10 years ago
* Angie Knight prepared to pick up the reins from then-Graham County Schools Superintendent Chip Carringer in July, and was making safety for students and staff top priority. “Chip has been a great person to learn from and has run this school with great integrity,” Knight said. “I aspire to be the same. This is the best school in the state to be superintendent.”
* All Robbinsville High School graduates soon will be required to have basic CPR and Heimlich maneuver training as a graduation requirement by 2015. The training had been required for graduates since 1997, but had not been enforced. Students practiced the maneuvers on a dummy, as well as watching instructional videos.
* Hali Garrison from Robbinsville brought home three gold medals from a gymnastic competition held in Florida. Garrison placed first in all-around, balance beam and vault. She is the daughter of Shaun and Kari Garrison of Robbinsville.
25 years ago
* On March 22, 1998, Graham County received a new area code (828) to accommodate demand for new phone prefixes. “Customers in general are adding more lines to their homes for faxes and modems,” said Hugh Carringer, with the N.C. Utility Commission’s Communication Division. “Adding one area code possibly adds eight-million numbers.”
* Many residents had started filling up vehicles before returning to Graham County, saving 20-30 cents per gallon on gas. Some blame it on “gas wars,” but some residents in Robbinsville expected the Andrews stations to “come back up soon.”
* Wade Garland, 92, was Graham County’s oldest full-time worker, owning Garland Feed and Farm Supply and operating it for over 20 years. Getting up at 5 a.m. every morning, he started his wood stove and cared for his 70 head of cattle. Graham County had the distinction of having the oldest worker in three counties – Cherokee and Clay included.
50 years ago
* Burlington House Furniture – the new addition to the Robbinsville Plant) – was near completion and was expecting to begin operations soon. Jim Walls was the assistant plant manager.
* On Feb. 28, three deliberate fires were set on road 1249, on National Forest Land. Cheoah District Ranger John Derks said that an aerial detection aircraft located the fire.
* The Robbinsville Mite Boys basketball team won a pair of first-place trophies after conquering the field at tournaments in both Nantahala and Hayesville.
-Compiled by Diane West