o •
Second class postage paid I Uli I ti i i I I ill'll ill tfllil it [ilijPa I * ^Iojntreat
at Black Mountain. NC 2871 1 9|J||jflH ^ UlUgCCrCSt
Cherry St. group
given beauty 1st
A group of shop owners on
tierrry Street in Black
fountain were honored as the
usiness For Beauty winners
t 1976-197# by the North
arolina Federation of
omen's Clubs at the State
invention April 2S through 27
the Raddison Hotel in
harlotte.
Business For Beauty is a
itional program to improve
e visual environment of the
immunity and is co-sp
onsored by the General
Federation of Women’s Clubs
and Cities Service Company.
Merchants of the Cherry
Street Plan were responsible
for major assistance from the
Town Board for street im
provements. Additional
improvements included
sidewalk patching, a comer
planter, benches on the lower
end of the street and planters
of sourwood trees along the
street. Several merchants on
Cherry Street painted their
store fronts.
A plaque honoring the
merchants of Cherry Street
was presented in recognition
of their efforts. The Black
Mountain Woman’s Club,
whose President is Mrs. R.C.
Moss, sponsored the project
and received a $100 check for
their efforts. Mrs. Harriet
Styles served as project
chairman.
Black Mountain water bupt. Al White looks on as Johnny Harrison climbs
to the new reservoir on McCoy Cove Road. The reservoir, when it soon
eets Health Department specifications, will replace the current facility in
e background. (Dan Ward)
tell rate increase begins
by Nelie Laetsch
Residence telephone rates
Southern Bell’s North
rolina customers will in
fase 10 cents a month and
smess rates 25 cents a
<ith, beginning April 26, as
result of an order issued
nl 17 by the North Carolina
iltties Commission.
* Black Mountain the basic
nithly rate for residence
‘phone service will in
from $7.70 to $7.80,
fording to R.B. Moore, Bell’
wi manager. The monthly
smess rate will increase
*19.25 to $19.50.
Service connection
irges also are being revised
more closely reflect the
ri the telephone company
«preform to establish the
vice.
Is an example, Moore said,
'service connection charge
residences where all
ring and jacks must be
tolled will increase from
f to $31.10.
or residences in which
Wne wiring and jacks
are already in place, the
service connection charge will
be 124.06.
For residences in which the
wiring and jacks are in
place—and the customer picks
up his or her telephone at a
Southern Bell Phone Center
Store—the service connection
charge will be $15.90.
The installation charge for a
business telephone will in
crease from $33.40 to $40.00.
Savings for business
customers, similar to those for
residence customers, on
wiring and jacks can
be realized if these facilites
are in place.
Moore pointed out that basic
monthly rates have been
adjusted for a variety of local
service items. Rates for touch
tone service were among
those restructured and some
customers who have this
service may experience ad
ditional increases.
The monthly rate for
business extensions will in
crease slightly, from $1.90 to
$1.96 per month.
Today’ s order by the
Utlilites Commission resulted
from a request by Southern
Bell in August, 1977 for 153.7
million in additional revenue.
Following extensive public
hearings, the Commission on
March 24 granted the com
pany additional revenues of
about $28.6 million. Nearly 322
million of the increase went
into effect April 3 in the form
of higher rates for in-state
long distance calls and for
Wide Area Telephone Service
(WATS).
The April 3 revisions also
established a 25 per cent
discount for in-state long
distance calls placed between
12 noon and 1 p.m. weekdays.
Southern Bell originally had
requested three hours of
discount callings on week
days. The Commission or
dered just one hour, sayings
that such a concept should be
tested in actual experience
before being extended to
additional hours.
Today’ s order affecting
local service charges will
produce about 36.7 million in
additional annual revenue for
Southern Bell.
Our Valley
Mountains and streams
by BUI Peniouad
and June Hodge
U M*e—The foUowtag is
tint article ta what
"^s to be a leag aerie* oa
! natural and >>«■■■■ history
be Swaaaaaoa Valley. The
with the typiag
“•lance of Ethel Caldweel,
* la pubUsh their series
» book called SWAN
IS|M VALLEY
*be future.
fhe
* ^annanoa Valley is a
broad, mountain-edged valley
which is located in Buncombe
County, in the southern sec
tion of the Blue Ridge
Province of North Carolina.
