Second class postage paid
at Black Mountain, NC 28711
Thursday, March 2, 1978. Vol. 24, No. 19
Serving—
★ Black Mountain
★Swannanoa
★Montreat
★ Ridgecrest
15 cents per copy
Black Mountain firemen put out a fire in a moving van on U.S. 70. (Charlie
ivlor) . ;*j*
Black Mountain Fire
Black Mountain Fire Chief
erling Poe was injured while
;hting a fire in a Mayflower
oving van on U.S. 70 west
sbruary 26.
Poe suffered a cut on nis
outh requiring five stitches
idle pulling furniture from
e burning trailer. The fire,
ought by firemen to have
arted from faulty wiring to
>e lights, caused an
tunated $8000 damage. One
uck and 23 men responded to
e fire.
On February 21, one truck
id five men put out a fire
‘used by a faulty dishwasher
iotor at the Dickerson
‘sidence at 202 Border St.
he fire, which caused $75
image, was responded to by
ie truck and five men.
An estimated $200 damage
as done to a- Merita Bread
tick that caught fire on U.S.
* west February 24. One
’uek and 15 men responded.
A fire alarm was set off at
‘ghland Farms February 26
hen a resident burned his
«st One truck and seven
>«n responded.
A 1975 Fiat owned by
Varies Ray was totally
estroyed by fire on February
> on Pleasant Drive. One
'uck and 13 firemen
“ponded.
Aiso that day, one truck and
ve men returned to the
ioving van that had burned
arlier on U.S. 70 to wet down
smoldering mattress.
department has gained
nd lost firemen.
Rmky Carson was approved
s full-time fireman at a
Pwdal meeting on February
13. Carson, ^ ho has served as
a volunteer fireman in Blade
Mountain, began paid duties
on February 16.
Fireman Charles Shook has
I offered a resignation, taking
effect March 3, to accept a
position with the Buncombe
County Ambulance Service as
a dispatcher.
Task Force report
Hospital upgrading recommended
by Dan Ward
A special task force ap
pointed by Secretary of
Human Resources Sarah
Morrow has recommended
that the state’ s specialty
hospitals, including Western
North Carolina Specialty
Hospital, be revitalized to
continue to meet ac
creditation standards-and
that emphasis on the treat
ment of tuberculosis (TB) be
phased out over an extended
period.
The recommendations, due
to be sent to task force com
mittee members this week
before being turned over to
Dr. Morrow, were the result of
a four-month study by a group
including state legislators,
doctors and administrators.
The News received the
recommendations from a
source close to the task force.
The task force has
recommended that the
treatment, prevention and
control of TB be moved as
much as possible to com
munity hospitals and homes.
Dr. O.L. Henry, medical
director for WNC Hospital,
when asked about the
recommendation, said it
would have little bearing on
treatment of TB patients at
the hospital He said the
hospital is already geared
toward community-based
treatment of TB patients, and
would continue to treat special
cases in the event the
recommendations are
followed.
While no figures accompany
the task force suggestion that
the hospitals be upgraded to
maintain accreditation, N.C.
Rep. Gordon Greenwood, a
member of the task force, said
an overall figure of (8 million,
and a figure of $2.3 million for
WNC Hospital, had been
discussed earlier as the
amount needed to do im
mediate renovating.
An aide to U.S. Rep. Lamar
Gudger, who had earlier
issued a newsletter to media
throughout Western North
Carolina saying that the
treatment of all respiratory
diseases, not just TB, were
recommended to be phased
-—--—-*---1-1 ctfnuaucfl.mLPagfc.Al.
Smith speaks on energy, health
McNeill ,°mith, Greensboro
Democrat campaigning for
the U.S. Senate, told 30 per
sons at the Black Mountain
Library February 24 that he
will support tobacco price
supports, national health
insurance, alternative energy
development and federal
subsidation of education, if
elected.
Smith, known for his energy
proposals in the N.C. Senate,
came out against further
building of nuclear power
plants in lieu of developing
alternative energy sources
Final hearing held
by Dan Ward
At the last in a series of
Hearings for a Community
Development Grant, requests
for sewer, water and street
improvements for the
Craigmont Community were
echoed February 27 at Black
Moimtain Town Hall.
The hearing, marked by the
. absence of four Citizen Par
ticipation Committee mem
bers and Jim Allman, grant
authority with the Land of Sky
Regional Council, consisted
mainly of clarification of the
grant process.
One member of the audience
of 10 asked whether the Citizen
Participation Committee will
be obliged to follow the
strongest recommendations in
making its grant proposal to
the Department of Housing
and Urban Development
(HUD).
