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BIGNALL JONES. Editor
Member North Carolina Press Association
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A Way To Grow Richer
California has grown rich on
the production of figs ahd grapes
and the manufacturing of wine
from grapes. As part o( its grape
expansion a year or more ago
California grape producers sent
to North Carolina for scuppernong
vines in appreciation of the
fine flavor of this favorite North
Carolina grape, now ripening.
"Any land'good for tobacco is
good for grapes," said Glenn
Creech, manager of a 21-acre
vineyard at Hinant Farms, just
north of Pine Level in Johnston
County, according to a feature
article in The Smithfield Herald,
produced elsewhere in this
newspaper.
Jim Lauf /, writer of the
Herald article, also quoted
Bruce Woodard, Johnston County
Extension chairman: •
"Eastern North Carolina's
soil is well suited for the
scuppernong and muscadine
type grapes. Grapes are a good
way to diversify under certain
circumstances." Woodard also
said that a large part of the
profits from grapes comes from
"Pick your own" customers,
and access is one prime
condition.
"Eastern North Carolina, particularly
coastal North Carolina,
seems to be a natural for the
production of figs. We base this
conclusion on the large quantity
of figs we saw growing wild near
the beaches of certain North
Carolina resorts we have visited
over the past several years.
With a constant decreasing
number of persons in Warren
County and the state producing
tobacco, it might we well for our
farmers to consider grapes as a
substitute and subsidizing crop
use for the good land of Warren
County.
When the producers of
cantaloupes in the Ridgeway
section of the county fund their
northern markets non-profitable
because of labor and shopping
costs, they began to sell their
cantaloupes and some watermelons
from the roadside along
route 1, with reasonable
success. One wonders if this
roadside business could not be
increased by the sale of grapes
and other fruits, as well as more
"pick your own" crops.
Whether or not our farmers
find the idea attractive, we feel
certain that many of them, as
well as other readers, will find
Jim Laughter's article interesting
and thought-provoking.
Mostly Personal
Turner Search Called Off
By BIGNALL JONES
There is considerable evidence
that when Thomas
Turner, father of Governor
James Turner, came to Bute
County in 1770 from Southampton
County, Va., that he
may have settled on what
was near the Duke Plantation
in Fork Township, and
that his son, James, grew up
in this neighborhood. That
would explain why, although
he died at Bloomsbury, near
Manson, he wished to be
buried at his boyhood home.
James Turner died on Jan.
15,1924, which is the heart of
winter. Alton Pridgen said
that his father (or grandfather)
told him that due to
bad weather it took two days
to bring the body from
Bloomsbury to Creek.
Governor James Turner
may have been buried at
Bloomsbury, as the Congressional
Biographical Director
says, but it is going to
take a lot of convincing to
persuade the descendants
of Peter Davis, whose
second wife was a Turner,
that the Governor was not
buried near Creek.
While I have spent
considerable time in research,
so far I have found
nothing that is absolutely
convincing, and will end my
search, for the time being,
with this issue of my
column, in the hope that
more evidence may come in
in the months ahead.
The theme of Governor
Turner's grave, has aroused
an unexpected amount of
interest, and brought me a
number of interesting bits of
information. Mrs. W. R.
Baskervill (Cousin Sallie)
said that she enjoyed the
piece and remarked that
Governor Turner was her
husband's grandfather
(probably great-grandfather).
Stover Vaughan
sent word that Governor
Turner was buried near
Marmaduke.and that he
would be in to tell me more
about it, but so far has failed
to appear.
In addition, I received an
interesting letter from Mrs.
Emma Duke Bouknight,
1320 Whitaker Drive, Columbia,
S. C. (29206) supporting
the Marmaduke claim, as
well as an interesting letter
from Dr. William S. Price,
Jr., of Raleigh, assistant
director of the N. C.
Department of Archives and
History, with an enclosure
of a brief sketch of Governor
James Turner:
Mrs. Bouknight's letter
reads as follows:
"Dear Mr. Jones:
"I have been interested in
the search for Governor
Turner's grave.
"I think that you will find
that Governor Turner was
buried on the old Duke
property near Marmaduke,
which I recall was located
on the old Creek Road
passing near old Marmaduke
Church. This is not the
property of the late Matthew
or Steven Duke, but was the
old Duke home, which
comprised some 425 acres.
It was owned by William
Myrick Duke in the late
1700's and in the Duke
family until some time in
the 1840's when it passed to
children: Matthew, Steven,
Parmela (wife of John
Martin), Henry, M. C.,
Elizabeth (wife of Robert N.