The Swannanoa Valley ex
tends from the sources of Flat
Creek and the North Fork
River to the confluence of the
Swannanoa and French
Broad Riven at Asheville.
The Valley has its beginning in
the Craggy, Black and
Graybeard mountains to the
north and the Swannanoa
mountains to the south. Many
of the mountain peaks are
over a mile high whereas the
elevation of the Swannanoa
{liver at its confluence with
the French Broad is only 1995
feet above sea level. The
Valley is 18 miles long and
varies from less than one mile
to six miles in width. An
impoundment, as a water
supply reservoir for Asheville,
has been constructed on the
upper reaches of the North
Fork. This area is now under
(Continued on page 11)
A late freak blizzard provided an unusual con
trast to spring flowers on Montreat Road Friday.
(Dan Ward)
5 local youths arrested in raid
Five Swannanoa men were
among 16 arrested in a sur
prise drug raid April 20. One
Asheville man, ac
cording to a Buncombe County
Sheriff’s Police investigator.
Arrested in the 7 aon. raid,
coordinated between the
Sheriff s Department, In
teragency Narcotics Squad
and Asheville Police
Department, were Keith
Aiken, 18, sale and delivery of
marijuana; Danny Lee
Brigm&n, 19, sale and delivery
of marijuana; Preston 0.
Walker, 22, sale and delivery
of marijuana; Perry R.
Shippey, 19, manufacture of
marijuana; awi -Michael
Shippey, sale an* delivery ef
marijuana—all of Swannanoa.
A hearing is set for May 4.
The other 10 arrested in the
raid, all from Asheville or
Candler, were Marvin K.
Bryan, Philip R. Ross,
William S. Isreal, Philip
Vernon, Terry Phillson, Effie
Fullwood, Steven R. Wilson,
Michael Gray, J. Leonard
Gudger, Charles S. Collins.
and Gary E. Radford.
In another case. Terry Lynn
Stephenson, 22, of Swannanoa
has been appointed a public
defender and had a hearing
set for May 8 on charges of
armed robbery and assualt
with a deadly weapon in
connection with two
separate incidents.
According to sheriff’s police,
Stephenson is charged with
the robbery at gunpoint of $35
from the Ice Service Store on
US 70 April 10 and with
beating his wife. Dorothy
Jean, on April 22. Bond was
set at $25,000.
Black Mountain Police
arrested James Manuel St.
John of Thomasville on April
23 and charged him with
communicating a threat after
St. John allegedly threatened
another man at Reed’s Motel
while holding a shotgun.
Black Mountain Police
answered 83 calls, issued two
traffic citations, arrested one
for public drunk, investigated
two accidents, and assisted
sheriffs police last week.
Swannanoa fire
destroys home,
investigated
by Dan Ward
•A fire with suspicious
origins destroyed a mobile
home and all its contents, and
resulted in one injury April 21
in Swannanoa.
Mrs. C.A. Wilson was
treated and released from
Memorial Mission Hospital for
smoke inhalation when she
awoke to a fire in the trailer
she rented from an out-of
state owner on North Street
Friday.
Swannanoa Fireman and
investigator David Strickland
said that, because there were
two “hot spots ” or potential
beginnings of the fire, the
investigation was turned over
to Buncombe County Sheriff’s
investigators.
Sheriff’s Det. Don Whitaker
confirmed, through reports of
Arson Investigator Forest
Weaver, that the fire could
have started in two places—
the heater and the stove of the
trailer. Value of the trailer
was set at $10,000, while
personal belongings lost were
worth $4500
Whitaker said that that
becasue no flamable liquids
were found at the scene, the
fire did not warrant an SBI
arson investigatioon. He said,
however, that a county in
vestigation continues.
Two trucks and nine men
from Swannanoa responded to
an alarm called by Mrs.
Wilson, to find the trailer
already in flames. The fire
was under control in 10
minutes, a fire department
spokesman said.
The burning ban in Swan
nanoa has been lifted,
although the Swann< ,oa Fire
Department recommends
that persons starting a con
trolled burning exercise ex
treme caution and common
sense.
The Swannanoa Fire
Department made two other
runs last week.
On April 17, two trucks and
eight men responded to an
unauthorized controlled
burning at the Davis Mountain
Hideaway on Davidson Road.
Also that day, one truck and 10
men stood by a wreck on 1-40
east of Jim’s Branch Road.
