Newspapers / The Black Mountain News … / Jan. 8, 1981, edition 1 / Page 2
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BMCK Pubtished each Thursday at Biack Mountain. N.C. 287H Second ciass postage paid at Biack Mountain, N.C. Pub. No. USPS057-40T Estabiished IMS Ted V. Maha/fey. Pubiishpr Cynthta Reimer. Editor Sharon Sutties. Advertising Coordinator Mary Mauidin. Ciassi/ied & Circuiation Manager Dennis Harris. Meehanieai Supervisor Pubtished weekiy by Mountain Media. inc., Ted V. Mahaffey. Genera! Manager. P.O. Box 8 Biack Mountain. N.C. 287H. Phone 704 669-8727 Who has whose number? Just when we have somehow managed to memorize our Sociai Security number, bank account number, our own ZIP code, and our home telephone number, the Big Shots in the Numbers Racket are plotting new villainy. This time it's the high moguls in the US Postal Service, who want to hang four more digits on our already overloaded ZIP codes. They say next fall \ye'H all have nine-digit ZIP codes to try to remember. Why? The Postal Service says it's "to save money by sorting more mail with fewer workers ' Not, you will notice, to reduce postage charges or to provide faster service. The new system will include 19.8-million different ZIP codes, with separate numbers for every residential block and often for each side of the street. Most business buildings will have a separate code number. The Postal Service plans to print local directories but will not have a national ZIP code directory because it would have to run at least 30,000 pages. By 1986, after the Postal Service has installed $900 million of new machines, it expects mail sorting costs to be $600 million a year less than they are now. That means the service will be able to pay for its new machines in 1 1 2 years. But what will have happened to its nine-digit customers in that time? Either we will have worn out our brains trying to remember nine-digit numbers or we will have found it's much easier to use the telephone. So there go all the Postal Service profits into telephone coin slots. They may have all their new nine-digit numbers worked out all right, but we've got their number, too. - Smithfield Herald Reflections A new year by Gretchen Corbitt Behind thin misty clouds the stars glowed over church steeples. Jagged outline of corresponding buildings sil houetted against the galaxy. It was straight up midnight. The feel of awe and anticipation vibrated the air. It was as though some magic wand could wave in foolDroof cer Gretchen Corbitt tain ties, inevitables and sure ties for 1981 just arriving as the chimes rang out to (he masses: "Should auld ac quaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and days of auld lang syne? For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne; we'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet for auld lang syne." Thoughts of yesterdays held an unbroken song,"Should auld acquaintance be forgot?" Heads bowed in despair and asked what had happened to auld acquaintances? For hate is strong and hypocrisy dom inates. Some heads lifted heavenward to reflect thanks givings for auld acquaintances that had stuck by when times got tough. Thoughts of the tomorrows are strong! As long as the world revolves around its axis from night to day, there tomor row will be. The young mother cradles her young child in her weak, tired arms and hums softly the old hymn she learn ed in the old country church, "Rock of Ages." She strokes her silky golden hair and ponders the tomorrows for this one that is growing in stature and mind. She finds herself quoting Milton's famous lines al though it is just babble to the tot: "Hours have wings and fly up to the author of time and carry news of our usage. All our prayers cannot entreat one of them either to return or slacken its pace. Hie mis spents of every minute are a new record against us in heaven. Sure if we thought thus we would dismiss them with better reports, and not suffer them to fly away empty or laden with dangerous intelligence. How happy is it when they carry up not only the message but the fruits of good, and stay with the An cient of Days to speak for us before his glorious throne." The aging man sees the tomorrows shortening his time. Time which has been lent to him although it has heavily taxed his health, facul ties and strength. His yester days have followed him and given to him the character and meaning for each tomorrow. Time, not money, is what is so important for him; it shall be too precious to lose. He wants a few more shots at it. The young man looks upon the upcoming tomorrows as a time to snatch, seize and enjoy every minute of. Past experi ences have shown him thai where there is idleness, lazi ness and procrastination there will be boredom. He knows where he is going and he'l make the journey, for timt waits for no man. The countless are shiftless and staggering with precious fleeting time. They hops effortless for a shower oi blessings, and a hand out. They waver in their purpose lessness and find themselves ready to give up and die. 1981. A new year for new thoughts of inspiration, fot new challenges, for new pur poses and for