BMW
Owen High Cioss of '81
Graduation Suppiement inside
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Merchants protest
privi!egetax hike
Black Mountain merchants came
before Town Board Tuesday morning to
protest increases in privilege taxes,
levied at the May Board meeting
Merchants reported increases from
(2.50 to *50, from (40 to (100, (25 to
(50 and (29.to (84. Some reported
calling the City of Asheville to learn that
privilege taxes for similar businesses
would be lower there.
Some expressed concern that terms
describing businesses were unclear and
perhaps unfair An example given was
"garage" and "repair shop," one
requiring a higher license fee than the
other. "Which is which?" asked a
merchant.
Merchants reported inequities in the
bills they received, dting the example
of one barber with two chairs being
billed at a (1 increase and another at a
!3 increase
The injustice of the fact that a
privilege license from a manufacturer
employing one is the same as for a
manufacturer employing 200 workers
was also questioned
Summarizing the group feeling, a
small-businessman said, "Just let it
(the tax) apply to everybody equally -
five percent, or eight percent or 10
percent (increase)."
Although privilege license fees have
not risen in 15 years, aldermen admit
ted some of the increases seemed too
steep. They will reconsider the May
Board decision at the June Town Board
meeting
Meanwhile, they ask anyone having
received a bill for a privilege tax to wait
until after the June 8 meeting to make
any payment.
Russia hoidsout
hope for cure
When Gary Davis started school and
had a routine eye exam, doctors found
that he had retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a
rare genetic eye disease They toid his
parents their son would eventuaiiy,
inevitably go blind.
Gary lived with that knowledge for 21
years, grew up knowing that by the time
he was IB or 20 he would no longer be
able to see For RP, there was no cure.
"You can accept it and live with it.
Or you can stomp the floor and say
Why me God,'"Davis said. "After a
particular point you just accept it."
Hie progress of his disease was
slower than in some. The first sympton
to appear, night blindness, limited his
night time activities until he recently
purchased a (2,700 Night Vision Aid,
made by the American Telephone and
Telegraph Company.
"It looks like half a binocular," he
said, and gives him about a 90 degree
field of vision Hie device takes light,
transforms it to electrical energy and
reproduces it on a screen.
For Davis, night without the device is
total blackness; with it he can see a little
better than the average person, he
says.
Hie next step in the relentless
disease is a gradual narrowing of the
field of vision . . . narrower and
narrower until blackness envelops all.
Tnat would be the next step for Gary
Davis, except that a few months ago he
heard that Russia had developed a cure
for the disease, called the Helmholtz
treatment, and that some Americans
were being accepted for treatment.
Success ranged from arrest of the
disease to actual improvement in vision.
In October, Davis wrote the State
Department inquiring about the Helm
holtz Institute in Moscow. In December
he applied for treatment, sending them
all his medical records from birth to age
28.
The he sat back to wait while Russian
doctors determined from his records
whether or not the disease had progres
sed too far for their treatment to be
effective.
In April, Davis received a letter in
Russian. Fortunately, a State Depart
ment letter accompanied it, in English.
"Our Rmbassy in Moscow has been
informed that you have been accepted
for treatment at the Helmholtz Institute
any time in July, 1981."
When Davis read the news, it began
to dawn on him that he was not going to
be blind. "At first I couldn't believe
it," he said. "For 21 years you've had
to live with this. It took a few days to
believe it. Once it sank in, (I thought)
well, my prayers have been answered!"
Davis will leave Black Mountain July
12 for his first three weeks of treatment
in Moscow. He will return every six to
nine months for a total of four trips.
At the institute, he will receive two
injections of genetic materials and
enzymes at 10:30 a m. each day, one in
the hip and one in his eye. The
treatment will be repeated in the
afternoon.
Between outpatient treatments, he
was told to expect to have an elevated
temperature and to feel lethargic. He
will stay in a Moscow hotel.
The first trip to Russia will cost Davis,
a health care technician at the Alcoholic
Rehabilitation Center who will lose his
job in June because of staff cutbacks,
(1800-2500. Subsequent trips will cost
even more as prices of travel continue to
rise.
Davis asked several agencies for
financial help, but for various reasons
has received none. "Some only help if
you are blind, not to keep you from
going blind," he said. Others just don't
hav: the funds.
Fellow workers at the ARC have
established a Gary Davis Fund at the
Northwestern Bank in Black Mountain,
hoping that the community will help.
The State Department gave Davis
some advice about life in Russia. "As I
understand it, things don't go as fast as
they do here. You have to have
patience and persistence."
Along with patience and persistence,
he is taking along gifts for the doctors
and nurses, and items such as candy
and gum to give away as tips.
And he is learning the Russian
phrases for "Hello," "Thank you," and
"Where's the restroom?" Since he
isn't sure how well or ill he will feel, he
is leaving sightseeing plans until he
gets there.
It's a wait-and-see' adventure," he
smiled. "I want to see everything !
can-the Kremlin, museums, ballets '
Davis will keep a journal of his
experience for some health organiz
ations in the South, because very little is
known about the disease here and
nothing is known about its cure. "I'm
hoping with my going, I can help
someone else," he said.
Cii/f Foster, the eariy bird gets the strawberry.
You-pick-'em strawbe^fies ate
fami!y business <n the Vahey
According to one source, the word
strawberry has been around since 1,000
A.D., but it has only been in the last 10
years that pick-your-own strawberry
fields have made fresh berries available
to those in Buncombe County without
their own beds.
