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VOLUME 34
Crucial Public Hearing On Countywide
School Survey To Be Held Tonight
By Robert Helmle
Momentous decisions as -
fecting Yancey County schools
are in the making. A public
hearing, contributing impor -
v'v Vi ' v '-■• 4M.? -
Wm
Rangers Set Brush Flre'With Torclies
Teen Toy, A Model Rocket,
Starts Wildfire In Yancey
By Carolyn Yuziuk
A model rocket ldt, the
Astron Midget, designed for
youthful technicians to assem -
ble, proved less than safe when
the two-stage rocket put to -
gether by Richard Banks set
the fields afire behind his home
on Bolens Creek Road.
Apparently the gadget is
fast becoming a fad among the
teenage boys here, and is or
dered through a catalog pass e d
around at school. Instructions
for assembly are technical and
precise, including a countdown
checklist which advises youth
ful space engineers to " clear
the launch area, alert the re -
covery crew and trackers, and
check for low flying aircraft."
Heart Dance
A Dance will be held on
Saturday, March 14, at 8:00
p. m. for Teenagers in Yan -
ceyCounty. There will be
music horn two bands: "T he
Leaders" and "The Midnight
Riders" and admission will be
only SI.OO per person,ors2.GD
per couple.
Yancey County Jaycees are
sponsoring the dance which
will be held in the Community
Building in Burnsville. All
proceeds will go to the Heart
Fund.
tantly toward solving our school
problems will be held Thurs
day night, March 12, at 7:30
p. m. in the courtroom in Ebrns
ville. A large turn-out of in-
Richard, 14 year old son of
Mr. and Mrs. Jake Banks, as
sembled the craft according to
directions and with the assist -
ance of hk father, and 'launch
ed" it last Sunday afternoon at
about 2:00 p. m. When the se
(Cont'd on page 4)
Clean-Up Campaign By Youths
r
By Jackie Thomas
and Ralph West all
The South Toe Youth Coun
cil began a clean-up proj ec t
Saturday, February 28th, inthe
South Toe Community. The
clean up started at White Oak
Creek Road and went to Caro
lina Hemlocks. In thk two
mile distance there were six
truckloads of trash picked up
in ditches and streams. The
members of the S.T. Y.C. who
participated in cleaning up
were: Ward Webb, Ralph Wes
tall, Mike Geouge, Morgan M>
Whirter, Jackie Thomas, Den*
nk Robinson, Charlie Ohle,and
the head of the group, Diane
Dachelet.
Thk project was all volun -
tary, and will continue to the
Yancey County line at Buck
Creek Gap.
The South Toe Youth Cou»
- THURSDAY, MARCH 12,1970 v
and other
citizens is expected.
The hearing is to be con -
ducted by the North Carol ina
Department of Public Ihstruc -
Forest Service Sets Fire
In 'Prescribed Burning’
By Carolyn Yuziuk
A brush fire was set with
torches on Flat Top Mountain
on Tuesday, March 3, in an
experiment begun by the U. S.
Forest Service. According to
U. S. Forest Ranger John Me -
Lain, this project is called a
"prescribed burning" and has
been done in other areas of the
United States, but is new to
this region.
The purpose of the fire was
to remove logging slash, ddjris
and grasses in order to seedthe
area for hardwood trees, white
pine in this case. The white
pine, hopefully, may grow well
at the altitude of over 4000
feet. Ranger McLain stated
that the yellow poplar which
had been growing here pre -
viously was of poor quality and
size due to the high alt itud&
The Forest Service is "seeding
back" to a species that will
grow better.
Size of the area burned for
cil k going to do a lot for the
community, and could donr-re
and better work with the sup
Bvj
7:
■Bkfaj i
Clean-Up Project In South Toe Community
tion relative to a recently com
pleted survey of our schook,
made at the request of the
Yancey County Board of Edu
cation. This survey contains
seeding purposes is 50 acres.
This is in the Flat Top Wild
life Management Area, part
of the Toecane Ranger District
James Covington, Assistant
Ranger in charge of
was present to supervise the
burning as was Quentin Macls
Timber Management Assistant.
The overall project was under
the direction of Ranger McLain.
After a bulldozer cleared the
land surrounding the prescribed
area, Forest Service crews steed
by to keep the blaze with i n
the limits. The firing was
accomplished without compli
cations and would have burned
itself out as planned, except
that a rainfall hastened the
process.
'Seeding will begin in a
couple of weeks," said McLain,
who also noted that there is
quite a bit of land that's real
high around here and if the
white pines grow well,the For
est Service may repeat the pro
ject in the future.
port of the community. The
picture shows members en
gaged in clean-up work.
NUMBER ELEVEN
both short-range and long -
range plans for the future, oth
er recommendations and cri -
ticisms.
Covered by the survey are
such major controversial mat
ters as the closing and reloca
tion of some of our schools and
the future possibility of a sin
gle consolidated high school
for the county. Some of our
elementary schook are consi -
dered too small, i n ad e q u ate,
and in some cases poorly lo -
cated.
The financial portion of the
survey k blunt and unpleasant
reading. It points out the ex
ceptionally small contribution
made by Yancey County tax -
payers toward the support of
our schook. (In this respect
we stand practically at the
bottom of the 100 counties in
the State. ) A quality program
of education, the survey stres
ses, is not possible with this
meager financial support. The
survey recommends a $. 50 in
crease in the county property
tax rate to bring us up to an
adequate level of school support
On the highly controversial
subject of the future of our
schook, there seems to be
only a single point of general
agreement—that big changes
will have to be made, and
that these changes are going to
cost a lot of money. The new
survey should be an important
step toward resolving the points
of view. It has been a pains
taking exhaustive effort made
by a six-member committee
to find the best solution.
Copies of the survey—a 78
page document—have been
circulated among inter e s ted
citizens and widely discussed.
At the hearing on Thu rs da y
night, Dr. J. L, Pierce, Di
rector of the State Division of
School Planning, will review
the recommendations and will
(Cont'd on page 4)
Announcement
The Yancey County Demo
cratic Party will be holding
their precinct meetings on
April 4, 1970 at 2:00 p. m. to
elect the township committee
and elect delegates to the
county convention which k to
be held April 11.
At the County convention, r
candidates will be selected to
be voted on in the General
Election on November 3,1970.