?urp h, Cr?.8l
Peachtree -- 28906
Murphy * N.c.?
The Cherokee Scout
16 Pages
and Clay County Progress 15f Per Copy
. ? t i
Volume 81 - Number 1 - Murphy, North Carolina, 28906 - Second Class Postage Paid At Murphy, North Carolina - Thursday, July 30, 1970
Souvenirs Ready
| Levi's plant manager Horace
Cannon, left, and personnel officer
< Frank Atchison pose with some of the
souvenirs the company will be giving
away Saturday at its open house
celebration at the new Murphy plant.
(Staff Photo)
Board Holds Tax Increase To 25*
Residents of the Town of
Murphy soon will be paying
increased rates for all utilities
and the Town Council Tuesday
night refused to jack the tax
rate above $1.85.
Town Council members
learned in their meeting that
the town's Electric Power
Board will soon be raising its
power bills by 23 per cent.
This hike, it was pointed
out, is controlled by the TVA
which is raising the cost of the
electric power it sells to the
town. The rise is said to be due
to a drastic increase in the cost
of the coal used by TVA for
generating power.
The $1.85 town tax rate for
each hundred dollars of
valuation was set in the
tentative budget earlier this
month for 1970-71. It was a
jump of 25 cents per hundred
from last year's $1.60 rate and
was accompanied by the
council's announced plan to
also increase water and sewer
service rates.
However, Tuesday night it
looked for a while as if the
town budget and tax rate
would go even higher. Town
Clerk Charlie Johnson pointed
out that the increase in electric
rates will cost the town at least
$5,000 more in power used for
street lights and other town
services.
He said a sewer system lift
station near the Cherokee Ice
Plant will have to be altered to
accomodate the planned new
public housing project on Park
Avenue, at an additional cost
of $3,000.
Johnson also presented
plans to buy a street washer,
payments the first year to run
$4,420. These three items, he
said, would mean the tax rate
would have to be raised to
$2.05 per hundred.
Mayor Cloe Moore and
board members (Francis
Bourne Jr. and John Carringer
were not present) discussed
several possible ways by which
the budget of $280,000 could
be cut. They lamented the fact
that the property tax is their
only means of revenue and
wondered about the future of
the local one-cent sales tax if it
is put to a vote here again.
Finally W.T. (Bud) Brown
made the motion that the town
tax rate be fixed at $1.85,
adding that the town will have
to "make do" with a budget at
that figure. His motion
included the provision for
raising water and sewer charges
and was passed unanimously.
The feeling was that the
town will have to get by as best
it can with the increase in its
power bill and the alterations
on the sewage lift station. The
street washer, Johnson was
told, will just have to wait until
next year.
Golf
T ourney
Sunday
The first tournament of the
new Cherokee County Golf
Course will be held on Sunday
afternoon for users of the
course and golfers of the
surrounding area.
Participants can register jt
the pro shop of the Harsh aw
Road course anytime up until
1 p.m. Sunday. The first
Scotch foursome will tee off at
2 p.m. The entry fee is $1.
Tiere will be no handicaps
for the event and "you don't
have to be a seasoned golfer to
participate," according to the
tournament committee.
Couples will be selected by
drawing names out of a hat,
each foursome to be made up
of two men and two women.
All four golfers will hit a tee
shot then each team will decide
which one of its balls it will
play to the cup, the man aid
woman taking alternate turns
hitting the ball.
Prizes will be gift
certificates for merchandise in
the pro shop and spectators
will be welcome for the
tournament.
Escapee
Still Free
Cherokee County Sheriff
Claude Anderson this week aid
there are no clues to the
whereabouts of James D. Craig,
who escaped from the county
jail in late May and is still at
large.
Craig, 23, of Route 4,
Murphy, was arrested about
the first of March on charge of
highway robbery. An
additional warrant has been
taken out by county officers
charging him with escaping.
Sheriff Anderson said Craig
apparently had a key to the
main ?bor of the Cherokee
County Jail. The man had not
been locked in a cell for the
night, the sheriff said, nor had
the main cbor's night padlock
been fastened.
Sheriff Anderson said he
was called away from the
office and when he returned,
Craig was gone.
Following the vote on the
tax rate. Councilman Kenneth
Godfrey moved that the town
Planning Board and the state
Department of Local Affairs be
requested to make a joint
study on the feasibility of
extending town limits along
the present axis of US-19-64.
The other councilmen voted to
authorize the study.
