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14
15-Af"c!p, and Clay County Progress
The Cherokee Scout
' SECTIONS Vohimn 80? Number 1 ? Murphy, North Carolina, 28906 - Second Class Postage Paid at Murphy, N. C. ? Thursday, August 19, 1971
SWEARS Eyes Legal Action
Against County For Radios
By Wally Avett
Staff Writer
The executive board of
SWEARS took a dim view this
week of Cherokee County
withdrawing from a seven
county law enforcement radio
network, dispatching a man to
Raleigh to check with the state
Attorney General's office on
possible legal action against
Cherokee.
SWEARS stands for
Southwestern Enforcement and
Rights Service. With
headquarters in Waynesville,
it works with lawmen in the
seven counties of this end of the
state.
Under a SWEARS plan, all
county and town officers in the
counties of Cherokee, Clay,
Graham, Swain, Jackson
Macon and Haywood counties
were to be linked together in one
large radio network. All the
towns and counties, including
Cherokee, approved the plan
back in February but the
Cherokee Commissioners
recently rescinded all past
actions on the radio system.
Charles Hipps of
Waynesville, planning director
for SWEARS, told The Scout
Tuesday that a meeting was
held that morning in his office of
the executive board of SWEARS
to consider the matter. The
executive board is made up of a
representative, of each county
plus a representative of the
courts, one person from the
probation office, one from the
parole baord and a man from
the solicitor's office.
Cherokee County is
represented by John Carringer,
Hipps said, but Carringer was
not present at the meeting.
Hipps said eight of the 11 board
members were present, taking
a hard line on the Cherokee
County withdrawal.
"They passed a resolution
reciting the fact that the
Cherokee County
commissioners had authorised
the planning unit to procure this
special radio equipment and
they fully expect the Cherokee
commissioners to pay for the
equipment." Hipps said.
"The action taken by the
SWEARS board was that the
Young Voters
Lt. Gov. Pat Taylor visited Clay
and Cherokee counties on Wednesday
of last week and like other possible
Democratic candidates for governor,
will have to consider the young
voters, those aged 18-20 now also
eligible to vote in all elections.
Serving him with cake and coffee at a
reception in Murphy was 18-year-old
Markie Carringer, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. John Carringer. (Staff
Photo)
Lieutenant Governor
Tests Political Water
Lt. Gov. Pat Taylor visited
in Clay and Cherokee counties
an Wednesday of last week,
testing the political waters with
an eye toward running for
governor next year.
The lieutenant governor
met with the Democratic party
faithful in Hayesville on
Wednesday afternoon and
moved on to Murphy for a
reception at the Power Board
Building here that night,
attended by about 50.
"I came out for politics," he
said, but declined to make a
Local Indians
To Organize
Cherokee County citizens with Indian
blood will hold a county organizational
meeting on Thursday night at the home of
Bailey Coleman.
This is the first step in setting up this
county as an Indian voting unit, separate and
apart from the Indian settlement in the
,Snowbird section of Graham County.
In past Cherokee tribal elections, those
who lived in this county had to travel to
.Snowbird to cast their ballots and complaints
have been raised that the Snowbird crowd
gave Indian citizens of Cherokee County little
voice in tribal politics.
An election for chief, vice chief and
council members will be held on Sept. 2 and
local Indian leaders are in the process of
getting the Tomotla Community Center
approved as the polling place for residents of
Cherokee County.
The meeting begins at Coleman's house on
Thursday night at 8 o'clock. He lives off Joe
Brown highway in the Grape Creek section.
All enrolled members of the Eastern Band
of Cherokee Indians who are over 18 years old
ue urged to attend.
formal announcement as to
whether he would be a
candidate (or the Democratic
nomination for governor.
"I'm not making any
announcement yet and I'm not
asking for any declaration of
support from you," he said,
adding that he has been
traveling for about the past
three weeks about the state
samping public opinion on his
possible candidacy.
Taylor made no promises
but commented that "I've seen
all the bad rqads in Western
North Carolina on this trip...
I'm impressed with the need for
roads here."
Sunday in Raleigh he
released the results of a poll he
commissioned to determine his
political strength. He said of
those interviewed by a
professional New York pollster,
34 percent said they would vote
for him, 24 percent leaned
toward other possible
Democratic candidates. The
rest said they were undecided.
Taylor said he was
encouraged by the poll and
expected to make an official
announcement in about six to
seven weeks on his candidacy.
In addition to Taylor and
Morgan, other possible
Democratic candidates include
Hugh Morton, a developer from
Wilmington and linville, and
State Senator Hargrove
(Skipper) Bowles of
Greensboro.
Morton and Taylor are the
only ones to have visited in this
area so far. Morton, who was
here in mid-July, said a poll
conducted for him shows Taylor
leading, Morton in second place
;nd Bowles in third.
