c? •
, serving—
Thursday, June 29, 1978, Vol. 24, No. 36 ^^^^mm^mm^mmmmmmmmsmt^mmmmmmmtmm
_l*^ cents per copy
Montreat budget
hike small
The $123,725 appropriated
[or the 1978-79 fiscal year June
0 by the Montreat Town
Board represents a slight 4 per
:ent increase over last year's
judget.
As with last year’s budget,
he largest sum of money,53
ier cent of the total budget, is
ippropriated to the police
lepartment, with 73.9 per cent
)f that money going to police
alaries. The $65,597 budgeted
o the police department for
he upcoming fiscal year is 9.2
ier cent more than the $60,587
budgeted last year.
The money ear-marked for
public works is 6.6 per cent
Jess than the money ap
propriated last year. The
reduction, from $47,956 to
(44,828, is because of a
reduction in salaries. The
money budgeted last year for
salaries had to pay for the
services of one full-time mar
and one part-time helper.
This year, explained Mayor
John K. Abemethy, the money
■ for the part-time helper is
provided through federal
disaster relief funding and not
included in the Town’s budget.
The money budgeted foi
public works is 36.2 per cent ol
the total budget.
The proposed cost of general
government is up 8.3 per cent
from 19,427 in 1977-78 to
811,300 in 1978-79.
Appropriations for com
missioner expenses are up 200
per cent from $100 to $300 and
appropriations for legal and
professional fees have
doubled, from last year’ s
figure of $600, to $1,200.
The amount of money spent
for parks and recreation
remains the same at $300.
I Fire Report
One truck and 11 men
esponded to a car fire at the
Slack Mountain Golf Course
>n June 19. Damage was
stimated at $200.
Lightening struck a house
in June 19 and did $200 worth
if damage despite the absence
if fire. One truck and five
nen answered the call.
Also on June 19, a machine
S.the Biitmore Woodworking
Company caught fire and set
the air ducts on fire. One
truck and 19 men responded to
the blaze which caused $500 in
damage.
One truck and three men
washed down some gasoline at
“Mr. Zip” on June 21.
The Buncombe County
Ambulance Service made IS
routine calls, five emergency
calls and was not needed on
tw# calls.
rOA TS cards
to be issued
The Buncombe County
Council on Aging (OATS) will
receive applications and issue
identification cards for the
Older Americans Act and
transportation service on
Thursday, June 29, at the
Lakeview Center on Lake
Tomohawk, Black Mountain.
Dick Patzfahl, director of
the Council will be present to
assist residents of Buncombe
County age 60 and over in
obtaining this portal to portal
service in taxi cabs for im
mediately necessary trips to
doctors, social service
agencies, shopping and other
needs.
Applicants should bring
proof of age, birth certificates
or their Medicare card and
people residing with them.
The purpose of the O.A.T.S.
program is to provide needed
transportation for older adults
especially those residing in
outlying areas of the county.
More information may be
obtained by calling Council on
Aging office 250-4027, and
asking for Jerry Hechler,
transportation Co-Ordinator.
Despite the effort, it’s a strike. (Clint Williams)
'*•'•'** wi s >
T ~~ w xr r m-:-. :**>:#*frPi*r;■ •■»■, w
Local ABC pay
exceeds average
by Dan Ward
If a comparison of the
salaries paid Black Mountain’
s ABC Board with those of
other one-store towns fails to
show that the board here is
overpaid, it shows that there is
a large descrepancy in how
towns value their boards.
In the case of seven towns
and cities in North Carolina
having only one ABC store, the
iverage salary of the ABC
Board chairmen is $2,514-as
compared with (1,800 paid to
Black Mountain ABC Board
Chairman J.G. Northcott.
Black Mountain’s other two
board members, in contrast,
are paid well above the #711
salary at $1100 per year.
Aid. A.F. Tyson, in response
to comments at the last
regular Town Board meeting
by Aid. Ruth Brandon that the
position of ABC board
member is “well-paying’ \
asked Town Manager Mack
Kirkpatrick to compare
salaries here compared to
other municipalities. Com
June 30 opening of 1-40 official
North Carolina Secretary of
Transportation Thomas W.
Bradshaw Jr. has formally
announced plans for the
opening of 1-40 from southeast
of Swannanoa to US-70 east of
Black Mountain.
