THE YANCEY JOURNAL
VOL. 4, NO. 2
Yancey School Board —S'
Progress Report For 1974
In December of 1973, the
Yancey County Board of
Education published an an
nual report of its actions.
Following is the second report
which summarizes the work of
the Board during 1974.
The Yancey County Board
of Education began its 1974
year by continuing to concen
trate on plans for the new
high school which had been
started in early 1973. On
December 10, 1973 the Board
requested its architects to
submit a building plan at the
earliest possible date? During
the following weeks, many
meetings were held by the
Board, the planning commit
tee (superintendent and both
high school principals) and
members of the various
committees previously ap
pointed to work out detailed
plans for thqir respective
departments. The architec
tural firm planning the new
school developed a model
which was put on display at
prominent places in the
county. The drawings for the
floor plan were also displayed
and these were shown and
discussed at Civic Meetings,
PTA Meetings and other
public gatherings. Reactions
and suggestions were noted
and passed on to the
architects.
PLANS APPROVED
In late February, the
Board approved the grading
plans for the ne** - school site.
Bids for the grading were
opeped on March 21 and the
low bidder, Taylor & Murphy
Construction Company was
awarded the contract in the
amount of $190*505. Ground
breaking ceremonies were
w
.- m HKraßjßfeT^;'
Dr. Carolyn Ray Cort has begun the practice of pediatrics in „.
Burnsville this week. Her office, the Mountain Children’s
Clinic, is adjacent to the Yancey County Library. Office hours
by appointment are from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Monday
through Friday, f- »
Beginning practice in Burnsville is a homecoming for Dr.
Cart, who was valedictorian of the 1966 East Yancey High
School graduating class. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Mack B. Ray of Burnsville. --
At Duke University she was Phi Beta Kappa and graduated
from there summa cum laude. She attended Bowman Gray
School of Medicine of Wake Forest University as a Reynolds
Scholar, receiving tip M.D. degree in 1970. Following
graduation she served one year Internship and one year
residency in pediatrics at the North Carolina Baptist Hospital
in Winston Salem. She completed her training at Richmond,
Virginia, spending her final year of residency at the Medjlcal
College of Virginia. t
Dr. Cort and her husband, Dr. David A. Cort, met while
they were freshmen In medical school and married following
their sophomore year. Her husband, the son of Mr. and Mrs.
Erwin H. Cort of Asheville, Is practicing in the Held of Internal
medicine In Spruce' Pine. They have one child, lisa Hannah,
who is 16 months old.
Friends are Invited to an open house at the office on
Academy Street Snnday, January 12, 3:00 to Slit
i'Hs ... ,
held at the new school site on
April. 7 and grading began
immediately.
SCHOOL NAME CONTEST
At its January meeting the
Board of Education agreed to
hold a contest for naming the
new high school. The First
Citizens Bank, The North
western Bank, WKYK and
The Yancey Journal presen
ted cash prices to the winners,
Sue Fox and Pam Deyton,
CaneX River High School
seniors. At a full meeting of
the Cane River student body,
the Wo students were recog
nized and awarded the prize
for their entry “Mountain
Heritage”.
CONSTRUCTION BIDS
By late summer, final
★ ic ★
o
Mountain Heritage
Athletic Schedule
Mountain Heritage High
School was voted into the
Mountain Athletic Conference
for the coming school -year
1975-76-. Mountain Heritage
will be in the Little MAC
Division with seven other
Western North Carolina
Teams.
Beginning with the 1975-
76 school year the High
School Athletic Prograrrts
(East Yancey-Cane River) will
be combined into!, one pro
gram using the name of
Mountain i Heritage High
School. - -• '
LITTLE MAC DIVISION
Enrollment
School Grades 10-12
East Henderson 731
< BURNSVILLE, N.C. 28714
plans for the building were
completed and approved by
the Board. Bids for the
construction of the building
were opened August 28, 1974,
Total cost exceeded the
original budget by some
$900,000.00. After an exten
sive joint meeting of the
Yancey County
, ers and the Board of
Education, the commissioners
budgeted future additional
revenue shaiting funds and
sales tax for the project.
On September 28 con
tracts were signed with Juno
Construction Company of
Charlotte, North Carolina,
general contractor for the
amount of $2,414,000, Twen
tieth Century Heating Com
Mitchell ' 680
Owen 652
Sylva Webster 614
West Henderson 593
Mcuntain Heritage 574
Madison 562
Hendersonville 455
In combining tjtol two
athletic programs into one we
hope that we will have greater
participation in the four major
sports of football, basketball,
baseball and track. The,
combining of the two athletic
programs will become effec
tive next fall with the 1975-76
football season. - .
MOUNTAIN HERITAGE
HIGH SCHOOL
1975-76 Football Schedule ,--*-.
