THE MARION PROGRESS ' ' - ,Q. - A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE OF MARION AND McDOWELL COUNTY ESTABLISHED 1896 MARION, N. C„ THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1949 VOLUME 54—No. 7 MARION CITY SCHOOLS TO OPEN WEDNESDAY OF NEXT WEEK <1 RegtSar SchediAes Of Classes To Start Thursday K 'i? .■ "Marion City Schools will open Wednesday, September 7, at 9 a. m., H. P. Beam, city superintendent, said yesterday. The following day will be the first day of regular sched ules. Preliminary plans were made at a meeting of principals yesterday. The principals will meet again at 9:30 a= m. Friday with Dr. Henry Highsmith, director of instructional service. The meeting will be held in the office of the City Superinten dent. Lunch rooms will be opened next Monday. The list of teachers has been an -nounced as follows: TEACHER LIST MARION HIGH SCHOOL: Charl es C. Elledge, Principal; A. H. Ditt, ^Bernard Hirsch, Mary Frances Har rill, Mildred E. Glenn, E. L. Carter, Mrs. Flora S. Homiwood, Mrs. Em ily English Morris, Miss Catherine Alley, Mrs. Patty Leake Hewitt, Betsy Webster, Mrs. Kate Z. Finley, Mrs. Edith L Davis, Roger Shep perd, Mary Mills. - MARION CENTRAL ELEMENT ARY: Samuel Gibson, Mrs. Ethel B. (Continued on last page) imwmm GAME TO BE PLAYED NEXT SATURDAY The curtain on professional base ball will fall in Marion tomorrow night when the Marauders meet the Shelby Farmers in the final home game of the season. On the follow ing night the Marauders will go to Shelby to play their last regularly scheduled game of the season. Although the Marauders were un able to pull themselves out of the second division the club played a series of excellent games during the season for the pleasure and enjoy ment of local baseball fans. Funeral Rites For W. R. Wilson Held Wednesday William Ransom Wilson, 63, died unexpectedly Monday morning of a heart attack at the Drexel Furniture plant where he was employed. Funeral services were conducted in West Court Baptist church at 4 p. m. Wednesday by the pastor, the Rev. Julius Henline, assisted by the Rev. Mr. Church, pastor of Cross Mill Pentecostal church. Burial was in the family plot in Oak Grove cemetrey. He is survived by the wodow, Mrs. Mattie Lu Sherlin Wilson, and one sister and two brothers; Mrs. Minnie Cannon and Robert and Sam Wilson, all of Pontiac, Mich. HIGH SCHOOL LOCKERS TO BE RENTED TUESDAY Lockers will be rented to students •of Marion High School on Septemb er 6, C. C. Elledge, principal, an nounced yesterday. All high school students should secure lockers on that date, he said. TWO FIRES The home of Eugene Willis "in Clinchfield village caught fire last Sunday. An alarm was sounded Wed nesday morning, as a precautionary measure when box cars struck the Hewitt Hosiery Mill, 'but no fire oc curred. Hospital Needs Reviewed At Kiwanis \ 1 * W. L. Morris, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Marion General Hospital, and R. W. Proc tor, member of the Board of Trus tees of the Marion General Hospital; were the guest speakers at the regu lar weekly meeting of the Marion Kiwanis Club held Tuesday evening in the community building, Kiwanian S. J. Westmoreland, (Continued on last page) Superior Court To Convene September 5 The Superior term of McDowell County Superior Court will convene Monday, September 5, with Judge J. Will Pless, Jr. presiding. Both criminal and civil cases appear on the two weeks docket. Jurors have been drawn as fol Week- " Reid McCurry, Cato Holler, J. L. Field, J. W. Reece, Frank Edwards, C. C, Wise, Roy Cline, Pink C. Wil liams, Walter Goodman, Leroy Ef fler, Carl Davis, Fred G. Collins, A. A. Wiseman, Jr., Arthur Holland, * (Continued on last page) FREIGHT CARS DERAILED STRIKE BUILDING Two freight cars on the siding a bove the Southern Railway Express building coasted down the track across the road and crashed into the Hewitt Hosiery Mill building yes terday morning. G. W. Sandlin, agent, said the cars had been parked on the siding for the night and the incident oc curred about 7:30 o'clock Wednes day morning. Cross ties were splint ered and the pavement on the street in front of the mill was badly brok en. The impact knocked a hole in the corner of the building. Pasture Demonstration September 7 There will be a pasture demon stration at J. D.. Little and Guy Lit tle's place in the providence sec tion, Wednesday, September 7, be ginning at 1 p. m., and will continue until the seeding is completed. This demonstration will include preparing land, liming, fertilizing and sowing of seed. The public is invited. Mrs. Burnette Has Purchased Self Service Laundry Mrs. Virginia Burnette has pur chased the Self Service Laundry from John M. Gilkey, according to announcement by Mrs. Burnette this week. She will continue to op erate the business under the same