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Airport dedication program surfaces
One of the best things about covering breaking news stories is the information that surfaces along the way.
That was the case this week when I uncovered a program from the 1978 dedication of the Jackson County Airport while looking for the date our county airport commission became an independent airport authority.
The daylong event was held July 2, with festivities getting under way at 8 a.m. and continuing until 4 p.m. Coffee and donuts were provided by the contractors involved – Mountain Shore Construction, Queen Electric Co., Ensley Plumbing Co., and Barbot and Associates Engineering.
An aircraft display featured aircraft from Cessna Corp., the N.C. Forest Service and private owners.
Uncle Jimmy Childress, who stopped by our office two weeks ago to tell us about Rotary's effort to aid the Community Table, and who was in our Society News last week as he and Mickie celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, was the master of ceremonies for the 1 p.m. dedication.
The Cullowhee High School band performed under the direction of Bob Reid, who is now once again a band director after a number of years leading the Smoky Mountain High School choral program.
The welcome was by Bruce Wike, then chairman of the county commissioners, with the invocation and benediction by the Rev. John Bunn, a former Sylva mayor. Bunn, who was then pastor of First Baptist, still preaches in area churches.
A history of the project was outlined by Paul Flynn, who was airport commission chairman.
The main address was given by Jack Barker, an official with the Federal Aviation Administration in Atlanta.
Once the airport was officially dedicated, those in attendance watched air shows by Confederate Eagle Airshows from Atlanta and Sue Dusenbury of Effingham, S.C.
Other familiar names from that day's program include our own Herald publisher, Jim Gray, and Flynn and Childress' fellow original airport commission members – Woodrow Welch, Andy Wilson, Robert Varner, Johnny Watson and former commissioner Brad Pell. The commission also included a representative from each town, but those names were not listed.
The facility, back in the news this week as it prepares to embark on a $1.2 million hangar project, got its start in 1967 when Jackson County voters, by a 2-to-1 margin, approved funds to construct an airport. After considerable exploration, the Berry Ridge site was agreed on and approved by the FAA. Construction used about $100,000 of Jackson County taxpayers' money, out of a total of almost $2.7 million necessary to complete the project.
Three boards of commissioners served during the duration of airport planning and construction:
1966-70 – George Sloan, chairman; Pell and Bill Dillard.
1970-74 – Wike, chairman; Padgett McCoy, who would serve another term from 1994-1998 as a member of the county's first five-member board; and Eldridge Painter, a current town of Sylva board member and member of the airport authority board.
1974-78 – Wike, chairman; Glenn Hughes and Bill Fisher.
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