;1u*f hjr Carnagla Library 4.73
Paachtraa Scraat
lurphy, H.C., 20906
?
14
The Cherokee Scout
is* tote* and Clay County Progress
2 SECTIONS
Volume 80 - Number 6 - Murphy. N. C. 28906-Second Class Postage Paid at Murphv. N. C. - Thursday, September 23, 1971
H
Housing Nears Federal OK
L "We're almost positive ? it
' looks better this time than it
I ever has before."
that was the word this week
I from Ben Palmer, executive
drector of the Murphy Housing
Authority. The authority opened
i bids last week on two public
housing projects for Murphy, to
' be financed by federal money
, from the Department of
Housing and Urban
I Development (HUD).
| It was the fourth bid
' opening in the past year or so,
i the first three turned down by
HUD officials who said the
1 construction bids were too high
in cost.
"As of now, we're talking
[ with HUD offices in
Greensboro," Palmer said
IXiesday. "It looks like the
contracts will be awarded to the
low bidders on Oct. 1 and
construction work can begin
right after that."
He noted that the three low
bids were submitted by Murphy
firms ? Collins li Minor on the
general contract, Hughes
Electric on the electrical work
and Wells ft West on the
plumbing.
At the bid opening by the
housing authority last Thursday
afternoon at the Murphy Power
Board building, there were two
bids received on the general
contract. Smith ft Jones put in a
bid of $640,000; Collins ft Minor
bid low at $656,000
Basic Electric Co. of
Charlotte bid $52,965 on the
electrical part of the projects
and Hughes had the low bid at
$52,762.
Shorty Holder, bidding in
the name of Dickey Supply Co.,
was turned down by the
authority because he had no
bona fide state builder's license
attached to his plumbing bid.
Us bid on the plumbing was
opened anyway and it read
$47,861. Wells ft West had the
low bid on the plumbing at
$?JQ0.
The two projects of public
housing are 10 units for the
elderly, to be constructed on
Hiawassee Street, and 20 units
of low-rent housing near the
Rimco plant. >
Plans were drawn by
architect Henry Whitehead, Jr.
of Decatur, Ga. and the projects
were first bid on in July of 1970.
At that time HUD officials
were jlanning on putting up
the two projects for a total
cost of about $600,000 and they
indicated that there was abouta
10 percent leeway .meaning a
top price of $660,000 for the
projects.
In that July 1970 bidding,
Snith & Jones was low on the
general contract, Hughes had
the low electrical bid and Wells
& West had the low plumbing
bid. The total ran up to $699,069
and HUD called for another
bidding.
In September of 1970, bids
were opened again, the same
three firms were low bidders
but the price rose to
$729,419 and HUD called for
another bidding.
In April of this year, Collins
& Minor took the low bid and
Basic Electric underbid
Hughes. Wells & West continued
to put in the low plumbing bid
and the total bid on construction
of the two projects came down
to $682,600.
At that time, it looked like
HUD was going to approve the
program and Murphy's long
awaited public housing projects
were going to get off the ground.
However, the federal planners
backed out at the last minute,
ordered preliminary work
stopped, and called for the
fourth bidding.
The total figure on last
week's bidding runs to $655,062
and Murphy Housing Authority
members are keeping their
fingers crossed that the job will
go through this time.
NATIONAL
NEWSPAPER
1972^?oi/NpiT\Q^1973
Sy (tffi
Shrine Riders
The motorcycling Shriners of the
Oasis Temple Motor Corps will put on
a fancy trick-riding routine Friday
afternoon at 2:30 on Peachtree Street
in Murphy, which will be blocked off
between the square and the
Courthouse in honor of the occasion.
The cyclists are shown above at a 1966
appearance in Andrews. They will
perform in Andrews on Friday
afternoon at 4 o'clock.
School Bond Vote Set
Hie Cherokee County Board
ofElections received ballots this
week for the countywide bond
vote, set for Tuesday, Oct. 5.
Polls throughout the county
will be open that day for
Registered voters to decide
whether or not the county can
issue $300,000jn bonds to rebuild
the Andrews Elementary
School building destroyed by
fire back in January.
This ballot does not.
specifically mention the
Andrews Elementary School by
name but Ed Hyde, Murphy
attorney hired by the county
commissioners to do the legal
work involved in the bond issue,
says "There is no doubt that it is
for the Andrews school."