Henry Simmons, who heads
the First Union National Bank
office here, appeared before
the Town Board to ask that the
sidewalk in front of the new
bank under construction be
replaced. He said the bank
would pay half of the cost and
the councilmen agreed that the
town would pay the other half.
Simmons also asked that
some of the town's banking
business be transferred to his
bank and council members
indicated this would be done in
the future, after the Finance
Committee meets with
Johnson to decide which town
accounts to transfer.
James (Red) Panther was
the only bidder on a 1955
model town truck and the
council voted to accept his bid
of S65 for the vehicle, in need
of extensive repairs.
Doug Carlson of the
Murphy Lions Club said the
Rock Gym needs a new roof
and some work done on the
toilets inside the building and
asked that the town, along
with the Lions and the county,
share the expense.
Councilman W.A. (Oub)
Singleton made the motion
that the town pay one-third of
the cost of repairs and other
councilmen approved the
motion, requesting that the
Lions get competitive bids on
the job.
Free Clinics For Golfers
The pro at the Cherokee County Golf Course,
Milton Carlson, held the first free clinics for county
golfers on Wednesday and a dozen ladies turned out
for the morning session. The free clinic for men is
held Wednesday afternoons and Carlson said Maggie
Valley pro Bob Smith will be on hand for the clinics
next week. The clinics, free to any golfer in the
county, are part of a project to attract new members
between now and the first of September (Staff
Photo)
Grand Jury
Blasts Jail
The Cherokee County
Grand Jury reported to
Superior Court here this week
that the county jail is unfit for
humans.
The handwritten report,
signed by Mrs. Maude Radford
as foreman, Monday was
handed to presiding Judge
Thad Bryson of Bryson City.
"Jail ceils were found in a
deplorable condition," it reads.
"The cells too filthy and
smelly for human occupation."
The Grand Jury also found
that kitchen helpers at the jail
did not have health certificates
for working with food.
The report recommends "A
general cleaning of entire jail
with necessary repairs to
floors, commodes, showers,
etc." and health certificates for
kitchen helpers and "county
sanitarians should inspect the
jail monthly."
The Grand Jury also
reported that it had found true
bills, indicting Wade (Dump)
Adams on possession of
marijuana and both Jeffrey
Willard Whitener and Richard
Whitener on charges of
burglary, housebreaking,
larceny and receiving.
The Whiteners, cousins of
Route 5, Murphy, were
arrested early this year and
charged with robbing their
grandmother, Molly Whitener.
They were given a preliminary
hearing in District Court in
Murphy the last of April and at
that time the charge against
Richard Whitener was
dismissed on insufficient
evidence. The Grand Jury
Monday, however, indicted
both Whiteners.
Labor
Charge
Dismissed
The National Labor
Relations Board, in an order
recently received here, has
dismissed all charges of unfair
labor practices against the
American Thread Co. plant at
Marble.
John Roberts of Unaka, an
employe of the company and a
leader in the unsuccessful drive
last year to unionize workers at
the plant, was discharged by
the company in October of last
year.
The company said it fired
Roberts because he refused to
obey the orders of a superior;
Roberts said this was just a
pretext, that the company
fired him in retaliation for his
union activities.
Roberts filed the unfair
labor practice against the
company and an NLRB
examiner was sent here about
the first of April to hear the
matter. Witnesses for both
sides presented testimony and
a record of the hearing,
complete with the examiner's
recommendation that it be
dismissed, was given the
national board.
The NLRB looked over the
record of the bearing and the
examiner's recommendation
and in an order ngned in
Washington. D.C. on June 30
ordered the complaint
dismissed.
Mrs .Neal Kitchens
Clay
Writer
Named
Mrs. Neal Kitchens is now
the Clay County correspondent
for The Cherokee Scout and
Clay County Progress.
Mrs. Kitchens, a native of
Clay County, worked as
Scout-Progress correspondent
several years ago and also
serves in the same capacity for
the Asheville newspapers.
She is the widow of the late
Neal Kitchens, Clay County
sheriff and tax collector, and
worked in the Clay County
Courthouse in her husband s
office for a number of years.
She was also secretary -
bookkeeper for his K-Bar
Ranch and Kitchens Lumber
Co. for about 20 years.
She is a graduate of Elf High
School and lives on the K-Bar
Ranch in the Lick Log section
of Clay County. She has a
daughter, Mrs. Hugh Powell of
Hayesville, and two
grandchildren.
Mrs. KKcbeaa is an active
member of Ledford's Chapel
United Method let Church and
is on the board of directors of
the Methods Hinton Rural
Life Center.
