Second class postage paid
at Black Mountain. NC 2S7JJ
Thursday, October 29, !98t, Vohune 29, Number 44
Gary Mlsenheimer will fly "Veroom Hilda" on Halloween
above the Swinging Bridge at Grandfather Mountain.
Witch tofty
on Haitoween
Reports of sightings of witches fiying
on brooms at Haiioween usually raise
some eyebrows, but people are really
going to see a flying witch at Grandfath
er Mountain on Halloween Day when
Gary Misenheimer flys his six-foot
radio-controlled witch.
Gary Misenheimer, 23, is a resident
of Newton, N.C., who has been
building model aeroplanes for seven
years and flying hang gliders for four
and a half years. On weekends he is an
exhibition hang glider pilot at Grand
father Mountain.
Misenheimer saw a picture in a
magazine of a radio-controlled witch,
and with nothing else to go on but the
picture he constructed his own version,
which he has flown with great success
each October for three years. He fiys
the witch only in October, and only
where there is plenty of space to keep
her from colliding with someone during
her sometimes clumsy landings. The
witch flys seven minutes with each
fueling.
Gary's witch is not named Broom
Hilda, she is Veroom Hilda, due to the
noise Hilda's liquid fuel motor makes as
it passes overhead. Her flowing black
cape is a four-foot replica of the original
Rogallo hang glider wing. Her flying
speed is 25 miles per hour and top
speed 35 miles per hour.
___^
Swindier operating
with $20bi!!s
Beware, says Police Chief Siagie, of
the flimflam man because he is busy in
Black Mountain. In the last few days,
one made off with two $20 bills from one
local business and one $20 bill at
another.
According to Chief Slagle, the flim
flam man pays for a small item with a
$20 bill. After receiving change for the
$20, the man discovers he has a $1 bill
and gives it to the derh to use instead,
receiving his original $20 bill back. For
Spooky p!ays
at Owen High
Charles D. Owen High School will
present two one-act plays on Thursday,
Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m. at the school. The
plays are "The Fall of the House of
Ushe " and "The Black Cat. "
Aunussron wut oe charged.
one dollar, the flimflam man has
collected $39.
Count change carefully, Chief Slagle
said, and don't allow fast talkers to
rattle your composure when making
change.
Weather
review
Oct. 19-high 51, low 36 degrees; .02
inches precipitation.
Oct. 20-high 65, low 20 degrees;
Oct. 21-high 70, low 23 degrees.
Oct. 22-high 69, low 34 degrees.
Oct. 23-high 60, low 48 degrees; .50
inches precipitation.
Od; 24-high 43, low 26 degrees.
Oct. 25-high 48, low 37 degrees; .13
inches precipitation.
Oct. 26-high 54, low 44 degrees; 1.35
inches precipitation.
Weather information cour
tesy of WPGW Radio, Black Mountain.
County may fund rescue too!
Hie Buncombe County Board of
Commissioners discussed providing the
remaining funds for a power rescue tool
for the East Buncombe Fire District at
their Oct. 20 meeting. The discussion
was tabied until more information is
available to the commissioners on how
much money is still needed. According
to Chairman R Curtis Ratcliff, Com
missioner J.D. Jackson reported that
private donations covering the complete
cost of the purchase had already been
pledged.
Recent donations from several area
churches and individuals have brought
the total firemen have collected to
$2125. Half of the remaining amount
has been offered by the McDonald's
restaurant chain.
The Buncombe County Board of
Commissioners will meet again Nov. 3
and, according to Ratcliff, consider the
request if current figures are available
to the board. In a telephone conversa
tion, Ratcliff said he was certain the
board would vote to honor the request.
A previous request in a letter from
then acting town clerk Suzanne Turner
to the county for assistance in purcha
sing the rescue tool was denied. The
reason, according to Fire Chief Gary
Bartlett, was that county tax revenue
had already been appropriated for the
year and no funds were available.
The present request, dated Oct. S,
was written by Alderman Ruth Brandon
and addressed to Chairman Ratcliff.
Hie power rescue tool, or "jaws of
life," is a motor-driven tool used to cut
and pry metal to, release accident
victims from wrecked vehicles.
Several companies make the power
rescue tools. The Buncombe County
Rescue Squad, Fairview, Skyland,
****+** + * + *********+*********+******* + ********+*'
Owen homecoming
Keith Parker, a senior, carries the bail for Owen in the Homecoming game
last Friday. The win over North Buncombe assures Owen of no iess than a
second place Onlsh in the Little Mae Conference.
Weaverville and West Buncombe Fire
Departments all have Hurst tools. Black
Mountain Fire Department wants to
purchase a Lucas power tool.
Cost of the Hurst tool, according to
M. Jerry VeHaun, Buncombe County
director of emergency services, is $7595
and the Lucas tool, $3519.76. Black
Mountain Fire Chief Gary Bartlett said
the cost given him by Slagle Fire
Equipment for the Lucas tool was
$8,100.
