In this week’s archives of the Cherokee Scout and Andrews Journal:
10 years ago – Nov. 20, 2013, Scout: The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners reversed an earlier vote and decided to provide another $10,000 to keep the Valley River Humane Society’s animal shelter open in Marble.
- Hiwassee Dam High School Principal Tom Graham was named Cherokee County Schools’ Principal of the Year. Graham grew up in the county and graduated from Hiwassee Dam High.
- Local 2-year-old Korbin Smith was named grand marshal of the Andrews Christmas Parade. Korbin had been battling the cancer neuroblastoma since he was only a few months old.
Nov. 21, 2013, Journal: The Wildcats fell behind 9-0 early, but clawed back to beat Thomas Jefferson Academy 34-15 in the first round of the 1A state football playoffs. Running back Colin Gillespie rushed for 143 yards, the eighth straight game he had eclipsed the 100-yard mark along with scoring 15 touchdowns.
- Hugh Hamilton Stadium at Andrews High School was going to get some much-needed improvements to the bleachers after the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners agreed to fund $190,000 of the $310,000 in costs.
25 years ago – Nov. 18, 1998, Scout: Agents with the Southeast Bomb Task Force did not know the reason behind a shooting incident at their command post in Andrews. One of the bullets passed through an agent’s hair. Update: The agents were in town during the manhunt for accused Olympic bomber Eric Robert Rudolph, formerly of Nantahala.
- A plane piloted by the 71-year-old father of an FBI agent assigned to the Southeast Bomb Task Force had been missing for two weeks, despite an extensive search.
- Cherokee County commissioners gave the Town of Andrews $300,000 to help with the town’s water crisis. A boiling water advisory had been issued before water could be pumped from Beaver Creek into Andrews, and drinking water was donated by several local businesses and the National Guard.
Nov. 19, 1998, Journal: Phillip Dean Rogers, 45, of Andrews, was free on bond after being charged with a misdemeanor for shining a red laser at a National Guard helicopter being used by the Southeast Bomb Task Force. Rogers said he was “scared to death.”
- More than 20 birth announcements were published in the Andrews Journal, which must mean it was a very good spring in the Valley.
50 years ago – Nov. 22, 1973, Scout: The Hanging Dog Community Club was preparing to lease the former White Church school building from the Cherokee County Board of Education. Wayne Abernathy was the club’s spokesman.
- The R-rated comedy I Could Never Have Sex With Any Man Who Has So Little Regard For My Husband was playing at the Henn Theatre in downtown Murphy.
- The Cherokee Scout was once again designated a “National Blue Ribbon Newspaper” by the National Editorial Foundation in Washington.
Nov. 21, 1973, Journal: The 1973-74 Andrews varsity basketball team was announced, with the headline calling them “Wildcat Cagers.” Update: Cagers is a nickname given to basketball players in the late 1800s, when many courts had a 12-foot-high cage made of chicken wire, according to Google. Why the cage? A ball that went out of bounds was given to the team of the first player to touch it out of bounds.
- The A&P grocery store in Andrews was selling T-bone steaks for only $1.59 a pound. Update: This is the kind of thing I would go back and buy a lot of if I had a hot tub time machine.
– Publisher David Brown