H=Home A = Away
NC=Non-conference games
Sept. 5, Erwin : H-NC
Sept. 12, Reynolds A-NC
Sept. 19, N.Buncombe H-NC
Sept. 26, Sylva-Webster A- C
Oct. 3, Owen ' >H- C
Oct. 10, East Henderson A- C
Oct. 17, Mitchell H- C
0ct.24, Madison H- C
0ct.31, Hendersonville A- C
Nov. 7, West HendersonA- C A
Dolphin
Coach At
Ski Area
Don Shula, coach, of the
Miami Dolphins of the Na
tional Football League, and
his family recently escaped
the pressures of professional
football for a skiing vacation
in this area.
The Shula family checked
into the lodge at Hound Ears
Club on Friday, December 27
and stayed through Tuesday,
Decembet’3l, skiing at Hound
Ears and nearby ' Beech
Moutftfin.
“When I am on the slopes,
it takes my mind off every
thing else,” said Shula less
than a week after the two time
Super Bowl champion Dol
phins were eliminated by the
Oakland Raiders in the NFL
playoffs.
"The people here were
really nice-they saw me and
spoke to me, but most of them
sensed that I didn’t come up
here to talk football,” Shula
said. f ’“.V. ' v
This was the first trip to
the North Carolina mountains
for Shula, his wife and their
five children who range in age
from 9 to 15, Dolphin
linebacker, Bob Matheson, a
Boone native, recommended
the area to his coach.
pany, heating and air condi
tioning-$574,953; Hayes and
Lunsford, electrical-$388,969;
Wells and West, plumbing
s2l6,l4o; Eatman's Carpet
s44,soo; Asheville Showcase
Co.? foocL&frvice equipment
s43,s34. Construction crews
began moving on the site
immediately. The contracts
call for a twenty-one month
schedule and at the writing,
work is progressing as plan
ned. .f
TEACHER STATUS
During the year the Board
continued to devote its atten
tion to areas of professional
personnel relations. The
teachers having expressed a
desire for changes in the
evaluation forms adopted the
previos , year, the board
approved a change to a five
point rating scale and evalua
tions to be made twice each
year. The principals are also
to include a narrative state
ment in each report. In a joint
meeting at the beginning of
the 1974-75 school year with
the principals and Board,
teacher hours were disctfsSfed
at length. Following' this
conference the Board revised
the working hqurs for teach
ers „to eight to three-thirty
with emphasis on punctuality.
Teachers were encouraged to
make their preferences as to
placement known through
letters of intent. Contracts for
all teachers were renewed in
late spring. Reinstatement of
reading programs in six ofthe
elementary, ..schools created
additional positions and also
greatly enhanced the effec
tiveness pf the Title 1
program. A,further boost was
made when| the system was
awarded a \ position for a
county-wide \ reading consul
tant. Mrs. Shirley Edwards, ~
teacher at Bee Log was
promoted to supervise the
reading program in all the
schools. Two remedial math
teachers and a teacher, for
students with earning disabi
lities were alsp employed. The
> Board adopted a policy
granting career status (ten
ure) to teachers who have
earned ~ career status in
another v North Carolina ad
ministrative unit, to be
effective after a year of
successful teaching in the
Yancey Counfy unit.
NEW SUPERVISOR
At the end of July, the
county school system lost one
of its long-time employees
through the retirement of
Miss Ethel Boone, supervisor
and former teacher. Miss
Boone devoted much of her
life to the Yancey County
schools and was properly
recognized at a luncheon in
June. Miss Iva Nell Buckner
[Cont’d on page 2]
Hi ,U
F Aah 'Twe
UfPtft Totich
Cou'N-ry
C&uY*rjos S-Tong
THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 1975
■ ‘ ■ • . - .
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Bate i VTy V >
• *
Tobacco Sells At Record High
Burley tobacco has sold for record high prices during 1974 according to Wm. C. Bledsoe,
County Extension Chairman. Many top crops have sold above the $l3O per pound mark. Most
farmers are very pleased with the outcome and prospects axe for increased interest in hurley by
Yancey fanners in 1975. “To a non-farmer, the Burley price may be misleading since they are not
aware of the accompanying increased cost of producing Burley,” stated Bledsoe. “Yancey County
ranks about fourth in Burley sales in North Carolina and Burley sales from Yancey amounted to
more than 2.2 million dollars in 1973,” he added. To aid and assist hurley farmers, experimental
tobacco plpt work in the county is a vital part of the Aricultural Extension Service. The plot work is
aimed at helping farmers overcome disease and production problems they face. During 1974 six
Yancey farmers cooperated on the experiment program. They are: Jim Adkins, Stokes Austin,
Lawrence Grindstaff, Bruce and Morris Fender, Jake Henson and Leroy Silver. Several farmers
have expressed an interest in cooperating on this program during 1975. Pictured above are Jim
Adkins; Tobacco Specialist Bob Davis; Leroy Silver and Mr. Hawks, Federal Grader-weighing
and grading a variety test. Pictured below are N.C. State Tobacco Technician David Porter; Jake
Henson, and Wallace EUs, Federal Grader, looking over another variety test.
