CARTERET COUNTY NEWS-TIMES
Carteret County'* Newspaper
TUESDAY, JULY 29, 1958
The Future Pivots on Water
It can be said, without fear of chal
lenge, that North Carolina's future
pivots on water ? navigable water, un
polluted salt and fresh water, and suf
ficient ground water.
On the first, navigable water, hinges
the type of future to be experienced by
eastern Carolinians. A State Water
ways Commission has been proposed
?nd in a hearing at Raleigh last week
the commission was endorsed by coas
tal leaders.
The sole responsibility of the com
mission, as proposed, is the improve
ment of the waterways of the state for
navigation.
Heretofore, North Carolina, as have
most states, has depended on the fed
eral government, through the Army
Corps of Engineers, to make waters
navigable. While much federal help
will always be needed, the state, with
an adequately financed waterways
program, can handle some projects
which the federal government might
never touch.
As Col. Harry Brown has pointed
out, some Tar Heel projects have been
turned down by the Corps of Engineers
because justification for the project
has not been properly prepared. A
waterways commission would be able
to assist in effectively requesting fed
eral aid.
Colonel Brown proposes, at first, an
operating budget of $150,000 a year.
Source of funds, under his plan is
$92,900 obtained by cancelling refunds
on gas to maritime users, with the re
mainder appropriated from the general
land. It is also suggested that on local
waterways projects, the town or coun
ty benefiting should bear a share of the
expense.
Colonel Brown points out that since
1828, "only 1,300 miles of navigable
channel, of which 41 are for deep draft
ocean vessels, have been improved in
North Carolina."
With the increase in use of boats and
the popularity of water sports, North
Carolina iB missing a big bet ? both
from the sports angle and commercial
fishing standpoint ? if it fails to place
proper value on the importance of
navigable waters.
People Ignore Danger
A cat in Morehead City last week
was found to have rabies. Now an in
quiry into the matter has been made
by the State Board of Health.
When the state actively steps in ?
if it does ? there's no fooling around.
Just "talking about pet control" stops.
Yellow quarantine signs are posted on
all highways leading into the area.
This does much to discourage travel
ers' coming here for a vacation ?
whether they have pets with them or
not. Wrightsville Beach had this ex
perience several years ago and busi
nessmen still shudder when they think
of it.
Is the county and are the towns go
ing to DO something concrete about
the proposed dog warden plan, or are
they still going to just talk about it?
Maybe it's already too late.
A New Look at the Driver
how do signs, publicity, warnings,
traffic fatality reports, and informa
tion on safety affect the driver?
Opinion Research Corp. recently
made a study of this, at the request
of the Pure Oil Co. and the ATA Foun
dation Inc., the research and informa
tion affiliate of the American Truck
ing Industry.
The study showed that newspapers,
radio and tv CAN motivate people to
become safe drivers. People expect
some solution to traffic safety prob
lems to be presented through these
media.
How does the average motorist con
sider himself?
First, most everyone thinks he's a
"better than average driver". As a
matter of fact, every person interview
ed who had a record of a traffic viola
tion considered himself "better than
most drivers".
What does the driver think of a slo
gan like "Drive Safely"?
He thinks those slogans are for the
ordinary drivers ? and he's slightly
insulted at the suggestion that he
DOESN'T drive safely.
When asked questions about how to
navigate new super-highways, people
replied that they didn't know. They
were very interested in finding out just
HOW one enters a traffic circle. This
shows that the driver is interested in
doing the right thing, but apparently,
?afe driving information seldom an
swers the questions the average driver
wants answered.
What do people think about traffic
laws? Answers showed that most be
lieve it is wrong to break them, but
they are mainly concerned with doing
what's most convenient for them at the
moment they are behind the wheel.
The two violations people get most
worked up about are drunken driving
and exceeding the speed limit by more
than 10 miles. But catch most people
at those and the drunk one has "had
f / . iVVi- ?
just a few drinks and the other was
"going only five or ten miles over the
limit".
There is little evidence that "scare"
signs or seeing mangled cars makes per
sons more careful drivers. Most peo
ple, however, say they have been im
pressed by wreckp they saw on high
ways. Drivers also feel that death isn't
the worst thing that can happen ?
they're more impressed with serious in
juries, such as months in a wheel chair
involving either themselves or loved
ones.
