The Frillfife Times
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Your Award Winning County Newspaper
LOCAL EDITORIAL COMMENT
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Something To Think About
The filing deadline for candidates
in the Louisburg municipal elections
has passed and nine hopefuls have
filed for the six seats. Five of the nine
are incumbents while one decided to
call it a day.
There are many problems -large
and small-confronting Louisburg in
the days ahead, just as there are many
confronting others towns in and out
of Franklin County.
However, one problem which has
caused considerable concern among
Louisburg citizens for years has been
the matter of electric service charges.
In this, Louisburg is unique among the
towns in our county. Many are the
council members who have over the
years gone on the Board with flouaes
spurting from their mouths over this
little item. To a man- sometimes to a
woman- they have had the fire doused
and have been converted to the think
ing that the electric charges, after all,
are not excessive. Few citizens have
had the privilege of this type of
brainwashing and therefore continue
to blow their tops momentarily at the
arrival of each month's bill.
A glance at each year's budget
where as much as $45,000 has been
transferred from the electric account
to other departments shows at once
that electricity customers are bearing
the costs which are normally sustained
by all taxpayers.
This year's budget estimate shows
that the electric department will have
a profit after expenses and including
the contingency fund, of $50,730 or a
profit, after expenses, of 16 percent..
This profit represents almost one
tenth of the total estimated budget.
This means that the user of Louis
burg electric current is carrying a load
one-tenth larger than other taxpayers.
It means, too, that citizens are being
charged a tax for which they cannot
receive credit on their state and fed
eral tax forms. This excessive charge
for electricity is pure and simple a
hidden tax.
The funds derived from this source
are undoubtedly needed. The service
generally enjoyed from the town elec
tric department has been good for the
past few years. However, 16 percent
net profit is excessive for any utility
and indeed any businessman would
jump with joy if he made such a profit
after expenses.
This should not be construed as
criticism of incumbent council mem
ber. Nor is it likely to influence the
thinking of the newcomers to the
races. It is, however, something about
which all candidates could be thinking
and certainly one thing upon which
they can express themselves to the
voters.
The practice was started long be
fore today's council was formed and it
is not going to be easily changed. But,
it should be and voters ought to
approach the coming elections with
this thought in mind.
This Is Time Of Year
The III Wind Blows
By Clint Fuller
Times Managing Editor
"I don't care how much it storms,
just so the wind doesn't blow". This
remark, often heard in this section,
tells vividly how locals feel about the
most terrible of winds that sweep the
earth's surface-Tornadoes.
This is the season. The months of
greatest frequency are April, May and
June. Since the early 1950's the torna
do death toll has averaged 122 each
year and the damage $40 million
annually, although it is often much
higher.
Tornadoes occur in all SO states.
The most susceptible are the areas of
the continental plains but North Caro
lina and even Franklin County have
had their share over the years. A
tornado's time is short and its path of
destruction is generally rather small,
but in populated areas they often leave
scenes of utter devastation. A tornado
funnel can reduce solid buildings to
matchwood, convert a common straw
into a deadly missile, uproot huge
trees, and hurl people and animals for
hundreds of yards.
There have been several instances of
tornado-like winds hitting in this area.
Last year considerable damage was
suffered in Wake County and last week
tornadoes struck in Cumberland,
neighboring Johnston, Union Ran
dolph and Scotland and tornado
watches were up for Franklin County.
There were, of course, other wind
storms in Franklin County, but two
believed to be tornadoes-although
neither were called such-come to
mind. One occurred late Sunday after
noon, August 28, 1949. Worse hit in
this storm was the Buck Medlin family
which lived three and a half miles
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Jaycee Bottle
Drive Next Week
The Loulsburg Jaycees issued a
reminder today that they will launch a
soft drink bottle drive next Tuesday
night, April 29. The house to houae
canvas will be held between the hours
of 6 P.M. and 9 P.M. an organization
spokesman said.
Proceeds from the bottle collection
will b? donated to the Loulsburg
Rescue Service.
BUI Fleming is chairman of the
project and persons living outside the
Loulsburg area wishing to donate
bottles to the Jaycees may do so by
contacting any member of the organi
zation or bringing their bottles to
Ford's Warehouse here on the night of
the 29th.
south of Louisburg off NC-39.
The house was blown off its foun
dation, twisted and smashed. The fur
nishings were completely destroyed.
