TVeit? sc/too/ eye^
hy
by Dan Ward
Voicing a fee ting that
basic schoot repairs in the
Swannanoa Valley have been
neglected by the County Board
of Education for years,
members of Schoo) Advisory
Committees in the Owen
District agreed September 18
on a plan to gather public
support for a number of schoot
improvements, including
reptacement of the main
building at Black Mountain
Primary School.
Fred Myers, representing
Owen High School's Advisory
Committee, was appointed
chairman of a committee to
took mto deficiencies in the 60
year-old building.
1 think the school com
mittee thinks that it's going to
take sheer numbers to get
what we need, that's how 1
understand what was said."he
While these palaces were
built at Erwin and eisewhere,
we've been third rate citizens."
le added.
The inspection sub
committee is expected to tour
the Primary School, optn
, ie'-d in t91S, and take photos
to show the Board of
Education at its October 17
meeting.
Compiaints about the
Primary Schoot buiiding
range from bncks popping out
o! the waits to ptumbing and
heating problems that wouid
cost more to renovate than to
build a new facility.
According to Black Moun
tain Primary School Principal
Jerry Green and Swannanoa
School Principal Bill
Williams, each school's ad
visory committee tried to hotd
requests down to the most
basic so as not to overwhelm
the school board with tong lists
of minor requests.
The most urgent need
voiced by Max Price, joint
committee chairman, for
Owen High School was for a
larger band room.
Swan nan oa School, which
will continue to be used as a
middle school when a new $4.1
million building is constructed
next year, will need repairs to
the sewage system, which now
overflows into the play area
and runs off into the nearby
Swannanoa River, according
to Carolyn Davidson. Other
immediate needs include roof
repairs, remodeling for a
middle school program,
remodeling of the heating
system and plumbing system
and replacement of the carpet
in the library, and repairs to
auditorium seating, she said.
Black Mountain Grammar
School's most immediate
needs are a new carpet for the
library, completion of
recommendations made by t
Grand Jury iast year to in
crease fire protection,
adequate water pressure, and
Ming of the wash rooms,
according to Lynn Parrish.
As a iong-range goal, it was
recommended that a new
cafeteria be buiit.
No report was given on
needs for Carver Schooi.
Grady Rozzell, Owen' s
representative to the Board of
Education, noted to the joint
committees that other schoois
were given new facilities oniy
after iarge numbers of con
cerned citizens turned out at
board meetings in Asheville.
Committee members echoed a
feeling that interested persons
from throughout the valley
should be encouraged to at
tend the next meeting of the
committees October 16 at
Carver School at 7 p.m., and at
the presentation of the schools'
needs at the Board of
Education meeting October 17
at the courthouse in Asheville.
AfoMi
old plan
by Dam: Ward
A new buitdiag to replace
the crumbling B&c* Mountain
Primary School^ not a recent
An October report by
the Buncantbeymnty Board
of Education ^i;f%es plans
for a new structure, ap
proximately three times the
size of the Existing main
building, on the site of the
school. A notation at the
bottom plans notes that
construction on the new
facilities was scheduled to
begin within a year. Part of
the new school, the cafeteria
and a lower grades annex, was
indeed built within two years.
It was reported that at that
time, the superintendent of
schools stood on the iawn and
told parents and teachers that
"within five years (by 1971)
there will be a new school
here.' That plan and those
Biach Mountam Primary SchooPs cast waii. )Dan Ward)
iMoot&wo&tZe risif
to Monfreaf set
'he American Red Cross
RioodmobUe is scheduled to
vtsit the Montreat-Anderson
Loiiege campus on Tuesday
'*t"ber 10 Students, as well
"s the Montreat community,
come give blood at this
tune
Last March, Montreat
^nderson was asked to supply
hioodmobile with 100 putts
biood. and 131 Dints were
given This time, Montreat
Anderson is again being asked
to contribute too pints
According to a
spokesman for the Red Cross,
the Bioodmobiie ts very im
portant because of the biood it
brings m "We suppiy ai) the
hospitais in 27 counties in
Western North Caroiina,
northeast Georgia, and east
Tennessee she says ft
takes f75 untts of biood a day
perhospttaito keep them
going, so we realty count on
the Btoodmobite to brtng it in."
