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Volume 33
Health Official Asks Citizens To
Help Enact Strong Anti-Rabies Law
JAKE F. BUCKNER, R.S.
District Sanitarian
MITCHELL-YANCEY DIS
TRICT HEALTH DEPARTMENT
I am asking that the artic 1 e
which appeared in the Ashe
ville Citizen on Saturday, Au
gust 30, 1969 be published in
Yancey Co
Schools To
Be Checked
State Educational agencies
have begun a complete tAalua
tion of Yancey County Schools
\reas are to be evaluated as fol
lows: facilities, lunchrcons,|ev
sonnel, transportation, mainten
ance and curriculum.
The survev is under the di
rection of Dr. J. L. Pierce, Dr.
Ben Quinn is responsible for con
ducting the local survey.
Last week Mrs. Nina Council
evaluated all lunchrooms in Van
cey County and Lacy Presiulllus
visited each school for general
operational evaluation.
Recommendations will be
made to the Comity Board of
Education in this survey. It is
scheduled for completion by
January Ist. After the survey,
long and short range planning is
to be initiated for the schools in
Yancey County to be eligible
for the 1963 facility fund for
up-dating local school system.
Taylor’s Asst.
To Visit Here
ASHEVILLE- Tom L. Mai -
lonee, 11th Congressional Dis
trict Assistant to Congress m a n
Roy A. Taylor, is now making
scheduled visits to the comity
seats and other sections of the
counties.
On Monday, September 29,
he will be at the Madison Cani
ty Courthouse, Marshall, from
9: 30 to 10:30 a, m.; at the Yan
cey County Courthouse, Burns
ville, from 1:00 to 2:00 p. m. ;
and at the Town Hall, Spruce
Pine, from 3:00 to 4:00 p. m.
Any person who has plans or
official business pertaining to
Congressional matters they wish
to discuss, is invited to me e t
with Mr. Mallohee at the above
specified time.
the Tri-County News and the
Yancey Record hoping that
everyone in these two counties
will read it, or at least hear of
it.
Just because this tragic diath
happened to a three-year- old
child in San Diego, California
gsdgsd
Something New
Has Been Added
Something new has been added to the seen -
ery of Yancey County. At three entrances to
the county - on 19 E coming from Spruce Pine,
Mitchell County; on 19 E corning frcm Ashe -
ville, Madison County; and on Highway 80,
coming from McDowell County - the Cham
ber of Commerce erected new county signs
with the cooperation of the U.S. Forest Ser
vice in Burnsville. A special thank you goes
to Jim Covington, Johnny McLain and Rev.Ebn
Lily, for their help in erecting these signs.
Scholarships Will Be Awarded
Next Spring AtCOfC Dinner
As previously announced, the
proceeds from the Yancey Yuth
Jamboree, held August 8 and
9 at hast Yancey High School,
will be used to establish a scho
larship fund for Yancey County
students.
Tlie Youth Opportunity Ta&
Force of the Yancey C ounty
hanihoi of Commerce .innotiv
Thursday, September 11, 1969
doesn't mean that it could not
happen to any man, woman or
child in Mitchell or Yancey
Counties.
Hundreds of dogs are in Mit
chell and Yancey comities that
have never been vaccinated
against the deadly and incurable
ces that scholarships will be
awarded a student from both
East Yancey and Cane RherFE
at the Chamber's Annual Din
ner, to be held in April, 1970.
Recipients of the scholar -
ships will be selected by the
Youth Opportunity Task Force
> from recommendations by fa
culties of the schools.
disease of rabies, and they have
never been listed for taxes. I
know, and every taxpayerlrtovvs.
that each of these two comities
needs a dog pound and a dog
catcher, with a pound properly
equipped. An ordinance, or
whatever it takes to make it
Boy Loses Long
Fight To Rabies
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (AP) - -
Tommy Buchmann, who fought
a rabies infection twice as long
as anyone else in medical histo
ry, died Friday, two days after
his thiid birthday.
The child, son of a Swiss im
migrant chicken farmer, never
awakened from a coma that
lasted 124 days. A rabid bobcat
bit him as he played in his back
yard on April 1. Four days later
he was admitted, unconscious to
University Hospital.
His father, Max, said doctors
never offered hope for Tommy
but "we tried to believe he
might make it."
In the efforts to save the boy,
doctors tried blood transfusio n s
from a man who said he might
have survived rabies.
A hole was made in Tommy s
skull for antiserum, and vaccine
was added to raise the antibod -
ies level. He was kept in isola
tion with a respirator always at
work and liquid formula fu n -
neled through his nose.
There is no known treatment
Number Fifty-Three
lawful should be in effect, re
quiring everyone who owns a
dog or cat have it vaccinated at
one of our Rabies Clinics and
to keep them at home. If this
is done and done right, Ibelieve
the project would be self- sup -
porting, at least after the first
year.
I am offering no criticism of
any official, rather I think our
officials are progressive, wide
awake people who are possibly
waiting and expecting those of
us who may be in charge to let
them know our needs. It is a
late day and hour to start a pro
ject of this kind, however, let
us not wait until it happens to
one of our citizens betore we tale
action.
It is perfectly natural the.
dogs will run after wild animals,
and in so doing may get bitten
by a rabid animal and vv e know
nothing abom it until it might
be too late.
If the above action were ta
ken, we would not only be pro
tecting the health of the public,
but we would be protecting the
animals we want and expect to
keep.
A few years ago a dairyman
(Cont'd on page 4)
for rabies but, over the months,
Tommy's condition appeared to
stabilize and his brain-wave pat
terns seemed to improve.
As Tommy clung to life, let
ters offering hope and prayers
piled up in the Buchmann home
at nearby Lakeside, inc lud ing
one from Mrs. Richard M. Nixon
More than $20,000 in donations
helped pay for die hospital care.
The last hope died Wednes -
day on Tommy's birthday. The
hospital said tests to see whether
the disease might have burned
itself out showed rabies still
present in his brain.
The postman brought 130 let
ters that day. The Buchm an ns
took a musical toy to the hos
pital while their other children,
Max Jr., 4, and Elizabeth, 10 ,
played at home.
"His heart just stopped," a
hospital spokesman said Friday.
"The nurses all loved him and
are so sad."
The previous rabies survival
record was 63 days by
old boy from Elk City, Kan.