Retired maitman receives
praise and thanks
by Cynthia Reimer
R.B. Edwards has left a iot of shoe
leather on the streets of Swannanoa.
He served for 20 years there as a mail
carrier for the United States Postal
Service. When he received his retire
ment certificate Monday, many of the
Swannanoa residents he served came to
the ceremony to thank him personally.
After William H. Hoover. Jr., sec
tional center manager and postmaster,
Asheville, presented him with the
certificate, Swannanoa Postmaster Roy
Blankenship gave him a gift from his
co-workers: an inscribed clock.
''Utat's one you won't have to punch!"
joked another mad carrier.
Neighbors brought him gifts in brown
paper bags, and words of thanks:
"You couid depend on him. He was
on time every day. "
"Anybody was sick, he wanted to
know about it."
"He always had time to stop and talk
to you."
"He'd even feed the dogs!"
Edwards began his post office career
at the old Moore General Hospital (now
the Juvenile Evaluation Center) where
he ran a contact station.
He came to the Swannanoa Post
Office in May, 1960 and became a letter
earner in 1961. In 1979 he received a
Special Achievement Award from the
postal service.
Carrying the U S. mail has been more
than a way to earn a living for Edwards.
Tve just enjoyed it," he said, "meet
ing the people and carrying the mail.
You come in dose contact with a lot of
people."
'Tve always tried to do the other
man's mail just like I'd do mine," he
added.
It's not only the people on his mail
route who miss Edwards since his
November retirement. A big friendly
dog named Brownie has faithfully
followed Edwards on his rounds for the
past three years.
Although Brownie usually follows the
new carrier on the route now, while
Edwards was receiving his award
Monday, Brownie was lying in the sun
near the post office.
"I don't know what he's doing here,"
Edwards said.
W ell, maybe Brownie has decided the
new carrier knows the route and he is
ready to retire, too. If so, Edwards
would like to take Brownie home to his
flower gardens where he plans to spend
a happy retirement.
Roy Bianhenship, Swannanoa postmaster, and Wiiiiam H. Hoover Jr., Asheviiie postmaster,
congrataiated R.B. Edwards, retired Swannanoa maii carrier/or his 20 years o/carrying the ntaii.
Swannanoa man
surprises burgtar
Robert George DeGroot, 18, was
arrested Jan. 13 and charged with
breaking and entering after a witness
saw a man crawling out the window of a
house on Buckeye Cove Road in
Swannanoa.
Ben Spivey, the son of Belzie Spivey,
said he drove by his mother's house
about 1:30 p.m. and noticed a vehicle
parked in the driveway He got out to
investigate and saw a man dimbing out
of a window.
Sprivey asked the man what he was
doing there, a sheriff's deputy said, and
the man repiied that he was looking for
the owner of the garage next door to ask
for work.
Spivey noted the license number of a
truck the suspect fled in and reported it
to the sheriff's department, who stop
ped the truck about 10 minutes later on
U S. 25-A near Arden.
Nothing was reported stolen in the
Case against
Mountain
Retreat Assoc,
dismissed
Montreat Management Council
Chairman Charles W. Bell and Moun
tain Retreat Association President
Samuel R- Hope announced that the
lawsuits instituted by Dr. Kenneth J.
Foreman and the North Carolina Attor
ney General's Office against the As
sociation and its Trustees of Stock have
been dismissed.
Dr. Foreman has given notice of
appeal to the North Carolina Court of
Appeals. The Association has entered a
counter-appeal on the ground that Dr.
Foreman's suit should have been dis
missed because he was not a stockhold
er of the Association at the time the
matters he complained of first arose.
The suit was instituted by Dr.
Foreman in June, 1979, as a stockholder
of the Association, after he became a
stockholder in January, 1979. The suit
challenged the manner in which
Trustees of the Association's stock had
been elected since 1960, including
objections to the 1973 reorganization of
the Association undertaken at the
request of the 1972 General Assembly
of the Presbyterian Church of the
United States.
incident. DeGroot was charged with
breaking and entering with intent to
commit larceny and jailed in lieu of
(1000 bond.
