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The Cherokee Scout
and Clay County Progress
Volume 79 - Number 47 - Murphv. North Carolina, 28906 - Second Class Postage Paid at Murphy, N. C. - Thursday, .July 8,, 1971
County Tax Rate Cut
By Wally Avett
Staff Writer
The Cherokee County Board of
Commissioners Monday accepted a
.tentative county budget for 1971-72,
.putting the county property tax rate a
"jiickel, from $1.55 down to $1.50 per
hundred of valuation.
?4 The budget is to stand for about
hree weeks and will be adopted in
-iprmanent form by July 28, the
t hanged between now and then
;4though they don't expect to make
, ny substantial revisions.
5 Last year's budget was a total of
? 1.5 million; this year's edition will be
s mailer, figured tentatively at $1.35
million. This year's budget
nticipates the county receiving at
sast $75,000 from the new county one
ercent sales tax and several large
xpenditures of last year will not be
ecessary this year.
For example, the current re
valuation of property in the county is
most complete, a $40,000 item in last
ear's budget which is absent in this
ear's figures. Costs ? of the
edicaid section of the welfare
rogram, which ran the county
most $50,000 over the past year, will
robably run less than $20,000, as the
State of North Carolina is expected to
take over a larger portion of
Medicaid expenses.
Even with the cutbacks, the
commissioners still managed to
include modest raises in pay for most
of those on their payroll. The
outstanding item in this category was
the hiring of two new deputy sheriffs,
approved by the Legislature against
the wishes of the commissioners, at
$600 a month apiece.
A brief version of the budget is to
be found on an inside page of this
issue and a more detailed budget
estimate may be inspected at the
Courthouse.
Commissioners noted that for the
last two years the tax rate has been
based on 60 percent of assessed
valuation and the percentage was not
changed this year, meaning the five
cent cut is an actual reduction, and
not bookkeeping "magic."
They also pointed out that in the
total budget of $1.35 million, the
money from state and federal offices
will come to $623,000, the bulk of it
coming in as state and federal shares
of welfare programs.
In other business, the
commissioners:
- Discussed at great length the
problem of garbage disposal for
county residents, with emphasis on a
proposed container system.
Commissioner W. T. Moore said he
was opposed to the idea, favoring
collection by private garbage
services.
- Met with two of the private
garbage collectors and talked of their
routes and operations. Chairman
Jack Simonds said he would not be
opposed to giving them individual
franchises, perhaps on a township
basis. County Attoney Lonnie Hoover
is to look into the possibility of
franchises.
- Named Lee Nichols and Casteel
Floyd to the Cherokee County
Planning Board.
- Voted to sell the county's
welfare lien on two acres of land in
the Beaverdam section, owned by the
late Cary Whitener, to Wesley
Whitener for $600.
- - Adopted a resolution setting up
a Cherokee County Housing Authority
(25 members to be named at a later
date) and appointed Ed Hyde to serve
as its attorney. The group is to work
toward providing low-cost housing in
the county.
' emis
Jp For Sale
Bemis Hardwood Lumber Company land,
15,500 acres of it, will go up for bids on
Saturday at the high school gym in
Robbinsville.
According to Doyle Brock, treasurer of
the firm, the sale is being held for the benefit
of the J. M. Bemis heirs.
The mountain land involved is mostly in
Graham County, with a little in Cherokee, and
constitutes a large percentage of the
privately-owned acreage in Graham. The
federal government, through its agencies such
as TVA and the Forest Service, owns roughly
half of the land in Clay, Cherokee and
Graham.
The Bemis land going at auction Saturday
in Robbinsville is in two large tracts, 6,000
acres in the West Buffalo section and 9,500
acres in the Little Snowbird section, with
several miles of frontage on Snowbird Creek.
The smallest piece of land to be sold is
eight acres and the largest on the auctioneer's
listing is 421 acres. Elevations of the land for
sale range from 2,200 to 5,500 feet.
iscape No. 3
inds For Jones
Russell Lee Jones is back inside a cell at
the Cherokee County Jail~or at least he was
the last time anybody checked-after his third
escape.
Jones was recaptured Sunday by officers
near Andrews , according to
Cherokee Sheriff Blain Stalcup. The sheriff
said Jones apparently sawed his way out of the
jail again on June 16 and had been loose ever
since.
The 22-year-old Graham County escape
artist was originally locked up last Fall on
breaking and entering charges and was first
held in the Clay County Jail, from which he
and a companion escaped in November. They
were recaptured shortly, with counts of
escape and car theft added to the original
charges.
Rack in April, Jones sawed his way out of
rokee County Jail and was caught a
rs later in his home county with a
sioieii car.
Jones has been charged with escape
again, for his third flight Sheriff Stalcup said,
and will face a Superior Court judge here in
Murphy later this month on a variety of
charges.
One of the witnesses against him will
probably be Highway Patrol Patrolman Zeb
Phillips of Robbinsville, who has been in on
the recapture of Jones each time he escaped.
Robert Bryson of Murphy, who was
serving an 16-day sentence for public
drunkenness, went out with Jones and was
? also recaptured last Sunday, walking along
the Slow Creek Road near Marble.
Marble Scene...fatal wreck on bridge.
Car Hits Bridge, Driver Dies
The narrow cement bridges
along US-19-129 between
Murphy and Andrews claimed
another victim Sunday, the
second fatal bridge wreck
recently.
