'OPERATION IMPACT' CAN SAVE LIVES VOL. 35—NO. 33 'OPERATION IMPACT' CAN SAVE LIVES ‘j I •5 Southern Pines By-Pass Surveys For No. 1 Slated Wesiern Route Is RepoTied Favored 3y State Officials SIXTEEN PAGES Farewell For Gen. Gross Set Tonight -TEN CENTS Davenport of Southern Picti^ed at Carthage Monday after she was desig- nated Miss Moore County, 1954.” With her is Jimmie Ann Ger- ner of Robbins, runner-up. (Photo by V. Nicholson) Jacque Davenport Chosen Miss Moore County During Program At Carthage 15 Girls Compete In Beauty Contest, Each Gets Applause A tall, slender, brown-eyed miss of 16, Jacque Davenport of South ern Pines, won the beauty crown and title of “Miss Moore County 1954” in the beauty contest at Monday’s July Fourth celebration at Carthage. A sparkling brunette, Jimmie Ann Garner of Robbins, was run ner-up in the contest, in which 15 young girls from aU parts of the county took part. The gold crown was placed on Queen Jacque’s short honey- brown hair by last year’s queen, blonde Marie Kennedy of Pine- hurst. The winner was sponsored by Safety Awards Distributed To School Drivers Safety award certificates are in the process of being distributed in Moore County to school bus driv ers who successfully completed the 1953-’54 term by conforming to prescribed safety rules and regulations. The awards are presented an nuity by the Safety Division, N. C. Department of Motor Vehicles, and the N. C. State Automobile Association, the South’s largest motor club. Qualified drivers in this state travel some 220,000 miles daily to haul more than 400,000 school children. Cqngratulations were offered the winners by John G. Frazier Jr., president of the automobile association, and Edward Scheidt, Commissioner of Motor Vehicles. Winners in Moore County in clude: Jerry Adams, Joseph Eaton, Claude Barber, Hugh Dorcie Mad ison, Jr., Ira McLeod, WiUiam Stancil, Robert Thomias, Charlie Gore, John Barnes Dowd, Bobbie Lee Dowd, Jessie Mae Brower, J«hn Henry Jones, John Curtis Williams, Robert Barrett. Also: Fred Jones, James Leg gett, Paul Alston, Betty Martin, Elizabeth Williams, Otis Bor oughs, Franklin Farmer, Otis Pat terson, Hubert Covington, Lee Curtis Walden, Charlie Oldham, Earlie Brady, Bobby Ritter, Bert SeaweU,' Charles Russell, Billy Maness, Edwina Burns, Horace Ritter, Crissie Rouse, H. B. Moore Jr., Laura Ann Butler. the Southern Pines Chamber of Commerce, and the, runner-up by the Robbins Lions Club. The con test was held at the Carthage high school gym before a crowd of some 1,200 persons which almost filled the bleachers on both sides, also the large balcony. Eliminations The 15 girls, wearing dainty summer dresses, mostly in pastel hues, carne onto, the gymnasium floor one by one and walked to the center, where they all lihed up, then single-filed for the length of the gym again as the judges made notes. They were then call ed out one by one. Each drew ap plause from the crowd during her appearance and it was apparent at this time that Jacque (pronounced Jackie) was a popular favorite. Others also drew real ovations, and four were recalled for a third appearance on the floor-^acque, Jimmie Ann, Doris SeaweU of Carthage and Virginia Troxler of Carthage Rt. 2. Suspense mount ed, till the judges’ decision was announced—then applause hit the rafters. Basketball Player The winner is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Davenport' of the Midland Road. She is an out standing basketball player at Southern Pines High school, where she will be a junior in the faU. She also plays the piano, dances and sings. A real Outdoors type, it was her queenly bearing as much as facial good looks which made Jacque outstanding. She carried her five feet six inches, 115 pounds, with grace and dignity. She wore a lettuce-green dress of dotted Swiss, with circular skirt, made by her mothef. (Continued on Page 5) Siirveys for a by-pass to carry U. S. No. 1 highway around Southern Pines have been author ized by the State Highway Com mission, it was announced this week in Raleigh. Forrest Lockey of Aberdeen, 8th Division highway commission er, called the proposal a “routine exploratory survey” like others that are being made along the route of No. 1 in North Carolina, m line with the overall plan to improve No. 1 as much as we can ” Mr. Lockey said he thought the surveys would start in the very near future, but explained that survey crews are not under the control of the division office and work directly out of the Highway Department at Raleigh. This week’s announcement said that studies would be made of by pass routes on both the eastern and western sides of Southern Pines, but that “tentative plans call for the route to lie on the western side.” The western