Murp hy Carnegie Library 4-73 Peachtree Street tlurphy, N.C., 28906 * \ 5 * 3 Sections 16 Pages 15' Per Copy The Cherokee Scout and Clay County Progress Volume 79 ? Number 20 - Murphy, North Carolina, 28906 ? Second Class Postage Paid At Murphy, North Carolina ? Wednesday, December 23, 1970 NATIONAL Y> NEWSPAPER 197q^PUNDATt2ji^?71 Counterfeit Bills Discovered Cherokee County Shriff's officers and agents of the federal Secret Service seized $51,860 in counterfeit $10 bills in a housetrailer Monday in the Bealtown section of Murphy. A Secret Service agent said Tuesday that no arrests have been made yet but investigation of the case is continuing. He indicated that it was not a local affair but was part of a larger investigation, involving people in other cities and other states. "These bills are of very poor quality," he said, displaying the sheets of paper, with four bills printed on each one. The bills had not been cut apart, many sheets had the ink smudged and the reverse side of the bill had been printed noticeably smaller than the face side. Despite the poor quality, the Secret Service man said one of the bad 10's had been passed in Cherokee County, at a grocery store near the Georgia line. Counterfeiting of United States currency is a federal crime, he explained, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Secret Service branch of the Treasury Department. Those charged will be tried in federal court, he added. Two counterfeit $20 bills were discovered last week by tellers at Wachovia Bank, but the Secret Service agent said at the present time there seemed to be no connection between them and the pile of bad 10's discovered Monday. Bank officials said the two counterfeit 20's were of good quality, especially on the face side of die bill They said since only two have been discovered, the bills may not have been passed originally in this county but may have gotten here as change some Cherokee citizen received while Christmas shopping in Asheville, Atlanta or Chattanooga. Asheville in particular has been plagued with counterfeit money recently, they said | Georgia Couple Miss Peggy Lynn Martin, 18, and Terry Lee Wood, 19, from Austell and Mableton, Ga? respectively, were 'married last week in Register of Deeds Ed Graves' office. The Rev. Raymond Carroll performed the 'ceremony and Graves and Driver's License Examiner A.E. Crooke were witnesses. A growing number of Georgia and Tennessee couples buy marriage licenses here, North Carolina marriage laws easier than the ones in their home states. (Staff Photo) I Christmas Baskets Max Blakemore, chairman of the ly Lions Club's Christmas itr project, is shown filling the is and baskets which were ibuted this week to 120 needy i in the county. The bread was ited by Kern's Bread and Holsum keries and the snuff and chewing twas given by Wayne Ford of Warne, the representative of the Conwood Corp. Other items, which included fruit, cereal, nuts, candies, sugar, coffee, potatoes, etc., were purchased by the Lions. Blakemore said the Lions themselves located many of the needy families and got the names of others from the county welfare rolls. (Staff Photo) Marriage License Market Booms fig- r ?. Sometimes with friends Md relatives sad sometimes dene, the tar^t-ffeff young couples coos to see Bd Graves iknost every day. Because Graves ie the of Deeds of Cherokee countyX _^h Tennessee and Georgia have a flirefrdsy waiting " period, Graves explains, and North Carolina has none, fti Georgia yea must be 19 to be married without your parents' consent, in Tennessee it's 21, but here you can marry "^'^Incidentally, those who writs the laws in Georgia apparently feel Of decisions involved in marriage more-, swims than marking a ballet It has been legal for an ltyear old to vote in Georgia for a number of years. A change In tfce laws put Cherokee County In the marriage license business, Graves aays. Ia 1956, for example, it was easier to marry in other placet and the Register's office told only 39 licenses during the whale year, mostly iteal couples. Last year, however. Graves sofld 726 marriage licenses and the figure fids yeat may go even higher. The $5 gees to the county, Graves says, and the couples get the license, best wtebes and a snail package of household goods, including detergents soap, etc. Graves is not qualified to perform the wedding ceremony and few couples marry, in his office but he sometimes does, on reqoast, obtain a preacher or magistrate to officiate on the spot Conservation Supervisors Selected In Both Counties Id recent wed Cherokee Comtf LX. Kisselburg to replace < Lunsford, whoa* term ef ? expires on Jaiitmrjr i, ? Cherokee Count; Conservati< Supervisor. ^ C.B. NewGn taa*; reappointed as a 6k supervisor ty the 1 and Water Committee. Ot County District fUfcrv include Billy Howell, rvation who ha(3>j6slgn as a district / supervisor since he was elected to the Clay County Board of Commissioners. Other Clay County District Supervisors include Richard Bristol, Barley Hicks, and Floyd Ledford. Soil and Water .Conservation Districts are ? organized and operated under .'the provisions of Chapter 139 of the Oeneral Statutes of North Caretina. These districts enable ail interested people within .. their boundaries to wort: ? together for improved conservation practices. The official governing y -of each district is a&aard ,k-? elected and two supervisors. They responsibility for a sound program the nature) resources -ef the district. and arrelop ?of th Motor Club Predicts 21 Deaths On Roads Stay out of the Christinas crunch this holiday season and dodge the 1,500 traffic accidents which the N.C. State Motor Club says may take 21 lives and injure overe 800 more persons on North Carolina's streets and highways during the Yule Weekend. The state will count its holiday highway toll from 6p.m. Thursday, Dec. 24, through midnight Sunday, Doc. 27, a 78 hour period. In a 102-hour span last year, the casualties totaled up to 27 deaths and 113 injured in 1,624 accidents, with 21 killed in the 30 hours of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Leading accident causes were seeding, driving left of following too closely yd driving under the influence. "North Carolina's traffic safety authorities are making every effort to reduce our highway death toll," said Thomas B.Watkins, president of th* motor club the National Automobile Association, "and our traffic deaths are running around 100 below last year's pace. Let's keep it that way to the end of the year. "During the Christmas and New Year's holidays, drunken (kivers and speeders will be prime targets for the Highway Patrol. With all the usual holiday partying, drinking (kivers become a real problem. K you do drink, please let someone who doesn't do the driving," Watkins urged. Funny Money Cherokee Sheriff Blain Stalcup and Deputy Willard Bates pose with nearly $52,000 worth of counterfeit $10 bills disvovered on Monday in a housetrailer in Murphy. The bogus bills were printed four to a sheet of paper and had not been cut apart. No arrests have been made yet in the case, which is being investigated by both local officers and agents of the Secret Service. (Staff Photo) Christmas Closings Most stores in Murphy will be closed on Friday and Saturday for Christmas, to reopen for business as usual on next Monday morning. Wachovia and First Union banks, in order to give employes more time with their families, will close for the holidays at 1 o'clock on Thursday, Christmas Eve, and will not be open from 3 until 5 p.m. as usual. Both banks will open again on Monday morning. The Scout office will close for the holidays at the end of business Wednesday afternoon and will reopen on Monday morning. Bus Company Proposing To Cut Two Runs A Day Bus service between Murphy and both Atlanta and Asheville may soon be cut back. J.B. Hall, who manages the local bus station, says Continental Trailways, serving Murphy and this area as Smoky Mountain Trailways, has proposed to cut out two runs, the 5 p.m. bus to Atlanta and the 7:30 p.m. bus to Asheville. Dropping these two runs will have to be approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission, he said, and those who oppose cutting back the bus service should write to the Putlic Utilities Commission, Raleigh, concerning the Asheville run and the same body in Atlanta concerning the Georgia run. Hall said at present there are two chances each day for a passenger to board a bus in Murphy to take him to Atlanta, 7:30 in the morning and the threatened 5 p.m. run. If the cutback is made, he pointed out that there will only be once chance in 24 hours to go to Atlanta by bus. He said this could work a hardship on those who may be working in the Murphy area and want to go to Atlanta on the weekend or vice-versa. Hall added that there are presently four times a day when a bus leaves Murphy for Asheville- 3 ajn., 10:50 ajn., 3:50 p.m. and 7:30 pjn. If the evening bus is eliminated, he said there will be a period of about 11 hours each day when there is no bus service to Asheville. Ground Broken For Memorial The first ground was turned last Friday for a memorial Plaza at Murphy High School for three Seniors who have died in accidents during the past year. Manning the shovels were, left to right, Mr. and Mrs. Alden Cook, whose daughter Suzanne died recently in in auto 4 whose daughter 1 auto wreck; Mr. i