June Bride Special inside
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at Black Mountain, NC 28711 ★ JAlClge CTOSt
Thursday, June 1. 1978, Vol 24, No 22 fc
_1^15 cents per copy
Golf revamp spurs resignation
by Dan Ward
The Black Mountain Town
Board voted to once again
change the description of the
present golf course manager’s
job and hired a clubhouse
manager at a special meeting
held May 22.
The board authorized Town
Manager Made Kirkpatrick to
hire Wilburn Waters, who has
been employed by the
Asheville Municipal Golf
Course, as manager of all
concessions, including golf
carts, at the Black Mountain
A wild iris hails the rain. (Dan Ward)
Go- Clubhouse. In addition,
the board in a compromise
decision changed the title of
present Golf Pro Ross Taylor
to greens superintendent—
both changes effective June 1.
Taylor, in the wake of new
developments, has offered a
verbal resignation to Kirk
patrick. Kirpatrick said he
has asked Taylor to remain at
the t600-plua per month
position at least until
November, citing Taylor’s
excellent record as green
skeeper.
Taylor said heisnot resigning
only because of losing the golf
cart concession or earlier
action that forced him to move
from the clubhouse.
“There’s a lot of things,’’he
said. “The worst thing about
it was that all this has been
done behind my back.”
Taylor was out of town when
the board moved that he be
asked to find other living
quarters so that the clubhouse
could be renovated to include
a consession area and locker
rooms. Taylor was also ab
sent from all but one of
several other Recreation
Commission and Town Board
meetings where his position
had been discussed and acted
upon. Contrary to reports
from commission and board
members, Taylor denied that
he had been notified of the
meetings.
Taylor would not elaborate
further on his charges against
the board except to say "it’s
been a pretty rough and dirty
deal all around.” He said he
would state his feeling fully in
the future.
Waters has been hired at
$100 per week to manage the
golf course clubhouse ac
tivities, Including recording
green fees and supervising the
concessions area. In addition,
he will be fully responsible for,
and receive all profits from,
the new food concession and
pro shop. He will also receive
to percent of the gross profits
of the golf cart concession. He
will be responsible for upkeep
and maintainence of all
concessions.
The town will receive the
other 60 percent of gross
profits on golf carts. Mayor
Tom Sobol has estimated
informally that the town will
receive about $8000 per year
from the golf carts.
Montreal budget
reading held
la a special meeting
Monday night, the Montreat
fit a*, reading to » propose
,adgat totaling <122,846 (or the
neat fiscal year, rhicb begins
July 1. Baaed on estimated
Saised valuea of $7.8
» and with the con
tinuation of the present tax
rate of <$ cents per $100 of
valuation, estimated Ad
Valorem tax income for the
new year will, be $50,000.
Second reading will be given
during the board’a monthly
meeting on June 8, at 7:30
p.m., in the town meeting
room at Gaither Hall. Mon
treat residents are en
couraged to be present and
express themselves. Copies of
the proposed budget are
available for study at Mon
treat’s Historical Foundation,
which is open daily.
In other action, the board
accepted with regret the
resignation of Susan Neville,
municipal accountant and tax
collector for the Town of
Montreat. Shelias served the
people of Mon treat in this
wfl terminate her work the
ena of June. The board ex
pressed its appreciation for
her accomplishments and
devotion to die town, and it
then requested that person
interested in applying for this
part-time job should contact
one of the commissioners—
Dr. Ivan Stafford, E.A. An
dre^.,<^Mayor John T
The board announced that
funding for much-needed
paving and other street im
provements is being sought
beyond the annual budget.
Announcement of plans will be
made to the near future, they
said.
BOR Grant reapproved
Black Mountain’ s ap
plication for a Bureau of
Outdoor Recreation grant for
a Youth Park near the Lake
Tomahawk dam has been
again recommended, along
with additional material, by
the North Carolina Depart
ment of Natural Resources
and Community Development
and has been forwarded to
Atlanta, Ga., for final federal
approval.
Robert Basnight,
assistant director of the state
grant analysis division, said
that new information sent by
Town Manager Mack Kirk
patrick, including a revised
map of the area and flood
plain information, had met no
objections in Raleigh. He said
that it will probably be four to
six weeks before a response
comes from Atlanta.
Basnight had said earlier
that if the new information—
particularly flooding in
formation—was approved by
his office, that federal ap
proval was likely.
