The Fran'kMn Times
Published Eve?y Tuesday & Thursday
Serving All Of Franklin County
Telephone Gy 6-3283
Ten Cents
L<ouisburg, N. C., Thursday, June 19, 1969
(Eight Pages Today)
100th Year-Number 36
u
Wind , liain Damage Heavy At Centerville
Centerville residents are busy todny clearing away fallen trees and other debris following one of the worse storms
in years which hit the eastern Franklin community shortly after 9:30 P.M. Wednesday night. Scores of trees were
blown over; several across busy highways snarling traffic in at least two directions. Limbs and leaves were strewned
across.all roads leading into the crossroads community.
There has been no estimate of the damage in the area but at least one car. owned by Clemon Nelms. was heavily
WIRES CLIPPED ALONG NC-58 SOUTH
M\ ? T . ? ,
TOBACCO BLOWN AND WATER-LOGGED ON NELMS FARM
CAR SMOTHERED BENEATH FALLEN TREE
TRAFFIC SNARLED ALONG NC-58 NORTH
Two Missing Boys Found
Unharmed In Maryland
Sheriff William T. Dement reports that two boys missing from their homes since
Tuesday night, June 3, have been found safe in Westminster, Maryland.
Wesley Earl Smith, 17, and Charles Wayne Piper, 14, both Franklinton High
School students, were first reported massing over two weeks ago. The boys' parents
traveled to Maryland Tuesday night after being alerted as to the whereabouts of the
boys through an insurance company.
The 1961 Chevrolet, owned by Ben Smith, Route 1, Kittrell. father of one of
the boys, was involved in what was apparently a minor mishap in Maryland and the
Insurance company there reported the incident to a Louisburg insurance agency.
According to reports both boys were working at a cement plant in the small
town, twenty miles from Baltimore. It was learned that the Smith youth decided to
remain in Westminster and continue his job. The Piper youth returned home,
according to reports. Neither boy was hurt or harmed, it was reported.
The pair had been the object of an all-state alert for the past two weeks and the
Sheriffs department had conducted an extensive investigation and search for the
youths. A number of false leads had been run down by Sheriff's officers and
parents of the youths.
One Killed
Former Local Man
Injured In Vance Wreck
A former local resident now living
In Raleigh was admitted to Maria
Par ham Hospital In. Henderaon follow
ing an automobile-truck accident on
US-1 south of Henderaon Tueeday
around noon. The driver of the truck
waa killed.
Cecil Robert (Bobby) Sykes, ion of
Mr. and Mi*. Cecil Sykea of Loulaburg
waa not believed seriously injured
when the small foreign car he was
driving was struck in the rear by a
panel pickup truck. Jerry Woodard,
22, of Route 2, Four Oaks was killed
with the truck overturned pinning him
underneath. ,
Sykea received a whiplash-type In
jury, the officer explained, and com
plained of head and back pains.
Both vehicles were southbound on
U. S. Highway 1 at the time and the
truck apparently ran into the rear of
the small auto. Upon impact, the truck
overturned on Ita right side and Wood
all momentarily was pinned In the
vehicle. Trooper B. R. Sutton pointed
out. Paaaarbys freed the victim from
the wreckage before Vance Ambulance
Service ambulances arrived at the
scene, then both men were moved to
the hospital.
Damages wen estimated at some
$600 to each vehicle, to the rear of the
?uto and to the rfront and right tide of
the truck.
Immediately following the cradt,
Sykaa told officers at the hospital that
he could not remember exactly what
hap petted to cause the crash and about
all he could remember was that he was
driving south on the highway. Trooper
Sutton said.
Sportswear Open House
To Mark Seventh Year
Louisburg Sportswear will hold
open houie here Sunday afternoon
between the hours of 1 and 5 and a
plant official emphasized today that
"everybody's invited". He said the
celebration is for "friends in town and
also in the county and we want every
body to come."
With Sunday's open house, the lo
cal plant, which manufactures knit
shirts for men and boys, will mark its
seventh year In Louisburg. "Hie facility
first begun operations in July, 1962.
Announcement of the location of
Sportswear hereon February 15, 1962
brought new life to Industrial advo
cates in the area. It's the largest plant
to announce location here in several
years. At the time it was said that the
plant would employ 160 persons with
an annual payroll of $400,000.'
Today, however. Sportswear em
ploy* 200 people with an annual pay
roll of $776,000. The original 30,000
square foot building has grown with a
recent expansion to 61,000 square
feet. At the outset, it was announced
the firm would employ mostly local
people. One spokesman said recently
he believed that two employees lived
just across the Franklin line in adjoin
ing counties. The others, he said, are
local people.
Donald Hart new is plant manager
and Robert T. Hayes Is Sewing Room
foreman and Robert Tanner is fore
man of the Cutting Room.
