In this week’s archives of the Cherokee Scout and Andrews Journal:
10 years ago – Aug. 6, 2014, Scout: A bloody woman who said her husband beat her was instead charged with breaking the window at Rumors clothing store in downtown Murphy, then stealing or vandalizing about $10,000 worth of merchandise. The woman wasn’t married.
- During a 21st Century Learning Academy Center six-week summer camp, fourth- and fifth-grade students helped build a treehouse on the Murphy River Walk.
- A 4-foot-tall effigy of the “moon-eyed people,” who legend has it lived in Cherokee and surrounding counties prior to Native Americans’ arrival, was donated to the Cherokee County Historical Museum in downtown Murphy.
Aug. 7, 2014, Journal: The Blackman family’s move to a new home in Beaver Creek came with an unexpected surprise – they could not drink, bathe or even wash clothes and dishes because the water to their home was discolored brown and unusable, as it had six times the amount of iron considered safe.
- The Andrews Board of Alderman decided that the town pool would stay open for the summer. After a pump went out a week before, the aldermen considered shutting it down early.
25 years ago – Aug. 4, 1999, Scout: “We made a mistake,” Cherokee County Commission Chair Barbara Vicknair said in answering questions about unequal pay raises. For example, sheriff’s deputies did not receive the same salary hike as Emergency Medical Services workers.
- Dorothy “Dot” Mason, director and founder of the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce, passed away at age 74 from cancer. She started the chamber with no money, equipment nor office supplies.
- The deal to set up a plasma torch at the Cherokee County Landfill in Marble was going to be moot if funding sources did not meet the county’s specifications. The torch was going to melt up to 50 tons of solid waste per day.
Aug. 5, 1999, Journal: Travis Allen was one of several people participating in a watermelon-eating contest during the two-day Watermelon Festival sponsored by the Andrews Chamber of Commerce. They ate was much as they could, spit seeds and rolled cantelopes around a set course in other contests. Update: What fun. Why can’t we have this festival today, or at least work watermelon into the Spring Fling?
- Claude D. Laney of Murphy pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder in the stabbing of a 40-year-old Andrews man in Nantahala. He received 13-16 years in prison.
50 years ago – Aug. 8, 1974, Scout: Cherokee County voters were set to vote on whether to make board of commissioners’ candidates live in a specific district. The potential change in election law was debated during a marathon 12-hour commission meeting.
- Dennis Curtis of Peachtree was sworn in as a member of the Cherokee County Board of Education. Curtis, business office manager for the local telephone company, was filling the term of the Rev. Robert Barker of Peachtree, who resigned from the school board.
- The slippery surface of N.C. 294 was about to be a thing of the past once C.W. Matthews Contracting Co. finished resurfacing the roadway from U.S. 64 West in Hiwassee Dam to the Tennessee state line at Liberty.
Aug. 7, 1974, Journal: A separated husband and wife were arrested in a shooting at Charles Higdon Trailer Park in Andrews. The husband had bullets removed from his shoulder and near his spine; the wife had a bullet removed from her wrist. Both were charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.
- Henry Freeman of Happy Top developed a new invention, a canopy-type structure that fits on the roof of an automobile and extends forward over the hood to prevent rain or snow from falling on the windshield.
– Publisher David Brown