BURKE 20TWENTY: Looking Back, Looking Forward

7/30/2019 BURKE 20TWENTY: Looking Back, Looking Forward

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BYGRETCHENGRIFFITH

Special toThe NewsHerald

From its storied pastto its constantlychanging present,

the textile industry haslong been a dominantforce in Burke Countyseconomy. The 2013Chamber of CommercesIndustrial Directly lists 19companies throughoutthe county connected totextiles. Once there were

multitudes. Now, 19.

Simple beginnings

Burke Countys textileindustry is rooted in the18th century immigrantsarriving in the county,the early Scots-Irish withtheir knowledge of spin-ning and the German andEnglish, often weavers bytrade. In the beginning,these home industrieswere just that, home, local,and unorganized, leavingthe large scale industri-alization to the northernstates. As the 19th century

ended, being close enoughto the cotton fields and farenough from the oppres-sive summer heat of thedeeper south became anadvantage recognized byenterprising visionaries.Early attempts to indus-trialize beyond the homebegan in Morganton in1888 at the Dunavant Cot-ton Mill and with spinningmills in the Bridgewatercommunity.

Further industrial devel-opment began when thenewest immigrants, theWaldensians, arrived from

Italy in 1893 and realizedtheir plans of farming theland for profit could notsupport the colony. Broth-ers John and Francis Gar-rou, along with AntoineGrill, found an alternativemoneymaking enterprisein a few secondhandknitting machines. Theytraveled to South Caro-lina, learned the hosierybusiness and how touse those machines,returned to Valdese andin 1901opened Walden-sian Hosiery, steering thecolony toward an industri-

alized economy.Other textile companies

located in Valdese soonmanufactured a wide va-riety of products. Walden-sian Swiss Embroideryadded embroidery designsto bedspreads. AlbaWaldensian, known forpioneering stretch pant-ies, developed a medicaldivision manufacturingproducts such as sterilestockings. Dolly Hosierymade infant booties whileMartinat Hosieryand Rob-inson Hosiery specializedin socks. Valdese Manu-

facturing supplied dyedcotton thread to manytextile companies in thecounty. With its boomingtextile industry, Valdesegained the reputation asthe fastest growing townin North Carolina.

In 1907 Sam Huffmanand D.B Mull foundedDrexel Knitting Mills.Toentice a labor force intoleaving the farms to workin the mill, this com-pany and its counterpart,

Drexel Furniture, suppliedlow-rent housing to itsworkers. According to tex-tile historian Rondal Mull,the textile mill housesthe companies builtin Drexel on the southside of the railroad werepainted green while on thenorth side, in an area stillreferred to as Red Hill, thefurniture workers houseswere painted red. HenryRiver Manufacturing ineastern Burke County

built an entire village forits workers, completenot only with individualhomes but also with acompany store.

Textile modernization

Many Burke Countytextile companies wereself-sustaining, or verti-cal, maintaining their ownoperations to completethe entire process on sitebeginning with the card-ing when the cotton firstarrived by train, throughspinning and dyeing,then finally to knitting

or weaving into an endproduct ready for market.Other textile companieschose to specialize inone particular step of theprocess, the yarn pro-duced at Henry River forexample, or Burkyarn thatmanufactured pre-dyedyarns, or the cords andsashes produced at theIcard Cordage Mill, andthe cut and sew final stepat Shadowlines intimatewomens apparel and Sky-land Textiles Buster Brownclothing line.

A demand for upholstery

cloth by the burgeoningfurniture industry also ledto specialized companies.Valdese Weavers, onceWaldensian Swiss Embroi-dery, produced uphol-stery materials througha jacquard technique, asdid Ross Fabrics and DuffLooms.

Finding focus

Two distinct manufac-turing industries pro-duced textiles in BurkeCounty, either those knit-ting with multiple needlemachines or those weav-

ing on massive looms.Both required consider-able amounts of power,water wheel or steampowered dynamo gen-erators in the early years,followed by Duke Powerelectricity in the 1920s.Although water fromthe Henry and CatawbaRivers and the many sidestreams offered adequateresources in the begin-ning, the availability ofelectric power allowed theindustry to expand. Notonly could the machinesrun more efficiently 24

hours a day, but electriclighting brought aboutthe possibility of a secondshift. No longer depen-dent on a nearby watersource, a proliferation ofknitting mills sprang upthroughout the county.

The advent of nylon, Da-cron and Orlon syntheticfibers proved to be aneven greater revolution forthe industry. Full fash-ioned hosiery that oncewas produced flat and

then seamed down theback could now be knittedinto a seamless product incylinders equipped withup to 400 needles. Thesemachines produced atighter product not possi-ble with the thicker cottonthread. Synthetics offereda greater tensile strength,the ability of each threadto withstand stress, anda stretch characteristicthat resulted in a new,one-size-fits-all hosiery.Before synthetics, cot-ton thread needed to be

mercerized, treated witha chemical to prepare fordyeing. But synthetics hadnew textures that offeredan endless variety of colorpossibilities without themercerizing process.

There was a trick tothe dyeing process, eventhen, explained Mull, for-merly of Drexel KnittingMills.Every timethe townwould add its chemicals tothe water, it would throwthe ph out of balanceand they would have touse what we called addsto adjust the formula to

shade.Companies eventu-

allybecame even morenarrowly focused, knownfor specific products.Our specialty at DrexelMills was manufactur-ingargyles, thediamondshape pattern, Mull said.Highlander, Ltd, produceddouble-knittedgarmentsandWamsutta Knits, ahigh pile fabric.HuffmanKnitting Mills was knownfor its full-fashioned

hosiery, Glen Alpine Knit-tingMills forhigh gradehalf-hose, Burke Mills,formerly Burkyarns, forlabels and dyedyarn forfurniture. Hanes Knittingin BurkeCountyproducedT-shirts while the Rhodhissplant of Burlington Indus-tries was noted amongother products for the flagplacedon themoon.

Technology takes hold

Another revolution inthe industry came aboutwith an ever increasing

use of computers. Time-consuming tasks such aschanging a pattern on aknitting machine, onceinvolving hours or evendays, could be reducedto mere minutes withcomputer technology.Along with the change tocomputerization camea need for a well-trainedworkforce, the consis-tently strong ingredientBurke County has offeredthrough the years.

In fact, thats one rea-son why my father chose

to build his plant in BurkeCounty, says SherrodSalsbury of Shadowline.He always said the em-ployees here have a goodwork ethic.

Mike Shelton, presidentof Valdese Weavers, agrees.

Employees there arehighly trained, are con-sidered associates and areoffered a vested interest inthe company through par-tial employee ownership.We are the quintessentialMade in America successstory, he explains. Thecompany offers flexiblescheduling and is activein the community. It usessustainable raw materials.It has the ability to react tocustomers needs as it of-fers custom-made fabricsfor use in home and officefurnishings, wall paneling

and for the hotel/restau-rant hospitality industry.

A tradition of excellentproducts and hard workcontinues today in those19 textile companies listedby the Chamber of Com-merce. In an industry thatdepends on consumertrends and internationaleconomies, what workedyesterday might becomeobsolete tomorrow. Orwith a few adjustments,might come back in style.This history of textilesin the county is far fromcomplete.

THENEWS HERALD www.morganton.com SUNDAY,MAY 5, 2013 3EBURKE 20TWENTY

History of Burkes involvement in the textile industry

PHOTOSCOURTESYOF PICTUREBURKE/BURKECOUNTYPUBLICLIBRARY

LEFT: An early picture ofAlpine Cotton Mill in Burke County,which was donated to Picture Burke byJoyce Carroll. RIGHT:The Henry River Manufacturing Company. The picture was donated toPicture Burke by Faye Aderholdt Poteat.

ABOVE: Workers from Henredon Furniture Company are photographed at the job site. The picture was donated to PictureBurke by Nelson Causby. BELOW: Shadowline was a popular place for women in the workforce in Burke County.The picturewas donated to Picture Burke by the Burke County Chamber of Commerce.

thekitchenconnection-nc.com


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BYKYLE [email protected]

MORGANTON Whileeconomic leaders wantto see Burke County growand expand, they also areworking diligently to makesure it doesnt take stepsback.

Burke County is prettydiversified, said ScottDarnell, president and ex-ecutive director of BurkeDevelopment Inc. (BDI)We have food industries,we have metal industries,we have furniture indus-tries, we have state gov-ernment employment, wehave local government

employment.But economically, that

process should include,how dowe better grow thecompanies we have here?In economicdevelopment,I think thats the No. 1strategy. About 80 percentof all jobs come from yourexisting companies.

If we cant be successfulin making our local com-panies profitable and suc-cessful, do we have whatit takes to attract someoneelse here?

Darnell added that keep-ing Burkes economic

development movingforward isnt a one-timeoccurrence, but rather aday-to-day challenge.

Economic developmentis a process, not an event,Darnell said. You dontturn it off. You dont turnit on. A process is ongoing.A project is a definite startand finish.

Weworkalotofprojects,butthe economicdevelop-ment process never stops.In communities, it nevercan stop. You should bejust as aggressive the dayyou win a project as the

day you lose a project.

The old mainstays

Burke County, like muchof North Carolina, has seena shift in the job landscapeover the years. Not thatmany years ago, stapleindustries were textiles,tobacco and furniture.Through the ongoing eco-nomic shift worldwide,theseindustrieshavescaledback considerably. Its notdifferent in Burke County.

Darnell said furnitureand upholstery are stillstrong in Burke County,

but they dont approachwhat they used to be.

