Thursday. May M. )977. Vo). 33. No. 3)
DEVOTED 100% TO OUR COMMUNITY — THE GROWING SWANNANOA VALLEY
Your
Hometown Newspaper
!f You Live !n
^ Biack Mountain ^ Montreat
^ Ridgecrest * Swannanoa
15 CENTS
by Dan Ward
ptans are now under way to
egin a Neighborhood Watch
'rogram in Swannanoa. As
if result of talks given to the
ire Department Board of
hrectors by John Heatherly
f the Buncombe County
heriff's Department, the
oard has planned to go ahead
.,th a ham supper to in
roduce the program to
wannanoa residents.
The supper will be held June
at the fire station from 5 30
o 7 30 p.m., according to
Cmma Crawford of the Ladies
Auxiliary The cost wiM be
H 50 for aduits and $i 25 for
chiidren under U.
The Neighborhood Watch is
a program in which neighbors
agree to watch each other's
property for suspicious
acitivity. Mrs Crawford said
the program has been very
successfui in the Ricevilie and
Buckeye Cove communities.
Riceviiie has not had any
crime since they began the
program, she said.
fn fact, she said, a recent
upswing in crime in Swan
nanoa has been attributed to
the effectiveness of the
program in the two neigh
boring communities Would
be burglars have been opting
for swannanoa as a safer
place to commit crimes
The only expense in joining
the program is the (1.00
purchase price of the warning
sign members buy to place on
their mailboxes, she said
At its regular meeting May
5, the board of Directors also
authorized a resolution to
institute a four-mile fire zone
and approved an (800 ex
penditure for a 1500 gallon
vinyl backup tank.
VIPs reneged,"
ex director charges
by Dan Ward
Eieven former staff
embers of the Lake James
mp operated by the
uveniie Evaiuation Center
[EC) in Swannanoa have
ranged grievance hearings
express their view that JEC
iirector Wiiiiam Noiand and
Biii Windiey, acting director
the Division of Youth
rvices in Raieigh, reneged
a compromise aUowing aii
to return to their previous
tuitions at the camp
The eieven were fired
jtween March 24 and !B for
oiiectiveiy refusing tyobey a
memorandum from Y^tAfnd Mi
aintain night supervision at
camp. Jay Weinstein,
[rector of the camping
ogram and a Biack
fountain resident, said
toiandk directive was
:yed because the camp
tiy had tl staff members,
taking a two-member aH
ight watch impoasibie, ant
of previous incidents,
uiidtng up to the con
frontation, of Noiand per
tonaiiy altering camp
rocedures without input from
te staff
Noiand, when contacted by
News, said he couid not
.jmment on any of Wein
ttetnS statements because he
as not aiiowed to taih to the
tress about personnei mat
iers.
Windiey couid not be
eached for comment at his
itaiaigh office before press
time.
Weinstein toid the News that
it was decided in a meeting
between the n, Noiand and
Windiey that aii n staff
members would be hired back
to work at the camp They also
agreed to hire on fuli-time
staff member to work as a
night watchperson five nights
per week, with one of the n
performing the duty on
weekends, he said
Weinstein also said Windiey
personally called him April t,
the day after the meeting, and
assured him that he would, in
Weinsteini words, "protect
the program from NolandS
meddling ' Weinstein said
Windiey apologised it Hit
time for the firings, and sa.d
he would reinstate the staff
within a few days.
Three weeks later, Wein
stein said, he received a letter
from Windiey stating that he
wouid not be reinstated
because it would set a bad
precedent for other state
) employees who had
grievances At that time, two
otner staft memoers, Van
Burnt tt and Ruth Craine,
were offered reinstatement,
but as night staff workers at
the JEC, generally considered
a far step down from work at
the camp.
AU H have decided not tobe
reinstated uniess it is under
the terms iaid out in the
March 31 compromise,
Weinstein said.
The hearings wiil be heid
before a pane! of five peers,
co-workers of similar rank
and qualifications. Wein
steink is scheduled for May
18.
Weinstein said the fact that
the camp, with 30 children and
10 staff members... only had
one child, run away in six
months as compared to five
per week on the average at the
JEC was an ind «tion of his
staffs success without
"meddling * The JEC has
constant supervision and
locked doors—which the camp
did not. There are 180
residents and 120 staff
members at the JEC.
Weinstein said the 11 will
hold a benefit Sunday, May 15
at Deer Lake Lodge in an
effort to raise enough money
to defray lawyers fees. Food
and iive music will be
provided, he said.
Hearing set
Buncombe County wiU have
a pubiic hearing at 9:30 a m.
Wednesday. May IS, at the
county budding in AsheviMe,
on how the county should
spend an expected 81.7 million
in federal revenue sharing
funds for fiscal 1977-78, which
begins July 1.