The $25,000 grant, to be
matched by $25,000 in local
funds,would be used to create
a baseball field, tennis courts,
basketball courts and a
parking area below the Lake
Tomahawk dam.
An earlier mixup in Raleigh
had postponed federal review
of the grant for approximately
four months.
Black Mountain firemen battle flames at 305 Fiat
Creek Road, suspected of being set by an arsonist.
(David Peele)
Second fire seen as arson
For the second time in IS
days, a vacant house on Flat
Creek Road is thoughkto have
been burned'hy an arsonist.
Three trucks and' 21 men
responded to the blaze at SOI
Flat Creek Road on Friday,
May 20. The house, owned by
Bernice Berryhfl, was valued
at $8,000 and considered a
total loss.
Both this fire and the May 11
fire at 302 Flat Creek Road are
under investigation by tbe
Black Mountain Fife
Department and by the State
Bureau of Investigation (SBI).
“We don’t have lead one on
either one of them,’ ’ said
Captain Steve King of the
Black Mountain Fire
Department.
One truck and 18 men
responded to an automobile
accident on US 70 at the Blue
Ridge crossing on Tuesday,
May 33. There was one minor
injury and the accident is
being investigatedby the State
Highway Patrol.
On Wednesday, May 24, two
trucks and 11 men answered a
call at the Robert Swan
residence in Hickory Ridge
Estates. The fire, started by a
washing machine motor,
caused minor damage.
A car fire at the residence of
Connie Stroup on Goldmont
Street was answered by one
truck and 14 men on May 24.
Another car fire at the ABC
store was answered by one
fruck and 13 men on Friday,
May 26. The car, owned by
Victoria Lytle, received minor
damage.
The Buncombe County
Ambulance Service made 11
routine calls, one emergency
run and two unnecessary runs.
Sister Ann
Her business ranges from lost pets to lost love
by Clint Williams
"Well, like, if people have
problems or sickness I help
them just by touching them,
just by praying with them,”she
said through her thick accent.
Healing and solving the
problems of others is the
business of Sister Ann, who
has her home and private
church at 711 Old US 70 in a
modest white frame house
next to Webb's Package Store.
Aithough she has only lived
In Black Mountain for about a
month, she said she has been a
faith healer all her life.
“I was bom with it,"she said
of her faith-healing power. “I
was gifted. It went from
generation to generation.
Like, my mother learned it
and when my daughter grows
up, I’ll learn her,’’gesturing to
her blanketed baby on the
couch.
During her stay in the Black
Mountain area, ap
proximately 500 to 600 people
have come to consult her,
Sister Ann said. Some of the
people have come from as far
away as Charlotte and many
come from Asheville. She said
they learn about her through
ads she has placed in the
newspapers and on radio
stations in Asheville and
Hendersonville, and circulars
she distributes.
“I' U be busy all day,’ ’ she
said about her case load, “I’
m busy 24 hours with my
customers "
Some have physical af
flictions and "some haves
problems with their love,
some haves problems like can'
t hold a job." Sister Ann said
that she has even helped
people locate their missing
pets.
"1 tell the future, past,
present, "she said. She went on
to explain how she does this»
“1 read the heads, the
vibrations of the head. I tell
them everything that goes
through tlteir head. Like, how
they feel about my work.”
How the people who visit
Sister Ann feel about her work
is crucial to the success of her
efforts, she said. The success
of the healing, she explained,
“Depends how they feel about
my work. Like, if they believe
iii God, if they believe in my
work. If they think I’m Just
playing around and all that,
they won’t see results. It’s up
to you. If you believe in God,
believe in me and all that, you’
11 see results.’ ’
Sister Ann declined to
illustrate the procedures
involved in one of her healing
services. “I cannot show you
what I do. No. It’s private,’ ’
she said. “I would like to and
all that, but I can't. It's
private.”
She went on to say that,
“some people, when they
come over for a reading, want
all the lights out, the porch
light out.”
The church in which Sister
Ann conducts her faithhealing
services is in a small, narrow
room off of her kitchen. The
space is almost completely
filled by a love-seat and an
altar. The altar, a table
draped with green felt, is
covered with three Bibles, a
notebook and several multi
colored statues of various
sires depicting Jesus, Mary,
and some of the saints. One
statue of Mary and the Christ
child stands nearly three feet
high in the center of the altar.
