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The Cherokee Scout
and Clay Cbunty Progress
.
Volume 80 _ Number 20 ? Murphy, North Carolina, 28906 ? Second Class Postage Paid At Murphy, North Carolina ?THURSDAY? DECEMBER 4, 1969*
10C
Per Copy
SPRY OLD GENTLEMAN... to visit here soon.
Scout Will Publish
Letters To Santa Claus
Told Santa yet what you
?want him to leave under your
Itree this Christmas?
If you haven't, you'd better
Iget busy. Otherwise you may
?have to take "pot luck"?you
|know, what's left over after
Old Saint Nick fills the orders
Iplaced by all the other little
|boys and girls the world over.
The Scout is helping Santa
collect his mail again this year.
Well take your letter and
speed it on the way to the
North Pole where Santa and his
helpers are busily filling orders.
Santa has given us
permission to print all his
letters in The Scout this year,
so all his little friends can get
ideas from each other, just in
case they need help deciding
what they want him to bring.
Well print them as soon as
possible after we get them,
then send your Copy on to the
North Pole.
Remember, Santa fills
orders only from good little
boys and girls. If that's you,
write him your letter right
away. Address to: Santa Claus,
c/o The Scout, Murphy, N.C.
28906.
I
WILBURN GRIGGS . . . diabetic, but made fine garden at Marble
NEW INDUSTRY
ANNOUNCED IN CLAY
Plans for a carpet yarn manufacturing plant
on old US-64 near Wame were announced
Wednesday by officials of the Harriet and
Henderson Cotton Mills and Roy G. Sowers,
Jr., director of the N. C. Department of
Conservation and Development.
The plant will ultimately employ 600
persons and will represent a capital investment
of $12 million, according to Marshall Y.
Cooper, chief executive officer of the
Henderson-based company.
Construction on the first $4 million phase of
the plant will begin as soon as the Clay County
Development Corporation is able to arrange
financing.
The local group held a meeting with officials
from the Economic Development
Administration Wednesday. The local
corporation plans to lease the $1.4 million
building to Harriet and Henderson in the
summer of 1970.
The initial plant will contain 110,000 square
feet on a 25-acre site, according to Cooper.
Employment in the first year of operation will
total 225 persons. In 1971, the plant's annual
payroll will exceed $1 million, according to
Cooper.
Sowers expressed pleasure at the company's
decision to locate in rural Clay County.
There are approximately 250 manufacturing
jobs in Clay County now. Sowers said, but
when the Harriet and Henderson mill is in full
operation, it will more than double the number
of jobs available in the county.
"This is a prime example of improving the
job opportunities for people in our state,"
Sowers continued. "This new plant will bolster
the economy of one of our fine mountain
counties, which, incidentally, is one of those
counties which has lost population since the
1960 census."
'This is the nuts and bolts of Governor
Scott's program to assist our rural areas
improve their economic position," he added.
Cooper, in his statement from Hayesville,
said the company looked at sites in Virginia and
Georgia before deciding on the Tar Heel
location.
"We believe that Hayesville is the best of all
communities we looked at for the requirements
of this particular plant."
Tom C. Day, chairman of the Clay County
Development Corporation, said: "Hayesville is
most fortunate to gain a corporate citizen of
this stature."
Day, a vice president of Citizens Bank &
Trust and manager of the bank's operation in
Hayesville, has been a prime mover in attracting
new industry to Clay County.
Harriet and Henderson Cotton Mills, in
business since 1895, has Ave plants and 1,500
employees in Henderson and one plant with
250 employees in Berry ton, Ga. Annual sales
now exceed $35 million.
The new plant at Hayesville will be the
company's first venture into the carpet yarn
field.
inspecting The Site
Tom Day, left, a leader in attracting of Harriet and Henderson Cotton Mills,
new industry to Clay County, and look over the plans for a new plant to
Marshall Cooper, chief executive officer be located near Warne.
County Commissioners Name Tax List Takers
The Cherokee County
Board of Commissioners split
evenly along political lines
Monday moming and sparred
verbally for about half an hour
before deciding on tax list
takers for 1970.
With the board made up of
three Democrats and three
Republicans, compromise was
they key word. Ray Sims, a
teacher at Hiwassee Dam
School, led the Democrats;
Jack Simonds, of the Wolf
Creek section, was the
Deer Kill
Figures Up
Deer hunters have enjoyed a
good season so far at the Fires
Creek Refuge, according to
Game Warden Hariey Martin.
"It's running way over last
year," Martin said of the deer
kill. "We had 1,259 hunters
last week and they killed 78
bucks."
On opening day this year
there were 396 hunters and
they bagged 35 bucks as
compared to 417 hunters last
year killing only 18 bucks.
Martin said local hunters are
outnumbered on the
16,000-acre refuge with many
hunters from Georgia, South
Carolina and Tennessee and
others coming in from the
Piedmont section of North
Carolina.
There have been no injuries,
he said, and all hunters have
been very cooperative in
abiding by the rules of the
refuge.
