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Your
Hometown Newspaper
If You Live In
★ Black Mountain ★ Montreat
★ Ridgecrest it Swannanoa
15 CENTS
‘ WIN C Hospital
should remain”
-- dept, head
by Dan Ward
!arah Morrow, secretary of
. Department of Human
sources, has asked the joint
propriations committee in
ileigh to allow Western
rth Carolina Hospital to
itinue operating for at least
tear
)r. Morrow, whose
partment governs the
spital. said she would like to
estigate the operation of
p hospital and two others
fore agreeing to recom
endations that they be
Dsed to save the state money
d consolidate health care.
"It was my opinion that her
ea was well received,"said
>te Rep. Cordon Green
lod, who is a member of the
lucation appropriation
immittee and sat in on her
stimony. "She made an
gent request that nothing be
ne until she had a chance to
[>k at it for a year,” he ad
d
Greenwood said that
though Dr. Morrow’s
quest was “very favorably
iceived at the time.” he
could not predict how the
appropriations committee or
each house would vote on
recommendation to close the
facility.
"Also, it really jeopardizes
my bill to make im
provements at the hospital,”
Greenwood said. He has in
troduced a bill that would
allocate $2 million toward
renovation of a wing of the
hospital. Greenwood said that
even if the hospital is allowed
to stay in operation, the odds
were that the legislature
would not allocate additional
funds for a building that may
only be in use for another
year.
Closure of the hospital and
two others in the eastern part
of the state was first
recommended by the powerful
Base Budget Committee as a
means of saving $2.8 million
and consolidating health care
in the state. WNC Hospital
employs 280 Swannanoa
Valley residents and treats
1200 patients yearly from the
western part of the state, most
of them for respiratory
ailments.
Montreat budget
. pusses reading
I he Board of Com
sioners of the Town of
itreat heard the first
ling of the proposed 1977
jdget at a special meeting
lay 30.
le budget of *115,734 is
d on an estimated $46,000
erty tax revenue and
14,000 Intergovernmental
Avenue, plus *25,000 other.
)1 Revenue Sharing Funds
re allocated to Public
ransportation, i.e. streets,
his proposed budget will be
I'ailable for public inspection
at the Historical Foundation
during regular business hours.
The Board also requested
the Mayor to announce a
Special Clean-up Day for
Montreat for Friday, June 10,
when trash ( not large items
such as old mattresses or
refrigerators) placed at the
street-side by 8 am. will be
picked up.
The second reading of the
proposed budget will be held
during the regular session of
the Board of Commissioners
on June 9 at 7:30 p.m. in room
12-B, Gaither Hall
These flowers offer an unusual contrast to the
barbed wire in a field near Swannanoa. (Phyllis
Genetti)
Kevenge seen as
murder motive
by Dan Ward
Reliable sources have told
the Black Mountain News that
revenge may Have been a
motive in the brutal slaying of
former Black Mountain
resident James Lloyd Jr. in
Asheville May 26.
A source told the Black
Mountain News that Lloyd
was known to have enemies
because of drug related
business. Uoyd was believed
to be selling drugs at the time
of his murder, he added.
The Buncombe County
Sheriff’s Department would
not officially confirm that the
motive for the murder was
drug-related revenge, but a
spokesman said the possibility
was being looked into.
Lloyd was found dead with
Meet the hoard
Harmony in Montreat
by Dan Ward
Ed. note-This story is the
lirst of three in a series on the
Montreal Board of Com
missioners. Unlike the Black
Mountain Town Board,
featured earlier, the Montreal
board serves without pay and
is without political affliliation.
“I think Montreat has a
problerr that is unique,"
Mayor Elizabeth Maxwell
said, with a trace of un
derstatement. “We have a
population of 680 in the winter,
and 5,000 in the summer. That
also presents many op
portunities, of course."
The Board of Com
missioners is also in a unique
position in its relations with
Montreat-Anderson College
and the Montreat Conference
Center, the town’s largest
employers and tourist at
tractions.
Although the two in
stitutions are exempt from
property taxes, Miss Maxwell
said their relationship with the
town is harmonious and
almost without problems.
“There’s close cooperation
really between the three
groups,” she said.
Miss Maxwell, who teaches
French and English at
Montreat-Anderson College
and has lived in Montreal
since 1950, was chosen as
mayor by her two fellow board
members. None of them ac
tively campaigned for their
payless postions on the board.
