BMCK
Library
105 H. k'cufherT^S&r^et
Black houi-taln, ;.C. 28711
To open in August
Primary Schoo! 75 percent comptete
by Cynthia Hehner
"It's a reality!" exclaimed a smiling
nember of the Black Mountain Mmary
khool's Advisory Committee as she
.cured the 75 percent completed addi
aon to the school Monday, which will
told its first students nest fall.
While workmen continued to saw and
cement and sand and spadde, Black
Mountain Mmary School Principal
Jerry Green led Advisory Council and
FTA officials on a guided tour, explain
ing such new terms as "pod" and
"commons" and "media center."
The new classrooms are arranged in
groups of five around a commons area
which will hold supplies, sinks, counter
work spaces and a set of restrooms.
Five classrooms and a commons are
called a pod. Each of the four pods will
hold a grade and will be painted and
carpeted in a different color. Rooms
and hallways will be carpeted; com
mons, bathrooms and entrances tiled
All rooms open to the outdoors and
have a long window and open doorway
ieading into the commons. Each pod
has its own heating and coo ting system,
Green said
The pods radiate off a media center
that wiU be equipped to serve three
dasses at the same time Sheives will
be child-sized and "wails" are only
about waist high, leaving the whole area
open A large trophy case is built into
the media center.
Also included in the building is a new
gymnasium with a 40 by 70 foot play
area, equipped with basketball hoops
backed by fiberglass boards that can be
raised and lowered depending on the
height of the children.
The gym will be carpeted, Green
said, with different colors of carpet
dividing foul lines, circles, etc. Off the
gymnasium are separate shower and
dressing facilities for boys and girls.
The roof of the gym is the first of its
kind in this area according to Green.
Community Devetopment
WeekApri! 11-17
A week dedicated to encouraging
people to get involved and to participate
In the affairs of their local communities
is coming up. April 11 through 17 has
been designated as "Community De
velopment Week" in Western North
Carolina. The theme of the special
observance is "Help Yourself and Your
Community."
The special Community Development
Week is based on the belief that the
more people who get interested, the
better communities we will have. Also,
that folks should be interested in what
happens to the communities in which
they live.
An annual event, the week will focus
special attention on the outstanding
accomplishments made during the past
31 years by organized community
development dubs in the 18 western
counties. In addition, it will spotlight
opportunities for other areas to organize
and take part in the community develop
ment program and encourage greater
activity in erasing community dubs
Community Development Week is
sponsored by the Western North Caro
lina Development Association and the
N.C. Agricultural Extension Service.
These two groups sponsor the Western
North Carolina Community Develop
ment Program through which much of
the community improvement in the
rural areas of this region of the state
may be attributed.
A self-help, locally operated and
financed grass mots effort, the WNC
Community Development Program is
recognized as one of the pioneer rural
development programs in the nation.
Not to be confused with programs
financed through federal or state funds,
this program encourages community
residents to get together and do things
for themselves.
ft is the results of these community
efforts upon which Community De
velopment Week is centered.
This past year, approximately 100
communities in 16 of the western
counties were organized and took part
in the WNC Community Development
Program. Communities in Buncombe
County that participated in the Com
munity Development Program last year
were Avery's Creek, Beech, Bee Tree,
Big Ivy, Broad River, Buckeye Cove,
Bus bee, Cane Creek, Diz Creek No. 1,
Dix Creek No. 2, Historic Montford,
Leicester, Newfound, Ox Creek, Sandy
Mush, Scenic Mobile Home Associa
tion, Sout^ Hominy and Spring
Mountain.
This year, over $10,000 in recognition
awards will again be offered on an area
basis by business firms and industries.
Another $15,000 to $20,000 more will be
provided by local sponsors in county
contests. Award monies received by
winning communities are channeled
right back into making more community
improvements.
Agenda meeting conceited
items to be discussed
inciudeiake fence
Due to illness and other necessary
absences, Town aldermen could not
produce a quorem for Monday night's
agenda meeting.
