The Yancey Record
Established July, 1936
Trena P. Fox, Editor & Publisher
Miss. Zoe Young Associate Editor
Thurman L. Brown, Shop Manager
Archie H. Ballew, Photographer & Pressman
Published Every Thursday By
YANCEY PUBLISHING Company
Second Class Postage Paid At Burnsville, N. C.
THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 1967 NUMBER THIRTY FOUR
Subscription Rates $3.00 Per Year
Out of county $4.00
Scene From Top 0’ The Hill
By: Jack Kelly
Boston, Iviaoaacnusetts is a
Town ot many unsolved myster
ies. There ua»e ueen tnouaanus
of mysterious events but, after
tney wc.e suivtM, uiey were no
longer mysteries. For example,
they haa uie Boston Sirangier
who kiiieJ a dozen of more eid
eny iau es. He remained a mys
tery for a coup.e of years but
was eventually identified. Then,
there was, and is, the case of
the present gangland Siaymgs
in the past 36 months. That will
be solved too, in tune. Boston
had the Brnks robbery. It was
solved. True, they have the great
Post Office Truck Robbery which
involved over one and a half
mill on dollars, and it is st 11
unsolved, despite the fact that
more money has been spent on
solving it than was stolen. Tme
and hard invest gative work will
solve that one too.
The greatest mystery of Bos
ton was the Rock in Puchelli’s
Hal?)
Puchell’s Hall, or possibly it
was a name that sounded s'mi
lar, was located in the old Scol
lay Square District o f Boston
That much is Certain. And cer
ta n it s that old Scollay Square
District was knocked to the
ground, building by building to
make way for the new, and now
almost completed Government
Center, to be occup ; ed by the
United States, the State of
Massachusets Government Bran
ches, and the C ty of Boston of
ficials They knocked down the
old buitd ; ngs at a great rate, and
none of the workmen gave any
thought to the fact that they
were about to discover a
mvstery With great glee, they
swung the huge iron ba'l, sus
pended by cha n from a
crane, and knocked the old
buildings into a cocked hat at
a tremendous rate. Tlv-ee or
four stories at a time, they bat
— down. Then, the Inspector
inspected the bcilding that hous
ed Puchelli’s.
That’s the way you knock
down build : ngs. An Inspector
checks it out to make certain
that no one lives in it, and so
forth. That’s a Boston custom.
Lots of homeless, often disso
lute disreputable derel cts, call
ed winoes by the natives be
cause these poor beggars spend
all the money they can beg,
borrow, or steal, on cheap wine,
get drunk and then hreak Into
the boarded up vacant build
ings and sleep it off. Lots of
derelicts have resided in these
empty buildings for years. Any
way, the Inspector checked the
building that had housed Puch
-11 ’s Hall, or whatever name it
had, and he found no derelicts
but he found something much
more important. He found a
great mysttcry.
Right smack-a-dab in the
middle of the old Ball-Room
floor was the most tremendous
rock the good man had ever
seen. And he was only lookng
at the top half of it, since be
cause of its great we ght, a n
equal portion of it bad broken
through the floor and was hang
ing, suspended-like, into the
floor below. It was estimated
that the boulder weighed ten
tons. Even when you allow for
Ir sh exaggeration, it was a f*ne
sized chunk ng rock. All of the
work ceased. Not a man on the
-job but had to come and look
at the grand rock discovered
in Puchelli’s Ball-Room. Sure
and the Italians must be a re
markable odd Race indeed. Im
agine anyone putt ng such a
fne bg sample of Irish con
fetti in an Italian Ball-Room?
All of the workmen and the
contractor in charge of the de
molit on accepted it as a great
mystery and the newspaper
people took some petures of it,
and the columnists wrote an ar
ticle or two, and there the mys
tery remained. They thought it
was a mystery because they
couldn’t explain it, so, t was a
mystery. To them, it was. They
could have solved it f they had
talked to old Paddy McNulty.
Paddy knew the answer. But
they never knew Paddy and
couldn’t have asked him, if they
had because Paddy is dead.
Some years back, on a Sant
Patrick’s Day, old Paddy had
had a few beers and told me of
the greatest Sant Patrck’s
Day Banquet he had ever seen.
Paddy claimed that an Irish
contractor, whose name he mls
remembered, had made a for
tune and decided to return to
Ireland with his money. Natur
ally, the good man threw a
party in celebration. He decided
he Would get the biggest rock
he cculd find and display it as
the “Blarney” stone. So, he
hitched up his staunched teams
to hs heaviest dray and hauled
it to Puchelli’s Hall. With block
and tackle, he rigged it through
the windows which had been re
moved, replaced them w th tem
porary siding, and had his
great party. The weight broke
through the floor and poor
Puchelli near died when it hap
pened, but the contractor pro
lix sed to repair the destruction
when he removed the rock. At
this point old Paddy near died
of laughter as he explained that
the contractor sailed for Ireland
next day and left the rock In
Puchelli s f. ne Ball-Room
with not even a Thank You.
Big Demand For Red
Riding Hood Dolls
There is a big demand on the
market for “Red Riding Hood”
dolls. If you would be interested
in learning this trade, enroll in
a class Friday, April 28, at 9:00
p. m. at the W.A.M.Y. office.
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A View off The Village Square
ANTIDOTE FOR THE PESSIMIST
A view held by some of our
more pessimistic citizens is
that Yancey County simply con
tinues to stagnate, and that
in the competitive effort for
economic improvement we have
been outdistanced by our neigh
boring counties.
This less than optimistic view
is encountered by representa
tives of our Chamber oi Com
merce when they solicit mem
berships. They have been asked
“What has the Chamber accom
plished?”, the implication being
that little or nothing has been
achieved,, and hence, that join
ing the organization is not
worth while.
