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urphy, N.C., 28906
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The Cherokee Scout
and Clay County Progress
Volume 79 - Number 48 - Murphy, North Carolina, 28906 - Second Class Postage Paid at Murphy, N. C. - Thursday, July 15, 1971
Boat Race Accident
Boat racers, in top picture, stopped their boats
)' during Sunday's Elmer Taylor Memorial Marathon
on Lake Hiwassee to help a fellow driver who was
1 injured when his twin-engined boat flipped at high
J speed. In bottom picture the unconscious driver,
'?Jimmy Dudley of Phoenix City, Ala., is lifted by
> Steve Dockery of Murphy and the racers into a
pickup boat. He suffered a mild concussion in the
accident and was released Monday from
Providence Hospital. Donald Bateman of Augusta,
Ga., driving a boat powered by a single Mercury
engine, outran the pack and was the overall race
winner. (Bill Dyer Photos)
Housing Projects
lUp For Bids . . . Again
Murphy's public housing
projects, which have been
k plagued by soaring construction
I Sgt. Richard Ledford
Sgt. Ledford
r
Injured In
Asian War
Word has been received in
day County of the wounding in
? Vietnam of Sgt. Richard
Ledford, son of Mr. and Mrs.
James H. Ledford of
\ Hayesville.
Sgt. Ledford was wounded
' on July 7, suffering multiple
i wounds of one leg and both
arms, injuries to his face and
' temporary loss of vision in one
, eye. He is recovering now in the
hospital at Da Nang, scheduled
' to be returned to the United
. States for treatment soon.
? A veteran of six years'
' service in the UJ5. Army, Sgt.
. I adford is on his third hitch in
Vietnam He is assigned to the
' America I Division.
I
costs, are going up for bids for
the fourth time.
Ben Palmer, executive
director of the Murphy Housing
Authority, said plans for the two
projects have been changed to
make for cheaper construction
and the jobs will be going up for
bids in late August.
Planned are 10 housing
units for the elderly on
Hiwassee Street and 30 low
income family units on Park
Avenue, near the Rimco Plant.
Property Tax
Law Changed
The Legislature has
modernized the property tax
law of North Carolina - doing
away with the poll tax for good,
(tapping discounts for pre
payments if local governments
so desire and hiking interest
rates on delinquent taxes.
Mrs. Ruth Sprung,
Cherokee County Accountant,
explained the changes in the act
this week. It was ratified on
July 9 and affects both counties
and towns, she said.
The poll tax will end this
year, she said, and in 1972 there
simply will be no poll tax on the
property owner's tax bill.
Interest at the rate of3.? of a
percent, instead of the old 'j of
a percent will be added to all
ielinquent taxes when they are
xllected in the future. She said
this begins now and beginning
wxt year, the added interest
-ate will be 2 percent in January
and of a percent each month
hereafter.
Discounts for those who pay
heir taxes early are no longer
equired, she explained, but
>oth the Cherokee County
Commissioners and the Murphy
winctlmen have voted to keep
?urrent discounts in effect for
hose who pay their 1971 taxes
efore the first of November.
The housing authority is to build
the projects with money from
the federal Department of
Housing and Urban
Development but so far HUD
officials have turned down all
bids as too high.
"We found out that we're in
their Asheville division,"
Palmer said."And our costs
here will have to be in line with
construction costs per square
foot in Asheville. If we were
being compared to Chattanooga
costs, the bids we already have
would be all right."
The HUD planners turned
down the first bids in July of last
y?ar at a total of $699,069 as too
high. The job was bid on again
last September and the total bid
rose to $729,419 so HUD let it
stand until this Spring.
In mid-April, it was bid on
again and the total was $682,600.
At that time, it appeared that
HUD had approved the job but a
work-stop order was issued by
the federal officials in Atlanta
just before the construction
began.
