V 01.3, NO. 16
Annual Chamber Dinner
Features Special Events
All indications point to a
record-breaking attendance at the
annual dinner meeting of the
Yancey County Chamber of Com
merce which will be held on this
Friday evening, April 19th, at
East Yancey High School.
News From
Bicentennial
The temporary Steering Com
mittee of the Yancey County
Bicentennial Commission has
now moved into a permanent
Steering Committee with mem
bers as follows: William Hess,
Chairman; Margaret Tyner, Vice-
Chairman; Mary Margaret Dey
ton, Earl Young, Robert Helmle,
Charlie Hensley, Harlon Hol
- combe, Gwen Bailey, David Mc-
Intosh, and Alma Shepard, Se
cretary-treasurer.
This committee met at 7:30
p.m. at the Yancey County
Library on April 10 and plans for
action are underway.
A community committee was
nairfed by this group representing
all sections of the county. These
persons will be contacted in the
near future and will be provided
with materials and information.
Three major proposals are
being written up by the Executive
Sub-committee which will benefit
the entire county. They are (1)
The acquisition and renovation of
the old court house, (2) The
beautification of the Town Square
and (3( A contribution to apply on
the construction involved in con
verting the old Northwestern
Bank into the Yancey County
Library.
Each community will have the
opportunity to present proposals
for projects of improvement in
any particular area in the county
if there is evidence of some
matching local funds.
This is an opportunity of a life
time to secure help in funding
improvements in our county, and
it is hoped that every community
will participate and get the
benefits made possible by the
formation of a Yancey County
Bicentennial Commission which
is sponsored by the Yancey
Colunty Chamber of Commerce.
Wallis To Be
Guest Speaker
Mrs. Everett S. Wallis of
Waitsfield, Vermont, will be
guest speaker at the American
Legion and Auxiliary meeting at
the Community Building, Tues
day, April 23, at 7 p.m. A
covered dish supper will be
served and all veterans and
their wives are invited.
Mrs. Wallis will give a lecture
on the signers of the Declaration
of Independence and will show
color slides cf existing homes and
gardens of the signers. She has
done extensive research on this
subject and her program will be
most informative and entertain
ing. Mrs. Wallis is a sister of
Mrs. W. A. Y. Sargent and is the
houseguest of Dr. and Mrs.
Sargent.
Honor Sludent
Deborah S. Hylemon of Route
3, Burnsville, earned a place on
the University’s official honor list
for the winter term. She was one
of the most elite among the ECU
honor students, having made all
A's for this term. This informa
tion was released by William A.
Shires, Director of ECU News
Bureau in Greenville, N.C.
'
THE YANCEY JOURNAL
Those attending the meeting
will again have the opportunity to
view exhibits of accomplishment
and progress which will be placed
in the gymnasium by local
schools, organizations and agen
cies for one hour prior to the time
dinner is served at 7 o’clock. This
gives an excellent opportunity to
see some of the many activities in
our county, and each year this is
becoming a more popular feature
of the annual meeting.
Officers and directors of the
Chamber of Commerce will be on
hand to welcome guests and
answer questions regarding the
Chamber of Commerce develop
ments during the past year.
Following the dinner a brief
business session will be held to
elect directors whose terms of
office have expired.
Another feature of the evening
will be the annual award of two
scholarships to a deserving senior
-one each from Cane River and
East Yancey High Schools-and a
sportsmanship award to a student
from each of these schools.
The program committee has
arranged for an interesting pro
gram to follow, and the guest
speaker will be Mr. Robert
Mullen, Assistant Director of
Program Services, Division of
Occupational Education.
Special music will be provided
by the Eubanks Family, a chorus
from Cane River High School, and
Ms. Phyllis Campbell, Soloist.
Tickets may be obtained at the
Chamber of Commerce office by
those who have not been contac
ted by a director.
Woman’s Club
Meeting
The Burnsville Woman’s Club
held its regular meeting on
Thursday, April 11 at the Com
munity Building. Hostesses were
Mrs. Ruby Smith, Mrs. Alma
Holcombe and Mrs. Sara Barbee.
The president, Mrs. Ralph
Jacks, presided over the business
session. The club voted to help
financially and otherwise with the
Yancey County Primary Care
Clinic at the Yancey Hospital.
Other projects were also reviewed
and discussed.
Conservation was the program
subject for the evening, with Mrs.
E. L. Dillingham serving as
program leader. She introduced
her husband, who showed a
series of slides of beautiful
flowers, which are very rare and
about to become extinct.
