It's Mo
Vol.WNo.48
Special Pullout Section In Today 's Issue
LA a
Serving The People Of Our Communities Since 1901
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Thursday, October 22, 1967
25c
Wallin
Charges
Dropped
By BILL STUDENC
Cdilor
Madison County Tax Collector
Harold H. Wallin will not face further
prosecution on charges that he failed
to collect interest and penalties on
delinquent taxes owed by 92 property
owners.
That's the word from District At
torney J. Thomas Rusher following
last week's dimissal of charges
against Wallin by Chief District Court
Judge Robert H. Lacey.
In Madison County District Court
last Thursday, Lacey dismissed two
misdemeanor charges alleging that
Wallin willfully failed to collect
penalties and interest from delin
quent taxpayers that he favored.
The dismissals came after Lacey
-Continued on Page !?
BILL STUDENC PHOTO
It's back to work for Madison County Tax Collector Harold
Wallin after charges against him were dismissed last week.
Madison Brothers
Face Tennessee
Mnrder Charges
From Staff Reports
Two Mars Hill brothers are now in
the custody of Tennessee authorities
and are awaiting trial on charges that
they killed a mar in a barroom bnm>l
last month.
Jeffrey Eugene Massey, 17, and his
brother, James Bruce Massey Jr., 22,
agreed in Madison County District
Court last Thursday not to fight ex
tradition to Tennessee where they
will face murder charges.
The Greene County (Tenn.)
Sheriff's Department has charged
Jeffrey Massey with second-degree
murder and James Bruce Massey Jr.
with aiding and abetting second
degree murder.
Those charges stem from the Sept.
18 slaying of Herbert Norton, 34, dur
ing a fight at the Starlite Club on the
Asheville Highway in Greeneviile,
Tenn.
According to Tennessee
authorities, Norton died after his
throat was slashed in the brawl.
Madison County authorities ar
rested the Massey brothers the
following day after being contacted
by the Greene County department.
The two brothers were transported
to Greeneviile late last Thursday by
Greene County deputies after waiv
ing extradition.
Jeff Maaaey will be treated in the
Tennessee court system as a juvenile
because he is younger than li year* j
old. Under Tennessee law, defen
dants ydunger than 18 are considered
juveniles.
An arraignment hearing for the
younger Massey brother was held
Tuesday in Greene County, but
authorities in the prosecutor's office
said they could not comment on the
hearing because it involved a
juvenile.
Authorities should know by next
week whether he will be tried as an
adult or as a juvenile on the second
degree murder charge.
The elder Massey brother was
scheduled for an arraignment hear
ing Wednesday, according to Ten
nessee officials.
James Bruce Massey Jr. has also
been charged in Buncombe County
with assault with a deadly weapon in
flicting serious injury
The charge stems from a shooting
incident in August at Peabody's on
the Madison-Buncombe county line,
said Madison County Chief Deputy
Dal Peek.
Weaverville OKs
Water Pact, Awaits
Asheville Approval
By MARGARET A. STUDENC
Staff Reporter
Weaverville's water worries can be
put aside for a while with the signing
of an agreement between Weaver
villa and the Asheville-Bunaombe
Water Authority./ f /"
The final draft of the agreement
was signed Monday night by the
Weavervile Town Council after mon
ths of discussion and work.
'What this will do is the town will
commit to buying 170,000 gallons
minimum from the city," said
Weaverville Mayor Reese Lasher
"This can be terminated if we so
desire1?" asked Councilman Kathleen
Young
to
times of drought.
The agreement was approved and
signed Tuesday by the AsheviUe
Buncombe Water Authority and must
now be approved by the Asheville
Town Council AsheviUe officials are
expected to vote on the agreement
next Tuesday.
The WeavervUie Town Council did
more signing Monday in the form of ?
resolution honoring Jim Penley,
el i red Weavervilie fire chief
Penley was presented with a plaque
for his "leadership instrumental in
the quality of the department," and
hit 40 years of service to the com
futility.
In other action, the town
aRrcxl to I
bill for IIS I
hat a leak was ui nar mw.
Boy, 15, Convicted
Of Attempted Rape
By MARGARET A. STUDENC
and BILL STUDENC
News Record Staff
A Madison County Superior Court
jury Tuesday convicted 15-year-old
Leroy Higgins Jr. of the attempted
rape of a 6-year-old girl last October.
