The Cherokee Scout
10 Pages Clay County Progress
15' Per Copy
Volume 79 ? Number 14 _ Murphy, North Carolina, 28906 ? Second Class Postage Paid At Murphy, North Carolina ? Thursday. November 5, 1970 WHUP CLEVELAND!!!
GOP Commissioners Elected;
Democrats Put In Sheriff
By Wally Avett
Staff Writtr
Cherokee County voters
turned out in Urge numbers and
split their ballots Tuesday in all
directions, voting in a widely
mixed group of Republicans
and Democrats.
Interest was high and
feelings heated in several
contests as 88 per cent of the
ne*ly-registered voters in the
county's loose-leaf system went
to the polling places to vote.
The ballots were counted in
the 17 precincts and the final
results were not known until the
wee hours this morning
(Wednesday). A table with the
detailed returns is printed
below.
Blain Stalcup, a Murphy
police officer, was the
Democratic candidate for
sheriff and beat the Republican,
Charles White, 3862 to 3369.
Stalcig) drew heavy support in
both Andrews precincts, in
Murphy South Ward and at
Peachtree to win.
Democrat James Howse.
also was elected, beating the
GOP incumbent Don Ramsey
for clerk of court, 3650 to 3536.
For register of deeds,
the Republican incumbent Ed
Graves kept his job, beating the
Democratic challenger, Mrs.
Thelma Crawford, 3655 to 3553.
Two Republicans and one
Democrat were elected to the
three-man board of county
commissioners, which replaces
the old six-member board.
Democratic incumbent W.
T. Moore of Andrews, who has
been serving as chairman of the
commissioners, defeated
Republican Maurice West, 1165
to 982, to keep his seat on the
board. Moore represents
District 1.
Republican Commissioner
Jack Simonds of Wolf Greek
also kept his seat on the board of
commissioners but by a much
smaller margin. In the District
3 race, Simonds polled 1263
votes to slip past the
Democrats' candidate, Fred
Sneed, who got 1258.
In the District 2 race,
Republican Jack Lovingood got
1396 votes to beat Ray Sims, the
Democrat, who has 1094.
Roy Stalcup, Democrat,
beat John Donley, 3719 to 3389,
for county surveyor.
J. B. Hall, also Democrat,
beat Ralph Rayfield for county
coroner, 3894 to 3233.
In the Congressional race,
Cherokee voted as the 11th
District did, sending Democrat
Roy Taylor back to the U. S.
House for another term. Taylor
polled 4224 in Cherokee; his
Republican opponent, Luke
Atkinson, got 2905 votes here.
In the race for state
senator, the Republican in
cumbent, Herman (Bull) West
of Murphy, was beaten in the
district by Dr. Carl Killian of
Cullowhee. West, however,
carried Cherokee County by a
narrow margin, 3697 to 3639.
Erwin Patton of Franklin, a
Democrat, beat W. P. Bradley
of Hayesville, the GOP in
cumbent, for the state House.
Patton's margin in Charokee
was 403, polling 3773 to
Bradley's 3370.
The Cherokee County board
of education race, supposedly
non-partisan, saw three
Democrats and three
Republicans entered. Elected
were Dr. W. A. Hoover, a
Republican, and Democrats Dr.
Charles Van Gorder and the
Rev. Robert Barker.
District Solicitor Marcellus
Buchanan of Sylva, a
Democrat, was unopposed and
got 3737 votes in Cherokee
County. The two District Court
judges, Leatberwood and Alley,
both Democrats, were unop
posed. Alley got 3656 votes here
and Leatherwood drew 3704.
There were 29 Democrat
Superior Court judges, all
unopposed, who run on a
statewide basis and all were
returned to the bench to serve
another term.
The Cherokee County
voters also approved a bond
issue for $100,000 for con
struction of a new jail, by a
count of 2701 to 1833, and ap
proved all seven amendments
to the North Carolina con
stitution.
Missing Ballot Problem Solved Clay Dedication
The ballots for county and
state races used in Cherokee
County Tuesday were brand
new ones, hurriedly printed
when it was discovered late last
week that more than 800 ballots
were missing.
Dean Pullium, who was
named to the board of elections
and became its chairman only
last month, said the 824 ballots
were discovered missing whgen
he and his staff Friday began
counting out the ballots to be
used at each precinct.
