,
uJljr HUarrrn ftrrord
Published Every Thursday By
R*cord 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 MPNTHS. $3.00
SUBSCRIPTION RATES: OUT OF-STATE: ONE YEAR. $700
SIX MONTHS. $400
Renovating Houses
On one of Warrenton's many
shady streets there stands a
pretty small home that is a
splendid example of what can be
done by remodelling. Today it is
one of the town's prettiest small
homes, well proportioned,
charmingly painted and enhanced
by pretty shade trees,
shrubbery and flowers.
Yet a generation ago this was
one of the town's most
unattractive homes, a long,
boxcar type of structure, that
drew no praise. It has now been
transformed by good taste and
an appreciation of beauty. This
is only one of many homes of
Warrenton which have been
remodelled with good taste to
become part of a group of
modest homes that are a part of
the town's considerable charm.
While several old homes have
been renovated, a few into fine
homes, there are many other
homes with fine lines that await
rebuilding, many at less cost
than new structures. One who
takes the opportunity to buy and
renovate one of these old homes
not only will be rewarded with
the type of home of which he can
be proud, but also will make a
contribution to the beauty of the
town.
As one travels along the
residential streets of the town
and sees many pretty small
homes that need reconstruction,
one feels regret that there is no
organization of interested citizens
with good taste and good
judgment who would be willing
to buy a few of the more
attractive of these homes,
renovate them and sell them to
new owners, using the money so
obtained to buy and restore
other houses for sale.
This plan has been successfully
used in a few towns and cities
of the state. If it can not be
carried out here on a large
scale, we have the notion that
there are a few persons here
with means who would find an
individual effort most rewarding.
Mostly Personal
Protein From Tobacco
By BIGNALL JONES
Protein is one of the most
expensive items going into
feed for animals and, as was
pointed out in this column
last week, is a by-product of
the manufacture of alcohol
from grain, and the value of
the by-product may bring
alcohol to a low enough
price to be competitive with
gasoline.
There may be further help
for the world's protein
supply from a most unlikely
source, according to an
article I clipped from The
News and Observer one
night last week. The article
from Los Angeles was
headed: "Tobacco May
Hold Key To Feeding
World's Poor."
The UPI story said a
protein extracted from
tobacco may become a vital
food source throughout the
world, a team of researchers
at the University of
California Los Angeles said.
"The protein, named
' fraction-1', is in purified
form a tasteless white
powder having more nutritional
value than standard
animal protein, according to
Dr. Samuel Wildman, a
biologist, and Dr. Benjamin
Ershoff, a medical research
nutritionist.
"A group of rats fed on the
protein gained more weight
and generally were healthier
than a control group
maintained with milk protein.
"The scientists said the
protein is the single most
abundant one in the world
and is present in all green
plants. They said it had the
potential to feed much of the
world's malnourished population.
It must be tested to be
sure it is safe for human
consumption, however, before
it can be produced for
wide use, Wildman said.
"He said current methods
of growing tobacco for
smoking destroy much of
the protein and it was
believed the tobacco plants
could be harvested for food
and the residue used for
cigarette tobacco.
"The researchers quoted
the U. S. Department of
Agriculture as saying that
removal of the protein
before curing tobacco
leaves would result in a
safer smoking product.
"They said when all
tobacco leaf proteins, including
those that can be
used to feed animals, are
taken into account the
protein yield per acre from
tobacco plants would be four
times greater than from
soybeans. They predicted
tobacco would be a major
food crop within 10 to 25
years."
The serious efforts being
made bv the Department of
Health, Education and Weltobacco
as a smoke due to
its alleged cancer inducing
alleged cancer inducing
properties has the tobacco
industry and many farmers
worried because of a threat
to their livelihood. The
charges, although discounted
must have also bothered
farmers who instead of
being cast in the light of a
boon to mankind is cast as a
threat. Who knows but that
in a few years the tobacco
growers may be producing
much of the world's food and
with no threat to his
conscience. As one who
stopped smoking cigarets a
number of years ago, I
sincerely hope that such a
happy issue may be found.
Month For Star Gazing
The Fayetteville Times
The "Star of Bethlehem." Was it a
conjunction (coming together) of
planets? Was it a spiritual experience
of the Wise Men? Was it a comet?
Through the years, astronomers
have studied these questions, finding
evidence to support the astronomical
conjectures, leaving the religious
interpretation to the religious.
Whether or not the star seen on the
night long ago was a conjunction of the
planets Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and
Venus, it is a fact that these four
planets are very much at home in the
December sky, as they surely were
those many centuries ago.
You can see Jupiter rising in the east
at about sunset. And it will stand near
the full moon on December 24.