Day Care
Looking
For Users
"The response has been
slow but Murphy does need a
day care center and we need 30
children to start."
So spoke Mrs. William L.
Owens this week, talking about
the survey under way by the
Murphy United Methodist
Church to see if enough
parents are interested in a day
care center.
"If we don't get enough
children, we won't be able to
open," she added. She said
only about 10 children have
been signed up so far for the
center, whidi tentatively would
open with the beginning of
school in late August.
Mrs. Owens will be director
of the day care center, which
for a fee will care all day for
the childrn of working
mothers.
"We will also provide a
baby-sitting service at 50 cents
an hour for mothers who want
to drop their children off at
the center while they shop,"
she added.
Interested parents should
call Mrs. Owens or the
Methodist Church.
Judge III;
Court
Canceled
Judge Thad Bryson 1
ill this week and the term of
Superior Court scheduled for
next week hat been canceled.
Clerk of Court Don Raaaey
announced Wednesday
morning that jurors picked foe
duty next week wU not have
to report and coaes set for trial
wHI be continued
November term of
Court
The two-week
Bryson
Cullty*
Pool Integrated
The Murphy Lions Club swimming pool was
integrated without incident last week.
A Lions Club spokesman told the Town
Board in its meeting Tuesday night that the first
Negroes were admitted quietly late last week
and the pool will continue to operate on a
non-segregated basis.
The club spokesman said the pool in the past
has been used only by white swimmers but said
this was due to the attitudes of the pool
managers and was not the desire of the Lions.
Student Bricklayers' Handiwork
Johnny Corn, center, masonry instructor at
Tri-County Tech, poses with two of his students who
"htve Recently finished brick veneering a Brasstown
home, working on their own. Dean tuiglcr, left, and
Dwfeht Moss in the past three months have bricked
the exterior of the house of Mis. Rd Rogers, gaining
valuable experience in their trade, Corn says. They
did all the work, Corn added, even figuring the
12,000 bricks needed?which they over estimated by
only 16. Both will graduate from the 12-month
masonry course about the end of August. (Staff
Photo)
Levi's Slates Open House
Levi Strauss & Co. will hold
!&pen house for the public at its
new plant just north of town
Saturday.
'?Walter A. Haas. Jr.,
president of Levi Strauss &
'Co., will be on hand for the
gibbon-cutting which will
officially open the new plant
>and he will be the principal
speaker.
Other participants in the 10
o'clock opening ceremonies
Saturday morning will be
'Murphy Mayor Cloe Moore,
.plant manager Horace Cannon,
A. Doug Allison of the N.C.
Department of Conservation
and Development. C.L.
Alverson, who is president of
the Cherokee County
Development Corp. and Merle
Davis, president of the
Industrial Development Corp.
of the Town of Murphy.
After the ribbon is cut, the
million-dollar plant will be
open to the public until 2 p.m.
for guided tours and
explanations of how the Levi's
Sta-Prest pants are produced.
The county development
corporation members and local
civic leaders joined forced
about 10 years in arranging for
the Levi's plant to locate here.
Two men now dead, Dave
Townson and Frank Forsyth,
were especially influential in
the plant's locating here.
The local leaders met several
times with officials of Levi
Strauss &Co., including two
breakfast meetings at
Townson's home attended by
Levi's production manager Paul
Glasgow, before the company
decided to move to Murphy.
Levi's began operations in
December of 1963 in Murphy,
in the Alverson Building on
Regal Street. The initial payroll
was only 15 but by 1967, the
number had reached a steady
225 and the operation had
outgrown the building. There
was a warehouse facility on the
elementary school campus, a
cutting room at the
Fairgrounds and a parts
department in the basement of
Smoky Mountain Heating and
Air Conditioning.
The town's industrial
development corporation was
formed about two years ago
and authorized by the town
commissioners to work with
the company in connection
with the construction of a new
plant. Construction began last
Summer on a site on Valley
River off Andrews Road. This
past March the complete
operation was moved into the
new plant and the payroll
began increasing.
The company is now
working 450 at the Murphy
plant, which will eventually see
the payroll level off at 550.
Haas, 54, heads the
company founded in San
Francisco, Calif, in 1850 by his
great - grandunde Levi Strauss.
He has described Levi's top
management as "Really my
brother Peter and I as sort of a
dual head of the company; I'm
the president because I'm the
older."
The company is one of the
nation's largest privately - held
companies with more than 800
stockholders, all employes or
descendants of the founder.
There are now 35 plants in the
United States and four
overseas, with a total of more
than 15,000 employes.