The topic of furni-ture is the topic of a lot ofconversation right now,Darnell said. Whats hap-pened with the furnitureindustry? A lot of the casegoods did go offshore. Alot of the upholstery wereleft behind. Today, 2,700people are still employedin the furniture industryand related jobs in BurkeCounty 2,700 with an

average salary of about$36,000 a year. Is the fur-niture industry still im-portant to Burke County?Absolutely.

Burke businesses have

found their niche and aremaking the most of theopportunities presented.

A majority of the jobsleft behind are upholstery.Upholstery never went off-shore. The Chinese nevercould really line up thestripes as well.

But a lot of it with ourlocal companies is morecustomization or a higherend price point where thecustomer will choose cer-tain variations and want

it delivered in 30 days, notsix months.

Are we getting aheador falling behind?

As the United States con-

tinuesto tryto recoverfromthe Great Recession, con-sumer confidence is grow-ing and the stock marketsare continuing to climb.

Darnell said that as thenations economy getsup off the canvas, BurkeCounty will see growth aswell.

As the economy contin-ues to improve, Darnellsaid, our furniture com-panies should continue toimprove.

Continental (Teves)makes anti-lock brake sys-tems for the automotiveindustry. It goes withoutsayingthatas webuy morecars, Continental sells

more anti-lock brakes, andthey continue to add jobs.

If the sales of cars godownor thesalesof homesgo down, we notice areverse relationship.

So far this year, thenumbers are promising.

Existing home sales inthe Catawba Valley wereup 6 percent in 2012 from2011. Additionally, the av-erage cost of a home wasup 8 percent from theprevious year.

Selling Burke

Darnell said there are a

variety of aspects BurkeCounty can sell itself onto potential and existingcompanies.

In addition to major in-terstate exchanges andproximity to major mar-kets, Burkes economicmakeup is attractive.

While the countys larg-estemployers are thepub-lic school system and thehealth care industry, thearrival of a large shoppingcenter will be a boon.

Weve got a strong basethat were building upon,andthat basecontinues to

get stronger,Darnell said.An example of that is theWalmart Supercenter (atMorganton Heights).

Look at not only the taxrevenue, but look at thenumber of jobs that willbe created there hun-dreds and hundreds ofnew jobs that arent heretoday, a different type ofemployment.

Burkealso hasthe oppor-tunityand space to grow.

When the new Brough-ton Hospital opens, thespace the old hospitalsits on will be available.

Darnell said there is po-tential for a partnershipwith the state to utilize thehundreds of thousands ofopen square feet.

Infrastructureis in place

For a major industrialplayer to come into thecounty, there are severalthings it will need imme-diately that it wont waiton to be built. Those arethings like water, availableland, established wastemanagement and plentyof electricity.

Darnell said Burke isready with its establishedinfrastructure.

We have the capacityfor industry, Darnell said.Thats something you

dont create. Youve eithergot it or you dont. We canhandle a lot of different

types of companies, butas you go down the list wehave a lot of checks in theboxes and you try to get asmany checks as possible.

We have a lot of thosecore requirements.

Darnell pointed outBurke has diversity, infra-structure and location. Headded the countys manu-facturing background wasan asset.

Dont forget where youcame from.

Is giving grantsthe key?

Its almost become agiven that when a newindustry moves into anarea or expands, there is agrant involved. They cancome from federal, stateor local sources. There areoften stipulations involvedrelated to the number ofjobs that will be createdwith the grant money.

Is giving the biggest ormost lucrative grant thekey to attracting business?

They are a necessaryevil. Nobody likes them,Darnell said. Not oneeconomic developer on

the earth likes incentives.They are a necessary evil.

As long as someone elsewants what we do, theresgoing to be competition.When theres competition,there are inducements,incentives, there are priceincentives.

Darnell said BurkeCounty, like many othercommunities, rarely offersmoney up front. The mon-eyis basedon thecompanydeliveringon its promise.

We really risk nothingwith incentives, Darnellsaid. The other thing

youve got to be cognizantabout whatever youre of-fering new companies,youve got to make sureyoure offering existingcompanies.

4E SUNDAY,MAY 5, 2013 THENEWS HERALD www.morganton.comBURKE 20TWENTY

Economic development: An ongoing process

SUBMITTEDPHOTO

Valdese Weavers employs around 500 people in Burke County.

BURKES MAJORMANUFACTURING EMPLOYERS

Company Product Estimated employees Case Farms Food 725 Valdese Weavers Woven fabric 575 Leviton Southern Devices Electrical 520 Continental Teves Anti-lock brakes 350 Sara Lee Bread 285 Visotec Automotive Automotive 250 Baker Furniture Furniture 250 Sypris Solutions Axles 250

BSN Medical Medical hosiery 245 Ferguson Copeland Furniture 200 Molded Fiberglass Truck and b us bodies 170 Gerresheimer Glass Glass and product manufacturing 150 SGL Carbon Graphite products 125

Caterpillar Inc. Motor vehicle parts 115

* August2012

BURKES LARGEST EMPLOYERS

Company Product/Service Estimated employees Burke County Schools Education 2,200 Blue Ridge Healthcare Health care 1,400 Broughton H ospital Mental health care 1,200

J. Iverson RiddleDevelopmental Center Health care 1,000 WesternYouth Institution Youth corrections 800 Case Farms Food 725 Valdese Weavers Woven fabric 575 Western Piedmont

Community College Education 560 Leviton Southern Devices Electrical 520 Burke County Government 500* August2012

NEWSHERALDFILE PHOTO

Thenew MorgantonHeightsShopping Centeris rapidlytaking shape.Its expected toopenthis summer.

Monday - Saturday 10-7909 W Union St

828.334.5515

Buy Sell Trade


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Ask 20 different employ-ers whatspecific skills theyare seeking in prospectiveworkers, and there is likelyto be 20 different answers.However, there are generalskills that employers con-sistently are seeking, andlocal leaders are busy ad-dressing those needs andproviding opportunitiesto equip the local workerswith those sought-afterskills.

Long gone are the dayswhen a single skill isenough to land or keep ajob. More often, compa-

nies are seeking employ-ees who can solve prob-lems or manage a productor process from beginningto end.

An article in the Decem-bereditionof Forbeslistsgeneric skills that are criti-cal to any job whetherits working the line in ahigh-tech factory or a cus-tomerservice-drivenofficejob. The top 5 are: criticalthinking, complex prob-lem-solving, judgement/decision-making, activelistening and knowledgeof computers/electronics.

The same types of skillsare at the top of the listfor local employers andthe leaders who are tryingto ensure satisfaction ofthose needs.

Varying skill sets

Regardless of the indus-try, be it retail or any ofthese manufacturingcom-panies we work with, a lotof the skill sets are thingspeople take for granted,said Michael McNally,president and CEO of theBurke County Chamberof Commerce. A lot of the

companies are looking forfolks who are able to thinkon their feet, work wellwith others, communicatewell.

Lee Kiser, dean of Con-tinuing Education atWest-ern Piedmont CommunityCollege (WPCC), pointsto two basic skill sets thatare most sought after. Softskills, Kiser said, includecreative thinking andproblem solving, the abili-ty to work inteams, under-standing of lean concepts,excellent written and ver-bal communication skills,

the ability to read and in-terpret complex materialsand drawings, and a goodwork ethic.

Technical skills in de-mand include computerintegrated machining,robotics and automation,programmingandtrouble-shooting programmablelogic controllers, and tra-ditional furniture produc-tion skills like upholstery,cutting and sewing.

According to local lead-

ers, meeting those needswill rely on two importantfactors: the willingness oflocal workers to expandtheir knowledge base be-yond that of traditionalmanufacturing and theflexibility of local leader-ship to adapt training andeducation programs tomeet the ever-changingneeds of employers.

Burke County is hometo many hardworking,dedicatedand dependableworkers who are ready andwilling to upgrade theirskills to meet the needs of

our evolving economy,Kiser said.

Burke County also ishome to various organiza-tions that are working to-gether to provide trainingopportunities and inno-vative workforce develop-mentinitiatives.It willtakevarious agencies workingtogether on multiplelevelsto effectively address theneeds of both employersand job-seekers.

Groups work together

Burke Development Inc.(BDI) President Scott Dar-

nell said a combination ofboth private and publicsector efforts are neededfor a successful workforcedevelopment strategy. Theresponsibility also willlie with individuals of allages and skills levels, whowill need a willingness tostretch themselves in waysthat previously werentrequired to find employ-ment.

An employee needsto be willing to invest inthemselves and has tounderstand that a job intodays manufacturing fa-

cilities is a changing envi-ronment where they needto continuously learn,Darnell said.

At the same time, Burkesworkforce developmentmust be willing to evolve.

In the long term, weneed to remain focusedon employer input andunderstanding that for asuccessful career in somefields, a degree isnt alwaysneeded, Darnell said.Workforce developmentprograms need to be flex-ible, timely and meet em-ployers needs ongoing.

Among the leading orga-nizationsworkingtogetherto improve quality of thelocal workforce, therebyimproving Burkes market-ability for new economicgrowth, are: BDI, BurkeCounty Public Schools,Burke County Chamber ofCommerce, Burke Manu-facturers Executive Coun-cil, Division of WorkforceSolutions, Western Pied-mont Workforce Develop-ment Board, WPCC and

dozens of other compa-nies and agencies.

Atticus Simpson, vicepresident of Student De-

velopment at WesternPiedmont CommunityCollege, cites several ex-amples of how organiza-tions such as these areresponding to the needsof thelocal workforce,em-ployers and community.

