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The Cherokee Scout
t
and Clay County Progress
Volume 80 _ Number 22 - Murphy. North Carolina, 28906 ? Second Class Postage Paid At Murphy, North Carolina ? THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1969
10C
Per Copy
Editorial
>' SUPPORT
YOUR
LOCAL
HOSPITAL
The Murphy Hospital Authority sent out an
imaginative appeal letter last week, complete with a
shiny new penny, seeking donations for its program to
upgrade Providence Hospital.
The idea was that the penny would catch the eye and
the letter would be read before being thrown in the
was tec an. We hope the MHA got its penny's worth in
each case. At the present time, in the present situation,
we think the upgrading program is the best thing
Murphy can do.
The doctors here are overworked and several of them
are men who have reached the time of life when they
should be able to cut back and slow down. In the finest
traditon of small-town physicians, they have served long
and well. In matters of birth and death, they have
worked daily pitting their knowledge and skill against
the ravages of disease and Father Time. They also
perform much of the dirty, bloody work of a
community, patching up bodies broken by accident or
crime. Yet at a time when their thoughts should be
turning more to fishing or gardening or travel or
grandchildren or a good book in a quiet corner, these
Jfder doctors are forced to feel the weight of duty more
than ever?they deserve better.
Dr. Helen Wells and Dr. Walter Mauney, both reared
in Murphy, perhaps more than anyone feel the full need
for more doctors. Both have worked on their own and
also with the MHA in efforts to bring doctors here.
Their present workload is staggering.
In attempting to bring doctors to Murphy, the
hospital authority finds itself in a very large game, with
high stakes. The medical journals are full of
advertisements by hospitals and communities trying to
lure a doctor.
Any prospective doctor visiting Murphy, and there
have been several during the past year, is interested in
how many patients there will be and what type of place
he will be working in. MHA members will assure him
that there are plenty of patients. Then he visits
Providence Hospital, clean, neat and accredited?also
drab and dark.
Dr. Walter Mauney was outspoken and explicit in a
hospital authority meeting in October?patients receive
good care at Providence, he said, but in physical
appearance it leaves much to be desired.
Trying to recruit a doctor has proved useless after he
has seen the interior of the hospital Dr. Mauney says.
"He doesn't hear anything else you say or see anything
you show him, after he's seen the hospital."
In the November public meeting of the hospital
authority, a professional color consultant said the
interior of the hospital needs to be painted in brighter,
pastel colors to give patients a psychological lift. The
dark colors, especially in the smaller rooms, he said
make the room "seem to close in on the patient."
The fixing-up program will also mean that the
hospital will be in good shape for service until a new
facility is built in Murphy, whether it be five or 15 years
away. A new hospital will eventually have to be built
but it will take years of planning and finding money and
in the meantime it will be better to have a hospital
which is attractive and serviceable.
The Catholic Sisters of Providence, sent here to labor
among us mountaineers, operated at a loss of $15,000
last year. They lost another $6,000 in operating
expenses this year. They say they will continue to
operate in Murphy?if doctors can be found to staff the
hospital. But the Sisters can't do it alone?they need the
help of the community.
We know it's Christmas and the United Fund just
finished its drive and the first of the year, license plates,
car insurance, college tuition and income taxes are just
around the comer.
Give anyway?dig deep, if you can manage a little
from that last paycheck in December you can count it
off as a deduction on this year's income taxes.
Culprits Tracks
The underside of a piece of bark from a stand of
bettle-infested trees in the Owl Creek section shows the
characteristic winding galleries where the pests tunnel
and eat, killing the tree. The white spot at the point of
the knife blade is a bettle grub. (Staff Photo)
Town Board Seeks
Light At Courthouse
The Town Board has
written a letter to a state
traffic engineer in Raleigh,
requesting a traffic control
light at the courthouse
intersection.
Town Clerk Charlie Johnson
said the letter, addressed to
J.O. Litchfield, State Traffic
Two Volunteer
For Army Duty
The Clay County draft
board on Monday, Dec. 8 sent
two registrants to the
Knoxville Entrance Station for
induction into the U. S. Army.
They were Jerry Madison
Buckner and Merl William
Matheson, Jr., both volunteers.
On the same date, the Clay
County board sent 17 for
physical examinations: Rex
Henry Hall, James Edward
Patterson, Phillip J. Moss,
James Charles Lowe, Donald
William Whitaker, Lowell
Conard Martin, Harold Scroggs,
Jr., Robert Mull, Sam Edward
Ashe, George Hal McClure,
Frank Richard Carter, Jr.,
Andrew Phillip Blankenship,
Thomas Monroe Canup, Walter
Morris Scroggs, Jr., Tommy
Edward Moore, James Marvin
McCray and Buddy William
Carter.
Engineer, requests that the
light be co-ordinated with light
which will be placed at the
square to make for a more
orderly traffic flow in the
center of town.
Johnson pointed out that
the Town Board would like to
have the light placed at the
courthouse intersection Mien
State Highway CommKsion
crews are in Murphy on
another project, putting up
new lights at the square. .