side plan, it was explained, would permit the by pass to serve N. C. Routes 2 and 22, as well as No. 1. No. 2 is the Midland “double” road from Southern Pines to Pinehurst. Route 22 leaves No. 1 at Manly running west to Midland Road and then turning north off Midland Road to run past St. Joseph of the Pines hospital toward Carthage. Dr. Phillips New Staff Member At Moore Hospital The addition of Dr. Charles A. Speas Phillips, urologist, to the staff of Moore County Hospital was announced this week by Thomas B. Howerton, administra tor. This gives the hospital a new service, and one which has been badly needed for a long time, the administrator said. Hitherto pa tients needing this service have had to be referred to other hos pitals 50 to 75 miles away. Dr. Phillips will restrict his practice to his specialty, and will be associated with Drs. Hollister, Pishko and Monroe, with offices at the hospital. He is a former resident of Moore coimty. A native of Bonlee, in neighboring Chatham county, he moved with his family to South- ern Pines in 1932 and graduated at Southern Pines High school in 1938. He won his B. S. degree in 1942 at the University of North Carolina, where he was a mem ber of Phi Beta Kappa. He took two years of medicine at Carolina --all that were provided at that time—and graduated in 1947 from the medical school of Northwest ern University, Chicago. He then served 33 months with the U. S. (Continued on Page 5) Brig. Gen. Wimarn M. Gross, who for the past three years has commanded the USAF Air- Ground School at the Highland Pines Inn, will be honored today (Friday) at the Southern Pines Country Club, prior to his leaving early next week to become deputy commander of the 12th Air Force at Ramstein, Germany. General and Mrs. Gross and USAFAGOS officers and their wives will be guests at an infor mal friedr chicken supper at the Elks Club’s outdoicr barbecue fa cilities on the Country Club grounds at 7 p. m. Between 5:30 and 6:30 p. m., the Southern Pines Elks Club will en tertain informally for Gen. and Mrs. Gross as well as Air-Ground School officers and their wives, in the Country Club, prior to the outdoor gathering. The public can obtain tickets for the outdoor supper.' Tickets may be obtained at the Country Club or from any member of the steer ing committee for the event whose members are: Sam Richardson for the Lions Club; Garland Pierce for the Elks; Herbert Cameron and June Phillips for the Rotary Club; Louis Scheipers Jr., for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Shields Cameron for the American Legion and Earl Parker for the Chamber cf Commerce. All the civic or fraternal organ- GENERAL GROSS izations represented on the com mittee are combining their efforts in planning the farewell event for General Gross. Gen. Jenkins To Take Post Here Monday Brig. Gen. Daniel W. Jen kins will assume command of ihe USAF Air-Ground School Monday, succeeding Brig. Gen. William M. Gross who will leave Southern Pines ear ly next week. General Jenjkins comes here from Ramstein, Germany, where he was deputy com mander of the 12th Air Force. General Gross will succeed him in this position. General and Mrs. Jenkins and their young daughter have arrived in Southern Pines and are staying at the Charlton Court Motel, No. 1 highway, south, while they are looking for permanent liv ing quarters. David Gamble, president of the Lions Club, will preside at a pro gram to accompany the outdoor supper, and will introduce the guests. The Rev. C. ' K. Ligon, pastor of Brownson Memorial Presbyterian Church and Ameri can Legion chaplain, will deliver the invocation. The regular Friday noon lunch eon meeting of the Rotary Club will not be held today, as club members will meet with other service club members at the ever ning event. Details of the programi tonight Observer Corps To Be Recognized The Southern Pines and other Moore County units of the Ground Observer Corps will be recognized Wednesday of next week, along with units throughout the nation, as “Ground Observer Corps Day’’ is marked. Harry Chatfield heads the Southern Pines unit. David Drex- el of Southern Pines is county chairman. Other units have been set up at Aberdeen, Vass, West ^d, Carthage and Robbins. More than 20 persons are working with the Southern Pines unit. The national day of recognition was set by the U.S. Air Force and its Air Deferise Command under which the Observer Corps oper ates. I have not been announced, but the event will include expressions of apppreciation for General Gross’s service to the community and co operation in community endeav ors of the Air-Ground Schoiol un der his command. A resolution adopted by the town council will be presented to him. . It was almost exactly