Newspapers / The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) / March 31, 1988, edition 1 / Page 1
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00039 MADISON COUNTY LIBRARY GENERAL DELIVERY MARSHALL ? .? ; fflm '? Vol. 88 No. 13 Thursday, March 31, 1988 Budget Woes Force Deputy Salary Cuts By BILL STVDENC Edi UK Madison County deputies got another shock when they learned that their salaries have been cut by as much as 1400 a month. The salary cuts are the result of ac tion taken last week by the Madison County Board of Commissioners. County commissioners last week agreed to lay off three deputies because of budget problems in the sheriff's department. But Sheriff Dedrick Brown said he could not operate his department with only two deputies, and he instead laid off four dispatchers (who also serve as jailers) and closed Madison Jail Commissioners now say that Brown can keep the deputies, but they must be paid at the dispatcher's Ll. Gov. Candidates Campaign In Madison By BILL 8TUDENC Editor Two Republican candidates for lieutenant governor and one for U.S. Congress brought their campaigns to Madison County over the weekend. Former U.S. Rep. Jim Gardner of Rocky Mount and state Rep. Bill Boyd of Asheboro, both seeking the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in the May primary, looked for party support at the Madison County Republic Party convention Saturday. Brevard businessman Charles Taylor, who is looking to unseat Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. James McClure Clarke, spoke during the party's Lincoln Day dinner, which followed the convention. Boyd and Gardner agreed that changes are needed in the Democrat controlled General Assembly and that North Carolina's governor should have the veto power. Boyd, a former county commis sioner in Randolph County, attacked the so-called "super sub,'' a subcom mittee of powerful Democratic legislators accused of making many decisions behind closed doors. Currently, the N.C. Open Meetings Law, which mandates that elected boaitb conduct their business in public, does not cover the General Assembly. Boyd said he would work to change that, if elected. "We can pass a bill that will put the total legislature under the Open Meetings Law," said Boyd. "We can put the legislature under that same law and that's what I intend to do." Gardner, an unsuccessful can didate for governor In 1973, echoed Boyd's comments when he spoke to Madison Republicans minutes lata*. "We need to open up the legislature. If you have a meeting right here in your home county, you can go and sit down and hear what your elected officials are doing with your tax dollars," Gardner said. 'Tiny (members o< the 'super sub') do net let other member* of the legislature in. They do not let members of the press in. They do not let anybody in. They ran it exactly like they want to, and that's wrong," he Mid. House Speaker Us ton B Ramsey, a Madison County native, was a specific target for barbs from both Gardner and Boyd. with a guy salary of $800 per month. Deputies' salary had ranged from $1,106 to $1,207 per month, according to county finance officer Ralph Rice, who wrote a letter to Brown informing him of the salary change. "After consultation with the com missioners and the county attorney, 1 must officially make you aware that personnel other than Dal Peek and the drug officer will be paid at a rate of $800 per month, effective March 22, Two Dispatching Systems Now On Line From Staff Reports So, after all the hubbub surroun ding the laying off of dispatchers and the closing of Madison County Jail, who'll be answering your emergency call? Well, it all depends, says Madison County Chief Deputy Dal Peek. Madison County deputies are handling law enforcement calls, while fire and rescue calls are routed through the Madison Coun ty Emergency Management Ser vice, Peek said. Prior to last week's layoffs, the sheriff's department had been dispatching calls for all emergen cy and police agencies in Madison Gounty. Now, the sheriff's department is handling only police calls, Peek said. During nighttime hours, when only one deputy is on duty, an answering machine is used when that deputy has to go out of the of fice to respond to an emergency call, he said. The answering machine gives another number to call in case of extreme emergency, Peek said. When someone calls that number, the call is routed through call forwarding to the home of a sheriff's department employee who is "on call" for that night, he said. -Continued on Page 14 1988," Rice said in the letter. "Since the March checks were issued at the regular salaries, adjustments will be made in the April payroll for person nel who were overpaid." "The county attorney says now that the commissioners did not authorize the continuation of the deputies at their regular rate," Rice said Mon day. "I am simply doing what I was advised to do by the commissioners and the county attorney ." But that also means that Brown can hire one more deputy at a salary of $800 a month. Rice said. "He can hire another deputy, or another dispatcher if he wants, and pay him $800 a month," Rice said Peek, Brown's chief deputy, said that the deputies were surprised to -Continued on Page 14 A bus loaded