North Carolina Newspapers

L Carteret County News -Times -Cvtarot CMUtjr*> N* jfivic Spirit Reopens I Abrehead City Recreation Center I I Persons who attended the Morehead recreation center open I ouse should have been impressed with the appearance of the | lace, but we doubt tlpt anyone could fully appreciate the Inppint of work that has been done there unleaa he had been li the building sometime within the year prior to this past i ,pril 1. j To anyone visiting the recreation center Saturday night | >ho was only an infrequent visitor there, the place probably ? oesn't look much different. The dollars and sweat have gone j ito repair of the roof, fixing the plumbing, new wiring, replac I lg doors and rotted wood, and just plain ordinary scrubbing Mnd cleaning. ."greeted at a cost of $65,000 shortly after the outbreak of t^e second world war, the building was purchased by the town 9 1 Morehead City early in 1948 at the ridiculously low figure 0^ $3,600. Attempts were made thereafter to make it self to#jntaimng by charging membership to a teen-age club, serv ing dinners to civic clubs and renting rooms. Those funds were used for repairs as well as payment of recreation directors. ,, (This system failed to produce sufficient revenue and the tywn was then requested to subsidize maintenance of the gMler because the building was recognized as essential for entertainment of youngsters and as a place to hold meetings and social functions. The town at first complied, voting $4,000 in March 1949 to IBeft expenses of operating the building for the fiscal year 104,9-50. At that time the town board also gave the then existing recreation board $500 to meet bills payable at once. Tbq $4,000 was to come from returns from the Carolina race track during the 1949 season. ?I" W. C. Matthews, chairman of the recreation board at that ilttie told the town commissioners that the center could not be operated as it was then on less than $6,000 a year. That ciheunt was needed to pay a building manager, a recreation director, a janitor, fuel, light, water, and insurance. - Although the town continued to pump money into the building, operation of the recreation center became increas ingly difficult. Major repairs were necessary, recreation boards, disgusted with matters, resigned. Every time an af fair of any size was held there something disappeared ? an electric fan. several chairs, or other movable furnishings. " No one seemed interested in the building. It was there and that wis that. The general public didn't seem to realize that I building that size requires attention ? if they did realize it, they felt the town should foot the bill and have the place in Cp-t op shape for use whenever a group had an urge to meet there. A municipally-maintained building of that type is prac tical in a town of 60,000 but in Morehead City the town fathers bad a lion by the tail. In desperation, the town board decided that the only thing ia do was sell the place. Meanwhile, the people had voted U 10-ccnt levy for recreation which was expected to yield ap proximately $4,000 a year. With tax money for recreation, a municipal recreation commission was necessary. And before de eding to dispose of the recreation center, the town decided to bt the recreation commission take care of the building. But the recreation commission backed off, saying that with their $4,000 they couldn't possibly expect to put the building back into condition. And they were right. 1 That put the recreation center right back in the lap of the town board and it was then that the decision was made to get rid of the building at public sale. ' Still no ripple of protest from the people. Then THE NEWS-TIMES ran an editorial stating that lince the present frWreation building was going to be done away with, plans theuld be made immediately t* find a way to build a smaller recreation building of fire-proof construction and easy to main Win. ??' Suddenly the people teemed to realize, at last, that the WtreaUon building was going to go. Then believing, and ttghtfully no doubt, that a bird in the hand is worth "two in the Mfch. the Rotarians' youth committee went to the town board tttltl asked them to hold up on the sale. The Rotarians pro ved organization of a Building-for-Youth committee com prised of representatives of all the men's civic organizations, fhty planned to solicit businessmen and other residents for funds to put the recreation building back into ihape and then fifth it over to the recreation commission. The committee was organized, setting as its goal $7,500. Close to that amount was collected in cash and pledges, tad with donated labor the fast-declining recreation building this spruced up. We sinoerely hope the youngsters and every Sdt else who uses the building respect the property because ffiibeasurable effort and energy, as