Professional drivers make these sug
gestions to cut down traffic accidents:
1. Make traffic laws and signs uni
form throughout the country
2. Provide better markings on sec
ondary roads
3. Set up driver clinics for habitual
violators
4. Get adults to set good examples
for young drivers
6. Post signs reminding drivers to
check their speed.
Lengthening Shadows
A friend recently made a discovery
about flowers, states Wilferd Peterson,
of Grand Rapids, Mich. He found that
it is not in the brightness of the sun
shine hours, but in the dusk of evening
that flowers are the most beautiful. It
is then that flowers are judged by their
own brightness.
Is it not true, .too, of human charac
ter? It is not in the sunshine of suc
cess, but in the darkness of disappoint
ment, discouragement, and despair that
the true worth of a man is brought out.
A man whose personality still shines
brightly in the dark moments of human
experience, who in the face of adversi
ty becomes more noblte, more under
standing, more kindly, more courage
ous ? he is truly great.
? Sunshine Magazine
Carteret County Newt-Times
WINNER OF NATIONAL EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION AND NORTH CAROLINA
PRE88 ASSOCIATION AWARDS
A Merger a I The Beaufort New? (Est 1912) and The Twin City Times (Eat. 1MB)
Published Tuesdays and Fridays by the Carteret Publishing Company, Inc.
504 Arendell St. Morehead City, N. C.
LOCKWOOD PHILLIPS - PUBLISHER
ELEANORS DEAR PHILLIPS - ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
RUTH U PEELING - EDITOR
Hall Ratea: In Carteret County and adjoining counties, *00 one year, t&M alx months,
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M East ?0th Street, New York it, N. T.
The Associated Press it entitled exclusively to use for republication of local news
printed hi this newspaper, aa well aa all AP news dispatches
Entered aa feceod Class Matter at Morehead City, N. C.. Under Act of March t, U?
THROUGH THE BED (ink) SEA
'4&? :
tvfp I
Ruth Peeling
Defendant Didn't Salt His Wife!
A defendant in county court
Thursday was asked if he pleaded
guilty.
The defendant said he didn't
know how to plead because he
didn't know what he was charged
with.
He was told that he was charged
with being drunk and assaulting
his wife.
"Well, I guess I was drunk," he
said, "but I didn't salt my wife,
I don't even 'member havin' any
salt."
I don't know the outcome of the
case, but it does show that every
body is more familiar with salt
than assault.
An interesting article on salt
appears in the current issue of Ser
vice ... the importance of salt is
summed up in the words, "With
out salt man would perish."
Primitive man salted his food
5,000 years ago. Salt fish was a
staple in Troy a thousand years
before Christ. Biblical reference
to salt is frequent, possibly topped
by the account of the fate of Lot's
wife, turned into a pillar of salt.
God's pact with Aaron and his
sons was sealed a* a "covenant of
salt" while Elisha, the prophet,
used salt to purify water. Saint
Paul urged the Colossians to "let
your speech be always with grace,
seasoned with salt, that you may
know how to answer each other."
The Persian phrase "untrue to
salt" implies base ingratitude and
disloyalty, while a special pledge
of fidelity between Arab tribes
men involves placing salted bread
into each other's mouths while
saying the words "By this salt
and bread I will not betray thee."
The Greeks and Romans consid
ercd the now commonplace article
a divine substance and used it in
many of their rites. To spill it, they
feared, was to invite the ire of the
gods.. Leonardo da Vinci's "Last
Supper" shows Judas turned from
the table, a salt cellar overturned
at his elbow.
The word "cellar" derives from
the French saliere, meaning a salt
holder. In the medieval days of salt
rationing, ornate salt cellars
graced the tables of the nobility.
A person s social rank could be
judged by his relative place ? whe
ther "above" or, alas, "below the
salt."
One of the oldest Roman roads
is the "Via Salaria" over which
salt was carried to Rome. Soldiers
along the route were paid in salt
hence the word salary. Their day's
efforts determined whether the
soldiers were "worth their salt."
