I.ui-phy caracole Library 4-73
Peachtree Street
Kurphy, H.C., 28906
The Cherokee Scout
12 15<
Pages 011(1 C1?Y County Progress Per Copy
Volume 80 ? Number 42? Murphy, North Carolina, 28906 ? Second Class Postage Paid At Murphy, North Carolina ? Thursday, May 14, 1970
Dome Building Doomed...school officials say it's beyond repair
The End Is Nearing
For Old Dome Building
By Juanita Thomas
Staff Writer
The Old Dome Building, located on
school property at Murphy Elementary
School, holds many memories for former
students of this beautiful old landmark.
But several school officials say they
would like to see the building removed
from the premises.
"We haven't come to anything
definite yet about tearing it down, but
sometime in the near future we feel that
it must go." said John Jordan,
Superintendant of Cherokee County
Schools.
Two other buildings on the premises
are going to be removed also, One is the
lunchroom, the other is the old
woodworking shop used by Levi's.
"These two buildings are just
eyesores." Bill Hughes, Principal of
Murphy Elementary stated.
"We are overcrowded as it is," Hughes
said. "We have 7.4 acres of land and
there are six buildings on it. According
to school authorities, there is supposed
tobe 17 acres per building."
The fact was mentioned that the
Dome has the only auditorium for
school use. Hughes replied that the
auditorium is not as much in demand
today as in earlier school days.
The Dome Building has never been
condemned, although the rumor started
not long after construction was
completed in 1910.
"If it were to be condemned," says
Jordon, "the local inspector would do it.
But the Board can have it condemned if
it comes to that."
No one knows the exact cost of the
building, it was built when labor was
about twenty-five cents an hour. Hughes
roughly estimated the cost of repairs
today at about $75,000.
"It would take about $18,000 just for
a new roof." Jordan added. "The only
thing in the building that is good is the
new heating system that was installed
about two years ago."
The Dome and Greek Gothic columns
are the most beautiful part of the
building. But according to Hughes, these
are near total ruin.
"The brick work is good, but it needs
a new roof, new floors new windows,
new lights, new everything." Hughes
said.. "Several years ago, we spent about
$5,000 to $6,000 on the Dome and
pigeon hunters came to shoot the
pigeons and shot it full of holes again.
The seats in the auditorium are some of
the first ones ever installed. About
three-fourths are in working condition,
the rest are ruined."
When asked if perhaps it could
someday be used for a museum, Hi'ghes
replied, "The building is not fireproof,
and I wouldn't want to place anything of
value in it. There is so much oil on the
floors, if it caught fire it would probably
go in about five minutes."
Jordan said that the building is still in
use. He said there are still about six
offices there, and the auditorium is being
used by the band for a practice room. He
added that these would all be moved out
this summer.
"We're just not going to spend any
more money on it. It just isn't feasible to
fix." Jordan added.
Ravages Of Time
Murphy Elementary Principal Bill
Hughes points to weeds and grass
growing in the crumbling steps of the
Dome Building. The base of a column
at right is rotting away and the floor of
the porch behind Hughes is held up by
supporting timbers. (Hugh Carringer
Photos)
Charles White
Don Ramsey
Maurice West
Jack Lovingood
Jack Simonds
Sheriff Fails To Win Nomination
Republicans Pick County Candidates
By Wally Avett
Staff Writer
The Cherokee County
Republican Party selected its
candidates for county offices
in a lively but orderly
convention held at the
Courthouse Saturday night.
Charles White beat three
other men, including
incumbent Claude Anderson,
for the Sheriff's nomination in
the hottest struggle of the
convention.
Anderson is finishing his
fourth consecutive four-year
term and was challenged by
three announced candidates -
White, who had once served as
his chief deputy, Herbert
Graham and Ralph Rayfleld.
The convention had met to
elect officers in February and
re-convened Saturday night
with C.E. Hyde as convention
chairman and Nancy Speed as
convention secretary. There
were about 160 attending,
seated according to the gay
red-and-white precinct
markers.
Bill Bradley, GOP state
representative from Clay
County, was the keynote
speaker, making a brief plea for
party unity before the voting
began.
Lonnie Hoover, appointed
as convention parliamentarian,
explained that the 17 precincts
were represented by 92
delegates and therefore 47
votes would be needed for a
candidate to win nomination.
Then the convention went to
work.
Sheriff Claude Anderson
was nominated and then White,
Rayfield and Graham were also
nominated, in that order.
There was a five-minute recess
for the precinct delegations to
caucus and the roll-call voting
began.
When the votes were tallied.
White had won with the bare
47 votes required for
nomination. Anderson had 24,
Graham got 20 and Ray field
had one vote.
"I want to thank everyone,"
White said as his nomination
was announced. "I won't
disappoint any of you if I'm
elected."
