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)

Page Text

This is the computer-generated OCR text representation of this newspaper page. It may be empty, if no text could be automatically recognized. This data is also available in Plain Text and XML formats.

Return to page view