Palmer said the number of
units has not been changed, nor
the floorspace. Cost-saving has
been done, he said, by
eliminating closet doors and
replacing them with drapes in
he plans, doing away with
planned skylights, changing
From metal door-frames to
wood and from wooden
stairways to concrete.
Four Square
Meeting Set
The monthly meeting of the
board of directors of Four
Square Community Action Inc.
will be held at the Andrews
Community Center next
Monday night at 7:30. All board
members and interested
oersnns invited to attend.
Cable TV
Contacts
Customers
Murphy Cable Television,
Inc. will begin taking
applications this week for cable
TV service in and around the
town.
Harold Shook, president of
the corporation, said the TV
cable, similar to telephone line,
will be installed soon, starting
in about 30 days. Construction of
a tower on Fain Mountain,
which will receive the television
signals for the entire system,
will take about 60-90 days he
said and should begin in the
near future.
Shook said Jerry Anderson
will be the local serviceman for
the system and will be
circulating the applications.
Shook was given the cable
TV franchise for the Murphy
area last January by the
Murphy Town Council. The
council has stipulated that no
local programming will be
allowed, due to the high
insurance rates which would be
required to protect against
possible libel suits which might
result from a local broadcast.
Shook said a test survey
made recently on Fain
Mountain by an Asheville
engineering firm brought in the
signal from the education
station at Athens, Ga. and 12
other commercial channels,
from Atlanta, Spartanburg,
Chattanooga, Greenville, S.C.
and Asheville.
He said subscribers, who
will pay a monthly rate for the
service, will probably be
furnished less than the 13
channels available since "some
of them are duplicates." There
would be little reason, he
pointed out, to carry four or five
channels of the same network
affiliation.
In addition to television.
Shook said the cable TV
operation will offer a broad
band of FM radio stations,
subscribers hearing the FM
stations either through their TV
sets or radios connected to the
catye.
Town OK's
Budget,
Talks Land
The Murphy Town Council Monday night adopted
the town budget for 1971-72 and discussed its dealings
in real estate.
The budget, presented in tentative form several
weeks back, calls for the town spending $318,897
during the fiscal year, an increase from last year's
$280,000.
The tax rate, however, will remain the same as
last year, $1.85 per $100 of valuation and water and
sewer charges will not be changed, Town Clerk
Charlie Johnson said.
The budget contains pay raises for nearly all town
employes of about 5 per cent, $12,000 to be spent on
the town sewage plant to add drying beds, an
additional expense of $6,000 for the landfill, $2,800 on
the new town street sweeper and $3,000 for a new
police car.
At the meeting, it was announced that the town
has exercised an option it held and purchased for
$16,000 the C.L. Alverson property, formerly the
Everett English lot, located on Blumenthal Street
behind the present Town Hall.
Containing 1.35 acres , it was purchased to serve
as a site for a proposed new library building which
would house both the town's Murphy Carnegie
Library and the Nantahala Regional Library. The
library board has been authorized to make plans for
the new building and inquire about federal grants
which might be available for such a project.
The town now owns the Power Board Building
and some property adjacent to it, the library building
and land plus a downtown parking lot in addition to
the Alverson lot.
Council members Monday night decided that
some other land the town owns, a lot on Cherokee
Street and 13 acres on the Andrews Highway, should
be declared surplus and sold. The lot on Cheroke
Street is across the street from the Gulf bulk plant
and the land on the Andrews Highway is located near
Harper's Store in the Regal section.
Johnson was instructed to talk with potential
buyers and see how much the land might be worth.
Paul Ridenhour, who lives next to the Alverson
lot, appeared and asked that he be sold a triangular
strip of the new town property to square up his lot.
There was much discussion of the property line
involved but no action was taken as council members
preferred to check with a surveyor on the matter
before selling any of the land.
