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> Black Mountain ★ Montreat
★ Ridgecrest ★ Swannanoa
ursdav, February 13, 1975, Volume 30, Number 19
SECOND CLASS POSTAGE PAID AT BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C. 28711
15 CENTS
Town Board Lists Priorities Applies For HUD
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listing of priorities in
roUCSt for funds from the
|r1| Government through
T was the main topic of
[deration and some sharp
Ifism at the regular Town
|rd Meeting Monday night
l,n HaH
[r Tyson stated that he
|ttu, Citizen Input, as was
I f.rth at the two public
|jn« held for this purpose,
Rt been really been
led by m the order in which
Priorities had been listed,
■felt that the public Input
1 stressed greater im
Lnce on the demolition of
■ blighted down town area
, lt was being given on the
list of priorities
Projects Coordinator Joe
Williams pointed out that
according to the guidelines
laid down by HUD that the
improvements were to be
made in residential areas in
the low and modest income
blighted areas. He stated
there had been 18 major items
suggested some of which were
ineligible under the guidelines
set forth. He also stated that
the listings for the Grant must
be ready by February 28 to
meet the April 1 deadline.
The Board adopted by
unanimous vote the following
list of priorities in the order
which they felt to be most
important.
I. Water System Upgrading
II Street and Side Walk
Improvement
III Sewers
IV New Fire Hall
V Demolition of blighted
downtown area and general
upgrading of it
VI Senior Citizens Center
VII Recreational Facilities
VII Hiring Of a Professional
For Basic Study Needs on a
motion by Mr. Begley and
seconded by Mrs. Greenwood
the Board agreed to seek the
maximum grant available
$2,200,000.
Williams stated the Water
Study now in progress is about
50 percent completed.
Williams also asked for and
the Board approved the
matching amount of money
needed for a request of $11,000
to the French Broad
Criminology Planning Grant
Taken for the IJCAA for four
walkie-talkies, a mobile
communications unit and a
voice activated recorder. The
Town’s share would be five
per cent on $550.
Martha Ramsey and
Michael Gouge from the
Federal Flood Control Zone
were present and gave the
Board the steps needed to
qualify for Flood Control
Insurance. They were en
joined, at no cost to the Town
to prepare a detailed report of
how to receive the best in
formation and aid in our own
Flood control areas. Also all
the rules and regulations will
be clearly outlined.
Mayor Stone stated that he
and City Manager Lindsey
had attended a meeting in
Raleigh last week with the
State Highway Commission
and that unless an enjoinment
was started a graded crossing
will definitely be installed at
Broadway and Lakey Streets
rather than the overpass
requested. He said a private
individual planned this protest
and the Town would not have
to become involved in the law
suit. The Board went on
record as preferring an
overpass.
Joe Williams announced
that advertisements had been
placed asking for bids for the
construction of the new
swimming pool. He asked for
a special called meeting to be
held for the purpose of opening
the bids. The Board concurred
and the meeting will be held
on February 28 at 4 p.m. in
City Hall.
Alderman Sobol reported
that he had the figures on
insurance to cover the
Auxiliary Policemen which
would cost approximately $900
but since there was an ex
cellent opportunity it could be
covered by workers com
pensation he recommended
waiting for a report. It was so
moved.
In other business the Board
passed on the second readings
the Noise Ordinance and the
Amendment to Dog Ordinance
bringing it up to County
Standards.
An Ordinance passed not
allowing parking along the
North side of US 70 from the
east leg of the Primary School
driveway eastward for a
distance of 1500 ft. Depart
ment of Transportation
notified of passage on three
readings. 1st reading was
passed on a motion by Mr.
Hickey and seconded by Mr.
Begley and on a suspension of
the rules the second reading
was passed on a motion by Mr.
Sobol and seconded by Mr.
Greenwood. The third and
final reading was approved on
a motion by Mr. Sobol and
seconded by Mr. Begley.
The Mayor asked that the
minutes show that he, the
Board of Aldermen and the
Town of Black Mountain of
fered their deepest sympathy
to Mrs. Slagle and to Mrs.
Gragg, her mother, in the loss
of Mrs. Gragg’s son and Mrs.
Slagle’s brother. The Clerk
was instructed to send a letter
of sympathy.
On a motion by Mr.
Greenwood and seconded by
Mr. Sobol the Board agreed to
sign Municipal Agreement
Project No. W. 0. 8 1909402
Federal Project 1-40-1 (21) 57,
concerning construction of a
new bridge on proposed 1-40.
The Clerk was instructed to
get a surveyor in regard to
removing the Arch on Sunset
Mountain and to relocate
Sunset Drive. Mr. Sobol
reported on insurance on
Auxiliary Policement. He will
report further at the March
meeting. No further business
the meeting adjourned.
I Doran Home Receives
Major Fire Damages
the home of Mr. and Mrs.
|nie Doran on North Park
tie, Black Mountain was
Itensively damaged by fire
lurday evening Feb. 8.
femen say it is the worst
damage wise, ir.side th
I limits since the Rug & Jug
bp fire several years ago.
