THE YANCEY JOURNAL
VOL. 4, NO. 50
Charged
In Death
O f Son
Arthur M. Wilson, 68, of
Route 4, Burnsville (Ramsey
town community) has been
charged with murder in the
shooting death of his son, Don
L. Wilson, 26, also of Route 4,
Burnsville.
A brother of the deceased
witnessed the incident, accor
ding to Sheriff Kermit Banks,
who said the son assaulted the
father and the shot was fired
as they scuffled over the
handgun. The son was shot
one time in the chest shortly
after 9 a.m. Tuesday morn
ing, December 7. The shoot
ing took place at the home of
the father.
Arthur Wilson has been
released on bond after being
charged with murder.
100 Came
To Donate
Blood
One-hundred persons pre
sented themselves to give
blood when the Bloodmobile
made its recent stop in
Yancey County on December
6, 1976, at the First Baptist
Church.
Os the number volunteer
ing blood, ten had to be
rejected for various reasons
and ninety were accepted- as
donors. For eight of them, it
was the first time they had
given blood.
With this visit of the
Bloodmobile, Ricky Peterson
became a member of the
gallon club; Arthur Morrison
and Robert McKinney moved
to membership in the two
gallon club with the Septem
ber 13 visit.
Also on September 13,
Leonard Ayers earned his
5-gallon pin, and on Decem
ber 6, O.W. Deyton started on
his 9th gallon of blood
donations.
Mrs. Nancy Shaw and her
Health Occupations class
from Mountain Heritage High
School assisted with the
operation of the bloodmobile.
Hostesses for this occasion
were the ladies of Windom
Methodist Church.
1
Burnsville
Fire Calls
Saturday, December 4,
1976 at 7:00 p.m.: Martin
Bryant Residence on Lower
Jacks Creek Road. The House
was completely destroyed
when the fire department
arrived. Sixteen men and two
trucks responded.
Tuesday, December 7,
1976 at 11:05 a.m.: Milton
Higgins, Jr. Residence on
Dogwood Drive in Burnsville.
Livingroom furniture on fire.
Smoke damage to house;
furniture destroyed. Three
trucks responded.
Film Show
•it A Film, "His Land” will
be shown December 22 at
the Pleasant Grove Baptist
Church at 7:00 p.m. The
public is invited.
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A
100th Christmas
Mrs. Oma Bryant Robinson has celebrated Christmas for 99
years; this Christmas, in our nation’s bicentennial year, will be
her 100th. Mrs. Robinson is the widow of the late Martin
Robinson who died 30 years ago. She makes her home with Mr.
and Mrs. Noah Robinson, [her son], at Route 2, Burnsville.
Mrs. Robinson has seven children, 43 grandchildren, 79 great
grandchildren and 10 great-great-grandchildren. Open house
will be held on her 100th birthday, Saturday, December 18,
from 1 to 5 p.m. and all her friends and relatives are invited.
Planned Power Outage
There will be a scheduled
Power Outage Sunday, De
cember 19, from 6:30 a.m.
until 7:00 a.m. This outage is
necessary to uprate ruses in
the Micaville Substation. The
License
Renewal
Cards Sent
Edward L. Powell, Com
missioner of Motor Vehicles,
announced an early mailing of
renewal application cards
needed to obtain 1977 North
Carolina motor vehicle license
plates and stickers. The
renewal cards, approximately
four million of them, will be
mailed on two separate dates.
Some were mailed December
10, the rest will be mailed
December 20, 1976. I
Private passenger auto
mobiles will again be renewed
by stickers. The 1977 renewal
stickers are distinct,
featuring a white outline of
the State of North Carolina on
a dark red background. Other
vehicles will receive a 1977
red on white license plate.
Stickers and plates will go on
sale January 3, 1977 at 102
locations throughout North
Carolina.
The license plate stickers
must be placed on the upper
right hand comer of the 1975
license plate directly over the
blue sticker. Powell urged the
public to follow the directions
carefully on the back of the
sticker wrapper before affix
ing it to the license plate.
Motor Vehicle owners who
do not receive their license
plate renewal card by January
3rd should notify the Division
(Cont’d on page 2]
BURNSVILLE; N.C. 28714
following areas will be affec
ted: South Toe River, Blue
Rock Road. Double Island
Road, Micaviiie, Windom,
and Mine Fork.
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Mrs. Santa Talks With^‘Little People’
A tAA tilfaal I •« a a 1. J en • . • ....
Over 100 “little people” attended a Christmas Party with Mrs. Santa this
past Monday, December 13, at the Yancey County Public library In
Burnsville. Each child told Mrs. Santa what Mr. Santa was to remember to
put in their Christmas stockings. After Mrs. Santa talked with the children
about Santa, his reindeer and little elves, cookies and punch were served.
Last Big Drive For
Flu Vaccinations
Why should Yancey Coun
ty citizens get vaccinated for
Swine flu?
Because, if they don’t, we
will all be sorry," if an
epidemic comes. Better be
safe than sorry.
Vaccinations are Urged
before exposure to the disease
because it is the only way an
individual can be protected
from influenza. There is no '
known cure. A person must
have their shot 30 days prior
to exposure to have protec
tion.
Influenza has a special
place in the history of
epidemic diseases. Influenza
is caused by a virus which
changes its makeup so much
that nobody has immunity to
it. Therefore, it finds the
population wide open and
unprotected against the virus.
Scientists do not know if
the Swine influenza (A/New
Jersey/76) will spread to the
general population this com
ing flu season. If it does, it
could cause a worldwide
epidemic with extensive ill
Driver Unhurt; Car
Ends Up In River
A one-car accident on
Tuesday, December 7, at
10:05 p.m. involved James M.