Always heavily taxed because of
limited commercial production,
salt many times was deliberately
withheld from the people. To ex
ceed the salt ration in sixteenth
century Venice might cost an of
fender one of his ears. Two hun
dred yeais later, salt was ranked
with tobacco as a contraband ar
ticle in English trade.
Its importance in the New World
is suggested by the colonists' some
times frustrating attempts to pro
duce it and the fact that the first
patent issued in America was to
a Salem salt maker in 1635. Two
centuries later the prominence of
Syracuse, the "salt city," was a
factor in deciding to build the Erie
Canal.
And Don Quixote said, "A man
must eat a peck of salt with his
friend before he knows him."
Captain Henry
Sou'easter
I think the Little League season
was mighty good. Saw some of the
games and if Little League keeps
on at this summer's pace, we're
going to have some fine ball play
ers in these parts in several years.
I'm glad to see the churches
sponsoring a league for older boys
. . . it's refreshing to have to con
tend with nothing more compli
cated than baseball when there's
so much turmoil in other realms.
There are lots of stories about
the fighting fitness of the Marine
Corps. Heard a new one last week,
"Those boys don't need tanks
Just give each one of them an auto
mobile and they'll do all right."
You guessed it? this comment
came from an officer who has in
vestigated many an automobile
wreck.
Striving to break the news gently
to the wife of his patient, the doc
tor said, "Mrs. Smith, I'm very
lorry that I must tell you that
your husband will never be able
to work again."
"I must tell him right away,"
said Mrs. Smith, hurrying to the
door of her husband's room. "It
will cheer him up immensely."
Bill Willis sayi "One good tern
deserves another. That's why you
always see two terns sitting on
the shore together."
IS TSE GOOD OLD D2ZS
THIRTY YEARS AGO
The Rev. Dr. George W. Lay,
rector of St. Paul's Church in
Beaufort and of St. Andrew's
church in Morehead City, an
nounced that he would soon resign
his pastorate.
Mrs. Alice Hoffman was suing
John A. Royall for $10,000 in an
attempt to get the Salter Path
residents off her property on
Bogue Banks.
A new branch of the North Caro
lina Stores, a chain store dealing
in groceries, was to open soon in
Beaufort.
TWENTY-FIVE YE*WS AGO
There waa a possibility of im
proving Fort Macao State Park as
a project under federal relief work.
The Carteret Hardware Co. in
Beaufort opened July 29.
The Morehead City police de
partment had received ? new
"Black Maria."
TEN YEARS AGO
Tbe third victim to be stricken
by polio in the county was Hichard
Salter of Sea Level.
Mayor George W. Dill of More
head City announced that $3,678
had been collected from parking
meteri in the past six months.
Morehead City and Beaufort
were going to undertake a program
in hope of exterminating rats,
mosquitoes and flies.
FIVE YEARS AGO
The state legislative commission
began its investigation of dog
tracks. It was at Currituck at the
beginning of the week and would
be at Morehead City this weekend.
The Morehead City Golf and
Country Club opened.
The ban on night shrimping was
lifted by the Conservation and De
velopment Board.
Another interesting item in Ser
vice is a picture of a tent pitched
by the sea at Cape Hatteras Na
tional Seashore Park . . .
Gene Smith claims Detroit is
now turning out cars with boat
trailers and boats to match. True
or not, it sounds like a good 'dea.
A boat and trailer seem to be the
"necessary accessories" these
days, just like a woman's outfit
needs hat, shoes, bag and gloves.
Comment . . . j. Keiium
Hollow Victories
Men who are charmed by wealth
and earthly power litter their sur
roundings with buildings and mon
uments, evidences, they fancy, of
their great importance. A perfect
soul may leave no mark behind
that it has lived here ? no mark
we can see ? but the successful
materialist is likely to leave con
siderable masonry about to record
his existence. What becomes of
his effort! is told in the following
two poems.
The Spell of Gedi, Near Mombasa
These ruins, really nameless,
call to mind
A great and gifted people, men
of ships
Who traded with their Eastern
world, the kind
Of sailor folk we are, freeborn,
at grips
With life and liking it; their will
was strong
As proved by dome and tower,
strangled now;
The teeming forest rules, nor
likes the song
My carefree comrades render,
black of brow
The giant ape above our heads
whose threat
Is echoed by a hissing from this
heap
Of rubble; thoughtful we depart
and fret:
What we revere the jungle holds
so cheap,
Tomorrow poor remains that we
have seen
Will rot and feed a shroud of
avid green.