Meet the staff
iMarma ftes Mp
by Dan Ward
Every organization should
have a Martha Dickinson
Although her job here is
bookkeeper, she takes it on
herself to tie up the loose ends
and there are pienty in
newspaper production
Depending on what day a
person visits, he may find her
setting type, proofreading,
cieaning up the ciutter of the
composing room or making
the coffee-when she isn't
bogged down by the infinity of
bookwork invoived in
newspaper management
"I'm one of these that iike
to see everything done right !
can't sit stiM if it isn't,' she
said "1 guess that's why !
pitch in--! iike to see it go
smoothly "
Martha has been doing the
book work for the News for
some time now. Untii we
moved our presses here
recently, she worked at the
Canton office for Community
Newsdpapers, pubiishers of
the News, where she said,
"my titie there was
everything-1 did whatever
had to be done '
Before coming to this area,
Martha and her husband,
Grant, generai manager of the
News, worked for the Leaf
Chronicle in Clarksville, Tenn
and at the West Palm Beach
(Fla.) Post-Times.
"And then we moved to the
mountains, "she said. "It's a
nice place- the mountains are
just gorgeous "
"1 don't know that many
people here, but those that
I've met are really nice and
have welcomed me They
come in and act like they know
you already," she said
Martha is the sort of person
it's easy to feel like you've
known for a long time
DR. LfLLMN RJCH and era/tswoman Jan Morris put their taients to use in
the depot cieanup iast weehend. Dr. Paui Limbert is in the bachground. tBeiie
Mordeii)
] Depot cZeawMp &egMM ]
by Bette Mordett
itwasabusydayattheOM
Depot and the engineers in the
trains that passed by #om
time to time were treated to
the sight of a dozen wiidiy
waving arms greeting them as
they hooted by.
The sweeping and ham
mering and taughing that
went on aii day was something
to behold.
A iot of peopte have been
asking why the fence goes oniy
part way around the station
ft is just to meet the
requirements of the raiiway
company for public protec
tion.
At our 4th of Juiy
celebration we will have a
Railroad Booth where you can
buy some of the artifacts that
were dug up
We plan to have a part of the
Depot Room devoted to
Historical Black Mountain
and if anyone has anything of
interest which they would like
to have us display, please get
in touch with the writer at 669
!
2327.
Those of you who manage to
stay up until II o'clock at night
may have caught us on WLOS
TV that night.
We are stiii expecting
contributions from a iot of
peopie who have promised
support. Now is the time.
We will have another Ciean
Up Day after the eiectricians,
piumbers and carpenters are
through. If you couldn't make
it Saturday, come next time.
It's fun.
PoHce Report
The Biack Mountain Poiice
Department conducted 15
investigations iast week One
stoien vehicie was recovered
in Henderson County
The Poiice arrested three
for pubiic drunkeness, three
for DU! and one for aiding and
abetting DUi. They issued five
speeding citations, one for
expired inspection ticket and
one for unsafe tires, pius three
warning citations.
Their misceiianeous dities
inciuded iocating two missing
persons, assisting six
motorists, transporting one to
Detox, assisted BCSD,
assisted SHP two times each
They had two domestic
disturbances and five civii
disturbances
The foiiowing accidents
were recorded: West State St.
and Church St., $500 damages
and no injuries , Montreat Rd
and W. State St , $400 damages
and no injuries
jBrtdfe issue soon
The Biack Mountain News wiii be printing a specia) Bride
Suppiement to its regutar paper within the next few weeks, ft wiii
inciude tips for new homemakers as weii as suggestions for
wedding arrangements, bridai fashions, gifts for the coupie and
other important information for the favored wedding month.
We encourage aii couptes who wiii be wed within the next two
months to bring in announcements and photos for this speciai
issue As aiways. photos that are submitted to the News can be
picked up unharmed after they are used for the paper
Two aldermen back,
fixup plan encouraged
by Dan Ward
Two Black Mountain
aidermen resigned and were
immediately rehired and
Cherry Street businesspersons
were encouraged in their
beautification efforts by the
Black Mountain Town Board
at its regular meeting April 9.
Amid snickers from the
audience, Aid. Don Hoefling
and Tom Sobol resigned their
positions and were im
mediately reappointed by the
remaining board. The
procedure was recommended
by the state attorney general's
office as the most effective
and easiest way to ensure that
the two board members' votes
will be valid in the future.
A bill to validate the past
votes of the two, which came
in question when it was
discovered they did not legally
live in Black Mountain, has
b^en introduced in the state
legislature.
The board heard a request
from a delegation of Cherry
Street businesses to finan
cially and legally aid them in
making the street open only to
south-bound traffic, erecting a
directory sign, pianting
sourwoods and painting
parking dividers.