The driver, who was injured in
the wreck, was treated for
minor injuries at Memorial
Mission Hospital.
_. j
Black Mountain fire
Black M a.tain firemen
made four nuts last week.
On April 18, one truck and
seven men stood by at a car
wreck on US 70 west. One
person received minor in
juries in the wreck.
On April 19, one truck and
five men stood by at a con
trolled burning on Oc
coneechee Avenue.
When another controlled
burning got out of control
April 22, two trucks and II
men responded to the Bill
Price residence on Old US 70.
On April 23, one truck and 30
men were called to stand by at
the ^ceneof a car wreck on US
70 west. Power lines were
downed as a result of that
accident. There were no in
juries.
The Buncombe County
Ambulance Service made one
emergency, 16 routine and two
unneeded runs last week.
Hoy (Jrr
A hot fudge sundae—with good talk on top
by Dan Ward
Like the gleaming grill on a
'57 Chev, Roy Orr’ s soda
fountain is a symbol of a space
in time that defies clocks.
Amid a row of gleaming
flavor spouts and constantly
wiped ice cream bin covers,
Orr reigns as half-owner and
operator of “the only sody
fountain around,’ ’ at B&J
Drugs in Swannanoa.
“This is the only one left
between Beverly Hills and
Marion, "he said. “Folks come
here from all over."
“Most soda fountains were
in drug stores, see, in the old
days. You take on 10 and IS
cent sales, you have to take in
a lot of business to pay the
overhead.
“When the rest of them
closed down, I raised my
prices to where I could stay
above board,” he said.
Even with higher prices,
Orr knows that ice cream
sodas alone won’t keep him in
business. Counters around the
store are filled with toiletries
and non-prescription
medicines. Behind the
years of carvings in B&J’s booths—“Iwouldn't
take $1000. '‘
counter hangs a kaliedascope
of key chains, pipes,_
watchbands and cigarette
lighters. The mam attraction,
next to the ice cream, is the
shop’s sandwiches and hot
dogs all-the-way.
“We’ve always had the best
hot dogs in Buncombe County,”
Orr said as though he were
saying the grass is green—an
indisputable fact.
“We’ve never had anyone
kick on hot dogs.’ ’ A man
sipping coffee at the counter
nodded in silent agreement.
People wander in and out,
all taking their time. While
they know a Coke costs the
same here as everywhere
else, they know the con
versation is free—and
friendly.
One young man at the
counter, who was probably in
his early teens when the soda
fountain was the main
hangout for rock-n-roll lovers,
called to Orr.
“Hey Roy, tell him about the
jukebox.”
Orr put down his wiping rag
and led the way past the
counter to where a row of
initial-carved booths faced an
old jukebox.
"Yeah, we’ve got the only
nickel jukebox in the county
state maybe,”he said, tapping
on the coin slot.
“They want me to change it,
but I said hell, the kids only
got a nickel, let them play it.’
“They come in here and pool
their pennies to get nickels.”
The drug store, with its old
timey paneling, shelves and
trim—along with the
traditional wooden booths and
soda fountain—has stayed
pretty much the same since
Orr and his step son, Morris
Jones, bought it 27 years ago.
Some of the reasons for not
modernizing is money, On
said.
“My overhead would be
higher and I’d have more work
to do—and I don't want to do
that,”he said with half a wink.
“V d |ist be asking for
headaches. As it is, my wife
and I can run it all right.”
But part of the reason is a
feeling for the store’s
distinctive style.
“If you look at all the
booths, you’d see the names of
million that’s graduated and
moved on. I wouldn’t take one
thousand dollars for all those
names,” he said.
Another customer came in,
and Orr began methodically
making a chili dog, keeping
the jokes and conversation
going all the while. A country
music station played on a
portable radio, which was
perched next to a large mirror
behind the counter.
At the far end of the store,
near the booths,sat an idle
stand-type fan looked down on
by a 50b vintage Coca-Cola
clock.
After the last scoop of onions
buried the dog and it was
handed to its new owner, Orr
ambled back down the
counter.
“There used to be a lot of
businesses on this side of
town, but they’re all moving
out now—because of the big
chain stores,’’he saied.
“They undersell some
things I’ve got by as much as
IS cents. But it don’t hurt me,
people just come back. When
people find a place they like,
they stick with it.”