Mrs. Rosa Medlin Thorne, a typesetter
for The Times, recalls the storm. She
was inside the house when the twister
struck along with 16 other members of
her family.
"It soundpd like a car driving up. It
was as dark as night outside although
it was about 5:30 in the afternoon. We
were all in the kitchen and ran to the
bedroom when we heard the noise
That's when the house fell in/'
Mrs. Thorne says, "We just went
rolling over and over. When we stop
ped turning, the floor was propped up
against the tree and v*e were beneath
it."
A tree fell injuring (lifton Medlin
in the face, his wife Margaret suffered
injuries to her hands and ankles and
Ann Medlin, 13-years-old at the time,
suffered a broken arm.
The same storm did considerable
damage to Wrenn's Garage on NC-561,
blew down an oak tree in Hugh Perry's
yard on NC-561; damaged a nearby
tenant house and damaged barns, shel
ters and pack houses in a wide area of
the county.
Mrs. Thorne discount* a report at
the time that a 13-month-old baB'y was
blown 30 feet from the Medlin house.
The child, she says, was placed be
1 neath a tree to shelter it from a
downpour of rain which accompanied
the storm. She isn't quite as firm when
she relates that a shirt bearing the
initials "J.M." (for her brother John
Medlin) was found in the top of a tree
at Ingleside some ten miles away.
The second severe wind storm that
comes to mind-and one in which this
writer was involved -occurred on Fri
day night. June 27, 1952. As if on cue
at 9 P.M. the wind struck Ford Village
from the north. Later a weather expert
from Raleigh said it was not a tornado
because tornadoes! don't move from
that direction. Thole caught up In the
thing that night will always discount
the expert neas of the expert.
Windows were blown in at Clint's
Superette, a super market which had
opened a .few week earlier. Heavy
damage was suffered in stock and
fixtures. Roberson's Electric Service,
next door to the qiarket, was also
damaged. Portions of the roofs from
the two buildings were found later
several hundred feet fropi the Village.
A barn caught fir* at the Dave
Holmes residence just north of Louis
burg and the front portion of the
building now occupied by the Boule
vard Drive-in (then houring Dick's
Drive In) was sucked out and the
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aluminum fence at the drive-in theater
was blown down. Electricity was off in
the Louis burg area for several hours
and the National Guard patrolled the
area and stood guard all night at the
super market.
Fire Chief R. G. Person had a new
car severely damaged on Kenmore
Ave. by a fallen tree. E. F. Yarborough
had his car damaged on Main Street
the same way. Johnson Cotton Co.
lost a shed and the campuses at Louis
burg College and W. R. Mills High
School were strew ned with tree limbs
and other debris.
The June storm broke a heat wave
in the area. The temperature read 101
degrees on Wednesday and climbed to
104 on Thursday and to 105 before
the storm struck on Friday. Occupants
of the super market, which was pre
paring to close as the storm Hit, were
saved by standing beneath a steel beam
in the rear of the building. There were
no Injuries reported anywhere due to
the storm. Half the television antennas
in town were blown down.
Tornadoes may occur at almost any
time. Eighty-two percent hit between
the hours of noon and midnight.
Twenty-three percent strike between 4
and 6 P.M. On the average tornado
paths are only a quartet mile wide and
seldom more than 16 miles long. A
tornado, however, traveled 293 miles
across Illinois and Indianna on May
26. 1917 and lasted 7 hours and 20
minutes.
The United State* Environmental
Science Service explains certain pre
cautions to take in case of tornadoes.
The agency nys that "Watches" are
not warnings. The area had tornado
"watches" last week. These are issued
to alert the public of the "possibility
of tornado development In a specified
area, for a specified period of time."
The agency says routine activities
should not be interrupted except to
"watch" for threatening weather.
Tornado "warnings", however, are
another thing entirely. They indicate
the location of the tornado at the time
of detection and the "period during
which the tornado will move through
the area warned." The agency sayi
when "warnings" are Issued persons in
the area should take immediate safety
precautions. Among these is to seek
Inside shelter, preferably in a cellar or
concrete building; stay away from
windows, but keep some windows
open; do not stay in mobile homes.
Maybe the ill wind will not blow
this way. But, It Is better to be safe
than sorry.
