Newspapers / The Warren Record (Warrenton, … / Sept. 15, 1977, edition 1 / Page 2
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211ft Barren Rrrorb Published Every Thursday By Racord Printing Company P 0 Box 70 - Warrenton. N. C. 27589 BIGNALL JONES. Editor Member North Carolina Press Association ENTERED AS SECOND CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE IN WARRENTON. NORTH CAROLINA UNDER THE LAWS OF CONGRESS Second Class Postage Paid At Warrenton, N. C. ONE YEAR. $5.00; SIX MONTHS. $300 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: OUT OF-STATE: ONE YEAR. $7 00 SIX MONTHS. $4.00 Special Fire Levy Needed Warren County rural volunteer fire departments probably save millions of dollars each year to rural residents and urban timberland owners. A second and not inconsiderable saving to rural dwellers is a reduction in insurance fees where fire districts are in effect. As the companies have grown in number and size the costs to the county has increased but not commensurate with the service rendered by the rural volunteer fire companies. The bill for firefighting would be a great deal more had it not been for the mechanical skills possessed by many firemen and a willingness to spend much of their spare time raising funds through the sale of barbecue, brunswick stew and ham and or turkey suppers. People of Warren County really appreciate their fire companies and few begrudge the amount of money donated for their expenses by the county commissioners. Many feel that if the firemen donate their skills to rebuild and repair their equipment, and to build their firehouses, that the county should at least pay the costs of material; many feel that if the firemen donate their services to fight fires they should not have to beg the commissioners for money. The cost of fire protection in Warren County is going to increase through the years as citizens demand more efficient services and the firemen meet this demand. In some cases it may lead to one or two paid firemen in some cases in order to save those few precious minutes when the alarm is sounded. It is almost certain to lead to a demand for more hose as water mains are extended in rural areas. We think that our taxpayers are going to be willing to pay this increasing cost; but we also strongly feel that such funds should not come out of the general funds, dependent on the whims of the commissioners or competing demands for funds. We suggest that the commissioners appoint a commission of three or five citizens to oversee the needs and performance of all the volunteer fire departments and to make suggestions to the commissioners, and that the commissioners levy a special tax for fire fighting services. If the commissioners do not feel like taking the responsibility for making this levy, there may be time to submit the questions to the voters of Warren County at the general election. Let's Stop Traffic Anyone who has had occasion to travel over Route 1 from South Hill to Henderson must be impressed by the increasing amount of traveling over that highway. More to the immediate point is the increased travel through Norlina and the traffic congestion at the intersection of Highway 401 with Route 1. Because of the inconvenience that no stoplight at this intersection has caused us and because of a real interest in and concern with our sister town of Norlina, we suggest that the Norlina Town Commissioners at least consider asking the State Department of Transportation to restore a stop light at the intersection of Highway 401 with U. S. Route No. 1. Trip To Warrenton Recalled By Visiting Enfield Writer By JOHN NcGWIGAN In Halifax County This Week Some months ago, while driving my car, I was fiddling with the radio to find an acceptable program. Usually the exercise is futile and I switch it off in disgust. This day, hope against hope, I did find something of interest. It was a newscast being spoken in a modulated woman's voice reading an item of current interest. When this item had been read with adequate detail, a man's voice began recounting another story in an equally pleading and modulated tone. To my deaf ears, the moderate-pace and clear enunciation made the newscast quite understandable. The program continued for some twenty minutes without interruption. No sudden, explosive voice interrupted the program. The newscasters were Valeria Lee and Jim Lee of Station WVSP in Warrenton. Afterwards I learned the frequency was 90.9 on the FM dial. Last Friday I was in Warrenton and searched out the broadcasting studios of Station WVSP. I was cordially greeted by Mrs. Lee, Station Manager who was anxious to tell the story of their "Public Radio" station. They have been on the air about a year since August 25, 1976. I told her they had the best news program I had been able to hear in a long time, but that I wasn't crazy about their music (progressive jazz, I believe.) Before showing me around the place, she introduced me to Jim Lee, News Director monitoring a tape, who pleasantly acknowledged the introduction. She also introduced