A social hour followed. Seven
teen members and visitors were
present for the occasion.
r Cancer’s i
• seven warning ■
J signals j
|l. Change in bowel or |
| bladder habits. |
12. A sore that does not |
| heal. |
|3. Unusual bleeding or |
I discharge. |
|4. Thickening or lump |
| in breast or elsewhere. |
I 5. Indigestion or difficulty I
| in swallowing. |
I 6. Obvious change in «
I wart or mole. I
I 7. Nagging cough or
I hoarseness. 1
1 If you have a warning signal, ■
I see your doctor. I
American
I Cancer Society Y
THIS SPACE CONTRIBUTED BY THE PUBLISH**
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G.S. Troop 88 Celebrates Success
Yancey Girl Scouts in Junior Troop #BB were honored with a 'Cookies recently. Mrs. Cary Canipe, Cookie Chairman for the
party for their considerable success in selling boxes of Girl Scout Droop, sponsored the celebration and furnished the refreshments.
Yancey Railroad To Change Management;
Hope Rises For Profitable Operation
The Ailing. Yancey Railroad,
whose fate has been hanging
uncertainly in the balance as a
result of serious financial prob
lems, now appears assured of
continued existance. The four
principal shippers of the road
have joined forces to assume a
major role in the management of
the road. They have already
bought a substantial amount of
the stock of the corporation, and
are in the process of acquiring
additional shares.
The four corporations united in
this undertaking to save the
railroad are the four Yancey
County businesses for which the
service furnished by the Yancey
Railroad is of vital importance.
They have recently purchased the
approximate 30 percent of rail
road stock held by E. L. Briggs,
paying $l5O per share, and are
now soliciting options from other
stockholders for the purchase of a
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Journal Gets New Typesetter
A computer for THE YANCEY JOURNAL? It sure Is! This “CompuWrlter is a phototypesetting
system newly Installed in your local newspaper offlce-to make a better looking, easier-to-read newspaper
for our readers. Pictured above, Carolyn Yuzluk, Editor, sets copy on the typewriter-like keyboard. The
copy Is photographed In the machine and then run through a processor where it is developed. Due to the
fact that some advertising copy will also be set on the CompuWrlter, and with the summer season
approaching there will be more news copy for the JOURNAL, we ask that all copy be brought to our office
h> 5 p.m. Monday for inclusion in that week’s paper.
limited amount of additional
stock, also at $l5O per share.
E.C.Van Horn of the Diamond
Mica Company, who is acting for
the four companies, has sent a
letter to the 58 stockholders
informing them of the action,
being taken, and requesting those
who may desire to sell their
shares to submit signed options.
The letter states that the pur
chase of the limited number of
shares will be made in the order
of time at which the options are
submitted.
Ever since the Feldspar Cor
poration closed its plant at
Bowditch three years ago, the
railroad has been losing money.
The present revenue of about
$30,000 a year has been insuf
ficient to operate and maintain
the twelve mile long railroad.
With the reconstituted manage
ment, including participation of
the principal shippers, it is hoped
that the road can be “turned
around"to a profitable operation.
The directors of the railroad
have recognized for some time
that the road was worth more
"dead than alive". That is, the
value of the road’s real estate,
locomotives, and the scrap value
of the rails and bridges is greater
than the road is worth as an
operating railroad. The directors,
however, have been very reluc
tant to abandon the operation of
the road which was taken over bv
VA Offers Advice For Vets
Studying Under Gl Bill
The Veterans Administration
has timely advice for one million
veterans studying at colleges and
universities under the GI Bill:
Return those ’cert’ cards very
THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 1974
the locally formed corporation in'
1955. Most of the Yancey County
people who bought stock at that
time were motivated by a desire
to avoid the serious blow to the
county that the abandonment of
the road would have been. Nearly
all of the present 58 stockholders
have held their stock since the
original purchase in 1955, at
which time the stock was sold for
SIOO a share. There are now 47
stockholders with from 1 to 10
shares.
promptly to insure payment of
education allowances for the final
month of training!
H. W. Johnson, Director of the
Winston Salem VA Regional
Office, explained that the certifi
cation of attendance card the
veteran enrolled in college level
courses receives with his next to
final check should be filled out,
signed and returned to his VA
regional office. Otherwise, the
agency can’t prepare his final
check for the current school year.
For most veterans, final
, months of training are May or
June, and most ’cert' cards will
be mailed in April. Forms
already have been mailed to
veterans whose enrollment peri
ods end earlier, however.
Johnson cited another reason
veterans should return *heir ‘cert’
cards promptly:
‘lf the card is not returned at
the end of the current semester’,
he stressed, ‘the veteran cannot
automatically be enrolled for
upcoming summer or fall ses
sions, if he plans to continue.’
It also was pointed out that
veterans attending college under
the GI Bill must keep VA
informed on changes in the
number of dependents or educa
tion programs.
‘At the same time,’ Johnson
continued, ‘college registrars
should insure that the veteran’s
enrollment for the school term is
certified promptly to the Veterans
Administration, to keep his al
lowance checks coming on time.’