Chairman Jean Standley
said that although the com
mittee is supposed to choose
the proposal they tiiitJi is most
needed and most likely to be
funded, installation of water
lines, fire hydrants and
sewers in the Craigmont
Community will obviously
have to be a main con
sideration.
She added that she was told
that, based on income figures
for Black Mountain and HUD
requirements for funding, the
Craigmont Road area and
Flat Creek community are the
only areas likely to be in favor
of HUD grant-givers.
Ms. Standley noted that
Blade Mountain should stand
in good favor with HUD
because it demonstrated that
it could utilize money well
when it spent $15,000 in grant
money three years ago to pave
two streets.
Aid. A.F. Tyson noted that
there are other parts of town,
including downtown and the
Kerlee Heights area, that are
in need of water lines and fire
hydrants. He recommended
that the town apply for
general water improvement
funds to be spent wherever
needed in town, rather than
soley in the Craigmont
Community.
out by the task force, said the
congressman regretted
passing on incorrect in
formation, but was “delighted”
that it was recommended that
the hospitals continue and
expand treatment. Gudger
fully supported a recom
mendation to spend “several
million dollars’ ’ to maintain
accreditation standards at the
hospital, the aide said.
The task force has also
recommended that the
operations of the state’s tiiree
specialty hospitals be
“maintained and expanded as
changing health care needs
dictate’ ’, apparently asking
that the facilities remain open
indefinitely- -regardless of the
such as solar and distilled
forest waste.
He also said he would, if
elected, propose a type of
counter-embargo on Cartel oil
requiring oil-producing
nations to bid on import
contracts.
spiralling energy costs are a
major cause of Inflation,
reducing oil imports would
bring the country closer to a
balanced budget.
Smith also came out in favor
of tobacco price supports,
saying that penalizing the
farmer is not the b*at way to
fight cigarette smoking. He
did say he supported con
tinued public education on the
hazards of smoking.
Smith also said that be
would propose a national
health insurance plan that
would provide free medical
care to pregnant women and
children, and would pay the
cost of “devastating illnesses”
beyond 20 percent of the af
fected family’s income.
Smith also called for federal
aubsidation of education. He
noted that tax money applied
to education is much greater
per capita in Northern cities
than in the Southeast. To
offset the difference hi taxable
property values, federal
money should be distributed to
areas of the country with
poorer facilities, he said.
Smith also came out in favor
of removing expensive
business lunch and air travel
business deductions on income
taxes.
To fight unemployment, h$
said, the government should
intiate an alternative energy
exploration and con
struction program similar in
nature to the space program.
Smith, who stopped in Black
Mountain while on a campaign
trip through the Asheville
area, criticized Republican
Jesse Helms, saying the
senator has failed to provide
answers to the country’ s
problems while opposing all
proposals offered.
New directors have hopes for state facilities
by Dan Ward
“Sometimes I have to pinch
myself to beLeve it’s come this
far in so short a time,"William
Johnston, director of the
Alcoholic Rehabilitation
Center (ARC) in Black
Mountain said of the program
at the institution.
Many employees at the ARC
feared for their jobs, and some
quit, in the wake of the firing
of previous director, Herb
Moore, for protesting a
revision in the State Em
ployment Act last July.
“I assured them when I
came here that if they were
effective, dilligent and ac
cepted (an Alcoholic' s
Anonymous oriented)
philosophy, that no friend
ships or favors could cause
them to be fired,’ ’ Johnston
said.
Acceptance and enthusiasm
for the Alcoholics Anonymous
(AA) philosophy has helped
restore employee confidence
in the institution, Johnston
said.
“AA is basically a program
where a person is forced to
look at himself and see his
character defects rather
than blaming the whole world
for all his oroblems. "Johnston
Swannanoa Fire
The Swannanoa Fire
apartment made six runs
51 week.
February 21, a trailer at
* Wilson Ave. was totally
Grayed by a fire. Damage
Hie by the fire was estimated
; WOO. The trailer was
^ by Rex Smith, and was
toted to Delores Lee. Three
■«ks and 23 men responded
1 ^ fire, which had already
^tofed the budding before
trucks arrived.
On February 20, two trucks
and nine men put out a grass
(ire on U.S. 70 at Buckeye
Cove Road. Brush fires on
Northeast Avenue February
25 and at the ball field behind
Beacon Manufacturing
February 26 were answered
by two turcks and 20 men and
three trucks and 17 men,
respectively.
Two false alarms were
iViti-H --
said.
“We try to convince the
alcoholic here that his life is
unmanageable and by his own
will and wits he is a total
failure. Then we go to the AA
spiritual concept,” he said
Contrary tc misgivings by
some that the “spiritual
concept” is a violation of the
separation of church and
state, Johnston said that the
program requires that the
person recognize a power
greater than him, not
necessarily through a given
religion or even through God.