Harris), Myrick and George
A. Duke.
"Mark Clanton (M. C.)
was my grandfather, and as
a child I remember that my
late father, James Walter
Duke of Areola, told me that
a Governor Turner was
buried on his old farm. He
said the grave was near the
old Duke home and that it
was marked by a pile of
brick and old stone. He
never told me why the
Governor was buried there.
The property passed from
my father in the early 1890's
and I don't know to whom. I
think it was a Mr. White of
Warrenton.
I wish you best wishes and
good luck in your search.
"Sincerely,
"EmmaD. Bouknight."
The letter from Bill Price
is as follows:
"Dear Bignall:
"Thanks for your letter
and column regarding Governor
James Turner. Unfortunately,
the earliest copy of
the Warrenton Reporter in
existence is dated October
22, 1824. By that time
Turner's death was not news
anymore.
"I am enclosing for your
information the sketch of
Turner which appears in
Crabtree's North Carolina
Governors perhaps the
reference in it will be helpful
to you.
"best wishes and warm
regards to all my friends in
Warren County.
"Yours truly,
"Bill."
The enclosure was helpful,
but is omitted because of
length.
Mrs. Panthea Twitty
called me last week to
inform me that there were
two James Turners in
Warren County, and I am
also indebted to Mr. and
Mrs. Harold Skillman for
lending me a copy of a
History of the Davis family.
Macon Seaman
Is In Exercise
Navy Boiler Technician
Third Class Darnell K.
Bullock, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Theodore Bullock of Route 1
2, Macon, recently participated
in Exercise "Comptuex
5-77" in the Atlantic
Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
He is serving as a crewmember
aboard the guided
missile destroyer USS Richard
E. Byrd, out of Norfolk,
Va. He joined the navy in
September 1974.
HOME FOLKS gone, an abandoned house
keeps company with dairy cattle in Penobscot
County, Maine. As early as the start of
the 19th century, Maine lost farmers to
By David Hiser 4; National Geographic
"Ohio fever" —the Midttest's longer growing
season and fewer rocks. Now the population
decline has been reversed. Maine
last year welcomed 10,000 new settlers.
Maine Is Reversing Trend
Kittery, Maine's southernmost
town, serves as the
major gateway for a recent
upsurge in new settlers, but
some oldtimers wish they'd
use the nearest exit.
Two local sages musing
over the situation put it this
way: "Papers say we got
more problems in Maine
than we rightly need."
"Have a durn sight fewer
if they'd blow up that bridge
at Kittery."
Net in-migration, about
10,000 last year, has helped
boost the state's population
over the million mark.
From its army of new
admirers, plus a number of
homegrown critics, comes
considerable pressure on
Maine to mend her ways.
Crusade For Conservation
"Concern for natural
resources has led to strenuous
efforts to control timber
cutting and offshore fishing,
prevent additional power
projects, and prohibit any
development potentially detrimental
to the environment,"
reports Ethel A.
Starbird in the June
National Geographic.
As a mill hand in
Millinocket puts it: "That
sure don't leave us much to
work with."
In such a tight economic
situation, a lot of Mainers
are a little touchy about
being told, especially by
those with "outside" incomes,
that they must
improve their management
of forests and fisheries or
face a worse fate in the
future.
Certain facts lend credence
to the warning.
Annual hauls of some highly
marketable fin and shellfish
have been diminishing for a
decade. With many consumer
favorites such as cod,
flounder, scallops, and haddock
becoming harder to
find, state officials are
encouraging interest in less
popular catches.
"No serious shortages
yet," says one expert, "but
there may be soon if we
don't start dipping into
ignored species like elvers,
sea urchins, and fresh
bluefin tuna, all in great
demand abroad."
Maine's original forest
wealth reached all the way
to her Atlantic shores; the
line receded as coastal pines
were transformed into ships
and homes along the
Eastern Seaboard. So
woodsmen bundled themselves
into mackinaws and
started chopping their way
toward Canada.
The state still has plenty
of trees, but supplies of
good-size fir and spruce are
shrinking. Now, more acres
of smaller growth must fall
to feed Maine's $1.2-billion-a
year pulp and paper
industry.
Manufacturing still forms
the mainstay of Maine's
economy. Few towns function
without one or more
mills, symbols of the state's
long-standing expertise with
loom, lathe, and leather.
Perhaps because so many
visitors arrive in campers,
trailers, vans, or buses,
tourism accounts for less
than 7 percent of Maine's
wages and income; nonresidents
spend only about $200
million a year on Maine
holidays.
Tracing A Path On Energy
}
By CLAUDE SITTON
In The News & Observer
The Arab oil embargo sounded the
alarm almost four years ago. Yet,
Americans are still indulging a thirst
for oil akin to that of the lush who
staggers into the corner pawnship to
hock his wife's wedding ring for a
bottle of booze. This gluttony is
draining the nation of its assets and its
freedom of action as well. But most
citizens still refuse to see the energy
crisis as a reality.