Cherokee commissioners are
morally and legally obligated
for this radio equipment and we
expect payment", he added.
Hipps said he was going to
Raleigh on Wednesday of this
week and would speak with the
Attorney General's office on
what legal action would be
necessary.
A loophole, of sorts, was
revealed by Hipps Tuesday to
The Scout. The two Republicans
on the Cherokee three-man
commissioners' board have
voted to rescind all action
approving the radio system and
made no allowance in this
year's budget for payment of
the county's share of the cost,
expected to be about $1,000 a
year for the next five to eight
years.
Hipps said Tuesday that
according to the agreement
made by all the counties and
towns involved earlier this
year, the first payment on the
System would not actually be
<fcie until August of next year.
This would indicate that the
Cherokee commissioners could
put off action for awhile on the
matter and if they decided to go
along with the system, would
not have to raise the money
mtil next Summer when they
work out a new countv budget.
County Commissioner Jack
Lovingood, who made the
motion that the county rescind
its previous action in joining the
radio system, maintained
Tuesday that Sheriff Blain
Stalcup was not authorized to
sign the radio contract with
Motorola for this county and
said the Cherokee
commissioners therefore were
not bound to any agreement.
Sheriff Stalcup, a
Democrat, says the new radios
are badly needed by his
department. The system would
give all his men new radios to
use on regular county law
enforcement, he said, with
the added advantage of being
tied into Sheriffs and town
police offices in the other
counties.
The Cherokee County
sheriff has said that withdrawal
from the radio system was a
political blow at him by the
Republican commissioners, a
charge denied by Lovingood.
Approval by the Federal
Communications Commission
Clay Course
Seeks Bids
On Clubhouse
Advertising for bids begins
this week for a new clubhouse at
the Chatuge Shores Golf Course
near Hayesville.
Tom Day, chairman of
the Clay County Rural
Development Authority which
constructed the course, says
construction bids will open on
Sept. 10.
Foy and Lee, architects of
Waynesville, drew the plans,
which call for a new clubhouse,
tennis courts, a swimming pool
aid a playground at the popular
Clay County course.
The group Day heads built
the course with a $250,000 loan
from the Farmers Home
Administration. A loan was
approved about the first of June
by the FHA for $145,000 for the
new clubhouse and the other
additions.
The clubhouse will be of an
Alpine appearance, Day said, to
harmonize with the numerous
A-frame cottages already built
on the lake shore.
PIGSKIN
PREVIEW
Area football fans
will get a chance on
Friday night to see their
favorite teams in action,
in scrimmage games
slated for Murphy aad
Hayesville la
preparation for the
coming season.
Mnrphy will
scrimmage against
Rnbblnsvllle aid
Hayesville will work sot
against Fraaklla la
controlled games with
no paatiag aad Mckoffs.
(FCC) had been the only item
blocking operation of the new
radio system and Hipps said
Tuesday that he had just
received word of the FCC okay.
"Engineers are putting in
the equipment now in some of
the counties and we're going to
go ahead and try to install it in
Cherokee, as planned, in about
two weeks," he said.
He said if Cherokee refused
to accept the equipment, legal
action would begin right away.
Weaver Carringer
Carringer
Promoted
Weaver Carringer was
promoted to assistant general
manager this week by Jack
Owens, publisher and general
manager of The Scout.
A veteran employe,
Carringer has worked with The
Scout since 1961 in a variety of
jobs, with time out for a two
year hitch in the U.S. Army.
He is a native of Brasstown
and a 1961 graduate of Murphy
High School. He is married to
the former Gail Lee of Atlanta,
Ga. and they are living in the
Hanging Dog community.
"Carringer will serve as
general office manager for us,"
Owens said, "with
responsibility in the areas of
personnel, purchasing and
office management."
"He has grown with the
Scout over the past 10 years and
we're proud to have such a
bright young man on our
management team," Owens
added.
Peck Hyatt Murphy hurler in 1900. ?ti any Photos
Uncle Peck Hyatt Remembers
Pitching to Young Ty Cobb
The kids, grown up now,
remember him as the
kind old man who ran the little
store near the school. They still
call him Uncle Peck...
Tyrus Raymond Cobb, the
fabulous Georgia peach of
major league baseball,
remembered him as a fast
balling left-hander...
Peck Hyatt, now 88 years old,
sat in his comfortable home on
East Avenue in Murphy last
week and rolled back the years,
telling of Summers more than
70 years ago.
"I was about 16 or 17 then,"
Uncle Peck remembers. "Our
regular team had Winslow
McKeever at first base, Jerry
Davidson at second and Toby
Fain as the shortstop. George
Leatherwood was at third and I
played left field when I wasn't
pitching. Lowery Axley played
center field and Vic Hubbard
played right. Frank Mauney
and Hayes Leatherwood both
were catchers and Shad Hull
was the other pitcher."
