Your f l l [liy 1 | P I! l 111 l Hf * Block Mountain * Montreal li,, . « + Ridgecrest ★ Swannanoa HI RSDAY. APRIL ». 1*77. Vol. 11. No. 1® ^'■■■■^■ _ _-__*' * «*■* ilt iriibUlgaUAi M m U iraM u\ MkLU Irian fJ! iM—H_15 CENTS_ Earth wall on US 70 a first in NC by Daa Ward a ad Phyllis GeneMJ The retaining wall being nit and three others heduled for construction on S. 70 near Old Fort will be e first of their kind in North aroima, according to Stan yatt. assistant engineer for it project. The process, known as in/orced earth construction id patented by the Rein rced Earth Co., has been ied extensively in Western lates with a good deal of uccess. Hyatt said. The rocess was first developed in ranee. A retaining wall of in rlocking cement slabs is ssembled for the outside dge of the wall The workers n U S. 70 have the first three vers of slabs assembled at lis time. A series of 42 foot, thin steel trips are attached to the labs, and are layered alternately with 7W inches of compacted sand, according to Chief Inspector for the project Herman (Hoss) Lafevers. Almost 100 layers of strips and sand will be necessary to build the wall to the level of the existing roadbed, he said. The pressure of the sand on the steel strips holds the slab wall in and prevents land slides. Reinforced Earth claims that their process costs up to SO per cent less than other methods of making retaining walls, and is as solid as con ventional methods. Lafevers said that all four walls scheduled for the Old Fort area have a contractor deadline of October 1. Hyatt said traffic will be reduced to three lanes at each site as construction begins there, with the two downhill lanes remaining open to prevent accidents from runaway trucks. Schoolvote May 3 Dm* v -r! „. ■Buncombe County residents Hli be asked to vote May 3 on ■ referendum to supplement Hids for public schools in the ■ The question put before ■tiers is whether the schools ■ allowed to collect up to JO Knts per S100 valuation on ■al and personal property. ■ Advisory councils at Black fountain Grammar School, lack Mountain Primary chool. Carver Optional chool and Swannanoa School »ve all come out strongly in ivor of the referendum. The money, if the sferendum passes, would be sed to “supplement and qualize educational ad tntages and standards in waity schools. The money >U not be used for in trscholastic athletics, em loyee raises, or the pur-, hase of land, buildings or lotor vehicles John Carroll, a member of te Buncombe County Board tflMwmtev-w*1 ’hat»«' of the money collected would be used W hire additional teachers and teaching “We need more attention per student-eapecially in the primary grades,” CatroH said. He said the amoimt of money allocated to schools and what the money is used for would vary from school to school, based on the needs and enrollment of the school. Carroll predicted that the first year's assessment, if the referendum passes, will be about 15 cents per $100. Polling places are as follows: Black Mountain Precinct One-Owen High School; Precinct Two-Black Mountain Primary School; Precinct Three-Club House; Precinct Four-Montreat Inn lobby. Swannanoa Precinct One-Swannanoa Vol Fire Dept.; Precinct Two Swan nanoa School. Meet the staff Phyllis Genetti - A WORKER packs sand down over one of the first layers of steel strips used in the reinforced earth wall being built on US 70 near Old Fort. The strips are attached to the cement wall in the foreground. (Dan Ward) Older Americans to meet Exciting plans are un- Black Mountain. The Com derway for a regional mittee is planning for about celebration of Older 2,500 older adults to share in Americans Day, Friday, the entertainment and May 6 at the Asheville Civic recognition of senior citizens. Center. The activities are The program will include scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. local entertainment, a special This year’s ct ebration is appearance by the Decatur, being planned by a committee Georgia Civic Chorus, and a representing local Councils on noonday luncheon. Aging, church groups, and Anyone interested in “lunch clubs' within the four exhibiting handmade arts and county region and chaired by crafts should contact Starlett Mrs. Irene Stephenson, Site Craig, Community Resources Manager at the Lake Consultant at Regional Tomahawk Nutrition Site in Council offices to make - not just typist by Dan Ward Editor’* Note: The following article is part of a series on staff members here at the Black Mountain News. We will try to show the different steps to producing a newspaper, as well as give you an idea of how dedicated and energetic a person must be to help turn out a good'newspaper. “Don’t tell everyone I’m the typist,” Phyllis Genetti said, grimacing at the prospect of making her duties at the News public knowledge. “I