Rutherford Weekly

N.C. TRACTOR & FARM SUPPLY 299 Railroad Ave., Rutherfordton • 828-288-0395 Mobile: 828-429-5008 • mf1dpshehan@gmail.com SALES SERVICE PARTS PROUDLY SERVING RUTHERFORD, CLEVELAND, GASTON, LINCOLN, POLK COUNTIES AS THE AREAS HOMETOWN MASSEY FERGUSON DEALER. IF YOU BUY ANYWHERE ELSE IF YOU BUY ANYWHERE ELSE YOU WILL PAY TOO MUCH! YOU WILL PAY TOO MUCH! ASK ABOUT 0% INTEREST ISSUE NO. 42 • October 22, ISSUE NO. 42 • October 22, 2020 • 2020 • RutherfordWeekly.com • 828-248-1408 RutherfordWeekly.com • 828-248-1408 Our 28 th Year IN GOD WE TRUST! IN GOD WE TRUST! 6P LW K 7 UDG L QJ 3RV W STP 828-289-6699 WE BUY GOLD 131 West Main Street, Spindale Beside Barley's PAYING TOP DOLLAR BUYING & SELLING ANTIQUES,JEWELRY & MUCH MORE! When Collins Metal was paying $12 per 100 pounds, customers were lined up a long way in both directions on business 74 in the eastern edge of Forest City. "We were paying between 35 and 40 thousand (dollars) per day and every dime of it was going right back into this community," Barry Collins said of a business that has benefi ted the local economy for over 90 years. Today prices for scrap metal are about half what they were a few years ago, but business is steady. A recent "light" day saw 67 loads come into the local yard plus containers from industrial sites that collect metal from as far away as Charlotte and Anderson, S.C. 71-year-old Barry Collins says he plans to continue working at the yard, "for as long as the Lord lets me. I can't see sitting down." It's also a local source of entertainment for children. "Sometimes I'll see fi ve or six kids on the hoods of their mama's cars, on that upper parking lot, not anywhere near (to the operation,)" Collins said of the children who come to watch cars get crushed. The company processes millions of pounds of steel, aluminum and other metals per month. "And what we pay for metal all goes right back into local grocery stores and other businesses. And we pay it straight. If somebody brings in ten pounds, we pay for ten pounds. We want to keep it all straight," he said. Founded by his father, Benjamin Franklin Collins Sr., the company employs seven people, including Collins and his son, Ben, and pays "thousands of dollars" in local property taxes. The elder Collins also sold spare parts and cars and trucks. "A lot of people tell me they bought their fi rst car or fi rst pickup from my daddy," he said. The yard includes the big trucks that haul containers in from industrial sites and beautiful piles of scrap that run the spectrum from giant motors and gears to the aluminum cans that are baled for shipment to recycling plants. Ninety percent of all aluminum cans on the market today are made from recycled aluminum cans. Collins laughed when asked how long he's been at it. "I started when I was 14 years old after school," said the youngest of the Collins brothers who has worked on the yard. "I've been right here for 57 years." Two of his brothers, Allen and Benjamin Jr., also worked on the yard. Barry said he worked for Howard Harrill decorating for six months, but otherwise he has been at Collins Metal. He said his son, Ben, could run it without him but for now he's happy that the Lord lets him keep it up. "My preacher told us one Sunday morning that the Lord starts constructing your life the day you are born and that construction keeps right on up until the end," Collins said of the Rev. Garin Hill at Forest City's First Baptist. One local sage refl ected on Collins's enthusiasm for the work that sometimes goes on dawn til dusk. "Why wouldn't he love it? He gets to crush cars for a living." Collins Metal Has Paid Locals For Scrap For 90 Years Every Dime Goes Right Back To Local Pockets Story by Pat Jobe Tires have to come off recycled cars before crushing. Collins Metal has been putting money into the local economy for 90 years. MCNAIR VOLUNTEER THANKFUL FOR CONTACT Rutherford County is a basket of jewels, but few outshine The McNair Educational Foundation. With offi ces on the three largest high school campuses, and outreach that extends as far as local kindergarten classrooms and onto college campuses, the foundation has touched thousands of lives in its 30-plus year history. For the past roughly eight years Ann Williamson Hutchins, a retired teacher, has been a volunteer mentor with McNair. She has enjoyed it thoroughly. "I like the personal contact with the students. Being able to offer them encouragement means a lot to me," she said. "I had a student who was a freshman. She was doing pretty well. I suggested her as 'most improved' or something like that. She did pretty well. At the end of the four years, she wrote me a note thanking me for my encouragement and nominating her for that award." She gave Hutchins a lot of credit for her success. "All I did was talk to her," she added with a laugh. But the talk and encouragement of McNair mentors can often make all the difference in the lives of the students they inspire. "Most of them never think of education beyond high school because nobody in their family has ever done it," she said. "But it is so important to getting a decent-paying job." A top priority for the foundation is getting students to think about post- high school education. "We emphasize to them that they can get their fi rst two years of a college education at Isothermal basically for free, stay in the county and save that money before going off for their last two years." "I'll tell you a funny one. One of my guys had been in the gym. It was to be our last meeting before he graduated. He asked me, 'Do I have to come?' There was nothing I was going to tell him that I hadn't already told him, so I let him go back to his gym class." She says she always has candy for the students she works with and they do like getting out of class for 15 minutes to meet with their McNair volunteer. As a home economics teacher she emphasized to her students that being part of a family, "is a job, too. It matters to understand how to treat children and a spouse." She grew up in Cerro Gordo, N.C. population 207 according to the 2010 census. "It's Spanish for fat hill," she said. A local dignitary gave the town its name after a fi ght broke out at the dedication of the fi rst railroad depot. He said, "This reminds me of the Battle of Cerro Gordo." The town lies about halfway between Wilmington and Florence, S.C. Hutchins taught at Chase for fi ve years, also worked in food service and at R.S. Central for 14 years. After retiring, she worked at Fireside Books and is very pleased that the county has Next Door Books on Thomas Street in Forest City. Story by Pat Jobe Ann Hutchins Enjoys Encouraging Students Ann Williamson Hutchins A 1938 telegram to Benjamin Franklin Collins off ers roughly 50 cents per hundred pounds of scrap metal. Prices are better today, but Barry Collins acknowledged that after freight that '38 price was closer to 30 cents per hundred pounds. Of course, 30 cents bought a lot more back then.

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