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The Cherokee Scout
IOC and Clay County Progress
PER
COPY Volume 80 - Number 16 - Murphy, North Carolina 28906 - Second Class Postage Paid at Murphy,North Carolina - Thursday, November 6, 1969
J** Defeated la Cferofa, Passed In (lay
The local one-cent sales tax option failed in
Cherokee County in voting Tuesday.
The proposal was defeated in Cherokee, 950
against it and 697 for it. In Clay, 413 voted for
it, 175 against.
"It was a light vote," said Homer Davidson,
Elections Chairman in Cherokee. There were
1,647 ballots cast out of a total registration of
4,410, he said.
The sales tax, long a revenue for state
government, had been denied local governments
until Mecklenburg County was granted
permission by the previous legislature to impose
such a tax. Then in this year's session of the
Legislature, so many counties wanted a local
one-cent sales tax that a bill was passed setting
up Tuesday's election in all 100 counties.
The local option tax was seen by local
governments as a badly-needed new source of
revenue. Some state officials in Raleigh saw it
as dissolving of state revenue sources. Voters in
Cherokee County obviously saw it as a
burdensome tax, which could be eliminated
with a no vote.
The option passed easily in both Hayesville
precincts, 139 to 21 in No. 1 and 117 to 52 in
No. 2. In Murphy's South Ward, it passed 166
tor 113; in the North Ward it squeaked by, 106
to 102. In Andrews, the South Ward passed it,
93 to 84, the North Ward turned it down, 83
against and 57 voting for the option.
In Cherokee County, all the precincts
outside the two towns went solidly against the
local sales tax idea.
In Clay County, Tusquitee voted against the
sales tax 25r'to 8, as did Shooting Creek, 25 to
15. The other precincts voted for the option:
Brasstown, 55 for and 25 against; Hiawassee, 43
for and 11 against; Sweetwater, 36 for and 16
against.
In Cherokee, the other precincts voted as
follows: Brasstown, 37 against, 24 for. Burnt
Meetinghouse, 34 against the option, 18 for it;
Culberson, 35 against, 17 for; Grape Creek, 31
against it, 16 for it; Hanging Dog, 58 against, 17
for; Hothouse, 20 against, 10 for; Marble, 65
against, 41 for.
Ogreeta voted against the proposal, 27
against, 11 for it; Peachtree voted it down, 100
against it, 65 for it; Shoal Creek, 65 against, 29
for; Topton, 22 against, 2 for; Unaka, 24
against, 8 for; Walker Schoolhouse, 50 against,
17 for.
Lake Level
Meeting Set
A meeting between TVA
officials, the Murphy Chamber
of Commerce and the Forest
Service has been arranged for 2
p.m. today (Thursday) at the
Forest Service Building.
According to Congressman
Roy Taylor, who suggested the
meeting, the main topic of
discussion will be the
constantly changing water level
of Hiwassee Lake.
Sam Ward, left, Joe Maxwell and the miracle machine
Andrews Partners Harvesting
Another Bumper Corn Crop
With much of Cherokee
Dunty looking over their
toulders, Sam Ward and Joe
axwell have done it again ?
e Andrews partners are
irvesting a crop already
Basured in one field at a
lopping 168 bushels per acre.
Ward and Maxwell farm 550
:res of corn at the
urphy-Andrews airport. Their
leration is watched dosely
oughout the season by
Dtorists on US 19-129, which
ns by the fields, and often
ms up as a conversational
around Murphy and
idrews.
The .partnere, originally
>m Hendersonville, started
air specialized farming 12
sis ago. In 1965, they were
i state champions as officials
>m Raleigh counted 174
(hels of corn produced on
e acre.
State farm officials.
Mentally, predict that corn
iwn in North Carolina this
ir will figure out to a
atewide average of
newhere between 75 and 77
shels per acre.
The Raleigh group this fall
lied 168 bushels on one acre
t Ward and Maxwell think
iy may have already cut
ne of their corn which
uld have showed a higher
Id.
However, they are picking
ry day the weather permits
I don't have much time to
iry about records now. They
diet this year's crop will top
000 bushels and even with
ir degree of mechanization,
still a big job to harvest.
The machinery, induding
five tractors, planters, wagons
and all, is valued at about
$100,000. The star of the show
this year is a new $18,000
Allis-Chalmers gleaner, a
miracle machine which picks
and shells the com in the field.
The gleaner, taking four
rows at a swath, is
self-propelled and travels across
the field at about five miles an
hour, a little faster than a
man's walking pace. The
operator sits high in a sealed
cab, complete with an air
treatment system which filters
out all dust and dirt.
"With this machine, you can
now pick com in a white
shirt," said Ward, harvesting
the crop with comfort and at a
speed undreamed of by farmers
years ago. The gleaners takes
the com in and the shelled-out
kernels are deposited in a
behind the cab; the shredded
stalks, shucks and cobs are
blown out the rear.
