10 years ago
* Election officials reported a busy start to “one-stop” early voting at the Graham County Elections Office. To date, 420 voters had participated in one-stop voting. Assistant Superintendent Lisa Dalrymple said the the pace had been good and had added 145 absentees, along with seven military ballots. The county had 6,619 registered voters at that time. Update: As of Monday evening, 463 one-stop votes had been received in the 2022 general election.
* Almost 3,000 people enjoyed the beautiful weather, fall foliage and a bountiful array of vendors at the Stecoah Valley Center’s Annual Fall Festival. “It couldn’t have been better, the turnout was tremendous,” said Director Beth Fields. Update: Fields remained the center’s director until 2020. Jennifer West is the current director. The 2022 Harvest Festival had an estimated 2,140 visitors.
25 years ago
* Ella Mae Holder’s body was found on Oct. 20 by her brother Bud Collins, at her home. The cause of death was determined to be multiple stab wounds to her neck and throat. Holder was admired and well-known in the community. She operated a tax service from an office attached to her home. Holder retired from Northwestern Bank when it became First Union. Tom Frye and several other SBI agents – along with the Graham County Sheriff’s Office – were working together on the investigation, but neither office had released a statement at the time of the report.
* Roger Shuler said that Graham County was one step closer to securing a location for a golf course. The land he had in mind stretched from Blue Boar Lodge to Gunnel Top Mountain on Lake Santeetlah and covered much of Davis Fields. Shuler planned to ask the Forest Service to consider giving 300-500 acres to Graham County to develop the course – with luxury homes near the greens and allowing homeowners to build on prime lots, thus raising Graham County’s tax base. Update: the concept never came to fruition and today, the county is still without a golf course.
50 years ago
* Graham County Schools Superintendent Modeal Walsh announced the selection of Mountain View School for special recognition in its crafts program. State Director of Division of Occupational Education Dr. Charles Law served notice that Mountain View Occupational Crafts Project had been chosen as the number one vocational project in the state. The project was designed to teach students various handcrafts, which would enrich their lives culturally and evaluate their livelihood economically. Faculty and students were commended for their worthy recognition.
* A drug information program was presented at the Robbinsville School, in the Old Rock Gym. Several representatives from the school of pharmacy and UNC-Chapel Hill participated. It was anticipated that a representative from the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation would take part in the meeting, as well. Programs were scheduled in the counties schools, where pharmacy students met in an assembly with classroom discussions with the students.
-Compiled by Diane West