In a statement made after
the convention was over,
Anderson said "I want to
thank all the delegates who
supported me at the
convention and I also want to
thank all the people in both
parties for the support they
have given me in the last 15'A
years."
Councilmen,
Mayor Sworn
The mayor and four of the
six Town Council members
elected last week were sworn in
for four-year terms Monday
night.
Magistrate Hugh Brittain
administered the oath of office
to Mayor Cloe Moore,
re-elected for another term.
Mayor Moore then in turn
read the oath of Ken Godfrey,
W.T. (Bud) Brown, Joe Fowler
and W.A. (Dub) Singleton. All
are Democrats.
Council Francis Bourne, Jr.
and John Carringer were not
present due to the death
Sunday of Bourne's father.
They will be given their oaths
at a later date.
After the oaths were given,
the meeting was adjourned and
Town Council members went
as a group to Townson Funeral
Home to express their
sympathy to the Bourne
family.
Bourne Dead At 76
Francis C. Bourne, Sr.,
prominent Western North
Carolina businessman, died
Sunday night in an Atlanta
hospital following a period of
declining health. He was 76.
A native of Asheville, Mr.
Bourne came to Murphy in
1946 as vice president and
general manager of the
Hitchcock Corp., which
operates the talc mine here. He
retired in 1968.
In Asheville he was
president of M.V. Moore &
Co., a mercantile firm he
worked in from 1921 until he
moved to Murphy in 1946. He
was active in civic life in
Asheville, serving as president
of the merchants association in
1932 and several terms as
president of the Country Club
of Asheville.
Mr. Bourne was also active
in Boy Scout work in Asheville
and was an ardent sportsmen,
helping to develop outdoor
sports, especially hunting and
fishing, in Western North
Carolina.
He was born in Asheville on
March 31,1894, son of the late
Louis M. and Emily Battle
Boume. He was educated at
the old Bingham School in
Asheville and at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel
HUI.
Mr. Bourne joined the Army
in World War I and served with
the 81st Division, 316th Field
Artillery throughout that
conflict, including a year in
France. He attained the rank of
captain.
He is survived by his wife,
the former Pauline Moore of
Francis C. Bourne, Sr.
Asheville; a son, Town
Councilman Francis C. Bourne
Jr. of Murphy; two daughters,
Mrs. Pauline Hounsom of
Atlanta and Mrs. Josephine
Sweeney of Guffey, Colo.; a
brother, H. McKenzie Bourne
of Zephyrhills, Fta.; 10
grandchildren and three great
grandchildren.
The funeral service was held
Tuesday afternoon at 2 o'clock
at the Episcopal Church of the
Messiah here and burial
followed in Sunset Cemetery.
The Rev. Jack Watson
officiated.
Pallbearers were John
Bay less, Henry Baker, Ben E.
Warner, Ralph H. Penley, Dr.
C.O. VanGorder and John
Carringer.
Tow neon Funeral Home was
in charge of arrangements.
The voting, by precincts in
alphabetical order, went as
follows:
Andrews North Ward -
Graham, 1; Anderson, 3;
White, 4.
Andrews South Ward ?
White, 6; Anderson 1.
Brasstown - Anderson, 3.
Burnt Meetinghouse - White,
3.
Culberson - White, 2
Anderson, 1; Graham, 1.
Hanging Dog - Anderson, 2
White, 3; Graham, 1.
Hothouse ? Anderson, 1
Graham, 3; White, 1.
Marble - White, 5
Anderson, 1; Graham, 1.
Murphy North Ward
White, 7; Anderson,
Rayfield, 1; Graham, 2.
Murphy South Ward -
White, 6; Anderson, 3.
Ogreeta - White, 2.
Peachtree - White, 4;
Graham, 1; Anderson, 1.
Shoal Creek - Graham, 8.
Topton White, 2;
Anderson, 2.
Unaka - Anderson, 4.
Walker Scbooihouse - White,
1; Graham, 1.
For Clerk of Court,
incumbent Don Ramsey was
nominated without opposition
to run again.
For Register of Deeds,
incumbent J.E. Graves was
nominated and then Jack
Lovingood, who had
announced he would seek the
nomination, was also named.
In the voting that followed,
Graves won the party's
nomination over Lovingood,
50-42.
Then the convention turned
to naming three candidates to
run from respective districts
for Cherokee County Board of
Water
Festival
Planned
The Murphy Jaycees are
planning another big Water
Festival, according to events
outlined this week by President
Dickie Davis.
The seventh annual event
begins on Thursday night, July
2, with a stock car race at
Tri-County Raceway, Davis
said, to be followed by a
fireworks display at the track.
The Miss Cherokee County
Beauty Pageant will be held
either Friday or Saturday, he
said, the schedule is not
completely worked out yet. At
any rate, the winner will
represent this county in the
Miss North Carolin^^eauty
pageant.