MURPHY
CITY LIMIT
BIRD
SANCTUARY
From Manteo To Murphy
Hugh Morton, testing local
feelings toward his possible
campaign for the North Carolina
governorship, came to Murphy on
Tuesday by helicopter. He had been in
the other end of the state at Manteo on
Monday and brought with him a
lamp, which is a model of the famed
Cape Hatteras lighthouse. (Gray
Photo)
Morton Samples
Cherokee Support
Hugh Morton came to
Murphy Tuesday afternoon, to
meet with local Democratic
leaders on the possibility of his
running for governor of North
Carolina.
Morton, who owns the
tourist attraction Grandfather
Mountain and ramrodded the
USS North Carolina battleship
memorial project of recent
years, has said he is interested
in running for governor. His
decision will be based on the
results of a professional poll
under way in the state on his
possible candidacy and his
personal visits to leaders in the
100 counties.
Coming here from Franklin
by helicopter, Morton landed
near the Murphy High football
field and had a 1 p.m. juncheon
at O'Dell's Restaurant with
about 25 local officials and
Democratic leaders from
Murphy, Andrews and the
county.
Morton said his friends
have been pushing him to make
the race but added "I don't want
to be licked." He mentioned Lt.
Gov. Pat Taylor , Attorney
General Bob Morgan and
Senator Hargrove "Skipper"
Bowles as potential Democratic
candidates, each having a
political machine to back him.
Mortan said he had no such
machine and would have to
depend on his friends across the
state for support. A native of
Wilmington, he lives at Linville
and indicated he thought he
could bridge the traditional
East-West gap in Tarheel
politics.
He asked those attending
the luncheon how the next
governor might best serve
them and their prime concern
proved to be the planned new
four-lane highway between
Murphy and Andrews.
Murphy attorney Hobart
McKeever said local leaders
have been unable to find out the
construction status of the
proposed new road and
Andrews Mayor Ty Burnette
said in his town uncertainty
about the location of the road is
affecting new construction.
Wife Charged
In Stabbing
Of Husband
Mrs. I.uellen Pearson of the
Ramsey Hollow section of
Murphy has been charged with
murder in the knife slaying of
her husband Russell last week.
Police Chief Pete Stalcup
said Mrs. Pearson's bond has
been set at $5,000 and as of
Wednesday morning, she was
still in the Cherokee County
Jail.
Earnest (Boney) Dockery,
who was held along with Mrs.
Pearson by officers for
questioning, was released after
officers verified his statement
that he left the Pearson
residence early Tuesday
afternoon of last week.
Chief Stalcup said Dockery,
one of the last persons to see
Russell Pearson alive, will
probably be called as a material
witness in the trial.
Pearson was found lying dead in
a driveway near his house last
week on Tuesday night about 9
o'clock, a stab wound in his
chest above the heart.
Officers quoted a
pathologist who examined the
body as saying the knife that
killed Pearson, which so far has
not been located , severed two
major blood vessels and death
came almost instantly.
New Deputies
Cherokee County Sheriff Blain
Stalcup (Democrat) asked the
Cherokee commissioners
(Republican) for two additional
Jeputies several months ago and was
urned down. He then sent his request
o the Legislature (Democrat) where
t was approved, giving the sheriff's
rffice four ftilltime deputies now.
Standing is Gerald Breedlove, 21, of
Marble, a former Andjr^ws
policeman. Seated is Kenneth
Higgins, 32, of Peachtree, who is a
former Murphy policeman and also
has worked as a prison guard and a
deputy sheriff in Haywood County .
(Avett Photo)
U. S, Forest Service
Sets Public Meeting
On Wednesday night of next week, at 7:30
in the Murphy Power Board Building, the U. S.
Forest Service will hold a public meeting at
which there will be a "tell it like it is" session.
According to District Ranger Harold
Fisher, everyone is invited and during the
meeting members of the general public may
comment on or criticize present Forest
Service policies o* suggest changes in policy.
Fisher said the Forest Service's
controversial fee system far campers and
picnickers will be discussed as will the
closings of forest roads and the use of trails by
motorcycles. Timber management and litters
are also topics which probably will be aired,
he added.
"The Forest Service is
managing the National
greatest good,
people in the long
need the public's