John F. Howard, 42,
formerly of Murphy, had been
visiting relatives in the Marble
area and was heading toward
Andrews Sunday night, starting
on the trip back to his home in
Seneca, S. C.
Trooper Bob Ogle,
investigating officer, said
Howard's 1960 Rambler collided
with the cement bridge in front
of the Marble Elementary
School at a speed of about 45
miles per hour, according to an
eyewitness.
Howard was taken to the
hospital at Andrews, where he
died on Monday morning. The
patrolman said a charge of
drunk driving against Howard
will be nol prossed in court (not
prosecuted).
Trooper Ogle said traffic on
the main highway was blocked
for about an hour and credited
the Andrews Rescue Squad for
assistance in routing traffic
around the scene via the Hyatt
Creek Road.
The previous Sunday a
Murphy girl, Doris Ann
Phillips, 15, was killed when the
car she and four other teens
were riding in struck a bridge at
Tomotla. , '
The narrow bridges along
US-19-129 have waist-high
concrete walls and have figured
in a number of accidents
through the years. They were
built in the early 1920's.
NATIONAL
NEWSPAPER
Funeral services for
Howard were held Wednesday
morning at 11 o'clock in the
chapel of the Seneca Mortuary
with burial following in
Evergreen Memorial Garden
near Walhalla, S. C.
He is survived by his father,
John H. Howard of Fair Play, S.
C.; his wife, Mrs. Odell
McGuffin Howard of the home
in Seneca; three brothers, Bill
Howard of Metria, La., Robert
Howard of Murphy, S-Sgt.
James B. Howard of Ft.
McClellan, Ala.; four sisters,
Mrs. Mary Alice Stalcup of
Camp Lejeune, Mrs. Wanda
Waldrep of Fair Play, Mrs.
Shirley Wilson of Charleston, S.
C. and Mrs. Loretta Foster of
Maryville, Tenn.
Jamboree Success;
Boat Races Sunday
The Murphy Jaycees three
day Country Music Jamboree
last weekend was quite a
success, according to a club
spokesman.
"We were well pleased with
it," the Jaycee said. "Of course
it was our first Jamboree and
the crowds weren't quite as big
as we had hoped for but money
wise we broke even and we
gained a lot of valuable
experience in staging the
event."
He added that the
Jamboree will "definitely be
held again next year, and with
the experience gained from this
one, will be bigger and better."
Those attending the
clogging exhibition, the country
and gospel music shows were
enthusiastic and generous with
their applause. The
performers were "tickled to
death" with the response of the
audience.
The headlining Leamon
Sisters from Chattanooga, for
example, said it was one of the
best audiences they had
performed for. "We just wish
they liked us this well in
Chattanooga," they said.
The outboard motorboat
races sponsored by the Jaycees
will be held Sunday afternoon at
Hanging Dog Campground on
Lake Hiwassee. This year for
the first time the races are
sanctioned by the National
Outboard Association, with
NOA officials to be in charge.
Known as the Elmer Taylor
Memorial Marathon, the races
on Sunday will not include the
short heat runs specators have
seen in the past. Rather there
will only be two races, both
marathon events, each to last 60
minutes.
The first hour-long race
begins at 1:30 and the second
starts at 3 o'clock. Admission to
the boat ramp area to see the
races is free. The first event
will be for five classes of limited
outboards, the second will be for
four classes of the big unlimited
racers.
The NOA, a Jaycee
explained, is the marine
equivalent of auto racing's
NASCAR organisation. It
sanctions races all over North
America and drivers compete
on a points basis. Sunday's race
here is the only NOA event that
day and is expected to draw
top racers in the points
competition from several
states.
Investigate Knife Death
A Ramsey Hollow man was found dead Tuesday
night in Murphy, lying in front of his home near
Providence Hospital. Investigating, left to right, were
Cherokee Coroner J.B. Hall, Deputy Willard Bates,
Police Chief Pete Stalcup and Sheriff Blain Stalcup.
(Avett Photo)
Pearson Dead Of Knife Wound
A Murphy man was found
dead of a knife wound at his
home in the Ramsey Hollow
section of town Tuesday night.
Russell Pearson, believed
to be about SO years old, was
found lying on the gravel road in
front of his home by neighbors
and law officers shortly after 9
o'clock.
Cherokee County Sheriff
Blain Stalcup and Murphy
Police Chief Pete Stalcup are
investigating but so far have
fOed no charges. Pearson's wife
and Earnest (Boney) Dockery
are being held for questioning at
the Cherokee County Jail.
Cherokee County Coroner
J.B. Hall ruled "death due to
internal bleeding resulting from
a knife wound." He said
Cherokee Medical Examiner
Dr. Charles VanGorder had
ordered that the body be taken
to Waynesville for a full
autopsy.
There was only one knife
mark on the body, Coroner Hall
said, a large wound in the chest
which apparently severed one
or m<--e major blood vessels.
fhe dead man was clothed
only in shoes and a T-shirt, a
cigarette butt clenched in the
fingers of his left hand. Officers
said both he and Mrs. Pearson
had been drinking.
Funeral arrangements are
incomplete at Ivie Funeral
Home.
Jamboree Showstoppers
Some of the favorites of the crowd attending the
Jaycee Country Music Jamboree last weekend in
Murphy were die Carolina Sweethearts, top, local
clogging champions shown in action on Friday
night.Susie McDonald Rogers, shown below, sang
in the country music show on Saturday night and
was called back by the audience later in the show to
perform again. (Staff Photos)