me to Cynthia Chamblee, consumer news information head, and other members of the staff of both the black and white races. All responded with good grace and apparently with as much pleasure as I was enjoying. Various discussions and announcements I have heard over this station have made it obvious to me that WVSP is oriented toward the poor and underprivileged. "I know what you are trying to do and I approve of it," I told Mrs. Lee. "And that is to raise the cultural level of the Blacks in this area." "Well, we think we are raising the cultural level of the whites too," she plea santly retorted. And I agreed. The station obviously had had a financial struggle in bringing this worthwhile project into being and in continuing operations. While neat and orderly in appearance, the offices and hallway have a crude and unfinished appearance, suggesting they are still under construction. Here and there on the walls are hung various examples of abstract art. "Who did the wood carving?" I asked, referring to an intricately carved totem pole some four feet tall which I first observed in the hall on entering the station. I didn't hear her answer except that it seems to have been the gift of a friend. A young woman with pleasing appearance and cultured manner, Mrs Lee was born in Hollister; educated at Eastman School and N. c. College in Durham, now N. C. Central University. Her maiden name was Valeria Lynch. "Oh, a cousin of Larry Lynch?" I suggested, but learned it was probably distant. (Larry Lynch, it wi» ^ recalled, was the author of several articles about his youth recently appearing in This Week.) At my request, she gave me several copies of dialogue; published monthly by the station, which I found to be interesting and instructive. From it I learned their antenna is located at Essex and their area coverage includes Raleigh purham, Chapel Hill, Goldsboro, Kinston, Greenville, Ahoskie and extends northward nearly as far as Petersburg, Va. I plan to send a modest contribution to aid in the continuation of this worthwhile project. ,..^e purpose of my visit to Warrenton was to see my eye doctor. Thomas Holt who answered some of my questions regarding his recent trip to Alaska while making the usual measurements and tests. My old friend, BignaU Jones, editor of The Warren Record, was in the newspaper office and was as cordial as ever. Also Howard, his son, was there and was helpful in arranging by telephone my visit with his uncle, Duke Jones, whom I visited at his home. He also called for Lucy Scott and her sister, Hattie Scott asters of Mrs. Lawrence Whitaker of Enfield, but neither of their telephones answered. Duke Jones was editor of The Progress when he lived in Enfield in the early Thirties. He wanted to be remembered to his many friends in Enfield. He told me of an experience he had on a hunting trip while living , in Enfield at the home of Buck Shervette. He was hunting at the Hamilton Gun Club in the company of Carlos Lowrance, Jeff Whitehead, the druggist and son of "Uncle Jeff" Whitehead, and others including Jeff's young son, "Little Jeff" (J. D. Whitehead, III, druggist of today.) "We had been hunting all day and I was tired," said Duke. "I could hardly put one foot before the other as I followed the other men. I thought seriously of giving up and resting beside the trail. But the sight of that little boy, trudging behind men, shamed me so that I said nothing of my fatigue and continued to follow the hunt." At the Carriage House where I had my lunch I observed Congressman L. H. Fountain with his secretary, Joe Pittman, come in with a group of men as I was leaving. We exchanged friendly greetings before I left the restaurant for the home of my cousin, Emma Louis Whitaker, and her husband, Cy Hoskins. Cy was a friend of the late Holt Evans. I told him I used to kid Holt with the statement that he came to Enfield with a carload of mules. "That's what he used to say himself," said Cy. "But he really was introduced to Enfield when he played professional baseball there." Coming from the mule country in Tennessee, he discerned that Halifax County was ripe for a good mule dealership; so he started bringing them in." Holt Evans would have succeeded at any business he had undertaken, I thought as Cy was talking, i On the waymhonne I dropped in to see Clarence and Lula Skillman in Areola and sipped a cooling drink composed of cranberry juice and ginger ale that Clarence prepared as we sat in a cool breeze on the porch of their ancient home. When I got home I read in The Warren Record, given me by Howard Jones, that Lula's nephew, Richard Hunter, president of the Warren County Historical Association, had headed a group accepting the gift of the historic Jacob Holt home in Warrenton. Holt was a renowned architect in the area during the early to mid 1800's. Many of his homes remain in Warrenton today. Mostly Personal Interesting Anecdotes Filled Office Files By BIGNALL JONES On the walls of my former office were three files on which I hung many articles that came to my attention over many