Newspapers / The Cherokee Scout (Murphy, … / Nov. 20, 1969, edition 1 / Page 1
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MUitrfiX LlliiiAiil tiu SAMPLE 10 PAGES 1 .1 The Cherokee Scout and Clay County Progress Volume 80 _ Number 18 ? Murphy, North Carolina, 28906 ? Second Class Postage Paid At Murphy, North Carolina ? THURSDAY? NOVEMBER 20, 1969 IOC Per Copy JIMMY HOWSE. . .prepares sauna for unsuspecting newsmen. I owse Broils Newsmen J^auna Bath Makes Skin 'Smooth As A Baby9 By Wally Avett Staff Writer And so there we were, naked as jaybirds and sweating like horses at Murphy's famed Jimmy Howae Imperial Sauna Palace. It was one chilly night last week and the proprietor (he also runs the Cherokee Restaurant) was broiling a couple of newspapermen - us. Scout publisher Jack Owens and this withered writer. The sauna is located in its own separate building behind the Howse home in east Murphy. It is divided into a small dressing room and the sauna itself, a tight chamber with plywood walls and a cement floor. Entering the sauna itself, we found out, was our biggest mistake. The cement floor was hot enough to bring back boyhood memories of scorching pavement against bare feet and the air was heavy and close, like the inside of a boiler room. Good old Jimmy Howse smiled and laughed and took his place on one of the bleacher-like plank seats. We did the same and paid for our Inexperience. The wooden seat was so hot it could be used only after water was poured on it from the buckets marking our appointed positions. Taking our seats, we quickly learned not to lean back against the plywood wall. The wood Itself was hot enough but the heads of the nails holding it in place are pure murder! Most ovens show a low temperature of 150 on the dial - the thermometer on the sauna wall read 175. "It's getting too dry in here," said our genial host "If this makes It too hot for you, clip your washrag in the water and breathe through it" With that, he scooped a dipper into his bucket and dashed the water onto the stones which are contained in the top of the sauna stove. There was no visible steam, just hissing as the water hit superheated rocks. The relative humidity gauge showed the difference but we already knew about it. The effect was the same as if someone had dipped a blanket in boiling water and thrown it over our heads. The wave of hot wet heat washed over our heads and shoulders and seared the eyelids. It was so hot that the inside of our nostrils rebelled and breathing was possible only through the mouth and then with the aid of the wet washrag. The sauna boss smiled at our discomfort and threw another dipper on the hot rocks. The Finns, who originated the sauna thousands of years ago, say its purpose is to induce sweat and therefore insure a really dean bath. We sweated. After about 10 minutes we adjourned to an ice-cold shower in the comer of the sauna. Ordinarily, I would not even consider taking a cold shower but on that night it was a pleasure. After sitting around in 175 degrees, we couldn't get enough of it. Then we went outside and walked around on the Howse patio. It was about 40 degrees and we were wearing only towels but the only sensation of cold was from the bare feet, unaccustomed to such shenanigans in November. Howse said the Finns often end their sauna with a dip in an icy lake or dive in a snowbank. He said he had rolled in the snow here in Murphy after a sauna with no ill effects. Steam rising from our bodies, feeling no cold, we believed him. His wife, he explained, is responsible for the sauna. The former Gertrude Makela of Negaunee, Michigan, she was reared where the sauna was a vital part of living. The hardy Finns of Michigan's upper peninsula, lumberjacks and workers in the iron mines, believe the sauna to be the only way to get thoroughly dean and also think it essential to good health. We found that just one sauna made for smoother skin and had wives with dishwater hands turning green with envy. Howse proudly displays skin "smooth as a baby's" from repeated saunas. Mrs. Howse, an employe of Citizens Bank & Trust Co., toured Finnland last summer to visit relatives and see the country where her parents were bom. She says all the apartment buildings and hotels in the cities have large saunas, which are used regularly. The heater in the Howse sauna was purchased in Michigan and the river rocks which give off the intense heat were picked up here at Murphy. Fired by bottled gas, it takes about an hour to reach 175 degrees in the sauna. According to magazine articles on the subject, the average temperature in a sauna in Finnland is about 212 degrees, which dear reader, is the boiling point of water. Some Finns, however, are said to heat their saunas to 250 and above! The Howaes have invited us to come back and sauna again sometime. We plan to accept and at that time hope to set a new all-time high heat record for Cherokee County. Ieason On Deer tpens Monday J-coated men armed with vered rifles will be in woods at sunrise Monday i the two-week season I for white-tailed deer. J. Jeffries, Cherokee Wildlife Protector, i deer hunters that they have a big game license [.75) in addition to a regular (license. on on bear and wild \ doses Saturday