DeGroot's last address was Talla
hassee, Florida. The sheriffs depart
ment said that he has been in this area
for about six months.
Mon treat votes
YES on water bond
referendum
Of the 113 residents who voted in the
Montreat water bond referendum iast
Thursday, 102 were in favor of the issue
and 11 were against. The bond will
authorize $650,000 for construction of
water tanks and wells, as well as line
repair and replacement.
Construction couid begin in the fail of
this year, Montreat Mayor John
Abemethy said.
The $650,000 is pait of a $1,047,000
pian to make improvements. The rest of
the money wiil come from state and
federal grants.
Scout banquet
honors Vaughn
The Annual Daniel Boone Council
Recognition Banquet was held on
January 21 to recognize the volunteer
leaders who provide the Scouting
program for boys in Western North
Carolina.
One of the highlights of the evening
was the presentation of the Silver
Beaver Award, an award based on
outstanding service to youth in the
Council. It is the highest award the
Council can bestow on its leaders.
Three were selected to receive the
award, including Dr. Silas Vaughn of
Montreat.
Dr. Vaughn, president of Montreat
Anderson College, has had vast Scout
ing experience in both the Cape Fear
Council in Wilmington, N.C., and in the
Daniel Bpone Council. Dr. Vaughn
presently serves on the Advisory Board
and was president in 1975.
Dr. Vaughn has a long history of
serving his community. A few of his
credits are: board of directors, Swanna
noa Valley Medical Center; YMCA,
Y-Men president; regional vice-presi
dent of Austin College Alumni; United
Fund Division Chairman; Community
Library Building Fund Division chair
man; Chamber of Commerce board of
directors; Who's Who in U S 1974; and
Board of Trustees Asheviile Day Schooi.
He presently serves on Genera!
Assembly Mission Board, which is the
highest governing board in the Presby
terian Church. Dr. Vaughn's concern
for his community, his Church and the
youth of today have been a constant part
of his life.
Weather Review
Jan. 8-high 43, iow 9 degrees; no
precipitation.
Jan. 9-high 40, iow 18 degrees; no
precipitation.
Jan. 10-high 30, iow 16 degrees.
Jan. 11- high 30, iow 5 degrees; trace
of snow.
Jan. 12-high 22, iow 4 degrees; trace
of snow.
Jan. 13-high 42, iow 7 degrees.
Jan. 14--high 52, iow 17 degrees.
Jan. 15-high 43, iow 32 degrees, trace
of ice and snow.
Ciingman's Peak: high for the week,
30 degrees; iow, -15; 8 inches of
snow.
Courtesy of WFGW Radio, Biack
Mountain.
Brownie has been
Edwards' /aith/ui
companion on his mai!
route /or the iast three
years.
BMCK
Thursday, January 22, 1981, Volume 28, Number 64
)
I 'A
Dedicated to the growing Swannanoa Vatiey
Second dass postage paid at Stack Mountatn, NC 28711 2^^ J
Four-fou^ 10-55
Montreat Road^
by Cynthia Reimer
Itis2:30 a m. The telephone rings at
the police station. A citizen reports a
pick-up truck weaving all over Montreat
Road. He gives the police dispatcher
the truck's Tennessee license number.
Within minutes, the dispatcher has
radioed a patrolling officer and dis
patched him across town to Montreat
Road. While the officer is enroute, the
dispatcher relays the information,
delivered to her by a computer terminal
at the station, that the truck belongs to
John Doe who has been arrested nine
times for drunk and disorderly conduct
in Tennessee and has had his driver's
license revoked.
The officer approaches the truck
knowing that Doe has a history of
violent reactions, armed with informa
tion from the dispatcher that may save
his life.
"The officers'lifeline " is what Police
Chief Sonnie Slagle called the police
dispatchers who are on duty 24 hours a
day at the Black Mountain Police
headquarters.
"You're only as good as your
information," said Investigator Jim
Dolan, "and we depend on these
The dispatchers use modem equip
ment that indudes a Police Information
Network (PIN) computer terminal to
provide officers out on the road with
vital information.
By typing in a code, a dispatcher can
get information from anywhere in the
United States, from the FBI in Wash
ington and the SBI in Raleigh.