three years ago that General Gross was assigned to head the Air-Ground School which had moved to the Highland Pines Inn from Pope Air Force Base in June, 1951. For merly assistant chief of staff of the Tactical Air Command, Gen eral Gross was promoted from colonel to brigadier general coin cident with his tEiking command here. General Gross has been in mil itary service since 1927 and is a 1934 graduate of the U. S. JVTil- tary Academy at West Point. He had a distinguished record in World War II, commanding the First Combat Bomb Wing of the Eighth Air Force in England and himself taking part in 22 combat bombing missions over Europe in B-17 “Flying Fortresses.” Under the command of General Gross, the Air-Ground School has been on a basis of full coopera tion with the civilian community. The town, in turn, has recognized the important place of the school (Continued on page 5) Council To Meet Tuesday, Set Policy On Water Lines Outside City Limits Proposal To Enlarge Council Slated For Further Discussion Having reached an agreement last week with Newland Phillips about extension of water lines in the Golfcrest development outside the dity limits, the town council, at its regular meeting to be held Tuesday night of next week in town hall at 8 p.m., will discuss Holiday Week-End Safe In Connty; P atrolmen Bnsy While traffic accidents took „ toll of 14 lives over North Carolina during the long July 4 week-end, Moore County had a normal or less than normal accident record. In addition to two or three minor traffic mishaps that in volved only small property dam age, the only accident that was reported to the State Highway Patrol was a freak collision that sent two people to the hospi tal for'emergency treatment. On a side road Off the East wood-West End highway the two cars ran together head-on, both vehicles held in their tracks by the deep sandy ruts in which they each were travelling. Cpl. M. S. Parvin, patrol chief in Moore County, said that he investigated the wreck but could make no indictments because it occurred on a private road. He (Continued on Page 5) setting a policy to follow in the future for all extensions of water and sewer lines outside the town limits. The Tuesday meeting is the reg ular “discussion” meeting of the board when discussion is welcom ed from the floor. One week lat- Tuesday, July 20, the council will hold its “action” meeting at which discussion by visitors is limited and the council debates and takes action on matters dis cussed the previous week. At recent discussions of the water and sewer extension prob lem, council members have seem ed to favor setting a policy where by water and sewer lines joining the town system would be dedi cated to the town as soon as they are installed by developers or in dividuals outside the city limits. In the Golfcrest situation, this policy was followed and was agreed to by Mr. Phillips, so far (Contiqued on Page 5) PO Box Rent Can Be Paid Annually Post office box rent now may be paid on an annual basis, it was pointed out this week by Postmas ter Garland A. Pierce. The nation-wide ruling went into effect July 1. Heretofore post office box rent was collected quar terly only. Quarterly payments may still be made, but those pre ferring an annual payment may now pay that way, the postmaster explained. Hfip. C. B. Deane of Rocking ham sponsored the bill in Con gress that authorizes the aimual payment method. jiieuioa. Scout Troop 224 Enjoys Hard-Earned Week At Camp Durant Thirty-three Southern Pines :— — M^UTUTlt. Methodists Plan lOmbined Service A 10 a. m. “family service,” combining Sunday School and church services will be held Sun day at the Community Center on May Street, by the new Southern Pines Methodist congregation. The Rev. E. E. Whitley, pastor, said that the new plan of services would be tried and, if approved by the congregation, would be continued until further notice. A news item on page 3 of to day’s Pilot, written and printed before the pastor announcement of the combined service, lists both Sunday School and church scrv- ices for Sunday, but members of the congregation are asked to dis regard this page 3 announcement. Thirty-three Southern Pines Boy Scouts are having a big time at Camp Durant this week, enjoy ing it all the more because they earned it themselves by hard lyork over a total period of about six months. All the boys are members of Troop 224 except one, a “visitor” from Troop 73. The group at camp constitutes practically the entire membership of the troop. Under the guidance cf their scoutmaster, Russell Simons, the boys of 224 carried the News and Observer for three months last fall and three months in' the spring, paying all expenses con nected with the job and