The 6.4 mile segment is
scheduled to open Friday,
June 30, weather permitting.
The opening of this portion of
I-W mil eliminate the present
traffic congestion in the town
of Black Mountain.
“The early completion of
this portion of 1-40 will be very
significant to motorists in this
area during the July Fourth
holiday period,’ ’ noted
Bradshaw.
The 4.2-mile segment of this
project was constructed by
Asheville Paving Company,
and the 2.2-mile portion was
contracted to A.B. Burton and
Company. These projects
were originally scheduled to
be completed by September
and October, 1978, respec
tively. Total construction cost
of the project is $12.5 million.
"We were able to complete
this project ahead of schedule,’
’noted Bradshaw, “because of
the interest and concern of
Governor Hunt and his
commitment to construct
east-west highways linking
the mountains to the piedmont
Cars and construction crews share the unopened portion of 1-40. (Clint
Williams)
and the ports. The elimination
of this bottleneck of traffic in
Black Mountain will enhance
tourism and travel to the
mountainous areas of our
state. In addition, we owe a
special thanks to Asheville
Paving Company and A.B.
Burton and Company for their
cooperation in moving ahead
to get the job completed,' ’
Bradshaw concluded.
Just east of the Black
Mountain section, there are
currently two construction
contracts underway to convert
existing US-70 to interstate
standards to become a part of
1-40.
The first section, 1.6 miles,
extends from US-70 and SR
2702 (Yates Avenue) in
tersection easterly to the
McDowell County line. The
second section, five miles in
length, will add two additional
lanes to existing four-lane
segment from Ridgecrest to
Old Fort. Projected com
pletion dates for these
projects are August 1979 for
the first section and
November 1978 for the second
section. Traffic will be
maintained through the
construction site.
Formal dedication plans
will be announced later by
NCDOT to commemorate the
completion of the Black
Mountain area segment of I
40.
pariaan is based on figures
provided by the State
Alcoholic Beverage Control
Board.
Other municipalities having
one store are Asheville,
Waynesville, Sylva,
Morgan ton, Hendersonville,
Blowing Rock and Bessemer
City.
Ironically, those cities with
the largest populations pay
board members the lowest
salaries. Asheville
population 60,900-pays $300
per year as does Morgan ton
population 16,040.
Asheville pays its chairman
$2,100 per year while
Morganton pays $1,200.
The highest paid board
chairman is Hendersonville’s,
at $6000. followed by Sylva
with a population of 1,700- at
$4,200. Those two towns pay
board members $1,200 and
$780, respectively.
The town with a population
closest to Black Mountain's
ooe-fourth higher at 5,400-is^
Bessemer City. Bessemer
City pays its chairman and
board members the least at
$500 and $300 respectively.
The town with the lowest
population, but that caters to
nearby dry Boone, is Blowing
Rock, which pays board
members $600 per year and its
chairman $1200.
At question, beside the pay
in Black Mountain compared
to other towns, is what the
ABC Board does to earn the
salary, particularly in light of
the fact that all other town
committees work on a
volunteer basis.
The committee of three
meets once each month at the
ABC Store on State Street.
The three review sales volumn
and income from the previous
month and compare it to
projected figures for the year.
The board, being responsible
for hiring and firing of store
personnel, will occasionally
discuss personnel affairs.
Meetings are usually less than
an hour long and sparsely
attended by the public.
Cont. on page 10
Montreat eligible for
additional funds
by Clint Williams
The disclosure of the
likelihood of receiving $6,500
to $7,200 in additional Powell
Bill revenues high-lighted the
June 23 meeting of the Mon
treat Town Board.
During the open discussion
that followed the third reading
of the 1978-79 budget, Pete
Post, chief of police, informed
the Board that an in
vestigation by he and Ms.
Susan Neville, the tax
collector and municipal ac
countant, uncovered four to
4.6 miles of road that was
previously thought to be non
qualifying. This new
qualifying road could make
the town eligible for the
unexpected money, according
to the staff attorney of the
North Carolina League of
Municipalities that Post spoke
to.
In his report to the Board,
Commissioner Ivan B. Staf
ford stated that the |20,000
under the listing “con
tributions” could be amended.