Although the board toid
them that they must first
obtain the recommendation of
the Pianning Board, their
response was one of support
for the group effort.
"If that's what the people on
that street want, I don't want
to see it get bogged down in
technicalities." Aid. A.F.
Tyson said "We have a pile of
improvement plans that have
never been implemented, " he
added.
The board also approved,
pending recommendation
from the Health Department,
the installation of water lines
to the Town limits on NC 9
toward Christmount.
The board was asked to
provide water to a 90 acre
subdivision being by Stepp
Nichols Realty in the area
between Black Mountain and
Christmount. Chuck Ray,
representing Stepp Nichols,
told the board that the realty
company would petition for
annexation of the area to
B)ack Mountain and buiid the
system if the town wiii provide
the water Mayor Margaret
Siagie noted that Stepp
Nichois wii) have to see that
the water probtem and an
nexation of the Hiiitop area
must be settied before the
town can consider providing
water to a new subdivision.
The board approved the
expansion of the Zoning Board
of Adjustments to six mem
bers. the newest to serve three
years.
The board aiso postponed
approva) of a second group of
streets to be improved when if
was found that Sunset Street
and Hiiitop had been teft off
the iist. Town Manager Jon
Creighton and Aid. Tyson said
they wiii rearrange priorities
on the iist and present a new
one at the next meeting
The board aiso asked Town
Attorney Wiiiiam Eubanks to
took into the probiems that
might arise by granting a tax
reiease to Joe Lytie because
his sheet metai business does
not utiiize city services.
Chief, 2 poiicennen
manned in assanft suit
Black Mountain Police Chief
Creight Siagie said he and two
of his officers wiii reply within
30 days to a dait brought by a
25-year-oid man that they and
a Biack Mountain fireman
assaulted the man in August.
The suit, filed by Charles L.
Quinn, seeks a total of $5,000 in
damages from four defen
dants, including Gary Bar
tlett, a Black Mountain
fireman
The police officers named in
the suit are Creight Slagle,
chief of the Black Mountain
Police Department, and two
other town policemen,
Myron Fineberg and Gary
Sorrells.
Quinn alleges in his suit that
the four men assaulted him
without provocation on Aug. 1,
1976, at CarsonS American
Service Station on U S. Hwy.
70 in Black Mountain, where
Quinn says he had stopped for
gas.
Quinn also aiieges that he
was wrongfully charged with
recMess driving and resisting
arrest by Officer Sorrefis
during the incident.
Quinn aiieges that the
charges against him were
dismissed in District Court on
Sept. 15, 1976.
Siagie said he wouid not
comment on the suit until his
repiy becomes public record.
report
During the week of Aprii 25,
through May 2, the puncombe
County Sheriff's Department
served a tota! of 88 criminal
papers
The arrests are as follows
forgery one, breaking and
entering and larceny one,
order for arrest eight, failure
to give name and address two,
damage to property one, hit
and run one, abandonment
and non support one, failure to
appear on traffic citation five,
assault on female two. ac
comodations without pay one,
assault with a deadly weapon
one, larceny one, trespass one,
escape one and fraud two.
Deputies also served 2t
crimina) summons for
vioiation of parking or
dinance, two order of for
feiture, seven juveniie
summons, 210 criminai
subpoenas, 156 civil summons
and investigated 73 reported
crimes.
Meet t/te
Tom Sobol - individuals 1st
by Dan Ward
"I think we need to con
centrate on human needs
rather than exterior im
provements," was Aid. Tom
Soboi s consensus of the roie of
the Biack Mountain Town
Board in the future
"You've got to work with
peopie on an individual basis
ff you do that, the other things
wiii foiiow " he added.
Soboi, a iifeiong resident of
Biack Mountain, is a partner
with Bud Haney at Vaiiey
Reai Estate.
Soboi, who is in his fourth
term on the board, said he
sees the attitude of many of
Biack Mountain's residents
changing because of what he
caiis "growing pains "
Rather than attending town
meetings out of civic interest,
"it seems most peopie who are
there have a particuiar
complaint that should have
been taken care of before (by
a town department other than
the board). "
"! beiieve few things can be
handled in biack and white,"
he said, "i am a firm beiiever
in gray areas ' An an
ticonstructionist, Soboi said
he sees a need to be iess
rigid in poiicy in order to more
easiiy heip the individuais who
have probiems
"i d iike to see more peopie
at Town Boara meetings !
don't know everything about
the different things we have to
deai with A iot of people here
have exceiient ideas -we
weicome their input."
fn regards to criticism
sometimes heaped on the
board or him in particuiar,
So bo) said,"I've boon hero
iong enough that my shin's
toughened up '
"I've reaiiy enjoyed my
eight years on the board. " he
conciuded.