?John Ackerson
Ozymandias
I met a traveller from an
antique land
Who said: two vast and trunkless
legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . Near
them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage
lies, whose frown.
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of
cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those
passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on
these lifeless things.
The hand that mocked them,
and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words
appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king
of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty,
and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round
the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless
and bare
The lone and level sands stretch
far away.
?Percy Bysshe Shelley
Smile a While
The woman appeared at the tic
ket window for the sixth time.
"Er . . ." she said, "when does the
train leave for MempMa?"
"It leaves at 2:?, madam," an
swered the agent with a trace of
annoyance. "I have toM you that
five times during the past half
hour."
"I know you have, sir," replied
the woman, "but Johnny likes to
see you come to the window. He
says it reminds him of the 100."
? L. and N. Magazine.
touh* Sptvy
Words of Inspiration
In recent week* we have been bearing the rumbling of war.
The great ahipa that dot the ahoreliaa of our harbor, the eoovoyi that
paaa ua on the highways, the serious face of our fighting men aa they
board the ahipa at port terminal, add to the anxiety that we feel in our
hearta.
Parents all over America whose sons are now serving in soma branch
of our armed forces, listen, watch, pray and hope, for peace.
In the midst of all the confusion, where and how can our world find
peace?
The answer is simple. It is the same when it comes to a nation, as
with individuals who find themselves filled with hate, prejudice, misun
derstanding, selfishness and greed.
The Rev. A. Purneil Bailey tells the story of a group of outstanding
business leaders from all over America, about 40 of them who met in
New York City just after World War II to discuss the ecooomic needs
of the nation. These men were chosen from industrial leaders and
bankers of America.
At the end of the conference the newsmen asked them, "What do you
have for the people of America?"
The climax of the report from these 40 hardboiled businessmen was
this statement:
"The root cause of the world disorder is spiritual; they way out is
the way up, and the world will never get right until it gets right with
God."
Roy 0. McClain says, "If Christianity is to have power in America,
it must have a stronger home base."
To me, this means every American needs to look into his own heart
and see if he is doing things just as God might want him to do.
It is good to see that most of our politicians for once agree with our (
President in sending troops into Lebanon. We feel sure that whether
this action proves to be right or wrong, that at the time it seemed the
right step for America to take. We feel sure that President Eisenhower
gave this decision much thought and prayer.
It is good to have as our leader a man who knows the value of prayer
and believes in the power of God.
The prayer, made by President Eisenhower at his second inaugural
address, would be fitting as our nation prays for peace.
"Before all else," he said, "we seek upon our common labor as a
nation the favor of Almighty God. And the hopes in our hearts fashion
the deepest prayers for our people."
Continuing, he said, "May we pursue the right ? without self-right- ^
eousness.
"May we know unity ? without conformity.
"May we grow in strength ? without pride of self.
"May we, in our dealings with all peoples of the earth, ever speak
truth and serve justice.
"And so shall America in the sight of all men of good will prove true
to the honorable purposes that bind and rule us as a people in all this
time of trial through which we pass."
Our President took the oath of office w\th his hand resting on a Bible
that his mother gave him shortly before he graduated from West Point
in 1915. The Bible was open at Psalm 33:12 (King James Version):
"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord: and the people whom be
hath chosen for his own inheritance."
Free Wheeling
By BaL CROWELL
Motor Vehicles Department
NO LAUGHS HERE . . . I've
never been able to see the slightest
bit of humor in the (act that for
many years we have allowed an
impression to be built up in the
public mind that enforcement of
the traffic laws is a sometimes
thrilling, and sometimes laughable,
game between officers and drivers.
Typical of this attitnda it the
cartooniit's view of traffic enforce
ment: A trooper hiding behind a
billboard waiting to pounce on
some unsuspecting driver cruising
by at a mere 85 mph. And who
hasn't laughed at the near legen
dary jokes about "California dri
vers?"