night at a, he added, and these nals will not be legal J the deer season, on on bear and boar will : in on Christmas Day open through New in Cherokee County ered pretty well," the i said. "They're here but sot bundled up In any r places." the mast freeze last knocked out the I supply for many i also had a telling i the deer population in animals did not breed i will be felt next year. he said, predicting that hunters will find fewer deer. The season is open for shooting of antlered bucks only and the limit is one per day, two per season. "Everyone would do well to wear bright colors in the woods for better visibility," Jeffries said. In addition to accidental gunshot deaths, he noted that deer hunters also often fall to heart attacks brought on by the unusual exertions and strains of the hunt. Beetle Meeting Jack Earley, Cherokee County Extension Chairman, and Harold R. Fisher, U. S. Forest Service District Ranger, have called a meeting for Friday, to begin at 1:30 p.m. at the community center at Andrews. The invasion by the southern pine bark beetle of Cherokee, Clay, Macon and Graham counties will be diacuawd. Bus Station Moved J.B. Hall, Jr., owner and operator of the Trailwaya Bus Station, is shown at his desk in the new location. The station has moved out of the building on Church Street. Hall said the Western Union equipment has been installed in the trailer and business is proceeding as usual. He plans to add an awning for the front of the trailer-station and storage facilities in the future. (Staff Photo) The Scout will publish a day early next week in order to give employes the Thanksgiving holiday. All advertising and news copy will have to be received by 5 o'clock Monday afternoon so the paper can be printed on Tuesday. Qualla Man Charged John F. Carter of the Qualla section of Clay County is now recuperating satisfactorily at his home, where he suffered a gunshot wound Friday evening. Tommy Martin, 49, also of Qualla, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, forcible entry and carrying a concealed weapon. Clay County Sheriff Hartsell Moore and other officers arrested Martin shortly after the shooting. He has been released on $2,000 bond for appearance in District Court at Hayesvilie on Nov. 25. Carter, 53, owns and operates the Hayesville Upholstery Co. He said he rushed home about 4:30 Friday afternoon in response to a call from his wife. Sheriff Moore quoted Carter as saying that by the time he reached the house, Martin had already broken down a door and was inside the home. Carter said as he entered the door, Martin met him with a .45 caliber pistol and shot him through the neck and shoulder. Hospital Authority Accepts Engineers Plans For Upgrading At Providence The Murphy Hospital Authority voted Monday night to accept the detailed plans of engineers for upgrading Providence Hospital. About 75 people attended the authority's public meeting at the Cherokee County Courthouse. The engineers, provided by American Thread, Rimco, Clifton Precision and Peachtree Products, have studied the hospital and presented a step-by-step explanation of the renovation they proposed. No estimates of costs were given and authority members are now in the process of submitting the plans to contractors, whose bids are expected shortly. Jack Owens, chairman of the authority, presided over the meeting and announced that the renovation project will also include purchase and installation of an emergency generator at the hospital. The only present emergency provision, he said, is a battery-operated system for lighting exits. The Joint Commission for Accreditation of Hospitals recommended the generator in its latest survey of the local hospital, he said. Fred Essick, an engineer from American Thread, made the presentation of plans. He said the interior of the hospital needs to be painted in brighter, lighter pastel colors to give patients a psychological lift. Jim Isom , a color consultant for Deering-Millikan, said varnished wood surfaces will be left as they are but other surfaces should be repainted. He said the dark colors in the small rooms at the hospital make the room seem to "close in on the patient." Essick said the older part of the hospital needs new lighting fixtures. The lighting in the new section of the hospital is all right, he said, and would not be replaced. "We're trying to use what we have to save money," he said, not just making changes for the sake of change. Essick also said engineers recommended installation of low, false ceilings in the two corridors on the ground floor to hide unsightly plumbing. Seven rooms on the second floor of the new section should have air-conditioning installed, he said, because they are under a non-insulated roof and get very hot in summer. That roof, he added, needs new shingles. The engineers, he said, would provide another bathroom on the second floor, making a total of three in the hospital for patients not in private rooms. They also advise putting down indoor-outdoor carpet with a pile one-quarter inch deep all over the hospital except for the operating room and delivery room. The tile floors are worn and the carpet is cheaper to install, Essick said. The outside of the hospital needs a new paint job, he said, and all the hospital beds also need painting. The emergency generator, he said, can be installed without any major changes in the present wiring. It would be set up to start if the regular flow of power stops and it would provide electricity for the operating room, the delivery room and power for the emergency lighting system. Essick said the engineers found both the old and new sections of the hospital to be structurally sound, worth the investment of money for renovation. Bill Christy, finance chairman for the authority, said he wants to involve everyone in raising money for the renovation project, to promote the community feeling and "let them know what we've got here?'