“I know people in AA who
would look to a Fifth Avenue
bus as a power greater than
he-it could run him over,’ ’
Johnston said
“The secret seems to be
surrendering, rather than a
temporary submission.”
Another change at the ARC
that Johnston said has worked
out well is in requiring
patients to follow up in
stitutionalization with at least
three months of biweekly
meetings with their families
and those of other alcoholics.
Pastors from the community
also attend the meetings, held
on Thursday evenings and
Sunday afternoons. Volunteer
meetings for alcoholics and
their families are held weekly
at the United Methodist
Church in Black Mountain.
“There is a comraderie
among the patients here that
the staff supports. Once ihey
get this dirt out in the open and
realize that others have the
same problems, they no
longer feel like square pegs in
round holes,' ’ Johnston said.
The program at the ARC,
Johnston said, is modeled
after a private treatment
facility, Fellowship Hall, that
was providing ezceilent
treatment for alcoholics at a
cost $20 per day less than the
state.
Johnston said that the ef
fectiveness of the Fellowship
Hall program could not be
compared t with the state
facilities because the private
center had the right to reject
those who were not serious
about giving up drinking,
while he state institutions
could not.
If the enthusiasm of the I
patients and staff, as' well as i
the number of persons
claiming to stay sober for
three months after discharge
is any indication, the new
program has been very
successful, Johnston said.
*‘I kind of feel like a chosen
person,”he said. “I'm thrilled
to death with the program
here.”
Bill Johnston
by Dan Ward
Although Don Pagett, new
director of the Juvenile
Evaluation Center (JEC) in
Swannanoa, hates to see all
problems written off as a
“communication gap’ ’ , he
indicates that better com
munication is the key to
making the institution reach
its potential.
“The main thing is to
provide a healthy en
vironment for the staff to
exercise their talents,” Pagett
said.
To do that, he said, staff
and residents must feel that
there is an air of trust,
cooperation and a receptivity
to new ideas. That, Pagettt
said, will come through ef
fective communication.
“I know the outcomes I’m
Don Pagetl
looking for. Some of those
may have already taken
place, ’’he said.
Acknowledging that a
morale problem has existed at
the JEC, Pagett said that he is
trying to give more authority
and responsibility to staff to
remove feelings that policy is
determined by him and
Raleigh authorities.
“I think it’s a straw dog
state level interference,’ ’ he
said.
“I’ve done my best since I
started here to assure the staff
that we have a great deal of
latitude here in what we do
and how we do it. But we need
the creative tension from the
state level so that we don’t get
stagnant.’’
Pagett said that, again,
feelings of state-level med
dling are usually a product of
poor communication.
Sometimes a person in some
level of the department
hierarchy will reject an idea
passed on by a person working
at an institution and fail to
give a reason why the idea
was dropped. The state
employee is left with the
conclusion that, because he
was not givpn a reason, the
motive for rejection was
political, Pagett said.
Pagett said he prefers not
to dwell on the negative.
“I don’t want to be problem
oriented. I want to get at
issues-to say ‘ what resources
do we have to accomplish
what we want?”’he said.
Pagett, who came to the
JEC as acting director 10
weeks before his appointment
as director two weeks ago,
praised relations between the
JEC and the community He
noted that about ISO volun
teers help out at the facility,
and the organization
sponsored Christinas con
tributions and parties for the
children at the JEC were
overwhelming.
‘What I don’t want to see
here is what’s happened in
other institutions. It’s the ‘we
they syndrome’” he said. “We
don’t want it to become ‘We
the institution’and ‘they the
community’. We are part of
the community.”
‘•‘I’m going to have that sign
out front that says
‘unauthorized persons keep
out; or whatever, tom down. I
want to encourage the people
to come see what we have
going here,”he said.
When Pagett took the
position made vacant when
Secretary of Human
Resources Sarah Morrow
fired Bill Noland for failing to
carry out a directive, he listed
four goals to the JEC staff
goals he said are longterm and
on-going.
The first was to see that the
facility is staffed with well
trained, interpersonally
competent and cooperative
persons.
The second was to see an
administration and series of
programs that could respond
to all needs of the children.
Third was to establish an
organization that encourages
and utilizes staff expertise in
initiating plans.
The fourth was to see an
organization of persons who
fully believe in individualized
care of the residents, and are
able to apply that belief to
practice.
Reaching, or reaching for,
those goals will accomplish
many things, Fagett said.
Top priority, Pagett told his
1 staff the day he was made
director, “is ciuidreu-what
we do to them, for them and
with them.’'