A partnershipwith BurkeCounty Schools soon willyield a STEAM (Science,Technology, Engineering,Agriculture and Math) ini-tiative that speaks to theskills that todays employ-ers are seeking. Simpsonsaid the efforts in partner-ship with Burke County

Schools to improve theoverall educational attain-ment of the communitywill continue.

Another example, Simp-son said, is the RENEWProgram (Re-Educatinga New Employable Work-force), developed througha partnership betweenWPCC and BDI, whichfocuses on developing es-sential soft skills alongwith highly-technical skillsin computer applications,blueprint reading, ISO9000 and CNC machining.

Not only is the program

being emulated across thestate, its generating quan-tifiable results. More than100 RENEW graduates al-ready have been placed inentry-level manufacturingjobs and the program alsohas received glowing re-views from employers.

One local companyhas hired several RENEWgraduates and has seenexcellent results, Darnellsaid, echoing pride in itssuccess. They even told

us that the RENEW gradu-ates have helped to turnaround one of their de-partments that had previ-

ously been struggling.Though its crucial, pub-

lic sector response andpreparations cant be theonly focus. Consideringthe private, some compa-nies are able to contributeby making sure employersdont always have to footthebill fortraining andfill-ing employer needs. In thecase of temporary staffingagencies, they can helptake the guesswork out ofmatching employees withthe culture and needs ofprospective employers.

Matching people,places

Friday Staffing, for ex-ample,makes understand-ing their clients needsa big priority. In additionto matching the technicalskills, they also custom-ize their staffing optionsto meet the needs of employers.

You can teach someoneto read a calibration de-vice, but you cant teachpersonality skills, saidJackie Keyes, branch man-ager for Friday Staffingin Morganton. Its impor-

tant to know the cultureof our clients. It varieswidely.

The most challengingthing we face is an abun-dance of unemployedpeople who have workedin industrial settings, butwere never taught thesoft skills that are impor-tant to know, she said.We have an enormouspool of people who cango to work, but we some-times find it hard to match

with what companies arelooking for.

However, Friday has ex-perienced an uptick in its

number of placements inrecent years, Keyes said.And all the forecasts andexpectations are that thatwill continue to grow overthe next few years.

McNally sees a similartrend, but from a differentperspective. And he toosees the trend improvingas aforementioned effortsto bolster the skills of thelocal workforce leadto fur-ther job announcements,industry recruitment andbusiness expansion.

They see workforceavailability and potential

for growth here, he said,adding that local work-force development effortshave made the difference.They could easily move aline or expand to another

area. When they chooseto expand or move here, itsays something about thiscommunity.

Yet theres still muchwork to be done, as evi-denced bylong-termplan-ning and ongoing efforts.At WPCC, for example, anew Coordinator of Cus-tomized Training is beinghired, while efforts to de-velop a closer connectionto employers is occurringon various levels. Its im-portant to remember, thatthey are customers whenit comes to workforcedevelopment.

Our role is to listen tothe employers, Darnellsaid. Our customer is the

company. Whatever thecustomerneeds,weshouldbe ready to respond, leadthe charge and implementstrategies to make ourbusiness successful.


Local employers seek wide variety of skills

NEWSHERALDFILE PHOTOS

Melissa Piercy (left) and Cindy Carpenter (right) sew upholstery for sofas at EKornes production facility on Wamsutta Mill Road.

Wanda Clines sprays sealer onto part of the coffins. The coffins are part of a new line of USA and locally-made products fromSpartaCraft Custom Woodworks.

COMEVISITOURNEWESTBUSINESSESINRUTHERFORDCOLLEGE!

JDs Smokehouse


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6E SUNDAY,MAY 5, 2013 THENEWS HERALD www.morganton.comBURKE 20TWENTY

Burke: A swing state of mindBYJ. REYNOLDS HUTCHINS

[email protected]

MORGANTONBackin2008,

all eyes were on North Carolinaas polls and journalists specu-lated on the outcome of thenational election in the nationsnewest swing state. When fresh-man Sen. Barrack Obama wonthe race by a margin of 0.3 per-cent a feat unheard of amongDemocrats since 1976 thestates swing state membershipcard looked like it had beensigned, sealed and delivered.

But in just four years, NorthCarolinahas seena conservativeresurgence.

Since 2009, an overwhelm-ingly Republican legislature hasbeen voted into office, the state

approved an amendment de-claring marriages can only bebetween one man and onewoman, Gov. Bev Perdue wasreplaced by Republican Gov.Pat McCrory and the state fell toRomney in 2012 by a margin of2.2 percent.

The state seems to have re-turned to its conservative roots.

In spite of this trend if itcan be called that North Car-olinas swing state status is stillhotly contested as liberals vie towrest control away from conser-vatives fighting to retain powerand third parties scrounging forrecognition in local elections.

But this gap between reputa-tion and reality is nothing newto Burke County voters.

Since the days of DemocraticSen. Sam Ervin, the county hasgarnered a reputation as a Dem-ocratic stronghold.

And while Democrats havealways outnumbered Republi-cans, independents and third-party voters, the county hadnever seen a Democratic countycommissioner re-elected until2006andhasnt votedfor a Dem-ocratic presidential nomineesince Jimmy Carter (and evenCarters election was bookendedby Richard Nixon and Ronald

Reagan).

Red state blues

Debbie Mace has been theexecutive director of the BurkeCounty Board of Elections forthe past eight years and for aslong as she can remember thecounty has always leaned con-servative, in spite of its Demo-cratic reputation.

I dont reallyknow that theresbeen a whole lot of transition

between the parties, not as faras Ive seen,Macesays fromheroffice off South SterlingStreet inMorganton. I have been told,now I dont have the statisticsto back this up, that beforehandthis used to be a Democrati-cally controlled area: city andcounty.

Butinallhertimeontheboardand in the region, Mace saysshes never come across any sta-tistic to support such a claim.

The myth of the Democraticmachine in Burke County, Macesays, probablybegan in thedaysof Sen. Sam Ervin.

In those days, another time

and another place, Mace says Democrats and Republicanswerent what they are today.

Before 1860 in Burke County,before the first cannon fired onFort Sumter, S.C., Democratswere the conservative power-house of the American South,Republicans their liberal rivalsto the north.

More than 150 years later, thetables have been turned 180degrees, but back in 1954 whenErvin was elected, the politicallandscape in Burke, and the en-tire nation, wasin a state of tran-sition.

Today, few Democrats would

recognize Ervin, a man who ar-

gued in favor of segregation andJim Crow Laws in his early years,as a liberal brother-in-arms.

In mid-century America, theDemocratic Party was graduallytransitioning into the center-leftcongregation it is in 2013.

Democrats in the South wereat a crossroads.

The name Democrat still heldpower and sway, but the nation-al Democratic candidates nolonger reflected the conservativeideals of Southern voters.

According to Burke CountyRepublican Party Chair RichardEpley, that obstacle was onlymagnified in Burke County.

For the most part you had

Democratic control in the state.Which gave it a lot of power inBurke County because of all thestate jobs, Epley says.

Even in the 1990s, when Epleyfirst became involved in politics,we still talked about the Demo-crat machine.

There was no stoppingit,Ep-ley adds. People would registerDemocrat because thats wherethe jobs were.

But these same people, Epleyexplains, were Democrats inname alone.

At the polls, Epley says, theyvoted either way.

Whichwould explainwhy,even

today, when registered Demo-

crats outnumber registered Re-publicans by 1,277 registeredvoters, the Republican Party hasoutperformed in every nationalelection since 1976.

In fact, on the local level, thefirst time a Democrat was re-elected to the county commis-sion wasnt until 2006.

When I was re-elected it was4-1. I was the only Democrat onthe board, former commission-er Ruth Ann Suttle said.

But Suttle adds that theresnever really been a questionof a Republican or Democraticstronghold, at least not on the

PHOTOSCOURTESYOF PICTUREBURKE/BURKECOUNTYPUBLICLIBRARY

Sen. Sam Ervin speaks to the Quaker Meadows DAR Chapter in September of 1973. The picture was donated to Picture Burke by the Quaker Meadows Chapter of Daughters of the AmericanRevolution.

Contrary to popular belief, county hasnt

always been a Democratic stronghold

Then Gov. Ronald Reagan campaigns at the old BurkeCounty Courthouse in 1976. The picture was donated toPicture Burke by Durward E. Clark.

Democrats: 212522900 black17586white29 Indian261Asian52multi-race299 other

Republicans19,975114black19,476 white19 Indian109Asian18multi-race172other

Libertarians 176155white5 black1 Indian3 Asian1 multi-race8 other

Unaffiliated15759444black14411white27 Indian373Asian38multi-race293other

Primary colorsBurke County registered voters by ethnicity

SeeSWING, Page 7E

For the most part you hadDemocratic control in the

state. Which gave it a lotof power in Burke Countybecause of all the state jobs

Richard Epley,

RepublicanParty chair


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local level.

In the same year Suttlewas re-elected, Republi-can commissioner WayneAbele was also re-electedto his seat on the commis-sion.

Until 2006, whenWayneAbele and I were re-elect-ed, it was the first time,Suttle says. No one hadheld the office for morethan four years.

In 2012, when Republi-cans officially took com-plete control of the com-mission, many saw it as arising conservative tide inBurke County, but Suttle

and Mace say that isntnecessarily so.

People are apt tochange,Macesays.Whenpeople want change theygofromone extremeto theother.

Mace says, from herexperience, it seems ev-ery few years or so, BurkeCounty voters dontvote ina newcandidate, but a newparty.

