10 years ago
* Graham County Schools Superintendent Chip Carringer announced that the board of education had approved the purchase of a 17-acre tract of land for $501,292. Officials planned to use the tract for expanding recreation, along with a second entrance to the high school and middle-school complex. Long-range plans were to move the high-school baseball field to the school, due to a safety issue. The school board would have control over the property, as well as having another entrance and exit, which would help traffic control. Update: Indeed, Loudon Orr Memorial Field was later constructed on the site and is used by both the middle- and high-school Black Knights today. Additionally, the new entrance to the school off Rodney Orr Bypass finally came to fruition in 2019.
* The N.C. Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of a grandmother whose 2-year-old grandson was mauled by a pack of pit bulls, outside of her Robbinsville home in 2010. The child spent months recovering from wounds sustained in the attack, including 30 lacerations, holes in his esophagus and trachea. He remained in an induced coma for a week in an Asheville hospital. Sue Anderson was sentenced to 25 months imprisonment on felony child abuse charges and “gross negligence.” Anderson’s daughter Vanessa Smith also pleaded guilty on the same charges.
25 years ago
* Forest Shane Lynn, 26 of Tallulah, was charged in the murder of Ella Mae Holder. Holder was found stabbed to death in her home in October 1997 by her brother. Holder was a former bankteller, and ran a book-keeping and tax service from her home. Lynn was also charged with armed robbery in connection with the murder and violating his probation. Chief Deputy Jerry Crisp said that he had “no idea” when Lynn might come up for trial. He was currently being held on a $35,000 bond for the separate breaking-entering and larceny charges. No bond had been set regarding the murder charges.
* A vandal appeared to have used a 4-wheel drive vehicle, knocked over road signs, pushed a dumpster over a bank and tore down a retaining fence. It was also believed that the same people destroyed several road signs in the area. According to county worker Dale Orr, the whole fence would have to be rebuilt, but most of the damage took place on Old Hwy. 129, near Sneed’s Grocery. According to Chief Deputy Crisp, two other recent incidents involved a burglary at Powell Branch Church of a generator and a stolen road sign.
50 years ago
* Graham County Schools Superintendent Modeal Walsh was advised by Western Carolina University that Sara Rogers of Robbinsville High School and Charlene Bailey of Stecoah High School had been chosen as recipients of academic honor scholarships, awarded through the Chancellor’s Office to freshmen based on class ranking in their graduating class, to attend Western Carolina for the academic year. The scholarships terminated after the freshman year, but were awarded annually, based on academic records. The requirements for this program to continue throughout each year were; achieving an average of 3.0 each quarter and carrying at least 15 credit hours each quarter.
* A $5-per-ton increase in the cost of newsprint was announced by all of the newsprint companies supplying The Graham Star. Kimberly-Clark Corporation was the latest to announce the increase. International Paper and Bowaters had previously announced their increases. The price hikes brought the cost of newsprint to $168-per-ton. This was the second increase recorded in a year, after a shortage of newsprint also developed in the nation and in Canada. Newsprint companies were adding facilities to increase production, but predictions were that the increased output would not develop before 1974. Update: The shortages and increased cost was not limited to 1973. Shortages both nationwide and in Canada have newsprint costing roughly $890-per-ton today.
-Compiled by Diane West