The white tail deer season
for this part of the state ends
at sundown Saturday.
Republican spokesman.
It started when Sims moved
that W. T. Moore of Andrews,
chairman of the
commissioners, be re-elected to
his position. Moore is a
Democrat and a veteran
commissioner; there were nods
all around the table and he was
re-elected unanimously.
Then Simonds made a
motion that Luther Dockery, a
Republican, be" named as the
vice chairman. This office, it is
understood, is mostly honorary
except that Moore, 72, does
not like to travel at night and
the vice chairman must attend
several evening meetings in his
place each month. Sims had
been serving as vice chairman.
The vote on Dockery as vice
chairman split along party
lines. Simonds, Mrs. Emogene
Matheson and Dockery voted
for the motion as Republicans;
the Democrats, Moore, Sims
and Andrew Barton voted
against it.
Then Barton nominated
Sims to continue in the post
with the same result, the vote
splitting along party lines.
Sims then made a
completely separate motion, a
standard bookkeeping action,
that the county continue all
county employes in their jobs
at the same rate of pay.
Simonds asked for a
five-minute recess before any
vote was taken and with the
other two Republicans, left the
meeting room.
The GOP side returned
shortly and Simonds said
Barton, who also serves as tax
supervisor, is guilty of double
office holding. Sims said it was
not true, citing a handbook
which he said allowed a tax
supervisor to also be a county
commissioner.
Regardless of that, Simonds
said, the Republicans would go
along with Barton holding two
jobs and would go along with
the Sims motion on county
employes, but he said the
Republicans were determined
to name more of their number
to be tax list takers.
The Sims motion on county
employes was then passed and
the political head-knocking
began. Chairman Moore
suggested that the list takers be
split evenly across the county,
but the Republicans said in
some places there had been
only Democrats for the past
two years and there now
should be Republicans named
to reolace them.
Moore then commented
that "It doesn't amount to
much anyway - they just sit
there and write it down when
you list your property for
taxes" and retired from the
struggle. Simonds and Sims
then went over the names of
those seeking the
appointments, with Dockery
and Barton also taking an
active part and there was much
noisy discussion.
In the end, two Republicans
were named to list taxes in
Andrews, Cariyle Matheson
and Mrs. N. L. Adams, and two
Democrats were named for
Murphy, John Lunsford and
Mrs. Kate Mauney. In the other
four townships, they were split
evenly - a Democrat and a
Republican for each.
Property owners in
Beaverdam township in
January may list with Fred
Martin, a Democrat, or with
Virginia Patton, a Republican.
In Shoal Creek, listing will be
done with Walter Anderson, a
Republican, or with Democrat
Clifford Stiles.
At Hothouse, Mrs. Charlie
McGill, Democrat, and Mrs.
Winston Hawkins, Republican,
will list taxes. At Notla
township. Republican V. C.
Anderson and Democrat
Charles Akins will be list
takers.
Since Sims was not
replaced, it was explained that
he will continue as vice
chairman until a replacement is
named.
In other action the
commissioners
- Voted to finish out the
inside of two rooms the Town
of Murphy has furnished for
the Farmers Home
Administration in the building
housing the town fire trucks.
The FHA office was forced to
leave the courthouse in order
to provide more space for the
Social Services (formerly
Welfare) Department. The
commissioners saw the
arrangement as a welcome
solution, since they did not
want the FHA office to leave
Murphy.
- Released a lot in the
Texana section at the request
of Robert Bruce who heads the
local FHA office, for its tax
value plus about $110 in
property taxes owed, a total of
$710. The lot is needed for
construction of a Texana
community water system,
which will be partly financed
by an FHA loan. The release
was necessary because the
county had a $5,400 lien on
the lot, its owners having
drawn welfare support before
his death.
- Agreed to lease the
Andrews-Murphy Airport for
20 years to E. A. Wood, Jr.,
one of the original owners of
the land where the airport is
located. This lease will cost
Wood nothing, it was
explained, since he gave a large
hangar there to the county.
Commissioners also approved a
set of rules of operation of the
airport and noted that the lease
would not prevent the operator
of another air service from
moving in beside the Wood
operation, if another business
wanted space at the airport.
- Voted to support action
originated by the Forsyth
County commissioners seeking
a law from the next Legislature
making vehicle owners pay
property taxes on their vehicles
when they buy a license tag.
This would make for a higher
rate of collection of taxes on
vehicles, commissioners were
told, by closing a number of
loopholes. Georgia, South
Carolina and Virginia now have
a similar law, it was explained.
The measure would also
provide for a yearly tag on
mobile homes.
I 812 Families Make Gardens With ASCS Help
Bass Hyatt had a hand in
! family gardens in
okee County this year and
id like to increase that
er for 1970.
Head of the local
dtural Stabilization and
vation Service, Hyatt
arts that low income
were furnished with
fertilizer and equipment
gardens and those who
lid like to participate next
r should sign up now.
The urgency for early
iion, he explained, is
ASCS does not have the
at the present for the
for 1970. The local
hopes to know by
If the money will be
Hyatt says, and a
[ list of applicants will be of
I in obtaining it.
