DOWN UNDER NEWSLETTER OF THE NATIONAL CAVES ASSOCIATION VOLUME III - NO. 4 DECEMBER. 1968 34 DOWN UNOt" NEWSLETTER OF THE NATIONAL CAVES ASSOCIATION EDITOR: ROY A. DAVIS, Cumberland Caverns, McMinnville, Tenn. 37110 RODNEY SCHAEFFER, Pres. TOM GIBSqN, Vice-Pres. ROY A. DAVIS, Sec. Howe's Caverns Skyline Caverns Cumberland Caverns Howe's Cave, N. Y. Front Royal, Virginia McMinnville, Tenn. REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENTS: ~, 1. Russell Slyden, Penn's Cave, ~entre'Hall, Pa. 2. Dick Bell, Seneca Caverns, Bettvue, Ohio 3. Frank Raulston, Wonder Cave] Monteagle, Tenn. 4. Eddie Mi.Iler , Bridal Cave, Camdenton, Mo. 5. Clara. Heidemann, Natural Bridge Caverns, San Antonio, Texas 6. Carl Brechler, Cave of the Mounds, Blue Mounds, Wis. DOWN UNDER is published quarterly by the NATIONAL CAVES ASSOCIATION, Rt. 6, McMinn,yille, Tenn. 37110. Areacode 615, 668-4396. Material for publi- cation should be sent to the Edit9r at the above address. COV€R: 'I'hle month's cover photo is "Mottern Art", free-form stalagmite of white and orange, one of the scenic points t n CENTURY CAVERNS, Boerne, Texas. BULLETIN: Tom Gibson recently Infor-med us that Past President Ted Graves, Luray Caverns, was in a very serious auto accident Dec. 7,' Ted suffered multiple fractures of the right leg, a broken left ankle and left wrist, and several broken ribs. He was taken to the Rockingham Memorial Hospital at Harrisonburg, Va., and was in the in- tensive care unit there for about a week. He is now in a private room in the same hos- pital and is expected to be in traction t here until early February. IV Annual Convention - Texas Convention activities actually got underway Tuesday evening, October 1, when cave people arrived by motorcade at Century Caverns outside Boerne, Texas. Mr. & Mrs. Eugene Ebell knocked themselves out entertaining the gang ... with re- freshment, gift of a personalized. drinking stein, and a delightful trip through their beau- fiful cave. Mrs. Ebell was the capable guide ... who may have had some difficulty out- talking the noisy cave-owners, but she good-naturedly put up with us, and the striking scenery of the cave was a thrilling exp ertence, --From Century the motorcade traveled to the opposite side of Boerne to Cascade Caverns, were Mr. & Mrs. John Bridges, Mr. & Mrs. Jfrr. Brummett, and their hospitable crew made everyone right at home. --The cave trip was spread out between several guides, and was most pleasant. Cascade had flooded some years ago, 35 AT CENTURY CAVERNS: FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, THE QUEEN'S THRONE--MRS. EBELL STARTS NCA FOLK INTO THE CAVE--WIDTE GRAPES. washing out fixtures and trails, and filling the place with mud. It took months of back- breaking labor to restore it--and massive concrete dam across the mouth is ominous reminder that some people have more technical problems than others. After cave trip everyone gathered in shelter house for fabulous feast of german sausage, beef, and goodies galore. A German band was on hand to "oom-pah-pah' into the night. AT CA~CADE CAVERNS: FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, ENTRANCE BUILDING--DISAP- PEARING STREAM--GERMAN BAND AT BANQUET. CONVENTION MINUTES: The IV. Annual Convention of the National Caves Association was officially opened at approximately 10 am, Wednesday morning, October 2, at the San Antonio Inn, San Antonio, Texas, by Convention Chairman Clara Heidemann's greetings and welcome. Association members were further greeted by the reading of official memor- andum from Gov. .Iohn Counalry of Texas. The Invocation was pronounced by Chaplain Jentry of the Fourth Army. Welcome was extended by Mayor Walter McAlister of San Antonio. ' The Annual Business Meeting was then opened by President Ted Graves, who welcomed members and thanked Clara Heidemann and other Convention hosts for their considerable efforts on behalf of the Association. 36 CHAIRMAN CLARA HEIDE MANN WEL- COMES NCA. PRES. TEDi,GRAVES OPENS FIRST SESSION. The first tterr, of business was the appointing of several working committees, to report at A later meeting: Robert Hudson, Chairman Nominations Committee; Roy Davis, Chairman Resolutions Committee, and Car 1 Gibson, Chairman Time & Place Com- mittee; the various other members, to be selected by the Chairmen appointed. Report on Current Status of Highway Beautification Act -- Jack Her achend, NCA Legislative Representative This has been an interesting year for us, legislatively. It has been A privi- lege fot me to represent the Association. We've written and received over 1,100 letters in 1968, thus far. We've made A number of fr;ends in Washington--that will stand us in good stead. We have sent gifts, pictures of historic shrines and natural wonders, to in- fluential people. -v'I'lu s month the writer of the Highway