tightening tht reins of loyalties, responsibil ities and love. Any heroes in the VaHey? If you know someone who saved a life or prop erty during 1980 through some heroic action, give the Black Mountain News a call. We would like to make a nomination for the North Carolina Insurance News Service's first Dis tinguished Action Award. Fo!k-ways and Fotk-speech Braaaina on the otd wood stove by Rogers W hltener It has been interesting to note that the wood-efficient stove has replaced the gas effident automobile as a brag ging subject. Just as car owners once blandly lied about tO-miles-to the-gaHon road economy, stove owners are brazenly claiming a full night's warmth on two sticks poked in the stove at bedtime, "with a bed of hot coais stiil left at daybreak." Boone pharmacist Joe Miller says that he has grown so tired of hearing such exag gerated claims that he always has a topper ready. His most frequent rejoinder: "Hey, that sounds like a first-rate stove all right, but did I tell you about the one my brother Bill has started manu facturing? That stove is so efficient that you can put in two sticks of hardwood at early bedtime, and when you get up in the morning and open up the firebox there'll be three or four instead of the two, depending on whether you were burning green or dry logs!" Joe also has high praise for a Polish woodstove said to be on the market at $49.95. "Tliey tell me it's guaran teed to hold a fire for eight hours," say Joe. "Made out of solid wood." Most heating efficient charts, by the way, seem to place oak at the top of the list. A lot of mountain folk, how ever, hold a different opinion. Many of them claim that dry locust logs will not only create the hottest flame around, but will bum longer than oak, maple and other touted varie ties of firewood. In addition they insist that it probably is the cleanest burning wood to be found. Tom Jackson, a Watauga County resident who has been cutting and burning wood for most of his life, says that very little ash is left when a locust log is consumed. "Not only are there very few ashes with a locust wood fire, but you don't have any creo sote build-up either, not even^, when you're mixing green stuff in with the dry." I can certainly testify to the heat created by locust firelogs. One evening several winters ago I stacked several pieces of what had been locust fence posts In my fireplace. In a short time the fire produced such heat that I closed the doors of the tempered glass enclosure in order to keep the room temperature down. Suddenly the glass in one of the doors became so hot that it simply exploded, sending glass fragments and hot coals throughout the living room, searing the rug and burning holes in the upholstery of several pieces of furniture. Since that time I have tended to mix other hard woods in with the locust rather than risk another such calamity. At the bottom of the fire wood efficiency scale, at least to my mind, is blackgum. From childhood experiences I recall that it made marvelously tough wheels for homemade wagons and served well as a maul head for driving fence posts, wooden gluts and the like, but as a fuel it was first cousin to ironwood. Matter of fact, as my Ruth erford County brother recentiy told me, our grandfather's offspring used a blackgum backlog each Christmas season to gain a few day's respite from normal farm chores. Grandpa Whitener, it turns out, was a taskmaster who demanded a full day's work of his eight sons throughout the year, relenting only slightly at Christmas by promising no work assignments so long as the Yule log burned. Using their woodcutting experience, the boys, several weeks prior to Christmas, sought out the largest black gum tree they could find, felled the tree and sawed out their green backlog. Then they submerged the log in the nearest stream until it was thoroughly waterlogged. On the day before Christmas the log was pulled from the stream, hauled to the house, and placed in its rightful position in the fireplace. There it smoked and hissed and sputtered, practically guaranteeing the boys three or four days of salvation from work. Grandpa Whitener always carefully hid his grin. He knew about blackgum too. Christ is the answer by A . W ayne W ilhebn It's only human to hope the future will bring some degree of happiness. What about you? Do you look forward to the coming year, confident of a happy life? Surely conditions in the world today do not inspire optimism. And there's no point in kidding ourselves into believing happiness is a reality just because someone has shouted "Happy New Year" to us. To face the future without anxiety and pessimism may be difficult. Some will simply ignore the situation while others will seek a buffer to alleviate their helplessness. Some will console themselves with an attitude of eat, drink and be merry. In despair of the future, they wlU give up by living it up. TTiis wiil seem to be the answer, or at least one answer. Such reactions offer but temporary freedom from fac ing the reaiity of life, and those who follow these ways have not found the answer. Refusing to face life, some continue to try other ways, and others, without hope, forfeit their lives by committing suicide. If that's the way unenlight ened people react to the world today, what about those who call themselves Christians? Have they found the answer? Not necessarily. A falling away spiritually was foretold by Christ and the apostles. We see this being -/VZ7Wf/? OE477/. vo/? z//*z; vo/? w/v f/?