Suttle agrees.They dont like the way

things go and they want toget new people in there,says Suttle.

For Suttle, the countysflip-flopping is a danger-ous trend.

You should look at thecandidate, not just theplatform, Suttle says. Ifyou have the platform ofthe Democratic Party orthe Republican Party, thatdoesnt mean the personon the local level is goingto represent that.

But for Mace, the coun-tys back-and-forth historyis a sign of democracy atwork.

Were allowed to vote.Were allowed to change

our opinions. Some coun-tries dont have that lux-ury, Mace says. Whenpeople want their voiceheard, they vote.

In either case, with thecounty and state con-trolled by an overwhelm-ingly conservative legis-lature, all sides agree thatthe next four years will bea confidence test for theRepublican Party in theTarHeel State.

Richard Epley is the firstto admit that the state andcounty may be in Demo-cratic hands again by

2016.I think its up to how

well the Republicans do,theyvenever had thiskindof control before, Epleysays.Nowif they goin anddo a bad job it could be re-versed.

BurkeCounty Democrat-ic Party Chairman MarcusKey says his party will begiving local Republicansa run for their money incoming years.

Its quite correct that inour county commissionRepublicans have com-plete control and therefore

they will be completely re-sponsibleforwhathappensfor the next four years,Key says. We intend tohold them accountable forthe results and we feel likethere willbe somechangesin the future.

A large part of thatchange, Key adds, will bereaching out to voters inthe next four years, es-pecially registered voterswho felt as if theyve beencast aside by the GOP.

Viva Burke

Since2000,BurkesLatino

population has increasedby more than 1,500, or45.72percent more thanany other group.

Those numbers are partof a national trend, ashundreds of the countryssouthern neighbors mi-grate from harsh econom-ic conditions in Centraland South American tocooler climates and higherstandards of living in theAmerican South.

At the same time, vote-

tracking organizations na-tionwide have predictedan overallDemocratic shiftin those southern states.

Back in the summerof 2012, the Institute forSouthern Studies, a non-profit civil-rights orga-nization based in NorthCarolina, studied that shiftbetweenthe 2008 and2012presidential elections andaccording to the officialstudy, that shift was large-ly spurred by an influx of

minority votes, primarilythose of Hispanic origin.

Infact, inNorthCarolina,the share of white voters, astronghold for the Repub-lican Party, shrunk in thattime tojustover72 percentbetween 2008 and 2012.

For the most part, thoseliberal-leaning Hispanicpopulations have beencentralized in urban cen-ters like Wake and Meck-lenburg counties.

But people of Hispanicorigin still make up a size-able 5 percent of BurkeCountys population and

when elections comedown to hairline margins,party leaders tend to takenotice.

For now, it seems asthough the Hispanic votein Burkehas found a homein the Democratic Party.

Although the BurkeCounty Board of Elec-tions does not track theHispanic voting popula-tion specifically, it doesinclude that population ina demographic known asOther. According to theboard of elections, Othervoters makeup 1.4 percent

of the local DemocraticParty. A small number, butstill larger than 0.9 percentamong local Republicans.

Even with the upperhandintheminorityvotingmarket, Key says his partywill continue to reach outto growing minority votersin Burke County.

Welldefinitelybereach-ing out to minority groupsin the county, Key says.We have a big tent in theDemocratic Party and wewelcome all the growinggroups in the county.

Burke minority voters

shouldnt expect the samewelcoming embrace fromthe GOP, Epley says.

I dont mind getting theHispanicvote, myself, Ep-ley says. But it has to belegal residents.

Epley says parties shouldnever compromise theirstandards or beliefs to ob-tain votes. The GOP chairsays parties shouldnt haveto feel compelled to ca-ter to groups just becausethosegroupsare a growing

sector of the greater popu-lation.

Epley, who is a firm sup-porter of voter ID laws,says the Republican Partymust remain dedicated toseeking legal votes, Ameri-can votes.

Were not looking to ca-ter to illegals. Theres a cer-tain way to come into thiscountry, Epleysays. Theyswear allegiance to theUnited States of America,giving up their citizenshipfrom wherever they camefrom.

Accoridng to the U.S.State Department, menand women applying forAmerican citizenship arenot required under anylaw to forfeit their previ-ous citizenship, but Epleysmessage is clear: If yourelooking to cater to people

who dont have the samevalues as thiscountry, thenI think thats the wrongthing to do.

Libertarian Party ChairJon Baird says that exclu-sionary ideology is one ofthe many reasons he de-fected from the Republi-can Party.

Even so, Burkes largestthird party hasstruggled tofinda nicheamong minor-ity voters.

Only 11.9 percent ofBurkes 176 registered Lib-ertarians are a race otherthan white.

Ive approached peopleand they think the Liber-tarian Party has a bad rep-utation withcivilliberties,Baird explains.

According to Baird, thatreputation couldnt be fur-ther from the truth.

One of the founding fig-ures of the modern Ameri-can libertarian movement,Rose Wilder Lane (daugh-ter of American novelistLaura Ingalls Wilder) de-veloped her early notions

of libertarianism as a jour-nalist at the largest blacknewspaper at the time:The Pittsburgh Courier.

The entire point of lib-ertarianism, Baird says,was to encourage African-American entrepreneurs

to pull themselves out ofpoverty and make some-thing of themselves.

But few today wouldassociate the AmericanLibertarian Party with thecivil rights campaigns andlabor union struggles ofLanes time.

Weve gotten away fromthat, that history, mainlybecause weve been thevictimof a hugepropagan-da campaign from boththe Republican side andthe Democrat side, Bairdexplains.

The partys appeal to mi-

nority votes hasnt beenhelped by its criticism ofaffirmative action or wide-spread support of voter IDlaws that studies say maysignificant disenfranchiseAfrican-American, His-panic and other minorityvoters.

Were against anythingthat gives one voter morerights to society more thananyone else, Baird says.Theres nothing I can doto draw in voters if theydont believein that simpleprinciple.

Third-party narrativeThe Burke County Liber-

tarian Party, Baird says, isstill too small to be overlyconcerned with minorityvoter dynamics.

With only 176 members,party chairman Jon Bairdsays thegroup has empha-sized general party admis-sion rather than targetingselect groups.

Just how a third partycan amass the membersnecessary to compete with

the countrys historic two-party system is the ques-tion Baird faces every day.

To tell you the truth Imnot really sure at this pointwhat the answer is, Bairdsays.What I really want todo is build up at least fiveor 10 people who are coremembers of the party andgo out and meet with thepublic. I think well havea better response than sit-ting back, knocking ondoors, talking to people,

making sure they under-stand that everybody hasan equal chance.

Even with its member-shipwoes, LibertariansareBurkes largest third partyand rank alongside unaf-filiated voters as the big-gest new players in BurkeCounty politics, accordingto Burke County Board ofElections Director DebbieMace.

In the 2012 elections,Libertariansvoted in num-bers never before seen inNorth Carolina.

The N.C. Libertarian

Party reported more than13,000 registered mem-bers in 2012 more thanthe party has ever held inits 13-year history.

In Burke, Libertariansturnedout at 51 percent an unprecedented num-ber, no doubt, but still lowconsidering 51 percent ofthe partys 176 members isjust 89 voting members.

The number still rankshighfora party sonewandso foreign to many NorthCarolina voters. In fact,Baird says, Burke Coun-ty was at the top of the

charts for Libertarianvoterturnout.

In Burke County, 1.6percent of voters voteda straight Libertarianticket, more than Wake,

Buncombe, Forsyth andMecklenburg counties.

We probably had someof the highest numbersin the entire state, Bairdsays.

Although he couldntspeak definitively, Bairdbelieves the strong Liber-tarian presence in Burkehas less to do with Lib-ertarians moving to thecounty and more to dowith current residents de-fecting from a two-partysystem that has been his-torically unresponsive totheir needs.

The Libertarian Party isso strong in Burke Countybecause we have a realmixture of Republicansand Democrats, mainlybecauseof allthe statejobs

here. When you get thetwo together youll usuallyfind Libertarians, Bairdsays. The real reason thatpeople defect from theRepublican Party is thesocial aspects of the Re-publican Party. Personally,its none of my businesswho marries who, has sexwith whom. The Repub-lican Party wants to sticktheir noseinto everybodysbusiness. And while theDemocratic Party doesntdo that on social issues, itdoes do that on financialissues and whether or not

I have a gun.But Libertarian candi-

dates still lag behind Re-publicans and Democratsin the polls, even if partynumbers are higher thanthey have ever been be-fore. And the party needsto remedy this, or face los-ing their access to stateelections.

North Carolina arguablyhas some of the most re-strictive ballot access lawsin the nation. If Baird andthe Libertarian Party hopeto remainon futureballots,the party must continue to

garner at least 2 percent ofthe total vote.

Libertarian gubernato-rial candidate BarbaraHowe just managed toscrape through in 2012,but North Carolina Liber-tarians know theyll haveto step up their game ifthey ever want to see anelected leader who sharestheir ideology.

Baird says that doesntnecessarily mean a gover-nor, state senator or even acounty commissioner.

Weve thought aboutstressinggettingaLibertar-

ian judge, Baird explains.I think we can addresspeoples concerns with aLibertarian judge.

Baird says, to a certainextent, a Libertarian legis-lator is an oxymoron.

What I like to say aboutLibertarians, were notlawmakers, were law un-makers.

Baird believes that sincethe 1990s, North Carolinaresidents have been bur-dened by thousands offederal and state laws thatdo nothing more than hin-der business and distract

normal, everyday people.The law needs to be

simplified, Baird says,and a judge practicingkeen judicial review couldaccomplish that.