Young Cobb, who have been
about 13 or 14 at the time,
enjoyed spending time with his
grandparents, Mr. and Mrs.
John Cobb, who lived in the
Gold Branch section. "We'd
send a buggy and team out to
get him, bring him into town to
play ball," Uncle Peck said.
Ty Cobb mentions the
informal games in his
autobiography "My Life In
Baseball," writing of going by
buggy into either Murphy or
Andrews for the game he loved.
In his native Royston, Ga., his
father frowned on ball; his
grandfather, however, didn't
mind.
Destined to begin a long
career with the Detroit Tigers
in 1905 at age 18, Cobb would
have been a spindly youngster
when he faced the pitching of
southpaw Peck Hyatt. In his
book, Cobb admits he had
trouble with left-handed
pitchers and he was a weak
hitter when he began in the big
leagues, facts Uncle Peck
already knew.
But as a youth, Cobb was
already forging the base
stealing skills which would
make him famous.
"He'd steal bases on you in
spite of everything you could
do," the old pitcher recollects.
He said young Cobb did not
spike defending players or
engage in fights, both activities
attributed to him in the major
league years.
"He wasn't a hitter at all.
He just couldn't hit the ball
although later on, in the big
leagues, he got to be a better
hitter."
Years later, when Ty Cobb
was firmly established among
the greats of American
baseball, he returned to Murphy
on one of his periodic visits to
see his kinfolk here.
"1 heard he was down at the
livery stable, renting a rig to go
out to see his people," Uncle
Peck says. "I went down there
and walked up to him and
said 'Do you remember me?'
"He looked at me for a
minute and then he said 'You
were that damned little left
handed pitcher they used to
have in Murphy.'"
Cobb died in the Summer of
1961. During his playing career
he held the American League
batting championship 12 times
and his lifetime batting
average, at .367, was the highest
ever in the major leagues. At
his death, the New York Herald
Tribune, in a memorial
editorial, said simply that
"he was the world's greatest
ballplayer."
like many other hurlers,
before and since. Uncle Peck's
arm went bad on him and his
pitching days were soon over.
He held a variety of jobs over
the years.
His father, the late Robert
Hyatt, ran a store . for
more than 60 years in Murphy
and Peck Hyatt drove a two
horse wagon delivering
groceries. For the grand sum of
$1 a week, he drove a buggy for
Tom Sword's livery stable,
hauling a drummer (salesman)
and his sample cases on a
regular route from Murphy to
Hayesville, Young Harris and
Blairsville and back.
I-ater he worked for the
Tennessee Copper Company
and for a number of years was a
ho usepa inter. Hyatt also
worked for the Post Office in
Murphy for some years and
then entered his last public
occupation, the one he enjoyed
most according to his wife, the
former Effie Jay Johnson of
Ogreeta.
The Hyatts lived at what is
now the site of the A&P store
and at the request of local
officials, opened a small store to
sell candy, crackers, drinks, ice
cream and other "knick
knacks" to the children at the
nearby Murphy school.
"We called it Peck's Place,"
Mrs. Hyatt says. "And he
enjoyed that more than
anything. We sold to the
children on credit and he gave a
lot of stuff away."
"If I saw a child who looked
hungry and didn't have any
money, I fed it," Uncle Peck
said. "I gave away a lot of
lunches, 1 couldn't bear to see
them go hungry."
American Thread Team Wins 2 Tournaments
American Thread's girls Softball team won the
tournament at Ducktown, Tenn. last Thursday
night with a victory over Providence Hospital and
returned to Murphy to beat the strong Martins
Creek girls on Saturday night and win the N.C. Far
West Women's Slow Pitch tournament here. Both
the American Thread and Martins Creek girls will
be going to Canton this week, to play in the state
Class B and C competition, respectively. Pictured
on Saturday night with their trophy for the win in
Murphy,are, left to right, front row: Judy Nichols,
Nancy Derreberry, Sue Queen, Peggy Lindsey and
Judy Garland; standing, Janice Hensoft, Brenda
Wilson, Betty Payne, Nancy Curtis, Martha Seay
and Deanna Davis; back row, Jimmy Cole,
assistant manager, James Morrow, team
manager, Gary Barnett, assistant manager. (Staff
Photo)
Tri-Tech
Schedules
3raduation
Tri-County Technical
Institute will hold its annual
graduation ceremonies on
Thursday night at S o'clock
atPeachtree Elementary School
auditorium.
John M. Reynolds of
teheville, a member of the
North Carolina State Board of
Education, will be the
speaker.
Holland McSwaln, who
heads Tri-Tech, said
certificates and diplomas will
available for thoae who have
completed the regular
curriculum courses or the high
school equivalency study
program over the past year.
Not all who have completed
their studies are expected to he
present at the graduation,Jw
graduates went to work
recently tor a construction
company in WUmiogtoa at IB an
hour'' he said smili!?. "W
don't really expect Own to
come back for