In this week’s archives of the Cherokee Scout and Andrews Journal:
10 years ago – March 19, 2014, Scout: A brush fire in Hiwassee Dam spread in high winds, eventually burning 18 mostly junked automobiles and a storage building on Sunny Point Road.
- Some residents were unhappy at having a new manned trash convenience center site on Candy Mountain Road and N.C. 294 in Hiwassee Dam. Local resident Casey Fitzgerald called the move “as stupid as it could possibly ever be.”
- Local anglers were taking part in the Appalachian Outfitters Fishing Buddies Group to enjoy fishing and passing on their knowledge of the great outdoors.
March 20, 2014, Journal: A state-mandated third-grade reading program was considered so difficult and complicated that it raised the stress levels of county students, teachers and administrators.
- The Andrews Board of Aldermen passed an amendment to the zoning law in order to allow downtown businesses to place merchandise on tables outside of their stores on the sidewalks.
25 years ago – March 17, 1999, Scout: A bomb found at an Asheville abortion clinic was not connected to fugitive Eric Robert Rudolph, formerly of Nantahala, who was still missing in the mountains of western North Carolina.
- The state approved moving from food stamps on paper to plastic cards to help track use and deter fraud, with Cherokee County joining in.
- Debris from the Murphy city street sweeper will no longer be dumped behind the former water treatment plant on U.S. 64 East, according to Mayor Bill Hughes. Mostly gravel and leaves were at the site.
March 18, 1999, Journal: Andrews police Officer Skip Mulkey was slightly injured when he was assaulted while responding to a domestic call at Stewart’s Mobile Home Park. Connie and Wanda Carringer were both arrested and taken to the Cherokee County Jail in Murphy.
- Tony Dean Stiles, 24, of Andrews, was charged with setting a fire in a warehouse where he worked, at the Coast American plant in Marble.
50 years ago – March 21, 1974, Scout: “Bee” Sweatt of Boone, a candidate for U.S. Senate for North Carolina, was campaigning by walking from Murphy to Manteo, a statewide trek of 536 miles.
- Cherokee County commissioners met in a special session with school board members, telling them they could not afford to provide $300,000 for a building program. Commissioner John Boring called it “a champagne budget but a beer pocketbook.”
- Nichols Discount Furniture on U.S. 64 East had entire living room suites “drastically reduced” to just $159, with refrigerators as low as $348 and stoves available for $179.
March 20, 1974, Journal: Cherokee County commissioners met in a special session with school board members, where the subject of consolidating high schools once again became a hot topic.
- Dark, fog and rain prevented Andrews Rescue Squad searchers from investigating a reported one-plane crash north of Topton bridge. A local resident who was a flight engineer reported the incident.
– Publisher David Brown