Whitehead, 32, of Route 6,
Burnsville.
Whitehead was driving a
1971 Volkswagon south, 2
miles out of Burnsville, on 197
South parallel with Cane
River. He stated that he fell
asleep. The car was driven off
ness and death.
Carl Tuttle, Director of the
. Health Department, says the
number immunized in Yancey
County amounted to only
,13.7%, so people are urged to
get the vaccine. Dr. James
McCormack, with the Division
of Health Services, reports
that 10.2% of North Caro
lina’s population are now
immunized. Should an out
break occur, this percentage
is not high enough to prevent
an epidemic.
For the convenience of the
public, the Yancey County
Health Department staff will
:be giving the Swine flue
vaccine at the Banks Family
Square on Saturday, Decem
ber 18, from 11:00 a.m. until
4:00 p.m. This is the last
major campaign taken out to
the public before the flu
season hits. From this time
on, the Swine flu vaccine will
be available all day on
Mondays at the Health
Department.
Come to Burnsville, do
your Christmas shopping, and
get your flu shotl!
the south bound shoulder,
striking numerous rocks while
turning over, end over end.
The car came to rest halfway
submerged in Cane River.
Whitehead suffered only
minor injuries. There were no
passengers.
Damage to the Volkswa
gon was estimated at S9OO.
Trooper B.R. Owens investi
gated.
The Christmas Party was opened to the public with children attending
from special groups: Yancey Head Start and Home Start, the Yancey Child
Development Center, Bald Creek Child Development Center, and Mrs. Nellie
Styles’ Play School. Assisting Mrs. Santa In a very special way was Mrs.
Georgia Cannon.
"Moonlight Madness" Wednesday At Give A Gift Subscription
MAXWELL Yancey Journal
See Pane 3 See p 2
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1976
-V-’m ‘
Lisa Haney
Brad Ragan Inc.
Charged With Fraud
BY ROBERT D. HERSHEY Jr
(Reprinted from The New
York Times)
In a major enforcement
action, the Securities and
Exchange Commission on
December 2 charged Brad
Ragan Inc, and five officers of
the large tire-retreading com
i pany with a host of fraudulent
practices, including bribing
about 280 of the company’s
customers to send business its
way.
The commission said the
bribes plus fraudulent billing
associated with them totaled
more than $550,000 and
represented “a fraud and
deceit upon the former,
current and future security
holders.”
The shares of Brad Ragan,
which is based in Spruce Pine,
N.C., are traded on the
American Stock Exchange
Gospel Sing
A Gospel Sing will
be held Sunday after
noon, December 19, at
2:00 p.m. at Mountain
Heritage High School,
Burnsville. This is a
benefit program for Lisa
Haney, who was injured
in the school bus acci
dent November 12.
There will be no
admission charge; a free
will offering will be
taken:
and at one time were a
popular trading vehicle. The
stock has also found its way
into institutional portfolios.
BID FOR INJUNCTION
GRANTED
The S.E.C. complaint was
filed in the Federal court for
the Western District of North
Carolina, which granted a
request for a permanent
injunction against the defen
dants. .
The company and four of
the five officials consented to
the judgment without
denying any of the alle
gations.
Among the charges was
one that Brad Ragan em
ployees specifically identified
false, inflated invoices sent to
the home office by marking
them “CD” or “C-Deal.”
These designations, the com
mission said, were under-
15 c
Featured on this
program will be the Mt.
Bethel Youth Choir of
WeavervUle, the Glory
Road Quartet of Burns
ville, the New Hope
Quartet of RobbinsvHle,
the Happy Travelers of /
Canton, and Calvin
Runion & The Originals
of Asheville.
, Everyone is invited
to attend.
-ml
stood by those involved to
stand for “crooked deals.”
The S.E.C. said the
commercial bribes were to
purchasing agents or other
employees of the 280 custom
ers, 45 of which are publicly
owned. Brad Ragan offset the
cost of the bribes by billing
customers for merchandise
and services that were not
delivered and in most cases
added a profit markup as well.
KICKBACK OF S3OO A TIRE
' - The $550,000 in such
bribes occurred during the
company’s 1971-75 fiscal
years, with 40 percent paid in
1975. In addition, the com
pany double-billed customers
by $40,000 in 1975.
The bribes took the form
of passenger tires, jewelry,
appliances, vacations, airline
tickets and cash, the S.E.C.
said. In one series of
| transactions from 1970 to
I 1972, Brad Ragan paid an
I employee of a major customer
I at least $30,000, mainly in
I cash.
I The company mounted
| on the customer’s
I equipment, billed him, then
returned and replaced the
[ tires and billed the customer
again. Brad Ragan, which
deals in both automobile tires
through retail outlets (Caro
i lina Tire Company) and in
I tires for off-the-road con
| struction and mining machin
ery, then paid a kickback of
about S3OO a tire. Fictitious
! delivery tickets were then
prepared stating it had
received used tires or other
j items from Harris Tires, a
nonexistent company.
The S.E.C. also charged
[ the company with covering up
its practices by preparing new
invoices when a customer’s
auditor tried to check trans,
actions. s j
It also said Bradley El
Ragan, chairman of the
board, received from the
company $53,000 for $5,000
worth of assets he had
purchased from a tire com-*
pany owned by a relative of 4
customer’s officers.
In addition, the company
and individual defendants
issued misleading financial
statements and Robert
Buchanan, chief financial
officer, had his secretary
illegally buy company shares
in his name, the S.E.C, said.
ordered that Mr. Buchanan
not be permitted to be part of
fCont’d on 00*4 2]