SwingFromPage 6E


Burke County Republicans currently serving in Raleigh Rep. Hugh Blackwell, (left) and Sen. Warren Daniel talk after securingan election win.

The Libertarian party is so strong in Burke County because we have a real mixture of Republicans andDemocrats, mainly because of all the state jobs here. When you get the two together youll usually findLibertarians.

Jon Baird,Libertarian Party Chair

PICTUREBURKE/BURKECOUNTYPUBLICLIBRARY

The Burke County Democratic Ladies Organization meets in1960. Pictured are (seated) Mrs. Roy Waycaster, Mrs. JamesKnox, (standing) John E. Giles, Sam J. Ervin III, Mrs. John E.Giles and Robert Byrd. The picture was donated to PictureBurke by the History Museum of Burke County.

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Foothills Conservancy

Keepingourland pristineFoothillsConservancyjoinedforces withcitizens andcommunityleaders toexpand lakeJames StatePark bynearly3,000acresalong PaddyCreek and thelong Arm in2004SUBMITTED PHOTO

James. The group has alsobeen looking at nearbyland, reaching out to owners and workingwith themto expand. There are twoother p laces in Caldwelland Rutherford countieswhere there are scenic byways, she said.The conservancy hasalso played a role inadd ing trails in westernNorth Carol ina, including the OvermountainVictory Trail, which willone day feature a national trail headquarters inBurke County. It stretchesthrough Virginia, WestVirginia, North Carolinaand South Carolina."Burke County is at thecenter of that," said Hamrick Jones. "Itis also significantbecauseof the gathering at QuakerMeadows."The conservancy is alsoworking on raisingmoneyfor a trail adjacent to SouthMountains State Park inBurke County and theCarolina Thread Trail,which will run throughCatawba and Clevelandcounties."We're in a unique position to be able to helpsecure p laces for peopleto enjoy a picnic, a hike,backpacking and camping," said Hamrick Jones."Millions of people benefitfrom the work FoothillsConservancy has done andwilldo in the future."

A Proud DignityMemorial" Provider

the Pisgah National Forestnear Old Fort at CatawbaFalls. It takes about 40minut es to get the re andoffered a moderate hike tothe falls near Interstate 40.But there was one catch."Youhad to trespass to getthere," said HamrickJones."Many groups tried to buythe land with no success.The owners were goingto sell with a realtor. Weborrowed the money andmoved very quickly to purchase that property."The U.S. Forest Servicethen paid back the conservancy for the land.Eyes on thefutureOverall,the group isstrategic in its function."You're no t just buying

land for the sake ofbuyingland," said HamrickJones."We do a lot of homeworkup front. Places must becons ide red significantwith respect to their natural resource value."The group relies on biological and water studiesand looks at the conditionof the forest and the land'sscenic value, she said.The scenic value playsinto the area's roadways,too, through the NationalScenic Bywaysprogram.In Burke County, a smallgrant a few years agohel ped with the PisgahLoop, which goes aroundLinville Gorge and Lake

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per ience all the park hasto offer and said it's convenient for people to visitfrom Charlot te . For McDowell County, Rutherford County and Ashevillevisitors, the parkwas moredifficult to access, bu twith fairly recent acquisitions, the park has p lansto establish a western entrance to make it moreconveni ent. There is already a temporary accessfor Burke County at theold Broughton watershedthat the group helped addto the park years ago, shesaid. It doesn't have developed trails yet, bu t thereis a parking area, and it'sbeen renamed the ClearCreek watershed . As forthe future, the state hasplans to add an educat ional cen ter to the site,said HamrickJones.Although the groupworks hand-in-hand withthe state, it is independentand has a long-term focuson mindwith each acquisition, she said. Asa 50l(c)3,the nonp rof it group hasa board of directors andserves as a facilitator.

"As such, we are ableto move more quickly onsecuring lands that are atrisk," she said. "There aremany examples of whenwe can move quickly onland that was about to besold and forever gone."One such example is in

group's efforts. The mostcritical money is donations and membershipsfrom individuals, shesaid, urging the public tohelp."There is no small contribution," she said. "It'sa great way for people tohave a lastingimpact."She said she'd love tosee peopl e get in sp ir edby the group's work.They hold events andoutings throughout theyear, including an upcoming bonfire and poetry reading and a paddledown the Johns River.For more informationon the group, its eventsor how to participate, logon to www.foothillsconservancy.org/.and created a new gameland there that is also aworld-class trout fishery."On the east side of theLinville River, the groupadded more than 1,400acres to the state's publicgame lands. In doing so, itprotected about a mile ofthe river.

"All these lands were atrisk of development," saidHamrick Jones. "Morethan 1,000home sites wereproposed on one track ofland."On the o ther side of theriver, lands were owned bya paper company, and theconservancy was able toget them added to the Pisgah National Forest.One of the group's mainfunctions is to raise publicand private funds to secureland.The group was also instr umental in securinglands added to the PisgahNat ional forest in Burkeand McDowell counties.Over fiveyears in the early2000s,it workedwith partners to protect about nineacres sur round ing LakeJames and in 2004, waspart ofa 3,000 acre expansion of Lake James StatePark."The new Paddy Creekand Long Arm sections ofLakeJames are one of thethings we've been proudest of,"said HamrickJones."There are some places onearth that really need toremainwild and scenic forpeople to enjoy and LakeJames is clearly one ofthose places."Alltotal, the organizationhas been at least partiallyresponsible for protectinglOs of thousands of acresinwesternNorth Carolina."Think about lands thatare important watersheds.Then think about farmlands and the region's waters and large areas of undisturbed farmland," saidHamrick Jones. "Landsprotect wildlife and arehomes to rare and common plants and animalsthatneed to roam."With tourism as thestate's second-largest industry, the group is helping preserve scenic views,she said. They have ledland acquisitions to triplethe park's size and expandit all the way west of N.C.Highway 64."In Burke County alone,you have the area's largeststate park at South Mountains. It is truly a wilderness park," she said.She urges people to ex-

'There is no smallcontribution'

Parks and protectionIthas worked on projects

with the area's four s tateparks, she said."We are very proud ofour major role to help withSouth Mounta ins StatePark and LakeJames StatePark,"Hamrick Jones said.The conservancy hasalsoworkedwith the NorthCarolina Wildlife Resources Commission to helpobtain land for the state'shunters and fishermen."We protect ed four orfive miles ofWilson Creek

Payingfor large tracts ofland can be expensive fora group such as the Foothills Conservancy.It took about $1.5 million for the group's workwith Lake James StatePark. Tha t money wasused to leverage additional funds to secureland."Only a handful ofpeople can helpat that level,"said Foothills Conservancy's execu tive di rectorSusie HamrickJones.With five full-time employees, the group hashelped with the protection of lands costing tensof millions of dollars, shesaid.That's where the area'sresidents fit into thedepending on the numberofacres in the tract.The old familyhomesteadFor people who want tosee the ir land protectedfrom development, Hamrick Jones said often the

land has been in a familyfor a longtime."They're roo ted in theland and shave seen thelandscape of our regionchange very quickly," saidHamrick Jones.Sometimes, estate taxesare hard to payand familiesare forced to selloff land topay the taxes. That's something that affected Hamrick Jones personally withher grandparents' farm.With an easement on theproperty, the market valueis lower,which can potentially lower taxes.With agriculture at thetop of the state's industries, Hamrick Jones saidprotecting farmland isimportant."Many farms in NorthCarolina have been turnedinto subdivisions," shesaid. "Theywillnever againbe farmable land."The group's goal is towork with landownerswho are interested in preserving the land for futuregenerations, she said."Land trusts are author ized by the way they areincorporated to work withprivate landowners toachieve permanent conservat ion through conservation easements," shesaid. "The land trust takeson a perpetual obligationto make sure it's upheld."The l and trust is whatHamrick Jones called a"unique community institution," in that it has to beon solid footing with fundsinvest ed in endowmentthat can provide peripheral funding for ongoingprojects and potential legal defense obligations.

BYEMILY KILLIANSpecial toThe News HeraldEven though they'remiles apart , kayakers onthe Catawba River, eques

trians at South MountainsState Park, hikers at linville Gorge and familiesrelaxing atWilson Creek allhave something in common - they're enjoyingthearea's natural resources.That's something SusieHamrick Jones and the organization she leads, Foothills Conservancy of NorthCarolina, hope to grow andprotect over the comingdecades."Because our area is soscenic, we're an area wherea lot ofpeople liketo comeand visit and enjoy theoutdoors," she said.Lots of landFounded in 1995, thegroup isone of24 independent nonprofit land truststhat are set up to cover different regions of the state.Foothills Conservancyof North Carolina coverseight counties in its area,including Burke County."What distinguishes usfrom the other 23is the areas we serve, said HamrickJones, who stressed the area'sbeautyand usabilityforresidents and visitors alike."People visit here, come tothe Blue RidgeParkway,goto ChimneyRock."It follows strict nationalaccreditation guidelines.Out of around 1,700 landtrusts in the country, it isone of 150 or so that areaccredited.The group focuses onrivers, lakes and otherwaterways, including theheadwaters of the Catawba River in McDowell,Burke and Caldwell counties, Lake James, WilsonCreek, the headwaters ofthe Broad River in Rutherford Countyand theYadkinRiverin Caldwell County.It also focuses on covering lands and wildernessareas, including HickoryNut Gorge, ChimneyRock,LinvilleGorge, Johns RiverGorge, as well as SouthMountains State Park andthe Pisgah National Forest."We preserve and protect lands that include alarge portion of the eastem slopes of the mountains in North Carolina,and the foothills," saidHamrick Jones. "We havethese mountain lands thatwe protect across the BlueRidge."The conservancy alsolooks after the area'sfarmlands and works topreserve them wheneverpossible."In the eastern countiesof the foothills, ClevelandCounty and all the others, the re still remai n alot of significant agriculturallands," said HamrickJones, who explained thatthe group works with private landowners to protecta family farm or a t ract offorested land with creeksrunning through it fromfuture development.It's entirely voluntary,and the results are permanent, she said."They give up some development rights to preserve the natural resourcesof that land," she said. Inexchange, landowners canpotentially benefit fromfederal and s ta te tax incentives. Landowners alsoretain the ability to build afew additional home sites,


9/20


BYEMILY KILLIAN


MORGANTON

Alittle more than two yearsago, Burke County busi-nesses and officials set

out to bring in a bigger piece ofthe tourism pie. Since then, thecounty has seen an uptick in thenumber of visitors and a grow-ing contingent of retirees.