Details on education benefits
are available at VA offices, or
from local veterans service or
ganizations
Evidence Points To Lower
Literacy Level Nationwide
America’s educational system
has been given a bad jolt by a
lawsuit charging that the plaintiff
(who calls himself Peter Doe) had
been given a high school diploma
even though he was barely
literate.
Best selling author Vance
Packard cites this case as he asks
in the April Reader’s Digest,
"Are we becoming a nation of
illiterates?" According to Pack
ard, Doe’s half-million dollar suit
against the San Francisco school
system has prompted one judge
to warn that the case could “bring
down a host of suits which might
cost billions of dollars.” And,
notes the Digest article, the Doe
case illustrates the existence of a
serious and worrisome trend:
“the general low state of literacy
and ability to write clearly among
younger and older people alike- at
a time when the complexity of our
institutions calls for ever higher
literacy."
Startling evidence of the de
cline emerges from the Scholastic
Aptitude Test (SAT). Annually
more than a million senior high
school students take the SAT
verbal test, and their scores
correlate consistently with both
their reading and writing ability.
Over the past decade the average
score has been dropping: 35
points, or seven percent, in ten
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The most extensive study of
writing ability, conducted by the
federally funded National As
sessment of Education Progress
Safe Driver
Bill Passed
Senator Jim Hughes, Republi
can of the 24th Senatorial District
(Avery, Mitchell, Watauga,
Wilkes, Caldwell and Burke
Counties) announced recently
that the bill to eliminate the
written test for safe drivers
seeking to renew their license has
passed those houses of the
legislature and will become law
on June 1, 1974. This law
provides that any driver who has
not been convicted of a traffic
offense or had prayer for judge
ment continued on a traffic
offense during the previous 4
years will not be required to take
a written test or a road test when
renewing his or her drivers
license.
Senator Hughes helped write
the committee substitute and
worked for the passage of the
same in the 1973 session of the
general assembly.
The bill was passed by the
senate and sent to the house of
representatives where it lan
guished for more than a year.
Representatives Bobby Rodgers
and Gilbert Bogur revived the bill
and reintroduced it in the house.
They led the fight on the house
floor and got it pased and
returned it to the Senate. Finally,
on March 28,1974, the rules were
suspended for the immediate
passage of the bill. Several
amendments were offered in the
Senate but were either withdrawn
or defeated. After much anima
ted discussion the bill was voted
on and it became law.
Senator Hughes remarked that
this law is the first law which
shbws concern for those people
who obey the law.
Buying Food
Consumers spent abopt
$134 billion on foods pro
duced by U.S. farmers last
year. That’s a yearly in
crease of $lB billion. The
farm value of that con
sumer expenditure was on
ly ssl billion.
10*
of Denver, is presently underway.
Its first national sampling of
nearly 100,000 Americans showed
that by age 13, after 8 years of
schooling, only the best of the
students Could handle the basic
conventions of writing. By age
17, only about half could "put
together simple sentences and
express simple ideas in general,
imprecise language.”
Packard offers a number of
explanations tor the decline:
Writing as an educational
subject has lost status (a common
assumption in schools is that
students will somehow absorb
writing skills while doing their
work in other courses.)
Growing use of multiple
choice questions for testing read
ing, writing and other subjects
(students don't have to choose
thc«r own words or organize their
thoughts).
Overloading of English teach
ers and instructors with students
(thus little time to give individual
attention).
Widespread sale of college
term papers (students deprive
themselves of the practice of
formulating their own thoughts
and putting them on paper.)
Automatic promotion (has
lessened the pressures on teach
ers to bear down on literacy
skills).
Open admissions to colleges
(many enter who are reading at
an eighth-grade level or lower).
Revolt against rules and es
tablished ways (since the late
1960’s anything suggesting the
value of disciplined practice or
respect for the ‘mechanics’ of
writing was widely scorned.)
Unanticipated side effects of
the telecommunications revolu
tion (writing is less in demand).
But Packard is not without
hope, noting that enough people
are becoming concerned about
the low state of literacy so that
something is being done about it;
programs to improve reading
skills; reexamination of leading
requirements for high school
graduation; eliminating automa
tic promotion to virtually all
students; changing methods of
teaching reading; and in new
approaches for improving writing
skills.
Mallonee Sets
New Schedule
Tom L. Mallonee, 11th Con
gressional District Assistant to
Congressman Roy A. Taylor, has
announced the following change
in his travel schedule to the
county seats and other sections of
the counties.
On Thursday, April 25, he will
be at the Yancey County Court
house, Burnsville, from 1:00 to
2:00 and at the Town Hall, Spruce
Pine from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m.
The original date scheduled for
the above visit was Wednesday,
April 24. Any person who has
plans or official business per
taining to Congressional matters
to be discussed is invited to meet
with Mr. Mallonee at the above
specified times.
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