The contents of this issue of
the Yancey Record should go a
long way toward refuting the
pessimists. Other refutation
may be found simply by open
ing our eyes and looking around
the county. There are new roads
and more black-top paving,
many attractive, well-built new
homes, a new courthouse and a
fine new sewage treatment plant
in Burnsville, a new factory
building, and a new sewing fac
tory started in an old building.
And there is the building site
purchased by Hanes.
Other evidence of Yancey
County progress is to be found
by brousing through the avail
able economic statistics, pub
Poison Ivy Season Is Here
Poison ivy season is here
again.
You may have handled poison
ivy last year and escaped with
out an itch, but don’t push your
luck, says a pamphlet from the
American Medical Association.
No one is permanently im
mune to po son ivy, oak or
sumac.
Your next meeting with this
pesky plant could take place in
your own yard, as well as in
the woods and f.elds. Poison
ivy, oak and sumac have ap
peared n city gardens; and poi
sen ivy has been known to form
a beautiful growth up the side
of a house. Poisonous oils from
these plants can come your way
in the smoke from a neighbor’s
burning trash or on your dog’s
coat.
If you can detect pc. son
plants, you can often avoid
them. Poison ivy and its close
kin, poison oak, are three-leav
ed plants which may grov' as
low bushes or climb ng vmes.
They may be m'xeci with honey
suckle and other climbers. P i
lished by various government
by various government agen
cies and the banks. Take, for
instance, the North Carolina re
port, a detailed exanvnation of
the State put out by the First
Union National Bank. Here one
finds the following:
The average earnings of an
industrial employee are now
higher in Yancey than in the
neighboring counties.
Per capita income has been
Increas'ng in Yancey more rap
idly than in the state as a whole.
SeLail—gales in Yancey
have increased more rapidly in
Yancey than in the neighboring
counties.
Or consider the following: the
report on Yancey County’s eco
nomy prepared in 1961 present
ed a gloomy picture of the
county. This OEDP, as it was
called, was based on carefully
verified factual information. If
this report were updated now,
the picture would be appreciable
less dark.
All this adds up to the fact we
have been making progress
perhaps only at a plodding
pace—but progress it is. Nobody
will deny, of course, that there
is vast room for further pro
gress. We have a competent,
hardworking Chamber of Com
merce devoting itself to this
job. So, by all means, let’s sup
port It.
sen sumac, an eastern swamp
plant with seven »to thirteen
leaflets and small white berries,
usually grows as a shrub.
If you have been exposed,
carefully remove your cMhes
and thoroughly wash all affect
ed areas with warm water and
soap; then sponge with a 50 to
70 per cent alcohol solution. Us
ing rubber gloves, clean your
clothes in an oil solvent and
soapy water. Then dry them in
the sun.
Ivy, oak and sumac posoning
start with itching and redness
within a few hours to several
days after exposure. Then wat
ery p'mples appear. There is
no cure for the big tch. Wet
dressings of boric acid or Ep
som salts solution bring some
relief. Calamine loton also re
duces itching. Call your physi
can when the inflammation is
extensive.
If you know that you will be
near poison plants or working
with them, have your drugg'st
make a 10 per cent sodium per
borate ointment and apply on
RALEIGH '
REPORT
By: Ernest Messer
The House Committee cn Edu
cation approved a bill to pro
vide a lira ted form of Contin
uing Contract for princ'pals
and teachers in the public scho
ols.
r lhe bll has already passed
the Senate apd now comes to
thee House floor for debate.
The Act provides that, once
a contract employing a teacher,
principal, or other professional
employee is signed, .'t shall
continue in effect year after
year unles it is specif cally ter
minated by a written notice
from the Board of Education.
The problem of division of
areas to be served by public
power companies, Coops, and
cities which distribute power
s back before the General As
sembly for the third time.
In 1963 the Coops led the
fight; in 1965 the Coops and
public power companies worked
out and got a compromise mea
sure adopted; this year the
dies are leading the fight.
A bill introduced for the
cites by Rep. Sneed High would
give cities . a L mited right to
purchase all electric facilities
with n their corporate limits.
The bill provides that:
<1). If the other supplier ob
jects, the matter shall be re
ferred to the North Carol na
Utilities Commission; (2). The
Utilities Commission shall de.
term ne whether or not the pro
posed acquisition wll adversely
affect the public Interest; (3).
If the acquisition does not ad
versely affect the pubi c inter
est, the court will proceed to
determ : ne the amount to be
paid for the acquired facil ! t'e*«.
A bill prov ding County Cm
missioners with power to guar
antee adequate ambulance ser
vice for counties has been pass
ed out of Committee and is now
before the House.
The bll was motivated by the
discontinuance at ambulance
service by many funeral homes,
wh'ch is leaving some areas
with inadequate service.
The bill provides that the
State Board of Health shall lic
ense all ambulances in the
state shall establish equipment
and safety requirements for
them. Under this act, a certified
ambulance attendant will be re
quired to operate an ambulance.
County Commissioners are
authorzed to limit the number
of ambulances, contract for am
bulance, and, if necessary, to
use some tax money to pay for
ambulance service.
•• • •
No local legislation can be in
troduced after May 1. Th'* is
the deadline. So anyone want
ing local legislation had better
get busy.
•• • •
The “Brown Bag” bill is all
fouled up again. The liquor
problem is enough to drive a
person to drink.
exposed skin. After contact with
the plant, wash of! ointment and
scrub all clothing—even shoe
laces. * •
A Bm.tt.
GILLETTE
SUPER STAINLESS BLADES
5^704
BETTER SHAVES!