Rems to be discussed at the April 13
Town Coundl meeting will include the
following:
-Repairs to the swimming pool.
-Micy manual changes recommend
ed at the last meeting.
-Lake Tomahawk fence survey.
-Fanner's Home resolution paper
work. *
-W ell bids-ARC grant.
-Report on Community Development
by Kathy Wacaster.
-Ordinance on auxiliary police force.
-Renewal of contract for FBI
network.
-Bridge inspection contracts.
-Letter from Billy Rose, Department
of Transportation, concerning proposed
speed limit change on State Street from
Dougherty to New Bern from 35 to 20
mph.
-Presentation by Fire Chief Gary
Bartlett on Lukas rescue tool.
-Presentation by George Venturella
on a youth program.
-Letter from Chamber of Commerce.
-Mrs. Slagle has requested streets
(speed limits and signs) to be on the
agenda.
Town Council meets at 7 JO p.m.
Biach Mountain Aiderwomen Margaret Siagie and Ruth
Brandon received autographs /rom Miss North Caroiina,
Janet Ward Biach, iast Tuesday morning at the gran<% opening
o/ the Biach Mountain fngies Shopping Center. fPhoto by
Rennoid Madrazo)' . .
The ceiling is cast concrete with
styrofoam inserts, covered with rubber
which contracts and expands to prevent
leaks. That surface is covered with
stones and is very easy to repair. Green
said.
Another feature of the building is a
little theatre with carpeted risers for
seating and a projection room at the
rear. A music room, completely
insulated, will hold a piano and several
classes at once.
Behind the tiled entrance foyer are a
teacher's room, adjacent showers, and
social service rooms for speech therapy,
guidance counseling and other services.
Calling the project "very practical
construction, " Green said. "I think
we're lucky to get aM we got; I really
do " Hie total cost of the project.
Including furniture and equipment, is
about $1.6 million. The building was
designed around several beautiful trees
on the school grounds, and it is hoped,
Green said, that community groups will
help with the final landscaping.
Kindergarten and first grade will
remain in the old section of the school,
with second through fifth grades to be
housed in the new part. Green said it is
possible that the fifth grade will not
move to the new school this fall, but will
definitely be there in 1982. One room in
each pod is expected to remain empty in
the fall, allowing for a huger enrollment
as the community continues to grow.
Mary MarCtt, member o/ the Bfach Mountain Primary
Schooi Advisory Councii, Pat Woodcoch, president o/ the
Advisory Councii, Pom Biizard Jr., Advisory Board member
and Aiice Capps, PTA president received a guided tour o/ the
new buiiding /rom schooi principai, Jerry Green, Monday.
Goif course concerns Chamber
by Cynthia Reimer
Citizens' complaints caused the Black
Mountain Chamber of Commerce to
take a good hard look at the golf course
last week, and some of the conditions
they found did not please them.
Chamber President Margaret Slagle
toured the course with Alderman Ruth
Brandon and Town Manager Earnest
Hudgins last Friday to check on
complaints concerning drainage on the
course and maintenance at the dub
house.
Drainage problems began, according
to Mrs. Slagle, "years ago when we
didn't have the money for good quality
drainage pipes." The first nine holes of
the course were built in the late 1930s.
Also complicating the drainage prob
lem are the springs located on the
course.
"Money has been a dedding factor,
that's for sure," Slagle said, adding
that weather had also kept planned
repairs from being done as quickly as
expected.
Indoor maintenance problems occur
when golfers walk on carpeted
with cleated golf shoes, leaving
of mud. The club house does n
janitor, Slagle said. Also in
house, supplies are stacked in
and restrooms, making it difBi
impossible for golfers to use
facilities.
Some improvements at the course are
under way. All fairways are being
aerated. In the past, the course did not
have an aerator, Slagle said. A deck on
the club house is expected to be finished,
before summer, and drainage problems
are btiurg worked on constantly.