'^e're going to starve you slowly and
we hope you'll cooperate'
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Drug Safety Hearings
From The Office Of Congressman L. H. Fountain
Washington, D. C. . Last
week the Intergovernmental
Relations Subcommittee, of
which I am Chairman, re
sumed its hearings on the
drug safety activities of the
U.- S. Food and Drug Admin
istration. These hearings have
extended over a considerable
period of time and have
covered many aspects of the
agency's activities in the drug
field. However, one area
which the Subcommittee had
not explored in depth is that
pertaining to the agency's re
sponsibility for assuring that
the drugs on the market are
effective as well as safe for
their intended use.
This responsibility was
given to FDA by. the Drug
Amendments Act of 1962.
Last week, we examined
FDA's handling of the anti
biotic drug chloramphenicol.
This drug is a potent anti
biotic with a wide range of
activity which has been on
the market for many years.
However, because chloram
phenicol is also known to
cause serious and potentially
fatal blood disorders, its
labeling has been progres
sively restricted so that its use
is presently limited to serious
and life-threatening condi
tions. This is of particular
importance because It means
that if a patient is given chlor
amphenicol and it does not
have the effect it is supposed
to have, the patient might
die.
Chloramphenicol is one of
those drugs which came on
the market prior to 1962
without having been proven
effective. However, the Sub
committee found out that a
committee of experts from
the National Academy of
Sciences had reviewed the
evidence on the effectiveness
of this drug last year, at the
request of the Food and Drug
Administration, and had con
cluded that one form of this
drug, which was supposed to
be effective when injected
into the vein, or into the
muscle or under the skin, was
in fact effective only if in
jected directly into the vein.
As a result, FDA required
the manufacturer of this drug
to change its labeling to in
dicate that it should be used
-only by injection into the
vein. However, our Subcom
mittee foujjd that FDA did
not require the manufacturer
to get back from hospitals,
doctors' offices, and other
channels over a million-and-a
-half doses of this drug with
the old directions for use.
The ranking minority
member of the Subcommittee
and I were concerned over
the possibility that physicians
were being misled into using
this drug by injecting it into
the muscles or under the skin
as -was recommended by the
old labeling and which FDA
had concluded were not ef
fective. We were also con
cerned that use of the pro
duct by these routes, fre
quently favored in treating
small children, could result in
unnecessary death, since the
drug was to be used in life
threatening situations.
As a result, we notified the
FDA Commissioner of this
concern on April 4 and asked
him to let us know by April 7
what he intended to do about
it. On that day he informed
us that he was requiring the
company to recall all of this
drug with the olU labeling and
to send a letw to every
physician in theffountry call
ing their attention to this
problem.
/
The Food and Drug Ad
ministration Jus one of the
most sensitive and serious re
sponsibilities of any govern
mental agency. Like all of us
humans, the human beings
.there, as elsewhere, will make
mistakes -- sometimes serious
ones. We seek to prevent
them whenever and wherever
we can because, in countless
thousands of situations, the
extent to which they do their
job properly may well have
an impact somewhere along
the line as to whether or not
a given sick person lives or
dies. Of course, doctors,
nurses, hospitals, drug manu
facturers and all others who
help to make the sick well
again have similar responsi
bilities.
The
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frank count
"Frank." she said. "Let's go to bed. We got to get up earlier
in the morning. The time's gonna change. Come on, get up out
of that chair, comb your hair and get in the bed."
"Ah, come on now. woman." I said. "It's just seven
o clock. wnat's all this time change
business? It's seven o'clock here and
it's seven o'clock everywhere. I ain't
going to bed at no seven o'clock."
"But. Frank," she said, "We're
gonna lose a hour's sleep. You aint
never gonna catch it up unless you go
to bed a hour early." ,?
"I ain't gonna lose no sleep," I said.
"I'm going to bed when I get ready
alid I'm getting up the same way. How
can I lose a hour. Ain't nobody gonna
take a slice out of the night are they? I
ask you, woman, how can they take
away a hour? They gonna stop the
world?"
"Prank, you just don't understand
nothing. You got to run the clock
back one hour."
"Why? They're all set at the correct time. I checked with
the radio and the western union and the bank clock on the
corner. That's always got the time. It ain't never right. But. it's
always got the time."
"It's the law, Frank," she said like she knowed so much.
"You got to do it. They said to."
