Water9sewers
in Craigmont
recommended
by Das Ward
The Black Mountain Town
Board approved a proposal
Monday to have an engineer
study ways to provide
adequate water, fire hydrants
and sewer facilities to the
Craigmont Community, and to
make a cost estimate to aid
jk town in applying for
Community Development
Grant funding.
The Citizen Participation
Committee, chosen by the
Twon Board to get citizen
nput into town needs and
ecommend a project for a
;rant proposal, recommended
it a meeting March 8 that tile
own designate the Craigmont
Community as a target area
or grant-tunded im
irovements.
After setting the primarily
Slack community as a target
irea, the committee had
hosen improvements to the
rater and sewer systems as
he highest priority project.
According to the recom
mendation, a grant should be
pplied for to provide either a
or 10-inch main up
Iraigmont Road with
ydrants. The main would
ontinue from U.S. 70 to the
own limits. Additional
mailer spur lines should be
msiauea on streets coming on
of Craigmont Road with
hydrants installed. If ap
proved, the system would
provide adequate fire
hydrants to the entire
Craigmont Community, ac
cording to committee member
Joe Williams.
Williams tentatively
described the Craigmont
ommunity as bordered by
Craigmont Road to Hiawassee
to the town limits to U.S. 70
and bade to Craigmont. The
area would also take in West
College Street and some ad
ditional areas.
The committee recom
mended that professional
engineers should determine
whether a 10-inch or 6-inch
main is needed on Craigmont
Road. Williams suggested
that the smaller lind would be
adequate.
An earlier suggestion that
street lights be included in the
project was rejected.
Williams said that Carolina
Power and light Company
has agreed to install street
lights as long as thotown pays
for service.' >
The need for improved
water and sewer services in
the Craigmoiit Community ,
was that most voiced at five
hearings held dining file last
two months.
4 . fg ' |
I Collins robbed
Collins Department Store in
lack Mountain was robbed of
10 in merchandise March iS.
Thieves broke a froat
hndow at the store and took
lothes that were on display in
ie window, Black Mountain
’oUce reported. Police have
et to question two suspects in
ormection with the robbery.
Police ho ve arrested a youth
or stealing a six-pack of beer
om Mr. Zip on March S. No
■ Vfg 4'?*. SJ>«.
ch«rg«s were filed Three
newspaper racks stolen from
B and C Swift Shop and Norton’
sQwikShop were recovered
by police last week. No
arrests were made.
Police issued four traffic
citations, assisted four
motorists, assisted firemen,
arrested one for public dnmk,
transported one to Detox and
investigated three accidents
last week.
Snrirutirur an* ^
A group of crocuses defy the groundhog's prediction to hail the cdming of
spring. JDan Ward)? -
; f I % ^ ' ■ '*fv. ■’ ? . I:
Solar homes planned here
Four solar heated houses
are under construction and
another 12 are set to be built
by the end of 1978 at Highland
Farms Retirement Com
munity in Black Mountain, it
was announced a meeting of
the community’s stockholders
Flower factory stays folksy
by Du Ward
One might say that the days
af the inventer-entrepreneur
re gone. Pet rocks and hula
loops seem to be the limit to
I* imagination of the in
'entor businessman.
In Black Mountain, one man
as proven to an inventor
ntrepreneur of the old school,
lowever. Joe Fox has moved
rom a small producer of
K>me craft to an efficient
ndustry with an unlikely
roduct-plastic doo-dads
mown as Springles-sold in
3000 outlets nationwide.
His “factory’', an elven
workshop located in the attic
of his home, has the unusual
atmosphere of a combination
quilting bee and Rube Gold
berg assembly line. After 11
years of trial-and-error and
problem solving, Fox has
established assembly devices
that are as interesting as the
colorful flowers, butterflies
and angels that flow off of
them.
A kite string linked around
the room by a series of pulleys
carries the drying Springles,
which are whacked when dry
into a box by a paper propeller
attached to a fan motor. The
homespun device is only a
visual example to the
grassroots method used in
making Springles.
Fox plays down his
ingenuity.
“You see what you need,
and do what you have to fulfill
that need,"he said.
To make the Springles, one
person begins by twisting
brass wire on a Jig, or a series
of pegs in the shape of the
flower or butterfly. The flat
figure is then soldered to a
heavier wire stem. The
person then bends the petals,
leaves, wings, or whatever
into a desired shape. From
there, it goes to another
|°‘' f°x with >»« partner and wife, Gay. (Dan Ward)
person, who dips the twisted
wire into polyvinyl alcohol,
which forms a plastic film
inside the wires, much like a
soap bubble in a ring.