banking the profits for camp. They took turns at the early-rising job, also helping with the collecting. Mr. Simons went out every morning, with the boys, taking no pay, though he kept the route go- ing as a private cnterprpise dur- ing the three winter months in order to hold it for the troop. With heavy schoolwork and short daylight hours, it was thought (Continued on Page 5) OFF TO CAMP—Members of Boy Scout Troop 224 and Scoutmaster RusseU Simons are pictur ed here as they gathered Sunday at the First Baptist Church, their sponsoring institution, be fore leavi^ for a week at Camp Durant near Raleigh. They are, left to right: first row, Stu art Simons, Tommy Johnston, Butch May, Jim my Tew, George Little, Melva Ray Hall, Vinson Gilmore, Lee Garvin, Richard Lockey, Bobby Wicker; second row, Charles Weatherspoon Wayne Davenport, Tony Simons, Pat Calcutt Bobby Watkins, Ike WoodeU, Jimmy Parker, Jimmy Caldwell, Larry McDonald, Jimmy Car- ter (from Troop 73), Donald Barber, Norwood McDonald, Robert Woodruff; third row. Scout master Simons, Dick Mclnnis, Skipper Spence Jesse Williford, John Van Benschoten, Bill Sey mour, Ted Ward, Thomas Vann and Richard Be thea, Explorer Scout attached to Troop 224. (Photo by V. Nicholson) Tentative County Tax Rate $1.35 Resolutions On Spence, Saunders Passed By Board Devoting a large part of their regular July meeting to work on the 1954-’55 budget, the county cpmmissioners adopted a ten tative budget that sets the tax rate at $1.35 per $100 of property valuation—^the same rate as din ing the past fiscal year which ended June 30. The board went into executive session with Auditor John C. Muse of Sanford to work out final de tails of the budget. After the meeting ended. Chairman G. M. Cameron said the tax rate had been tentatively fixed at $1.35, pending final adoption of the budget in August. The board chairman said also that requirements listed in the budget are slightly less than last year’s. Miss Maida Jenkins, coun ty accountant and tax supervisor, said this week that the new bud get is based on an estimated prop erty valuation of $40,000,000. This is the same figure used in the bud get estimate for the 1953-’54 fis- cal year. Increased valuation from listing of new construction, sh’e said, is offset in this year’s tax assessments by a decline in per- onal property listings. Miss Jenkins pointed out that there had been Little new con struction by business and indus try to be listed for taxes this year. Residential construction has been largely in McNeiU, Sandhill and Sheffield townships. Robbins is in Sheffield. ^ Special school taxes raise the county tax rate in Southern Pines school district to $1.83. These tax es are collected by the county for use in the Southern Pines school district. After publication, the budget will lie open for 20 days for pub lic inspection. Changes are rare ly made in the budget between tentative and final adoption. County Home Problem Mr. Cameron said that the com missioners are continuing to study the county home problem and that the press and public will be in formed when some decision is made. The board is faced with the question of whether to con tinue to operate the county home on the present basis which, during the past year required an appro priation of $12,500 for payment of operators, maintenance costs and other expenses; or to convert the imtitution to a privately-operated licer^ed boarding home; or to dis continue its use in any welfare capacity and sell or lease the building for another purpose. Resolutions The commissioners authorized the county attorney, M. G. Boy ette, to prepare resolutions of re spect and sympathy in regard to the death last week of U. L. Spence, 86-year-old Carthage at- tcrney, and also to prepare a res olution expressing the board’s ap preciation of services to the coun ty by W. P. Saunders of Southern Pines who recently resigned as executive vice-president of Rob bins Mills, Inc., which has plants at Bobbins and Aberdeen. Texts of the resolutions were not imme diately available, pending their completion by the county attor ney. Spence and Boyette, the firm of which Mr. Spence was senior ' partner, has handled the county’s legal business tor some time and Mr. Spence had worked closely with county officials during his (Continued On Page 5) POSTAL RECEIPTS HERE RISE 10% Receipts at the Southern Pines post office showed a 10.6 per cent increase in the first -six months of 1954, as compared with the period of 1953, Postmaster Garland A. Pierce said this week. The 1954 receipts amount to $35,528.64. This is $3,412.23 more than was taken in at the post office in the first six months of 1953. Postal receipts are consider ed a good index of business activity. -r|