Thursday, October 22, 1981, Volume 29, Number 4S
Member of the NCPA
25*
j Merrily he rolls along...
Akins is skating
crosscountry,
via Black Mountain
by Trina O’Donnell
At about 3:30 p.m. last Wednesday
afternoon Randy Akins, 21, from Nor
folk, Virginia, came rolling into the
Black Mountain News office Just 11 days
into a Journey that will take him
approximately 3,000 miles from Virginia
Beach, Virginia to Cape Arago, Oregon.
Akins left Virginia Oct. 3 armed with
a sleeping bag and the bare essentials
for his coast to coast Journey, which he
hopes to conclude by December 18,
arriving in Oregon, and, simultaneous
ly, the “Guinness Book of World
Records.” if all goes as planned, Akins
says he will be the youngest skater to
travel that distance and that route
during the fall and winter months.
Akins calculated his route will take
him across three mountain ranges.
According to Akins, the previous
distance skating record was set by
Theodore J. Coombs in 1979 who
travelled 5,193 miles from Los Angeles
to New York City and on to Kansas,
averaging 66 miles a day.
What makes Randy Akins’ trip so
different? He is carrying his own bags,
and travelling solo during colder wea
ther and shorter days of daylight. With
the help of some truck drivers at a
recent stop, Akins estimated his mil
eage at 30 miles per day.
Accepting a ride at any point on the
Journey would disqualify the miles he
has already accumulated, according to
the Guinness rules, so Akins whizzes on
down the interstate, stopping occasion
ally to rest and spend the night in his
sleeping bag.
He expressed his thanks to the North
Carolina state police for allowing him to
skate on 1-40 and for letting him skate
over Old Fort Mountain which
is normally restricted to cars and
motorcycles, prohibiting pedestrians,
cyclists, skate boarders--and skaters.
Coming over Old Fort Mtn in three
hours was rougher than he had anticipa
ted. “How much longer does this
mountain go on?” he says he asked of
every construction worker he met along
the way.
Once over the mountain he had
another surprise awaiting him. “I
wasn’t expecting the shoulder to be as
messy as it was,” he said, referring to
the asphalt which forced him to walk
l _
rather than skate fora mile. Asphalt not
only impedes progress, it also eats away
the urethane wheels on the skates,
according to Akins, which necessitates
buying more wheels along the way.
Akins wasn’t the only one to breath a
sigh of relief after he cleared the
mountain. Three police officers were
waiting for him at the bottom, ‘ ‘and boy
were they glad to see me get off that
mountain!" Akins said.
hi addition to the cooperation and
advice of the state police, who instruct
ed him to skate facing the interstate
traffic, Akins was pleased to receive an
orange reflector vest, a gift from the
State Department of Transportation,
presented half-way up the mountain.
After his Blade Mountain stop, Akins
was moving on to Asheville and,
eventually, Nashville, Memphis, little
Bode, Oklahoma City and points west.
He antidpated trouble in securing
permission to cross the bridge over the
Mississippi. And he wasn’t thrilled to
hear about the tunnels between here
and Tennessee since he must go up and
over them rather than through with the
traffic.
One would expect Randy Akins to
hang up his skates for awhile after
finishing his proposed record-breaking
trip, but Akins says he plans to get
married in the spring and his fiancee is
in favor of a honeymoon on wheels.
Akins’ whiz across the country is for
more than the personal satisfaction of
making the Guineas book. He is
sponsored, in part, by The American
Cancer Sodety with whom he checks in
from time to time along the way. He
intends to donate to the Cancer Sodety
the prize money of $4,000 which will be
awarded him by the Calley Ave. Bike
Shop of Norfolk upon the successful
completion of his trip.
During his brief stop here, Randy
Akins offered some explanation for
what has motivated him to attempt to
travel for thousands of miles on roller
skates over mountains, across deserts,
along interstates and through towns like
Blade Mountain. Akins has a personal
interest in the cancer research the
$4,000 will finance: his step-father has
bone cancer and his unde died of a
brain tumor.
. . . .
Meet-the-candidates night is October 26
by Bill Anthony
Blade Mountain voters will have a
personal opportunity to learn the views
on major issues of candidates for the
Town’s Board of Aldermen and mayor
in a meeting Oct. 26 sponsored by the
League of Women Voters.
The “Meet the Candidates Night”
begins at 7 30 p.m. in the Lakeside Club
House under the auspices of the
Swannanoa Valley Unit of the Asheville
Buncombe League of Women Voters.
A panel appointed by the League will
ask each candidate a series of questions
related to the Town’s management.
Questions from the floor will also be
relayed by the panel to the two mayoral
candidates and seven persons running
for the board. Following the formal
questioning period the public is invited
to discuss informally with the candi
dates their political views.
Members of the panel are Lois Cook,
Inez Daugherty, Evelyn Affolter, Mor
gan Gardner and Bill Anthony, chair
man. Program chairman is Scotty
Cannon.
Blade Mountain’s election is Nov. 3.
Candidates for mayor are incumbent
Tom Sobol and present Alderman
Alfred Tyson. Candidates for the five
member board are incumbents Michael
Begley, Ruth Brandon, Margaret Slagle
and Douglas Stafford, plus Cad Bart
lett, Gay Currie Fox and Steve King.