“We’re not politically
minded at all in our town
government,” she said. “I
don’t think you could have a
more cooperative group.
TTiere is little, if any, an
tagonism between us and very
little among sectors of the
populace."
"1 think the people are
pretty much satisfied,” she
said. “It would be nice if more
poeple would take more in
terest in things that are not
quite directly effecting
themselves I’d also like to see
less complaints without
suggestions of what to do ”
“Citizen input is fair," she
added. “Not many come to the
meetings, but if asked, they
serve on the committees.”
21 stab wounds on May 26
outside the Ale Haus in what
Asheville police described as
the most bnUal murder ip
that city. .
After a $5,000 reward was
offered by friends of Lloyd, an
informant led police to Arthur
Wilton Davis, Tony Ray
Hooker, Randy Alan Hyder
and Timothy Clifford Greene.
Davis and Hooker have besn
charged with first degree
murder. The other,two have
been charged with being
accessory after the fact. Their
arraignment was scheduled
for May 31.
Lloyd, who was known as
“Jimmy” had been a student
at UNC-A, where he served as
student body president,
president of Sigma Delta
Upsilon fraternity.
He was a 1965 graduate of
diaries D. Owen High School
and graduated in 1969 from
UNC-A with bachelor’s
degrees in both history and
philosophy.
Local man arrested
in jewelry robbery
A Black Mountain man has
been charged with breaking
and entering and larceny in
connection with a robbery
May 26 at Carolina Jewelry in
Black Mountain.
Some of the missing
jewelry, valued at $100, was
recovered, police reported.
The man's identity was
withheld by police pending an
investigation of possible
accomplices.
A window valued at $200 was
smashed in gaining access to
the jewelry, according to
police. The crime was
reported to police at 5:17 a.m.
on May 26.
Police are also investigating
the theft of a jukebox, valued
at $2,000, from the Pizza Hut in
Black Mountain on May 17.
The Black Mountain Police
conducted 15 investigations
last week. One stolen bicycle
was recovered and returned to
its owner. Three counts of
worthless checks were turned
over to BCSD.
They arrested one for DUI,
issued citations to two
speeders, one for unsafe tires
and one for expired inspection
sticker.
They lent assistance to
BCSD in four instances,
assisted SHP in two, and
assisted two motorists. They
answered five civil distur
bances, and one domestic
disturbance.
Available now at the police
station for retail merchants
are five Small Marketers Aids
issued by the U.S. Govern
ment in dealing with crime
prevention. Bill Stafford will
distribute them as time
permits, to merchants.
Anyone may drop by and pick
up a copy.
Accidents recorded were:
Charlotte St. and First St.,
$2600 damages, no injuries;
W. State St. and Craigmont
Rd., $1000 damages, no in
juries; Montreat Rd. and N.
Fork Rd , $400 damages and
no injuries.
Local man suspect
in drug robbery
A warrant is now out on "a
very good suspect” from the
Swannanoa Valley for armed
robbery of an undetermined
amount of drugs, primarily
barbituates, from the
Dogwood Manor Nursing
Home in Black Mountain May
as, according to Chief In
vestigator Don Whittaker of
the Buncombe County
Sheriff’s Department.
Whittaker spid that
revealing the name of the
SWpeet may hinder his ap
prehension. He added that it
will take some time to in
ventory the drugs that are
missing, adding that the
Bride issue
Included in the June 9 edition of the Black Mountain News will
be a special June Bride Supplement. This section will include tips
for weddings and new homemakers and various articles on bridal
fashions.
robber “grabbed them
randomly.”
A police spokesman said the
robber, wearing a ski mask
and armed with a sawed-off
shotgun, forced his way in the
nursing home and made the
nurse on duty open the drug
cabinet.
He dumped the drugs into a
pillow case and fled, ac
cording to the spokesman,
who said the man cut a win
dow screen to get into the
building.
The incident happened at
1:50 a.m. and the investigation
is continuing the spokesman
said.
Street dance
June 4
by Keith Osteen
At 8 p.m. this Saturday June
4, Black Mountain recreation
will have its first street dance
for this year in the parking lot
at Big Buy on Montreat ltd.
If previous dances are any
indication, this year’s dance
should be a large success,
according to Town Manager
Jon Creighton.
The Stoney Creek Boys will
provide the music foreveryone
to display their best square
dance steps Also, three dance
teams from the Pisgah View
Ranch Dancers will perform.
This will include two clog
teams and one ranch-style
team, and a local group of
Modern Western Square
Dancers will present on
exhibition.