Sophomore Roger Smith,
who is chairman of the
committee ptanning the Blood
Drive at the cottege, says,
This is something that peopte
can do that may save a hfe ft'
s something you can do white
you're wet) that might come
back to you when you need
btood "
weaf/ter
vogue iast weeh amid heavy rains and cooi /aii-iihe weather. (Dan Ward)
Nature's umbreiias were in
Eig/tf wee&s gr:c/ Aaytgg on
by Dan Ward
Eight weeks after a Black
Mountain fire truck destroyed
one room of their house and
words came years before need
for an Erwin Middle Schooi
was voiced.
The exact date and origins
of the plans for a new school
could not be found by the Hews
by press time, as Brown
Griffin, assistant superin
tendent for planning for
Buncombe County Schools,
and the person in charge of
new building, had left for a
meeting in Raleigh before he
could do the necessary
research.
However, the plans
probably came after plans
were made to build a new
facility for Owen High School,
he said. The philosophy at
that time, and die philosophy
of those focusing on a new
Black Mountain elementary
school facility, was that once
the new high school was built,
the present facility would be
converted to a middle school,
de-emphasising the need for
renovation of Black Mountain
Grammar and Swannanoa
Schools. That left the two
elementary schools in dire
need of replacement.
Swannanoa School, after
valley-wide pressure on the
school board over the years,
will finally be replaced next
year with a new M l million
facility. Plans for a new Owen
High School, though far from
the "all systems go'' stage,
seem to be high on the new
building priority list of the
Board of Education, leaving
the 60-year-old Black
Mountain Primary School the
last in line for replacement in
the valley — and far from the
immediate concern of the
Board of Education
Serving
i*r Black Mountain
* Swannanoa
* Montreat
^ Ridgecrest
15 cents per copy
Trial set
for four
for murder
A tentative date of
November 14 has been set for
the trial of four youths
charged with the murder of an
employee of the Juvenile
Evaluation Center (JEC) in
Swan nan oa August 22.
Two of the youths, Michael
Shawn Tilley, 16, of King, and
Lindsey Scott Campbell, 14, of
Statesville, pleaded not guilty
in arraignment proceedings in
Superior Court September 25.
Also that day, Superior Court
shifted the rest off its foun
dation, Mr. and Mrs. J.E.
McMahan continue to live in
an unheated trailer behind the
remains of their home on Oid
US 70. Sewage from the
trailer hubbies up, from a
makeshift oii drum septic
tank, into the garden that was
one* their matnMaaMime.
"When the asi^dent first
happened, the firemen couidn'
t do enough for M,"*aid Mrs.
McMahan, her *viea shaky
from shock of Sw accident
that occurred eif weeks ago.
"Then they sa . everything
had been turned over to the
lawyer, and now we' re
neglected. Our stuff is still out
there the way it was the day it
happened."
The McMahan borne, at the
comer of Blue Rid^e Road and
Old US 70 was destroyed when
a fire truck driven by a
fireman in training reportedly
experienced brake failure,
swerved to miss a car, and ran
into the east end of the small,
two-story house on August i.
Mr. and Mrs McMahan, an
elderly couple, were given a
used trailer to live in by Black
Mountain firemen shortly
after the accident. The couple
declined an offer to stay in a
motel at town expense
because they had animals arid
the garden to take care of.
Firemen hooked up water,
gas, electricity and a
makeshift septic system for
the couple, and cleaned up the
inside and temporarily fixed
the leaky roof of the trailer
which the McMahan's son,
John, said "looked like a
bunch of Gypsies lived in it "
According to John Mc
Mahan and Town Manager
Mack Kirkpatrick, many of
the couple' s problems, in
cluding tack of heat and a pilot
light that keeps going out,
stem from negligence on the
part of the trailer dealer.
"!'m so nervous 1 can't do
lothing.' said Mrs. McMahan,
who was treated for shock
ihortly after the accident.
Neither she or her husband
vere injured in the crash. Her
ion said that the town has
been unresponsive to requests
that furniture and a
refrigerator stilt sitting in the
yard be covered up against the
weather and eyes of passersby
who ash the couple to sett the
items. Kirkpatrick said he
offered to cover the items
with plastic, but that the
cc^le would only accept a.
cosay canvas tarp.
People have been coming
by asking to buy the couch and
ell — it's about to drive them
(the elder McMahans) nuta,"
John McMahan said. He
added that he has missed all
but about two weeks worth of
work in helping his parents,
including a short period when
they lived at his house and he
would drive them back to the
house to feed their animals.
The majority of bad feelings
toward the town lie in set
tlement proceedings, Mc
Mahan said. He said ap
praisers set the maximum
value of the house and its
contents, after devaluation, at
$16,600. He said that the town's
best offer so far has been
approximately$17,000. Anew
house much smaller than the
present one would cost a
minimum of $26,500, builders
told him, McMahan said.