The Fire Department
eived the call at 9:23.
gine No. 3 arrived on the
Ine at9:25 and Engine No. 1
19:26.
The house, a seven room
ellrng, suffered almost 100
Icent fire damage to the
|ing room, hall, kitchen and
and their furnishings,
ere was extensive heat,
|ter and smoke damage to
i rest of the house.
None of the family were at
ne when the fire broke out.
■ flames were seen by City
hnager Charles Lindsey, a
neighbor, who called in the
alram. The cause of the fire
has not been determined but is
believed to have started in the
living room.
The firemen had the fire
under control within several
minutes but remained on the
scene for four hours cleaning
up and extinguishing small
spot fires inside the walls.
There were nc- injuries to
firemen but the family’s
beloved pet dog died of smoke
inhalation despite efforts by
Fireman Gary Bartlett who
administered mouth to mouth
resuscitation.
Charlie Arnett and Asst.
Fire Chief Sterling Poe
manned the fire trucks.
Twenty men responded to the
call including Fire Chief Mack
Kirkpatrick, Capt. Ronnie
Patton and Fireman Gary
Bartlett who were off duty.
Br"
The exterior of the house was not so severelj
damaged as was the interior and its contents.
The living room of the Uoran home was gutted by
flames. It also suffered major, smoke and water
damages.
Taylor Loses Bid To Keep Lab
^'P Roy A. Taylor of Black
Gainsaid Friday theU. S.
■Partment of Agriculture
k turned down his request to
P the Agricultural Soil
I’servation Service aerial
utugraphic laboratory in
Seville.
^*or said J. Phil Camp
'■ undersecretary of
Rulture, cited Department
Weulture reasons for
IK1ng the move. He quoted a
‘r from Campbell as
' ^ departments feels
nas “no option but to
peed with the con
ation of the Asheville
with a smaller
:/‘ ‘on near Salt Uke City,
the laboratory
l . w*d mean a loss of
L j°bs ln the Asheville
rd
■hi! uTaylor has led a long
E e nere to either drop or
Ter the plan.
Pp Taylor said, “Of
We are disappointed
L , campbell’s refusal to
f;, 1 what I feel is a strong
for keeping the
Jtor>’ in Asheville.
"We asked that the transfer
be delayed at least until the
proposed long-range con
solidation of ASCS facilities
at Clearfield, Utah, could be
clarified.
“We were told that the
consolidation could not take
place before 1977 and that
before than Congress would
have to appropriate $3.5
million to renovate a building
there.
"There still is no assurance
that Congress will appropriate
the money.
"Apparently the Depart
ment of Agriculture is
determined to ram through
the consolidation without
regard for the taxpayers or
members of Congress or many
agricultural officials in the
Southeast.”
Taylor’s aides said that
Campbell’s letter just about
closed the door on Taylor’s
effort to retain the lab for
Asheville.
Campbell’s letter stated
that the impact of the move on
the Asheville area had been
studied carefully by the
Department of Agriculture.
The effect of the relocation,
the letter said, would be
relatively small.
Campbell’s letter listed
expenditures by the Depart
ment of Agriculture in other
parts of North Carolina. It
cited savings the department
estimated "may exceed $1
million a year” to be derived
from the transfer.
Local Ambulance Personnel Unaffected Bv Status Chanae
The Black Mountain Station
of the Buncombe County
Ambulance Service will
probably not be affected by
the change over from using
some part time employees to
almost all full time em
ployers, M. Jerry Vehaun said
in a statement to the Black
Mountain News Friday af
ternoon.
“We have three full time
employees at the Black
. Mountain Station Bob
Wheelon, Austin Burgess and
| James Goodman, “he said.
“Sterling Poe, Gary Bartlett
and Bill Jones have helped us
a part time basis when the
other men are off. Wj will
continue to use them, perhaps
with fewer hours, in the future
in the same capacity or some
| on a full time basis.”
VeHaun, county public
service coordinator, said
many of the new full time
ambulance attendants will be
drawn from a training course
which bet -.s Monday at
Asheville - Buncombe
Technical Institute.
VeHaun said 15 people were
selected from the ranks of the
local unemployed to attend the
300-hour 10-week training
course at A-B Tech.
Successful graduates of the
course, which is part of the
county’s federally-funded
manpower training program,
will be certified Emergency
Medical Technicians, ac
cording to VeHaun, who said
he hopes to have the entire
ambulance staff certified by
July.
Presently, the staff includes
16 full time employes and 43
part-time employes. Under
the new structure, there will
be about 35 working full time
on three shifts with an ad
Jobless Benefits
Hit Record
'
RALEIGH - -About 200,000
, persons were out of work and
• drawing unemployment
• compensation in mid-January
with payments in the month
hitting $ 31.3 million, the
Employment Security
Commission reported
Thursday.
Last month’s payments
amounted to the most ever
paid in a single month and
more than was paid in all of
1973, the ESC said. Unem
ployed Tar Heels drew $28
million in benefits in 1973 and
about $61 million in 1974.