The ballot has boxes to
mark either "for" or "against"
authorizing the bonds to finance
"several new buildings to be
used as school houses, school
garages, physical education
and vocational education
buildings, teacherages and
hatch rooms and other school
plant facilities...and a tax
therefor."
"The bonds are intended for
the Antkews school," Hyde
said. "But this is the bestway
not to tie the hands of the Board
of Education and it's the
wording recommended by the
New York lawyers."
He explained that general
terms of planned usage of bond
money, rather than specific
terms, are preferred by the
New York bonding attorneys.
These New York lawyers, Hyde
said, supervise everystep of a
bond issue and in effect check
out the credit rating of a county
desiring to issue bonds. Without
their okay, bond buyers will not
purchase a county's bonds.
Construction of the new
school at Andrews, according to
plans m_'.r presented by
Murphy architect Eric
Townson, will cost about
$450,000 not including the cost of
furnishing the new plant. The
Cherokee County Board of
Education has about $200,000,
part of which came from
insurance carried on the burned
school and part as the
remainder of this county's
share of the 1963 North Carolina
state school bond issue.
Racing Charged;
Cars Impounded
law officers descended on
Culberson Saturday night,
breaking up what they termed
an illegal drag race,
hnpounding two automobiles
and arresting two
charges of prearranged racing.
The offices said the (hag
racing has been reported them
on numerous occasions, the
races ususuaQy beginning on
NC40 near the Culberson Post
Office.
Saturday night there were a
?number of of ficers hidden In the
general area, including N.C.
rfjjghway Patrolmen, a Georgia
Us of both the
Sheriffs
r_ the Fannin Comity (On.)
iffs Department
Sunday morning about S
'Kick, the officers said they
away from the Culberson Poet
Office. Officers blocked ths
road and stopped the two cars,
arresting the driven on
charges of pre-arranged racing.
They are: William David
Nicholson. 18, and Harold Louis
Moore, 28, both of Route I,
Qilberson.
Moore's 1883 OidsmohUe
and Nicholson's 1166 Ford were
also impounded. Pre-arranged
racing, the officers said, carries
a fine of 61,600 and the car
involved, U the driver is
convicted, can be seised and
sold at auction.
There were sbout seven or
eight cars parked at the starting
point, officers said, containing
spectators. Watching a drag
race also carries a 61,000 fine
<std all the spectators fled the
any of I
Scout Wins
Blue Ribbon
The Cherokee Scout and Clay County
Progress has been designated a "National
Blue Ribbon Newspaper" for 1972 and 1973 by
the National Editorial Foundation of
Washington, D.C.
It is the second time The Scout has won
such a ranking, having been first named a
blue ribbon newspaper by the foundation last
year, for 1970-71.
In announcing the designation this week,
Foundation President George Wortley III of
Fayetteville, N.Y. noted that The Scout was
one of only 182 newspapers in the United
States to (achieve blue ribbon status.
A total of 25 criteria, measuring the
individual newspaper's service to its
community against a national standard, were
used in the judging.
The foundation, established in 1956, is
dedicated to the improvement of journalism
and journalism education.
There are more than 150 non-daily
newspapers in North Carolina, some true
weeklies, others published twice or three
times a week. With a circulation in excess of
4,600, The Scout ranks among the top 15
weeklies in size.
Police Car Wrecked
Murphy Police Chief Pete Stalcup
points to the broken axle of the town
police car, which wrecked during a
chase about 2 o'clock last Saturday
morning in the Bealtown section.
Chief Stalcup said Officers Arvil and
tarry Payne were in pursuit of an
unidentified car when the right rear
axle on the 1969 Dodge police cruiser
broke and the wheel fell off. throwing
the car out of control. It ran of off the
road and overturned down an
embankment. The officers escaped
with minor injuries
Child Care Centers Planned
The State of Franklin
Health Council has been
granted almost $2 million to
establish 33 child development
centers in the council's seven
county area, including day and
Cherokee counties.
The catch is that the child
development program must be
in operation by by Nov. IS and
crash effort is underway to see
that the deadline is met.
A 21-member overall
committee for the whole State
of Franklin met Tuesday night
of this week in Sylva to work out
guidelines for the program. The
local county committees will be
in charge of promoting the work
of the centers and finding the
children who need the service.
The Cherokee County Board
of Commissioners named a 12
member county committee for
child development at its
September meeting and that
group met recently and selected
V.O. Ayers, who heads the
county Social Services
Department , as its chairman.