The bin holds more than
100 bushels and Ward stopped
at the end of each round to
transfer the shelled com to
wagons. Maxwell, driving a
small tractor with casual
abandon, did his best to keep
up with the pace, hitching up
the loaded wagons and pulling
them to the metal elevators
down the road.
The gleaner system this fall,
the partners say, has enabled
the two of them to pick and
store 3,000 bushels of com in
eight hours!
Their elevators, located on
the highway near the airport,
will hold 42,000 bushels but
will obviously not be equal to
this year's crop. In addition to
storage, the elevators also serve
as a curing-out place for the
com. Equipped with heaters,
the elevators dry out the com
to the 15.5 per cent moisture
rating desirable on the market.
The land does not belong to
Ward and Maxwell, it is leased
from the E. A. Wood family
and from C. H. Townsend. The
corn-growing knowledge,
however, is theirs - developed
in a variety of ways, including
trial-and-error.
"With some farmers, we
figure we've made prog-ess if
we talk them into having a soil
test made," says Jack Eariey,
County Extension Chairman.
"But these boys are so far
ahead that they can teach
things to the experts."
Ward and Maxwell, who
regularly visit com-growing
areas and champion producers
in the Midwest, are concerned
about the fine points, Eariey
says. "They think about things
other people never
consider-plant population,
density and which way to
point the rows to get prevailing
winds for better pollination."
This year there are six
different varieties of Pioneer
and DeKalb com growing
around the airport, selected to
match the land they grow on
for moisture and time of
harvest. Rows are 30 inches
apart, probably the narrowest
in the county, with plants eight
inches apart.
The seeds are put down
with an eight-row planter,
Maxwell says, which also puts
down a soil insecticide at the
same time. This protects the
seeds and later the young
plants, for six weeks against
pests. The com matures in 120
to 130 days.
A chemical weed control is
applied between the rows after
planting, Maxwell said, which
prevents weeds from growing
in much of the com. In places
where heavy weed growth
challenges the chemical, the
com has to be plowed once
during the season.
The Cherokee County
Board of Commissioners
Monday afternoon, meeting
with state jail officials and two
commissioners from Clay
County, discussed the
possibility of building a
regional jail to serve more than
one county.
The state jail inspector from
Asheville, James Pitts, has
found recently that jails in
both Clay and Cherokee
counties are below the
minimum state standards, as
passed by the Legislature in
1967.
Pitts was present, as was
Woodburn C. Williams, chief of
the state Jail and Detension
Services, and Charles Hall, his
assistant. The Clay
commissioners attending were
Chairman Andy Padgett and
Odell Shook.
"These county lines, drawn
maybe 200 years ago when
travel was by mule or
horseback, don't mean much
anymore," Williams said. "Yet
United Fund
Nearing Goal
The Cherokee County
United Fund, which officially
began Oct. 6, is nearing the
goal of $30,000.
Hobart McKeever, president
of the United Fund and a
co-chairman of the fund-raising
campaign with Tom Gentry,
said current pledges total
$24,962.
The employes of Berkshire
International at Andrews
pledged $4,000, McKeever
said.
He also noted that
Magnavox at Andrews is
contributing heavily to the
success of United Fund, the
employes pledging $3,150 and
the company pledging $3,500.
McKeever said the main
portion of the drive should be
completed in about two more
weeks although some solicitors
may be later than that in
finishing their calls.
Mayor Casts Vote
A solemn Mayor Cloe Moore cast his vote Tuesday
morning at the courthouse. He had pushed hard for
passage of the local tax option but solid opposition
from the rural precincts defeated it in Cherokee.
Looking on, left to right, were Louise Schuyler, clerk;
Mrs. Robert Hardin, registrar; Sheilah Sneed, judge.
Commissioners Discuss Constructing Regional Jail
we've got each county trying
to maintain a courthouse and a
jail and they just can't afford
it." Williams said his agency
was not trying to force the idea
of a regional jail on anyone but
wanted to see if the
commissioners were interested.
At the present, there is no such
jail in the state, he said,
although several counties in the
northeastern section of North
Carolina are seriously
considering such a project.
He said a jail to serve
Cherokee, Clay and Graham
counties should be built to
accommodate 30 prisoners and
would cost about $210,000.
He added that he did not know
if Graham would be interested
in the idea and left after the
discussion to go to
Robbinsville and discuss the
matter with county officials
there.
"We're interested," Padgett
said, adding that jail service is
expensive and in Clay "we
won't average much more than
one prisoner a day."
Padgett and others noted
that a jail-building project
would call for a bond vote by
the people and would probably
be difficult to promote, the
generally- accepted feeling
being that present jails "are
good enough for those who
have to go there."
Williams differed with that
opinion, saying that prisoners
should receive humane care
and adding, with emphasis,
that the jail inspector considers
the Cherokee County Jail, with
its wooden floors, to be a fire
hazard.