with Spring Creek students, parents and residents rounds a curve on a steep gravel road near Max Patch. The BILL STUDENC PHOTO Saturday trip was designed to dramatize the community's concerns about sending tltpir children to school in Hot Springs. Spring Creek Residents Fight Loss Of School By BILL STUDENC Editor Spring Creek residents say they'd rather pull their children out of the Madiaon County school system and a private school than send students over a winding mountain highway to Hot Springs. To dramatize their point, the residents rented a bus, filled it full of children, parents, newspaper reporters and television cameras and drove it over the route a school bus would take when transporting children from Spring Creek to Hot Springs. Members of the Madison County Board of Education and Madison County Board of Commissioners were also invited along for the ride, but none accepted the invitation. "How do you feel about riding the school bus to Hot Springs,'' Bill Barutio asked a group of about 30 children before Saturday's ride. "Awful!" came the reply from the children. "I don't like Hot Springs." one child said. "Yeah, it stinks," said another. The children held signs protesting the plan to bus them to Hot Springs as they waited for Saturday's ride Children's voices chjmted "Heck no, we won't go" as the bus pulled out of Spring Creek School. The bus traveled the Meadow Fork bus route - a rough route over gravel roads to the top of Max Patch, a majestic bald on the Madison-Haywood county line. Several children complained of Upset stomachs during the 47.6-mile trip. "We are attempting to get the at tention of the school board and just get them to listen to us," said Barutio, spokesman for the Spring Creek group. "The bottom line is they are just not going to put their kids on ; a bus to come up here to Hot Springs." A long-range facilities plan approv -Continued on Page 14 Mars Hill Mayor May Be Witness To 31-Year-Old Tennessee Murder By BILL STUDENC Editor Mara Hill Mayor Joseph Godwin may bold the key to a 31-year-old murder mystery in Chattanooga, Tenn. According to a report published March 18 in The Atlanta Constitution, a star football player at Auburn University confessed the murder of a convicted moonshine runner to God win, a minister taking courses at Auburn in the summer of 1967 Godwin, contacted at his Mars Hill College office this week, refused to comment on whether he is Involved in the case "I really don't have any comment to make about that, not any comment at all," Godwin said. "I can't say a ward about that case. Sometime the time may come when I can address the case, but that time is not now." Bobby Hoppe, now S3, has been charged with the 1957 murder of Ted dy Donald Hudson, killed by a shotgun blast to the head as he waa driving through North Chattanooga. Newspaper reports attributed the slaying to either a disagreement over a girlfriend or moonshine At the time of tbe shooting, Hoppe waa a star halfback at Auburn University and had already led Ms high school team to three consecutive state championships. Hudson's murder went unsolved until 1906, when Chattanooga police attempted to obtain an indictment against Hoppe after receiving new in formation from an unnamed infor mant. Despite the informant's state ment, the grand Jury did not indict Hoppe. According to The Atlanta Constitu tion, that informant was Godwin. The newspaper reported that God win, who was then dean of men, direc tor of guidance and professor of psychology and Bible at Gardner Webb College, was taking courses at Auburn University that summer when Hoppe confessed the murder to him. The newspaper report, written by Sam Heys, goes on to say that Godwin talked to authorities several years later, feeling guilty because he had remained silent for so long. Godwin, contacted by The New* Record, would not comment on 11m Atlanta Constitution report. "I just can't say a word about it," he said. Heys aaid he learned through his own investigation that Godwin pro vided police with new evidence. ?Continued on Page !? Joseph Godwin . . .may be witness Child Sex Abuse Charges Dismissed old Marahall man fcce r . xual inTyear lo trial would create a . oa the alleged victim.* n aged 5 and ? - Mther 6hUd t' KUal afeuse out. Chandler had been charged with Office with the consent of the N.C. | Attorney General's Office. "The fecial Prosecutor s Of. flee of the attorney general of <4 this ease I ? reason that trial of said case would rasalt in additional traum* to t he 33* Despite Threat Of Lawsuit, Golf Course Groundbreaking Held Waavarville officials and fevaiepers of Reams Creek GoU Club r the 2 ere residential levetopment awl golf < ? hell deapite (he threat of a lawttit ti ?It the satellite aniMMtioa of l* i Creak Golf CM) A (roup of residents ? Cooceruet ( :iti not of WaivarriOe - has oppoeati haven't given up Hat's the main tMng." Bennett warned Weaverville <rf ilcials last week that annexation op ponents may fit* a lawsuit, but that didn't stop the Weavervilfc Town CouncU from approving the annexa aS-1 vote. MwnoH's i ttv w way Ken
The News-Record (Marshall, N.C.)
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March 31, 1988, edition 1
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