"On Saturday, the Fourth
of July, well be having an
old-fashioned field day at the
fairgrounds," Davis said.
"Therell be softball games,
swimming and diving contests,
an arts and crafts show in the
Rock Gym, sack races, a
greased pole to climb and a
greased pig to catch."
The final event of the
Fourth of July celebration will
be a huge fireworks show at
the high school football field
Saturday night.
The Water Festival ends
with boat races on Sunday,
July 5, on Hiwasaee Lake near
the Forest Service's Hanging
Dog access area. Several classes
of competition an offered for
outboard-powered boats
running a measured course,
ending with the Elmer Taylor
Memorial Race.
Commissioners. According to a
law passed in the last
Legislature, the board this year
will be cut from six members
to three.
District 1, it was explained,
consists of Andrews, Topton
and Marble. District 2 is
Murphy, Hanging Dog, Grape
Creek and Ogreeta. District 3
includes Peach tree and the
western precincts.
Maurice West, son of State
Senator Herman (Bull) West,
had announced he would seek
the nomination and was
nominated from District 1
without opposition.
Army Seeks
Land For
Maneuvers
The Department of the
Army began mailing out forms
this week to landowners in
Cherokee, Clay and Macon
counties, asking permission for
the use of private lands by the
Green Berets in maneuvers.
"This area is so well suited
for maneuvers that we want to
broaden the area they can
move in," an Army spokesman
said. "So far they've been
pretty much limited to Forest
Service lands - we'd like to get
permission for the private
lands, too."
The government forms are
being sent out, uang tax rolls
for addresses to about 9,000
landowners. The agreement is
not binding and can be
terminated at any time.
The government, according
to an Army spokesman, will
not pay anything for
permission to use the land but
includes in the package sent
each landowner a form for
reporting damages by troops to
private property, which the
government does agree to pay
for.
The Green Berets, stationed
at Ft. Bragg, propose to use
this area for maneuvers four
times a year, in July,
September, November and
March, with from 200 to 500
troops involved in each guerilla
exercise.
In District 2, former state
legislator Virgil Odell had
announced for the nomination.
He was nominated and then
Lovingood, who had just been
beaten for Register of Deeds,
was also nominated from the
floor.
In the voting that followed
Lovingood was selected, with
heavy support from both
Murphy precincts, the north
ward going for him over Odell
10-1, the south ward voting for
Lovingood 8-1.
In District 3, incumbent
commissioner Jack Simonds of
Wolf Creek was opposed by
former county commissioner
Gay Hawkins and also by
Claude Bryant, a member of
the county board of education.
J.E. Graves
Simonds won the nomination.
In final action, the
convention nominated
Rayfield as the county coroner
candidate and John Donley,
former clerk of court, as
county surveyor.
Hospital Authority Sets
Door To Door Drive Sunday
The Murphy Hospital
Authority, assisted by
community and avic dubs,
will hold a door-to-door fund
raising campaign Sunday
afternoon.
The hospital authority
began a fund drive in late
December of last year for
money to renovate Providence
Hospital, a job estimated at
over $40,000.
The authority also raised
some money last year for a
Ted Phillips
To Speak
At Tomotla
Ted Phillips, district
highway commissioner from
Robbinsville, will speak to the
Tomotla Community
Development Club at its
meeting Thursday night.
Phillips will bring the dub
members up-to-date on
progress of the Appalachia
Corridor project for the
Murphy area.
TTie meeting begins with a
covered dish supper at the
community center, beginning
at 6:30 pan.
hospital survey that was never
made. That money, $5,695,
plus the $13,657 raised since
Christmas comes to a total of
$19,352 presently in the
authority's bank account.
That is not quite half of
what is needed, according to
Hospital Authority Chairman
Jack Owens, and it is hoped
that most of the remaining
money needed can be raised or
pledged Sunday afternoon.
The door-to-door chive is
scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. in
Murphy and the surrounding
communities. Owens, Pete
McKeon, Bill Christy, Hans
Beerkens, Doug Carlson and
other members of the hospital
authority will be at Odell's
Restaurant during the
afternoon, which will be
serving as an informal
headquarters for the drive.
In Murphy, the dubs invited
to participate in the
solicitation are Lions, Rotary,
Civitans, Murphy Garden Club,
Jaycees, Business and
Professional Women,
University Women.
The community dubs of
Tomotla, Peach tree, Marble,
Belle view, Texana, Violet and
Unaka are also being urged to
conduct a campaign in each of
their i
To Be Given Away
Murphy Jaycees Dickie Davit, left,
and David Hilton poae with the
fiberglass fishing boat to be given away
as a part of the annual Water
The lifi includes a 9.8
Mercury motor and a'
m