"People who live in the city
of Andrews or Murphy
not eligible," Hyatt said,
a family with an annual
greater than $3,000
qualify only if there is
hardship such as
or large family size."
tThose Interested In
a ting should sign up
immediately at the local ASCS
office, he said.
The garden project, Hyatt
said, is one part of the U. S.
Department of Agriculture's
offense in the war on poverty.
It is designed to improve the
diet of low-income families
with enough land for a garden
and was originally aimed, he
said, in this state at the poor
Negro farmers in eastern North
Ga rolina who are being pushed
out of tobacco farming by
increasing mechanization.
However, the program did
not flourish in the east, Hyatt
said, and Cherokee County
applied and was approved for
the only pilot project in the
state. This meant that while
the garden program was
recommended in all counties,
the ASCS offices would have
to find the money for it in
their regular budgets. Cherokee
received a special grant of
$15,000 just for the gardens
and when the response proved
overwh'elmlng,got an
additional $5,000.
"We began with 500
participants," Hyatt says.
"Then an additional 312
families were approved. There
woe 60 applicants who had to
be turned down because they
were not eligible under the
rules and another 150, who
were eligible were turned down
simply because we didn't have
enough money to help them."
The garden assistance
program was accepted in
Cherokee County as a farming
program, he explained, and not
a welfare project. "It wouldn't
work for a lazy man - it's not a
handout," he said. "It takes
plenty of hard work to make a
garden.
"Many of the people in the
program were on welfare but
the majority were not," he
said. "They were old people,
widows, disabled people, folks
with large families and small
salaries, underemployed people
and families with a pretty good
income but unusually high
expenses due to sickness."
The cutoff line for
participation was $3,000, he
said, but 460 of the 812
gardening families had incomes
of leas than $2,000 a year.
In the regular farm
programs the ASCS
administers, the local office
will buy trees if a farmer will
plant them. If a fanner has
unused land, to prevent enwion
the ASCS will buy seed, lime
and fertilizer for the fanner to
plant to hold the land. The
gardening program was handled
in similar fashion.
"They didn't get a red cent
in cash," Hyatt said. Each
participating family was given
$40 credit at local stores selling
farm supplies. The ASCS
picked up the tab and there
was a recommended list for the
quarter-acre gardens.
This included 300 pounds
of 8-8-8 fertilizer, SO pounds
of ammonium nitrate, 500
pounds of lime, a sprayer and
spray materials, 200 onion sets,
50 pounds of Irish potatoes
and seed packets for snap
beans, com, squash, carrots,
lettuce, cucumber, mustard,
okra and turnips.
The list was not mandatory,
Hyatt said, and if a gardener
wanted to drop turnips and
substitute tomatoes, that was
his business. He said although
the program was too late in
being funded for tomato plants
to be included, most of the
gardeners had already made
seed beds and had tomatoes in
their gardens.
Most of the gardeners
followed the list, he said, and it
took the allotted $40. He
added that about 800 of the
812 families purchased a
sprayer as advised, which can
be used for several years to
come.
Next year, if funds for the
program can be found, Hyatt
said the formula will be$8 for
each tenth of an acre in garden.
He said the county ASCS
committee will consider each
application and the number of
tenths to be approved for a
participant will be based on the
size of the family. People who
got sprayers this year will not
be given money for sprayers
next year, he added.
Hyatt said at the end of the
gardening season, he invited
the participants to write their
opinions on the program. He
said the local ASCS office
received about 300 letters in
support of the program, many
saying It had enabled them to
have a good garden they
otherwise would have not had
and expressing hope that the
program will continue.
Mo6t of the gardeners, he
said, told him that they ate the
fresh vegetables or preserved
them for later use. They were
not prohibited from selling
their produce, if they so
desired, but he said only a few
sold vegetables from their
garden plots.
There were two
letter-writers who opposed the
program, Hyatt reported. One
had not been in the program
but had heard about it and
contended that $40 was too
much, saying a garden could be
prepared and planted for less.
The other letter in
opposition was from a man
who had taken the $40 in
credit and made a garden with
it. He said, however, that giving
people credit at the store made
them lazy. Hyatt said his letter
did not indicate whether the
writer thought participation In
the program had mjKie him
lazy.
Christmas Parade Set Saturday
Employes at Clifton Precision are
shown preparing their float for the fifth
annual Jaycee Christmas Parade,
scheduled for 4 o'clock Saturday
afternoon. The parade will kick off the
Christmas Season. The theme is "An
Old Fashioned Christmas" and will be
highlighted by a visit from Santa Claus,
arranged by the Chamber of
Commerce. Starting at the ball park,
the parade will travel into town, turn
right at the traffic light down
Tennessee Street where it will turn left
onto Willow Street. From here, the
parade will come to Hiawassee Street
and turn left back toward town. At the
traffic light the parade will turn right
on Peachtree Street and then turn left
by the courthouse. Trophies will be
awarded to the best floats
in commercial and n on-commercial
divisions.