well as valuable dollars went into making it available again. C|0<bf course, the Building-for-Youth committee and the recre ation commission still have a row to hoe: maintenance. They fiiife cleared the first hurdle with flying colors. We believe Uiiy are aware that the building will cost quite a bit to main Bffil and we still feel that a smaller, more compact recreation building would meet the town's needs at less cost. '"however, the building is here. The people have showed Without question that they want to keep it. And if the spirit tfrfct was evidenced these past few months continues, we be UfVe Morehead Citians could maintain Buckingham palace if they wanted to badly enough. pll YOU b? Allowed to Voto? tyrAn advertisement in a Raleigh paper last week read "If ?U live in Raleigh, YOU ARE NOT REGISTERED." Those {Mt 'our words ought to be taken to heart by all citizens. Everyone in Raleigh township has to re-register because at changes in precinct designation and precinct boundaries, {^piany instances people will be going to a different polling gl&e than heretofore. That will be the case on a small scale jg^porehead City on primary day. The creation of two pre cincts has established another polling place on 28th street Mjrell as the one at the town hall. .Canvassers are making an effort to get everyone registered fegMorehead City. But every Carteret countian would be ful OUing an obligation as a citizen by checking with the registrar jp his own community. If you are already registered, check that your name and address are accurately recorded, moments spent in doing this now may save argument embarrassment at the polls on May 31. Hi':;1 " CARTERET COUNTY NEWS-TIMES Carteret County's Newspaper l 1 Published Tundayi and Fridays By I L THE CARTCRET PUBLISHING COMPANY. INC. g^ckwood Phillip* ? Publisher! ? Eleanore Dear Phillip* Bath Leckey Peeling, Editor tn Publishing Office At 804 ArendeU SL. Uorehesd City, N. C. Ifcmut M: pi Carteret county and adjotnlnc counties. $6.00 one JMar 93.90 six month*. $1.35 one month: elsewhere. $7.00 one yiar. $4.00 six months. $1.50 one month. Praia ? Graata* w*rkil?l' ? N. C. Pre Audit Bureau of Circulations TIM Aaaoclatad Praaa Is aatltled axclualvely to uaa for rapub mjflir e^loeaMjawa printad la this nawapapar. a* ??U as all MORE UVES THAN THE AVERAGE CAT ?? imnrii I |i nam ? II mi ?? im ? Freed Political Victim Tells Hoiv Red Prisons Spawn Madness 9 Death ?y William i Kyan First of two articles Rome. (AP)? What does it mean to be a political prisoner in a Soviet prison? , Creeping insanity. Maddening boredom. Life in perpetual semi darkness. Nocturnal screams of at tempted suicides. Foul conditions. Sudden searches. Long sieges of sleepless questioning. Physical and mental breakdown. Babbling con fessions. Claudio De Mohr. an Italian diplomat, was a prisoner for six years. He was taken into custody by the Russians in Bulgaria, along with U other Italians, in 1944. In September 1950. he was released with 10 others. The 12th. a woman, did not stand up long under the treatment. She died in 1945. De Mohr, in his office in the Chigi Palace, Italy's Foreign Min istry. gave this description of life in a Moscow prison: Lefortovo prison, one of a num ber of Moscow prisons, has 225 cells. Three prisoners are confined in each cell. It was there that the diplomats spent most of their six year nightmare. In 1950 they were moved to Byturka, the biggest of the prisons, which houses 20.000 and in the final months to notori ous Lubyinka, where Soviet police boss Lavrenty Beria has his office. It is the most dreaded of all. Clothing as Part of Torture The diplomats were captured in the summer and were wearing light clothing. They never got any other, even in the bitterest days of the Moscow winters. Lefortovo has four tiers of cells. The diplomats were placed, three to a cell, in widely separated parts of the prison. Each (ell is about six feet wide, 10 feet long. Each contains three board beds and a cotton blanket. The arrangement leaves a space of about two feet between the side wall bunks. A prisoner can make about six steps forward and back, his only exercise. The big windows of the prison are boarded, shutting out the light. The cell is always semi-dark. Light comes from an electric bulb set deep in the wall so the prisoners cannot get at it. The light, giving a dim red glow, is on at all times. Even if there had been something to read, it would have been too dark. For aid there is a small vent, half open moat of the time. The prisoners are not allowed to ap proach it. For heat ? for the first two years there was none at all ? there is a small covered pipe run ning from cell to cell and giving off maddeningly little warmth. The floor is asphalt and constantly cov ered with dust. The big wooden cell door is lined with metal, inside