In this week’s archives of the Cherokee Scout and Andrews Journal:
10 years ago – Jan. 29, 2014, Scout: Local newcomer Jeremy Ring, who is 6-feet, 2-inches tall but unarmed at the time, stopped a robbery while it was in progress at the Big D convenience store on Hill Street in Murphy. His efforts led to the arrest of Aaron William Davis, 29, of Marble.
- Bianca Canizio, a 2012 Murphy graduate playing soccer for Warren Wilson College, was voted a first-time All-American after leading the Owls in scoring.
- Levi Winslow Sutton, 25, of Murphy, was charged with intentional child abuse inflicting serious injury causing severe physical injury in “one of the worst cases I’ve ever seen,” according to Sheriff Keith Lovin. Sutton was also charged with assault on a female and assault by strangulation.
Jan. 30, 2014, Journal: Paco Solis, manager of Monte Alban Mexican Restaurant in Andrews, passed his U.S. citizenship class. His wife and two children celebrated his accomplishment after 10 years of hard work.
- Andrews was hit hard by a blast of Arctic air and snow, dropping 2-3 inches across the Valley. The majority of local businesses closed before noon that day.
25 years ago – Jan. 27, 1999, Scout: The Murphy Walmart was named the company’s Store of the Year for 1998, and management confirmed that a supercenter was coming to Cherokee County. The store employed 300 associates, but a supercenter would have about 575 people working.
- Scout sports columnist Cheryl Freeman took strong issue with people who don’t think hot dogs, popcorn, nachos and the like should be served at ball games. Tofu – or “curdled soybean guts,” as she put it – was not wanted in Cherokee County.
- The most longtime member of the Scout’s Honor Roll of Business was Modern Woodmen of America, which got its start in 1883, six years before the local newspaper was first published.
Jan. 28, 1999, Journal: Tatham Gap was closed for two months in order to fulfill an 18-acre logging contract.
- The Murphy Levi’s plant was set to reopen after rumors were rampant that the plant was shutting down.
50 years ago – Jan. 31, 1974, Scout: The Native Textiles plant, which was closing in Murphy, was going to be replaced by a plant run by another part of the Indian Head company, MGM Brakes. Plant manager Franklin Barnett said all of his former employees would have a chance to be trained to work here.
- William Benton Mason, 88, of Culberson, became the first traffic fatality of 1974 when the pickup driven by his son, Clemson Mason, ran into a ditch off of U.S. 64 West and overturned.
- Well-known downtown Murphy merchant Jim Edd Hughes, 46, president of Hughes Supply Inc., dropped dead of a heart attack while at Cherokee Hills Golf Course. Hughes and his partner had just finished playing 18 holes.
Jan. 30, 1974, Journal: This edition is sadly missing from our files.
– Publisher David Brown