“I don’t see any reason, at
this time, to change the
amount of the figure,” Stafford
said, “However, I think an
aggressive pursuit of it can
add a couple or three thousand
dollars to that income.”
Stafford went on to say
from the “non-tax-paying
agencies”of the town, he had
met a “very co-operative,
interested, concerned spirit’ ’
when discussing the subject of
contributions.
In his report on the budget,
Stafford presented several
amendments to the budget.
The first amendment was an
increase in the revenues from
the North Carolina Franchise
Tax. That figure was changed
form $8,000 to $8,880. The
change was based on a May 1
memo from the State
Treasurer, Stafford said.
In another amendment to
the budget, the salaries for the
police department were in
creased $500, from $48,102 to
$48,602.
Under the catagory of public
works there were three
amendments.
The proposed expenditures
for repaving and widening
were reduced from $7,186 to
$6,686, the expenditures for
sanitation collection were
increased from $10,000 to
$10,880 and the $1,100 ear
marked for the metropolitan
sewerage district was placed
in the contingency fund.
Following the Com
missioner's report, there was
lengthy discussion about the
Cont. on page 10
Wins Hickory again
Hills, cars cycle hazards
by Dan Ward
Anyone who has seen 17
year-old Gary McKinney of
Black Mountain puffing his
way up NC 9 on a bicycle may
have written him off as
“another one of those health
nuts.”
But Gary is in it for
more than the exercl^he
races, and wins, at meets
around the state.
Last week, he won an annual
one-third mile race at Hickory
Speedway. Earlier this
month, he placed second in the
junior division of the state
time trials in Greenville.
“The other guy beat me by
about two minutes there,” he
said. “And 1 probably would
have beat him if I had a better
bike.”
The absence of Gary Vi better
bike is tied in with another
story-the hazards of riding a
bicycle in an auto-oriented
society.
I was training about two,
three days before the
(Greenville) race and I had a
MOO racing bike. I was
coming up through town-we
had just ridden to Swannanoa
and back. I came up on this
car and he made a left-hand
turn in front of me and I hit
him in the side. That bike was
delolished.”
"He was really nice about it.
Almost as an afterthought in
lamenting the loss of the bike,
a borrowed one at that, Gary
noted that he received “a
minor concussion, a sprained
finger, a whole lotta bruises "in
the mishap.
Gary, who is sponsored by
Burger Hutt, went on with a
much heavier bicycle and half
healed wounds to log a time of
1:17:12 in the 25 mile
Greenville road trials. It was
his only chance to win the
North Carolina Junior
Championship-next year he
will have to compete in the
much faster senior category.
Although Gary has only
been competing for a year, he
began training five years ago
soon after he met his coach,
Mike Blaine.
“I got a 10-speed for
Christmas that year, but Mike
is the ope who really got me
into it,” he said. Now the two
pedal IS to 25 miles per day up
NC 9, along the unfinished 1-40
and up Bee Tree Road.
“The accident in Black
Mountain a few weeks ago was
an uncommon case where a
motorist was not paying at
tention to the cyclists,” Gary
said.
People are really more
considerate now because
there’s more bikes on the road
and we let them (motorists)
know if the aren't considerate,”
he said.
“We try not to let them
bother us much unless they try
to run us off the road or
something.’ ’
The Owen High School
junior said he has four bikes
now, and is in the process of
building a very light
aluminum alloy bicycle for
racing.
“All that power you’ve got
will be more useful on a light
bike-you aren’t pushing as
much weight.”
The bike he’s building will
weigh 13 pounds and will be
equipped with tubeless racing
tires. “A conventional 10
speed,” Gary said, “weighs
between 28 and 32 pounds.’
Unlike in sports such as
football or basketball or horse
racing, a person need not be a
r ertain size or wet^t to be a
gfeod cyclist. Tfe siaVpiy must
produce enough, pedalling
power and stamina to match
his weight.
‘‘A little guy stands as much
chance to win as a big guy on a
road race,'he said.
Based on the increasing
number of races, 50 to 60 in
North Carolina alone, bicycle
racing seems to be on the
Increase in popularity.
“Running events have got
cvclinj* events two to one now
-b$t bicycling is picking up
now,’ •'Gary said, with the
confidence of a front-runner.