and outside. Even an accidental glimpse of any other prisoner ia made impossible. The Guard Syateai A sentinel sits in the center of the cellblock. When a prisoner muat leave his cell for any reason. - the guard in front of the cell sig nals to the sentinel. If no other prisoner is out of his cell at that time, the head guard raises a white flag, meaning the coast is clear and the prisoner may ' be brought out. A red flag means the prisoner must wait ? somebody else is out. When the prisoner is brought out of the cell, any common criminal who might be about, working at chores forbidden political priaon ers. must immediately turn and stand with his face to, the wall un til given the clear sifcnal. v Regulation* call. for a 10-minute walk every day in a "walk box" in the courtyard. Sometimes, how ever, there are no walks for weeks. But the walk is worth little. The walk boxes are closed off so that the prisoner cannot see any other. The walk box is about the size of a small kitchen. Exercise is Prohibited The prisoner is forbidden to do setting up cxerciscs on his own. A guard explained: exercisps use up energy. Energy needs food. Food is insufficient to permit it. A pris oner caught in an attempt to do setting up exercises will be punish ed severely. ' There are any number of minor infractions calling for severe pun ishment. often in the awful "kart sa." This is a cell in the cellar of the prison. It is less than six feet square, with a low ceiling which forbids standing upright. Always terribly cold, the cell is like a tomb. Its only furniture is a board upon which the prisoner may crquch to try to sleep, but he must keep moving to keep from freezing. A 7 a.m. each morning In the kartsa, the prisoner gets a piece of bread about the size of a cigaret package, and a glass of warm water. At 5 . p.m. he gets another glass of warm water. The minimum confinement in the kartsa is three days and three nights in winter; five days and five nights in summer. De Mohr had three sentences in the kartsa, one for tapping a message on the wall to the next cell, the others for being stubborn in an interrogation. They stripped him of all but shirt and underwear in the kartsa and the cold was almost unbearable. Because of suicide attempts, prisoners are compelled to sleep flat on their backs, hands above their heads, blankets covering only the lower part of the body. When a prisoner moves in his sleep, the guard raps furiously on the food dox at the cell door, waking every body, and the prisoner must re sume the required position. Depending upon the guard, the prisoner can be punished for changing his position in his sleep. Women guards, says Dc Mohr, are the worst of all. In The Good Old Days THIRTY THREE YEARS AGO Beaufort was to vote I6r a mayor and five commissioners this week. A luxury tax went into effect on May 1. Among the articlei being taxed, and their taxes, were movies, S per cent, slot machines, 3 per cent, furi, 10 per cent, cigars and cigarettes. 10 per cent, and auto mobiles, 5 per cent. Guthrie and Company, Beaufort, were offering men's suits for 912.50. TWENTY FIVE YEARS AGO Miss Odessa Hill, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hill, and Mr. John B. Thaxton were married recently at the home of bride's parents. Paving had started on the Len noxville road. At * fsshion show of the Besu fort Community club, prizes were awarded Miss Clyde Duncan for the best afternoon dress, Mrs. M. Les lie Davis for the best sports dress for women, Margery Humphrey, first prize for the best dress for small girls, and Laura Mace, sec ond prize for small girl's dress. TEN YEARS AGO The Federal government had taken over 835 acres of the Hoff man tract on Boguc Banks for coas tal defense purposes. Gasoline rationing was to start, next week. Beaufort town commissioners passed an ordinance making it un lawful for unlicensed dogs to be allowed to run loose on the streets, and also for hogs or pigs to be kept inside the town limits. / FIVE YEARS AGO Running for comminioner in ON THE HOUSE BY DAVID O. IA*EUTBEE ( inira in a serin Finishing Attics) A FLOOR installed in finishing an attic can either nuke, or almost break your house. It can add rigidity to the framework of a house? when it's properly laid. It can induce vibration enough to loosen and crack plaster ? if it's poorly planned improperly laid. All attics aren't intended for living space. However, if ceiling joists are heavy enough and headroom is sufficient far enough under the pitch of the roof to allow for room widths, you may be able to go ahead with an improvement that will enlarge your bouse both in livability and value. Most unused attics have no floors at all. A few boards usually form a catwalk left by the builders directly under the ridgepole. This gives you a good chance for an inspection. You can plan