 1 the tobacco (rowing companiea 1 say Ibi State Rests ; Defense Begins In Chandler Sexual Abuse Trial By BILL STUDENC Editor After more than three days of testimony, the state has rested its case in the trial of Andrew "Junior" Chandler, charged with 21 counts of sexually molesting seven pre-school children in Madison County. The state completed its presenta tion of evidence Tuesday afternoon, after snow and ice forced the cancellation of Madison County Superior Court last Thursday and again on Monday. Chandler's attorney, Talmadge Penland of Asheville, began to call defense witnesses Wednesday morn ing to counter testimony from the alleged victims, their parents and a pair of codefendants. Chandler, 29, is expected to take the witness stand in his defense. Chandler, from Marshall, is a former van driver with the Madison County Transportation Authority. He is accused of sexually molesting seven children who rode the van to and from Marshall Day Care Center from January to May 1986. The children - five girls and two boys -- were between the ages of 2 and 5 at that time. Chandler has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of first-degree sexual of fense, taking indecent liberties with a minor and crime against nature. He faces a mandatory life sentence if convicted of first-degree sexual of fense. Penland asked Superior Court Judge James A. Beaty Jr. late Tues day to dismiss the charges against his client, contending that the state had presented insufficient evidence of the charges. Beaty refused to dismiss the sexual offense and taking indecent liberties with a minor charges, but reserved his ruling on Penland's mo tion to dismiss crime against nature charges Some of the most damaging testimony against Chandler came Tuesday from State Bureau of In vestigation agent Lloyd Crisco, chief investigator in the case. Crisco told the jury about his ques tioning of three mentally retarded adults who also rode on the van driven by Chandler to ? and from Mountains of Madison, a workshop for the retarded. Testifying from transcripts of those interviews, Crisco graphically described sexual acts, including oral and anal intercourse, allegedly per formed by Chandler on the children, as told to him by the retarded adults. At one point during Crisco's testimony, some of the children's parents became visibly upset and left the courtroom. -Continued on back page Audits : Budget Problems Nothing New In Madison By BILL STUDENC Editor ?, Recent ch?r?MUhat. Madison Cour ty finances from Dec. 1, 1985, through Nov. 30, 1906, should come as no real surprise. Past audits of Madison County Finances - including a recently com pleted audit of the 1985-86 fiscal year - have indicated that improper ac counting methods may have been "standard operating procedure" for several years. A 68-page audit report of the coun ty's financial records of the 1985-86 fiscal year listed several instances of non-compliance with generally ac cepted accounting procedures, in cluding at least one problem that had been reported in previous audits. Here's a look at some of accounting problems pointed out by the audit of Madison County's 1985-86 budget. The audit was performed by Greene, Skidmore, Smith & Co, an Asheville accounting firm: ? State law requires the county to operate on an annual balanced budget, but allows for amendments to be made to reflect changing cir cumstances. Certain budget amend ments in 1965-86 were not made at the appropriate time by the Madison County Board of Commissioners. In some cases, that meant that money was spent before it was actually available. Former finance officer David Caldwell, however, signed a pre-audit certificate as though the budget ap propria tion was available. At the end of the fiscal year, Caldwell recom mended one omnibus budget amend ment, to cover the entire fiscal year. ? The commissioners did not adopt a separate budget for the various special revenue funds of the Madison County Housing Authority. ? State law requires any construc tion or repair work costing more than $30,000 in public money to be per formed under a contract awarded through the public bid process. A review of minutes of the county com missioners' meetings revealed no taking of bids or opening of bids for one contract that represented the ma jority of a renovation project at Madison County Courthouse. -Continued on back page County Names Committee To Search For Landfill Site By BILL STUDENC Editor The Madison County Board of Com missioners, faced with a landfill that is fast approaching the overflow point, has appointed a committee to help find a new location for the disposal of the county's garbage. Tlie county's current landfill is ex pected to reach capacity by April, said Jim Brown, director of the coun ty's landfill operation. Brown has, for the past several months, been searching the county for a suitable location for a new land fill, but without success. "There's Just not that much land available, that's for sale and that meets the state requirements (for landfills)," Brown said. The commissioners, meeting Fri day in Madison County Courthouse, appointed a eleven-person committee to help Brown in his search for a new landfill site. "As many of you know, we have had some problems locating land for a landfill," said Robert Cappa, chair man of the board of commissioners "We're getting to the point where we not only need help from elected of ficials, but we need the people in the county to give us help." Cappa made a motion that the board appoint a committee, to In clude several elected officials and Ave residents. On the committee will be commis sioners Capps, Reese Steen and John Hensley. The mayors of Madison County's three municipalities - Owen Tilson of Mars Hill, Anita Ward of Marshall and Kenny Ramsey of Hot Springs - will serve also Steve on the committee. Town officials should be especially interested in the county's progress in finding a new landfill site. Larry Leake, county attorney, has said that state law does not require counties to operate a landfill Bdt disposal of gar bage is a responsibUty obligated by -ConUnaed on back page Burley Sales Asheville Market 85-86 11,456,936 pounds 918,089,829 $1.57 'Burgled' Bucks In Bank
The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 29, 1987, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75