Dispatcher Regina Wilson estimated
she and her fellow dispatchers have
hundreds of these codes stored in their
heads. After the code is typed, an
answer appears on a television-like
screen, part of it in code and part in
everyday English.
BlaJt Mountain got its first police
dispatcher, Judy Price, and the PIN
terminal at the same time- April of
1978. Prior to that, the Fire Department
dispatched officers. Information re
quests went to the Buncombe County
Sheriff's office or to the Highway
Patrol. Answers would take many
sometimes crucial minutes to come
back.
Chief Slagle recalled that only a few
years ago an officer had to search
through fat, out-of-date books for
license tag checks. To make a driver's
license check, the officer had to write a
letter to Raleigh-and wait for a reply by
mail.
Today either of those checks takes a
matter of seconds.
Slagle also remembers that before
officers carried walkie-talkies, when he
was away from his car he had to keep
his eye on a red light atop the fire
station. When there was an emergency
call, the fire department dispatcher
turned on the light to bring Slagle back
to his car radio.
Not all towns the size of Black
Mountain have the sophisticated equip
ment that the Black Mountain Police
Department has. Chief Slagle credits
the Town Council with a continuing
interest in efficient law enforcement.
Montreat Police are also dispatched
by the Blade Mountain Police Depart
ment and in return, Montreat officers
"bade up" Blade Mountain police on
duty and provide a dispatcher one night
a week.
"But, as sophisticated as the equip
"It's a thankless job," Mary said.
"They might thank the officer but not
the dispatcher. "
Besides sending and receiving 7,000
messages a month on the PIN, making
sure the officers have the information
they need and get where they should
be, dispatchers have a few other duties.
Every transmission, every telephone
^ ...
J^dy Price (/oreground) and Mary Smith, Biach Mountain
Poiice dispatchers, "extension o/ the o/ficer's arm and his
ii/e."
ment is," Dolan said, "it would be of no
use without the trained dispatchers. "
Regina Wilson was a police officer
before coming to Blade Mountain in
1979. Besides working as a dispatcher,
she works part time as an officer.
Emest Reed was a Black Mountain
police officer who also became a
dispatcher in 1979. Mary Smith and
Judy Price both became dispatchers in
1978.
The women spoke of the job.
"The stress gets to you sometimes,"
Judy said. "It can be eight hours of
tragedy on a bad day."
"Anything at night is going to be a
crisis," Regina, the night dispatcher,
explained. "Burglaries, break-ins,
most of them occur at night."
In the long quiet nights she stays
alert because she knows she is needed,
"you worry about them (the officers),"
she said. "You care about them or you
wouldn't be here."
call must be logged m detail. Monthly,
local facts and figures used for North
Carolina crime statistics have to be
reported.
They assist the U S. Forest Service,
the Fire Department and ambulance
crew. After 5 p.m. the dispatchers
answer City Hall phone calls. On
holidays and weeitends, they arrange
for repair of broken water lines and
other emergencies.
Once Mary assisted a U S. Marshall
in the escort of a female prisoner.
Dispatchers find food, gas and lodg
ing for stranded transients. They have
given shelter when none other is
forthcoming to sick kids, kittens, dogs
and uninjured accident victims.
In the summer, they are the main
source for directions to tourists in the
jrea.
The most commonly asked questions?
Direction to Montreat, and "Where can
I see Billy Graham. "
Hendon: hostage return
marks new beginning
Congressman Bill Hendon issued the
following statement on the end of the
U S. hostage crisis:
"Our reports indicate that the host
ages are finaily on their way home. Like
ail Americans, I am relieved that this
tragic chapter in American history is
now behind us. We must do ali within
our power to ensure that this type of
occurrence never happens again.
"In that regard, the congressman
from western North Carolina will do his
best to see to it that from this day
forward America has the world's best
intelligence agency, the world's best
rapid deployment force and the will to
use them to ensure the protection of
American lives anywhere in the world.
"In his Inaugural Address, President
Reagan called for a new beginning' in
America. The safe return of the
hostages certainly marks the first step
toward that new beginning. "