your wiring exten sions and heating and plumbing lines needed before laying the floor. ' IN PLANNING for rigidity, take a look at the joist spans. If any of them reach more than 8 feet, it's a safe bet you need bridging. This arrangement of criss-crosses should be midway in the span. Yoy can buy metal bridging, but in the case of an attic you'll find it simpler to I J J > t Diagonally laid subflooring adds rigidity. Nails driven on slant pull boards snugly together. Bridging (cross pieces) between joists tends to prevent springy floors. install pieces of 1 by 3s between the joists as you see them in the cellar. With two nails at each end, these will distribute the weight on the floor by preventing joists from swaying under pressure. The best floors comprise a subfloor and a finish floor. This wasn't done generally before 1900, but it has been found that a subfloor reduces nail movement and hence reduces squeaking. The use of heavy ply woods has been changing this practice somewhat for attics, but rough subfloors still are usually used. They provide a working surface until the rooms are ready for the finishing touches. Four general subflooring materials are plain boards surfaced-four sides (S4S), dressed and snatched lumber (tongue and grooved), end matched tongued and grooved, and the plywoods, such as plyscord. CHEAPEST is S4S plain, random lengths, available in widths from 4 inches up. It's not a good idea to use boards more than 6 inches wide. Expansion and contraction increases too much in greater widths. This can cause squeaking and other troubles. In estimating the amount you need, measure the square feet and add 20 per cent for waste. You can get the greatest stiffness by running the subflooring di agonally. But right angle laying is common and more economical. Eightpenny finishing nails are driven diagonally to pull each board snugly against its neighbor. Two nails are used for each board at each joist. All board ends must be sawed to fall squarely on the center of a joist and these ends must be staggered so that no two joists will fall ad jacent on the same joist. PLYWOODS are being used more because of the popularity of asphalt tile and rubber, vinyl and cork tiles. Permanently flat surfaces are provided which prevent any movement between fesilient tiles. This type of flooring can be cemented directly to plywood. In fact, the Ken tile manufacturers recommend quarter-inch plywood to be applied over any single wood floor with boards not over 4 inches wide. It used to be that asphalt tile was not recommended for wood floors, but reserved for concrete where it would wear as long as the concrete. But underlayments have been developed making the use of resilient tile practicable even on rough wood floors. The only restriction now made by the Kentile engineers is not to lay asphalt tile over wood that is in contact with the earth. Cork tile and rubber tile, which are more resilient and produce even quieter floors, are supposed to be laid over well seasoned tongued and grooved lumber no more than three inches wide, or preferably over ply wood. When over boards, these tiles are laid on felt, butt-edged and not overlapped. All nails, in either boards or plywood, are driven flush so there will be no danger of their showing up on the polished surface. (NEXT: Dormers and Ventilation) f 1 Sou'easter BY CAPTAIN HENRY Robert Salrit asked some time back how John Lashley can hold two jobs, town clerk of Morehead City and clerk of court I don't know. I guess one's an appointive position and the other elective. If Robert's awful curious, maybe John will run over here to the saw mill and explain it to him. More people who wfcre in Scott's camp two years ago showed up wearing Umstead buttons at his clambake Saturday night. I don't believe a one changed his politics, they're just fence-straddler.s Then there were a few Olive spies around, checking up on what the Umsteaders were umto. They tell me the state has given Harkless Wooten a job. Cook, no less, for the inmates of the prison. That's a far jump ? from cook at the Dunes club to cook for jail birds. Incidentally, some of the boys, Dunes club members, who have no business messing in cer tain things that they mess in, were Morehead City were Vernon Guth rie, John E. Glover, James W. Lew is, John W. Rodgers. Charles N. Bennett, Thomas E. Wade, D. G. Bell, Bernard Leary, and the four present members 01 the board, Walter M. Lewis, S. C. Holloway, W. P. Freeman and W. L. Derrick son. Rotarians of district 189 and members of the North Carolina Bird club were holding conventions at Atlantic Beach this weekend. Tommy Eure was elected presi dent of the Beaufort school student council. Other officers were Jim my Piner, vice-president, Helen Paul, secretary, and Blanche Saunders, treasurer. in a swivet to get Harklcss off, de