And what average driver tells
about the time he was caught and
fined heavily for violating a traf
fic law? More often he tells about
the time he talked the "cop" out
of a ticket or threw his weight
around at City Hall and "beat the
rap."
Just as there would be nothing
funny about a man who would stalk
down main street with a loaded
machine gun scattering gunfire in
all directions, there's nothing hum
orous about the driver who aims
his car down the highway and, be
cause be violates the laws govern
ing safe movement of traffic, en
dangers life and limb.
We would find it difficult to sym
pathize with either one. But if sym
pathy were to be extended at all
I'd be inclined to direct it to the
machine gunner; he would prob
ably need psychiatric help. The
only excuse for the most errant
drivers is that they haven't yet
awakened to the (act that the priv
ilege to drive does not give them
the right to endanger the Uvea of
others.
It's time our views became more
adult about traffic and the hard
working people who enforce traf
fic laws. It'a oo game, brother,
and ne laughing matter when the
stakes are so high.
SUDDEN THAWT . . . When driv
ing, watching the scenery instead
of the car ahead is one good way
to become part of both.
HOW'S THAT... In addition to '
driving on the left side of the road,
British motorists are at variance
with our motor customs in other
ways, too, including the language
of their traffic signs. To illustrate,
what we call a reverse curve, the
British call a double bend.
In the following, the English siga
appears first with the American
translation adjoining:
Accident area? Congested area.
1 in 12? Eight per cent grade.
Lay-by? Roadside park.
Unadopted lane ? Private road.
No waiting? No parking.
No overtaking? No passing. ?
The bottom? Dead end street.
Dead slow? Drive very slowly.
No parking on the heath? No
parking on shoulder.
Three years in gaol for hitting
cycliat (self-explanatory).
From the Bookshelf
The Montesi Scandal, by Way
land Young. Doubleday It Co. $4.
The mysterious death of a mid
dle-class Roman girl named Wilma
Montesi in 1953 created a crisis of
national conscience in Italy.
To this day there is no certainty
whether Wilma was murdered,
died accidentally or was a suicide.
Nor is it known whether she did
or did not participate in a wild
party of prominent persons the day
of her death.
Yet on the basis of rumor ? and
some wildly inventive perjury ?
the Montesi case dragged on four
years. A foreign minister resign
ed. His son and two friends ? one
a man about town with a reputa
tion at dubious as his title and the
other the head of the Rome police
force ? were tried aad acquitted.
Mr. Young's book primarily it
a report on the Montesi trial. For
the lay reader, the book may be a
confusion of strange names and
legal procedures which make it
hard going.
It is in hit final chapter that
Mr. Young gets to the heart af the
Montesi case. The significance
was neither in the mystery nor In
the litigation, although his account
of the wild trial will be an eye
opener for those familiar only with
U. S. court procedure.
What was significant was that
the people of Italy had become
convinced, rightly or wrongly, that
the authorities sought to cover up
the ease because prominent per
sons ?jere involved. The reaction
was a deep, corroding disillusion
ment among Italians over the in
Fluence of power, aoclal standing
and money upon a democracy.
Mr. Young may overdraw the ex
lent of Communist benefit from
this cynicism, but his final chap
ter still is prescient and intelligent.
The Official Atlas ef the Civil -
War. Yoseloff. $40.
"Monumental" is probably the
best word to describe this publica
tion of the official battle and cam
paign maps of the Civil War.
It's a handsome king sited vol
ume, reproducing 17S plates that
originally were printed with the
128 volumes o I the Official Records
of the war. >
The publisher, Thomas Yoseloff,
previously issued new editions of
the "Photographic History of the
Civil War," and the "Battles and
Leaders."
The problems involved in those
publications were immense; they
were dwarfed by the obstacles en
countered in this project. The work
is not perfect, but the flaws are
trivialities, in comparison with the
overwhelming merit and import
ance of the project
These map* hive never before
been accessible to the public. Mak
ing them available tor browsing,
for research, or for Just plain pride
of possesssion Is a service <4 in
calculable value.
A foreword by Henry Steele Com
muter recounts dramatically the
background of the original Atlas.
A publisher's introduction outlines
some of the difficulties accom
panying the publication.
-Bob Price