Ed Phillips, director of tourismfor Burke County, said its justone more way the county istransforming its economy.

If you look at the economyhere, for many years it wasbased on manufacturing and

state employees, he said. To-day, the manufacturing fur-niture and textiles has goneaway.

Hes hoping to fill at least partof that void with tourism.

Phillips and others have spentthe last two years promoting thecounty with a grant from theGolden Leaf Foundation thatgave money for marketing anddeveloping new businesses thatwould impact tourism.

The payoff: 431 new tourismjobs, he said.They range fromthe traditional retail, serviceand restaurant positions to jobsin art galleries and wineries, he

said.Those businesses account

for $6.6 million in capital, withalmost $1 million in grants andloans.

Natures playgroundprovides a pop

Phillips cites outdoor suc-cesses such as The BeanstalkJourney, a zip line that operateswith about 35 seasonal employ-ees, and an outpost that outfitspeople with canoe, kayak andtubing equipment for use on theCatawba River. He also creditsarea wineries for a tourismboost, including Lake James

Cellars, which now has solarpanels on its roof.

We helped them with a$225,000 grant to help them dosolar energy, Phillips said.

The countys largest vineyard,Silver ForkVineyard and Winery,opened in April. It also is offer-ing tours for visitors. CatawbaValley Brewing also has addedsix new jobs for its canning lineand distribution, Phillips said.

The county saw a 179 percentrise in the number of people inits visitor center, bringing thetotal number of people usingits services up to 4,433, Phillipssaid. The center also set a one-

month record in June with 943visitors.

That number is in part dueto regional marketing effortsthat landed the county inseveral publications, includingWNC Magazine, Lake NormanMagazine and Upstate SouthCarolina Lake Living. SouthernLiving magazine featured BurkeCounty in March. Newspapersalso told the story of the coun-tys Brown Mountain Lights.There also is a Burke Music CDrelease scheduled for Octoberthat features people and placesin Burke County.The nationally-released hit movie,The Hunger

Games, brought in additionalvisitors to the Henry Mill Village,said Phillips.

Other businesses with a tour-ism impact include The OldCountry Store, which added sixnew jobs downtown; My LocalBakery, which is new downtown;and the farmers market, whichexpanded the number of days itoperates.

Businesses are taking advan-tage of billboards on Interstate40, which runs through thecounty, bringing 45,000 people aday through the area.

We see that as a huge benefitfor us, so we try to pull as many

of those people as possible, hesaid.

Pattersons Amish Furnitureis one area business that hasseen out-of-state visitors off theinterstate.

Every day of the week, peopleare getting off the interstate tofind their store, he said.

The county also is promot-ing the Pisgah National Forestand Lake James Visitor Center,Phillips said. A weekend touroperator and outfitter plans toserve visitors this summer with

guided hikes and more in thePisgah National Forest, begin-ning this spring.

Phillips and others are lookingforward to bringing in moretourists in 2013 and have a vi-sion for development.

Id love to see us have a newhotel, he said.

In the meantime, hes going tocontinue promoting the countyany way he can.

Well continue with publicrelations and marketing cam-

paigns, he said.

Retirement haven

Marketing efforts also are fo-cused on bringing more seniorsinto the area, and local groupsare working to provide servicesfor the influx.

Brenda Yost, executive directorof Grace Ridge CCRC, is one ofthe people working to enticemore seniors to the area.

She said North Carolina hassurpassed Florida as seniorsfavorite place to retire.

Thats good news for thegroup, which is owned and op-erated by Blue Ridge Healthcare,which is affiliated with Caroli-nas Medical Center.

A lot of people in our industryhave felt that was coming, shesaid. We call them halfbacks,explaining that many peopleretire to Florida, then come half-way back to the Carolinas.

Retirees go to Florida in their50s and 60s.

As they approach an older age

and see a need for health care,theyre coming to North Caro-lina, saidYost, thanks to thestates progressive health care.

Another driver is the areasweather.

Its all about location, loca-tion, location.They want to seesnow and enjoy it, but not behomebound by it, she said.

A third reason why seniorscome to the area and stay isthe variety of things they cando. There are many activities inCharlotte and Asheville for older

adults, including walking trails,museums and symphonies all within an hours drive, shesaid.

Anything anybody wouldwant to do is at a fingertip inBurke County, she said.

Grace Ridge also is working

with people like Phillips in thetourism office to start cross-re-ferrals.

We have the best greenwayin the state, said Yost. Thereis nothing that beats the BakerMeadows Greenway.

Theyve started providingregular programs on downsiz-ing and are working on one onthe Brown Mountain Lights as atourism tie-in, she said.

I think we have a lot of secretsin Burke County and we need totell people about it, Yost said.

Marketing also is key for GraceRidge, said Yost.

They partnered with Retire-

ment Dynamics to tap into newways of reaching older adults.

A few years ago, we just hadto stand at the door, Yost said.With the economy now, peopleare hesitant to spend money.Theyre waiting until they needcare.We have to go out and tellour story.

Grace Ridge is hoping to bringin new people by offering some-thing many similar communi-ties are not all private rooms.

We have a commitment tomaintaining all private rooms,she said.

The group offers a uniquetherapy for older adults with

dementia. Based on a Scandina-vian concept, Grace Ridge has amulti-sensory room with music,a massage table and a waterfallthat helps with the memoryloss, confusion, fear and com-bativeness that can accompanydementias such as Alzheimersdisease. It also can lower painlevels, as well as the need to usebehavior control medications,she said.

As for the future, Grace Ridgeis working to design and reno-vate common areas.Thats set to

begin in May.

We are anxious to get thatstarted, she said.

The group has also partneredwith a new vendor, MorrisonSenior Living, which is part ofa larger international companythat provides food and house-keeping services.

We already had what manypeople called the best restau-rant in town, said Yost. She saidthe new partnership shouldmake it even better.Theyreused to working with seniorsand know what seniors like.

Staying fit in retirement

Once seniors are here, Phifer

Wellness Center comes intoplay.

Shea Rostan, Phifers wellnesscenter manager, said the facilityis not only serving seniors, but itis focusing on people of all ages.

A big misconception is thatwe just have programs for se-niors, she said.

Its programs are all, however,modified so seniors canparticipate.

With Silver Sneakers, manyservices are paid for throughMedicare and seniors dont endup paying out of pocket. Astime goes on, Rostan sees otherinsurers following suit.

The center has more than 60group fitness classes a week, in-cluding yoga and pilates. Wateraerobics alone accounts for 12classes a week.

We have people greater than60 participate in those all thetime, she said.

The centers staff also has spe-cial hiring requirements, whichhelps ensure that they can offerclasses appropriate for seniors.

One-on-one services includesessions that focus on balance,muscle endurance and range ofmotion. The center offers mas-sage therapy, which addressesmuscle tension, and a therapist

also can help improve seniorsposture.

One-on-one training is some-thing we really excel at, saidRostan.

Wellness coaches can sit downwith seniors to create a visionplan to help them achievephysical goals.

Do you want to be able to sitdown on the floor and play withyour grandchildren? They planto make it happen, said Rostan.

Coaches also help people de-velop an exercise program andgo through it with them.

Then theres always the ele-ment of socialization, she said.

Thats really important for thesenior population.

As for the future, Rostanstressed the importance of theareas seniors to stay active.

Stay active. We are the expertsat helping you stay active andwe can help you know how tostay active and see what fitsyour schedule, she said.

She puts the centers vision forthe coming year succinctly.

Were planning for continuedexcellence in the programs weoffer, she said.

Tourism, retirement providing a boost


Wineries are becoming a popular tourist attraction in Burke County.

TRACYFARNHAM/THENEWS HERALD

Myrtle Epley, Margaret Benfield Charlie Poole and Verna Deal at Grace Heights Health and Rehabilitation Center.Games like these are used to stimulate hand and eye coordination and keep seniors active socially.

SUBMITTEDPHOTO

Catawba Meadows Park is a popular attraction for locals and touristsalike.


10/20


11/20

Looking Back, Looking Forward

EDUCATION ARTS MUSIC RELIGION


12/20

BYGRETCHENGRIFFITH


The year is 1893.

Inside a schoolin eastern Burke

County a group of stu-dents wait for class tobegin. The teacher enters,speaks to them, but theyonly stare, shaking theirheads. They speak French,not English, and imme-diately the parents in theWaldensian colony realizethis one-room, one-teach-er school is not equippedto handle their childrensneeds. Had these childrenarrived a century later,they would have found

the schools well preparedwith programs designedto meet the challengesthey brought. Had thesechildren arrived a centurybefore, they would havefound nothing.