lay his serving his time, etc. They actually succeeded, but the wind shifted here on the local level, and Harkless went off. He'll be back before long. Mrs. Louis Rice and daughter Lucille will move into the home at Ann and Craven formerly owned by Miss Lily Fales. The James Allgoods are hoping to get into their new home in Hancock park before many days pass. Miss Georginai Yeatman is very interested in the Earle Webb prop erty on Bogue sound. The sale was almost concluded several weeks ago but a title tangle messed things' up. Another holder oi Scott's "Coun try Squire" citation is Earl Davis of Harkers Island. My wife asked me the other day when I thought beauty parlors would put in television. Since I'm not very well acquainted with beauty parlor operators, I'd hesi tate to predict. However, TV would be worth trying. Then maybe we'd find out if the gals would rather go to the beauty shop to gossip or if they would be just as willing to be entertained otherwise. Patrolman Bruce Edwards of the Morehead City police force spotted several weeks ago a grey Buick going through Morehead City. Bruce took off after the Buick. which he must have thought was speeding, and pulled up aside of it, siren squalling. This'U kill ya. The driver of the Buick, Marshall Ayscue, deputy sheriff and ABC officer, glared at Patrolman Ed wards and kept going. The other day me and two oth TODAY'S BIRTHDAY REV. HUGH IVAN EVANS, born Hay 6, 1887, at Delaware, Ohio, son of a farmer. Distinguish Dr. Evans was elected modera tor of the Pres byterian Church in the U. S. A. for 1950-51 to lead its more than two mil lion members. A graduate of Wooster college and Princeton Theological Seminar}'' he has filled many pulpits in Ohio and has beeo a Dayton pastor since 1923. ? THEY MAKE NET J STAMPS By Syd Kronish TO COMMEMORATE the 175th anniversary of Marquis de LaFay ette inJ America, the U. S. will is sue a new stamp. It will be placed on sale at Georgetown, S. C., on June 13, 1952. Here LaFayette landed on June 13, 1777. The blue stamp has a portrait of LaFayette in an oval frame. The American flag is at the left and the French tri-color at the right. Be neath the French flag is an artist's conception of the landing party rowing ashore. The denomination, 3 cents, appears in each lower cor ner of the stamp. Stamp collectors desiring first day cancellations may send not more than 10 addressed envelopes to the Postmaster. Georgetown, S. C., together with money order re mittance to cover the cost of the stamps to be affixed. The outside envelope should be endorsed "First Day Covers." ( SAUDI ARABIA will soon issue a new series of stamps in five de nominations to commemorate the opening of the Saudi Government railroad. These stamps are the first by that country to be engraved in the U. S. The stamps, all of the same de sign, contrast the old and the new in Saudi Arabia. Illustrated on the stamps is a Bedouin on a camel waving to an engineer on an ap proaching train. The half quirsh is brown, one q green, 3 q purple, 10 q red and 20 q blue. LUXEMBOURG Jias issued two two new series of stamps to coin cide with Centilux, the Interna tional Exhibition of the Centenary of Luxembourg stamps, reports Ro main Fournelle of St. Louis. Th$ ^ Br wvfVVKv* *<?/? ?? A 2 franc and 4 franc for regular postage show the design of the first Luxembourg stamp ? a portrait of William III. The airmail series consists of five stamps. They ?de pict, side by side, the first William stamp and the latest stamp which bears a portrait of the Grand Duchess Charlotte. A REVOLUTIONARY change may soon take place in postage stamp catalogues. The illustrations of foreign stamps may appear in their original colors instead of the usual black and white. The U. S. Treasury Department has 1'uled that colored pictures of "demone tized" foreign stamps may be law fully printed and published in the U. S. if there is no fraudulent in tent. A demonetized stamp is one not valid for postage within the country which issued it. Of course, this ruling does not apply to illus trations of U. S. stamps. These must still be made in black and white only. LEONARDO DA VINCI'S fam ous portrait, Mona Lisa, appears in beauty on a new stamp irom Western Ger many, reports the New York Stamp co. The 5 pfennig adhe sive celebrates the 500th anni vcrsary ui nis birth. It is printed in natural color. Atop the stamp is the name Leonardo Da Vinci. Beneath the protrait are the dates 1452-1952. er waterfront intelligentsia (don't bother to pronounce it) were watching Roy Barbour work on a boat. Important conversation was in progress about some people working and some people not . . . for instance. Roy working and the other three trying to tell him how. "Well, that's the trouble with Beaufort," Roy calmly observed, "one person out of every four al ways wants to work."