"The ballots were missing
before I took over the office,"
Pullium said. He said he did not
know whether they ahd been
stolen or whether the printer
had not supplied enough ballots
in the first place.
"The board decided to
destroy all the ballots we had
and have new ballots printed for
all three districts," he said.
The new printing neatly
blocked any plans to stuff a
ballot box, he added, in case the
missing ballots had been stolen.
The old ballots had former
chairman Glenn Stalcup's
signature on them; the new
batch carried Pullium's
signature.
Pullium said election day
Tuesday began with squabbles
at Culberson and Unaka as the
Republican judges refused to
allow voting to begin in a
dispute over how many clerks
were supposed to be working at
the polling place.
Calls were made to the state
Board of Elections in Raleigh
and voting began later in the
morning at both places, Pullium
directed by the state board to
allow the polls at Culberson and
Unaka to remain open until 8:30
Tuesday night to make up for
the lost time.
Feelings ran hot at
Culberson through most of the
day and as the counting process
began Tuesday night trouble
threatened. Pullium and the
Republican member of the
election board, part-time
Cherokee Deputy Sheriff Virgil
Hogsed, went to Culberson to
count the ballots, accompanied
by State Highway Patrolman.
Within an hour or so a store
in the Culberson section was
reported on fire. Officers
Wednesday morning did not
know how the fire may have
started or whether it was
connected in any way with the
controvery at the polling place.
Republicans Sweep Clay
The Republican Party
made a grand sweep in Clay
County voting on Tuesday,
according to unofHcialreturns.
Hie seven precincts in Clay
went for the Republican can
didates in efery race except the
11th District Cong' ssional
ballot, which Democratic in
Carnival Crowning
The King and Queen of the
Murphy PTA Halloween Carnival
Saturday night were Candie Auvil and
Chris McConnell, seated. Standing
behind them were the runners-up,
Tim White and Dianne Crawford. The
PTA event raised $1,437 and members
were grateful for businesses and
individuals who assisted. (Staff
Photo)
cumbent Roy Taylor beat his
GOP challenger Luke Atkinson,
1470 to 1317.
Hartsell Moore, the
Republican incumbent, beat
Democratic candidate Jack
Parker for sheriff, 1612 to 1162.
Ralph Allison, Republican
Clerk of Court, got 162S votes to
beat the Democrats' Clarence
Martin with 1133.
Ruby A. Ledford, the GOP
incumbent for Register of
Deeds, beat the Democrat,
Carolyn H. Parker, by a count
of 1597 to 1135.
For the three com
missioners' seats, the
Republicans were high -
Howard Wimpey, 1457; Wayne
West, 1434; Max Payne, 1426?
Democrats Neal Jarrett got
1305 votes, Ronnie Smith got
1289 and Keith Miller got 1225.
GOP incumbent State
Senator Herman (Bull) West
got 1443 votes in Clay County to
the Democrat Dr. Carl Killian's
1306, although late returns show
that Killian won the race
overall.
Bill Bradley of Hayesville,
incumbent state representative,
piled up 1500 votes in his home
county against Democratic
candidate Ervin Patton of
Franklin, who got 1209 in Clay.
Patton, however, won the race
throughout the district.
The Clay County voters
approved all seven of the
constitutsonal amendments.
Merchants
Talk Of
Christmas
The Murphy Merchants
Association met Thursday
afternoon of last week to discuss
the coming Christmas season,
store hours and the Christmas
parade.
Dick Davis, chairman of the
group and also in charge of the
parade, which is a Murphy
Jaycee project, announced that
the parade will be held on
Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 25.
It was originally set for 4
pjn. but Davis said now has
been moved back 30 minutes
and will start at 4:30 pjn., "for
the benefit of the plant workers
who want to see it."
It was decided that the
Murphy stores will be open until
9 on Friday nights and open also
on Wednesday afternoons after
the parade is held until
Christmas.
Fred Davis was named to
recruit a Santa Claus and outfit
him with candy to distribute to
youngsters during the Christ
mas shopping season.
By unanimous vote, Harry
Burgess was named chairman
of the merchants group to
replace Dick Davis.
Attending were Dick Davis,
Merle Davis, Fred Davis,
Burgess and Tom Gentry.
Court In Session
A two-week session of
Superior Court begins this week
at the Cherokee County Cour
thouse, Judge Frank Snepp, Jr.
of Charlotte to preside.