Higgins was one of two Marshall
boys, then aged 14, charged with rap^
ing a girl in the woods behind Walnut
Creek Apartments on Oct. 1, 1986.
Higgins, a freshman at Madison
High School, was sentenced by
Superior Court Judge Charles Lamm
to serve five years as a juvenile of
fender.
Testimony for the trial began Mon
day afternoon with the testimony of
the little girl, now 7.
Lamm ordered all spectators to
leave the courtroom during the little
girl's testimony, granting a motion
by Assistant District Attorney Jim
Baker.
"The presence of many people may
cause such anxiety and fear that she
might be unable to testify," Baker
said. Higgins' attorney, Donny Laws,
did not object.
Monday's testimony also included
that of Fred A. Messer Jr., 15, who
also faces a charge of rape.
Messer, called as a state's witness,
testified that he saw Higgins "on top
of" the girl in the woods behind the
apartment complex.
"She was hollering and
screaming," Messer said.
Messer denied raping the girl, but
said that Higgins pushed him down on
top of her.
Dr. Robert Cline, who examined
the girl Oct. 1, testified that he found
no physical evidence of sexual
assault, but said the girl indicated she
had been assaulted.
Linda King and Judy Huff of the
Madison County Department of
Social Services testified that the girl
said the boys had assaulted her.
"She said they said they had to do it
to her every day," Huff said. "She
said each boy held her down while the
other boy did it, and she said they told
her not to tell . "
Higgins pleaded not guilty to the
First-degree rape charge and to a
charge of attempted first-degree
rape.
Higgins, who testified Tuesday
morning, said he never touched the
girl at all.
-Continued on Page t
BILL STUDENC PHOTO
Out On A Limb
Workers from Garland Brothers Tree Service remove the
limbs from an 83-year-old red oak tree in Mars Hill before
cutting down the 90-foot tree. Town officials say the tree's old
age and dry weather have made the tree, located at the
intersection of N.C. 213 and Main Street, a hazard.
MM
Ma
.. r if,
Flat Creek Rejects
Zoning Ordinance
By BILL STUDENC
Editor
Residents of Flat Creek township
went to the ballot box in un
precedented numbers Saturday and
overwhelmingly rejected a proposed
land use ordinance.
According to official results from
the PtSMmnbe Comitiy Board of Elec
tions, 1,131 Plat Creek residents voted
against a proposed community zon
ing ordinance while 429 residents
voted in favor of it.
Voter turnout was apparently the
highest in township history. A total of
1,560 residents went to Flat Creek
Elementary School to cast ballots on
the land use ordinance Saturday -
nearly 600 more than the number of
votes cast during the 1984 presiden
tial election.
High voter turnout may have
played a role in the defeat of the pro
posed land use ordinance, said Gary
Hensley, chairman of the Flat Creek
Community Planning Council, which
prepared the proposed ordinance.
"We were more surprised by the
turnout than by the way it (the vote)
went. More people turned out for this
than for any presidential election,
ever," Hensley said.
"Anytime you talk about a land use
ordinance, you're going to stir up a lot
of interest," he said.
Organized opposition to the or
dinance seemed to gain momentum
in the last few days before Saturday's
vote, Hensley said.
"During the last week of the opposi
tion's campaign, we began to see it
look more bleak," Hensley said.
James Anglin, president of Flat
Creek Concerned Citizens and Lan
downers, said the defeat of the or
dinance simply means that Flat
Creek is a rural community and
doesn't need a land use ordinance.
"These people are just not -ready
for a zoning plan right now," Anglin
said. "That's what it all amounts to."
But supporters of the ordinance say
voters simply weren't informed when
they went to the polling place Satur
day.
"We feel it was a misinformed vote.
There were a lot of half-truths and
misquotes taken out of the
ordinance," Hensley said.
"It was a panic vote, an emotional
vote," he said.
Anglin said it was information - not
misinformation - that led to the
plan's defeat.
"We got a copy of the ordinance to
as many people as we could and ask
ed them to read it and make up their
own mind, but please come and vote
either way," he said.
Another factor that may have
worked against the ordinance was
time, supporters said.
"We had the public hearing Oct. 1
setting Oct. 17 as the date for a vote,"
Hensley said. "Some folks said they
didn't know anything about it and
hadn't had time to study it."
The defeat of the proposed or
dinance means it's back to the draw
-Continued on Page 18
5 Hurt
As Bus
Overturns
By MARGAKET A. STUDENC
' ? *? j