Saturn is near the bright star
Regulus in the constellation Leo (the
Lion).
iiidis is iii Uic* .uujlvlltition Csnicsr.
rising in the east somewhat before
midnight.
Venus, however, is close to the sun
during the month, and can be seen only
by using extreme caution.
Best to be satisfied with Mercury,
which shines low in the southwestern
horizon at sunset.
December nights, with their echoes
of those sung-about nights of so long
ago, have always been a favorite for
sky-watchers. The speculations over
the "Star of Bethlehem" add to the
attraction.
Quotes
More things belong to marriage than
four bare legs ifi a bed.-John
Heywood.
Be careless in your dress if you must,
bul keep a tWj - Mar* Twain.
..The Constitution-Burgess House at Historic Halifax State Historic Site. Halifax,
constructed circa 1800, will be one of the four historic buildings decorated for
Christmas in appropriate style and period the weekend of Dec. 16-18.
Christmas Programs
The Constitution-Burgess
House, which served
as an office-home, will be
decorated as a second
home of a lawyer of the
early 19th century.
The Clerk's Office, a
public building, will be
decorated simply.
The Sally-Billy House,
opened in April of this
year, will feature a
formal holiday food table
of pork and game.
Christmas trees will
not be used in the
decorations except at the
visitor center as the
decorated tree did not
become a Christmas
custom until after the
1840's.
Tourguides dressed in
period costumes will be
stationed in all the
buildings to interpret the
decorations and to answer
questions during the
three days.
The Old Halifax Christmas
Tour originated
d,«ring 1976 when it was
decided to offer one more
event for the Bicentennial
year at Historic Halifax.
The 1976 tour was
attended by several hundred
persons and the
event is expected to
continue as an annual
event.
Winter Mansion
The Executive Mansion
at 200 N. Blount St. in
Raleigh will be open for
visitors to view the
Christmas decorations
Tuesday through Friday,
Dec. 13-16. Hours are
10-11:30 a. m. and 1:30 - 3
p. m. on those days.
Afterwards, the Mansion
will be closed to
visitors throughout the
months of December,
January and February.
Visitation will resume in
the spring.
Advent Celebration
SOUTH HILL-The
South Hill Episcopal Cure
Churches will celebrate
the Annual Advent Season
in the churches in the
Cure as they prepare for
the coming of our Lord.
St. Paul's Episcopal
Church in Union Level
will hold Advent Services
Sunday 18 at 5 p. m. under
the direction of Mrs.
Esther Green, chairman
of the Altar Guild.
Special music of the
Advent will be rendered
by the combined choirs of
the Junior and Senior
Chancel Choirs. The
Episcopal Churchmen
and Chancel Choir of
Trinity Church in South
Hill will present the
drama, "Silent Night,
Holy Night," Sunday,
Dec. 18, at 7 p. m.
A Christmas Party will
be held Thursday, Dec. 22
at 6 p. m. at Trinity
Church Parish hall by the
combined Church Schools
and Young Episcopal
Churchmen of Trinity
Church in South Hill, St.
Paul's in Union Level and
St. Thomas in Freeman.
All children as well as
youth in the community
regardless of religious
faith are invited.
The Annual Nativity of
our Lord will be celebrated
<?r>p?menpin« ^atur
day, Dec. 24 at 5 p. m.
with Open House at the
South Hill Episcopal Cure
Rectory.
7 p. m. carol singing
for the sick, hospital and
shut-ins by the combined
chancel choirs of the
Cure.
9 p. m. Santa Claus
Treat at South Hill
Community Hospital.
11 a. m. carol singing
by the Chancel Choir and
Choral Eucharist at Trinity
Church in South Hill.
On Christmas Day, tiie
following schedule will be
used:
9 a. m. Choral Eucharist
at St. Paul's Church in
Union Level.
11 a. m. Choral Eucharist
at Trinity Church in
South Hill.
1:30 p. m. Choral
Eucharist at St. Thomas'
Church in Freeman.
Watchnight Services
will be held Saturday,
Dec. 31 at 11 p. m. at
Trinity Church in South
Hill. The 113 annual
Emancipation Services
will be held Sunday, Jan.
1 at 11 a. m. at Trinity
Church in South Hill.
The public is invited to
attend.
Halifax Christmas
HALIFAX - Plans are
underway for the second
annual Old Halifax
Christmas Tour of the
restored buildings in the
Historic District here.
The tour will be held from
9 a. m.'to 5 p. m. on
Friday and Saturday,
Dec. 16 and 17 and 1 to 5 p.
m. on Sunday, Dec. 18.