Mrs. Slagle will bring a letter from
the Chamber to Town Council at the
April 13 meeting suggesting possible
changes and improvements at the
course. "We need it upgraded so we
can capitalize on it," Slagle said, citing
the 17th hole ("longest in the world")
as one of Black Mountain's tourist
attractions which the Chamber would
like to include in their brochure promot
ing the area.
Cover your truck; taws enforced
Owners of uncovered trucks are being
nabbed as part of April Clean Sweep.
The roadsides should stay much cleaner
as a result of N.C. State Statute 14-399
and Buncombe County Ordinance 16459
being enforced. These laws for sanita
tion and solid waste control deal with
vehicles transporting loose materials on
roads.
Studies show that a large portion of
litter along roadsides is blowing from
vehicles.
Any truck, big or small, must be
covered or the material in the truck
must be 6 inches below the sides. No
material is allowed to blow from a
— commercial or personal vehicle.
] For two weeks Jerry Hechler, Bun
H combe County Environmental Officer, is
* instructed by County Commissioners to
^ be stationed at the landfill entrance. He
^ has already issued 35 warnings or
citations. Surveillance will continue
after this period.
Individuals are requested to help stop
this form of litter by reporting vehicles
carrying material being blown onto a
1 road. Write down the license, date,
time, location and what was blowing.
Call Quality Forward's Clean Com
munity Division, 254-1776. If the
license number is correct there will be a
follow-up investigation.
— The Buncombe County ordinance was
H adopted in June, 1979 through the
Hefforts of the Clean Community
Hvolun teens.
Pete Winslow, chairman of the
** committee that developed the local law
says, "The only way to really stop litter
is to change people's attitudes and
habits."
Many drivers of the trucks that have
_ been stopped have been transporting
loose materia! for years without know
ing it was unlawful.
According to Hechler, owners as well
as drivers will be made aware that
uncovered trucks are unlawful.
Hechler reports that one business
called to thank him for this reminder
adding they would be glad to help keep
this community a cleaner place to live.
Optimist stickers remind
bus drivers to drive safety
Stickers reminding school bus drivers
& use safety procedures have been
placed on Owen District school buses by
the Swannanoa VaDey Optimist Club as
part of a national effort to promote
school bus safety by the Optimists.
The safety stickers remind drivers to
count their riders, to check mirrors
carefully, to look before backing the bus
up, to keep the eyes moving and never
to tailgate.
According to Owen Principal Charles
Lytle, bus drivers of Buncombe County
Weather
revtew
March 31-high SO, iow 38 degrees.
April 1-high 68, low 49 degrees; .07
inches precipitation.
April 2-high 78, low 49 degrees
April 3-high 74, low 32 degrees.
April 4-high 72, low 48 degrees.
April 5-high 70, low 58 degrees; .45
inches precipitation.
April 6-high 55, low 39 degrees.
Courtesy of WPGW Radio National
Weather Service station, Biach Moun
tain.
drove neariy two million miles last year,
using 2,400 gallons of gasoline each day
in 276 school buses.
In the Owen District there are 30 bus
drivers this year driving a total of S79
miles daily. Ten of the 13 Owen High
School bus drivers are students.
To qualify to drive a bus, drivers go
through a training program which
indudes two days of class work taught
by a certified Driver Education Special
ist. They must then pass a written test
before they are put behind the wheel for
two more days of training. The state
also requires a valid N.C. driver's
license with six months experience and
no tickets.
During the current school year, there
has not been a single serious accident
involving a school bus, Lytle said. The
N.C. Optimists hope that their safety
reminders will keep the record that way.
tracy Wright and Keith Harris, Owen High Schoof Juniors
and schooi bus drivers, attach sa/ety stichers donated by the
Swannanoa Vaiiey Optimists to remind them o/ their
responsibiiity /or the sa/ety o/ their passengers.