In this week’s archives of the Cherokee Scout and Andrews Journal:
10 years ago – April 10, 2013, Scout: Joey Christopher Womble, 26, received the lightest possible sentence – a total of no more than 240 days in jail – for fleeing an alcohol-fueled crash that resulted in the death of 3-year-old Brady Singleton in Hiwassee Dam.
- The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office was seeking tips about a fight in Hanging Dog that led to the shooting of Tommy Dockery, 40, of Murphy.
- Golf Digest magazine named Randy Vaughn, owner of the Club Shoppe in Murphy, one of the 100 best golf club fitters in the country.
April 4, 2013, Journal: Skip Allen found a blue barrel full of used motor oil dumped at a home near Webb Creek. It was only 10 feet away from the Valley River, a North Carolina fishery.
- Barbara El-Khouri won the Andrews Chamber of Commerce’s 2012 Community Service Award, which was named after her father, Joe El-Khouri. Volunteering is a lasting legacy in that local family.
25 years ago – April 8, 1998, Scout: Jamie Aaron Dockery, 20, of Hanging Dog, was charged with killing one of his neighbors – Darrell H. Spivey, 37, who died after being struck on the head with a blunt object.
- Atlanta Gas Light Co. representatives said if an effort to run a natural gas pipeline into Fannin County, Ga., was approved, they would expand into Cherokee County, N.C. Update: Neither happened.
- The Tri-County Humane Society spent $94,600 to purchase nearly 12 acres of land off U.S. 19/74 in Marble to build an animal shelter that would serve Cherokee, Clay and Graham counties. Update: You know it today as the Valley River Humane Society.
April 9, 1998, Journal: The Andrews Board of Alderman had town attorney Mack Talent draw up a law that required all animals to be leashed and licensed or pay a fine.
- Andrews High School athletic director Roy Carter was leaving to accept a similar job with his alma mater, Madison High School. His “We Care” program made it mandatory that coaches and student-athletes alike take random drug screenings.
50 years ago – April 5, 1973, Scout: The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners rejected bids to renovate the county jail as being “too high,” saying the work may go to local contractors instead. Update: That jail was eventually torn down, making room for an expanded county courthouse, and replaced by a new building on Regal Street in Murphy.
- Two Murphy police officers, Arvil Payne and Allen Byers, rescued a girl trapped in a wrecked car in the Hiwassee River. The N.C. Highway Patrol said the officers saved the life of Mary Phillips, 16, of Hayesville.
- U.S. Navy veteran and Murphy pharmacist Nick Aloi died suddenly at age 36.
April 4, 1973, Journal: The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission proposed adding three new bear sanctuaries to the 1973-74 hunting season.
- Andrews Fire Department members honored the memory of the late Jerry “Jack” Long, who volunteered as a firefighter since 1958 and was loved in the community.
– Publisher David Brown