There is no admission
charge for the tour.
The building tour will
include the Visitor Center,
the Owens House, the
Clerk's Office, the Constition-Burgess
House, and
for the first time this
year, the Sally-Billy
House. Each building will
be decorated to reflect
their historical periods
and uses.
The Owens House, the
only true Colonial structure
on the site, will be
decorated to fit that
period. Natural materials
and fruit such as apples,
lemons and pineapples
will be utilised in the
decorations. A tea table
will be set up in the main
room of the house.
brand Jury Kecommenas
Only Minor Repairs Here
Only minor repairs for the
courthouse and jail were
recommended by the Warren
County Grand Jury in its
report to Judge Edwin S.
Preston, Jr., judge presiding
Monday.
The grand jurors reported
that conditions at the jail
are satisfactory, with exception
of two broken
windows and the need of
paint for the bathroom
shower.
Conditions in the court
house were of a more
serious nature. The jurors
reported that repairs are
needed in the ceiling of the
office of the Clerk of Court,
and that the ductwork needs
to be checked for air
Unpaid Gifts May
Be Season's Best
By BERTHA B. FORTE
Home Extension Agent
..Things That Money Cannot
Buy may be the greatest
gifts of all. TIME for friendship-visits
and telephone
calls.
"Caroling" at Christmas
is a lovely custom that
young people carry out for
senior community members.
It is a moment to
remember for the young as
well as for the old.
SERVICES-A Gift of
Time for service is much
appreciated by elders.
These services range from
cleaning leaves out of the
gutters to insulating hot
water pipes, to laying insulation
in the attic, and under
the floor to save fuel,
money, and provide greater
comfort.
A subscription to a
magazine or the daily
newspaper is a service of
time and money.
passage problems, as no
heat is getting into the
office.
The grand jury also found
the extension of the Clerk's
office needs appropriate
desk lamp, that a handrail
on basement stairs is loose,
and that there is a looce light
panel in the court room.
The prison unit was also
inspected by the grand jury
and found to be in satisfactory
condition.
Grover L. Shearin served
as foreman of the Grand
Jury.
by John W. Gardner
A seventeenth-century Englishman said,
"give me the making of the songs of a nation,
and I care not who makes its laws." Many an
American businessman, possessing the same
delicate perception of differing roles, might say
"Give me the making of the nation's tax laws,
and I care not who governs.''
One might think that a process so central to
economic justice as the shaping of the tax laws
would be the subject of intense public scrutiny.
But it is not, and some curious things happen.
In a recent year 112 individuals with annual
incomes of more than $200,000 were legally
able to avoid paying any federal income taxes.
Three of the 112 reported incomes of more than
one million. That's the kind of information that
has convinced a lot of ordinary hard-working
taxpaying Americans that they're playing in a
game where someone has stacked the deck.
One of the leading tax authorities in the
country has said that income tax rates could be
lowered one-third with no resulting reduction in
the amount of money raised if all income were
subject to tax and the personal deductions were
pruned to the essential items.
The capital gains tax, the many avenues of
escape from the estate tax, the abuse of farm
tax losses, accelerated depreciation, and innumerable
other devices enable the highincome
taxpayer to bring his tax rate far below
that of citizens in the middle and lower-income
ranges.
Latter-day populists use the phrase "redistribute
the wealth" as a battle cry. There is no
record of any multimillionaire losing sleep over
the phrase, but it scares the wits out of the
middle-income citizen who has just made the
final payment on his house.
Both he who fears it and the populists who
seek it talk as though "the redistribution of
wealth" is something that is not now happening
but might be made to happen. Actually it
is going on all the time and its chief instrument
is the tax system.
When redistribution benefits the poor it
does so under charity-soaked words such as
"welfare." Wb«B it benefits the rich it does so
under businessliii»j»bel8 such as "provision of 1
economic incentives." Whichever direction the
money moves it is not rejected by the recipient.
Nobody likes to pay taxes. But if this nation is
to solve its problems, the citizen is going to pay
more, not less, in taxes. Faced with that painful
reality, the citizen is going to demand that the
tax system be equitable. It is not equitable
today.
A former Secretary of Health, Education and
Welfare, John Gardner is the Founding Chairman
of Common Cause.
Caption Is Incorrect
In section B of this edition
< The Warren Record, a
aption on the agricultural
>age was inadvertently
ilaced under the wrong
licture. The correct caption
dentified the picture as an
iward presentation in which
armer Emery Keeter was
presented a certificate of
tobacco test participation
from Lloyd Massey, master
of the North Carolina
Grange. Warren County
agricultural extension
chairman L. B. Hardage
was also pictured.