The new lights at ? tfie
square, all nine of them, will
probably be put into place
sometime early in 1970, he
said. They were planned several
years ago but the town and the
SHC engineers differed on the
layout of the traffic lanes.
The SHC wanted the Town
of Murphy to do away with the
angle parking downtown and
install parallel parking to allow
for three lanes of traffic each
way. Johnson said the town
fathers, facing the loss of 40
spaces if they abolished the
single parking, refused.
In the final approved plan,
the angle parking will remain
and there will be two lanes of
traffic, each with two separate
limits, on each leg of the
intersection at the square. The
ninth light will be for motorists
coming into town on Valley
River Avenue and turning left
onto Peachtree Street.
Dress Plant To Re- Open
By Guy Padgett
Staff Writer
Work will begin this week in
the new dress plant on NC-69
near Hayesville.
Mountain City Fashions,
Inc., is the name of the new
concern which replaces the
former Hayesville
Manufacturing Co., which
discontinued operations here
several months ago.
Murray Glassberg, owner of
the new plant, says full
operation will be under way by
about the first of the year,
with 100 or more employees at
work. Glassberg is the son of
the late Abe Glassberg, who
was owner of the original dress
plant at this location.
The new management has
purchased the plant site and
building which was built by the
Clay Development
Corporation, a locally owned
corporation which was
organized for the purpose of
helping attract new industries
to Clay County
Adolph Seplin will be
manager of the local plant and
says that people wanting
employment there should
apply at the plant, just south
of Four Points.
Cathy Originals was the
brand name given products of
the former Hayesville
Manufacturing Co., but
Glassberg says that "Cathy is
dead".
The new products will carry
a variety of brand names,
depending on who they are
made for. It is understood that
dresses will be made on
contract with merchandizing
firms who will specify their
own brand names for all
garments.
Penny Packers
. Some of the volunteer workers are
iiown who labored last week to tape
8,000 shiny new pennies to appeal
letters mailed out by the Murphy
Hospital Authority, seeking funds for
the renovation of Providence Hospital.
Landowners To Lose
Beetles Ready To Feast On Pines
Hungry little beetles,
millions of them, about the
size of rice grains, will
probably eat up a large part of
the pine stand in Cherokee
County next Spring.
This gloomy prediction was
made this week by the N. C.
Forest Service county ranger,
Harold Hatchett. The beetles
have already damaged a great
deal of the pine forests, he
said, and will be ready to start
eating on a grand scale as soon
as warm weather returns.
The villain is the Southern
pine beetle, now firmly
entrenched in the four
westernmost counties of the
state. At stake in Cherokee
County alone, Hatchett notes,
is pine timber valued at more
than $15 million.
A similar invasion by the
pine beetle in 1957, he said,
was stopped cold by pure luck.
Cold weather in the zero range
will kill some of the beetles,
which spend Winter under the
bark of the pine trees, but
Cherokee County that -year
got a letter-perfect weather
situation.
"The zero weather was
preceded by several days of
moist, warm weather,"
Hatchett recalls. "The beetles
fed on thoGe days and took the
moisture-filled wood into their
bodies. Then we had a real cold
snap with the temperature
going down to zero in a hurry
and the moisture in them did it
- the water froze and burst the
beetles."
Hatchett and alarmed
timber!and owners, of course,
are hoping for another lucky
weather break. In the
meantime, however, the forest
rangers are urging landowners
to cut diseased pine trees and
sell them while the lumber is
still usable.
If the landowner waits too
long, the beetle-infested wood
will rot and be worthless to
him. Hatchett added that the
landowner should cut all trees
in a radius of 75 to 100 feet
from any diseased tree to make
sure he gets out all the beetles.
Bark and any debris should be
burned to prevent
re-infestation.
"They're coming out of the
Smoky Mountain National
Park,"Hatchett said. "They are
not controlled there and the
park acts as an incubator for
this whole area. In Cherokee
County they must be spread by
the wind because we're finding
them on the tops of the ridges
and they apparently swept
across the county on an
east-to-west direction."
The Forest Service is not
embarking on any spraying
campaign, he said, mainly
because there are no funds
available. And the
cut-and-salvage operation is
hampered because so many
landowners live in other states
and cannot be reached.
"We're getting to all the
landowners we can," Hatchett
said. "But there will be an
explosion next Spring when
the warm weather comes. The
woodpeckers are having a
picnic, eating all the beetles
they can, but there are not
enough of them. They are a
help but we would have to
import about a billion
woodpeckers to solve the
problem."
The beetle, both as a grub
and an adult, eats on the inner
bark. The life cycle is between
30 and 40 days and in North
Carolina as many as five
generations are possible during
the warmer months.
One pair of beetles in this
state may have increased to
65,000 beetles by the end of
the season, he pointed out.
Literally millions of them are
in the pines in Cherokee
County now, their presence
marked in many spots by the
pine needles turning yellow
and brown.
The infestation, Hatchett
said, is on the east-west axis
and south of this, there are no
beetles. Many infested spots
can be seen between Murphy
and Andrews from the
highway, discolored patches
surrounded by healthy green
trees.