NC Textbook Selection Process
• j> - » • —-i—i . - i
Has Become Model For Nation
The textbook selection
process probably is one of the
least understood aspects of
North Carolina education.
Amidst national controversy
and debate about textbook
selection, North Carolina's
State Textbook Commission
study and deliberation before
selecting books to be used in
Tarheel classrooms.
NOT PICKED ARBITRARILY
And contrary to a com
monly held misconception,
those books are not picked
arbitrarily by the 12 members
of the Textbook Commission.
“It just doesn’t work that
way,'-’ according to Ms. Joyce
Wasdell, assistant superin
tendent in Durham County
Schools and chairman of the-.
Textbook Commissfon.. “On a
particular text, each commis
sion member will have several
people reading the book and
giving their advice. On a
single book, we will have
input from 75 to 100 people.
Twelve people just don’t pick
-« text arbitrarily.”
'The job of the Textbook
Commission is a tough one.
Ms. Wasdell’s office is often
crammed to the ceiling with
textbooks set aside for noth
ing but Textbook Commission
work. And it isn’t unusual for
Commission members to de
vote their Saturdays to text
book work.
' STEPS IN CHOOSING
Here, in simplified terms,
of the textbook adoption
process in North Carolina:
The first step is the
appointment of the Textbook
Commission. Members are
named by the Governor, on
Notice
Westco Telephone
Company has sent letters
to their customers who'
advertise a business in
the classified section of
the Journal, requesting
them not to use a home
phone number ih the ad.
In order to help our
readers contact these
businessmen more eas- .
ily, we yvill use his name
as it appears in the latest
telephone directory and
list an address where
necessary. "... 5 ”
the recommendation of the
State Superintendent of Pub
lic Instruction. The law
provides that the Commission
shall be composed of 12
Students May Apply
For Intern Program
Governor Jim Holshouser ’
today urged North Carolina
college students interested in
State government to apply for
the 1975 State Government
Summer Internship program.
Holshouser said 24 stu
dents will be selected for the
program. For eleven weeks
next summer, the interns will
do meaningful work in State
departments and~i£*rn about „
various ' aspects of State f
government. The program
will begin on May 26 and
continue through August 8.
Interns will be paid $l2O pej
week. : *-*
To be eligible for the
intern program, students
must (1) be residents of North
Carolina, (2) be currently
enrolled in a college or
<3,
1Q C
Chamber
/• • • '
Sets Goals
For 1975
Th| Board of Directors of
the Yancey County Chamber
of Commerce met in the Town
Hall in Burnsville on January
2 at 7:30 p.m. with good
attendance.
President Olen Shepard
opened the meeting with a
challenge to the directors
suggesting that they take
inventory of the Chamber
and their own ability
to serve the community
during the year just begin
ning. He called on the group
to strive to work toward
making Burnsville, Yancey
County, the state and nation a
better place in whicl) to live.
He urged that the new year be
faced with confidence and
optimism, and the determi
nation to achieve the goals
undertaken.
Reports were given on
several Chamber of Com
merce projects.
A very promising report
was given on the town “face
lift” project and an all out
drive for additional funds
needed to complete the
project is under way. It was
estimated that approximately
$4500.00 will be needed to
complete the work as plan
ned. When completed, this
improvement in the appear
ance of the Town Square will
be something to be proud of
and those contributing to its
completion will be glad W ===s:
have had a part in this
undertaking.
Fellow-up work is being
done by- the Chamber of
Commerce in connection with
the completion of Highway
19E from Cane River bridge to
Madison County, and reports
are very favorable at this
time.--''''
New projects are being
planned for. 1975.
The Chamber of Com
merce has grown considerably
in membership during the
past year and all interested
persons are invited to join.
members, 7 of whom shall be
outstanding teachers or prin
cipals in the elementary
grades, and 5 outstanding
[Cont’d on page 2]
satisiauoruy completed three
years of college by June 1975.
The Governor noted that
applications must be mailed
to the Institute of Government
by February 1. Application
forms and brochures describ
ing the program may be
obtained from college and
university departmental and
placement officials, local of
fices of the North Carolina
Employment Security Com
mission, the Stat* Personnel
Office in Raleigh, and the
Institute of Government in
Chapel Hill. -
. . '
intern prosranis tnsv be