Gift made to fire department
YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly made a
gift of $500 to the Black Mountain Fire
Department to be used in renovation of
a water tanker for the East Buncombe
Fire District.
The new tanker truck will serve as a
“mobile fire hydrant,” bringing water
to areas not adequately equipped with
fire hydrants. The Insurance Rating
Bureau will decrease insurance prem
iums for many homeowners as a result.
Although Blue Ridge Assembly is
Montreat League of Voters
to sponsor town meeting
The Montreat League of Voters, an
organization of citizens formed in 1977
to encourage citizen participation in
electing officials for city government,
will sponsor a forum or town meeting on
Tuesday evening, Oct. 27, 7:30 p.m. at
the C.E. Building on Lookout Road, just
beyond Anderson Auditorium.
The Charter for the Town of Montreat
provides for an election each four years
for three to serve as Council Members
and have responsibility for streets,
security and all usual government
services. An agreement is now in the
process of being implemented that will
provide for the Town of Montreat to
assume total responsibility for the water
system that has been owned since the
beginning of Mountain Retreat Associa
tion. Citizens have voted for a bond
issue and sanctioning of a government
grant to make for more efficient
service.
The three who have offered them
selves as candidates for the next term as
counoilmen are John K. Abemethy,
Ivan B. Stafford and E.A. Andrews Jr.
As of today no others have qualified as
candidates fat the new term. The forum
will offer the opportunity for each of the
candidates to state their plans and
aspirations for the work of their
respective departments and offer the
citizens a chance to direct specific
questions on matters pertaining to
Montreat management and operation.
For residence owners who have not
secured the number assigned to their
house and lot, the list will be available
for examination at the meeting.
Founders of the League of Voters,
Harry H. Bryan, Robert N. Marshall:
and Guy H. White Jr., have arranged
for this gathering. Refreshments will be
served.
Leaf pick-up to begin
Citizens could save the town a “great deal of money” if they would bundle up
their leaves in plastic bags for pick-up, according to Town Manager Vinson
Miller. One of the town’s two leaf trucks is in need of expensive repairs and the
town cannot afford to repair it at this time.
Bagged leaves can be hauled on the town’s two flatbed trucks, Miller said.
Brush should be kept separate and all should be piled at the curb for pick-up
which will begin this week.
Yale professor to teach class
“Tragic Themes in Contemporary
Literature,” an eight-week course
taught by Yale Professor Ekneritus
Richard B. Sewall begins at 11 a.m.
Monday, Oct. 26 in the Shepard House
at Warren Wilson College. The course
is open to the public, free of charge.
Dr. Sewall, author of “The Vision of
Tragedy,” is a world renowned scholar
of Qnily Dickinson, having written two
definitive texts on the poet. “Tragic
Themes in Contemporary literature”
represents Dr. Sewell's third year at
Warren Wilson as a visiting scholar and
lecturer.
Dr. Sewall plans to open the course
with a discussion of the probleira of
identity for modem man. He will trace
these themes from their origin in
Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karama
zov” through their development in
several contemporary authors and play
wrights.
Other tragic works to be studied
include Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gat
sby,” Hemingway’s “Farewell to
Arms,” Arthur Koestler’s “Darkness at
Noon,” Arthur Miller’s “Death of a
Salesman,” Tennessee William’s
“Streetcar Named Desire,” and Eu
gene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey
Into Night.”
Dr. Sewall’s lectures will be present
ed each Monday at 11 a.m. in Shepard
House. The public is invited. There is
no charge for the course.
Committee to
study optional
12th grade
House Speaker Liston B. Ramsey
today appointed Representative Gordon
Greenwood of Buncombe County' as
co-chairman of a special committee to
consider making the 12th grade optional
in the public schools of North Carolina.
The study will be made by the
Legislative Research Commission,
which was directed by the General
Assembly to consider the feasibility of
making the 12th grade optional.
Greenwood, a resident of Black
Mountain, is chairman of the Appro
priations Expansion Budget Committee
on Education.
tax-exempt because of its non-profit
status, they have regularly made volun
tary contributions to the Black Moun
tain Fire Department.
Executive Director Frank M. Wash
bum in making the gift stated that Blue
Ridge Assembly was very appreciative
of the willingness of the Blade Mountain
Fire Department to serve in the event of
emergendes and wanted to join the
citizens of Blade Mountain in underwrit
ing the cost of this new equipment.
T.G. Rayburn accepted a check for $500 from Frank M. Washburn (rights
executive director of YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly. The check will help restore
a water tanker for use by the Blade Mountain Fire Department
Carver hosts drug
program for parents
Hie Crime Prevention Division of the
Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department
will present a hard-hitting drug pro
gram at the Carver Optional School at 7
p.m. Monday, Oct. 26.
The program will consist of a movie,
“Dead is Dead,” a display of drugs and
drug-taking paraphernalia actually ta
ken from Buncombe County school
grounds and a question-and-answer
session.
The Carver Parent-Teacher Associa
tion will sponsor the program which will
begin immediately following the regular
meeting. Parents and others concerned
about the rising drug problem in Blade
Mountain and throughout the county
are invited to attend.
Parents will be polled after viewing
the film for their opinion of whether or
not the film should be shown in the
classroom.
Richard B. Sewail