At the present, there are
about 50,000 acres of pines in
this county. Their average
value is $307 per acre for the
average 15 cords per acre,
which can be sold at $20.50
per cord delivered at the
lumber yard.
These figures, Hatchett says,
will probably be revised next
year by the pine beetle.
Landowners should contact
the ranger or the county
extension office for additional
information, cut out the
infested trees they can and
hope for cold weather.
Christmas Closings
Most retail stores in Murphy
will close on Christmas Day,
which is Thursday, Dec. 25,
and also will be closed on
Friday.
They will reopen for
business on the Saturday after
Christmas, according to the
merchants association
chairman Lena Lovingood.
She added that most
Murphy stores will be open
until 9 p.m. on Monday and
Tuesday of next week but will
close at the regular hour on
Wednesday, Christmas eve.
Citizens Bank & Trust will
be closed on Christmas Day,
Friday and Saturday but will
open for business on
Wednesday, Christmas Eve.
First Union Bank will be
The Scout office
will dose Wednesday,
Christmas Day and
Friday for Christmas. |
It will reopen on
Monday, Dec. 29 for
business as usual.
is
wmmmmmmMmmm&t
closed on Wednesday,
Thursday and Friday but will
be open on the regular
schedule on the Saturday after
Christmas.
The Cherokee County
Courthouse will be closed on
Wednesday, Christmas Day,
Friday and Saturday.
At the Town Hall, the water
department will close
Wednesday at noon and will be
open for business as usual on
Friday. The Power Board
office will be closed
Wednesday, Christmas Day and
Friday but will be open for
half-a-day's business on
Saturday.
Cherokee County schools
will recess for Christmas at the
end of the regular day on
Friday, Dec. 19 and will
reopen on Jan. 5.
The Employment Security
Office will be closed on
Wednesday, Christmas Day and
Friday.
The Murphy Carnegie
Library will be closed all of
next week for Christmas and
will reopen on Dec. 30.
Woodpecker Patrol
Cherokee County Forest Ranger Harold Hatchett
looks over the marks left by woodpeckers, who cut
through the bark to eat the beetles. The birds help, he
says, but the county would need "about a billion" to
control the beetle invasion. (Staff Photo)
Defy Dynamite
Dam-Building Beavers Flood Cornfield
By Wally Avett
Staff Writer
A tribe of beavers has set up
housekeeping on a Cherokee
County farm, flooding out
compicking operations.
That's right?beavers.
The furry engineers, once
almost extinct in North
Carolina, are making a
comeback and these particular
beavers have built six dams on
the Townson Farm in the
Mission Community, flooding a
section of a hugh cornfield.
Wayne Mauney, manager of
the Townson Farm, sometimes
uses the word "dam" in
speaking of his unwelcome
tenants but it isn't always in
specific reference to the actual
barriers which form the small
"I don't know what I'm
going to do about them," he
admits. "Well probably just
dynamite their dams out again
and pick that corn by hand
some morning while the mud is
frozen, before they back the
water up again."
The six dams he pointed out
are all on one stream, built so
each one is only two feet or so
tall. The water in the biggest,
and sixth lake, therefore is
several feet above the level of
the nearby Hiawassee River but
the beavers did not have to
build a tall dam equal to the
total drop.
The dams are constructed in
the night, Mauney said, with
small trees gnawed down by
the animals along the creek.
According to authorities, the
beaver's chisel-like front teeth
continue to grow throughout
his life and If he doesn't keep
them worn down with
chewing, they will eventually
grow so long he cannot eat and
will starve.
The Townson Farm beavers
also use corn stalks in their
dams, which is a neat trick
since they apparently like to
eat the corn itself.
Their dams are rather leaky
by human standards and they
won't win any prizes for
appearance but Mauney says
they are substantial and
apparently the beavers value
them quite highly.
"We dynamited all their
dams out a few weeks ago on a
Saturday, all six of them," he
said. "We returned on Monday
afternoon and they had been
working at full speed, not just
on one or two, but to put back
the whole six."
In other states, where
beavers are plentiful and
trapped for their pelts, the
animals live in lodges built of
mud and sticks in their lakes,
the lodge having an entrance
which is underwater. The
Townson Farm beavers have
not yet built a lodge and
Mauney thinks they must be
living under the creek banks.
He has set a number of traps
for them but has caught only
one, a young animal which
weighed about 20 pounds. He
says according to their tracks,
his particular beaver crew must
be composed of two older
animals, much larger than the
one he caught, and a band of
smaller ones.
"I've found a lot of toenails
torn off in my traps," Mauney
says hopefully. "Maybe if
enough of them get sore feet,
they 11 leave."
Cherokee County Wildlife
Protector J.J. Jeffries reminds
would-be beaver trappers that
the season on the animal is
open only for the month of
February and a trapping license
is required. Farmers, however,
may protect their crops by
killing pests with any method
short of dynamite or poison.
Engineering Feat Surveyed
&s!
Wayne Mauney, left, manager of the Townson
Farm, points out part of the beavers' dam to Ephriam
Crisp, of the Mission Community. Part of the flooded
cornfield can be seen at the j^ght. Tha
standing on the beam's dm tnafcof I
and mud.