The insured unemployment
rate was at a record level of 11
per cent in January with as
many as 200,000 workers
getting benefits, the ESC said.
Initial claims for benefits
averaged 35,600 each week in
January.
A year earlier, only 1.9 per
cent - 32,000 - of the insured
workforce was unemployed
and drawing benefits, the
agency said.
The week ending Jan. 24 was
slightly better than mid -
January, the ESC said. Some
183,700 persons drew unem
ployment compensation that
week with a jobless rate of 10.6
per cent.
Textiles showing the largest
increase in unemployment in
the week with total unem
ployment 55,445 workers - 22.2
per cent of the textile labor
force. Hosiery had the largest
overall unemployment rate
with 24.8 per cent.
Other high unemployment
areas in that week were
furniture 23.3 per cent, con
struction 15.8 per cent, ap
parel 20.4 per cent and lumber
and wood 16.8 per cent.
The state’s unemployment
insurance trust fund
amounted to $560.2 million at
the end of December, the ESC
repoted, adding that tax
collections and interest
credits will be ample to
provide benefits to jobless
workers this year in spite of
record payment levels.
The agency said North
Carolinas fund amounts to 7.2
per cent of the total payroll of
persons covered by the
unemployment insurance
programs.
CP&L President Says Cost Forced Hike
RALEIGH — Consumers
protesting rising electric
utility rates either don’t un
derstand or accept sharply
rising costs for providing
power, the president of
Carolina Power and Light Co.
believes.
Shearon Harris said that
coal costs rose 300 percent
from December 1973 to
December 1974, making it
necessary for CP&L to add a
fuel adjustment charge to its
bills.
"All electric utilities have
been hard-pressed by inflation
since the late 1900s,” Harris
said, “and the fuel crunch
which came about a year ago
lias simply aggravated the
situation.”
The fuel adjustment added
to electric bills was allowed to
help the company meet the
rising cost of coal, according
to Harris. He said the ad
justment reflects the actual
cost of coal and brings in no
profit to CP&L.
An additional 21 per cent
rate increase recently ap
proved by the North Carolina
Utilities Commission is also
necessary to meet other in
creased costs, Harris said.
According to CP&L figures,
the utility company burns
20,000 tons of coal daily and
the cost of generating power
rose from a half cent per
kilowatt horn- in late 1973 to a
penny and a half in late 1974.
Jobless Rate 9.2 Percent In County
The unemployment rate in
Buncombe and Madison
counties climbed this week to
9.2 per cent of the work force
covered by unemployment
insurance, according to the
manager of the North
Carolina Employment
Security Commission office in
Asheville.
Manager Charles N. Erwin
said Friday that 1,436 persons
filed claims for the first time
this week. The number was
nearly double the 779 persons
who filed initial claims the
week before.
Erwin said most of the
initial claims came from
textile and related industries.
The number of unemployed
workers continuing a claim
series was 5,202 this week as
compared to 4,200 last week,
Erwin said.
ditional 10 or 12 certified
EMTs filling in on a part-time
basis, VeHaun said.
County officials see the
restructuring of the am
bulance service staff as a
means to better coordinate the
service and reduce costs, such
as overtime pay.
I
Do You
Remember
When
L_
REMEMBER 1960 - THE YEAR IT SNOWED UP
TO THE WINDOWS? This picture of the Grand
father Mountain entrance building showing snow up
to the windows was made with a Brownie box
camera by Joe Lee Hartley in March 1960. The
accumulation and sustained cold that year set
records that no year since has come close to topping.
Bill In General Assembly
For Renovation At WNC Hospital
RALEIGH — A bill seeking
$2.5 million in appropriations
for renovations at Western
North Carolina Hospital at
Black Mountain has been filed
in the N. C. General Assembly
by Rep. Claude DeBruhl of
Candler.
The bill calls for ap
propriation of funds to the
Department of Human
Resources for the fiscal year
beginning in July 1975.
DeBruhl said most of the
facilities at the hospital were
built in the later 1930s, with
additions made in the early
1950s. While the basic
structure is sound, he said,
renovations are needed to
comply with current hospital
standards and requirements
for patient safety.
Changes needed include
replacement of the electrical
distribution system, in
stallation of a ventialtion and
air conditioning system and
replacement of plumbing,
DeBndil said the alterations
and improvements requested
would provide 233 modem
hospital beds for patients with
respiratory diseases and 75
beds for alcoholic patients, he
said.
THE NORTHWESTERN BANK has contributed $2,000 for the second con
secutive year to the Swannanoa Valley Medical Center. Lee Clapp, right,
assistant vice-president and manager of the Black Mountain office and Paul
Richardson, left, executive vice-president of the Black Mountain, Old Fort and
Marion offices, presented the check to Ernest S. DeWick, president of the
Medical Center, which is located on Old U. S. 70, between Black Mountain and
Swannanoa. Both Clapp and Richardson represented the company in the
presentation ceremony. The Northwestern Bank is the fifth largest bank in
North Carolina with assets in excess of one billion. The company has shown an
interest in the Medical Center since the plans for the much needed facility
were presented in 1968.