Under state law, a
municipality is not required to
pay damages beyond the limit
of their liability insurance for
acts by employees, $10,000 in
the case of Black Mountain, a
factor that puts the Mc
Mahans in the position of
having to take whatever they
are offered.
Bill Eubanks, attorney for
the town, said that he and the
town board are working on
another settiement offer that
they will present to the coupie
as soon as the board agrees on
it. He said whatever the board
offers will be more than fair as
far as settlements go, but that
his experience with set
tlements is that those
receiving them never think
they are getting enough.
A proposal by Aid. Ruth
Brandon at the September 12
meeting of the town board to
aliow a representative of the
News to sit in on a ciosed
Most new JEC jobs filled
AM but four of the 54 cottage
parent positions added to the
state's training schoot staff
have been fiUed according to
Robert Atkinson, assistant
director of Institutions!
Set-vices for the Department
of Human Resources' Division
of Youth Services
Gov James B Hunt. Jr
added the needed positions
foHowing apparent student
invotvement in sexuai activity
at Stonewall Jackson Training
School in Concord, and the
death of an employee at
Juvenile Evaluation Center in
Swannanoa.
The 14 positions allocated to
Stonewall Jackson School
have been filled plus seven
vacancies which already
existed.
At Juvenile Evaluation
Center, 28 of the 30 allocated
positions have been filled
according to Don 1'agett.
director ct the school. ine
two remaining positions were
fitted but the appticants
backed out. Pagett noted that
15 of the 25 emptoyed had tess
than the formerty required
two years of cottege. Pagett
said that the new positions
give the schoot more
flexibility m operating the
cottage tife program and
provide a possibitity for more
treatment and security
session where the settlement
was discussed was opposed by
the other four board mem
bers, who felt the settlement
should not be released to the
public until It was agreed on.
Judge Robert W. Kirby ap
proved a petition from the
attorney of Steve Scott
Cooper, 15, of Lexington, for
the boy to undergo psychiatric
examinations prior to the
trial.
David Bryon Wooten, 17, of
Statesville, the fourth
defendent in the case, was
arraigned September 26.
Wooten's attorney did not
enter a plea but noted that he
has pre-trial motions. The
record does not show what
those motions are.
All four have been charged
as adults with first degree
murder in connection with the
bludgeoning death of Larry
Buchanan, 37, a cottage
supervisor working the night
shift at the JEC, in an ap
parent escape plan.
Car! Stewart, Speaher o/ the NC House, taihs
dresstng theSwannanoa VaHey Chamber o/Com
rebate pian iast weeh. fDan Ward)
wtth we!!-wtshers be/ore ad
^erce on Gov. Jim Hunt's tajc
Man burned smoking
while on respirator
A Mahon man received
minor burns on his face
September 2i when he began
smoking a cigarette while
receiving oxygen at WNC
Hospital.
Jack Ellison ad
mints trattve director of the
hospitai, said Gienn Hawkins
vioiated signs and hospitai
rules warning of the danger of
smoking near open oxygen
tanks when he began smoking
while inhaiing oxygen.
The Biack Mountain Fire
StuaMwaMoa MFD
/Yre ca/^s <%oM?n
The Swannanoa Fire
Department made one run fast
week, the second in two
months Three engines and t2
men responded to a grass fire
on L'S 70 across from Jim
Ptnnix Homes Reynolds Fire
Department assisted in
mutual aid The fire was
appa.eouy caused by spares
from train wheels, according
to Fireman Barry Roberts
Roberts said there have
been H less fires this year
than at the same time last
year
On September 21. five men
attended a hazardous
materials class at Erwin
Department responded to the
fire that started in the in
cident with two trucks, two
ambulances and 15 men.
Minor damage to the room
was reported.
One truck and four men
investigated a report of a
smeil of smoke at West
minster Drive in Montreat
September 20.
Aiso that day, one engine
and eight men washed down
after a wreck at US 70 and
Broadway and one engtne and
six men responded to a faise
aiarm caused by a maifunc
tion in the aiarm system at the
ingies warehouse on US 70.
One engine and six men
were caiied to put out a car
fire near the poiice station on
State Street September 22 No
damage was reported.
Damage estimated at 5400
was reported from a car fire in
the garage at the James
Buckner residence on Oid US
<0 September 23 Two engines
and !3 men responded
The Buncombe County
Ambuia ice made u) routine
.'a* emercenty. and one
arn'.-itec : tut tast week