Beautification bill will be my guest at the National Crafts Festival at Silver Dollar City. These contacts are invaluable to us: since the size of the National Government makes who you know mighty important. -i-scverar of us have flown to Washington on several occasions, and we now know some of our legislators on A first-name basis. Our chances of being heard are much greater than ever before. Two major developments in the form of amendments to the Highway Beautifi- cation Act were made in 1968--both of them affecting each of us. (Compensation: "No sign, display or devise shall be required to be removed under this section if the .Iedera.I share of just compensation to be paid upon removal of such stgn, display or devise, is not available to make such payment. T') Compensation for signs to be removed is not a- vailable- -meaing that deadline for their removal will be extended beyond 1970--until sue h time as funds are availab.le, And, secondly, it has been decided that if there is A bonafied County or otherzuning agency: that that agency will be the determining factor in the area it affects, as to whether or not signs may remain. This could very definitely work inour favor. As we look toward the future in 1969 and 1970, two ideas disturb me very much: That members and non-members of NCAhave the feeling that legislation just isn't going to happen: or 1 that any effort they might make would be useless against the awe- some bigness of theWashington law-making milL Both of these concepts are dead wrong! Please don't be deluded into thinking we're not going to have legislation. We are going to have legislation. It will be framed around the present Beautification Law. ItwUl be a- mended ... but it will be! Nineteen states have already entered into an agreement with the Dept. of Transportation. --And, the pessimistic attitude that 'your' vote doesn't count is all wrong. We can do an amazing amount together ... and already have. We can have A continuing effect--if we work together. Right now we're getting about A 200/0response when we ask for help in the form of letters, telegrams or phone calls. We're not A very big organization to begin with ... and if we're really fighting for our lives (andwe are): we 37 ought to get a better than 20% response. In the next 16 months some very important things will happen, and we need to fight on three different fronts at the same time: 1. Within your own State. The individuals within a given State can do more for themselves than the Association can do. Members in some states are doing a fantas- tic job (Tennessee happens to be one of them); others have not taken time to find out what's happening to them. There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that an individual state can write a much more stringent law per-taining to directional markers than. the federal gov- ernment threatens to do. 2. In Washington, now: This month will be the .most important in the next 16, since the federal standards (criteria) under which we mayor may not live are to be formulated this month. Mr. McInturf, who is in charge of btrtboard legislation, has called me on several occasions to discuss how this criteria might be acceptably w. r i t- ten. It is his suggestion that we suostttutc for our request for ten directional markers in each direction on each highway, three directional markers in each fifty miles of high- way. It is my hope that we can unarrunous Iy go along with this. If the 'highway number changes, you get another three signs. If you have 60 miles of road, you could have six signs. If down the. same stretch of road the highway number changes, you could have an- other 3 directional markers. Mr. McInturf proposes to take this idea to his boss, Mr. Bridwell, Director, Dept. of Transportation, to sell. Here's where we enter in: L'd Ifke us to unanimously endorse Mr. McInturf's idea, but restate our stand on minimum size, to state that we must have 300 sq. ft. of size wi thm 150 ft. of traveled way, and that dir- ectional markers beyond 150 ft. must be 4'00 sq. it. in size, and we feel that this is the absolute minimum. We would offer this endorsement in a letter to Mr. Bridwell, Im- \ mediately. 3. Communication with Legislators: We'd further like to ask each and every NCA member (and all others who are willing) to telegraph your congressman and senator immediately, telling them that your business will be materially affected this month by standards to be set pertaining to natural wonders in this month's action. --Please re- spond to this plea. It does not affect your chance to continue to fight the whole legisla- tion: it only means that if you aren't successful in the larger effort, those regulations under which you will have to live will be a far better set of standards than they would be if we don't take this opportunity while it's ours.