The clear-petaled objects,
after making a round on the
drying line, are then dipped
again in polyurethane, which
will keep them flexible, and
sent on another drying round.
After that, they are coated
with an iridescent laquer,
created by Fox, to give the
flowers a silky sheen and
make them reflect light.
The production process then
takes (Hi a less mechanical
flavor as a series of steady
handed workers hand-paint
details on Springle com
ponents.
Meanwhile, a man makes
stands for the arrangements
by pounding a piece of brass
pipe filled with florist's foam
into a wooden block. Flowers,
leaves, angels, butterflies and
stands all meet at a table,
where two employees put
together any of 110
arrangements and pack them
in boxes for shipping.
Fox said that a particular
advantage he has in operating
the folksy enterprise is that all
employees have some say in
what models they produce,
how the process could be
made more efficient, and in
creating new designs.
“One thing that really helps
is that everybody here in the
shop has the option of
discarding any piece, "Fox
said. “We say ‘ if you wouldn't
buy it, dont pass it on.' ”
Fox also practices product
testing and market research
in a rather down-home way.
Springles. are tested for
longevity and color-fastness
on the family porch.
“We’ re really concerned
(Continued on page 3)
recently.
The retirement community
has a long-range plan >to be
accomplished in three stages.
Stage I was the building of a
Health Care Center with 69
beds, Medicare approved,
serving a number of counties
in Western North Carolina.
Stage n was the construction
of apartments. The first
section of 60 was completed
late in 1973. By the end of 1976
there was a second complex of
84 apartments Residents now
number 180, one-third of
whom are men.
At the annual meeting of
stockholders on March 6,
Executive Director Chester H.
Prentice announced that the
third stage * as been
inaugurated: the building of
a number of houses in clusters
on the 50-acre property. Four
units are under construction
and by the end of 1978 there
are to be 16. A special feature
of these new houses will be the
use of solar energy, both for
hot water and for interior
heating. According to
Prentice, these installations
include several devices used
for the first time in residential
housing. Many prospective
residents have expressed in
terest in this development and
the first apartments are
already sold.
Residents in the new
houses will be able to take
advantage of a wide array of
common facilities, including a
power-tool workshop, a
greenhouse, a crafts room,
and lounges.
Another feature of Highland
Farms, Inc. is that it is owned
and controlled by citizens in
the area. It is a private en
terprise not related to any
church or governmental
agency. Four directors were
elected at the last annual
meeting: Mrs. John Brothers,
Mrs. Arnold Plummer, Mrs.
A.F. Tyson, and Mr. Frank
Washbrui. Officers re-elected
were Paul M. Limbert,
president; Edward DuPuy,
vice-president; William
Styles, secretary; and Chester ,
Prentice, treasurer and
executive vice-president.
Board approves 3 grants
by On Ward
Hie Black Mountain Town
Board voted at its regular
meeting March IS to accept
two grants and renew another
for the police department
The board voted
unanimously to accept a
controversial grant to supply
a dispatcher 24 hours per day
tor the psjfcw department
with the understanding that
the usefullness of the
dispatchers would be under
scrutiny the first year.
Under terms of the leaa
grant the town will pay only
five percent, or 11443, the first
year to hire four dispatchers
and install necessary
equipment. State and federal
funding would pick up the
majority of the cost the first
year, (tapping to 30 percent
the third and last year. The
town is allowed to (hop file the
grant at any fin* without
penalty.
Mayor Tom Sobol and Aid.
Jim Norton said that there is
no way the town could pay the
estimated >45,000 per year
cost after file third year of
grant funding without raising
taxes or cutting sendees.
Norton said he had no in
tention of raising taxes and
thought it unfair to hire four
persons, only to iav them off a
year or two later.
Aid. Ruth Brandon,
proponent of the grant, said
that nobody working for the
town is guaranteed a long
term job and said the
dispatchers would prove in
valuable. Aid. Mike Begley
and Aid. A.P. Tyson asked
that the dispatchers be given a
year trial, since it would cost
the town Uttte for that period.
The board also voted to
accept another grant
providing a records clerk,
with desk, chair and fUe
cabinet. The town’s Share of
the one-year grant will be
$386.
The board also voted to
renew an Investigator Grant
for the third year. Police
Chief Crait flagle pointed out
that Det. Bill Stafford, whose
salary is partially funded by
the grant, investigated 147
cases last year, including
cases of murder, larceny,
rape, arson and narcotics.
The town’s share of Stafford’s
salary and exposes will be
610,314 thia year.
Street Improvements
Mayor Sobol pointed out
that members of the board,
Town Manager Mack Kirk
patrick and the streets
superintendent were sur
* > ..." ^
veying damage to streets to
estimate repair cost for
Powell Bill funding requests.