get so many complaints about misspelled words as it is.” Actually, Phyllis does an exceptionally good job of typesetting - our problem at the News is proofreading the hundred feet or so of copy in a short period. Our typesetting machines print their results on com puter tape, which is fed through another computer, which reproduces typed copy photographically. There is no such thing as erasing and retyping a mistake Mistakes must be cut out or pasted over with other copy minutes after Phyllis types them Then the columns of copy are waxed on the back and “pasted up” on layout sheets - a pieced together image of the finished news page. Phyllis is more than typesetter at the News. She is the comandant foi a brigade of newsboys. They love her and joke with her, but they know they have to hop when Phyllis tells them. One of her most important roles at the News is as an information bank. She is in trigued with people and seems to know everybody and their unique characteristics. Many times Phyllis has been laison or inspiration for interviews printed by the News. She is a unique lady in herself. She has held a variety of jobs, from occassional television commercial actress and set designer to carpenter to telephone receptionist to boutique owner. In the past, ..she has worked for Singer - Kearfott, Beacon Manufac turing and Valley Realty. Originally from Asheville, Phyllis left this area for “nine or ten" years and lived in Virginia Beach She returned to Black Mountain because “it's the best place to raise my children," Tad and Lara. reservations. Space is available to individuals and organizations at a cost of $10 per table. Greenwood to seek OK for vote. back taxes bill by Dan Ward State Rep. Gordon Greenwood will seek approval from the House Speaker, Lt. Governor and chairmen of both rules committees in Raleigh to introduce a bill, well after the local issues deadline, to legitimize past votes of two town board members who were found to have lived outside the Black Mountain town limits. The bill would also validate back taxes charged to persons whose property was improperly annexed and is now in the process of being annexed to the town of Black Mountain. Greenwood told the News recently that he objected to reports given the News that an earlier version of the bill, which would eliminate petitions and public hearing to annex property to the town, was intended to cover up past improper procedures by the town board. Greenwood said he obtained the legal opinion of the At torney General and the League of Municipalities before asking the town for a listing of its meets and bounds, needed for the bill. "I’m not at all interested or concerned with the bill,” he said. “I had no intention of introducing it without the full support of the board. The board and City Manager Jon Creighton asked me to in; traduce the bill, and I looked into it.” Creighton said earlier that he first heard of the proposal to annex the Spring Hill area legislatively when Aid. Tom Sobol informed him that Eep. Greenwood wanted the meets and bounds of the towh. Ail board members, except Sobol, when contacted by the News, said they did not know that legislative annexation was being considered until March 30 or after, well after footwork on the bill began in Raleigh. Mayor Margaret Slagle and Aid. Ruth Brandon said they first heard of the bill March 30 at Mayor& Day in Raleigh from Rep. Robert Swain, who was assisting Greenwood with the bill. Aid. A. F. Tyson and Don Hoefling said they first learned of the bill in the April 21 edition of the News. Aid. John Mundy could not be contacted by press time. Sobol, when contacted by the News last Monday, said he did not remember whether he proposed legislative annexation to Greenwood, or Greenwood proposed it to him, or when. He acknowledged passing the meets and bounds request on to Creighton. Sobol had said last week that he had always favored the petition and public hearing method of annexation for Spring Hill. He told the News recently that he felt some people, whom he did not specify, were “Making a mountain out of a molehill.” Mayor Slagle said she supports Greenwoodft effort to legitimize past votes and taxes assessed by the board. No board members have voiced an opposition to the bill Greenwood is currently trying to place before the legislature. Board may be deadlocked by residency requirement by Dan Ward Black Mountain Town At torney William Eubanks said April 26 that he will in vestigate whether John Mundy will be able to vote on the Town Board until past votes by Aid. Tom Sobol and Don Hoefling are found legal. Without Mundy’s vote, the board would not be able to ¥- #tain a quorum-ahd therefore could not transact any business. Sobol’s and Hoefling’s votes were included in Mundy’s appointment to the board,