The most important objects
occupying the altar, however,
are two candles. "These
candles are special,’ ’ Sister
Ann stated. “These candles
give me the power to help
people.”
Sister Ann said that she
charges no fee for her
readings or Healings but ac
cepts donations. “Whatever
their heart tells them’, ’ she
said
Sister Ann said she came to
the United States from
Romania and Yugoslavia as a
small child and that she is
“sort of like a Catholic." She
attends no established,
traditional church.
“I have my own private
church,’' she said as she ex
plained that she goes to a
private church in Asheville
that her husband built for her
to pray and bum candles.
Although there are many
cynics and skeptics and
traditionalists who doubt the
powers of roadside faith
healers, according to Sister
Ann, “one visit will convince
you.”
Our Valley
The Civil War years
by Bill Penfound
and June Hodge
(Continued from last week)
A few words about the in
volvement of The Valley in the
Civil War (War between the
States) is in order. In the
small valleys, such as the
Swannanoa, the farms were
small, independent, multicrop
and lonely. In general, the
men from the small, mountain
farms were Union men
whereas the owners of large
farms in the lowland and the
town people were Confederate
sympathizers. Asheville, the
county seat of Buncombe
County, was the mountain
center for confederate ac
tivity. In many cases,
households were split in their
loyalties which resulted in
constant struggle since “the
enemies were intimates,
neighbor to neighbor, cousin
to cousin, and such proximity
did not allow forgetfulness
even for a day’ ’ (Dykeman,
1955:78). No important battles
were fought in The Valley but
' it was a war waged with un
speakable bitterness and
sometimes with inhuman
cruelty. A truce between the
Union and Confederate forces
was signed April 5, 1865, but it
was days before the last
soldiers of the tributaries of
the French Broad River heard
about it and ceased fighting.
After the War between the
States the hardest hit were the
big slave-holding landowners
such as the Pattons and the
Murphys. The once great
plantation of John E. Patton
went to ruin and William
Patton’s house, located where
the Municipal Club House is
now, burned to the ground
(Reed, 1967:127).
Among the important people
from The Valley during The
Civil War was Zebulon B.
Vance. In 1859, he was elected
to The House of Represen
tatives and was a staunch
supporter of the Union.
However, when President
Lincoln called for two North
Carolina regiments for the
Union Army, Vance cast his
lot with the Confederacy. In
1862 Vance was elected as
war-time Governor of North
Carolina and was elected
twice more to the same office.
In 1879 he resigned his office
and won a seat in the U.S.
Senate. According to Burnett
(1960:78) Senator Vance built
a mountain home named
Gombroon, on a plateau in the
North Pork of the Swannanoa
River, a home in which many
famous people were en
tertained. As witness to his
many contributions to
Western North Carolina is the
Vance Monument in Pack
Square, Asheville.
The mountain whites often
clashed with the Cherokee and
sometimes called on the state
and federal governments for
assistance. The dealing of the
United States with the
(continued on page 12)
Clean-up okay sought
The Black Mountain Moose
Lodge has asked that all
persons who have relatives
buried in the small cemetery
known as Potter’ s Field
behind Tabernacle Church
contact them and give them
permission to fill in sunken
graves, remove rusted fen
cing, and mow graves inside
the neglected cemetery,
featured in an earlier edition
of the News.
In addition, Miller Funeral
Home has donated grave
markers and will engrave the
names tree tor those who
contact the Moose Lodge and
describe which graves are
those of relatives.
To give the needed per
mission and obtain grave
markers, persons should
contact Creed Mundy Sr. at
669-8665, Neil Bartlett at 669
7352 or Mack Kirkpatrick at
Town Hall, 669-6732.
Swannanoa fire
The Swannanoa Volunteer
Fire Department responded to
five calls last week.
On Tuesday, May 23, one
truck and 21 men responded to
a false alarm on Buckeye
Cove Extension. One hour
later they returned to the
same location to answer
another false alarm con
cerning a car fire.
Two trucks and 10 men
responded to a car fire on US
70 on May 25. Minor damage
was reported.
Lightening caused a garage
fire at the George Seaward
residence on Patton Hill Road
on May 28. Three trucks and
26 men responded to the call.
The amount of damage was
undetermined.
A false alarm at 705 Old US
70 drew the response of two
trucks and 25 men on Monday,
May 29.