Fannie Moore Ramsey,
charged with murder in the
shooting death last Christmas
Eve of Mrs. Pauline Roberts, is
scheduled to be tried.
Also booked for trial is
Wade Edgar (Dump) Adams,
charged with dispensing nar
cotic drugs in what officers say
was a plan to begin marijuana
growing in this county.
Three Culberson men are
set for trial on charges of arson,
Eddie Arnold Morris, Bobbie
Eugene McClure and Johnny
Luke Little.
Voter Register Posted
According to figures
released Tuesday by the
Cherokee County Board of
Elections, there are now 8,336
DISTRICT 1
Andrews North Ward
Andrews South Ward
Marble
Topton
DISTRICT 2
Murphy North Ward
Murphy South Ward
Hanging Dog
Grape Creek
Ogreeta
DISTRICT 3
Peachtree
Brass town
Burnt Meetinghouse
Walker Schoolhouse
Culberson
Hothouse
Shoal Creek
Unaka
voters registered on the new
loose-leaf system. Grouped by
districts, the 17 precincts are as
follows:
Demo GOP Ind
494 313 32
549 268 22
317 251 18
102 109 10
666 466 67
662 385 79
77 241 28
54 106 6
45 32 2
407 232 24
153 89 13
124 110 1
200 101 5
139 122 8
118 231 11
240 323 55
50 161 10
4397 3540 391
James T. Johnson, state director
of the Farmers Home Ad
ministration, is shown at the podium
as he addressed the crowd on Wed
nesday afternoon of last week as the
Clay County golf course and Moore
View homesites were dedicated. Both
projects were constructed by the Clay
County Rural Development Authority
with long-term FHA loans, $250,000
for golf course and $113,000 for the
homesites at Hayesville.
Rising Costs Shelve Project
Two public housing projects
in Murphy have been shelved,
at least until next Spring, due to
high costs of construction.
The Murphy Housing
Authority received a letter last
week from the federal Housing
and Urban Development offices
in Atlanta, directing that all
bids be rejected and the
projects be "re-activated"
sometime nest Spring.
The letter was signed by
Edwin H. Sims, Jr., the
production coordinator for
HUD. The federal agency
provides the money for the
housing projects but hadbeen
displeased with the amount of
the bids.
Originally the federal HUD
officials had earmarked about
-$600,000 for construction of the
two projects - one a 10-unit
section for the elderly to be built
on HiawasseeStreet and the
other a 30-unit section for low
income families, to be built near
the Rimco plant.
The first bids on the
projects were opened in July
and the total low bids added up
to $699,069 Three Murphy
firms were the low bidders,
Smith & Jones on the general
contract, Wells & West on the
plumbing and Hughes Electric
on the electric portion of the
building job.
The HUD officials rejected
those bids and the job was put
up for bids again. Bids were
opened Sept. 10 and the total
jumped to $729,419, due mainly
to a rise in the Smith & Jones
general contract bid from
$594,000 to $625,000. The other
two Murphy firms' bids were
practically unchanged. John
Smith explained that his firm's
bid had gone up due to the rising
costs of both building materials
and sub-contracting.
Jail
Bonds
Okayed
Voters in CherokefnSjftmty
Tuesday approved issuance of
$100,000 in county bonds to
finance construction of a new
county jail.
The measure passed easily,
2,701 voting for it and 1,833
against it.
Andrews North Ward ap
proved it barely, 351 for and 349
against. However, in Andrews
South Ward, it was approved 419
to 199. Culberson and Hot House
both voted against the bond
issue by very small margins.
The Murphy precincts and all
the others passed the bond
issue.
The county commissioners,
who put the bond issue up for a
vote of the people, said they
really had little choice. The
present Cherokee Comity Jail is
in such bad shape, thiey say,
that the state jail inspectors are
threatening to condemn it.
The only choice, com
missioners said, was whether
the county would build a new
jail or be forced to haul its
prisoners to another county jail
for safe-keeping. Clay County's
jail is in about the same ritape
and the two counties are ex
pected to join together in
building a jail in Murphy to
serve both, with the help of
federal matching funds.
GRAND TOTAL 8,336
Precincts
Andrews N Ward
Andrews S Ward
Brasstown
Burnt M House
Culberson
"Grape Creek
Hanging Dog
Hot House
Marble .
Murphy NWard
Murphy S Ward
Ogreeta
Peachtree
Shoal Greek
Top ton
Uriaba
WdkCr S? House
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