months. In relocating my office I cleared these hooks by filing and by discarding. One of these hooks contained a variety of items, including clippings that I intended to use when and if space allowed, a quotation from Charles B. Aycock, reflecting my interest in equality of education, a clipping from The Roxboro Courier, held on account of plans for the development of an ante-bellum plantation at Buck Spring, home of Nathaniel Macon, and a clipping from Sam Ragan's "Southern Accents" in the Southern Pines Pilot, worthy of immediate reproduction. The quotation from Governor Aycock is inscribed on his monument on the Capitol Square in Raleigh: "Equal! That is the word. On that word I plant myself and my party-the equal right of every child born on earth to have the opportunity to 'burgeon out all that is within 'him'." - Charles B. Aycock. The clipping from the Roxboro Courier Times is more than two years old, June 5,1975, but in re-reading it over the weekend, I found it interesting. Headed "Little Plantation Is Only Minutes Away, it reads as follows: "The^Little Plantation," located three miles west of South Boston, Va., gives an authentic picture of life as it was before the Civil War on a small southern plantation. Operated and maintained by Keystone Mill Inc. in South Boston, the plantation is open daily during the summer months from 9 a. m. to 6 p. m. The main house and several of the out buildings remain on their original sites. Others have been moved in to create a total picture of life as it was in pre-CivU War times. The kitchen, constructed of rock, was the scene of all food preparation for the main house. It is equipped today with cooking utensils used in the 1800's including a chum run by a dog on a tread mill. A popular treat for the homeowners was ash cakes. Visitors today are able to watch as these are made on the open hearth. In the carriage house are a sleigh, a single buggy and a surrey. The back part of this building served as the leather shop. All shoes and harnesses for the plantation were made here. The doctor's office is furnished as it might have been originally. The last owner of the plantation was a doctor. Inside his office are a variety of medical instruments, books and medicine bottles. Of special interest are the "cooling board" and a child's coffin. The smoke house for curing and storing pork used on the plantation, the loom house where material for clothing was made, the carpenter and cabinet shop and the blacksmith shop complete the list of buildings on the plantation. In addition to giving visitors a picture of pre-Civil War life on a small plantation, the Little Plantation offers a chance to "get away from it all" to a world that is rapidly disappearing. Footpaths lead through thick green forests to a ten-acre lake surrounded by wildflowers. Here visitors can relax, enjoy fishing and breathe clean air. The spring house is on one of the trails. This house furnished all water for the plantation. Picnic tables are provided for family outings. During season, watermelons grown on the plantation and cooled in the spring will be available to visitors. Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children. The delightful little human interest story by Sam Ragan follows: We remember the day well. It was a beautiful October day in 1961 and President John F. Kennedy had come to Chapel Hill to make the address on University Day, leaving shortly afterwards for a quick trip to Fort Bragg before returning to Washington. University President Bill Friday, who had been President Kennedy's host, had taken off his academic robe and with it over his arm was walking out of Kenan Stadium back to his office. We stopped for a chat, and Friday said: "He took my pen." It seems that President Kennedy had borrowed Friday's fountain pen to sign autographs after the cereirtonies and in the haste to get away had pocketed it. We wrote a piece in our column about the incident, and a lady in Johnston County saw it and wrote President Kennedy taking him to task for taking away Friday's pen. It brought results, and recently when President Friday was in Southern Pines he brought it along for us to see it. A letter, dated Nov. 6,1961, had come from President Kennedy, and it was as follows: "Dear Fiesident Friday: "I was most distressed to learn that I absconded with your personal fountain pen from Chapel Hill. I am afraid that this weapon of peace was taken into new captivity during my stay at Fort Bragg. Therefore, I must apologize for my innocent theft and I hope that the enclosed pen will allow you to resume your normal Presidential duties." It was signed with the personal "John F. Kennedy" scrawl. Bill Friday has never used the pen Kennedy sent him. It is framed along with the letter and the clipping from the Southern Accent column item, and hangs in his home in Chapel Hill as a treasured personal memento.
The Warren Record (Warrenton, N.C.)
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Sept. 15, 1977, edition 1
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