Line Supervisors include Elizabeth
More Budget study
Board Fails To Act On Zoning
The Board of County Comnriaion- ,
ers continued It* lengthy study of the'
1969-70 budget here yesterday and
reports say that still another iaa*ion li
on docket for Monday.
The Board again declined to act on
a request by the Induatrial Develop
ment Commission and the County
Planning Board toward gaining au
thority to zone certain areas of the .
county. The request was made laat
week that the Board paaa a resolution
seeking to hare 'the Franklin delega
tion Introduce a bill In the General
Assembly to include the county In the
law already in exiatance. The Board
failed to act on the matter laat Thurs
day, Monday and yeaterday. The ac
tion was recommended by the coun
ty's consulting engineering Arm of
Peirson and Whitman and would, ac
cording to industrial and planning
spokesmen, protect an quarter-million
dollar county Investment In water lines
along NC-58 west of Louisburg.
A reliable source reported that the
Board hopea to complete Its budget
study In Monday's meeting.
Redmond, Dorothy Lambert, Margaret
Gilliam, Ron Lee Gupton, Danlze
Neal, Rose Stroud, Madge Shearon and
Margaret Gupton.
Sneaa Carey, Jr. la Head Mechanic
and Klrby Holt is Shipping Supervisor.
Nell Strickland is Office Manager,
Irene Shearin Is Personnel Supervisor
and Jane Griffin Is Training Super
visor.
The plant ships out an average of' ?
6800 dozen shirts each week. Open
House Sunday will include guided
tours of the plant with explanations of
the plant's ope rations, _lt was announc
ed. Refreshmenta will' be served and
favors will be given children attending
the event.
Locals Get
Food Stamps
Atlanta, Ga. - U. S. Department of
Agriculture food progranS aided
222,229 needy persons in North Caro
lina during April. This was 5,936
persons less than the number that
received food assistance in March. In
Franklin County, 2,942 persons receiv
ed food stamps. Franklin does not
have a Family Food Distribution Pro
gram.
USDA's Consumer and Marketing
Service said the family food distribu
tion program aided 146,913 persons in
59 counties. 8;741 persons less than
the number of recipients in March.
C&MS officials attributed most of the
decrease in this program to seasonal
employment.
The foods distributed had an esti
See FOOD Page 8)
damaged when a tree trrthe Nelms
yard was felled across the vehicle. A
large tree was blown down across the
Centerville-White Level highway nealr
the home of Howard Lee Griffin. This
tree blocked traffic on this road for
more than two hours.
A car load of fishermen returning
home narrowly escaped injury when
the car came to halt right at a fallen
tree on the Center villeWarrenton high
way. There were no injuries reported
in the area and while some roofs were
damaged, no heavy loss of property
was reported.
Heavy rains accompanied the thun
derstorm and damage to crops in the
area was heavy. However, C. T. Dean,
Jr., County Farm Extension Chairman,
said this morning that if there was no
hail in the area, he did not believe the
overall crop damage would be exten
sive.
Hail did hit on NC-98 on the farms
of Horace Baker and Kaeford Baker
inflicting what Dean described aa a 26
percent lots. The Baker brothers had
suffered hail damage earlier this
month. Heavy winds also were report
ed in White Level but damage there
was not as great as in the Centerville
area, according to reports.
Centerville was without electricity
and telephone service for several hours
as lines were knocked down by falling
trees. The northern section of Louia
burg was without electricity for an
hour and a half last night and some
areas north of Loulsburg to the Warren
County line reported no electricity by
midmorning today.
Trees were blown down in the yard
of Centerville Mayor John Neal but no
other damage was reported. A fallen
tree did some damage at the home of
Bennle Ray Gupton when it struck the
roof of a porch. The heavy downpour
of rain which accompanied the storm .
and continued for some time there
after. hampered road crews and volun
teers in their efforts to clear the
highway. Homeowners, for the most
part, made no attempt to clear up the
damage last night .
The rain, according to Dean, was
general across the county with Bunn
receiving 1.6 inches and Louisburg
reporting .45 inches. Nelms, in addi
tion to losing his car, also reported the
loss of some young pigs and that
lightning had killed one of his prize
horses over the weekend. He reported
the wind storm lasted about 7 to 8
minutes.
Deputy Sheriff Lloyd Gupton re
ported hearing a whistling sound and
compared the storm with a small
cyclone. Gupton apparently had no
major damage at his home.
There was a report that one Center
ville resident had said the storm blew
his television set out of the house, but
the source insisted that the story not
be attributed to him. The storm ap
parently was confined to a relatively
small area generally around Center
ville White Level and the Gold Sand
School section of the county.
TREE BLOCKS STATE RURAL 1451 AT CENTERVILLE