name and at the same location. Mr. and Mrs. Gilkey have moved to Raleigh where the former is en rolled at N. C. State College for the comingf term. ROBIN HOOD, above, will begin his new duties today as Executive Vice President of The First Nation al Bank. He comes to Marion from Hickory where he has been Cashier of the Northwestern Bank since 1946. Prior to that time he was Cashier and Chief Executive Offi cer of the Bank of Gates for five years. He succeeds M. L. Campbell, who resigned last spring on account of his health. STREAMS AMD LAKES SWOLLEN B¥ DOWNPOURS OF RAINS COUNTY SCHOOLS WILL OPEN TODAY FOR FALL TERM Today is the first day of school for pupils of the county system. School buses will follow the same rounds they made when schools closed last spring and students will assemble at their respective schools at 8:30 o'clock. N. F. Steppe, county uperinten dent, estimated that there will be a ten per cent increase in attendance this year. Thursday will be given over to registration, distribution of books and the usual opening for malities which will probably be completed by one o'clock. Classes will begin Friday. Lunch rooms will begin serving meals on Monday, September 5. 1949 Corn Tour Pronounced Success MILL OFFICES ARE ENTERED FRIDAY MQHT Two cases of breaking and enter ing were reported by local mills this week. The office of Gross Cotton Mills, Inc., was said to have been entered some time Friday night. A window facing was dented as if some in strument might have been used to prize the window open. The dial combination had been completely removed from the safe, and the handle on the safe door forced. Mill officials said $150 in cash was missing and bonds and other pa pers from the safe were strewn on the floor. D. C. Laughridge, em ployee of Cross Cotton Mills, re ported the incident after he entered the office about 7 a. m. Saturday morning. R. W. Twitty, president-treasurer of the Marion Manufacturing com pany, reported finding evidence of breaking and entering at the Mar ion Manufacturing company office the same morning. He said a win dow had been prized open in the rear of the office building, but no thing had been reported missing. The 1949 Corn Tour was the most educational and most worth while ever conducted in this coun ty, S. L. Homewood, county farm agent, said after the tour last Wed nesday. W Hej*omtadout that, jnany. factor.s enter into the success of a tour, but the farm agents are primarily con cerned with the educational phase of the program. Henry Cooke, who is engaged in hybrid research studies at N. C. State college, accompanied the group. After traveling through many corn raising sections of the state, Cooke was especially pleased with the demonstrations here and said some of the best corn fields in North Carolina are found in Mc Dowell county. One local farmer who had not been especially pleased with hybrids finally admitted that he was pleas antly surprised in the demonstra tions he saw on the tour. The first step was at Ed Wright's farm in Turkey Cove where all the recommended hybrids for McDowell county are being grown. At this demonstration those attending the tour were able to see first hand the hybrids that looked to be the best. During the stops Cooke gave farmers the opportunity to ask (Continued on last page) Rippers Scrimmage With Lee Edwards Tennant In Charge Of Prescriptions At Cut Rate Drug E. A. Tennant, pharmacist, will begin his duties today at the Mc Dowll Cut Rate Drug Store where he will be in charge of the prescrip tion department, J. E. Evans, own er, announced. Tennant has made his home in Marion for about 12 years and is well known throughout the county. September 19 Date Of Calf Show Monday, September 19 has been set as the day for the 1949 McDow ell County Calf Show, S. L. Home wood, county farm agent, said last week. Calves receiving blue ribbons in the county show will be taken to Asheville the following day to be entered in the district contest. Last Tuesday Coaches Diitt and Gibson looked up 25 Rippers and carried them to Asheville where they worked out against the power ful Lee Edwards High School for two hours. Playing ofr a rain-soaked field which caused many fumbles and limited the air attack of both schools, the Rippers gave a fair ac count of themselves against the Double A boys. The Ripper line gave a good ac count of themselves with the Wil son brothers, Don and Howard, be ing the standouts. Big Joe Jenkins showed he was ready for a good year. At the ends, Rader, Greene, and McGalliard repeatedly stopped the Asheville threats. In the Ripper backfield, McCall, Pachett, and Hammett stood out with Jerry Atkins and Hubert Stan ton serving notice they were out for a starting position with their good play. On Defense, again it was Atkins standing out with his vicious tackle, (Continued on