This evolutionof theschools into a unifiedschool systemservingnearly15,000 studentswasntautomatic, nor wasit smooth. Muchof it wasin response to state andfederal mandates.Throughpeaks of achievementanddepths of setbacks,the Burke County Public

Schools have entered the21stcentury with a resolveto students to empowerthem to be competitive,successful and productivecitizens.

The earliest years

Although the system ofpublic education beganofficially with the state Lit-erary Fund in 1825, earlyfamilies in the countyrecognized the need toeducate their children.The first school, the Mor-gan Academy, opened in1783 in Morganton, a day

trip too far for childrenin the rural areas. It wasa tuition-paid school.Free public schools wereyears away. A series ofother academies followed,including one near QuakerMeadows, another,Table Rock Academy inthe mountains, and ineastern Burke, RutherfordAcademy, later known asRutherford College.

Church-funded schoolsalsooperated in thecounty, many as an exten-sion of Sunday school,theonly dayworking

farmchildren could at-tend. Classeswereheld inprivate homes known asschoolhouses or in churchfacilities, the option theWaldensians eventuallyselected. FirstPresbyterianChurch of Morgantonsponsoreda schoolin theSouthMountains throughtheirBurkemont MountainMission.

The state steps in

The North Carolina Gen-eral Assembly passed thePublic School Law of 1869establishing state regula-

tions to be carried out bylocal authorities. Eachadministrative unit wouldbe overseen by a super-intendent and an electedschool board who were inturn accountable to a state

superintendent. Localcommittees appointed bythe school boards would

control the business ofindividual schools. As themoney ran out, the schoolclosed for the year, or inmany cases, continuedthrough a subscriptionsystem with familiesshouldering the costs. Bar-tered goods were acceptedas readily as cash. By thetime the Waldensians ar-rived in 1893 the length ofthe school year was fourmonths, recently in-creased from three. Manyof the teachers were nothigh school graduates andfew had teacher education

training.Since municipalities in

the state could supple-ment schools from theirtreasuries as early as 1870,a discrepancy betweenavailable funding for cityschools and rural countyschools soon developed.In 1903 the town of Mor-ganton left the countysystem and established itsown public school admin-istrative unit.The town ofGlen Alpine followed in1907. Existing within allthree units were coloredschools serving the black

communities throughoutthe county. There wasno single unified schoolsystem, instead whiteand colored city schoolsadministered by twodifferent city units, andwhite and colored countyschools administered by acounty unit. The evolutioninto one system was over ahalf century away.

New schools to servecounty needs

The 22-classroom RockSchool built by masonsand carpenters from the

Waldensian communityopened in 1923, replac-ing the many one-roomschools in the Valdesearea.When Robert L.Patton, Jr. became thecounty school superinten-dent in 1924, there were66 schools in the countysystem alone, mostly one-room, one-teacher facili-ties. By the time he retiredin 1963, the total numberhad been reduced to 15,although the school popu-lation had doubled. Thisdrastic reduction came asa result of the 1925 county

systems plan of schoolconsolidations, closing thesmall schoolhouses andbusing children into moreefficient, larger schoolsthat could offer greateropportunities for learning.

Funds for buildingnewschools in the20thcenturycame from localproperty tax revenuessupplemented with moneyfrom state bond appor-tionments. Additionalfunding forschools in theblack communities camefrom the Rosenwald Build-ingProgram in theform

of matching grants fromJulius Rosenwald, presi-dent of Sears, Roebuck andCompany. Schools builtwith thesefunds includedMorgantonSchool, a 1924six-teacherstructure, the

1925 McElrath(also knownas McAlpine) andWillowTree schools, and in thefarwest of thecounty, the1926 Rosenwald (Bridge-water)and RockHillschools. Federal aid duringthe Great Depressionpartially fundedadditionalschool building projectsthrough the PWA, PublicWorks Administration.

Modern system takes

shapeIn 1943, the school year

expanded to a requirednine-month calendar.Schools operated onschedules based on thelifestyle of the localcommunity. Countyschools were often closedbecause of weather-related road conditions,while city schools werebetter able to maintainnormal schedules. JonasRidge in the Appalachiansopened in March, randuring the summer andcompleted the year before

the January snows. Tworural schools in farmingcommunities, Absher andGeorge Hildebrand, beganthe academic year in July,

2F SUNDAY,MAY 5, 2013 THENEWS HERALD www.morganton.comBURKE 20TWENTY

Burke education: Centuries in themaking

PICUREBURKE/BURKECOUNTYPUBLICLIBRARY

Pictured are students and a teacher from Alpine Cotton Mill School.The picture was donated to Picture Burke by Joyce Carroll.


Pictured is a first-grade class from Morganton Central School in 1961. The picture was donated to Picture Burke by MichaelConley.


Pictured is the former Mull School.The picture was donated to Picture Burke by Burke CountyPublic Schools.

SeeHISTORY, Page3F

SoSSoman funeral homecrematory center


13/20

THENEWS HERALD www.morganton.com SUNDAY,MAY 5, 2013 3FBURKE 20TWENTY

closed for two monthsbeginning in late August and

reopened after the harvestseason.

With a 12th gradeof school-ingadded in the1944 through1946 school years, overcrowd-ingforced theMorganton andGlen Alpinesystems to changea standing policyand no longeraccept students livingoutsidethecity limits, with oneexcep-tion, Olive Hill High School. Al-thoughit was in themunicipalityof Morganton, this wasthe onlyblack high schoolin thecounty.After a 1954 U.S. Supreme Courtdecision struck downthe sepa-rate but equal school structure,it wasclosedand its students

reassigned to schools in theirhome communities.

In 1969the three administra-tive units mergedinto theBurkeCountyPublic Schools under the

leadershipof superintendent Dr.Charles Weaver. Shortly after themerger,the eight highschools,Drexel, George Hildebrand, GlenAlpine, Hildebran, Morganton,

Oak Hill, Salemand Valdese,consolidatedinto two, EastBurke and Freedom.Two addi-tional high schools openedmorerecently, Jimmy C. Draughn andRobert L. Patton. Junior high

schools created forthe sevenththrough ninth gradeswerelaterrestructured into sixth- througheighth-grade middle schools.

A state supported kinder-garten added in the 1970s wasfollowed by a ground-breakingdecision to lower class size inthe primary grades. Librariesevolved from a delivery serviceprovided by the public librarysbookmobile into well equippedmedia centers. Cafeteria servicegrew from the early days ofhome canned foods and abartering exchange to a central-ized food service system thatnow insures each child access to

nutritional meals. Curriculumtrends through the years offereda variety of techniques andteaching styles including newmath, whole language, openclassrooms and team teaching.

As the school system movesinto the 21st century, newtechnologies, an expandingcurriculum and well educatedteachers are becoming the hall-mark of the individual schools.Current programs developedin response to student needsinclude Pre-Kindergarten,Career and Technical Educa-tion, Middle College, and theone program that would havebeen so valuable to the Walden-sian children those many yearsago, ESL, English as a SecondLanguage. Exciting programs,well equipped schools theevolution continues.

HistoryFrom Page 2F

PICURE BURKE/BURKE COUNTYPUBLIC LIBRARY

Pictured is Morganton Graded School. The picture was donated to PictureBurke by the Historic Burke Foundation (R.M.Lin eberger Collection).

JENNIFERFREW |THE NEWSHERALD

The campus of Western Piedmont Community College,photographed in fall 2010. BELOW:An aerial view of the campus.

WPCC a plus during tough economic [email protected] Within the

next decade, Western Piedmontwill be a more dynamic commu-nity college, touching the livesof almost every family in BurkeCounty, then-president ofWestern Piedmont CommunityCollege (WPCC), Jim Richardsonsaid in a March 25, 1990, NewsHerald article.

Richardson was not too far offin his predictions. Today, WPCCserves one out of five Burke

County adults.WPCC was chartered in 1964,

with the first two-year degreegraduation held in the summerof 1968.

In the 1968-1969 academicyear, the school enrolled 1,037full-time students.

WPCC recently saw the lowestenrollment numbers in six yearsat the college. And thats a signalthat perhaps the economy is onthe rise.

Typically, there is an oppositeor inverse relationship with theeconomy, WPCCs Vice Presi-dent for Student DevelopmentAtticus Simpson said in a Feb. 5

issue ofThe News Herald. Whentheeconomy is down, ourenroll-ment goes up because peopleare looking for opportunities toenhance their employability. Ifthe economy is up, our enroll-ment goes down because fewerpeople are looking to enhancetheir skill sets.

Currently, 2,331 students are

enrolled in the college.In 2009, the school saw 3,298

students enrolled.We look at a variety of data

sources including workforcetrends, feedback from our advi-sory committees, first year en-rollment as a predictor of courseofferings for the second yearand local high school gradu-ation rates, Simpson said inFebruary.

Today, 58 percent of studentsare 21 or over. The average age

for students is 30. WPCC offers a12 to 1 student/teacher ratio andonly 9 percent of students takeclasses exclusively online.

Thirty-eight percent of stu-dents take a combination ofonline and traditional classes.

Simpsonsaidtheopportunitiesfound at WPCC are invaluableduring economic downturns.

Its close to home; offers af-fordable tuition; offers a varietyof career and transfer related de-grees; and provides a close-knit

learningenvironmentsupportedbyservices andpeoplereadyandwilling to help students achievewhatevertheir higher education,

training and career goals maybe, Simpson previously said.

