In this week’s archives of the Cherokee Scout and Andrews Journal:
10 years ago – May 28, 2014, Scout: State Rep. Roger West (R-Peachtree) introduced a law that would make lowering a live opossum legal again at the New Year’s Eve Possum Drop in Brasstown. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed court causes that resulted in a stuffed animal being used one year.
- Stacie Farrow of Ranger was named the valedictorian, while Austen Casey was the salutatorian, for Tri-County Early College in Peachtree.
- A full page of photos focused on the work of Chris Blaylock showed how the art of tattooing had grown in Cherokee County. Update: Blaylock, who is also a musician, operates a private studio in Murphy today.
May 29, 2014, Journal: Ora Lee Hayes of Andrews was honored as a Gold Star mother after the death of her son, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Saburant “Sabe” Parker, who was killed in the line of duty in Iraq.
- The community remembered Beth Oeth, co-owner of Birdsong Beads & Design in downtown Andrews, who passed away after a battle with cancer. Her husband, Kevin Oeth, was by her side until the end.
25 years ago – May 26, 1999, Scout: Cherokee County had $15 million available for allocation in the next fiscal year. However, officials had already received $19 million in budget
requests.
- Jamie Aaron Dockery, 20, of Murphy, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of his neighbor, Darrell Spivey. The year before, Spivey had been hit on the head with a blunt object.
- No citations were yet issued in a two-vehicle accident at the Walmart intersection on U.S. 19/74 that threw a 72-year-old woman out of the vehicle. The only person not hurt was wearing a seat belt.
May 27, 1999, Journal: Wanda Carringer, 51, of Andrews, was sentenced to 19-23 months in prison after being convicted of assault with a deadly weapon on a government officer and two counts of resisting a public officer. Town police Officer Skip Mulkey was slightly injured in the incident.
- Gerron Dewitt Chekelelee and Jack Dalton Smoker, both 18 and of Snowbird, were charged with beating McKinley Reed Jr. to death with a stick outside of Robinson’s Grocery Store.
50 years ago – May 30, 1974, Scout: Twins Larry and Gary Westmoreland, 14, survived the plane crash that killed their father, George Westmoreland, and owner-pilot Dr. George Size. The boys were found by Clay County Rescue Squad members. Inclement weather was blamed for the crash.
- Federal and state officers swooped into Cherokee and surrounding counties, seizing large quantities of beer and whiskey. In Cherokee County alone, 5,387 containers of beer were confiscated.
- Western Carolina Telephone Co. asked for a rate hike that would increase the cost of phone service by a total of 30 percent to customers in Hiwassee Dam and Murphy.
May 29, 1974, Journal: Western Carolina Telephone Co. asked for a rate hike that would double the cost of phone service to customers in the Andrews Valley.
- William Pitt Walker, 66, a member of one of the town’s most prominent founding families, died after being postmaster of Andrews for 14 years. He was a charter member of both the Andrews Lions Club and Andrews Chamber of Commerce.
– Publisher David Brown