last page) Dr. S. V. Lewis, above, begins his duties as health officer of the Mc Dowell County Health Department today. He was formerly a district officer in the old Burke-Caldwell McDowell district and returns to Marion from Windsor where has has been in charge of Chowan and Bertie health work. Miss Steele Accepts Position In Pitt County Miss Jean Steele has tendered her resignation &s County Heme Demon stration. Club Agent to become ef fective September 17. She resigned to accept a position as Home Dem onstration Agent of Pitt county with headquarters in Greenville. The new position will be a promotion. Miss Steele came to Marion from Gastonia and began her duties here February 1, 1939. She had formerly been engaged in Adult Vocational Home Economics work. Telephone Company Extending Lines The Carolina Mountain Tele phone company is extending lines into West Marion, East Marion and rural areas along Rutherford road, J. H. Crisp, manager, s.aid this week. He also said the company expects to be extending lines into Nebo by early January. Crisp said no further develop ments have been made in the dial system. He said the company is mak ing every effort to bring the dial system here, but no definite state ment could be made at the present time as to the date installation of dial machinery will begin. Rotary Program Features Study Of Pastures "Improvement of Pastures" was the subject of study at the lunch eon meeting of the Rotary club last Friday. S. L. Homewood, county farm agent, Dr. W. W. Woodhouse and Dr. Allison, of the N. C. Extension Service, presented move slides of the latest methods of increasing pas tures explaining the processes as they were shown. John McAllister, of Spartan burg, was a visiting Rotarian. F. 0. C. Fletcher, of Asheville, was the guest of R. M. Dark, Fred J. Seaver, guest of Albert Hewitt, and Andrew Tainter, III, guest of D. W. Tainter. OLD FORT WATER LINES BEING EXTENDED * Old Fort water department crews today began an ambitious program to improve and extend the city's water lines. New pipes were to be laid in the Catawba street extension and excavation for a new line north of Spring street was started. i I DEBRIS IN STREAMS CAUSES SHORTAGE IN WATER SUPPLY Heavy rains which have soaked . this section at intermittent periods throughout the month of August, came to a climax last Sunday. Lakes, rivers and creeks were swollen be yond their banks. By early after noon Mackey's Creek and Clear Creek were flowing across highway 70, the Catawba river 'had risen to the top of the arches underneath the bridge and bottom lands bordering "Morgan stretch" were flooded. Later in the afternoon the water poured across the highway. When the sun came out in late af ternoon, crowds flocked to lakes and streams to see the high waters. Lake James gushed over the spill way in heavy torrents. In the delta blow the spillway, water poured through the tops of trees. One tree had grown up through cracks in the :oncrete of the spillway but held its branches erect above the foam. I nke Tahoma, too, was filled to ••ar-city and water flowed over the spillway. WATER SUPPLY Mackey's Creek and Clear Creek, sources of supply for the Marion water reservoir, were obstructed by the boulders and logs in the stream. When a shortage became apparent in the reservoir, an investigation showed a lo£ had knocked out a. joint of pipe wbieh c a rft'e d the water from the stream to the (Continued or last page) PTA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE PLANS FOR COMING YEAR * The Executive committee of the Marion Parent-Teacher association - met Monday to make plans for the coming year. H. F. Beam, superintendent Mar ion City Schools, discussed teacher allotments and current conditions, pointing out that one additional teacher is necessary. He said ap proximately $2,200 must be raised through local donations to supply an additional teacher. The Board voted to raise this a mount and a committee composed of men will be appointed by Mrs. S. W. Blanton, president, to solicit funds. The Executive Committee and teachers will have a picnic at thef Marion Lake club at four o'clock, September 7. Old Fort Group Urges Paving Bat Cove Road A group of Old Fort and Mc Dowell county residents, headed by Mayor Ashby Robinson of Old Fort, have endorsed the early paving of > the road between Old Fort and Bat Cove. In a petition to the State High way and Public Works Commission, ' the group called for improvement1 of the highway as the "only direct approach for tourist travel from , Eastern North Carolina and all of South Carolina to Mt. Mitchell. LEAGUE STANDINGS TEAM Newton Lincolnton __ Rutherfordton Lenoir Morgan ton __ Marion Shelby Hendersonville W L Pet. ; ' 70_.33_.680: 66__38 —635 ; ... 61__42__592 | 55._46._545 > 54..48.-529 :> 38..61..384:: 38-_67__362; 29 __75__279:'