. We II call on every one of you in the future to contribute," he said. "This will help us during the time in which we will ultimately build a new hospital." Owens echoed his sentiments, saying that there is a time lag in planning and building a new hospital and "We have to do something with what we've got now." Would Hire More Men Police Chief Pete Stalcup, left, and meter officer Arvel Payne check figures on a monthly report at the town police station. Stalcup says in order to keep a man in the station at all times, the town would have to hire more policemen. (Staff Photo) Chief Of Police Proposes Dispatcher System For Firemen And Officers Murphy Police Chief Pete Stalcup says he can't guarantee a policeman will answer all telephone calls to the local station unless more men are hired. The Town Council last week, reacting to complaints that police officers spent too much time drinking coffee together and left the station and telephone unmanned, ordered Chief Stalcup to crack down on his men. "I have instructed them that if two men are on duty, they are not to go together to drink coffee," Chief Stalcup says. "One is to stay at the station, but I can't promise a man on the phone at all times unless we get more men." The town police force, he explained, consists of six regular officers and two trainees, who work part of the time and take law enforcement courses at Tri-County Tech. One of the trainees, Tommie Palmer, is resigning to join the security force at Western Carolina University at Cullowhee. "With that many men, there ate just not enough man-hours to cover the phone and patrol, too," the chief says. On the matter of patrol or serving a warrant or just about any other official duties. Chief Stalcup sends two men. "These days, if you send just one man out by himself, you're leaving him wide open, a target for any trouble," the chief says. This policy is standard in many other law enforcement agencies, the rule in some cases being served by sending out a man and a police dog rather than two officers. The N. C. State Highway Patrol is an exception, but its men are tied together by a special-band radio network. "Our radio is just plain citizen's band," Chief Stalcup says. "And any hoodlum with a set can listen in on us." And the town police department has only one car, he points out. This would mean that if one officer was sent out and got into trouble and managed to make his distress call, the officer left back at the station would have no way to go to his aid. He would have to use his private auto, Chief Stalcup said, or else commandeer someone else's car and the distress call would have been heard by anyone who had a citizen's band radio. Rather than risk the chance of an officer being hurt or killed in the line of duty, Chief Stalcup is emphatic - if the choice is between sending two men or sending one and leaving one at the station, he will send two, leaving the phone and station unmanned. Actually, he said, there is an answering service which is supposed to function during daylight hours, five and a half days a week. The police phone is tied into a phone at City Hall and town employes there are supposed to answer if it is not answered at the station. A citizen's band set there enables them to call police officers on patrol in the police car. Of the six regular officers, one works full time on parking meter duty. Chief Stalcup and the other four work a 44-hour Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Only one man works on the third shifts on Monday through Thursday. Stalcup suggested that as a solution for the situation, the town could set up a fire a police dispatcher's office in the building now housing the town fire trucks. "A dispatcher to handle fire calls would cut down on fire insurance rates in Murphy," Chief Stalcup said. "And the dispatcher could answer calls for the police and contact my men in the car by radio. "We wouklrf t even want the dispatcher to be a police officer - so he couldn't be called out of the office," he added. "Just let him answer the phones and handle the radios and free uniformed officers to be on duty away from the station." Such an arrangement to be manned seven days a week, 24 hours a day, would take about five people, Stalcup said. Seventh-Day Advontirta; Don Holland, youth* for seven Southern speak to the kinrpbf Seventh-Day AdvenOata c? Saturday, Nov. 22 and on the
The Cherokee Scout (Murphy, N.C.)
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Nov. 20, 1969, edition 1
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