"Prisoners shouldn't have to
go to sleep at night, locked
behind bars, with the fear that
they might be burned up," he
said. He also said that old jails
are not very secure - "Some of
these prisoners are geniuses at
escaping" - and the community
should be able to feel that
when a dangerous man is
locked up, he will not be able
to get out.
Williams and the other two
jail officials said a regional jail
would be more economical to
operate than two or three
separate facilities and would be
a saving for the counties
involved, in that it would
eliminate needless duplication
of jailors and matrons to look
after prisoners.
county doesn't provide the
extra space, the 80 per cent
federal support for Social
Services will be withdrawn.
The choice is simple, but
painful - the Farmers Home
Administration, now
occupying three rooms on the
second floor of the courthouse,
will have to move out so Social
Services can have the space.
"It's the only thing we can
do," said W. T. Moore,
chairman of the Cherokee
County commissioners. The
other commissioners grimly
agreed with him.
Robert Bruce, who heads
the local FHA office, appeared
to ask if the commissioners
could furnish him office space
anywhere else, either in the
courthouse or in Murphy. He
said his agency provided
money for 214 new homes in
Cherokee County in the past
three years, a considerable
addition to the county
property tax books.
Bruce, and the FHA
supervisor, who appeared with
him, said that their agency
only asks that a county provide
it with free office space. They
indicated that the FHA office,
which has been in Murphy for
There was speculation,
nothing definite, that grant
monies might be available for
such a new idea and the
Cherokee and Clay
commissioners agreed to try
and set up a meeting in
Andrews soon with
commissioners from Graham
County to discuss the
possibility further.
In other business, the
Cherokee County
commissioners Monday
discussed at great length the
shortage of office space in the
courthouse and Murphy in
general but were unable to take
any action in a local crisis.
The Social Services
department, formerly called
Welfare, has to have more
office space. That order comes
from the federal government
which pays 80 per cent of the
local budget for welfare of
dependent children, the
elderly, the blind and other
county wards.
The county, the
commissioners say, must
provide the extra space in the
courthouse or else give the
Social Services department a
new building. The deadline is
the first of December. If the
many years, may look to
Graham County for office
space.
They told the
commissioners that if the
office, which serves Cherokee
and Graham, moves to
Robbinsville, the quality of
service rendered to Cherokee
will have to decline. The
commissioners said they didn't
want to lose the FHA office
and urged the two men to look
around to see if they could
locate office space in Murphy.
The Soil Conservation
Service, which shares one of
the rooms with the FHA, will
also have to move out.
Diane Kay!or, representing
the Senior class at Murphy
High School, appeared to ask
commissioners if the Senior
Prom could be held in the
courthouse lobby. The event is
to be held Feb. 21.
Commissioners approved,
providing the students dean up
the courthouse after the dance.
Commissioners also
approved the purchase of a
new electric typewriter for the
county tax office and accepted
an audit of county books for
the last fiscal year by a Lenoir
accounting firm.
Attorney General
Backs Simonds
Cherokee County
Commissioner Jack Simonds'
protest of a special meeting by
commissioners which did not
include him is supported by
the state Attorney General.
Simonds presented an
opinion from Attorney General
Robert Morgan's office at the
meeting Monday of the
Cherokee commissioners which
read that "validity of such a
special meeting is highly
questionable."
The meeting in question was
called by Chairman W. T.
Moore to name a member of
the three-man Jury
Commission. County employes
charged with contacting
commissioners said they could
not reach Simonds by
telephone and he was not
notified of the meeting.
The other five
commissioners attended the
meeting and elected Mrs. Mary
Faye Brumby to replace Ben
Scott on the jury board. She
has not been sworn in,
however.
Simonds protested that he
was not notified and added
that the state law requiring
posting a notice of a special
meeting on the courthouse
bulletin board had also not
been obeyed.
County Attorney L. L.
Mason did not attend the
meeting Monday of the
commissioners, being tied up
all day in Superior Court. A
copy of Simonds' letter from
the Attorney General was
entered in the minutes and will
be given to Mason for study
before the next meeting.
Mason had interpreted an
amendment to 'the state law,
which reads that participation
in a special meeting is a waiving
of the posting and notification
requirement, as meaning that
the special meeting was legal
since five of the six were there.
The Attorney General's
office interpreted the
amendment another way,
saying it is for "simply
preventing any commissioners...
from later trying to vo I d the
action taken at the m e e ti n g
on the grounds that no wri t ten
notice was given."
Trick Or Treat
* Mrs. Kate Evans' kindergarten class from the First
^hodist Church made its annual Halloween visit to
i Scout office last week, scaring the bejabbers out
of two secretaries and several printers. Behind the
Emmett Kelly clown mask is Michael Townson, ton
of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Townson.
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1969
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D e n i se Ferguson,
daughter of Mr. and
Mrt. W. Edgar
Ferguson. Paula Hyatt,
daughter of Mr. and
Mrt. Glenn Hyatt. Use
Decker, daughter of Mr.
and Mrt. M. G. Decker.
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SUPER MARKET
TENNESSEE STREET