"Who said to, woman?" I asked. "They's my clocks and 111
set them like I want to. Whose they? And how can they invade
the privacy of my own home and tell me to go set my clocks.
Aint they never heard of the Supreme Court?"
"Prank, it ain't the same thing. They ain't coming here and
make you set the clocks. They have ordered that they be set
tack a hour tonight so's well be on time tomorrow."
"Well, if they want to be one time tomorrow, let them set
their clocks with my clocks. I ain't gonna change. No, sir. I
ain't gonna change. The chickens ain't gonna crow no earlier
and the cow ain't gonna milk no earlier and the sun aint
gonna get up no earlier. No, sir, I aint gonna change."
"I declare Frank Count, you are the stubbornest man I ever
seen. Why have you got to be different? Everybody else is
gonna change. The lights is already out at the neighbors and
the dogs done started barking. It's time to go to bed."
"Look, if 1 told you once, I told you a dozen times, it aint
none of your business what the neighbors do when the lights is
out. If they want to sit around and read in the dark, it aint
none of your business. Maybe they're saving electricity or
something. They might be watching television. There's a whole
lot of things folks do in the dark besides play with their
clocks."
"Well, I'm going to bed. Yoa can set up all night if you
want to. And I'm gonna call you in the morning a hour earlier,
so's you II be on time."
"You aint gonna have to, woman. I'm setting right here til
morning."
"Frank Count, you know you ain't gonna set up all night.
What on earth for?"
"I'm gonna wait and see what happens when everybody else
in the world has a hour tooken away from them. Ain't nobody
gonna take no hour away from old Frank. No sir, I'd rather
fight than snitch."
Highway Hunter
Hit In Griffin Bill
Sen. Edward Griffin,
D-Franklin, drew a bead Mon
day on hunters who have
been shooting from public
roads onto private land in he
northeastern section of
Franklin County.
Griffin's bill prohibits tak
ing or attempting to take any
game animal or bird from any
public road without first
securing the written per
mission of the owner of. the
land which abuts the road in
an area of the county
bounded by Warren County
on the north, Nash County
on the east, Sandy Creek on
the south and U. S. Highway
401 on the west.
Violations of the law,
should it be passed, would be
punishable by a fine of not
more than $50 or imprison
ment for not more than 30
days, or both.
The bill was entered be
cause game animals abound in
that particular area of the
county and this has drawn a
large number of out-of
county hunters.
Landowners along the
road in this area have com
plained that hunters are en
dangering lives and property
by shooting from the road
into the farm and woodland*
in the area.
Franklinton Woman Convicted In Wake
I In. Mooneyham was convicted
II ednesday of "aiding and harboring
escaped convicts" in H akc Superior
Court. She was acquitted of the
charges of patting a pistol to a pruoner
in Hake County faU. Shr it expetted
to be sentenced by Judge Leo Carr
Friday.
Two escsped convicts have testified
in Wake Superior Court that a 37 -year
?old woman, reportedly from Franklin
ton, did not aid In their escape from
the Wake County jail on the night of
January IT, 1968. Mrs. Joyce Lswson
Mooneyham is accused of smuggling a
.32 caliber automatic pistol and a dip
of bullets to Joseph Michael Plnyatel
lo, 44, i convicted safe cracker while
he was a prisoner at Raleigh.
The pistol, according to reports,
was used by Plnyatello and William
Francis Burgess, 28, convicted burglar,
to escape. The two were later captured
In Durham and Mrs. Mooneyham waa
with them at the time. The two man
and Mrs. Mooneyham testified that she
only gave them a ride and had nothing
to do with smuggling the pistol.
Jesse Thomas Barbee, 68, of Creed
moor was later charged with aiding
Mrs Mooneyham in slipping the pistol
through the bars on s visit to Plnyatel
lo. He testified that he saw the woman
take the gun from beneath her blouse
and slip it to the prisoner Piny ate) lo
testified that he had taken the pistol
off a drunk some two months prior to
the eacape and tlut he did not know
the woman until snTfeave him a ride to
Durham.
Plnyatello testified that he had hid
den the pistol inside a mattress and it
had not been diacorered during several
prison shakedown Inspections Jailor
M. L. Bagwell testified tlMt Plnyatello
pretended to be injured from a fall and
when he went to his aid, the priaoner
flashed the gun and with Burgees
eecaped.
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