This dance could provide an
excellent opportunity for some
good old foot-stomping fun and
fellowship for everyone. There
is no admission price and the
Recreation Committee hopes
to see a large turnout this
Saturday night.
Hearing set
on budget
The Town of Black Moun
tain will hold a public hearing
at 6 p.m. June 16 on the
proposed 1977-78 budget.
The budget, totaling
$730,275.46, plus $93,500 in
revenue sharing funds, will be
designated for improvements
and purchase of equipment for
city services. Highlights of the
budget, according to Town
Manager Jon Creighton, in
clude the areas of planning
and zoning, municiple
building, police, fire,
recreation, downtown, and
water and sewer.
The proposed budget may ,
be seen at the Town Hall.
Written comments will also be
accepted.
1977 - 78 County
budget presented
A tenative budget for the
fiscal year beginning July 1,
1977, of Buncombe County was
presented to the Board of
Commissioners for the County
of Buncombe on May 27 and is
available for public inspection
in the office of Jane. C.
Morrow, clerk to the board.
Mrs. Morrow’s office is
located on the second floor of
the Buncombe County
Courthouse, Em. 205.
A Public Hearing will be
held at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday,
June 14 in the fifth floor
courtroom, Buncombe County
Courthouse, at which time any
person who may wish to
present writtei) or oral
comments on the Budget
Estimate may appear.
Grocer enjoys move
From Watergate to natural foods
by Dan Ward
For Liz Donovan, being
owner of Cherry St. Natural
Grocery is a far cry from the
excitement and moral
rewards of being in the thick
of the Watergate explosure.
She left the Washington
Post, where she was a key
researcher for Bob Woodward
and Carl Bernstein’s stories,
two years ago because “I got
tired of the city and working
for a big corporation,” she
said. She had friends in Black
Mountain and found it
reminded her of the small
town she grew up in upstate
New York.
She opened the natural foods
store because many people
were becoming more nutrition
conscious, and had no store to
buy natural foods.
“I HAD to open the store,”
she said,“that’s all I eat.”
It is hard to imagine the
soft-spoken, easy-going grocer
digging with relish through
old news c' pings and photos
in the Post reference room for
any information that might
shed light on then-President
Nixon’s role in Watergate.
“I’d known Berstein for
awhile and was good friends
with him,” she said, ex
plaining her association with
the reporters. “When it all
started, I was pretty in
terested in it. We all suspected
what was happening, but
couldn’t prove it.”
Once proof had been found
that Nixon was involved in the
coverup, Liz was promoted to
national desk research-and
was intimately involved with
the story as it developed.
*1 must be one of the top 100
Nixon experts in the country,”
she said. “I think it (the
Watergate explosure) really
changed my opinion about
America. It was a real af
firmation of the American
system-I know that sounds
corny.”
As a result of her expertise
both as a researcher and
Nixonlogist, she was asked to
help compile a book of car
toons by Herblock of the Post
on the former president. A
credit line to her appears in
the book.
She was also asked to do
full-time research for
Woodward and Bernstein’s
“All the President’s Men,” an
offer she refused because she
did not want to quit the Post.
“That's something I really
regret,” she said. “If I had
just asked for one half of a per
cent of the royalties...”
She did do some research
for it with a credit line as
reward.
She said research of the
Watergate story would often
keep her at work until early
morning.
“Berstein was obsessed
both of them were. They were
both divorced, so they would
work as late as they could on
it,’’ she said.
Liz became disturbed by
what she calls the "media
hype" that followed Wood
ward and Bernstein’s
publicity.
"Once it got started, the
Washington Post just got
loaded with media people,"
she said. She said TV crews
became a common sight in the
newsroom. "It seemed like it
got to where what the media
did became the news.”
The horn-blowing of the
media only fueled a feeling
she had that “Washington
people don’t really know
what's going on outside.”
Now enjoying her role as a
natural foods grocer, Liz has
disassociated herself from the
Nixon-baiting When asked of
her opinion of the Nixon-Frost
interviews, she said, “I
haven't watched them I’m
sorry to see it brought up
again. I also hate to see Nixon
make money on it.”
She is a bit proud that an
actress representing her was
included in the movie version
of “All the President’s Men."
Friends at the Post told her
the girl was meant to
represent her, and that the
producer had even asked
about her appearance and
manner of speaking to make
the casting authentic.
"That was nice of them,”
Ue commented.