Aid. Tyson said that 80
percent of the town’s streets
had been examined, and that
the remaining streets mold
be checked out later this week.
He added that state engineers
will follow up on a damage
report to state roads made by
board members and Kirk
patrick.
Sobol also noted that ha and
Kirkpatrick wold attend a
workshan on aewadMMiniine*
tkm and treatment March IS.
The workshop will be on
whether local officials wcokl
like to see the Metropadfk
Sewerage District take over
waste treatment throughout
die county and to answer
questions on obtaining En
vironmental Protection
Agency grants.
HOD Grant Proposal
The board was divided in
approving
by the rsHmw
Committee to apply for a
Community Development
Grant from The Department
of Housing and Urban
Development to improve
water and sewer service* in
the Craigmont coturnunity.
AkL A.F. Tyson opposed the
Charred remains of a piano stand in the Jack Whits hornss destroyed by fire
March 10. (Charlie Taylor)
Fire guts home
A fir* that apparently
started in the furnace at the
Jack White residence at 409
Occoneechee Ave. on March
10 destroyed everything the
family owned “except the
clothes on their backs’ ac
cording to Black Mountain
fireman Steve King.
White discovered the fire,
thought by King to have been
burning for at least an hour,
when he returned home that
evening. Firemen had the Ore
under control in about . 26
minutes, King said.
Damage was estimated at
$16,000. White’s wue and two
satis wav sot home at the
time of the fire, King said.
Approximately 1500 damage
was done by smoke from *
burned pot at the Dickens
residence at 107 Second St.
March 6. One truck and three
men responded.,
On March 11, two trades and
16 men respondedto a soot fire
in the chimney of the Hutchins
residence on Hutchins
Avenue. No damage was
reported.
The Buncombe County
Ambulance Service made 10
routine runs last week.
swannanoa r ire
The Swannanoa Fire
Department made six runs
last week.
One truck and seven men
were called to put out a brush
tire on Rockdale Avenue
March?.
Two trucks and 18 men
responded to a car Are In die
Beacon Manufacturing
parking lot March 8.
On March #, three trucks
and 11 men responded to an
alarm at the ETL store that
was accidently set off with the
store's sprinklers.
About |78 damage was done
by a chimney fire at the
Redman Sawyer residence on
Bee Tree Road on March 11.
On March 12, two trucks and
22 men responded to a false
alarm of a car fire on UJS 7a
That day, the department
also investigated a false
report of a car fire on Uie
Buckeye Cove Road bridge.
Fireman of the Month for
February is Roger Patton, son
of Mr. and Mrs. Woodrow
Patton of 316 Wuson Ave.
Patton is employed by Daniels
Graphics.
_adMMUH MMM
V‘? •
would prefer to see ftMown
apply for water improvement
funding for the entire town,
rafter that a stogie com
munity. (See related story.)
The boardvoted
tobe developed by Stepp and
Nichols Realty south on N.C.
L2S^Ti?5*S
request earlier, noting that U
acres of the fanned Forest
Hills subdivision already lay
inside the town Umita, and
that the development will be
at a low enough altitude to get
town water without additional
pumping. Two readings
remain on the annexation.
Aid. Norton submitted a
blueprint of proposed
renovations to the Black
Mountain Golf Clubhouse to
the board and «*«<» that a
^ i»lfc idi I.>■ ItA aniiilnletl (n.
worKsnop oe scmqumq tor
March 30 to discuas the plan.
worktop for 7:90 p.m. at
Town Hall for that day.
Kirkpatrick noted that he
planned to advertise a notice
Of Hens on property for back
taxes. He said be had torn
from VerrtonaLiElsie^Uiott
AOmaO f«-| n ini ifa<Hnn#in«
street troiu aeaicauoa,
Eubanks said the board
&Lrjr.‘«s
the town haa ixwwsaion of the
street before it decides
whether or not to it out of
w HV> wst- »W V1W
^liMfinsi TKa Knnrit -_«
m aeaicauon i ne ooara igrMQ
to take no action.
Drinking Ordinance
Eubanks «!■<> presented an
amended ordinance,
prohibiting public drinking
and display of alcoholic
beverage containers. An
the board was found Invalid
because it took to beverages
already under ABC
Jurisdiction, **«»««*« sijj
Eubanks agreed to rewrite
the amendment when it was
pouuea out oy doatu tnexnoers
(Continued on page 10)
Candidate for U.S. Senate Luther Hodges Jr. met
employees of Beacon Manufacturing in Swannanoa
March 9 before coming to Black Mountain to meet
with local Democratic leaders. iDan Ward)