Bartlett said he prefers the Lucas tool
because, "It has many more features."
For example, he said, the two tools,
cutter and speader, work on separate
power lines and therefore both can be in
operation at the same time, unlike the
Hurst tool.
Citing further advantages, Bartlett
said the spreader on the Lucas tool is
lighter than Hurst but exerts an equal
amount of force, and will stay spread
after the motor is turned off.
Bartlett said he also preferred the
four-cycle Lucas engine over the two
cycle Hurst because, "it's a more basic
engine. Less can go wrong with it."
In a letter from Emergency Services
Director VeHaun to Curtis Ratcliff,
VeHaun stated, "It is my opinion that
Hurst is the better tool, plus the fact
that if Black Mountain purchases a
Hurst tool, all (rescue equipment)
would then be standardized. "
Unexpectedty targe crowd hears candidates
Candidates for the Nov. 3 elections
for Black Mountain mayor and Board of
Aldermen attended a meet-the-candi
dates night at Lakeview Center Monday
night. The 7 JO p.m. meeting was
planned by the Swannanoa Valley Unit
of the League of Women Voters of
Asheville and Buncombe County.
A crowd of about 170 quickly filled
chairs set up for the occasion and many
had to stand for the evening because of
the unexpected turnout.
Candidates for alderman include
incumbents Mike Begley, Ruth Bran
don, Margaret Slagle and Doug Staf
ford, as well as Carl Bartlett, Gay Currie
Fox and Steve King.
Mayoral candidates in the upcoming
election are incumbent Tom Sobol, and
A.F. Tyson.
A panel headed by Bill Anthony
prepared questions for the candidates.
Scotty Cannon was moderator. Panel
members were Lois Cook, Evelyn
Affolter, Elizabeth Harper and Morgan
Gardner.
Each candidate was given two min
utes at the opening of the meeting to
discuss issues he or she believes will be
important to the town in the next two
years. The panel then addressed quest
ions to the candidates, some prepared
in advance and some proposed by the
audience.
The candidates addressed a number
of issues including the town water
system, the HUD program, the liaison
system of town government, the over
spent 1980-81 town budget, tax raise
and service cut, open and closed
meetings and many others.
The entire program will be broadcast
on WBMS, Black Mountain radio
station at 10 a.m. Saturday for voters
unabie to attend Monday night's meet
ing.
Candidates gave voters their stands on Biack Mountain issues Monday night.
Poticeand fire report
Man awested in assauit incident
Black Mountain
Police Department
A man was charged Sunday with
assault with a deadly weapon after an
incident at the Meadowbrook apart
ments. Bennie Alexander Ashe was
arrested and held in lieu of $500 bond.
A police officer answered a call at the
apartments for a fight in progress.
When he arrived, he found a crowd
gathered and an injured man in a
private vehicle. Hie man had received
cuts on his throat from a knife, the
officer said. He was taken to the
hospital by ambulance.
The officer arrested Ashe as he was
leaving the scene.
Vandals broke windows in the front of
A Touch of Glass on Cherry Street
Monday night and did damage inside
the shop, poiice reported. Damage was
estimated at (800-1,000.
Also on Monday night, two men ieft
the Pizza Hut on U S. 70 without paying
for the meai they ate. One eluded
officers, but the other was arrested and
taken to Buncombe County Jail where
he was charged with receiving accomo
dations without pay.
Black Mountain
Fire Department
W ith the dry weather conditions
which lasted until the weekend rains,
Black Mountain firemen were kept busy
fighting woods fires. On Oct. 19, a small
area on High Top Colony Road burned,
the result of someone dumping hot
ashes from a fire. Two engines extin
guished the fire.
On Oct. 20, firemen extinguished a
woods fire off Lakey Gap Road and sent
nine men to assist Fairview at a iarge
woods fire. On the same day, moderate
damage occurred in a car fire on Camp
Brand! Road. The origin of the fire was
not determined. Two engines respond
ed on the 20th to a fire in an eiectricai
service box in a cottage off Kitsuma
Road.
Another woods fire on Oct. 21 burned
one acre behind the Famiiy Dollar Store
on U S. 70. Also on the 21st, a belt on a
washing machine caught fire in a home
on Connally Street.
One and a half acres burned in
another woods fire oh Oct. 22 on Old
Lakey Gap Road. Firemen said the fire
may have been set intentionally.
black Mountain rescue workers an
swered a medical assistance call on Blue
Ridge Road on Oct. 20 and rescued a
baby locked in a car with the engine
running on Disosway Street on Oct. 21.
Swannanoa Volunteer
Fire Department
Swannanoa Bremen extinguished a
small brush fire on Phtton Cove Road on
Oct. 21. A!so on the 21st, firemen were
called to a smoke-filled house on
Richmond Ave.
Two rails on Oct. 23 came from
Asheville Dyeing and Finishing, where
two driers caught on fire.
Leaves in a heater caused a fire in a
truck on Oct. 24 on U S. 70. Light
damage was done to the interior of the
truck.