The Federal Energy Administration
(FEA) took the measure of U. S.
profligacy last Tuesday. Americans
are consuming about one-third of the
world's entire oil production, the FEA
reported. Our automobiles alone burn
enough petroleum to supply almost the
total needs of the Soviet Union and
substantially more than those of Japan.
Foreign oil imports account for 50
percent of U. S. consumption - up
from 37 percent before the embargo.
The cost is running at $3.8 billion a
month-five and a half times the 1973
expenditure. And the Arab countries
that mounted the embargo now provide
one-fifth of America's total oil supply.
This nation's spending on oil and its
vulnerability to Arab pressure only
suggest the extent of the problem.
Thanks to the monthly tab from the
filling station operated by the Arabs,
their cartel collaborators in the Organization
of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) and other producers
abroad, America's overseas balance
sheet shows the red ink of bankruptcy.
U. S. purchases abroad were exceeding
sales by an annual rate of $24 billion at
the end of May. That balance of payments
deficit would have been a $12
billion surplus had it not been for the oil
bill.
The result is no mere paper pinch.
Hie plight of North Carolina's tobacco
growers offers a case in point.
Increases in petroleum-related expenses-for
gasoline, fuel oil, propane,
chemicals and fertilizer-have contributed
substantially to a cost price
squeeze. Leaf receipts have risen, although
not at the rate of costs, say the
growers. Now, exporters warn that U.
S. tobacco is pricing itself out of the
world market, threatening another
drop in the nation's balance of
payments.
America is not alone in its failure to
develop effective programs of energy
conservation and additional resources.
The same is true of other major petroleum
consuming countries of the nonCommunist
world. Most of them are
encountering economic difficulties.
The one possible bright spot is.Britain,
whose North Sea oil now provides half
the island nation's supplies and the
promise that British industry can be
revitalized. The energy crisis overseas
only adds to that at home.
The critical nature of the problem
was underscored Wednesday by a fullpage
advertisement in 39 newspapers
across the United States. Leading
corporations ranging from the Aluminum
Company of America and
American Telephone & Telegraph to
Prudential Insurance and United
States Steel paid $280,000 for the ad.
"Energy is not a political issue,"
asserted the ad. "It's an issue of
survival." While noting that the signers
differed as to methods for solving the
problem, the ad urged adoption of a
national policy of conservation and
development.
The energy problem is, of course,
nothing if not political. The proof lies in
the results of a poll released
Wednesday night by The New York
Times and CBS, which broadcast a
three-hour documentary on the
subject. Of 1,436 persons interviewed
by telephone from coast to coast, 38
percent considered the problem real.
Only 33 percent thought it as serious as
President Carter has pictured it. An
even smaller group showed much
understanding of its extent and nature.
This lack of knowledge and concern
comes as bad news for the President
and the country. It catches Mr. Carter
in the midst of an effort to push his
energy package through the Congress.
The House has passed his proposals,
with the exceptions of a tax rebate for
small cars and a standby tax on
gasoline. The Senate, where the
strongest opposition lies, takes them up
later this month.
Thus, the President and his aides
have little time for the political task
they face. Like it or not, his is the only
conprehensive energy plan before the
nation. If it is to be adopted, he must
awaken the public to the problem's
urgency and generate the pressure
necessary to overcome opposition in
the Senate.
Neither the prospect for the Carter
program's passage nor the energy
outlook of the world is promising.
Public apathy, ignorance and confusion
seem likely to undo the first, while
gluttony is finishing off the second.
Global demand for oU is predicted tc
exceed available supplies in the 1980s
As the corporate advertisement said,
energy IS "an issue of survival" and
as it concluded, "Time is running out."
A supernatural novel ___
of passion and terror EgJ *1.95
WE ALSO HAVE IN STOCK
EACH OF THE
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THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT, by Sidney
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THIS LOVING TORMENT, by Valerie Sherwood.
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TOUCH NOT THE CAT, by Mary Stewart. (Fawcett/Crest.
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15 THE DEEP, by Peter Benchley. (Bantam. $2.29.)
Treasure hunting off Bermuda: basis of a current
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WE CARRY
THE LARGEST SELECTION
of PAPER RACKS TO RE FOUND
IN WARREN COUNTY!!
• MAGAZINES
• COMICS
• NEWSPAPERS
JUST RECEIVED
A NEW SELECTION of
Greeting Cards
by
Red Farm Studio
Complete Line of
Office Supplies
Warren
Eernrh
101 E. Franklin St., Warrenton