Simpson said students cansave $20,000 on the first twoyears of pursuing a college de-gree compared to four-yearuniversity students.

WPCC has added programsand certifications over theyears including the Career

Readiness Certificate, awarding484 certificates in 2011.

Additionally, WPCC held itsMission Transition Job Fairin October 2011. The fair at-tracted more than 350 commu-nity members who packed thecollege to pass out resumes to

possible employers.The event has become an

annual community event;collaborating efforts betweenthe college, Burke Develop-ment, Inc. Work Source West,the North Carolina EmploymentSecurity Commission andWestern Piedmont Council ofGovernments.

When the economy isdown, our enrollmentgoes up becausepeople are looking foropportunities to enhancetheir employability. If

the economy is up, ourenrollment goes downbecause fewer people arelooking to enhance theirskill sets.

Atticus Simpson,

vice president for student

development

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[email protected]

MORGANTON Withan estimated 60 percentof Burke County gradu-ates leaving high schoolwith a diploma but noplans to attend a collegeor university, educatorsare looking for new waysto equip 18-year-olds forthe skilled labor workforce.

Furniture, textile andother manufacturingplants were once abun-dant in Burke, meaning ahigh school student who

took a few shop, woodworking or metal workingclasses in school couldgraduate and easily gethired on at the plant thatemployed his father andhis grandfather.

In todays high-techworld, companies look forskills and experience thathigh school graduatesdont have.

Educators are blazingnew trails and asking forhelp along the way fromgovernment leaders andeconomic developers toequip tomorrows workers.

Over the past year anda half, members of theBurke County Board ofEducation, and especiallya subcommittee of theboard looking into work-force development, andthe Burke County PublicSchools superintendentsoffice have led round-table discussions andcreated new curriculumsin an effort to broadenstudents ways of learning.

Heres a look at a feweducation alternativesthat go beyond yourusual reading,writing and

arithmetic:

Going to the core

The North CarolinaDepartment of PublicInstruction adopted theCommon Core and NorthCarolina Standard Courseof Study curriculums forthis school year.

The Common Core isused for teaching Englishlanguage arts and mathand the standard coursefor all other courses.

Common Core is de-signed to help studentslearn and gain skills and

build on those as theymove up through eachgrade level. Critical think-ing, problem solving andcommunication skills nowgo into teaching the basicsof learning to read, writinganalytically and solvingmath problems.

More than 40 states haveadopted Common Core soas a child moves from onestate to another he or sheshould be more easily ableto jump into a new schoolenvironment and be onthe same level as thosenew classmates.

Full STEAM aheadSTEM which stands

for science, technology,engineering and math is a buzzword in theeducation sector.

Burke County PublicSchools, the North Caro-lina School for the Deaf,the North Carolina Schoolof Science and Math andWestern Piedmont Com-munity College have part-nered to teach those fourconcepts, plus added anA for agriculture, to localhigh school students.

Opening on the deafschool campus in Augustis a yet-to-be-namedacademy that will offer abuffet of course options.

The courses includeengineering, forensics,genetics, physics, blue-print reading and farmmaintenance.

Teaching the classes willbe WPCC professors in theclassroom and math andscience school teacherslecturing via interactive

video conferencing.Students will have the

flexibility to plan their dayand can take classes at theacademy as well as theirtraditional high school.

Each class will be set upfor up to 24 students, andstudents will have to gothrough an applicationprocess to get a seat.

Leading the way

Project Lead theWayexposes middle and highschools students to hands-on engineering concepts.

It uses a STEM-basedcurriculum focused oncreative problem solv-ing and dreaming up aninvention and figuring outhow to make it a reality.

The program launched

at Liberty and East Burkemiddle schools in Au-gust and will expand tothe countys other threemiddle schools in the2013-14 school year.

Jonathan Clontz, careerand technical educationdirector for Burke schools,said, If we can engagekids, weve got them. Ifwe can engage them, thelearning becomes easy.

We want to spark kidsinterests and give themanother opportunity,Superintendent LarryPutnam said.

Students can exploreaerospace, green archi-tecture and biomedicaltopics, such as geneticsand diseases.

They robot

To foster engineeringinterests in younger stu-dents, Burke elementaryschools this year are offer-ing robotics programs.

Much like a spellingbeeor math counts, theschools sponsored a robot-

ics competition in April.The students have to

build a robot and programit to perform specifictasks.

That task this year has

to be centered on helpingsenior citizens.

The eight-memberteams practice up to threetimes a week and learnnot only the technicallessons of robot conceptand design but also teambuilding skills.

Free college credits

Burke County highschool juniors and seniorswho want to get a jump-start on their collegecareers or get trade cer-tificates that lead to jobsright out of high school

can enter the Career andCollege Promise program.

Students can choosethree pathways: careerand technical, which leadsto a certificate or diploma;

Core 44, which provides34 hours of tuition-freecollege credits that aretransferable to state col-leges and universitiesand some participating

private ones; or coopera-tive innovative high schoolprograms, which is whatBurke Middle College is,a high school on WPCCscampus where studentsearn both a high schooldiploma and an associatesdegree.

Taking cues fromothers

In setting up the STEAMacademy, Burke schoolsystem department lead-ers toured the North Caro-lina Center for Engineer-ing Technologies earlier

this year.The Appalachian State

University facility is inHickory and offers sum-mercamps for elementary,middle and high schoolers

plus associates, bachelorsand masters degrees, non-credit training, researchand support to businessesand industries for workingprofessionals.

Director Sid Conner andEngineering TechnologistRandy Burns, who alsoserves as a school boardmember, said the centerputs the E (engineering)in STEM.

It has an engineeringlab, polymers lab and adesign and rapid productrealization lab and thelabs house high-tech,cutting edge machinesand software for computerassisted design, laser cut-ting and scanning and 3-Dprinting.

Its the 3-D printers the

Burke school system isinterested in purchasingand incorporating into acurriculum at the STEAMacademy.

Engineering courses,

which require interestsand backgrounds in mathand science, give stu-dents not on the path toa college a foundation indevelopment and design

and make their skills setmore marketable, Connerand Burns said.

In Iredell County, the Ca-reer Academy and Techni-cal School (CATS) housesautomotive technology,culinary arts and nursingprograms, digital com-munication and firefight-ing under one roof anold 205,000-square-footfurniture plant.

At the start of their questto expand course offeringsto Burke students, Burkeschool leaders toured theIredell-Statesville Schools

facility.CATS enrolls 500

students andthe IredellStatesvilleSchools system

4F SUNDAY,MAY 5, 2013 THENEWS HERALD www.morganton.comBURKE 20TWENTY

Preparing students for the future

FILEPHOTOSBY CHERYLM.SHUFFLER/THENEWSHERALD

Ashley Craftsfirst-gradeclass at MorgantonDay School works on an activity. The private school in Morgantonenrollsjunior kindergarten through eighth-grade

students and offers an International Baccalaureate program.

ABOVE: Jeter Hall on the campus of the North Carolina Schoolfor the Deaf will be the home of the new STEAM academy, apartnership of the deaf school, Burke County Public Schools,North Carolina School of Science and Math and WesternPiedmont Community College. Opening in August, it willoffer high school students science, technology, engineering,agriculture and math courses.

LEFT: Director Sid Conner at the North Carolina Center forEngineeringTechnologies gives a tourof the facility in Hickoryto members of the Burke County Public Schools leadershipteam. The center houses engineering, polymers and designand rapid product realization labs plus high-tech, cuttingedge machines and software for computer assisted design,laser cutting and scanning and 3-D printing. The Burke schoolsystem is interested in some of the equipment for its newSTEAM academy.

See FUTURE, Page5F

www.ejvictor.com

Est. 1990

210 US Highway 70

828.874.5100


15/20

THENEWS HERALD . www.morganton.com RUBIa: 20TWENTY SUNDAY, MAY5,2013 SFPicking up STEAM in Burke

Students work ondesigning theinteriorof thefutureSTEAM academy onthe campus of NCSD.

Milland Bradley,assistant superintendent ofBurke County Schools

"Itis impossible to know whatnew technologies mightexistin thenextjewyears. Ourgoalhasbeen tocreate aeutting-edge,jlexibleprogram thatattracts students andprovides opportunities thatfinanciallywe arenotable toqiJeratallfourhighschools. The design istooffer abuffiti frelevant andrigorous courses in afle:riblemannerthatengage andappeal tostudents."

THENEWSHERALD FILEPHOTO

this pre-engineering curriculumfor the coming schoolyear."The program also is working with the Burke Chamber ofCommerce and other businesspar tners to provide field tripsand speakers that will increasestudent and teacher awareness ofskillsused in the localworkforce.As for the future of STEAMAcademy, the school syst emwill continue seeking additionalfunding to no t only sustain theprogram bu t keep it on the cutting edge. School officialsare appreciative of Board of Educationefforts to support the programand plan to continue keepingan eye toward its future as itprepares to kick offits first year."There is no question thatexposing students to the latest technologies, like 3D printing and providing an adaptableclassroom environment capableofvideo conferencing andwhatever methods of instructionaldelivery the future may hold, isexpensive," Bradley said. "Weare fortunate to have great partnerships and community support for these programs. We areconstantly seeking grantmoneythat would enable us to expandmore quickly,with an eye on ensuring we can sustain what weimplement."

program looks bright.Among the proposals beingconsideredfor the future are: offering foundational engineeringclasses in all four of Burke's highschools, expansionofagriscienceprograms at NCSDand workingWestern Carolina University toprovide summer programs and

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BURKE 20TWENTY: Looking Back, Looking Forward

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