& /VO/? W//VG6 ^/?zyf/v^/vo/?w//vGf /O C0Aff.J/%4ZZgf tFZZ*70Jf^!/M7?Z/J /?Off Wf ZOVf Of Goa^w/c///3//v lv/?/^r oo/? zo/?o Letter to the editor To Hie Editor: I have spoken to you on the telephone about this matter. I have aiso talked to our Town Manager, and I have talked to Sammon Communications. The Town Manager agreed that it is a very blatant and unacceptable form of discrim ination, and he also agreed that something should be done about it. I am talking about Sammons Cable T V. eliminating the entire Cragmont Section from their system. The only black people who have Cable T V. are the ones who either live in predominately white areas, or on the fringes of such areas. When Sammons went before the Town Board seek ing an increase in their rates; they promised to serve ALL the residents of the Town of Black Mountain. I asked Sammons why the Cragmont area was excluded; and was told there were not enough homes; I can think of at least 28 homes in this area. As a matter of comparison; why did they serve the area of route 9, we have as many homes as this area has. Mr. Hudgins agreed with me that the only reason the Cragmont Community was excluded is because it is predominately black. W ith this letter, I am asking the Town Board what they are going to do about it, besides lip service, which I have already had from our Town Manager. I think it is time for our Town Board to stop playing petty politics and one-up manship and begin serving ALL the people of the Town of Black Mountain. Thank you, Bennie E. Ellis, Sr Editor's Note: In a telephone conversation with Mr. John Howeli, regional manager for Sammons Communications, he stated in response to the above letter that there was no intent to discriminate, and that the Cragmont area was included in the budget for installation in 1981. Mr. Howell said this and other areas would be included in his report to the upcoming Town Council meeting. (Ted Mahaffey, publisher) Because our ministry is hetping others, we need your hetp. ABCCM-East Church Street Btack Mountain 669-9404 fulfilled in the liberal church bodies. Church pulpits were once devoted to proclaiming God's Word, but now they have replaced that with plati tudes of liberalism. Drinking and a disregard for the Lord's day is acceptable. Tbe concept of Christ as Savior from sin is soft-pedalled, and obedience to the will of God is old-fashioned and passe. The attitude of compromise en courages members to live permissive lives of self indulgence. To their surprise, they frequently face life with feelings of dissatisfaction, insecurity, fear and even guilt. Although they claim to be Christians, they have not found the answer. Hie secret of a fulfilling life is to acknowledge Christ's claim. Christ must be Lord. Yes, Christ is the answer. He said, "1am the way, the truth, and the life. " Christ's own words show that hope and a purposeful life rest in Him. In the year ahead none can avoid fear and uncertainty unless they choose Christ. Only as they accept His love and forgiveness and put their trust in Him can they have confidence that life will be happy. Paul gave the answer in Romans8:38, 39. "For lam persuaded that neither death, nor life . . . nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come . . . shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. " Praise God that in Christ we can meet head-on whatever iies ahead, and that we have the assurance that the present and the future can be faced feariessiy when Christ is not only our Savior but our Lord. Come what may in the new year, our life will be sheltered by His love. What a blessing this can be for each of us as we face the months ahead. Hiere is no need for us to try to escape life or to fear what lies before us. Christ, the Lord to whom we have committed our lives, has promised, "1am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Robert E. Harris If the world seems cold to you kindie fires to warm it. F^fectiue Annual Yield PASSBOOK SAVINGS THE VERY Tf7(3flHEir3rJP/l^S6>f;OOf( RATE MV BLACK MOUNTA7NAND SWANNANOA SPECMJL OFFERING beginning Thursday, January 3th thru January 21st 11.65% E%]fecf!Me Annual Yield (11.00%) ONE YEAR CERTIFICATE Minimum $5,000 Substantial Penalty /or Early Withdrawal it OUR CUSTOMERS ARE NOT CHARGED INTANGIBLE TAX it WE OFFER FREE TRAVELERS CHECKS AND MONEY ORDERS TO OUR CUSTOMERS s„, ^ SAVtNGS 200 East State Street (near the Post Office) BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C. Ph. 704-669-7991 DIRECTORS M F Bt-qlt-y * J A Doughterty * G H Greenwood * H 8 Hyder * R 8 Stone * Paul Turner * LA Kluttz SERVING THE CITIZENS OF BLACK MOUNTAIN SINCE 1923 J
The Black Mountain News (Black Mountain, N.C.)
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Jan. 8, 1981, edition 1
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