"We picked four sub
committees," Ayers said. "To
work in the areas of child
identification, personnel for the
centers, equipment and
location."
He said Cherokee County
would get five of the child
development centers, but
locations have not yet been
decided. He said tentative plans
nclude putting two of the
centers in Andrews and two in
Mirphy. Each center can
handle IS children.
The money for operating
the centers for the first two
years comes entirely from
federal agencies, the
Appalachian Regional
Commission and the
Department of Health,
Education and Welfare. After
that, themoney to operate them
will come 75 percent from
federal agencies and 2S percent
from state and local sources.
The aim of the centers is to
care for children, who for
some reason ( a working
mother, personality or
emotional problems) need
special attention in the pre
school years in order to prepare
them for a successful entry into
the school years ahead. Areas of
behavior such as proper health
habits, nutrition will be the
routine concern of workers at
the centers, with special
More Shore , Less Water
Fall officially came in this week, the leaves are
beginning to turn and the water levels of the TV A
lakes are dropping . But the lakes won't be
dropping quite so far as in the past, according to
TV A officials who say the lakes will bekept higher
in the interests of recreation. The new minimum
level for Hiwassee Lake will be 1450 feet, up 351
from the old minimum of 1415 feet. This photo1
made Monday of this week at Roberts Boot Dock,
at a reading of 1509 so die lake still has almost M
feet to go. (Avett Photos)
Lakes To Be Higher
Hiwassee and Chatuge
lakes will be kept at higher
water levels this Winter, good
news for boaters and fishermen
who have long complained
about the severe seasonal
fluctuations of the lakes.
Reed Elliott, director of
water control planning for the
Tennessee Valley Authority,
told The Scout this week that the
normal minimum levels for
both lakes have been changed
inward.
required to special physical and
mental health problems.
Each child development
center will be staffed by two
volunteer workers, from 6:90
am. to 5:00 pan., and each
center will be scheduled for
regular visits by a medical
team including professionals
and aides in the fields of health,
hygiene and mental health.
Their work will be
sig>plemented by die efforts of
family and social workers.
The original proposal for
the development service began
with the State of Franklin
Health Council earlier this year.
Clients utilizing the service
will contribute to its support
by paying a nominal fee.
"The principal reason is to
improve the usefulness of the
reservoirs for recreation
purposes," Elliott said. "There
will still be substantial
fluctuations and in extreme
conditions of drought or other
emergencies, the lakes could be
pulled down to a lower level but
the overall effect will be
generally higher levels
throughout the whole year."
Elliott said Hiwassee's
normal minimum level in
year's past has been at a
reading of 1415 feet. Ibis has
been raised to 1450 feet, an
increase of 35 feet. At Chatuge
the normal minimum was 1W0
feetand the new reading will be
1905, an increase of 45 feet.
Other lakes affected by the
TV A order include South
Holston, Watauga, Cherokee,
Fontana, Norris, and Nottely.
"This year we had so much
rain, particularly July, that we
had high levels in most lakes,"
Elliott said. "We anticipate that
the revised operations will
result in lake levels more
favorable for recreation use.
However, the most important
factor influencing levels still is
rainfall. And seasonlong
rainfall is unpredictable."
Black Widow Spider
Bites Boy At Marble
AIMarblei boy was bitten by a fl
black widow spider last week but survived the
incident and went home in good shape after a
couple of days in the hospital.
Dr. Walter'* Mauney, the attending
physician, said six-year-old John Barton, sen
of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Horto t of Route 1,
Marble, was admitted to Providence Hospital
in serious condition.
Members of the family said the boy had
put his foot into an oldshoe with spider webs in
it. They never found the black widow, a Steal
black spider with a red hourglass mark m Ms
abdomen, but Dr. Mauney said the boy's
symptoms were the classic ones of a black
widow bite.
"We found two I
and it was swollen,'
breathing was very i
was a pretty sick
After
Bryson
Resigns
The board of dfeweUrs af
Foursquare Community Irtbs,
Inc. met Monday aipd In
Andrews and accepted the
resignation of Ed Bryson, whs
had headed the agency's
Operation Mainstream
program.
The executive director of
Foursquare, Milt Carlson, fired
Bryson the last of August and
the matter was heard, at
Bryson's request, last week by
the directors'
Committee.
That groig) had i
a 3-2 vote, to rein
and more than 751
out Monday night at
Andrews Community Ob
expecting verbal fhe works la a
public hearing
Carlson, Bryson
dbectors.
Stops ToU