According to Agricultural Extension
Agent Bobby Peek, about 60 acres of
strawberries are available to pickers in
Buncombe County this spring, with an
average price of $3 a gallon.
One strawberry grower is Cliff Foster
on New Salem Road, Swannanoa. Like
most of the strawberry farms in
Buncombe County, Red Gate Farm is
family-run--"Just mama and I," smiles
Foster, who retired here after a career
in engineering in Florida. He never
tires of saying how beautiful the Valley
is.
"The picking is the easy part, "
Foster said, surveying the lush green of
his three-year old field. The plants
must be kept weed free and wet at all
times, he said. Although robins and
cardinals sneak in every chance they
get, ignoring plastic owls intended to
deter hungry birds, Foster said they are
not really a problem in his field.
A couple of weeks ago when a late
frost hit, Foster's plants were blossom
ing. Foster sat up at the pump
controlling the irrigation system in his
field for four and a half hours until he
was certain the field was safe.
Foster has other pick-your-own vege
tables throughout the seasons including
blueberries, grapes and sweet com.
Other growers in the Valley register
ed with the Extension Office are Fred
Baker, Bee Tree Road, 686-3949, and
Wells Strawberries off U.S. 70 east of
Swannanoa, 683-2034. Foster's tele
phone number is 298-8544.
Strawberries will be available
through the end of June, according to
the Extension Office. R is wise,
however, to come early in the morning.
Many pickers start at 6:30 a m. and
when the ripe berries are gone, the
fields dose.
Weather review
May 19--high 68, low 56 degrees; .40
inches precipitation.
May 20-high 50, iow 45 degrees; .70
inches precipitation.
May 21--high 73, iow 43 degrees; .04
indies predpitation.
May22--high 76, iow 36 degrees.
May 23--high 80, iow 39 degrees.
May 24--high 83, iow 43 degrees.
May 25-high 81, iow 47 degrees
W eather courtesy of W FGW Radio
C!arence,Frye grew this enormous Peace Rose, seven in
ches in diameter. The yeiiow petais are deiicateiy iined with
rose-pinh.
Award assembty
he!d at Owen
The Owen High School Awards
Assembly was held Thursday, May 21
in the auditorium. Guest speaker was
Mr. Gurney Chambers from Western
Carolina University.
Community awards were given by
several clubs. Donna Lewis received
the Black Mountain Women's Club
Scholarship. Shandrai Boyd received
the Delta Sigma Theta Scholarship.
The Optimist Club Outstanding
Senior Award went to Mike Longmire.
Lisa Ohler and Nathan Thielman
received W oodmen of the W odd
Awards for Outstanding Proficiency in
American History.
Tim Wilson was selected for Out
standing Contribution by the Student
Council.
Steven Clay Jones was named Bus
Driver of the Year.
Certificates and plaques were given
in each subject area for student
achievement.
Monthly
magazine
bonus to
News readers
Black Mountain News subscribers
will be receiving a new free monthly
insert in the News soon: Mountain
Living Magazine.
Mountain Living, previously a
quarterly magazine devoted to explor
ing life in the southern Appalachian
mountains, will start monthly public
ation in June.
N. Jerue Babb, president of
Community Newspapers, Inc., parent
company of Mountain Living and TTie
Black Mountain News, said the 11-year
old magazine will experience some
changes designed to bring more stories
to a larger readership. Hie tabloid
magazine will be much like Parade or
Family Weekly inserts in daily news
papers, he said.
"We will continue our tradition of
presenting stories, articles and photo
graphs that help our readers enjoy,
appreciate and learn about this beauti
ful region," Babb said. The initial focus
of the tabloid will be on Western North
Carolina and Northeast Georgia, he
said.
Michael Cavender, who has five years
of journalism experience at the Knox
ville News-Sentinel, Knoxville, Tenn.,
is the new editor of Mountain Living.
Cavender, a frequent summer visitor to
Highlands, will now reside there.
Students awarded plaques in subject areas were/ English,
Lisa AlLon Ohler; mathematics, Donna Lynn Lewis; social
studies, Lisa Alison Ohler; biology, Lis Scoville; physical
science, Tim Wilson; Spanish, Connie Jayne Lewis; French,
Pandora Lytle; aeroscience, Pay Bryant; business, Linda
Denise Bartlett; distributive education, Patty Kirchner;
home economics, Nan Barher; /orestry, Mihe Blanhenship;
horticulture, Bobby Dodd; dra/ting, Tony Brantley; industrial
arts, Keith Harris; wood technology, John Williams; arL Lisa
Ledbetter; drama, Kathleen Melton and Suzanne Cortney;
chorus, Nat Woodru/f,; band, Je/f Murphy; health oc
cupations, Janet Allen; girls' physical education, Pandora
Lytle; boys' physical education, Scott Newell; advanced
physical education, Greg Norton.
Photo by Charfes Tayfor.
Traiierfire
cause unknown
Hie Black Mountain Fire Department
received a caii at 3:23 p.m. Saturday,
May 23 for a trailer fire on Cragmont
Road. A grease fire on the stove caused
a small amount of damage to the kitchen
cabinets in the trailer.
At approximately 1 a m. the following
morning, May 24, firemen were called
back to the same trailer.
A fire of undetermined cause
completely gutted the trailer, even
burning through the roof in some
places, firemen said. No one was home
at the time of the fire.
The fire is under investigation by the
State Bureau of Investigation.